001Good evening. I'd like to call this regular meeting of the Jamestown Public School Board to order. It is Monday, March 16th, 5:30 p.m. in the Thompson Community Room. Note that we had the celebration at 5:00 p.m. for JPS teacher of the year. And this begins our regular meeting. I'd like to welcome all those in the audience this evening. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Does the board have any conflicts of interest? Any conflicts of interest other than those declared? Any other conflicts of interest? If not, is this better? Can we have someone from technology take a look? Okay, he's back there
002in the control room now. Better. Testing, testing, testing, testing. Testing. That's better. That's louder. I can hear. That's louder. All right. Perfect. Any conflicts of interest to declare from the board other than the ones that have already been declared? Any conflicts of interest? Any conflicts of interest? If not, moving on to schoolboard norms. Steve, would you be willing to read the school board norms? >> The board developed norms are to share and respect opinions and speak with a united voice once a decision has been reached. Execute all duties of the school board in compliance with North Dakota Century Code. Properly prepare for meetings and commit to assessing board effectiveness and ensure high quality governance for all stakeholders. Thank you, Steve. Our next part of our agenda is our public communication, and we have a number
003of individuals that have signed up for public communication tonight. We will go in the order that they're on the agenda. Reminder that you have three minutes, and I'll give you a two-minute warning. The first public communication on our agenda is Jacob Shery. and reminder to state your name and address. >> There we go. Good afternoon. My name is Jacob Shery. My address here in Jamestown is 1122 11th A Southeast. I am here as a concerned community member and as a high school choir teacher in support of rehiring a full-time middle school band director. I would like to point out that as a graduate of Jamestown High School, my employment in this district is a direct result of the outstanding m music programs and music educators here. I could talk for hours about the importance of
004music, but right now I want to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the communication throughout this entire pro process of attempting to cut a music position. We are attempting to cut a full-time music instructor and combining middle school bands to make the schedule work on paper, which will lead to less skilled students, lower enrollments in our classes, and fewer outside opportunities for students. We, as a music staff, have had zero clarity of what the district is actually planning to do. And every meeting we have, the story changes. From our point of view, it started this summer when we were told this coverage style instruction and combination of classes was a temporary fix due to the inability to hire a new middle school band director. This winter, we discovered that this year was a so-called pilot year
005for staffing the middle school position. We learned that in passing through an email asking music staff to meet together. The word pilot had not been mentioned to us prior. In February, we met as a group for the first time and we were handed four different options for how to cover all of our music classes in the district using only our current staffing. Keep in mind that this number of classes has already been reduced this year by combining middle school bands and the closing of Washington Elementary. One option even suggested cutting an additional full-time music job. The question from us, if our previous middle school band director had not resigned, what would be happening? The answer, they would still be fully employed. Our next meeting was overshadowed by the new middle school scheduling system, which clearly
006defines a system that will draw students away from music classes. Our music staff had no idea this was being implemented and zero communication moving to this new model. The rest of the meeting was spent discussing our previous four options given to us. We were assured that since we were the music professionals, we should be the ones to help decide the schedule that works best for students and teachers alike. As of today, the job is still posted online and we know of several qualified people who have already applied. However, Miss Hawinson has been told in private that she will be the one teaching all of the middle school bands next year. We are being shown music programs and classes designed by AI to imple implement an ad for next year. The new superintendent's memo contains more
007details and information related to the situation than we have received all year long. You've created an environment where the music staff feel undervalued and unimportant. Nobody feels or seems to be able to communicate to us what the solution will be and our attempts at providing solutions have been ignored. We are all nervous for the upcoming year because we don't know what our jobs will look like. This is a systemic failure by the district in treating staff and students like numbers on a spreadsheet rather than considering what is actually best for them. I highly recommend that the situation gets re-examined and stress the need to hire a full-time middle school band director with five sections of band like last year rather than the three that are proposed and we're eliminating the position. Thank you. ETHAN ERICSON.
008I'm Ethan Ericson. I live at 40416th Avenue or Street, I forget, Northwest Jamestown. I'm a sophomore at JHS and I've been involved in music since elementary school. Whether it's children's choir, early morning choir, band, jazz band, all of it. Within these music activities, I, as well as many other students, have found a group where we truly belong. A feeling that is hard to obtain as introverted teenagers. Music is where I feel that I truly have a purpose, worth, and belonging. I've met all of my best friends through various music experiences and classes. I'm fortunate enough to have been selected to even travel to Europe for the music talents that I have. See, I even plan to attend a 4-year college program to become a band teacher in the future. I would not feel this way
009if not for the incredible directors and educators at the high school and middle school. With the help of both Mishm Wingler and Mr. Sherffy and all the past director I've had, I'm able to rehearse for upcoming events as well as just better my skills as a musician overall. However, it has been more difficult this year due to the beforementioned teacher cuts as Miss Wingler is having to split her time to between two schools and it has not been easy to schedule individual lessons or group rehearsals. I as well as the entire student body really hope that a solution can be made that benefits both parties so that we can improve our amazing music department. Is Olivia Stppleworth here? Okay. I tried to find some before they No. Olivia Stppleworth. If if someone sees her come
010in the back door, we can just put her at the end of the list. So, just let her know that. Thank you, Annette Tweeten. Good afternoon, Dr. Lick, members of the school board, and the JPS community. I have the honor of knowing many of you, but for those who don't, my name is Annetta Tweeten. I live at 1310 Second Street Southeast in Jamestown. We have been here with her family for 24 years. I have three girls involved in music, but today I would like to focus on my oldest. You may have seen her email come through that talked about her early years in music, but for today I would like to speak about where she is now as a result of her experiences as a young girl. Anukica graduated from dis NDSU last December with
011an industrial engineering degree. She applied for many varying positions during her last semester and was becoming discouraged. Around that same time, the Bison football postseason came to an abrupt halt. And as a result, so did Anukica's involvement with the Gold Star marching band, where she was a four-year member of the drum line. When I happened to post on social media about it and how much the band meant to her experience at NDSU, a hiring rep that I didn't know from a science, tech, and engineering company messaged me and said that he would hire Anukica as an industrial engineer because of her band experience. He knew that the leadership skills, discipline, and camaraderie she learned in band would make her an excellent candidate. Anukica has also emphasized that without the musical outlet of band during her
012years as an engineering major, she is not sure she would have hung in there. This band experience encouraged her, shaped her, and made her a desirable employee set apart from other graduates. Did Anukica decide to participate in the Gold Star Marching Band at freshman orientation at NDSU? No. She decided the second she first heard Mr. Ronnie blow his whistle while he was leading the seventh and eighth grade marching band right here at JMS. Music needs to be introduced as early as possible in order to build the skills necessary to play at a high school level on their instruments. A freshman just simply isn't going to have the experience necessary for an accomplished high school band without getting the fundamentals learned early on. Just like you wouldn't put a hockey player in skates for the first
013time during a high school game, students here have more options now more than ever for their schooling, and they are choosing them. Jamestown has been known for its excellence in music for decades. Per the meeting minutes from last fall, 66 students chose not to return to JPS for the 2526 school year. How many more will make that decision as opportunities in music continue to decrease? I implore you to evaluate the priorities of the district and how education looks for students in our public schools because families are already looking elsewhere. Thank you, Lawrence Cara. Hello everyone. Thanks for having me. My name is Lawrence Current. I live at 824 6th Avenue Southeast here in town. Music education, hire a middle school band director and expand the music opportunities in our school. This is my topic. My
014wife, excuse me, my wife Jenny and I have raised our family here for over 20 years. We have had four of our children in the Jamestown public school system. James Town's music program has been very instrumental in our youngest daughter's life. Olivia's musical path started with her mother. We had her start piano lessons with Mark Reeves at Two Rivers Performing Art School when she was 7 years old. When she was in grade school, she was in choir with Mrs. Maidinger at Roosevelt. When When she moved to middle school, she decided to play an instrument. Mr. Anie helped Olivia learn the clarinet. During her middle years, middle school years, she was exposed to concerts put on by different school groups, clarinet lessons, music competitions, etc. In high school, the practice, the competitions, the concerts, the small
015ensembles, honor bands, all increased and became a large part of her high school career. In high school, her influence and instruction came from Miss Lond and Miss Schwingler. She excelled in music with the help of many instructors and teachers. She also had encouragement and lessons from many other teachers and educators outside the Jamestown public schools. while attending honor bands, competitions, band nights, and the like. It was during these competitions Olivia met Dr. Kio of NDSU. Dr. Kio is her current clarinet instructor. Many people were involved in her music endeavors and helped her decide her career path. The Jamestown public music department has been a huge part of her success. The school, its programs, its teachers, and how it is and why she met a lot of those people. Reducing and eliminating staff in the music
016department will take away the opportunities available for students in our schools. I would like to see the music department expand and grow. Hire middle school band director. Hire more educators for grade schools. Get kids interested when they are young. Capture their attention. I believe the purpose of the schools is to foster academic, social, and personal development by conveying knowledge, teaching critical thinking, and preparing students for future careers in civic life. I believe JPS feels the same. JPS mission statement says, "Engaging students with challenging and innovative experiences to prepare them for future success. Music and all other extracurricular activities help to achieve this. The middle school has sixth, seventh, eighth grade jazz and marching band. The high school has wind ensemble, freshman, concert, jazz, marching, and pep band. All these programs take time, talent, and treasure.
017Our kids are worth our time, our talent, our treasure. Thank you, >> Katrina Christensen. Good evening. My name is Katrina Christensen and I live at 310 4th Avenue Southeast. I'm here to speak on the muse the subject of music support in JPS and the middle school band staffing model. As an engineer with a PhD, I see this as an inflection point for our district. We are being asked to accept words like viable and operational sustainability cover for the fact that our students are being given less. When defeist retreat is rebranded as a strategy, we are moving away from instructional leadership and towards sclerotic maintenance. We must look at the data. As I shared with the board before, a study of 112,000 students, those in instrumental music were one academic year ahead of their peers in
018math, science, and English. Why are we not using these outcomes to drive our decisions? By hollowing out music, we are hollowing out the cognitive scaffolding students need to excel in STEM. Furthermore, our district mission commits us to an environment free from discrimination. Yet, when we cut or weaken school day instruction, we create a socioeconomic divide. Families with means will purchase private lessons to secure that academic edge, while students without those resources who rely on this board are left behind. this choice between investment and divestment. If you choose to invest, you're betting on the long-term health and competitiveness of JPS. Accepting declining enrollment as our only future is a choice to give up on being a flagship institution. If right sizing is required, executive administrative reductions should precede instructional ones. We cannot justify high enrollment administrative
019overhead while our music instructors are forced to sprint between buildings to provide a pilot version of education. We often talk about the blue J way, but you cannot build a legacy of pride on a foundation of less and less. If you can only find sustainability by asking our students to settle settle for mediocrity, then you aren't managing a school district. You are managing a liquidation. Stop the retreat, hire a dedicated middle school band director, relieve the demands of our existing faculty, bring back sixth grade music education, and give our students a future of excellence that defines the Blue Jay way. Thank you. Matias Matias Brerier are you here? Okay. Sorry I didn't find you in the back. Hello and good afternoon. My name is Matias Percier. I was born and raised in the community of
020Jamestown and I currently live at 907 Thomas Avenue. Today I'd like to speak on the importance of filling the middle school band teacher position. The JPS music program has had a tremendous impact on my life and career. Participating in choir and band throughout middle and high school gave me opportunities to perform for thousands of people at events such as honor choir, honor band, state level comp, and state level competitions. These experiences provided me with priceless skills and lessons that shaped my future in music. I used that foundation to enlist as a musician in the 188th Army Band with the North Dakota Army National Guard. Since then and even in my short time spent in the service, I've had the privilege of performing across the state and the nation for important figures including two different North
021Dakota governors, the current and past agitant generals, military leaders, and thousands of people from all walks of life. None of this would have been possible without the guidance and mentorship I received through JPS. The careful instruction and personal development fostered by JPS music educators have a profound and lasting impact. While not every student chooses a music music as a career, many of my classmates have gone on to pursue higher education. This includes pre prestigious universities including Ivy League schools as well as having achieved success in various professional fields and technical programs. The discipline, teamwork, and dedication we learned in music programs extend far beyond just the stage. I want to emphasize that the funding and resources you provide for JPS music programs directly shape the lives and futures of students more than you may realize.
022Without adequate staffing and leadership, students may lose crucial opportunities such as competitions, honor festivals, and the kind of focused mentorship that inspires excellence. Additionally, I fear overloading current teachers could diminish the quality of education they're able to deliver. I stand before you today as a testament of what your investments in music education can achieve. Please continue supporting and hiring exceptional teachers to guide students as mine once guided me. THANK YOU. KIM CORENSEN'S. Good evening. My name is Kim Kens and I live at 1600 Evergreen Drive Northwest. I'm the mother of a junior at Jamestown High School and I am president of the Jamestown Public Schools music boosters. I'm speaking today to ask the school board to prevent any further cuts to Jamestown's music education programs, put pressure on Jamestown public schools administrators to intensify their
023search for a dedicated middle school band director, and also push for the return of sixth grade music education to the curriculum if possible. I want the best for Jamestown's children and feel we are failing them and allowing the loss of m music education in our schools. My son's world changed in middle school when Mr. Anie, the middle school band director, introduced him to the saxophone and jazz music. This opened up a new world of musical style to him and he is now a lover of jazz as well as other classic music genres. Because of that spark, Mr. Anie Lit, he now gets early for jazz band and spends some of his afternoons practicing by choice. It didn't just teach him notes. It gave him a passion and a community. Music has been around throughout millennia,
024longer even than modern humans. It is the oldest universal language we have and is enjoyed by people of all ages, abilities, and lifestyles. Music is ubiquitous around the world in all cultures, belief systems, and at all socio-economic levels. You can hear a mucan jazz on the streets of Louisiana or the Argentine tango in the streets of Buenosiris. Tunes of the Andian flutes in the mountains of Peru or tribal music of the Zulus in Africa. India's popular music in Bollywood movies or operas in Italy. Chance in the highlands of Scotland or Calypso on the warm beaches of the Caribbean. Music is everywhere. In the wide array of belief systems, music is also an integral part of spiritual life. It is used to meditate, celebrate, pray, and mourn. It is also used as a teaching tool and
025as for therapy for many conditions. We sing and hum to calm and entertain infants. It is how we teach children the alphabet, multiplication and other languages. In healthcare, it is used for emotional healing and to reduce physical pain and the need for medication. It is even used as a way to comfort loved ones in their final hours. There is music for all moods. If you are feeling happy, sad, angry, or anywhere else on the spectrum of emotions, there is music that will fit your feelings. A person can find music to calm them or energize them, to listen to alone or to enjoy together. It is used in the symbolism of tradition through church hymns and the rebellion through punk rock. In a world that feels increasingly divided, music is the one thing that still brings
026us together. About 30 years ago, I was a shy freshman who met an exchange student from Uruguay because I asked her what she was listening to on her Disc Man. That single musical connection led me to study abroad and perform in a Uruguayan band. Just last November, music united us again, a group that now consists of a Los Angeles mixologist, a Tennessee English professor, a Fargo fitness instructor, and an Jamestown pharmacist. When the music started, our differences in geography and lifestyle disappeared. We were just friends joined together through our love of music. I am asking this board to protect the same opportunity for Jamestown's children. Music is integral to the daily life of many people. So why would this even be considered as the option for cutbacks at Jamestown public schools? We do our students
027a disservice when we treat music as an extra. It is a fundamental human bridge. Let's make sure the next generation doesn't lose the chance to find their voice and their community through music. Thank you. Zach Lundy. Good evening. My name is Zachary Lundy and my address here in town is 521 Fifth Street Southeast. As a graduate of Jamestown myself, I cannot stress how important the music program here is. And the one word that comes to mind when we think of music here is excellence. That has been the word that has been used to describe music since before I even came into the middle school myself. I believe that the impact that music has on our community and on our students is especially important. And as a music educator myself, one who has applied for the
028job, I find myself here to speak tonight despite student teaching in Grand Forks. Music builds community and um I have recent very recent experience with the importance of community through my college and previous high school and middle school experience here in music. Um, despite lower enrollment that our programs have been seeing, removing an instructional leader will only deprive students of the opportunities to grow. As I echo everyone who has spoke previously, one thing I noticed is that we are so easy to forget, myself included, that we are here to serve the students, administrators and educators alike. I learned this the hard way through my student teaching. I was able to student teach in a class B school with a graduating class of 20. To compare that to Jamestown here, my graduating class was 140. The
029music program was 60 at most, consisting of almost all of the same students. And even though my co-op teacher had many good years of experience and was very trustworthy in this music program, he told me a quote that sticks to me and that any day he has someone to work with is a good day. That being said, reducing this music program by any amount, any amount of teachers whom, and I have total faith in the teachers that are here, reducing it at any point would have devastating consequences. This is for both the teachers and the students involved. The variety of instruction that is necessary for one educator to handle in this proposed plan is certainly overwhelming and I hope we all understand how that could affect our students. Thank you for your time and once
030again I urge you to reconsider downsizing an already diminished program for the sake of our current student body and our future students. Thank you, Carrie. Yorn, President Larson, school board members, Dr. Le, and administration, thank you for your time and all you do for the kids. My name is Dr. Carrie Orin. My family resides at 21108 Third Street Northeast in Jamestown. I'm a parent of two current middle school children, sixth generation family of JPS, uh past alumni of the band programs when they were robust and going to the Orange and Rose Bowl parades. And it was brought to our band family's attention that anyone concerned about the band pro program should come to tonight's meeting. So, I'm hoping these comments are taken to heart, even if they are meant more for the middle school and
031the administration regarding hiring staffing for the middle school band instructor for the future. But I do feel as a school board, your group should be aware of the topic of concern in the middle school and the overall community who sees the importance of band and the music departments. A few weeks ago, I personally wanted to get more information on the the subject. So, I took time to call Mr. Connell because Mr. Knox was gone, Dr. Luck and Mr. Gayler, the continuous improvement director who is currently working for the music program because I do feel that it is very important to go to the source and not just social media. So, I appreciate all of their time in looking at the future of the music uh program, the middle school band um position, and I did
032feel that they understood the need for the middle school band position, but are also in a tough spot of trying to utilize their current teachers to help fill that void. But over the fa last few weeks, emails at the middle school, miscommunication, um social media communication, emails, there seems to be a big concern about what the future of that middle school band looks like, what the kids are not participating in some of those formative events, and the interim band instructor not being able to have adequate time to the middle school and high school bands. In combination with this, the middle school is now looking to offer large number of new elective courses that sound great to the kids, but as a parent, we're not sure about that curriculum. Those courses would contend then with those
033kids wanting to stay in band or dropping out so that they can participate in these electives like crimesolving podcasts, yo, yoga, self-reading time. I hate to sound like it, but a little fluff for me. So, I don't want that to take away from the band program from my confu um conversations with that music or and about that middle school band instructor position being moved. She moved, the position was offered, not filled. Lots of different communication, but the administration and the music department have had to make schedule changes so that the existing teachers can help fill that role um of that band teacher. Just as many of our businesses struggle with finding that right fit for our team, our within the organization are tasked with filling that void and helping pick up the slack. That being
034said, I want to voice my desire to keep that middle school, elementary band departments robust, those younger ages more than anything expressed with those that already spoke is huge. being a large communication and large concentration so that not only for their development, there might not be a high school program if you don't put time and energy into those elementary and middle school band uh leads. Thank you for taking the time tonight to hear about those that are concerned and looking forward to the music being robust in this community. Jamie Craneville. Good afternoon. I am Jamie Crane and I live at 124 3rd Avenue Southeast in Jamestown. I am here as a dedicated parent or concerned parent of a student who is directly impacted by the lack of a dedicated middle school band teacher. When I
035learned last August that Mr. Wingler would be taking on the seventh and eighth grade bands in addition to all the high school bands, I immediately became skeptical of the feasibility of such a schedule and hope that it was only a temporary arrangement while the district searched for a new director. I may not know precisely what goes into making such large groups run day today, but I do have a fair idea and know it's an enormous amount of work and that's just one school's program. add another large school program and it becomes far too much for just one person to do, stay healthy, and have some semblance of a life. I was proven correct when the middle school band parents received notice that the three big events the seventh and eighth grade bands do due in
036the spring were not going to happen. I admit I was angry when I read the email, not at Miss Schwingler, but angry that this was happening at all. The kids had been looking forward to participating in the Big Muddy Festival as well as band night in Bismar, and they are now disappointed that they'll miss out on these opportunities. Their last concert of the year is tomorrow with nothing big left on the schedule to work towards. How will they spend their last two months of school? I'm sure there's a plan, but it will pale in comparison to what they should have had. And they know it. Their teacher knows it, and the parents know it. These kids, both the middle school kids as well as the high school kids, put in hours and hours of hard
037work to become the best musicians they can be. And they all deserve a teacher who isn't being pulled in 10 directions. Please do right by the high school students and the middle school students by giving them the best opportunities for success by giving them two teachers focused solely on their respective schools programs. After all, a high school a strong high school pro band program requires an equally strong middle school feeder program. And at the moment, the middle school program needs help. Thank you. Mark Shery Good afternoon. I'm Mark Shery and I live at 2007 3rd Street Southeast here in Jamestown. I'm here in support of the music programs in Jamestown public schools and my bottom line message is one of encouragement to sustain and grow these programs rather than allowing them to decline. My wife
038and I raised our three children in this school district. And I can confidently say that the experiences of JPS students in music and specifically in middle school band are formative and they carry into students adult lives long after they leave JPS and regardless of their career paths. The group dynamic of students in a choir or an orchestra or a band is unique in the educational environment. It focuses on collaboration, expression, and shared pursuit of goals that can't be recreated in other academic disciplines or even in sports teams. Athletes compete, but musicians perform. And success in music is not defined by being better than an opponent, but by expression and interpretation that connects with an audience. Success requires that students learn to depend on and support each other in ways that ultimately transcend disciplines and become
039important life skills. I don't believe that the current vacancy in the middle school band is a simple scheduling challenge to be solved by finding ways to maintain a steady number of course offerings. Downgrading this position from full-time to collateral duty is a disservice to young students who are just beginning to explore music and to other music teachers whose programs will suffer accordingly. The middle school band position has paid dividends throughout the middle school and the high school environments for decades and not just in in the music rooms and performance halls. This district needs and our students deserve to see another subject matter expert focused in this pivotal academic position. As you plan for the future, I encourage you to prioritize a diverse and robust music education environment in Jamestown public schools. Thank you. Kayla Th.
040Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kayla Thol. My address is 1645 West Baseline Road, Mesa, Arizona. My name is Kayla Tho and I am here to respectfully urge the board to reconsider any cuts to the middle school band position. I was born and raised in Jamestown and attended the Jamestown public school system for the entirety of my K12 education and I am currently an educator in the Mesa Public School District. During my time in the Jamestown public school system, I was fortunate to have been taught by so many great general education teachers, music teachers, and coaches who helped shape me into the woman I am today. I will never forget how Mr. Anie, my middle school band director, created an atmosphere much larger than just music. He
041greeted each one of us quirky middle schoolers by name every day when we entered his room and asked how our day was going. His door was always open before and after school, and students would often come to him for advice or just to say hi to an adult that they knew cared about them. Mr. Anie was more than just a teacher. He was also a mentor who helped us navigate a very unique and vulnerable time in our lives. Middle school is the most vulnerable and formative stages in a child's life. Students at this age are navigating enormous emotional, social, and developmental changes. They are trying to figure out who they are, where they belong, and how they fit into the world. During this time, consistent adult mentorship and positive school connections are not optional. They're
042essential. At the same time, we are seeing a mental health crisis among young people. Data from the CDC shows that in recent years more than 40% of high school students reported p persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and nearly one in three reported poor mental health. While these statistics focus on high school students, we know many of these struggles began much earlier during the middle school years. This is where programs like band deeply matter. Research in neuroscience shows shows that learning music activates nearly every major area of the brain at once. Engaging memory, emotional processing, coordination, and higher level thinking. Studies also show that students involved in music education demonstrate higher academic achievement, stronger attendance, and greater connection to school. But beyond the data, music is therapeutic. It gives students a healthy outlet for stress
043and emotions that they may not yet know how to express. It builds confidence, resilience, teamwork, and belonging. For many students, music is the place where they find their community. A full-time middle school band director is a critical part of making that happen. When a director is fully present on campus, not dividing contract time or between buildings, they can build relationships with students, mentor them through challenges, and remain visible and accessible throughout the day. These relationships matter. For some students, a trusted teacher in a program like band can be the reason they stay connected to school. Cutting this position may appear to be a financial decision, but it's impact reaches far beyond the budget. It affects students well-being, mentorship, engagement, and the opportunities that help young people thrive during one of the most important stages of
044their development. When we invest in music education, we're not simply funding an elective. We are investing in the emotional health, confidence, and future success of our students. The question before us is not just what we can afford to cut, but what our students can afford to lose. I respectfully ask the board to protect the middle school band position and the opportunities it provides for our students. Thank you so much for your time and your commitment to the students in our district. Pam Burgart. My name is Pam Burkhart and my address is 6075th Avenue Southeast here in Jamestown. I'm appreciative of this opportunity to speak as a grateful yet very concerned Roosevelt Raider, Jamestown High School Blue Jay, and Jamestown College Jimmy. Participation in music can be a lifelong activity. Yet, this fact sometimes seems not
045to be understood or easily forgotten. My earliest memories of music go back to 5 years old in Sunday school with continued involvement in church music. Since non-church music involvement was constant through elementary school and high school, studying organ in college along with my music education major, participating in the JC choir, which expanded and nurtured my interest and love of travel with an amazing highlight of singing for the high noon mass at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. While my music teaching career was only one year here in Jamestown, in part because the position was not full-time. Music continues to be an amazingly vital part of my life outside of work. While in my 29th year directing the Jamestown Corairs, having accompanied many college music students for recital and an interim period while U.J. was without a
046full-time keyboard instructor, participating in the pit orchestra for many U.J. fall musicals and these last nearly two years having the privilege of working with Mr. Shery and accompanying the high school choir. The strong JPS music program has been an addition to for some yet an alternative to for many for whom team sports are not an interest nor a physical possibility. Team sports are highly emphasized, yet music seems overlooked as a team activity with all the same lessons to be learned of working hard and working together for the desired outcome of successful events. A huge positive of being part of the music team is that everyone in the music group participates in activities, not just those few needed on the playing surface at a certain time. concerning to hear of further potential cuts and reductions in
047the music and arts offerings. Some cuts have been obvious. We no longer have the Jamestown Boys and Sunshine Girls Choirs. The Boys Choir was started by Mr. Joseph Banister when I was in fifth grade. The Coralairs were mentors for the boys from inception until that group recently folded after more than 50 years. As an aside, the Coralairs currently have at least four former Jamestown Boy Choir members singing, and they're not all young. Success is based on practice and conditioning over the long term. Currently concerning is the possible elimination of some middle school programming. This would be detrimental to the music program in general as beginning groups or feeder programs for the advanced groups. We can't expect students to join band when they are a sophomore having had no chance to study and learn how to
048play an instrument. Music is universal. Rhythms are inside all of us. Heartbeats, breathing, etc. Most people listen to, and I would offer that very few would say they don't like music. Studying music is beneficial to brain functioning and understanding other subjects such as math. While physical team sports are much less likely, music can easily be a lifelong activity. Many people participate well into advanced years, both singing and playing instruments. There are many studies and proven instances where music can help with Parkinson's symptoms and in bringing individuals out of the darkness of dementia, if even just for a short while. I would encourage JPS to consider making music and arts offerings, programming, and scheduling stronger instead of considering potential cuts. Thank you. Eden Ellingsson. Good evening, members of the school board. My name is Eden Ellson.
049I'm a junior at JHS and I live in Jamestown at 320 19th Avenue Northeast. I'm here today to speak about the powerful impact music has had on my life. Music for me is more than just an elective. It's a place where I feel like I belong and a place where I get to work with other students who have similar interests. One of the most important times in my music journey was during my middle school years. The teachers I had then were able to focus on my middle school life and prepare me well for high school. I learned how to be confident and not give up when the music was tough. They taught me that hard work, especially in my early stages, could set someone up for success in the future. I think now of my
050younger sister who is in middle school band. Her band teacher is the wonderful Miss Schwingler, who has split her who has to split her time between the high school and the middle school. Because of this, my sister and her peers have become unable to attend things like the big muddy or band night, something she was very looking forward to. My sister and her fellow middle schoolers deserve to be able to attend activities like these and experience all that music has to offer. There have been days for me when school has felt overwhelming, but being able to go to my music classes gave me something to look forward to. My music classes, whether that is choir, orchest or orchestra or vocal jazz, all provide a special place where students like me can express themselves, take a
051break from the stress of other academics, and be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. Music has not just only taught me how to play notes on a page, but also how to work together with others, persevere through hard things, and how to find enjoyment during my school day. I've been able to work harder, stay focused, and be a positive influence on others in other subjects using the skills that music has taught me. I'm grateful for the chance to be a part of music in our schools and I hope future students will have the same opportunities. Thank you for your time. Sunonny Sundine Hello, my name is Sunny Sundine and I live at 8:14 7th Avenue Southeast. I am a freshman at Jamestown High School and have been involved in music since kindergarten.
052I've been in choir every year since 4th grade. Music has had a great impact on my life. It gives me a creative outlet, has provided me with lifelong friendships, and given me experiences that I can carry throughout my whole life. When I'm stressed by school or noisy siblings, there's always one thing that's there to help me. Music. Whether it be my Spotify playlist and a pair of headphones or my bedroom and a karaoke track, music is always there to be to be a creative way for me to relieve my stress. I have met some of my closest friends through music. I've met too many people to even count. When you're in a group of people who all have a common interest and goal, it's hard to not become friends. The songs bring us together and
053the performances unite us under one title, the choir. I grew up in a military family. For me, that meant moving every 3 years or so. When I moved up here from Florida, I was also about to transition from elementary school to middle school. I was so scared. What if they don't like me? What if I get lost? What if I don't make friends? I had so many questions, but there was one thing that I knew I could count on, and that was music. Everything was changing, but I could rely on choir. The middle school had a choir specifically for sixth graders, and that was where I met one of my closest friends to date. That class was also where I was able to relax and take a break from the stress of other classes and
054just sing. Music impacts my life so greatly and I know that others feel the same. That's all. Thank you. Is Olivia here? Did she I want to make sure everyone has a chance to speak. Olivia. Okay. All right. Um that wraps up our public communication um for just want to remind people what's left on our board agenda. Um we have the teacher of the year, the middle, the elementary school and the secondary school teacher of the year presentations. I've also asked Dr. Le um to talk about I've received a lot of emails and um a lot of different information about music and so I've asked Dr. like to include is in superintendent report some information and address any misconceptions for for those things. So if you want to stay for that we've been here an
055hour and 15 minutes. I usually take a bio break at this time but I think we're going to keep going but if board members need to leave for a bio break just feel free to to do so. And then we also have a student council report if our student council person is here. So moving on the agenda. Next is the consent agenda. Would a board member like anything removed from the consent agenda at this time or anything clarified? Would you like anything removed or anything clarified? If not, is there a motion? >> Motion by Melissa. Is there a second? A second by Steve. We have a motion, a second for approval of the consent agenda. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? If not, assuming roll call vote. All those in favor say I. >> I.
056Oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. moving into our regular meeting. Jason, would you read the recognitions, please? >> And then, um, for our teachers, please meet me over here. We have a an item for you. Elementary teacher of the year, Mrs. Kelly Bower. We We are honored to recognize Mrs. Bower as our elementary teacher of the year. Mrs. Bower's enthusiasm for education and genuine passion for student success positively impact every classroom and team she serves. In addition to her work with students, she contributes her leadership across the district through service on multiple committees and in her role as an instructional coach, supporting colleagues, and strengthening instructional practices. Jamestown Public Schools is proud to have an outstanding educator like Mrs. Bower on our team. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. And find it. Mrs. Mrs. Ter Miss Teresa
057Olsen, our secondary teacher of the year. Miss Olsen demonstrates exceptional leadership by mentoring educators, supporting staff, and expanding career and technical education opportunities for students. This year, she devoted significant time and effort to launching the Little Blue Jay Nest, helping provide the program, helping develop the program, secure resources, and ensure a successful opening for JPS families. Jamestown Public Schools is grateful for the dedication, leadership, and lasting impact Miss Olsen brings to our students, staff, and community. Once again, congratulations on being selected for this honor. Thank you, Jason. How about student council report first? So, Belle, are you here? We're going to move for student council report. We're going to move things around just a little bit here because we've had people waiting for their reports. Good evening. My name is Bel Shustrom. I am the
058executive board president at Jamestown High School. Student council has been actively working on several initiatives to support student involvement and increase our student involvement and increase student culture. One of our current focuses is currently to develop student ideas that create engagement and participation across activities like student council. We are currently updating our bylaws to potentially add representatives of each class to increase participation and interest. We are also organizing preparations for prom, which is one of the biggest events of the year held on this Saturday. Student council members are working with staff to help organize and plan a memorable and well organized experience for the junior and senior class. Overall, student council is working to focus on ways to strengthen school spirit, increase student involvement, and represent the voices of our students in our school. Do
059you guys have any questions for me about what we're doing in student council? >> Did is there a theme for prom or is it just prom? I believe it's something that's the junior's responsibility, but um I believe it's something along the lines of poker night or game night. >> Perfect. Yeah. >> Any questions from the board? >> Thank you, Belle. We always appreciate the student council report. Thank you so much. And then we're going to move board education up. Um, education staff using vital network process. Amanda Schaefer. Hello, my name is Amanda Schaefer. I teach first grade at Roosevelt Elementary. Um, I just was asked to talk a little bit about our process with Vital Network. Um, I'll kind of go through Roosevelt's process and if you have questions along the way, just go ahead
060and ask. uh we always start with completing the survey and then when we get those results back, we usually share at a full staff meeting and we kind of analyze what were some celebrations, what things went well and what are some things that we need to work on. And so just a few things that we celebrated this year was some of our areas that really stood out were like I asked my colleague for help when I need it. Um my school leadership actively seeks feedback from staff about how our school is run. Um staff in my school work well as a team. So those were some that stood out to us and some things that we wanted to work on which we usually will set goals around. One of them was our school is purposeful
061in how we welcome new employees into our school culture. Another one was the needs of people in my role are considered in school decisions and I generally have the amount of time necessary to get my work done. So those were some celebrations and some goals we wanted to work on. And then we have a committee called RLTA Roosevelt leadership team and we focus on the academics. And so I'm part of that team. And so then each about every two weeks to once a month depending on how we have time, we will meet and one of our things on our agenda is always looking at those um vital results and taking staff feedback. And so this year we decided to focus on our school is purposeful and how we welcome new employees into our school culture
062since that was probably I believe it was one of our lowest areas. Um, and so we decided that we would send out a survey to new staff and see if we could get any feedback from them that way. Um, we talked about just a list of possible ideas, um, like creating a staff directory, pictures, phone numbers, what's their role, uh, pair of professionals, who do they report to, things like that. even um we talked about a swag bag, a t-shirt to welcome them, map of the building, just things that would be important that you could hand them, you know, right away when they walk in. Um we talked about even how could we help paras. We usually have more new par profofessionals than teachers. Could we have a mentor parah because when new teachers come
063into the building, they um are placed with a mentor in the building. And so could we have a parah that kind of takes that on? And so we just kind of circulated a bunch of ideas and then each month we decided to focus on making one of those a possibility. And so we started with the directory. So we've created that. We have an online directory and that we're able to print off also for people. Things like that. Um we always share at every staff meeting what's what's our focus, what's going well, what have we accomplished, things like that. Um we've also just worked with building the culture at Roosevelt through our vital network um survey information just trying to build up fun activities even like this um earlier this um fall we had like anyone
064could put up a picture when they were in grade school and it was guess the staff member, guess the teacher. So just always f finding fun activities like that too just to build up our culture, get to know each other, that type of thing. So, those are some of the things that that we've worked on and we continue, like I said, every month. We just looked at our midyear data and checked that out. Um, we're working on kind of sharing with all staff. Usually at our staff meetings, it's teachers. And so, in April, we're going to have an all staff meeting where pair professionals are able to attend and really dive into the results of our um midyear survey. and then we can talk about where do we want to go from there and get
065everyone's input. So that's kind of how we do our vital network information at Roosevelt. You guys have questions? >> Any questions from the board? Any questions? Dan? >> So yeah. >> Okay. Sounds like you got a pretty good engagement from all the staff. I are you seeing improvements in in that with the use of this vital network to kind of help guide and know consider questions? >> Yeah, every year our scores have gone up. We're seeing good improvement with um since we started this process and so we we're feeling very positive. Most of our scores when we talk about low scores, they aren't really necessarily low. It's just something okay there's a focus for us, something to work on. But things are we feel going very well and we've just seen increases every year. >>
066Erin, >> how about now? There we go. There we Okay, I don't want to put you on the spot here, but uh just just to kind of give me a feel for >> um you know how this uh these you know with the committees and the surveys and everything that we're doing there >> in terms of a level of empowerment. So, um the we've been doing a lot of these surveys and getting the feedback and then um you know uh having like the leadership committee uh >> dive through that and and put recommendations forward >> in terms of your level of empowerment um in order to actually affect change within your your building. what level or do you see that as a um where we should be or there is there room for improvement or
067>> we we've seen good results with that at our building. One thing that we have noticed is sometimes when it talks about at the district level decisionm that's where we see maybe a little bit of a dip compared to our building results. We feel like we have a voice in what's happening within our building. >> Okay. So more so the the day-to-day interactions you you feel >> y >> fairly empowered to deal with this is the higher level where it's more policy or curriculum or other >> yes some of that >> big bigger schemes like that. Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Do you do you Oh, I have a question. Okay. So, are you on the Adams District improvement for your school or do you have input
068through that committee? >> I'm on the professional development committee. >> Professional development. Okay. I would Yeah. And so I can represent Roosevelt's in on that on that big group. All right. Perfect. Thank you. >> Now, we'll get back on track with our agenda. Approval of strategic plan progress monitoring. We have the dashboard there for your information and we have goal 1.3 cultivating working and learning environment. Dr. Lack. >> So you have the presentation that's also linked um having Mrs. Schaefer here was purposeful um because it does align with this progress monitoring for this this uh growth and learning goal. Uh just a reminder this is uh culture of learning uh goal 1.3. Our focus was not only on that uh the vital network surveys uh is is one of our primary metrics for that. Uh
069and our goal for that uh in all of those areas is a 5.1. Just kind of get a little kickback here. >> Behind you. >> I'll get I'll get the next one. Um, so I'll talk a little bit about well really the the primary metrics that you you've seen already as uh as it's connected to other um other progress monitoring and goals. So I might breeze through them a little bit unless there's questions. But just as a reminder, our goal is 5.0 uh on that sevenpoint scale on that Lyker scale. Uh that's where our goal is at. Uh if you roll through we have a couple different areas of the vital engagement of the vital survey uh that um links into this particular goal uh that's engagement vitality or the areas of engagement vitality positive
070working relations and belonging. So if you look through those uh three of the four were at 5.0 uh one uh was slightly below uh 5.0 know uh overall uh the next area and again stop me if you have questions but I know we've we've gone through some of this already uh the next metric relates to uh the Cogna survey and the Cognia results for our engagement survey and just as a reminder there's there's three different levels uh there's committed uh compliant uh and disengaged our focus is around um is around committ committed students, the highest level of of engagement, commitment. Um, and so our goal is 45% of students rating as emotionally committed. So there's emotionally committed, there's other commit, other levels of a commitment that tie into different goal areas. Uh, but our current
071status there as a district, our goal is 45%, our uh we are not meeting that goal yet. That is at 40%. And one uh point that I will make on the Cogna surveys is that it's changing. The survey that we'll take this year, this is last year's data. The survey that we're taking this year is a new survey. Uh so we won't have that historical connection that we've had in the past. I'm sure in insights it'll still track the same goal, but it's a different survey. So we have to be careful when we look at those results. So as a district uh we are slightly below that uh emotionally committed uh goal. Uh if you look towards our trend demographics um you see increases in some areas like uh our some of our demographic populations
072homeless we're seeing an increase our e students were seeing an increase uh and then we're seeing a little bit of stagnation and a little decrease in some other subgroup areas. Um I included and again this is something that I think you saw in December but um looking at uh each of the individual levels uh on the right hand side is where the state average is just to give you a a benchmark of of where we're at as a district. Uh at the high school level we're slightly below where the state's at. Uh but we're following that a consistent trend line where uh with emotion with emotional engagement uh in high school being lower than other levels and that's pretty consistent across the state. at the middle school um we are above that state average but
073but again still that's lower than what we see at the elementary level and I've included each of the elementarymentaries not in as an aggregate but it is individual buildings and you see that they range you know well above that goal uh 45% between 65% 60% 50% 65 to 69%. Um the last goal that we have in this area uh is a secondary metric but it relates to engagement strategies uh for families participating in key engagement activities. Uh we're going to assess that closer to the end of the year to make sure that we have an opportunity for all of those engagement strategies to be completed. Uh that'll just be added to the dashboard. So overall key takeaways and next steps similar to what Mr. Gayler talked about when we talked about this goal uh or
074a similar goal in December. Uh our individual buildings look through those engagement strategies as Mrs. Schaefer discussed. Uh they make uh suggestions for for change strategically. Uh and then we assess again. Uh so we have that that initial assessment in October. We do a summitative assessment. Uh for us it's the week of April 29th through May 6th. Uh and then that'll help us determine the effectiveness of those strategies. and determine if we are in growth or decline in any of those goal areas. Again, what you saw earlier was that initial assessment from October. It doesn't represent any of the strategies or implementations that have come since that excuse me since then. Uh student engagement survey uh we take that data through the DSIC team. So the district school improvement team uh each of those individual
075buildings look at that engagement data. they they strategize around uh activities that can improve uh engagement, student engagement uh and then they make recommendations and they develop those at the local level. And just a reminder that that changes uh that that assessment changes this year and then like I said earlier, we're going to add the uh family participation and positive school experiences in the dashboard when we have it. So with that, I would stand for questions and I would recommend that this is on track as partially met. >> Any questions from the board? Any discussion? Any questions? Is there a We have to Is there a motion for this to be approved on track? Motion by Melissa. Is there a second? >> Second by Dan. We have a motion. A second. As you're looking through
076it, any other discussion or questions? Okay. Thank you for the presentation, Dr. black. Any discussion, questions? If not, assuming roll call vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. Moving ahead into the superintendence report. Dr. Luck. And I think um I'd asked you to create kind of a visual presentation here. Okay. Please share that. >> Before we do that, I'm going to get in just the entirety of my report. I'll add the uh sorry I had this up. It's just kicked me out here. So I will go through other areas of my report and then I'll talk about um what Dr. Larson had asked that I present on. So wanted to give you an update on the guiding coalition. That group continues to meet. So it's met uh for
077its sixth meeting now. uh and the focus has been around uh identifying those schedules that are not fits. Um we aren't looking to prioritize and say these are this is the one or these are the two or three models. We're looking at what we don't have capacity for so we can prioritize our time around models potential models that do fit in a line. So that's where our focus has been. We did a force choice activity um around that to prioritize which models uh we should no longer be studying like I said and then we'll focus on those that we want to take at a at a greater detail. Uh as I shared with that guiding coalition um our focus isn't to get a recommendation done as fast as possible. Our goal is to make the
078right recommendation and sometimes it takes a little more time than what we thought. Uh originally when we had a timeline, we were hoping that in April we would bring some recommendations. Uh the coalition talked a lot about wanting to um focus in more on communication uh than than we had initially planned. They wanted to make sure that um staff wasn't hearing a recommendation to the board before they had a chance to talk at greater depth. Uh ask some pertinent questions. uh and they asked that we extend that time a little bit and we spent a lot of uh the 11th uh talking about what those communication strategies would look like uh and how we can make sure that we're engaging staff uh in the right way. So I don't know why that happened but um
079so that's where we're at with the guiding coalition uh the celebration of learning. So, our very first uh this was the first time we've uh taken a an approach to the personalized professional learning pilot. Uh we talked about this at the beginning of the year where we're looking to honor staff's time differently uh as it relates to professional learning. Uh we embedded that into uh this pilot, this this program. I I linked two videos that Mr. Gayler had put together if you wanted to dig a little bit deeper in what all of those responsibilities were. But I will say uh that those staff that took uh advantage of this opportunity pretty structured uh very indepth robust program uh for professional learning. Uh and we really saw that uh in the celebration of learning which was
080the culminating activity where the staff came together and shared this is what I studied. If you're familiar with action research, it's kind of like a mini action research project, uh where they had a chance to study a topic, uh make some goals, uh study a topic, uh put some um interventions in place, uh try them out, and then they got the chance to talk about it in the celebration of learning. What did we learn? Uh what didn't work as well? What worked really well that I want to keep doing? And uh the process that was created was a lot of sharing. And so even those that didn't uh participate in the uh personalized professional learning, they did have a chance to um they did have a chance to hear what others were doing. Uh I
081was able to share uh in Roosevelt's uh celebration of learning. Mrs. Anderson was gone. She was at a conference and so I was able to facilitate that uh that group. And I tell you, I was absolutely blown away. I was absolutely blown away by what uh the the teachers did. uh and I had very similar responses from the high school, from the middle school, from all the other other elementarymentaries. Uh and it was a a great opportunity, something that we really enjoyed uh the benefit from the from those participating in the professional in the in the professional learning pilot uh personalized professional learning pilot. Uh because they committed to this over time outside of their contracted time, they were able to take that next day off. So others that didn't participate, they came here uh
082and they got a shortened version of that same experience through Mr. Gayler. Uh and so everybody participated one way or the other, but if you did the longer version, you the response was a day off uh because you've already put in that time uh through this project. So if you are interested in learning a little bit more, like I said, the feedback we got was great. I think there's some things we learned how we could do it a little bit differently. Uh but um but if you want to learn a little bit more about that process, you can watch those videos. Happy to talk about it if um you know if there's questions from the teacher of the year. I just have a a great appreciation for for not only the two uh individuals that
083we selected, Kelly Bower, Teresa Olsen, fantastic teachers. uh really have done outstanding work uh for the district. But we also had other uh semi- finalists uh and uh that I want to recognize and other nominees. I think we had somewhere around 120 uh nominations for teachers of the year and I think that really says a lot about the quality of our teachers uh and the level of of support and commitment that they do have. But I just want to recognize those individuals. Have no idea where that's happening. I apologize, but um just like I said, outstanding teachers. Uh they're great representatives of of uh of the district. Uh and I wish them all the best as they advance on as county teachers of the year and hopefully state teachers of the year. Uh meeting schedule
084change. Um Dr. Dr. Larson and I discussed that our uh that our next board meeting um well is actually on Easter Monday and so just a recommendation with family commitments and travel uh shifting that and that's on your agenda uh for today to just shift that to Tuesday uh instead of Monday. Uh I talked a few times about the MIT day of AI and the education leadership fellowship. So, I was selected to uh represent the state. I get a chance to take two students with me. Uh we're in application process for that right now. Uh we had 17 students that were nominated. Uh so far 10 have completed that uh application. Uh and so we'll we have a rubric that we'll walk through uh make a selection of two of those. Uh they'll travel with
085me uh to MIT uh go through a couple of days of training and and uh professional learning there. uh and that's fully covered by the program. So I think it's a great opportunity for some students. Uh and with that I would stand for questions before I get into a larger presentation. >> Any questions on this portion of the superintendent's report from any board members? Any questions? Okay. If not, >> okay, >> go ahead. So, I had a board memo um that had a lot of words, uh a couple pages of narrative, and I thought I would tie it together uh with a presentation. We have the written report. Uh there's I think we made 50 copies of that written report or that written memo uh that people can reference as well. Uh but I I
086felt it would might be valuable to bring in some numbers uh and uh you know try to show the narrative a little bit rather than just reading the verbiage on a memo. Give me a second here. Uh and maybe where I should have started was, you know, thank you to all the speakers. Uh I think anytime you can have uh 16 people show up uh and talk passionately about what the school means to them, I think that's a good day. Uh and so thank you uh to those that came and shared their perspective uh on on music education. I think it's very important uh that you did that uh and I appreciate that you were here. So we did get Okay. So So my intent here uh is just talk a little bit about the
087key themes that came from correspondents. I got a lot of different emails. They didn't all come to me. Uh sometimes came through board members and it flowed through to me. Uh but I I took a look at what those key themes for correspondence from the correspondence were. Uh I have a few different slides that the intention is to clarify misconceptions that I read uh in some of that information and just so we're all talking the same thing. Uh we want to be talking the same problems uh staffing context and continuation of programming uh future considerations and what I consider key takeaways. So key themes from communication that I saw want to see how that presents. Uh obviously a strong public pride uh in the JPS music program. I think you heard that in spades as
088a lot of different individuals came up and talked about what music education and JPS in general meant to them. Uh so uh obviously that continues. There was a desire pretty definitively for a dedicated JMS band teacher and you heard a couple different reasons for why uh there's that desire. uh a concern about perceived reductions to music programming uh and then an emphasis on music's role in the development of students belonging and their academics. Uh if is there anything that you feel like I missed or anything that we should touch on before I move forward? Okay. So, from a misconception standpoint, I just want to clarify music courses are not being eliminated. And some of these I'm going to touch on in greater detail than others because they'll be touched on in later in in different
089slides. You know, we are not advocating, discussing or planning around any music course reduction. We are not seeing an elimination of music courses. Uh student access to music classes will remain unchanged. Uh that is not any part of a proposal really. What we're talking about is how do we staff those opportunities. I did create um LA over the last couple years 24 25 26 26 27 proposed at least what we have based on registrations thus far. I'll show you a couple different charts that show what programs we offered a couple years ago, what their enrollments were, what their enrollments are this year, what proposed enrollments are next year, at least for what we have thus far. We haven't finalized sixth grade registration yet. So, some of that is to be determined. uh but I think
090you can see a trend that exists there. Uh discussion on schedules um has not like I said it's not focused around program reduction it's focusing on how do we staff them and the configuration of staffing um so staffing of 26 what I'm proposing to do uh in uh includes that dedicated band director as Mr. Sheriff referenced at the beginning uh he was our first speaker uh talking about Mrs. Hawinson. Um that is in your personnel transfer forms that was linked in my report as they always are. Uh so that includes that commitment and I'll show you the FTE related to that and and that makes me think we need to talk about what FTE means. Uh we use vernacular all the time, right? Uh and so FTE full-time equivalent. What that means is if you
091have one teacher, they are one FTE. Okay? If they are a full-time person, they they have a full contract, that's one FTE. So if they work uh in music part-time half of the time and they work in another area half of the time, they are 0.5 FTE in music, 0.5 FTE in whatever else uh they they're in. So when you look at that, that's where that 6.4 48 that's the fulltime time equivalent. So about 6 and a half staff uh are devoted to music education right now. Uh what we are looking at for 2627 is a slight increase to that at 6.68. Uh and again that come that 68 comes from sharing. Okay. Uh we have open assignments. I'm going to talk about those a little bit uh in greater detail as we get into
092the individual sections. What that means is we have open assignments uh throughout our throughout our schedule. Uh and how I'm defining and looking at those is those are either additional instructional preps beyond what exists in other bu in in the building for all staff. So for example, we've talked about this before, but we have at the high school uh two instructional prep. There's two preps for high school staff. Middle school staff, it's a one prep. So, what I mean by that is there's additional preps in the schedule for some of our staff now that could accommodate something different. Uh, and so that could be those additional instructional preps. That could be one semester sections. Uh, the example I'll use is uh elementary orchestra that exists only in the spring for fifth grade. uh but that
093that period of time is dedicated throughout the year in that period. Uh not serving students until February. So that's what I mean by an open assignment. Uh or courses that have d two dedicated staff. I'll talk about this in a little bit. We in the past have had a a class or an assignment called choir assist. That is the choir teacher teaches a t a person is assigned to help manage that class. I consider those to be open assignments. uh they're not directly impacting a course offering. Okay. Uh and so even with those proposed staff uh not all staff have a full teaching assignment. I outlined specifically high school band and orchestra don't have a full uh contract or current schedule uh based on what is exists right now. So the other uh misconception I
094want to identify general music that was replaced as a middle school offering a few years ago uh with it was replaced with other school other school opportunities not at all related to uh staffing or schedules and that happened a few years ago. Uh and my commitment you know JPS remains committed to ensuring access to music. Uh that is in my opinion a non-negotiable. It's a valued component of a well-rounded education. So, I want to walk through um a programming overview at each of the levels at elementary, at middle school, and at high school. Uh this slide is going to look the same for all of them. Uh but I just have a couple of different notes. So, 24 25 here, 25 26 where we're at, and 26 27. Here's a really important piece of information.
095Uh if you look, you know, our student enrollment uh from 2425 at the elementary level, 829, what's proposed at that level? We don't know our kindergarten registration yet, but assume it's close to what uh it is this year. Then you see about a 100 student decrease uh at the elementary level. Um and we know this because we closed a building. Uh we closed Washington Elementary. we had and we reduced from eight sections of kindergarten through fifth grade to seven sections of kindergarten through 8th grade. So if you look at that FTE impact, so what do you need to teach the same offerings? You're not teaching them to eight, you're eight sections, you're teaching them to seven. That's half of an FTE. So a decrease is natural. Uh and really uh that reduction comes just by
096doing the same thing. And I'll show that in the next slide, but you can see the difference. And so when we see the 48 1/2 sections um reduced to 43 sections or 42 and a half sections, that's really just the product of closing a building. So half of that reduction of staff is just that change, that loss of a building. So you can see I'm going to just give pause and give you a second to look at that. I'm going to pause for questions on the elementary, but you can see that represented here. Number of students, the section, excuse me, number of sections changing. Uh really offering all of the same things. Uh the difference that you see the one section in elementary orchestra instead of 0.5 and that's just the uh a suggestion that
097will come later uh that will expand uh orchestra through the full year at the elementary level. So it was half of the year starting in February through the end of the year. Uh offering it not just to fifth grade students but to fourth grade students. Uh that would be you know my thought with that position but um but I'm just going to pause for questions. >> Any questions from the board so far? Are you following along? >> Okay Jason, go ahead. I might have missed it, but when we talk elementary, what what are our FTEEs there? I'm I'm a little concerned, confused, whatever you want to say about >> how that's being staffed and if if if if teachers are I mean, I'm sure we're sharing. >> Um >> how taxing is that to our
098current staff, just that elementary schedule? >> I'll I'll show you that in just a second. That's a the FTE has its own few slides here, but um but if I don't answer your question on that, let's circle back to it and ask again. >> Hold on a second. Any other questions from the board at this time on the current >> Okay. And I'd ask Dr. Luck to provide some very detailed information with participation and and all those kinds of things. So there's a few more slides of that. >> So here's the same same couple of slides at the middle school. uh the courses offered uh the la last year, what's offered this year, uh and then what it looks like plans would be to offer next year. Uh I will say what you see the
099difference in uh between in the middle school between 24 and 25 relates to the number of seventh grade band sections offered. Uh and I'll show you that in the next slide just to I want to point out the enrollment on that. And I still think we need uh to to discuss that a little bit. Uh, and we don't know our sixth grade band numbers yet. I'm proposing in this to have two sections of sixth grade band, but that really is going to depend on how many students are uh, registered for sixth grade band. So, this is what that same uh, example looks like from the elementary. So, these are the courses that we offered last year. uh sixth grade band, seventh grade band, eighth grade band, sixth through eight chorus, sixth grade chorus, seventh through
100eight orchestra. And you see what's what's bolded there, pops choir. Uh think of that like an extracurricular, that's why or co-curricular, that's why it's bolded. Uh but um so if you look through uh continuing to offer two sections of sixth grade band, assuming, you know, like I have a D TBD there because we don't know what those enrollments are. Those will be coming in in a week or so, I would think. Uh but as you can see um the percentage of enrollment I do think that that matters percentage of enrollment I did not go back and look 15 years ago but I would imagine looking at what I have seen so far that percentage of enrollment uh is pretty consistent the number of students that um that participate in sixth grade choir or sixth grade
101band as at about 30% what did I say >> the percent you said number >> oh the percentage is cons I would guess is somewhere in that 30% range. Like I said, I haven't looked back beyond what you see here, but I imagine that that's pretty consistent. But you can see uh the intention is to offer the same courses. Uh it might change enrollment might change how many sections are offered, but the courses themselves remain the same. And I don't know what that 30% equated to for sixth grade band uh 15 years ago, but I can tell you it was quite a bit more uh than what it is right now. Uh and I, as I said, we don't have sixth grade registrations yet. So that impacts sixth grade band in the proposed uh section.
102Anyways, uh sixth grade band, uh six or eight chorus, sixth grade orchestra, uh and pops choir, music development. I'll talk about that in a second. So doing the same analysis at the high school, uh you can see um what that impact is is really pretty consistent. 10 sections, 10 different offerings. Uh 196 students, 198 students, 191 students. We know that we have declining enrollment at we see that really concentrated at the elementary level, which I know that you know, uh that transitions up. uh we're starting to see that impact at the middle school and eventually that impact will happen at the high school as well. So here's the offerings and you see a similar trend. You see some variability uh different opportunities go up and down uh in terms of student numbers and percentage of
103enrollment. But just like I wouldn't see any concerning trends here, I don't see any concerning trends here either. Uh you have a similar percentage of enrollment. Like I said, there's variability and you know, sometimes choir is going to increase, sometimes it's going to decrease, sometimes the number of students in band will increase will decrease. Uh we do uh control some of these enrollments a little bit. Wind ensemble for example is is an audition and the number of students that meet that criteria are selected. So that changes uh from year to year. Excuse me. So with the middle school and high school, I'm just going to pause for questions. Any questions from the board at this time? Any questions? Okay. Dan. Okay. So, you're is this basically saying that the the baseline from uh before last
104year 2425 projecting forward it's it should operate about the same as what we have right now. >> Say say that question one more time. So, so just looking at those ratios up there, they're all looking pretty much the same. >> Correct. >> So, what we had previously should have been able to be done with the teaching staff that we have now. >> If Oh, they should have been in the past. >> Yeah, >> I think some of that depends. Uh, like I said, the when you have 190 kids in a class versus 110 kids in a class, that those percentages mean lower numbers. So those multiple sections might change. Like I think this is probably the best example. Uh in the middle school when you look at um seventh grade band um you know that's
105a question we haven't looked at yet. You know is 37, you know, an adequate number? Uh is that a one section? Is that a multisection? But that's going to change based on enrollment. So I mean >> but just looking at the numbers like okay the difference between 2425 and that one was 41 to 37. Okay. So it's about a 10% difference but it's not like a radical no >> change. Okay. >> Correct. Uh and I still come back to some of those kind of what you know what I called open sections or open opportunities that I think that we that we haven't fully leveraged. Uh but other questions on these before I advance into >> what we're looking at the middle school. >> Oh no. use Jacobs. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, how far
106back did the data you look at? >> I just went back last year because that's the last year we had old staffing model. Um, then this year and then what's proposed for next year. >> I think it would might be interesting to us to look at data prior to some of these step-wise changes that the programs have realized, especially around the COVID and postcoid era. What did we do before that? What did we do when we were at that extraordinary level? Where were we at? >> So, I don't believe that the courses themselves have changed. The difference was general music. >> I'm talking just enrollment and number of students and participation and those kind of things. >> We certainly do that >> because again, I think there's there were some step-wise changes that we that
107we went through with uh you know, changes in personnel, uh changes in just activities. um you know what it would be nice to to see what we were say precoid >> and I could what I could do is I could I could uh go back in a couple different stages 5 years 10 years 15 years and give a little like that >> I think yeah I wouldn't want to try to water it down too much because there's other you know understanding all the different factors in it just >> there's just been some near-term stuff that I think would it would be beneficial to us to maybe take a little broader look at >> uh you know what is it what what is a more of a near-term trend. >> So where just help me define
108what it I just want to make sure that I'm giving you the information that you want. So five years in 2020 2019. >> So maybe precoid. >> Yep. >> So 2019 I'll look at that and I'll give you a very similar data set to this. >> Yeah. >> Does that make sense? Okay. >> Oops. I'm going backwards. So, I wanted to talk a little bit about the the the pilot. Um, and I just want to make sure that everybody's on the same page in terms of the decisions that we made. So, in May, we had a retirement or resignation. Uh, that compressed a search for a replacement uh pretty significantly. Uh and in that time we had an offer and a and a and a as part of that conversation when an offer was made
109uh there was a lack of certainty if that was going to be accepted or not. That made me think about contingency. What happens if uh because we were already fairly late. What happens if this person turns us down? And through that analysis, that's where it kind of came up and looking at I'm not sure that we're using staff and leveraging staff the way that we really should have been leveraging staff. Uh, and I felt like there was opportunities to do that differently. And so when that u res or when that offer was declined, uh, we didn't really have a lot of other options at that time anyway. We were kind of forced into contingency mode. And so we looked at how to make sure that we were maintaining the same offerings and could we use
110staff in a different way and and as I had said to Mr. Roar earlier, I'm going to show you the FTE path a little bit. Uh but we wanted to make sure that we weren't changing and and losing offerings. That was in my mind a non-negotiable. Uh we want to make sure that we can offer the same things. Uh and um it was referenced earlier, Mr. Gayler led uh some discussions with music educators starting in February uh to look at that staffing structure and say well if sixth grade coming from elementary and seventh and eighth coming down from high school if that's not the right option what's a better option and that was really the focus of that just getting some perspective not making decisions but getting some feedback and perspective on if not this
111then But and that's absolutely accurate to say that Mr. uh Gayler, he did a wonderful job. He brought as as I'm sure you can imagine you've all worked with Mr. Gayler before, he's very complete and thorough. And so we created a number of different models to say, well, what about this? We could do it this way. We could do it that way. We could do it over here. Uh and even one of the options that he came to, and this is kind of comes to the efficiency question is we could even do it with six. We could do it with 6ft FTE. I'm not suggesting we do it with 6ft FTE, but if we were simply looking at an efficiency model, that would be it. You could do it that way. Not suggesting that you
112should. Not suggest suggesting that we want to, but I think there would be too much give there, but it's possible if that's what we wanted to do. Um, so as a part of those discussions, discussions that I had with Mr. Gayaylor. Um, I will tell you I think the most I I my personal opinion the best way is to think about sharing but only sharing at a level. Don't share. Don't jump two levels. Don't ask an a person that's elementary focused to teach at the high school. Don't teach a high school ask a high school person to teach at the elementary. The best the best way that you can do that and accommodate that in my opinion is to have use it as a recruiting tool too, but have high school dip down to eighth
113grade. We asked seventh and eighth grade that seemed like that didn't work. Um I think there were some other challenges that came with that. But asking that individual to come down to eighth grade in my opinion that allows recruitment up into the 9th through 12th level and it's efficient because it ensures that you don't jump two levels and then you would have seventh and or sixth grade and seventh grade with one of the elementary staff. That's what I think that's not the feedback that we heard based on community feedback uh based on some different conversations that Mr. Gayler and I have had some of the feedback that came from the music educators. Um, I heard a lot and you heard it today, dedicated band teacher at the middle level. Okay, that's something we can do.
114Um, it's not my preference. I think it makes scheduling a little bit harder, but I think we can do it. Uh, and so that's the recommendation that comes uh in the personnel transfer form, I should say, that's uh already linked uh and uh that's something that we can do. Um, I do, like I said, have some concern about a dedicated middle school bath uh band person uh if that requires us to share uh jumping two levels. Um, these are individuals that are K12 licensed. They can if they just because they can doesn't mean that's in the best interest of the kids, the programs or the staff. And so that's where I get a little bit concerned about that. Here is uh Mr. the roar what I talked about with the staff commitment and and staff
115FTE. So you can see this progress over the last couple of years in terms of staff commitment. Um what you see at I'm going to walk through each of them at the elementary level. 3.36 is what we used prior to closing uh Washington Elementary. The impact to closing Washington is that 0.5 and you see that represented here. So really programmatically no change. It's just a reduction in people because you have fewer sections to teach. Okay. Uh elementary orchestra, you don't see a difference there. The only difference would be if you made that commitment to teach that full year. If you made that that commitment. Uh and we have that already embedded uh into a contracted time. That's not a question. Uh we can already just do that and and we're not adding staff to do
116it. Um so that's where you would see it. elementary orchestra, middle school orchestra that stays consistent, middle school choir that stays consistent. Um, and and I think middle school choir and how uh choir has extend uh ascended up uh through uh and continues to be a wonderful program. Um, you know, that's a pretty good example of how staff sharing is possible and still seeing a uh really productive program. middle school choir uh has shared for years certainly longer than I have been that's been an elementary person that has conducted middle school choir uh and you know that's a model that we've seen work uh where you see the biggest change uh is middle school band uh in 2425 that was one this year that devotion of time was.56 and what I'm suggesting is is the
117right FTE for that position. High school band, I don't want you to say, well, we have a full-time band instructor. Those show up in additional high school music electives. Okay? So, that's just the specific time we devoted to the band courses, not other music courses. Okay? and and some of that sharing that takes place that takes you know if we have a high school band teacher teaching guitar for example which we had in 2425 uh if that individual moves down into the middle school they don't teach guitar somebody else has taken that responsibility away from them uh so you know that's how we you know help with the time commitment and the time burden but that's where you see the difference and or you won't see a difference in high school band. Same number of
118courses, same number of sections. High school choir, same number of of uh courses, some same number of sections. A high school orchestra is the same. Additional high school music electives, it's piano and guitar. That same commitment exists. Here's that open assignment or what I call those open assignments. um additional preps uh for orchestra uh beyond what's available for peers. Um that choir assist is is embedded in here and that 7 for um elementary orchestra that I've discussed a few times. And so right now this open assignment is based on the registrations that have happened so far. Um and the courses that are um that have been registered for thus far. Uh even with this 6.68 uh we see you know 0.28 equates to if you look at a high school schedule it's two hours two
119periods. So right now, even with offering these same courses at each of these levels and just using staff differently, leveraging staff in a different way, uh you still have 28 uh in FTE. So about two hours a day, like I said before, that point F.5 FTE relates to the closure. Uh as was referenced earlier uh with one of our speakers, I think it was Mr. Turfy. Uh we did have a potential expansion idea. It was certainly not ready for this conversation. Very much uh an idea and not anything that was fleshed out uh beyond some basic ideas. Uh but we have I I looked at you know Blue Jay athletic development. We have a bad program. So the students that are athletes, if they want to get greater athletic development, not extra practice time, but
120they can go and develop themselves physically. What if we had a program like that for music as well? Is that a better way to offer some enrichment opportunities than to offer another class that's competing with other electives and competing with other grad requirements? Is that a better way to do that? I don't know. I kind of wonder. I think like it it would be a good opportunity for enrichment. The other relates to elementary orchestra uh that I've talked about already. Um we don't always like peer district comparisons, but I think that they are uh relevant. You know, I looked at um like-sized peers and sometimes if you're old like me, you look at uh what districts did we used to compare to. So when I was a Dickinson High grad, we looked at Jamestown and
121Mandan and us in Dickinson, we were all the same size schools or relatively the same. Well, if you look at Mandan and and Dickinson now, there aren't they aren't comparable peers anymore. They're twice twice as big as we are, more than twice as big as we are. They're not a great comparison for us anymore to look at. Well, what does Mandan do or what what does Dickinson do? The likesized peers in our range 1,200 to 2500 are Mckenzie County which is Watford City, Jamestown, Devil's Lake, and Watton. Um, so if you look at how we compare to those districts, I think we actually compare really well. Uh, if you look at those schools, and actually a lot of the schools larger than us, at least all of the ones that I looked at, we have
122a better, so lower uh, studenttoteer ratio. So we have more teachers available for for fewer kids. Um so ours was the highest even at the current level which we're prop proposing to increase. So that could get all the way down to 285 uh to one. That's significantly lower than Dickinson. We Dickinson would be a great comparison here because they're significantly higher than 285. Uh JPS is one of two districts in our enrollment band that offer orchestra. That's us in Devil's Lake. Uh, and then all the districts that I talked to, these I should say these three districts, um, they all share staff or they just shifted from sharing staff. Uh, Watford City continues to grow and grow and grow. Uh, and they shifted away, but they have about 500 students more than we do, too.
123So, other considerations, these aren't always things that we like to talk about, but they are reality. Uh, we're declining in enrollment. Um, that enrollment has been contained to elementary. um but that those smaller classes are transitioning up into middle school and they're going to transition into high school. Uh adding staff uh in a declining enrollment environment is obviously problematic. Um and if we can offer the same courses and just staff them differently, leverage all the expertise that that our great teachers in music have, uh that seems a more sustainable model uh than adding staff in a declining enrollment environment. Uh the proposed staffing structure uh supports program enhancements already. So if there is a desire to have time to offer lessons during the school day. If we say boy, you know, this music development idea,
124that's not a very good idea. Okay, I'm fine with that. Uh but is it embedding lessons in the day? I would say we already have staff time um with our current contracted staff that would support that. You know, I showed you earlier 0 28. That's about two periods. And we already have that. If the desire is to offer lessons, if the desire is to offer new programs, I heard a comment from an elementary or I'm sorry, a high school administrator uh recently was talk about drum line. Well, if we want to add drum line, we have space in our schedule uh in our contracted people to be able to do that. I have the same concerns that staff have. uh are we you know adding programs means additional instructional prep time so that would be
125something that would have to be discussed but uh we certainly have it in our schedule. Uh the last thing that I had uh related to other considerations just the you know I talked earlier uh with the guiding coalition um and we're talking about schedule changes the schedule changes have potential to add greater flexibility. So now with already open positions or open assignments or what I called open assignments, if we create greater flexibility to offer electives and we can staff the current electives we have with our current contracted people right now, what are we going to do if we add a person and what are we going to do if we change a schedule and now even more options become available to the same or declining number of students? Uh I think that's another consideration that
126we need to look at. So the last slide that I had just key takeaways. Um no reduction in music opportunities are planned. No reductions in music opportunities have been discussed. Uh course offerings are going to remain the same uh at every level from kindergarten to to high school. Uh staff sharing is necessary. That's just the reality of what the environment we're looking. It's not abnormal. It's very typical uh for staff to share. We share across a lot of different curriculum areas and not just music. uh we do it across the board in a lot of different areas and we to be completely frank will have to do it more uh not just in music but in every area as we decline in enrollment uh and music participation varies somewhat year-to-year but it has remained fairly
127consistent at least from what I looked at as a percentage of enrollment so I'm hoping Mr. Roar that I answered your question with FTE. Uh and with that I would stand for other questions. >> Other questions from the board. Jamie. >> Um first of all the engagement from the community I love it. Thank you. I am just wondering I know that this translates on paper that it works well but as a parent of two middle school band students they did not get a rewarding experience this year. They missed Big Muddy Band Festival, Bismar Band Night hosting the solo and ensemble contest. There was no teacher available at parent teacher conferences. And by no means do I mean any disrespect to our two band teachers. They did a wonderful job splitting their time. But this was
128I know a co-pilot and like I said I know it translates on paper but as far as what we're offering our students I wouldn't say that we're offering them music opportunities. The middle school did not get music opportunities this year going to um a 7ft. Can you promise that those are opportunities that our kids would still get next year? I will say uh that I do not believe the schedule format uh prohibited us from doing some of those things. I think we could have worked those out. Um but regardless, they didn't. And um with a dedicated person, uh the same person doing six, seven, and eight, I I that would be no different than what it had been in 2425 in terms of that. Uh, like I said, I believe that we could have worked
129that out. Uh, and I'm disappointed that we didn't and that'll be addressed. But, um, but the reality is is it wouldn't be an issue with the same person regardless. We wouldn't have to, um, schedule that differently. >> I also just to kind of go off that the communication process in the way that parents were told that and students these things aren't happening. And then another email. >> I found out after you did. So, >> okay. We're gonna talk about it and we'll get back to you. I have yet to hear anything. I assume these things aren't happening as they need to be signed up for and planned out. So, that was disappointing as a parent. It was disappointing to my music students. >> It was disappointing to a superintendent, too. >> And I understand that.
130I I just hope that in the future we can be more transparent with pe with our parents, with our families. of instead of we're gonna figure it out and get back to you, just not hear from them again. That was very disappointing. Um, >> I agree with that and we will address it. >> I I also want to say I do understand that our district has tough fiscal decisions to make. I I get that. But maybe we also need to take a more comprehensive look into all electives. So when we are having to make these cuts, we can figure out what is least impacting our students, not just what is working from one resignation this year and and building off of that. So that's >> and that's why we completed the financial priorities. Uh we
131had our first meeting on uh each of those uh different strategies with our finance committee last when was it? >> It was two weeks ago. >> Couple weeks ago and we meet tomorrow. Uh that is I agree completely uh to have a a little more strategic surgical look at that instead of a reactionary one. Uh and that's what we've been working on. >> So Jason, I don't know Dan might have been first. Go ahead. Okay, go ahead, Dan. >> As most of you know, I do really appreciate Dr. Lex's analytical clarity and I thank you for pulling this together. Um, and really that that is your job that to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs and the financial impact of the district. I do have a couple of comments regarding methodology. Uh, and then this
132this whole analysis did bring up some pretty big issues kind of regarding our strategic priorities. Um, where do we want to be? what kind of school do we want to be? What kind of district do we want to be? And that's not an that's not a question that Dr. Le has to answer. That's our that's our problem to solve. Um guess so the qu the questions on methodology are um I kind of expected that this was a this position was going to be opened and it was opened but we didn't see any really success criteria about what would be considered this pilot would be considered a success and I don't think any of us would agree that this year has been a success. Um my concern is that when you do compare those two numbers
133up there, the 25 26 and then the 26 27 that.56 is awfully close to that 7 and it's a way it's a far cry from the 1.0 that we had last year. So the treating treating this year as a baseline I think is a very erroneous assumption and um you you kind of highlight that there are enhancements that could be happening those those enhancements what is what were happening when we had that full-time position. The the expansions that you're saying could be added as part of a elective system uh as as an expansion. Those things were happening with that 1.0 no full full-time equivalent. So I I want us as a board to be clear about what really was the baseline that drove our excellence and I think it was with that staffing that we
134had and what you proposed there is you know great from a fiscal and a you know how how how tight can we slice this I don't think we can afford to take the risk that next year uh ends up the same as this year um the plan that for those enhancements that were happening before I don't see it coming to fruition. If we don't have it already, we don't have a plan. And if we go ahead without adding this position, without hiring this person, I fear that we'll end up with sputtering for next year. And now we've lost two years. And this is a pretty strategic important pro um program. And so that's why I want to talk to the board about this as finance goes through this tomorrow. So Erin, Dr. um Dr. Dr.
135Larson and I go through this. We're going to be making some decisions about how do we prioritize the the the funding and and the resources. And right now we're trying to we're kind of balancing do we have all these extra electives which kind of dilute the brand or do we want to put these towards investing in a music program with the full-time equivalents that we have and then expanding that role into the other parts of the of the educational curriculum. So, the fact that we don't have a plan that would include these enhancements mean I think we're going to end up with the same year that we have this year next year. And that's a risk I'm I'm I don't want to support. >> Jason, >> quick question of clarification. Um transferring Miss Hawinson to
136the middle school. Um what are the other ramifications to staff on that? Well, there has to be a shift uh with uh we have staff that have other responsibilities. Uh we would shift from those responsibilities uh into elementary music to replace the time that Mrs. Hawinson, Miss Hawinson is at the middle level. Uh we're fortunate that we can do that in the sense that we had a a decrease in our e population much greater than what we anticipated when we closed Washington. We, as the board is aware, we shifted those students to Gustner Elementary, as you know, Gustin and Roosevelt. Um, you know, we we felt like we're going to have higher numbers and a number of those students left us. And so, we do have flexibility at time uh to be able to offer
137that um you know, and shift that time. >> I don't want to take up too much more time here, but um I do want to echo some of what Mrs. Bear said about um course offerings. The number of course offerings does not equate to an enriched experience for students. I would actually see I would actually like to see us maybe offer a few less offerings if it means that our students at the middle school can have a dedicated person. the the student or person after person stood up here and said that you know middle school years are formative very important so many of them need somebody who's here in the building and on on campus all day and I feel very strongly about that um and we you know we keep using the word leverage
138our staff and I'll I'll throw it out there to me leverage equates to burnout and If if we're nickel and dimming the FTEES to death, there are just some times when education is not efficient. And I think the music music not that were not efficient. But the point is like Dan said, we're not going to be able to just slice this thing, squeeze the blood out of the turnup and expect our staff to be fulfilled, our programs to be fulfilled. Um, I think that's important for us to remember, too. And the fact that, like Mrs. Bear said some of our our students lost some opportunities this spring is very concerning to me. Um especially since they were they were uh de or very traditional programs that that we offered. Um you know other than that
139I just I just want to say you know if efficiency can only go um so far I think we have to take a step back. financials are not the best, but we always need to take a step back and look at the impact it's not only having on students, but our staff and our community. And I would just like to echo what Dan said in that I don't think we can afford another year like this year. >> Aaron >> or Jacob, sorry, you're sharing a mic, so Jacob, go ahead. Uh, no, this is a good summary of what Dan and Jason u both just said. Um, have we as a district identified what the minimum offerings we want to be through our music program at each level? And once we do that, are we meeting
140the minimum requirements to teach those successfully? From what we've heard tonight, it sounds like that did not happen this year. Um, and then to kind of reiterate what Jason said, um, you know, looking at what a.7 FTE would be at the middle school band level. Um, how are we splitting that 7 from a real person? And then, you know, do we need to cut some FTE levels, some class offerings at different levels to cover it? Like, is that a sacrifice that we're willing to make? Um, and if we are going to need to make that kind of sacrifice, you know, how do we compare that to what we view the minimum requirements to teach a a successful music program? >> Um, >> do you mind if I have Mr. Gayler come forward? >> Yep. >>
141Um, so Jacob, when you say cutting offerings, you're talking cutting staff. And so I want to have Mr. not necessarily staff, but like so we have a piano class, we have a guitar class, and I'm sure if we cut those, they're going to be students that are going to be devastated. But if we're offering certain classes at certain levels at the sacrifice of the entire music department, I mean, I think that's something we need to look at as a department or as a district to say, you know, and that's where then it gets into the confusion of we've got FTEEs. And it's just like sometimes it's hard to compare how does an FTP FTE compare to a real person driving from uh building to building during the course of a day. Um I mean that's
142thing I think there's some disconnect there that's hard to visualize for some of us for me at least. >> Yep. Sure. I I have Mr. So this is a complex matrix and we give our students lots of opportunities at Jamestown public school which I think is is amazing and so can you talk about um and I'm not as familiar with the middle school but like at least the high school but maybe both how we choose course offerings electives and then at the same time ensure that all of our staff have full-time contracts because that's our hope >> you must have quite a bit of time. That's no. Um okay. So the um new course proposal process usually starts in October and the board would see any of those new course proposals that are coming up.
143Those are uh almost always organically driven by staff. So you referenced the example of of guitar. Uh that was actually something Mr. Bondley when if those of you who remember Mr. Bonley was here. Amazing band teacher, built uh huge numbers in the band, you know, great relationships with kids. Um and um the department chair at that time, Cheryl McIntyre, Mr. Bonley was teaching a study hall, you know, a person who builds great relationships with kids, has a love for music, and was teaching a study hall. And so we came to the board and said, I think it was probably 2017 or 18 at that time, we'd like to add guitar. We have this North Dakota state or North Dakota arts department grant to purchase the guitars. Um, and there's no impact to staff time. We
144want more kids to have access to music. Even if they didn't choose that as a sixth grader entering into band, we wanted another way to welcome them into music. And so that's how new courses are developed over time. Uh, then when kids register each year, and Mr. Heinri's in the throws of this right now because the state uh change to infinite campus is accelerating our timeline from what we normally would do. We collect all the registration information and kids sign up for classes. Then we'll get a list of numbers similar to what Dr. Le showed for projections for next year and then we start to talk with department chairs. So Mr. Heinri's doing that currently. He talks to the department chair. This for music that would be Mrs. Michael Linko now. Um, but you sit
145down and you say, "How many sections do we allocate based on these numbers?" And you start to lay out what the schedule uh could look like. Then at some point in the spring, it becomes obvious what your staffing looks like and uh you lay your schedule out and then you take all of those course requests and you do a load. So, you're loading these into the system. This will make sense to the computer science folks in the room. each uh course has a number that's associated with it. They're all prime numbers. Uh that's just the way that the scheduling software works. And so you have a priority assigned to which classes are going to uh fill first. So music uh has the highest priority in filling those classes in a student's schedule first. That's just
146simply the what was handed to me in our scheduling priority and that's uh what continues in in powers school today. So that's how those those classes uh fill. Then uh once you've get got a load you get a percentage says it's you know 85% of students had their course request satisfied. you can then manipulate the variables and say, okay, what if we move orchestra from fifth hour to 7th hour. Um, which we tried to do in a couple schedule models over the years. It didn't work. We just left things where they were. Um, but anyway, once you've once you've moved things uh around to where you're satisfying additional student requests to the degree that you can, then you've got a schedule that you commit to that schedule. and then it uh becomes the counselor's work
147over the summer or administrative work over the summer to try to balance all the class sections. Then you might have a resignation, a surprise resignation in June or July and it upsets your whole schedule and you're uh trying to restaff and reallocate um you know in a really short time frame. So it changes it evolves from the time that kids register for classes. We get those that number of requests and then we do the load and we see what percentage are satisfied within it and then we um go through a process in the summer trying to balance sections so that somebody doesn't end up with 29 students in an English class when we have four and another one. >> I don't know if that was exactly what you're looking for but new course request >>
148as long as he's there. Does anyone have questions for Mr. Gail or Dan? So you mentioned the electives that were part of this registration process. Some of the feedback I've gotten some pe from people is they were understanding that you picked music or these electives. >> Are you're referring to the middle school? >> I'm referring to the middle school that the the question and some of the parents that I've talked to have said that was a really hard choice. And so by offering the issue of offering this many electives, granted, yes, I I believe, you know, like you said, they're offered by the teachers, this is something to fill that time, but by offering that, are we cannibalizing one of our project, one of our pro um programs, which probably has an even bigger impact.
149And so yeah, the analytics are great, but I've got a very I got a big concern that we're cannibalizing our own program and creating a situation that that will not be supported. So I I would just push back on that a little bit, Dan, is is we have 30% of our of our students are in band as an example, right? That means 70% are not. And so those 70% of students that band is not their path. And that's okay. And in those students right now are in a study hall. What's a better opportunity to engage them like we're tasked to do and improve engagement for students? uh is it better to ask them to sit in a study hall uh or is it better to engage them in different opportunities that can build relationships with
150other teachers, build relationships with their peers, uh involve and I understand what you're saying about can I I do I do get it but I'm but my concern is still that we have we want to engage all kids not just one subgroup subset of kids we want to engage all kids and make sure that they have opportunities because not every kid is a musician not every kid is an athlete not every kid is a DTE kid. Not every kid loves computer science. We need to have a broad set of offerings that engage kids. My concern about what what you referenced was that we would uh and and while I understand the cannibalization, I want to make sure that there's something for every kid. >> Okay. Understood. You're talking you're talking to somebody who who was
151a band kid but wasn't passionate about it. And so I I understand that but and but also the massive value that provided. Um I guess to kind of clarify that question that you had or that comment you made. So if a child chooses band it will that will get the priority over the other electives. >> I have not scheduled at the middle school um but I can look that up easily in within power school. the way that uh the numbering system works at the high school, the music classes get that priority for filling a student's schedule. So if if they were put up against, you know, if they had AP CELK and wind ensemble at the same time, which I tried once, I don't know why I thought that would work, but it did it
152did not work. Uh so then we redid the the schedule and Mrs. McIntyre said, "See, that's why you don't move that." But uh the anyway uh it was it was filling wind ensemble and kids were saying but I want AP calc too and so you um it it's going to fill those music courses first and the bigger concern I had was this perception that it was either this or this. So I don't know if that's something that we need to clarify but the the registration form that they were they were referencing may gave them the impression that you had one or the other. So probably more just a clarification >> from a middle school scheduling standpoint. We're very early in the scheduling process, but as I said before, the infinite campus switch and you know,
153a deadline of March 27th to start our production site for next year is a huge acceleration of the timeline. And I think that um Mr. Knox had that back to, you know, roll that communication out differently. he would have, but we're we're under a pretty tight time crunch in this instance. >> Understood. I think it's still worth a clarification. >> We can get that clarified to middle school families. And just so everyone knows, the infinite campus choice was at the state level. We we just have to follow the deadlines. And so there are things, many things that are are getting crunched because of of the the switch. And so I'm hearing good things about Infinite Campus. Hopefully they are good things. Aaron, did you have something? Were you raising your hand? Yeah. Okay, >> my
154turn. >> Okay, >> thank you. Um, yeah, I kind of want to there there's I'm kind of g uh getting the impression of a there's a a theme here and uh I think we all have some level of ownership in it. Um I don't want, you know, to simply point the finger at Dr. Le and say, "What are you doing here? What's going on?" I think the board uh as a whole has a has a responsibility here, too. And I think there's um some gaps that we need to fill. Um but with that uh you know I concur with with Dan and and Jamie and what you know what they were saying. Um from my perspective when I look at the data and I get the data on terms of FTE and and all that
155analysis with that. Uh one of the things that's missing within there is um when we start splitting things up and we start creating interfaces between schools, between students, between uh curriculum, between teachers and it it becomes a very complex matrix of interfaces. How many how much stuff are we asking one person to manage in a given day? And that's not something that's coming across in that FTE analysis. It's a it's a great financial way to look at it, but in a practical application, I don't think we can ignore the fact that um you know there there's those other elements of complexities when we start splitting things up 7 here, 28 here, 0.05 here. So we need to come up with a way to make sure we understand what that means to the to the practical
156application of it. Um now in defense when we had this discussion uh as far as uh um you know do we fill this position of the full-time band teacher? Do we try to split this up? Do we follow some hybrid model of the pilot program whatnot? Honestly that's been primarily a financial type of discussion. So what's missing here and in being on both the finance committee and the strategic planning committee is we are not giving the administration the direction from a strategic standpoint on where we want the district to go. I get you know it feels like we're we're asking them to guess just deal with what you have. Um in my opinion we're kind of in a recovery mode on being where we were with the music program. Um, and it's not just a
157sustainment thing, we're in a recovery thing. And that's really a strategic decision and not just a financial decision. So, I think we're as a board, we're not giving the administration the direction that we need to give them because looking at the big picture, you know, it's not just the music program. It's there's a million half dollars that we're deficit spending here. And how do we deal with that? Well, it's better to have it from a strategic standpoint than just a pure financial standpoint and dealing with what's in front of us here today. So, I think, you know, we should engage the strategic planning committee and we should look at the bigger picture and we should be giving clear direction on where the administration should be uh going with, you know, an issue like this. So,
158>> yeah, thank you. And you know, we started the finance committee, we started um some discussion about the prioritization and we I mean, we were met for an hour and a half, but we still have lots of work to do and and we have another meeting um tomorrow and so we'll continue to >> to work on those, but and I and I and I get the strategic planning also. We have the engagement and we want to continue to monitor monitor engagement. >> Yeah. But it's uh there is a strategic element that needs to be a part of the discussion that is not there today. And so sitting on that finance committee and then having these types of discussions, it's hard for me to say, you know, we got to deal with this million half dollar
159deficit and then oh yeah, but I want you to go spend extra money over here. I don't want you to look for efficiencies. Um, so we're missing that highlevel direction for the district and I think that's a gap that we need to fill from a strategic planning perspective. Anyone else have a question for Mr. Gayler as long as he's standing up there? No. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gayler. I appreciate your your time. Any other questions for Dr. Luck? >> Can I make one more comment? >> Sure. Just if I can make one more time comment, I just want to kind of bookmark or bookend this whole thing with, you know, again come coming back to an appreciation for all the, you know, the 16 people that came and shared their perspective, the different people that
160um some of those included, but that shared um the feedback through communication or um at least the one individual that gave me a call uh on this and the ability to talk through uh but you know, just an appreciation for sharing of perspective. This doesn't have to be a binary decision, right? It's not we do this or we don't like music or we do this or we don't like that or we do this and we don't care about the budget. All of those thing, they don't have to be mutually exclusive things. We're gaining a lot of different perspective and a lot of different feedback and we have to make decisions on what it is that we want to do. And I don't disagree with Mr. Roberts on this. Um there are efficiency conversations that are
161important. We have to have them. um and we have to have them with some other discussions that come. But you know the like I said these aren't binary things. You know we're we're having this conversation doesn't mean we don't care about a program doesn't care that it doesn't mean that when we talk about staff sharing that doesn't mean we don't care about the staff experience. Both of these things can be accurate. You know we can care about our staff and care about their workload and and have expectations for how we're utilizing staff in the best possible way. Uh and I do think we have some competing priorities that we need to have real honest conversations around you know um whether it is you know we have staff to do the things that we want to
162do now uh or we don't want to share those staff or we don't want to share between buildings and we accept that we aren't going to share them in between buildings then what are we going to ask them to do in that time that they have a full contract. what are the other things we're going to ask them to do if we're not going to ask them to share and we're ask them to uh add staff you know right now I've showed you what courses are already available and we also had conversation about well maybe we need to reduce staff uh and or not reduce staff reduce some of the electives and prioritize other activities those are competing things right I mean we don't want to share but we want to add uh we want
163to cut electives but we want to make sure that people have things to do what I don't want to do is is well two things. One, bring a staff member to Jamestown that's made a commitment to our community and to our school and two years from now we're reducing them because we have smaller numbers because we didn't want to share. We didn't want to share staff. That to me is is is a mistake uh and not something I could do in good conscience. Bringing people to our community and asking them to make a life here. Uh I wouldn't want to do that. Um I had another point, but it's lost on me now in the in the end of the day. But but like I said, you know, competing priorities and I just want to
164make sure that um we're thinking of this holistically. >> Jason, >> I I don't think the debate here is the sharing of staff. To me, the debate is understanding the reality every day in the program and looking past the and I I I just want to make sure that that's at the forefront of this um the overall experience for for the students. We can say we can say on a chart that we're engaging them. What does that mean to them? And I will say everybody in this room, whether you're sitting around the board, whether you're an administrator, whe whether you're in the audience, everybody here cares about a high quality education that's well-rounded. And that includes music. Nobody is saying different. >> Yep. And I would agree with that. And I do appreciate also the
165there were people that reached out and and just, you know, qu had questions like, I I'm hearing this. Can you explain it more? And I and I do appreciate that people are reaching out and and asking for for clarification. Dan, you had one more thing. >> Yeah, thank you for bringing up the the counter risk that we're looking at. If we bring somebody here and for some reason numbers plummet or we can't we can't support anymore. You you don't you don't want to do that. And to Aaron's point, that's why this is such a strategic decision because if we do this um if we if we do this, that means we're going whole hog. We're going to have to make spots that will integrate the music into the rest of the the educational curriculum and
166that would be part of a know what kind of school district do we want to go go be? So that that would be the counter question. I do have a question on timeline. If contracts are going out now, if if for whatever reason, you know, we want to talk about it in finance and then they'll have the strategic plan that takes time. Um, are we going to end up in the same position where we can't find somebody if we decide that we do need this full-time person? Are we going to run ourselves into the same problem as we ran into last year? >> Well, you have you have the recommendation that I believe is the most reasonable one. Uh, and that's was has been in the presentation and and what I feel meets all of
167our existing need. um re as reasonably as we can. Um I think as a finance committee tomorrow, you start to engage in that conversation and we get some direction from then. The position is posted. Um we aren't uh you know, we're in the early stages of negotiation. So I don't think you have to worry about contracts being sent out just yet. Uh and even if you did, you'd have the ability to continue to have those conversations. Um, but I mean really it comes down to um, you know, do you want to add a staff member or not? Um, and then if if the district adds a staff member, I need to figure out what it is that they're going to do. >> Melissa, I'm getting probably way off topic here on what we're I am,
168but I'm not. Um, one of the concerns has been that the middle schoolers are not able to go to the Big Muddy and to the band night. Um, is there a way that music boosters or parents or somebody could volunteer to go and take those or is that a liability issue that it is not legally able to be done? >> Well, Big Muddy is over. Um, you know, I had a future future. This is not a structural issue. This was a choice uh to not go to those activities. We could have worked that out and that won't happen again. >> Dan, go ahead again. Then Steve has a comment. Go ahead, Dan. >> So the the proposal that you have um has that been vetted by all the stakeholders? Has that been have the music
169teachers all sat down and >> No. Okay. just in the sense of the overarching conversation around models and you know what that look like but not at a at a >> you think that's something deeper level >> I mean do you think that would be helpful for the finance and the strategic plan committee to help help us as part of our assessment >> well that's kind of my point on understanding all the different interfaces and touch points and what does it actually mean from a from a day-to-day activity I get the whole FTE uh count and how that but I don't have a good impression or understanding when like you say having one person managing 27 different interfaces throughout the day. How efficient and effective are they in that in that day-to-day operation? That's one
170thing I I I don't get a good impression on um with those numbers >> because you need to see a schedule to look at that and to see how how many shifts people are being expected to make. I get that. >> Yeah. How how many times have we been asking them to stop and start and stop and start and and you know and again with the effectiveness and and all that. I don't and again with that though I don't know that it's my job as a board member to tell you how to manage that. I'd rather attack it from a more strategic point and give you you know these are this is the direction that I think we should go and then that's on you to to manage that level of interfaces. That's not my
171job. Um so it's it's but I the clear giving you the clear direction I feel is is our job. So um yeah >> Aaron and I learned more about how complex our scheduling is in the last two weeks one more question then Steve has something. >> Okay. Uh so so I guess do we have a schedule that we want to tackle this within finance? I know we're meeting tomorrow but then when would there be a strategic plan committee to have that discussion? What kind of timeline can we expect before making a final call? >> Our general timeline for strategic plan is June is when we start to look at that. Uh because we do that annual revision. If there's significant changes to that, that's when that traditionally has occurred. It doesn't mean it has to
172occur that way, but I'm just saying that's the, you know, when you ask a typical timeline, that's when it is. We can. Yeah, we can schedule from a committee standpoint. Yeah. >> Yeah, we can schedule a committee, but finance is going to need at least one more meeting, maybe two. So, because there's just a lot of stuff to dig through and it it's taken a lot of our time. And >> Mr. Gayler is going to be at our finance committee tomorrow, correct? And so, you have some faux schedules, not necessarily a perfect schedule, but some schedules that we could look at to answer the question of competing shifts. How many times are we asking you to change gears? It's not going to be perfect, but it gives you a sense. >> And I don't know
173all the details of the guiding coalition, but I know that one of the discussions is the the movement between buildings and how to how to make that efficiency. We we do have staff that move between buildings. Um, with our size, it's it it it's a thing. Um, and how can that be more efficient, too? So, I know that at some point I I don't know how detailed it was, but I I just heard a comment that there was some discussion there. Steve, you had a question, comment, >> maybe just a comment. Um, I appreciate everybody that reached out and emailed and and spoke tonight. Uh, but I guess I just I appreciate even more everybody that is still here um engaging maybe silently but informing themselves and uh showing interest in this. And maybe we
174maybe we talk about um making foot uh cuts to middle school football and we could fill the the whole area with a completely different crowd next time. But um I just I want to say thanks for spending the time with us tonight. If no other comments, we'll move on with our agenda for tonight. Um, we have nothing under old business, under new business, nothing under activities, buildings, grounds, curriculum, assessment, instruction under finance. Approval of the 2026 summer school fee schedule and staffing. Is there a motion? Motion by Jamie. Second by Jason. We have a motion and second for approval of the 2026 summer school fee schedule and staffing. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? If not, assuming roll call vote, all those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. Under general
175fund balance or monthly financial reports, those are there for your information. Does anyone have questions for Christy at this time on those? Okay. At any time, feel free to contact her. Moving into operations. Approval to revise the schoolboard meeting schedule to Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Dan. >> Second by Melissa. We have a motion, a second for approval to revise the schoolboard meeting schedule to Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? If not, assuming roll call vote, all those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. Under personnel, accept a letter of resignation for the 2025 to 2026 extended contracts for semester two. JHS, Kim Carpenter, Cody Mickelson, Denise Woods, Cassandra Redburn, Lynn Kosal, Tim Brandom, Carlo
176Rosario, Morgan Hair, Steve Hyde, Brad Honado, Amy Igel, Deb Krebs, Phil Kraber, Chantel Har, and Jared Bartles. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Melissa. >> Second by Dan. We have a motion, a second for approval, letter resignation of 2025 to 2026 extended contracts from semester 2. And I just want to clarify for the public that these are just their extended things that they teach, not their regular things because sometimes I get questions about that. So we have a motion, a second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? If not, assuming roll call vote, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. Moving to policies and procedures. Nothing. Tuition approval of tuition agreement for Pingry Beyond School. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Melissa. Second by Jason. We have a motion,
177a second for approval of a tuition agreement. Any discussion? Any discussion? Any discussion? If not, assuming roll call vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion approved. Board election is there for your information. Items for future agenda. Are there any items? You know, Dr. Le, we do measure engagement for um under um in our strategic plan and it was actually fantastic to hear about the great experiences our students here had in music. Do you think we could maybe even once a month bring in students that are engaged in different things in our district and just talk about how they're involved? And um I know we get our student council report, but that's a little different. I if they're willing, if the students are willing and the and the program leads
178are are willing, I think >> yeah, we can work on something >> something like that. Okay. Any other other items for future agenda? >> Okay. If not, moving on. Meetings to be scheduled. Administrator negotiation session Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. in the district office conference room. Finance committee meeting Tuesday, March 17th, 2026, 5:30 in the district office conference room. Teacher negotiations, Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 at 4:30 in the Thompson community room. Teacher negotiation session Wednesday, March 25th, 4:30 p.m. The Thompson Caner at the Middle School District School Improvement Committee on Thursday, March 26th, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. The library at the high school. Teacher negotiation session on Wednesday, April 1st, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. The Thompson Community Room, the middle schoolboard meeting Monday, April, no, Tuesday. It was approved now. I'm just looking
179at April 7th. Thank you. Um, in the Thompson community room at the middle school. And then reminder that our our April is it 20th meeting is going to be at the arts center and then we'll have a tour of the the space that we've invested um in the arts and we'll have our we'll have our meeting there. So I'm looking forward to that possible executive session to discuss negotiation strategies. Is there a motion? Jason, >> I believe that the discussion with our negotiations and developing a strategy relative to the school board's petition in this matters in open session would have an adverse fiscal effect on negotiations position of the board. Therefore, I move that the board enter into executive session and that the following members of the negotiators be identified as being president. Present. School
180board members Jamie Bear, Melissa Gleason, Heidi Larson, Owen McKenna, Jason Roar, Dan Tweeton, and Steve Belcampamp. Superintendent Robert Le, district's improvement Adam Gayler, and business manager Christy Grounds. That the date and time are what is today? >> March 16th at 8:15. uh and that the only the only topic to be discussed or considered is negotiation strategies. The that the legal authority for the executive session is section 44-04-9.1 of the North Dakota Sentry Code and that the executive session be recorded. >> There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second by Owen. We have a motion, a second. Any discussion? Any discussion? If if not, assuming roll call vote, all those in favor say I. >> I oppose. same sign. Motion approved. Um we will take a 5m minute bio break before heading into executive session
181since we've been here for a while. Also, we will return to this room to close out the meeting for in in regular open session following the executive session to discuss negotiation strategies. Okay. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.