001So like when I start one of these Great. We're going to roll this side. Please All right, we all set. That's true. >> Good evening. Uh welcome to our school board meeting. Um we will uh have our call to order here. And I will just mention um that uh uh Sarah Costain was able to complete her superintendent training. So she will be able to join us for that process. Apparently there was some kind of confusion um in the past about uh these trainings, but uh uh the last one was was apparently threatened by some kind of email issue, but um it was resolved and she was able to uh complete the training, so she will be able to join us for that. Um so that's my uh only note in the call to order. Uh
002but uh actually she will be uh attending hopefully. She's had a small accident apparently and is delayed, but we expect her to arrive at some point. All right, let's rise for the pledge. I pledge algiance 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. >> All right. Um, now we can uh review our consent agenda items. If anyone would like one removed to uh discuss separately, now is the time to mention that perhaps. If not, we will proceed to uh approving the meeting agenda. >> I would offer that motion >> support. Okay, we have a motion in support to approve the meeting agenda. Any further discussion? Hearing none, show of hands in favor. Opposed, same sign.
003Motion carries. We have an agenda. All right, that brings us to our reports and presentations, beginning with the Hins good news presentation. Come on up. Oh, do we have to there? Can I slide this? >> Okay. Now you come here facing down this way. This way. Your pillow you back Which one of these do I use? This one's on. >> It's on. >> Hello. >> There it goes. >> Good evening, esteemed members of the Alpena Public School Board, superintendent and guests. We are so excited to be here tonight. We Hank school are going to be sharing with you ways that we've been learning and how we know we've been successful using the language teachers call clarity. In our language arts we are studying the perspective of literature and our presentation is going to be based
004off the classic was the night before Christmas. It was the week before break and all through the schools our classrooms were buzzing following all the rules. We came here to show you what we know we can do and share all the learning that's helping us bloom. Our learning intention for this presentation is we are learning to communicate our accomplishments clearly. When learning begins, we know what to aim for. Our goals are announced right before we open the door. like we are learning to write a strong paragraph you see or how to use fraction fractions in our math mystery. Our second learning intention is we are learning to connect our our learning to a fun familiar theme. We learn about habitats, planets in space and how to be good citizens in this place. We want to
005know why we're working so hard. And when we're successful, our teachers stand on guard. Now for the best part, the success criteria. This is how we know we've met our goal. Our success criteria show us the way how to be winners at the end of the day. If the learning intention is writing, then the success criteria must be bright. Like my paper has three details uses capital lettered right. We check off the boxes. We know what we need to make sure our project is a great planted seed. If we're learning the measure, then success criteria will say, "I can find the perimeter of a shape today." The teachers help guide us to be sure and be sound. But we know the target when learning sound. We use it to ask my there are close by.
006That's our achievement to reach up to the sky. When teachers have clarity and students know how, we all learn much better starting right now. We know what we're learning. We know what to do. And we thank Alpena Public Schools and all of you. >> We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and happy new [singing] year. >> We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish [singing] you a merry Christmas and a happy new year [singing and music] >> and to all a good night. [applause] >> That was wonderful. Thank you very much. Merry Christmas to all of you as well. That's right. And that brings us to our 2025 audit presentation. Chelsea McConnell is here and uh come on
007up. >> Good evening. It's a pleasure to be here to present your fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 audit. I am Chelsea McConnell from Staley Lamp and Cranime. So tonight, we're going to go over your opinions on your audited financial statements, talk about some significant risks during this year's audit, go over the required communication between the auditor and the board and management, touch on some analytics, and discuss the single audit. Your audit is required to be conducted under auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America as well as governmental auditing standards. And one thing that that requires is that the auditor is independent of the audit so that you can we can remain objective and unbiased throughout the scope of the audit. We also utilize a concept called materiality and materiality is a
008calculation the auditor makes. It changes every year. And to put that simply, what materiality really means is, you know, what is significant enough that would impact these financial statements to influence the financial statement users decisions or, you know, what is big enough that could cause these to be misleading. And so I am pleased to say that you were issued an unmodified opinion. That is the highest level of opinion you can be issued in an audit. and it means that we do believe these financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. One thing you'll also see in this year's um audit opinion is something called an emphasis of matter paragraph. And what that paragraph is is it's just something that draws attention to something that is within these financial statements. So this year we implemented
009a new standard Gazsby statement number 101 compensated absences. And so that is really what's being disclosed in that paragraph in the opinion this year. You also have something called require supplementary information within your report. And so what required supplementary information or RSI is is it's something that's not required under you know US generally accepted accounting principles, but it is required under governmental accounting standards. And so it is required to be part of this report for the RSI that's within this report. Um, you know, we don't I always like to point out we don't issue an opinion on that because we do only perform limited procedures on the RSI. You also have something called other supplementary information within your report. And that contains, you know, more detailed statements or, you know, combining non- major statements. And
010so we look at those and we say, okay, are these fairly stated materially in relation to the basic financial statements as a whole? And so again, we don't issue an opinion on that other supplementary information either. So some of the significant risks for this year's audit was management override of control, revenue recognition and reporting with compliance and grants and then the also the internal service funds. So we actually have audit standards that say management override of control and revenue area. There are always going to be significant risk areas because we always have to as auditors presume that fraud could exist in those areas. If we have to presume fraud exists in an area, it's automatically a significant risk. And the reason the internal service funds are a significant risk is just because of the complexities
011and the materiality of those funds. And so you know what it means when we have significant risk areas. It just means we have to gather more audit evidence to be able to issue our opinion. We need more um or you know maybe um better evidence than other areas. So although an area may not be considered a significant risk area or even a high-risisk area, they do still get substantive testing done during our audit. And so you know one thing that we do when we look at that management override of control area is we say okay we can't look at every transaction that happens in the year. So we take a sample of transactions. We look at a sample of journal entries cash receipts dispersements payroll all the different you know major areas and we sample
012transactions and then we say okay what is the internal controls that should be in place in these areas. We walk through that sample and we say were those controls followed. If we find a deviation that where those controls maybe weren't followed then maybe we expand our sample or we say you know is this a systematic issue of the internal control system and then that's where you know you maybe have a deficiency in that internal control system but I am pleased to say we did not encounter any of those within our sample during the course of our audit. So, one thing you have is a loose leaf letter that would not be bound within your report. And this is a required communication between the auditor and those charged with governance, which is you, the board, and
013management as well. And so, I'm just going to go over some key areas of this letter. So, this area will or this letter will disclose whether there were new any new accounting policies that were implemented during this year. And so one of those you'll see is the disclosure of Gazsby 101 being implemented. So what happened with Gazsby 101 was Gazby said um before under the old standard you would look and say okay if say everyone were to quit tomorrow what would we have to pay them out? That pretty much became that compensated absence liability. Under the new standard now you have to meet a crit three criteria. One, it's attribut attributable to services that have already been rendered. Two, it accumulates. And three, it's more likely than not to be used or paid out. And
014so what happened was all of the compensated absences liabilities started to, you know, increase for all governments as they were implementing Gatsby 101. And that only is, of course, on your full acral governmentwide statements. It's still not recognized within those fund level statements. In addition, there are significant estimates within your report. So, there's certain numbers you may be able to know or reconcile at any given day, such as cash. You could know and reconcile exactly what that is. And then there's other numbers that you have to put, you know, assumptions and make sure you know they're reasonably estimated in order to comply with US generally accepted accounting principles. And so some of those significant estimates for your report are depreciation expense which of course is based off those the estimated useful lives of capital assets
015charges to other funds for the self- insurance funds the pension and oped liabilities and the def or asset and the the case with OPED now as we've seen and then of course the related deferred inflows and outflows of resources and then this year that this is a new one it's compensated absences is because of course we saw that increase and so now due to the materiality and the assumptions that go into that that's considered a significant estimate as well. One thing that we auditors also require is at the end of the audit we require management to represent various items that they have maybe you know disclosed to us or talked to us about regarding the audit. And so, as I said, you know, auditors are very objective and just professional skepticism and we're skeptics by
016nature. So, we actually write the letter for management and we give it to management and then we ask them to review and return it to us once it's signed. We did not have any consultations with other auditors. And then at the end of this letter, there's some other matters which are some recent pronouncements that will be coming down the Gatsby pipeline next. So the report on internal control. So typically you find this report within that single audit section. So we actually haven't issued the single audit yet which we'll touch on in at the end of this presentation. So it is the la last thing bound within your report. This is a required communication under government auditing standards. So there's really three different levels of internal control deficiencies you could have. your lowest level would be
017an other matter which means you know it's not a significant deficiency or material weakness yet but we think it should be communicated in writing. You know maybe there's a possibility in the future it could become one or you know it's just important enough in that system of internal controls that we feel it needs to be discussed. And then you have your significant deficiencies, which means there's a possibility that that internal control deficiency could lead to a material weakness, but not as likely as a material weakness. And then that highest level is a material weakness, which means it is reasonably possible that that internal control deficiency could lead to a material misstatement. So I am pleased to say, you know, we did not identify any internal control deficiencies to report. Um, but I also always like
018to point out we don't issue an opinion on that system of internal controls. We look at that system for limited purposes, you know, to assess risks and design and perform our audit, but we're not actually, you know, auditing that system of internal control. So there could be one that we just didn't identify for a limited scope purposes, but had we, we would have to report that. So now we're just going to touch on analytics. I'm not going to spend too much time deep diving into these because I know you've all seen the numbers um and these are historic. So I'm just going to touch on maybe a little bit about what happened from 24 to 25. So this first slide is the statement of net position governmental activities. It's just a condensed comparative statement. And
019so here we can see assets increased about 8.8 8 million as a result of mainly the increase in the OPED asset and your capital assets. Deferred inflows and outflows, they entirely consist of your pension and OPED calculations. And so we see those vary every year. Liabilities decreased about $16.8 million and that primarily was due to a significant decrease in the pension liability. This year we see a increase in current liabilities um of about $580,000. And I just wanted to kind of touch on why and again um that really was due to that implementation of Gazsby 101 and having the those increase overall but overall net position increased about $12.5 million which was primarily in that unrestricted net position. So next is the statement of activities for governmental activities and in the same thing it's just
020a very condensed version of the statement. So overall revenues increased about 1% while expenses decreased about 5% from the prior fiscal year. So revenue increased mostly due to property taxes as we continue to see taxable values increase as well as increases in charges for services. And the largest decrease for expenses was in the instruction function and that mainly really was just due to the Gazsby 68 calculation. So um when we see that pension liability decrease it results as in a decrease in the expenses and so that really is what led to that decrease from the prior year. So pension benefits, I know pension and oped, they get talked about a lot um just because they are some of the most significant numbers on the statements and they're very material. Um so really what is the
021pension benefits? So you're part of you know a Michigan public school employee retirement system. It's a cost sharing multiple employer defined benefit plan. And so overall net pension is about $52.6 6 million. Um, so when I say net, that's taking into account those associated deferred inflows and outflows that I talked about. And so, um, you can see how that's a very significant number. So, sometimes I get asked, well, you know, what can we do about that? And really, all you can do is continue to pay that statutoily required contribution. So, next we have a summarized governmental fund statement. And just to you know peek at what happened in the general fund this year. So overall the general fund had an increase in assets of about 1.7 million while liabilities remained relatively stable increasing slightly a
022little under h 100,000. So the general fund fund balance increased by $ 1.7 million. Yes, by $1.7 million, which exceeded the final budgeted expectation by about $851,000. Um, so I just wanted to point out, I know that sounds like a big number, $851,000, but if you look at that as a percent in relation to the total actual revenues of the general fund, it's only about 1.5%. So, you know, your budget was very, very reasonable. And so both revenues and expenditures came in a little bit under the final budgeted amounts which is what led to that. The unassigned portion of fund balance increased about $1.7 million. And one important ratio I always like to calculate and look at just to look at the general fund's health is the number of days of expenditures in that unassigned
023fund balance. And so the government finance officers association or the GFOA recommends no less than 60 days for that financial measure. And so your general fund had about 109 days of expenditures and other financing uses in that unassigned fund balance at 6:30 2025 which was an increase of about 20 days from 630 2024's ratio. So that just shows your general fund is healthy. Now the single audit section you is which is not issued yet but it will be very soon. I expect you'll get a draft any day. Um so you probably are aware of what happened with the 2025 compliance supplement this year. So typically like even if that was issued in June that would be considered late. So we now came into school district audit season and we all we had was a 2025
024draft compliance supplement to perform our single audits. No one really knew when it was going to come out. Of course, we probably all assumed it would come out earlier than it it did. So, um we everybody all the auditors in the state of Michigan went out and started performing single audits based on that draft in hopes that, you know, we weren't going to have to go out and retest anything that no major programs would change within that engagement. Um so then the state it wasn't getting issued. the state finally issued their budget late. And when they issued their budget, they said, "Okay, well, if the compliance supplements delayed, you can issue your other report and your single audit will be due 30 days after." So, for the first time that I remember ever having to
025do, we had to pull all the single audits out of the reports, issue this report separately, and then we were going to have to issue the single audit separ. So, November 25th, they finally released that final 2025 compliance supplement, which means, um, you know, we got a Christmas present in December 25th, all the single audits are due. And so, um, you know, we're working on getting those done. But the good news was there weren't changes between the draft and the final. And so, we didn't have to come out and retest anything. And so, those will be issued and completed soon. But I can tell you, you know, we don't have any findings. We don't have any question costs. Um, we are expecting to issue an unmodified opinion. Um, so there everything was very clean with
026the single audit. With that being said, are there any questions? This might not be a question right for maybe more for Dave or Mary, but this is, you know, very objective data auditing. Do we ever have anybody come in and subjectively look at any of the financial stuff to see if we can make any improvements like assist Mary or >> do you want to speak to that? No is the answer. I mean that's Mary's job. So >> I don't know. I've never done this for a long time and I've never worked in a business manager. We're supposed to know what we're doing. all have degrees in the business office. I have two degrees training chief financial officer certificate. Um I have clean eyes every year except for last year was a train wreck with Joyce
027being everything else. So there were extenduating circumstances with that one. I had clean eyes in my previous district. No, Mary, this this this I'm not this is nothing against your job or your training or anything. I'm just asking just another set of eyes. As my profession, the medical profession, sometimes we might refer to someone else or have somebody else take a look at something just to see if there's any other changes or improvements or, you know, I'm just saying as a a help to look at these numbers and what we're spending it on. >> So, what do you think is wrong with it? >> Nothing. I'm just ask saying is I mean everything there's room for improvement. I mean is there >> I mean that's but um >> we'll just we'll stop there. >> Anytime
028changes come out through MSBO or Gatsby or anywhere else we follow them. If I have questions I work with Chelsea. Um I call her throughout the year. I don't wait until the audit to say hey you know there's always questions I refer to I reach out to one or you know so I I guess I don't when you have clean audits and there are issues you're not overdrawing your checking account you're not running the district in the deficit I Yeah, I would just say I have not heard of that in my career of someone coming into a school district and doing that, but that's not to say that we couldn't look at it, but I don't know what that is necessarily. >> So, when Chelsea was talking about the budget, there there's always a variance
029in the budget. You always have changes throughout the year. You have bills that don't get received. you have things that were ordered that didn't come in before June 30th that you can't charge that for this year because we never received them. Um, so those variances always exist in in the budget and our variances have never been outside of the normal or practical range. And this this budget was extremely close with $851,000 out of 54 million. I think we did pretty good. Um, under the pension side of things, what is our bill for the pension? Just out of curiosity. >> What is your liability at 6:30? >> Yep. >> I know net it was about 50 million. So, we have 50 million. 50.2 million is your net pension liability at 63025. And then of course there
030are related deferred outflows and inflows that go into those. Um there's also if you're interested in the pension, if you go back there's a 10-year RSI schedule that you might be interested in. Um so that is going to be on page 60 and 61. So that will show from 2015 through 2024 reporting of you know where your net pension liability was. And so you can see how it flu has fluctuated. But um so we saw them go up for a couple years and now we're finally seeing them start to come down. So I hope that we continue to see those decrease and come down. If we are able would it be beneficial for us to pay ahead? So what happens is there's about almost people in this plan. And so even if you were to
031contribute over your statutoily required contribution, it's kind of going into this pot that everyone is part of. So it doesn't just directly only like you paid $2 million and now your pension liability went from 50 to 48 million. It doesn't really work that way. So, it's kind of a Ponzi scheme almost. Everybody's just got to keep kicking in to to make sure it stays afloat, >> which hopefully we see that continue to decrease. We did see the OPED or other post-employment benefits go from a liability to an asset starting with June 30th, 2024. And then we saw that asset continue to increase. So hopefully at a certain point we see the pension become and what you see what happens when you see that move to an asset is it means the plan became overfunded. And
032so hopefully the same thing happens to the pension where it is funded enough to the point where you know that liability is minimal or maybe you have a little bit of a pension asset at a certain point. Any other questions for Chelsea? >> Okay, >> I guess not. Um, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you being here. >> Yep. I appreciate it, too. >> Thank you, Mary. >> All right. Uh so that brings us to our uh opportunity for citizens or delegations to address the board. Come on up. Without further ado, >> good. My name is Diane O' Conor and I live in Alpena. On November 30th, two weeks ago now, I sent an email to the school board stating concerns I had about statements Mon board member Monica Dinski made at
033the November 24th regular meeting. Since I've had no response to my email, I'll present my concerns this evening. At that regular November meeting, Dr. Rabido did a debrief on the presentations King Scott did for the community the week prior on reimagining our future. After this debrief, board member Dazinski said she had taken data points from the King Scott slides, entered that information into an AI program, and got back verbatim information that King Scott had in their community presentations. It appeared this board member believed the information she found was created by AI rather than King Scott. In fact, the information AI produced in her search came from a very thorough Alpena news story on the King Scott community informational presentations. The problem here is not so much that this board member doesn't understand how AI works,
034but rather it looked like it was intended to be a gotcha moment to discredit King Scott and perhaps to embarrass our superintendent by suggesting the works King Scott did could have been accomplished with a five-minute AI search. This board unanimously voted to hire King Scott for a professional analysis of schoolboard properties and re-imagined uses. Board members should be supportive of the work this group is doing rather than trying to undermine trust and confidence in the process. On a positive note, board member Dazinski concluded her comments by saying that her fiveminute AI search had given her a lot of good ideas. It's important to point out that all those good ideas came um 100% of them actually came from the work King Scott did. So perhaps that is validation that the work they did was worthwhile
035and inspiring. It seems prudent for this board to issue a correction on the statements this board member made in a public forum. Not just because the statements were objectively false, but because it could be damaging to the reputation of King Scott and possibly damaging to the relationship between King Scott and APS. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] All right, seeing no further public comment, well, we'll proceed with our meeting. Thank you. Um, that brings us to our action items. Uh, the first of which is the approval of consent agenda items. I will make a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second on the consent agenda. Um since nothing was pulled, uh there won't be any discussion. Uh we'll simply uh vote. Uh
036all in favor, raise your hand. Any oppose? Same sign. Motion carries. Uh very good. Uh then um having accomplished that uh additional business requiring board action. Uh we have the 2025 financial update and uh the recommendation would be to approve uh such update as presented. >> I will make a motion to approve the 2025 financial audit as presented. >> Support. Okay. We have a motion and support on the motion of approving the 2025 financial audit. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor raise your hand. Any opposed? Same sign. Motion carried. Uh thank you. Uh the next item uh looks like the consideration of the community foundation for northeast Michigan request for the Granham family board of education funds distribution. I move to approve the request to CFN for the distribution of $40,000 from the
037Granom Family Alpena Board of Education funds for the AHS field upgrade loan >> support. >> All right. Very good. Now we have motion and support. Any further discussion of that motion? Uh hearing. Uh well, since it does have to do with uh funds, let's go ahead and do a roll call on that. >> Member Fritz, >> I. >> Member Minehart, >> I. >> Member Hansen, >> I. >> Member Dazinski, >> I. >> Member MacArthur, >> I. >> Member Lawson, >> I. Motion carried. Thank you. Um that brings us then to uh Alpena High School and Underway Junior High proposed new courses. >> I will make a motion to approve the Alpena High School and Thunder Bay Junior High School proposed new courses as presented. >> Is there support? >> Support. Okay, we have a motion
038and support for the new courses. Any further discussion? >> Since I wasn't here last week, where [clears throat] did the funding come from? >> The funding for the new courses. >> Yeah, because it said I didn't understand when the in the paperwork that funding source was if it was different than normal like something that got approved. >> Part of it is part of it has to do with staffing. So, it's the funding could eventually come out of some other funs. I courses, but it could come out of their general funding. It just depends on because the way that we do uh when the students sign up for the courses, that's how we build our master schedule. So, it doesn't necessarily do. It could be, but it depends on all the requests in our staff. >>
039Okay. >> But it could come from some additional grant. >> Okay. It just looked like it was a new something had come through from the state or something the way I was reading it. But that's it. >> Since we didn't have him come to the microphone, will some of that be in his explanation be in the minutes? Very good. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. Um, any other discussion on the new courses? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of the motion raise your hand. Okay. Any opposed? Same sign. Motion [clears throat] carried. Great. Thank you. Uh that brings us then to our board strategic plan goals. >> Oh, good. We've got a handout. >> Yes. [clears throat] Here we go. >> [clears throat] >> Just Yeah, just one one a piece. I want to look at
040them all. So, tonight we're looking at personnel and stewardship. Uh I think on the bottom there uh personnel we are good with uh by 2030 increase the one-year retention rate of all new staff to 90%. Uh developing and implementing a comprehensive multi-year induction and mentorship program and monitoring at the HR department will provide semianual reports to the board detailing retention rates and program feedback. at the top. Um I think there was what I'm proposing is we adopt this as it is, but I am waiting to hear back. I talked to Cheryl Cooch from Raymond last week uh and she was going to provide us with some examples of organizations that moved their percentiles um over a short period of time, a couple of years. So, just to say that um while we've got the 50th
041percentile, um she felt that that was pretty aggressive and that she would go and get some of the data and then share that with us. And so, I would recommend adopting the goal the way it is today, but just with the caveat that when she does provide us that information, maybe [snorts] we revisit it uh and see what she comes up with. But right now, that goal is an employee engagement goal. by 2030 increase the district's mean engagement score to the 50th percentile or higher and the baseline data that we were using was 3.76 mean and the 26th percentile and so I also did reach out to get a proposed contract um which would include two uh Q2 surveys and two pulse surveys which we could spread out over four years um and so we
042would annually review those survey results uh to track the progress and identify emerging staff needs. On the stewardship side, I took best I could what I think we talked about with the the 15% being our goal um and then adding 1% to the policy uh if the current uh status allows it. So that goal would be by the end of each fiscal year, the district will maintain an unassigned balance of at least 15% of annual operating expenditures. For every year this target is met, the board will increase the minim minimum fund balance requirement in the board policy by 1% progressing from the current 10% to a maximum 15%. and monitoring would come through mid-year budget review and of course the annual uh financial performance and fund balance similar to what we saw tonight. I would
043like to um have you consider if we want to include in the writing of this goal something to the effect of a caveat to the public um acknowledging how quickly things can beyond our control can change. uh so that if we find ourselves at the end of a year and the financial picture has changed significantly, I would like to be proactive for anyone who might suggest, well, they're just changing it on a on a whim or anything like that. Uh I think we need to just kind of put it out there that uh we never know what the state is going to do. We never know what's going to happen financially. uh and just kind of leave open the option to not um to to maybe be at that 15% um but not necessarily move
044uh the policy up by 1%. For instance, if we're looking at some pretty dismal outlook from the state of Michigan and we're reading the tea leaves and say that we will probably be in much worse situation by the end of the next year. I just think the board needs to reserve that right. Um and just keep reiterating we are at the mercy of the state as they develop our budget. >> Well, it's simply a goal. We're not voting on the policy change until that time occurs. So, I think that's kind of what we talked about, wasn't it? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yep. You know, sometimes people misinterpret the word the words that we've said. So, I guess as long as every time we talk about this goal, we say, you know, something to this
045effect. Um, that was my only concern. It is a goal. It's not a policy. Um, and so it it's a good target. Um, and then so that that's how I would have that written as you see there, mid-year budget review. And then we essentially the long range facility planning goal by 26. So, we're implementing that goal. Um, and then, you know, we'd really be addressing deferred maintenance, modernizing, uh, well, that's the purpose. We'd monitor it through annual progress reports on the different projects, um, covering the project status, financials tied to it. This then led into our conversation about the wish wish list items that you have in your packet. Um and so as we identify projects um we put them on the calendar then we would monitor the progress of those. So in the plainest
046form the way the goals are presented on this document is what we're recommending or I think we agreed to because they're your goals. Um and then I'll just re reiterate those uh two caveats that subject to conditions beyond our control. Would you like uh would you think that would might be prudent uh in that in that uh sustainab first stewardship sustainability goal? Maybe to say something like that for every for every year this target is met and um maybe um and other financial conditions allow uh for example uh state funding levels or something like that. um the board will increase the minimum. Would everybody like that the idea of just baking that right into it? >> Um because as you said that I thought, well, yeah, that could just be folded right in there. Um
047>> can't you just say the board will vote to increase the minimum? That way it puts it up to a yes or no. >> I like that. Keep it simpler >> without the other caveat language. Then it leaves it up to the board to discuss it. And if it's within, you know, something we can do, you vote it up. If not, you vote it down. So, I don't think you really need to say much more than that other than we bring it to discussion at that time. >> As long as we make it clear why we might vote, you know, against uh you know, implementing this this goal. Um, as long as somebody remembers to mention that, um, that I'm I'm fine with that. But, uh, >> I think that, uh, yeah, I think that's
048very prudent, uh, because you do never know, uh, whether or not you're going to be able to carry out your bestlaid plans, uh, whether all the state mice will line up like they should or, uh, who knows? Um, so, >> so then it would go ahead. I think it would read, "By the end of each fiscal year, the district will maintain an unassigned fund balance of at least 15% of annual operating expenditures. For every year this target is met, the board will vote to um >> yeah, you like just the board will vote or consider a vote to increase the minimum fund." >> Vote to increase. I like the word consider because that that that's clearer I think as to what's really going on. You're reviewing this information and you'll consider it >> and then
049go from there. >> Okay. >> So, for every year the target is met, the board will consider a vote to increase the minimum fund balance requirement in board policy by 1% progressing from the current 10% to a maximum of 15%. >> Seeing heads nodding. >> Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Yeah. >> As Emerald [clears throat] would say, bam. >> I think I think we've got it. That sounds really good to me. Everybody else is >> considering that. We'll uh >> and just to refresh my memory, when we were talking about the board goals for like the listening sessions, um student outcomes with our agenda that was under the family and community partnership >> and I think we still have work to do to hash that. >> Double check. We still have work to do on
050that one. >> Yeah. And just for my comfort, uh Dave, uh for the [clears throat] long range facility plan develop and begin implementing a 5-year facility master plan. That's something I believe we discussed community involvement to see what the priorities were as far as wishlist items as we as we're calling them. >> Yes. Yeah. It's uh the King Scott, some of the bond issues that we've talked about with uh the president and just all those different projects. What about other, you know, I I know we've talked about it several times, but something along the lines of the wait room. You know, if that's a community uh concern or something they want, how would that even be brought up to this if it's outside of King Scott and it's outside of bond, >> it's the wish
051list. So, it is on the wish list and so the board's going to take a look at it and kind of figure out how uh we potentially get that out to the community. Um it's one of those projects. Um and so my thinking was uh we have this wish list and the administrators weighed in with their priorities, the board would weigh in with their priorities and then we send it out to the community to get their priorities. Take all that information and then ultimately we make the determination of how we want to move forward. >> Which isn't to say also that the uh these things couldn't be uh accomplished sometimes together. If Romeo has his way, we'll have this new fieldhouse. [laughter] um you know so we have some bold visions to consider uh and
052uh that might affect uh you know even some to some degree the funding level I think I saw the wait room is in there for 600,000 does that sound right >> um but that's just a sort of a guesstimate based on doing that as a standalone uh item and if it were uh >> you know put in together with some other projects or or some grand design it could it could change but I think that's the point of that wish list is it's a discussion that could evolve um but it Being there, it makes it a priority. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> I move to accept the goals as presented. >> Support. >> Or did we have a motion on the floor? >> No, no, we did not. >> We do not have a motion. Okay.
053Um, which goals do is that the strategic plan or stewardship or the personnel goals or stewardship goals or both? >> All in all in everything right here. >> Yep. So, the only change that's not on your paper would be in the stewardship >> consider >> for every year this target is met, the board will consider a vote. The consider a vote isn't on the paper you're looking at. Will we in order to make this happen? Do we need to vote on the Raymond approval as well? >> Well, I think um we don't have the contract the the proposed numbers yet, but um these are goals. They're not policies. They're not actual decisions. I would say adopt the the Raymond goal as written. Um, and then, uh, I did tell them to sharpen their pencil and,
054uh, give us a multi-year discount. And, uh, the only thing that might change if, if they come back and [clears throat] show that it takes, you know, more than four years, uh, to move the amount that we're talking about and significantly. So, we might want to come back and customize that number a bit, but because they're goals, I think we can we can adopt it now. But if you'd rather have the contract, we could certainly go that route, too. >> For the sake of moving on, let's put it down and adjustment, okay, as needed. >> So, uh AJ, that was your motion, >> correct? >> And who seconded that? Who was it? >> Sarah. Sarah. Um so you have uh clarified that your motion in as in as presented you were including the discussion on
055changing the language in the stewardship goal. Correct. Uh and then what else was it? Um oh yes that you were including um both personnel and and stewardship development goals together. And Sarah and when you seconded was that your understanding as well? >> Yes. >> Okay. Then I I think we can uh dispense with the going back and amending motions as long as everybody understands uh and is in agreement what the motion was. Uh and is um further comments uh since we do have a motion and a second. Any other discussion on those? Okay. Uh then u hearing no further discussion. Uh all in favor of the motion on the two uh strategic plan goals, raise your hand. You're in support. Okay, great. Opposed, same sign. Motion carried. So we have uh personnel or we have
056yeah personnel and uh stewardship goals. Great. Um okay, that's all I have for that section. So I'm not missing anything. She has appeared already. Thank you, Michelle. So yes, new business uh human resources staff update which is in your packet. >> Yes. So we have professional staff hired. Sophia Maj, second grade teacher. Jacob Barnaby, elementary music teacher. That's um just so you know, a mid-year hire for January 5th. And then Becky Dery, special education teacher. We have we have support staff hired. Alen Smith as a relief bus driver. Cynthia Ryback as a food service helper. Toby Marcola as a food service help floater. Shane Miller as instructional assistant. Ashley Dost as an instructional assistant. And Cheryl Baltoser as a bus attendant. And then we have resignation terminations of Nicole Smolinsky as a lead custodian and
057John Kren right there. Sorry about that. Um and food service helper at Alpena. Do you guys have any questions? >> Any questions for Michelle? Yeah. Okay. >> I just move to approve the hires after the completion of proper certifications. >> Support. >> Okay. We have a motion to approve the hiring of the new professional staff after completion of proper certification testing and other HR requirements. We have a second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor of the motion, raise your hand. And any opposed, same sign. All right, motion carried. >> If I could uh >> want to come back up and tell us about your weekend up north. >> Just a quick update. She did uh early recruiting. Um >> Oh, yeah. It's certainly Germaine. >> Yeah. >> So, what he's talking about
058is I went to Northern Michigan University to do some recruiting this this year. Um they had mock interviews. they had um several graduates. So, we have actually how it how it kind of works is you sit down with a couple different students and you just kind of give them practice for interviewing. But in doing so, we actually met with eight people. McKenna went with me. Um she was a northern grad, so she went to go back and um kind of did some recruiting for us as well. But when we got there, we found out of the eight people we got to meet with, six were actually targeting Alpena and wanted to come to Alpena. So, that was the good news that I think he wanted me to share. Yes. So, we are doing a great
059job getting our name out there. So, it's a welcoming thing when people want to come to your table. And at one point, actually, people were actually like trying to fight to get to our table. So, it was really exciting. We did actually interview someone today already and gave a job offer. Super great candidate. Um, and a couple others that we're looking at for fall. So, >> and you did this last year as well. >> We did this last year. We did it last fall and then we did it last spring and that's how we got all of our hires for this spring. So, we are going to be doing some offers probably um some interviews and offers, you know, for starting in the fall, but um we're going to start getting recruiting done early and
060hopefully get some candidates that are really good top-notch teachers um by doing it earlier than rather than waiting. >> Michelle, do you think I if I remember correctly when we had the board meeting where the new teachers came before the meeting, I feel like there was a couple that were here from Northern English teacher from the high school. Do you think that they're like kind of recruiting for you at all? Do have they said anything? >> They haven't said anything. Um, but on the other hand, I do know that we have a couple student teachers come, you know, that are teaching right now with us. So maybe they're reporting back. But >> great spring graduates, but either way, we have a good reputation out there right now of being a good place to work for
061as a teacher. So right, >> that's good. We should share that and we should celebrate it. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. >> Well, that is fantastic. Merry Christmas to us. So, thank you very much. Okay. Um, that brings us to charitable gifts and, uh, since unfortunately Sarah has not been able to join us yet, um, I will ask AJ if he would go ahead and read the charitable gifts list. >> Just a second. Let me see if there's any. Nope, we're good. Okay. Diana Sharp with the red hat of Hubard Lake gave a generous monetary donation of $200 to support the students of Lincoln Elementary. Hungry Howies of Alpena generously donated 10 pizzas valued at $86 for family literacy night to support the students of Lincoln Elementary. The first congregational church change for teens
062gave a generous monetary donation valued at $500 to support [clears throat] the students of ACES and McKenna VTO Bento. The first congregational church change for teens gave a generous monetary donation valued at $500 to support the students of ACES and school success. The following generous donations were made to support the students of Alpena High School for Leadership Food Baskets. Sunrise Veterinary Services donated $50. Northeastern Window and Door donated $250. Cliff and Shootes donated $100. Austin and Julie Gilmet donated $100. Thunder Bay Tree Service donated $100. Real Estate One of Alpena donated $100. Alpena GMC donated $200. Wolverine State Credit Union donated $250. Jenny Pulley donated $500 in honor of Steve Ah, >> Jacobson. Okay. I move to accept the gifts listed above with gratitude and thank the donors in writing for the generous gifts. support.
063>> Okay, we have a motion support for our gifts. Uh, any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor, raise your hand. Any oppose? Same sign. Thank you. We have a uh motion carries. We have a uh approved list of gifts and uh yeah, certainly a generous uh community. Um they seem to turn out every time. Uh so we appreciate that. All right, that brings us to informations uh and proposals. Uh we have uh a letter from a community member. >> This is from uh Katherine G. >> It's just a thank you actually. So it's it's good news. Um she was one of the uh alumni inductees this year for the hall of fame. So this is a thank you letter from her. Uh dear Dr. Rabbido, school board members and members of the alumni hall
064of fame committee. This is to express my deepest gratitude for the tremendous honor of being inducted along with Ryan Sushek and Brett Tropha into the Alpena High School Alumni Hall of Fame during the homecoming 2025. I appreciate the entire Alpena Public Schools community and all the staff involved in making the day special, including Romeo Berd, Lee Fit Patrick, Jessica Gillard, and Summer Seagler. Their attention to detail was instrumental in making the event memorable for everyone involved. Being chosen for this distinction among more than 42,000 alumni is both humbling and profoundly meaningful. I am truly honored to join such an esteemed group and to be part of a tradition that celebrates the achievements and legacies of Alpena High School graduates. The events of the induction day will remain with me always. From the welcoming lunch and
065the spirited homecoming assembly to the vibrant parade, I walked and enjoyed handing out bags of candy and the touching induction ceremony at midfield. Each moment was thoughtfully planned and deeply appreciated. The warmth of the welcome, the recognition bestowed, and the meaningful gifts of the Wildcat journal in the blanket made the day truly exceptional. Though many through the sue would prevail in the game in the game, the icing on the cake was the shell shacking that the Wildcats handed the Blue Devils. Thank you once again for this remarkable honor and for the unforgettable experience. I am sincerely grateful for the generosity, hospitality, and recognition shown by Alpena Public Schools and the Hall of Fame committee. I appreciate all that you do to cultivate pride and excellence in our school community. Thank you, KP Mahoney. Okay. >>
066Didn't we have another letter or two that came in? Um uh I think Monica and I were both contacted about letters uh and they were going to send them to to you. >> The uh about the student issue. >> Uh that was one that mandatory. Okay. So, that one you you can't read because of the personally identif identifiable information. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yep. I'll address that in my update. >> Okay. Okay. Um, yeah, maybe we'll have to explain that then to them to make sure they understand that. >> Yeah, that one had a whole lot of personally identifiable information. Uh, we we won't read those. Um, two, I think you're seeing a a pattern of people wanting to go straight to the board um versus not going through the proper chain of command. So,
067I would ask that we kind of sit down and put some parameters in. Um, because, you know, just throwing in that that sense that you want it read at the the board meeting. Um, number one, we might not be able to, and number two, we have a right to do our due diligence and make sure that they follow the chain of command before coming to the board of education. >> Yeah. Well, I would think that they could they could uh appear for public comment uh they can't, you know, uh like anybody else, but uh probably it's important for people to understand that personally identifiable information if they were to say something at at the at the podium, but we can't actually go ahead and read it. Yeah. >> So, as a matter of procedure then,
068okay, I think that I think that's clear. >> Well, I think our policy does too say you can't get up and talk about a personnel, you know, a teacher or a staff member type of thing. And I think >> Yes. If you're going to Right. Exactly. Yeah. >> So, hopefully you're able to maybe respond to because I think that letter just came to the board. So, just let's >> Yeah, it was it was just last night, I think. So, yes, I will address that then. Um and uh and you'll address the general generally in your comments in your report. Okay. >> Am I super update to the board? >> Right. Right. In your your update to the board here at this state. >> Um yeah. Okay. Right. I I understand. Okay. All right then. Um
069then uh that's it for that. Um then we would go to your update and wish list items. >> Uh so it's essentially the wish list. Well, I guess uh as far as the update, um tis the season there's a lot of projectile vomiting going around. So just a a seasonal warning. Wash your hands and uh uh hopefully everyone can get through that before we're off for break there. Um and uh just happy holidays. Merry Christmas to everyone. It's hard to believe it's here already. uh looking at the second semester. Uh but really this was going to be a quick conversation about the wish list items that you have. And just to reiterate that process uh we've had u so I included uh a copy not the original document Mary so don't get concerned but in
070um uh my evaluation documents I linked the long-term maintenance spreadsheet. And so you hopefully had a chance to see that there's uh many projects identified. Um those are long-term maintenance uh and facilities projects that's uh separate from these wish list items which are those nice to have wishlist enhancement uh items. So again all of these different plans will kind of work alongside each other. Um, but what we have here in front of you is a list from each of the principles that didn't necessarily fall into that long-term maintenance plan, but those are nice to have things at the buildings. So they then um we did some back and forth and you know move removing some items from these lists but ultimately what you're looking at is I think it's the second column on the left
071there's a number and that's the principal's prioritization of those items at their building. Um, and so then the idea would be somehow we put that into a manageable list that we can put out to the board and to the community to get feedback on where their priorities uh lie with each of those projects. Um, we do have people ready to donate to, you know, a number of these projects and being able to say that this is a high priority for, you know, administrator, board, and community, um, would certainly help those efforts. Um, but then it also helps us as we look at building a longer term plan of just say if something is going to be $3 million, does the board want to set aside a certain amount of money for the next couple of
072years to fund that project? Um, and if so, then donors can say, "Okay, the district is going to put some money into this project." that's what they like to hear because then they're more willing to donate to a project that we don't have a budget for and they would essentially be funding. So, um I don't know how in-depth a conversation we want to have right now since you're seeing this relatively new, but just so you know, these are the wish list items. We would like to get that out uh to get the community's feedback fairly quickly. I'm thinking January and then we can take that back and, you know, line it up with everything else we're doing. >> I thought it was great to see some of this stuff. I mean, just to know what
073the buildings need. It was really interesting to go through and I thought the public would love to see some of these because I'm sure there's families at some of the buildings that would say, "Hey, that's important to me, too." And um we have a very giving community, so I think people would be interested in seeing some of the stuff for sure. And since my mind only remembers the flag poles in the wait room, I'll just uh highlight a few of them. Uh anything from AHS bathrooms, uh that's a real exciting one, I know, but um band room renovations, auditorium, uh Wildcat sign on the auditorium building, uh some aces renovations, lot of playground equipment across the district, >> a lot of playground equipment, >> scoreboards. Um, and we will be announcing we have a donation
074for a scoreboard uh that we'll be uh sharing soon. Trophy cases, um, welding lab upgrades. There's a whole variety of of items on here. Library updates, sidewalks. Can Can you remember what the color coding is? What like what's yellow? What is that? Because it's not by Uh I don't know that it had any significance. >> It's it's distinct from the what are is called LRM upgrades. >> Long range maintenance. >> Yeah. So I think that I think that's the distinction is the the long range maintenance um uh which is a a little different classification I guess than uh wish list. >> Yeah. So >> does that does that hold true throughout the various >> again? No decisions have been made on these, but I think what these are showing is that some of these can
075be pulled over into long range maintenance, >> you know, like uh sidewalk and um library update, those sorts of things. >> Okay. Do you know have building administrators shared some of this too? Maybe with their packs? No, I don't know what you know what sometimes it I felt like when I was on the pack at Besser, it was helpful to know, right? Like when you're doing a fundraiser, it easy to share with the families. We're doing a fundraiser to buy, you know, new playground equipment and then people are, like you said, they're more eager to participate if they know what the money is going for and not just sitting in a bank account. So, >> yeah. Uh I know that the playground equipment is something that um the packs and and my superintendent's packs have
076been addressing um just because it's a need across the whole district. We were hoping to get some um you know economy of scale on things like that. So um there's some items that I do know they have talked about. I don't know if they've talked about them all, but we can certainly and and for my superintendent pack, I've talked to them about presenting this list to them as well um to get their input on it. Could some of this stuff Are you done, Anna? I'm sorry. >> Yeah, I am. >> Okay. Could some of this stuff be done inhouse by our CTE program? Um, I don't know. This the one that I'm looking at right now is the trophy case at AHS. >> That seems like a work wood shop project. >> Yes. And even
077um the the desks at Sandborn I'm I'm not sure where to field that question to you or to >> the the answer is yes. Uh certainly CTE can do quite a bit um because this is just a brainstorming document at this point. We haven't necessarily approached them with any of these projects. Um but yes, you know, wherever we can do it in-house or um with our students, >> I was I guess uh the um softball baseball dugouts. I I don't know what what was envisioned there but >> and and so we have a potential donor on that project and there's there is a partnership being developed right now where um we do some work materials are donated um labor and material is donated and those sorts of things but haven't signed on the dotted line
078yet. >> Well even even concrete or this the sidewalks that are listed around >> Yeah. Yep. So, and we are um you know, some of these things we will do and cross off the wish list potentially um as we work forward because there's just work that's just ongoing. Um so, this was capturing the list as it is so that we could push it out and get feedback to then start accelerating some of those um you know, projects that people would like that we're hearing they'd like to donate to. Um Dave, can I ask you about the Thunder Bay Junior High? Because actually this was something I was going to ask about um later on because it got brought up to me about the drop off restructure. Yeah. >> Redoing that. >> Oh, yeah. >> I
079mean, and I was told today, you know, the staff are amazing out there. They're out there every morning trying to direct traffic, but it's just kind of a >> Yes. >> mess still. Um what is that drop off restructure kind of look like or what's the ideas or with the roads or what are we thinking? So we are getting a site uh survey done to see what we can actually do um anywhere from and so there's a number of things going on ID uh have we signed the contract Mary for the the engineering study >> um >> so >> we have the um survey that has to be done first >> that that's what I was looking for survey. So >> 17,500 for the survey compared to the first quote of 40 grand. Um so
080that purchase order is supposed to be going out. They Simon gave the information to IDI and IDI approved the survey plan. So that's the first step and then we have to decide if it's coming out out of the leftover bond money two summers from now or what we're doing with it. So, there's a lot going on and um we're working with IDI right now and Clark um because from our all of our safe, warm, dry bond work, we have money left over through the savings um and we removed several items from that work because we didn't think we would be able to afford it. So now that they've gone through and done all the work, we now have um the ability to go back and do some of those items that are originally on our
081list. So that's going on. At the same time, um the concern about drop off pickup at at um uh Thunder Bay has come. It it's been to our attention all along, but this might be an opportunity to do some work. Um before I get myself in trouble, would we be able to utilize safe warm dry bond pot uh potentially to do Yes, we would. Site work at the junior high >> language for the >> Yeah. So, um, so it's possible we can make that one of the next summer and the following summer's projects to do some site work at the junior high, but also this safe routes to school um that I've been working with the city and township on. Uh, if that were to go through, it's possible we could do some site work
082uh not necessarily on our property, but possibly a connector to the bus garage. um you know widening the road in front of the junior high or doing some other things. So that's going on at the same time. The only challenge with that is if we get approved, we'd apply for it uh this summer and if we get approved, I think they said the work wouldn't start till 28 at the earliest. So we've got a couple years in between now and then to deal with it. Would that be something though that the county would help bring in some funds for that if it was with the road and everything, not just all on us? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, Safe Routes is the the grant program that houses all of this and then we would need partners
083to go in on this grant opportunity. So, uh and they're actually coming in January to talk to the board about everything going on there. So, we are looking at, you know, site work at the junior high, but we have to do a survey to know what we can actually is possible. Um, and then see if we can fit it into this next round of safe warm dry bond work or if we can fund it elsewhere. Um, I think that's most of what we got going on right now. But, yeah. So, it's not on here because that's not a wish. I mean, it's a wish list, but it's um it's it's a possibly a long-term maintenance or a safe safe form drying. >> Does anybody know if Intergovernmental Roads still meets? It's a county and township
084committee uh that used to uh coordinate with state of Michigan um you know and uh talk about various we we were talking about this 12 years ago uh you know how to get that that connector to uh to 32 done somehow and um nobody seemed to really know how that was going to work. Um, and um, I also am wondering if they uh, uh, if they would be able to rub their their purses together and, you know, come up with with some support for us in that. Um, but I imagine all of these players, you know, the township, county, uh, state of Michigan will all be at the table for this. >> I've talked with most of those entities. Um, you know, none of them are willing to commit anything yet because we're just going
085through that >> for the purpose of the safe war safe routes to school grant. Um they're still working on the extension. Um and I think there's more to that project. I I don't but it may not just be an extension. Um you know the uh because it hasn't been finalized yet. Um and um I think that that's that's about it. But I've been meeting with again the commission, the county, um the city, township um as a part of conversations around the safe routes to school grant. Do we have any more uh thoughts on what the what are uh like are we shooting for anything in particular with regard to alleviating the drop off traffic and problems or are we just looking for ideas at this point? >> Yeah. Well, that's part of the safe routes
086to school. They come in and do an actual study. Um but I guess the the great thing about that is um we would um apply for uh most I think six schools but the money you receive uh for each school can be used in a two-mile radius of that school. >> So when you look at the city I haven't done the math but I think that's going to pretty much cover the city. So, you might have improvements right in front of a school building, but you also, like I think we talked last time about Lincoln, it might extend out into the community a little bit more, fixing sidewalks, cross paths, and things like that. Um, and since it's a two-mile radius, um, you know, that could be pretty beneficial, but I forgot what your question
087was. >> Well, no, you basically answered it. Um uh I I think I was looking to see if we had any um you know concrete ideas on what we might actually try to accomplish, but I I think uh what you're saying is is we're just we're looking to have a survey done to find out what those possibilities might be and maybe to uh try to guess, you know, what they're going to come up with is not fruitful at this moment. Yeah, I've talked to Katie Lee's obviously studied this pretty thoroughly and she's out there um you know probably every day with her yellow jacket on and directing traffic. So um she shared a lot of good ideas um and so um you know basically trying to get traffic off of third as much as possible
088and into and ease the flow, >> but we just don't know if it's physically possible to do some of the things that we've been talking about. >> Okay. Well, thank you. So, uh, with the wish list, um, I would ask for your kind of thoughts on, you see, it's a lengthy document and we do have some cleaning up of how do we put that list out to the community. Um, you know, we we want everyone's voice, but I think we want to customize it to the projects and the community. So if it's Wilson's projects, then we want to get as much of Wilson's community as possible weighing in on it. Uh and so we're just kind of stuck right now on what that format might look like to get it out there. Um but if
089we can kind of just get some ideas and then um we could push it out to the community uh sometime in January and then we'd have that information. And could we uh for example u uh put those school specific uh lists uh in a in a newsletter uh or or even something that would go home with the kids? That would be a beginning. >> Yeah. Yes, definitely. >> Okay. >> Other thoughts from the board. >> Is this board comment time? >> Well, we're still talking a little bit about um disseminating the wish list information. Um, I just thought I'd see if there were any further comments about that. Hearing none, then yes, let's go ahead to information or questions from board members. >> Sure. That's when you're done. >> Yeah. Yeah. Kind of sound like
090you were. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Well, I just wanted to make a comment, I guess. Um, I know with the board sometimes we, it appears, let me back up a second. A lot of our time is tied up with policies and budgets and and uh kind of the dry stuff, if you will. Um, however, with the with this being um Christmas, I want to make sure that uh coming from myself, I I'm truly grateful for the staff of the [snorts] the school district, the teachers, the IAS, the cafeteria workers, everyone uh in the phenomenal work they do. You know, uh I had the opportunity to go to Wilson's Christmas program um this past week and watch my kids. Um the work that the teachers and everybody put in puts in on a
091daily basis is absolutely amazing. And so I know sometimes we get a little bogged down, but I want to extend extend my thanks to everyone that works in the district. And merry Christmas. It just occurred me. I'd like to publicly thank Summer for uh putting together these baskets and the cards for the board. Thank you very much. And apparently Dave had a hand in it as well. So thank you as well. um he may or may not have had much involvement, but no, we appreciate that uh very much. So, thank you. >> There's a bit too much laughing out there. [laughter] >> I just have some a quick comment. Um it's just an observation. Um when I was watching the um the community involvement uh presentation at the Wildcat Den, um I had a real
092hard time hearing some of the questions. So my suggestion would be is that we try to get microphones the next time we do something like that. >> Yeah. >> Cuz I know, you know, I would have been present, but I wasn't. Um, but I just would like to have seen, you know, microphones because I was really trying to hear everything that was going on there. And the second thing is, um, I know that there was a lot of, um, I want to say blowback because of the the presentation. I just it's just a suggestion and it's just an observation. Um, I was wondering, um, when this was presented to us to us at the board meeting in November, was that the And that was the first time that it was presented to us, correct? >>
093I was just wondering if maybe it could have been pre also presented to the principal so there wouldn't have been so much of a shock value, you know, just to ease it in. That's just a suggestion. Actually, thank you for mentioning that that meeting. Um, I did have some comments from people uh about um not being able to read uh some of the information and or or you know find it online because I think some people wanted to dig. Um so um if there was any way to u streamline how that is found online. Apparently it's little little difficult for people to dig and find it. I guess uh or or maybe they're having they could be having uh you know maybe they're having access uh issues with opening certain kinds of documents. I don't
094I don't know how some of this works, but I did have a comment along those lines. Um, but I think people appreciated uh that the uh that the event took place and that the information is there. Um, so I thought that was good. >> I guess if we're going to talk about that as another thought, too, and I was just kind of reflecting um back to when we did the initial and the secondary safe warm dry. I think something that really helped with that is that we brought in the community initially versus like bringing in the community kind of as they presented. Even if they were just like hypothetical ideas or suggestions feel like the people that came were probably more Hanks Lincoln families people who were directly impacted versus having a conversation with you
095know bringing in the community as in whole. And I think that's part of the reason um the safe warm drive passed the second time is there was so many people that came to our community meetings that there was a great buy in and there were a lot of community leaders so they went back out and would spread the news, spread information about it versus you know kind of a secondary um shock and awe type of approach. I guess that it'd be nice to sit down more as a like I don't know if it's possible to kind of steer back that way a little bit now that they have you know some feedback but just you know a brainstorm session uh versus an afterthought I guess. So I don't I think if we can get community
096buyin kind of [snorts] along the same as our strategic plan it will it'll be a little helpful. So >> so that is the plan. they are coming back to meet with admin and uh you know portions of the board in January to talk about the feedback. We do have 231 uh responses on our survey. Um we do have four board responses. So if whoever has not responded would do so. That would be helpful. Um but they're they're watching the feedback. The intent is to get the community's feedback and then adjust um you know the scenarios. Uh yes, you know, um we just felt that if we had sat down and said, "We don't have to do anything, um what do you think we should do?" um we probably would have walked away with too many
097ideas to even know where to start. So, um I hear you, you know, and and clearly if you talk about touching buildings and programs and all of that, people are going to react. But I think you'll see that that that moment has passed and people are now seeing it for what it is and we're getting some really good feedback. U but the plan has always been to put out scenarios, get community feedback and adjust those scenarios and present them back out to the community. And the great news is we don't have to adopt any of it. You know, there's nothing written in stone. Um it's just we're gathering brainstorming uh for the day when we do have to make a decision and hopefully plan appropriately so that day is as far down the road as
098possible. Anybody else? Um if not uh then uh we do need to uh move to a closed session and um I'm wondering if anybody would like a break uh any board members before we go uh into that. So um where is our our close session? >> Yeah, we're going to do it in here. >> Apologize to anyone who's >> Can they sit in the hallway instead of being outside in the cold or >> they Yes. I don't know how many chairs are out there, but [clears throat] >> yeah. Um yes we will after the uh close session we will have uh board action on the uh the discussion. So uh if you're interested um we will be conducting a little business after that. Um so okay well let's uh let's do this then. Um let's
099have uh our uh >> our uh quick uh uh >> don't we need a motion to move into close session? >> Uh we we do. Um, I'm wondering though whether or not we should do a a a quick break. Uh, so maybe uh I could just declare a recess for uh you know a quick 5 minutes. Uh and then at which point we would come back. Okay, great. So we will recess for five about five minutes, give people a break, and then we'll come back and have that uh uh motion on the close. Okay. Are we back? Okay. So, we're back from our recess uh and to the point where uh I am willing to entertain a motion to go into close session. I will make a motion to meet in a close session under
100section 8A of the open meetings act to consider the quarterly formal evaluation of the superintendent >> support. Okay, got a couple of support. Uh all right, very good. Um and so we have a motion and a second. Um any discussion on the motion? Okay. Um oh, it might not be debatable. Uh well uh doesn't look like there's any. Uh so let's go ahead with a roll call for that. >> Member Minehart. >> Hi. >> Member Dazinski. >> I. >> Member Hansen. >> I. >> Member MacArthur. >> I. >> Member Fritz. >> I. >> Member Lawson. >> I. All right. Motion carried. Uh we are in close session. So that uh door can get closed and our we'll power down our system here. Thank you. Everybody uh would be interested in making sure Okay. Coming out
101of this return week. was almost a class. >> I think did they leave? Were they sitting down your office or did they leave? They left. >> Oh, they left. Okay. I thought they were just >> on the sitting in a vehicle. here. I'd almost >> get out of here. Okay. >> And we're back live. Okay, great. So, we are we have returned to open session. Um, and uh would anybody like to make a motion on the uh evaluation? >> Oh, am I doing it? >> I thought Anna had it. >> Oh, okay. Um, I will make a motion to accept the evaluation of Superintendent Dr. David Rabbido as effective. >> Support. >> Okay. We have a motion and support on the evaluation. Uh does uh anybody have any discussion, comments, questions? >> Hearing none, then
102all in favor of the motion, raise your hand. >> I'm got it. >> Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. You're right. There is a roll call. Yes, please. Let's proceed that way. Sorry. >> Member Dazinski. >> Hi. >> Member Hansen. >> Hi. >> Member MacArthur. >> I. >> Member Fritz. >> I. >> Member Minehardt. >> I. >> Member Lawson. >> I. All right. Motion carries. Uh thank you very much. Uh that brings us then to advanced planning. Um we've got our January 12th workshop, January 26th regular meeting and more activities in fe February. And with that we may adjourn. Thank you all very much. the superintendent's secretary.