March 10, 2026 DMPS Board Meeting & Work Session

001Heat. I would like to call the school board meeting for Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 for the De Moines public schools to order. Thank you everyone for being here. It's wonderful to see so many smiling faces. Miss Rios, could you please take the role? Yes. Miss Alonso >> here. >> Miss Compos. >> Mr. Dixs >> here. >> Miss Hopkins here. Mr. Howell >> here. >> Miss Martrono here. Dr. Mayberry Mace >> here. We have quorum. >> Thank you. The first item of business is approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? >> Dicks. So moved. Mayberry may second. >> We have a motion by Dixs and a second by Mary Mayberry Barry Mays. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your

002votes. Miss Campos. >> Campos. Yes. Campos. Yes. >> Thank you. The vote is approved. 70. The next item on our agenda is district recognitions. Superintendent Smith, will you introduce our recognitions to today? >> I do. I have uh several this evening. Um it's a special evening because we get to recognize some championships as well as we also get money. >> And so this is an incredible night for us. Um we have very special guests with us this evening for recognition. But first, I want to give a shout out to a young man who could not be with us this evening. Those of you who attended last month's state of the school's event, no doubt remember Wesley Rumba, the cadet captain of the JRTC program here at Central Campus, who welcomed us to the event and

003shared his inspiring story. A few days after the state of the schools, Wesley became a state champion, winning top individual honors at the 2026 Civilian Marksmanship Program State Championship. In fact, it was a clean sweep for Central Campus JOTC. in very many ways. Wesley's fellow cadet, Elsie Manning, was a state runner up and Sophia Cronin finished third. Central also came out on top in the team competition with a squ the scarlet squad finishing first and the gold squad whose members include William Dicks, Patrick's son, coming in as states runnerup. DMPS has long been home to JOTC squads that have left state and even national legacies in air rifles competitions and it's so great to see their success continue. Congratulation congratulations to every single one of them. And speaking of state champions here tonight in the

004room with us, we are excited to have with us our newest state champion at DMPS, the Lincoln Rails go girls bowling team. The Rails were ranked as the state's top team for much of this past season. And the results at the state tournament last month in Waterloo showed exactly why. In the final round, Lincoln topped their Iowa Alliance Conference rival ATA to bring home the team championship trophy. And in the individual competition, Lincoln junior Michelle Wilson is the state runnerup. These weren't the only honors the Rails picked up. Coach Ray Felton was presented with the golden plaque of distinction by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union in honor of not only his successful career, but also his contributions to Lincoln, our community, and the entire coaching profession. It is great to have Coach Felton

005and members of the team here tonight. And I'd like to invite you all up to share a few words about your terrific season and what it means to bring home your first state championship trophy. Come on up, Lincoln. That's going to look great in my office. Thank you so much. >> That's for our picture. >> Yes, sir. >> Anybody want to say anything? >> I don't have the most talkative ladies, I'm telling you. Um, yes. Um, I've been at Lincoln High School for 13 years. We've been to state 11 of those 13 years. Um, and it's been a but it's them. Um, >> I won't I won't I said I wasn't going to. Four years ago we took third. The last two years we've been runner up. And I told you last year that we

006were gonna get it. And um I love D Lincoln High School. Um I've had three kids that have went there. Um state title in softball for one of them. Um, but this isn't about me and it's not about anything except these girls and her hard work, the thousands and thousands of dollars that their parents put into camps and travel and um I don't know how many more years, but I told them one more, at least one more cuz I want to go out back to back. Um, the >> pressure >> the Golden Distinction Award was really nice, but it isn't about me right there. Thank you. So, I'd like a picture. I'll leave the trophy there. I'd like a picture with you guys behind it. >> Yeah. >> And then we can get behind it

007and we can take a picture. And you know, it's it's really true to my heart what I do. And someday I'll be done. Thank you. >> Yeah. Are you sure that >> I All right, perfect. Everybody ready? >> One, two, three. >> One more. >> And if if there's one more thing I could say is never give up on kids ever. There's nothing that really tops celebrating kids and their accomplishments. Correct, >> man. >> We should do that every board meeting. >> Um, so next up, I'd like to go ahead and welcome to the uh the podium here um is our partners from Prairie Meadows. Um I believe we're here to um talk about cash or something like that. Uh which is a wonderful place to start. And so thank you so much for being

008here with us tonight. >> Okay. >> Hi, my name is Brian Oelco. I'm the president and CEO of Prairie Meadows. Uh and with me today is Julie Stewart, Matt McCoy, and Andrew uh Angela Connelly with the Pulk County. and uh we represent uh an unbelievable partnership between Prairie Meadows and PK County. And uh we are one of two nonprofit casinos in the entire country with the proceeds that we receive uh from our customers and the hard work of our employees that go back uh to help the community in different ways. And this is one way that uh we provide that support through uh those net receipts made from Pulk County or from Prairie Meadows. And uh it's one of my favorite times uh of year to be before you to present uh these checks. And

009I'd like to turn it over u uh to Matt um with PK County. Uh >> great. Well, uh thanks Brian. Uh always great to bring good news to to the board. We appreciate everything De Mo Public Schools does. And on behalf of uh Poke County and Prairie Meadows, we're able to uh bring a check tonight for $569,521. The best news about this money is it's unrestricted. So you can use it you can use it to support your students, faculty and staff in any way you choose. Overall this year alone uh through our partnership with Prairie Meadows, we'll be um providing Poke County students 1,311,544 across the entire county. Uh since 2007, Prairie Meadows and Poke County have given back more than $21.6 $6 million to students of Poke County. Through this partnership, Poke County and

010Prairie Meadows are committed to supporting our education system and investing in tomorrow's leaders. We're very proud of De Moine public schools and all that your students and faculty and uh students do to uh make De Moines a great place to live. So, thank you very much. And I've got a check here. So, >> thank you make a motion that we do at least one trophy picture one check and one trophy every every meeting >> all right One, two, three. have another meeting in two weeks. Just want to thank again our partners with prayer meadows. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all very much. And finally, I want to share that DMPS was recently awarded 48,000 grant $48,000 grant under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to strengthen our instructional systems and practices that support students with

011disabilities. DMPS is one of 10 districts across Iowa selected for this grant. The funds will support professional learning for preK through2 building and district leaders focused on implementation science and approach that ensures teaching practices are introduced thoughtfully used consistently and sustained over time. Through this training leaders will strengthen systems, better align resources and support high quality uh of the students and for disabilities from whom we serve. Our congratulations to the team who led this effort to be to the award and we look forward to the improvement and growth this will bring to our students and to our staff and to our families. So, congratulations yet again. And that concludes tonight's uh recognitions. Thank you. Next on the agenda is our public forum. >> We provide speakers at the forum an opportunity to address the board

012for up to three minutes regarding items that are not on the board agenda and up to five minutes for an agenda item. If anyone wishes to speak during any portion of the business meeting, please email rosa.reiosde moineschools.org. The same speaking protocols apply to all individuals who wish to address the board. Speakers will be called individually and we ask they state their name and zip code prior to providing comments. Students and minors do not have to provide their addresses. Guests of the board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to the program, services, and operations of DMPS. Please remember that Iowa law prohibits us from discussing specific employees or their job performance. We ask all speakers to avoid references to personalities or character attacks as those types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for

013which this public form exists. The use of inappropriate language will not be tolerated and individuals choosing to do so will be gled out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises or escorted out by district security. As a reminder to the board and public, the board will not engage in a discussion while public forum speakers as it is our obligation to discuss only matters posted in the public agenda for the sake of transparency and opportunity afforded to all community stakeholders. Matters requiring attention will receive appropriate staff and/or board follow-up at a time after the meeting. Thanks for your participation. We appreciate your feedback and input. Miss Rios, do we have any speakers for the public forum? Uh, yes, we do. First up, I'd like to call Britney Rosebomb. My name is Britney Rosebomb.

014My zip code's 50316. And uh thank you for the opportunity to speak here again tonight and for the incredible work all of you are doing to reimagine what our schools can be. I know these decisions are complicated and I appreciate being able to add a parent and community voice to the conversation. I want to talk about something that can help every part of this plan succeed. Not 5 years from now, but right now before next fall. Across this district, we are asking teachers, secretaries, bus drivers, counselors, and administrators to respond to levels of trauma most of them were never trained for. We see it in classrooms where out of room out of bounds behavior is often really fear. In front offices where parents arrive already overwhelmed or disconnected and in staff who are burning out

015because they care deeply but have a whole toolbox of tools they cannot access and nowhere near enough support to navigate challenges. At Blank Children's Star Center in West De Mo, there is a trauma-informed parenting workshop that directly addresses one part one critical part of this gap. Despite the name, it isn't about telling adults how to raise kids. It's about understanding how trauma changes the brain and body and how adults can respond in ways that actually help instead of accidentally escalating or creating unintentional secondary trauma. Staff who take this workshop learn practical skills. How to recognize when a student is in survival mode rather than rather than defiance. How to deescalate without shaming or giving in. How to communicate with overwhelmed parents in ways that can start fostering open lines of communication and rebuild trust. how

016to protect their own mental health so compassion doesn't turn into exhaustion. These are tools for classrooms, hallways, buses, IEP meetings, every place our kids show up. And the best part is how doable this is. The Star Center team is willing to bring the training directly to our school so transportation and scheduling don't become barriers. The workshop is completely free and it counts as six hours of continuing education credit so staff gain professional value while gaining real skills. We talk about meeting students where they are, but we can't do that if the adults in the building haven't been given the language to understand what they're seeing, nor the right lens to look through the things to see things as they actually are. A modern building will not calm a hypervigilant activated nervous system. A new protocol

017will not teach an overwhelmed parent how to trust the school again or how to con or convince a student with PDA to follow it. A unique program will not support staff in the moment when a classroom is falling apart. They need and deserve more support than this. And at least this part is literally right here and available for free. Big people have to be the ones to create this healthier environment with integrity and intent. So my ask tonight is this, that the district requires time be made so that every staff member can be trained and that DMPS formally partners with Star Center to bring this workshop into our schools. I would like this completed or at least scheduled in time for fall. It is free. It is accessible. And it covers everyone. And it meets

018an astounding need we see every single day. If we truly want reimagined education, we have to invest in the humans inside of it. The adults who hold our children when learning feels impossible, who help us raise our kids. This is a step DNS can take immediately to make that vision real. I come here and speak because you are who I trust to make this happen. There's just no reason not to. I do have business cards to get a hold of her if you would like them. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next speaker is Caitlyn Hansen. I'm tall enough. Uh, Caitlyn Hansen, 50237. Uh, good evening, Mr. Superintendent and members of the board. Um, as a proud employee of DMPS. I again come to you this evening to highlight our district mission

019which speaks of recognizing the multiple pathways available for students to cultivate their own success with the support and partnership from our community. Unfortunately, recent actions for our students with the highest needs, the most at risk, are in opposition of this promise. And the domino effect of moving Molton to Kurtz and combining all district-wide programs for special education students into a single program at the Woodlon preschool building has reinforced perceptions among staff, students, and families that we are an educational system. Canon fodder afterthoughts that don't need expanded choices under reimagine. Why force program leaders into planning meetings at 7:00 a.m. if any real decisions about our special education programs must be made by a group of lawyers who then must wait for approval from the state. I believe this empty placating to be patronizing. Those who

020live and work in district-wide programs every day have no seat at the table. Frontline stakeholders should not just have input, but we should have real involvement and transparency in decisionmaking. Together, we can address necessary changes in a meaningful and thoughtful way. In contrast, we are currently rushing through plans in three months while staff get mixed mixed messages and non-answers from an unknown group of lawyers and individuals who don't know our students or families. Plus, we unnecessarily risk losing a four decadesl long partnership with broadlons at the ending of the focus program. Each of our programs for our highest tiered special education students need more support and need to make changes. We agree. But please respect the expertise that we have on staff and do not end focus. Do not put us in a catchall developmentally

021inappropriate facility. And at very least let a real working group of stakeholders come together to improve our programs and our students outcomes. In short, let's slow down. Remember, just like our typical students, our special education students deserve more choices under reimagine, not zero. Thank you. >> Next speaker is Katie Swallwell. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh my name is Katie Swallwell and I'm the chair of the De Mo Public School Foundation. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization that was approved by the school board over 20 years ago as a way to generate philanthropic support for the district schools. We are grateful to Skyler Mayberry Maize and Sarah Hopkins for also uh representing the school board on the foundation board and are excited to have time here tonight to share what we're up to. I am on

022the agenda for later, but there's child care snafood, so graciously I'm getting in at the top here. One of our goals for the 2025 2026 academic year is to make sure DMPS staff, students, and families know who the foundation is and what we do. Our mission is simple, to provide meaningful support for every PK-12 student to succeed at DMPS. We don't want any teachers vision or any students learning to suffer for lack of resources. Thus far, the focus of our giving has primarily been small grants to schools and teachers, but we have plans to do much more. This October, we had a record turnout of over 1500 staff, students, and families who participated in our one-run fundraiser at Waterworks Park. We were able to generate over $50,000 from corporate and individual donors to distribute to

023DMPS elementary schools. In addition, we donated $30,000 in small grants during our fall grant cycle. Funded projects include a live reindeer visit to Perkins Elementary, supplies for an afterchool club at Goodrell Middle School, and a field trip to the African-American History Museum of Iowa for East High students, among many other projects. We just announced our next round of funding for our spring grant cycle, and we'll launch a summer cycle soon. These are open to all PK-12 educators in the district. If any are here, please apply. And we urge staff to apply at our website, uh, dmpsfoundation.org. On March 26th, we are partnering with Big Grove Brewery and dozens of other restaurants uh for the first Dine Out DMPS event. Participating restaurants have agreed to donate a portion of their sales from that night. Please check

024our website again, dmpsfoundation.org, for the full list. And if you're able to make it out to eat that night, we encourage you to wear your favorite DMPS swag to celebrate the district. And last but not least, our annual fundraising dinner is April 16th at the Iowa Event Center. We are planning student performances, special guests, a delicious dinner, and an auction to raise money for De Moines Public Schools. Tickets are still available, and we are always happy to make room for corporate sponsors and auction donations. All details can be found at our website, which is dmppsfoundation.org. Uh, it's the last time I'll say it. Uh we know it's a difficult financial time for public schools across Iowa, but we also know that there are many people in this city who are deeply dedicated to ensuring that

025our public schools are very strong. Thank you to everyone who has donated their time, their talent, and their treasure to the foundation over the last 20 plus years, and we hope to see you all at one of our events soon. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. So, next speaker is Jenny Shipley. Jenny Shipley 500023. Thank you for being here this evening and serving the De Moines community. I am the clinical broadlands clinical supervisor in the DMPS focus program. I am here tonight because I have serious concerns about the future of the focus program in light of the merger of district-wide programs. Focus is a successful therapeutic day treatment program which involves extensive collaboration between Broadlands Medical Center and De Moine public schools. This partnership has been in place for

02640 plus years. I often refer to it as the bestkept secret in De Moines. Over 40 DMPS students have been served yearly by the program over its history. Day treatment is different from school-based therapy. Focus provides a more structured and intensive treatment approach, including individual, group, and family therapy provided by Broadlon's therapists. In addition, a Broadons board-certified child psychiatrist comes to campus weekly for medication management and clinical consultation. Therapy staff is embedded within the program, assisting with crisis management, creating a therapeutic, millu, and clinical consultation. Whereas school-based therapy provides potentially one individual therapy session per week. We are a step between outpatient therapy and hospitalization or residential care. Students live with their families while getting the help that they need. Focus therapy staff also provide services and support throughout the summer. All of the therapeutic,

027psych, therapeutic, psychiatric, and other support services are provided by Broadlon staff at no cost to De Moine public schools. All students deserve access to the level of support they need to thrive. Focus is designed to meet the therapeutic needs of students who struggle with mental health, trauma, and who are often neurodeivergent. These students and their parents have a willingness to engage in the therapeutic model. Broadlon's focus staff are very concerned about the proposed merger of focus with other DMPS programs. Students in those other programs need a different approach and different services than what is offered at focus. We all have myopia, but we don't all have the same prescription. There are solutions for this merger to be successful so that all students receive the support and services that they need and deserve. Discussions need to

028occur to collaborate and establish the solutions. Decisions are being made without these critical discussions between Broadons and DMPS. Merging three groups of students with intense needs without a thoughtful, intentional step-by-step process does not build culture and community, and this will compromise safety. Everyone loses with the current plan. Students will be negatively impacted by the merger if they lose access to the therapeutic day treatment that they receive at focus. Safety in all forms will be compromised. Please encourage DMPS leadership to collaborate with Broadons so that this partnership can continue to benefit DMPS students and their families into the future. Thank you for your time and for listening. Next speaker is Michelle Simmons. Michelle Simons 5003. Good evening and thank you for taking the time to listen tonight. Um I am a staff member at the focus

029program. I'm here tonight because I have grave concerns about the proposed merger of all of the district-wide programs. I want to begin by acknowledging that I understand that the district is reimagining systems across all schools. I realize that adjustments to facilities and spaces are necessary. If sharing a building is part of that process, while not ideal, I understand that reality. But sharing space does not require merging programs. Day treatment is not the same as school-based therapy. And it's it it is not simply another behavioral program. School-based therapy typically involves scheduled sessions, often once a week, where a student meets individually with a therapist. That service is valuable and important. However, it is not designed to manage high acuity mental health crises throughout the school day. Day treatment is fundamentally different. It is a therapeutic model

030embedded into the entire school day. Clinical care is integrated into academics, transitions, crisis response, family collaboration, and behavioral planning. Therapists from Broadlon's Medical Center are on site and actively part of daily operations. They assess students in real time. They help intervene during escalations. They collaborate continuously with staff, not just during scheduled appointments. That immediacy is a safety measure. The students we serve represent the highest level of emotional and behavioral need in the district. Many have significant trauma histories, severe mental health challenges, and patterns of disregulation that can escalate quickly. In this environment, predictability is stabilizing. Clearly defined crisis response protocols are protective. Immediate clinical access pres prevents situations from becoming dangerous. I also understand that other programs in the district may want to learn from the skills, interventions, and systems that have been developed over

031the past 40 plus years at Focus. We welcome that. We are more than willing to collaborate, train, share strategies, and support capacity building across the district. Sharing expertise strengthens everyone. But sharing expertise does not require merging programs. When you merge programs designed for different levels of acuity, you change the safety infrastructure. Even small disruptions to staffing patterns, peer composition, or clinical integration can increase the likelihood of aggression, elopment, self harm, and staff injury. This program has existed for so many years because it fills a distinct and critical role. It was intentionally built to manage the highest levels of emotional and behavioral risk in this district. If space must be shared, we can adapt to doors, walls, and hallways. If expertise can be shared, we will gladly do so, but we cannot dilute the clinical model.

032Thank you for your time. Next speaker is Audrey Clemens. Audrey Clemets 50211. I am a teacher in the focus program. Re-imagine committee has met since fall 2024. Through each phase, special education and district-wide programming in specific have almost been completely ignored. From the start of the school year, we knew we had to move buildings for Molton, but there wasn't a plan for us. The DE report in November 25 shone a light on focus due to issues with FAPE non-compliance. Along with this and the need for our current space, the directors have made rash decisions on relocation. Out of convenience, all three diverse alternative programs are going to merge into a school currently outfitted to serve preschoolers. The district fails to be equitable in meet the and meet the needs of all students by not including

033focus in the other district-wide programs in the reimagined design. We are left wondering what the long-term design for special education students in this plan is both for comprehensive buildings and within district-wide programming. Focus stands for family outpatient center of unified services. This program provides a safe, challenging, educational, and therapeutic environment which promotes growth and fosters hope with the goals of preparing students for transition to adulthood. We are unique serving elementary, middle, and high schoolers. The merge threatens the benefits our program provides our low studenttoteer ratios, extra adults assistance throughout the program, and multiple therapists on site that work alongside educational staff. Merging us with JFA and APA removes the essential part of our program as an outpatient center. We are the bridge to help students gain an education while supporting extreme mental and behavioral health

034needs. While some aspects overlap, creating a meaningful and successful merger will take time, consideration, and careful planning. The district should not rush it simply because our space is needed. Merging our programs and relocating to Woodlands will violate the DMPS school board guard rails. Specifically, number two, the last minute decisions have raised many concerns that have been met with silence. There is no plan. We have frequently asked for transparency and specifics. There are more questions than answers. We ask we are asking the board to wait on merging the programs for one more year or more. Come observe our program. We want you to become familiar with focus and the unique services we provide and why we make students successful. Don't rush. Please wait. Thank you. >> Next speaker is Hannah Krishell. >> Hi, Hannah Krishell, 50315.

035I'm also a teacher in the focus program. Districtwide programming needs a designated home. Focus has been moved several times. We have shared spaces with others. Kohl's got too big and man building was sold. Even with our unique population, Focus has never had a designated space. We agree with the district's belief in reimagining buildings for student success. We only ask that this is not only applied to comprehensive buildings, but to our program as well. Our students deserve the same purposeful dedication to success. The Reimagine Education team has not considered district-wide programs. We have been an afterthought, putting staff and student safety at risk. Focus's current home at the Curts Building serves our students well. It has been used as a high school. We need a building developmentally appropriate for our students with safety as the number

036one concern. Even with minor adjustments, moving to Woodlon is not enough. Woodlon is a preschool. For our students, this will not feel like a developmentally appropriate building and will further exasperate the feelings of not belonging. The rooms are outdated with chalkboard small built-in benches and lots of exterior exits. The ceilings are low with exposed sprinkler pipes. There are floor to ceiling glass panels and an open ADA lift that students will misuse. There is no cell phone reception for crisis calls and not enough walkies for everyone. The gym is half the size of a typical high school gym with broken drop down tables for eating. Curts resembles a typical high school with a full-size gym we can split in half and use it for both gym class and big body movement breaks for students. This is

037highly necessary for our elementary age students with no recess equipment and it is their only source of recreation. Woodlon does not have a cafeteria that the high school students would need. The bathroom sinks and toilets are too low to the ground with narrow bathroom stalls designed to serve young students. With three district-wide programs in one space, we will need to have safe bathrooms that can accommodate 80 plus students ages eight to 18 years old. Woodlong currently has a preschool playground. Moving it with the preschool students has been discussed since it was purchased with Head Start funding, leaving our elementary age students with limited outdated equipment. The Iowa Healthy Kids Act states that K5 students need 30 minutes a day and 612th grade students need 120 minutes per week of physical education, recreation activities, or sports.

038Our students need big body activities with structured equipment to help regulate and refocus. If the purpose of district-wide programming is to ensure student success in homeschools, we need to recreate these vital scenarios. Our district strongly values inclusion and we need to set up our students for success and reintegration. The superintendent guard rail number four has been dismissed in the design of moving our program. We would like to reimagine the possibility of what district-wide programming could look like in an environment appropriate to our students. We feel that like all the other schools in DMPS, a team of people, both staff and community members should be on a committee to reimagine our program. Thank you. Next speaker, Stacy Schmidt. Hello again. Um, Stacy Schmidt, uh, 50310, and I am also an instructional coach at Lincoln High School.

039So, it was great to see my rail splitters up here earlier. Um, once again, I'm here to speak about the proposed changes to the health benefits for DMPS employees. There are a few salient points that have come up in different spaces over the last couple of weeks, and I wanted to make sure to highlight those in this forum. First, as a DMEA building rep, I've heard from multiple employees who were very frustrated by the timing of this proposed change. These specific employees were eligible for the retirement incentive that was shared in December. At that time, there was no discussion happening about changes to health benefits. These employees chose not to take the retirement incentive at that time. Had they known that the district was going to start charging premiums for insurance or at least looking

040at that option, they would have taken the retirement incentive. Now, they no longer have that option. Sure, they can still retire at any point until contracts are due, but they're no longer eligible for the retirement incentive. In the words of one employee, "It feels like a bait and switch with what we thought we were keeping by staying with DMPS." The level of distrust and the decline in morale that this creates should concern the board. Second, I've heard it said in spaces that DMPS should not be subsidizing insurance plans for employees at businesses such as Wells Fargo or Principal by not charging premiums for our family insurance. First, I question the veracity of that statement. We claim to be a district that bases decisions on data. If there's data to support this claim, please share it.

041Otherwise, we really need to be focusing on what is best for our people, our families, and our systems, not worrying about how they're impacting those of other businesses. Finally, my biggest concern with these proposed changes is the significantly negative impact on our education support professionals, our associates, campus monitors, and others. These people who earn some of the lowest wages in our district, who work multiple jobs with the access to health benefits being the primary reason they continue to work for DMPS. for them. Well, I'm sorry, $40 to $50 a month may not be that significant for salaried staff, but for an associate whose starting wage is only $17.34 an hour, I looked online today. That is literally half a day's work. A blanket premium cost for DMPS employees is a regressive system that disproportionately impacts

042the people with the lowest wages. We already struggle to fill these positions in our buildings. Having a regressive system to charge insurance premiums will only make it even more difficult to fully staff our buildings and significantly impact our ability to provide the needed supports for our students with IEPs and 504 plans who need onetoone associates. I challenge the board and our district administration to continue to look for systems that are more equitable across employee pools. Attempting to balance the district's budget on the backs of our lowest wage earners will only result in a negative impact across the district. Thank you. And the last speaker I have is Jod Ramirez. Hi, Jody Ramirez. 50315 is my zip code. I don't have anything planned. I just want to come up and beg you to second think about

043the health insurance. Um, I previously worked for Dwayne public schools for like 20 years and then I left to finish my student teaching and and then I started teaching somewhere else for a little bit. But I came back because of the insurance. That was a big one. I have a special needs daughter who goes to Lincoln and that's important to us and the services that she needs. I can't afford it with other insurance or if I leave and I know several people who have come back to De Moine for the insurance and have said that if they don't get the insurance they would have to leave. and I work at Mcomes right now and we're struggling to keep staff and if of all of them are not happy and then we leave we're already struggling

044short-handed to service all of our special needs kids and I agreed to go back to school to get my special ed endorsement for my job that I have at the moment which means I sacrificed nights with my four-year-old and my other daughter. I sacrificed that to go to class so that I could have this job and have the insurance and then it's like being taken away now now that I'm here and agreed to go to school for my endorsement. So I just want you to rethink that that it's affecting our students as well, not just us as staff, but it's also affecting our kids who are De Moine public schools students. That's all I want to say. Thank you. MADAM CHAIR, those are all the speakers for tonight. Thank you. We will move on to

045the consent agenda. As a reminder to the public and uh board, the board will not engage in discussion or deliberation with a speaker regarding comments made to agenda items. Discussions and deliberation will remain among board members and at the board table with speakers comments informing the board's discussion, deliberation, and determinations as deemed necessary. Ms. Rios, do we have any speakers? >> None for concern. Miss Hopkins, I move that the board approve the consent items in accordance with the recommended action for each item on the consent agenda, including bills previously authorized, certified, and approved for payment by the board secretary in the amount of 11,882,455.87. and procurement card transactions in the amount of $540,6281. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> We have a motion by Hopkins and a second by Howell. Is there any

046discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> Campos. Yes. The consent items are approved 7 to zero. Next, we have a series of public hearings. The item is E1, public hearing for CIP26010 Brody Middle School CTE edition. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? >> Hearing no one, I'll close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? >> I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by DLR group for an addition at Brody Middle School, hold a public hearing, and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> Move to approve Mayberry Mazize. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Mayberry Mazize and

047a second by Dixs. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> Yes. Campos. Yes. >> The vote is approved. 7 to zero. Next item is E2 public hearing for CIP26028 Roosevelt High School Niatorum Upgrade. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? >> I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by BBS architects and engineers for pool upgrades at Roosevelt High School, hold a public hearing, and approve the plans. >> Pool upgrades. Is that different than yours? >> CIP26028. You're said >> CIP26028 to pull up. >> Okay. Yeah. >> All right. May I have a motion

048and a second to approve this item? >> Dix so moved. >> Hopkins. Second. We have a motion by Dixs and a second by Hopkins. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? >> Just a question about the scope and scale of the of the project. Matt, the has it just been scaled down a bit from what it what it had been imagined as? >> Um, it has. And so the original plans, the um all of the bids came in approximately 300,000 over budget and so it's just been scaled back a bit. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> Campos. Yes. >> The vote is approved. 7 to zero. Next item, E3, public hearing for CIP26033, Molton Elementary playground relocation.

049The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by RDG planning and design to relocate the playground at Molton Elementary, hold a public hearing and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> I also move. >> Dick second. >> We have a motion by Howell and a second by Dix. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> Campos. Yes. >> Yes. Miss Alonzo. Thank you. >> The vote is approved seven to zero. Next item is E4 public hearing for CIP 3633

050Central Nutrition Center third boiler. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item hearing? No one. I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Shive Hattery Architecture and Engineering for replacement of the third boiler at Central Nutrition Center. Hold a public hearing and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> Dick so moved. >> Hopkins second. >> We have a motion by Dixs and a second by Hopkins. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? >> Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Camposa. >> The vote is approved seven to zero. Thank you. Next item is E5 public hearing

051for CIP26011 Goodwrill CTE edition. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I'll recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by OPN architects for an addition to Goodwill Middle School, hold a public hearing, and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Alonzo and a second by Mayberry Ms. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> Campos. Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. The vote is approved 7 to zero. Now we have our other business items. First item

052is F1 request to the school budget review committee or SBRC for special special education administrative costs. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board approve the application to the school budget review committee in the amount of $350,334.92 for special education administrative costs associated with a 2026 2027 school year. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Alonzo and a second by Howell. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss Campos. >> The vote is approved 7 to zero. Next item is F2, the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year end June 30th of 2025. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? >> Should I

053turn it over before I introduce it or should I introduce it and then turn it over? Yes, >> you should. >> So, I'm gonna introduce uh Shashank Aurora, who's our CFO um and then our partners with RSM um are here tonight and to share the ACT for report. Um and we believe it is a brief report. Is that what we're here to is that what I understand? Yes, >> you're absolutely right. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. If you guys wouldn't go ahead and share your uh presentation and then I'll introduce the matter. >> Perfect. So I first of all I wanted to thank both the RSM team and the business and finance team for completing the audit. The audit is never an easy process and I think everyone in the finance department gets involved.

054The the second thing I wanted to highlight is this is the first time that DMPS has prepared the the ACT for on its own on an automated fashion. Yeah. We have always relied on RSM to prepare it. This is the first time we are doing it on our own. Yeah. So that is a great kudos for the team. Yeah. The the last item before I turn it over to Christian who's an audit partner at RSM is we typically like completing the audit by December Jan but because of the state audit which is going on this got delayed. There are certain federal requirements that we need to comply with that we have to file our financials by March. So we definitely wanted to complete it prior to March. So just wanted to provide some background to

055the board and with that I'll turn over to Kristen. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening. Um a brief summary uh but probably before I jump in though as far as the documents you've been provided with um as Shashank referenced the annual comprehensive report or the acquirer. It's the district financial statements a large document. So I usually just try and provide a highle summary excuse me of of that document. In the event you don't have the full capacity to read it uh front to back a full full entire document. I usually try and highlight um at the start of the document is management's discussion and analysis. That is a good condensed maybe what 10 to 15 page summary um where management goes through and provides analysis and summarizes any highlights in the 2025 uh financials

056more specifically going through and explaining any um uh fluctuations really from the prior year uh comparisons to budget. Uh so that can be a good again more of a narrative presentation on what the 2025 financials looked like. Um there is as a reminder individual balance sheet and income statements are included in the acryer for all of the funds that the district um budgets for separately tracks separately for the different um areas. There's the general fund but then special revenue sources etc. So just a reminder that those individual financial statements for each fund are included. There's extensive footnote disclosures that go through a lot of um their required disclosures, but detailed information around topics such as the district's cash and investment portfolio, capital assets, outstanding debt, pension, oped plans, and then at the at the back

057of the document is the statistical section. So that is an unodudited component of the acryer, but it provides a different lens. Some people uh find that section meaningful. It is a 10-year history on a lot of topics. So, it goes through and does a 10-year recap of key financial information um revenue capacity and sources, outstanding debt, and then even just demographic and operational information about the district. So, again, it's um the rest of the report is a single year presentation, right? But that stats section uh can give you really kind of a trend analysis on certain of those topics. So, um just to give due credit to the work certainly that went into it, but just a highle summary on the items that are included in that. So to go through here required communications auditing

058standards um require at the conclusion of the audit that we go through key um required topics to with those charged with governance. Um so first of all this was an engagement performed in accordance with government auditing standards. Um we issued an unmodified opinion which is the AICPA term for what's also called a clean opinion on the financial statements. That's the highest level of assurance we can give. Uh meaning the financial statements are presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. um changes in planned audit procedures, no difficulties. This is just a highlight there. Again, there are certain topics um I if there's any difficulties encountered in performing our work, those are things that would be communicated to you. None were noted. The last item on this slide, this is just to emphasize um if new

059accounting standards were required to be implemented by the district uh per the regulatory guidance um and if those had an impact on the financials if you were to compare this year to prior year. So, the first one was actually a pretty significant impact on the financials. the topic related to compensated absences. So, as a reminder, um that's liabilities that the district has for I'll just loosely say time off that employees have earned but not yet taken, been paid out for whatever the policies are. So, it'll in general be sick, vacation, PTO, again, whatever each organization's policies look like. Um the guidance there did change a bit on how that was recorded as a liability in the financials. So, the district did see an increase there. Again, nothing about the policies changed. It's just how the

060accounting and calculations for that liability was determined. But did want to call that out and there is a footnote um in the financials that also just provides a summary of the financial impact on that. The next standard certain risk disclosures um no no impact uh as a result of this one. The Gazsby has just come through and said if there's any concentrations or or constraints um that could meet the criteria for disclosure that actually pose a risk to the financials um it provides disclosure criteria around those items. But district management determined uh no such areas met those criteria. This next topic management's discussion or excuse me judgments, significant estimates, accounting policies. Significant estimates get highlighted here. This is just to you know serve as a reminder that there are areas uh whether it's balances um

061or transactions during the year that do have a component of subjectivity. So you not necessarily as black and white as cash in cash out. There's estimates involved. um probably one of the most significant ones. So, this list is ones that are relevant for the district's financials. Pension and OPED, for example. Um you use a specialist to help you project what long-term costs are going to be there, right? But that that's an estimate. So, this is just to emphasize management has processes in place around those. As a part of the audit, we take a look, make sure the policies are both being followed and that the estimates they're using appear reasonable and consistent with um the industry peers, etc. And so you'll see there the compensated absences got noted again um with the up with the

062update and how the liability was determined with that being an estimate. And then that last note there just shows note one in all financial statements is the summary of significant accounting policies. And that just goes through and summarizes how the district accounts for all transa all significant transactions and balances in its financials. So the next item um the first couple items there this is uh so what this refers to is um the finance department district provides us with their original financials trial balance when we start the audit and we monitor if there's any adjustments uh that are identified during the course of the audit process. So one audit adjustment, you know, for perspective if you think about the thousands of transactions that are processed by the district. You know, everybody wants a perfect and clean

063audit, but I also try and provide perspective on one adjustment did come up. It was a restatement related to um the allocation of the OPED related liability across the funds, but also keeping in mind the volume of transactions. uh the general ledger provided by the district, you know, one adjustment is also pretty narrow when you think of that scope of what's what's subject to audit uncorrected misstatements. So these are similar in that um an adjustment came up in the course of testing. However, they are deemed immaterial. So management can elect um you know it's not necessarily easy to run changes through a 200page set of financials. So they have the option to conclude you know but this is an immaterial um correction in the financials. We agree with that conclusion. So those if those come

064up and there were a handful this year, they are summarized in the communications letter. So those are ones that are not pushed all the way through the financial statements. The next items, these are just to emphasize and provide clarity. Um so you know these all say no, but want to make sure um it's understood that for example, you know, if we do encounter any disagreements with management, problems getting information in the course of performing our testing, those are the types of topics that are required to be communicated back to you all. So, um, you know, that's certainly key that, um, regardless of either direction, uh, we'll make sure we do a readout to you that, you know, no problems were encountered. Um, as Shashank mentioned, we work primarily with the finance department in the course

065of our testing, but we do work with other departments gathering information. Um, and and really encountered no issues as far as responsiveness. Uh, our team asks a lot of questions, you know, that's on top of their day-to-day, but um, a very nice job as far as working with them and timeliness in going through things with us. So, compliance reporting. Just as a reminder, all organizations that receive and expend more than $750,000 in federal grant money are required to have the compliance audit done in accordance with the uniform grant guidance. Um, so the separate document you have is the compliance report that goes through and provides a summary. You can see a detailed listing. It's it's called the schedule of expenditures of federal awards. Um, that report includes a detailed listing of all the grants that

066were expended. You can see who the federal granting agency that is is that awards the funds to the district and most of them just by the general uh really name of the grant you can see what what purposes and uh cost those support. So also included within that document um the first item you'll see noted here. So as a reminder in a financial statement audit we do not give an opinion on internal controls. So that's not the purpose of the financial statement audit. We opine on the financials. However, the standards require if in the course of performing our testing we do identify any deficiencies uh that we concluded rose to the level of a material weakness or significant deficiency that is communicated to you. So just kind of a clarification on that and and how

067controls come into the audit. You will see um just one material weakness was noted and it it actually links back to the one audit adjustment I mentioned earlier. So uh the the the error that was identified that related to a prior year was material enough that those amounts were restated. So really by definition then that's going to qualify as a material weakness. So and just so you know in that document management is required to provide what's called a corrective action plan. So not to jump ahead but often you know the question we may get is okay this came up what what's occurring to prevent this in the future and they provide an an update on just um you know maybe something they'll change in their policy or or processes and controls to prevent that occurring

068in the future. So for the single audit itself you can see we tested two major programs. um we follow the guidance put out by the ASCPA and in what grants we take a look at. Um so for perspective there you can see two major programs uh title one and the 21st century community learning grant were the two grants we subjected to testing this year. Um for perspective that that was about 33% of the district's total dollars. Um both programs received an unmodified or clean opinion and no compliance findings or instances of unallowable costs were identified um in the testing we performed. And this is just a summary um just perspective like kind of looking back 10 years so you can get a sense of the district's single audit there at the bottom at notes. Uh

069the district averages usually two to three programs a year that get audited. Um and so you can see here when you look at the last 10 years very clean history as far as as it relates to the single audit. So again no findings um in the single audit this year and even looking back at the at the last 10 years very limited instances of findings that came up in the course of the audit. So, I said a lot of words. I'm going to pause and I'm happy to go through any questions that you have on on the documents or the audit process itself for either myself or Shashank. >> I don't have a question. And I just think it's important to just um reinforce um what we're hearing for me to recclarify what I'm hearing

070is that with this audit, it was an unmodified opinion which is the highest level of a financial audit that can be rendered. Correct. >> And I think that's important for our community to know. Correct. >> So thank you. >> Yes. I think from the community perspective, the other thing I would mention over here is we have an independent audit committee which consists of professionals both from public accounting firms as well as industry and Skylar from the board is part of the audit committee and before the financials are sent to the board the audit committee meets they approve they ask questions and then it comes to the board. Maybe just add >> just to add to that it it it's multi-layered, right? We have our um our partners with RSM as as our external auditors. We

071have an audit committee and we have our own internal auditor. So, there's multiple layers of digging into our processes um our protocols, our data to make sure that we are consistent and that we are following policy in doing what we say we're going to do. So, um I do appreciate the the transparency of it. >> Thank you. >> May just one question. uh you mentioned and I'm glad you highlighted that this is the first year where we've been able to do some things on our own. Can you maybe just speak to how that will benefit the district on a go forward basis? So the the biggest benefit that I see coming out of doing it inhouse in an automated fashion is productivity increased productivity. So we till last year used to have anything between 10

072to 12 different iterations between RSM and de mo schools and any changes made at either end someone had to go through the whole process and then document even though RSM was preparing the ACT till last year it used to go back and forth multiple times and it was very easy to miss an error somewhere. uh because it was a manual process. One of the the goals of my department is automation. So this was definitely accomplishing that goal of automation. Second is it increases productivity. So those are the two different things. And then third is being self-dependent versus depending on an audit firm. Audit firm is doing the audit but the aqua should be done. And again, as far as I know, Ryan, we are the only school district in the state of Iowa which is

073again doing it in house. Otherwise, historically, all school districts, it's the auditors who do it. Absolutely. >> Superintendent Smith, will you please introduce the matter? >> I recommend the board accept the annual comprehensive financial report for year end June 30th, 2025. May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> Move Mayberry Mazize. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Mayberry Mazize and a second by Dixs. Is there any questions or um any discussion? Board members, please cast your votes. Miss >> Campos. Yes. >> The vote is approved seven to zero. Thank you. >> Thank you. Now we have our information only items. Um G1 was an update from our DMPS foundation which we were able to receive during our public forum. Uh G2 is board policy updates. Board members, this

074is a first read of these updated policies. Please review those and provide questions or inquiries prior to our April 7th meeting, which is where we will be approving the new policies. G3 is a list of new hires and G4 is a list of bills paid. Next on the agenda, we have items of privilege. I would like to ask my board colleagues if you would have anything to share. >> Just to thank you um madam chair to um mostly our middle school principles for um u hosting Sarah and I went out and did a a couple of visits over the last couple of weeks. And so I just want to say thank you to Ryan Sharp at Kalinan, Kate Panic at Merrill, Amy Loun, Rose Dino at Brody, um Michelle Hurlbert at the downtown school, and

075then Chris Schmidt at Harding Middle School. Uh just a big thank you for opening their doors and taking valuable time uh to show us what they're doing and talk about the future of middle schools in De Moine, which uh this board has identified as incredibly important to the reimagining process. So just thank you. >> Thank you. I wanted to give a shout out to the central campus culinary department. I had the honor of going to they are now doing a five course gourmet dinners and I had the honor of going to one. Um and they have another one coming up on March 31st. It's open to the public and it's the first time they've done this as a fundraiser. So I highly recommend you check them out. Um, I also wanted to on behalf of

076the foundation board, Katie touched on this previously, but the dine out for DMPS is March 26th and it's a really great way to fund raise for DMPS. Um, there will be all kinds of amazing restaurants, Big Grow Brewery. Um, you can see the whole list on the website. So, definitely check that out. And then lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to the Lincoln Railletes because they are leaving for nationals at the end of this month. So, good luck to them. Thank you. >> Okay, a couple quick shout outs. So, wanted to highlight uh North High is going to be having their gala uh Back to the '9s, which uh hopefully everybody can attend. That's on uh April 18th, and it should be a lot of fun. Uh some of us fit right squarely

077in that theme, so we'll see what we wear to that. Uh, also to build on Patrick and Terry's comments, the uh, thanks and shout out to the Madison Magic and the folks there for uh, sharing their building and their successes there and uh, the wonderful leadership and all the staff at Finley who I had the the privilege to go speak to at their state of the school that they held uh, at their own school. So, that was a lot of fun. So, >> I'll offer just a really quick comment. This past Friday marked uh employee appreciation day and I know many of our board colleagues have already recognized specific schools, but I also want to recognize the employees within the district that maybe don't work in the schools directly. Um, so obviously we have our

078teachers, we have our support staff, we have employees that are 100% of their time sitting on wheels. I mean, we have employees everywhere that make this district move. So, um I'm sure the district certainly recognizes you and appreciates you, but I also want you to recognize from the board that we too appreciate all of our employees that help keep this district moving. >> You all right, I will turn it over to Superintendent Smith for the superintendent report. >> Uh yeah, I want to I guess continue the theme of um a few different shoutouts. Um, again, the the executive team and I get a chance and an opportunity to meet at a school every Monday to hold our weekly meeting. And so, um, every time that we're there, we walk away just inspired, um, and joyfilled

079and reminded about, uh, the significance and importance of the work that we do and the decisions that we make on a daily basis, um, with and for our staff and for our families. And so, um, that's never lost on us. And so it's always such a treat to be in the schools and to be amongst um our students and our staff that that just pour everything into their educational um experiences. Um so shout out to um Catel, Madison, Lincoln, Samuelson, Perkins, South Union in Greenwood. Um want to lift up um South Union that um they hosted a gigantic egg. Um I think that was earlier this week. Was that earlier this week? Was that was the egg was that last week? >> Last week. Today's Tuesday. Um so they for food nutrition um awareness month

080which is now like being nationally recognized um the students and staff there just kind of held a wonderful event um to recognize the importance of nutritious meals for students and uh just a shout out to our director of food nutrition Amanda Grim and her incredible staff all over the district because they do they are the state's largest restaurant in case you haven't heard that. um and they provide incredible services to our kids each and every day. So, they're serving well close to about 20,000 20,000 meals a day um for students. Um also want to recognize Greenwood and that incredible staff. I had the opportunity to go out there and read uh to students both in sixth grade and second grade. And I guess that must is also last week. And um I got to tell

081you, it was the highlight of my week. There was lots of highlights last week, but last week it was a highlight to be amongst those students um and to be there to read with them and talk to them about their experiences there at Greenwood. Um the sixth grade um group had a lot to say, a lot of positive things about their experience there of maintaining sixth grade at the elementary schools rather than, you know, traveling to the middle school uh model. So, uh we still have a lot of data to collect there and a lot of learning to do, but um it seems to bow incredibly well there at Greenwood. And uh lastly, I would like to lift up um the students and staff at Stowe. Um they are doing incredible things at that building.

082Um and what those students are experiencing on a daily basis, not only in just literacy and mathematics and science and social sciences and things like that, but also just the the culture of joy and the culture of community is incredible in that building. And so it is palpable. um as evidenced by the bracelets that were sent to me today um that I will dawn for the remainder of my life um because it describes me perfectly. It says one says superintendent super accurate and the other says coffee also super accurate and so uh I'm super thankful for that staff, the leadership there, the teachers and those students. So thanks again for all that you do and just want to wish everybody a wonderful spring break as we head out. Be safe. Thank you for joining us

083this evening. We greatly appreciate you all. Uh this meeting is adjourned at 6:44 p.m. We will take a brief break and then transition into our work session to receive a presentation from cabinet and our teaching and learning team followed by a presentation on our budget. So board members, um let's go ahead. It's 6:44. Let's reconvene at 650. 650. All right, we're going to go ahead and get our work session started. Thank you. This work session um is one of the final of our work sessions to provide insight into um the workings of DMPS um department by department. So I'll turn it over to Superintendent Smith. >> Yeah, thanks so much. Um yeah, just to reiterate, this is um the last in a series of presentations just about um the uh the overall um organizational structure.

084And so tonight uh we are privileged um to have um interim chief academic officer, Brenda Colby. Um just a reminder that Brenda Colby served as the district's chief academic officer years ago. Um and so I was super privileged to work alongside her as chief schools officer when she was chief academic officer. And so, um, she's a breath of fresh air to welcome back to the district, um, to help us this year, um, to get back, um, uh, back to doing things for that with kids- centered, right? And so, putting, um, uh, the humanity back into our academics, uh, work and leading an incredible team that she has at central office that's doing really, really good work in schools. So, Brenda, it's all yours. >> Thank you. Thank you um, for this opportunity. First of all,

085I'm grateful for the opportunity to be back in De Moine. Um, there are very few people who could talk me into doing this, but Superintendent Smith was the one who was able to do that. And um, I want to recognize the dynamic team that I get to work with every single day and um, thank them for being here tonight in support of the work that we do. Um, and also for the joy that they bring every day to the workplace. Um, as I continue to add things to people's plate, I never get a no. I always get a yes. Um, and they're taking on extra responsibilities beyond the scope of their regular job or what they agreed or signed up for in the first place. So, um, I feel deep grat gratitude for them and

086I appreciate the grace that they've given me with my gazillion questions that I ask every single day as we dig deeper into the work and the focus um, in the office of academics becomes more aligned with what we know needs to happen for for our students. Um, one of the things that Matt mentioned is um that we keep at the forefront and that is whatever decision we make, whatever plan we put into place, we do it based on making a decision that's best for students. That's always the end end um picture we want to to take. So to give you a little bit of context, beginning with the end in mind, saying thank you to all of you for the support you continue to provide. Thank you to um the other district leaders, the teachers,

087the students. Um I've had an opportunity to spend half of today at Lincoln High School, so I got to see the rail splitters in action in the classroom and I appreciate the work that the T12 schools are doing. I haven't um called that out specifically in my presentation, but I want you to know that the teams of professionals we have working to make sure that the learning um deepens and improves for students every day is absolutely amazing to watch in action. So, um I'm grateful for the work that they're all doing and for the um the cooperation they show with everything we ask of them as well. So it's not just the office of academics team but it's the rest of the school district um teams as well that are making things happen in a

088positive way. So just to share with you um the outline of our organizational design and this has changed since the last time I was here. Um we have the directors for central academy CTE uh prek um and the principal supervisors who are under the oposes of the office of academics but they're also supported by uh Bryce Amos as well. So, we're kind of co-leading that group. Not kind of, we are. Um, but it's important to have the principal supervisors with our team as we make decisions together because we want a a preK12 articulation that makes absolute sense to everyone as we roll out um the initiatives and the work going on. um student and family services department which is technically our special education team all of the directors from that group and the K12 teaching

089and learning directors as well. So um in the in the photo you see a a photo of a school that looked a lot like the one that I attended um and it was actually the same building that my dad attended. I think they must have construct had one architect that was constructing buildings. I don't know where this one was, but it looks exactly like the one that that I went to um as a as a kindergartener. And then down below, I've given you a diagram of the possibility of school as we we reimagine the office of academics. Um we've set several priorities and the first one is to create alignment with all of the departments that function under the office of academics. And the first thing that we did was to develop a mission and

090vision statement that didn't exist um last October when I arrived. And the team worked together um and created those two things and now they're developing the strategic actions that are um supporting all of the students, all of the schools and al things with things that align with the strategic plan. Um the other thing that we're focusing on and um the work teams have begun, you heard from Becca Harris and um the work for the signature schools programming has um become a huge focus for our our teams as well. So once again, we've added more to their plates, but they've embraced the work and um have been more than um cooperative and and supportive and passionate about that work as well. And then the other focus is on connecting the initiatives such as um portrait of

091a graduate diploma plus and nth grade on track. So into a meaningful form that um makes sense to students to teachers and to our um families as well. And finally um the um reimagining will revise and deliver the uh MTSS playbook that's ready for publication. We did a final revision yesterday with the team and that's everyone having eyes on it to make suggestions and revisions that we will then um share with the schools before we end this school year so that they have that ready to go for the fall. So here you see um a photo of us working hard and seriously. Actually part of the work needs to invol involve joy. We learned that um a few weeks ago from our wayinder team um and they talked a great deal about bringing joy into

092the workplace and I have to say this team does it without fail. We depend on a few people Barry um for um bringing light-heartedness and joy and um humor to the team. But this this was um at the end of our first day of working together as a team for the leadership for learning um office uh um and at the end of the day we all put on our clown noses um and celebrated the fun that we were having doing it. So building collaborative structures is our priority. um keeping the PK12 lens. Everything we do, we make sure that we have everyone at the table that will be impacted by any decisions, any planning or any of the work that we are creating for the future. Um building relationships. Um, one of the things we

093know that is important is to build trust among the team and the articulation comes um, easily once you build the trust and once you build the collaborative structures for them to do the work. Um, I did ask the team members what their priorities were to get feedback from them. I'm still learning a lot of the um the priorities as as they appear. Um and so strengthening instructional leadership and coaching for school leaders is obviously one of the major priorities of the principal supervisors and then ensuring coherence and alignment across the academic system. So it makes sense to schools, it makes sense to school leaders and to um the students as well. And finally or next the system structures um making sure that we're taking down all the barriers that schools face to try and streamline

094the work and not be adding too much to their plates because we know that people are overwhelmed at times with all of the initiatives going on and all of the work going on. So making sure that we remove whatever barriers might get in their way to help support them. And finally then the constant collaboration with the office of academics teams. So I think at the beginning um teaching and learning was the term that was used. It's really office of academics is more specific to um to the group. um the student family service focus. Um obviously we're doing a lot of work with um implementing the changes and the needed um expectations for um improving our system of support with the targeted and comprehensive school comprehensive schools. The audit has allowed us an opportunity to create

095corrective actions that will lead to a stronger, more systemic approach to how we provide programming um and also services um for the areas that were cited in the report. And you'll be hearing more about those things throughout the the spring as we develop those plans. Um I will have to say I have to give a lot of credit to the student family services team or the special education team because without their dedication um this is a full-time job answering the questions creating the documents that we need to put in place and um providing the professional development. So they they deserve a lot of credit for the time and the effort that they're putting in to do the work on top of all the other expectations we have for them. And then the last part is

096about aligning the team structures and staffing plans to support student needs and and school needs. We've just gone through the staffing plan process so we have that ready to go for next year. Um and as a part of that we're creating a delivery model where um the teams align to the network schools model. So previously we had two principal supervisors and or two um student family services directors and three principal supervisors at the elementary level. But with some adjustments in staffing, we've been able to now create an aligned system. So we have three uh directors and three principal supervisors that work hand inand um supporting the schools. And then the last part of that is creating the staffing and budget plan to support the needs of all students with IEPs. And that's no small task.

097and they've accepted that heavy lift with a lot of um energy and excitement for possibilities by adjusting some of the roles that people will have next year to make sure that um we're meeting needs of students in a better and and more productive way. um the teaching and learning focus um for their these teams are instructional framework Gleam and I've I don't know how if the new members are familiar with what Gleam stands for but it's grade level engaging affirming and meaningful instruction um and so that team has been I think in play for four years and they do works where they or they do walks um in the schools to evaluate instructional practices and how they're um doing in the classroom. And then principles are able to use those walkthrough tools that are a

098part of the gleam uh walkthrough plan to adjust help teachers adjust instruction and plan for instruction and make the necessary moves to um ensure that we're um providing grade level um and tier one curriculum for all students. So aligning Gleam with the highquality curriculum is also a priority and we'll be beginning we're beginning to do another revision and strengthening of that as we see a misalignment between um what's happening in the classroom with instruction and then what's happening with assessments that are aligned or are meant to be aligned with the standards. We're going to be making those changes as well. Um the next one is about designing the literacy and language acquisition um cont in all content areas with an emphasis on SDI and ELLL. And I want to uh call out the work that's

099also being done by our ELELLL teams. It's been a phenomenal um opportunity to see today um in a newcomer's classroom at Lincoln High School the instruction that was taking place with our students who were um very new to the country and to um Lincoln High School. Um finally then the next or next one is about the MTSS playbook with tier one to three resource options for schools and that has to do with instruction and behavior and we're working um to complete that as I said earlier and finally uh providing the tiered support for schools um using our T12 model of supports that are in place and um the the T12 schools we hope will become a laboratory for um future uh ways of supporting our schools who um who are not on the comprehensive list

100now but also could benefit from what we're learning from the laboratory um nature of the of the T12 support our challenges um one of the things I've I've recognized is we don't have the intermediary support that we used to have um that we once had. And so that's been a challenge in terms of meeting the needs of all of the people within the department. But um as I've said, people have been more than willing to be give us grace as we um begin to work through all of the issues and the barriers that stand in front of us. Um, another challenge is um responsibilities added to positions for work for work that needs to get done as a result of the reduction in positions that we've had in previous years years. We've lost a lot

101of um key people and key positions. And so what we've had to do is ask people to take on more. So we're doing more with less. But um we have some people who are are or some of our directors who are doing two to three full-time jobs um because of the absence of those people um who previously would have done that work. And again, nobody has said no. Every time we add something more and and we ask the question, could you do this? Could you handle that? We have we have yet to um have anyone not engage in with a passion and a dedication that's beyond anything I've ever seen. Um the one I've highlighted for you has already u been completed. That was a challenge because it meant that we did we had two

102um special education directors who had um a very high number of schools. But now that we now have three directors and we have three principal supervisors, that articulation has been a lot more effective and I think it's going to bring better just in time help and support for the schools that need it. And finally, the last challenge is the time and capacity constraints while maintaining cadence with all team members. And that's that's something that we're working through as well. >> Brenda, before you move on. Yeah, sorry. >> Can you be more specific u regarding that first bullet? >> Yeah. So, previously we had executive directors who served as intermediary uh support for teaching and learning, principal supervisors, student family services, and with with the loss of those executive directors, I'm the only one. And now

103Bryce has been added to help support with the principal supervisors, but having one person rather than extra support in the middle um can can be a challenge. And when you look at what we're doing with um the Department of Education audit in special education, that heavy lift, the T12 schools um and um and just the daytoday expectations and requirements, it it's been a challenge. We no longer have a director of English language learners. So that's been picked up by someone um in the teaching and learning department by one of our directors. Um so there just have been a lot of those positions that were and our dropout prevention um support is now um being taken on by Dr. Briggs. So you know we're very fortunate to have people who are um talented and knowledgeable in

104those areas who can help support some of that work. But we've lost a number of positions that previously would have provided that support. >> So the the first bullet, the lack of intermediary support that is specific to the executive directors and then um the result of reduction in positions from previous years. That is the director of ELLL dropout prevention support. >> Director of FE federal programs would be another >> federal programs. Okay. Um, and the reason I asked for more specifics is um because I've I've heard some rumblings that the curriculum department has grown versus what you're describing here. So, I want to better understand >> that's just the teaching and learning uh portion, but um we've also experienced um several reductions in the last few weeks for next year. Okay. Thank you. >> As

105we meet the standards um requirements for staffing, we've been able to change some of it through attrition. Other um other positions we've just eliminated recently. >> Thank you for that clarification. >> So, what choices do we have? Um well, one is creating an organizational plan that meets and allows for the needed support in the office of academics. And that was um what I just alluded to in terms of the the support. But like I said, people have stepped up and they have been willing to take on the extra responsibilities. But it does um it does add quite a bit to their their work as well. um including the student and family services directors as a part of the leadership team for learning has been huge in in I think improving the articulation of um what

106we're doing in every single area. So rather than someone having a separate meeting and then someone else having to go and explain what's happening and bringing those people together in a different way, we we're now completely aligned so that they are at at the same meetings um with the rest of the office of academics >> and what's the leadership for learning team? So those are our so that that's the office of academics um standing meetings that we have every two weeks for planning and development. That's where we've just recently developed the mission and vision and then the strategic action. So we'll begin to monitor also the data that's coming to us um on a regular basis and make our changes and our moves and our plans for the coming weeks and months. and um for

1072627 as well through the work that they do. So those are just our organizational meetings that we have twice a month. Um prioritizing network alignment and we also had conversations about the regions and what that alignment might look like and we'll begin planning for that as well. um creating uh collaborative focus for decisions based on what best for is best for students I've said is our priority with everything we do. If if it doesn't meet that examining question then um we have to go back to the drawing board and rethink how we're doing things. And finally, aligning all the actions um in the district strategic plan and guard rails to the work that we do. Impact um I missed this point in the presentation. >> Yeah, your hair looks different there, Matt. Um >> that

108was a few years ago. >> Yeah, I think that was actually a few months ago. >> Yes. So, what will the impact be? Just a little levity. a happy superintendent. We We want a happy school board as well. So, I could have added that, but I didn't have any photos of you. Sorry. Um, all students learning at high levels. Obviously, um, all means all in my mind, and it does in the mind of the people that I work with every day as well. Staff supported in all areas um, where it's needed and a highly productive, effective team of professionals and office of academics. We have that. We have a dynamic team and as I said, I've never worked with a group of people who are willing to work harder for the students of De Moines

109public schools and the results that create success for all students and schools. So, thank you for this opportunity. Um, I was afraid I was going to run out of slides because um, in our slide deck there I was down like at number 113. I thought PowerPoint must have a limit. Um, but thank you for this opportunity to to speak with you. What questions do you have for me? >> I think I heard you say at the beginning of this talking about um being able to articulate our vision in a consistent way across our prek through 12 schools. And and and maybe I ask you to talk about that a little bit more. in doing a lot of school visits. It feels like in an effort to provide some autonomy to school leaders in the past

110decade or so, there may be um a disconnection in the way that we operate across, for instance, our junior highs >> and being able to articulate at least on some level, buildings are different, right? Communities are different, right? but being able to articulate on some level what experience our junior high kids are going to get, what experience our grade schoolers are going to get. Um, and so I I wonder what your assessment of that as you come back in and then um how you plan on aligning that a little bit better. Well, I would say um what what I've seen in the schools that we've been in um for the launches with T12 and for um during the time that we go for executive cabinet um I would see consistency in terms of um the

111use of highquality curriculum, the use of standards um that align with the the high quality curriculum. I would see um consistency with the the um use of the gleam framework in the classrooms and in planning instruction as well. But um we know we have work to do to improve um the alignment of the assessments and um rolling out the professional development that that makes sense for schools and for um for our teams as well. for every employee in the district actually is going to be critical in my mind to making sure that we keep people all on the same page. Um, De Moines public schools or De Mo public students deserve the the expectation of ha of having if if you're in school A, you're going to get the same thing if you went to

112school B. Um, because some of our students do move between schools. So the expectation would be that um whatever happens in this school will happen for the children in the next school or the students in the next school as well. But it it'll it's going to take some work and time and we have a lot of uh things that will be developing through program development for the reimagined um plans that are in place for the signature schools. And that work will consume a great deal of time in to make sure that we're we're getting it right is in terms of the curriculum, the resources and um the materials that will go into the programming. >> Brenda, one question. So I saw reference you made to the IEP staffing plans and that so that rolls up

113through your department and your team. >> Yes. Yes. >> Can you maybe speak to how we how the staffing plan comes together across building kind of on Patrick's comment about how it's uh designed across all the schools to meet each school's needs. Um well the first place we start is what's written in the IEP and we we plan staffing around and teachers and associates and and um all of the um teams of social workers, psychologists, um coordinators. Those those people are determined um by our student family services directors and they they establish teams that um are then assigned to the schools. So that's a numbers um situation where we determine who who will be on this team and which schools will they serve. The IEPs determine how many teachers we have, how many teachers we

114need, and in what areas, and also the the IEPs drive the decision for how many associates we need. So really, it's looking at at what the IEPs tell us and then we develop the staffing plans accordingly. Miss Campos, I want to make sure that you have an opportunity to ask questions if you have any. >> No, I'm good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I've got one more and and it's along the lines of the reimagining process. Um I I guess I would sort of make a comment on behalf of some of the audiences that we've been in front of and that is just um communicate communicate communicate uh to the best of your ability on the plans that are coming uh and uh collaborate with the people who are going to have to do

115it please. Um, and then I guess the other thing I would say is um or I would ask is to what extent uh as we build some of these programs, I'm I'm thinking especially at the high school level um who are we asking outside of the district and outside of education, what um what's needed so that you can build a curriculum that's relevant. And I say that because one of the things we're really trying to do here is prepare students to enroll and list employ. And uh on the employ side, on the enroll side, uh those are two areas where we either need to get kids ready for post-secary or get them um ready for the work world. What's the plan to get somebody else involved in this? because I think it would be very

116difficult for academics to understand what the working world needs right now or what it's going to need in 10 years. >> Right? So, um those conversations are ongoing. Um the work teams that I serve on um have been the creating the the baseline plan for the vision and and what needs to happen. And then we'll broaden those teams um in the coming weeks under Becca's Harris's Dr. Harris's direction. Um I know Matt and I are scheduled to meet with her next week to get a review of all the teams. I'm not on all the teams serving on all the teams right now, but um we're going to get a picture of where they are and and and when the expansion begins um we'll make sure that we're communicating that across the communities. Um but also

117we have an opportunity um to connect with our business partners and that's going to be huge. I think we've just had an offer from someone who works within the school system system but outside the school system who is offering support in doing some of the work that we know we have to um accomplish in the next few weeks to get the year one at least um on the road. >> Yeah. The other thing I would add to that is that we've also um we learned quite a bit from our in-house models um of this particular facility and the work of Dr. Dr. Kelsey Mushka um and her team and how they established business partnerships. So, we glean a lot um from what they've learned already and what they've already put into practice. We've also got

118really strong partnerships that are growing with Department of Education and Iowa Workforce um to get some of their research and some of their data and some of their expertise into the room as well. And so those partnerships are growing and developing >> to the extent that anybody at this table can. You have willing partners to make introductions or be a resource if um if needed. That'd be great. >> Yeah. And I think listening to um what our student where our students passions fall are going to be critical as well. I I think if you find a way I I was speaking with a young man today who was going to um central campus for um his next class. And I said, "Well, what are you what are you studying?" And he said, "Plumbing." I said,

119"That's amazing." I said I would love to come and watch you. Um because there there are things we can all learn from that. But I think helping students find their passion will be key as well as we develop the programs and the relevance has to be central to any any planning that we make. >> I'm curious what at the end of your time with us um what would you consider a success? um or an indicator of your success during your time here? >> Well, obviously improving um results for students every day would be my primary um goal and I think putting the systems in place, the structures in place that allows that to happen for the schools. Um so we are here to serve the schools in our roles at the district office. That's plain

120and simply we make things go well for schools so that things go well for students. So it's a a trickle down effect of um removing the barriers, getting them the resources they need, providing the support they need, and making sure that we're listening to them and hearing what those needs are rather than just deciding without their input and without um articulation. As I said, prek12, if we make a decision for something to happen at the middle school, it could have an impact on um our prek programming. So, we have to make sure that everyone is at the table as those important decisions are made um and the moves are made so that we're not leaving um any group out in terms of of having um a say in what's happening. >> Thank you. I think

121>> I can turn it on for you, Maria. >> Please. Thank you. Thank you. Um I think that we all are um working here and uh focusing on student outcomes and it's exactly what you just said >> um in looking at the challenges that you have um I think some of the positions that have um been taken away um I worry And I worry a lot about vulnerable students. And I think of the student that you mentioned that you um or the class that you mentioned at Lincoln you went to observe and uh newcomers >> and these are populations that that are very extremely vulnerable. And so I'm wondering um what these losses mean for students at the end of the day. So how do you mitigate the impact that these losses have on student

122outcomes? When I hear that there's no director of ELLL, um it might make a lot of sense to a lot of people, but it doesn't to me. And it raises a red flag because, um for because the majority of our students um student population, when you look at demographics, it's concerning to me. And so I'm trying to understand how this is mitigated. Um, well, I wasn't here when that decision was made, so I can't answer that question. But I can tell you the works is still getting done with the the um ELLL teachers, the MLL um associates, the the BFLs, the work that they're doing to support um in with the families. Um, and we do have someone who oversees it. But I'm just saying having that direct support. >> You can feel the difference.

123Um, in terms of of just being able to get to people and provide the necessary support they have in order to deliver instruction in the classroom, in order to support the families. Um, so that's that's what we we're doing it, but we're doing it with less. We're asking people to do more with a lot less. >> Yeah. And I think I I'll add to that. Um I think it's a a really really um profound question, uh Miss Alonzo, because it >> I think it speaks to um sustainability >> of of capacity. Um and so, uh the incredible work that our um our English language learning program teachers and and staff are providing both at the district and at the building level, um is exceptional. it actually uh they outperform in terms of student results. Um

124our ELLL program outperforms um AC across the state. Um I mean it is is it is in the tops of our state in terms of student outcomes um for students um and the proficiency that students are gaining on ELPA um and state assessments. And so it's it's working where where we begin to look for challenge these challenges are manifesting themselves in um how do we sustain that and continue to accelerate and grow and advance that work um with our current staffing levels with our current capacity. >> And so um the the program integration has been successful. >> It's how can we do better because we're still not where we need to be. We're still not getting our systems are still not working every day on all cylinders for all kids and all staff members. And

125so how do we continue to improve that with our current capacity? >> And our ELLL coordinators have um provided a lot of that support with um the teachers um and what's happening in the classroom. So I would say um we're we're fortunate to have those people in those roles and some of them are embedded within the schools as well working side by side with staff to make ensure that they have the support they need. So that's a critical role as well that we do have and in teaching and learning. um some of the coordinator numbers that that you're probably seeing and referring to um are are our ELLL coordinators as well. Mhm. >> So they they have filled part of the void but um the leadership the um middle person to support them is is

126what has been missing. And we have a director who is serving in that role but it's challenging because they're also serving in two other >> positions as well. I I appreciate Miss Alonzo's comment. I was trying to process how I wanted to ask that also, but I knew you would have my back and and it's not so much of a a comment for for you, Brenda. But I think as we continue to talk about um staffing standards um being mindful of things like this so that we're not just and I know it's much more complicated than what I what I'm alluding to but not >> looking at positions that serve the most amount of students but the quality and the depth of the amount of the student as well. Um I don't want to get

127to a point where we're just >> choosing based off smaller populations need less teachers. Um, and it sometimes feels like maybe that is the staffing standard. Um, so I I need to offer that comment publicly because I don't want that to be the perception um nor the direction um as we continue to do this. >> Agreed. >> Just turn my mic off. All right, board colleagues, if you have any additional questions, um, please go ahead and follow up with Matt, Brenda, and the leadership team, and we can then determine if there's additional followup that's needed with Brenda and her team. But I thank you for your time and um, the deep dive into your department and better understanding. >> Thanks for stepping in. >> Thank you. All right, board colleagues. The next item is our

128budget conversation with Shashank and team. >> The food is ready. >> Um, >> does everybody want? >> Yeah. >> Superintendent is saying >> okay. All right. We will we will take a short recess. It is 7:32. We will start back at 7:40. >> Okay. >> 7 What are you doing? >> I don't know. So, is it just that maybe I'm not pressing it hard enough or am I pressing it in like the wrong back. I think I trigger it somehow. They don't He really is not in a tour. Monday and Tuesday. I guess my What else did you get? I don't know. All right, if we can make our way back >> to the board table was >> P O L O. chicken. >> See, I never go on that side of the south side.

129>> I stick to like the southwest to army coast to get my Mexican food. >> It's like 15 all in the world. >> She wants specifics. I don't even know. >> Mr. Patrick, Mr. Matt, >> Mr. Ryan, >> great. >> Got cold in here, so I think they want us to go fast. All right, welcome back, >> Superintendent Smith. >> Yeah, thanks again um for the opportunity um to talk. Um we're going to you've got a slide deck in front of you. I think we're going to we're going to jump into some slides sort of is it I don't know midway towards the end. Um and we're going to begin with um bringing back healthcare and talking a little bit about some of the updates to the the healthcare proposal um that we spoke about.

130I don't know if that was the last time we met or the time before that, but um one of the things that we just wanted to reiterate and and sort of lift up for the board is um in that conversation, which was super super fruitful and and the the feedback was incredibly helpful. So, thank you again for that. Um that um that we listen and that we that we heard some of the feedback that you had. We heard some of the feedback that the staff has provided. Um and um we continue to try to make sort of changes and iterations to that uh healthcare proposal. And so tonight, what you'll hear are um uh just sort of a an update to where we've made changes and what that does to our overall uh budget reality,

131not only for next year, but for the years to come and are looking to to get again just more feedback from you, but also specifically to to begin to get um an understanding of where each of you are. This did this just get really loud? uh where each of you are um in terms of um your degree of favorability for us to advance these three tiers. Um and so we're looking to do that because we um we are getting to the point where we need to solidify our budget going into next year um and bring this um budget session to a close. So um we're kind of at that moment, but just want to kind of get a feel for where you're at with it so that we can advance um a plan um really

132really clearly and clear with clarity to the staff. Without further ado, I know it's uh Shashank and and Kathy are here, but Kathy, I think you might be leading the healthcare. Would you want to help us to know what slide deck we're starting on? >> Sure. We are starting on um the healthcare slide deck that should have been in your materials and we're on tier two >> is where we're going to start. I'm starting with tier two because in our last discussion, we talked through tiers one, two, and three. Tier one, if you'll recall, was the changing to the point of service plan and replacing our current alliance select PO plan. We seem to all be in agreement on that one. And so I'm going to just skip to tier 2 where we had some

133further discussions. Tier two, >> can I >> Yep. I before we get out of tier one, can I just clarify because there was a comment tonight about this of when we talked about tier one, it was emphasized that the coverage would not change except out of network. So, is it a true statement that our employees will enjoy the same in network care on the POSOS plan that they would on their current plans or would there be changes where someone would lose their health care as it was characterized? >> No one should lose their health care. your benefits. Um, the networks are a little bit different between the point of service plan and the PO plan, but how we have the plan structured is that all the same deductibles and out-of- pocket maximums apply. So, they

134would still have the same coverage subject to the same limits. >> The financials would be >> close or the same. >> Correct. >> Okay. The main difference and I u pointed this out last time is if someone goes out of network for a doctor's visit office call type thing that would be subject to deductible and co insurance where under today's plan that is subject to a co-ayment that's the main difference >> and again check me as I remember it our wellmark folks told us that in the state of Iowa getting care here in network is the rule not the exception >> correct >> okay >> correct K, I'm sorry. Can I ask another question as well because I I've heard it a few times also and I want to make sure when I'm saying this

135I am being truthful. Does that also apply for the rare condition situations? So, if there are employees that currently have situations where they are rare medical coverages um or whatever the correct term is for that, are they still covered under the POS from what is currently being offered? >> Yes, they are. So if if they have a rare condition under and need to go out of state for coverage, um they would still have that coverage out of state um as an out of network benefit but still subject to those same deductibles and co insurance limits. >> The same deductibles. Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions on tier one? >> Just wanted to clarify because that was there was some discussion around that and so >> thank you. So tier tier two was the introduction

136of the spousal search charge. When we came to you last time, we had introduced a $50 per month spousal searchcharge. We heard you and we have now changed that to a $25 per month spousal search charge. And again, that spousal search charge only applies again if you have a spouse that you are covering. If you are a person covering your family, but it does not include a spouse, the spousal search charge does not apply. It applies only if that spouse has access to coverage through their employer. They decline that coverage through their employer and they enroll in our plan. So, they have to meet those three criteria in order for that $25 a month to apply. And again, there was exceptions to that. If your spouse is not employed, so I've gotten the question several

137times now, what if my spouse is on Medicare? Do I have a spousal search charge? If they don't have insurance off, if they're not employed and have employer sponsored health insurance, then they would not have that spousal search charge. Spouses that have duplicate spouses both working for the um De Moines schools would not have that spousal search charge. And then anybody enrolls in our coverage as secondary. So your spouse enrolls in their employer first for coverage are secondary. The spousal search charge does not apply. The same enrollment questions we would ask um that we went through last time just to verify that they have that they need that um spousal search charge applied and then that it's the employees ongoing responsibility to let us know if there's changes in employment situations. This is just a

138quick snapshot here of the monthly cost for the employees with the spousal search charge. Um the darker lines assume there's no wellness participation and the lighter lines assume that there's full wellness participation. So you'll see with full wellness participation, the most someone would pay is $25 a month for that spousal search charge. So, the new estimate for uh revenue brought in from that spousal searchcharge would be $390,000. Again, that's assuming that 50% of our current spouses covered would have that search charge applied >> and there's no way to know. >> There really isn't any way to estimate right now. I think that that number is probably a little low. I would say that most we will have probably a higher than 50% searchcharge. Tier three we also made some modifications to tier three if you

139recall was adding um employer premium employee premiums introducing a cost share while keeping single blue access at no cost to our staff. And we heard you and we adjusted those premiums. What we did was we looked at um again keeping that single at no cost, changing the blue access employee plus one to $5 a month, family to $10 a month, and then the point of service plan single at $5, point of service employee plus one at 10, and point of service family at $15 a month. So we really tried to look at what could be a cost that wouldn't um be insurmountable to our staff. We realized that every dollar is important to the staff and we also looked at what we projected um potential raises to be across all different levels of staff. So

140we I looked at um associates, special education associates, campus monitors, teachers, food nutrition workers, transportation workers, um several different ones and projected out what we anticipated their raise to be and then what it would be under each scenario. Um, in all scenarios, individuals did not lose money. They still had a raise at the end of even if they chose the most expensive plan and had the employee sir charge. I do want to point out that all of those were net of wellness because wellness has been in effect this whole time. So I we only calculated those things that were new this year which would are proposed for this upcoming year. I think this chart here makes it pretty easy to read what the costs would be on a monthly basis. Breaks it out between the

141blue access plan, the point of service plan with wellness and without wellness participation. So if you go to the far right hand corner, no wellness participation, a spousal search charge on family insurance, it could be $90 a month. I want to point out that that's the employee choosing the point of service plan. That's the employee choosing not to participate in wellness. And that again is $90 a month, which brings us in under what all the outlying districts are charging by quite a bit of quite a bit of money. So, we looked really intentionally at trying to make these affordable. One other thing I want to point out is we hear a lot, well, you know, I could go work here, they offer health insurance or this place offers health insurance. I think it's important to

142distinguish between offering health insurance and paying for health insurance. So, you might see in somebody's ad that says, you know, we offer medical insurance. Well, but how much does that medical insurance cost? That's the piece that a lot of people miss. And I think it's really important to point out that even with these changes, we are still going to have an exceptional health plan. We'd still be in that top 1% and I think people will still come to De Mo Public Schools because of this plan. This again shows that comparison between the other districts. And this is the blue access plan that's being compared here. So, this is the summary of full implementation. Um, if you'll go all the way to tier three, if we do all three tiers, it's $3.8 million for tier 1,

143$390,000 for tier 2, and $431,000 for tier three, bringing us to $4.6 million in savings. Our recommendation would be that we move forward with all three tiers effective July 1 of 2026 to continue our wellness program with an increased focus on healthcare outcomes and then to continually evaluate the annual premiums on an annual basis um in conjunction with our budget process. We'll look at what our healthcare experience has been. We'll look at what the budget dictates. Um, and I think we owe it to our staff to be able to look at those things, evaluate it, and make sure that we're we are being good stewards and also looking at are we are we putting premiums at a range that still makes De Mo schools attractive and still makes it a place where people want to

144come. >> If I may just add over here couple of points. >> So the $4.6 million savings, 3.8 8 of that is coming through tier one and the balance 800,000 from tier two, tier 2 and tier three is actually only 20% of what we had come with the earlier proposal because the earlier proposal that we had come was $7.5 million. The second thing I would like to highlight is $4.6 million equates to 50 FTEES. So this is something that we really have to look into the mind as far as yes there is an additional cost there is a marginal cost but what is the direction that we need to take based on the financial health of the district and what we get for our SSA. >> Mr. Shashan can you repeat that again? What what

145was it that you said about the FTEEs and the four >> $4.6 million equates to 50 FTEES. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> And you feel confident that that $3.8 million for tier one is accurate? >> It is. As we had discussed earlier, at least in year one, it will be and then year two we may have to chew up a little bit to see what exactly is the impact. So this plan, this plan should be the plan that would not make people want to leave the district. In fact, it would be a plan that people would still want to come to De Moine for, right? I mean, we're not I guess I'm hearing, right? I mean, we heard we've heard people and we've gotten emails about people not feeling um not being

146okay with the changes uh because of the the plan that we were considering. So, is this the kind of plan that people would say definitely this is the kind of plan that we that we need that my family needs? Are we bringing people or are we pushing people out? I would I would say that this plan is still an exceptional health plan and like I said um we'd still be in the top 1% of health plans. >> Our premium um that this proposed tier currently puts us at a premium far below what other neighboring districts are charging. Our coverage is exceptional coverage. We're not changing the coverage for employees. And so I think that this is still a really strong re recruitment and retention tool. >> I think the one of the misconceptions Maria has

147been that some staff feel that with this change in the plan the health coverage would either reduce or not be available. But as Kathy clarified that is not the case at all. I have a few questions. Um, the 4.6 million equating to 50 FTEES, what what type of full-time employees are you speaking of? >> At a teacher level, a teaching staff, >> teacher, like first year teacher, >> and this is a fully loaded cost, including health insurance and everything. >> So, it's approximately $90,000 a staff. So 4.6 divided by 90,000 I would say mental math 51 positions. >> Um and since the last time we had this conversation we had discussed um kind of a a Q&A. Um I know that you created an init an initial Q&A. Can you help me understand some of

148the questions that you've been receiving from employees since the time we last met and um and what are your thoughts about the questions that you have received in the last few weeks? I will be honest, I have not received very many questions at all. Um, the few questions that I have received have been more around the spousal search charge and would it apply in my specific situation type questions. Um, like the would it apply if my spouse is on Medicare? Would it apply if my spouse takes theirs at their employer? What if my spouse's insurance isn't good insurance? Would it still apply? Those are the more the types of questions that I've received. Um, I've been working also with Wellmark regarding the Q&A and with Phil and his team regarding setting up a landing page

149for employees to be able to go to to see the Q&A and any other materials that we'll be putting out regarding any changes that we would have coming. >> Okay. Um, and then the last time we met, you also discussed some of those different scenarios for very specific working groups and their specific situations. you were going to provide us with those examples of those different working groups and their specific situations. For example, we talked about the the single um parent who's plus one is a child and also has additional children. Do you have that for us or for the community? >> I don't have that today. We are working with Wellmark and their communication team. Um they have a communication arm called Indigo. Um and we will be working with them regarding communications. They are

150working on scenarios as well. Uh that will detail out not only our premium structure scenarios but also scenarios regarding the point of service plan and what those if I go here what would it look like if I have this health situation what will it look like? And we'll be putting out targeted communication regarding each one of those. >> Okay. So I guess when you had said that you ran all of the possible different scenarios to make sure that no one would be pay taking a pay cut, I thought that you had already run all of those. Are they just making it pretty and ready for print or >> I have um with me here a bunch of different uh classifications of employees and what we project their increase to be at and then what their

151net increase would be given any plan selection they took. So for an example, I have a teacher um BA if they move from step B to C, what we project their increase to be. And we haven't finalized on negotiations, so I can't say exactly what their increase would be, but what we project it to be. And then each situation if they took single, what their um net increase would be all the way up to if they took the point of service with the family search charge, what that would be. And in every situation, they still had a net increase. >> Okay. >> It was a a net increase or it was a break even. >> It's a net increase in every situation where we applied the search charge and the premiums. Again, this did not

152take into account the wellness because that is something that has existed in the past. So, it's not an increase to where they are today. So the plan is based on the decision made today. The discussions which Kathy and I have had with wellmark is sometime between the first to second week of April. There'll be a detailed Q&A questionnaire everything released for the staff. Open enrollment starts on May 1st. So May 1st to May 31st is the enrollment period. So they'll have the all the Q&As and things like that at least two weeks if not three weeks in advance of the open enrollment period. >> I'm going to jump in and interject there. Based on communications with Bulmark, we'll have the majority of it by midappril. The scenarios and very detailed ones might not be available

153until right before open enrollment. I just don't want expectations to be unrealistic. >> Fair enough. >> And I know you had a meeting today which I did not attend. >> Right. Yeah, we'll have live sessions. We'll have recorded sessions available on our sites. So, there will be enough communication that we'll be trying to do as much as possible. Sorry, Sarah, you had a question. >> Will there be um your mic, Patrick? >> I can't get her mic on. Will you use Anna? >> I can talk loud. >> It's on. Will there be a uh a live person? Somebody from Wellmark. Will there be somebody from Wellmark? How did you get that to work? >> He's a communication. >> It's Kyle. >> I know it might be easier for people if there is I know when

154my husband's work had this, they brought somebody in from the healthcare company that they could ask questions to. I feel like sometimes that communication is easier to understand and comprehend than just Q&A scenarios on worksheets. So, I would recommend talking with Walmart and see if they could bring in a few people to have live sessions and allow anybody to come in with questions or concerns. I think that would really put people's mind at ease. >> We go ahead. Sorry. >> We currently have Walmart um for three sessions that will be uh web sessions that people can ask questions live. They'll be recorded as well and we can certainly arrange with them to come in and have some office hours as well. >> And we have deliberately planned it out in three different hours during the

155day. One early in the morning, one midday, one late in the evening. There'll be Q&A. Kathy and myself will be available in those sessions and actually they're going to be coming down to our office so that there's no problem as far as internet signal communication anything goes. >> I think if this goes through, communication is absolutely critical. Yes. to make this be smooth and have people understand it. >> Totally agree. Absolutely. >> I want to ask I want to ask and I'm sorry to belabor a point, but it is I think an important point and I think it's going to come up again and Skyler you kind of made a face. If someone doesn't take advantage of the healthy U program, whatever it is, and they have all the highest changes, is that a scenario

156where we could see someone go into net negative in the lowest tiers? And I only asked that like you would think that if someone took it this year, they would take it next year. However, uh if that were I just want to be clear and want to be transparent that if if so basically you're talking about the most expensive scenario would be somebody doesn't take advantage of the healthy discounts and they take all the highest care decisions. Could those go negative? >> In those instances, they could go negative. >> Yes, that's correct. I think we're talking about an extreme position there, but I just want to make sure that because you kind of looked about the and I had the same question. I think >> I mean part of it was that for me. The

157other part was recognizing that the dollar today is not same as the dollar tomorrow and inflation does exist. So a net positive of 2% That's right. >> is really a a negative. I mean yeah that that's kind of where I was thinking it through but fair enough. Um, >> Matt, can you walk me through um kind of the when we left our last meeting discussing this? I think that the majority of the board was favorable of implementing tier one, but there were a lot of questions yet with tier 2 and tier three. So help me with the process to get to where we're at today where the recommendation is all three tiers at this level. >> Yeah. So what we did was we took the feedback from the board uh went back and watched the

158video and many of the concerns and questions were regarding the amount of contributions for spousal and for staff and employees. And so we made um changes and reductions in both the spousal search charge as well as the employee contributions um to see what that would um do in each of the scenarios, but also see what it would do for us as an overall district fiscally. Um and how much further does that get us to closing um not only our um our budget gap for next year, but what does it also do to set us up for the following years knowing that that that would be a savings over time. Um and then we looked at that through um our uh unspent spending authority. Where does that get us there as well? U just recognizing that

159uh right now we're over 15% which is within our policy, but it's going to begin to dip below that u by adding these reduced charges both at the spousal search charge and the employee benefit or employee contributions. it actually maintains us at a much higher level with our unspent spending authority to keep us within policy and a healthy range um for much longer. It does begin to dip as you get into years four and five um and so we'll have to make some adjustments to that, not necessarily in this plan, but just how we actually spend dollars overall in a multi-year sort of budget um strategy. So we looked at all of those. Um so it wasn't just the what does the plan um do in terms of the employee uh contributions but what does

160the plan do and the proposal do for the overall financial and fiscal health of the organization for next year and the years to come and we just kind of weighed those. Um so recognizing that the board um was um in support in favor of tier one um we thought we would also bring um under my recommendation and my direction to the team um a reduced charge in the tier 2 and tier three amounts to to again gauge the board's uh favorability on that. Um with the idea being that tonight what we would do is is do the same gauge the board's favorability on tiers one two and three. that gives us some direction of no to where to go tomorrow. Um so that we can begin our that how we talk about it tonight and

161where that favorability is determines how we begin to communicate and what we begin to implement um in terms of an overall uh budget plan. >> I know we'll talk about just sort of how everybody like where everybody is sitting with this. I uh can you talk about the possibility of introducing tier 2 differently in different job levels? And I will just be specific and and as transparent with my thinking as I can in that I think um if for no other reason than it would send a I think a signal of some leadership and um some we're kind of in this together cuz this is going to hit very differently across a lot of different jobs. Could we implement tier 2 at a um uh associate principal and up I don't know the exact level

162but there is a cut off there um at a $75 or $100 per month level rather than and and again just to when we're talking about everybody contributing to this and it's going to hit everybody. I think it just hits differently and that's just a reality and I I feel like that would go a long way to um sending that signal of doing this as a group because it's going to hit everybody. We're asking everybody to make a sacrifice here. >> Yeah. Um could we do it? Sure, we could do it, right? It's our plan so we could administer it however um you know we see fit um collectively. Um there's a few challenges with that. One is um while it may send a message that those that are in administrative positions who make higher

163wages um need to contribute more, it also tells those in administrative positions um that um they could send receive a message that they're they're not as valuable um in their roles. Right? So when you jump into an administrative role, whether it's at the building level or district level, you are knowingly raising your hand to take on the burdens that comes with leadership. you're going to make higher level decisions that impact more people, more students. And so it's not um it doesn't mean that other decisions at other levels are not impactful. Please know that that's not what I'm saying. But the volume of the decisions that you make um involve more people. So as a building principal, for example, you are now um owning the responsibility of the 500 children or the thousand children or the

1642,000 children that you serve along with your staff and their families. And so um those decisions um are uh oftent times what is equates to a higher salary. And so the the challenge that comes with that and again um our our leaders do a good job because they they know going into it it's a difficult position and uh you raised your hand and so um that's why we're that's why we do it. So um I I get a little bit concerned about sending maybe an unintentional message to leaders um in that regard. The other thing that I think compounds it is is there's um there's also been some some conversations around um when we think about um percent increase for next year. And so um while we are we've got a tentative agreement um that's

165been ratified with our um our union leadership with ASME. We do not have yet an agreement yet with DMEA and nor with our ESPs. Um and so what has come from those conversations um is um a question of are we going to actually offer a lower u salary increase for admin and so in one breath we're talking about paying admin a smaller increase and also having them pay more for health insurance. I worry about the message that that sends um to leaders um given the critical nature that they that they provide. I mean everybody's critical, everybody's role is important, don't get me wrong, so are admin. Um and so if there were to be a um u a recommendation or a direction from the board to make that change um I would argue that that

166change and that differentiation needs to be applied to um central office and not uh building level. Um I would not apply that to APs and and and principles um if we're going to actually do that. Um that's not to say I'm a I'm a champion of it either. Um, but just to put that if if we needed to do that, I would look at it doing it differently. >> Fair enough. That's why I brought it up for discussion rather than saying this is the way we should. >> Yeah, cuz I think that it also applies, if I can maybe add to that because I think it's a really good question, right? And I really appreciate the the opportunity to speak about it. Um, I think it's important that we do that >> that methodology um

167if applied, we should consider it applying it districtwide as well, right? So um if we talk about applying a higher um contribution for employees, we should consider certified staff at one rate um and a classified staff at another rate as well. Um we should consider ESP ESPs at another rate. And so um and actually in some conversations with in some union leadership, there's actually not um a disagreement about that there in terms of philosophically how do we believe about that? Right? I think everybody's working from the same page and the same desire to make sure that we are recognizing and acknowledging that folks with that are making a lower wage, we should do more to make sure that they're not giving up their wages that they make in in healthcare costs or in other sort

168of contributions. And um and if we're going to do that, I would argue and maybe support that um we do that across the board. um in in all positions at that point in time. Um because if we're really going to say that that's what's that's what we're important to us and that's what we value, which I think we do, let's put in together a system that actually does that. Um and so a mechanism could be to get the the structure set going into next year. And we look at what is that in the years to come, how might there be some differentiation to account for that? And then what does that mean, you know, for for other areas of our of our um benefits packages, you know, for for admin and and for others? >>

169That's a great question. >> Something that was discussed, I believe last time was um a a percentage versus a flat rate, a percentage of salary. >> Is that something that was revisited with the team? >> We did not revisit that. um a percentage of salary unless you do by a range of salary would be very difficult to communicate um and to administer from from a systems standpoint it'd be difficult to administer um if you make this amount you pay that everybody's premium is going to be different. So maybe related to that it from the that also sparked another um sort of challenge that we would face uh both in in a percentage-based um structure but also um in a tiered structure which would be just what becomes the the complication of managing a plan. Um

170and so yeah, cuz one of the things that that we've lifted up at this table and it's been lifted up multiple times, which is the absolute truth, is um the effectiveness of any plan and and including this one is the degree that we can communicate clarity and um simplicity of the plan so that we don't confuse our employees. Um the more complicated we make it um the more challenging it becomes for folks um not only for our employees but for us to manage it and do it accurately and effectively with our partners at Walmart. So that was also a concern by the team. >> Yeah. Maybe just just a comment first. Thanks for I appreciate that the team has taken into account all the feedback and I know we've all received a lot of feedback

171from all the stakeholders and just to echo I mean the one the only one thing you know that we I think maybe have not incorporated is that differentiation uh to address the the comment or the feeling that those at the very bottom of our pay scale are going to be hit harder by this and so I don't appreciate the complex ities of trying to design something as simple, easy to understand, but if there is a way to uh convey that message and that optics to our folks to say we are we are going to carry some of this burden and we understand that it's not the same dollar at both ends of the spectrum. I think that's the only the only thing I see here that's that's missing uh from the dialogue that we've been

172having for some time now. So, >> I think I'd probably be in the same same park. I I do think that a percentage I I get that it would be difficult, but to me the percentage is the only equitable approach to it. Um, and I mean, we're we're tearing essentially a single's not paying the same as a family. So, we are tearing. I mean, and I get it's $15 here or 10 there or whatever. Um, I was over here trying to do some shashank math myself and I I just stopped. But um, there >> you're not the only one. >> Yeah, it it it can add up. I mean, >> it can add up. The question that I have, and I don't know if we're kind of going around around consensus now, but is is

173is what's the the phrase? Is the squeeze worth the juice or whatever? >> Yeah, that's it. when I think about how the percentage how much is being saved total the 4.6 six if all three are implemented. Um, one thing that was really eye opening to me was that tier one is 82% of that. So, we're talking about 19 18% implementing two more tiers that are going to possibly have some um some some adverse response to it for 18% of the 44.6 million. And for me, I'm like, is it worth it? I mean, it's it's it is a lot of money when you look at I mean, the check from prairie medals was bigger than the the sum of those two. Um, so that's kind of what I go back and forth with is do we

174implement something like this at the expense of um not the monetary expense but the other expenses that come along with it. >> I was thinking about the same thing, Skyler, and I and for me it comes down to people. And so if we're going to do our Shashank math, that's nine people. >> That's nine people, >> right? Tier two is four people. I did I did do that. >> Yeah. And so like so if you if you don't do tier two and three, if it's 18%, you're talking about and and that's the part that I think like I can't get past is we are already so thin and um and I I just uh >> then you ask yourself if we implement it, will we lose more than nine people? You know, I and so

175this is where I'm going to I'm going to say and sort of come to the other side of of what my thinking is. And I've told a bunch of people this. I have some heartache about the fact that tens of thousands of dollars of compensation for our teachers. And it is tens of thousands of dollars. A an associate making $25,000 a year, that's what their check is. That is not what it their compensation is. And I know everybody understands that, but it is hard sometimes, I think, for all of us to understand how much it costs to be an employee in an organization. And my my heartburn is that we have tied up so much money in this system because we have held on to it for so long. And um and so it was

176a choice. It was a choice. And and so making this choice now is even harder because of that. And um and so I like I get that it's hard to do and implement, but I it has got to change. It's got to change. And so I like that's I think where I end up landing. Um and I'd like to find ways to make sure that there are signals sent or we're all in this together. It's just going to hit different families differently. And uh and I don't know that there's a ton of way around that. Um, but I still believe and I still think we can look at our employees in the eye and say you still have the best medical care in central Iowa for sure, if not in the entire state for for

177a for a district. It is still both the best and the least expensive. It's not least expensive and it's not great care. It's still really great care as well. And so that I think is important to point out. >> Miss Campos, I want to give you an opportunity. Yes. So, um I have talked to a lot of um staff and then what's been really helpful and I want to thank you guys for having a really difficult time hearing you. >> Okay. Can you hear me now? >> Better. >> Okay. Um, so I just want to thank Shashank and team on these presentations. I've talked to a lot of staff members the last couple weeks or since our last schoolboard meeting. Um, and I've always referred them back to the presentations and I think that gave

178them more of a ease of they're not losing the health care that they have for their children and their family. It's just the premium. And I think as long as we reiterate that to them, um, I hope that helps them get on board. Um, so I I agree with Matt. I I kind of want to see what is what are the other districts around us doing? Do they have that tier program with the certain staff and then the admin or is it all one tier? I can respond to that. Um, in talking to several other districts, it's all over the place. Um, some districts have it the same for all staff. Some differentiate between admin and uh the full other staff. Some districts charge their admin more. Some districts charge their admin significantly less than

179they charge everybody else. So, it's all over the place. So Matt, you're wanting us to identify if we are in favor of but >> if we could we do it by tier if you're in favor of tier one. I believe everybody's there, right? Um um >> I think I just wanted to double check. >> Just to understand the process because we are not voting as a board. This is a discussion right now. This is not an official vote. >> I did have one question first though. >> Yeah. >> Just as I'm sitting here brainstorming and I echo what everybody says. I agree with Patrick, but I also agree I'm worried about those lower tiers. This might be silly, but is there any way that it could be like I don't know, anybody who makes less

180than $30,000, less than $40,000, they're not impacted? Like, is that a is that even a possibility? Trying to think off the top of my head administratively in our system how it would identify that. I'm not sure that I have a way in our current benefits platform. It's by position and by position code. So I'm not sure if I have a way to do it by a specific dollar amount. Okay. I was just curious. So help help us understand we are going to identify our favorability of the various tiers in just a moment. We're not voting on this. Correct. >> You then are going to >> Yeah. >> come up with a plan based on the favorability and bring it back to the board for a vote. Is that an accurate statement? >> That is an

181accurate statement. And so we will take your feedback tonight um and bring back a final recommendation um for the board. Okay, board members, any additional questions or concerns that you have before we determine favorability? >> Kind of along Sarah's question. Sorry, I'm still trying to figure out how to make this more equitable. Um, so we can't do a percentage because of administrative challenge. >> I'm going to push back on that also. Um, I do not want to make decisions based on the technology. I think we should be making decisions based on what is best for our employees and and the the employees that we serve. technology can always do what we need it to do. >> There you go, Chair Martano. Very well. >> We're automating we're automating everything in your department, right, Shashank? So,

182this can be automated. >> Very true. >> Can I clarify that it's not that it can't do it, it's it's that I probably can't do it >> that way >> quickly >> in time to do it and it's not currently built that way. It might require some financial investment to change it. >> Sure. Are there I I recognize it would be difficult to probably do 60,000 and below or whatever the amount. Are there tiers to employee pay bands or is I'm going to draw a really random number, but is it pay band seven and below are exempt from this or like is that more simple? Is is that a clear line? I imagine employees are categorized some other way >> besides just these floating salaries everywhere >> differently. >> Non-bargain staff are classified by pay

183bands. Bargain staff are classified are their compensation is based upon their comprehensive agreement, their negotiated agreement. So there's different different classifications based on different employes would make more sense because if you make X amount of people exempt, the savings are going to be a lot less. Mhm. >> But if you do a percentage, you could actually have more savings >> essentially. >> Yeah. >> Sorry, one last question. >> Okay. This is a really this is a really important conversation and it it has huge impact. So, um I I think the time that we spend on this is warranted. >> Yeah. I don't mind being here late. Um, the last question I have I think is around, you know, we we often talk about data informed decisions. I appreciate taking the feedback from the board at

184the last meeting that the amounts that were in there were too high. What informed the new numbers for tier three? I see a zero, a five, a 10, a 5, 10, 15. Was that just this was too high so now we're going to go a little bit smaller or was that meeting what West De Mo school district is doing or like what informed those numbers beyond wanting it to just be less? >> It was definitely not matching what outlying districts do. Um these numbers are still significantly below those outlying districts. What we did was looked at a model and put in different search search charge amounts and premium amounts based upon where we thought employee raises were going to come at come in at and still wanting those employees to be able to keep a

185significant portion of their raise. >> Got it. Thank you. >> And sorry, one more question. Is there a reason why people would not sign up for the wellness plan? Because that's a pretty big impact each month. I I think it just depends on the employee um and our communication for accessibility. Right. So to speak to the first um there was a year where I missed it because I forgot to plug it in and so um that only happened once and so I correct it the next time. Um I also do think though that we uh and we've talked about this as a team um and as a broader team around making sure that our communication about the wellness program plan and what's required of it and how to submit that we've got to do a

186um um an aggressive approach to that in terms of our communication multiple languages uh multiple platforms. Uh we've also talked about um you know um a degree of non-technology submissions, right? Sometimes just the technology access we think it it makes things more accessible and in some cases it does. In some cases it's less accessible for employees. So we're looking at options for that moving forward >> for I'm thinking and just >> you just triggered some some things in my head. Oh that was fun. And I didn't even do anything. >> Kim did >> you magic. >> Thank um so I think the wellness program for would be great as long as we're not setting people up to fail and I don't know in in the sense that um what if we have employees that have

187um limitations like physical limitations that would prevent them from fully participating in you know whatever activities they have available to them. So, how could we work with that so that they're not having to, I don't know, be consequenced for not participating? Maybe they do, but they wouldn't be able to. Our current wellness program, all of the activities are not results driven. So, it's not um I have to complete a 5K. It's not I have to be able to do these things. It's participation only. And there are several activities. So, there's ranges for all different abilities. Okay. Okay. >> So, fair to say everybody should be able to do that. >> Correct. >> Unless it's timing though, like you said, I know like the DMPS1 run is one of the things that they can do. >>

188If you have a family, you can't just show up on a Saturday. It's >> or if you're working a second job. >> Yeah. I think it's more than just the um the the mindset to want to do it. Sometimes there are barriers. >> But there's lots of options within the well. I' I've never seen this thing. >> Yeah, I think >> there's a number of options and we've also talked about revisiting the wellness program and making sure that um it is it's given the impact of the desired intent of it which is right which is to improve the overall health and well-being of our staff so that they feel physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually confident coming to work every day. Um because no one can replace them. We've got amazing substitutes across our district. They're incredible.

189Um, and they do amazing work. And the best person to be in front of our kids is the staff member that we've hired to be in front of our kids. And so having them there every single day fully um confident and healthy and um ready to work is the most important thing. So we need to make sure that our wellness plan is delivering on that um while we're making sure that all abilities um and have accessibility to that. Um so agreed. I'm gonna start with you, Patrick, >> or whoever would like to volunteer. >> No, I I'll I'll go ahead. I I like I don't think it's going to be a secret. I I think it's um tier one is a yes for me. Um >> I I also agree with tier two and I

190um I know it's a burden. Um and uh this one is uh for me I think about still offering a significantly reduced health care plan to an employee who has another offering at their uh employer that would cost them more. We're recognizing their family service to this community by offering a significantly reduced uh healthcare option for them. The tier three I have some heartburn over, but um but I also I would have more heartburn over cutting staff. Sure. So, I think it's like these are the choices we have. We don't have easy buttons at this point. And um and so I think for me it's just weighing those two. Uh I'm going to end up being supportive of all three tiers. >> Oh, I'm already on. Um, I'm in support of all three tiers. I

191wish that it didn't have to come to that. Um, especially I wish that our lower compensated staff, we could figure out some type of solution for that. >> Even if it's maybe investing a small amount to make sure that they all understand that they can sign up for the wellness plan. because if you're signed up for the wellness plan, even though $25 is still very impactful, it's a lot better than $75. >> So, I think we just need to make a really, really, really conscious effort to make sure that we're reaching every single person to help them understand how critical it is that they can do this and it's easy and we're trying to help remove any barrier possible for a reason why they would not want to do it. Um, you know, had something

192like this been done 10 years ago, we'd probably be in a much better spot right now, unfortunately. >> Miss Campos. >> Yes. Um, I am in agreement with tier one and tier 2. Um, tier three I am still kind of up in the air with it. Um, versus last time that um, I said, "Yeah, but I want that that last tier gradually um, push through." Just thinking about what um other employers are doing with that um with like our lower tax our lower um income range. a lot of those employer or a lot of those employees are still paying way more than what we are going to be offering our employees um when it comes to the insurance part. So um yeah, I'm in favor. I mean, we have to I don't want to cut

193more teachers or more staff, and I think this is the only way that we could unfortunately save ourselves. So, I'm in support of one and two and then gradually number three. >> Okay, Skyler. >> Yeah. Sorry, I'm dividing something really quick. >> Ryan, don't try to be shy. Yeah, I echo the same thing I said last time, which was I'm supportive of the framework and I appreciate that the adjustments were made to try to address employee concerns and anxiety. Reiterating that we are still offering the same coverage. This coverage is accessible to everyone and um you know the only thing if you're taking away something I'm support of this framework but if there was a solve and we haven't solved it here. if if the team came up with something that would address that concern

194you're hearing that the only thing that we haven't I think brought into this is to figure out a way to make the lowest uh lowest uh salaried lowest paid employees >> feel that they were not carrying the same burden that the people at the top were. And and I'll defer you to to the team on how to do that, but that's the one one concern that I think we just haven't figured out. And so if we can do that, I feel like that would make me feel a lot better about it. >> More ditto. >> Ditto. >> Okay. >> Mr. Skyler. >> Yeah. So um obviously very supportive of tier one. Tier two I would can I can get supportive behind that one. Um if there was some level of equity for the lower paid

195employees. Yeah. >> And like I would kind of leave that up to the team. Tier three I'm not supportive of. Uh I I was just kind of calculating how much of a savings this would be to the total budget and it's not even 1%. I mean we are making really impactful decisions on people's livelihoods to save 0.5% of a budget. Um and I I just I I can't wrap my arms around the thought of that at this point. What's the amount just of out of curiosity >> or it would tier three would say 431,000. >> Um I am in the same boat as Skyler. I'm supportive of tier one. Um um and I am supportive of tier 2 after year one. Um, and with equity implementation, um, the same thing with with tier three, if

196there were implementation with equity in year two, I just think that employees need more than four months notice to budget for this. Um, and yeah, >> perfect. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, seal means it's it's valid. um to change an opinion. So I'm changing my opinion. I think I do I do support one and two but after hearing the amount it does make a difference. So not three for me. >> Thank you. >> That's helpful. Thank you guys so much. Really appreciate your feedback. >> Sorry, I do have one more question. So if tier three is not implemented, does that impact the savings? Is the tier one savings that number with the idea that some people will no longer be on the insurance or is that completely independent of just with switching from the PO

197to the POSOS? Completely independent of tier one and tier two. >> It is independent. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. So, what I would um offer the community is um continue to send your questions to Shashank and team and Matt and team. >> Yes, please. >> Um as well as the board. This is still not um finalized. We will receive one final recommendation from um Matt at will it be the first meeting in April or will it be >> it'll probably have to be >> 24th March. >> The 24th of March. So that >> which is that special >> because we also need to compete if it's just tier one we're gonna have to have time to implement that as well >> and so >> okay >> so how soon can we get your recommendation for

198review prior to the vote on March 24th if that's what we're >> you can get it soon you can get it before the end of this week. >> Okay. Thank you. I think that concludes our work session for this evening. >> We actually No, >> no, no. There's another presentation on budget. >> Got to keep going. >> Let's go. Sorry. >> Not ready to leave. >> Can we Can we have a break to just go to the restroom and >> Yes, we can have It is 8:42. Do we want to start back at 8:52? >> Yes. Thank you so much. >> 8:52. Sorry. I forgot. Sean, how long is the budget presentation? >> Depends on you. >> Yeah. >> Here tomorrow. decisions have been saved. All right, we're going to get started in two minutes.

199>> You said 52. >> I did. >> Yeah. 52. >> We're going to get started. >> I'm cutting it short. Sorry, I cut it short. >> Wait, >> March. That's why I didn't respond. Okay. See? Yes, cuz I just jotted it down. See, >> you should have got a card for us. A calendar invite. >> Mhm. North Gal on the 18th. >> Wait, >> Shashank, you ready? >> Right. Oh god. >> Okay. >> All right, board colleagues. Now the fun really begins. >> That's right. Um >> the budget conversation. This is um the last conversation that we will have at the board table prior to the board approving the tax rate on March 24th. So, um now is our time to ask any questions. Um I'll turn it over to Superintendent Smith. >> Yeah, and

200I'll just go turn straight to Shashank. Um going to keep it brief. Um much of this we've covered already um this year and there's a couple uh new things just for some overviews but um I think this will be relatively brief but it is late in the day so I will keep it as fast as possible. So this is the agenda since you have the deck I'm not going to spend any time going through the agenda. This is the sessions that we have already covered in the past. What we're having today is basically the overall budget review. I think some of the key dates that we need to keep in mind is 24th as uh Kim said the board will be deciding the the prop the proposed tax notice which will be sent down and

201then it'll be the April 11th which is the budget adoption notice and then the public hearing will happen on 21st board will decide and then we submit our budget to the state. So I don't know how much time you want me to spend on where we get the revenues from. This is all these things have been done in the past. So I will go quickly on these. I'll pause this for 5 seconds at each slide. This is the general budget. We all know where where the money comes from, where it goes, what is the general funds. So I'm not going to be spending too much time on all of this. The different sources where the property tax rates are set. So I think this is something which is critical for us to discuss about. So

202as you see over here our rate is increasing from 14.61 to 16.36 largely driven by debt service which is 1.99. The second thing I would like to highlight is Senate file 2201 has been approved and passed which means the budget guarantee which was part of the general fund will now be paid out of state aid and will not be coming out of property taxes which means this rate of 16.36 will reduce by30. The only reason why we are showing 16.36 is because the department of management cannot or has not modified the file to accommodate the change where that budget guarantee will be going from the general to state aid. So the actual increase is happening is from 14.61 to 16.06 06 which is only a $145 instead of the $1.99 which was an increase in

203the debt service levy which was approved by the board. The other thing I would highlight is compared to the other school districts in the metro area, we're right in the middle. Right in the middle. So we have five school districts, four school districts above us and four school districts below us. Yeah. So it's scattered all over the board. Yeah. I'm not going to go through this expenditure slides which there's no change unless someone wants to stop me. I'm not going on the spending authority, how it's calculated, what the issues are, how all those things are well known. Uh this I think is a slide which we should cover which is a spending authority. So FI26 we expect to close at 15.3 which is going to be 15.2 too forecasted for FI27 based on our plan.

204I'm not going to talk about this. We have seen it. We know 2% SSA is what finally has been approved. So the all the projections, fiveyear projections that we are taking is 27 is 2% SSA. Thereafter it is 1% SSA. Certified enrollment we know it is declining. The OE out is increasing. The OE in is not increasing at the same pace as OE out. We have dialed in a reduction of 550 students year after year from 28 to 31. We have got the demographic study. We will be revisiting and seeing whether something needs to be done. So it could be a conservative estimate. We have not discussed it internally right now. But those are the budget declining numbers that we are dialing into the 5-year plan which is actually on the next slide. Perfect. Okay.

205Again, this is a slide which the board has seen. So, this is where I wanted to say, okay, this slide has not been updated over here. If you see the third bullet point, funded slow solely with property taxes. Actually, the one on the on the board docs or the assembly, it shows it's funded with state aid. Yeah. uh and then the 2% SSA year after year with 2% SSA 27 28 to 31 1% year after year we'll be getting budget guarantee funded through state aid. So this is a slide I would say again I I would highlight the numbers of the gap which the board has seen before was 17.9 that number is I'm sorry 16.2 2 that number is 17.9 because we did not have a cost for reimagine education that for FI27 is

206$1.7 million we have not dialed in for 28 to 31 that's a work in process >> can you speak to that a little bit Shashank so this is money outside of the the geo bond >> yes yes so this is general fund related expenses related to implementation of reimagine education plan. >> Yeah. Curriculum, training for teachers, things like that, getting ahead of it um before the spaces are finished out. >> Okay. >> So, this is the work of Dr. Rebecca Harrison, those teams of developing and designing the curriculum, working on that, what trainings are going to be necessary. So, these are the estimates that we have um that we're going to spend this coming school year. >> Okay. So, when will we have some of the the future general fund costs on reimagining education? >>

207Say that again. I want to make sure I'm tracking. >> So, the current TBD values in the slide for FY28 and beyond. Um, when do you expect to have those? Uh some of those will be coming in the coming months, but some of these work teams when you start thinking about the the over the next five years when high school programming begins to take hold, that might be a year from now before we get some really concrete um details of what that's going to cost us in terms of um trainings, curriculum, staffing, recruitment, retention, things like that. >> Okay. Yeah. And it's specifically I'm thinking uh so the signature schools we're going to implement um new curriculum at that signature school based on whatever programming is going to be available and all the teachers will

208need professional development and curriculum materials. Okay. Thank you >> 100%. Yes. So another example of what's rolled into the 1.7 is recognizing that we're going to need to increase transportation costs for students at Molton next year. So that's also included in that 1.7 just knowing that that's going to be needed. We're accounting for it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So this basically shows the changes in the slide from what has been shared with the board. Uh one of them happens to be that the facility retirement. The 0.9 for if we were dialing in the entire $3.3 million in 27. The 0.9 is the annex where we have a customer which is on sale which we will get the money. The 2.4 before we have put it on the market two or 3 weeks back maybe

209a a month back we don't know how long it'll take so just taking a conservative approach we are showing it in FI28 it could happen in FI27 as well so so that is one change here we had dialed actually health insurance the entire $4.6 6 million which I think is in a debate right now. It's still not finalized but assuming that $4.6 million the all the t three tiers are implemented our spending authority for 27 is 15.2 and as Matt had said that UAB amount spending authority will continue decreasing year after year in spite of taking $4.6 6 million of full implementation and the same thing if you see as uh for FI28 to 31 is basically a 6% increase which is the average increase we take year after year for health increases. Yeah. This

210is not a change in any benefits or plan. Yeah. Uh any questions on this slide? So, so I think this is basically a recap of saying unspent should be greater than 5% 15% we are for FI27 budget needs to be balanced how we are balancing the budget and what is a property tax rate so I have been through it as quickly as I could tax rate6 >> uh uh right now it is 1636 because the Department of Management's aid and levy file cannot incorporate that. But once that is happening that will happen. So the impact the the problem is because DOM has not adapted it made the changes right now because it was passed a week 10 days back. What the counties are going to be pulling from the DOM site will be 16.36. They

211will not be pulling in 16.06. 06. So that is the reason why we are not changing this to 16.06 at this point in time because your notices will show 16.36. >> In the future we can adjust down but we can't adjust up. So >> absolutely >> or you will be presented with a 16.36 rate on the 24th for approval. >> Correct. Correct. Unless the DOM changes it. But to your you you you raised an absolutely valid point. We can always reduce the rate. We cannot increase the rate. So 16.36 is the max. It'll be reduced to 16.06. We don't even have clarity whether it'll be done by the time we will submit by end of April or the DOM will do it at a later stage. We don't have clarity on that as well. >>

212Board members questions. >> Just a concern over Sorry, Scott. just a concern over the uh use of funding balance down to I I I don't like that fifth year. I don't like the fourth year. And um I would have real trouble with that trajectory and the use of funds that way. And I I don't know. >> We've not put in any of the health insurance changes for those future years. is that >> we haven't put in any increases into the health and like we're assuming that we stay steady with what we put in this year. Right. >> Correct. >> And so >> understanding that there could be other levers to pull that's great. Um, but I just it's just alarming to see that. And um, and I guess everybody ought to just buckle up cuz

213it's, you know, if this is the reality and and I think for anybody listening at home, this is the result of low funding. This is the result of low funding at the at the state. And by the way, your property taxes are going to go up because if we're in the same position we were this year, your property taxes will go up based off of lawmakers passing a low SSA at the state house. >> Our property taxes will go up as will in dozens of other communities across the state. So, um, doesn't seem like anybody's getting what they want with this with this structure. Um, but these look a lot worse to me than I I don't know why they look a lot worse to me than they did six, eight weeks ago when we

214started this process, even with all of what we're doing to try to pull levers. So, >> so I think the only thing I would add, Patrick, you made a you raised a valid point is when we started first, the health insurance changes were $7.5 million. >> If we dialed that $7.5 million, you would not be using the funding balance. In fact, you would have a carryover balance to the next year. >> Okay. >> And that is the reason why the decision on health insurance changes. We have to weigh very seriously as we making those decisions. >> So I I think like for for our discussion earlier like why does the 300,000 matter? Why does the 1% matter? The 1% matters. It matters a lot. And and >> it does. I mean, over time, if we

215stuck with the the original plan, it it this five-year outlook looks a lot better. And um so and I understand all the arguments around it. I was I'm right there with you guys. I just uh you know, the lowest hanging fruit for us, I'm sorry, I have a question now and a comment. I wasn't going to, is enrollment. I mean, we need to be talking about crumbs. Yes, >> let's address where the revenue is actually coming from and that's enrollment. >> Um because one thing is also true that the open enroll in has also increased for the last 5 years. >> It has >> just not at a high enough rate. >> Um >> the question I do have is around funding restricted funding I guess. Are there any grant or federal funding, state funding

216that we receive contingent upon us having a certified enrollment over 30,000 students? >> No. Okay. >> No. >> Because it looks like it's I mean it's on the border and it looks like probably next year. >> That's why we have to make that a priority. >> Agreed. I said talk about where the money is. >> 100%. We have got to get enrollment up >> and I will die on that hill. Miss Campos, any questions? >> No, I'm good. >> Thank you. >> Board members, do you feel like you have the tools in your tool belt to be able to um be prepared for the vote on March 24th? Shashank, I'm not going to do it tonight, but I want to talk to you because I don't really fully understand the budget authority. >> Sure. Absolutely.

217>> So, I understand that better. I just don't >> really get it. >> Happy to sit down with you whenever whenever you want. >> Let's just do that before the vote. >> Perfect. Perfect. >> This was good, though. >> Thank you guys so much, guys. >> Thank you. >> I have a request to the board. >> Can we have all budget sessions as quickly as this? >> Yeah. >> Hey, out of curiosity, Do you know offhand what the districts are that have higher and lower? >> Sure, I do. >> And uh DCG has got the highest which is Dallas. >> DCG. >> Yes. Yes, they have the highest rate and the lowest is actually in West De Mo. >> But DCG is 18.99. Urban Dale is 17.99. Walk is 17.49. Norwok is 16.57. De Moine

218as you saw is 16.36. Anken is 16. Southeast Poke is 1542. Johnston 1492 and West De Moine 1333. >> And that's the percentage of our taxes. >> Correct. >> That go schools. >> Correct. Correct. >> And who controls it? We can talk about it later. I don't >> sure absolutely. >> All right. Um, I think now we are >> at the conclusion of our work session. >> I thought we had we had it closed, but we're not doing We had it closed, but we're not doing it. Showed it on there, but we're not doing it. >> We are not. So, that has been moved to March 24th. Um, so I will send an update to the board regarding the March 24th meeting after our agenda planning on Thursday. >> Thanks everyone. Have a good evening.

219>> Thank you. >> Night everyone. Yeah, appreciate it. >> Do it. No. No.