001Welcome everyone tonight to our study session on November 3rd. Um I will look for an approval of today's agenda. >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose the same sign. Agenda approved. So we'll go to number four and we'll go right to Mr. Durban with our long awaited energy report. I knew I'd get a smile. All right. Thank you, Chair Clatt, school board superintendent Hy. Um so um energy report this evening. Um realistically we we need to be in October and November to present the past fiscal year's report um because we need all of our utility bills to clear in order to present the information. So we do have a final picture of fiscal year 25
002uh energy usage and costs. And so I have the pleasure this evening to kind of run through some information for you and hopefully answer some questions. So, so, um, first slide I'd like to present here, uh, kind of outlines a five-year history of utility costs for the school district. So, just want to point out a couple items on this slide. Uh, and then we'll dig in. Um, so the bottom five boxes where it says budget, 21 final, 22 final. So, each year's budget and our actual expenditures. So, for example, fiscal year 25, our budget was just over a million dollars and our final expenditures for this for the 25 fiscal year were 857,846. So, we ended last last fiscal year in a good place. Um so um but you could also see that our our
003uh utility costs have been fairly stable uh with the exception of 21 uh and looking back uh further um in 2019 and 2018 they were in the 900,000s our utility costs for the year but in 2020 and 2021 they were down a little bit. Um I've got some hypotheses but I don't know the exact rationale or the exact reason for that. Um but we do typically see um you know 900,000 to a million dollars in utility costs for the school year. So last year pretty good year. Uh down about 70,000 from the year prior uh 2024 and about 200,000 down from um 2023. Um we'll come back to this enclosure this evening too. So um there will be um there's three main utilities that we look at when we look at our energy usage. Electricity,
004uh natural gas and water usage. Um so the the purpose of this chart here kind of shows our month by month um the last two fiscal years of electricity usage. Um kind of shown in BTUs here. And the purpose of this one is just kind of showing the stability. Um the first chart below the the graph um shows our actual BTUs used were just over um 16 million um this year and the prior year it was 15.7 million. And then the bottom chart shows our actual cost. And this is what I think is kind of interesting with our electricity costs. Um we actually paid last this year for more electricity used. And so there's a couple things that could happen that would be the rationale for that. Um often in your your electricity bills you
005have a peak usage uh peak demand that will um dictate what your monthly charge is. So we may have seen um lower peak demand at some sites which would lead to lower electricity bills um monthly. So um couple things we'll talk about later, but one of those may be solar um taking some of that pressure off of our electricity usage. Um and uh another might be just um some new HVAC systems that we're putting in place that are a little bit more energy friendly. So natural gas costs um last year compared to the year prior. Um we did see a little bit of an uptick but you see the trend um in the purpose of this graph shows natural gas was pretty stable from 24 to 25 um as well. So about 127,000 um in
006fiscal year 25 water and sewage. Um this one I think is really interesting. Um as we look at this chart um I see a couple items that that kind of stand out to me. Um those summer months we see a usage there. And so what I've done in this table is we've got it broken down with mixed use and indoor only. So indoor only would be water that's going to be um maybe flushed or run down a drain. So, it's going to be out and and then into sewage. Um the mixed use would be like um an exterior water source. Maybe we're running through our sprinklers at Hammer. So, we saw I see in this chart some peaks here over the last two-year trend. And so, what I did is I kind of layered this
007over with our Hammer field monthly water usage and it kind of correlates really well, right? So, you see those summer months where we're watering the grass out at Hammer Complex. We see an uptick there in our water usage. So being the finance guy, I kind of want to dig into this a little bit more, the numbers guy, right? So I started looking at the actual monthly rainfall totals just to see more of a correlation. And so just to point out a couple things, if you notice that July of 23, we had a little bit less rain than July of 24. Well, we used more water in the year we had less rain, right? And that same correlation applies a couple other months. The exception here would be September 24. Um I think we're doing some
008maintenance on our sprinkler system, right? So all ties out pretty well as we look at this. So looking similar method we did with our electricity um breaking down our usage and our costs. Um looking at the actual I think that's thousands of gallons. So that would be like a million gallons and just under a million gallons um from year to year and the total cost um being about 57,549 in 24 and 56,92 in 25. Um so then we see a total cost per square footage which is a nice little way to look at it as well for our buildings. So again, Hammer Complex trying to maintain that facility does have a cost to it, right? And so, um, it's good to keep in mind. We did, um, at Hammer Complex upgrade our, um, irrigation controller
009this year, which should help us water smart, more smart, um, based on weather um, and, um, hopefully we start basing it on our, um, soil needs, not just on a schedule. Okay, a couple points about solar. Um, we run our solar program through Ideal Energies. Um, so this is a picture here. I believe this is the high school. So if you just look right over the solar panels there, you can kind of see up Hammer Complex in the background through that break in the trees. This is right on the rooftop above the gym. Um, we've got a um a solar panel right on the roof there. Um, what that does is all the energy that we pull from these solar panels, we draw first and then we pull from Freeborn Mau after that. So, um,
010by law for this program, uh, the solar for schools program, where there's a limit on how big these solar fields can be, we received a grant to help us get this program started. But, um, with this program, there's a couple components that are really kind of special for schools. One is there's, um, a way to monitor and see what kind of usage we're getting. We're going to see some direct savings with our electricity costs. Um, and this is a little screenshot here of what the platform looks like when we go in to monitor. We're fairly limited um on what we can do in here. It basically just shows that things are operating and what days we're pulling better power from the solar units. Um, but the other peak with this program or perk with the
011program is that um we have a a curricular component. So in our elementary schools or in any school that has these solar fields, there should be a curriculum component being uh used in the schools. um just trying to educate students a little bit more about um energy and um solar. So um this slide has a lot going on, so I'll try and walk through it real slow here. Um so just kind of a little summary of our solar program. Um we have four sites. I noticed I noted that the the 40 kilowatt uh max on each field um for each site and they're all set to that maximum uh sized field. So Halverson Elementary, Southwest Middle School, Sibi Elementary, and Albertly High School all have a solar field up on the rooftop. Um, these are
01220-year agreements with Ideal Energies, and I believe Ideal has been here to speak with the board um, when these programs came into place to explain the details a little bit. But a reminder for the board in our community, um, when we set these 20-year agreements, we've been told by the manufacturers and by Ideal Energies that these solar panels will have a 30-year lifespan. while we're in the agreement with Ideal Energies, they are responsible for all maintenance and um operation of the solar fields. So, let's say we have a hail storm, let's say one of them stops working, let's say that there's um you know, a need to move some of the panels, they're going to be there to do those pieces. Um our team is not obligated to work on these at all. We technically
013own the solar arrays, so when this agreement is over, these are our um devices. They'll stay on our schools as long as they're operating and we'll be able to draw power from them um as long as they're operating. And again, I mentioned the curricular component. So, here's how I ideal energy program works. We received a solar for schools grant. Those funds we initially we receive the funds, turn them over to Ideal Energies so they can secure the materials and complete the install. Then the units are live. We're invoiced monthly by Ideal Energies for the cost of electricity at a discount. So, they're raking a little bit um in this deal because they send us an invoice, but at the same time, we're realizing a savings on our electricity. And I got a little sample calculation
014down below. The end of this agreement, the goal would be after 20 years that these are still running and we will see full savings on them. Everything that we come we pull off of these off of these takes the less power we have to draw from a grid. Right? So to figure out a savings here's an example of how we would calculate that. And I didn't just put an annual summary up because I think it's important to see that this is a little bit more convoluted and and there's a little more calculation to it. But on each invoice these are metered. So each invoice from Freeborn Mau, they're going to indicate how much power we drew from our solar fields. And then we'll have a rate of of um you know that electricity rate. So
015we can take how much power times the rate and electricity to calculate a savings. But then we got to remember we have a meter fee and an invoice from Ideal Energies. So, in this particular month at the high school, in theory, and I say in theory because it's really hard to measure um a direct savings um from a a bill, but $265 um in the month of June this summer seems like it's a pretty good savings. Um we will see how this program continues over the future. I think um we have to assume a little bit of loss in production over time that they might not be as productive. Um but they've also assumed that loss in their calculations and how they break down the invoices over time too. So um I think there's over
016100 schools taking part in this program in the state and through Ideal and um seems like they're pretty trusted um engineering firm to work with. So >> Oh quick quick question. Was there any uh did we have to put any money into this system at all to start with? >> Yeah. So the grant money that we received, >> right, >> that's what we committed to Ideal Energies. Yes. >> But we wouldn't have gotten the grant money if we wouldn't have put the system in. Correct. >> Correct. Yep. >> Okay. >> So there's zero. >> Yeah. We didn't take any cost to to start up. >> And then operating cost, something we've got is your example, the meter fee, and then their invoice. >> Yep. And those should be offset plus some with any savings that
017we generate. >> Because I have over 20 years, I saw a little over 63,000 was what I just calculated. So, it's not giant, but like you said, it's something we're not purchasing either. >> Yeah. And there's a little bit more detail to the agreement. You're you're correct. Um, uh, I guess a good ballpark figure would be we should assume that maybe we'd save about 5,000 in electricity after paying our invoices each year at each site. Okay. So, um, again, time will tell because it's all going to be based on how much we generate. When we get reimbursed for the electricity that we generate, do we are we reimbursed at the rate that the that fiber mower pays for power or are we reimbursed uh in the amount that we would pay them for that power?
018>> That seems to me there was >> the reason I say theoretical is because essentially we don't pay this number, right? So the 7,000 kilowatt hours that we generated off the field, we weren't invoiced for. >> Okay. >> Right. So that that savings of $500 would be $500 we weren't paying Freeborn Mau at their rate of 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour. So really in theory we would have paid that if we didn't have this field. >> Okay, >> that's how it's figured. Um so it's a theoretical calculation of what we actually saved. Um I think it's pretty solid. It makes sense we generated that much electricity before we had to draw from free m >> everything that we produce the system. >> Correct. Now there is a buyback there. I believe we have to by
019law be set up where if we didn't consume this we would have to give it back to the grid. So the initial setup included that requirement. Um and that's part of that meter fee. But my understanding is there's very little likelihood that we will ever generate enough on this sized solar field to give back to the grid. Yep. >> Answer those questions there. It's pretty cool program. I think it's nice to see some savings and actually start to be able to calculate those now. Uh, so I know Paul and working with Ideal, um, back then I was on the curriculum side of it and part of the grant, we had to implement the curriculum in fourth or fifth grade and so Halverson and Sibi, is that still going on where kids can go and look
020in and see what the solar panel energy captured is? >> Correct. >> Okay, awesome. >> Yes. So, I believe um the classroom and um also in our entryways with our uh new screens as you enter the building um they may have this up at at least a couple of sites on the kiosk there. The students should be able to access information from the system similar to this where the students can look at what what energy is being generated. Um >> yeah, we integrated it with the science curriculum and I I was curious making sure that was still happening. So, >> in fourth grade if it goes with their solar energy. >> Yep. Perfect. All right. So, um I think we're here. Um so, one thing I want to point out that if you're anything like
021I am, um and we looked at the um electrical, the water, the natural gas costs there on the slides, those three utility costs won't add up to the costs that I showed on the first slide. And that's because we do have other things that we code to utilities through the year. So, I want to be very transparent that we do have some other things like Thompson sanitation or if we bring items to uh the the transfer station in Albert Lee, we would have costs that maybe we put to utility. So, um we in the past had never tracked um costs. Now, this presentation is about energy consumption. So, I want to be clear, garbage really isn't something that we look at when we're like uh reviewing our energy consumption, but just for transparency, this will
022be something that we started a uh a course code for this year. uh and we'll be able to compare fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 26 next year and see how we're doing with our waste um as well. So um something other else to look at closely that we haven't done in the past. Awesome. Um and and to be like transparent, I think um when we put all of it together, I think something that's really important to our community is that we are being efficient and that we are seeing um you know um some controls in place um with um utilities and costs. And so at the end of the day, that bottom dollar is really important that we are seeing that we're finishing the year in a a good place um on budget. So
023um so I want to point out a couple other things that have occurred over the last year and a half or so. Um and something that's really going to drive and impact our utilities. So we've had some HVAC upgrades. Um I just want to point out a couple of these. Um Southwest Middle School, we replaced our boilers there. Um, if you remember, we had some old 1950s, 1960 boilers in that building. Um, they drive the heat for both Southwest Middle School and Sibi Elementary. And those boilers that we put in are condensing modulating boilers. And when you hear modulating, what that means is that they may have a certain number of tubes in them. And they can comm they can um our software, the computers will tell it whether it needs one of those tubes
024or all 20 of those tubes to fire at once. So realistically with each boiler, you could have a 20 to1 turndown ratio. Meaning you could run one tube if you only need a little bit of heat to run it. So they're really efficient. But when we stack four of those boilers together, we end up with an 80 to1 turndown ratio. So really when you look at that, we really really high efficiency in uh our buildings. I was at Hawthorne the other day and one of the boilers was running at 30%. Now in the old days, you have a boiler, it's on or off, right? And then you have the efficiency rate for that. And those old boilers were probably 75% efficient where they're losing a lot of the the the gas isn't producing heat. It's
025just going off and dissipating or going through the exhaust. Now these are 96 to 97 98% efficiency boilers with a real high turndown ratio. So they're really efficient and they're not losing heat as they're as they're burning gas. So feel really good about the efficiency with these. Um again, the proof is in the pudding. We'll see in the next couple years if we see some efficiency based on uh some normalizing versus the weather that we have. You know, if we have a real bad winter, we'll probably see higher gas costs, but we can use some calculations there to figure out um how they're doing. Um Lake View, again, new boilers there. Uh we put three boilers in that were 25 to1 turndown ratio and those are also stacking and modulating. So that turns out to
026be 75 to1. So real excited about those efficiencies. Southwest Middle School, we added a hot water heater and taking the big old tank. And I think if you ever been down in the maintenance room at Southwest Middle School, not a lot of people did. We used to have this huge tank on the wall down there and then also a small little uh I would say more residential type water heater that we'd use for um times when we didn't need a lot of hot water like in the summer months. Um but that huge tank was really not efficient at all. Um, so we replaced it with a heat exchanger and basically what that's doing is using the heat from our glycol in our system with these really high efficient boilers and it's taking the heat off
027of that glycol loop to heat up the water in our building. So another really efficient upgrade to uh Southwest Middle School. Um, and so you can see some really big celebrations here with getting to be more efficient and um um seeing hopefully some uh benefits from installing these. We replaced our boiler at Hawthorne. This one was a unplanned replaced boiler. It just went down and our contractors, a couple different contractors came in and said, "We can't do anything about it. They've been retubed too many times. You're going to have to replace it." So, we we took that uh I think it was a million BTU boiler and replaced it with two 500 BTU stacking boilers that were 10 to1 turndown ratio. Um, a little bit cheaper in that they were 10 to1 turndown ratio, but
028they had really good thermal efficiency at 97.7. So feel good about that replacement at Hawthorne as well. Um as you know as part of our project last year um we replaced the boilers at the pool um and those boilers are 88% thermal efficiency there um as well. So um I guess just in recap um you know I'll just kind of use Southwest as an example. We had those 1950s boilers. They were steam boilers. Um, originally when they were installed, they were at 75% thermal efficiency. So meaning 75% of the gas that we pushed into those boilers actually generated heat and the other 25% either went out in exhaust or dissipated. So that in we're told for 10 to 15 years that's about how good they're that efficient and then they start to lose efficiency. And
029we had those since that building's inception. So, you know, 60 years later, we were probably running at 70% or less efficiency with those big old boilers. Um, and so now we're running a system with maybe 3.9% or 3 4% um efficiency loss or heat loss. Um, so I think with these new units, um, we're we're doing our best uh to be responsible there, making sure we're efficient. Uh, and hopefully we'll keep uh seeing the trend of utility costs um going down a little bit. Um, we're also seeing, I think, the need to upgrade a lot of these because you get to that 50-year point or that 30-year point and and your utility, your your HVAC units start to um go bad and and I'm seeing it more with the newer technology more than the older
030technology. Those old units would uh last forever, right? Um the the stuff at the high school is starting to go bad, right? the the heat pumps that we have for all of our HVAC there at the high school. We have to replace as many as we can every year. Um that building is now, you know, 25 years old. And so when we maintain older buildings, we see a lot of the needs for upgrading these. And it's uh important um to make sure we're putting efficient units in place when we can. So coming back full circle, um fiveyear history this year ending on a a a real strong point. Um um total um year-to- date expenditures for last fiscal year was 857,846 in utility costs um which feel like is a a good um celebration point
031when we budgeted a million dollars there for utilities. So any other questions on expenditures or utilities at all >> on the trash? Did you bid that out? >> So I don't think we're required to for services. Um, but it's a good question. I don't know the last time we did go out for bid. Um, my understanding is that um, we we go through Thompson sanitation for the the pickup and it was more affordable at the time when we did. So, I could certainly look into that. haven't uh had it now because we're just getting into the winter season, but get questions a number of times about you mentioned the pool and the new boiler down there that let's just say it's not blanketed very frequently and uh is there a process to that? And I
032know that's maybe not your area, but I mean that would save us again a lot of energy costs instead of heating the ceiling when no one's in there anyway. And I know it's probably a hassle rolling it on, rolling it off, but is it worth it or not? That's I'm just curious on the process. >> Yeah, there's differing opinions on that. Some people um would really argue that it's it's really important and you lose a lot of heat. Um others say that it's maintaining your temperature is the most important thing you can do. Make sure you keep the boilers running. Um you know, not oscillating temps. Uh you just leave your set point in the pool. Um, some say the biggest thing is just keeping the doors closed, right? That air is not leaving that
033room. Um, I do know that we cover it from my experience when past past experience when I was the ad. I know our custodial team did a good job. Every night they would have that thing covered. Um, and they were doing their due diligence. It was part of their routine after practice. They would go down and they turn the key and run that thing over. Now, I believe there was some um challenges repairing the the um winch that would pull that whole tarp over the pool. Uh and I don't offhand know the status of um that condition of it. I just know um there's not a whole lot of people that can fix those when they go bad. So, we do our best uh to repair them in house when we can. And um gosh,
034I was there a couple weeks back and I think they had the tarp out. Um, so it's something to certainly keep our eye on. Yeah, they are they are a big expense and heating that pool is expensive. >> If I and Tanya maybe you can answer this. Do we have swimming in our curriculum anymore? High school. >> As part of the FID like they're not doing it as part of the FID class. No. Remember um for those of you that are on district curriculum advisory committee, we had a proposal to bring a lifeguarding class in um but The YMCA hasn't been able to secure that instructor piece for us to partner on the um lifeguard instructor class, but that went through the curriculum advisory committee as the new course proposal last year, but it's >>
035and I just bring that up because that was always the point where you bringing it, you know, pulling it out and back and forth with classes. says, "Well, we don't have classes. We just got swim practice now." You know, is there an efficiency that could happen? Just asking. >> Yeah, I have heard some strong feedback as a district uh partnerships with the Y being able to use the school pool has been a big benefit, especially for their older uh tiger shark athletes transition into high school swimming. Um compliments from families in the community about more uh use of the pool. Um, and I think it's important for us to continue that relationship with the YMCA and their programming. Um, but I can't specifically speak to how it's going currently, but certainly an item to follow
036up on if we can. So, >> couple questions, Paul. Um, one, I've heard it brought up from a couple different staff members the idea that maybe we're losing energy by turning the boilers off at night and bringing the buildings back up to heat in the morning. And I I know in a meeting you had said you didn't think that was the case. I was just curious if you could explain that a little bit. >> Yeah. So, um I agree with them. My stance on that is that that is not the most efficient way to maintain your building, heat or air. However, um we have um through our LTFM funds um the last two years had a um uh commissioning agent as they're working on our new installs, also working on our current buildings. um just
037to guide us on those efficiency set points. Right? So we used to have about a 12 to 15 degree setback which would be how much the building say in the winter time you would turn your temps down in the evening and then you'd have to heat back up in the morning or how much you would have to reverse that in the summertime to cool back down your building in the summer. And um we've changed that down to about a four to to six degree setback in each building based on what types of units and what the building is like there. So that has been changed. I think people may and this my hunch hanging on to their old, you know, gripes or feelings about it. And that's another thing where there's differing opinions. Um we
038might try that and then find out, hey, our utility costs are going up. Let's go back and see what's more efficient. Um the other thing that happens when you have those large setbacks is your physical surfaces change temperature and those literally have to be warmed up or cooled down as well. So all that effort that your HVAC systems are doing is also heating desks and chairs and physical um objects in the spaces too which um maybe takes a little longer to heat up or cool down then. So, >> um, then my other question, how are we doing, do you think, on proactively looking for like leaky faucets, running toilets, things like that? >> I think our custodial team does a phenomenal job. Um, we I think react quickly in getting things shut off. Like, if
039we have a toilet that's leaking, our team uh we'll get our maintenance crew over there right away and and try and resolve that. we'll have to maybe close down a stall for an afternoon or something, but um for the most part they do a good job with that. Um I think there's some benefit um in making sure that we're aware of um you know, if there's an an odd noise coming from your HVAC unit or if we hear something running when it shouldn't be running. Um but we've got custodians in our building um you know, from 5:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night or 11 o'clock at night in some places. And so we catch things for the most part um when when they're uh leaking or making noise, that sort of thing. So
040or we catch a strange smell. We had a custodian the other morning smell uh something in the building in the morning and and we got attention to it right away. And so um I I think um at the end of the day, just giving our I mean even going back to the pool cover, give our custodial team and maintenance team props for the work they do to help us in these initiatives too. It's it's important. Thank you, sir. >> Okay, moving to uh 4.2 uh task force update. Dr. >> Yeah. Well, thank you for the opportunity tonight. Um so, planning is coming along well for that. Um for the last um week and a half we've had applications out there. So we've had 17 people have shown interest uh in it. 16 have turned in
041applications. Um we do have a few invited guests um mayor different people that um some long-term planning that that we want to continue working with that are invited. They're checking all their schedules. So, um, when we get to the end here, I'll go over a list, but, um, you know, uh, fairly good, uh, for getting the word out there and talking about a little bit, um, fairly good interest, um, is what I would say just simply because it is it is multiple nights that people have to look at and and you kind of have to be at all of them, uh, to make sure that, um, you get all the information and and can come to the board with some um, information for the board to think about our recommendations. Um so just as a
042quick reference um they'll be looking at student enrollment trends and projections um facility utilization with the capacity study and also as Paul kind of mentioned that that long range maintenance the LTFM plans and and what we are looking at long range uh they'll be studying grade levels uh in school configuration models um looking at our attendance boundaries um budget allocation and and resources efficiency um and then academic programming and community impact considerations. So, we'll be looking at all that as we work through the task force. Um kind of the roles of the group, myself, um some of the executive directors, we're going to help facilitate the meetings um along with W Architects. Um we'll have uh two to three principles, at least a secondary and an elementary principal on there. We'll have some certified staff
043looking for at least one secondary, one elementary teacher, uh classroom teacher. We'll have some support staff. Uh we've reached out to the custodians. Um and then other paras and aids. Uh for school board members, we'll talk about that. We'd at least like to have two if not three, but there's other other design we can use there. Uh we're looking for three to four parents uh to be on there. um at least two student reps and then two to four uh community members or from the city. So um just overall people in the community um we have invited the newspapers so we're hoping she'll be there so she be able to function as a parent Sarah but also really from the newspaper to report out from another viewpoint and I think it helps keep it real
044transparent too. Um so what does that mean for the school board? So, um, really just like, uh, myself there, we're really there, uh, to listen, to answer questions, and to work with the task force so that they can go through the data. Um, we've all had the honor, like I can go talk to Paul, we can all talk to Paul on a daily basis if we want to or or Kevin or or anybody. So, we we kind of have the ability to kind of get some inside knowledge or what are we thinking here or how's this function? Um, we really want the students and the staff members and the community members, we want them to be able to interact with the data and then have some recommendations from them to the board. Um, because ultimately
045you all get to make the final decisions. Um, so as a board, we can work with this two ways. Um, you can have two to three board members um, attend all the meetings, report back to the board at um, the board meetings and the work sessions. Um, that way there's not a quorum. um we don't have to bring anything officially into session. Um or two, you could decide that we're going to have four or more board members there. We will have a quorum uh which means that the task force will be listed um as a work session um and then we'll have to record those sessions. We're we're going to try to use the hammer complex uh because that that work room is a little more conducive to if we want to work small groups,
046large groups, have a presentation and just kind of move around. So we can figure out if if if there needs to be a quorum there and we need to record it, we'll figure out how to do that. Um it it'll work a little bit um goofy from the stand of a of a work session because uh Chair Claude or or who'sever there would bring it into work session and then ultimately you're kind of on the side letting the task force work and you're you're kind of not controlling the meeting but but you're in open session. Um, so I guess as a board that would that would be kind of the two areas that you would have to decide um what direction you want to work with. So then you'd have to just if we decide
047to do the work session, we'd have to make sure there's four board members there because we are saying we're going to use this as a work session. We are going to call this into order. And I I wouldn't want to say we had the meeting and there wasn't a quorum there so it didn't look like a work session. And I don't think that would be appropriate protocol to follow. What kind of information have you um put together for the meetings? Like i.e. how many are there? Are they always going to be on a Wednesday night, a Tuesday? I mean, as we talk about that too, you know, some are available some nights and some aren't. >> Go figure. I made sure I had all the other information. So, um, Darcy will give me the dates.
048So, all but one are Wednesdays. So, we're going to do the 12th, November 12th at 6 o'clock. And then it's November 25th, which is the Tuesday, 6 o'clock. December 10th. Yep. Got them memorized. Then we're off. Yeah. Why I did that? Uh, I want to say it's January 10th then. January 7th. There we go. January 7th and then two weeks later, which is 21st. Thank you. So, I apologize for not writing those down. Um, so it' be those five for sure. That doesn't mean that the task force wouldn't say we want a small group of people to go look for this or uh, Superintendent Hy, we want a survey about this information. Can you put that together and then go survey and and find more? So there'll be more information, chances to get more information.
049That also doesn't mean that one of those meetings, even though we we're going to say we're going to use Hammer, that doesn't mean that the committee wouldn't say we're curious about these two places. So at 6:00 we want to meet at this building and then at 7:00 we're going to transition to this building and then at 7:45 we're going to meet back at Hammer. So there could be different um things that the task force decides to do and I want to leave that open for the task force uh to decide that even if we don't make it an official meeting, would there be any harm in recording it so people can watch it? And I'm asking for myself, too, because I'm not available on Wednesdays, and it would be nice to look back and watch
050if I could. >> Yes, we can. We'll set that up. We'll get them recorded. That way, they're out there. Again, it it helps with transparency. >> Uh looking tonight then for a show of hands or do we send you a note saying, "Hey, we got interest." Can we go through that or what would you like? >> Well, so so here's I I guess what um I guess what I we would need to know um tonight is if you decide to make it work sessions that way I can make sure everything gets out there in time. Um, and then we'll just have to know that four or more people have to be there. Or would the board prefer to have two or three people uh just be there and be at the meetings and then we'll
051work forward there. I know there's already two people that would like to be on it. So, um, so I guess I that the direction that we kind of need is are we going to have a are we going to make them work sessions or are we just going to have them as task force meetings and then um then the people that are at the work sessions will just report back knowing that we'll record everything. >> Any thoughts? I mean I I guess I would prefer to stay away from the work session situation and give the community as much uh you know information let them add the information bring it back to us anyway but it would beformational as we go through it too. So that's my feeling. Any other thoughts on >> then just keep
052it two >> two. Yeah two to three. We could even go to three. And it's kind of like this this delegate assembly. I questioned that last night about at the state level and they said, "Well, you can have as many board members as you want because we're not talking about official business and that's why I'm trying to figure the line on this." I mean, this is school business, but it's not official. It's nothing butformational. So, that's why I didn't know, but you see that. So, I guess I would be in for the two to three. I don't know what everyone thinks. >> You're right. The purpose of this of this uh task force is not to make any decisions. I mean any official decisions as a as the board would do. So it it would
053make sense to have it as kind of an ad hoc thing. >> Did you did you say you've had a couple that have already shown the interest or >> Yeah. So we have a couple. So I'll tell you what. if by Wednesday everybody could except for the two if anybody else wants to be there just give me an email and then I'll work with everybody that emails me individually about um if we wind up with four or more then I'll just work with you to to whittle that down to two or three if that's fair >> if we already responded to a not a request but just u seems to me I indicated So, >> yeah. No, no, no. I I just was >> No, I have a question. Yeah, I'm okay with the two
054to three. If detailed information comes back to the board after each meeting on what are the updates because I certainly don't want to get to the end and have a surprise because this could be very emotional. I agree. I agree. Could be. Okay, that being said, we'll move on. All right, so kind of moving on into this. Um, we're going to try something I've never done before, and that's really to use kind of AI and a live conversation. Um, but we did a little homework. So, we sat with the superintendent um the high school group that I meet with my superintendent um committee or council um and I had them look at um our strategic plan a little bit. Um it's in front of you and there should be some extra copies on the back
055if anybody doesn't have one. Um and so primarily uh I had them look at three areas but two that specifically really affect us today. I had them look at the core value statements and I had them look at the strategic directions um because I kind of wanted to know from their perspective um what how they felt about do they make sense um do they see kind of this in the district um it was we had an interesting conversation so I'll start with the core value statements Um they said uh it was interesting with the students um they really felt like the always learning they always see um and they they say kind of embraces that continual growth they really question adapti adaptability and it was interesting they said we doesn't seem like we adapt very
056well as a district. Um and that was an interesting uh comment from about three of the students. Um they see about half the school uh really in excellence. They said there's about half the school that do excellence really well. They're there for an education. They participate in events. And they said and then there's the um the other half of the school that that doesn't really reflect excellence. Um, and they just said it just it's there's times that it seems like some kids really don't want to be there and and so it that led into another conversation and the um the daily desired or the desired daily experiences for students. But um I'll I'll get into that another time. But it was really interesting that u the majority of the group really felt that it's really
057individual student excellence but but they would really like to see that word community and really be excellence throughout all the buildings in the district. And so that it it was interesting conversation just to hear it from their perspective. Um they really felt good about respect and integrity. Um they said those are those are good statements. They're good goals. Um they liked how it was uniqueness of each person's diverse perspective. Um they didn't when I asked do you think everybody gets that perspective and they said probably not everybody but um and and they like that they like the word integrity and they were able to say that they they've seen it um in other places in the district with uh at the high school they have tiger so teamwork integrity. So, um, so they knew it
058was there. Um, when we went over to strategic directions, um, they thought that, um, the statements kind of do reflect uh, the belief as a community. Um, and that, um, a lot of them said they're teachers or adults, but they said they're teachers and other adults. um do do say some of the words collaboration, accountability, uh talk about um well-being um and prioritizing academic success. So they did talk about like their teachers saying that they thought um amplify, foster, supporting, improving, building were interesting words. Um they didn't necessarily um have any attachment to the words. Um, so they said that, you know, like they kind of thought it was neat that that it said amplify student learning, ensuring they're well prepared for classroom and career transitions, but they couldn't really talk about how that would
059transition to them. Um, and then came a really, really interesting conversation. They started to talk about how broad those strategic directions were. And I can't quote a couple of the kids directly. I can get them close. Um I had him uh one young lady asked me she said you know if it's a strategic direction shouldn't that be goal orientated like shouldn't I be able to get a good goal off that and I was like wow I had a big smile on my face I said wow um and a couple of couple of them other students chimed in and they said you know we should be able to see us working on a strategic direction like like we should be able to work on it and then see like did we achieve that or not? And
060I was like, hey, you know what? That's pretty good insight. And so I asked them then, well, what do you think about a core value? And um one of the other young ladies in there, she goes, you know, a core value should be like whether I have that today or I have that in 10 years, that should still be my value. And I was like, yeah, you're right. And I said, 'So then when you all have your kids running around these halls, um should those same values be there? And they said, 'In reality, probably yes. And so they really kind of started to align um what we think of like a strategic direction and a core value. And I said, do you think they can be combined? And they said, I don't know. would have
061to be a good statement, but they they potentially could be a value that you could that you should be able to write a strategic direction or a goal from. So, it's a really good probably 45 minute conversation with um a good amount of students and and I think they got they got the aspect of of what these parts of the the strategic plan should say. Um they did when when we talked about um whether it was core values or strategic directions or priorities they did talk about like um um one student said she said you know I think it's like that cares that we talk about in elementary school and I said yep you're exactly right and then that's when another one chimed in and goes yeah we you know we have tiger here which
062is teamwork and they went through and and identified what each where to the tiger was. Um, so they they have it. They want to see it. What what when we talked about it with the students was they don't necessarily see this living right now, right? And that's one of the things that we talked about. So, um, I didn't go over mission vision. I really wanted to see what their what their impact on core values, what their strategic directions because even as a board when we talk about it, those are the pieces that we talk about don't necessarily line up to to what our thinking of when you talk about the mission to ensure individual academic, social, and emotional growth that leads to engaged citizens and lifelong learners. Like I even when I talk to staff
063members, everybody can get behind that. They say yes. Um the vision inspiring learners and cultivating growth uh to positively impact our community. Yes. I get a lot of people that say yes about that. And then of course I think it's one of the catchiest models I've seen and all the strategic planning I've ever done is always learning. And and I think that just is an underlying statement about it's it almost could be the vision statement. Always learning, right? But um but I think I think it does work, right? So got me thinking if we want to try to have some fun here and see if we can figure something out. Okay, can everybody hear me? Okay, so that got me thinking. You have to give me a few seconds to prompt some stuff out here.
064Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Okay. All right, let's see what it comes out with. Okay, so you can kind of see Don't want to move too far away from the mic. Okay. So, we can kind of see when it looked at the strategic direction focus like amplify student learning, it kind of looks like instruction, but then for T it says teaching and learning signals core business, high quality instruction, academic rigor. So, they have inclusive growth, great people and practices, effective system, relationship and community and then stewardship. So, didn't do a whole good job with it, did it? >> Yeah. So then you rarely get your first one. Yeah. Let me know if I need to move it down. It's interesting how it says efficiency, but it's only moderate and acceptable the whole time. >>
065Could be. Could be. Well, let's give it some additional information. This may So the more information you get it, the better it should come out. So that helped it a little bit. It really aligns it along the HRS and the college and career readiness and literacy. could still keep the first one. teaching um and learning or teaching and instruction. I just noticed it had the one word stewardship before. So I guess what it's saying is if you want to look at more of continuous improvement, system reliability, datadriven accountability, um you'd use system. If you wanted more of community trust, fiscal responsibility, um legacy and civic service and ethical guardianship, you look at stewardship. Oh, makes sense. High reliability. You want the system. >> Well, so yeah, this is almost kind of like we're trying to
066if if the core values fit better with the mission, vision, and model. Like even the kids had a hard time with with both sets of those words because it didn't mean anything. Um, we could say Yeah. With system. Yeah. Um, That align. that too Don't worry. There's kind of a summary table. It's just kind of It's kind of like a little refresh. >> Yeah. Yep. something. It'll relate to students better and I think it'll relate to the community better. It doesn't mean it has to be exactly Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Would you would you go teaching and learning or just teaching? >> Teaching. teaching. >> Okay. >> Usually the most stewardship systems really use stewardship might be more meaningful and I think what we talked about with systems that we have systems in consistent instruction
067and really taking away that hope is not strategy. >> Right. Right. >> Hope stewardship system and that's what was that framework for teachers to really help them in their instruction. >> Y >> and it it does well because we have HRS goals. We're trying to have the schools so we can we can say we want to know what your school's system goal is. What level of HRS are you working on? We like when we talk to the high school, they can have a readiness goal. We can have we have readiness goals at the elementary level too, right? So I I mean there's there's part pieces of this um if I can get it to go right we can have innovation goals we can have grit goals we can talk about resilience uh sustained effort in
068students and staff I mean that's what the kids were getting at when they said half the kids um have excellence and half don't and that's the piece that I think we're missing about if you think about if teachers are talking You got to have the like things are going to be hard or you might fall behind, but you got to keep sticking through it and you got to work hard, right? That that's ultimately what an employer is looking for. So, um I think innovation I think we we do need to start looking at um and I think we have don't get get me wrong. Um I think wit and wisdom is a big innovation um within the district of in letters and and um uh goes along right along with really good readers but now
069we have the curriculum to go along with really really good readers. And so it's but that that kind of innovation staying ahead of the curve working hard with um the science of reading but then also when you talk to to Sean at the high school and and we're trying to get the pathways um get those career clusters out there and have the students start to really work the directions going. Yeah, >> I'm struggling a little with this because knows this too system can be a negative word. It doesn't allow you for much >> flexibility within that framework. I mean in the in education system sometimes feels like this there's like I said flexibility and I think we hear so I get it people inuceneral public may not think of it that way and we're not
070a society right now that is really firm on systems Um, but I think why I'm struggling because I I like that word and I'm with the co-pilot right here. Um, but I there are some words in that stewardship that we heard from the community. >> Yeah. >> So, um, and it calls out some things and so that's that commitment piece of the district. Um, you know, those kind of things. So, I hear what what Mary Joe is saying about the measuring hope, right? and we're part of HR >> HRS. Yeah. >> Yeah. HSI is what we're HRS. Okay. So, we're part of that and so that makes sense. And so, that's the only thing. I mean, I'm not like one or the other, but that's where I'm struggling a little bit because system is can
071be a negative word sometimes depending on people's perception. >> How we frame it is good. >> Uh If you kept the HRS alignment behind it, I think that would be a good idea. Dave said to keep it simple, but I think in this situation I think we were teaching kids and I don't know teachers are still doing that but teachers the framework and they were telling kids in this room where I So if you combine them, >> but then you're you're going to have s squared, but that's okay. I mean, it's it's our strategic plan, right? But yeah, but we we create aligned, reliable systems while acting as responsible stewards of our resources and community trust, ensuring sustainable success and continuous growth for every student. I don't I think if you kept that sentence I
072don't think you would have >> you know what I mean >> oh yeah it's right in there >> so you could still call it systems but use that sense So, what we can do now, I if if we like this, I can email it to all of you individually and then um we could also test it. I could ask for feedback from all of our staff and see what they think. I can go back to the student uh counselor, student cabinet, it's probably a better word for it. I go back to the student cabinet and get their input. Um and then we could do um a little it'll be hard. I don't want to confuse people with a like with this if we go out to the overall community to ask. What I can do
073is probably um at some of the community groups that I go to ask for their feedback on what they think about this and then um report back to the board next meeting. I think this approach or this set we got here become would be more meaningful to more people right here because it's the same thing >> right acronym like always so Yep. And so as we as we move forward and we talk about leaders at all levels of always learning and always leading. >> I already got it designed. Look at Tanya. She's smirking. >> Make it work. >> Um >> leverage. >> Yeah. So I can tell you Darcy, I heard it loud and clear from our students today that we had talked to this. Have an acronym. Have a way for us. We will
074get it. We get it. We understand it. Um, and so I think that's maybe a little bit where u granted it didn't get rolled out uh at the beginning of last year to all of you. The strategic plan with the integrity, respect, excellence, collaboration, always learning, compassion, and then the um I'd have to look the amplify foster that didn't get rolled out correctly. But I also think even if it was rolled out, it didn't it it didn't it didn't have the magic. It didn't sing right. So, um, so I'll I'll put this together. I'll make sure you all have a copy of it. We'll we'll put some testers out there and then we'll get some feedback and then I'll report back to you if that sounds good. >> It becomes meaningful. >> Yeah, just like
075the A. So, all right. Awesome. Well, >> and it but but yeah, when you look at it, always learning it. And then it's uh I think Darcy, did you tell me who did the put the AL together like that? I don't remember. Somebody told me who who did that. >> Yeah. Was it Mike? Okay. >> But anyway, yeah. I I mean it's perfect. So, we'll have all that out and then we'll go forward move forward with it. >> Very good. Even though I hate that AI stuff. Oh, that's wonderful. >> You know me, I'm an old guy. All right, just a couple quick comments and we'll close up the meeting. Um, I sent everybody a I forwarded everyone anformational survey from the MSBA and we had a meeting yesterday and let's just say not a
076lot of people fill them out. So, they highly recommended Mr. Gary Lee. So, if you get a chance, I did mine last night. It takes about 10 minutes. Um they suggest well let's just do it at a board meeting. No it's not I didn't bring my um computer anyway but if you get a chance do it. It's not mandatory. What's that? >> It was forward. >> Yep. Just forwarded for me. Yep. So forward it back to MSBA and um then just again Darcy's got some information on our conference here. Again it looks like a fun conference. I'm looking forward to I'm excited. Hopefully we can get people there. check your schedules and RC's making reservations and >> I did 6:30 on Thursday. >> Okay. >> My favorite spot. >> Favorite place. >> I bet you
077can't guess, Kim, can you? >> Okay. Yeah. Just don't eat for a week. All right. Um, without anything else, a future meetings, you can see November 17th will be our regular meeting. And then on December 1st, we got our truth and taxation meeting at 6 o'clock to um align with our um time we need to do it. So without anything else, thank you tonight. Uh and I will adjourn the meeting.