LPA School Board Meeting

001Yes, we are. >> [laughter] >> I don't I don't know anything >> [laughter] >> Or maybe it'll come out at 5:30 since it's [laughter] >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> It was accepted. >> [clears throat] >> I have [snorts] no idea how to start a meeting. That's all before my time. Yes. >> [laughter] >> I just got that. Was it not on watch? No, okay. How much? Thanks. Okay. I I get that stuff on the screen and I try to school board meeting stream and nothing happens. You got it. Never mind. We're good. Join now, I think. >> [laughter] >> It was [clears throat] really nice like earlier today. Are we still We're good? No? Okay. Yeah. I love that. Now I'm like I know. That was kind of like that. >> [clears throat] >> It's

002okay. Game will go to moisture to the grass. Sorry, guys. Good evening. Let's call the meeting of Lake Park Audubon School Board to order. Let's start with roll call. Sarah. Here. Jade. Here. Marge. Here. Aaron. Here. Cole. >> Here. Susan, here. Let's all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, [clears throat] with liberty and justice for all. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? Motion. Can I get a second? I'll second it. Any discussion? >> [clears throat] >> Any discussion? Any discussion? Agenda's approved. Uh 2.1 recognition of visitors to the board meeting. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you for coming to the public schools welcome to all attendees at a

003Lake Park LPA Board of Education meeting. While this gathering [snorts] is a public meeting, it is essential to clarify that it is a meeting for the board to conduct business. In our commitment to transparency and fostering goodwill, the LPA Board of Education invites members of the public to share their thoughts. We kindly request that public comments be expressed in a civil, courteous, and thoughtful manner. Any disparaging remarks directed towards board members, employees, or community members of the Lake Park School District will not be tolerated. To ensure a balanced and efficient session, the public comment period is limited to 30 minutes. With each person comment to 30 minutes, with each speaker allotted a maximum of 3 minutes. We kindly ask each individual speaker to state their name and address before presenting their comments. During the meeting,

004board members and administration will not respond to comments. We appreciate your cooperation and thank you for the support of the students at LPA. And I have Sarah Hall first. Are we supposed to say something? Oh, when you Do you signed up to do comments? To speak? Oh, just to Oh, I just thought we were supposed to sign up. >> [laughter] >> That's on me. Sure, you got 3 minutes. Okay, Mark. Thanks for what you do. Do I [clears throat] get to talk? You said you're Turn it off. I guess I sign up, but we wrote no cuz we don't want to speak. Oh, okay. I didn't write that part. I I will Be very brief. My name is Mark Hall. Address is 17550 200 Street in Audubon. And I have reached out to the board.

005So, you kind of have an idea of where I'm coming from. Thanks. That's That's what I've got to say. Well, thank you very much. >> It's Mark. Okay. 4.0 board reports, we have 4.1 middle school principal. Um yeah, not much to report. We did have our first We had seventh graders that met their MCA incentive. And so today we took them crow hunting and we took them to Pizza Ranch in Dilworth half a day. And so it was a fun morning they all got to enjoy a little outside time. >> [snorts] >> Otherwise, enrollment tested the same and we're just finishing up all of our online students, so just kind of crashing my end of the year. Mrs. Zick, would you mind talking a little bit about what what their incentive was to do on

006their tests, please? >> for seventh and eighth grade both um that if 90% of them received um like just improved their score from last year, that we would do um a full day out. If 80% of them did, we did a half a day and 70%, which is like a movie. Um and so our seventh graders maintained improved their score for 80% and so that's why we took them out. Um and we got donations, so it did not cost the um students anything. The teachers did donate a little bit of money to pay off for the busing, but um the students did not have to pay to go to Pizza Ranch and they really enjoyed it, so. Very nice. And in the meantime, our eighth graders stayed back and learned about what ninth grade would

007look like and what kind of kids would look like and how important it is to start out fresh in the fall and kind of work to um maintain some good goals for them for eighth grade and to ninth grade, so. >> [snorts] >> Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Just question. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. So you mentioned 80% have improved. What kind of improvement >> [cough] [clears throat] >> or on average improvement Well, we only did improvement. We didn't meet like say whether they met or exceeded or partially met. We just asked them to improve their scores from last year to this year in math cuz we do not know scores for reading and they're just preliminary scores too. So it's not like they're a mandate like these [clears throat] are exact scores cuz

008we don't have them until August. Um but when we compared them from last year to this year 80% of them did improve their score. And that's all we were asking. >> I can just add when you take the MCAT test you get one of four scores. Exceeds, meets, partially meets or does not meet. Okay. Right? Okay. And so like if you get a 539 means the five is fifth grade. If you get an 842 I hope you can hear me okay back there too. It's eighth grade, right? So what she's saying is that 80% of the kids from last year to this year in math you know, we we we've been promoting goals, right? They've met their they exceeded what they did last year. So they went up. >> Based on those four four exceeds,

009meets or Yes. Right. So that's very positive. Very positive [clears throat] and [snorts] I credit administration, the teachers and the students for that matter. The reason we don't have the reading scores yet is cuz it's a new reading test. Right? And it's somebody a bunch of smart people have to get together in Minneapolis and say well this question should be thrown out and so we won't have our scores until August. Now I want to caution too these are preliminary results for math. You might remember sometimes in the past board members will get something that says said these scores are embargoed until August 29th or whatever. So I'm very happy to hear and this isn't the first time I've heard about the scores increasing. So it's real credit to Mrs. Zick, teachers, the parents and the

010students. So hopefully that answers your question. >> those grades take the science test? Eighth grade and tenth grade. Eighth and tenth, okay. Yeah. Any other questions? >> And fifth grade, too, Mark. >> fifth grade, too. That's elementary if you're asking about that. And you gifted that. Okay. Eighth and tenth? Yeah. Yeah, after biology. Okay. Any other questions? With online, Mrs. Zick, are they are they done at the same time as the school year for us or do they have spring break or something? >> they are done. Yeah. So, they will complete all of their stuff has to be in tomorrow. So. >> Okay. Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Any other questions? Well, it's not really I don't know, maybe it's a little bit off base, but do our online students when they graduate, do they

011walk and graduate with our in-school students? Okay. Yes, they do. >> [clears throat] >> Any other questions? Thank you, Mrs. Zick. Uh Moving on, 4.2, secondary principal. I have a third day carrying uh we had a day like we had yesterday, unfortunately. It was cold, but I want to give a a shout out to our students. They I heard so many good [clears throat] things about their work ethic and how they they worked uh thank you to Mr. Wixel and his crew that went around and picked up all the bags. Uh it was a great great day to be a Raider. Uh I think it always is. And I think we were uh able to help 27 community members. And then next year we're just uh looking to promote more and hopefully we have a

012a better warm day cuz the last couple have been been cold, so. Uh prom, I want to thank uh Jamie Nelson and Leah Rabinovitch. Uh they always take great pride in organizing prom. We had 45 couples go to prom. >> [snorts] >> People that have grand march at the school then went to uh a venue over by Seven Sisters on Highway 59, the Lynn Lynn Lake, and uh great DJ. Uh it was pretty cool. We had a a student that had been with us since eighth grade that she goes to the Inner Agency. She came back. So, some of the students have seen her, some eighth grade. Uh doesn't happen in all schools, but they include her in the dances all night long. Uh they dance a lot better than I do, uh but they

013dance from Sooners supper is done until 11:00 o'clock at night. And this is kind of cool, the inclusion of what they showed as a as being a Raider there. Uh other than that, uh graduation last Saturday. Thank you for our school board for being there. Uh it was a great great presentation, good speeches. I think our students did an outstanding job. Uh it's always like a a great day. That's the try not to get too emotional, but it's kind of cool. Uh this senior class it was almost like COVID. They came in in COVID and with so many doing post-secondary, it was it was almost like going out in COVID because a lot of them were doing the post-secondary. They could see them a lot, but when you did get to see them, uh they're

014always thankful, they're respectful, and I think they were a great role models not just to our students, but to our school and our community on they came to Dollars for Scholars. They had 30 30 students that grade, and they were fighting for scholarships because their GPA was very very high, uh but also involved in many activities in our school. So, a class that we're going to miss, uh the class of 2026. And that last day of school is tomorrow, so if you have time at 1:00, uh teacher of the year is in the theater. Uh Mrs. Ruble is going to be recognized as our teacher of the year at 1:00. That is my report. Any questions? Our enrollment numbers have been flat throughout the year. 217 students. Is that what we started at? Pretty much

015the same thing. Yeah, it's been steady. We've got a couple probably a couple more since we got out of school. So, we did grow from the beginning of the year? Yeah. Okay. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Meyer. Thank you, Mr. [snorts] Meyer. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve our consent agenda? Motion. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Consent agenda is approved. Um contract approvals 5.3. We have Megan Klein moved from elementary special education to sixth grade teacher. Yes, Madam Chair. You might recall that um you approved Megan Klein to be the elementary special education teacher, but she has expressed interest. You saw that we had two resignations for sixth grade, two sixth grade teachers. So, in order to do it the proper way,

016what we'll do is we um have to rescind the vote on Megan Klein from before and then approve her for the sixth grade position. Does that make sense? Okay. Any questions on that? I guess we're good there. [clears throat] That's the only one on there. Uh yeah, it's the only one on there. So, do we need make a motion then? We do it now. Yes, please. That would be great. Thank you. Can I So, what do we So, we need to make a motion to >> the special education the teaching position and then I'm motioning to >> to hire her as a sixth grade teacher. So, can I get a motion to rescind the elementary special education teaching position of Megan Klein? Motion. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? Motion passes. Uh Megan

017Klein's elementary special education teaching position is rescinded. Can I get a motion to approve her as a Megan Klein as a sixth grade teacher at Lake Park Audubon? Motion. Can I get a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Okay, I am sorry. I just have a quick question, I guess. Are we replacing her as a special ed? Well, um you might recall we had a um special ed teacher that passed away unfortunately last year. >> Yes. And we Lake Agassiz stepped up and was able to provide that person. We've had that posted that position posted for a number of months. Spe- You might recall special education is very hard to find a teachers for special ed, right? Um so we still have it posted, but we have some other workings going on right now

018internally that we might be able to have somebody fill that position. But um I'm still waiting on I know Mr. Meyer and Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Peterson are working on the schedule for 7-12, so we're we're trying to get that figured out. So we're not getting rid of that position. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Any other discussion? >> [clears throat] >> Uh motion passes for Megan Klein for a sixth grade teaching position at LPA. Do We have to vote on that? This is a motion. Yeah. Oh yeah, no we have to vote on this. Yeah. Okay. Okay, all those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. Aye. >> Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Megan Klein sixth grade teacher at LPA. Okay, we have recognitions. Resolutions. Correct. There we go. We love you, Susan.

019>> [laughter] >> Uh resolution accepting donations and grants. Whereas Minnesota Statutes 123B.02 subdivision 6 provides the board may receive for the benefit of the district request donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same for the purpose designated. In that behalf, the board may act as the trustee of any trust created to provide pupils of the district with advanced education after completion of high school and the advancement of education. And whereas Minnesota statutes 465.03 provides any city, county, school district, or town >> [snorts] >> may accept a grant or devise of real or personal property and maintain such property for [clears throat] the benefit of its citizens in accordance with the terms with the terms prescribed by the donor. Nothing herein shall authorize such acceptance or use for religious or sectarian purposes. Every

020such acceptance shall be by the resolution of the governing body adopted by 2/3 majority of its members expressing such terms in full. And whereas each acceptance shall be resolution of the governing body adopted by 2/3 majority of its members expressing such terms in full. Full. Therefore, be resolved that Lake Park-Audubon the school board of Lake Park-Audubon School District District number 2889 gratefully accept the following donations as identified below. Can I get a motion to accept the donations? Uh motion. Can I get a second? Sorry. Okay, I'll read them off in verbal. Uh elementary school carnival. Mark Nelson DBA Jackson Hewitt Tax Service $100. SJE $75 elementary school carnival. R&R Transportation Incorporated $200 elementary school carnival. Do It Septic [snorts] Service LLC Timothy Smith $100 elementary school carnival. Lake Park-Audubon Fire Department $500 and elementary school

021carnival. Keith and Julie Zachariasen $100 archery. RDO Equipment Company $150 archery. Ben E Products $500 archery. Whitetails Unlimited $830 archery. Wild Rice Conservative Club, $1,000 archery. Business Professionals of America sponsorship, Venom Products LLC, $1,000. DL Rotary Breakfast Club, $1,000, Lake Park Fire Department, $4,000. And under miscellaneous, we have State Bank of Lake Park, $100, GBB gate admission admission for tournament. Grand Central Incorporated, $53.08, elementary student council, Ace Electric and Lighting, $750 corporate sponsorship, LPA post prom, $2,500 for prom, My My Garrison MCA elementary champions pizza lunch. I do not have a number on that one. Team Industries, $100 middle school MCA rewards. Team Industries Britney Nordeck elementary PBIS yearly donation. Um all those in favor say I, all those opposed say nay on any of on accepting them. Sarah? I. Jade? I. March? I. Uh

022Aaron? I. Cole? I. Susan, I. The eyes have it, motion passes, resolut- resolution is accepted. Uh see. Madam Chair, do we have to go back up to 5.4? >> That's what I was Resignation and retirements? I was given that one to read. >> we I think I completely did. >> Really? Okay, so resignation and retirements, we have Melissa Matson, elementary school administrative assistant, effective May 21st. Megan Besenski, and I can't crack me on that one. That sounds good. Okay, high school food service effective May 8th, Ellie Molson, sixth grade teacher effective May 22nd, Kinsley Torman, high school math teacher effective May 22nd, and Adrian Benkura, sixth grade instructor effective May 22nd. Madam Chair, if I may, did you get them all? Mhm. Okay. So, just so you know, um >> [clears throat] >> Sherry is

023doing a fine job picking up for Susie, working together. Sherry when you got a little bit of help in the office. We're going to do exit interviews for everybody that leaves this year. And one will be exit interviews with Sherry and another one will be exit interviews with me with the teachers to find out, you know, you know, what are some of their thoughts. So, I just want everybody to know that. I will will be completing that this week. And um Yeah, I don't know Sherry if there's any one to add to the about your part of the exit interviews. I've already completed all of those. There was mainly just the benefits part and things like that. So, I've completed all of it for the way that's leaving. And I I'm expecting the teachers to

024be honest because they have nothing to lose, right? I don't hold grudges number one, number two, it doesn't matter they're on their way out, right? So, I'll get some detailed information from each teacher. I'll sit down with them and we'll go from there. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sounds So, we appreciate that. Thanks. Uh moving on to old business 7.1 AD transportation building grounds configuration. You know, the last meeting we had last week, I I got to be honest, I probably said I could do this, do this, and do this. A lot of things. I want to see this district survive. I don't want my district to fail. We need a little help in this district, right? I [clears throat] This has been a tough year with the budget cuts. There's no doubt about it, right?

025I'm absolutely sick to my stomach. I've said that. We got some great students here. Um I got to watch some softball games last night. The girls had a fabulous season. My understanding the junior high baseball team is the first time they've won. They've gotten over 500 in I don't know, 15 years, whatever it is. It's great, right? We have some good people in place. But there's a lot of moving pieces right now. A lot of things that I can't even tell board members about or community members because everything, you know, these resignations, right? It could be argued and we have the unions right there. This Some of the resignations came pretty late. Right? It's almost it's the end of May. So we have to figure this stuff out knowing what we have. And it's not

026like back in my day when I applied over 30 years ago that we had everybody and their grandma wanting to be teachers, right? Special education, we It's hard to find special education teachers, right? So and I know there's a lot of feeling on this position, right? And I'll do whatever the board wants. It's just that there's a lot of I'm just going to say it without throwing anybody under the bus. There is a lot of moving pieces right now going on for this district regarding different individuals, different positions, and so forth. Um We are doing Raider Day Camp. We have 18 students signed up. The projected revenue with 18 students at the end of the summer, $645. Okay? $645. Cuz not a lot of people know the ins and outs of stuff. Like for example,

027you have to have a 1 to 15 ratio. One teacher to 15 students. We have 18 students signed up. You got to get two. What happens if, you know, this What happens if somebody says, "Oh, I'm sick. I can't make it this week." Well, then you got to find somebody else. Our positions are all done at the end of next month, right? And you know, I I will never say that I'm I will always say that I will try to do the best and not get do anything illegal or immoral or wrong to jeopardize not only my uh license, but the district, right? There's been a number of times, yeah, this this year I've tried to keep the district out of hot water, if there was such such a thing. I work very closely with

028the union on things. We've had a lot of changes in this district this year. A lot of things have happened. The projected cost next year of potential budget cuts, and I said this last week at the meeting, it's approximately $800,000. That's a lot, right? We just cut almost 1.4 million. But, you know, some positive things are starting to happen, right? Our MCA scores are doing They're They're doing good. I think we've got some really good sports and activities programs here that are doing a great job for our students. You know, you can fault me for maybe not doing or saying the right thing, but you never fault me to try to do what's best for all kids. You know, I I'm probably going to sometimes try to bite off more than I can chew, right?

029Cuz I don't like to fail. And I want to help all students. Um And you know, we you know, we have a We have an MOU on this for our middle school principal for this next year. That's on the agenda. Um you know, the configuration of our makeup of our team, whether it's pre-K through 12, is going to possibly look different. It might even change over the summer. You never know, right? Um we have preschool round up next [laughter] week. Um 26th and 27th. Um so, I'll be here to help with that. Um you know, there are some people disgruntled about the cuts. There's no doubt about it, right? Heard a lot of it today. It's getting towards the end. People just want to say what they want to say, which is fine. Uh we

030were able to get a volunteer to come in and help us some stuff next week on some of the services. The bottom line is this. I um spent a lot of time this weekend reflecting on this on a position. The position, not people, a position. So, what I did is I and I've shared with a couple of you individuals and I'd like to pass this around so you can take a look at it. We can have a discussion about it. Okay? The first one here is activities director, building and grounds, transportation job description with percentage of The first one is activities director, building and grounds, transportation job description. I I'll pass those out for you. Oh, please do. After our meeting last week, here's what I did. I'll be completely honest with you. I went

031to the whiteboard because I'm old school. Oh, did you pass one of these these out for them? I went to the whiteboard in the back of conference room and I wrote down what I thought was the job responsibilities of activities director, building and grounds, and transportation, right? Now, there's different I don't know if the audience members want to see anything. Um mind if I have the You have both of them? There should be two. Yeah, there should be two cuz I think this is revised. I don't know if you have both of them. Can he share it with everyone? Yeah, you can do that. If you know, maybe whoever wants one, maybe could you share it with one of them? Please. I was going to say it's pulled up but it's not on this one.

032Yeah. I think I got it. Okay. So, what [clears throat] I did, I tried to figure out this position knowing while I wait for the other board members to get back. So, I was just sorry. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, Sarah Near. Mhm. So, one is more detailed and one breaks it down by percentage of time, which I don't think our district probably does a good enough job to break down job descriptions like this. Okay? So, what I did and I'm transparent honest, I went and sat in the back conference room by myself. On the whiteboard, I put down all the things cuz I knew it was, you know, the meeting could have went either way last week, right? It was whatever. And I said to myself, >> [snorts] >> "Randy Burklund, you're passionate about

033kids, but you know something? There's a lot on this board." And I actually took the picture of the board, so if you don't believe me, I have it in my saved photos and what it is. So, I put together a job description of this position right here. Just the position. Okay? I also put together a percentage of time. All right? This is just an estimated percentage of time. And you can see it um again, this is the one that's more detailed and this is a percentage of time. So, if you look at that, activities program leadership and supervision. I spent a lot of time this weekend and what I did, actually I I researched other school districts across the United States really to see what it would look like, right? And this is what I

034came up with. Whether it's right or wrong, I don't know. But, there's a couple things that stand out to me. Um I'm a superintendent who likes to be in the hallways and with the students. A lot of superintendents are not like that, right? I'm not saying I'm right or they're wrong or they're right or I'm wrong. I think it's very important as in a superintendent, you should be in the hallways talking to students. You should be going to the extracurricular events, whether it's softball or theater or robotics, although I didn't go to Grand Forks for robotics. But, I think it's important that I'm active. That's the kind of person I am. I could sit in my office and, you know, do things, but I always try to be as helpful as I can, whether it's

035with an administrator, a teacher. And remember, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes things that I don't go around and say, "Hey, guess what happened here?" I'll be honest, today it was a tough day today. Right? And I I I can't stand it when people complain. That's what you did. I'm complaining right now. And I hate it. I'm sad I'm mad at myself for complaining. I got a couple calls today. I like everybody else in this room was busy from 7:30 on to today, right? And I'm sorry if some people called or texted and I didn't get back to you. I just didn't have time. Mr. Johnson's gone today, so I did fill in at the school here. That wasn't even a majority of my day. It's taken off buyers, right? And I'm not trying to say,

036"Oh, jeez, poor Bergquist." Cuz I'm not like that, right? I can't handle it. I leave. Or you get rid of me, right? But, this position would be responsible to myself. There'd be three evaluations. I think we need more job descriptions for all the individuals in our district. Not necessarily teachers or paraprofessionals. But, I think we need to establish job descriptions for Sherry or myself, or maybe what percentage of time, because we all pick up extra things, right? We're all doing extra things. So, I put this together knowing that yeah, it's probably going to cost if we went. I know Well, let me backtrack. The board voted last week to try to uh go out and seek people that would be interested in the position. Here's what I did. And I can't remember if I carbon

037copied you on the email. If I didn't, I apologize. I sent out activities director, building and grounds, and transportation. And I'm not going to tell you the names of the people who were interested, okay? I had two people that expressed interest in all three positions. I had two teachers that expressed interest in the AD activities director portion of it. Okay? I also had somebody express interest in building and grounds transportation together. And then another person who expressed interest in just the building and grounds, they wanted to know more about them. The last two wanted to know more about the positions. Um knowing all this, and again, this was just last week. And I want to apologize. I take full responsibility for not having this last week. I should have. All right, I take [snorts] responsibility.

038Now, a lot of administrators or superintendents will take responsibility for something they shouldn't or shouldn't have. I messed up. I should have had something like this. I sat down and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this, this, and this. I can help out cuz I'm just that person. I want to see this district succeed." So, but since that meeting last week, and I want to thank um a couple of board members for coming in to sit in with Well, we had a couple groups of transportation come in, right? Um we've had I actually met with a number of bus drivers today here in Audubon because they expressed interest in just giving me their feedback. Got a lot of people giving feedback today. Right? And so, I I feel like I've done my due diligence about

039transportation. We met with a transportation company yesterday. And so, we're I'm meeting with people to get input, all right? And actually, um I sent the letter out. I'll be sending a letter out to some of the individuals that are currently not on contract at the end of this next month. Right? Um actually emailed the letters some letters tonight. Um to talk about what do you see see as this position? What are some of the main things of this position? When you think about the athletic activities director, building and grounds, and transportation, they're all different moving pieces of those positions, right? Transportation, we have got to do a better job of bus routes. And I'm not throwing anybody under the bus with bus routes, no pun intended, right? But, we have to make it better. And

040there is an individual who's stepped up and said, "This person would be willing to help with the bus routes." Had a couple bus drivers. And you know, they know we're in financial difficulty. This is what they've said, "I'm willing to help." They're still going to get paid something, right? You know, I I'm willing to help. Um the athletic director position, I had two teachers re- express interest. But, here's the dilemma, right? We don't know what our numbers are going to be like right now because currently right now, we had a teacher that we hired at the last meeting to be half social studies, half English. Knowing full well that we had two and a half sections of science, two and a half sections of math. Here's one of the dilemmas now. Mr. Tarman has resigned

041because he found a job like 10 minutes closer to his house. Nothing against the district. I haven't exited interviewed him yet, so we'll get that for sure. All of a sudden now, our core classes, we only have two science, two math, two and a half social studies, and two and a half English. So, the dynamics of those positions is that Oh, great. We have science and math when you probably would if we went down to two sections, we would have 30 kids in a class. 29 to 32 kids in class. We cannot do that. As a parent, I do not want I My kids are older. I wouldn't want my child in a class of 31 kids. I'm just going to say like this, especially if you got a couple knuckleheads who don't care about

042the class, right? We cannot have that. So, we have and we don't have knuckleheads. We have really good kids once in a while, though. Whatever. So, right now, as it stands, we have two social or two math, two science teachers, two and a half English, and two and a half social studies. Now, I taught social studies, right? I know Mr. Rick I think he did as well, too. We could probably get rid of that half time. We've advertised the math and the science and we actually, from my understanding, Mr. Meyer had an interview today. There was only one person that applied for that position. Okay? And unfortunately, fortunately, the person that applied for that position happens to have a doctor doctorate degree in chemistry. Okay? Which is huge, right? We could maybe offer some more

043college classes, but we're going to have to work around that. So, there's a lot of dynamics. I know I'm just spewing at the mouth here, but this is what I put together. There's a lot of things I can do. I I just want to get some information feedback. If you want to go through this, that's that's great. Um I'm still getting feedback from individuals on the different positions. You know, I haven't talked to everybody. I I guess I have talked to everybody who's interested. However, the teachers I'm not going to say what subjects they are because I don't want to you know, let them know, but some of the teachers that expressed interest in the AD position are actually at the secondary building and their schedule is currently full. >> [snorts] >> So, let me

044give you an example, all right? If we take, say one teacher, Randy Burquest, and that Randy I teach three classes in the morning, I could maybe do AD in the afternoon. However, both of those teachers have talked to me individually. They would be interested. Both of those teachers happen to be coaches. So, what they've decided they would like to talk to me about is to get a third teacher who has not expressed interest in it and have each one of those teachers pick up activities director duties during their off season. Let me give you an example. Let's just say um Randy Burquest is head coaching football, right? But I'm willing to help out with the AD, but I'm not going to take it during that time frame. And what they have expressed interest in is

045they would like to get paid a stipend to do the activities director position. And that stipend that they have asked for, and I'm just being transparent, which I just found out yesterday, is the head the price the total cost of a head coach, which is about what, 5,000 something. So, we would have $15,000 built into that. Now, we could probably make that work, but at some point, somebody has to be the person, the go-to person, right? And, you know, we have we're down Sweazy right now, right? We're down a person in the office. Melissa Matson is is resigning, right? We just approved that tonight. So, again, we have to look at the configuration of what the office staff will look like cuz this is apparently really coming crashing down right now at the end of

046the school year. And um so, we're continuously working on it. I'm sorry if I talked a lot. Are there any questions or comments? And yesterday, I will just tell you this, I I went to the softball games yesterday and um even though it was cold and rainy, real proud of those girls, right? I'm not saying it because the softball coach is sitting right here. All right, now I don't do that. I'm also very proud of the junior high baseball team for doing a great job, right? Um from what I understand. You know, a board member came up to me yesterday and said, "I think we need to relook at this position." Okay? Because my understanding is that the fields were not ready to go yesterday by a certain time until somebody stepped up and went

047out there and did the fields. So, I don't want to throw that board member on the bus under on the bus under the bus or anything else, but that was what was told to me. So, we have got to do a better job of making sure the fields are ready to go, the transportation, whatever it is. So, thank you. Questions? Comments? Through this creation of these uh responsibilities and duties, did we get input from the current personnel in the positions cuz I know you asked for those a few months back. How much input did they give? Well, I sent a letter out tonight asking for some more input. Um Did you receive it when you did this? Huh? Did you receive any of that input cuz you've asked for it months and months ago. Yes.

048In a roundabout way, probably more so from others than Okay. than that, to be honest. Does our athletic activities director have administration assistants? Okay, so yeah yes, it's Ms. P. By the way, I I asked Landon to be here tonight. [clears throat] Uh he was going to be here anyway. Um Landon said he's willing to answer any questions, right? About what's transpired. Remember, this is about this position right here, right? What it is. So yes, Ms. P. And I know Sherry helps out with different things. Um some of the coaches don't do their own purchase orders. Um so Landon does that for the coaches. Um I think one coach, I don't know if he The robotics coach was here. He isn't one that's very good at doing that. So Sherry The admin assistant also is

049not just for the AD. She's admin assistant to the AD, Jamie Nelson, the school counselor, and Mr. Meyer. But that position does have resources for support. >> Limited, yes. Limited. I'm assuming that that the admin assistant is during business hours. Yes. Yes, correct. They don't get any paid extra. Okay. They That's part of their job duties, right? Uh I have a question. Did I hear you say it earlier that next year we'd be looking at $800,000 in budget cuts? That's the last time I talked to our business manager about a week and a half ago. She happens to be gone this week for uh some things. That's what she had told me. And that includes approximately 335,000 for community education. Blah blah blah. But remember, we'll know more with preschool registration next week. And Amber

050Rasap is doing a very nice job with spearheading that. Did that include the other contract one? Yes, that $800,000 includes, which will be on the agenda, the teachers um contract >> negotiation negotiations. That teacher contract And remember, the [clears throat] board did very gracious by going more than what the teacher contract was asking, right? I mean, what the teacher group was I mean, sure they would have liked to get more, but they were being team players. All right? And I'm not saying that cuz Mrs. Frank is sitting there, but they were. So, that cost right there is approximately $200,000. That is included in the 800,000. But also remember, we have the para, the MSEA group, right? And I'm going to tell you, they don't get paid very well, right? And they work very hard. And

051the thing about that is there's a lot of individuals that step up and help, that wash tables, and you know, the power The power went out in Lake Park, I don't know, 2 weeks ago. We had people that were washing dishes and drying dishes. So, I think they appreciate those groups appreciate that we're willing to step up. That does not include that group, James. So, what is the expected expense of that going to be cuz we're talking 800 and we're still talking about another increase for another group of individuals. What are we looking at? Teachers were roughly between two two and a half. At least with the teachers I think teachers were two, right? Yeah, teachers were approximately 200,000. Um to answer your question, um the MSEA group has >> [snorts and laughter] >> just

052one person that's kind of responsible for the negotiations. Um I don't know if that person is going to continue in that role because the head Remember, there was two people that were ahead of that. One person quit like 2 months ago. So now there's another person. They would like to start getting uh going on negotiations in July or August. In my experience, what they're going to ask for is probably, in my experience, we want to get what the teachers got. Absolutely. Right? So, if you were to give the this group an increase in insurance, and I can sure figure that out. Might take me a some time to get it to you in June. If we were to my guesstimate is that they would say, "We want to give the teachers what?" So, a small

053increase in insurance, cuz our insurance rates went up to 36. After taking it was 40. And then we went to different brokers and then we were able to save $28,000. So, it's 36.6% increase. Right? Um so, I'm guessing they're going to ask for the insurance, a little bit of insurance plus 2%. So, to answer your question, in the scope of making $15 to $16 an hour, a 2% increase is not going to break the bank. Right? Is it still going to cost the district money? Absolutely. People are going to say, "Well, jeez, 2% and cuz you can go to Taco Bell or McDonald's and make 20 to 22 an hour at Walmart, right?" So, um and by the way, to kind of help answer that question, we actually have our insurance people on site today,

054tomorrow, and Friday. And we have made it mandatory that everybody goes and sees those insurance brokers, so they have a better understanding of what they're expecting, right? And um in the past, we didn't have that. So, we had two individuals in Audubon, two individuals in Lake Park. I was not in Lake Park today. I checked with a teacher rep and said, "How did it go today it Audubon?" People are disgruntled about the insurance, right? Just like I'm disgruntled about gas prices. But, for some reason, the union the teacher rep that talked to me said things went pretty smoothly in Ottawa. People understand the high insurance costs. So. But, I I don't know what it's going to be, but my guess is they're going to ask exactly what the teachers got. >> I would only I

055mean, I think just out of pure respect, we would at least do that. >> I would guess so. But, my question really is resulting in or what I want to know is what are we looking at full cost? Are we at 100? Are we at 150? Well, Are we at 200? How many How many FTEs do you have for teachers compared to how many are are going to be negotiating for staff? Well, we have about 100 total people in the district we work for or we work with. Used to be split almost 50. >> Yeah, I would it's probably pretty close to 50/50. I can get those numbers, but you know, a 2% increase on a you know, obviously, you know, everybody knows this. A 2% increase on a salary of 50,000 is going to

056be a heck of a lot different than a 2% increase on a 32,000, right? So, I personally would like to see if we could do something for this group, Absolutely. You know what I mean? >> So, where I'm going is we need to understand what that might look like because we're we're looking at next year right now. We're starting up without even starting. We're going to be near What do we end up cutting out? 1.1? 1.2? We're not far from that for next year. We're I would guess anywhere from 85 to 105,000 is what we would probably We can say 100,000 just to make it simple, right? But, you don't know until you negotiate. >> Right, I don't know until I negotiate, but you know, um yeah, so Well, we can use assume the numbers

057that we did for our first run at [clears throat] minimum that. Am I wrong by saying that? of that. I mean, that middle No. And I I think And Yeah. So I mean, they were Cardinals like the rest of us. >> Absolutely. So So we're we're talking a million dollar deficit for that we got to figure out. Well, and the thing about it though is, you know, there may be some positive limelight in this is that you know we've got more more interest I think in kids coming back to LPA. Mrs. Zick, I think is doing a great job on the online program that we're going to be going. She's put together a list of job duties and stuff that will be in the MOU. Um kindergarten class is a little bit higher than it

058has been in the past coming in. Where we at? 47. What was it last year? Um I recall. 30 something. 30 something, I think. It was 30 something. So that's good, right? Cuz remember, every kid roughly about $10,000 brings in, right? But it's not quite covering our graduating class right now. What was that? 50? That was 50. Yes. So we're still shy, so we're still backwards. That's true. Kindergarten is coming in, seniors are going out. Yep. Right? And you don't get as much money for kindergarten as you do for seniors. So that would be even more back, to be honest with you. Yes. Mrs. Zick, is there anything you want to add about the online online program? Um I mean, we're we're researching some different online programs and we are going to look at opening

059at 6-12. Um and to outside students from neighboring districts or areas. Um right now, we only do 9 through 12 and we only keep it in-house. And so, with [snorts] our in-house, we've been able to keep at least 22 kids here. Um but now, we're going to open it out open it to other area schools um and hopefully get some of those students back into or take them from other buildings or if they're online through a different online academy, then maybe they would be more interested in coming here and they could play sports here and do all that stuff. >> It's just open enrollment, Mrs. Zick? >> Yep, it's just open enrollment. So, we're looking at doing something like that. Um, Dr. Birkholz and myself and Jamie have a meeting with another company Tuesday at

06010:30. >> Um, and so and it won't cost I mean it's the same amount as we pay now. So, it's not really any big difference in price of what we currently have to what we're going to go to. Um, What do you mean What do you mean cost? I mean what what what do you have? I think the program itself. I think the program itself. So, what program are we using? We use Edgenuity right now. >> Yeah, Edgenuity which is kind of one of the bigger boys on the block across the United States. But, Mrs. Zick um and myself um Mrs. Zick found a different company that's kind of up and starting and what we compare apples to apples, the price is a little bit more with this company. However, they have a lot more

061to offer for classes, right? So, we still have to pay pay that. So, it's approximately $10,000 for that, right? We just got the bill or an invoice um Mhm. I don't know, a couple days ago. We have another meeting on Tuesday and what I'm going to do is ask them to give us a reduced rate as a pilot program. Maybe they'll go 5,000 and I will promise them that I will talk to other schools about how good this program is because it is an up-and-coming program. Now, somebody's going to say I'm sorry deviate from your question, Jade. Why are we going down to sixth grade? Well, What's that? Why not? Yeah, why not? We've actually had parents a couple parents reach out and say my our child in sixth grade doesn't want to be in

062the mainstream classroom. And you know something? That's a parent's prerogative. I'm not going to tell a parent you can't be in it. I have three ki- have I still have three kids. Two were great online, but the one wasn't. And I'm going to go back to And I hate people bringing up COVID, but COVID changed the way we educate in this country. So, if we want to I think we're going to be able to build this program, and there is a neighboring school that doesn't have that program, online program. So, I believe and I think we're going to be able to pick up some of those students. If I'm wrong, I would I'll admit it. Yes, Paul. >> Mrs. A, quick question. So, this isn't Let's say we get, you know, 30, 40, 50 kids,

063whatever. This isn't going to inundate Like, you don't have to do all the grading. You're just coordinating this and checking progress, right? 80% of it is graded by the teachers. 20% is graded by me. Okay. So, there is some Is it all our teachers or teachers that are hired by this platform, whichever platform? >> this platform. Yeah. Um and so >> is some stuff that you have to do. >> I have to do. I do like last night I was up until 9:30 unlocking tests for students to finish up their tests. Sure. Um >> For this new this program this year, Paul. Sorry, Mrs. A. Yeah. Yeah, for this program. I just wanted to make sure that cuz this I honestly think this is going to be a We're going to have a lot of

064people that want to do this. Um and I don't want it to be like overwhelming for And I I think um even talking to a couple other schools that have done this, there have been some students that potentially like are home school, but then also kick into our online program for certain classes, and um then you can count them for certain percentage of their day as being our students. So, I'm going to reach out to some of those home school students and say, "Hey, we're opening this up. Like, there's We have AP classes available through this program." So, there's some of those things. So, I think there's some possibilities where um we can really expand on this program. Uh and that's kind of one of my main goals for next year is just rebuilding this

065program and getting it up and going so we can gain some students. And also, too, um I we actually have a letter that hasn't gone out yet. And I'll I'll give Suzy credit. We're going to send a letter to the home school parents in this area. Did you answer my question? We're going to send a letter and um I'm I'm going to say this again. Parents have a right a right to decide what's best for their kids. If they want to home school their kid, that's fine. If they want to give them Adderall, that's fine. I'M NOT GOING TO TELL ANY kid or parent you can't do that, right? That's your job as a parent. But one of the things that I think we could do is with this program, you know, sometimes home school

066kids will come in for an hour of the day for a choir or band, right? So, we actually get credit. It's divided into sevenths. So, 1/7 of that student's time we will get money for. So, we have a letter that will be going out in probably the middle of June. Um and then I'll have a follow-up letter um or maybe email in August to see if anybody will come back. Another thing that I feel good about besides this program is Mr. Meyer, myself, Mrs. Nelson, and Ms. Peterson. Um we've been working with a program called online college in the high school, okay? Basically, in a nutshell, we talked about we spent thousands and thousands of dollars in this district for what's called PSEO classes, right? But I know and maybe Mr. Meyer can talk about

067this. We're we've we've communicated with the students and actually we I went and talked to in a group in the cafeteria or in the high department said, "Look, we want If you want to take college classes, that's great, but why not stay on site?" We're looking at the flexibility also next year if cuz a lot of kids and I think I said this before, they don't want to sit in a desk for 50 minutes and listen to a teacher teach. Right? They want the flexibility. The reason some of these kids are taking these college classes off campus is because they can go to Starbucks at 9:30 and then get on their class at 10:00. Or they don't have to get on their class. So, Mr. Meyer, do you want to talk a little bit about

068some of these college classes we can offer? And it's a significant reduced amount. Uh Dr. Burkes, I actually went out with the students in the theater and just kind of talked over explaining the why. Uh cuz I think last year once one student did it, all of a sudden the top kids all of a sudden and all of a sudden we went from a couple to 45 students taking post-secondary. Uh so, I think we were able to get to our students early this year with a message. So, >> [snorts] >> we have a lot of students that are doing the online in the high school sign-up, uh which will make flexible which will make a flexible in your schedule. So, if you want to take a certain class third or fourth hour, we'll make it

069work into your schedule however you want. Then if you take a certain amount of classes, you have to take a certain amount of classes to have which used to be called study hall, but it's used to be actually hour to work on on your classes. Uh so, I think it's we're starting to reverse the trend of obviously Dr. Burkes, he's getting on already like free college money. Like it's hard for our parents and the students to say say no to that. But it's a cheaper version of still getting credits towards a college degree. But you're also in in the building, and I think that's what's really hurt our culture this year is like we have very few we have very few seniors in our building, upperclassmen. And for those role models, so I think we're

070going to be able to reverse that trend, but it's going to take I guess next year and then the following year it totally reversed. Kind of the trend that we had started. Mr. Meyer, didn't we get some seniors that were PSEO? Second semester yes we did. >> them back in first and second semester, correct? >> Yeah, yep. And I think >> [cough] >> those students thought like like you said at the Starbucks that it was going to be so easy and it's it's we we really explained like when you take full post-secondary classes like you are you're the adult like the professor like your number so if you start doing bad in a subject you're the one that has to communicate and they have they will not give us information on that. It has to

071be the student not the parent. And I think some of the students that came back like didn't understand that piece and then they're like and if we do the online in high school then any of our admin team can call the college and see how they're doing and help them advocate for them and help them communicate and then when they're adults and then when they go to college college then they're kind of back up that piece. All right, any other questions? And then so >> we still on 7.1? Yes, we are. Okay. Let me look real quick. Sorry, I just we kind of went off but I just wanted to make sure. >> I I do have one question for Ms. Zick. Uh the other so do any obviously I would assume some other districts

072surrounding us do the online program as well, correct? Only a couple. Only a couple? Do they open it out to surrounding you know, so so people can open enroll into their online? Yes. Okay, but they don't they have they're not going to expand out of sixth grade. Okay. So that we're going to be the I don't like that. They're currently not in sixth grade up. So we're kind of in the forefront of that, correct Ms. Zick? Correct. And what I heard on school is that sixth grade could be a massive benefit because they start getting into the educational level where it gets really difficult for the parents to try to keep up. Yeah. So, and how and how far are we looking at reaching home on home school? Well, I I have to as far

073as you know, I'm not going to go to Pennsylvania or anything, you know, I mean. But I as far as we can around here, I I don't know the address. I'm going to have to figure that part out. But we'll go whatever we can because if we can pick up those home school kids, maybe they'll stay maybe they'll come to one class. And you're right, Jake. A big one is math. Seventh grade math all of a sudden you Seventh grade math today used to be eighth grade math years ago. Right? It's they're moving it up. So, that's one area that maybe parents struggle with. Or if a home school child's looking to have a district for their sports in, Mhm. they could come in one class and it's advantageous for them. Right. Thank you very

074much. Thank you. Okay. Uh other comments on 80 transportation building and grounds configuration? Well, this title it as as we go through here, there's been a lack of discipline with each and every one of these over the multiple years in the past years. Okay. I'm sorry. Can you explain that again? Well, each and every one of these roles. So, we're looking at taking each and every one of these roles where we've had complete it hasn't been smooth. It's been difficult. And we're going to combine it all into one personnel. This is just activity related to the sports side. So, what encompasses all of that? >> transportation. You can walk around. It just it's it's it's it's struggle. It's now the the hours we're thinking that we're going to be able to find somebody that is

075going to put these needs. I feel like we have to find some way to help these people. >> Well, I agree. I agree. And if my next >> a few comments and phone calls since last week. Yep. And I mean, I said I felt a little um unprepared. Honestly, to kind of make that decision last week. And then I I know No, no, no, no, no. No, it is not your That is not on you. I just in general I felt a little bit unprepared, but that's also on me. Cuz I have a job to do too here. So, it's not just on you. Um But, I mean, I feel like we we need to we need to find the right person or persons to fill this. And so, is this position looking at having

076a independent salary? Or are we looking at this being savings? Well, it Remember, it was voted on last week to do an individual position, right? Yeah, and the more I thought about it, >> It wasn't voted on last week to do that. >> It was no vote on that. It was It was The vote was to do exactly what was here. >> Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. That's Yeah, that's what I was going to say. So, um Yeah, this will be a cost to the district. >> Cuz this is what we voted on last week. This This was brought to us by the committee. And this is what we said. So, we're looking at adding this as Okay, we're talking about a $800,000 deficit potentially for next year. Add the other increases, we're at 900.

077Now, we're talking about coming back a position. So, we really aren't eliminating 1.1 this year. We're actually going to be doing the more of the 8 900 this year. Next year is going to be have to be the 1 1 1 2. So, we're just putting it off. That will compound. That's just That will compound. So, now now we're at the 1112 for next year. I mean What you were just talking about adding students That's kind of I mean we were last year we were talking about the same situation and how far did that get us? We did a whole lot of enrollment program and that ended up just stalling. We wanted to inaugurate it. That was voted in and that just stalled. We weren't let down the right We weren't We weren't let down

078the right pasture. I'm just pointing out the obvious. We have a budget deficit issue. And I'm not saying we don't need this, but I'm also saying that we can't sit here and be irresponsible and push this off for another year. Cuz this 11 that we get this year or 12 that we are in this year will not add that compound factor that is going to happen. So, yeah. Can we talk about that? Can we talk about the elephant in the room like everyone knows we have to go to the voters, like Well this fall, right? So, so so Michael and we know that's that's a year delayed. So, that doesn't do us in the meantime. Are there I mean, we do have a credit rating. Um Not good. That went down, right? It went down,

079remember? Is that how common like this is that's new to me. Is that is that something that districts use often? I mean Well Yeah, so and I was in those meetings with I can't remember. Probably myself. I don't know. Oh, Janetta. Again. Oh, you were in one at the one at the at the Um the credit rating itself, I'm going to say it in a nutshell. Kind of explain it to the best of my keep it simple terms is that if we have to go on borrow money for whatever reason, right? Say we have to borrow $2 million. They're going to look at us and say our credit rating went down. Instead of getting, in simple terms, a 3% interest rate, we're going to get an 8% interest rate." I'm not saying those are the

080actual numbers, right? But, we do have elders, and I don't know if she's on here, to present tonight, and I have a handout about an operating planning referendum in November. People are I think we should go out for an operating referendum, right? I think that. Now, I agree. Right. But, and that would be in November, which will cost the district a little bit less money than if we went out in August, because it's a general election. Remember I said before, the problem with going out when there's a major election like that, everybody and their grandma comes out to vote. And there's so much research out there who votes for it, who votes against it. We have to have a plan in place. We go out for an operating referendum, we can't say, um, you know,

081we're going to give teachers raises or principals raises. We That's not going to pass, you know? We have to Maybe one thing is we go out and we say, "Hey, we want to hire, um, I don't know, a shop teacher to, uh, you know, build houses. We want to put that in the curriculum. We want to get our facts teacher back. Um, we would like to add, you know, Some of the positions we stopped. Yeah. But, being fiscally responsible for it, right? Some schools There's a lot of planning in a pop down referendum. And that's another thing, too. I will be on the forefront if the Remember, July is the latest that we can vote to go for a referendum. Okay? Um, I'll be in the forefront of that. I know the union has expressed

082interest in helping out. Um, they actually, um, Education Minnesota, I've been in communication with our presidents, co-presidents, and they're interested in helping out as well. It's not It's a not an I thing or a you thing, it's a we thing to get this passed, right? But we can't just go on blindly and say, "Ah, I think we're going to raise it this much. We're going to have a detailed plan of what we're going to do." In my opinion. We have to have a have a detailed plan. Plan to be precise. We can't 100% count on it passing because it is not the best time of the year for us to try for it, but we do have to try. We have to try our hardest. And and and if if if that is our plan

083and we just did a cut and we're all proud of the cut we did 2 months ago. The cut hasn't taken impact and we've already added back. And now, fast forward 4 more months later and now we're going to go ask for a levy. Really, does that look that great? I I My next question would be is is everybody in administration stepping up to the plate to do a little more? Is everybody within our district stepping up to do a little more? I'm hearing that we have teachers are like, "You know what? I don't know, but I'll try to try." Is everybody administration-wise stepping up and you know what? I'm going to do better. I'm going to take on more. I can do more. Are we there? No. Or we're not? No, that that's a

084hard That's a hard thing to ask. It ain't about It's It's about pride. Our district has full pride, is it not? But then a lot of the teachers when they go home at night, they have a family and stuff. I get it. You do? We all do. And we're all trying to make a I mean, everyone's got to take I get it. Everyone's has to I mean, everybody's stepping in and and doing more with less. And that's where we're at as a district. And if we don't do it this year, next year it's just going to It ain't going to be any easier. It's going to be harder. Well, I know you don't like to listen to what I have to say, but when I was at the Lake Agassiz meeting board meeting a couple

085months ago uh DGF cut big time last year and now their referendum did not go through, so he said the superintendent was there and he said we're going to have to cut again. But we will move on. We will continue to be a good school. You know, and that's That's my point. You need some of these things in place in order for the even though we're in dire straits to move on and make sure that it continues to be good. So, is anyone here saying that this isn't going to be these roles won't be assumed by something somebody somewhere somehow? I am. I'll say that. I don't think that it can be absorbed after all of the phone calls and things that I learned over the past week. I don't think that without completely overwhelming

086and overworking and I mean, I work in health care. I get burnt out. Right now I'm on call 24/7. I get burnt out. Do I step up? Absolutely. Are we stepping up as a board? Absolutely. But we are going to lose good people if we continue too quickly down the path [snorts] that we're going. That's just my opinion. And I feel like we can continue to ask people to step up and I think that they will. But the burnout rate of teachers in general, paras in general, is tremendous. And there's only so much that people have to give. Like everyone needs a little bit of a work-life balance. Well, absolutely. And if we don't give them that opportunity to have some kind of work-life balance, we're going to lose the good people that we have.

087The ones that are offering support, are they being voluntold or are they stepping forward and and raising their hand and saying, "Hey, I'd be interested in helping"? Are you asking me? Yeah. >> I I mean, are are they are they feeling like they're forced upon making that decision? >> Uh to be honest, I've had some teachers reach out and say I'm I'm here to help. Okay. Right? So, I don't think and I'm not a person that's forced upon. It's for what? I don't think they're forced upon. Okay. And that's what I'm saying. I think it's your burden, but if somebody's raising their hand and want to help and then we just avoid that as an opportunity, that doesn't look good either. It's us saying, "Oh, we don't think you're capable." But honestly, Jade, I'm one

088of those people as we're learning that Dr. Berkowitz says, too. People are going to step up even when they don't have the energy, when they don't have the time, when they are taking more minutes and hours away from their family because that's just who they are. So, maybe we're not forcing it, per se, but in a gentle way, we we kind of are to people that have that personality type, you know? And yes, I agree as a school district, including all of us, we have to step up if we want to keep our school district I agree. 100%. And then my next question is, are we talking about these people stepping up for their integrity or I mean, or is this 6, 8, 10 months? I mean, we don't know that. You know what I'm

089saying? I mean, just because these people raise their hand to help through this process and the position or duties are delegated, it doesn't mean we're doing this for a year or two or three years. This could be, you know what, let's get through the next 6 months and then we can re-evaluate. You know, is that a possibility? Again, [snorts] 6 months of buying $45,000 component to next year, what's that equal I mean, I don't know what that number is. Is it 60 grand that we I mean, it just doesn't get any easier. So, But I think it has to be done. I think it has to be done in order for us to have some avenue that is not going to get a street coming here and a street coming here and then all of

090a sudden we're a mess. That's the only thing, too, is like if somebody steps up to volunteer for something and then all of a sudden they're held accountable and they point finger over here and they point the finger over here. Right now with this, we'd have one person reports directly to the superintendent and is accountable for You can't hold volunteers accountable. Well, they're not volunteers. Nobody's volunteering. They're going to get some I mean, it's Miscommunications happen when there's too many spread out. Well, right now we have certain positions here that we're meeting on that are are full-time and we're failing. I mean, most of the expenses are way higher than they ought to be. Walk around the facility, there's stuff that I mean, he burns those up. Yeah. Yeah. So, we're we're still Yes, it's

091not cut. Yeah. So, there's stuff there that I mean, I get it, but I I it's I guess for me it came down to when you said, "Well, we're going to cut teachers, we got to look at administration." So, we looked at it and um like when we did our community forums and the community reached out and they said, "Tell us why we're here. How did the school board mess up?" Right. >> So, to me it was just if I couldn't void SOD next year Right. >> and I know this is a critical position. I'm nervous honestly to probably give it off to three separate people and say, "Okay, Tag, it's your turn." because everybody's going to interpret something different and it's not one cohesive unit. Um That's a good point, Tom. You know what

092I mean? I'm sure they're wonderful individuals and they'd step up great. And like James said, it's a time where we get us through a time, but to me it's just the financials. I've just I we have to answer to it. How do >> [snorts] >> We know I think a lot of the roles that we have right now are very critical. Well, I think they're all needed in some way. >> Well, it's just financials. Yeah, the financial aspect of it, but remember, the bottom line is something goes wrong in the district, it's really ultimately my responsibility, right, as a superintendent. You know, we have we don't have a lot of help per se in the summer as far as in the offices, right? Because um you know, people are on 9-month contracts, 10-month contracts, um

09312-month contracts. So, um somebody's going to have to you know, kind of spearhead this this whole configuration, not only this, but everything to move forward. And if it doesn't fit if it doesn't it's not successful next year, then you guys have every right to say, "Burke, we're done." So, right? So, summer rec is is we we if we were to eliminate that problem, that that loss right there alone, what was that dollar amount again? 300 something. >> How much? >> 300 something. >> Oh, no, that's That's our debt. Oh, community sorry. Summer rec and community ed is the umbrella, it's not community ed. If we didn't have the community ed, we don't have preschool then. Yep. Right. Not an option. It's part of preschool. So, we retain preschool. >> Yes, we did. So, we So,

094we how how do we how do we retain preschool? Well, I think we made those we made those cuts in community ed right now as far as as far as we Yeah, I mean basically we've retained preschool. Um For 600, >> No, no, no, that's That's just our That's our carryover debt from over years and years and years, so. That we've operated in and every school district How's that? in the red on those um but not as significantly as we do. >> Correct. Not So, have So, how do we identify why those other districts can do better than we are? I mean, what what do we have to do? Because if we can get rid of some of resolve some of those issues, that could maybe justify having another position. Or if we're going to

095bring bring this position back, what other position are we going to look at eliminating so we can offset? Is there that possibility? Yeah, so there is that possibility, right? Remember I said there would be [clears throat] three potential teachers interested in taking over. Well, two and one was kind of grandfathered in with that group. That's probably $15,000. But something that we pay in this district that I would like to re-evaluate is supervision at nights. Okay? So, for example, right? I I think I've said this before. When I >> it a duty. Make it a duty. Correct. Make it a duty. So, I think it's important that we have an administrator at every event, right? Whether that's a principal, AD, could be a school board member, could be the superintendent, right? Because you never know what

096could happen with today's extracurricular. I love athletics and extra curricular activities, but you see videos of people go off the handle and you know, they're I just saw him last night. Somebody was punching an umpire. And I think it was 10U. 10 10U under, right? But we do currently pay our activities director and our principals um supervision money to supervise a volleyball game, right? I think that could be absorbed into a contract, for example, the principals, right? If you divvy up these days, these nights. So, like the football game, you're probably The football game is the big one, right? You're going to have a lot of people at football games more so than volleyball or basketball or whatever. Nothing against the other sports. Theater, music. >> Yeah. Theater, music. Everybody should just divvy it up,

097right? We do have seen teachers that get paid for those nights as well. Um that that do that. So, can I can I ask question? So, when we're at the gate collecting money, we're paying those individuals to collect that money at the gate? Correct. >> That's not voluntary? No. That's a paid night. Okay. That's been that's going I mean we didn't just start that this year. >> No, no. I just I mean just it it is just annoying me. I mean what what happened to the day of people stepping up and just volunteering, you know, a parent being there to watch early cuz they had to drop their kid off and all that really anyway. I mean Is that under Is that under unreasonable? I mean I'm just It's not as common as it And

098I feel like parents have to work a lot of hours to be able to be I get it. 12-hour shifts and I mean it's not it's not the same as it was That's the beauty of being retired, I guess. Yeah, like 20, 2, 3 decades ago. When I used to manage my church's religious ed program, when I would always ask for volunteers, and it was just really hard with their schedules cuz everybody's got this new go here, go here, go here, and they just don't have as much extra time. And then to be honest, our staff probably steps up to earn a little bit more dollars to earn a little bit more money for their low salary. If you raised If you raised gate admissions by a dollar uh between football, basketball, volleyball, you're looking

099at about 13 to 15,000 dollars in revenue. That's a good One dollar? That's a good idea. It's a great idea. I think that's how you I think that's how you pay this position. >> you What if you went to I mean people I I think back to that first community meeting we had. People said um the community I mean I think it I I still remember the guy's name Mark, and then there's another guy up front who said this community will So, we'll come together, we'll support like So, AquaSox. Well, here we go, you know, we're going to ask We're going to ask for for our gate fees are going to go up a little bit um in order to help you know, get us through this time, but Yeah, I'm 100% >> And that's

100again, I'm just thinking that's just quick we think you know, that you know, you said I'll That's 15 bucks. Whatever. Yeah, I mean that's what I was >> getting teachers to or administrators to supervise if they're getting paid, you know, $80 stipend that night or whatever. I mean, on top of that, that would be on top of their regular stipend. Yeah, if we if we could get rid of supervision, we're probably talking $5,300. Okay. All right, but um, you know, and and when I think outside the box, I think outside the box, right? Principals, yeah, they could maybe fill them, but you know, if they're going to as somebody mentioned family nights, right? Or family time, right? Principals going to stick around, which but they can do that, they can divvy it up, right? Um,

101they probably should get something in their contract, right? Everybody's on a pay freeze, putting myself you know, the principal's contract expires in June, this next month, right? So, maybe you look at it and you think outside the box. E Too many times school districts, when I think of E D's, they come in 8:00 in the morning and they stay the whole day and the whole night. You don't have to have somebody coming in. Somebody could come in at 10:00 in the morning. The I think this schedule of whatever this we call this could be flexible. You don't have to work 8:00 in the morning till 10:00 at night. You know what I mean? You have to be able to um you know, think outside the box, I guess is what I'm saying. Just make sure

102that their child duties are done. Because if you're staying late for games, why start right away in the morning? Right. Well, a lot of these duties are not a day-to-day task. It's complete other organization. And once you get the ball rolling, which the ball should be rolling on many of these activities and these duties, it's to continue to press along. Okay, I'm going to make a motion. Go for it. Um, I'm going to make a motion that we open this position title and I don't know. I'll say the one that has the percentages on it to to add on as a position. Well, these things go hand in hand. They're the same thing. This is just a It's a description. Oh, cuz they're both the same. One is a job description and then the other

103one is just the like how that works. Got it. Yeah. Okay. If you want to say the title. Um And we can change the name of it uh I don't know, coordinator or you know, activity building and grounds transportation coordinator. What's that? I got you. All right. Make a motion that we bring back or we open up the position for activities director building and grounds transportation all having to do with activities. So, under this job description, we'll open up the position. Is that I'm sorry, Aaron. You You made the motion or did No, Aaron's going to now. All right. >> I'm a dumpster fire today. >> [laughter] >> Is that what we make seven bucks? I will second it. And then we'll open it up to discussion. So, if we if we do like Cole

104said, where is the Where's the administrator the admission fees and stuff like that? Is that Is that in the corporate sponsorships and stuff like that that I'm very glad that pretty much pays for this position. It's going to be That's a portion. That's a portion of That's just That's just one example. We have to like you said, we have to start getting creative. But, I mean, if we get That's just one position I I have confidence that we can we can be creative and come up with this one. Can I do it with the rest of it? You're going to have to. I mean we don't really have an option. Our our backs are kind of against the wall, but at the same time I mean this one is going to generally if this one's

105going to affect coaches, which snowball effect can affect the students. So so this position there is going to take care of the gymnasiums because that's part of activities and it's going to take care of the the gym because it's part of activities. So then what is the football field >> So then what is So what what is the That part would be a part of it. >> Then do we have a So do is that then the building ground buildings person complete classroom >> or a classroom not separate? No, classroom is different. No, this would be just dealing with extracurricular activities, right? Well, I mean it covers a lot of the building. Right, square footage wise, right? Thank you. We're going to have to to have somebody pick up community education, which Mr. Johnson has

106said he would do that regarding preschool. Right? We also have Mr. Meyer and myself that need to pick up probably pick up some stuff. You Can I can I say Yeah, you've picked up all you can pick up. I mean you can't pick up a lot more. Yeah. You just need to keep it rolling. Yeah, it's delegation. Right, what we need from our superintendent is delegation. So one of the things in this thing too is I don't know if you caught this, but there would be an evaluation three times a year. I don't know if you saw that or not. And this doesn't have to I mean we can do this for a year and see what it looks like, right? This is a one-year thing. And when you see Aaron you want to open

107it up, are you talking internally? Are you talking externally? I don't I mean If we got somebody that's very qualified for it, perfect. If we you know, I I don't who's I don't know what it looks like. Is it somebody that's willing to take a pay cut to do it? I mean, it's It's an extra >> I think we need to go. It is going to be a full It's a complete new position. It's need to be fully sent out. It's got to be a open opportunity for Well, that could be in the motion. If you want to do internal You've got a motion. >> You've got a motion. Could you please repeat it? So Let's redo your motion. I'll make a motion that we create a new position of activity director, building and grounds,

108transportation, all having to do with activities, and we open it up to the public for applications. >> you say internal >> Internal and external. public Well, you can go internal and external. Yeah. Do we want Do we want to put a salary range on this >> [snorts] >> right now? I'll put something together. Um it's got to be fair. Yeah. And it's got to be fair. You got to get somebody with a bunch of school and I I don't know. Experience and and all licensing and making sure >> is just what I came across. Do you have to consider Are we going to require that we have some sort of a degree so they can also help I saw it, but I just want to re- re-emphasize the importance for cross ability to cover when

109we need that coverage because some of these duties is like, "Oh man, we're short a teacher today. Well, jump in and do a class. We can take care of this tomorrow." Sure. So, you know, is is that what we're looking for? Is somebody with a Well, I I think I think what we do is we put it out and see what we get. An internal and external. See what we get. And I we keep it open for, I don't know, two or three weeks. See what happens. And in the meantime, um you know, we've got some individuals that their contract expires or whatever at the end of June. Um we know we we open it up and I'm going to I'm not going to I'm going to put together a committee of individuals to ask

110to sit on this committee. I'm not going to so that it doesn't look like and I'm going to pick people that are going to be um they're going to be fair. They're going to listen everything. I'll have the questions ready and everything else, okay? >> [clears throat] >> I'm not sure how many people we're going to get. I'll figure out a salary salary range, right? We're not talking $100,000 for this position, right? I mean, we have to decide what is what about 12 month? Can they do 10 month? Can they do 9 month? If they do 9 month or 10 month we can maybe lower the salary, right? I'll put something together to um make it fair for the district and whoever was coming. Does that sound okay with everybody? Yep. And internal and external,

111I'll put it on social media. Um advertise it wherever we can. How is Meanwhile, we need to come up with how are we going to pay for this position? Because we need still to be accountable for we're re-adding it. So, we need to whether it's ticket prices, we need to be able to justify we still can take credit for the cut because we're going to pay for the salary in a different format where it's not to replace a teacher or or we have a half or whatever that we don't need to have maybe that portion goes to here. We need to have justification how this is paid for. Okay. I mean, we owe it to our communities communities members and I get that, Jayden. Quite honestly, I was working on it. I I just ran

112out of time. >> time and to be honest with you. And and although at the community meeting and you were new, we were held accountable. So, that's where it's, you know, it's a at the I I I some looking myself on as uh activities director and the part that really struck me was managing safety. Squirrel lady. Yeah, you need >> Well, how can we talk a little on managing our safety and our kids on fields? Right. You know what I mean? I'm Yeah. That's huge. Safety and security is huge, right? That's where the liability issues are going to come up. Yeah, okay. Right? If we don't have somebody monitoring the transportation >> to answer to for it. Somebody to answer to. And ultimately, it's my responsibility for every single person in the school schools. >>

113I know, but it's not a It's not a job. >> is just the extracurriculars. Correct. >> Not like going to pick up Sarah from school from her house and bringing her to school. That's not No, no, no, no, no. This This position is just for extracurriculars. And you know something? It depends on who we get. If we get 10 applicants and you know, we say a a crossing like you're talking about, maybe we can utilize that person on a half a day when we don't have enough subs or whatever that might be. Yeah, I'll I'll second that. Internal and external, right, Aaron? Yeah. And you got a second motion, Mark? >> Yes. Okay. Any other discussion? So, then in the meantime, we would continue to look what where the We're going to find the money

114for this position. >> Yes, I will work >> Because we have to be very conscious of that. Yep, I will do that. How soon would we open it? Monday. I'll tell you what. We have We have the I'll try to get it done on Tuesday. I'll I'll try to get done this week if I can. If not, I will for sure do it Tuesday. >> What? Maybe make it through the week. >> Yeah, we just don't want to get through schools being done. And remember, you're all invited to and thank you for the school board members who stepped up with donations and getting food and all that kind of stuff. That's at 1:00 tomorrow. But I'll talk about that later. Let's Let's Let's give it an opportunity, too, 2 weeks isn't enough. Is enough? Isn't.

115Oh, no, I don't think so, either. I'm going to keep it Posted, you mean? Yes. Or 2 weeks is not enough. All right, thank you. I can post up longer than that, but I just give me time to figure out the salary and, you know, so And I think we should be, well, So, well, we can be very creative in the way we find the funds for it, but it's also good to be very transparent in the two, because if we are going to go for operating referendum. Um we don't want to the people when they were walking in, they were like, "Oh, I'm sure they're just going to ask for ask for an operating referendum." But an operating referendum to continue to have our school district operate to high achievement for success is Yeah,

116and I'm going to tell you this, I I will be one of the forefront people for the operating referendum, right? I'll work very hard. Huh? I will help with it. I know you will. And I know the unions will help with it, as well. I'm sure coaches will help with it, because you know, history isn't always on the side of passing referenda here in LPA, right? So The other request I have is I want to understand on how the administration staff is absorbing and and helping step up and take that next level. Yep. I heard Brian brought up that he's accepted to help with I mean additional Yep. Again I'd like I think we need like to understand that. Sure. Yeah, Jayden, you know something, that's my responsibility to make sure that um we have

117maybe some job descriptions of the administrators, and um I'll bring that forth this summer, okay? And then I have one question on this book. This is [snorts] would be the new job description for the activities director. >> [cough] >> The old job old description had what? The social emotional learning in there. So, that will be transferred to something else and student success. Correct. Student success sounds to me that she's getting behind us and kind of establishing that position at this moment. Huh? I said the student success coordinator kind of sounds like we have Mrs. Zick kind of running with that now. It sounds to me that's a success for our students. And I want to just tell you this, we're all student success coordinators in this district. Yeah. Whether you're a coach, True. teacher, or

118principal, working in office, we're all about it. And you know something, Jay? I'm going to tell you, you're absolutely right about Mrs. Zick. She's going to run with this and I think she's going to do a nice, very nice job. She is going to help all of us be successful. Okay, so any other discussion any other discussion? Any other discussion? We'll do a roll call vote. All those [clears throat] in favor say I, all those opposed say nay. Sarah? I. Jay? Nay. Mark? I. Aaron? I. Cole? I. Susan, I. The eyes have it. Motion passes. All right, ma'am Madam Chair, what's up? Ehlers, please is >> Ehlers presentation. Is she on? She has the invite. She said yes. I don't know what you guys did to get her on. All right. I want to pass

119this on. I know you guys want to get out of here. So, we'll make it really quick and we can talk about this at the next I got one. Oh, you do? I couldn't see it. I didn't know it was sitting over there. Where did those come from? Um I'm sorry, I don't have enough. >> Did you want to even call her and just have her on speaker or something? Yeah, would you please? Did you get I'll call her on my Okay. Or I don't know her. Yeah, I don't even know her number. So, Ehlers is our financial um company that helps us, right? And they're the ones they're one of the three or four main players in the state of Minnesota. Is she available, do you know, Sherry? I don't know. Okay, can you

120>> know if this number is a cell phone number or if it's a Yeah, so we I've worked with a lady named Shelby, and some of you might have met her at the MSBA conference. Um Shelby came last week, I think, Tuesday, and I've been asking to please present about an operating referendum, right? That's your job as a board to decide. If you want to go for an operating referendum, good, then we'll take it the bull by the horns and try to go from there. Um there is a lady that Shelby could not make it. The other lady that's a little bit newer was going to present. I don't know She must not have been on here, but let's just kind of go through this really quickly. Um talk about an operating referendum. Um the

121first page, you can see that the general Okay. What does it allow? November election ballot question. It states an amount per pupil may be subject to annual inflationary adjustments, maximum term of 10 years. She's just waiting for someone to let her into the meeting. Oh. Stop it. You're up there talking right now. I'm sorry. Jeez. We're just getting into it also, we're going to We need some students here. Oh, look up in this section right up there, remember? Yeah. Is she Waiting for people right there. >> That's Beth down. Okay. That's yep, that's Beth. I don't know if we just chat with her. Are we chatting with Sorry. Beth, are you there? Oh, we're doing a chat with her. That's what we're doing right now. Okay, go back up to here. Um Just close that.

122Just close that. X out there. This one? No, that right there. >> Oh, okay. >> How do we let her? Um Oh, yeah. Um She's not even there. There's only three in there. >> presenter, but she wasn't invited to come John told me all I had to do was invite her. What do we do now? Like how do we get it fixed so Yeah, she has a little God thing. >> [laughter] >> Beth, are you there? I have her on the phone. She's put her speaker on. >> waiting to get here. I don't know if you heard this before. Here. Yep, it says also invited and you did say yes, right, to the list? Does she have to go back in and try it again? She said she's just just waiting. Okay. Cuz she wants

123to go to screen share screen stuff, too. Right. We're going to try and add you again. Okay. John had to do for me. He had to add me. And it's Beth. What's her email? beth.downes What are we at? Um okay. There it is. Got it. You got it? Oh, first they have to n e s at e h l e r s dash They're sending you a new one. i n c dot com i n c c is in coal Okay. Okay. >> [cough] >> Yeah, they're right here. Oops. Shoot. What, Maro? Yep, so send the email. Send it and see if she See if she can open that new one. We'll see if she pops up here on front row. I mean, honest to goodness, if you would feel like the I mean, even

124my arm, but like the back of my neck it's like boiling. Like I'm just this natural little furnace. It's so weird. She should pop up in here, right? Contributors? So when I guess especially during the winter when heat is on like in she >> an email? Sometimes it takes a minute. No, did you get an email from us? Okay. Sent you an email. So crazy. And it's showing on our end that you're invited again. We took you out of the office. I swear I thought at one point it it yeah. I just smiled when I was like I don't know I wonder if she does. And I didn't want to interrupt you but Did she get an email? What? With her face right on the screen. >> [laughter] >> I swear to Did you Yeah,

125like I would have assumed you would have just turned off your video. I guess send her another one. Sorry everyone. So weird that writing group just sent her my stuff. So you just you just clicked on that one, correct? Yeah, what are we doing for food tomorrow? Oh, I'm doing desserts. Yeah, we I'm making Um well, we Chocolate chip bars and Yeah, and we've got some beans, hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mustard, pickles. I'm bringing the Yeah, they went on and got cookies. And then they got chips. See, I talked to Kristen Peterson and >> They bought chips? And um chips. >> I got the I'll make them tonight. Marsha, are you bringing plates and silverware? >> Yes, she said she was just waiting for someone to ask her. Do we have a roll top?

126Sorry to interrupt because I just wanted to bring this up. Okay. I'm trying to deal >> [clears throat] >> So that's what I'm wondering. Is it Susan's computer? So click on your right up there. Who's the host that's the one person that's going to be able to let them in? Sharon Child? No. Oh, are you the host? Yeah, but only the host can let people in. That I do know. So I see her. I've never Yeah. You're on speaker right now. Do you want to talk through it? Yep, you're on speaker right now. Let's just we'll talk through it. How's that sound? Great. Okay, we're going. Okay. I'll keep trying later. Well, we will we are on to Eller's presentation 8.1 of new new business. Thank you very much for joining us remote. And our

127speaker. Beth, I want to sincerely apologize that it's taken so long. Um I appreciate you waiting around. I could have put you up in the agenda. Sincerely apologize. We Am I on speaker now? Oh, that's good. You're on mute. >> [laughter] >> You are on speaker and we can hear you. >> Beth, hi. This is Randy Berkowitz. Remember me? Hi, Randy. How are you? Hi. Um Good. Um can you just you know I wish people would let me in the meeting, but it seems like it just doesn't want to. So as long as you guys can hear me, I'm okay with doing it this way. Right. I apologize it's taken so long to put you up on the agenda. Excuse me. What? What? Okay. We had a lot of good discussion about my budget, so

128Okay. We have uh our we have six school board members of the seven here. Sarah, Jade, Marge, Aaron, Cole, and Susan. We have a member of a couple members of our administrative team, couple parents, and a member from our teachers union. So um please I printed all of those things that you sent me. Bethan, give them to the board members. Okay, perfect. And I actually have been watching on YouTube, so I can see you all in the room, but I had to pause it for now. So, but I do know I have seen you and I have heard the discussion throughout the meeting so far. So, I think this is a good segue definitely into those budget discussions and talking about the operating referendum and some planning. So, in looking at the the first page,

129well, actually it's page number two. Just a reminder what an operating referendum is and that it is a voter approved authority and it's an annual levy levy that you can use for local operations in whatever way you see fit. Some districts qualify for state aid as part of this program. Most districts just the outcome through as a levy. It can be it can be used for anything that's a general fund expense. So, staffing and salaries or it can be supplies, technology, anything is allowable. England does not pay toward operating referendum taxes and the taxes are spread on something called referendum market value. So, we'll talk a little bit more about that and also some changes that have come through the legislature. Randy, if anyone has a question, just interrupt me, okay? Yes, I will, Beth.

130Thank you. So, the third thing is that general fund formula allowance. So, we like to >> [clears throat] >> to list it to school districts, school boards, and our communities just to remind them what is going on with the main source of revenue for the school district. So, general education roughly makes up about 60 to 70% of the school district funding. It's a per pupil allowance from the state. So, we have a our graph here goes back to 2013 and it shows on the blue line what we would have expected the annual amount to increase to if we had base with inflation. And that orange dotted line is what the state has actually approved. So, we're about um almost $1,500 short per pupil of what we would be getting if we were in 2003 dollars,

131basically. So, there's been this continuing adjustment that's happening for people and it's the situation you're in is kind of a perfect example of that. Of your you're still trying to provide those same programs and services for kiddos and you're doing it at a you know, at an even a a lower rate per kid >> [snorts] >> when it comes to that. So, there's your supplemental referendum or um we do capital project levies as well. Like generalized formula and then there's other formulas as well that are per pupil. Things like your LPFF budget is a per pupil. That has a benefit adjustment since the program came around. Um and then you also have $724 you get in local optional revenue on your levy that hasn't changed in many years since the program was put into place.

132So, year over year, you know, you hear school districts are getting more money, but it's not their buying power. It's not the same as what it was. So, this is why other school districts are in a similar situation because of that inflation. Not keep We're not not keeping pace with inflation. Correct. Yeah, we um we were just at the association at the annual business officials conference in May and we did a little survey and we had like 50% of the room saying that their district was looking into an operating referendum for November. You are definitely not alone in this and I know Randy doesn't like to mention COVID, but there's some some fall out too from the SR funds that we got for those couple of years that are falling off too, and now the

133district is having to credit to make up that that difference. So, um for LPA, you had $750 in operating referendum approved by voters back in 2009. Um there were some changes in the levy year authority in 2017. The legislature moved some things to board approval. Um changed some of that old language. And so, your voter authority went down to 494.58, and then you had further legislative changes. And that dollar amount now is down to that 194.58. The voters authorized it for 7 years, and the board went in and renewed that authority in 2023 when you had that option. So, we're looking at taxes that expire after taxes payable 2030. So, piece six is a nice display for us for you. Um show that operating referendum and your two election years where you'll be able to

134go back to voters and ask. So, we're looking at 2029 or 2030. Those will be the two years you'd be going and ask for um approval of that existing operating referendum. So, the next page is a couple of items that are examples of ballot language. So, as I was explaining about operating referendum and your your current existing one, um you could just ask for a new authority that would start new in the long run lasted in 2030. Or that second possible alternative if you're looking at that ballot language would be to revoke um and replace that. Let's actually use the same We're not going to do the 194.58. Instead, we're going to roll it up to five $500 just throwing a number out there. Um and also include inflation in that so that people are

135not increasing year over year, so you're not staying at that 1945050. And so you would put that into place if you go and vote this November, that would go onto the page 27 levy for the first year, and then page 28 would have that increase for inflation. And no matter what we pass, does that mean that 29 and 30, that it would we'd have to ask for it then again? Or would that extend out then? That would extend. Yeah. If you if you you can just ask for a new authority or you can do a revoke and replace, so essentially that old authority comes off, this new one comes on, and now it's a new authority that you can or approve in 10 years. Okay, so we'd have 10 years for that. Okay. Okay. Yep.

136That's that yep. If the voters approve it, you could potentially come back with the board's authority then in >> [clears throat] >> 30 if you wanted to. So Beth, Randy here with a couple Randy purpose with a couple of questions. On page with the uh language the operating referendum language that goes on the voting ballot. I know some schools 90 Would it safe to say 99% of the schools utilize language like this as opposed to something else? Uh yes. Yeah, and you're you are um very limited in what you can use in ballot language when it comes to operating referendum, so you're not allowed uh to really put anything else on that ballot other than this language. So LPA right now Oh, I'm sorry. Safe to say right now LPA is at 194 58 58,

137which generates 129,000, correct? Correct. Yep. And what you're saying then, board members, is that we can revoke that Change it to change it to whatever. What is LPA's LOR? I can't remember what our LOR is. >> So, we already have the 724. So, we're actually at 724 + 194.58. Beth? Okay. Does everybody understand it? The 720. Perfect. Thank you, Beth. Yeah, of course. Um so, I we also have your tax base by property type included because we're going to talk about the new legislation that came through on that tax base replacement aid for seasonal wreck. So, if you look at these sheets, they break down on your market value percentages in your district. So, you've got about 20% of residential homestead, about 23% qualifying ag, and then seasonal wreck there is about 35%. So, the

138way an operating referendum works is it is spread on referendum market value. So, it does not include any qualifying agriculture in that tax base, and it doesn't include any seasonal wreck. Um but also, it doesn't have any difference between a residential homestead or a commercial business. So, um a $200,000 home is going to be taxed the same way as a $200,000 commercial building. And that's the way those operating referendum referendum have been spread. >> [snorts] >> So, on the next sheet, um we've got some discussion about this seasonal tax base replacement aid. This was just approved by the legislature super recently. Um we are waiting on some confirmation with the Minnesota Department of Ag before we give you value. So, we have estimates for you, but we don't want to give them to you until

139we make sure that MDE is using the same valuations and the same source data. If that makes sense. Um but these are funds that are going to come from the state, very much like your state aid credit that you get for school building bonds. Um owners of seasonal property are not going to see tax increase. They still are exempt from paying on your operating referendum. But it isn't going to provide relief to those people that are already paying for it. So your residential home, commercial properties, and then the house, garage, and 1 acre for agricultural property. And the district received is going to get 1.5 for it in 2026-2027. So it's just on top of what you're already getting for your levy because they are levies for this year 2027 that's getting paid right now

140by your property owners. And then the first year that aid it comes in is being getting a tax bill in 2027. So what that means essentially is that your voters, if you do nothing then November, your voters will still will see a decrease in how much they're paying for that operating referendum. So what they had been paying last year is going to go down because now a pretty large portion of that levy is going to come through in state aid for you instead. And now all those homeowners and all those businesses don't have to cover as much of that. So Beth, real quick, Randy here. >> [clears throat] >> Sorry, Beth. Real Real quick here. We still have to pay our levy back from um you know, 2 years ago and and last year. So

141the levy is going to the levy certification process in December September-December is going to be a decrease because of um our number our we didn't have as many students as we thought we were going to have. So that would In addition to that, plus we would see a decrease what you're talking about, right? Correct. Yes. And if you if you historically have been estimating pretty pretty correctly, you probably haven't had a lot of the levy adjustments come through. Can I to [laughter] that? Yeah, we we are going to have a lot of levy adjustments come through this year coming up and probably the next year after that. Okay. Okay, sounds good. Yeah, so yeah, you are seeing a good increase. A double decrease there because of this change and because of those levy adjustments that

142are going to flow through. Thank you. Yep. Um any other questions on that tax base? The replacement aid? Everyone kind of gets it? Yes. Yep, okay. All right. So we put also for your information some comparisons together of your neighboring districts just just to show where you are at in your property taxes in comparison to those other districts. So the first in for a residential home, so essentially what's the the same is the same $250,000 valued home in LPA, that home is going to pay $366 in school taxes. [laughter] If that same home was in Moorhead, they'd be at over $1,300 in taxes. So you're definitely now on the low end of all your neighbors. But then that second page is a similar comparison but for agricultural property. So we took in an acre worth

143$6,500 which is above the average for the county. Um and again, same thing. You guys are at the bottom with about a dollar 40 a year versus Moorhead up at you know, 650. So Okay. Um you only look at these comparisons and you're on the bottom. It's nice cuz you're the lowest, but also means you might have some um capacity to increase as well. Do you want to take a look at those? So this is Sarah. I have a question regarding the agricultural land because we do have properties within our school district that are that are zoned agricultural but they don't actually farm the land. Do you know if that counts because it's zoned agricultural? If they do not get taxed then on the levy because it's zoned agricultural? Is that Am I understanding It

144depends on it. That question makes total sense and it it actually does not depend on the zoning but it depends on that individual taxpayer's land is classified. Okay. So if it's classified as um uh residential homestead, they're going to pay on the full value. It It could be for some people they have it listed as forest land or managed land or rural preserve land and they get a better rate on it that too and get a tax credit. But it really is a a property by property kind of determination. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Okay. Um and then on page 12, we've got some discussion of an operating referendum versus a capital project levy. Uh and this is something that we like to show for those districts that have high seasonal tract properties because those properties

145don't pay on an operating referendum but they do pay on a capital project levy. So those levies for the capital project levy go on your net tax capacity. So [laughter] that's that's full valuation of the district. If you go back to page eight where we have that tax base with property tax, you can see that net tax capacity when you spread those out, the seasonal tract takes a large portion of the levy for those because they make up the largest tax base in the district. Um there is no state aid tied to capital project levies. It's all levy and it's also not a per pupil authority. It's actually a tax rate. So, um, we see districts generally between 3 and 5% is kind of the average in the state where they get a portion, they

146get the levy based on what their valuations are doing. Um, so there's no inflationary factor with the capital project levy the way you can with an operating referendum, but it automatically changes with your tax base. So, the districts that have a pretty significant increases in tax valuations then they'll go directly to increases in revenue as well. Um, there's a maximum amount on an operating referendum referendum right around 2,300. You are well under that. There's no maximum for a capital project levy. Um, it is more difficult a little bit to manage, um, but it can be done. But, operating referendums you can do any operating expenditure to qualify on a capital project levy. Um, it's generally anything that qualifies under operating capital. And we see a lot of districts use it for their their technology. So,

147um, what happens is they code the technology expenditures to that capital project levy. And then that frees up other operating dollars to go towards other things like your staffing for example. Um, but I can be operating referendums can only be run in November unless you're going to do it in person via mailing or if your district is in an absentee The capital project levy has all those five times available. Maximum length for both is still 10 years. Um, and we know because you've done it, you can renew that operating referendum one time. A capital project levy um, still isn't, but I would expect there's some legislation that's going to be entered next spring with the legislature about again. >> [snorts] >> The page 13 is a quick estimate of a capital project levy versus an

148operating referendum. I do want to note that this calculation does not include the decrease that's going to happen because of that tax base replacement I had. So, because we don't know for sure what your amount is going to be, we want confirmation from MDE before we give you those numbers. Um just know that the capital project levy and operating referendum that in fact real estate residential homestead becomes much closer um than it's showing right now. But, we'll have we can have more information um about that as we get So, we're getting some confirmation from MDE. I would love to show you numbers, but I don't want this to be to be a wrong estimate to you in any way. So, Beth >> That means for Yep, go ahead. Beth, Randy here again. So, I understand

149page 13, but let's just if we went out and we needed $200,000, right? For our operating referendum referendum revenue at $300.93 increase up. Residential homestead in this district would pay $45 if they're an extra per year on a $250,000 valued home. Is that correct? Um Yeah, so it's it's you'll pay $45 essentially, and then that can go up or down depending on your valuation in comparison to the total valuation of the district, right? But, if everyone just keeps expanding at the same rate, it'll just be $45 a year over those 10 years. Got it. Okay. And it's safe to say the valuation of residential homesteads is not determined by the school district, correct? Yes. Correct. It is determined by your um assessor in that area of your county. Got it. Because I think a lot

150of people get that figured think about it wrong that it's by the school district and it's not. So, I just want to throw that out there. An example of a capital project levy could that be $200,000? Could that be a new track? For example. Or I'm sorry, technology or what What this is different than a bond referendum? Um Is it some school districts do like one [snorts] or two questions? If question one passes, then they go into question two. Can you touch base a little bit on that? Um yes, so we've seen districts before where they'll they'll have an operating referendum question and then a capital and then a capital project levy. It really depends what the makeup of your school district looks like with that tax base looks like. And then also what is

151important to your parents really because the technology levy sometimes can go over better in a community if people are recognizing that the cost of that is going up. And sometimes the operating referendum is more needed and you just say that we need the free staffing and our teachers and that gets more support. It is I mean, there is a different tax impact. For [snorts] those, right? If you look if you look down on that graph, the agricultural property is not paying anything on an operating referendum. But they are going to pay on a capital project levy. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, Beth. Mhm. Another last item we have is what that election timeline looks like. So, if we're going out on November 3rd, 2026, you have to adopt a resolution by August 11th. So,

152that's in statute. That is the very last day. Um And then you adhere [snorts] to the election timeline that your attorney gives to you. Hold that special election in November. If it passes, the tax levy goes on for taxes payable 2027. And the first year of revenue is for fiscal year 2027-2028. So, we wanted to make sure no one there and you guys had a lengthy discussion about it that fiscal year 2027 will still require budget modification and potential cash flow Got it. And um Randy, you had mentioned that before a little bit with your your rating and um while your rating is a little bit lower for your district, you do get the benefit of participating in the credit enhancement program through the state of Minnesota which essentially means that the state will make

153your debt payment for you if you can't. Um they will get their money back from you through through the revenue, but they will make that debt payment for you which makes your investment less risky and then you get that triple A rating. That's nice. Thank you, Beth. I forgot about that. >> like an extra. Yeah. Perfect. Um so, yeah, but that will that will come into play if we have to do um cash flow borrowing and usually what you do is borrow against your future revenues first for the year which helps with saving um some of that cash flow issues that occur when we're getting low on our fund balance. Got it. Thank you. Any questions, board members, that you have? Comments? Beth, is there anything else you want to add? Um I would just

154say that we as soon as we got that tax base information from MDE confirmed, we'll get you some some updated amounts. Um you obviously don't have to decide right now how much you want to ask for, but um you know, we are having to call this before August 11th, so we want to make sure you got the most updated information before you guys make any final decisions on the per pupil amount. Okay. Beth, I have a question. This is Sarah. Does Ehlers do any type of assistance with marketing this prior to it getting on the ballot. Um, we we don't do um marketing marketing per se, um, but we do have a tax calculator website that we put together for districts. Um, maybe you remember something similar from when um you guys did your bond

155referendum. But essentially we put together that tax website for you and link that to your referendum site. Okay. >> That you have either if you have that been created internally or if you got someone else you want to work with on the marketing side. Okay, thank you. Is that a question I have or did I miss that? No, you're right. Any other board members? Any other questions? Mark's okay. That's right. So we're good. Thanks so much, Beth. That we really appreciate your time. Tell Shelby thank you as well. Yeah, thank you very much. Of course. Thank you all. Thank you guys. Enjoy the rest of your meeting. >> Thanks, Beth. No no Charlie versus yet, so that's good. It's okay. All right, Beth. See you. Thanks. Uh, 8.2 career and work-based learning graduation requirement. >>

156We just [clears throat] like to make sure that we remember we're not going to have that requirement. Can we make have someone make a motion to >> Make a motion that we don't need that anymore. Okay. Second it. There you go. Thank you. >> Uh, any discussion? Any discussion? All those in favor say I. All those opposed say nay. I. I. I. Motion passes. Uh, career and work-based learning graduation requirement will be deleted. Correct? Yes. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. 8.3 approve revised budget. >> talked about this last uh before it looks like we're going to possibly stay out of SOD and at [snorts] the end of this year. Like we talked about potentially next year, but um that's revised budget for this school year. We also have to um have you

157as a board um approve the budget for next school year. And if you want to set up a committee and meet with Janetta, our business manager, we'd be happy to do that, but um yeah, I I don't know if you have it in there or whatever, but approve the revised budget. So, it's actually a little bit more positive than we thought. So, you need a motion to approve it. >> a motion to approve it. Motion to approve the revised budget. Can I get a second, please? I'll second it. Any discussion? Any discussion? Um maybe we'll do a roll call on this one. Um all those in favor say I, all those opposed say nay. Sarah? I. Jade? I. Marge? I. Aaron? I. Cole? I. Did we see that? Sorry, I'm just trying to cover my

158bases here. I I don't Um He's wondering. He's having a question on the revised budget. Oh, have we Did we see it? Um Do we need I mean like like or are we just Go ahead, Sherry. It was discussed at the last meeting, and then when we had our next meeting, it was supposed to be voted It was supposed to be approved last meeting. >> Okay. Um so, when we had our meeting with Janetta, she said you guys they the board forgot [clears throat] to approve it, so please approve it or approve it this time. So, it was all discussed last Okay, I just didn't see anything clicked on here, so I'm trying to Yeah, Cole, and I I forgot to put that in there. We had it down there, but we forgot to whatever

159last meeting, but this is a revised budget for this school year. Remember, we revised the numbers of students, so it accurately reflects We It's common for school districts to do that, revise the budget sometimes in [cough] the winter as well. So, yes. So, it's showcased that we're not where when they were talking at the last meeting where we're not going to have what we're doing this year, but we're projecting to next year. And we'll talk more about that at the June board meeting for next year's budget, okay? Yeah. I. Thanks, Mark. >> Uh Susan, I. The eyes have it. Uh revised budget passes. Uh 8.4 summer board meeting dates and locations. Um >> [sighs and gasps] >> Yeah, I Do you want to go down to one meeting in June, July, and August? You what

160what do you want to do? And Uh yes, okay. Um We could always schedule another one if needed, too. Right, we we could. I think um I guess in June, you know, we have to have the budget on there. I as you know, for for next year along with this other stuff we talked about. Could we go um I mean I'd like to go June 22nd. It's a Monday night or Yeah, you have Wednesdays aren't good. Does that work for everybody? It's a Monday, June 22nd. >> 22nd on a Monday. Or we could go Wednesday that week. I'll be gone. That whole week? No, just the 22nd, 23rd. Okay, do you want to go Wednesday, June 24th? What's the call? I should be there. Um That's fine. Or And we don't have we can do

161it the 17th. June 17th. I will be gone. Okay. All right. We can do it Wednesday. Wednesday, what? June 24th. And we can go to Lake Park because we're here right now on Audubon. So that would be at 5:30. Yep. Okay. July? Um let's go we can go um Can we go to Monday, July 20th Can we go Wednesday, July Could you have Wednesday nights, too? Uh it depends on the Wednesday. So I'm looking as you go. So just >> July 22nd, Wednesday? It's fine. Okay, Wednesday, July 22nd in Audubon at 5:30. We have to go more dates, we can always set up a meeting. You wait, is everybody okay with that one? August? Um you know, can we go August 19th, Wednesday? >> [snorts] >> Lake Park Media Center? Uh yes. Does that one

162work for you? Yep. So Wednesday, August 19th at 5:30. Okay, perfect. Can you send me a proposal? When Wednesday, June 24th, Wednesday July 22nd, and Wednesday, August 19th. Correct. And then All of these are motions on that. Yes, I No, I'll just I'll just switch my women's ball. Oh, okay. I thought it would be Mondays that we usually have it. Well, I I just went with it. >> No, that's fine. And church, okay. I'll work it. Okay, sounds good. Um All right, that's fine with me. You want to make a motion on that one? Right. Okay, [snorts] so then we're moving Any [clears throat] any other discussion on that? Should we? Okay. Uh okay, 8.5 MOU Laura Zick. Yeah, Mrs. Zick has um I worked with Mrs. Zick and we had a board member in

163the meeting as well, and there's an MOU for [snorts] this school year coming up July 1st of 2026 to June of 2027. Um you have it there if you want to look at it, but um Cole, you were part of that discussion if you want There's anything you want to add. Uh no, it's uh It's all in there. Okay, so what are the highlights? She's on She's uh on special assignment and uh MTSS coordinator, so like student success. Please explain. And then in sorry, sorry. And then expanding our online Correct. online curriculum and monitoring that. So, we're helping retain the students within the building. Yeah, and then yes. Well, and those that are out of the Yeah, not in the building, but in our district, yes. >> Yes, and then working on the online program

164to get more kids into it. Um Ms. Zick um very good at data analysis, so um take a look at some data as well. So, we can assume we would be receiving reports or feedback each for June, July, and August and obviously through the school year then too as to what we're what what our plan is and what we're seeing for results. Um well, I I I don't know I this is more towards next school year cuz her contract the principal's contract technically expires or ends the last day of June 30th or June 30th, whatever it's a regular day or not. Um July the principals take a lot of the month of July off and then they start back up in August. So, uh I would expect something in August but not the July board

165report. >> So, this role is not a principal No, it's not a principal role. No. So, we'll um you know, I would like to talk to Ms. Zick and see if I want her to be able to present at a board meeting and just to give her updates and if she can't make it, I can do it for her in communication with her. This is not a principal role for 1 year. Okay? It's not a principal for 1 year. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Meyer will still continue to give principal reports. You need a motion or something? >> Yes. Yes, we need a motion. >> Motion to approve the MOU for Ms. Lori Zick. Can I get a second? >> I'll second. Any discussion? What's up? Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. All those in

166favor say I. All those opposed say nay. Sarah? I. Jaden? I. Brace? Marsh? I. Erin? I. Paul? I. Susan? I. The eyes have it. Motion passes the MOU for Lori Zick. Uh 8.6 the MOU for FFA. Yeah, the last couple years we've been paying our FFA person um not what's on the contract, right? And um Mrs. Frank is here. Um we were supposed to do an MOU the last couple years, um but we did not. And um the union has said that our FFA teacher was expecting a certain amount for this school year. And um it's an MOU to pay that person what they have been paid the last 2 years, even though it's technically out of the contract. When something's out of the contract, then you have to do an MOU, memorandum of understanding,

167right? It's for 1 year. So, this contract for this particular position, FFA advisor, uh approximately $6,000, is for this school year that we currently in are currently in. Mrs. Frank, correct me if I'm wrong. The last 2 years, um this person was promised an amount, and it wasn't in the contract, and um we we our district did not do an MOU like we should have done. An MOU is signed by not only the union, but the school district. But, you know, we could grieve that. We could say, "Well, I'm not going to sign this." Whatever. It's approximately increase of $3,000. But, the work has already been done this school year, and um that teacher was expecting that amount like the teacher that have the last 2 years. Um so, for this year, Mrs. Frank, is

168there anything I left out of there? No. >> [laughter] >> I mean, yeah, we did. We have not done an MOU because we did not know that it was in her contract. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Has she been here for 2 years? Um this is her third year. So, was it approved by the board, this increase? Or was this just No, we can't No, it was not. We can't speak on that. So, this Oh. No, no, no, it was not approved by the board, Jay. So, to be honest, right now we have um Which was signed by a board member. Yeah, the board member signed the contract. On the contract, so it was signed by a board member, but it was not in the contract. Right. >> So, it was on her. Right? Is that

169correct? So, when you look at the teacher's contract, everybody has like Yep. head football, head softball, they all get a certain amount. And the FFA, I think it was like $3,300, something like that. When this person was hired, they said they were said, "Well, we're going to give you a $6,000." Okay? So, then what happens is per year. per year. Okay? $6,000 per year to be the FFA advisor throughout the year, right? Well, then what happened is we as a district always give the teachers a their individual contract, "Hey, you're in step seven, whatever." On this particular contract with this teacher, because when we hired her, we promised her, "Look, we'll hire you that person apparently on FFA." Said, "We'll give you $6,000." So, that was on the on her individual piece of paper that

170she gets that each teacher gets in August for the most part, right? Which we do. Every district does that. Well, then what happened is she would first she was paid 6,000, second year paid 6,000. This third year she was expecting to get $6,000, right? Um there was nothing in there that was we could find what what I could find watching videos and checking things that it was approved by the school board. So, we have paid her over the teacher contract big contract amount, right? Now, the board could say, "Well, we're going to fight this." But, the union union will go to the union and they're You know what they're going to say? Well, it's past practice. We've done it for 2 years, so this third year is um this is what we're asking for because

171our district we did not um get it approved and um >> [clears throat] >> there was an MOU discussed, but there was never one nothing signed or nothing um acted upon by the school board. How does this happen? Well, I don't know if that I we can if we can answer that question. I really don't feel like to it. To be honest with you, we we just need to make a decision. >> sir. I was administration. I'm sorry. I mean, how do we get to this point? But, I guess I yeah. You know, So, your ticket increase happened and it'll cover that this year. Yeah, it's just How does it get that way? Um we missed it. Okay? Well, I'll make a motion that we approve this MOU for FFA and do it, right? Mhm.

172For this year. For this year. Okay. Can I get a second motion? Second. And then can we just try to do better in the future? >> Absolutely. I'm 100% Yeah. I don't believe it. Uh any discussion? Any discussion? Um All those in favor say I. All those opposed say nay on the MOU for FFA. I. I. >> I. Uh nay? Uh motion passes. MOU for FFA. >> [clears throat] >> Um 8.7 EA contract negotiations. >> Yeah, just uh remember um there was a pay freeze on this 25-26. Next year they have an increase. Just a slight increase on single insurance and family insurance and 2% on each cell. So the approximate cost is about $200,000. But you know something, you know getting back to the earlier so we've had we've had a number of teachers

173step up and whether they're teaching elementary or high school, you know, they've stepped up and and you know we had some a lot of field trips this week where you know, people teachers were taking pictures of doing different things and everything else. So uh yeah, we're going to start the negotiation process again probably in April this coming year. So teacher negotiators, do you want to I can say anything about it or not? Stands have have my rights clearly now. Yep, we'll be ready to roll for teacher negotiations. Right? Looking forward forward to working with you guys again. Um Any discussion? We didn't even have a motion on that. Oh no. Sorry. Can I get a motion to approve that contract EA contract and I'll make a motion to approve the EA contract negotiations. I can

174I get a please? I'll second it. Okay, any discussion? Any discussion? Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. All those in favor say aye, all those opposed say nay. Sarah? Aye. Jade? Aye. Marge? Aye. Aaron? Aye. Cole? Aye. Susan? Aye. Eyes have it. The contract negotiations is approved. 8.8 superintendent report. >> Yeah, I'll make this really quick. I talked about the exit interviews. I promise I'll give information on the exit interviews from the teachers. Uh I want to thank um the board members that were at the graduation. I actually really enjoyed the graduation. I thought it went very well. Um it was fun and it's it's great to see all those students starting this what I call the second stage, second phase of their life. Um I think they were a bunch of great seniors.

175I'm I'm honored to have been here this year, my first year with the seniors. Uh we've had a number of bus transportation meetings, still working on that. Talked about the insurance gen- gentlemen and ladies that came in. They'll be here tomorrow as well as tomorrow and Saturday, Friday. So, I appreciate that. Uh do want to mention too, we um I had talked about bringing somebody out to take a look at a possibly just a track. See what it would I'm not Please don't go out there and say, "Oh my gosh, Brookwood wants a track now." Okay? I'm not I'm not saying that. All right, I try to get informed be an informed decision maker. Um district I came from, they redid the foot- football field and a track and everything else. We've had a lot

176of concerns about track according to my sources with the with the pairing of other districts. This year though, however, I've heard nothing but positive things about the pairing of track. It's been great, right? Um and I want to reiterate, track was not discontinued by any school board. >> [clears throat] >> When you have a co-op, you have to have the board vote on it. The district had an athletic committee 10 months ago say, "Gosh, you know, about LP, maybe we should discontinue it." But it wasn't acted upon. But we have great kids in our great track program this year. I think went very well. I would just You know what I wanted to You know, I wanted to see if we could actually have a track around the football field, right? So, brought it out.

177We had a board member come out there. Um, I've talked about maybe looking at doing something different with the the field itself at where the where the some people park in their vehicles up at the fence. I would really like to be a little bit more, um, beneficial to elderly people so we don't have to have them walk all the way down, and maybe we could set up an area like that. So, just thought I'd throw that out there. Not saying we're going for a track, but I just I I want to know how much it's going to cost. Maybe somebody wins the Powerball. Speaking of that, last thing I was in Audubon today and teacher shared with me that um, they always ask at the end of year, what you know, what was the

178best thing about your school year? And this teacher told me that one student wrote in There was happened to write Dr. Burtquist. Burtquist. And another student wrote, and the question was, "What would you do if you won the Powerball?" Or a lottery, won the lottery. And the answer was, "Give the money to the school cuz we're broke." And that was a younger student that wrote that. So, that was really cool. Um, want to thank you, you know, tomorrow's our last day. Uh, thank you board members and community for letting me, um, be part of this journey. I know we've got a lot to to to go forward. Some people probably aren't happy with some decisions, but you know something? The ultimate thing is it's all about the kids. We cannot argue that. Whenever we make

179a decision, we have It's got to be about the kids. I'll work very hard and um thank you. Sounds good. We have 9.0 succeeding meetings July 4th at Lake Park Media Center July and July 22nd Wednesday at 5:30 at Lake Park Media Center. Reading my notes. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you. We We may stop recording now. Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'll do that. That's okay. No, I don't care. Oh, okay. Okay. Who wants to meet help tomorrow? Yeah, is anybody able I'm Is anybody coming tomorrow? I need I can't. I can't do it tonight, but then it's a problem. No, I know it's a problem. I'm fine. Aaron Jane, I know you've talked about it. Susan, I know you probably can't. I'm going to start We got to get tables. Right. We got to get some

180help from It's at the high school. Right. Well, I start at 1:00. So, I think we're going to go through the line. So, either 1:00 so Eat at 1:00 and then meet Hey, I can start. I'll I'll help you please. Okay. Yeah. We'll eat at I'm going to make sure this is off, okay? Yeah, please. So, Hold on a second. Let me get Make sure this is off, okay? Well, I don't I mean I think if everything fell through I hope so. Yeah. So, >> Here you go. I was waiting for you. >> [laughter] >> Okay, I got chips for you. Do you have any ketchup packets for me? Cuz that's what I was And the secretary is aware of it. They had Leah too. So that's 6'2. Crispy cream also has ketchup. I don't

181see any ketchup, mustard, pickles, all kinds of pickles. Okay. But she She just need to buy ketchup. Thank you. We got wire. Yes. We got the hot dogs. Are we doing the burgers or brats? Burgers and brats. Do you have buns already? >> Yes. Okay. I had like 200 left over from >> [laughter] >> I just I had a picture locked right here. I went to the door. Um they could they didn't know but they specifically said it It was like >> [clears throat] >> It never can be somebody cuz that's who approached me was I don't know but I that I mean that's a good answer to be quite honest with you. I mean and yes it hurt my feelings. Um okay. Oh that's why we don't need a second. As a nurse I'm

182saying that. As a nurse, I'm saying Oh, okay. Oh, nice. Oh my god, she's so great. Yes, we worked together for years. Now, she's an NP. She's amazing. She is so lovely. You were going to [clears throat] love her. She's so good at her job. I don't care. Wait, she's trying to get a hold I know what school. >> [laughter] >> Whatever. Okay, let me write those down. Who can be the authority? We need to get the executive director. Oh, 1:00. Um wait hold on a second. Well, I Jade's bringing food in and I'm going to grill [clears throat] up. Can you make it though? Don't you have a kids? Oh, that's great. Um I mean, I'll be here at 12:15 to pick up my youngest. So, I would say um I mean, I can

183maybe come help set up or Okay, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Um It is um 12:45. >> [laughter] >> Thanks. No, I'll grill up. Do you know the first year we grilled up all our arm hair? There was one elf that behind us.