001Hey, I'm going to call this meeting to order at 6 pm. Would everybody please stand for the 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. [Applause] Amber, would you please vote? board members and administrators present. And then um board, you have an agenda in front of you. Are there any changes? And if not, may I have a motion? I'll make a mo I'll make a motion. Was there a change? No, no, no. We did that the other. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. I'll second. All in favor say I. I. Motion to pass the 70. Next, we have the consent agenda which includes the approval of meeting minutes
002from our regular board meeting dated 21725. The approval of accounts payable in the amount of 611,45.34 for the month of February 2025. um approval of the treasures report dated February 28th, 2025 with a balance of 6,700 um 56,780 and 6 cents. And then we have the approval of new hires and resignations. We have no resignations. And then for our new hires, we have Peggy Peek, who is actually Cindy's one of our custodial teammates. It's her mom. Um Cindy's out on a little bit of leave and so her mom has done this in the past, so she's like, "Hey, I can get my mom to cover me." So we've hired Peggy. She's done a phenomenal job. And then uh Sheila, she is our um multilanguage service uh at a 0.5 point4 point 4 FTE. Um, we
003got her on boarded the last two weeks and whatnot and I don't know what's going on up here. It was like this and then it went away last time. So hopefully they'll re There it goes. There we go. So yeah, she's going to be working. I don't know. It's like 13 hours a week or something of that nature and we've got her ready to go. At this time I would entertain a motion for the approval of the consent agenda as presented. I'll motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. A roll call vote, please. Amber yes. Davidson, yes. Jet, yes. Yes. Yes. Will, yes. Yes. Motion passes 70. Next up, we have reports. Um, community input, agenda items only. We're good. Um, Gail Stark City Council Tony Tiffken here. He's not here. Um, superintendent evaluation
004committee report. It's me. Um, so at um the community of the whole meeting on February 3rd, we discussed um Dr. Lindseay Newman's 2025 goals. In close session, we focused on goal number one, efficiency and transa transparent building budget and goal number two, district-wide communication plan. Um, everyone had the opportunity to ask questions about all of Dr. Newman's goals. And then our next quarterly review will be on Monday, May 5th for the midyear progress report. This is our first year um doing this process. I feel like it's um helped a lot and it's going way better than waiting to the end of the year which we've done in the past. Um safety, transportation, and facility update. Nate Smeltzer just had the meeting. I know. Why miss? I can jump in whenever you need me, Nate. Um,
005if you want to do the safety part of it, I sure can. Yep. Um, where are my safety notes for what was the first item on there? Gang, uh, safety training for our bus team. So, we meet bi-weekly with our safety team. And so, or I'm sorry, our transportation team. And one of the needs identified by that team is that they're looking for a little bit more safety training than what they basically get. So, they do the fire drills, the safety of sitting down on the bus, etc. Um, but should there be an accident or should there be a situation where there's a more dangerous situation, how would they respond? What's their protocol? And then what would they lean into process-wise? So, that's going to be my homework over the next handful of months is
006to really put together a training for them that helps meet that need. Um, CPI, we have staff that are trained in deescalation and in restraint. uh that is a two-year certification and we've got a bunch of our teammates that are up on that two-year cycle. So, we've we've got that scheduled for our back to school as well. I know I'm talking then like back to school, but like that's where we're in planning mode. So, CPI training coming. Uh we have 31 and six funding. So, that is um really just making sure our therapists are meeting the needs of our students or if student has a need that we're putting them in touch with a therapist or a counselor. we've allocated a little bit more money that we found that wasn't being used maybe appropriately, not
007in a bad way, but just um how do we put it back towards the kids? So, we've identified that and we're doing that safety drive. Uh we just housing our stuff in a more safe location. And then community parent perspective, I'm really looking for how I'm how are we going to be communicating around safety going forward in a year. We've done our safety video. We've um put out our communication as to what safety modes we are we could potentially be in. Is that enough? Do we need more? What is it that our community community would need? Nate, your turn. I'll hit transportation first. Uh we talked about the new updated van policy. Uh working through the first read on it just to try and make some amendments to it. So, thank you for all of
008your work on that transportation. Um big pieces are just making sure who's using it, when we're using it. U being fiscally responsible for it. um few updates just to make sure maybe the superintendent has some ability to make some executive decisions with it so that we don't have to dial in like 1500 different people listed in the in the who who's allowed to drive it. Um but basically just any volunteer or teacher uh that that is part of GA and then getting our kids from point A to point B. So um really kind of common sense stuff which is nice. Uh and then communication plan for the back to school uh is going to be starting early August. Uh so make sure that you're kind of letting your parents know. Uh the communication's been wonderful
009this year as it is. So hopefully they're not too flammixed with the fact that we're going to start early to make sure that that first two weeks of the school year next year are going smooth. Um facilities, uh we talked about the top needs of the district. Uh, a lot of it has to do I mean and uh Jessica made a great point like I can't believe that this school is already 20 years old. Uh, plus uh so a lot of the things that we're looking at for expenses for this district are just necessities. Uh updating roofs that are 25 years old, updating boilers and chillers. Uh yes, I know there are people in the room that probably don't remember school with air conditioning, uh myself included, but it's still nowadays uh a big deal.
010Uh so we want to make sure that those kiddos are safe and uh able to learn in a nice comfortable environment. So those things are on our list. Uh just uh window coverings and furniture to make them comfortable, to make them safe. Uh again, it's been noted multiple times when people see window coverings. Uh why do I need new shades? Uh it's a safety concern. It's a safety issue. It's part of safety protocol. We need to make sure that the stuff is working. Uh so a lot of the things on the the top of the list are just definite necessities. Uh, and again, we have it later on in the agenda to talk about our construction management uh, interviews and what we've got coming up for bond proposals anyway. So, I think I'll table the
011rest of that for then unless somebody else has questions. And next up, we have the curriculum instruction and steam update. Teresa King, good evening everybody. I'm going to start with the curriculum instruction update and then when I get into the steam update, we're going to have Miss O'Donnell come up here because she's part of that update. So, um, just a couple things in the district to highlight. You'll remember that our yearly focus has been really thinking about cognitive engagement of kids. How do we get them more opportunities to talk with one another? Uh, we hosted countywide rounds in February. There were about 60 people from our county that came. It was at the primary and we broke out into groups and did instructional rounds. So, there were representatives from Portage and KPS and Gull Lake
012and surrounding area districts and they had so many positive things to say. Um, I sent an email to all the primary teachers just last week because a Gull Lake instructional coach said, "I learned so much. This is the PD that I put together for our Gull Lake teachers." So, um, just really proud of our team. We've been doing rounds for seven years and um I met with another Gull Lake coach this afternoon because they're trying to install this into their building and I said it comes with some growing pains but it's a process that's really good um teachers learning from one another and um so really proud of the primary with that. Additionally, you'll remember through uh 35J, we um purchased that new curriculum last year, Magnetic, we just did walkthroughs with the rep um
013last week, and she's really proud of the progress. She's like, "Of all the districts that I support, your teachers have made the most progress." So, we're continuing to work on that and getting the support that those teachers need. Um then with the middle school, we've really been focusing on that steam team K8 and that vertical alignment. So they are meeting next week. We had to reschedule a date because of some staffing shortages. Um but we're going to continue to work on formative assessment through that project based learning and then putting in those collaborative discourse opportunities for students to talk. Um the high school is going really well. I'm just kidding. Uh so we had rounds last week. Ken was on that set of rounds. No, Teresa was on that set of rounds. Um, and we
014just really proud of the high school. We really saw a lot more planned and intentional conversation than we've seen previously. Teachers are really focused on um just trying to get the kids to talk, which can be difficult for high schoolers. You know, coming out of COVID, everything was behind a screen and now we're trying to take that safety net away and really encourage students to talk to one another and really focusing on those skills. Um, and so our next staff meeting, we're going to unpack those strengths and next steps and start talking in departments. How do we really push kids to think deeper? So, we noticed that kids were really giving the answers and participating, but now we're trying to how do you know that and really kind of dig deep. So, um, that's exciting
015things happening there as well. I'm starting to work on the professional learning plan for next year, which is crazy, uh, to think about. And as we come back from spring break, we're getting into testing season. So all of those updates are coming shortly. Uh when I started, so this is my fourth year as the curriculum director. Uh when we started all of that steamwork through that partnership through Eaton, one of the main pieces of the vision was how do we ensure K12 steam opportunities? And so we've done really well K8. So K5 all kids are getting steam and then 68 they have it through their elective and then it was like we have nothing up here. And I think you heard it through the scholarship interviews um just a couple weeks ago, month ago. I
016say a couple weeks ago, who knows? It may have been months ago at this point, but um one of the applicants said, "I wish there were more opportunities with steam." And so we've been really trying to get creative with the schedule and think about how we might do that. So I'm going to turn it over to Kaen in just a second, but we've been trying to look at how the experience starts as a kindergartener and progressively getting more fun and exciting opportunities. So she's going to talk about an elective that we're proposing for next year to add into our course catalog. And I'm going to pass out some of those sheets to you. Perfect. My question is this one? Maybe. Maybe. Okay. Um, my question is, do you want me to give you a whole
017presentation of the class right now or do you want to save it for a second second go? A little overview. Is that okay? Is that cool? Okay. Um, if I can connect, I will. Let's see here. Disconnect. Disconnect. Disconnect. How come I don't know how to connect? Windows K. Oh, to unconnect to Yeah. Look at that. And that's the presentation. And that is our steam initiative. Windows K. All is well. Maybe. There we go. All right. So, those of you that don't know me, my name is Kaylee O'Donnell. I'm the business and CTE teacher here at the high school. And something you might not know about me is that my undergraduate degree is in aviation science and administration. So, this is a big piece of my heart that I'm proposing um this class, Intro to
018Drone Technology and Flight. Um, it's it's like a new kind of cool thing to have a drone, right? So, we thought that we'd bring it here to the high school and a lot of the high schoolers are saying we need more electives. Like gym is great, weight training is great, speed and agility is great, right? And then there's the business classes, art, music, um, and Spanish, but we don't have anything beyond that. So, we're really looking to expand the steam classes here at the high school. So, little overview of what I'm going to be talking about. What are drones? Why are we having a drone class? the requirements for students. Um you do have like some standards and units in front of you that you can glance through and see um what exactly this class
019would be learning about. And then um cost and maintenance and a drone student's future. So what does that look like if they take this class? And I'll add just before we get too much further, we put this in our proposed budget for eaten for next year anticipating the class. So just wanted to say that your initial question was like how are we going to pay for it? So, drones are technically classified as unmanned aerial or aircraft systems, sorry. Um, so UAS, if you see it throughout the presentation, that's what it is. Um, and so drones are remotely piloted. We have very small drones that can literally fit in your hand. Um, and up to giant drones, as you can see, uh, that do a lot of like agricultural work. Um, which I think would be
020fantastic in the area if we had some students that could get to experience that. Um, so they're not toys. Most people think, "Oh, yeah, I'll buy it as a Christmas gift. It's a drone, right?" But we're talking about very sophisticated drones, not um not the toys that you would buy for Christmas or a birthday. So, why do we need a drone class? Number one, we need a STEM class uh 9 through 12 here to kind of complete the district's uh vision of creating this whole steam initiative with Eaton. Um, we definitely need electives and we want to address some real world problems. Like that's that's the whole basis of of steam classes, right? To get the kids hands dirty, get them into the mix of it. Um, and we're hoping to do that with this
021class. Also have kids be creative and, you know, do something fun in the district. have the the drones go out to the field and, you know, take take videos of, I don't know, some activities going on or even just to get some cool pictures and videos of the district. Um, and then I hope that we could bring some local uh local partnerships in maybe from the agricultural industry or maybe if Eaton would help us uh do some video coverage or something along the lines with with the drums as well. So requirements for students, we're not looking at very much um when they're coming into this class. So anyone 9 through 12 uh could take this course. Uh I would just expect that they would they would have some sort of interest in the STEM field.
022Um that they're responsible because these things are pretty expensive. And then um that they are hands-on learners. We don't want the students that like to read books, but you know, that's that's important, too. But but we want the people that want to get their hands dirty and they want to get into um learning with their hands. So this um this course would be under a CTE course. Uh it's part of the transportation um section of of standards. And uh like I said, you do have some of your some of the units that we would be covering in front of you as well as some of the topics. Um see, so cost and maintenance, we're looking at about 10 beginner drones. So, just to get um get the hang of the controls and figure out, okay,
023am I really good at doing this or am I going to need some extra help before I move on to the the middle of the line drones so that we're not, you know, crashing really really expensive drones. Um, so 10 10 beginner drones, some advanced leisure leisure drones as I like to call them. Uh, those are right around $700 each, so a little bit more expensive than the beginner ones. And then um the certification and preparation course uh which would be more for me than the students but the students are eligible to take that certification at the end of the course if they choose to. The educational materials are free through the FAA. So no books are required. It's literally a document on the FAA's website that they can um that's where the class will
024be taught from is that manual on the FAA website. So 2025 and 26 costs, we're looking around $5,000. And then a maintenance cost of around $725 for like spare propellers when they inevitably crash or extra batteries if they if they die, that sort of thing. And then this is the future of a drone student. So where exactly could they go from this drone class? Um, we do have a CTE course in Kazoo County that's out of the Air Zoo that they could have this introductory class and then go to the Air Zoo and take the aviation course um there and then they could also be part 107 certified which is an FAA license um after taking this class or they could go into various different career paths like marketing, agricultural, real estate, construction, film making,
025public safety. You always hear about, you know, the the police officers needed the drone in the air to find someone, that sort of thing. There's lots of different um employment opportunities for these students, even just right out of high school. You know, they don't have to have a four-year college degree to do something like this. They can be part 107 certified and boom, you have a job that's making pretty good money. Pretty cool. Yeah. Any questions for me? I have one. This would be just a GA elective, right? GA elective. Yep. Yeah. Just GA students 9 through 12. I have a question. Is there like any special like permits or anything we have to get to operate a drone? Like cuz you know we live close to neighborhoods or I don't know if like that's
026a thing. Yeah. So, um part of my training leading into this class would be making sure that this is a specified zone for drones. Um we aren't super close to the airport, so we don't really have to worry about that. And really, we're not looking at a huge elevation, so there's probably not a lot of legal issues that are concern. Yeah. You said it much better than I thought it. What's that? You said it better than I was thinking. Yeah. Mhm. Um, I got to say this is probably one of the best ideas I've heard, and I can't remember when. um for what looks like at face value a very reasonable cost. But two things jump out instantly. The first one, and you you addressed it, is the difference between having a toy and playing
027games and having serious functionality, which that could get lost in the shuffle here. The other thing is that it just strikes me and correct me if I'm wrong, but someone going into this would have to have a fairly decent take on both science and math, I would think. And that's kind of the two areas where a lot of the students are coming up short. So, you may have a very limited number of people, but I got to tell you, man, this this is a great idea as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. And like I said, for as a starting thing for not much cost at all. I mean, uh, I don't know why somebody didn't think other people say. Yeah. I just want to speak to that. I think sometimes kids that appear that they
028struggle in math and science is because they're not seeing like a practical application. So, when we talked about when you think about coding is taking place in the middle school. Kim woo woo over there is doing robotics, right? And we talked about like a natural progression right up until high school. And it does involve a lot of math and science. And I think sometimes if they get the hands-on experience and understand how those math and science skills support that, I think there's more relevancy and they might be more interest is what we're thinking. Yeah. The other thing that comes in play here too is that and you you addressed it. This may be one of those where you don't need to invest four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to actually make a ton
029of money. And no question folks, we need more air traffic controllers because we got a problem. Everybody knows that. So again, I mean this this is wonderful as far as I'm concerned. One thing that I didn't put in here, um like longevity wise, if for some reason I were to leave the district, which I don't plan on it, I love it here. Um the individual who would take over this class, they wouldn't necessarily have to be certified in part 107 if they wanted to stay in the classroom. So, you can fly drones in the gym in the multi-purpose room without that certification, but as soon as you step outside, that's when you need the certification because you have to do um air traffic logs and all that. So, they'd have time to work on it.
030Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Or just don't leave. There's still time. Um has there been any discussion in this? Has there been any discussion into linking this into other opportunities? Whereas, you know, you've got some students who are going to be learning to use drones. Then can those drones be used to film school events to turn into videos to be used on Facebook? Can that be something that supports other groups? Um to kind of make it full circle. Yeah. My thought was like to bring the audiovisisual club into it too. Um kind of take the take the videos and whatnot of those activities and then pass it off to the audiovisisual club and have them do their magic and edit the videos and really tie it in full circle. We could even get community involved. Oh, heck
031yeah. Yes. The new stadium. We need a little That's what I want in the office. I'm excited about this. Thank you. Yeah, I'm very excited about it. Also, um it's very complicated to pilot a drone or whatever. You probably fly it. So, I think this would be a really good class. Yeah. Yeah. We're trying to talk to the kids more about what they want. So, we have the program of studies. We're just having informal conversations. One of the things was like we want yearbook during the day because a lot of our kids that want to be a part of yearbook are also the athletes and working and so we're trying to figure out ways to really enhance the day so that they can do all of these things that they want to be involved with.
032Wonderful. They love it. You guys are doing great. Thank you so much guys. Thank you. Thank you. We have a superintendent update. So, as always, we're doing our update for our strategic plan. I plan to put together a uh visual, two-page visual for our community as to where we are at the end of year two with our strategic plan. Um, we I just want to make sure it's perfect. So, we've got the gist of it, but now we're looking through the lens of, okay, what does this mean to a community member in this? So, we're taking that lens and and getting that done. Um, that will be the goal to have in the next RAM announcer. Um, for budget, we have been keeping to our task of monthly going through each school's budget, the primary,
033middle, and high school's budget with a fine tooth comb and finding opportunity um to find some savings to really find out where we are spending most of the money from this lens. I mean, we know this big lens. Um, but we were looking at printer costs and copier costs and we identified we are spending a lot of money on maintenance for one of them. So, we're like, let's take that money and buy a new one. And then we also identified that we are spending $15,000 in um colored copies, which is a lot of money, and it's not typical to have your classroom worksheets be color. So, um, while that's still a use that we have, we're going to try to manage it a little bit better. Um, oh, I was going to do the strategic
034plan update and then I went right down to the bottom. Sorry, let me ground myself again. So, one of our goals in the strategic plan is increase student awareness, accountability, and negative for negative behaviors and improve um climate and culture. So, we've tasked our whole child team with not only implementation of behavior um whole child handbook, but also then how do we get some classes for parents going on in our in our district. So, we've partnered with um Integrated Services of Kale and Missou, better known as ISK, and we are having in April our first parent night where they're going to come in and do some parent classes. We haven't communicated it yet. We're we just got it um figured out this week. So, that'll be exciting to be able to bring in families that
035just need a little help with how do I manage this at home. Um so, we're excited to probably do that either monthly or, you know, a couple times a year. So, I'm really proud of the whole child team for or mostly the deans for being able to get that underway, improved relationships to increase trust in the district. Um, it's been, you know, not only have we been working with our staff and employees and whatnot, but it's really been working with the GIA and really being in close collaboration with I have this thought, talk me through it. This is my perspective and I think in the same way that you are. Cool. We're on the same page. Let's let's move forward. So, um I we're in a good spot with that. Informing Ramfam of educational careers.
036So, the CCC or the Career Connect Center, which is that, uh place that's being right outside built right outside Kwings Stadium. It's almost done. They are having their grand opening in May, May 22nd. I think there was you I put that in my weekly update that the open house was going to be at the night from 4:00 to 7:00. Well, I just got word that uh the board you guys are going to get an invite for the daytime one, too. So, you don't have to battle all those people if you don't want to. Um, so at the K Ca thing, yep, that one. Um, uh, and the evening time, Dedric's going to invite you guys, whoever's there, to be able to come to that. So, I think I added you guys to the noon one,
037too. I can't remember. If not, when I get back to my desk, I will make sure you guys are on that time, too. um increasing opportunities for staff engagement and district initiatives. I mean, this is I feel like I'm kind of repeating myself each month with this, but we host our my kip, we host our fame with our district leadership team of teachers, and they're they're doing learning together with Teresa and themselves, and then they're taking that information, they're going and leading their buildings in staff development. So, it's just been it's been I want to say flawless in a sense. There's been a lot of feedback from our team of what things are working and what things to improve. And it's just been really really nice to share that load, but then to know that
038it's coming from each other, which is most impactful. All right, back down to the budget. $15,000 colored copies and then um we are going to be working on the budget for the 2526 school year here in the next few months with Philip um and bringing to you that in June is when we do our final approval. So that cow in the beginning of June is when we'll be doing 24 I'm sorry 25 26 um budget safety. Um the only thing I didn't add from the meeting before was that we're going to do a reunification run through. So our district safety team in August 14th, I think Frank's trying to help me book it, is when we're going to just bring the our team and run through what it would really look like to be at
039square one and how does it unfold and develop. We've got it on paper, but now what does it look like to come alive? Bond um stadium update. So, we have um our mediation date in the beginning of May. Um there's that 14page document that I gave you that was from Lounberry about what we owe or don't owe. Uh like I told you guys, we've gone through that with Denny and Frank and we're prepared to just state our case in the sense of what we believe is right and then seeing where it comes to. Um, you know, we've really kind of held our contingency funds hostage in a way of holding those so that we're not pulling it out of our general budget. You know, um, I'm hopeful that that will not be something that we
040will have to pay towards the stadium that we'll be able to use it for its initial purposes, which is the stadium, but just not in the sense that we had. Um, so again, that's in May. And then I've got refunding and our bond free bond information. I'm going to wait till we get down to um discussion down here if that's okay. And then transportation, we've got buses conversation coming up as well. Um and then just some of the extracurricular stuff on the report. Uh final forms we're moving into. It's a way to do our enrollment for athletics online. We're testing that right now with softball at the middle school level and the high school level. So we work out some of the kinks now so that we can then go forward. I think it's about
041$5,000. Uh we did increase our student fee, $5 to help cover that for right now. Um and then we'll see if we go back down on that or not. Um also for athletics, I don't think we've charged for track in the past and we are charging $4 to get in for track. We have a beautiful stadium out there. We want to make sure we can maintain and have people and whatnot. So music, we've got a couple festivals coming up. um the jazz and then the soul ensemble and then our spring concerts. If you guys could come to spring concerts, that would be probably the best one to attend if you Yes. The high school date is wrong. The high school one is May 15th, not the the whatever you So, we need to update our
042one that had the all the year events for music then. Yeah. But yeah, imagine that. Uh Teresa, could you get with Caleb to make sure that that update gets to all parties? Thank you. And then things coming in the future, we've got salary schedules for admin that need to be approved coming in April. We've got our Gailsburg Augusta inspirational alumni award on April 18th. You guys are invited to that. That's pretty cool experience. And then like Teresa mentioned in her update, we've got testing season coming. Our team worked very hard to calibrate together to put a one pager of all of our dates from kindergarten through high school testing. So that if you've got a high schooler and a little guy and a big middle guy that you can look at one pl p p
043p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p page on your c on your um refrigerator to say, I can't do a doctor's appointment this day, but I can do it this time. That's awesome. That's great. That will be posted towards the end of this week. Right. That's what I have for now. I have a question. Yes. Um my memory is correct. I'm This is refunding. The call date on those bonds is either the 1st or the 15th of May. And I got a little understanding of bonds, but if the if those are not called and refinanced by the call date, are you basically stuck for the
044next 5year term at the current interest rate? I will write that question down, Gary, and I will get with the appropriate people to make sure I answer it the best way that I can for you, which is going to be R.J., I don't know, but it seems like we've got a short amount of time to act on that one. And I'm not really sure cuz I'm not It might have been through the month, but I can't remember for sure. It might have been through May. I think it went through the end of the month of May, but I might I'm not 90% sure. I'll get with you on that one and I'll get back to the whole board. That's all right. Good question, Gary. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Next up, we have um business items
045for discussion. Um the monthly budget discussion I that's typically Philip really he doesn't have anything. There's no updates at this point. We have money things are construction management interviews. Okay. If you go back to the superintendent's report, I did put in there on here so it's visual for you as well to listen to um the exact information that was in the weekly update that I sent on Friday. And so we've got our um well, let's go let's start with last week. We had our construction management interviews on Thursday and Friday. We interviewed three different companies, Miller Davis, Elite, and Triangle. And through that process, we listened to their presentation. and they spoke to us on how well they've done with spending funds through the bond. We they've done um they talked to us about how
046many bonds they've passed. They talked to us about how they manage it, their communication systems, and so we were then able to take all that information from the interviews and debrief with a few people just to get a structure set up. So, what we'll need to do is anybody that wasn't there last week to be able to give feedback, we're we're going to have you assess based off of the information that we're going to go over in a special meeting and then be able to rate to then make a decision that's triangulated through two different measuring tools and just our basically our narrative of the interviews so that we can make a wise decision together. Questions around the construction management um process. So, I think what we need to decide tonight is when we could
047do a special meeting on to talk about the construction management interviews. I think we can do a little bit of that now, too. Um, but I I brainstormed with a few individuals of how we could lay this out, talk about it tonight, talk about it at a special meeting, really get our data aligned, then be able to say, "Okay, it's pointing us this direction. This is where we're going to go and make that decision." So then we can communicate with the CMS. We want to make the decision at the special meeting, right? So if anybody has any questions between now and then make sure you get them answered. So the special Jess's question is make the decision at the special meeting. Yes is the answer. I think that if we use that if we use
048time tonight and then start us brainstorming come back together. I'm suggesting the 24th just cuz we don't have anything that night. Um, we would have an hour to discuss or more the data from each one of those interviews and then put together and point us in the right direction, make a decision on the night of the 24th because we gave to the construction management people that the 25th is when we would like to get back to them. So, next Monday. Yeah. Everybody. Yes. What time? Six. As long as it's a very efficient meeting. Yes. Because I have somewhere to be at 7:30. I Yes. And so what I can do right now is just give us a kind of a a vision of what we're going to do. So I did print off these sheets
049um for those that didn't fill it out. I'm not expecting that you fill it out tonight because I don't think you have enough information yet. Um but what we will do is go through that table that I put in the weekly update of these are the strengths of each company. These are some of the concerns that we had or questions on. And then here are some bonus information that really just kind of helped helped us like them. I know that sounds bad or it was additional bonuses. Yep. Not just part of the positive, but it was addition. You're right. Um so that's a fullon conversation that we'll need to have on the whiteboard and together. And uh that would be the 24th. So well I think it was very important those were the at the
050at for the people that were at the interview, like you got a sense of who they were. Um, I was at the Miller Davis interview and I really liked them, but I have faith if I was at the others, I probably would have liked them, too. Um, so the only place we didn't No, we did. Christy did um Miller Davis and Triangle, but we didn't have anybody who did all three. No board members, but we had Yeah, we had staff, but we didn't have board members that did Elite and Miller Davis. Um but yes, plenty of you guys and into and to to try to you we debrief for about an hour after all three interviews on Friday and while the information was fresh in our head and we tried to just put down facts,
051not feelings on that table of this this this so that they were talking points for all of us once we get to that special meeting. Um, but yeah, I think what I what I'm really happy to say is that I think it was a successful process and we're going to be in good hands one one way or another. Um, installment bus purchase agreement. Okay, I'm going to read an email from Philip that helps me understand why we had to do this again. So Trun decided they wanted to make a change in the agreement that we had with Auxilio. And so I'm going to read why. Um so this is in front of us again because Trun Law determined that we needed a taxable financing and not a tax exempt financing which is what we approved
052last time. So TR's like just kidding. We need to do it this way. So they worked with Auxilio on that. You you're good. Okay. Um this means that the interest we pay to the bank for the loan will be taxable income for the bank. As a result, the interest rate will h will be higher about 1% point higher as it turns out. Any questions that I can bring to Philip? Okay. Band policy first reading Give everybody a moment to pull it up in front of you. Right. So, we did find out that we um in the committee time that we spend reading the policy is not considered a first read. It's the work that we do on it and then we bring that back here to the board for the first read. So, we do
053it it all lots us about two months. I know that we wanted to get through some of the pol policy simple ones, but it is going to take us about two months to approve that policy going forward. All right. Does that change mean we're going to have to postpone a vote on that contract? So, today I think it's just discussion. Oh, on the you were talking about the bus agreement. Yes. No, you guys will make a decision on that tonight. Okay. Yep. We have the new paper. Change the the back because we were going to vote on it today. Correct. Which is the verbiage. Okay. Yes, sorry. That's because that's an agreement, not the policy. But in in terms of the school van usage policy, uh we're just going to add a few things such
054as otherwise authorized by superintendent. I will get these things to Chris. We will update it and then at the next board meeting, we will um have this on the agenda. Did we get that account? I was gonna say I think house can. Yeah, we just had when we were starting to think about first and second read, we were thinking about that. So, and Brad from MASB actually responded today. Y um and said that a committee of the whole meeting is technically a special meeting of the board. Perfect. So, we could decide to bring we'll look at our agendas and see if it's going to be the next C or board. Um, communications, public participation at this time, if anyone would like to talk. Got nobody. Okay. Um, business items for decision. Installment bus purchase agreement.
055Um, at this time, I would entertain a motion. I'll make a motion to adopt the installment purchase agreement subject to final revisions to the agreements as approved by the superintendent, positive inspection of the buses, and securing financing through the installment purchase. I'll second um board, is there anything else to discuss? A buses. Okay. Um Amber, may I have a roll call vote, please? Corsy, yes. Davidson, yes. Gillette, yes. Smeltzer, yes. Shu, yes. Wilp, yes. Everstein, yes. A motion passes 70. Next up, we have communications, board comments. Um, board. Um, I'll start. So, just a little senior trip update. Um, we are having our parent meeting next Tuesday. We initially started off with 29 kids going on the trip. We're now down to 25 kids going on the trip for various reasons. We have eight chaperones.
056We're almost fully paid in full. Um, and we're super excited. Our tenery is officially set. We had a couple changes because TJ Friday's closed and then the hurricane um that happened in that happened in Tennessee caused our original hotel to be booked from people who could no longer be in for the in Asheville. And so, but even with those changes, it's still it's it's going to be great and fun and the kids are really looking forward to it. So, excited. And then that's it. Oh no, the middle school band. I don't know if you saw, but they got straight ones at festival last week, which is huge. So, okay. Um, just a quick comment through the construction process. It was really great. I was able to sit through a couple of them. Uh again, just
057to echo the comments, nothing is going to put us in bad hands and it's just really neat to see how open we were able to communicate with everything and I know we've got a lot more talking to do, but it's new for me to go through that kind of a process for such a such a big deal. So, uh I'm just glad that we had that kind of a team put together. Thank you for everybody on the board and not on the board that was a part of all those meetings. It was a really smooth process, I felt like, and hopefully we can get some stuff hammered out next Monday. Just a couple things. Um the one thing um since the since a month ago, I didn't have much information on the whole bond thing,
058but in the past 30 days, I've had a wheelbarrow and two of them, four of them. So, I'm in much better shape than I was. Um a lot of things moving very fastly. My biggest concern um in the whole situation right now is that we had a problem last time around and I'm unable to read what's going on right now. And I think the reason is that not a lot of people I don't think are aware that another bond is coming. And the last thing I want to see happen here is you get we're bucks n 2 and 1/2 months out from making the decision that's the the no turning back point. And I hate to see us get in a situation where we get there and all of a sudden, you know, missiles start
059raining down out of the air. So I don't know how we get the word out so we can gauge what the community is thinking on this thing, but I think that's something we need to do. We probably need to do it pretty quick. um because if we don't, we might get blindsided. And that's that's my own that's my single biggest concern in this whole thing. I think that's going to happen very quickly after we select the construction management team. After we pick RCM, then they'll kind of lead us in what those next steps are. But yes, those are valid. So next week, hold on to your pants. You know what? It's better to know than not know. Yep. Correct. We agree. That's been my anxiety too, Gary, is like when do we when do we
060when do we but we have to decide that we're doing it and then all the numbers align how they're supposed to align and then go time. Do you know anything else? Okay. Go. I'm good. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Um, one note on the transparency and safety. Uh there recently was notification sent that there was EMS or something to that point at the elementary school and it was amazing to get that notification. I knew my children were fine and I didn't hear it from other individuals. There was something there. So I very much appreciate that communication that we're working on. I didn't get it. So you guys it was a million miles an hour. Oh, no, you're fine. No, and that was through the Yeah, cuz I was to the primary kids. Yeah, I'm saying
061I'm glad it went where it needed to go. So, it was nice to see because that did not happen previously. So, I appreciate that. Uh, the only thing I got is that I'm planning on going to the um career connect campus thing at 5 if anyone would like to meet up. I can't go during the day. So, thank you for that. So, I plan on going to 5:00. Anyone wants to meet up for that? And then, um, I'm looking at possibly doing the spring institute. I don't know if you're doing it. If any else think about doing it, let me know. I'd like to get together and hatch a plan. That's all I got right now. I am planning on doing a spring, too. Um and then the GA I AA um awards. Um Joyce
062Henson and Rodney Smith from the foundation are both getting um their awards this year. So, come watch me acknowledge Joyce. Um, and I thought the interview process was really well. It also helped us all learn like what to expect next and how that process is going to go. And then it was a little bit heartbreaking to watch the girls and boys um lose for districts, but we paid played a good season. And I'll turn it over to the superintendent. Um, just one last comment about the CM interviews. If you did not fill out one of these sheets, um, come grab one from me. This will help wrap your mind around maybe what questions to bring to the 24th around each one of these areas. And then, uh, diploma signatures. I I had two of you
063guys ask me what those were about in the packet. So, we'll try to be a little clear in the email of what they were there for. Um, it was in the update, but one of them is a name change and another one lost one, so they needed another one. So, you guys need to sign it. And then rather than passing along the uh diplomas to you at the end of the year, we're going to give you a master template that you have to sign so that we can just get those printed on the diploma rather than having to go through and print it. I like signing my name on the back. You can sign it 110 times on your own if you'd like. I'll get you a piece of paper, but that we're going to
064have you guys sign the diploma um master sheet tonight. We've got another plan. It goes on the right on the back for you. We've already thought that but for tonight you need to just sign the choice. It would be so much we don't have to have that extra conversation now. Okay. Um I would like to adjourn the meeting at 6:50. Thank you everyone.