001Shoka Latu and then he had the twin brothers. They were really good football players. Um Nathan and >> I deleter the other one is >> both of them. >> No, not on the professional team. >> It's my family calendar. >> Yeah. Nice kids. They wereated sprint into the chamber office the other day. I said, "What the hell is Laffy doing?" I had it out all the dang time. I'd love to just sit and do like office stuff, but I'm always like here together. >> Oh, you ready? >> Ready. Goodness. >> Call to order the regular meeting of Independent School District 695, Chisum, Minnesota. Noah, can you perform a roll call, please? >> Director Ron Solder >> here. >> Director Laappy >> here. >> Director Raha >> here. >> Director Rice >> here. >> Director Karate
002Simon. Sher case >> here. Thank you. Uh, next on our agenda is, uh, public comment. Uh, Mr. Buzzman. >> Thank you. See with these without chairman Casey and school directors and superintendent Perkovich. It's hard to get used to all that. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak um this afternoon. My name is Bob Beluzo and I was born and raised in Chisum and I followed statewide testing results for quite some time, particularly since 2021. And each year I've come before the board and expressed my feelings and my concerns about how important statewide testing is and how important I believe it is to be competitive. And I've compared the scores of Chisum students with those of students from eight neighboring districts and with the average from the state of Minnesota. Over the years, I've
003presented you with graphs and charts and tables and show each year that Chisum is at the bottom of the barrel in math, in reading, and in science. And I've asked that you please address the issue, but nothing seems to ever improve. Couple weeks ago, the Minnesota Department of Education released 2025 school report card. That report card comes out each year around Labor Day and includes information on percentage of students who are proficient in math and reading. This year the science test was changed and those results won't be out until I believe it's later in October. So all we have to go by is um math and reading. All of the information that I have and that I'm presenting to you came from the MDE website. um most of it right from that school report card.
004So without getting into detail, I will tell you that the Chisum School District scored even worse than last year. Uh when compared with the eight neighboring districts that I've used in the past, we were at the bottom in both math and reading and well below the state average and have the absolute worst attendance rate in the area. Couple of examples. In 2025, 25% of Chisum students met the state standard in math. 40% met the standard in reading. That downward trend has been continuous for the past 5 years and that downward trend will continue unless significant and meaningful change is implemented. the problem is not going to fix itself. I took a look specifically at the performance of Chisum secondary students. That's even worse. Less than 15% of those students met the standard in math and
00536% at the standard in reading. Only 58% of the secondary students have regular attendance and regular attendance is defined as attending at least 90% of the time. So if my math and my calculations are correct, the reverse of that is that 42% of the secondary students in Chisum missed more than 17 days of school last year. Wow. The graduation chisum last year was almost 85%. But when considering how poor the rest of the data is for Chisum Secondary, I have to wonder if we're graduating a lot of students with insufficient skills in math and reading and haven't learned the value of showing up regularly. The eight districts that I compared Chisum with are mountain in no particular order. U our mountain iron be mount iron and be consolidated in 1985. Uh Rockidge that was a
006consolidation with Virginia and Nea Gilbert in 2020. Eva Gilbert had previously consolidated in 1993. Nash Kiwatan they consolidated back in 1962. Wasabi East uh district is a consolidation between Aurora and Boabic and that took place in 1991. St. Louis County was a series of consolidations of small schools. Most recently they consolidated with Babbot and Tower Sedan in 1993. Grand Rapids Area School District is comprised of a huge amount of real estate uh taking in surrounding communities like Cohassid and Big Fork. Um and kudos by the way to Grand Rapids. They had the highest percentage of students meeting the standard in both math and reading uh among the districts that I compared in 2025. And they also have the second highest attendance rate. Um, it's only one piece of data, but I think it's good evidence
007to show that the attendance rate and academic achievement go hand in hand. Greenway uh is a district comprised of several smaller communities, several smaller communities including Colorane, Bov, Takite, Marble, Kelly, Pangilly, and others. Um those communities consolidated their schools many years ago. Of the districts that I've been looking at, that leaves Hibbing and of course Chisum. We're six miles apart and seemingly good educational partners. However, because of the stubbornness and misguided pride, we won't even engage in meaningful discussions about consolidation. because of our parochial views. It's the students and the taxpayers who are paying a big price. You've had no consistency or continuity in your superintendent's position or other key administrative positions for the past several years. Nobody's accountable for the district's condition. Nobody's accountable for the test scores that I'm telling you about. However,
008ultimately, you're you are responsible for it. The buck stops here with you. All that said, I know that Superintendent Perkovich will make a tremendous effort to turn around the academic disaster that she inherited. If it's possible to be turned around, I believe she can do it. However, she will need your full support as well as that of staff, students, and community. She will need all the stakeholders to take a fresh look at what's transpired in the past and be willing to make changes for the betterment of students and education in the future. No easy task. I encourage everyone to give her that support and to make the changes that we all deserve. Thank you. >> Questions. >> Your scores are based upon the the MCAs. I'm I'm assuming. >> Yes. tests that they don't have
009to take. >> Correct. >> Tests that don't count for grades. >> Correct. Tests that are taken all across the state by students. >> Test by district. >> I understand that. >> That are encountering the same issues. >> That doesn't take into account that Hibbing actually our district next door cut off all talks with us about cooperative classes together. >> I'm not talking about cooperative classes. >> No, you're talking about consolidation. >> Yes, I am. consolidate or a shared class and don't work for students. >> We don't know that many times. So, >> we don't know that. >> You don't know that? Well, I know that >> in this day and age, with all due respect, Mr. Beluzo, uh, in this day and age with telecommuting and things like that, I I truly believe there is
010that possibility >> for those to go. >> I hope it improves things. >> So, thank you, P. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next up, recognition of guests and visitors. Uh, Jordan from Inensa. Good evening everyone. I just got quick update tonight. I don't think we have really any big hot button issues. Um, just a reminder, last month we talked about the project balance, additional projects and stuff like that. So, just on the progress of that, we did meet, we did get a good priority list and we did get some direction moving forward. So, we're working towards that. So, things are uh moving forward since last month. Yeah. Happy to report that. Um since last month, I think Lisa's really come on board and gotten really engaged with the construction products project. Um so, I
011think things are going really well there. I think she's really grasping that and um I think, you know, I think she's been a great fit for what we're trying to do and she's doing a really good job getting up to speed behind the scenes in the stuff that you guys aren't seeing. Um so I just wanted to point that out. Um that being said, couple things. We'll just start with the budget. I have a copy of the budget summary there. Not a whole lot of change. Part of what we talked about and one of the priorities is we'll evaluate the FFN in the future or sorry the furniture, fixtures and equipment type deals for the project. Um one change that I did make and I felt confident in doing is that um last month I
012had been showing uh under line two of FFN the playground. I had that funded by FFN and we had our balance reduced to approximately 600,000 and some odd dollars. Um we did pull money in from the overall extra dollars in the project to fund that to keep the FF budget whole. Lisa's been taking a lot of charge and meeting with FF and we've been looking at it and I think the consensus is um that's a place where we need to spend some money. it's really important to the district and we're going to allocate some dollars there. Um those amount of dollars are not really messing a whole lot with the overall project fund. So that's just that's the one major change that I made. Um other than that, I've just updated the cost of payups
013went out Friday um to know at least that for this last month's round. So this does reflect that. Um so really that's all I've done. our project balance instead of 3.3 now shows a 3.1 and that's really just showing we're funding the playground out of that. Um so that's pretty much it on the budget. I mean overall it's still a healthy project budget and we've talked about what to do with the other funds and um I think we're saying really good to have a plan in place and direction. So any questions on anything I've covered so far? directors. >> Any questions? >> Okay. So, maybe more so on the construction side of things. I think I know the one big question and probably the big topic around is the pool right now. Um, so I
014just wanted to give an update on where that sets. Um, we did add the new Cresesco unit um, which runs the pool um, the whole whole pool area. Um, with that it wasn't installed. We did have startup out. there was a little bit of misunderstanding from the startup guys as far as why it wasn't started up. Um, we've worked through that. Um, what the reality is is that a piece on that unit came damaged. Um, and so because that we don't have that piece on there, they cannot do the full startup. Um, that being said, there's two pieces. The the pool boiler that we added heats the pool. the sesco unit um uses some of the heat from the pool to reheat the area and does all the dehumidification. Um so right now we do
015have the existing air relief vent open. So that's helping with making sure we don't get too much humidity in the building to actually cause any damage or anything. The pool boiler is on and running. I think they started up officially Friday. Um and it's been getting like two degrees a day steadily. So we're very close. Um, what we need is we need that sesco unit running so that not only can we continually keep the humidity down, but we can also reheat the area with some of that pool with some of that pool heat the way it's designed to run. Um, so on that actual piece that is broken. Um, I don't have 100% certainty when it's going to show up, but so what I did what I did receive today is that it did ship
016today. We will get the tracking numbers and the tracking information tomorrow. Um, then we'll understand when it's going to get here and get the startup guys scheduled to get it going. That being said, the pool is heated. We are looking into some options as far as can we run that space? Can we use that space as is? I don't have a 100% vetted out answer on that yet, but we are working on that knowing that the missing part could show up tomorrow and it wouldn't even be a topic of discussion. Um, but essentially, you know, we could turn up the heat on the boiler and make sure that pool water is warmer. I don't want to use the word hot um because it's not going to be the point where it's going to burn anyone.
017But that could be an option um to warm up the pool a little bit more, help keep that space warm and let us use it. I am not 100% confident in that at that point, but that's kind of where it all sits. So, I know we're very close. This is kind of one of those things that unforeseen where you don't know what's going to happen, but this is probably the one thing that did happen. Um, I will keep Lisa in informed on that and we'll do everything that we can to make sure that we get it as soon as we possibly can. So, I expect unfortunately it's Monday. I expect to know a lot more tomorrow. I will know a heck of a lot more by Wednesday. Um, so unfortunately that's the best update I
018can give, but we are working on it. So, any questions on the pool that I didn't really address? Nothing. Okay. Um, otherwise on construction, we successfully had the high school opened up for school to start on time. Everything went well there. There was always a mad rush at the end. There is on every project, but we got through it. We did the storm. Um, things are things are progressing along in the remodel area. We should have wood doors here sometime next week. We've got carpeting in and stuff like that. Um, so things are continuing to progress. I'm happy with where they're at on the addition itself. I think last time I was here I said we're pretty darn close to mid schedule. We're still maintaining. Um the big piece which you can see now if
019you've been around the site is asphalt paving is all done. We weren't sure when exactly that was going to hit but it hit it got done. So all of our asphalt is done for the year. I believe 95 99% of our site concrete is done for the year. Those are really the big stuff that we needed going into winter. And the building's enclosed um for the most part other than we have some temp doors and temp openings that we don't want to put finished product in to damage it. Um and then inside the building, we've been evaluating schedule and talking with contractors and um I think we're looking good to get this thing turned over early in the year um or end of this year actually. Um, talking with Lisa, we know we have the
020tall task at hand of figuring out food, logistics, all that stuff. I think Lisa's talked to the kitchen vendor and they have a plan in place already for how we're going to be able to continue to provide meals to the district. So, we just continue to plan and get ready for the move over that's going to come. So, everything's really going according um to plan as best as it can. Budget's tracking well and uh things are pretty good in our world. So, just wanted to come give you guys an update tonight. That's what I have. Are there any questions that anyone has asked for me? >> Directors, anything? I know we are having some issues over on the west side of the building with door security. Do you know if that had been taken care
021of west side of the building? >> I believe >> the alley doors. I don't know anything off about it off the top of my head. >> I believe they called the alarm company and it was an alarm company issue and they took care of it. Okay. All right. I wasn't sure if it was >> construction or not. So, any other questions for Jordan? >> Do you have an update at all about FFN um timelines? I know it sounds like when we met with them, they weren't really sure they could get us our desks and chairs by the end of the year. They were thinking more January. Are we still kind of hearing that same number? >> I believe that's accurate. I haven't heard any new updates since then. Um I know part of it is
022getting the order finalized and submitted. Um which we're I think we're very close to ready to do. So, uh, yeah, I don't have any update other than that's pretty much what the last I heard this. >> Okay, thank you, Jordan. >> Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Moving on to item four, motion to approve the agenda. Uh before we get going, I would like I would like to entertain removing under administrative business uh the second reading of policy 806. Um superintendent would like a little more time to to address some of the issues in there. And also under personnel item E would be adding the uh PAR education for special ed. >> I'll make the motion with some changes. >> Motion by director Randa Solder. I'll support by director Raha. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those
023in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Uh item five, moving on. We have no reports tonight. Um item six, motion to approve the consent agenda. These are the minutes of the August 25th, 2025 regular meeting. Minutes of the August 25th, 2025 special meeting. Payrolls for the month of August 2025 in the amount of 525,000 $5569 and accounts payable month end reports for August 2025 in the amount of 2,645,395.7. >> Motion by director Randa Solder, support by director Lappy. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Motion carries. Item seven under personnel. Motion to approve the hire of Sam Barby as the elementary secretary and community ed assistant. >> Motion by director Raha. >> Support by director Lappy. Any discussion? I should
024I bring that up now? I mean she that is a union position. >> Bring it up. >> Yes. Oh, okay. >> Okay. >> Uh I know that uh Miss Barab has started already or >> still just in training. No being paid as normal. >> That's that's what I meant. >> Um >> effective tomorrow pending board approval. She would move to >> Okay. Uh any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Do >> you need to do a higher >> Time. >> She's already in the union, so she's already just double checking. >> Y >> Thank you though. I appreciate that. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Item B, motion to approve the leave of absence for Sam Barby from local union 536. >> This is the one I don't feel that
025she needs to do that because she's already in the union. She will have position if she either if she doesn't cut it in this job and she wants to go back. She can if >> so she could actually maybe be a leave of a position. >> No, she doesn't. >> Okay. Yeah, there was some discussion uh previously um with the current um elementary secretary thinking that she may not have been in the in the bargaining unit, but she is also in there. So, I think this is non-issue. >> Yeah, it's a non-issue because she's in the >> So, we will disregard and Item C, motion to approve the contract for long-term substitute. This is for the U art teacher. There's a point four position. Uh, and this was going to be filled by Miss Benina.
026>> And so her hire was approved the last time. The contract wasn't on here. So this is the approval of the actual contract that was approved at the last meeting. >> Entertain a motion. >> All motion. >> Motion by director Raha. >> Support by director Rice. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Item D. Motion to approve Brady Bame's request to enroll in undergrad classes through the University of Oregon. >> So made motion by director Lappy. >> Support by Director Rice. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Item E, the hiring of Tony Man Madic. I want to say Manderidge, but I know that's not right. As a PAR professional in special education,
027a motion by Madage. Thank you. Motion by director Raha. >> Support by director. Any discussion? I do know that we had some new students coming in requiring one-on-one. Are we up to speed on all? We are still short one additional PAR. Um we've had 14 new enrollments at the high school since the first day of school. Um and 10 of those have come in on an IEP or a 504. So there's a significant uptick. >> Nice. >> Any other discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Item eight, administrative business. Motion to approve the contract for athletic training services with Bigstone Therapies for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. >> All motion. >> I'll support. >> Motion by director Raha. Support by director Randa Solder. And
028Big Stone has been providing these services for a few years for us now. We do appreciate it. And it's not just to get into the game for free. >> No, they stay busy. >> Yeah, they do stay busy. Any other discussion? Well, actually, do they come into the school at all? >> Okay. >> If somebody gets hurt, they do, >> right? I mean they'll come into the practices after school. They have I believe it's an hour a week contract. >> Um in addition to some different things. >> Okay. >> Not during the school. >> Hearing no further discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. This is the second reading of policies looking for approval. I will go through each policy, its number and its general meaning. Policy
029155, outside agency supporting schools. Policy 2011, legal status of the school board. Policy 202, school board officers. Policy 203, operation of the school board, governing rules. Policy 20 or 3.2, order of the regular schoolboard meeting. Policy 203.5, school board meeting agenda. Policy 203.6, consent agendas. Policy 506, student discipline. Our next reading will be at the next meeting. That takes care of administrative business at this point. 919 we have any discussion by the board members. Uh I just want to say that this is our first meeting since school's in session. Um as far as we know first day went well. I did I did stop in at both the elementary and the von Stephans route. Um just to kind of wish our teachers well this year and a good year. uh got to meet some of
030the students, some of the new students too. So that's I always appreciate that when we can do that. >> Under discussion, Lisa and I were chatting. Um there's a topic coming up in a neighboring district on their board meeting. I would like to have the board support in directing Lisa to set up a collaboration meeting with Hibby with our collaboration committee superintendent NAD. Okay. Would you let's put that on the next agenda because I think that it's important enough that all board members see where our um is the word I'm looking for our desires. There we go. Our desires lie. And the other thing is it'll give time to form an agenda. What are we going to discuss? >> Right. The chair is right. you know, we it's good to do the meeting. I'm in
031full support of that. Let's give superintendents and whoever time to develop something here that we can have an actual discussion about. So, yeah, good idea. I concur. Any other discussion? Hearing none, we'll move on to item 10, information. And you'll see in packets I RB letter IR letter highlighting the important financial support Chisum school district has received and chisel community foundation thank you letter and I would personally like to thank the R and the community foundation for all their support throughout the years and I know that community foundation has given a lot to this district over the years so continue to support And also any other information >> the superintendent. >> No, I was just going right now. >> Kiwana's Club is having their annual kids day on Thursday from 4 to 7. So everybody's
032welcome to come for free family fun. When is it? On Thursday at museum. So, I had a couple things um that I wanted to make sure that I shared with the board and I had the opportunity as well um similar to prior superintendent Beluzo, I have reviewed the MCA data and I've reviewed our attendance data and while they are a snapshot in time, they really are a snapshot in time and we have other tests like star or fastbridge or capy to look at real time, right now what's happening I too do share a concern um as a parent and as a superintendent when we look at academics and attendance within the district we absolutely cannot settle for less than state average we really need to take some time and dig in now I can't answer
033right quite yet the reasons why um we have some bright bright students um the vast majority of them are taking the test. I did look into that number, but for some reason the effort putting forth on those exams is maybe not where we need it to be. And so we have to figure out how to raise that pride a little bit and make the kids understand that how they perform is a reflection on their entire district. and that it kind of takes us as a team and a family to come back together. If we really want to boost recruitment and we really want to be the best that we can be, we do have to look at this information and we have to look a little bit more deeply um than maybe we have in
034the past. So, I do I am committed to looking at that. Um, but again, it is just one snapshot in time and we can't tell you if it's related to a special ed population quite yet. We can't tell you if it's related to poverty status quite yet. I don't have all of that information, but those are all questions that we do need to answer as we move forward. >> Absolutely. There are a number of variables that are related to test scores, not just here in all the communities, even ones Mr. Luzo um is doing his test study from. And can we help superintendent staying 18 months to 24 months? No, we can't. That's >> well I mean you can >> that's a choice they as a superintendent makes. So >> and u >> well and
035what you if you need something from us yep all you got to do is ask. >> Yeah >> because we will do you know whatever we can to help in any way. I think the important thing is just saying >> that this data is real >> and that this data >> isn't something to just ignore is really the first step that we do have to look at data >> is it always right and by that I mean a snapshot in time doesn't necessarily define a child by any means and I will stand on that forever but the data is here and so it's important that we're telling our our teachers, we're telling our kids, we're telling our our families that this data is important and that we do need to take a deeper dive. >>
036So, I have a question about the attendance part. So, when they look at the attendance, is that kids missing for sports? Is that >> great question? >> I mean, because not >> it is not. So, um let's just use the high school data for example. The high school data statistic does say that only 58% of our students are um attending school 90% or more. We are seeing a large percentage of our students um not coming to school. Now we do at the high school code all school excused. Whether you're in check and connect north, you went to see a special ed case manager, you went to see your counselor, you went to football, you went to soccer, it doesn't matter. Those all get an S code. um in school suspension, out of school suspension, those
037are also considered as present. So these absences are truthfully absences not in class, not in the building. >> What about medical excuses? >> That is not that is included. Medical exams are included. So we do have to take a peek at how much is medical, how much is not. That I don't have the answer on yet. I'm kind of surprised what you know when we launched that attendance initiative last year and I thought this is going to be the difference. We have the tools like check and connect and and they're great at what they do and it's just it was a little alarming for me to hear that statistic >> especially because the reports given to us said that our attendance was up drastically. >> Um and there's a couple reasons for that. Um, so
038your attendance pilot, the one that Ryan Bennett does through the Northeast Service Co-op, >> that primarily a year one focused on the Von Stefins and the Chisum Elementary, not the high school. Did we see our numbers go up? Yes, they're at 70 and 71% which is significantly higher than your 58. This year in year two is when she was allowed to bring on the high school. So, we're hoping that we'll start to see a change as that plays through as well. Some of it some of it is not clean data and that's just truthful. There's a lot of times that um Ryan might call and say, "Hey, Noah was marked absent or Shelley was marked absent." And they're like, "Oh, they were here." And so it's incorrect attendance reporting. And again, it goes back to
039we we can only use the data if it's clean data. So the first step is let's make sure our data is clean. So that is 5858 or is 5869 and we just weren't reporting it. We don't know and there's no way to go back to last year and find out. So we just do it. >> Yeah. And I can attest to some to some of what you're stating. You know um Miss Rice might not be at the beginning of class. So they get marked absent or they come in 15 minutes later with an excused note. instructor is in the middle of a lesson plan or whatever and forgets to change it. >> Y >> and I'm not saying that happens a lot, but it can happen. >> Well, and you know, you look at the
040elementary, they take attendance one time in the morning and one time in the afternoon. And you're a high school teacher, you have 48 minutes and you're taking attendance every hour. So, it's easy to get in that routine and sometimes miss those kids that are coming in. is just figuring out how do we address that to make sure that we don't want to fix a problem that's not a problem, right? So, first we've got to identify whether this is actual data that's usable. >> My other thing is is I mean and as a parent I'm going to say like I'll call my kid in and say they're sick cuz they're sick. Do I bring them to the doctor every single time? No. because 99% of the time you're not getting into the doctor or I'm bringing
041them into the emergency room and we're sitting there for the entire school day waiting to be seen. >> So, and those are probably a doctor, >> right? So, there's Yes. I mean, some parents are truthful when they call in and say their kids are sick and some I get aren't. But I can tell you, I mean, I don't bring my kid in for every single medical thing. And >> well, and I believe that medical attendance has it is so important for our the faculty, the staff to make sure they do that because and that's always been that was a problem when I was working here. And it's like and I think accountability, do you know what I mean? I mean, if it doesn't, you know, it just doesn't matter if there there's no consequence. There's
042no >> I just I just feel that everybody has to do their part in order to get that going cuz I for me when somebody's holding me accountable, I certainly do work a lot harder at making sure that what I'm supposed to be doing that I'm doing. So I just I feel like that has been always an issue. >> Hopefully I had one question and I've never thought of this until today. We have a ton of kids psalm towards the attendance. >> That does not if they are not supposed to be in class then no it does not count towards it. >> Okay question. I know that Carla had um introduced new curriculum last year, which I was hopeful, you know, that for math and reading especially that and and maybe it it'll take a
043couple years, you know, but I mean it just it seems like we're not just sitting here on our hands. Do you know what I mean? Like it's it was like exciting to hear this information like, "Hey, I got a plan. This is what we're going to do." Well, I was told last year I was told last year when you're implementing new ways of teaching because I had meetings in this building because of a situation that I personally was in with my child. I was told by higherup staff that it takes five years to know if that actually is going to work. So what we implemented last year, we're not going to know until they graduate if it actually works. >> Depending on what grade level they're in. >> So >> there's there is one way
044to know and that is to look at the test scores of the same group of students from one year to the next. We should be seeing the same percentage of students be able to pass or higher. We should not see a massive implementation dip. Sometimes you see implementation dips, but it shouldn't be severe. Um if the curriculum is going, >> this is kind of on a whole different subject, but um what about for the new staff and everybody who have come in? Is is everybody updated on where they're supposed to be if there's a crisis? I mean obviously you know we don't like to talk about it but you know there was a terrible crisis you know that happened and I'm sure many many parents thought about that when they brought their kids to school
045>> and I just because I remember we used to do all these crisis things and all these you know and I I'm glad that you pulled that because I do think it's something that has to be discussed but I'm just wanting to make sure that staff you know like teachers everybody new ones. They all know what they're supposed to be doing, where they're supposed to go, you know, cuz we talked about that one time about having, you know, a buddy, somebody, you know, being a mentor toward the new staff and then, you know, to, you know, just explain where everything is. And then I know this year is a little bit different just because of all it's going to be a little chaotic, but >> I just, you know, I I that's worried. >> So,
046I can I can I can um appreciate that for sure. I know that our principles have talked to all of their staff. Um I know we have fire drills starting as early as this week. So we are using the plans that were in place last year. Um so that's the current plans that are there. That being said, because we do have two new principles, a new superintendent, a new chief of police, we want to get our team together and review it as a whole group to make sure that we're not missing something, especially, you know, uh the parking lot used to be a place that people go. Now, we have an alternate location this year, but is that the best location? Who came up with that location? Is it the safest? We want to make
047sure that everything is done accurately. So, >> right. And we do have a safety committee as well. I mean, they maybe should be a part of that. I don't know. But, you know, I just I just want to be sure that >> 100%. >> So, you know, just in a couple things like we we really want to assure the community if you're watching, we have watchers that we really have already dug into this crisis plan this year. We've looked at it. We've made sure that it is meeting the needs. We've made sure that we have the secure entries. We've made sure that we know where our evacuation routes are. We've made sure that those that need some type of handicap evacuation have had extra training um in those evac chairs and things like that. We
048have taken care of all of that to start the year. That being said, the reason why it's bold is just to make sure that all the people that are responsible for the safety of everybody in this building have the opportunity to make sure we're all in the same page. >> Absolutely. Um so you know with that note you know whether you're thinking about safety whether you're thinking about attendance you know it's important that the families can call us you know and be honest. I don't want a family to call us and say my daughter's not coming to school because she's sick and then hear that you're going to the mall. Just tell me you're going to the mall and I'll just mark it unexcused and we'll just move on. But we've got to be honest
049with each other because we can't fix what's happening until there's honesty that's happening back and forth. So don't feel like you have to lie to us as a school district. Tell us what is really happening and we'll work with you as as we move forward. Um on happier notes because these have kind of been drab ones. Um if you're on social media, we put out a video today. >> I did I share it? >> Um we put out a video. We worked with Inenza to put together a social media video um kind of as the construction is going through there. Um so try to get that out. We're trying to build a little bit of excitement. >> Um the gym rendition is going to be the next thing that we post out, but you heard
050it here first. We have confirmed with both the Minnesota State High School League and the National Federation of High School Teachers or High School Sports, I'm sorry, that all of our gyms are Minnesota State High School League playable size, including the two that are in size one. So, if you have heard that we have built gyms that are too small, that rumor can go away. >> That is a myth busted. We have fixed that. I have it in writing from the Minnesota State High School League that we are fine. So, we will be putting that rendition out of of what that is in in just about a week. So, that's some exciting stuff. Um, if you're a board member or a faculty member or a community member who's oddly interested in the construction and you
051want to see a construction site, we also have worked with Inenza um during October board meetings. So, what's that like the 13th and 27th? I believe we are going to be publishing soon where you can call in, sign up for guided tours through the construction. So, that will be open to anybody in the general community that's interested in coming on tours. I do know that they're going to reach back out to the board and ask if any of them would like to lead any of those tours. So, if that's something interested in doing, um, that's something to kind of get on your notes. Um, last thing, um, for kind of looking at finances and moving forward, I just wanted you to know that I did just submit on Friday a grant for $50,000. Um, it
052is for security upgrades. So, it covers anything um like our ballistic glass that we're putting in for crisis safety, our secure entries, any of these new things that are going in there um up to $50,000. So, um, Noah and I and Joe work together to make sure that that grant was submitted on time. And there's another grant due on the 17th that we'll be submitting as well. And that one is for $75,000 and can help offset the cost for any of the single user restrooms in the new build um as well. So, keep your fingers crossed that there's about $125,000 that we're >> Are they matching grants? Do we have >> They are not matching grants. They are not matching grants. Um, and then the last thing that I have, if you don't know, it's
053school board appreciation month. I don't know. >> So, um, we're hoping that somebody says nice job to all of you this month, but if not, you know, we'll do something bigger for you at the next meeting, but thank you for everything. I know it's a thankless job sometimes, but we thank you for doing it. >> That's all I got for you. >> Any other discussion, directors? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll support >> motion by director by director. >> All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Time is 5:37. >> Okay, Noah, I'm leaving these for you. You want to just email them? >> Well, you can just email them back to me. >> See you on Wednesday. >> Wednesday. Just use hand sanitizing.