001Can you hear us, Matt? Yep, I can hear you. All right. Can you hear me? All right. Yep. Okay. I'll just mute myself and wait till you guys get to the agenda item. All right. Thanks. We'll call the order. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. There has been kind of a late request to amend the agenda for the resation of high school ELA teacher. I'll make a motion to amend the agenda. Second. All those in favor? I also make a motion to approve the amended agenda. Second. Second. All right. All in favor? I. All right. Um, this is the time when community members can make public comments to the board. Please be aware that the board cannot comment on anything that is said during this time. This is the only time in the agenda reserved for public
002comment. Please limit your comments to four minutes. Okay. And now we're on to central administration. um no fundraising requests and then um all of the overnight trips are just information for the board. Um they're all the volleyball team going to some various games throughout the summer. Yeah, it looks like they're being right in their head right already volleyball season. I was like, "Oh my goodness." No questions on those. The next is um consideration of sealed bids. Matt. All right. Good evening, board. I'm going to share my screen. I think you might have a electronic or printed copy of this stuff as well if Abby gave you one. But I will share my screen here and go through this packet of information. Uh so hold on just a moment. Uh let's see. I think I'm gonna
003share the wrong one. Just a second. pack I just added. Okay, there we go. So, first of all, good evening. I' I've messed up with you before, but it's been a while since I've been to the district in person. Um, so my name is Matt Gillespie from Hyper Sandler in De Moine, and I hope you're aware that we were taking bids this afternoon for the sale of sales tax revenue bonds. So that's what this packet is about. There's quite a few pages in here. We're not really going to go all over every single page and and not in some of them not in great detail. A lot of it's justformational for you. But I am going to go through a few of the pages explain kind of the bigger picture stuff. I did have a
004discussion uh this afternoon with your staff and I'm comfortable that um you know Abby Sean understand the the mechanics and what's happening. Um so I'll go through it a little bit more quickly for you guys since I know you have other items on your agend. However, that doesn't mean you can't ask questions and shouldn't ask questions, definitely. I can um speak as long as you guys need to. But we'll hold the questions until I get done speaking and then I'll open it up for questions. Uh once you don't have questions anymore, then I'm going to just lead you through the resolution. But before we do that, um I want to go over this uh packet. This first page you see here, the report of sale. At the top of the page in the heading, there
005are a couple things I want to point out. Uh first of all, we originally asked the biders to bid on $10,975,000 of principal. Uh and then once we received the bids and know what the the best bid is and what the structure of that bid is, we're able to adjust the principal to match the cost of the project or expected cost of the project, etc. Uh and what what happened is that there's a very large premium being paid, which we'll see on another page in a moment. So that allowed uh the district to actually reduce the amount of principal that you'd be issuing to 10,825,000 uh rather than 10,975,000 and still fund the same size project. Also in this heading you see that notes SNP that's standard and pores. So that's uh one of the
006the two larger rating agencies in the United States. Uh we did take your issue to standard and pores about a month ago. um their analysts interviewed your staff again u your SBO and superintendent looked at several years of audits etc and they take that to a committee uh where the committee votes and they just determined to assign an A+ rating to this the district's sales tax bonds um that rating itself is about as high as most school districts in Iowa would get um a few districts can get one notch higher but most would be in the A or A+ plus range. This is the A+ or the higher of those two. But then the the bidder, the winning bidder actually just determined, excuse me, to use bond insurance. Um that's something that's just made available
007for some issues on some days, not always. Not something that the district gets to choose, not something that Piper gets to choose. Um and they offer that that insurance uh to cover bond and principal and interest payments in the event that the district couldn't make them. uh and this particular bidder did choose to use that insurance. So that's where you see this AA rating or double A. So that's two notches above the A+. It would go A+ and then double A minus and then double A where the insurance company's rating is. So the the winning bidder actually takes some of the the fee that they charge the district um and pay that to the the insurance company in order to utilize their rating. um in theory it's intended to buy down the interest rates sort
008of like paying points u when you have a mortgage it's somewhat equivalent to that but you can see here the interest rates and the yields uh these interest rates in the shorter end um you see 8% and 7% and even 6% uh those are are quite high as we we would be very common to see uh five maybe into the 6% range right now so this is a little bit higher, but there was a trade-off in that that just means that they pay you of a larger premium. Um, and in the end, you'll see again on another page that that it worked out to be not quite equivalent, but pretty equivalent to what my original estimate was to begin with. But it's this yield that you see in this column, uh, the one first one
009here beginning with 3.46. It's that yield that is really kind of more important and also what we can compare apples to apples with you know a municipality that issued bonds today versus yesterday versus a week ago and six months ago etc. Then how do they compare which we will see on another page in just a moment. Um so the the the winning bidder there Robert W. Beard and Company in Milwaukee. Um some of you might have heard of that firm. It's it's probably the more well-known of firms that typically bid in Iowa. Uh they do have offices in Iowa. They have brokerage offices and I believe they have naming rights as well to one of the athletic stadiums in Milwaukee. So some of you might have heard of that firm. There was this only one
010bid which that in and of itself is actually the most unusual of of all the things that happened today surrounding your particular transaction. For sales tax bonds, we don't get as many bids as we would for general obligation bonds that are backed by property taxes, but we still would usually get more than one. Um, it would usually kind of be in the two to four range. Uh, and today only one bidder was bidding. Um, now that that doesn't necessarily mean that there was only one firm involved. We don't always know that that it could be that some of the other firms that do commonly bid um they might have joined together with this firm and into what's called a syndicate or basically a partnership. So sometimes they can be competitors but sometimes they can be
011partners. Um so in this case it could be that that they just kind of those other two or three that commonly bid join together with Barrett into a syndicate. That that could happen as well but we don't always know that because they don't have to tell us. They just have to tell us there's who the winning um syndicate leader is and and whether they tell us more or not, we don't know. If you go to the next page, for those of you that are looking at your own copy, or you can look here at my screen hopefully, um this is showing you the sources and uses. So, where's the money coming from and what's the money going to be used for? So, the principal amount 10,825,000. And because of those higher coupons or interest rates,
012that 8% 7% range of that that caused them to have to pay you this premium, which in this case was $189,566. So they pay that to you upfront uh in in a way to sort of entice you to pay them that higher interest rate. So the total amount of proceeds 11,14,000. So, of those funds, the underwriters discount, so what they had factored into their bid, 273,228, and you see that includes the $34,800 insurance premium that they're choosing to use out of the fee that they're charging to pay that insurance premium. the costs of issuance that's the combination of your attorney uh which is allers and here in de mo standard and pores for that rating hyper sandler the company I work for United Missouri bank all of those different professional entities that help the district
013through the process uh and then another quite large number a reserve fund a million82500 so this is something that you would not set aside if the district was issuing property tax back bonds But these are not property tax backed. These are backed only by the district's certified enrollment and statewide sales tax. Um so when we issue revenue backed bonds um and a city might issue utility revenue, sewer, water revenue, the university issue dormatory revenue, it's very common for there to be a reserve fund. So it's kind of like a rainy day fund money. It's your money. You don't lose the money, but you can't touch it. It's basically not accessible to you until the bonds are paid off. and you can earn interest on it, spend the interest on sales tax related projects and needs,
014but you just can't touch that principle. And then when the bonds do get paid off, whether according to schedule, the final payment, or you could refinance them early, restructure them early. There's a few options that you'll have, you could get that money back at that time. And then the bigger amount here, of course, what can you spend on the project? 9,529,000. to that you would add interest that you will earn. So obviously on the bonds themselves you're paying interest, but when you put this, you know, $9 million in the bank, you're going to earn interest. Um you'll earn interest while the monies are sitting there idle during the construction project. Um so if the project gets delayed in some way and takes longer, you will earn a little bit more interest. If it happens very
015quickly and you know it doesn't ever rain or snow and things go really fast, you may not earn quite as much interest. But however much interest that will be, which would be probably maybe around $150,000 actually, I would guess um that is also bond proceeds that you would spend on on the project or some type of sales tax sales tax related need. So it's the 9,529 that is the was the estimated cost basically um that your architect had projected or 9,525,000 I think. So you won't know for sure what that cost is until uh you take an open construction bids eventually. The next page is showing you the amortization schedule. So just the repayment schedule itself. Uh there is a note at the bottom of this page noting that the bonds become callable in 2032.
016I'm going to skip ahead in just a second and show you that in another format. So I'm going to go to the next page first though. Uh here again you see those interest rates, the yield which is what we can compare apples to apples with and then the pricing etc. But at the bottom of this page you can see just some comparison of different yields from other school districts here in Iowa that have done just what you're doing today. Um so you can see and I just pulled out kind of every five years the one year 5 10 15 and 20 years as examples. where you see the dashed lines uh or the dashes that just means that that school didn't have a maturity that equaled where you are the 10 or 15 or 20
017year for example. Um so we can compare these uh for the most part apples to apples but they were at different times. You see Hudson very very similar to your rates on the longer end which are the more important interest rates since you pay those for a longer period of time a little bit lower than yours on the shorter end. Uh Wilton also last week, both Hudson and Wilton, Wilton didn't have longer term bonds because they're not not borrowing that much money, so they're going to pay it off quite quickly. Um but you could see their rates were a little bit lower than yours. Storm Lake more comparable to what you had. They sold their bonds on May 21. And then you can follow over to six months ago at West Lion um in Northwest
018Iowa. At that point in time, interest rates were significantly lower. Uh that's just kind of generally speaking. That wasn't just school sales tax bonds. That was just, you know, most interest rates were lower at that time uh for a few reasons, but a big reason is because that was before we began this discussion of tariffs. Uh which that that discussion has put lots of uncertainty into the market. So on day dayto day, uh these bond buyers and sellers, you know, aren't really sure where the market should be because they don't know where it's going to be tomorrow. Uh so they're they're building in quite oftent times a little bit of pushin either through fees or slightly higher rates or something like that to protect themselves in in case rates go higher tomorrow than they were
019today. But but pretty pretty comparable rates overall uh when you look at those those other schools that were issuing debt. So it's on this page that I wanted to just to point out again the the call feature. That's this red line that goes across the middle here. So that's when the bonds becomeable. So, up until 2032, you can't change anything. You can't refinance the bonds. You can't restructure them. You can't just pay them off early. But once you get to 2032 or anytime after that with 30 days notice, that's when you could begin to do those things. Um, and it is very common for something to happen. Uh, sometime after that called date. Very few 20-year bonds actually live out their life 20 years. uh they get refinanced, they get paid off early, they get
020rolled into some other bond because school or city or county needs to borrow more for some other project, etc. But at the bottom of the page in these yellow comments, um I just put an example here. Um by the time we get to 2032, when those bonds become collable, uh we believe that the district has the ability, not that you're going to have actually done this, but you have the ability to have accumulated around $4 million uh in surplus apple andor sales tax. So that's even after you've made the payments on these bonds, the existing bonds you have already, you know, bought in the school buses and the technology, those kind of routine things that you do yeartoear, we build in those things into the cash flow. But even above and beyond those things, it
021appears that you could possibly have the the capacity to have saved about $4 million. Again, you may not do that because you might go out and and have a $4 million project that you want to fund, which is perfectly fine. that if you were to choose to use $4 million in 2032 to call or prepay these four longest maturities of the bonds. So you paid all of this principle off not in 2042, 43, 44, and 45, but you paid all of it off in 2032. Of course, you would stop paying interest on that principal amount. And by doing that, you can see here in this comment, you would actually save a,933,000 in interest. So that's something that future school boards might have the option to do if you happen to be still on the school
022board, you know, eight years from now. Um, that's something that you could be contemplating. It's an option, not necessarily, you know, a certain thing. Also the other smaller box here although the interest rates are a little bit higher than what I had been using in my estimates and what we would have expected because of that there was that premium and that meant that the principal amount is lower. So you're paying a little bit higher interest rate but on a lower amount principal. So what this little box is showing you is that in the end the total principle and interest if you never were to pay the bonds off early that only is about a difference of $116,000 between what I had originally estimated you know several months ago and what this schedule here is showing
023you. So it's it's a little bit higher. Yes, but we know that interest rates have risen in the last six months. So that's really no surprise. Um but not significantly higher. Um and you will have these opportunities to reduce the amount of interest you pay by again paying the bonds off early, refinancing, restructuring, etc. If those, you know, opportunities actually present themselves. The timeline for the transaction, we're pretty much through the end. The board's meeting obviously right now at your meeting on June 16th, presuming that the board takes action here in a few minutes. Um you would be doing some more legal paperwork, very simple and straightforward. Uh your attorney fills all of it out for you. So, you really are just approving it and kind of going through the motions. Uh, and then the
024bond money would come to you on July 2nd. So, today you actually got what's called the good faith deposit. Sort of similar to earnest money. That was a little over $100,000 that that bidder has wired to your bank. But the rest of the money will come to you then on July 2nd. Uh, and you can invest that in whatever way you know the board chooses to invest this just like other public funds, general fund, couple, etc. So, it's a fairly conservative uh thing that you have to be investing in, but you will start to earn interest on those funds and you can also begin to pay your architect fees and, you know, start to pay construction costs, etc. And then the rest of the packet is really just the rating report from standard and pores.
025I wasn't sure if um Abby or Sean had given you guys a copy of it, so I included it here. I'm not going to read through it. Um, but you can do that. I think you should sometime, not necessarily tonight, but just read through it at some point. It does um have some nice things to say about the district as well as the sales tax in general in the state of Iowa. It's quite a um secure secure um source of revenue. So, you can read through that and if you do ever have questions about anything that it says in there, you can always get a hold of me as well. So, I'm going to go back to this first page that just shows the summary of the bid. Um and I'll open it up for
026questions that board members have. uh anything about the process that we went through, what happened today, the interest rates, you know, anything that you have questions about before we go to the resolution. That was pretty quiet. [Music] No, that was a pretty detailed explanation. I think it was very good. I think you covered a lot of the things that were kind of popping out is like, okay, well, what what does that mean? You know, what's the causation of that number, you know, all those kind of things. So, I think you did a very good job at covering it for us. Good. Um, well, at any time if you have questions, whether that's later tomorrow, a week from now, a year from now, you know, or citizens maybe more importantly, citizens ask you questions, they're not
027sure, you know, exactly what happened and you don't know exactly what happened. Um, definitely if you can't answer the question, you know, pass your questions on to Abby. She can typically find me just about anywhere I might be around the state at any given time. Uh we want to make sure that your questions are answered and that that that you don't have misinformation or miscommunication um you know kind of circling around the community. So for sure ask questions at any time. Um so what I'm going to do then is go to the resolution. It is acceptable for me to paraphrase that resolution. Um one of the board members can so move what I say if you choose to do that. uh another board member can second that and then if you do get a first
028and second motion, it does require a roll call vote. So the question before you or the resolution before you, excuse me, is directing the sale of 10,825,000 of school infrastructure sales, services, and use tax revenue bond series 2025 to Robert W. Baron and Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So moved. Second. All in favor? Never mind. Yes. Burrows. Yes. Yeah. Marina, yes. Vargas, yes. Okay, that was all that you needed to do tonight from a legal standpoint. As I noted, if you have questions anytime, do not hesitate to ask those questions. Um, Abby and Sean, you guys also are going to start or continue to get emails from uh people in my office from Mullers and Cooney. If you guys have questions at any time, definitely do not hesitate to to pass those along to me. Um,
029and we will be contacting you again, Abby, as I said, on June 2nd, not June 2nd, but July 2nd, um, to just confirm that the the funds were received. So, good luck with your project. Congratulations. Uh, and have a good night tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Y you just go down to the next slide. Um, thanks everyone. Uh, I'm Brady Dorman with OPN Architects. I think I last spoke to you back in February. Um, so right now we're right in the middle of our design development phase. Uh, we kicked off our project back in December. we've completed our uh programming and schematic design phase where we kind of really determine the parts and pieces of the project. Uh now in design development, we're really focused on kind of the the getting more into the
030details of structural systems, mechanical systems, materials, finishes, things like that. Um our next phase will be construction documents where again we're we're really focused more on the documentation side of things. uh for reproducing bid documents. Um during I during the the overall design process, we have three uh cost estimates built in. So we've already completed one uh that we completed at the end of schematic design. Then we'll have another one coming up um at the end of June when we issue our 100% design development uh documents and then we'll also have one at um we call it 65% CDs. So, uh, a little bit before we're completely done, just to get one final, uh, estimate to kind of gut check before we we issue drawings for bid. Um, so timelinewise, um, yeah, we're we're looking
031to to bid out, uh, documents in September, early September, uh, with construction starting potentially in beginning of October. Uh, and then that schematic design cost estimate, it did come in right around 9.5 million. So, we're a little bit above uh our 9 million construction budget target. Um at this point, our recommendation is just continue developing the current design with the building size and scope um as it is. Um at the earlier phase, there's a lot of uh information not not yet determined, not not yet designed. Uh so that estimate has a lot of contingency built into it. Uh just given those unknowns. So, as we continue to develop the documents and the design, um the next stages of estimating will have lower contingencies just as we have um more details for them to base that
032on. Uh so, here's our current floor plan. It's a little small to see, but um we have uh the the primary area of the building is uh the large turf area. So, kind of that big area on the left. So, the on the left side you have the first floor plan. Um the turf area it's a full width football field uh and then 40 yards long. And then above that we have a elevated running track. And then on the first floor kind of to the left side or excuse me the right side um on the first floor it's really more service functions. So we have restrooms team room, locker room for officials, trainer room uh then mechanical storage. Then we also have uh space there for golf practice uh with room for two uh golf
033simulator bays. And then up on the second level uh up on the right side there. Uh that's really just a big open space with uh areas for we have space for three full length batting cages and then a large uh weight training space down on the the lower right hand corner. Sean, are we still going to keep the other weight room or was that going to maybe become a little more wrestling if I remember correctly? Oh, okay. I didn't know if we need wrestling space for girls. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've seen them try to wrestle in that room. Yeah. I can see can see how we're tight. Uh so here's a exterior view of the the current design progress looking from the the southeast. Um so we're planning to do a pre-engineered metal building
034structure system for the overall shell of the building. Um working with our structural engineer and a um some pre-engineered metal building manufacturers determined that's probably the most cost effective way to go to um get the large open space that um that was desired for the the practice term. Um so really kind of trying to drive that efficiency with using um standard parts and pieces of the pre-engineered uh metal building system and then kind of focus focusing our design energy uh on this front portion facing the east and then south towards the um the athletic fields. So in this corner we have a a large expanse of glass that kind of uh encompasses the two two main entrances and then um uh alternative material uh kind of looking at masonry but still looking at different materials
035there for sort of a signage branding opportunity on that uh that lower portion there. Uh this is just another exterior view looking from the kind of the northeast. So there you see we we are planning a connection to the existing high school. Um right now the way the kind of the site works the first and second level of the new building um it's basically splitting the difference between the high school. So the high school will kind of be right in the middle. So this connection here that that will accommodate an elevator and stairs to kind of mediate those different those different levels. uh from as far as the exterior material, we're still looking at um what that may be, but most likely some kind of metal metal pan cladding. This here is the view uh
036as you're walking in from the the main entrance on the east. So, it's centered right on that uh practice turf. So, you can see uh potential opportunities for logos, branding, um you can see um the structural system. Generally, that'll be mostly exposed given the the size of the space. And then you can also see the the elevated track surrounding the the field. This here is just a a view of the same space looking back towards the towards the east. So you see the the entry centered in the middle. Uh on the lower level, it's mostly enclosed spaces for again the restrooms, locker rooms, things like that. And then up on the the upper level uh we have a open space for the the batting cages on the left side and then weight training on the
037right. And this is one final view just looking at the from the track level a little bit closer to that second level space. So, uh, we're looking at different opportun different options for a screen wall element between the track, uh, and the batting and and, uh, weight area just to so there's still visibility, but you get a sense of separation and just kind of we we've had discussions during the process of this desire for being able to kind of keep things keep different areas closed off for security purposes and things like that. I don't know if I'm allowed to answer any questions or Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. The only question or I guess maybe the major question I have is in terms of sound dampening, what's the what's the intent there? Obviously, there's going to be,
038you know, band practices and every all the things happening at once and baseball bats going and like what's what's the plan for that? Yeah. So, with the pre-engineered uh metal building system, so most of the insulation, it's it almost looks like a bag in the wall. I don't know if you guys have been to like Costco and Coralville or something like that, but um that certainly has some acoustical qualities. And then just looking at the other materials of the like the field turf, that would have some acoustical abilities. Obviously, there will still be a lot of hard surfaces. So, that's something we're we're still looking into if it needs additional measures to address that. Yeah, I would just acknowledge the the team effort in this, the coaches, Sean, athletic director, you guys, and the way
039the process has gone. I know, Carol, we've enjoyed participating in it. I've been involved in other projects where that clearing wasn't always available. So, I appreciate that, Sean, and the way you let in. I like your style where you're like, "Hey, if you don't understand it, you admit it." And don't act like the expert where you're not. Happens quite same here previously on that bond thing. So, yeah. So, and I appreciate you guys' stouts and how you're approaching things like the possibility of solar and those kinds of things that you're looking at. Essentially, yeah. Yeah, we've enjoyed the process working with you guys so far. Okay. Just because I don't understand the materials, it's going to always be turf. Like it doesn't ro you can't do. You can't do any other courts here, right? That's
040just going to be I'm just checking. Okay. No, that was the only one I was just thinking about usage. So, oh, um, and placement and everything is squared away with like the germ, the heating, the ducks, like we're not Yeah. All that stuff got squared away and we're all good with placement. Yep. Shouldn't be an issue. Yeah. The geothermal they found the channels that was running underground and it'll mainly be well it'll all be running uh to the south. Yeah. So the footprint of the building will sit north of that between the geothermal lines and the the high school. So it ended up working out pretty well. Yeah. We kind of we kind of left out with that. I mean, the the size of the building that we were initially planning for and kind of
041the available building space between the high school and and where that infrastructure started, it really kind of lucked out. So, all right. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. We'll see you guys tomorrow. The next one is middle school. Uh Vicki wasn't able to attend due to emergency. So, I have her slideshow in the packet um for you guys to look over and you have questions, feel free to shoot them to us or [Music] her Yes. First of all, J nice shirt. I won. Okay. Like I wear I wear like not sure if that's a good thing for you, but uh but so uh we are excited to talk with you. Sorry. We're excited to talk to you a little bit just like these two wonderful people on there about everything that we have been uh
042working on this year data wise. So a little bit with what we'll talk about is we're going to go through a lot of different data, five different parts. Uh you can go two uh two slides ahead. So we'll talk about ELPA 21. We'll talk about our emergent bilingual uh special ed data, grade level, and then overall building data. But with that, we need to take a minute to acknowledge every single person on this page, as well as those who aren't on this page because they didn't get their picture taken on picture day. Otherwise, they would be on here as well. But, uh, I'm extreme, we are extremely proud of every single one of these individuals. Uh, because without them, none of the data that we're going to show you is possible. It really is because
043of all of their hard work through a lot of new initiatives this year that has really led us to uh some really awesome growth this year that we're excited to talk to you about. Uh but really it's through the last nine months and their hard work and dedication uh which is just needs to be commended. So it's this is all because of them. So we're going to start looking at our ELPA 21 data. The ELPA 21 measure is the spring assessment that our English learners take annually every year. Um, and this year we got our data back a couple weeks ago, but we were able to exit 16 students from the EL program this year. Um, last year we exited 12 and two years ago we exited 13. So, this is the most that we've
044had exit um, the English learner program for the last three years. So, that's super exciting with the most coming out of third grade. Um, and then when we look at that um data by grade level, thinking about proficiency for English learners at each grade level, this is kind of how it breaks down. Um, proficiency here, we're looking at our FAST assessment um that we take three times a times a year um K4 in our building. Um and so you can see that breakdown of students who are proficient um in our that are emergent bilingual or learning um English as their second language um in the elementary. And then when we look at that growth data for our emergent bilingual um moving forward, two years ago we had 21% of our emergent bilingual proficient on fast
045in the spring and this and that's been the same for the past two years. And this year we were able to grow that number by 14% and 35% of our emergent bilingual were proficient with spring. It's very exciting um that we're trending in that positive direction and go back just one more time. That is equal to 56 students that are proficient currently. Um and you can see those numbers. So while the total number of emergent bilingual has shifted give or take 30 in the last three years, um we've been pretty consistent with in that 30 range and we saw 56 students this spring. So excited about that. Moving forward, the second subgroup that we're going to look at and take take a dive into is our sped data. Um these are two subgroups that are
046um important to our district and um we have um bigger numbers in both of these two subgroups. So that's why we're kind of focused on those. um up at the top where next to the data where it says fall accuracy and spring accuracy. This would be looking at students in grades 2 through 4 who have an IEP. And this again is using fast or fast data. Um, and we want students to be 95% accurate because until they can become accurate readers, they can't they're it's harder to become just a fluent reader and being able to just be able to comprehend than what you're what you're learning if you're not an accurate reader first. And so we look at that accuracy because that happens before our fluency starts to catch up. So, in the fall, our
047students with IEPs were 64 on average 64% accurate. Um, and in the spring, we on average, our average accuracy was 81.3%. So, our students with IEPs overall grew a ton in their accuracy over the course of the year. We had 12 students who were K4. There might be two students that were counted in here that actually exited their IEP, which we'll talk about here in a minute, which is exciting. Um, but they were proficient as well on the spring fast. So, for our students who have IEPs, total, we had 22% of them um be proficient um in the spring on on FAST. The chart that you see in the middle takes a look at um compares our students with IEPs to our students without IEPs by grade level and what their growth on average was
048in their score from fall to spring. So if a student in kindergarten um in the fall scored a 25 and then in the spring scored a 65, that would be a 30 point growth from fall to spring. And so we averaged out what that looks like for all students. Um you can see in the first column, students with IEPs in the second column, and then students without IEPs in the last column. Um and particular for grades K2, you can see that those growth numbers on scores from fall to spring were very um similar to students without AP. So that was also very exciting to see um for that subgroup of students moving forward. And last but not least, we want to touch on the really exciting stuff for students with IEPs. PreK4, we had three
049students that completely exited their IEP this year um and are no longer receiving those special education services. And then K4, we had four students who exited at least one goal on their IEP. um that would be an academic, math, reading, or um behavior goal of some sort. So, we had four students that exited at least one of their goals. And then four students exited the speech goal on their IEP as well. um three of those one exited altogether does not have any sort of speech services and then the other three have exited the goal so they don't have any of that direct support anymore but they will still have consultative support if needed in the coming calendar year is our data uh preschool data so our preschool data uh really took a look at three
050different subs set of tests that our preschool teachers give the uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and then letter sounds. Um the lighter color in each column. So for the one, two, or three is from the winter. The darker column is the spring result. So, just a couple of things uh that we want to point out is that um the sounds they needed in the spring were um higher than what they needed to reach also in the winter. So, even though that that number that percentage decreased a little bit, the mark for the spring got a little bit higher for them as well. So, that shifts a little bit in preschool. Just so you're aware of that as you're looking through this data as well. And there's no fall data because they assume students are coming in
051with not knowing anything in school. So they only they started winter time after there's been some instruction happening. Okay. So this is preschool without our students that are only half day. Um, and you can see that uh it if you shift back to the last slide, it does adjust ever so slightly. And so you'll hear all of our preschool teachers often advocating, yes, we want you here full day. Um, and the other data that is not in here is any of our three-year-olds that are that are attending preschool because they have an IEP. We did not include their data in this because it wouldn't be appropriate to to do so. And then the last uh we have our halfday preschoolers. So um we have 12 students that uh leave um four year olds that leave
052at 11:00 every day. Um and this is how their data broke them. So with that we get into kindergarten. And so breaking this down a little bit. So we've got our English and Spanish. We took out winter so it's easier to see a year's worth of growth. And so what I I noticed about this data is both Spanish and English have the same amount of percentage of students where we want them to be which is awesome. Now they did fall a little bit uh from fall to spring and that's the equivalent of two students. And so but with that one of the things that we we discussed with teachers today is that is 20 points higher than where kindergarteners ended last year. So last year kindergarteners ended 34%. This year they ended at 54%. And
053then we often talk about kids being bubble kids or kids that are right there on the cusp of getting to where we want them to be. And so we had 16 kids in kindergarten that were within five points of being where we wanted them to be. So if we would have got them to that point, we just need a little more time. We would have had 76% of our kindergarters where they needed to be. And there were six within five in Spanish that would have taken us to 72%. In first grade, we had it's a little bit I'm in first grade, we also had some great uh growth there from 28 to 41 and 20 to 23. But again, with those bubble kids, we had just a few kids that were almost there that uh
054we worked really hard with just came up a tad short, which is okay. Uh but looking at those numbers, which is really uh exciting as well. In second grade, we get a little bit of different data with that. And so, uh, English, we went up 5% and we dropped in Spanish. Uh, but then when we're looking at those bubble kits, we get that percentage, too. But one of the things that I also want to point out about, and I thought I put it, oh, it's on the next slide. I'll get to it. So, if we go to the next slide, the one thing I want to point out is we start talking more about that accuracy that Don had brought up because we don't have that in kindergarten and first grade because there are four
055different subtests. In second, third, and fourth grade. There is only one test. it's uh correct words per minute and how many of those you get right the percentage and the gold is again 95% or greater. So when we look at these numbers we had 31 and 39% of our second graders that were reading 95% accurate or better at the beginning of the year and then that jumped up to 73 and 59 knowing that we have to have that accuracy come before the rate uh which is extremely important. And then you can see when we that average for all second graders where they were from 57 to 89% accurate and 67 to 90.8. So we really really made some great growth on the the accuracy within second grade. Uh third and fourth grade is probably my
056favorite data to look at because these are the two grade levels that have had our new materials for two years. Everyone else has only had it for once for one year. They started last year we started this slow roll out of CKLA and chaminos which is based in the science of reading. Uh and so they had it in second and third grade. This year we added kindergarten first and fourth. So those third and fourth graders had it last year and are getting it again this year. And we saw the biggest growth in these two grade levels. So 17% in English, we had 2% in Spanish. Uh but we definitely could have gotten a whole lot higher with some of those bubble kids as well. But when you look at that accuracy, the accuracy gets really
057awesome on the next slide of we had 78 and 64% of our kids reading 95% accurate or better. And then our average at 92 and 91 and making some really great growth there, too. And in fourth grade, we had 14% growth from 42 to 56 and then 31 to 42. So the biggest growth in Spanish came uh in fourth grade this year. And then again, if we include our bubble kids, you can see where we are at. So one of the things with that though is on the next slide, there's a nice quote that I'm just going to have you guys look at here real fast and read to yourself. So this is from a book learning by doing that um our guiding coalition did a book study on this year and that we're going
058to be partnering with solution tree next year as an entire district uh that this book it more or less the holy grail with to them in at solution tree when it comes to professional learning communities. But it really gets at the heart of what we said at the beginning is we all have to work together because together we are better. Uh no, if you want to go fast, do it alone. But if you want to go far and do it right, you got to do it together. And so that's what we're really preaching. So our goal this year as a building was to increase our percentage by eight points. Last year was five and we challenged ourselves like we while we didn't reach that goal, we only increased 3% last year, we knew we could
059do better. So we wanted to go to eight this year and push ourselves. And before we show you how we did the I want to take in the next slide because like we started with teachers those are all the kids that are now meeting where they need to be. We're increased by 58 students this year and because that we went up 9%. Which is awesome. and that it's the first time before COVID that every single grade level is at 40% or of their kids on grade level or better. And so when you look at that, it's only we only did the three years because that's the three years uh that we've gone back that way with then you start getting into COVID and all that. But how we've increased steadily and how we are going
060to continue to do that together as uh grade level teams as the entire school and ELC uh into next year and beyond that. So I'm just really exciting. Really really excited everybody. It was awesome talking with teachers about it today. So they got to find out before you what should happen. Yeah. What questions do you have for us? I think you answered one I had about the science of reading because you had introduced that earlier and yeah to see the results is exciting. Yeah, we're we're doing partnering with the A.E.A. to do letters training. I don't remember what letter stands for off the top of my head. Uh, I'm looking at her because she was at the AA and I But it really what it is is it's re it's gonna it's a 4-day um
061program that we're having our EL teachers, our title teachers, and our special ed teachers go through this year that increases their capacity um in understanding in their understanding of uh how we learn, how to read and process that information because there's been a lot of information over the years that new research that we have And um that's not to because I didn't teach the science of reading when I was teaching. I did the best that I could with what I knew at that time 15 years ago when I first started. Um but you get better just like doctors once you there's more research and you know better. You adjust your strategies. You adjust how you are doing something so that you can better meet the needs of the people in front of you. Is bubble
062kid one of your terms or is that a technical term from is not a technical term either not a technical research either? No, I we I I've used that in all the other districts that I've been into. I don't know where it came from, but it's it's one of those. Yeah. Any other questions? Yeah. When you talk about average accuracy, are you talking about that they read um a sentence correctly or the meaning of the word correctly? What do you mean by accuracy? Reading the word correctly. So just pronouncing it correctly or knowing what it means? No, pronouncing it correctly. So being able to decode as you're going through the passage accurately. So if a if if there's a sentence in front of you and it has eight words in it and a student mispronounces
063two of the eight words um that would be you would have six out of eight then that you pronounced correctly which would give you trying to do the math thanks 75% accurate is how that would be figured. So if you're stumbling over what you're trying to read, then you're not able to focus on the comprehension of what the word means. You're trying to figure out how to actually say the word. So once you know how to say that word and can decode it, then you can start um understanding the meaning behind it and then put together all of that those meanings to get that comprehension to have those higher level skills. That's why it's really important in kindergarten and first grade to understand to work on decoding to work on phonics and phmic awareness. So
064when you and then second grade is that bridge. So when you get to third grade, it's really reading to learn instead of learning to read in that K12 time, which is why the first graders and kindergarters were so impacted by COVID because they missed all of that really good instruction and you saw the effects of that rival for a long time after that because they were playing catch-up. I mean, and I guess I'm I'm I guess it's good to exit students, but I worry that um I mean, that fourth grade exit kids from like an IEP. What if something else comes along? What if some comprehension like comes up later because I mean, my daughter's still she has a 504 and I keep it all the way through college just because I mean she's fine.
065She's going to graduate, but I mean what if something happened? What if she struggled? I mean, how was I to know that if they if you exit? I I mean, I think with Yeah, that is a valid concern and I we have this conversation with parents when we are exiting students from an IEP that, you know, right now they're where we need them to be and that they've closed that grade level gap, but it's not that we'll just let them flounder if something else comes up, right? we would have to start that evaluation process and and figure out is it because of a a disability that is getting in the way of moving forward, but they're not left hanging out to dry, right? We would still have our intervention time. And we would still have
066supports there for students um if needed and they would obviously be on a list of kids that we still need to be aware of and and watch how they're doing to make sure that they're able to be successful moving forward. And same to your point with the 504 is all those accommodate that often happens is you have accommodations in an IEP. The ones we see most like time and a half on test smaller with a you know smaller group for testing things like that. All of those you can then take out if they graduate from their IP and they're meeting those goals which is great then you can put that into a 504 and still have those accommodations to help them be successful. They're just not having that individualized instruction from that special ed teacher
067in a very there's other things to it as well, but the bigger things are those two. Yeah. I mean, at least if you have a five or four IV band, you have documentation though, too. If you're complete accident, then you won't have documentation. You have to be re-evaluated all all, right? And that old IEP does stay in that student's file. So, those are things that you can continue to look at after the fact. So even if let's say 3 years down the road we're struggling again that you can look at that and use that as well to help with uh making some adjustments and informed decisions. Any other questions? I just want to say that's been a heavy lift for them. Um and the teachers have put a lot of hard work very very hard
068work. uh yeah into um the last couple years um of really changing some of their their practices, pedigogy and how they approach um some of some of their instruction and uh and we know teachers are the number one factor in student success but right close behind the principles and so that's a huge huge um uh it's contributed also to the work of Kirk and Dawn in leading that campus and leading uh leading those things really given their teachers the support and encouragement and sometimes that gentle nudge. Um, and and it's not always easy for them. Um, you know, and and so I appreciate their efforts. Uh, and it's awesome when you see data like this. You see growth across the board and that's that's all you can ask for. That's what you want, you know,
069that's kind of the so we we now we got to sustain that and keep that moving forward. But awesome job to you, too. Thank you. Yeah. I would also even tack on the fact of moving buildings, too. That's just another layer of diff. We don't have to do that again. It's fine. We'll put that on pause. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah, that was Thank you very much. All right, the next thing is good news. We have a Head Start agreement for next year. Um, the agreements included in the packet. Um, so this is a renewal of our services with Community Action of Eastern Iowa. Um, for those low-income students that qualify for Head Start, um, they're allowing us 34 spots for next year. Um, I know there's always the possibility of more if we have
070more need and they have spots in other places because we have 34 last year, too, or do we have more? Yeah, it was 34 to start and then they other they allowed us to go up to 42 since they had other spots from other buildings and districts that they didn't fill that they wanted to fill so they gave them to us. So it's possible that that would happen again this next year. Do you have any numbers like I know has pre registration even started? I know some of the but yeah so I haven't looked in like two weeks so it might be old day be old data um but including if we include the three-year-olds coming as well because we have to have slots for them too I think we're at 63 right now so
071it's it's it's a smaller class for sure it's smaller than the current preschool class that we have 63 do you think it would grow significantly or do you think that's probably going to that's often times August you get some you get a lot of August is always the wild card because you never know um but we definitely had many we had more registrations last year at this time than we than we currently do. So I don't know exactly what that number is but um enough so that we were preparing five classrooms instead of four classrooms like we are for next year. Each classroom has about 16 between 15 and 16 students in including three-year-olds for four classes as of right now for next year. So, the funding is solid then because last time it was
072a big question. I'd say since they're sending this out, they're they're confident in that for sure. And that other um grant we had mentioned, the shared visions, they kind of put a pause on that. Basically, everyone that's currently getting it this year, they should have had to reapply for next year. Now, they extended that to anyone um that's currently getting it one more year. So, we'll see if something comes out next um all spring, the the following year hopefully. And the new one that parents have asked me about that the governor signed the daycare school partnership is we don't qualify for that because we we would technically be both. It has to be two separate entities for that to work. So, I was sharing with Carol this oral health practices. I worked at the Head
073Start. And did they did they do the toothbrush thing? Yep. Okay. Yep. Toothbrushing every day after the lunch, recess, teeth brushing, and then nap time. No, that was a big The teachers did not like to watch kids spend there. There's enjoy doing all of it. I think it does happen. Yes, it does happen. Yes. For sure has offered to help train because toothbrushing is a real hard to do it right. She's offered to help she awesome. Thank you. Make a motion. I'll second and then I'll be all in favor. And then the So our next item is this um AEA transfer of state funding. So basically um our local Mississippi Bend AEA is asking us to sign this agreement. Um previously money we had to record basically a cash receipt and a flow out of
074money from state aid to the AEA's um monthly but we never actually saw the cash. it was just kind of on our books. Um now with all the changes um the money is coming to us and then 90% of that has to be sent to the AAS. So now um this agreement is just basically saying we don't have to wait for the board to approve every month that we can send this money at within five days of us receiving it. We will send it to the AA. Um so just kind of gets a process going. So they'll hold us on our end of their get the money and they're doing this with every district in our region and I'm sure every a state mandated agreement that they have to have the district sign these um
075I don't know what we have to give them the money regardless. So yeah I think the ADA wants a little confirmation that so they know when they're going to get the money because that's how they function. So, I'll make a motion to approve the AA transfer of state funds. A second. All in favor? I um All right. The next thing is the storm protection fund 2018 agreement. in the packet up presentation they've shared why we're doing this. Um so basically the insurance companies have changed to require a 1% deductible on any wind or hail damage. Um but this 1% applies to buildings separately. So when we had um the damage last year, was that last year to the elementary? Um no matter what building had damage, we had to pay one lump sum um $25,000
076deductible. Oh my god. That covered then higher. If something happened at the high school, elementary, didn't matter. It was $25,000. So now this 1% deductible, let's say the rope comes off the elementary. Now you have to pay forms tomorrow and we're talking about the so we have to pay 1% of the elementary building cost as a deductible and then 1% of the contents inside the building. Um and then let's say also there's some damage to the high school. So then it's 1% of the high school's value um added on to that which as you can imagine could get pretty costly. Um and we pay all of our property insurance out of the management fund. We levy we can basically control that levy but it's very hard to predict this. Like you're not going to throw
077in hundreds of thousands of dollars into this when you're you don't really know what's going to happen. Plus, now with the new um stuff going through the property tax bill, a part of that is they're limiting school districts um levy or how much money they carry over in their management fund per year. So, if you can't build up a balance in there, you can't really fund this stuff if it were to happen. So now all the school districts um not all but a a good portion of school districts in Iowa are coming together to have this 28e agreement where we're basically making our own insurance um to help prevent that. So this is kind of what I talked about the claim example. Um, so you're looking at I mean those are some very expensive buildings
078but um at a larger school $890,000 1% deductible right there. Like there's no way um we could just pay that out from our management fund. So um there these were kind of the options they went through and there is some buy down insurance. um build rely on our own ones which we see might not work and then cross fingers and hope for the best. Um so it's basically a poolled loss fund. Um they determine based on enrollment sizes uh how much each district would contribute. Um I want to say ours was around 30,000 um that we would and then as that builds up that could be reduced. There's no um there's nothing that or prevents us from leaving. Um there's no like fees or anything like that. Um so and it's only for schools um
079that are going to be in this. So kind of have each other's backs in that sense and then like I said we can they can make changes um year to year like let's say our balance gets up to kind of where we think it needs to be and so maybe we don't contribute as much that year but it's just kind of that safety net for this and let's hope we don't have those crazy storms but it's been huge years. Yeah. Well, I feel the only thing we can count on this crazy year. Yeah, I feel like every year there's Right. So, this they kind of go through what their um what they want their loss fund at and their protection and that based on you know history, you know, what we would need in there.
080Um we would hope that not everybody would need it all at the same time. Um, so you just submit like your what is them or like how Yeah. So if something were to happen then um board or Yeah. Yep. They'll have a board and it'll be comprised of people from different districts. They want to have some big districts, some small districts have a um good mix. Um So, right now, I mean, they're still kind of in the planning phases of how the board's going to go together, but they kind of want an idea of how many school districts are joining in order to kind of determine what they're going to be. Yeah, there's a list of initial guess is the EMC that insurance company is at. you're familiar with them. AMC is our who holds
081our property insurance. Yes. And who holds a big portion of all the school districts in Iowa. So that's why they're kind of stepping up. Well, no, this is separate from EMC. So EMC is the ones putting this 1% deductible. So now the school districts and this is led by um Jester which is one of the agency insurance agencies um that they use EMC a lot for theirs. So we work with them and this is also brought on you said because of that new they're talking about changing the property tax and right um I mean that had a little port part to do because they know if they're going to limit our management funds we can't build up a a balance there then you know that takes off takes away another way to combat the 1%
082[Music] So the motion is to participate in the fund and then from there we get more details of a different vote maybe then um yes this is basically the actual 20 agreement to yeah be part of this basically await that we're creating insurance internally outside of an insurance agency and once it's like ratified and all that. So we would get another review. Yeah. To formally join the cohort. Yeah. Or not. Yeah. There's a documents in here. I mean, this is basically saying we're going to be part of it. Um we haven't gotten like our invoice or whatever to that'll be brought to you guys to another board for you to be on. Yeah. Right. This this is it's it's a tough one, right? Because if if you have a another datio come through or some
083severe or major weather event and you're having to pay 1% you have a 1% deductible, that's a huge deductible. Could be two three $400,000 that you're paying out of your management fund when normally it would have been 25,000 or before it probably would have even been less. But we've all seen that, right? There's people getting dropped from their insurance for various things. 100% all insurance is going up, especially wind and hail, and that's what this is. And so, they're trying to come up with a way um how can we help districts, you know, just do this risk pool just to help them cover basically your insurance for your deductible. Um so that you're not all of a sudden is a sad day, but yeah, you get a catastrophe and now your management fund is eaten
084up. Yeah. and you still have other things that come out of your management fund and now you're sitting there scrambling taking money from your general fund and I mean it it's it's fine if you're sitting well but if you're you know you're kind of right there um when your balances are kind of low and you know that could really sink sink a district if you did have that catastrophe come through and so that's what this does it gives districts at least a little security there I mean obviously it's it's at a price um but you 25 or 30, whatever it ends up being for our district versus, you know, potentially two 300 $400,000 in major, you know, in catastrophic event. It's it's quite a difference. And so that that's what um we both sat in
085those webinars. Aby's been quite involved in learning about that as well as you can tell. So just trying to figure out you really it's just you want to take that risk. You want to leave it all in the management fund or have a little security here have a little little assistance should something happen. I make a motion to roll right. Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. Sorry. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Oh, wow. We're all public today. The next three are all first reading of board policies and this is the first time that they're being reviewed within our new board policy software. So they're all included in that one PDF in the board packet. Are the changes the ones mandated from the state or are they? Yeah. Um yeah through 106 is just our we're we got to the
086end. So basically starting from the beginning um to go through because we have to review all policies within a fiveyear time. Um and then this 605.08 that is a new one, right? I think it's with AI stuff. Yes. Um and then the 704.02. So that was something that when we did um when we're going through all this bond stuff, this is um one that they asked us to update. um allers did and gave us this example policy that just goes more into debt on bond debt and issuance and all stuff. So that's directly from them as well. We'll have second readings of all those Yeah. So there's Yeah. I was reading through and I'm like it's a good thing it's only first because I'm I'm barely getting verified. And you were saying the green is
087mandate. What were you saying about the different coloring? Sean, that's the ISB updates. Okay. That's just the language that's being changed struck struck. Okay. just slowly a few commendations for the report today. Um, so we'll get going on the milister missile arena. Uh I want to do commend Walter Pon. Uh he was um chosen as the RBC boys soccer coach of the year. So very welldeserved accolades for him. As well as Nick Friends was um voted the RBC boys go golf coach of the year. So a lot of success um and welldeserve accolades for those two um this spring for their coaching. Um and congratulations to Payton Moss. She won the 100 meter wheelchair state championship for back-to-back years, the state event. And then Riker Dangler um was the 400 meter hurdles state champion. Big
088accomplishment for him as well. Then our boys golf teammate state and they ended up placing uh 10th as a team at the state meet. So kudosh to them on their hard work. quite an accomplishment just to just just to make it to state. Um and kudos as well to all the other athletes, student athletes and coaches on their spring success. It's been a been a good spring so far. Wrapping up, um I think our we have soccer boys are are playing um at state as we speak. Um so kudos to them for making it there. Hope they're doing well. They're gone. Hopefully they come back and and can take care of business there. Um, but pretty amazing. Uh, this is the sixth straight year that our boys soccer team has made it to state. So,
089best of luck to them in the second half of their their game today. Um, congratulations to our elementary, middle school, and high school uh, on their outstanding achievements this year. As you heard from Kirk and Dawn, um, some, you know, we meet and talk about this stuff in the summer, goal setting, looking at data, reviewing those things. Buildings go back through the BLTs, um, come up with their specific plans. Um, I know they have a lot of, uh, dedicated time throughout the year. um you know, we added on that that half hour PD um on Wednesdays for early outs and uh so they're putting that time uh to to very good use um and uh it's great to see their their efforts paying off um across the board. So um kudos to our our teachers
090and all their hard work as well as the administrators. And then for Mrs. Arthur Miller. She want to say thank you to all the teachers for their work with the seniors as well as a special thanks to Meredith Shawn, Megan Forbes, Steph Ramsey, and Andrea Schulty and the office staff for all their behind the scenes work to make graduation run smoothly. And I would just add to that uh thanks to Brian Rants, um Mrs. Smith and and Mr. Simpson and Vans choirs, um the custodians, everybody who cleans up, sets up, and then also to Bren Brener, Mrs. Arthur Miller does a great job of of planning all that along with them, coordinating everything um to to help make that run smoothly for our graduates. And then last uh obviously congratulations to a graduating class of
0912025. Um outstanding class and just want to wish them the best luck with their future endeavors. An acknowledgement too. Um, so the Westery Dream Catchers hosted their annual golf tournament and the Westbury Community School District team won led by Shawn and I have this really goddy trophy. It has your name on it. I didn't I was going to wear it, but I didn't. But I'll give it to you and you can display it in your office. We were victorious. reason for that. We had a give team. We had a very good windy day. That was It was Yeah, it was nice. Fun tournament. Thanks for putting that on and great organization. Most kids. Yeah. Yeah. Personnel. Um couple resations. One that we um added there for the amendment, high school English teacher. who is our
092high school summer school teachers and then um Macintosh fifth grade social studies science teacher. I'll make a motion to approval. I'll second. All right. So now our next meeting is Monday, June 16th at 6 and we'll do the second readings which might take us a while to get through all the second readings and then we will have the superintendent evaluation. Um I did um send out the materials and those right materials right Sean and then so we'll go through that um at the next meeting. So a motion to adjourn I think I need a motion. Okay. Second. All right.