001countless students before unexpectedly passing ago. If there ever was a true champion for education, it was Carolyn. When submitting her name for consideration, we've been met with so much support and enthusiasm. All have shared stories of her impact and the difference she made in their lives. It didn't matter who you were. If you interacted with her, she made you feel important. Carolyn saw potential in every student. She worked tirelessly to help them reach that potential and dedicated her life to nurturing each individual. Her influence extends far and wide. Caroline's commitment was never about recognition, but was about the genuine care for her students and the desire to positively impact each one. She spent countless hours advocating for students and supporting colleagues because she had a true passion for education. Her selflessness is a reminder of
002the impact one person can have when dedicating themselves. Naming this building after Dr. Carolyn Samson would not only be a tribute to her, but a commitment to the values she embodied. Inclusivity, kindness, acceptance, passion, determination, and love. Carolyn was an amazing person and a phenomenal educator. Naming this building after her would serve as a reminder to the staff and students of the Wentzville School District of the difference one person can make. Everyone should care like Carolyn. Thank you. Next speaker is Tabitha Segwin. That right. Sometimes I don't say it right. Good evening members of the board and superintendent Bishop. I stand in front of you today as a mother of two legacy school students, one at Hold High and one at Winsville Middle. While I'm standing up here, I could spend my time talking about
003the many issues that each of the school has, but I think you're all already aware. If not, some of my friends are probably going to educate you a little bit later, but what I want to do is just say a few things. Um, ask a couple questions. So, what happens now? So, now that Prop L sadly did not pass, what's in store for our three legacy schools? Will there be band-aids continuously placed on major maintenance items? Will there be more funds that get allocated to fix some of the things that are um happening to so we can slowly start to make a difference? Or will they continue to be overlooked and passed on to the next person or board? Will the students and staff have to continue to see the other schools in the district
004get improvements and new things added? or will they just simply be forgotten about and pushed aside and everyone else moves on about the day? On a really side note, probably wouldn't suggest the latter because the small group here will more than likely multiply. So, we're not asking for mountains be to be moved. We're asking for basic maintenance and compliance issues to be taken care of, or better yet, a start to just be looked at. Our students shouldn't have to attend school with mold, mice, exposed wiring. Our teachers and our support staff shouldn't have to teach them in that environment either. So, there's a few quotes that I found that I find to be a little interesting during the current state of our legacy schools. So, I'm just going to read those really quickly. Quote, I
005want them to have a safe and collaborative environment in which they feel fulfilled and supported to do their job. End quote. Julie Scott was that quote, "My goal is to be a quote," My goal is to be a part of positive change in the Winstonville School District. End quote. Brad Welsh was that quote. And our school quote, "Our schools should be a welcoming environment for all students to prosper." End quote. That was Jen Olsen. So, as we stand right now, nothing about these quotes line up with the current state of Heritage, Winsville Middle, or Hold High. I ask, how long does it take sitting on the board to put actions to your words and be inclusive to all schools in the district? Hold high school, Winssville Middle School, and Heritage Elementary deserve better. Our teachers
006deserve better. Our students deserve better. So, let's work together to keep the legacy of these schools alive. Thank you. Next speaker, Kelly Palmer. Excuse me. We have people put their phones away and shut their computers and actually make eye contact with speakers. It's extremely distant fancy or whatever, but make eye contact with them and pay attention. All right. Good evening, members of the board and central office leadership. My name is Kelly Palmer and I'm the mom of three students here in the district. I'm here tonight because I'm done waiting. I'm done wondering when the safety of our children will be treated like a priority. In September of last year, the current school year, my daughter Kennedy slipped and fell at school, not because of horse play or carelessness, but because of a ceiling leak on
007a rainy day that had been ignored for years. Well, fortunately she is okay. She suffered a severe black eye that lasted over six weeks. Unfortunately, tonight because this is public comment, I'm not able to share the photo with you. But I believe the majority of you here have this in your email that you can look at. This is what happens when maintenance is delayed. This is what happens when repairs are pushed aside. And this is what happens when we fail to protect the students and families that we claim to serve. The district did take responsibility and paid the claim, but please let me be clear. No family should have to experience this. That leak should have never been there. That fall should have never happened. And that picture should not be in your inbox. I
008know that another child fell shortly after my daughter because of the same water leak. Luckily, that child was not injured. But how long before another child falls and my do um and is seriously injured? Is the plan to continue to pay injury claims instead of doing something about the dangers that our children and teachers face on a daily basis? And now Prop List failed. So I ask you, what is the plan now? Because our conditions in our legacy buildings are getting worse with each passing day. Our children are being exposed to these dangers. And they're not just going to go away. Heritage Winsville and Halt. These buildings are full of unsafe and unacceptable conditions. Ceiling leaks, inoperable doors, ADA violations, storm shelter issues, broken elevators, mold, cracked floors and walls. Today I learned of both
009alive and dead mice. These are not cosmetic issues. They are safety risk and they are daily realities for our students and our teachers. So, I'm not here tonight to ask politely. I am here to demand answers. When will this board present a concrete district-wide plan to address these conditions? And by when will that plan be finalized and shared publicly with the community? We are done accepting vague reassur reassurances. We are done with patch jobs and delays and we are asking not and expecting a clear actionable roadmap with real timelines and real accountability. Our children and teachers deserve to walk in safe buildings every single day. And I do believe that it is your job, everybody in here, to make that possible. Thank you. Next speaker, Michael Holes. Thank you. I am My name is Michael
010Holse. I am the parent of two kids who have grown up through the Winsville School District and gone off to college and now living lives of their own. Uh thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak this evening. Two of you ran campaigns in the recent election centered around the schools and the students. Two of them ran campaigns centered around defamation, personal attacks, lies, and hate. That's why you're up there and they're not. They're either out here or they're watching a home on YouTube. I would challenge all of you to keep that in mind. Keep your focus on the students and the schools. Our community is made up of Republicans, Democrats, independents, Christians, and non-Christians alike. We all live here, work here, eat here, shop here, and we pay taxes here. And their kids
011all deserve a quality education, including the LGBTQ ones. They deserve the chance to learn in an environment free from hate and bigotry. Now, we all know bullies exist in schools. They have for as long as there have been schools, and they will continue to. The kids largely learn how to be bullies from their parents and the other adults in their lives. And you are some of the adults in their lives. I hope you're you are mindful of your responsibilities to these kids and will act accordingly. I would suggest that if you're not up to the task of treating all the kids fairly, regardless of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious beliefs, that you step down and let somebody else take over who's actually interested in doing the job. And I'm known for being
012long-winded, but I think I will stop here and just congratulate Julie and Jeremy on your hard-earned and well-deserved victories. Thank you. The next speaker is Sheila Schmidt. Hello. All right. I'm Sheila Schmidt. I am a mom in the district. I've got students at Holt High School, Winsville Middle. We came up through Heritage. Uh when we moved here, we specifically picked that school feeder system because of the diversity. We'd heard great things about the teachers and that delivered. We've had nothing but fantastic experiences. I absolutely love the school there. Um obviously, we knew they were the oldest buildings in the district. At the time, that never bothered me because a building is a building and what matters is what's going on inside of it. However, that has changed in the last couple months as we've seen
013more and more pictures and examples of what's actually happening, what these buildings look like. And it's beyond just being pretty and new and sparkling. It's down to safety concerns, health, things that I, as a parent, actually worry about. Um, we've got kids and teachers just two miles apart in two completely different learning environments. Uh, they don't even seem like they're in the same district, the same community, even the same century at times. I never thought I would have to come to a schoolboard meeting um much less ask for the most very basic things. Uh buildings that don't leak, buildings that don't have mold, mice, rodents, uh doors and windows that close property properly, um buildings where friends and wheelchairs don't have to go outside to travel in between classes. Um secure entrances. Doors, I wouldn't
014expect them to be wooden with plexiglass in them. Um I don't know. Oh, I guess these are just things I never thought I would have to ask for in 2025 in Wentzville, Missouri. Yet, here I am. Um, after Prop L failed, I sent 12 emails to different people on the board, maintenance folks, project managers. I got one reply, just one. It said, "Yeah, this stuff is important, but we don't have the money." So, I asked, "Where's the money going to come from, and what are we going to do about it? We cannot continue to ignore these problems. Every day that we wait, things get worse and worse. Um, I don't even know how to ask. I again, these are things I feel like I shouldn't have to ask for. So, I'm going to appeal on
015three different levels. Um, your heart. Are you okay with these disparities? Do you feel okay sending your fellow teachers, students, kids into these buildings every single day? Um, with your head, how does this reflect on the whole district? How does this help with teacher recruitment retention in these different buildings? Um, if that doesn't work, how does this impact your pocket? Are these expenses going to get cheaper or easier to fix as time goes on? At what point do we start looking at liability and just straight negligence by ignoring these problems? So, here's what I'm asking for. If we can create a facilities equity task force, include parents, teachers, students, regular assessments of these buildings, when is the last time you've actually been in them, looked at the corners, looked at the ceilings, prioritize our legacy
016schools, eradicate immediate resources for the health and safety issues, and please, we can't ignore this any longer. Next speaker, Jamie Locker. Good evening, board and superintendent Dr. Bishop. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm a parent of a Holt High School student at one of our district's legacy schools. After the failure of Prop L, I'm here to ask for immediate action. I want to start by saying we have been a proud member of the Hol family for the past four years and have met some of the most amazing parents, kids along with exceptional teachers and staff. However, the conditions that the students and faculty must endure daily is completely unacceptable. This ranges from pipes breaking, leaking roofs, mold, bathrooms and sewage backing up, mice, mice holes, bathroom stalls not locking, missing ceiling tiles,
017roaches, classroom doors not locking, cracked tiles, lack of handicap accessessibility, and the list goes on. We can provide pictures if needed so you can see what our kids and faculty see daily. It's disheartening and dangerous for students to learn and staff to work in a space falling apart around them. Can we honestly say that we are setting them both up with a successful learning environment? I ask that we start taking the proper safety and health precautions, not band-aid fixes, and be proactive when it comes to the lives of our children, which should always be the number one priority. Holt hasn't received the same security upgrades or modern resources as the newer schools in our district. What message is this sending to the kids? that their value, safety, health, and security hung in the balance of
01823 votes and their lives are second class simply because of the school buildings they attend. It's our responsibility as parents and adults to protect our children at all costs. My oldest son is graduating this year and has been called by other peers in the district as attending the ghetto school of Wsville, which is infuriating and extremely offensive. No child should feel this way, not in a district with this kind of funding. The real tragedy is that our students and staff are paying the price for years of poor decisions they had no control over and became collateral damage in the process. It's time to stop the years of band-aid fixes. All of this could have been prevented if the past and admin had the same pride for our three schools as we do. Frankly, they should
019all be ashamed of themselves for letting these schools be neglected for so long. Basic maintenance went out the door a long time ago. Our three schools deserve the same respect, safety, and investment as every other school in this district. We are placing our faith in you to help change a painful narrative, one that's been accepted for far too long, that these schools don't matter as much as others in the district. We know they matter. We love them deep down in our hearts and will continue to fight for them. Our children deserve better and with your support, we can finally do what's right for the students and staff moving forward. I leave you with these questions. What will you do to restore trust and show these students and staff they matter just as much as anyone
020else? Who here will finally stand up for them and make a difference? The time is now. Thank you. Next speaker, Alicia Kirkov. All right, next speaker, Tony Campanella. Uh, hello. I My name is Tony Campanella, as you just heard, and I am currently a junior at Holt High School. At the beginning of the year, we had a fire water mane explode, which sent water all throughout the downstairs area of our school. After that happened, I noticed not too long after that that the work being done slowed down to nothing. So, I took it upon myself to send an email to Brian Bishop, superintendent, where I included pictures of the work that was not being completed. Also, in this email, I included pictures of our deteriorating facilities. After I sent that email, I later got a
021response that said, "I also agree that the legacy buildings need improvement, which began this past summer at Holt in the stadium to improve ADA compliances, facts, and welding areas." To me, as a student, I felt like my problems that I stated were completely ignored. I have gone to each legacy school. I started at Heritage and kindergarten. I went to Wville Middle for seventh and eighth grade. And I've spent my last three years at HOL. I know for a fact that many teachers have complained about the state that we're being educated in. So, here's just a short list of the things I've compiled. The boy's bathroom by the main entrance doesn't have locks on the stall doors. There is a rat hole in the student council room that rodents crawl out, as well as multiple other
022halt holes in the school walls. Just earlier today, exactly, a rat was a rat was found in one of the science classrooms. Multiple teachers that have classrooms in the cafeteria area have complained about water damage and potential mold as well as science classrooms in the A400 hallway. There was currently a wasp infestation in the choir room. And not to mention, the last two years we have been let out early at the beginning of the school year due to large maintenance issues that could be prevented if Holt was updated. My big question is, is anything going to be be done now that Prop L did not pass? Because none of these issues are new. While Northwind and Liberty are getting new additions added to their facilities, at least once a week, we are having sewage backups
023in our locker rooms and bathrooms. Because at the end of the day, I should feel proud to be an Indian. But when I tell somebody I go to HOL and all I get is a look of disgust, I'm not. I should take pride in the school that I go to, and I try my very best to. But it gets to a point where if nobody else is going to stand up and tell you guys how it really is, I feel as as a student that I should do it myself. If any of you in this room would like the pictures I've compiled over this past six to eight months, you can email me directly and I will send them your way. Thank you. I have a request. Is it possible Is it possible for Tony
024Campanella to send us that list of items? Thank you. Next speaker, Dana Deabovi. Hi everyone and congratulations to our new board members. I'm Dana Delabovi. I am a parent of two students who graduated from our system and I'm also a substitute teacher at Heritage. Um I'm here today to both support and praise our Barfield Early Childhood Center and early childhood special ed in general. I want to tell you a story about one of my sons. My son was an early childhood specialed student on the autism spectrum. He attended Barfield. By the time he finished Barfield, he no longer had an IEP. He was a mainstream student. In his kindergarten year, he was accepted into Horizons, which is the gifted program in the district. He graduated high school with honors. He attends Missou and last week
025he was one of 10 students awarded five beta kappa. So I want to say never give up on our special ed students. There is so much that can be done, especially with early intervention, to take students that might otherwise have a lot of problems in certain learning environments, and help them to really achieve not only their full potential, but a higher potential than probably was ever expected. And we live in an age now, we live in a time in our country where there's real concern about educational funding cuts. And unfortunately, we have a Secretary of Health and Human Services who is very much restigmatizing autism and the autism spectrum. And so I just want to say a reminder that as we go through this challenging time, we not forget our early childhood special ed students
026and also the ancillary program of parents as teachers because that helped me a great deal too in working with my son. And since I have a couple of seconds left, I just want to mention something else very positive. 10 students at Missou won five beta kappa last week. Three were Timberland High School graduates. 30% of the Missou five Beta Kappa students went to Timberland. So, yay for that high school. Next speaker, Amy Arnett. Good evening. My name is Amy Arnett. I am a proud parent of students at Heritage and Wentzville Middle, a substitute teacher, PTA president at Heritage, a football board member for the Junior Indians, and director of the new Junior Indians cheer program. To say I'm invested in the Holt community would be an understatement, especially considering I didn't move here until 2018.
027Since then, we've become proud Holt Indians, and I can confidently say that every parent I interact with feels the same pride. But unfortunately, our buildings do not reflect the Wville School District standard that other schools are fortunate to enjoy and quite frankly take for granted. We've waited patiently for our turn for the care, attention, and respect that our schools genuinely deserve. And once again, with Prop L failing by just 0.2%, our schools are left with nothing. I understand there's talk of introducing another plan for the August ballot, but we cannot wait for another four months for another vote that would now require twothirds majority instead of the 47ths needed in April. Our students, staff, and families need action now. Let's be honest, our buildings are unsafe. Cracked floors, leaked ceilings and windows, exposed wiring, mold
028from water damage, doors that don't meet safety standards, sewage backups, dead rodents, nonADA compliant features, asbestous, the list goes on. How is this acceptable? How is this healthy? Would you be okay working and learning in that kind of environment every day? What will it take? A catastrophe, a crisis. When will enough when will enough finally be enough? The legacy schools are in dire need. I've done my part. I voted for many of you on the board of education with hope that you would bring about real change. I voted yes when schools were needed, believing that our turn would come, too. I was naive. The legacy of schools continue to be overlooked, forgotten, and even mocked by others in the district. We can't even get basic repairs done. And after years of neglect, those small issues
029have grown into massive expensive problems. This isn't a facility issue. This is an equity issue. The broader WSD community can't understand the state of our buildings because they've never had to. The only time we gained real traction was when actual photos of our schools began circulating Facebook. Maybe instead of showcasing what it could be, it's time we show what is. That's what will earn the trust of WSD voters by being transparent about the conditions students and teachers face every day. So I ask you, do you love your Indians deep down in your hearts? Uh, next speaker is Truman Davis. Good evening. My name is Truman Davis. I'm a junior attending High School. Uh I've been in TSA uh technology student association since my freshman year and I have now come to uh holding a position
030of state officer in the organization. The district has made a clear commitment to being career and college ready as evidenced by the recent push of the career pathway system in schools. Career technical student or organizations like TSA, HOSA, FLA, DECA are designed to assist students in meeting that level of readiness specifically by allowing them to both learn new skills and gain experience from within the focus of the club. Students from all over the district have worked hard all year and have excelled so that they have qualified to represent our district at the national level. But the entire cost of attending and competing is put on the students and the advisers of these clubs. There are no district funds set aside to help cover the cost of transportation, chaperones, hotel or food, which be substantial. Personally,
031my parents have helped cover the cost of state competitions, a dual enrollment, and various other things this year. And that means the budget for uh academic activities is stretched a little thin. I'm sure this is also the case for many of my peers as well. And I think that the district I think that the district uh should support its students to represent the district at national competitions, especially if there is a state officer amongst the chapter who can represent the entire state of Missouri at a national competition. Uh I think that if the district is serious about encouraging students to go beyond the basics uh and excel in their chosen fields, they should not make travel costs the reason that a person who placed first, second, third, who qualified at a state competition for a
032national competition cannot compete at the national level. Thank you to all the speakers. Next we have um the resident agenda item. Thanks. Um, I'm going to veer from what I prepared for a moment just to say thank you to the parents and students who came up to speak tonight. Um, and I just implore the community to keep in mind that that there are some board members sitting up here who openly campaigned against Propel and when they return to be elected next year, you keep that in mind. So, uh, my name is Rebecca Messik and I am the president of the teachers union here in the Wsville school district. There has been a lot of discussion about the union over the course of the last year and especially during the election. I continue to try and
033shed some light on how our union operates in order to fight against the massive amounts of misinformation that have been circulating in our community. The first thing I want to clear up is that there are only two labor unions in the Wsville school district. One local 4894 is available to all support staff to join and the other WNEA is available for all certified staff nurses and ESC's. Both of these unions have state and national affiliation. 4894 is a local affiliate of AFT which is the American Federation of Teachers and WNEA is a local affiliate of the National Education Association. Both unions are locally run by staff in this district. There has been some confusion though surrounding a third group, the MSTA. And I just want to take this opportunity to point out that they are
034not a labor union. If you ask them, they will tell you that. And that they have no national affiliation. Uh they are merely an organization. Furthermore, the WNEA is legally recognized as the exclusive representation of the certified staff, nurses, and ESC's, meaning that we are the only union authorized to negotiate on their behalf. One of the more popular rumors that I would like to address this evening has been in regards to the strength of our membership. Members of this community and board have gone to great lengths to discredit our union by spreading rumors that we only have 78 members and that we don't hold the majority of staff. Tonight, I would like to bring to the attention of the board as well as the district administration and the community the personal privacy protection act of
035the revised statutes of Missouri which states the following. No public agency, including school districts or boards thereof, may require any individual to provide them with personal information of an entity that is recognized as a 501c by the IRS, which we are. Specifically, the statute states that the district and board may not require a 501c to provide any list, record, role, roster, or compilation of data of any kind that directly or indirectly identifies a person as a member of our organization. I think that we can all agree that this statute exists to protect the privacy of individuals who choose to be dues paying union members and to prevent any possible retaliation that may be at play against them. So when I am repeatedly asked to prove how many members we have, that is a direct violation
036of the personal privacy protection act. You cannot ask me to provide you with any identifying information of members, nor would I put our members at risk of any retaliation. I will say again on the record that more than half of the certified staff, nurses, and ESC's belong to our union and the numbers are growing every week. I have yet to receive a response from anyone on this board as to why the number of members that we have is relevant to any of the current board priorities. I'm hoping this line of questioning can come to an end and we can return our focus to the important work of this board, which is providing the best possible education for our students. There are of a couple of suggestions that I would like to ask the board to
037take into consideration this evening. Number one, any investigation of an employee or of an employee organization such as the WNEA should be a directive of the board as a whole. This would prevent one individual from pursuing actions that serve their own personal agenda and ensure that the board is staying aligned with their priorities. I would also ask that board members direct all questions about our union to me personally and not to district administration. They cannot and should not be answering for me about our union. Number two, it is not currently a practice of the Wsville School District to notify an employee when their information has been provided to others during a sunshine request. I would ask that the board reconsider this practice. I believe every board member gets a copy of all Sunshine requests and
038what was provided. But yet, um, out of courtesy, if an employees documents are being given out as part of a Sunshine request, we are not told or made aware. You all have a unique opportunity to have a fresh start and try to repair the trust of union members as we move forward. Our desire as the largest representative body of the staff of Wsville is to work collaboratively with this board and the district administration for the betterment of the students of Wsville. We look forward to working together moving forward. All right. Next up is the consent agenda. We need a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. President Oh, shoot. I missed the district comments. Sorry. I was going to give you a break. Uh first of all, thank you to all our speakers for
039participating in the board meeting and and we hear you. We hear what you're saying. Uh we want to congratulate all of the outstanding WSD employees and community members who were nominated for their tremendous efforts for students and staff in the WSD. We nom we recognize support staff member for the employee of the year of Deborah Karns who's an instructional assistant at Frontier Middle. Our administrator of the year this year was Dr. Alicia Hootin, who is the building principal at Dwell. The WSD substitute of the year is Jackie Mercurio, who primarily works at Crossroads Elementary, and they call her nickname, she informed me, the jack of all trades because she does anything and everything they've asked her to do. Um, the WSD volunteer and community partner of the year is the W uh Wville Fire Protection.
040Oops, sorry. Volunteer of the year. I don't have volunteer. Oh, it's Cynthia uh Madden. Yeah, Cynthia Madden from Timberland. So, she was the volunteer of the year. She's there all the time. Uh serves as a PTO, served in the the middle school as well in many different capacities. Our community partner of the year was the Wentzville Fire Protection District. Uh for years and years, they've hosted the coat drive to keep everybody warm and that's been a huge success. We also want to congratulate our students and staff who were selected by the St. Charles County EDC, a STEM and STEAM award winners. Uh we had five total representatives, including two from Timberland, one by Lewis and Clark Tech School. We also had multiple staff members receive the Randy Schilling Grant and the Dr. Bernard J. Deb
041Bray Steam Grant, which is awarded to them. They had to apply for those and those are tremendous honors as well. Saturday, April 26th, if you have a chance, I'd encourage you to go to the WSD Steam Festival at Timberland. Uh it's a great time. You'll learn a lot about our students and the things they're doing. We want to wish our Ratchet Rockers robotics team who are in Houston competing in the world champions right or the world championship right now. Uh when I last watched them and checked that they were sitting in 22nd. Uh and they had wrapped up for the evening, but there were more going. So if that the way that works is it changes consistently, so you can't say they're 22 right now. They have a big day of competition tomorrow, but they're
042up against some of the best in the country and doing and representing our district well, doing a great job. If you want, you can find them on the website. and I've watched each one of their events live. You can live stream them. It's pretty cool. I can't say I totally understand how they score, but it's really pretty cool to watch. And finally, if approved tonight, the last day of school for for all students K through 11 will be May 23rd. And the last day for our seniors will be May 20th. I'm one slide ahead. And it is time for our kindergarten students to enroll. So, any of you who have kindergarteners are getting ready to be in school, make sure you're enrolling in your neighborhood school as well. And then again, like I said, last
043day of school if approved today would be May 23rd for K1 and May 20th for our seniors. All right. Now we can move to uh the consent agenda. We need a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Motion. Second. All those in favor? I I Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. In old business, we have the early childhood center naming responses. Okay. We recently got some emails about um the Dr. Carolyn Samuelson um was one of the names that was presented. Here is the list of all of the other um names that were suggested. Uh does anybody have any thoughts or considerations right now? Did we I know that we have it in policy on how this works for naming it after someone. Did we receive all of the information and stuff back from
044that and it was for Samson? I um can I correct real quick? They the criteria was met per the policy. So as far as like voting if you want to vote towards that direction criteria has been met would be what I would say there or the only one that's met that though is the the Samuelson I know we were considering some other ones the only one that met that criteria to discuss was Samson though the rest of them never they withdrew most of them um I'd say we got the pleasure of reading probably 15 or more letters from people in the community that were in school and they were amazing stories and I am glad that we went this direction Because I think naming this building after somebody that did so many great things is
045a great honor. Takes more work, but hard things do. You know, a lot of people don't get into this position for the pay. This is something we can do to honor that legacy. So, I want to make a motion to go ahead and name this Hamilton Early Childhood Center. I'll second that motion. Any other discussion? All right, let's take a vote. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. All right. Next up is new business. Uh 13.1 approving a discussion on approving contracts. We going to go back real quick to the Samuelson Center. What's the official name we want to call it? Is it the Dr. Carol Samuelson Center? Is the the Samuelson Early Childhood Center? That would be my recommendation, but I I just want to make sure because we've
046got to start getting the signage and all that stuff ready to go for it. So, um can we can um who who spoke about that tonight? Chelsea, do you want to come up or do you have a suggestion or uh I mean the other suggestion is we can reach out to the family members and talk to them about what they'd want as well. I I think that would be good. Um I don't know. I think we all have kind of mixed feelings like everybody after she passed and care like Carolyn um because there was nothing like her care. Um so we've talked about the care center and early childhood. There's so many things I don't know. Um, but it really does mean a lot to all of us. There's not a better person to name
047a building after. I think we would all be happy to do with whatever the family wants to do if you want to. I I know there's a deadline we need. So, can you do me a favor and just send me the information for family? Absolutely. Okay. And who would be the best point to contact that information so I can move forward with them out of the family or? Yeah. Or her daughter? Okay. Can you send me her contact info? Okay. Yes. Thank you. All right. We'll talk about there was some discussion about approving contracts. Do you want to expand on that? That was me. the last board meeting we were talking about the individual that that submitted payment request late for $150 service thing and you said you wanted to talk more about that. Yeah.
048I didn't know we were going to do that today. Um table till next month. Motion to table. Okay. All right. Do we even need to vote for that since to table? I don't think we have to vote. I should check my cheat sheet. Um, last or next up is board member comments. Is there any board members that have anything to say this evening? I guess just a quick like as far as I mean we heard from a bunch of speakers tonight like what do we need to do to figure out what the next steps are? I mean, that's a brutal question. Uh, and I'm going to speak frankly. I inherited a mess. I mean, I'm just going to tell you what it is. I inherited a mess and we did put the prop on and
049the community voted and spoke on that. And so now our team has already met twice talking about options. But, you know, the repairs and I think somebody brought it up and I I'll agree with them. These are repairs that should have been done that were minor in nature when they first came up and they weren't done. And now they've become major repairs that require lots of money to fix. And so what we're doing right now is going through that exact list of everything that we know is there. Like I I can tell you right now when you talk about leaking, that's called tuckpointing. The reason buildings leak, especially brick buildings, is they're like sponges. And Josh taught me that. But they're like sponges. And so they leak. And if you don't tuck point, and you
050should technically tuck point every time that you roof, and that hasn't been done. And so, Wville Middle, we know there's a leak area that we're going to tuck point that would have been done with the bond, but that's going to cost a ton of money. So, each one of those now, they become priority projects. It halted sewage. We we know that's there. That was supposed to be improved. That's got to be So, that's now priority one for Holt. Like, we're looking at those things and talking about what those are right now. Unfortunately, you only have so much in your capital budget that you can spend and not passing Prop L puts some challenges in that. We were we, you know, we were ready to move forward with that. The reason it came in April was
051because we could start some summer work and get rolling with that. And so now it's we spent some time looking at why did Prop L fail? What Greeceyncs voted down against it um and really work through a lot of things like that. So now it's it's literally just the priorities. I heard some people talking about band-aids and and the reality is some of these are band-aids. Some of them you've got to figure out like when we talked we just spent $50,000 in concrete um in 2023, but those are those are minor projects. Those aren't that's not the money that needs to be done to actually repair buildings. And that's the struggle that we're all challenged and facing right now. So, I'm not prepared to tell you exactly what that plan looks like right now. It's
052it's really a recalibration. We're a week removed from it. And you know, like I said, we've had two meetings. Uh we're looking at budget. We're talking about some options that we very well could be bringing to the board um that are a little bit different than anything's ever brought before, but that could generate some money to do some more of these projects. So, we we hopefully by next month we'll be ready to kind of talk through some of those options that we're exploring and move forward with them. Again, the other challenge that you run into now is getting work done. A lot of this work has to be done when students aren't in the building. You you can't work a lot of these things when kids are in the building because you you can't have
053school. So, this delay makes that a problem as well. I um I would just I guess I'm looking for some board feedback on this. if anybody else would be interested in maybe Josh taking us whether it's on a weekend day. I'm not trying to get you to work on the weekend but it's just a suggestion. um going to Heritage Winville Middle Hole and not not not doing the look around to see all the things, but look at all the things that they pointed out like the hole where the rats come in and uh the mold and the leaks and go in the places where all this all the things are happening so we can have a better idea so that we can communicate that with the community. All right. So any I I mean that's
054something I would support. I don't know if anybody else would support. I mean time to be determined but to tour. Um I mean I would say sooner rather than later maybe not this month. it's almost over but or even right after school at top. So, um, one of the questions I had and I'm sure you guys are working on it, but you know, we have a pretty healthy fund balance. Like, can you guys please be quiet in the audience? We can't hear each other. So, we we keep a good fund balance. Like, the district wants to be fiscally conservative, but I think we have a lot of health issues I think that we need to address as well too and safety issues. like is that something that we can dip into to do some of
055these repairs that need to happen over the summer? And and that's kind of I told you I'd have a plan for you to come back on in May and that may be one of the things that we're disc well it is I'm I don't mean to be vague. It is definitely something we're discussing. Uh part of the issue you run into is the way that revenue works in school districts. We don't know what our revenue is until July. And so whatever your excess or quote excess revenue is, you won't know what that number is and you don't get paid out on it until July. So again, that's somewhat creates issues when you go to try to do these projects and you don't have the funding to do that. That's the challenges. So yes, that's definitely
056one of the things that we're going to be talking about and dipping into the fund balance requires board approval. So if if that's the option we can go with, then we're going to be talking to you guys about what that looks like and here's how much we need to do that and here would be the pay and how you repay that. Um, but it's ultimately going to be something that a one-time dip into the fund balance still isn't enough to fix what we're talking about. I I mean, these are still patches. You're talking if you pull 8 million out of a fund balance and you drop it down, 8 million, I'm sorry, guys, it's a drop in the bucket of what needs to be done. And so, we can do projects. We can focus on
057certain things like that, but a new roof, for instance, at a middle school is going to cost us about $4 million. There's half of it. And so we we're in a bad situation and again I was honest in what I said. We're going to do everything we can and we're going to have a plan together and and we're going to present it and keep moving forward with it. So just one thought kind of throwing out some things. Um I know the district, it's been several years did a reallocation. I don't know if that's something that can be looked into if that's something you guys thought about. Um and I know there's different buckets that have to be spent on different things. So I don't understand 100% of the reallocation, but I know it's been done
058in a p in the past. Part of what we're talking about is reallocation. So when you have fund surplus like this, you have to determine how that how you're going to put that into which fund you're going to put it into. One, two, three, or four. I mean, we can get real in depth if you want to, but I think we'll kind of lose some people. But ultimately, if we're going to pull money like revenue funds, obviously that comes from somewhere. So you'll have to figure out what bucket you're going to take that from, what's legal, and everything else. All of this comes out of operating expenses. So those are all the different things we're going to be talking about. But yes, that would be part of what we're talking about in addition to surplus,
059in addition to fund balance. Uh, one of the things that and I was curious and I don't know where are we currently with the uh, ECC signups for next year because I know we expanded that to North Point to where we had you know availability or we getting low on like where are we for next year and signups do we know and I don't even know right now but for our satellite locations like for our new preschool programming um, currently we are full and maintain a wait list for all um nine of those classrooms. Yeah. So, for all nine of those classrooms. Um when I say full, I mean um we have the max of 20 um that maintains a teacher and a and a a support personnel. And is there any do we have
060the ability like is there any ability to expand that to other ones that we have a wait list to generate revenue to help offset things? I know it's not a putting a new roof on, but you know, currently Oh, sorry. Um, I would say as far as revenue, we try to work it for a break even. And so the tuition amount that we've set for our families, um, is also dependent on some other funding. So some state funding, some federal title funding and things like that. Um, and so we set our tuition based on what we think will be compensated just because of the uncertainty of some of the other funding sources. We're still a little bit unstable there. So I think not unstable but watching it to make sure that we are close enough.
061So I think to open other ones right now would be a little um concerning but if we were to find another funding opportunity or something like that we would never be against it. Um but we're drawing on several different opportunities grant state federal and tuition in order to make what we've got fly. any Oh, I was just going to say, do we have a workshop for May? Is that our normal new board member? So, our May initial like placeholder for May is also on the Louiswis and Clark graduation. So, um that will likely not happen, but looking to June to having the um we could change the one in May to a different day. We because in June, don't we do the board retreat or is that May? So that's always I I think as
062a board we'll talk about that, but do you guys want to do a board retreat? Do you just want to do a workshop where we do the training? I I I personally lean towards just we've only got one new board member. I can work with Jeremy to onboard him like what he needs to know from here and then we can just talk about in a workshop like what are the things we need to do? Like what are our priorities? What are the things we want to do? Look at the CIP. Sorry I'm not talking into here. I apologize. look at the CEP and start leaning out our board priorities and align in with the the school district priorities. Do we want to throw out some dates maybe if you guys don't know them right now
063like this week sometime email them to Brian? Well, I was just thinking that could be a good time you talked about doing the walkthrough instead of doing a Saturday doing that for the May workshop. we can find a date that works. Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea. Jen, send Brian some dates that work and we'll get that coordinated. One thing too I did want to bring up because it kind of encompasses when we talk about Prop L and you know I think Brian's kind of beating around the bush but it it's going to take the community to step up and say we want to take care of these legacy schools and anybody who's driven down Highway N there's 30,000 homes that are going to be built potentially. Um all those currently go to
064Liberty and Timberland that are at capacity or nearing it. Um so you know are we going to shift those kids the whole we need to make those buildings equitable to these other buildings. So, you know, that's the reality of the situation. And I know we did a demographic study, but that didn't do we know have we looked into is that same formula of like.7 kids per school work with those or Yeah. like I don't it does that equate out because they're you know different population but you know we're going to be bringing to you guys an RFP within the next few months uh to do another demographic study regardless of what happens boundaries are going to have to be discussed it's an important issue we do have schools that are overpop populated and we have
065schools that are under um some of the other concerns I heard from whole parents is you know they've dropped down to 900 kids it makes it difficult for them to have lower level sports especially So those are all things that need to be addressed and talked about. Um again that is a massive undertaking and you want to make sure that you do everything from accounting for future growth uh accounting for the most efficient transportation routes which need to be done. There's a lot that goes into that. So to me that's a that's a good year project. you you're going to spend some money to do that, but it needs to be done. And it really starts digging in and looking at where future developments at, where land's already been bought up in the North Point
066corridor uh and everything else. And then it's going to align more based on geography than maybe what was done before. And so what should happen with that is quite honestly when you look at building capacity, Timberland and Holts are designed to hold more students in North Point and Liberty. It really should not be the opposite, which it is right now. Right now we're we have Liberty is the biggest school district school in the district. North Point I believe now has passed Timberland or it's really close and it will next year for sure. So your two buildings that are equipped to hold the highest number of students are now currently holding the least number of students. And so redistricting is something that absolutely has to be done regardless if the prop passes, regardless if that decision
067occurs. If if the community votes for that, at some point this community is going to have to discuss redistricting. And it's it's going to be obviously people are passionate about the schools their kids attend. Um but we're going to have to talk about it. So we're going to bring an RFP forward and start having some companies put out bids for that and and move forward with that process. So I I talked about that when we first talked about Propel and I've kind of been pretty consistent with it. So I think that's something that we definitely are going to have to talk more about. And I just want to comment I thought Brian the team did a fantastic job presenting the things that Prop L would have covered. Um, and I think hopefully everybody hears what
068Brian's saying tonight and what we're saying is that we're committed to figuring out a way to get done what we need to get done. But it's not just this board. It's a community issue. And as passionate you guys are about this today, you need to be passionate about with your neighbors as well, too, because it's going to take everybody. It's not just us up here. So, appreciate the passion. We're committed to it. Um, we'll do what we can, but u just want everybody to know that we do hear you. Any other board comments? No. All right. So, we uh need a motion to adjourn open session and return to closed. Motion. Second. Second. Third. Fourth. Jinx. Roll call vote, please. Secretary Bonthol. Dr. Olsen. Hi. Director Way. Hi. President Stat I. Vice President Walsh I.
069Director Hanky I. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned.