001I call this committee of the whole meeting to order on Monday, April 21st, 2025 at 6 PM. If we could please take a roll call. Sure. Mindy Hartman here. Darling here. Stacy Salt here. Julie Jetty here. Jason Janzik here. Katherine Potter here. And for the record, Miss Anenui is absent. Okay. Next up is the acceptance of the agenda. Items for discussion may be added to the agenda at the start of the meeting at the request of the superintendent or any board member upon majority or approval of those members present. Does any board member have an item to add tonight? Hearing none. Uh next up we have community input. There was nobody signed up I believe. Sorry. Okay. All right. Did anyone have anything to say while they're here? Okay. Uh, next up we have the
002approval of previous meeting minutes. Approval of the minutes from the March 10th, 2025 meeting. Were there any changes? Hearing none. If we can move that to consent, please. Uh, next up are discussion topics. Uh, first up is the review of bills. Did anyone have any questions for Mr. Shepard? Mr. Shephard. Um I just had a question. Why about the LinkedIn group uh bills and we're we already in March we we went we were paying in February bills, right? And then now this month we're paying for older date dates that are older than what we paid last month. Do you know anything about that or like why they invoice us that way? I do not. It all depends on the when we receive the invoices for when the bills get paid. Um I can look at
003that a little further and provide some feedback later. You don't have to. I was just wondering why if if if why why the if the invoices are coming in that way if that's usual or um I haven't noticed anything uh that is alarming with uh the way they invoice us. It really just depends on on when we receive the invoices. So uh for example, if there's something that's more regularly done, uh they're more prompt with those invoices. If there's something that uh is more sporadic in nature, it might appear on a a later invoice. Okay. But we always make sure we cross reference all of those invoices with the the actual work being done. Thank you. My only takeaway from this bills were I hope that when we redo the junior high, we are going
004to look at some solar because that electric bill was three times what the other schools were. And I get that this is a bigger building, but those were hefty. And and I should prepare the board that because of uh rate changes in the state of Illinois, uh we are anticipating that electricity rates are going to go up by about 20% at least um starting in June, which will be felt in the July bill. Uh so solar and energy improvements is definitely something that's on our our radar. We're actually uh looking at working with a local uh company that deals with facility management uh to really evaluate our energy needs and where we can uh see some savings. Yeah. I mean, even if we had to, I mean, I know a lot of schools have even
005on their roof, the panels on the roof. So, maybe that's something we could do sooner than later. Um, just a thought because that was sticker shock for sure. Uh, anyone else have any questions? Okay, we can move that to consent, please. Uh, next up we have the fiscal year 25. Uh, oh, wait, the treasur's report. Mr. Shepard, just so eager to talk about the amended budget. Um let's dive into the treasurer's report. Uh we are threearters of the way through the the school year. Uh and I happen to believe that uh uh we are uh doing well. Uh the budget is definitely tightening and I think over the next 3 months you're really going to see it tighten up further as we uh take care of uh some payments that we weren't necessarily expecting such
006as the uh payments for custodial companies uh energy payments going up uh and some other uh unforeseen expenses we had earlier in the year. So, you are going to see some tightening, but overall I think our budget is is holding up well. Um, one addition to tonight's treasurer's report that we'll focus on near the end of the presentation. And so, as far as our revenues go, you'll see that our our revenues are coming in right along uh in line with the projection. Um, if it's coming in a little lower, that's uh I equate that to our property taxes. Uh as we've been using this model over the last couple years, we noticed that uh especially with uh uh local sources, sometimes they lag behind, but they do catch up once we start receiving the next
007round of of property taxes. Uh you'll see that the state uh uh resources are still lagging a bit behind. We're noticing that the state is uh uh taking longer and longer to pay certain payments such as the the transportation uh reimbursements. We anticipate that th those delays are only going to uh increase and in fact looking towards next year's budget uh we are actively planning for a reduction in our transportation claim funding by about 20%. Uh so that is something that has been on our radar. As far as expenses, uh you'll see we're right along in line uh with uh salaries. Uh notice that'll catch back up after we do the summer acral pays. um actual year-to- date other objects uh is slightly above the projection. We look at our month-end fund balances, you'll see
008uh you'll see that we're still outpacing where we were at from the previous year uh with the healthy cash balance in our uh operating funds. When we look at this year or this uh past month compared to the prior uh month of last year, you'll see uh how the the two compare. uh you'll see that the current year is running higher with local and state resources overall compared to the previous year. Uh and expenditures were also running slightly higher with the exception of purchase services. When I go back and look at this last year, keep in mind we were actively planning and had put in a fair amount of resources towards the uh development of the transportation center had it gone in at the uh the Maplewood site. Uh so that is the reason why
009you see the disparity uh with that. Uh you'll notice that uh our capital improvement projects will be really taking off in earnest uh over the next couple weeks. When we look at uh the next slide looking at how our model is compared with the budget uh I think we are right in line with where we should be and I equate the difference again uh that number uh that's in red is strangely familiar to the amount that we generally receive in property taxes uh coming up in the spring. uh no real excitement in the debt uh fund and capital uh fund. You will start to see expenses coming out of the capital fund. Uh I imagine probably in June is when we're going to start seeing a lot uh of invoices coming our way and definitely
010at the beginning of uh the next fiscal year. Uh that's when we're going to be starting to utilize some of those uh resources from the bonds that we issued uh in December. So our cash flow slide you'll see that uh again those those two uh lines the revenue trend and the expense trend they do not cross but they are getting tighter uh as we go through the the fiscal year. Um I again expect this to tighten up even further uh as we go through uh the remainder of this fiscal year. Uh I'm also going to uh take the investments off this slide as I think it's probably fairly hard to read. Uh and I will make that into a new slide uh to tack on after this. Uh especially as we start looking to the
011future. Uh we are looking at uh investing more more of the resources that we know that uh we don't necessarily need uh to try to continue to increase the amount of revenues that we receive uh in interest. Uh so what we've been doing over the last couple years is uh I've taken the opportunity to really look at our cash flow uh and determine how low our balances get every year because right now we're in the current low point uh and see how high our balances get at the the beginning of the fiscal year. Uh the hope is is that we can use some of those funds uh and invest them in a variety of investments, short, long-term investments, knowing that we're going to still have enough cash on hand uh to accommodate any unforeseen challenges.
012So, uh we are going to be working with PMA uh to really come up with a strong uh investment strategy. Uh we feel that it's prudent to do so especially when our our cash balances are high at the beginning of the the fiscal year to try to earn a little bit more in interest which will ultimately um uh be of benefit to the taxpayers in this community is we're able to utilize that that income for other other areas in our budget. So just to clarify so these would be locked into like six month CDs instead of and then we'd have access to them the second half of the the fiscal year. Is that Yeah. So we we have yeah we have a variety of options we have there's three month there's six month uh really
013it's just uh dependent on our our cash balance at the time and our comfort level. Um I'm I'm fairly cautious because I always want to make sure that we have enough cash on hand to to meet our needs. Uh so PMA recognizes that and we're going to start easing into this uh and really trying to invest uh our extra resources to try to earn more for this community to squeeze like every dollar we can out of the cash that we have on hand essentially a couple thousand it would still be that's better than it just sitting in our bank account earning nothing. Correct. and we'll talk about in a couple minutes, but one of the reasons why we're amending this year's budget is because of the higher than expected interest amount uh that we have
014received. Now, that's not something that we should anticipate every year moving forward. Uh but it is definitely extra that helps alleviate some of the uh the burden on our taxpayers. That was the other question I have. We have about what 3.1 3.2 million coming due this summer like that that is coming mature I believe. So, yeah. Um, are we going to is that going right to on and M or are we going to provide like a little bit of a buffer? I'm sorry, capital or we going to provide a little bit of a buffer given the financial uncertainty that we're facing. So, I believe depending on the time period, I I believe at this point we're looking at taking roughly half of that and reinvesting it and then taking the other half and putting it
015uh uh in in capital. Uh depending on when those expenses come out, we may uh take half of it and put it in a short-term investment uh and the other half in the long term. Um, I think we've done a nice job so far of really lading our investments uh to uh come due at various times throughout the year. Awesome. Appreciate the clarification. Thank you. One from our um you know the sale of those bonds and that that money is supposed to go toward capital improvements and you invest that money. the interest you make off that, do you have to spend that on capital improvements or can you spend that in fund 10? Sure. So any of the the interest that's uh earned off of the bond um uh proceeds that needs to stay within
016that arena. So that's just extra that's going towards capital projects. Uh the funds that we're talking about here are extra funds from our operating funds and are completely separate from uh the the capital improvement funds. Okay. Thank you. And then do we expect any issues with the tariffs on our building projects uh cost big increases in building materials or delays in building materials? It it is possible. Yes. Um in talking with PMA and other districts, we're entering um very interesting times where people just um really we don't know what to expect. We are planning for uh prices to increase uh uh for supply lines to tighten up. Um but it really just depends on how long tariffs are in place. Uh if they're in place for extended period of time on what uh they're they're
017implemented on. Uh so it there's a lot of uncertainty right now. Um that uh makes it all the more important that we um try to squeeze every dollar we can out of uh the revenues that we have. Thank you, Mr. Shepard. While we're on that, um can you just confirm that when we approve a contract though, like uh the window projects that the schools that's going to be the price that correct pay? Correct. The projects that we have approved or going to approve uh uh next week um those are the the prices. those are the the not to exceed prices uh that have been quoted as part of that bid project. So, we're not necessarily concerned about uh the projects that we have for this summer. It's it's really looking beyond that and and moving
018forward uh where the uncertainty lies. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Shepard. And now, the fiscal year 25 amended budget. Correct. the moment you've all been waiting for, I'm sure. Uh so, as we've uh mentioned numerous times, I believe uh even when we approved this year's budget, I told you immediately that it was going to have to be amended uh one way or the other. Um one of the reasons why it needed to be amended was because of the community support of our referendum. Um but I've I've listed in your board packet some of the reasons why uh we've amended the the budget. Um, we amended the budget because originally we were going to uh do a transfer of $2.4 million from our investments to to uh help uh our our capital uh
019improvements. Um we were able to pass that referendum which negates that purpose uh for now. Uh so it's going to allow us to essentially reinvest those funds to maximize on our interest. Uh number two, at the time the FY25 budget was adopted, there was uncertainty surrounding the Maplewood property. Of course, with the IGA with the the village, the the proceeds there, uh the the 5.525 million uh for the the the property, uh the the purchase of the new property for the transportation site. Uh that all is equated into the uh amended budget uh as revenue for the the district. Um our beginning cash balances for the education fund, transportation fund and IMRF, social security fund were updated uh to match the findings of our audit. Uh so uh they were updated uh there. I think
020we had to update them just slightly higher. Uh we also updated the interest earnings. Uh originally we had estimated 200,000 that was a very conservative estimate. Uh we adjusted that up uh towards 900,000. So again it shows the the power of of those investments. Uh tax revenues for the debt service fund were adjusted to reflect the new bonds we just issued. Uh and uh salaries in the transportation fund were adjusted up to account for the department being able to hire new drivers uh and provide the necessary training for those staff members. Anytime we hire new uh bus staff uh there is an immense amount of training uh that is involved for those staff members. Uh and that is all done in-house by our staff uh which really increased the amount of overtime that uh our
021employees put in. Uh on the bright side, we are now fully staffed for our transportation department, which is an amazing feat uh for for our transportation folks. Um and uh it also helps uh yes uh that fund is probably going to be over budget, but it uh is one of those funds that was on the cusp of promptly being challenged because the cash balance was too high. Uh so the fact that it's going to come down um is a benefit as well. Um the other new items on here, there's some fund transfers uh that we are proposing. One is an updating of a fund transfer that would help us pay off the old debt uh that we had. Uh and the second one is uh a fund transfer from the on&m fund uh to capital
022improvements. And we are proposing that we make a a $1 million fund transfer between those two funds. Keep in mind that the O and M fund uh had been challenged. That was one of the funds that had been challenged as having the cash balance too high. Um, at the time, uh, we built the budget, we felt it prudent to build up the resources within that fund because we weren't sure what was going to happen on the custodial front. We weren't sure what was going to happen on the referendum front. So, it just made sense uh to try to build up our our resources. Now, uh, we've got some clarity in those areas. It does make sense uh to make that fund transfer uh from ON&M to capital. Uh it will allow us to bring down
023that cash balance uh but it also helps us fulfill a promise to the community uh that we are also using some of district resources uh to help pay off some of our capital improvements. Uh keep in mind we do not ask for every dollar that we needed uh for our capital improvements. Uh we did commit to utilizing some of our resources uh for those endeavors. So those are the big changes in the amended budget. Um the plan moving forward is to approve the amended budget going on display next week. Uh it will then be on display until June. Uh being that the regular board meeting is June 30th and the uh amended budget is due June 30th, we are going to need to approve it uh before the committee of the whole uh meeting in
024June. Uh I believe that's June 23rd. Uh so that we're satisfying time requirements. Um, those are the uh the big changes that uh we needed to highlight with the amended budget. I'd be happy to answer any questions uh the board may have. I don't have questions. I just wanted to thank you for your diligence and it seems like we've really taken notes from the challenges that we've received and are really heading in a good direction. I think everything in here makes a lot of sense. Any other comments? Thank you, Mr. Shepard. Uh, next up we have the Organic Life LLC contract 2025 2026. All right. So, last year the the district uh went out to RFPs for food service. Keep in mind, food service is one of those that we are required to go out
025to bid for every 5 years uh per uh state law. Uh it is also one of those contracts that needs to be reapproved every year uh by the the board of education. Uh we are recommending that we uh continue on with organic life. Uh this would be contract renewal number one or year two of a possible 5-year contract. Uh keep in mind that uh that the board at um any time can direct us to go out to RFP. Uh but we are recommending that we continue on with organic life. Uh the rate increase is determined by a CPI number that is actually driven not only by the the bid documents we submitted uh but also uh through uh state code uh as to what food service prices can go up. Uh and uh I should
026mention that the food service program is is really a self-funded uh program for the the district. Uh it is not meant to bring in revenue uh for the district. Uh and at this point uh between reimbursements that are received uh from the state and federal government and where the current lunch prices are, we are not anticipating a increase to uh student lunch prices, although that will be confirmed later uh this spring. Uh so we would recommend that the board uh approve uh a contract extension with organic life. Mr. Shepard, what are the what are the circumstances um where we would have to increase the price or what are we waiting for? So, the the price increase is is dictated by whether your food service uh program is um is uh being able to be self-sufficient.
027Uh what I mean by that is uh we know how much the food service program costs and the state expects that between reimbursements and the amount that you charge that you're basically going to to break even. The last couple years when we've looked at this, we've actually taken in uh more money uh than what the the food service program actually costs. So, we have we have not had to raise uh the lunch prices. Um we complete what's called the paid lunch equity tool uh that the state publishes. Uh that helps us determine whether we need to raise uh rates uh student lunch rates and by how much. I believe you can only raise it by I believe 15 cents at a time. Um, but the decision on whether to raise the lunch prices would be
028driven by that document, which I don't believe the state has put out yet. Are you um anticipating the state to be slow on any school funding refund uh school lunch refunding or the USDA? Sure. uh the amount that we receive from the state for reimbursement is actually fairly minimal uh which I don't think would have a big impact on the food service uh program. The amount that we receive from the federal government is much more substantial. Um at this point uh I know there's a lot of discussion about where federal funding is going to be coming from and if it's going to be coming. Um those funds uh based on everything we're hearing has been allocated uh for this upcoming uh fiscal year. uh it's moving forward that there's some uncertainty. So after the 25
02925 26 school year um there could be some uncertainty depending on what Congress does with their their budget but for the immediate uh uh future uh we are not uh concerned about those sorts of funding at this point. What numbers are we looking at? Like just off the top of your head or ballpark like how much of that are they funding from the USDA? How much are you are you asking how much we receive in reimbursement from the federal government? Uh so just off the top of my head I believe in the last couple years we've gotten about uh 400 between 400 and $450,000 uh in reimbursement from the federal government for our our lunch program, lunch breakfast program. Uh and then the uh other amounts which is it when you look at it it's
030basically split half and half between uh lunch fees and the the reimbursements uh between those those have been more than enough to pay for the food service program. You know I'm trying to think of how to ask it like um is it even out because of like the quality of food that they're serving and buying? cuz like I look at like their sample menu online and it doesn't look anything like ours. Like it's way nicer than like what ours look like. Um and I'm just curious like it's organic life but as far as I know isn't like nothing organic. So like is that it's I think it's like a little misleading of ways to say that it's organic life and like is if we give better quality food maybe organic food or even like more
031fresh vegetables instead of frozen stuff is that going to raise our price? Is that why I guess are we giving them to be blunt lower quality food to stay even? I don't I don't think that uh uh organic Yes. I I I realize if you use their the title of their company, Organic Life, and you're thinking about the type of food that they may serve, uh that that could be um misleading. Uh however um I can tell you just based on the numbers that I see um coming in uh when I compare the the lunch uh revenues uh that we bring in from lunch fees yeartoear uh especially in the last two years uh because that's basically uh last two years uh would be postcoid. So we we've gotten a pretty good representation. we have
032seen increases uh even from month to month uh in the um in our food service uh accounts. So um the quality of food I happen to believe has come um has has progressed light years ahead from what I remember it. Now granted that's going back years and years and years. Um but just based on what we see from people consuming uh and the amount that's being spent um we are seeing revenues increase. If we were seeing revenues decrease that might lead to a conversation about what can we do to really boost the the revenues here. I don't disagree with that. I just I'm thinking like now that I'm been out and about in the education world working and seeing other lunches are so fresh like all the time and of course they're spending a little
033bit more. So like why are ours not the same? And when you look at their website, they give like these beautiful examples of meals like brown rice and fresh quesadillas and like um just like even the descriptions like oh organic beef enchiladas right here. Like we don't ever see anything good, you know, bread sticks, mac and cheese, fame pancakes from a frozen container. Uh the one thing I would say is that uh um our our food service director here has tried uh newer foods. She has tried to bring in newer stuff um and healthier stuff. We do notice that when we do provide healthier food choices uh that the amount of garbage we have increases substantially. I get that. I get that too. But then where are we doing like the share tables like we've
034talked about over the years like where other kids can come take that food? cuz I ask my kids all the time if we're doing that kind of stuff and they say no even though we have talked about that in the past. So like kids who do like that healthy food actually do pick up some of that. So I'm just curious like cuz there's I feel like there's got to be options than just cheesy bread sticks and sure I will say Organic Life has been very open uh to possible menu choices. Um, it's something we can uh definitely evaluate with them um to see if we can incorporate menu choices that uh um are not only healthier but also something that uh uh is going to continue to uh help fund our our program. That's what
035I'm curious and I hate to be such like a punk but like I feel like a common conversation all the time when new people are coming into the district is like what is actually organic? Like, can we actually have something on our website? Like, when you click on our menus, like these are going to be organic apples or nope, there's actually nothing organic. Like, let's at least be honest about it instead of like having mom's chatter back and forth because we do. So, just curious. I can bring that feedback uh back to organic life. Sorry to be so blunt, but no, I I don't think you're being a punk. I I agree that it's a conversation that people question in the quality of the freshness of I don't know if it's our kitchen situation maybe
036we don't have a full I don't know right is it that it does have something to like what we but yeah then when I did look at the organic life link it is suotach and squash and green fresh green broccoli and I was like that is definitely Ely, my son won't eat that. But um so that I do get but um that is what I think organic life sounds like you would be getting, right? So um I'd be happy to bring that feedback back to them. Um I meet with them almost on a a quarterly basis at least from the the corporate level and of course our food service director is always here on site. Um, I can I can bring that feedback back to like is it going to raise our prices if we
037serve better food like more of what they're selling on their website versus what we're selling in our school, you know, and like I think that like I do think going forward it would be nice to tell like put somewhere to parents so you don't get into that, you know, endless chatter of what really is organic and what's coming from a box. You know, I think it probably should change going forward. Yeah. And I'd be curious like when they're presenting when they're bidding on something, they're not bidding giving us different package options. It's not 80% organic, 20% junk, you know, and I'm not, you know what I mean? Like, right, I get it. Um, processed food, whatever, process processed foods. Um, they're not giving us that option. They're just they're just quoting us based on how
038many kids that were they're quoting us on that and the the the guidelines that are put out by uh um the the government as to what uh needs to be served uh in in school lunches because there are serving requirements for uh the amount of fresh uh fruits and veggies and and uh what type of milk needs to be served. Uh there's all sorts of requirements that go into the nutritional aspect of that. That's that's part of that. But I understand what uh that the board is uh conveying and and like I said, I'd be happy to bring that feedback back uh and see if there's room for improvement there. Yeah, I'm curious. Thank you. What do what what do we plan on to do with any extra revenue since this is a nonrevenue maker
039for the district? So, what we've been using those revenues for is if we've had any equipment break uh within uh the kitchens, uh we've utilized those extra funds uh say for a dishwasher or say for a um a new oven, uh new warmers. Uh this past year, we purchased new warmers for the junior high when they revamped their their schedule uh to consolidate their lunch periods. So, uh we try to keep those funds within the lunch program uh particularly with any of the equipment needs we have. Okay. I'd like to see potentially if we have uh a surplus that maybe it's brought to the board that we forgive some of the lunch fees for some families that maybe need an extra hand. Um maybe that's something we can look at. I mean, I know we've
040done it in the past. Um you know, everybody's going through tough times, so it would be nice to if we can give back a little bit to those families. Anything else? Thank you. All right. Next up, we have the security camera installation bid. Mr. Shepard, this is your show tonight. I know, right? It will uh soon be the the Mr. Martin show because the next uh the next series of bids that we have Mr. Martin will be making his uh debut uh in in public speaking to the board. So um uh this just gives the board something to look forward to. Mr. Martin has been doing a wonderful job since he's uh been on staff uh since January. Uh so the security camera installation bid two years ago we know that we installed security cameras
041here at the junior high. It was part of uh something that the the admin team was requesting to help with uh uh student environment and really the uh keep students and staff safe while while here at school. Uh the district at that time did not have the funds to go beyond the scope of CGH. I seem to remember we were going to pair this uh with a roof at Oaknull. At one point we had to do just the roof. Then we went back and did the uh the the cameras. So, with the passage of the referendum being that a big focus was security improvements, the district is now looking to expand and upgrade its system, uh the schools that we proposed this year are Briargate, Three Oaks, and Oaknull uh are the focal points for
042this summer's security projects. Uh the district uh did seek uh bids for the project. We did receive interest from a variety of security system integrators. Um, of those 16, six sought the bid documents and ultimately one bid was submitted by Pace Systems. Uh, Pace Systems is the contractor that installed the security camera system here at the junior high and is familiar with our current hardware and software utilized. Um, and I went back and and looked at the uh the bid history the last time we went uh out for for security cameras. Uh, and we had roughly the same turnout throughout the process. we had a lot of interest and then as we got closer to the opening of the bids we we had one bid at that particular time. Uh so the bid was unsealed
043on April 8th and underwent vetting by both our architect and electrical engineer and appears to be complete and responsive. Uh the bid total is in the amount of $768,366.76. The package also includes upgrades to the software currently being used. uh moving storage to the cloud and enhancing the accessibility of the efficiency of the system. We'll also ensure that all of our facilities are utilizing the same program. Uh so we're not uh having different buildings using different software. Uh for comparison, uh the total cost of installation for the junior high system um was not around 730,000. It was 370. That was me um transposing those two numbers. So 370 is what the uh junior high cost. Uh being that security improvements were a big factor in the decision to move forward with the referendum, uh we
044would recommend that the board approve this package at its April 28th meeting and we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Are these inside and outside cameras? Yes. Okay. So, they'll be like in the parking lots. And I I believe that they will have the the immediate uh um perimeter of the the buildings covered, but also extending out uh into uh the parking lots. Um I believe like say at Briergate, uh we're able to uh put uh cameras on the exterior, but also aim them so that they're they're they're covering the the parking lot as well. It's not as large of an area as it is is here. Okay. Do we There we go. I got it now. Um, Briergate, three, uh, not Three Oaks. Well, maybe three Oaks, too, but you're surrounded
045by residential, right? Do we have to inform those folks that are around the school, hey, we've got security cameras now? Um, we're not going to be looking in your windows, but like your property may fall under the realm of that. Is that something that I I don't believe we we have to notify them and I don't believe our our the scope of our security cameras are going to uh branch out that far to actually be able to uh see what's going on in the in the neighborhood. I I think if we're if we're upfront with that and just you know being proactive with it and saying hey these are going in however your privacy is still protected in this case and just being a good neighbor and reaching out to them. I know I got
046a little push back at Briergate with how bright the lights were and I'm like I get it but the school is safe. Going one step further and being proactive with that I think would be helpful. Um and then the second question I have is regarding these cameras. Are they going to have the same uh capability to be patched into uh the the Kerry Police Department in the event of a situation in any of the schools like that we have that here? Yeah. I believe so I believe one of the advantages of of going with what we're proposing is uh it increases uh accessibility u right now uh you need to have a device or you need it it's limited who can access and where you can access the cameras from. Uh so this is going
047to allow say our building administrators to be able to access the cameras uh for their their their buildings uh say from their their home computer because it's going to be cloud-based. Uh so it will increase the accessibility that our administrators have but also uh the ability for uh say law enforcement to to get in as well in the event of an emergency. Is there any um restriction on the amount of uh cloud space or the amount of time that we're able to keep these records based on the package? So, I I I believe this package calls for us to be able to store video u for up to uh up to 30 days uh which based on uh the experience here at the junior high, I believe has proven to be a long enough period
048uh of of time at least storing it within the uh the cloud. But you'll be able to download say there was an incident that we needed for a court case or whatever. Correct. Okay. Yeah. which I believe is what would would happen. Now, if there is something that really is egregious that occurs at the junior high, we do have the capability of of downloading uh and storing that on our server. Okay. And there's nothing else um technology-wise, it wise that we need to prepare ourselves for these cameras internally as part of the rest of the infrastructure. the other components such as switch capacity and everything is covered in that uh that bid amount. Perfect. Thank you. Just to go with the obvious, Mr. Shepard, once we if we approve this boat, then we have everybody
049but Deer Path on board and Deer Path security camera will come to the board when all of Deer Path's remodel comes. Right. Correct. Which we're looking at uh uh summer of 2026. Well, pay systems they checked out. We've used them before. They're using our um IEB IB EW local. Um they completed the Kerry Junior High project on time, right? Yep. Um and we anticipate the same for um fall 25, right? Yep. Okay. Looks good to me. Yep. Perfect. Any other questions? Okay, hearing none. If we could move that to consent, please. Uh, next up we have the uh additional teacher allocation. That would be Dr. White. Yep. Good evening. Um, so when as just a followup from the 2526 staffing plan that I shared a few months ago, if you remember, we did have um
050certain grade level sections that we were continuing to watch based on um class size or average class size for that grade level. And so we've continued to watch um the fourth grade numbers for next year at Briergate and have determined um that we would like to increase um that allocation. Current class size um with having three sections where we're currently at, but have those classrooms at an average of right at 27 students. So adding an additional teacher at um at the fourth grade level would bring those down um around to 20 students per class. Um Mr. NZ is also watching first grade. Um so if there is the determination, we don't have any other classrooms. So it would either have to be first grade or fourth grade, but right now it is needed in the
051fourth grade um in that section. And so that's the recommendation is to add um an FTE. Mr. Shepard has already um pre-planned if the board were to approve that that that would be able um to be in um the upcoming budget already. Okay. Were there any questions? Hearing none. Oh, are there any other um I know that we we were looking at maybe Deer Path and Three Oaks like maybe fourth and third grade that we were looking at at the Are you still watching those? We are still watching those, but those have been um able to stay right around the 2425 mark. So, this one because it was hitting 27 28 is the reason why we went there. But yes, we'll continue to monitor those other two sections. Are are there any other like projections
052that are changing as as people are registering? No, not at this time. And that's why we waited a little while to bring this recommendation because we wanted to see when registration started if perhaps we had some moveouts or um some students that weren't returning, which would bring that number down naturally, but it's holding pretty steady. Okay, thank you. Yep. No problem. If we can go back to consent, please. All right. Next up, we have policies 2160E, 22 225E1, and two 22 250E2. Um these are exhibit checklist for the schoolboard attorney. The exhibits exhibit written request for district public records and the exhibit immediately available district public records and web posted reports and records. There's been a lot of back and forth on these. Um, my understanding from Nick at IASB and within the IASB language
053is that these are guidelines for the board that we can use whether we because we haven't f we haven't followed the the the what we've had in existing in our policy. So it this is not my understanding of it is that they are just guidelines for us. Is that your understanding Dr. White? So they are guidelines. However, um from my from Mr. Bowman from ISB that it would be then part of policy. Um, keeping them within the policy manual does allow them to be updated if there were any um, changes or adjustments, but it would be an expectation that they would be followed if they were a part of the policy manual. I didn't get that at all from his explanation. Yes, they would be in the policy handbook, but they are still guidelines just
054like we did not follow the superintendent hiring uh, using the exit you know, exhibit just like we have not used the exhibit for a superintendent review. To me, this seems almost like um it should it's a action item or or you're doing something not more than not policy. It should be more in like procedural manual. each each of the bullet items there is a do you know develop determine um that's why they're guidelines and and that's why um it also if we don't have them in policy they will not be updated so we won't get an update we'll have to manually go in and compare side by side like we want to get away from in order to get them updated I I'm but if it was in a procedural manual you know, you could
055still update it, but you know, and it would be somewhere that um a board if they're looking for a new attorney, they could go to and get ideas on on how to, you know, um what to look for in an atur in selecting an attorney. But I guess the whole thing with exhibits um sometimes they just seem like they kind of cross the line between policy and procedure. Oh, I agree. But I mean we don't have we don't have a type of book that we're suggesting that it goes to. So it's either we keep them out. So, either we keep them out or we keep them where they've been, which is in our policy handbook as an exhibit. Can I ask a procedure question that might might be a solution? Um, if we didn't put
056them in now, I I do tend to align with Julie on what Julie was just saying, but if we didn't put them in now and a board in the future wanted to hire an attorney and they wanted to use this exhibit, if the board then was looking at I as Sorry, ISBA is the attorney one, so I confuse them in my head constantly. It's very hard when they're the same four letters. My point is, could they not also go on to the IASB policy manual and be like, "Oh, hey, we don't have that." When when they do decide they want it, press will then go and update it. I don't think putting it in our policy just so press keeps updating it is a reason to do it if there's another mechanic to being able
057to find the updated one when it's time. So, if I could offer a a couple things, one is from the information that Mr. Bowman sent um regarding the handling of exhibits. He did say, and I'm quoting this, they are not exhibits are not reference material, but rather items the board should be using to implement directives set forth in adopted board policy. If the board does not intend to use an exhibit to implement a policy, it can be deleted from the manual. I think that there is an option that these and and they've got some that they recommended stay as uh in the policy manual, but they don't have to be in policy. And then they um also had some and this is what part of what these are that they were recommending be in procedures.
058So there is a way we can still do it. It wouldn't be the way press is where we get the red line strikeout now directly on the page. However, they still show up in the press packets that we get four times a year. So the those um press booklets that come out, we would still get those for exhibits even if the exhibits weren't in the policy. So those still show up on there. So if all the exhibits were moved to the procedural manual, we could still update those as they're coming. It would just be in the old-fashioned way. However, the procedural manual is updated by the administrative team, not the board. So it wouldn't bog the board down and trying to update those with those press packets four times a year. On the flip side,
059the other um potent so so there is an avenue for that and to be able to keep up with because they're they'll all be new now. They were all new in January, but there um if the board votes to remove them to procedures, there is still a path to be able to do that. The other thing that we could look at and this is actually what started us on the press plus uh journey in the first place is they do the same um procedure for press plus on the procedural end that they do for the policies. So that's originally we were looking at this probably two years ago. We were looking at our our procedural manual is more outdated than what our uh policy manual was. So, we looked at that and they said, "Oh,
060they have a service you can do with your procedural manual to be able to do exactly what we've done with Press Plus." But you can't sign up for that service unless you've done that with the policies. When we realized how much time, money, and effort that would save doing it with policies, we switched to let's do this with policies. So we could also do the same thing that we did with the policies with procedure, have that in the press plus procedural side and then we'd have all of our policies and our procedures completely up to date on press plus and in that regard they would come in every single time when we um have an update from the press the little packets that they do sometimes not so little we would have that for both
061the policies and the procedures. So, we don't have that now. We have that for all the policies, which is great. And as we're preparing issue 117, I hope the board will see, we're bringing that in June, how much easier it's going to be to update our policies. It's it's we uh we've already been looking at um Dr. White and uh Mrs. Dorfer and I, and it's amazing. It's so much easier. We could do that on the procedural side and update all of our procedures. If the board chose to move the exhibits over, we could then also update the exhibits with the procedures because it would all be in the procedure manual. So, I know that's a long kind of long-winded answer, but there is a path to be able to do that as well. So,
062the procedural manual though is not it's not not public facing. It is not public facing. Is it boardfacing? Like I will go into how many people on the board sign into press? I in there once, right? And that's an issue if you can only find the exhibit or whatever in press. I guess I have to go into press to see if we can see AP cuz I know that we have different login and different things that we can see. We're learning this as we're going through and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Um, and what this all means is that you can see different things in press than we can see and and vice versa. Um, but you can see procedures because we can see AP we can double check but
063when you get those policy uh packets that they do four times a year the procedures show up on the worksheet but as at the board meeting we don't bring those procedures to the board meeting because those those aren't uh in board policy those are procedure manuals. So, those are ones that we board has not ever gotten the the memos until just recently like they've always been available if you log if you log into press ISB press because we don't get them in our emails or whatever. We don't you have to go in and I'm just saying nobody is sitting there reading policy. Right. Right. And we we definitely um Mrs. Potter had requested for the board to start receiving those and once the new one comes out you guys will get the newest one. Also
064um you know a lot of districts for whatever reasons are behind on their administrative procedures manuals being outdated. um we requested that from ISB but there's a wait list so we have to wait till our turn to even because even if whatever the board decides regarding the exhibits it will be the recommendation of administration at some point to go through this and update the administrative procedural manual because it has not been regularly updated along with when we get the updates we could do that so we really need to do an overhaul of that as well so wherever the board falls you know that's up to the board to decide but I do want to explain The administrative procedure manual will be something that the board could have access to if you all wanted to see
065it. It is not public facing, but right now it is grossly outdated where we don't use it. We typically go to policy and then go from there. I would a thousand% support the update of the AP manual. Absolutely. A thousand because I know how you guys turn to that and having that updated constantly that's probably more, right? And I feel like as long as we have access to these exhibits in that AP login that that's kind of solving the problem for us as well. Okay. I don't know about that. But I mean not all not all of these but some but I have taken away here why I feel like I do understand a little bit better as we're trying to sort through this. And believe me I don't know if anyone's more sick of
066talking about this than probably me. like I'm just done. Um, but I do see how Dr. Thomas looks at this from a different perspective of the exhibits than we do as members of the board because Dr. Thomas is required to then go out and implement whatever it is that's here. Whereas we just say, "Okay, the policy looks good. We need this exhibit or whatever." And the expectation is I guess on your side is that then that exhibit is used and everything and then the community would expect that to be used and all of that. And um but on our side we're getting mixed. There's not really an answer for what the exhibit means for us, right? We know, we understand now what it means for admin, but what it means for us has always been
067reference and or guidance and and that I'm just going to read to the board just really fast because I'm just so done arguing. I just want the board to understand that this is from ISB. This is why um just this is a board policy manual, right? not AP or anything, but this is what they're saying about exhibits versus uh admin procedures, right? Board exhibits include forms and other information that a board may wish that a board may wish to use or consult in support of their implementation of board policies. It is at a board's discretion whether or not to include such exhibits in its board policy manual. Administrative procedure exhibits support the work of the administration in its implementation of board policy and they should be dated by the appropriate administrative staff for implementation. It
068doesn't I know that doesn't clarify anything for anybody other than exhibits are to be used at our discretion. Right. I'm going to that's right to consult. That's my takeaway is that the may in that first sentence, right? Why not have the information there um when the seven of us have moved on, right? Somebody else will be in that spot and they'll have that information and as it gets updated maybe in a different procedure, it would be reflected in the exhibit as well. Let's say the FOYA procedure changes, right? Then whichever board is sitting here in 10 years will have that information. And so I'd like to see that included. But I also I I'm just going to leave it at that. I'd like to see that the exhibits included. I I agree with that because
069then they at least getting updated. But um yeah, I do hear the may wish to use or consult to support their implementation of board policies. But again, that's confusing to me because we as board members don't actually implement the policies. We just adopt them. the exhibits and the policies. So, it's just, you know, so is this then going to go into um consent agenda then or So, are we thinking we want this to go into the procedural manual or with updates then it'll get done or are we thinking that we're leaving it in policy? So, who wants it to go into the procedural manual? So, I I'm a procedure voter. And and my other thought is while I may not know what the procedure manual looks like now, I'm sure there's nothing that stops us
070from having a board procedural section of the procedure manual so that we know where to look for all these forms. So I'm on procedure, not policy. But I'm going to disagree. Uh because if the there's a wait list for the procedure manual to get updated and we've been asking for a couple years versus if press releases new language that that's included in the exhibit. It's going to get updated when press comes out versus waiting for our number to be called for that AP update. I think until we're they're they get to us for a procedural manual, you know, for the AP manual update, it has in my mind, it has to stay where it is until such time as they're ready for us to update our AP manual. Does this just go? We can just
071vote on it on Monday and Okay. Everyone will decide and it'll go where it goes. Yeah. Put in action. I think we don't have a consensus yet pretty clearly. Okay. All right. Next up, we have D26 policy manual review section three. Mrs. Potter had um sent over and we shared those notes um with the board in the packet. Um the first was 340E exhibit checklist for the superintendent employment contract negotiation process. Mrs. Potter, did you want to explain your notes there? Um I just all I've brought forward for section 3 is 340E the exhibit checklist and 350 administrative personnel other than superintendent. I think we just talked about the checklist. I don't know if I I don't really feel like going through all of these cuz I've shared like with this these with the board
072and stuff already. Um uh so ultimately it's do we want this checklist? It's not I think it could be helpful uh if we are talking about ever the superintendent's employment contract. Um, especially just because we don't do that kind of stuff every day. And again, I don't plan on being here 20 years from now either and offering all of my expertise uh in that area. Um, and then the 350, the administrative personnel. Um, you can see my notes on that and you've probably heard them too. I don't know how we want to. So, we just put that to a vote next week. Yeah, we'll put that to a vote next week. I think so. don't you? Y and I think we could do the same for section four. There's one, two, three, four, five, six
073of them in section four. Yeah, there was one though um that was just I think just really um something that needed to be fixed. That's just like a typo. And that was 4152. And that was the policy number changed from 155 capital asset to or I'm sorry, probably 455. Um, typo on my part, but it changed from capital. It changed to 4152. And um, the new policy manual is still listing it as the old policy number. So I think I don't know it has it has been updated. Never possibly changed. Yeah, it's already been updated. So if you go online now to our policy for 152 and 41 172, those numbers have been updated to reflect the new numbers. So those are actually done. Okay. And then there was another one. This was in the
074the policy man. It was the table of contents though. It wasn't on the in the table of contents. Yeah, it was in the actual it was in the table of contents, not the um it did look proper on board docs, I believe, but it was the table of contents was reading um as the wrong policy number, the old policy number. Okay, we can double check that. And then there's another one on here um Mrs. Potter that it is um for col 10, the fiscal and business management. And um your notes that you have are the same as the notes that I have. And I think there was just an error in that first paragraph that they didn't keep the language that is what was recommended and by the administration is what was approved by the
075board and I think it just that was just an error. So I already have a note on here to fix that and replace that first paragraph with the old paragraph that we had agreed to. Okay. So Okay. Thank you. Do you know if that then if it's already going to just be fixed because it's it would do you know if that has to come then for approval? I think that needs to come for approval because it was like um published inappropriately or published in error and so I think we should go ahead and put that on the list. But just so you know of the the changes that was one of them and it's I just wanted to confirm that our notes match so we'll make that change. And I just wanted to address one
076thing on 350. I wanted the board to to note Mrs. Potter is correct. We not we me I guess the superintendent brings forth recommendations regarding compensation. The language that was added only deals with benefits and leaves of absence. We follow those procedures because we don't um negotiate a separate um benefits package or things of that nature for solely administrators that follows the teacher one. That would not change the practice of still myself having to bring forward recommendation for any administrative compensation changes. that would still be um required to be approved by the board. So that would not take that away from the board. It just articulates that that's how we do benefits and leaves of absence would um follow along by the teacher compensation would not. So, what do you mean? Like, are you gonna
077are we going to leave it or are we Yeah, I just So, I saw your notes and I just wanted to kind of explain and make sure that that did not the language that was added that's currently in there does not include compensation or negate the need for the superintendent, myself to bring forward recommendations on any administrative compensation changes. That would be still something that we would bring forward the board. This language that was added only talks about like health, dental, our benefits packages. Those do align. They already do align. Um what administrators receive like our principles, APS, coordinators, it already aligns with what teachers receive because we don't negotiate a separate benefits package with administrators. So it follows that as well as leave of absence. For example, um administrators get the same amount of
078sick days each year because there's no other document that guides that compensation would still have to come before the board like we do each year when we bring um the administrative recommendations for any pay or compensation compensation changes that would still have to occur even with this new language in there. Okay. So the sentence though in question is unless stated otherwise in individual employment contracts all benefits and leaves of absence available to teaching personnel are available to administrative personnel that was added to the policy manual when it got rewritten. It was not the policy the former D26 policy. So I guess my question is is short answer. Are you recommending that sentence be kept? Yes. Okay. That is language directly from press. That's not language we wrote. That's press's recommended and that's our current practice.
079Yeah. Okay. That was a really short answer. So if that if that policy is fine, should we is it fine for everyone to keep that language or do we even just not bring it back? That can just go on the consent agenda. We wouldn't have to do we wouldn't have to take any action on 350 cuz it was only a matter of is this sentence good or bad? Is it going to come in to conflict with any kind of negotiations or nothing? If it's good with everyone, then we just keep it and we don't have to vote on it. No, we would just remove it from the section three manual review portion when the board would take So the board would only be taking action on 340E out of section three and then the policies
080that were under section 4. We all good with that? Okay, perfect. Uh was there anything else? Okay. Uh next up we have close session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body 5 CS120-2C1. We have a motion to adjurnn to close session. So moved. Second. All in favor? Okay. We need to do a roll call to go into close. Oh yeah. Can we take a roll call, please? Yes. Sorry, trying to write fast. Okay, there we go. Mindy Hartman, yes. Darling, yes. Stacy Salt, yes. Julie Jetty, yes. Jason Janzit, yes. Katherine Potter, yes. Thank you. Open session ends at 7:06 p.m. Have a good evening, everyone.