001Calling this meeting to order. Roll call. >> We have to do it that way. >> Here. >> Yes. Mr. Linds. >> I said here once. It takes twice. >> I didn't hear you. I'm sorry, sir. Mrs. Green >> here. >> Miss Staley. >> Oh my god. That's my >> Mr. Shepard >> here. >> And I'm here as well. Mr. Smith is absent at this time. Uh, welcome to the press. Our only visitor here for the evening currently right now. Uh so I need a motion to approve the agenda. Um and what we will be doing on the agenda is just discussing the tax rate as it's listed below in item six. >> So second >> it's been moved and seconded. At this time I will uh recognize Mr. Pettit uh to talk through the details
002briefly with this and then we'll pause for a public comment if anyone shows up for that in the next couple minutes. I am going to go through just a few things on the tax rate uh at least for the public that might be watching at home. >> Hang on a second. >> Wesley, do you have that up for anybody that's streaming? All right. So, just going to jump going to try to jump right into that. And uh long long story short here is that our tax rate this year we're going to have a roll back. And the last assessment year was 2023 when it was an actual assessment uh re-evaluation of assessed taxes that counted. It's odd number years. So because of these increases in local taxes, new construction, commercial taxes, we are going to
003see a roll back tonight under the Hancock amendment. A little history there on the Hancock amendment if anyone wants it. But I'm just going to get right to what does this mean with regard to translating that taxpayers in Selen County that are not frozen as this year 62 and over can qualify for freezing that tax will see their taxes go up this December and the school district of Marshall Missouri will see their levies roll back as a result of that 45 cents. We passed a 99 cent levy in 2023 and so you could just look look at it as about 45% if you want to math that out that we're going to lose about 45% of that increased levy. Um things to consider the senior tax credit. It would be impossible for me to tell
004you exactly what the impact of that is going to be at this time. We should be able to make some early predictions through the course of the school year, but we won't be certain honestly until the school year is over and concludes end of June exactly what that impact was. We've calculated in Selen County and surrounding counties a lot of conservative and consistent calculations have been 10%. And that's about 240 250,000 that we could see for an impact there if that is accurate. We shall see. Also new this year, um, uh, with that for the se for the seniors in the community that have filed 62 and older, they're not going to see these, uh, changes that we're talking about. The 15% on residential, etc., isn't going to apply to them. But I want to
005mention Senate Bill 3. They called it an extraordinary session in Jefferson City this summer and passed in June, I believe it was. Um it was related it to most it seemed that was really all about the stadium in Kansas City and keeping it in but there were there were provisions in that bill which did pass that impact us that we should know about tonight with relation to the tax rate such as that there will be a 5% cap in Selen County and most of the surrounding counties around us in future assessment years. Um so Selen County seems to be for the last 3 years on a trajectory with property values going up. That's a positive thing in a lot of ways except for when you pay your tax bill. But that trajectory is going to
006be curtailed just a little bit by this cap under Senate Bill 3. So as we talk about the tax rate tonight, I just want to mention that you won't see you won't see 15% on residential again. Any questions about that? All right. So what's our growth been since 2023, the last time the reassessment counted? Our total valuation increases in Selen County, it's around 47 million. New construction over since 2023 is around four million. This what I'm doing here is I'm taking that from year to year and adding them together cumulatively. And uh keep in mind though that the only thing that counts is this year. I'm just wanted to give you those numbers. It says a lot about what's going on in our county and that there is growth. the resulting roll back for MPS
007again 45 cents that we will roll back with the tax levy that I propose we approve tonight. Uh that's a substantial roll back. >> I'm you know that is concerning on the one hand in that wow we just passed 99 cents now we're rolling that back a lot in terms of our collections. It it shouldn't scare us in the short term because with that much growth that you can see in that slide, we should also anticipate that we will have a steady to greater collection of taxes for the school district's budget. Um the variables that we just don't know is the senior tax credit impact and we know that we've lost a lot of funding under uh special education and title funds. Title three funds have gone away. So, we still have a district budget
008that we've approved and you have hard copies in your hands tonight because it was finally uh final numbers from ASBR so we could get that to you thanks to Grace Durham and the account. It's payable, folks. Um, you still have a $1.6 million deficit in this year's budget. Even though we do anticipate a higher than anticipated collection, everybody has to keep paying their taxes. And last year statewide, we saw tax collections fall. in Selen County. We saw that just a little, but overall, honestly, we were steady for our tax collections. So, a couple last things. You guys stop me anytime with questions. I know it's an enthralling subject. Um, state minimum levy, we will never get lower, even though we've rolled back a lot this year, we will never get lower than 275. In 2023,
009prior to the levy, we were 282. And uh this new tax rate in total is $3.36. And you can see these specific tax rates there on the right hand side where we will break that 336 and we'll put most of it into fund one $2.50 and the rest of it into capital projects fund 486. I think it's relevant really quickly and I know you cannot see that per se. That is from a brochure back when we passed our levy on the lefth hand side and it's a little deceiving. Far right column come back one from the right to the left. You're looking at the most recent year of some comparable school districts. That was information we disseminated during the levy 1819 um 19 I'm sorry that isn't correct. It goes on to the left. The
010most recent on the far left 2122. Sorry about that. Um, but Marshall was the lowest in all those years of comparisons to all of those specific schools. Some are smaller, some are bigger. Uh, several are about the same, but the average levy that you're seeing is around 430 to 450 is what all those districts they're that's what they're living on with their levies. Marshall, it's not as high. Um, so long term, could it have impacts for us? It could. We just got we just have a lot to wait and see. It's been an unusual year in the legislature and we don't know how that'll all translate. But it is my recommendation that we roll back to the Hancock amendment highest allowable allowable which is $3.36 cents this year. And that does alleviate our taxpayers from
011their increased taxes that they've seen on their property. Any questions about that? Any any comments about that? >> Yes, I I'd make a comment. >> As of 10 minutes after 4 this afternoon, the county still has 1,760 uh things to look at yet >> for the senior tax credits that process. >> You got that many countywide yet. I was told they won't know till the middle of October what influence that's going to have on all of this we have right here. It just and Mr. Pit and I talked about this. It seems to me like we're voting on something and I just hate it that we don't understand and don't know better what we're voting on. That just that just bothers me >> with regard to the tax rate and how it's affected by the
012senior tax credit. >> How it's Yeah. How it affects everything. >> Yeah. That's my comment. >> And your 1,700 Jack, you thought that was in addition to the 1,200 or so we knew about last spring. Is that what they >> No, I think that's total inclusive left. That's what's left to do. So, so possibly a great deal more than that already processed. 1,700 left to process. >> We may get a bigger hit than we were anticipating. we could >> because uh the the demographics of the county are tend to be towards the higher end if I recall >> and and property ownership >> property ownership I don't know the numbers but I'm speculating >> I'm also going to speculate with this statement because I am not certain but when we look at these total valuation
013increases in Selen County I uh have to assume that that does not re that may be how much has gone up but it doesn't reflect refct, as Jack and I talked about this too, it doesn't reflect the fact that many folks reassessed for those increased numbers will not pay the increased assessments. >> So on, you know, on the one hand it can look like, wow, a lot of property value, a lot of taxes coming your way when in translation it will not make it here. >> And I assume that's correct. I just haven't verified. >> Any other anything from anybody? Jack, anything I missed for that we had talked about? >> Okay. >> So, Mr. Pettit has a outline the uh levy percentages and we've been giving the information from the uh um the state
014office. Was it the attorney? >> Um >> the we we we get the >> we get the top rate that we could uh >> uh assess the valuation from um a government office and that is escaping my name right now at the state level. Uh so that is uh >> state treasur's office. >> Is it the treasurer that does that? I >> think so. I'll look it up. So, uh, they send that to us, um, at the beginning of, uh, uh, the month or more than midmon to let us know where we can vote and go from at this particular time. So, um, the breakdown of the $3 and 3694 is given to us where would hopefully put the uh, best use within the district and the breakdown of where we will inject those funds
015as they go into. Does anyone else have any comments about those percentages or how they think that we should uh uh spread this money across our fund balances? >> As long as that makes it so we can pay our bills, that's really all of it. >> And that is the office of the state auditor. Uh Mr. Pettit found the uh letter. So >> all those so we are seeking a motion. Second >> is moved. >> I hear a second down there from Miss D. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I do not believe this carries a roll call vote. And I just to uh uh the amendment would pass, but I would also open for public comment, but there is no one here from the public. Uh so a couple of years
016ago, we did not seek public comment, but there is actually no one here to speak. So, okay. So, the motion carries. Um, we will set the tax rate at $3.3694. Thank you. And we will begin our regular board meeting in just a moment. >> Move we journ from second. >> So, we moved in a second that we adjourn. All those in favor? I I thank you. for the pledge. >> I'm ready. >> All right. >> Are we back on, sir? >> I'm going to call the regular meeting to order. Please stand and join me for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you all. >> First thing
017is the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda had anou uh for our school resource officers in it uh between the city of Marshall and the uh school district. And the other item that was in there is uh approving a critical shortage for some teaching positions that we did not have uh qualified personnel for to uh bring retired teachers back who are um coming back under critical shortage uh situations. >> So move. >> Second. It's been moved and second. All those in favor of approval of the consent agenda I >> I. >> Any opposed are abstaining? Next, I'll seek approval of the financials, which is July bills totaling 1,419,8365. I believe it's the smallest number we've had in quite a while. And of course, the financial reports contained. >> So moved. Second. >> It's
018been moved by Mr. Mr. Shepard and seconded by Mr. Lind. Are there any questions about the financials that have not been asked or raised yet? >> Call a question. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Need to abstain or recuse. Okay. Um, next we need to approve our minutes from our July 2nd, 2025 meeting. >> Move accept. >> Approve. >> It's been approved. U motion made by Mr. Carol. Is there a second? >> Second by Miss Staley. All those in favor of approval of the July 2nd minutes, please say I. I. I. >> Any opposed? Staining. Excuse me. Next, we are going to adopt the agenda for the remainder of the meeting as printed and published with no changes. >> So move >> second. >> It's been moved and seconded.
019All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Next, I will stop for public comments. We still have the same uh audience level that we had before. So I will give that a brief couple seconds in case uh need anything this evening, sir. >> All right. >> You are the public today. >> Seeing and hearing no public comments, we will move down to the uh spotlight uh first and speak about that briefly. So, we don't have an actual spotlight report tonight, but we have a queued up here to stream at home. And hopefully, I know we can't turn these lights off very well in here. Um, but before we show this, I'm just going to share with you this is uh in essence a promotional video that we'll share this year with
020groups often come ask uh Mr. Ranker or I to come and speak about, you know, what's going on in the district. And we're going to we're going to talk about the new school for this foreseeable future and this year ahead. And this is a promotional video that Mr. Ranky's daughter, actually, if I can steal some of his thunder to brag on his daughter. Uh she is a broadcast major in Minnesota going into her senior year and he asked her to help us out with this video and it was absolutely fantastic. She's a really talented young lady and she put this together and I'll I'll let him make a few remarks after the video, but I just wanted to show this to you for this month's spotlight. I'm a firm believer in this. Your school is
021the heartbeat of the community. It really is. If a town loses its school, the town will start to die. If a town has a school that's progressing, innovated, that's growing, u being very successful. Oh, wow. That'll also happen with the town. >> Coming from a building that was over aundred years old, um it it just really had limitations of where we could hold class, where we could put teachers, where we could put students. Um to be honest, I kind of felt like for a while we were becoming a little stagnant and um just kind of um not moving forward like I knew we should be. >> I was actually working um at Beager Middle School at the time the last time they tried to get something passed and couldn't do it. Didn't happen. And I
022remember just feeling really sad that you know we couldn't get this done for the community and for the kids >> here. I think when uh Caleb and I first came to Marshall, we had students or we did have students in trailers and we that was one of my main goals to not have students in trailers anymore. We ended up acquiring the Butterfield building or the old great circle building uh and revamped that. But then this was this was the dream now to be able to take all the rest of the old buildings and be able to shut them down. But we wanted to get all those grade levels back together in a new learning environment. There was u a history of not passing bonds and levies at Marshall to the effect that really we even
023had a finance company that said we'll help you borrow money but your your public's not going to give you money. Marshall's levy when we came in was one of the lowest in the states. it was almost at the state um you know where you couldn't go any lower and we decided that we were in a good position and with the school board um to be able to go out to the community and explain and and really explain the reality of where a lot of the facilities were at I shared in writing with the board guys here's the thing our projections are that our reserves will be at 3%. we will have to do things that are not good for kids, not good for teachers, and we can't focus on the negativity of the past or
024we're going to repeat the repeat the history of the last 50 years. And then from there was a community that said, "This has gone on long enough. It's time for us to take pride back into consideration." And uh we passed it with a 40% margin, higher than we needed to pass it at a minimum. So, it was very overwhelmingly supported. And so, that's how we got here today. We got here today because of Marshall Public Schools and Marshall's community. When I went to high school here, um, you know, on a Friday night when there was a home football game, you could have broken into anybody's house in town because everybody was at the football field in town. You know, you lost some of that momentum. You know, the town wasn't behind itself the same way.
025And you can see that pride and and that momentum coming back and that support of not only the teachers, but the students in the community. Our first day on site was March 1st, 2024, and we turned the building over to the school August 4th of 2025. So, we're looking at about a year and 5 months >> for us on site. >> The intent of this design and talking with architects and team, uh, whenever you walk into the building, it's supposed to look like river. River is flowing. That's what the the flooring set up to mimic flowing river transitions outside. That's that blue concrete to to kind of represent and symbolize a flowing river. Uh you got clouds above the the light, the teardrop lights, you know, that's supposed to represent raindrops. It has really long
026hallways that are also really wide. It kind of gives a space in between the classrooms for students to come out and teachers to come out for this uh collaborative teaching. And that was kind of one of the big uh pushes and wants for the school. So, and I know myself uh as a parent too, I was sitting in the car rider line last year and a this eight-point buck came running right in front of the car while my son and I were sitting there. So, we have turkeys and deer and wildlife all around this facility. So, they said, you know, rather than it just being plain concrete, we should stamp some grass in it. We should put some stars and moons and sun shapes and just try to bring the nature there. And then they
027incorporated that into the landscape and the hallways. All of these animals are Missouri animals and they're they're animals that are right here on this property that I I hope we see in the next 50 or 100 years. I hope we see this complex grow and have more schools and and more pride and I hope that the wildlife that's around here stays incorporated as part of it. There are so many wonderful features and the community will see that when they come through. There is a sensory room that we were not able to have necessarily space for in the other buildings. Uh it supports emotional regulation, um skill development for students. Um a need that a lot of our kids have and we just didn't have the space for it. Um another awesome feature that people will
028see is the maker space and um it has a lot of our STEM activities. We're really excited to be able to rotate all the kids through there. Um the students to be able to experience that space. It has um 3D printing. It has a lot of our robotics and that is something that our kids they look forward to the most when they're going through those rotations. >> I feel very important about is if you look at a lot of the statistics is intruders that are coming in um the first line of defense is your windows and your secure vestibals. Um so this building uh we put uh bullet resistant uh film on all the exterior windows um and throughout the entire district. And then we put some different polycarbonates um throughout the district on on
029entry doors, you know, to be able to stop if if there was ever an intruder or somebody meant to do some harm that it would it would the intention is to stop them before they even get in the building. >> When you're in um separate buildings that are across town from each other, it's hard to know what is this third grade classroom? How are they teaching this standard? um where now we're all under one roof and uh we can collaborate and you know support each other in those ways um all in the best interest of students >> and it's more less transitions for our kids it's better for our kids as well our kids now will go to kindergarten first and second grade on one side of this road on the other side of Slater
030Street they'll go to third fourth and fifth so our kids will spend six their first six years of education out here on this campus >> we're just so thankful it's such an exciting time to be a Marshall owl it was It's hard to come in and not get emotional because of this this building and just the opportunities that we'll have available. Now, >> feel like as a parent myself, my kids are safer today at Marshall Public Schools because of what the community did to pass this. And I really think this is just the beginning. So, I want the community to know this doesn't have to stop here at all. It's about everyone as a community saying this is what we expect from Marshall and we want more of it and I hope that we do
031a lot more of it. I see this as not just a new building but a new chapter for Marshall. So I think if if we can instill a sense of belonging in our teachers, staff, and in our students and and come May, people say that's my home. Then I think I think we've accomplished our >> That was good. That was good. She did a pretty good job. I think >> I thought she did a great job. >> So, uh, Mr. Rinky said, "Do you have a couple minutes to talk to a young lady that's going to do, uh, some promotional reel?" Didn't even say it was his daughter. Didn't even say what the cause was. So, uh, I I had no idea until just when I spoke with Mr. Petta a few days ago that
032he told me that's who that actually was. So, she did do an outstanding job. So, and if you didn't feel chills when you watched that video and some of those statements, then you probably are sitting in the wrong seats. >> Yeah, it was uh definitely the open house day was was awesome. And then uh working with getting to work on that little project with my daughter was was very nice. So, I appreciate everybody that helped out with that and it it turned out >> that's posted on our website, isn't it? >> Uh it's on the YouTube or not? Yeah. So, yep. encourage people to see it. >> You want me to just move right into my report? >> You already had the floor. We're going to let you keep going, sir. >> Um, thank you
033very much. Uh, I won't be long tonight. Uh, I don't have any action items. Uh, just some quick updates and um some things coming up and some of them are a little bigger than others, some of them are are not so big, but let's make this work. Okay. So, few things on my report tonight. I want to talk about our bus inspections. Um, just a quick wrap up of of our summer summer activities, a little technology update update on Eastwood. Um, looking at some of our mowing and ditch solutions, and some upcoming projects. So, I want to start out with an awesome awesome thing. And I I'm going I want to give a shout out to our transportation department because I think there was some number mixups before when this first came out. um our
034Missouri State Highway Patrol inspection. And I I don't know how this got out there. It was in the uh '9s, but we were 100% this year. This is the official letter from uh the Missouri State Highway Patrol. So, we were 100 100% in our our safety um inspection and I I think that comes that needs some recognition. Um, and I know they've gotten it before, but uh, Craig and our transportation department and our drivers, they do an awesome job. And I mean that being 100%, you can look around the state. I mean, at the average you see right there is 82%. So, um, it's it's a big shout out to our transportation department and I wanted wanted to make sure that everybody knew that they're doing a fantastic job. So, um, some summer projects and
035I'm not going to go down through all these. I've been talking about them for a while and all these are on our capital uh outlay projects that we approved last spring. Uh we we and I shouldn't say we our maintenance and our crews and everybody else um got the got a lot done this summer. So we got the Spain flooring project done. Career center um updated all that. Our maintenance uh department did an awesome job in pouring some uh new sidewalks uh getting the uh new MIS building in Spain. Um got some landscape projects complete. Uh we got the high school drive parking completed and they we built some different uh new room in the high school, split some rooms. So um those were some of the bigger projects. We still had a lot of
036just regular maintenance going on. Um, our painting, we had a lot of shops painted. Spain, if you haven't been in Spain yet, you really need to go check that out with the flooring and they got all new paint and we painted the uh stucco uh career center got the stucco updated also in the painting and our painting crew did great. Um, and we're just kind of winding that up. So, I just wanted to say to them and all the people that work this summer, again, thank you. Um, you know, we still have several projects to do this year, um, and chipping away and there's several things to do throughout the district that we're going to keep continuing to work on. Uh, these things don't happen overnight, but I think, uh, we have some really good
037people and they're making some really good progress. So, David, I went up and checked out the high school circle drive parking this week. They did an awesome job and it we got 30 plus spaces there. Didn't even mess with the trees. I I don't think it hurt any of the aesthetics of the high school at all. >> Yeah, I think it'll alleviate some of off the parking lot. So, >> it was good. >> I saw a lot of cars there cuz I drove by during school day. So, >> yeah. >> Uh so, moving on. I want to give a little technology update. And this is always one thing that uh it seems, you know, technology is technology. It it gets frustrating for sure. And I believe anybody that's ever tried to or forgot their computer
038login um they know it can be frustrating sometimes. But uh I appreciate um you know Wesley and our CTS what they've been doing. It it's been a lot of work and I don't think a lot of people realize especially for the new intermediate building that that was all on us to get all that technology into that building and um up and ready. Now are we still working out some kinks? Yes, we are still working out some kinks right now. Uh, but they, you know, that was a big part of the summer to get the phones, intercoms, all those cameras, that was that was on us. Um, so it really came together. Um, and we're still progressing and and we'll get those few finishing touches done. Um, our Chromebook rotations over the summer and and that's
039actually one of those things that nobody ever thinks about, but it is a lot of work to get all those Chromebooks ready in those rotations. So, uh, the people that worked on those did an amazing job. We were ready for fifth and 9th grade to, uh, get those, uh, new Chromebooks, uh, they were in and get those, um, ready for those students plus the the existing Chromebooks as they move up with that student, get those cleaned up and ready for the kids. So, uh, the, uh, faculty computers, um, we started that rotation. the intermediate school did we got all those in or uh they did a great job. They're still working on Spain. So hopefully in the next month or so those computers will all be updated. Also um over the summer we also were
040able to with shifting some stuff around and closing some buildings and moving some stuff. We were able to uh update and add some security cameras at Spainhower uh especially the old the old side. And then we were also able to update and um put put a few more here at Butterfield. So that will that's definitely a great thing for for our safety and security. Um clever touches were were updated hung out throughout the district and then our uh Toshiba printers that we switched. Um of course that's that's always uh we're we're still working out some kinks there. That's always a uh you know a completely new system, some growing pains, but we're working through it. um and working on a lot of that programming right now. Um so hopefully we can get that all smoothed
041out in the next month or so. But uh I appreciate everybody's patience. You know, as anytime you shift anything or have a change, there's always going to be some hiccups, but uh working through it and it will it'll be good. So >> did you have a comment? I'm just if you went down through the money we spent in the report we got there, the amount of money we spent on MIS putting all that new stuff in just staggers your mind what the cost of that technology is. >> Yeah, technology is not cheap, that's for sure. I >> I believe Mr. Pett had said there are more cameras in that building than the rest of the district combined when we talked about it the other day. >> Yeah, still even now I think. >> Yep. So,
042but appreciate everybody's uh everybody's work this summer on getting that's kind of one of those things that goes unnoticed, but it is once it's not working, it is probably one of the most important things. So, um quick update on Eastwood. If if anybody's driven by Eastwood lately, they have seen two excavators out out on the back. Um the abatement is completed at that building. Um that went that went well. Uh that was done probably about 3 weeks ago and now they're moving the equipment in. They actually have till December 31st to tear down Eastwood, but I believe in the next week or so you'll see some um some movement there. They they'll start on that building, which is probably good. uh because the breakins and some of the stuff that shouldn't be happening that's happening
043in Eastwood now it it's it's a lot of people have moved in breaking in and then doing not so great things in there. Um so probably get get that building down um just for safety reasons at this point. So, uh, it should be in the works in the next week or so >> and and that spot will be going to the city because of the land trade, uh, for the site where the MIS school is. So, >> does anybody have any questions on Eastwood? Okay. Um, 65 Solutions. You know, uh, few years ago, two years ago, we took mowing on ourselves, which has been going good, but it's definitely a learning process for us all. Um, we're always learning anytime we we take on things. Um, we're looking at the Highway 65 ditch and we're
044looking at some solutions. And the reason for this is that ditch is always wet. It is always wet. We can't get a mower down on the where vest and um and 65 come together. Uh, we've tried tractors, the city's tried to tractor, we've and they just get stuck. It's just too wet. So, we spend a lot of manh hours weed eating that that whole thing. Um, so we're kind of I'm not sure what the solution is. Uh, it might be rocking, but I just wanted to let the board of education know if I come and say, "Hey, let's buy a couple loads of rock or let's do this." There's a reason why. Um, so we're we're going to explore explore what to do there. And of course, it is such a main thoroughfare, we want
045to keep it aesthetically nice um for the community. So, uh, just something to let the board know we're looking at. Uh, another thing coming up that's we're exploring right now, just so the board of education knows or the community knows, we have two roofs that are in uh they need they need some attention. Uh, the number the main roof there is the beaker roof. Um, it does have some leaks. It leaks around the auditorium, some of the hallways leaks. I've been on that thing, you know, I've been here this started my fourth year um, several times and, you know, trying to look at it, come up with solutions. we're we're gonna have to um get the whole thing sealed if we want to, you know, keep that keep that building going. So, because there's just
046a lot of too much water coming in. So, um the other the other roof is the here the Tom Butterfield uh gym roof. Um you know that gym we don't use it a lot for sports activities or practices or anything, but the early childhood uses a lot or AE building uses it a lot and it does have some leaks. So, that's another roof we're going to explore on getting um you know, using some funds that we need to get sealed up to keep it nice. So, I will be looking at that and bringing those numbers to you in the next few months probably. >> I can remember when we spent seemed like millions of dollars on the Beaker roof a few years ago. Might have been before you guys got here. It was supposed to
047be the final solution, but I'd seen final solutions on Beaker's roof three or four times before that before I got on the board. >> Right. >> This is getting frustrating as anything to be pouring that kind of money >> into that. >> At one time, >> that building, it's just >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Yeah. >> I was just saying at one time we got some quotes on that roof um from a company uh that we had talked to at the conference before. Are they looking to come back and rebid that again? I don't know which company that was. >> The It was soft roof. I believe it had like a metal. >> And that that's the thing with roofs. You have uh several different companies and they all have different >> different approaches,
048>> different >> Well, this one we spent a lot of money to pitch it because it wasn't pitched properly. >> Yeah. >> So then we we we we spent a lot of money to pitch it. Do you remember that, Brian? >> Yes. >> That was while I was on the board and it was that was supposed to be the solution to all solutions to pitch it so the water would run off. >> Mhm. Yeah. And then I know they were talking about the dormers on the top and there was a whole lot of conversation about architectural design of that school and what you could do with roofing. >> Right. Yep. >> So, we're looking for solutions. Um, but that will be in the next couple to three months that I'll be bringing some of those
049to the board for discussion. So, >> does anybody have any questions on any of that? That's I tried to keep it short and sweet tonight. All right. >> Thank you, David. Thank you. >> I'll jump on in if that's all right. Mr. J. >> Yes, sir. >> I have a very short little presentation too and kind of u tag teaming a few of the same principles as Mr. Ranky on stuff. Before I get into that, I would mention to you though at some point I'm going to remember to make good on this, but it's too early to do so. We have uh passed one year with the skid loader that we purchased. All the concrete sidewalk work that we did in house. I do hope to get you all it'll be a soft number, but
050get you some idea of how much we've saved doing that in house. I'm optimistic that the skid steer in its first year has probably gotten close to paying for itself and what we didn't spend on the outside stuff. And I would echo Mr. Rankkey's sentiments. What a fantastic job maintenance paint crews. Everybody did. Most people won't notice that Spainhower was painted inside and out because it just blends so well and it just the whole campus just looks so good. But they they painted and painted and painted and I could keep bragging on moving crews and maintenance and uh custodial and so I just want to echo his sentiments on that. >> I think we need to because they do such a good job. That was one of why I mentioned the great job up on
051the high school circle drive up there. I just super job. >> Yeah. And I think they're getting somewhere around 70. We were hoping that they might get 70 at the Circle Drive. Is that right? Parking spots, Mr. Ranky. I can't remember. Was it 30? I can't remember. Is it 30? It looks like a ton of cars. Whatever it is, >> I counted them. It looked like be 30 to 40. >> I think you might. >> There were 30 there when I drove by. And some people have taken up >> 30 there. And the career center has moved 55 kiddos so far over to their parking lot. So, you'll notice it's more full. >> That's awesome. >> Mr. Ranki has been at the high school most mornings. I've been at the northeast campus, but I hear
052that we're not out in the out on Miami Street over there. It is fantastic. As a parent that >> as a parent that has to go through the high school parking lot and drop kids off, it is like night and day this year. >> That's awesome. >> As opposed to last year. >> That's great. It moves very quick this year. >> Good, good, good. >> That was something that our uh superintendent's advisory committee had said was a safety hazard. So, that was where Mr. Ranki brought those bids and started on that. The northeast campus traffic flow I'll say too always difficult at Spainhower because of the age of the kiddos but that's down to that's down to about 10 minutes of kind of really busy chaotic and Lincoln Street itself there was not a stop
053line on Lincoln Street by the fifth day of school and that was unheard of. Um so pretty pleased with that. Have heard just as much or more good than anybody that might complain about having to wait a little bit. I think everybody's figured that out really quickly. So, just wanted to mention that before I get on topic, which is brief. Um, so just going to jump around a little bit. I only have two slides. Um, we've already discussed theou. There is a new distribution van being discussed. The distribution vehicle is what distributes uh, among other things, district commodities, food to the kitchens. So, it qualifies for some food service funds that we always have a restricted ability to use. And our current distribution van has seen its more useful years. Let's just say um Mark
054Grass drives that van and he's been putting up with it. Uh doing a lot of things this summer not like like not having air conditioning and dying and moving traffic and things of that nature. Uh it's just been such a stopand go vehicle. So we'll just have to disclose that when we sell it, but it's it's time for it to go. So that's a bid that you're going to have coming to you. The fleet, I'm talking about our vehicles because we need to get to buses soon. And even though we have, yes, we do have a budget deficit, but we've got to keep thinking about, I think, raising our standard of expectations now that we have less schools, I think we have the ability to to do things better than we did before with less
055places like Mr. Ranky talked about the ditch along the high school. I would talk about and you can see in that lower left image, we did a lot of landscaping around Spainhower this year. There's just areas like the ditch of the high school. Now, yes, we are saving compared to contracting out. Our last mowing contract was was it 60,000, Mr. Ranky? at 5560,000 a year we paid to mow. We're doing that ourselves now 2 years we're going to have less places to mow which is really really exciting because we've honestly be fair to say we've survived up to this point and now we want to kind of thrive and do better. So one of the things we've done you can see in that lower lefth hand image that is uh one of several places around
056Spainhower where that was a lowlying area near concrete. It wouldn't they couldn't mow all the way up to it. It would end up having standing grass and looking bad. So, we've got some landscaping and rock down there. We would like to do that on the campuses we have left now. It'll just cut down on how much do we weed, how easy is it to spray without it just looking like a bunch of dead grass. Um, and that would be extremely helpful. And if we could get guys off of that ditch for 8 hours a week that they're weed eating it, we would like to look at another investment in equipment and talk about it and see if the board's receptive to this idea. They have these finish mowers that pull behind a tractor. They can
057mow 14 well they can mow from 12 to 16 feet at a time. That's not going to mow every inch of a campus. But our theory here that we've been discussing and want to speak to the board about tonight is if we had something like that, could a person go out one 8 hour day a week when they used to be weed eating a ditch and could they go to every campus and hit them in one day and knock out the big spaces and then they have more time for trimming and spraying and taking care of bushes and just increase what our campuses can look like in terms of their curb appeal. >> These have the decks that raise up. They raise up a lot like a batwing, bush hog mower, an egg, >> which
058save a lot of manh hours. >> Save a lot of lot of hours. >> Also pay for itself within a few years. >> Well, our thought is also this same tractor. This would be an upgraded tractor. The one we have won't have the horsepower. >> We need to think about snow removal. Um we we have a great fleet, but one of the hardest things you can do to any pickup is put a blade on it and wear out the ball joints and go back and forth a thousand times every snowstorm. Um, we thought about a tractor like this with a big loader, a rear and front blade that could angle in conjunction with the skid steer. We think that could really help us with our snow clean up. The MIS campus alone, they're going to
059have to pile snow and move it in a heavy snow event. >> And our goal is move it as quick as you can so we can have school again. >> How big is our tractor we're using now? >> Currently, you got a 25 horse tractor. We really need about a 60. >> That's just step above a lawn mower. >> It really is. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's something I if the board's open to it, we would like to bring some things for you to consider. We want to talk with the our guys and our crews and maintenance and get some professional opinions, but we'd like to start shopping for this possibility. Um, as we've mowed for two years now, we think that this would we're we're spending 50 hours a week mowing and not trimming, and
060we think this would help with what our campuses look like. >> Looks like a good idea. >> So, any thoughts about that? You can stop me, but otherwise, last two things here. uh career center has a memorial fund um in memory of someone that was donated to it that hasn't been updated for some time. We learned from Commerce Bank. You're going to have a motion later. We're just asking to name some people in our board minutes so that we can update the bank's records on that and it's not where we do our normal banking business. Um last thing I'm going to just share with you early because you'll hear a lot more about it at some point in time. Um, we're going to want to bring in Renee, our u special education director, to talk
061about this, but I think as a district, and uh, Jack and I keep saying we hope we never talk about CO, but it's going to be a long time before that'll be true. Um, you you have some some some implications from CO that we're seeing as these kiddos from that time period are getting coming up through the grades now. And one of them, unfortunately, is that we have a lot more high need students in our district than we had prior to co. We have a lot more students that are not able to use the restrooms and take care of some of their basic hygiene needs like they used to. And you've got some of uh well, we've got a school here in Selen County that's closing where we had places that we might sometimes outsource
062um county or state resources and we're going to lose some of those. We're going to have to start talking about high needs classrooms. And we probably need two of them. And and we really probably need them by next school year at about the Spain grade level to help with these students who just have much higher needs than we've seen before. Um so those are some new business goals, new business on the board agenda, I should say, and some new goals to discuss for this year ahead. If there's no questions, I'll wrap it up with a financial update. I'm just full of exciting reports tonight. financial update. Updated and approved budget is printed and in our board of education's hands. Um that just summarizes the budget that you approved back in June. Um the deficit remains
063officially at 1.6 million. We do hope that that's closer to one. And as we said last year, we could not predict, it's kind of like the senior tax rate. We couldn't really predict the efficiencies in our operations with the closure of these schools. Um having all these people under one roof, not traveling teachers, etc. We do anticipate some major operation efficiencies and and we're optimistic still that we're going to balance that budget in our operations this year. We just aren't betting on it. So, we're going to move forward with that budget and updated numbers at a $ 1.6 million deficit. And I hope that I tell you that we save a whole bunch more than that because when we closed Southeast first, that was our small experiment. We doubled our savings with the closure of
064that building in one year. I think we predicted 250,000 and we were able to calculate half a million if I remember correctly. Last few things very very quickly. Still on track with our distribution maintenance and bus barn. You you've seen the fence has moved behind MIS. Um they're actually roofing the standing portions of the distribution building today. They've poured footers. Um so just reminding our public, you can't see it back there, but exciting things to come with that. And our goal that Mr. Shanki and I have been discussing is we're we're getting closer and closer to getting um um getting our current bus barn property looked at and evaluated for price point and we hope that we're listing it by December if everything keeps going well. Um so we shall see, but so far so
065good. And then our audit, our district audit happens each August. So that ensued in the first week of this this month. I guess we're still in August. Um and you know, I have nothing to tell you too much besides that we had good conversations. There was a lot of things that are good, a lot of things we're still waiting to see, but be about November and we'll have the final audits reports for you. But no surprises initially everything's going well. So that is my entire report if you have no questions for me. >> Yes, sir. M >> Mr. P, what's the require on the status of the cell phones we can't have anymore? How's that going? >> Uh, great question on the cell phone status. It's been mostly positive. There's been a few cell phones
066taken from my understanding. Mr. Ranky may have some other stories. I mean, it's been it's not been nothing, but it's been surprisingly. >> Talking to the high school and middle school administration, I think they're they were really happy. I mean, it it hasn't been perfect. Um, but I think the kids have been really good and pretty receptive to it. Um our uh one of our principles was really last week, the first week of school, he was just he was he had to tell me that at lunch it was so nice to actually see the kids talk to each other instead of everybody be on their cell phone and and that was really nice to hear. So I think uh you know all in all you knew it was going to be a little bit of
067a a change, but all in all I think it's going pretty well. >> Good. Thank you. >> Yeah, you bet. Moving down to old business. Um I guess I will yield to Mr. Pettit to give us a brief update on Northwest, but uh we on the board know that we are kind of just waiting and that uh timeline has been extended out to I believe the end of September >> and that and that's really the majority of it. We have another board meeting pretty quick turnaround with the tax rate hearing. I think this will be a larger topic of discussion next month. Not to not to withhold anything from the public, but there's so much we don't know. All we know right now is that the deadline for closing has been pushed. Um that means
068the earnest money was forfeited and the rest is um speculation and hopefully we know a lot more with certainty the next time we meet so we can get in greater depth with that discussion. >> So under new business um uh there are a few positions we've talked before about the RN nurse practitioner position. Uh previously as a school district we have been outsourcing that or paying um more of a consulting type of fee for someone to oversee those uh services. Um and Mr. Pettit was able to find an individual that was willing to come to the school district. Um you know that uh RN and nurse practitioner rates are very high and that someone is willing to come here and uh do this for a rate that is uh affordable and feasible for our budget
069and makes sense for us to do within the district. And I believe they're also going to be taking over a nurse position as well. Uh so that would be us eliminating one of the LPN positions that we had prior. Uh so that money rolls back in to support that position as well. If I've missed anything else, please let me know. >> Yeah, they'll also pick up our first aid trainings and our summer school. >> Uh so that's that'll be helpful as well. >> Um next there's a position uh nurse aid position. >> Yeah. So the long-term goal with this uh in full transparency is that to have an LP in at every building u is increasingly hard to be competitive with that. So we've really sort of looked at this long term and we're not
070there yet. This is just where we'll let things progress naturally. long term that we need to be competitive to have a nurse practitioner or an RN on staff as head of nursing staff. And then um as we have vacancies in nursing positions in order to be able to retain and recruit people, we'll we'll replace some of these LPNs with nurse aid positions. They'll get medication certified and they'll get first aid certified, but they'll really report to the district RN or nurse practitioner. And we think in the long term this is going to help us to retain and recruit employees better um and have the most highly qualified person possible in district at all times. >> And then the last uh um underneath this new business is the distribution van purchase. I believe in your packet
071there were uh two uh photos and descriptions of a van. One was a new 2025 vehicle. I think that was somewhere around $72,000, I believe, uh, for the new van. And then there was one that was a 20 23 or 2022 van that had around $18,000 on it and was just shy of $60,000. Um, so those were the two distribution vehicles that uh the two vehicles that he was talking about earlier. some that could be uh we could use some of our uh money left over from our cafeteria food service type funds as well which are earmarked to only be able to use for those things as it will be transporting food and some other items as well within our district. Um so that is what he was laying before us. >> Yeah. And it
072it's deceiving that it looks like there's only two additional but you're right there's three and one of them's basically 60,000. The one thing that's really expensive about vans, if you're going to transport any passengers at any time, the state of Missouri does not want you to have more than 10 passengers by manufacturers is the key words that they use. And to get a title that complies with that is very expensive. You can buy vans a lot cheaper than this. Um, but they won't have a title that complies with our passenger laws with us sometimes transporting students in vans, too. Um, so this being in distribution, it's going to allow us to use those food service funds that have some restrictions on how we spend it. But if you think that's expensive, you're right. It was.
073>> All right. Does anybody have any questions or input about those uh three points that we will uh >> we planning on buying both vans that we saw the thing or just one? >> This is just one and the other two are just comparable bids to show you other prices. So, we would need a motion to purchase one van over the other. >> The 599 would be my recommendation, which is the cheapest of the three. >> Yeah, I'll make that motion then. >> I'll second. >> Uh the motion to purchase the van at around 599 I believe was the number uh for the uh van has been moved and seconded. Is there any other discussion? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Abstaining. Um, next we'll look
074at the RA nurse practitioner position, uh, which was outlined and discussed as well. Um, all those in favor of that position. I'm sorry, I need a motion to add that position to the district. >> Ran, they're all under the same thing under new business. >> They are under the same thing, but because we had to separate the title out on the van, I wanted to just run them separately. >> Okay. Motion. I move. >> Why is he moving? >> He's just moving. We're we're moving and I believe it's been seconded. Do you have a move in a second? >> All right. Okay. >> So, this is the for the creation of the nurse practitioner RN. >> Yes. Yes, sir. For clarification. >> Went from a nurse to a truck back to a nurse. >> Yeah,
075there you go. >> I I went through all three things and then I thought, well, we probably need to vote on them separate because there were multiple vans that we were looking at. So, >> yeah, there is a purchase in there. So, it makes sense. >> Okay. Call question. All those in favor of the RN nurse practitioner position being added to our district positions, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Staining. And then the nurse aid position is a creation position as well. Um, as he outlined, this will be someone who is going to be more med certified. Um, but not necessarily carry an LPN or RN title. um and will fall underneath the purview of our nurse practitioner and RN um overseeing all of our medical sports in the district. >> So
076move second. >> It's been moved and seconded. I'll give that to Miss Staley down there on the end. All those in favor, please say I. >> Any opposed? >> Staining or recusing. >> Moving over to the back. >> Uh so as Mr. Pettit outlined uh briefly. There is a uh scholarship memorial fund account that is at the career center um that has been sitting uh dormant for a while. It still is carrying uh some signatures on it. We realize from some past employees and other positions. So, we just need to clean that up and make sure it's accessible and able to be used for the purpose that it was donated for at the time it was and to get it moving back into use within uh student hands and being able to support other uh
077things. So, they named in here to designate the superintendent, treasurer of the board, president of the board, and district bookkeeper as signes on the community bank account, which I'm assuming would only take two people at a time to sign for as a business account. Yeah, we're just hoping to cover all bases as far as the motion. >> So, I was saying there should only have to be two people that sign on it, but we will have multiple signers and and duplication just in case other people are unreachable when we need to execute a check or withdraw from that fund. >> Okay. As a retired banker of over 50 years, it should be something there. I know they can do it that it takes two two signatures to do anything with it. And that's a protection
078for the signes, >> right? >> And so that's why I was saying by putting four people on the account, at least only two of them would have to sign at a time. >> That's definitely should be done in my opinion. >> Yeah, I I think we'll make sure that does get done that way, Jack. >> And and I don't I'm not sure if you can even open a business account without having two signers on it. Um none of the ones that I'm on or have done before. So >> we want them to also share like the reports with the bookkeepers and stuff. So, we've listed others so that we can say, "Please share this via email." Uh, statements and things like that. So, we're hoping they'll do that. We'll see when we bring them the
079motion. >> Can you share with us the size of this memorial? >> $100,000 if I recall correctly. >> Okay. I need a motion to uh designate the entities or the uh offices as I outlined them uh to be done to be signers on this account. >> So, moved. Second. >> It's been moved by Mr. Shepard and seconded by Mr. Green. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed are obstaining. >> Um, next we have some first readings of some policies that were uh included within your appendix. I believe there's about seven of them and most of them are um >> that's okay. >> Um, he's just so >> Did you read everyone? >> The memorial is in uh by the name of Bessie Vanderline. I believe it was established in 1991
080for the establish of the support of the Selen County Career Center um where that money was given. So >> Venderline, did you hear that? That's who the memorials was in the name of. >> I'm sorry. >> Bessie Vender Lindon. >> We're going to call it Vander Lindon, but we are probably butchering that and I am sorry for that. >> Yeah. Yes, >> the memorial at the career center was established by >> 1991 in the name of Bessie >> in the name of Bessie Vanderlander. >> What's the purpose of it? What's this for? Is it just going to be there forever? >> They just draw they just draw the interest off of it for career center needs and it stays there. >> That's awesome. >> Okay. >> And as you all were discussing, I believe there's
081about seven policies. Most of these are uh there are going to be quite a few policies that uh have to have some tweaking uh due to uh legislation that was passed in the last legislative session. Um things such as um in our packet tonight would uh things such as homeschool uh individuals being able to participate within uh sports. Um we of course had updated our policy for cell phones. Many districts have not. Uh so this is not going to prevent anyone from playing football or doing anything currently now if they choose to uh join a fall sport because that is mandated by law. This just cleans up the books and replaces our old policies with new ones. So we'll have first readings and then we will go and adopt those as well in the future.
082>> Move we accept first reading. >> That's just first reading. >> Yeah. Got a motion. >> So Oh wait, I'm sorry. Apologies. I'm out of line. So, I will be seeking a a motion to adjourn to close session. I just wanted to remind that uh we have >> No, I can move it. >> We will have a region five uh uh MSBA region 5 meeting September 3rd at 6:00 p.m. in Warrenburg if anyone is interested in attending that evening. So, >> I I want to make a quick comment before we adjourn. Um my son is at the high school and the new food service, he's he's says it's awesome. Now, he's a 15-year-old boy, will eat almost anything, but He says it's a vast improvement over last year. >> My son says the same thing.
083Says it's it's been our service is vast improvement over what >> everything except for the chicken tacos the other day. >> But other than that, he said it's been wonderful. >> Good. >> So, I just wanted to >> let everybody know like it's being very well received. >> Thank you. >> I have heard those comments as well in the community. So, I don't have children in the district anymore, but I did have a 15-year-old boy and I know what happened there. So, Do you have a motion at all for adjournment? >> Madam second. >> It's been moved and seconded by Mr. Carol and Mr. Linds. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> Any oppose or abstaining? >> We'll move towards close session. Thank you.