001[Music] Okay, we will go ahead and call our meeting to order. Can we take roll call, please? >> Miss Atkins, >> here. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> here. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> here. >> Mrs. Sheffle, >> here. >> Mr. Sorenson. >> Mr. Sturm >> here. >> Mr. Wright >> here. Approval of the August 18th, 2025 agenda. >> Can I get a motion to approve? >> Okay. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mrs. M Peterson. >> Yes. Mrs. Shuffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturm, >> yes. >> Mr. Rick, >> yes. >> Commendations, good news. >> Uh, the only good news I have is that um our teachers came back today. Our new staff came back last week. Um, we'll have all staff back on Wednesday. We'll have
002kindergarten, 2, 6, and 9th grade back on Monday. And then everybody else is joining us next Tuesday. And then uh great piece of news is that we're almost wrapped up with our summer projects and about 95% of them are on time. So prior to this prior to the school year starting and then those that aren't obviously the playground I'll talk about that in a little bit but um due to weather related issues. Other than that it's been a great summer. Um excited to have people back. Um that's about it. Not a lot of activities going on other than camps right now. camps and first couple weeks of practice. [Music] Any other additional accommodations? Good news. Okay, then we'll move forward to comments and suggestions. This is the first part in our meeting where we open
003the floor to any public comments or do we have anybody? >> We've got a handful of viewers, but no comments yet. >> Okay, we'll give them a minute then. I guess one thing I'd like to say is thanks to all the staff, all the maintenance, you know, the janitors, all the work that they do in the summer, all the coaches, you know, working around contractors and stuff. I mean, it it had to be a huge team effort all the way around. So, I commend all the staff and everything. Thank you for working with our contractors and, you know, two thumbs up. >> Yeah, they've they've done a ton of work. It's been amazing. So, >> I do love the parking lot. >> Yeah, >> it's quite nice. We drop off for football. >> Yeah, we
004painted the speed bumps, too. So, that's very helpful. >> It was less alarming. I was like, "Oh, they're yellow. Great. >> Although I did drive slower when uh they weren't as apparent >> because you didn't know where you didn't know when they were coming out. >> Here it is. >> Liry. >> Okay, we'll move forward on to the consent agenda. Do we have an updated person? >> Yes, there is an updated personnel sheet with a couple ads and um our lane changes. Those are the only changes then. >> Yes. >> Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shuffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturm, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes.
005>> Mr. Wright, >> yes. >> Reports 6.01, Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Report. >> Okay. So, mine covers some of the bigger events that we've had um starting last week. Um so the first thing that we did was um this was the first time that we brought in our uh mentors who work with our beginning teachers and did a training with them. So it was full day um looked at kind of big picture what's the vision for Lewis Central and working with our new teachers and then just supporting them with some tools of how they can support teachers. Um, also really just wanted to give them like very clear expectations because part of the work of new teachers, it always has been, but working on the Danielson framework and having evidence for that. So the mentors
006are really the connector to make sure that they have everything they need to to be able to do that and just to be able to get on the right foot like the small things like where's the printer, how do I use the printer, like all those little things. So kind of talk through that with them. And then we've noticed too a lot of our new teachers, and this would be true anywhere, anytime, but classroom management is often the thing that they really want to learn more about. Um, so just supporting our mentors with what does that look like to support our new teachers. So, um, here's some pictures you can see. Um, you know, they came in and started just talking about like why mentoring matters for them, maybe even talking about some stories when,
007um, they were first teachers and why mentoring was important to them. Um, so it was a it was a great full day of learning with those mentors and Laura Kester helped facilitate with me. Um, here's a little bit of feedback. This is just kind of summitative. Everybody provided feedback, but lots of people uh were happy about just having a lot of the materials and resources for them. They liked collaborating and connecting with other mentors across the district. Um, you can see there some of their uh favorite activities of the day. And then that last quote was just one of them I pulled, but they said, "Today was great. I appreciated sharing the different artifacts that we will work with on each of the Danielson components. I think it will be super helpful to use with
008my mentee." I also thought talking through different scenarios was helpful. And then you could see one of the survey questions was just we want to know how confident do they feel to work with new teachers because if they're not feeling confident, then we need to do something different with our training. So, uh you can see nobody said neutral or not confident. everybody felt at least somewhat confident to move forward and work with their mentees. Um, so just a quick little why this matters. You guys all know this too, but just, you know, our new teachers, not just at Lewis Central, but just across the country don't stay the profession sometimes past three years. So, we're hoping that partnering with mentors supports teachers staying longer. Um, and we also want our mentors to help teachers thrive,
009not just get through everything. Um, so better retention, supporting our new teachers with instructional practices, and then ultimately obviously that's more stability for our kids. Um, next up, which hopefully you guys saw some things on social media. Emma did a great job of um, covering content there. She's done a blog article, put some things up on social media for us. Um, but this was two days of learning. We did this August 11th and 12th. It was at the high school. Um you could see there the second bullet point has some of the topics. This was really cool. This was all led by teachers here at Lewis Central. Um they didn't get anything to do that. They just do that because they also obviously value supporting and training our paras. Um but you can see there's
010a wide variety and I would say 90% of those topics came from the paras. We surveyed them at the end of the year and those are all topics that they said they wanted to learn about. Um, UFly was one of them that just came from us internally. Um, we've been using UFly at this at the elementary level for literacy. Um, and some of our teachers had that idea of gosh, there's some things that Paris could do to support and there was a lot of really good feedback from Paris about the UFly sessions. So, that was exciting. Um, this year was the second year of the conference. It's the first year that we did a parent panel. So, we brought in six parents, uh, LC parents. Um, and that was really cool. like we had some
011questions and Lorie Te's facilitated and they just did a really good job like they were uh vulnerable and sharing with us but also they were like super complimentary of the paras. Um and like one parent her perspective she was from another country and she talked about like what a privilege it was for her kid to have an IEP because they don't have IEPs in her country. So I thought that was kind of a a really nice perspective they shared. But um you'll see from some of the feedback I think the parents too like really made the Paris feel valued. So that was cool. Um the last two years we have brought in somebody from our employee assistance program. Um somebody that's connected with them. She did a whole thing just about the stories we tell
012ourselves. Um that was really good. And then hopefully you've heard about this. A lot of the principles have been giving me some feedback on this. But our day two was a speaker. We brought in Willow Sweeney. She spoke at ISBO. was it this past year? Um, but she was awesome. Like she took the whole day and at first you think like how is this person going to do this for five six hours, but she was so so good. Um, and then the other thing we were excited about this year was we had four other districts that tapped into the conference. Riverside, TriCenter, ah, STCW, and Missouri Valley. So had some really good feedback from them. The Riverside superintendent posted something on her Facebook page about it. So, it was cool to be able to offer
013that to other districts that, you know, might not have an opportunity for something like this. Um, so thanks to Emma. Here's some uh fun pictures of um our conference. And then here's some some feedback. Um I won't read them all to you, but you can just see there was a variety of different topics that they um touched on that they um thought was valuable. That fourth one, I really like that one. Just like how much we're valued by parents, you know, just just to be able to hear and see that I thought was was really cool. But, um, lots of people got a lot out of lots of different things from the conference. Um, and then here's just a couple overall survey feedback just I I want to know at the end of the day
014like was it effective for them and did they feel like people were engaging? So again, you can see there's that one outlier, you know, who was kind of neutral, but everybody else uh felt um strongly or very strongly about um things meeting their needs or being engaging. Um so here's some more uh feedback. A lot of people mentioned that speaker. They really liked her message. Um lots of appreciation for the parent panel. Um suggestion was to have more time just for some Q&A at the end with parents. Uh people liked having a choice first day that you could choose from your breakout sessions. Um and then the last one you can see some of the words they use to describe uh Willow Sweeny's presentation. So and as you guys know too I I mean this
015this matters so much I think for Paris to feel valued but also you know if we can train them they often work with some of our most challenging kids um or there's large learning needs that they need to support. So, they're supporting our kids through a lot of this training. Um, their morale. Um, hopefully investing in them helps improve their job satisfaction. And then also just that like systems alignment. Like oftentimes, again, I think paras are sometimes the last people that we think of. Um, and so this is a great opportunity to say, "Hey, we're doing EU fly in our classrooms. Let's give you an opportunity to learn a little bit more about that and how can you be involved in that process?" And then last but not least, uh we had new teacher days
016last week. Um so that was two mornings and then they had the afternoons back in their bit buildings. But um with that, we've tried really hard to prioritize like what is it they need to know here at the district level versus what do they get at their buildings. Um and then also obviously new teachers just want to come in and be in their classrooms. So like what's essential? What do they have to know? So we cover our mission, vision, and values. We talk about teacher leadership because I think a lot of the things we do here with teacher leadership is unique and special and they should know about. Uh we cover evaluation and board of ethics. Um do a little bit about Danielson just expectations for our mentoring program our multi-ter system of support stoic
017framework and champs which got a lot of positive feedback that part did. Um and then the mentors work with them um come in for lunch and work with them in the afternoons. So here's our new teachers. Another great picture taken by Emma. And I think this one was shared up on social media, too. But it's a great group. I mean, obviously you guys know Louis Central hires really well and it was a it's a really bright group of new teachers. Um, so here's some of their feedback. Again, I won't read it all, but you can see they really appreciated some of the work on Danielson that we did with them. That Champs, it's a lot of like classroom management, how to structure routines. Um, like a lot of stuff that we did on our multi-tered
018system of support. and just that collaboration piece and getting to, you know, be with others who are in their same shoes. Um, and then here's just a graphic on um the survey question about how confident do they feel about the information. So you can see most uh so what what is 95% uh felt pretty confident about the information that was shared with them that day. Um, and then why this matters, boosting effectiveness, um, helping them really align with our district priorities, uh, strengthening the support they'll give to kids, building culture, and then hopefully improving retention by, um, doing some things at the beginning of the year with them. Okay, I think that's it. So, it's been it's been a crazy, you know, last couple of weeks, but it's been awesome. Lots of people have chipped
019in and helped out with a lot of those things. Again, teachers and um, our admin team coordinating different things for us, too. and um it's it's just been a great start and so we're looking forward to next week and doing stuff with all staff. >> Any questions, comments for Dr. Herman? >> This was the second year of the parrot training, right? >> Second year of parrot conference. Y >> do you see it getting bigger each each? >> Well, we had like 55 last year and this year we planned for 85. So, yeah, it was it was bigger. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. get some more other schools, too. >> Yeah. I, you know, I used to be at Nevada and I had a couple people from Nevada that were like, "Can you tell our superintendent?" I'm
020like, "I don't know if you want to drive two hours away for a PAR conference, but maybe >> I'm just glad that it's available to them." >> Yeah. >> Because they're a crucial part of the schools, too. So, >> yeah, both of those are great programs and and and makes Lewis Central desirable to want to work at. So, thank you for your effort on both those. >> Yeah. >> And everyone involved. >> Yeah, I would say thank you. And is there a place for the 5% to say if there were changes that could be made that would make them >> for the PAR conference or the >> Well, we had what uh what was it 55% that said >> on this for a new teacher? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm just showing you a snippet,
021but I have like the whole survey and I have like all of their feedback. So, there's Okay. So, there's >> Yeah, there's some good feedback on a couple different things. Of course, some of the new teachers, their their feedback is I just want to be in the classroom and understandable, you know, can't give that to them. But >> there's some other thing like the pair conference, there was some great feedback on that too, just about like giving them a little bit of break in between some of the breakout sessions because we were just like go go go. We had one speaker who was in the commons area in the high school and like and it was like a working lunchtime at the same time and it just wasn't the best environment. So there's some feedback
022like that for all of them that are really good like thinkabouts and let's figure out how to integrate some of that. Yeah, can always be better. That's for sure. >> Any additional comments? >> Okay, then we'll move on to 6.02 finance report. I just want to go to the second slide. Uh so up here is uh the start of the fiscal year 2026 financials. So it is our certified budget comparison and uh not a lot there in July. So uh we we spent 2% of our entire budget in the month of July. So, uh, figured I'll keep that one short this month since there isn't a lot to that. But, uh, on the next slide, um, we do have four positions up for election this year. Um, all four of those positions are four-year terms.
023So, just so everyone's aware, to be a candidate, you have to be a US citizen, a resident of the Lewis Central School District, and be 18 years or older. Um, in order to file for your name to be on the ballot, uh, you have to file an affidavit of candidacy and file a nomination petition with a minimum of 50 signatures from eligible voters residing in the Lewis Central School District. All of those forms are available on the Lewis Central website and the Iowa Secretary of State website or if you stop in at the ERC, I also have those forms available. Um, the forms uh you can start getting signatures at any time, but the first day that you can file is August 25th, which is next Monday. The filing deadline then is September 18th at
0245:00 pm. And all of those uh papers are filed uh with myself, Andrea Ray at the ERC. And then the election will be held on November 4th um with everyone with all the other things on the ballot as well. So you can find more information on our website on the Iowa Secretary of State website or the Iowa Association of School Boards um also has some good information and webinars as well. That is all I have unless the board has any questions. >> Any other questions, comments? >> Okay, then we'll move forward to 6.03 Superintendent Report. >> Uh yep. Uh so my report I'm going to split it into two sections. I'm kind of talk about back school stuff and then I'll talk about facilities during the facilities portion. Um so again just kind of a
025recap of what I said during good things. Um very exciting stuff going on. Uh staff or teachers came back today, certified staff. Uh we had last Thursday we had a breakfast and a gathering for the uh transportation staff. So it was nice seeing them back. Obviously, we've seen the maintenance staff, custodial staffing here all summer, and kudos again goes to them for all the work that they've done this summer. Same thing with the tech team. Uh the tech team has worked non-stop. They've had a lot of big projects this summer from um wireless access points to um cameras and you know, that's one of the things I forgot to show you guys at Craft was, you know, we got all these new cameras at Craft. We can actually see what's going on in there. Uh
026but then they also did um access points um door access points um phones. Phones was a big project uh that they had going on. So tech was swamped all summer long. So thank you to them. Um and then thank you to uh our kind of a year- round staff. You know, there's a lot of people here that you know it's you know I'm I'm one of them. Andrea is one of them. Uh Dr. Hartman's one of them. Um, everybody here at the ERC, you know, when when people say, you know, like, oh, are you having a good relaxing summer? How much time do you get off? And the answer is none. Zero. You don't like summer's kind of our busy season. For everybody else, you know, this is our fiscal year's done on June 30th.
027We start up a new school year. We which means new planning, new implementation, new structures, and you know, we have tons of projects going on. So, for all the people that stick around, you know, during the summer and um kind of work through that, you know, kudos to us to you as well. And then um but because of all that, we get to invite staff back this week and then we get to invite students back next week. So on Wednesday, we'll have our big back to school uh breakfast and and gathering with all the staff. So that's always a nice nice gathering to get everybody in together in one room at the same time. Uh during that presentation, we'll hear from several of our uh community partners. So the PTA, the booster club, uh um
028H Heartland Family Services, um trying to think who else is on there, LCEF, which is our foundation, teammates, can't forget teammates. Um and actually a good thing you should have pointed that out is we had a thing on our registration is whether or not you're interested in in being a teammate mentor. And you had 143 >> 143 people are interested in being mentors being mentors. >> 411 are interested in their kids having mentor. >> Good. three per person. So if you want on >> Yeah. >> three per person. Um so yeah, so it's really exciting. Uh then we have on the 25th uh which is next Monday which is the first day by law we can have students back in the building. Uh we have kindergarten, 2, 6, and 9th are all back that day.
029And it's mostly just kind of a transition day for us. Good opportunity for them to come in the building when it's not crazy just 9th grade at the high school, right? Yep. And then um 26th then we get all of our students back and that will be a crazy day. I'm I'm very interested to see on those first days how uh Titan Hill is because that is there's two days that are horrible during the school year. It's pickup or it's drop off at the at the first day of school. It's pickup at the first day of school at the end of the day and then the very last day of school. So first and last day of school are always super chaotic. So, if this can help alleviate any of that, what I what I
030want people to know is like don't judge us on how well that lane works on the first day because there there will be still be cars packed up down the street. It's just the way it is. So, um but it will allow us to get about, you know, 40 cars or so off of that. So, I'll be interested to see how that works. Uh I'll be I'll be the guy jumping up and down in glee if if if for some reason Harry Langden stays somewhat clear. So, um, and then, uh, on the 29th, uh, that's kind of when all all activities start. We've had a couple start already. For instance, tennis is going on right now. Uh, this girls tennis is in the fall. Uh, they've had a good start. Um, they have a new
031coach. Um, they were a little bit concerned about numbers because it switched to the fall. Same thing with golf, but we're still over 20 uh 20-ish um, out for for tennis, which is good that we're getting new courts and bigger courts. So, uh, more courts so that way we can, uh, spread that out. And then, uh, swimming, their first date will be the 26th. They go to Dowling. Uh, again, that's girls swimming. And then we have the the high school, uh, first football game. We do have a scrimmage. Uh, actually this Friday night up at Sous City East. And that should be It's too bad it's just a scrimmage because that would be one heck of a football game because I think Sous City East has got some got some pretty talented players as well.
032So, that'll be a fun game. But um but our first official game is against North Scott here on the 29th. Was that >> North Pole. Oh, North. Yeah, not Mor Scott. Cross that off. North Pole. Uh here on the 29th. Good thing Jim's here to correct me. So, uh but it'd be awesome if we could pack the stadium. got a new sound system in the stadium over the summer and it's it's that's something that's been in the works for quite a while and um it's it's going to be a much more pleasant experience for everybody involved. Um so yeah, so new game there or first game is on the 29th. Uh then we have cross country, their first um outing or their first meet is on the 30th at Glenwood. boys golf. Uh last Thursday
033was actually the first meet against Heiland and then uh today they're playing at Lamars's and that's just to point out like uh regardless of the decision that's made today on the conference realignment like our golf right now because no other team in the area outside of the big schools plays golf in the fall, we do play with the MRC or golf plays with the MRC already because there is no conference golf otherwise for us because that's in the spring. Um and then band is September 6th. Um and that is um a dress rehearsal on September 6th. That's marching band. And then on September 20th is the first competition and that is at Millard. So um and it's you can hear from way up here. You can hear uh Mr. Tucker on the old uh intercom
034system being like that's not right. So So I know he's gonna have him whipped into shape. I know that. So it'll be good. Um so anyway, that's that's kind of what I had for back to school. It's just a just a busy time. So, okay. >> All right. Then we'll move on to discussion items. 7.01 conference realignment consideration. >> Oh, no. We're going to do uh sorry, facilities. >> Facilities. Okay. >> Sorry. I split those into two. >> I thought you were done. Okay. >> I was going to let Yeah, >> we'll go back. All right. Sorry. >> Uh we'll go through facility project updates. >> Okay. So, I figured it's easier just to kind of go down through the bond. Emma's done a great job of keeping the bond page update or updated. So,
035if you go down here, again, big shout out to project advocates um and both Brett Wallace and Chase Wallace uh for their work this summer and and keeping everything on task and and keeping, you know, us under budget and on time. Uh that's that's very much appreciated. They give us these nice little project updates. Um, not a day goes by that either, uh, Jim or I don't talk to them about something. So, so then we have, uh, we're still working on the athletic field under the bleacher storage. The high school parking lot is is very, very close to be moved to the, uh, done. What, what we got a little snafu um, ended up the one of the trucks crushed the uh, the culvert underneath the the road there. and the culbert wasn't necessarily uh
036um it was put in there years and years ago when that was an appropriate way to do it and now they said we can't put it back that way so we have to do a little bit of a different plan. So as you'll see that is actually cut out so we can put a new covert in there. Um so hopefully they'll get that buttoned up and and sealed up at least by the end of next week. Um and then we have if you keep going down uh high school safety vestibule. Um, so that is one that's going to be an addition that's going to start this fall. Um, and that'll be um, quite the project as well. They actually have a really good way. I know Mr. Vinchal and his team met with the um,
037construction people last week um, from Elevate and they have a plan to basically stage it in a way that it shouldn't disrupt our um, students coming going from the building. Shouldn't disrupt our front circle. Um, Mr. Venchettle is very happy with with the plan that they came up with to kind of alleviate all those issues. Is that am I speaking correctly? Yes. >> I was ready to change everything and we made it work. >> Good. Perfect. Uh if you keep going down uh high school tennis court, they're currently about ready to pour. I think uh Mr. Sturms, Director Sturm said it was going to be Wednesday is what he heard. So that's exciting. Keep going down. uh craft playground renovation. Uh they have everything stripped down. They're ready for to start putting the pieces in.
038So they they kind of cleared everything and now they've been working back at their home base putting together the equipment. They'll just bring it in in big chunks and they'll put it up. So uh hopefully it's we're not going to make um August 20 22nd like we thought we were before because of all the uh uh rain and everything we had in the month of July. I didn't know that that was supposed to be in last couple years has been Iowa's rainy season has been July. So, it's been interesting. Um, yeah, Craft Playground should be done here relatively soon. Week maybe two weeks after school starts. So, we just got to make it a little bit. Middle school epic intercom system. They um were installing that this week, last week and this week. So, I'll
039be interested to know if they I haven't heard an update on that yet, but I know that they're still anticipating being done by the start of school. The Raptor emergency response system, they're done installing all they have to res to do. We just have to work through the badge system and we'll do a big training on that uh on Wednesday with all the staff. Titan Hill HVAC that'll be more of a fall fall project. We knew that all along. And then Titan Hill playground renovation addition. So that is another one where um it was supposed to be done midseptember. We're going to get craft done first and then move over to Titan Hill. And now it's looking like it's probably going to be, you know, end of September early October. So, it just you can
040only do so much with the weather. So, if you keep going down, uh, we got all new phones. That that project is is almost complete. It says complete as far as all the phones are in there. They all work. Uh, we got to get some things installed on the wall so that way we can put the phones on the wall where they belong. A high school fire alarm system that is done. Um, so now you guys are actually going to have to do fire drills this year, right? like like purposeful drills, not just count them as they happen. So, >> um, high school HBAC chiller controls, RTUs, that's done. Uh, the high school roof is done. Maybe the next one. There you go. Uh, high school painting. So, we just walked a walk through the
041paint that looks super good. It's It's really our Commons is a showstopper. I don't know that you'll find many high school commons that that look as good as ours do right now. So, um, high school trophy case, uh, renovation that adds to that space. The craft LED lighting project, that's done. Uh, Titan Hill LED bright lighting projects, lighting project is done. Craft safety vestibules done. Middle school roof is done. Craft security cameras are done. Titan Hill and High School uh door contacts and our security storage is done. Titan Hill LED lighting is done. We already talked about that. Uh Titan Hill parking lot queuing lane that's done. Again, I'm going to be excited to see what that first day of school uh brings with the with the car line and then um all the wait
042room stuff is done. So, it's exciting to say, you know, as I go through the list, done done. So, we we'll see what happens. So, um, almost, you know, it's been a lot of work this summer, but it's exciting to see it all wrap up and then we're going to start planning for next summer already. So, we've already been in that process, so just never stops. You guys have any questions? Okay, that's it. Now, we're finished with that. >> Okay, we'll move on to 7.01, 1 uh conference realignment consideration of invitation to join the Missouri River Activities Conference. >> So, I did include um on here if you go to the >> Yeah, I sent it to you. Yeah. So, if you can zoom way in. So this is the official invitation um which to
043extend a formal invitation to Lewis Central High School to consider membership in our conference beginning with 202627 academic year. Um then it kind of goes into um and this was actually written by uh Jeff Noatne and BJ Cook. Um and Jeff Natney is the AD at uh AL. So uh kind of he's is he the are they the current president right now? Did they rotate kind of like with the Hawkeyes >> Sous City East? Okay, that's BJ. Okay, so they gave us this. The one thing I did want to point out in the letter is the invitation is for uh as early as the 2627 school year. They understand that we have um according to the Hawkeye 10, uh there is an obligation for a school to give a two-year uh heads up before they
044leave. However, in a meeting that took place last Thursday, um it was pretty uh almost unanimous just in conversation that were we to accept that they would um uh the Hawkeye 10 would would allow us out as soon as possible. So, I think they're don't want us around any longer than we have to be. So, um again, that's if again if that's the decision that's made tonight. So, am I am I misspeaking, Mr. Germy? No. So, I guess yeah, I'll open the floor to you guys. We know that we've just to recap for people that are out there, uh we did send out a survey um uh to our parents and our staff and our uh coaches, uh we had over 400 replies. uh 50% of of uh overall population said, you know, that they
045recommended joining the uh MRC, Missouri River Conference. Um about 30% uh said, you know, stay in the Hawkeye 10. And then about 20% said, you know, if they didn't care either way. So that's that's how that broke out. Um the as far as subgroups, excuse me, the staff and the parents were both pretty overwhelmingly go to the MRC. um students were overwhelmingly stayed with the Hawkeye 10. So um that's just to give you guys some context uh of what that was. Uh you've all been shared the survey, you've all been shared the the comments. Uh we actually had people come and speak um about the conference uh before. Um so now it's just kind of what the next step will be. >> Well, I'll start I guess. Um, so if it's as soon as possible,
046what is it? It's not this year. What is it next year? >> 26 27. >> So is that possible to line everything up >> in a year? >> All right. So that answered that question. So, I will say that I looked at this thing about 900 different angles and I was hung up on the Hawkeye 10 offering other um avenues for other students that aren't necessarily involved in athletics um such as art, band, choir. Um, I visited with 80s from the Hawkeye 10, the Missouri River, uh, Raccoon River, uh, Little Hawkeye. Um, so Missouri River conference is really our only other option. Otherwise, travel time gets to be a a big issue. Um so but when I talked to the some of the people from Missouri River um they assured me that they wanted to
047bring back um an art uh art event back into the conference. Um they did have it when it was formed. Um didn't have enough uh participation so they got rid of it. Um, so I guess in that aspect, I'm really hoping that um I will be voting to go to the Missouri River Conference in hopes that by moving with the larger schools um that coordinates with more numbers in our sports uh to where more athletes get to do their particular sport and hopefully we and uh expand uh for other avenues for the students also. >> Can you um review or or say again how does staying in the Hawkeye 10 hinder our students? Does that because the way I understand it is that since we're playing smaller schools then our seating isn't we have do
048we have to play more games in order to get up in the ranks for like state or how how is that >> it can be an issue some it doesn't every sport's a little bit different Um but level competition has become a little bit of a thing. So the the state football I'll use football as an example. The state has stepped in. They put us together. They they put us together with all schools our size. Hold on. Sorry. I I don't want you to use football in this context only because a lot of people were very confused that football this matters to football at all where um football is a divisional sport. It's not a conference sport. >> Yeah. The biggest football they put us together and we only play schools our size. >> Okay.
049>> And it has really when we started doing it really help our football program kind of take up our other sports we don't do that our other sports we're playing if you look at the chart our other sports we're playing schools that are two classes or more below us um so from a rankings perspective I think that doesn't so when you get to the postseason in baseball softball basketball it's a ranking our baseball team just one example our baseball team beat Sous City North in the regular season this year when it came to seating time they looked at their schedule our schedule and they gave them a better seat than and then we beat again. So we had to go there playing because of that. So that's one example where that that seating does matter.
050Um but I think if you look at the big picture competing against schools our size I think is important for us to continue to take the next step in some of our our other other schools. Well, and one thing that they told me was that um some of the smaller schools, they're only they may only have a JV and a they don't call it fresh or they they have a varsity JV and reserve. They do not call it freshman because they don't have enough kids to play um to fill all those teams. Um, some schools, even in the Missouri River Conference, depending on what sport, you may get um, three deep, you may not have the fourth one. So, that's why they quit calling it a freshman, and I'm going to speak on volleyball. Um,
051they don't call it freshman volleyball because you may have some sophomores that play on there to fill up a team. >> And we and we'll see that We'll see that from both conferences from time to time regardless of size of school. Like for instance, girls basketball is a sport that is really struggling across I mean all areas right now. But with just sheer numbers of kids, there's a there's a higher likelihood that a larger school is going to have a consistent JV team, reserve team, freshman team than some of these smaller schools. Another thing to point out is is by and large our schedule as far as who we play those those deep-seated rivalries, they're not really going to change because and I say that because we still have to fill a basketball schedule with
05220ome games in a year. Well, there's only so many schools on our side of the on our side of the state that we can even compete against. Right now, we schedule all of Hawkeye 10 first and then we'll turn around and then we'll fill in with with MRC and and maybe uh De Mo Area School, you know, we'll kind of fill in with that. The what we'll flip is we will fill up with MRC first and then we'll fill in with Hawk 10, but we we won't play the Shannondoas, the Red Oaks, you know, we St. Albert might be a game every two years or something like that. the Glenwoods, the Harlons, the Crestens, the, you know, those are the teams that we've Atlantics that want to continue to play us uh because it's good
053competition for them. They're our same size and in a lot of classes, so we'll continue to play them. So, it's not like that's going to change. We're just not going to um Lewis Central wouldn't wouldn't fill their schedule with small schools first and then go find larger schools. they would fill their schedule with large schools first and then they would get to choose other schools outside of that. So, and that's how I understand it. >> Yeah. So, if you use basketball as an example, we play 21 games. So, they play that 16. So let's say we keep our rivalry. We keep our rivalry which I assume we probably would 18 games left. We play one game at the MAC every year. They have two games left. So going to Norwok like we do going to
054Indian like we do probably. So that extra trip or two we take to S city from a conference perspective takes away probably in reality. That was going to be my next question. And I know it's the one thing is is that change is hard and Lewis Central is built on tradition. And so keeping the Hawkeye 10, that's the tradition. But the way I look at it, we have to do what's best for the kids no matter what. And it just sounds like moving to this conference would be better for our kids now and the future of Lewis Central and Hawkeye 10 really doesn't want us. Sounds like >> I mean that's you're not wrong. >> Okay. >> There are some schools in there that would like to see >> Absolutely. And and the one thing
055is is that I I'm kind of one is I'd like to do it on our terms and not um them kicking us out and then we're we're looking we're moving forward on our terms not on someone else's. >> And I would defend the hint schools a little bit in terms I it's I don't think it's necessarily they don't like us and they don't want us anymore. >> They just see our growth. see our resources being in the metro area. I had a girls soccer coach tell me last year that we were playing them and >> I think every one of our girls probably plays club soccer >> which is right across >> Yeah. And and the Hawkeye 10 is looking out for themselves too. I mean the smaller schools everyone needs to do what they
056need to do for their their schools and their kids. >> I think last year Shannido and the only two districts in show So, we're already bigger to start with and and we we are one of the few schools that continues to grow while everybody else is getting smaller. I think it's >> everybody just sees that the changes that's happening and realize it's just not a great fit. >> Right. >> I don't think there's this huge they central kick them out. It's just it's just >> Right. Right. Well, and then you also look at it's it's progress. I mean, Lewis Central is different than it was 20 years ago. I mean, we're and and it's just progress and that's what I wish I would have saved an article one time when they were tearing down buildings
057and they're building new ones and everything and they said it's it's not that you you don't look at the past and you don't respect the past and the history. It's just that you're looking it's progress. Things change. after walking outside, I wouldn't want to go back to no air conditioning in in any of the buildings, you know. So, um yeah, I I just like um thank you for all the information you've given us. It's not that we're not listening to the patrons, alumni, students. It's not that we're not listening, but um I think the decision is what's best for the kids. I think based on the feedback that we received, you know, from from parents, uh, you know, concerned coaches, people that were either for or against, I feel like as a as a team,
058at least from the administrative team and from like district leadership, we've explored each of those options as, you know, they were laid out. You know, some people talked about, well, maybe there's a conference in De Moines that makes more sense since we play like Norwok, things like that. Well, we've talked to them and they don't have any interest in a team from Council Bluffs that stretches them out even further. For us, geographically, the MRC makes the most sense. Um, and it in reality, it's probably our our only option if we were to leave the Hawkeye 10, as much as we may not want to say that, but to um to your point, I'd rather be in control of of the change that we have instead of being impacted by change. Uh once other schools see
059kind of the disparity between Lewis Central and some of the other schools that don't see that type of growth. >> Well, I'm going to speak just for myself as an alumni. Um it's obviously not going to be for every alum out there, but for 43 years I have been a Titan. I have been a Hawkeye 10 Titan from the very beginning. And while yeah I it it does give me a little angst to see such a big change. The thing that my focus is on is how many of our kids are going to get participate in things. How many of our kids are going to get to play because we have four teams and maybe Clarenda only has two, you know, I would um getting as many kids on the field or on the court
060as we can to give them the experience. And to me and everything that has come in front of me, I firmly believe that is the right decision. Um it is hard from my alumni heart to say let's jump ship. Um but at the same time growth forward moving and again the reason I sit at this table is our are the the 3,000ish kids and staff that take care of those kids and the administration that take care of those kids. And if that's what's going to give them the best options, then that's the direction that we have to go. And I I like to say I support it as well. I think from a coach's standpoint, the competitive balance is important, too. So, if you're dominating in baseball and basketball and whatever else, it's good for
061the kids to have a challenge. And I think that they can't grow if they don't have that. So, athletically, it's important and I hope that they can add more to the conference too when it comes to other activities. I will say I appreciate everybody who spoke up on both sides of the issue last week. I appreciate that we did a community survey so we had that full picture for everyone who decided to um speak at that. Um, I agree from a size standpoint and a growth standpoint, it makes sense. I do just want to say to Director Sturm's point about the arts, arts and academics, I know that's not what we're voting on tonight, but if we can make sure we are working towards having that as a part of the conference, that would be
062great for them. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Make sure that conversation stays alive. >> Yes. >> Well, the more of us that do join though, it will give that opportunity, right? they'll have more chances to look and say there's enough kids involved that would want to. So, I think it's a good move forward like you were saying >> and everybody else. >> I do have a statement from uh Director Sorenson. He couldn't be here tonight. Um but he just said here's a statement for me regarding the MRC. He just says, "After weighing the pros and cons of both the Hawkeye 10 conference and the Missouri River conference, reviewing the polling results, and gathering input from teachers, coaches, and community members, I am in favor of moving to the MRC." So, he's not here, so he
063won't technically get a vote tonight, but he did want to make sure that his comment was on record. So, >> all right. Anybody else have anything they want to add or >> Thank you. >> Sorry. Um, thank you for um the leg work and um providing us with both sides of the coin. Why should we? Why shouldn't we? You know, what what are others saying? Um, you know, I don't as I I I've never felt like I'm making a blind decision and this is not one that I feel that I'm making a blind decision to make this to make this choice. And so, thank you for the work that went in on the parties that did the the the behindthe-scenes stuff. It's much appreciated. Well, and then the continued work so we can expand in
064the academics and in the fine arts and and that because I think that is important um very important >> to um our students and to me any students in that um conference >> because I definitely don't want to take away opportunities from kids who are all Hawkeye 10 a or academic or things like that those those opportunities I still want >> to be to make sure that they're you know and if we have to not have it for a year or two while we work to put something like that together then again forward motion >> okay hearing no other comments we will move on to 7.02 102 CB consortium agreement with Children's Square and Hartland Therapeutic. >> So this is just um all the all the the schools local to Council Bluffs are in this
065consortium. It's just basically that we just run it as a group and although everything goes through council bluffs and we pay council bluffs whenever we place a student there it just ensures that you know we we have a seat at the table for any kind of decisions or um that we can send students there and they keep a consistent um fee when we do send students there. So and we do on a yearly basis have several students at at one or both of these locations. So, any questions, comments? Okay. Then we'll move on to 7.03 summer 2026 middle school parking lot design proposal from Lamp Branderson. >> Yep. Uh so, Lamp um they did our design on our uh high school parking lot. Um we've engaged them again to take a look at our design
066for our middle school parking lot. This is going to be a little bit more in depth than our high school parking lot because of the amount of drainage that goes and drains that go underneath the parking lot. Um, so as part of this project, it includes the majority if not all of the concrete uh that's that's around the middle school. So it's not just the parking lot. It's the lane that runs between the parking lot and the and the uh um and Harry Langden. It's the parking spots that are there. Um, they're also going to as part of this uh see if they can't do a more in-depth study once we have that the parking lot up to see what some of our drainage issues are at the uh our middle school building. We think
067we think we got to some of them because even with that really big 2 in rain and an hour we had the other day, we didn't have any backup into the school. So, we think we got to some of it. So, um so yeah, so there's just quite a bit of work that goes into um the development of this And uh so they I thought they did an excellent job with the uh with the high school parking lot. >> Any questions, comments? >> Okay. Move on to 7.04. Uh we've evaluated the requests and have determined based on the review that is necessary to hold a closed session under Iowa code section 21.51 subsection I. Close session is recommended to discuss this employee request for other paid or unpaid leave per Iowa code 21.51 subsection A.
068Close session is appropriate to review or discuss records which are required or authorized by state or federal law to be kept confidential or to be kept confidential as a cension for that governmental body's possession or continued receipt of federal funds. [Music] >> Can I get a motion or wait do I need to discuss the second one too? >> Are we doing both in close in and out? Well, we'll have to go we'll have to go in and out, but we might as well just announce the second one as well. But just just to clarify, um this is for two employees for request for leave and both have filled out the form that due to uh sensitive matters in their in their um request that they would like to have this in close session. Is that
069correct? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Then we'll go on to 7.05 which is an open enrollment request. And this would also be uh close session. Uh close session is recommended to discuss late filed open enrollment out application per Iowa code 21.51 subsection A. Close session is appropriate to review or discuss records which are required or authorized by state or federal law to be kept confidential or to be kept confidential as a condition for that governmental body's possession or continued receipt of federal funds. >> Yep. And this is actually an enrollment in application. My my my apologies. So >> yep and yep missed that. >> Okay. >> Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion that we go out or go into close session for employee requests for leave. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >>
070Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sheffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Ser, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mco, >> yes. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] All right. Well, is your mic on? No, >> we'll move on to comments and suggestion. This is the second portion of our meeting where we open up the floor to any comments from the public uh that they'd like to direct to the board. Do we have anybody online? >> We do. Let's give it a minute. >> Yep, we'll do. Okay, then we will move
071into action items. >> 9.01 conference realignment consideration of invit invitation to join the Missouri River Activities Conference. >> Mr. President, >> yes. I would like to make the recommendation to accept the invitation to join the Missouri River Activities Conference starting in the 2627 school year. >> Second. >> Okay. Vote, please. >> Mr. Sturm, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shuffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. And I'll make that on just a condition that the Hawkeye 10 lets us out of releases us. So >> Otherwise it'd be two years. Correct. >> Do I need to change the wording of that? >> No, I think it's fine because if they don't let us out, we can't go anyway. >> Okay. 9.02 CB
072consortium agreement with Children's Square and Heartland Therapeutic. >> Mr. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the therapeutic schools consortium agreement with Council Bluff's Community Schools. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Miss Atkins? >> Yes. >> Mrs. McDaniel? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Peterson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sheffield? >> Yes. >> Mr. Stern? >> Yes. >> Mr. Wright? >> Yes. >> 9.03. Summer 2026 middle school parking lot design proposal. Lamperson. >> Mr. President, >> yes. >> Like to make a motion to approve the design fee proposal and accompanied work by Lamp Reen for the summer of 2026 middle school parking lot replacement for $82,000. >> Second vote, please. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sheffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturm, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes.
073>> Mr. Wright, >> yes. 9.04 employee A request for leave. >> Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the request for unpaid leave as presented for employee A. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Sheffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Stur, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mr. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. >> Employee B, request for leave. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the request for leave as presented for employee B. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Mrs. Shuffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturm, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. >> 9.05, open enrollment request. >> Mr. President, I'd like to make a
074motion to deny the open enroll request for student A as presented in close session. >> Second. >> Vote, please. >> Mr. Storm, >> yes. >> Miss Atkins, >> yes. >> Mrs. McDaniel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peterson, >> yes. >> Mr. Shuffle, >> yes. >> Mr. Wright, >> yes. >> Items of interest, future board meetings. >> Just uh reminder the we're going to have two board meetings in September. Um, instead of doing 1 and third, we're doing second and fourth because the 1st is Labor Day. So, we're doing the 8th and the 22nd. So, be the board meetings this month. And then, uh, first day of school for students is August 25th. So, that's exciting. >> Do we have another strategic planning session, too? >> Uh, no. Strategic planning is done. We we need to do
075a uh a middle school um a middle school what do you call that renovation uh probably board work session. Okay. >> So >> we're kind of we're getting close. the committee with gave them we had a really good meeting last week and the committee um gave us some stuff to work on and now they're working on it and then they'll come back and kind of give a different presentation and then at that point it'll be prudent to bring the board the whole board in to basically say yep this is we agree or don't agree here so because planning's got to get going so they'll also meet with the staff uh I think that first Wednesday and of September as well so they they'll meet with the whole um middle school staff and get some feedback
076from them as well. >> Wednesday the 3. >> Yep. Good. Okay. Having no other items on the docket, uh can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Bye.