USD 457 Board of Education Meeting 8/11/2025

001begin with the pledge of allegiance 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. >> We'll take a moment, please, for silent reflection. Thank you. Okay. Item C and meetings is a note. Back to school convocation will be Tuesday, August 12th at 8:00 a.m. at the Garden City High School gymnasium. Four or more four or more board members may be in attendance. Item B, approval of agenda with the following amendments. D1, add item K2, executive session, personnel matters for non-electric personnel. And item D2, additional certified and classified personnel actions, item F3. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the meeting agenda as amended. Second. It's been approved and second. Is there any discussion? All in favor,

002raise your hand. Same. Motion carries. Move on to item E, delegations or public comments. I don't see any. Okay. Next item F, the consent agenda. President move to approve all consent agenda items as amended. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? In favor, please raise your hand. Opposed? Same. Motion carries. Okay. Item G, board reports, G1, staff update. Drew Tone, interim deputy superintendent. uh first off, thank you guys and welcome back. Uh the the new year's officially started uh with school and it wouldn't be a start to the new year with without my numbers being wrong and when we get to them I'll tell you what happened. Um so today we're going to talk about uh how staffing went. We we had a very productive year last year. Um last year

003we had 39 teacher separations. That's by far the lowest we've had in the last 15 years since we could pull actual teacher um specific to teachers that data. Overall we only had 53 separations. again the lowest in the last 53 years or in the last 15 years. Um the reason I told you the data uh this morning we had two teachers resign. So that 39 went to 41 uh in the span of of the last 24 hours. Still uh still at 41 and 55. That's still the lowest in 15 years. You guys can see um the next lowest in the past 15 years was last year at 68 separations. Um last year we had we had a really good year uh as far as the separations were concerned. Um 39 teacher separations uh in a

004district our size that's less than 10% of our uh of our teacher staffing. National average is well over 20% on separations with teachers. So we we have had uh two backtoback very strong uh strong years. It's it's been very beneficial to recruiting. uh it's been very beneficial to building morale uh to staff morale inside those buildings. So those are all really good things. When you compare it to the place that we were at uh when you guys last did your strategic plan, the very first thing on the strategic plan was staffing. Uh we all know coming out of CO uh we all knew what staffing was going to look like coming out of CO. We saw uh a huge influx of baby boomers retiring from the profession. while also seeing a bunch of young teachers

005uh getting out of the profession when when they were just in their infancy of being in the profession. So we knew uh we knew there was going to be a problem even before co uh if you look at 2015-16 we were over a hundred separations uh the year that uh the year following COVID we went over 100 again uh we were in the mid 80s in upper 90s most of the other years. So generally prior to uh in the last 10 years generally we averaged anywhere from 80 to 100 separations. So getting it down to 53, it's not a testament to anything Josh has done or I've done or these guys Jessica's done or well Steve has some testament to it, but uh it's really our building principles. Um teachers want to stay in buildings.

006They want to work for leaders that they respect, that they trust, that communicate well, that that do all this all the things that you do to keep employees or uh that your boss does to keep you. So, those are the ones that that have really made that number the way that number is and and we thank them a ton. Uh it makes our job a heck of a lot easier uh to replace 53 and 39 compared to 103 and 87. Uh things things are a whole lot better right now. >> So, hires for this year like we talked about we had uh 63 total hires. uh 47 uh were were local to the United States. We did have 16 internationals. Uh the 47 that we got locally uh we did notice that they did come

007from a pretty tight area around Garden City, albeit Texas to uh South Dakota. We really didn't get into Missouri. We got some Colorado, but everything was pretty geographically centered around Kansas. Uh, and we'll come back to why that's important here here shortly. We did get 16 international teachers. That's way down from what we had last year. Um, going into the school year, we do have we still have 30 long-term subs. Uh, the 30 long-term subs that we have are are very good teachers. They do a very good job. Of those 30 long-term subs, 18 of them are currently working to get their professional teaching license. So over half of those are working to get their teacher license. Uh some of those long-term subs, we have one long-term sub that has been a long-term sub in

008the district for 14 years. She's a really good teacher uh at at one of our schools, and I'm not going to name the school because I'd give it away. Um the principal at that school says that one of their long-term subs is the best teacher in that building. So folks like that, we want to keep in those positions and find ways to get them into educational programs and find ways to get them certified so we aren't uh taking dings by the state on our on our vacancy report. But those are people that have been with us that have committed to us and and are doing a a good job in the classroom. Uh when you compare what we have this year of 30 compared to in the past, last year we started with over 43

009or with 43. We ended up a little higher because we had two mid-semester resignations and there uh prior to that we were over 70. So again going back to the hole that we were in less than 5 years ago compared to where we're at now, uh we're starting to dig ourselves a little bit out of that hole. Um, student teachers. One thing that that has really helped us out is our student teaching pro uh program. This fall um this fall we have 12 student teachers. Okay. And and those student teachers are either doing traditional student teaching side by side with the teacher or they're one of those long-term subs and it's about half and half. We are starting to I think our connections with local colleges whether it be Newman, Kansas State, uh we have

010one from KU, Witchaw State, 4A State, our connections that we're trying to build back with those colleges are getting us student teacher placements back here in Garden City. And that's going to pay dividends because most of the time where you student teach is where you end up getting your first job. Uh like I said, about half of those are people that are in long-term subspots that will take over positions that semester. The other half we hope to find a spot for and some of them we currently don't have a spot for. We're going to have to have to find a way to get creative and and find spots uh for some of those teachers that are doing their student teaching because we don't want to lose them. Um college and recruiting fairs, we continue uh

011to go to a bunch of college and recruiting fairs. There is a lot of value in these college and recruiting fairs. Um, but what we've seen is is we have a lot more success locally. In the past, and we didn't last year, but we've gone to New York, uh, we we went to four or five colleges in New York, we've gone to Pennsylvania, we've gone to to Michigan, we've gone to Indiana, we've gone out to California, we've gone to Nevada, we've gone to a bunch of these places in the past. This year, we really didn't we didn't do that kind of recruiting. um when we were doing those sorts of things. Uh that was back around ' 08 when you had the auto industry and collapse and Michigan was laying off teachers all over the

012place. You had uh the steel industry in the in the upper Midwest kind of collapsing and there were a lot of teachers looking for jobs. Currently, there's not a ton of teachers in those areas looking for jobs. So, we've kind of narrowed down uh the career the career uh fairs that we're going to. What we are seeing is positive. We are seeing an increase uh in students going back to college uh to go into education. This is nowhere close to what we were seeing in in 96 to 2004. Uh 96 to 2004 we had a surplus of people going into education. Um there's a number of things that have caused that to slow down uh that I don't want to get into, but uh it has slowed down. Um we I think we saw our

013lows come and go. I think our lows uh quite honestly were two and three years ago. Two and three years ago a lot of colleges stopped having recruiting fairs because they didn't have kids to send to recruiting fairs. Um Kansas State as an example uh this past year at their recruiting fair they had almost 200 kids uh that were at the recruiting fair and most of them senior level kids that were looking to graduate. So Kansas State has done a really great job of building back their educational program. Uh I've talked to you guys about some of the things that are causing that. One of the big things for Kansas State is the land grant promise. Those students that go to Kansas State uh to go into education, get that books and tuition uh free

014if they qualify. Uh for a state has a similar program. So you're seeing some of you're seeing the state and some of these universities um identify programs and identify money to get kids back into those programs and graduating from those programs. And it's helping us because when we go to recruiting fairs, uh, we're seeing kids and talking to kids and and convincing them to do their student teaching here. We're hiring them. Uh, again, it's not anything near going to Kansas State in 1998 or going to Kansas State in 2006. Uh, but it is starting to to make a comeback. Um, we also had a good year. I I put it on there. I hate to brag about it, but we did have a good year recruiting uh school districts around us. Uh, one thing that

015I I will say, um, our benefits compared to school districts around us are pretty great. Um, the the base salary, when you look at the base salary, um, some people may go, h, that's that's not the best. But those veteran teachers, as they look down our salary schedule, they notice our salary schedule becomes more competitive as you get older. And then they notice things like us going to PTO and Growwell. Those are two two huge things that have have helped us. Um, our tuition reimbursement has been has been a big deal for us. And then just our insurance in general. We have a very uh lucrative insurance package for our employees. So the they're things that we continue to strive just as a good job working to get those things better. But those things in

016Garden City when you compare it to to Dodge City to liberal to the smaller districts around us are where we're we're very very competitive is in our benefits package. And then our our non-traditional um we continue to have uh well Brandon Anderson is here today. His son u his son is is one of our newer transition to teach um teachers. Uh he's gone into agriculture. uh he had his background in agriculture, came to us and we had an opportunity to get him with Fort State and get him on a transition to teach so he can take over uh one of our a positions that was vacated late. He's going to do a great job and we're excited to have him and that's what really what we're looking for those those non-traditional folks that can fill

017gaps especially in CTE classrooms like Agg, culinary arts, welding, those sorts of things. So, those are always great programs. Our apprentice program that you guys approved last spring is full. Uh we do have have five young students that are going through the apprentice program. Again, that's the program where we capture those students. We bring them in uh similar to a parah where they shadow. We pick out uh a very good teacher to put them with and they're in that classroom growing with that master teacher uh up through their program until they graduate. and then we onboard them and bring them on and they've been trained by one of our best teachers. We know one of the downfalls of of some of these online education programs is they are not getting that experience that they would

018normally get going to Kansas State or Emporia State where they get that hands-on uh lab work, they get that hands-on in the classroom and then that hands-on student teaching. We have to shove our people into it. This apprentice program slows that back down and allows them to learn in the classroom with the best teacher over as many as four years. Now, most of the people that we have in the apprentice program, uh, because a lot of people that graduate Garden City High School, they're already uh at least a year into their educational process, we don't have anybody that's on year one of four uh going to the into that. Most of our people are on year two of four uh going into that program. The uh latest one that we've we've joined with the state

019of Kansas uh is the RTAP program. Uh the RTAP program is a program similar to transition to teach. It's those individuals that have graduated with the bachelor's degree. What they did much like the apprentice program in the apprentice program they get a reimbursement for tuition from the state of Kansas or a pass through. So we'll help them with uh with tuition. The RTAP is exactly exactly like that and they'll help those transition to teach stu students get some reimbursement from the state of Kansas to go into education uh through a grant uh from the state of Kansas. So we just joined that this year. Uh like I said with our apprentice program uh we aren't completely full. Uh we're excited with those five. Uh we have five. Um Dodge City I think I think when

020I talked to to Mr. Shaq, he he said I think they had 13. Um, we could have probably got 13. It would have it would have been a lot for us to handle in year one. So, we're slowly transitioning this. We'll go five in the fall, hopefully bring on another five in the spring to get us up to 10 and then we'll start transitioning through on that grow your own type of thing. Uh, better geographic focus. One thing we're going to do in 2026 along with growing the apprentice program is really honing in our our geographic focus with our recruiting. Uh we've spent a lot of money going a lot of different places recruiting without much success. Uh right now economically we don't have when we used to go to those places people either need

021jobs or the state of Kansas paid. Right now everybody needs teachers. So it it doesn't matter if you're in Mississippi or if you're in Washington state or New York, everybody needs teachers. So there's not that competitive advantage that we have jobs that they don't. And uh to be honest with you, our starting salary, uh everybody across the nation has increased their starting salary. So ours are pretty similar to the rest in the Midwest. Once you start getting into the upper northeast, though, they really inflate quickly because of cost of living. So, this coming year, we're really going to be focused. We're not leaving our little geographic area. We're going to hit Oklahoma really hard. We are still very, very competitive compared to them salary wise. When you look at our salaries compared to Oklahoma salaries,

022Northwest Texas, we're going to continue uh to hit northern Texas, mainly northwest Texas. Uh, New Mexico was really good to us last year. We'll continue to hit New Mexico. Colorado, we had some sneaky success in Colorado and I think that's due to cost of living issues in Colorado. Uh, and then one that's not on Well, it's on there, but uh, El Paso, we we had really good luck down in El Paso. El Paso, as far as we're going to travel this year, uh, we're not getting on a plane for any of these trips anymore. If it's not drivable, we're not going. So, we're going to hone it down, really tighten up where we can. With that being said, what we are going to do is we are going to get a lot more effective really

023in the state of Kansas and in the state of Oklahoma is where we're focused and try to get non-traditionally into places like a a Washburn and K State and Emporia State and Friends and on Newman's campus and Northwest Oklahoma State and those places and get in there when it's not a recruiting fair. We're going to try to get in there and speak to those students when it's not a normal time for people to speak to them. The last thing that we're going to do that that is a little bit different is uh in the past we've kind of we've tried because recruiting fairs they all happen at the same time. We have to find principles and and sometimes it's just whoever is available at that time to go to that recruiting fair is who we

024end up sending to that recruiting fair. Most of the time Lean and myself try to be the ones to go because principles are in the building and they're doing that, you know, their daily principal duties. Uh what we're going to work on this year is really creating a recruiting team of whether it's principles, teachers, specialists, us, and hone in on that message and make sure everybody everybody has the message. They know what to say when they're out there. They know what to talk to students coming out of college. We know what they want. We're clear on what they want. We're clear on how we we offer what they want as opposed to just, you know, Josh is going to go to Shadron State because Josh graduated from Shadron State. Josh may not may have too

025many things on his plate and may not know the message very well. So, we want to make sure that we're sending the right. Josh, you know the message. Thank you. So, along with honing that in, uh, another place that we're in good shape going into the school year is with substitute teachers. Um, last year we ended with one of the highest fill rates Lisa can remember. Lisa Sanders, she's our substitute specialist. She she fills all of our subs. We ended at 92 uh 92% fill rate. It's not perfect by any stretch, but coming out of COVID, we were in the 60s and 70s on our fill rate, it got really bad. You guys heard all about it because uh we had a lot of complaints rightfully so from teachers about they're having to give up

026their plan time to go and sub when they don't when they don't want to sub. They want to get their plan time so that they can they can do the work that they need to be effective teachers. Last year we ended with 92%. It's not perfect. It's not uh it's not perfect by any stretch, but we did fill all of our positions. So, when we needed a sub, for the most part, we filled all of our holes. Uh, the other 8%, however, got filled with those in-house subs. Now, sometimes there's in-house subs that want to sub every single day because we we pay them for that and they like getting that extra money. Sometimes it does come to the fact that hey, it's the 15th, it's the third Thursday in August and we know the

027third Thursday in August is going to have 87 things going on because there's middle school track, there's middle school soccer, there's high school soccer, there's high school track, there's golf gone, there's tennis gone, you know, and and everybody's out of the building on the third Thursday in April. I I promise you third Thursday in April never gets covered because of that. But our teachers have been very good uh with helping us cover and and for the most part we do get things covered. We did a good job last year of getting things covered. Like I said, that's the highest since we've been tracking following CO. Before CO, we really didn't track because they always got filled because we always had subs. It wasn't uh it wasn't until CO that we started going, "Holy holy heck,

028we don't have any subs. What are we going to do?" So, um that's been good. Uh not perfect, but better than than it was. Uh daily subs, we're in pretty good shape going into the school year. We're we're up over 100. We're at 116. Uh this week, uh we're in the process of onboarding another 20 of the sub sub applicants that we've had. So, we're going to be in pretty good shape going into the school year. One of the things that has really helped that is filling positions because if you remember, I talked about going from 70 long-term subs down to 30. Well, now the difference ends up going back into the sub pool and being able to sub for us every day. So, that's been a benefit of filling those positions. One last thing

029that that we haven't really talked to you guys about uh is with our positions, the elimination uh of some of our positions. We know that we're getting ready to to see some hard times financially probably. We're anticipating it. Jessica's been talking about it for a while. uh up here at the ESC. The very last thing we want to do, and Josh has been steadfast about this, is the last place that we want to be affected is the actual building. So, we want to get as thin as we can here and make as many reasonable cuts as we can here. And uh that's what we've done this past year. We've eliminated nine positions here at the ESC and we've cut three administrative positions. So, we're we're weren't trying to anticipate that that further budget budget cuts

030are probably going to happen. Uh we we were we were thankful that money came back this year uh that we weren't necessarily anticipating, but uh we were under no imagination that it's going to be there next year. So, in preparation for that, we've we've kind of known for the last year that that was probably going to happen. So, there you go. Questions? How many employees do we have districtwide? >> Jessica just pulled it. >> Yeah. >> I think this is a really good story that we aren't very good at telling >> because if you're just out and about and you listen to people talk, you think that we have the worst tone turnover of any district in the entire state of Kansas. So, this is great information and it'll show up. I I saw the

031little blurb. Was that in the telegram today? Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. So, that that's good. And the more we could get that out there. >> Yeah. >> And get that public support, the better it's going to be. >> And I'll be honest, it hasn't always been good. Um, you know, back when when you're turning over 108, um, you know, and turning over 101, that's that's tough. You're not I I Superman couldn't fill that, you know. I wouldn't even begin to imagine how to fill that. But like I said, it it really is a testament to to our folks here. >> Well, I would be curious like what um equalsiz employers in the county what their turnover rate is. I would guess it's higher than yours. >> It probably is. Yeah. >> So, yeah. >>

032Yeah, it probably is. And we've got, like I said, we've got good teachers, we've got good administrators, we've got people in the community that are invested in the community. And and you know, it's difficult because I we still have some folks from Michigan. We we hired a ton of folks from Michigan. We still have a few folks from Michigan. But one of the hardest things is keeping folks from that far away from wanting to go back home. And you can't blame them because their families from, you know, from back that direction. And it's, you know, it's nothing that I fault them for. But um I think the grow your own program, one of the biggest benefits of the grow your own program is they're ours and and they're from here and their mom's from here

033and grandma's from here and you know it's easier to get daycare with mom's from here and grandma's from here and uh it makes makes living living here and teaching a little bit easier when your family's here. >> All right, thank you guys. Okay, we'll move on to item H, new business. H1, the board of education is asked to consider and approve the east side pedestrian pathway project row easement request. Brand Brandon Anderson, director MS and Tyler Patterson, city garden city public works operations man. >> Well, this is in your packet and I'm going to turn it over to staff from the city uh to to explain it more in detail. Uh but it's over around Victor and Alice. It's increasing uh the width of that sidewalk and then during the project they would need a

034uh construction ement as well. Um I think it makes sense in the long run, but I think there's going to be some growing pains going with it. So that's why specifically I asked Tyler to prepare uh and give you guys a presentation on exactly how this whole project will go down. from the city of Zart the city. We have director of public works Mike Mirhead who's going to take all the hard questions if you have any. But then Tyler Patterson, I'm going to turn it over to him. He is the operations uh public works operations. I'll let him handle it. >> All right. Thank you, Brandon. >> Good evening, Board of Education members. Um and to add to that, we also have Adam Shard. He's our uh engineer from Wilson & Company. Also looking watching

035I think actively as we speak and if we have any hard questions he'll be available by phone. Um so I'll go ahead and just give you kind of a background on this uh kind of ended up where we're at today and then I'll get into some more details about the logistics of the construction and how it'll affect the Victor Alice School. Um, so in 2023, the city received a $1.5 million grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation uh towards a $3.6 million east side pedestrian pathway project. The project consists of connecting the Tally Trail from the Garden City Community College uh with the east side, I'm sorry, um with the east side connecting the uh US83400 bypass and then following uh filling in some gaps um and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure throughout the city's east

036side, completing a loop north to the Kansas Avenue trail system. This includes constructing a signalized crossing at Spruce and the bypass and a widening of the sidewalk along Spruce Street between the bypass and Jenny Barker. This widening of the sidewalk includes in front of Victor and Alice Elementary and the school's interest will also um be be part of this. It'll affect that. I'll get into some of that detail. I think everybody has a print out and we'll we'll go over the overall project as well. Um but the construction construction of these improvements will be sequenced through the um closed time of the year. We we have planned to try to get you know some of this done during spring break. Um the timeline for the project currently we're trying to wrap up I think three

037other rightway and temporary construction um property owners. And so we're planning on having that hopefully done this month and then con we'll go out for bid. We'll have to get approval to go out for bid on the construction. And then from there we tried we're hoping to have construction start by spring of 2026. So um the city and and staff from the USD457 uh met in 2024. We looked and discussed the proposed improvements, the impact to different things like the irrigation, the traffic operations and overall needs for the rightway to to uh put in this 10-ft trail is what it is. Um, so we'll go and go ahead and look at the maps that you have in front of you. So that first page there, your project overview, shows exactly where the project starts there.

038On the bottom left, you got Spruce Street. So you got the football field, the college's football field. We connect right there and we head east on Spruce Street. And you can see there right before the the the bypass we actually connect up to the tally trail where it currently ends right there. Um kind of where that bridge is at. Uh so then it crosses at a at great crossing on a US A3 there goes further east um along Spruce and then kind of highlighted in green is the affected area that we're talking about today in front of the Victor now school. Uh, and then it jumps over to Jenny Barker and then it actually kind of continues on the east side of Jenny Barker. Further north, we'll have a a pedestrian crosswalk that crosses to

039Jenny Barker on the west side and then it'll continue all the way up north. There's already a lot of, you know, trail there from the Jenny Barker project that we did here few years ago. Um, so that that that first page goes up to Scholman, I believe. If you flip over here, we'll we'll continue with the the remainder of the trail project. Um, so it goes all the way up and then you can see in red right there at Jenny Barker and kind of Mary Street. We uh we go all the way to the K156 and Jenny Barker um intersection, but it also hangs a right right there and it kind of follows that ditch line that if if you're familiar with that area, it's behind that church. Um and it continues east. It actually

040ties into the Chapel Heights development. Um the plan there is to have a pedestrian bridge right there that crosses that to connect into the the development there. Um, so then getting back over to the Jenny Barker K156 intersection, it'll it'll head back, I call it kind of southwest. Um, and it'll go through that field there with with a trail and then connect up to the Walmart uh current existing sidewalk. So, that's kind of the overall, you know, project plan scope of the of the project. Um we'll go ahead and get to page one where we'll talk about exactly what we're how we're affecting the school district there. Um you'll see in the in the green that's the um new rideway and the pink is the existing property lines. Uh and so today we're requesting about

0417 foot additional rightway so that we can um expand that current sidewalk about 6 feet give or take kind of going through the the property there, but it's overall a 10-ft wide sidewalk or trail. Um not all the panels along that side will get replaced, but several of them will because they don't meet the ADA requirements for the slope. Some of them are raised and has shifted. So, we'll be replacing all that. Um, but then you got in the orange is our temporary construction easement. So, what that means is, you know, if we're going to be doing construction work right here, well, we're going to need some space right there to be working along that. So, that's the temporary construction easement that that's lined out there in the orange. Um, the next page, we'll uh

042we'll get I guess we we'll start sorry, let's let's finish out on that page there. So, the east parking entry that's spelled out, you got, you know, two parking spots or parking entrances to your guys' parking lot there. You got the east and west is what we're calling it. Um, we we'll have that in phases. So, the first phase will be on the west side. So, you'll only have access on that east parking. Um, and then we we'll move over to a second phase where we we kind of start into the east parking and then also the bus entrance and exit. So, and then you can kind of see the the the shaded part by the entrances there. We'll go into the parking lot a little bit where that approach is at. Um, just to

043have a good transition of tie in there with the concrete. If you if you looked out there recently, it's pretty busted up. So, we'll be replacing a lot of that. um just to tie in and have a good transition there. Um so I know that was a concern. So on that bus entry and exit, that's the only point of entrance there. Um that'll be kind of a you we'll do half once it's cured and good and we'll do the other half. So right now instead of having, you know, two-lane traffic in and out, it'll be kind of trimmed down to just one one traffic lane. um still, you know, be accessed um throughout the project, but it'll be narrowed down to one lane. And I'll kind of get into detail on that and, you know,

044the scope of or the plan for for doing it and when where it's not affecting, you know, operation as much as possible. We're going to try to get away from that. Um so for the for the next page here uh actually page three there we'll talk about the pedestrian traffic. Um as I mentioned um we're going to try to do this in kind of two phases. So that first phase you can kind of see there that that hash hash line on the map that's going to be phase one. So where you kind of see all the the different signs, that's a temporary crossing right there that we'll put up in place so that you know the kids from Wilson Edition and everywhere else right there in that housing development can cross to the south side

045of Spruce Street and continue east to cross. There's a crossing right there on Jenna U Jenna Lane, I believe. So they'll cross right there and get to the school. They'll always have access. Um there's an empty lot right there, an undeveloped lot that does not have sidewalk on the south side of of uh Spruce. We'll put some temporary sidewalk there, some asphalt millings or something, you know, solid that that's accessible and, you know, can be walked on without issues. Um it won't just be what it is now, a dirt lot. So um so that's kind of phase one of the project. Uh we plan to move to phase two which opens up the existing crosswalk. So if you go to that next page, it should be the back last page. That's kind of so so

046that's from Jenna um lane all the way to the west to the to the end of that property there. Um, so this is what we talked about kind of initially with the staff on site there that day was uh, you know, could possibly be done around spring break to to minimize any kind of disruption. Um, I think that's still a possibility. You know, like I said, the plan is to try to get construction started spring. Um, and I'll talk with Adam, our our city engineer, but we might also be able to at the same time look at doing, you know, the bus entrance and exit, try to wrap all that up. You know, it's got, I think, a 7-day cure time for the concrete. So, you got to make sure you you get those days

047in. And we'll let we'll try to, you know, um, direct our contractor to to do that whenever the best time is, uh, to do that work. Um, I think that's really the the main details here. Uh, I know bus access, Brandon, we talked about that. Wanted to hit on that. Um, and we go out for bid hopefully here here in the next few months and fall. And uh, and yeah, I don't think I have anything else. I'm open to questions if you guys have any. when you when you package this project and hire somebody to do it, is everything the entire scope of this whole thing uh going to be in one mid package? So, you'll hire one company to do all of the work from the football college stadium all the way up to

048Chapel Heights and all that. I'm sure that general contractor whoever is selected will sub out some of that work like the atra crossing of traffic signals that's cruise and bypass they'll contract that out to a traffic but the rest of it be contract >> the reason I ask is if if you are saying if you're looking at starting construction in the spring if if it's all going to be under one contract can you stipulate the work that bo doesn't happen until after school gets out what happens in May and just avoid any issues with you know phasing out entrances and buses and all that and just I mean if this is more than a few month long project anyways can it not just can we can we just can you just make it part of

049your your bid requirements that the work at VO is not done until after May 15th or whatever our last day of school would be. >> We we can definitely discuss that. That's something that me and Adam our engineer discussed before. Um, it kind of just depends on, you know, when we get the rightway and temporary construction easement process done, go out to bid and and really the the bid results too. I mean, that plays a factor, but then construction start um depending on when that construction because, you know, these contractors have other commitments, you know, they got to hold up to. So, but yeah, we'll definitely make note and uh try for that. I mean, anything else on that? I think in when the contract is issued, we could put specifically in there that this

050particular section has to be coordinated with the school district to maximize when the school's not in session. So we could certainly do that and you know may may delay their project a little bit but they work on >> well I mean I I just always if you always have felt most success if you put that in the bid documents then the folks that are bidding it uh know that that's the asset the time of bidding instead of making the request after you've already got somebody on board then it's kind of whether they want to or not. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> The plan ever looked at to put it on the south side of the street. >> Um, so there's currently Well, I think yeah, that question answered your question. Yes.

051Um, however, there's a lot of different utilities on that side side of the street. Um, we've got a couple current pedestrian crosswalk poles, a lot of different fiber, electric. Um, and it's and I don't know if we can accommodate a 10-ft sidewalk where some of those fences land either on that south side with the back of those homes. Um, but yeah, it was looked at. I don't have so much to question. I just I I lived in that area for for 12 years and it's a heavily pedestrian trafficked area. So, I definitely see the benefit of this. And I know it may be some inconvenience, but also trying to connect to Tally Trail from where I lived on Sarah Street, it was was always tough. You take your kids across the bypass and all that.

052So, I definitely see the the benefits of doing it. I think it's a worthwhile project. >> What's the ask? >> Yeah. So the ask here is for the board of education to approve the rightaway and temporary construction easement request. >> So eventually whether you do it tonight or or if you like bill it's an agenda on the next meeting and is there a rush? >> Um like like I mentioned we're trying to wrap this up in August. We have three others and uh you know sooner we get this going the sooner the project will continue. So >> I think and to try to accommodate like what what Andy's saying too, the faster we can do it better that also. >> Someone want to entertain a motion. [Music] >> I'll second move and seconded. Is there

053any further discussion? All in favor raise your hand. opposed. Same. Motion carries. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Item H2, Board of Education is asked to consider and approve purchase of fire alarm panel upgrade at Horses Good Middle School Controls in the amount of $24,837. Ready? >> So, at Horus Good, the fire alarm panel, uh, this would be this is it's out and it needs to be replaced. Uh it's an antiquated older system. Uh and some of the collaborating information that was supplied to you talks about that. Uh the 4100 guy by uh the panel is no longer manufactured. However, there are limited supply out there. Johnson Controls who we do most of our work with on the fire alarm systems or or in this uh at Horse Good has one of these

054uh panels. So it would be consider considered a single source. um all the other components wouldn't basically because of their age and because other companies not being able to be compatible um this would be considered a single source part. Um it was discontinued in 2004 uh as a note but they do have a new panel actually this would be the third panel that would be going into this system. There was one that was put in um that was an off-brand um and that's I don't know whether that affected it or not but um the HVAC project that we were doing up there I know we did some work on the fire alarm system but also that next weekend there was some storms that rumbled through. Um so we don't know exactly what happened to the

055panel. We just know that the panel is out needs to be replaced. We feel like this is the the easiest and quickest option and best option even long term as well. Um we may be looking at possibly utilizing the fire alarm systems with some voice over uh eventually when we get to talking about security and safety um projects as well. questions. >> Does the panel have like protection from lightning and stuff like that? >> Typically it it should and it will uh the next one we will make sure and ensure that that happens. Um, so I I don't I think it was the age of the panel and the fact that it wasn't uh compatible or exactly compatible uh with the system and it could have had to do with the fact that we were

056working on it and maybe the storm just a collaboration things but typically we yes we would have it certif Yes. questions. >> So, currently there's no control in place while it's out, right? >> Correct. We I'd like to to be on consider tonight if you'd be willing to so we could press the gas on. >> Mr. President, I make a motion that we move forward with new panel for the fire alarm 24836. Second that second. Is there any discussion? All in favor raise your hand. Oppose. Same. Motion carries. Thanks. Thank you. Okay. Item H3 fiscal year 2526 budget presentation from CFO Jessica N screens. All right. It's hard to believe, but we're already here to another budget year. So, I split the presentation out a little bit between the RNR and then the actual budget.

057So, first thing um on the RNR, so this is actually the mill levy that would bring in the exact amount of money taxes levied as the year before. So last year we proposed uh 49.561 and then after all valuations came through um it ended up being 51.071 to bring in the exact amount of taxes that we did last year it would be 48.203. So if you remember we approved to exceed the revenue neutral rate and on the budget that I have um already configured it's a mill levy of 49.940. Um, and then just a note to remember like yes, we approve a mill levy, but what the board is actually doing is choosing how much taxes they want to levy. So that's why it can change. Um, then I just put the assessed valuations out

058um up there. So just looking back at the prior two years and this year, the first column is the general fund assessed valuation and then all other funds um that are tied to assessed valuation would be lo uh capital outlay and bond and interest. Those are figured on a different assessed valuation. So you can see that listed. And then the tiff assessed valuation is the amount of valuation in our county that or in our school district that we do not receive taxes levied on. Taxes are still levied on it, but those taxes go to those different entities. So I thought it was kind of interesting to see the prior year to current year change, how much we've grown um in that evaluation. And with that, a value of one mill increases. So each mill in

059our district generates almost $28,000 more than it did last year. Um so what exceeding the RNR and the increased assessed valuation like what that generates for us general fund is a flat 20 mills. We can't do more, we can't do less. It's all state aid. Um and because of that um all 557,000 of that is not on the local taxpayers. So capital outlay was 8 mills last year, proposed 8 mills this year and it will generate an additional 230,000 with our state aid being at 58% 96,721 is put on the local taxpayers. Um same thing with lo actually it's going down and but it's still going to increase how much taxes we receive because of the valuation. So um mil levy going down tax levy go up uh state aid is 57.57% so 102 on

060the local people uh bond and interest is somewhere where um we felt like maybe we could decrease the mills in that fund because we have a significant balance on that to continue to pay our bond payments. So that's actually a decrease. Um state aid on that fund this year uh is 59%. All three of those percentages dropped from last year to this year. We were at like 62% range. So we are seeing a decline in how much state aid is is being generated. Um overall uh 956,000 with uh the taxpayer local taxpayers responsible for 169. Um this is really small but sources of revenue. I thought this was interesting. Uh state, federal, and local. I don't know if you can see it, but the state is this year is going to be 93.8 million, federal

061is 10.3 and then local is 16.3 for a total of 120.5 million. Prior year um so it jumps in the state went from just under 91 to just under 94. Federal jumped from 148 down to 10. A lot of that is ESSER um using up the the rest of the ESSER federal funds that went away. And this um I want to explain if you could see it the local revenue last year was just under 33 million and then on here it shows 16. The reason that it's such a decline is that you don't we don't budget for health reserve and local revenues. That includes everything from lunch fees paid, driver's ed fees paid, everything. And so, um, employee premiums accounted for about 14 million between district share and employee share. So, if you add that

062to your 16.3 million, you're right in line with that 31 million that it's it fluctuates. between. So again, this is just what will actually go into the paper. Um, and it just shows that uh what the tax tax uh mill levy was, what it would be if we wanted to generate the same amount at RNR and then what we're actually proposing. So it was that 51.071 to break even 48.203, but we're proposing the 4994. And that's all I have on the RNR. Um, that hearing is the first thing we'll do on the 28th here at the ESC. So, um, if there's any questions on RNR, I can answer them or I can keep rolling and they may answer themselves. Um, so actually on the the budget itself, I'm going to go over Drew stole some

063of my thunder, but on the building needs assessment, uh, we met early early in the summer with like a committee that every principal had to put in a building needs assessment and what they thought that their building needed. A committee, we got together, kind of tried to find similar things and narrow it down. So, I'll share those with you. And um my job is just to make sure that there's budget for those things that the principles and and this committee deemed necessary. I'll go over some revenues, expenses, and then some historical data. Um so recruitment and retention was on almost every single principles thing. Um the implementation of P PTO is I feel not only going to build morale because we've already heard such positive things, but it also offers our employees a lot of

064flexibility. So they have more flexibility. We don't have to be questioning their things. So I just think all the way around that that's a good move. Along with our benefits package, like Drew said, we've worked really hard on making that so robust. Grow well has already scheduled or seen 125 visits and we implemented August 1. So like it is it has taken off like way better than I could have expected. So that's great news. Um, and then we just we continuously plan evaluate our health plans. Um, I had our renewal today with IMA and I'll share those results in just a little bit, but we're looking at things like international pharmacy program where uh people can get high dollar drugs internationally. It's the same drug, but it's it's a lot cheaper of a program. And

065the program that we look are looking into is zero cost to the employee if they agree to do it. and then the district plays a reduced amount. So, it's a win-win for employee and employer. Um, and then reasonable reasonable premiums. Uh, when we look at um whether it be area districts or districts of our size, we are like one of the very lowest on out-ofpocket premiums for our our employees. So, we take a lot of pride in that. Um, negotiations obviously is is a great way to recruit and retain um because you're touching the base which recruits people along with everybody um giving like rewards for people staying with the district. So, we gave um just over a 4% increase on average and I've got actual dollar figures here in a little bit. Um, and

066then like Drew said, college fairs. We're really evaluating where we go and who he sends um just to be more effective and try to cut costs on the excess that we didn't see any benefit from. Um, absenteeism. This one was really um talked about a lot with the committee. Um, we talked about social workers trying to find trends and is it certain buildings like in certain parts of town or is it certain ages? Um and then after we find those trends, what can we do to fix them? Um also working more with family engagement on um trying to trying to find again why are these kids so absent and if there's anything we can do with the families and then early education. Uh we talked a lot about that families probably don't know the effects

067that this actually has on their children to be gone so much. And so if we can help educate those parents early on, maybe then as we see the children get older and it's easier to not come to school, it won't be such a problem. And then the last thing is I transportation issu issues. If this is the reason, how can we help? If if transportation concerns are the reason these kids aren't coming to school, how what can the district do to help? Um, another one was ESL needs districtwide. Um, and as you know, uh, the district is now covering the ESL endorsement, including the college courses, the practice exam, and then the fee to put it on their license. Um, and the committee thought that this was just such a a much more robust option

068um that we're going to see more benefit paying for these actual courses rather than just to pay for the exam. We just think that the the people going through the courses are just going to be more effective. The we've had two sessions. We had a session in the spring and summer. We maxed out at 25 before they could even go promote it to all the buildings. And then we have a session, the second session is starting Monday and it'll run through December. So, it's two 8week classes and that session's already filled up with 25 as well. Um, and we've got a waiting list for the this the 2026 spring summer. So, it's been very well received and as long as a teacher is on a plan, we can count their minutes on our on this

069year's budget. So that's 50 additional teachers that we can count their minutes per fiscal year 26 funding. So we should see our bilingual funding increase, which is great news in the event federal funding ever gets cut again or declines. Um that's where a lot of that will come from. Uh next, some more things that they talked about were social emotional needs. As you know, we have leader in me and capturing kids hearts. This year's the first year for character strong at the secondaries. Um more focus on implementating these social emotional curriculums and coordinating with family engagement. We set aside some title one funds that the title one schools can use for family specifically for family engagement. Um new through negotiations we added a safe learning advisory council. The intent of this is to try to

070get more consistent districtwide with people that really have um a knack for behaviors and to try to like any behavioral issues can go to this council um to discuss and then that council will then um work with the the teachers to with these issues. Um social workers, we currently have five on staff and then K1 counselor curriculum. So, it's my understanding that maybe they were just kind of doing their own curriculum and now they're looking at an actual curriculum that would focus on citizenship, social skills, and behavior. Um, professional development, we uh have the letters facilitators compensation. We'll be giving a stipen to all of those. Release time was wellreceived uh already. Um and then Steve's office has uh already started working on um like tech Tuesdays and and offerings now so that all of

071this release release time can be built up before that day. Uh PD for interventions at tier 2 and three PD day for elementary uh seals and then focus on implementation of the PD. So it was mentioned in the committee that you know a lot of times we we get this PD out there but like we really need to focus on then implementing that PD to make it effective. Um and then the last common thing we saw were boundaries. Um and how our current boundaries have a lot of forced transfers and the effect that has on the families that are either split up or they have to change schools. the transportation issue um and then just late enrollments are also issues when you when it comes to boundaries and then um just the academic issues that

072may be caused. So that was what that committee decided. So when building my budget, I took these things into account um to make sure we had budget room for them. Revenue data. Um some of these numbers you'll notice are a little bit different than Drew's. we we didn't correspond, but he took a little bit um bigger of a look back than I did. So, uh neither number is wrong, but like the reduction in the five classified staff here at the ESC, we have nine in totality, but I looked at we have five that weren't that were budgeted last year and weren't this year. So, actual dollars that were freed up. The others the other four would have had budget in there. So, uh or didn't have budget the prior year. So, and then reduction in

073certified staff. Drew's opening and closing positions as needed all over, but it netted out at about three positions. And then we have 33 long-term subs um in certified positions. And so when I budget, those are budgeted as certified positions at the beginning of the year, but then as Drew has to fill them with long-term sub, that free that gap frees up about $660,000. Um and then the reduction in administrators. I just did the two we had last year to this year um that were fully budgeted last year that aren't budgeted this year. Uh the CTE and then the virtual. And then uh some other revenue that we'll see increase is just the general fund base. So this is the the dollar amount that each student generates at a minimum. So most do more because of

074waitings, but this is the very minimum that one student will generate for our district. Um, and that's up $237. So, if we have exactly the same uh FTE, it will generate a little over 1.5 million in new money for the general fund. And then the same the LOB is based on a different dollar amount, but the same concept, it went up 240, but it's only funded at 32%. So, that's why the math is a little bit different on that. So, total estimated additional revenue available is a little over three million. And I was careful not I at first I had new revenue but it it or new money but it's not all new. So and it's not Yeah. So it's not necessarily new but it's it's just cost savings that we had budgeted elsewhere. So

075then if you go over to notable expense increases where where's that $3 million going? So property and casualty insurance as you all know um is a little over a million dollar. That's up 444,000. And that's actually from fiscal year 24 when we were with EMC because last year we were half EMC half kick. So it was very we very high last year. So I just went back to the first full year. Our esco lease purchase payment last year was paid with escrow funds. So that'll be 650,000 this year. And that escalates every year and and it taps out at 1.06 06 million in fiscal year 42, which seems really far away. And then um the other thing that we had was employer annuity. Uh it roughly about $660,000 a year. Last year was paid with

076a forfeiture account that we found out we had money in. And so those two things are they're not new expenses. They're things that we didn't have to pay for last year. And so where that money went is in cash balances. So you'll see our capital outlay fund group. This is like in it pretty well. And then the things like this is why like they were budgeted um and it wasn't until I think March I was like we have not paid the escro payment. And we did some digging called them. I was like surely if we owed somebody 650,000 they'd be calling us. Um so that's how we found out it was paid with escrow funds. And so again these are going to continue for a lot of years. They were in the budget before last

077year. Well, the esco was one year, but the employer annuity always has been. So, not new expenses, but new from last year. And then this is the part that um I think every every administrator in this room is most proud of is of that 3 million we put over that into our staff. And so this includes payroll taxes and everything. So this is all in um 2.7 went to our certified staff, 432 to our classified staff, and 82 went to our administrative staff. So it says staff salary and benefit increases. We didn't increase our fringe. We stayed at the 900, but there was an increase because last year had three months of $830 and then the 900. So that's why I left benefits in there because annually people will see more of a French benefit

078than they did last year. Um like I said, I met with IMA today. Our health insurance renewal came in at 2 and a half% increase and they were just ecstatic as was I. But um with that, I feel comfortable that we're probably not going to have to increase our employee premiums either, which is really good news because going back up to those raises, that means 100% is going to them. We're not giving and then having to take some out for health insurance. So that was really good news. Grow well is an additional cost this year, but we're hoping that that's going to be offset by the claim savings. our our um health reserve fund. We ended the year and I did not put any excess cash into it this year other than half the interest

079earned and we are sitting the our auditors like three months of premiums and we're sitting at like 4.2 months. So they were really really impressed with that as well. They said that's the highest it's been in like eight years. So that's really good news as well. um ELLL curriculum adoption. Uh I think we've talked a little bit about that. That that that will be approved this year to be implemented the following year and that's going to be around a one and a half million. Again, those funds are already in textbooks. So, we've built that up gradually through the years. Um I try to transfer a little bit every years just so that when bid purchases like this happen, we don't count on general fund money. It's already there and allocated. Um these may not show

080very well. Um, so this is just some graphics we'll try to talk through since they're so small, but I just wanted you to see that that those first three lines. So the yellow is fiscal year 24, um, red is 25, and then the green is 26. I just wanted to show this um because that is instruction. So the most important thing we're doing is instruction in the district. And so I think it's great to see how much of our overall budget is directly tied to instruction. So instruction's 48%, but if you add in student support services, um, like counselors, uh, social workers, and you add in our instructional support services like our coaches, our our specialists like SLP, psyches, everything like that, um, it is 57%. So, I think that's really important to note that

08157% of everything we spent is directly tied to instruction. Um, just a little historical data on our mill levy over the last 10 years. The high was 52 mills in fiscal year 16 and then a low of 46.588 in uh fiscal year 24 when the RNR was not exceeded. A 10-year average, we're at 49.246. Um the statewide average last year was 53.32 and then again proposing 49.94 this year. Uh which is still like a 1.31 decrease. Uh and then again a mill was worth 391,000 last year. This year it's up to 419,000. Uh an increase of right around 28. Um again just the assessed valuation data. Um, I just did the only thing new on this from the previous slide you saw it on for the RNR is the fiscal year 16. So I did

082another 10-year look back just to be consistent with the mill rate. I thought it was really interesting. If you look at the 10-year change in general fund assessed valuation that stuck into the bottom line, our valuation in our district has increased over $134 million in 10 years. So, I thought that was very interesting with our TIFF valuation increasing 22 million. So, our TIFF valuation did decrease from last year. That's the only valuation that did. Um, but all other funds at general fund uh were up pretty significantly. And then the the triangles at the bottom just show our assess valuation and how it's continuing to trend upward. A little look at enrollment. Um, this is probably this has been um very difficult these last few weeks trying to figure out what our enrollment is going to

083be. That's always like the biggest thing because it drives funding so much and you have to have your budget turned in before you actually get audited. But I looked at fiscal year uh 16 audited headcount and then last year's audited headcount. And you'll see as of today there's two different numbers. So technologies has been pulling this for us and there's verified and unverified. So that 6,866 is verified. They're enrolled already. The paperwork, everything's turned in. 7,11 is the number of those plus I think around 145 that either were here last year or we know they're still here. They just haven't enrolled yet. They're waiting till the last minute. And so either way, as it appears now, we're going to be down. Um, just hopefully it's closer to that 7,11 mark rather than the 6866 mark.

084Um, in that far column is just the audited FTE. And you'll see that verified and unverified there. The verified is down, but the unverified isn't. And that's due to Garfield. So our Garfield numbers are only as a 0.5, but they're not decreasing like the others. So, we're decreasing 1.0 FTEES, not the 0.5s. So, that's why that one didn't go down as much. Um, over the last 10 years, we're down $877. So, with waitings included last year, one student on average brought in around four $8,400. So, 8,400 times that, $877 over $7 million that in the last 10 years we haven't been able to sustain. So, I thought that was interesting as well, but again, we won't know final headcount until uh September 20th and what we actually can get funded for. Um, this is just

085a picture of what's going to go in the paper. It's very small. It's just the code 999 that shows the different um the different funds, what I propose we're going to spend in them. Again, the only one that looks crazy when you compare it to last year is Capital Alley because it's always large to have the the authority to spend that money. How like in case a roof collapses, you just need that authority to spend it. So, not ne necessarily intending to. Um and then that that hearing that budget hearing will be right after the RNR hearing on the 28th and then the board will choose to adopt that. So, any questions I can answer? If not, you know where to find me between now and the 28th. Okay. >> Thank you guys. >> Well,

086item H4, election of delegate and alternate delegate for the Kansas school board's delegate assembly on Saturday, November the 15th as part of the KSA KASB annual convention. Josh Ky. Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Um, so this is an annual um an annual event that we that the KSB sponsors every year in um in November. Um there's there's usually delegates. Um and so we would if the board so chooses, we would elect a delegate and then an alternate um that would go and there's there's breakout sessions. I believe it starts Jennifer Thursday afternoon. Is that right? Thursday morning. >> Is it Friday morning? Okay. So it would be um there'd be breakout sessions, different things that that that they would have that day and then then the uh the assembly would be on on Saturday the

087the 15th. So if there's an interest, we would need to elect a delegate and um and an alternate and I would be more than happy to to attend as well if there's an interest in it. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I would strongly encourage especially the board of review anyone on the board to attend um and make the most out of it. I mean I went both days attended several breakout sessions got a lot of good information on a pretty broad array of topics. you kind of pick and choose what you want. And um plus just good like opportunities with like between, you know, breakfast and stuff to meet people in other districts, talk to them about their challenges, what's going on with them, that sort of thing. So, uh, and then obviously one, yeah, if

088you go then you're going to want to or somebody will be a delegate and represent the district or but I I don't plan to go this year. U, but I would really encourage one or two of you guys to go that wants to go. Would you you were you said that you would go, right? >> Okay. So, if if Mark wants to go and the board is comfortable with that, we'll need to have we'll need to take action. So I would move that we send Markind to the whatever KASB annual conference >> As a delegate. Yeah. >> We need to appoint an alternate delegate. >> Yeah. I think we can do another motion after after we do this one. Andy second that motion by Robert. >> Discussion. All in favor raise your hand. Oh, same.

089Motion carries. Now we need an alternative. >> I'll do it. >> Okay. So, make a motion. >> Mr. I move we appoint Nathan Hec as the alternate delegate to represent USD457 at KSB's delegate assembly on November 15, 2020 15 at KSB annual convention. Second move and second. No further discussion. All in favor raise your hand. Post same. Motion carries. Okay. Item H5, board of education committee assignments for 2526 signup sheets going around. I think it's right here. Yeah. So, we don't need to take any action on this, do we? >> No, just Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we had it on. >> Make sure it's on there. Get it signed. >> And make sure that after we get all signed up that it gets back to Jennifer. >> Okay. Move on to

090item H6. Uh, board member stipen discussion. Josh K, interim superintendent. So, um there's been discussion, um legislation was passed, I believe, not this last legislative session, but the session before that that allowed, um board members to receive a um to receive a sip um in payment for their service to the board. Um there's been some discussion, so I just wanted to bring that to the table and let you all kind of discuss and decide if that's something that you're interested in or not. the meeting. >> Yeah. >> Like we'll start the discussion on that. Um I'm the one who brought this up uh just because of all the things when I were looking at and everything we've done and all that we're doing. And my initial thought was just to cover mileage just just so

091it's not an expense to us when we get into this um job. We we do this for uh out of the goodness of our hearts and our um you know we want to serve our communities and we love what we do and we love education. We want to do that. Um my intent was doing this so it wasn't going to cost anything. I know Jessica's done a great job of of investing our funds and so my intent even having this conversation was that we would take it out of the interest money that's raised so it's not out of taxpayer dollars and it would be something that I I would you know I guess I would like to see if it's just elective if somebody wants it not everybody has to take it so it doesn't

092affect us that way but um all the way but it's up to you you guys know this is my idea uh to bring up but I talked to Josh about it just to cover the cost of the the uh miles that we put and through the different meetings and everything that we have all over the place. So anyway, that's my two cents on that. >> I I I get it and I I completely understand it. I I I know that. I know. And I knew and you knew and everybody knew going into the position that it there was no benefit to that. There was no compensation and and I'm okay with keeping it that way. I don't it's not a deal breaker for me. I mean I I know that you definitely the heart's in

093the right place. I mean I get it completely and then I understand the funding. It's it's not a bad idea. It's just not something that I'm interested in right now. Um, I'm okay with continuing as is, but I'm I'm one upset that it's over. Try that. >> I would like to see if it is something that we do approve that it is, we we can opt out. >> You know, year to year if we choose to. >> Okay. What I got a question for you. What What are other districts doing? Jennifer, I know you looked into that. >> Yeah, >> we didn't get a lot of feedback back. >> We put a question out on the list or about that and I don't think any came back as doing compensation. A lot of them were

094kind of like we do offering t-shirts, sweatshirts, things like that as gifts. A lot and some of them weren't aware that the legislation had changed either. So we had a lot of those like you can't do that so we don't do it type of and then there were other people chiming in saying hey that legislation has changed. So I don't think there's a lot of awareness out there yet that that has changed Any discussion? Anybody else? >> You know, I kind of agree with Randy. I I understand the thought behind it. Um I don't think anyone would look at you and think you were trying to get rich by getting a $500 stipend for the number of hours that we put in. Um but it's not something that I feel necessary to receive. But I

095totally understand. I mean, I totally understand. Anybody else? Yeah, I I think I'm kind of in line with with Robin and and Nathan or sorry >> Brandy as you said. I um I I I don't I don't know that I would be in would would want would want that if if it was a policy. I definitely want to make sure it's one you could opt out of. But um I mean you're right. We definitely travel to schools and meetings and all and and doing cure real costs. Uh, however, I mean, for me personally, I knew that was the case and and felt it was reasonable. And I know that like >> when when we do things like going to KSB and the district pay pays for the hotel rooms, it covers those kinds of expense

096costs. Um, so, uh, I don't think I I would opt to to go this route. I appreciate you bringing the conversation up. >> Welcome. Any thoughts from other board members? Well, and you know, I don't know, like I'm a little add like I would hate for someone who was interested in running, who felt like they weren't going to be able to do it to not to not run, maybe because it would be awesome and that $500 would make a difference. I just don't know that $500 is enough to make an actual difference, you know. Um, I'm sure there are some amazing people out there who if they have to take off for work, they have to take off without pay or whatever. And so financially, if it's a burden for them and that's the only

097reason they don't run for school board, but I don't know that $500 is enough to compensate for that. And I don't know what that looks like. Anything else? I >> appreciate it coming up, Nathan. And and it it's I think it's defensible in doing so. Definitely put in the miles and effort in in pay over a 12 month period one time compensation $500. I'd like the ability also as Jackie said, I think a couple others said that to be able to opt out if we if one chooses Tuesday. It's my family. John, >> I um I've talked to Nathan about this a little bit, but I'm personally not interested in being paid to be on this board. I when I signed up for it, I knew what I was getting into and and I knew

098I would incur cost um real cost as well as just time, you know, being on the board. Um, I'm reluctant to pass it to put to where board members get paid. I think I think maybe that would change the type of candidates or or some of the candidates would want to be on the board because there's money instead of be on the board for the better well-being of the student. Um, but I do understand, Nathan, we've talked about it a lot. There are real costs associated with being on the board and it does take time. that does take fuel, wear and tear to get to the different meetings and stuff like that. But I would agree with Andy's comment that I think I knew that going into it. Um, you know, as a board member

099that I was going to I was going to sacrifice something. >> Okay. Anything else? All right. We'll close that discussion. On to item I open discussions. Who's up first? Nathan. >> Nathan, welcome. >> It uh is a joy to uh see the summer coming to an end. I know for the staff of getting ready to come back for sure getting ready to I know my wife was at open house tonight and so excited about those open houses going on and appreciate that. Uh just uh love the opportunities just that I see coming up as for the school year. Appreciate everything that's going on with that. Huge thanks to all the summer employees, uh the custodians, the bus drivers, and everyone else, uh keeping the grounds maintained and getting them ready, uh getting a lot of

100the buildings, uh tidied up, getting ready for the staff to come back. I was in a couple of those buildings this summer as well. Uh so I saw some of those good things going on. I do definitely believe we have the best staff and employees u in the entire area, if not in the entire state. And so I appreciate them. Um really excited about the apprentice program uh that is coming up, Drew. and there's things going on with that. Thankful for that and thanks to uh just all the hard work for staffing the schools, getting them up. It's very exciting changing the culture and the climate, whatnot. So, I want to say thanks to that. Uh appreciate the city here continuing to make the city better. We can glad we could be a part of

101that as well and uh looking forward to just a great start to the school year. Excited about what's coming next. That's all I've got. John. >> Um, I'd like to just agree with a lot of Nathan's comments. I think it's exciting that we'll be ready to start another school year. We got a lot of preparation that went into that on all fronts and I appreciate all that hard work. And I want to thank Drew for the HR report. Uh, the successes that we're seeing. I love the geographical recruiting. I think there's multiple things I like about that, but just that we're we're recruiting like-minded people that understand our environment, understand our culture here, and and get a better chance to stick, you know. So, I appreciate the HR department for all their creative thinking and

102hard work. And I want to thank Jessica also for the financial report. I know your staff and you guys put endless hours into making sure that all the programs in the school are funded and that everything every tees crossed and every eyes dotted. So, I appreciate all your hard work on that and the report. >> Jackie, >> um I also would like to wish everybody a happy school year, happy end of summer. Um and I also am glad to see the the recruiting closer to our area. I always wondered in the past why we went so far and recruited in areas that we knew people weren't going to come here and stay. And it's just areas that are closer to our our industry and cultural makeup just makes a lot more sense to recruit from.

103>> Andy, very much the same sentiments has already been spoken. Um Jessica, thank you for the budget presentation tonight. Uh it's really evident to me that you and administrative team is are doing a really fantastic job of not only planning for today but being uh cognizant of what our future might bring in and what future of education funding may hold and making reasonable plans for that. So I I appreciate you thinking in that way. Um, and as we talked, you know, on the recruiting, uh, the comment you made, Drew, I think the culture in the buildings and and what it's what it's evolved into and, um, and just, uh, how, you know, obviously starts with the leader in that building and those principles, but just as the team, the teams that we have within each

104one of our buildings and how that culture has uh, just continued to grow and be positive and that we're starting to see that things like recruiting and retention and and even the ability to hire too. So, uh I just commend our faculty as a whole for that. Um and just great time. It's exciting. I'm looking forward to going to convocation in the morning and and uh just an exciting start to another school year. >> I I agree completely with what everybody said. I know everybody works so hard and and I I feel like this board and as has been is our goal is to take care of the staff and and our teachers and that and I really feel like after Jessica's presentation that kind of just reaffirmed me that I I think that we're

105doing that and it's important to everybody you know that we do keep our staff and the retention is big and also it's important that we recruit the the next generation of teachers and I definitely feel like as a district you guys are hitting out of the park and and we're moving in the right direction for sure. So, thank you for that. Um, thanks to Nathan, too, for bringing that up. You know, there's there's sometimes there's some topics that are hard to discuss and and I feel like we as a board can discuss those and be fine and and agree to disagree and still be fine. That um and yeah, I can't believe it just seems like it goes faster every year. School summer gets shorter and shorter every year. But Robbie, >> I had a

106really good conversation today with um a teacher who just retired last year and they're retired now, so you know they're they're very free in their um comments and and honestly almost all of them were really really good. And the one thing that we talked about quite a bit was you know moving forward and what does that look like? And the one thing that that she talked about and that I completely agreed with is that open, honest, transparent communication is the answer to 99.9% of our problems. People understand what's going on. They trust what you're saying. You can you can do anything. Sometimes people think money is always the answer. And throwing money at people that aren't happy just makes you have richer, unhappy employees. So, I'm I'm hoping that lots of people watched tonight and

107saw the open, honest, transparent communication that you guys delivered. And um we need to get better at cheating our own version because I think we're way better than than we say. So, thank you guys. >> Mark, yeah, when you go last, everything's already been said. So, I agree there. the confidence that's been thrown out there. Appreciate the administration, Jessica, Drew, Steve, Josh, I know you guys are all working have been working towards getting this school year going and appreciate all that work and all the teachers that are coming in that came in now and and the administrators, the school principles, and uh I had a discussion with the teacher a couple weeks ago that she told me she said, "I'm really excited for the first time in three years to get back to work here."

108So it was it we had a we went this the discussion went beyond that but it was it was a good discussion. Glad to hear that and looking forward to the convocation tomorrow morning. Uh just looking forward to new school year things. >> Yeah. I a lot of what you all said. Um I'm really excited for convocation tomorrow. I think um I think that that Drew and and Steve and and their departments have done a really good job trying to to plan not only tomorrow, but the stuff that we did for our new teachers. Um really exciting. I think um it it's a good opportunity to kind of start building some of those relationships with our new folks and and and continue to build on the relationships we have with our folks that are coming

109back. Um you know, Robin, you talked a little bit about, you know, communication and and clear communication. One of the one of the things that that that I'm going to preach a lot this year is um clarity and coherence. Those are the two words that I'm going to use a lot. You know, we need to be clear on what our expectations are for others and what their expectations are for for us. And so um being clear with with expectations and and not only I feel like if if we're doing that um for ourselves, that's going to trickle down to what being having clarity in the classroom with our kids. That's everybody's going to be successful. If we're all successful, our kiddos are going to be successful. And so, um, clarity is going to be one

110of those big words that we're going to use, coherence, because we need to we need to make sure that everything we're doing relates to relates to our our our goals, the things that we want to have have happen there. There needs to be coherence in the classroom with our lessons, coherence in the things that we're doing to to move the district forward with our with our uh strategic plan and things like that. And so those are going to be my two big buzzwords this year that I'm going to preach a lot and and I'll be saying a lot, but um I think if we're doing those things then then we're definitely going to start moving the needle um in the places that really matter. Um open houses kind of started the the big the big

111run. Ply had theirs last Thursday and then open houses started tonight. We had about half of our buildings um at open house tonight. The other half will will finish up tomorrow night and then Garfield will be the last one on Wednesday. So, um, we've tried to get to as many of the open houses as we can just to kind of check in and see how things are going. So, it's exciting to see the kids excited and ready to come back and visit with the teachers and everybody seems really positive. This is always my favorite time of the year because you get the honeymoon stage where everything's everybody's excited and so um, it's it's a fun the first month is always a fun time. So, looking forward to that and I think staff and things are

112going are excited as well. One of the things that um you know that that I' I've told a few people is I feel like things are going really well and it kind of makes me nervous like I'm forgetting something or we're missing something. I've talked to to Drew and to to Jessica and Steve about that. But I just feel like um everybody seems to know what their job is, know what their role is, and that's make my job and my transition into the the world that I'm at really really smooth. And I feel really positive about the the year that we have ahead of us. Okay. Item J, the next board meeting. Um, the next meeting of the board of education will take place on Thursday, August 28th at 5:00 p.m. here in the board

113meeting room at the Education Support Center. Item K, executive sessions. >> Mr. Mr. President, I move we go to the collective session for 20 minutes to discuss contract liability pursuant to the exception for matters which would be deemed privilege in the attorney client relationship under coma beginning at 7:40 and the open meeting will resume the board meeting at 8:00 p.m. like to invite Josh Gon Steve and Jennifer Cunningham to join us in executive session. Second further discussion. All in favor, raise your hand. Same. Motion carries.