001first one she sitting right there. All right, perfect. All right, it is 7 p.m. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. Welcome everyone. We're going to start off with a roll call, please. Kimberly. Norin Friedrich here. Adam Humpkin is absent today. Andrea Corey is also absent. Kelly Moyer here. Greg Meyer here. Lisa Schumacher here and Tyson search here. All right. If anyone gives us a word, if everyone stand with me and recite the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Awesome. Thank you. And a big warm welcome to all our visitors. Got a big full house and a big full parking lot. That's always great
002to see. Thank you for attending with us this evening. Do we have any public comments? Big old crowd. No one want to say anything. They're here for the kids. All right. Perfect. Me, too. So, that's good. All right. No public comments. So, we'll go right on to correspondence. I don't think they're correspondents either. We're going to fly right through this meeting. We'll go right into our consent agenda. Dr. Grody, if you need me some. All right. Well, you've got your minutes and your reports. We have, this is the end of the year list, so bear with me. Resignations. Trisha Durban, kindergarten teacher, is going to retire at the end of the 2029 school year. Amy Fes, Donna Meyers, and Jenny Reosovich are also going to be retiring at the end of the 29 school year.
003John Spencer, E Eagle View Cook, is going to be ending at the end of this year. And um added on before we had it, we got this uh today or yesterday. Zack George High School PE will also be leaving us to go to another school in Alton. Um we've got some employments. Taylor Bradshaw will be our high school finance secretary. We'd like to put her on. Sylvia Gardner will be the an adult supervisor for Eagle Zone. Uh we've got some certified personnel. Wendy Range will be our new speech language pathologist for next year. We've got a leave with Kyle Stumpf, middle school social studies from 8:18 to 9:19. So, he'll be starting the year um at home with their child. Extracurricular assignments, Kylie Wolf for Scholar Bowl assistant coach. And now we have the list
004summer workers. Kale Reigns, summer student, IT worker. Xander Noel, summer student custodian, along with Shane Johnson, Aiden Sepic, uh Gage Stumpf, Aiden Bower, Jason Ron, uh Hayden Habmill is getting added and Ethan Habbermill is being added and those were all summer student custodians. Jason Ron is going to be the summer student painter with Donovan Bieber, summer school student paper. August Hangel will be a summer adult painter. Diane Beerman, summer adult custodian. Gina Blandon, summer adult custodian. Amanda our summer adult custodian. And Wade Brady, summer adult custodian. So those will be our summer workers. Um, and then we've got the extended school year. Megan P will be our EC teacher. Holly Habbermill will be the parah for that. Tiffany Dill will be the K1 teacher. Rebecca Wise, K1 parah. Aiden Wireshine, I mutilated that one. Worsham.
005Thank you. K1 parah. Tiffany Taylor, K1 parah. Uh Amy Wulmer, uh second through fourth grade teacher. Stephanie Turner, second through fourth grade parah. Sarah Brandenburgger, 5 to8 teacher. Haley Storm, 5 to8 teacher. Khloe Stofl 5 to8 parah Emma Zika 5 to8 parah Sydney Will 5 to8 parah Sarah Kimmy sign language interpreter and Gloria Melanus is going to be the nurse for the extended school year given the resignations that we have we have the vacancies of paraprofessional to replace the uh middle school position Cook to replace the Eagleview position and we need a PE and health for the Zack George position Given all of that, administration recommends the board approve the consent agenda as presented. You have um two nurses up in your resations. Yeah, those are the two um halftime nurses and so they'll be
006filled with a full-time position, right? But you didn't say I didn't add the nurse. You didn't say them on a vacation. Where did I miss them? You didn't say their names whenever um for the resinations. Yes. And I'm drawing a blank on their names and it's not written down on my sheet. Carrie Kler. Carrie Kettler and Jason Archer. Jacquellyn Archer. Thank you. Carrie Kettler and Jacqueline Archer are the two Eagle View part-time nurses. My apologies. So, we need to amend this for PE Health and nurse. Yes. Yeah, we need the nurse vacancy as well. Okay. All right. Any other questions, concerns, additions, subtractions? Thank you for catching that. Hear none. We may like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented and amended. I'll make the motion. Thank you, Tyson. Do I
007second? I'll second. Thank call, please. Norin Friedrich. Yes. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. Tyson search. Yes. Perfect carries. Our next item is communication reports and presentations. Uh enrollment report is in your packet. And we have a little special presentation tonight. I think Ann Noble is here. Guardian. There you are. You're hiding right in the front. Hiding right out front. That's right. Right in plain sight. These kids are way more fun than um just want to give you guys an update on the last piece of burn for the construction project. Um we we are down to the nitty-gritty. Um so tonight I'm just going to walk you through um the process that we'll be doing and then Can I interrupt you real quick? I just wanted to let everybody know that's watching
008and in the audience. Anna is with Stiffl and she's our finest person that's financing our bonds to build the the school project. So, thank you, sir. Perfect. Sorry. Thank you. All right. So, um we have already financed about 24 million in bonds. We did 10 million in 23 14 million and 24 and this year we are scheduled to do the last 29 million to get you at a total of 53 million for all of the facility improvements. Um obviously most of that being at the high school. So um we are going to do that in two pieces just like we did last year. uh we will sell debt certificates first which are essentially a bridge loan and then those get taken out and replaced by the funding bonds. Um so it is a two-step process
009and four meetings of the board, four pieces of action. So that's highlighted for you on page three. So tonight we're just discussing briefly. Then in June you'll approve the resolution for the debt certificates. In July, we do what we call the resolution of intent on the funding bonds, which which initiates the process on the funding bonds and the notice in the paper. And then we hold a public hearing in August. In September, we will actually sell the funding bonds and you'll approve the final sale of those. And then in October, in October, the final funding. So in October, we're done. And you don't have to put up with me. Um the plan of finance looks like this when you're all done um on page four. So you will have um just the bonds associated with
010these projects. Your old bonds are gone. Now the 14s, the 17s, and the 2020 bonds, all of those were paid off last year. So now you're just to these new bonds that we have sold for these projects. So you'll have 23 bonds, 24 bonds, and 25 bonds. And they're all targeting this 80 cent maximum tax rate that's shown over on the far right. And you can see the last year is a partial year. That'll that's sort of our plug year. Um all of this obviously being a little dependent on final interest rates and on your actual EAV um your equalized assess valuation what the tax rate it the bond payments themselves that column uh second from the right that's labeled total debt service when we're done that column will be fixed those payments will not
011change those dollar amounts will be filed with the county clerk and those will be set what will vary is what the tax rate will be associated with making those payments because it'll just depend on what the EAV does every year. So, as EAV grows, what I'm showing is 79 and 80 cents over on the right hand side will actually go down. We've just assumed very minimal 1% annual growth. So, I guarantee after year one that far right column will be wrong, but it's it's wrong in a conservative way. So, um, and that is all I have unless you have questions for me. We will literally be doing exactly what we did last year. Other than last year, we were able to sell the debt certificates to a bank. Um, this year's debt certificate is too
012big. Uh, most banks just they just can't handle 29 million. Um, so we will be selling that in the public market to a group of investors, but it still will only be outstanding for about 90 days and then we'll replace it with the funding box. But otherwise, it is identical to the process you went through last year. And the reason we're doing the final push of everything's because arbitrage is no longer available, right? We've been splitting things into these pieces so that you could maximize your investment income on the bond funds, but uh given where interest rates are currently there there is no arbitrage play, we can't make that extra interest income. So there's no point in exposing you to the additional interest rate risk of and and the additional costs of selling bonds again
013next year. So we're just going to get it over with this year, then you're good to go. Now, would we need the full 26 million for the bridge loan or 29 million for the bridge loan or can we do a smaller amount? The only way we can fund the funding bonds at the full amount is to take it out with the bridge loan. We we need the debt certificates equal to the amount you need and then the funding bonds basically just replace it. So, we do have to do the bridge loan. You don't need it right now. You have plenty of cash for the work you're doing at this moment, but to get you all the way through the project, you do. So we we will need to do the full just pay an interest
014on money we don't need. I understand completely but we will keep it as short as humanly possible and I may be back you remember last year we had a special board meeting to minimize that that time period out. We we may be back doing exactly that again. So I promise we will uh we will keep it as minimal as we can. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any questions? All right. Well, I can see the floor to Princess Diana and Lincoln. I can't quite tell what's going on with her. Our our school has a wax museum and so they're they've done some research and now they're going to perform a little wax museum for us. I like Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Noble. And Miss Noble also made a mention of arbitrage, what that was
015for everybody that's not familiar. uh we could actually borrow money cheaper than we could invest it. So what the school district did is we borrowed more money than we needed or money as we needed it. We invested in the meantime so we made a little bit profit on the money. So So thank you. I know arbitrage is a little bit confusing to a lot of people. So borrow a little less. Exactly. So we're trying to do whatever we can to keep your tax dollars down and working hard for you. So all right and we'll move on to our building report. I think that's what everybody's here for. Thank you. Um, Parkview participated in the socket to cancer event this year. This is the first year we've done it uh for Kelsey's Hope Foundation to help
016kids with cancer. Um, at the end of April, students were provided a yellow sock that they could decorate however they'd like and fill a sock with cash and loose change. So, you see the middle picture up there. Those were uh our three winners, I believe, for decorating their socks. We had all kinds of different uh unique decorations. Um Parkview students and families had five days to collect uh cash and coins and they collected $6,464.65 in those five days, which is amazing. Uh Gail from the foundation, she sent me a message saying, "We're excited to share that Park View has officially joined an exclusive group. Only three schools have ever raised over $6,000 in 14 years we've hosted Socket to Cancer and Parkview is now the fourth. With this incredible effort, there are now just two
017schools ahead of Parkview and total funds raised throughout the history of the campaign. So Parkview students and parents just amaze me every single year with the the generosity when we do these kind of fundraisers. It's it's just blows me away. So um great job. Uh the picture on the right is a picture of our middle school and we have our fourth graders there. Every year in late April, fourth grade classes take turns visiting the middle school to learn about a typical day would be like for a fifth grader. Uh a panel of students answer questions and give groups of students a tour of the building. And the tour is worth its weight in gold as far as easing um the students tensions and fears about going to middle school next year. Um and also um
018we have our Parkview field trips. Uh as we finish the year tying up loose ends, all grade levels have completed their field trips and students were able to participate in these field trips due to the uh chocolate sales that we have. Uh we use that money to pay for uh any fees that uh cost for our field trips. And then finally uh next Friday we have our field day. Park students will get to celebrate the good times with our annual field day. Uh, always one of the funnest days of the year, just getting out and competing and having fun. No. Yeah. Okay. Wax museum. Why we're all here, right? So, um, one of the fourth grade common core writing standards is to write an informative explanatory text. So, at the beginning of the year, the
019kids all pick a famous person and they write a five paragraph essay on that particular person. towards the end of the year um they take that five paragraph essay and they turn it into a first-person narrative uh to then cover another lang uh common core standard for language arts um to present knowledge on a particular topic or text um starting in August when they come it's like the first thing that they always ask about when is the wax museum when do we start working on it so it's a whole year process so they're very excited to come up and present so all of our um presenters are going to come and take their positions and get ready. If I can have you all come and go where you're supposed to go, appreciate it. Mr. Grody,
020can you just scooch a smidge? Thanks. Martin Luther King needed to get in. Okay. Hello. Welcome to the fourth grade wax museum. My name is Princess Diana. I was born on July 1st, 1961 in Fort England. I am best known for becoming Princess of Wales when I married Prince Charles. I was born to a high ranking British family. I have a father named John Spencer, a mother named Francis Spencer. I have three siblings named Sarah, Jane, and Charles. I went to boarding school when I was very little. I enjoyed art and music. I loved to help with the elderly and disabled. I only met Prince Charles 13 times before we got engaged. I was very kind to others. I did so many charity events to help people. I was known for my charity work and
021being an advocate for one's rights. Also, I help with the children, the sick, and the homeless. I hope I taught you to be kind and to help others. Also to do is right for no price. Remember to help everyone. Sadly, I passed away in 1997 on August 31st. I died from a car crash. Thank you for seeing Princess Diana. Remember to help everyone. Oh, sorry. Hi, let me introduce myself. My name is Neil Aiden Armstrong. I'm glad to be here with you today. I was born August 5th, 1930 in Weeponetto, Ohio. I'm I am famous for being the first person to land on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. At the age of six, I flew an airplane for the first time with my dad. I loved studying space and airplanes as a kid.
022I was a pilot during the Korean War. I was shot down once. I became famous when I took the first step in the moon and said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. I flew with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. I was brave and eager. I was brave to go to the moon and I was eager to accomplish John F. Kennedy's goal of landing on the moon and coming back safely. I hope you learned to never give up on your dreams and always be brave. Sadly, I passed away from a cardiac surgery August 25th, 20 2012 at the age of 82. I hope you learned a lot. Goodbye. All right, I'll press yours, too. Hello, my name is Joshua Patrick Allen. Most people call me Josh Allen. I'm 28 years old
023and married to Haley Steinfel. I was born in Fireball, California on May 21st, 1996. I am known for being one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I grew up on a 3,000 acre cotton farm that has been running in the family. I I also grew up with three siblings, Makina, Nichollet, and Jason. I also helped at my mom's restaurant in town. I am in famous because I have broken many records in my first seven seasons playing for the Bills. At Reed College, I was overlooked by my coaches and put in smart groups with the guys that weren't as good. I started trying harder and harder to show the coaches I belong to the better group. I then moved to Wyoming University and got a bachelor's degree in social science. Over the years, I have
024learned that as long as you try your hardest, you can accomplish your goals. Today I'm still alive and still play for the Bills. Always remember to keep trying your hardest and achieve many goals. Good afternoon. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Taylor Allison Swift. I was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania on December 13th, 1989. I am best known for singing. In my childhood, times were fun. As a child, I grew up on a nearby Christmas tree farm. My mom, Andrea Swift, stayed home to watch my brother Austin, while my dad, Scott Swift, worked as a stock broker. I became famous when I wrote my first two albums, Taylor Swift and Fearless. I also wrote the singles Teardrops on My Guitar, Love Story, and You Belong With Me. I'm confident and fearless on stage.
025Even when I was not so popular, I never gave up. I work hard to achieve my goals. I hope my confidence has encouraged you to never give up. I hope my life has encouraged you to always be fearless. Today, I'm still alive at the age of 35. I still sing my songs, whether it's on stage or at home. Thank you for visiting with Taylor Swift today. Don't forget to be yourself and to always be fearless. Hello, welcome to the fourth grade wax museum. My name is Martin Luther King Jr. I was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. I am known for my non-founding protest and my I have a dream speech. In my childhood, I love music, so my mom brought me to church so I can listen to their songs. I had
026a friend who was white and we love to pray with each other. One day, his dad said he didn't want his sons to be friends with me anymore. I started becoming famous when I started doing my protest and speech about civil rights and equality. I I tried my hardest to make people believe I was right. I did not give up when I tried to make equality. I hope my speeches has helped you. I sadly passed away from my firearm by James Earl W in 1968. Thank you for visiting with Martin Luther King Jr. Remember to work hard and never give up. Good afternoon. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Simone Nal. I was born in Columbus, Ohio, March 14th, 1997. I am best known for winning the Olympics in 2024. In my childhood,
027times rough. My siblings and I were put into the foster care system. My sister and I were adopted by our grandparents. As a child, I was homeschooled because I was practicing gymnastics for 20 to 32 hours a week. I became famous for winning 41 medals and winning the Olympics in 2024. I also won the all-around World Cup two times, and I won gold 17 times. I'm strong and hardworking. I never give up when I fall down. I was adopted and worked all my way up to be a gymnastics star. I hope my struggles as a person who has adopted and let nothing get in the way of their passion for gymnastics have inspired you to never give up. I My life has helped you to always work hard. Today, I'm living my life to the
028fullest. Thank you for rising with my own area Ariana boss today. Remember when you fall down, get right back up and do it again. Hello, my name is Elizabeth Alexander Mary, otherwise known as Queen Elizabeth. I was born on April 21st, 1926 in Mayfair, London at 2:40 a.m. I'm most known for being the Queen of England. I was born a princess, and as a little girl, I spent most of my time with my two grandparents. In 1930, my baby sister was born, who was also born a princess. My parents decided that they wanted to name her Margaret Rose and we soon became very close. At age 11, I enrolled as a girl guide. I was also a sea ranger, rode horses, and became a very strong swimmer. I loved to study history and law, art
029and music, and learned French as a young adult. I became queen on June 2nd, 1953. My mother stepped off the throne. I have four kids, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward with my husband, Prince Philip. As I grew older, I started to love pigeon racing and football. I was the only person in the UK allowed to drive without a driver's license. In my life, I accomplished so many things and you can too. Sadly, on September 8th, 2022, I passed away from old age. I lived to be a strong 96-year-old woman and I broke the record for the longest reigning monarch ever in Britain history. I will forever be remembered as a great queen. I hope my speech encouraged and inspired you that you can do and be anything you set your
030mind to. Thank you for visiting my wax museum. Greetings. My name is Abraham Lincoln. I'd like to tell you about myself. I was born in Hoenville, Kentucky in 1809. People know me for being the 16th president of the United States of America. My childhood was unique. My parents could not read or write. I was an excellent reader, though. When I was nine, I moved to Illinois. Sadly, that same year, my mom passed away. When I became famous when I was elected as the 16th president of the United States of America, I wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in 1863. I hope my struggles as someone who freed the slaves encouraged you to never give up. Sadly, I passed away when I got shot in the back of the head by John Wils in
0311865. Thank you for visiting with Abraham Lincoln today. Remember to always be honest and work hard. [Applause] They obviously have a ton of fun um every year with this and we love to watch them and their costumes and whatnot. And while Princess Dye did great, um we're going to let them go ahead and say who they actually are and whose class that they are in. My name is Brooklyn Myers and I'm in Miss Meyers's class. My name is Nicholas Buro Buro and I'm in Car Mr. Carousel's class. My name is Jackson Pollock and I'm in Mission's class. My name is Haddie Harper and I am Miss in Miss Bunting's class. My name is Colton Brooks and I miss my class. My name is Norah Fist and I'm in Miss Webb's class. My name is Emerson
032Milkins and I'm in Miss Hentis's class. My name is Z and I'm in Miss Cner's class. [Music] Thank you guys. Thank you. Good job. You didn't want to wear that. So I was like, you could just wear it for the rest of the week. That's awesome. That's good. They have changed. They've totally changed since my kids did them. Yeah. Character-wise. Yeah. And here I thought they were here for the board meeting. Save the best. That's just like that one of my favorite times of the year is wax museum. Like just getting in there and seeing those kids and the work they put into it and you can see how proud they are of it. It's just it's awesome. It is really great. It's so good. And the majority of them memorize that speech and yeah,
033they work on it so hard. Yeah, it's impressive. Especially being so young that Yeah. to get up, right? It's scary in this room. Like I said, they're excited about it from August on. So yeah, I think about that every time any young kid gets up here. I'm like, it's hard as an adult to get up in front of a room of anybody. And then you're a kid getting up in front of a room of adults. Like one of the biggest comments we get is, I can't I can't believe how much eye contact they make with us. Mhm. So yeah, that's awesome. That was a good idea having them around the room, too. That was that was new this year. So that's great. Great job. Anything else? I think that's it. That's enough. So perfect. All
034right. Lucky Dr. Gayy gets to follow that again. I'm out. No, I'm just kidding. Um yes, I want to start with our district shoutouts. Um I'm going to start with Eagle View, Mrs. Marquort. She has volunteered several hours after school days to beautify and landscape the front of our school with plants, fresh mulch, and stone borders. We appreciate the care and dedication to making our school look as beautiful on the outside as our students and staff are on the inside of the building. So, a huge shout out to Mrs. Marquort. She's doing great things at Eagle View. Um, moving over, we're going to Park View, and Mrs. Teresa Fundus gets a huge shout out. Park View was incredibly lucky to have Mrs. Teresa Fundus as a part of our school family. With 16 years of
035dedication to the district, Mrs. Fundus brings her warm smile and upbeat attitude to the lunchroom every single day. Her love for students shines through in everything she does, from positively managing student behavior to creating a welcoming environment for all. But her impact doesn't stop there. Mrs. Fundus goes above and beyond by lending a helping hand to teachers and staff, whether it's making copies or jumping in wherever she's needed. Thank you, Mrs. Fundus, for your kindness, commitment, and energy. Park View loves you and I've seen her emails. She is always willing to help and copy and do amazing things. Continuing onward um at Columbia Middle School, we have a huge shout out to Mr. Joe Gilbreth. We'd like to say a huge thank you to you, Mr. Joe, for being the go-to tech hero at CMS.
036Whether it's an easy fix, a supply need, or a mysterious tech glitch, Joe is always there. quick to respond and ready to troubleshoot whatever comes his way. We truly appreciate his willingness to dive in, figure out the issue, and find a solution. Joe, your reliability and support means so much. CMS is lucky to have you. Again, I can um attest to his amazing technology abilities. He's helped me numerous times when I have not known what to do. And then last, but certainly not least, Columbia High School is Miss Elise French. She nailed the AP testing organization and proctoring for three and a half hours for each test. She continues to go above and beyond in her support and efforts working with all of her students and staff. Great things happening at Columbia CS 54. Um,
037next on my list of updates would be ELA uh curriculum for grades K through 8. Um, this timeline is very similar to what I shared last month. I'm going to share a little bit more um in-depth details when we get to the action item that's on the agenda. Um but there was a lot of work done in April with both building administration and ELA teachers and leaders um alike. Super excited about our 5 through8 STEM elective that Mrs. Amber Haven has taken over. Um she has partnered with our tech department and they're doing some really cool things. Um there are some technology possibilities that we are super excited to hopefully have in the classroom. Um she's hoping for the curriculum to use project lead the way which is um STEM based and so she's hoping
038to integrate some of those um units into the STEM study and classroom. She is already certified for her STEM teacher certification which she's going to be taking through Mville University this June. Um and just last week she visited Mscuda school district um their STEM program to kind of see it. I have helped um implement STEM classrooms in other districts and I can talk the talk but it it's really scary because there's really not a curriculum set that you can get for STEM. It's really an innovation class and it's messy and sometimes the only thing that comes to mind are like pipe cleaners and then the teachers look at me like I have five heads. Like so she got to see it. she got to see it and she's super excited now with everything she got
039to see um going on in the classroom. So, she wanted to be here tonight, but she has a million things um going on tonight. Her boys are in baseball and she wanted me to share that she truly appreciates the opportunity and and can't wait to do more. Um at the high school, as I've been talking about all year, we are constantly working on our college and career pathways. We are so excited to announce that um for next year we will have three in-house pathways. Um pharmacy technician is fresh um off the press which I'm excited to talk to you about. We're hoping to find one student that would be willing to take this pharmacy technician um software 40hour asynchronous. It's all online this summer. And then they would do a 20hour unpaid internship which Corey
040Pharmacy has been very willing to allow them to come in fall semester and and do some of the 20 hours there. Um to which then they would just pay for their registered pharmacy technician license and we would hopefully get them a job at CVS or Walgreens or even a hospital. Once they get that, then there's a two-year clock that starts which they can do an additional 60 hours and become a certified pharmacy technician even before graduating high school and they could walk away with making $40,000 a year. That's pretty cool um when you really look at that. So, we are really excited to hopefully get this off off the ground and running. With that being said, um I reached out to Chester, Redbud, Sparta, um and Waterlue and I shared this pathway because I have
041since worked with the vocational area funding location that we we use and it has been open there. So all of the other districts in the area, if they are interested, can definitely offer this to their students as well. Super excited about the collaboration piece. Um construction trades we've been talking about. Um that is all set. We are excited about that. We also offer the emergency medical responder. Um we are continuing a partnership with Dupo school district next year for the junior ROC. In addition to that, they're offering an electrician program. And Dr. Grody and I got to go and visit Dupo School District and we got to walk into the electrician classroom and see where our students would be at. There are 21 Colombia students that are interested in going and taking part in this
042electricity um pathway that Dupo is offering. So, a lot of really good things going on there. Um, moving forward the next year, we hope to add two more pathways to um, Colombia. One being in Agg and one being in business. This is what I'm also super excited about. And you have a copy of this in your packet um, at your seat. I was working really hard with the Peoria workbased learning um, director. she came down and uh paid a visit to myself and Mr. Reeves. And again, I've been meeting throughout the year with the high school school counselors and with Mr. Reeves, kind of sharing the vision for bringing the vocational trades to the high school. And this menu was something that Poria School District offered. And I said, "This would be a really great
043way to like communicate it to our students, get it out there. What are we offering? What could they get from it? How can they move forward with it?" And so I met, like I said, it's been all year, but when I met this last time with the school counselors and Mr. Reeves, I said, "This is where I want to head. This is an example. I would like for you to put together where we're at and how we're going to continue to move forward." And they exceeded my expectations. I mean, this not only is it appealing to the eye, I think um it just shows the work that we put together this year and what we're going to offer our students. So, I'm really excited. The QR code is not functional, so don't get excited and
044try the QR code. And I was okay with that. They're working on that. It's under construction with a construction pathway on there. But, um, we are super excited about about what we're doing. Um, Mr. Dugan, I'm sure, is excited about this. Coming up, we have, um, our admin will be busy this summer. As I talked about a couple months ago, we have our first and hopefully annual leadership retreat happening June 9th through June 12th. Um, and this just kind of talks to you about what we're focusing on. It's going to be on our leadership, ourselves, our team, and what is going to be our plan moving forward. Um, and that is how we've structured the four days working together. Um, I'm excited. I think we'll come out even stronger than we are now. Something else
045I'm super excited about and wanted to share, um, we have been talking about collaboration all year as, um, district leadership, building leadership. Um, I know at one point you had early dismissals, now we do the half days. How do you structure that collaboration time? How do you make it meaningful for your staff members? How do your leaders do the the collaboration work? So, we have since partnered with Solution Tree and we're going to as leaders come together and learn how to help structure collaboration to be meaningful and effective for our staff. Um, and the kickoff for that is August 4th and 5th. That's going to be district and building administration. And in addition to that, we're also going to partner with Sparta School District and Chester uh school district. Their leadership teams will be coming
046to our campus to do both of these days as well. Um and Dr. Grody is super excited. We're going to start a superintendent book study. Good things are on the horizon here. Good things. And then of course there's summer. Summer is coming. So any questions on anything? Okay. I love the administrative retreat. That's a great idea. I am excited. I think it'll be good. Our superintendent reports. The administrative retreat is good. But the book study icing on that cake. Let me tell you, it's it's nothing like a good book study. I know. There is just exciting things going on right now. And it's and it's a wonderful thing. I will also uh do a couple of shoutouts. egg. Uh Joe Bur had some of his Mary students out front at the district office doing some
047landscaping. Those students had put together a plan, shared it with Dr. Gayy. Dr. Gayy picked the one that she liked. They kind of picked the hybrid between them and then they implemented the plan. And so the outside of our of our district office is now much nicer, more beautifification from those students. And we're going to be doing the same at Park View at their main entrance and kind of go through the buildings with the A department helping us out with that. Um the scoreboard's up. If you haven't driven by and you've seen the the marquee with the eagle moving on it, um it's exciting. I will say uh Taylor Nickerson did a wonderful job at the uh Pensler function where he was using the inside scoreboards and I believe that um this this weekend when
048we do graduation they will have some the outside scoreboards will be showing some some of its utility as well. So that's a exciting thing. Um we just had we do have graduation this Sunday which is the final mark to the end of the year. We'll have some classes after that but really you know once we get to graduations we're there. Tonight, just before this event, we celebrated retirees and we had eight people that are retiring at the end of this year and that accounted for 174 cumulative years of experiences that are walking out of our organization. Dave Goomershimer did the last uh 11 years as 10 years as a bus driver. Cynthia Friedrich did 11 years as a bus driver. Jamma Rodenberg 13 years as a paraprofessional. Deborah Hein is leaving us after 14 years
049as a cook. Tim Gagan is leaving after 30 years of social studies instruction at the high school. Tammy Fulty, 32 years ending with art, but she was also an elementary teacher. Teresa Fren, 32 years of science. And uh Heidi Klein, 34 years of as a teacher. Um, it's just people move jobs and to have those people with 30 plus years of experience is a wonderful thing and it just is a tribute to this community, the culture we have here, I it just it's it's very nice. Um, and so we have our board meeting and other than that item E is going to be tabled, our auditing services. We did have two firms that have shown interest and we are going through that. I hope to have a recommendation next month. Um we will have an
050executive session with no action afterwards. Um but that is it for the superintendent report. Awesome. Very good. All right. We'll move on to our items for action. We got a little bit of list tonight. So we'll start with the approval of the ad sales agreement with the digital scoreboards. This was tabled last um last week when Adam asked about the revenue sharing. It is we did confirm you've got a a new document at your table that kind of rephrases the um the revenue sharing to explain that it won't be paying for any salaries. Adam brought up a good point and that is is that if we have to pay for their salary of a person, why wouldn't we just hire our own person? And at this point, we're not expert at ad sales or whatnot.
051And uh they're not paying for their salary. So, uh that was changed also in that items eight and nine in the original contract got combined. It's the term and termination. You'll see that we can leave this after 60 days. And so, at the end of this year, if we don't see the revenue or if it's not working out the way we need it to be, we'll be able to do a 60-day notice and get out of this contract. It is a 5-year contract. it does not renew. I really think that after five years seeing them get the um ad sales up and running, we'll be in a position where we'll take it over ourselves. Uh but with all of that, administration recommends that we approve the ad sale agreement with digital scoreboards. Any discussions, questions,
052comments, concerns? Hearing none, may we like to make a motion to approve the the ad sales agreement with digital scoreboards. I'll make the motion. Thank you, Lisa. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. Roll call, please. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. Tyson Serge, yes. Norin Friedrich, yes. All right. Next on the list is the approval for the ELA. curriculum. Um, we shared with you I'm I'm going to turn it over I guess to Dr. Gayy and you could talk about the urgency in the curriculum itself and then Yes. So all year we've been working on alignment alignment. Um the first uh ask that I was asked to focus on was social studies. Um, and we did that. And then when we started the ELA process, we learned that there was
053a lot of inconsistencies and, uh, teachers across the board had been talking to me about ELA along with building administrators since the beginning of the year. Um, timeline, I don't like that it's a quick turnaround. However, um, in conversations with my administration and in conversations with teachers, it is needed. um if we wait until the end of next year, then we're going to be in the same place and and we know where we are. We know that we need alignment. Um and one of the reasons I would like to do it and recommend for possible approval tonight is because teachers need the resources. Um and we already are going to have them looking at these items over their summer. So, um, instead of waiting and and kind of kicking it down the road, um, we
054think that the better situation systematically speaking would be to possibly approve the new ELA curriculum to help with alignment to help everyone have consistent curricular resources. I have been communicating um with my building administration on a regular basis. They all are in agreement and we are working with the teachers on a plan and a process. We're working um I already have a year of professional development set um if this goes through tonight for next year for grade grades K through eight. Um that way they do get the support because what I feel and what I've seen as a leader sometimes when you adopt curriculum programs if you don't give them the support and the professional development that they need then it doesn't get utilized in the correct way. Um, and then essentially you are wasting
055time, you are wasting money. And I've been very clear if I'm coming and I'm asking that I want to make sure we're doing it um fully implementing it and doing it the right way because that is what what you all expect of me as well. Um, we we just the student impact as well. Um the alignment for students to know that teachers have consistent resources even across the hallway is extremely important um for their instructional strategies and approaches. Um what questions do you have for me? I will throw in it is a a an expense ELA is one of the more expensive of the curriculums. This would be a $575,000 um unbudgeted ask. We are not going to be purchasing any curriculum next year. Correct. We're going to be focusing in on really focusing on
056the implementation of this curriculum as well as an administrative uh refinement of our um leadership focused on learning is is and to further add to that, that's an excellent point. Um, when you get into the lower grades, it is more expensive because with ELA, there's so many components like the the phonics component and the manipulatives that come with it and the additional classroom library. And I want to provide as much of those pieces as as we can to support their navigation in teaching ELA as consistently across the board as we possibly can as well. Then you'll notice on the quotes as you get higher in the grades, it's not as expensive because there's just not as many tools. Um, another part that we're looking at is our RTI. Um, we want to give our RTI
057teachers some intervention um, resources that tie in with what they're learning in the classroom and that has also been added to this quote. So, consistency across the board is is truly going to be gained, I feel, um, if this is approved tonight. So, administration recommends the purchase of this. It will um, when we approve the uh, this year's budget, our final budget, we will be in the negative. I'm projecting it to be close to $700,000 in the red, but 575,000 of that is is um is this. And so, and we currently have the fund balance to handle that. We have the fund balance to handle that. And not something we want to make a habit of, obviously. Correct. It would also be for six years. I think that's important. And and we would not have
058any additional costs yeartoear unless there were a few moveins, but that would be very that would probably come out of a a building budget versus Yeah. Um Yeah. you're talking about RTI in my mind I think of ROI return on investment so I don't this is response to I know it is but it's acronyms but that's how I look at it too is this is an investment and you think we need it because we haven't done anything for quite a while. Yes, I do. And we were wanting I mean, like I said, it's just expediting it and there's not going to be a big purchase next year. Um, which will allow us to gra to gain more ground and truly dive into the two programs we purchased this year. Personally, I hate spending money with
059a passion or anything, but I I think this is kind of an important It is an investment. It is. It is. It really is. Yeah. So, I mean, we're we're investing in the the kids and we have to give them every tool they we can to make them help them succeed. Good. Any other questions, comments, concerns? May feel like making a motion. I'll make the motion. That's easy. Thank you. I'll second. All right. Tyson seconds. Roll call, please. Greg Meyer. Yes. Mrs. Schumacher. Yes. Tyson Search. Yes. Norin Friedrich. Yes. Kelly Moyer. Yes. All right. Unanimous. And I have to uh recognize Dr. Gayy for all the work she's done on this has been a amazing progress. Um being the board president, I can see a little bit more behind the curtain than everybody else and
060and the work that's gone on behind this. And it's not just a hey, let's do this today and we're going to roll it out. This is months of preparation. In fact, these books back here are evident of of what she has and have them on display. So all the teachers can come look at the curriculum and evaluate them beforehand. So I think you did a great job on that. So thank you very much. Thank you for all that. All right. Next one is the approval. We're going to spend some money. Might make a little bit more here. So approve of the lunch fee increase for 202526. Yeah, having these two items next to each other was probably poor planning on my part. However, um our food service program does operate on its own as far
061as the money that we get from the sales of foods goes back into the purchases of the supplies and materials for the foods. We've not raised the lunch fee at all for the five years that I've been here. Um I don't know how long it's been since before that. We do always approve the fees and then what happens is is when you get to the end of the year, you look at it and you say, "Okay, should we do the lunch fees?" And so we do the fees thinking we're not going to do the lunch fees. And so now we're bringing it back to you because this year we would like to do a 25 cent increase um to the to the to the meals. And so administration recommends the board approve the new updated
062fee schedule for the 2526 school year with the cost of lunch being the only change from last month's fee. So we're go up a quarter. Go up a quarter. Any comments, questions? Anybody want to raise the price on lunch fees by 25 cents? They want to. Not when my son buys three. Yeah, that's my son. In all fairness, I imagine that cost of us buying it has also gone. So, I mean, you have to I'm sure by Yeah. If anybody's been to a restaurant lately, you've seen your or grocery store or That's true. anywhere. Exactly. Anywhere. All right. Anyone want to make a motion on increasing lunch fees? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Lisa. I knew somebody come through. Second. I'll second. Thank you. That's 75 cents. Kevin second. All right. Roll call, please.
063Lisa Schumacher, yes. Tyson Serge, yes. Norin Friedrich, yes. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. All right. Next one is the approval for the furniture purchase for the high school expansion project. And um this is going to come in two waves. This is the purchase for the office area which will be open in August. Next month you will um hopefully have a uh consideration for the classrooms that we are are are looking at. Um this is $47,737 for the office furniture of the new office. Administration recommends the board approve this. This is part of the budget of the um factored in to the the construction. It is actually lower than what we are budgeting. So, we're we're happy about that. But um one of the reasons that is is we were able to repurpose a lot
064of existing furniture and reuse what we could and spend a lot of time evaluating what furniture we have, what we can use, and only added what we really needed to. So, yes. And as the superintendent, also seeing behind the curtains, your you're um and Adam Hempkins work on the on the committee holding those those uh purchases down to the minimum because you both hate spending money. That is that is a fact. I wear that proudly. Thank you. All right. Anybody like to make a motion to approve the purchase of the high school expansion project furniture? I'll make the motion. Thanks, Kelly. Second. I'll second. Thank you, Tyson. Roll call, please. Tyson Search. Yes. Nine Friedrich, yes. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. All right, we're going to table item E, which is
065the approval for the auditing services. We're still evaluating those proposals. So, move on to F, which is establish the public hearing date and time to amend the 202425 school budget. Yes, we would like to do that for June 18th, 2025, which is Wednesday next month, because the third Thursday is Junth, which is a federal holiday. Um 700 p.m. with our regular meeting directly after. So, the budget will be posted on May 20th for the F 30-day review. And so, what happens is on May 20th, we post the budget. I will email the board with it, and then on um the June 18th, we will Consider the approval. We'll have a hearing and then we'll vote on it. All right. Then we like to make a motion to approve the or to establish the public hearing
066date and time. I'll make a motion. Thanks, Kelly. Second. I'll second it. Thank you, Dorina. All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstensions? Perfect. All right. Next one is the approval for the implementation. The second reading of the famed Grody Gayy policy review and the the the really breaks down into three groups. The first one is that school board which Mrs. Schumacher brought up as to whether or not we wanted to have a student on the board. Talking to other schools that have it or other schools that have had it and really looking at the whole system. The intent of this is to get a deeper school a student voice. And so what we would like to do is on items that involve more um the student involvement we will have and engage students at all
067levels depending on on the the topic and ask some of them to come in and and present and so it wouldn't be the same person every time. If we're looking at uh clubs or stipens, it might be, you know, the kids really, you know, they did we're we're looking at adding this sport, you know, and so a student would be able to then talk to that or if we're doing these clubs or after prom or things of that nature. When we start looking at those things, we will engage Dr. Gayy and I will make sure that we engage the students more. Um much like our building reports have turned into bringing students in and sh and highlighting them. This would be the same thing. Um, policies two through seven are all benefit schedules. They're policies
068that I we just needed to be updated because they don't follow the CESPA contract anymore. And so I've I've edited those to follow the CESPA contract. Uh, board policy 7270 is that administration of medicines to students and it's the un um what's it called? Un undesated albuterol. Undesated albuterol. That for um anybody that might need that because we have it. Um, we just need to make sure we have it in our policy. Yes. So, really what we're saying is is for board policy 240, no changes, but we will change our behavior, but the policy will remain the same that we don't have a student on the board. And then we'll revisit that in a few years to see if we want that. uh the the six n the five 330s through 335 are all um
069changed to reflect what we have negotiated over the years and then board policy 27270 is including the unauthoriz undesated albuterol. Uh so administration recommends that the board approve the policies as presented. Okay. Questions, concerns, comments hearing. None. Would we like to make a motion to approve the second reading of the Grody Gainy policy review? I like saying that. Kind of fun. It's catchy. Thank you, Nor. Second. I'll second. Roll call, please. Norin Friedick, yes. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. Tyson Search, yes. All right. All right. As long as we're dealing with board policies, we now have the first reading of a new set of press issue number 118. Number 118. Yes. And this is the first reading. And I'm going to be completely honest. I've not looked through it yet. Um
070that'll be something I do after we're closed for the year and I've got a little more time. Uh it is the end of the year and life is a little bit crazy, but this is the first reading and so please review it as you have time. Any questions, comments, concerns, bring to me and then next month we'll have the second reading and I'll give you a better listing of the changes. Perfect. And for everybody listening, first reading is just pretty much getting it introduced and so we can read it and review it and then deep take a deeper dive. So would anybody like to make a motion to approve the first reading? Well, anybody has any concerns or anything off the bat? Sorry, I should ask that first. All right. Now, motion time. I'll make
071the motion. Thank you, Tyson. Second. A second. Thank you, Kelly. Roll call, please. Kelly Moyer, yes. Greg Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. Tyson Serge, yes. Norin Friedrich, yes. All right, that concludes our business for tonight. Now, next one is discussion items. We'll start off with our facility study. It's it's moving along quite nicely. Um we had our owner architect uh construction meeting today. We do that every other week and um talk about security issues, safety issues and then make sure that um the architects are getting the information to the construction as it needs and everything's moving very very smoothly. Um, we are still on on on target to open the front of the building in August. The fence is going to be down and we will be entering the building through the front of the
072building for the administration wings uh at the beginning of the school year. Uh they need to take that fence down and give us that before they can start really working on the gymnasium in the back. And so, um, that is the target. Questions, concerns, comments about it? The brick is starting to go up on the on the side and, um, I'm still waiting for it to get to where I can see it a little bit better and how it matches. We talked today about possibly needing to stain the other brick so that it looks a little bit more um, in line. But uh we had some renderings today of the of the of the panels that are going to go up for the gymnasium and we're looking at options on how to make it the
073windows areas to look more in line more in sync with what the first phase. Um real continuity to the whole project instead of make it look like just a second thought. It's funny even students that are there every day are like oh my gosh it's happening so fast. How did this you know like how did this happen? You see it every day every day. But yeah, it's I mean it's happening quick. Looks good. Yeah, they were pouring a couple of slabs today and I believe next week or the week after that whole that ramp's going to be out and they're going to finish the pouring of the of the of of of the foundation. And so it's going to pop up sooner rather than Yeah, sure is. then it'll look slow again because they a
074lot of work was happening before it popped up but it was all underground and then what's going to happen is it's going to be done on the outside and they're going to be working like mad men on the inside but Petker Cobalt uh FGM they've all done I just very happy with how it's gone amazing you know we hired Cobalt that's one thing I kind of wanted to echo also is we hired Cobalt was a new kind of a new idea that normally the architect has a rep that kind of does project manager and leads us through and we decided we wanted somebody to look at more of our interest and uh Kim Pollock has been doing a fantastic job. I mean, I was actually sitting in that meeting this morning and I was going
075to tell you, I mean, it's she is so on the ball and and pretty much running things and and getting the the details that I didn't think about or you didn't think about or that aren't even being brought up. And she's running point on a lot of the stuff and she's taking on additional responsibilities and, you know, we paid them a flat fee and they're really going above and beyond and and pretty much earning it. I I kind of was sitting there this morning going, man, if we didn't have her, I'm not sure what we would have done. And I think we probably would have spent some money. So I think that was a wise wide move that we did. So good. Good. Good. So yeah, she was everybody does a good job. You know,
076we have a really good team and and again um and we meet every two weeks to go over the construction, the progress. We know exactly when the drywall is coming in, when the sprinklers are going to be finished, when this ramp is coming in, and we look at additional options about traffic patterns and do we need another sidewalk here or there and what's going on. So, I mean, everything's really really running well. You maybe reminded me in early August, as soon as we're able, we're hoping to have a ribbon cutting and and kind of have a uh open house walkthrough of the administrative offices for people to come in and can to see it. So, we'll have one night before school starts, you know, that we can schedule a formal ribbon cutting, have the chamber
077there, have have the city officials there, kind of like what we did when we did this the thing, and then Yeah. And then just have an open house where people can walk in and kind of see the grand entrance and the hallway. And they won't be able to explore the whole school, but they'll be able to explore the office areas. I know there's a lot of curiosity about what's going on inside. I had a retiree actually ask me today, "Can us retirees get get a tour of the construction?" I'm like, I know. So, it's exciting. It is. Yeah, definitely. All right. Individual board member comments. Anybody have anything for this evening? Not everybody wants that. All right. President's prerogative. I do have one thing that I've been wanting to do for a few months, and
078that is recognize the man behind the camera. He has no idea I'm about to say this or anything else. So, I love the look on your face and I didn't warn you on purpose. Um, but Taylor Nickerson, he is here every single meeting. He goes again above and beyond. Does a fantastic job broadcasting this coordinate everything. Poor guy stands out. We'll have executive session with nothing after it. And he come he waits in that hallway forever and then comes back in to hear us close and does just a fantastic job. always smile on his face and uh he's a he's a turn the camera towards Yeah, let's turn the camera around. He's got control. Yeah, that's why I got to watch how much I say. Touch it. He'll cut me off. But uh he's actually
079a German teacher and does the German thing. Just a real asset to the entire district. So, thank you Taylor for all you do. Thanks, Taylor. It's much appreciated. All right. We do have an executive session for the purposes of appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against the employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity pursuant to 5CS120C1. That would anybody like to make a motion to adjurnn into executive session? I'll make the motion. Awesome. Thank you, Lisa. Kelly seconds. Roll call, please. Marine Friedrich, yes. Kelly Moyer, yes. Craig Meyer, yes. Lisa Schumacher, yes. Search, yes. Okay, we're going to adjourn to executive session
080now. This is one of those times where Taylor gets to sit out in the hallway and wait for us to come back and adjourn. So, No. All right. We've concluded our executive session. There's no action items as a result. The only item left is adjournment. Would anybody like to make a motion to adjurnn? I'll make the motion. Thank Kelly. Second. I'll second. Thank you, Nory. All in favor? I. All right. That concludes our meeting. 8:36 p.m. Thank you all for joining us.