001gentlemen and welcome to this April 14, 2025 meeting of the Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees. First of all, um I want to remind us all that this meeting is being recorded and will be put up on our website at some point in the future. Just a reminder. And uh I would like to invite Mr. Patrick to administer the role. Gordon Johnson here. Camas Gornagoski here. Bill Bronson here. Mark Fum here. Marty Sunchild here. Amy Thompson here. Paige Terroski here. You have a full quorum, Mr. Chair. Thank you. and Lily Scar. Would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America? Well done. Thank you. Mr. Chair, Trusty Terrasi, I move that we adopt the agenda as presented. Second. Been moved and seconded to adopt
002the agenda. Are there any comments or questions from our board of trustees? Any questions or comments for those joining us this evening? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of adopting the agenda, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. We have an agenda from which the work. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Trust Konagowski. I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any questions or comments from our board of trustees? Any questions or commentary from our uh gathering of citizens with us this evening? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented, please signify by saying I. I. Oppose, same sign. We
003have approved our consent agenda. Moving on to communication reports of student representatives. Mrs. Maywary, welcome. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, Superintendent Oyer, members of the community. It's my pleasure to introduce our student representatives from our high schools tonight. We will start with Great Falls High and then Paris and then CMR. Thank you. Right. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, trustees, and members of the community. My name is Caleum Fulbright, and I'm a sophomore at Great Falls High, and this is our April report. The annual Heisy Awards happened at Great Falls High School on March 20th. We honored 58 students who received an award and a Heisy check for $200. Mr. Winter, a Heisy Foundation trustee, spoke at the winning students along with Mr. Coranza. There are 118 total in the Great Falls
004High Auditorium and we are very proud of our award winners. Um the week of March 17th through the 21st, Grandpa's High Peer Mentor Group hosted a mental health spirit week. Students dressed to certain colors that represented things such as suicide awareness, mental health, and excess. Um, our last day of this week was Spice and Pride because our school is heavily in the community and there's always help when anyone needs it. This week was absolutely touched by those who roam the halls of Great Falls High and showed everyone that they are loved and they are needed. The ultimate goal of the Pure Mentors is to end the stigma around mental health and they're doing just that. Great job, Pure Mentors. Um, we have a lesson the Bison learned. The city of Great Falls planning and community
005development department came to the government classes and spoke about the importance of civil engagement. Um, it's crucial for the students to understand having a voice in a local government shapes the future of our community. Thank you to the planning and the community development part department for taking time to continue to speak to our classes. Miss Moore and Miss Bowman's Montana government class got to take advantage of the warm weather and go play some traditional indigenous games. There's nothing but hands-on learning, especially when it's fun. Thank you, Mr. Holllet, for helping facilitate this experience. And I got to play this game. It was really fun. Um, on March 2 on March 26th, the Bison Ster and dance team went to East Middle School to welcome the upcoming class of Bison. This day is always led just
006like a pep rally to show the students what is like to be at Great Falls High. We teach them our expectations for the national anthem and that we stand for the fight song and the battlecry and so much more. All groups were thrilled to go to meet and show our bison pride to the future generations of Great Falls High. Senior Angel Davis was this year Val Knight King Award represents of the Art Association of Montana. Since 1991, the artist association of Montana has honored Val King's night. uh creative passion and by recognizing outstanding high school students with this prestigious award. Congratulation, Angel. Math teacher Mr. Gozansk put on math day on the 3rd on the 14th, otherwise known as Pi Day. This was a new fun interact interactive way to get all the students excited
007about math. This also featured AP statistics students creating experiments and teaching underassmen about their findings. Overall, this was a great event. Thank you to Great Falls High Math department for making this happen. Thank you. Uh good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, trustees, and members of the community. My name is Seth Royer, and I get to finish off our presentation for the month. Uh so, this is another uh lesson the Bison learned. Mr. honors chem class. Uh we're learning about titrations right now. Uh we're practicing on pre-made precise solutions right now. And as a unit final, we'll have to titrate with unknown concentrations and determine the proper concentration of titrant and anal. It's really fun and really hard. So yeah. Uh Archie Club champions, uh three peak champions. Yay. The Bigfoot Archery Club team featuring participants
008from Great Falls High, CMR, and Paris Gibson has claimed their third consecutive state championship. A huge shout out to Adriana Meiser who is the individual state champion. Congratulations to the entire team on this incredible achievement. Thanks to academic dinner, we celebrated over 300 Bison who have kept a 3.2 or higher cumulative GPA. These students have worked hard all throughout high school and show a large amount of dedication to their future. So, congrats, Bison. Thanks to the YWCA Salute to Women Award. Uh, congratulations to Mrs. Hall for receiving the YW.CA Salute to Women Award. She has done so much over the years to help out students at Great Falls High School, and we're so lucky to have her as part of our Bison family. She is beyond deserving of this recognition. Another lesson that Bison learned
009um is that students in Miss Wilcox's English class have started their junior research projects. Uh it's an argumentative research paper which is an important skill to have in a writing arsenal. Miss Wilcox is doing an amazing job and keeping this project simple and easy to understand. My topic was should gun legislation be increased or reduced. So it's been fun to work on. Next was our junior prom. Uh we held it April 5th and it had a beach theme. It was kind of cool because the couple with the most creative prom posal got a chance to win a $15 gift card to the Buffalo Blanc that's right near us. That was pretty fun. Next up is our leadership high graduation. Our junior participants in the leadership high program graduated this past month. They gave presentations on
010various topics like the military, education, and agriculture. Of course, a big shout out to Don Ory and Jerry Hopkins for another successful year of leadership high. Next up is spring sports. Uh they started last month and since then they've been doing pretty well. Tennis has expanded quite a bit with over 50 members. Track had JV cross town Thursday and they have meets all through this week. Last Friday we honored five senior softball players and they're heading down to Bosezeman tomorrow. Uh the Bison Skills USA team performed well at state this past month. Our welding team took second overall and Harley Barrow took first in photography. Alto together we came home with 12 silver medals and one gold. We also had a student Lachland Kenyon become a new state officer in Skills USA program which is
011pretty sweet. That's what they made. They made a they make a rocket stove for their team welding project. It's it's pretty cool. Uh, finally we have the StuCo elections. Um, students involved in student council have made co campaign posters while they ran for class of 2026 and 2027 representatives. Uh, voting happened last week and I can't wait to find out who. It's really fun. The guy in the middle is my buddy and he's running his campaign like he's Napoleon dynamite. He's got like shirts and stuff. It's really cool. And then last is just uh keep up with all things Griffals High School with our social media. Our PR team girls do an amazing job of keeping everything up to date. So make sure to tune in Bison. That's all we have. Thank you very much.
012Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, Trustees, and members of the community. My name is Connor Eisinger. I am a senior at Paris Scriptton and uh Mercury ain't here today. So, so this one, so I'm gonna be doing this one myself. Walters and Sanger teamed up for a science lesson on sound waves. Students learned about the scientific properties of sound waves versus EM waves and how they are the foundation of music. Sound waves carry vibrations through air to our ears to be interpreted as pitch, tone, and rhythm. Paris does not have a music teacher or a music program, but teachers do a great job of finding ways to expose students to the creative outlet that is music. Our students and staff can catch a beat, if you know what I mean. Uh, warning, chicken budding is
013too cute to handle. Cuteness overload, as you can see by our skateboarding chick. Uh, we just wrapped up chick she season at Paris. Students find a co-parent and adopt chickens for two weeks of study. Students apply the scientific method to teach a baby chick a trick. Adoption day is full of new parent nerves in student and baby chick bonding. Then comes training and data collection. Students also learn that chicks are messy and require lots of care as students assist with cleaning the cages and must spend a minimum number of hours caring for and training their chicks before we release them to a local farm. Saying goodbye is the only bad part about this lesson. But one day we all have to let our babies go. Western Art Week in Great Falls is busy for art
014teacher Ricka Walters. She took students on 12 field trips to various art venues around town. At one venue, students were invited to paint on a huge canvas and Paris Gibson students jumped right in. All the artisans were so gracious to students sharing their tips and tricks and encouraging stories. Duke and Coburn and his team set up the Paris Lodge for display during the event. The lodge is used as a teaching tool in the native art section of the show. It goes when we goes to show when we put our artistic mind together, anything could be created. American Indian studies teamed up with science enrichment for a medicine bag lesson. Students learned the cultural significance in grounding oneself. Science presented a lesson on minerals and rocks. Each student was gifted a piece of graphite for their
015medicine bag. The graphite symbolizes being pure and reminds students that they can write their own story. One tiny bag can carry infinite stories. It all just depends on the holder of the bag. Overcoming our fear of public speaking. Students tackled some tough topics in chemistry and presented as a group. Each group is given a topic to research and a limited amount of time to do so. Students collect four different types of data during their research and are asked to share out the research findings to the class. A large number of students are nervous to present, so this will be an easy way to get practice and ease into public speaking. Perhaps they'll be joining the board one day. Our students learn about tough topics and how it is possible to overcome obstacles. The celebrate students
016learn about succulent plants in our science enrichment class. These plants have modifications and adaptations that have helped them thrive even in some of the toughest environments. What a great way to remember that even the most beautiful things come from the hardest times. Many Paris activities are dependent on students planning, organizing, and executing the event. While prom may be toughest to organize, it's no different from the rest. Some years we have a prom and other years we don't, as it requires students to take the initiative and make the event a reality. Students did a great job of making this year's prom a fun, simple, and safe event. Kids had a blast dancing the night away. The mascade never dies. State archery 3P. Our mult our multischool archery team is once again traveling to nationals to compete
017after taking first place at the state tournament in Helena. We came home with a trophy, two first place bows, and some cash in our pockets. Fish, wildlife, and park asked that Paris provide the concessions at the state archery tournament. A handful of students and staff put together a quality menu and made a few thousand dollars to supplement the cost of travel to Salt Lake for nationals. Well done team. This is to the pride of Paris. Thank you and happy spring. Thank you. Good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board, and members of our community. My name is Lillian Scare, and I'm a senior at CMR, and I'm excited to share our April board report. First, we have community service. Keycl Club students worked hard to build a structure out of cans for the
018annual Cantastic competition. This year, they chose a rubber duck. It was showcased at the home and garden show for all to see. Their cans from their structure were later donated to the food bank and their hard work was appreciated by all. We also love titrations. In Mr. Hibbert's honors chemistry class, we are learning about acids and bases. So, we are doing titrations. A titration is a lab technique used to determine the concentration of an unknown acid or base by slowly adding a solution of known concentration until the reaction reaches a neutralization point. We use indicators like beneline to help us see what uh when the point is reached. It's a mix of precision, patience, and just the right swirl. We're learning how to calculate marity, balance equations, and understand real world chemical reactions. This lab
019is so much fun with all its colors and materials. Thanks, Mr. Hibbert, for making chemistry so cool. Our musicians killed it at district music festival. We are so proud of these amazing students and teachers and we are so thankful they got to show off their talents these past couple days. Our drama department is gearing up for three shows presenting 12 angry jurors. It will be theater in the round of the com. It will be theater in the round in the commons at April or at CMR April 25th and 26th. Congratulations to our 71 new inductees to the National Honor Society and congratulations to Mrs. Burket for winning this year's Doctor of Service Award. Thank you to Honorable Judge Gurvich for speaking at our ceremony. Uh good evening, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, members of the board,
020and members of the community. I'm Emerson Hammer, and I'd like to continue our presentation. Um another lesson we loved in Mr. scarce AP calculus class students went back to the concept of a limit to learn Latal's rule. This technique will be very useful on the AP test for the students who are taking it. CMR art student Olivia Cordderero with her scholarship award for Young Masters at the Out West Art Show. Congrats, Olivia. Uh congratulations to Luke Stevenson. He won the Exchange Club youth of the year scholarship and was honored at a banquet this week. Way to go, Luke. Congratulations, Avery. She signed with Crown College for basketball. And congratulations, Mariah. She signed with the U of M rodeo team. Um, our Leadership High students graduated their last program with affecting change presentations. We are so
021proud of these students and everything they have learned. Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce leadership high program for a great year. Go Rustlers. Um, athletics. Our tennis team is ready. Defending state champion CMR boys tennis is aiming high again this year. They're so far undefeated, winning duels 8 to zero. Our girls team is also doing really well. Both teams are in Billings this Thursday and Boseman this Saturday. In track, freshman Stella Damonovich is ranked third in the double A in the 3200. Um myself, um Ashlin Jarrett and TA Asher have qualified for state and we're so proud. Softball is also in full swing. They head to Bosezeman tomorrow and have games on Saturday at home. Another lesson we loved in Mr. Hbertson's AP macroeconomics class. Students are preparing to take the AP test in
022May. They are going through sample free response questions, including those involving T- sheets. These relate to a bank's liabilities and assets. And students might be asked to determine the reserve requirement set by the Fed or even determine the multiplier used by the bank when they loan out excess reserves. This is a fun type of question that involves math. Hello, Chairman Johnson, Superintendent Hoyer, and members of the board. I am Lydia Commtock, a sophomore at CMR, and I will be finishing our presentation for HOSA. Our HOSA students have been very busy competing and succeeding. From presentations focusing on the human heart to pediatric dentistry, students educated each other about various healthcare professions and they also represented CM CMR at their state leadership conference. We also had prom. CMR's Enchanted Evening was a huge success. The students
023had a great time and the decorations were amazing. Lily and Luke were crowned king and queen. This fantastic crew competed at the region 2 principal's cup in Sims. They took the trophy for a little joy ride to Sims and brought it right back. Our principal cup team took first and is headed to state in Missoula. Another lesson that we loved in Mr. Greger's AP biology class. Students had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use high-tech lab equipment to study gel samples that they had injected with bioluminescent jellyfish cells. They use this lab to go over key concepts from their last unit and review terminology for the upcoming AP test. And finally, boss's night is one of the best nights of the year. We celebrate our local employers who are making a difference for our new students learning
024job skills. We also celebrate our students who have learned new skills, persevered to do hard things, and who radiate confidence and independence as employed members of our community. Boss's night is wrestler pride. And that concludes our presentation. Thank you. Thank you. It's so clearly evident that you people work hard and you also have a lot of fun. So, it's great to hear what you're up to. So, thank you so much. Roman six, communication item B, superintendent report. Mrs. Oyer. Well, thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, and members of our community. Um, it's a full full report tonight as you can see from our students. There's so much going on in our schools. So, the very first thing I would like to do is have Miss Lydia come back up again um and talk
025about her appointment to the board of public ed. I'll have her shake our hands when she's all done. But um the appointment of a student as to be the student representative for the entire state is a little different than some of the other appointments to the governor. There actually more hoops that she gets to jump to get this appointment. So I'm going to have her explain the whole process to us and then we'll shake her hand and thank her for representing not just Great Falls, but all of Montana's public school students. Yeah. So basically it all starts off with student government. There is something called the Montana Association of Student Councils and Mr. Anderson is our leader for our region of the Montana Association of Student Councils. And so when it came time for people
026to start applying to this position, Mr. Anderson just kind of put out a widespread call and said, "If you're interested, come talk to me." And I asked him if it was something he thought I would be qualified for. And he handed me the application. He was really, really helpful in helping me fill everything out. I got to talk about some exciting things. Um, I think being a representative to this community board also looked really good on my application. So, thank you for this opportunity and I got to talk about some of my favorite teachers, Miss Jacobs and Mr. Allen. And all of those things helped me um reach the interview process. And then with the interview process, you sit before all of the presidents from each Montana Association Student Council president. And then you also
027sit with like five or six of their adviserss. And um they just ask you one question each about their plans for the states. And I think there were six candidates from across the state who um went through the interviewing process and they just called me that night and told me it was me. So, I was pretty excited and I'm really looking forward to this. So, yeah. Excellent. Well done. That is It is uh quite the process and Lydia we're very proud. So thank you for all you do. This month we celebrate and this is just the first part of the groups of individuals within our district that we're celebrating but um we started off on April Fool's Day with associate principal um appreciation day which kind of got a chuckle from some folks but we
028have eight associate principles across the district and we celebrated them on April 1. Then on the 2nd, we got to celebrate our pair of professionals tutors um during their appreciation day. We have 200 or about 200 um of those individuals within our district. And then on the 4th, we got to celebrate our school librarian. We have 22 school librarians across the district and we gave them shoutouts and celebrated them on April 4th. So we have more coming later this month. I will share them at our next board meeting. Another very special congratulations is to Miss Colette Bittton and she is here this evening. She received the uh 20125 Lifetime Achievement Award. It's a muchdeserved award for her um through the University of Montana's Institute for Early Childhood Education. Thank you, Colette, for all that you
029have done. You're a champion for education for our very youngest, our first learners here in Great Falls and across the state. and we'd like to have you come up. I do you have your plaque with you? Show it off a little bit. Give a shameless plug for early childhood education. Absolutely. And then shake everybody's hand if you would please because we um are in awe of you and all you do to lead not just Great Falls, but our state. So, good evening board chair and board members and superintendent Hoyer. Thank you for having me here and just acknowledging that I received this award. Um, I just want to reflect back and remind you that in 2009 it had to have been was when the school board made the decision to take the risk and actually
030began an early childhood program in the school district when there were minimal funds. It was all federally funded. Um since then, you know, after f several federal grants, um we've now acquired some general fund budget dollars um due to policy was it 3110 for exceptional circumstances and now with the early literacy bill I think it's 2165. So, um, because of you saying yes, um, that made this possible because I was actually in a classroom at the time when I learned that, um, this could become a reality, that this early learning program could be, and took a risk myself at like, I think I'm ready for this. So, I went from working in a daycare when I was 14 to then working in the college early childhood program at Western and deciding that, yes, I do
031want to be a teacher and then being a teacher and deciding I want to be an administrator. um leading to this. So, thank you for the opportunity to for this to even be possible and always supporting the early childhood programs along the way because there were some times where a lot of other districts just had to say we cannot do this anymore and you just kept leaving and um thank you for that opportunity and you gave me kind of filled my bucket every time that this is where we ended up. So, thank you so much for believing in. Very proud. Do and I I spent have spent just a couple hours up there uh this year probably not as much time as I should have, but what I can tell you is I need a
032nap after I leave the preschool every time. It's just this amazing place of energy and hope and learning. So, thank you for establishing those guidelines for our school. So, some updates from Helena. Things are either really really frantic or seem to be slowing down as you they um are legislators, they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, um, House Bill, uh, 252, that's our stars, um, that is working its way very, very slowly through the Senate. Um, we're keeping a close eye on that and encouraging our legislators to please be sure that they speak to and move on these bills before the session ends. Um, Senate Bill 181 is one I have not talked with you about. Um, that generally revises Indian education for all. some of the important things from
033this and this is coming through Senator Wendy Boy. Um it shifts some language for us from cooperatively to in consultation with it requires the use of licensed language and cultural specialists and it improves the accountability measures and establishes a state reporting mechanism when using Epha funds. Um, it also creates an online portal for feedback for American Indian studies implementation and for annual reporting that goes right to those legislative committees so they are getting feedback in time and can work on making adjustments as needed. House Bill 381 is one that I believe um, Senator But Representative Butry now um, has been pushing on and this is educational credit for congregate care and child care volunteers. So when students go out and they take um time to volunteer in either child care centers or in aging centers,
034they're able to actually get high school credit for this. At Great Falls Public Schools, we offer we offer that through transformational learning. Um but this provides a statewide way for our students to earn those um those credits. That was a pretty cool one. House Bill 551 is one that we're seeing some pretty significant amendments to. Um, but this designates the last full week in September as freedom week. And the districts is it requires districts to conduct at least three hours of instruction on the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Montana Constitution. And that's captured within policy. Um, so we'll be seeing some changes to policy coming forward from that. House Bill 168 is one that I know Colette is watching closely. That's our special education preschool bear bill. um three and four year
035old students who receive services. It does have a $3.7 million price tag. The hearing is tomorrow and it's an important bill. We'll be watching. House Bill 340 is the statewide new teacher mentoring program that the state is rolling out. It's got a million dollar price tag. The hearing on that is also tomorrow and that's an important one. I believe both of those start at 3:00. That's in the Senate Education Committee. Um, and House Bill 551 is the ELLL bill is still moving forward, but it's an important one for us because of the ELLL, the English language learner population that we serve here in Great Falls. There'll be $2 from the state given to districts for every $1 that we get from the federal government to allow us to build programs to enhance our education for
036those students who struggle the most with the English language. And so, as these bills begin to move, we'll be ready to respond because their effective date is important. Some of them are effective upon bond signature, some of them are effective this summer, and some of them are effective a year or two from now. And so we'll be monitoring that and putting all that information together. As you heard from one of our students groups, um, our Skills USA students did a fantastic job. The spin that I want to put on this is that we hosted the state conference here in Great Falls. So we worked um with members from Helena, we worked with local um businesses and community partners. 300 students from across the state came to Great Falls to do Ignite Your Potential, which is
037the was the um the call I guess you could say. Um every time you talk to the students from skills, they talked about Ignite and everything that they were doing to ignite their own potential and learn about their future. was hosted at Montana Expo Expo Park and at CMR High School. Um they did 10 career clusters. So their career clusters were health science which was first aid CPR, architecture and construction for drafting and welding, manufacturing which was CNC programming, marketing, sales and service which was a promotional bulletin board that they did. Um STEM of course uh which was search and rescue robotics this year. art and communication. They did photography and welding and sculpture. Um, hospitality and food, they called that gastronomic engineering at Skills USA. Um, law and public safety and security, that was
038crime scene investigation. And then transportation, distribution, and logistics, that was automotive service. Then they did leadership. So, there were a lot of of sectionals and clusters that students could participate in. and we had our community come out as they always do to help judge and support the students who they participated and competed in those areas. Um, Great Falls Public School students competed in construction, welding, t-shirt design, engineering, and woodworking. Um, you heard that Lachland Kenyon of Great Falls High School is a new state officer. They don't name their state officers yet. They bring them in as a group and then they decide which position best fits the students who are on the the officer panel. They'll do that later this year. Um, we had one gold in photography, 12 silver in job interviews, diesel technician,
039welding fabrication teams. And so we're pretty excited about all of the different um medals that they brought home, but also the way that these students represent them public schools. The um baton death march was memorialized with our JOTC students who worked with Healing Waters um the project out in Great Falls. So on March 29th, they walked marched 14 miles in memory of the estimated 500 to 650 American PS who lost their lives on the 66 mile march in the Philippines. So a very special thank you to our JRI students and to their leaders and their teachers for those groups. This year they earned $1,200 for the project healing waters project in Great Falls. Very special community recognition to Lee Haynes and the East Middle School custodial staff. This actually comes through Paula Bird who is
040the assistant for uh Mike Kenberg, our athletic director. So the staff from the Mighty Mo volleyball group here in town and parents from Helena just they seemed to come out in droves to really um throw their support behind Lee and his crew. They called, they emailed, and Paula even had individuals stop by her office to share the following things about East Middle School because they had 90 teams do a two-day tournament. We had multiple venues within the public schools and also around our community. But they said consistently that East had the best crew that they had ever worked with for a volleyball tournament. It was a great facility. It was very clean and very wellmaintained. That the custodial staff was absolutely amazing. and it was the cleanest school that they had ever been in. So
041Paula wanted to be sure that I shared with the school board all of the amazing things about Lee and his crew and how well Great Falls Public Schools was represented to an outside entity like Mighty Mo. Um because of their work ethic and their passion for taking care of buildings. And so a thank you to Lee. Um I shared this with him and and um he chuckled over the picture. Mr. Behringer sent me that picture. We thought that that um fit Mr. Lee very well. So Mr. You're awesome. So, giving back. Uh earlier this year in my superintendent reports, I shared with you the project of Montana reads where we have community members come into our our elementary schools and they spend an hour a week reading to students to help build literacy skills. Carol
042Paul shared these um information points and these data points with us earlier um last week. So, she's getting ready to close up this year's session. She had 45 community volunteers who focused on four elementary schools in our building readers program. Anywhere from retired individuals to business members, church groups, you name it. They came in, they were trained. They had to go through a training with her before they could go into our schools. And they had to guarantee that they could give at least one hour per week. As of last week, the group logged over 1,400 hours in support of our schools teachers and readers. and they continue to help strengthen those literacy skills with some of our youngest readers across the district. So, a huge thank you to Carol Paul for her organization of that
043program. If there are a million days in May, how many days are in April? And we came up with a lot. There are a lot of days in April. Um, this is just a picture of a lot of the celebrations, competitions, and things that have been happening. Um last week, uh Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedland came in. Um she spent half a day with us within our schools. You can see some pictures there with her. It was a Townsend reunion with Mr. Patrick and her up there in the top corner. There is um leadership high school was down there. There was a shout out. Those are our music um events where students were singing and and sharing their gifts with our community. Um, and then there was also the 4.0 academic scholar competition.
044Correct. I believe Mr. Seth is in there in that top one that top picture. Um, at Great Falls High, I was invited to watch the students who were either 4.0's, seven semester dean list or the academic letter, one of those three or a combination of those three. Um, some of them received multiple recognitions at that time. So, uh, congratulations to all of them. I'm going to have Miss Becky Frisbee come up because last Friday I couldn't figure out what the sound was I was hearing in my office and it was Miss Frisbee dancing down the hallway talking to everybody about the preliminary ECT scores. And um since she danced and sang so well last Friday, I thought I'm going to have her share these with the board because it's good news and we need some
045good news in our day. So, Miss Frisbee, Chairman Johnson, board of trustees, Superintendent Hoyer, and our community. I love to get up and talk about good stuff. A month ago, we talked about last year's scores when we did our big data dive, and I was sad because our scores had dipped. But these are the new scores and we're that dark blue at the very end and every single one of our scores went up. We have raised to some of our um previous and my favorite is writing because I always like to remind you even though that's a small bar the top score is a 12. We've never gotten to a seven, but we are looking at a 6.6 individually. I've seen um composite for buildings at 6.8. So, we're really climbing in writing. It's just
046looking really good. And these are way better than the last time we talked. They're up. Something that's really cool, there are three perfect scores in our district. That's just amazing. And a ton of 35s. We're just uh sneeze away from that perfect score. It's really uncommon that kids even end in that perfect, let alone the advanced category. The super advanced is 31 to 36, but as a district, we have 29 hanging out in that advanced category. And that is not usually where we're at. It was an outstanding year for ACT. Now, these are preliminary because really it's only reflecting those students that took it on the 25th in that remote day at all three high schools. But so many kids did makeups. We have students that um take it over multiple days. And so all
047of that is still going on. We have ongoing tests through this Thursday. So, in about a month, I'll have pretty close to our exact scores, but I'm not going to have state comparisons or national comparisons for you for a while, but I can hardly wait. So, look forward to more dancing and more singing in the halls when I get those numbers. Well, congratulations. It's pretty good. Now, now for that little song. I So, we were very, very excited. It was a good way to to end the week last week. Um, just as a reminder, on April 23rd at 6:00 p.m. at Great Falls College MSU in B101, we have our schoolboard candidate forum and so we will be gathering together. Great Falls Rising is hosting this event um to meet and learn more from our
048school board candidates. So, everybody's invited. I needed to get the word out. And the last thing is our data for the day. Just know that next month we're going to be reviewing our strategic plan through the eyes of our principles and our leaders. Um I I'm still collecting some strategic plans and so I was hoping to be ready for today but not quite there. Um so I wanted to share with you kindergarten and preschool. Um preschool is static. That's the red line on the bottom because we have a limited number of seats and if we had could open preschool up that number would be really high. But our seats are limited. It's at 144. That's where we maintain. So, when people ask me, you know, how's preschool looking? Preschool looks steady and it's always going
049to be steady because we have to limit seats. And until we can not limit seats, then we won't see a bump in that. Um, our kindergarten enrollment, we're starting kindergarten registration. Um, that is on May 7th and coming right up. Some you can do it online, you could do it in person. We encourage parents to come and do it in person because oftentimes there are questions that our schools want to ask about the the registration forms for parents. Um families, just as a reminder, families are not required to send their children to kindergarten because compulsory attendant does not start until age seven. But what we know about early childhood ed and and what we know about achievement um in reading and in math, especially in the early grades, is the sooner we can get students
050heavily exposed to both literacy and numeracy, the easier the complex concepts are later in their life. Um Wednesday, May 7th, 8 a.m. to 4 pm. If you live in Meadowark, Giant Springs, or Riverview, you need two proofs of residency. and parents, we do need birth certificates. Our data moving forward, we really will look on the stewardship and the accountability first. Then we'll look on student achievement because we want to catch that last mast window. So that will probably be our first school board meeting in May. And then we'll wrap up with healthy, safe, and secure schools. And that will take us to a close as we look at wrapping up our strategic plan moving forward to our action steps for next year. And with that, that was a very long report. I apologize, but there's
051so much going on and I'm so proud of our schools and our students and our teachers. Um, they just keep chugging away to towards those million days of May. So, thank you. Thank you. But informative and we appreciate that very much. Thank you. Communication. Uh, item C, audience communication. And I'd like to invite Lauren her up to the rostroom. And is it Nina? Yes. Okay. So, I have two sheets, one for each, and they're going to come up in tandem. So, welcome. Introduce yourselves. Nice to meet you. My name is Lauren her. Nice to meet you as well. My name is Nina her. We're sisters. Um, I came today to address the way that the protocols for special education are being handled at Mountain View Elementary. My son is a very bright pupil there. He's
052in the 99th percentile in his math testing. He um he came to me personally to express some concerns to me that I did a lot of digging into. I did a lot of my own personal research on the the federal laws for special education, the Montana laws for special education, and how they apply at the school itself. And I've come to the conclusion that um they're not being followed properly. The communication between the support staff is not there. Um there is there's a fear amongst the staff to step up and speak out. and I've had to go great lengths to do so for my child, even though he has an IEP. Um, my sister as well, um, I'm addressing this for her. She's a little nervous. Um, my niece, her daughter, she goes to Longfellow.
053Um there has been numerous accounts of uh improper supervision on the playground which occurs in numerous occasions of bullying that has not been properly seen through. We brought the uh discharge paperwork actually from the hospital. She has a fractured wrist and uh a bruised nose. And these are older children that are bullying her. She's a a kindergartener. My son is a first grader. Um, basically we're here to she's here to speak on part of parents and children and I'm here to speak on for parents, children, and the staff at Mountain View. Um, I know there's a lot that I can't say and that you guys can't say, but um, there's a lot that isn't adding up. I actually had to have an emergency meeting with pretty much everybody on my son's IEP um, paperwork and
054I had to revise everything. After what he told me, everything I've discovered, I'm not sure what I can tell you guys, right? Okay. Um, my son was not giving given a free and inclusive learning environment. Um, there is a box there now that they put children in. Um, I did not consent to this. That's it's a very very touchy subject with putting special education children into a a a box that locks. Um, numerous occasions of that. For me, it's mainly the staff. Um, SPS Aware has been very helpful. They're not being allowed to do their job properly. Um, not going to drop any names, but um, Aware needs more support. Aware needs to be able to speak up for their voice. They're they're scared. Um, not just Aware uh, parah teachers. I've been confronted outside
055of the school by teachers in Mountain View, teachers from other schools, um medical personnel, um concerned parents, my own son, myself, things that I've witnessed myself like for a fact that just not following federal regulation for IEPs and special education. Well, thank you for sharing your message with us. We will look into this. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. And that concludes audience communication. Uh at this point in the meeting, uh I'd like to excuse our student representatives and we're so jealous, but we're going to excuse you to go out and enjoy the remainder of this glorious day. So again, thank you for being here and sharing your messages with us. Look forward to seeing you next time around. Moving on to Roman 7 action items. A second reading of new family and consumer science
056and business. No understand doss. Good evening again, Chairman Johnson, members of the board, Superintendent Hoyer. I'm going to introduce Becky Frisbee again, our coordinator for secondary curriculum, and she's going to go through the document for the second read. Chairman Johnson, members of the board, Superintendent Hoyer, community members, I'm bringing back to you today the second read and for a vote on the KUDS or the no understand dues for family consumer science FCS as well as business. As a reminder, we're looking at um adopting those new um unpacking of our standards for multimedia, entrepreneurship, finance and career prep, intro to business, marketing, money management, tech essentials, and middle school financial literacy. In finance or in sorry in family and consumer science we're looking at the middle school seventh grade as well as culinary one two and
057h culinary 3 hospitality child development 1 2 and 3 4 and fashion design and construction. These all um those KDs all share the new technology and expectations from the community and um industry and um my recommendation is that we adopt those so that we can put those into place. Questions? Sorry. Sorry. Trustee Saraski. Uh I move that we approve the new KUDS for family and consumer science and business as presented. Second. Been moved and seconded to approve the new KUDS for family and consumer science and business. Any questions or comments from our board of trustees? Mr. Fin, it sounds very very appealing and intriguing. So thank you very much for all the work that has gone into this. Any questions from our remaining audience? Hearing and seeing none, I'll call for the question. All those
058in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Frisbee. Action item B, multidist agreement between Great Falls School District One and Great Falls School District A. Mr. Patrick. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um, what you have before you is a renewal of a three-year multi-distment. Um, this is used to better balance our spending between the elementary and high school. We've had years where the enrollment in the elementary is high and the elementary is rich and the high school's poor. Uh end of the year money can be put into this fund and we use it uh I think what quite wisely rather than um probably was the standard years and years ago was there's a bunch of money at the
059end of the year here everybody line up and we'll get you what you want. And uh it's allowed us to balance our spending better. A good example is in curriculum where they don't have they've got a certain amount of money each year. They save it. We put it in the interlocal fund and then when a big adoption comes they have the money to make that happen. And u the maximum this agreement can be in in stow for is three years then it has to be renewed and that's where we are uh currently. So, my recommendation is to approve the renewal of the three-year interlocal agreement between um the elementary district and the high school district. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Trust Skagoski. I move to approve the extension of the multiddist agreement between Great Falls School
060District 1 and Great Falls School District A is presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the extension of the multidist agreement. Any questions from our board of trustees? Any questions or comments from our citizens in the room? Hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Patrick. Action item C, technology multidist agreement. Mr. Patrick. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Same concept here other than we cooperate with our local uh schools in Bond and Belt. When this district or when this agreement was first initiated um it included Cascade, Centerville and Sun River as well as those two districts. And um same concept of these schools use mainly our warehouse um where they can buy supplies
061cheaper because we buy um bond paper by the semi and we get a better deal for that. So, they use their funds and when they make a deposit, their money is tracked just for their district. So, if they if they put in $10,000, uh we don't get to spend that. They get to spend it. Uh the agreement also includes a way for them to get out of the agreement if they need to or want to. And it also has an appendix A which covers um when we first did this agreement, our tech department went out to Centerville or excuse me to Cascade and their school wasn't wired at all for any kind of technology. Our crew went out there um the agreement a covered said that they would cover the wages, insurance, and all those
062types of things. So, it's just a standard part of the agreement that if any of our crews go to any of the other districts and do any work, um, all the legalities of how everything is covered is included in that. And, uh, my recommendation is to approve this. I think it's a great way for Great Falls to reach out to smaller districts and and provide a lending hand when we can. Mr. Chairman Pekkham, I would move that we approve the continued participation in the technology multi district agreement between Great Falls Public Schools Districts 1 and A and the schools listed in the agreement as presented. Second. Been moved and seconded to approve the continual participation in the technology multidist agreement. Any questions or comments from our board of trustees? Question or comments from our citizens
063joining us 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, Mr. Patrick. Action item a D, Great Falls High School roofing project bid award. Again, Mr. Patrick. Uh, thanks, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um this was brought to you before to go out to bid. Um it's a section of the roof at Great Falls High um that really leads down the hallway there by the fieldhouse and um the windows has a section of windows that provides lighting for that hallway. Uh leaks like crazy, a lot of damage internally. So we put it out to bid and we had four biders. Two of them were successful bids. Um, two of them did not
064qualify, one came in late, one didn't have all the right information. And, uh, my recommendation is to award it to ANR construction. And, uh, we had a number of alternates on the project to get it to fit within our financial framework. Uh, one of the things that we decided to include was the drains. We we've done roof projects years, I think years before I got here, and then we had trouble with the drains. So, that was again more leaks in the roof. So probably have learned over the course of time it's a good idea to do the drains at the same time because the roof's exposed and and we can work through that. Um uh ANR construction um was the low bid. They've got Summit Roofing from Helena doing the clinic as a subcontractor due
065to do the roof work and they've done projects with us in the past and they've been very good projects. So um I go into this with confidence that they the project will be good. It'll be done this summer. So, um, the recommendation is to the total amount of the bid is $549,734 for the alternates and the roof project that we chose to do. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Trusty Taski. I move that we approve the wall repair and partial Great Falls High roof replacement project with the understanding that the lowest qualified bidder ANR Construction LLC will complete the revised project that includes the base bid along with alternate bids number two, number three, and alternate bid number four, which replaces the drains or uh for roof sections EGI and J. Work will be scheduled for the
066summer of 2025. Total build bid amount recommended for approval is $549,734. Second. Then moved and seconded to approve the wall repair and partial Great Falls High School roof replacement project. Any questions from our board of trustees? Any questions from our guests? Hearing see 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. Thank you again, Mr. Catherine. Action item E, non-renew temporary non-tenure teachers with positions expiring June 6, 2025. Mr. Deakons, welcome. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Justice Scorowski. I move to non-renew the teachers listed um as they are in temporary positions that expire June 6, 2025. Second. It's been moved and seconded to non-renew the teachers as listed as they are temporary positions that expire June 6, 2025. Are there
067any questions from this board of trustees? Any questions from our gallery? Hearing and seeing none, I'll go for the question. All those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Deacons. Moving on to Roman eight. Action other, no item was taken away from the consent agenda that enables us to move on to Roman nine. Reports, discussions, and policies. A first reading and new high school and middle school theater and high school health service. No understanding. Jackie Mane. Good evening again, Chairman Johnson, members of the board. Superintendent Hoyer, members of the community. Becky Frisbee, curriculum coordinator for secondary is back up here to talk to us about the first reading on the KUDS for business. Oh, we just did that one. Health, science, and theater.
068Chairman Johnson, members of the board, Superintendent Hoyer, and our community members. Thank you. Uh today I'd like you to um consider the first read of our KUDS. There's none no understand dues for theater and health science in the theater theater. Today I'm bringing you middle school theater, high school theater and high school stage craft. These are fashioned directly from the state standards. And um middle school theater is one of those that we looked at um in the last yearish in that piloting process. So they've gone through the pilot process, they were accepted. This was um at North last year and now they were ready to write the KODs. So they've taken those standards and they're prepared. And while they were updating those and high school was supporting them in that process, we figured we might
069as well update theirs at the same time. So, that's where the theater portion came from. As we continue through my updates of all our career tech education courses, um this round we're going to look at health science. And in health science, the courses we're looking at updating are intro to health science, advanced health science, anatomy and physiology, CNA, EMT, internship in the health sciences as well as medical terminology. Those are taken from the national which trickle down and then um change those state ones or update the state ones. Again, those are showing updates in technology and the industry as they move to continue to align with what our community members in these fields are looking for in our students to leave our buildings with. Those KODs will be online tomorrow as well as a hard
070copy on my desk in my office or in the curriculum assistance office. I'll come back to visit you on May 12th for our second read. I'm just not available for the next board meeting. So, we'll do second read May 12th. So, they'll people will have um four weeks to look over those or to make comments. Any questions? Any questions? Miss Frisbee, thank you very much for your report. Thank you. Reports discussion and policies B. First reading and revise or policy 21105 Greg organ grave organization 2130 program evaluation and diagnostic tests 2132 research studies 2163 traffic education and 2166 Gifted Program. Superintendent Hoyer. Thank you, Chairman Johnson, members of the board. You have in front of you uh one, two, three, four, five. I thought we had felt like more than that when we looked at
071them, but five policies um where we have some language changes as recommended by the school boards association, but also by the committee. These language changes uh reflect a modernization of language, firm up sometimes the policy itself um adds, designates or fixes grammatical issues. Um when you take a look at 21105, you'll see that we changed um has to maintain. There's the adding of the designate and the changing of the phrase shall be to will, which is that firming up of the policy itself. You'll see that multiple times um throughout. There is also a grammar thing that we caught on line 13 where we were missing the word to and we added that in. on 2130. Um once again you'll see some um modernization and also it cleans up the language a little bit where you
072strive for efficiency not just to achieve efficiency but for it. Um once again the word will shows up. We added the word and um on line 12. Um and then we added designignate on line 17 2132. You'll notice at the bottom lines 27 through 29, there are minor changes to this that come from some of our new MCA requirements for parents rights where we want to have parent consent reflected. We also changed the word from pupil to student in 2163. Once again, um there's just clarification as to when a student reaches age 19 on or before that September 10th of the school year where they can take the traffic education class. And just as a sidebar reminder to our community that if they miss that because they're too old, they can then go up to
073the college because we now offer adult drivers education up at the college for students who cannot be met within our school district. And then 2166, you'll see the greatest changes on that last one to look at. Um the wording has been completely revised by MTSBA and then tweaked by this the um committee to reflect the practices of Great Falls Public Schools. So with that, that is your first reading of these five and I will be monitoring for public input um on this and bring it to you the next board meeting. Thank you. That brings us to reports, discussion, and policies. C discussion committee reports and comments. We'll start with Trustee Thompson. Well, first I um there's not really anybody from the public left, but I do want to remind people that um if you would
074like to comment as part of the superintendent evaluation process, um that link is online and comments are due to me by April 23rd or the public can come to the uh board meeting on April 28th and speak directly to the board. Um, and then I let's see. I also wanted to um note that um I was excited to see a couple of our um former students are now being employed at Great Falls Public Schools starting next year. Um the two that I happen to know are also teachers kids. So that's fun that to have a couple generations of of teachers in the same school district or former teachers. some have retired. Um, so that was that was awesome. And then I um also just wanted to um give a second shout out to um Colette
075Gaton. Um, I was up at the school as part of Leadership Great Falls a couple of months ago and got to see the facility and um, get a tour and it's in incredible and her um, award was was well re well um, she deserved to get that award. I I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Bronson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of things. Uh the insurance committee will be meeting tomorrow. I think we'll be using it as an opportunity to solicit feedback from the various representatives to the presentation we heard in the last month from the representatives of the state health insurance trust. I believe some of you had an opportunity to attend that. If you uh do have any comments or questions, you'll be sure to let me know or let Mr. Decon know.
076that we'll have an opportunity to move this forward and see what everybody's feelings are about moving forward with that particular program. And then second, I did want to just comment uh Trustee Fenikham and I were able to attend the Purple Up uh awards at Riverview Elementary here this past week and very well attended. And I have to say uh this is where Trusty Finick always gets to shine. was asked to present there and I was reminded as I was listening to his remarks, we're going to miss him greatly when he leaves here within the next month. So, uh, shout out to my colleague here and the great job he did orchestrating that. Thank you so much. Trusty Terraski, uh, just a couple things. Um, I really appreciate the uh peer mentor group at Great Falls
077High and the mental health week. I think that's really great for the students to get them talking about that because it can be something they tend to keep in and then it just becomes a bigger problem. Um, Valley View does a fundraiser for the Special Olympics every year. It's called Freez for a Reason and the kids collect donations for the Special Olympics and the top earners get to ice bucket a teacher of their choosing and the top earner for the school gets to ice bucket the principal. And so this is the second year. It was a lot of fun. Um I'll try to get you some pictures. A lot of fun for who? For the kids. For the kids. Um and then right now at Valley View, we're doing secret staff dress up days this
078week. Uh so we're not telling the students. Today was blackout day. So, I'm in all black. Tomorrow is dress like a tourist day. Thursday or Wednesday is flower day and then Friday is dress like an athlete day. And so I did have one student point out that most of the teachers are wearing all black and asked why. And so just a coincidence. Um so we'll see. We'll see when they all catch on. Maybe tomorrow. And then lastly, uh happy Easter to everybody and I hope it's a good week. You're a good sport. you are trusts. Um yes, just an extension um to the report on the peer mentors. I also um went to the Great Falls Public Library this past Friday um and met with uh sixth graders from Whittier Elementary um to talk to
079them about resources and um you know just kind of what to expect as they move up to middle school and um to let them know that that um high school students are are brave enough to talk about their mental health and sixth graders should be too. So, um that was wonderful to see. Um if any of my fellow trustees are interested in volunteering at a reality fair, um the next one will be May 19th and 20th. Um we get around 40 volunteers from the community to work with students um in our high schools um around financial literacy education. Um and it's become a really great experience both for those students and for those volunteers. So, if you want to volunteer for that, um, do so quickly because those spots are filling up. Um, and the
080last thing I wanted to say is just wish me good luck. I'm, um, supervising a field trip to Helena tomorrow with seventh and eighth graders. Oh my. Well, we hope to see you in the future, Mr. Fin. Thank you. Um gosh, many things. So, first off, uh I have to just Paige, I just have to say it's Johnny Cash lookalike wearing black. Bill, thank you very much for the shout out. Also, just you know, six years on the board, but when you think of spending your whole life in public education, Brian, I'd like to just tell you thank you very much. It'll be challenge to change, but thank you for all you've done lifelong. trying to think of all the fun things here. I just have to give a shout out to Brian, excuse me,
081to for Connor from Paris. The uh excitement and enthusiasm that he brings to his report. I just hope he does that all day long every day in his things. But that's it. All right, Trusty Sunchild. Boy, we really Tonight was showing all the good things that we do. We do a lot of a lot of good things. And the one thing I really want to shout out and focus on is the communication of our superintendent and our two executive directors. The speed at which they respond to us and the public is amazing. Really amazing. Like it it really is. And we really appreciate that. And so do parents and teachers. And I I hear that a lot. And that's not easy. on your plate. So, we we we do appreciate that and it does not
082go unnoticed. Um on the mental health side of it, my daughter is doing an internship in sports psychology here with the Great Falls High softball team and she's been working with Rosie Rosberg and um it is so eye opening. It's a whole another side of her. Like it's not the athlete who's competing, it's the athlete with the brain. And she loves it and has learned a lot. And we were just starting to kind of crack into that athlete, how important that is that the mental health part. And with Rosie and um I don't think people a lot of people know that it's kind of a wellkept secret. It's pretty incredible. And so just more great things. Thank you. And I just have two things. We got an update on the legislature from our superintendent. I
083encourage each of us to tune in to the Thursday think tanks at noon for up tothem minutee updates. Uh always very interesting uh to hear what they have to say with their boots on the ground down in Helen. Also today at noon, several of us were at the key meeting. It's inspiring to be at that table. Citizens who care so much about our community, our students, our teachers, and they sit there at the moment, but their vision is far, far into the future. So, I appreciate what they do. The next slide is going to be the calendar, and we're on the cusp of mayhem. Can you believe that? Already there. Look at all that going on. And so, uh, we look forward to that. It's all good. And if there's no other business to come
084before this board of directors, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. We are adjourned. Thank you.