001[clears throat] 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. >> There was a train. I just avoided it. But if they were already there, they might be stuck at it. at 4:30. >> Let me just note that Jenny is not going to be here tonight nor will kill. Okay. >> So, we didn't hear from Renee, so you may expect her to to come in. She got caught behind a train or something like that. >> She That's correct. So this is this would be this is this is our perfect we like to welcome you all to our our regularly scheduled board meeting of the Laurel school district. We'll move to our public comment section. Public participation
002is encouraged in the Laurel School District. All meetings of the board will be open to the public ex except as provided by law. Scheduled meetings of the board may be recorded. Audience members may address the board during public comment for non-aggenda interests or during the discussion of the relevant printed agenda item. Your attendance is welcomed. If you plan to speak to the board, please look over the information on the agenda, then complete the public comment section on the back of the cards in the back and hand that to Superintendent Torx or myself. Public participation is a right that carries certain responsibilities such as informing oneself in advance of the issues being discussed, voluntarily being as brief and gerine as possible, not unduly repeating remarks you or others have already made, and showing respect at all
003times for the rights and opinions of others, whether citizens, board members, school district employees, or students. Are there any public comments or non-aggenda items? hearing none, we'll move to our next section, which is a presentation by Devon for Space Command. Okay, so I'm actually I have my notes here, so I'm kind of stuck here. Um, thoughts. This was a presentation I was asked to put together for for a Infinite Campus uh user groups training. So it doesn't specifically involve around infinite campus but a lot of the principles are good that they're just good things to understand and to to know why there's the logic behind uh when it comes to like roles based access control um and managed privileges. So uh here goes hello I'm Deon Orba. I am the director of technology for Laurel
004Public Schools. Uh thank you guys all for being here today. Over the next few minutes we will be covering this critical topic of security within infinite campus systems. This is a foundational element protecting our school's data and ensuring our day-to-day operations run smoothly. Oh, I should say it was also space themed. So, that's why I they gave me the title and then I kind of ran with it. So, that's pretty fun though. Um, before we dive into how, let's talk about the why. Imagine Infinite Campus is the central computer of a spaceship and the data within it is our mission critical information. From crew manifests to navigation logs, uh, securing this data isn't just about protecting a system. is about [clears throat] ensuring the success of our mission and the safety of our entire crew.
005Without strong security, we risk unauthorized access, data corruption, or even total system failure, which would jeopardize the whole voyage. It's our responsibility to keep the system safe and operational for everyone on board. Every security discussion starts with the CIA triad. This is a simple but powerful model for what we're trying to accomplish. Think of it as the foundation to of your starship security. Confidential confidentiality, that's the C. This is about controlling who sees what. A teacher can see their students grades but not every student in the district. Integrity. This means that the data is accurate and trustworthy. For example, ensuring that a student's attendance record hasn't been tampered with. Availability. The system must be up and running. If a user can't do their jobs because they don't have adequate permissions to do so, it's a
006security failure. Uh these three things are also relational to each other. If you push towards one corner, you usually will impact the other two. By making things more available, which is bottom left, uh you wind up with too many astronauts in the cockpit and accidents or breaches can reduce your systems integrity. By making the controls more confidential, top uh you make the controls harder to use. And if the controls are harder to use, your astronauts won't be able to use your spaceship correctly. Um, by focusing on the systems integrity or by focusing on the system integrity of your starship's flight logs, you might add so many checks that it slows down the whole system, making it less available when your pilots need to react quickly. Think about where on this triad is your organization sit.
007My district aims are close to the center, but we lean a little bit more towards confidentiality and integrity purely because the scare people on the internet. Our first line of defense is MFA. We've all used it for banking or other services. The core idea is that even if a bad actor learns your password, they can't get in because they don't have a second factor. This simple step is one of the most effective ways to prevent unauthorized access. This can be something you know like your password or a PIN, something you have like your phone, a special token or key or an authenticator app, or something you are like a biometric factor such as a fingerprint, retinal scan, facial scan, or your physical location. Security shouldn't feel like [clears throat] a roadblock. By implementing solutions like
008single signon, we make the user's life easier while simultaneously making our system more secure. Users then only need to remember one password and we can enforce strong password policies and MFA in a single centralized location. This reduces frustration and encourages compliance. As we will talk about later, restricting user permissions keeps user interfaces simple and it makes it easier to find the tools that users are actively looking for. Now, let's talk about passwords themselves. Uh, the best password is one that you don't have to remember. Our goal is to make this initial complex passphrase a one time or at the very least a very rare event for the user. We require it to be at least 15 characters allowing for complexity like capitals, numbers, and symbols. Uh, we do not require the user to change the
009password on a schedule. Requiring users to change the password on a schedule invites more help desk tickets. uh users will write down their passwords near their computers or users will iterate upon their old password so that if any of their old passwords are breached, the latest can still be easily determined. Now once the user is signed in for the first time on their computer, they automatically set up a pin, a simple pin for daily use. This pin is unique to their computer, so it is a secure and user-friendly way to maintain access without having to constantly type a long complex password in. Um I really like this XKCD comic. It talks about how humans in our infinite wisdom make passwords that are very very uh easy for computers to guess but very hard for us
010to remember. Something like this trodor N3 is actually very simple for a computer to recognize. Whereas something like correct horse battery staple is actually very hard to guess because of how long it is. Every extra character you add, you add extra bits of entropy which is thousands and exponentially more guesses that a computer have to make to get it. uh rules-based access control or ourback. Rules-based access control uh is the backbone of our internal security. The goal is simple. No user should have more access than they absolutely need. This minimizes the risk of a mistake or malicious actor. This is also called the principle of least privilege. The simplest way to delegate these roles is using job titles. There may be some variation your groups based off of which school they were assigned to or
011which year, but job title is a great way to start. Uh setting permissions based on job title can also help ensure that the union is happy with you because it ensures that everyone who is working a specific job has the same job expectations. Uh delegations based on next year/ this year previous year are also important things to think about in infinite campus. Who actually needs to look at that older data? Never use the individual permissions. Checkboxes and IC is IC specific. Um you will you will inevitably encounter people who are upset because you're taking away their rights or their permissions. Much of the time users will also tell you of this when they've just forgotten to do something. Um if you actually did remove their permissions, it is critical to explain that it's about their
012job function, not about them as a person. By focusing on the role, it becomes a secretary shouldn't be expected to edit IEPs. you're being overworked and not John doesn't need those permissions because he shouldn't do those things. It really helps you be consistent and fair. When this frustration happens to my users, I find success using the Wooa method. At first, you welcome the conversation. This can be through welcoming tones and body language. Show that you are not just willing to talk about it, but that you want to. Often, users will come up to you and ask, "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" And there's a huge difference in their perspective of you if you respond to them like, "Yeah, what?" And, "Oh, hey, yeah, sure. What's up? Um, next you need to
013understand what the problem is. Listen to them. Ask questions. Can you show me what you're trying to accomplish? Once you understand the problem, you can actually support them. Acknowledge their frustrations. No, I I totally get your frustration here. The new view and IC does take a bit to get used to. Uh, then provide them a way to move forward. In the new view, you get to that tool by if you don't have that answer. Oh, wow. I'm actually not sure how to do that either. Do you mind if I get do some tinkering and get back to you? If the problem is that they've had rights taken away, don't try to be right. Try to get it right. Explain that security measures have evolved to protect student data and they can be pretty complicated at
014times. Frame it as a necessary change for data protection. Ah, it looks like you do need some more permissions. Sorry about that. Permissions can be pretty complicated. It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to student data. Let's get your permissions fixed. Finally, appreciate them taking the time to have this conversation with you. Hey, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I really appreciate it and I'm glad we were able to get this resolved. Have a nice day. Um, this whole woo uh it actually keeps you very approachable and users will be more likely to escalate the problem to you rather than escalating it to their boss and convoluting the process. Start with a so my best practices for granting permissions uh start with the principle of least privilege. This is a key
015operational principle. We should always start by granting the bare minimum of permissions and only adding in more as the role requires them. If it is a much it is a much harder conversation to have with someone when you have to tell them, "I'm sorry, we have to revoke these permissions you've had for years." It is much better to build up access over time. Be deliberate and intentional with every group that you make. Um, so this is a common problem that we just run into in just communication. It's called the XY problem. Um, learning how to resolve this is all about effective communication. And it's a huge part of just technology jobs in general and probably everybody else's jobs. But, uh, we often run into something known as the XY problem. This is where someone comes
016to you with their attempted solution, which we'll call Y instead of explaining what their actual problem is, which is X. For example, a Starship engineer might ask for a hyperspan Y because they think that it's the right tool. But the real problem X is a faulty power conduit that actually requires a different tool altogether. If we just give them the hyperspanner, we might not solve the problem and could even create new ones. So when a user asks for a specific tool or permission, don't just listen to their solution. Instead, ask them, wait, let's take a step back. What are you trying to accomplish? Uh your job is to uncover the real problem and provide a secure and efficient solution. Um [clears throat] auditing system administrator roles. Push for this wherever you guys are. Um system
017administrator accounts are the keys to the kingdom. We must treat them with extreme caution. Regular scheduled audits of these accounts are not optional. We need to regularly review their activity to ensure that their access is being used appropriately and that no suspicious activity has occurred. Make sure you know at least who your administrators are. Um if more people had done this, Power School breach wouldn't have happened because they would have seen that that one account that hit almost well every P school um had global system admin rights. So stuff like that. uh break glass accounts. So this is our fail safe. In the event of a systemwide lockout, a break glass account is our way back in. They are not to be used for daily tasks. They are for emergencies only and should be heavily
018monitored and controlled. Think of them as the fire extinguisher for additional security. This is basically just an account that has the permissions that you need that has different credentials that you just put in a envelope and shove in a safe somewhere. Um this is an infinite campus one. So I'm going skip that. Okay. So my key takeaways to summarize my key takeaways. We must think about confidentiality, integrity, and availability in all of our actions. We should rely on MFA and single sign on to secure our accounts. We must be intentional with permissions and always start with principles of least privilege. Finally, we need to communicate effectively and consistently audit our systems. Thank you for your time and attention. I am happy to answer any questions you guys have or discuss any of these topics in
019more detail. the board approach that you're using. You pulled that crap on me a lot. >> I do. [laughter] >> It's a big >> It gives you time to think which is important cuz it's a man's heart. >> Always asking him saying, "Oh, we need this or we need that." He's always, "Okay, well, what are you trying to accomplish?" Matt [laughter] is technically challenged. It's >> always cool that I didn't realize system works really well. secrets out. We have just been going through a lot of these system, this exact thing in the last 3 weeks uh at work. And so this is like I realize and appreciate the importance of this conversation more than I ever have probably assistant and user admin, all those fun things, the permissions and stuff. If we're attacked from outside
020entities of some sort, how many times? How often? >> Every day. Constantly. >> Yeah. >> It's like so my personal account is constantly trying to be logged into because they know I have admin rights because I'm a CIS admin from here. So, uh if I look at my actual Azure audit logs, I can see that my account gets logged into probably well gets attempted to be logged into uh at least 10 15 times uh an hour or so and they're from different places all over the globe and they they basically what they do is >> every minute or two there someone's trying to log in. >> Yeah. And even like there's so much automation that's just scanning networks too that like even your home stuff. There was actually a guy who was going around breaking
021into people's networks and then patching their equipment because there's a lot of old routers that people didn't know they had to update. So he would scan find the routers, get into them, update them for people um so that bad guys couldn't do it. And one of the biggest culprits is actually microtick routers. If you guys have a microtick router at home, make sure it's updated because they are the number one like botn net. Um, and basically what people do is they they infect millions of routers throughout the US or throughout everywhere and then they they actually send all their attacks from those different units and then you can't like just go block it. So I can't just say everybody in China can't talk to my servers. Um because they're not talking you through Chinese servers.
022They're talking you through people people's islands throughout the US. So it's very hard to actually like limit or block down. Um especially like DOS attacks. They're distributed denial of service attacks where basically all of those clients start asking one website for information and all of that traffic going to one spot just will crash your servers or crash your firewalls. So, it's a it's a constant thing, but >> I probably picked up on 15% of that. So, >> the internet's a scary place is the big takeway. It was we had [laughter] >> we had a uh situation three weeks ago I think of a Microsoft account getting taken over our CFOs because so high level people do get targeted a bunch. So our CFOs got targeted and it took over his Microsoft teams and Outlook and
023everything. And so they they knew who he was at the CFO and they said, "Hey, they sent and so then he had his whole address book. They sent a team's message to our accounting department to the person who actually sends wires to say, "Hey, send this wire to here." And then followed it up with an email from his account with all that information in it. So it looks fully legit. We have some extra back stops. The wire was too big, fortunately. where there's like extra like in-person physical back stops that stop that wire from going out. But they had it prepped and ready to go and went to him and was like, "Okay, here's that wire." And he was like, "What are you talking about? What I'm sending out a seven figure wire today." >>
024That's that's crazy. And we had no idea. I mean, it slid right through all I mean, you think about how many walls of penetration we have >> at at a financial institution. And it was like that scared me to absolutely just scared me to death because it was from his teams and it was from his outlook >> and he didn't even know it. They had completely like isolated him. He didn't even know it. So he could still message people and everything and they could still they were messaging around those me. >> Unbelievable. >> That might be useful. Uh now with AI, >> it's crazy to be careful. >> Um with AI, people can actually just impersonate you and then jump in a team's meeting as you too. So if you like had a as part
025of your failback wasn't to check in person. Um they could just send out a meeting with you and be like, "Hey, I'm just not feeling good. I'm home today." And it can be it basically it's a person who's there talking as they're recording it. So it's instant. But they use deep fake technology to just like overwrite their voice and overwrite their appearance and just paste the other person on top of you. so they can act just normal. And it's getting to the point where it's very very hard to tell unless you're like scrutinizing it, which you don't do during a meeting. You're like, "Oh, it's just their webcam's not doing well or something like that." Um, and uh there have been some crazy heists, especially >> put that all into good probably end world hunger,
026>> right? >> Well, I said, why don't they pay off loans at the banks? >> They're too busy trying to take the money from the banks out. >> Yeah. Robin. >> Yeah, >> that's crazy. >> Yeah, thanks for scaring us for the rest of our life. >> Just smash my phone now. >> Honestly, not a bad way to go. >> Listening to you. So, like how do you >> I do recommend with people that you care about setting up like an in-person password with them like on the phone. We give them like I did this with myself um when I was a kid because I am like time travel, right? So, if time travel is real, how will I tell myself that it's real? Uh, so I came up with a phrase that I have
027that if I tell myself it, I know that it's a time traveler, right? It's great to set that stuff up with your friends and family so that they you have something in case they have some kind of outlandish desire that like is legitimate. Then they have that to get to actually prove their identity with you. >> And the phrase, >> well, I'm the only person who knows it. I haven't yet. So, I don't think time travel is real so far. What >> so far? So far. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Anything from the audience? >> I I just think that was brilliant. And so I know we only get 15% but when you talk to him often enough that kind of increases because then I begin to connect the dots and it's super frightening but super
028helpful too. So I just need to learn for osmosis time. >> We should do some like >> that'd be cool. I just wanted to devolve into like a Facebook internet Facebook help desk. >> No, we're here about internet security Facebook page. >> We have a link. >> All right. Great. Thank you. >> Link is I've replaced it. >> My parents don't follow. We'll move now next to then um our next presentation by Michael is going to share us a little bit about going to Washington. Mr. Michael goes to Washington. >> Um so I'm going to start off by saying um that any of you guys can like raise your hand or come up to the podium and just ask questions as I'm talking um so then I don't forget about what I'm talking about. So,
029um, so the 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th of December, [clears throat] I went to Washington DC. Is that >> October? I'm Yep. Right there. um uh for the national advoc um education advocacy summit um which is a part of the national student council because I am the Montana um representative to the national student council um which is administered by um NASSP which is the national association of secretary school principles. Um while I was there I got to meet a lot of people a part of NASSP's team. Um Ron who was the CEO Evelyn um Robin and then Shannon. Uh these people that I just previous mentioned previously mentioned they all were principles at different institutes. Um and these people were on a principal panel where other people around the um country um cuz it wasn't
030just myself who went it was students from like Tennessee. for the students from Massachusetts, Hawaii, Guam. Um, all of these people came and they flew us out and housed us. Um, and while we were there, um, we got to ask questions to this panel of principles about, um, different scenarios and how they would have handled it in their administrative role. Um, I thought that was really fun just hearing, um, how they would handle different situations. Um, which was really good. Um, another thing that we did, um, was the training for the Capitol Hill Day, uh, where we got to talk to different senators and representatives, um, just around the country. Um, and while we did that, um, we also got to meet with a new organization that is, um, being held by NASSP, which is
031the NPSS, which is the National Partnership for Student Success. Um this is an organization that is trying to build um like teamwork uh with students by implementing students helping students um type philosophy. Um they're coming out with um this organization. It isn't fully done yet. Um but once it is, I feel like that's something that our district could benefit. Um it's a program um with both educators, national services that will help students be able to help and tutor other students as well. And I thought that was really cool being a part of that and growing um their organization before it launches as well. Um another um I'll move into what we actually did there and whole purpose uh which was to meet with our state senators and uh um representatives. Um I was partnered with
032uh the two people from South Dakota that were part of um the National Student Council. Uh their names were Shay and the other one was Chris. Um, so, uh, we didn't just meet with, um, our representatives and senators. It was also South Dotas. Uh, my first meeting was with Senator Baines. I actually got to meet him in person, although I didn't get to talk to him. I got to talk to one of his legislative assistants. Um, I sent it to you guys, but you guys probably don't know why. Um, we were there for K through 12 um, education by budget priorities. Um, so none of our people were actually on the appropriations committee for um, determining where the funds go. Um, but we're asking for level fund funding from the fiscal year of 2025 to
0332026. Um, because everything is in jeopardy being cut. Um, so while I was there, I advocated for title one funding, title 2 funding, title 4 funding, and then also uh, CTE state grants. Um while I was having these uh the meeting with um Senator Danes, I feel like he was more open to like title one funding uh title 4 funding, but he definitely was more aligned with the CTE funding. Uh so that meeting I would say went fairly well. Um CTE definitely is a priority in Montana and that's something that they really thought to put their budgeting and like their support behind. Um the next meeting I had was with um Tim Sheihi. I actually got to talk to him in person and talk to him about the issue. Um we talked about um CTE
034funding. That's all that we had time for because he had other meetings that he couldn't get to. Um he was a really big fan behind CTE. Um although it was hard talking to him about educational issues uh because he doesn't believe too much in public school. um he's more of a alternate education like boarding school, CTE programs, um homeschooling. Both of his children or all three of his children are homeschooled. So, it was hard trying to convey what I needed to convey in that short amount of time um with him. Um another people the other people that we got to meet with uh was um Dusty Johnson um who was the South in South Dakota and then John Thoon. Um, we met with both of their offices. Um, they also, I would say, are a
035big fans of public education. So, they all didn't really too much like the idea of um [snorts] um the federal funding. Um, mostly because they think that all this money should just go to the state and then the state can allocate it. Um, which we weren't there trying to advocate for the board of public education or not the board of public education, um, the department of education. Um although um we were there just trying to get level funding. Um overall I'd say that the meetings went really good. I also got to meet with representing Downing's office which was really good. Um I would say that most of them took the CTE part really well although all the other titles. Um, I wouldn't say that they were a big fan, but just hearing my story about
036all of them, I thought that they might um just advocate advocate for it a little bit more even though none of them are on the appropriations committee. Um, Senator Dames used to be on the appropriations committee, so he has ties to the people that are on it. So, we were just there asking for bubble funding. Uh there was a total of 55 meetings um with all of the state representatives and state officers around the country. So yes, >> it's amazing time to do that. What a cool thing. >> Yeah. >> Is there any questions? Feel free. >> How do you feel that they're not key to public? >> Um >> how did that make you feel >> with um Shehi? um when I was having the quick meeting with him, he doesn't like uh like
037the um the Department of Education like he doesn't like the bureaucracy tied behind all the money. Um so practically Congress approves like the title one grants and let's say Montana gets 2 billion to disperse around the state um without from my understanding the department of education just enforces that and make sure that that's what the states actually use that funding for. um they don't really like that aspect of it. They also don't really like the idea of taxpayers funding um public education in that um it should go to like the boarding schools and other things. Um, so I don't think that they're really for it, but just I don't think that it's right for them to be stronganding parents into like homeschooling their kids because public educ public schools are no longer available because of
038all of the cuts that they're making to the budget. >> So, because of the timing of your trip >> Mhm. >> with the government shutdown, did you feel that impacted your trip? Did you did it did you not get to experience everything you think you would have otherwise been or so? I think with the government shutdown happening while we were there, we got to experience some things that were very new in that not many people got to experience um all of the parks that we went to like the Washington Monument, um the Lincoln Memorial, they were all like empty. There was nobody there. So, we got to experience those without really too many people and tourists being there. Um which I thought that was really good when we were at the MLK memorial. um our
039staffer who was watching us, she's like, "There's usually hundreds of thousands of people here and it's just you guys." So, I thought that was really cool. And then on C uh the capital, um the it was kind of empty, like there wasn't really that many people there. And maybe that's just me not knowing what it's usually like there. Uh, but something really cool, I got to go underneath in like the tunnels to go to the different uh, house buildings, and Senate buildings, which I thought that was really cool. They have a Starbucks underground. I was also on Capitol Hill when Jeff Bezos was there. So, there's just like a bunch of fun things that happened while we were there. Um, but the meetings, I think there were more people in their office at that time
040because they didn't really have anything else to be doing. So, I thought that was something good. And then they had nothing better to do but to listen to us. So, with the government shut down there, it kind of aided in our cause as well. >> The majority leader, isn't he? >> What is it? Thor leader, but you didn't meet him. You met his staffer. >> I met his staffer. um they got to meet um rounds, but I wasn't in that meeting because it was scheduled the same time as um Senator Dayne's meeting. So, I went into that meeting all alone. So, that was a little bit nerve-wracking, but I think that one went well. So, >> you you felt like of our Montana reps that Senator Dames was the most open to >> um the
041title site. >> And maybe it was just the staffer or like doing lip service and saying that he was kind of for it. Um, he was the one who kind of wrote down the most for the other titles because you could see what he was writing down. >> Um, >> Representative Downey, I would say his office was pretty open to it too, but since I got to meet Shei, he was the least for it. >> Yeah. >> Um, and then just a fun story about Senator Browns. I wasn't at or is it Senator Rams? I think it's Senator Rams. um he uh the other group got to go to his office and they were talking to the staff. We're having a really good conversation and then the senator came in and they're like, "Hi, we're
042here um to just like talk about uh federal education and budgeting priorities for K through 12." And he's like, "I think it's about time we say bye-bye to the Department of Education." Those were his exact words to [clears throat] them. And they're like, "No, no, no. We're not here to like um argue on behalf of the Department of Education. were here just to talk about budgeting priorities. So, I just thought that was a funny quote. Um, but hopefully um it all works because in Congress, I think I wrote it down. Congress there is one of the funding um if it does pass, it would cut um federal funding for education by 15.6%. Uh which that would be a big hit for schools all around the country. um where in the Senate it was level funding,
043but some of the funding actually did increase for the titles if that one does go through. Um so when we were talking to um Representative Down's office, we're like support um the bill that is in the Senate to um get the level funding. Um and the one in the Senate, it's um what is it? It was bipartisan support, so both sides supported it. So hopefully um cuz I was looking into it today. I think that they're about ready to pass one that would go to the house and hopefully it was the one that funded um education pert >> I just have one other comment. >> Yeah. It's kind of ironic that she he just kind of drew a line like that in the sand because you were there to talk about title programs and there
044is funding for non-public schools in the title program. So he was kind of >> yeah um he it's just like he doesn't believe in the bureaucracy in it. He just the money should go to the school and then it goes to wherever it needs to go from the school and there's no regulation behind it. So that's kind of where it was. But it was hard talking to him about education with all of his kids being homeschooled. So I feel like he was a little detached from like the public school um aspect of things. >> Thank you. >> We let him on our campus. >> Um I would say [clears throat] we could bring him back because then he gets to see how it operates, see how public schools work. um bring them to the buildings,
045the new ones, show them how well um our community likes them and stuff like that, and then bring them to our high school to see how that one's struggling. It's like we're barely scraping by. Um we've had to make budget cuts to teachers and that's if you cut Title One, that's more teachers that are gone. If you cut Title Two, you're getting less qualified educators. If you cut Title 4, Montana's going to still have the highest teen suicide rate. And those were things that I brought up to them and I'm like, you have to level fund it. We're running bare bones as it is, especially at our school and all schools. >> Thank you. >> That's what I'm going to say. I really do think you're a true advocate because even when we were ready
046to run that guy ahead of time, we were like, "No, no, no. Bring him back." >> So, well done. When are you going to run for the play? >> Oh, in the in the future maybe. >> One thing uh that um Ron who is the CEO of NASSP um he I think is emailing uh the Montana Association of Secondary School Principles to see if I can go out there and talk to them or um just be a part of that conference when they do do that. Um, so I thought that was another fun thing that >> I get to do as a member of the National Student Council. >> Very cool. >> Great job. Thank you for doing that. >> You're doing number six. >> All right, we'll move next to correspondence. We had a
047few more donations this week. And as always, we just really appreciate the community support for our public schools here in moral. We'll move next to the consent agenda. And there with uh two things that I would like to um that we'll be moving that are traditionally in different locations than the consent agenda. We'll just move those out and vote on them separately. that is uh under number a number seven. So a7 the TR35 recommendation will vote separately on we'll also vote separately on um the number C under the consent agenda because there's a job description recommendation attached to those. So with those two removed, I would entertain a motion. >> I make a motion for the consent agenda removing item A7 and item C >> C1. >> Uh personal hiring one through one, two, one,
048and then eight. >> Yeah. One and sub one, two. So, a motion by Britney to approve the consent agenda with the aforementioned removals. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Kayla. Any board discussion? Audience discussion? Hearing none, we'll move to vote on the motion by Britney to approve the consent agenda with the amendments per her motion seconded by Kayla. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? The motion carries. So, we'll bring back to the board now under the consent agenda number A7. Do I have a motion? >> Move to approve the TR35 recommendation. >> Motion to approve the TR35 by Donnie. Do I have a second? >> I'll second that. >> Seconded by Britney. Any board discussion on that? audience. Hearing none, we'll move to vote on the motion by Donnie to
049approve under the consent agenda A7 the TR35 recommendation seconded by Britney. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Action or item we'll bring now back under the consent agenda. Item C, the personnel hiring. >> May I just can we do a quick discussion first, >> please? Yes. >> Um, so we've had these though. These these two job descriptions we already had. We've updated them since our previous We're just adding additional language or just clarifying. >> We're having clarifying language and adding additional language. >> Okay. >> And it's highlighted, >> right? And this went through committee. >> It did. District operations. [clears throat] Any other discussion on it or questions regarding the changes? I make a motion to approve the updated job description recommendations for specialized need aids and specialized education aid. >>
050A motion to approve the updated job descriptions by Britney. Is there a second? >> Seconded by Donnie. Any other board discussion? Audience discussion? So, um I'm Lisa Pickkins, LUA um certified president. We are concerned with um the testing element being added in for the specialized needs aid partly from um feedback that I've gotten from special education teachers. They don't think that it's appropriate for aids for to do this testing. Um, and partly because the testing results in an IEP which follows kids. It's a legal document and we don't know that we want that to be something that AIDS are doing. Um, I know that right now staffing is tough, but I did suggest something that could work for about 10 hours a week where someone would be able to do that testing as a certified
051teacher. I and I I think does the word AIDS add anything to that that it's not outright testing or is it >> we're saying they're aiding in the testing. >> So >> is this a semantic sort of discussion or is this >> No, it's because the type of testing they're doing is something that wouldn't generally be done by an aid. So, in the spring, we discussed having um special education coordinators and the way that it's working right now, they're not able to fulfill that part of this that was in their job description. So, they're trying to have aids stupid part where we could have certified staff doing it. We're currently doing lunch, which seems like a better use of certified staff doing this testing than having aids do it. Um some of them are actually
052have background in special education. Um the others have master's degrees in reading as well as um are counselors. So they're familiar with testing. They're familiar with legal requirements and they know that this is something that will follow a kid for potentially their entire educational career. So it's about the use of aids for work that should ultimately be done by teachers. And then also ensuring that that testing that's being done is done in a way that is respecting the fact that this is a legal document that um teachers we have certification that um aids don't. So I guess that's the concern is adding that in there for aids when it probably is better since it is a legal document to be completed by someone who is certified. >> I guess I was wondering what's the difference
053between aids and administers that said administer that >> just thinking about maybe the wording. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, it's not that every aid or SNA would be conducting these assessments or tests, but um you can have someone who's trained. There's lots of options in being able to administer or proctor these assessments. Um one of them being that you have to um eventually have training from a university, which the person that has taken the job does have that. Um, another thing is we needed an SNA for our ECS classroom. So, we thought since we had been trying to do this for the last 3 years. This was one of the things that teachers did not have time to do and that's why the student services secretary was doing the testing last year
054to try to support with that. um with the numbers [clears throat] of the growing numbers that we have in sped and the the way that we have the per meters lined out, it's just not feasible for the testing. Average testing time is 2 hours for students that don't have high needs. Um and it sometimes takes multiple sessions to get the testing done. and the person that's doing it is having to do ECS through um 12th grade and they are not scoring the assessments. They are just giving the assessments and then our coordinator is scoring them. >> So maybe we could word it differently, but >> Well, it sounds like there's some legal limiting factors beyond >> you have you have to have training. Yes. and then all of a sudden if I came to the
055school tomorrow to be this person, I couldn't do that. >> No. Yes, you're right. >> Right. >> So, it would it would come as with a qualifier, >> but adding it in here sets the expectation that I think if I'm hearing you right >> if we have if we have someone who has that certification coming in, then this allow this gives the district flexibility to allow that person to do it based on this description. >> But there's like the law limits who can do this anyway. So, not all people who would get this position could have >> and the person has to be overseen by someone that has if they do not have a license like a special education license or specific license, they have to be overseen by someone that does like they work
056with the school psychologist, um the sped teacher, someone has to oversee and check. Currently, the person is still training, so they're not doing it on their own. Um but the goal would be to have that support from the staff. So in the aids in the you know proctoring the testing of students for special education like do we need if you just put that wording so everybody understands that they're not actually >> would it be that's that's probably what I what I'm thinking the problem is. >> Right. So, not >> there's this problem that seems to keep happening where we're writing job descriptions for people instead of positions >> that that's not that's not happening. We've been talking about this job for 3 years >> and that that's not happening and that didn't happen in this
057instance. We started working on the job description months ago when I said I think we can do this. We also need the ECSA. Um we we absolutely are not writing this for any individual person. This is so how can we make this happen? Well, the idea was to have SNA be able to come in. They deal with students on an individual basis. So, it fits most best into their job description and with the right training, we can have any of them, if they're trained properly. Uh we're not only going to train one. Uh she's going through that process right now. And there's all sorts of online things, third party uh uh training that has to take place. Um, but I can tell the board and I'll tell the our audience that we're absolutely not writing
058any of these for individual people. This is a general thing. We've been talking about this for months prior to even opening this position up. I said we have to have this job description going. This is not in there the way it's listed. So, we said let's start working on changing that. And then as we kind of all this happens at once, let's get someone hired. Let's get the board to approve and change job description. So it did happen backwards because we already have this position posted saying that they were going to be a testing slash SNA before this job description had changed. >> Correct. >> And could you could you come up Lisa just to make sure that the owls catch you too? So, the job was posted before this change happened and we can't
059discuss who's in this position because of where we're at currently, but that's concerning as well. So, we >> So, what's your uh give us a give us your your problem solving on how to to do this? Besides, >> we have certified staff. >> How many hours can we take away from them? You could take 10 hours a week easily from lunch duty and 10 hours a week who does lunch duty. >> The aid who you're going to have doing testing >> would do all the lunch duty for everybody >> for two hours a day. 10 hours a week. >> One person. >> Well, there's another person in there. You want to take both of them out. But yeah, you switch one aid out for one certified staff for those two hours a day. Yeah, 10
060hours of testing time with no additional monetary value to their time. We're not paying them anymore. >> We're paying them the same amount to do lunch duty. I'm just I I'm just making sure I understand you. We have a salary that we're paid and some of those duties come in there, but I would much rather have certified staff doing things that could ultimately end up affecting kids for the rest of their lives than putting that on an aid. And honestly, you're not even leaving an aid alone in a room teaching kids for spending. >> Is this teaching or testing though? Is it >> distinction? Okay. >> Okay. So, but administering a test is affecting a child for the rest of their life. Am I >> Yeah. Um, we want to make sure that things are
061done correctly. Um, and it's just one of those things where if you're looking for consistency in things and your value, you'd be much better off to have your certified teachers administering this test instead of doing lunch duty. >> Question on that point. Is this a certain certification that a a certified staff member would have to have to or is there by virtue of them being a certified staff member has the ability to special treatment? >> So that so so we're we're not really avoiding we're not really >> uh killing two birds. We'd have to add an additional certification to a certified teacher to do this. >> Correct. Okay. >> So, I just wanted to make sure that that was the that was I wasn't trying to understand that. And I wonder if the this is
062just now it's just me. I wonder if you just say if qualified or if certified, you know, or whatever aids in the testing of students special education services. I just know that I've had sped teachers, more than one, reach out to me about this change in this. They don't feel that it's a good choice. They're the ones who ultimately are going to be working with kids on a daily basis. They want this testing to be done correctly. They want things to be set up in a way so those kids can be successful. We have teachers who have done a lot of testing previously who could likely finish the certification quicker um with that background already in testing and the things that you have to do to make sure that you're not doing anything that breaks
063the law. Um and just so ultimately you would have a better result besides that your aids come and go a lot. So why wasn't this discussed in committee? Why wasn't this brought up? Why wasn't this why wasn't this point argued? >> Why is bringing it to the board? >> It wasn't argued in committee and no one brought this particular point up. I would argue that we trust our aids implicitly with the education of children throughout their days. I mean, their education to me uh is incredibly important. Um, and we trust our aids implicitly with that on a daily basis. >> We trust them with direct supervision. >> We have aids that work with kids all the time without direct supervision without having a teacher sent over to them. Um, I think we these people can
064be very highly qualified. >> I It's not I guess I'm just not sure why we're having aids doing it when we could have someone who's more qualified doing it. They're administering it though. So they're not results. >> I understand what administering. >> They're administering the the test by going through following a very strict script that they uh that they show. Just like when we have AIDS run a small group and they're teaching kids to read and they run a specific script in this very scripted program. Uh we don't want them to go on their own and just kind of freelance. We want them to follow these specific programs. Well, we would hope that would happen, but we did have some issues with testing earlier this year where we had an aid doing testing and they
065did not do that. So, I would just be much more comfortable as we have teachers um doing testing that could ultimately end up in impacting the kids like um and >> so I guess the comment was made that you feel that this is being put together for a particular for particular person and again I don't know who this particular person is so I'm just going to ask the question do you have a problem with this particular person. I have never actually worked with her now. So you're >> But it's one of those things where that's where that's what I'm hearing. And you've never heard anything about this on from yours, but >> they actually when we met with the board chair um to come up with things to take off the sped teachers plate, that
066is one of the things that they actually fought for >> with the idea that coordinators would be doing it. >> No, when we actually met with the board chair, Mr. Torx, it was to have a testing aid. We've been trying to get this position for like three years now. >> That's Donnie. >> I guess I'm kind of concerned that we're not taking the professionalism of our director of the special ed program. She was involved in the process at committee level and I feel more comfortable taking her direction which she was comfortable with in advancing. Christina, what's your experience with having uh classified staff aids? >> I previously >> administer these tests. >> So, both of the the two districts that I worked at previously had testing aids um a designated two people that did the
067testing for the district. Um >> we actually did this last year to a certain degree. >> We did because we have to because teachers said they had zero time to do testing. So part of what we talked about even in the last year and now Britain contest she was at these meetings was we we're trying to take off that paperwork component whether it's the IEP writing >> whether it's the the testing and get teachers in classrooms teaching kids. >> Yes. uh and dealing with that and not sitting at a desk filling out paperwork and and pulling a kid and again pulling a kid and I don't doubt that our teachers do a wonderful job of administering the test. I'm not arguing that. I think they do a great job. But it it's really the the
068culmination of of trying to come up with something we can try to take some of these things away. And this was something again you came to me might have been my first year here. I can't remember, but it was at least 3 years ago. And we, you know, didn't have the money at the time. And when we tried to work our way through that and and right now we were able to do it, so we're going to try to do it. It wasn't something we thought of this fall. It wasn't something we thought of uh something that's been brewing for a while. >> Sure. If we're worried about legalities, I'd be much more worried about other things that are happening instead of worrying about someone administering a test with the training and meeting the criteria
069that they asked for. >> I guess I also think too to we have job descriptions at work that have duties that are not performed if they're not qualified to perform that duty. So, it's more of a measure of if we have it in there, it can be utilized if the applicant meets the criteria and take it out kneecaps the district in its ability to search for people. >> And so, I think that uh leaving it in doesn't make it a requirement as in if you hire this position, they must do this. They have to have the certification to be qualified. Well, >> it's not Yeah, it's not a minimum qualification. It's just an essential function. in regards to if they're being asked to do that. >> Do we know who is supervising this position? >>
070Yep. It will be uh supervised by the HR director and uh it will be directly supervised by the HR director. It'll be directly supervised by our school psychologist. uh uh yeah speech uh path will be uh interpreting those uh results so they'll be over them and then uh Peggy will actually have the evaluation in her hands. >> Um what type of test are they like administering? Is it like something they have to write down or is it all on digital or >> achievement tests all over? >> Yeah, it's academic achievement. So, we have quite a few different tests that we do, but um this next year it will be all digitally >> and it's standardized. >> So, >> yeah, standardized. So, Michael, a student would uh be referred to special ed through a process and
071then this would be the testing that takes place to find out one of the tests that the the achievement academic achievement test to find out if they qualify. Maybe there's a learning disability there, maybe there's some other or maybe there's nothing. Um, so that's what these tests determine. Then they those test results are interpreted by our school psychologist. Then they go to an I or not an IEP meeting. It's a Yeah. And then they talk about all the test results. School psychologist goes through all that and then the group decides what the recommendation is. Do they qualify? >> And either way, whether it's an aid or a teacher, they have to have a certification. And yes, Yeah. I I guess what I hear being said is that maybe there's a specific personnel problem we don't
072like and it feels like they're getting pigeon holed and I don't really necessarily think that this is doing that. But if there is that problem with a specific person we don't want to do that job, I think that needs to go up the proper chain of events and not land here with us if that makes sense. like it needs to go to the you first and be talked here and then if it comes to us but maybe I'm understanding wrong but that's what I here maybe both problems can be solved without ending up here >> doesn't the board know who's doing this position >> I don't think it's on the agenda >> so maybe that should be in discussion before you >> I don't know I don't know it is discussion But just so you
073can see where the concerns might be coming from from your um sped teachers, >> I think that might be helpful. >> Yes, Britney. >> Well, I guess at the end of the day, if it's voted on by the board and Christine takes this and doesn't and it doesn't go well, then I'll be honest with you, it falls on your shoulders. >> Sure. >> Right. the the the quality of this students or students falls on your on your shoulders and I'm hearing what Donnie is saying and I do agree to you Donnie then if you believe that this is what's best for the district and our students then the motion on the table is to approve and I will back that but I'm also as a board member going to look that if it fails >>
074sure >> it's on you right and we have to trust >> I think it's worth >> if we keep telling everybody that we have to trust our administrators and we have to trust all of that and it comes to this then I'm going to ask the staff to trust as well. No, no. Okay. >> Okay. So, we're talking about a position. We're not talking about a person. >> Exactly. >> If you're looking at a position and it's a student service position, why are we at an HR directory? I guess I'm not understanding that. >> That was my decision. >> Well, that's your decision. Correct. >> Okay, >> that was Sorry, we've wandered a lot in this conversation. I'd like >> I was the second. >> Any other discussion from the board or comments? Are we
075going to change the if qualified aids in the testing maybe >> like so we can just add that stipulation in there? Not every special needs aid doing this. >> That's not part of the motion but Britney would want to amend. >> Are we doing it based off of the highlighted aids and the testing? >> Correct. So it the >> discussion was if qualified comma >> qualified or if given the after taking the proper training or whatever completed training as assigned >> up above >> attends relevant meetings and completes trainings as assigned and then down below it says aids in the testing of students of special education services. So it's kind of already >> it's to me it's >> but if you want to just clarify it more >> when qualify qualify >> when I motion
076to add that >> soed by would you second that >> seconded [clears throat] any other board discussion audience. >> Did you say it was when qualified? Is that >> win qualified, >> I'm going to change it right now. >> Hearing no other comment. We'll move to vote on the motion uh by Britney to approve with the verbiage under aids in testing of students for special education services. Seconded by Donnie. All in favor say I. I any opposed? Motion carries. We'll move now to the action items. Number eight, curriculum. Do I have a motion? >> Yes. Question for Charlotte. Charlotte, I'm just It says, um, we are exploring funding sources for these books and have not ordered any yet. So, are we still going through our same process of allowing because I know there's sometimes where
077it's an added to the curriculum and this is not a full new curriculum, but this is just an addition to help with with the title our ELLL students. Um, they could potentially be used in a special ed classroom as well. Um but predominantly in our title classrooms. >> Do do we know how much this would potentially cost? And so you did say that you're trying to explore the funding sources for that. >> Is that it? Was it in there? >> No, it's not in there. >> Okay. And I'm kicking myself for not adding it in. Um we we set aside funds in our title three, which is our ELLL funding. Um, all of our ELLL students are automatic qualifiers for title one support and services and they're all in title one. So, we're using that
078those ELLL funds to purchase the three sets. I don't remember the exact amount that we set aside in in our title funds, but it was enough to cover three sets. >> Three sets. >> Okay. I >> think it was like 600. >> Yeah, it was it wasn't a lot. It was >> total. Yeah, I remember. >> It was like $200 per set. >> I think it was like $600ish total. >> You can't find my house. Okay, >> they're on there. They're on one of those. >> There were I I think I had the pricing when we brought it to learning and leadership committee. I had all of that money. [clears throat] >> Um, and at that time like Julie was out of town and so it was just coordinating schedules to get it into the
079title three. But Mr. reports and I did that rant and it is in there. Thank you. >> Uh I make a motion to of the approval of the decodable decodable book set recommendation. A >> motion to approve by Britney action item A. I'll second that. Any other board discussion? I'm >> sorry. Can I add three sets? Because you did say three sets, correct, Cheryl. Three sets. >> A maximum of three. I'll add how much money I have is set aside. You know, we were looking at three different sets. So, [clears throat] up to three. I'll add my to my motion up to three sets. >> I'll uh agree a second to that. Any other board discussion? Audience hearing none. We'll move to vote on action item A under curriculum. Motion by Britney, seconded by myself.
080All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Action B, partnership with Bridge Health Alliance. Recommendation. >> I'm sorry. Story the story shares books synopsis. Is that the same? >> Yeah, they're just the synopsis of those books. >> That's the synopsis of >> of the decodable books. Okay. Wow. I got here at 4:30, too. [laughter] We're good. We're good. >> Oh, a separate letter. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Uh B, partnership with Bridge Health Alliance recommendation. Is there a motion? >> Do you want any discussion so the committee can? >> Absolutely. >> Let's have some discussion about your thoughts on that last meeting. >> Anybody from the committee want to share or what we all did? Does the board have any questions about timelines? I can share a little bit of the timeline if
081you don't if you want to hear it. >> We have I think it's December 15th if I remember right. We have till 19th. We have till December 19th. Uh they extended it 3 weeks >> um to either commit or not commit. uh and and they need 150 schools and uh one 12,000 employees to be a part of this to make it viable. Uh the reason they're doing it so early is if they don't get certified, which means if they don't get all 150 schools and the 12,000 employees, then uh they'll basically fail to meet the statutory requirements of this the bill and we'll just be right where we are right now. will be with JPT and then we'll you know in early January we'll be told whether it's they have all the schools maybe even
082late December and then uh uh essentially if it if it isn't going to certify and they're not going to be able to have the trust then we're right where we normally are waiting till kind of Aprilish to get our renewals and decide where we're at. Um the committee did vote. Is it accurate to say we voted unanimously? Is that accurate to say? Uh we voted unanimously to recommend this to the board. We feel like um this is kind of a once well maybe the only chance we have to really do this as a state. I think that there's a lot of power to this. I think that the personally the other state trusts uh our public employees has seen a lot of controlled healthc care costs, a lot of controlled growth compared to the uh
083the general industry and I feel like this is a a great opportunity with a very large group to help control our our our costs. Uh I don't know how many people were in the JPT group. uh our current trust about 2500 if I know remember my numbers from the meeting with JPT um this would up it to 12,000 employees plus all the spouses and kids that go with that that number could be double you know it could be 20 25,000 people who are actually in the trust of people who buy into the insurance not just the 12,000 employees but it's everyone that comes with them >> at least 12,000 right >> well 12,000 employees >> but like they could have 15,000 Okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They could have plus spouses plus kids. So, it's
084going to be a fairly large number with a lot of uh the ability to negotiate a lot of prices. I worry because have they negotiated all these things already? They don't have a staff. I mean, there's a lot of worries that we have. But, if this doesn't take off the ground, we haven't lost anything other than discussion time and some meeting times. um you know and then we're kind of right where we are right now. So just kind of a normal year and we'll decide in the spring and the committee gets back together and we decide what we want to do and maybe we want to go out and try to play the market again. >> I think there's risk in any way risk in the new that we don't know that it could work
085or risk that it doesn't work and we're right to 25%. that upside cost though. I mean, or the upside savings is where now I think >> I'm for it. >> I agree. I I think also a district of our size signing on early and so affirmatively might help other districts potentially too. >> It is mixed in the county. I went to my South Central uh mass meeting last week and it's it's mixed. Uh, Lockwood probably won't go. Billings is mixed right now. Um, Shepard's not going to do it. Uh, there's just a lot of worry about jumping on for a potential 5-year commitment with the option of getting out after three depending on some, you know, things that can happen. >> Falls apart. I mean, >> no. If it fall things, if it just falls
086apart, then obviously everyone leaves, >> right? But um it it's I don't know if anyone from the committee has anything they want to add but very I think it's an opportunity u because we know we know where we're at if we don't do it. We're going to be just where we've always been. We we're looking at you know 15 20% increases potentially next year and insurance going from $750ome dollars for high deductible plan to maybe well over 900. I don't know. So the then we're then we're sitting there wondering how we going to pay for insurance next year and everyone gets a little bit more taken out of their check and that's you know that's not where we want to go either. >> Don't mind me the only opinion you want to jump in. >>
087Is this something I guess it's an action item so we could choose to do it tonight. >> Oh the committee is bringing it as a recommendation >> but they extended it. I guess >> they did. So, we were in a position where we we had to get it done in November [clears throat] in the last week or something. I think we got a uh because some some schools only meet once a month and they just felt like they needed that December meeting to make the decision. And so, because some schools as of Wednesday, there was a number of schools number of schools in Yellowstone County, uh Alicia and a few others hadn't even gotten their quotes yet and that was as of last Wednesday. So for them to get together and have meetings, they were
088a little bit worried. So I'm sure there was a problem across the state on that. Any other discussion audience? I entertain a motion. >> I move to approve public schools commitment to the bridge of Hawaiian. >> I second that. Have a motion by Donnie to approve action item B seconded by Britney. Any other discussion? Audience? Go ahead. >> Can I make one more comment? I've kind of noticed a couple places where it got referred to as a state plans and it's not the state did the legislation to set aside some startup funds, but this is a school's proxy. Yeah. >> Don't don't because we're going to fall back on the coffers of the state of Montana. >> Correct. >> Any other things items audience hearing? None. We'll move to vote. >> Oh, yeah. >> It
089probably pertains to nothing, but I it's more for Mr. Tors. Like I was curious if there was some hesitancy because of were those schools previously in the Montana Unified School Trust. >> I think there was some must schools uh and we all know that what happened to must we don't maybe don't all know but must uh I think they're going to if this passes must will definitely done. Um >> I I think [clears throat] that that's some fear of it. I think there's a fear of it being 2.0 0 >> Montana Unified School Trust for those of you that don't know must um I think that there was some fear of it being Must 2.0. Um in fact what's what a lot of people still refer to it as. Um I I do I think
090I think there's some there's just worries the five year the five-year commitment is worried of a number of schools in our area. Um I don't Billings is a school I think they're going to need to to just the the numbers Billings has. I'm not sure why Billings isn't interested or hasn't, you know, at least their committee wasn't interested in what I saw. So, I I don't I don't know. I don't speak for any of them, but uh there's a number of school and then a lot of the smaller schools, Red Lodge lot, and again, I don't speak for them either, but when they were there, it seemed like there was a lot of support for from the smaller schools around uh in our in our area. area. So, they were all forers, but there was
091a few of the biggers that weren't sure. Great. Anything else from the board, audience? All right. Hearing none, we will move to vote on the motion by Donnie to approve the partnership with Bridge Health Alliance, seconded by Britney. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. >> I'll contact uh bridged and let >> we can I don't know. Do we actively help campaign for this and try to help and be a positive resource for to talk people to talk to or what? We can certainly uh offer our voice and if anyone has any questions on why we voted and I've talked to a number of superintendents from around the area called us and they called hey what are you guys going to do what are you think and why why not and I've
092given my opinions to a number of people we also had a large discussion last week at the super committee >> and uh there's a lot of just good open discussion about it people's worries people why they're doing it >> now signed on we have a bigger hopefully have a bigger presence in in that conversation. Now, >> action item D out of excuse [clears throat] me, out of district foster student. >> Did I skip C? >> Oh, I saw proposed and I that was my fault. I apologize. Action item C, proposed reclassification of elementary miscellaneous funds. I make a recommendation to approve authorizing the name change of graph school funds to intermediate school funds and the consolidation and renaming of south and west school funds to elementary school funds. >> Motion to approve action item Cumerated.
093>> Is there a second? >> Second by Kayla. I'll let her have it. >> She can third. Any other board discussion? Audience discussion hearing? None. We'll move to vote on the motion by Britney to approve action item C as constituted, seconded by Kayla. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Now action item D out of district foster student. Do I have a motion? >> I make a motion to ratify the approval of the out of district student as recommended by administrators for sixth grade. >> A motion by Britney to approve action item D. Is there a second? I'll second it. Definitely done. Seconded. Any other board discussion? Audience? Hearing? None. We'll move to vote on the motion to approve the out of district foster student by Britney, seconded by myself. All in favor
094say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Action item E, policy review, first reading. Yes, Britney. So, just on number two, uh, policy 2335 NF1. I'm still hung up on that language, and I know it went back to committee. Um, so I I kind of was looking at some language again just to simplify [clears throat] it just so that it's straight across and there's no questions. So, I kind of worked on, and I don't know if this will work, so I'm just going to throw it out. The term identity instruction does not include a teacher brief response to a student's unexpected question about identity as long as the response so that's so long as the response is only to address the question or keep order in the classroom. Laurel school district does not provide formal identity
095instruction and students have questions about topics teachers and staffs will refer them to their parent or guardian for further discussion. Not quite sure if it's the same as what this is trying to accomplish. So, I'm just trying to figure out if and again, I'm still not understanding exactly what that specific section is trying to get at, but I am struggling because it just seems complicated. >> Can I give you an example when I think it might happen? >> Yes, ma'am. Come on up. I would love to hear it cuz I >> So if I was teaching first graders >> and one of them was talking about their family and they were like, "Yeah, my mom's and I we went to wherever." And another kid said, "You have two moms." I might say something like families
096can be different without going any further into that. I think this is what it's trying to do so that you're not shutting kids down and being like we're not talking about that but giving it an opportunity where you can um refer pick kids back to their parents without having to like in a way that you're not being disrespectful to anybody. So I'm going to read I'm going to read what I worked up just that example. Okay, because then maybe it doesn't make sense. the term identity instruction and again I don't know why why we're using that but it is does not include a teacher's brief response to a student's unexpected question about identity and I don't know if it's the identity that I don't like because it can be so broad using your example right
097that's broad um as long as the response is only to address the question and keep order in the classroom which would be your response in regards to that I mean you're answering the question or you're commenting but you're moving through it and then if there's any additional based off of that like why but why does she or why you know why does that student have more well that's something that you'll have to talk to your mom and dad about right >> yeah so that's what it's intentionally >> yeah so but it's to me the language right now is so and then maybe it's just my >> we did talk about this at like we talked about it in leadership and learning and just decided that if we wanted to hash it out tonight we could
098or like make it better tonight. I think to me it sounds like you're saying anything >> and I think that and I where you're talking about Britney I think identity instruction comes from the definitions of domains >> which I think is probably strategy >> another thing though with when he probably talk about it but NF3 it was specifically we don't even need it because of the identity instructions but see >> chose not to be >> yeah but so that's why it's listed as that because we don't have it. So, >> and committee was all okay with that new. >> Yeah. I mean, what we added or what Mr. Tors added and we approved Yeah. was just that they will refer them back to their parent. So, cuz otherwise it's the same. So, but to me
099it I guess to me it makes sense to cuz what you basically what you change is with order and respect like civility and decorum is more or less the same. I mean, if we want to clear it up and change words or add words just to be more clear, but to me it in the end it's it's exactly what Lisa said. It's it's keep it real simple, keep it respectful. I guess in the end it's it's if someone has an interpretation of what is maintaining civility and deform in the classroom turns into a 15-minute discussion. So, we understand that she she came up with a 5-second, hey, yeah, families are all different. If you have any other questions, go ask your parents. Um, but we want to make sure that we understand the Laurel School
100District has no formal identity instruction and teachers and other district personnel will refer questions by students back to a parent regarding. So, it it's it's you you deal with it. maintain decorum in the classroom and that civility that goes on there. However, both schools, we don't have any formal. So, we're acknowledging as a school district. So, if we get into that 15-minute discussion and we go into a a teachable moment, so to speak, and we're the the district is saying we have no identity instruction. Teachers keep it simple, keep it quick, and move on. Refer back to their parents. I think that's really what the committee >> That's the intent of it was to keep it as simple as possible and I think what you're saying makes sense. It's just to me it's a little
101different wording. If you guys want to word it, >> we're fine with it. I'm fine with that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Somebody gets hung up on it then we'll just have this conver, you know. >> I know. >> You can go watch our recording. >> Yeah. How firm to Lisa? So if you give them the quick five minute or five or five, >> which is a good example of being, you know, like >> being respectful, >> and respectful of everything and respectful. >> Okay. >> Yes, Doc. I just have one other comment in the whole document >> and it's very minor but when you get down to the opt out form >> and you switch [clears throat] family to parent but should it be parent or guardian? I mean that's >> I actually noticed
102that I forgot to mention it. I meant to and I >> I just switched it and I can switch on the other form real quick here. >> You're right. It always should be character. is a good way to >> language. No language. >> No language. >> Just that one. >> Just that. >> Great. Anything else from the board? Okay. Parent guardians on board. >> Audience. I would entertain a motion non- action item Europe. Here we go. Um, we'll make a motion to approve the policy review for policy as I guess I'll say policy 335 33 235 NF1 and >> with the changes discussed >> oh yes thank you I don't like to make you [laughter] mad at me for making her nervous over there you did it great >> you guys make motions >> you
103aced it perfect I'll second that motion >> thank you a motion by Kayla to approve action item E policy first reading 2335 as constituted seconded by Britney any other board discussion audience hearing none we'll move to vote on the motion from love to approve action item B first reading seconded by Britney all in favor say I any opposed motion carries We'll move now to section seven of the agenda, which is ourformational items. Under number A, if I have again, as usual, if there's anything we'd like to stop on, please stop me and we can discuss. Under department reports, we have activities, >> curriculum, >> yes. So, there's um a an item in my board report about the Cogno review coming up in December. So, I just wanted to alert the board about that. Um Mr.
104Torx and I are working with our Cogna team to set the schedule for the agenda for that day. Um the Cogna team comes in and does kind of a mid-year review of our goals and our objectives and how we're doing with all of that. Um, this is part of our state accreditation now because Cognia has worked with OPI to allow for Cognia schools to use their work with Cogna as part of their accreditation. So, this is kind of part of our accreditation process. Now, this midyear review, they haven't done in a long time since CO. So, this is kind of the rejuvenation of that process. They come in with a team. I think there's like three or four people that arrive and they will have a short presentation from our um our admin leadership team
105and they'll meet with a couple of trustees hopefully. Uh we'll have lunch with uh our students. So, surprise with us that day. Um we're also getting a couple of students from the middle school student council to come in for lunch that day. um they'll meet with some teachers and classified staff. So, we're in the process of putting all of those pieces together. Um so, if any trustees are interested in in being a part of that, the date is well, put it in there. >> December 16th. Yeah, >> we will need a couple board members at the presentation in the morning, I believe. Uh and that's they're there. You don't have to do anything, but they'll want to meet with you and ask you some questions and talk to you a little bit. Probably I would
106say 15 20 minutesish. >> Yeah. >> Um so just be aware that we we would like to we'll meet somebody there even if it's just for >> you know you might be there an hour total if you watch the presentation. >> What time do you think? >> 8 to 10 is when we've scheduled the presentation and questions >> and maybe even Yeah. I'm not sure exact I mean forest you'd be there from 8 to 10 but uh if you came a little bit later you know we'll finish up our presentation then I want to meet some more is >> this the first time they've been on site for quite some time >> this is yeah so we had them on site oh a long long time ago when I first started in this position we
107had a annual review um which was an all day review same well actually I think it was like two two days two or three days and they were here and they went into classrooms and did observations they met with our team, they were with teachers. Same same process, but it was over the course of a couple of days. Um, this is just a mid-year check-in, so it's much more condensed. Um, so, but yeah, it's been a it's been a while since they've done on-site visits, so I think that they're trying to get that up and running again. So, >> send an email out to the trustees to ask, are you interested? >> Yeah, I'm interested in that. I'll work on my schedule. >> Okay. And then we're doing some work with our admin team coming
108up this month um to just kind of get ready for that presentation and talk to them about the process and everything. And then also working to get our students outlined for that day, make sure their afternoon is cleared up for that lunchtime to come join us. >> Did you say that you're going to do kind of a pre- meeting just with the team? with the admin team in November. We have a a kind of a work session to go through the presentation and each each partner they're going to probably partner up and so each partner group will take a couple of slides that they'll talk to the the presenters about or the panel the panel that'll be a fly on the wall and that >> absolutely I'll send you an invite. Thank you. Um, >>
109so in the lunchtime and the afternoon you said to have like student groups. What student? >> You guys, the three of you. >> Just the three of us. >> Yeah, just the three of you. Okay. >> Yeah. So, it's just a short they we only have I think an hour set aside for that lunch time and we don't want to impose upon your schedule too much. Um, they also are going this uh this interview team is going to go into classrooms and they'll probably talk to more kids during that time. So, um, we're just working on the schedule right now, but we'll work with Dr. Bantington to find out what classes to get you guys released from, and then you'll just come over to the We're using the curriculum work room over at the middle
110school for the day kind of as a landing point. Um, and so yeah, you guys will come over, we'll have lunch, we'll ask you some questions. >> I think it's scheduled like 12 to 1 and we'll get some jobs or something. >> That sounds good. And then >> you said from 8 to 10 there's that evaluation. >> 8 to 10 is going to be a presentation from our principles to the team. So our principal's team presents to the evaluation team. um how we're doing on our goals and it's a lot of the work that we do in our district leadership team which includes teachers also but so that we're not impacting teachers and the sub coverage and all of that our leadership team will do that presentation with trustees and then that's an opportunity for
111them to just ask us how we're doing with our goals and how we're making progress what our evidence is those types of things so >> okay sounds Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> So, yep. Let me know if anybody else wants to come to our work session. Um >> Okay. >> Happy to have you guys join us. >> Yeah. That I'll send out an invite. Is it okay if she sits down? Michael, is that okay? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Oh, did you have another question? >> He wants to make sure he gets a turkey sandwich. >> Yeah. He's already ordering for lunch. >> You're buying. Did you know that you're buying? >> Yeah. All right, we'll move on then to number three, facilities. >> They're looking great. >> Food service. >> Shortest facilities that
112he's had in a long time. And I'm like, >> uh, food service. Um, I really like to see that we're doing some I like the high school looks like they're doing more homestyle meals. How are we hearing on that? Is that kind of a >> I don't know if any of the three of us eat school lunch uh except for during lunch meetings like BPA, all those kind of things. But when I do eat lunch, that's good. So, that's good. >> Except I haven't had cheesy bread sticks. >> It's the cheesy bread sticks. >> I haven't had those every Friday. So, >> every Friday. Every high school every Friday. >> Every Friday. >> I don't know. Friday. >> So, we have that going on. I like that. >> Yes, we are trying it mostly at
113the middle school. The high schoolers almost always have a home style >> like a Friday looks like. >> Um, and yeah, on Fridays we're changing it cuz it used to be we were doing pretty much the same thing all week long and the kids were getting tired of the same thing every day. I mean, they always had their pizza and their burgers and that, but the adventure line was the same. It might switch every other day or something, and they were getting kind of bored with that. So, we decided to do some more like >> um every Friday. So, so far it's been things like uh rilett, the barbecue riblet. Um what was it? I can't remember. Macaroni and cheese. Grammy the co-workers that said they love the macaroni and cheese and they haven't had
114that since I've been here even. So >> you said scratch enchiladas. >> Yeah. Yeah. We're doing that at the middle school and the middle school kids [cough and clears throat] tend to like the cheesy bread sticks and those kind of things and the nachos and the pizza more than that. But we're giving them the opportunity to be able to try those things and some of the things they may not have even ever had before. I guess we had tater tot casserole and it didn't seem to go over that big the first time. So then we decided we'll we would do we had a beefy macaroni which was kind of like goulash and that didn't go over very well with them either. So the next day we gave them little samples of it >> if they
115wanted so they could just try it without making that their meal and wasting their money on that and maybe not liking it. So we gave them little samples of that if they wanted to too. So >> your your bento boxes >> the bento boxes have been a pretty big hit with the elementary students for sure. They're like lunchables kind of. Um the pizza one has flatbread and pizza sauce and >> variety a little bit in there. >> My students love that. >> Really? >> Yeah. Because it has all the fruits and vegetables in the box, too. So, they don't even have to go to the salad bar if they take the box. And and of course the pizza one was very popular because it says pizza healthier and we're eating better and more and I
116like it. >> Good. >> I appreciate that. Thank you very much. >> I just want to give a shout out to Marcy. She put together a food um menu committee with all of the schools and our student council members all came in. some U members from the high school that I don't know if they were all on student council but they were wanting to be part of the student committee and we had student council members and they met to discuss kind of like their likes their wants, what their needs are, what they see problems with. It really kind of shed light like we had a little cutting in line that I wasn't aware of. So I mean I just really wanted to just give her a shout out for putting that together and holding that
117meeting at the middle school and getting the student voice. Um, I think that was long overdue and I just wanted to give you a shout out. I thought that was wonderful. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to be on that committee. >> But it's good to see it's good to see options >> every day. He runs for every day you get. >> Awesome. Thank you. Number five, human resources. Transportation a lot of >> people [clears throat] services move to B the financial reports cash report revenue report expenditure report high school activities ities, middle school activities, bond expenses, and receive principles report, elementary, intermediate, middle, high school. I'll take Oh, yeah. Go ahead. >> You guys want to say thank you? Yeah, it's nice to see those. It's nice to be
118kind of a part of what's going on. Um, so and again, it's fun to see the kids pictures and everything. So, thank you very much. >> That's great. B committee meetings insurance meeting notes for 10:225 insurance meeting notes for 10:3025 superintendence report resignation report >> which is not accepted I'm sorry >> one that we don't accept can that be moved action item >> which brings us to our first discussion Julie has decided to abandon us for motorcycle riding and other kinds of nonsense. So I guess >> reluctantly accept. So that is our discussion though that we probably need to begin a search. This isn't like you know any position in the in the district. key key position in the district that we want to make sure there's really a couple things to consider the the
119when we want to look >> when we would want them to start do we want to have any type of overlap >> yes >> uh which I think's important um uh I think we can even have a little bit of overlap one of the things that's very unique about the uh the business manager position is every time of the year is totally different and to really train under someone if you have business manager experience in another district even if it's a small district and Julie came from prom uh well you you you you know you understand you know egrants you understand you know a lot of things now it's different here because it's bigger but people understand stuff so if we get someone in there I think there's going to be less need for training
120but it's if it's someone who's who's good with the u business side but isn't necessarily good with school side. Montana schools have just a lot of specific specific stuff in the procedural realm in the programs and and uh that you just have to get used to and start to understand how everything functions. So it really depends on the overlap depends on um you know what kind of background they have and I think it depends on when they can start. One of the things Julie and I have talked about is is u her resignation is is March uh 31st. And uh if that's the case, then if we get somebody from another school district who's interested, can they get out of their contract uh or will they have to be in their contract until June 30th?
121So th those are all the considerations. Uh with that being said, I think getting something advertised starting in, you know, say uh >> it is posted now. >> Right. Right. I knew that. But I mean, well, I'm sorry. When I'm talking about doing interviews and such, I I think that if we're interested in folks, I think we leave it out there for a little while. We don't just grab the first advert or the first um >> application. I think we leave it out there for a little bit. I don't think we're in any giant hurry. Um I think if we get a a really good applicant that they're probably already working in a school or have a job. So, you know, I don't know. We'll have to see when they can get out of things.
122That's the things I worry about. Uh overlap, paying for an overlap. Uh Julie and I have talked about that because a month overlap, you know, let's say it's a whole month and I'll be doing dual salaries for that patient uh position for one month, which uh uh is it, you know, a chunk of change. So it's something to think about. Um I I don't know if we we haven't even talked I haven't talked to Peggy about when to start doing let's say we had five applicants in the next week or two. I think we wait until well into December if not after in January to do any interviews. >> So, we were kind of hoping that we could give them two months of overlap, which would be February and March if we can. Julia saved
123money aside. We've kind of been working through this a little bit. So, um Donnie, what are you doing on April 1st? Just asking for a friend. >> John's coming out of retirement. >> I've never made it. attempted. >> There you go. >> Start that. >> We have actively recruiting an existing uh clerk at another school district and I've been working with her. So, it went um external today and I let her know that. So, she should be in line. >> Is that the one I told you about? >> What if the application pool stalls? Is there like a opportunity to use like a consultancy to drive some more to it, drive more applicants to it? I only say that just because of the key nature of this position, you know, more like internal calling like
124>> I'm not sure these this deal >> position that would attract from >> I I don't know. It's a good question. I don't know what Donnie and and Julie think. How far away would we attract a candidate? >> Depends on the candidate situation. They're looking generally what I've seen is that people are pretty tied to their own >> or their family. It's kind of an anomaly to find out. >> When I applied to law, it was just me and one other battle. It it's not like hiring a a a superintendent where you will get people from a lot of areas. I mean, you look around the state. A couple of my good friends, their wives were their uh uh business manager. One cuz they couldn't find one. So, his wife was a teacher and he
125said, "Is there any way you can learn to be a business manager?" She said, "Sure, I'll give it a try." She's doing a really good job. She's been a business manager for a few years now. So, I mean, I think I think Johnny's right kind of. It's more of a homegrown thing, local thing. You don't see people moving from out of state to be a business manager in in a lower Montana as you might see >> or buildings. Yeah. >> Billings has really struggled quite some time. >> About 50% of business managers, district clerks in the state of Montana have less than 5 years experience. there has been a huge >> in the field but not I'm sorry it's this kind of reality because another kind of helpful >> and they're they don't have a
126great success rate either they get overwhelmed that first year you know they're so overwhelmed that they they boards hire um thinking that their job, oh yeah, it's just accounting job or whatever. They don't boards don't and I'm not you guys, but I mean other boards from smaller schools especially I found don't understand how complex of job it is. They just don't get it. So they'll just hire somebody with a high school education and say, "Oh yeah, being on the horse that your job is very [laughter] >> I think anyone even with an accounting background would come in and struggle off the street because it's like that restricted use in the law add such a layer of complication to the accounting that it's like >> the way I've had it described to me is here's county,
127here's governmental accounting, they're school district." Oh yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's been a super struggle for me >> now that we publicly in an open meeting scared off most of our candidates. >> If we could just get rid of the education requirements. I know somebody that's already working overlapping. [laughter] We just no education requirements. >> She's been a high school mom. >> Don't Don't have one of those either. It'll be on trackision >> pending high school. [laughter] We'll >> add that to the background. >> So public debate, sir. >> Correct. >> Any applicants? >> She's anticipating. >> I think we'll I'd anticipate for sure. >> Yeah, for sure. >> We're going to hire a good one. We'll find somebody. >> I was going to say that, >> but I like your timing. I'm glad that
128we got it out. >> I think we need to see what we do. I don't want to, like I said, I mean, here we >> But can we can we truly cuz I was thinking too much in my mind before you said something. Do we have >> that'll work out the >> the budget? Well, that's why I wanted to give you guys enough notice because it is a hard job to fulfill. That's why I wanted that, you know, because >> my biggest worry is getting somebody Julie who have resign >> can start at that time. >> Only has to give 14. >> What's that? >> She only has to give it 14. >> Oh, really? I had to give it 30. Um, have we thought about I don't know if this is just a thing
129schools don't do but corporates do sometime or corporations do. Uh, we have like a a help with moving siphons kind of thing. I don't that might help us get more external candidates for >> can. [clears throat] Great. Well, thank you for plenty of notice. It's appreciated. >> I don't know. >> Even though you disagree with me strong on my trouble list. >> Yeah. When I found out about this a couple days ago, I was like, "No, this isn't right." We knew it was coming. >> I mean, I should I know she didn't, which is a good thing. >> All right. We'll move on then to our next item of discussion, which is the 2026 spring levies. And I guess the question is, do we want to run them? What's the deal on? How do we
130>> some of the concepts out there? Julie ran a an interesting report that she gave me that uh shows our this is an example, our technology spending out of the general fund over the last um four years, five years. So, we we get uh we have a tech levy that we get uh 20 grand in the high school, 40 grand in the elementary, but we probably average close to $500,000 in expenditures every year out of general fund. So, that tech levy is a drop in the bucket uh when it comes to actually paying for our technology. So, I know we have uh uh some things going on right now with the high school building committee and a potential bond. And I know that operational levies have been a struggle, but maybe we could turn around
131and make people understand that technology levy and we look at a few hundred,000. We'll put adding a zero to this. A few hundred,000 in the high school and 400,000 at the elementary level. and we or some version of that and that's money that we can displace out of the general fund. So that general fund money can be freed up because we're going to incur those costs in the technology levy and then we can um you know open up some general fund expenditures as a result of that. So there's some negatives to that. Right now, our we have one that's uh permanent. The our 40 and $20,000 tech levy is permanent. Um so if we go to go to this one, I think you can run it up to 10 years. Uh you can between five
132and 10 years and you can uh so we would have a 10-year levy if we ran it for 10 years and and guarantee that money, which again frees up money in the general fund. Uh, so that's one way of freeing up money in the general fund without trying to pass an operational levy on the same year you're trying to also pass a bond. And not that operational levies are important. I wish we could pass one. My my worry is um trying to do both at the same time. Whereas if we're talking about a technology levy, maybe that is something we could do in conjunction with the bond. Um, we also have that building reserve just sitting out there as ugly as ever. Uh, Mr. Fier, our facilities director, came to me today, you know, kicking
133stones, looking at his feet, telling me we have um, you know, about $10,000 worth of leaks in our high school roof that he thinks we can temporarily get fixed with kind of a rubberized spray stuff they put on to try to cover leaks. >> I see. Uh let's see what's that stuff cover. So we're looking at we don't have any building reserve money just to throw at that problem. But it's something that Julie and I got to sit down and talk about with Wayne and and decide how can we get this uh these multiple leaks fixed in the high school and get us through to a potential bond where we'll have to have a roof replacement. So, >> well, I I like the uh I like this idea because the focus of our bonding at
134the high school is career technical ed which would include a heavy investment in technology and I think so I think they're paired nicely together. Are people going to think, well, why digest tech levy would we do a bond? >> Well, we go to school. We gota we got technology. >> Bonds can't buy computers. Bonds can't buy things like that. Um, but not >> well, you have a bond, but for example, let's say um let's say in our new schools, we wanted to go ahead and put in some computer labs and take bond money and buy the computers for the labs. You can't do that because a computer's going to last six, seven years, whatever, about that. >> Um, and you're paying for it over 20 years with this bond. So, you end up, you know,
135taking out a 20-year car loan. You got rid of the car after 5 years, but you're still paying the car loan for for 20. So, you're not allowed to buy some of those things, whereas a table, you know, these will go 20 years, so we can buy things. So, we have to be careful what we can buy uh with bonds and we won't be buying mass amount of technology with bond. We just won't. Well, that really that's why I just think it ties so nicely into what we're trying to do. Yeah. >> I guess my only concern is that last year we were saying how we couldn't operate. We couldn't operate. We couldn't operate. We were barely making it. We were barely make it. And now all of a sudden we're >> hasn't changed. >>
136I know. But that's what I'm saying is that >> the message changed. >> Yeah. I don't I don't quite want our message to change because honestly we are still floating at a very low amount for operation. So in my [clears throat] mind I would like to keep proceeding for operation to be honest with you just because the message is that and that is that is our true need. Yes I'm not saying technology is in I'm not saying buildings are not >> and it's just shuffling it in a different way. You don't use the general fund to buy the technology. You use techn like that makes sense to us. But we actually sit here and the problem is you get people's attention for 20 seconds and they got to understand the whole gist of how school
137funding and the complications of it and I don't want more taxes and it's been a hard year, you know, like >> well everyone's bills well most everyone's bills. >> Oh yeah, that's a good thing. >> It's all over the internet. >> I did have a question. So, if we do um like try to pass like a CTE bond where we try to expand our CTE program at the high school, um where would we like try to apply for grants? Would we try to also pass a levy to be able to put educators into those positions? Because like if our enrollment is dropping at all the schools, then we are going to have to look at where we're going to fund these educators from. Um, and I think that's something really important. So, if we are
138trying to do that, we need to push equally, if not even more, for a levy. Um, because if we have a brand new building, but a levy fails because levies have notoriously [clears throat] fail, fallen in moral. Um, then we're going to have a building that's kind of empty and then we're going to lose even more trust with the community. Um, so if we are trying to pursue this, I think we that we do need a levy for the teachers that are going to be put into them. >> I hate to admit it, but Michael makes a good point there. >> I was thinking that you'll [laughter] give you the credit. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I think I think to that point though that the messaging is important and the more you come you know
139it might take three hopefully not right all these years. >> I mean I think switching gears does confuse community but we keep preaching that we are because we are and we consistently are saying the same message then it's not well now they're trying to get this now what why weren't they trying to get that last year and now hope they're fine I guess. So, we're linking the operational levies. We have to sit down and say, "Okay, what would we do with with uh another so much money in the elementary, so much money in the high school, what would it fund?" And I think that that's always what you have when you talk about an operational levies. You tell this is what we did last time is we told the people if we if it passes,
140this is what these are the staff members we're going to have. If it's not, then we won't have those. And that if we're building a building, Michael makes that really good point is okay. and here's the money that goes for the staffing. We want to expand our CTE in this way. We want to add this teacher which expands these programs. And then we have to have that plan in place ready to go if we're going to do that. >> And that's my one fear is that like the bond passed. Um what if if we put both the bond and the levy out? put the levy fells and then we're going to lose trust with the community because we have an empty building that we were like, "Oh, we're going to have all ACT programs, but
141then we don't have educators for it. If we go back and blame the taxpayers for not passing the levy, they're going to [snorts] develop a hatred towards the school district, which that's not good." Um, then if the levy passes, then if we specified CT, then our CT is going to span expand, but we're not going to have the facilities for them. um which which is really hard to try to balance between the two. Um but if enrollment is still declining, then we my personal opinion is that we really need to try to pass a levy for teachers. And that's just something that I personally >> Chase. >> I don't think we're going to have an issue passing levies this year. When Peggy is a witness, Mr. Torque signed a contract with me that if we
142pass Levy, he has to dye his hair. So >> zeroing all out. So, uh, you know, >> color. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What color? >> He gets to choose between purple, yellow, or bleaching it. >> So, [clears throat] I think we advertised that. We're golden. >> Yeah, you know how to do. >> Um, so I also do have like a 500 lb gorilla somewhere in the next couple of rooms because, uh, we bought a lot of lot a lot of technology in 2021. um that replacement cycle is coming up. Um a lot of it is iPads for the elementarymentaries K through uh 2, which a lot of iPads uh and then 3 4 5 all have Chromebooks, right? And those Chromebooks, they'll get updates for a very long time, but they're not running
143super well for a very long time. you could we can maybe get more time out of them by pushing that and that's what I'm gonna hope to try to do, but I it's not always going to be the best experience for users and we're going to start running into problems with those devices way before they stop doing updates now because Google's changed a lot of their policies for updates. So, um that's just something that's going to be looking at us in the next few years and >> that was funded through lesser uh technology funds. >> So, those were one type funds. So that's always the fear. We're probably going to see that statewide uh on the replacement of those things. We're already seeing that actually as systems fail and computers fail from about 5 years
144ago uh that schools just are replacing a couple of examples that I know of personally just >> but now they're also being required for state testing. So I I'm my personal hope is that this will be solved by the Senate study. Um, I think it's something that is plaguing every district in the US or in Montana and the US, but um, it's something that the state is requiring us to do digital testing. The state should provide payment for us to be able to do that. We need infrastructure to do digital testing. It should be something that's paid for by the state here. >> There's going to rain gum drops on your way home. >> I know. Yeah. But I'm I'm hopeful. >> My simple head, I think, for unified messaging of trying to pass the
145bond. And this is just my thought. Um, it kind of serves the same purpose to Matt's point. I hear what you're saying. If we free up general fund money by passing technology levy and if the messaging can be more unified between the bond and the levy being a technology levy. if that that there's more synergy there than saying hey we've got this and I'm trying to figure out how to create that messaging so it's not like you're asking to build this technology stuff then you're saying you need this money for the schools over here and I wonder if that creates a confused message during what you know you know what I'm saying I don't know I feel like technology and career technical ed sound like they go together operational levy and and careers that don't
146sound >> if you don't have teachers to do it then what's the plan >> that's what I'm saying that's why the technology le if you give back >> I just feel like00 so many times why why why and then we explained it and we you know built diagrams and showed it and >> remember and we have and we do have a helping us this time >> which is great like I'm not saying no bond I'm just saying I think the operational levy Technically, we're all, you know, if they all pass, it's all doing the same thing, right? Is >> right. But like >> my my concern in bringing too many things to the front at once is that people will look at it and, as you mentioned, be confused or not sure what the priority
147is or that we're asking for too much and they will say no to everything. Um if we're going to step forward and ask for a bond on the high school, that needs to be the priority. Um, with regard to the operational for teachers and things, if we can address the improvements that need to be made to the high school, one to continue to function as a high school because we have some implements that are ready to fail, roofing, um, HVAC systems, things like that that are super important to running a day-to-day program and be able to update and slightly expand some of our CTE offerings. It's not that we are planning to offer the moon to everyone. The CTE pass that we will offer will continue to be based on the ones that we are
148offering and the growth over time that we see. If we're able to pass the bond and we're able to grow those programs organically, then we will be able to afford more staff and we will be able to expand things. So, I don't have any concerns of an empty building. I know that we will have more students to be part of those programs. Will it be massive? Will we need new full FTEEs right off? No, that's like 5 years down the road probably. >> It's at least a couple years down the road because the facilities will take a few years to get off. Right. >> So even if a even if a operational levy passes in the spring, we wouldn't be hiring people to fill a building on a piece of paper. So, uh, we wouldn't
149be breaking ground until the spring of 27 probably. Um, and not done until fall of 28. U, so we would still be a couple two and a half years away from right where we sit right here from even hiring anybody. So my feeling still is is maybe what Chris is saying is that technology levy to in the short term frees up a large uh >> technology level has a better connection at least for to what the bond is looking to support us technology >> they're like oh okay yeah right we need >> well because we need blades We need 3D printing. We need computer lab. We need those things that it's like, okay, the bottom of the building is space for that computerized lathe. That could be the CNC machine, for the printer, for the,
150you know, whatever else is needed in the in those areas. And I think it kind of I just feel like it ties >> it ties and it does it does accomplish something in the general fund we wanted to accomplish with an operational levy. Operational levies are forever which which is helpful. This would only be 10 years. So that doesn't mean we don't go back for an operational levy. Maybe is the buildings being completed that's fall. We go back with all right now we need staffing to to you know add that extra CTE position. here's what it's going to look like or whatever it happens to be at that time. Um I I I I don't disagree that we need operational levies. I mean, we need the value. Um but I I'm not I'm not going
151to have I know what Billy's looking at, you know, that's going to be 6507 750 750,000 to replace what he wants to replace uh in the next year or two. And that doesn't exist. It just doesn't exist. and uh >> be three or four years or something. >> Well, you keep talking. >> That's what I'm going for. >> It might be seven by the time we [clears throat] >> But it's those are those are worries that that we do have. And again, I I would definitely hope that the Senate will study that committee that they have. I hope it comes up with a wonderful plan. But technology, the plan we currently have in the state basically allows a community [clears throat] to say, you know what, we don't really care about technology. And in this
152in in the 1990s, well, that you can still get away with some of that, but 2025, we just can't we can't we depend on all that. We have to have working teacher computers and student interface and all that. And we can't just decide as a community that we're just going to opt out of that. >> Uh because >> how do we want to have a good future for our students? >> I mean, because then, okay, I still got to replace those things. Um and I know schools that can't replace those things. And I have a personal knowledge of a teacher who's in a computer lab that is only half functional, and that's part of the time. And uh it it just things don't work when that happens. So, um, the next board meeting we need
153to pass a resolution for election because now they upped it to 145 days that we'd have to have you the notice out which is December I think the latest we go it'll be the latest we can go would be the December week. So, we can either pass it, we can look at the uh the resolution next meeting or wait till the December meeting. It's going to depend on the bond, too, because they they need to get together with language for the bond also by then. Um, so I was just going to add all these levies just to the resolution. It doesn't mean that we're going to do them. You could take them off, but it just ensures that, hey, we're thinking about all these weapons, >> you know, >> and then at least then it's
154there >> and then you can decide later which ones you want. >> Yeah. >> It just, you know, gives you more of an opportunity. >> I'd be curious what Annie's thoughts are >> since they're helping us with that one. >> We kind of have a lot. We kind of have a a consultant available to us to talk about which what do they feel would be the best combination. >> We can bring that up during our >> Yeah, because the latest would be our december meeting which is what December 11th >> 15 >> no eight >> eight. Yeah. So [clears throat] I have two. >> We only have one meeting in December. >> I think it is December 16th. Yeah, I have wrote down but it's so if we had a meeting so we could go
155as late as December the December 1st December meeting with the resolutions. But that's how I was just going to propose the resolution was just to add all >> and then you guys can besides >> good discussion. I think there's some value in either either option. I think >> I I do agree with Britney's point that it's would remain consistent with what we've been asking to go general fund. And I also agree with Dr. Bington on you overload these guys with too much stuff. The voters in their nancing anyway. >> Yeah, I know. >> And so you really need to narrow it down to the bond number one and maybe I don't. >> Yeah. be bad to adjust even functional if we just do the bond >> if we left >> just do the bond >>
156I yeah or no just >> I am truly truly truly worried about next year and I hope things happen but I am truly worried about budgeting already for next spring >> and judging by a numbers currently I am very worried about that and I think whether it's a techn technology level levy that frees up $6700,000 a year or whether it's an operational levy that frees up $6 or $700,000 a year. I think we have to look at something. Um I I I really do I'm I'm worried. And then the the building reserves the elementary, you know, still got a pretty good chunk of change in it. >> We're functional there. >> Yeah, long, >> but the high school side is awful. >> It's just done. >> We did the things we had to in the
157TNI building and the parking lot and we did some things we just had to get done. Otherwise, we're going to incur even greater costs in a couple of years. >> Um, >> I mean, we did the gyms. >> Yeah, we did the things we had to do immediately. So, uh, but we have some more things and we have some long-term things we've got to take care of. >> That's a tricky one. >> We got to ask. So you can explain it if you want to have both those conversations at the same time. We need to invest in the school's infrastructure and future education and also fund the big thing. >> We'll explain awesome videos. >> They'll get it. >> Great. Any other discussion on that? years and stages, schools just one pot of money. >>
158True would be >> they just ask for you know one one >> true would be just let us be the stewards of it instead of controlling every single >> every single >> it's crazy. So >> any other discussion on that? All right, we'll move on to future discussion. Is there anything that we need to add to a future agenda? >> If not, just let us know that Matt and I get those added. >> Yes. >> Our board report should go on the next agenda. >> The board report [clears throat] >> the finishing of the fall sports and activities. Awesome. Well, if there's nothing else,