001Please join me in the pled algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> John, will you please say roll call? >> Absolutely. Thank you. Uh Jamie >> present. >> Randy >> present. >> Caleb, >> John present, Jason >> here, >> Alicia >> here. >> Thank you. >> Uh at this time I'll uh let's uh make a motion or do I need a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move a motion by John. Do I have a second? >> Second by Randy to approve the agenda. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Announcements. The next regular school board meeting will be on Monday, January 12th,
0022026 at 6 p.m. at the GSL High School community room 443 444. Acknowledgements. Do we have any acknowledgements at this time? You know, I'd like to just take this time and acknowledge our uh custodial staff because we are starting the snow removal process and even this morning having to do one that's not necessarily uh expected. They were up and ready and had our school ready to go and also to uh acknowledge Rickard for their work that they've done as well. And then I just would like to and I can do this in my in my update, but I would like to just send out sympathies to the family of Bob Iverson. Bob Iverson was a long um longtime principal over at Central, but was a um teacher, elementary teacher here in Glenco. Uh and so
003want to send out the sympathy to uh his family >> and his wife >> and his and his wife who's a long time teacher here as well. That's correct. >> All right. Any other acknowledgements? >> I'd like to also acknowledge the passing of Ken Halls who um was a secretary at Lakeside. um for numerous years here at GSL and so um our thoughts have been with his family for quite some time now as the funeral has already passed but um I don't think that we as a board have acknowledged that yet so I wanted to make sure that >> thank you for that I >> yes longtime secretary at Lakeside and still to this day his introduction is happening his enthusiasm of saying good morning to the kids every day so thank you Jamie for
004All right. Any other comments? Hearing none. Uh, do we have any public input related to the agenda? Second call for public input relating to the agenda. And third call. All right. Reports and presentations. We have 4.0 here. Transportation. Good evening and gentlemen. on. There we go. Hi, Bill Drummer, general manager, 4.0 school services. We got Dan Wanis here, the manager for Glen Copus Service, and Bob Becker. Hey, Bob. Good. >> Uh, hey, thanks for having us here tonight. Uh we try to hit this either November, December, right? Each year uh you guys just wait for the invite till there's snow on the forecast. Yeah. So I appreciate that. >> Or rain or something. But no, appreciate being a part of GSL school system here and and providing bus service since I think 2005. Um we
005run 14 big bus routes, I think. three mini bused routes, a couple of uh preschool mini bus routes, and how many vans, Dan? >> Half a dozen. >> Probably six routes daily. Um varying a little bit in schedule, but that's that's the majority of what we got going on there. And um I think we've got a long-standing crew of drivers here that uh that love what they do and love working with the kids. And we appreciate uh the administration here and how you guys work with us on whatever challenges may arise. So, thank you all for all that you do in working with us. Um, >> Yeah. A couple other fun things. Our company, we always want to be part of the community and give back to the community. We actually uh re completely redid
006the first brand new school bus that we bought for 4.0. And on the side of it, we had make a difference. So this year, I think Thursday, um, every one of our companies has put together with all the bus drivers and the manager of the mechanics, I put together a food drive for each community. So, we actually have this bus driving around the whole entire state and then grabbing all the cash and all the food that everybody's brought in. Uh, going to drop it off the local food shelves. And then also, we do what's called in our companies called the Christmas Wish where our employees will nominate people from the community or within our within our working group that are in need for the year. And I think this year we have a which is
007pretty sad. We have a record, but we have 17 families that we get to help out with that. So, that's kind of fun. And then uh yeah, Thursday at noon the bus will be rolling through the bus garage here and then head to the the food shelf to to do some stuff and some cash out. Um I think uh we started up in North Branch today and we delivered 2600 lb and like $800 worth of cash to the food shelf. So just try to do our little part there. So >> thanks Bob. >> Yep. >> Anybody got any questions for these people? What's new and exciting with buses? Anything? >> Uh, buses or buses? Not a lot. They're still yellow and they're still black. They're yellow. Yeah, they're uh they're pretty much staying the same.
008Not a lot new. I mean, here in Glenco, we still um running a lot of gasoline buses. I think that's a really big trade-off for fuel costs and things like that. Um for for the district and for maintenance on our side. Um, we're kind of sticking with the same Bluebird buses on the horizon. Maybe there's some maybe there's some Cumins gas engine stuff out there that they're working on implementing, but I don't think you'll see a big change in that anytime soon. >> That was my next question. I heard that Cumins is working on the gas model >> and that was my next question. So, you're going to answer. And >> believe it or not, that Cumins So, the gas engines that we have in the Bluebirds are actually cheaper than a diesel engine. Y
009>> these new Cumins gas engines are going to be more expensive than a diesel. >> Yeah, they'll be approximately the same cost or a little bit more. And then there's a there's a 2027, I think, emission standards that everybody's trying to meet, too. So, >> they're trying to put that out there as a as an equal partner to the diesel emission stuff and the gasoline platform. So, we'll see what that means in our world if um >> if uh that's an option. But, >> well, Cummins is notorious. It has always been diesel. Yeah, you hear the word comes and you always automatically think diesel. So now all of a sudden that got my peak my interest. Yes. Oh really? This should be interesting. >> And what's fun is they're going to offer it on all
010three school bus platforms. So International, Bluebird, and Thomas will all have that option now. So >> interesting. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> How about the humans attached to those vehicles? How about staffing? How's that looking for you guys? >> Talk about that. Oh yeah. >> Um I you know I think we're sitting very well with our staff. Um we have a good group of drivers that he show up to work every day, right? We you like to show up to work and know that things are going to happen the way they need to happen. And so um staffing we're looking good. We're always looking for people that may want to help out, may want to uh, you know, drive an activity or something like that or, you know, if have if they do have the
011ability to potentially fill in on a route because um, our drivers are human just like us and do like to take vacations and stuff. So, so we do have a need for that at times, but for the most part, we're sitting here for staffing. It's nice to be fully staffed and we appreciate those people and their consistency, but we will always say we're we're always looking for good people. And so if anybody's interested in send them send in driving, send them our way and and we'll invest that time and attention to training and stuff, whether they want to just drive for a sport or something like that, there's there's always opportunity. >> I would just like to echo some of the things that they've already said. Um we've had a long partnership with 4.0. Uh,
012it's gone very well. But they also are there to always help out when they get an opportunity. They talked about the food shelf. Well, we just did our food shelf. I call up Dan. I need a bus. We need to go up and gather it. And those are those opportunities that that they >> good. >> Those are those opportunities where, you know, we don't see a bill on something like that, right? And it's it's it's really nice to be able to um be able to partner and do some of those little things where we need to have and you know they bring all the food up. We brought it to the food shelf. We just collected over 2500 lb and um we they made it possible to get it there. And so with that and
013um I know that Dan and I will be this morning at about what was it 5:00 you looked at me and went why are you texting me? I I was on the road so I didn't look at >> it was uh it was early like hey we're good to go right we're good to go. So um I appreciate his time and and his communication with me when these winter months. So >> thank you guys. >> Thank you gentlemen. >> Thank you. >> All right we'll move on to administrator and committee reports. Director of finance report. >> Thank you Jason. Um, I don't have much since to do the truth and taxation meeting here at 6:00. Um, but just wanted to kind of fill you in that I've been working with reworking on the budget um
014with negotiations and contracts all settled. Um, we'll plan a finance um committee meeting in probably beginning of January just to make sure I have everything in there. No other changes kind of look reook at the revenues and stuff. Um, so that'll be coming for the finance committee. >> Okay. All right. Principal reports, Mr. Butler. >> Yeah. Good afternoon, Jason, and thank you, everyone. You've got the written report in front of you, and I'll I'll talk to some of the highlights. Um, wanted to include some updates on our letters training. You can see the outline there. Um, our final live session for phase one teachers will be in early January. Um we'll continue our work with um with pair of professionals on that day and we're learning more about um phase two for teachers which needs
015to be completed by July of 2027. I'll move down toward the bottom um title programs. Uh we're in the amendment window. Um Trisha, thank you for all your support. We're working closely with MDE. Um MDE was audited by the feds over the summer. So then they in turn are putting a lot more scrutiny on districts. Um we're getting we're noticing a lot more questions um and clarifications and it's been a been a good learning process. Um one thing I have learned um for title two we have historically used that for class size reduction which helps the general budget. Um starting next year we will not districts will not be able to do that. Um it'll be strictly for professional development, which is is a good thing. Um we can plan to use that, but it
016will have an effect on how we we budget for classroom teachers. Um toward the bottom, we're we're um getting to the point where we're reaching out to vendors, um looking at materials, reviewing materials, setting up meetings. Um just initial information, we're really excited to look at a curriculum for English language arts called arts and letters. Some of those materials arrived today and we'll be getting those in teachers hands and then scheduling a meeting for January. If if you look on the back you can see all uh or some of the activities for December. Um Lakeside Student Council has a tip night tonight 4 to 8 at Unhinged and you can see all those Christmas activities um as we get toward December 19th. I do want to keep you updated on uh kindergarten because we had
017a lot of discussion on that um the summer and and in the fall. Our current kindergarten class, we have 89 students and in in talking to Trisha um with with the detailed work she does on the census, you know, an early projection um we're probably looking at a class of around 80 students for 2026 2027 and we have seven um kids registered for next year for kindergarten. So, I really want to thank Kim Rush Meer for the work she's done on that. Um, I'll conclude. You know, I've said a little bit of something every board report on walk to learn. Um, for this month, I just want to acknowledge our our classroom teachers especially, but all teachers, pair professionals, because it's been, you know, a big change in the way we do things. It requires
018more planning, more preparation, and we're really appreciative of of all that work. So, thank you for that. Um, any any questions uh you have for me? >> All right, hearing none. >> I got a quick question for you, Bill. >> Yes. >> Um, the kindergarten enrollment being at 89. Um, how many of those students were open enrolled in from maybe elsewhere or unexpectedly? You know what I mean by unexpectedly meaning that not part of our census data maybe open enrolled or maybe moved into the district or something like that that we didn't have on our radar but that did become GSL students. >> So open enrolled in um this is this is just based on recollection. I I think there's one I can think of and that one was expected that enrollment. In terms of
019unexpected, yeah, you know, I'm going to say probably we have in talking to Kim 10 to 12, maybe 15 where they weren't, you know, on on those records that Kim has and then here they were registering. 15 is probably high. So, I'm going to say about 10. >> Okay. And most wouldn't be open enrolled students. >> Not open enrolled. Um just we we didn't have them on our radar that they were enrolling. Do you agree on the open enroll of one student? >> Yeah. So there was um five open enrolled students for kindergarten. Four we did have on radar because they were in preschool. So then they came here for kindergarten. Um but yes, for students that are not on our census data that we pull, those are students that probably moved in within the
020district some sort of time. And if they don't have a older sibling, we never know about them. Um, so yeah, I would probably say the 10 to 15. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I think that's every year though. There's always about 10 to 15 that aren't on our census thing because we just don't know that they're age eligible. They didn't attend our preschool here. Um, if they attend a preschool someplace else, we don't know about them because you don't have to open enroll as a preschool student. you only have to open enroll if um you're special ed and get services, but that's the only way we would find out. >> Thank you. >> All right, Mr. >> Good evening. Um I'm going to jump right in. This is the time of year where we
021start talking about 2627 registration, which is kind of crazy to think about, but um I spoke to the counselors today, uh Britney and Whitney. Um we're scheduling meetings with our students here again in January um where they will go in and make sure that they have four-year plans filled out for our students in uh 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th grade. Um obviously more work for the eighth graders as they're filling out the whole four-year pro plan. Um and then completing registration for next year, which kind of is the the guiding map for us when it comes to staffing and what that looks like for the year ahead. Um, one of the things that I just want to update you guys on as a board, we have done a a course fair for the last, I
022think, four years. Um, and that course fair has looked differently as it's gone. It's kind of evolved and just sent an email again today to leadership of what does that look like? Um, I know it originated from um, a desire I think coming out of COVID of wanting to know what courses we offer, what they can register for. Um what we've found is some students find a lot of value in that, some students don't. So um it may look the same as last year where we did uh a parent aspect to that which was on one of our progress nights in January and then we had our students attend that uh through a wrap throughout the remainder of the week. But we are also playing around with um doing it differently for the students where
023they would maybe have an each core content where science would talk about what science has when they come into those classes, math would talk about what math have and and so on and so forth. So, just kind of updating you as a board that that is still something that we're doing. I'm just looking at how we can continue to improve that to um have students find value in it that maybe haven't used it to their advantage in the past. Um PBIS and Character Strong I put on here um kind of synonymously. Um it's been about one year since we entered uh or started utilizing Character Strong in this district. I was one of the individuals that went down to the training uh last year in Ankenany. Um we implemented I believe our first was in
024January a year ago that has gone very well uh at the 712 level. So much so to the point where we've had a little bit of discussion on trying to get it more into our mainstream classes and where that would look and where it would fit. Currently what we're doing is we're offering one uh social emotional learning uh lesson a month during our wrap class. So, it's about 30 minutes uh a month. Um it's been received very well by our staff and our students. So, kind of exploring what that looks like to maybe try and get a higher dosage of that for our students. Um and again, one thing that I think is important for you guys as a board to know is it's not the same lessons regurgitated year after year after year. The
025lessons that students get in seventh grade change. They get different ones in eighth grade and change. They get different ones in ninth grade. So, um, it's been a wonderful program, uh, that we've been utilizing our level. And then kind of tying along with that is our PBIS. Um, we still do our student of the month breakfast awards. That's changed a little bit in the eight years I've been here, but where we've settled in the last, I think, three years as we do breakfast in the morning with the students who have been nominated, their parents, and the nominated staff here in the community, which has been going very well. Um, MCA testing. This is something I'll continue to talk about with the board. Um, I'm going to be coming up with with a proposal here soon,
026but still kind of tasked with finding this balance between we could get it all done in a day or two, but I think our scores are going to be um not what we would like them if we do it that way. We could pan it out over a week where we've done it in the past and I think that would benefit our scores but then it also does disrupt the day-to-day learning in our core content areas of reading math and science because we have them test in their classes for that week. Um and kind of thinking outside the box of you know how can we utilize in the past we did half days with the react and it worked really really well. Um this year we don't have those same half days just because of
027the training. So still working with leadership on what that looks like and finding this balance of giving our students the best opportunity to take that test and do the best that they can on that test while also being cognizant and not trying to take too much of the classroom time and instructional time away from those those teachers. Um school and community partnership uh we did Thanksgiving Christmas project again this year. This was headed by Britney Schmidt. Um, we supply uh ready to bake meals for Thanksgiving. And then for Christmas, we're supplying uh gifts to families here uh in GSL. I want to do a special thanks to area businesses that have donated Chartwells for creating the ready to to bake meals for Thanksgiving and then GSL staff who have purchased and donated gifts. In total,
028this is in fact, wow, I can't talk. Sorry. Impacted 32 of our students here. And um it's not just 712. When we look at this, we look at students in 7 through 12, but they also have some family members that are down at the elementary level. So, 30 in total, 32 students of GSL that have been impacted by that, which is a positive thing. And then at the end, just acknowledgements. Um, I want to thank all the community members and then speakers that joined us uh for our FFA recognition here um last week. I also want to thank our substitutes that have been coming in. Um, I've talked to to assistant principal Beckman. Um, and then Beth Beth Rumbrell, our our secretary. We've had a lot of subs this year. Not I shouldn't say this
029in a negative way. We haven't had a need for subs to the extent that we have in years past, but when we did this year, when we do this year, we've had a larger substitute pool to pull from, which has been wonderful. They've come in and done a great job. Um, and I try and connect with them each individually when they're in. But for those that I may have missed or didn't get to each day, I just want to thank them because it it does make a big impact on our day and on our students. And then lastly, I didn't put this in there, but I do want to say this as well. Um Chris had mentioned our food drive uh for GSL. I we really did a big push at the 7th through 12th
030this year to try and get some students to bring more food in than they have in the past. Um Casey's on 13th donated, I believe, 12 pizzas to the the wrap at the junior high and senior high that brought in the most. Um, and then Knockout Nutrition also donated some of their their shakes. I don't know what you call them. But, uh, the students sure love them. Um, and it was quite motivating to get some food in for our food drive. So, that's my report. What questions do you guys have? >> I did talk to the administrator of the food shelf right after you guys had brought all that stuff in, and she was, I would say, a little overwhelmed and just very thankful. and they had a lot of work to do, put it
031that way. They had a lot of stockings to do, but they're very happy that they showed up with that big bus that day. So, thanks everybody that was involved in that. I want to give my hats off. I attended the FFA recognition. Um, I thought it was very well put together. Um, it was concise. I mean, it took an hour. The kids were there for what, 35 to 40 minutes, which I thought was a big benefit. so they can have it. It was good exposure for the FFA. Um, and hats off to our advisor. Um, pretty amazing job. So, anyway, thank you for getting that put together. >> Thank you, Matt. And when you um talk about the courses that are offered up or or displayed at the course fair, are you seeing um a
032lot of the courses kind of in silos, meaning by departments, or are you seeing um a need or an occurrence where there's some crosscurricular um opportunities for staff members of ver of differing departments to collaborate together to offer up a course that and I don't know then it kind of plays into the credits as far as counting like for dual departments or maybe it is created um by by individuals in different departments but maybe it does only qualify for credits in one area but that there is some collaboration. So, are you are you seeing what what kind of things are you noticing as far as what we've been doing and maybe where we're going >> a little bit and the example I'll give for you with that is like business. So, um we require a
033certain number of of credits with with business or computer um whichever you want to call it. It's a bad name to call computer, but it's business credits. Um and over the eight years I've been here, we've had differing full-time business teachers. And then I think it was last year or the year before uh that kind of conjoined in with facts. Um so it's facts and and and business and then some of it with just change in legislature with like personal finance coming in and being a requirement before graduation that used to fall under our business category but is now and most districts have done this too been taken over by our social studies department. So when when you ask the question of you know crosscurricular or kind of sharing that it makes me think of
034business right away because currently the person we have taking some of our business courses is Lily Irky who's here on our first year. We also have Paul Lumpy doing uh some of our accounting and business apps but then we also have uh Brook Magnus doing our personal finance. So, um, you know, those course fairs, I think, are set up number one for staff to have the conversation of who can teach that and where does that fall and where are people's strengths with it, but also for students to get the opportunity to go around and ask the question of, hey, what does this look like? Who's teaching this? What would it entail? So, I don't know if that answers your question, Jamie, but that's how I interpreted it. And it's it's it's been a really good
035thing. I'm just like everything, I always you always want to do better, right? like how do we find a way for more students to reach out and and really find out what we offer here? Because what we find out often times is somebody will say, you know, I'm going to use this as an example. Uh, man, I didn't know that we had a a military history course. Well, they'll say that after registration had been done and maybe military history was one or two students away from from running. Um, that's the whole idea is that we can talk about those things. kids can really think about what they want to do as they go through high school and then that's how it fills our our um registration here. I I think back to when I graduated
036from Norwood just down the road and this that was like a 100 years ago now. But um the I I'll always remember how registration happened there. Uh we would go to the the cafeteria and there would be tables. There was no conversation ahead of this so you would just get there. My mom and dad were teachers, so I knew a little bit, but there would be tables that would rotate around the whole um cafeteria and then you would have each department represented and let's say you wanted to take a foods c class. As soon as that that roster filled out of 25 or whatever the principal time put on there, he would grab that list and walk away. And now that class was no longer a thing. So it wasn't, hey, here are all the
037classes we could offer. It's here are the classes we are offering. And if you're a freshman, sorry, you're going to get what's left. And if you're a senior, hey, you're probably going to get to take what you want. And you know, I think I could have I could be convinced either way, but right now, my belief is that's just not a good way to run a school. It's not a good way to tailor the education that this community wants cuz it changes. I think what was important a decade ago or 15 years ago or, you know, 25 years ago when I was in high school, what kids wanted isn't what kids want now. So, we we run and I talk about this, you know, in the January one, but I'll visit with a little bit
038here. Ours is a student run schedule where they go in and students register for the courses they like or that they find value in, and those are the courses that we run. So, man, that was a whole bunch of talking for somebody that was trying not to talk a lot tonight. I apologize, but I hope that answered your question. >> Ma'am, what is the minimum number of students for a classroom? >> That's a good question. Um, you know, I think it I don't know that we have a hard set number on any of it. Um, the numbers that I really look at, you know, when we start talking about shop classes, I think that that number is different than when we talk about um an English class. And the reason for that is is, you
039know, when you do a shop class, there's only so many welders you can take or there's only so many table saws you can use. And when you start talking about classroom safety in a shop, that's a little bit different than classroom safety in a in a social studies environment. Um, so when I look at shop classes, I typically look around that 16 to 20 range. If it's below 16, I've got to have a conversation of what does this look like? If it's above 20, I've got to have a conversation with the the teacher of is it safe to do this? And we do, we run our woods classes at 25 26 kids. Um, kind of depends on the makeup too of we have students with disabilities in that room and do we have support staff
040in that room to help. Um when I look at mainstream classes um to run an elective, I try and look at that 18 to 20 uh where we're at just because I want to give those opportunities to students, but usually we're around the 20 to 20 full range with those classes. >> About college credit classes, are those differing or all of that 18 to 20? >> A little bit. Um funding for college uh college in the school courses is usually supplemented and Trisha could talk or Chris could talk a little bit more of this but our college in the school courses is supplemented a little bit by Steven Seminary. So those are sometimes run lower because Steven Seminary supports that and they'll say hey we find value in it we're going to help support it
041financially so you can run the course as opposed to saying man we only have 11 kids in it we're not going to run it. Steven Seminary in the past has come in and said, and I don't think that we have any CIS courses at lower now. You know, I think of like Mike Hayes's CE class. I think he's got 30 kids in the two sections. Like they're really full. But in the past, those are things that we take into consideration too as Steven Seminary has historically helped grow those. >> Is there is there a maximum amount of time students can take a class? Are they allowed to take the same class multiple times? take they not talking past they'll just as a student selection if they want to take the same class over are they
042allowed to do that? >> They could. Um you know now that I think about in the eight years I've been here I don't know outside of like our FIAD department I don't know that many of them have. So when I look at our FIET department we have um personal fitness team sports um things like that that kids have taken um many times before they graduate. And you know for them a lot of students school isn't suited for all students and I understand that and I think sitting for an 8 hour period is difficult for everybody even adults and when they get a little bit older and they have the ability to register for their own classes. I think they realize that hey I've got to have some sort of physical education or physical movement. So
043I would say in our FIAD classes I've seen a lot of students take that make sure they have one each trimester so they can get that movement in. But as far as like taking multiple social studies of the same class or multiple sciences of the same class, I don't know that I've had that happen. Um, however, I wouldn't be against it. I would let them know that the second time would probably fall under an elective bucket as opposed to the the science credit. I can't give them the same credit twice, but if it was like a math class, I'd get math credit the first time and elected the second time. It's a good question. Um, last thing, I know we talked a lot about PSO and touched on a little bit, but something I would
044love to see is if we could add an entrepreneurship, marketing, maybe that falls along the business line. >> We we we offer >> Okay. Um where I live at like a school store and whatnot and like you said I think it's changing for students especially and stuff like that I think you live in a area where not everyone's going to college at maybe you're already >> we do um we offer construction um They've built sheds for for people they reach out um with an automotives class. So we that's the part of the course fair. Great questions, Caleb. Those are things for like parents and students. They can come in and realize, hey, we do have those things. We offer a lot of things actually for a school our size. I'm I'm very very proud of
045the the electives that we have. Um, and even with staff, you know, I I I had a conversation with our our um industrial tech teacher, and I probably shouldn't share this story, but at this point, I've talked long enough. I'll keep talking anyways. um we went to a we went to a student's house and um to drop off some things and um the staff member came with me and as we were there um dropping some stuff off. He was kind of just taking a look around of the community and you know there was some things that were in disrepair. Well, as we got back, he sat with me for a while and and he's having this outside the box conversation of what would it look like if we had a course where I could have
046some students come with me and we just offered to the community where we could go and and fix things up and would there be a budget where people could donate to where we could go into our community and do this. And you know, we're not looking for this spring because it we need some time to plan for it. But this is something that I'm sincerely looking at for the fall and then doing again over in the in the spring next year where it is that community engagement. It is outside the box. It is different. It is civic, you know, all these things. It checks the box of so many things. So, um, if you ever want to have a conversation about the things that we offer, I welcome you in. Um, like I said, I
047I've worked in a number of different school settings and I'm very biased about GSL, but the offerings that we have here is is pretty spectacular for the size of our school and the staff that we have. >> Love that. Thank you, guys. >> Thank you. And and just on that note, it's all about a balance because we also need to try to make sure that staff is whole. We always also try to make sure that um you know that we bring them back and that one department doesn't necessarily hurt another department because we want to keep our staff. Uh and then of course we we have a budget that we have to keep under as well. So it's a lot. They do a great job. They work with us through the cabinet level. we we
048learned a lot about this whole piece and um it it it is it's pretty incredible what they get get the chance to do. Um and then just on the note of the college and the schools um in the AP courses, you know, it's been a long kind of standing tradition that our Steven Seminary uh partnership, they they do a good job of making sure that they're supporting those and so they do donate to the school just to kind of help those classes because what they don't want to see is those classes not being offered if that number is in that tweeter spot. if that makes sense. And so that allows us to still offer that. And that's why every once in a while over the years, especially those people that have been on the board,
049you'll see for one try, we need this overload or now we need this overload and and it's all because the of a student driven schedule. So that's why sometimes there's overloads that happen one year and then the next year they're not. So and last thing, and I promise I will stop talking. Um it it would be far easier to do registration the way that I explained that it was the way I was in high school where here's the courses we're running when they're full they're full. I just I don't believe that that's what's best for students. So that's part of the reason that you know I call it a shell game every time we do registration of okay where does this fall where FDs fit and what courses can we run to make it go
050here based off the registration numbers. Um it would be a lot easier to do it the other way. I don't think that's what's best for our students in the community. >> Thank you, Mr. Cross. Thank you. >> Uh, superintendent report. >> Thank you. Uh, once again, um, January 1, Minnesota paid leave is starting. We sent out information that to our staff and we're still learning a lot about the Minnesota paid leave, but that is officially starting here on January January 1, 2026. Um, as I mentioned before, there was going to be a regional meeting to attend uh for Southwest West Central uh about the uh facilities that they have. I have not heard that date, but I kept that on my on my uh report here just to give you guys that heads up that
051we'll probably need to have a couple of board members uh go to that once that meeting is set. Uh and speaking speaking of opportunities, uh the leadership conference is the 15th and 16th of January. If you are interested in going, you let myself know or let Jacqueline know uh to get you guys registered. And it's um like I said, hardly believe that it's the start of the second try. So that's what I have for you guys today. >> Any questions for Superintendent Sanju? >> Do we have any committee reports tonight? >> We had a we had a finance uh committee meeting. Um I I guess it was a committee meeting. It was where we had Security Bank and we had Minnesota Trust Association, is that the right name for it? Um do their presentations with
052us? And um you know just kind of share some opportunities that uh security might be able to offer up the district. And also it was a nice learning opportunity to see what the other uh company or firm uh currently does with um some of our investments and some of our money exchange if you will. And I don't know Trisha or Chris or Jason if you want to add anything to that. >> No. Yeah, I learned a lot. It was a It was uh after being on the board as long as you and I have been, I didn't know about it PMI or whatever the acronym is now. >> PTFM. >> Okay. >> But that's what you were trying to think of. But yeah, they they do a lot of our investments and it was nice
053to see the kind of background that >> what they do. So, um any other committee reports? All right. We'll move on to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by Alicia. Do I have a second? >> Second by Kayla to approve the consent agenda. Um all in favor, please indicate by saying I. >> I post same sign. Motion carried. There's no old business at this time. So we'll move on the new business item. A donations received. This is information only. Following donations were accepted with appreciation. Again, a nice uh nice group of uh donations received for different things of band, closeup, stem trip, and anthropos gymnastics for some of the benefit benefactors uh for the donations this month. Move on to item B, first reading policies. Action item is a recommendation
054of the policy committee to bring back the following policies for adoption at the next school board meeting. 530 im immuniz immunization records or requirements excuse me 533 wellness policy 602 organization of school calendar and school day 610 field trips 612.1 uh development of parent and family engagement policy for title one 621 literacy and read act 707 transportation of public school students 709 student transportation safety 802 uh disposition of obsolete equipment and material 806 crisis management. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by John. Do I have a second? >> Second by Randy. To bring the policies listed above for adoption of the next school board meeting. Any comments or questions. Hearing none. All in favor please indicate by saying I. >> I post same sign. Motion carries. Miscellaneous. Uh we have none at this time.
055So item D. Uh we'll take a recess for truth and taxation hearing. Some action items. Do we have a motion for recess? >> Motion by Alicia. Do I have a second? >> Second by >> to recess at 6:42 p.m. or excuse me 5:42 p.m. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Both same sign. We're recess. All right, at this time I'll ask for a motion to reconvene. >> So Kayla and Alicia, right? I'll do motion by Kayla, second by Alicia to reconvene the board meeting at 6:49 p.m. All favor, please say I. >> I post same sign. Oh, turn it on. Turn it on. Okay. So, we just had a motion by Kayla, second by Alicia to reconvene at 6:49 p.m. and we voted on that 6 to zero to reconvene. At this
056time, we need to look at levy or item E, levy certification. This is an action item. The school district uh held its annual truth and taxation hearing at 6 p.m. The final levy needs to be certified uh to the home county auditor no later than December 29th, 2025. The full levy amount is 520 or 5,328,31686. The under levy amount is 5,292,7556. information was presented at the truth and taxation hearing. Your motion, if you make one, should include which uh levy amount you want to make the motion for everyone in discussion before we make a motion. >> So, do we have to we have to partner with another school as part of the rules, correct? >> Yeah. Um, and we've always done it with Hutchinson, >> right? >> And you can partner with multiple schools, but
057MDE kind of tells you for simplistic purposes, just pick one >> versus trying to do multiple stuff. Um, >> it has to be a district that is your district >> and you have to be touchy. Correct. And so once we if if this passes is Dan's position then built into our budget for >> No, >> it's just for he won't be with us. >> Yep. When we are not in the program, Dan's job doesn't exist. >> And Mr. Mr. Boder was the assistant principal and he um decided to retire and that's um and then this was we kind of want the knowledge of this is so he's fully aware of the circumstances surrounding this >> that it was just a a shortterm stint. It could be >> whether or not it goes on um he
058he understood that. So, um, but otherwise he would just have retired and, um, we still had opportunities to do this, which was nice because he was also the, um, helped out with FFA. He he's helping out with the FFA program. So, we able to utilize his expertise there, too. So, he was fully aware going into this. >> Besides the field trips, do we know how many kids he's touching or helping or roughly? >> I don't know off the top of my head. It's a lot. It's is it case or two? Is it all? >> So, he's mostly he kind of looks at all of them, but there is an A and I para that's kind of at Lakeside that helps those Lakeside kids out. So, there's kind of an extra helper there. So, Dan kind
059of here, but then he works with the PAR over there. Um for 7 through 12, Dan does a lot of things with the attendant secretary, you know, for truency, trying to help families out if it's a busing thing. You know, talking with Chris, can we get them on the bus? Can we get the, you know, student here, especially in the winter time, you know, right now we're not going to deny any kid, you know, transportation if they live too far. You know, if it's that two miles, we'll always transport and stuff. So, I think he's helping a lot more students than we actually can see. um with levying it. Yes, it's not um our revenue till FY27, but it helps that budget of what we lost prior to the prior year of not receiving the
060state aid, >> you know. So, if we don't receive the state aid this year again because we're just submitting the budget that taps now into our general fund, next year it's just going to help out. It's kind of the same thing with the assets grant that Matt got approved. We have to come up with the funding. We don't get paid to the next year. And then if you know we wouldn't qualify going forward, we would have the expenses, but then we wouldn't have the revenue to the next year. >> So this levy money does guarantee state aid dollar some dollar amount. >> So we do get some already, but we don't get the full state aid. make it additional. >> We would get the additional state aid if we do the is it a percentage
061that they base it off of or >> Good question. I'm not sure exactly how they come up with it. >> Um they work with a budget based off of numbers. Um and that's part of the connection that you work with me on. So, when you look at the difference, um, you know, obviously there's the good thing is we're trying to help our taxpayers out. Um, if you love levy the the full when it's spread out throughout everything, it's pretty minimal to the individual person. >> It's 36,000, something like that. You take 36,000 spread across, it's really small. And so that's why it's like, you know, it seemed like a good balance to try to to to get what we can um and at the same time be very conscious of the taxpayer. Now, we we
062we did it last time where we we didn't take it, but um as you know, we should have when we've done this or talked about this in the past. When we did this, when we were part of it and we partnered with Hutchinson, we were the fiscal agent, >> right? >> We still are. >> So if we go again, >> right? So when we pursued this the first time, we sought out Hutchinson to partner with us. >> That's correct. So, in this time around, since we're not going to be the fiscal agent or the lead agent, >> why isn't anybody touching us seeking us out? >> Because they've already established their programs. >> They're reaching out. They've reached out to some different district. They probably partnered with a different district, >> right? So then if
063we want to pursue this, everybody that is a possibility touching our district is already accounted for and are moving on and done. >> We'd have to talk to them. >> I got to figure out which districts actually are ANI districts first. I mean, I know a few of them. So, we don't know who they are, but they've already set sale and are going. >> Some of them have. Yes, they know who they are because we were the the the identified district. We could have reached out to anyone because then they all qualify, right? >> We qualified. We we we chose Hutchinson. They had experience with ANI. um they knew kind of what this program was all about. Um and so that was part of the reason that we connected with them. We've got a good
064partnership with them. There have been other connections that we have with with Hutchinson. Now that we're no longer qualifying according to what we think is going to happen >> after this after this year, correct? with the numbers. Um the other, you know, fiscal agent district in the ANI program needs to connect. Many of them already have their programs established and done. That doesn't mean that, you know, we hey, can we join up with you because we really like this program we want um but but we don't have control whether they're going to accept us or not. >> So those are some of the questions that we want to pursue if we want to continue to stay in the program. Wouldn't that kind of have been helpful to know leading into this discussion as to who
065the districts are that are around us that do qualify and if they're going to be the lead agent and we go and ask them or pursue them and I mean they have the option of saying yes or no but if they do say yes you can join us what we've done in in the past as being the lead agent and with Hutchinson could look different this time around because we aren't going to be the lead agent and we also don't know either whether we would be accepted by a host or not. >> Correct. >> I believe so. I don't think any district knows until March, April if they qualify because >> changes >> because you know it changes every 3 years >> once you qualify it and qualify for three years >> and I can't
066remember what month we brought to the board. So we had to bring to the board the ANI goals and like >> the pre-plan and so that's how Hutch got included. But I want to say that every district around us was already has somebody like I know Wester does. I know Simply East does. Um but if their plan is up as well, they don't find out just like us until and once you're with a school, you can't leave that school until your three years is up and requalify. So that's kind of on the state side of having to wait to know and twiddle our fingers until they decide to tell the school districts who qualify who don't. >> But we have this levy opportunity because we haven't levied it previously. >> Correct. >> And it's only
06736,241. That's the only real current discussion we're having that. Well, in part wasn't part of the problem last year too when we had the discussion. There was the dollar amount discussion, but there was also sort of the discussion on kind of the benefits andor what was being obtained with the dollars and cents that were established. And you know, Mr. Spoda was invited to that meeting to present and he was unable to make it. But I also think we had many questions as to what we were getting for those dollars, whether they be the levy dollars or whether they be, you know, local or state. Um, that was part of the problem too perhaps. But I think though we didn't we never pursued the levy dollars and put on the taxpayers because we knew we were
068told that we were going to get full state aid >> by the state and we're not >> and plan our budget accordingly. >> Correct. >> That was part of it too for sure. If we would have known last year at the same time because the money flows the next year, it probably would have brought to you going, "Yeah, we need to levy for this. Otherwise, it comes back on the district as well." >> We also knew that we could afford what we were doing. Correct. >> We were going to be able to offer the programs that we wanted with the money that we already had allocated for. >> They based their budget off of that. >> Correct. And with the two amounts already being a decrease, the taxpayers, I believe, will not see as much
069of an increase on their tax statement. >> You could pull a list right off of the MD of who's currently enrolled in it, who's not. But in the end, what I'm looking for is a motion for a dollar figure. Whether we're going to include the 36241 or we're not going to. And basically by by including the 36241, we're going to be a little bit of makeup, right? There's going to be a makeup. So, right. I'll make a motion to levy for 5,328,316.86. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any more discussion? When when we seek out a partner for the future, how will we determine who we seek out? Obviously, who um qualifies, but let's say there's multiple agents that qualify that do touch our district. How will we make those decisions as to
070who we pursue? >> I don't know. I think what happened was is Hutch was the only one that >> was not already an ANI. >> Well, again, we also they had an administrator that went through the program and it was a natural fit. >> Yeah. >> So, that's just Sorry, I didn't mean to. No, I was just going to say when when we start talking about it, once we get our numbers back and we know for sure, then we can reach out to the schools that surround us and have those discussions and you can have questions with all of them to say, you know, and try to find that fit because maybe there's some that will welcome us. >> That's what I said. >> But if we I I believe that this is how it
071works. We don't qualify. We don't have the coordinator. So say Hutch would qualify and pursue us. We have like a part-time person like a parah. We don't have the coordinator position. Hutch has that. That's included in their budget. >> Yeah. The budget would be completely different. >> they would be the host. >> The host, but we're still >> partially paying for it. They're just the ones doing the paperwork that documents the >> similar to what Hutchinson is doing. They're paying a small portion, but they see the benefit of it. >> So, we're still paying just as Hutchinson currently is paying. We're just not having to do the bookkeeping and the record keeping showing it. >> Yes. Because we still get part of the funding, but there would be no coordinator. So Dan's position then would
072still be no longer. We would have to qualify ourselves, I believe. >> Would a coordinator position still occur, but it would be Hutchinson's decision to have a coordinator and also they would have to do the bookkeeping part of showing that there is a coordinator on the books, per se. >> Yep. At the Hutchinson district. And and does this, for lack of a better term, program mandate having a coordinator? >> Yeah, I think that's part of the plan >> because somebody has to be accountable for what's taking place. >> Yeah. And it doesn't necessarily mean that they're doing the same things that Dan would be doing, but you're right. It depends on the plan that they submit, >> right? And we would not and we would not have as not being the fiscal agent anymore, we
073would not have any say. Well, I mean, even partner with the try to come up with something like how can we best serve our students? And that's where just those conversations come >> partially. Yes. Only if but if you don't levy for it, you don't get the full state. >> Just like everything else, if you don't levy for something, you don't get the full state aid. But you may think yes what you're thinking of you know for next year you know like about A and I but the funding kind of doesn't come until the next year. So, this is kind of trying to help offset the costs that we're having this year within next year's budget where Yes. And then we find out this year, oh yeah, we do actually qualify. That would be at
074the next truth and taxation meeting of next year going, yep, we shouldn't really levy it for the next three years. when we come back to this part next year and we're not part of ANI, it'll probably we won't we might we won't probably have a line that says ANI anymore. >> Valerie Mo, if you want to call somebody at MDE. >> Vanessa Mo. >> Thank you. >> She's very helpful. And after you talk with her, you still won't understand the whole program, but you'll get a better grasp of how it all works. Okay. Any more discussion? I have a motion by Jason, second by Alicia to set the f the final 2025 levy payable 2026 at 5,328,316.86. >> All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. >> I post same sign. >>
075Motion carries. Ajournment action item. Do I motion? Motion by a second. >> Second by John to adjourn at 7:09 p.m. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. I. Same side. Thank you everyone.