001Call the meeting to order and roll call. Comed here. Rap. Yeah. Here. Landers. Yes. Here. Cos here. Schroeder. Yes. Espinosa here. Williams. Can we rise for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And just so uh um you all know uh you should have it in front of you. I took all of the kind of organization stuff and really kind of really separated out into like individual motions so it's kind of really easy to follow. Yeah. Do we have a motion to approve the regular meeting agenda? I move to approve agenda in a second. I'll second. Sorry. Sorry. I don't No voices. Okay. Yes. Landers. Yes. C. Yes.
002Schroeder. Yes. Espinosa. Yes. And Kas. Yes. Do we have any public comments? All right. We have a motion to approve consent agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Say what it is. Oh, I don't have it. Sorry. Um, oh, acknowledgement of certified results of the April 1st, 2025 election. Sorry. And a second. A second. And and those you have a paper copy right in front of you as well. Lander, yes. Coster, yes. Espinosa, comeas. Yes. And rap. Yes. Okay. Need to we need to call motion to adjourn. Okay. Yes. The current board. Could we have a motion to adjourn the current board? I'll make a motion to approve the adjournment of the current board. Second roll call. Cost. Yes. Schroeder. Yes. Espinosa. Yes. Comeas. Yes. Rap. Yes. Landers. Yes. All right. So,
003at this point, we thank Holly for her service. We will have two positions open for appointment, and we hope that you will consider one of them. Um, we will be advertising for those openings tomorrow, right? Yep. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Okay. Okie dokie. All right. So, if we could have a motion to approve our superintendent as president and roll call. Shredder. Yes. Espinosa. Yes. Comeas. Yes. Landers. Yes. And yes. Yeah. Exciting. Exciting. Um so yeah before we um before we get to the discussion that Tesa was um just getting ready to start about appointing new board members um just want to take the opportunity uh you know I just in my travels recently had some really great feedback about some of the things that are going on in the organization and
004you know some really positive vibes uh really positive culture and as we continue to move forward um and do really good things not only for adults but especially for and just want to reinforce that none of that it all starts at the top and you're the top and couldn't do any of that without your support, without your engagement. And so just, you know, I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm going to retire here. And and the main reason for that, a big part of it is how wonderful it is to work with a supportive, engaging school board. and can't say enough about, you know, how much uh your support means not only to me but the organization. So again, our heartfelt thanks before we kind of move into the next phase of our
005uh of our work together. Um so as Teresa was alluding to, we do have one seat um from in town that needs an appointment. We also have one seat from out of town that needs appointment. And so Teresa, you were saying a little bit about your thoughts on that. So my thoughts were that we would post those beginning tomorrow as an opening for application and encourage Holly rep to apply if she's interested in continuing as well as any other community member that would be eligible to serve in the role and then with the hopes that at our next meeting we're planning that. So this would be the only business we would conduct as a board of five. There any thoughts differently about that? No, I was mentioned before, I feel like when there was an
006opening with Kristen that we just said, "Okay, keep going and keep rolling." It does not make much of me one way or the other, but So then am I hearing the consensus is to advertise it with a deadline? So maybe like a two week deadline. So we have time to look at the plethora of submissions that we'll certainly have for sure. And correct me if I'm wrong, we probably already have like an application. Yep. We've done this before for sure. And then we had just if we follow the same processes in the past once those applicants were in the I had gotten emails from the district office and then I sent that form out to them. They asked more details about like why you're interested and you know all those kind of things and then
007I just shared the response sheet with the whole word to review those responses. So if we want to do that again I can pass that along to we'll send it out and have all that just personal information to get to know people so when they come in we having to start off from scratch. So just so that it doesn't possibly get uh awkward isn't saying that she's going to then apply again but only if there was no other option. Correct. I I I plan on if I would reserve um like even if there wasn't it's not a like if other people apply that you know what I mean um my plan would be to continue serving if if given the opportunity kind of like what Kristen did previously. Um like I said I've enjoyed being
008on the board. Um I think it's always been educational for me. Um, so you know what I mean? If it's just me, you know what I mean? Yeah. Um, but even if there's other people and if you guys choose that the other person's better than me, you know, it's kind of like an interview, you know what I mean? Oh, I I guess really just wondering if you were going to go through the Yeah. little tiny You plan on applying? I do plan on applying. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Yes. Very good. Very good. So, um, so I have my, uh, direction and orders on that. So, um, that being said, I will, um, take any nominations for board president. I nominate Teresa for president. Okay. So, we have Tes nominated. Any other nominations?
009No. Any Are you nominating yourself, too? Any any additional any additional nominations other than Teresa? Well, I guess I'll give the old vice president title. No, no, no. We know we got a new president first. You're all right. Any others? There's obviously a no. Let's move on. Okay. So, if there's a process to say it. So, that being said, can I get a motion to close nominations? I move to close nominations and a second. I'll second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Thank you all. Again, we will We'll move to vice president. Do we have a motion for um or a nomination for the position of vice president? Staying quiet over here. You're up. You're up. President have a nomination for Sarah Landers. Vice president. Do we have any Other nominations for
010vice president? No other nominations. We have a motion to close nominations. A motion to second a second. Guess we can just do the say on these ones, right? Okay. So, say all those in favor say I. Any opposed? Okay. Could we then have a motion? Right. Or do you want to do all of them first? Yeah. So I don't have to specifically say her name to motion this yet. Um we we did the nominations. Okay. As long as it's not contested. Yep. Okay. So now we will open up the floor for nominations for the position of education secretary. Do we have any nominations for this position? I nominate Amanda for secretary. She wants it. Okay, we have one nomination for Amanda. Great job. Hello. Hi. Um, okay. So, we will ask again. Are there any
011other nominations for the position of secretary? Hearing none. Um, could all of those in favor Oh, we need a motion first to close nominations for board of education secretary for the motion. Make a motion to close and a second. Second. Okay. Amanda seconded. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right, we are fully exec staffed. So now we are moving along to our regularly scheduled meeting dates and times, right? Yep, you got it. Yep. So if we could So currently that is standing as the fourth Thursday. Third third Thursday of the month with a couple exceptions with a couple exceptions at 6:30. That's our regular meeting schedule. So, could we have a motion to approve our regular meeting schedule date and time? I move to approve the prior regular board education meeting
012times and date. A second roll. Yes. Landers. Yes. C. Yes. Schroeder. Yes. Espinosa. Okay. Moving to the prior board rules, policies, practices, and contracts. Um, so operating as prior state current state as of five minutes ago. Any questions on that? Okay. Someone make a motion to approve those. I'll make a motion to approve fire policies, practices, and contracts. Any other roll call? Landers. Yes. Yes. Yes. Esposa. Yes. Yes. Okay. We have a motion for the consent agenda in item section 8. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda including April one of minutes. April two of bills. April three district treasur report. April four impress report and April 5. Motion. Second. Yeah. And just a quick note um you have in front of you um a revised personnel report. Um we um if you'll recall
013um fourth grade teacher Valerie Chase is moving south and so um her replacement is going to be Rosa Espinosa who's a long time here in Midot. We're excited that she's moving back to the area and she's going to be working over. on your personal call for Shredder. Yes. Espanza. Yes. Yes. Landers. Yes. 9.1. I know there's foyers. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And I didn't I didn't bring the list, but um I updated you um in your um in your board. We we really think a lot of them are starting to be AI generated now which is just it's a huge frustration but um again we have to comply with everything um and the best that we can so none none of them are local you know I really I really find that they see the
014value when somebody you know in your town foy something they want to take a look at something see what you're doing there value in that when it's somebody from Delaware who's in a foyer every school district in the country it's Come on. So, but we're complying what we want. Big for sure. Okay, we'll move on to our administrator efforts. Yeah. Before we get to our presentations, um I just wanted to follow up. Uh the last meeting we had a conversation about um about student fees and outstanding student fees and kind of what that looks like. We had some good conversations internally and um the we're going to continue kind of business as usual in our attempts buildings by building to get those fees collected. Um and then when they reach a $750 threshold as a
015family turned over to the district office and the district office will take care of it kind of a higher level and so at no point in time will the will the kids are involved in any of that. So yep. So we're going to take care of that. Um also, um on our on our um as as you pay fees, there's a credit card fee and um there there had always been there's always been a flat $3 fee. Um we're able to change that now so it's a 3% fee depending on the size of the transaction. So um we thought maybe been able to get that changed until this summer, but I think we've actually already got it changed. So, appreciate huge win. Appreciate those work. Um, we're excited about Tuesday's wellness screen. We have almost
01660 people signed up um staff and and spouses and so continue to move that along. Um, Sarah can talk a little bit more about the um the health insurance committee that met. Um, she was there for that. And then also next week, Wednesday, I get to present the whole staff on um I got a list of dos and don'ts at work from the our attorneys. And so I get to share some of that with the staff. Looking forward to it. I don't get to I don't get to get in front of everybody. So it'll be fun. Welcome for sure. Well, Stacy's actually welcome welcoming us, right? Welcome. because um as we sit here and what has since I've been here generic waiting for kids the fancy orange so blackstone principal Stacy Kelly take all right
017so Mr. Cox asked me to put together some pictures of things that have taken place this year. Turn the lights down if that's okay. So you can see I tried to pick different things that I did not show you last year. Um sorry it might have to get darker. Um so I left out like pictures from Halloween and Christmas and all that kind of stuff I think. But um just a few things I want to highlight that we've done. Um popsicles with the principal is something I do every August before school starts. Welcome kindergarteners into um the school to the playground. Invite their parents to come. They get popsicles. They run around and play. And it's just super fun for them to get a little bit more comfortable before they start. And I've seen a
018lot of parents networking, exchanging numbers. So that's kind of fun, too. um just before school starts to give them that opportunity. It was hard to narrow down on my pictures. I'm a picture freak. Um grandparents day we had in September. We um you know during COVID and when things were kind of sketchy and we couldn't be around everybody as much, we did not do it and it's something that we missed. And so we've brought that back. We had grandparents come in. They got to visit classrooms. Um we had a little photo op set up for them. them. We serve cookies and lemonade and it was just kind of fun. It was just an open house, nothing formal, but it was fun for the kids to get their grandparents in. They didn't have grandparents, they were
019welcome to bring special friends or, you know, even neighbors or other family members that they could bring because not everybody had a grandparent. So, um, that was a super cool event. We had a huge turnout. Parking was a big problem. Um, Prescott's was wonderful and they let us park staff vehicles over there in their lot for that day. And so that did open up some. But um we have worked with the high school on several things. So I did want to kind of touch on that and just highlight some things. Um they've been great to work with. Um one of the things we um Whoa. We um had our Christmas program at the at the auditorium again this year. So there's a picture up there of that. Um, we had this year the FFA came
020and there's a couple pictures of that. That was amazing. They came in the fall and they read a story to the kids and they did all kindergarten and first grade. They read a story about um planting a pumpkin and how it grows and things like that. And then they made pumpkin pie in a bag. So, they all got to eat that. So, that was super fun. The the FFA girls, they were girls that came um had a great time with that. Um the bottom picture down there, we just had the um Brenda Carbajal took the um I think it was the Spanish Honor Society is who did it. They did a collection of books and um they distributed them to the schools. All North Brook and Lincoln got some too. And so they all of
021our kids that were in bilingual or ESL classes got to take books home and they were super excited to pick those out. Um homecoming, we always have the high school come. They bring um student athletes from every fall sport, talk to our kids about how to work hard in school and um what homecoming means to them and why it's fun. And so we before school that day, the fire alarm went off. Oh no. And we um were like, "Okay, you know, everybody had to evacuate." We come back in. I'm thinking, "Okay, so we're getting ready for the assembly." And I walk in and I I said, "Watch it go off again while we're all in the gym." And it did. We all just got seated, got ready to start. So, we just evacuated to the
022blacktop and I said to Brock, Zinc, we'll have it outside. So, it worked out great. Um, I didn't have any pictures of our National Honor Society tutoring program. Um, we do have one of Ella Martin there with a little girl. She was here for homecoming. Um, but Ella is one of our National Honor Society students that came and volunteered once a week in classrooms and we had about probably eight kids that came during the semester and work with some of our students. So, that's been a great thing, too. Um, and then I had a couple pictures that we um supported the soccer team when they went to state. All three schools made signs and um went out and waved to them as they left town. So, it's great working with the high school and getting
023their kids here and our kids to work with them as well. It's fun. We continue our kindness projects. We change them um every year. So, we've done some different ones here this year. We still have the be the eye and kind. As you walked in, you saw cereal out there. We're currently donating or collecting cereal for the Manona food pantry because we did hear that that's one thing that they're very low on. Um we did snacks for the fire department when it was fire prevention week. We did um around Veterans Day in November, that top left picture, we did um puzzle books for the veterans home, we purchased large print puzzle books and we took them down to the veterans home. Um we did a Kleenex drive. We did Valentine's Day, we did cards for
024mass and that was wonderful. um they were able to distribute them at their mass events and then they kept them on the bus as they went around town and and dropped residents off and you know we got we got a couple phone calls from the residents of Modota that got them and they were really touched. Um we also do some once in a while like that pot of gold that was a take-home one where they had to do kind things with their family at home. So we continue to encourage that. uh first grade field trip went to Boios after they did a fall unit. They had a lot of fun there. As you can see, they got to pick pumpkins and play and and have fun and learn about some of the animals there. Uh
025kindergarten has not gone on theirs yet. It's May 13th. They'll be going back to Wood Haven where they do some nature lessons with them. They get to play and um they learn a lot about nature while they're there. Some cool science stuff. This is new that we did this year. So, with our new reading series, you probably I think last time I presented, I talked about how we have a skills section and a knowledge section. And in one of our kindergarten units for the knowledge section, they talked about Native Americans. And Sheila Bettner, who's probably out in the hallway out there in the pink shirt, she's one of our night custodians. And she got to talking to one of the teachers about all of the artifacts that she had from her family and her experiences
026and her culture and and things like that. And so every kindergarten class got to come and she did a little presentation for them and talked about what things meant and it really correlated to what they were learning in the classroom and it was super cool. The kids loved it. Um so we've signed her up for next year already too. Okay, first grade. Here's an example of uh reading in Mrs. Tally's win class. This year our first graders switch and go to a a different win class. win stands for what I need. So they're they're put um Mrs. Tally has one of the higher groups. So they did a reader theater recently where they went and acted out um why the crayon uh was it why the crayon quit red hen and um what was the
027other one? If you give a mouse a cookie. So they went around to all the classes, presented these to the students and did a little play. But it was super fun. They enjoyed doing it and the kids loved to see it. 100th day of school. Big day around here. We dressed up as 100 year olds and did lots of 100 day activities in the classroom. Mrs. Gallagher did a great job of tying things in um with PE and other classes did as well for the hundth day. I like how these little ones are hunched over over here like their back hurts. That was pretty fun. Uh, Paw Pride assemblies seem to be or continue to be a big deal to the little ones here at Blackstone. Every month we have a half-day dismissal. We meet
028in the gym about 10:45. Our students have a chance to earn a golden ticket every day for good behavior and it goes in their classroom bucket. And we come to the gym and we're playing fun loud music and they each class dumps their golden tickets in the big bucket and then we draw names for kids who get to play games. And then after we play the game, we get to um draw names for kids to win prizes. Um we really give out some great prizes. We give out the popular ones are Squishallows, Legos sets, um Barbies, um Play-Doh sets, like the kits and things like that. Um but that is one of the things that our uh the pastry puff fundraiser that we do in the fall, we allocate that money that we make to
029buy prizes for the kids throughout the year. So, um I just had a couple pictures of games we played. Um we have, you know, some whipped cream in the face there. And we did a we were searching for gold in our black garbage bag pots of um that was the March one. A lot of times we tie it into the monthly theme or a holiday dance party. Probably the most exhausting day of the school year for me so far. Um but so much fun. We did a glow party as a trimester paw pride reward this year and the kids all got a pair of the glow glasses, the um glow necklaces. We had, as you can see, some strobe lights going and it wasn't completely dark in there, but we did try to cover the
030windows up a little bit, make it a little bit darker, but it was so much fun and they were a sweaty mess. And thank you for the air conditioning because it's way better than it used to be. Um, so it was a lot of fun for the kids that earned their behavior reward and all of our classes ended up earning it. So it was a lot of fun. Another trimester reward we did. This was super cool. Mr. Cox got to walk in and I should have put the picture with you up there. Sorry. Um, this the kids loved this. This was a reptile assembly that we had in the fall. That is a 10-ft python that he brought. Uh you can see a big tortoise. He had all kinds of, you know, iguanas and frogs
031and it was very interactive with the kids. The kids loved it. He talked to them about the animals and did some science stuff with them. Everyone got to pet the snake as they left the gym if they wanted to. We didn't make anyone. Um that was really a cool experience for the kids and something different that we hadn't done as an assembly for a while. So that was really fun. Right before spring break, we had an Easter egg hunt. Um, we hid eggs. No, we didn't. Parents did. Mrs. Landers was here to help hide eggs. We had parent volunteers. Um, the kids got to go out and find Easter eggs. And um, they really had a good time. And I did. And the weather was terrible. The weather was great. Yeah, it really was. So,
032that was a lot of fun. Again, um these are things that we have funded through like our fundraising stuff to buy the eggs and and things like that for the kids um to enjoy. All kids got to enjoy it. So, that was a lot of fun. I didn't get to enjoy it. I was in here in IEP meetings all day. Uh and our last trimester reward party will be bounce houses. And these um will be outside. So, we'll have an end of the year party. I think it's the 27th that Tuesday and kids will get to enjoy boxes and all kinds of fun stuff for their behavior reward. That's all I have. Do you have any questions about anything? No. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And I love I love the direct correlation. Um, we did
033the fundraiser in the hall, you know. So, no, great, great stuff, Principal Kelly. Thank you. And then, uh, Tyler Pierce is here. He's gonna talk for a quick minute about some curriculum stuff. I don't have pictures. [Music] Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So, I just wanted to take a few moments kind of update you where we're at curriculum wise. Uh obviously there's everyone's on a different cycle. So, it's kind of kind of run through where everything's kind of sitting right now. Uh math, uh we are in HMH, uh go math with K5 into math. This is actually completing the second year of our adoption of that. Uh it's been some really great rollouts, some good conversations. Year two is always so much happier for teachers than year one. They're more comfortable. They kind of, you
034know, fall into a routine. They know what to expect all the time. Uh so that's been really great. Uh we do have a PD uh set up for in person. They'll come out in the fall and they kind of we kind of set it up so teachers go in small groups and can ask questions, troubleshoot. Obviously, all these companies will answer questions at any time there's a concern. Uh but teachers you know sometimes say I don't want to bother you and but when they get in a room with somebody like their three you know colleagues are like well what about this and so it's kind of great they come out uh they also HMH is really good they have something called coachly uh which uh we have subscriptions available especially for new teachers coming in
035who weren't part of the adoption roll out uh it could be helpful where uh you can set up basically virtual sessions throughout the year could be formal informal however you want to do it where you can check in with kind of like your own individual coach. They'll walk you through whatever problems or concerns you're having. Uh so far teachers have not taken a major advantage of that, but we also had a lot of teachers who weren't here for a while. So next year, particularly at Lincoln, I think it's going to be more used with multiple new teachers coming in. Uh so that's going be a nice little addition there. ELA, uh K2, uh we're finishing up our first year of CLA from Amplify. 35 will be rolling that out in the fall. So we'll have
036a full K5 roll out there. Uh we do have multiple inperson trainings set up kind of the same thing as someone with HMH bath where they'll come in uh they'll kind of go grade by grade because of the the high need of that. It's a very heavy curriculum. Uh teachers are are loving it but it is a challenge because it is a new way to approach things. Uh we are seeing some really great dividends in the classrooms. Uh uh particularly with our Caminos which is our K2 Spanish uh parallel program. Uh again, part of the struggle there is no matter how great the program is, it's never, no matter what the problems are, it's never as fully uh ready for the classroom and on par with the English program. So, what we're doing is making
037sure we're getting our teachers all the extra training. We've actually put them in touch with other districts who've been using Cabinos. So, we're kind of building a network community where it's like, hey, what are you guys doing? What have you found that worked? uh trying to make sure that any gaps that there are uh we're finding solutions for them. I know they've all been really appreciated. Uh six through eight is uh using HMH's into literature. Uh they're finished in the first year of that this year. Uh again, we actually have a PD tomorrow for that. Uh and that's adopted for the reading uh program, reading teachers at Northbrook. Uh but they actually the language art teachers are kind of like, oh, we kind of like this program. And so it's kind of blending that together
038in a way that we haven't done in a long time. Uh we're actually bringing in the language arts teachers for the second half of the training tomorrow. Uh particularly for the parts called writable which is a writing program. Uh but it's really integrated with literature. Gives them great opportunities to kind of grow that and works both you know both both sides of teachers. They've all been like this. Again it's just kind of like it's really cool to see teachers get excited about having to learn something new that is make you know making their lives better. But at the same time, it it is hard. It's a new curriculum. Uh most people are not excited about having to learn something new, even if they want new. Uh it's it's a challenge. So they're doing awesome. Social
039studies, we're starting the process uh getting uh samples in. Next year will be the adoption uh going through uh narrowing it down for particularly the junior high is the major focus there. Uh we we're continuing to have conversations. We'll have it in CSS committee as well as per grade for the lower grades. Uh currently they have Sabbaths on the lower rings. Uh it's a full book and there's not enough time in the day to even take a dent out of that. So it's a conversation of how do we best serve their needs. One of the great things about our new amplify series with that knowledge piece uh is a great integration of a lot of social studies content information uh and you know to hear the kids talk about and teachers talk about like we
040were learning about India, we were learning like it's just great uh integration that we didn't have before. So that's a conversation we'll continue to have with social studies to figure out the best way to roll that out for them. Uh science uh junior high will I guess will officially be five now. Uh, open science uh, ed is the curriculum they've chosen. Uh, it's actually a free open platform. Open science ed is literally like three of the top five reviewed programs. Uh, and because one's completely open platform, free for use, updated every year. Uh, the other two are open science ed, but then they partner with like Kendall Hunt to print the stuff for you. Uh, our teachers are like, we're happy to use Google Chromebooks. We're happy to print what we need. Uh so that's
041kind of where that and then the funding that uh we necessarily put towards textbooks uh we can with uh good quality science kits that partner with open science edit. Uh the big thing with science these days the next generation science standards is hands-on experiential learning. Uh and open science edit does a great job. It's you learn the content to focus to let's do some hands-on experience. Let's figure out you know apply what we're learning. Uh it's one of those things I know you've done some in class. That's why that's so impactful is right, you're learning about it, then you actually get experience it. Uh so our science teachers are really excited. They actually went over today to Earlville. Earville's kind of rolled it out already. Uh so they observe some lessons over there. Uh we
042are working to bring in a trainer for them uh this summer as well kind of get the implementation going. Uh other big picture things just in general uh data. Uh next Wednesday admin team is meeting with ECA uh the company that we we've hired to kind of help break down data and look at some stuff. Uh they already sent us access to the platform and I don't know if Brad spoke around if you have Stacy. I was like I like numbers and it gives us a lot of great computational stuff that we just don't have the ability to mass scale have the time and energy and effort to do. It's going to give us great places to be able to look at for professional development and programming and figure out what's working well, how to
043improve. Uh and again it test data we talk about all the time. test data is not the be all end all any which way but it gives us indicators to help us look at focus also has a great inet in instate network and so we've already been invited over to um Troy which is a large elementary district in playing field and they've been using for years and so they they're hosting um a morning of these are some of the things that we do with it and I a bunch of other so it's like it's a fun little workshop and so we're really excited that as well. And then just kind of tying into data before I talk about the last little piece there. Uh I know I talked about in the fall how this summer
044I cut scores and all that stuff's being changed and updated. Uh which obviously we'll I'll share that once we have information. I'm sure Brad will share it too. Uh I went through a training over in Spring Valley and they were talk about it uh superintendent was there all stuff and kind of just presenting all changes. One of the things uh that's also going to happen the following year is they're going to update state report cards. So the metrics that we're looking at for state report cards is going to shift the following year. And they're like we don't know what that's going to look like yet, but they're going to do a whole listening tour and improve improving that throughout this coming school year. Uh and of course one of the things going on with the
045federal government, all those kind of questions of how much autonomy our state is going to have coming out of that uh will influence that. But again, any changes we'll make sure we share with everybody. Uh the last little piece there, uh one of the big things we always want to make sure is we're meeting our kids' needs. Uh particularly, uh we we work really hard with the intervention pieces for the lower kids, kids who are struggling, but we want to make sure we're also meeting the needs of our higherend kids, uh the kids who are outperforming uh their classroom peers. And so one of those conversations is developing a framework for acceleration uh particularly in math. each each grade fifth through eight has an accelerated math class. Uh but it's that conversation, especially now with
046fifth grade being departmentalized, it's possible. It's a conversation of what would it look like if a kid's in fifth grade is just so far beyond what criteria would we look at to put them in sixth grade math. Uh and it's one of those things we're better sort of doing that now, having those conversations, whether that's, you know, obviously national norms, but what cut mark do we want to go with? has class scores and teacher recommendation and parent support figuring out those standards and uh jester has been great sharing some stuff they did at Hley Big Rock. So it gives us a good platform. I some conversations Peru and Lasal as well kind of just kind of seeing what other districts are doing especially when they're kind of comparable to our size and our experiences. Uh
047again, nothing's set in stone, but we just kind of want to see uh and again, we want to make sure that we're doing what we can for the kids to accelerate, particularly in math is kind of the easiest one to focus on as opposed to like social studies. What does accelerated social studies look like? That'd be that's a pretty hard one, but math is a great one. It's very quantifiable compared to a lot of other subjects. Any question? So on that right now we have currently which accelerated levels seventh and eth. Well eth goes sixth and seventh and eighth. So we currently have a fifth grade and yeah and uh so like Vicky game has ran that for years. Obviously Angela Kent is taking over math for next year. Uh but yeah like sixth grade
048Mr. Artiaga has one in the afternoon. Yeah. So and obviously it ends with eighth grade. He used to be going to the high school, but I had one other question, but I think Sarah wrote down some, so I'll let her go first. Oh, I didn't write down questions. No questions. No, no, I was taking notes on all the things. Do you guys have any question? I'm excited about it. And I am working I didn't put it on there but uh our new uh STEM steam teacher uh Mary Cooper Schmidt we are working uh to kind of pick up a little bit more of a backbone curriculum uh for that. Uh that's one of those things that it's it's a hard situation just because especially K4 it's not like you're meeting every day there's but giving
049her a little bit more of a leg up to kind of come in too. So she's being a part of that process as well. So what is the current situation for social studies right now? So like what I mean what books we're using or Yeah. Like is it is it I know you said we're looking at Yeah. So So two through five is it in is in Sabis my world my perspective. Uh those all expire at the end of next school year and then junior high is in net geo. Uh and those expired next year as well. Okay. Uh and again like the conversation again looks looks very different. uh the junior high well I shouldn't say just junior high middle school now 5'8 uh is going to look and feel a little different because
050they're going to have especially fifth grade right now is going to have the full social studies period uh and so those conversations for example I've had with like Sarah Brandon and Chance who did the 68 social studies it's and they're content specialists so they tend to need less support from the material because they're bringing in all these outside sources which is great and they're they're they're valid sources uh uh but they need less support historically than the lower grades did who were again doing all the different subjects. They needed the package ready to go. So that's kind of been the historic difference. Uh it's a conversation I've had with the teachers every time we go through an adoption is we need to have real conversations of how you plan to utilize materials. If you're not
051going to utilize an online, you know, platform because you're doing these different activities like for example Brandon and Sarah do a lot of uh DBQs, document based questions and activities which you don't need the online platform for. We need to have that real conversation because we don't need to pay for the online platform and pieces for a 100 kids in each grade because everything costs dollars and that money could then be used utilized elsewhere in the district but also elsewhere in social studies program whether it's better maps whether it's updated uh to be a few questions activities uh paying for cool field trip or guest speaker all those things that we want to make sure we're just utilizing those dollars efficiently. That's why again the kind of open science that we're really excited it was
052their favorite platform and again I gave them the option we could go with a print partner uh or we can go open and they're like well junior high we already use Chromebooks all the time anyway it's not going to you know again we talked to Earlville they're like yeah it's fine it works out well we print what we need so they're excited to kind of take that on that we're excited to be able to take those get some that the funding had to go to textbooks to buy these quality kits that you know some pieces are going to be reasonable every year and other pieces like you buy or balloons for this activity. And that's, you know, they're already doing those things and it's kind of a nice little way to be able to package
053it all together. Can we tie the steam programs in with what the classes are doing currently? Uh they they try to as much as they can and that's a conversation especially in lower grades. uh again for how much time they get into science like currently been using uh mystery science uh and that's actually you know Brad and I uh well Brad brought them to us after his trip to New Orleans in the conference down there uh inquisitive science uh basically the same thing mystery science is doing for a fraction of the price so our teachers are actually kind of playing around with that right now uh and that's much more again like small bite-size uh science and there conversation trying to weave it into STEM seen. Yeah, I think um we've had the conversation. This
054new reading series has been amazing. I mean, it's there's been challenges as there are to any new series, but we're it has great dividends so far. Um but there's a lot of social studies and science embedded into the curriculum, into the knowledge piece. We're just getting our feet wet this year and kind of learning what those units are. Um but we have spoken with the new steam teacher and with the grade level teams like you know um first grade for example when they did the solar system that was part of their knowledge you did in reading they were reading about it they were writing about it now we want to bring steam in more to tie into some of those um themes and lessons and supplement what she could do in the steam room to
055go with that. We we do try to do that but our goal is to do more now. Um especially now that we have it mapped out for the year. Yes. Yeah. Again like we could we could see the scope and sequence ahead of time. Obviously that's how you live it and really you know get into the you know nitty-gritty details of how this is how is it actually presented all that kind of stuff. Uh and it gives us a much more uh active view of that. But also again Mary Cooper Smith the new person coming in first team uh is very much like yeah that's the best way. She's just she's just really excited like hey I want support you know support me give me ideas give me resources that she's happy to integrate into
056those classrooms and again that's part of what I part probably reason I love that series is that integration is key especially in you know K4 when you know you're getting seen you know not every day it's not it's not a set class where you're seeing that every single day or even every other day uh is one of those things that the more that could kind of build in what you're already doing so it's more familiar and it definitely enhances your experience in the literature side of things all that is something when we interviewed Mrs. Alers and I for that position stressed and talked about with the candidates was that's what we wanted to see more of. Is it the a similar project for each grade but increasing in brain power from kindergarten to fifth grade
057or there's definitely some overlap. Uh but like obviously it's something goes for like as you get older you can do a little bit more fine motor activities. Uh but it's also going to be just the concepts get a little bit more heavy a little bit bigger picture. Uh you know especially the early grades it's really more hands-on. It is much more like exploring uh and giving them concepts very basic concepts. But again it's like anything else like play with your own kids. Kids light up about that stuff. You know they they're very inquisitive. they see how the world works and they're asking questions and that's one of the the hardest things is you always as a teacher you always want to be able to go off of what they're doing. Uh but with a limited
058time you need to have that focus and that's where again the help of being able to integrate into Amplify but also again having kind of a core this is how we're going to grow that. Can you um quick just address I know with our last set of like report card data that we went through we were seeing some not super great results for some of our special education programming. Can you talk a little bit about like how this curriculum or if there's other curriculum addresses experience? Uh so one of the big things and it's a conversation that we've been having uh with Cara Rutherford throughout the whole year, you know, she was kind of filling in the in the student services role even before along with Paula. Uh one of the big things is making
059sure that the special ed teachers are using curriculum that the core teachers are using just at an appropriate level for those kids as opposed to something that's completely different. Uh so that because the goal is obviously we want kids to get back into the mainstream if they can uh and be supported. So that's one of the big things we're doing. Uh we're you know doubling down on trainings making sure everybody fully understands the curriculum. That's one of the biggest things. Uh I would say with you know Brad kind of coming in and also you guys support Brad and Brad supports us. Uh is I think some of the years in previous rollouts we didn't do enough continued support. So every kind of got it and then just didn't get important to year two or year
060three uh not only just with new teachers coming in but sometimes you just things pop up you know or you get farther because you now you're familiar so you can get through the curriculum a little bit quicker uh so some of those kind of questions come up so a lot of that uh kind of carries over I know uh there's conversations about looking at special ed how to make sure we serve our needs especially the lower grades like 24 uh talk about co-eing model a little bit for some of those classes yeah the The lack of a special education director has been very painful in a lot of ways this year. Um, but it really has allowed us to really kind of peel the curtain back and and really gain a lot of insight as
061to how the nuts and bolts of how things are or aren't working. And so really excited about some of the curricular instructional things we'll be able to do and especially moving forward. We're kind of approaching there are no sacred paths, right? It's one of those things everything has to be on the table just like when we have our CSS committees uh meetings and we're coming up May 9th I think is the next one. Uh you know the the team can bring the questions you know it's it's a group discussion again as administrators we obviously have our own views and thoughts uh but that doesn't mean our opinion automatically wins. It needs to be that you what's best for M289. Uh and you know it's kind of one of the refresher things about that. that I
062know sometimes it's hard if you're not part of the committee and you know the committee decides to do X. Sometimes it comes back and you're like well I don't want to do that. Okay, but it wasn't made in a vacuum. It wasn't like just you know Brad told every this is what we're doing that we had a lot of thoughtful discussion and it's hard when you're not involved in that but it's also you know we can't put 90 teachers in a room and have that kind of fruitful conversation in three hours. Uh we could but I don't I don't think it would go well. But no, again I'm you know as always if there's any questions anytime not just today but please let me know. Uh again I'm excited about the direction we're going loving
063the data pieces we're getting. Uh again just trying to put those pieces of the puzzle together and I I know the building principles are excited about the new staff members coming in. We've already hired and you know I'm I'm particularly excited for uh Rosa Espinosa. She's also bilingual, which is a great, you know, that's not the be all end all, but that is a great thing for this community and she has a strong reading specialist background. I just know her particularly, but her teachers are hiring her well, are very good, too. That's something that's going to be huge for I think one plug I just want to add at the very end is like whenever we can involve parents or educate parents because the idea of curriculum is hard especially because it does change so
064frequently and it does the resources change from grade to grade and so as much as we can either have on the website where parents can go and get resources or we can you know send home a couple times a year an update on things or how to access things. I know like when we brought the new math curriculum in years ago, there was like an open house parents could go to to learn how to use the online resources like I think as much as we can integrate that the better because I know most of these programs probably have more resources than we could ever really tap into, right? And so knowing so because I feel like I'm finding myself like youtubing because the things are so different than when we went to school, right? I
065know it's cliche but it truly is. I mean, there's probably so many resources for parents. We just don't know how to access them. Well, I think about just using Rachel Saving as an example, like I know she records every lesson she does. Uh, and she tells parents that, but then at some point they're going like, "Oh, we forgot." Well, hey, we remind you and then you can you can find it as well. But those are those resources. Hey again, you know, like you said, like my my son go is going through wall and he'll be struggling. I'm like, I haven't done I haven't done common core math. So, right at that, you know, seventh grade, I'm like, let me refresh again. I can find the exact lesson online, right? And I has I have to
066Google and I know it's just a little easier sometimes we can give that information. I'm all for that. I know one of the big things uh we're looking at uh with through registration also getting parents to register for ATG rooms that parent communication tool which I think the higher rate of that it's going to be easier too that communication for parents just gives them another mode of frequent you know I could tell if you actually saw the message or not as opposed to just wondering right and I think on that note though we need to get everybody try to use like like the same thing because it's sometimes hard like this your teacher uses this platform and somebody else uses this this one and then I like I look at the Google classroom or is
067it in the room or is it you know like I feel like I I also struggle from the parent lens on what each teacher is doing and as you get at the higher grade levels and it is you know seven different teachers doing seven different things. It's really hard to navigate what you're supposed to do to track down. Well, yeah. You start trusting your kid more hopefully to like, you know, have the executive functioning skills to do those things. But the same like with my kid, I think about it too, like I trust you and I'm not going to worry about until I see the mission, right? And it's a different conversation, right? Yeah. And that's that's why we've got we we're making that change. So for next year, part of the actual registration process
068is we will have forced appg sign up. So part of the part of our struggle with appg in rooms this year is that if all parents aren't on it, then teachers don't have as much confidence in using it. And so we're going to rectify that. Even if they just and then when we do that, I think even if you could almost do like little mini boot camp sessions or something for parents to be able to come learn how to use all these resources because even Google wasn't common when a lot of people our age were younger and so what's a Google classroom and what's Google Docs and what's you know it is and that's something I'm open to. I know uh just historically like Justin March has been excited about doing like those kind of
069lessons whether that's putting together informational videos whether that's schedule a parent night. You know, we've always we've talked around the idea of like during parent teacher conferences in the fall having like Justin and Will available to kind of because again like until you use it enough, it's like any new technology like it's pretty user friendly, but until you play with it enough, it's just be this foreign concept and grandparents because I think a lot of kids go grandma and grandpa after school and they really have no idea what you're talking about with common core or where to get the lessons information. So, I appreciate that. I think that's just an opportunity for us. We're excited to see how that goes with registration to to force that to happen because the teachers have worked extremely hard
070this year to get all of the families signed up and there are still some classrooms that only half of the parents and they the teachers have tried. Um so hopefully it'll be a little bit more successful and consistent. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks. Okay, back to our agenda. Do you want Sarah? Would you like to give an update on yesterday's I didn't bring I always bring with me but it was in its own folder and the folder didn't fit in here so I bring it back but um Wendy did an awesome job. She advocates for our district and the insurance and um correct me if I say if this wrong um but she went back to Blue Cross um and found out that um bottom line we can get the renewal at 12% above last
071year um and it was closer to 18 down to 12 and and then you get that extra half% um as well. So that was nice. And then she also looked at the cooperative again. Um and they're 20% above. So that's kind of like maybe out of our range still, but like Brad mentioned yesterday, what is the, you know, the amount above what we're going to like what's good for us to join that cooperative? Um, so they're going to essentially wait for more data and claims and stuff from July, August, and September, and then revisit, and we can possibly get a another bid or quote um in October. Yeah, that's yeah, that's a lot that's a lot more competitive. So, basically would cost us eight percentage points to get into the cooperative which is probably a
072little little steep. They're definitely there definitely a lot of perks to being um in a cooperative with Blue Cross Blue Shield. It really limits those big jumps, really limits those big increases. Um also also you get CVS in network which is huge in the um and a bunch of other couple too. So there's like 16 schools in the cooperative right now that are about the same size as our school. So um it would be a good one to be in. So we can revisit that. So it's just bringing that utilization number down as much as possible. Yeah. And the other perk she said was we could join that cooperative midy year and all of our um blue cross policy stuff would not change. bring our own stuff in and our numbers and premiums and stuff
073are not going to change. So there would be no disruption to our people. So paid x and deductibles in a year would be within the same blue cross blue shield here. So none of that would be that'll be seamless for the for the user that the fall. Um but you know kudos to to Wendy and Gallagher um to be able to get that increase reduced from 18 and a half down to 12. saves us about 200 grand. Yeah, that's awesome. And so that's not insificant capital. What was the percentage you included in the assumptions as we were looking forward? Do you remember? Um rate increases potential. I think it was it was maybe it wasn't in an update from him. Is that I'm like when we were budgeting for like next year, what did we
074think that the Oh, I said between 10 and 15%. Okay. So, our budget numbers are within that. It was 18, right? I knew it was over initially, so but we're down in the budgeted range. Okay. Yep. Yeah. Kind of what our forecast was for sure. And I think we're kind of still the same level of like and stuff or down just a little. Yeah, we're running um the re the renewal I kind of figured that would be somewhere in the 10 10 to 15% range because um whatever your they call loss ratio is um our loss ratio was around about 105%. And so you figure that Blue Cross Blue Shield has to put on they usually tap on about another 10% to you know people and all their administrative stuff. Plus, they have to pay
075their stockholders and all that kind of stuff. Um, so I was kind of figuring that we'd be at about 115 or 15% increase. And so to get us down to superended and learned a lot. All right. Item 10.1, the student handbook. You sent those. They're essentially just in line with the Yeah, we Yep. We belong to the IPA to the IPA. They sent us suggested language just exactly like the press policy. And Stacy, you can jump in, but I don't think there were any pressing issues, any major changision as presented. Make a motion. Yes. Landers. Yes. Cost. Yes. Schroeder. Yes. Yes. Okay. Um the next one is our employee substitute wage increases. This was included in the update from Brad, but um just want to revisit this is not this is somewhat in line with
076what we've done for the last several years. We did add the 25 cent um I guess as an acknowledgement for retention in a way to acknowledge in a lot of these positions where they're hourly, you know, maybe not super attractive, you know, roles that are really easy to fill and stuff. These people that have been here for many years are here for the right reasons. And so we wanted to acknowledge their service and dedication to the district by continuing to elevate their wages above in brand new to the same position. So there became, you know, a reason to be retained and some reward for that. Is there a number of years or is it just after? No, it's for every year. Okay. So after that, yeah, they get that quarter. Yeah. because we were running
077into the problem where current market value on a position in some cases was equal to what somebody that was doing that role for 15 years was getting because when they were hired it was totally different and so we weren't spreading out that you know years of service. So we're just guaranteeing that we don't create an environment where somebody who's been here for several years and now is experienced in that role is now making the exact same wage as somebody who's first year. Um, and the dollar increase is also somewhat in line. We had to do it for a number of years to catch up with the required base salary for minimum wage when that moved up. Um, but the we're we're caught up legally, but we're still in a very competitive labor market. And so
078to attract people and retain people right now is incredibly difficult. And if you do the math, it's far cheaper to reward and retain your existing staff than it is to try to recruit, train, and hire new ones. And so, um, are you talking about just teachers or No, not teachers at all. So, this would not be at all. Yeah, this would be our that the dollar plus 25 cent one is for the the hourly folks. So, this is like cafeteria, custodians, office staff. So, I know a big concern has been talked about you know, benefits like insurance and all that. A lot of surrounding schools do offer that. That would be so so currently a lot of especially our fairs, our fairs are almost exclusively five and a half hours um a day, which which
079means that they don't qualify for for health insurance benefits. Um so we can have conversation about moving those employees to eight hours a day. Um but then the addition of benefits on dozens of employees that would be a significant significant financial competition to have. So maybe we would note that though when you start working on potential projections for the following budget year what it would look like to maybe move if not all maybe we kind of like start potentially where we think that there's a need. that we've had lots of conversations about all the random spaces that need filled and that could really help the front door like the bus coverage or whatever. Sure. Insurance longevity, right? Is it policy we have or insurance like for the eight hour that's federal law that's so if
080we looked into that just a question that pops into my mind if we lose some people would we then have the need for as many people like um I think I think the answer would be I mean we have we have x amount of need in some people just but I can I can definitely multiple ways and kind of see what that looks like and maybe it's not paid at the same level as the certified contract is where we pay 90% of a single like maybe we're looking at potentially offering just like a casualty style insurance plan. So there's access to something that would be somewhat affordable because the problem would be if we're offer it but it becomes a point where if you try to get the family insurance your salary doesn't even cover
081the cost of the plan that becomes a problem too. So like one of those things we have to figure out offer some level of government has the option too of denying it you know. They might have insurance elsewhere. They want the full time. Yeah. And then the four and a half% is what our is it in line with what our teacher contract raise would be for this year. And so that would be then to all of our folks who are not hourly staff but are also not in the union contracts. Correct. So so this would this would kind of catch all other wages, substitute teachers, um you know, part-time administrators, just people who are just kind of kind of everywhere just to make sure that we don't Oh, hey, did so and so raise. Well,
082yeah. questions on that motion. I think so. Yeah. Can you go to this sheet detail? Make a motion to approve weight increases for the 2025 2026 school year as follows. A dollar increase to all base hourly wages plus quarter for an additional year of experience and a 4.5 increase to all nonourly and non contractual wages. Yes. Esposa. Yes. The next one, there's something that comes up periodically. This is when we are no longer required to keep old audio recordings from former executive sessions that we record on tape. So this is giving permission to the district office to delete the ones that are past the required number of years that they have to which is what I know. So these are anything correct? 18 months former prior to 18 months ago. Okay. Could we have a
083motion please? A second roll call. Espenza. Yes. Yes. Commanders. Yes. Yes. Yes. Prior to adjournment, we have discussion item of the annual conference registration. That's crazy already. Yeah. So, it's April. Um just just that I know I know just to get it um you know on everybody's radar. Um it's always the weekend before Thanksgiving. um which also conflicts with first season shotgun which isn't an issue for us but it is a lot of places um just get it on everybody's radar make sure that you know you kind of save the date and bookmark that um the hotels open about 1 July or so and so there I think another discussion item make sure is on your calendar is the um eighth grade graduation which is the 22nd. 22nd. Yes. And then also um so the
084night is 22nd. Make sure that's on your calendar. And then anybody can anybody that is available on the May 30th come to our end of year lunch. We'd love to have you for the 22nd. Do we are they sending our attending? Yeah. That pretty soon I would want to know. Yeah. And Yeah. And Yeah. Specifically you're not going to be there because we kind of assume everybody's going to be there and so if you can't make that, please let Paul know. I did in transparency ask Brad today if we could begin to incorporate the board having an opportunity to speak mainly because this is the place where we acknowledge our retirees every year. So it's kind of more than just the eighth grade. It's kind of a a thank you and goodbye to teachers that
085have, you know, served and are retiring. So, just being able to kind of stand up and offer some remark regards to that. So, the board's not just in the background, but actively thanking our staff for their service as part of the event. So, make that part of the thing moving forward with the event and potentially tying in the high school in a more direct way, visible way. So kind of again just as we've talked about as we continue to meet and trying to build that bridge across the high school to to the district here the same kiddos and it's an important milestone. All right. So, our next meeting is Thursday 15th and we are back at home base. So, help spread the word once the announcement comes out tomorrow. Social and stuff, right? Okay. So,
086we can grab it. Sure. Could we have a motion to adjurnn, please? Move to the meeting at 7:54. Did you already think we have a second? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank you. Great. Thank you. Great. Yay. You did it, too. Oh my gosh. She was amazing. She was so good. I love the fact that she came over to me. I was jealous. I am not a little little kid. Does she know you? No, I've never seen her before. You had you guys and the Lucian.