001Evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this January 12th, 2026 meeting of the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees. And uh I'll call this meeting to order and remind people in the room that this meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded on our website at some point in the future. So with that, Mr. Deakons, would you please administer the roll call? Thank you, Chairman Johnson. Uh Gordon Johnson >> here. >> Kim Skoroski >> here. >> Bill Bronson >> here. >> Craig Duff >> here. >> Marley Sunchild >> excused. >> Amy Thompson >> here. >> And Paige Terraski >> here. >> Thank you, Mr. Deakons. And Trusty Duff, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? To the flag of the United States of America, >> Mr. Chair, >> Trustee Scorowski, >>
002I move we adopt the agenda as presented. Second. >> Been moved and seconded to adop adopt the agenda as presented. Any questions, commentary from this board of trustees regarding the agenda? Any others in the room have any comments or questions regarding tonight's agenda? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. >> Mr. Chair. >> Trustee Terraski. >> I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any questions or commentary from this board of trustees? Any questions or commentary from others in the room hearing? Seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying
003I. I. >> Opposed, same sign. We have approved our consent agenda. Moving on to communication. Superintendent's report. Mrs. Hoyer >> here. Welcome, Mrs. Becker. Happy to have you here. Is it really your birthday? >> Close. >> Wednesday was my birthday. >> You did? Yes. Um, so, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, uh, trustees, members of the community, um, I'm really pleased to offer you each a copy of our annual report. This is for, uh, the school year 2024 2025. We had some delay in preparing all the material. We actually did a full redesign. Um, so it's getting out a little bit later than we expected. Um but I want to highlight just a few key points. Um on the inside front cover um is something new. It's uh an impact report by school which basically shows grants
004scholarships um all kinds of things gold stars that have been awarded by school. Um, it does a pretty good job of illustrating that we have strong participation throughout all of our schools and it also helps schools to understand how they can utilize us if there are areas that they're not necessarily engaged in. Um, it can kind of call that to mind. Um, there's also featured in it is a grant program redesign. Um, and some of the results that we saw with that redesign that took place two years ago, we're now in our third school year of that. Um, another thing that we moved forward with was reducing the mailing um, related to this. So, this mailing went to donors that had contributed $250 or more over that cumulative period. Um, all other donors had received
005an electronic QR access so they can view that online um, but use that as an effort to kind of reduce costs for mailing and also for print. Um, so we're really proud of what we've been able to accomplish in partnership with the district. Um, and we hope you enjoy perusing it. Um, I also brought extra copies. So, if you have doctor's offices, dentist offices that have um, common areas and you're willing to take a few copies with you, we would love to have that help. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Stephanie. And thank you uh to the foundation for all you do to support our students and our teachers and our leaders. It is so appreciated and it's such a unique relationship. We're very very lucky here at Great Falls Public School. So, thank you.
006So, some of you may have seen this on Facebook, but if not, I wanted to be sure um that I shared this with you. This was our indigenous education department and this opportunity came through some of the work that Dugan and Jordan and Tony did last summer in Alaska. If you remember u my sharing with you some of their experiences. So they welcomed apprentice Carver Brandon Gomez. He was from the Tingut tribe in Juno, Alaska. And he came down um on the 7th through the 9th and worked with our students. So on the 5th they shipped spruce wood paddles um down to our students and he worked with them um with our students on paddles and how they're a highly versatile tool. They can be used for transportation. They can be used for hunting and
007survival. But he also talked with them about the importance of the ceremonial uh purposes that these paddles had. So our students, you can see them carving and working on the carving and then they painted them with the important um images that are true to them as students and their tribe. So what an amazing experience that came from the networking that happened through that conference this last summer. So we're really excited to see some of their final works once they get them all done. So a very special thank you to our safety committee. Um, you may have been seeing on in the media and on social media that the Cascade County Sheriff's Office is working on the reserve SRO program that we had a presentation about. Um, and so Trustee Duff and Trustee Thompson along with
008the executive directors um, and the business director and I worked on redline adjustments along with the help of Gene for who is our legal counsel. Um, we have the red line adjustments done and back to our law enforcement partners. When we finally get uh more formalized copies of those, we will get them to you all for you to go ahead and review. But thank you to the members of the safety committee for your help with that. It has been an ongoing process. I think this is our our second back and forth. Um, and we'll continue to work on it and refine it so it best serves the students and the SRO's. And by the way, speaking of SRO's, um, best of luck to Katie Cunningham. So, she currently is in Quanico. Um, she's undergoing some
009very specialized training. And we have um another gentleman, Sergeant Adam Price, who is joining us. But we on the 9th of January, we recognized LEAD, which is law enforcement appreciation day, where we not only recognized local law enforcement, but also our school resource officers. So you'll see a little bit of a a change there. So Sergeant Katie Cunningham, of course, was sending her all of our thanks, but Adam Price is helping us out while she's at Quanico. And then Detective Jesse Rostic at uh Great Falls High in Paris Gibson. Um Will Fleming is the new SRO over at CMR. And then East Middle School, of course, is Detective Shane Stadel. And North Middle School is Detective Christy Kinsey. So a special thanks and a shout out to those school re resource officers for all they
010do. um they've and they've been busy the last couple of days just giving us information about incidents that are happening in our community and how we keep our schools safe um while they are securing the neighborhoods that surround our schools. So, some thank you to our generous community. Um cabinet recently wrote some thank yous. So, a special thank you to Candace English. She donated freezers to I believe it was Longfellow and Great Falls High as well as money for food and for meat to go into those freezers as did Slutton and all for him ministries. Um the support of our food pantries has continued to be really really strong. We know that post um holidays we always seems like we get just an entire a whole bunch of support. um pre-h holidays as we're getting
011out baskets and boxes of food, but after the holidays when those pantries are a little bit depleted, we have folks from our community who come in and continue to provide for our students and families. So, thank you to them. And then Meadowark Elementary received a gift of lunchroom tables um from Jim and Debbie Philippitz. So, an entire new set of lunchroom tables. For people who don't think that those lunchroom tables are pricey and expensive, wait until you have to have someone's finger um removed from a hinge in one of them as they decide to see if their finger will actually fit in the hole that's in the hinge and you have to take the table apart and then replace the table. Um table was not fine. Student was absolutely fine if not a little bit
012embarrassed. That was not at Meet Lark. That was at a different school. But we learned the price of replacing those tables and the curiosity of third graders. that go along hand in hand. And then finally, we had 32 pallets, not reams, but pallets of all sorts of different paper that was um donated to us by Printing Center USA. They had some ownership change. And so when they called up and said, "Would you like 32 pallets of paper?" I think you we could hear the printing center over there squeal. They were all excited. um because we got everything from just traditional paper to very high-end glossy paper that we need for publications all at the price of a donation. So, special thank yous, those notes went out this last week to our generous community members. Speaking
013of generous community members, as our friend Jeff Gray used to say, um you get paid an incredible amount of money to do the job you're doing. And that money comes in the form of thank yous and handshakes and hugs and backpacks. So it is National School Board Appreciation Month. and looking at MTSBA's mission. The mission of school board or a school board is to work fully to fully develop the potential of each child through schoolboard leadership. So, thank you on behalf of a thankful um district. We appreciate the time you put in. Um you don't get paid anything. And every time I say that, it's kind of a joke. Those people who knew Jeff know that joke he always made. But um you work very very hard for nothing but thank you and um we
014appreciate the job you do. So, thank you. Innovative tax credit season is here. Mr. Deacons has an update for us, but I did grab our um program page off of Great Falls Public School. So, I'm going to let him fill you in as to where we're at, what our deadlines are, and um anything else we need to know as far as this amazing program that allows us to do some good things for kids and teachers and schools. >> So, this afternoon, I had an opportunity or Mrs. Hoyer and myself had an opportunity to inform small group of you at another meeting um where we are sitting. It's since changed. We're now up to 33 donors um that are involved for the 2026 innovative tax credit to a total of $688,000, a little over that. Um
015we also have um a gentleman that gave me a call this morning out of California who's interested in creating some sort of a donation to this program because he had some connections here. We have a couple other community members that are working with their financial advisors that usually come in a day or two before the cut off of the 21st. And we even have one past donor that is trying to figure out what he can do because he does not have tax liability at the state level this year. Um but he wants to give a donation to the district. So I'm working closely with Stephanie and the foundation on those pieces. All of these come together um quite quickly this time of year. Lots of questions are being asked and looking for some answers and
016guidance. Obviously, we can tell them we can take their money, but we don't give a lot of tax advice. Um, from here, we say talk to your accountant um and decide from there what you would choose to give and make sure that we receive it. On the 21st, we'll have five of us around computers quickly typing as quickly as possible to make sure all that information is put in. Um, that $7.2 $2 million that's out there will go quickly. We know that um it's usually about 10 minutes, a lot of times a little under 10 minutes. So, it's critical that we get everything prioritized as quickly as possible and do our best to receive as much of it as possible because these people are counting on it um as a way to offset their state
017tax liability for this upcoming year. So, very appreciative to our community and our donors that are out there. Many of them are repeats, but we are seeing new donors as well. So, I look forward to coming back after the 21st and letting you know what that total will be to keep these programs moving forwards and looking at how we can use the additional funds in the future to um meet the needs of the innovative tax credit pieces across the district. >> So, I I realized I can read that on my computer screen, but I can't read that from here. And so, it's in Brian um Patrick size font. um could you remind us what innovative tax money can go towards? >> So really when you talk about in innovative tax credit money, you're looking at
018the ways that we can use it to promote um STEM type activities. Um looking at those advanced opportunities and so forth that we can provide for our students. We can also look at special education programming and alternative devices that we've been using for speech here in our districts. We've also incorporated it into counseling for athletics. Um, so there's a lot of ways that we can use it, but you really tied into very specific programs. It isn't something you can just post out there and do playgrounds or safety or pieces like that. We have to make sure that we're using it appropriately for those funds. So, with the STEM learning center over at Great Falls High, I think that's a great big project to be going moving forwards with that we have some sustainability with. Um
019but now I think we'll be looking a little bit different um and looking at other transformational learning opportunities that are out there as well. >> And for information for the board, we do u meet with a contingency of donors who give to this innovative um education program. And as we're looking at different programs to fund um we do work with them to get their input on what are things that they feel are in the you know that will best serve the gifts that have been given to us by our community. we take that into consideration when we're making our decisions. So that time is coming up. >> It is. >> Thank you for all of your work on that, Mr. Deons. And finally, data for the day. So, as I have been going out and
020talking with our community and doing presentations, we've been talking a lot about poverty and understanding the poverty index. So, I sat down with Mr. Boyd and said asked him for a definition of the poverty index, which you'll see over there on your left. But really how the the picture of Great Falls and Great Falls Public School has changed since CO. So if you look at 2021, our poverty index was 43.35%. We just got our numbers in for our poverty index about a week and a half ago. He got another number, another update, and that's 66.95%. So we've seen a drastic increase in the poverty index. The poverty index is just one part of federal title one that allows us to what identify whether or not our ability to qualify for a building as a title
021one school. And it takes into effect multiple factors. Um it looks at the number of homeless students, not just students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, but the number of homeless students in addition. number of neglected and delinquent youth, the number of students who are served in community eligibility programs, as well as the number of students who qualify directly through SNAP, TANNIF, all of those different uh federal support programs. So, it's one piece of the over total uh title one allocation formula, but it's more complex than just the number of students who turn in their free and reduced lunch form. So, if you hear people in our community talking about the poverty index, we've been talking about it quite a bit. Um, and I wanted to bring this to your attention for our data
022of the day because starting next week when we're or next week, next meeting when we're looking at our updates on our strategic plan, we're going to be overlaying the achievement of our students, the behavior of our students, and starting to show how much work our teachers in the classrooms and our leaders in the building are doing as our poverty index rises. what that means when we have um achievement that is growing and behavior that is improving. They're doing extra work and it's pretty outstanding. So um I wanted to leave this with you. I can send this to you too electronically so you have it as you're talking to your constituents just that the face of our community and our students is changing. Um but our teachers and our leaders are doing pretty incredible work. So
023with that, Mr. Chair, that is my superintendent's report for this meeting. Thank you, Mrs. Hoyer. Moving on to communication B, audience communication. I've received no requests to speak before this board of trustees this evening. So, we will move on to action items. Action item A, irate requests for proposals and bids for firewall support and district routers. Mr. Wait. We're a patient group. We're fine. There we go. Somebody ought to get with the tech guy on this one. I'm coming before you tonight to ask your permission to start the -ate process. Now, I'll give you a quick synopsis of the process. -ate is that government funded program that pays 80% of the devices or functions that we use that we can use for -ate networking between the buildings and outside. So fiber switches, routers that stuff
024it does not pay for any servers or any kind of endpoints. As I brought to you before about the we're planning on for the technology plan, it has come up that we need to take in look at replacing the routers in the district. Now, there are 24 of them. So, a router, think of it this way. If I drove into a subdivision, there would be a main office, right? Because they're going to be taking and selling out the lots or whatever else. That's their main hub of the of the wheel of the spoke of the wheel rather. Okay? Rather hub. So, our data center is the hub. There's one router there that separates information coming in from going out to other pieces of the district. Each school in turn has another router. So think of
025a wheel with hub and spoke going out to other wheels with hub and spokes inside the buildings. Each one of those routers is a piece of equipment. It needs to be updated and kept as up to date as possible. - pays for on a 5year cycle. So, as they become aged and it's like, "Hey, these are ready to be replaced," it comes up on the - radar. I have to admit, it was not quite on my radar this year until it was notified, but no big deal. We deal with it. So, what I'm asking you to do is allow me to take an advertise publicly for the bids for the routers. The reason I'm saying that is -ate does have category one and category two. Category one is anything touching the fiber network, which is
026the routers. Category two, as you saw in the document I had for you, is for our firewall licensing. That does not require me to go out to bid because it is less than $80,000. We anticipate the router's totality being $80,000 plus. Therefore, I have to go out to bid unless we can take and procure it from the state contract, which we'll find out. So, and putting this notification into the newspapers for two different cycles. I need to ask Gallery to do that. Prior to doing that, I need your permission to do so and give you the reasons why that's basically it all in a nutshell. Happy New Year. By the way, >> Mr. Chair, >> Trusty Teresi, >> I move that we approve the process and timeline presented for the creation of request for and
027evaluation of the submitted com uh competitive bids for the - RFPs as presented. >> Second. been moved and seconded to approve the process and timeline presented for the creation of pre uh request for the evaluation of submitted competitive bids for -ate RFPs. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Any questions, commentary from others in the room? Hearing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same. That was an enthusiastic, too. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Williams. >> You guys keep doing that. You're going to spoil me up here. >> Thank you. Roman 8 action item action other no item was uh pulled from the consent agenda. Then we'll move on to Roman nine reports, discussion, and
028policies. A 202425 advanced placement and dual credit report. Mrs. Waynewaring. >> Good evening, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the community. Becky Frisbee, our secondary curriculum coordinator is here to share with us the report on the 2024 25 advanced placement and dual credit uh information. >> Thank you and welcome, Mrs. Frisbee. >> Hello. >> Happy to have you here. >> Nice to be here. So, um, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, community and trustees, I'd like to talk a little bit about AP and dual credit classes. Um, let's start out with um what we are offering last year. So, we're always a year behind. So, the 24 25th year, this is the list of courses that we offered for dual credit. That dual credit came from either Gallatin Community College, Great Falls College,
029MSU, or University of Providence. Those are our three big places that all of those come from. Something I like you to know about them is that most of these courses at CMR and Great Falls High are offered in the building by our staff. welding cohort cohort is at Great Falls College MSU and it's their staff. Um just kind of thinking forward, there are two new ones um that will come up during this school year. One was psychology at Great Falls High. Great Falls College MSU staff came into Great Falls High's building and taught it. and Build Montana um will be dual credit in that the kids all go to Paris to take it. So, it's still taught by our folks. Um just to be aware of Paris students, they address dual credit a little bit
030different. The goal at Paris is to get our students out of the building and into the building at Great Falls College MSU. having them go there, take classes, so they have a little bit broader view of what they get to take. Where at Great Falls Height or CMR, you're limited to this list. At Paris, you can take anything in the catalog that's offered at Great Falls College. The difference is those students are getting the opportunity to see themselves as college students. They're walking the halls. They're talking to other college students. they're sitting in class and it helps them get their dip their toe in the pond and see if they want this and to actually see themselves as a student that can be successful. So, two different approaches versus our traditional and alternative schools. Um,
031our next slide I want to share with you talks about the number of students that were enrolled in dual credit courses. Keep in mind, I don't know when they sit in that class, did they take it for dual credit or not, but I can tell you our enrollment in those courses. And prior to CO, I kind of keep leaving those last couple years on there before CO, our numbers were, they're not bad, but they were lower than what we are now. COVID everything spiked because no one wanted anything but dual credit because they were trying to be remote. But if you notice our numbers are pretty consistent and they have remained higher since that co year. So, just a change. Um, other than that particular event, I can't give you a reason, but more opportunities
032and students taking advantage of those, but we are sticking pretty consistent in the numbers that are taking those dual enrollment courses. The other side of this coin is AP. Most of the AP courses that we offer are both at CMR and Great Falls High. There's very few that are only offered at one place or the other. Paris doesn't offer the AP courses for a couple combinations of reasons. They have a smaller staff. They have a smaller student body. And so getting the number of students required to be in the course so that you know we have a full course and that we're not offering a class to one or two kids. Um, every college looks at AP differently. Some of the students I've talked to said there are some of the big big schools, you
033know, Harvard, Yale, they're not AP fans. They look at it and they say, "Great. It's like having an extracurricular. We're glad you took it, but it may not count towards anything." Some do, some don't. Most of them need a score of three or higher. A lot of schools require a four or a five. A three isn't as often. Currently, the cost is $110. That covers what College Board charges us and allows us to pay for proctors and a place to test. Paying for proctors is fairly new. We're talking maybe the last three or four years. If I didn't pay for proctors, I have to continually pull our counselors out of the building. And May is a time of year when kids are starting to experience stress. They're looking at their structure, everything that they know
034for a place to be, to eat, to be safe, and you're going to take that away in three weeks. And so pulling my counselors out all the time to test isn't necessarily the best thing for students. So, we balance it between counselors and pay proctors. Not everybody that takes an AP test or takes an AP course takes the test. Lots of reasons. Maybe I'm taking it full dual credit. Maybe I got sick the week of testing and it doesn't work for me to make the test up. There are lots of opportunities to make it up, but not all of them choose that. Maybe their school that they got accepted to doesn't take AP courses. Maybe the school they got accepted to accepts the dual credit that they're also in, so they don't need to take
035the exam. Sometimes they're just not ready and they know it and so they just don't take the test. Currently, eight courses offered for dual enrollment also count for AP. And this year, as many years, the c the foundation has supported um a handful of students that demonstrated financial need to help pay for the um AP course. Here's a list of everything that we currently are offering um at either of the two high schools. If it has a star next to it, it also means that it is a dual credit course. Something else that changed in the 2425 year is we went to two types of tests and none of them involved the traditional paper and pencil that we had before. Either 100% digital. They came in, sat down with their Chromebook, everything they did was
036on that Chromebook. When they're done, they submit. They walk out. Or it's hybrid. the questions appear on their computer screen, but they write it in the AP test booklet. So, as an example, we went from shipping back four to six boxes to AP to I think I shipped back three. And one of them I had to find lots of paper to pat it with because I couldn't find a small enough box. So, it's a much different send back, less paper, but that isn't why they changed. There was an intense amount of leaking of tests the prior year. And although they feel that no security was breached, by the way, that wasn't here, but they went to this hybrid model and there was a lot of things that had to they had to work through. Um,
037we'd give a test on Monday and Tuesday be like, "Oh, by the way, if you give this in makeups, this is what changed and you're going to offer this piece that wasn't didn't work during the regular test or in this test you're giving today, these things have changed." So, they were um definitely building the plane as they flew it. This gives you an idea of some of the previous years. Uh, first of all, I'll tell you I have no idea what happened to 2023 data. I tried to find it. It is too old for me to dig it out of AP and for some reason it's not in um what I could find. So, we're going to look at 21, 22, 24, and 25. The test is always in the spring, so that significant s
038signifies the spring of the year. And if you look, our enrollment is pretty good. We're kind of staying up there. Um we're definitely not as high as we were in those that first year after COVID. There were a lot of really interesting rules in EP there after CO. Um and I think it a lot of people were more willing to try the class because you didn't have to necessarily test. Um, but the testing, if you look at how many actually take the test, it's pretty consistent. It hasn't changed a whole lot. Um, although 2024 was a little bit low, not much, just a little bit. That was the first year we ran into what's called exception testing which involves the third week of tests. W regular um set of tests then make up an exception.
039We have to plan one by one and we had major impacts with um divisional and state sports and some kids said nope I'm done. I'm I'm not going to try. Um, but it's also the first year we offered exception testing. We recognize because we would never alienate our sports people that AP and state and divisionals clash big time. And so exception testing something we have to add. And it's just more of a one-on-one. we have weirder rules to follow and we just jump through the hoops and hope that each year they say yes because it's an one-on-one um approval and that's so far they always have. So any questions? >> Any questions frisbee? I do have a question and that is you said that um you referenced I think Ivy League schools were reluctant to
040accept AP credits and that's not gerine just to the great falls public schools but >> no >> schools around the nation is there any way that we as educational institutions can leverage any influence over universities uh on this question >> and sometimes it's course by course. Um, sometimes if it's a technical school, they will look at physics or bio or chem that are required for their degree and what they require is their own code level and they feel nothing compares to it. Um, so they will often not accept dual credit or AP in those categories. You can take them as elective. They'll give you an elective credit, but they won't give you your physics or your chemistry or your um, biology. There's always some courses they take. Um, English seems to be the most accepted.
041Okay. >> Um, but others it it just depends on that university. our kiddos that have gone um to those IV leagues are some of the ones that often say, "I'm I'm not going to test because it doesn't have the same weight there that it does anywhere else." And the weight for them comes from having it on their transcript, not in the exam. Well, I'm pleased to learn that it's not across the board that they're not accepting AP credits, but there are some areas and disciplines by which they will accept them. And it's often the best just taking an AP course, you've experienced the rigor of that college level, intensity, pacing, um the the test levels, all of those things, even without ever taking the designated exam at the end. So students get so much out
042of experiencing the course that the exam's kind of just the cherry on top and um hopefully for them it gets them that credit. >> Thank you. Any additional questions, Mrs. Frisbee? >> If not, thank you very much for your report. >> Thank you. Have a good night. Roman nine reports B review of the 26 Montana High School Association proposals be voted on at the annual meeting. And I see Mrs. Maine wearing is in place. >> Yes. Good evening again, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, trustees, members of our community presenting Mr. M Hennterburgg to come and share with you uh to review some of those proposals that'll be up for a vote at their next annual meeting for MHSA. >> Welcome, Mr. Hennterburg. Thank you. Good evening, uh Chairman Johnson, board members, Superintendent Hoyer, and guests. Um
043as mentioned before, I'm Mike Hennter. I'm the athletic director for Great Falls Public Schools. Uh included were the seven proposals that are put before uh put before MHSA membership at our annual meeting. Um I'll give you a little bit of background on that meeting. Uh it'll be held next Monday uh January 19th in Helena, Montana this year. Uh there were seven proposals submitted and will be heard and voted on by the high school principles. Uh each school has one vote. Um, and that's taken care of by Mr. Hobble and Miss McGrath. Uh, the double A conference does have the opportunity to caucus prior to voting on the appro uh, proposals. And then all seven proposals this year are amendments to bylaws, which would require a twothird um, majority of of the membership in order to
044gain approval. Uh the re recommendations for our two schools will vote is based on research uh conducted through conversation with our coaches with our school and district administration administrators as well as myself the athletic director. Uh at this juncture they do remain uh recommendations and are subject to change based on uh new information as it's presented at the annual meeting. Um, as I do each year at the conclusion of the meeting, I will send an email updating you uh the board on on how these proposals um did I guess. So for each propo proposal, I'll provide a brief summary explain any potential concerns or issues associated with the proposal and I will provide the recommendation on how our delegates will vote at this point in time. So, the first proposal was submitted by Lone Peak
045High School and it's basically an amendment to the contest requirements for non-member schools. And if this were to pass, it would allow non-member um non-public schools to be invited to or participate in uh uh MHSA events. So, um it's both team events and individual events. I think it's driven largely by a desire for some track meet. Um some of those schools to participate in track meets um it has minimal impact for our district, but I am not in support of this at this point in time because I believe all of those schools have the opportunity to gain membership and pay dues to the MHSA should they want to participate in those type of events. Uh the second one again has very minimal impact on Great Falls Public Schools, but it was submitted by Highwood High
046School and the proposal basically adjusts the language um to split profits during the football season at the end of the football season amongst the teams that qualify for the six player playoffs. Um there's no impact. I don't see any reason not to support that particular one. So we would vote yes on that. Um, proposal number three is also a bylaw to amend the MHSA uh rules for expedited hearings. And this was one that came before the uh board either last year or the year before that in order to um for the MHSA executive board to hear an expedited hearing, there's a $250 charge. Um there was language at that point in time that said if you win the appeal or if the executive board rules in your favor, they would refund that. Um this particular
047proposal ups that amount to $300 and there is no um there is no refund should they vote in your favor or rule in your favor. Uh again, I don't have any concerns with that. I I did participate in one of those expedited hearings a year ago. I know there's a tre tremendous amount of work that goes into putting those together with people from the executive board all over the state. Um I know there's a lot of effort and a lot of times it's on a a very expedited uh timeline. So I think that that's reasonable to up that fee to $300 and then not um consider refunds afterwards. So I would support that one as well. Uh proposal number four is to add eligibility by law to allow for academic hardship. Uh the MHSA currently
048has um academic eligibility requirements in order for a student athlete to be eligible to participate. Um Great Falls Public Schools has our own that are more challenging. Um, but we do have a, you know, a one-time only, uh, opportunity if a kid meets the MHSA standards but doesn't meet the GFPS standards for that to be waved. Uh, there's a process involved. This particular pro proposal would basically allow uh the executive director, Brian Melani, to wave the eligibility requirements for certain students if they did not meet the minimum, which is passing four classes in the previous semester. um under extenduating circumstances and this really out of all of them was the only one that uh gave me pause to think about but uh at this point in time um I'm not in support of it I
049think in extenduating circumstances individual school districts individual schools have the opportunity to work with those kids and uh try and get them to gain credit or um you know adjust what they need to uh based on the circumstances and I also feel that feel very strongly that you know the academic requirements are are one thing that we still have to use as a motivator. you know that we know as we're getting ready for fall sports. Um, you know, if if some of our students aren't maybe up to speed or doing what they need to do, that's an opportunity for our coaches or our teachers and whatnot to reach out to that person and say, "Hey, you know, you got to get it handled here or you're not going to be able to play football or
050golf or, you know, whatever it is." And I I just think that's pretty strong. Um, and I think that's a a core value in the mission of of Interscolastic Athletics. So, at this point in time, I'm not in support of uh proposal number four. Proposal number five is to amend the transfer bylaw for homeschool and non-member schools. Um, this was submitted by Red Lodge High School and it would impose a period of varsity in eligibility for students transferring to or from host home schools or non-public schools. Um, I have no concerns with this at this point. That is how we handle things here in our district. So, it's it's basically um when homeschool and when non-public school opportunities arose and when that was passed by membership, um individual districts were given a lot of leeway
051in how that they were going to manage it. Um we've adjusted that based on circumstances here and and so this basically mirrors our current policy. So, I would support that. Proposal number six uh is to amend the awards rule bylaw. This bylaw was passed last year um and allowed up to $500 in awards um or value of $500 in awards per student per school year. Um basically this clarifies some language in the awards rule that that $500 total would not include disposable items such as training gear, workout, clothing, etc. So, I'm in support of that. And then the final proposal, um, number seven is to amend the general penalties bylaws regarding spectator ejections. Um, as you remember last year, the, um, this was adjusted to include if a spectator gets removed from a game by
052an official or game administrator that they would serve a penalty of of three games. Um, this basically closes some loopholes and and interpretation. So, it just says that if if someone from one of our games is asked to leave or is removed from the game for their behavior, they will be out of all school activities for two weeks. So, it basically simplifies that, clarifies that, and I'm in support of that as well. So, at this point in time, are there any questions from the board? Any questions for Mr. Hannibburg regarding the seven questions? None. Thank you very much for your presentation and thank you very much for representing us at this meeting coming up next Monday. >> Yep. And I'll let you know um probably midweek of next week how the votes went and make
053sure you guys are included in that. So >> we appreciate that. Thank you so much. >> Roman nine reports item C superintendent evaluation report. Trustee Thompson. >> Hello. So fellow trustees um tomorrow we are going to open the superintendent evaluation process uh not only for the public but also for us. Um tomorrow the link um for the survey will go out on the website tomorrow morning. Um the public will be able to um either take um evaluate Superintendent Hoyer through the link um or they could come to the next board meeting on January 26th and make a a public comment or they can um write down their comments and mail them or email them into me and that'll also be on the the website as well. um for us tomorrow. You'll get an email from
054me um with a link to the evaluation and then also a spreadsheet that will include um um Superintendent Hoyer's um self- reviews that she's done. She's done two of them for us. And then um I just wanted to remind you that there are four standards um on as part of the evaluation. Each standard is linked to uh the three-year strategic plan. So, um, once you have the evaluation though, I I just want to make sure that you all know that once you hit submit, if you changed your mind and you want to go back, you're going to have to call Sherry and she can clear it. So, so we've got a little bit of a cheat sheet for you that will have um the standard and then the um how you can rate her and
055then her uh self-ealuations all together. So, I would suggest maybe just taking a few moments and reading through deciding how you're going to do it before you get into the link and then it should make it go pretty smoothly. So, everything is due on January 30th and then we will um come back in February and discuss um comments that um we got from the public and then also we'll talk with uh Superintendent Hoyer about our evaluation. >> Great. Thank you for your work on this. Any questions for Trusty Thompson regarding superintendent evaluation? Okay, we're moving on to Roman nine reports. Item D, first reading of revised board policies 2600, 365, 5122, and 5122P. Mrs. Hyer. >> Well, thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, members of the community. Um, I believe Oh, she's still
056here. Executive Director Jackie Manewearing. just want to give her a very special thank you because the policies that you'll see here deal with background checks and fingerprinting and um a recent law I think it was House Bill 475 that um was one of those that I think was when it was passed it was passed with great intention and then it got really murky really quick when we started looking at all of the different individuals and groups that come together to support our students and how we have to do background checks. And so Jackie has worked non-stop um getting information, getting legal guidance um and has really helped us drive the changes um that we're going to see here. So thank you very much Jackie for your extra work on this. At first we thought this
057was going to be a piece of cake and then um not so much not so easy. So you will see in front of you I'll walk you through these uh these are our first readings. First of all, uh, policy 2600. This really is a wording update and to bring things into consistent uh, with our practice. No matter how many times we read these, we end up finding errors. And so on line 16, you'll notice where it says congregate care. Um, it said congregate car apparently for years and years. Nice catch, Ally. Thank you for that. Um, and then down below on line 45, we changed work experience internship coordinator to career pathway advisor. This matches our position title that we have here in the district that's currently held by Derek Sanger. Um, moving on to
058the back page, you'll see that that is a consistent change throughout career pathway advisor. And then we also added written protocol on line 8 um on that second page as well to match it up above. Um, a couple of few few more typos and then on the last portion of policy 2600, um, Ally went ahead and House Bill 745 was codified and she has the MCA there for you and you'll see that on lines 25, 26, and 27. Moving on to 365. This is a recommendation to strike per MTSBA and adopt the MTSBA wording which the committee approved and this brings everything together for legal compliance. So that in totality is there for you to go ahead and review. You will see the same thing on 5122 once again about fingerprints and criminal background investigations
059and checks. Um that is all there for you to go ahead and review as well. policy 5122P. I just want to give a special thank you as well to Heather Spursm, our director of human resources. She caught an error after the community met or after the committee met, I'm sorry. Um the changes that you'll see in 5122P do bring us into compliance per the law and um through recommendation of MTSBA. And then she caught lines 16 and 17 where it reads the Department of of Justice uh DOJ requires the form to be placed in a separate file cabinet in a locked room. This was information that she had that she had gained through the audit that the DOJ does of our fingerprinting process. And so that was um added in. So Heather, thank you for
060catching that. So we're sure that we are fully reflecting our practice. And with that, Mr. chair. Those are the board policies for you to review. A special thank you to the committee uh for your work on this. And once again, um to Mrs. Main Warren for everything she did to help get us to a point that we could bring it forward. >> Thank you to all those involved in cleaning up these policies, bringing them up to date, and these will be on the agenda at our next meeting for potential ratification. So, thank you for your good work on this reports. Item E, discussion, committee reports and comments. We'll start with Mr. Duff. >> All right. Thank you. Not a lot tonight. I would like to say a big thank you to Mrs. Becker for all
061the work they do at the foundation. Look forward to looking through the pamphlet here and seeing more what they've done in the past year, but know it's been a it's a great asset to the schools and we appreciate all the work that you and your team put into that. >> Thank you, Trusty Deaf. Trust Skinagowski. Uh, so since our last meeting, I had the opportunity to do my half day subbing and I've been on the board since 2017. This was by far my favorite. >> I got to sub for um, Briana Conrad up at the Early Learning Center. It is awesome if you have the opportunity to go up there and hang out with those kids. Um, just super fun. Um but also obviously every time I do this I learn something and um you
062know you really get the opportunity to see um just the the level of need um of students in our district. Um you there were certainly students um that were ages three and four that were nonverbal. um you know, other students that had um physical disabilities uh and and so it's just wonderful to see that we have a district uh that's really responding to the needs of our community of kids of all ages. Um so take a chance like if you are feeling down man it is fun. Um, the other thing I wanted to mention is, yay, the calendar committee is meeting again. So, I will share um updates of when our community will have the opportunity to weigh in on the choices for the calendar. Um, not for next year, but for the year after
063that. Um, as you know, this is something that our community cares about a lot. >> A real juggling act. Thank you for serving on that committee. Trusty Thompson. >> Well, my report is about my half day as well. Um I I was filling in at for a TA at Morningside Core School and I got over there, it was December 19th and I walked in and it's it's the day of the concerts and the so I ended up being the door person for the concert. So that was wonderful. Thank Thank you. >> Um it was by far the easiest job that I've had and I but I also I know it isn't fair. And I told her that I I promise I would do another half day for her, but she kept saying no. But I
064I really is open if they would like me to go back and and actually experience what she does on a daily basis. I would love to do that. >> Thank you, Trusty Bronson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just briefly, we continue to uh receive and evaluate information that we will need to make a final decision about joining the proposed health insurance trust. We just got a very good analysis from our consultant the other day of the information which bridged alliance the trust group had provided. So hopefully in the next few weeks we will have more information and the opportunity to present a recommendation to you. Thank you and thank you for the time invested in this one question. Huge. Thank you for your work on that. >> Trusty Terraski. >> Uh just real quick about the
065budget committee. Uh we've been meeting and working hard and taking a really good look at where our budget's at and what we need to do going forward. And our town hall is going to be in March. And so I do hope that everyone can attend and come and at least listen to that and and hear community questions and concerns. >> Yes. Thank you very much. And many of us in the room uh today were at a key meeting and uh it I think there's 15 people in the room. 15 very smart, passionate, invested people in our community who are fully fully uh invested in the education of our our young people. And I do think that the Great Falls Key organization is a flagship organization in our state uh leading the charge in reaching out
066and communicating with the legislature and our citizens in the importance of education going forward as a society and as an American nation. So thank you for all of you who are involved in key. It's so critical and so important. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, if there's no other further business to come before this board of trustees, I would uh accept a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> We are adjourned. Thank you.