Whitefish School Board Business Meeting January 13, 2026

001Okay. So, we are going to call this January 13, 2026 uh business meeting to order. Um would like to of the United States of America and to the republic for which stand with Any revisions to the agenda tonight? Okay. Um public comments. I didn't receive any form. So I don't need any public comments tonight. I just uh public correspondence. any attachments there either. Um so we'll move on to F which is the approval of minutes. Um, >> so on the special on the 18th, I'm listed as private absent. >> Any other I just had a question on a business meeting on the 9th. If you're present by Zoom, do it. >> It does come. I think I was present. Are you listed as being present or not? >> I don't think so. So, we need

002to update >> but okay. >> So, on the 9th we need to add being present. >> Then we'll remove Darcy for the 18th special meeting. Okay. Is there any motions on? >> You want to go meet by meeting? >> Oh, we got to go meeting. That's right. Okay. So, on the monthly business meeting of December 9th, 2025, >> I'll move we approve with that amendment. >> Second. >> Okay. So, moved by Katie, seconded uh all in favor. and we'll do the special meeting of trustees on December 9th, 2025. >> Okay, I'll move that we approve that. >> Okay. Amended it to match the next right after that. >> I'm still >> You're absent. >> I'm not. >> Well, I don't know that she does. >> Yes, she does. Yeah, she will. >> Okay. >> So,

003with the amendment to that. >> Okay. >> On the 9th. Okay. So that is moved by Katie and second by Quincy. All in favor? >> Okay. The last one is the special meeting of the board of trustees for December 18th. >> With the amendments second moved by Jerry second by Quincy. All in favor. So, we will now move on to Carmelo with our student trustee report. >> All right. Um, I'll start with the high school. Um, there were some celebrations that happened before Christmas break um that I'd like to mention. The food drive brought to you by Leo Club was very successful and all food was donated to the local food bank. Um the blood drive was brought to you by HOSA was also very successful. Um the clothing plus other essential items drive for

004the warming center which was a DECA project from Ann rail and alley shores was very successful and the warming center got a lot of great things this year. the toy drive by um cancer awareness association which extended to the toys for tots organized by yes was really successful and there was a little um toys for tots promotional um stuffed animal throwing kind of thing at the um basketball game which was really fun. So, everyone from the crowd got to throw a bunch of stuffed animal um comfy clothing day or pumping for a cause from student council where students pay $2 to wear comfy clothes on Friday to help fund student council to treat three kids to their wish list. So, they all got really nice gifts for Christmas. Um the end of semester is coming

005up and finals are also at a rise. freshman mentors who went into base camps on Monday and kind of gave a shiel on how finals works and the schedule and kind of just taking like the stress away because I know that can be pretty intimidating. So the students definitely felt a lot better about that after that. Um poetry out loud took place during seventh period on Thursday. Classroom winners from the language classes went to compete in preparation for the regional competition. At the end we had three winners and one alternate and a lot of ties. Um junior Jasper Chisum, junior Cassidy Craft, senior Lillian Nelson, and the alternate which is sophomore Maline Spear all going to regionals which is most likely to be taking place at FBCC. And then top three of regionals will go

006to state and then eventually into nationals which I think Jake went last year I feel. Um DECA is also coming up. All events were required to be or written events were required to be submitted on midnight on January 9th. So all the students who are cramming to finish that. Um we have around 85 students coming to Missoula with a great amount of freshmen joining us for the first year. So that is really cool. And this year we get to stay in the hotel that is connected to the competition so we don't have to walk. >> Um Robin Hood is also in his preparation stages. They are doing a midFebruary performance. Speech and debate is moving along um defending state champions in direct competition with our arch nemesis sea. Hopefully win. Um, basketball, girls won against

007Libby and boys won as well. Tonight we are playing Ronan, I believe. Um, wrestling senior night was last week on Tuesday which hosted Livian Browning. Um, something new that's happening is the positive coaching alliance bringing in a group of guest presenters to talk to Whitefish coaches about healthy and effective coaching. And there's also a parent workshop taking place on Wednesday. Their motto is encouraging athletes with positive reinfor reinforcement, truthful praise, and construct constructive criticism. The goal is to get students to stay in sports longer and learn lifelong skills through coaching. And now I'm going to move on to the moldown port. Um, after a much needed break, Moldown has hit the ground running. We are about halfway through our second trimester. Midyear testing has begun in both I Ready E I B E L S

008for all students and MAS reading and math for third and fourth graders. A selected number of fourth graders will also be taking part in the national assessment of education program in February. Students are being encouraged to work their hardest to show growth at all. Um, teachers continue to pilot math curricula that we are looking to possibly adopt. This process will continue a little longer. It will then be time to discuss possible adoption. CKLA is going strong. Students are strengthening their reading skills while learning about ancient Roman Greece, the human body of Native Americans. So, um, to just mention a few, recently, Miranda Shadow, one of our fourth grade teachers, was awarded a grant from Logan Health designed to be um, used to bolster health and activity among our students. Miranda has chose to use this

009grant to help the fourth um, fourth grade strengthen their structured recess program by purchasing equipments for the structured activities. She has also purchased science materials to enhance the student science experiments. Congrats to Mir Miranda and the fourth groups. And this is the middle school report. Um, student council sponsored holiday activities happened before break. The door decoration contest had a winning door for each grade. Fifth grade was Mrs. Mute. Sixth grade was Miss Rosenthal. And seventh grade was Miss Mintz. and eighth grade was Miss Chasel. Our seventh and eighth grade PE classes have been starting the new year with some fun and exciting activities, archery and bowling. Students are excited and enjoying the new activities. Um, Whitefish Middle School students will be conducting the winter I Ready assessments over the next couple of weeks. We're looking

010forward to see the progress of our students have made over the first half of the school year. The seventh and eighth grade girls basketball season is in full swing. Each grade level has two full teams of about 10 student athletes each. Again, great to have student participation in our school activities. The fifth and sixth grade instrumental program is another as is as popular as ever, especially with the colder weather. Miss Snipes does a great job encouraging participation, sorry, inter mural program and keeping the activities fresh and exciting. We are approaching the end of first semester of school, marking the halfway mark of the school year. The end of the second quarter and first semester is on Friday, January 23rd. With the new semester comes new electives and rotations for all students. >> Any questions or

011who did you say? Who's Miranda? >> She's a fourth grade teacher. Miranda Shottle. She Miranda Tennyson. Oh, >> and restructuring structured re >> I wouldn't say she's restructuring it. She's just >> working to uh improve some of the equipment and things that they can use to help make it more >> Thank you for that, Carmela. >> Interesting. >> That was from Lenna's report. >> That's good. >> Thank you. I know you have to go because you obviously have to go chair, but I do have a question. Are you going student council? >> Yes. >> Um so I'm hoping that I know the student council members were invited to come tomorrow for the um input on the superintendent search. Yes. >> And um I'm sure it doesn't sound like it's very exciting, but the superintendent is

012a CEO of the entire school district. So getting some student input would be fabulous. >> Yeah. >> Um to know what is uh people are looking for. I believe Yeah. Is our whole aren't can I answer that? >> Yeah. I think >> our understanding was that um Char was going to come to our meeting. >> Oh, okay. Great. So, we're ready for um a lot of our officers are going to meet with her. >> Okay, perfect. I wasn't sure if they had to go and sign up or how it was working, but I just >> It sounds like she was going to come to us and then um I would kind of step out and give them some privacy. So, they're looking forward to us. Some people don't understand what the superintendent does. So, I

013think it's but it's important that you're here every you know, every month, but speak to some of that. So, awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Cap game. >> Okay. So, we'll go to a WD. >> Hi everybody. Haven't seen you since last year and I wasn't even here for the last couple of meetings. So, um had some other things come up. So, it's nice to be back and just wanted to kind of wish you guys happy new year and hope you had a nice break. And there's just a couple things kind of coming up um for teachers in the district. Um one is on our agenda this evening. So, I just wanted to mention a little bit about the calendars that um and kind of how our WA members voted. Um I know Lisa

014will share a little bit of this as well, but we're close to 80% of teachers voted for the calendar with the full um option be with a full twoe break. Um and some of the reasoning behind that I was asked to share with you as board members. Um and there's really two kind of primary reasons. one um to vote more towards the two weeks off is that often teachers find in a two day school week that it's not school tends to not be very well attended. Um and it's pretty tough to have much of an instructional focus when there's only two days. Um and that we find that just both teachers and students really do pretty well around here with that full twoe reset. getting to see um siblings home from college, getting to travel,

015getting to do some of things some of the things around here that are the reasons that we live here. Um but definitely want to acknowledge that we know that that twoe period is pretty hard on classified hourly staff if that's their primary employment. Um and so those votes are a little bit off. So just want to give you guys a little bit of background there. Um we also had um our superintendent search firm um Boschar reached out um to schedule some time with just WA leadership um outside of the time that we open for classified and certified staff tomorrow. So planning to meet with her tomorrow morning about 7:30. I'm going to keep that meeting really pretty small. Um but one of the things just so you guys are aware with some transparency here that

016we're really hoping that our superintendent search um brings is to continue the IBB process. Um and that just to acknowledge how unique that is in the Flathead in Flathead County that we're the only school district that is operating with IBB. Um and in that vein u Mr. means and I have kind of helped to coordinate a lot of our members um that participate as building reps and officers, IBD, different things. We have a a training set up with um Dave Lucky who some of you know if you've gone through IBB um through the Department of Labor and we're going to have that opportunity to get everybody kind of refreshed and and how to use some of those processes in in our labor management meetings in our buildings and then for the district. uh because we're

017just really appreciate how he facilitates and just to look at things from interests from all sides in order to make decisions that impact everybody. Um so we're definitely definitely hoping that he can um give us a little more structure for some of those meetings. And often we're really are able to solve a lot of things at the lowest level, but when you do need to bring something up at a higher level, it's really nice to have that process. >> So really, we're just shocked as teachers that we're almost at the halfway mark. It's really just mindboggling. Yeah. >> To think that in two weeks we're only halfway through the school year. Um but it's nice that every day to get a little bit more light in the sky. Nice. I don't know if you guys

018saw the sunset, but it was absolutely gorgeous. So, >> that's nice. Oh, it's uh nice to see everybody and happy new year. >> I just say I appreciate you bringing up about the IBB process because to me it's just so ingrained in our district that I never thought that it would >> potentially not be there. So, it's a good um >> a good slide for us to think about. So, I appreciate you bringing that up. >> Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you guys valuing it as well. really had a lot of feedback from our neighboring districts about how how do we get there? >> Um and so those are some things that I I love to you know pick Dave Ly's brand about. >> Yeah process. >> Yeah. Well, thank you very much for bringing

019>> it did a real turnaround when we went to IBP because I >> participated while teaching in the other places >> and IBP is a thousand times better. >> Can I ask you a clarifying question? later. Um, so you said 80% of your staff liked >> that you also mentioned that the certified >> or the Yeah. So we were closer right around 79% of of our members voted for option B which does have that full two weeks off. >> Right. >> Um just curious >> and especially given that the the next year's calendar after that the 27 28 there's there's no voting there's no choices there's just one option. >> Yeah. um leaned pretty heavy I think and and having one more opportunity to have that nice break time. Um but the classified or hourly

020staff um that that particular group it can be challenging. Yeah. >> Um depending on your role. >> Yeah. >> So yeah. >> And right you would have the numbers on that because you're um yeah I do actually 61% voted of classified staff voted for option A. >> Okay. >> Um >> Okay. >> Yeah. So the majority we're sharing that you got to go represent. >> Sorry if I stole your thunder. >> It just makes me that I have guests to talk about and I like to hear you know you're gonna get our >> like Thank you for sharing. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Thank you very Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. So we will move on to the discussion and action items with a which is the WHS expansion or representative report. Excellent. Hi

021everybody. This is the January 2026 update to the expansion projects on the high school. Um, starting off with budget as we always do. This remains consistent with the previous updates. Uh, the only thing that's changed is the total spent to date here, which is reflecting 1,615,323, which is on track for what we would expect at this point in the project. So, no major updates there. Um, and again, everything that is still TBD, uh, is rapidly approaching being updated, but still not at that point yet. So, it still hasn't changed from previous updates. Um, jumping into current milestone, schedule milestone updates. Uh, this also remains consistent. Everything is still right on track at this point for um, our key dates on the project. Um the team is moving full speed ahead. Um I was telling Darcy

022coming out of the holiday it's like hit the ground running because we're we're rapidly approaching things. So um key dates are are remaining consistent which is a very positive thing. Uh the key monthly updates um there are a handful here and a couple others that aren't on this sheet but I want to touch on. um starting with the design team um they've been doing a great job and in December they completed the 50% set of drawings for the athletic phase um and with Martell's guidance item number two there we've been working through value engineering exercises um on the athletic phase to help align the design with the budget um so that is in full force uh item number three there we did complete the fiber switchover at the high school um over Christmas break which

023was a component to get us out ahead of the project starting u rerouting a couple things with internet so that we're ready for the project to start. Um so that was a successful endeavor. Um item number four here Annie is also tracking to complete the 100% of set of drawings for the academic phase on January 15th which is a couple days from now. Um and then the 100% set of drawings for the athletic phase they're tracking for February 5th. So things are things are moving right along and getting very close. Um coinciding with that February 5th date, we're tracking putting the drawings out to bid early February. Um which will start the process for uh the bidding process will start at that point. Um and then a couple other things that I wanted to note.

024Um last week, city council approved a conditional use permit for the project. um which was a step in the process to get us to permitting and plan review. Um and so then this week we were able to submit to the city for ARC review. So that has started with the city as well. Um and then the final thing is that I just wanted to note that we're also working on what we're calling a donor brochure um for potential ideas and concepts if any interested parties um would like to look at potential donation items. So, that is in the works as well. Um, and then visuals this month. Um, I'm sorry, but also not sorry. We've got links on the page which if we can open this, Dave is attempting to open one of these links.

025Um, anyone can look at these from a desktop and they are flythroughs of the model of the design team's model. So, they're really cool representations of of the space on the academic side. Um hopefully we can get one to open here. Um and if not, uh there's four different ones here. They start you in a different spot, each one of them. Uh the first one starts in the common space, um that's being renovated. Uh the second one starts in the second floor, Bulldog Boulevard, um that foyer edition. Uh the third is a view from the top of the stairs of the main common area. Um, and then the last one is the first floor, Bulldog Boulevard. Um, each one of these you can spin around, 360 view, um, pan through and kind of navigate and

026fly through. So, uh, it's a really cool perspective to get an idea of what the design looks like. Um, so looks like we're not able to load that here on this one, but >> some Yeah, some computers are faster than others, but >> I talked about this ahead of time that it is challenging to load these. Sometimes it takes a while, sometimes job, but because there's so much to it this program, >> you can actually fly through and kind of look. Yeah, it's not working here on this computer right now. and look through sections of the the lineup and it's pretty cool. So you have that opportunity to click on those and look through them. >> Yep. And it it gives controls so you're able to see how to how to navigate a little bit

027so you can see. >> So you can I don't have >> the skill to navigate it. Right. But there are ways to navigate through. You can go up the stairs. Right. >> Correct. Yeah. It's right behind that little note that you're seeing at the bottom. It gives you a little guide. But um you don't need to do it here. It does also render. So uh I think part of the problem is it's just dependent upon your your uh graphics card of your computer how fast it loads. But um you can see here you can spin that around just clicking the mouse. And this is a perspective looking at a new staircase that'll be going up to that second second story. This is as if you were right through the main entrance looking at the common

028space. Um it expands to the north a little bit. So um if you guys are I'm sure all of you are familiar the crossmembers of the steel structure there are existing um so that expands a little bit to the north and then that staircase gets added there. So um they give a perspective of what uh the concept is for finishes uh to a certain degree and just what the space will feel like. So have a cool perspective on those. >> You mentioned we had a committee meeting where we took each of these and looked through the entire project. It's a powerful way to see a >> yeah spend a half a day of coordination looking through the full model with engineers were there the whole team looking through this and kind of coordinating aspects of

029it getting feedback and uh Annie put that together. It was a really great exercise. So, these are just screenshots that start you in different spots of that model. Um, but yeah, just kind of gives you a cool idea of what what you're seeing from the digital realm. >> And for people who can't visualize stuff off of paper is really >> it's it's really cool. Back in the day, we used to do page turns we called them. And with the plans right in front of us, you'd flip each page one by one. And a lot it's much harder to digest than something like that. >> Yeah. like >> most people can understand this really well in those drawings. >> This is in lie of a lot of details, right? Right. Right now, the design team is

030putting details which are even less exciting than a floor plan. >> Uh I figured this would be helpful to kind of get an idea. >> Yes. >> City council meeting. Were there members of the public who were also there? >> There were neighbors. How how was that received? What were some of the highlights or questions just so we can be prepared as well? I don't think at the final approval it was unanimous approval. I don't think there were really any questions on the conditional use permit. Um that was a technicality because of the zoning high school's been in. Um I think there was a question about some of the drainage on the site and where that might go, but it wasn't really pertaining to the cup necessarily. Okay. >> Um I think Dave was at

031at that meeting. Um >> yeah, there was just one question. It was just related to the drainage >> told us it was pretty expensive. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Great. Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on to B, which is our Flat County statistical report of schools. Everybody's favorite >> and it's one of my favorites, too. So, is attached to the agenda. We were also provided several hard copies. I don't have seven. >> I I I took one make my own notes. So if you could please share or uh you can look at the screen and I would like to start uh not in the usual spot where I usually start. This time I would like to start on page seven. It's this page dark yellow and it shows the percentage of

032the general fund budget funded by local taxpayers. And I would really like us to look at it and take a moment and practice gratitude because when you look at Whitefish Elementary and High School compared to the other districts, we have the highest percentage of uh taxpayer money going in. And I want us to pause and be really grateful about that and appreciative. uh it's all the levies that over the years uh accumulate to these millions and of taxpayer dollars >> and we are very happy about it. Okay, this is just a general fund. There's a similar uh similar table on page uh 16 which is this highlight orange color. This one lists the general fund but also all the other tax levy funds and again it approaches that from the same perspective. What is the

033percentage funded by the local taxpayer? what's the percentage funded by the county and the state and again uh it is really interesting to see how high those percentages are uh that our community should be thanking us also how does that work only 12% said it's wild. >> It is wild. >> Yes. >> At most by a lot. You know, some districts it's like%. >> Yes. >> So, we're 34. >> And that's not just because our property taxes are higher, so therefore it makes a higher percentage. >> Not not necessarily. Okay. So, uh the the tax base is huge. I there's a lot of tax. If you go to SP for example, there's not as many residents there to pay all those things. >> So, it's a combination of many different things. uh flexible evaluations, number

034of uh residents and those additional >> uh then a little bit I know you always like to look at the out of not out of safety out of district amendments. Um, in a nutshell, in a nutshell, Whitefish is steing more out of district students than we send up. In a nutshell, I would also like to I think we can skip the enrollment charts because everybody in this room knows that the enrollment has been increasing especially at the high school. uh the growth is a little bit more leveled in the elementary and middle school. So we don't need to rehash that perhaps. Uh but one last page that I would like you to look at page five lavender. This is not purple. This is >> lavender. Expenditures per pupil. How much does it how much do

035we spend when we take our general fund budget? We divided that by our enrollment each month. How much are we spending per student? And you can see that both for the elementary and the high school districts, the expenditure has increased since last year. Again this is uh this these numbers are uh uh you know composed of many elements. Uh we know that every time our budget goes up because we have more expenses because our people are making more money and all our all other expenses are uh the cost is higher, right? And then it would only make sense that yes those expenditures also are higher. But it can also be higher because of um better budgeting and um things of that nature. >> Could also be higher because if your enrollment's dropping but you're offering

036the same support people you're spending more as well. >> Yeah. Yes. Exactly. If you spend a million dollars on 50 students or on a 100 students that would be a difference, right? >> So yes, that would be that as well. >> So that's just several highlights that I wanted to talk about. Any questions? That was always so interesting to get that look at that my f always my one of my favorite ones the blue page war with the out of district and where students are going where they're from. I think that's so interesting um to see what happens. >> Private schools and homes are still >> they draw a lot of students to do. >> I'm always just amazed, you know. Um especially there's only state that moved here to understand how many school districts

037there are. >> Yes. Like that's less like there many school districts in one county. It's >> so different than how other states run their schools and it's it's just like this is a lot. >> It is. We have a lot of those small districts >> that make it convenient for the parents their kids too. >> Right. >> But is it interesting then they go to like what six? >> Yeah. But that's really interesting. >> Thank you, Lucy. >> Thank you. That's interesting. And I wonder if you have this question. >> I wonder if trends aren't consistent across the valley. >> Like for example, >> um there was that article that came out in leader link that said school enrollment falls for the third year in a row in the counties. >> Yes. >> But it's

038not the case for us. >> No. >> And so we're like an outlier. And I wonder if you have thoughts about that. >> We're better. Do you think it's because of the open enrollment? It's that normal I don't think it's >> obviously different. >> I mean over. >> Yeah, I think it's all those factors. >> Okay. There's so many bunch of things to say and one thing we know for sure audience knows for sure that we've always had a lot of you know I think open moment does that that's one component but I also think it's been so unpredictable that it's just hard to see what's happening >> right >> but one trend we have been watching is that middle school, high school, we're seeing people and their peers moving in those upper eighth principal

039or students at those age range. >> Well, I thought you kind of it kind of shows that I think and that's when you look at the 10 year and I was like, "Oh, it just confirms the data we put out during >> Yeah. And I thought I was like, oh, this is just it's always good to have it re it's reassuring. It's just like, yeah, again, the upper the increase when those kids get start to get older. Um, and I think when you look at like the home school numbers, you could really see they started to really drop off once the kids started to get older as well. So, it really makes sense in that that trend. >> Interesting though that other districts aren't having that same experience. >> Yes. >> Right. That at their

040district's enrollment is going down for the third year in a row. But in our district, we're to increase. Um >> I think it must be you're taking a child, >> but we always have to think ahead and look and look at it closely because we know that the high school and the middle school the enrollment is through the roof right now. >> We also know that those kids will be graduating now, >> right? And uh the elementary class sizes that feed into that are now lower, right? Right. So it there will be a point when it's going to make that >> unless other forces are in place which we don't know about. >> Right. We don't know. >> We don't know. >> It's interesting. Thanks Lucy. Interesting. >> There any other questions or comments? >>

041Also have one more question. You know how we had that group come and talk about the lawsuit about equitable equality schools? I feel like there's a lot Yeah. >> There's a big discrepancy here. >> Yes. >> You know, and I wonder if that's part of what they're looking at. Do you know anything about that? I do not. >> Okay. >> Just interesting to see how much her student. It's not >> I don't know. >> Yeah. Very interesting. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Any other questions? Okay, we will move on to item C, which is the school year calendar. >> Attached to your agenda, you will see um school calendars, two options for next year, and then one for the year after that. As Adrian shared with you earlier, thanks Adrian. The majority of the

042stakeholders did vote for option B next year. Um, and then there wasn't a vote for the year after. And just a couple notes about the calendar. The calendar is really a complex issue. Um, everyone is really passionate about it. Um, but there isn't a lot of wiggle room. There are things that just u make sense, right? We want to start school about the same time as everybody else in the valley. We we have agreed to have spring break because we have so many families that have a foot in one district and a foot in another district. It's important that we maintain that same spring break um with everyone and other than that there there just there isn't a lot of other options um to put in the calendar. I did Quincy I know that you

043were concerned about high school graduation so I did make note of that down there on the bottom. I just think it's a nice thing to have on a calendar. >> But if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. >> I have a question about parent teacher conferences, which I'm also so glad is on the calendar because So, thank you for that. >> Um, it's just odd to me that it's a Monday. I was just curious why. >> Um, we we moved it to a Monday. uh because typically in November on that Friday we have had a number of tournaments that day and so we have community me we have parents gone and we have families gone students gone and coaches gone. So to alleviate that um and having to make up those conferences,

044we moved it to try to try it next year to a Monday. And you'll notice all the other P days are also on Monday. >> I personally think that's brilliant >> because Friday was always a bugaboo day because half of your either parents are cancelling or teachers are cancelling because they're gone. So a Monday almost everybody's there on Monday. I think that's a brilliant I think we should do it on Monday always. Try and make sure see how >> those currently you've been doing them on Fridays. What happen how do those teachers who are coaches or have other duties? How do they make up those hours? What happens with that? that something that they just get written off or is that >> they didn't? >> Yeah. So, but like so the teachers that are here

045are contacted for eight hours. So, they're in the building whether they have parents that are not they're like sitting at a desk at least doing but if you're a coach, does a parent then have to call or is there another way that they're making up those hours? And I'm asking because I think it's a contractual issue, right? It's part of the CPA that they're required to make up that time. So, I'm just wondering how that works to make sure they're getting in like is it seven hours, eight hours? I mean, are we tracking that in a way or how does that work? >> I believe the principles talk with those teachers about um creating a schedule they get back. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And then are those parents who have students in that classroom

046that email to be like, "This is when I'm available for that." Yeah, I I'd have to defer to the principles. It's probably different to every building. >> Go ahead. >> You can go ahead. >> Um happened a time or two where I've had a teacher who's been ill >> or um I think recently we had lost a parent and had to leave. Um she just came back and then she notified all her all her parents and just set up a new schedule for days that she would be available on days after school and then they rescheduled. That's how she worked today. worked really well for >> speak to that as a parent. I think Monday is brilliant because >> I've had it where you go in on Friday and so you're meeting with all the

047other teachers on Friday, but then a lot of times the sports people don't know they're going to be out until the last minute because for example they made it to the district's division or whatever. And so then that week they call and they say I have to reschedule but it's like hard for you to reschedule your time and come in multiple other times because it's not a consistent one day makeup day. So, I think this Monday thing is I think it's really wonderful. >> Very good. >> Well, we'll try it next year, but you'll notice it reverts back the following year. >> I'm just kind of curious. >> And the reason why um >> Yeah, cuz that calendar's tricky. >> Yeah. The the following year, the 2728 school year calendar is tricky because of the

048high school expansion. So, we're trying to keep staff and students out of the building as long as we possibly can. That's why we are not starting school until after Labor Day or yeah after Labor Day. >> Um the staff days are the two days before Labor Day and then students don't come until September 7th. The other thing that complicates that 2728 calendar is that um there's a western division of volleyball tournament in Whitefish November 4th and 5th. >> Oh >> yeah. So, we had to put conferences back on a Friday and we moved our PIR day from September where we normally have it for staff or September PD day. We moved that to November as well because if we didn't, we were going to have to go into the next week of school in June

049and that felt really really late. So that was our way of creatively moving and I'm not thrilled about having that PD day in November, but it was the best. I'm taking all things into consideration. I didn't No one wanted to go into the fourth week of June for school. So that just seemed like the best option to make the fourth the PD day and then that evening they would do conferences and then Friday they do conferences and the good thing about that is the tournaments here so hopefully that will be less of an impact. >> Um so I'm thinking was it basketball we had last year? >> Yes. >> And not with a lot of hands on deck. >> Yes. >> So is volleyball as aggressive as basketball? Is that feasible to do PV and

050P dates? Are you going to need staff to help with the >> I'll defer to Carrie? >> Um it's it's not quite as intense as basketball in terms of the personnel needed to help facilitate it. Uh but anytime you're hosting multiple teams like that, it will be busy. >> Okay. But >> our PD day only goes from 8:30 to 3:30. So that's helpful, >> right? >> And there are conferences after that. >> Just K8s and conference, not the high school, because the high school does six hours of conferences where the K8 does nine hours of conferences. The high school takes that other three hours and they do something with the freshman in the spring. So it frees them up in the >> Okay. I was just curious to help thinking about that basketball alternative. I

051know it was a big L. >> Yeah, it's tricky. No, I know it is. I'm just making sure we get to do it all. And then we used to have off a day typically in April. Are we not doing that any like the Friday before Easter? >> Oh yeah, >> it's no longer in policy. >> That's why because I always thought it should have been on Monday anyway. So I was looking and I was like it's not often anymore. So I was just curious where it was changing policies. >> Okay. Um, I'm just curious, like you said, the 2728 calendar is reflecting our construction themes. >> Yep. >> Is it weird that we're hosting a volleyball tournament in the middle of construction? >> Uh, well, hopefully most of it will be done. >> It should

052be done before school starts. >> That's why we're starting late. We're pushing the start date back as far as possible. Okay, that's a good question. Like, how did that go together? >> Does that make sense? Yeah. >> Yeah. So, what we what we really tried was next year >> trying to get out, but we we didn't want to push us getting out into the following week because that delays construction. So, we're trying to get people out of the building um next June so that we can get in there as long as possible and we're trying to keep people out to finish it all. Good. >> What kind of feedback did you get about starting after Labor Day? >> People might love that. >> Well, they I mean there was no option, right? So, >> it

053is what it is. >> I'll just be curious about some of the fall sports by starting after Labor Day because there's multiple things that happening before school even starts. There's >> Yep. >> golf football across country. Like there's a lot of sports that have they start the 14th of August typically. So then now they're fully out of school for the first several And again, I'll defer to Carrie who can speak to that. >> And then homecoming is going to be real tight once you're at school. You're going to hardly been at home. They'll sneak up on you. It'll just be interesting. >> And we've done it before. >> Oh, good. >> I think it's going to be great. I've always hoped we started after Labor Day and went into June because I think June's really

054ranky and everyone's excited, but June is not our best month. >> No. But August and September are so beautiful. Beautiful. So I've always I'm thinking this is a great experiment other than the November things but I realized we have no control over. So we're experimenting next year with the Monday P days. We're experimenting the next year with the after Labor Day start. >> Um >> I'm wondering and but Carrie can probably speak to this too thinking of the calendar for next year. I mean I think having two weeks off at Christmas is hard on families especially with young kids. >> Um and I have a couple comments about that. I do wonder still how much instruction happens the two days before school gets out, even if it's a Thursday and a Friday. >> Totally. >>

055But I am curious if having students out of the building for that full two weeks will help construction. I mean, obviously there's going to be Christmas and holiday breaks in there for the construction crew, but I don't know if that changes anything for construction thoughts. We haven't gotten into that detail in the schedule of where they might be at that particular junction although they are very cognizant about minimizing the disruption to the the regular school day. >> So I would anticipate that they will take advantage of that time when we are not in school. >> Okay. >> Um yeah. >> Um so going back to my thoughts on option B which is the full two weeks. Um I think for parents who have young kids. That's a long time um to not have kids in

056school. Oh, we can't discuss this yet. Sorry. Sorry. So, questions. >> Okay. So, we'll go. Is there any public comment on this? I don't >> then we'll come back to the board. Um, but I also think about and so families who have young kids, that's a long time um for them to find care and daycare or alternatives for their their kids um for parents who are working. But it's also hard for kids who use school as a safety place and use it for whether it's food insecurity or shelter or a warm place to be um camaraderie. So I think when we look at the calendar, we also need to think about some of the hardships it places on on people. Not just everyone's here to ski and gets to ski or gets to go off

057and do things um >> or has the same vacation time that your child >> Yeah. has the same vacation as your child has. >> Service industry people do not. Anything that's their worst time. >> Yeah. And as Adrian pointed out, right, it it does affect that classified staff whoffects the hourly. >> Yeah. And I would still go back to the point of I don't know regardless of when breaks fall. I think the few days before breaks are falling, they're always a little bit loosey goosey. Um so >> that's my and honestly that's my opinion about going later in June and she just can always test it after Labor Day like things just get squirly whether it's raining on or not like every it feels like the last week. >> Yeah. >> After Memorial Day. >>

058Yeah. Sorry. After Memorial Day, excuse me. Yeah, it feels like so then by even going further into June, it feels like there's just more >> more field trips. >> Uhhuh. >> Like it feels a little >> And also by the time you're like, you know, high school like jobs stuff are starting for for people and now you're competing against everyone else in the valley who's out at least a week before you if not two. >> Um or camps that start um that you maybe want to travel to. like it's just a tricky so I know it's I know this this is this is what it is but I'm just saying for future reference I will bring that topic up again if we have this conversation about a schedule that has options just to put it

059in >> yes oh I think there's would agree there are pros and cons to both schedules right you know when we think about >> attendance I can tell you that our attendance >> and our um absences go way up in the two day week because they're only here two days right and teachers and Adrian mentioned that teachers are like, >> "Yeah, this isn't really productive learning time for us." >> On the other hand, we have classified staff that rely on that. And you talk about the children that rely on that safe place or school. So, we understand that. Um, >> yeah. Yeah, >> the tricky thing about a two-day week is we've had a lot of conversations about the importance of attendance and I feel like those particular weeks undermine that conversation >> because so

060many people take it off and it becomes like an equity issue, right? And a teacher nightmare of all the makeup work or you know so I personally don't love what you gave. I have one question unrelated though and it's not about next year really but in the calendar in general. Somebody brought to me >> maybe in the future would it be worth it to look at purposely staggering our spring break from others because the airline tickets are crazy >> because the whole valley is trying to book tickets at the same time. So I'm wondering as our valley grows if we've ever considered >> we have and I would say yeah okay we have but you have you have parents that work in this district and have children in another district >> or children in this

061district and parents and sometimes they're in two different districts. So >> I understand that I just somebody mentioned to me and I was like I'll mention >> well but years ago one of the re we came to this that everybody in the valley would be on the same the same one because of the fact that we did have kids going here and there and it was unfair >> parents work in one and so then all these reasons >> that was why we went to that and you know people in whitefish may have the luxury of going on vacation and some of these other people may not have that luxury, >> you know, so they'll have to buy their tickets and it's even >> I I would also say that that fourth and fifth having the

062parent teacher conferences. I appreciate you explaining to me that was due to the volleyball etc. in construction because I was in my head the first thought I had is parents are going to go out of town. They're going to make it a lot. They're not going to pair teacher conferences if they're I would be very curious what the participation rate pair teacher conferences if it's a 40 weekend. >> I I would agree with you and I think this >> that's just my opinion >> that year it would >> it's unique. >> It is unique and it will be a great opportunity for us to um get those dates in front of the parents early and often and communicate very well why we're doing what we're doing and really those dates are for comfort. But you're

063right, Quincy. People are going to take >> they're going to take it. Yeah. >> I just hope in the future we would look at going back to that Monday. I just think that's a far better plan. It's better for the teachers who don't have to reschedu everything. It's better for the parents who don't have to find another time and it just makes more sense because people are in almost always they're there on Monday, you know. >> I think it's a nice idea. I mean, I'm not a teacher, but just in my own professional life, you come in Monday fresh, too. Yeah, >> I think it'd be hard because that's apparently true. I It is hard every 15 minutes having like putting on it like that's a lot. So hopefully they'll come in. >> Refresh for

064the weekend. >> Yeah. >> See, thank you for your request. >> Thanks. >> All right. Yeah. >> Appreciate it. I know. Definitely. Welcome to the committee first year organiz. >> I do think it's interesting how we make the argument about the two day week a little like I under like but I look at people if if my kids are starting a two week vacation on Saturday there's a lot of people who are like let's sleep Thursday. >> Totally. And so then I think you just inevitably you're just >> you're gonna be pushing it into and so I do think it's an interesting thing to think about is even though yes it's two weeks and we shouldn't they're going to miss those two days. I think it opens an opportunity for the same opportunity because sat

065you know we don't have Saturday blocked off. I know but >> those are two more vacation days involved. I do think it's six weeks. It is it's I you know I know a lot of people who would say well >> we could get a whole week vacation in before Christmas and come home for you know I don't know it just seems like we always are pushing it >> that argument gets kind of pushed back everything but >> is there a motion consensus about what calendar? I would also note that the um option A, which I think is the least favorable option based on the conversation, which is the three day the two-day week in December, does get out of school a couple days earlier >> um in June >> in June. So, I guess you're

066trading one for the other. And that also goes to the fact that they're not really doing much after Memorial Day >> or doesn't appear. >> I mean, it feels it's not like I'm trying. I'm sure it's just the kids. >> It just consenses. We had a WCA was 61% in favor of A. >> Correct. >> And and the WA was 79 in favor of B. >> Correct. >> Oh, that's not helpful. >> Oh, that is a split vote for sure. >> Another groups, too. >> Yes, we we all I I reached out to the administrators. I reached out to kitchen staff, to the business office. um depending on what you group you were right they were in favor of one or the other >> there's no no uh consensus throughout the entire >> well I

067would say there are more people in favor of in favor of the >> would you say the majority administrator >> right I think there's one other rational there people in different ways a lot of different things I think there's something about the It's advantageous to to the semester exams that yeah I think it's the book share >> maybe like why did you why did you nest like be better >> I don't think all of it first of all I think but I think the majority >> okay >> Carrie can speak to be >> okay >> to the end of the the end of the year when >> our perspective at the high school when when we wrap up the semester having a three and a half day spread to to spread our semester tests and

068reviews. We so we start the with the reviews and it's the final wraps and then we roll into to testing. It takes three and a half days to get the the most ideal and then that particular calendar, the one that ends on a 3 and 1/2 day week versus a 2 and 1/2 day week. um helps us transition from getting the seniors out the door the previous tail end of the previous week and then move into a good rep with our other student. That was the big thing that stood out to me. >> Yeah, that's that's a big deal. >> Otherwise, you're splitting finals over that >> pretty much. >> Yeah, that'll be all. >> Yeah. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. >> I think we should just market as well that regardless if you get

069out on the 8th or the 10th, you're going to be out the 10th all the way to September 7th. That will be the never ending summer that will be very glad. >> They're gonna have like a 18 day Christmas break and then like a day summer like we're learning. You just all need to consider that. >> Well, and you'll you will notice though on the 2728 calendar that Christmas break is short. >> It's much shorter because we're going to get feedback on that. >> So, I think it's really this is something which I know we haven't gone there yet, but it does make me curious. So, these students and the 27 28 calendar won't get out till the 16th, which is essentially a week later. >> Yeah. >> So, they're going to have a really

070short they're going to have a short summer. Exactly. We need to just like frontload that. >> Yeah, I think there's going to need to be a lot of communication. >> It's raining. >> So glad he's retiring. >> It's Yeah, it's not the same. >> So, um Well, >> I just want to make sure the you also surveyed a group of like you said the district office staff folks are in a specific uh Yeah. >> And what was there? >> There was a >> there's a Okay. So, just to give you an idea, there's a lot of different >> Yeah. >> Any financial I mean, as far as like getting books or like insurance or are there I know sometimes you end up with deadlines that are funky and weird just like the high school has

071the finals. Is there anything funky in the business office? >> Always. I prefer option A for 267 because sooner the staff uh uh we have fewer uh disruptions and we can work on you know year closing financial statements. So any day tell, but you know I I never get the version of the calendar I like. >> Next time like be and you'll get the one you want. >> So I always prefer the one where the June uh days, you know, the J. >> Okay. Okay. It's just good. >> I agree. >> It's only a matter of days. >> Yeah. Well, you would surprise me. >> Oh, okay. >> You know, but anyway, shoot. Either way, we're going to have to let some people down. >> I feel like we should, but obviously, like we always

072do, students first, right? And I think that that finals thing is kind of significant. >> Yeah. So, I would be in favor of option B. >> Would you like to make a motion? >> Yes. I move that we approve option B for the upcoming school year and the only option for the year after that option B that more often. >> Yeah. Uh that is >> it's hard. We didn't have another option. >> Motion made by Katy and seconded by Brady. All those in favor there's just lots of >> I do appreciate like not I hope you don't Yeah. There's a lot of understanding that >> we will get asked it's super helpful for us to understand the why so we can so thank you foring us with the why not questioning or crushing anybody it's

073just nice understand it >> anytime and I think that's important that you can communicate that to >> community members that say why are we doing what we're doing and >> yes >> you know that want to >> that are frustrated with some of the >> the way you know what what they notice It might be interesting. Um, >> first day of >> pro on the calendar. >> Uhhuh. >> With a PDF explaining, you know, because we do get a lot of and I'm sure the administrators do too and teachers get asked um I wonder if we could put especially with the construction of things that are it's the 27 28 calendar is super weird. if we could have a link to explain some of those days um like the November ED and PI and we're

074having a volleyball tournament and just kind of like >> in the late start and out like people definitely >> yeah so maybe sort of see it needs to be like at the top this is an unusual calendar because of the construction and volleyball tournament almost like a header >> up there or something instead of it just being like a normal calendar >> depending upon what we've talked a lot about acid policy you know what that is going to evolve into and a lot of I think that goes into that is that we're setting the schedule for how many hundreds of families >> y >> and then we're asking them to sacrifice everything within their family to meet within these little blocks and that's a big ask. >> So I think it's only fair that we're

075very transparent in a very easily accessible transparent way. It's not always on their shoulders to ask that we just make it available. So yeah, >> that's pretty you get to stay up there. >> Great. Thanks for that conversation. >> Is a school district updated professional development plan. >> Uh and I'll be brief. Uh every year we we need to take a look at our professional development plan and update it as if necessary. Um I have uh just done some minor adjustments to it this year and I'll point those out to you. Because of our screen time initiative, you will notice that we have uh the core under core principles for learning and instruction. It would be the fourth one down. I included balance modalities of learning including screen time >> so that we keep that

076balance. Um, and then right below that, because we just completed the new graduate profile, you'll see incorporate the skills identified in the White School District graduate profile into student learning. We're talking about ways that that new graduate profile of how can we get that those skills um out to students? What is the best way to do that? And then the last one you'll see continuously improve through professional growth focusing on student learning through teacher clarity learning progressions intentions and success criteria. Um, as part of our accreditation next year, we received some, last year when we finished it, we received some feedback that said what we had done was great, but they were they would be looking for um proficiency learning scales next time that we um completed our accreditation report. So, we wanted to make

077sure that we included that um and start to work with our teachers on creating those plans. >> What does that look like? Like what you give is that an I Ready score. Does that work? Hey, Joey that kids are learning uh >> Well, it's more of a plan. So, what we're looking at that teacher clarity with learning progressions, intentions, and success criteria. I I have some samples that I can share with you at another board meeting, but basically you're taking the standard and then you're breaking the standard apart to say what are the progressions? What are the learning progressions that we need to create to meet that standard? >> Okay. >> And then within those progressions, what are the learning intentions? What what do we intend our students to learn in order to meet that

078progression? and specifically what are the success criteria which are like I can statements need to get there. So it goes along with the clarity thing just like >> and so is it linked to statistical data so they have created they know their short vowels and they've got 100% of that or is it linked to >> it well it will be it's linked to the standards basically right Jerry which will be linked to our >> testing because all of our testing is >> and we can use our ready scores and stuff like that >> we can I was just wondering under the prevent the structure piece >> I know it says and a schoolboard member >> um and I know we've had a school board member on there but I know it's also optional >> right

079we don't have to have a school board member >> uh I think we do we do >> yeah I think Dave and I looked that up and no it's >> for some reason I thought that was optional so I was just saying put it in parenthesis >> you get submission Yes. >> Yeah. >> I do believe we live there. Okay. >> Any other questions? There any public comments on this item? >> It's back to the board for further discussion or a motion. >> I move approve as presented. I'll second. Okay. Motion was made by Quincy and seconded by Jerry. All in favor? Thank you. >> Okay, we're going to uh move on to E, which is the budget budget amendment proclamation. >> Thank you. >> This is a good item. We received notification from OPI

080regarding the Whitefish's uh high Whitefish High School's eligibility for a funding increase in the amount of 139,725 due to a significant enrollment increase. So this is just the to accept the state farmers. I'm presenting a proclamation of the need to amend the high school general fund budget. The additional funding will be used to cover various rising costs including curricular operations, maintenance, personal expenses, and other. This proclamation is the initial step in the budget amendment process. A resolution to adopt the amendment will be presented at the next business meeting. Uh I hereby request the board uh approve the proclamation. >> I move we are there any are there any clarifying questions? >> I guess I have one did they reach out to you or you found like how >> uh uh it is uh OPI's responsibility

081to reach out to uh each district uh by I think the first week in December. the timeline >> because they have the ones where are the enrollment numbers based on the reports that we submit in October based on the four count. So they look at the full count what it was two months ago and they look at the full count a year ago that we based our current year budget on and if there's a discrepancy we get extra funding. Um they just recently actually changed the formula the way uh this is calculated before it was very easy. All it was was a 4% increase uh in enrollment right in am well now it's much more comfortable but it didn't get easier but they're still getting a large sum of money. >> So in theory because

082of how our enrollment looks with each incoming year into the freshman class being bigger than the outcoming senior class for the next several years. Will this be continually happening then if that's >> possibly be? Yes. >> Okay. Just trying to understand it. Thank you. >> Any other question? Is there any public comment on this item? >> Guess I'd be curious is this how this would be tied to taking on out of district students. Um so is it does it factor that piece in or is it all based on kind of in district and continuous enrollment? >> This is based on district. >> Okay. everybody, all the ones. >> The revenue that we receive for out of district uh students is uh an additional revenue stream that goes into the general fund. >> Okay? >> And

083it comes in two pieces every year. uh we just received the first half of those tuition payments uh right before Christmas and we will be receiving uh the second half in May or >> so that's a standalone increase from the out of this >> okay thank you back to the board for further discussion or >> the approved >> enthusiastic moved by Katie and seconded by Darcy on face. >> Yay. Yay for money. Good job getting your paper right now. >> Yeah. Yay. It's the enrollment. I had nothing to do with this one. >> Okay. So, we will move on to F and I believe we are Dave will say what we're gonna do at this one. >> Yeah, it's Phillips Jacob Phillips named after it. Um, but because I when we first reviewed this, I

084thought this was a real uh general privacy agreement form that we typically do, but there are some components that this that I believe need some further review. They're looking at it more closely right before the meeting. >> Um, I realize there's some addendums and things like that um that I think we need to run through uh legal counsel further u before making a final decision. So I would recommend that we postpone this recommendation to the February meeting. That's the correct procedure. >> The correct procedure is to take >> or send it back to committee. That's what it needs to do. >> So are there any clarifying questions on this item? All right. And then I'll go for public comments on this item. back to the board for >> question. Sorry, is this a service and

085or thing that we're using um that what this what we're putting the software in is that keeping us from using something? >> It will delay the time that we do the >> we're not using it now without >> correct. We will not do it in thousands. Okay. will delay the as screenings for mental health but there's some recent legislation that I should have closely final review of this before that said I would make a motion a table this back to committee for more back to administration for more okay so motion made by Shannon So, February meeting and seconded by Darcy. All in favor? >> Okay. Gee, there are problems. Human resources update. >> Just so you know that when that proper procedure will be. >> Hi everyone. Good evening. Um, I just wanted to give

086you a few brief HR updates and then take a little bit of time to look at our um, updated hiring process document. So, I'll just hit some some headlines of the things that I've been focused on collaboration with superintendent, the administrators, and the staff. Um, following on from our evaluation and investigation session in November, um, I've been reviewing a lot of the evaluations that we've received so far and streamlining our best practices. Um, we have some training scheduled as Adrian mentioned, the labor management training at the end of January and then also an HR training with all supervisors and administrators in February that is being offered with MTSBA through Deborah Silk. And then also looking at all of our job descriptions to update them. This is an ongoing process every time we advertise something to

087make sure that the language is current and the duties are reflective of the actual duties we require. Um and we'll be continuing to work on that as we move through this uh calendar year. um also working on personnel planning issues in particular collaborating with the board on the superintendent search and then also the moldown principle as well as our general staffing updates that come up every year. Um HR sponsored a new staff round table in mid December and invited all the new staff from this year to give us feedback how it's going, what is great and what we can do better. So we have some concrete action items out of that and then also um working on some leave reviews just to clarify what types of leave are available and how staff can navigate that

088and also utilize and properly input their leave requests into the system. So that's kind of the highle overview of all the different things that we're working on. Um and then uh we offer to you the um updated standard operating procedure on the hiring process. Um this is really just a streamlining of the existing processes but I wanted to um just mention a few things that have changed due to adding the HR component or my position uh into the process which has hopefully also alleviated some of the work of the supervisors um in reviewing candidates and making recommendations to you all. So um HR now does the review of initial applications for documentary completeness and qualifications and then um we consult for candidates to interview. So we consult with the supervisors for candidates to interview uh

089or to advertise further particularly if we're looking at transitioning from an internal only to us. uh the HR team is now scheduling all of the interviews and then um this process also has clearly defined consistency of interview panels so that for internal positions we always have a supervisor and an administrator on the panel and for external positions always a supervisor administrator and a peer and HR is also involved in this process. Uh and then HR does the final documentary review before we call candidates to reconfirm their interest and let them know that we would like the superintendent would like to recommend their hire to the board. Um so this takes um the burden off of supervisors for the good news but also the bad news in the case that candidates are not moved to the

090next stage in the process. Uh and so we do that contact uh in writing for external candidates and we make phone calls for internal candidates when the non- selection is also made. Uh and supervisors can contact recommended candidates and internal candidates who are not selected after HR makes the initial contact. So it just makes the process very clear um and also that it's fair and transparent for everyone. So there's not a question of one thing happening over here and another thing happening there. So those are kind of the main things to highlight. And then just one update which is on the second to last page. This is regarding the fingerprint and background check. Uh in this draft it's for the internal candidates. It states that internal candidates would also be uh um subject to the

091fingerprint background check which is true but they already have passed it or they wouldn't be working for us. So we'll just fix that particular language when we finalize this so that it's not confusing or putting people through that process another time without needing. So that's what I have. Do you have any questions or other things that I can answer for you? >> I can't remember where I saw it because it kind of quickly but the talent ed is that a program that they use? Yeah, that's the system that we use for posting jobs and for gain uh receiving the applications and it also has the process component for the application that the vacancy announcement and then the hiring process to move through between HR, the supervisors, the superintendent and so on. >> Of course, I

092have a couple questions. Um, one of the I'm just wondering going back to your high level you you talked about your December round table for new hires. So you said you got some actionable items. Could you give us an example of one of those? >> Sure. So um, we gave a survey and looked at all of the things that they've experienced so far like orientation, the mentor program, the um checklist of HR on boarding and other things like pay and benefits. Um and we also asked two questions at the session which is how what are we doing well and what could we do better or differently. So um I'm really happy I told them my mandate is to ensure that the school district is a welcoming safe and inclusive place to work as well as

093what we offer to our students. Um, and categorically everyone was able to say that they have someone, whether it's officially a mentor or someone else in their office, in their workplace that's helped them to navigate both the place of working here, but also the job that they're doing. Um, and they were naming people and and saying really positive things. So, that's super fantastic. And then just on the actionable pieces really for people who come in maybe a little bit off cycle and so they um were not able to participate in the orientation at the beginning of the year or you know other things come up um and just some ideas about how to sort of break up and reinforce training with different hands-on and and other opportunities. >> Thank you. Um and then so going

094to your HR document that you provided. Thank you very much. This is really um great to see and hopefully easier to follow for everybody. I don't know what it looked like before, but um one of the questions I had I guess I'm wondering when we will only do an internal process versus could they all just be under one process internal and external at the same time? Do we need both? Like how often are we only hiring internal? >> So it's a very good question. So the CBA uh the WAC CBA dictates that a position has to be posted first internally for five business days and for the the classified staff for five calendar days. So that's the reason that we post internally. Um sometimes we get candidates through that process and it's enough. Um and

095sometimes we don't get any. Um and so then we will basically automatically open it externally because we need to build a job or sometimes it will just be either not a complete qualification or we need a broader range of applicants in order to make the best fit for the the hire. Okay. So, but but it's CBA driven as to why we do both the internal and then the external. And there is a a way that we can advertise both simultaneously, but it's in a conversation with the superintendent and the unions. >> Okay. And then do we have like a memo that's signed by the union saying that they that was accepted? >> There there would likely be some documentation. >> Yeah, that's showing that they're in agreement that we're posting them both. Okay, perfect. Thank

096you. Um and then my other question was about qualified candidate. The note about what distinguishes it's on page three I believe. Um it's under receive review and screen applicants. >> Yeah. >> And so the notice qualified applicants are those who meet the minimum qualifications for the position for the job description and have submitted their required documentation. So whenever we're talking about hiring, we're always talking about hiring the most qualified person. This makes it, this is gonna sound horrible, but it makes it sound like the bar's pretty low. >> Yeah. >> Um, and so I'm just curious like when I'm thinking about, you know, certain jobs be like, well, yeah, I've done, but you know, you could have somebody I don't know, can you explain the definition of that? >> So, um, I will also say

097that I, um, passed this through, um, MTSBA before bringing it to you and this was also a point that they wanted to make sure was clarified, which is helpful, right? because the legal the legal definition of qualified. So in this case when we post the job it states what's required whether it's the education level or certain other things and then sometimes you'll also see preferred qualifications. So those would be more like the icing on the cake, right? But we can't interview anybody and if they don't meet those those requirements. >> Okay. >> So and then they also have to give us the things that are required in the application which is the application itself. There's certain things they have to sign in there saying that they understand the terms of working for the district. Um

098and then a resume and some references. Um, and then if they have if there's credentials that they have to have, they have to give us proof of that. So whether it's a teaching certification or a certain education. >> Okay. So that's kind of like the lowest and then you move up from there, right? And that kind of Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> And then generally um where HR gets involved, especially we've actually had pretty good luck lately with getting a number of qualified like minimally qualified candidates for jobs. And so that's where we have a consultation with the supervisor um to decide which to interview uh because there's no need to interview seven when you can see that three are clearly kind of rising above and we don't need to waste people's time but we

099would always have the opportunity to dig deeper into the list if we needed to following the interviews if they got found something suitable. >> Thank you very much. Um I have a question too under the scheduling and preparing for interviews your interview team should include supervisor building administrator and peers with participation from HR. I think we decided haven't we as a board that that trustees will be included on the interview. Is that not correctly for staff not administration? >> Yeah I think not for staff. >> Oh not for No. Well I'm thinking for for principal >> and so that's going to be different than this. >> This is just for staff. >> Okay. >> So then we you'll have a different interview process that you'll give us for principal. >> They get tailor made for

100the administrator level and so on. So I think the the principal for example process is being decided. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> But it will definitely include board members. >> Okay. That's what I was curious about. I did I didn't realize this didn't encompass >> yeah I wanted to thank you for doing the focus groups >> the round table discussions that you have with the mini faculty I think it's awesome that you just open up one more panel of communication and I even by having those that just lets people know we value stuff I wondered if they were during the workday if they were voluntary what your turnout was um and I also wondered are you going to do any with >> um not new faculty team and staff like with established

101wondered like how it works with the union like the overlap there like how does that all work? >> Well, I was lucky enough to have the um the concurrence of my administrator colleagues to use some of the PLC time on one particular Wednesday. >> Um they they determined that it would be a valuable use of the time and it was on one of the Wednesdays. It wasn't like an all hand staff meeting or something. Um we invited 36 new staff member and we had about half who came to the program. Several others completed the survey online so we got a good data set because you usually try to get like 40% to get kind of a mark. Um and yeah in terms of and and it's interesting you say that because one of the things

102they also said was like I've worked at a lot of places and nobody ever like asked me anything like this before. that's just like one more way that we feel like. >> So anyway, I mean it's a good point of information. I think the feedback is also helpful for us as uh the leadership team and and just colleagues too. Um but yeah, in terms of inviting other groups, I'm totally open to it. We're kicking around a few ideas um like offering a retirement or pre- like early retirement seminar just giving information to people about different things. Um, and I've also had people coming just to see me on various topics. Um, which has been really really nice. Um, I think I I was teasing Dave like who keeps telling people they can talk to Aar.

103Um but I I I've actually been very happy to talk to all the people who've come to see me and be able to understand their perspective and help them to work through um you know ways of of maybe solving problems or just knowing that they feel heard and then they have a a voice that can be represented. So >> thank you for taking that. Well, it's nice to hear too that people have mentors and then mentors that they've, you know, >> and then too, I think just reading through all of this, it just reiterates the need that we had for you and I think how fortunate we all are that Yeah. So, I appreciate the organization and I think it's invaluable. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. So we are now moving into out

104of district students with Mr. Louise. >> Yeah. So now we uh this is again as you remember we changed the time frames that we did some of these. We're at our January our semester we're considering um out of district applications. So we have the following numbers that represent students as out of that are recommended u as out of district students for second semester. Um I wanted to mention um the makeup of some of these some um we have students from pre kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade. >> Yeah, that's exciting. >> Can you say which grade levels was like our is there the number one? So there's one for prek, one for kindergarten, five first grade, one second, two third grade, two fourth grade, and one fifth grade. >> Are they

105like parents work in whiteish child somewhere else or do they know >> variety? Yes. Yeah. Each one different. >> Can I just clarify? I always get confused on this. I'm sorry. every year. >> So, are these kids who are current potentially we don't these are kids who are just joining us this semester. It's not like they were in our school last semester and we have to renew it because it's a new year or >> this isn't the renewal that will be coming up soon but some of these are current. Sometimes what happens is people in a district wow. So they might start with us. >> Okay. >> And then they move >> they >> and they want too. >> Okay. >> So there are >> there are four of these who are current. >> Oh

106interesting. >> Got it. They moved out. >> Does anybody ever create a policy grandpa in or you can't? >> Okay. >> That's part of the city. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other clarifying questions? >> Any public comment on this item? Back to the board for further discussion or emotion. Um is the new policy of just doing the approvals twice a year. Has it alleviated some leg work in the or I don't know. It made things easier in the district office. It helped one of our goals. >> I would agree. I think it's helped the Yes. >> Yeah. that's helped with this and I think it makes it as if we continue to do this I think we'll see parents know that those of us have this time that transition so effectively I think it's

107most beneficial for the students too I think because they're starting with time sense for learning but um I think it does has reduced the amount >> great that's all I I move we approve. >> Second. >> So moved by Darcy, seconded by Quincy. All in favor? >> Welcome and welcome back. >> Okay, we will move into reports. Uh do we have any administrator announcements? >> You do. My turn. Thank you. >> Thanks for having me. Um, when I was asked to to do this, I was thinking, well, what's going on in mold that's new that not everybody knows about already? And I couldn't think of anything really. We got new babies. We've got a few new staff members. We've got a new baby on the way. Um, so those kind of things are happening and

108and and those are all exciting. But then the other day I was talking to a parent and she started talking about the early lit program and what her her child's in the early lit program and I thought that's perfect. You know, it's relatively new. Um she was raving about um how much her child has learned in the short amount of time she's been there and how Mrs. Hansen has done such a beautiful job of setting that program up. And so, um, thanks to the state legislature and OPI and Lisa Bloom and Kelly Miller and Sarah Miller and Dave for, uh, kind of throwing this all together and Lorie Baron because when we first started this thing, we didn't really have a clue what we were going to do. And when Mrs. Hansen came along and

109became teacher, she she just, you know, she was like, "How how we do this?" said she goes and I said, "Make it your own." And she did. And she has done such a great job with putting that program together. And it's really starting to I think the words getting out. It's starting to blossom a little bit. And now um there's going to be some changes from what I understand taking place with um additions of possibly math, not just reading and and literacy, but math. um some growth within enrollment uh restrictions um screening they have to students have to be screened and so we can probably I think before the restrict there are some restrictions on the time when they could be screened now possibly that could be uh whenever it needs to be done and

110so um and not only that but uh just a little bit of increased uh funding I don't know I can't guarantee that I don't know how the word the legislature is with that. But but um it's just it's it's just great. I mean, they're a part of the school. You know, the other kids, you know, the kindergarteners kind of think they're the big brothers and sisters of really lit kids. Um the name's going to change. I know that Jess Hansen's been she has a an idea about a name change. And then Lisa and Kelly and Sarah were talking yesterday about different things that are that are coming a lot down the down the pike for the early literacy program. um and so it just it it it's really great to see them. Like I said,

111they're just a part of our population now. They're a part of our family. They they you know, they some of them stick around to eat lunch and you know, cuz they're in there and half days and uh you know, they just become they're just little mini kindergarters and so and mini mullies, you know. So, I thought that would be a good thing to talk a little bit about. It's just a kind of a bright shiny little piece of our day um all the time. So, I thought I would share that with you. I'm just gonna tell you that it's >> right now I think we're at about 20 total. Um I I think might be might be eight and 10, might be 18, but um and they're on half days, but I think that's, you

112know, again, that could change a little bit. Um >> but like I said, they love it. And uh you know I was a little worried last year when we first started because it didn't get a whole lot but then it kind of it started like I said it started to grow and it's just fun. And then Jess Hansen and these guys um and Kelly Kelly's not here. Jeff done such a great job of putting it all together and just making it work. So >> will you remind they come every day? Like I know they're morning or afternoon but they it's not like they come three days a week. >> No there. I don't know if I told you this before. I'll I'll finish with this, >> but um Kelly Miller's little boy is in, you

113know, he's there. And uh so we're walking in the door one day early in the school year and I'm opening the door for him and and he goes, "Hey, John." And I said, "Hey, Rigs, how you doing?" And um at that time Jess was on maternity leave, so her gu her long-term guest teacher was said, "Oh, that's Mr. Coin. That's Mr. Coin." and he goes, "Ah, I know him. He's in my mom's class." No, that's kind of fun. Thank you. Unless you have any questions, you got a lot of fun that >> Thanks, John. Uh, we'll move on to just the announcements. Um, and so I think we changed it. This is my announcement. We changed it a little bit because in the past we've always done a contract renewal or extension is what's been

114an action item. And because that is not the case this year, we just put it as a trustee announcement. >> And so I am notifying >> everybody that an annual superintendent evaluation was conducted on January 6, 2026 and indicated overall effective and highly effective ratings. that soon. Awesome. Uh and then everyone also I think is important to note that um McFersonson and Jacobson will be here tomorrow. Um, and there are community meetings um, in the boardroom and they are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. as well as 6:30 p.m. So, if anyone's listening, you know, it's important. Uh, I think that again to be involved in the process um, so you can have Yeah. be a part of the future of the district. So, I I do hope people show up. I reached out to a few

115people that I know that I thought might be interested in tell me just to make sure they you know it's nice to get input that doesn't happen very often. >> Hopefully they get >> in addition to their focus groups are they doing a survey? >> They will Yes. I think in that at that January 20th meeting I think we focus more okay on >> the question. Yes. Okay. >> Based on that is a good question to ask her. Okay. Um, speaking about the superintendent, I just wanted to kind of say to the abyss of the people. I had a question about, you know, why we hired a search firm and so I just wanted to reiterate for public that, you know, we hired a search firm because the board is in charge of hiring the

116superintendent. It's like the one position we're in charge of hiring and one we you know there's just not enough time in the day for people who have full-time tech jobs and are elected but still volunteers to and one to know how to dive through all of the applications and find the criteria and so we really need to hire experts and people who do that for a living to to help facilitate that. So it's not um out of you know anything other than it really is what it's best for district to have somebody come and help us out with that process. So, I just wanted to kind of clarify that for people who are confused as to where the media is at. >> Are there any other interesting? >> I have one other thing I wanted

117to say. I sent this article to Lisa this weekend. It was in the New York Times, but it was talking about Mississippi schools >> and Mississippi's always been like, "Oh god, at least you're not Mississippi, right? Like they're 49th for everything." Um but they're they've completely revamped a lot of their education and their scores are going way up and the kids are doing really really well. But what they started doing is also a lot of the same things we currently do. Um they have the science of reading, they use assessments. They are taking assessments like a lot more than we take assessments like every couple weeks. But it was just really interesting to see that this article that was in the New York Times talking about how Mississippi changed so many other things were things

118that our district also does. And I think it speaks to the success of what we've done. And I felt like you could have put White School District in some of the sentences and it would have been very similar. So I thought that was great. >> Yeah. Great that we're on the cutting edge of all these things and doing the right things. So kudos to the staff and the teachers and the administrators for finding all the best things and doing them with Fidelity. I guess I just wanted to say along those lines uh is just a quick shout out to the us of all the people who are contributing who are full-time working people including everyone on this board who we do our superintendent search right now. We're doing a principal search right now. We passed

119a bond. We're building there's construction committees. Like there's just a whole lot >> and we're paying a lot of taxes >> and hopefully we have trustees that are going to reapply why to join our team again like all those things. So there's just a lot going on that people don't see behind the scenes of every choosing or whatnot. And I just want to say that takes a huge learn. So starting the year off with gratitude. >> Okay, we will move on to the superintendent announcement. >> So we have a few items on here. Again, the calendars in there for you to see all the activities, but we heard a lot about those are ready to see anything. Fortunately, that continues. The superintendent probably don't ever need to go over a lot of this stuff because

120it's already covered. It's great. But, uh, those are there for reference. If you click on those um, district updates, wanted to update you on the principal hiring process. You know, we are working on that. We want to make sure that we follow, you know, not conflict with the timeline of the superintendent search process. Uh, so, uh, one of the things we're looking that I I wrote down some notes here the notes um about some of the timelines. So basically we're targeting in April 7:30 for interviews. Um so that's following spring break and then we possibly have a recommendation to the board on April 14th. So that's working back from there. We hope to open the position on February 2nd. some screening on around March 9th, schedule those interviews around March 17th. So maybe do it

121April 7th, do a meet and greet right before our interview. So those are some of the timelines we're looking at to consider. We'll go over that with our newly appointed trustees who will be a part of the process. We'll go through all the hiring procedure process, but think we got a good outcome. uh working on that book s any questions about that? >> Do the principles go over to the school and we staff there too or is it how does that work? >> We'll do an evening session where they can come okay and meet them. >> We won't do a tour because we did that as kind of a >> co related tour >> because that was our only options. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. We couldn't do the meet. >> Yeah, >> makes sense.

122>> Okay, thanks. >> So you would encourage staff is so in summary that that seventh potentially >> would be the meet and greet where staff wanted that. That's what you're saying and the interviews would actually be the Gota. So >> parents and staff could come in general >> candidates. Okay. Um, in the past have we um sometimes done a right after school um set up for the staff? Seems to me I remember doing it right after school. >> I can't remember the exact timeline for this. Yeah, we can look at Yeah, might >> that might be helpful for staff. >> Yeah. >> Um because they could go rather than coming back in the evening. So many of them have lots of commitments in the evening. Yeah. Yeah. We'll take a look at that. >> Might

123be that actually would have new trustees, >> right? >> Yeah. So be the old gang. It'd be the old >> I think we have a point of trustee for that, right? >> Yes, we have. Yeah. And Jerry, >> right? >> Thank you. Thank you guys. Yeah, thank you. >> And so then um just a real brief update on the surveys. We're continue to work on those. I'm working um closely. We're still still hoping for the end of January to get the the school climate surveys, the PBIS school climate surveys out that so that's help them out of this. Um and in the community engagement plan we hope to go over in our next meeting. It's part of our strategic plan. It's one of our documents. we just need to review it and update it similar

124to the professional development plan that we just reviewed here ago. There's a few areas that we're considering and we talked about this work sessions, things like that, but um possibly adding community engagement strategies such as farmers market, some other things like that, including that in the community engagement plan. Um possibly removing K12 Connect and doing something different with that. addressing building tours in some way within. So those are some thoughts that will be included in the draft that will be presented in the next building. Any questions or any thoughts regarding community engagement plan before the next? >> Thanks J. >> All right. So enrollment then we have um in we click on that then you can see our enrollment there is are some changes um in the document boy now I have to pull that

125out >> magnify >> so it went down a little bit but that's we do see sometimes that happens at this time of year we do have some early graduates sometimes things like that so upcoming but anyway we'll be moving into that um that time for February is our next count date watching this closely if you go down to the end of the document you can see where we've had some withdrawal withdrawn and some have enrolled with us but going to western US eastern US some of those who have withdrawn some from the western community just had some visit today I will be knowing with us as well was it >> everyone gets like a free hi chew or something on was it February second whatever >> so pretty typical changes. Not a lot of changes

126actually this time. Any questions about all right so uh resignations uh you can see those in front of you and we have some retirements as well. URL. >> So before we uh review the financial reports, I just want to uh remind everybody, I know there's nobody online waiting and then the window for the candidates to file is now open >> and it will close on February 9th. Um you may remember that I told you last time that there have been some changes in the election law. The window um or the window for candidate CPS is now the show. Um I have not uh I haven't spoken to anybody who expressed interest. >> Uh but it may not mean that there is no interest. Um what we did this time we posted the uh candidate packet

127uh online on our website in addition to uh having paper copies available the district's office. So it's very possible that people are just taking the shortcut and downloading it and they'll surprise me on February 9th. Absolutely. As you know, we have three uh seats uh uh that will be coming up for the election. Um there was a a nice article in the daily interlink uh reminding everybody out there about the deadline. So hopefully so the the deadline is February 9th and maybe Maybe I was wrong. I just said that because we still not vote though until morning. >> Yes. Election day doesn't change. It's just cut off. >> Cut off this voice. >> Yes. >> Spring break >> because you I mean that's a big commitment to make once in a I can't remember why

128they changed it. >> I think if you're interested and you're committed uh moving the deadline up by >> five or six weeks shouldn't make any difference. I think it is better for the candidacy window to be shorter. >> Yeah, that makes sense >> because nobody ever applied uh until the last week anyway. >> Yeah, >> that's true. >> Yeah. >> You would have been running for re-election. I was like, >> yes, we have 20 minutes before the deadlines up. Let's work on the application. You know, all kidding aside, it's always been like that. There's no reason to have the window open for 4 months. >> I didn't realize that open so long. >> Yeah, it's always um started always around Christmas time through uh the end of spring break. >> Maybe not four months, but

129three and a half. >> A long time. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, I trust that you reviewed the financial report. Any questions? >> Uh, everything um uh both revenues and expenditures are uh where they should be uh this time of >> so like just looking at your beautiful graphs. Um, >> okay. >> I'm just thinking of like making the meal one, but still says they have 100% available. Is that we haven't needed to dip into like do we only get into that if we need if they have a student in need or what would be a reason to access that or have we not needed to yet? >> Oh. Oh, we we we need it as you can see it's only $10,000. So, it's past uh I will work with Sarah to we do have

130windows obviously. Uh it's more about finalizing what they need the most. Uh we talked about uh you know in addition to school backpacks or clothing for winter time it could be uh guest cards uh you know for fuel or bus tickets of that nature. So uh which is an announcement what you expect from this is not something that we use in uh you know uh on a monthly basis that this grant such as style or idea where the expenditures are linked to personnel expenses. This is more one time shopping uh to support these students. So that's why we're still seeing it available. Now, would you also speak to the um state tax credit incentive that that's Thank you for reminding me. That's another one. Sorry, nobody's online. Uh but um just as uh same as

131the last human years, uh the Montana Department of Revenue is making it possible uh for uh taxpayers to donate money to public schools for innovative educational programs. And uh that will be a tax deduction on April 2026 at June 3rd. Uh the deadline to submit uh donations. It could be donate donations can be made by either individuals or by companies or businesses. Uh the deadline is January one year. Uh and uh the reason why the deadline is January 20th is because January 21st is when uh the state uh online portal donations portal opens. So I would like to have all the documentation in hand by then um so that I can enter those donations into uh we can um The limit is not that it was ever an issue, but the donation limit is $200,000

132per individual or business. >> Uh we were never as lucky as receive as much money. Uh but you know uh every dollar we currently have two uh two uh donations waiting to be I think it's important to know like it can be $1,000, right? Like I mean, everyone pays state tax, income tax, and so it doesn't have to be a big >> amount. It can be $20. Uh if there is no minimum >> um and then and you have forms or the forms online. >> Yes, it's all online. So, under the news and announcements section of the website, uh there's one section just for these uh tax credits and all the details there including the form to be filled out and handed to the district of this. >> And then what's the full like the

133amount for the state that can be used? >> 6 million. >> Okay. I knew they increased it as >> I believe it's 6 million. Yeah. >> Awesome. >> Thank you. >> Is this still first come first serve? >> Yes, it is. So whoever gets their finger on the bus first which >> and they still consider it fair that districts that are very rich and have very rich people can >> get the biggest amount of money if they're the fastest type. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> And that speaks to equality and equal education >> right of the the constitution. >> I agree with you. Yes. So if somebody walks in and makes a $500,000 or a million dollar donation, they enter that and the rest of the state only has $5 million >> as happened the

134first year. >> Yes. >> One very rich school district got three4s of the money person. >> Yeah. Can I ask just a clarifying question as we look at federal grants and idea and all that kind of stuff just especially with what happened with department of education and funding and that kind of I know >> at the time it was that well this we're set for this year but it's really would be the following year which would be >> next school year. Are there just any things on the horizon that you see as potentially that we should know about? Oh no cameras as of >> as of today. Correct. Okay. >> Because the title and idea programs were uh put involved with school department of education came in existence is my understanding but uh that's why

135uh they as the fact that the department of education will cease to exist to do what at this time >> at this time >> which is how we report and track. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And what about the the title programs? >> They're they're all going to be They're not aware of any um any issues horizon. Any other questions for Lucy? We'll move on to the consent agenda. Uh is are there any clarifying questions for the consent? Any public comment on the consent agenda? back to the board for uh further discussion or move accepted agenda. But move by Jerry and seconded by all in favor one last motion to adjourn and seconded by C. Thank you. Thanks.