001Call meeting to order and we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh roll call, Vincent. Here. Sauer. Here. Sandstead. Here. Porter. Here. Gross. Here. And uh Josh is not here. Um look for one modification to the agenda. We will add a There it is. Uh 5 A I 2. Is there any other additions or corrections to the agenda? I'll second. Motion and a second. All those in favor, say I. Motion carries. >> That will bring us to our committee reports and tonight we have the senior class campout. If you want to come up to probably Right next to Darren. >> here next to
002Darren. And you all have to fit into that one chair. All righty. Um I don't know if Mr. Brownlow has shared with you the document that we have for it yet. But basically we're just coming here to ask you guys permission if you will allow us to have a campout, a senior campout on the football field. I heard that we might move it but it'll still be on school grounds. I collected a bunch of data from a bunch of students. You know, basically just like I don't know if you've ever really seen it. But it's like a >> And do you know how to use technology? I do. Is there anything I can do? I I do. Can you share it? >> They they they can't throw up, right? They can't they can't shoot it
003up there? Maybe while we're getting that ready, you guys want to introduce yourselves? Trevin, you're yeah. >> he could. He's got For sure. I I will yes, if you don't know me, uh my name is Trevin Nesman. I'm Alyssa Nesman. I'm Milo Nesman. Alyssa Nesman. Jenna Ryan. Oscar Ryan. Okay. So, you're all seniors, correct? Yes. So, if you don't know how to use any of this technology yet, we haven't done you any services, have we? Um but uh before we get this started, I do have a one paper. Sure. Um so, I collected um a again, just a bunch of data from a bunch of students. Um some who are willing uh to go to this campout and see how big of a turnout it is for like a you know, like a a fun
004thing that the seniors get to do before they, you know, go off and and they don't get to really see each other anymore. Um and so, we pass this around. Uh basically, the or if it's an orange, it means that they are willing to go and this is something they really care about and they really think is a is a is a like a fun thing you can do as seniors. If it's pink, it means they show disinterest. Um if it's blank, that means I've gotten nothing from them. Um so, I hope that kind of shows the gravity of of how much of the student body really really cares about this um this event we hope to um possibly All right. Uh so, yes, this is the um uh spreadsheet I have. Um so, we
005uh I've showed all the students that uh that want to attend. Um basically, I have uh we decided that everyone will pay me $5 and we will distribute it among um to buy hot dogs and chips and drinks for everybody. Uh so, we like provide a meal, uh possibly also s'mores. Um and depending on how much we have left, like breakfast the next morning. Um and the other things that people are bringing along, uh things like, you know, board games and some fun yard games like Spikeball, if you've ever seen that. And students are also bringing tents and stuff like that. Um I've also uh accumulated some graphs just to kind of show the gravity of it, so uh the cheesy versus regular preference, um and then also like I obviously Dr. Pepper is what
006we got a lot of shots but Um so yeah, again, just kind of show the gravity of these students that uh really really find this is a thing they really want to do and they really want to move forward with. Um and just to make sure it's like formal and all this. Um Mr. Runnels has helped me make up a a little form that all the students um will be signing before they can, you know, attend to make sure that everything stays uh safe and proper. Um so again, it just shows like the date will be will be uh fit or I'm sorry, May 15th, uh 2026 um through May 16th, 2026. This is a Friday and then it will it'll follow over to a a Saturday. Um it's like uh Friday after school and
007then we'll push everybody out before noon that Saturday just to get out of their hair and stuff. I do understand that that Friday there is a um like a fourth grade student thing uh where they they come in and check everything out um but we will not set up until those students are gone so they don't see all these like tents and stuff on the football field in the morning. >> They might like them. They might. So so yes, um we do not we're struggling to find some chaperones chaperones, I mean. Um and uh so far we do have Amy Ison, which is Alyssa's mom, and uh Lauren Howell, which is a another um gentleman. Uh and so we're planning on having four minimum, so before before we uh you know, go on with this,
008we're going to have four. You know, just uh they'll basically just keep an eye out and make sure everything's, you know, going and nobody's breaking any rules and stuff like that. Again, we have the rules down here and again, students will be signing this so they'll read through this and see everything. So, uh all of these school rules and expectations will be followed during this event. So, obviously it's pretty self-explanatory. Visitors Visitors or guests are not allowed on school grounds at any time. Mixed gender groups will not be allowed in sleeping quarters, which obviously. Quiet hours will be observed from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Just do keep cuz there's those like neighbors kind of over past that with the football field. Make sure they are, you know, not not sick of us. And uh
009students must be at the event by 9:00 p.m. and are not allowed to leave the event without permission from a chaperone. So, obviously they can't like leave, go do things they're not supposed to and then come back later. And seniors are expected to attend classes the following day. Obviously it's it's from a Saturday or from Friday to Saturday so that will probably get rid of but Are there any questions so far? Okay. So, yeah, here's a talk about consequences. The student will sign this. They'll put some emergency contact info and any, you know, allergies or medications they need. Then again, parent / guardian permission, like I give my child permission to go do this and they understand that like the consequences that will happen if the student does not follow the rules such as school's
010rules or the specific event rules. And then the student will also sign that same thing saying to agree to follow all school rules and expectations, behave responsibly, and follow instructions from chaperones and staff at all times. And then also there's a little thing at the bottom there. We understand that any violation of the school's drug, alcohol, tobacco, or vaping policy number 418 or any other rule violation that leads to charges may result in the loss of participation in the high school graduation ceremony. So again, just really um making sure that all the students going will understand that they, you know, can't have stuff they're not supposed to like uh vape cigarettes, uh any alcohol, drugs of any kind. Um they cannot have that um at this campout and uh they agree that they will um
011face the repercussions if they do break that. So, again uh closing here, we're just asking um for your guys' permission to allow us to uh again have this fun little little thing that the seniors do right before they graduate, just have fun and uh be a be a whole group for um maybe one last time. Um any questions for our seniors? I just make a motion of approval. >> Any So, I've I've got it on the actual >> Later in the agenda, I was going to ask if we want to wait make them wait till the end of the meeting to find out if we approve it or not or if you want to move that up. Staff, is there any any concerns that you have? Anybody you're watching closely? >> Only Trevon, but Yeah.
012Okay. They had me convinced with the grass. Okay. Yeah, that was impressive. I'm just impressed they had the policy number on there. I'm going to have to go make sure it's the right policy number, but impressive. >> Did you find that, Trevon? What? >> Did you find policy 418? No, I did not. Okay. I thought you did. That is good. You know, last year the seniors had asked to do it as well, but it got rained out. So, we really haven't had experience with this, but Trevon's done a nice job of advocating and just saying that we're going to follow all the rules and put everything together. I know we had talked about the football field, however, we're a little concerned that that could still be soggy, so it may come up just here by
013that the old tennis courts on that field there, but we'd find a space there and they'll be very respectful, so very good controlled environment. Um who will collect your permission slips? Um it's a good question. Um I can probably collect them and then I give them to whoever I need. Um so, Mr. Brownlow, uh probably if that's But yeah, so I can I've been uh collecting the money and I can also collect those permission slips. I I give them a due date uh for May 1st, so that's like 2 weeks before uh we do this, which I feel is enough time for me to um you know uh purchase the things we need to purchase, such as the food, and then uh make sure we get all those uh signed slips to uh you know
014higher-ups, such as Mr. Brown. All right. Any other questions? Just make sure your chaperones have those in case of an emergency or call. Yes. Yep. Other than that, looks good. All right. Is there a motion to consider the senior campout? So moved. Second? I'll take the second. All right. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Your permission is granted. We greatly appreciate it. All right. Sounds like they're still looking for two chaperones. So, if you're looking for something to do on a Friday night Maybe Mr. Woody, you want to spend one last evening with your seniors? I think he has a little one at home that he's tending to, yeah. I'd rather he get more sleep. All right, well that brings us to
015our uh administrative reports, and we'll start with Ms. Hendrix. All right. Um a lot of events going on in the last month and leading up in April. So, we had our preschool evenings on the 23rd and 24th of February. We had a great turnout. Um the students went into the classrooms, and then I did a short presentation for parents. And then Mr. Ryan um had the registration up, and and parents could just register that evening, turn in um any paperwork that they may have had. And the secretaries were there. We had a couple of paraprofessionals that um volunteered to join, and then the teachers, obviously. So, it was really great um to see all the especially the little ones, a class of 2041 coming in for the 3-year-olds. Um we recently had a our Letters
016training, and that was our final content on last Friday. Um Jody has just done a really good job of of facilitating the training. I know our teachers are very excited to have almost completing it completed it. Um it's been a 2-year journey, so our next early release on April 10th, we have to do our final unit assessment or the final assessment um over the whole course of the of the two or of the um of the Letters training. So, teachers will be completing that, and then they will be finished with Letters. Um quarter three ended on the 26th, so um pending what happens with school tomorrow, we will send report cards home. If not, we'll send them home on Monday if um for some reason we are e-learning and not in person. Otherwise, report cards
017will go home tomorrow. We had an all-school celebration uh also on the 26th, which was um last Thursday. And North and South, we all came here. We did like a movie experience. It was super fun. Um Nate's Junior High Rem Team greeted us. They had bubbles and had high-fives. Um they the students earned it by filling our Knight Pride bins. So, we have bins where they get to put their tickets. They earn those tickets for being responsible, respectful, safe, and kind. And when they fill up the bucket, we do an all-school party. Um and so, it was fun for uh both the schools to come together and um Colligan doing it. They did the water, and we got popcorn for them, so it was a really great really great experience, and it was especially fun
018to be greeted. So, we appreciated the work on um from Nate's and I think maybe Mrs. Knight to organize that as well. Then in February, we had our school assembly, and then we just recognized our students of the month for um February and March. February, we did a kindness assembly, and then the end of March, we're recognizing students for being safe, our um Knight Pride value words, and we also have had American Heart Association at both buildings, and our representative said that we had record amounts of money raised this year um, at both our buildings. So, that was great, and they get some prizes, and um, at North, we had a pie competi- or a pie contest. So, there was a panel of teachers, and I know Mr. Ryan and I were on there, um,
019and they got to spin a wheel, and whoever's face it landed on, we got pie. So, that was a um, just kind of a fun way to recognize kids for coming in and donating. We've been really busy. Um, both PTOs have been really busy with just providing some great STEM experiences. We had an Explorer Dome that came um, to North, and then we had a STEM event at South today. Um, I wasn't there, Mr. Ryan was at South, but I know those are just enriching experiences for our kids to have those opportunities, and they had glow parties to eat two different or both schools had evenings of glow parties, um, that we hope that they hosted. We have MCAs coming up. The 14th through the 16th are our reading MCAs, and math are the following
020week, the 22nd through the 24th. So, we're busy preparing um, for those. And then lastly, Kari and I have been um, really working on our literacy, social studies, and math standards. We have formed We already have a committee formed for social studies, and we've we've been working through that. We are forming a committee for math because the 2022 math standards are up for implementation in the '27-'28 school year. So, we have a group of teachers who will be going to a training in Lakes Country in May, um, and we'll be able to have and we have been getting the support through our Compass Lakes Country team to support the math standards process as well. And then coming up in April and May are each team, um, kindergarten through fourth grade will be meeting with Kari
021as well to finish our ELA standards that we did with our Wonders curriculum alignment. Um, so we started that work with Lakes Country twice this year during our PD days and it really releases, but we're not quite done yet. So we're going to have a grade level meeting where we can get that work finished. And then lastly for social studies, we are just finalizing quotes for 6th through 12th grade curriculum and those should be um, hopefully ready soon and then K5 we have a meeting next week with our K5 social studies curriculum to finish the alignment of our literacy curriculum to our social studies standards cuz a lot of those are already integrated. And then whatever standards we already don't teach within literacy, then we will determine we're not going to purchase a curriculum, but
022we'll look to see how do we supplement. You know, are there speakers we can bring in? Is there certain resources that we can just tie in? Um, so we will not need to purchase a curriculum for K5. We will just be looking at within our curriculum for literacy first and then look at additional pieces we would need to add in for those standards that are not already met. And that is all. Any questions for me? All right. Thank you so much. >> you. Mr. Wood, that brings us to your report. >> All righty, as uh, Caitlin said, it's been a busy time of year, um, focusing on finishing the year strong. Um, one kind of fun thing we've worked on through the month of March has been an attendance bracket where we've had tracking the
023attendance of our second hour and uh, in kind of a head-to-head competition moving through the weeks, um, based on attendance percentage and we are on to our our final week right now, which I believe is uh, English eight verse Spanish and Ms. Van Blarcom. So we will have the results of that at the end of this week. Um, but it's been kind of a fun, easy, quick way to keep students um engaged and present. And as as they work through the bracket, they've gotten more and more excited about it, so. Um, other things going on, ACT test was uh conducted and is done. Um, went very smoothly. Appreciate our counselors for the work they put into that, Mr. Mack. Um, we're currently working through student registration and um course planning for next year. And I
024know I say it every year and it's our goal every year to be done um by the end of the school year, but I really think we're going to get there this year. I think that students will leave the school year with their schedule for next year in hand. And that is been a goal um for a long time, always hard to accomplish, but Haley and Maddie are putting in a ton of time to make that happen. Um, MCA testing will take place later this month. And um you know, overall our continuing emphasis is on maximizing instructional time and supporting student success. Um, while also providing opportunities for other events, which we've had some recognition in that front as well. Um, our art program went to the Region 6A Art Festival, submitted 18 works. Um,
02510 different students submitted a total of 18 works and six of those were selected to be displayed at the LRAC Gallery in Fergus. And there is a reception on April 24th um where our students' work will be shown at that gallery. Um, Mr. Swatski was off um in Washington D.C. at the National Policy Seminar, um kind of promoting some of the different CTE things that we've been doing at the school. Um, he was did meet with um Senators Klobuchar and Smith, um kind of discussing our greenhouse center, mobile meat trailer. And I believe Representative Fischbach also is interested in maybe exploring that a little bit more. Uh, other things, one thing that I want to address the board on is we are recommending moving our senior seminar class, which is a required senior class, to
02611th grade instead. This class focuses on post-secondary planning, career exploration, college and workforce readiness, and financial literacy. And we just feel that as uh you know, for the whole student, it gives them a lot more time and opportunities if we move it to 11th grade instead of trying to cram all that stuff in when you're stressed and already kind of against the clock as a senior. So, um the goal is that we would um better align with what students need if we move that course to 11th grade. So, I'll be seeking board action on this at the upcoming business meeting. Other than that, that is all I have. Any questions from anyone? I think that's a great idea to move that up. Will we have to rename it then? Well, it's senior sem, so I
027think we're going to just go junior sem. Keep it easy. Yeah. Or make it confusing and leave it senior sem. We may move it up. If there's something they can do even earlier cuz I don't want to when like when Macy went to tour a couple schools and some of the especially the um the two-year schools, they had prerequisites that you had to meet and you get points for each class that you take. And so there were some classes that she took that she didn't get any points for if she was going to go that road. Didn't go that road. Right. But knowing ahead of time, you know, see that, I think that's going to be a huge advantage for her kids. I think and yeah, the more time you have and even just get
028out and see colleges or think about maybe some things you're interested in, um then you you know, as a 11th grader, there's a little bit more, you know, it's not quite where you're feeling like the clock's ticking, you got to decide. You can think a little bit, be more thorough. Um and hopefully between our ninth grade careers class and this now being in 11th grade, it'll create a little bit more overlap, too, for them. So It'll be a huge advantage for them. Mhm. Getting ready, especially the ones that maybe know exactly what they want to do. Mhm. They'll they can get ahead of the game. Any other questions for Mr. Wood? And we'll skip over activities for right now and we'll move on to Mr. Ryan. Uh steam continues to pick up in North and
029South. North I think it's booked up in three days this last or for April. Um South we continue to be right around the 12th to 13th. Um play and learn at North and South that we're going pretty well. Play and learn at South is a little different. It's a series of classes that families have to purchase and anyone from the district can go. It is anyone from birth age five. They sign up. It's kind of just like an in classroom maybe a pre-req for preschool or if you're in preschool, you can enjoy classroom. Um we have a 55 plus class scheduled for Wednesday, April 29th. Um sign up is through Precision Driving Center out St. Cloud. And that class will be held here at secondary school. Um driver's education is on schedule for July 6th
030through the 17th. That will also be here at secondary school. Um a big one in the last month was the theater production. Um we had a production come from They got stuck in Nashville before they came, so we had to push back a day. But uh they're here for a week. Um Erica Borden, the students and parents did a great job adapting and I only heard positive things from it and so it turned out to be a pretty good pretty good production. Um we have swimming lessons this summer. Again, Elk Lake will be July 20th through the 24th and Bear Haven will be the 27th through the 31st. Um the summer rec ball program will be around again this year um through the month of June. Uh golf camp camp with Josh Lang will be
031July 20th, 21st, and 22nd for students 6 to 13 years old. And then Jenny Gatt, who's been awesome help for me, is working on the summer offerings flyer for all of the families to get with all of the other offerings that we have this summer. All right. Any questions for Mr. Ryan? Thank you. That brings us to Mr. McNamara. Good evening. Um first off, I would like to make sure I give Stacy her kudos. I have not the last couple times and I feel great shame for not recognizing the wonderful work that she is doing. So, um she is an absolute cornerstone to our technology department, makes everything function. Without her, I would be in chaos. So, thank you to her. Um last month we had some network issues where we had some random down
032times and couldn't quite pinpoint it. We did get it corrected and fixed. Um in that, Roomstone also has decided to upgrade our phone switches in each of the buildings, so it gives them a little bit more clarity and transparency of what is happening in each of the switches, so we have those in place and up and running already. Um we are currently evaluating a lot of our subscriptions going into next year like IXL, Accelerated Reader, and those pieces, those add-ons. Um and really the goal is to just ensure we're getting the best return on investment. Is the tool that they provide the best tool available? Is it going to benefit our students um better than any other tool? And then it's that cost evaluation piece of it. Uh E-rate is submitted and just pending approval.
033One of the things we are adding into E-rate this year is a new age uh firewall. So, the new age firewall our firewall's coming up on 5 years old. So, believe it or not that is ancient. Um this new style of firewall is AI-driven to basically track all of the traffic coming in and out and making sure that there are no threats coming from inside the network or trying to come from outside the network. So, it's they're very neat and they give us a lot more transparency of what's happening inside the network. So, that will be a huge help to Stacy and I whenever issues arise. It'll help us pinpoint that a lot. Um as Nate mentioned, MCAs are coming up. We have our third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade will all do math
034reading. Um 10th grade does math and science or sorry, reading and science and then 11th grade does the math test. Um also fifth grade and eighth grade do science. So, coming up, hopefully the kids are going to have great success on their tests. Uh we have not had many people opt out of it, which is wonderful. I think at this time last year we had quite a few already opting out. So, hoping that that kind of has settled a little bit. Um for students just uh the secondary school all of the students take their assessment right on their Chromebook that they use every day. So, it's familiar equipment. It's easy. It's accessible. And hopefully that kind of helps promote them with their standard operations of learning that they're already doing. So, um that's kind of
035where we're at this second. All right. Any questions for Mr. McNamara? Thank you. That brings us to buildings and grounds, Mr. Nornberg. Good evening. Um dugouts are down. They've been rolled back over three times and now finally set where they're supposed to be. They're just like a nice kite out there. But, uh yeah, they're all in place, they're all set, everything's ready to go for those. Um we were going to possibly start on fields tomorrow cuz things were drying out, but it might be another week before we can get fields prepped and stuff just depending on what happens the next couple days. Um staff is is doing good. I've I've got a great staff underneath me, they're working well, um keeping things in line. Uh this time of year gets a little tough just with
036everything that goes on in the buildings and trying to keep things cleaned and kids running hallways and practicing sprints and all of that stuff, but I keep warning them, just make sure you peek before you go around the corner. Um but, everybody's been okay, we haven't had any injuries. Um like I said, just getting ready for the the the summertime spring sports. We had a meeting with buildings and grounds. I'm pulling some stuff together and hopefully we'll Monday or Tuesday have a spreadsheet together with some costs and stuff and I'll share that with Mr. Brownlow and the buildings and grounds and if it needs to go further and stuff, that'll be up to their choice, but um we're doing well, looking good. All right. Any questions for Mr. Nornberg? Uh thank you. Did you have
037something there? No. Oh. Okay. You got off on that one. Okay. We'll move into Mr. Brownlow. Okay. Just uh enrollment update there, you'll see that we're down a few students from March to April. Uh really kind of consequently with one family moving made that change there all at down at South Elementary and then just a couple students at the secondary school as well. So, our current district total is 766 students, but our K-12 total is 687 students. If you see from the beginning of the year September 2nd of 2025, we were at 692 and so we're down to buy down by about five students since the beginning of the year there from our K-12 total. So, Um and then just for the report there, the facility survey, as you guys know, you met last week
038to kind of get that finalized. I know that Darren said Darren Sievers said that was sent off to the printer and so they will be getting that out to our staff um here uh via email so they can respond to those questions and give feedback and then it'll be out in our mailboxes of our families and our district residents here the 23rd and 24th of April and then they'll look to be giving us some feedback uh cuz they're due at the end of um responses for the survey are due May 11th and they'll have a presentation ready to go by May 20th for the board review to see any next steps that need to be taken there. Legislative update, um it's kind of a quiet week down at the legislature this week with the Easter
039Passover break, but some highlights there for you to be just aware of. There is a policy bill looking to ban cell phones, smart watches, and smart glasses school-wide for K-8 and in classrooms for grades 9 through 12 and I know that one of our PLCs that met the first round has kind of talked about looking at those different pieces with cell phones. So, I think this is probably going to fall in line to kind of what we're looking at as well. Uh just hearing so many positives by having our kids interact. Um hopefully we eliminate some of the bullying pieces that can go on through the cyber bowling and just I think it would be a positive direction to go. That way the K-3 disciplinary dismissals is something else that's on the docket there as
040well right now. If we have a student, we have to kind of confer with the family, so we're not necessarily allowed to dismiss the students if there's a behavior or something that would go to that extent. So they're looking to move that back in place if possible. Cursive writing and reading, that seems to be an ongoing one that kind of comes and goes, right? I mean, I've often heard that that's the critical thought in cursive, but I think I've also heard people say if you want to write a a note that somebody can't read in the lower, you know, the younger kids write it cursive and then they won't know how to be able to make that out with the writing, so it can be a secret note, but that's back on talking to future
041language arts expectations for standards. CPR and AED training for all of our middle and high school coaches, and I think the number that I saw some place said that that could be 60,000 people that would be trained, but I think there's so many different stories that show if you've got the AED machine there lives have been saved, not only adult, you know, um adults, but also some of our student athletes that are out there. So there's a push for that as well to make sure that that's ready to go. And then you'll just notice that due to the the gridlock at the, you know, in the house, they don't have anything yet that's been advanced for the omnibus education policy bill. Uh the other item of note is the PSEO bill, which is our post-secondary
042enrollment options. That's not only been a situation that we've had to work through and still have challenges with when it comes to students taking those classes, but it's kind of a statewide piece. I know that Maggie just showed me today during our business office meeting for our district this cost this year is $170,000. So that's a lot of dollars. As long as we're using it the right way, it's okay, but if it's not, we do need to reevaluate to see where we're at there, but I think there's been some more questions brought up by school districts. I think some legislators are hearing some of the stories that are going on and saying, "Boy, we have kids enrolling and they drop you know, they drop the class. There's really no recourse for the student per se,
043but the district that is you know, all those dollars." So, we're going to try to get some things under under control there. The last one would be just the K-12 forecast adjustment bill. So, after the K-12 or after the forecast February forecast came out there one bill to maybe look at adjusting some of those things. Remember, still our concern is access funding and the compensatory compensatory funding which could be significant to WCA. So, hopefully there would be some possible additional funding there. Professional learning communities have been very impressed with our second round of PLCs at the secondary school. Doing a couple different book studies and CTE is continuing to meet. I know Mr. Kraft has worked with some folks on school identity. This was a little bit of some work with the John Jensen piece,
044what it means to be a knight. I don't know if you recall when Jennifer Knight talked about that book that she got from that one principal. It's clearly on that piece there. School connections, we still have a group working on that piece to see are there activities that we could maybe be offering. I think the where they've got it narrowed down now is maybe the before school or advisory time. Trying to get more connections for our students here at the school on that piece there and then of course the letters training that's been as Caitlin mentioned earlier there. On the early out May 8th, I would invite you if you're able to make it. I know it's been probably three years ago that we did the strategic plan. Kind of you reevaluated that and made
045some changes. In the one of the book studies that just do this, they talk about how you set forth those three different collective commitments or values that our district would stand for and so we could look at that. We don't want to um really step on the toes of what the elementary has going with PBIS, but it could be courage. You know, I know right now on some of the letterhead that I see on the bottom of some lines, the people signature lines, it says challenge, learn, succeed. Well, I think it says it on the agenda piece there. We just want to re-evaluate that, and there's been some good feedback from some of the staff in that group to say, if we could add those things, then we could recognize those students with that at
046our Wren team meeting. So, there's a really a learning and growth piece there that goes with it and how we measure that. And so, we'd like to get It'll be our full staff Um the book actually lays out how you use a Google Form, or we might use Metameter, I think is what somebody else had said, "Hey, use Metameter." We've seen how that works at the task force meeting, but we can identify our three collective commitments or values that we would roll out next year to say, here's how we do business at WCA, regardless if you're at North Elementary, South Elementary, a parent, a teacher, a custodian, you know, we'd have those things laid out there. So, we'd invite you to be at those meetings so we can get those clearly identified and kind of
047move forward on that piece there. It is an afternoon, so it'd be about 1:00 until 3:15. So, I realize work schedules could be a challenge, but I would think I do think it would be very beneficial if you could be there. Health insurance, we just had that meeting after school. And so, we had some folks that were on the committee. The unfortunate part is it seemed like anytime you talk health insurance, you talk about an increase. So, the increase is going to be 15% for the upcoming year, which renews Jan July 1st, excuse me. And so, they do have an option then for the following year that we could lock in at a 19% increase after that. The beauty is we can wait until January, we don't have to lock in now. Um but they
048did share a couple stories of other districts that were talking a 45% increase, another one was a 60% increase. And so, I did ask if this is the time to maybe start looking at other options. So, there is an ICRA option out there. The hard part with the ICRA option is that's really kind of a self You get money through an HRA, and then you'll go out and buy your own insurance Um because some of the things that you know for our group insurance plan some of the pieces there are it seems to be the prescription drugs is a large cost in our pool as well as just some medical needs and stuff like that. So what they're showing is we were trending when they added the admin costs and we're about 128%. So of
049course that shows that that's a net loss for the insurance company and so they that's why they're looking for that 15% increase. What we do plan to do is meet with our employees here next Monday. We know it's short turnaround but we need to get back to Sourcewell with our plan choices. So right now we have four smart plans. Those are all HSA compatible. Three of those are embedded plans so your single deductible goes into your family deductible. The very bottom or the very most expensive plan is a non-embedded plan so really what happens there is if you have a one person they can not only hit that deductible they also have to meet the family deductible. So if they go in for a surgery it could cost them a $3800 or $3400 or whatever
050it is that way. There are some other smart plans that have a much higher deductible that costs less premium. So we just want to present that to the group to say hey are these some things that you would like to be considered. We can only have four plans so we have to drop one of those plans but maybe there's a different option there. The other piece too that they talked about was really the narrow um market compared to the Aware network. So the narrow network which then takes off Essentia and Mayo. Um and so there's concerns right? If you don't I guess you'd want the best care. If you go in for an appointment and they say hey we like to refer you to Mayo you don't want your health insurance card to say well
051I'm sorry you can't go there but that might be an option for some folks as well that we could maybe look at one narrow banded plan um and then the other three would be the other pieces there but I said that's something that we're going to have to do as a group. The unfortunate part when you bring more people in, I don't know, you could have so many different ideas on how to go forward with health insurance. So, that'll be next Monday after school. We'll plan to have set up in each media center, probably some type of technology there that people can watch those meetings, give feedback. We just need to respond back to um our insurance advisor by the 9th, so they can get those plans ready to go for our open enrollment meeting.
052Last piece of business that's not in my report cuz got this information today is Head Start will no longer be um in Elbow Lake. Unfortunately, due to our low enrollment, there's only six students there, they cannot continue the program there. So, they've got to move those seats. Sounds like the plan is to move those over to Fergus Falls. Um and so, we will not have Head Start in our building next year, which leaves an open space uh there. They will still do the early Head Start program. And I did kind of ask I said he I asked Jay today I said, "Does this mean forever?" He goes, "No, we'll continue to look." He said, "Paul, really when it comes down to is we've looked at the 2030 birth rate and beyond as well as the
053migration rates of going to Fergus Falls, Alexandria, Morris." He said those numbers are declining and he said, "We have to respond." He said, "If you're not aware of this," he said, "the federal government is very is being very you know, scrutinizing everything very closely, so we have to watch how we spend our dollars very closely." And so, he said, "We kind of look at it as we're pruning the tree to hopefully create good healthy growth down, you know, down the road." So, he said there might be an option down the road cuz I've seen Head Starts co-located um with preschool programs. There are some some good pieces there and some pieces that maybe aren't as good on some of the rules and regulations with curriculum, but yeah, he said with having three, it sounds like
054three 3-year-olds and three 4-year-olds. He said, "Really what it is is there's some competition, I think, with our own program cuz we don't charge anything. So, sometimes it's okay, the day that they don't have preschool at WCA, then we'll enroll them there. And he said that just doesn't isn't cost-effective for them. So, I said we have to review that and and make those changes. So, he said they were notifying families, so they should be aware of that. But again, that also that may have some impact on our preschool numbers. I guess we'll have to keep an eye on that just to see. Um just some upcoming dates. Tomorrow, have school. It was a fun day scheduled for the secondary with some March Madness, I believe. And then the makeup day from the January 16th date
055will be Monday, April 6th. And our early out will be April 10th for for for professional development. And then our school board meeting on April 15th. We still need to get a survey out to our staff and our families cuz we are getting some pieces there with our early outs the Friday. We hear that it's positive in certain things, but I got to tell you that this last early out, but the one in March, we had 16 teachers that were not present for that. And so, we've got to find some ways to make sure that those are can be and I get it Fridays, right? If there's appointments and things like that, it's not because they don't want to be there. It's just on a Friday afternoon, that's what the choice is being made. So,
056we'll survey our staff. I know in the PLC group that I've been working in, they really like the flavor of a late start. So, that's become a little bit more of a conversation of that late start. But we'll make sure that we get those surveys out here probably in the next week or two. The unfortunate part is there's going to be a lot of surveys, right? Our facility study survey. Um I think our Justin survey. And so, there's going to be a lot of surveys. And John, I think just did that one for um the identity survey. So, we just want to make sure get all that information back. Of course, the key one being that survey for our facility planning piece. All right. Any questions for Mr. Realmuto? Mr. Foslien, I can sneak you
057in 2 minutes for your report. Well, I really thought, Mr. Chairman, as much as you brag about meetings going fast, you'd be done by the time I guess you didn't, so. The seniors The seniors wanted to talk a lot about their camp outs. Oh, okay. Uh my report hasn't changed from what I submitted. First of all, thanks to all the game workers, referees, custodians, bus drivers, and everyone else who helped at our events this past winter. Um it takes a lot of people. Lucky for for me, uh we have a lot of people who are interested in working on the table. Maybe not referees, but we have a lot of people who can help with book and clock. So, uh referees, just as I always mention, umpires are in need. Uh one thing I need
058to do better at, and one thing that I have on my summer radar is, unfortunately, we need to have better fan behavior, more positive behavior from our fans, and that's something I need to work on. Um and maybe put a few pieces in place, so. Uh spring sports is now on us, even though there is a winter storm heading our way. Uh lots of teams with limited inside space. We typically bus a team to Hoffman and bus a team to Elbow every day until we get fully outside. Um we we do have to uh navigate some busing with the golf course, because we have several golfers, and not a lot of golfers who can drive this year, so that's a little bit of an added expense, but we can get kids out there and get
059them back here at at a reasonable time if they run their own bus, so. Um also with the spring sports season, we all know it's it's ever-changing. Even though there may be schedules on paper, let's face it, that's purely they're purely arbitrary. They're going to move around. Uh schedules are going to get busy, they're going to get wild, and just we all just got to bear with it. Just kind of let it be what it is, so. Uh some upcoming events we have, um I have State High School League Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday next week. Robotics leaves on Thursday for St. Cloud next week. Section speech is on Saturday, April 11th at Herman. We have small group band at Morris on the 15th. We also have a conference meeting at Morris on the
06015th. Small group choir is at Minnewaska on the 22nd. State FFA leaves the 19th through the 22nd. And prom is on the 25th. And that is my report. Is that under 2 minutes? >> You did well. Any questions for Mr. Foslien? Have we informed anyone Nate and Jake on curriculum for our kids for I I did reach out to a few people. It sounded like the classes that they had were all done in getting house. As far as materials, I did not reach out as far as materials in gathering materials. So. Any other questions? All right. Then that moves us to our consent agenda. We have a couple items there. You'll see approve the following personnel items, the resignation of Daniel Marty, elementary secretary, and Ira Masterson, science teacher. Any questions or comments on those?
061And I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. That was you, right, Caleb? Okay. That brings us to our new business. We just have the first reading of the following policies with statutory and recommended changes from MSBA. Policy 421, gifts to employees and school board members. Please get to your lobbyists on that one cuz it's a very low number. Moving on. Um policy 510, school activities. Policy 524, internet technology and cell phone acceptable use and safety policy. And policy 702 accounting. Um Um anything you want to highlight on those at first reading, Mr. Brownlow? >> Right, those are all fairly um they've all been the same for a while, so there's no real changes there. I think the one we'll probably
062visit with the principals a little bit, that cell phone policy. There might be some minor um modifications there, but we did look at that back in 2025, August of 2025, but if we decide to not allow them in the classrooms at a certain level, we'll need to make some of those tweaks and changes there. I think right now it's pretty broad where just as the administration will be determining those rules and regulations, so we'll see if we need to make pieces there. Otherwise, everything else remains the same. All right, again that's just the first reading, so no action taken on those. And then that just brings us down with already approving the campout. Our one discussion item is the capital outlay, and you just had a little update on where that sits at this time,
063Mr. Brownlow? Right, yep. So, as you heard Chad mention earlier, we'll get together cuz he's still getting some quotes and things like that, so we can have that dollar amount ready to go. I think right now we've earmarked about $30,000 for um buildings and grounds, which would be roughs. We've talked about the fence, you know, at North. There were some other pieces there with some I think some paving and stuff like that, so we'll get that number put together hopefully early next week, and then I can get that off to the buildings and grounds committee, and then the board could have that opportunity there as well. We do have some money earmarked for curriculum cuz I think we've talked about the idea of, you know, some of those curriculum cycle purchases are rather large, and
064so we do have some money designated for that as well. Um and then the other piece there right now for our classrooms for the the what we put out last year was about 80 just under $9,000. This year we're recommending $7,500, and I think there was a recommendation last year that we base that per pupil in the different buildings, so we do have that kind of broke out there, so we'll get that going out here fairly soon as well for our staff. Uh what I'll do is I'll bring the final piece for the board to approve at the April 15th meeting. We'll roll that out and give folks a couple weeks to get that ready to come back in, but I also know activities is a larger part of um some of these capital outlay
065requests with some of the things helmets are ongoing every year. I mean, that's one of those things and you really don't have much choice really when it comes to the name of student safety, right? And is the one piece and I know that they have certain regulations and guidelines, right Jake? Every 10 years helmets are no longer good, so we need to get rid of those, destroy them, can't even sell them or anything like that. They need to be reconditioned frequently. Um and then of course making sure that our uniforms are in, you know, there's the thought where we can just delay that for a long time. But then eventually it catches up with you where you got large purchases to say, "Okay, now how do we come up with $50,000 to buy equipment?" I
066think we found that with our curriculum as well where that had been delayed for a while, so we want to a more routine cycle. I guess the only other piece is we do have money designated or um assigned for a vehicle. You know, we did $10,000 last year and so I'll have that on that um spreadsheet as well for you to review. Or do we say, "You know what? We've got the vehicle money that's set aside that was set aside many years ago for the buses and we're just going to use that." So, that would be a decision that would have to be made there. I think the other one, Jake, too, uniforms. Um I think it's our ball fields a little bit, but the other big one is wrestling mat. It's always like you
067I think every year I've been here Jake says, "Well, we can just continue to kick that one down the road." But this year he kind of said, "We don't have much more room to Yeah. So, um looking at that piece. Now, I did tell him that there's opportunity I think in the summer that they can have our logo, they can take it up. You know, I don't know if you saw the state high school league, if you watch those, you can see the different school logos. You're wondering how they get those on there. Well, schools buy those mats and then they bring them down, and them, and you usually get a small discount, but then you got to go pick them up. So, we may have to send somebody up to Fargo or something like
068that to pick them up, but Glenn is working at getting some quotes for you guys on that. So, we'll have that there as well. So, I think right now, $20,000 between the equipment as well as the uniform cycle, cuz I think last year was 16,000 and then the helmets are a big one and that's just an annual expense is what we have there, but I'll get that spreadsheet out to you here once Chad and I have some opportunity to get those numbers, those quotes narrowed down, so it's not just a guess. We'll get those pieces out there. But, like I said, about $7,500 for classrooms to look at there and we'll do that same designation kind of what we did between north, south, and the um secondary school based on students. All right. Any questions
069on that? Then, I would look for motion to adjourn. So, moved.