001Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this August 11, 2025 meeting of the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees. And I remind us in the room that these meetings are recorded visually and audio and will be posted on our website at some point in the future. So, thank you for your acknowledge acknowledgement of that. And with that being said, Mr. Patrick, would you please administer the roll call? >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Uh Gordon Johnson >> here. >> Kim Scornagosski >> here. >> Bill Bronson >> here. >> Craig Duff, >> excused. >> Marley Sunchild >> here. >> Amy Thompson >> here. >> Paige Terroski >> here. >> You have a quorum present, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Patrick. And Mrs. Frisbee, would you be so kind as to lead us in the pledge
002of allegiance? To the flag of the United States of America as presented. >> Second. Been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as presented. Are there any questions or comments from our board of trustees regarding this consent agenda? Hearing none, those with us in the gallery hearing. And seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of adopting the agenda, please signify by saying I. I. >> I. >> And I did misspeak earlier. I got a smile my direction. And in regards to approving the consent agenda, >> no, you're good. >> I move that we pres we approve the consent agenda as >> second. >> Moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Hearing and seeing none. Any questions or commentary from our gallery?
003None. So, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Same sign. Thank you very much. We're moving on to Rowan 6 communication superintendent report. Mrs. Hoyer. >> Well, thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, uh, members of our community and staff that are here this evening. So, this is my superintendent report for August 11th. um giving you some updates on some summer work that is happening is the first thing that we're going to do. So on the left hand side you'll see the Louiswis and Clark playground. That photo is kind of hard to see. Um it's a very it's a tall structure, a couple of slides for the kids to slide down to race each other. Um Mr. Boyd and
004I reassured each other as did probably Mrs. Maine wearing. Um it's all enclosed, it's all safe, but boy it kind of made me catch my breath a little bit because it's very high. Um, you may see that they have taken part of it down because they realized, especially after we got all the rain, that the ground was really soft and it started to tilt a little bit. I'm glad we found that now versus later after everything was done, it allowed them while the ground was still open um to do some more reinforcement to that structure. So, we're back on track again and we're rolling. Um, we've had some libraries that are being taken care of. There are several pictures up there. Saka Jia um their library is being moved to add a resource to classrooms.
005So they are working on that consolidation. And then Sunnyside there are two photos right there. Sunnyside it's just an it is a blank slate right now. It'll soon be an absolutely beautiful library but we had an anonymous donor um facilitated by the foundation. So that is our next library to be remodeled and we're really looking forward to that. Um should be done early this fall. And then Saka Jia, you'll notice um at Sak Jouia Elementary, there are several rooms that are being remodeled, recarpeted, repainted um to better serve our students and our teachers. And there's an example of that. Last time I believe we looked at Chief Joe. This time we looked at Saka Jia. So summer work is continuing and we're really excited about that. Next time I'll share some um walls that we're
006putting up over at Mountain View and some different things that we're doing to support our elementary schools. So very, very happy. Brents and Jack's crew are just doing amazing things. So, we really appreciate them. Um cra congratulations to Barbie Stucker. Um had an opportunity at a community meeting I was at recently to give her a shout out. But Barbie is the um wonderful person who is in charge of Big Sky Bus Lines who we partner with to provide transportation to our students. but she was recognized for excellence in service, safety, and outstanding demonstration of community responsibility. And she earned the National School Transportation Association Golden Merit Award um which she was awarded on July 22nd in Boston, Massachusetts. You will notice a quote there from Jacob Ipersonson. He is um what I would say is
007her equivalent in Bismar, North Dakota. Um his quote was, "She's a trusted mentor, always ready to share her knowledge. She is positive, transparent, and highly accountable leader who promotes safety, inclusivity, and best practices in pupil transportation. And so, congratulations to Barbie. I know that they're very busy working to fill all of the bus lines. If you know anybody who would like to be a bus driver or has even a remote interest in it, have them give Barbie a call. We're looking for bus drivers for all of our routes." Speaking of looking for employees for all of our positions, uh our first job fair of the season is rolling out on Tuesday, August 19th. Um it will be at Paris Gibson Education Center from 11 to 1. We'll be looking for crossing guards, substitute teachers, teachers
008aids, food service, you name it. If we have that position open, we will be looking to fill that. Um, this is a flyer that Becky Nelson designed and we you've probably seen it floating out in our community as we're really working to fill those positions, especially the ones that we hire right before the start of school. So, we're excited about that opportunity. Special congratulations to CM Russell High School Chamber Orchestra. They will be heading to San Francisco in February of 2026 to be part of the Northwest Music Education Association conference where they will be um performing. So, Director Steve Olsen is going to be taking 32 students. They are doing two concerts. If you had an opportunity to hit the one on the 7th um at 7:30 at CMR, I heard it was fantastic. I
009didn't have an opportunity to go, but I am going to go to the 21st at 7:30 um where they are accepting donations to help them fund their way to San Francisco. So, um a wonderful evening of music to kick off the school year and to help these young musicians um show off what's great about not only their school, but about Great Falls Public Schools. So, we're very proud of them. I knew Steve. I know I've said this up several times, but I I remember him when he was in high school and a student um at Belt and got to see all of the amazing things he did then. It's sure fun to watch him lead students in the same seats that he was in way back in the day. So, just yesterday, he and I
010always joke about just yesterday. So, um that's fun. Back to school blast. um a very very special thank you to our community who comes together in this collective effort. So this year's back to school blast is over at the fairgrounds. If you are used to attending this, don't head down to the Sebic Center, head across town. Um it will be August 16th, 1 to 3 for people who are walking in, but 11 to 1 for people who have pre-registered. Um, we will have backpacks and school supplies, haircuts and hygiene items, sports physicals and immunizations, food fun, you name it. We will have a lot going on that day. A really big thank you to United Way of Cascade County. Um, to their part or to our partners, Alliance for Youth and the Rescue Mission and
011Opportunities, the list goes on and on. But the amount of work that goes into supporting students, not just for Great Falls Public Schools, but for um this central Montana area as they get ready to go back to school is wonderful. I will um be at the free and reduce lunch table helping families work on their free and reduced lunch forms so we can have them ready the day that school starts. So, um I'm excited about that, but it's a great opportunity and just thank you to everybody who supports that. >> Kim, do you have something? August 15th. Oh, August 15th. Well, I had the date wrong. Kim, thank you for pointing that out. Becky would have reminded me, I know, if I would have not shown up that day. She's wondering where I'm at. >>
012Um, indigenous education. Dugan always uses the term come learn with us. And what I have found out from Dugan is that means that they never stop teaching. So, about two weeks ago, I get a phone call from Dugan. Hey, you're going to be in your office really fast. Hey, you going to be in your office? I got something really cool to show you. Sure, I'm going to be in my office. And I'm thinking, when's Duban going to show up? When's Duban going to show up? As I see out of the corner of my eye his truck drive across the lawn. And with Duban, you never know. He's got that black truck you see in the lower leftand corner. This is one of his newest teaching tools that he came and he set it up. it
013was the surprise he wanted to show me before um I went out to see what was going on. And it is it's an inflatable archery set designed specifically for younger archers. Um and it it's hard to see, but in the middle picture on the bottom there are these cones and they blow air out of the top of them and you suspend these little tiny rubber balls. >> And so you use the special bow and arrows. Um, the arrow has a hu it's a round circle. Um, and so you can't hurt anybody with it outside the fact that I kept trying to run in front of all the flying arrows. Um, and you try to knock the balls down as they're bouncing on their columns of air. Um, he is going to use this with our
014elementary schools. He already knows that he's probably going to have to spend extra time because not only are his club students going to be engaged in this, but every student's going to have to or want to shoot at least once. Um, you can see Eagle-Eye Brian Patrick down there in the bottom lefthand corner. I think he did a pretty fantastic job. Um, we have the ladies from Payroll in the upper leftand corner. And what is so cool about this is if you look at Dugan, he's constantly adjusting. Put your elbow up. move your fingers. He was walking everybody through all the time. Um we had members of the foundation, Michelle Noriega down there on the lower right hand side. We all took a turn out there. If you were able to knock down your ball,
015you got a jerky stick and a piece of >> You were a hunter. A hunter or a gatherer. You got a jerky stick and and um a drink. And if you missed everything, that's okay. You can be a gatherer. He had containers of like trail mix with probiotics and all sorts of that. So everybody got a treat that day. Um but in the middle the picture on the top Jordan Langford just sent that to me last week from Alaska. And so Dugan went from this all this fun stuff up to Alaska with Jordan where he is working with their equivalent of their indigenous education department teaching them about the amazing things that he does and his department does do every time they teach. Not just the kids but the adults. And they were gifted those
016white eagle feathers when they were up there. Um they were very very proud of them. Jordan sent me that picture um late one evening and um I didn't talk to her in person but you could just hear the pride and the smile in her texts. She was so excited. Um so I looked up the purpose of Indian education for all and I it just struck me as this is what they live. Um, the purpose of EPHA is for everyone to recognize the unique and distinct cultural heritage of Montana's first peoples by learning about American Indian culture, history, and contemporary issues in a culturally responsive manner. By teaching through a broader perspective, providing professional development for teachers and staff, by implementing resources and materials, we can combat stereotypes and broaden our students understanding. The promise of
017EPHA is that every student feels included and every student experiences school success. And in this case, the adults were his students this summer. So very proud of the work they continue to do for Great Falls Public Schools. So staffing, um, this is where we're at. When I first put this together, we had 23 positions. I'm happy to say we are down to 16. And I know we had some interviews today, so we might even be down more than that. Um, but we have 12 special education positions remaining open. We struggle every year to completely fill special education. So that um number is one we think we can work with. When I talked with Jason Bailey, he says we have um 11 12 special education positions open. That means we have about 11, you know, contingency
018plans. We have a plan to cover everything together. Um, we have one elementary classroom teacher, one elementary counselor, one middle school family consumer science, and one secondary world language. Although we may have filled that today, maybe filled that today. So, we might be down to 15. Um, but still more than we want to see the week before school starts, but um, it's workable. It's way more workable than the 23. And then our data for the day. This is a huge shout out to Jesse Younger who is at a concert right now. Um so I hope that she is relaxing. But um thank you to Jessa and her amazing staff. This is our summer foods program. We had nine locations that we they visited every day. 300 meals a day. 14,000 meals were served as of
019August 5th. and they will have exceeded that um by their last day of service or exceeded 15,000 by their last day of service on August 14th. So even though the school cafeterias have closed, feeding our students who continue, we know to thrive and to learn throughout the summer is an important role that Jessa just takes to heart. So your data for the day are those numbers and then a special thank you to Jessa for just continuing to always keep kids especially hungry kids in mind as she does her job. So with that that is my superintendent's report for this meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you Mrs. Hoyer. Any questions for Mrs. Hoyer given her report. That story about the meals is incredible and I'm sure Becky's on it in terms of having our community know
020the impact the Great Falls Public Schools has on feeding kids. It's incredible. Just inspiring. We have received no requests for audience communication this evening. So, we're going to move on to Romans 7, which is action items. Beginning with action item A, financial report and check register for June 2025. Mr. Patrick. >> Um, thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. The June financial report is probably one of the one of the two most important ones of the year because it closes out the fiscal year. The other report that's obviously key is the starting one because the balances have to be right in every fund. Um, and I want to if you go to the next page, I just want to point um, one thing out. As as you look at the the top line of
021the elementary general fund, if you notice, the budget was um, in revenue was 14,368,566.11. Um, monthto date came in year-to date. Uh, you if you notice that number is bigger than what was actually budgeted for. This just means that protested taxes have come in and so there was an extra balance of $109,73857. And if you look at the far right, it has a negative.76. And realize that revenues are negative in the on the balance sheet. So a minus.076 is a good thing. And that money is really what builds the reserve for the next year. um as we look at budgets that increase by $3 million, your 10% reserve also increases. So that's applied to the reserve amount. So um with that, I guess, um all the funds are in order and my recommendation is to
022approve the June financial report as presented. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. >> Trustee Seri, >> I move that we accept the monthly financial report and approve the register of payments for June 2025 as presented. >> Second. been moved and seconded to accept the financial report and approve the register for payments for June 2025. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Any commentary or questions from our gallery hearing? Seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Patrick. Action item B, request to access protested taxes. Mr. Patrick. >> Thanks, Mr. Chair, members of the board. U, what this is is the remainder of the protested taxes from Cauman. It concludes the amount that
023is due to us. Um, our Pam Ramstead has been in communication with the county and the numbers that are up on that are in your packet. Um, the person of the county was on some medical leave. So hard to get the numbers and there's a difference of in the elementary $34521 and in the high school $2127. So recommendation is to approve um the amounts that are up on the screen um as a protested tax request. The letter will go out to the county tomorrow um after your approval tonight. So that's my recommendation. Mr. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. Trusty Roson. >> I move that we approve the request to access the full amount of the county met protest and tax for the purposes set forth in the agenda report. >> Second. >> It's been
024moved and seconded to approve the request request to accessible amount of the calment protested taxs. Any questions, commentaries from our board of trustees from our gallery hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Action item C, Coca-Cola Bottling Company three-year agreement. And before I invite Mr. Patrick to speak on this, I would like to invite U. Trusty Terraski just to share um an experience she had recently. I had a community member reach out and had some uh questions just about the the process of picking the uh proposed agreement with Coca-Cola. And so my question was if we could table this until our next meeting in order to properly address the concerns of the community member and we can come to
025a full understanding of of the whole process so that we can better make an informed decision. question. Has any other board member received a call from representatives at Pepsi? >> None. And now I'll invite Mr. Patrick to comment on this. >> Um, it's important to get the contract right. We've spent a lot of time on it. We started, I want to say maybe in March or April, and we've had a number of meetings and been back and forth with both companies a lot. But, um, it's important. This would be a shift because up until now we've had two companies, Coke and Pepsi, in our buildings. This would be a shift to just Coke. So, um I don't have a problem tableling it and making sure that we get it addressed so that there's not any
026questions. >> And a question we had to Mr. Patrick was is this time sensitive? Yes, but not that so that we wouldn't be able to address it at the next board meeting. >> Yeah. >> Do we have to make a motion? >> We do. Um, Mr. Chair, I move that we table action item C until our next board meeting. >> Second move and seconded to table Coca-Cola Brewing Company three-year contract until the next meeting. Any commentary or questions from our board of trustees? Any uh comments or questions from our gallery hearing? And seeing none, all those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Action item D 2526 secondary student class fees. Mrs. Manewearing, welcome. >> Good evening, Chairman Johnson, members of the board,
027Superintendent Hoyer. It's my pleasure to be here tonight to discuss with you our class fees for the upcoming school year. Uh if you look at your attachment, you'll see what the fees were for classes in 2425 and what the proposed amount is for the coming school year. Uh for the most part, the fees stayed fairly consistent. There are some areas where supplies have increased, the cost of supplies have increased. Art and uh notably our culinary classes, the cost of food, as we all know at the grocery store is not going down in in cost in price. So, uh, those fees have increases. Uh, we've also, um, are proposing an increase in rental fees for, uh, band instruments in particular and adding in a weightlifting fee for weightlifting class. >> Any questions for Mrs. Mainwearing regarding
028class fees? >> Mr. Chairman, trustee Bronze. >> U, Mrs. Maywe, just know a question. I I realize why we charge these fees and that's certainly you know appropriate but what do we do in the instance where a student has difficulty paying that fee for financial reasons? Do we have some system in place whereby those are covered? >> Yes, we do. Uh the if you'll see the classes with the asterric those are classes where we have the Montana advanced opportunities money that can be um given to the families to cover the cost of those fees. And if that isn't going to work, there are other routes that schools have available to them to help. Thank you for asking. >> Any additional questions for Mrs. Manwearing regarding class B's? >> No. >> Okay. U Mr. Chair, >>
029Trusty Terrasi, >> I move that we approve the increases in class fees as presented. >> Second. been moved and seconded to approve the increase in class Ps as presented. Uh any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Any questions or commentaries from our gallery hearing and seeing none all those in favor of the motion please signify by saying I opposed same sign. Thank you Mrs. Mayary. Action item E, classified and hourly staff compensation for 2526. Mr. Deakons. >> Good evening, Chairman Johnson, member of the board, Superintendent Hoyer, or members of the audience. Um, I have a couple action items for you tonight. The first one we'll start with is classified hourly staff compensation. This generally is referred to as our support staff that we have across our district doing all the things that happen
030behind the scenes. Um these include paraprofessionals, teacher aids, hourly classified and part-time nurses. Um when we take a look at this, we have about 350 employees. I use the word about because every year it moves a little bit based on overloaded classrooms, how many aids, how many um pair of professionals and teachers and classrooms, one-on- ones that we need. So it moves around a little bit. Um however um with the district we are offering a 4% increase to each of these groups for the 2526 school year. So if you look at the chart below hourly classified um it gives you the total for each of them which will um sum up to about $8.2 million and an increase of $324,000 to that annual budget which I assure you Mr. Patrick has been giving me lots
031of questions on lately. Um, so with that, I will ask you to approve the classified hourly compensation schedule for 202526 as for the school year as presented. >> Thank you, Mr. Deakons. Any questions for him before we move forward? Thank you. Okay, >> Mr. Chair >> Preski. >> I move we approve the classified and hourly staff compensation for the 2025 2026 school year as presented. Second >> been moved and seconded to approve the classified and hourly staff compensation for 2526. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Any questions or commentary from the people in the room with us this evening? hearing. Seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I. >> Opposed. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Deakons. We will
032now move on to action item F 2526, health insurance, life insurance, and voluntary insurance contracts. >> Thank you, Chairman Johnson. Um, as we look at this next school year and we talk about the health insurance, life insurance, voluntary insurance cost, obviously there's an expectation um, in general that there's probably going to be increases. Before I talk about that though, I want to talk a little bit about what that looks like and why it looks a particular way that it does. Um, we continue to work with Mike Bonville out of Alliant um, to work through and he helps us secure the best choices for our district. We work with our uh district committee as well. However, about 20 well about 18 months ago, we had the sorry health insurance disruption with claims. Um and that had
033a lot longer term um impact on the district and other companies out there as well than was expected when it first happened. Those claims were much slower in coming in and as a result, we had a great year for insurance last year. For the most part, we were able to do a very small increase and so forth for our employees in our district. However, um over the time, what has happened is those costs have been incurred now. Um they may have been provided in the previous year, but we're still responsible for them being selfinsured. So, as those costs have came in, it has looked like we've taken a large hit on our district insurance this year. uh big portion when I say big portion when you talk 8 to 12% that's a pretty huge hit
034on our claims and that came from last year. We still have a few that are rolling in. As a result um we are working at a deficit this year with our uh health insurance. So we are recommending a 13% increase. You will see in your packet we do include all those components. So we have the district, the employee and the RSR. Um, with the RSR, we would be bumping that up to about $4.65 more, which means the amount that's in there will last a little bit less than what we had prior to this year when planned. I believe that leaves us about two years savings. Uh, we still will have the same types of plans. The one noticeable change is instead of working with Lucent, we'll be working directly with First Choice who in the
035end it really does work out better for us because Lucent was having to rent their network basically or contract for their network. So it cost us 4%. So working directly with First Choice, we will have about a 4% savings. Um, that being said though, when you talk about 4% savings, we also know that health insurance or health care costs go up by more than that every single year, but it'll be a fine balance. With that 13%, we we see that it would should most likely cover what our costs are. Um there was a lot of discussion within the committee as well as 13% is a lot but when we look at different health health insuranceances last year when we took the 3% um and other years there were districts that were at 30%. This year
036right at the turn of the calendar year people that were re reupping were 33% 60% some up near 100%. Um so 13% we can think of as being good. However it is a large increase for Great Falls Public Schools. We're going to keep a good track on that moving forwards as well. We will continue to offer the vision, the dental, um, and the other benefits that we have in the past for all of our groups accordingly. And with that, we can expect that our total premiums would be about $12 million next year. That means for the district, um, we approximate that at about $8 million. with the RSS included. That's another $285,000 for a total of $8,383,239 for the 2526 plan. So with that, um I will request that you approve the recommendation of the
037insurance committee for an overall increase in the employer and employee premium contributions of 13% respectively along with the increase in premium buy down for $4043 from the rate stabilization reserve fund and the current district's flexible spending program and voluntary services as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Deakons. Are there any questions for Mr. Deacons regarding this 2526 health insurance report. >> Mr. Go ahead. >> Uh I guess um two questions. One um if we are to expect kind of the slow roll in of claims in the future if that if it was a glitch essentially this year versus what we should expect every year. We've been watching the provided versus um paid or incurred versus paid pretty closely across the this this plan year. We believe that it looks like we're pretty well caught up. Um
038hopefully we will not have a lot. We have had also some very high claimments um with unique diagnosis and so forth as well which has played a part into it which has activated our stop-loss um which is part of that component as well. And and my second question is if there's an opportunity to do a three-year average in the future. Um you know to look at kind of trying to balance that when we have a when we have a spike like this if there's a way to to try to balance it out at all. >> That's a great question. looking at a three-year average um when you have to pay the claims yeartoyear and if you use a three-year average to the past um we do use a 24month uh plan period for us predicting
039what the costs will be. Um however the further you go back um it's it's a fine line of balancing because if you go back too far we know the inflationary cost of healthare has a big impact on that. So that's why they generally stay with a two-year window for those uh predictions. >> Mr. Bratzel. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not a question, but a comment. As you know, I sit on the insurance committee and I want to ensure my colleagues that uh the conversation by the members of that committee who represent all the different constituent groups within the district is very robust. uh they understand the challenges but they are prepared uh as the recommendation states to go forward with this recognizing that there really aren't any good alternatives for us at the present
040time. Uh, I do have to say that Mike Bonville and his team in Alliant have done an excellent job of providing really good evaluation services for this particular part of our program and they have actually found ways for us to save money individually in the administration of certain types of medical services. So, when I look at what we do compared to what's going on in a lot of other districts, as Mr. Decon alluded to they are looking at far more sizable increases this year than what we are and so as much as we don't like it and in fact if I remember correctly and Mr. Decon correct me the 13% is actually a little bit higher than what Mr. bond bill suggested might be necessary, but the committee felt that going to the flat 13
041was the best thing to do to give us a little bit of cover. So, I commend those people that are advising us and again uh we have the buyin from the different constituent groups to do that this year. >> Thank you. Thank you for that. >> So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I will make a motion at this time that we approve the recommendation of the insurance committee for the increase to employer and employee premium contributions of 13% respectively along with the increase in the premium buy down of $4043 and the rate stabilization reserve fund and the current district's flexible spending program and voluntary insuranceances. >> Second. been moved and seconded to approve the recommendation of the insurance committee as stated by Mr. Bronson. Are there any additional questions or commentary from our board of trustees?
042Any commentary or questions from our gallery here this evening? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppos same sign. Motion carries. >> Thank you. and thank you for your work, Mr. Deakons. Action item a G, superintendent evaluation process and instrument. Trusty Thompson. >> Thank you. Uh fellow trustees, you may remember last year when uh we went to um talk about superintendent evaluation for superintendent Heather Hoyer that um she had recommended that we look at a little bit different model and at the time it just the timeline just was going to squeeze us a little bit. So um we started looking at it this summer and um I'd like us to be able to implement it for this next
043school year. Uh this model will allow us to give uh Superintendent Hoyer some more timely feedback. Um it will also allow her to uh do a self assessment and align the superintendent goals with the strategic three-year plan. Um which I think is really important. And then in addition, the process is consistent with the Montana educator performance appraisal system um which is the model that we use for the um evaluation of our teachers and school district leaders. So um I think that's uh great to be able to use that also for the superintendent. Um the new timeline then would be that um you know I'm asking for us to um approve the new um process and instrument today and then um in September superintendent Hoyer would do a self assessment and then in October we would
044have a first formative assessment meeting uh where the board chair and committee chair me would meet with superintendent Hoyer to go over u the goals that she's is set forth and how what her progress has been. And then again um somewhere between November and and December, a second meeting. And then in January, we would make a call to the public to um ask to see how they think that Superintendent Hoyer is doing as well as um we would do our assessment using the new tool that um we've developed using Boseman as a model um through Google Docs. And so at this point, I'll show you it's in your board packet the um the Google Docs. So, what is great about it is Oops, I'm looking at the wrong one. What is great about it is
045that um first off, on the first tab, you'll see that we can use the you can compare a three-year cycle and then um so so we can look at her scores from uh this year, next year, and the following year. And then it is aligned then with the three-year strategic plan. And then each of the goals will have its own page. So then when um in January when when each of us go to rank Superintendent Hoyer in each of the goals, you'll have um some indicators um available to you so you don't have to think back on what it is because um she'll have her self assessment will be in there. We'll also have some some notes from each of the meetings that we had with her. And then um also just you know you
046can of course look at the other metrics um uh from board meetings, budget meetings, committee meetings and and such. So um I think that it will help us to be more thoughtful in our feedback and um be able to make sure that the trustees and the superintendent and the district are all aligned uh you know going forward. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Mr. Chair, >> Trusty Scuragoski, >> I move that we adopt the superintendent evaluation process and instrument as presented. >> Second >> been moved and seconded to adopt the superintendent evaluation process and instrument as presented. Any questions or comments? >> A quick comment. >> Yes. I just want to thank um both Trusty Thompson um but especially Superintendent Hoyer and being really proactive in um changing this process and I think it's um going
047to be great progress to be able to tie your evaluation to um the strategic plan and strategic goals um rather than some of the other criteria that maybe has been a little bit outdated and certainly has been in place as long as I've been a trustee, so I think that this is going to be much more relevant. Um, but also will further our strategic goals. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah, I echo those sentiments as well. Any other commentary? And it's been moved and seconded. Correct. Yep. Any further commentary for our trustees? None. Uh, from our audience? None. Call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. >> Oppose. Same sign. And again, thanks for your work, Trusty Thompson. I think this is a vast improvement and uh
048we are grateful for your involvement in it. Action item H, second reading of revised board policies 2158, 3122, and 3600. Superintendent Toyer. >> Well, thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board. As of 5:00 this evening, I've had no additional input um on the policies 2158, 3122, and 3600 that are in front of you. Just as a reminder, 2158 uh the wording in that changed to include numerousy. So, you will see where literacy was removed and that's to make it more inclusive of it. Um it also updates our cross references. So, Alli's done a good job making sure that everything is in alignment. Um, policy 3122, we made the wording a little bit more bold in line 10. Um, we removed the term 10 to 2 and just said tardiness disrupts the continuity because it
049does. And then also in policy 3600, uh, we removed the term pupil, changed it to student, and it just made it more consistent with, um, district language in other policies. So, um, with that, my request would be that you approve those three policies. The the language changes as recommended by MTSBA and the committee. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. >> Trusty Terrasi. >> I move that we approve board policies 2158, family engagement policy, 3122, attendance policy, and 3600 student record as presented. >> Second. >> Been moved and seconded to approve school policies 2158, 3122, and 3600 as presented. Any questions or commentary from our board of trustees? Any questions or commentary from our gallery? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by
050saying I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Thank you. With thanks to our board policy committee and their work. Very much appreciated. Roman 8 action other nothing's been removed from the consent agenda enabling us to move on to Roman nine reports discussion and policies first reading of the new industrial technology know understand and do Mrs. Bary. >> Good evening again, Chairman Johnson, members of the board. Superintendent Hoyer, Becky Frisbee, our secondary curriculum coordinator, is here to talk about the first reading of our uh industrial technologies KUDS. >> Welcome, >> Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the trustees, and members of our public. Um, I'd like to share with you tonight those last set of career tech KUDs um that were updated during this last school year, the 25 20 24 25 school year. These KUDs
051were updated to reflect changes in the industry, technology, and some course options. The KBS in front of you tonight are 8th grade IT, industrial tech, auto technology, auto technology, ASC, consumer mechanics, power tech, applied drafting, architectural drafting, engineering drafting, intro to drafting, drafting one, applied electricity, DC electricity, internal electricity, residential electricity, welding 1 2 and 3 metals manufacturing construction preconstruction woods 1 2 and 34. In addition, there's two extra sets of KODs. They are the Build Montana and 7th grade industrial tech. Both of these were pilot programs that we started and they've successfully completed the process and have become part of the course catalog at their respective levels. I also like to add that both of these courses are in our curriculum now. Heather was a huge part of bringing those in and making sure
052that we got seventh grade it and build Montana. Um so kudos to her for her forward thinking. These KUDs have been posted on the district website for review by our public and if requested we can print them here and provide them. I'll return again on August 24 25th to share any input I've received prior to um your opportunity to vote for those to be approved KDS. >> Any questions for Mrs. Frisbee from our board of trustees? Would you read that list again one more time, please? >> I even tried to make it short. >> I'm just messing with you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Very well done. Thank you. Reports, discussion, and policies B. First reading and revise board policies 2165 3110 312 21 5123 two 52 52 52 is that right?
053>> And 86 8560. >> Thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board. And I'm glad I have Ally right beside me because she can kind of poke me if I get this wrong. So, um, what you're seeing is the continued roll out of changes, um, to our policies based on some of the, um, things that were passed in Helena this last legislative session and then also including and updating some of our language. So, before I jump into some of the changes, you'll see, I'd like to draw your attention on page 75 to policy 5123. This is we already have a 5123 but we need to bump 5123 as written to 5124. Correct Ally? Um because this is the new uh model policy for the state as I will review it with you in just a
054second. And then also on 5252 we need to bump that to 5257 and adopt the new 5252. We will not necessarily need to have board action because it's just reumbering. It's not a change in the policy for those. Um, so we're essentially adding two additional two brand new policies. So with that being said, I'll jump on in. 2165. Um, you've heard the theme before, um, that we are updating things to include both, uh, literacy and numeracy. You'll see that reflected in 2165 where we change the reading and math. And you'll see math down throughout. When we talk about targeted interventions, we're taking the term literacy out of there because targeted intervention strategies now include both uh literacy and numeracy. In some cases, they also include behavior. Um on the back on page 77, you'll see
055where we continue with adding math, removing just the singular term of literacy um as we bring that more current. And then lines 30 through 32 on page 30 or on page 77. I apologize. Um that is a new paragraph that was put in there um that deals with the jump start program and students who are out of district not requiring an out of district agreement um and not being subject to tuition loss. Then moving on to uh 3110. Um, same thing still you'll see on line 30 on page 79 that we're removing literacy just leaving that as targeted intervention. Um, so we can encompass literacy or both literacy and numeracy in that. Ally then on page 82 has updated all of the policy references. So thank you to that ally. Um, for policy 3121 we
056removed the term both in line seven. That just makes it cleaner. So, it'll read that attendance records are essential to obtain both state financial reimbursement and to fulfill the district's responsibilities. Um, and cleans it up. And then down on the bottom, there's another paragraph that has been added or not paragraph and another phrase uh lines 42 through 46 that does also reflect jumpstart um that we currently utilize to help students and student achievement. Um Ally once again updated for us on pages 86 and 87. There are two new policies for you to review. Um policy 5123, that's the employer verification. That brings us into legal compliance as u passed by the legislature. Um 5252 is also new. That's notice of non-renewal and non-tenured teachers for financial reasons. That's a new law that was passed that
057we need to be compliant for. wording from MTSBA as well as the display of flags, banners, and district property. That's um policy 8560 that also brings in us into legal compliance as outlined by the legislature. So with that, those are the first reviews or the first reads of board policies as presented by the policy committee this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Hoyer. Any questions for her regarding these uh policies at first reading? We'll see them again in two weeks for for potentially for ratification. And thanks again to our policy committee and their hard work. Really appreciate their expertise and time in reviewing these policies, reports, discussion, and policies. Uh C discussion committee reports and comments. Mr. Bronson, kick us off. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a few things. Uh number one, I
058attended a meeting of the business advocacy committee of the chamber of commerce last week. Superintendent Hoyer and director Becker presented on the school district and the interplay of that with our foundation program. I think it was very well received by members of the committee and I appreciate uh the superintendent and the director coming and sharing those insights with the members of that committee. It's just great to build more rapport with our business and professional community and give them an opportunity to see what we're doing firsthand. Uh second, if you are on the MTSBA list serve, you have received or you will receive the memorandum that was prepared by our executive committee as a public comment to senial commission on the current discussion about the funding formula. Uh if you haven't read it, I urge you
059to do so. It's a very comprehensive statement about where all of the school districts are and I much appreciated the emphasis in there that people have to remember we have a lot of rural schools with special needs and the legislature needs to be attentive uh to their concerns just as much as ours in the larger districts. And uh with that, that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. Scorowski. >> Um, I wanted to start by adding my own praise um to Barbie Stucker. Um, the who with Big Sky Bus Lines, we're very lucky as a district and as a community to have someone like her in that position who's very community-minded. I've been able to work with her on stuff the bus now for 15 years and um every time I ask her for
060another thing um she says yes whether that's more buses or later hours um she's always just been an amazing partner um so we're she's very very deserving of that golden merit award um also talking about stuff the bus I wanted to thank the warehouse team who um spent their Friday afternoon after um quite a lot of work delivering boxes of donated school supplies to each school in the district. Um lifting lots of heavy boxes filled with notebooks and crayons um that we wouldn't be able to do um that event without them. Um, and then I also wanted to note um our data for the day um was talking about our summer meal program and those 15,000 meals. Um, but also just to note that over the last two years, Jessa has taken on the kind
061of extra side project of um working with Get Fit Great Falls and the Park Pals um program. So she is um you know in in her spare time helping plan um activities in the parks just as though to um do alongside with serving those meals. Um and the idea is that if you have multiple reasons for why kids come out um that we're more likely to get kids to our um to participate in that summer food program and have healthy meals. Um, and I certainly know from meeting some of the kids that that do take advantage of that that the need in our community is very real. Um, I've seen three-year-olds um without shoes um and and many and without much clothes pedling down to get meals from that summer food truck to take home
062to their siblings. So, um that program really um delivers for our community and for for our kids. So, um, just a a hats off to her. >> Thank you. And I'm just going to jump in. We've got two documents that are before us regarding legislative resolutions. Um, and Mrs. Hoyer, would you sort of take us through these real quick? >> Perfect. Thank you so much, >> Trusty Terraski. >> Hi, just a few things I want to echo what uh Trustee Scornagoski said about the lunch program. Uh working with kids over summer. We took our kids out occasionally to get the lunches when we were at Valley View and all of hands from Valley View would line up, you know, a good five minutes before lunch. They were very excited and then there's kids biking down
063the roads and parents were driving their their kiddos in and so I know it was very appreciated by uh the kiddos in the community. That's awesome. Um, it's hard to believe that convocation's already coming up and we're almost at the end of summer. It feels like it just started. I just want to thank everybody up here that's worked so hard through the whole summer. You guys are awesome and I really appreciate all you do. Um, and then I guess my last little note is that our school engineers have been working very hard all summer to deep clean our schools, wax the floors, get them sparkly and shiny and ready for back to school night and then the start of school and the classrooms are ready for teachers to come in and start setting up. And
064so we really are we getting to the start of the school year. >> Excellent. Thank you, Rusty Sunchild. I just want to thank Heather for giving us a little bit of a refresher on the internet for all >> near and dear to me and important that everybody keeps hearing why we do that. >> Um the Louiswis and Clark playground is very exciting. I know all of you probably don't get to drive by there all the time like I do, but I I am seeing this like in real time every day and it is exciting and the kids around there. Um I have a little nephew and all those little friends live over there. The kids are so excited to go to school because they've got this new playground. I don't I mean the buzz is
065just crazy. So that's great. >> That's that's great. >> Super. Thank you, Trusty Thompson. Well, I feel like my fellow trustees pretty much covered it, but I do just want to um shout out again to Jessa because I know how important um that food program is for our food insecure um students across the the district. It's just such a great program. And um and then I'm just thinking that maybe um I'd love to know how much indigenous knowledge um that Jordan and Dugan have like how many states they've spread out to now because I know that they've been to a lot of different states and I love that they're continuing to share what their knowledge to help um educate everyone. Maybe that could be your data for the day. >> Very good. Thank you. And
066I'll draw your attention to the board and uh we've got a work session coming up. Put all these things on your calendar. And as Trusty Terraski said, oh my. Yes, convocation is right around the corner. And then we launch into our regular meetings of the new school year. What happened to this summer? I just don't understand where it went. Anyway, with that being said, I would entertain emotion to churn. So moved. >> We are ajourned. Thank you ladies and gentlemen.