001The Monday, March 9th, 2026 Invergrove Heights Community School Board of Education's regular meeting is called to order at 5.32 p.m. Tonight, we are meeting at the middle school. As a reminder, all public comment during regular school board meetings must be related to an information or action item on that night's agenda. The district holds public listening sessions prior to all regular board meetings to allow participants to speak on topics that aren't on the agenda. More information on these can be found on the district's website. This meeting is being recorded and access to the recording will be made available as soon as possible on the district's website. Our mission is to inspire, innovate, excel. A community commitment. Board Clerk Shayna Dukes is absent this evening. So board vice chair Klingner will please take a roll call. Member
002Dukes absent. Member Klingner present. Member Pearson present. Member Lowesberry present. Member Larson present. Member Nehemiah here. Member Warwick here. All right, please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Do I have a motion and a second to approve tonight's agenda items? Motion by Member Larson. Second by Member Warwick. All right. Motion by Member Larson. Second by Member Warwick. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items? Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Klingner. Motion by Member Pearson, second by Member Klingner. Any discussion? All those
003in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right, we've got donations on the board. Thank you to everyone who has donated to our district in this last month. Your generosity and support of our schools and community is greatly appreciated and they do this for our students. We will begin tonight with the middle school staff. So welcome, Principal Drug and... Thank you for having us. I'm gonna let my staff introduce themselves real quick so you know who is all with us tonight. Casey Terberber, Assistant Admin. Jason Voss, Assistant Principal. Jesse Annis, Assistant. Thank you very much for coming to our wonderful IMC. I was able to kind of connect with a few of you just to kind of help center you a little bit. why we're so proud of this space and the growth that's
004come in into this one room. Just even in the last year with having Casey Miller come in and our new media tech para, they put a lot of work into this space to make it a welcoming space, bright, full of color. And it just is kind of one of those things that helps speak to the vibe and the growth that we're having at the middle school if this works. Just to start a little bit off about our school, these are our demographic breakdown. We are a richly diverse building and we love that about our school. It really just brings in a wonderful amount of perspectives and viewpoints. And as we continue to build in student choice and voice into our building, our demographics really help set us apart from the buildings and the communities around
005us. So we just want to go through a handful of things that make Invergrove Heights Middle School a great place to learn and a great place to teach. One of those things right now for us and a main focus for us this year has been our AVID program. Abbott really focuses on preparing all students by making sure that they have a lot of pieces in place to close that opportunity gap for kids. This is a really important year for us as a building because we are going through what's called revalidation. Revalidation sets us apart from just any other school that has Abbott in it because it sets us up as a center for teaching and learning. We then get the opportunity then to do a showcase and invite people into our building to help them
006see how we do AVID at a really high level. It speaks volumes about the work that our teachers and our students have done throughout the year to make sure that these practices are implemented with fidelity building-wide. And so it's not just something that we do, but it is very much who we are. One of the really cool parts of AVID that we've been pouring a lot of energy into is incorporating what's called AVID Excel. AVID Excel is a part of AVID that works specifically with our ML students to help them with college and career readiness. It also helps to accelerate that learning acquisition process. We have an AVID, our AVID showcase and our revalidation is just right around the corner. It's on March 19th, and so we are very, very heavily planning that right now.
007The picture that you see up on this slide is actually of one of our AVID cell classrooms. This was one we had to walk through in the beginning of the year, I want to say it was in November. And this is a Socratic seminar that our students were working through, which is sort of an inside and outside circle. So the students read an article or they're there to talk through something that they've been working on. And the people on the back side are handing the people on the inside notes to help. Aid in that conversation and so it becomes a very rich and diverse conversation about what they're learning about and really aids in their understanding of the topic and It really helps to deepen their perspective Across the subject. It's a really really cool
008experience And if you ever get the opportunity to come in and visit us I would like to see something like this in action. We'd be happy to set that up How often is that revalidation? Every three years So AVID is here to support all of our learners, and that's part of our 199 way, part of our learning framework. So the focus for AVID is to make sure that we're not just telling the kids what to learn, but we're trying to work with them on how to learn different things and making sure that they're engaging with that process of learning. And so it really supports that relationship, belonging, and engagement that we have at 199. There's multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression. And so we want to make sure that we're doing a
009lot of that collaboration, inquiry in the classroom throughout AVID. We intentionally help learners. who are motivated, resourceful, and goal-oriented. AVID is here to help students make sure that they become learners now at the middle school level, but also that they become learners at the high school level and also at that post-secondary level. So that's why we want to make sure that through that 199 wave, we're helping them now again and then in the future too. That AVID in action, this is something, those of you that are parents here of middle schoolers, you guys see this every single week. We highlight this. Jen Moe, she's our AVID site coordinator. She sets this up. She goes around to all of our classrooms. And again, this is something with AVID that all of our teachers are engaging in
010every single day. And so she goes around checking to see what we're doing in the classroom. She helps support. all the different things that are going on in the classroom. And she makes sure to highlight this, and Matt will send it out in his weekly letter, to show the families that these are things that are going on and to show the different AVID activities that we've got going on and what they're doing to help our students learn and really understand. Again, it's not what the students are learning, but it's how they're really engaging and working with that process so that they become deeper learners in the classroom. because that's what we really need our learners to do as part of that 199 way. So again, that comes out every single week. I think this week
011we had seven different teachers that were highlighted with that. And so throughout the year, every single teacher will be highlighted with that admin action. It's a very important and critical part of what we do here at the middle school. We really want our families to have that piece behind the curtains of like what are you actually learning in school every day? We feel like this is a great way for our families to be able to actually see the evidence of what's happening in the classroom. One of the real focuses for me this year is figuring out how do we continue to expand opportunities for kids at the middle level. One of the things that I really want to talk about with you guys tonight is the introduction of our middle school activities director, Jackson Ryan,
012which was a new position that came into our building throughout the year and has been such a valuable resource for us as a building. Getting kids involved and engaged these days is tough, right? There's a lot of different opportunities for kids. We know that when they're here, it adds that sense of belonging, engagement, and allows us to continue to build relationships with kids. And so this is a key role that we've been really building into over the last several months to continue to work on that and expand opportunities for kids. He's been able to do a lot of work just in a short amount of time. to bring something, if you haven't seen what STOMP is yet, it's maybe my new favorite thing on the planet. I like to describe it as aggressive cheerleading. And
013it has been such a wonderful activity for after school for our students. He's also introduced jazz band. We've got theater and middle school playback up and running. Of course we have our athletics, but that doesn't fit everybody's needs. So we've also been spending a lot of time this year just planning. What can we bring forth next year when we have had the time to work together and get all the plans in place? And so we're excited to be offering downhill ski club and snowboarding again. working at filling out a girls flag football program that will help feed into the high school as that's now an up-and-coming at Sport and then also offering just an open gym after school for kids a healthy safe place for kids to go after school to get a little bit
014of energy out play together and have some fun in a structured space Flex redesign we have flex in the middle of the day after fourth hour for about 20-25 minutes And we are hoping that it will look a little bit different. I think starting fourth quarter It's being redesigned by teachers. There's about 20 teachers that have been coming together and planning for what that could look like. This also will hopefully be another spot where we can provide more opportunities for students and they can do different student groups or clubs during that time instead of after school. Transportation can be hard after school for some, so I think during the day is our goal so that everyone has access to it. The GRIT program, Girls Reimagining Tomorrow. This is new this year, I believe, because I
015don't think this is last year. And this is hopefully going to have girls be exploring different STEM opportunities and roles or jobs, careers that would typically be taken by men or like majority men. There's four field trips in the year we've done two. We have two left. At each field trip they get to meet other students. Is it across the nation, I believe, too? Not just like the state or our district, but just the nation. They have female keynote speakers at every one. Different CEOs, I think, is the next one is a female CEO from a different company. So something really cool. I've never heard of it. Really intriguing to me, and I think it's good for them to get out and explore and see some of that in action. Open gym principal drug kind
016of touched on after school currently we do open gym in the morning To help get some of that energy out as soon as they arrive or counselors are in there supervising But yeah, some kids just need a little extra, you know, they don't always fit into like the theater and sports of your they can like just have fun and be kids So incentivize with Open Gym? Oh yeah, we do incentivize with Open Gym as well. So we have goals and plans with students who are maybe struggling, whether it's attendance, tardies, behavior, academics, and then we'll set goals with them. And if they make their goals, we have it on every Friday where students are able to come and join us in Open Gym. Mr. Hannes will talk about PBIS a little bit, and that's part
017of that with some other things that are tied to that, like Spark Shoutouts and whatnot. but yes we incentivize with that too kids love it they don't have to participate they can sit with their friend in open gym and just chit chat and catch up so they don't have to shoot a basketball or a volleyball it's been really fun for me as well i don't speak for mr hannes but i've seen him having fun there as well connecting with different students in a different way It's just fun. I look forward to every Friday to do that with the kids. Therapy Animals was new last year. As you can see, 400 students plus staff, not just our building staff, but from the district office have come down and participated and visited with our therapy dogs. It's
018all community partners. People who were here the first time wanted to come back because it was such a positive experience. We got to meet one of the canine from... We have a police department and his handler, his name was Asher. Super fun, super cool. Just great. I think we had four dogs come this last time, which was more than the first time as well. So it's continuing to grow. You're kind of thinking of what that could look like to maybe have a school-like therapy dog. You know, that's the future. It's yeah kids really connect you know kids that you don't normally see needing that they're strong to the dog and the dog is strong to them so it's really positive experience so we hope to continue doing that. Student newspaper has grown. Oh good you
019put it in there. I talked to Ms. Maloney today and she said they originally started with about 10 to 12 students. And then from COVID until now, it has grown to 60 students. This is all student-driven, student-created, student-written. The only thing Ms. Maloney has to do is type it up. So it's all about student voice, current trends, light K-pop. I know you're super proud of that. If you're interested in what's happening in the K-pop world, I had no idea the depth to which there is a K-pop world, but our student newspaper is the number one place to get that information. Be sure to read the next one. And then Students for Change, that group is really focused on creating a positive experience for our students. They oversee and create our spirit weeks. They did a
020clothing drive. They did door decorating. They are kind of like, not really a panel, but they create all the fun. And it's all, again, student voice. They don't have to ask us, like, hey, what should we do for spirit wear? No, you decide. Like, it's a really trusting group. Yeah, door decorating was probably one of my favorites. It's fun to walk around and also see them doing that together, you know, outside their classrooms and getting excited about it. What did I miss? Good? Good. All right, along with some of those expanding opportunities, we have initiatives that our PBIS team works on every year. So this year, our Good Vibes Cafe. Last year, I had kind of tests run in a couple Fridays. This year we're doing it every Friday where we set up the library
021here. We have music going, hot chocolate, lots of games set out for the kids. Karaoke. We do some karaoke sometimes. But it's a good way for a lot of the kids that don't feel as connected to find a space where they do feel like they belong here and are able to connect with their friends and build those relationships. The shout outs, we're in year two here. We've been pushing those again. We're shooting for hopefully 10,000. We hit 7,100 last year and we're on pace for about 8,000 right now. We'll have a couple of pushes. Those shout outs are sent by teachers to students when they see them doing good work or positive things. They go to the families and the students. It's a good way to easily connect and bring some positivity to those families.
022And this year we're also doing the PBS Awards weekly. Those are included in the newsletter. And we choose about 10 kids per grade level. It's an additional shout out. They get a reward or a prize. Can I get a picture with Mr. Grud? Do what everybody wants. Yes, absolutely. Another thing that is in the works this year is a logo redesign That's a banner there that you can see it's still under construction There's been some pretty good headway. I know the team that's working on that is pretty excited about Kind of simplifying and really bringing out Reflecting our students It was really driven from this idea that the current logo is this very complex art movement. And really we wanted something a little bit more simple, but that really spoke to what are the kids
023engaged with here in the building. And so we've been working through a bunch of different layers of trying to get some design and feedback from students and staff, as well as district stakeholders. And so we're hoping to unveil that next year. So every week we send out a family newsletter. Again, this is just to try to keep our families engaged. And so Matt will send out a newsletter just highlighting the different things that have happened in the week or things that are going to happen. We have some wonderful things every single week that we're doing. And so, again, it's trying to make sure that our families know the fantastic things that are going on every single week so that they can engage. If they have any questions, they can ask us anything that's going on.
024But it's a wonderful way for us to talk with different people in the community about what's going on throughout. I just found that middle school is kind of one of those places where you ask your kid, what did you do today? Nothing. And as you can see for those of you who have children in the middle school There's a lot more going on here than nothing And as I was able to come into the position one of the really important pieces for me was making sure that our community Understood what a wonderful school. This is what great opportunities kids have here and how well they're taking care of so this is really my main method of Collaborating with families and making sure that we like I said before with the admin action Pull the curtains
025back and really give them some insider access to work their kids are experiencing during the day, what curriculum they're working on. And I think it's been just a really, really positive way for the community to continue to see the great work that our teachers are doing here. Last piece that I really want to hit on has been the group of people that I get to work with. Beyond the administrative team and the support staff, but the amazing teachers that are in this building. It really has been a truly personal highlight for me this year to build these relationships out with this new teaching staff. And I have been absolutely blown away. I get to spend a lot of my time going into classrooms. Doing just the informal walkthroughs was a huge part of how I
026spent especially the first half of the year. And every classroom I went into, there was something really, really positive to pull out from. Beyond the engagement of the kids, the instruction is done at a really, really high level. Expectations are high for kids throughout the building. And I just have very, very sincerely been extremely impressed. by the work that our teachers are doing and I think that they deserve a particular shout out and this opportunity to make sure that everybody else in the community understands that as well. The kids in this building are well taken care of by the teachers here. They work exceptionally hard and I am extremely, extremely proud of that staff. Beyond that. Really just thank you guys for the opportunity to come and speak with you guys tonight I would love
027to have you come through the building and all we've been able to walk Walk through with Dave and I and a couple of you and just know that that invitation is always open I'm happy to brag about this building because it's such a wonderful place You guys have any questions? We'd love to answer I feel like I read through the emails pretty well. I was not aware of open gym Or like how if a student wanted to get involved with students for change, how were those communicated up to families? That's a good question. At the beginning of the year we didn't send out anything specific through the family newsletter, but internally they're shared out pretty widely through announcements and things like that. I think it's just one of those growing things for me is making
028sure that all those initiatives that we're pumping out for students also get shared out in those family newsletters. I'll be the first to tell you that being a first year principal is a lot at the beginning of the year. And so it's one of those things where you just kind of continue to grow into it. But yeah, it's just continuing to expand that communication. is really important. You know, they come home and say nothing happened. So I would like that information to come from your middle schooler. I have an eighth grader, so you never know. I do appreciate, I've been pushing for better communication from the middle school for, what have I had a kid, five years now? And so it's definitely improved. I think... Just the look of the emails and stuff that come
029out make a big difference. They look different. There's different things coming every time, and I think it's a little more eye-catching and better. And I also appreciate the emails that have been coming about the activities to those separate ones. I talked to, I forget who it was, a couple of years ago, and I'm like, there's got to be more happening here. What else is happening? How do we find out about the other activities that are going on? So hopefully that just continues. I'm looking forward also to great opportunities. I will add for open gym, flex teachers can also sign up every week on Fridays to bring in a whole class. So we have, is it, Hannes, is it two or four? I think it's four teachers that sign up every week. So kids can do
030that if their teacher signs up as well. So it's not just us choosing individual ones. Like seventh graders will run to me and the captain will be like, can I come to open gym? I'm like, how are your grades? How are your tardies? Okay, come on down. So yeah, there's opportunities there too. We just talked about that age group and older needing more activities. Again, my eighth grader is still like, we need recess. Why don't we have recess? I'll see what I can do. I make no progress. The clock's ticking here for my family anyway. Well, can I, I will say, I think. There's so many so many great things that were just said right now, and I think you feel it I think it I think it's becoming like a term of art almost
031the good vibes is sort of a thing now like it's not just here It's just the whole building has a lot of good vibes flowing around it, and I think that's really exciting I think um I really think Jackson Ryan is just doing some awesome stuff to fill cups of every every kid and he's just actively trying to think of how can I do that but kind of with the recess concept just I'm so happy to hear about a flex redesign. Because from an equity piece, yes, there is competition for activities sometimes, but that transportation thing is just huge. We've got districts next door that are yanking transportation just like the rest of us. I mean, it's really hard to get around at night. And families have to work, and sometimes kids are doing child
032care. I mean, there's just all sorts of things. So I love that so much. And the Students for Change group. Maybe that means they want to be a student school board member one day because we might get there and that would be such a neat starting point. But there's so many exciting things and really just congratulations to all of you. Working so hard for so long. A couple clarifications. So the after-school gym is, I'm sorry, the open gym is after school or is it during school? We have an open gym before school. So we have kids in the building at 8-10. So between 8-10 and about 8-25, kids can come into the gym at that time. So they're allowed to get breakfast at that time, but they're allowed to also go into the gym at
033that time. Or a lot of them just kind of hang out with each other. They're allowed to come in the library during that time too. So we open up a lot of spaces for them. Okay. And as Casey and Jesse mentioned, that we also make that space available during that flex time. And then one of the opportunities we're looking to expand it for next year is to set up a more formal one after school as well so that there's some after school opportunities for kids to be able to use that space positively. Okay. The good vibes I have seen as a member that does not have kids in the district at all. I've seen it on Instagram, ISD199. I see the good vibes. So, yeah, so we are seeing it when we don't have kids
034here. Another clarification on AVID. So there are a lot of AVID practices that are happening in the rest of the school, correct? Such as? The Cornell notes, are those still happening? That is part of it? Books not taking. Okay, and then what you were talking about, Jason, about how kids were learning and not just what they were learning. Is that kind of an avid practice? Yeah, so our main focus this year has been focus note-taking, which is a pretty thorough process from start to finish. It's making sure that our kids are interacting with their notes, not just on the day that they're taking them, but that they're referring back to them, summarizing their notes. It really is research-based instruction and teaching strategy to help make sure that kids are retaining that knowledge. Then beyond that,
035it's really been a focus about sharing out particular AVID strategies, which again are research-based. Strategies, but they're really heavily focused on collaborate student collaboration So again giving kids the opportunity to share their voice Share their perspectives and help deepen each other's understanding of a particular topic One of the ways that we do that is each week We have a weekly focus that sent out the staff my weekly update And so that gets highlighted and then we usually circle back to it every couple of weeks so that it's just kind of this opportunity to get teachers chance to take a risk try something out get some feedback and support from our different support people in the building either general or a learning partner Michelle Sherrard or even us as administrative team and then we usually circle
036back to it about a month so that we can add another layer to that process so not trying to give them too much to work on it but at the same time giving them opportunities for some guided practice and a low risk environment thank you and congratulations on the avid celebration I just want to offer that we want our kids to learn at the highest level possible. And when you're talking sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, the way that they learn at the highest level possible is they feel like they belong and they're here and they want to learn rather than feel like they have to learn. And what this group is really working on collectively is for kids to feel like I'm here and I want to be here and that means that I want
037to learn rather than I have to learn. And that's a unique piece because to pull it off with that age group takes some real ingenuity, some real thoughtful, provoking strategies, but then it goes along with instructional strategies that happen in the classroom to engage kids in that learning. And that's where the AVID piece fits in. So it's really that juggle of how do we make sure that those 6th, 7th, and 8th graders want to be here and they're engaged in learning at the same time. Some may think that's an easy feat. I think most of us know that's not always an easy feat. It is for quite a few kids, but it's not for all kids. And this school is working really hard at that, and especially that emphasis this year in making sure that
038kids feel that they belong and it's their school and that they want to be here because that's when those results are going to happen. How has attendance been recently? Are we kind of back to our standard numbers? Yeah, we for sure had a dip like most schools in the area experienced. I thought we navigated that pretty well. We stayed flexible to meet the needs of kids and made sure that they continued to have access to the curriculum within the building. We set up a daily video chat with the families and students that were experiencing some pretty significant hardship. But we were very, very lucky that that was as short-lived as it was. And right now we're right back to where we started. Thanks for that. I remember you were right on top of that. I
039appreciate that for everybody in the community. That was great. Yeah, it was quite the curveball. But we made it through, and I'm hopeful that our families are able to catch back up. Any other questions? Well, thank you again. I'm very proud to be here as the principal. I'm very proud of this team and the work that we're doing this year and look forward to giving you another update in another year to kind of share the progress that we've made since then. So thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. 26-27 School Board and Committee meeting dates. Superintendent Bernardson will share the draft. Thank you. Yes every year at this time we do bring you the draft schedule for school board and committee meetings and We'll share this draft this evening and then
040bring it back to you as an action item at our next regular meeting on April 27th So as we look at our meeting schedule our board meetings are typically held on the second fourth Monday of each month We do have some exceptions the month of August We meet a little earlier to make sure that we're addressing things before the start of the school year Then when we get to December, it is a unique time of the year, so we only have one meeting, which is a regular meeting. And the same can be said for March. We have one regular meeting due to spring break. And then again, when we get to May, we do bump our meetings and have that second meeting a little earlier due to the end of the school year. So that
041follows pretty much what we typically do. Then we also have our finance committee meetings scheduled after our work sessions. Our personnel committees we usually typically have before our work sessions. And then our policy committee meets prior to our regular meeting. And also on this calendar we include the meet and confer dates which are with our teacher group. And that includes our personnel committees. So again, this calendar or this schedule looks pretty typical. And it's something that we'll bring back to you at our next meeting for your actions so that we can get it set for the next school year. Thank you. Any questions at all? Any discussion? Madam Chair, I just sent, if I had a potential conflict, I just already sent it in just in case. Okay. So, I don't know. If that's helpful,
042I did. And one of the things we have to acknowledge is that there's some dates where we have to adjust as well because of precinct caucuses or things like that which make it so that we can't meet on some of those typical dates that we have as well. Alright, thank you. Moving on to the first reading for review of policies. Superintendent Robertson will introduce these. Thank you. Yes, these policies were reviewed by our committee in both November and February, and they had no changes, minimal changes, and significant changes. And again, we'll bring these back to you at our next regular meeting on April 27th as well. And we did have no changes to 402, disability non-discrimination, and 412, expense reimbursement. Within this group, we also had minimal changes to 401, equal employment opportunity. 403 discipline
043suspension and dismissal of school district employees and 413 harassment and violence and then one policy 712 did have significant changes this is recording surveillance systems other than on buses and these changes are due in part to being a short policy and language is updated to be more up-to-date along with the title change and this policy was previously titled digital electronic surveillance And it's been revised to use recording systems consistently throughout. So those changes are more logistical, didn't change things a whole lot, but there's just some things that put it within that significant change category. Thank you. And any questions, feel free to let myself, Tracy, or any of our policy committee members know before our next meeting on April 27th. Thank you. All right, moving on to committee reports. I will give an update on
044the facilities committee. We met on March 3rd and Wold Architects came and shared the facilities conditions assessment results. Jake, will you please update on the finance committee? The finance committee will be meeting later on this evening. Thank you. And Sarah, will you update us on the personnel? Yep, the personnel committee met prior to tonight's meeting and the agenda included updates on labor negotiations and mediation. Thank you. And Liz, policy? We did not meet this month. All right. Thank you. and membership reports. Dave, will you please update us on AMSD? Yes, they met on March 6th and their agenda included their routine business and at guest speakers who spoke on compensatory revenue and making informed hiring decisions for school districts. Great. Will you also update us on the BEST Foundation? Yeah, that'll be easy. They did
045not meet this month. Okay. Liz, MSBA? Today was the MSBA MASA Day at the Capitol. It was a great day. Darcy started the day with us, and Shana was with us all day, and then Dave was with us, and a million people came up to Dave talking to him, so I think he got maybe 20 or 30 job offers. But there was a lot of focus on... what we can do at the legislative level this year. And it's a bizarre year because they could be done tomorrow. I mean, they could be done today. But we really need to plant some seeds for a lot of big stuff coming down the pike. And so there was a lot of kind of these pre-meetings about what is happening and what are we going to do to kind
046of watch out for schools. Because a lot of great ideas are one thing, but if they're not actually funded or if they're not actually thought out on how they're going to impact us, it's hard. Thank you. And finally, Dave, will you update us on intermediate school district guidance? Sure, thank you. Just a reminder, City Nordstrom is our 917 representative, and their agenda on March 3rd include their typical business and approval of subcontracts and memorandums of understanding, and their APAC compliance findings were also shared along with some district policies. All right, thank you. All right, I'd like to welcome Director of Instructional Technology, Caroline Little, and Director of Business. We want to invite Cereal Services, Heather Ani, to introduce the recommendation to approve an Apple lease agreement. Hi, good evening. We are here tonight to talk
047to you about our next big technology purchase. This year we looked at bundling three purchases together and Heather will talk a little bit about the financial benefits of that. I wanted to share with you what we are looking at purchasing. To start off, we are looking at our student device replacement for next year. So each year we replace 900 iPads. So second graders get a new iPad, sixth graders get a new iPad, and ninth graders get a new iPad. And then they keep that same device throughout the rest of elementary, middle school, high school. So within this lease would be those 900 student devices, the cases for those student devices, and the Logitech crayon styluses that the high school students receive. We're also in the process of replacing two of our computer labs. Simly has
048computer labs still. So we are replacing two computer labs and the desktop computers that remain around the district. There are very many, but most of the front offices, the libraries all have a desktop computer for checking books in and out or looking books up. So there's some spots here and there. All the attendance folks have a desktop computer, so we'll be replacing all of those. We are going to, instead of purchasing the all-in-one iMac, we are purchasing a Mac Mini, which is a, the computer itself is pretty small, and then we'll be adding it to our, hooking it up to a monitor and a keyboard and a mouse. And that was had a pretty nice cost savings for us to do it that way. And then the last part of the lease will be MacBook
049Airs for the staff. So all of our licensed staff will be getting a new computer. We replace them every four years. So right now, the computers that they're using are on their fourth year in use, and they are all very happy to be thinking about getting a new one. So that is all part of our annual replacement cycle, and so we've decided to put them all together for this lease. So bundling them all together and doing a larger purchase allowed us to get a 0% interest rate. So the total purchase price is $737,452, and it would be financed over four years. So the year of repayment would be $184,360 per year, and this would come out of the capital projects levy. And at the end of the lease, then we would own the devices. So
050tonight I'd like to ask the board to approve the Apple lease as presented. Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second? Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Lounsbury. All right, discussion. So I just am curious. So we would pay it over four years, and then we would own the devices, but then we would replace the laptops every four years. So what do we do with... with the old ones yep so we save some of them um we use them for when we have like long-term subs we use them for substitute computers in the buildings we hold on to them until they can't be updated anymore and then it's not secure to use them we've put you know, a little set together for certain programs, sometimes for like the art program at the
051high school, they're doing certain things that a computer works better for. And when we've squeezed all the life out of them, then we recycle them and the funds that we get back from recycling them go back into the technology budget to buy new devices. And we do that with all of the devices. So we do that with the student devices. So often, you know, some of our students, like our first, our kindergartners and our first graders, we will take the eighth grade devices and bring those down. And so those are used. We reuse them for a lot of different things. Again, we hold on to them until we don't really need them anymore and then recycle them and then the funds come back. Yeah. I think I was going to get to the same question.
052I appreciate that question, Madam Chair, because I think for the public to understand kind of what four years is like for a device and then thinking at first glance, four years is a blink, and why do they need a new iPad? And yet the iPad can have a rough four years in the best of time. I mean, like, as kind as I am to my devices, I can't make something last four years. I mean, I really can't. Like, it just gets loaded. I've got stuff. And trying your very best to use every last drop of tech out of that tech is really important and I appreciate. I appreciate the plan to try and do that and that you're doing the best you can with what we've got. I think that's great. And one of the
053reasons, and it's a good thing to always repeat, that we do use Apple devices is our return on investment is higher than some other options that we have out there. So we usually get a very nice return that goes back into our fund for purchasing devices the next time. Any other discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Thank you. a very efficient meeting. We'll begin with comments and we'll begin with Superintendent Berger. Thank you. Yes, first of all, thank you to Invergrove Heights Middle School for hosting us this evening, but even more so, thank you for all that happens every minute of every day to support our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. We have the distinct advantages of district office and being connected to the middle school, so a lot of us
054get to experience things here every day, and it's just magical to see the... sense of belonging that our kids have when it comes to being a middle schooler. It's fabulous. Also wanted to share that our winter activities have concluded and we've started some of our spring activities. Typically at this meeting we do a winter summary, but our activities director, Will Short, is actually in Michigan. He is there for the arrival of a grandchild. So he will be bringing both winter activities and spring activities to our main meeting. have to acknowledge that you only get to be a grandparent every so often. Also just know that we want to congratulate our middle schoolers again on their production of Oliver Junior. I understand that was a fabulous, fabulous production and they actually had a great turnout of
055people coming to see the performance as well. Also want to thank people that were able to attend our winter conferences last week and know as well that we're going to be doing some surveying just to get a better perspective from our families and our teachers about conferences that being when they're held in the format that they take place under as well so look forward to that and then just know it's March so spring break is approaching so we'll be on spring break March 30th through April 3rd and just a reminder that for families that day gets their spring break gets to continue into Monday April 6th because that is a professional development day for our staff as well so that's just around the corner thank you All right, member Klingner, will you begin school board
056comments? Thank you to Principal Trugg for hosting us here tonight and telling us all about, and his team for telling us about the really awesome things that they have going on. I know just from my own work how much work goes into just implementing AVID school-wide every day, but then also for those revalidation meetings, that is a really big accomplishment, so kudos to them. I'm excited as a parent of a soon to be sixth grader next year for all of the new activities and just the energy looking around at this space, the changes and just the positivity coming out of the middle school is really cool. And so that's something that we are looking forward to. I was with a group of parents this weekend with fifth grade basketball from all the elementaries and there's
057just a general excitement for fifth graders to move on to the next step. So we're looking forward to that. And then I know Wednesday is ACT testing day for the juniors. And so good luck, best of luck to everyone who's taking a test. It'll all work out the way that it's supposed to Remember Pearson, thank you again. Thank you to the middle school leadership team for hosting us there is a very refreshing energy and vibe among that poor leadership team and that is just there aren't even any kids here right now and I can tell that the space and the school is losing with positivity and so that was Wonderful to see and to experience. Thank you to the teachers who held conferences last week. I had a phenomenal conference experience, both at elementary and
058high school. And I have to say the teachers are so invested in what is shared and the feedback and the way that they care for these young people. And speaking of the ACTs, when I went to the high school conferences, these teachers are so passionate. They have been preparing the 11th graders for ACTs in their communications class, in their science class. They're doing sessions on ACT prep. There's just so much passion and excitement from these teachers to be doing it. One of the teachers pulled up a prep ACT test and he and I dove in and I'm like, that part wasn't optional when I took it. He's like, oh no, it's changed a lot. Let's go through it. I thought we were going to take an ACT test there for a minute. How'd you do?
059I was like, no, I didn't actually want to. but the passion around it and just the excitement for them to help the kids and that really had me diving into Schoology and seeing some of the folders so I'm just very very appreciative as a parent and as a board member for what our teachers put into the the ACT prep for these 11th graders and like Jake said good luck on Wednesday. Member Larson. Yeah Darcy you put it great about the energy in the building in the middle school here Yeah, it's just fantastic. I feel like this always happens when my kid moves on and transitions to another school. There's just great things coming up. I'm like, I wish that would have been happening when we were there. So excited to continue to hear about all
060the changes and positive things happening in the middle school. Past this year, though, my family will be graduating out. And then I just, this fake spring we're having, when I drove in, the tennis team and the girls' softball team were outside practicing today. And I was like, oh, it's so great. but it's going to snow in a couple days. So it was fun to see those teams gearing up for their season. So got to enjoy these warm days until they're here for good. Member Nehemiah? I want to thank IGHMS as well. Thank you so much. If the board is looking for some cool way to spend time with 7th and 8th graders, the party is the 10th of April at 630 at the Grove. It is going to be... cool word and that I don't
061know what is cool right now to say it's gonna be amazing and lots of opportunities to volunteer there is and it is just fun energy the kids are really fun energy I want to say more about winter sports but we'll save that thank you to everybody who came to conferences teachers parents interpreters like we It is just neat to be at conferences. The PTOs, the PTAs that do the book fairs, like a lot happens at conferences and it is so cool to be connected at that time. And all the talk of ACTs and assessments kind of reminded me of something and Principal Drug touched on it for a second. This is one of those strange years that some of our kids, just looking at our numbers, like what they might get assessed on this spring
062is not going to be. It's not going to be fair of what the reality of what happened this year and so I think it's always important to just kind of look at there's a lot of things to look at and so this is a strange year and I'm actually hoping at the legislative level we can maybe tweak that and have have it a grace period here because this is going to take this couple of months might take some recovery for kids who are in school it was strange in some respects just because it was weird not to have your friends around so hopefully we can do something about that. Yeah, I want to say thank you to Principal Drugg for still being here right now. Thank you. And to the rest of your team as
063well. The word that I wrote down was positivity, so that's what I felt. It was just a feeling. From the whole team, it was just a good feeling. You recognized your staff. Thank you for doing that. You just talked about... you know what great kids we have here so it's just it's just good to talk about that if we do have great kids here great staff here great leaders here so thank you thank you to all of our leaders at the middle school um i'm gonna move on to somebody else at this table i'm looking ahead i'm discovering we only have three more months three more public meetings with mr bernardson before he retires So I know that he would so I would like to talk about a few of his updates and his accomplishments
064because I know that he does not like to talk about this. So since 2014, since he's been here, I'm going to talk about the physical improvements tonight. Okay, some of the physical improvements that Mr. Burnham has made. Coming to our district, he started off with listening and learning with our constituents, our staff, and our students. And from that, we had He looked at some of our beleaguered spaces. We had a lot of very downtrodden spaces. So it needed a lot of improvement, starting with our old theater. We had a very old theater. And Dave came in with a vision, along with a lot of other people too, and our taxpayers. Thank you to our taxpayers, that helped pass the bond. And we have a beautiful new PAC center that our community can enjoy for theater.
065for band, for choir concerts, staff meetings, etc. All of that in the PAC Center, the Performing Arts Center. So then the old theater was changed. This is again Dave's vision. The old theater was changed into a vibrant Spartan Center for meetings, booster clubs, potlucks, all of that, etc. Upstairs, our old dance floor was turned into a student center where small groups of students could come and collaborate. and colleges could come and present. So it's a wonderful space if you've never seen it upstairs from what it used to look like and Dave brought that vision. We have a new band room, we have a new wrestling room for our students, new turf, new track. My goodness this is a lot of work here. New turf and track. The concession stand is admired by many people that
066come to our school to watch some of our activities. and from other sectional teams. Later on that we have a kindergarten wing added to Pine Bend building with notice and need for that. Banners were added to the high school parking lot. When you drive around it talks about the positive nod to our staff and to our students. So look for those when you're out in the parking lot. New furniture was added in this room right here right now. This new furniture was here. This has been recalibrated. different times so whoo you are very busy you're very busy and those are just the physical things on the outside that you've done so many things on the inside too I'm going to talk about those another night so thank you thank you mr. Pernison for the updates
067to our schools that we all can enjoy and for the other communities taking note of our beautiful beautiful facilities I know I do I know I take pride in this I know I love to hear when other people or other communities talk about our schools and Pack Center, etc. So again, these are extrinsic Updates tonight and I will talk more about other accomplishments, too. So thank you Yes, I The word I wrote down for the middle school is proud I can tell that principal drug you are proud to be here and I could tell from the rest of your admin team the pride they take in the work that they do. And I, you know, we have our third child in seventh grade this year, and I am confident that he's in a great place
068and that. staff know him and that is you know, I think I spend my days in preschool and I think our work in preschool is to help students learn to feel safe and Comfortable so that they can learn and I would say that work is still important in middle school You know, especially in these these years of lots of transition for for students That they can feel Yeah, seen and heard and I think all of the the avid practices are are really great and Especially it's great that all students have access to them and not not you know, because we should know 600 students here 800 okay There can't be a class a set avid class for every child So it's great that they are that students are seeing it Not just in an avid
069classroom. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you and cheering you on for for March 19th and Yes, I think let's let's just It's nice that with the weather that it feels like spring and also with the added hour of sunlight it feels like spring and So just cheering cheering our students and our staff on In these final final months So our upcoming meeting dates, we will have a special work session tomorrow Tuesday March 10th for superintendent search interview training Then the next work session will be held on Monday April 13th with the next regular board meeting held on April Monday April 27th at Pine Bend Elementary Do I have a motion in the second to adjourn tonight's meeting motion by member work? Seconded number cleaners. Okay motion by member awards second by member cleaner all
070those in favor. Aye Motion is carried at 629