WCA School Board Meeting

001duty moving trailers or something like that. He said I apologize. Now we are up and running. Okay, start. We're ready and we'll call a meeting to order at 7:06 in the secondary school media center and we will 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. Porter here. Sandstead here. Sour here. Here. Olrich here. Vincent here. And Gross here. Um, we don't have any public this morning. Uh, we will look to modify our agenda. If you see um item 5.1.1.6, that will be removed. Um, and then we will add 6.3 to approve the stage curtain purchase. Um, are there any other additions or corrections

002to the agenda? I look for a motion to approve. So move and a second. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. That brings us to our reports and we'll start with Miss Hendricks with the elementary school data presentation. All right. Um, so as I talked about at our last one, we have finished our or we did our spring testing. So we wanted to share our results from the end of the year. And just to give you a little bit of a background um and some an idea of what we do with the data is we screen all students in the fall and then our plan for next year is if there's students are falling below a certain percentile to do some more diagnostic to figure out exactly where the gap is. You know is

003it a phonics you know something with diagraphs or blends? Is there a number sense um gap? So next year we have a plan for um doing those diagnostics right away after our screening window so that we can really dive in and target those interventions very specifically. And um we're really excited about that. We even have a couple grade levels that we know with their end of the year data that was um a little bit lower at the end of this year with a certain area for for example one grade level was coming in a little bit lower in fluency. So, we already know next year we're going to start the year off and target that right away. So, we're really excited about that. Um, then during the year we we meet every 6 to 8

004weeks and do our data meetings and at those we look at student progress. How are they doing on their interventions? We look at their progress monitoring data to see are they making progress in the intervention that we're doing. If they are, continue on. If they're not, then we change it to change the intervention to hopefully then make progress the next six to eight weeks. Um, and then we always screen in the winter as well. That's um a state requirement. And then at the end of the year, we look at our data and look at the number of students who are showing proficiency and then also look at the student growth data to say how many of our what students made growth and then make a plan for next year. So I know I've said this

005before, data what what I've been told or saying that I've heard is data should make you ask questions. So one of the questions we ask is was there something we could do at the start of next year to target um are there any trends or patterns that we're noticing with a group certain grade or with a group of students that we could really make a plan for? And with a few grades we do and we're really um thinking that'll help them boost going into the next school year. And then you'll see a couple graphs. So this is just the color. So you can see we look um any student who scores below the 40th percentile then qualifies for like our ADSIS um reading intervention. So that's the target number that we use. Um the co-op

006uses that as well. We use that for our ADSIS funding. So when you're looking at the um the colors on some of the graphs, if they are in the the pink shaded, then they would qualify for intervention. And then anyone in the purple um is showing that they are above the 40th percentile. And then so this is grades K and one. On the left side, you'll see reading and on the right you'll see our math data. So, some really high numbers and some good growth in kindergarten um literacy and math at this during this throughout the school year. And then next is first grade um growth as well on our early reading on the left side and then math on the right. And then for second through fourth, this is our A reading and a

007math. So that's the adaptive test that they take. So these numbers are students that are above the 40th percentile. So 73% of our second graders were above the 40th percentile at the end of the year. 70% of our third graders and the top ones are reading and then the bottom ones are math. And then this one um looks similar but it's our growth. So this is the percentage of students who met their growth target. And we look at a it's called the 50s SGP the student growth percentile. So again, looking at that top number for second grade, for example, 83% of our second graders met their growth projected growth percentile for the year. So it, you know, you could have some kids that had a 49, you know, just missed the target. So there's there's

008kids that still showed growth, but they might not have just made that um that target goal. And then the last assessment that we um look at is our fluency within um reading for the CBMR. And this is the percentage of our students who were on target for their fluency. So this is where we had thought about making a plan for example for third grade next year um to say we're noticing that we're having some little bit lower um in second grade. How do we target that going into the following grade? Any questions? I just would have I mean so we had one if you go back I don't know three four slides that go so n go forward one more there. So on our growth so this is just the the ones that are above

009the 40th percentile and what they so it says all students this is all students all students um and it's based on growth. So that's it's nice to look at the growth too is because it doesn't necessarily uh so it accounts for the growth of all students no matter if they're high right middle or low you know so they're each setting a different growth correct no matter you know if you score even if you score a little bit lower in the beginning of the year your percentile is based on where you score at that how you do at that time of the test and then it gives you a projected so is the growth goal set per student or just for a certain cate like you know what I mean? So, like, yeah, if I'm really

010bad at reading, do I have a lower growth goal than Darren does it cuz he's really good at reading? Like, is that how So, everybody has a it's a a 50 SGP has that that goal, but it's the score can change based on how you do. So, like if I scored um in the I don't know 15th percentile in the fall, for example, I'm comparative to my peers nationally at that time at that grade level. So then maybe I scored, I don't know, in the 20, these are arbitrary numbers. If I scored in the 25th in the spring, I still may have met my goal even though I only grew 10 percentage points because it's again comparative to your peers at that time nationally normed. So okay, everybody doesn't have like you have to grow

01110 percentage points or you have to grow 15. It's based on how you score at that time. And then what what would a 50 SGP be to or 50th percentile of growth be to get you to the end of the year? Okay. The assessment tool helps you set that target. Correct. Yeah. Well, that's what I was wondering because I just want to know does all that. What can we do more like the second graders versus the you know like you know which what's going on differently to make you know one grade be 83% that made it and one grade be 47%. You know why? how does that work or what? Right? So, that's where we ask questions to say, you know, is it a curriculum thing? Is there something we need to look at? Um

012because no curriculum is going to be perfect or we're going to have to, you know, make um maybe additions or change something that we're doing. So, you know, we have our new curriculum, so that's also will be good too to to track. I actually was just pulling I was like I should look quick to see what our spring data was from last year and we fell um you know pretty close to or above our targets from last year's I just pulled reading end of the year. So, it's good. Oftentimes you see an implementation dip where we're really even coming ahead in some areas or saying pretty much the same, which is good to see that we're not um we haven't necessarily dipped a ton when we have a new a new curriculum. So, it might

013seem like opposite like we had a new curriculum, why are you dipping? But you're learning you're learning new. It's it's a lot for teachers to take in. It's new practices. It's new content. it's, you know, it's um aligns well with our letters, but it's learning how to implement all those pieces. So, we didn't necessarily see a big dip. We're staying pretty consistent. And in one grade, we actually went up from the year before, but then you're you also have a different test that you're comparing in K1 to second grade. So, that's a little bit of you're not necessarily comparing apples to apples, too, and because you have a different assessment when you switch over to second grade. So, yeah, good questions. Anything else? This is really helpful. Is it Do we think we can grow

014this model for five and six with some of the same process? I think so. Yeah, actually Paul and I were just talking about that yesterday. So, I think we definitely can. Yeah, probably 5'8. I know that the co-op has mentioned that we're one of the few that's not doing that. So, so some areas of growth there. We're fortunate that Caitlyn has some instructional coaching background and we'll be able to really help with this piece here. You know, I think now we have data. What do we do with that data? I know that there both Megan and Caitlyn have worked hard in those data meetings to really get those to say, "Hey, we've got tools. What do we do to make those differences?" And I think it's just going to be and I know you said

015some of our teachers were really excited about some of the changes as well that they're eager to get back. And we have a nice um slate of interventions in place as well with our access intervention teachers, title one. So, we do have those pieces plus special education to get all those pieces together. So, nope. I see this just continuing on moving upwards and so we have that good information everywhere. Yeah, I think we have had some really good conversations this year and we're excited moving into next year just to say how do we look at those trends and patterns and teachers say okay what what can I do now or like I know I have a higher group coming in how do I push them and do some more enrichment pieces. So our teachers have

016been really reflective this year and I'm excited going into next year to just continue that too. If you look like and this may push a little bit further, but so have you looked at the data where there's been instances. How many years have we done this this fast? Yeah, two years, three years. It's been a while past. I think we're on probably year seven or eight. Okay. So, we know there's been classrooms that have had significant behaviors, right? There may be one or two or three in a group and then of course they they may switch classrooms, right? So they may be in classroom A as a first grader in classroom B second graders or not. So have we looked at how those having severe behaviors in the classroom affects those kids? Are those kids

017the non the kids that are in that class that has a severe behavior are they are they excelling? Can you see that they're excelling more when the behavior is not in the classroom? Like so if they're only reaching the only 40% of them are reaching their goal when there's a severe behavior in the classroom and then the next year there's not a severe behavior in classroom and 60% of them are reaching their goal. Or is there a way to track that? Yeah, I mean we'd go have to go back and look at, you know, I guess past data to see and I haven't and it's a hard one to do up probably. We'd have to look per classroom. Expensive amount of work to try and figure that out, but we also know that behaviors are

018one of the issues that are climbing in our school system. So looking for a way to be able to show that how much that affects the other students in the classroom I think is important although I think there's so many other variables I I get whatever variable that is y might be behaviors it could be something else I because it could be maturity of the student talk about it every right yep you know but I think two three times a year so it's obviously right yep yep But I think one of our areas that has the most growth might be in one of those classes this year. So I think it shows it could be many variables there too as well, right? If they didn't have a preschool experience and things like that was could

019be some areas there. So yeah, that could show the other way that it right. Yeah, I'm not sure that I would think maybe more teacher reflection might give us information that way with some of those pieces. Um, but yeah, it would be kind of hard because if you went from one grade level to the next, I think it could be the student that's scoring better could just have greater understanding and more maturity as well. So, I think it would be tough to say that this is it could be several factors that do that, but I know I think it's for sure something that we want to see. difficult. It's just one of the things you Kaitlin and correct me if I'm wrong. I just think it really important when we're a small district and you

020don't have a lot of teachers that these percentages when you have small groups of students can vary significantly with two and so we just don't want I think the most important powerful thing is is growth for each individual student each year without question. That's what we need to be targeting. Yeah. Um, and when kids are making really good growth, that's the celebration. We don't, some kids move in, they have high needs, they're dying. So, and some of those that are at the highest level already don't show growth. I mean, that always took me a while with the MCAs that some of those kids can actually go backwards on the MCA points, but that's still growth because there was an expected loss in numbers or, you know, in achievement that way. So, it's not loss in

021achievement, but the way the test measures it. So, I think there's so many different variables, but I'm just excited to see that we've got the data now. They're going to check into how that correlates to the MCAs. Um, but I think also as well, like you had mentioned, how do we get to a point of collaboration with all of our staff to say, "Hey, it looks like this is working really well for you. How are you what do you how are you teaching that um strategy?" And hopefully get some help there to kind of break down those silos. And once we get to that point of collaboration, that's when I think things work really, really well. And so that's what we're and I think that's what going back to what you were saying, Claire, we

022really at the end of the year focused. I mean, we looked at in our data meetings the percentage of students who, you know, were on target. Um, but we really looked at can we notice any patterns with the growth to say, you know, was there um, you know, was our high kids did they not meet their growth? Was it our middle? Was it our low? Um, and not that it's a bad thing, but just to say again, now what can we do? If we noticed any commonalities between the students who may not have made their growth, how do we then be more cognizant and make a plan for that next year? So, yeah, there were some good conversations and we're we're anxious. So, you can break this out then to go the 15 to 40

023and the 15 below and the 40 and above. You can see that you have that information as well. Yes. Yep. So we could pull up like the whole grade level or by individual student to to look across to say, okay, who was on target and who made their growth or who maybe was on target and did make their growth or do we notice any patterns across across the grade level or class? Um we really looked grade level just because they'll be in different classes next year, especially at North. Um maybe not necessarily at South, but so those are Yeah, we can look by individual student. So and it sounds like you're creating the climate. the data isn't gotcha kids or it's really about oh what do we need to do about this and that's the

024piece that makes teachers feel safe and invested that we really do good work so it's nice to see this yeah and I think when they're showing excitement around switching up interventions and they're showing excitement around trying something new that's really important too and powerful so or I tried this what did you you know those are things that we want to look at like you know somebody did something it was really successful, how do we replicate that or try that um in other other classrooms, too. So, those are good conversations to have. Reading and math, there seems to be like math we do better. Did I read that correctly or is that just my misinformation? So, it looks like So, is there something there? Is it curriculum? Do we have any ideas? Why are we just

025have kids that are much better in in mathematics and reading or what do you think that would be? seems to be a trend across the state though too that I think math I mean from what I've seen um tends to be a little bit higher but that'd be good to dig into you know is there a teaching practice we're doing in math that we could replicate um I think with our letters training and our new curriculum it's a lot more direct explicit instruction which will be really helpful especially when we're looking at the phonics phmic awareness pieces those are the foundational building blocks we need we need those um to set kids up for success in reading So, and some of that direct instruction probably typically happens in math when you're teaching some of those

026processes and procedures. So, I I feel like you know the knowledge that we're getting in letters. Um, and when I talked about the doing that diagnostic, we're doing the letters from our letters training. There's a diagnostic assessment. So, we're using that next year for to really um in literacy focus on what specific area do we need to target. We always had number munchers. So that's why Matt's glory. Awesome. Any other questions or comments? Thank you for that. Great information. And that brings us to superintendent report and goal progress. Do you want me to start or do you want to start? You could start. Okay. Um, so just looking through um a lot of the bullets. I'm just going to give a quick summary of where things um appear to be. And if anybody thinks I'm

027completely off, please let me know. But um so we had three areas, communication, leadership, and budget. Um overall, I think the board communication came across as being really good. Um the reports have been great. They've been weekly um consistent. Um so that has been a really good portion. Um there were a couple of questions on as a board member can I do I get a good feel of how communication is going elsewhere? So how do I judge do the administration feel like the communication is good? Does the staff feel like the communication's good? So some of those questions as we move forward is you know how do we how do we find that information out? are the is the communication as good that we're seeing everywhere? Um and so I think that is just a

028piece as we move forward. How do we measure that and make sure that those communications are just as good as what the board is getting? Sure. Um the uh I think we got a couple articles in the paper. I think that's been positive. maybe some um like a superintendent's corner on the website or a Facebook post that those sorts of things just to get a little bit more communication out seems to be a theme. So, um that's kind of what I took away from all my bullets was those would be um our board communication has been excellent. Um and maybe a couple areas that we could work towards would be how do we measure how the communication is going elsewhere? Um, you know, and I I don't know if it's a you know, I know

029in in a couple of these a survey was mentioned. I know this is a terrible time to survey teachers right now, but maybe we work towards something for the fall and just see how that communication goes. Um, and so that might be a piece as we move forward on that. Um again leadership in the there was a couple of comments about surveying admin staff. How how are they feeling? Um again our our board interaction is a small piece of what we get. Um and so how do we judge how those pieces are going? Um a little bit more on like admin evaluations. Where are those things at? how are we, you know, how consistent are they? Um, again, maybe a a piece that we, you know, sit down with admin and talk about, you know,

030how how are those things going so that we get a better judge on that cuz that's not a piece that we're we're really in in the middle of, right? So, um, so far I seem to be on. Mhm. Okay. Um, and then, um, budgeting wise, I think everybody is real impressed with Todd that I, this is what I gauged from my bullets. Um, that's been a great addition. Um, the budget is much improved from what it was a couple of years ago. Um, and I so I think that that portion has been um, really good in working with staff. and this is why we're, you know, this is why we're doing the things that we're doing. Um, so I think the budget for the most part, everybody was really happy with where that has moved

031to. So, I don't think that there's really a I wouldn't say that don't worry about the budget anymore, but I would say that continue on continue on where that's going because it's been it's been a much improved from, you know, I don't want to say a tail spin, but we did definitely deficit spend for a few years in a row and and again, I believe some of that was planned. um you know, we we discussed a lot of those expenditures and said, you know what, we need to do these things and and we know that it's going to look like we're spending a bunch of money, but we knew that we needed to get a few things taken care of. So, um and that'd be just from my view, but um anyway, overall, I think

032budgeting wise, all of my comments that I got were were pretty pretty positive. Check moving forward. So, um, anybody else as far as I try to just take a quick pinch here where I think we're at. Um, you know, obviously we're going to continue to tweak these things and look as what what can we do to improve and and over the summer now maybe we can build some sort of a maybe I'll, you know, ask Claire again for some more help. You were very helpful in this process, Claire, because it is a daunting task and there's a couple other things going on at the end of the year. So, um, but maybe we work towards a maybe a real simple survey. Um, I don't want to say I'm hesitant to survey staff, but I think

033that that's still a a small window. You know, if you're a if you're a kindergarten teacher, I don't expect that you know what the superintendent's doing in the office all the time and all those things. So, I think we have to make sure that those questions that we ask staff are targeted to what they should know about what you're doing, not necessarily I think it's great or I'm mad at you because you didn't order my, you know, cushions that I want, you know, I don't I I want to make sure that we target that to the focus area of what they what they need, you know, from the administration and making sure that not only they feel like they're being heard, but they're getting the right stuff. not just from you but from the other

034administrators as well because that overall would be you know your area of you know you should be the leadership of that portion. So we want to make sure that if the principles are not doing their job that we know about that and sure you know those things are being addressed. So if that is that kind of a I think that sums it up you know the survey is you're right in that the teacher you know the teachers from the superintendent a long ways away but the teachers in our community are really close right. So there and admin will be the next level to our our public and things like that. So surveying those on ser on like individual policy issues like say whether it's um e-learning how different trainings just the little not little but

035you know your different pieces and how that's being implemented. Mhm. Eventually that that all comes back to you, right? Yep. Your leadership goes down to the next and their leadership goes down to the next. And and I think the biggest part is that you know when you hear some of those things, like I said at the beginning, the the staff is the closest to the public and the public owns up. So we got to hear some of what's going on there as best we can. Mhm. Yeah, you're doing I think you're from what I see from my perspective, you're doing you're doing a good job. What I've heard from the past going haven't been here very long this time, right? So, you're going in the right direction from what I Okay, so we'll move forward

036with that. Hopefully the just piece this summer will, you know, make some improvement on some of those things. I think that's kind of an exciting, you know, to see how that comes back and what kind of things that that can that can uh foster here. So, I mean, I think there's a lot of good things going in the, you know, go in the right direction. So, again, we're, you know, this is a touch point. We want to make sure that a we're headed in the right direction and b if we're not, we we make a little corrections on the way and and we're still headed for the same goal. So, I I think it's uh very positive moving forward and till I hear otherwise, we're going to keep going with that. Sounds good. All right,

037then we'll move into administrative reports. And that brings us back to Miss Hendris. All right. Um yeah, it's hard to believe the year's the year's over. It's always bittersweet. It's it's fun to look back at all the progress again um that we've made and just giving teachers the opportunity to rejuvenate over the summer. I Megan and I did check out meetings with the teachers on on their last day and there was um good conversations about you just asked a couple questions how anything that you were reflecting on during the year that you wanted to share or any thoughts going into next school year. So a couple people mentioned excited about the just piece that culture and climate. So that was good to hear. Um, I should say our our final data meeting that we had

038where I was talking about making the plans for like doing the diagnostic and stuff. We met with just the reading intervention teachers and really looked closely at our reading intervention data throughout the year. We meet with teachers. So, next school year, we'll share some of this information with teachers. Um, because our data meeting happened right at the end. I know I've been able to touch base with a few of them, too. and they mentioned really looking forward to certain pieces. Um, with knowing the curriculum for the second year, um, that's always nice to say, okay, I have a year under my belt. Um, now what do we do to move forward? So, I think we're um, excited about about what's happening happening and our, like I said in here, our um, we have truly amazing

039teachers and staff. They put a lot of time and energy into what happens in the classroom. So, feel like we're headed in a good direction. And we did send report cards home with students on the last day of school. So parents and we sent an instant alert. Parents could have looked for those in backpacks. This summer we have letters training. Teachers already chose two dates. So they'll attend year two of letters. And then we are sending a team at South to um it's called PTR which stands for prevent, teach, reinforce. So that'll be exciting to um send a team. There will be myself, a parah, our special education teacher, and two classroom teachers um attending that. Both concerts were a big success amid um even though we had in our our north one, we had

040to do a tornado um not a drill even. So, you know, that's why we practice those, I guess. Um but we were able to finish the concert and that was great. So, thanks to Mrs. Johnson and Miss Amenson for all the work they put in. We had track and field since our last um meeting. We did have to reschedu but South had their track and field event and that was um fun was had by all. We are offering summer school this year at both buildings in August. We have six dates. It is um the first two weeks of August, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And we have teachers at both buildings that are um have committed to teaching. And so they we have um sent out letters to selected students to provide that academic boost going into

041the next school year. To wrap up our PBIS, we put a renewed energy around our um behavior or positive behavior intervention systems. So PBIS this year. And to wrap that up, we went to Brophie Park as all school celebration and our PTO's funded both of those. And next school year we are um revamping our report cards a little bit to align better with the new science standards and the new English language arts standards that are full implementation. So we'll share that information out with teachers at like early entrance conferences or with parents I mean at early entrance conferences but we needed to better align um our report cards with what the the new standards were um the benchmarks and standards. And then my perspectives, we teachers will have their training for the 612 ELA curriculum.

042They will do a virtual training this summer and then they will do an in-person training during the school year. And so we're getting all of that set up and the order placed hopefully today or um this week. And so now 612 or sorry K12 will have new English language art English language arts curriculum going into next school year. Any questions for me? You already shared the fast data. I will just say at the county commissioner meeting, they one of the commissioners was at the concert and he was very impressed with the tornado drill and how well the kids did in it. Even though all the parents just sat in the gym and waited, um he was very impressed with the the process and how efficient it was. So anyway, this good and I Kevin I

043have to thank him too. He helped me out and I was like, I'll announce for the students and get them and then Kevin announced places for the adults to go and helped get people like you said most of them just kind of stay but we we offer places to go. So anyway, so good to hear. Thank you. Absolutely. Any other questions or comments for Miss Hendricks? Um did you want to touch on anything from Mr. Woods? Yep. Just a couple things there. um of course commencement he says was very successful and I would agree on that piece there uh with our students that graduated scholarship night May 18th and the high- five Fridays that was the other one that I know we've had great participation from our local folks and it was even neat to

044see our kids that are are going into the armed services when they did it with Dustin Peterson to see kids that I see in the hallway sometimes and they're quiet or don't do things but on that day that they were doing that they were really doing a nice job with that. So, I I know our kids like it. Some kids will duck around and go the other way, but for the most part, I think they get very excited about it. Uh, you know, that way. So, we'll continue to do that. That's kind of part of that just piece that we'll be looking at and and probably looking to see if there's things we can replicate at the elementaryaries, but I don't think we have to do all those things at every building. But, yeah, I

045think that was a real highlight there and made a positive positive piece. Um, and then he does talk about that ceremony uh for the transition program. So again, thanks to our special education staff for arranging that and and that was a great piece for those students and and their families as well. Um and then of course, as you're aware, we've got two counselors that'll be exiting, but we've been fortunate uh to have two other very qualified counselors stepping in, but we will have a new team of three folks uh coming in to take over the reigns there. But we've been again very fortunate having those two people uh really keep our buildings in check from scheduling to student uh crisis issues and things like that. So we've been very grateful there. Um the big piece

046that I like is as you saw what Caitlyn presented in her report, Mr. Wood is looking to do that same thing. So I know one of the things that was talked about in one of our meetings I think with some board members there was was um some of our professional development. And so that's really going to be a focus area there as well. Um over the summertime, I know there's some ELA standards work that we want to send people to. Uh but I think that work has been neglected over the last several years. Um and so we need to get back into that practice. I would call it professional practice uh to do that. I know there's an math uh standards piece as well just to be able to get together with their colleagues and

047look at that. But the other thing too that I've had folks come into me and just say, "Can you do surprise dropins? can you just come into our classrooms more so we make sure everybody's at the level that we need them to be at and I said yeah that should be something all of us do and we will love to do that um I've got some prior experience with doing some high reliability schools work under Marzano's pieces and so we're going to lay that out this summer we'll discuss it as an admin team but move that forward to get that ready to go and so these are some of the things that Mr. Wood was kind of addressing. So, I think goal setting, responding or giving feedback to the board on where those goals are,

048anything from attendance uh to if we've got teacher practice pieces that we're putting in place to come back with some different pieces for uh you as well. And then, of course, the pieces with the JSON. So, the JSON's will be a major piece, but won't be the only piece that we'll be looking to bring back. And I know our team is really excited to get out there and and get some ideas. We did talk to the Jins rep yesterday. he's new and he just said please let he said let me tell you one thing do not be overwhelmed some of these schools that you're going to see he said have been doing this for over 10 years so he said if you get there he said your teachers say well this is never going to

049be able to happen he said it takes time and he did mention the schools that we consulted with Grand Rapids Bamiji and Brainer were in his sales area but he said it'll change what you're doing and so I think that's really reassuring there it's going to take time but I guess that's really What our plan is, as I told the staff on that last day, we really want to make, you know, I remember back when we had some of our work on our strategic plan and direction was to make it a magnet school, not only for our students, but also for our teachers that they want to be here to work every day. Now, are some days going to be challenging or they maybe they don't probably, but we want most of those days to

050be here where they're so excited that they can't wait to walk through the doors to impact students. So, and that's what Nate kind of talks about there. and and so I think those are really good things. The cell phone policy was discussed um during the last faculty meeting with the high school staff and I think really the plan is to look to go bell to bell from morning when they come in till the end of the day. I think there's still maybe some conversation about over noon hour. It's nothing about we don't want kids communicating with their devices. It's just there's so much more research coming out showing the um concern of bullying and social media and all those pieces. We're we're raising an anxious generation. There's a lot of studies out on that. So,

051what can we do to help address that? I think everybody that you talk to, they say, "Hey, if I didn't have access to my phone for a day, it was amazing how much more I could be productive." And other schools are showing that to say, you know what, we were able to get through some of these pieces. I think even one of the teachers, Mr. Fosene, did she say, "You know what? By having cell phones out, I felt like we were able to get through some things faster, more efficient." It just shows how much of a distraction is right. You hear that thing ding and you feel like you got to look at it. If it's not there to ding, um, then you're fine. So, I think that's what we're really going to work on.

052It's going to take a little while for some of our folks and sometimes more importantly parents to be aware that that's it'll be fine. But we we have other ways to get a hold of people if we need to. But just getting that tool managed I think is going to be a positive thing. So I'm excited about what's going to to take shape there. Um I think we started with that. I think there's just some more calls for consistency. Um so it doesn't put one teacher against another teacher because well I get to have my phone in this classroom. No, it's just blanket. And now we're not the first school doing that. Many schools did that last year. and so we can kind of replicate some of those pieces to to get the positive ends

053and to take some learning there and implement it ourselves. So I'm excited that uh he's looking to work on that as well. How do we um the cell phone thing is like are there ways Kevin to eliminate some of those social media pieces so they can't work? Are there so if they are there apps out there nowadays where like the school can own an app or whatever and the students have to have that app on their phone so that it shuts all that off cuz I agree with the like not using cell phones to up to a certain point but but then it conflicts with preparing our students for life at the next level like if your seniors can't have their cell phone they're going to do 60% of their work on it at the

054next level. It's kind of a pretty big jump, right? And going to nothing to it being a part, I would assume in college classrooms and at home when they're doing work, they got their self, they're basically using that as a second screen. So, how do we prepare them to be able to not have they have to be able to manage that distraction because that distraction will be there the minute they leave here. So, that's where I conflict with just eliminating it. At what point do we allow it to go in so that it helps prepare them as they go on? Because there's no safer place. I've said this I've said this before to people that have worked here that there's no better time for a kid to fail than right now. And the reason is

055because they have the most support around them here. Their teachers and their their parents and their grandparents and their friends and they have so they have the greatest their largest support system that they're ever going to have is probably in this school. So if there's going to be challenges right now is the time to face them. so that you can handle them when you have less support around you as you leave. So that that's just my question. We I hope there I hope as cuz I I think it's a great thing what Nate's doing and what I'm sure you're part of it and the other team is part of it too, but that I think looking at completely cold turkey. I'm not sure that I 100% agree with that without somebody. The other side though

056is that the cell phone is a time suck for a lot of people regardless of what level you're, you know, you're at. So the few hours that they're at school to be without it is a good it's a good practice to to know that you don't have to have it for you know cuz there are some people that spend an awful lot of time on a cell phone you know so to have a few hours that you're here at school to say you know you're not on that thing today or you're not on that in this class or whatever that is. I mean, I don't I guess that's the other side of the coin is that you know what, if you find out that I don't have to look at that thing 24/7, you know,

057I think that's great. That's part of, you know, great, but there's also we all know that the minute they leave here, they're going to do it. So, if we can't just expect that bullying's only going to happen during the time that they're in this high school. So we have to prepare them for those social media things as they get to the next level because that bullying can start at any age at any level when they leave here. So there's a point to that. And I also say if it's no cell phones, it's no cell phones for all, right? So if it's no cell phones, then there's no cell phones for the staff either. They got to be put away. they can't be in the classroom and have their cell phone all and then you know

058the other kids are expected right so I mean I think there's some fine lines or you know I think back as you said with the distraction I know any of the efficiency trainings that you go to on on leadership and one of those is the breakthrough coach the first thing I tell you is emails the most is the biggest detractor right when your phone goes off you feel and people now expect immediate response right they well I sent it to them I should get something back in 2 minutes because they should look at it but if you look at the Breakthrough Coach is the one that I went to like your email time is 7 to 7:45 and 3:15 to 4. Those are the only two times I respond to the emails there. The 24-hour

059thing. I'm not very good at that. That's one of my areas of, you know, but I think some people when that phone or when your computer dings and you hear the email, you're like, I got to go back and just check it. But you can be more efficient if you're like, I only did this. So, I think it's hopefully training kids that way. I guess on the bullying piece, we can control what's in the building. And I think that's what we're trying to do. I think that was a conversation Caitlyn and I had yesterday on other things as staff. What do we control here? Hopefully getting some of those good skills so when kids walk out cuz you're right, it's going to be there all the time. I think I sometimes think it's foolish the

060rules on the healthy snacks that we have to only have healthy snacks here, but then when they come to the concession stand at 7:00 they can have whatever they want, but that's the parents choice, right? The parents have to be part of that as well. So, I just think we've got to look at that to see. So many other schools are doing it, but I think we'll bring back that research. we're still going to have kids probably aren't going to figure out how to sneak that in. And and usually the biggest thing I know um I've heard of a study where somebody said the teacher said, "What I want you to do for this class period is every time your phone vibrates or buzzes, let me know." And then they put tally marks on the

061board. After they got done with that, they said, "Okay, these are all the tally marks. How many times was it apparent?" And that was quite a few times. And so I think that's the biggest and that's usually where the frustration starts, right? is that piece there of because we want to know that we get that quick response and things there, but I think it's just some I think our staff are going to appreciate it. Um it'll be better for our kids as well. I think if we could all get rid of our cell phones, it would be if you could just say, "You know what? I Yeah, you can put it away for a month and let us know how it goes." That's communication. I'll get So, but yeah. No, I think that's the I

062think that's the piece, you know, that's there. So, how do we help with that? because it does it just leads to other things that can be detracting. And I think there's sometimes people forget that our kids all have Chromebooks, you know, when we say, "Well, here's what they know. They lost their research tool." Well, they do have Chromebooks. And a couple teachers when I said, "Well, I think this is the calculator." And they go, "Oh, no. We've got plenty of calculators in our classrooms that they can use and and things like that." So, it seems like it takes care of those. But I think the biggest thing, like you said, Darren, is how do we help them be responsible? Right. So, when they leave here, they know agree. Yeah. I'm just saying there's a conflict

063of preparing gentlemen. Yes, we can only control what's us here. We're trying. They're here more than they're a lot of places. Whether it's here or in your home, those two things together are the where they're the most and we want to prepare them for when they leave, right? Yep. Because that's when they're the real success starts or failure is when they leave. I would think most employers would probably say if these didn't come into their office as well, they'd probably see greater efficiency from employees too, but they when they get their job. That's right. Cuz because they want to get a hold of you, but yeah, at the same point. Yeah. But they only wanted you to use it for them all. Yep. Exactly. That was a lot of Mr. Woods report. There's those jeepers

064creepers. We That took a long time. He wasn't even here. He's probably going to say that wasn't even the path I was going to take. Thanks for getting me lined up that way. Mr. Fosine, can you top that? Uh, no. Mine will be a lot shorter. A lot shorter. I think I have uh five bullet points on my report that I did not submit. So, I will submit to Mr. Brown Law here. Perfect. I was nervous. I'm like, okay. I don't think I Yeah. No, that was purely on me. So, my report, uh, first, congrats to Marshall Dwey, Miley Dewey, and Macy Gross for qualifying for the state golf tournament. Uh, pretty impressive. um a for Macy to be in three state tournaments this year and and b just you know kind of a culmination

065of a very successful uh school year for our athletes this year. I mean we were in state tournaments in all three seasons and pretty impressive pretty impressive um activities and workouts have started this morning in the gym. I worked with coaches to construct a calendar. Um all of this is volunteer uh time from our coaches and really the calendars more to um provide opportunities for kids but then not put them in a position where they have to choose one sport over another. Uh the coaches communicate with each other and try to find times where the gym is open and they can have their group and then maybe go to the next group. For example, boys basketball and wrestling went this morning and then football would go after that. So kids aren't, you know, we try

066to balance it a little bit. Um, but we also try to find where you're not here every day. And I don't tell the coaches, you have to have this many workouts. It's purely on them. Most are finding less is more. Maybe only do a couple days a week and give kids some time. So we're seeing some of those numbers maybe drop a little bit of times in here. And maybe that paid off this year. Maybe. I I don't know. It's a theory. Mhm. So, uh, summer isn't quiet in our office. It's maybe been quiet for me cuz I've been on the run a little bit for a few days. Um, but there are still lots of things going on. Um, improvements and changes for next year will be happening the summer and we'll be kind

067of popping in and out most of the summer. Um, I will meet with all coaches on August 4th at 5:30 and then at 7:30 that same night, we'll have our all sports meeting. Um, a couple personal things for me. Um, today I do have to leave for my next meeting. Um, my my term as chairman for region six expires today. We have our last meeting today and then I recently was elected to the state high school board of directors at that first meeting yesterday. That's going to be an experience. So that's my report. So a lot shorter than needs. Perfect. What does having a board of directors member here at our school? What does that bring to us? I don't know what kind of accolades one lesson I told Missy I feel like the dumbest

068one in the room now sitting there yesterday. So yeah, it will be it will be there. So we'll have a strong voice which will be nice having Jake on there and things like that. I mean they've had some stressful few years prior to I think there's been some few things if you've kept up with news we're going to deal with there. So I'll just leave it at that. There you go. You may not want to stand next to Jake when he goes to other places. You may not know about that. basketball. I don't know if I can. I'll just be one voice. I'm just one voice. I got a goal. Maya, do is there any questions that you guys have for me? Do you anything you need to Well, just that we've I mean, we

069start out the season um for the summer and stuff. We have a couple new people coming in that's going to help out both at South and and one here. I have everybody at North right now. They actually whipped out six rooms yesterday and they're starting to wax them already. Um, we took equipment from here. So, the basically the only thing left to wax at North is uh the lunchroom. So, they're working on that today. Um, we're working on the stuff for those water to waters. Um, I'm not going to really say anything more because I'd like to finalize some things before I pop some bubbles and those bubbles hopefully will be popped in the good direction, not the bad direction. Um, what else we got? Yeah, I got to meet with these roofing guys now.

070Okay. And we're going to go over both the buildings and talk about that. Um, you guys are going to vote on the boards uh for scoreboards. The only thing that was out of that that I just found out is that did not include the installation. So, the installation is a 1650. Yep. plus on top of that. And since the time we got the quote, there's been a $225 increase just because of the time and the way things are going with the economy. Um, yeah, I think that about covers it unless there was anything else you had questions for. Rocking and rolling. We're going to work on the curtains. The curtains, we've got our stuff for the curtains. Um the bids for here um they arranged couple were pretty close. One was way out left field.

071So um you'll go over those a little bit later if you have any more questions. I think we'll be able to sign we I don't know how much it'll help out but talking to them I will have time. So I will have I will get our curtains down. Um so that should save I don't know how much but it will save some. He said that'll save you some cash on the on the front side. And I think we'll have time to get the curtains down before they get here to put them up. And we got them, you get it passed and we get them ordered, we should be able to have them here and actually up by the 16th. But he did guarantee just that they will be up by the start of school. And

072according to the fire marshall, we have to just have everything down. He doesn't care. It's just got to be out of the building. So, okay. Fun crazy colors just to jazz it up a little bit. Yeah, they're they're black. And then I I had trouble with the color, so Paul went with the hot pink dots on them. As long as they're not as long as they're not green. I don't know if they make that color anymore. No, they're all they're all black. And we went, you know, the colors we chose was all black, which is there except for the main curtain in front that closes is is kind of a I don't know what you call it, a dark red or a deep red. We just went the same. Was it a brick red or

073something like that? Yeah, something cherry. Actually, if you wanted truly, it was cherry. 1056, I think, is the number. So, look that up later. All right. Any questions for Chad? No. Thank you, Chad. All right. Thanks, guys. Then we'll come back to community education. You thought we were going to skip over you at the end here, didn't you? Okay. Um, summer ball started yesterday. Uh we have transportation available for both north and south practices. So we'll start at Wendell and Ktown and make our way in. Um girls and boys toss softball and baseball are going to be in Barrett this year and then the littles so prek and t-ball will still be in Hoffman and Elbow Lake. Um reason being for that is we've had such a tough time finding coaches. So now we have

074good solid adult coaches with each age group. Um, and then they'll still split north, south, um, for game days. Um, so we won't have like 40 kids on one team. They might be practicing together, so we have good adult instruction going on during practices. Um, and then they'll be going their separate ways for game days. Um, April Richards and Vanessa McNamera are the two directors again this summer, so they're kind of taking the reigns on that. Uh, flyers with all the other offerings were sent home with kids. They've been posted on our Facebook page. Um, driver's training starts next week here in this building in person. I think we ended up with 18 registrations. I wasn't really sure what to expect with the being the first time coming back and they have all these online

075options. So, I was pretty happy with 18. Um, they'll be in a classroom here. They just go the mornings for a couple weeks. Um, and then starting next fall, I'll have to pass that contact off to somebody. Um, but he will he's willing to come here and do in person. um behind the wheel with kiddos as well. So, kind of bringing some of that back. I know back when I taught here, they used to offer certain time chunks and then Central Lakes kind of went away from that. So, that'll be nice to have that back um during the school day as well. Um your regular camps are still happening. Swimming lessons um are back to our beaches in July. Um volleyball's coming up here next week. um archery camp and then we've got some tumbling

076and dance in June. Otherwise, the rest of the camps are in July and August. So, I think that's it. And Megan's helped with transition as well. So, kind of giving us some details so we don't have any holes. We'll still have holes, I'm sure, here and there that we'll have things that we have to figure out. So, we've been grateful for that and also for your nine years at WCA. So, thank you for that work here and especially your leadership at the elementary schools as dean of students and elementary principal. You stepped up and did a great job. We're going to miss you. I will you miss it here. And what is the cell phone policy at your new place? So, we know if we have to talk. I haven't even looked into it. I'll

077be real if you're going to answer our call or not. Too busy with this stuff. I think they're giving her two cell phones. Yeah. Great. Well, thank you for your time here and and all that you've done for our kids and we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else for Miss Dots? One last chance. Thanks. All right. Uh then we'll move on to technology. Good morning. Good morning. Um as far as technology goes, everything's off to a great start so far this summer. Um, we have the majority of our new devices in and Stacy is already off to a great start getting them ready to go. So, we have new fifth grade devices, which we do every year, and 9th grade devices, which we do every year. And then this year is on the

078rotation where we're getting new teacher laptops. Um, so with our laptops, we purchase them off lease on a 4-year rotation. So, we get them for about half price of what brand new is, even though they're a lot of them aren't used at all. They just sit a lot of the Minnesota public colleges will lease a large number of devices and then there are a significant number of them that sit on a shelf and don't ever get used. Those are the ones that we end up purchasing for our staff. Um, which works out well for us. It's a little bit um outdated laptop, but they get more than four years out of them for the most part. Periodically, we have to change batteries and stuff like that, but overall it's great value. Um, this summer my

079goal is to try and get caught up to a point where I can stop being reactive as a department in technology and try and be more proactive kind of the way we were prior to COVID and a lot of changes happening. um probably uh a little bit more than I can accomplish in one summer, but that is ultimately the goal is trying to get caught back up so that I can try and fix problems or predict problems before they happen instead of constantly chasing around and putting out fires cuz it's inefficient. Um one little tiny min minor piece. Yesterday, I was sent an offer for a free website uh refresh. It's like a $4,500 value. So, I am going to take them up on that. Um, we're not going to do a major overhaul, but

080I'm going to kind of clean up the website so that it's not quite as busy as it is right now. Great. Any other Yes, Stacy is doing a phenomenal job. So, she will be back in here at some point. So, please make sure you say thank you to her because she is single-handedly not only taking care of our new devices, but she is also collecting a lot of the devices from classrooms, getting them cleaned, getting them updated, getting them ready to go for the kids. So, um the school year would not start without the things that she does. Awesome. Thank you, Kevin. Uh Todd's not with us. Any highlights anybody? He just said everything's trending where we would expect. Um I know that we have to get some CTE budget things in. Uh so Maggie

081and I are going to look at that and then Todd will get that submitted to MDE. So the CTE is part of that career tech ed levy and we have two teachers that qualify for that. Mr. Swatsky as well as Miss Gosser and then our new egg teacher starting in uh January next year will be the same uh piece there. So, we have to get all that in so we can get that onto our levy sheets. But he said other than that, everything's tracking very well uh budget-wise. And he he said barring any big surprises, we'll end with a positive balance, which will be very nice after having a number of years that were on the on a a ne negative side there. But I would say a lot of that can be attributed to

082the fact that we had lots of co money and I think we just got used to spending money and now we realize that we've got a way maintain those budgets and hopefully sharing budgets with folks that they knew here's how much money you have and here's how you need to manage that has been very helpful there but uh we are in transition he's still sticking on but he of course owns SMS but he does have somebody else who he plans to move into that role and we're still getting budget things ready to go. So at the June 18th meeting, you'll adopt the preliminary budget which will also give her give better information as well for negotiations. So we'll have a close session at that point because the legislature we hope will be done with their

083special session. Uh so we'll wait and see there. But yeah, when we talked to him yesterday, he said no, everything is tracking uh where we want and we still have some cushions there in regards to special ed revenue and so he believes we'll have a positive balance to end and food services also will have a positive balance. Our biggest concern really is fund four. Um, and I know Megan's done a nice job. That's why we're not providing summer daycare this year and some things just to try to address some budget shortfalls there. So, we'll have to continue to look at that to see other adjustments that we need to make. Hopefully, our BPK will help a little bit with that pathway to scholarships. We just need to find another way to get people to register

084for those. It's a daunting process, but those are really things that we need to take care of. But I think the other thing you'll see uh this summer is a real big push on our compensatory um aid pieces. And so that means we need people to fill out those applications which is difficult when your lunch is already free. However, the one caveat that we do have is the fact that it does impact um waiverss for athletic and activity fees. But we do need to get it would be great if we could get 100% of our people to fill that out because that is going to be a funding stream that will uh continue to decline. Now, this upcoming year, they've currently, if I don't know if you had time to read that document in my

085report, but it does show that they're planning to hold that stable where we'll actually see some additional revenue there, but after that, it'll really will start to decline. So, we just need to make sure that we address that the right way. So, yep. And then we'll go through the committed funds, but really need to figure out a plan for fund four, otherwise that's just going to be a completely transfer all the time, which we know for preschool, right? We offer free preschool and so that's part of that expense but um yeah how do we best manage fund for so it's not always a a pull on the general fund budget. Can we ask parents to fill that out that you know application whether they you know think they qualify for it or not like Yep.

086Is that is that something that we can you know push a little more than just like oh you know by the way there's this thing like for sure. Yeah. No, I know sometimes there's some things that incentives that people will say hey if you fill this out I mean we don't charge for technology now but I know some schools have said you fill out the free and reduce form your technology fee is waved because that's how much revenue it generates. It's a big deal. And so um I know that's been done sometimes. they'll say, "Hey, you know what? We'll give you this many tickets into events and stuff like that to help just because there's pieces there." Um, I know there's um with our JMC transition, um, you can do it actually online. Um, and

087so I think hopefully that'll help. But I think if we just let people know, if we can say, "Hey folks, here's where our dollar amount is. If we're not careful, here's where our dollar amount could end up." We've had that conversation about programs, right? I mean, that's what it could be. those things. If we don't take care of it and we're down $200,000, guess what? That's a direct hit. And if we can offset that by taking care of those forms, hopefully it'll be a simple a simple fix. So, I know at early entrance conferences, I think we did a little bit. Um, I know other places are like everybody just fills it out. It's that's just part of enrollment. Everybody fills it out. And so, I think we we want to find a a way

088to get that so we can encourage everybody. But, yeah, it really is. But I think if people, as you talk about those columns going out, maybe social media and stuff, just saying here's where it's at. Here's where it could end up if we don't do anything differently. But if you fill these forms, it could help out if we have more people that cuz I know one of the questions comes, so if I just fill out the form and I don't qualify, does it help? No. But I don't think some people realize what the threshold is. They're surprised to say, well, they say I would qualify for Yep. and at least we get some revenue that way, you know, but the free lunch really had an impact on that which also impacted the state because they

089couldn't turn that off to the fed federal level. And so then the federal level gave less money for lunches to the to the state to cover as well. So, but yeah, I think there's some ways that we'll have to be creative to get that figured out and but I think really if we just the best way is to lay out the dollars and cents to say here could be the negative impact if we just don't do this. Yeah, that was going to be my question too because I know this last time I was on board of course right through co is when this all happened paying for everybody's launch and how much funding lost because of I got a couple questions for you just not I don't need answers today but just to kind of

090put it in your head. in the in the is there somebody physically in charge of that of trying to get people to fill that out? Do we have a specific staff member or should we have a specific staff member that you give that job to to say track this? I want you to come up with ideas whether you you know with a team or people But if there's nobody physically in charge of that, then it kind of gets kind of gets left, right? Because there's no real person. I don't know if that's something you want to take on or do you want to pass that on to another administrator to say, you know, I kind of want you to take this over and see what you can do, come up with ideas and different things

091that we can y to get people to fill this out and and then track our progress. Mhm. Yeah. Prior to the deadline, right? cuz I cuz you really have that October cuz it really doesn't matter now. It used to be for families to qualify for free lunch. You want to get it done as soon as you could, but we would have up until I believe it's December 1st. Even as long as they fill it out, it counts. And remember, it impacts the following year's funding. So, we already have this year locked with this past with our October numbers there, but this would impact the following year. I would agree. Sometimes all a sudden, you know, if we don't have somebody in charge of it, then all a sudden there's like they send out MD sends

092out a deadline to say, "Hey, by the way, tomorrow's your deadline for getting your numbers in." Trying to get filled, but there's in that process if there's not somebody in charge, then there's nobody thinking of ideas because there's, you know, you got other priorities. You may have other priorities that are higher than that. But if it's part of your job that we can track Yep. in the evaluations and different things down the road, then I think you'll be more successful in finding ways and get those out. Yep. Okay. You want to move into your report right away then? Sure. Hopefully mine's shorter than I was going to say you we go a long report, a short report. That's how we kind of balance these things out here. So, student enrollment, hopefully you're able to see

093that spreadsheet there. um t where we kind of ended the year so one less student at the end of the year um than we had at the beginning of May. So you'll continue to see that tracking as we go through because that really does determine our uh revenue stream. Now the thing about Minnesota they complicate matters and the fact that they truly go based on the days that they're in attendance at your school. Other states across the nation whatever your account is September 15th that's the funding you get all year here it's truly um so that's why our Mars people are so important. Amanda Headstrom in our district, she's got to put the last day that that student was at WCA. The other school puts the first day that they start. If they conflict, it

094sends out an errors report to both. And then they have to come to agreement to say, "Yep, their last day here was April 16th and they started here April 17th before that'll actually clear out for anybody to get credit for those that student." So, um, but yeah, our numbers next year, we're, uh, planning right now a budget of 690 students is what Todd has preliminarily as a budget. Um, however, we believe we'll be around 695 um, students that will be enrolling. Uh, so we'll be below that 700 number. That's just K12, but there's a lot of movement that happens over the summertime. I think we were talking as administrators or it's it's amazing to me the amount of in and out that happens in schools. It used to be once you kind of started a

095school, you stayed and finished at that school. But I think now there's greater opportunities, right? People have new job opportunities and I think the the data out there says that people could have 10 to 12 jobs, you know, new folks that are getting started throughout their career. We don't have the lifetime people that would be here forever. As I think of Natalie Shonower, who just retired, she was here forever and things like that. So, we'll continue to uh look at that to see. Um we're aware of some students that may be leaving. We don't have paperwork yet, but we also know that we have some new students coming in. So hopefully it'll be it's always nice to gain 25 kids, but if we don't, if we could just maintain and don't lose as many, but

096we have a greater awareness of that student enrollment. Graduation, like we said before, was a huge success. Uh Kayla, I think you had said a lot of people at this graduation, so we had a great a great turnout and and I think we can see why as Mr. Fosene talked about the athletic and activity accomplishments. I would say that our musical was one that's still a highlight for this year of what the kids did in the music department of course are in the theater department. So we have a lot of things going great there FFA. I wanted to point out really uh the piece if you look at those students who graduated with honors from kumladi to magna kumladi to sumaka kumladi we have a lot of kids over half of the class uh ranked

097very well with their GPA and we have a lot of kids that are taking college level courses um so I think it shows that our students leaving WCA are very wellrounded I didn't get to the data showing how many kids are looking to go on to four-year schools it looks like next year's trend is NDSU in North Dakota School of Science uh it seems seems to be the big ones. There's other ones, of course, Morris and Morehead State and things like that, but very happy to see where those students are all going and what, uh, what challenges they'll have next to be very successful. But, uh, a very good group of students and and congratulations to them. The legislative update, uh, hopefully you were able to read that just a little bit, but you'll see

098that it does look to maintain that inflationary factor for funding, which will be, uh, a big deal for schools. One of the areas that we need to watch and monitor a little bit is the impact on special education funding. If they do reduce um you know special transportation right now for those students has always been reimbursed at 100%. I know exactly why they're reducing it down to 95% because they want there there to be a little bit of schools have to have part of that burden as well. Otherwise it could be you have to get it in the IEP and all those things there. But if you get 100% reimbursement sometimes the comment is well it's 100% reimbured. We'll just take care of it that way. Now, if the district has to pay, there might

099be more thought process going into that. We have an obligation to provide it where it's necessary, but I think that'll just uh make that probably be watched a little bit more closely. So, we'll want to watch that piece there as well. I don't know if you also saw that in the policy bill, they will allow us to start school um before Labor Day, not this upcoming school year, but the following two school years, it'll allow us to do that. Uh but as uh our superintendent director said, nothing is final until it has the governor's signature. So she said all these things are look positive where it's at now, but she said it can always change uh prior to that if they need to find dollars in one area to pay to cover something else. So

100we were hearing that possibly they could be announcing a special session today. Um but the latest I heard I think on the radio this morning was it could be in the next couple weeks, but remember state employees have already started receiving layoff notices and I don't think they want to go that far into that. But I guess I don't know either the there's a lot of things going on be behind the scenes. Community task force will meet on June 18th at 6:00 here in the media center. So we will need to identify a few folks uh from the board to attend that meeting. Hopefully that'll be the meeting where we come to consensus and then can start to kind of move forward with our next steps of what we need to do. I know that

101Claire shared with me I think a great survey from a neighboring district that talked about communication and all I mean really gauged I think how the community felt the school district was doing from communication to different pieces and then what would they support and so maybe that's the next step that we look at as well as a reminder this will not be placed we don't have enough time to place it on the November ballot we still will have to have a special election to fill the board vacancy that that Ryan's filling right now so we will have to do that in November it'll be our own election. Um, so there's a couple options. Uh, we can either ask the county to do that for us. Um, I the last time they weren't interested in that

102per se. I also know that MSBA is now putting on some training. So maybe I'll talk to Maggie and see if she and I can run that as well. Um, but I know that there's some some judge training that needs to happen. We'd have to get that set up. So you'll see something in July calling for that special election, then in November to fill that seat. And we're still talking probably even if we do it that way, I would say it could be $7 to $10,000 for that election to do that. So, we've got that already adjust in the budget on that piece there. Staffing for 2526. Um, we're still looking for a music teacher. We were hoping if we posted it as a full-time position that we'd see some greater interest. At this point

103though, correct me if I'm wrong, right Caitlin, you've not received any emails or any interest. So, we're still working through that one. The fax position with elementary Dina students. So, we do have um significant interest from external candidates and we also have some internal candidate interest there that we're uh following up on. And then remember really hoping to get the special ed piece as a preferred piece there because one it would help with deescalation of student behavior as well as then some funding there as well since they'll have a special ed license. And then our fax position, we did reach out to several colleges and one person said, "Yeah, that needed to be a call back in October, November." And she said quite honestly most districts are finding people who they're kind of doing a

104grow your own method and this was out of the University of Wisconsin Stout. She said we have people that send us students and say hey they're interested in this program. It is an online program but then they've kind of already got them wrapped up before they've even started. And so that'll probably be something down the road that we may need to look at uh you know that way there. So that's where we are with our current open openings in the district. So hopefully we can get that taken care of sooner than later. Johnson's Renaissance Global Conference, uh the team is getting very excited to attend there and we do have some work when we get back to lay things out. Again, the other thing that to remember is it's exciting to talk about high reliability

105schools pieces with teacher the Marzano piece, all these other pieces, but we need to make sure that it's manageable and not overwhelming to our staff and that we do have consistency, measurement, and all those pieces there. but this will be one of the big ones that we'll work on this summer. And then JMC, we are looking to go to a new student management system. Uh there was some concern especially in our state reporting on some of the support we were receiving from Synergy. Uh our upfront cost will be a little bit more, but as we go down the road, um it'll be less and then it'll be kind of a one-stop shop for all of our pieces for fees and things like that. Um I know some folks as I've shared this, they said, "Well,

106our other system did it, too. We just didn't get it all the way there. But the piece that I like is um with JMC, we can put in all of our different so the baseball team per se. Let's say they're coming back from an event in Melrose and now the bus is going to be back here at 10:30. That coach can go on and put a message out to say the bus will arrive at uh secondary school at 10:45. And so it's a simple tool that way to get that information out there. Um, and so we're probably going to have some bumps as we go through that. I know there's a training June 9th to kind of start that transition, but uh hopefully that'll help, especially with our state reporting. Um, we are starting to

107hear some things from our current, uh, piece that they were actually having listening sessions at MDE about the concerns that the one system was having of getting information. There's a lot of double entry and and things like that. So, we're looking to make that change. Like I said, uh the first year there will be a little increase where we're at cuz we bought the I believe the website piece there um with our current vendor, but now that'll be different here. So, we'll have a little bit of a increase in expense, but down the road it'll be a better far better piece for us. Um and then just showing the meetings, there'll be a busy Wednesday with schoolboard meeting, community task force, and I'll leave during the middle of the day. Uh Lakes Country has their

108summer meeting there, and then of course the conference at the end of June. Any questions or comments from Mr. Balmo? All right, we'll move into our consent agenda. Then we have a few items here. Uh the following hires, uh Haley Walsh Logger or school counselor. Um Madison Duffner, school counselor. Marvin Rudell, part-time custodian. Wendy Rudell, part-time custodian. Chelsea Sutherland, summer custodian. April Richards, summer rec director. Vanessa McNamera, summer recck director. And the following coaches for summer wreck. Sean Carlson, Ben Sabalik, Lily Mahoney, Elsie Mahoney, Piper Sansstead, Scarlett Anderson, Ashley Losi, Brinley Alrich, Carly Brendan Moone, Steve Helman, Kurt Anderson, Christian Hall, Katon Eers, Emma Swanson, Ava Smith, Macy Gross, Brooklyn Strobble, Shayla Reynolds, Kayla Hedstrom, AA Malachi Holmes, sorry, Malachi, Malachi Holmes, and Andrew Holmes. Looks like half the board can't vote on this. I

109I already checked. I did reach out to Terry Marorrow. I said, "Does this create because we're going to be in an issue?" And he goes, "Nope. A stipen like this for is not a conflict of interest." So, I did I did follow up on that to see. Yeah. Otherwise, Megan was going to be busy again still finding people and we're grateful that your children are willing to help us out. Very grateful. So, I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Josh. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Josh made the motion. Okay. We will move on to new business. First reading of the following policies with statutory and recommended changes from MSBA. Policy 521 student disability and non-discrimination. Policy 523 um policies incorporated by reference policy 525 violence prevention. And policy

110526 hazing prohibition. Are there any questions or anything you want to touch on on those? Just the first reading on those policies. You got all those in your packet? Um, no bit, no uh motion needed on that one. So, um, that brings us to 6.2. Consider the scoreboard purchase and installation for North Elementary. You got a little tidbit from Chad that there's a little installation on top of the boards themselves, right? Yep. $1650. So, I do know that uh the boosters received a donation from the fire department, I believe, and has some money. Basketball boosters, $5,000 dedicated from Elway Fire Department that was given to the boosters for that project. and the um basketball youth boosters donated an additional 1,500 towards that project. So they have 6,500. Mhm. Yeah. So it's roughly half of the

111cost and I think that was kind of the talk from the buildings and grounds group that half the cost was there that we would move forward with that purchase of those scoreboards up at the at up at North Elementary. Um, I guess where the dollars would come out would be probably we have a little bit of a reserve in our operating capital. So, we could use that to cover the balance of those scoreboards because I don't know, Darren, was there any other groups that we're planning that you were aware of that we're looking at? Volleyball. Okay. That's what we have currently currently is that. So, I mean, there might be some additional dollars coming in, but that would be to me the best place to probably take that money would be out of that reserve

112that we have there to get those scoreboards taken care of. Any other questions or comments about the scoreboards? Look for a motion to approve the purchase and installation of the scoreboards of North Elementary. So, move second. Motion and a second. Which one are we putting in? There's two options. the $12,000 one. Yeah, that sounds right. The basic basic score was wireless. The wireless is I think the difference it cost right J was the wireless piece cuz which is same as what we basically have now except for it's going to come with all the light bulbs that work. Yeah, it looks like both of them have the wireless. Yeah, the option the option two is a a little smaller board, Yep. So, the the top one has the and let's double check here. Yep. So that's

113a 6x 8x 6 where the other one would be a four. So I don't remember which one it was, Darren. I think cuz I think we said we weren't going to have the files on there, right, Darren? So maybe it is the So here's the 12,000. That's the 6,000. We were just going to go with this. I think there was something different with the control. And they both say they come with two wireless controllers and two radio receivers. the same MX1 controllers. Yeah, I think there was something to do with um a phone, right, that you could control it from the phone. But I think it truly is just the Yes, because then if there was an issue, Jake, I think I think that's what Chad said. Then like Jake or whatever, he could he

114could log in from So if they're having a tournament and they were having an issue, he could do it right from his phone there. Although I think like they said, it's really the size. are you comfortable with? Cuz will they do the fowls and all that stuff? So that's the the size of the board is really the cost difference there. Yeah, they'll both uh both the wireless MX1 controllers to be used with free score app on iPhone or iPad. So yeah, it really comes down if we need the $2,000 difference in the size of the board because yeah, the other one just includes the players, the fouls, all the fouls and stuff. Yeah. Do you see that there on your I guess that's my You said Yeah. I guess you mentioned 6,500 was about 50%

115of the cost. That would make sense that it would have been the right bigger one. Is that $12,000 one I know is the one that that's the one that is currently there Chad talked about, you know, at our meeting. Sure. But he recommended it for And the one we have there now has the falls on it, doesn't it? Y Yeah. And that one was moved from here, too. Like if you have wrestling in or something, right? Use the followers score of that and that. Yes. Volleyball. In volleyball it has different how many sets you want. Yep. Yeah. Cuz you put in different codes I think right into that controller. It changes that. So Okay. Yeah. And if we if we're currently using the fowls and stuff like that, that would make sense. Say if those

116parts don't illuminate or we're not going to use them, that would be more than we need. But but yeah, you are nice%. So am I under the correct impression we have a motion a second for option one? Is that correct? Okay. All in favor say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. I just got to get good notes here. So that was Kayla and Darren, right? Mhm. And option one. Okay. Yep. Um item 6.3, approved the stage curtain purchase for secondary auditorium. We got a few bids there. We did. Yep. So we have three of those. And because it exceeds the threshold, we do need to have the board take action on that, we do have it in the budget. We had a budget of $30,000. Our low bid comes in at $31,825 and that

117is from SMI. We received a bid from Center Stage Manufacturing for 33628. And then we received another bid um from Gopher Stage Lighting and that one came in at 44,338. And this one, my understanding the 31,825 gives us that lifetime retardant on the remember that's why we it's not because they're well they need some repairs, but it's really because the fire marshall is telling us that they no longer have the fire retardant that we need on there or it's no longer usable. So, the recommendation is to go with um SMI, which is Southern Minnesota inspection at $31,825 to take care of those curtains. Now, that could be a little less because remember Chad said if he if they take them down, there could be some savings there. But, I think we'll need to look at

118that. If they're still getting stuff done and it's going to cost us $300 to take it down, it might be just as well. They may say that's the smallest part of the expense is removal, but we'll get that. But yeah, 31,825 and we got a $2,500 donation from Greenstone. That account will count for that. We did. Yep. 25. Yep. 2500 and $1,000. So, Elbow Lake Fire Relief. Yep. Okay. Any other questions, comments? Look for a motion to approve the purchase of the SMI curtain. So, move and a second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. And then the last item is discussion of the state championship um sign on the school grounds. Yep. And so it's just been brought to my attention. Um I think some community members reached out to a board

119member and just trying to figure out how can we do that recognition. They see it at other schools um in the state I think that have had that. Some of course have them out on the highway and um a little more difficult for us having five communities. Where do you place that? And so thought being that we would place it here um and some location that would be not but also leaving room to add other teams right that would get to that state championship level and things like that. So I think we still need to clearly define the parameters, find the location, you know, who maintains it 10 years down the road when it starts to fade. Is that been a district responsibility or how do we handle that? Cuz my understanding right now, Darren,

120is there's a group that's has dollars that's willing to to pay for they have like $2,900 that they're willing to put towards it and they're still in the process. Last I talked to one person as they were getting quotes back from a company or somebody see what it would cost like a has a 5 by8 and it basically has their their photo from the state championship team. And then there's also another sign that has a list of each sport that's made it, what year they've won. I think we could get something to cover up the green outside and just start using that area for Right. Yeah. coverage. Well, they got the marketing piece. I mean, that's what I think is part of what uh Witth has talked about, right? I think is that branding getting

121that covered up. But yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Does it go on our our gym area here? Does it go in the entryway? One the sign that they sent me to as a example was it's like kind of out in there almost like where our software you come into the school. this there's a sign there that's like 8 ft x 5 ft you know says home of the state champions this year has their picture on it and then there was a second sign at that location that um had all the list of different state championships that they've won for their for their school I guess I could probably upload the pictures that they sent to me and email them out to everybody yeah and I might even have them too I And and then part

122of that conversation, I suppose what we have to do is figure out, is it just a WCA since we're now WCAS? So we can have all those questions answered in case somebody says, well, we were state tournament football back in 1973. Is that going to get added? So I think we just want clear parameters of how we how we do that and and probably have some type of a policy procedure or something like that so when we get there, we can clearly say here's where it's at. I know my understanding and I guess I didn't look into this real far, but I don't think there's any memorials, right? And this wouldn't be a memorial. This is truly state tournament, but memorials I don't think are allowed on school property from way back. Yeah. In the

123day, but um so this would be a little bit different there. But I don't know if it's best to have Darren as a board member, probably Mr. Faz Lane and maybe a couple coaches just sit down to get that drafted. And and I guess then we've and I would say for any activity would we consider that so if one act play makes it down right it was going to be it's all activities I guess and the other thing we have to do is what about um individuals is it just a team type deal so I think those are all the things that need to be worked out right again I think the sign that you're looking at is champions it's not state participants it's truly champions right but yeah if we have a we have

124a speech state champion craft Okay. So, yeah, I think getting all that figured out of how we, you know, is it the individuals, is it team, how do we how do we do that? So, probably some things that the committee will just have to review and you may have to just check with like the Ada Borups and some of those other jokes and see how they deal with that, right? Yep. Because I know Melrose has theirs I think right on 94, right? Isn't there center does I think Melrose might be speech even? I think it's speech. It's not they have speech out there. So, I think Sock Center's got their wrestling, girls wrestling champion on there right now, but they had their was it basketball or volleyball team was on for several years. Cross country

125kid on there for a while. I mean, yeah, Henning has theirs on 210, but now my understanding is they're taking that down. They're going to raffle that off or auction that off at their next um school for a while and then come off. Yeah. Well, that's what some of the schools like Yeah. That's what some of the schools have done cuz I don't think they own those signs, right? That's and so they put those vinyl like the vinyl covers and stuff like that and suppose I get to keep them on there as long as till somebody else says, "Hey, like that to pay that advertising is my understanding for that advertising." So, yeah, maybe we could get a nice electronic board like right out by the city shop there. Then we could just quote whatever

126we want on that thing. I'm sure that was cheap sale advertising. You could that's that's where places do really well. I know that you see when you go to those places that have the electronic scoreboards that have all that advertising, they'll tell you that those are paid for in a year. Then after that, it's just additional revenue that you're generating and things like that. I mean, small schools, Managa had it. I know PUM. I think that's why they added more things because their advertising sold out within like two days and people were disappointed they didn't get to be on the floor and so they found other areas there. But uh might be a bigger conversation than I mean obviously I think we definitely need to do something for our state champion basketball team but it

127might be a bigger conversation of what does this look like and how can we add the impact which I think was even kind of a little bit of the talk of the scoreboards, right? If we reach out to some places in Elbow Lake because you can on that scoreboard, I think they have the upper and lower corners. You can add signage there to say, "Hey, if you're willing to, we'll give you this spot for $500 and you'll be on there forever." If that gets us a couple more thousand on that, it would be helpful there as well. We got to look into that kind of thing because there's see it everywhere we go. Brandon Evansville just paid for putting up a new schoolboard for their football stadium and they're doing the exact same thing. and

128they're selling advertising spaces. It is amazing because when they when they first tell you the price, you about fall over. I know that Walker Hackinacqu had a really nice one and I think that was $80,000, but if I remember right, I think they said they paid for that in a year and then after that it was generating revenue half of our football one was paid for through donations with advertising and stuff on it, right? At least half of it. So, are we comfortable with having Darren on that committee or is it buildings and buildings and grounds or should we have it to buildings and grounds or just one of member maybe one member of the buildings and grounds cuz you know or signed construction that should be talked about what are we going to what

129type of construction what is our policy going to be on so maybe maintains it one one of you guys wants to get it start. Yeah. If you want to start, Darren, and then maybe you bring it to the buildings and grounds to have that conversation and then come back to the board with it when we got something figured out. Sound like a plan. So Darren and Jake can probably maybe advisor and a coach, I would say. Yeah, a couple coaches would be a good idea on there. Yeah, something that cuz I suppose FFA would be in that same boat, haven't we? some pokes there then. So, we just have to go through all those pieces there to sign could fill fast. We better make a big one. Mhm. Yep. Hopefully, we'll need two. That's right.

130Um that brings us to We have one other item. What is it? We should probably approve the install of the scoreboards. Great idea. separate didn't didn't we did we do we just started a conversation about it and we approved the scoreboard but not the I think it was an estimate of $1650 to install it we should probably approve that or include it with our scoreboard approval it was on there was it it it's on the considered approve scoreboard purchase and installation at North Elementary we didn't really I didn't remember talking about the expense of it but all right okay you're correct I'll make a motion to adjurnn Second.