GFPS Board Meeting Recording Video 1 - 03/09/2026

001Good afternoon and welcome to this March 9, 2026 meeting of the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees. I remind you that these meetings are being recorded and will be uploaded onto our website at some point in the future. With that, Mr. Deakons, would you please administer the roll call? >> Thank you, Chairman Johnson. Gordon Johnson, >> here. Kim Skornagosski >> here. >> Bill Bronson >> here. Craig Doth >> here. >> Hey Chenning >> here. >> Marley Sunchild >> here. >> Amy Thompson >> here. >> Chairman Johnson, you do have a full board to do business this evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Deacons. And Mr. Boyd, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stand with all >> Thank [snorts] you very

002much, >> Mr. Chair. >> Trusti, >> I move we adopt the agenda as presented. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as presented. Are there any comments or questions from our board of trustees? Any board or comments? Any questions or comments from our gallery here this evening? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of adopt the agenda, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. We've adopted our agenda. Thank you very much, >> Mr. Chair. >> Trustee Scornski. >> I move we approve the consent agenda as presented with a special thank you to um ADF for donating welding supplies to Great Falls High um as well as the donation of um several types of meat school district. So >> which has been distributed. It's gotten to the

003homes and families. So it's all very good. Second. >> Moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda with thanks to generous community partners. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Hearing seeing none, any questions or commentaries from our gallery? Hearing seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please signify for saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. We have a consent agenda approved. Thank you. Moving on now to Roman 6, communication report of student representatives, Mr. Boyd. Welcome, Mr. Boyd. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board meeting of the month, and it's a great time. Uh we have two sets of student reps here tonight. Great Falls High is absent. uh is academic achievement dinner uh lined up. So, we'll start

004with CM Russell High School. You guys are up first to give your report. >> Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board, and members of the community. My name is Emerson Hammond, and I will start our presentation. CMR students gathered uh baby books for NICU families at benefits this past week. In addition to that, they helped to restock the counseling center snack supplies for students who may not have them at home. Uh the first lesson we loved in Profeta Pzled Spanish 56 and 78 class students explored many different Latin American writers and even got to read a small part of a version of Doniote. They then got to choose a writer, pick a meaningful quote, and put it into some form of representation. Most of the writers focus um on cultural aspects, so

005this was a great way to broaden their understanding of Latin American culture and writing. Winter sports are beginning to wrap up. Uh at the state wrestling tournament, we had many state places, including Mattie Deer and Gage Allen, who both won state titles. Uh congratulations to them. Boys basketball finished the regular season strong and beat the Gallatin Raptors to secure the two seed in the state tournament this weekend. Uh they also had their senior night along with the cheerleaders and Wranglers. Uh the girls basketball had their playoff game on Thursday against Billings Skype. Emma and Bristol, two CMR BPA students, await the results of their online event after making top 20 in the nation. The rest of our BPA students are competing at state right now. Another lesson we loved. In Mr. Herson's AP government class,

006students were assigned two to three court cases to research and explain to the class. These included the big 14 cases that students must know for their AP tests. This is a great way to learn about how the court's decisions have changed over time. We sent two teams to Academic World Quest this year. They competed well and enjoyed talks about nuclear non-prololiferation, coffee, chocolate, and other notable trade goods, and educational opportunities on the M campus. It was a great time. CMR students have their artwork on display at the public library. Please make sure to uh check out the incredible prints, paintings, and sketches. Don't miss the pottery and sculptures tucked into corners and display cases as well. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board, and members of the community. I am Lydia Comtock,

007and I will be finishing our presentation. Our very own chamber orchestra from CMR had the opportunity to attend and perform in the American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival in San Francisco. We also got to see the San Francisco Symphony perform while we were in the city and we worked with a clinician from New York. And shortly after that, the doublea band festival was held at Great Falls High and featured Flathead, Billings West, CMR, and Great Falls High. The bands got to work with three guest conductors, and their concert was phenomenal. And shortly after that, the CMR choir department had 31 students selected to participate in the American Coral Directors Association Northwest Honor Choir in Tacoma, Washington March 4th through 7th. So, congratulations to Mrs. Lee, Miss Null, and choir students. And at the end

008of this month, they will also travel to Salt Lake City to show off more of their musical talent. And continuing on with our performing arts, we wanted to talk about our CMR thespians at the Montana Thespian Festival. CMR students received many awards. Our troop won troop of the year and their production won outstanding drama. Jonas Hibbs, Brie Serve, and New Levit received individual awards and many seniors received additional scholarships. Way to go, Troop 717. On the student government front, we had our district meeting for the Montana Association of Student Councils on March 3rd. Students built relationships and learned new skills. And whilst at the meeting, CMR junior Bristol Minors was elected as our district president for the next school year. We are so excited to now have one CMR teacher and two CMR students serve

009on the MASC board. Another lesson that we love came in the form of a field trip. The Wiseman Hood Institute provided tours for CMR's AP biology students. They saw labs and learned about research going on at the institute. And students also loved to see the incredibly cool microscopes and the super cute mice. We also wanted to mention Seymar's two national merit finalists. Semrise and Camry Bro have been selected as national merit finalists. They represent less than 1% of high school students across the nation and their hard work and dedication is incredible as they continue to compete for millions of dollars and scholarships. Finally, congratulations to our excellence in education scholars for 2026. These 15 seniors were selected based on their GPA, number of honors and AP courses taken, and total number of high school credits.

010They are Rustler Pride. And that concludes our presentation. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, trustees, and members of the community. My name is Caitlyn. Science enrichment students learned about the states of matter and how they are related to energy changes. To show their mastery of the concepts, students concluded the lesson by making a candle. Valentine's Day fun. These little motorized vehicles were so fun to race down the hall for our STEM projects. Blood drive. Paris Gibson sponsors the Red Cross blood drive a few times a year. We caught our very own Mr. Cornic gener generously donating for a great cause. Our next blood drive is April 30th. On February 13th, Paris Gibson students had a 4 in one bell ring ceremony, a first for our school. Four students who have come so far since starting

011their journey at Paris all got to ring their bell together with their friends and family. There was not a dry eye in the room. One by one, our indigenous students graduation caps are getting finished. We're feeling inspired by all the bell rings and reminded that great things are right around the corner. Healthy Native Hearts is an event promoting the health of our indigenous women and girls. There were booths with great information and super fun activities. Paris Gibson students took second place at the state archery competition in Helena. Their hard work all year is really paying off. Students had the opportunity to travel outside of Great Falls and participate in the bison harvest. Everyone toughed it out all day in the negative 8°ree weather. Montana's 11th poet Latre I said or no sorry Montana's 11th poet

012laurette Chris Latree visited and spoke with students about his journey to becoming a writer. Students had multiple chances to visit with Chris while he was here. He was a great storyteller. Most of us at Paris find that hands-on learning is the best and most fun way to learn. This is what the teachers at Paris are known for. This science enrichment class grew crystals last week. Speaking of our hands-on learning, here's Logan's class dissecting a squid. They will spend two weeks doing dissections, working on a round worm, a starfish, a crawfish, a grasshopper, and a shark. Our class is working with oil pastels this week. Students are enjoying creating these cute little mushroom scenes. Students who earn their spot at Paris begin their journey with a half-day orientation with our resident expert of all things Paris,

013Miss Amy. She walks them through their first day at first day and prepares them for finishing high school at Paris. Thank you and have a good week. >> Thank you. >> As always, we take great inspiration from these reports and uh we have to confess we're somewhat jealous of all the activities that you that you get to enjoy and learn from. So, thank you in sharing these for coming and sharing these reports with us. Communication B Superintendent's report. Mrs. Hoyer. >> Well, thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, and members of our community. It's nice to see a full audience with us this evening. Um, since we last met, we have had high voltage weekend. And if you take a look, we spoke at the emergency board meeting that we had earlier for what

014happened at Lincoln um about how our community leaned in and is really taking care of us during a time of crisis. Well, this was another time that our community has taken care of us, but during a time of celebration. So, in the picture up there, you'll see former mayor Bob Kelly as he uh met early on a Saturday morning with a bunch of aspiring teachers to help them get warmed up and get ready for um their interviews, their first interviews for many of them of their professional career. So, um there are some other staff members. You'll see Adam Agammeny who is a teacher over at uh Chief Joseph. He was there as well. He was in our first group of um high voltage students. And then we have a principal Lindsay Staltz is there as

015well helping. So um it's a just a great example of our community continuing to take care of us. So I'm going to start this evening inviting a very special group of individuals up to the lectern. Um we have some congratulations and I believe we have Kalista Broaddy here and we also have Brendan Corey here. Both of them are sophomores over at CMR and they are both the first and second places for the voice of democracy. So, I would like to invite up I believe um Miss Helen Morren, you are the VFW Post 1087. You are the commander and you will be speaking this evening. And would you like to introduce um the gentlemen who are with you? Yes. >> Chairman Johnson, trustees, members of the public, thank you all for having us here. Um, I'm

016really excited about this. Uh, so tonight I have with me my uh post 1087 senior vice Jose Guerrero, our department uh junior vice Bill McCord and our state our excuse me our department chaplain Bill Miles. You'll hear me kind of confused between the department and the state. When I say that, I do mean the state of Montana VFW, but they go by department. So, I'm still trying to break that down. [laughter] And then I also have a member, our member here, um, Dick Roy Diggs here to take our pictures as well. So every year we do an essay for the the VFW hosts essays for patriot pen and voice of democracy. The voice of democracy is for the high school and the patriot pen is for the junior junior high correct six through six through

017eight. Um that's why I have my senior vice here. [laughter] Um, we did have 42 people with our Patriot pin and we only had two for the Voice of Democracy. So, we're trying to improve our numbers a little bit, get this out to the community a little bit more so that we have more so we can get more people involved. I really believe we've got a lot of students out there that could benefit from this as well. So, getting on to this year, uh, our essay was, "How are you showing patriotism and supporting our comm our country, which I thought when I read that, holy Hannah, and it was a lot of the the essays were amazing to read and to watch." Um, so first we're going to bring Kalista, I have her down as

018Callie, so I apologize for saying your name wrong. Mhm. >> Uh so her essay she had mentioned about camp runa that the guard puts on for the military members and not being able to find a sense of community really for what you go through as a member dependent of a active duty member. So she mentions that she talks about bringing her patriotism from there into the Boy Scouts. And the one thing that really caught my eye and it made a tear in my eye when I read it was she talked about uh the flag retirement. And one of the flag retirements that they did, they played Johnny Cash's regular flag and how you go up. I I hope sometime you guys get the opportunity to see have that experience because when you go up and

019you present the flag to retire it and you have Johnny's cash song be playing behind it is is very moving and it brought tears to my eyes just reading it. So going on I like to talk sorry. [laughter] So, she got first place and with that she gets a $100. >> All right. [applause] >> Very nice. One more time. >> Second place was Brendan Corey. His essay, as he's coming up, we'll give him plenty of time. His essay was about how he had reached out to other veterans, to the veterans to see what they felt the meaning was so that he could actually get that meaning from them as well. and his what I really got out of yours was talking about finding that it's about loyalty, about respect and honor the community and the

020veterans and everyone who is serving. So I appreciate your submission and you get $75. >> [applause] >> I just I just I'm sorry. I'LL MAKE YOU [laughter] I'll make you new. I promise. Congratulations. >> And uh if I may, if I may just have a minute, um every April we put out the the BFW uh on the on the national page, bfw.org uh on under community service. every April around April 15th tax time um they put out the new essay for the next year and the students will you guys have the whole summer to work on it buff it up clean it up submit it and uh it's submitted no pun intended on Halloween horror time please please submit because we want to showcase. I'm a retired high school teacher. I uh retired in New

021Jersey. I came to Montana. I know what you guys are doing. You're the guys are doing a great job. And this is the first time since I've been here in 21 that we've been able to showcase the great stuff, the grateful stuff. And I mean, we're grateful is my home. I want to show. Okay. So please encourage the students, encourage your families, submit. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> So a very special thank you to our VFW members for your service to our country and for your continued support of our students. You guys are so appreciated. Jose, thank you for always keeping me on the straight and narrow. Jose is a member of another um works with another institution here in town and he's a um he keeps the board members going

022the right direction. So thank you Jose. You're appreciated. >> Thank you. So this month we had, little did we know, we had an opportunity to celebrate our buildings and grounds and skilled trades. That was on March 6th and our warehouse appreciation day which is on on March 3rd. Um these are the people who we leaned on so heavily this weekend and today to move things. But just so you know, our warehouse is composed of six teamsters. Their foreman is John Hner, their supervisor is Jessa Younger. and they were busy busy busy um the last couple of days. They're always busy, but they were exceptionally busy um yesterday and today. Buildings and grounds and skilled trades. Um these are our four carpenters also very busy. They were up on the roof yesterday. Um they were looking

023at all of um the the damage that was done, giving us assessments, working with all of our specialists in town. We also had electricians who were with us, six groundsmen who are there helping us clean up, painters who will be on call here shortly as we look at at taking care of some other stuff, plumbers, and then supervisors as always led by Brent Cutler and Jack Norris. Um, amazing crews. We're very, very lucky to have them as part of our district. Some of you were able to visit Chief Joseph. So, if you know, greetings mortals, they did their annual Greek mythology wax museum and they were fantastic. And so, it was on March 2nd. There were 27 wax exhibits. You can kind of see down in the bottom Hades um bottom lefthand corner. There's a

024little dot on the table and we had to go up and we had to push that little paper dot and they started with greetings mortals. and they told us about all of the stuff that they had learned about their favorite um Greek god or goddess and um it it was just fantastic. It was so much fun all being held together by their own Athena which I had to chuckle. That's Miss Britney Blower um up there in the right or the right hand side lower bottom. Um Athena by the way, goddess of protection, wisdom, and handcraft. She was known for her ability to weave. And so I thought that was funny, the number of togas that she fixed when I was there. Um she had a huge box of safety pins and putting the kids all

025together and had them all ready to go. So thank you for those of you who attended. It was just a lot of fun. The kids did an outstanding job. Looking at our strategic plan, I'm going to go over with you several classes or several buildings this evening as we continue to work through our strategic plan. So this one is Whittier Elementary led by Principal Franklin Gilbert. um highlights, concerns, barriers, but the individuals who really are driving the work there. He wanted to give a shout out to Chase Short and to George Lewandowski. By the way, Franklin is a former student of mine, as is Chase. Um so I'm very I have a special place in my heart for that building and those professionals there. Healthy, safe, and secure schools. They did say their behavior incidents

026are up, but so is their enrollment. And I said, "So Franklin, what does up mean?" and he said, "Well, we're 60% or 61% of our goal." And this was a couple weeks ago when I met. So, he actually means they're up by like I think like 1%. Um 61% a little over halfway through. They are threequarters of the way. He's he's doing pretty well. Um they are really focused on expectations that are resulting in positive results during unstructured times like lunch. They've put some new pieces in place. I'm happy to report that their custodian who does lunch duty has not had to wear his earplugs in a while. So they have some great things happening there. Monthly leadership incentive and and is working to build community with students achievement. Um they are their academic goals.

027They're up 15% in math and 13% in reading. Um please keep in mind that this has a a school that has a student turnover rate of 33% every year. So a third of their students are new to them throughout the course of the year. So trying to establish a practice of achievements is difficult at times. Um but they have the best staff in place to do that. Um 47% of his staff, he is very proud that they are serving on the math curriculum and implementation team. Stewardship and accountability holiday concerts. Mr. Boyd and I were at holiday concerts when they had to bring in extra chairs, not once but twice. It was pretty fantastic. Um they also implemented a shared building calendar that allows the staff to see plans for the whole year, not just

028a month in advance and their back- tochool dinner and their family sock off um really helped kick off the fall. His barrier is really the transitional nature of his students and families with that 33% turnover rate. The next is Ly Elementary. This is our military affiliated school led by principal Shanda Brown. She wanted to give shoutouts to Miss um Jamie Barnacote as well as all of the aids who work there and help make the wheels turn at LY Healthy, safe and secure schools. They are working collectively to calibrate their school level expectations and plans across every single grade level. Specialized attention is given to the students and families transitioning into and out of Mount for Space. Um, just to give you and the transition of students is a big thing because you students could be

029going to another school very similar to Ly or they could be going to a school incredibly different than Ly. She sees it as her job as do the teachers to be sure that no matter the schools are transitioning to in their next um military appointment to be ready to tackle everything that's being asked of them in that next school. So, that in and of itself is a barrier because they're they're trying to to meet a lot of needs. uh winter growth was at 68% moving them from the 54th percentile to the 63rd percentile. That's huge growth and every teacher in that building is teaching one reading and one math intervention group um in their schedules. Stewardship and accountability. Parent Square has been huge. So lots and lots of kudos to Parent Square, their mass communication

030system in a a building that understands once again every time a family will PCS that's a change in station their needs will change. So that is our update from Malloy uh North Middle School, Mr. Brian Miller. So this is also the middle school that serves our military families. He is giving shoutouts to Mr. Jeffer and Miss Mary Somerfeld. Those two teachers, by the way, will be joining us at the next board meeting um because they've had some pretty cool things that they've been doing with students and some awards that they have won that they want to share. But this year, North incorporated uh their character habits into their weekly updates on student behavior. And they also found that teachers are addressing behavior at the entry point when behavior starts in many cases before it becomes

031big. And that is really allowing them to see a decrease in behavior. Um student achievement. They're working hard to foster meaningful student engagement strategies, getting the students to have ownership within their own achievement and their intervention is seen as an extension of instruction stewardship and accountability. In addition to the weekly updates on student behavior, parents and students can now monitor their mastery of character habits. They're actually dropping it into P school. that does not have a grade so there's no weight but as a parent then you can go week to week and see that how your child has done for that week as far as those soft skills go. Um Mr. Miller is also producing weekly videos for parents and students and then he has a process called 100% for 100% and that is the

032adults caring for the adults um within their building. So you're responsible for four people. the person to the left of you, the right of you, your bestie in the building, he said, and then someone who just appears off. And that's giving 100% not only to yourself, but also to those around you. And our final school that we'll take a look at this evening is Great Falls High School. So that's led by principal Jeffrey Hable. Um, uh, Anra Hall and Lori Mismer. Now, Anitra runs the transitions and the work skills class. Lori Mismer is of course the lady who has been in charge of our kitchen. Even when I was back there, Lori was just making things happen. So, Mr. Hobble, his barrier is really poverty and engagement. Um, working hard as a title one high

033school to meet the needs of those students. RCD responsibility center discipline has resulted in a 20% drop in behaviors. They no longer call in school suspension in school suspension, but inschool solutions. and they have changed the mindset of that approach to their behavior. Um he calls it hammer and heart. So the approach is both having a natural consequence but also having the heart to deal with students and families and meeting them where they're at. Um and a really cool thing our life skills kids who are there are tracking door security. Those of you who know Great Falls High know that there are dozens of doors to access that building and the security of those doors has always been a concern to teachers and leaders. And so every week our life skills kids go around, they

034have a little checklist that they do and then they have to have a weekly report to the SRO where they get to um work on their public speaking skills. And so they are using Hadtie's collective efficacy and RCD and and walkthroughs are shown an increase in engagement in both math and English language arts classes. And for stewardship and accountability, once again really really appreciate parent square. They do a Monday memo internally. um student and they have both student and staff PR teams and then they do an external weekly newsletter for the communication part of that. So a shout out to Mr. Hobble at Great Falls High and his folks um that are making all the work happen there. And then data for the day is just different this week because this week has just been

035different. Um so there's a collection of pictures up there for you. So I'll just kind of walk you around. There's a whole list of people. I know I forgot someone on the left who have really come together to help us out. Um you will see the very first one on the upper leftand corner. It looks like a snow drift. That is cellulose insulation that used to be up above and is now blowed all over um the community. Um there's the trees that you heard Mr. Boyd talk about catching the roof when it came off the building. You can see that in both the very top picture and then the first picture as we're moving clockwise um on the right hand side. Very quickly we had large heavy equipment um on campus helping us. I believe

036that came from the city. I'm looking for Mr. Boyd. That's it. M andD construction. And by the time we were done last night, the roof that you see stuck on the trees at about 3:00 on that picture uh was already folded, crumpled, wadded up, and set aside. Today, they worked on removing the trees that were damaged. Um and then about the 7 8:00 marker, that's our warehouse guys. That's Jessa and Steve and I believe Jeff Williams who came to help us in the wind trying to push large rolling containers of ranch. I think that was ranch and ketchup. Um all of the perishable foods that we had that we needed to reassign to the other buildings where our students are going to be reassigned for um for lunches. And then in the middle dead center

037of the clock, that's a picture of my office at about 1:30 um yesterday afternoon. And that is Mrs. Yanta Jakes, uh Mrs. Shannon Gilfoil, uh Ben Jakes, Steve Yates, Lance Boyd is up at the You can't see him. He's off the lefth hand side writing the plan down. Jackie is there. I'm there. And they all just came together, pulled up all the chairs, laid all their stuff out, and they got to work. And so, a huge thank you to all of those people and more for helping the district just keep their head above water the last two days. It is appreciated. So, with that, that is my report for the evening. Sorry it was a little bit lengthy. Um and I stand for any questions. >> Any questions for Miss Sawyer from our board of

038trustees? >> Make a comment really fast. >> Yeah, of of course. >> Can I make a comment about Lydia? I would like to congratulate you. I saw I'm going to read a Facebook post. Um Lydia has earned the National Speech and Debate Association's Academic All-American Award. This award recognizes academic rigor, competitive speech and debate success, and personal excellence. For more than 141,000 student members of the National Speech and Debate Association, fewer than 1% of the students earn the academic all-American award every year. This is a tremendous accomplishment and I just want to say congratulations and I think you needed to be publicly recognized for that because that is fantastic. Congratulations. >> Come on around. We want to shake your hand. Come on, Lydia. >> She's modest. >> Well, we know that Lydia does not ever

039recognize herself, so >> we're very proud. [laughter] And thank you Trusty Henning for bringing that to our attention. Really appreciate that. Any additional comments from our board of trustees? Any from our gallery. If not, thank you very much, Superintendent Hoyer. And at this point in time, um, I you students are so busy, we'll excuse you to get on to your next inspiring task. So, thank you for being with us this evening. Look forward to seeing you again in two weeks, right? Something like that. All right. Thank you very much, Tempest Fugit. Right. So, at this time, we move on through our agenda to audience communication. And I have three requests to speak before this board of trustees this evening. And I'll call on Tori first. Welcome, Tori. If you'd introduce yourself at the podium and

040uh share with us your message. >> Yes. Thank you, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, community members, and all the trustees. Um I'm Tori Doe with YW.CA CA Great Falls and we are going on our 33rd year of our annual salute to women gallo where community members are nominated by their friends, family and co-workers and the women who are nominated are being recognized for their remarkable work in the community trying to improve the lives of everybody that lives here and I'm pleased to announce that this year Kim S was chosen to be one of our honores. Please add our salute touring gala. [applause] >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you, >> Chairman Johnson, if I may. I had the privilege of serving on the board at the YW.CA and um I know Tori and Miss Tracy well.

041Um, I also know the incredible accomplishments it takes to be recognized by the YW.CA as one of the outstanding women in our community. So, Kim, congratulations. Well done. And good selection to the Y. Let's just take a moment to get a good photo up by the rostroom. Cam, go on up by the rostroom and get a nice photo. Go on team. You two with the flowers. There we go. >> Excellent. Thank you, >> Tori. Really quick, can you remind us when the gayla is, please, for this? >> It's going to be on April 17th this year. Once we're finished making all of our announcements, we we'll be posting the tickets on sale on our website or you can purchase them in our office. And all the proceeds from the gala go towards the Mercy Home

042to help provide shelter and services from women fleeing domestic and sexual violence. Thank you for being with us and for sharing that good news >> and congratulations. One more time, Trusty Scodski. >> Excellent. Thank you. Next, we're going to have Amber Campbell. Welcome, Amber. And if you step up to the rostroom. >> Hi there. So, I'm back. Um, I was here back in January. I came to see you guys about inappropriate and violent videos in the classroom that were shown. And um, unfortunately that has not been rectified because um, just recently my son came to me from school and brought up a question about something that he had viewed in the classroom. which was a political qu a a political question and um I felt it was very anti-American question and it bothered me and

043I asked him to show me the video um in his Chromebook and it's not there. I feel that if we're going to be showing videos in classrooms that the parents should be able to see those videos when they come up. That way we're able to approach the children with the answers which I was unable to do because I could not see the video. Um, so apparently you guys have a loophole in our education system with supplemental material um that allows the teacher to select subjectively whatever they want to bring in and once it is selected therefore it is approved. Um, and I've been, I guess, told that because the teacher is a professional that that is okay. And I have a problem with that because there are lots of professionals out there and they are

044not good actors. There are bad actors out there that can be professionals. And so how do we hold the teachers accountable for material that is subjectively being chosen without going through any kind of board approval or committee approval. Um, I just don't think that it's right as a parent that that's being allowed. So, I'm looking for for accountability. What happens when we find that there are things that are being shown that maybe are shouldn't be shown that are biased or inappropriate? I mean, what is your guys's process? Cuz I'm kind of getting the inclination that there is none. And it's disturbing because I don't send my kid to school to be indoctrinated by somebody else's views, by what they choose to bring into the classroom. I don't care if you're right or if you're left,

045but politics do not belong in the classroom. We are a divided nation and we are so divided that we have families and family members that don't get along and don't speak to each other. And I don't need to send my kid to school to have somebody else be putting that kind of stuff into their heads. Period. Well, thank you and thank you for coming and speaking to us this evening and several of us are taking notes on your commentary and we will look into this. >> I would hope so. >> Yeah, >> because I am not done with this and I will continue and if I have to bring in more parents into these board meetings because I can guarantee you I am not the only parent that's not happy with the way things are

046going. I will bring them all down here. >> Well, thank you very much. We're always happy to hear from our citizens whether it's good news, bad news, or whatever. But, uh, we we will look into this and see if we can find some, uh, answers to your concerns. >> Please do. >> Thank you. And Steve Mitch. Hi, Steve. Thank you for uh letting me go. I'm Steve Mitch. I live here in Great Falls. My daughter goes to uh North Middle School. And uh I'm also concerned about the video that she is talking about. And uh being 35 years of management, uh I pretty much uh followed protocol. Uh I went and talked to the principal. He told me to send a email to the teacher, which I did. And uh I also could not find

047that video on Chrome. And I wanted to know what it was about cuz my daughter come home and asked me, "What is going on? I don't understand. Uh does everybody hate America?" Uh that was kind of unnerving for me. So what I did was um sent a letter to the teacher following protocol and the teacher sent me back actually I think the teacher went to Mr. U Brian Miller the principal and he sent me a response to all my questions. So therefore, I answered all of his questions that he highlighted in his uh statements and uh he got back with me very promptly and said let's have a meeting. So we had a meeting on Friday. So on Friday uh we sat down and we discussed it uh professionally uh nothing we uh came to

048places where we had to be um places where we agreed to disagree on some issues and that's that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. But the main thing come down to was what was the standard operating procedures for pulling a video off of uh YouTube. And what I was told in this meeting here was that you had a committee that looked at the film. The superintendent approved the film. The superintendent brought it to you. You guys said that this is what the curriculum is and that's what it was. That's what I was told in this meeting. Now, what the principal told me, Mr. Miller, told me was that um a teacher can go out and look at anything that's on YouTube and if he clicks on it and brings it in there, it's

049an approved subject, which is not the standard operating procedures that I assumed that was being that I was told in here. So, therefore, we got a breakdown of communication. Fact of the matter is, I don't think we have a standard operating procedure for the teachers to follow because the principal didn't even know what was said in this room. So, I'm kind of curious is if we're going to make standard operating procedures for everybody because that's a normal management style for making sure that everybody's communicated to and it's holding within the guidelines of what you people are setting up. That's what should be followed. and if they don't follow it, there should be consequences. And I'm sitting here going, what is the consequences for this man? And I was told that he was a professional educator

050and that he trusted him. And that's where we did not we agreed to disagree because I don't trust him. We've already seen him what he has done with videos that had got pulled off of your YouTube and now he's bringing his own in and it's approved because he's a professional. I don't buy that. I don't agree with it and I don't like it and I want some rules and some regulations and some SOPs for the teachers that you got gobs of teachers here folks. I mean, this is a big organization and I've worked for a big organization and we all have operating procedures that need to be followed by everybody because you get loosey goosey on everything. Everything goes to pieces and then we're in trouble and we're already in trouble in our school systems.

051We're not we don't have the highest readings reading ratings. We don't have the highest math ratings and we're working on and I will say that uh I was impressed with Mr. very uh very nice. We agreed to things, we talked about things and he was very open to all the discussions that we had and it was uh he invited me back. So I mean I really want to work with this but like Amber, I got other parents too and I mean I got a list of 20 parents that I could call and have them down here. They want to know what's going to happen. Okay, they're kind of letting me be the spokesman right now. And so I'm sitting here telling you, I want to see some standard operating procedures and hold these people, our

052teachers, accountable. Help the principal. The principal is kind of left out there hanging right now because he doesn't have he's going by what he's told and he's not going by what I was told. So therefore, you know, um you can't run a ship when nobody knows what's command. Okay. >> Well, we appreciate you being here and in your narrative, there seems to be different versions of how procedure in terms of sharing information and such. >> Yeah. >> Happen. And we want to get you the straight story. So, >> okay. >> Why don't we work on that and we'll stay in touch. >> All right. Thank you. >> And see if we can answer your questions. >> You have my phone number? >> We do. Right. Yes. You can call me >> right here from there.

053>> Thanks, Steve. >> Thank you. Action items. Roman 8. A Bridged Health Alliance proposal. Heather, welcome. >> Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board and the community. I am here tonight to talk about the Bridged Health Alliance. Bridged Health Alliance is trying to create a self-insured healthcare [clears throat] model that will be exclusive for Montana public schools. They need a commitment to cover at least 12,000 employees from 150 districts to qualify for a one-time $40 million legislative incentive. Participating districts have to commit to a 5-year participation period with an exit valve after year three if renewal cost exceeds statutory thresholds. Bridge Health Alliance is now wanting a definitive answer if Great Falls Public Schools is going to join. They currently have enough participants to qualify without Great Falls Public Schools participating. The

054insurance committee has recommended we do not join the healthcare trust at this time. The trust has not responded to the questions the committee asked months ago. The insurance committee would like to wait and see how the trust works this first year with other districts. Therefore, it is our recommendation the district board is requested to accept the recommendation of the Great Falls Public Schools Insurance Committee to provoke participation in the Bridge Health Alliance Insurance Trust plans at this time. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. >> Trusty Bronson. At this time, I would move that the board accept the recommendation of the Great Falls Public Schools Insurance Committee to forego participation in the Bridged Health Alliance Insurance Trust Plan at this time. >> Second. >> Been moved and seconded to accept the recommendation of the Great Falls Public

055Schools Insurance Committee to forego participation in the Bridge Health Alliance Insurance Trust Plan at this time. Any commentary from our board of trustees or questions? >> Mr. Chairman, before I think anybody on the board comments, I know Mr. Cubbage is here this evening. I don't know if he plans on commenting on this. He's a member of the insurance committee. I don't want to put him on the spot, but if he has anything he'd like to share from his organization, I'd like to give him the floor to give him that opportunity to do that. >> Mr. cabbage >> again. I don't want to put him on the spot. >> Well, but you did. [laughter] >> We've been friends for years. So, >> well, [laughter] >> chairman Johnson, members of the board, >> welcome. >> Um, I

056would just say that we have the the insurance committee for Great Falls Public Schools has spent a lot of time refining, making our program much better. Um and in comparison, I would say to other um committees in the state, we're uh well educated and really look into this and take it very seriously. I would just say that we have done our due diligence looking into the bridged health insurance program and I think it's a very wise choice to wait here. >> Thank you, Mr. Cage. Any other uh commentary from a board of trustees regarding this mot? Uh I I just wanted to speak in a little bit more detail and I thank Mr. Cubbage for sharing uh his views. I I just wanted to begin by saying as you know I'm your representative on this

057committee and I have to say it is an excellent group of representatives from our district and and from our community because we do have Mrs. Uker on there representing retirees and it's helpful to have her observations. But this group I to be incredibly well informed. They are very engaged and when they make any recommendation to us as the board, uh it is a wellthoughtout recommendation even though there might be opportunities to disagree with one or more aspects of it. The other thing that I think the board needs to be aware of is that we have excellent consulting group in Alliant and particularly my Gonville staff. They provide us I think Mr. Cubbage I believe would agree with excellent information analysis of any aspect of our insurance plan which is a self-insurance plan. We are essentially

058selfinsuring. not going out on the market and that always involves a few risks. But one of the things that we went through in this process of deciding whether or not to join trust was looking at how our plan operated particularly in relationship to doublea schools around the state. And I think I have to say and I'm kind of summarizing it here making maybe a little too simplistic but we have a very good plan considering all of the options, all of the issues that we are facing out there with providing health insurance. But that being said, um something that Mr. Bonville said in one of his last presentations really struck me as I think appropriate going forward. I'm going to quote him here. He said, "Beware anyone speaking about the proposed trust with certainty either way."

059And and what he was trying to tell us was that no one should say that the trust is an absolutely perfect proposal. No one should say that it is a horrible for us. There are just too many uncertainties right now in joining this particular plan as it relates to the experiences that we are having with the operation of our self insurance plan. One of the issues that we ran into and I was personally very disappointed in this is that it became very difficult for us to get certain information from the consultants who were advising and working with Bridged Alliance Trust. And that wasn't because I think anybody was trying to be deliberately difficult. One of the problems you run into when you're looking at something like this is that everybody has a certain amount of

060information which arguably is proprietary. And if you start sharing it with the general public, what happens is is that everything from trade secrets, confidential information, whatever starts to get out into the open. And as somebody who worked in that arena for close to 40 years, I understand perfectly well why it's a concern, not just to the bridge people, but also to our consultants as well. That being said, there are processes uh that I have worked on or worked with in years that get us over that hump, but for whatever reason, we were not able to use our indulge. And as a result, we ended up in a situation where we had to make some decisions or I should say the committee. I don't I don't vote in that committee. I listen to what these folks

061have to say. But it just made it extremely difficult to say that with a great degree of certainty, we could move from a self- insurance plan that we know where we have a lot of opportunities to control the direction of the plan to provide the best benefit available to the participants to a plan that hopefully is going to work for a lot of districts around the state. But whether it's going to work for us right now is still an open question. And I think that's why the committee felt we need to wait and see what happens. Um there's a lot of unknowns about the bridged alliance plan that I don't even think they know yet for certain. Uh one of the issues that we discussed with some concern is that our members here are going

062to typically rely on medical providers in this community. benefits the clinic, Logan Health, uh, which is out of Callisville, but they have a presence here. And typically what you try to do in the insurance industry is you try to have agreements in place as to what these people are willing to charge and accept for payment. And all of you who have insurance probably know if you look at your EOBS, the amount that those institutions could charge and what they've agreed to charge are vastly different. That requires intensive negotiation with them to agree to accept those charges. To the best of my knowledge, those agreements are not yet in place with our providers here. Hopefully, they will get them in time. I hope that they do. But I also know from working with the medical profession

063that they're facing tremendous pressures on their ability to provide services without going into deficit situations. Benefits n profit. The clinic is forprofit. They have different ways of looking at the cost of services. But I know that they just don't accept when somebody walks in and says, "Well, we'll agree to pay you these rates." They don't look at it that way. They have to make their own decisions. And until I think we knew that those kind of agreements were in place, we would be reluctant to say, "Well, what are we getting ourselves into?" We already have agreements in place with respect to our plan. uh jumping for something that you don't know uh and giving away something that you do know is not really good. Likewise, uh prescription drugs are a huge part of what our

064health insurance plans provide today. And I think our consultant felt wise in advising us that we don't really know if we're going to see a lot of savings in the new plan that was proposed. Hopefully, there will. Now, I learned today that the state auditor, the commissioner of insurance, has told Bridge that you meet all the criteria for setting yourself up as a statewide health insurance trust. That's good. There's a lot of school districts around the state that probably need something better than what they have. And God knows, we all have hope that bridge is going to provide that solution. I also know that some of them are probably going to have to pay more in premium to get that privilege. But that's the situation of those districts. What I've always been impressed about in

065this district is that we are extremely careful before we ever make a decision to go out and work with any vendor that's offering us a product or a service. We want to know as much information as possible such that when we either say we say yes to it, we know with a great degree of certainty that we're getting what it is we ask for and what they're offering to us. Um this is a difficult kind of a decision you know for me to make from the standpoint that nearly three years ago a lot of trustees around the state including myself responded to the requests of our association to approach legislators and say you know we think a statewide trust would be a good idea based on my experience with large self- insurance pools some of

066which I've represented in my law practice I said I told legislators, I think it's a great idea for the state. Now, whether or not it was ultimately a good thing for us, the devil's in the details, and I think the committee has done an excellent job working with our consultant saying we just don't have enough details yet to make that decision. I highly suspect that when this decision, if it goes in favor of the committee's recommendation, uh, is made, I suspect that we're going to get a little blowback from some people at the Montana School Boards Association. And as I told one of the leaders a long time ago, we are trustees elected in our districts to make decisions based on what we think is best for our district. We will not, I emphasize, we

067will not make decisions based on what somebody else wants us to do just because they think it's a good idea. Uh I hope I don't get that blowback, but that's the message I'm going to give them if this board tonight approves the recommendation. uh of this committee and I'm not afraid uh to take the heat for it because again I think our committee working in consultation with our consultant who by the way did not tell us what decision to make and that's one of the great misunderstandings out there. I was told in the process of working with bridge to gather information to make decisions the suggestion was made to me that perhaps our [clears throat] consultant well you know they just don't like us well there are two words for that oine excrement you can

068I think read between the lines there and that that bothered me because once again I thought this was a professional conversation where we could just share as much information as possible and make a decent decision. we couldn't get there. So again, I'm comfortable with this committee's recommendation and again, we might catch a little heat for it. So be it. We're doing it, I think, in the best interests of our constituent [clears throat] users of this product and of this district as a whole. I sorry for going on like this, but I felt that we had to have a public record of my feelings as a trustee working with this committee and interacting with Bridged and their representatives over the course of roughly the last two years. Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate your narrative.

069You spent a lot of time on this question and tonight's the night that we make a recommendation. Uh that the recommendation has been made to accept the committee's findings or not. Are there any additional questions from the board of trustees regarding this motion? Any from the floor? Any from our remaining citizens? If not, question is whether or not to accept the recommendation of the Great Falls Public Schools Insurance Committee to forego participation in the Bridged Health Alliance Insurance Trust plan at this time. So, I'd ask all those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. And again, thank you very much, Trusty Bronson, for all your work on this committee and for your report on how this came how this recommendation came to be. Action item B

0702728 school year calendar. Mrs. Spursome once again, >> RF public schools has a calendar committee that meets each year to create a calendar for two years from now. This year the calendar committee was working on the 202728 calendar. There are many things to take into consideration for these calendars. The calendar committee is composed of a board member, one director from Montana school for the deaf and blind, three teachers, three administrative personnel, three classified personnel, and three parents. However, we never turn away anyone wishing to come to the meetings and let them give their input. We first met on January 8th. During this meeting, specifics were gone over as to what each calendar must contain. Blank calendars, state regulations, sports calendars, and the music and fine arts calendar were handed out to each member, and everyone

071was encouraged to submit a few calendars to the human resources office by January 22nd. Debo, our benefits analyst, went through each submitted calendar to make sure that they all fell within mandatory guidelines and to check if there were any duplicates. There was a total of nine calendar ideas submitted. On February 3rd, the committee met again and three of the nine were selected to place on an online survey. The survey was posted on the Great Falls Public Schools Facebook page, emailed to all principles, their administrative assistants, and all the other administrators. They were asked to post the flyer, which contained the QR code in common areas, and those three calendars were voted on from February 6 through February 20th. There were 1,190 responses to the survey. 32.3% were community members with children in Great Falls Public

072Schools. 25.5% Great Falls Public School staff members with children in Great Falls Public Schools. 26.2 were Great Falls Public School staff members with no children, 2.3 were community members with no children, and 13.7% were students. After reviewing and discussing the input and other factors at the calendar committee meeting on February 26th, committee members decided by unanimous vote to recommend the attached 2027 2028 calendar option to the board. The committee is recommending option A attached for board approval. So, we are requesting the board to approve calendar option A for the 2027 2028 school year calendar as presented. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. >> Trusty Kagowski. >> I move that we approve calendar option A for the 2728 school year um as presented. >> Second move and seconded to approve calendar option A. Any questions or

073comments from our board of trustees? >> Yes. Super quick. >> Super quick. I won't I won't pull a bill. [laughter] >> Excuse me. >> Okay. So, just um for the community to know um you know, we try really work hard to get a lot of community input. The committee itself is representative of the community. Um and on top of that, um this calendar reflects comments from um feedback that we receive in past years as well. Um, so we really work hard to try to find a calendar that meets the needs of everyone from um, students attending music programs at Christmas time um, to parents who want to take their children on a long spring break. So um, we really feel like we've achieved that with this year's calendar um, and just appreciate the work um,

074that Miss Spurs and her team does to make this happen. >> Thank you. Any additional comments from our board of trustees from our gallery here this evening? I'll follow call for the question then. All those in favor of approving calendar option A for the 2728 school year calendar as presented, please signify by saying I. >> Opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you very much calendar committee for your good work. A lot of community interest in the calendar. >> That's healthy. >> Yes. and it takes a lot of patience and a lot of time. Thank you. Action item C, nonrenewal temporary non-tenure teachers with positions expiring in 2026. I guess again, Miss Spurs >> again. >> So, the non-renewal of this non-tenure is required because she was hired for a position on a temporary basis. The

075employee may apply for available positions for which she is qualified through the IND district transfer process. This position was temporary because she currently the position she currently held was less than a full year. The recommendation the district board is requested to non-renew the teacher listed as she is a temporary position that expires June 5th, 2026. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. Trustee Scorowski. >> I move we approve this request to not renew the teacher listed as she has a temporary position that expires in June of 26 as presented. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded to non-renew the teacher listed as she is a temporary position that expires in June 5, 2026. Any commentary or questions from this board of trustees? Any from the public hearing? Seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in

076favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Action item and D, the non-renewal of nontenured teachers. >> I'm still here. >> You're still there. >> Last one. So, tonight I'm here to present you the nonrenewal of non-tenure teachers. This is something that takes a lot of time and consideration and it affects everyone from the school to the students. We really are just making sure we have the best educators in front of our students. I am asking you to use the addendum on your sheet to approve the non-renewal of the non-tenure teachers listed. >> Thank you very much, >> Mr. Chair. Trusty Scorioski. >> I move that we um approve the presented non-renewal of non-tenured teachers as presented. >> Moved and seconded to

077uh non-renew the non-tenured teachers listed on the addendum. Any questions or commentary from this board of trustees? Any questions or commentary from our public? Now I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. And you are excused. >> Thank you very much. Action item E. CM Russell High School Auditorium Improvements. Mrs. Becker. Welcome. Superintendent Hoyer, Chairman Johnson, trustees, and members of the community. I am here to speak to improvements for the CMR auditorium. In April of 2023, you may remember that we came forward and presented acceptance of an anonymous gift of a million dollars um that had come through for a renovation of the auditorium. Since that time, we've been doing a lot of work um exploring this project

078um and also doing an effort to raise an additional 500,000 that we succeeded in completing in 2025. Um anticipating that the project would likely exceed the initial million-doll donation that we had received. Uh the priority of the project involved acoustics, improving the acoustics and as many of you might know that involves extensive work. So extensive work in the construction also remediation um and that uh exceeded what we anticipated to be the case in order to accomplish this renovation. Um the auditorium uh looked high and wide uh both nationally um and statewide for funding for the remediation portion of this project while the foundation was committed to the renovation portion. Um unfortunately through this exhaustive search they were unable to secure funding that would have been necessary in order to complete um the remediation side of

079this project. um that required us to work with the district, also work with the initial donor, um and try and figure out how we were going to pivot with this project. Um after much conversation um and discussion and kind of brainstorming uh we determined that it would be the best approach to move forward with that 500,000 that was secured in 2025 uh to affect improvements in that space though we knew the full extent or the full scope would not be achievable. Um so we felt that the donors that had committed to that certainly deserved to see an improvement in that space. Um but we knew it just needed to take a different form. Um the district worked really closely with their staff over at CMR to determine what the priorities were um for that funding

080that was available for that type of work. Um and it was narrowed down into kind of three different areas. So if we can't affect the acoustics, how can we affect the sound in that space? Um so affecting the sound system in that space was a priority. um stage lighting and also the sound booth at the back of the auditorium um rose to the level of high priority um involving the staff that works with those elements um day in and day out with our students. Um so we have uh the district is proceeding um in exploring what that might look like. um the million-doll that remains from the anonymous donor, um we have been able to secure their commitment for a permanent fund for GFPS fine arts, which I will speak to in another agenda item

081this evening. Um but we're very excited to be able to proceed with making some improvement in that space. Um, my request is that you accept the $500,000 gift um from the foundation for that purpose. >> Thank you, Mrs. Becker. >> Mr. Chair, >> Trusty Kenny, >> I move to accept the $500,000 um donation for improvements in the CMR High School Auditorium with thanks to the donors as presented. >> Second. been moved and seconded to accept the $500,000 gift for improvements to CM High School auditorium. Any questions or commentary from this board of trustees? Mr. Chairman, >> Trusty Bronson, thank you. Uh, Miss Becker, thanks again for all your work on this project and I know you and I have talked about this quite a bit the last roughly two years. Just out of curiosity though,

082can you expand a little bit on what it is we'll be able to do at CMR from the standpoint that we all know wanted to do full remediation? >> Sure. >> The auditorium, which >> you know, I think in an ideal world would be perfect, but construction costs I know really got in the way. >> Even with the changes though that we're going to make, which I think will be helpful, are we going to have to go back someday and even take those out if we're able to or need to do for full remediation or we going to be able to salvage even new things. >> The intention with looking at those priorities and working with the district is to ensure obviously as improvements hopefully some at some point in the future a full renovation

083can happen um if funding becomes available to that end. Um but the intention with these priorities is that they will still be beneficial in that space even if a full renovation becomes available in the future. Um so that was a lens that the district was looking at when they were considering those priorities. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any questions or commentaries um regarding this motion from our board of trustees from our public? We're not going to wish for the wind to blow the roof off. No, certainly not. >> I don't think that can happen. >> All those in the f in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I oppose same sign. >> And it's a very happy motion. Thank you very much, Mrs. Becker, for your work on this project

084been ongoing and u your dedication to it has been admirable. Action item FA category one category one bid award. Mr. Williams. Welcome. >> Being at the end of this, hopefully we'll get out of here quick. Okay. Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board, community, I come before you today to let you know that the process I started with you on January 12th to do an RFP request bids for anything above $80,000 in a category 1/category 2 efforts has been finished. Category one had to be up for bid because it was rather than $80,000 per state law. Category 2 did not. So I come before you today to let you know the results of the category one bidding. Uh we did have four bids. We evaluated those bids with our matrix that had various different

085between price the vendor good for the district and we were looking at five years with these devices. So when we looked at the totality of it all we wanted to have something that for five years we would not have to worry about it. So that came about and we took in chose a quote. It will be from the company Pine Cove and I'll give you the numbers here in just a second. >> Pine Cove is also the vendor that we used to get our firm our firewall last year last summer for or from rather I'm sorry. So they are unknown vendor. These will be for the routers in all the district buildings. We will only be buying the routers. There will be no uh installation or configuration charges from Pine Code. We will be doing

086it ourselves. >> Because of that, >> required that I take and modify the rest of the bids and take out any configuration or installation cost to make it all even as far as the bidding process, which is what we did per the rate buyer. Came down to this. The original bid from PI code was $130,000 or $130,50828 modifications because of configuration installation $40,000 that was removed from the cost that resulted in a bid of 90,5828. As you will remember, because of the district's free and reduced lunch, will pay 80% of -ate eligible devices. These are eligible. So they will be paying $72,462. That will leave the district with a cost of8,000 or $18,11.66 that will be coming out of my budget. So after all this evaluation and all this work we have asked for, I

087am asking you to take and accept this bid so we can sign a contract with them and get the equipment in line to be installed and functional July 1st. >> That's my request. >> Very good. Thank you very much, Mr. Williams. >> Mr. Chair, >> Trusty Henny, >> I move that we approve the lowest qualified bidder, Pine Cove, in the amount of $90,58.28 for purchasing district network routers as presented. >> Second. >> Been moved and seconded to approve the lowest qualified bidder, Pine Cone, uh, for this project. Any questions uh or commentary from our board of trustees? Trustes [clears throat] Konagoski. >> Hey, just one short question. Is there a reason why we're not able to consider our in essentially um work as part of that 20% match? >> He requires us to take and

088use the cost of the bid. >> Okay. So, for the devices, um, technically to answer your question in a not a roundabout way, the $40,000 that we're saving off of that bid because we are doing the installation and configuration is our work going toward it. So, to be very honest, if you didn't have the skill sets we have in the technology department, primarily the field techs and the little Russell technicians, of course, Pat Douglas, we wouldn't be able to do this. So, that is a benefit to the district. And to be honest, It's a very big benefit >> to all taxpayers. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Any additional questions for Mr. Williams regarding this motion? >> Um any questions from our gallery? Not call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please

089signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos same sign. Motion carries. Thank you very much for your work on this, Mr. Williams. >> Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. >> That concludes action items. action other where nothing was pulled from the consent agenda. So, we're going to move on to reports, discussion, and policies and um A is career and technical education pilot proposals. Mr. Boyd, welcome. >> Thank you. Uh Superintendent Johnson, members of the board or Superintendent Johnson, >> I don't want that. >> We'll start again. Would you like that role? >> That role. >> It's been a long 24 hours and two hours of sleep's not cutting it. Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board. I'm here tonight uh with Becky Nelson uh to present some Becky Nelson Becky Frisbee. Holy cow. Becky Frisbee uh

090to be able to discuss some CTE pilots. Get me away from the microphone. [laughter] I'm trying. [laughter] Chairman Johnson, superintendent Ohio trustees and community. I'd like to visit with you tonight about some um new pilots in the CTE area. I want to start with intro to career and college readiness class. This class has already started this semester at Great Falls High and the students on a daily basis are working with real world experts in the field. Each day a different guest speaker comes in and we'll talk about their career field, how they got there, what their education was, what their experiences, did they have an internship, how did they come to this path and why did they choose it. In addition to the speakers, they also have the opportunity to look at their educational path

091to really talk about it to say, "What is it that I need to do in the next four years in order to make my dreams come true and have the pathway that I'm looking for?" That's a one semester class. When they go over and above, they go to advanced career and college readiness course. Now the students are going to have the opportunity to out into the field to do job shadows, maybe move into the internship level and actually get to try out those careers they want to pursue. Like I said, they are currently only at Great Falls High. The next course I want to talk about is also a Great Falls High class and it is called CTSO leadership. CTSO is Career Tech Student Organization. So, this is a course that aligns strongly with other

092double A's in our state. We're looking at a business one. This is going to allow our BPA and our DECA students to work in class on the skills they would use in competition. So, this isn't really a competition prep class. This is a work on your soft skills. learn how to communicate better, how to be a leader, and how to work on teamwork. Something that we know that they might be thinking they're using for competition, but we know they're the skills they need to actually make a difference in their careers. The last two courses will be available for all three high schools. It's intro to cosmetology and advanced cosmetology. Intro to cosmetology will be a morning class. Students will learn the theory work involved with cosmetology including cultural awareness, sanitary measures, the basics of hair,

093nails, and scalp care. As students move on to advanced cosmetology, which will be in the afternoon, students will be working with the mannequins, actually doing nails, actually doing haircuts, color, all sorts of treatments. But they're also going to work on what if they were to own their own salon, what are the finances that are involved, how do they make decisions, how do they decide what is cost effective? So that's part of that class. The idea being that their first semester is an intro. Second semester they're in advance and then third semester they would move into a CTEI which is a career tech education internship and be out working in the field part of their day and earning money. Those are the new the five new plans. Other than the intro to career and college readiness,

094all of these are slated to start next fall with the advanced cosmetology being in next spring. Oh, and I should mention for cosmetology, the only cost will be um to purchase the stations so that they can actually do the work. This is roughly 15,000 and it'll be purchased with Montana Advanced Opportunity Funds. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Questions? >> Questions for Miss Frisbee? >> Hearing none. Thank you very much for your report. >> I'm not >> B. First reading of mathematics 7 through 12 resources. Mr. Boyd once again. >> So I'm going to invite Becky up to the lect turn to be able to talk about the process that she has undergone for the last two years. Uh she's worked with the middle school and high school teams uh to be able to land

095on the next possible mathematics curriculum. >> Great. Thank you. >> He is definitely taller than me. All right. So let's talk a little bit about our math resource adoption and it has been going on for quite a while. The company that we're looking at right now is Savis and the product line is Envision and the math committee previewed five different math resources from a variety of publishers. They attended presentations for four of them, but they ultimately decided that they wanted to pilot SAVIS. This happened in grades 7 through 10. We used these materials both in regular and honors at the middle school. And at high school they were used for uh foundations which was the replacement course for pre-alggebra integrated one mathematics which replaced algebra 1 and integrated 2 which replaces geometry. When it came

096time to vote the vote was um a very strong vote. We had four nos, but everybody else was a yes. So, 19 of the members um chose SAS as the next math pro possibility. And I asked them in their um vote to please give me some things that they wanted me to share with you. And I want to share a quote that isn't up there. I think it's at its core be beyond all the fancy bells and whistles of the online interactives auto remediations and more the content is the type of content that high schoolers should be taught and will help them develop a deeper mathematical understanding and build strong critical thinking skills. Another teacher said that it along with a good teacher is at an appropriate yet high level in order to help our

097students both struggling students and students that need enrichment with enough practice to boost skills and confidence in mathematics. I also like how the middle and high school are working together to continue to have vertical alignment and help all students academically. Anytime you ask a group of people their opinion on a product, they're going to have concerns. So the first one was the material started at a high level. My answer to that is if we don't ask them to reach these higher levels, we never will. And if we teach to our lowest denominator, our struggling students, we will outgrow the curriculum very quickly. Their next concern was it takes time to get used to. Well, we know change is hard. Everything takes time to get used to. Digital resources at the middle school was one of

098the hardest things. And the sigh of relief I saw everyone take when I said I never asked you to teach 100% digital. I thought that the light bulbs went off in the room and they were all so excited. They can choose when and where is appropriate for digital and pencil and paper should never be replaced in math. you still need that that skill, more practice problems. I'm not sure it needs more, but I think we need more work on training our teachers where to find all of those things. And that's part of the it takes time and change. And then scaffolding for each section, learning to find where those scaffolds are and to help students start where they are instead of where a lesson is. We part of what we were working on this summer

099as we build through implementation guides and processes and continue to work as a team, a 712 team as they build what it takes to help each other get through the material. When I did talk one-on-one with the four teachers who were against SAS, they were mostly concerned about the rigor. They didn't want kids getting left behind. And that's one of the things that we will be working on quite a bit this summer on how to help students enter where they are with those low ceilings and high Whoa, that was backwards. Low floors, high ceilings so that they can achieve as much as they can. So, let me tell you about what I want to purchase for middle school. We're looking at a 5-year digital license that would expire in July of 2031. I'll be getting

100classroom sets of books with additional books in the library to be used as needed. This could be for um a student that needs to have a physical book. That often happens. It could be for um study hall rooms so that there's a book in there. So, they will have additional books for middle school to have that 5-year license. $29,3545. This will cover all levels, seventh and eighth, including their honors program. For high school, we get to do a six-year license. It'll expire in 2032. Again, it's a classroom set with those extras as needed for the building to put where they need to. That'll be $476. Whoa, let me try that again. $476,6885. We'll use those for foundations, integrated one and integrated 2 and the honors program. As an aside, this is leaving out the thirdyear

101math algebra 2 because this is a slow roll out. You It's an integrated system. You can't change everybody unless everybody's gotten the foundation. So, we'll be ready for one and two next year. And algebra 2 would not be used or purchased for another year. So, I'll come back and see you and we'll talk about an algebra 2 um adoption of their integrated three book at that time. One of the questions I was asked by people I've visited with is why five for middle school and six for high school? It comes down to uh savings. What have I saved in our local that I've earmarked for middle school and what have I saved for high school? It also staggers my renewal so I'm not trying to renew both sets at the same time. Part of this

102process includes um public review. So teachers have been looking at this for months and months and months. um even if they're not piloting, teachers in their buildings have been looking at the books, but it's um the opportunity for our public to view. Um they'll be Monday through Friday in Evergreen starting tomorrow and working through the Friday before I come back to see you. Um they can also, if a parent wanted to, they can reach out and see if their their child's class is doing the pilot or not. And there's also books in their building. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for Miss Frisbee? So I have one and that when would this come before this board of trustees for potential ratification? Would that be at the March 17th meeting? >>

103Is that in two weeks? >> Yeah. Uh, if you go back and you take a look at the days that you have open for public, it >> must be the 23rd. So, it would be the meeting after it would be the meeting after that public comment time closes. >> Gotcha. Good. All right. Good. I was concerned that going to be a little too tight, but that that helps. >> And that's why I close it off on Friday. I want to be able to um look at the public comment and bring information to you. >> Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions from Trusty Bratson? Yeah, just quickly, uh, in terms of viewing it, can we just do as we've done in the past and just come in any time to view them or do you want

104us to let you know in advance? >> You guys can stop by any time. Um, public should probably just give us a call to make sure the room's open. Um, there's books in my office as well as in Evergreen. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Hanigan. How are we getting the word out to the community and parents about viewing this? >> Tomorrow um Sher will get my bells and whistles presentation that she can put on the website and then um I will ask whoever is doing Facebook right now to get that posted on our Facebook feed as well. >> Is um >> is that Jackie? Okay. Is it possible to use like parent square or some other form as well just to whatever avenue because I hear from a lot of community me community

105members they don't know when these are available to view. So if we can get it out in as many channels as possible that would be awesome. >> Yep. That's absolutely doable. We'll just get a consistent message and then we'll push it out through the executive director's office. Perfect. Thank you. >> Excellent. Any other questions for Miss Frisbee? If not, thank you very much for your report. Thank you. >> And thank you, Mr. Boyd, as well. >> Roman 9C, newly established permanent fund for Great Falls Public Schools, Arts through the Foundation donations. Mrs. Becker, welcome back. >> Hello. Thank you. Uh, Chairman Johnson, trustees, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the community. I'm here to kind of do a followup to the last report that I did. Um, so again, context um is that we received an anonymous

106donation. Um, we were a we at the foundation encourage them to pursue um the auditorium because we know that those contributions do not come through our door very often and they were very excited about that opportunity. Since that time, we've learned that we've needed we need to pivot um to another opportunity. Um that involved a lot of conversation, discussion both with that anonymous donor, also with the school district um to determine the best use of a million dollar contribution. Uh where we've landed um is implementing a permanent fund for GFPS fine arts to go into perpetuity to support unique, innovative, compelling learning opportunities for students within our school district K through 12. You may be familiar with primitive funds that exist for the arts. It's incredibly unique that a fund exists for fine arts uh

107that's associated with a public school system. That is uh almost unheard of. We've not been able to find another uh school district that is benefiting in this way. Dusty has done a fair amount of research to see if this exists, if there are models that we can follow, and we are forerunners in this area. Thanks to the generosity of this donor and the flexibility of that donor to consider new opportunities, um what will result from this permanent fund um is a dispersement that goes to the district uh for fine arts that will be dispersed on an annual basis. It will range from 40 to $50,000 each year. Um, some of the areas that we're considering for its use includes include residency offerings for professionals in the fine arts arena. Um, also partnerships with local arts

108organizations, um, student experiences. Um, so the what's so compelling about this is it allows students to experience stuff that does not experience that they are unable to experience because of tight budgets. Um, but it allows fine arts to exist at the level in our community um, as it does currently, but it allows us to take it to another level. Um, we are very fortunate to live in a community that really cares about the arts. Um, and we have a lot of community members that want to see that thrive. And I don't believe that this primitive fund would be as effective if we didn't live in the community that we live in now that is supportive of these type of opportunities for students because it requires a partnership um with the teachers, the instructors in the

109classroom, um with Dusty, his department, um and the district and also our community members um that want to see these kind of things exist for students. Um so we're incredibly excited to see this implemented. Um there is not necessarily an action that I'm bringing forward. Um there are already avenues that exist now for us to administer the funds um for the benefit of the district. Uh the intention is that it would be implemented in the 26 27 school year. Um Dusty is working with his arts teachers throughout the district to kind of come up with opportunities. Um, and we'll be doing so over the next several months to formulate what that initial pilot year is going to look like. So, I wanted to keep you apprised of that opportunity and let you know that it's

110really unique and something worth celebrating. >> Fantastic. Thank you very much for this good news. >> Yes. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And then Roman nine reports discussion and policies. Item D, Great Falls Public Schools Foundation Leadership Transition. Yes. Okay. So, as many of you know, there's a transition in leadership that's taking place at the foundation. Um, I am going to invite our board chair for Great Falls Public Schools Foundation forward, Jamie Marshall, to kind of introduce it and then we'll move forward with some commentary. >> Welcome, Mrs. Marshall. >> Thank you, Chairperson Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, Trustees, and all that are here. I am going to quickly take this moment to also thank you as the parent of um as a Lincoln family. Um what the last 24 hours of work you have all done um

111has also meant to all of those students having had multiple of them in my home today as we tried to care for different families. Um there were tears, there were hugs, and there were some celebrations. So, the amount of names on that slide do not go unnoticed by those of us that were living and tucking little ones in last night who had a lot of questions. Thank you for answering those for them. So, thank you. I come today as the chair of the foundation with gratitude in my heart for what Stephanie Becker has provided for our community, for this organization over the last five years. We are grateful for the systems, for all of the heartfelt work, for the partnerships, for the grant programs, for all of the many things that we've been able to

112accomplish together under Stephanie's direction. And we are also very excited to be welcoming a new chapter as Caitlyn Merc has joined us as the new executive director of the Great Falls Public School Foundation. She started this past week the energy, the passion, the commitment for public education for this community and for what is yet to come. We as the board are thrilled to share with you this evening. We'll turn minute over to Stephanie to be able to share her perhaps final goodbye at a board meeting and then invite Caitlyn up for a minute to say hello. So, thank you for your time this evening. We appreciate this partnership tremendously. >> Thank you. Okay. So, it's been five years, which is hard to believe. I feel like it went like this. Um, but it has been

113such a privilege to be able to partner with the community to partner with you as trustees. The trust that you've placed in the foundation and being champions and advocates for the work that the foundation does not go unnoticed and it can't be accomplished if we don't have support in the community in the seats right here. So, I'm very grateful for that and I know that that's going to continue. Um, I'm also grateful to have had the opportunity to play any part in bringing the community's support in the form of funding um to impact education for our teachers and our students. Um, it's been a privilege. Um, and I know that the foundation is only going to continue to grow um because I know we live in a community that cares very deeply about education. Um,

114I'm excited to see what's in the future. Um, and I'm excited to see what Caitlyn can move forward with. It seems like the right juncture to allow this new chapter to unfold. Um, and I think Caitlyn is going to do a fantastic job. Um, bringing that forward. Um, so thank you to you for supporting me in that experience. Um, and I would love to invite Caitlyn forward just to share a few words, um, about her background and also um, to share why she's coming um, because I think that's important for you to hear and for the community to hear. >> Welcome, Caitlyn. >> Thank you, Stephanie. As she said, my name is Caitlyn Marc. I just started last Monday, so rolling into week two and really just hitting the ground running, learning a lot. Uh,

115last week I had the opportunity to be a part of all the different committee meetings. They joked and said I was just getting right into it, but it's been super fun to see all the passionate work that everyone's been doing. So, I was born and raised here in Great Falls. Uh, when I graduated from college, I moved back home and then served as the program director at Big Brothers Big Sisters for six years. I then took kind of a turn and worked at the University of Providence. So I was there for almost the last nine years, spending most of my time working in admissions and then enrollment management. So made the shift here like I said last week. Just very excited to continue to uh lead on the great work that Stephanie has already put

116forth for us and working within our school systems. I think that's the thing that drew me most to this position is just having that opportunity to continue to serve in our school districts and working with the passionate educators and students. So, thank you. >> Thank you and welcome. >> Item E, girls football discussion as a possible club activity for 26 27 Mr. Boyd. Good evening. One last time, uh, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board, I'm going to ask Mike Tannenberg to come up to the lect turn at this time. Uh, as we start to facilitate, bring the final pieces to a conversation that's been ongoing for the last three years that I've been in my position as an executive director. uh Mike will bring forward uh where we're at the studies that we've

117looked at, the surveys that have gone out, and then the cost proposals uh that'll be coming forward as we may be one of the last couple of doubleAs's to come to the table. >> Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Hannibberg. >> Uh thank you. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, and Superintendent Hoyer, members of the community. Um we've been working having conversations for five years regarding uh um flag football and what that mean might mean here in Great Falls. Um other schools have been quicker to get on board. Um we have a a PowerPoint presentation here um that we'll go through, but basically this opportunity has been provided by the Arthur Blank Foundation uh family foundation. For those of you who aren't aware, Arthur Blank is the u majority owner of the Atlanta Falcons and

118u he is a big supporter of obviously growing the sport of football um to a lot of different ways, but he's also uh part-time resident of the Paradise Valley and very fond of Montana. He brought this proposal um to the Montana High School Association five years ago. The first year um there were three schools, the two Callisville schools in but that participated in it and then it's just kind of grown exponentially. Um we have an opportunity to get in on that grant. Um we've done some homework, we've done some uh research on what it might look like here and what the interest would be and so uh we'll just kind of go through this and and can answer your questions at the end. But this is a a short video that's provided um by the

119Atlanta Falcons as far as what uh um the experience with girls flag football in in the state of Montana has been over the last four There's number Okay, you [clears throat] go to the next slide there, please. Um, this is part of a national movement. It has been growing. Um it originated in Georgia with the Falcons has spread to many of the other national football franchises, football league franchises within their um their areas of promoting girls flag football as an opportunity to participate to do something active to um bridge the gap between, you know, regular football or or 11man football, uh boys football, um dads, so on and so forth. And so far the response has been over overwhelmingly positive. Um it is a national movement. It is currently sanctioned in 16 sport or uh

12016 states as a high school sport. There are 22 other states including the state of Montana that are calling it a pilot program. Um it was featured extensively at the Super Bowl and will be a a sport in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Um it is an emerging sport uh in the NCAA at the collegiate level. I think this last year Montana had the first our first um athlete that was offered a scholarship to participate in in girls flag at the at the collegiate level. Um 2026 would be the fifth year um that it's been as an emerging sport in Montana. Um there were 35 high schools that participated last year. Um double A schools that have been on board as I mentioned before. The the um two Callisville schools, but public high school

121uh the three Missoula schools participated for the first year last year and the three building schools participated as well. Um there's numerous other class A, class B, and even some class C schools that are participating in it uh as we speak. Um, looking forward to next year, most of the double A schools are in a similar situation as as we are here. Great Falls, Boseman, um, Belgrade are all going before the board. Um, as well as Helena later in the spring. So, there is a potential for um 16 team DA conference for girls flag football. We don't anticipate that it will become a um recognized sport for another couple years which gives us a little time to work through um some things already mentioned um in terms of student and community interest. uh working with

122the building principles. This past uh fall, we offered a survey um that went went out to girls in grades 7 through 12 at all four of our our two high schools and our two middle schools. Um it was short, it was quick. I think we had um a total of 503 responses. 417 of those were students and 86 came from um parents. 160 students indicated they were interested or very interested um in adding flag or being a part of the flag process and then 108 students indicated that they would definitely participate if girls flag football were offered. So we feel with those numbers there is adequate interest um in at least continuing the conversation with with you guys. In terms of financial support, um, as I mentioned, the Arthur Blank Family Foundation is still offering

123grants. They're offering up to $15,000 per school per year. Um, and then we have looked into additional grant funding through Under Arour. That could be up to $30,000 a year per school. Um I'm told by those who have have been participating that those numbers are are very reasonable are very doable. Um I did run some numbers as well of what I think it would cost here in Great Falls with travel with uniform startup so on and so forth and I think we are well within that budget depending on the amount that that would come from under arour. So go ahead. Frequently asked questions. Do we have the capacity and infrastructure to add girls flag football? Um, I believe that we do. I believe we have facilities on campus that will accommodate a practice field. I

124believe we have the interest I think we would have the interest uh to hire coaches. Um, the one question I had and I think a lot of that has been has been resolved is just what our schedule would look like and what our travel um costs would be. Um, I've worked out a a 10 game schedule for our girls. Um, each school would have 10 games. We would have two road trips. We're able to play multiple games um in a day. So, we would get by with a trip to Helena and a trip to Bosezeman this year and possibly a trip to Billings the following year. Um, so the the travel is pretty minimal um with a a very small investment. We could play games at Memorial Stadium. That is my plan that our girls

125will get to play all their home games in that facility. Um and we have two nights that we would be under the lights for um cross town games. So I think that was kind of an exciting >> um opportunity. Um when is it played? It is a spring sport. The season is very similar to our golf season. So they would start in in August and be done by the first part of October. So, it's a short season and looking at potential salaries for coaches, we would mirror what our golf salaries are. Um, will adding girls flag football have an impact on Title 9? At this point, it won't because it would still be recognized as a club activity within our schools. It would be overseen by the athletic department to ensure equity and so on

126and so forth. but it would not have an impact two years from now when they consider adding it as a as a um sanctioned sport. Then we would have to look at at some things as far as that goes. But um I don't think uh in terms of our proportionality that it would move the needle that far that it would put us out of compliance. It would actually probably help um from that standpoint. Um how will adding girls flag football impact other girls sports? That was one of my initial concerns five years ago is um you know I didn't want to bring something in um that would affect what we currently offer. Um you know in those five years I have not seen a big change in what we currently offer in terms of numbers

127or participation. What I have seen is a number of girls that um want to play volleyball once they get to high school. There are limited opportunities. Our both of our programs are keeping the maximum amount amount of kids that they can for five levels and we still are cutting between 30 to 40 schools uh or kids per school. Um those kids are not metriculating to the sports that we offer. They're not getting cut from volleyball and going to soccer or going to cross country. And and that's my concern is that citywide we have a large number of of kids that want to do something um active that want to do something competitive and in the fall during the fall season and you know if they don't make the volleyball team they're they're not doing anything.

128And I think this maybe provides an opportunity um each year I know at Sam Russell they run the powderpuff um game dur excuse me during homecoming week. It's very well received by kids and and fans alike, you know, and and so I think there's definitely that interest for those kids that aren't participating in a in a fall sport. But I think in all honesty, there may be some impact, but I think it would be minimal. I think it's more of an opportunity for those kids that aren't able to participate in a fall activity. What happens at the end of the three-year grant? Um, I think at that point we've had conversations within our group with the superintendent, assistant superintendent or executive directors, excuse me. Um, about, you know, how we move forward with with other

129things. And I think we have some ideas. I think we're exploring um some opportunities to do some advertising and things like that that would contribute to helping that. I also think that there's ample opportunity while we are under the grant to raise money. um that we can use to keep this thing going if if at that point it's still prudent to continue. Um when will will girls flag become a sanctioned sport? I believe because of popularity it will. Um, we've kind of been told by people at the MHSA and things that we're probably two years away from that, which again opens an opportunity for us to to use the grant money to use it or um run it like a club to begin with and and get our ducks in a row, so to speak.

130So, um, with that, I guess I will open um open up for questions. >> Any questions for Mr. Hannenburg? Yeah, Trusty Thompson. >> Uh, as the mom of, uh, two soccer girls, that is the sport that I would be more concerned about. Um, I it's been five years since I had a a high schooler, but my understanding is that the number of soccer girls has gone down. Um, and I'm concerned that they would be pulled, the numbers might be pulled from flag football. um just not the ones that play club um in the spring, but it's the the ones that fill out your JV and your practice squad. Um and I'm not saying that I think I think it's great that that we're going to be able to offer flag football for girls, but I

131do think that that's probably the bigger concern than the number of girls that are playing volleyball. >> Well, it's not necessarily a concern the number that are playing, it's the number that are interested in playing that aren't. And I am concerned about soccer as well. That would be the one that that would bring the most concern, but like I said, we've kind of been watching this for five years and those numbers have remained static. They've maybe gone down a little depending on what school you're talking. Um, but you know, it that's that's kind of where I'm at with that that I feel like we've given it adequate time and done due diligence on on looking into it and and trying to protect the sports we have. So, >> thank you for doing that. >> Trusty

132Brown, >> not a question, but a comment. Mr. Hannenburgg, I always appreciate when you do these presentations, you think through all of the different aspects of it. You're very sensitive to the concerns of people that may not want to do something new. Again, when you say, "Are there any questions?" You typically answer all the questions in the presentation. I truly appreciate it. >> Thank you. Any additional comments or questions for Mr. Henburg hearing see thank you very much for presentation >> and we are to item F discussion committee reports and comments. We started over here last time. We're going to start over here this time with Trusty Thompson. You know, I don't really have too much to say. I just reiterate what we talked about earlier. Thank you all for working here over the weekend

133to um situate all the students at Lincoln, all the everything. Um I think I'll just leave it at that. >> Very good. Trusty Brownson. >> Uh probably just one thing and I know trustees Hanning and Duff are aware of this. The policy committee is looking at a prospect of how we might be able to assess certain kinds of materials like videos, YouTube, things like that, you know, to see how they would fit into the curriculum. Uh, so it's not like the district is not looking at this or is not sensitive to it. We will probably come back to this board with something in the near future, but we do have quite a few hoops we have to jump through. My only concern is is that we could probably come up with any number of policies

134to address every minute detail of what happens in this district. And number one, uh, you can't possibly predict or deal with every situation that's going to arise in the classroom. And and secondly, I just know from experience, we're never going to be able to satisfy the concerns of every parent about what happens. I'm sorry that these folks left as early. They I appreciate the fact that they aren't interested in their children's education, that they come here, and that they feel that they can really openly very much appreciated. I wish however they would stay listen to comments like this at the end because it's hard for me. I hope it's hard for the rest of you when someone comes and says I don't like what was said. I don't know what was said particular situation and

135>> and if they're referring to the same video >> I I might look at it very differently. I might look at it the same way. But >> we are sensitive uh to this issue and certainly the policy committee will look at >> again I'm sure we will probably end up adopting something obviously with the input of our teachers as well but I'm not anticipating it's going to answer. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. trusty son child. >> It's a personal issue. And part of what you want to do as teachers is you hope that when you send those students home, you have created a little nugget that they're going to talk about. So going home and saying, "I don't understand what happened today. Why are they saying X, Y, and Z in this video?"

136That's okay. then talk about that as parents and you have that dialogue. That's what we want. You want that. Um on another note, part of the reason teachers leave the profession is because they feel they don't have the support as a professional. So we do a very good job of saying we perfor support our teachers as professionals. Our executive directors and our superintendent cannot be in every single classroom. Their job is to make sure we support those professionals. and that's what we do. And sometimes public education doesn't fit certain people. You know, I I don't know if if that's a situation here, but it's it's a personal attack on teachers. It's a personal attack on us, our administration. And um just because they couldn't see the video doesn't mean that something >> nefarious, >> right,

137was happening. Maybe they weren't looking in the right spot. Maybe it was something. There are so many questions that are unanswered. I would I would love to visit with this person, but um we just have to remember that's what we do. We trust our professionals and they're doing the best they can and you can't whitewash everything to make it be especially when you're teaching a history and a social studies class. You can't or they're not. [clears throat] So, >> excellent commentary. Thank you, Trusty Scagowski. Uh, so I just wanted to take one minute to acknowledge all of the work that the team has done to respond to um what's happening at Lincoln Elementary. I have heard um just amazing comments from parents um and you certainly answered all of the concerns um that I had

138heard from from parents and community members. Um, so really just top-notch response all around and just another example of our district um, being able to respond to unpredictability um, and delivering really amazing um, results for our students and parents and teachers um, alike. [cough] [clears throat] Um I also just wanted to make a quick comment um thanking Stephanie for her amazing work um at the foundation. Uh you know you when you started this job we talked about the you know amazing um huge shoes that you had to fill. Um and you you really did that. you um you know brought your talent and your passion [cough] to the position. Um I've seen the foundation really grow and thrive under your leadership. Um and I'm excited um to see you you've put it put the foundation

139in really great hands. I've had the opportunity um to work with Caitlyn before um and have just seen um you know that through her work at Big Brothers Big Sisters alone um that she truly has a passion for students of of all um kind of ne levels of need and she truly understands um our students and the needs of our school district. So, I'm so excited to see um you know what you will do with um these shoes and these wings that that Stephanie has provided for you. So, good luck in in the next however many years to come. So, thank you so much for stepping into that position and thank you Stephanie for all you've done for our kids. >> Thank you, Trusty Duff. Just a few quick things. I know we're running late

140here. A couple of acknowledgements. um point out Lydia Comtock who's already left the uh accomplishment she's had. I read that on social media earlier in the week and that's pretty impressive accomplishments and as well Kim for your uh award from the CA. Congratulations to that. Thanks to the community members that came and presented. I appreciate them coming. Things don't get addressed if we don't ever know they're going on. So I appreciate their time. I know it's hard to carve out time for that. So thanks to them for coming. Um couple of things from superintendent report. the skilled trades folks. Kudos to them. I've met with them earlier in the year and that's an impressive group over there. I was astounded at the work they do with the small number they have. Um so kudos to

141them for the work they're doing. And echoing Kim Stephanie, best of luck in your future endeavors and thank you for your time, dedication to the foundation. And Caitlyn, we welcome you on board and look forward to working with you. And lastly, also from the superintendent support, the wax museum at Chief Joe was fantastic. Yeah, it was >> that was really great. That really exceeded expectations. That was a good time. I appreciate the uh invite to that and that was a great event. Thanks. >> Thank you, Trusty Henny. >> Uh I just want to reiterate what um trustes Bronson and Duffin said about the parents who came out tonight. I appreciate hearing from parents and knowing that they are um taking an interest in their in their children's learning and what they're what's going on in

142the classroom. And I am, you know, we saw the rough draft of the supplemental material approval form process and that's going to teachers and staff to get a closer look before it comes back to the policy committee. So, I'm looking forward to looking at that again. Um, and then the parent that I mentioned at the end of the last meeting, she also moved her two high school boys from Central Catholic over to Great Falls High a couple months back and she was very nervous about it, but she said that they had a fantastic first day. They loved the school. They made friends. It was a very welcoming environment to them being new, especially after the school year had already started. And so that took a lot off of her, um, a lot of stress off

143of her as a parent. And then lastly, um, we say the pledge every time we're here. And second grade at Valley View also says the pledge, but they follow it up with the four Bs, which are the Bobcat behaviors. And I find it very hard to stop there and not continue into Bobcat behaviors, which always is followed by the national anthem. But, you know, I want to start saying, "Be safe, be respectful, be responsible, be a bobcat. Be a learner, be a bobcat, and make wise choices." That's their last bit. And so, I have to catch myself and make sure I stop at the end of the pledge because I'm used to saying it with the second graders. Yeah. [laughter] Thank you. >> Very good. Thank you. I just have one little item and I

144I believe that Mr. Bronson had sent out this Montana School Board Association membership survey. Um, and it's due on Friday. And it's there, if you looked at it, it's there's pretty basic uh information they're looking for. They're asking um how we value their various services along the way. And as I said, it's due on Friday. If you would give us your permission, I think Trusty Bronson and myself can easily fill this out and get this submitted in the time asked for. Um, and we don't have to be exclusive. You want to be a part of that process, we invite you, uh, let me know. But other than that, we're going to get this uh, sent off to Helena in a timely manner. And if Oh, draw your attention to upcoming events. You guys are so

145super about keeping this information in your calendars. You don't need much of a reminder, but there it is. And with that being said, I would entertain a motion to adjourn. We are ajourned.