001All right, folks. This is a regular scheduled meeting of the Girden School District Board of Directors. We'll now call the meeting to order. >> Madam Cassie, >> can you establish we have a quorum present? >> All right. With a quorum present, we'll be able to conduct business. Robbie, can you lead us in pledge of allegiance? No, sorry. Hold on. Brother Ed, can you lead us in a word of prayer first? Dear heavenly father, we thank you for this privilege to be a part of this school district and this community. I pray that you would guide the decisions of this board and everything that is said and done in this meeting tonight. Make it glory to you. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> And we will recite the pledge of
002allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Got our special recognitions. >> We now have a special recognition that we'd like to >> and you get a full house. We know with learns a lot of stuff changed and the way that they set it up was to reward teachers for specific goals and achievements. As they continue to squeeze that top bar, you know, at one point it was the teachers with the top 25% of growth scores in the state were getting the bonus. That has been squeezed down to the top.5%. So getting that achievement is hard, but they do have some other achievements that they are rewarding. And we do have
003a teacher in our district that did receive merit pay this year. And what she had to do was to have three years of consistent growth and be teaching in a shortage area. And we know we've got lots of shortage areas. So we wanted to make sure and recognize Miss Terry Dillard for her achievement. We've added a a section for public comments and we welcome public comments, But under this particular scenario, we can't talk about anything about personnel uh or anything we're going to be discussing in executive session. We can only take comments for other items that are on the agenda. Don, >> well, and that's that's within the parameters of the law when they set up the public comment. So, that's what Well, that said, we do have a personnel matter. So, we'll now enter
004in an executive session. We'll ask y'all to retire. and come back and we'll we'll stay in here. [Music] >> We now through our executive session. We'll now call the meeting back into order. We need to consider the action item that we discussed the end of executive session. Move on that. >> So, I make a recommendation that we change the routes um and the salaries for Victor Riley and Miss Sharon Gil. They will take effect on 82525. >> All right, we have a motion. >> Second motion. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. >> All them descent, same sign. That motion pass. >> I move to place Kyle Jackson on administrative leave for 10 days pending further investigation. >> Second. >> All right, we have
005a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. All in descent, the same sign. That motion passed. >> Right. Moving on. We now have minutes. >> Approval of minutes we need to discuss. Make a motion. >> Make a motion that we approve the minutes from the July 22nd, 2025 board meeting. >> I second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. >> All consent, same sign. That motion passed. All right. The next item is our financial report. Rhonda, can you fill us in on that? >> You want to let Jason go? >> We'll be glad to let you >> I know you've been waiting for a minute, Jason. So, we'll we'll let you go. >> No, it's good to be back
006with you. Um, for those that may not remember me, my name is Jason Stevens. I serve as the financial adviser to the district related to your financial issues and your debt. So, uh, when we did the village campaign a couple years back, we had structured your debt in a certain way so we could come back and maybe do projects in the future. Um, as part of our services, what we do is provide different types of training. And so, what we're going to be able to give you is some training hours this evening. And so, I I circulated a form for you to sign. I've put together quite a bit of information for you, but for tonight's purposes, the reason I'm here is to kind of give you an update kind of where we are in
007terms of the financial position of the district um and answer any questions or address anything that you guys may wanted to discuss tonight. So, um the booklet that you have before you has several tabs. I'm going to skip through the first one. The first tab is just a finance 101. Um, I'd encourage you if you will to take a few minutes and just read through that at some point, especially those for who are relatively new on the board, just kind of give you a sense of how uh the different funding categories work and where the funding amounts come from. But under tab 2, what you'll find is what we refer to as a financial analysis. This financial analysis breaks down some historical trends related to the financial position of the district. So, if you will,
008I'm going to walk through this really briefly, but just want to touch on a few highlights and then feel free to stop me if you have any particular questions about any of this information. On page one, you'll see your assessment history for the district. You'll see it ranges from the assessment year of 2020 to 2024. Um, as you know, under Arkansas law, you have what's referred to as the assessed valuation on real and personal property, um, as well as particular utilities category. And you'll see over the district in 2020 the total assessed value was 66.8 million. Um it has risen up to 77.8 million. What I'd like to point out to you is top 24 you'll see it has declined slightly um from 81 to 77. Uh if you look at this if we go
009to this next page and you look at kind of what one mill brings in uh the calculation for that is right there in the middle. What is a mill and how is that calculated? Uh but you can see based on the current assessed value, one mill generates approximately $73,000 uh per mill. So you're getting funding from other different categories from the state in terms of your personal the personal tax money that's coming from people within the district. You'll see that approximately one mill is generating $73,000. You'll see at the top there for the district. Under state law, the district has 25 maintenance and operation bills. Those are guaranteed at 98% collection rate. And then you have 18 debt service mills which were approved when we did the millage election a couple years back for a
010total of 43 mills. To put that in perspective, the state average is approximately 39 uh mills. You'll see 39.25 mills. So you guys are a little bit above the state average. But to again put it in perspective, uh the highest mills rate in the state is 54 mills. So you're kind of, you know, more closer to the state average than not. There's some comparison data there just to give you a sense of how you compare to other school districts in those different categories. Um, and if you take a minute, you can kind of look and see what that looks like. rough math though, if you take the assessed value of each of those districts at 100% collection rate, uh you can look at those and say on the the third table there on page three
011or the second table there, um you'll see that say for instance, Mal's assessed value for 2024 was at $288 million. So they have approximately $288,000 total. So that kind of just gives you a sense how you compare uh to other districts. Page four is your average daily membership. When you if you were to go back and spend some time in the first tab, you'll you there's a whole section on what we call foundation funding. Foundation funding is a calculation. You as a school district, as you know, there is a certain dollar amount assigned to each student that attends school and that's part of your funding calculation. That is that funding formula is based on the third quarter average uh daily membership number. And for this past school year, which is what the number would be
012going forward, you have approximately 550 students. Um, here. And so that's calculated into the foundation mount. I'm going to jump forward a little bit. There's some information there on the audited financials. On page six, you'll see the the debt outstanding as of the end of this calendar year. You currently have two bond issues that are outstanding. one was done in 2019 and then the one that we did for the millillage um in August of 2023. All in all, the district has outstanding approximately $ 8.9 million. When you divide that into your assessed value, the debt ratio is approximately 11.4%. Again, the state average is about 9%. So, you're very close in terms of where the state average is. We would also always expect that the district would have some debt associated with um projects that
013you have outstanding. Um most as you know you guys have buildings and needs if you needed to finance over the course of the years and so again most districts or all districts have some debt that would be associated with that. Page seven shows you what your payments currently are on that debted or that uh bonded debted debt service. And you'll see it's about 400 and or $500,000 a year going out to 208. 2058 is important for those that were on the board and for those that were involved with the millillage campaign. As you remember, we did a repayment term of 35 years and we did that intentionally, if you recall, so we can come back and finance future improvements and give you the ability to do that. So, normally we do a 30-year financing, but
014we did this strategically by extending it out another five years, uh, which the voters approved. And so, that's why that payment goes out as far as it does. In terms of affordability, I want to go to page nine. Page nine shows you very simple table, but shows you how much revenue is coming off of your debt service mills. You have approximately uh $1.3 million coming off the debt service mills and you have a payment of about $500,000 as I've already shown you. that is quite a bit more than what the bonded debt service payment is, but again, keep in mind that was done intentionally to give you the ability to borrow in the future um once you start uh working on your your new project. So, the voters's already authorized you to do that. And
015so, that's why that um coverage revenue or what we refer to as surplus debt service revenue um is as high as it is because it gives you the ability to borrow in the future as the plans come together. Let me stop there and see if you have any questions so far. Throwing quite a bit at you. So, >> well, Jason, I got a question. Sure. Out of everything that we've did in the last four years, do you still feel we've made prudent sound decisions? You know, >> I haven't been involved in how obviously the different projects have taken place and all. I I can tell you that currently you have plenty of revenue coming in to cover your payments in terms of the debt service piece. What I think you'll have to be the landscape
016has changed quite a bit since we did the millillage related to other funding sources and different trends. Um so I think you just have to be mindful of those going forward when you start planning for future projects. >> What what if we lost 50 more kids >> wouldn't be that wouldn't be great. Um, the reason why is, as you know, is every student is is equates to about $8,000. And so when those students leave, you lose those monies, which then means the money has to come from somewhere else, which means more than likely would have to come from this surplus debt service revenue category, which you're already using to to run your schools and what have you. >> With this ability to borrow it, could we make adjustments if it become just necessary? >> That's
017correct. What I would caution you on is not launching into a large capital improvement program of some kind in terms of future projects um without a sound plan taking into account the fact that some of these revenues may be needed for operational reasons that surplus revenue is not restricted so it can be used for any permissible school purpose. So that's so again it'll come down you have plenty of capacity on paper to do certain things but it's an affordability question. It's just like all our personal finances. You can go to the bank and, you know, they'll bank and tell you, well, yeah, you could borrow the money to buy that house, but can you put furniture in that house? And so, it's the same conversation here. Can you afford to have the the things that
018you may or may not want, if that makes sense. So, >> when you say large, get give me a number. What's a large number to you? All these numbers look large. Well, it is large, but to put in perspective right now, if you did a 30-year financing, $1 million would cost you about $75,000. >> So, again, if you kind of do the math on that, you're probably looking somewhere between $4 and $5 million. And that would eat into this pretty significantly. >> We had this discuss Rhonda and I had this discussion with him before any of the rest of this stuff. >> So, I think you just need to be not saying you can't do it, but just be mindful of what you're saying. what we could do and help you do as you start
019to plan is kind of what we refer to as kind of stress test and figure out okay if you were to lose 15 kids um what impact would that have and how would that impact your potential to do this because um we don't want to put you obviously in a financial position where thousand >> left >> just some more information in the back there just some different options for you um kind of looking at this as it relates to what you your borrowing power is. Like I said, you guys have the ability to borrow quite a bit of money. Um but I would be cautious I would caution you in terms of just thinking about those different factors and what that that looks like. Any questions about that? I want to be mindful of your
020time because I know you've already had a long meeting. So, um, I'm happy to answer any other questions you have about the information here. The next tab behind that is what we refer to as a revenue projection. That's a little bit stale. We divide that to your administration. So, there's tweaks that have been made to that, but just want you to be aware. Um, one of the reasons why there we're seeing a little bit, what I would refer to your finances as being flat, but a little bit south of of the line is has to do with the assessed value dropping slightly. So you're not getting as much off of your assessed value and your mills as you had prior years. And so that's what that's accounted for. So but as you move forward obviously
021just please let me know what you need. I'm happy to come back and we can have further conversations about >> Thank you. >> Now Rhonda, >> last month I was bearable. So this month the news is a little better. They have released those fines. We got our preliminary allocation for title two and title four originally because we were up in the air that we may not be getting them at all. And so they have released those preliminary allocations. So, we'll be able to use those when we're budgeting. Overall, our federal funds from our final allocation last year to the preliminary, and those preliminaries will change near the end of some point, uh, is down about $5,000. That's a whole lot better than that $50,000 number we were looking at last month. So, did we did
022we find out any difference about the bus transportation money that we were down 53,000? >> Did the state ever told us what the was? >> The department of ed that made that and nobody knows what. Well, and if they were, again, we talked about if they were basing it on the numbers of two previous years when we had extra funds that we were able to buy new transportation that didn't require the amount of maintenance that was required this year because this year we went over what we had previously gotten. If they used that for it, then it was a flawed >> formula in the first place. >> Any more questions? Rhonda, >> you want to move? Make a motion that we approve the finance report for July 2025. >> All right, we have a motion
023in second. All in favor of that motion say I. All in descent, same time sign. That motion passed. >> Now y'all need a secretary because we have so many things that are not signed. Secretary, we got we got next item. We got several items on the consent agenda. Starting with our board secretary appointment. We need to handle that. >> Any any one of y'all? >> Well, I nominate Cassie if she will accept the I second the motion. >> All right. We have a motion in a second. All in favor of that motion say I. I. >> All in the same sign. >> Welcome aboard. Congratulations. >> Now we're back to Rhonda. >> Yeah. Building fund transfer. >> I didn't I didn't put an amount in your packet because I'm still kind of numbers and trying
024to make sure I've not missed anything. What I like to do is transfer $125,000 into the building fund. uh that that still leaves our legal balance above what it was last year. That kind of keeps it a little closer. One of the things that we do want to think about is the fact that we did not have to pay insurance and that's about the amount. So we would have really been cutting it close like right at that edge. us right now. I'd like to authorize us to capitalize 25,000 from general fun. Once that money moves over, is it able to be moved back? >> It is not able to be moved back. But the way legal balance is is wherever we're at, we need to maintain that. So the more we build, just the more
025we have to keep maintaining. This will move it back into building fund and for future projects. Do you see any issue? I guess you're recommending it. You don't see any issues with will funds dropping the need to do. >> Well, I want to keep our funds up to a certain level. I don't want to get our funds so that we're not but legal balance wise, we need to stay at where we're at. So, the more we grow, the more we have to change >> when I go to do when I go to do budgets like wherever I'm at now, I have to have budget within that amount. Like I can't brought below. So even if we maintain a higher legal balance, we just have to we still have to budget so that we end a
026year higher than that. >> I make a motion to transfer the is it 125,000 to the bill? >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I desent the same sign. That motion passed. Next is policy update. These are the ones that you had first reading on last time around and we did go in and make the change. That's why we included that one to include um the pee-wee coaches for as far as the volunteer qualifications. >> Yeah, you can make a blanket on those. >> I make a motion that we approve the policy updates as listed. >> Okay, we have a motion. >> We got a motion and a second. All in favor of that note say I all desent same sign that motion
027pass. Next item is property insurance. >> It is fine. >> Deductible increased by five times. Is that correct? >> 25,000. >> But the rate >> that was the only that was the only choice we had personally too. Well, this is the state captive insurance. We don't we no longer have an option. >> Yeah. >> Um some some school districts saw significant rate increases. Um some of them saw really significant deductibles. Ours actually wasn't one of the highest deductibles. >> 50,000 >> 25,000 is our deductible. Went from five to 25. Yeah. >> The last time we utilized that >> last year. 5,000. We got all new roofs and >> and the scoreboard when it got knocked over by the wind. That's what paid for that. >> What was our roof? >> Oh, I don't remember what
028the roof was. That was before >> it was about four and a half million. >> Yeah, it was a lot. >> Some schools it, like I said, some schools their deductible jumped to 50. >> So, do we need to make a motion to accept it? Yeah, we have to have it in there. >> It doesn't matter. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I make a motion to accept this private insurance proposal and deducted by a correct. >> Okay. We have a motion. >> Just ask a question. >> Okay. Hold on. >> Does this pay all at one time or is it paid through the year installment? >> All at one time. >> Yes. >> Can we start that motion again, Mr. D? >> Yes. Can you reent that motion? >> I say I make the motion to
029accept this property insurance proposal and to deduct this from DC. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. >> All descent same. That motion pass. Next time is our nurse policy on choking. >> Yes. And Wendy stayed around this time instead of leaving me to explain her policy. policy recap that we noticed in our nursing policy. We did not have a policy regarding the treatment of chosen. Um this sample policy was provided to us by Sharia McDonald who's the state school nurse consultant. Um it's a pretty typical policy. If if there's a pooping incident, you will have three attempts at a the or another age appropriate um >> maneuver >> treatment. >> Yeah, that's a good nursing treatment. >> Um and then it also allows
030us to use the life lifeback device which is a secondary treatment that you can use to reach out if the highlight does not work. >> How many of those are on campus? I think we have two right now. Mark and Holly Bratton just donated one to us. So, we would need one more and they're under 100 bucks. >> Are those located in your office or where they located? >> Cafeteria. >> Has there been any training schoolwise on those? I mean, if you're not there, does a cafeteria lady know how to utilize it or similar? >> How many personnel do you anticipate will be trained with with Well, with with any within anything within the truck. >> Think that next year we would introduce that in our yard first aid and um and then at the
031beginning of the year we do stop the lead in seizure. Um so we could do it during that and just train everybody across the district >> because we have quite a few that are CPR >> trained already but doing that as part of the stop the bleed that would cover everyone. What's the chances of getting them in like the students the student center still out there or the primary school or anything like that? >> We can do that. Most of the time the himate is going to be the procedure that works. Um there are some students that because of various medical issues the him cannot be used and so they have an individualized healthcare plan that would allow us to use the life act instead of the himllet. Um, but it's a cost-effective kind of
032backup plan for if the himlick doesn't work, we've called 911, it's going to take the ambulance however long to get here. We want to have that second option for treatment >> to start CPR. >> What's the cost price on them? >> They're less than $100. >> There any more questions? Yeah, we'll move on on that item. >> I move I make a motion that we uh accept assertion policy and choking and added to our policy menu. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in that motion say I. >> All in desent same time. That motion passed and next item is a retiring assets. Yes, >> Victor, you want to go just kind of give the breakdown of the assets or Jusha can. It's up to you. Yeah. So, um, in most
033of the classrooms, we had those tall projector smart boards. They were probably what, 15 years old, some of them. >> So, we decided to go ahead and take those down and replace them with new smart panels like this on wheels. That way, they're more manageable in the classroom. But, we need to dispose of them. They're not any good. I mean, we can't even get parts for them now. And anything that's inventoried that has the inventory sticker has to be rotated off and approved for rotation. >> None of those are up the bar to like be sold for revenue or anything. Victor, >> no. The biggest thing is finding parts for it. So years ago, we actually started replacing uh the projectors with aftermarket projectors because the company wouldn't even sell you them anymore because this
034is what they went to. This is actually the same brand. and then the pins would go out cuz they have pins. Once the pins and the sensors behind the floors went out, then there's no really replacement part for it. Some of the school district were actually donated them to other school districts to kind of just fix the old ones. But I mean, everybody's getting rid of them by now. >> And it's gotten to the point that the bulbs for the projectors are as expensive as the projectors themselves. >> Projectors that we're buying, they're about a thousand bucks now as well. So, yeah. >> I'll make the motion to these assets. That's proposed. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. I. >> All in descent,
035same sign. That motion pass. >> Okay. The technology student association. This kind of goes along with some of the new H2 pathway stuff. And Miss Hart can tell you, >> we currently have um the SBA uh business leaders of America uh group in our school district, but we are proposing to do away with the FBLA and to adopt the PSA, which is um more closely based and aligned to the new H2 pathways that deals with the STEM programs, the technology programs that the H2 pathways uh are you know uh catering to and it also gives our students um more practice and accountability in those courses and H2 pathway courses. So it's it's the affiliated club that goes along with what the what coach Collins is doing now in those classes that he's doing with the
036software development and the computer programming all that that goes along with that with the H2 pathways when we have those new programs like with the intro to education we'll be moving towards educators rising so they all have an affiliated club that goes along with them. So I have been with BLA before to the field trips and stuff. Uh will they have similar functions u different location? I know we used to go to Conway. >> Yes, they will have um regional and state conventions and national conventions that they will be able to go and participate and compete in um and do the same things as FBA >> just geared towards those >> STEM fings. >> Okay. >> Is FBA going to continue to exist? job. >> It everything's turning to TSA. >> Well, it's the programs
037of study that go along with FBLA that had no students in them to the point that >> just a broader student. >> Yes. >> Any kind of checking account or anything that we need to >> retitle or >> Yeah, we will flip those with with FBLA. I make a motion that we replace our FLA program with PSA as a school's official business technology student organization for those. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. All in descent, same sign. That motion passed. >> Okay. >> The updated building plan. All right. So on your action item, you will notice this and we've had this discussion. We've been discussing this. Um, a plan was previously submitted for board approval for that K, it was K1, K2, whatever
038you want to call it. Uh, it was submitted at some point. Rhonda and I are still trying to figure out exactly which administration due to the fact that there have been so many recently submitted the actual plan. The plan that was submitted for partnership funds and was approved but has not been funded um would have cost us as far as district funds about $7 million. We don't have that and trying to get that is going to put into that money that Jason was talking about that we have set aside that we can use for operating. We wouldn't have that if we were trying to cut to use that. So, we went back to the drawing board and tried to figure out how we could effectively get our students all onto this campus because when we
039asked for that millillage, that's that was the promise that we made was getting everybody out here. So what French architects came up with for us was the plan that I included there and that would give us six classrooms and that would give us kindergarten classrooms, first grade and potentially second grade depending on how the structure is going to be set up. And we know that with the new build, the state requires us to have the safe room, but they also are not going to give us any money for a safe room. And the plan that they developed actually incorporates classrooms as the safe room. So some of the things that you have to have in kindergarten classrooms, you also have to have in safe rooms. So the kindergarten classrooms would be constructed to operate also
040as the safe rooms and have the things that are needed for the safe rooms. French worked with some construction managers that they had and the plan that they came up with would be approximately $3.3 million for us to construct that, Rhonda, with what we have in our bond fund and our building fund. Where would we stand on that? We've had these discussions. I I mean, we I've had to learn more with the numbers with Rhonda. about 3.6 >> something like that. >> Yeah, because we've got the 2.6 in the bond fund and then we have >> now we're at 3.697 and we're going to transfer another 25,000. >> So that would put it within our range of affordability. So that would give us that opportunity to get our K6 kids out here. And the first
041step of course is releasing French architects so that they can actually make the fleshed out plan that has all of the plans that they are going to need for this build. So that's what I'm asking tonight is that we allow French architects to begin to develop those plans so that then we can take the next step and that's going to get us where we need to be to have all of our kids out here for K6 and for K12. >> French architect will they work on the demo of that or will that be another >> that'll be a that will be another yes the demo of the old building. That will be a separate thing, but all we would have to do is put out our own bids to have the demo done. >> Does
042we notify French architect that we have 3.6 million? >> We gave them a budget and they worked with that budget. That's what they did. >> That I keep coming up with and this this is the new number I come up with is that the 3.3 is $351 a square foot. >> The national average is $239. The metro national average big cities is only 320. in Gertton, Arkansas, southern Arkansas, we're now $30 above the metro national average. How are we so high above that with >> because of all of the things that have to be included in that build because schools require certain things and that's what puts us up a little bit above on that commercial square footage. >> The national average up if they're requiring it. >> Well, they don't have the same requirements
043state-tostate. Every state has its own requirements. And this is really the the numbers that they used. They were very generous and they tried to be as open as they could be with what it was going to cost because we've had a few projects that have been bid out to us before that by the time we paid the bill was way more than what they were bid out to us for. >> With the with the with the with the bid of 3.3, you got to leave 10% in there for the overages that illegal. They're working on all of the soft numbers as well. They are working these numbers. >> I just I'm I just can't see how in g Arkansas we're that much higher than that any than a metro average. Not even a national average.
044>> I think I think a lot of it is because we are so rural, we don't have access to some of those bigger contractors that would make it more competitive in the bidding process. So in your mind coming out of that the the elementary that we have would it be like if you were facing that or say the football field or that parking lot or are you talking like on the right hand side or the left hand side of coming out to the back because I feel like there is going to be significant amount of dirt work >> what they have come up with and this is what I I can show you. There were two plans one for the end of the building that would be towards the highway and one for right behind
045the building next to the sidewalk. The reason this does not work, and Kendall can back me up on this, is all of our utility lines are running over here. This is the space where there would be the least amount of dirt work required. We wouldn't have to worry as much about building the sidewalks and the awnings and all of those additional things. That's going to be the ideal location. They came over, Kendall and Scott, >> you you you put everything, try to fix on the west side, you're going to have to move three things. >> Yeah. And that's going to be a lot a lot of money. The water's running there. That's no big deal. >> If you go to the end of the building, >> right out >> when you're going up the sidewalk,
046back of cape, right there. >> Well, then when you do that, you got to get somebody certified >> and licensed be able to run the lift station. So that end on the the east side is going to be the the best bet for everything to work out. >> They're closer to the cafeteria >> and they're closer to >> already within the fence that we have constructed. >> My question is now French architects are they're making themselves. >> So they would not be the contractor. No, we would have to go through the whole process of a construction manager who would then go through and hire the contractors and all that. >> Our experience with dirt work and overruns. >> Well, that all goes back to the construction manager that you hire. >> Safe rooms are kind
047of a thing of the of the now every everything getting built with them. So, what's making these I'm not understand what's making them so much higher. >> What the safe rooms? >> Yeah. No, I mean what what do they have to have to make this building so much higher per square foot than what everybody else is building? >> The way they're ventilated, the HBAC systems totally different. >> But that would change the whole national average in Arkansas and the nation. Why is it why is it different in g Arkansas? Our area is no different than anybody else's. >> Yeah, I can't answer that >> exactly. That's what that's what I need answered. Why Why are we building one of the most expensive schools around? >> We're not. I can tell you that right now. We
048are absolutely not. >> We're getting 9,400 square foot. That seemed like a lot for a lot >> when you look at what again the building that they had designed was a $16 million building. >> That didn't include the safe room. >> We could get as expensive as you want. >> Yeah. But that again that didn't include the safe room. The safe room was still going to have to be built separately and we were going to have to put the bill for every bit of that because again they were going to they require you to build the safe room that will meet the capacity of whatever the classrooms will hold. And this is where it doesn't make any sense, but this is just how it is. If a classroom will hold 42 kids, even though you
049cannot have 42 kids in the classroom, that safe room is going to have to accommodate however many classrooms you have that would accommodate 42 kids. They're going to require you to have a certain amount of square footage, even though you're never going to have that many kids in that classroom, but they may have to require you to have square footage, depending on the grade, that might accommodate 42 kids. It's the same thing with the gym. you have to accommodate like for your whole campus even though your whole campus is probably not going to be taking PE at the same time. It's all the way that they require you to build certain things. >> No, I agree with that. I'm just not seeing where where this these numbers are coming from. >> And I've done a
050lot of research on this this week and I I've not seen no numbers like this anywhere. That's it. That's why this is the first time that somebody's telling me they have to be this way and I can't find it nowhere talking to contractors or on the internet where anybody go to three 9400 square feet to $351 a square foot and all the research I've done nobody's that high. >> So their thing is really just building our plants and then at that point we get to talk to contractors. They do get a standard seven to 10%. That's >> five to 10. >> Five. Okay. That's the standard of the architect cost. >> So really the cost >> not only that but their their plans are freedom of information. So every contractor could have bid on this
051can see the architect's bid or you know this $3.3 million. >> That's not the architect's budget. That's a budget that they got from contract from a construction manager they work with. They don't come up with their own budget for that because they wanted a realistic budget. That's why they went to a construction manager and got them to come up with the numbers. What's uh what's the cost for them to fully develop plan? >> That's soft cost I can tell you because I got that. All right. The architectural fees are at 6%. Cassie. Mhm. And then civil fees which are topographic survey, design phases, permitting and construction administration, you're looking at um $246,000 >> for all of the things that they come up with. is memory is is French architect. Are they the ones that did
052the air conditioning system for the gym? >> They didn't do the air conditioning system for the gym. They came up with the plan that was going to be needed to do the air conditioning system for the gym. >> So, they came up with a plan to install the air conditioning system >> for what the gym would need is what they came up with. But they had nothing to do with the install. >> Sure. It's not. >> That was that was the hire from the construction manager. >> Yeah. >> I guess I guess my my first thought, which I'm I'm in favor of letting them develop the plans, but but my my my first thought with French architect is um somebody else had to come behind them and put gutters on on that building because somebody
053didn't plan that out. Am I assuming that they're the ones that didn't plan that out? >> Now, that I don't know about. >> No, they had nothing to do. All they done was done the HBAC planning, what it needed. >> They they didn't take into consideration. They they had nothing to do with guttering or anything. That was a construction man. >> Well, I guess my my question should be should they have been thoughtful of that when they did that planned one? >> You would think? I mean, that's what I would think, but I don't know if I'm going through my chair. >> Uh, as far as the safe room, so this K through six safe room, is that correct? >> That will fit K through six. Yes. >> And that's two 10,000 foot classrooms for
054that. >> And so that red line is where the safe room safe room. That's where it is. >> Yes. >> The other four will be 850 square feet of these. >> And so as far as the safe room is concerned, where's that picture at? So they So if they put the safe room or if they put that building there, it's going to be oriented this way, right? >> Mhm. >> And is there going to be a covered or enclosed area so that let's say you have a safe room and let's say you have a storm, how do you get these students from in here into there safely? Is there a plan for that >> there? Well, that will be connected to the back where the sidewalk is. >> Be likewalking on >> Will that be
055enclosed or anything? >> I don't know about enclosed, but it'll be covered. >> You're saying that it backs up to this already existing? Yes. >> Yes. They're just going to extend and move for more concrete. >> Where where are the exits on on that building at? truth being >> where where that building plan is there in the back there is an exit that comes straight out to that >> here. Yeah. >> So it's so sorry I'm just thinking so if you had a storm and you've got a safe room you we obviously would want them to take into consideration how efficiently and quickly you can get students from spot A to spot B. They will literally they'll be able to walk out the east side rear entrance of CES and straight in to the new
056building to the safe room. >> And I'm assuming I'm assuming there would be more than one exit to get there. You wouldn't want to funnel all the kids through one door. >> Yeah, because they could still go out on the opposite on the other end of that building. There's another door there that's covered as well. That was part of another reason to put it in that location because the sidewalk there already has a cover on it. So everything's covered. There wouldn't be any need to extend an awning. And so I I I would assume that their plans would include any additional sidewalks and awnings that would need to be >> once they added to that. >> Yes. Once they get a an actual plan going. Yes. more questions. >> Says support spaces >> kindergarten restrooms.
057>> I think really the big deal is we want to make sure that on these estimates there's a blue Yeah, there are going to be crew restrooms in between the other four classrooms out there. Boys on one side and boys on and girls on the other side. You have to have a standalone bathroom for >> kindergarten has to have a standalone bathroom. >> Back to your question ago because I'm I'm with you at the same $372 foot. So if you take out their like so civil would be all their their engineers so and surveys and all that and you take out their less their 6% fee. That really puts the cost of the building. I'm not saying it's great, but at $314, which is more like commercial build >> that's taken out where we're going
058to have to pay. >> No, you would still pay them, but like it's their their standard fee that we are require that pay the architect like we just can't draw plan decide to build by state. So, if you took out their six six% fee and like the civil um engineers fees, if you took out all the engineers fees and then it puts the building cost down at almost $300 square foot. >> And how much would that total you then? So, so the 6% fee was $192,000 and then the so I'm sorry $192,000 is a 6% fee that would go to French architect and then 6% and then $54,000 is their civil architect or civil engineers >> and that's not coming out of that 3. >> Is that part of it? >> Yes. Yes, that's 300
059that you was finding >> I don't include those. Those are professional things. >> Like when a contractor was giving me quotes, they're like, you know, figured out good as a commercial bill. It's pretty standard, but they're not. But but you have to go plus like what is that architect fee? You know, like if you have to use if you were forced to use an architect because of the standards code, then that automatically bumps you up six to 10% unfortunately is standard fee. Don't know if I don't know if that makes it a little >> Yeah, that's great. and show the what if the contract you said the contract manager giving them numbers. What if he comes back with that 3.3 this is what it's going to cost to build the school >> and now we're
060out that money plus the 3.3 million >> and then we end up with over budget now we're over 3.6 million where's that money come from? >> Well I mean but definitely I would stop that. I would >> my goal is we're still we're still so far above the national average and I've not got an answer to why. That's what's driving me nut. Is there a way to to see where other schools have been built and what they build from what price? >> You can look, but there's not going to be a whole lot of that size and what we're looking for. >> I reached out to Ardelia with their new school and I didn't get that. I didn't get the I didn't get the help that I wanted. I was hoping that would help me
061being a local school that's just being built because I mean at the end of the day, square footage, it don't matter how big this law is, you're still going to have a square foot price and you can base that off of >> and what what did they put in their school? we we're putting in this or not putting in this one. You know that there was a why we had to put something in there that made it that high. I get it, but I don't it's a K through one school. What has to be there that makes it that high? >> Well, your safe room is going to >> that's standard these days. Everybody's putting safe rooms in everything. Houses, schools, >> all these additional restrooms, all that is is kind of is kind of
062tied to these young kids. >> And that's little >> handle. Did they uh did did this? So my understanding is French architect gave us this number 3.5 >> that they received from the construction manager that they were working with. >> And did any of those people come down and just take a look? You mentioned the dirt work. They they came down and and view things the dirt work and situation. >> Is there any more questions? Sure. You want to move on this? >> Make a motion that we approve French architects to develop our plans and then we'll potentially take bids >> for two week on that >> because it's going to take a while for the plans to come up. Leslie has got to send our plans into the state for approval because even no
063matter what they come up with, the state still has to approve our plans for a build. This is not an overnight process, but it is important that we get this started because those bond funds that we have, we have got to have 85% 85% spent by next August. >> Is it possible in this timeline to do so? >> Yes. But again, we have to act expediently on it. >> Have any other architects firm been asked about it? And I have nothing. I don't know anything about French. and beyond there. >> Bring is familiar with us and they are familiar with our campus and they are familiar with what we need. They have worked very closely with us on a lot of things and they have never failed when I have asked question to get as
064much information as they could possibly get me. >> Where that project manager they use where's where's you know who that is or where they're at? >> I know where they're at. I would I'm not going to tell you who they are because I don't want to skew the process when we're starting to look for these things. They're out of Hot Springs and they have worked on these buildings, >> these buildings particularly. >> They're going to be open to a just like everybody. >> Everybody has to have the the opportunity. >> Send you like their website. Go look at some of the stuff that they've done. >> Yeah. One more time. >> I'll send you like their website and you can >> I Yeah, I looked them up this >> They do good works. Can't I
065can't >> not knocking that. Well, we won't be through the process. This is just kind of step one. >> We just The first step is allowing them to make the plans. >> I don't feel like these these plans are I mean, I think they're the right size. So, that's what you're going to have. >> That's why I kept having to get them to shrink it. That was what that was the biggest problem was getting it down to a small enough size that it was not going to be. >> You don't want >> No. And we can't afford to overbuild because we're not going to do anything to put this district in any kind of financial straits. That's the whole point. >> This is the way to get the promise that we made when then we
066asked for that millillage to get there >> and longterm maintenance cost a lot of things as we sell the property >> and uh actually insurance everything in one place and let's build a new construction a lot. >> I would second the motion that she made to >> okay start that process. Make a motion to hire turn to fully develop plans. >> I second the motion. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of that motion say I. >> All desent at the same time. That motion passes. >> Okay. Next item is our board designate that we >> Can you explain that to everybody? Yes, because you know the state has put us in the position that with boardtoboard transfers, our ability to actually deny a board-to-board transfer has been diminished dramatically
067and they're happening quicker and they're happening close together and having to wait for the board to meet to accept a board-to-board transfer puts off the process. other schools in Archadadelphia has done this um have designated their superintendent as being able to accept and go through the process of that without having to wait for a board meeting. >> Makes sense. >> I'm okay with that. I just think keeping updated on current school um enrollment and things like that would be concern. But in that I don't they could be >> well that's why I'm including it in my board brief. Make sure you check your emails. Yeah, >> we got email. >> I'll make a motion to approve um the superintendent spend overboard transfers. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. All
068in favor of that motion say I. >> All in descent, same sign. That motion passes. >> Now, since you've just done that, we still have two board transfers that you do have to prove since this is brand new process. We have one coming into Garden from Archadadelphia and then we have one who is leaving Garden for but they're not our student. They've been homeschooled. So they haven't been in our our count for the last two years. So >> we have a motion in a second. All in further that motion say I desent the same sign. That motion passed. >> Okay. Now it's future business. >> Oh, director's report. Yep. They've got they've got information to share with you. >> So for the director's report, it's building goals. >> Yeah. >> So we kind of split
069it up between elementary and primary school because different structures, different data. And so for third through sixth grade at elementary, we looked at the campus as a whole. and what percentage of proficiency we had in each tested content area. And so for each of those areas, our goal is to increase the percentage of students scoring proficient by at least 10%. So that's a summary of this. So in science, our goal would be to move from 23 to 33%, in math to 36%, and in literacy to 39%. Of course, we want to shoot higher than that. That's a goal we're going to use to measure. We also have a goal for growth for our students that we want to see at least 80% of our students showing individual growth no matter where they're starting at level
070one or level four that we want to see all of them making progress and we're going to base that from summitive to sumitive. So from April data to April data so that's elementary is there any questions on those? is is 10%. Is that a reasonable for one year? >> We always hope that it's more than 10%. You know, it would be great if it's 40%. You know, >> um but we want to make sure that it's something that is within the scope of real estate. Um it is it is reasonable. It is reachable for sure. So for primary, we don't have our K2 data yet that from the assessment that they took in April. And so we developed these goals, but they might be revised just depending on what our data shows us. But our
071goal for math is that we have at least 60% of our students scoring proficient for the math exam and literacy 60%. That's where we set it. And so just depending on our data, we might revise that. um the K2 assessments look a lot different than the 36 assessment and so that's why we put their goals separately and then for the growth goal we want all of our K2 students as well. So we listed it that there and we're going to measure progress in K2 for growth from the middle of the year interim which we're going to take back in u February January uh to the end of the year summitative because the test that primary takes at the beginning of the year is much different than the test they take at the end of the
072year. So to compare apples to apples, we're measuring from the middle to the end for growth. Any questions on those? And as the year goes, we'll be able to update you on progress towards our goals as well. >> You feel like the test is kind of settled into it and now you'll have good >> I do because the test was is created specifically for Arkansas by Arkansas teachers. They designed it based on Arkansas standards. So, I don't feel like it's going anywhere anytime soon. >> Worked out all the kinks after last year. >> They do. They tweak it. Yep. >> They listen to the teachers feedback and they were very supportive in that regard, you know, and so they made adjustments to the test as far as like um what questions were kind of off
073the wall and didn't really assess the skill that they were intended to assess. and also like the structure of the test and the format um with the input from the teachers considering you know our kids in K6 a lot of them are still learning how to test on a computer so they just add into more consideration for the high school our goals were somewhat similar but different in in many ways. So, our literacy goal um was by the end of 2020 uh 2526 school year um our 7th through 12th grade uh stu students scoring level one and level two will be decreased by 5%. And we looked at this and we looked at our our Atlas scores from this year and we made some really good gains um in both literacy and math. But we
074wanted to be realistic about it especially because of the wide scope of grades that we have and the different levels um of rigor of the rigor in the different levels. We wanted to make sure that we were realistic by doing this. Currently um through our Atlas testing 2425 school year for literacy grades 7 through 10 we had um 38 students who scored a level one which was 24% of those tested and those tested was 158 students. Level two was 77 students which was 48%. The combined level one and level two uh students was 150 students at 72% of those that were tested. Uh our target for this year will be um for our level one 19%. That's a reduction of 5% which averages out to about eight students who will um no longer be in
075the level one that will move up to level two and possibly level three or four. Um and then level two with a reduction of uh uh to 43% at or below 43% which it uh equals out to um about nine students who would um go above their current level and which with with a combined of at or below 67% which is a reduction of the 72%. and we're going to focus on that by continuing to do what we're we're doing. Um what we were doing last year is working and we've seen it in our test scores. So we're going to continue using our HQIM. We've given our teachers more um training on their HQIM this year. We are in those classrooms. We're doing our observations. We're supporting our staff um through all of their targeted
076instruction. We we have targeted um professional development that we've given our staff um with specialists that are coming in from the Bailey group and from the co-op who are um specifically going in that HQIM um breaking down those standards and helping our teachers understand what they need to teach and how they need to increase that rigor so our students will understand what the test is asking them. Um we are making sure that our lessons are aligned with grade level standards. So all of our teachers are teaching at grade level. Um and we are having that scaffolding which are the small groups that we have that help with um intervention for our students who are not quite getting those skills. Um and we are doing um ongoing formative assessments whether it is quizzes um uh bell
077ringers um you know end of day you know uh >> exit tickets. >> Yeah exit tickets. Thank you. I had them bring exit exit tickets u any of those things like that that will help us to gauge uh if our students are learning that content or mastering those skills. SC. >> So for the math, I mean our our plan is the exact same as far as the implementation how we're going through everything. So of this past year's test scores, 114 students were in that level one to level two rank. So 78%. Our goal transitioning into the next year is to decrease that by 5%. So, we want to see 73% of our students, love to see more than that, but 73% moving past that level one to level two, trying to push them over into
078that level three uh area and potentially higher than that. And once we have all the finalized data, once we push into September, potentially October, we break everything down. There'll be a more finite number with everything, but that targeted goal is absolutely attainable. We had so many kids that were so close. I mean, one or two points away and if you're looking at a 40 50 question test, it's really just one two questions before they move over that line. So, that's absolutely attainable. And again, supporting our staff. They're going to be using the HQIM in the classroom. All summer they were in and out with our third party Bailey group coming in working with those HQIM professionals for each content area. Uh that hits the professional development and then le plans everything. It's all aligned to
079grade level standards and we're in the classroom. We're there. We have a presence and whatever our teachers need, what kind of support they need for our students, we're there for >> any questions. >> You have any questions? >> Oh, have any future business? Any questions on that? >> No schools for Labor Day, September 1st. And then our next board meeting is September 23rd. >> We need to change that. >> No, we'll if we have a special board meeting, we'll announce that right there. All right. If there's no questions, can we move to adjourn? All in favor say on descent same time sign we're ajourned.