4 14 2026 Paynesville Area Schools Regular Work Session SD 480p

001I thought they were. >> So, can you make that camera just be on the left? And is it going to record both the camera and what I'm presenting? >> Okay. >> So, would you like to see something? hungry. Yep. In the air. I wish the laptops conference. >> I've got a grandson that likes computers computer repair business and start his own business. >> Yeah. recording. I'm going to take so >> Why don't you guys just hang out though? >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. >> No, you're good. Are we ready? >> Yeah. >> All right. We will call this meeting to order. All members are present. including our student representative Maggie. Uh we will start with communication items. >> Wonderful. Uh thank you for for patience. I appreciate that. Uh let's find out what's happening

002in our our elementary and uh hear from Kathy to start us off. So we'll pull up your board report. Good evening. We've had a busy March and April and it's hard to believe tomorrow is April 15th, the halfway mark of the month. Uh just a few things to highlight. We did have our March food drive assembly uh bringing in all the students and we had some fun celebrating the success of our food drive. And just a special thank you to Allison, Gerald, and and Sean for joining us that day and representing Paysville Community Service Center and accepting our donation of food and um financial donation as well. Um our second graders put on a fantastic music program called Music is in All of Us and that was Mrs. Strand's last u music performance as our

003music teacher. uh she's retiring and we all just were smiling ear to ear, toes were tapping, you could see, you know, people in the audience swaying. Um it was just a great message um and a great show for her um to end on. And then certainly we had the school of excellence celebration. Um weather was a little iffy that day if you recall. um we weren't sure what direction we were headed, but um very thankful that we were able to have that and um I think everybody that was able to attend and and be a part of that. So that was great. Um you probably saw some uh pictures in the newspaper and we are putting together a video to recap and have that um for the future as well. Um so that was very

004fun. MCA testing. Um we started that last week with reading, this week with math, and then our fifth graders will take the science next week. And I just wanted to um remind everybody that this is one measure um one snapshot of our student learning and um just gives us some guidance on where are we at with math, reading, and science instruction um in alignment to the standards. And so at the elementary we set aside um three days. Not that we're testing all three days. Um this is an untimed assessment so students can take the time that they need and the time that they want. Um I know I've had a couple parents ask are you testing all three days? And it's not necessarily we just want to allocate enough time um if that's needed. Certainly

005we are gearing up for 26 27 planning. um looking at the master schedule. We had a staff meeting today to talk about class lists and pulling those items together. Um looking at personnel items and much more. So we are in in full planning mode um which is exciting as we all look to wrap up this school year and look into next school year as well. I do want to uh formally invite the board and our community to the retirement uh open house gathering on Monday, May 18th. We are going to have a districtwide celebration to honor our Payneesville area school retirees. Uh we have nine of them to celebrate and recognize. So you can see um our open house will be at the pack at uh 3:30 to 5:30. So please join us if you

006are able and then you can see a whole bunch of upcoming dates and I had to scale back uh on a few. So just calling out you'll see some appreciation dates called out. Uh we have our spring fast bridge benchmarking um which you are familiar with fall winter spring uh checking the growth of students. And then I want to call out our last day of school which is Wednesday May 27th. That is a early dismissal. So that is new for families um this year with our dismissal being at 12:55 at the elementary and pretty similar here at the secondary. Just wanted to call that out. >> Anything from any questions? >> If you don't mind, uh Janelle, uh from the uh the Pville community center, we just thank you so much. You don't know how

007far that food and the donations going to go this year. So, please pass it on to the staff of helping that over there. So, >> yeah, lot of excitement that day. Yeah, we're happy to get back to the answers to us. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh then we'll find out what's happening at the secondary. So Jesse, if you want to share with us what's going on here, that would be great as well. >> Well, good evening everybody. Um so just a couple things up here that I I wanted to share with the board. Uh the first is Cassie mentioned statewide testing is underway. Um, couple big things that happened. Um, the MCA reading test wrapped up last week. The MC MA MCA math test is taking place this week. ACT testing and MCA

008science testing are next week. Um, just some things down there. We completed access testing on March 13th. That's our testing for our EL students. Um, and then we have the the dates listed of when the other um tests are. So, we're we're right in the middle of our our testing season. I did want to put up every month we recognize groups of students that are bulldog leaders. Uh students that have been living engaged, embracing integrity, acting respectfully, and displaying resilience, our lead model here. And so I just wanted to put those up for the board to see these are our um exceptional students who are are embracing our our lead model and being great leaders here in Payneesville School. So we're proud to recognize them every month for for the great things that they're doing.

009Just make it a little bit bigger so you can see. There we go. You can see the Skittles. Okay. >> Go. >> No, that's okay. No. Yeah, there's two sets. >> Okay. Sorry. >> No, that's okay. >> Second set. All right. >> Good. Um, we Cassie mentioned we do have some important recognition uh days coming up here. And I did kind of I did want to reach out to circle back to these. So, April 22nd is our administrative professional day. Uh May 1st we recognize school lunch hero day. May 4th through 8th is our teacher appreciation week and May 6th. So all these happen before we meet again is our uh school nurse day. And I did want to say uh Payneesville schools really run on the people who show up every day and and

010care about kids. So I just want to say a big thank you for to our teachers for the countless hours and energy they put into their classrooms every year. Thank you to our school health staff for the care and support they give our students every day. Um no problem is too small. No boooo is too small, right? Uh, thank you to our administrative assistants for keeping things running smoothly and and creating a welcoming environment for everybody who shows up in the building. And thank you to our kitchen staff for making sure every student is fed and ready to learn. Uh, each and every person here plays such a key role and I appreciate everybody and all their work. So, I did want to say that some important dates just to put on your calendar, especially

011uh board members. We have a lot of things coming up here. So, uh, May 2nd is prom and then we have May 15th is our dollars for scholars breakfast. This is where we, um, at Bug Beehive in the morning where we recognize all of the dollars for scholars recipients and then they get a chance to meet with the, uh, people who ended up donating the scholarship. So, it's a great time for uh, recipients to connect with donors. Uh, we have May 17th is our senior honors banquet. Uh, May 19th is senior's last day in graduation practice. So, we do a half day for seniors where we have graduation in the morning and then they hand in and wrap everything up. Um May 22nd is graduation 700 p.m. in the pack just like we did last

012year. Um May 25th, no school Memorial Day and May 22nd last day of school. It's also a um we're getting out two hours early. Yep. So, lots of things coming up here are going to be a going to be a really busy end of the school year. So, uh exciting how fast everything comes together. And at the end I I just gave a reminder of my goals for the year. So you >> question for Mr. Rasmmanson. >> Uh maybe you don't have this number but how's the participation MCA is looking this year? >> Um you know it's kind of hard to say. I I haven't compared the numbers. I have been pleasantly surprised. It feels like there are less students deciding to opt out of the MCA this year. So again, I don't have any

013hard numbers for you, but just my gut feeling feels like we have more students participating this year. So >> anything else for Mr. Rasmmanson? >> Appreciate it. >> All right. >> Uh Chris, come on up and let's uh visit about community ed and see what's happening over in that neck. >> Thanks for good timing. Wait a minute. >> It's great to know we electrify that seat. >> Right. So, mine's a little short speed. So, we had uh pre we opened up on took registrations for preschool. So, we are looking at uh through my program, we have um 46 fouryear-old contracts, um 14 three-year-old contracts. So, we have a little bit of room in our three-year-old program, a couple spots left. Um, and then of the 46, 19 of those kids are also participating in the

014wraparound um uh program. Um, so the 46 do not include students that may need uh support services. Um, so I do anticipate that the class sizes will be anywhere from 15 to 18 kids in the three sections that we have. So, similar to what we've had in the past, we had uh March 26, we had our spring fling. It was about 24 to 28, zero to three year olds. There was maybe a couple of, you know, like four and five year olds. It was mostly littles and which was great because they were all about the same age. I was I set all this really cool stuff up. Like I put I had a ball pit and I put all the balls in it and then I left to go get something and they dumped all

015of them out. And so I was like next time I was just going to go and throw them all over and then we had the bounce house and uh all the there were moms that you know stepped in and one was in there bouncing with the kids. One was at the top helping them down the slide and one was catching them. So, it was a good family event. We had a good time. We had some food and there was some um crafts and games. So, it was it was just a it's fun to be able to just bring kids that age and just let them run around. So, I learned a lot about a ball pit. So, I not I was like, "Wow, it looks great." And then I came back. I was like, "Oh."

016So, yeah, it was it was fun. Um uh you guys uh on May 13th we are going to have our um dedication to the playground and I'm there's letters I've got your official letter to invite you to that. Um so that is you know added in all those busy week dates that you just saw with the my two colleagues. Um, this will be on May 13th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. 6:30 we're doing a um a short dedication ceremony. So, uh, we'll be dedicating that playground and, um, and you guys are invited to come. So, I hope you hope to see you there. It's also in, um, the same time as our big truck night. So, if you want to see a few trucks and climb on them, you can do that, too. So, um,

017our ECF classes, we have our zero to two-year-old, we have, um, eight families, and in our two to four year olds, we have nine families. So, there are a couple new families, but they've been ones that have been coming since fall. Um, so it's been a it's been a good group. Uh, we also are getting ready for summer pause. We have 85 contracts. We're down a little bit. I mean, there's still some time for people to sign up, while we are down a little bit compared to last year. Um, we have secured our summer staff. That's we're excited about that. Um, we're um helping families navigate the the lunch, no lunch and breakfast and just, you know, talking about how that's going to look for with for them to bring um food for lunch and

018h how we're going to navigate that. So, those are some things we're we're working on with our summer program. And then, um that summer registration, I just connected a sheet. You can look at that at your leisure. Uh it's just uh what we have going on and you'll be able to see the um number of kids that are registered for classes. So, our our wreck sport classes are filling up. We've got we're starting to make multiple teams for many of the programs. So, um, so that's been, uh, filling in as as it should, as it does for over the summer. And then I just put two events down. This is just what's happening at the pack and already talked about the prom. And then there is a just for kicks competition on May 16th. So,

019um, yeah. Any questions for me? Um, and I am going to wear the director of buildings and grounds hat today because he's wearing the baseball coat chat today. So, um, so just uh in regards to in regards to buildings and grounds, um, he just wanted to update you that the science room, the cabinets um, Martinson's uh, has made the cabinets and they're working on the the doors and drawer fronts. Now, the tables are actually getting made in the welding shop, which is kind of a cool addition into the the science lab. And although we're waiting on the electrician, we're on his schedule. And so, all the pieces are kind of coming together. And um that's going to be really a cool a cool space. So, we're excited about that. Um air handler 5. Not sure

020if that means something to somebody else, but it's air handler 5. Um the coil came in and it it's installed. I know he's been keeping you updated about some of the air handler issues and um so I I I do appreciate that he just is pretty um >> he's pretty thorough and and just letting us know where things are at with those air handlers because they're they're kind of a big deal. >> Uh softball and baseball fields, they're working hard to get the fields in better shape. Um they have more time to be putting in on the fields. Um but uh it's it's been a an interesting spring for um temperature, moisture, all the things that baseball fields and softball fields rely on. So um I know that our our fields are in good hands.

021Okay, those are my narratives. I should Okay. Um and then um just wanted to bring the board up to speed that we've been having some issues with our fire alarm system. um it's been going off uh periodically um in the evening and uh um and so when it does do that, our fire department is called and they're called in. Um the problem with that is if that happens too many times, we start getting charged for that. And so, uh Ken has been working with Brothers. Um there's a couple of providers that carry your fire alarm system. We are presently with Brother's Fire. Um, and he's been working with them very diligently to try to figure out what what is going on. Is it sensors? What do we need to be replacing? Um, so he wanted

022you to just be aware that that's been happening. Um, the fire alarm system is something that we continue to be paying attention to and watching. Oh, there he is right there. Um, I just I just said that we were in really good hands and you were climbing up and pulling wires. No. Um but the fire alarm system is really it is something that we have to um kind of continue to pay attention to and uh for a multitude of reasons not just the false alarms but we want to make sure that that system is always on ready and so uh Ken has done a nice job really digging into that with brothers and then also evaluating you know what what are the best solutions to make sure that we can make some good recommendations. I

023do know um and Ken I might just uh look over my shoulder and say um preemptively we are aware that in the course of the next few years we are going to have to do some some changes to the fire alarm systems because of the reporting. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's got to be now. >> So we have to bring some systems up. So, knowing that that's coming and we've got some issues at hand, you know, we are starting the analysis of of where do we need to be and what do we need to be doing. So, um, anything else that you want me to add to that? >> A pain in the butt. >> I concur. Although, I've only gotten a call once, so it's okay. I mean, otherwise Ken gets here in the middle

024of the night. I don't have to, but I appreciate you, Ken. >> Okay. Um, any other questions for Ken about either the science rooms, air handler 5, softball and baseball fields, or the fire alarm system? >> Okay, so those are the administrative reports for today. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> All right, we'll move on to the school resource officer program update. >> Okay. Um, I will invite the sheriff to come on up and you can have a seat in the hot spot. Um, so uh, welcome. And I'm gonna >> Stoa, correct? >> Yes. All right. Um so um we had a conversation probably I don't know three months ago about um our current SRO uh for Payneesville is retiring and uh um Sterns County has done some support and service for other um schools

025within our area across Sterns County and so um gratefully uh Sterns County is able to pick up the Payneesville various schools for our school resource officer support. But um I wanted you to just have an opportunity to share a little bit about what that service looks like, how you've served um and then maybe just give the board an opportunity to ask any questions of you as well. So thank you for being here. >> I am in the hot seat. >> I know. So I'm Steve. the sheriff and uh when I came in as sheriff uh two terms ago now um I really felt it was important to get into the schools if we could uh through the school resource program to kind of link the youth to our officers and vice versa and and really

026those are our future citizens of the county typically and uh and so just to build some relationships was the biggest reason that's kind of my philosophy behind the school resource officer program. uh it's it's certainly not to come in and you know do enforcement really I mean unless it needs to be done those type of things but uh it's more about building relationships in the community engagement side of uh of things. So um previous administration to me long ago we had some school resource officers and then uh previous administration to me uh kind of ended those programs. We ended our DARE program uh back in the day. We have brought all that back now um into the sheriff's office and uh and we currently have um school resource officers in uh in Kimble um Melrose

027and we were in Sock Center. Sock Center police wanted to take that kind of back which is fine. Um, so we we have some experience, I guess, working in in um places that have a police department and and you know, obviously the communication will be big uh two-way street with with the chief and with the officers here if there's something going on uh within the school that looks like it's going to carry over. I don't know what that would look like, but maybe a fight or something maybe at the quick trip after school or something that's going to affect the police department. We'd obvious obviously be communicating that with uh with um the chief. So there'll definitely be a expectation by myself if we uh come down and be the school resource officer here uh

028that we check in with the police department uh at least Monday morning just like a week unless there's some kind of an emergency. So um you know so what you what you get from us is uh a guaranteed officer here um at the minimum 20 hours a week. Uh but we really don't care if they were here 40. Um but it's we try to balance that because it's not necessarily fair for you guys to get the benefit where say like Belgrade Brutin doesn't get the officer. So we try to limit it to about 20 hours but um we don't really ask questions either if they're down here for 30 hours or whatever. Um we uh obviously our officers are all go through the National Association of School Resource Officers and they're all members of that

029association. um that is actually by state statute now. So we uh we were doing that prior to it being uh state law. Um and then ongoing trainings they go uh to the annual conference every summer. Um uh our school resource officers when they are not in the schools in the summer they come off the um or the school resource officer position. They just become our community engagement officers. Um, and that's all we they do in the summer months is just community engagement because we have 23 parades that we attend. And uh we have a youth safety camp, a day camp that we actually do out here at the airport uh for the kids out here. But um yeah, that's kind of all they do. And then and then when the school year starts up again,

030uh they come back into the school. So, some other things that you'd get uh I guess through our is if you guys want uh training and and like run height, fight, we have an active threats group we call it that's uh made up of a bunch of different staff that come out and teach that. Um we do it for our county employees, we do it for the judges annually and the courts and that kind of thing. Uh we do it for businesses and and uh and we've done it for other schools. I mean, you know, we'll come in uh and and do that for you if you want. Um certainly can bring back. Now, we don't teach DARE. We teach LEADS, uh, which is law enforcement against drugs. Um, it's basically DARE. But what the

031reason we went with that or I went with that program is is our school resource officers are all in uh instructors in it, but they can literally teach from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade where DARE is a lot a lot of times uh focused on the fourth, fifth, sixth graders uh and then a little bit sometimes you get a refresher at like freshman high school. So, uh, that leads curriculum has everything from, like I said, kindergarten, uh, all the way up through 12th grade. Uh, and it's it's basically just like there, but it's just titled something different. And, uh, and I went that way because that way they could literally teach a kindergarten class in the morning and then come teach 12th graders in the afternoon or something instead of just being kind

032of focused on the other uh, part of it. So, um, yeah, I guess that's kind of it unless you guys have some questions. I'm trying to think if there's anything I kind of forgot. >> Handle the hot seat. Well, >> any neighboring schools in the county are you in are you in >> all of them in Sterns County or or >> No. Uh holding forward. We were just in uh and they actually just um and we ended it. I was good relationship. Uh the superintendent's leaving there and they needed to save some money so they they cut their program. Um Kimble cut a different staff member to keep us. Um and then uh Melrose and Sock Center started out as a grant, a cops grant, uh community engagement grant, uh and then we just took

033that over in the last year or whatever as far as the county goes. So we're not in all the school districts. Uh um I certainly encourage our officers on dayshift if they want to stop at Belgrade or Brutin or Sock Center. Our guy still goes back to Sock Center. uh the um the resource officer stops in there just to say hi to the staff and and uh and you know um and actually he got a mful the last time he was up there. They haven't seen the sock center cop for a while. So um but there's some other residual things that I guess have come out of that. Uh um you know the relationship building is obviously huge. Uh uh one example is uh there was a girl that reported a sexual assault. um literally

034told our officer that she would have never ever reported it, probably gone her whole life without reporting it except for the relationship that they had built uh in the school. So, uh that's a good thing. But we're also there for um staff like we've answered questions when a teacher needed a restraining order, you know, and they don't know how to go about doing that, you know. So, there's some some fringe benefits that come with that obviously. Um my uh my expectations of our officers is uh kind of uh kind of what I'm wearing u most of the time, but at least once every two weeks I want them in uniform uh a little bit so that they remember they're the police and the kids remember that they're the police, but also uh to just kind

035of get, you know, so you're not scared of them in their uniforms either. And um and absolutely if we're in the school district here, uh we could stop by the elementary school. We can eat lunch with them, you know, whatever. Uh that's what we do in Kimble. we kind of hit all the schools, not just in the high school if you would. Uh and then there's a requirement uh that they have to attend some afterhour activities, um football games and that type of thing. And uh um and I see it as not only are you kind of there as security, but it gives parents the access to the officer also. Uh the hope is that the kids have a positive experience with our officer. They go home and they're talking about it and then the

036parents can come to a football game or volleyball game or what have you. Um and um if they have questions, they can interact with the officer at some of those events. So um so yeah, that's >> okay. So this is a twofold question. >> Mhm. >> Does does Janelle look into getting a grant or how is it possible we could get a grant for something like this or >> So this is part of our our safe schools funding um pays for the majority of the position. >> Yep. So that is what you're talking about grant then or is there other grants out there? >> Well, we we put in for a community oriented policing grant through the Department of Justice. Um and we're granted it u and that was good for two years. Um but

037the expectation is after that you have to keep that officer employed and then keep them on. So we did. He's still up in Melrose now four years later. Um and he was in sock center in Melrose. But then like I said sock center police wanted to kind of go back into the school perfectly fine. Um, so that was a grant that we got uh through law enforcement. Um, we haven't applied for another one or anything. Uh, because if I go for a grant, I have to actually add a staff member and then at some point the county has to absorb that staff member. And >> if we're at a school are the way they are. So >> because if we're at a school of, let's say, 900 students versus a school that's at 3,000, I

038mean, the cost has got to be different, I would think. >> Uh, no, we charge the same amount for uh everybody. um just it's a kind of the hourly rate of the officer. Uh um we all have take-home cars, so you kind of get the car parked out here for free, you know. So they they drive a squad car and it's sitting out here and um you know that's not added in at all to the to the part of the grant or to the contract, I'm sorry. So >> I was just curious. >> Well, thank you so much. fabulous. >> This is going to come to a meeting where we confirm this or are we a go already? >> Um, so the the SRO contracts are are generally presented in in June or July. Good.

039>> Um, so that's when they've been on in the past. >> I just personally think it's a good deal. Kids cannot be afraid of police officers when they're all dressed up. They got to know no matter where they are in life, they can go to those people and depend on them to take care of them. And I have always been a real believer in that program. >> Yeah. And and you know, and we had a meeting with Paul and uh and it's a a happy handoff if you would. Uh his guy's retiring. He just his size of his agency, he can't support the program. So they asked if we could, we can. Um we're much larger obviously. Um and part of my philosophy is too is when we're in the schools, you know, there's kids

040from out in the county that are coming into the schools like in Melrose and stuff. So, we're not only servicing the city, I guess, but the surrounding area, you know, for the the kids out in the county. >> And the other piece that I I do want to just expand on is that um in the event of a crisis or an emergency, no matter what school district we are, the county's responding, the city's responding, the troopers responding. I mean, there's a a whole multitude of responses. Um and I I did appreciate hearing the the level of coordination between you and the city. So, there's a lot of communication that takes place. >> We're just starting to uh get into the world of reunification plans and maybe working towards a tabletop with some of the school

041districts. So, that's also something that'll come along um with all this at some point. >> All right. Any further questions for the sheriff? >> Thank you for being >> some some meetings I go to Moving on to the RCCIP update. Okay. Uh now I'll invite Chris up. >> Shimmy one chair. Chris and Bruce, come on up and uh and we'll walk through kind of um what uh where things are at and what we've been talking about. So um I so I'm I'm here really kind of um in twofold. uh one obviously as a superintendent I've been um um inquiring about school capacity but then secondly um really it's it's a community um juncture of a multitude of agencies coming together to really evaluate and take a look at what's happening with the child care situation

042and really the lack of daycare in our communities and so um Bruce and Chris as we kind of walk through this if there's things you want to add please just uh feel free to hop in. Okay. Um so the rural childcare innovation program was really the um it was um a process that we had to apply for through first children's finance and um the individuals that are kind of um addressing this section of goals are Chris Bruce Steve Peterson who wasn't able to be here with us today and myself. Um and really here's here's really what it is. Um it was led by First Children's Finance and it was really about the community coming together to look at the child care gaps and then talk about sustainable solutions. Okay. Um and Payneesville area was selected.

043We had to apply. We had to demonstrate that we had multiple entities coming together. Uh Centrice has been part of this conversation. The city has been part of the conversation. um the industrial park has been part part of the conversation. Um you know the school district. So there's really they wanted to see is this just one person, one entity taking the charge or is this a conversation that's happening communitywide. Um really the goal of this is to increase highquality affordable child care to support families, workforce, and economic growth. um and the strong school district involvement um was uh one of the factors that was considered as well. So this next slide is a slide that you've we've we've shown a couple of different times. I'm going to make it just a little bit bigger. Um

044and this data is one year old. Okay. When um when they walked through this process with us, really one of the things that they shared is this data is as good as the day it was made essentially. um because as you're going to see coming up, we lose child care programs over the course of a year. Um so this really is is cumulative of the Payneesville area and that when they say the Payneesville area, they're really talking about our school district zone. Okay. Um and so within here, you'll see at the time we had 10 licensed family daycare child carees and no licensed child care centers. Um and and I'm going to look to Chris because what I believe I'm going to look to Chris O'Brien because what I believe to know be true is

045that we are now down to eight licensed um family daycarees. So over the course of the last year, we've had a couple of family daycarees that have closed. Um what you're going to see is that within Sterns County, um when they measure slots for daycare, they're measuring how many children are birth to age five. So, they cannot yet be in school is kind of their measurement. Okay. And in Sterns County, you're going to see that there's 4,130 um spots that are needed. And for our school district, that is 196 spots. Of the 10, they were able to provide 82 slots. Okay. So, you can see that's a pretty large imbalance. That's the reason um we're kind what they would consider a child care um desert. You know, we just we don't have child care in

046our in our area that meets our needs. >> The other piece of data that they looked at is >> ask your question. >> So the 196 is based upon ages. Is that based upon the people needing child care or based upon the age? >> The age. >> Okay. So of an age group, how many of the age group need childare? Are we just assuming everybody needs it? >> Well, um when you look at >> that's not actually the case. >> Okay, but look at the green number. So the child ch children under five with all parents working are 268 families. So then of them you can so that those are those are families that either maybe they um have parents staying home with them or not parents I'm sorry grandparents or maybe they're part of

047a daycare or um they have a the rules around like you can take in one child and watch like if I'm if I stay home with my kids I could take in Chris's kids but I could not take in Bruce's kids because now I'm a daycare but I could take in just Chris's kids, right? So, there might be scenarios around that. So, I think that there when you look at how many children there are under five with both parents working. The other component of that that they dug into a little bit for us is split shifting. You know, how many parents have had to find split shift scenario so they could have one home, right? So there's >> but to keep it kind of straightforward if you take 196 and I look down on the

048bottom uh left there it says 85% children with all parents in the workforce. >> If you take 85% of the 196 could that be what we really need >> and and I think there's there's ways to look at it. Um >> I think it's actually the 196 because and then there's like one in Rosco, but they RCCIP or whatever first Finance, they have a myriad of ways to come up with that. >> And so because it's something based off the 268, but I don't know how they came from 268 down to 196. >> Well, maybe it's not a >> It's not It's not an addition of the 82 and the 196. >> No. >> So it's something it's some formula they have. >> There's a formula because you're right. There are some who maybe they

049don't they don't need it and they've got but um >> the need we're looking for is 196 kids >> what we say but us as a group have said that our our true need that we for sure know is 100 like you know what I'm saying like we know for sure >> there's 100 that are not getting it at a minimum >> so if we round yeah that's that's a good way to >> it's basically potentially up to that an hour potentially there's >> yeah 16 according Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, um Okay. >> So, of the of the eight >> ones that are out there, how much are they providing? >> The eight licensed >> there's eight licensed um >> how many slots are they? >> Yeah. Yes. >> Are they six or 10

050a piece or >> Well, it depends on the age of the age of the child care. >> Yep. Um, and there's there's a child care um, regulations for like you can only have two infants. >> I wasn't going to get into that, >> but those are >> so much just just out of curiosity. If the average is 6* 8 48 >> Well, if you look at 8.2 per se, now it's down. So, you probably take off 16 off of that even, >> right? >> 56. So, right now we're probably this community is probably able to provide >> around 66. 66. Okay. >> No, >> I mean Yeah. >> So, we're about 130 short right now probably since we lost those two. >> So, yeah, it's bad problems. >> Um and then as I mentioned um

051in the state of Minnesota lost 289 child care programs from June of 24 to June of 25. So this isn't, you know, and and some of the reasons for that we've when we sat and talked, we talked about the increased regulations for inhome family daycarees, um because of what they have to do to their houses, what they have to do to their playgrounds, what they have to do um for uh adherence to the food programs, you know, right? All the regulations. People um they aren't just aren't able to keep up with um with the process. And these are just some of the the outcomes that through this process. And then a lot of the information that came into these slides came from our first children's finance um town hall. It came from our um our

052final survey information that came through um and and what they're noticing is that um people aren't in the workforce because they're staying home. Um so you don't have you don't have employees. Um, we know that employers uh struggle to find employees because if I can't have my kids in daycare where I'm working, I might look for something different. So, those are some of the the considerations. Um, we also know that uh kids that come through um a structured programs um are demonstrate a higher level of school readiness. So, that's something that from an educational perspective obviously we have some skin in that game as well. Um, so here's really the the goals of and this is this was the summary of the year-long process with again all those entities centric here was part of the

053conversation the city um the we had representatives from EDAP there we had um representatives from um the community foundation from the school district we had um uh individuals who are directly impacted acted by the child care shortage and and so we had a whole representative of people and so we're going to spend the most time talking about goal one and goal two and then um I did want to just share with you goal three and goal four as well so you could see what those are um primarily why this has come up let me just come back up to goals one and goal two and I'm going to make that a little bit bigger okay um so goal one was to determine funding sources to match, contribute, and support financial implementation for short-term and long-term

054solutions. Okay. Um, and we're going to talk about what some of those short-term most immediate things are that we could maybe do to try to help keep those instead of uh eight family daycarees, can we bring them back to 10? You know, what are some of the things that that those community me or those daycare providers might have needed? Okay. Um and then secondly, um what is as you see a inh home family daycare can meet the needs of about eight.2 kids. What's a longer term solution for a center or to support our community? The second uh the two major entities that have come up through that conversation are Centra Care and the school district because we are the two largest employers in our communities. Okay. Thus the reason we've sat down to say okay

055what could that look like and what would be the considerations that would need to go into that. Um within that um >> you want to ask another question as we go. >> You can ask me. >> No ask away. >> Okay. So as I'm traveling some of the small communities around here every few of these communities have like a big building. It's their daycare building. It's obviously not private enterprise because it's built like this kind of stuff with the fancy brick on the outside, fancy windows, all that kind of stuff. So, it came from looks like public funds somewhere. You have any idea what those are about? >> Mhm. >> I mean, where are we going to get public funding and stuff? >> No, Bruce is asking. >> Yeah. What What are they? Are they

056>> the daycare centers? >> Yeah. Are they run by the school as an accessory? Are they run by another entity? Are they private entities? >> That's a great question and I I'll I'll speak from what my opinion is is a lot of these communities are in the exact same situation. That's how we got involved with this on economic development side of it. It it's been a real need in our community in in the industrial to commercial to to schools and the hospitals. So we were looking at solutions and henceforth we work closely with the gentleman that started this building over here and then they now as the tractor supply is that was supposed to be a daycare hoping to get some volume of people in some of these communities. They're working with nursing homes. They're

057working with maybe somebody will donate a building like it might be a an old armory or or some sort of building that they'll donate to neither private entities. So it might be little cells of and so we look to all of these options but different communities are involved different ways. Some some nursing homes get involved, some schools get involved. I mean it's a everybody's fighting. So sometimes there's buildings available, nice buildings and sometimes they build them, but from what I've seen quite often they're buildings that were in the community and they're repurposed. Um and t the other answer to that is um some of them are run by schools, some of them are run by centers, some of them are um you know bigger what I've I've heard happening more in the metro area as

058a a um like a a business complex will start within that build building a daycare for their employees, you know, and that's them run. So, it's kind of a >> I've seen those. >> It's kind of all all over options, right? Um, and you know, and like this slide is really it's kind of just a recontinuation of what we're talking about is that we know that, you know, we've got our our kids that are living in our community. They're our workforce. Um, we know that um we want families to choose our community because that helps our community grow. Um, we know that we want parents to have the choice to work. um and and it does make our community thrive and and it brings a more vital community. So um this is I guess really

059again taking the information that what are the things that we've talked about or what are the things that uh Chris and I from a Chris O'Brien and I have talked about from a community ed perspective. Um, you know, one of the conversations is is are there spaces to Bruce's point that we could look at for purposing a short-term leasing option if there are families who wanted to open a daycare and they just didn't have a space. Are there members in our community who would be willing to say, "I have a space. I would be willing to lease this out to a a family who's wants to open a daycare, but maybe they don't want the the wear and the tear on their house because that's another uh piece of feedback that we heard through this

060whole process is that sometimes families just can't afford to maintain the upkeep on their houses when you've got kids or what we've heard happens often is a par a mom will stay home when her kids are little and then her kids, she'll open the daycare and then when her kids age out, she doesn't want to run the daycare in the same capacity that she wanted to when her kids were there cuz it's a stress on the family. It's a stress on all those things. So, are there spaces that we could look at tapping into for some short-term leasing that people maybe have said, "I wanted to do this. I just didn't have a space to do it." Okay. um the um supporting training options through community ed for current providers. So we talked this is

061something that that Chris and I or Brian and I have talked extensively about is how can we pre create um a network for our current providers so that they can have the continuing ad credits that they have to have for their lure because when they open a daycare and they're a licensed daycare they have to be continuing with the um certifications and is that something that we could do for them like offer on their you know so that they could come into the school and and at the same time or through community ed at the same time they could also start building a network so that they have some support for one another right um we also talked about um >> so their certifications are those like um they have to attend >> yes oh

062so they don't have online options >> oh I think they maybe it could be Yes, I've seen with a lot of certification nowadays, it's moved almost entirely to online options. >> It it Bruce, I I stand corrected. It could be yes and >> I got you. >> Yeah. Yep. Yep. >> I hope I'm not asking too many questions. >> No, this is great. No, I think this is wonderful. The other um piece that came up a lot was um a CDA, which is a child development associate um program. It's a credential. Essentially, it'd be similar to like a CNA. So individuals at school, could we look at So we are exploring how could we through the high school offer a CDA course? So because we've heard K um young students that would love to open

063a daycare, but they don't know how. They don't know the development of it. They don't have the license. All of the things, right? This program is something that we could look at doing here and we could extend that to our neighboring communities, right? And kind of like our CNA program, if students in surrounding communities wanted to come in and take the class here, how could we do that? So, we've got some community me some of our other team members that are helping to evaluate that option. Okay. >> So, that gives them the the ability to get started. Mhm. >> Yep. >> I like that idea. >> So, those that's and that's going to be again one of those options for our inh home family daycarees. Okay. Um and then the long-term solution is what makes

064the most sense to model for a center. Okay. So, then um again, these are just some of the things that the district may want to consider as to why. Um, I think we've talked a lot about um about growing our enrollment. Um, now I'm going to put on my superintendent hat and I'm going to tell you I really want kids to be going to daycare in our community. I don't want our kids to go to daycare up in their surrounding communities and then get their feet in the the preschools in the neighboring school district because they get a ride. You know, Jacob, if you can if you can pick up Susie and Sally and and bring them over to daycare at we'll call it Starbucks. Um then I I don't want a parent to say,

065"Well, that's going to be more convenient than me having to go get them and bring them back to um preschool in Payville." Right? Those are those are concerns that I have as a superintendent when I think about not having access and flow from parent young parents making a choice to Payneesville. Were you going to say something? And I was just wholeheartedly agreeing it's you know when you go to daycare which I've heard personally from parents who have moved specifically for child care you know it's not jobs it's not housing it's where can I find child care and some have moved to our community because they just had a resource that they could use some have moved away but also you know your kids make friends he's going to want to go to school with his

066friends he's not going to want to come back to go with random kids, he's going to want to stay where he's at. And it's just I think it's a great opportunity for us to expand our enrollment. >> Three families that gets sent their kids to another school district because their daycare was in that district and the bus would pick them up from daycare. Is there a building in town here that I mean probably going down it's too late now but I always thought there was that opportunity for the old alcohol the tractor supply but that was the building that wasn't up to code or I guess that doesn't >> guy bought it to do that and then I think he had a bunch of grant money and stuff but >> it didn't work out. >>

067Yeah, obviously. Yeah, >> we'll just leave that. >> Yeah, >> but they remodeled it. It was ready to go. >> But is there a place in town where you thinking that somebody could start a business or >> That's what we're trying to Yeah, that's >> hard to find. >> Look at every option that we can. >> There's so much logistics with mold and everything. It has to be up to code. >> No, it's a good point. >> Yeah, there was another thing I forgot. Um, so at the MSBA conference, I sat in on was it Dawson Boyd or like her? I think it was Dawson Boyd. >> Yep. And actually, so they did a in school program and it was went from their community ed was losing money like crazy to now it was running

068a very healthy profit and they were able to expand other programs because it was just so successful in that sense. So it's not just necessarily a cost. It can >> pay for itself on its own. Um, and and I think that, you know, we've talked we've been talking as a community for a long time about the daycare issue. Um, and I think this is probably the most I think fruitful conversations that we've I feel like we've been having about next steps to actually make something come to fruition to be part of a solution. And I think that the school district had an opportunity to be part of a the leader in that conversation. So then what's happened thus far? Um so because um the school and centric care were identified as would it make sense

069to have these here um we did uh go up to Little Falls to visit their um Little Falls their program. Little Falls went through the RCCI program RCCIP program as well. They walked through the evaluation. and they walked through the feasibility um and then they did a um they did had a matching grant opportunity that was written by their city, the city of Little Falls um did a a um applied for a $1.5 million uh matching grant from HUD and the the district put up that other $ 1.5 million. Um, I said, "Greg, that's amazing, but I don't think our school district is in the position to put up $1.5 million. So, let's talk about this." And we we kind of have been brainstorming ideas, but before we did that, we wanted to see what

070does this look like and how does this work? Because in our mind, it was kind of like thinking of what are these buildings and how does this work in a center as part of a school. And so we did go and visit um a Chris was there and um Mary McAdans was there as well. And so we brought went to the their program to see um and ask them some questions of what would you do similar and what would you do different? Okay. Um they did work with their city worked with their local legislators um to work through that HUD process. So, I've been exploring what could that look like and I've reached out to our local legislators to say, "Okay, what does that look like?" Um, state funding inquiry. So, that's the second piece.

071Um, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families has a grant process. Yep. >> So, $1.5 million. That's what they were talking about up there. Or was it 1.5 of m3 million? >> How many kids were they going to take care of? >> 104. Okay. >> Yep. They were 104. Yep. Now, they had um they've had some So, we asked some really it was a really good question. I mean, we got were just full of questions when we were up there and they were really very very receptive to no question was a stupid question, right? And we were asking them like, "Well, are you making money right now?" >> Right? What is that's a very fair question. And um they set their model up and the city committed that they didn't have to run at

072full capacity their first year so that they could work out all their kinks and the city helped offset the cost of the daycare so that they at that moment in time he didn't hadn't run the numbers but he said I'm sure right now we're not making money because we were relying on the city to get get through those first few months of having one infant room versus two infant rooms. They had a wait list for for the spots. I mean, they they were not they they aren't empty spots because they don't have students or kids that need them. They were empty spots because they were running at half capacity to make sure that they had all of their kinks worked up. Okay. So, um so that was interesting. Um Bruce, is there anything else you

073want to add about our conversation with Greg? No, we just thought that, you know, just all we were trying to do is gather information and Little Falls match is so close on size and it's right on the button on what we thought we for sure could fill would be 100 spots. So, we thought the the numbers match up and the $3 million they're they're per square footage of what's actually needed per child, they're over. So, they're a little bigger facility than what they'd really be required to do. But you know with inflation we don't know what that number is now and we don't know what numbers are available but it was very well it's very wellrun. It just flows right with it. I mean flows right with their school and they tie the the little

074ones in. So when they have kids that are first graders or kindergarters and it's time for and school they'll bring them down to that area so their mom and dad can pick them up with the other kids. And so it seems like it's been working really well. >> So they were really thoughtful in having some smooth transition areas. Um, the other piece that um that I was going to mention when you were um talking about that was another >> well the rooms also doubled as they would do their early childhood family ed in in those spaces preschool. So there was daycare and then over on another section, but near it was the uh school portion. So your preschool and your three four-year-old preschool and your three-year-old preschool. And then if they did day or evening

075ECF, that was that was the whole >> they were able to use the whole space. >> The whole space. >> Um I was going to add that the extra space that they used. Um so we were there when it was cold. And it was the their big space that was excess was for an indoor play area. So then they had like, you know, like climbing things for the kids and little trikes to ride around. So it was more of a that's not necessary. That's not a need to have. That was a nice to have, right? And it's but it was one of the things they talked about when they when they did that. That was >> and they talked about using some of the schools cafeteria. They bring the the food in. So they're able

076to double up on on a lot of those costs. >> Yep. >> So when I was a kid, we had 1500 people in the school. We're down down to down to 900. Do we have empty classrooms or classrooms that are not used to capacity where we could have space for something that in our existing facility only based upon a growth potential, right? you go out and you build something really big and fast um and you've got a lot of expense to go with it. If we could coordinate something that we might already have with more efficiency, then we would move forward with something like that, maybe more expensive. As we saw work, as we saw it grow, we've got a fourlane that has just come through here. We have all the growth potential of anybody

077around us. I I believe what we saw in New London and and Raori is all coming here. Um she's going to take a little bit. >> Yeah. But >> that Bruce, that's a super question and we've talked about that. I'm looking at Cassie and and we've talked about like how how are spaces used at the elementary? I think we'd have to do some pretty substantial repurposing. And now I look to Ron as the concern of when you start repurposing, what happens with your construction costs? You know, like when you remodel now, you're bringing you're bringing asbestous, you're bringing all these things up to code. Not not that you can't consider. You just have to know. >> What about here? And those school at one time and I never >> I'm on a schoolboard. I don't

078get tours of this thing, but at one time we had whole rooms that might have had >> for coffee breaks, >> right? >> Some of that kind of stuff. It only takes a few rooms. All of a sudden, you have square footage that could be used, which may be a relocation of a classroom, >> which wouldn't be the end of the world. and maybe the far corner of the school that's already adjacent to the outside already with an outside work with an area that could be fenced for outside activities and you've got the lunches. your your question is perfect to look at number three which is um consulted with the Little Falls project team to understand appropriate construction costs for a center and to your point Bruce what could be done in our existing spaces

079because they this is um so the the firm that worked with Little Falls has done um they've done daycare projects across um districts not just in Little Falls. So I did call them and I said, "Hey, what what does this look like? like how how would we know and where would we start analyzing? You can use this space for it is something that we need to look at and I think that might be a short term but I think our data and what we know is that there's a need greater than I mean we even if we had a hundred slots I don't think that's going to solve the problem. I think we're still going to have kids that are looking for daycare. Even if we have 50 slots, that's not Heat. Heat. 1 2

0803 conversation. package. Yeah. a lot of um this is Heat. Heat. Stop. You Um, chance time. Um, I know. I can't Um, here it HOW MUCH UH nice Heat. Heat. Christmas. of this. They had about 1,000 ft extra. So about 9,000 to 9,500 would be ideal for about 10. Again, I think their targeted number is 104. >> And there's a reason for that, too. A lot of these are just as as coming to a lot of these numbers and what we're told we haven't verified these numbers. So for example, Little Falls started the remodel process and just said it wasn't feasible by the time they look at it. So we took that as as as information. So looking at these until we really would get costs, we wouldn't know exactly. But to add to what

081J was saying, we did work and work at the higher level at Centric Care to see what they could do for our community to work with them as such a big employer. So we're trying to work with them also on some of the funding to just see what we can come up with. But wanted to just show or share where we're at right now. So as you look at it, is the growth in this in the larger facilities generally public? Like I said, the ones I see, those aren't buildings, private enterprise builds. There's two different prices. There's a private enterprise price and there's a public price. And sometimes the public price is quite a bit higher. But that's what I see is stuff that doesn't look like it's private enterprise, right? >> Is that where

082the growth is? >> Um or is there somebody out there in private enterprise? We had somebody was going to try here. Didn't work out. >> But um well, >> is there private private entities kind of doing it? Look at the nursing home. nursing home for a long time was centered at the hospital. Now you've got private organizations that are coming in doing a fantastic job. One of the things that Little Falls was really really big on and part of the reason they're not making any money is they're being very sensitive to the daycarees that are within their community at this time. So they're definitely pricing themselves down. So in the metro or the bigger facilities are price. So our goal was to try to stay in that range. advantage we have here is we don't

083have a center. If we had a center, it would make it even harder because now you're competing directly with a center. We're competing, if you will, and and working in conjunction with the home daycarees, but that's a different entity, if that makes sense. The families that go there probably looking for something different. So, I I thought Little Falls really made a big big point of explaining that they were pricing things way under market, I should say. And the other the other piece is there are franchises that you know you could you could franchise a New Horizon child care. >> Um no they were over >> they're over so people don't all come to the >> um so but you could you can reach out to like a New Horizon which is a a daycare center.

084Um but then you have to have you buy the franchise. So, you have to have an investor that's ready to purchase a franchise, have the place to put it in, and then then I mean that would be great, but we haven't had anybody that's really said, "Sure, I'll come to Payneesville, you know." >> So, is there anybody around um helping the six and 10 daycarees in homes? It's hard because some of what you're is in some of this material is how do you get the information to those people to make it equitable for them to make it work or is the state >> um >> coming up with so many help >> well part >> we did because yeah because we were part of this program >> they can reach out to first children's finance

085and say I'm not making enough money help me model what do I need to do so that I can you know what is a sustainable price. If somebody wants to open their own child, their own daycare center, they can work through our first children's finance people and they will help them get started. But we also that's that's one of the things that we talked about just being able to do from a a CDA that that um credentiing that class um having some continuing ed networking opportunities so that they can come together and they aren't living on an island trying to do this by themselves. They're just our goals are trying to build resources for the current child care or if somebody wanted to start a new one. So it might be what she just talked

086about. It might be it might even be like uh shared curriculum. You know, my my early childhood program has lots of resources that we, you know, we're using a certain curriculum, but we have a lot of things in our closet and a lot of things that are sitting on a shelf not necessarily getting used like how can we provide some help to those childcare providers around their enrichment or their um how do we help them when you know some of them didn't felt like doing billing through uh uh you know to get there's the pathway scholarships there's CCAP dollars there's some of them didn't you know like that's too hard so I don't really you know that I don't use all of those resources so how do we help them with that so all families

087have an opportunity to have daycare >> so this is a I guess maybe maybe even a three-part question but so you guys I'm not saying you're doing this but is there room 10,000 square feet to put something to something to the south of the elementary school if if you did something through the school like or what do you >> um I think we'd have to look at what the space >> we don't have any we don't have any spots picked out or anything we're still >> but there wouldn't be room in the elementary ground there right >> I think you square feet >> I think there would be room off the off the buildings not I you'd have to be probably separate with a pause so that you could get far enough away because we

088just put that beautiful playground in. >> Yeah. >> And then there's a playground up here. I mean, you have all the space and >> and then >> but we have to evaluate that. You know, >> I understand and that's what we're doing right now, but I guess I'm wondering how if you put that towards a referendum, how positive would that go? >> I don't think we're talking about a referendum. I I didn't really envision asking our voters for I I was really envisioning looking at grants using >> We need a hotel too this town, but there's a lot of Yeah. >> Yeah. Um and and so I guess you know when I think about if we could find I do think we have to evaluate our campuses to see where could we put a space

089that would make sense. Um, I do know that you have to have outside play space for daycarees. Um, and it has to be a certain and maybe the baseball stadium could work. I don't The baseball stadium playground could work if it was on this campus. I don't know. Um, if it was on this campus, it' be nice because we'd have some kids that we'd probably be able to tap into for some workers, you know, that could be part of u classwork. >> Um, so I think there's pros and cons. There's pros and cons to both scenarios and I just don't know because I I really haven't I haven't asked too much to dig in until I we had a conversation because I have heard like in from community members I've heard well the school's going

090to bond for a daycare and I'm like no that's not the story and and so I want to be really careful because I don't think that's been the message because I don't think our community has the and I could be wrong and you might hear more after this conversation, but um I don't know that our community has the capacity to bond for another building. I I really didn't envision that that was going to be a feasible option. So, what we've really talked through is how could we generate enough grant revenue, donations, fundraising to build this space and then figure out who's going to run it. >> So, any of these communities out surveying anybody? And the the only reference I have is stuff that we've been successful here at the school is getting out with

091surveys for people to fill out. Our results come back pretty good for surveys, >> but there's so many people in a community like this that have knowledge that we don't even know to tap it. And so the areas that you've looked into, anybody surveying an area about this, just a a general survey that gets out there, what do people think? What what if people think the people are the ones that make it happen, not not just a few people? >> We did. So part of this process before we even got to this through that RCCIP program is there was a survey that was sent out to our our community to understand what the experience of daycare is and to understand um >> that was online. >> Um it was male. It went to people that

092have kids in that age group. >> There's a couple years ago. >> I didn't get one. You didn't get one. I would have got one. >> I filled one of them out. >> All I'm saying is when we gone out for the surveys. >> Yeah. Um, we're trying to get to everybody cuz you can take that person that was involved in something like this down in Minneapolis interested in trying to help the community with ideas that we're going to be forever imagining >> and once you can get the input of the public, >> those things can kind of generate a little bit >> and it's a a guidance thing. >> Yeah. And I um I think we've had there's been a number of of communications around the town the town hall event was a public

093event and that was in it was in the paint uh it was in the press. It was in our uh we put it in our community brochure. It was in um so it had it went into a number of um and we have a number of places that we know people read. So it cuz it was in the press and I know that that's a big indicator but I think the unless somebody is impacted by it, it might not have risen to the level of of importance. But >> so I do know >> I've always been one to have it in the mailbox. >> Um we have all these different sources. It's just like advertising. What do you use for a source to advertise these days? It's all over the place and it's small percentages.

094Everybody got a mailbox and that's what we've always done with those surveys that we've run for the schools and honestly in our decision making >> in my mind that has been helpful for what have we run maybe three or four Cheryls. >> Yeah. I' I've >> there's nothing they come back with information that is mindboggling of people just wanting to help but we don't know that they want to help. >> Yeah. and if it's a an issue they realize there's going to be a lot of people that are 65 and older that realize exactly what the issue is or they have kids that are struggling with it in another community but I'm just curious. >> Yeah. Um so I you know I I think that's something that if the district wants to consider a survey

095you know I can certainly reach out. I think the um I in my hearing is it okay to continue the conversation of what our space is um to do some analysis so I can bring back conversation to the board of these are on our campus these are this is viable not viable um walking through buildings to say is that because I I don't want to overstep and and engage in a conversation with somebody and have the board caught off guard if that's not okay. Um my my thought on another survey because I and and I apologize maybe to you Bruce or because I've been involved in in this at starting at not at the ground uh uh level but at a certain time got involved in this and I would say do another survey. All

096we're going to do is just bring up stuff again and what does that data really get us? I think what we need to do is just continue with this course now uh and and just move forward with what we have. I agree with you, Janelle. Maybe start taking a look at spaces here. If if that's where your group, because I'm I'm in a different group, look at things, but if that's where your group wants to go, then maybe that's where where you uh uh that you look at uh or maybe there's other things that you take a look at. But but I think opinion and and I I'm only one person on the school board here. Opinion is there's a great group of people. People are dedicated to working this. they have an understanding because

097they started at ground zero with this program uh and moving forward. You need to let them go and complete their course before the school board really starts taking a look at to say no, you did this wrong or maybe you should have done this. Well, the one piece though that I want to be really I I I appreciate that we're you kind of pushing us on the way to say sail the ship, but I also think that um when we talk about um committing space within the school district, I do think that that's a conversation that needs to come to the board. >> Yeah. Yeah. And stepping back, like I said, if that if that's where your group is going to be at that, hey, I think this is what we need to do. Yeah.

098Then we need to have that conversation. If that's not where your group looks at and say this is what we're going to do, then just continue going where where you're headed right now uh with it. So, >> and and you'll see the the the Payneesville Area Alliance, they've had they've been very involved. Um Joe Voss is um actively involved as is his granddaughter. um they've been in the process beginning to end because I think that's something where they feel like they have some funds that they would like to be able to contribute toward um toward a uh a solution. Um as as Bruce talked about, centric care is they have been approached. We haven't we haven't made a formal ask I guess because we don't know what we're formally asking for. Um but there is

099a level of of recognition that there is a we need to have a solution because their employees too are going to benefit from a child care solution. Um the city council has had we've we've not approached them with a specific um a specific ask but as as Chris and Bruce were both on uh EDAP for many many years. Um you know they know the mission of what's uh what's happening. Joe Voss is currently on um EDAP. Um the Payneesville area community foundation has talked about ways that they can engage and try to be supportive of the process. Um you know and we've got parents representatives who are coming in saying okay what can we do? So I I I the reason I put those pieces on there was so that you all could see how

100many organizations are coming together for a solution. Um which I think is a pretty I think that's exciting to make it feel like it has some momentum. So, and then we were just going to ask for questions from the board, but we've been doing a good job all the way along. So, Chris, Bruce, anything else that you guys would like to add? >> No, just just the one bit that I I'm assuming you would all want to know and I've been trying to gather that data is is what is the impact if you do have a daycare to admissions to to how many how many additional children would you bring in? Then it helps that math a lot. And it Little Falls doesn't have any data uh on that yet. Um I've tried to look

101on the internet and I haven't found anything. All I can say is is Richmond Peter and Paul Church, their little Catholic school, they were going to be shutting that down and Cold Spring Granite went in there and put in a helped them put in a small daycare. And I just talked to one of the board members there that that turned that school around their admissions up. And it's not just that those kids are in that community, but once they're going to school there, they bring them up and they're just used to it. And Freeport's the exact same story. Again, those are very little schools. So, I think that's very valuable for the school board to have that data. I'll continue to see if I can't find some statistical data that says if you have a

102100 children, what what percentage would you get additional that you would have gotten? And and it's hard number to find. And I haven't found that yet. I don't doubt that at all. Um when when you you guys are collaborating really well and you're really looking into things, we've had a lot of information from you guys and that's that's great. I love that. Um have you considered possibly having several smaller dayc carees instead of >> Yeah. I mean, if Absolutely. Um, and I think that's where Chris's team really kind of comes into play of of their supporting um whether it be through the the certification um directing them to First Children's Finance to get their business model set up. Um, First Children's Finance also has um they have very low interest or no interest loans for

103opening inhome family daycarees. So that's part of that group. So we're goal one and two, they're goal three and four. just I mean we we love that the problem we've had here is that >> since we've started this thing and bringing people in and learning more about it we're minus two you know or negative two daycarees and so it's there and looking at the finances for inh home daycare you better love those kids cuz you're not going to make much money it's very very difficult it really is um there's just there's just not a lot that's why some people can do it for a But they usually get burned out because they're not there's not much at the end. There really isn't. That's why that 100 student or 100 kids is a big deal because

104you need to have that size almost to survive. Well, one empty classroom is about probably 900 square. Five extra classrooms is close to 5 400. But but the thing with that, Bruce, it's not it's not an apples to apples because depending on the age that space uh that they need grows and >> you got to have separate bathrooms. >> But I think we we definitely want to look we're not we're not we love this. This is >> and and that's where the people that have done this, they're going to be able to look at kind of and say, "Oh, this you could you could make this into this space and they're going to know that." Whereas we might look at a 900 square foot place and say, "We'll put a crib here, put a crib

105here, put a crib here." >> Right. >> No, you can't do that. Not quite as simple as that. But >> it's it's still worth >> it's exploring. Absolutely. So, and and I'm and so I I want to just I'm hearing that I have the board's blessing to just continue exploration. I'm not >> a choice but to figure it out some. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, anything else? Okay. Thanks, gentlemen. >> Or the Twin Cities. All right. Thank you. >> All right. >> So, we will move on to budget development. Okay. >> Uh, so this is fairly straightforward. So, what you're going to see is Thank you. So, what I've done is I've just added, so originally this is going to be a running document for you. Um what you see is that the original is

106in black text. March was when I added blue text and April is going to be the green text. Okay. So really you're only going to see um the biggest additions at the end of the document where um Rick and I have done uh some extensive analysis of our activity fees. Okay. I know we've I've talked about this with you for a couple of different budget seasons. Um so we started doing some some analysis. Um, so all of our activity fees um have not been touched since 2015. That was the last year, the 2015 16 school year is when they went from this uh amount to this. This is the current amount. The So our seventh and eighth graders pay $55 and 9th through 12th graders are $75. Um Rick did a an analysis of the

10711 school districts in our closest proximity and their seventh grade average is $83 for 7th and 8th grade and 9th through 12 is 120. We thought that it was um and that would have been in 2425. So that was last school year. We thought it seemed reasonable to look at a moderate split of that um and make a recommendation for 75 and 100. So, $75 for seventh and eighth grade and $100 for 9th and through 12th grade. Uh, we are not making any recommended change for the U mask foupocket family maximum for um the year because the average was $44. So, we felt we were pretty pretty on point with that. Uh, we also took a look at our hockey fees. Um uh the recommendation would be to increase the hockey fees from $400 to

108$500. Um and the average for that is uh $600 when you remove St. John's Prep. St. John's Prep charges $1,000 per skater and NLS charges $165. So we took the high and the low out of the averaging process. Okay. Um when you left uh when you left them in, it was $667. Okay. um the non-athletic participation fees. So again, those would be like your one act play, your uh your speech or things like that. Um our current rates are $40 and $45. Looking at a modest recommendation of 55 in cost are um we're seeing increased official fees. You know, when we have officials come in, that has has been a um increase because um they're in demand and they are part of an organization and the organization just farms out their um their umpires, officials,

109referees to school districts. And um those rates have have gone up pretty considerably. Um as have the costs of uniform and equipment. And so those are are really our biggest drivers. Um, and so that would be the consideration to look at our fees that haven't been addressed since 2015. >> If you raise the fees, how much money will that bring into the district in a year? >> Yep. Um, I have that for you. >> I probably it makes sense, >> but if it's if it's not going to really make any difference, I'd hate to see participation change. Plus, I'm also not a huge fan of always including New London Spicer or Corey and those kind of schools in our numbers. Even though refing fees are all the same, >> okay, >> I'd be real interested

110where Kimble and Belgrade and >> they were included in that 11. >> They're included in all of the 11 around us. >> So, I can now build an average, but are those schools more close to where we are at? And in the average, when you include the others, is that why it moved up? Yeah. >> I think the last time we looked at it, we really weren't weren't that far off. >> Yeah. Um, so if we were to increase, so this year we had 297 high school sport participants and 188 junior high sport participants. So if we use the average number, which is more than we were asking that we were recommending, um, we would bring in $19,000 more. >> $19,000 more >> if that was average using the average. But we were suggesting I

111didn't ask him to calculate it with >> No, it's close enough. >> But it gives you it gives you >> so it's a sizable number truly. >> It's not nothing. >> Well, I I'm my just first thought is I think the last couple years when we've looked at the activity fees and I like been hesitant to change, but at some point in time we're going to make some adjustment otherwise we're going to be so far behind that we're like oh my goodness now we have to raise it this much and that's really going to so >> to that. >> Yeah. Okay. I'm okay with this. >> It's been over a decade. >> I think it's time >> and we're not balancing our outgoing and our input anymore. >> I mean, at some point we need

112to make an adjustment. >> Um, so these are justformational right now and and I I will um be open to feedback and it'll come back on again as another consideration. So if you have other things that you'd like me to look into, please let me know and I'm happy to pull that data as well. Um the other thing that is just open for discussion are activity passes. Um so um Rick talked to you uh last month about the transition to bound. So, um, our schools was bought out and they were not going to be um uh supporting some of the the functionality and and of of um scheduling and um and the communication across the the conference. and bound is the um the program that is going to be supporting all of our scheduling our

113um the so when parents log on to our our website they'll see everything posted again through bound versus our schools they're not necessarily going to notice except that it looks different okay um it actually is it it it is some cost savings to the district and if we uh with that transition. They do provide the opportunity um of using um uh ticketing via credit card or debit card use at concessions and at our gates. Um we've already had a um a card reader for the section because when our when we host section events um we've had the the capacity to run cards at admissions and that's been through bound. Okay. So um I just wanted to let you know I'm not making a recommendation today for for ticket pricing but I it's it's really an

114ongoing discussion. So the entire conference has transitioned to bound. Okay. And with this there's a conversation of um what happens with our with the fees um to your ticket price and um are you charging same price less more for cash versus carbon. Um as a school district I don't love how much cash flows through. Um you know there's uh a a plethora of reasons for that. Um but uh this does provide us an opportunity to have Yes. And we can have a cash price and we can have a card price. Um twice a year the superintendent and activity directors uh meet together and actually tomorrow is our joint meeting and one of the conversations that I I know is on the agenda to take place is having a conversation about uniform conference prices. So that

115if somebody comes to a game here, they it's going to be the same price as if you go up to Kimble, if you go over to BBE, right? Um so I don't have an answer to that yet, but I do want to let you know that we're looking at it. Um and it's something that we're we're really trying to weigh out the options. um you know and and I think once we have some of those answers I'll bring back a recommendation of what seems reasonable for a ca a um cash rate a cash admittance and a card adance thing. Um so any questions about that? >> It's do they charge a fee then for the card? >> There is a card fee. Yep. in some districts. So, across the conference, what we're hearing is some

116districts are absorbing it, others are increasing their their price by a dollar. So, we're we're gathering that information as well. >> Yeah. My recommendation is is that we charge two different prices because just the amount that the school district may have to absorb through that. And this is just thinking about what we do over at the Legion and uh for years what we were absorbing before we started adding or realize we could add that in there. It was thousands. Uh so I would strongly recommend if if that's the decision when you guys meet tomorrow if that's kind of where it looks like they're going. I strongly recommend that. Um the other piece that I I do think this gives us an opportunity to do with those card readers is to um look at having the

117option of um the Champs Cafe and Innovation Center using cards so that parents are are aware of what what kids are spending it those in those entities. Um so it's just something that I think it gives us an opportunity to consider exploring. Um so those are the green for today. Those are the the budget updates and uh our budget considerations. And then I would just stand for any questions that any of you might have. Hearing none, we will move on to the request for information table. I do want to make a note though for our May work session that is in the afternoon at 1:30 on May 12th. I don't have any board board or uh committee updates. Uh but I would like to if uh if you don't mind respond to the news that

118we heard last time that we met. So the end of March uh dealing with uh the summer food program and that coming to an end, the school district being notified by that. For those that don't know, I'm the chair for the Panzville Community Service Center. So, a purpose as far as in our bylaws, the purpose for the the community service center. When we look at uh the services that we provide for a community is provide emergency and sustaining uh food along with then there's other things that we provide. But taking that on uh the uh or hearing that uh within a couple days of of the school board meeting uh I called emergency meeting and as a board for the service center we started talking about is is this something that that uh we as

119a service center should take on? Uh if so how do we do that? So uh it is something right now that the service center is is continuing to look into taking on. Uh it's very strong uh presence right now as far as the board members that yes, we we need to serve our our community because that's what we're here for. Uh but I've been working with uh Janelle and with Chris O'Brien just trying to get uh data on the cost of of this, you know, if if we were if the service center were to provide uh the the meals. Uh, and the way we broke it down just using the same calendar dates that uh Chris did in the uh spring and uh and summer catalog about 54 days is what we're looking at. And

120we're also working on looking at is it going to be breakfast and lunch? Is it going to be just breakfast? Is it just going to be lunch? But uh and then looking for certified kitchens being certified staff, some certified staff. Uh, I've talked to Janelle to try to figure out that as far as funding or, you know, pricing for that. Somebody's going to have to run it. We need volunteers to help uh coordinate, you know, and putting things together. But we're going to be serving um uh food and it either it's it's going to be made or it's going to be packaged, but we need to have somebody that's certified to uh to oversee that operation. Um, and we don't have that at the service center. So, uh, like I said, I've been working with

121Janelle getting u some pricing on that how how all that works. So, but, uh, just want to make, uh, hopefully as far as people that watch this have that understanding. I was at the city council meeting last night and and, uh, provided the same information, but, uh, that there is uh, through the Paynesville Community Service Center that this is something that falls within our wheelhouse and we are looking into this. Uh we do have a meeting again tomorrow uh to to continue to move forward. But uh what I had asked at the city council meeting was for the organizations and nonprofits uh within the community uh to help out uh either through funding or volunteering and or both. So, but it looks like it's something that we're we're pushing forward to move forward to provide

122uh those meals through the summer. We don't exactly know what that's going to look like uh yet. Still, >> do you have a ballpark figure on what it's going to cost roughly? >> Yeah. So, we're looking about uh just taking uh the information that we had that Janelle had provided me from last year. 35,000 and uh >> that that program was about $35,000 to run the summer. >> We don't know what this one is going to be because we don't know what we can buy off the economy or not. We did go through Second Harvest. they uh have provided uh their menu. It's a two-eek menu which means you order it. Uh this is the stuff you'll get and then you work off of that. Um and and that is being looked at. Uh but

123what can we pull off of this? What can we buy? So so it would be uh the the service center increasing the poundage of food that that we're going to require. Um, but we've been working through Second Harvest, so they understand what's going on. And then we pull in that food that's set aside for this program. The other stuff is the sustaining food portion that is uh uh out of the uh the service center uh when when folks come in uh that need their weekly thing. >> That would include staffing >> uh whatever. Yeah. The $35,000 is the inclusive cost of the program. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So, so that's where we are at now. Uh, again, I just uh hopefully people listen to this or have an understanding that there's uh the service

124center is taking this on to take a look at. We don't have all the answers yet, but and I I want to thank uh Janelle and Chris O'Brien for being very open and supporting this. Uh, one thing I did mention uh at the uh uh city council meeting last night is that this is not a school district problem. This is a community problem. The way that money had come in uh was received was not uh for the school district uh to to uh to run a program. It was just that the school district was nice enough to be the stewards of that during that 5-year period. anybody had taken that money and worked with it. uh the school district stepped up and they were the stewards of it for the five years because I know

125that has popped up uh within the community uh comments you know if this is a school issue problem or school problem why aren't they doing something about it the school has nothing to do with it right now except for provides data because it was never their really never their program along with nobody has anything you know we are uh the service center is is the place where there is funds uh and that uh we know where we can get food uh to help this program. So, the school district has been very open and very supportive of moving this thing forward. It's just that it has to go to another organization or another uh entity outside of the school uh to to get it to operate. So, thank you, Janelle. Thank you, Chris. >> Thank you,

126J. >> You're welcome. Anything else?