001I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liy and justice for okay next up we're going to have the swearing in of our new Trustee of the board Nathan smer yeah you want to go stand by the can I you raise your hand please then repeat after me I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this state and the constitution of the state and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office discharge the duties of the office of member of the Board of Education of M of the Board of Education ofur austa community
002schoolsa community scho according to the best of my ability according to the best of my [Applause] ability [Music] for congratulations and I'd also like to take a minute at this time to thank Christa Simmons um she came on the board in January of 2021 um we all know that was a very difficult time um you know coming into meetings via Zoom um that's going on but um chriso was integral and part of the bond we appreciate you for that and for your time of service so thank [Applause] you okay and L can you know board members present and administrators and then you have an agenda in front of you um there are a couple of quick changes to it um on page two number seven reports a is going to be a superintendent [Music] [Applause]
003report and then that will just move everything down so Community input agenda items only will be B Primary School celebration will be c um curriculum and instruction report will be D call count e find update F and update on new buses will be G and then under close session the number nine we're going to add where it says attorney client privilege I'm going to add to be consistent with 81h and that is all I have unless anybody has any other changes to the agenda could I have a motion to approve the agenda as amended I motion to approve the agenda as amended all in favor say I I all opposed say n motion carries 7 z um next up we have the consent agenda okay and the consent agenda is approval of meeting minutes the
004regular board meeting from September 18th 2023 Committee of the whole meeting October 2nd 2023 and special board meeting on October 9th 2023 the approval of accounts payable in the amount of 1,350 $6,750 72 for the month of September 2023 the approval of the treasures report dated September 30th 2023 with a balance of 12 million $273,200 and then approval of new hires transfers and resignations is there anything want to add so you all know that uh Nicole Tui um has resigned and uh this Friday will be her last day she is heading back to Minnesota um so lots of Tears for all of us she uh has done an amazing job we have hired Audrey Banda she is um I think you're going to be nicely uh encouraged by how quickly she's learning and I think
005I sent you all picture and if you didn't know who she was when we were laying bricks um out at the field to be ready for that Friday night um ribbon cutting that was her first day on the job so yeah we're excited to have her on board um and I just want to thank Lindsay too um she's been working on getting us some more permanent Subs so you'll see that that has been added to our list as well so okay can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I'll motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'll support um Laura could you do roll call vote please card yes sh yes eberstein yes wils yes Cory yes smelter yes Walker yes motion passes 70 okay next up is number seven reports um
006a superintendent report thank you um I uh had emailed all of you to let you know that I um wanted to speak first thing at the beginning of the board meeting um and uh you know context so uh Being Human but not an excuse I did mess up uh last week when I was having a a meeting with Personnel um I um got frustrated to the point that I I messed up and I hold my apologies to Mr Curtis I thought I just saw him but um as well as the other individuals that were in the room and also to the board um even getting frustrated excuse for doing it and I want you all to know that my apologies to the board I will do better thank you um and just enough way I
007don't know if everybody new sign up um but if we're coming up right now on community input um for agenda items only um so if there's anybody that was signing up just let us know um so just a reminder each person gets three minutes um this is a public meeting or I'm sorry this is a board meeting held in public but not a public meeting so we won't be responding to things here um and just be respectful of the three minute time frame that you have when you come up to sleep thank you and first up Parker shoot I sit here hello my I am Harper sh I am a sixth grader here at gillsburg Augusta I like our rocket football because this year we won 6 and 0 and next year I convinced friends
008that they should play football and if we don't we won't have anyone to play we might not be able to go back to football for two years and football is my favorite sport so please consider to let us do Middle School football thank you for your time thank [Applause] you okay next up Lori wasburn it's not off it's not not an agenda item okay so we'll just save it to the next one okay um next up Eric Curtis good evening um I'd like to thank uh Miss Simmons for her time on the board and uh welcome Mr smelter as well thank you for your time to serve um I also noticed on the the minutes the past couple of months um they're not very specific on detail it's like we've lost some detail I don't
009know why that is um in some areas I notic on the community input part it just says a Community member and a teacher spoke I don't even know what what that even means um we need to do better that's not okay that's not transparent that's not acceptable in my book um if you go back if something happens and we have to go back a few months and then they're like what month was that how are you going to find it a teacher spoke what they speak about what was their issue what was the topic um the other one on the agenda I don't know if this is a legal thing um the fact that it uh under uh number 11b gaea complaint what's the complaint about why is it not listed so again if we
010want to be open honest and transparent then let's be open honest and transparent thank you thank you okay um sorry next up under reports is see Primary School [Music] celebration Sean is you that's me so Mr ball Mr Russell come up [Applause] here uh I wanted to do a couple things for tonight so Mr Russell Mr ball will have their part here but uh one of the best things that we've seen so far with with data is uh Mrs llo sent me this the other day um um from nwaa so that is uh a national test that everybody can take across the country um and it shows us that we have 57% of our third graders had growth in nwaa for reading that was at or above our 80th percenti so that's pretty amazing um
011and then it also takes a look at that the bottom one um which is our or just shows you kind of where we are in terms of everything in terms of percentile and median where we we fall um and then the reason why I showed you that today um the best part about that is why are we showing you we show usually your celebrations we're showing all these different things all these different awesome activities that we're doing uh I chose this data because three years ago um we had Co and what happened we hired Teresa King uh we were able to hire um Leslie McCall with through our grant and we took took a at our systems and what we had in place and how we needed to catch our kids up um and what
012we know from that data is that the systems we have in place are working and they're not you know we're not we didn't say we're catching kids up quickly you know right away where they're at Benchmark but you can tell by this previous Slide the growth that our kids have shown um so our third grade growth that we have those kiddos going into fourth grade and what they've shown is pretty amazing in terms of how where they started back in kindergarten um so that's an awesome thing that we've got and I just wanted to draw that your to your attention that the intervention systems that we put in place are working and we continue to tweak we continue to look at data and we continue to look to see how we're servicing our kids each
013and every day um but they're working so I thought that was just awesome thing to show you guys um the next part that we're really excited well there's my system sorry just shows you that what we're doing is working um the best practices in terms of our what we're using the curriculum lies and how we're teaching it is actually doing what it's supposed to be doing Sean can I ask you a quick question yeah so our current third graders were they in kindergarten when Co you're asking me to do math fourth grade so they're in fourth grade now so our our third current current second graders would have been having that preschool opportunity that missed is that right yes and then kindergarten would be third grade and the next part is I'm super excited about
014Mr Russell and all the things that he's he's done over the last couple of years um with his role as not only the librarian but now as the family Advocate uh one of the best things that has happened so far I'm going to let Mr Russell take over and tell you about the first day shoe fund that he had an opportunity to be a part of this year well most of you know we did 170 shoes last year this year we did 239 we've got 486 in the primary school so essentially that comes to 49.7% of our student body in this school I'm going to round it up cuz 50 sounds better got a repair of shoes this year and it was fantastic Tower pinkster was our sponsor they obviously helped with our audition they
015had eight people come in they fit all the kids they were very very good with the kids and everybody was super happy we gave another 39 I think it was 39 pair to the middle school for fifth grade so in essence we gave away almost 280 pair of shoes this year which I think is fabulous and we're going to do it again in the spring so everybody was super happy and I'm proud to say that um we only had four exchanges which is big time for me I think one of the best parts that he's being a little humble with is uh the person Maggie who's in charge of all of it throughout the county actually called and was kind of mad uh a little upset like what are you doing what are you doing
016there's too many kids Jeff didn't he wasn't promoting anything these these were just people who just showed up and and signed up to get shoes and and once we explained that to her she was like she just didn't understand the need that our community had for such an such an event that was happening um as soon as Jeff explained it to her she was like okay how many more you need how many more do you need what else can we do um so Jeff did an awesome awesome job with that and then Jeff go ahead the can closet clothing and Necessities this is something I wanted to start for a year or so and we got it started this year I got a donation of $500 to get it up off the ground and I
017thought it would be important but I didn't know that it would be so popular right away I'm almost Barren in that closet we have school supplies I got snow pants I got heavy gloves I have hygiene products dish uh washing liquid laundry soap dryer sheets snacks for the kids if they don't have a snack to come in I mean it's really taken off and it's done a it's been fabulous and it's in the back of the library we're getting some signage made for it um and right now like I said self-service announcement if anybody would like to contribute I'm taking all sorts of donations we'd love to have it but it's turned into I actually had a parent name it the parent gave me the donation that's Anonymous actually named the closet for me and
018it's been wonderful and the parents have been very receptive to what we had so we've sent a lot of stuff home so then the parents come in there and get stuff too they call me okay and or they email me and I give the order either ready to the office for them to pick up or kids shove in their backpacks and they take it home a gloves and snow pants does that does they have to be new or are you looking for gently used I will take anything anybody wants to donate so what we probably would do is take the new new ones and put them in that closet and take the gently used ones soon as snow happens this area over here we put little zip ties on and this is emptied and brought
019back every single day with uh kids who need hats gloves snow pants the other thing is is I don't care who calls there's no background check background check or salary checker it's just you call you get it I'll pack it up and away we go question for is this kind of like where what they did with the middle school where it's like protecting their self-esteem as well so it's yes and no I don't have the clothes the middle school has I have more of the shampoo the toothbrushes the toothpaste the daily stuff that they use um but yes in AR don't necessarily I have underwear I have ankle socks okay y yeah okay and when he means Baron basically in two weeks the closet was empty so that's how fast you mean everybody knows the
020economy right now but that's how fast this closet went um and then Jeff in a couple of weeks we're going to be start when are we starting up the backpacks food I'm just waiting the gentleman who's pledged me the money had shoulder surgery and I'm hoping to get that check either late this week or the beginning of next week and then I will stop power packs and we've got 51 kids that were getting uh boots and coats for on November 1st thank you and the book fair and the book and the book fair can you remind what's in that backpack that goes on kids or the food the food it's um items for the weekend that provides them with extra nutrition I usually do two lunches two breakfasts and then some treats awesome and it's
021usually things that all the kids can do by themselves they don't need necessarily help micro aable stuff uh the next part here is Mr ball so I before I let Mr ball speak on what he's been doing I just want to thank you guys for allowing us to have a Dean at the primary school um I don't know as if we would be surviving right now without Mr Ball's support and help um about 500 kids in the building and we don't sit down ever uh and uh Mr ball has allowed Mr Russell and I to actually do some of our H jobs um but he has been such a great advocate for kids advocate for teachers and I just wanted him to be up here and tell you a little bit about what he does
022during the day awesome thank you thank you for the time I appreciate it uh transitioning from the classroom teacher formerly kindergarten into the dean role has been an interesting one but one that I think speaks a little more closely to my heart formerly working as the Director of the YMCA Camp and working with a multitude of kids um so there's a picture up here that I didn't know Mr Cortel snapped and it was addressing our fourth grade friends who just needed a bit of a reminder um typically around playground recess being kind and things like that and being able to dive in and really talk about what our Rams expectations mean specifically for how we treat each other and what we want to try and succeed together as a grade level um but it's really
023been my pleasure and my honor to be able to continue to build relationships that's my biggest thing working with kids and I would say it's probably my biggest strength I was an okay teacher but I was really good at building those relationships I walked through the building L getting hugs from everybody and I've gotten to know so many more kids who I didn't have the pleasure of teaching I get ready video calls all the time asking for somebody to sit down and talk with it's been really great to hear those frustrations and also to learn more about the students and where they're coming from and how I can help and then the same goes for our teachers and our teachers are incredible and they are amazing and they have the hardest job in the world
024nobody can touch what they do nobody can touch the amount of time and effort that they have to put in nobody can touch the fact that they have to be on 247 bathroom has weit feeding yourself has to wait I have to take care of 21 22 23 24 all at once so everything that I can do for them bottom being probably the most important the caffeine support living coffee as needed um has been a pleasure to be able to support them see the great work that they've done also learn from them I was just in the classroom and I'm seeing so many great things that they do with the interventions and those systems as well as the strategies and methodologies they use in their classroom so if I ever end up back question might
025have some new ideas I can take from me as well but um it's been fantastic being able to work with all of the students at this level and I can't wait to continue supporting them advocating for them being a squeaky wheel as needed sometimes to get them what they need and continue to best serve G Primary in G school he says that about the picture because it kind of looks like this girl's in trouble she's not she was sitting like Ming her seat nice and comfortable he's he's doing a whole Rams lesson for the entire class uh any other any questions that is all for our celebration I do just have a couple of quick comments sorry um to all three of you and really to the primary school thank you so much for all
026um that you are joined to help te um help the the staff help the students um with whatever needs they may have um I know Mr Russell there's so much that you have done to help the students of this school so many things you've implemented and put in place and trust me I know that makes a huge difference in their lives and their family's life so thank you um Mr ball thank you for taking on the new role um I'm equally sure that you know you are in the classrooms helping students getting them what they need so I appreciate that and of course Sean who's always doing an amazing job and um the data shows I mean yes we obviously aren't going to jump to 100% overnight but seeing growth in that study increase is
027so so important so thank you very much now um next up under reports is um D the curriculum and instruction report good evening so how do I go after that that was amazing mine is not as exciting and thrilling um so there were just a couple of updates that I provided with you uh to you and the board report one of them being around the multilingual audit so there were five counties that were in the process of an on-site review they call it to look at how we support our multilingual learning ERS uh this year we have 11 we've doubled the amount of students that we're serving from last year um and there's an expectation from mde because cumoo county is a refuge space for families that will see that number continue to grow um
028since that audit took place we sent a pair of professional from each building to receive some training on how to best support multilingual Learners we're in the process of getting those supports in place um Olivia fax I just have to go on the record is saying as a first grade teacher and going through an audit process she has been so important she's our el director she's the only person in the district that is Tesa certified so we've been working alongside each other to provide those supports and she's going to be providing some training to teachers so that they can best support multilingual Learners in the classroom because they're with them most of the day so that was one thing I wanted to update un um a little bit with intervention interventions are up and running
029this is our second year using um common Benchmark assessment of aadience um it's gone much better than it did last year we we knew going into doing that at the middle school there were going to be some Kinks and things that we needed to work out interventions are up and running um we've been working really um solidly with Amy's been so supportive and just a leader in you know addressing concerns and getting teachers what they need um we're piloting another intervention that's been used in Portage and in parchment to really provide support to our students that are still struggling to learn how to read so I know that when we did our data presentation last spring there was a lot of concern about that subgroup of like seventh and eighth grade how do we better
030prepare them to enter the high school classroom so we do believe that installing those systems K8 is really going to help out the high school and all the great things that they're doing um and think I think the other thing I wanted to share was around instructional rounds so I kind of gave you a little snapshot that those are based off of Harvard Medical rounds um the primary's been doing instructional rounds for about 5 years we s a team to Comstock a couple weeks ago and we are going to start that rounds process this year in our middle and in our high school um and so it's just a great way for teachers to get into the classrooms of one another um and just really learn from each other and our district goal is around
031how to create more collaborative conversation between kids because we know the more kids are talking about content and higher order thinking that they're really learning more than just sitting passively um and then in that update I just included all of the professional learning that we've been providing through our kesa coaches we've had great Partnerships with climax Scots they've included us in their science training along with parchment um and just a lot of great things happening teachers working really hard but we feel like we're providing some PD that's really specific in their content areas so that's pretty much it yep thank you Teresa and next up under reports is e the PA count so there isn't a lot of new information here it's been pretty consistent with um what I've shared uh based on the work
032James's been doing along with the buildings but I did want to put it in some perspective for you so what you have in front of you is uh really just the last three counts fall of 2022 uh last spring 23 and then what J just submitted for an audit so this fall 2023 um so I I did some of the work for you which is if you look in kind of the pinkish color um what that means if you look at Spring 2023 we had 79 kindergarteners and now in the fall we had 82 so that's a that's a that's a positive you know uh number it's going up um and so you can look down um okay we never know right so we can't really compare that but from grades one through six um
033we are up in those numbers in each of those classrooms um and Sean remind me 95 in third grade this is the highest 24 24 24 or 23 23 24 24 for four teachers that's a big deal um I remember Diana it's been a while since we've had class sizes that big so pretty excited and we know we have some big class sizes that move through um and then you can see you know grade seven through 10 um there's some attrition you know that uh we have some uh transient families sometimes have gr else we're looking for um housing unfortunately our communities don't have a lot of reduced housing um and so sometimes that happens uh we also I'll be getting you um more uh information with regard to where students are went this spring
034our our staff had their secretary's call plus we get the forms for school of choice or release um and so really um when you go down the only other thing I want to point out is um where you see the Alternative High School where it's 14 I want you to um just going to go back to what Lindsay's request was for the Virtual Academy we have three students in there but we don't get full FTE because we pay the program um you know uh pretty much to do the organization Etc so I think we get we get this wrong 35% 32 32 so 32.3 it's almost one FTE okay I just want to make note of that so if you look down um why it's an increase of 4.54 from the spring right at 9783
0352 um youve got to subtract those three kiddos kind of ADD had one back so essentially we are up 2 and a half students um and that increas is for per pupil funding from what we budgeted so we had budgeted 974 last year which was our Blended account for last year so we projected even and we're up um two and a half kids uh if you'll just go up to the right where you see the primary school middle school high school you can see where they've been specifically um what I'll note about the high school is uh they are down by 11 and a half students also note that we did have a larger graduating class um but the other is that Middle School's pretty much steady they kind of up and they kind of
036are down but just by a couple kids but look at our Primary School up by 28 kids plus um I think that speaks volumes um not only for the work that they're doing um you know but also the I think the the fact that people are really sharing stories about what's happening and and um we appreciate parents and the families all the students and of course the likes of those who presented tonight so that is where we are um the good news is if you look from Fall to now we're steadily going up um and again uh I think Philip will talk to us when we do our um updated budget about BL count and how that's working because it's there is some new legislation out there but so that's what I wanted to share
037we're pretty much right on track um which is a whole lot better than going back which is terrific as you know the state uh increased our funding for pupil um so it was what we had projected but all a good thing any questions good thanks um next up under reports is f the band update um so before we get to Press Box um or the old field um I do want to assure you that we had a meeting last Thursday it's our owners aret construction manager to talk about about the turf and um uh some possibilities of why it's still not draining as fast it should so um you can that that Frank and I are on them right we um uh we have another meeting next week but I know um Dean is already
038contacting the turf company to come out and and take a look um one of the things we found is that you know that torrential downpour um didn't cause some of the turf to kind of float um so we want to make sure we want to get a um perspective from them about that I know that this weekend we had a smaller ring but um Ben had texted me with some pictures and so um they've got a couple of ideas that they have to be explored and um at the end of the day it is the contractor's job right to make this work um and that's uh so yeah it's unfortunate but um we're going to keep at it and then um the other is I mentioned to you about the Press Box that there was
039a request to consider naming it after Byron Cox I um it's not a decision we have to make now into some kind of dedication in the future should that be um something that the board wants to consider um I know that uh there's someone in this room who can give us some information about Mr C and if you recall he was also uh one of our outstanding alumni last spring so um I'm not going to come up with a number I'm kind of bad on that how many years did you uh call games in the Press Box how how much 30 plus 30 plus years um so obviously there's a legacy and obviously there'll be a future but it is something that um has been requested for us to consider uh then talk about the
040old field um one of the things that um when we started this poll facilities and we talked about being able to build a new field at that point in time we of course assumed it would be grass and so the conversation way way back when in fact it happened in this room some of you might remember being here was what do we do with the old field and we talked about it being able to become a youth field now that we have turf and the number of teams on it uh is not really consequential um you know there's upkeep of course with the black rubber pellets but um nothing like it would have been been grass the conversation is um letting youth play their games there as well they still need their practice field haven't
041had that conversation whether it would be where they are now um the value is that there are some money there some savings if we do um you know uh change the use of the facility uh there's also some stuff that needs to come down to be more safe um I can't remember if it was one of you orbe to Jessica who mentioned you know if you have a a grandma or Grandpa who's coming to youth football right and they are in the wheelchair and we're using the old facility they're still in the same situation that they used to be um and of course when we're thinking about communities other communities coming in um when they play against youth whether it's soccer it could be you know different things um what do we want them to
042see what do we want to you know have their group also participate in so I want you to think about the old field um Philip and Frank and I just started that conversation we're going to do a walk around out there also with f and Tower they've been in this situation before with other districts we're going to seek out their ideas as well um so any questions on that this not as as far as we've gotten so far but there are some dos to by turning off the water and the electricity and and and not having to know it Etc so just think about that no decision but be interested in your ideas I'm curious did you have a chance to talk to Tarra about any ideas that we would be able to do with
043the property that's now M field I brought it up at last Thursday um we had a lot to cover so I said um Can can that be a part of our next week's discussion um because they both they all mentioned that yes theyve all been at places where the older field you know was not used anymore um and like I said we wanted to take a look out there walk around and see what we have I'm really curious what um they come up with because they have the experience um I don't have any brand ideas I know that we've had issues with the bus garage a little bit so I would um like entertain doing something different there possibly um I for one do not think AR should play on the old field um I
044had ghosted on the visitor side to watch my nephew play at dton and it's really nasty over there like swamp water all over bleachers um and when I was on the stand somebody was like oh I have to have bathroom but I don't want to go use the bathroom and um then when we had the privilege of playing on the new field um I think somebody commented about oh Ben was like hey have you seen the new bathrooms yet and we're all like trained not to go to the bathroom at a football game so everybody's like no I don't have to go to the bathroom um but I think we're in a unique uh situation where we have the opportunity to have two Fields but everybody else is forced to have their youth teams play
045on their new tur fields and I think we should like if that's how you get families to come to our community is them setep foot on it and be like wow this is really nice because our field is a lot nicer than mland and some of the other turf fields around um and I want to show it off so I would be very against playing rocket football games as the old Fields um not to mention I think uh the program ran into some issues that they hadn't thought about like concession stand and things like that and I would worry about the upkeep of the old field and I think it would be something fun and exciting to see what we can actually do with that property to make it useful I have to say I
046appreciate your perspective too so with the with a handicap side I think whoever do does still have grandparents or anyone that needs ADA Compliant items um and so having that ramp is absolutely amazing and people that even not even a walker but just a um cane utilizing that it was wonderful and so much safer and less Falls and so many more handrails and they definitely appreciated it it was nice just to Pig it back what they're saying I'm all forward to I mean it took us over 20 years to get this field approved let the community use it that's that's my take but alternatively I would like us to think about our parking situation now now that we are hosting games at home and we have rocket going and we have vol going we were
047you know side chats you and I already Wendy been talking about the Overflow into the handicap spots and people parking on the grass I would like to see how we're GNA move around that weekend that's a week day so you're have like practice flag or Rockets practicing JB will be having a game on Thursday nights potentially and then you got volleyball competing inside we are very very short that's my only concern going we possibly could have atice at the old field something different you know I think there is still some interest in rocket uiz in that field um if we can figure out a way the kind Logistics to make that work or that it's beneficial for everybody um I'm not necessarily saying play every game there but um utilize the field for perhaps practices
048but I think that there's um definitely an opportunity to sit down with some of rocket members and uh have a conversation with would work best so I definit want play on the field and Frank yeah and I will say though uh I was at the field this weekend opening it up and um the Matan team was the first one as we opened the gates and it was really cool because as the you know there were 20 madon kids there and as they walked through the gate they all looked at the field goal oh man this is so nice like this is way better than our field oh look at the track there's no cracks in it cuz we were at nwan and they have some pretty big cracks in their track anyway so it's pretty
049neat especially coming from Nan F what do you need the practice just like a goal post not even so just grass that's a different discussion for a day I just well I mean we are talking about it now what I will share I cuz I I think a group needs to be put together along with to pster frame you know rocket different things what the pros and conss are to kind of both places or what maybe you know the field as the primary can be used for what might be beneficial for it to be used for depending on you know how much money we really want to put into that or how even the Primary students might be able to utilize that um best I don't know I think there's a lot of options I
050think I think I haven't come up with any real thoughts or ideas yet just because I'm not really an expert and I'd like to see what pros and cons are and have than all that information so I think it is important we start looking at that does anybody have any thoughts on the Press Bo the new Press Box or you're talking about the name the renaming just right does have I will say like um I don't know what year did Byron quit announcing you know Year Johnny graduated my Johnny my John I was back so I mean like there's people that are in the audience right now on the board right now that know who Byron Cox is have met him um so I mean I think that would be a nice jure I me
051um I know that we have a couple more superintendent board meeting get togethers right breakfast lunch or dinner so maybe that can be a topic just to give me your thought that be okay okay and next up under reports is G update on new buses which was supposed to be Phil up but unfortunately he couldn't be here tonight so we will add that um yeah to the C and discuss it there yeah um next up is eight business items for discussion um a the monthly budget discussion which is Phil up which will you mentioned that just you know wasn't a lot changed or nothing to note but if you have questions that you take back yeah we all got an update in our board packet and yeah there wasn't a lot of changes that were
052added or things that were different um so next up under a is business items for discussion reproductive Health Lindsay Neil L hanging out by the cold um I'm just G to ask quick question does everybody on the board do you think you have you know you can ask some questions tonight but you got the information hi one question you had asked was um and there was a lot of great information ly but can you go over a little bit of the costs in terms of what were the things that you you will need purchase you shared a couple calling them kids I can't remember you call questions so um I proposed that we purchased some um Anatomy models to better assist not just with Anatomy but also with condom use um so I've worked with
053a variety of different Anatomy models um and they sell them in kits so instead of buying individual models you can buy an entire kit and it comes with curriculum and it comes with a lot of extras oftentimes it's cheaper to buy them individually and buy them as they fit into the curriculum and as we need them I've worked before where people have overbought and things just sit on the the shelf and they're very expensive and because we're going from no Anatomy models it might be good to slowly introduce and see how they fit into um into lessons and curriculum and how they're received Etc so yeah I proposed a couple different ways to do it um I researched a couple that are accessible on Amazon relatively cheap we can even return them if we need
054to um it's a weird conversation to have with with people but um and then there's more stand there's more standard ones so it's really based on what you're comfortable with bringing in I I can work with anything so what's that so the um the maale Anatomy on its own was 136 um the kit as a whole is just under 700 is that what you showed us was the K so I brought in just a male anatomy that I actually borrowed from my my school district prior to working here that one is about 14 years old so they do hold up well over time and everything was kind of hanging right in there yeah or you just have so the way that I teach um I don't think we need more than one of anything happening
055at a time um as I broke it down I prefer to teach that section in small groups as students are comfortable with it oneon-one giving kids kind of a better option to ask questions practice um and just feel comfortable so for me I don't need one for everybody just one and small group work is best I I feel yeah does that answer your question okay yeah and it was my question because I saw like the total curriculum cost like 400 sure and I'm just like well I was thinking it was more than that so I'm like so what will it include or not right I put in several different options however you want to do it so that that you feel comfortable with it with spending money on that and it's something that we can
056use and collect feedback collect data on and then add to over time if it's effective okay yeah thank you your pack wonderful great there's never enough time to get through everything so I wanted to make sure that you had everything to take home and kind of look over and also it's a lot of information it's a lot of uncomfortable information and it's a lot of information in general I appreciate how well you articulated it and how well you did present it to where we felt comfortable as well thank you um because it is a touchy subject it is sensitive yeah definitely are the right person to teach it so thank you thank you very much I appreciate that I'm excited about it um like I said you know I feel passionately I feel like it
057is a gift to be able to equip kids with knowledge that they're going to use for the rest of their lives and you know my kid is in this District so it's important to me to have an opportunity to steer the ship and uh just collaborate yeah I think just a couple of important things to note um I did go through all of the links that you sent and everything amazing you know this is a curriculum that you know brings about a lot of attention so I think it is important um that as a board member I know what is in there what's in taught um I think that's very important um I think there was a lot of really great information um I think it's naive of us at times to think that parents
058are teaching um the things that are needed at times so that's where the curriculum is important to be taught um I think it's important for people to know that that you know they can still op out that is an option um so it's not something that everybody has to take but I think um the curricul curriculum um you treesa put together I think it was very very good um and a lot of really great information so thank you wonderful and I like my goal is to be as transparent with it as possible prepared in advance so that we have parents if they do feel like they want to opt out they don't have to opt out fully you know that that's very important to me because having that in-class experience really does make a huge
059difference um both learning and teaching yes I definitely enjoy um like the option where you can have each section and the parents can see at the time what is being taught and if they don't want that individualized item taught to their to out of one thing versus the whole Learning lesson so I appreciate it as well creating a Google classroom for parents so that that curriculum is available but it's not available for students to necessarily look at on their own um I think that's going to be a a huge win if we can get it going keeping everybody together on the same page thank you yeah all right thank you so much you're welcome any other questions okay so next up um nine is Clos session for attorney client privilege um consistent with 818 um
060because there's a lot of people here in the audience um it might be easier for us as the board to step out and come back so you can stay in here if You' like is the board good with that all in favor say so we will start CL session at [Music] 7:35 okay and we're back in Open session at 8:55 p.m. um and uh Jessica um could you clarify your motion to go into Clos session for the purpose of attorney client privilege pursuant to 81h of the open meetings act I can okay and what you second that I accept the amendment motion okay next up is 10 Communications public participation I'll start Lori waser did you want to speak we'll start with you my name is Lori Washburn um I have a son who is
061a senior and all my kids have gone through gilburg um I just was wondering why the board meeting from last month was not on YouTube um it's been I think for the last year and a half you can go back and see them all Wendy I know that you have said some things that are just absolutely untrue about some people that have left and I just want you to know that it feels like you're really trying to create what you want people to see and cover up things you don't so I just want you to know that when when you do things that you might think are shining a light on what you want us to see and that it really just sends more distrust and I'm really um when people come to me I'm
062just saying go go to the meetings go to the meetings go to the meetings you don't need to know what I think nobody cares what I think if you did I would still be here but I think it's really important for you to know that what you're trying to do is maybe counterproductive because when you hide things and put things under the rug and switch the narrative and say what's this and don't say this and say that's this but it's not that and the stadium is really pretty but anything built on unstable ground will never be strong and I love gilburg and I love our kids and I think our kids deserve the truth and I know a lot of you have heard a lot of things and you I don't know what you do
063with it I used to think you didn't know but now I know you know and I know that you're choosing to look the other way and I just want you to know that the truth will always come out and we can put lipstick on a pig but it's lipstick on a pig we we have to be honest and we have to put things out for how they are and when you put white a supper and make it look all shiny pretty and don't address things or misrepresent things the truth will eventually come out and we're building distrust thank you next up is Crystal hover and Lord so I didn't come here planning on speaking but after Harper spoke I felt like maybe I should elaborate on the situation we got going on in the rocket
064program I know Ben's on the board but um currently at the 7th 8th level we only had a few teams to play this year our 7th e8th unfortunately had a buy because we didn't have enough teams to play and of the teams that we did have to play they've all all but one and us have decided to go to a middle school program so by doing this it means that our seventh and eighth grade team will not have a program to play next year if we can't get the school to pick up the seventh and eth grade as a middle school program then we lose those seventh and eighth graders and from being on the board I've been on the board for since 2016 and I've watched these kids at the flag level grow up
065and a lot of these kids especially at the seventh eth grade level the two hours they have at practice is the only piece they get all day long their home life isn't the best situation football especially at the Young level is so much more than just football and I'd hate to see the 78 School PR dissolve because it'll also dissolve our Varsity program if we can't continue to feed these kids into football and I think that if the rocket program and the school board combined that we can really create we can build the funding for this I don't think that funding should be a pause for us to be able to pick these kids up between rocket and the school board and these seventh and eighth grade parents I really think that we can make
066this happen and pretty quickly all it's all thank you thank you Crystal and next up Kim Janowski we have two separate but related items um one is short-term one is long-term one shortterm the agenda isn't really clear on what your decision is going to be after public comment if it's a decision on whether or not there was a policy violation or if it's a decision on whether or not you're willing to meet with the complainant which is our Galesburg Augusta Education Association um we we ask for you um it should always in um my opinion be the case that anybody who has a complaint is able to actually have a conversation with the board about that and not just go on what you're being told is the outcome of the meetings that we have along
067the way and second would be a long-term change in board policy so that there was a way to have those conversations with the board um it's difficult to tell somebody if you think that you know what if it's a harassment kind of thing that doesn't necessarily fall under the the protected classes and stuff and won't fall under that if we were having a problem with an administrator the way the board policy reads now we would be forced to have a conversation with the administrator that could possibly be harassing somebody before we're able to bring anything to the board and then we have to um rely on the board president to decide that our complaint is worthy before we're able to bring up anything and right now all you're able to hear is what we could
068fit on a piece of paper and what you're being told happened as a result of meetings and you have no way of knowing if what you're being told is accurate or not we should have a voice if a complaint is brought no matter who that complaintant is thank you thank you ktim okay next up is 11 business items for decision a is reproductive health okay board you have in front of you um a board action request for um reproductive Health and Family Planning could I have a motion please I would make a motion to approve the changes in reproductive Health curriculum as presented I'll second board any discussion I was just very um impressed with what was presented to us and making sure we knew the ins and outs and what was going to happen
069with these funds so I appreciate that thank you yes very lots of information very detailed and truly appreciate that um vote please overgard yes sh yesin yes WIS yes Cory yes smelter yes Walker yes motion carries 70 okay next up under business items for decision is the GAA complaint can I have a motion please I have a this is long I have a proposed resolution for the board's consideration whereas in a complaint dated January 30th 2023 the gillsburg austa oh June 30th sorry June 30th 2023 the gilburg austa Education Association alleged that the superintendent violated policy 9130 in removing the book gender queer from the high school Library consistent with the board's complaint process the association leadership of a high school principal on August 7th 2023 and met with a superintendent on September 11th 2023
070the association requested Board review of its complaint the board has thoroughly reviewed the association the association's complaint now therefore be it be resolved there is no issue of material fact that needs to be addressed by a hearing on the association's complaint the associations requested relief that another Review Committee be formed before before another vote by the committee and then by the board oh the board denies the associate sorry the association's requested relief that another committee be formed before another vote by the committee and then by the board the board secretary is directed to provide the association with written notice of the board's decision that is my motion I'll support board any discussion I would like to speak on behalf of the board um go through the I like to speak on behalf of the board
071um the complaints and address them um so one no written complaint that is untrue there were three written complaints um to the superintendent appointed the committee um this is form over substance three the superintendent should not have voted um this is inade inate um the superintendent can vote um per Robert's Rules of of order and there's no legal wording to support that right for um the committee's recommendation report went well beyond 10 days um true that it did go over 10 days um based on the substance and the Integrity of what we were looking at we did take longer it was our first spring break and um we wanted to make sure that it was done right we will be looking at this policy and five book removes before board action um this is true
072the principal checked out the book um and then six the board removed the book because it was AU ensive to some um this is untrue the motion that was made on the May 15 2023 meeting stated that the reason for the book's removal motion to remove the book gender queer due to several explicit images and just a couple things I want to say that um the spirit of the policy was followed um there was request received um or a complaint received there was a committee formed um the committee made a recommendation then it was brought to the board and the board didn't make a um or have a vote on that um and the book was removed um so you know every detail to the tea but the Spirit of the policy and what that
073policy has put in place for we felt that was um follow any other discussion laa roll call vote please overgard yes sh yes bin yes wi yes corsey yes smelter yes Walker yes motion carries 70 [Applause] and next up um could I have a motion to go into close session for a purpose of negotiations to pursue or pursuant to um the open meetings app I'll make a motion to go into negotiation to go into Clos session for negotiations under the open meetings act I'll support all in favor say I I I I'll oppose okay so we'll go into close session for negotiations 9:15 so coming back to post session at 9:45 p.m. and and then next up 13 Communications for p welcome oh so I was going to make a comment regarding football um the
074rocket program ised to helping um equip the kids and that is the bulk of that initial startup cost um so it's almost 25 Grand that's G they're huge well so I mean but if you look at like parchment startup versus Gull legs I think it ranges from 15 to 24 so but like I said that's on the number of kids sure yeah y um but the reality is though like our school needs it to move forward with the football program and realistically there are families that are going to look at that that are going to want I mean we have 160 kids in our rocket program um and there are families that are going to say hey I want to put my kid in the school where they're going to shall be able to play
075football so um it's something I just think that we have to take a good look at and do what's best for the school and for the kids you know but there is a program committed to offsetting that initial starter cost so um when I talked with Mike and Jeff you they're putting all their I just said you got to write up the proposal got have the num Etc couple things that we have to decide about even when anyway so there some details so we used to have a middle school football team right and they got right of it and whate said to me for us the of us also that coaches at the level there's that's some good money if uh those people have been coaching for a while he shared with them that my
076priority is Middle School football so if we have to find some places in the athletic budget you know then we find places in we have I think so my only reason to say that is that looking at like the financially most fiscal way to do this which I appreciate for our it has been manned by volunteers for years though I mean so oh you will not have me in opposition I just am not going to make a recommendation to you without all that yeah I think we need factual numbers of what our student population looks like I also think a very important person to bring in on that conversation I think I'm agree would be Crystal hover um if you're going to have any conversations I'm just make sure she's there because I think she
077would have something to bring to the table for this scho sure um so morasco is like the busiest man on earth I was supposed to get the pink out and I didn't even make that um so I think we set a tentative date that um maybe it was the cow in November no maybe it was the board meeting in November they come present me time know I'm going to be working with them Crystal details you said no I mean if [Music] you're middle scho I wonder why they called it that too I was like I would just say it was very nice to have a lot of support this weekend even with horrible weather and yes in football it's football obviously is the season right now but even with it raining at our football game
078there's so many people out there supporting them and we ended as a undefeated 60 for my two boys uh V yeah so that was really cool so lot of people supporting that so it's nice and some of those people were Middle School teachers that care enough about their kids that were willing to come out in the 40° rain sit there and watch kids play so my son L that it was can I just say Obviously the opening of our new field um yes it was great up until just before ribbon cutting time but you know I me I I still think you know there were a lot of people that were just so inspired by the stadium and love that the bricks got in so thank you very much to you all who did all
079that work because I I tell you that really meant a lot to people coming up and seeing um their bricks and looking through that um so I think that really meant a lot um we enjoyed it yeah it was fun people are what do you mean the right way right I don't know if it'll get done this fall um or if we'll wait now for there are people ordering yeah we have gotten quite a few more orders I think technically in November you're not supposed to certain things yeah I think there's two bricks that AR supposed to be out there that weren so we should we talk to about those well I know we lost was there and um I didn't see the class of 2023 Buton there yeah that one was out there okay
080I wasn't looking one yeah they were all accounted for except for that one I know I'm looking forward to eventually maybe having ban competitions on that field too so I will say Saturday no listen so Saturday I went to vibur invitation some place for um P Central we don't have well maybe eventually I was just going to say it would be fantastic hang it rained day it rained all day and that field was still usable and it was amazing so for them to march on that field really I know it depends I think we can get cre we don't especially the stand space no because then your bands all come and join in the stand so they can wait none of them did places which one did you come to did you come to the
081C and D or you come to the A and B so then the A and the B so they they do split them up but like I was there for like the second half it was no no a and double A yeah like they start early in the morning for those on CU they start right CL and go all the way the day yeah so um then I'm just G to do my comment I try talk to everybody I think you heard but um I am stepping down from president um so that we'll be effective at the next meeting um so at the next meeting um we'll have to do an election presid forward thanks for your time as president and I'll make will you make an initial announcement at the next month so people
082actually hear it and then next up super up oh well that's where I was going to bring up the middle school but we talked about that one so about fo anymore um the only is Laura y so um it sounds like to maybe I have ay Laura breakfast dinner lunch is the 13th the 13 I did not get a confirmed date from both of you so nothing is scheduled yes tell me to get out L all right well so I think I can do it I've only met with only me a nice breakf y the only one all I ask is that it was good I've never I think that's a Wednesday what day is the week is it CU we're going season it's Monday oh Mondays are if there is a date that you
083can do I need you to email me put her on 13 I need an email I'm doing it right now thank you she over there I need an email because it keeps me accountable and I can and then I have things to reference back so she responded proba or if you want to quick text me that's moment um policy meeting 116 um I know we were going to look at who's on which committee now but um Chris Rice can come can do it before the [Music] it would be poliy so that's Jess and I and whoever else Jo poliy naan whoever else joins it usually put um the a new person on the policy Committee just so you get aware of how time policy unless complely I'm delighted I wanted to read the whole thing
084anyway going with C what we need to do what time our at 6:30 is okay so then we also need a superintendent I would appreciate TT I picture that unless are you sure she's not anymore stop we're digressing again all right [Music] so first that's next no right then then we'll redo the whole Poli or the whole committee oh yeah yeah things will change exactly so some of them um workshop for operating procedures um I checked with MB they have Scott Morell who's available to come into the district and do it with us so uh we have a cow commit of the whole on 124 what we could do is make that a workshop I would love to we could do dinner and then have him come in and help us hopefully by the end
085a good beginning work that day can we we move the time to like 6 at least if not earlier 5:30 600 that's okay it's fine I'm just it's okay okay uh that is I needed the most