April 6, 2026 School Board Meeting

001[music] >> All right. >> [music] >> And call our budget public hearing to order. Can we take roll call, please? Ms. Atkins? Here. Mr. Buck? Mrs. Peterson? Here. Mrs. Sandahl? Here. Mr. Sorenson? >> Here. Mr. Sturm? Here. Mr. Wright? Here. Approval of the April 6th, 2026 budget hearing agenda. Do we have a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve. Second. >> Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Vote, please. Ms. Atkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sandahl? Yes. Mr. Sorenson? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. Opening statement. This time we're going to turn it over to Am I sharing my screen with you yet? No. Okay. Let's Make sure. It's my first night. Entire screen. Okay. Now, there we go. Can you see? Okay. Let's go ahead and do All right. Can you see it? All

002right. Can you still see it? Am I still sharing? Okay. Good. All right. Turn it over to Mrs. Race. Okay. For the public hearing for the fiscal year 2027 budget, there was a handout over there. I believe that all of you picked up, but I will be talking about that. So, it's a little bit easier to see on the handout as opposed to the screen. So, you will go to that next screen. This is the proposed property tax levy as of March 5th. So, this is what everyone received in the mail. That's what this was based off of. So, on that one, the levy rate was $11.36. So, since that time we've had some changes that have taken place. So, I will will discuss those. But the other thing that I wanted to discuss on

003this screen was the reason for the tax increase that is written at the bottom there. So, the first thing is the district's mandated uniform levy of $5.40 per thousand increased due to the valuation increase of 16.4% overall for the district. So, automatically when you have a valuation increase on a set levy rate, your dollars will increase there. The district also chose to reduce the future year interest cost by paying down our additional bond principal. And the district levied for the management fund to cover property taxes and workers' compensation insurance. And in this past year, which is this current year, we did not levy for management fund at all. We used um a balance that we had from past years. So, we are still working to spend that those funds down. And this for the fiscal

004year 27, we are also not levying the full amount either and continuing to to use reserves that we have on hand. So, also on this tax statement, it showed that there would be a 4.31% increase. So, with that there are some inbuilt assumptions. The first thing is that there's a 10% valuation increase for everyone. As on an individual basis, and that is the only property that has an increase in value. As I stated before, we had a 16% increase in our valuation overall across residential and commercial industrial property. So, that also already makes that assumption incorrect. The district when doing this prior to March 5th also did not know the state supplemental aid. And we also did not know property tax for the budget guarantee on what amount we are going to need, if any,

005and if that was going to be covered by property taxes or if the state was going to cover those amounts. So, what we know now is that state aid was set at 2% by the legislature. Budget guarantee will not be funded by property taxes. Property tax relief will be funded through property tax replacement payment from the state. So, now the district has reset the property tax levy rate, which will be published tomorrow in the Nonpareil, and it is on the backside of the other sheet that you had, will be set at $11.20. After this is published tomorrow, the district can no longer increase the tax levy rate above the $11.20. So, just to recap, we were at 11.26 this year. We had projected out to be as much as 11.36, but then after all of

006the state finalized everything that they do, we're at 11.20 now. So. So, that is the same sheet that you have there showing the 11.20. I also even tried to make it bigger on there so you could read it up there as well. If you'll go to the next sheet, so on the sheet that the county sends you, it shows you an actual projected percent change with a 10% valuation increase. So, I have recalculated those numbers using the new levy rate of $11.20. So, that is a decrease of a half a percent on the levy rate. Per $100,000, it would be if the you have an increase of 10% on the valuation, your overall increase would be 2.8%. or $15. If you'll go to the next screen, this one is if you were not to have

007an assessment increase at all. So, if your assessment stayed the same, per $100,000, your valuation would decrease by $35. Now, I went ahead and I found some examples of valuations of actual property taxpayers, and all of them happened to be either sitting at this table or employees that are in this building. So, this example here is an increase in their assessed valuation of 15.1%. After the valuation taxable valuation, they will have a a decrease there. And then their taxes due will be a 17.9% increase, which is a dollar change of $89 for the year. Example two is a valuation increase of 10%. So, this aligns exactly to the example that would have been on the sheet. So, they would add a taxes due increase of 2.8% or $67 per year. And example three is a

008valuation assessed valuation increase of 6.4%. Their taxes due is actually negative 6/10 of a percent or a negative $14. So, anybody with a valuation increase of 6.5% or less will not have a tax increase and will see a decrease in their taxes from the district itself. So, what is left of our budget is this evening. We have our first public hearing. Tomorrow, we will have our second budget public hearing published in the Nonpareil. After that point of publication, the district cannot increase the levy rate above the $11.20. On April 20th, we will hold the second public hearing. And then that evening, the board will also adopt the budget. And then the deadline to file the budget with the Department of Management will be April 30th. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Race. At this time, uh we

009will open the floor for receiving written comment, but I'd like to read a statement from our policy that we have for public participation in board meetings. Uh the board recognizes the importance of citizen participation in school district matters in order to assure citizens are heard and board meetings are conducted efficiently and in an organized manner, the board will set aside a specific time for public comment. Citizens wishing to address the board during public comment must notify the board secretary prior to the board meeting. The board president will recognize these individuals to make their comments at the appropriate time during public comment. Citizens wishing to present petitions to the board may also do so at this time. The board, however, will only receive petitions and not act upon them or their contents. The board has the

010discretion to limit the amount of time set aside for public participation. Normally, speakers will be limited to 5 minutes. However, the board president may modify this time limit if deemed appropriate or necessary. Public comment is a time set aside for the community input, but the board will not discuss or take any action on any matter during public comment. A public comment shall be limited to regular board meetings will not be routinely held during special board meetings. The board has a significant interest in maintaining the decorum of its meetings and it's expected that the members of the public and the board will address each other with civility. The orderly process of the board meeting will not be interfered with or disrupted by public comment. Only individuals recognized by the board president will be allowed to speak.

011Comments by others are out of order. If disruptive, the individual causing disruption may be asked to leave the board meeting. Defamatory comments may be subject to legal action and that's based on a legal reference of Iowa code uh 21.22.279.8. So, at this time, we'll open the floor to receiving written comment. Do we have any written comments that have been received? I have not received any written comments. Do we have anybody online? Okay. Then, at this time, we will move to receiving oral comments. Do we have anyone wishing to present an oral comment to the board? Does anybody want to >> want to come Who does want to talk? Speak. I think so. I have a question. Yep. So, one of the things we're going to ask you to do is just kind of state your

012name and your address so we have it on record and then uh you can go ahead and state or say whatever you need to. So. My name is Roger Williams. Address 10605 Wabash Avenue. I I guess I have a question when when she was talking about the the tax levy of uh Bear with me. It was up there that the district's mandated uniform levy of $5.40 per thousand increase due to evaluation increase of 16.64%. Uh the 16.64% was property tax valuation. Yes. So, and you said So, what would cause the $5.40 to change at that point? The levy rate did not increase. The property tax value the dollars that the district received increased. I can appreciate that. It's it's still at $5.40 per thousand. Uh but your valuation went up 16%. Yes. Which would cause

013a value an increase. Correct. And what you've explained to me is but now this proposed levy is going to be 11.36%? Is that That was as of March 5th. As of tomorrow, the publication will be published at $11.20. So, in reality, it's going to more than double. No. The uniform levy is only a small portion of that. Our tax levy rate last year was the $11.26. What was the 540? The 540 is a uniform levy rate that is for the general fund set by the legislation. So, every district in the state of Iowa automatically has a $5.40 levy rate. And you're adding on $6 and whatever difference to come up with the 1120. Correct. For other items. Some of it being the general fund, which $12 Uh sorry. Uh 12 million of it is from

014the general fund. Totally confused. I'm sorry. I And you show you did show instances where uh somebody's going to go up 90 bucks and somebody's going up 50 bucks and somebody's going down 14 bucks. And I I guess I'm confused how that happens all at all. The So, based on their valuation increases, that determines how much their their property taxes are going to go up. But there's a rollback in there that was calculated. So, even if your property tax valuation stayed the same, the rollback decreases your taxable amount along with our levy rate now is going to also be going down. So, you would have a decrease in your taxes. So, as long as your valuation increase was not more than 6.5%, you will have a decrease in your tax to the district. Last time

015I got evaluation increase, it was about 40%. Uh I have not heard of anybody's being that large, but It was huge. Thank you. I will say that I'm any smarter than I was, but All right, guys. Nice to talk to you for a while. >> [laughter] >> Randy Cannell, 19852 Northern Pine Road. Simple question. If you didn't do a thing, how much of an increase would you get? If because of the property tax is going up, you didn't add a single thing to it, how much more you going to get next year or the next time because of property tax valuation? With absolutely nothing else going on, you're going to get an increase simply cuz the county does not been known to reduce anybody's property tax or anybody's property valuation. So, you've got to be

016getting an increase just by the fact of what the county does, right? Without doing a thing more, you would get an increase. Not as much as the 11%, but you would get an increase. First way you get the 5. whatever, but you get more too because everybody's house like she showed, $100,000 this year, $110,000 next year, whatever or $200,000, which means you're getting more you're getting more tax for doing nothing you just sitting there. So, how much would you be ahead by not doing a thing? You you know. Right. All right. And so, so when we talk about 1120, so what you guys have to understand is what the board has authority over are things like uh really what the board has the authority over is the management levy, which last year we didn't levy

017anything because we had a big we had a big amount sitting there. So, we had a we said oh we had extra in the management levy, so we didn't levy anything last year. So, then this year we have to levy back something because and what the only thing we can use management levy on, we can't pay a single person out of that. The only thing we can use it on is uh is property insurance uh and a uh workman's comp. And so, when those go up, you know, as we know all of our property insurance is going up, you know, 10, 15, 20%. As those go up, so does so does the school. Like the school's cost goes up. We pay that out of a management levy. So, we have a pretty healthy management levy.

018So, last year we didn't levy a dime. And when I say healthy, we spend What is our total bill out of that every year? 1. 1.7. $1.7 million every year comes out of our management levy. And that just goes straight to to insurance. So, property casualty and workman's comp. And so, last year we had a we had a really healthy uh fund over there, so we didn't levy anything. So, we spent $1.7 million out of our out of our um uh management like extra that we had set aside, okay? This year, we're going to need to levy something back because otherwise what ends up happening is if that drops down to zero, we're we're going to levy back 90 900,000 this year. So, we're basically splitting splitting the cost. So, we're going to levy 900,000

019or we're going to recommend levying 900,000. The cost is going to be almost $2 million. So, we're still going to pay over a million dollars out of the fund that we have out of the balance that we have sitting there. If we don't levy something out of it this year, what's going to end up happening is we're going to have to levy the entire $2 million next year and moving forward. We at least have a couple years that we can levy half in order to move forward. We're trying to do this so we don't just, you know, in a time when everybody's valuation >> But you still haven't answered the question. How much How much does it go up without doing a thing? Right. And so, what ends up happening is when the state gives

020us our formula, the state tells us this is how much you have to spend per pupil per per per per student. It's just almost exactly $8,000. Okay, so they're like, "Well, you get $8,000 to spend per student." And then the state, depending on how much value you have within your district, determines how much of that comes from property taxes. The higher about the higher populated or the higher valuation that the district have, the more comes off your property tax. The more you fund it versus the state funding. What she's talking about a a uniform levy, that $5.40, is something that every single school across the state of Iowa has to pay. And then to make up the difference between that $5.40 and whatever you need to make that make that $8,000 per student, that is

021dependent upon how much property valuation that you have in your district. Sit or uh school districts that have a really low property valuation, the state picks up more of their tab, so that way the people in the area, you know, they're able to pick it up. People that have really high property valuations, like we do, we pick up more of the tab because then let's say our neighboring rural districts, because we're a high property district. So, but again, you're talking out of $11.20, there's probably eight eight plus dollars of that that we have zero control over. Zero. Nothing. The state tells us this is what you are going to charge. And then on top of that, we have things like the management levy that we go in order to make sure we can pay our

022insurance, so the state gives the board the authority to to levy that. We have what's called a voted pepple, which is a dollar on a it's just a but that's voted in by the public and it's a dollar uh levy that we get. It's no more, no less. It's just a dollar levy. And so, when you get a 16% increase, you're right, we get a 16% increase with that dollar. Uh and then we have what's called a board approved levy or which is in the in that voted levy, the voted pepples just for property just for essentially facilities. It's the only thing you can use that on. You can't use it on teachers, can't use it on anything else. The board has a board voted pepple uh physical plant equipment levy that's about 34 cents.

023Is it 33 or 34? 33. 33 cents that they can use um again, that the board can approve. So, that's a dollar 33. You're talking another 60 cents for our um so, probably $2. So, those are probably about three and a half dollars there that the board does have some authority. And then the last one's the voted bond, which was another voted in tax. So, other things that the that the board has some authority over are like we have what's called a um instructionals instructional tax. Uh that goes directly to the students. So, there's there's very little people come and think, "Well, you have authority over you know, $11.20." The board really only has authority over about is it $4, four-ish dollars? That's what the board has authority over. And several of them are voted

024in by the public. So, the voted bond, the voted pepple, uh the voted uh uh instructional tax, those are all voted by the public. The only ones the board really has authority over are the um the management levy, which we use to pay insurance, and then the the board uh pepple that they that they have the authority to to to go through. Otherwise, everything else is either voted on by the public or you know, specifically dictated by the state. And all this has done what to the education level? Have we gone from 75% meeting max? Are we at 85% now? 95%? We have We have around 80%. Hm? We have around 80%. What were you last year? Uh district wide, depending on uh language arts or math, probably 78%. So, you haven't done much to

025increase that. What are your goals to get 95%? Well, we do we do we do have about >> you're saying is $8,000 a student. Mhm. What am I getting for $8,000? If a school district in Podunk, Iowa can do it for $5 a student or $5,000 a student, why can't we do it for 5,000? >> Nobody in the state Everybody has the exact same levy. I didn't say that. What I'm saying is they're they're getting as much buck, you know, They're also getting $8,000. It's uniform across the state. Every student in the state of Iowa, now every student even goes to a private school in the state of Iowa or a charter school, gets $8,000. The school gets $8,000 for every single student across the state of Iowa, whether you're in Podunk, Iowa or you're

026in Des Moines, Iowa, you're in Council Bluffs, Iowa, or you're going to a Christian school, or you're going to a Catholic school, or you're going to a public school, or you're going to a charter school, everybody's getting the same $8,000. And my question is, for future reference, Right. are you charging or seeing where that school rates, the private school, the public school, the church school, you know, are they all at the same 80% We We don't We don't even serve close to the same uh student body. So, private schools can accept students. So, private schools accept only students who they they they that they want to. Yeah. >> They accept students who, you know, can afford it. They accept students who don't have a learning disability. They accept students who don't have physical disability or

027mental disability. They accept all these students, right? So, they're accepting students who predominately already there. We have to ex- serve every student that walks through our doors. We are 14% of 14% of our students are special education students, which means they come to us with a learning disability. And so, and we try. I mean, we we work like heck to make sure that we can get all students at a point where they are going to be um uh at a proficiency level, right? Which is at grade level. However, when we're when we're working with students that have all of these learning disabilities from a from a young age, you know, physical, mental, um you know, behavioral, it's a much higher hill to climb than it is for students who don't have it, right? Yeah. When

028you're bringing in students that come from um and we and we have a, you know, 35% of our students come from poverty. So, when we're bringing in students from poverty who has who have parents that may or not may not be at home, who may or not may or may not be able to provide for them on a regular basis, and they're more worried about food and clothing and safety than they are about school work. That's a much higher hill to climb. So, I I cannot go down the road of comparing our student body as in a whole in a whole to what another private school might be serving. It's completely different student body. Thank you. Yep. You and I've had discussions >> 100%. Yep. No, we're good. Is there anyone else? Okay. Then hearing

029no other comments at this time, we will Do we have a motion to adjourn the the budget hearing? Motion to adjourn the budget hearing. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. I. I. >> [clears throat] >> I. And then we're 3 minutes early for the other one. So, we'll give it 2 minutes. You need to take a break. What do you got? We need to tell these microphones are all going on the internet. So, if you were at home, you can hear everything that we say Maybe not. Yeah. I guess so. I don't know. We can publish it. Do we have a record We We used one at our Okay. It was actually a chance. I mean, it Yeah. You need to talk more. We can't hear you in the back

030of the bus. That's why I have this microphone right here. Yeah, but see, that is it doesn't go up here. It goes to the That thing right there. I, you know, I was something I had But it it is not just you. I think it's the system cuz it make a lot of You can't speak. He's got a better voice than Mine tells me I talk too much. No, but he's got a lot of good things He's a history teacher, so I Hello. You teach eighth grade here. Communication. I'm sure you got this communication course up there. Speech or something. >> [music] [music] >> board meeting to order. Can we take roll call, please? Ms. Atkins? Here. Mr. Buck? Mrs. Peterson? Here. Mrs. Sando? Here. Mr. Sorenson? Here. Mr. Sturm? Here. Mr. Wright? Here. Approval

031of the April 6th, 2026 agenda. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Are you removing that item or Uh yeah, the only thing we do have a we we had an issue with our Chromebook bids, so I'm going to re- redact [clears throat] the 7.04. Okay, so 704 and 904 are coming off? Okay. Correct. All right, so then do we have an approval of the amended April April 6th, 2026 agenda? Uh motion to approve the amended version. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Ms. Atkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorenson? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. Commendations, good news. Uh so I do have a short presentation here. All right, so the high school science department was awarded three T's of education grant from

032Pacific Light, so $3,000 grant for 25 microscope cameras. So, thank you to Misty Burrows. Uh Lewis Central BPA, so 13 students headed to nationals. Uh the list is right there of all the students that are going, so congratulations to those students. Um do we know, Mr. Swallower, where nationals are? Nashville. Nashville. >> They're in Nashville. Ooh, very fun. So, good luck to those students. Uh National History Day regional competition, five middle school middle schoolers and five high schoolers qualified for state. Uh the list is right there. This would be something I would not have qualified in. Social studies was not a a thing of mine. The business professionals I would have been all over, but not necessarily National History Day. Does anybody know where National History Day is going? Iowa State. Iowa State. Got you.

033Well, that's state, yeah, that makes sense. Not nationals. I'm like, Nashville's way cooler than Iowa State, but again. Okay, SkillsUSA uh had a fantastic uh conference. So, here's the uh results there. Obviously, a lot of students participating. Um looks like we brought home a ton of hardware, lots of golds. Uh Evelyn was elected the state officer team. Congratulations to her. Um otherwise again, lots of lots of golds and bronzes, so congratulations to the SkillsUSA uh state conference. Hawkeye 10 all academic and a character awards, so every year the Hawkeye 10 uh um we we submit names of students who um meet the qualifications and it's it's very very hard to get awarded um any kind of a either all academic or uh character award at um the Hawkeye 10. And so, this is our last

034year in the conference and so our very last uh all academic and character award winner winners, all academic is Amelia Gill, Alexander Alford and Cooper Williams, and then Deegan Tanner uh was the character award winner. So, and just so you guys know uh there's a set amount every single year. Um every school is guaranteed an all academic and a character award, and then uh we always have um either tied for the most or the most other award winners. So, um this year was no different, so. Southwest Iowa uh honor choir festival, 20 middle school students and 10 uh Titan Hill students participated. Um it was uh fantastic. Um I got to go. My daughter was a part of the group, and she actually um ended up sitting down halfway through a song. She got a

035little bit overheated, so but so if you saw anybody up there, she's fine. It was my daughter, so she's good, but um but no, they did a fantastic job. It was great great performance. And they held it um that's in our in our auditorium, and I think that may be the uh permanent location moving forward. They just everybody loved it, so we can't beat it with the black box and the changing rooms and everything else, so. Uh Lewis Central was named Unbelievable Workplace again. Um thank you to Emma. She put together a nice presentation, went around, got a picture um with a bunch of different employee groups um and then put that on on Facebook for us all to celebrate. Um and what this means is that they the chamber puts out a survey um

036and you send it out to your employees, and they fill it out, and you have to get, you know, certain amount of participation, and you have to score um X amount, you know, 85 to 90% plus of positive uh um returnees, and we we blow that number right out of the water, so people um we got some really good positive feedback, too, as far as um it's also an opportunity. We use it actually as like a dipstick for our staff in general, cuz it's an opportunity for them to not only, you know, express, you know, and and there's a lot of questions. There's like 28 different questions, but um or maybe it was 34 questions. There was a lot of questions. Uh but they they get to express in a lot of different areas from

037compensation to uh daily um life within the within their job, and then also, you know, what future aspirations, you know, if they believe there's any chance for growth. It talks about training. It talks about how prepared they are, what whether or not they get the materials that they need to be successful. And so, it gives us a lot of data that we then as uh as a management administrative group take a look at and try to determine if there's any holes or gaps. They're also able to put down comments, so we're able to see if there's anything in particular they're looking for, so. And that's it. Does anybody else have anything? I just want to make sure I thank the Booster Club for putting together a great event to help raise money uh for Lewis

038Central. Uh also all the volunteers who stepped up and helped with the planning and who continue to help volunteer uh throughout all the activities that we have during the year. Very much appreciate it. Yeah, so they had their Booster Club had their auction um 2 weeks ago. We actually one of the cool things is for the first time ever they uh gave out awards. They've not given out awards before and they gave out three awards. Uh one went to um they're calling a legacy um like a Lewis Central Legacy Award and that goes to an individual or individuals who um create a lasting impact for our students moving forward. Something that's going to you know, it's it's not just what they've done but something that's going to continue to feed our students as they move

039on. That that award was given this year to uh John and Jean Dr. John and Jean Marshall. Um just really to thank them for uh their generous donation the $700,000 donation for the athletic building addition. Um and then they also gave an award for uh volunteer of the year and that went to Bernie Keller and or Bernie Heller, sorry. Bernie Heller and um >> [clears throat] >> just for I mean the guy is for the last 40 years has volunteered um at everything. You'll see him running up and down sidelines, um announcing at games. I mean literally doing anything that Mr. Dermody you can talk him into doing. So, um we had a trick him cuz we knew that he would he would just straight up not show up if he knew he was getting

040awards. So, um we made it So, we got him to come and then and then he got his award. And then also they had a coach of the year and what what the coach of the year goes to it's not necessarily about wins and losses. It's about how involved are you with the Booster Club, you know, how much do you put in because the Booster Club raises a ton of money and does a ton for our coaches and for our athletes because for every dollar that they raise for our teams, our coaches don't go out to go out and fundraise. Like and our coaches can get more money if they volunteer to run concession stands and if they do those types of things and with as busy as coaches are um you know, the Booster

041Club loves it when somebody steps up and says, yep, I want to do more and I want to help out and I want to make you know, cuz they're not only raising money for their program but for all programs. Um they gave it to Taylor May uh this year and Taylor for the last few years. I mean really since I've been here has been super super involved with the Booster Club. Um I mean helping to set up concession stands, run concession stands, picking up stuff to order. He's I think he's currently the um maybe the incoming president. Um so, he's just Is he he's an officer of some sort, isn't he? >> Yeah, I I don't remember what it is. Um yeah, I think he is he's super active. Yeah. >> And if he is

042going in to be an officer 110% support him. Yeah. So, I think uh I think moving forward that'll be something they continue to do. I think it's good to for them to honor and and recognize those who are who are influential and and then they raise, you know, almost $63,000. Uh 100% of that goes right back into our our students and our and our programs. So, uh thank you Booster Club for everything you do. It was a really fun evening and and um looking forward to next year's event. So. Thank you for bringing that up. Oh, no problem. Any other commendations, good news? Okay. We will move on to comments and suggestions. This is the first portion of our meeting that we open the floor to the public for any comments or anything that they

043would like to direct to the board. We don't have much of an audience here in public, so we'll give it a couple minutes and see if we have anybody online. Thank you. Good. Okay. Said no one online. Well, no comments online. I'll put it that way. All right, we will move to consent agenda. Do we have an updated We do. Yep, I have it up here. You have to go to the one that I sent you, Brent. Yeah. I threw it in the packet here. Oh. There we go. Oh, Chuck's the new one there. Yep. Yep. He decided after 42 years it was it's time to go do something fun. So. He said he was going to spend some time with his daughters, so we'll we'll see what he does there. Yeah. He's going to

044get really into his cars, I think. >> [laughter] >> Probably. Uh do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. All right, any discussion? Vote, please. Mrs. Peterson. Yes. Mrs. Sandahl. Yes. Mr. Sorenson. >> Yes. Mr. Sturm. Yes. Ms. Atkins. Yes. Mr. Wright. Yes. Report 6.01 Superintendent update. All right, I'm on here. All right, so I just have a quick uh update about the strategic planning. Um let me get this a little smaller here. Uh just to kind of give you guys uh heads up. This this Thursday will be our last uh DLT meeting of the year and so they'll uh finalize what their recommendations are to the board and the areas of opportunity and access. Uh for the last 8 months that's

045what they've been focusing on is just creating um measurable targeted goals uh specifically in the area of literacy and student behavior. Uh that we're going to have action plans for and then I will go ahead and present those to you guys at the end of May and then um in August and then from May to August uh M and I will create uh a website that we'll be able to put all of our strategic plan on. Uh the public will be able to follow us. Anybody that wants to look at Lewis Central in general, maybe a per- a prospective uh parent or or student will be able to or teacher even will be able to log on to our website, click on strategic planning and they'll be able to see uh what is our strategic

046plan, what are our areas of focus, how are we, you know, currently progressing through um meeting our goals in there. So, we're starting off with three year goals. Um so, you'll have goals in the areas of opportunity and access, which is uh or that's our literacy goal. So, that's what are we doing to ensure that all of our students have opportunities and access to do whatever they want to do when they get older. And really it all starts with reading. And then uh culture climate, that is the one that they after looking through a lot of different data they fell on student behavior. Um I think it's going to be uh and we're going to do there'll be a several different kind of uh goal the main goal is going to be to reduce uh

047the amount of uh referrals that we have in general with students. But then the actionable plans are it's really it's it's quite it's quite complicated cuz how do you reduce referrals? Well, you build better relationships. You can't just start hammering students. You got to like you got to build better relationships with them. You got to build better relationships with parents. You got to put in uh structures of support for teachers to ensure that that our students are engaged um because when students aren't engaged, that's when they start having behaviors. Um but then, you know, are our students are teachers equipped to be able to do that? You know, do they have the skills and the resources necessary to to ensure that our students are engaged uh throughout the entirety of their of their class. Um

048so, there's a lot of different areas with that. It's not as simple as we're just going to, you know, start suspending kids more and that'll cut down on on um behaviors cuz we know that that doesn't necessarily work. Um and and then finally uh finance and facilities. You'll see two different goals here. One will be uh structured finance goal. I think in the since um myself and uh Mrs. Ray Scott here, I think the whole focus has been because of the state that we were in as far as the the um our our current budget and what we had to work with, I think that um the thought process was we need to put in as much in the savings as possible. So, it was how do we grow our unspent balance and our and

049our um the ability to to uh save money. Like how do we how do we grow that as fast as possible? So, that's kind of where our blinders have been. It's just because when you're sitting and you essentially have no savings and then you're like, you know, we need to get we need to build it up now. There's not the only structure about it is just trying to trying to grow. So, now we're getting to the point where um we need need start leveling off because we also don't want to have so much in reserves that we, you know, that we're just hoarding money. We don't want to do that either. So, we'll come up with a structured finance plan for the board to be able to say this is how much we're going to

050anticipate bringing in a yearly basis. This is our break-even plan. This is where, you know, we're not quite there yet, but this is when we anticipate getting there. And this is where we're going to go from here. And then this is how we're going to spend the money because if we're currently carrying over 6 to 700,000 dollars a year, potentially 800 or a million, you know, what does that mean as far as additional spending if we didn't have to bring that forward, you know? And there's a lot of areas that we might take a look at. One of which this next year we're going to look at hiring an SRO. Um and so if we hire an SRO, that's obviously more spending than what we had this year. So, instead of growing our budget by

051the the 6 or 700,000 dollars, we're going to grow it by 550. So, we're going to slowly taper it off by adding in needed positions. SRO, we're also hiring a Dean of Students to help with those disciplinary um and and disciplinary data points. So, we're hiring a Dean of Students. This is going to be split between Titan Hill and the middle school. Um you know, moving forward is that look at potentially hiring another Dean of Students. And when I talk about a Dean of Students, what they are is they're really a student-facing employee that's going to be there to help us ensure that we're able to meet kids where they are. What what are their needs? How do we build relationships with them? How do we ensure that they're not frequent flyers into our office?

052And that's really what that Dean of Students does. So, um and then so once we have all that, we'll present it to you in in May. We'll build the website. We'll launch it to our staff during our back-to-school event. And then they will turn around and within their buildings they're going to create plans because the goal is going to set the board's going to set the overall the overall goals of like, "Hey, we're going to we're going to reduce discipline referrals by this much." And then it's up to the buildings to determine, "How are we going to do that, right? How are we going to because Crest plan's going to be different than the high school's plan because they do serve a completely different set of students. So, um and then moving forward what you

053guys can expect from us is quarterly reporting on metrics. So, every quarter then we'll report back on where we're currently setting in regard to our overall goal and and where we're and where we're sitting with our data. So, um So, I guess do you guys have any questions on that? And we've talked about it several times. I just like to we're getting close to that point. Okay. So, that's really all I had for my report. Okay. Then we will move into discussion items. So, 7.01 Strength and Conditioning Contract Service Sports Performance. Yep. Uh so, this is uh this was a contract that we oop last year we added in um and really this is just this was to give us an opportunity to um just see if continue to evolve. I think that's one of

054the things that Lewis Central has been really good at is is identifying, you know, where are maybe some opportunities here. We like to look at ourselves as as kind of a almost like like a pre-college institution. I mean, that's really what we are, right? Like a pre-college, pre-workforce. Um but even when it comes to athletics, you know, when we look at what we had as a high school and if we really want to take it to the next level, we're we're looking at not only facilities, but but structure within, you know, I think we've added some coaching positions over the last few years. Um now we added a strength conditioning coach last year um to work alongside and Coach Camrad walked in at the perfect time. Um so, he works Joe works right alongside uh

055Coach Camrad because Coach Camrad, even though he's our head strength conditioning guy, he's also a full-time teacher. Like he's a full-time teacher. He's a football coach, which in a lot of schools is a full-time job and really in our school, too. So, full-time teacher, full-time coach, also helps with wrestling, also helps with baseball. And then he also is our uh strength conditioning coach, which means that he sets up all the programs. He's there every morning. He's there every after school. So, what kind of resources can he provide Coach Camrad in order to help do this? Well, this is where this position came in. And I think this last year was a was a good learning year for us, but um I sat down and had a meeting with Coach Camrad, um talked to a bunch

056of other coaches, too. I've talked with some parents. I've talked with some students just to determine whether or not this is really doing what we wanted to do. And and essentially what we wanted out of the end of it was to be able to grow from kind of one universal program into being able to offer uh multiple different uh programs for students depending on what their needs were. And then uh which hopefully would pull in um maybe more of our our athletes who I think up until that point, just because of the nature of Coach Camrad and what he what he's known as the football coach, it didn't matter what he rolled out. It could have been stretching every single day and only stretching. They're going to view view view that as football stretching, you

057know? So, by bringing in somebody else to create programs alongside of Coach Camrad, it was like, "Oh, well now this program's for me." You know? And we we don't care. We just want the numbers up, right? And so, I guess since you're here, Coach Camrad, can you speak on behalf of the partnership and maybe what you've seen as far as numbers and Do you want to come up here? No, yeah, if you want to come here, that'd be great. Thank you. Sorry. No, you're good. Nope. This is that this is Adam. You know, obviously this hasn't been a Hit your button. >> Hit this button? Yep. Oh. Perfect. Um this is had this is has been a drastic improvement from where we were at before adding Joe into our program. Not only is he here

058during the summer, um but he's contracted 4 hours a week, 5 hours a week to come in to the class periods and be able to work into assist um not only myself, but also Jess Bond who teaches a strength conditioning class. Um and then um Ricky Torres who's also in there. And then another another teacher coach um with Mr. Johnson. So, it's been a it's been huge for us. Um it's been a little bit different for me um to change what we've been doing, but we're we're pretty much all on our iPads now. Um you know, which you would not think in a weight room, which is so scary with with that in there. But we're we're on iPads and and we're functioning on different type of workouts. Um we're we're catering to both our

059in-season athletes, our out-of-season athletes, and then specifically to some sports um which Joe has done an amazing job. Um he's he's taken a lot of that on and I've asked him to create some workouts for every single sport to try to make sure that they're getting what they need. Um and I think the biggest thing overall has been when we sat down was our female population wasn't drastically involved in in our strength conditioning program for whatever reason that is. And we've seen a huge improvement this year. Um and that was one of our goals. Um you know, our first we now have I don't know if he'd mentioned this before. We now have an all-female lifting class, which grew from 20 students to 35 from one semester to the next. Um and I think they've

060really enjoyed that. We sort of catered that to them. Um for what it's worth, I think they enjoy being around other females as opposed to being around male um adolescents and some of that grief that maybe they get in there. And so, that's been another added aspect to what we've been doing. But Joe, going into the summer now year two, I think it's going to be even that much better. Um and we're always trying to improve and help our our student athletes. Um I I would say it's probably honestly a 50/50 split between our our normal students who aren't involved in in athletics who are also taking the class. So, you know, we're trying to cater to them as well. And um they truly enjoy it. So, [clears throat] it's been a great great added

061aspect to have Joe and and Brian who comes in um three times a week to to be with the kids. So, I think kids enjoy him as well. Do you guys have any questions about it? That was pretty good for an ad-lib. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> I know, it was. When you say on your iPads, are they setting up the workouts and the students are going that way through the workout and then tracking weights they're lifting, how many they're getting. I mean, I've seen my kids do it a little bit, but >> Yeah. Um you know, so it it was sort of a rollout period for me. Um so, we did a little bit first semester. This semester we've been really into it. Um and so, what I do is I basically input their they

062all have an account. Um they I input the calendar to what exercise or whatever period they're in. And then the kids will go in and select that workout. And then once they get into that workout, some days we'll do our workout our warm-up together. Some days they'll be on their iPad to be able to do that. But it's really they have to go in and depending on what the workout is, some days they have to input data. Some days they don't. Um but it allows me and it goes right to my teacher platform to be able to, okay, did they do the workout today? Um did they input their data? Are they improving? Um it allows me to be able to walk around and click on their workout and say, "Okay, last week you did

063this. Why are we going down this week?" And so, trying to improve. And so, it's added another little dimension of accountability to the kids, um but also for me to to make sure that they're doing what they need to do. And so, yeah, each kid has their own workout um specifically designed to whatever sport they may be in currently or going into next. I love it. >> any Have they went up, down? Um I'd have to ask Brandon. Um you know, weight room injuries themselves, no. Like we really haven't had any or [clears throat] it hasn't been brought to our attention. Um you know, whether or not in sport has it reduced, that'd probably be a question for Brandon as he tracks all injuries. You know, is it really injury prevention? Are we doing is

064the workout um that we're giving them helping, you know, make sure their athletes are staying on the field um longer, which I don't have all that data. That would be more for for our athletic trainer, Brandon Allenwood. And it's and so, it's really kind of I mean, the weight the weight room in general is completely different than it was, you know, 3 years ago. I mean, you're you're talking, you know, the the essentials are all there, but in this in the last couple years, you guys have approved an massive uplift of the weight room, um which includes all new equipment, um which includes, you know, uh additional support for the strength conditioning side, which includes a full-time trainer, which we had a full-time trainer before, but they weren't employed through us. Um and that's a

065that's a physical that like a physical therapist trainer. Like sort of not I think it's not he's not a physical therapist. He's just an athletic trainer. Yep, he does some of that. Yeah, so some therapy, but um and then the next thing we'll talk about is, you know, with the evolution of the athletic building and the the the movement of the weight of the wrestling room out to the athletic building, you know, changing that that at the wrestling room into an extension of the weight room, which is again, it's not weight equipment. It's focused on, you know, calisthenic or whatever whatever you guys are going to do in there. So, speed and conditioning, you know, injury prevention type of stuff. So, um do you guys have any other questions about the Service Sports contract? And

066we didn't change any of the terms. He was good with the terms. Um we track his hours. Um we have regular check-ins with him. We don't have any concerns about, you know, whether or not the the contract fits right now. Everything seems to be good. So. Good. Very positive improvement. Yes, I agree. Thank you, coach. All right, we'll move to 7.02 28E joint sharing agreement special education administrative associates. Uh so, this is something that's uh relatively new. So, when the AEA um was kind of upended and and changed, um a lot of our services that they did, um they kind of maintained for like the first couple years or first year. And so, this last year, um in really all their services, they've kind of determined, like, we're we're getting paid from the state for

067this, we're not getting paid from the state for this. So, when it comes to um some of our like clerical things with special education, which means that like somebody look over our IEPs, somebody look over um and tell us if we're, you know, we're missing something or we need to add something or or to make sure that we have what we need, um those things were we've we've had some holes this year because they they the AEA states, "That's no longer our job unless you want to pay us for it, right?" And so, we've been kind of brainstorming or brainstorming with some other districts and what they're doing to kind of fill this in. Um Harlan has stepped up and said that they would hire essentially the same It's actually the same personnel that was

068doing it with the AEA when the AEA was getting funding for it. Um they're just going to hire them and then any school that wants to purchase a day a week from them, they'll just charge us exactly what a day a week costs from them. And then they're going to That way they'll do all the clerical things that we were used to before. If we were to contract this to the AEA, we would be paying significantly more than than what this is potentially proposing, which is um there's no set cost. It's just we're going to pay 1/5 of one of their one of their employees. So, we'll have them a day a week to do all of the all of the uh special ed clerical stuff. So, which is good because uh there's a lot

069of legal implications when it comes to IEPs and having an extra set of eyes on them that knows what they're looking at and knows what we're missing is, you know, could save us from making a mistake and really also ensures that students are getting what they what they really need. So. Any other questions? I don't think so. All right, we'll move on to 7.03 Iowa Western memorandum of understanding or memorandum of use concurrent enrollment. Yep, so this is our agreement with Iowa Western to be able to send students to them for um credit and for them to be able to award credit like when our when our staff teaches the classes. So, as you can see here, um when we send [clears throat] students to them, we pay 90% of the bill. And these are

070you know, and these are pretty standard across the state with every community college. So, we pay 90% of the bill when we pay to them and then we also have to pay uh a textbook fee and then we also have to pay um any kind of materials fee that they have. So, and those are all spelled out in this agreement. If um they send an instructor to our school and it's provided on our site by the Iowa Western instructor, which we don't have any of that, we pay 75% and if we um and if we have our instructor teach the class at our school, which is the majority of our classes, then we pay 50%. No matter what, we still have to pay uh $85 per student per course for textbook fee unless we already

071own the textbooks. That's one of the things that we have. So, like if it's a psychology class and we bought all the textbooks and students don't keep the textbooks and we reuse the textbooks, then they don't pay that fee. Um and then you'll see down here there's a fee for every course um that they that they take. Um if there's a consumable or like a lab situation. So. Are the costs in line with what we paid last year? They are. Nothing nothing's really gone up since last year. We had a significant increase from the year before last year or from last year to this year. Not a big It's all stayed the same from this year to next year. So. There was one bill in the house and the Senate, which I would have been

072um a proponent of, which which was if you if you fail a course after a certain date, if you fail a course or you drop a course after a certain deadline, then students would be responsible for reimbursing the district at, you know, either 50% or the whole rate because we do have I mean, we pay this rate no matter what. We have students that sign up for classes with really no penalty. You sign up for six courses and you decide you don't want to show up to any of them and you just drop them all, we still pay for the six courses. So, that's not something that is awesome, but there's really no repercussion right now. Any questions about Iowa Western? Nope. Nope. Uh Chromebook bids, uh we're just going to table that one. Okay.

073And then 7.05 resolution directing the advertisement for sale, approving electronic bidding procedures, and approving official statement. Yep, so this is the um resolution, so right here uh for the district to go out to bid uh for 9 and 1/2 million dollars. Um so, here's kind of the We actually did get our S&P rating, so we're an A+ rating. Um he thought maybe by this time next year we could potentially be an AA minus, which is even better. Um here's the official bid form that goes out. And then here's all the official terms. No prepayment penalty, um nothing like that. So, um do we uh do we know what the Uh so, here's our here's our maturity schedule here. So, this these are By maturity, this is what we have to pay at each one of

074these. And this is all factored into our current rate as well. This is not anything we won't be raising the rate or anything like that. It's all factored in the current rate. So. So, for the 9 and 1/2 million of bond money that we have left, we're basically negotiating with different financial lenders to see what they'll offer us to Correct. >> take that business on. And last time Last time it went fairly well, right? It was >> really well. We basically got a million dollars more than what we had anticipated. So. Um so, yeah, that's essentially it, but they just rest of this is all kind of legal. It gets our about our population, our valuation. Um financial summary. And then here's the timeline. So, we're right here, regular school building or regular school board

075meeting. All of this is what you guys do that one resolution will will uh approve today. And then it goes to the notice of sale in the paper. And then uh we'll actually do this the geo bond sale on April 20th. You guys will have uh issuance documents on Monday, May 4th. The transaction will close on Monday the 20th and then we'll have it in our bank on that day. So. And then do we know how much interest we made on separating that out like that? Approximately how much I mean, when we had it all prior to uh um prior to uh like spending a lot of it, we were making close to 50 a month, weren't we? $50,000 a month in interest. So. Sorry, I didn't pre-ask that question. Give me 1 second. It

076would just be interesting to know that number. I was going to look and see if it's on one of the sheets that Matt Gillespie gave me. If it's not, he will be at our next meeting and we can ask him that question. >> Okay. I'll hit him up then. Any other discussion on the the resolution? So, the resolution just had to be This is the This will be the motion Yep, just you don't have to read that. Okay. I get to say I declare. You declare? Okay. 7.06 E-rate wireless access point bid. Uh so, we received uh so, this is E-rate, which means we'll pay 50% of the bill um and then Oop, if I can get there. Sorry. Here we go. So, we'll pay 50% of the bill. Uh we received um seven bids

077um and this is to replace our entire wireless infrastructure. So, we we did part A last year where we kind of replaced the the routers and that kind of stuff. And then this year it's actually replacing all of the all of the actual um heads. So, um total of the best bid came in RTI. Um $209,974.29, of which 104,000 will be our responsibility. And then that's the extent and then we're out of our e-funds at that for right now. Who did it last year? Uh I think RTI got the bid last year as well. >> I was going to say are familiar. >> is they're very, very competitive when it comes to like pretty much any school stuff. They they would always win our bids in Missouri Valley as well. So, I don't know how

078they get it. I was even talking to one vendor about our Chromebook bids, and he's just like I I don't I don't know what they're doing cuz I don't know how they're giving you this pricing. But, we never had any issue. Like we get it, it's good stuff. So, I guess they just they go off of mass quantities, I guess, and instead of making decent money off of one of device, they hope to make a similar amount off of a lot of devices. So, Is Google Fiber live here? It just became active in my neighborhood. Um I'm not sure. We use we always buy our stuff through like a consortium. Okay. In order to get preferential pricing. Yeah, we use e-rate bidding for that as well. And I do not know how they bid. Hills

079of Cedar Creek now has Google Fiber. So, if you see all the flags, that's what what everybody's doing. So, all right. Any questions on that one? All right, 7.07 high school boiler replacement bid. So, our high school boiler went out. Um one of our one of our boilers at the high school. We could have done this as a like an emergency, where we can just go ahead and case it's emergency, we just spend the money and then doesn't actually have to be board approved. However, with the board meeting coming up today, I said, "Well, let's go ahead and just run it through the board." So, uh what Jim would like to do is he would like to just replace the boiler boiler for boiler because then he doesn't have to replace um uh a lot

080of the components that go with it. So, he just wants to basically pull the boiler out and put a new one in. So, and then leave all the lines and the igniter and all the other stuff. So, Did this boiler just go out due to age or Yeah. Haven't they been fixing this a lot lately? Like I feel like it's just >> yeah, that this was one that they were having trouble with a long time, and it finally just it's done. So, >> it's time. Yeah. Any other questions on that one? All right, 7.08 high school weight room wall removal bid. Uh so, when it comes to the weight room wall, and I know we've talked about this before and just kind of mentioned it briefly today. Um so, what the quote is is there's

081currently between the current wrestling room and the current weight room, there is a wall that spans this whole area, and then this is um our um our athletic training office right here. So, this is where the kids get taped and everything else. And then there's a little bathroom back here. So, the the wall currently goes all the way out. So, essentially what we're when in talking with Coach Camrad um and when we talk about, you know, what do we do moving forward, you know, because one of the one of the things I've always had I've had two issues with the weight room. One was uh the equipment we used was all hodgepodge together, and it wasn't all the same size. It didn't allow for neat rows. And so, whenever I walk in there and I'm

082I'm like I'm like business and and uh liability. So, whenever I walk in the weight room, it gives me heart palpitations to see 60 kids working out in a mass, and it you can't see down straight rows. And so, when we got new equipment, that was a big thing for me is let's get some new equipment in there so I can keep everything confined. And now when you walk in there, there's there's wide aisles, there's nice neat rows. You can it's the supervision has to be 10 times better than what it was before. Um the other thing is is right now uh if if Coach Camrad cuz they do a lot of stuff besides what they lift weights. Like they're constant they're in the hallways running, they're in the gym running, they're in the you

083know, cuz they do calisthenics and they do everything else, too. The problem is is he's got to take all 60 kids wherever he goes right now. And so, 60 kids in the weight room cuz it could be him and 60 kids or 50 kids. So, you got one one teacher with 50 kids in the weight room, and then if a few few kids need to go and do calisthenics, all of them have to go because he can't be both in the gym or the hallway and the weight room at the same time. He's got to be So, all of them have to go. So, his vision in this was he would love to spread the kids out and have, you know, half the class be doing calisthenics and the other half lifting and be able

084to supervise both at the same time. So, then you have less kids around all the weights, which that's inherently safer. And then you also have kids that are doing, you know, and then you can flip-flop them and then but yet he can be uh viewing everything. So, we talked about several different ways to do this. One of the things we talked about was, you know, in this can we can we put in big windows here? Can we put in like a a big doorway or a couple big doorways in order to see through? And and he found himself because we currently have that with we have a similar situation with our with our gym right now. Like we have big double doors that open to the gym. And through that, no matter where you stand,

085you're either in one room or you're in the other. And so, through that conversation, if you're you're always setting yourself up for liability. If I'm stepping into the gym and I don't have visibility in the weight room, and somebody gets hurt, now we're liable. Or if I have kids in the gym and I'm in the weight room, and I step foot, you know, and I step and I'm all in the weight room and they can't see me and I can't see them, and somebody gets hurt, now I'm liable. And so, with me, even though this is a $130,000 fix, one bad situation is going to cost us significantly more than $130,000. And so, um he would like to eliminate We're we'll have to leave a little section of this wall, this 8-ft section here. Um

086but he would like to eliminate the rest of this wall. There will be a column here. Um and then the beam kind of lines up here. There's already a doorway here. So, it basically it would go all the way from wall to wall and it end right here. So, um from here to here would be wide open, and then that allows him to both stand I mean, he can stand anywhere in here and he can see everything in this room and everything in this room and be in the same place at the same time. And so, is that fair? I kind of Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to talk about it? I dropped it. Yeah, I think um continuing on with sort of the discussion about with Joe's service. Um Dr. Hazen's correct.

087Um when we when we added new weight equipment, we also eliminated five stations to open up for safety purposes. But, the class size numbers didn't change. So, we went from two kids at a station to now three at a station. And so, within that, if I'm working out with two other people, those two other people are doing two other different exercises within the weight room somewhere. They could be spotting me, they could be across the room doing something else, or they're doing some type of dynamic movement or stretching or flexibility or mo- or mobility stuff. But, a lot of time still that's happening in the same area that other kids are still lifting. Um we make it safe. We we spread them out enough. Um so, when Dr. Hazen came and said, "Hey, we're we're

088going to add that to the room." I'm like, "That's great." One, if you've ever been to PE, if all three of us are are teaching, there's nowhere for me to go to do any type of speed, agility, plyometric, anything else. I have to sort of work around them off to the sides, use the hallways, um to sort of get our kids, you know, warmed up or do some of those other movements. And so, with that room, um you know, I'm like my biggest concern once again is line of sight. How can I make sure that I'm able to see every student in there because currently they're doing three different things. And if I go have to have a doorway and something's happening in the weight room, I'm over here, I don't know what's happening in

089the other side. Vice versa, which is probably more dangerous, is the fact if I go into the other room and they're lifting in there. That's my major concern. I'm not so much concerned about what plyometric dynamic movements or stretching we got going on in the other room as much as the weight room, making sure that technique is being done correctly and safely. Um but allows us to be able to spread out a little bit more. And once again, with Joe to be able to design even more specific workouts for our kids. And so, during the summer, we weren't able to do it cuz we're in a small gym, but um from a speed and development they will go and do some speed work or agility work on their own, and I can see them across

090the room to make sure that's done right. If I'm over there, I can make sure lifting technique is done correctly. Um so, my biggest concern with him was like I if we have a door or some windows, I can't manage that. I can't correct movement. I don't know what's happening over there, and so I sort of lose them for that split second or a couple minutes. And so, when he said, "Well, what about taking the wall out?" And I said, "That would save us a lot of issues. It save me from having to worry about um like you mentioned, injuries. Like are the injuries happening?" As I don't want that, and then thank goodness it hasn't been an issue. Um but that was my biggest thing with him was if we can do that, that

091would be great because now we can open up this whole space um to be able to be managed by myself with those kids. Um you know, we do have classes of 40 to 60 um in there, and that becomes very difficult to be able to see. Um and now we can spread them out even more um and be able to do a little bit more with them, but also being safe in that same capacity. So, What's the plan for like the tur- turf down in that area then? Mhm. Okay. And is that a separate approval or is that a part >> Uh yeah, it actually actually the bid came in below what the board needed to approve. >> Perfect. Yeah. So, it actually was I think it was right at 19,000 or something like that.

092So, So, are we getting rid of that door there, too? On the right side of that blue wall? >> Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm assuming you just have the two posts and then whatever that is off to the left. >> there'll be one There'll have to be one beam here because the current the current header comes right here. Mhm. And then uh settles, you know, on this wall, and then the wall, you know, obviously this wall's here. So, we'd have to put one beam that can support both this beam and this this or one footing that supports both this this beam and this beam. Um and then uh then yeah, then there's nothing. This is just this would be like a room in the middle of a bigger room. So. And I'm curious, how many

093yards is that? Like how many I want to say that's 73 ft. I Not exactly sure. I I measured it one day with my phone measurement tool. >> Uh I I think I think you're I think you're pretty close cuz it was It's very similar. It was a little bit shorter and a little bit wider than the current uh athletic building. So, the current athletic building is 80 by 30 80 by 40. So, that would have been probably a little bit shorter, 75 or 73 ft. Yeah, because, you know, for for speed development, obviously, we need to be able to run a little bit longer, but we'll be able to get 10s and 20s and agility and and different types of of cone drills in there. Um you know, obviously it was >> and Yeah,

094absolutely. Prowler work and sled work and be able to do some resistance sprinting in there. Um all while maybe some other students are on a different program lifting. And so, yeah, I think it gives us enough room to be able to do that plus decelerate. Um I I No one's asked me, but the pads can stay on the wall. That's from the wrestling room. There's no need to take those off. Um you know, in my opinion, it's it's fine in there. Um but it gives us a lot more space to be able to get some stuff done, which honestly makes it very similar to what a lot of facilities, you know, that are private facilities have. That we have the ability to be able to train our athletes here all in one spot. So, you

095mean box jumps, plyometric I mean, a lot of those things that we just didn't have a place to store 50 boxes before. >> Well, it opens up stations for them, too. So, have more kids that aren't standing around waiting and Right, absolutely. I'm not totally against it, but I'm I'm going to I'll just come forward and say that I'm I will probably be voting against it. Um only simply because of the fact of it's so much money um for approximately 35 a 35-ft opening. Uh we have not seen any cost of what it would cost to maybe not put in doors because I can I do understand, you know, double doors and then wide open now now creates uh uh blind spots, um but I think a you know, maybe a camera system in each

096room would be significantly cheaper. [clears throat] Uh I just don't know that we have explored all the options uh other than this. And then the other worry that I would have is because that's a load-bearing um exterior wall uh even though here it is interior now. Um when you start messing with your footings and stuff like that, it always seems to lead to sagging up on the roof and could create uh leaks in the future. I don't know anything about that. I I know I get it. I'm I'm just I'm just I'm just letting you know my >> For sure. Yeah, and that's my thing is, you know, we do have the one door in there and there's four windows, but there's tons of of blind spots in there that it'd be very difficult one

097to manage it, you know, from a doorway, you know, from one room to the next. >> you'd be able to manage it with a camera system? It'd be too late at that point. You know, a camera system, yeah, it's going to show you what may be happening, but it's not helping with the correction of the movement to make sure things are done correctly at that moment that it needs to be addressed. You know, from a safety standpoint, if something did happen in split second, you always have a chance to maybe correct it, but camera system is too late, unfortunately. Yeah, help great for monitoring um what's going on and going back in later, but to something right now that it'd be tough, you know, I'm not sure that gets you out of liability by having

098a camera system, unfortunately. Thank goodness, you know, it's we don't have those issues, but, you know, you just heaven forbid that you don't have a huge open area to be able to to manage that um with what we're trying to do. I've always been a person that appreciates an open space because of the line of work I'm in. We don't want a blind spot. We don't want there to be a place where kids can jerk around and do something where they get hurt. So, for me, I do see the benefits of doing something like this. I just think that with making sure structurally it's sound, I mean, are we able to has someone come out yet and told us what all needs to be done? I saw the price, but like surely has it been

099looked at? >> Yeah, this is 100%. We We paid BCDM, the architect, to come out. This is their This is their design. So. So, this will be their design. Um the contractors that won the bid um that'll go to you guys tonight if approved. Um there's one beam that's this size that's in the Omaha area. And so, it's just good timing. If we approve it, they can they can get a hold of this one beam. If not, the beam isn't made again until August. Okay. And so, um and then uh as far as the doorways and stuff, we did talk about doorway and when I say doorways, without doors, just, you know, big big openings. And that was the big thing that he that Coach Camrad said was, you know, even having several big openings,

100you're still sitting with blind spots. Um one of the things, too, is is when when a teacher when something happens and a and a and a teacher's responsible for that area, if something happens and they can come back, they not only will come against the district, but they'll come against the teacher. The teacher is the one that's liable, not the district, right? Or the district is well, because we're the ones that created the facility. It's the teacher that made that. And so, this is as much to protect our teachers as it is to protect, you know, our students from the liability situation. So. But but just to be honest, I looked at it the same way you did. Um and then I talked to somebody who had similar work done and uh cuz my concern

101is we just did a lot of work on that uh you know, installing that new HVAC unit. Well, right. And uh so, that was one of my concerns, too. What I've seen that they do when they do a project like this is they put in temporary supports. >> Oh, absolutely. To to hold it and then they test those before they figure out which ones are going to be permanent. Um so, if they've measured this out and they've said, you know, that these are where those permanent supports are going to be or they're going to be able to hold that weight, then um do you know if we had any of that in that quote that we looked at for As far as the If they had talked anything about temporary supports while >> Yeah, everything's

102included in there. Not only that, they're going to build in in the quote just to make it so we don't have to stop our summer workouts, they're going to have we're going to take out there's a set of weight equipment that's kind of runs right here. We're going to take that out and they're going to build a whole temporary wall in here um to completely separate the students that are working from the from the work that's being done. The students that are working out from the work that's being done. Yeah, and and I'm not taking anything away from BCDM. I mean that the beam is rated uh PSI. You know, they know how much PSI they need from point to point with the uh you know, and the load, that kind of thing. Um I'm

103looking at you know, cost-wise and can we accomplish basically the same thing for half the cost? And none of that has ever come out. It's always been you know, re- remove the cost that they said at 35 you're looking at over what, $4,000 a foot? So, I guess to go to you because this is actually your It's your liability. So, from your stance, would you be comfortable having the same plan that you had with having kids in both rooms and everything else if there's a doorway versus a opening? No, I I would not. It would I would stick to where we're at currently. And if we use that other facility, it would be me taking all the kids in there to make sure that it's done. Um that would be the only way that those

104two facilities would be used um during the day would be as a group instead of you have your own specific workout. Here's where you're going. This is where you're you're doing the workout at. We would still just do it in our area. That would So, that area would become unused a lot more than what we would plan on using it in an open setting to be able to do things in there, unfortunately. Um So, it would it would sit empty a lot. Well, ideally I mean, ideally this is the way to go. Right? >> Mhm. The only thing is we don't have anything to compare this to. As far as As far as Okay, so, I'm going to assume that your first point there. So, you have eight 8 ft 6 in that's going to

105stay. So, if you went over, let's say 10 ft and you put a 10-ft beam in, your beam is going to be a lot smaller, which is going to reduce cost. And now you have another 12 by 12, right? And so, you know, and then we're going to go another 10 ft. So, that's another 10-in beam. You know, like what is that cost? Because I can tell you that that beam is probably significantly higher than two 10-ft beams, right? Yeah, and if you did that if you look at like the gray boxes on there, that's our current lifting station. So, every time you go 10 ft with the wall, you I lose vision of eight stations. So, you add another wall, I lose vision of another So, I would lose vision of racks and stations

106of kids every 10 ft that you go by adding a wall, unfortunately. No, we're not No, we're not adding walls. >> You're talking about >> adding a beam. Yeah. But then, let's say every 10 ft, so you're going to see three pillars, right? >> Pillars. pillars that are 12-in by 12-in. That way it reduces the size of the beam that we would need. And I don't know that a 12-in by 12-in pillar Um and all I'm Like I said, ideally, this is the way to go. >> [clears throat] >> Cost-wise, um it has never been talked about going any other way than this. But the pillars >> And this is This is From my point of view, would be a problem because he's trying to create a space for running and agility. So, having those

107pillars would eat up space, so you don't have that run run room, right? So, you don't want that to be open anyways. Or whatever you're doing in this these areas, you want it to be as clear as possible and as open as possible. And with kids running in I mean, you could be like you could run into the beams. I mean, Right. I'm sorry, your pillars. So, it's You just got to think like I know it's a big expense, but for me, I would absolutely support something like that because you want them to have that room to have those multiple stations without anything obstructing their way, you know? And how are we with the budget with this? Is it Uh yes, so the budget and and I had them write a write a letter for

108us here. Um Uh so, here's the So, the budget for the for the just just for the um construction for this was $150,000. Uh low bid came in from 7R Construction who's doing all of the exterior doorways and uh windows at Titan Hill for $130,200. And we're taking this out of the bond? Yep, this is out Yep, this is out of the bond. And so, this was in when we Was this included in what we talked about last Yeah, this >> last time with the render and Yeah, they have the Yep, this has all been a part of the budget since Oh, with McHenry? Yeah. I guess the way >> the beam? This So, we've had $150,000 set aside for this for this Actually, it's $200,000 by the time it's said and done with uh

109painting and turf and everything else. Um so, we've had that set aside for the renovation of the wet wrestling room since uh probably December when we started talking about the athletic building in earnest. So, so the spreadsheet that we've given that shows where we're currently sitting, that's that's been plugged in there for >> We're not adding additional money for this header beam. No, well, no, it's all fits within the budget. Yes. >> Yeah, got it. Yeah, cuz we've when the board approved BCM back in January to design this, it was the second meeting in January they were designing. This is the This is the route they were going to go. And so, the other the other concern I have and not not that we can't change anything. I'm just the board decides they want more

110information, they want different ways, we can definitely look at that. The The downside is is right now, Coach Camrad has asked them to start construction May because he can start taking his his uh classes outside in May. And so, that way they're done by the end of June. So, that way by the time we hit um kind of our really heavy season before the season starts, like then we have it for the month of July. If I go back and ask them to redesign, knowing that the pace at which architects I Not just our architects, architects in general design, we're probably looking at not even having this go back out to bid and it's like a 3-week bidding process, so we're probably looking at a month of design, 3 weeks of a bid process, which

111takes us probably the end [clears throat] of May before we award anything. And then so, it probably just sets us back I don't I don't know that it would be done by the time August rolled around for school. So. Yeah, and the and the reason that I asked for May is we're in the last 3 weeks of the school year. We're winding down our arm program, we're getting into finals that if they can get started and put up a temporary wall the first 2 weeks, by the third week, we're essentially done with all of our our workouts and before we get into the 300-plus student athletes that will come into the summer, their plan is to get that temporary wall out of there and that opens that space back up while they're finishing up and

112touching up things. Um and which just made more sense as opposed to we would lose some of our space for those kids in the summer and we'd have to maybe go back to the middle school for a while. Well, and I will say one of the reasons it's it's so costly is because there's a lot of electrical and HVAC that runs back and forth between like through the wall. And so, whether you're going with one big beam or whether you're going with a series of smaller beams and columns, you're going to have to do the same electrical work, the same HVAC work. So, all of that's going to going to stay the same. If you're going to eliminate the wall and and either way you're going with one big beam or smaller beams, you you

113probably to Director Sherman's point, you're probably going to save a little bit of money. We just go back and do a redesign. How much money you save, I don't know. 20,000 maybe, you know. If it's 20,000, it's 20,000. Is 20,000 worth not having it done by the time school starts and or, you know, putting additional visibility issues in the in the room. You know, it just I mean, I'll do whatever the board wants to do. Do we need to update any lighting in that other room? It's all included as far as the high school LED lighting. Okay, so it Yep. So, we don't need to add any additional >> Nope. Nope, it's all getting new HVAC that's already been approved I think in as part of the high school HV HVAC package and it's getting

114all new lighting as part of the high school LED lighting project. >> I just asked cuz I've never had a bright wrestling room before. So. >> No, no, it's pretty dark. So. It'll all be pretty seamless. I mean, it'll all it'll look like it's one big one big room. So, we'll paint it the same, we'll So. Okay. Do you guys have any other questions? Otherwise, I know that he's got to do a little 7-on-7 tonight, right? You still doing it? 8 p.m. Oh, jeez. Good luck. That's it. Don't Don't Don't say that word here. >> [laughter] >> We don't like the S We don't like the S words. So. Thank you. >> Thanks. Do you guys have any other No, I I really don't have any concerns. I mean, I I can't speak to structural.

115Your points are valid. >> Yes. But I guess when I'm when I look at it is if we're not willing to cut corners for the athletic building we want to make it good. I view this as kind of a similar, let's do it >> Yeah. to meet the coaches' needs and and wants and desires, but I I can't speak to a structural. Yeah. I mean, 20 years from now, we might be No, no, I'm I'm all right with that. I say confidently we don't have to worry about it. But we're also under budget. Like what we budget Yes, exactly. Yeah, if if we were sitting I can just see them running into a pillar though and it's just, you know, they're running back and forth. Yeah. All right. What do we have next? Okay. All

116right. 7.09, open enrollment request close session. So, close session is recommended discuss this late filed open enrollment out application. Private code 21.51A, 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. Do we have a motion to move to close session? Motion to move to close session. Second. >> [music] >> Mr. Sorenson? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Atkins? Yes. Ms. Peterson? >> Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. >> [music] [music] >> Let me know when you're good. You're good? Okay. Alec and Brent. All right. We are back from closed session. So, we will move to [clears throat] comments and suggestions.

117This is the second portion of our meeting where we open the floor to any public comment that they would like to share with the board. We'll give it a couple minutes here for anybody online. Good. Okay. Hearing no comments, we will move on to action items. 9.01 strength and conditioning contract with Survey Sports Performance. Mr. President. Yes. I'd like to make the motion to approve the strength and conditioning contract with Survey Sports Performance for $40,000. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mr. Sturm. Yes. Ms. Aiken. Yes. Mrs. Peterson. Yes. Mrs. Sandow. Yes. Mr. [clears throat] Sorenson. Yes. Mr. Ray. Yes. 9.02 20E joint sharing agreement special education administrative associates. Mr. President. Yes. I'd like to make the motion to approve the 28EE joint sharing agreement with Harlan, IKM, Manning, HSTW, Noddaway Valley, Boyer Valley, Tri-Center, Glenwood,

118and Riverside to employ special education administrative associates as presented. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? >> Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.03 Iowa Western Community College memorandum of understanding concurrent enrollment. Mr. President. Yes. >> to make the motion to approve the MOU with Iowa Western as presented. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.04 Chromebook bids has been tabled, so we will move on to 9.05 resolution directing the advertisement for sale approving electronic bidding procedures and approving official statement. Mr. President. >> Yes. I would like to introduce the following resolution and move for its adoption. Resolution directing the advertisement for sale of not to exceed 9.5 million

119dollars general obligation school bonds series 2026 approving electronic bidding procedures and approving official statement. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. I declare the resolution adopted. 9.06 E-rate wireless access point bid. Mr. President. >> Yes. >> I'd like to make the motion to approve the E-rate wireless access point bid from RTI for $209,974.29. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? >> [clears throat] >> Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.07 high school boiler replacement bid. Mr. President. >> Yes. >> I'd like to make the motion to approve the high school boiler replacement bid from Control Temp for $31,671. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes.

120Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.08 high school weight room wall removal bid. Thank you. Uh yeah, that's right. That's right here. It's uh 7R Construction for $130,200. Mr. President. Yes. >> make the motion to approve the high school weight room wall removal bid from 7R Construction for Can you scroll down, Hazy? Yep. $130,200. Second. Any discussion? Yeah, I'll say that I did I did change up, you know, going off of uh um you know, like the security concerns, uh Aaron kind of being in the same line of uh line of work of what they do down there as far as, you know, running and uh stuff like that and with the comments of what was said, I think uh over here, you know, about, you know, just do

121it, do it right, do it once. And uh so yeah, it's all the same but I guess that real life deal, you know. So that's how I changed. Any other discussion? No. All right, vote, please. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.09 open enrollment request for student A. Mr. President. >> Yes. I'd like to make the motion to deny the open enrollment request for student A as presented in closed session. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. [clears throat] Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. Open enrollment request for student B. Mr. President. I'd like to make the motion to approve the open enrollment request for student B as presented in closed session. Second.

122Any additional discussion? Vote, please. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. 9.10 employee request for leave. Mr. President. >> Yes. I'd like to make the motion to approve the employee request for leave as presented in closed session. Second. Any discussion? Vote, please. Mr. Sorensen? Yes. Mr. Sturm? Yes. Ms. Adkins? Yes. Mrs. Peterson? Yes. Mrs. Sando? Yes. Mr. Wright? Yes. Items of interest future board meetings. I see we changed the one to Tuesday on May 18th. >> Yes, let me go up to the top. So we did change that because that's the night of the awards >> Senior awards night. I just moved it. Whoops. Hold on. I can't wait till Dr. Harmon's back and can run this again. So. Uh so yeah, so we

123had uh Monday, April 20th is our next regular board meeting. And then we have regular board meeting on May 4th and then uh it's still a regular board meeting but we're moving off that Monday to that Tuesday. I did ask everybody and including uh uh Director Bock, everybody was available that Tuesday evening. So if that still works for everybody, we'll we'll do that. That way um I can go to the awards ceremony which I think the superintendent should probably be at awards ceremony. Board president should probably be there, too, for his daughter. So. >> the parent of a senior, I appreciate it. So thank you. Okay, having no other items on the agenda, do we have a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, we'll

124see you next time.