001I'll call the meeting to order at 7 a.m. It is Tuesday, October 21st, 2025. And we will stand als for all. Hey, you guys have the information and approval of the agenda before you. Um, I would request that we take item two, quarterly board self evaluation and move it to our November meeting because board president dropped the ball into the education. I get a motion. >> Sol. Okay. >> Seconds. All in favor say I. >> All opposed. Sign. Motion passes. 5. Uh, welcoming of visitors, public comment and communications. I believe we have communications. Um, we have a letter um addressed to to me um to inform that our business manager, Shannon Jeffson, has completed the 15 credits needed for reertification through the North Dakota School Business Manager Certification Program. On behalf of the North Dakota
002School Business Manager Certification Program, we commend Shannon for her dedication and accomplishment. Um, sincerely Patty Riddle. Um, Shannon also received a certificate in recognition for that after school to speech out there. So, congratulations to Shannon and thank you for all of your work. All right, next is this. >> Thank you really. >> You want me to page? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> There um a thank you of a sympathy, but I'm only seeing one page of it here. >> Yeah. Only it was from Jan Thomas. That was Joe Roodin's mother-in-law, mother of Laon Rodin, and grandmother of Rachel. So, that was Thank you for We did a book for them. >> And then the last one, um I had received this uh via another um via Lacy Anderson. She was the one that um nominated Rich
003Mogul for the Hall of Fame. So I let her know that um we would read this during the meeting. So Rich says, "Just wanted to send a sincere thank you to the members who saw me worthy of being inducted to the Oaks High School Hall of Fame. Quite an honor though I am proud of my contributions. I am humbled knowing it takes community to do things we did and Oaks is a blessed community to have so many who are willing to contribute so many ways. We really enjoyed coming back and seeing friends and family and was extra special that Don Bo and his sons Cody and Don Bo and his sons Cody and Rachel along with my siblings were able to attend. Um you were able to share this with those who voted me and
004I would appreciate it. That was from Rich Baline. All right, moving on. Welcoming our visitors public comment and communications. I don't think we have any public comments. We have Dave. Hi Dave. Scoot over. Mr. Lynch and Mr. Schneider here with us today. Um, and then some we have icon visiting Sue Skellyy report. All right. Anything else? Okay. Move on to 2A. Wave the first reading and approve the second reading and adoption of the amended policy AAA philosophy. Anna, do you want to explain that just a little bit? >> Sure. >> Yeah. So when we um went through when we met together and we did the training with um B Legendary, we had a lot of conversations about getting the new A+ back and I'm recommending that we update our student outcome goals to reflect the
005new assessment tool. Um I'm also suggesting setting this year's results as our new benchmark and adjusting our target from 80% to a more attainable yet challenging goal of 70%. So, we've gone through our data and we've looked on that and looking at our historical and felt like we wanted to do something that was more attainable. Um, you know, looking at our children that are scoring below the 10th percent or children that are on IEPs, you know, just looking at that and wanting to get something that it we can reach. This will maintain our focus of improvement while ensuring realistic progress. So to move forward, I recommend waiting the first reading, approving the second, and adopting the amended policy so we can move forward with our work to meet our amended goals. So policy AA is
006on the philosophy of the public schools and then that would include the new goals there. So >> do I have um motion to do everything that Anna just said? [laughter] >> Motion, right? Do I have Sheila seconds? Is there any discussion on this? Any discussion? Any discussion? Okay. Um, we need to take a roll call. >> Okay. Would you like to do that? >> Good motion. Brian Z. >> Patty Kelly. >> Yes. >> Brian Rosen Doll. >> Yes. >> Sheila Nagel. >> Yes. >> Veronica. >> Yes. Motion passes 5 Z. >> Oh, we do all of our documents and share out. Okay. Um, moving on to item B, goal progress monitoring amendments. >> Okay, so I've amended the goal progress monitoring using our historical data which I, you know, shared with you in the packet
007to better predict our new student outcome goals because we talked about, you know, we had started at 40% for our goal progress monitors on STAR. We moved it up to 50%, but we still just it was not aligning. So went through and did an analysis and feel like that we need to raise that up. So um from 50 we want to move it up to 65%. And then another thing that I did was um I amended our final goal from 80% to 70%. And then I also adjusted the dates so it would be another fiveear span and then that would align with our new goals. So the goal progress monitoring would be 65th percentile star for both um uh goal progress monitoring one goal one and goal two also. So amended those. >> Okay. Um,
008since our since our goal progress monitoring belongs to the superintendent, we do not need to approve that. But, um, I would look for a motion to accept those changes. >> Kelly, do I have a second? >> Is that your second? Do we need a roll call on that since you're just accepting it? So, >> um, I'll approve say I. >> I. >> All same. Motion passes by Z. All right. We'll move on to the summary of report goal number one ELA. >> Okay. So, I did align this with the new um the new goals instead of staying with the old ones. And um I'll grade you might follow that up. So, the new student outcome goal will read, "Ops will increase the percentage of students who are proficient or above in grades three through eight
009and grade 10 ling English language arts as measured by the North Dakota State A+ summitive assessment from 50%." So, that's our baseline. So, getting a new baseline starting this year in May 2025 to 70% in May 2030. And then I also adjusted the annual baseline targets and I looked to see where our cohorts of kids are. Um at the beginning I had smaller increments steps for it just simply because we're just getting into these new goals, you know, looking at how the new summitive assessment is and then having bigger um steps as we get further into the process. So in 2025 we're at 50%. So that's our new baseline which great. Do you mind going with the graph? I made a clear um delineation between Oops. Oh, I'm sorry that this is there was another
010one. Great. Sorry. Did I Aha. There it is. Okay. So I made the clear distinction of the old assessment and the new assessment and then I readjusted and gave the baseline of the 50th percentile um for this year um starting again and then at 2026 you can see it's 52% and then 55%. So but then we're going to start to ramp it up um to 60 65 and then 70th percentile by 2030. Now next month when I bring back the math it's going to be very similar that but except for the in math we were at the 51st percentile on state assessment. So just and maybe just a warning on this too. So this is our data that we've gotten right now from the state for NDSA A+. Right now, the state is going through
011and they're compiling the data and they'll go through and the kids that have only that have not been here, there's certain number of days those scores will be parsed out and if um so it may adjust our numbers a little bit, but we're going to stay with these numbers because these are the numbers that we've gotten because in the spring we'll be getting this the the data right away also that the state wouldn't have parsed that out. Takes them a little while. We're supposed to have it up on our dashboard that'll be available to the public in the next, they keep pushing it back. I think they said November now. So, but this is um our first year of the results from the new NDSA plus data. I mean, we've talked about a lot of
012these things, but just for the public, um the results arrived later this year and in the future, they're expected to be returned soon after the test is completed. Um I recommended the change in the goal, but here's something I wanted to point out. With this first year, really our comparison is with the rest of the state. And in ELA, compared to the state in North Dakota, OPS scored an average of 10 points higher in each tested grade. Every grade we score higher than the state other than third grade, so an average of 10 points. I believe our focus on personalized competency based learning and the use of our state standards as basis of our curriculum is key to our strong performance. talked to other people when I went out to conference, you know, and they
013were disappointed in their in their scores. And I really believe it's because of our focus on our standards. Our teachers know that our principles share the blueprints. They know what's going to be on the A+. They they they know what their priority standards are. So, they're focused on that. So, we'll continue to improve our alignment of assessments to our standards. It's always a continuous thing, you know, using our proficiency skills, um perfecting those proficiency skills. Our professional development focus this year remains on learner centered assessment underneath our gold progress measures and that's number two. It guarantees that we will continue moving forward in this endeavor and we'll be revisiting this guardrail in January. Our late start Wednesdays include time dedicated to digging into that state assessment data triangulation with our progress monitoring. Um now we're
014working on creating MTSS which is the multi-tered systems of support. A high school is sending a team to it. Our elementary is sending a team to it. So, we're looking at all of these different pieces and um that is what that's what's next for us and on the horizon and ways to continue growing and working towards meeting our goals. Tomorrow I'll be presenting to the staff or we'll be talking to the staff about our new um goals, you know, so that we can communicate that out to them and and that understanding. So, I but I believe the principles have already talked a little bit about our changes in our STAR because that's a difference, right? 15th to 65th, but that's, you know, when we get into the progress monitoring. >> So, how will OS communicate
015progress and celebrate milestones with staff, students, and >> yeah, so, uh, we kind of talked a lot about that during that. I wrote some things down for that. Um, we talked about that when we were at our training that, you know, putting the goals up for everybody to see. Where do we get the most visitors? Our lobby, right? So having those there, showing the progress toward towards those, the changes in our goals, um, communicating that out. We haven't been really good about sending it directly to the parents. So today or tomorrow, soon here, I will be communicating all of this out to, you know, the parents directly. It'll be just going right to them instead of expecting them to go to our website. Just being more intentional in our communication. And you know, some of
016the parents might not enjoy receiving as many emails from me, but I feel like if I'm more intentional myself, um principles will be working with their teachers. They'll be talking about ways to um communicate that piece out. But then I'll also be relying on you as you start down that path of, you know, pulling in the community and, you know, meeting our guard rails of making sure that that's what we're doing as a as a forward. So I'm hoping all the way along being very intentional in the things that we're doing and you know >> one thing is great that you know we perform so well that there >> um how will the district ensure consistency in instructional expectation across grade levels under the new assessment model. So continued focus on those standards, you know,
017making sure that as the as the principles are working with the teachers that they're staying focused on those, ensuring that we're buying high quality instructional materials that are aligned to those those standards, but just remain focused on those standards to ensure that we're doing all of that stuff. You know, we saw that variance with third grade this year, but you know, as we dug into our data, we know why there was that variance on that. Um, but the standards are strong, right? And I know um Greg and Jordan have been digging more and deeper after our training. So um we were looking at our interm assessments from A+, you know, and using those interm assessments to see if they align. We felt like our overall I'm going to just speak for the elementary if you're
018okay with that. Greg Greg broke that down. Overall, we felt like our interm assessments were predictive of our summitive. Are there some things? Yes. But then now we can look at those kids that it wasn't predictive of and we can start to dig deeper into that piece of it. So using all of our different data star inclass assessments all those pieces and making sure that they align and finding those things that we can focus in on in order to provide you know interventions or extra supports or whatever that we need to provide. um what's a way that we can communicate to the public that we are not so that the whole conception that we're teaching towards a test like how do we communicate that the standards are there because this is what kids need to
019know and that's what the test is >> that's a really >> I feel like there's so much discussion in our group or in our meetings about the A+ and how we're so focused on that we're so focused on stars so then that perception gets out there that no, you're just teaching towards the test. Well, why are we doing that? >> I I think if we I think it used to be a dirty word or a thing that we weren't supposed to do was like teach towards the test. People just thought that that was the end goal. But I think now that our standards are there and we need to just keep going back to the fact that standardsbased, our teachers know their standards. Everything we do is aligned with that. you know, proficiency scales. Even
020our teachers um uh their evaluations are based on if they're using their standards and personalized learning and you know, all those different pieces, but I don't Great Jordan, I don't know if you guys want to add something to that. That's a good question. >> It's the test is the standards which is what focuses. So, I've been teaching you the test essentially. Yes. But it's also the standards that have been assigned us for the state of Northakota, >> right? And I I think that we all understand that. I just think it's that >> the perception. >> It's that perception like well that's not how it was done when I was a kid like how do we how do we break that barrier and explain that better to people? I mean we as a board need to
021do better of it too like we don't have the inside stuff that you guys have. So >> I think part of it goes to our work with standard space grading >> like because we've shifted to K12 standard space grading. um that that again is just another step towards it's all about we're teaching to these standards. So I think part of it has to rely on that like this is one of the key reasons we made this shift is because it all aligns back to the standards the test the like the everyday work that we do uh has to go back to the standards. That's really think about that, right? It's again, it goes to everything that we're doing and why we're making this shift because I know standards based reporting is really hard for people
022to understand, especially in the high school and why we're doing it, you know, but I think we just stay the course and we just keep communicating and um using all of our tools and staying focused on what we know is right. >> Any other questions on the summit report for quarter one? Um, okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to accept the report. >> Make a motion. >> Do I have a second? >> N seconds. All in favor say I. All >> oppose. Say sign. Motion passes. 5 Z. Uh, moving on to the goal progress monitoring report for goal number one, ELA. >> Um, okay. So this is I mean these are kind of getting lumped together right just in this month but okay so we've already so we're left not left behind but this
023was previous right was the A+ so now this will be predictive of next year's A+ so as we move forward so again um I amended the goal progress monitoring to help us better predict our performance um so we're now at 65% versus 50% um in the high school just before we get into this in the ele I don't know if elementary is looking at the star but in the high school we talked about this all of our rewards and everything that we have built in for our kids were based on that 50th percentile and we're not going to change it in the middle of the game because we did not feel that that was fair to kids to say all of a sudden you need to be at the 50 or at the 65th percentile
024but we are going to use the 65th percentile because the whole reason that we're doing star is to predict how we're going to do on the A+ and the 50th percent was not a good predictor of it. It was giving us false information. So that's why we made this switch, but we're not going to pull the game change on the kids. Next year we'll we'll move ourselves up to the 65th percent. Just wanted to make that clear um before we move on. So uh again, the goal is uh we're going to be working towards we're at the 50th percentile. We're going to set that new baseline what I just showed you. But let's dig deeper into 1.1. The percentage of K2 learners that score 65% of above on star reading will increase from 43%. So
025we've got a new benchmark, the 40 43%. It'll increase from that to 75%. So again, I've made adjustments in um our benchmarks looking at getting the larger steps as we start to move forward. And I have us as being on track for 1.1 and I also have us being on track for 1.2. Even though there's a drop in data, right? You can see that from last and obviously that's because we changed our percentage that we're expecting. We're raising the bar. But if you look at our historical data for one and one two especially, we always score the lowest after the summer slide. We've been better about not having that summer slide, but we still always go up during the year, right? we finish higher than we start. And so that's why I'm predicting that we
026will be on track even though we have raised our bar to the 65th. I I believe in one one and one two looking historically that we will still be on track and I believe we probably will surpass what our our goal is for this year. But in order to um be fair and make it attainable and let's start out strong, I didn't have as big of a benchmark jump. Let me see if I'm missing something. Um, so we're on track. I talked about that. We're going to continue to use our star test data and um time will be dedicated consistently at staff meetings and late starts to analyze da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d
027d d d d d d d d d d d d d da from A+ and the interimm assessments um using our in-class assessments using all of the different assessments that we have and the information we have in order to help us predict where we need to provide interventions or what we need to work on. um as teachers and as students. Um in fact this year, last year we used our late starts for um more district things like if we needed to do some trainings or we needed to do something that was required, but this year we decided our shift is going to be a lot more towards allowing our teachers and our principles to work and look at the data and use that data and um plan ahead. So uh 1.3 okay so after
028receiving our results again I made the decision to adjust that uh if you look at um 1.3 again we dropped but that's just because of the change in the benchmark right and I I I changed the benchmark for next year and I'm hoping or at the end of the year and looking at that again I I fit if you look at the high schools historical data we tend to drop, right? Is but we've become more focused on using our assessments. So, if you can see last year, that's the first time that we've done four different events using the STAR testing, but we actually dropped from the fall, but we're aware of that, focused on that. That'll be topic of conversation for the high school staff. And so, I'm still predicting that we are on track
029to meet that because I had such a small increment. I'm I'm going to believe that we were are going to be able to make improvements during the year. We're not, again, I said we're not going to change our um reward system for the high school in order to be fair to our uh learners. And we will the 65th percentile. I think some of the teachers are going to be like, "Holy cow." But again, it's because it is not predictive of the state assessment. And you know we might be reaching these benchmarks and have these high number of percentage of students that are reaching it but it wasn't predictive of how we were going to do. So that was the main reason change or that is the only reason changed. >> Any questions? >> Uh how
030will you and your leadership team ensure transparency with staff and families about progress towards? >> Yeah, I think that that's going to go just that intentional communication. So, you know, when we're done here that during this week, I'll be making um I'll be sending home information to families to let them know. Tomorrow, I'll be talking to the staff about it. I know Grace talked to his staff. I'm thinking Jordan probably as to last week at the late starts and probably the week before because it came after our training. So talking making intentional communication and then also again counting on you guys as we move forward you know communicating um that here's the reason why we're doing this just so that people understand that having those high standards for our kids and then also I'll be
031putting that out there to communicate you know in that area by the lobby and on the boards and you know just doing a better job of being intentional and stuff like that. I'll keep saying intentional, but I guess that's what it is, right? Other questions? >> Thank you, Mrs. Really diving into that figuring out. Okay. Um, so I'm looking for a motion to accept the progress monitoring. move. Do I have a second? >> Any seconds? Um, all in favor say I. >> I. All in post, same sign. >> Passes 5. We're going to move it to November meeting. Um, you have the consent agenda before you. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Is that your second? There's no second. Ryan Sire, >> yes. >> Brian Rosen Doll, >> yes. >> Sheila
032Nagel, >> yes. >> Patty Kelly, >> yes. >> Monica, >> yes. Motion passes by. Moving on. You guys all have the reports in your packet. Action to be taken on that item five. Um, again, your board of president dropped the ball. a lot of different evaluations. So, especially because it has to be done before November 15th. Uh my recommendation would be about two weeks from now just time to complete it hopefully be home. If you guys would rather I send out an email to Zoom that work you guys watch for that again my apologies and I call okay um item 5B receive and discuss recommendations from the facilities committee. So, I am looking for a motion to open up the discussion on receiving. >> What would my motion be on that, Shannon? A motion to
033receive and discuss recommendations. >> Is that what you said, Brian? >> Yes. >> Exactly what I said. [laughter] >> I moved. Do I have a second? >> Second. So um we are going to start with Kyle and Travis from ICON. Everyone wants to jump on. >> Good morning. Can you guys hear us? >> Yep. >> Awesome. So we just need access to share. I think we can do that. >> Yep. I made you and both you and Kyle co-host. Either one of you should be able to share. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll I'll let uh Travis and Lee >> Kyle will just screw it up, so I'll take over here. [laughter] >> All right. I think Can you see the screen? >> Yeah. >> Can you see the PowerPoint? >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> All
034right. Perfect. We've got Lee here uh with us and she's going to kind of lead us through uh this PowerPoint. uh just kind of a synopsis of what we've done so far and how we've landed uh where we're at here today. So, I'll let her take it away. >> Good morning, everybody. You guys like to start start things bright and early, so [laughter] >> Okay. Hopefully, I don't put you to sleep with this. Um we'll start in just to kind of do our engagement overview. Okay, there we go. Um, just to kind of give you a brief kind of history where we got to here. So, um, we had, uh, your superintendent, Anna Cell, engage us in early April just to start doing some assessing of the aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance. Uh we facilitated
035discussions and had the community task force or your facilities uh committee members get together and had them kind of identify their concerns uh maintenance issues talking about long range planning and how it relates then to educational efficiency within the buildings. And then once we kind of understood the goals uh the school district had in the committee, we were engaging third-party uh professionals and partners that we could have to uh also assess the building and its con current condition and provide recommendations to that committee. And then we had a series of meetings really just deep diving into each one of these items so that we can narrow down the scope, talk about budget, uh talk about communication, um and and provide the recommendations that we'll bring to you guys today. So in that uh the next
036we had for our meeting was our kickoff meeting which was uh back in April as well where we toured the the school and we discussed priorities being the HVAC in mainly the high school but in both uh high school and elementary. We discussed the fire suppression uh within the the building as well. The building envelope and kitchen expansion andor remodel of that. Um and then emphasize bringing in the third party consultants which we've identified below here. We had Prairie Engineering out of Bismar and they do mechanical and electrical um analysis for us and we've done a lot of we've partnered with them on a lot of educational facilities. Uh they have a good varied background in different systems. So they were on site in May. We had a pharaoh who comes in and does thermal
037imaging of the entire building to look at the envelope to see if there's any uh what or identify at least any leakages or um areas that need to be addressed as far as your building envelope. And that's your windows, your doors, your exterior masonry, your roof, all of those things. And then finally, we had a a food concept and design. Uh there are food design uh our food service divine design design experts that we've worked with also that specialize in K12. Um so just wanted to kind of go through too um the extent of our meetings. You know we did have then meeting two later in May. We wanted to talk about too the impact of the recent legislative changes um that with property tax and with the special elections. And if anyone has specific
038questions on that, Travis has really deep dive into that and looking at how that impacts scheduling for schools as we go through voting and referendum process. Um, and he presented that information to to the committee. Uh, we reviewed Prairie Engineering's initial report analyzing the existing systems. Um, then we went into June and we looked at more cost analysis. Prairie just provided initially a report of what uh level and condition they thought everything was in and then they went through and reviewed or they went through and provided some preliminary cost analysis of each option moving forward. Um the committee did request um how to test some of the piping that are within the within the building. So we're looking at a couple different options there. We didn't want to do destructive testing as that, you know,
039just means that we're going to be ripping out walls and looking at your consist existing conditions and uh unless we had a plan to repair all that, we didn't want to do that. And there's some different imaging um processes that that we were investigating for there. Um that led us then into meeting four where we talked about some of those options and some of that imaging gets pretty expensive um for pipe testing. And so based on the condition and the analysis from Prairie from initial um we decided to stay wi with what they had on there and then we did an overview of the thermal imaging which um Atheros was doing for us or Atherero was going to be doing for us. And then we looked at a couple different kitchen options. We did take
040the time to meet with um Janessa uh for your food service. Talk about what's working, what's not working in the current kitchen. Um talked about equipment that is in good condition, equipment that's maybe past its useful life. Uh looked at a couple different options for layouts of a new kitchen and expanding that. um we just wanted to thoroughly vet with her and our food service consultants um to make sure that we were getting the layout uh appropriate for your school. So then we went into meeting five and Aero then presented their report and had a full dashboard um with recommendations to the committee. They analyzed over 800 different pieces of the exterior of the building and it was a real big deep dive into it. Um, and that provides also a nice dashboard for administration
041and facilities to really attack maybe the higher more critical uh pieces within the building. Again, we talked the pipe testing costs and then we had the opinion of probable cost. That's the OPC for our HVAC for the high school and then combined for the high school and elementary. Um and then we presented to the committee to the schematics, two schematics for the kitchen layout. And then uh finally in meeting six um and while I should back up between meeting five and six um as many of you know if you've been on committees are currently on the board sometimes um you want to voice your opinion but you don't always get a chance to allow that. And so between these two meetings, uh, Anner reached out to every committee member and allowed them to just individually
042email back to her um any questions, concerns, things that they didn't feel was maybe vetted through enough or they wanted more information on that we needed to provide so that we allowed everyone to really have a true voice as to um what they wanted to look at um before going into meeting six. So that's what the additional information review was about um off that committee poll. Um and then we reviewed priorities again kind of again vetting out what was the high high priority list and then costs. Obviously, um we wanted to understand or at least get the opinions of everybody's thoughts on what they felt the Oaks community could be tasked with as far as a referendum and trying to figure out a good budget number to work towards um to get that to bring
043to you guys then uh this morning. So the priorities that we ended up with uh with the HVAC, we looked at a two-pipe spit split unit system within the high school and that was between 4 to5 million. Um the high school fourpipe full conversion was $4.5 to $5 million. Um and I'm not deep diving into each one of these for you. I'm just kind of giving a highle view on it. But um um seeing then where the costs came in that were presented to the committee and then the high school plus the elementary we were at the 9 to9.5 million and these prices do not include fire suppression. Uh that was something that the committee was felt pretty strongly about that they didn't want to go through anything that would potentially trigger adding more fire
044suppression within the facility. Um my understanding to that was the biggest reason was just cost. they wanted to be able to attack some of these other things. Uh we went through the kitchen expansion remodel. There was one schematic that we further developed a little bit more and came back with construction costs of 360 to $400,000. And the equipment cost and equipment breakdown was $425 to $475,000. Um and then the final piece was the building envelope. As I said, there was over 800 different elements that they looked at. They gave the current building condition a seven out of 10. Um, and again, this just allows um the administration and facilities to really do some long-term planning and budgeting with maintenance to attack certain areas as they are coming up to maybe the end of their life
045um and helped to better plan for that. Um, overall we were surprised that the windows actually performed better than anticipated overall, although there were a few that still need to really be addressed. Um, and other miscellaneous items just to give you an idea what they're looking at. You know, if there's any pooling on any of the roofs that need to be looked at, better drainage and things. And then masonry tuck pointing. So, it's all the mortar joints. There's sometimes some failure in there just and that's just how nature of that material works. it's not due to anything more than that. But those are just some of those examples. Um, and then just other costs that we want to touch on so you guys are aware of and we did talk about was again back to
046the fire suppression. We didn't provide a an OPC or an opinion of probable costs for this per the committee requested to not trigger that. Um, we would recommend though icon uh to look at at least installing fire suppression in any areas that you decide to touch with scope of work. Um, while the ceilings are open, maybe running new HVAC systems and and piping. It's a a great opportunity to do that and it's just going to make your building more safe for the students and staff and public coming through. Um, it protects your your property. Um there are insurance compliance. Um sometimes you get insurance breaks and that would be something you'd want to vet through your insurance um carrier. And then it's just recovery time. If there is an incident um where there is a
047fire or something, fire suppression can hold it and contain it in one area and it makes it much easier for you to get that area up and running. Um, and then in dealing with existing buildings, we do have to follow what's called the international existing building code. And that did come into North Dakota law um, January 1st of 2023. And this is something too that there's various triggers is what I'll call it. Um, there's three different methodologies that you analyze an existing building in order to understand if you have to bring the entire building up to code. And we talked about this a little bit too with the committee and they they also wanted us to make sure as this process were to proceed forward to make sure we did not trigger the entire building
048need to come up to code. Obviously there's a lot of cost that comes to it. Um but it's hard to analyze the building with any one of these methodologies unless you understand the scope of what we're touching. Um but we are very aware as to where the committee stands at least for triggering factors and how that could impact budget. Um so we just want to make sure that you guys are aware of this is another thing that we will be working around or working with to try and not trigger to kind of blow up this this project into something that that's not going to be attainable. Um we don't want that to happen either. So, what we came back with with the last meeting of the committee recommendation is what you see before you. It's
049to pursue a $6.25 million referendum with the high school HVAC full fourpipe system and the kitchen remodel and expansion up to $800,000. And it does not include upgrades in the HVAC to the elementary. Again, the expansion of the fire suppression or a full window replacement. Um and there are a couple of board members who are part of that that meeting if they wanted to further discuss the committee's um recommendations. I just wanted to give that highle introduction. >> Thank you she said it pretty much perfectly. >> Yeah. Good job. >> Yeah. Thank you. I just wanted to give you guys that opportunity because I don't want to um put words in the mouth of the committee. Um there were some they were very very strong on their thoughts and and and what they thought the
050the community of Oaks could could take on for the tax burden. So um I wanted to make sure I was clear with that. Um then our next steps if you guys choose to proceed forward with this um we would recommend drafting a district-wide survey and icon we would work with with board representation [clears throat] on getting that together with an independent third party um and it's to strictly pull your um community any of the addresses that are within the school district and we would craft the different questions to get a better pulse as to Maybe maybe the community will come back to you and say, you know what, we're we're willing to go up to 8 million or we're not going a penny past 5 million. And it helps kind of gauge a little bit
051more in that. And to understand if their priorities is maybe they say the kitchen is a higher priority or uh maybe window replacement a higher priority than the HVAC system. Um but we would work with you and and this third party um company to get those questions out there. Um, and then depending upon how the results come back with the survey, we would work with you guys also then to communicate what was found to the community so they understand exactly what what everyone else was saying. Um, and then whatever other factual based information that we can provide from some of this analysis so that again others understand what what the building condition is and what what pieces you guys want to tackle. Um, and this area too with drafting the survey is really where Kyle
052and Travis, this is their their wheelhouse of knowledge and Travis went through it in his previous life, so he can speak to that further, too. If you guys have any questions on that. Um, and Kyle's done it multiple times, so I'll let them answer any questions if you guys have on that piece. >> I'll just jump in and say, you know, we do have a proposal from school perceptions, a survey company. have given that to Anna. Um if you guys, you know, so choose to move forward obviously with the survey, you do the survey, the survey comes back and then you decide if you want to move forward with a referendum or not and say you do and then that's when our pre-referendum process continues to kick in. We start uh helping you engage your
053community. But the survey is gives you an opportunity to assess what the committee came forward with. So obviously you would put on there the fourpipe system and and doing the the kitchen stuff. You also have the opportunity to ask any additional questions that you might want. So like if you wanted to say uh as a board we would like you to consider the windows would this be a possibility or uh would you like to consider would you like to consider a fire suppression? Um this is how much it is and uh it just gives you an opportunity to further assess your community. Um but uh taking into consideration what the committee the committee said this you have the opportunity then to ask any additional questions that you might want uh to get feedback on >>
054dead silence [laughter] >> put him to sleep maybe >> what is the time frame on this survey so say we agree I mean if we agree to do this and go forward. Um I mean how many months are we looking at until we get results back and >> Perfect. Yep. Great question. So say you move forward with the survey. We'll spend uh much of November into December uh crafting the survey, writing the survey. Uh survey would probably launch uh I would guess the second week of January, right after Christmas break. You usually want 8 to 12 weeks for when it launches until you uh you get result. Actually, it's like six weeks from when it launches to get results. And then as far as taking that information into consideration and then calling for a referendum,
055April 1st is the drop deadline uh to call for a referendum in in the state of North Dakota for the June 9th uh a June 9th election. So you'd want the the survey results would come back, you know, weeks before that. You as a board would be able to sit down, decide if that's what you want to do, and move forward. You decide you move forward April 1st or before April 1st, you call for the referendum. And that's again, that's where we kick in with pre-referendum things and we we help you engage the community and get get out the facts of of what you're looking at. So on this HVAC system, you know, the four pipe, whatever, does this address our ventilation issues up in the high school? I mean, I don't know what we're
056what that all involves, what that dollar amount would include. >> It does. It replaces your your piping, but it replaces some of the fan coils in there and adds some chilled water lines. Um, it does assume that a a lot of your duct work will remain at this point. Um, and it would rework your fresh air, so you would get better circulation up through in the high school. So then with the windows, we all know they're a huge hazard up there for safety, but if we're losing energy through those, is this new system going to operate function to its 100% ability without having replaced those windows or are we going to be choking that off a little bit too? you will have some yeah you will be kind of um working against the system a
057little bit with the inefficiency of some of the windows um but that's where like I said with that Athos uh an um analysis the windows were overall performing better than anticipated but um as far as an energy efficiency standpoint nothing to do with the safety s standpoint but there are areas um that they targeted certain um windows that were not performing very well at all. So I you know I would think you'd want to consider that and that can be um as Travis pointed out one of your your survey questions to see about you know window replacement or if you guys wanted us to deep dive into that piece further we could look into that further as well. Um the committee did not seem to be concerned with the windows. So we did not deep
058dive into those at that at this point. We focused on their other areas that they found as higher priorities. >> And and we've got the opportunity, you know, the goal should be to ask as many questions as as you think are reason. So if you think about structuring, you know, you could even structure questions where it's, you know, the top targeted window replacements, uh, a a window and and, you know, mortar repair in the high school. Um, I think that understanding what maintenance issues and or or I would say, you know, operational issues that are are coming your way along with the available funds you have, you know, is going to be important for the public to know. you know, this is what you've got to work with. These are the things coming towards you.
059Do you how do you want the district to handle that? Um, and so that's where, you know, along with the the recommendation, uh, I think you can layer on just some different questions again just to try to get feedback from your community, you know, before you ever have a vote. >> Um, as far as the duct work goes, you said that's not included in that price. Is there any sort of allowance or anything you guys have figured into it in case we we would run into something? Is that included in that or is that an option that part? >> It can be an option. Yeah. And these are based off of strictly just schematic design. Um and with that, you know, overall recommended budget number, they did allow a little bit of contingency money. Um,
060but you know, again, if we wanted to dive into replacing more of the duct work, we could definitely look into doing that. >> Well, yeah, I'm not suggesting that. I'm saying the fact is we don't know. So, if we get into the project and find out we have not good duct work. Is there is it a crazy price that's going to sideline the project or is it will the contingency cover it or part of it? That's just a general question, I guess. Well, we have contingencies set aside for it, you know, and until we get into it and do, you know, we could do some further analogy or analysis of it. Uh, we just didn't want to go and start doing any kind of destructive. So, I mean, it would be in best case scenario
061to allow contingency for that. >> Okay. >> And does this include a new boilers then also? >> Yes. it. It has um your boiler room. It's basically going to gut and redo it. Um except for your electric boiler, but you'd get a new oil boiler that's included in there. >> So, best case scenario, we go to a referendum and passes. What's our time frame after that and to getting these projects completed? If we go through that process um and it's it's a yes vote uh then we would go through you know you'd want to get obviously design team on on board and if you're going to do a CM um and what kind of delivery method that you'd like to proceed with which is a construction manager at risk potentially get them on board and
062start getting all the drawings and everything going. Um, I would anticipate that we would, you know, would get through could and we'd have to look at phasing, you know, how we can do this with the least amount of disruption into your classrooms. Um, but I would plan to get everything done. So, you could start bidding this um almost a year from now or January of 2027. Got to do my math on that. Um, 2027. So that you know as soon as we could start getting into the school that they well they could get the bids in approve bids get start getting things ordered so that as soon as we could get into any portion of the school as we see phased we want to get moving on that right away and optimize your summer break
063in order to get as much of this work done as we possibly could. But we want to allow lead time for ordering of some of these materials. It's just um I don't want to blame COVID by any means anymore, but it just seems sometimes um equipment lead times are a lot longer than we anticipate and sometimes they show up sooner. So, it's it's hard to know. So, the longer time we give them for lead time to order material, the better. Then we know they'll have it on hand to get it going. And one thing to note is the prices that or the estimated, you know, price range is reflective of what bidding might look like in January of 27. So we accounted for that. >> How many other schools are you seeing going through this
064right now? like we know that because of the legislative session like we are all going to be >> potentially going to a referendum at the same time. Is that going to help us or is that going to hinder us when it comes down to the bids and everything? >> Uh I think it really depends on location um and and what's going. But as far as districts, we did have two districts that uh likely came on board last week. Um, we further believe other districts will will probably jump on suit as well. Um, you know, close to you, you have Fargo Elementary that's going to be going, but that's uh not a referendum. So, the bidding will be done prior to you. And so, I don't see that affecting you greatly. There'll be some work going
065on in Valley City. Um, but again, bidding will be done for that already as well. Jamestown possibly could be going to a vote. We don't know, but uh we anticipate a handful of districts going to a vote June 9th. And I think it really just depends on location in terms of that. But Kyle might have a better answer. >> Yeah, I would I would say that they there will be a lot um more than typical potentially, you know, maybe four or five extra projects. But the counter to that is that there's not very many projects going before with the exception of Valley City and and Fargo. So I think people will be hungry because there won't be uh you know as many projects leading up to that point and and then the other issue then
066is that if not in June then November will be the the next catch for two years. So I imagine that that will be the point of any votes that didn't pass or any votes that couldn't um get ready in time. So I do feel that you know projects coming after that November vote vote will be in a little bit worse position uh as you know if the passes in November the you can't go to bid you know right in the the spring or right in the the winter as we would and get ready for spring. So, you're pushing out almost a whole another construction season. So, I do think, you know, the the best time to start a project was yesterday, but outside of that, I think the best situation you guys can be in
067is is ready for June, and the timeline lays out well for that. We could certainly push and get the survey done sooner, but we don't really think that the survey going out in December is a great idea. We just think uh your engagement will be much less. So the timing really does work out pretty perfectly. And that's something that we did talk about with the committee. You know, you know, several months ago, we we could have pushed if we were trying to do something quickly. And I think, you know, our recommendation and the committee committee recommendation was to take the time and and go to a June vote. And and that's what we're targeting with all of the the activity that we've been doing. So should that be something that you know we do you
068know if you're looking at starting you know the you know bidding for the spring of that next year you know you're probably looking at a year out u minimum you know like Lee had said the phasing you know is a little tricky so whether timing or or bidding those are all still a little bit nebulous because it's so far out but but certainly sooner than later you know we feel is better >> and you guys are uh with all the schools that we're working with it are looking at referendums, you guys are uh the furthest along. >> Yes. >> And so you're you're positioned well. So let's just say you approved the survey uh today. Um you've already got you already have um you know their cost estimate to you. So what would happen would
069I would start an email thread with the survey company icon ourselves and then Anna and then we'd start uh crafting that and who she wants as a part of that. You know she wants two board members that were on the facilities committee to help uh draft that that's fine too. Um or you can always you can always put it back to the committee to draft that but um that's completely your call. Um, speaking timelines, based on your experience, if all this goes to plan and they start construction in after school's out in 27, do you foresee this project being wrapped up by the time school starts? As in heating system, kitchen, if that goes through, I'm saying hypothetically, based on your experience, is it possible to get that much work done over the summer? I
070think >> I think it could be done. Um I think it it would be it would be difficult but I think it could be done because you could have separate crews working in separate areas you know at the same time since the school would be empty and that would be ideal. Um but with it being you know your high school uh multiple level um they'd have to go one by one. So, depends upon how many guys they're able to throw at it, you know. I think I think it could be um but it might be it might be kind of tough. So, that's why I want to discuss phasing. I think you need to look at both avenues for sure. >> Okay. Yeah. Because again, just trying to look at the reality side of it.
071If we're talking two years from, you know, this fall to fall of 27 and if it's still not completed, then we're talking about fall of 28. If all this goes through, just um speaking hypothetically, but is there have you seen anything where we could have a deadline of it being done by fall of 27 or is that just going to make the bids much higher? >> I think that Yeah, I think that tends to lead to inflation costs on your bids coming in. >> I think they'll they'll mark it up and there's still no guarantee. Again, if you get some of your major equipment pieces that at the manufacturer or distributor, they just aren't making the timeline, you know, that's not the contractor's fault either. So, um, as much as we want to push from
072our end and the contractor wants to push from their end, sometimes, um, the distributor's timeline doesn't meet that with our equipment needs. So, and that's why it's good to get those all bid out as soon as possible and then you can hold those bid numbers as well. >> Um, so that they get them out there and get them on on the order first. >> And it's probably also a benefit to have a CM, a construction manager at risk to help through that process right away. Um, they also offer a guaranteed maximum price, so they're able to help get some of those lead items ordered right away and and and make the process go a little bit faster, >> try and help some of those mitigate some of those uh inflationary costs, too, and hold them
073to those prices. >> So, as a former superintendent, Travis, and somebody who's been through this, would you go without the construction manager at risk? Uh that's a negative to be honest with you. And then we don't benefit obviously, you know, get any money for many construction companies, but as a former superintendent, there's no way I would ever do a project without having a CM. Um, if you go the other route, Anna's going to spend uh 90% of her time on the construction project and not doing the things that you talked about earlier this morning in your meeting and talking about outcomes and educational goals and that sort of thing. And so, um, without a doubt, I would I would not go without. So, >> and I don't really think qualified [laughter] first. No, that makes
074any shivers. >> I mean, you definitely we have a we have a form we can give you that kind of weighs both options. And I mean, I don't I mean, that's a very strong opinion and I don't want to sway you obviously, but I mean, you asked me as a former superintendent. There's no way I would do it as a former superintendent. >> Yeah, we we generally have three guidelines that we like to consider. you know, is the project over $4 to5 million? Uh, is the project a messy renovation? Um, is the project on a site with with um an active school site? So, you guys kind of check all those boxes. Uh, again, you could you could go either way. Um, you know, and we we could get the project done, but it's just
075out of the slideshow. What other questions? Well, I don't really have a question, but you know, I appreciate everyone on the committee giving their time to it stuff. Um, I feel that we definitely need to do the survey and get the public's opinion. As an elected um, official sitting on this board, I don't know that I'm comfortable with um, not taking into consideration the safety of our students first. I will say like the the survey has been, you know, I think almost in every situation that we've had the survey done, it's told us exactly what the outcome of a vote would be. So, honestly, after we get the results of the survey, you guys should know exactly what your community is going to vote. And it's like for Bula's case, you know, we didn't have
076the survey for the first referendum. It failed pretty miserably. Uh the between the first referendum and the second referendum, we did the survey and the survey told us exactly at what percent the vote would pass at that at the dollar amount and it was right on. And it's been like that in every other district. There's been districts that have come back and the surveys indicated that it's going to fail and we've told the the boards of those communities, hey, look, the chances of this passing are not good. We we don't recommend you doing this. We recommend you doing something else. Well, and they go forward with the with the vote and it doesn't pass. And so the the reliability of this survey is pretty darn good. >> What what percentage do you expect to have
077back of people answering? Like what's a good? >> That's a great question. So the survey company will tell you that a good response is 18% uh of the folks will fill it out and I think uh Bula was like 19% and uh and was right on and so it gets to a certain point where it's just it's reliable uh data and so 18% is a good number to look for. So, I know that Suz has been coaching that I'm supposed to make a recommendation every time and the committee members know that, Shannon. I was really against doing a survey because I felt like, okay, I could use that money for a lot of other things besides getting a survey out. But, as the um recommendation came forth from the committee, I feel like we need
078to hear from the broader community. And I my recommendation is that you approve the survey proposal that's been submitted and that we move forward with this. Then that gives us plenty of time, but then we can build on what the committee submitted to us and but hear from the broader community because we're hearing from the broader community that have been paying attention and I feel like they need to have a voice. >> Well, we had some very vocal individuals on that board who were representing pretty much the same group of people. So yes, I feel that they got their representation across, but I'm not so sure everybody else on the board was able to or the committee, I should say. I Yeah, I guess my hope would be too that there isn't enough realization of
079what's going on in the school now compared to the first time that we did this that more people are going to be have to to voice their opinion and to um to let us know like we are we are just a representation of the community. Like this is not my personal opinion on on what we want to do for the school. This is us representing the entire community. So I think um having that that communitywide survey would help me as an individual um with what my recommendation be going forwards. >> Yeah, I think we should do the survey. I mean 100%. >> Absolutely. So, [sighs] um, >> say was that a motion or sir? >> I mean, yes, that's intentional. >> So, I would entertain a motion to move forward with doing the community survey
080proposal. Um, Brian, was that was that what you said? >> I will make a motion that we conduct a community survey based on >> Roosevelt makes a motion. Do I have a second? We need to make a motion first to accept the dollar amount proposed in scope of work. >> I don't think that we're accepting any dollar amounts at this point because we're going to need the the survey back to do that. I think we're too early on the process to accept a dollar amount. Um we received the community >> think we received the recommendation. you received the recommendation from from the facilities committee. Um I think that we'll take that into consideration of course moving forward with with what goes on. Um but right now uh the motion on the table is to move
081forward with the community survey proposal. So I have a motion. Do I have a second? >> I will second. Um Shannon, will you take the role on that? >> Ryan Rosen, >> yes. >> Patty Kelly, >> yes. Sheila Nagel. >> Yes. Brian Sire, >> yes. >> Monica Hebach, >> yes. Passes 5. Um, >> Madam President, can you >> explain tell me again what the actual motion was or I couldn't type that fast. The motion was to move forward with um >> yeah with a community survey proposal with um approving >> receptions perceptions [laughter] >> Thank you. There any other discussion on the facilities? >> Great. Thank you Travis, Kyle, and Lee for joining us this morning and for filling us in. We really appreciate all the work you've done. And thank you to our um
082our committee too. Um I know she was said it before, but I really appreciate all the individuals that put forth their time and um opinions. And I know it wasn't a small ask of them. So we as a board truly appreciate everything that went into that. So, >> all right. >> Yep. And we'll be in touch. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. >> Okay. Future meetings, regular meeting, Tuesday, November 8th, 2025 at 7 a.m. and Tuesday, December 16th. Um, please watch for an email for a special board meeting. Again, my apologies that anything else for the good of the order. Um I just like with those results from the NDSA plus I just would like to give a huge shout out to all of our teachers, the staff, administration, everything um the exceptional work that's
083being done in the classrooms because that's really really proud. So that's well done to everybody. Okay. Um nothing else for the order. I will adjourn the meeting at 8:10