Board of Education Regular Meeting - February 24, 2026

001All right, I'm having connecting my Wi-Fi to my computer. So, I'm going to be using my phone. >> I need a motion to approve our agenda for our meeting tonight on February 24th, 2026. Teresa, can we just verify she's got the recording up and running first before we go too much. Are you good? >> Yep. >> Melissa to the test. The first solo and we've thrown every technical >> by Phil and a second by Nicole to approve the agenda for the board meeting of February 24th, 206 by voice. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. We have consent items. Um, so we have approval of minutes from our board of education meeting on 29 26 approval of of support staff retirement and net vaguely special education aid at Abraham Lincoln Elementary.

002>> Well, Annette, my goodness, Annette's been there's worked in the district as longer than I've been. I was actually working on some stuff today. Didn't look it up, but when I say 27 years, >> that's amazing. And so I just want to make sure we recognize that and appreciate that is incredible service for our district district and um incredibly appreciative of of all she's done for us and wish her well in retirement. Approval of staff hiring. Bailey Whartoner is a Northside educational assistant. Approval of staff resignation. Kennedy Edgars, FACS teacher at the middle school, approval of support staff resignation. Ruth Mau, special ed aid at Northside Elementary and Robert Mau, custodian at Abraham Lincoln Elementary. Approval of and acceptance of community donations to backpack putties. Donald and Bonnie Barker, $50. Maryanne Johnson, $30. Barbara Betok

003grant $600. very appreciative of of that community support and the community continuing to support um the backpack and thanks to ADK that was that was a grant that they had to write for >> national or state organization to to get >> looking for a motion to approve the consent >> motion by making a Second by Nicole to approve the consent item as presented by voice vote. All those in favor say I. >> I don't believe we have anybody here for public comment but if there are please let me know and not here so we don't have a student leazison report. Um, I do know that Shrek is playing this weekend. So, if people are considering a high school music, it should be fantastic. >> I'm sure there's lots of other things. >> Girls wrestling. >>

004Oh, girls wrestling at state. Absolutely. We have three girls wrestling at state. That is a big deal. >> Um, so I'm sure she talk about those. And if others have other things, I think during the sportsmanship and updates might be a good time because I'm sure I'm missing lots. make sure um new business. So, we're going to get go on to the financial audit presentation. I'll turn over the Google meets while Ron's doing that. Obviously, our plan was to have the presentation up on the big screen. Given our internet challenges, that's not going to work. So, what we're going to try and do is put it up on the laptop. Hopefully, the volume will be loud enough that you all be able to hear. If at any point it becomes too problematic and we need

005to pivot and and push it to another meeting, we can certainly do that. But our hope is that given we've got this lined up that it'll work. You see something good in I have to be here for you. >> Did you just screen. >> There he is. >> Look at that guy. >> Let's just do that. Really spare everyone difficulty of that. Teresa, is there a process where I recommend we move on to the next agenda item while we figure this out? >> Yeah, I was going to give him a minute and if we don't see him, I was going to recommend that we just switch switch two items because we definitely have people here. We'll give him a minute and see if he joins. I wonder if you know our time frame maybe they

006weren't even like >> No, we told them they were at the start. I think it was our when we messaged them at 623. You heard anything wrong? >> No. So we can jump on >> um I guess for me make a motion to reverse the order of the agenda. Um because we already accepted the agenda, but I think we make a motion to re items. >> Make a motion to move past item 7. >> He says he's on Joe, but he's in the waiting room. >> There you go. Never mind. >> You set it up. I don't know if I'm not seeing anyone. It's not Very slow. Okay. So, I think we will do is we'll move on. So, I Mike made a motion to to reverse 7 A and 7B. I'll give him some

007time to get on if he is in fact connected. >> So, looking for a second to to reverse items 7 A and 7B. I'll >> second. by Mike, >> second by Steve. All those in favor by voice, I'm just writing. Sorry. All those in voice by voice say I >> nay. >> All right. So, we'll go on to the building project update. So, we do have um people here tonight to talk about the building project update. So, I will turn it over to you guys. >> All right. Um just a few things. um update. I don't know if we have drone footage and that's not probably TV. So, I'll just kind of speak to what's changed. Um really, it's full speed ahead. >> I'll get this organized in a second. >> Full speed ahead towards

008finishes really. So, the classroom wings are looking pretty good with light fixtures and ceiling tile and flooring minus the corridor flooring. Otherwise, classroom done. Um, we're working focusing a lot on the art center right now. So, we've got everything painted up high and we're working our way the drywall clouds in there, drywall finishing, work towards painting that, start working our way down and get the lips out of there so we can start building steps that form the ceiling. So, that's kind of where we're headed now. One of the biggest like things that has changed or not physically changed but we we've entered into the punch listing phase of the project which is an important milestone that's where we basically the point section of the building finished it as if you know almost wheelchair and desk

009teaching in that space. So we had that walk through there but I know was there um last Tuesday and what I understand it pretty well about an hour and a half walk through I think for about 14,000 square feet about 215,000 ft to go. So it's kind of first step but a good first step I believe. So that's that's kind of a really important milestone to hit. Um we're getting things kind of lined up for when the weather breaks here to hit hit hard with the site work um after the frost comes out. So we have had our fencing company already come and uh start putting some of the fence posts in by the outfield fences of baseball fields and softball fields. Um scoreboards went in, scoreboards got damaged. One of them got hit by

010accidentally. It was just the uh sponsorship panel which will get fixed. It's not that big of a deal. But scoreboards are up in the baseball field complex progressing well with the concession building of those. That's pretty much it as far as anything to add. dealing with my auditor. But um >> I think the you know some of the cool things I mean we went through the uh the last week you guys got much of the M room cleared out and u you know getting that first base coat of of paint in there and in the ceiling is pretty neat. And then uh one of the hallways like heading back towards CTE you've got some of your first uh house concrete floors down. So those are those were new additions or new that I saw. And

011so obviously we're at the point now where in the pack and you know soon equipment where things move pretty quickly since last time we visited. So it's like all done. >> I was in in the building today and bleacher install has started. So that's pretty exciting. All that starting to come together last Friday. I see the on the camera I saw perforated metal the front will go on has now been completed >> pretty much. >> Yeah. So latest update. So the end of the month, um, which is fine. I mean, it's we've been dealing with it and we understand what they're up against. Right now, they've taken overall full responsibilities of taking the waste and pumping it, which we don't have to worry about anymore, which is nice, but they're still waiting on now. The

012hiccup, I think, is the generator. I'm kind of going off script here a little bit. Just kind of, you know, generally know what's going on, but not the details. There's something with the generator that's holding things up, but I I had here like at the end of probably I think it's going to be in March now will be when they're shooting to have everything running to where it would pump out of the wet well up to 31st Avenue. So >> the wet well is now >> Yeah, well in back don't getting it pumped from there. >> I'm not exactly sure the details. I know the pumps were the big deal and then that kind of went away. I know it's a generator. >> Yeah, I think it's the generator alsoffects the size of the building.

013So then after we submit their plans for their building is there anything related to that? So great, they're taking over pumping responsibilities. Is anything related to the lift station, the pump going to prevent us from getting occupancy for the building? >> We have we we broach that topic a little bit with the the city talked to the building inspector and it was one of those things where just kind of wait and see type of thing. Sound like it would be okay, but kind of push that and that for a little bit. It's probably time to re-engage that discussion, get some real feedback. Yeah, that has been my biggest concern. You know, we can get these temporary pumps in. And I know the team over there at you know, KNS, they want to get us going

014too. So, I know that there's they're frustrated with some of the struggles that had some talk too much about it. Um, I don't know all the details, but um yeah, sorry. Um, do you think it by the end of March is feasible? >> It's feasible. I think Yeah, >> but we talked about I don't know if it's going to happen. Maybe open >> and be nice to have it hooked up. Yeah, >> we've talked about that through the plan. So, basically, we're not going to light up all of our, you know, 50 flush bathrooms, but we'll we'll light up our two u family bathrooms that are there. And the capacity that's just in the system itself right now that we're using has more than enough capacity to allow that to happen. >> It's still an

015issue of occupancy though. We can't get occupancy. We Am I wrong? >> Oh, I Yeah, I need to talk to the building inspector about how long that that's more like more like just big tour, I think. It's two things, right? We're kind of doing it's not the ribbon cutting open house, but this is kind of like the education briefing or whatever. So, um, to bring up a good point, I should probably run that by the building inspector, make sure everything's okay, but we're not going to get occupancy by that by that March 26 days, unless it's some type of temporary event type occupancy, which I've never really had to do that before. Um, so you bring up some of the points. Let me get get back to your point on that stuff. >> I think

016it's going to be okay. I just never realized, but There's no way we would have been able to get final with final fire alarm, fire protection, all the building systems up and running by that March 26. >> That would be surpris We don't have any RSVP system. It's really an open call to the community. We would anticipate that there community members that are interested in it. probably >> well things and kind of just the plan was just kind of get in the comments have a little space to go out on a walking track and build everything off. basically commenting and then you can step into a wing look at classroom step around walk up on the stage not that we thought we could kind of contain things for both you I understand right we're we're

017hopeful and and you empathize with them for having issues, but the the reality is that we are concerned about protecting the district and I think we need a risk mitigation plan that tells us options if they are not going to have it ready by the time we need to have our occupancy is until the end of April, >> right? If it's if it's well, they're hoping March then that tells me that we could be into April. March turns into April really quickly and really easily. >> Yeah, it does. You're right. Absolutely right. So, let me I'll work on getting some meetings set up with the city. I'll probably roll and and Ryan in as needed. I don't know the answer, but I'll certainly share that. >> No, I understand. I absolutely understand. the ball's been

018it's been a moving target ever since it started with them. So, not saying it's them, it's just in the circumstance, right? And I'm sure they're feeling the exact same way, but that end of March is a heartbeat away from the end of April. And so, yeah, let's put together let's work the system as we have it together if uh the we could get a TCO probably pending resolution um because we're not looking at as an operational building just yet practically I mean we'll have people in it will be doing some things and we'll probably put some operational limitations to how we use the building for a little bit but yeah >> and we've done that before we've done that type things >> nobody's sitting at a desk actively working on a But they're moving in

019deactivated move into the building. They usually are okay with that. >> I think that's fine as a mitigation plan, but we need to make that. >> Yep. >> We don't have an alarm at the middle school. So, >> well, I I can see it. >> So, I was going to ask you, are the white strokes at the middle school the reason for all the sirens? >> Yes. >> I I have the perfect angle here. We're going to do all the things. >> So, someone hit the fiber line. We have no internet and we're struggling with our >> Did you hear anything? >> Well, we want to wrap this up. Can then we do have Brad for when we get through this agenda item when Ryan's going to go through his stuff. >> Yeah, I can

020just wheel through the dashboard. >> I want you to. Yes. Any more questions for CGI? >> Yes, that's all the dashboard. Let's go. >> We're good. um requests are over 80% complete um on building the project we had two change from the last time we met one traditional one was a transfer um within a traditional change order CD4 that came out we also had the opportunity to um enhance some overhead doors in the project that were somewhat light gauge and we had the ability because of the wear and tear for those spaces to to beef them up with heavier gauge. We also um added a repeater system um for emergency services in the building which is always project type of expense um outing. Um, with that being said, I don't know if they're trying to

021talk about it right now, but we're in a good position financially in the project. Um, we still have a notable amount of left. And then we have secondary funds that have not attributed to any portion of the project yet through bond interest income and and the like um that have given us a um a nice position for being 80% through the project. Um, and so they give us some options, which is not always so common. But Ron, myself, uh Tony, we all sat down, had a good meeting um in this last week of kind of scrubbing through everything and talking about construction contingency remaining, talking about remaining and then just secondary sources and trying to figure out those. >> Yeah. So I summarized a little bit that in your board docs u when Ryan did

022his budget. Uh you know, a couple of our last uh construction bulletins hadn't yet hit uh some of those changes. So, there is some use of contingency coming up, but uh Tony has some contingency in the CGS budget. We have some other contingency and we're pretty much comfortable with where they're going to be. So, we're we're holding those. However, as Ryan said with uh the funding sources, and again, all the funding sources isn't just bond proceeds. Um but we have our bond proceeds. We also have the commitment from 150 for the uh uh I should say the the community service partnership for the turf for the uh baseball softball fields. We have the uh land sale dollars. We have the fun 150 commitment for uh new equipment in the U kitchen servery. Uh then we

023have a commitment from the high school who's been putting money aids in their activity accounts to help pay for a sign. uh whenever that comes and so it's going to come at a new building instead of at the old building and we have our CTE grant with the U GCDC so it's not just uh bond interest income that we have and then uh we have some others but really if you look at the difference between the bottom of of those total funds available uh versus uh what is budgeted and not not even counting on any of those other contingencies in We do have about a $900,000 um uh spread in there that we can look at some items. And so Mike had asked at the uh last meeting about you know what are some of

024the restrictions that are in there and I also did include that in in your notes in there. So basically with some of the items that aren't uh tied to the bond proceeds you there's a little more flexibility but with u the dollars that are associated with the bond proceeds um the first priority is to the project and to paying the uh the IRS are rebate for earnings you received in excess of what they allow. Uh and then after that we um have to look at the uh what are the intentions of of the u referendum itself that allowed for the bond proceeds to go out. And so you can use it for anything that involves uh the new high school um groundwork and and related uh athletic facilities with that high school, the renovation of

025a Lincoln and any associated furniture and equipment for those two projects. So those are what the uses are. Uh when you look at the very end um you know bond proceeds um for overruns uh they potentially uh could be looked at uh going back and related to debt service. Uh I will say that that's a very um small impact when you look at it how it spreads over that and on the flip side you're also going to set yourself up where the following year when you don't have that debt service is going to jump back up. So it becomes one of those surprise gotchas for the community that we we typically try to avoid. Uh that's basically we'll have this opportunity and this option. Uh I did apply or share with you Tony's most recent

026alternate list. And so we're not going to make a decision on these tonight, but just so you can be starting to uh to think about them. The the time limit on some of these is starting to to sail a little bit, but probably the three biggest things that are still at the top of the list are if pro if if funds allow at the end of the project to consider uh would be uh adding lighting uh to the varsity football and softball fields. Uh we also could look at adding lighting to the JV um baseball. >> Yeah, I don't know why you said >> football softball football field has lights on it. Uh sorry about that. And then uh the other thing we could look at is uh motorizing the line sets and in the

027performance center. So, um recall when we were having to do some of the initial uh I guess wrangling to make sure that we could we could fit the budget of this building in for for what proceeds we had. These were items that we said we're going to set aside and look at at the end of the project because we wanted to make sure the project was able to be completed uh as it was before we committed to a few of these things. U when it comes to the pack I mean at that point in time we still had Jinbochar um you know it's a counterweighted blaying system which is very safe and what what many districts and in performing arts centers have. However, there is some some safety concern, you know, if you just have

028a electronic hoist switch and and being able to do that uh by a switch. It becomes a little easier than having to have somebody who's knows how to operate the system that that typically comes with a counterwe system. >> Yep. Those are all those items on the bottom are result. >> I told Tony take them off. He put them down there. >> I think it was just the reason I left them on there. I think it's a good story really. We've been able to some of those things were were not included early on and throughout the project we've been able to work some of those things in. >> Yeah. So the turf was covered by the sponsor got some of those other things in as much. probably the most I'm just looking time sensitive is

029probably >> seven. if you wanted to go back and put the twinkle track lighting in the in the performing arts center. Um, we're getting to the point where we're starting to get enough of the clouds and other stuff in there where it would become difficult to add that back in if we wait much longer. It's not a big cost item. Uh, I think if you remember in the original uh fly through of the performing arts center, it kind of showed what that would look like. Uh, it was one of those things that got removed even though it wasn't cost item, but that would be the one that would be the most problematic when you're when you're talking about most of the other stuff. It's outside. Um, you know, I'll use the metal structures, uh, you

030know, for the JV football dugout, our JD baseball and softball dugouts. Um, you know, those are something that could also be a project for our building trades classes to do at some point in the future. So, some of these have, you know, less time sensitivity than others. number one and two. I know the biggest I think next on the priority list because want to take advantage of having crews on site this spring. >> Are we planning to add this to the next agenda this conversation so they can get some direction? Jim and Teresa and I had a little bit of conversation about that. Jim will be at our next board meeting and I think Jim would like to be here when we have that conversation. >> I'm recalling that correctly. So >> yeah. So I

031also think some of these things that we need to if there's a date or timeline you should be aware of that too. >> Exactly. >> We would have to do all >> No. But correct. >> Yeah. Certainly. I don't think Jim would object. There are some times sensitive issues that we wanted to discuss. >> Tony, you'll be able to share too >> how big of a thing the remobilization is for us putting up lights. I mean, I would assume you guys would be mobilizing a huge team for that. >> No, I think there's a part of it. We kind of not but um kind of roped all that into one thing. We could let go some of the bases that we talked about kind of that earlier in the winter and then once we started

032seeing where funs were sitting everything together so one thing I would probably do is like all right well spaces and that's where all the digging happens that's where all the conduits and bring them up at least happen. >> Basically, we have till roughly December to extend our funds and then during the summer is >> just the bases already. >> Yeah, we we had said that at one time and so I think I've been telling them that they were in but then you guys held on them I think. >> Yeah. So right now in the original GMP we have conduits out and stubbed to all these locations. >> We did process via some change orders. We went ahead and got some of the bases in that are in that are surrounded by asphalt. So that way

033we can get the bases in and put asphalt up against them so that we're not tearing brand new asphalt to get bases in concept. So there are five bases that are already >> Tony. Do any of these estimated costs increase if you guys are gone and then have to come back? I mean, it's usually less expensive when you're already here. >> Yes, of course. Um, yeah, these mostly supervision cost, but I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. Um, I do have a little bit of a contingency included in those just because depending on the decisions are made and if there's price at all. So, hopefully that would be able to show What was the change order for the overhead doors for 350,000? >> It's a handful. I think it was a combination.

034So, we had overhead doors, we had the DAS system and the D system and then we had a CV that had a lot of items in it from RFI and various other things. So, it was a combination just kind of roll up of PCI PC system is that the repeater system. >> So we're using the same >> language we said a little bit ago cost. >> Yeah. The repeater system was 140 something like thousand or 150. Yeah something like that. I don't have it directly in front of me but it was a the lion share of that cost was the repeater system that we >> uh emergency services. Um so it increases. So when as you imagine you build a big concrete CMU building and and they have to use the radios inside an emergency,

035it boosts that specific signal that supports them to be able to communicate with inside the building. >> Yeah. So fire comes out and tests the building when it's enclosed enough that they can do that and then they tell us that we have to do it if we need to do it. >> And the cost of those systems has gone up exponentially in the last like three years. Like they are so But yeah, it's so it's um it's not really our choice. You're hopeful that maybe you don't need one, but at the end of the day, it's the call of the fire department and the signal strength that they can get for one lane. For example, we thought we did really good, but there was one area that failed in that lane. Any other questions? >>

036Any questions about the high school project? I just as a little color commentary as you might imagine 80% transition really hard into purchasing moves management um all of the things that now we need to purchase to fill the building up and um and then move everything that we want out of the old building. So there'll be a kickoff moving meeting next week. Um that is going to be part of just scheduling and figuring out what looks like between now and the end of May beginning of June and then what those activities are as we get into the end of May, beginning of June. So that kickoff meeting happens next week. And then from that team to high school teachers and staff on best practices, labeling procedures and some education for that understand. But yeah, it's

037a it's a full on blitz right now. what we need to get purchased for those on the site. >> Yeah, there is a in finance there's a update that shows you all the things that we're working on. So, finance check. >> Sorry. How long does a move take? >> Yeah, I think they um I mean that's not counting the packing and unpacking, but the actual move. I think they're they're estimating about 30 truckloads um to move and they'll it's a pretty good of just moving and moving and moving and so um and the key to being fast is to being organized. So really that effort helps a lot. >> I think it's great. >> We always like to tell teachers and staff and faculty um you're the best person to pack your stuff because you're

038the one who cares about it the most. And so, um, and having them like be able to organize their things so that when they get back to their new room or into their new room, they know what they're getting into and >> fantastic so you can have your mic Does that make sense? But I'll take my volume up. >> We'll see if that works. Brad's smiling. He's excited about being here. >> Hey Brad, how you doing? Can you hear us? >> I'm doing well. I can hear you loud and clear. >> Is that as loud as you go? >> We're just checking our volume. >> Checking our volume. >> I can be louder if you needed to. >> No, I think we got you. We got you down. So, uh, so, uh, we just wanted

039to let you know that. >> Okay, hold on. >> So, how about this? Let's mute yours and unmute mine. >> Go ahead, Ron. >> To get you to present to us. Uh, I know in the last year we, you know, we had a delay as we were waiting for, uh, WRS information and that still kind of drives some of your schedule. So, if you just want to give a brief uh overview of the process, how it went uh what drives the schedule on getting the audit done, the fact that it's been turned into DPI now, and then what your findings were. >> Absolutely. Emphasis on brief, right? I know we've got a long agenda, so sorry for the technical difficulties, but good evening everyone. My name is Brad Porter, and I'm here on behalf of

040Waterbucket as the principal overseeing the district's financial statement audit process. U this evening I'll provide just a brief recap of the documents that we have issued at the conclusion of our uh fiscal year 2025 audit which as Rob mentioned was wrapped up in uh December. So I'm glad to be here this evening. I appreciate the opportunity to remote in and before I go any further I'd like to give a special thank you to Ron and his team for all of their efforts. An audit truly takes an army. There are various stages of communicate communication happening at multiple points throughout the year and we know we have a lot of confidence in Ron and his team when we show up on day one everything will be uploaded for us to complete our audit process. Um, additionally

041as I get into my coverage the management letter it's very important to note that uh the district has all the right safeguards in place over district funds which from an auditor's perspective is all we can ask and I'm sure the board can say the same. So, um, with all that said, Ron, would it be beneficial to share my screen? I wasn't sure if I was projected or not. >> Bear with me here. I will uh share it momentarily. All right. Can everybody see that? >> Perfect. I'll zoom in a little bit here. to read. So um there are three pieces of required communication that we issue and concluding our audit process. This is what we call our SAS 114 letter. In accordance with statement on auditing standard number 114, we are required to state whether

042or not we had any difficulties or disagreements that we had encountered during our audit process. And as you can probably anticipate, I've highlighted here that we had no such difficulties and no such disagreements that arose during the course of our audit process. Now, we'll move into the annual financial report. And there are 99 pages to this PDF document. So, I promise we will not go through each of these here this evening. I know Rod and his team are preparing monthly financials that are a little bit more current at this point in time. So, I will stick to some of the intangibles with regards to our audit process. Beginning with page one. Page one is what we call our independent auditors report. Um, our job as auditors is to ensure that we're taking the financial statements

043prepared by management and generating an opinion on those financial statements. I'm happy to report that for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025, we have issued the district what is known as an unmodified opinion, which is the cleanest form of opinion that any entity in the government space can ultimately receive and states that we as your auditors believe the financial statements are presented material uh they are materially correct as presented and that there are sound internal controls in place uh over district funds. So congratulations for the opinion for the fiscal year 2025 audit. I also wanted to point out beginning on page six is what we call our management discussion and analysis. I would highly recommend the board to spend most of their time and energy on this set of seven or eight pages or

044so and you're going to walk away with a really great narrative overview of fiscal year 2025. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the financial statements themselves are quite cumbersome and complicated. And I think everybody would walk away with a great bird's eye view of fiscal year 2025 as well as some comparative information with previous fiscal years. Now I want to move on to the district's general fund for the performance for fiscal year 2025. I'd like to highlight on page 21, you'll find your income statement for your major funds. And as I've highlighted here, we have our first column here for our general fund. The third line up from the bottom is what we call our net change in fund balance. So for fiscal year 2025, the general fund did have a decrease in

045fund balance of about $2.15 million, ending the year with about $5.56 million in accumulated fund balance. I did want to highlight that the $2.15 million decrease in our fund balance actually exceeded the budgeted deficit of $2.6 million for the year. So that was largely attributable to favorable budgetary uh variances on the expenditure front. Now as we move into our management letter, I'd like to uh highlight the primary purpose of our management letter is going to be to convey any best practices that we see across some of our other Wisconsin school district clients. um any upcoming accounting pronouncements that may exist that the district should be aware of and any best practices um or internal control related matters that we felt warrants the board's attention. So I wanted to start with our first current recommendation here

046which is more of an FYI than a recommendation. We as a firm made the decision to include this IT security awareness and monitoring of emerging risks comment for all of our clients. Unfortunately, we have seen uh a number of our clients fall victim to cyber related crime and we felt that it would be uh very important for us to disclose those risks in our management letter for all of our clients with the board is very aware these are very real situations that are happening uh what seemingly is on a monthly basis for some of our clients. So we just want to make sure that we comment that there was nothing with regards to the internal controls surrounding your IT function that uh were considered a weakness. But this is more of just an FYI that

047these things are very real. I also wanted to point out our second current recommendation because of that reduction in fund balance in our general fund. I know the district does have a 20% of budgeted expenditure target for our fund balance policy. we did fall below that target uh because of that decrease in fiscal year 2025. The last current uh recommendation that we had was with regards to a capital asset policy. Um and you may be thinking we have a capital asset policy, right? I know we've been working with Ron and his team on some recommendations associated with the addition of some Gazsby 34 compliant verbiage which includes estimated useful lives and some other uh important information your capital asset policy. So we look forward to working with the team on making sure that um for

048the next reporting cycle that some of those changes have been made to the district's capital asset policy. We did have one prior recommendation with regards to the community service fund budget overage in fiscal year 24 that number was substantially reduced for fiscal year 2025 but did still exist. So that concludes my coverage of the audit contents here this evening. I'd be happy to field any questions, comments or concerns have any questions and it's your microphone >> correct? So if they do question >> so Ron maybe just walk us through the the fund balance. >> No, please. >> Yeah, I'll walk through a couple because uh there was the the one fund balance relates to uh actually overspending community service which is the library. Those were gift funds that they had set aside for the construction

049of the library and then as they did the construction they used those gift funds to to complete the project. So that's that's part of what that one is. The other one talks to our fund balance policy and I believe our fund balance policy actually says the the policy is set so that we try to avoid short-term cash flow borrowing. So in essence for us uh that's going to get you to about that 20% threshold. Uh and so obviously we've dipped below that. uh currently uh and the hope and intent is that if we can stabilize our budget that eventually we'll go back to that. Uh we had started out at negative $500,000 fund balance when I started and we had grown to as much as uh 9 million and so uh we would like to

050get that built back a little bit uh over time but right now we are in a situation where we likely will have to short-term cash flow borrow in the coming year or two if we don't uh get that built back. policy that's a district policy requires% >> I we would ask Brad on that I think some of that is their statewide I mean you're going to vary from district to district I'll say like a district some districts will need 40% because they're very low weighted in order to try and avoid short-term capital borrowing uh some carry much less uh it also depends upon sizes of districts smaller districts carry more fund balance in larger districts. So, I'll let Brian speak to that a little bit. >> So, the question is, >> you hit the nail

051on the head. No, I was sorry, I was able to hear that. Um, I think Ron hit the nail on the head with the response there. The target that district set is not necessarily statewide. It is district specific. So, um we certainly encourage districts to have that be kind of an ongoing um target obviously first and foremost, but it can be adjusted accordingly based on the individual unique circumstances of your district. So, we're just sort of uh indicating in this management letter recommendation that your policy says 20% and we fell below the policy. Um it's not necessarily an auditor's decision as to you know the appropriateness of the target. We simply say that we think that the district below the threshold. So, um certainly something to continue to monitor and in no way did that

052affect our opinion or anything like that. So, just wanted to allude to to that as well. Other questions for Brad or library. >> Yeah, that's construction library. >> Which they still have fun balanc set aside gifts as they were fundraising and then they use those gifts to complete. the capital asset policy is that something that I mean we use the is that a policy Joe that then we're going to we look to comply with this portion of the audit we're going to diverge from getting the majority of our policy fed in from >> yeah we'll we'll sub we can submit that back to Brad I think actually that policy has had an amendment and so I'll I'll see what if any further amendments to it. >> Okay. The reason I ask is because it at

053this point we use Viola to help us with all our policies. This might be one that we just accept and and don't put a plan in place to we accept that we're going to >> Yeah, Brad, I don't know where your team pulled it from. I think there's there's the capital asset management and then there's also I think thresholds that are written into the uh federal policy because it's based on federal grant requirements. So, we'll circle back on that. >> Sounds good. Any other questions or comments? >> All right. Well, thank you, Brad, for being patient and joining us despite our difficulties. appreciate all of your work and the presentation to us tonight. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate you've got a great team and with Ron and the finance team. So, uh, very

054very happy with how things have gone from from our perspective. >> Thanks for having time. >> Take care. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, echo what Brad said. I mean, it's really the business office team. I mean, they're prep they're preparing the majority of the things for the auditors um and chasing down whether it be invoices or payrolls or u reports or journal entries that they need. Uh so it's it's really you know Julie, Heather, Lisa doing a great job as well as you know Sherry and Laura with some of their individual grant areas. So uh Lisa will be getting into that fund next year. So it's it's a collective effort, but it's it's really more about the team. >> So was the 1.8 million um loss in the budget balance >> fund balance that was basically

055the result of failed referendum. Correct. >> Yeah, it was and it was budgeted and so it was planned that that was going to happen. But yeah, we actually as I said we We used to have a much smaller fund balance and so when we actually hit the threshold that's why we set the threshold that we're going to try and avoid dipping below the point where we have the short-term cash flow borrow. Um again as long as we're above zero uh theoretically at the state we're okay. Uh but that's not okay for for how we operate right and what we need for operating. So, uh, yeah, ideally we would try and get back to the point where you don't have to short-term cash flow borrow that that es and flows a little bit based upon your,

056um, percent of aid. But, um, you know, I I know there's some districts out there, again, smaller districts, unated districts that are running closer to 40%, then you probably have some larger districts who are probably running closer to 10. Just depends upon their their local dynamics. So yes, thank you for all you do and keeping us good situation. The next agenda item is our policy. Policy comes to us in two readings. This is our first reading. There are a number of policies. There's a number of regular policies and administrative policies. Um, so I will turn it over to Joe and the the policy committee to talk about any specific um ones that they want to highlight ones that have significant language change or things that we want to be aware of. Again, there's no action

057tonight. This is just a first read. Um, and as we go through them, if people have questions, feel free to ask questions as we read them between now and next. If you have questions, please reach out to Joe. Um, and then we'll have our second meeting at the next our second meeting at our next meeting. >> I'll just provide a little context and then Mike, I don't know if you have anything you want to share, but policy is an area where we've got some catch-up work to do. We had a couple of major updates that we've been waiting to get done. This is the 34.1 update. And uh there's a there's a lot of policy uh work that's captured here. We're not going to go through all of it tonight, but certainly, as Teresa just

058said, happy to discuss any specific questions or concerns that you may have. Um, overall, there's just a lot of work. A lot of it relates to some updates related to state statutes, some language that, uh, we needed to clean up, uh, some situations that have happened in other districts, and then YOLO provides guidance to make sure that our language is consistent and makes, uh, puts us in the best position to protect ourselves going forward. So, Mike, I don't know if there are any specific policies that you felt were necessary to highlight for the board overall. >> No, again, this is a large number of policies. We actually were able to get through them as a policy committee relatively quickly because the large majority of it is just a lot of it language change, right? You

059go from the school district to district or you know it's some of them are just simple as that. While others are just replacing language. Um there were a few that were okay, we've got multiple policies that say the same thing, so let's resend this policy and just make sure it's all covered in this one, right? Um so there was nothing that really stood out as as needing um a full review or discussion that that I would call your guys' attention to here at the full board meeting. But um should all of them. Um, if you get a chance and if you have any questions, bring it up for the the second meeting. >> Just because Brad just mentioned the 6235 is in there. That's our fun balance policy. And again, a handful of districts use

060a percentage. You can see the our old language said that we were trying to avoid short-term borrowing for cash flow purposes. the new language that Neola suggested because I think you know there were some saying that it's not just been a statewide issue that the language says sufficient to minimize or avoid short-term cash flow borrowing cover unforeseen expenditures or unrealized revenue sources. So really that's saying if you have like a chiller or a boiler or something that goes out if you're a small district you might not have a lot of reserves set aside to do that. that's a good reason to carry some fund balance and then to demonstrate this financial stability to preserve and enhance the district's bond rating. And I'll be honest, that's a that's a big part of the fund balance u

061you know certainly as we uh whether you're dealing with short-term cash flow borrowing or we're dealing with long-term bond farming like we did for the high school, our our fund balance uh was a key uh component of uh changing our fund balance or I should our district rating, bond rating, we we moved up over three levels. Well, we moved up three levels, I should say, uh in our bond rating over the time. So, uh if we would have got a longterm bond or bonded shortterm, there's a potential that uh if your fund balance gets too low that you could lose some of your status for bond. >> That was my question during the audit review. The second paragraph is where we indicate 20%. I guess my question is you know budget being so tight for

062everyone should reate 25% otherwise they show up. >> Yeah, we might have to look at that again. I >> should >> Yeah, I drive it by really the language of the first paragraph. Uh so yes, I down at the bottom. Yeah, probably does make sense that we change that. Y >> ideally we would love to be there. That's more targeted goal, but it's not necessarily >> and I think that's something I can talk with about is I don't think that's a bad. It's just not necessarily hard to have. policies that one that they mentioned that needs to be updated that's fun right >> yeah and so that wasn't on this latest refresh that's >> so I put a I put a note on that because as Ron just said we have more policy work coming

063up so whether it be the 34.2 to update. And then we also have a a cell phone policy that'll be more substantial that we'll be working on and bring forward as well. So, we'll add that to the list. >> Any other questions or highlights from this policies? one that directly affects board members. Just so everyone's aware, um when we as board members were elected into our positions, we kind of became um staff members. So, we kind of bypassed the background check process that is required for all volunteers who interact with students. So, there is the the policy clarification that These board members also if we're going to volunteer directly with students need to to fill out that background paperwork. So everyone should be aware that that that is a bit of a change that affects

064us on the board individually which is a good change. >> So but if you have volunteers scheduled after we approve these make sure that background check with Joe >> I didn't really the district has always been really good about making sure we have I've always had to do it when I We talked about it a little bit. I think we've been hit or miss in our application of that policy. I think to Mike's point, sometimes we have a board member that comes in and and the office staff will see Mike walking. Oh, he's a board member. He's he's good to go. He's one of us. >> Mike's point is is a good one that we all should be subject to those those checks. So, >> a loophole is now closed. Do you have another policy

065meeting? >> Uh, we are working on when to schedule it. It is a very jam-packed March schedule. So, I apologize um that I have not opened the doodle poll yet, but yes. >> Yeah. So, to that point, I think our hope is to we've got the first reading of this set of policies tonight, March 9th. We hope to have their second reading, get these approved shortly thereafter in March. It's our our hope and intent to get a policy committee meeting set up again and then get that second batch. And then once we're done with that, as well as, you know, cell phone, capital assets, whatever else we decide needs to be looked at, we'll be caught up just in time to meet with Nola and have them drop the whole whole new batch of spring

066policies that need to be reviewed. So, um, we're in a good place right now. We're cranking through it and uh our intent isn't able to be fully caught up and ready to go. >> Sounds good. Thanks. Well, that works a lot. Um so, if anybody has any questions and all right, so to the next item, which is Yeah. So, just so everyone knows, at every board meeting, we're just trying to keep everyone up to date as far as the work that's being done uh to provide information across the community. Um, as most people are aware, certainly there's been a lot of work, whether it be on social media, on the radio. Um, we provided some different uh brief videos um to try to explain exactly what's going on. And I think for many people as

067they explore this issue, they realize that it's fairly complex and to break it down in a way that makes sense for everyone is is often challenging, but we're working really hard to to do a good job of that. In addition to to that work, um we're also getting out and conducting uh community presentations, community listening sessions. Since the last board meeting, we did have a listening session at Pastor Assisted Living, which actually um you know was a great experience. I think we had roughly what TR said around a dozen. Uh residents that were there who asked great questions were very engaged. It was it was a really good discussion. Um and then uh earlier this week we had the community uh business leaders lunchon where we brought those folks in, answered questions, talked about their

068perspective, listen to feedback that they had for us. So, um, as Mike just referenced, um, it only goes from busy to getting busier in the month of March. Um, we're going to be in a lot of different places. Um, as we get those requests to come in and present. Um, we're very likely to say yes. The only reason we would say no is if there's a conflict for some reason. But um ultimately we're going to do our best to get around and provide that information and make sure people have uh everything they need to make an informed decision on April 7th. Ron, what am I missing? >> No, it's been really good. It's been great. I know going forward about two weeks especially the second third week of March really fill up another one might

069be on some nights and so it's great that a lot of groups are willing to engage us and give us an opportunity to present to them. >> Yeah. If anything, I think we're now running into um as we seek to inform people, we have a number of folks that have said, "Yep, heard it a couple times. Good." Not and not in a negative way, just saying, you know, the roughs can only hear this presentation couple times. So, um >> you're ready to give it. >> So, as we go through this, we're transitioning from more formal presentations to more informal dialogue. And I think that's that's served us really well. Um to sit down with folks, and I talk a little bit about what we're trying to do and then really try to understand what their

070questions or concerns are at this point. Um, and that two-way dialogue and feedback has been really helpful. And um, I've said it before, I'm just really appreciative of this community and how they're handling this. Obviously, there's some people that uh, support this idea of going to a referendum. There's some people that don't support it. Um, but I've yet to, yet to have a negative experience, right? I think the community is approaching it the right way to to explore this issue and ultimately the community will will be the ones to decide which way we go in the future, but um we're going to do our best to to put ourselves out there and answer any questions that folks have between now and then. >> Questions discussion about the update? do have well one main question and

071because of the news the last couple days right multiple districts in the state um coming out and and basically challenging the state right of a lawsuit issued today I believe um and and the question and Ron I think you discussed this with us once before if state funding should change after the referendum is approved and we don't need those referendum funds to balance our budget. What does that look like for the taxpayer? >> Yeah, there's two sides to that. So, there's are they changing the re the revenue limit authority, which means they're going to allow us to uh have greater authority and potentially tax more. And then the reality is if we don't need our referendum authority because we have the authority through the revenue limit to do it, we don't have to and and

072utilize that full full tax uh implication. So going back to our first uh operating referendum in the district say it was 2007 through 11 uh that was the case. We we set the numbers our enrollment uh was better during that four-year window than we expected. We didn't need the full funds. We didn't levy the full funds. We didn't use that referendum authority. So if truly we're getting additional revenue limit authority, it leads to the potential you don't have to utilize all the reference granted to. Now, if it's a question of they're going to provide additional state aid, but not change the the revenue limit authority, then that additional aid is really tax relief because it hasn't changed the levy authority for the school district. It hasn't provided new funds for the school district. It's just

073saying those funds are now going to be less property taxes and more state aid. So, there's a couple of is in there. Um, state aid is not revenue limit authority. Revenue limit authority is the combination of state aid and um and local taxes. And so if you don't get the dollars in state aid and so that was pro part of the problem with this year's budget was uh we had $325 increase in the revenue limit which uh a lot's being hung on that. But the reality is that 325 didn't even to cost of inflation. The real problem came and they elected not to put any dollars into the state aid formula. And so when Milwaukee is getting a bigger chunk of the aid this year than they they had the previous year, over 70% of

074the school districts in Wisconsin saw a reduction in our state aid. And so that allowed increase without any increase in aid and actually reduction in aid is what really impacted property taxes this year. And so I think that's been a story statewide that we've seen. Uh so if they just reimplement the state aid again, it it'll reduce property taxes for us. If we're talking longterm about a change in how funding happens and what how how much is going into the revenue limits, if we don't need the the authority from the referendum, we would have to use Is that what you're getting at? >> Yeah. Is that is that a board decision every year when we go through the budget process? Is that an administrative decision? >> That's a board decision. Every year as we set

075the budget increase, >> what if if state aid would increase? it would lower the levy. It doesn't necessarily mean that we would have more dollars to operate the district. It doesn't mean necessarily mean that there would be any impact on how much of the referendum we would have to use because the revenue limit hasn't changed. But it would lower it would lower the uh amount of property taxes because basically offsets property taxes. People wonder why it's difficult. I mean, it's it's because there's so many nuances and levers that all intermingle, right? There's there's talk about, you know, whether they'll put it into um property uh the school education credit, right? And so, again, that's that's something that doesn't even hit my books. I don't even see that that that ends up hitting at the municipal

076level as that deduction at the bottom of the tax bill. So, that's another way they call that school funding. It does it's not money that comes to the school district, but it is a way to provide uh property tax relief. So, they also have multiple levers as to how whether they put it into the general aid or whether the property tax school levy credit. >> I'll just say thanks for asking those questions. I think it's important that that was a prominent one that's been floating around in the community. And I think some of the positive feedback that we've received is that this board is willing to discuss those issues uh openly. I think that's critical as we go forward so people know that we're hearing their questions and concerns and we're willing to have those

077discussions. So certainly if you're aware of any any more of those issues, please let us know um as we deem appropriate. We do try to update our FAQ and include some of those issues that I believe we >> we we do touch on in a couple of different questions in different ways. But >> um so certainly if as you enjoying the FAQ document at home and you see something that's missing uh let us know because we want that to be comprehensive and we want we want a reference for people to to use going forward. And then the last thing I'll say is related to that, um, if you haven't taken a look at our, uh, web page for our referendum, please do so. It's if you just go to mineralschools.com and you click on the

078the minural schools referendum logo, um, it'll take you to the page and there's a lot of good information there included both in English and in Spanish. So, try to do our best to get all the information out. Good questions. So, we're going to go on to old business. And so, back um last time we talked about the sale of the Bower Center. Um we had asked administration to come back with some additional information. So, they have put together a document for us on um things for us to for the board to consider. This is again another discussion about the sale of the Bower Center. Um no formal action is we're not planning any formal action tonight, but just um discussion about the documents provided and additional information people might have or people might want um

079where people are at. So, if it it makes sense to the board, I'd be happy to give a very brief overview of what's in the document for the benefit of the people that are here and maybe watching at home. Um, as Teresa said previously, uh, the board has had expressed a desire to explore this issue. It's been an idea that's been presented, um, by some community members and and also a couple of board members. Um, and there are a number of questions that were asked. So, our our our intent tonight was to try try to provide some of that information so the board feels prepared to have that discussion and as Teresa said if it's determined that there's going to be a vote um that you have everything that you need in terms of u

080the Bower Center and how it's used I think many people have an idea of some of the uses but maybe not all we use it for professional development there's a lot of large group staff uh trainings that occur in this room um when this this site was renovated it was intended before it was even to be used for a board meeting that we needed a large room for some training purposes. Um, we use it for special education alternate placement. We'll talk a little bit about that in in a couple of minutes, but basically when we have students that are identified as not being safe to be served in one of our traditional uh schools, we use this as an alternate site. We talk about how we do that. Um, we use it for middle school

081physical education classes. Many people aren't aware that in the lower level of the building, there's a a large workout facility down there. Um, and we don't have space for that. Uh, those facilities over at our current middle school. So, the PE classes walk across the street and access that space. Um, we use it for child development days, which is just two days out of the year. So, that's not a significant um use or need, but it's one that that is part of how we use the building. So, we wanted to include that obviously for board of education meetings. Uh there's some district storage that happens here and then uh it's provides parking for the middle school as well. Uh one of the questions uh that was asked was in terms of the special education alternate

082placement. How does that work? Why do we have it? What are the numbers that we've served here over the last several years? And so what a lot of folks don't understand is uh we have a responsibility to serve all kids regardless of their background, their needs, their disability. Um we have kids that range from, you know, elementary through high school that exhibit um some pretty significant behaviors including hitting, spitting, slapping, kicking, uh scratching, um destruction of property. Uh, and these are kids that have u some pretty intense needs. And it's important that we're able to provide care and support for them in a way that not only protects the the other students and the staff, but also gives them a chance at uh improving, growing, and being successful students. Uh, and I'm, you know, I

083think most people know I was a director of people services for a long time before I moved into this position. And if I were to say, um, you know, what's what's one of the things that I've been most proud of in my time here is that we've set up a program that's helped kids go from being in a position where there were facilities in the state that said they would not take them. And these are uh staterun mental health facilities to we bring our kids home, we serve them, and then we're able to many times integrate them into the regulated environment at the high school or the middle school. um there's not much more uh that we can can do to to demonstrate the value of that program. And so uh that's maybe not specific

084to this facility, but I wanted to to give you an idea of the importance of that work. Um one of the questions that was asked was how many kids have you served uh through that kind of programming here? And we went back through our records and over the last five years we've served 19 kids. Now, that's not to suggest that all of those kids were here from September one through uh June. Um we've had some kids that were here for a matter of a few weeks and some kids that have been served here for more than a year or two um depending on their needs. Uh we provided a little bit of a breakdown. Um some years we've, you know, we've had as little as one. Um the last time we talked we didn't have

085any students that were being served here and now we currently have one student. And so that's not because we were having this conversation that Amy said, "Oops, we better hurry up and get a student in here." Um, but it it shows you the nature of of the needs. And when we many times we have students that come in from other districts, communities, and need to be served. And once we evaluate their needs, we need to find a safe place to to serve um our students. So we currently have one student here. Last year we served three and and the year prior to that we served 30. But over the last five years, it's been 19 students. So, uh that was even a shock to me. I knew it was going to be a pretty good

086number, but um we had we had quite a few students uh that have come through and and had a lot of success here. Um in terms of the program effectiveness, I talked about this a little bit already, but um the thing that we're able to do in this kind of setting, and again, I'm not saying it's uh it can only be done in this building, but I think the reason facility has value is it provides us an opportunity to create a a sheltered isolated environment where we can work with kids without distraction. And really what we're trying to do is rebuild trust, rebuild relationships, help them understand that school can be safe, school can be predictable, school can be a place where um you can you can learn and grow and thrive. Um, and uh,

087through the the work that we've done in the program that we've developed, we're able to do that in a safe way, help kids learn some emotional regulation skills, and then ultimately slowly transition them into a traditional school environment. Um, so that's that's really the work that we've done here over the years. Um, part of our our responsibility leaving this last conversation was that we needed to explore um, alternative spaces that we might be able to use in the district. Um, you know, I know Teresa's made it clear to me at some point she's going to ask for a a recommendation and probably not at that point right now. a recommendation for me and from administration, but I will say um one thing that I won't recommend is that we provide this kind of service in

088any of our five buildings. I I just think that that's problematic and poses significant safety reasons for a lot of issues. Certainly, I'm happy to answer questions about that once we get to that point in the discussion tonight. Um, one thing that we did do is I asked Amy to reach out to a number of agencies and businesses to look for u those that might be willing to host or rent us space if necessary. And I think out of the the agencies that you contacted, we have one that's currently considering it. Is that accurate? >> That is accurate. >> Let's see her back today. and we're not going to name that that agency at this time because we don't we don't want to put undue pressure on them. But ultimately um that's a challenge to

089bring this kind of behavior into your your facility. And so um that's something that we would have to consider going forward. Um there is the challenge of we can't always predict how many kids and when these kids are going to come come to us or when there's going to be needs. Um but it is our job to to serve them and love them and care of them and that's what we tried to do. Um and so obviously if we didn't have a dedicated space we would have to consider other options which could have a financial cost to the district. And then finally and I won't read through all these I tried to break down you know what are some of the pros of selling the Bower Center and there certainly are some pros. I think

090you know when we u reached out to exit realy they estimated that the the building was worth approximately $600,000. So, given the conversations that we've been having tonight, the implications for short-term cash flow borrowing, uh, $600,000 would would be helpful. Would be nice to have that in the fund balance or some percentage of that because not all of that would would come to us through a sale. Um, there's some reduced long-term costs. Uh, certainly um encourages us to to look at some community based partnerships going forward that maybe don't currently exist. And then I think this is a big one. I think this board genuinely wants to demonstrate that they're trying to do the right thing with the taxpayer dollars and if there's an opportunity to save dollars, we should absolutely explore it and I

091understand that desire to to do that. Um on the other side of that, I think, you know, we we've had we've run a successful program here. Um and a loss of that dedicated space would provide some challenges for us that we would need to explore. Um, and that loss of flexibility would would be a bit of a concern. So, with that, I'll stop talking and I'll pause and and I think our team would be happy to answer any questions that the board has given that information that's been provided. >> Not specifically this child in care. >> Yeah, it's interesting you say that. We've we haven't done that in my time here. Unless I'm missing something, Ron, I can't think of a time we've we've conducted some services out of this facility. >> Yeah, I believe

092so. >> We've done the COVID testing. We've done >> we've done biometrics for ourselves. We during co we actually used it for food service and so but no we haven't rented like or >> yeah I think it's fair to and let's just put it out there. I think people look at this building and see that it's it's empty the majority of the time. And so I think it's a fair ask for people to say is it worth continuing to own and operate the building. The hard part for people to understand is everything that I just talked about in terms of what the facility provides in terms of some care for some of the most atrisisk students and families. So um we haven't done that but that could potentially be explored. Um like you just said,

093I don't know, you know, how much interest there'd be in the community, but anyone that's been here for a long period of time and look at our community historians know that this my understanding is that it used to be a bit of a a strip mall and there was a lot of offices in here and I think candy shop or ice cream. Is that what it was? >> Um, so certainly I think we could explore those options because to your point think it's fair to ask for efficiency for the building. I I think again I I am concerned about making sure that we have all the the supports and facilities to safely serve by challenge for me personally. That's fair. That's very fair. >> Joe, can I ask if the building is gone and we

094have a child in crisis, what's the wait time? And are those facilities can we be turned on? We have an obligation to serve that child. If we can't get them into another facility, then what? Yeah. So, wait time varies depending on what's going on with the particular facilities. U we typically have worked with the Richardson school, but um as we've had this facility in place, we've had to do that sparingly. Um typically what happens is if you reach out to them, they may not have any immediate availability, but ultimately what they're going to try and do is identify find someone to hire to st provide additional staffing. um as long as their facility isn't maxed out and and that's usually not the case, but I I think there have been times when they've they've had

095quite a few students that they've been serving there. So, it's I think the answer is it's beyond our control and then if we get to that situation, um what we can't say is, "Hi, family, we're going to hit the pause button. You wait and keep your child out of school until we get this figured out. um we have to provide services and then at that point we would be in a position where we would have to create a program within our current facilities. Thank you. The care for that child continues to be here district that child probably likely will remain back to the school district regular classes would be more effective >> if they were served here versus going to another. Um, I will say qualitatively in my experience that's absolutely the case and you

096know to toot our own horn. Um, I I give a lot of credit to the those specialty schools and those folks that work in those schools because that's a really tough job. Um, but these are our kids and and we care deeply about them and we work really hard to make sure that they get to where they need to be. and the people that work in these programs. Um, for those of you that are worked with special ed, like they can test you and there are tough days. Um, but there are kids and it's nothing short of a miracle when they've um they've been through the things they've been through and we can get them to the point where they're trusting us again. And then we ultimately are trying to reintegrate those kids. There's a

097student at the high school right now that was refused from every uh residential care center, mental health uh facility in the state. They would not take him. He came back to us. Um we served him and over the course of, you know, probably seven, eight months, we got him to the point we're able to reintegrate him and he's attending classes at the high school right now. His life path has changed because of the work that was done. And so, and I I don't want to be overly dramatic. I'm not saying that can only be done in this building, but it can only be done where there's a dedicated facility that we can ensure that everyone's safe. So, this is all super good information. I just want to share my personal opinion on this with the

098rest of the board right now and Joe to you as well. Um, >> it's a great conversation, but I think it's something we need to continue after the referendum, >> right? If the community decides to support the district through a referendum, then it's a different discussion than if they decide not to support the district through referendum. Um, if they don't, to me, it's it's this or, you know, this offsets one year of potentially six teachers, right? If they do, then I think we we need to talk about the the cost, how it interrupts the learning environment, the learning process, your your processes versus There is a cost risk, right? We're talking about it right now where if we don't have this building, we don't have an alternative way. We have to pay to send kids

099away elsewhere, which that that's worth discussion, but I'm I don't know that I'd support either way until we know what the community is is willing to to do for the district. >> Yeah, I think that's smart. We had a similar discussion earlier in the week and I think Ron I don't want to put words in Ron's mouth but Ron may have said something similar to what you're saying right now Mike and that we may be put in a position where um we have to consider the things that we didn't want to consider. Um I just want to be clear I I'm not against this conversation. I understand why it's necessary. I really do. I think it's important that we talk about these types of opportunities for the district. Um, I just want to make sure

100that we don't do something uh in an effort to um gain some funds for our fund balance and demonstrate that we want to be fiscally responsible and then put ourselves in a vulnerable position long term. >> I I I don't think anyone wants that. No one wants the show of, you know, hey, we we made a sale and we saved money and then it cost us more dollars. And and I don't I don't think anyone on the board is after that either. I just think it's these are tough conversations because and I think Phil said it very well, right? Like there's there is some value in this building and it's hard to quantify. It's hard to put a number on it. Um but I also understand why there's a lot of people in the community

101that say we should probably sell that building. Um, and so I certainly would be supportive of that idea that we continue to bring information forward to the board, make sure that you all have everything that you need and we continue the conversation. Um, but I I do think at some point um we we need the board to decide what what we feel is is the most appropriate use for this building going forward, whether we continue it or consider selling it. And to Theresa's point, you deserve a recommendation from administration when we I also think I'd be careful to quantify what a lot of people in the community are saying because in nine years on this board, I've never heard about this until the last like month. >> Not one person has ever >> I think

102it's kind of a I've been hearing from different people that it's kind of a combination of things. You know, the district's sitting on an elementary school that's only half full and they can barely use this building and every property has liability with it. Um, and the feedback that I'm getting is you guys need to cut down, you know, cut expenses. You know, I mean, personally, I I don't know that we can't take those kids out to Aid Lincoln. I I think we've all been in Aid Lincoln, and the lower level has two classrooms down there with separate doors. Um, from what I understand, those kids only go to school for four hours a day and not every day. Um, could we make that something out there work? Move those 4K kids up to that empty

103wing because there's basically a wing out there that isn't used. So, I mean, we have space out there and and ever since I've been on the board, you know, I'm not closing any link because I mean, there's no market for an empty school. you know, it sits empty for five, six years, then they sell it for a dollar and they put up some houses on it, you know. So, I mean, and we just spent $3 million in that school, you know, but I do feel that we need to find things to put in that school, fill that school up, use our assets that we currently have. I think this the assets that we have here, if there's some monetary value to it and You could list it for sale and it doesn't sell either. So,

104I mean, I don't know if it's what it would even sell for, but the bottom line is it would be back in the tax roles. Um, right now there's no tax revenue coming off this property at all. >> So, I mean, that's kind of where I'm at and what I've heard from community members. You know, everybody says, "You guys need to cut back." Well, I get I've been on the board almost a year now and I get the financial constraints that the district is under, but That said, I think we need to take a step back, look at all our options, and I'm I'm not opposed to putting this off, but I don't think we need to kick the can down the road, and I don't think it matters one way with the referendum. I

105think it would look probably better if we made a decision before the vote, the referendum vote, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But it's a discussion that needs to continue. I mean, there is value to this building, you know, but We need to look make sure that some of these other options might not be feasible. You know, I mean, I think we've all been in a Lincoln and I I don't know. I'm just I don't know why that school was built like that, but there's two classrooms on the lower level with the on the west by the west doors that are never used, you know, during the day for kids. So, I mean, is that maybe an option? I don't know. You know, I mean, Joe, you know better. I mean, you >>

106I I think everything you're you're saying makes sense, Steve. I think like I'll just provide a scenario that hopefully illustrates my concern is that it's it's not about the amount of space down there. And because you're right, there is space available down there and we could we could construct a setup where there's an external exit right in that door and kids can only come in and out through that particular part of the building, right? The challenge is that you have just frankly speaking, some of you most aggressive, violent students at an elementary school where if their kids out on the playground before school, after school, recess, whatever it is, and they choose to exit and they go out of that building and they're going to be surrounded by 4K kindergarten, little elementary school kids, and

107it's really hard to protect their safety. That's the reason why they were pulled out of the building in the first place. So, it's not a space consideration. You're absolutely right, Steve. There's room down there that we could make it work. But part of the challenge is with the constraints of the state, they basically don't want you putting your hands on kids. And I understand that seclusion and restraint is a big deal. And we've worked really hard in this district to reduce and minimize the the times that we have to put our hands on kids to keep them safe and keep others safe. If we were to go into that environment, we would be putting our hands on kids quite a bit. And that reduces the efficacy of this program because then in an effort to

108reestablish trust and help kids become regulated, they're feeling like you're you're attacking them, you're assaulting them, you're restraining them. And that that's why this program has been so successful. We've been able to use the space to say, "I know you're having a bad day. I know you're going to say some things to me that you probably shouldn't be saying right now. And I know you're going to leave and you're going to come back in and we don't have to we don't have to say you can't leave. If I'm at a blink and I know there's some little kids out on the playground right there and I've got a 185 year old 180 185 pound student who's very violent heading towards that group of kids, then we have an obligation to restrain restrain that child. and

109it's probably going to take more than one staff member to do it. >> Is our school resource officer available to be around with those kids? >> Well, we have a school resource officer that's being used at the high school on a daily basis. Not someone that we would that we necessarily use in that capacity. I probably wouldn't recommend that either. So, I think this is the challenge. Like what you're saying makes total sense. These aren't bad ideas. It's just in our experience when we're when we're trying to protect the safety of of the kids involved and again this isn't all the time um but we have to think about the worst case scenario in order to ensure the safety of of everyone and that that's a real concern for me um when we look at

110placing a student that we've deemed as unsafe and not able to be in a school and then we say now we're going to put you in the school with the the youngest most vulnerable kids. That That worries me. But that doesn't change that everything that you said about the efficiency is is true because it is. And and I'll speak for Ron and myself. Like we're all about efficiencies. And when it comes to cuts, I think we've demonstrated that we're doing our our best to do that. And we've demonstrated it in $2.4 million worth of reductions in staff over the last four years. not to mention the number of other reductions that have been made. And so we're on board with with realizing efficiencies when we can. We just want to make sure that we're doing

111it in a in a way that's smart and safe and considerate of what our needs will be in the future. >> This great discussion >> I agree. I think it's been a good discussion. I really appreciate the information that Jovid put together for us and that's that's really helpful to answer a lot of the questions that that we have and I hope so much and Steve I hear what you're saying and I think you know if you look at all the options I think it was a really good discussion um and I think to Joe's point and obviously our obligation is to make sure kids are safe and taken care of and hear stories that we can this is their education is their livelihood right for all kids that's their lil and my concern is

112that we would because I agree this is a it's an asset utilized but if it costs us more to to secure entrances of other buildings or put up walls and then have resource officers and all the things. I think potentially we're actually it's going to actually cost us more than utilizing a space that we already have. >> Yeah. And this is the hard part. It's expensive to serve high need special education students. It is. and and the state despite all the fanfare about the historic increase in in uh support for special education students, it's not nearly what it needs to be in order to do this job well. And we don't have a choice. And so then it puts us in a position of how do we do this the right way for kids in

113a coste effective manner. And that that puts us at odds with hey, we have some we have some we have more property than we need to your point, right Steve? like we we're not we're not full over a day. This building isn't full all the time. That's a fair statement. But how do we how do we do that job in a safe and costefficient manner without this building? And the minute we can answer that question, I I'd be on board with selling this this building because I think there with the the new high school, I think there's some opportunities for us to look at in terms of holding board me meetings out there. I think we can do some trainings in some of those large rooms. I think everything on that list we can navigate,

114we can figure out. Um, and if the direction from the board is keep digging, keep looking. I'd be happy to tell Amy Timberman to keep on working and keep looking into that. But like, I get it. Like I've said it a couple times. I just want you to know that like what you're saying makes complete sense. What I what I won't do is sacrifice. Like you're you're never going to hear me make a recommendation where I feel like I'm I'm sacrificing the safety of kids. Like that's just that has to be the number one thing for us. And and we've worked with some really aggressive violent kids here and they're and love them and um but they're hard. And I I just I and we haven't even talked about the impact on staff when that's

115going on because that's that's a real thing. um it wears people out and you need to have specialized staff and in the right facility to make sure that the kids are taken care of. So >> shout out to the staff. We talk about this talk about the kids the kids that are here. >> Can I make >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Make one more point that I hadn't really thought a lot about until this year. explosive behaviors, right, happenity where sometimes you do need an administrator to come over very quickly and just the proximity to the middle school is extremely advantageous. So if you have it more off site, um so there's a separate stack in the school that's it's separated enough. However, you have access to an emergency situation and because you're often you

116only have one staff member here, right? And things can go south very quickly. It become very unsafe. Um so it is great because even if you were to call the police or ask or an officer, it takes minutes to get there and they're just right there and they're able to come and help. Um which we've had we've had to call them. So that proximity is actually a bigger deal than I ever thought about before. And your special needs have only increased over the last few years. Correct. Correct. Because I just I mean I just did simple math. 15 19 kids would have been 2.85 million that we would have spent the last five years if we didn't have this building. If if needs are only increasing, what how much more might this be utilized if

117we kept? I don't know. >> That's what we would expect that last year though. >> Well, they said the last five years 19 kids have used it. >> Well, last year there was three kids. This year there was one. >> I'm not saying it's not just >> I'm not I'm not buying that. increasing all overall, you know. I mean, I think they're doing a good job of keeping kids out of there is what what the staff is doing a tremendous job of of get bringing those kids in before they get in that situation. >> Oh, fair, >> you know, so I'm not I'm not >> I'm not totally on board. You know, there's just going to be an increasing number of high-risisk kids in the district, >> you know, if we have if we have

118the staff we have now. I get, you know, are different than they were before, but and but I think we have really good staff to deal with those kids and I think they're doing a great job because that that's the fact that there's only one so far this year. >> Yeah. It's partly because staffing is is difficult and it takes you have to like pull a person out, right? And so it is completely like a last it's a last resort. So, if we hadn't already trimmed what we've taken out of the budget, we'd probably have more kids that would be coming here because you would have had the facility of the people that you want to jump to that because I do think it's a very individualized decision, but it's it's a last resort to

119remove from the school because there's proximal steps you take, right? You're removing from the regular education environment, more self-contained, being all the things. So you're doing a good job of raining it. >> Oh my gosh. >> You know it gets the last resort. >> It is schedules for 20th time because you burn your relationships too sometimes. So it's a great reset when you feel like we just need a reset and we build relationships as Joe was saying. >> Just clarification 19 students is not that that's 19 students served. That doesn't mean 19 full year equivalent, >> right? >> 150,000 per year per student, >> right? >> But those 19 students, one of one of those 19 could have been three days. >> Exactly. Here. >> But didn't you say that once we sign up for

120those programs, we have to provide transportation? >> Well, I think there's a couple things. It's typically not three days, but to your point, it might be like three weeks or something and then we bring them back. I think t typically what we've seen is when students have been um enrolled in in the specialty school like the Richardson school. It's not a temporary situation. And I think this goes back to >> I think we've had we've had a lot of local success based on how we >> do the program and and then when we've had to use that program. I mean, there was there's one student in particular I'm thinking of that we literally had to say, "No, regardless of your recommendation, we're bringing this kid back because it's not going well and we need to

121we need to get this on track with getting back into a regular school environment. So, it's it's hard like all these points are accurate. Um, it's hard to to nail down how many kids we could have zero kids next year. We could have seven. Um, it's hard to say that we could need this building uh zero days out of the year. We could need it for the majority of the year. Um, and again, I'll I'll say it again, like if if we can come up and and I'm committed to continue to look at other opportunities or other spaces that might work, we can do that. I'm I'm on board with looking at uh this the potential sale of this building. But, um, I'd want to make sure that we have a plan going forward because

122I don't think that would be in the district's best interest to to move forward if we didn't have that nailed down. And we could spend a lot of time talking about this and I'm not trying to cut up the conversation, but I would welcome if whether it be myself or Amy, if someone wants to know more about these programs and how they work and some of the kids we serve, be happy to work talk to the board and uh meet with you and and show you a little bit about the the programming that we do have because we're incredibly proud of the work and just gives you a better sense of of what we're trying to accomplish. questions, comments or things that you want administration to look at again. I do I think I appreciate

123the discussion discussion. Moving on toformational items administration. >> Yeah, we that may have been a roll from >> I think we identified the two >> we did. So that's so I think we're good to go. That actually is coming up soon next week. >> So looking forward to that. Other than that I think we're in good shape. So I not board of education correspondence um reports >> January >> uh policy as I stated earlier as soon as I Melissa's email and respond to her poll. We'll likely have a meeting scheduled for March, >> sometime in March. >> March. Any um topics for future discussion that anybody wants to bring bill All right. Motion by a second by voice in favor. >> Thanks everyone. >> Thanks for coming. >> So Todd, did you ever did we

124ever hear what was going on? Uh, Richer.