West Central Area School Board Committee Meeting 4/2/25

001All right, you should be live. Okay, and good evening. It's 5:32 at the secondary school media center. And we will call the meeting to order and start with 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. Okay, roll call. Gross is here. Porter, yes. Stanstead is not. Sawyer, yes. Maya is not. Josh, here. And Claire, yes. Okay. Do we have anybody here to speak? Doesn't look so like it. Um, we'll move on to modifying and adopting the agenda. There's a couple things uh changed. Um 3.1 will be removed and we're adding 3.2 Business Professionals of America, Miss Gosser, and removing 5.1.1 and removing 6.2. Are there any other modifications? If

002not, we'll look for a motion to approve the agenda. So move. Second. All those in favor say I. Motion passes. Uh we will now move on to committee reports and presentations and go with Miss Gasser. Thank you for having me. So Miss Gasser, I see I do not have access to get so I think you forwarded to Jake. Kevin, is there a way that we can quickly get this pulled up for her? her PowerPoint or should I just click out and you can go from there? Is that the easiest do you think Kevin? She has a PowerPoint. If I log out and she logs in or what would you recommend? Actually, if you just click request access. Okay. Well, I'll start start by saying um first year teacher. I've met all of you, but I

003know it was announced that we did get the CTE approval for the business department very quickly. So, I'm really happy with that. That was submitted in November and approved by January. A large part of CTE is student leadership. So, that's why I'm here today is to try to um get Business Professionals of America. Know that this presentation is really long. I just wanted to give you an idea of what BPA really is, but there are a lot more slides than I want to review. So, if we could just go through it be a download. I'll open them. Okay. Business Professionals of America is an organization that would give us the kind of an automatic student leadership program at WCA. Another way to fulfill that would be DECA. If you've heard of that organization, I've done

004research and met with a lot of people and heard that BPA is good for smaller students, good for recognizing students or smaller schools. Um, thank you. Maybe here I think to the computer. Just point at me and I'll switch it for you. Oh, you went back. It went back. No. Is that what you There you go. You got Okay. So, making the students college and career ready is the main point um about BPA. We want to develop and empower student leaders. Just a quick review of the membership. It's 50,000 students. It's about 1500 chapters across the United States and countries. I'm cooking too fast now. I was say, Miss Caster, I don't want you to rush yourself, so you take the time you need. So, you can Well, like I said, this this is not

005the important part. I just want to give you an idea of what the organization is. So, it's mostly high school students. It's about half male, half female, and it's 41% overall um Caucasian, and then there's mix of diversity within that. For our footprints, we are strong in or the chapter is strong in Minnesota. There are a lot around here that have a BPA program that I'm very familiar with and then shown across the globe there. There are so many programs available and these are the main seven reasons I made some just random highlights. The competitions are what gives students the confidence to go into the business field or other fields based on their um their interests. The industry certifications are great. leadership development. What I'm most interested in is just making sure that our students

006are graduating with skills that are that can work right in the workplace right away. And also myself making sure that I'm on top of what's out in the industries and out in the business world. Scholarship opportunities and service is a huge part of it. So there's also a segment of it that's work workplace skills assessment. So BPA would kind of be our way of making sure that we're ahead of the game and on top of the the technology that's out there. Now, competitive assessment areas, I just want to show that there's so many of them. We basically ask students what they're interested in and find them a field to focus on. They can change if they'd like. Um it would be we would meet during like advisory time and take practice tests and work on

007skills and development and study. And then um the first step is it's a lot like FFA or other student leadership programs where regionals occur in January in Alexandria. State competition is in March in Minneapolis and then national get to that secondary level competitions. This is just all the different areas that they can choose to learn about and compete in. And this is the next slide of those. So there's so many that we could broaden our students skills and focus in an area. So, industry certifications, I really want to get the business program to a place where students are actually earning certifications that they can put on their resume as hard skills. Um, this would be through like Microsoft Office products and things like that. having access to programs that the business world uses instead of

008only Google but also focusing in getting them certified in Google products as well as long as they're leaving leaving with a certification adds value to transcripts like I said add to your resume and boost self-esteem leadership development which is kind of the key factor of having this at the school and fulfilling that CTE need um they can serve as officers statewide or locally workshops and the conferences that it holds. Here's a quote if you want to skim it. Um, just so you know, my involvement in BPA, my husband is a business teacher in Evansville. I've been a chaperone at the state competition and the national level. So, I've worked directly with the students and taken the buses to the competition and chaperon while we were there. So, and um I escort them to their events

009and pep talk them before they go in. They judges and competes in their area and then welcome back kind of thing. Torch awards are for um they earn points in community service. So if you don't even want to compete in an area, you can just do community service and build up your hours and earn a torch award that way. So there's some pictures of kids earning their torch awards. Culture and community. One of the things they do at states and nationals, especially nationals, they create their and they trade them. So then that becomes a piece of value for them and they come home with all these pins and they're so proud of them. This is just what I witnessed at the national conference. I went to um Chicago last year. So this year it's in

010Florida. Next year will be Tennessee and then Colorado just for the next I don't imagine we'll get to nationals yet, but it's a goal. That's our theme this year. And then um just to go through what my goals would be to get started to get student interest before the end of the year, but not really start program before next year. Um I would hope to get three to 10 students involved at first um accepting more if people are interested. When I took a little tally of of interest, I got like 20 kids, but at the time I was working only with seniors, so they're all going to be gone by next year. So, I start over in my careers class with the ninth graders and get them going and beyond. I know that the kids

011are going to be the ones that are already very involved. So, it's my job to kind of seek out the ones that aren't involved in things and find their interest and try to get them invol involved in BPA. Um, it's a program that goes right along with Launch Bowl. They can be in both of those and they accent each other. So, it's not a competitive program where I'm taking students from another group or anything else. And the good thing is I'm not asking for any money at all. Just to relay that again, I don't want any money. Eric and I have been talking about ways that we would get started with the plant sale, with the business doing marketing for meat sales, with the store getting started and other opportunities for the students to earn

012their own um funds to to bring them to regions and other events. The startup costs are super low. It's about 20 stu $20 to $20 per student to register. And then to get the whole group of practice tests, it's $80. So, I'm confident we'd be able to fund raise that amount. And my goal would be to have this program running as its own business so that I wouldn't be asking for funds. If I do ask for funds in the next year or two, it would be maybe like transportation to regionals or something like that. Other schools, their um for them to get to state. None of them paid for them to get to nationals. So, you know, we would be doing all of our own fundraising. And then my other request, I don't know if

013this year or next year when, but just to get this on appendix B as a recognized program. Does anyone have questions or did I explain it or not? I hear you say there's a small number of middle school students. I'm only requesting for high school right now. If there were were to be a middle school another advisor and you would get that going if there was interest. I just know that we're always looking for things for middle school students to get them engaged. It's a great idea. It's not it's a capacity issue right now. Okay. Yeah. Wonderful. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And I think Miss Goser just one of the things too maybe to explain to the group is you didn't come through the regular right school training model. So you've got business experience and

014so I think that's been in the business world and learning to teach. That's Yeah. But you're doing a great job and you're learning that sometimes we in public education move a lot slower than they do in the business world, right? Trying to get to this meeting since August or September, I think, right? Yeah. I walked in with this goal and I've been working with a lot of different people. So, and I don't always know the way to do things. So that's what I'm learning. You've done wonderful to ask for and how to how to get it through and approved. Yeah. The appendix B piece will work with Mr. Fosene on that and kind of have to go through that. So when she says that's the extracurricular schedule for like a FFA advisor, the band, those

015things will work through that. And you told me something about if I'm not able to do it this year, put it on there as a future something. Yeah, maybe something we have to engage in the future as well. It can't be on this contract. Yeah, there was like an acronym that I didn't recognize too, but we'll talk about that. We like to give it a trial run. I think we did that like for our marching band for a while. I think former director did it for a few years and then it got added later. So it would be something like that. I do appreciate the fact that my real concern was the nationals because I know schools go, but it is reassuring to know that it's not a huge expense to the district because that's

016always gets me a little concerned of where that expense could be. So no, this looks as far as the advisor all um hotel and transportation is covered by the Perkins grants. Okay. And yeah, it is expensive and you do a lot but you guys are business people so you'll be able to sort that out. We are business people and we will sort that out. And I like the engagement of our other students. I think that's one of the things that we just heard through our uh Mr. Wood is on, but I think one of our surveys of our staff was the fact that we do a great job of acknowledging athletics and stuff like that. Maybe there's some other areas where we can find for students to have that connection. I think this is going

017to be a great way to do that. A great pairing with agriculture. Eric has helped me so much just in finding out how to get this program out there and then having the programs work together, having one student the meat and the other student marketing and selling it later or groups of students. And you guys have kind of talked about the store out here, right? As well in our where our current vending machine is kind of transitioning into that more of a store to sell merchandise, you know, so people come to game events and stuff like that that we've got. Yeah. Every looking to grow that. So, thank you. It sounds like something that our our local businesses would really support. you know, they support everything that we do, but something that helping our kids

018be ready for the next stage and be potential employees. Yeah. Right. I think they would be high school behind it considerably. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Miss Ger. Yeah. Do you not feel obligated to stay with the road? Shall I stay? No. I guess I spoke for the I want to speak for the board, but no, I think when Okay, if you're ready to go, I will take off and anyone feel free anytime to reach out to me through my school unit address or know how to get a hold of me. Thanks again for your time. Thank you. Well, we'll move on to our administrative reports. Miss Hendris, are you there? I am. You hear me? We're good. Yep, we can hear you. All right. Um well appreciate the option to join virtually tonight. So

019thanks for that. Um and I continue just to be so impressed by our staff. I had connected with a few of them today on e-learning days and heard about what was going on with music and um in some of the classrooms there's always a few technical issues, but they just persevere and um it's just good to hear how how we still operate on an e-learning day. So kudos to all of our staff. Um, going in with my report, we had our preschool and kindergarten registration evenings. They were held on March 24th and 25th. We had a phenomenal turnout at both buildings. It was really great um to see all the students and the parents. Um, the kids got to go with the teachers and some paras that volunteered to into the classrooms for kind of

020a sneak peek activity and then the parents stayed with Megan and me and we did a short presentation and then gave them the opportunity opportunity to complete some paperwork. So, they could get questions answered and get a head start on that. Um and just thanks to the teachers, paras and secretaries who came and made the evening successful. And it was fun to see those particularly the um the incoming little nights because some of them are only two now going to be three next year. And we um had a little sign set up and they got to hold a you know class of and they are the graduating class of 2040. So that was really really cute to see and and fun to wow like that's just seems like a ways off but 2040 is that

021graduating class. Um we did not have our professional development day today with the e-learning. So our letters will be moved to our final letter training will be moved to May 7th. And I had noted just thanks to Jodie for her flexibility and she was flexible again to um change so we could have our in-person training with letters and we will finish May 7th and then she's already sending out information about our year two. So teachers will have a couple training dates this summer to attend for letters and then that will also roll into next school year. And um at our recent professional development day, we did um we had letters training as well and then we did some culture and climate. So staff have completed a survey and a reflection and then Mr. Brownlow did

022a presentation which was really great that we had all of our staff together and heard that common message. Our report card our quarter 3 ended March 27th. So report cards go home this Friday. So parents can look for those coming home with students. We have our leadership team. Um I'm I moved our meeting to next week, but we have been working on our elementary report card. So the new ELA standards um the 2020 standards are are up for full implementation next school year. So we right now on our leadership team are working on making sure our report cards and our assessments align with the new ELA standards. So, some important work that we're doing and um once we have that a little bit more flushed out next week, we'll bring it to all of our

023staff at some um staff meetings and get feedback from everyone. But we wanted to make sure that our report card aligned with the the new standards work that is to be fully implemented. And then you can see we have some fun happenings coming up in April. Both um North and South have school dances that the PTO's are sponsoring and putting on. That's happening on Friday. We have MCAs coming up for reading the week of the 15th and math the week of the 23rd. At both schools, we continue to celebrate our positive behaviors um through all school celebrations and we celebrate our students of the month. And then we have an author visit by Kevin Love Green. He does a lot of um outdoors and sports related books and he is coming to WCA so that's

024a fun opportunity. He'll be here on April 23rd and grades 2 through 6 get to see him. Any questions? Any questions? No. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to Mr. Wood. All right. Hello everyone. I uh also appreciate the option to meet virtually. Thank you. Um going into my board report. Um just want to give a shout out to Miss McGaffy. Um she's been holding several um ACT prep sessions since the ACT is coming up and there's been really good participation in that. Also working really hard on coordinating registration for our upcoming school year. and you know, this is her first time experiencing the high school side of counseling and it's a little bit different than the elementary and um you know, really doing an awesome job knocking it out of the park

025and handling things as they come. So, really appreciate her and she's been doing a great job. Um, Senora and the National Honor Society had March Madness last week. This is always a fun time for our students. Um, we had our annual hunger games. There was a baby picture guessing game um themed dress up days. Um we also then last Thursday had iron man volleyball staff basketball karaoke that was um capstone by a student singing the entire rendition of Bohemian Rap City and it was it was pretty awesome. Um also dodgeball and um NHS also worked earlier in the month to organize the blood drive. So, um, thank you to Senora and NHS members that make the make these things happen often behind the scenes. There's a lot of work that goes into that. Overall, our

026student body is, you know, is having a really really good year. Um, we're involved in a ton of different activities. Um, you know, athletically, artistically, community outreach wise. Um, very, very proud of our students. Um, I attached to my board report. I won't sit here and read it to you on the screen, but it's an email I received from the bus driver who drove our girls to the state tournament and just um complimenting their behavior and and the behavior of our coaches. And you know, I think we all agree that winning is nice, but also would agree that how you win is more important. And so it's pretty awesome to see our students out there representing well both on the court and off the court. Um looking ahead into April now since we're in April

027and fourth quarter already. This Friday will be our first high- five Friday which um is an idea that came about where we're trying to get local businesses on campus in the morning to greet students and build connections between the school and our local community. Um Mr. Sabalic and Barrett A will be our first guests this Friday. We we're also looking forward to we have our Washington DC trip coming up in two weeks um taking about 60 students to DC. We'll have a presentation in the May um committee meeting where students will come and share about that trip. Our ACT and MCA testing is coming up. We have prom at the end of the month and then finalizing our scheduling for next year. So, this time of year is always really busy and really exciting, but

028also very fun as well. Any questions for me? Thank you, Mr. Wood. Thank you, guys. Up next, uh, Mr. Fosling. Well, there's a couple things going on this past winter. Couple pretty cool achievements. So, we all got to experience our school's very first state title and congrats to our girls basketball team. That was pretty pretty impressive. Um, a congrats that may or may not be out there is to coach Holland and Coach Bryce for being named Class A head coach and assistant coach of the year. So, that's that just came out not too long ago. So, pretty cool. Um, just, you know, personally and professionally, I think for a couple of us here, that was a pretty pretty cool experience. So, uh, on top of that, our our wrestling team makes the state tournament and

029our boys basketball team makes the state final. I I don't know if too many schools get the opportunity to say they have that for the winter activities. So, so pretty special winner. And along with that, you know, thank you to our our student athletes, our coaches, our bus drivers, Chad and his crew, our referees. I mean, that that doesn't happen with all this without the involvement of of everybody else. So, thank you for everyone who played a hand in getting things going this winter, coaching, participating, cleaning up, driving a bus, helping out, keeping score because we we need everybody. So, thank you. A few other things that are going on. Spring sports season was upon us and hopefully it comes back again. Um, you know, we've got a lot of teams going on or a

030lot of things going on with limited space. So, thank you to Diane at Hoffman and Miss Hendricks and Miss Dosadelo. We're trying to make things happen with with gym space and that's very limited and it's kind of messy. So, we we do our best. Um it'd be great if we could just be outside every day, but that doesn't happen. So, again, hopefully it comes back. Um we've already experienced some postponements. Um I anticipate there will be a couple next week as well. Uh hopefully we get back on track soon though. Uh, you know, if you look at our past springs, we're we're probably ahead right now compared to where we've been in the past. So hopefully this is shortlived and we're we're back outside playing games and golfing here soon. Um, couple other things coming

031up here in April. Um, the State High School League section placement should be upon us soon. Um, there is a state high school board of directors meeting tomorrow. Um, they should ratify section placement, so at least we'll have an idea where things are. Again, every indication for us is that we are class A in all of our activities. If that were to change tomorrow when that goes public, that would be a surprise to me, but we'll know what section that we're in in what section or what other schools are in our sections as well. So, from that, then once that process is complete, then the district football process begins. Those of you who are familiar with that, that's a little lengthy process as well because now they have to take basically reshuffle the whole deck

032and put teams in districts and then our our the district committees and separate them out into subdists and create schedules. Our past district football uh district that we've been in has 58 teams. So, we get to divide that up and then create schedules for 58 schools. So, that that's kind of a fun process. So, uh we hope that's done in May. Hopefully, it's completed. before them, but we'll see. So, a couple other upcoming events. Robotics was set to leave today. Um, due to some changes in their registration and the weather, they've opened the window up for for them to attend tomorrow. So, they're going to leave tomorrow morning at some point or around noon maybe. Uh, hopefully get there when conditions are a little safer for them to travel. Uh, they'll be there through Saturday.

033Uh, speech subsection speeches is uh Friday at Browerville. We have small group small group band and choir contest coming up here in April. Uh we have I have a couple meetings with region six and the west central conference and we have the state FFA convention the end of April. So on top of sports we have many other things going on in April and it's kind of a spread here to get get through April and May with lots of things going on. So that's my report and any questions anybody has? I don't know if you got enough thanks for all the stuff you did with the state tournament and the boys and going back and forth and kids at wrestling and I mean we made it work. You got a lot going on and every single

034time somebody asked you a question if I was near you, you're like, "Yeah, I got that covered." So, well, fortunately enough, we we and I don't mean this statement to be arrogant. We we've been down there enough now the last few years. We've kind of have a routine kind of where we stay and kind of how things all come together. Um, If people would have asked me that a couple years ago, I don't think I would have been as confident in some of the answers that I've had. But we've had had plenty of time to try to get it right. And I I think this experience, I mean, I don't we had a whole lot of hiccups and things just kind of ran smooth. And yeah, but thank you for that. Okay, moving on. Um,

035community education. Mrs. Dots, are you with us? Yes. Can you hear me? Yep. Perfect. All right. So, first off, I'll kind of piggyback off of what Caitlyn had mentioned about our kindergarten and preschool registration night. Um, we changed things up this year and it turned out really, really great having everybody back. Um, kind of taking the model that they used precoid and bringing that back. Um, I've had lots of positive parent feedback. Um, so we look to continue that into the future as well. Um, I did update my numbers um, since I sent in the report. So, these are confirmed registrations um going into next year. There still could be some movement here because there are names on my census list that I haven't heard back from, but I am trying to reach out to

036each and every one of them just to get get a better idea of how many kiddos we're looking at. Um so, starting with North uh Little Knights, I have 32 confirmed registrations next year. Um kindergarten connection, so our four-year-old program, we're at 26. And then looking at South Little Nights, I have 12 confirmed registrations and kindergarten connection, I have 13. So just a reminder, we made that switch with South. Um so we only have one section of each Little Nights and Kindergarten Connection, which will be a change um going into next year. And then as for kindergarten, um again, this is just confirmed enrolles. it could go up from here. Um, at North we're sitting at 31 and at South we're sitting at 19. Um, and then transitioning into more community ed stuff. Uh, summer

037planning is underway. It's a crazy time of year behind the scenes. Um, we're looking for coaches for summer ball, both adults and teenagers. I really, really, really hope to have an adults with every team. It just makes things go a lot smoother and it provides a great mentorship opportunity for our younger coaches to give them a good experience as well. Um, if anybody is interested, they can contact either myself or April Richards. Um, we're kind of spearheading the whole summer ball uh program this year. Um, another minor change, but I think it's going to be a good one. Um, we're going to hold summer ball registration early. We're actually going to open it next Monday. fires are going to go home tomorrow. Um, couple reasons for that. We spend a lot of money on transportation.

038Uh, so I I really want to get these numbers ahead of time so I know exactly how many kids are going to be riding. Uh, because if we can get a van instead of a bus, that's going to save us a boatload of money. Um, and who knows, maybe we'll have tons of kids and we'll need a bus and that's fine, too. But I I really want to get those numbers ahead of time for that reason and so we know exactly how many coaches we'll need to um and we'll get to order t-shirts early and all that. And hopefully that first week of June won't be quite as crazy as it has been in years past. So again, that'll open on April 7th and the flyers with all the other summer rack opportunities will still

039come out in early May as normal. um swimming lessons. I know I touched on this before, but just reiterating that uh they will be back at our hometown lakes at Elf Lake and Fair Haven Beach this summer. Um so I know that'll be a positive change as well. And then I think the last thing is I just want to thank all of the businesses, the cities, the organizations that provide donations to our summer programming. Um, without the donations, things like the ball program that I touched on just a little bit ago really would not be possible. Um, it's it takes a lot to pay the refs, the coaches, and like I said, transportation, all the above. Um, so we're really really lucky to have the generous donors that we do to make this a reality

040for our kiddos. And I think that's it. Does anyone have any questions? No. No questions. Thank you, Mr. Dots. Thank you. All right. Technology, Mr. McNamera. Be quick tonight. Um, so one of the bright spots is um some of the new pieces that Google is starting to roll out. One of the pieces I wanted to highlight that I think will be a pretty remarkable tool for some of our middle to upper elementary students is a program called Google read aloud. Um, it allows teachers through Google Classroom to assign leveled books to different students, individualize that instruction. The kids receive the books. But the the amazing part, and I've been doing it with my own children, is they read the book aloud. Google is analyzing their reading as they're reading aloud. So, they're giving us almost

041the same data that we received from our fast testing. In addition, if a student p on a word, it will say the word aloud and request that they repeat the word and it highlights as they go. Um, students get to receive stars and different things like that. So, they kind of get a little bit of gamification out of it, but the practice and the feedback that you get from an instructional standpoint is absolutely unbelievable. So, I'm really hoping that started. Uh, it's still in beta, so it's still being altered and changed. We have early access to it. I'm hoping that this is something that will continue in the direction it's going right now because I could see that being an incredible tool for our teachers. Um, one, it's fantastic for reading and comprehension. It'll some

042of the books will even have some comprehension questions as they're going along. Um, but two, it's something kids can do independently and in that elementary classroom or even on some of these distance learning days. The the ability to continue with high quality practice and have the ability to uh um fix some of the errors and mistakes along with that without having to have that one- on-one is huge. So, that's a really nice piece. Um, I've been kind of diving deep into some of their security pieces as well. Uh, we've had some, uh, snafu, a lot of people are having snafoos with some of their emails, um, spoofing and whatnot. Um, Google has started to roll out a whole bunch of new security protocols. So, we've been kind of going through that. Sometimes I'll turn it

043on, sometimes it makes things not work as well, and we'll turn it back off and we'll just kind of keep trying. But Google's been fantastic to help us with providing the tools that I believe we'll need to keep our all of our accounts and all of our data extremely secure. Um, other than that, I've gotten great news about some of the uh devices that we're looking for our refresh. So, each year we purchase new devices for the incoming fifth graders. They have those devices for four years. Then we purchase new devices again at 9th graders and they have those devices for four years. So each year we're purchasing two classes of devices. Um the devices that I've been quoted on are actually fairly reasonable. Um the challenge that I'm having is when I get a

044quote there I had one company send me a quote that the quote was good for one day. Um but most of them it's been like 10 to 15 days. So which is fairly reasonable. So, as long as nothing drastically changes, I think we're going to be just fine. Um, I have a few samples being sent to me for demo and to make sure that everything meets our needs because ultimately what the process I always go through every year when we're looking at devices is to ensure the device meets the needs of the curriculum and the instructor because ultimately it's just a tool just like a pencil or a pen or a notebook or anything like that. I want to make sure that what we are giving our students are what they need to enhance the

045curriculum and the instruction that the teachers are providing. Um, other than that, just have to always say thank you to Stacy and the amazing work that she puts in. She is a phenomenal asset for our district and I would be absolutely sunk without her. Any questions? Any questions? Next, uh, Mr. Norbert. All right. Um, I'm not going to go over my report. I think a lot of that will get gone over a little bit more if we've got questions um later on with the capital outlay and stuff. Uh, my big thing is is I just got to give kudos to my staff, too. Um, we would really love to have a day a week off that would help keep us on track. It's been working nice. Um, but we're we're struggling. Um, we are struggling.

046There's no doubt about it. Being as short as we are, we're trying to keep up the best we can. Uh, Mr. Brown and I have got together and talked about a few things. Maybe there's some paras that we can wiggle in and get a couple hours out of a couple different paras here. Um, some other staff members. Um, I've even entertained the thought and done some research that there are some states that the teachers clean their own rooms. Um, the janitorial staff takes care of the commons areas, takes care of the bathrooms, takes care of the trashes in the classrooms, but as far as vacuuming, wiping down your tables and stuff, you know, I I don't know if we even dare go that far. But I mean, there's we've got to come up with something

047or I'm going to start losing more staff is is my fear. And then to push that into summer, we lose staff already that I do have that's part-time staff that does not work in the summer. So, we're going to be even shorter in the summer. So, anything out there, anybody knows anything? I mean, that's that's our biggest push right now for for my department is we just we need to have staff. Um I know the kids want to be outside and stuff. Um I did have the fields chalk this morning, but you probably can't see them now. But that's another thing that's also saving me. Once we get into baseball season and this stuff where I got to start doing baseball fields and softball fields, there will be no time for any cleaning taking place

048except trashes probably in the buildings. So, um had a little party here early this morning with uh some of the county people and some of the fire departments. Uh we had fire alarms going off here. So, I was up here um 11:30 until almost 1 trying to find uh heads that are going bad in the building so I could change them out. We could get things corrected. I also have a fire issue I was working on that we've had alarms going off the last two days at North. That one um did not strobe or has not alarmed everybody, but it's uh in the duct work in the gymnasium. I was able to get it taken care of so the alarms can be silenced for a 12 to 24 hour period so it's not going off

049every 15 minutes in the front office. Um talked to Summit and they will try and have somebody here tomorrow but probably the next day or so. And I said as long as we can get it so we can get a 12 hour span or so that thing's not going off every 15 minutes in the office. I said that gives us a little time. Um they do not what we have. I took pictures and sent to them. So, I I have no idea what it's going to cost. I don't think it's going to be a huge amount, but I did tell them we've got another one on the other side of the gym. Looks exactly like it. As long as you guys are driving here to do it, let's just do them both because my luck

050will be next week the other one will go out and we got to call them back again. Um uh what else do you want to know? So, uh, we have, uh, some Ottertale power issue sides with our generator. Um, when school started, that thing was kicking on. Uh, I came to work one Monday morning and that thing was running back there at 5:30 in the morning. Went in and it had been running for about 4 and a half hours. Um, couple other times during the week, I'd get a call at night from Brent and say, "Hey, that generator's been running for 45 minutes." So, long story short, we have a breaker. You know about this just as much as I do. We have a breaker that connects us to Ottertale. So, if power goes out,

051Ottertale can automatically kick our generator on and it will run to to take care of what needs to be done in the facility. Last fall, I called Ottertale and said, "I'm shutting this thing off." And that was at from the advice from Steve, who is our maintenance guy on that generator. Um said, "Just try it." He says, "Call him up. tell them you're going to shut it off. Well, we shut it off and the thing's been smooth lickety split. Last week I turned it on. Um Friday morning we turned it on. Yeah. There was no school Friday, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Friday morning I turned it on. Uh Monday night I got a call from one of my night custodians that said, "Hey, the generator's running." So, um I have it marked. Um all we

052got to do is flip the switch. We have a custodian that lives in town. If I'm not around or something, I did show it to Jake and Nate because they're usually in the buildings a lot. Um, and of course, I'm only an elbow. So, you know, 15 minutes I can be here to turn it on. I don't think we'll end up with any real damages in 15 minutes. if I don't get that generator on. Um, talking to Kurt from Ottertale, they are having trouble all over the grid and it's coming from he says the windmills. The the power is not from what he tells me. You probably hear this or know about this too. Darren, the power is not consistent enough. He's got houses that are calling all the time because the new LED lights

053aren't as forgiving as the fluorescents. So, they actually are like candles flickering in the house. and that's because of this. And he says, "We don't buy from them. We don't do anything with them, but it's in the system and it's just such an infrequent." And so they kind of think that's what's happening is they're getting enough infrequency that it's just enough to kick our generator on, but it's not enough to kick it off again to tell it. So, those are the those are the fun things I have for you. Get worse. Um Yeah. You got any questions? Anything else for me? Anything you read or anything we want to go over later when we do the capital outlay? I guess doesn't look like any. Move on to business manager Todd. Is he with us? He's

054not. No, he's out this week. He's off this week. Yep. So then you're up. Sounds good. Okay. Um, well, our student enrollment, if you click on that, we're back to 700. You know, we dropped down to 696 students, but we're we gained a few in the elementary schools. And so, there's a little celebration with both our elementary secretaries, but we're back to 700 students here again with some growth there. So, I think that's kind of where we'll maintain for just a little bit, but as you see some of our numbers coming in, that'll make that more of a challenge as we go down the road. legislative update. Uh the Senate and House both released their budget targets providing the structure for the overall state budget for the next four years and that's where they kind

055of talk about the budget concern. You know, the next two years aren't as alarming as the following two years. So sometimes when they put these new mandates together, they talk a little bit about the tales and that's what they're talking about is the long-term impact. So the free lunch would be one of those pieces that could have some of those issues. Um and so they're kind of showing that the target for the education or excuse me the Senate proposes to reduce the state's budget by 2.5 billion over the next four years while the Senate proposes um excuse me the House proposes to reduce it by 3.7 billion as well over the next four years. So some some large reductions that are coming there. The target for education finance committee is in the Senate is zero

056um for fiscal years 26 and 27 and a reduction of 687 million for fiscal years 28 and 29. The target for the education finance committee in the house is set at 40 million for fiscal year. So $40 million of additional funding for fiscal year 26 and 27 but zero in 28 and 29. So uh there is a draft of the omnibus bill coming from the house education policy committee that does start shows a possible start to early start for school in the September 26 and 27 because that's when Labor Day ends so late. So, they won't allow you to start before August 30th, uh, but they do allow you allow you to start before Labor Day. Um, limiting data requests for school districts is another piece of that. And then flexibility in the read mandates

057for the 25 26 school year allowing I think it's about four and a half to five hours of some mandate relief. Now, remember this is just a proposed draft. It's not final yet. Um, but I did watch something here too in regards to superintendents across the state that did testify just in regards to they really we need mandate relief. There's just so many mandates out there that come with additional expenses. I believe it was the superintendent from Grand Rapids. Kind of hit the nail on the head. He said unfortunately he said our admin costs have went from what used to be two to 3% now they're 4 to 8%. However, he said we haven't been able to hire additional staff to cover that. He said, "We now just have people that are taking a job

058and a half and trying to get it done with one person." And I think we're seeing a little bit of that as well in some of our own spaces here, trying to get those things taken care of that way. So, we'll continue to monitor that. Community task force, uh, that meeting that was scheduled for April 1st has been postponed. there were some good ideas that came in from some of the task force members. I think wanting to look at a few additional pieces to make sure that there was enough if we're spending that type of dollar um making sure that there was going to be enough that we did it right the first time and don't come with a project that doesn't have all the not going to call it bells and whistles but all

059the pieces that maybe need to be looked at. I think the gymnasium was one concern you know if we don't have enough gym space as we look down the road but also realizing that we need to uh manage expense with that as well. um as we move forward that there's going to be probably a finite dollar amount that our taxpayers will support. So, we're working through those pieces there and hope to meet midappril to have some better information to share out with operational costs, long-term sustainability, and maybe making sure that we included I shouldn't say maybe, but making sure we included some of those pieces that were not identified when uh Witzv came back the first time. So we'll be working through that and convening a meeting here midappril to hopefully come to consensus and

060then bring a recommendation for the school board to continue. Now I think one of the conversations that been held a little bit is we definitely don't want to rush this process. you know, we do have to do a a um November election already to fill a a board vacancy, but we don't want to rush this because I think there's concern about one, communicating the message out, making sure it's the right project, and making sure that everybody knows what we're truly looking at that way. So, we're getting close to that timeline, I would say, in the next month or two of of getting that out with the review and comment and having enough time to share that message with our uh stakeholders in the district. uh donations for building needs. So, we did we have put

061out some letters to different fire relief associations and other civic groups asking to help cover part of the cost of our fine arts pieces of the portable staging as well as the stage curtain. The fire marshall did notify Chad and I that uh August 15th is the date that that needs to happen. So, he he did respond back and said that is the date. There is no exception. I come back and stage curtains are down or they're replaced. That's kind of the final final piece there. He's been very nice about it, but I think made it pretty clear that uh nothing beyond he was hoping sooner than August 15th, but I think Chad was able to say, "Hey, you know, we're going to get it ordered. We'll look in the summertime here to get that

062uh placed and things like that." So, we do have that piece there, but um we did receive a $2,500 donation from Runstone Telephone Association uh for requests that was just placed with them. So, it's very nice to see that they're willing to support those items. The one piece that I should mention as we talk about that portable staging, the staging that we're looking to replace is staging that's used here for homecoming, here for graduation, north for both their um Christmas and spring concert, and I think sometimes at South as well. The pieces that they currently haul are very heavy. I remember those pieces back while I was a band director here. was the staging pieces for actually the band is what they were really designed for. And so they are heavy. Uh so they're well

063over they must be probably 20 plus years old. And so this new design I think Chad's worked on it for a while. I've encouraged him to keep working on say can we get some type of a grant to cover that because it's about 25 to $30,000 for that. So it's not cheap but it's also pretty taxing on our custodial staff to take care of that. not only our custodial staff but also the trailer that we have that there can be some damage to that. So, I think the buildings and grounds committee kind of said that's a priority. Let's make sure we get that taken care of. And so, we're hoping to get half of the funding to cover that $50,000 expense really is what it would be for the stage curtain and the portable staging.

064Already have a $2,500 start on that. And the other piece too that I should mention is the fact that as a board last year you did designate under um uh operating capital funds uh $30,000 towards that stage curtain. So we still have that. Remember the fiscal year ends June 30th. So we will get that stage curtain ordered. I think we're waiting to hear from one company back. So we have a couple quotes. When you get to that expense you just want to make sure that we've done our due diligence. one for again our taxpayers, but the auditors also question that when they do an audit. So, we'll want to make sure we have that taken care of, but $30,000 is really already there. So, that's taken care of and I can show you that when

065we move later on to our operating capital budget pieces there. So, um early release for professional development was supposed to happen today was a full release. So, we did e-learning uh due to the weather. Schoolboard committee meeting of course uh tonight and then we have health insurance committee meeting shared a little bit on that April 9th. And so we have a committee that'll review the recommendation from our um current advisor on that. And I think I'd mentioned before that the rates that he has seen so far to this point are between five an increase of five to 60%. So hopefully we're on the 5%. I told him we'd really accept below 0% if it was a negative. I said we definitely could sign the dotted line a lot faster. He wasn't so sure about that.

066But he also knew that we had some pretty good numbers coming in that then we had seven quotes that came back which is very promising that way as well. If it's one or two it's makes a little bit more difficult but having that larger number is going to be better there. And then our school board business meeting will be on that Wednesday April 16th. Um and as um Darren mentioned earlier we did postpone having the girls basketball team here for recognition. And so I know that that meeting in May is going to be very busy as Mr. Wood talked about the Washington DC trip girls basketball recognition and then I know the senior class has a request there as well that they'd like to uh request approval there. So it could be a full May

067uh committee meeting there that first meeting in May. All right. Thank you Mr. M. Any questions? Hearing none. We'll move on to the consent agenda. We have one item. Personnel item, uh, resignation of Hannah Winstra, custodian. And I guess we have the approval of, uh, the spring coaching assignments, 5.1.3. Anybody have any questions on those? I have one question for Mr. Fosling. Um, in the coaching assignments for this one that we're going to approve here versus last year, are there any changes in numbers to coaches in in different um Yes. Yes. Let me get that in front of me here. One second. Computer's sinking. Okay. Okay. So, there is a couple reductions from last year. From uh numbers wise, it's from our budget discussions from last year. We did reduce the assistant coach for softball.

068We did reduce the assistant coach uh for baseball. Uh we also are one less track coach as well for this year. That was not part of the budget discussion, but we have not had anybody to fill that position. So, so yes, from last year's number to this year, currently minus three coaches and you're still are you still looking for some coaches or uh not the uh baseball softball position those positions were cut so we're not filling those positions. Um there some of those are being paid via the via their boosters. Um but our numbers do indicate for baseball softball that that would be a hard position for us to justify having right now given I'm not asking if they're justifiable. I'm just asking is there any positions that are open currently? No, but that's where

069I'm going with that is that with the track position, we do have some people who are helping. Um whether they choose to volunteer or choose to fill that position, I've talked to those individuals and they're going to get back to me. So, so that that's where those positions are. Any other discussion or questions? We'll look for a motion to approve. So, moved. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. All right. New business. Uh, looks like review the first reading of the following policies with statutory and recommended changes from ADM SBA. Policy 509 enrollment of non-resident students. Policy 511 student fundraising. Policy 512, school sponsored student publications and activities and policy 513, student promotion, retention, and program design. Is there anything that you would have for us?

070Nope. Actually, those were all um updated last August when MSBA kind of does their legislative updates. So, three of those policies 509, 12, and 13, we really kind of took care of those nonsubstantive um updates there. in policy 511, student fundraising. That policy has been in place since 2003. So, and no changes there. So, um we've kind of already reviewed those, but just wanted to keep that on a regular schedule so we don't fall behind on that. Okay. Thank you. Any questions on those? Uh we'll move to 6.3 approve uh revised 2024 2025 non-certified staff seniority list. realized I think after the list was signed off and everything that uh supervisor came in and said, "Hey, we need to there's a couple folks that aren't in the right spot." So, you're going to see our

071two custodians that are actually maintenance custodians. So, we have a ma maintenance had to do a little bit of research and review on that as well to see when that changed. I think there was some transition back in like between 2015 and 19. We used to have custodian 2, custodian one, then they got moved to some different job classifications. So figured out that we're really at then we used to have evening custodians and that kind of transition too. So used to be I think four job classifications in our custodial um department. We're now down to two. So we have maintenance custodian and custodian. Um and those are based on those job point codes that were assigned I think a few years ago as you went through job descriptions. And so we have a maintenance custodian

072which is kind of the lead I guess you would probably describe those as at each one of our schools. So we have um Mark is at South. Mark's been there for years. Travis went up to north to Phil Olson or Dr. Drexel Mr. Drexel's spot up in July. So that's why there was a little bit of confusion. And then um then Brad is here at the secondary school. So it's a matter of just making sure we have them placed in the right spot since they were in those spaces when we did the seniority list back here this um earlier this winter. So the recommendation is just to make the approve that list with those two modifications. Okay. There's no discussion. I'll for a motion to approve. So Nathan Ryan. Okay. All those in favor signify

073by saying I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Um onto our discussion items. Capital outlay. Mr. B. Sure. Yep. So, I kind of gave out some notes there a little bit about capital outlay. That very first paragraph really comes out of the financing guide that is on MDE's website when it comes to operating capital. Just kind of saying what those funds, the allowable funds are for that really where the revenue stream comes from with that $79 for equipment uh revenue and the 109 is the uh for the district's buildings and things like that. So, uh, we're roughly planning on $185,000 for fiscal 26. Uh, we do have some reserve and I think maybe I caused some confusion on that because I think there was concern that, well, we've got 185, we got to save all

074that for to get that reserve built up. We already have some reserve in there. Uh, I think possibly due to some transition and how things were coded and things like that. So, we already have uh some reserve dollars available and that's really coming from the recommendation of our business manager Todd Netsky saying, "Hey, if we have an emergency, some major piece of equipment goes down or we need to do a significant boiler repair, he said, we probably don't want to have that account empty." And so, his recommendation is really keeping that at that $200,000 to have that ready to go. Now, we have long-range capital improvement dollars, too. That's a committed fund set by the board. Uh but I'm not sure that that's something that that's also been depleted here pretty uh pretty uh well

075over the last couple years too as we've kind of taken care of some of those pieces there. So that's kind of where we're sitting with that. Uh I did note too that our curriculum cycle um hasn't really been reviewed over the last several years. And so I know finally ELA and that might have been the last one to be reviewed said, "Hey, we need to get our our ELA curriculum up to date with new standards." And so we did make that purchase for this current year, kindergarten through fifth grade. So it left our sixth through 12th grade that did not have uh any curriculum purchase. So last year just for kindergarten through uh fifth grade, that cost was a little over $80,000. And so the uh 6th through 12th grade groups have been working with

076Caitlyn as our district assessment or not district assessment coordinator, our curriculum review person. And they've got a couple quotes. one of the quotes from the company that they're not as um that wasn't the one they selected. That's usually how it works, right? And they didn't they already had their one selected then we got the price that one's about $42,000 and the one that they like said about just over $80,000. But now there's some add-ons and you can always what I've real realized with curricular companies is you don't their first prices they know you're probably going to negotiate just a little bit and they've got some add-ons and I what I really appreciate about our English department is they said when they heard the price they well there's some things that we can look at to

077see they said maybe we just have to go with the other one. I don't want to make a decision to say we're just going with the other one because it was a lot cheaper. if if it meets our needs for curriculum, we can do that. But I do have some different pieces. If you I should have made a copy there um because I don't think I got it included, but it is on the the packet there. And Jake, would you mind grabbing that packet back there and maybe giving that to Ryan and Claire because I did not get that attached. I just kind of got that finished up this afternoon. Just some ideas here and proposals. one, I did update the curriculum review cycle. So, we are going to be on a five-year curriculum review

078cycle, which is pretty standard. Um, as you look at that, you're going to see that we I've got it current now from last year moving forward. We eventually will need to get language arts probably all on one cycle and not having it split over two, but since we've already got it split, I decided to keep it there. Um, so looking language arts K5 last year, language arts 612. So we would look to purchase um so we're reviewing now we'd make that purchase here this summer so we would implement it in 2526 and then um and then as well and I think it might be in your packet there too towards the back there Darren but and then social studies world language that's been one too that I've been told has not been uh really reviewed

079for a while one of the comments actually that we noticed in the old one said to use it that look at the CK12 curriculum because there's free resources and I'm all about that, but sometimes always looking just at free resources doesn't necessarily get us where we need to be. Mathematics is going to be a huge uh or significant purchase. And again, um we've seen some of those holes in our curriculum as we've had to do some long-term sub pieces, excuse me, as well as um again, I think our teachers have been very resourceful and have just been okay to push that off. But I think really it's an area if we're going to focus on instruction we need to make sure that we have the right curriculum there as as well music and art combining

080those and then having science health and fed and we may still need to review as we as we move forward because it was I think before a seven or eightyear cycle um but I think this gets us into better position of a five-year cycle and then the other piece too this really helps align us with the state um adoption cycle when they start to review standards, they'll say, "Okay, here's when you need to have that um ready to go with the new standards." This aligns with that their their pieces that they're looking to move forward on. So, that's kind of where we're we're at. And then CTE is one of those pieces. Remember, they get Carl Perkins funding, but if there's something that comes about, we would just need to be prepared, you know, for

081that as well. Um and then the capital outlay kind of recommended. I visited with our um admin team today kind of getting some numbers so you could see where we would look for that as well as Chad in maintenance. Uh looking at our ELA curriculum I put in there $50,000. Please remember that last year we earmarked$10,000 already because that was going to be for the sixth grade. They did not purchase. So we saved that 10,000 put it there. So really the number taking last year's 10 plus this 50 puts us at 60,000 a rough in the middle number. Now that may be a little shy. They may come back and say we can only knock off 12. So you're going to we're going to be at 70,000 but it does have some pieces there. Reading

082intervention that's our foundations materials that we need to that we get from the Midwest Special Education Cooperative. I think down the road there's some review to see if that aligns well with our current Wonders curriculum. um the online school curriculum. This isn't necessarily a set in stone piece, but remember Mr. Wood had talked about, hey, if this helps us, do we look at an online school curriculum where maybe we retain five or six or 10 of our own students to hopefully offset some of that lost revenue we're losing by those students finding another online provider. So, we've been in conversations there. buildings and grounds repairs. Talked to Chad a little bit today about that. And this is kind of what came through from our uh committee as well. Entry stairs at North at about $2,500.

083Rough repairs at both north and south of about $10,000. And so um $5,000 each. We again have rough leaks at in both elementary music classrooms. We continue to pay I think we did two years ago. We paid them to come and repair it. when they come out they say until we do a full roof repair can we ever guarantee we're probably going to chase the leak and so I think the concern at South and Chad you feel free to to jump in but my understanding is that's a large roof on that gym with that steel roof that's coming down on that roof where the music room is and it wasn't really designed I don't think to take the water load that it's getting so there's something there um where I think the where the flashing

084Why am I speaking Chad you can give better you can do better that way instead of me interpreting. It's just talking to the guys that come and done the roofs over the last couple years, they said, "We're going to chase this forever unless you actually rip this out, tear this apart to redo it." Because what they did is they just put the steel on top of the roof that was there from the gym. They just ran the steel, overhanged it, and ran it right down into the edge of the the flat rubber roofing. There was no channeling, no anything that took place. The other thing is is all they did is pulled the rubber back and took it up is what he said looked like because he didn't want to tear it apart to find

085out. So they could have probably tucked that up underneath and at least put some channeling in there to help get the moisture out. But what happens now is all that snows just slides right off of that roof and then it just sits there and then in the spring like this it starts freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing and it just pushes through the membrane. The uh which way? North. the north building. Um, there again, that's at a juncture where three different parts of the building came together right in the corner of that that music room. So, to get that all to seam up with different ages of building pieces, they said, is really tough until again, you pull the whole roof back up there and redo that whole area to get it sealed and have

086it done properly. This is where we ran into issues I think with the insurance company as well, right? That they're they are we're unwilling to insure and I've got a not my personal story, but a family member just told me that they're switching insurance companies and the only way that they'll be able to get insurance as if they replace the roof that's 20ome years old. And even for homeowners now, they're starting to change that piece a little bit unfortunately just because all these events are causing them to spend more money and so they want to make sure they're they're in good shape. So I think that's because I think we tried to even find the vintage of those roofs and it's well over 25 years. So they just said that they can peacemail it, try

087to see what we can do. So the unfortunate part is if we would replace those roofs, right? We don't have enough money in long range capital improvement or capital outlay to take care of that. So I think we have to continue to peacemeal it. Hopefully we can get that figured out. Remember, next year is our last long range or our last LTFM bond payment that we did for the roof and the parking lot and the and the pumps or the heat pumps and stuff. So, we should be able to have that taken care of. Again, that gives us about $300,000. So, taking care of maybe one roof at that time or the other roof. We're still meeting with facilities to see. Um, but I think that's the recommendation there is to allocate $10,000. Here at

088the secondary school, we seem to be fine. They had to do one repair, right? I thought you said I'll let you speak to it me instead of me interpreting. Well, yeah, we had I mean it was weird because it was it was actually leaking when it was 30 below. Um but there the penthouse above the kitchen up here actually had a a brass pipe that's up there for water for um just cracked H and it was just leaking out enough and running down the pipe. And of course, it's in a PVC sleeve, so it wasn't really noticeable, and it was actually running down and dripping through into the kitchen. Um, so we got that fixed, got that taken care of, but I had two new leaks that showed up in actually my office area. And

089those were actually the the membrane that was up against where they had put the four units for the refrigerators, um, and the freezers in the kitchen up on the roof just from the vibration and the movement and and that stuff up there. it had weakened the membrane. So, they did some uh corner tucking and stuff that they sealed up and everything's been fine now. So, as far as the rest of the roof up here, yeah, because you guys had that redone with that that money, um, knock on wood, we're we're sitting okay here. We should still have warranty on that, too. So, hopefully they'll cover that, but no warranty. We tried that. Uh, was that the skylights? We had a leak uh that was coming into uh the science storage room and the warranty was

090up. They wouldn't they wouldn't honor it. Warranties. Mhm. And then wood chips for all three of our playgrounds. Again, we just need to refresh those to make sure that we've got enough material there and so those start to break down. We will check. I know one of our administrators had just said, "What about the ground tires?" So, we'll check on that to see what the cost is there and if there's any other concerns that we'd have to look at. But, um, the unfortunate part about the wood chips is the wood chips aren't necessarily that expensive, but you have to have a certified wood chip. And there's a company now that's down in Princeton. That's where you get them from. So, the the wood chips are like $500 to $1,000. The hauling is what costs all

091the money to haul them up here with the trucking outfit. So, that's where the expense is uh that way. So, we'll have to just um again put new wood chips on there to make sure if there's any falls or anything like that. And typically insurance companies will inspect that and say, "Hey, you need to make sure that you have enough there." And usually there's some white pieces, white tape that goes around the some of the poles to show where the foot chip level needs to be. And then we also talked about the control panel for the hoops at the secondary school here. One, I think, to meet code, right? because I think you're not really supposed to be inside the room dropping the the uh the hoops, the batting cage, the curtains, and so that

092was roughly going to be between 6600 to $7,000 for the just the panel piece to get them moved out, not the bells and whistles fancy piece. That was going to be a lot more money. So, that's a $25,000 planned expense there. Buildings and grounds equipment. That would include um Chad's sinking roughly $3,500 after we do a trade in on the lift because our lift is too heavy for the new gym floor there as well as a buffer and a wax um dispenser dispenser to really kind of take care of our larger spaces in our commons areas in in larger spaces to really we thought that the savings there because it's a cost of about $600, but our employee time savings would get that paid for in in probably a year. So the recommendation was that

093for that um activities would be about $16,000. So that would be again for making sure that we have our uh uniforms jersey tops just for baseball and baseball and track are on the rotation to have updates there. And then of course helmets is one of those things that's an ongoing expense that never goes away with either having to I'm going to say the wrong word refurbishment. It's not that recondition recondition helmets or purchase new helmets because there's a a very limited span 10 years and then you you have to get rid of them even the sad part is if you've never used the helmet still wrapped in plastic they have a date stamp and the good part of that is we don't want anybody to get hurt and so we would just need to take

094care of that and helmets unfortunately are I think in the short period of time since the pandemic I think they used to be about 200 bucks a piece and now they're 400 or $500 a piece so yeah they are very expensive um for that and we're not we're not ordering the top top of the line. We've we've uh gone with the SH product that has worked out well for us, but they're probably mid-range when it comes to dollar amount because I think at one point didn't one of the helmet manufacturers actually went out of business, right? So, it kind of limited the manufacturers. Well, of course, when that happens, all a sudden the price can just automatically increase. We could spend 13,400 on pretty easy. curriculum contribution. We were uh kind of talking as an

095admin team just knowing where our curriculum is that we probably, you know, we don't want to find ourselves in a year where we have to update math and find out that that takes 150 to 160,000. Then we don't have really anything else left. So there was thought that we just earmark that 35,000 that can be used, you know, possibly the following year or when our math comes up that we're ready to go for math on that. um sound panels itself. Uh this was something that was mentioned by one of the administrators as well. I think it was mentioned even during the task force meeting. So the recommendation from them was it is allowed in that small lunchroom if we know we can get them and there's going to be a use for them down the

096road. We don't want to buy them and then three years down the road to say you know what $1,500 investment is no longer needed. So is there another space where we could use those? So that was the recommend or the the request there. And then and we've not put anything out to the teachers yet and I'll get to that point down here in just a little bit. And then hard service at the north playground. They really don't have access to basketball because those courts are behind um where the propane tanks are. Their foursquare area is just the sidewalk and I think it's just the natural. Please jump in, Caitlyn or Megan. But the court the four square I think is just where the marks are for the sidewalk where they play there. And so I

097don't even know if $7,500 covers that, but maybe a hard space. And they're talking about kind of redoing how they do recess next year, saying, "Hey, do we look at maybe using more of that green space and figuring out a space to do that?" So looking at maybe a one basket where the kids can also shoot there might help where the kids don't always want to be in our mud pit over there in that one corner of the of the and we do have they said there's basketball and a hardcourt space down at south and so it would be kind of make that uh equitable between those two there which then leaves us roughly about $20,000 left um for teacher requests and things like that like I mentioned you know would be looking at that

098$500 um is typically considered a capital outlay expense. It's not purchasing just small things, but some of that equipment and things there. So, this is just discussion um for you to kind of review. I wanted to give you some things. I wanted to I apologize for not having it out sooner. Wanted to visit with our admin team to kind of look at things where they thought things would maybe align um you know, that way. So, nothing's hard set. This is just kind of some guidance there and things like that. I had one question on the curriculum side of things. When could you mention you know there two curriculums of significantly different dollar amounts but also when the staff is looking at curriculums? Do our administrators um communicate with other districts around close to us to

099see what type of curriculums they're using? Is there any weight or is it worth is I mean is I'm going to have is there any benefit to that? I I think there would be I'm going to have Caitlyn jump in because she kind of facilitated that process. Um so Caitlyn, could you kind of explain the process that you followed with the team and and how you guys came to that decision of those curriculum pieces? Yeah. So, we looked at um what we used um oh now I'm blinking on the name of the web the website which is is it the what what works is it the what works the what works or the clearing house no there's oh ed reports um has different curriculums rated and so we were looking through what curriculums had high

100ratings what curriculums um came in with just higher I guess higher ratings um than others and then they have different criteria that they um that that they're using to to rate these curriculums. From there we then looked we didn't look at other districts. So that's that's a good idea Darren that we could um build that into our process. But we looked at our data we looked at um what are pros and cons of current curriculums and past curriculums. Then we did a bunch of research to um and had presenters come in from the curriculums that we were interested in and they met with us virtually and did um kind of their you know an hourong presentation on what they um what their curriculum has to offer and then from there we'll meet and we were

101going to meet today but we didn't get a chance to with the um with the e-learning day. So, we'll meet hopefully um next week or on May 7th to um just go through what our final decision is and look at the quotes and stuff. So, we did reach out to other curriculums in the area, but we used different online resources and um different criteria that um is out there available on the internet to like help through that process. And then looking at our own internal data and pros and cons of what we and looking at our students, what what do we need? What obviously going back to the standards that was a huge thing too anchoring to what are the standards that we need to make sure the curriculums align with and both the curriculums

102that we um for the 612 that we are reviewing they sent us a Minnesota standard alignment document so we were looking through that as well and when you say we just to clarify that was you sixth grade ELA teacher uh middle school junior high or yeah middle school junior high teacher and then high school ELA teacher right So is the teachers that reviewed that knew where their needs were? Yep. So the four teachers and then myself were on that committee. Okay. I just asked I know nearly nothing about it. But I was just wondering if it you know what in our rural area you know different districts we kind of have some of the same challenges I assume just based on geographics. Yep. That size. wondering if there's, you know, is there any benefits to

103like these costs and you say negotiating, is there any benefit to us being on the same timeline as other districts? Is there is there a cost benefit to it? Is there a benefit just in um general education from the standpoint of like in my job, you know, collaborating or talking to other colleagues of mine in the same area. And if you if not that you have to choose the same thing as another district, but you may find you're more alike than different in some aspects of maybe there's some benefit to it. I'm not sure. Well, to date myself, I know when I was back here as a music teacher, there used to be the Palm to Terry Ed district and Karen Lundstrom used to be. I know they were housed over in Ashby and so

104we would get together and I can't remember I know it was Ashby, us, it might have been Brandon Evansville, Herman, but there was about five schools that got together. We reviewed the standards curriculum and kind of we could still make our own independent decision but I think it did you could also say hey the four of us are interested in this and maybe there was some group item not sure what Karen did at that point but and then I think was able to help us get the curriculum but we don't have that cost anymore so we don't have that person so and I and I think Caitlyn you had also reached out probably to your former district a little bit to get some guidance and things like that as well right it was kind of

105yes I so I know the the district I was previously and they just went through a 612 curriculum review. So, I did reach out to them to ask um what curriculum they ended up going with for their middle school and their high school. So, I guess I did touch base with one other district. I didn't I didn't reach out to more than that, but that's a a good point that I could build that into the process, too, just to say what are districts around our area using and why. Anybody else have any questions? Seeing none, then we'll move on to 7.2 retirement incentives. Well, and then back to Do you want me to put a thing out to staff then? Because I know we're they're probably going to be eager to start looking at capital

106outlay. Should I do that or do we want to wait and have the board approve? Here's the dollar amount we're setting at our April 16th still gives them I mean, we could still have that ready to go by the May um business meeting and we really want to order as close to July anyway. we would make sure that it's here. Um, but that because it would want to fall into that fiscal 26 budget. So, if you're comfortable, we could just have a number to be approved by the board at that April 16th. I'd have everything to roll out April 17th. Well, April 16th, a morning meeting. So, we have the board meeting at 7 a.m. 9:00 a.m. it goes out and give them couple weeks, two, three weeks to submit their request and go from

107there. Is that comfortable for everybody? It's fine with me. I guess the only thing I'd say is that I prefer that it's to make sure that those dollars are spread evenly amongst the schools based on whatever you want to base it on students or in the building or classrooms or what, but just so that we make sure everybody Sure. No. Oh, I don't I maybe I'll bring that application then and maybe that's some of the criteria that I can have identified and if the board says, "Hey, well, we think this needs to be added or this one doesn't work." We can definitely get that added. And so we've used that process before. So I can just bring that on the 16th. Anybody else have any anything? Perfect. Now we'll move on retirement incentive. So we

108have had um staff members as well as the the teachers union come forward to say that we do have a member who's interested in a retirement. You'll notice the the word not being early retirement. So just a retirement incentive. And so looking to probably move forward with that. There would be some district savings even if we paid that incentive out. Now I think we'd maybe model it similar to what we did last year for a staff member who was able to look at that 403b. So we're not going to pay any tax on that. So looking maybe at a 403b contribution for five years, three years or maybe it's certain dollar amount over three years and then that would just be put into that account is kind of what we're looking at. I think Nathan

109just wanted I think the last time you just mentioned wanting to see what that cost savings was going to be that we we don't want to go into this incentive and find out that it cost us more money to move forward there. But as I looked at it because of the current circumstance for this teacher, there would be roughly about a $10,000 savings each year. When I did reach out to MSBA, remember I told you I kind of looked at the one process at first and they said, "Well, be careful. You've really passed the first um the February 1 deadline for an early retirement incentive." But then when I kind of explained this, I said, "Well, if the teacher comes to you and you're looking at it's not specific to one, it's going to be

110a broad thing." Um, but I think this would be still specific of enough because of some of the criteria that would be there. As you'll notice again, retirement incentive, not early retirement incentive that it would be something that we could definitely look at. And and the person who I was talking to from MSBA said also, you're in a position, but I thought I mentioned this the first time is we're trying to find ways to save some dollars as well down the road. And so she said, "I think that puts you in a position to say based on budget um pieces that we need to look at and other all these other pieces that fall together that would be something that could be taken care of and not be necessarily as risky, especially if the teachers

111union brings it forward to say here's what we'd like to propose and kind of do it that way." So if you're comfortable, I will work with um our co-presidents to get something together. It'll look very similar to what you've seen in past um pieces. Um, what I think we had the extended leave of absence last year, so it'll be very similar to to that piece. Of course, we get the part-time teacher piece. So, a lot of that verbiage will be the same. It'll just be for this retirement incentive or Yeah. retirement incentive, not early, just retirement incentive. Yeah. The only the only I don't have any issue with this that I know of without seeing it, but the only thing I want to my opinion and we need to be careful of is that that

112we're not creating specific retirement things for specific every time for us changing it. I'd like to see it more something in stone that this is what we do when we get to these points. Sure. Yep. because otherwise it looks like you're doing it for this person or that person or that person and and um I just don't I don't think that's good for us. I don't think that's a good look for us. I don't think it's a good look for the person that's asking for the deal. I don't think it's um it can be perceived poorly if we don't have something standard that we go by. Well, I think my direction in the next round would be that February 1st. So maybe in end of December, January would say, "Hey, here's because that's all set

113in statute." Just saying, "Hey, if you're looking at an early retirement, here's the statute based in law. Here's the timeline. That's what I've been used to doing in in prior districts that way." And so maybe that's how we do it. And then that makes it more of a similar process, you know, that way. But yeah, no, they um MSBA was very clear that it can't be specific to one person. It's got to be broad. If there's anybody else that comes forward and say, "Hey, I meet the criteria. I want to be able to do this." That they need to be allowed. Yeah. They said you can't do it specific to to one person. We just don't want to create the I mean, it's one thing to know that you can't do that. It's another whole

114thing. We don't want to create the image that we are. Sure. Nope. And that's just my personal opinion, but I don't have any problem with this moving forward with it. Okay. Just Anybody else have anything? Can I just quickly speak a little bit to the and we'll give more information. The reason why we pulled off the Joins's Renaissance was just getting some more information. I I think there's a little bit of information out there. It is a huge request, but I think we just need to come up with some more things. I know Mr. Wood has talked a little bit. We're getting better information now from two principles that have had staff go um and so we hope to maybe get um more information from them either that they put something on a video thing.

115I'm sure they're not going to eagerly jump on to say I'd love to be at another board meeting. I already go to one of my own school. If I could do another school, but getting some information there and and really digging in. I might even ask some of our staff because we did propose it to them um through our leadership team pieces to say hey do you want to come in to say this is how we envision this working too as we talk about climate culture you know one of the survey pieces that came back like I said earlier is really there's there's this we do a nice job of recognizing student athletes but what are we doing for some of the academic pieces and I don't think we do that intentionally but maybe need

116to do a better job of having academic pep fests you know that are meaningful to all those students where we can recognize good attendance. You know, our attendance has taken a little bit of a a hit, but attendance directly ties into academic achievement. So, we can say, "Hey, these are our perfect attendance students. These are the ones that are at 95%. Celebrate those pieces. Celebrate the great things going on in egg. Celebrate the great things that are going on in our music department. All those different areas and making sure those students get recognized." But really what they have is a monthly playbook that lays out to say, "Hey, here's what you're going to do in August to prep when staff come back. Here's what you're going to do in September. We're going to have an

117allocart type thing where we're going to go around to all staff." So they call them staffy. So that's your paras, your cooks, your custodians, everybody that they're going to be able to pick a snack off the cart and a beverage to say, "Hey, we appreciate the work you're doing trying to find those little pieces that hopefully um get a little bit for that, you know, raising morale and things like that." And then um kind of going through to where one time the bus drivers pull up all of a sudden in October, they pull up and we're waiting outside there with staff to give them a cup of coffee or something like that and a donut just to say thank you. So, they've got a great thing laid out there and I know the Grand Rapids

118School who we've reached out to, they're hoping to take students and they actually want to be the one of the presenters, but I think one of the questions was, can we look at doing something? The travel, I think the comment was, I'm okay with this. The conference is wonderful. The travel that it's so far that we have to travel to the West Coast to get it done is my concern. Excuse me. Is there something regionally where we can look at Minneapolis? So, we'll look into that too to have better information there to see if there's a way to to address that as well. And then I hope what it does is it changes the culture here where that magnet piece that we talk about becomes a magnet not only for our students but all all

119of a sudden our staff to say wow they're things are changing there and it's going really really well and we like to see that and then where we become the model school where schools in our region say hey can we come to your building and see what's going on here or we present at one of those national conferences as well with our students and staff to say here's what we've got going on and um can do that. National conferences, I know there's a cost to them, but I will tell you it seems to change the the culture of a building. I've done that before in my prior district and and it was really we fortunately had dollars um through the service co-op that helped subsidize part of that um you know that way there. But

120you do see that change and and it's really exciting to move forward on that. But we need to bring more information so you can see why we feel that that's vitally important. Any questions? Looks like we're to the end. Look for a motion to adjurnn. Second. All those in favor say