001Well, it's 5:30. We will call the meeting to order and start with We're going to do the pledge? We can. We're going to do the pledge. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for Okay. Well, um Do we want to go around and introduce them? Yeah, we can. We've got a couple of visitors, so we'll go around and introduce Josh. >> Josh Ruland. Scott Pearson. Matt Jensen. Rob Wiener. Ann Hess. Donny Peschel, superintendent. John Droullard. And John is remote. John is remote, and we also have Matt uh from Ehlers on remotely as well. So, Uh good evening, everybody. Matthew Hamel, the district's municipal advisor. Yep. One addition to the agenda, uh we
002want to talk about safety update off our Chief Jensen is here, so we'll hit that at the end. Um so, yeah, we can Go ahead and get started with the baseball team. Baseball update, concrete is complete, the pads are done around the uh around the concession press box area. Uh the net went up today. We're not quite done with that, but it'll be secured tomorrow, and our first home game will be played on that field on Friday. So, we're getting there. Uh concession stand and press box, the second level has gone up, walls will be going up tomorrow. Um so, that is that continues to progress. Uh our donation list has grown a little bit. I will give you an update at that at some point here. Um probably at the May regular meeting as
003part of my report of where we're at there. So, uh yeah, just continuing to plan with that, getting you know, selling signs out on the fence. That's kind of where we're at regards to donations. So, um yeah, we'll we'll Beth and I will sit down and look at what you know the numbers we still and what we have left over after we get filled out for this first phase of it and [snorts] get a or come up with a plan on where to go next. See what phase two looks like with spinning those fields and everything else that goes along with that. So, getting beginning bids for that. Any questions on the baseball field update? Okay. It'd be nice if we saw a little phase like maybe what they're thinking phase two will cost or
004phase three or however many phases and then that way when people ask and then they say what's done, what they want to do next. Maybe there's some people out there that Well, and that's we have some work to do on that end. Have a passion for it. >> Right. We've got Hoping. Uh we've had an engineer look at the fields. That's that was the drawing that was in the Herald. So, now it's just a matter of getting the bid uh or getting the quote for what that's going to cost, the dirt work and everything. So, anyway. Okay. I will Yes, I will work on that. Perfect. Uh superintendent evaluation. You know, we were missing a few. John Drahota, do you have any update for us? We We still are waiting for one response and then
005we'll be ready to go. Everything else is prepped. Okay. So, you think John uh the May 20th meeting? Yes. We'll have Okay. Okay. And Ellers tech levy. Matt, do you want to take it away? Yes, I can I can do that. So, um we're just going to go through a review. Some of this information has been reviewed already previously, but just to kind of reorient everybody to where we're at with the district's capital project levy which the district refers to as your technology levy, but in in the law it's going to be referred to the capital project levy and that's how it's going to read on the ballot. Um your districts use these funds to strictly pay for technology costs, which is the probably the most common purpose right now for these types of levies
006across the state. Um I will I you're just going to share your screen, What I have up that that I have up that is your referendum discussion capital project levy. So it's got your LR >> Yes, so I'll just have you scroll through. I'll just tell you to scroll to the next page. That'll work just as easy. Yep. The first page I have is referendum allowances. Yep, and I can see it. So um so this is just gets us to the district has two outstanding operating um revenue authorities. The first is the operating referendum that the board renewed. That's represented on the left back in um September of '24. Uh that authority goes through fiscal 2033 right now, and those are the inflationary adjustments that are assumed. The levy that we're talking about that is
007going to need to be renewed within the next two calendar years, and um it makes sense for us to take a look at right away with this levy or with this election cycle because the county will help assist with the election is the capital project levy, and that is a percentage that's applied to the district's net tax capacity that generates revenue on an annual basis for the school district. That tax rate is 2.81% and in the last levy cycle or the last levy that generated 200 371,000 dollars for the school district for paying for technology and technology-related costs. Um the election has to happen either this year or next year to make sure we don't lose revenue. Um and unlike the operating referendum, the board renewal does not apply to this type of levy right
008now, even though it's been a discussion at the legislative level cuz many of the metro school districts have this levy and they're trying to get it underneath the umbrella to have a one-time board renewal, but that does not It does not apply right now. Um the district's levy currently was authorized back It was renewed back in November of '21 um for a for a a shorter term. It was a 6-year term. You can have a maximum of 10 years and um from our perspective, there's that time frame goes really quick and we're back asking for that revenue because it's so important to our operation that it it doesn't make any sense not to look at that 10-year term unless um there's a valid reason um at this point in time. And I think as we
009look at the state's financial picture as we move forward right now, um your school district's relying on this revenue really to support your operating budget on an ongoing basis. Um its purpose is to fund technology. Um that's um talking with Donnie and Beth, that's the plan is we would continue to just use it for technology as we move forward, even though we could look at other other uses. Currently, our estimate right now this levy grows based on your tax base. So, your tax base has grown since the original levy was put into place. Our estimate for this levy cycle um is that the levy is going to bring in about $284,000 for fiscal '28. That's going to be taxes collected in '27. That's the final year. When we renew the levy, we've we've got a
0101% increase built in for what we think the tax base would grow again. That levy renewal would represent about a $388,000 renewal, but because your tax base is growing, the net change is zero. So, what we're showing here is the levy costs an average property owner, which your average property owner on residential home base is about $300,000 right now. It costs them $63 a year for this levy on their taxes. It would stay at about $63,000 a year, and there'd be no net tax increase for renewing the levy. Um egg property does get impacted by this levy, unlike an operating referendum where they don't contribute. They do contribute to this levy, and your average egg property in Stearns County is right around 7,000 right now. So, you can see they're contributing about 79 cents per
011acre towards the levy right now, but there's no proposing increase. It would just continue on um if the voters would renew. If we scroll to the next page, um this is the ballot language that we've updated in draft format. So, this was the language that was used in '21. We've accounted for the change in the dates. Um and you can see how it would read. This uh ballot is saying it's going to be renewing an existing levy that's set to expire after taxes payable '27. And then the purposes are outlined there, and those purposes are exactly what the purposes were outlined back in November of '21. Um the bold language on the bottom, you can see your um this is a set out in statute. We can use the language that you're not voting for
012a tax increase, you're voting to ex- extend an existing levy. Um so, that bold language is is is is going to be able to be used as part of this levy question. Um that you're not asking voters to increase their taxes, you're actually just asking them to extend an existing tax levy. So, the timeline, you have to vote you have to authorize an election by August 11th. Right now, we're proposing that we would have the board take action at their June 17th meeting to um authorize moving forward with the election. This allows for the legislative session to finish up. There is a few election related items that are kind of flowing through at the legislative level that we'll see if they actually stick or not, but if they do stick, um waiting till that June
013meeting's going to give us an ability to address any of those items that may change as part of the election law. There's nothing major um except um in your case, it's not major, but it there is some discussion about changing that bold statement in the ballot language as we go forward to make some adjustments there. Um which in your case isn't necessarily a huge deal, but it could we would be able to reflect some of those changes. Um if there was anything that was of importance um by waiting till your June meeting. Um Peter Martin is your election counsel that you've used in the past. He would prepare all those election documents. We would coordinate with him to prepare those documents um on the district's behalf. And then the county would really be assisting with
014the election, and I think that's an important piece here as because there's a statewide election going on. The district isn't on the hook for uh incurring the cost for running the election. You just have to call for the election, and then the county will take over handling um a lot of the election requirements for the district. So, that is what I had. The election date is November 3rd. There'd be a delayed obviously um if this was voted on, this the election would just continue on as if it never expired. Uh and then it would be we're proposing 10 years at this point in time unless the board would see a reason to use a a shorter term. So Donnie, is there anything else that I missed Do we have to I mean the decision is
0156 or 10? Is that a board action to go 10 years and does that take place in June? Yes, that would be we would want to know that going in. So if if our direction is to do a shorter term, we would have the election documents drafted with that shorter term. So we needed to know that before the June 17th meeting. The last one 10 years? The last one was 6 years and it went fast. It was like we just did that. >> done two 6-year terms and you can see we're right back asking to renew it and I think one of the pieces here is it creates a little bit of voter fatigue, right? Because if we look forward on your plan right now under current law, we're going to have to be back
016out asking voters to renew that operating referendum. So Donnie, if you can go back just back to the first slide I think it is. I feel like we did that strategically because of when the elections fall. Yeah. So right now the your your existing operating referendum set to expire. So we would have to vote on that in election year 30 or 31, right? To renew that election. If you would just do a shorter term, right? You think of where we're at now, your levy's going to expire if we use a 6-year 6-year term, you'd be right back after asking voters to renew that levy to renew this levy again, right? So, I think from a voter perspective and a voter fatigue perspective of being back asking for resources on a continual basis, that's a consideration
017here is extending the term to 10. You have a window, right? So, then that would it would be 8. 2037 it would end then? In that 10-year window, right? 38. So, then We still have a year left. Okay. No. But, you would go to >> And your final tax levy would be 2037 if you did a 10-year term. Looking forward then, you could you could still the next vote you could have in 2037 or 2038. Is that correct? Yep. Right. Right? Yep. Yeah. There's a I guess the question, Matt, do we don't the we don't need a board action to say six or 10, do we? We just need to tell you we want to go six or 10. You don't need a board action to do it. You just need to tell us what
018the direction is so that we can create the election documents that way. Okay. Is there any downside to doing 10 years not under not knowing, you know, that extra four years of where cost of living increases, whatever else increased cost for the school. Do we put ourselves in a handicap for having that extra four years rather than six years where we could ask for an increase? Yeah, you could ask for an increase still. I think the importance from a budget perspective is you get to count on those revenues as you move forward for 10 years. If you ever wanted to increase that authority within that 10-year frame, you're not It doesn't prohibit you from that. You can revoke and replace the authority and ask for an increase, or you could ask for a an additional
019authority, too, that would be subject to a different term. So, I think when Donnie and Beth are doing their budget forecast, right? I think it's helpful and the school board, right? It's just helpful to know that revenue is there from a planning perspective as you look long-term, too. But, it doesn't prohibit you from coming back and and asking for an increase sometime before that 10-year term. And I'm not saying we would need it. I'm just saying something happened comes up. >> Good question. Thank Can I put on the ballot that at a $300,000 house, so you're looking at a $63 a year? Can that be put on there or not? No, it's again that's against the law to put any information that kind of goes outside of the um authorized purposes. So, I think what
020we do there is that's something we you know, that we're going to start to market this, correct, Matt? You After we decide in June, we need to get out in front of our voters and start marketing this, get things in the paper, you know, right? Just like any other referendum or bond you would try to promote what are givebacks on what actually is, correct? Yep, that's 100% correct. So, there'll be you'll be wanting to put some mailers out to um your property owners um the tax impact you can we offer a calculator that you can put on your website for property owners to go to. Sure. Um but, it's going to be an important piece just to get out to folks so that they know what they're voting for when they get there on November
021number third. And and after the June meeting, after we call action to vote, right? That's when that ball starts rolling. Yep. Okay. Okay. Okay. Any other questions for Matt? We're done? All right. Thank you, Matt. >> Thank you, sir. For sure. Yeah, just let us know and we'll be targeting that June meeting and if um we'll plan on 10 years unless we hear otherwise. Well, yep. Sounds good. Okay. Appreciate it. >> Thanks. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Okay. Moving on to number four, the 25-26 revised budget. That's Yep. Um Kim final budget piece of piece. Hey. Here it is. So, this is just a a real a short summary. First, um I'm surprised we're in uh declining enrollment, which also means our state aid and revenues go down. Enrollment runs most of our revenues. Compensatory aid
022for this year was up, which basically that and some of the categorical aids that were in the budget this year make up the difference with general aid reduction. So, overall, we're we're pretty close to um in state aids where we were um in the original budget. Um we have some spending increases that were um strategically added to the budget during the year, and I'll see a list of those later. Um some of those additions are coming out of not only the assigned fund balance, but um some of the unassigned or some of the assigned funds. Um the unassigned one is pretty much staying the same, but some of the other ones are decreasing um to absorb some of those increases. And then um overall, uh our financial position is declining [clears throat] a little bit
023from prior year just because we are spending down that fund balance a little bit, um which was in the adopted budget already. So, overall, not a huge change, but we will go over some of those items in the next slides. The next page, um our enrollment, you can see is declining. So, I have 24 25 actual, which was the 1102. And the adopted budget, we had 1090 in the budget. And the revised budget, we are taking on another 10 down to 1080. And then for next year, just as a glimpse in the next year, we're pretty much about staying uh steady at about 1078. Um back would change between now and the next budget presentation depending on where that kindergarten number goes, if it goes up or or stays low. Um that could be adjusted,
024but just a little snapshot of the future. Um yeah, so declining enrollment, um the first one is saying uh ADM decreased by 16 students from 24 25. Um and that's K-12. Once you include the early childhood numbers, um our ADM went down 22. Um and the reason I break those out is because the the early childhood numbers can be very volatile. It just depends on how many special ed kids we have in there and how many hours are in their IEPs. So, um it's just a number to keep in mind that it can it can be a lot of a a big change from year to year on EC. So, we like to know where we at with K-12 cuz that's the big bulk of our Okay, next one. So, this is showing uh revenue
025by fund, um comparing the adopted to the revised as you can see in the chart. Um the blue is the adopted budget. Red is the revised budget. Um and very close. You can see there's not any huge swings in in those budgets by funds. Like I said, the the revenues and expenses are changing a little bit, but not a lot. Go to the next slide, you um you can see how those revenues are broken out by funding source and that's that's pretty standard. Uh this mimics what was in the audit last time. Um uh obviously state funding is the majority. Um local is the next and then the federal is the least amount and that federal bite keeps getting smaller and smaller cuz the feds just keep cutting the federal funding. So, that piece of
026pie is is keeps going down a little bit every year. Next one is expenses. You can see that same thing. Blue is adopted budget. Red is revised. Again, not a huge change in those. Um revenues went up, expenses went up, they offset each other. Uh the one you can see is the construction fund. We did um update the budget for the the actual activity in that account every year. Um I think we had originally budgeted that we'd probably be done with that project and so we had to add some in expenses. Obviously, there really isn't any revenue except some minor um interest. So, it's just the expenses we earned earning to date. And again, expenditures by category. Again, this is uh exactly the same thing that's usually presented in the audit. As you can see,
027salaries are blue, benefits are red. Those two together make up the majority of our budget. You know, staff is what what makes our our school district run and that's um reflective in that chart. Next is purchased services and then we have the capital. And this is across all funds. So, as fund six gets lower and lower, that purple piece of the pie gets smaller and smaller. Okay, so this is the the meat of the budget. Where's our fund balance going to be? Revised budget is showing an assigned fund balance and down of 180,914. Our adopted projection was 257 543. So, in percentage terms, that's that's pretty much a non non-adjustment to the budget. Um pretty pretty even. Um and that that can fluctuate a little bit, but that's just how the numbers came out. So,
028overall, pretty close to the adopted budget. Uh the ending balance in the unassigned is projected to be 4.9 million. We're at 5.1 right now overall. So, last year at the during the audit, we were right at our fund fund balance policy, which our policy says 3 months of expenses, which equals roughly 30% that our fund balance should be of our unassigned uh uh balance. So, our fund balance is slightly below target at the end of this fiscal year. Which is okay as long as the school board realizes it's below policy. You don't have to change your policy. You just have to be aware that you are going to be approving a budget that is um not at target. Um so, that's just want to make you aware of that. Um you can change the policy
029if you want. Um but it doesn't have to be changed to meet where you're at. And then the chart is just showing overall fund balance. Uh total fund balance for fund one is the first section. And you can see overall among all of the fund one reserves, we are spending down a little bit. And then the general fund unassigned kind of mimics that, that it's going down. I don't have the other ones on the chart. Those other funds aren't a huge portion of our budget cuz these are the main operating funds. So, it's important to note that again, revenue reductions are enrollment driven. Our expenses were strategic and added some of the fund balances. Our fund balance is slightly above our target. And of course that means we need to monitor and make sure that
030we are planning for any for any future impacts on the budget due to enrollment or any other types of expenses or funding that state does or does not So here's here's the details. I'm not going to go over them line by line, but this one shows the changes to just fund one in the revenue adopted budget. The main one you can see is compensatory aid is up and then underneath that you have the categorical aids which also increased slightly. We had some student activity money that's up. That's mainly due to fundraising. And then we had to adjust the insurance recovery checks that we got for the insurance claims that we had for the gym floors. So that's revenue that's in there and of course you'll see that next year that those come right back out
031of the budget. And on the flip side we have the expenses for fund one. Overall salaries general salaries are down. We added some coaches for spring sports. Minnesota paid leave was new. That was an addition to the budget about 35,000 this year. Of course it'll be that was only for half a year next year it will double for because we'll be paying that full year. We have some retiree benefits going up and that fluctuates with how many retirees we have out at the time or how many stay on our insurance. So that gets adjusted as we know those numbers. Our work comp insurance was up a little bit from what we had put in the original budget. The other one we added recently was staff computers for 117,000. That's coming out of the tech dollars,
032so that's the other fund balances. We added a special ed van. Um our snow removal was up a little bit. Uh we had the parking lots was added to capital expense after the budget was approved last year. Demo'd the house. Uh we had some other miscellaneous repairs. We did budget for the playground uh 50,000 this year and 50,000 next year. That timing may be off, but it may all be 100,000 next year, just depending on how that all shakes out. And then we did add a mini bus as well. So, those are the majority of of the expenses. If you have any questions on those, you can certainly let me know. That playground equipment, that's all LTFF funds, right? >> Yep. That's Yep. Yep, that's the funds on the side of [clears throat] it's coming
033out of a different fund balance to pay this off. Sorry. And then, if I remember correctly, the last time we talked about the budget, you were saying the 3 months of retained uh funds that's actually not common for a lot of districts to keep that. No, uh it's actually quite high. Uh we were just talking about that at my MASB conference, and um both districts in our size, um they had a session where you could go to like if you were a large district, you went there. If you were small districts, you payroll, you went there. So, I went to the small districts, and it's right around 15% to 20% is what people are looking for. >> we're aggressive with our fund balance. We're aggressive. I don't know if I want to change that. No,
034I don't want to change that either. It's good to know that we're in an upper range of Yep. The only thing is our policy does say 3 months of expenses. Um most districts have a percentage. It's just easier to calculate. Cuz 3 months, what's 3 months, right? >> month to month. Right. So, that's what makes it harder when you're projecting this. That's why I converted it to a percentage. It's just easier to It's a 3-month average. Yes, 3-month average. But and just fund one, not not all of them. So, this this is the um final result of all those changes. Uh the first column is last year's actual ending fund balances that were in audit. Your outside was 5.1 million. Um spending down 180,000 down to 4.9 million and that's what like I said, 27.62%.
035Um and then all the other ones there, if you look at the total, the first bold line is fund one as a whole, we're spending down 139 over all those other funded categories together. Give or take, some are going up, some are going down. And then you have all the other funds, fund two, food service. Um Of course, that that one looks like it's going up again. Um We did try to spend down as much as we could. Um but that's looking that's looking like where the numbers are going to fall this year. Um One thing to note in fund four, overall, our fund balance is going up as a whole from 539 to 5 92. However, if you look at school readiness, that one will be um going negative this year possibly. Um and
036that is mainly due to um ex- expiration of um COVID funds, ESSER dollars. Um we were holding that up and we expanded the programs under COVID. Um and so, it's right now holding steady. Uh there has been no cuts to the program. And um that will continue to decline. And at some point, the district will need to decide if the general fund is going to hold those up or if the program's going to have to be downsized to meet the revenue. Um It It is allowed to go into deficit. You don't have to decide right away. Uh sure. Some districts choose as long as fund four as a whole is a positive to just leave that negative, which is a strategy you can use. Um not recommended to leave it keep growing year over year
037at year. At some point you would have to probably transfer funds from fund one to fund three. Um but overall it's allowed to be negative. But just something I wanted to point out that that's not been the norm the last few years, so. And then of course you see that next year when the genius grow into a deficit. Um and then we have the construction fund on there. Of course that'll be there again next year, but we won't have a step down. And then debt service it is what it is based on payments and our standing outstanding debt. And then we have a small scholarship. Don't see any in 106 is the interest this year. Um honestly office is aware that that is there. However, they have chosen not to award that scholarship. They would
038like basically to build that up and at some point just give out interest. Um I would have to grow quite a bit even to get like two or $250 scholarship, so. They can just leave it grow until it's 10,000, but they they are aware that it's there, so. Right now we're just leaving it grow. Any questions? You said that next year's budget you're planning on 10 less students, is that what I don't know. It was 10 cents from the adopted from the revised budget. For next year we're down about two overall. Okay. That's assuming 55 in kindergarten. What's that? 52 when I asked last week. 52 or 53, yeah. It's all sweet. Maybe we can make up those those three students. Um you know what an enrollment that seems to be every year is how
039many kids do we lose mid-year to PSEO and and home school. And right now we we count that if they're here now, they'll be there next year. But that doesn't always hold steady anymore. So, um we need those numbers to hold, but if they don't, it'll be another adjustment down. Any other questions for Beth? Thanks, Beth. Thank you, Beth. All right, number five, staff vacancies. >> Yeah, so next year or this kind of relates to uh upcoming board meeting, we'll have a couple hires to approve. Uh tenure time for probationary people. So, you'll have an update on that, as well as we will potentially have one staff member on an MOU waving tenure for administrative um discussion for administrative recommendation for the board to approve, and that will be coming up here in May as
040well. So, that's kind of where we're at. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. We have hired fourth grade, and we've hired for industrial technology. So, that is complete. We have a sped opening in the elementary. Interviews for that will be conducted You you don't quote me on this, I think it's it's not tomorrow, it's next week. Next Tuesday. Tuesday. Thank you. All right. Tuesday. So, um that's where we're at right now. Custodial position is posted. Andy Kuesters uh retirement letter was approved last board meeting, so we'll we'll start that process. We'd like to get the custodian a little earlier, so they can do some um What do I want to say? Shadowing, right? Of the position looks like. So, we'll be working on that as well. All right. How about uh update on negotiations? So, Robin,
041Pat, and I and Josh met when we got all the proposals from the groups. So, So look we were going to meet tonight, but with the uh state of affairs around here the last few days that did not happen. Um but we will meet I'll schedule meeting with them so we will be in the we'll we're in the stage of counter offering. I did get the paraprofessional proposal. I will share that with all those three negotiators this week. And what I'm missing is the bus drivers and I'm hoping that comes in soon. So we will start those processes um get the proposals back to the to the groups that have submitted their proposal, get our counters back, and then you know the meeting the meetings will more likely start. So. Good lunch. Both. Yeah, it
042would be Monday next week do you want? Well, I'll set I'll get get you guys Yeah, next week sometime we should probably meet. So. Anyway. This process. I know. Yep. You're out? Wednesday. Okay, I'll just send you the rest of it. Yeah, Monday and Tuesday. Yep. Okay, sounds good. City street improvement. >> Yeah, so Robin and I went to the city council meeting last Wednesday, correct? And we have some there's some improvements from the the city sewer water that our property is affected by. Basically, it runs from the corner of where the early childhood childhood building is now all the way down to the river. So they're looking at proposals they had their city engineer has devised a plan to redo the city water and sewage um infrastructure in much of Sac Center which includes
043us. There is an easement on our property for the city so we are you know, we're going to have to do that. Where does it stem from? It stems from you know, the highway 71 and the rebuild of that. Right now, you know, I don't know if this is set in stone or completely factual, but what we're hearing is that infrastructure from highway 71 the city's current infrastructure for city water and uh sewer does not handle it. So, that's why they're upgrading. Um Rob and I went and asked questions. I'm work One concern I have, I didn't talk to Mayor Stone last week, is that one's very close to our CSF building. Very close. And that's a 30-ft trench. We have you know, we have kids in our daycare and our Kid Connection all summer
044long, lots of them. Um so, any interruption there I'll work with them. To me, the thought would be to, you know, that culvert act elbow it off and run it down the uh right along side of that road kind of to the where those evergreen tree trees are and then funnel it across, you know, 40, 50, 60 ft, whatever the magic number is from where our that building is. Um so, anyway >> be? What's that? >> When would this be? >> Well, there's all kinds of work to do. This is just proposal. 2027, 2028, possibly, Rob. 2027, so I will keep you updated on it. Um They're meeting tonight, right? To move forward or not. So, uh that's that's And they did say that they're willing to move that pipe. It doesn't have to be
045the same where it's at. No. So, that'd be good. But again, it's something I think I have to easement I I it's something that they discussed the city level. It's cold, right? Probably cuz I was 71 steps one there's potential cooling implications. Do we really know a lot about that here, right? I Once you touch something, code applies. So, upgrades apply. So, that's kind of the message I got out of that. But I will keep you in a day or I'll let you know as well. And the tennis courts on that would that affect the tennis courts going down there? Potentially. It also got that other road down there, too. >> Right. Right. We Once they get the more of the design down, we'll have more answers. Maybe you could get them to wreck the
046tennis courts. Put a new one. From the bus garage. Bus garage. I don't know. They're going to build a building and we'll rent it. Look at all this we can get done with this. Right. Right. So anyway, I'll keep you posted on that. Sounds good. Uh end of year events. Yes. So prom is May 16th. They're going down to Stillwater to jump on a boat. I know that has been as Maisie said at our last meeting that's very popular. So that's coming up and then graduation is May 22nd and you and your spouses are invited. So you will need to get me information on that soon and that's What is today? Today Today is the 6th, 7th, 8th. That is 2 weeks from Friday. So the sooner you can get that to me the better.
047Appreciate it. Obviously some of you will be here cuz you have children graduating. Um so anyway, that's coming up. Okay. Let Jody know if he'll be there. Yes, please. And our May regular meeting agenda items. >> Yep. Same old, same old, right? People People retiring, resignations, leaves of staff, resolutions for donations and then obviously that list always grows. And approval of the budget. And we'll talk more about that's another open to the public item in May but in June we'll talk more about that stuff. So anyway, Okay. And Jody, want to join us? Safety update. Okay. Thank you for coming. Um I'm just going to start off by thanking Joe and his staff, you know, for being with us today and what happened over the weekend. Our communication lines were open all weekend. Um we
048worked very collaboratively together with SCPD. I'm very thankful for that and Joe has been great and his staff as well as well as you board members. We had all of you there Monday and Tuesday. You know, our you know, six out of seven or seven out of seven, all of you have been here to help out in some aspect. Uh that just shows great unity. That shows great teamwork, and I think that just put our staff especially at ease that you guys were around. You know, and that's that's great. So, I want to thank you as your superintendent. Greatly appreciate your um greatly appreciate your willingness to help us through this very difficult scenario and situation. Um Joe, I think you know, what do you Anything to share? I mean, the letters went out yesterday.
049I think they're pretty much self-explanatory. We had a very uneventful day today. Um It was almost like a back to normal uh mentality. Attendance was high. So, I'm confident moving forward that this will continue. We have done some things safety-wise to make the building you know, to do whatever to the much that we can to our potential to make this building safe. We've had a Our police presence will continue throughout the week and throughout the school year. Um so, that's something that will you will continue to do. Um we'll have other agencies coming and help us with some things, doing some checks, doing some You know, we're we're going to do some safety checks. We're going to do some things where we do you know, checking bags, things like that throughout just randomly, right? Randomly
050security checks. That's going to continue. Promise to our public we do that, and that will happen. So, um Anyway, Yeah, as far as >> [clears throat] >> the ongoing if we want to do bag checks, one thing I will mention though when it comes to the bag checks in the first place, it'll have to be a staff checking them. Also, the police department uh you know, we can search bags when we have a we have reasonable articulable suspicion of a threat. Uh we can't just as law enforcement violate some passenger's rights to searching a person or a person's bags. So, you as a school and staff have all every right to search bags, search uh the personal property. We can be there as law enforcement enforcement to stand by. Yep. And if something's found, we
051can handle it that way. We just have to walk a tight line as far as law enforcement. If um doing some doing searches. Uh there's And and that's that's right. And we can accommodate that. And you guys can Yeah, so We will be able to That's something just just to be clear like if you guys decide to do that, we're we're there and if if someone's looking like, "Oh, why aren't why aren't the police in there doing it?" Just because there are some constitutional things that we have They follow that way. I think that would be a good idea moving forward. It It's maybe just It doesn't have to be a ton, but every once in a while maybe just keep them honest. Yep. Is that what [clears throat] you you were referring Johnny, is
052it just random or Yeah. Yep, I think I don't schedule it in time. >> No, I think we do it randomly. We have that right. Yeah. And then obviously I mean, what I guess what I'm saying is like for all for everybody coming in like one day else and everybody comes in and they do We could. Or we could That's what you could do. building one day, next building another day, you know, we could stagger it. I'm I've got an admin meeting on uh coming up here and we've we've had conversations about, you know, from a perspective of being able to pull it off and have flow of kids. Staggering might be better. So, um it helps I thought that you're checking in one area or they just going to bypass and go to a
053different one? Well, that that's possible. Joe, I guess so. Um And I'm not But you're going to keep the two entrances We have gone from four entrances to three. And that's you're going to keep that the rest of the year. Yes, that's what we're going to do. Yeah, but the elementary drop-off now has been moved to in front of the elementary building where we can have better supervision. It's one less entrance to have to navigate. So, that door is now down here by the auditorium where they enter are locked. That one could be today. That is. Yeah. So, >> [clears throat] >> Anyway, we'll keep you updated as we move forward, right Joe? I mean, we're going to keep vigil on this and our eyes out and we're doing bathroom checks administratively, you know, so
054if something ever like this would come up, but we're going to narrow you know, we can narrow things down a little bit and the custodial staff has been made aware of that. So we're looking into we're watching. We'll still keep a high police presence. Yeah. And we're here every morning. We have been here every morning even before this incident. After school we pop in randomly throughout the the day as needed. Mr. Acres, all the counselors have our our phone numbers. So a lot times they'll call us midday if something does pop off. You guys can still call our office and get one of us down there too. So we'll we'll be very present. I was in the elementary and I thought, you know, as a little kid thinking if I walked in and saw police
055officer I'd have been scared and they all seemed to be very at ease. I did and you know, some wanted to give a high five or you know. I think that's pretty common because we're we're down there on such a regular basis. So I think by us being I I don't think it was a huge shock. You know, the the presence the presence we had Monday, Tuesday was obviously above and beyond what we normally do. But overall, it wasn't a huge shocker for students or staff to see us here cuz we we But you're here a lot. >> a lot. So we make it try to make it a a pretty common practice, you know, so I like to you know, try to make it a little bit more visible. Like I said, we we
056made sure it was visible when people drove by. There was a a show of force here those couple days and like I said, we will still be here. I mean, that's continuing. One of the things I want to put on our on our radar you as board members and and Chief Jackson, um I think this summer at one of our committee meetings we need to look at what does it look like to have an officer in the building all day, every day. What does that look like? How can we navigate that? I mean, is it something where from a funding perspective, is it a split if that that Let's get through the school year and I think June and July during committee meetings we'll have those conversations. >> I had a conversation today with uh
057Vicky upstairs too just kind of crunching some numbers. So, if Like I said, I I believe a full-time thing would be pretty tough, but even if you wanted to do it in the school was interested in doing some contracted hours, a certain amount throughout the year. On average, so if I there's some contract things in my mind I have to work through, but if we it cost about $46 an hour for the school to have a contracted police officer uh for how many hours a day or week we thought was was needed. Um that's on the higher end of that $46 on the higher end of my high it goes by depends who I have working my more senior guys make more money, but on the highest end it'd be about $46 an hour to
058have someone in the school um if it would be a full-time it'd be more because we'd that'd be there'd be more it'd be there'd be more to it than that, but if we did if the board was interested in okay, we want the socks on the police or an officer in here a year and key amount of hours every week it that number would be about $46 per hour. Yep. So, they're not full-time. No, just part-time. Done? I didn't say anything. If if it sounded like I was trying to talk, I'm sorry. Okay, so if we had them 5 hours a day, that comes roughly 42,000 for the 9 months, right? Does that sound right? Yeah, that sounds right. Um that's what I was I was kind of playing the numbers too. Um and there'd
059be some, you know, that stuff we could talk about as far as expectations and and uh you know, what is what's the rate amount hours and everything else. Um I think it'd be hard just just still not there. I think it'd be hard for me to get 5 days a week with that much coverage. I think um I think we could easily do three for sure, probably four. Um it just kind of goes on staffing and who who I got. And that would with that would do was like cuz we come in now. We come in now, we spend some time in the school. Um those are my road guys. So if a a call comes out, my guys are going to clear to go to that call. What the what these hours do is
060guarantee that when my they're in here, unless it would be something extremely serious, they wouldn't clear the school for anything. If they would clear the school, we just stop the hour, you know, stop the payment. They jump on my they jump in on my normal budget. Um but I can I can guarantee that when they're here, like I said, they're they're 100% in the school. What I can't guarantee now is when my guys are in here, I have a call for service, more than likely they're going to clear hit the school to go take care of that. So that's just something to We're And even no matter what we would decide, we are going to be here regardless. Yeah, so you guys call us, we are we're always going to be here, we're always going
061to be in response. So just something to think about. Something I wanted to throw out there. Yeah, I don't it'll be a it'll be a stretch I think of both on your guys' side and then our the city's side as far as budget as far as getting someone 5 days a week all day. I think that'd be tough cuz I Again, it it'd be tough for me to even I said this before, find someone to a good fit a good fit to to do a full-time school resource. That's a special especially when it comes to cops. That's a special kind of cop. They're rare. So something we definitely I think is worth having a conversation later in the summer about. Okay. Any questions for you? No. Again, thank you. I appreciate that you said you
062and support and it went as good as it could have gone. Right. Thanks again. My phone's always on if you guys have any other questions or concerns. So, it was a good job. Thanks a lot, Joe. Appreciate it, Joe. Thank you, Joe. Great job. That's all I have. That's it? Yep. Well, we can adjourn this meeting. Thank you, Joe. Thank you.