ISD #423 School Board Meeting February 23rd, 2026

001All right. Call the regular school board meeting to order. Um, all members are present excluding Danny Olstead and Aaron Kudson. Let's rise for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with all. All right. On the public comment, anyone from the public like to come and speak? Please do so now. All right. Seeing none, moving on to the consent agenda. Does anyone from the board like to remove anything? All right. Is there a motion approve consent agenda? So move. Motion by Mosman. Is there a second? >> Second by Jenowski. All in favor say I. >> I. And consent agenda passed. on to student highlights. So, Miss Bernard. >> All righty. Good evening, everyone. So, as we continue through a busy

002and exciting winter season, we're proud to highlight the many accomplishments and activities taking place across our school community. Um, we're finishing up winter activities this season, and I just wanted to take a second to recognize the boys swimming team. They had a ton of state qualifiers this past Saturday. Um, notably, I think I'm right about this, but Leighton York's qualified for four different events at the state level. And our 17 has consistently been very good for the past few years. So, I just wanted to recognize that. And then also, not this past week, but the week before, we have winter week at the high school. It's kind of a fun like couple of days, we do themed dressups. Um, we do advisory activities like we did family feud. That was really fun. And then we

003have what we call cabin fever fever on Friday afternoon. So, this is a two-hour event where students have the opportunity to like participate in a bunch of different activities like there's a ping pong tournament, you can go ice skating and other fun options. It's a really great way to build our school spirit and strengthen our connections among our students. Um, that's all I have. Um, and then hi everybody. Um, as we're reaching close to another end of a trimester, um, it's just kind of a good time to highlight um, mentoring at the high school. Andrea Moore works really hard to connect students with the community and it's a great time for students to learn critical life skills and real world examples with their peers. And once again, this is a successful mentoring session. Thanks to

004the help of the community and Mrs. Moore at the high school and everybody else that helped make it a successful mentoring session, it went really well again this trimester. >> Thank you. you have questions. >> Um, in this last week's technology committee meeting, there was a discussion about a student who had expressed interest in um, joining the artificial intelligence committee that the district finance or sorry, the district tech team has put together and Danny uh, recommended that they get in touch with you. I was just curious if that student reached out. >> Oh, no, they haven't at all. I've heard about the AI committee from Mrs. Anderson actually, but I haven't talked to anyone student wise. >> Okay. Um, I guess my question would be, do students know that both of you are available for

005raising questions to the board or acting as some type of I don't want to say mediary, but um, >> liaison or funneling agent to the board. >> Um, I did send out that survey to the seniors, so I think the senior class is aware that I'm a representative, but I wouldn't say for the younger grades. So, I could probably put something out just saying if they have any questions or concerns, they could contact me if you'd like that. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Off to Tiger Times. >> Hi, I'm Mary Myers Reinards, early learning coordinator for Hutchinson Public Schools, and I'm here to give you an update on early learning. So, the programs that I coordinate are ECF or early childhood family education, early childhood screening, plan learn preschool and

006just midy year this year we took on voluntary pre kindergarten. So give you updates on each. Our early childhood family ed or ECF is located in West Elementary School. Uh ECF is a parenting education program for all Minnesota families with children between the ages of birth to kindergarten entrance. Once children enter kindergarten, they're they're not longer eligible for most ECF classes. Occasionally, we'll have something that they can attend. So, a little bit about our our enrollment. Our classes are going really well this year. All fall classes in 2025 ran as scheduled. We expanded our offerings for two-year-olds and still had waiting lists. So, we had, I believe, three classes in the fall going for two-year-olds that had eight or nine two-year-olds in each group. Um, and then we tried to work the waiting list families

007into other classes as we were able. We've been continuing our free baby classes. We keep those classes open for registration so families can join throughout a session. So, if we have a 12 or 16 week session, there could potentially be babies born during that time. So, we keep those classes open so people can register as um needed. And then we also have weekly open play classes. So, this has been a nice place to direct some families that didn't get into classes. Open play runs on Wednesday mornings or on um we just this session added it on Monday evenings. You can sign up for one week at a time versus committing to a 12 or 16 week session. So, we were able to offer some gift certificates to families on the waiting list to get them

008into some type of class so they were at least able to have some opportunity to connect with families. And then our winter spring classes just started in January. It's a 16week session and sadly we started with our big jamming in your jammies event and it got cancelled due to that really bad cold snap. Um there were a lot of disappointed kids and parents. Uh but other than that, all ECF classes ran as scheduled. We did add that evening open play session this session and um it hasn't really gone as well as I thought it would. It hasn't been very popular yet. So I've been doing some more advertising and um so it's running right now and we actually did have some families sign up for this evening. So we were happy to see that. I

009think it's something new so we just need to advertise it. Um, we still had a waiting list for four classes this winter spring session. So, we expanded classes when able and we tried to fit families in. And then we're going to try a new event for the week of the young child in April and do a book exchange with families. And then our fees this year, for the first time in a little while, we raised our ECF class fees to $7 per week. It's up from $6. The fees are based on a sliding fee scale and families upon registration are choosing either full half or a free uh tuition level and that's been uh received very well and it has been working. Uh free classes are still running for babies. So they can sign up

010for a busy babies class or maybe they sign up for another class that has babies in the age range. They would get that class for free. And then we had a class sponsored by Hutchinson Health and it's called Parental Wellness and Balance. It's a class more for uh the draw was to get parents excited about signing up and they work through a lot of wellness uh topics and kind of balance in the household. So that's been popular. It ran in the fall and it's currently running again this winter spring. It's an eight-week free class. Um, and then our early learning advisory council. I always like to put in a plug for them. It's a group of really great parents and they're from parents of our ECF students or our plan learn preschool. They offer guidance

011and support on program um ideas, decisions. They help with fundraising, special events, and they give input on program offerings. We meet one time per month on the first Tuesday of the month. and then we'll move into early childhood screening. Screening is in full swing right now. Um screening is a quick free check to identify possible health or developmental concerns. Children are eligible for a screening appointment beginning at age three. Screening by a school district is required for entrance into a Minnesota public school. If kids were screened in another school district, we can request their records and they'll transfer to Hutchinson and that still counts as having a screening done before kindergarten entrance. Uh screening doesn't diagnose, but it promotes healthy um growth and development. And there's three purposes to a screening appointment. to promote that

012healthy development, to identify children who may need further evaluation, and to connect families to resources in the community. Parents register for an appointment by using an online signup genius, and they sign up for an appointment, and it lasts about 60 minutes. Uh, so postcards are mailed to parents as their children turn 2 years, 10 months to invite them to register for an appointment. We like to see them when they're three. Uh but again we will screen up to kindergarten entrance. So in 202425 Hutch screened about 172 children and um having all children screened by kindergarten entry is our early learning comprehensive achievement and civic readiness goal. So we pay a lot of attention to this and work really hard to get those kiddos screened. Any questions so far? How many um students do you screen

013do not continue on to Hutch public schools? >> That's different every year. Um I don't have those exact numbers in front of me right now. I know we keep a running list, but they might not. Um it's hard to break it down exactly because some of them maybe are waiting a year to go and then that kind of skews exactly. They might go somewhere else after that. But I could look into that and get back to you. Um, so we do screen kids who kids can come from other districts and be screened by Hutch. Okay. >> And then we can forward those records on. So just depending on where families live and plans change. So we do our best to get them screened and then pass records on or request records as needed. Okay. And

014then plan learn Preschool. Plan learn preschool is a school is our school district's school readiness preschool that um it's a public preschool program for children ages three and four. And the purpose of the program is to prepare children to enter kindergarten. We're working on those readiness skills during the three and four year old years. So we're not working on kindergarten skills, but the goal is always to prepare them for kindergarten. We have two preschool classrooms currently and they're located in West Elementary. Our three-year-old students come on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and our four-year-olds choose either Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning or afternoon. We are already looking ahead to registration for next school year. It opens March 2nd. On March 18th, we'll have our open house and people can come and see the classrooms and meet staff.

015Current families began the registration process on March 2nd and it goes through March 24th. They can register their current student or a younger sibling and then new family registration opens up on March 18th, that day of the open house and it's open to the rest of the community. Um if needed, we hold a lottery. We we often get more students requesting classes than we have room for them. It might be that um we have so many four year olds that want to get in that we run a lottery, but maybe we don't need to run it for three year olds. It just all depends on what how many people register. Um and families then are notified on or before April 20th by email if they received a spot and if they received their first choice,

016second choice, etc. And then here's a little flyer that we've been using to advertise for that open house. And then the Last area I wanted to talk about was that voluntary pre kindergarten. So um some reallocated seats were granted to Hutchinson for the remainder of the 2526 school year. Our original application was for fiscal years 26 to 29 and we weren't awarded any seats. We had asked for 13 seats and we didn't get any. On December 12th, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families reached out to us about 10 reallocated seats, and we needed to notify them by December 19th if we wanted the seats. So, we worked really fast and we decided as a district team that we would accept those seats. And then, um, we needed to create an eligibility criteria to find

017out who would be eligible for those seats. So, we made a criteria grid and we were able to place our current students on that grid to see if they were eligible. There was a set of criteria set out by the state and then we had to match up kiddos. So, we worked through that December break to contact families. Um, we were able to shift some of our Pathway 2 early learning scholarships that were awarded to four-year-olds down to three-year-olds and then we could assign VPK dollars to the four-year-olds. Um and we offered VPK to 16 students and 12 accepted. It was kind of short notice. So um so currently um it had been offered to 12 students. The program must run at least 350 hours this school year and with the timing of when we

018started, I believe it was January 12th, ours will run 379.5 hours. So we're getting right in there. Um, kids will attend on their normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning or afternoon. And then they also come on Tuesday, Thursday from 11:15 to 3:15. And there's two general ed preschool teachers and one parah that staff the VPK room. On the longer day that they're here, kids receive a free school lunch. And the program is completely free to students. And teachers are already reporting student gains from having that extra time in the classroom. Um, so that is kind of a summary of all those early learning programs and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Uh, thank you. It was a great presentation. Um, the voluntary preschool, can you just share a little bit about what that eligibility chart

019looked like? What kind of students were we trying to make sure we're getting the extra time? >> Absolutely. So um for BPK the this is one of the reasons that there were a lot of reallocated seats. It used to be eligible to children who were three or four by September 1st. They changed that criteria this year. So children had to be four by September 1st. Um and then once enrolled they have to complete uh early childhood screening appointment within 90 days. So some of the criteria would include a child qualifies for educational benefits. The child falls under income guidelines designated at 47% of state median income. It could be that the child's in foster care, kinship care, or child protective services. They may have experienced homelessness in the past 24 months. As a parent who

020is incarcerated as a parent who is a seasonal or migrant worker. is an English language learner, is American Indian, is identified through health and developmental screening with potential risk factors that may influence learning, is defined at risk through the school district. What we used for the school district criteria is in preschool, the assessment tool we used is called teaching strategies gold. So our current students had already gone through a cycle of teaching strategies gold. So I went through that and if anybody was not progressing to meet standards then that earned a point on that grid. >> Perfect. Thank you for sharing. >> Yeah, absolutely. Anything else? >> And then you had said we were allocated 10 seats but we have 12 students. >> Yeah. So we were allocated 10 seats and I came up with

021more I I came up with 16 children who would qualify. So, we worked with the state who were really good um about getting back to us quickly and they still had available seats so they assigned us two extra. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Great job. >> Yeah. >> On the rolling back, you said you do a lottery or not every year or >> so. Can you expand more like is it what's the is there a space issue or >> personnel issue or what's >> the limiting factor of not taking >> so space and staff. So, we have two preschool classrooms and we run six sections of preschool. And so, we'll have families that apply or register for preschool. And um so we have room for 96 students. We could get more than that who want

022a spot. So then children's names go into a lottery. And um if they've got all of their registration materials in, paid their registration fee, then they're eligible to be in that lottery. Is this always been an issue that we're short on space? And >> are you insinuating you want another school box so that we have more classrooms for preschool care? >> Just asking clarifying questions. >> Sorry, I've got one more question and if it was on there, I apologize that I missed it. For the students that are attending that voluntary preschool, are they eligible for transportation on those additional two days? >> Correct. >> Okay. And that didn't impact their other three days. It's just for those two. >> Yeah, they they may have already been busing on those other three and then they added

023two more. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Just make this clear too. We're getting really good funding for this funding for the kids. So for all the extra expenses. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. For the voluntary prek program. Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. All right, off to strategic planning. Let's eat some sugar. Should I come up here? >> Yeah. >> Hey everyone, I'm Julie Babe. Thanks for having me tonight. Hi. Um, I'm here just to give you uh an update on where we've been with strategic planning. We've accomplished a lot. We're probably, I would say, more than halfway, about twothirds of the way through the process. So, I'm just going to walk you through where we've been and give you a preview of what's coming up.

024So, we've had a lot of sessions this fall and in early winter. Um, I'm going to just kind of cover the outcomes of those sessions and then again give you a preview of what to expect this spring and early summer. So our process which I shared with you when I met with you at the beginning um you know you could really think of it in these four phases of assessing your reality. So we've done all that work describing your vision, setting the strategic plan which we're starting to get into right now and then implementation which is what we're going to wrap up with toward the end of the process. So this is a kind of a map of all of our deliverables in the process and the circles indicate kind of where things are at.

025So the desired daily experiences are fully developed now. We did focus groups, surveys, drafting of those statements. Um, we have started work on, we've actually had two sessions on the three-year continuous improvement plan. I'm going to talk about that in a little bit. Um, and the district vision card. I've dashed it because we are starting to draft that. That will take more time to fully develop. Um, and later this spring, I'm going to meet with you guys on your three-year governance plan. Um, and we're also later this spring going to work on and develop the action cards, which is a project management tool for um, the items that are in the three-year continuous improvement plan. So, I met with you all back on October 25th. It's crazy. It's been it's been a while. So, just

026a little refresher of what we covered in that session. We were looking at that framework, you may recall, our education leadership system framework, talking about um, our roles and how we lead with district interest versus self-interest. um all with the focus on um meeting the needs of student, staff, and families. Um couple things that came out of that, we um we did some um talking in small groups and teams talking about assessing your district's strengths and also what you see as challenges. These are some just themes that came out of that. Um some strengths that you guys noted, just really dedicated staff who care about your students. Really strong community partnerships. I'm seeing that too just in the work that I'm doing through all these sessions. you guys are unique in that way. I think

027that your community partnerships are really, really strong. Um, and that you have really strong program offerings and student involvement. On the challenge side, finances, declining enrollment, um, staffing in terms of like filling positions, student learning gaps, and then communication. When um, toward the end of the session, I asked you all u what are some changes you'd like to see for students, staff, and families in the next three years? And these are some of the kind of top responses I got from your group. Um, academic growth for students, sense of belonging and access to resources for staff. Um, feeling valued and inspired. Um, having appropriate resources and space to do their work. Um, and having uh being on board with a clear vision and direction for the future. And for families, trust and confidence in the

028district. Um, families being well informed and engaged and having strong relationships with school staff. So, I put this together because I think it's there's so much assessment work we do that leads to that three-year continuous improvement plan. So, this is what this kind of weaving is of all these things that we did in order to draft that three-year continuous improvement plan. So, storywall, which is a historical look back at your district's past. We went all the way back to the 1970s, and I'll share a little bit about the outcomes of that session. The environmental scan is a look at your present day. Um, and that was in November. down at the bottom, the strengths and needs session. We did that in December. Um, and I'll I'll get into more details on that, too. And then

029the desired daily experiences work, which we did in October and November. All of these things were considered when we um began drafting that three-year continuous improvement plan in January. So, storywall, this was in September. As far as participants, we had current and past staff. We had staff who had actually worked in your district as far back as the 1970s or they were an alumni who so let me rephrase that. I think the people that were in the room were alumni who actually went to school in the district back in the 1970s. We had community leaders, we had parents, we had alumni. So it was a nice like mixed group. Um the purpose was to gain understanding of where you've been as a district just in order to really have a clear understanding of where we

030want to head. We put people into groups and the groups the people people were put into groups based on their experience with that time frame. So we had a 1970s 80s group 90s early 2000s kind of mid 2000s 201s and then 2021 to present. And in this was just really a everyone interpreted differently. their story wall like maps were different, but it was all showing what were the big events, what were the things that were pushing in on the district and the community at that time, what was influential, what was going on with curriculum, what was going on in the world, what was happening here in the community of Hutchinson. Um, and so, and after mapping it out, then the team discussed the key influential events of their story, influential behaviors of the adults, and

031characteristics of success and failures. So, some of the themes that were running through all of the story wall um you know story walls um that the district really thrives when leadership is collaborative, transparent and purpose driven. Um there were some stories from some of the decades back of when it was top down that was a time of strife. So, it was not as effective. Um when corre when connection erodess like during times like COVID or increased screen time, things like this create anxiety and fragmentation arise. Um, every decade has something to talk about as far as a disruption or a challenge. I mean, these things happen. Um, there are times where the district felt, you know, in their story well stories that they adapted well, they were innovative in response and then sometimes it was

032reactive. Um, definitely a theme of collaboration that when it is strong, the district really advances and thrives. Um, also when purpose is clear and shared, the culture aligns to that. um when the focus shifts toward compliance and metrics without meaning and not understanding the why that can impact morale when that's not understood. So now I'm going to tell you a little bit about the desired daily experiences and what this is all about, why it matters. It really helps anchor um the district in a shared mission and real experiences. What do students, staff, and families want to experience on a daily basis? It promotes alignment among adults in the organization and it helps the district stay accountable to what matters most. Um, a little bit about the process, just big picture. We started with focus groups,

033student, staff, and family focus groups in person. The strategic planning team looked over all of that input and themed it into about nine statements per group. Um, those statements were then shared in a survey to validate and see if we were on track. So, we shared that with all staff, all families, and students grades six and up. And then this the statements were refined based on that survey input by the planning team. As far as participation, we had two staff groups, a total of 18 participants. Two student groups, we had a total of 32 uh students participate. And then two parent groups, we had 15 participants. Um as far as staff and families, it was open to all grades, levels, roles. Um there was v variety of communications me methods used to invite. Um students

034were personally invited to make sure there was a cross-section of different experiences um grades um level involvement achievement levels. So it was a nice variety of kids. And during the focus groups um the questions are really simple. What is working right now? What do you appreciate about your current experience? And then what is not working for you? Um describe the experience that you want to have but you're not currently having. So um following as I mentioned the the the um planning team reviewed all that raw input from the focus groups and themed the statements came up with nine statements that were first person present tense. We put that into a survey and these are the uh survey responses we got. 215 staff 322 family members and 868 students. The questions in the survey were simply

035just these four. Overall, do these descriptions reflect the kind of experience you want to have as a student, staff, or family member in the district? Now, please rate each statement below. How much do you agree that it describes the kind of experience you want to have? Rank the statements in order. Which one is most important to you, etc. And then the big one, is there anything missing? So, open-ended comment to ask, do we miss anything here? Describe something about your ideal school experience or work experience that isn't listed above. So, the planning team went through all of that and refined the statements. I'm not going to read through all of these, but I do want to highlight that in the November 19th session report, which will share with you guys. All of these are in

036there, but you'll see they're all first person present tense. I'll read a couple of them. For families, my child's teachers truly know and care for my child and partner with me to support their academic and emotional growth. Our schools are safe and secure places where my child feels valued, included, and respected. for staff. I experienced trusting relationships, open communication and collaboration among employees, students and families in the community. Um, I have a visible accessible leader who listens with openness, advocates for staff needs and works with me to solve problems and take action. So, this all came directly from the focus groups as I mentioned validated through the surveys. And then for let's see students, my teachers know me, listen to me, and help me grow. Um I experience lessons that are clear, creative, engaging, and

037relevant. My voice is valued, and my contributions are recognized. I have quality and healthy food options at school. Um so these are things that were the biggest themes coming out of those focus groups and again through the surveys. the environmental scan. This took place in November and this included the same group who participated in story well. So it was a mix of the planning team and community members um some alumni parents former staff members and we were looking at your district's present day as far as like culture structures systems um in order to you know inform the the strategic plan. We really wanted to do that scan of what's happening present day. And what I had the group do is identify um initiative system structures and behaviors that are fully established like embedded with fidelity.

038This is our standard work here. Um things that are ebbing. These things are starting to fall away. They don't have as much influence anymore. We also talked about edge like this is on the edge. We're hearing about this in other districts are there, you know, and this is something we should consider think about and things that are emerging. And that category is more like we're starting to pilot this. We're looking at this already. We're doing a little research on that. that it's on our radar. It's just not embedded with Fidelity. Um and so the groups uh worked we had um the top group I think we had like the edge and emerging group and the establish and ebing group. Anyway, they were we're seeing the two groups as they're kind of unpacking and going everything

039going through everything and I described these um different uh categories that they looked at the strengths and needs session. This was the planning team and the building leadership teams and district department leaders and staff. So we're we brought in operations folks, uh, buildings and grounds, food service, um, HR. So we wanted to, you know, include all of the operational folks plus the buildings. Um, and this did have a survey prior to the session. So this was like in late November, early December. And we're asking specific to your role, your site, your department. What are the strengths and the needs um of your school, of your department, do you have the resources and support you need to do your job well? Um and then there were questions more detailed specific to the role. So teachers were

040asked about PLC's and pairs were asked. So every they kind of um branched based on the role. Another thing we did in that session on December 10th, um we did a speed sharing round where we took all of the uh department folks, so food service operations, um special education or student support services, they were kind of in like a speed dating setup. And then the building staff, so the principles, teachers, um, from the buildings just rotated around in like three to four minutes. Literally said from their perspective, this is what's working well in terms of your department and this is what could be improved from our perspective from building, you know, A C. So it was just a rapid fire, but it was a really nice exchange and just to sit and talk and be

041able to in the department, uh, folks just listen, took notes. Um and it's, you know, we don't have those opportunities very often, right? And just to have that time to just share. Um I heard a lot of good feedback. People appreciated that part of the session. So with all of that assessment work I've described, then we started digging into drafting the three-year continuous improvement plan on January 7th and February 11th. So that was the strategic planning team. So, we were assessing the outcomes of all of those sessions I just described to you and the desired daily experiences. Um, considering gaps in those areas and looking at what the district is already doing in terms of implementation work. So, looking at that as well. Um, and we sorted all of what we identified into categories of

042work. Um, and I'm just going to touch on this real briefly, but we looked at things that we would I would call what we call learning work. So, it's like research and development work. There's a gap here. This is not something we're we're working on or doing right now, but it definitely came up as a theme and something we need to look into. Then there's implementation work. Um change readiness and change management just describes who owns the work at the district level or at the building or department level. And then standard work. This is what we're already doing, but we identified in the process. This is standard work that needs improvement. We've been doing, you know, XYZ for 15 years, but it needs a lift. It maybe needs some PD or support. It's not something

043we're doing with fidelity. It's something we need to look at. So through that process, we generated these big post-it notes by type of work referencing all of the reports and the outcomes from all of our sessions and then started sorting them into buckets. So the strategic directions are the buckets. So this again is an up andout process. Instead of naming this is a strategic direction, we started seeing themes. So the themes that came out on January 7th were positive student culture, um optimizing district stability and growth, kind of an operations focus category, wellbeing and development, effective communications, and then advancing student achievement. These are the buckets that came out. We're currently at the February session, we created draft statements for these strategic directions. They're still in progress. Um, but Dan, Becky, Mike and I are

044meeting to finalize those. But these are the the categories. Advancing student achievement, positive student culture and development, staff well-being and development, effective communications with staff, families, and community, and then optimizing district stability and growth. So, this also uh we just started working on this month, the vision card. So, these are the measures and metrics that track your district's continuous improvement. And this one is not yours. It's just a sample one. But just to give you an idea, our our vision cards typically inue include these categories. Achievement, graduation, desired daily experiences, initiative implementation, and then operational measures. And that could be things like staff retention and other professional development, uh, financial health, things like that. So, we had a meeting um small group, Dan, Becky, um Mike, and myself just to kind of do a brain

045dump of what might be included for the measures for for your vision card. And then the following day, we had a refinement session for the three-year continuous improvement plan with the um full planning team, got their input as well. So, asked, you know, what would you include for these categories? Um so, we did a deep dive. This is just a screenshot of another district's vision card for the desired daily experiences, but just to highlight the fact that we it we recommend measuring these on an annual basis. So looking at those desired daily experiences we saw at the beginning of the presentation, asking level of agreement, how much do you agree with these statements and then it gives us some good data points like you see in this district. A five is is your vision. That's

046that's a top score and a one is the lowest score. But you can kind of at a glance see okay we're kind of you know progressing here up with our families kind of in the middle here with staff what's going on with students. So just as a way to as the district is updating their three-year plan every year to be looking at these DTE statements to find look at gaps and opportunities to meet those needs. This is just a sample but what's coming up um with the board is developing your strategic roadmap. So, we're going to um draft your mission, your vision, your core values. The strategic directions come from the planning team. So, you would review those and adopt them as a part of your roadmap for the district. And we a lot of

047our clients do like to include the desired daily experiences at least, you know, as part of the, you know, when they talk about their strategic plan on their website, they'll include the DDE statements, but the top part is really what the roadmap is, mission, vision, core values, and strategic directions. Um, so that's coming up this spring. We do a draft session and then we do a a survey to the community to get their feedback on it and then we look at that feedback and refine the road map based on that feedback on that feedback. So this is what's coming up. Just finalizing your three-year plan, developing those action cards. We're going to be uh together this spring to develop your three-year governance plan. Um, and then finalizing that vision card. So, just some dates that

048are coming up here. Um, I'll be with you guys on April 13th for the draft of the road map and again on May 11th to finalize it. The vision card, I'll say, is definitely a process. I mean, with all my experience, you don't get it done in a couple meetings. that is especially the achievement section. There's a lot to do there and usually I partner really closely with the director of teaching and learning to get that all together, pull the data, but I would expect that that'll be ongoing work through the summer just to finalize it. >> Well, thank you. Any questions? >> That was a lot. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I know I'm still digesting it all. So, how's the board doing you guys? I think we're in digest mode. digest mode.

049No problem. I know that I mean as far as like for a deeper dive, there's session reports after each session which just gets into more detail about the outcomes. Um but I'm really looking forward to working with you all this spring on the road map and appreciate your time tonight. >> Thank you. We'll see you very soon. >> Heard you have a question. >> Uh no, I just wanted to extend our thanks because I know we've changed this schedule. >> Oh yeah. >> Quite a bit. So thanks for being flexible and making tonight work for us. >> Oh, for sure. For sure. No problem. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we will move on. Mr. D. >> Yes. Good evening. Um, I just wanted to get back to VPK. Um, every year we

050fill out the app. Well, now it'll be every three or four years, right? Every four. For a long long time it was every year you filled it out and you probably weren't going to get any seats but you filled it out just in case because you never know. And all of a sudden the year this year we filled it out and those seats became available and only because we did fill it out we were able to offer these kids that need this extra help. So I just want to thank uh Mary and Bailey um every year do this and get it in and we always said you never know when it might happen and it did. So, just wanted to recognize that. Um, and just to talk about next year with it, you know, there's

051no guarantee for next year. It's allocate reallocated seats, but because they aren't doing three-year-olds, we do have a okay chance to maybe get some more, right? We're Yeah, we're hoping, but it is per year. So, we'll see. Also, um, I was able to finish the mentoring with our freshman with Tiger Path. We did our speed round, which is the third one that we do. So uh mentoring this year was in trimester 1 and trimester 2 and there is no mentoring in three because they got it all done already. So that was great. Uh the students report back that they really like the program. Gives them an opportunity to connect with adults in various careers. They really do a nice job bringing people in from the community and having different backgrounds. I think it's a great

052program. I'm also doing all day visits. Uh I I went to the uh high school already on 213 and uh as they said I was able to see cabin fever and there were people in the comments quickly trying to put their puzzles together because they were in a contest to see who could put the most together the quickest in the time that they had. So that was kind of fun to see that. I'll be visiting uh this Wednesday Tiger Elementary and then this Friday at West and Park on 3:19 and the middle school on 3:25. So, I'm looking forward to getting into the schools and being part of that. I want to thank the calendar committee. I know the the calendar is on the agenda later. I want to thank the calendar committee for getting

053together. There's like 18 of them that'll come together and volunteer their time to look at what a calendar could look like for the next year. So, thank you to all of those people. I also want to let you know that there is a question about whether we could even look at the year after and even see if there because it's very it aligns very much to another calendar we had in the past. There wouldn't be a whole lot of adjustments. So, we're we're taking that in to see but for now we have the calendar um in front of you for for just um the 2728 school year and the achievement and integration program. You might remember that we were partnering with Glen Cole Silver Lake. uh they will no longer um they will no longer

054qualify next year. So we are looking to partner with Luster Prairie and Howard Lake Waverly Winstead. So I will be getting that application together and bringing it to you guys for approve uh for recommended approval in March. So, I'm working on that. And also, um, my team will be meeting with Superior Transportation on March 6th, and we have decided that it would be great to meet ahead of time to talk about the next year, things that we're seeing that could be improved, things going well that could be improved for the following year. And we're going to meet on March 6, which is a non-school day, and sit down and talk about how we can continue to make the transportation for our students the best possible. Budget meetings are continuing with the administration for the 2627

055uh preliminary budget and everybody is working hard to identify reductions. I'm sure um Becky will talk about this too. It is getting harder to make the reductions. We we've made quite a few in the last uh eight years. So uh we're working hard for that and of course the goal is always to have the budget ready for June. and the Minnesota legislature began their 20 2026 session. And uh Tina, if you want to move the slides ahead a little, I just had a few uh slides there that came from MEA if you're familiar with that. And uh these are the key dates that they gave us today. Of course, February 17th started and we'll get another budget forecast on February 27th, which will help the state to know where they're sitting. And then um sometimes

056governor will release another supplemental budget. It's not a finance year. Sometimes they won't. It's it depends on the year. And then they take a break and we get into policy bill deadlines, Easter finance bill deadlines. And then by May 18th, the session needs to be over. So it's a very quick session compared to a finance year. And uh so that's that. And then just some other types of things that you might find interesting. Um, as you know, the House is tied at 6767. They've had a couple special elections along the ways, but we're back to tied again. And, uh, the same speaker of the house will remain the speaker of the house. Um, the Senate DFL continues to have a one vote majority, 34 to 33. And then, um, there's quite a few people that

057are retiring out of the the legislature. So, there'll be quite a quite a few uh runoffs that'll end up happening for that. And then uh as I said, the February budget forecasts and maybe his supplemental budget. Um we'll see where that takes us. some of the things that um they're working on for schools defending the for formula inflator as you know that we're kind of guar the legislation legislature had passed a bill and signed by governor that we'll get between 2 and 3% based on the inflation right now it's going to be 2.69 69 for next year but keeping that so that there's a guarantee some kind of increase otherwise we can see zero and that really hurts schools along the way. So trying to keep that special education and access funding. There is that

058blue ribbon commission if you remember that is supposed to reduce $250 million for 2728. And if they can't find the $250 million then the cross subsidy of school districts is going to go up. And so uh they'll they're working on that right now and we're hoping not to lose any other kind of funding in its place. Otherwise it's just going to be a shift for us. If we lose access funding, that's not good for us either. So, we're going to have to wait and see what they come up with. Compensatory, I think we've talked about that one where right now we're on the hold harmless. If they were not to hold harmless for next year, it'd be a over $300,000 decrease for the for our district, but it's a decrease for many districts in the

059state. And they have a they have like a task force working on that as well. lobby fairness. Um, just looking at the different parts of the states and how the funding works, safe schools, and then constitutional amendment to improve the permanent school trust fund distributions. There's quite a bit of land up north where we get some money from that and they're trying to continue to increase those paybacks to schools. That might been Is that all the Yep. Okay. And then just a little bit of a negotiation update for HESP. Um, you might remember on January 27th we had an all day mediation and uh and we exchanged different proposals back and forth. Since then we have uh given HSP another proposal that we said we would after mediation was over and uh just uh just

060today I received a response and hadn't had a time to look at it yet. that came really late in the afternoon and so we do have a response back from them. But our next uh mediation is going to be on March 12th during spring break and we'll see where where that one takes us for them. And then for local 284, unfortunately their local steward hasn't been unable to meet and he just contacted me today and we're trying to set up a meeting now. It's been since before Christmas since we've been able to meet. So, um, but we don't have a lot of we have to wait for for that to resolve itself. So, hopefully we can meet now in the next month. >> And that's it. >> Thanks, D. >> Okay. Few district highlights. First,

061uh, the, uh, Tiger Bots, first label league, uh, competed in the state championship, I think, uh, that was over the president's weekend. I think on a Sunday, uh, they had a great performance. they were um top in their judging group for creative presentation and over the years they've done an excellent job in that category. They've come up with some pretty amazing um creative presentations and they also won the judges choice award for their overall performance. So congratulations to them and their and their performance at the state competition. And we have four uh wrestlers that are going to be competing in the state meet. I think that's starting here this the end of this week. Um and girls are Gabby von Berg and boys are Java Javon Santenno, Judah Peralt and Michael Mcracraft. So good luck

062to them. Um as the state wrestling is going to be underway. Um and I know Ava had spoken to the state qualifiers for the swim and dive meet. Uh so there are a number of students and a number of repeat names in a lot of these um races that they're going to be having. Leiden Jüks, Anton Eisenberg, Billy Whitty and Graham O'Neal in the medley relay. 200 Freestyle is Leighton Jüks and 200 IM is Anton Eisenberg. 500 freestyle is Leighton Jüks. Uh 200 freestyle relay is Graham O'Neal and Henry Jennison. Uh Jared Templan and Anton Eisenberg. And 100 backstroke Ivan Jennison. 100 breaststroke Anton Eisenberg. and 400 freestyle relay, Henry Jennison, Isaac Wilkkey, Jared Templan, and Leighton Jük. So, a lot of repeat names, a lot of uh swimming some of those kids are going

063to be doing. So, good luck to them as they um compete. Um at the high school um AP advanced placement um honor role, uh schools, uh there are a few categories in order to be named um either a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum award. and Hutchson High School uh received a bronze award. There are um just going to pull up a little bit of this data. I know I looked at it here today. Um out of 220 qualifying schools, 38% earn um some aspect of the honor role. And it is under categories about how many students take at least one exam, how many scored three or uh three or higher on at least one exam, how many took five or more of those exams. There's some categories depending on where the students all fall, how

064many we um are able to offer uh those sorts of things. And you either get the bronze, silver, gold, or platinum. So, wanted to recognize Hutchson High School for uh not only offering those programs, but the number of students that are taking them and the students that are performing well on those exams and getting uh college credit for taking those exams and the teachers that are teaching those courses and offering and having the passion for that. So, um nutrition services um hosted a Minnesota farm to school road show. I think that was the same night we had one of our strategic plan nights, too. There were districts that came together uh through the state. They they put this on yearly, but we hosted it this year uh to connect stakeholders um with farmers that are

065interested in providing farm-toschool um service or providing a farm to school and daycare. So, there just a few pictures that are here of the group. There was quite a few people here that night. They were all in the middle school cafeteria and then there's some pictures here of them touring um some of the areas and speaking and having a group picture. Just a few other items. Um I was elected to a third or second three-year term uh this past week for the on the being on the IG Burge Foundation. It's a it's a great um organization. and I'm proud to be part of that. I'm seeing a lot of um philanthropy outreach, a lot of community that um does submit um applications. So, we meet uh four times a year and so I'm going to

066be serving on that for another term. Um tomorrow night um we've had a lot of um relationship with the 2B continued organization. I know that you see that around um probably in the community. They've been involved in our school for a number of years. Uh so Tammy Dean reached out to me and asked if I would be uh potentially be a part of their board of directors. So tomorrow night I'll go to that meeting and um potential member to be part of their organization and the board of directors. So I'm uh proud to be part of that. I'm honored to be asked and um I'm thankful for their opportunity or the opportunities they provide our community and and our school district. Um January 8th we had eight support uh staff that successfully completed the redact

067training. So, we have more trainings that are continually throughout the year. So, we've got some more session three and four that are going to be continuing. So, um any staff then that aren't completed, we're going to try to work those in for workshop week and new staff that are coming on board. So, we're continually working through that. Um wanted to thank the team that worked on the language access plan. We'll talk about that here shortly, but wanted to thank them for for coming together and putting that plan together for this year that the board will act on here shortly. Um, I've had 17 meetings with uh the new teachers, individual meetings of the 19. Um, have a few more that are scheduled but haven't met yet. We discuss how their year is going. Gives me

068an opportunity to get to know them better, ask what any support they need, asking how the mentoring program is going, they've had an observation by their principal and how that has gone so far. Um, any district questions they have, suggestions for new teacher week. There's always some things that they say that they definitely enjoyed about new teacher week that they want to keep that even people coming from other school districts that say that they appreciate that we offer. Um and then um take any things as we plan for next year which I don't have the days down yet. So don't ask me Dan how many days teacher week. That's just the running joke that we have all the what when new teacher week starts. Um but everything's been very positive and um they're very appreciative

069of their mentor, their colleagues, their their administrators, the support that they've been provided this year. Um another piece about Read Act, we're we're doing what's called CAPD read basics in grades 4 through 12. Um there some uh families received a letter about that if so if students in grades 4 through 12 are not reading at grade level yet. Uh this is a another aspect of the read that we do need to um offer or we're supposed to test um they can opt out if they'd like but um it it does narrow down a little bit more about where some of those areas are that students need um support in. So um that's been going on in grades 4 through 12. Um our ads midyear report was completed. So, we we met as a ads team

070K12, we're supposed to submit a district um report that goes over everything from our do you know what your goals are, how are you doing on your goals, how many students are in, um do you have the things set up that you said that you would? And then we report that uh back to the state. Um and finally, thank you Julie for coming tonight. That was very good presentation. I'm when we went back to think about the strategic plan, uh really highlighting where what we're doing the kind of the the what, where, why, and how. So, I've been really excited to see where that is going and uh give us direction and how we what we want to do and can we get there and how we can do it. So, thank you. >> Thank

071you, Miss Paul. >> Good evening. There's a few updates on the operational side. Um, we're working to support all of the things that Mr. Dia and Dr. Scott mentioned. Um, in addition to planning the budget for next year to have that adopted by July 1, we're also working on a revised budget which we hope to bring forward at the March regular meeting. Um, current year spending is going to be winding down by March 31st. Um, and then like we've done in previous years because we don't have a dedicated technology funding stream, we'll reallocate those supply and equipment dollars towards purchases for those items for next year. Um, Mr. Dia mentioned that the administrative team is working on cost containment budget reduction packages for next year. We've met five times since the last board report to

072you and it is becoming increasingly challenging to find those areas where we can make reductions while maintaining class sizes and offering the courses in the secondary that the students are indicating they'd like through the registration process. Um this is not uncommon for districts that haven't raised revenue in this area following approximately 5 million in reductions over the past um 9 years, 10 years or so. So on behalf of all staff, the administrative team really appreciates the school board coming together and being willing to meet with us on Wednesday, March 18th for a special meeting to discuss potential revenue generating ideas. Um that's in accordance with fund balance policy that we look at both sides of the equa equation. So with expenses outpacing revenues um there is appreciation for that discussion. Um finance committee was held

073last week. So um I know um director Pullman will give an update but we did spend more time than usual on expense trend analysis which was a very healthy and timely discussion considering that we're working on the revised budget. Um we also talked about insurance and contract renewals that are up. the referendum discussion that is being planned. And then we talked about compensatory revenue. Um the funding formula for that has shifted over the past few years and the state legislature has provided a hold harmless. Um we need to find out this spring if they're going to extend that hold harmless into the next school year. Um MDE is not going to run a report for us. So what they've given is some calculators in Excel where we can run our own projections. Um MA the

074um agency that Mr. Diet was referencing in his his report um also provided some districtby district runs. Now without a hold harmless um it's important for all our stakeholders to know that in coming years we could be down three to $400,000. Um I need a chance to run that calculator. It just came out last week I think on Wednesday or Thursday. But I think that's important to keep in mind as we plan for the future as well. Um I don't have anything additional on negotiations but the team continues to support that project as well as paid family leave. Um one heads up that we want to provide to all stakeholders is that the conference um that we're a part of is working with a company called called Bound. Um right now our student registrations for

075activities run through a company called Affinity. so that there is smoother collaboration amongst all participating districts. Um for scheduling, um many districts are moving to bound, but the scheduling is just the beginning of some of the offerings that they have. Um we're also working to roll out point of sale for concessions and tickets with card readers. Um we'll also have advanced ticket sales next year and then um there'll be QR codes and we can track usage a lot better. So just everybody should stay tuned for more information on that because we're entering the beginning phases of implementation on that. Um Dr. Scott referenced the road show for food service. Um I think the other thing that I'd like to mention is the food service cooperative reviews annually um its program and agreement and that is

076recommended to continue for another year. However, we're tracking its um success very closely um on back of universal meals and then um a cooperative that's leading the state in farm to school. We just want to make sure that we have the right level of resources um for all districts to be successful in the years to come. Um, one update on technology, it may come up through the committee reports, but um, AI professional development is ongoing and through that technology is a part of some of the the things that I also work on, but there's a a committee that's been working on guidelines for next year. It sounds like a draft is done from that committee. So, it's heading towards administration next so that we'll all be able to review it and then we'll be able

077to bring that to the school board for approval. um before the next school year begins. Um so I think that would just be one other area to add as far as you know things that are happening operationally. I can take any questions. >> Thank you. All right, moving on to academic calendar. Uh did you say something? Oh, >> he took a break. >> Okay, >> I'll stop breathing. >> Sorry, >> it wasn't even a sigh. >> Did everyone have a chance to look at it? >> Okay. Uh, is there a motion to approve the academic calendar as presented? >> So moved. >> Motion by Pullman. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Secy. Any discussion on it? >> I just have a couple questions. Um, 2020 24 and 25 had a legislative requirement for e-learning

078days. 2526 had the admin's recommendation for a test with the agreement that some feedback would be given back to the board. Unless I've missed it, I don't think I've seen any of that feedback. And so, do we have the feedback from this year's e-learning day that was requested last year? We do have some feedback. Um, and if there's any other specific ones, um, you can, um, please ask and I can see if we can look that up. There were, um, West talking about absences. Uh, so at West Elementary, um, there were 57 student absences. Um, which is about 16% of the student population there. There were um one that one student that was marked sick, five that were out for family reasons, and 51 that were marked unexcused that didn't have um the assignments uh

079completed. Uh Tiger Elementary, there were 24 student absences. That's about 7% of the population. Uh there were four that were sick, nine that had family excused absence, and 11 that uh were unexcused, meaning they were not able to uh be online or do any of the packet work. Uh Park Elementary had 34 absence uh absences. There were nine that were marked for family reasons. Um and 15 that were not able to join for e-learning. So that was about 8% of the student population. um middle school there were um 29% of the students had at least one or more periods that were marked with an absence. 29% of students had um at least one period that was marked with absence. Uh so there were 178 um excused periods and 226 unexcused periods. And this is a

080seven period day. Uh so that is about an equivalent if you put all that together. I know I said about 180 students had at least one period. That's about 58 students that had a full day absence. If you want to compare apples to apples or something comparable to the elementarymentaries uh high school um there were approximately 24% of students who had um one or more absence which is 220 students had one or more periods absent on the sixth period day. So there were 255 excused periods, 195 unexcused periods. Um so on a sixth period day, that's equivalent to about 75 students total. If you again say if you were going to equate that to how many students had a full day of absence, that would be somewhere about 75. So you could compare across the

081the buildings. Um to put that into a little bit of a perspective um starting back at or I should sorry TAP uh we have 29 students in the TAP program. 24% of students uh were absent. There were seven absences. Uh four of them um were that had absences. Four of them were not able to join. Um two were two were sick and one out for family. Um to put that I just looked at one other day in December on December 12th. It was also a Friday um at West. So I originally said at West there were 57 absences on a another Friday like I said December 12th there were uh 49 absences uh versus the 57 that we had during the e-learning day. Tiger. Uh there were 39 absences in December versus the 24 that

082were in um on the e-learning day. Park had 36 on the December day versus the 34 that were at park or that were on the e-learning day at park. Uh the middle school um there were um 369 excused periods and 59 unexcused periods. Uh versus the that was on December 12th versus 178 excused periods and 226 unexcused periods on the e-learning day. Um, and then the high school, there were 402 excused periods on December on December 12th and 105 unexcused. Again, that was in comparison to 255 excused periods and 195 unexcused on the e-learning day. Um, in regard to staff absences um on the e-learning day, we had um Let me see. No, got to remove the staple here. 79 89 um staff members that had um some form of an absence that day. I

083can I have a little bit more there were um yeah I was a little more of a breakdown if you want to have have that. >> Do you have December 12th for staff? >> I don't I don't I could I could look that up but I didn't. >> Um do you have the number of sped students who received oneonone services who didn't have their services rendered? >> I do not other than tap. >> Okay. How about Chromebook issues on the day of e-learning or the day after? >> Yep. Uh in terms of uh tech issues at Tiger, uh there were some minor issues. Tech help right away was there was some camera issue with the teacher, but it it helped right away. And then a few families needed some help logging on, but it was

084fairly quick. Uh there was some email. Um Wes said there were about 85 emails that needed to be sent for some tech support, but it happened. things were happened very quickly. Um, Chromebooks were returned. Um, I think there at West or all the two that were returned on the next day, but then all of them got back the remainder of the week because those students were not there the next day. Um, 54 absent, there were 54 staff absences on December 12th. Thanks, Becky. This was also kind of a unique e-learning day because the cold weather was known way in advance. So I was able to alert um the day before that we are going to send these home and they all got sent home paras and students that we had them for whereas sometimes you

085don't know until too late but they had plenty of um warning that this was potentially coming. So in the 2526 calendar, I believe six of six board members were not in favor of e-learning due due to unforeseen circumstances that changed. And so how did the calendar committee come to the conclusion that should have e-learning without consulting the board first? >> Well, the board was there. Two members were there. I don't know. Sarah, if you want to speak to that or you >> I actually did speak to that at the first of the two meetings and um I did reiterate that at some point when we are no longer cutting um that we will still be interested in no longer having e-learning days, but at this point um the cuts that we're going to make this

086year, and I think that um Dan and Rebecca explained it very nicely. But the truth is it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt this year. We're going to feel it. Um, and at this point, the idea that we are going to spend the extra money, which I think is valuable and you think is valuable, is too hard to stomach when we're already making cuts that will hit programs and hit class sizes in a way that is going to be detrimental to our students. So I informed them that once we are done with the cuts, it is going to be the uh want of the board that we no longer have e-learning days. But until then, we should probably consider we should probably continue what's going on. >> So Becky, when's the last year that

087we did not have any reductions? >> I will need to think back. I think the only year that we tabled reductions was in the spring of 2020 when we were planning for the 2021 school year. Um in all other years there was some sort some form of reduction. Um, I should clarify that as the ESSER, the pandemic relief funds rolled off, there were reductions those years, but some of that was masked as those funds rolled off andor were transitioned into state grants. So those post-pandemic years, those were complicated. But the year in which we had regular business going on, 2020 was the only year that we tabled that not knowing what was ahead of us. >> And tableabling doesn't mean we didn't see an increase in expenses and a reduction in >> I said that

088backwards. >> Correct. >> We still took a hit to >> There wasn't right. There wasn't a time in school district's history where revenues were as uncertain as that point in time. >> And even though we have lots of trend analysis and history that we launch our projections from, our district wasn't comfortable making a projection for the following year until we had a better sense for what the state and federal government was going to be doing with funding streams. Um and then if you go back further um before my time I do believe there were substantial reductions in 12 and 13 uh with a pause in 14 15 and 16 on back of the referendum that rolled out 11 12 and 13. >> So in your opinion with the current state of the district when will

089we have a year without reductions in the future? um we would need to make a lot of assumptions together um in order to project that point in time. Um for the foreseeable five years with what we know um keeping largest part of our budget um is staffing personnel costs. Keeping in the assumptions that we currently have for those settlements and assuming there aren't significant economic development, businesses moving in or out, enrollment progression with what we know today, and then a lack of increased referendum revenue. We're going to be looking at expenses outpacing revenue to the tune of 500,000 to a million depend, you know, each of the next five years. Um, as a school district, that's as far as we look out when there are so many things out of our control and we're so

090closely tied to legislative actions and initiatives. Um, so with the assumptions that we have mapped out today, we don't see a year where reductions won't be happening unless one of those significant variables shift. the the main drivers of our re our our budget are student enrollment. I mentioned that which is tied to economic development and birth rates. Um settlements 80% of what we do is people um and then local referendum revenue is increasingly important um considering the political economic landscape the federal and state government. So, we don't see a time where we're removing e-learning despite it being wrong for student achievement. >> That was not the summary of my statement. I >> I would like to address just you said why bring it without asking the board, but the two board members there made it

091clear to us that we should include it >> to bring to the board until a different time. So, that we did consult the two the two that were on there to bring it with it in there. If they had told us something different, we would have we would have considered that as well. So, >> despite six members voting against it last year, >> well, the the do you mean the final vote or the >> No, when we took the recommendation of the admin team to remove it from the calendar due to its impact on student achievement. I think one of the factors that changed in that and what the budget piece that we're talking about is when um the ESST clarification came that on a e-learning day when we call school off and our hourly

092because of the legislation um on can use an ESST day because their workplace closed there's a cost a financial cost to that up to those five days at what would what was calculated if everybody did that >> I think it was about 27 $75,000 >> $175,000 to pay for a day that is not is not a school day and then is going to be made up later where people be paid when students are present. I think >> no that was a the total for the five five days if everybody was able to do that. So I think that >> impact um changed >> you know the a variable of do we have these or not? Is it if we were going to do those and um could average that out and it's going to be

093a you know we had one already this year are we going to we didn't have any more but we I guess it was it was one would one have been the cost of potentially not not having e-learning and then next year is how many will it be I think that that was where I guess a variable changed um which is um why it's still a factor of having e-learning days in there or as a consideration I guess of coming now for the board to talk about it, discuss it, and either vote the the current calendar up or down. >> I think that's where it came from. If I'm otherwise, we were what we did the first time was, you know, we we're in the business of having students in front of us. We are not

094an online school. We are even though there are good aspects of it, people work very hard to make it work as best they can. We know there are more flaws than if kids can be in with us because that's what we do. We're an in-person institution of education, not an online institution of education for all students on these inconsistent basis of e-learning. I think that I think I think we all can wrap our heads around that and and realize that it's best to have them in front of us in the building. um the variable of the um legislative um statute of ESST changed that factor and and and moving forward with with a recommendation for having e-learning days remain as a as a variable. I don't know if there's no that's where it changed last

095year. I mean we you guys have given your opinion and then this ESST law came out and made it very clear that they can get paid twice and if that happened five times it would be close to 300 you know 275,000 and then the board re rethought it through and that's that's what the final vote was last year and then the two board members there made you know gave their opinions about this year coming up and how they felt and then we put that in there to bring it to the full board so that you would have a vote from there. >> Did the admit team take the time to establish benchmarks for success like we talked about in 2526's discussion? How many teachers are we okay with being out? How many students in each

096grade level are we okay with being out? How many special ed students are we okay not receiving services? Do we have those benchmarks? is 89 teachers and staff absent delivering an effective student learning day. We looked at, you know, we took a day in December, like he said, just any ordinary Friday, and looked at the differences between the two. Um, the absences and students weren't all that huge between the two. there were there were more um uh there may have been some more staff out from that. Um it is hard to say whether better or worse learning happened that day, but I think what Dr. Scott was saying is it is harder to do it online, of course. So, I guess you have to weigh all that based on and then the amount of money

097it might cost the district to have those days or not have those days. Uh, but I think we'd have to have more than one e-learning day to have data that would be something we could rely on also. And we haven't had that many. I mean, we had one last year, this year, but some year it could be five, too. So, I I would just close with I I think we asked for some measurable data. We have to run on objective reality. And although I appreciate the numbers, there's nothing to to compare it to to see if that's successful. Um, student absences weren't as significant as maybe were anticipated, but we have to identify as 89 staff being gone effective. You know, we didn't even have a number for how many special ed students didn't receive

098their full one-on-one suite of services. Um I I think we need to see what the admin team says is a successful day before we can move forward and say that this is the route that we're going to take. I would say as a person who was part of making that decision and has been in all the board meetings, with all due respect, this board as a group has decided we are willing to continue to cut teachers, programs, and we're going to have to do it again. And the idea of cutting another 275,000, whether or not we have those days, we still have to budget for having those days for next year. And until this board decides that we are ready to stop cutting, this is just one of those things we have to cut whether

099we like it. Well, I shouldn't say this is one of the things that are on the table to cut. And it's fair that that's not one of the things you want to have cut. >> Anything more on that you guys? >> I just have one thing. Um, if we had to cut $275,000 from the budget, would we have to decrease staff? Cuz I'm thinking we might have to. And then if we had to decrease staff, would that increase the uh student class size? And if we had to increase the student class size, would the students then be getting a a lesser product? That would be my only concern. And I would think that might be the case, but that's my only concern. So, thank you Sarah. >> This might be a question for history guys

100referring to what Mosc Mozer is talking about is the times where we didn't have e-learning where we did just call school and we had to do a makeup day. have we I haven't thought through this is going back I am not trying to criticize anything but what were the effective times of making those days up or going back at least six seven years I I really have forgotten when e-learning started >> and years probably a couple of years before co because we started well I remember because my kids as high schoolers and then it moved I think to junior high I think the high school maybe had already practiced e-learning days um before CO started which is why as a district this may sound shocking but we did handle it a little better than other

101districts during CO because we had practiced it some at the high school level >> got it and I bleed your frustration on a lot of things, Mike. I really do. And yes, remember acknowledging how are we doing year-over-year with this program? What are our benchmarks? When is it unacceptable? Yep. I'm there. I'm just trying to ask the next follow-up thing, the next calendar committee, and asking the staff is what is the value of even our makeup days? >> And that's Dan, it's not a question today. It's more just thinking out loud is >> not challenge anything. It's just trying to figure out how do we accomplish what we're doing with >> what we need to get done. >> It's a great question. It depends on when you make the day up. I would say if

102you're making it up in the middle of the year, great. If you're making it up at the end, you know, the second week in June, probably not as great just because it's getting towards the end, right? So if the calendar has days in it that you can have makeup days and do it I don't want to say more meaningful but you know more in the middle of the year uh th those days would be a little easier to say that they're better days than towards the end of the year when you know people are looking to get out of school and go do their things and stuff. So, it's a good question though. Depends on I think it depends on that >> we would literally needing to be looking at if we did not ever

103want to do e-learning day, we would have to essentially work in 5 days in trimester 2 somewhere. >> Correct. I I had about four of them last year be when we had the draft calendar out. I had sort of had four of them in there. I don't know if I could come up with the fifth, but I think I put at the end of June or at the end of the year uh before this ESST thing kind of started. So, I was make trying to make that happen. Um, and and get as many days uh before May as possible. So, it's not easy because you you know, you're taking less time off and there's less breaks and things like that. So, that's my two cents. It depends on when you put the days in will

104determine how, you know, how where how well everybody is in the right mindset. Right. It's more the mechanics going into the calendar next year already is how would you mechanically actually shove in five days that if you don't use them, what would you do? And this is I don't want to discuss it at this second, but that's going to be the >> I call it the volley back from the board to the district is how would you actually do it? How would you put it in? And if there's never a snow day, >> Yeah. >> what do you do? You just not and that's just a thing. I think that's what we need to get to versus >> Yeah. Now, >> how do you how do you cut 250,000 out in the event? >> I

105want to go back to the committees because um I hope these are the assumptions. We I we put two people on this now from the board instead of one, right? Our assumption is this. We had a lot of these meetings, by the way, before e-learning ever took place this year. A lot of our meetings took place before that. is that if we have two board members there um and they're giving us their reaction, they're also going back to the other board members and reporting out. I don't know if that happened. I'm just saying this is what we think is happening. And so we are trying to include the board by the time we get here tonight. Our assumption is unless we've heard something before from those two that we are we are moving forward with

106what's being presented. You still get to vote it up or down. That's our assumption of committee work. makes sense. >> And Garrett, if I can speak to that last question you asked, when we were discussing what a possible calendar would look for 2728, >> where were we going to find those days? Could we build them into build them into the year? We had talked about maybe starting school a week earlier or ending school a week later. >> Yeah, >> there is some appetite for that from one side of the room. I was seeing a lot of people like, "Yeah, we like that idea. Build in more breaks. Maybe we do in person. We add those back in throughout the year." And then the other half was like, "Let's not mess with it. Let's start the

1071st of September and be done by the first Friday." So, that will be um a discussion that will be complicated. and um we send out surveys to the every member of the uh the district and the variety of representatives. So, um yeah, so there is discussion about how that could be. >> Thank you. All right, motion's in May, motion's in second. There's discussion. All in favor of the calendar that's present, say I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Hi. >> All right. Calendar pass 31. On to the language access plan, Mr. Scott. >> So, the language access plan was attached to the agenda um in the 202526 school year. Um we have to adopt a language access plan that is a document that is showing um basically uh that how we are going to be providing

108assistance to students and families um with documents uh communication um in um language other than English um if that's per the language that they need the information in. Um so we need to make this available to the public needs to be put in our handbooks as we move forward. Um so this is uh something that the board does need to um vote on and approve. So we had a committee that came together uh four or five times um that consists of some district administration or EL um teachers uh to come forward with TR recommendations for and process for translation interpretation when those things can happen when they should happen during the workday how that families can access these uh services um and who to contact when they need it. >> Thank you. Is there a

109motion to approve the plan as presented? So moved. >> Motion by Mossman. Is there a second? >> Second by Diane. Discussion. >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Post same. Plan as pass. Thanks Scott. Thank you. >> All right. On to the public summary. And there we have. Uh just a reminder for all of us. Uh we met with Dan Deetsz on January 12th. We went through the new uh superintendent evaluation process. And this is the summary kind of came up with and made some suggestions and this is his semi ann evaluation. So thank you again Dan. All right on to excuse me about that committee reports. >> Education lensure Diane you ready? >> Okay we met on January 12th. Um, just so you know, the education lensure committee meets to make sure

110that our educators are doing their continuing education credits and that's working out really well. Director Scott makes manages that team and we look into it and make sure all the um CEU areas are also accredited. So everything's going well. I don't think we and the teachers who we have who are maybe needing to hurry up are being notified. it's all kept. Uh Tina does a great job of making sure that um all their documentation is maintained and I think that's going quite well. So no no problems. >> All right. Um would you like to continue on to facilities? >> Yes, I would. Um the facilities committee met last week. There are some things that we need to be aware of. Uh we have some roof repairs to to uh take care of. Um that'll be

111under a regular operating budget. Um let me see. Um there's just different buildings and so since the buildings get older, the roofs get a little bit uh leaky, but our staff is taking good care of that. Um the pool filters are a concern. We're still looking for quotes on on fixing those. There are sand filters and they're quite old and so those have to be um fixed or replaced. So, we'll have to keep working on that. Uh tiger windows are still an issue, but the district is taking care of that. Uh letters have been sent to the companies that um did the installation. That's where the uh the problem is. Let me see. Uh we did have uh the center pole at the tennis court uh snapped off. So that's going to have to be

112repaired. And I Oh, and then we had the curtains at I believe the high school that need to be replaced for the stage because they're quite old and they don't they're they're unsafe. So, we have to replace those because they're uh a fire hazard. If they they catch on fire, they're not going to be fire retardant anymore. So, those are the things we have to work on. That's it. >> Thank you. Finance, Miss Bullman. >> Well, gosh, on the whole finance idea, I can't tell you that when we did the whole redo of the high school, that stage and the everything there, that was not updated. So that has been there a long time. Um as far as finance our uh revenue uh we're at 53% of the budget for the year. Um it's slightly

113behind due to prior years uh because of the federal government timing for special ed and title revenue. Um but we're at the exact same 53% of the budget that we have spent and that is on track for this time of the year. Um, and I guess I have to revisit this. It's on my long list. Um, the board will be meeting soon to discuss about uh possible uh referendum levy option to have more revenue. Um, and just wanted to reiterate that this budget that we're working on will be a cut. And regardless of what we decide about a vote in November, that does not negate that for the year 2627 that those cuts still need to happen. If we decide we want to go for a referendum, those cuts still have to happen. They affect

114the following year. Sometimes calendars can get a little confusing. So, just wanted to let you all know that even if we were to decide that, we're still going to have to agree to a agree to a budget cut to maintain our 28% fund balance. That's all. >> Thanks, Sarah. All right. Technology >> uh technology met uh late last week. Uh was fairly brief meeting. Uh we did discuss infosc training participation which is the training that uh the IT team sends out in hopes that we um do some professional continuing education for our staff. Um they have seen some pretty steady declines in participation um mid mid 30% of staff are participating. Um it was talked about not in this meeting but in our last meeting perhaps getting a breakdown by building so that administrators can

115begin um touching base with their staff and ensuring that it's a priority. Um and that brings me to my next topic which is fishing simulation. Um the IT team sends out intentional fishing attempts. Um we we do seem to perform pretty well. still not a number that the IT team is happy with, but we see about 8% of people um click into those scams. Um luckily they're they're tests. Um but that when you think about the grand scheme of things is a pretty big risk for the district when 8% of staff um are potentially putting some liability risk on the district. So um just another thing that they're using in their um their wheelhouse to track how we're doing. Um a little bit of discussion happened about the AI work group. As of now that

116work group is made up of primarily um teachers uh support professional and the admin team. Um there has been an interest from the student body and some participation on their behalf. Um which is why we had our discussion earlier today about bringing that maybe to their student representatives. Uh we did talk a little bit about um replacements for hardware going into the next year. some subscription costs changes uh and then communication tools that are being used around the district. Uh but otherwise just a productive conversation and uh they're looking forward to their midyear inventory for helping the finance team prioritize uh replacements going into next year. >> Yeah. And we are getting closer to looking at a tool to be able to text and call. Maybe you said that. Did you say that one? >>

117Yeah. New communication tool. >> We have that one. >> Yep. which would um right now what we're seeing and and the most recent snow day is maybe not a great example cuz it was less uh sudden than some of our other snow days, but we see very few parents click into the email, find out that maybe buses are running late if there's a weather event. And so something like a rapid text program or even a call and a voicemail would be a really effective tool at getting urgent messages out to families. And so they're testing some options. Uh hopefully coming up with a recommendation for the district. >> Okay, I have three things. One, so they know if I'm clicking to read my email about >> Okay, so I'm part of the problem because I

118get two, one as a parent and one as an employee. >> And so I will do better so you have a better rate. Also, I hear it from like from everybody. So do I click on it? Yeah, but it's days later because I already knew it via Facebook or somebody around town. But I will do better so that number looks better. Second point of clarification. Um, when I get something that I'm pretty sure is spam, um, not spam, but clickbait fishing, am I supposed to always forward that to Nick so he knows I recognize it or just not click on it? >> It's a good question and it depends on the platform that you're using. So, mobile platforms aren't as effective at reporting fishing. So in that case, forwarding to Nick is probably your your

119best option. If you're on a desktop or a computer, a laptop, there should be a fishing button. >> Oh, >> and if you click that, it reports it to the IT team and you get a kudos for your catch if it's a test. Otherwise, it helps them eliminate it from the server so that other staff members who might receive it don't click into it. But avoid clicking into it. If it seems suspicious, forward it or select the fishing button. Oh, I need to select the fishing button because I like kudos. >> Oh, there you go. >> All right. And third, I don't know if the other board members do this infosc. It is hilarious. Have you done it yet? >> Yeah. >> Are you asking me? >> You particularly. >> No, I have reported everything

120as spam or fishing. So, I am when you're Mike, when you're asking for building, I would be more concerned about the board not participating. >> Sure. I >> that suck. I thought it was all >> particularly the board chair. But let me say like this is so funny. They have like a I don't know like a vampire and the tooth fairy that are all part of an office. It's funny enough. I've shown family members. So click on it. It's entertainment and it lasts like less than five minutes. Maybe we should >> Okay. in our tiger time. Dr. Scott, >> Show a video. So that and you don't even have to do the quick five minute test to see if you It is hilarious. Maybe that's how we get staff to do it. Maybe on a

121staff development day. >> Do them all at once. >> I mean, it's >> it's true entertainment. And I mean, we get the tiger tidbits that have great jokes from Tina that are lighthearted, but let me tell you, these infosexs, if we're paying money for it, we might as well have staff enjoy it, including our board chair. >> You guys, that was not supposed to be the highlight of our meeting was the scam. Like, there was a lot of other material prior that was supposed to be more engaging, but that Okay, >> you should bring some joy. >> All right. All right. Thank you. Um, upcoming board meetings, just so everyone is aware, we are not having a work session. It's over spring break and there's just not as many people available for that one. And

122we'll be back here March 23rd. >> And March 18th, it's not a Monday. Is that correct? >> No, it's our finance meeting, right? >> And we're going to end at 5:30 >> and move into a special meeting to talk about levies and referendums. >> Yep. I just wanted to clarify that. I know it'll be a popular meeting. >> It was the easiest time to get everybody together at once. So, >> Wednesday, I think that is. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. >> Hearing nothing else. Is there a motion for adjournment? >> So, move. >> Motion by Pullman. Second. >> Second by Diane. All in favor say I. >> I. Meeting adjourned.