001Okay, we'll call the meeting to order. We'll start with roll call. Morgan Brown >> here. >> Dave Wrunner >> here. >> Becky Engel >> here. >> Brian Jones >> here. >> Jesse Wear >> here. >> Jan Werk >> here. And Christina Shark is here. Next is adoption of agenda and declaration of a quorum. >> Motion to adopt. >> Second. We have a first and a second. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Next on the agenda is citizen speak. I do not have any green cards. Next on the agenda is employee recognition. >> We're excited this evening to recognize uh five employees. Kate's going to join us to introduce each of them. Our employee of the month recipients are selected from nominations submitted through an online form.
002Each month, a committee chooses up to five recipients to include those who meet the criteria of continuously demonstrating going above and beyond for students, staff, and parents. We welcome you to submit your nomination through our online form titled employee nomination form found under the quick links on our website. First up, we have Brianna Barry. Brianna is the service coordinator for the district's prime time youth care or PTYC program and has been employed by the district for 10 years. She was nominated by a colleague. Brianna goes above and beyond to ensure we have everything we need to support every child in our program. She's always checking in and offering to help when needed. Brianna thoroughly provides for us and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks. She is a great resource for information and support and
003a fantastic leader. Our team truly couldn't function without her dedication and care. Congratulations. [applause] Next we have Brian Burroughs. [applause] Brian is a custodian at Horseman Elementary and has been employed by the district for 10 years. He was nominated by Mrs. Orwig's third grade class. We think Brian should be the Mr. Brian should be the employee of the month because he has been with us for a long time. He does a good job at cleaning the building and he works really hard to make sure that our classrooms are clean so we can do our best learning. He never misses a spot when cleaning. He is very nice and kind. He is quick to fix things that break. Mr. Brian follows character strong by being respectful to others and our things. He hardly ever misses a
004day of school. Mr. Brian is also very funny and makes us laugh. Congratulations. [applause] Next, we have Katie Strey. Miss Sty is a teacher at Evans Junior High School and has been employed by the district for four years. She was nominated by a colleague and a parent. I am deeply impressed by Katie's dedication and compassion to create a showquire opportunities. She recognized how much this opportunity means to students and takes action took action to make it happen. Her commitment embodies what teaching and coaching are all about. building confidence, fostering belonging, and helping students discover their potential. Katie truly deserves this recognition for her heartfelt efforts to give students a chance to shine. Congratulations. [applause] Next, we have Shauna Tuller. [applause] Shauna is an associate at Pwick Early Childhood Center and has been employed by the
005district for five years. She was nominated by colleagues. Shauna is loved by all students and staff. She treats each student as her own and creates a safe, caring, and respectful environment where students feel valued as they enter our school and classrooms. She makes learning enjoyable and helps each child grow and succeed. Pwick students clearly love her as shown by the smiles we see each day and Shauna's smile and energy bring joy to our staff as well. Congratulations. [applause] Next we have Mr. Dennis Vasquez. [applause] Mr. Mr. Vasquez is a teacher at Atom High School and has been employed by the district for 23 years. He was nominated by a student. Mr. Vas Vasquez teaches from bell to bell with efficiency while keeping the class engaging. His classroom is a safe space where students can be
006themselves. His dedication to student success is evident in the way he shows up every day with energy, patience, and high expectations. He pushes us to do our best and provides the support we need to succeed. Overall, he is an amazing teacher. Congratulations. [applause] I've asked Dennis actually, we announced this weekend our all state and chorus and Dennis does an amazing job and I've asked him if he would announce the our winners. We had six this year. We're very proud of that. >> [applause] >> Yeah, we had uh 15 uh students audition this year for the all state choir and uh we had um six students selected. Um uh first we had Alana Vasanz who's who's my daughter. [laughter] She's here tonight. Uh, Sority France, Mark Y, Mark Feert, Lauren Archer, Emma McIntyre, [applause] and Jordan
007Lee was accepted as an alternate. >> [applause] >> So, um, just kind of a little background, uh, this is kind of a journey that started at August 1st and, uh, we've been rehearsing. They go to camp in August and we rehearse many hours during the week. We had 15 students audition. Um, in the last six years, we've had 32 kids make All States. So, um, really, really happy with what they've done. This year, we had two students make it for the third year, um, which I've never had in my 24 years here. I and I I think oh it's been at least 25 26 years since that's happened. So and that was Alana and Serenity. So we're we're really proud of them. [applause] Okay. Next is the consent agenda. >> To approve the consent agenda.
008>> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next, board priority. We will promote and monitor growth in student achievement, and all students will be challenged with high expectations that will meet or exceed measurable targets. Tonight, we have an informational session with Marcy and Aaron from Gateway. >> Um, I've got the honor of introducing the group. Um, this is kind of an overview of the presentation the board's going to receive tonight. Um I think we'll divide up into two different groups. Um so and this comes from the students and we're we're just so proud of you and so proud of um the presentation you gave to the department of ed and I'll read later what their reaction
009to uh your presentation was. But um we are here to present for success group a dedicated team of students committed to tackling chronic absenteeism headon. Our mission is to uncover the real reasons students miss school and create solutions that remove those barriers so every student has the chance to succeed. We gathered data through surveys and conversations, analyzed the findings, and identified eight solutions that we believe can make a real difference. Currently, we are planning and implementing those solutions while working to create a supportive and engaging school environment where all students feel valued and motivated to attend. We are also sharing what we've learned on create by creating a narrative of our journey in developing a handbook that other schools can use if they want to take on a similar project. So, we're excited tonight uh
010uh to learn more about your project and uh I think the board will be the first group. Uh do do you want us to start back right up here? Okay, we'll start here. And then the second group I thought could be this group here could be go right after that. >> [clears throat] >> Do I have to say my name? [clears throat] I want to do um hi my name is Alen and these are our attendant attendance questions that we had came up before we dived into our project. So like is absenteeism really a problem? Um who is respons responsible and why students should be why students are missing school? Um I don't have no clue what I'm doing. >> I'm going to tell you a little bit about our gateway attendance data from 2024
011to 2025. What is absenteeism? Chronic absentism was when a student is missing 10% or more of the school year. This is some of our schoolwide data we collected. And this is chronically absent by grade level percentage. And then I'm going to tell you a little bit about how we did our research. First, we came together as a group and spent a couple of weeks designing and creating surveys to then send out and distribute them amongst other students and community members to hear real life voices and perspectives. Number two was collecting data. After sending out the surveys, we then gathered over 500 student responses among 250 community responses to compare perspectives. And thirdly, we analyze results. After collecting the survey responses, we grouped back up to organize chart and discuss any patterns we might have seen
012or noticed in our data. I'm going to be presenting about an infographic we made with two from the data from two different surveys we conducted last year. One of our surveys was targeted towards students and the other survey was targeted towards members of our community. The student demographic was largely made up of 10th and 11th graders and the adult demographic largely ranged with 31 to 50. We asked students and adults what they believe are the top three reasons students are absent from school and they agreed on family instability, mental health, and school disengagement with students also pointing out oversleeping and illness as being lead barriers. Students largely agreed that if school had more hands-on or real world learning, they'd be more likely to attend. And in a later question, twothirds of student respondents said that
013they don't feel like what they're learning in the classroom connects to their futures. [snorts] We discovered through our data that absenteeism is a bigger problem than we realized and that responsibility is a shared thing for like the schools, community, the family members and we also realized that relationships are the key. Um we need better studentto student relationships and studentto adult relationships. Every student has a story and our solutions overlap. Um, students said that they would like it if school could feel different, like if they had more um relevant projects. Do you want to start or you want to start? >> Um, first I'm going to tell you a little bit how we started our data. We examined surveys results from students in the community to identify real barriers to to attendance and then we recorded
014the solutions responses made. >> The data led to these six categories where solutions fall under motivation, relevance, oversleeping, transportation, relationships, and relationships. I guess that's the last one. Um [snorts] we started with the data and we brainstormed at um we went to the JBS sports center and did a workshop day. So our class came together and for 3 hours we ran our solutions through an eight question matrix and we mapped out our options so that we could clearly see which solutions were most realistic and impactful. I'm Alice Carber. I'm doing solutions and actions. Um, we're going to reset the bus routes. We're gonna match I'm sorry, I did not mean it. You're fine. >> Match routes to the students who actually ride so buses are more efficient. Um letters to community employers. We're going we're
015going to ask employers not to schedule students during school hours or pressure them to work closing at night or just late at night. Um attendance buddy system. This system will pair students to check in with each other in the morning and respond quickly if someone is absent. I'm sorry, I'm out of breath. Um, more CTE and project based classes. Um, this is to expand the classes and tie directly to the students interest and their future career. Um, I'm Lola Randolph and I'll be talking about the how the attendance project impacted us. Um, for our pride and the teamwork, I'd say we just we've worked together or together well. we've just been able to build off of each other and we just have more of a drive. Um, we did the empathy. We looked at more
016of like a wider view on why kids were not missing or were missing school and not just, oh, they're lazy or they don't have a drive to get an education or anything like that. We looked at family issues, mental issues, transportation issues. Um, also the identity and purpose. This was just to show that we give our teachers are the ones that give you the motivation and they build that drive for you. You don't just automatically get that. So, if they're not showing you like what you can get out of like outside of school, you're not going to think, oh, I need to get that education cuz you're not going to know fully what's outside of the like world for you. But yeah, Greetings. My name is Lisa Walter and I'm here to I'm here to
017talk about um the competencies for English for real life A, English for real life B and English 12A. So um we began with to create create solutions to complex issues. So we defined what absenteeism is and why it matters. We brainstormed barriers and designed innovative solutions such as transportation supports, advisory lessons and buddy systems. Secondly, we did drive authentic research with accuracy and purpose. For this, we created surveys, promoted them with posters and announcements. We also gathered 500 students responses and 250 community responses. After we collected those responses, we analyzed the results. Lastly, we maximized exchange of ideas as a class. We took leadership roles in small groups, shared perspectives in large group, and we also brainstormed. We compared student versus um adult survey to find common ground. And I'm going to talk about um
018the English for real life beast. So, what we started on was exchange complex information. We built posters, inographics and gallery walks this with gallery walk displays. We also explained survey results and solutions to peers gateway and the staff. Um second, we actively read, we interpreted survey responses, annotated and compared student versus adults perspectives. We also studied Gateways attendance data for patterns. Um lastly, we actively communicate to influence thought and outcomes. So we presented in small groups during gallery walks, spoke with professionals at CASSA. We also shared findings with peers and adults to shape solutions. Hi, I'm Amanda Lrand and I get the last poster uh because Maria couldn't be here tonight. Um, so we did all of those competencies in those different courses. And then this quarter we're going to focus on um, English 12A,
019which is normally pretty traditional. If you look at the competencies are here, um, what I've done is adapt them. So it focuses on narratives, but we're going to write the narrative of the process and go through these traditional um, competencies through that process instead of reading stories and doing maybe like that more traditional. um their hope is to create a handbook that they can share with others. So, I just wanted to show that like we can adapt some of those traditional ideas into something that the kids feels relevant and they're going to produce something have something instead of writing stories. Um have something that they can use and share and hopefully help others grow. And >> nice job. You did a great job. Thanks. >> No problem. >> Yeah. I'm going to ask maybe the
020students and all the teachers come up front just introduce themselves. >> I might ask students teachers to come just introduce themselves. If we could maybe have all the students uh and teachers come up and introduce yourselves, we'd love that and give the board a chance to ask any questions they might have. So, if you want to come right up to the front here, that'd be great. >> People want to be closest to the microphone, grab those chairs. Hello, my name is Lisa Walter. >> Hello, I'm Alice Carlberg. >> Hello, my name is Lola Randolph. Hi, my name is Alen Himenez. >> Hello, I'm Javier Randa. >> Hello, I'm Cadence Keys and I'm Amanda Lrand. Do you have any questions >> that they will answer? >> If I could just start. Um I just went to
021read what uh um I received from the department of ed and this was this this is always great to get an email from the department of ed that starts off with wow. So that was the heading and it says I just wanted to let you know your students absolutely wowed the department of education folks yesterday. Your students were not only wellprepared, they were articulate. Their process of what they had learned had outstanding visuals of incredible content about their efforts and interacted with the participants with respect and grace. I am so incredibly proud of every single one of them. Amanda and Marcy were such amazing support to them. I love watching them facilitate and not direct the students by offering them strategies to calm their nerves and celebrate their accomplishments. So, I think that speaks volumes
022of, you know, how great a job you did and and just how proud we are of you, too. And we really appreciate coming tonight. And I'll turn it over. Any questions for the board. >> I don't have a question. I just wanted that pretty much summed it up right there. You guys did a great job on presenting and the visuals were great. So, good job on that. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> And recognizing the the things that caused some of those um problems. So, great job. What was your most surprising underlying cause of absenteeism that you found? >> Um, I could answer this. I can't really say it was too surprising, but getting that wider view of why people are missing school on family issues and the mental health, it just it just
023helps show that kids aren't just not trying, they just have other problems going on. >> What was the most difficult part of your project? probably narrowing down the solutions because there was a lot that we had like so many ideas and then we had to narrow them down and then I know we had to build up the questions for the survey so we just had to find which questions were going to get us the right answers. >> Would you enjoy doing more projects like this? Would that make school more interesting and kids less likely to be absent? >> I feel like if students were able to do more projects like this, they would definitely find more of a personal purpose to attend school cuz it definitely makes the school day feel more meaningful. >> Make
024you feel like you're actually accomplishing something at school. >> Yeah. [clears throat] A >> lot of research went into this. >> Oh yeah. >> Did you start this at the beginning of the school year? It would have been two years ago, right? >> Two last year. >> Oh my. Last year. >> All right. A lot of time, a lot of effort. >> Good job. >> Great job. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. [applause] All right. Next board priority to be the best will create a positive learning and working culture for our stakeholders and embrace our community partners through communication and transparency. Next is selection of a great Prairie AA board member. >> We have a new presenter tonight. She's she begged me to to do this so I
025said okay. Okay. >> So I will turn it over to you. >> Good evening everyone. Um, the district received the official ballot from the Great Prairie AEA for the election of the 2025 AEA director for district 2. Shelley Morgan is seeking reelection and is running unopposed. So, we're just looking for a motion for that vote. >> I move to nominate Shelley Morgan. >> Second. >> We have a first and a second. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. Thank you. Thanks, Ashley. Okay, next is early recognition resignation incentive. Okay, good evening. Um, the board has uh may be familiar with this. Uh it's about that time of year we start talking about the uh incentive we offer to staff if they let us know if they're planning
026to leave at the end of the school year early. So this always benefits uh the HR department greatly to find out uh what certified positions we may have open. Uh the earlier the better. It allows them to be active during the hiring fairs and uh early graduates from any of the universities. Um we've done it the past several years. Um I believe last year we had uh one of the larger groups uh we had 17 last year uh but over the last four years we've had an average um that generates a cost of about $39,000. So about 13 participants. We offer $3,000. Uh we pay it out with their last check uh in June and it applies to uh any of the certified positions. So, anybody uh any of the teaching positions, librarians, counselors, um
027as well as any administrative, licensed administrative positions, and it just gives us a jump on starting uh to hire for those openings. So, be happy to answer any questions. >> Make a motion to approve the early region incentive. >> Second. We have a motion, a second. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Thanks, John. Next up is um the RFP to solicit for a superintendent search firm. I'll talk about this real quick. Um we've had a chance to do a couple fun things during this agenda and we have a couple not fun things and this is a not fun one. So, um earlier during this meeting, we officially accepted Mike's resignation as superintendent. So, with that comes our responsibility to select the next superintendent. So, that process
028starts with issuing out an RFP to a search firm that then will do some of the leg work on behalf of the board to find the next superintendent. Um, you guys had this in your board packet to review pending board approval tonight. It'll be issued tomorrow to eight Midwest search firms um that the district has used in the past. And so if all of them respond, that's a really good pool of candidates to look through. Those proposals are due November 5th. So that's a little over a week from or about a week from tomorrow. Each of you should look over those proposals and no later than five o'clock on November 10th, you should pick your top three that you like the best and let John know your top three because he will then ask those
029three to come and present to us at the November 17th meeting. You don't have to pick three, just pick up to three that you like the best. Then at the November 17th meeting um which will include everybody but Jan um we will then pick from that group um to approve one of those proposals and then that firm that's picked the night of November 17th will get to work looking for a new superintendent for the district. So any questions about that process? There's a lot of dates to keep in mind. So, the issuance is tomorrow, October 28th, pending board approval tonight. Proposals are due 11:5. Let John know your top three that you like the best by November 10th. Up to three will present to us the night of the 17th. And then from those three,
030we need to approve one that we want to work with. You can see um this was a very well-ritten proposal. you can see the kinds of things that the district is looking for as far as um the type of candidate. Um the type of search firm we're looking for. Once the search firm is picked, the board will have a chance to meet with them. Um most of us have done this process before, but you'll have a chance to meet with them in depth just to talk about what kinds of things we want um out of Mike's replacement. So, any questions about that process? Uh Christine, this might be for John, but do do they come on the same night? The the top >> Yeah, they'll come on the 17th. We only meet once in November.
031So, we want to do it all at that board meeting just so that we can get the job. Um because we'll need some time in between who when you select someone until um you get the job posted. There needs to be some time in between there where we tell the search firm what we're looking for, what kind of candidate we're hoping to get, what kinds of characteristics we think are important, and we want to hope to have the job has posted by January. So, time is we've got some good time, but we need to get it moving. Any other questions or thoughts about that? I'd make a motion to uh send out the uh RFP for superintendent search firms. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second to approve the RFP as it's
032written and issue that tomorrow. Any other questions or comments? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. Okay, motion passes. Next is board polity policy update second and final reading. I don't have any updates. We didn't make any changes from the first reading. Just here if you have any questions. >> There's no questions. I'll make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion or questions for Brad? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. Motion passes. Thanks, Brad. Next, board priority. Through the board's financial stewardship, we will provide operations, technical, and curricular resources to staff, teachers, and administrators so that all students have consistent and sustained achievement. We have one action item here, a transit van purchase. As the board or as
033the district continues to expand transportation support for special education students and daily shuttle needs, the addition of 212 passenger vans would provide greater flexibility, reliability, and efficiency. Currently, our transportation department is often stretched thin, accommodating specialized routes, midday student transfers, and program related travel. These vans would allow us to meet the increasing demand for individ individualized student transportation, field trips, and other district shuttle requirements without overburdening existing bus routes or staff. Recommendation is the board approve the purchase of two 12 passenger vans to be used within the transportation department. These vehicles will be utilized primary to primarily to support special education transportation and to supplement shuttle operations throughout the school day. The addition of these vans will enhance our ability to respond quickly to changing transportation needs while maintaining safety, efficiency, and compliance with district
034standards. >> And I just wanted to relay how we're funding it. Um Don found a pretty good deal on these vehicles. Uh there are very specific requirements we have to meet in order to transport transport students. Uh 12 passenger vans have to be purchased uh used. So he found some lightly used ones. Uh it is a very very very strange rule that the department of education has. Uh but uh between the two of them it's about $75,000. We annually allocate uh just around 200,000 for vehicle or equipment replacements. and we started that several years ago to kind of replace some of our vehicles on a cycle. So, what we're [clears throat] doing is we're allocating a portion of those funds this year to the purchase of the two transit vans. Uh so, like I said,
035we uh allocate about 200,000 annually. This is 75 of it. Um I think Don still has some plans to purchase another vehicle, but we're light. Uh we have some equipment purchases, but not a ton. So, this fits in real well uh to the existing budget, so we're not having to add anything to purchase these vehicles. >> [clears throat] >> Does anybody have any questions for Don or John? >> People driving. >> No, no, I don't. It doesn't require a CDL. I don't believe Don. >> No, it doesn't. Uh we have to uh they have to have a stop training class and and we can do that online which will be given beforehands. Make a motion to approve with no other questions. >> Second. >> We have a motion, a second. Is there any other discussion?
036If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Thank you. Next up is superintendent report. >> Thanks, Christina. Uh the first thing I have for the board is um John's going to give an update and kind of share out how the initial uh school year is going as far as some of the changes we've made uh with our pair of professionals as far as retention and recruitment. And we know it's early and uh but we're we're excited by the results so far. So John, I'll just turn it over to you. >> Sure. Yeah, as Mike mentioned, it's early, but we we've come before the board and we talked a lot about uh kind of the initiative, an area of focus with the associates. uh just trying to find some things to help
037with the turnover and and just making that job uh just a better job overall. So, couple things uh the associate support and development group kind of the committee they've met several times uh along with the HR department. Um that continues they have some listening sessions scheduled this week. So, they'll go out into the buildings uh HR McKenzie's leading that and it's kind of opportunities for associates to share continuous input throughout the school year um with the administration. also working on an associate FAQ document that'll go and uh develop to help address some common questions that come up among the group. Uh mentorship program uh that's in full effect. Uh we got all those mentor positions going. Uh it's been very wellreceived. We've got a lot of positive feedback from uh the new employees as well
038as the mentors. The mentors have really kind of dove into it and accepted that challenge and it's it's uh it's evident. Uh we're seeing it. they kind of go through a checklist of items with the new hires helping them get on boarded a little better uh and then serve as a resource for questions as they get into their role. So, uh we see that uh continuing um to pay dividends. Uh, one of the dividends is, uh, we've had 37 new associate hires year to date. And of those, two have resigned. And it's disappointing to have anybody resign within a couple months of the start of the school year, but that number has historically been much higher. And that's one of the things we identified where we'd get people in and they maybe didn't know what
039the job was and we were losing them. And so far, we've only had two, so that's pretty good. Um, other than that, there's been seven other associate resignations, so a total of nine. And uh we did the turnover rate calculation. Right now it's 3.8%. And that's reasonable. Um we'd love it to be zero. We're never going to get there, but 3.8% is pretty good. At the same point last year, uh we'd received 13 resignations and it was just about 5 a half%. So it's it's a little lower and we'll we'll see how that number develops, but uh we're we're positive to see it's lower and we're positive to hear all the feedback. So um building administrations working with uh the group working with the development group they're coming up with three goals that are focused
040on the core areas that that support group developed. Uh so kind of measurable goals ways to see how they're doing the building administration um the group reports that they can see the efforts. So that was kind of the one of the questions that's asked is it, you know, have you noticed anything different? And they said, oh, absolutely. You can really see uh administration trying to work with the associates to make them feel more valued, make sure they have input um and all of that. Um make a difference and improve that day-to-day experience. Um then the last point is kind of talk about we uh we're going to increase the full-time positions because an associate position that only works 29 and a half hours a week for nine months out of the year, the paychecks just
041aren't they're not that large. So, we're doing the schedule E positions, we call them, where we bump them up to full-time. We give them some money uh we call it PIP money, but it's uh personal insurance payment. It's money they can use to buy insurance or it's money they can just keep a salary. So, we we pay that. So, it's cash either way and then they get more hours. So, we were going to increase those positions. Uh we started last year or ended last year with 30. We're up to 45. So, our goal was to add 10. Uh and then what we did is we kind of we traded positions. So, we took some full-time positions and and bumped them up. Uh maybe a two for one swap in certain areas where the building said
042that would work. So, we've actually moved to 45 full-time positions in the associate group. And when you figure in their hourly wages plus the money that they receive for the PIP, um their hourly rate is 2146 is what the realized hourly rate is, which we feel is is pretty good. And we hope that that continues to uh pay dividends with that group so there's less turnover that they um are just uh better availability for the buildings and and just a better more attractive job overall. So those are some of the things we're seeing. Um like I said, it's ongoing. It's early. We'll continue to monitor and and track all the data to see what the turnover rate looks like. Uh continue to solicit feedback uh and and make make changes if needed. But right now
043everything's really positive and we've we've got a lot of good feedback. So kind of the update. >> I think the only thing I would add to what John said is that um and we're really excited about this too is that uh the positions we've had open that are full-time are getting bid by our internal people and they're all getting bid by our internal people. So that's that's great news. Yeah. John, I have a question about the pay, but in a situations where we have um I would say probably mostly at the in the elementary level um where a student has uh a parent or associate or whatever and that they have a good relationship with that. How often um especially like if it's at the parents request, do we let that associate or parent move
044with that kid as they go through? especially if it's in the elementary. >> I I don't have the answer to that. I was going to see if maybe Y maybe Mr. Steamman could help with that. >> I believe I wasn't supposed to speak. [laughter] >> Um uh our practice has been like two years where um where and that doesn't happen all the time. It's really uh based on a lot of different factors. Sometimes uh our associate group likes where they're at and they don't want to move to a to a different grade or a different position. Um sometimes we provided additional training specific to what the student's disability is and then we try to keep that associate with that student because we've invested in specific training uh depending on what that kid needs. Um in
045general we try not to get too dependent on any particular individual. We want to be dependent on a plan. Uh so that whatever the plan is for that student that's what we're trying to fulfill uh for the student just because we know that we have turnover and um even if a uh if an associate is sick or out for whatever reason, we want to make sure that the plan is what's in place and not the person. Um we have in the past had people uh stick with the the student or students that they've been working with. But in general, we try not to stretch that out too terribly long. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thanks, guys. >> Thank you. >> Next, I have for the board, uh we we we got
046final notice today, which we're really excited about. We've received a grant from the Iowa Department of Ed to help improve student literacy. And Maria is just going to come up and kind of talk about the significance of the grant, the amount of grant award it is, and so forth. >> Yeah. Hi everybody. Um, thanks for having me tonight. I'm excited to talk about the Iowa Comprehensive State Literacy Development Grant. So Iowa CSLD grant. Um, and we this grant comes in a couple different phases. So the the information's been embarged up until now. But really the first phase of the grant is strategic planning and that's the first year. So that would be this school year. We got 174,000 just in that portion of the grant. So just for this year and whatever we don't use
047carries forward. We applied for about 400,000 for the whole grant. And the grant is interesting because it's broken up into uh prek into K5 and then 612. and you allocate percentages of your funds towards each of those three different parts. And so we we have done a lot of building around literacy in elementary. We're not done. Uh but we know that building out uh strong literacy work in the secondary world because there's not a lot of funding resources with that that our our secondary buildings don't get title funds and and those um different uh funding pieces that our elementary schools do. And so we've allocated more towards secondary uh but this first year is all about the planning of that with the goal of long-term sustainability of strong um science of reading based literacy practices
048for your whole entire school system and and we're just really lucky to be one of the school districts in Iowa to get that grant. >> Any questions for Maria? >> Thanks Maria. >> Thank you. Last thing I have is just a reminder that we have our high school fall orchestra concert tomorrow at 7 PM. So, we're excited uh for that. And that's all I have. Christina, >> thanks, Mike. Next is board member topics. >> Um I would just say remind everybody there is an election Tuesday, November 3rd. Please don't forget that fourth. That works too. You can vote early. Um, okay. Next is a close session. >> We need an agenda to move into close session as approved by Iowa Code section 21.51E. >> I move we enter close session. >> Second. We have a
049motion, a second. All those in favor, raise your right hand. We're in close session. We'll take a fivem minute break.