Board of Education Meeting - October 2025

001Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Staff addition to the dinner. [Music] I'll move to approve the consent agend discussion. here. >> Say again. You got three. >> I have three. >> Yeah. Two concerns of working with UFD 244 patrons. We have none. So with that, let's just go ahead and do some introductions. Um I guess we'll start uh for those of you who don't know us. Uh I'm James Higgins, board president. >> I'm exc board vice president. Be on the board for eight years. Arlington graduate. Families all here. Love >> honeyart. Uh 12 year board member. Same. I grew up here. Uh went to college in state and here I am. >> Ron has a board member. Pretty much born and raised here. Moved back

002and forth a little bit. Um, Christiey's my wife. We raised two girls through the school. They're both uh kind of finishing up on their postgraduate stuff. Um, work for the highway patrol here. So, if you see me, just smile and wave. Um, been a board member for one complete cycle now with a little bit on the front side of that and get ready to go up again for re-election or whatever. So, all right, that's good. I can't top that. So, you broke the ice. Yeah, thanks. Um, I'm Bob and I've been on the board for two years. I work out of the plant and I would be the lone transplant board member. I grew up in DInnesota so moved here gosh 17 years ago now. So I don't feel like a transplant at this point

003but we're at keep showing up. Well, I apologize. I kept mine short. >> You want to tell us your long time ago? >> Let's start in the front row with Sarah. Sarah want >> Sarah. I have been in about four barely over four years now. and I substituted for a little bit um while my son was still in preschool and then accepted the fourth grade math position um and so I've been working with Darla at BES >> my name this is my second year I'm at the middle school last year was the librarian/ reading interventionist and this year I took over the low incident special ed [Music] I'm Zoe Alic. Um, I went to school here till I was about seventh grade and moved away and went to college ESU and taught a few of

004the districts, but now I teach fifth grade. I went to school. >> What was your last name? >> Alt. It was coffers originally. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I'm Sage Coleman. Born and raised here. Went to ESU and now I'm back teaching seventh grade. So >> you know anybody here >> uh Jennifer Winters my family moved here from Mississippi in January and I started as a well was working as a parah because it was middle of the year at elementary school and then I moved over to middle school and now I'm doing special education at the middle school. No, you do. We have anybody else. >> Any other Do we miss any of the staff? >> We're so happy with this. >> We're happy you're here. For sure. And hopefully this is a place you

005stay for a long, long time. Thank you. So recruit you're welcome to stay and get some more education or you're welcome you won't see who you Thank you very much. >> Okay, we have a letter of appreciation from Scott Jeffers. Everybody got a chance to read that? and Scott had planned on being here tonight, but something did come up. He just wanted to convey his thanks uh for the work that uh you know we do in terms of OK Kids and the help and support also with the rec center. Scott and I had a really good conversation. He just is so thankful for the partnerships that we've created over the past 10 years and the working relationships that we have just done great things with whether it's the concession stand at the baseball softball field

006concession stand restroom facility whether it's the turf project them supporting us with us being able to use the rec center at different times when we have multiple events when we're hosting so many things we can't even shake a stick at so or when they need our buildings to do little kids volleyball or practices for basketball or whatever. So he did want to convey his just his his gratitude for our working relationship and he's just thankful that it's uh like that. Okay. Anything else? We have any questions? Any questions on the report? >> I I appreciate you sharing about like uh the church and volunteer programs coming in. We did talk about that um minister alliance um earlier you know they at any time they're welcome volunteers they program a long time like we used to

007have that a long time ago and then it went out with co and um yeah it's getting started back up so it's good >> I don't have anything to add either questions Probably the only thing would be reality you again was a was a big hit. Uh we have a lot of new cars returned for a used car again when they go find out just how much they really don't make. Um which is a really good experience for our kids. And then they hit it again. Um I believe it's their sophomore junior year they go again and have a little bit better understanding of what it really is like. Okay. Anything else from that? Okay. You're up. Okay. Um, at the end of my report, uh, there was two things that wanted to touch base

008and just inform the board about that, um, I'm a pretty big proponent of and kind of explain why. So the first one is in our student handbook, we do not have um a point system for uh behavioral issues. Um and going from August to now and communicating with Mr. spring and I really I really think it's important for to have that vertical alignment going from middle school to high school and being consistent with the way we discipline kids and being consistent all the way from 5 to 12. Um couple incences I've run into at my level with disciplining kids I feel like without having a point system there's a lot more gray area involved versus more black and white. Um, I think having that uniformity between buildings would be really beneficial. Um, at our principal

009meeting last week, um, touched base with this and we are the only school in our league that does not have some sort of uniformity on, uh, either both middle school and high school both have a point system or neither one does. So, I think having that consistency would be really important. So, um the goal would be to start that effective uh January 1st and then um any student that had any discipline issues at this point um they would not attribute any points. It would be essentially a clean slate um starting in January. But um that was that was the plan there was be to um inform parents of that um change to the handbook and I had a link for a copy of it and it's almost verbatim the same as the middle school in

010terms of um following that guideline for point system. So, uh, if anybody has any questions on that, I'd be glad to answer some justification on that one. >> I appreciate that you uh took the initiative to do that and it's only October 13th. >> Yeah. Well, you know, it's uh when when you see something that you can see down the road being more problematic, you try to get on as quick as possible. So, I also thank Mr. spring a lot cuz we we've met and talked a lot about this and we're both in lock step. This is pretty important for both of our buildings to be doing the same in terms of you know keeping it consistent. >> I have a question. Um I don't know if I understood you or not. Are you saying

011we are already doing this in the middle school and you want to keep doing it in the high school or we're not doing it in either yet? >> We're not. It's at the middle school. It has it went away at the high school. >> Okay. So again what Stacy Reed's last year would have been quick historical perspective yeah quick historic historical perspective uh Stacy Reed they bought because they did work with the point system and it was universal 5 through 12 under Jody Grover and Taylor Wilson came in as administrative administration they wanted to go to more towards a restorative justice type model of disciplinary type scenario. Um, uh, you know, Lee and Arianne have talked to me about this. Going back to the point system, I'm very much in favor of it. I support

012their their thoughts and their ideas on this, and I think it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I I like what I see. I personally, to me, if it's in writing ahead of time, I think that's much better. You can't get the judgment call quite as much. And it does have a variety of point levels. slow. I mean, if it's working already in the middle school, it gives you guys enough flexibility that you can make that call. >> Um, I think my only only concern, and I mean, you guys would be able to uh manage that is making sure that if we judge something as a three-point issue with this person, and it's very similar with this person, it's a three-point there, you know. Um, which I have every confidence you guys can do that.

013That's the only place I can see there being any kind of push back from anybody, especially if this is put out to all the parents. ahead of time. So, I like it personally. >> I like black and white where I get that black and white just and then I I had a second one on there too. So, um part of our our BLT initiative with our our staff trying to promote and um give our kids some rewards for doing the right thing and attendance and grades um at the end of the semester. Part of our initiative, and this idea is not something new to Burlington. Lots of high schools do this, but essentially the last two days of the semester, if you look at the bottom of that last page, I don't know if it

014may not be on your sheet or not, but essentially students would have the opportunity to be able to opt out of finals if they have an A in a class and three or less unexcused absences, a B and then two or less unexcused absences, a C and then one. Um, so if they met those requirements, they would be able to opt out of those finals. So essentially, if if there's a student in good standing and has a 4.0 those last two days of the year, they'd be able to opt out of all those finals if they wanted to. And really trying to promote, hey, if you're doing everything right throughout the entire semester, this is one of your benefits. You don't have to be here for finals. You've done everything right, you can take the

015final if you want, only to get a better grade. It can affect it negatively. Um, and this is up to the teacher's discretion in every one of their classes. So the teach the students will have to have these signed off. We'll give them a two week requirement above time so we can plan ahead, communicate transportation, communicate our attendance, and then that way the last two days this semester, if the student has had the opportunity to opt out, they don't have to be there for those finals. And uh really trying to promote, hey, if you've done everything right for a semester, this is your reward the last two days. You don't have to be here. Um communicate this with our BLT team. they're all in favor of it. Um, in the past we haven't really done

016finals before, so this is something that as a staff we're going to have to make sure that, you know, we're working towards and giving them a, you know, a traditional final that we're all familiar with. Um, but this is something that with our uptick in, uh, attendance issues, um, this is just something really small to start with that I thought would be beneficial for our kids. if they've done the right thing for 4 months these last two days of the school year, you could opt out of potentially 1, three, five, all of your finals and not have to be there if you've met those requirements. So, um like to be able to implement that this semester and then in our next awards assembly be able to announce this to our students. It really doesn't change

017anything in terms of what they're doing already. It's just letting them know that if you continue on this course, this is something that you will get in December. So most of the uh classes in the high school don't have a final type exam at the end of the semester. >> It's just a an extended unit exam. So >> okay, chapter 12, we have chapter 12 test. There's no cumulative final. >> So this is something that our school has not done. M um so if this were to go through that would be something in the next 2 months that we would have to work on with our staff is to have an actual final for them to do um so that you know it's worth the students time to earn the right to not have to

018be there. So um there's a schedule on there and the schedule doesn't change. We communicated with our uh cafeteria staff. We would provide one lunch on that day for instead of having two because of, you know, potential not having as many kids there. That's the goal. We'd like to have, you know, if there's 100 kids not at school that day, that'd be great. >> Um so our just our food service staff is prepared to have just one lunch if needed. And then um our staff will still have that following Monday to grade all of these so-called finals um on that work day. So really the only thing left to do would be to get it approved and then announce it to our staff and then the last two weeks of the year get all this

019documentation so the students know which finals they need to be there for and not and then as a staff it's our responsibility to work out those kinks and then uh move forward and see how we can make it better. Craig, how does this affect us getting with student hours for the year? Classroom hours. >> We're still we're still in session, so we're we're still open. >> Okay. So, some students would be allowed to leave be excused absence on those days, correct? >> We're serving lunch, so it still counts as days. >> Okay. So, that was my question. >> Yep. Done the background work on that. Had Craig on it, but I just I think it'd be nice for our kiddos. Hey, last two days you guys have done everything. You You're out. So, >> so

020you mentioned that you talked to the building leadership team. Have you met with all the staff and learned more about this or >> we I've conducted two meetings with our building leadership team and we're going to send out a survey tomorrow to the rest of the staff. Um, but initially, you know, I have nine people on our BLT team. They've conducted inter I mean they they've met with the rest of people on our staff. So, this is some brand just >> they're talking they're talking. This is not a just me doing this and no, nobody's prepared for it. So, our staff has met with other staff members on the side. Our BLT team is strongly in favor of doing this. Um, it is a change because we haven't done a traditional final before. So, when

021I brought this to their table, I wanted to make sure that they were okay with doing this because this is a change for them. Um, and they were all in favor of it. And they, you know, I I told them to talk to their staff members that are not part of the BLT team. And then um yeah, so it would not have gone through if the BLT team was not in favor of you doing this. So this is not a Lee Baldman decision. This is our BLT team and our school think this is the best thing for our kiddos. So >> well I appreciate that in the past this board's kind of harped about truency and attendance and stuff and to see a plan come up. I mean I know we we make phone calls

022and ask about why your kids aren't in school and all stuff. to see a a plan that specifically addresses coming to school. I really I really appreciate that. I think sounds like things will work out. >> Yeah, I like the idea personally. Um it that half day off will have I think it'll have a lot of in some kids heads it'll make a big deal. It'll be a big deal. >> Yeah. Some kids may get the whole last Friday right 4.0 and you're showing up every day or even a 3.0 But you got two essential. >> Okay. Anything else for me? Thank you. You're up. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Uh, just to kind of reiterate kind of what's in my report. We do have our Skyward business uh conversion coming up

023starting on October 31st. We'll be out of the system for a week or two, hopefully just a week. Uh we will be um visiting with all staff because we will have to have paper time cards for uh hourly workers for that week and uh we'll be limited on our uh ability to do requisitions during that time. Um we may have to do some manual requisitions for a week. Um but looking forward to uh getting both systems uh to to one uh platform again uh after being half and half for half a year now. Um and so that's coming up. I did attend our uh annual -ate training today. The new 5-year cycle starts uh with this year 2025 through 2030. uh the per student has gone up from 167 and some cents to uh 2015

02457 cents. Uh so um that's a a benefit. Uh and the program um last year we kind of reported that there was a risk of it going away. Uh the Supreme Court has uh determined that it is not an illegal program. Um, -ray is actually funded by a the universal service uh fee that's on every mobile and home phone. Uh, it's you usually you see it as USF. Um, and so that's how that program is funded. Uh, so it's it's not really uh I mean it is a a fee tax, but it's not a a like a Congress aortioned tax. And so there was a question about that. It's been uh upheld. It's the program's been around since the 1990s um through many administrations. So um it's good to see that it uh is going

025to continue and um so and the funding has actually gone up for the category 2 uh devices. Okay. Anything else? announcements. >> Um, so real quick, I know I usually talk a really long time, um, but the reports that usually I go with our, um, parent numbers, we were down to threeish, maybe four openings, I will say there's well, there's an uptick right now. Um, not a huge tick on applicants. So, um, and when I say up, we're probably at six. I mean, still in really good position for where we usually are, but also still um going to have some holes. But I also have a guest from the middle school. Um Ann Bates is here really to give a quick presentation. She brought this to the high school and middle school Craig and I

026a little while back and um we asked her to put something together for you cuz we thought it you should know more about it. So talk about special Um, so yeah, I was um here to talk about Special Olympics and unifying sports. So, okay. So, um I know I introduced myself earlier, but I don't know a whole lot of people in this room. Um I just moved here last June with my family. My husband Jason is a um 244 product, so he is a Burlington boy, but I am not. Um I grew up in Poliola, but I came from um Iola. I taught 10 years at the high school there. Little incident special ed. Um, and in those 10 years, I helped coach the Special Olympics team there. In my last four years there, I

027took over as the head coach and we created um, a unified sports team within the district there. Um, and I added on there in 2022, we had a very exciting fall. We won um, two national awards for our um, Special Olympics and unified sports team. So, that was pretty exciting for us there. Um but uh just if anybody's not familiar with Special Olympics is a program offered through Special Olympics Kansas that provides um athletic events for people with um intellectual disabilities and then unified sports which is within the Special Olympics world but a different program is where it's basically Special Olympics but you pair those athletes with their non identified peers and they participate and train and compete in different sporting events throughout the year. So, those are like the official quotes from the Special

028Olympics website. So, I'm not going to read all that to you, but that is what basically I'm proposing to you guys today. Um, so I just included kind of the stuff we went over in our meeting with Mr. Marshall and the other admin to present to you guys cuz there were questions they had for me. So, just to have everybody on the same page um as far as coaching staff um in Iola and I'm going to talk about my experience in Iola because that's really all I know and it seemed to work out well. Um so in I was the head coach and I had to get certified through Special Olympics Kansas for the different individual sports we participated in. Um there was a couple other training sessions that I'd have to do and that

029type of thing. And um then assistant coaches which were basically the teachers and paras within the other low incidence special ed rooms were my assistant coaches and they had to do a couple trainings as well not as in depth as what I did but there was training that they had to do. All of the training is provided by Special Olympics Kansas for free so it wouldn't cost the district anything to get everybody certified and trained and ready to go on that. Um I think that's pretty much it. Okay. So for athletes and buddies, and again this is just taken off the Special Olympics Kansas website. So to be eligible to be an athlete, you have to be 8 years old and you have to have a diagnosed um intellectual disability. Either um that can be

030the primary disability on someone's IEP or a doctor's diagnosis. So that is the eligibility to be an athlete. Um, a peer buddies eligibility is basically any student that is interested that does not have that intellectual disability diagnosis. Um, when I was in Iola, I I was at the high school, so I only did it with high school students, but when we were there, um, I kind of did like an application process to get kids that I knew would be do a good job with the athletes and that type of thing. and we talked about that in our meetings that that is something we wanted to do here as well going forward. Um both athletes and buddies would have required paperwork through Special Olympics Kansas. It's basically like a registration form. They athletes would need to

031get a physical done and Special Olympics provides all that paperwork. All you have to do is print and um so um this is a basic outline of how the year would go. It is a full school year uh sport if you will. So the fall is typically bowling and courtroom season. Winter is basketball and cheerleading. Spring is track and field and watching ball. Um and the fall season they do offer through Quaca um unified sports or sorry unified bowling. Um, so all of these events right here are offered through Special Olympics Kansas, but the unified bowling is actually a sanctioned case sport and we did that for when I was the ni. We did that for three years. Um, and it was pretty cool because the athletes like they got a varsity letter for it.

032They got um to put on their letter every year they participated and so buddies and athletes um got varsity letters to put on. So that was really motivating for self to get there. So if we wanted to add that on for obviously for this fall, but if we wanted to add that on for next year, I would just have to talk about all the teacher rules for that program adding it on. Um but that's pretty much it. Um how we did handled practices in Iola, we did all of our practices during the school day, usually the very like last hour and a half of the day. Um, we would like for bowling practice, we rented out a bowling alley in town. We always did the bowling alley in Shenoot because it's a little bit closer,

033but the closest bowling alley here is the one in the center. Um, so we would do that for bowling again in Iola for basketball and cheer. I would just contact the rec director and he would always set us up for some afternoons there to practice for basketball and cheer. And then track was super easy. I just put everybody on the bus and we went to the track. Um, and then for cornhole and botchi ball, that was super easy, too. If it was nice out, we just go take our equipment outside and do it on the front lawn. If it wasn't, we if the gym was available, we took it to the gym and did it there. So, I tried to keep practices during the school day because, and I'm sure it's the same here in

034Iola with being such a small community, most of our peer buddies that were interested in doing it were already varsity athletes. So, they were very busy after school. So, it was much easier to get everybody together during the school day. So, that's why we had it set up that way for practices. Okay. Um, funding. Again, this is what we did in Iola and it seemed to work. Um, we had so Special Olympics and unified sports, we just had an account through the district like any other sport or activity would have. Um, there are no entry fees to go to these Special Olympics events throughout the year. Um, the biggest yearly cost that I had was we would have to pay for the bowling alley to rent it out for practices. So that was really the

035only expense he had unless we were buying like nine t-shirts that year or something which I only had to do I think twice when I was there. Um but the bowling alley is definitely the most biggest expense yearly. Um and then in our meeting a couple weeks ago, coach A was fiddling around on the Special Olympics website and she found some grants that Special Olympics offers for funding as well. So that's always an option you can look into. Um, so in our meeting, uniforms and equipment question came up. So in my we just had team t-shirts that we wore to events, to our bowling events, track and field. Um, the only times we didn't wear them was to our basketball events because the basketball coach and I gave a huge trash bag of old basketball

036uniforms, so we wore those and the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever that they got to wear a Mustang uniform. Um, and same thing with cheerleading. the tear coat to be big to the whole pom poms and whatnot. So that's always an option to borrow things that are in storage if um and then for equipment. Sorry. Um most of the equipment can be borrowed from the PE departments varsity teams rec center. I don't foresee us needing to buy a whole bunch of equipment. The only thing I would think of is specialized equipment. So like ramps for bowling or I know in um track and field they go to the turbo jab. So just specialized equipment for that type of thing would be the only equipment purchases probably. Um this program does require some

037transportation that needs to be provided by the district. Competition events are all day during the school day. So we would leave um in the morning, get back in the afternoon. So that would require some transportation help from the district. And if practices require transportation, we would need that to like to the bowling alley or getting the elementary kids over to the rec center, that type of thing. Okay? And I'm not going to read all of those to you, but I did reach out to some of the admin in Iola um just to have them share their thoughts with you on this program and the impact it made not only on the district but the community of Iola as a whole. Um it was cool for me to see it cuz I was seeing it firsthand

038how it was changing our school community and just the outside community, but it was really cool to hear their thoughts about it. I never really sat down and talked to them about it in my list. So, it was kind of cool to hear those things from them. Okay. And that's it. So, do you have any questions for me? >> Oh, I do have one question. Is there a max age >> for So, the school-based one, it goes until they graduate. So, special ed students are qualified to go to school until they're 21. So whether they graduate at 18 or 21, it doesn't matter as long as they are still enrolled in school. After that, they would then move into the senior program, which that doesn't page out for adults for special needs. >> And it

039would be offered for any student 8 years and older. Here you would include all, >> right? Athletes can be those kids with the intellectual disability diagnosis and then peer buddies could be anybody. >> Okay. >> Else. So when are the practices or when ready to practice? >> Sure. So in Iola what we did so bowling was in the fall. So typically we had always had a bowling event like beginning of November. So I would try to schedule with the bowling alley like the next or the Fridays three Fridays before that event to go and have practice that afternoon. And so same like we always had a track meet in Eerie the first Wednesday of May. So I'd always try to try to get a track practice those few Fridays before that cuz I do have

040to take um whatever events they're in. I have to take scores and send that into Special Olympics Kansas because they division out um the brackets if you will to put kids that are more or similarly abled together. So it's a little more competitive and fair. >> And so two question. So how long are those practices and the peer groups they take out of school also to go to the practice? >> Mhm. So we had I usually did >> maybe like an hour hour 15 for practices. So not terribly long. >> It's going to be bowling is going to be the long because travel time. Yeah. Bowling would be the longest practice we would do. Okay. But are so generally for like bowling just as an example are is it one event that they're going to

041for the year like three practices or is there multiple through that season? >> Sure. So for bowling for traditional special Olympics there's one event for if we decided to do the unified through that would have more events through it but that would only be high school students. That's only four. >> So in that sorry in that case the buddy person wouldn't miss a lot of extra class because it would just be a few times then right >> four days practices >> right? Okay. >> Sorry I apologize for interrupting >> the adins are on board. >> One thing we also talking about was um if we needed coral boards made that maybe Mr. B could help with those or you know just way to keep people involved in helping I think that everybody will latch on

042and really like >> personally I love it. >> Yeah, I think I appreciate you bringing it. I think it's awesome. >> Arian, do you see any I mean for with our athletic funding, do you see any issues with bringing on something of of this size throughout the year? Well, like you said, the special Olympic stuff, they can borrow things from PE or if we need more equipment, we can try to balance that out with PE using it. So, that wouldn't be anything. And then, um, we talked about when they go in, if it's a cacaious sport, we would just, you know, see ask for her to be a new hire and go through that whole process the same way. And um it gives more kids opportunities to participate perhaps >> and and theoretically we could

043do the bowling thing the at the lower level until we know we have some and then move it up, right? It wouldn't be something we'd have to do year one, you know? >> Right. Okay. >> And then that's what we also sorry what we also talked about is we're already mid fall, right? So like what can we maybe realistically do this year? Maybe it's one or maybe it is two full seasons, but like just to get going but get the ball rolling so in the future we can grow it more. Um the other thing that we because and you guys mentioned this earlier in the public comment or the written comments is we have that great relationship with the wreck. I'm sure not only from practice, but if they have supplies and materials or whatever,

044I bet they would also jump on board with this. So, we have to support funding for certain items they need. >> We just had um Miss Becker just took five kids bowling last week and they had a wonderful time. So, I know that they would very much enjoy themselves. >> Has already reached out was to the high school, Mrs. that are in elementary school about kind of numbers and things like that too to get a feel for what that might look like. So >> for transportation would you be looking at a van or a bus? >> I mean it would depend on the number of kids we had and the needs like in Iola I always had students multiple students in wheelchairs so we always had to have the bus that was accessible but um

045it would just depend on numbers and needs truly. I know you're going to take quite a few staff as well. Great. Yeah. So, what do you need from us to say yes? >> I shared I shared with you guys some information in a Friday report that I put out and uh I said we're very much in favor of this and I think we can make it happen after another very good thing we do here. Do we need to take like an official vote or anything on this? Just we all agree kind of thing. Correct. >> Thank you. >> I'm sad a little bit. >> Anything else? patient. Is he here? No, but they again importantly we're going to try and do a report for them once every 3 months and uh Brian submitted a report

046to you as well as uh some information from food service our director Anastasia and uh maintenance director Margarita >> I like hearing in the food uh or maybe it's in your report how many more kids >> eating and where we are at this of overhead 600 meals that the high school and the elementary school served. I got about 250 meals at the middle school. So we serve about 1,450 additional meals districtwide this month. It is amazing. I say I've heard nothing but good things in our house. So it has been a very very positive initiative change for us. And I'll add that we had our video board um uh sponsors, the ones that have sponsored the video board, they came last week during lunch and they um got to choose a lunch from from Opa

047and they are all like this is so good. So even some even the adults that have had >> I like that we had them come and experience that. >> Yeah. And then the overall experience of the whole meeting and them getting to see the board and ask questions about it um was really positive. >> Were they happy with how it looked? >> Mhm. And we're going to continue to grow in how we use it and what it can do and we're still learning and figuring all that out. So >> great. And the middle school has done a Friday pizza. It's 100% um sponsored by OPA and so hey if you're in uniform stop by that's required. So, uh the sends two officers sends two typically to our first lunch and then the sheriff's office sends

048two to our second lunch and they just move around and talk to kids and you know it's just another positive adult in their life. So that's good. >> Yeah. So Ron, you're more than welcome. It has definitely been a very positive switch at BTS for sure. >> Yes. >> Good. >> So, any more questions on transportation maintenance or >> No, I do appreciate you having to put that in there. It's nice to see that. >> Yes. >> We should expect to see this every 3 months. Is that what you said? >> Every 3 months quarterly. Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay. bureau. >> I have a lot of information, but I'm just going to scan through a number of things. Again, organizational reports, the principles building reports, the superintendent's organizational reports. There's a lot of work

049that goes into that data. It definitely takes a village to do all of that uh that data entry piece. So, again, thank you to everybody involved in that. Uh we have a half day staff development coming up on the 20th as well as um a half day of uh work day there. I mean, it's hard to believe this end of the first nine weeks coming up Friday. So a quarter of the year is already over. Um Kissa is a very important part of our accreditation. Again our district accredited not all districts are. So uh we just have uh like I said a lot of things going on in a very positive manner here and we had our recent visit from Jean Rush at KSD in terms of our accreditation and we are doing very very

050well. Um in the event of time I'm not going to show the video here but it's a short video. If you're interested, you can watch it uh that the state department put out in regards to um state assessment test scores and the adjustments that are occurring. Um there's a whole list of things talking about student success and our strategic plan. We continue to discuss that as administrators with our staff. They're posted all throughout our buildings, throughout uh elementary, middle, high school, uh everywhere for uh the things that we're doing in terms of that student success. And uh you know another example of our student success piece is what we're going to do with an and uh the special education um some of the special based program that will be added in there as we get

051that off the ground. And there's just so much happening. We are so blessed and so fortunate to be um here in Burlington and have the things going on that we have going on and we just want to keep making them better and and taking the next step forward in in all areas to to be even better than we currently are. So, uh, one of those programs that we have put in place is the Burlington Early Learners Center and, uh, Lexi Moda and Lacy Johnson are here. We uh went to the county commissioners. Uh it was uh last Monday, I think it was a presentation and uh you see an attachment that you should see that we um that we presented to them in talking a little bit about what um we would like to see

052maybe a little bit of help from them and the county commissioners in terms of our Burlington Early Learning Center because right now we are we're the only center in Coffee County right now that's taking infants. Um there's nobody else is Lebo Waverly Center is looking >> is looking to expand to have infants but that's only adding like six infant spots. >> Yes. >> Um we will have about 16 at least um more on the weight list um come June. So currently right now we are sitting at 53 54 students approximately that develop and then we've got a waiting list of right at 50 about half of those approximately or slightly more are infants and so we can almost open a completely a second senator if you will. you have 50 on the waiting list. And

053so the county commissioners uh we wanted to pursue a if you will um let's say a merit based uh one time only um you know retention type bonus with them uh in terms of being able to help us out because again we that they're helping obviously we're helping them um in the county providing a place for daycare for for people that are employed whether it be the schools for the county or the city or different entities. And so um we we talked to them about this. They um came back to us in the conversations that we had that uh they would be interested in contributing 15,000 if we could come up with the second the other part the 15,000 the other half. Um again talking with again you guys and in the past we have

054not committed any LOB funds or general fund money towards the bel. It is completely run on you know fees, grants, donations whatever you know we we end up with in terms of uh in terms of you know raising money for the for the for the um we try to keep fees low. Um when we do increases in fees, that's when we can usually try to do increases in salaries. Um so again, this is a conversation for you guys like St. Lacy here. Um in terms of uh any questions you might have for them, any questions you might have for me um in terms of you know potentially looking at this um you know as far as a $15,000 contribution towards the milk from the school district. Now, I did they did not say at the

055meeting. They didn't say if the school district doesn't contribute 15, they won't do 15. I They may. I don't know. I'd have to go back and ask them. They may contribute 15, but uh I don't I I'd have to have to go back. We'd have to go back and ask them, but we're scheduled to be on their agenda for next Monday. So, let's see. Lacy, I don't know if you have anything else. Um well, most of what we presented to them is like how we would be able to increase our um incoming income and that would be either increasing rates and we just did that in August um to account for um increasing cost of everything in the economy um operational costs and things like that. Um we are we did have some numbers to

056present them to from um and you guys are welcome to um get this information as well. It's from childcare. Um, and we are currently charging the highest rates um in the area for child care. So, we can't really go too high. Um, so right now we're trying to balance the scales between um affordability for child care in the area cuz we don't want it to only be for the top earners in the county. Um, we want everyone to be able to afford to work. Um and then also on that the other end we pay um 10 15 an hour starting and that's pretty pretty low um also for the area. So um we're just kind of we need to balance that out so we can have good staff retention. Um it is a high burnout

057job for not very much compensation. I wouldn't be able to do my job without my husband's income um simply put. So yeah, so we're just advocating for our staff as the backbone of our operations um and we would love to expand in the future and we're looking at that too but we need staffing to be really solid and um maintain the staff we have first the grants we've come across are not for sustainability we all want some project that we that we're working on expanding but first we have to keep our quality staff that we have right now >> how many staff do you guys have >> 25 part time staff are right at 25 approximately >> is the rate for child care different whether it's an infant or an older child. >> Yes. So,

058um for every but for every inmate spot, we're losing about $300. We did the math um because of the ratios. So, in a classroom with only preschool kids that are like three and up. Um we can have 24 of those in a classroom with two teachers. For an infant classroom, that ratio is 1 to three. Um so, it's 1 to 12 in older ones and 1 to three for infants. So, we're losing a lot of spots um that we could fill in that regard, but if we don't have anywhere for the infants to go in the county, that loses a lot of workers um in the county. And so, I'm not sure what they would do. >> Currently, how many infants do you have? >> Right now, we have two incoming. By June, we will

059have 16 needing care, at le staff and current families um needing care. And then we have Yeah. By June, we'll have turning people away at that point. Yeah, that's current. We don't have room for everybody. >> So, we have a current family and they're going to have >> we'll have to June June. So, I have a spreadsheet. They kind of um I have to input their date of birth um and then it'll calculate how old they will be. Um when they hit a certain age, they have to go to the next classroom. So, when they are one and walking, they can no longer be in the infant room. They have to be in the mixed room or toddler room. When they hit 2 and 1/2, they can no longer be in one side of the

060building. They have to be in a certain classroom for two and a half and up. So, the state requirements make it difficult. And that's why we are not at our like 74 capacity that the building has is because of the ratio requirements for state regulations. So >> if we're the only ones that are offering the infant care >> Mhm. >> could we not raise the input cost to make up for some of that difference? >> It could. It would be hard on the community and I'm not sure if parents would stay home just because they don't want to pay like that much like how much is 220 220 a week. >> And how much is it for kids? >> 195 a week. >> So we're only charging $25 more, but we require a third teacher.

061>> Well, the state requires the state requires a third teacher to cover the same number of kids. Yeah, >> stay home. >> Yeah, most women would probably choose to stay home. Like speaking from experience, um would probably choose to stay home rather than send their to daycare if >> No, I totally understand. >> Yeah. So, we're trying to balance that, but I totally get that. I totally get that you don't want to raise the price above at the same time if it's not sustainable. >> Mhm. And the idea that somebody's spending all day in there with infants and dealing with all the everything that goes with that and making $105 an hour is hard for me to study too. >> So the LO money can you describe Sorry. >> Craig, can you describe LOB like

062would that take away from staff salaries? >> It could. Yes, it would. local option budget general fund are how we predominantly fund staff salaries. >> Okay. How much you have? I mean, >> well, it again, we just have if if that is a direction that the board would want to go, we just have to pull $15,000 out of a general fund or LLB. Most likely LLB. Um we um there are some school districts who have daycarees and they fund the up to upwards of one just recently as I spoke up to 25,000 a year they have out of their general fund or LB to fund their daycare because they see it as reach staff recruitment incentive kids coming into their preschool their daycare they're going to stay with them for K through 12 education and

063they will get the funding from the state this year's 56 $615 for pay for student excellence. So again, that's that's that's some school districts. >> Well, personally, I do support it. I support >> I think we're Yeah, I think we're you know, when we first started this, we said we're not going to take any money out of general fund or do any of that to provide this daycare, >> but I think it's proven to be very, very valuable this community. I would say the kids that are attending the Belk or another form of daycare come into Burlington Elementary School better prepared to be kindergarteners. >> And so I mean that's the benefit of we never dreamed 10 years ago we'd be dealing with little tiny infants at the bulk birthed to age five. We didn't

064have a daycare at that time. So again, um this would this would allow us to support again be a one-time type thing. I'm not a proponent. We we we like you know Bob mentioned the sustainability thing. You know again I'm just I will throw this out just cuz I need to say it but if we didn't have infants the milk would be profitable cuz we would have more kids. But again nobody's taking care of infants. So that's that's important. It is important that we uh help you know help out in in that respect. But if we, you know, some some dayc carees typically start age 2, age three to five because you know the challenges that we face in terms of infants >> and every daycare itself is if you're a daycare center infants is

065they're losing money. >> Well, if you're licensed, but a daycare center is I mean it's not like we're losing money and other daycare centers not in county are making money. are not taking that risk in my care because they see the need. So, >> I mean, you know, I think, you know, times have changed. 2 years ago, we didn't have that. Times have changed. >> I I I am in support of us doing this as a one time fix. My only concern is we're slapping a band-aid on it, right? >> And we're not really fixing the issue. what happens in next year or the year after when we're still making $105 an hour or $12 an hour or whatever and we have the same issue. There's always going to be new babies. >> It's mostly

066just about our staff right now. I'm just appreciating them. >> Yeah, >> we've got a really solid team and they just deserve >> that was my next question. So, what is $30,000 going to do for you >> between 27 people? I think I think so. What we're trying to do is I'm going to say it's going to be a oh a merit based type incentive pay in terms of their mindset to a merit based type um >> thank you retention bonus one time only. It's not going to be on their salary. It's not like they're going from $13 an hour $14 an hour. It's going to be a one time only. It's going to be helpful at Christmas. it'll be a very nice, if you will, type Christmas bonus. Um, and so, uh, we would,

067we would work on the parameters as far as the dollars and cents of it all because it's the first time we've done it. So, Lacy Lexi and I would get together, we figure out full-time versus part-time, do we do, you know, how do we make it happen? We've got we have work to do if we end up uh if this ends up moving forward. So, >> and we do staff evaluations. So, that would play into it. It wouldn't just be a I choose to give you this. staff evaluations, attendance >> based on evaluations and like their record of attendance, their record of like parent complaints, stuff like that. We would bring all of that to the table with this discussion too. >> Well, I'd say you and Christie look at the budget more so than

068what we all can before. I I I I do believe we can, but it's going to take us some maneuvering and there will be, you know, it will >> I think that Yeah. >> Go ahead, please. I think that there might be some places that we can look that don't involve our LO and our general fund including >> so one conversation that Chris sorry I interrupted >> including including the area of gifts and grants for example that balance is gone up a little bit I'd like to look at very closely what things have been what monies have been donated to the school for projects that are complete in them that have had in excess of right I'd like to look at that very closely before we consider taking or >> right we'd rather have it

069and and I'm glad you brought that up the gifts and grants is something that Christy and I have been talking about typically when somebody gives a donation to the school and said they get $500 for reality or $250 for reality we focus that we get that to that that item Since I've been here, gifts and grants has gone up. And I don't know before I got here if there was money donated that just came to the district and said, "Use it as you see fit." We don't know. So, we are going to go back and do a little bit of work and see if we can find, we may not have to use LLB money. We may not have to use, you know, general fund money. If we go back and find do some research

070here, figure out if we have some gifts and grants money that could potentially work in this case. that will help out in this situation. >> Well, I'd say that um you and Chrissy could work toward that and that certainly that would help if the county can give a $15,000 at least since they will cover that 15 at least now and then I don't know if we cover any more than that. >> I would agree with that. I I do struggle that it's a slippery slope with kind of saying that we're going to take money to have a dispenser grant money for development. Um I sat in the room and talked with our uh union members and told them we weren't going to spend any money out of general fund rail on this and I meant

071that when I said it. Um but like Monique said that was how many years ago and and things are changing but we need to keep that conversation going. So I'm going to favor for move forward with finding the matching monies >> and then you guys continue to look for grants and all that stuff. >> I was going to say so and maybe that money has been spent but I know we've raised over 6,000 just then we have another one coming up and maybe that money's already been up. >> If I can go full time I would >> I will keep you guys informed. We're trying to do some work on that. Maybe I could give you some more information on if we have that money and we feel comfortable having a gift and grants. We

072don't want to take money out of gifts and grants that has been earmarked for something else. >> So that's our analysis piece, but anyway, we notice there's that that gifts and grants line has increased a little bit over the years. >> So we have a plan. >> So I will keep you guys informed by Friday. And if you do ever have any um ideas for how to raise money um or anything like that, then we are all ears. Um we are doing a little fundraiser which it is usually only paying the same amount that we spend on it. Um like personally what I spend on it not spending on it. Um usually I'm just donating money to the center. So that ends up working. But we have our family fun night coming up and that's

073usually a big success with how many games we have. We did um we are charging $5 per person. So um if you want to get on our Facebook page, you can share that post and spread the word. Um we have carnival games put on by our staff. We have um I have some friends that bring in hay bales and I put together hay maze and a little corn pit and I have a little toddler bounce castle in my basement. I don't know why I have it. Um so we bring that out. So it's a lot of fun. So any little thing we can do for the community, um we like to try to do just to get out there and get. But our hope is mainly not just to ask for money. Um it's also

074to bring awareness to like the need for child care and how much um that has even though we're meeting a need like the need has grown. Um so kind of keeping that discussion open and um the collaboration with the school and the community and everything. So, >> well, I'd say you guys have done an outstanding job and uh we want you to continue to succeed and do what we can. >> I think when this started that this is a >> we had no idea. >> I mean, this is a problem. We wanted that we could provide this and we knew it would be challenging. We knew it would be tough and we knew it would be money, but like you say, there's families that were served. So, I I appreciate that. And it's it's >>

075the two moms that are here or anything. >> Please don't raise the cost. $2,500 a month. >> Wait, I was just >> getting Roger that. She's 16. >> No, I get it. Like I know. Well, I'm a grandma and when um so it's no secret that my son-in-law passed away of CO and when we had to finally send Hayden to daycare, it was and there I totally [Music] appreciate you guys listening to us. >> Thank you. >> Just very passionate about the little citizens of Yes. >> Thank you for doing such a great job at the at the great job. You guys are more than welcome to stay if you want you to go. We understand you got little kids. >> And the last thing I have on my list here, Kimberly from here. She

076has three. >> Uh yes. Um you have the renewal comparison there, uh on screen and and in front of you, I believe. And um I first of all I appreciate as always uh Trust Point appreciates the opportunity to work with the school district and your administration and your staff and we and uh Angela, myself and Craig did a walk about uh the facilities recently to look at various updates and find out what they are. um and uh trying to find ways to provide uh credits, available credits back to the insurance company because you guys do your diligence, you do your maintenance, you um you do the right things. So, we want to make sure that you're getting every available uh credit on your policies. So with that, um, another little preface is the fact with

077the property, we have really nice buildings, well-maintained, and they're they're of substantial value. And so over the last several years, we've seen those property rates increase dramatically. And also the just the replacement cost of those buildings are, you know, with higher, you know, the the the higher costs of building materials and labor over the economy. Um, so we've had to endure some of those in cost or those increases with your policy as well. Um, this year I'm I I know 10% doesn't seem, you know, like a lot, but this is very low. um from what we're seeing in the industry. Um so your blanket uh rate increase this year is only 10%. And I say only like it's it's major but it is I mean considering the increases that we've seen in the last um

078you know four to you know 3 to 4 years. Um so overall your insure your total insured property blanket uh uh coming Jul uh excuse me July November 1st is a little over $107 million. Um and so with that property rate increase, that is that is probably the most significant increase on this uh overall package renewal this year. Um of approximately 35,000. Um your inland marine is your mobile equipment and it remains stable. Uh the values remain stable. Um the rate remains stable. So there's no increases there. General liability. Um these rates, uh EMC did file, uh a little higher increase in rates, uh per your classification codes for your exposures. um the numbers um that that like your faculty uh your student counts those um those haven't been updated yet but I did get

079those today and so they will be um uh updated before November 1st and but the impact the difference will be minimal compared to what number I have on as far as your renewal bringing for general liability right now. Um, but those will be updated. Wanted to point that out. So, there there is about a $1,300 increase in your liability portion. Um, crime and fidelity, everything remained flat. Uh, no rate increases there. So, we've maintained in that in that line of business. Your commercial auto, we did have some changes of some vehicles. So, there is some additional premiums with that uh newer vehicle. and the uh physical damage coverage that comes with that that the school district has on their vehicles. Um but the auto line did take a 15% rate increase. Um anytime you're um

080you're in the business of you know delivering and transporting children. So that's a livery risk and um even transportation services across the industry is seeing increased rate in that and the Federal Transportation Safety Administration is looking at increasing possibility of the amount of liability that you have. You guys are still fine at a million at this time, but those changes are always fluctuating those costs as as you know changes always fluctuate costs. Um so that's going to be um a little bit uh that's approximately 5,000. Um work comp major major improvements in work comp twofold. Your mod has gone down. Yes. >> Uh.54, which is amazing. >> Um this is a result of risk management, safety practices, the awareness that your employees have and in where they're at. I mean, just being safer. Um so

081the kudos, you know, um that is a testament to your administration, your staff, you know, keeping that in the forefront of of your employees. Um, the other piece of that is that that you as a as a district took on a higher deductible per claimment last year. If you recall, we went from $500 per claimment deductible to a $2,000 per claimment deductible. So you were taking on a little bit more cost in the forefront to also bring those those claims uh to more ownership of those claims and keeping them low from the insurance standpoint and affecting your premiums. So twofold this is this is excellent. This is in we're going in the right direction. We're heading in the right direction. And um as far as um that decrease, you're looking at about $20,000 decrease from

082where you were last year. So that that's that's awesome. I just can't even tell that enough. >> What's the thing? 20,000 that says plus 25% rate increase. earlier today. >> Note to self enter now space or something. >> Yeah, Mr. L would be just, you know, that >> he's former teacher teacher. >> Yeah. Okay. Your linebacker. This is your uh directors and officers coverage. Uh this is your board uh decision making liability which not only extends uh covers the board but it extends your administration staff and your employees to any decision you make and protecting your civil assets as well. This is for wrongful acts so on so forth. Um, this did take a 25% increase this year. Um, that is the highest we've seen in the last three years. They've been taking rate increases

083each year. However, this is the highest rate increase in one year that they've taken in the last three. And that is because more and more lawsuits are challenging public entities. And this this is what affects that line. So, you uh as a board have been affected by some claims of possible wrongdoing that actually uh fortunately have not come to fruition, which is great. But even though those claimants don't understand or don't realize the effects that that has on money down the road, this is what that is. This is what that effect is. And so, um, even though your limits didn't change, that rate increase, your your total loss ratio in this line is over 300% right now because of the attorney's fees that you have actually had to sustain on the principal defense of the

084district. But that's why you have it. I mean, that's why you need it. So I mean and the other uh the other piece to this uh policy is it grows equity every year. I always want to throw that out there because this is a claims made policy which means that you need to once you have a claim known we should let EMC know we it's not necessarily that you that you know any action needs to be taken place. It could be it could be just a lawsuit being filed immediately and action needs to be taken place. But if you know that there's a threat or a a claim coming, we just put them on notice and the and that's the what triggers coverage. So with that that retroactive date that you have on this policy,

085coverage goes back to September 9th of 1992. So again, you still have that coverage equity building every year with this policy. Um, if something does swing its ugly head from back when Ronnie and I were in school in 1993, there would be coverage for it. Or Lucas was in school that time, too. So that is that is a significant one. >> Um, >> I'm sorry. Yeah. >> Sorry. I'm telling you how old they are. Uh well, you me too. Cyber uh your cyber liability policy, it remains stable. This again does cover first and third party limits um and actions uh up to 250,000. That is huge because a lot of your cyber liability and cyber attacks are becoming more and more third party, meaning somebody's core seeing somebody else in order to do the app

086to get it back to them. So, um it's ever exchang ever expanding, ever changing the tactics, the resource, all of it. It's dangerous really. It's scary. Um your liability uh umbrella liability did see a little bit of an increase, but that was because of the rating and of the underlying autog changes. So it it fluctuates with those. And then the property wind hail deductible buy down. This is that separate policy that we buy because of the school district the school buildings themselves have such a a high wind hail deductible of 75,000. And what this policy does is buys that back down. So, if we have a wind hail event, it buys $50,000 per occurrence back down to bring the district to a $25,000 uh uh deductible in that event. And it saves it saves the

087budget that you all have to administer. >> And that's the one that some of the buildings count as more than one building, right? >> Uh yes. >> Yes. The high school is actually uh considered three buildings. um due to fire fire ready doors and ISO prior ISO uh inspections and that one increased five bucks. So I mean little little to nothing but overall you're looking at uh with the the give and take you're looking at 20 you know about $24,000 increase but overall that's only a 5% increase. I have not delivered that kind of good news to any of my municipalities in probably 3 to 4 years. So, you're my first. >> Yes. >> So, um do you is there any questions that you have? I'm I'm able to answer for you. >> We getting

088rebate checks this year. >> I'm sorry. >> Rebate checks. >> Oh, dividend check. I uh the dividend program and I actually attended a EMC connections event um a few about a month and a half ago and um the school profitability is is stable. So we are hopeful on our side but they never they never told us whether they they were looking at that but >> but if it's stable we're we're hopeful. >> One year we got a relay check. >> Yes. way more. Do you know that? When will I know that? When they tell me every day, I will be on your same time every year. >> 15,000. >> Well, and the reason that it generally is later If I remember, I I wish I can remember off the top of my head, but I

089think the last time we received a rebate check, it was right after the first year or so because um by the time they got all claims formulated and and found what profitability was and if it met their criteria for the dividend. Um because you have like like our school district here, uh our expiration date, effective expiration date is November 1. A lot of schools run their fiscal year, which is July 1/3, June 30. Um, and then there's some schools out there that run April to April. And so, um, they have to they have to formulize out the their years and then they get back to us. So, I know that's not really the best answer, but yes, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, too. >> Any other questions? And I take harassment, too. I

090mean, I think I know all of you and you do a good job at it. James up there does, that's for sure. So, but no, if no other questions, I appreciate your time. Uh Craig and Chrissy are amazing to work with and so um and again, thank you for the opportunity that you've given Trust Point to work for you because, you know, we're local. We are trying to sustain here locally just as the school district is. So, we appreciate you just as much. Well, I appreciate the explanation because it's definitely not my forte. So, I appreciate that you made >> you know, whether it's Angela or myself, uh, or even even Janet, our other, uh, my other agency owner, any of us, were we're, uh, always available if you have any questions. We're happy to

091meet with you at any time. >> Thank you. >> Good job, everybody. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you. >> And you're more than welcome to stay too, but if you like this is just one move on it now. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to member board. Anybody have anything? >> So I do. Sorry. So uh I'd like to just briefly mention about the school foundation. And we kind of took a we slowed down a little bit this summer because we were looking at doing a golf tournament and then the golf course was closed and there's some change in administration. Anyway, so uh since then since school started um Sarah Rice and I met with all the administrators that was running high school about needs and wants because we wanted to find out what

092they needed and wanted not what a foundation would want them to ask, right? And so we did that and then um we're going to either meet with the foundation group in the next two Fridays. So I sent out an email to see when those people could meet. Um and so we're moving forward with that and um some examples. This is just briefly um the middle school mentioned the mentoring program. Elementary these are just examples. Uh funding for the elementary was um funding going forward for 21st century. um the high school talked about um how if if it was like a staff applying for funds, the flow of that, what that looks like. So, we have multiple and there were lots more conversations obviously um and we just talked about some fundraising ideas and that type

093of thing. So, we are moving forward and going back. So, we're applying the we have the paperwork filled out for the 51c3 and that's huge because if you want to make a donation to be tax deductible and we want that to happen, you know, for all of our groups and our students. So, um we're getting excited about that. Then the other the other thing I wanted to ask about was it was uh so I had asked Craig about um when there's a districtwide email not like all emails but like when there's like a districtwide email I asked if there would be a way for board members to be on that. So, an example that I can give, I'm not trying to get in any administration or any of that, but like when we have an

094opening for a teacher, like I had someone send me a message and they're like, "Did something happened at the that we have an immediate opening for something?" I'm like, "I don't even know what you're talking about." So, it's like things like go out to all the school staff that would be like, "There's an opening." Well, I don't ever know like I can say there's an opening or I can't say there's an opening cuz I didn't know it was put out schoolwide. That's it's not about being in all the school emails. It was just like if the whole district gets an email about something like if I as a coordinator could be a part of the email just because when people ask me a question I don't to be quite honest I feel like I look

095stupid sometimes. So it's like I don't know what you're talking about because I don't know maybe I do from Friday nights and I can't say it or maybe I don't know how did you know and they're like I got an email like oh well I didn't even get an email. Those are that's just something and Craig said maybe it's more about it. It wasn't about just school emails. was just like when it's a district. >> Yeah. Me personally, I don't know anything else. Just just what I do now. Um if someone asks me and I don't know, I'll tell them I don't know and I'll call her and be like, "Hey, what's this? Can I talk about it?" >> Right. >> That's how I know it. But if I I don't know lots of I'll

096just be honest, but no problem. And I don't really have to know. Well, so it is just hard for me to be like, if I knew there was an opening on Friday in the Friday notes and I know I can't talk about that, but then all of a sudden it's like, well, what's the opening about? I'm like, and they're like, well, I already know cuz you have an email, but you're a board member and you don't know about it. >> I think there's an expectation sometimes from the public that we know everything, but it needs to be clarified that we don't. >> Oh, I agree. >> We we get things as a board meeting. I I don't expect to find out everything every day, so I ain't got time for that. Do you think that

097there's districtwide emails? >> No, I'm saying I don't have time for emails every day, >> right? >> But if you can send me the the particulars when I need to know, that's that fulfills my statement. But that's just me in this social just if uh Craig puts it in your note, I think you could ask him if it's uh from the public information. So then then that would allow you to share that. So to say, hey, cuz I think a lot of times we probably may have that in Friday notes, but not he maybe has not emailed all the staff yet. Maybe has but at least then we could just ask him back say is this public information yet or is at least the staff so that I can say hey there's nothing in the

098fifth grade. I had several people come to me this week asking me questions and I'm like there's a board meeting on Monday and I'll be back to you after that. >> Yeah. >> Cuz that's when we get our our full film information. >> So that's I think it'd be difficult to filter up what you without you asking what you want the emails on. I mean that's I mean you see what I'm saying like I have people ask me questions like I have no idea. It's either on >> it's just like the old districts. It's just hard to know. Like I feel like as a board member I don't know things. >> Yeah. >> But everybody in the district knows it but I don't know it. And I'm like uh >> to be honest with you

099I think that's fine. >> Um >> I think it's embarrassing. >> Well I mean you know that all staff needs to know that the back room of the high school needs to be locked. I mean there's I can't imagine >> no idea that >> I know but I'm saying that how many official emails do you send out? >> Me? >> Yeah. I try to keep it to one a day. >> So, I'm not saying the high school. I'm saying like an all districts email like we have an opening in fourth grade. >> Anybody can apply. >> Well, then someone's asking me that and I'm like, >> so don't really know. >> So, to me, the question there is if we send that to out district and it's a fourth grade opening, we say refer to

100Darla Longer if you have any questions. So that should be that chain of command that should occur. If somebody has a question about their opening, they should talk to Darwin. If it's a sixth grade opening for math, I mean that just >> so you just want to be on the distribution list for all district. >> Yes. It's not about administrating. It's not about go to dollar and ask. It's just because someone said, "Let me see the email address." So then they have to forward me the email so I can decipher what the email is like. Anyway, it's not worth it. >> Is that something that could happen? >> There could be a a a uh board member mailing list that the board members could be added on to the the the USD one. You would

101you would get a lot of wow a lot of a lot of emails a lot of emails that you would not need, >> right? You might may also get some emails that um I guess as a board member perhaps you have a little bit more right but you know it may be um you know to all district you know these stu two students have been having problems and >> I know but that's that's that's the type that sometimes that sometimes goes out Yeah, this week like after school I mean like I know what you're talking about but like I feel like there's more like you would probably be like after you got started cuz I'm even like on the office like delete you know >> I don't there's a lot of stuff that even I

102don't need. So I feel like you would say >> perhaps you know but perhaps if it's something like an opening you know it gets mailed to all district staff and board members >> is that what's really got >> multiple times yes multiple times >> and I'm like I don't even know if I can say that because it'll be like well you you know then it goes the other way. Well you were told no and you can't say anything. Well, I know we can figure that out. >> I think that's the fine ass to know what openings we have in a district that we are governing, right? >> I mean, that's exactly what I want. That's not that >> I think it's just that >> who staff and really what we want is just the >>

103you said the keeper of the openings. Could you add us on to those? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> If if you could act us on to the ones about those ones, then I think that would resolve a lot of what you're asking for. >> That would be great. >> I mean, like, you know, somebody had an emergency. I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm sorry. Like, no. So, I don't feel like that's very important for not knowing something. I'm like, I mean, I easily could have said no. We should have said fourth grade opening for this year but I can't even answer that because I don't know that point. >> So a lot of times those are also posted already on our rep track when I when we do those >>

104I know that if you were to get a question >> right >> then track would be another uh place for you to look down I have for I mean forgot sometimes we just post internally. >> Mhm. Well, not for the website that it would take hours. >> I guess instruction instructions on how to get to the open and I mean I get the the whole want to know what openings we have because that's that's what people ask about and stuff, but >> I there definitely shouldn't be like board member sensitive information, right? Yeah, it's just a clear on that or >> Okay. Um, anybody else I'm sorry, what is the name of the foundation I can tell people? Oh, Burlington academics or >> Okay. People ask we got a foundation academics and yeah send it

105to me. So I >> love I have one thing is so u bold uh trade hosted bold leadership which is superintendent from around the state and some principles and stuff around the state that they came earlier this week. So I uh came up and attended that just got to meet those guys and uh and kind of show off the district and uh so Craig took around showed them the ball fields and the school and all they were quite impressed and it's always nice to show off our stuff. So uh what was the turnout days? It's about 35 total people. They were again building principles, assistant principles that Craig and I kind of went through. We worked on leadership class. This is a whole different one. Anyway, my presentation focused on that uh partnership piece that

106we've created around here with the rec center, city, county, economic development, uh different gifts and grants on how to make projects happen without uh you know looking at general fund or capital outlay. >> So I did tell Craig that he had one of the guys presented from Kelly from Hyper Sandler >> Hyper Sandler that we had before that we're going to do a funding for our deal. uh he presented to those guys kind of tell them opportunities for funding how funding went uh was really more in depth than what we kind of had and I asked Craig if he could set that up and he come present it to the board so he kind of see it different ways to fund things and all that stuff like you know like he said the common thing

107what we did is lease purchase for the ball fields that's kind of a common thing now that they're doing we kind of did that early before >> but uh that's the way a lot of people are doing stuff now. But uh so I asked him if he could set that up and that guy come speak. I don't know. He spent probably spent 30 minutes or so. That's that's all I have. Okay. U contracts approve pointless here. proposal for an activating just working. >> So you have some information there. We discussed this at the last month's meeting. Um again uh want to focus on again the the the the focus that you have here is on what we need to do with the inactive accounts. And again, that's the I say that that's the that's the

108focus here. It in terms of being athletic or activity, it it's it's truly it's an activity account. And that is in my in my opinion the high school administration in this case it's their determination on how the funds get divied out accordingly based on the needs of the different activities whether it's theater band uh forensics uh you know scholars bowl you get the idea um I don't know if you have questions or comments or discussion in terms of for Lee and Arianne or myself and Christie No, I I think we did talk about that, but somebody mentioned something about your mascot. >> That was just another option like it wouldn't be just to go to the football team. Something that would help a wider majority of our students. So it kind of gets a spirit,

109you know, talking about pushing the wild cat thing, but So is our mascot. >> It's just older. I mean, they still use it. >> Does it want to have a fan? >> I'm not sure. I haven't tried a couple years ago. still gets pretty I want to and I understand what you're you're saying it's not so much about the the money >> it's more we're talking about the inactive account what we're going to do with those inactive account funds in terms of you know getting those to where we can use them for things like that exactly >> so I know I was the one that got stuck on the wording of this last time and a lot of that was explained to me after the meeting. I talked to Christie and she she uh worked

110through my ignorance and uh got me back in line. So, I do appreciate that. And uh I see that you guys did change a little bit of wording in there, too. So, I I personally I liked the idea last time. I just had problem with a couple of the words. I am 100% good with it now. So, me too. So, thank you for being patient with me. >> And I think it's just again about cleaning this up so it doesn't happen again. So, this isn't presented to you in the future. Taking care of it now. >> I'll make a motion. >> Good. >> Yep. >> I'll make a motion to approve the proposal presented regarding inactive activity HS. >> Second. somebody saying okay motion any discussion discussion >> thanks for putting all that data together

111for us >> and come up with ideas and you guys will be good stewards of it in the future and we'll just not have to deal with that sweet >> so I I just like to say I appreciate both you guys obviously you're new in position and obviously that's going to changes will happen I appreciate the things that you guys have proposed so far I mean it's just a few months in and they're good ideas and they're things that need to be fixed and I think it's real easy when you've been in position for too long to you know glaze over some of that stuff. So I like the fresh eyes really appreciate that's not a knock on the people that have been doing a very good job. [Music] Okay, next item in the agenda

112is construction manager risk CR agreement from town construction LLC. Uh there's a lot of information in our Craig just kind of summarize again. We talked about it last month, >> right? This is again we should have done this um earlier when we were actually going through C process for the possible Burlington Elementary School bond issue. Um basically as you found out the county board wants to be a partner with you and wants to work with you in the future, whatever that may be. We don't know exactly what that's going to be. Is it a rerunning a bond issue of a different sort of the project? Is it is it a renovation of the current bees? Is it an add-on renovation of the current bees? They have spent time since the last time we had our

113meeting with the the um um board retreat. Thank you. The board retreat. spent time with Darlin, myself, Darlin, Darling and I are going to meet with Margarita and go over some information they need to start getting some projections of actual items figures for you know safety security doors with the the shatterproof type industry standard glass. What else do we need to do in terms of HVAC and improvements and and so on so forth and flooring that we're putting together what the dollars and cents that I shared with you in writing notes about we're putting together what it's going to cost to do that addition renovation. So basically this agreement it's it does not it does not there's no expense to you at all by September 30th 2026 it will expire. Hopefully, we'll have an idea

114of what we want to do before then in terms of what the future of bees might hold. But, uh, I would strongly suggest, like I say, that you continue that partnership with Mac Gordon. They've done nothing but, you know, try to help us, work with us and and and try to make, uh, you know, the project happen and I think they're going to continue to look at being, you know, good partners for us as we move forward in in whatever direction we move forward. So, any questions on this? It's probably a good idea so we don't have to start over at square one if we're going to whatever we do. These guys already kind of have kind of know what we're talking about. Correct. >> Yeah. I I'm uh perfectly fine with signing this. Where

115is that expiration date at? >> You'll see it at the bottom that right above the attachments. It says in CM until the agreement expires on September 30th, 2026. Is that last paragraph of that narrative? Are you talking in the contract? >> No, I'm talking about the information, the public content information. >> Yeah, I see it there. I see it there, but we're agreeing to this agreement. Shouldn't that date be in the agreement? >> It is. I think it is an agreement, but uh they pulled it out. >> I'd have to I'd have to go back and find >> what you said was September or something earlier. >> September 30th, 2026. >> What's the number? Just >> Okay. Okay. It's on page 10. Thank you. >> What's the number? Just so it's out in the air.

116If we do not do the project, we will owe these guys the money. >> No, no. >> Who's the company that we will architect owe them money >> if we do not do final project? >> At some point in time, if we don't move forward with a project with Burlington Elementary School, there will be a bill that comes due from them. Again, I'm I'm just I'm estimating it because again, I don't have it, but it's in that $60,000 range. >> That's the number I have on. >> So, there will be a bill. Now, GMCN is holding off because they want to be your partner. They want to continue working on this no matter what direction it is, whether it's an add-on renovation or just a renovation or a different bond issue for a new elementary.

117Yeah. Having said that, there'll be a bill for them if we don't move forward in some way, shape, or form. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Good question. >> Motion approve construction manager risk agreement will be on board the construction LLC second. Any discussion? Hearing none. I don't make executive session bad things. Make a motion to accept the retirement request of Lynette Basil with regret the end of the 20 2526 school year. And that has 35 years. I'm sorry that's not correct. Sorry. So then I'll say LZ been an elementary school teacher for 35 years. All we do is teach you. >> That's awesome. Motion second discussion. >> We will miss Lynette. Wish her well in the future. Second. >> Can I say something about everyone? >> Yeah. >> So the year she was hired,

118we had a large number of students in the role and she got hired three days. There was an opening and my grandma Lynette is Lynette's sister is married to my uncle. Sorry, that's a bit of personal information. Anyway, my grandma called Lynette and said, "Hey, I saw an opening in the newspaper." Lynette interviewed, applied the next day, was interviewed and hired 3 days before she started. I'll move to accept the retirement request of the credit marshall with regret at the end of the 2025 2026 school year. >> Motion second discussion >> 35 years. [Music] to do it. I'm saying no. Motion carries five. >> That's what I was saying. I want to vote no. >> I guess I was like what? >> Well, get not accept this. >> Okay. Motion to accept request of Diane

119Marshall with her at the end of the 2025 2026 school year. Second discussion. >> Yeah. You say mot to mention the 28 years of coaching education D put in. Thank you. Make make a motion to accept the retirement request of Genie Salana with regret at the end of the 2025 2026 school year. Motion second with discussion margarine had 29 years. >> I tried >> at the end of school. >> What's that? >> Say that one more time. >> She had 29 years at the end of 25 26 school year. And then uh mention here she was also with the cuff finish special education club as a pair professional for 10 and is completing her 19th year as a special education teacher and she is a learning graduate out of my class. >> Long time ago

120motion carries 5. Um well now that we approved in retirement we have just been search so fortunately we have a lot of time I mean I don't think so I mean we have more time than we had before I'm already seeing some stuff on social media superintendent >> there is a lot of think I think we need to move on this quick there is a lot of that's why we're talking about tonight so I'll I'll say when we had Craig when we hired Craig We had my first son in Jacobson. Um I don't know if they've changed their policies or not, but we did not choose I'll tell you why we did not choose KSB. Because to be blunt, they have an Excel spreadsheet and they pick who you interview and you don't get to

121see all the applicants or their resumes. They pick the four or five they want you to interview and that's what you do. We pick from those five and they have a spreadsheet of superintendent and openings. Greenbush we didn't wasn't an option so don't really know much about that but McFersonen and Jacobson we were able to see all of the applicants that applied and we were reviewed all of their resumes and we chose who we and I liked that the best just changed their policy or not. I think you have different field service specialists with KD that were then where they weren't here 10 years ago. You're have to make that decision. I have contacted Justin Henley and Dry Brown to see if they're still with McFersonen Jacobson. Destry is not Justin. Yes, they'd be interested.

122They said if you want a request for a proposal from McFersonen Jacobson or you decide you want to go directly with an entity, a certain company, you sure can do that. Again, the third option is you can conduct your own superintendent search and do that independently. I would not recommend that, but that is uh there are some there are some districts that that are doing that. >> I think Monique's right, but I think maybe we cuz if they have changed it, you know, cuz it's 10 years ago, maybe we do get an RSP from both of those and see what they offer. >> See if they offer any different. >> They're all the two or the three and >> why not English if we're doing it that if they weren't available last time. I don't

123well I agree. >> Well, they just started like say last year and this year has kind of been what they started to get involved in. >> The the other thing they did was they met with us and said what are you looking for and then that they created a pamphlet to promote what we were looking for. Like they met with us, they created it and they sent it out. >> This is the nutrition. >> It was regional, not just state. Um, I think I think >> with the two of you being like the only ones with experience doing this, I think it is a good idea to look at two of them, but just keep in mind the experience that we got last week. I mean, we didn't we didn't the reason we didn't do

124KSP was because of that last time. We didn't get to see all that. >> Why don't we ask both of them and then >> we just ask for an RFP from both of them >> and like Ron said quickly. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I'm sure everybody that's getting asked asked find the best person that's going to be here forever. >> You shouldn't have to put anything together. They should have it ready. Right. >> Right. You do not have to ask for an RFP. You can um >> we just ask >> you can actually contact probably to ask them what their process is and then you have experience with Jacobson. So we could also ask them if it's the same personal process, but it would be a matter of phone call together an >> correct.

125>> Yeah. I just we need to call both though cuz if we're assuming KSB might have got better, we have to assume that Jacobson might have got worse. >> Right. I'll do that. motion. >> My suggestion actually would be to wait to make this motion, but you're looking at a special board meeting >> to determine which one. >> Question. >> Is that a meeting that we can have the information mailed to us ahead of time cuz if it's a special meeting, we're going to have a bunch of calls. >> Yes. And I think that would you would get the information. We want you to process it ahead of time so you can see it and then do a special need. >> Can you make sure it's okay? It won't be a short quick turn. Like

126if we say we got this information on Thursday and you have Friday's call in, we want to give you time to process the information. >> That's kind of forwarding. I don't know what the interviewing process looks like if it's going to be like maybe a remote if someone's far away like we have to do a teams call or whatever for more board more members on teams. kind of what I'm asking is Craig, can you have something set up for us to where we present as best as we can like and I know not digging into anything but I want like us to be like oh hey Craig tomorrow we have an interview with somebody that we really really like and you're scrambling like to find the technology and a backdrop or whatever. just kind of

127a can you get what I'm saying? Like the the best possible look we could have for someone that might be remote, >> myself included, cuz I'll be if I'm at work or whatever. >> So, we went through this before. >> We went through this before. We asked for the names of the people that applied and we screened those ahead of time and looked at those and so I don't remember how many did. We all screen number. >> So there was a list of 25 about 25 applicants and we picked five, >> right? >> And then we've interviewed one every single day for an entire >> Was it just the interview committee or did we have it >> till 11:00 at night? >> Yeah. >> I mean, was it just the interview committee that picked five

128though? Was that right? >> She said one a day for five years. >> I know it was just the interview committee that picked the five. No, the board. No, the whole board session actually. >> Yeah, I did not. >> It just got you. >> Yeah, it was very it was all the spreadsheet and if they had experience and if not or what they had experience >> very good. Then we had all day interviews actually. So we had Tim Martin was actually the person that >> y >> took them around from 5 to 11 at night. And when we call Creston called you, right? Or you called Jackson or something. >> It was Yeah, I know your number was called past 11:00 at night. You know, there's no good things that happen after 11:00. Except in

129this case, >> except in this case. >> So, I'll get those information. >> Do we need to make a motion to table this? >> No. >> Yeah, we're not voting on it right now. to contact the superintendent for a motion to table this item until you have a chance to contact KSB and my person make a motion to table this agenda item until James has enough time to contact >> first Jacobs and KB regarding the superintendent for search process. >> Got it. >> Second discussion. >> Don't listen to those guys. All right. Submit your vote. James, thanks for making those motion. Yes. Okay. Am I doing this test? >> I know. Do it again. >> So, um, now that it's public, that's what I was getting asked about all week and I'm like, I'll find

130out on Monday. Yep. >> So, cuz I I couldn't remember if it was I know that some things go out districtwide, but that's not public in my mind. That's >> employees retired. Did you guys this agenda? >> There we go. >> Motion carries. >> Totally right. Um if they was I'm just I'm on the careful side. Yeah. >> Closing. Anybody say, thank you for the last two years. It's been up, it's been down, it's been sideways. I got on board on your side of third year, so I appreciate all. I appreciate what you guys will for a little while longer. >> I got work to do. I got a lot of work to do. So >> you guys are my job. It was my job. >> It was It was stressful for all major.