001to go down there and blow on it so it >> all right. Good evening. It's 5:30 in the secondary school media center and we will call the meeting to order and 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, >> Olrich >> here, >> Sour here, >> Sanstead >> here, >> and Gross >> here. >> Mr. Border will be late if he can make it. >> Um, I don't see any public comment this evening. We would look to modify the agenda. We would add the approval or of the marketing promotional position 6.6. Are there any other additions or corrections
002to the agenda? We'll look for a motion to approve. So move >> and a second. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. I. >> Post the same sign. Motion carries. Uh we don't have any committee reports this evening. So we'll move right into elementary principal report. >> All right. Um so we had I started off with our welcome back and our staff development week that we had a few weeks ago. And it was first of all just a pleasure to have all um staff back in the building and together for the start of the school year. Special thanks to North and South PTO's all of you with with the school board and then the other organizations that came to welcome back our staff the staff and faculty that's the Renaissance word staff. Um and
003we just did a lot of connection pieces. we a lot of learning and then in Morris we had a keynote speaker that was really inspiring and it was just a good opportunity for staff to choose their own breakout sessions to really individualize what was necessary for their learning. And then at the elementary building level we discussed how Renaissance connects with what we're already doing with PBIS. So what how does it already mesh together with what we're doing? Um and then we also have some new new ideas uh in the hopper for the upcoming year. And so really excited about the direction we're heading and we have um some things already underway at the elementary level that we're excited about with the just piece and we had our second day of school today. So um it
004was it's been really good. It's you know the best part is obviously that the students are back. So it's been fun to have all of them back in the building um working on all the kinks. You know, there's little things with schedules and stuff that we are figuring out, too. But we're excited to see all the returning students and welcome all the new students. We had 95% of our families come to early entrance conferences. So, we have a very high number in attendance, which is great. And we I know teachers appreciate it too, and I think from families as well, the early entrance conferences during that workshop week up front so we could start start school um right after Labor Day. And it's just good for they them to have that time to meet and
005connect and build that home to school connection right before before the school year even begins. We have started already actually with some fast testing. We've been doing some we started today. So our testing calendar is set for the school year for all of our fast testing and our MCA dates. Actually we have that set. Um, we did our testing calendar at the elementary level and our fast testing is underway and we will then analyze the data over the next couple weeks when fast testing is finished and then we will already start our our interventions on the 16th. We use that to really personalize instruction for reading and math. And lastly, I sent an elementary September newsletter to families. I did it that last week of August. Um, and I did a couple other welcome letters
006prior to the September newsletter, but in this one it was really highlighting the student parent handbook. So then they could see um have that as a digital copy and then know it's on the website as well. And then just highlighted a few of the pieces that were um important for the upcoming year. >> Any questions? >> Questions, comments? >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Yes. Thank you, >> Mr. Wood. All right. My report um mirrors Caitlyn's pretty similarly. Kind of been going through a lot of the same things, but um preparation has gone really well for the school year. You know, as always, our emphasis is on uh communicating and ensuring that expectations and standards are defined for staff and students. Um inservice week went really well. We felt like the Johnson's Renaissance piece
007um was, you know, received favorably. um the JMC training that um came in and was given to staff was received favorably. We had um an opportunity to collaborate with some other Grant County schools which is always appreciated and the Morrison service is an area that um staff really looks forward to. Um staff engagement was very high it felt like throughout the week we had thoughtful discussions and it you could tell that everyone was ready to start this um school year. The early entrance conferences, as Caitlyn mentioned, I think that moving them to the earlier date was very wellreceived both by staff and families, and they were well attended. Um, even at the secondary, which sometimes can see a little bit lower numbers than the elementary, but we had really good turnout. Um, and these conferences
008continue to be kind of a unique thing that West Central does that it's nice to get families in before the school year starts. Kind of sets the table for that collaborative approach between the school and families. Um there's been considerable effort that has gone into um setting up JMC and schedules um preparing for students to be here this week. Um Mindy, Amanda, and our new counselors, Haley, and Maddie have really um gone above and beyond in putting in a lot of time to make sure that this school year started as smoothly as it did yesterday. Um and we felt in a pretty strong spot and the day went um very well yesterday and today has been very um pleasant as well. Had a couple of teachers mention that it felt like the smoothest first day
009of school they've had. So that's always always good to hear. Um grade level meetings will take place during the first week of school. We're looking at Friday. Um just to reinforce standards and expectations um make sure we're all on the same page as far as admin staff and students. Um, overall the energy in the building is has been very positive. It kind of feels like we never left. It felt like we had ended the year in a positive note and kind of nothing has changed and we're right back into it. Um, but we're eager to welcome students back. We're happy about that. And then one other last note is that I was appointed um to serve on the Pelby board of directors, which is a um kind of I don't really know what all that
010will entail, but it will kind of felt like a good opportunity to both serve our profession and to bring back some insight to the school district as well. Any questions? >> That's great. >> Yeah, got a letter from the governor. It's like, all right, done governor. All right. Any questions, comments for Mr. Wood? >> Thank you, Mr. Fosene. >> All right. I I don't I don't know. Mr. Brown sent you my report. I didn't submit it to him until yesterday. So, my apologies for that. Um, >> I have it highlighted here on my sheet. So, if I could click on it, I think I could open it up. >> In my defense, it does say August 30th was when I started to write it. I just didn't get it completed. Anyways, athletic contests have started.
011Uh our last event to go will be junior high football. They have their first activity tomorrow. Other than that, everybody else has has uh been playing and been getting activities in. Uh continued need for game workers in in all sports. So, if you know people who can help, you're probably going to hear this every month uh from me. I mean, if we have people that can do something, I I would welcome them, especially come winter season. Uh I I do have people that that are probably going to work the table for basketball, but to find referees, yeah, good luck. So just keep that in mind. Uh I'm currently working with Goofan. We talked about cashless tickets, working with them on on implementation later. So look for some things next month um that I'll bring to
012you from a discussion standpoint that we need to kind of kind of iron out some finer details with that. So, uh, 26, 27, activity scheduling has already started. So, that's kind of how our world works. We operate generally a year ahead of time. So, feels weird. We just started school and we're already planning stuff. I know Mr. Brown and I talked about the tenative calendar for next year already, what that looks like. So, things things move quick. Um, I I have been in conversation with Morris in regards to our tennis co-op. Uh, that will come to you uh next meeting. Is that correct? Yep. Um, we we talked about getting language for our our co-op contract in place. Um, they've been in the co-op for a number of years, but specifics for that contract or
013that co-op have never been laid out. So, I met with the Morris AD this this summer. U, we put together a contract and that has been signed from Morris AD superintendent and board members. So, now it's it's on us to fully enact that. Again, that will come to you next meeting for discussion. Had the same thing with Ashby Brown. Emmensville spoke to their AD at Brand Evansville and their superintendent uh at Ashby. However, that progress has stalled. Not not from our end um but from the other end. So, we're we need some progress on their end to get that shored up. My intent for both of those was to have them as an action item at the October meeting. So, don't know if the wrestling one's going to get there. So, a couple other upcoming
014events. We have our required annual AD State High School League meeting Monday uh at Thumper Pond and Ottertale. We have the West Central Conference Sportsmanship Day in Sock Center on September 25th and homecoming the last week in September. So that's what I have. >> All right. Any questions, comments? Did you um like in volleyball is it now official officials for line judges as well? >> No, that's a great question. We got to that point because I don't have any more workers. So, I had to reach out to associations to get certified. Okay. So, >> now part of that was it was Thursday of of Labor Day weekend. I get that. >> Um but I I went down my sheet with one of the associations and there was 15 nos on my paper and I I
015didn't have any anybody else I knew to ask. So, Okay. >> So, yeah, that's a cost us a lot more money when we do that, >> right? >> So, >> hoping that's not a trend. I did forewarn Maggie that this one's going to be a little spendier than a normal volume. >> All right. >> So, >> any other questions, comments from Mr. Fosley, >> but I'm glad you noticed the four blue shirts. >> I noticed. Good job. >> I pick up on a couple things every now and then. >> All right. Do we have any update community edwise? >> Nope. We'll have one next. >> We'll have one next month. Okay, that'll that'll be later in the in the agenda here. Technology. Oh, already >> already. Just like that. Snuck right up on you, didn't
016it? >> That's right. >> All right. So, for technology, as far as devices go, everything is working really well. Stacy did a phenomenal job getting everything ready, classroom set up. I am personally struggling getting JMC to play nice with any of our instructional pieces. So unfortunately there are a lot of classes that are kind of on hold right now. So I am working with the companies to try and get them to accept the data that JMC is pushing to them. They just aren't ready yet. Um it just it's a significant change. So it's kind of recreating all of our accounts. Something that is typically a two to three week process for them. And I'm just got like when our classes were loaded, that's when we started and we didn't have to do three weeks. So
017we're we're trying to speed them along. >> So what does that affect? How does that affect a classroom? Give me can you give me an example of what happens? >> We have it all set so that when we have classes set up, so like a third hour math class that goes from JMC, it gets pushed out to a third party integration. um hub and then that rosters accelerated reader Google classroom um now it's uh the 6th through 12th grade English language arts curriculum the elementary math curriculum all of those pieces require this sync to happen and it's not so not a great start for me on that one however However, um teachers have been very patient. They're excellent at their craft, so they're making it work and we're hopefully going to get things cleaned up
018pretty quick. >> So, is there I mean, are they using this? It's just not they're not talking together or we're just completely >> It's all last year's data, unfortunately. So, it's kind of unusable at this point. >> Okay. So hopefully soon, but by next month I will have a much better update for you. >> All right, any other questions, comments for Kevin. Thank you. Buildings and grounds. Okay. Um, everything went well. We're going at it again. Kids are back in the building. Everybody's happy. Um, I think the majority of my staff, we kind of get into August and everybody's ready for the kids to come back. So, it's nice to have them back. I mean, all my staff has said it's nice to have them in the building again and and hear the hubbhub. Um,
019we are going to be a little thin. I have uh a person at South on medical leave until I'm suspecting around Thanksgiving time. So between Brad, Travis, and myself, we're kind of doing a week stent at a time and rotating buildings so it doesn't get so laborsome and we keep things fresh for us. Um curtains are in. They're up and done on Friday. Uh scoreboards are up and running um and functioning at North, but if you go try and do it, it won't happen. I've got to get a plug-in adapter to go up on top of the scoreboards um to get the receivers plugged in so you can Bluetooth in. Um I did everything by extension cord and and they're all hooked up and working. Um but I just got to get that adapter and
020then we'll be good to go there. Everything looks good there. Um wood chips were delivered on Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Uh South has been taken care of Friday. Uh they're going to work on trying to get finish getting these spread here. And the next couple days, uh some of the third and fourth graders at North are going to be working with Brad to help try and get that spread out the rest of the way and get those. >> Let's get a bunch of little shovels. I bet we can get them leveled out pretty quick. >> I have I have uh rakes from the softball and baseball field at North. And then we hooked a couple chains on each corner. And we've got some harnesses that came from somebody that has horses. So, we
021figured we could get him to run around and just level that in. >> No. >> Yeah. >> You send that permission slip. >> Yeah. Yep. >> No. Um so they'll help get that taken care of and work that out. Um and then we're down working on the football field. Um trying to get that set up. She is quite floaty right now, but we'll make it work. Um >> didn't you say you had your plan with the motor? >> Did you get a Did you get a No, you got a gauge here. How much rain do we get here? >> I don't have a gauge here. I I I'm suspecting it was probably close to 2 in. I mean, in Elbow Lake, I had >> an inch and two10. >> So, um the water to water
022units, again, we're still just waiting for them to hear from the factory. As soon as they get in touch, the factory gets in touch with with Ellington's on that, they're they're ready to go. They're just waiting to hear that they're being shipped and then they'll get stuff set up. But he has no idea how long that'll be. And I know that was the issue before, too, just even trying to get ideas for prices and stuff like that. I mean, we had to wait what 4 months um before they could even start getting prices. So, um I don't know how long that'll be. Um hopefully soon. Uh all of our fire testing with the kitchens and the hoods went well. Um boiler inspections all went good. Everything was was fine there. So, we just got to
023get that put back together. So, yeah, we're ready. >> Sounds good. Questions, comments for Mr. Nornberg. >> Thank you, staff. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Yeah. They >> looks great around here. >> They They did a really nice job. It's where I wanted it to be for eight years. I just hope we can keep it going. All right, that brings us to you, Mr. Brown, though. >> Okay, so staffing, as Chad said, actually here at the in the district, we're we'll be fully staffed after this evening, with the exception, I think we are looking to hire one or two pair of professionals with some recent reg resignations here at the end of the summer, then we'll be fully staffed all the way through. So, that'll be a nice piece to have that all ready to go.
024Um, promotion and marketing. I just noted that while we conducted the interviews for the community ed coordinator position, we were fortunate to have some really strong candidates and one of those has quite a resume and did an excellent job in the interview and talked a little bit about marketing and promotion and advertising that we think will be a great fit to help us share our story. As I've talked to another district, they said that's going to be the critical piece is making sure that we share our story. And of course, we have some big things coming up here as we look at facilities and uh other pieces. We got a lot of great things that we need to make sure we get out uh through communication. So, we'll have that later on in the agenda
025here for that piece. Special election, we still have that coming up here November 4th. Uh the absentee balloting will be starting September 19th here in the district office. And then we'll have the two combined polling locations, Elbow Lake as well as Kensington on that November 4th from 4 to 8. And remember, we'll be the only election in the county. Um, so it'll be fairly quiet that afternoon, I'm assuming, but we do have the ballots ordered and they will be here in time to make sure that we're ready to go. First week of school is always an exciting time and it was for our students as they came back. I was in all three buildings yesterday and so to see our staff back excited, but also our kids ready to go and of course we had
026shirts that were provided by Star Bank and so to see everybody yesterday in their red shirts. We might have to do that like every every week or something like that. It makes stressing up a lot easier on Mondays when you don't have to think about it. But it was also great to know who our folks were here and and I think they appreciated having those as well. School safety and security just with the recent events in Minneapolis. We did put I put a release out to our staff and families and I got a lot of responses from that release. I think that one hits fairly close to home when it's so close and and I think the the part that's a little troublesome is is all the planning in the world. I'm not sure that
027that would have changed that situation, but we reviewed all of our protocols to make sure that everything was in place and ready to go. Reached out to our law enforcement partners and talked about locking doors and things like that just to make sure that we can take all those necessary steps as well. Reviewed our crisis plan and just want to make sure that we have everything in place so if anything does happen, we can respond quickly. Um, I know yesterday we had a little bit of excitement outside so we had to take care of that, but all was nothing really to take care of. opening dove hunting season. So, there was some dove hunting going on and so I went out and checked that out and and nothing there. But yeah, so we are definitely
028on alert and want to make sure that we've got everything uh taken care of that way. And then finally, uh schoolboard appreciation month used to be February. Last year they changed it to September. I did not really notice that or recognize that or remember that. This month I've remembered. So, we will have certificates at the next board meeting and some other pieces to show our appreciation for all the work that you do, the evening hours, the early morning hours you put in. Uh, it's going to be a busy year this year, of course, as we look at facilities and not always a position that people want to be in to take and and uh have an impact, but you guys will have a huge impact for our students. We appreciate that in our communities. So,
029just want to share our appreciation. Like I said, we will do more here at the meeting on the 17th of September here, but just wanted to share that today. We're going to be getting some pieces out so people are are aware of that as well. And then just our school board meeting coming up on September 17th. And that's all I have. >> Do you want to touch on these now? >> Talk about the Yeah, the enrollment numbers. So So we have our first day enrollment numbers. Uh we are down just a little bit from what we were projecting. Our preliminary projections at the end of last school year had us at 777 kids prek through 12th grade 693 in um K12. So the positive news is our K12 numbers which generates our funding for the
030school year with the exception of ECSE. We're only down one student. It's really where the biggest number drop. those uh most of the students, the other six students are going to be in our little nights in our four-year-old program. Um so we'll have to check into that to see if maybe there was families we're anticipating if they've decided to wait for a year or something like that. But um so we are down a few students. I know that our online program has helped there as well. So we have some kids that are students that we've been able to retain and uh but other than that most of the numbers have remained uh consistent from what we were projecting. However, if you look at South Elementary, we went from in our entire building numbers from 147
031to 127. We were projecting to go to 124, but we did actually gain three students there as of our first day enrollment. Um, at North Elementary, we were projecting to go up six students. We went up five students. And then here at the secondary, we were projecting to be uh went from 449 at the end of the school year up to 459, but we are starting right now at 450 students. So, a little bit of a drop in our secondary, but that does account our two foreign exchange students as well as our online students, but uh but all in all have our projection at 693 and to start with 692. That's a pretty good pretty good piece there for us as we move forward. But right now, 692 kids preK or excuse me, um yeah,
032prek through K through 12 is 692. questions, comments on enrollment numbers, then we will move into our consent agenda. Uh we have the following items. Thank you, gentlemen. >> Happy painting. >> Thank Yeah, keep the line straight. >> If it's not, it's all >> I'll take the blame. >> Um we've got the following personnel items. Um 5.1 1.1.1 uh resignation Amanda Garvin pair professional um hires we have uh Jennifer Roette for the part-time district office administrative assistant and Luke Ryan community ed director coordinator sorry um we also have lane changes request for Taylor Lampy uh BA + 10 to BA plus 20 and the following contract agreement ments. Um the 2526 nursing agreement, school nursing agreement with Lake Region Healthcare. Uh the 2526 collaborative agreement with West Central Minnesota Community Action Head Start. Is that
033right? >> Yep. Community Action. Yep. Head Start. Yep. >> Okay. Um and then 2526 amendment and renewal of the CAFP vended meals contract with Head Start. >> Yep. the child and uh let's see adult care fost or food program is what CACFP stands for. So it's really we serve meals to the Head Start students this year will be fairly minimal because they've changed their programming. I think they have three students they said is what we'll be serving but they needed to have a vended contract. So this how we so they get reimbursement >> a yearly annual thing. So >> um any questions comments on the consent agenda items? Then I would look for a motion to approve. So move >> and a second. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Same
034sign. Motion carries. That brings us into new business. Um we have the first reading of the following policies with statutory and recommended changes from MSBA. Um policy 531, the pledge of allegiance. Policy 532, the use of peace officer and crisis team to remove students with IEPs from school grounds. Policy >> 533. My my ink ran out. >> Policy 533, wellness, uh policy 604, instructional curriculum, and policy 515, protections and privacy of pupil records. Any comments? Anything you'd like to go over on those, Mr. Brown? >> Most of those are very standard. Now, the one thing you'll notice on policy 515 just that there's a change in the district's definition of directory information consulting to get the legal opinion as well as from other folks. They said just follow the federal um regulations on FURPA and
035that doesn't make sure that everything's consistent so you don't have a difference between our policy definition compared to the federal FURPA law is the guidance there. So that's the that's the definition that we'll use for that piece and you'll just see that app parents now personal contact information can also be treated as private data. >> Okay. >> So how do they do that? Do they do it any >> each classroom currently each classroom does it? Um, we have talked and I'm going to bring it to our leadership team about potentially doing a morning announcement and then we would do it as part of that. But I wanted to make sure we had our leadership team as part of that decision because that would be something that we'd be doing over the inter in intercom with
036all students involved. But right now each teacher does it in their own classroom when it works in their schedule usually during their morning announcements and morning meeting type. >> It says sh well in secondary there's certain days that I hear it come over the PA there's other days that I do not. So, I'm not sure how consistent it is, but I'll have to ask Mr. Wood. I know that they've had, I believe, an honor society student or student council student come down, maybe read some announcements, and then do the pledge of allegiance, but I wouldn't say it's a consistent basis that I would say would probably be more regular either once per week or every day. I mean, it doesn't take real long to do that, >> all season, >> right? Yep. >> Nope. Absolutely.
037>> I never I would agree. >> Great comment. Any other comments, questions on those policies? Again, that's just the first reading of those. Um, we will see those again. Um, we'll move into item 6.2, two, approve recording and posting of the referendum work session meeting. uh as we discussed in the work session um as we move forward with facility discussions, work sessions, those kinds of things, we've made the decision that recording or that that's what we're about to do is make a decision that um we're going to make those public whether they be live or recorded and posted um depending on technology at at the time of the meeting. But um any comments or anything anybody would like to add to that other than um at this time we'd be looking for to take action
038on that that we will now record those sessions that are in in line with our facilities um discussions. I know in the past we had not recorded work sessions that was a a board decision many years back um but in this case anything to do I think our discussion was anything to do with facilities would be a recorded meeting um and that's how we'd move forward so if there's any comments or anything to add there >> I'll make a motion >> okay we have a motion is there a second >> second >> all right we have a motion to second all in favor say I >> opposed motion carries Uh so we will get that posted and then um as we have more work sessions going forward. I'm certain that we'll have several um before
039we're to the end of this process. Um we will make sure that they're recorded and posted at a minimum and and if we can bring live then we can work on that too. So um but they will be recorded. Um, moving on. Uh, consider and accept community task force uh recommendation. So, the recommendation is that in this packet? Yep. I want to make sure we read that. Here we go. Um, so this is the recommendation that came to us from the task force. Uh after extensive review and discussion, the West Central Area Schools Task Force recommends the school board move forward with option 3B, one site, as presented at task force meeting 8. The this direction reflects a commitment to address current facility needs while honoring the values and the priorities of expressed throughout the
040task force process. As an implementation planning moves forward, the task force recommends the school board continue to engage the community to ensure transparency, gather feedback on specific design and program elements, and foster support for the project. Uh the task force further recommends that the schoolboard remain guided by the following core pinnacles throughout the process. Future focused education, operational sustainability, and one WCA community. Are there any anyone want to make any comments on the uh recommendation um as we move forward in this process? >> I don't think it's ready. I don't think it's big enough. I don't think I think I think the current plan as is they say option three be one site as presented. I think In it current form, it's a deficit to our staff. It's a deficit to our kids. It's a
041deficit to our athletes. It's most of that based on size. Not wanting to be a magnet school, but we don't have any room for if we do attract anything. >> But they did mention to us too that this is like just the beginning. They expected us to make it what we think it needs to be. So, it's not the final. It's not the final plan. >> It's the concept. >> Yep. It's the concept. It's the idea. So, it's up to us to make it what it needs to be. >> I'm not voting on a concept. I want a plan. I want something that works. >> Well, that's our in my opinion. I'm not going to argue that in this my only comment in this current. >> Okay. And there's a recommendation came to us and
042our job now is to take that recommendation and turn it into a plan. That's what the school board is is um supposed to do here. So, >> I would I would say that the recommendation meets the standards and move forward in my opinion and and we know that there's lots of work left to be done about what that final product might look like but I think the task force did a really good job of being very thoughtful and um you know it really becomes a teacher administrative school board action right now to flesh it out in a way that someone such as you Darren feels comfortable says yes this is ready to go to the community for a vote. And I don't think any of us would say it's ready to go to the community
043now. >> No. >> But I think that becomes our job as staff and board members to help put that together with ongoing. I hope task force and other community members input. I mean that that always has to be front and center. We have to listen at each stage. Doesn't just mean we have task force. from them. Each community, we need to keep working on that communication and solicit their feedback, their input, not just, you know, what we think to share with them, but what they think we need to know. >> Absolutely. And and I don't disagree with you, but I in sense I I don't agree with the plan. But that doesn't mean even in my current position that just like I always before just because I may not agree with what's being presented doesn't
044mean I'm not going to try and help >> right >> make what is presented good for our kids >> and you have to do that. I'm not going to even if I feel like three sites is the best or two sites is the best. If one site is what's going to be on the ballot, I'm still going to fight to make sure that it's good for everybody. And then if it does pass that it's good for our kids >> and it's good for our staff and it's good for our athletes and it's good for you know people in other extracurricular activities that I'm not as much of an expert but so I talk more about sports than anything but I mean I guess that's is what it is >> right. Well, I think what you
045just said makes me feel like we're on the same page. Even though we said it differently, there's a commitment to look at this and look at it with intentionality to make sure that whatever we put together is that >> Yeah. But that doesn't mean we're all going to vote for it, >> right? >> You know what I mean? So, so it is what it is. But I think you you also you also made our own >> a good point is that whatever we decide as a board to put on the ballot, we want to make sure it's the best for our kids. That's our goal. That's what we're starting from, right? I mean, we're trying to make the best possible scenario for our kids. That's that's why we do all this stuff, right? Doesn't matter
046what Maya wants. It matters what's best for our kids. And that's why we should move forward, I guess, as we as we make any of these decisions. that should be first and foremost on our on our plate is what's best for our kids. So be my two cents. Mr. Alrich, anything from you? Just that I I think that in my mind we're we're considering the recommendation just as a general idea like we have, you know, a drawing, but that's not the end all be all. So, you know, I look at it as that was the recommendation. This is what it could look like, but not necessarily what it is going to look like. So, I mean, with that being said, that I think it's a good recommendation. Anything else? >> I look for Mr. Key
047point just be those three guiding pinnacles, right? I think the committee put a lot of time the task force committee put a lot of time and that's what they were evaluating against I think to make sure that these are the three pieces that should be our guiding guiding areas and I think that's what they wanted to make sure too even in the recommendation to say hey these are the areas that we really feel are going to be critical and important as we move move ahead and and I think like Claire said in the fact of having that community engagement they kind of asked please don't stop here please don't have us hand off and then you take it from here and we don't hear anything until the very end they want to be involved throughout
048that process and and I think we've noticed that they put a lot of time and effort into it, had a lot of good questions and had a lot of information to review before making that final recommendation. >> Absolutely. So then I would look for a motion to approve the to accept the community task force recommendation. >> So >> second. All in favor say I. I >> pull the same sign. >> I >> motion carries. So that moves us into an election timeline. We had a little discussion on November of 26. Um there are only a few options the board has for dates. Uh I believe we have February, April, May, and August are the other options besides a November election. um with the reverse timeline of what we need to have ready prior to um
049if we pick November as a as a goal, we still have to have everything entirely ready to process by middle of June basically. So, um when you start to backwards plan from that, that really isn't a ton of time. So, um, again, the conversation was had that going anywhere earlier than November probably doesn't make a lot of sense for us. It probably rushes us through some processes that we would like to make sure that we get correct. Um and so I guess at this time if there's any other discussion about a November time frame or any other thoughts on when um we should look at to start to make a plan. Obviously, once we set this plan, now we backwards plan from there to make sure that all of our other benchmarks are met and
050and again um in our conversation. Um there'll be several milestones we'll want to hit and make decisions on based on where we're at in the process. So if we get down the road and decide to do a community survey or something of that sort and we get negative feedback, you know, outstanding ne negative feedback that says this is a terrible plan that you have, obviously we're going to step back and we're going to re-evaluate our process um or what our plan is. So um knowing those pieces, um we will set this timeline up according to when we think an election should be. If we get to early June, late May, and we're not even close to ready, we may have to say, you know what, November is not our time, you know, we might have
051to be pushed to a different time from there. But, um, I guess at this point, we would be looking at setting a date so that we can start to plan it and make sure that we can hit benchmarks along the way to make sure the process continues to flow. So >> I like I've always been consistent in the fact that I've always liked general elections because >> that's when people are paying attention to what's going on around you get the best you get the most. So pass or fail you feel like you got good representation I'll say >> from the public and everybody involved. And then talking to Wit in our in our last work session meeting, they felt like that gave them a very comfortable time frame >> for us to go through some
052of these things that like I was saying and softball fields and all these different things that at least I feel we're going to have to definitely tweak to make this plan so that this is works for our and our kids and everybody. Um, if we're looking for a motion, I'd make a motion that we plan for a November election for the general election. What? 2026. >> 2026. November 2026. We got a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion in a second. All in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. Motion carries. So that brings us to now as we start this um our next work session. Everybody look at their calendars and say I've got 27 minutes on Thursday the >> We could guarantee that it would be that short night where you
053can make >> any promises. >> Um >> what are you looking at? I >> trying to find a date for next week session. >> I thought you put a date. >> No, no, no. I was I was totally joking about that. Um, one note as we start to plan this, just uh I will not be here at the 17th meeting. So Darren, just a heads up. >> Um, >> that's why you keep adding all those things to that agenda. >> Yeah, stack it in there. >> Yeah, let's just wait till the 17th. I'm okay with myself. The rest >> are we we had a little discussion. Um were we going to try to sneak in next week or did we want to push to that last week in September? We have an agenda ready by
054next week or >> well I mean at this point we're going to start the you know the the next steps the you know what groups are we going to hit we need to start talking with you know we basically need to break this down into we need to start meeting with you know staff we need to start meeting with activities director you know all the things all the different entities here to start looking at this plan to say this is what we need um getting some of those groups to go either go look at or or view other spaces so that they know um you know some of our teachers I think the the comment was made some of our teachers have taught their whole career here they don't know much about buildings outside of
055WCA you know so what what is the options you know where do we go to find some of those things can we go look at different buildings can we go look at different spaces um you know all those pieces are going to have to start to be on the on the table as we start to move forward with this process. So, um, been getting that RFP right too for the that construction manager to help facilitate that pre-referendum >> process. So, I don't know if they would have some >> suggestions or ideas for an RFP to tweak and see what we want to post there, >> right? >> Um, so then I don't know if that if we wait till the 24th, that doesn't put us up until October 1st or potentially we could get that
056ready to go out on the 17th and maybe have something ready to go earlier in October for them to come and present to the board. I think the buildings and grounds committee was talked about having them maybe filter that down to to a manageable number if you get 15 coming in to to get that down. So I don't know, >> you know, so I guess I would see the next our next workshop kind of being now, you know, we had some examples of timelines, but now we would look at what what is our timeline look like. So we know that if it's November, I don't know what the date is in 26, but we can find that out pretty simply. It's probably the 3rd. >> That sounds about right. Yeah. >> So November 3rd of
05726. Now we backwards plan from there. We need 87 days or whatever the review and comment, you know, where you have to post for the official ballot item is in August. >> And then you have to go back from that. So many days to get your review and comment in all those pieces. is we would start to look at what does that look like and where should we be hitting our benchmarks on the along the way and just kind of setting up a good timeline so we know what's going on and we would have you know as opposed to just looking at examples now we would start building our timeline and when we need to meet with these other groups >> I think we could you know if you're going to do something as early
058as next week I think it would really have to be a meeting of just these are the things we need to do now >> and these are the people that are going to do it or the people we're going to contact to do it. But I can't expect Kaitlin to go through the elementaryaries. >> Oh, absolutely. >> And know if the rooms are big enough. >> Nope. >> By next Wednesday. >> No, not at >> So, but if we can decide that we can give her some direction and need some direction and the others some direction and then have a couple weeks to look at, you know, some of these documents and we out some of the that stuff. And that's my point is putting our timeline together to say, "Okay, Miss Hendris, now by
059December 1, we would like to know or whatever that date is, right? We're going to say, "Here's your time. I'd like you to go sit with your staff and say, all right, what do we need? Where are our pieces at?" You know, what are deficiencies currently? What are our goals and expect? You know, all those pieces. As we start to give that time for those people, we build that into our timeline. So we know that now and you know elementary can have a have a window >> high school can have a window >> that simple work >> right like I said it's not going to be a this isn't going to be a deep into the the bones of the you know it's going to be a >> setting work plan >> setting a work
060plan and this is what our timeline looks like and um you know again it's it's going to be talking about the construction management piece piece and and what do we do? What does our proposal look like for that? We're going to send that out so we can make that on the you know add one more thing to that 17th calendar >> and uh we can have all those things kind of working in the right direction. But I think it's going to have to be a, you know, I don't want to say we're going to be every Wednesday night, but, you know, we're probably going to add a Wednesday every month or something just so that we can start to get these things on a on a schedule and and get, >> you know, we can
061provide updates at the same time. Okay? You know, here we are. We're in November. We want you to be ready December 1. How are you feeling? Are you are you feeling like you got enough time yet? Are we getting close? Are we have a 40% solution or an 80% solution? um what do you need from us? You know, as far as those pieces go and then hear from all those, you know, we want to hear from the staff, we want to hear from the the staffy, the whole the whole group, right? You know, we want the the custodians to weigh in to say, boy, this looks horrible. You know, I don't I don't like this idea or, you know, those kinds of things. So, um you know, I think that's kind of now that we
062we've set we're going to move forward this plan. This is our date we're shooting for. we start to lay those pieces out. And again, this is probably a pretty generic first meeting, but um we got to, you know, we got to get started. >> We get going more >> the more time everybody gets, right? >> Hard spots that we got to take more time, we'll have room for them instead of >> blasting through. >> Yep. >> What? done. >> Yep. >> Probably just setting like a three-month plan to say, "Hey, here's what we're going to have done over the next three months." So, we know that's going to be hopefully getting us to >> just don't want to use up the extra space that we just created by going November of 2026 >> by not
063getting going, >> right? >> I think it's comfortable yet it's still tight. I mean, I don't think we've got a whole lot of time. I think it's going to be planning because if we have to get the communication out there and because I think that's always been the concern, right, is felt like it was rushed and so if we >> could get it where people said no, we heard everything. It felt like you reviewed everything and brought it to the community. I mean, if we have to do a survey and stuff like that, that all there's always those bumps in the road that can add a little bit of time to that. So, be nice to say we're ready to go May 15th, but I'm not sure that that'll be completely there. as uh let
064everybody be Oops, this is 26. I'm not going to tell you the date 26 that we're going to meet. September 10th is a week from today or Wednesday still best for everybody to avoid any events or activities. >> Are you >> I have a Well, depends on what time we want to go. I do have a 6:30 meeting on the 10th already. Apologize. And I'm on call that night. So I'm 5050. >> Okay. >> I can't say for sure yet, but >> Oh, sounds like What about Thursday the 11th? Is that a better >> I could be 15 >> all week. >> No, for sure. Not Monday, Tuesday. >> Okay. >> Thursday. >> Okay. >> Sorry. >> Nope. That's >> But you got I mean if you've got a the majority can come don't fly
065around me. >> How about that following week just before the board meeting like the 15th or 16th? Is that Are you out that week or just that evening or morning? >> Not the 17th. >> The 17th. I'm out Sunday through Mon. How about How about the 8th? It's Monday. Is that too soon for everybody? I know Lindsay is out until next week. So if we need to get anything from her on an RFP now, maybe Brent can give that to us. >> Just a little. >> So I can ask Brent on that piece work on Monday on the 8th. >> I'm for sure for sure not available Monday. I can remote in Monday evening. >> That's okay. We got a couple people that I think it's important that we get as many here as possible,
066but at the same time, >> like you said, we can't necessarily stop everything because a couple >> Right. I mean, I think move along >> and you're the following the 14th through the 21st. You said you're out, right? That entire week. >> I'm just to the 17th. Actually, I'm back the 17th, the evening of the 17th. >> I've been remote in any night. I'm 95% sure. Okay. So >> I know there's a we our school board meeting is in the morning on the 17th. >> Probably nobody wants Well, I guess my question would be um do we want to push that meeting to an evening meeting and just do the business part first and then do would that be something anybody would be interested in? I could be back for the evening meeting. I just
067can't make the 7 a.m. meeting. >> I think that sounds great. >> Does that work? See, I'm I'm I'm pandering to Darren right now. So, he's like, "Yeah, that's a great idea." Um, does that work for everybody just to maybe just shift that meeting to a 5:30 evening meeting instead of a 7 a.m. meeting on the 17th? What time would we meet before that? >> Well, we do a regular meeting at 5:30. >> We do a regular meeting at 5:30 instead of 7 and then and then we would just start our work session after the business meeting portion. Do our business first and then we would go into that. >> Okay. >> I mean, I think 5:30 to 7 for the regular meeting would be kind of our timeline. If we needed that, then it'
068be another hour and a half. will be talking >> kind of 5:30 to 8:30 type of a window. >> Board recognition night, the whole works. >> Is that the 17th? >> Yeah. >> And that's the one that you would remote in then possibly. >> I can be here on the 17th. >> Okay. >> So 5:30 on the 17th that works. >> Okay. >> Well, 5:30 will be our regular, right? So the work session would be even. >> So we just make we'll have to post that as a change then. um >> stated as immediately following I'm assuming then >> so I guess at this point what we would do is for for this item 6.5 we would adjust our regular meeting on the 17th from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and then we would have
069our work session after to follow. >> Okay, I'll get that posted. >> That makes sense. >> So 5:30 is the first Okay. >> Right. So, instead of being 7 o'clock on the 17th in the morning, you guys can sleep in and then we'll have a 5:30 meeting. Does that sound good? Then I would look for a motion for that change. >> And a second. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. Motion carries. So that one could be live streamed then at the same point because Kevin will be here. So Kevin, that works in your calendar. >> Is that all right, Kevin, to make that 5:30? >> I guess we should ask the technology guy. >> Okay, that brings us to the marketing and promotional position. Mr. Brown, you want to
070give a little bit of feedback on that one? >> I can. Yep. So, I think got some feedback from a few folks about what we were seeing some other districts, how they were uh really doing a nice job with social media and marketing. And so, I did reach out to one of those districts to kind of see what they were doing and just said, "Hey, we're contracting with a company to do that. It is fairly expensive." They shared the the dollar amount. And and ironically around that same time we had interviewed for the community education coordination coordinator position and one of the resumes that came in was very strong English communication strategic marketing and just seeing some of the experience and and so this person is a senior um at the U and had some
071real good experience with doing some marketing and planning for the Twins organization as well as some other events down in the Minneapolis area. And what I see is maybe a little bit different. Well, remember we have our district office administrative assistance. So, they're going to be able to help push out some of our standard Facebook pieces and things like that. This is really going to hopefully help us take us to that next level to say, "Here's the piece that I would recommend. If this is the target audience that you have, what you're doing here isn't probably going to get you your best results." Your best results are going to be by posting through this social media, putting out a district newsletter, sending it out this format, the newspaper, and really helping probably with some of
072those press releases. We've talked about a district quarterly newsletter to we would still have to collect information from our staff and things like that. that I would say the district office administrative assistant would collect those pieces and then that marketing person would say, "Hey, here's how I would frame that to make sure that it's reaching what audiences are you wanting to reach with this." And so I think they're really going to be critical in that piece to take us to that next level because like I said, as I reached out um to the one superintendent, gave me two districts in our area. They're using that private company and they're really giving reports to them back on a return on investment to say, "Hey, you are now targeting this group. Here's the number of hits you're
073getting." That's what I think eventually we want to get to to say, "Yep, we're getting response. We're getting noticed. We're telling our story." And I think hopefully finding some great ways to one evaluate our website. Um I think just getting some pieces there to say, "Hey, your website probably has too many clicks to get here or it needs this." So, I think Kevin would still do that work, but maybe just getting that audit and stuff like that or having both of those pieces and just re-evaluating that piece, but also knowing, okay, in today's world, what is the best way to get that message out that our telling our story and all the other um we also interviewed somebody else and just hearing their story as they shared about WCA, it's it was amazing to me
074and I'm like, we don't get that information out to enough of our other families in local districts and things like that in our area. And so I think this is a way for us really to take that for much less than what our neighbors had shared that they were spending on that. But hopefully to say, "Yep, here's the first pieces that I would push out right away. Here's your strategic plan for this if you're looking to communicate on facilities. Here's the pieces that I think you should be putting out there. Here's how it should be marketed. Here's how it should be designed and things like that." So I think it really a little bit more than just Facebook. It's going to be adding some of those pieces to to Facebook of what we have on
075a critical level of saying if this is the audience you want to reach, here's how you need to do that because I don't think any of us in the district probably have that expertise to say how does that look and then hopefully planning some of those events as well as we get throughout the year to say hey here's what we do for this event. Maybe it's a parent organization meeting that we bring people in to say, "Yep, here's what I would do. Here's how you want that to be set up. Here's how you want to get that advertised. Here's how you want to promote it." And I think I see it as what what are the end results? What impact do we want to have? We share that and they say, "Well, here's how you
076want to put that together to get that impact, to get that information, and to get hopefully the best results for that." Like I said, I think this is a fairly inexpensive way of doing that. up to 20 hours per month. So, it's not a huge piece. Um, and then at that $30 per hour is what we'd look to do there. And hopefully get that to be something that we say, "Yep, we're getting those pieces out." I guess for me, it's as a few folks here have said, "Hey, something's going on in this district." Because I'm seeing a lot of things on the feed. And so how do we do that same thing to have somebody that can designate that time in conjunction with our district office person where maybe they're saying, "Hey, this right now,
077what are the events going on? Oh, South's got their elementary concert going on. They've got this parent event. Okay, these are the pictures I think you should have. Here would be how we should frame that. Let's get that pushed out to out onto Facebook out into this medium and stuff like that." We used to give it a trial and make sure that we're out there. And then I think as well I guess I also remember when we did our operating levy a couple years ago on our capital project levy I kept going on to a neighboring district site who was doing pieces there because they had a very simple clean way of sharing the information. When I reached out to that superintendent he said yep it's a former graduate who works for this company. It
078cost money but they do make it look pretty nice but I even had people saying boy I'm seeing these things here. How do we get that to look here? I think Caitlyn had mentioned that even last year I think when you came in right of kind of our social media presence just a little bit from your experience in your prior district and things like that of we just are missing that piece and I think it really comes down to how do we tell our story in a way that reaches people. We can tell our story but if it doesn't go anywhere then there's no impact. If you tell a story in an empty library, does anyone hear it? >> The books that I'm not sure they retell it. >> Well, I think the communications or
079PR committee had some initial brief conversations about where to go and this would provide tremendous infrastructure for us that none of us are experts on that. I guess personally as somebody that came new to the district 10 years ago, 10 years this month by the way or October, um is I was blown away with what it feels like here. And that would be a piece that I would want this person to help us capture is what does it feel like to be a student here? What does it feel like to be a staff member? Because that is what is really special about this place. And I really really would like to see somebody that has expertise that can help us with that. And I think there are some really good stories. I think when I
080was at a community festival um and ran into a former student way back while I was here, just hearing some of the stories that our kids who have been students here to see what they're out doing. I think we have somebody here who's are they on Netflix or something like that or they've done some work for Netflix. So I mean it's not small. And I mean she was kind of bragging about what the other students were doing. And finally I said, "Well, I guess I'm not doing too bad myself because I'm a clinical psychologist or doing this." And I'm like, "No, it seems like all of you are very talented and successful." Sometimes we feel like we have to look elsewhere, right? And our talents within to say, "Boy, we" And so I think even
081for our own kids to hear some of those stories to say, "Wow, you can go to WCA and you can become this because look at what these people have done here and things like that." So, >> and to capture the attention of young families, >> that's the future. >> So, I motion. >> All right, we have a motion um in a second and I'll just make sure we read because I don't know that we've read the So, we have a a pro uh marketing promotional position uh for Destiny Olrich and we have a motion in a second. This will take a roll call vote and we will start with Mr. Gross. >> Yes. Sandstead, >> yes. >> Sour, >> yes. >> Alia, yes. Olrich, >> I'll abstain. >> You have to vote in this case.
082Yep. >> And Vincent, >> yes. >> All right. Motion carries. >> Did you vote? >> I did vote. Yes. >> So, being a relative has to be a unanimous vote of all board members present. So, >> we found that out when we hired my daughter. So, No, I I tried. You can't do it. So, um Okay, that moves us down to close session. We're going to close the meeting to discuss the negotiation strategies under Minnesota statute 471.705 subsection 13D.03. Do I have a motion to close the meeting for negotiations? >> So, move >> and a second. Second. >> All in favor say I.