School Board Meeting 1/27/2026

001Hallelujah. and welcome to the Carson City School District uh board of trustees meeting on Tuesday, January 27th. Um could we please uh we will be calling the workshop to order at 5:30. This is a round table discussion amongst board members and staff addressing the following topics which is on uh budgets. This one is on adult education and prison education funds in the Carson City School District. This is workshop. >> All righty. Thank you, Madam President. Are we ready to roll? >> We are when you are. >> Excuse me. I think I got a touch of the consumption. Alrighty. Uh, I miss these workshops. They're so much fun. We took a couple months off with our meetings combined and and other budgetary items. So, but we're back. And so, as we kind of discussed in the

002last meeting, kind of want to start to go over just all of our funds in general. And we'll look at the ones that we've that we've discussed, the ones we're going to discuss tonight, and then what's left to kind of give you an idea of of what's coming in the in the future workshops. So um excuse me. So total we have 30 funds that are represented on our taxation budget. Um five of those are state education funds meaning that that funding comes from state education sources which includes our general fund PCFP fund and uh 22 special revenue funds and then three proprietary funds. So those five state education funds. Uh oh, did I not save mine? Okay. So if uh if there's a green plus sign next to this on the presentation, that means we

003have already discussed that fund. So our five state education funds, meaning the funding source comes from state education sources, is our general fund, which we haven't talked about in the workshop, even though it uh we talk about all the time in regards to other items. our three PCFP funds, English learner, at risk, and gifted and talented. And then our debt service fund, which we haven't discussed yet. That fund um houses, if you will, it's what we make the mortgage payment, right? It's it covers our bond servicing costs. Our special revenue funds, there's 22 of these um represent our taxation budget. Uh there's some of them that I've used a red font on. They're on our our budget, but they're idle. They're not not quite defunct or are defunct. So we don't use them. There's been

004no activity in them for two or three years or more. Um so there wouldn't be any reason real reason to discuss those. In fact, they may disappear at some point in time from our taxation budget. So class size reduction um not currently used. Teacher school supply reimbursement fund also not currently used. Our adult adult education, prison education, we're going to discuss tonight. Uh when we first started this out, we discussed state grants. We've discussed special education gifts and donations funds we haven't discussed yet. We did discuss local grants when we talked with state and federal grants. Uh the remainder of our special revenue funds. We have our summer school programs fund alternative compensation fund which is another one that's idle and student activities. This represents u each school they have funds that belong to the

005students. Those are the student activity funds per statute. we do have to include in our taxation budget, but it's a a very generic overview budget um where that control really remains with the school groups for the most part with oversight by the district. Federal grants we've discussed, Medicaid, I believe we discussed at the same time as federal grants, special ed. Uh nutrition services we've discussed and then we have our two CIP funds, capital projects and bond projects. Then we have three proprietary funds. Um these funds really the purpose they serve is their revenue is generated from our payroll process through deductions and uh they're kind of self uh explanatory in what each fund covers. Our health insurance fund is where the the funds are collected from payroll and they go to that fund and then

006that our premiums are paid from that. Same with workers compensation and unemployment. We we collect excuse me we collect those funds through payroll and they live live here until those payments are made. uh they're considered proprietary because they're they're not treated quite the same as special revenue funds. Um that's that's all of our funds. Um if we kind of wanted to talk in the future really quick, I think that uh I say I don't know if there would be a lot of value to discuss these funds. If you if we wanted to have a workshop on those, I'm certainly happy to do that for you. Um our remaining funds, capital projects, bond projects, and debt service. I think those three would work well for a workshop and they're are all somewhat related. And then aside

007from that, student activities also I don't know there would be a lot of value in that where it's really just a complying with the statute. So that where but there's not those funds can't be transferred to be used any other way. They belong to the students not to the district. Um >> on that point, the only um I guess the only benefit that I would see is whether or not we are taking from the general fund to supplement the student activities fund. >> It it that can it's completely independent. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Um summer school programs and then gifts and donations. Uh so I think those two are the only others besides our debt service and our two CIP funds that we haven't covered. So like I said, debt service and

008the CIP funds would be a great uh workshop and then we just kind of have those two others that are that are not major funds. I don't know if you want to try and and use put all five of those in one workshop or or split it into two or >> um can you go back to the first one? I just want or if we can get a copy of this um just so I can take a little look later. I was going to take a picture up. >> Yeah, I can certainly provide a copy. >> Okay. >> So, you're proposing what for the next one? The debt service fund. >> Debt service fund and our bond projects and capital projects fund. >> Keep our bond projects and capital projects. Excuse me. We discussed those

009at length during the December board meeting. Uh Mr. Johnson came and presented on what those funds are. So, up to you on if we need to have a separate workshop for that. Um, >> and it's certainly something that you guys can can ponder on and we can consider in the future. So, >> um, that just leaves us moving on to the two funds we're going to discuss tonight. And these are these are not, uh, super complex funds. Um, they are provided from the state and we have the adult education fund and the adult ed education correctional fund. Oftent times, uh, we refer that to the prison ed fund. So if you hear that or adult correction, those those two names are interchangeable. Starting with adult education, uh kind of a similar layout to our other

010funds, just showing what our salary and benefit costs are. And again, just like everything, these are our salary and benefits is by far the farthest expense we have in any of our funds. And what this covers is uh 25% of the director of adult education and one and a half admin assistance. And we we uh a small portion of custodial for the the facilities that are belong to the district that that house those programs. The rest of that custodial person is covered by the general fund. And from year to year sometimes that uh changes by a slight percent just depending on the funding that's available for adult education or other expenses that may need to come out of there. um for excuse me, um professional services. Um the state requires us to do advertising for

011adult education and that is covered out of this fund. Uh that can vary from amounts from year to year and again this is based off our taxation. So these could change a little bit slightly as as the year goes throughout. This is a self- augmenting fund where those um these amounts can can be moved from one uh area to another but just not outside of this fund to another. And then materials and supplies for adult education. Some telephone uh internet costs, utilities for buildings, web- based programs that they use that are unique to uh adult education and then general supplies. So you see about 280,000 for benefits, 25,000 for the advertising, 90,000 and change for the other costs associated with that. Total of our expenditures is 395,000. If you look at our revenues, we have

012368,000 we received from the state this year. And then we are occasionally we do carry a small fund balance in this fund. Typically that would be is if we had supplies that we ended up not needing, that amount is allowed to be carried over. So we did have $27,000 from last year. year we were allowed to carry over to this year. We do budget to spend all of that. So showing that our budgeted amount and our uh budgeted revenues expenditures net to zero for this fund. Any questions? >> The funds that we get, are they federal or state? >> They are state. >> Okay. Handout says federal sources. That's what I >> I apologize. That's a typo on my part, but it has come from state funding for both this fund and adult uh education

013corrections. All righty. And I apologize my u it turning on to page two. It says fund 230 at the top. The header I did change, but apparently it defaulted back to the uh first page header. So this is actually fun 235. You'll see kind of very similar layout here. Um revenues that we received for this again from state sources is just over a million dollars million489.99 and and again these funds are the the what we received from the state must be used for adult education adult education correctional purposes. We couldn't use this in in any other manner. If we didn't use it, it would revert back to the state. Um salary and benefits again is our largest u expenditure here. Uh the remainder of the director's salary and benefits cost 0.75 or 75% comes from

014this fund. Again you'll see those change from year to year just kind of depending on the funding available. Um but it's generally his his uh salary and benefits are split between those two funds. The other half of an admin assistant comes from this fund. Again there's we can see some fluctuation between the two funds there. um not really a whole lot that can go from other funds besides that for those positions. And then this also pays for six prison program teachers. So for professional services, we do have a small amount of substitute costs and then some inmate prison administrative costs that are in there, not a large amount. And then for supplies, $15,000 is budgeted for here. So the bulk of this one goes to the salaries of of our teachers, instructors, and and the

015director and admin assistant to make it all happen. So any questions regarding this? Again, this fund also nets to zero as you see there are we budget everything that we receive and it's generally spent each year. >> And again, are the revenues uh for the prison all federal? >> No, both of these are state funded. I apologize that typo on my on my part. >> Oh, I had a side conversation. Sorry. >> If if I if I could too. I think just um going through the fund and then just the the reality of what what this is and and so a lot of people in the community don't know um we are responsible for running educational programming over at Northern Nevada Correctional Center um and we have for a very long time. Um, this fund

016is actually interesting too because if you go back 20 plus years, we received significantly more revenue in this fund back at that time. I I think in like 2003, something like that, it was like $1.7 million. And so in in today's dollars, that's a a lot. I mean, the equivalent is probably like 2.5 million or something like that. So there have been cuts at the state level over time um unfortunately and there cut a lot of the programming. I think we used to have 16 teachers out there. Um but so a lot of a lot of that work to ultimately try to present prevent recidivism when when prisoners come out, not going back in and getting them skills. Um our our our ability to do that has decreased over time just simply not having enough

017funding to continue some of that programming. So, um, but again, a reminder, when we get to June, I think it is, there is the graduation out at Northern Nevada. Um, and you are all welcome to attend that. We did also used to run programming at Warm Springs, but during COVID that shut down and so we no longer um don't have teachers there anymore because there's no u they're not using that facility. Um, that's all. Just want to give a little background. Do >> we have any questions for Spencer? >> I have one. >> You didn't expect that, did you? From me. >> I'm sorry to say that. >> You didn't expect a question from me. No, I was just curious on the adult education side. How many students do we serve or people? I guess

018>> that that's a good question. Any idea on that, Mr. Fing? I I believe it's in over a hundred. Um there are so there's a couple different ways it happens because there's um once a a student has reached 17 years of age, they potentially can go down that route if that will um if that's an option to help them make sure they graduate. Um but then also we have people who come back and are interested in in just getting some of those um either GED or highet testing or something like that. But um it's it's taught by at night by a lot of our our teachers from around the district who come back at night to teach those um classes are taught generally at Carson High School. Um I guess another note too, so Mr.

019Chambers um is our director of this program. He I'm not sure if you've ever noticed it or seen it, but his his building, his office is actually um where the Silver Campus is kind of behind that more towards Steuart Street, there's one um uh portable building back there, and that is the office. So, they actually um they have computers in there, too, if if students need to come in and use those, but otherwise, they're out at the high school um doing that work out there. >> One other question. the schedule for the prison uh program. Does it run June through I mean August through June also like basically our calendar? >> No. >> I actually don't know exactly what the schedule I know that the number of presidents you use. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Just

020for the record, uh my husband teaches at the at um the prison and they have extended. So last year they ended at the beginning of July right before the holiday. >> Uh thank you. >> No problem. Thank you for answering those questions for me. >> Any other questions? All right. Thank you, Spencer. Um so then I guess looking at what we have left to discuss, I guess we can look at um Sorry. Will you bring those slides back up? Okay. And you're suggesting that we if you'll go back to the first one, General, right? You're suggesting that we do um the debt service fund, correct? >> Yeah. >> And which one together? >> You know, I realize we also have the general fund we haven't discussed. So, I'm certainly we could do the general fund

021and uh >> we'll save the best for last. lump in gifts and donations and um student activity set probably not summer school gift donations and general fund because those other two would only take a couple minutes. General fund obviously is is very robust. >> Um so that that would be a good workshop and then debt service with capital projects and bond projects. >> Okay. Um would you like to do that on the next meeting? >> That would be my intention. We we can do that the next next month. >> Yes. Then the last one of the >> and then the one following right after. that would bring us February, March. I think that's great timing before we start discussing the budget as a whole. So, great. Thank you so much. If there's no other questions,

022we'll go ahead and um close the workshop and we will reconvene at 6 p.m. >> Trustees, I ask that you make sure your microphones are off. for me. Oh. Oh, la. Hey la. Hello. Oh, for me. Hallelujah. Oh. Hey. Hey. la. Hey Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Amen. Oh yeah. Oh. Hey. Hey. Oh, hey. Heat. Hallelujah. Oh. Oh, for me. Oh, hey. Hey. Hey. Happy. Um, thank you everyone for joining. Um, we are going to reconvene for the uh Carson City School District Board of Trustees meeting. Um at this time we are going to call the meeting to order at 6 pm. Um we are on number two of the agenda and this is an adopt adoption of the agenda and this is an act action item. Do I have a motion? >> So moved.

023>> Second. >> All right. So we have a motion for Trusty Varner and seconded by Trustee Roberts. All in favor please say I. >> Mr. President, you need to take public comment on >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Sorry. Do I have any public comment on the adoption of the agenda? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Um, uh, motion passes unanimously. This takes us to action item number three, which is the flag salute. Trusty Clafom, would you please lead us? >> United States of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Moving on to action item number four, which is a superintendence report. This is for information only. Mr. Fueling. >> Thank you, President Walt. Um, don't have uh a

024lot this evening. Uh, just wanted to thank Mr. Sadler for taking the reigns at the last meeting and the and the coming meeting. Um also to note um upcoming uh on the events and activities listed asformational items uh we have February 16th uh mis misnamed it is President's Day. So just uh making sure that is clarified. Um, I just wanted to thank uh, President Ramirez, our past president Ramirez for um, her efforts in getting that uh, board retreat we had this last weekend put together. That was an excellent uh, three hours spent. So, thank you for that. And that's uh, that's all I have. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Um, this move leads us to agenda item number five. This is for board reports, board member comments, and this is information only as

025well. Um, do we have a representative from Carson High School? All right. Um, we will we'll have you go um when we all go. Okay. Uh, no, Trusty Peterson, because I know you represent Carson High. Yeah. So, we'll have you go when you go there. Thank you. Um, do we have a representative for Carson High School Silver Campus? Okay, >> I will be reading the their announcements. Do you do you want me to wait for um >> Nope, you can go now? >> I can do that now. >> Yes, thank you. >> This is for the Silver Campus. So, um they are super excited to report that the Silver Campus has completed their access testing. The students have tried their best in all four tests, listening, reading, writing, and speaking, and they will get the

026results in May. Um this past weekend the Carson High School speech and debate tournament was held. Um schools such as McQueen, Worcester, Reed, North Valley's, Elco, Reno, and Douglas were in attendance and the results are as follows for Carson um team. Claire Dylan and Tom Lance first place senior public forum debate. John Fenton Fenton and Danny Shell second place policy debate Michelle Omada sixth place Novice uh big question speak speaker points Kyle Allen fourth place senior foreign extent uh Sam Branderberg 10th place novice big question speaker points uh Cyan Brown sixth place senior foreign extemp perennial is sixth place senior big question speaker points uh Yarediti Castillo second place Noves Lincoln Douglas speaker points Claire Dylan third place senior um speak speaker points uh John Fenton second place CX speaker points and Fernando Garcia second

027place novice impromptu uh first place novice Lincoln Douglas debate fifth place Novice Lincoln Douglas. Speaker points, Tommy Lance. Uh, fourth place, senior original or oratory, Ivan Romeo. Third place, senior Lincoln Douglas debate. Fourth place senior Lincoln Douglas speaker points. Lexi Rup, second place, senior Lincoln Douglas rebate. Uh, first place senior Lincoln Douglas speaker points. And Danny Shell, third place senior impromptu. So congratulations to all those students and then also um they are having a um uh family information night this evening. I hope uh families were able to get the invitation on time and I hope they are attending um the meeting as we speak. Um and if anyone else in um the audience um have any questions um for Dr. Molden, they can reach out to her and she'll be happy to assist. That concludes

028the reports for Silverware campus. Thank you. This leads us into the Nevada Association of School Boards update and this would be Trusty Varner. >> Yes. Good evening. Welcome everyone. On March 21st, uh NASBY be hosting a professional development opportunity in Reno and it's going to be on the future of learning designing learner centered future ready systems and also on that same day uh there will be a breakfast where we'll be meeting with legislators like we did last year. So that'll be on the same day and really that's about all we have going then now. >> Thank you. Then this leads us to our individual school reports and we'll go ahead and start with Trusty Ramirez from Mark Twain. Um M Mrs. Krook Shanks reported that u Mark Twain students have been busy growing lettuce and

029herbs in their hydroponic gardens. They have one large garden that is used schoolwide and and then they also have 12 smaller gardens that are currently growing in classrooms. Students have harvested their first round of greens and some of them have been given to people to take home and share with their family and others have been eaten in the form of a salad bar in the classrooms. They have just finished their quarterly rewards. Um students were recognized for being soaring hawks, um high achievement, uh dynamic hawks, um high growth and awesome hawks, excellent citizenship. Students with perfect attendance were uh for the quarter were also recognized. This is a great opportunity to celebrate student success. Over a 100 awards were given to students. So congratulations again to those students. And that concludes my report. >> Great.

030Thank you, Trusty Roberts. Yeah, a few things for Fremont. First off, they are excited for an opportunity to drum up some more PTA. Um, they have a meeting tomorrow at 5:30 in the library. Um, they are hoping to create a new board. Um, and then as well as finding volunteers to help with the various activities throughout the year for the kids and they just are very appreciative of the mayor's attendance celebration and giving out the scooters this this semester that's going to be held on Thursday night. And then they're excited for their big celebration um for their AVID showcase which will be Tuesday, February 3rd. Board members and community members are more than welcome to attend. It's 9 to 12 um at Fremont. And shout out to the awesomeness that occurs daily within the building.

031And you'll get to learn more about what all of that is through this showcase. And she's happy if anyone has any more questions or anything to reach out to Dr. Ward. >> Great. Thank you, Doc. Uh Trusty Clapper. >> Thank you. Excuse my voice tonight. Um from Miss Robinson over at Carson Middle School. Um she says that the second semester is off to a great start. Uh counselors and music teachers are visiting the elementary schools to talk about the middle school registration for next year. Access testing for the English language learners begins next week. And 50 eighth grader 8th grade students will be showing their achievements by taking the national assessment of educational progress on February 17th. They're midway through the volleyball season with the championship tournament happening on February 11th. Wrestling begins um after

032that on February 17th and the cheer team will be competing on the 7th of February at Demani Ranch High School. Um they rewarded their students for having great attendance with a raffle recently. Students were excited to have the mayor and uh Trusty Ramirez there um for their assemblies. The grand prize for each grade level um was uh they were given by the mayor was a laptop. Um so it was a great day for the students from Miss Hoppy at Eagle Valley. Um she has a quick report for me as well. Um she wanted to let us know that um Eagle Valley is offering up additional academic supports on their minimum days um actually including tomorrow for students that are failing three or more classes. Students are encouraged to stay after school from 12 to 2:15

033to provide more academic time and catch up on their work. No transportation will be provided, but we do have staff supports to help the students with their academics. And that's all she reports from Eagle Valley. >> Great. Thank you, uh, Trusty Peterson. >> All right. I've got a couple. Um, let's see. First with Carson High. Um, sorry, I've got a little strained voice tonight, too. Um, but I've got a couple things to read. Um, Principal Carson's wants to say, um, he wanted to highlight the positive progress that we're making with the with the PLC's. They had their solution tree consult visit early in January and further hone our skills with the PLC's and the MTSS processes. The collaboration that takes place on the professional learning and early release days has made a substantial difference in

034both student and teacher learning. And then Mr. Wade adds, um, Carson continues to thrive thanks to the dedication of our staff and the creativity of our students and a shared commitment to growth and innovation. The school climate remains positive, collaborative, and energized by new learning. Um, he mentions a key highlight this month was the professional development completed by Dan Karstens, Rodney Wade, and three CHS teachers at the FETC. The team explored exciting new tools and strategies involving AI in education. Returning with practical ideas for improving instruction, reducing workload, and expanding student opportunities. The possibilities around AI integration are inspiring and will support continued innovation on campus. And then a couple student highlights. Um we wanted to mention um you maybe have seen it floating around social media a little bit, but two Carson High juniors,

035Jackson Hendy and Benjamin Achoka. Um they're heavily involved in um the theater department, musical theater and and drama. Um they have had a little side project they've been working on the last couple years. They co-wrote and then co-filmed and co-edited. Um a it it wasn't intended to be a full movie, but by the time they were done, it was a two-hour movie. And um it's been out on YouTube for for about a month, but thanks to some strings being pulled um in the counseling office. Um Fandango, the movie theater, has offered tomorrow night, they are showing it on the big screen. If you've been to a movie, their movie poster is in a board um in the hallway um advertising this movie uh Ezra and the Mavericks. And the tickets are $5 each. It's nearly

036sold out. you'll be sitting in the front row if you haven't got your tickets yet, but the tickets are selling for $5 each and then $4 of every ticket sold is going to be donated back to the drama theater department at Carson High. So, that's a really cool collaboration. What an honor for those kids who are being celebrated and embraced for their creativity and their efforts and um having an opportunity to also have a little philanthropy tossed in as they are able to donate back. Um let's see, some upcoming events. We've got um the um fatherdaughter dance is on here. That's usually in conjunction with prom. It's March 27th. Um and those tickets are on sale. Um I believe Mr. Carson, maybe you can confirm. Is it this coming weekend is Winterfest? How how far

037out is Winterfest? What is this? What are we Are we in We're in January. Okay. >> January. >> February 7th. Okay. So, we got about a week and a half. Okay. So, it is coming up too. Um, it wasn't in the notes, but I was, it was on my radar. I knew it was coming somewhere in there. Um, and then, um, the last mention for Carson High, um, why I came in out of breath and running late, Carson High Bowling, we, um, just won our semi-final match against Douglas, um, right before I got here. And so, we're going to be, um, competing in the championships next week. And so, that's really exciting for those kids. Yep. Same place. They uh they get to bowl their whole playoffs and championships at the National Bowling Stadium in

038Reno, which is so awesome. All right, I also have Celiger. And so just some quick notes from Principal Prior over there. If it'll open. There we go. All right. This week, Celiger awarded 19 students with our magnificent media award for attendance in exemplary behavior. Um, they received a certificate, uh, a sticker to proudly display, five positive pirate points to spend at their Prime store, which is kind of a fun little thing. Um, and then, let's see, they're going to go into a raffle to win Aces tickets. Um, they also, let's see, they got to shop in the Prime store again. Um, huge thank you to Michael Subaru and the Carson City Schools Foundation for funding the Prime Store and the efforts. Um that's um if if they're caught with good behavior, they earn these mie

039um bucks and they can go to this prime store and it's just a lot of little trinkets and they can go shop and they can like have tangible rewards for um for their good choices which is kind of an exciting thing. And then she ends it with this week um Mrs. Bllye fifth grade teacher hosted a science fair as a culminating activity for unit 2 in science. Thank you everyone who attended and uh got to talk science with their learners. That's it for Celiger. Great. Thank you so much and congratulations. Trustee Verer, >> I just have a couple small updates. But before I give my updates, I'd like to just say that on Friday night, I had the I guess honor to go and help judge the speech and debate uh tournament that was held

040at Carson High. And I got to tell you, we have some impressive kids throughout the state. Um, I don't know how they do it. You know, they're given two minutes to come up with a five minute presentation. Um, some of and then they have another one where they have a little bit more time to prepare. But I tell you, some of these kids, they could be actors. They they're very good, very talented. So, I I would really appreciate the opportunity to be able to do that. And I also wanted to thank Dr. Molden for allowing myself and trustee Peterson to come over and sit through a presentation that she gave the sophomores, I believe it was, about her expectations for the next year. I think she did a very good job, very good presentation. The

041kids were engaged, they were paying attention. So, uh we have great hopes for for that. So, I'll move on to mine. It's from Boardwick Bray. Uh, Principal Ricetta wanted everybody to know that report cards and map reports will be sent home on Friday. On January 27th, they will be having their awards ceremonies to celebrate academic excellence and perfect attendance for the first semester. Invites to the families of students receiving awards will go out this week. And then she also wanted people to mark their calendars for their PTO sponsored boardwick fit games fundraiser which will be held on February 11th and their family dance will be held that evening and more details will be coming soon. That's it for boardwick but I do have one for fridge. Principal Brown wanted to share that their prek teacher

042Tanya Watts was recognized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars as a national citizenship educator education teacher. So congratulations to Tanya Watts. That's a great honor. Also, uh, he wanted to share that their Fritz PTA is holding a mother and son dance on January 30th from 6 PM to 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $35 and if you're interested, call the Fritz office for more information. And that concludes my report. >> Great. Thank you. Um, which will take us to Empire Elementary School. So, principal uh Virgil mentions that they are very excited that this Friday from 2:00 to 3:30 they will be welcoming observers from the OSIT, the Nevada Governor's Office of Science, Innovation, and Technology to their campus. They will be evaluating their school using the Nevada STEM framework framework rubric as part of the process to

043determine whether or not Empire qualifies as a governor's model STEM school. This is an exciting next step for Empire Elementary School in their jour their STEM journey. They also um want to mention that tryyouts start this week for their second annual talent show which is coming up on February 20th and the students are totally excited. So again, I will be reminding everybody February 20th for a talent show. I love talent shows. So very good. And um that concludes my report at Empire. And I was just made aware that our Carson High School activities representative is here. So if you would like to come and uh announce the Carson High activities. >> Uh good evening everybody. Uh my name is Cooper Fielding. I'm the Carson High School student body school board representative. Uh just a few

044things tonight. Uh we um we have uh winter sports are slowly uh coming to a close. Uh we have about two weeks left in the regular season for most of the sports. Uh there is home games uh basketball games against Manog tonight. Uh and then we'll be uh going they will all be moving into uh their playoffs. And then uh this upcoming week we have our Winterfest week at the high school. Uh so that will be a full week of spirit days as well as activities. Uh the runown for that is uh Monday the dress up is uh neon and then at lunch we will be having dodgeball in the gym for anybody to participate in and then at night there are home basketball games versus Reno. Uh and then on Tuesday the dress up

045is pajama day. Uh at lunch we will be uh having in the library we'll be hosting uh space for people to write thank you notes to counselors and uh and then in the evening we'll be uh watching the Tangled movie at 6 p.m. in Senator Square. Uh on Wednesday the 4th we will uh the dress up is crazy hair day. Uh we will be there's a club fair at lunch in Senator Square. That's basically for uh all the clubs in the high school to just come in and represent themselves uh and show what we have at the high school. Uh and then in the evening uh drama has their talent show at the community center at 6:30 and the admission for that is uh $5. And then on Thursday the 5th it is the dress

046up is college and career. Uh and then we will again be having uh notes to counselors in the library and then at night we'll be hosting uh lantern painting in Senator Square. Uh and then on Friday the dress up is camo with uh underassman crowning at uh lunch. And then uh in the evening we have a spirit bus going down to Douglas High School for the rivalry game for basketball there. Uh and then on Saturday uh we have the dance and senior crowning from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Senator Square. Oh, and the uh overall theme for uh Winterfest this year is Tangled Up in Winterfest. So Tangled the Disney movie. And that's all I have. >> Well, great. Uh thank you and thank you for joining us this evening. Um all right, we'll go

047ahead and move on to if that ends our announcements, we'll go ahead and move on to agenda item number six, which is association reports. Do we have any reports from the associations? All right, seeing none, we're going to move on to agenda item number seven, which is public comment. And please keep in mind uh note that this is public comment for items that are not on the agenda. Public uh comment that is marked for pos possible action on the agenda will be taken um before the action is taken on such items and members of the public are encouraged to comment on such items at the time that they are being considered. Do we have any public comment and we'll start with um public comment in the room and then move on to submitted virtual Hello

048board and president Walt. My name is Elise Monroy and I'm here from Carson City Health and Human Services. Uh Carson City Health and Human Services is leading a needs assessment of the social service system across the city. The assessment is designed to identify gaps and strengths in the following social service areas: housing, food, healthcare, behavioral health, workforce development, and clothing as a social service. Information for this assessment will be collected through surveys and focus groups. The Carson City Social Service needs assessment launched on January 20th and it's running through February 6th. We're reaching out to community agencies and groups and organizations to share information about our um survey and to encourage participation. Um I have a flyer that has a QR code for our survey online. We have it in English and in Spanish. Um

049so I got a flyer and then I have these little cards and I also have paper surveys. Um we are collecting information from service providers as well as community members. So, we actually already sent a survey to um the school district um because McKenna Vento is technically a social service provider and the school district is a social service provider as you connect kids to resources um like behavioral health supports and things like that. So, um the people in my life who love me the most would call me a government nerd. I call myself a passionate public policy um person. Um but as someone who's very um passionate about public health and good public policy, I know that good government and good governance is informed um when uh the best policies are informed when we hear

050community voice and when we have community input. So as people um here um on the school board and here tonight um you're engaged in the community. I know that you know how important community voice is. So, I would encourage your participation in our survey so we can improve our social service system here in Carson City. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you for your public comment. Um, do we have any additional public comment for items that are not on the agenda for a up for action? You please put your mic on. Thank you. And then repeat your name. >> Hi, my name is Kimberly Shepard. Good evening, president, trustees, and superintendent. My name is Kim Shepard. I'm the adaptive physical education teacher for the Carson City School District. I want to briefly

051share some context about adaptive physical education in our district. As you can see, um I've been with Carson City School District for 20 years. And over the past 20 years, we've had multiple adaptive physical education teachers serving our students. For the past four years, however, I've been the sole adaptive physical education teacher for the entire district. Adaptive physical education is federally mandated under IDA. It's not optional. It's a required service written into students IEPs and must be delivered by a qualified adaptive physical education specialist. This is not supervision or enrichment. It's specialized instruction, data collection, progress monitoring, collaboration with IEP teams, and strict federal compliance. Currently, I service 61 students across m multiple schools, including elementary, middle, high school, early childhood, and homebound settings. The students require indivi individualized programming, ongoing assessment, and documented progress

052in order for the district to remain compliant. In addition, I'm assigned as a teacher at Carson High School every other day. To support data collection, the district contracts an aid for only seven hours per week, limited to two elementary schools. While that support is appreciated, it does not come close to meeting the needs of a multi-sight district-wide adapted PE case load of this size. Due to the staffing shortages over the past four years, I've been required to make up miss minutes resulting in over 60 additional hours of service time. on top of my regular job duties. Much of the planning, documentation, travel, progress monitoring, and compliance work there falls on me alone, often outside of my contracted workday. This structure places the district at risk for non-compliance with IDA. Potential corrective action, compensatory services, and

053legal liability of services or data are found to be insufficient. I also want to note that I have not received any a adaptive physical education direct professional development since 2014 despite evolving legal requirements incre increasing case load complexity and expanded district expectations. The workload is not sustainable and it is not and it has been a significant detriment to my health both physically and mentally. I love my job. Adaptive physical education is my passion and I want to continue serving our students well. However, passion alone cannot replace staffing, time, and structural support. I'm not asking for less work. I'm asking for appropriate staffing, realistic support, and adequate contracted time. Thank you. Um, thank you. And if there's an additional comment, please make sure to email it to Renee. >> Sure. Timeline. I can >> Okay. Thank

054you so much. Um, any additional public comment? Do we have any um that was presented Renee >> through email? >> Yes, President Walt. Uh, public comment was provided from uh, Mita Sanchez on behalf of Patty Zachcharias regarding safety concerns with the Carson High parking lot. So members of the board each received a copy of the letter and uh it will go in the permanent record. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. So that will close public comment at this time. We'll move on to agenda item number eight, which is the presentation of completion capital improvement projects in the Carson City School District for 2025 calendar year. This is for discussion only and presented by Mark Johnson. Good evening. Mark Johnson, Carson City School District project manager. You can vote on it, but

055it means nothing. We need to put it up. >> If you stop. >> Is the clicker on? I'm glad to be here tonight to make this presentation to the board of what we've done in capital projects uh this last summer, what we're doing right now, and what we're planning on doing uh this next summer uh for the school district. Power button on the It's on the arrow right there. Just do it. >> Really? >> I would vote now if I were you. What we're going to do is uh I'm going to be Vanna. You just say >> you tell me which arrow and I'll do it. >> This one. >> Yes. What we what we did this last summer, this was our big project at Carson Middle School. Uh we redid the bathrooms and we

056remodeled one of the classrooms, room number 38, into an office suite. We redid five bathrooms, one staff bathroom we created and one ADA bathroom. We'll take questions at the end and if you want to interrupt you can. Uh the one uh office suite we did three uh one of the classrooms we did we made it into three offices and into a uh conference room in the middle there. That's it in the top right. It's completely remodeled now. We did a Carson Middle School greenhouse. We just got it final today as a final inspection. Uh we're putting in water and electrical that's going to be going in in the next uh couple weeks. Uh we reconstructed the parking lot across the street from Carson Middle School this last summer. It looked like it was DG, but

057actually it was paved over the last couple years, but you would not have known it. Uh we did that parking lot this last summer. Uh we put in new LED stadium lights in the football field. Uh if you've been to any of the football games or uh night soccer games there, uh we have new athletic ticket booth which is awesome. It was donated by Carson City Chamber of Commerce. And AJ, do you have anything you'd like to comment on that? >> A big thank you to the chamers's leadership group that chose to do that project. It turned out amazing. It >> it is amazing. We did a little extra work in the back, additional concrete in the backside of that and some additional lighting. But that that is an awesome facility. If you saw the

058one that was there before was like half the size and uh falling apart. Oops. Went too fast. We slurry sealed the teachers parking lot. I was over there today. It looks gray right there, but it's actually black. that was the person that took the picture. We don't vote on him if you would. Uh but we slurry sealed in our uh pavement maintenance over the last two years. We're we're starting to go away from just uh seal coating, which is real thin. Slurry seal lasts like four to six years. It protects the uh pavement a lot longer than just seal coating. It looks like black top. That's what a lot of people call it. But slurry seal is a lot thicker and last longer. And we've been doing that over the last two years. We'll be

059doing that over this next summer and about three to four different locations. We redid and refreshed the Carson High band room. We put in whole new cabinets in uh uh four of the walls there. And if you go down the hallway, we did it in the hallway. We doubled the capacity for their instruments. Uh we refreshed Carson High School main gym. We repainted it uh on all four of the walls and on the ceiling. We enclosed the uh stage, if you can see where the Senator Man is, and we're going back in there this summer, and I'll talk about that a little later, to do a little bit more work there. We repainted uh we painted uh the ROC and the tech center to match the color scheme of Carson High School which we painted

060the summer prior to that. So all the buildings matched. Uh we redid uh the transportation bus lounge on the inside. It's a modular system right next to transportation where the bus drivers come in in the morning and and they have different routes. They come in and out and they have a location there that they can go before and after their routes. We redid the capstone uh where the Eagle Valley used to come in, but now that was all falling apart and we redid the capstone there. Used to be a turnaround circle up on top where Eagle Valley is. We refreshed the library at Eagle Valley and we'll talk about another library we did, but we redid uh uh Fremont last summer as well. We reconstructed Fring Lot in front of building A. It's all restriped

061and done. Uh it was time to do that one. We redid building B about their parking lot at Frri like about three years ago. We re- roofed um behind building A at Frri. We've done all of building A, B, and C over the last five years. Now, there's only one little section at Fr. We haven't re-roofed yet. We put in an open air pavilion at Frri uh this summer for them. Mark Twain Library refresh. If you get a chance to go in and see that, you ought to go in and see it. It looks great. Uh we did Fremont the year before. Uh they have a completely different color scheme. Mark Twain and Fremont are identical schools uh by the architect. Uh but their color schemes are different on the outside and the color schemes

062on the library refresher are completely different. We did a prek shelter uh for them uh for the summers when the sun's real hot on their sandbox. Uh if you remember uh I say we I didn't not much on it other than hiring the civil engineer. We acquired Terrace Park and I'm that was a higher level than me on your part. It was 5.4 acres on the park we got from the city if you were a part of that. Uh, so we acquired that. We I did I had that fenced in and if you ever saw the basketball court, it was a mess. You I mean it was horrible. I had it rebuilt uh uh two to three inches of asphalt with a new subbase. So we put a new basketball court there at uh it's

063now Empire basketball court part of their facility. And there's other things that we need to do at the new 5.4 acres there. Uh we slurry sealed uh the playground at uh M at Celiger playground. It needed it. Other projects we completed uh transportation. We converted a shower to a janitor closet. Added a mop sink. Uh we resealed all the uh gym floors except for the high school main gym. We couldn't do that because we refreshed uh the uh gym itself painting. Uh we sealed Carson Middle School, all the CMU concrete masonary block, that's the outside of it at Mark Twain. Uh the districtwide we did some seal coat crack seal uh and striping at various uh playgrounds and parking lots. Celiger kitchen bathroom, we did a refresh. ROC, you know, I mentioned that we painted

064that. We also did the interior painting. We redid it. It was time to do that. Uh we had a bunch of rooftop units that we did at different locations. We re-roofed maintenance on nine different sites. We had to do some maintenance. Uh we did various floorings at different classrooms districtwide. Uh various control ALC phase three. We finished that. That's where we did the swiping with our badges. This is our third phase. My guess we're going to have some couple spots we uh missed over the years that we got to go back and do a couple different doors. Uh, and here's some projects we're working on right now or we just completed a Carson High air handler replacement project that's coming up this summer. The bids just came in this last week. So, that'll be taking

065place this summer and the following summer because it's such a big project. We can't do it all in one summer and we can't do it during the school year while kids are there. Carson High varsity softball canopy. We're putting a canopy over where uh parents sit uh to watch the game. That's in process right now. Carson and I a wait room refurbish. We just did that over Christmas break. Carson and I completed the gym refurbish. We're coming back in. I mentioned we got some other work we're going to do this summer. We're going to put in tectum, which is soundboard and RFP over where the uh wall was on the stage, more decorative and colorful. uh Carsonite track uh resurface. It's been about 11 years, 12 years. If you've walked out there, it's time to

066redo that. So, we'll be doing that. Uh Carson and I single point entry, secure entry. We'll be doing that this summer. Elevator modernization. Uh we got to do Border Wick's elevator. If you've not been around all the schools, we have elevators in some of our schools. We have one at Borderick and we have a dumb waiter there. I've uh did modernization at Eagle Valley already and at Carson High School already about four years ago. And Borderwick and the Dumb Waiter are the only two we've not done yet. Uh Borderick two-story uh building, we're going to go in and remove all the lockers. And before we do that, I've got to do a baitment right underneath it. There's a a lead uh on underneath or a speestous underneath. And then we're going to re And then

067there's carpet. Uh we're going to recarpet both those hallways and add hooks on the walls for backpacks. Mark Twain bathrooms and Carson I art room countertops. We got to redo those. We did those at Fremont like about three years ago. Uh Mark Twain is due. Carson Middle School, uh carpet, the south wing, that's the eighth grade wing. We've already started on it. Uh we did it at Christmas break. We're going to do it at spring break. And then we're going to finish up at uh summer. Uh I there's think about how much carpet we have in all the schools. We we can't do it all in the summer. So I got to break it up as much as I can do it. Um these are things we want to do. Some of us we we've

068put on the capital project. We've thrown darts at money to do but we don't have the money for it. Carson High interior refresh, Carson High Performing Arts Center, bathroom remodel, general use bathrooms. We've done four of those so far. We want to do the Carson High tech room center, Carson High Silver Campus, and Eagle Valley Middle School. Uh Mark Twain, a bathroom refresh, we're going to do that this summer. We did it at Fremont already. Carson High concession stand refresh. We're going to do that this summer. Carson High reseal and repaint the tennis courts. We're doing that this summer along when we when we do the track. The same company is going to do it. Paint the exterior. Carson Middle School and the district office at the same time. We just did the high school

069last summer before last. Then the tech center and ROC. We're going to do Carson Middle School in the district office. We're not going to paint it the colors of Douglas High School. We've already told the architect he will never work for us again. Districtwide slurry seal. Uh we've got four locations. We're planning three for sure. One will be an ad alternate depending on how funding is. Districtwide re reoof evaluations and repairs as needed. And I leave you with this. It's on every one of my uh PowerPoints until I retire or you fire me. Vote on it. I don't care. Questions that you have. Um >> it's my favorite picture. >> Yeah, that is cute. That's cute. Um well, thank you very much for the for the presentation. Um and great work. Um because I know

070our we've been told over and over again our buildings are old and >> some older than others. >> Yes. And so um it is you know that you have your work cut out for you most definitely because in the near future we don't see that we're going to be able to build any new schools. So you're going to be I know being asked to put band-aids on a lot of them. And we surely appreciate everything you're doing. and the school district's been real helpful on giving me money for preventative maintenance that we've been able to really work and make make them better. So, we've really been doing well like like carpet, roofs, paint, and those kind of things. So, we've really been doing a good job. They're not falling apart. >> Great. Great. >> And

071Virgil, the director of operations really been helpful with that. >> Great. Thank you. Do we have questions from the board? I have a um a comment um or a compliment. I want to say thank you for bringing this report to us. Um we see the the numbers on the reports that we get on capital improvements, but it's very helpful to see the the uh the actual projects that are um that have taken place or that are in place or that will be taking place. So, I appreciate you um putting this um presentation together and bringing it to us. Thank you for all that work. Thank you. >> Any other board members? Trusty Peters, >> I have a very small question because I know my son is going to ask me when I go home and

072tell him that the tennis courts are being resurfaced. >> Yes. >> Will they have pickle ball lines? >> Yeah. Well, well, no. >> We we we when we repainted them last year, we didn't put pickle ball lines on there. We put tack marks and they were on there last year when we painted them. Uh we put them on there last year if if he noticed them. They they were little tack marks. They look like T's where the corn corners were. So they weren't painted on there. That's per the PE department. So they will have tack marks and some lines on there, but not the full lines. The the PE department requested that. >> Carolina blue. >> Yes. I'm glad to see that uh on the radar the CHS refresh is on there. >> Interior refresh.

073I was in there on Friday night as I said earlier and there are some areas that could stand some refreshing. So, I'm glad it's on at least the radar and hopefully uh >> it's on the radar. It's tired, but uh thank you for putting it on the radar and and you and you can thank the principal behind me as well. and the superintendent. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you again and um your presentations, the pictures are always great to see. Um so we appreciate your presentation having pictures. >> Okay. >> So, thank you so much. If there's no additional questions or comments. All right. Thank you again. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll go ahead and close agenda item number um eight and we're moving on to agenda item number nine.

074This is discussion and possible action to approve the proposed Carson City School District academic calendar for 202627 school year. This is for possible action and uh public comment will be heard after the uh presentation by Brandon Bringhurst. All right, President Walt and members of the board of trustees. Name is Brandon Bringhurst, chief academic officer for the record. appreciate the opportunity to be here today to uh go over with you what we're proposing for the academic calendar for the 2627 school year. We realize this is um an important agenda item that touches our students and our community in a lot of ways and so we appreciate the opportunity to be here to present this information. Uh, a key part of our goal in all of this is making sure that we are focusing the time that

075we have our students on the priorities that we have as a district to help them move forward and improve the outcomes that we receive for students. Time is certainly one of the most valuable resources that we have and we want to make sure that we are using it appropriately. expected outcomes for today. As you mentioned, uh, President Walt, this is an item that is for possible action. However, I want to also state that part of this is really part of our process in gathering more input from the board and input from the community as to their thoughts on the school calendar. If you choose to take action on it today, that's fine. If we choose to take a action on this item at a later date, that works as well. Part of the reason for

076bringing the item at this point in in January is that it does allow us some of that buffer time to be able to take into consideration anything that is discussed today and make adjustments as might be needed. A little bit about our process that we have gone through in developing the calendar. We started with analyzing the student outcomes and what things on the calendar might be able to help us improve those student outcomes. Obviously, anything that we do on the school calendar also needs to comply with uh applicable state regulations. We've also been in a variety of discussions with school administrators, listening to comments that we've received from them as well as from teachers. We also uh as we drafted this discussed the um proposal with the different association representatives and solicited input from them

077as well. We're here tonight um to present to the board and I've also uh communicated with some of our community partners that could be impacted by proposed changes. So one of the first questions is why make changes? Why not just continue with the calendar as is and simply roll it to the next year adjusting for some of the things with different dates for holidays uh and not make any other significant changes. And that is certainly an approach that we can take. However, we want to, as I said at the beginning, uh use this opportunity to make sure we're fully leveraging the time that we have with our students. We want to continue to see improvement in the outcomes for our students. If we're totally satisfied with the results that we're getting in our schools, then

078obviously no changes are necessary. But if we want to see things continue to improve in the direction that we're going and accelerate that progress, then changes sometimes need to be made in order to see different outcomes. We're not going to get different outcomes if we don't change the things that we're doing to get those outcomes. So that drives why we need to look at potentially making some changes. There's two different types of changes that that are being proposed to the calendar or can kind of group these changes into two different groups. One group are some changes that we are proposing that would improve the staff and parent experience. Uh, and I'll go into some more details of what each of these changes look like, but we certainly feel like it is important that our staff

079feels like they're supported and that they have time and other resources that they need in order to do their job well. And we value very much the partnership with families. And so, if there are some changes we can make to our school calendar that would make it easier for us to partner with families, we want to make those changes. The other type of changes that we're proposing are changes that are directly intended to improve outcomes for students, which obviously is the main reason that we are all here is uh to help our students and continue to improve the outcomes that they are achieving while they are with us in the Carson City School District. Sometimes those challenges um sometimes those changes align with things for staff and parents. Uh sometimes those changes that we're looking

080for in student outcomes might be some difficult changes. Uh but we want to do those things that are calculated to best improve outcomes for our students. The changes that we are considering today, all of them started with some suggestions from staff members and then we would take those suggestions uh as well as observations made by uh administrators, district personnel, etc. and vet those against Nevada regulations, employee contracts, what's practical, what does the research say, what is good reasoning and alignment with the goals and priorities of the Carson City School District. So, I'd like to go into some of those changes in particular, starting with some of the changes that we're proposing that we believe would improve the experience for our staff and parents. First being a redesign of how we manage parent teacher conferences. Currently,

081parent teacher conferences are held at the elementary and middle school in the fall and then only at the elementary schools in the spring. In order to facilitate that, we have a week of erd or early release days and the conferences are scheduled after the dismissal time. Some of the challenges that have been noted with this current model is that only the conferences can only be scheduled after dismissal time. So for some of our parents who might work uh in the afternoon and could schedule in the morning, we don't have that flexibility. Evening conferences, if teachers are able to do that, obviously requires a very long day because they are starting their day with students in the morning. And the week of early release days presents some instructional challenges when we have a full week where

082the schedule is is shrunk to that amount. So what we are proposing as a solution to these challenges, we would certainly continue with elementary and middle school conferences in the fall and the elementary in the spring. So that won't change who is conferencing when. But instead of a full week of early release days, what we would move to is two non-school days during that week. And those two non-school days would be used for conferencing. If you have your calendar to refer to, you can see for instance in October, those would be on October 21st and 22nd and in March that would be on March 23rd and 24th. This would allow a lot more flexibility for our uh teachers in scheduling times that are more convenient for parents and what their particular schedule may be and

083it would allow us to not have a full week of early release days which we think would help to improve um that learning experience as well. There are some potential challenges that we've come across with this proposed solution. One of the potential concerns is we worry about how it may impact attendance for the week. For instance, in that October week with um no school on October 21st and 22nd, potentially families could say, "Well, we'll just not go on the 23rd either and we can have an extended long weekend." Um obviously we would hope that they are there for conferences on the 21st and 22nd and we would hope that their students are in attendance on the 23rd as well. So that's one potential challenge. We don't know exactly how that will play out until um

084until we see. Additionally, uh potential child care challenges. Instead of a arranging for child care when your students have school early release day for the week, it would be two complete non-school days. in contacting some of our community partners that that provide child care um Capitol Kids in speaking with them. This would be a challenge for them because they rely on high schoolers as their staff to help staff uh their child care. So since high schoolers would still be in school on a regular regular session, they would not have uh the benefit of those high schoolers in order to provide uh the same amount of child care that they would normally provide. So that there are some uh those are some of the potential impacts that we have identified um with this particular scenario. The

085next thing that we wanted to address that we think will make a better experience for our staff is to provide a better firstear uh structure for our our te our first year teachers. So currently what they do is we have they have um five days of new teacher training before the rest of the staff returns and then three days of campus-based training for a total of eight consecutive days of professional learning. Um, and if for a first year teacher, they haven't really haven't even stepped foot in the classroom. And that can be very overwhelming for the teachers to receive that amount of training all at once and they don't have uh a full context with which to be able to apply that training and learning. So, what we're proposing instead is we would do three

086days uh before school starts. There would be there would be three days of district training, a break, and then three days of campus-based training. And then those two additional days, we would do those throughout the school year where we would be able to sub the teachers out throughout the school year in order to participate in that training. That would allow for some better like ontime training and the teachers would have better reference points for what they've been trying and and anything they've potentially been struggling with. The next change that we are proposing would be alignment of grading periods. Currently the semester 1 ends after winter break. So we take winter break then come back and we have about a week or so of classes and that ends the semester which presents uh some real challenges

087as a family. You're on break but your kids might still have projects they need to finish or get ready for finals. So that family time isn't um really family time the way it maybe should be. And then when students come back, you've got to engage in more review because they just missed two weeks of learning in order to prepare them for the finals. There's not kind of that clean break when we have the break in schooling for them to start something new. So the solution would be simply to end the semester prior to winter break. The the main challenge with that and the reason that it has been after winter break is that makes semester 1 significantly shorter than semester 2. However, in talking with our administrators, they don't feel like that will be too

088much of a problem, particularly particularly because semester 2 has a lot more disruptions with testing and different things of that nature. So having a longer semester 2 in some ways is is necessary because of those additional disruptions that happen in the second semester. The final change that we are proposing that's directly related to uh the staff experience uh improving that experience is adding some additional teacher work time. So we know for sure that finalizing grades at the end of the semester and preparing for the next semester really takes a great deal of work. Um you can see many of our teachers that come in during that winter break in their off-c contract time to try and accomplish that. We have uh so what we are proposing is that we add a teacher work day on

089the last day before winter break. That would mean that students have a winter break that is one day longer and teachers have a contract day with which they can wrap up everything from semester 1 and they can prepare for semester 2 and they can do that on contract time instead of um on their own time. Placing that uh teacher work day there uh really is kind of ideal with the way it lines up in the semester. We do have, and we'll talk a little bit more in a minute about instructional minutes, and there are enough instructional minutes in our school calendar to allow for that additional day of break for students and and instead transition that to teacher work time. Next, we'll talk about some changes that are directly intended to improve the outcomes for

090our students. We will we are proposing some changes to provide um appropriate professional development time during the school year. We've seen increased requirements from NDE around the training that some of our teachers uh are required to have. Uh for instance, with the science of reading and read by grade three, there are some new requirements coming uh with additional training that will be required. And just in general, the complexity and expectations that are put on our staff continue to increase. Ongoing training throughout the year is more effective than having it all before the year. It gives opportunity for some of those uh checks and and resets and refreshes during the year. And that learning is better when we can spread it over time. The Nevada Department of Education recognizes that and recognizes the value of that

091training during the school year to the point that they allow up to five days of professional development to actually be counted towards instructional minutes that students are receiving. In our current schedule, we use one of those days uh that we just had that day on January 5th. What we are proposing for next year's schedule is that we would use three of those days. As I said, NDE allows up to five. The next change would be a change intended to maximize the instructional time by lengthening early release days. It's important to note uh I like to say not all instructional minutes are created the same. um how we use them and how how they're structured makes them sometimes more or less useful. And when we have a shorter day, it sometimes can make that instructional time

092not as useful. When we look at our instructional day, there are some some components of that day that are fixed. We cannot shorten them. the time that we have for students for breakfast, lunch, recess. In the secondary in particular, we have passing period, passing times between each period, time to take attendance. Those sorts of things, no matter how long or short the school day is, those the time required for those don't change. What we can change is when school starts and ends. And so with everything else fixed what becomes has to become flexible what gives is the instructional time um around core academic material. When we have really short instructional time it results in a few problems. It is shorter prep time for teachers. That's one of the challenges we we have had with our

093current early release day structure. Um, it also becomes challenging to address all of the required content and when uh time is too short, it can create a lack of focus for our students and sometimes uh teachers as well. For instance, if you are teaching at the middle school level on an early release day, your class periods might only be 30 minutes long. By the time students come in, you get attendance taken, you start your instruction, and then they wrap up to leave class. there's not a ton of instructional time and there can be a mindset shift in our students where they think this isn't very long and we I don't really have to dig in and engage. So those minutes while they are there are not as useful as if we have a little bit

094longer time. So, by extending the school day on those early release days, it will allow for equal prep time at the elementary level where they will be able to have the 45 minutes of prep time like they do on the other days of the week. It also allows for more instructional time. I know one of the things that we've talked about with the board, the new ELA curriculum in elementary um referred to as CKLA. While it is very good instruction, it is very scripted and prescribed instruction and it takes a long time, demands a long time. So again, when you look at that time, when you start shrinking things down and CKLA is still taking up a chunk, what something has to go? So when we expand that a little bit, we give ourselves a

095little bit more flexibility. And you know at the middle school example that I gave as well, you're able to maintain uh longer instructional blocks which leads to better focus. So what we're proposing and changing in particular with the dismissal times on the early release days. These would not be our the every day but the early release days. You can see what they currently are and what we are proposing they change to. So, we are extending by 70 to 80 minutes um off of what it currently is. The next change to look at is uh intended to improve real- time collaboration through weekly early release days. And this has certainly been the uh change that I've received the most questions about. And so I'm going to take a bit more time in in explaining exactly what

096the change is that we are proposing and why we are proposing that change. Um so bear with me if this this section is a bit more detailed. First, why do we think a weekly early release day is needed? There's a great deal of research around this that has happened over the last uh decades really that shows that when teachers have a regular opportunity to collaborate in a timely fashion, that's one of the best tools that we have to improve student outcomes. Now, often when we are coming to the board with a change that we would like to make to do something new or different to improve student outcomes, often that also comes with us asking for you to approve a significant um dollar figure of expenditures to pay for that new program. In this case,

097changing the school schedule, one of the benefits of doing that is it does not require a new line item on the budget. does not in require um an increase in funds, purchase of something is just us reallocating how we use our time. It's also important to note that this is truly a natural um application of the work that's been going on here in the Carson City School District for several years. There's been a lot of work done in developing proficiency scales which I know you've heard discussed common assessments and pacing guides really uh as I talk with our teachers and administrators and look at the work itself there's a lot of great great work that has gone into these proficiency scales assessments pacing guides and the general consensus is we've got a great foundation we've

098got these great materials there what we need to work on doing is improving um the rate at which they are used with fidelity um throughout the district and that that um consistent collaboration time is really the time when we would be doing that. So we're building on the foundation that has been laid over the last several years with creating these curriculum materials and getting us to a point where we are better applying them in actual practice. I mentioned the research and so I wanted to include here a couple of quotes um from a few different sources that address this. I won't read this whole quote to you. I'll give you a moment to to take a look at that and then I'll comment on some things there. So one of the things that that we

099hear frequently is we hear the American educational system compared with other educational systems around the world and not compared in a favorable way. Uh that our students our outcomes uh do not measure up to some of these standardized outcomes in um international tests. And we could spend a lot of time talking about all the details of that, but one of the things that we need to look at is well then what are those countries if they are getting better outcomes, what are some of the things that they are doing differently? And there's a lot of things that we could talk about, but one of the things that they're doing differently that this quote points out is that they are spending more time uh collaborating. The teachers are spending more time in collaborative professional learning. Uh

100there is a recent study by Stanford University that quantifies that a little bit more in on average based on their research in the United States during contract time teachers have 3 to 5 hours a week for that planning grading professional collaboration that needs to take place which is pretty consistent with the amount of time that we have uh in our teacher contract. I mentioned elementary had 45 minutes a day prep period. So that times your five days a week. You're less than five hours in the week. When they compare that with other countries, one of the countries that is frequently cited as top performing in the world is Finland. In countries like that that are top performing in the world, those teachers have between 15 and 25 hours a week of time without students when

101they are working on collaborating, learning, grading, planning, preparing. So that is a very different model of the instruction that is delivered. Uh that is certainly not the only difference between what we do in the United States and what is done in other countries but I think it's a significant one of note here espe when that that relates to what we're proposing here. Here's another quote uh talking about PLC's or professional learning communities in particular. And again I'll give you a moment to take a look at that. I would point out a couple of things in this quote. Obviously, as I have highlighted here, you see consistently higher student performance. That is definitely a highlight. But also right before that it talks about strong PLC's as measured by teachers attitude towards peers and their own development

102as educators. Um so we realize it is not simply a matter of creating time in the schedule to do this. It also requires some real intentional work on the part of everyone in the district, district level administration, campus administration and teachers to not just have the time but develop the right structures and protocols and understanding of how to use that time appropriately so that um that those positive attitudes are reflected in our teachers. It's not just the time but it's how we use the time and using it in the right manner um with the right approach that will yield that higher student performance. This is the last um quote that I have regarding this this one. So so how much time do we need? And this is just another reference point for that. So this

103quote is by an educational consulting firm and as as they mention here there's not a specific time that say this is what it has to be. What it needs to do is enough time to build that momentum and typically in their experience it is weekly or bi-weekly meetings. So I want to spend a little bit of time. So what are we going to do during this ERD? And we you see you're saying professional learning community. What is that? And what in the world are you doing during that time? Professional learning communities um are structured around four key questions. What do we want students to know and be able to do? How will we know if they've learned it? What will we do if they don't learn it? What will we do if they already know

104it? So I want to give you a quick example of how that might apply. So if I were a secondary social studies teacher and we are teaching about the three branches of government, first thing that I need to do is know what do I want my students to know and be able to do when it comes to the three branches of government. That's where our proficiency scales come in and really lay out for our teachers. This is specifically what needs to happen. So let's say in this case what I need students to know is separations of powers and the checks and balances that are part of the three branches of government. After I finish the three branches of government, we'll move on to discussion of the bill of rights. That's my pacing guides. That's what

105I need students to know. In a traditional model of education, which I grew up in, maybe all of us grew up in um we would teach three branches of government. We would teach these things that students need to learn and then we'd go on to the bill of rights and whatever else we have in that unit. Then at the end of the unit, we would give the students a test and if they passed it, they that's great. And if they failed it, I guess they should have worked harder and studied more to try and learn better. And we move on to the next unit. What the professional learning community model says is that's not what we want to do. We don't want to just teach something and then wait for a few weeks and see

106who passes and fails. What we want to do is we want to do more on time assessment. So, I'm going to give I'm going to teach this part and on Friday together with my other social studies teachers, we're going to give a quick quiz, a quick common formative assessment we call it. And we're going to see how are the students doing specifically with what we're trying to get with separations of powers, checks and balances, three branches of government. We give that on Friday. We're going to grade that on Monday. We're going to show up to our professional learning community on Tuesday and we're going to look at those results and we're going to see that perhaps across the board we didn't do a great job teaching what the judicial branch does. Okay, now we know

107across the board we're not waiting until the end in the unit test, but across the board we need to do some adjustments in how we taught about the judicial branch. Or maybe some of us, some of our classes didn't do as well, but one class did really well in the judicial branch. That gives us a great chance to say, "Well, great, Mr. Clappam. How did you teach that?" Well, I did this, this, this. Okay, I can go tomorrow and use some of those same strategies because my class as a whole didn't get it. The other thing that we might see is that we have pockets of students. We have a group of students that didn't understand judicial. We have a pocket of students that didn't understand uh separation of powers. So then what we're going

108to do is we're going to plan our interventions and I'm going to take the group of students that need to better understand separation of powers. Mr. Clappam's going to take the group that needs to understand the judicial branch. Miss Peterson, she's going to take the students that nailed it and they're ready to do something a little bit deeper. And so our schools have this intervention time built into their school schedule and they're going to plan on that Tuesday and then execute that intervention and help those students at that time. Part of the reason the weekly component of this is so important is in our current model, we have early release days give or take uh twice a month depending if we have holidays or things like that. We might not. So it might be several

109weeks until we can get together and discuss how our students did on that quick assessment that we gave. We might find out the same things that we just talked about, but by this time we've already moved on to teaching the Bill of Rights and now we've got to go back and work with these kids that didn't get these parts of the three branches of government. So that's why it's so important that we do this in a regular ongoing basis that it's not something that we do it's not something that we can do before school starts. Um, and it's not something that we can only do once a month. It's something that we need to do in a more ongoing practice. So, the current model, as you know, has early release days one or two times

110each month. Um, and once or twice, as I've tried to explain, does not allow for us to implement what would this professional learning communities model in the way uh the best best practices indicate that we should do it. So that's a description of the model. What I have now are some frequently asked questions that I'll try and address as well. One of the questions that has come is well why Tuesdays? We've been doing Wednesdays. Why switch to Tuesdays? And the first thing that I would say is the day of the week is less important than the frequency of our ability to do it. So whether it's Tuesdays every week or Wednesdays every week does not make a huge difference but the frequency does make a very big difference. The reason for one of the main

111reasons for looking at doing it on Tuesdays is is it would allow us greater access to the regional professional development programs what we often refer to as RPDP. RPDP is an organization that is uh funded by the state and as the name would imply they provide professional development. That's a free resource to us to access their professional development. So if there's um if Dr. Ward on her campus says I could really use somebody that could come in and do some training on reciprocal teaching um and I can contact RPDP and they may have a person that could come and provide that training. Wash County School District does their early release day every Wednesday. Um, RPDP serves the entire Northwest region and so there a lot of schools districts do Wednesdays. If we move to Tuesdays,

112we would have more access to the resources of our PDP. That's the thinking behind going to Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays. But as I said, the day is much less uh important than the frequency thereof. Uh there have been questions about why not Mondays or Fridays. Uh we view those as the least desirable spots for this and really the the uh reason for that is decreased attendance. Um whether uh real or not sometimes our students and families, oh this is an early release day. It's not as important as as a normal day. So, it's okay if we just don't as and if it's on Friday, well, let's just not go on Friday and we can make this a 3-day weekend. So, that's our thinking uh of keeping it in neither Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Next, in our

113frequently asked questions, um how will this impact collaboration time that uh is already occurring particularly at the elementary level? So they the elementary level has uh and each grade level has their 45minute prep period at the same time and they have some collaboration time that they do on weeks that we don't have early release days. We strongly feel that that grade level collaboration needs to continue um because our because all they have is that on weeks that we don't have erd and then the erds to not only do the collaboration but the training that needs to happen a lot of that time that we want to use for the model that I explained to you is has been taken up with more training and administrative requirements be that we need to work through some challenges

114with CKLA or Otis or some science of reading training that's required. So that training um and administrative requirements has pushed out some of the teacher collaboration time. We want to recapture that by having this weekly erd would allow for us the time to be able to do both. We have engaged in discussions with our associations uh regarding this which has been super value. They also super helpful. They also see the value um in purposeful and productive collaboration and professional learning. And um I I I want to say as well part of this whole process is not to just create that time but it is also to improve how we're doing it. We recognize that it hasn't always been used to its full effect and we want to set up a structure where we can and

115have the expectations and training in place for our staff to use it to its full effect. So there haven't been any changes made to contract language but we have been in discussions with uh our association and really uh depending on outcomes of tonight's discussion we'll continue those discussions um so that we can put together a system where we have um the appropriate collaboration in place collaboration at the secondary level and the high school in particular is really diminished without a weekly erd they don't have obviously So you can't have a whole grade level at the high school that has is on prep the same period. Um you even to do that department by department presents a lot of challenges and makes their schedule a lot less flexible and really in some ways can negatively impact

116students. Um our next frequently asked question and I apologize if I'm going too fast if I'm going too slow. I know I've got a long presentation. So, um, how is this impacting the instructional minutes that our students are receiving? So, I've got a chart here on this slide and then a, uh, and some more information on the next slide as well. First, I would point out that uh, when it comes to instructional time, like I've said, quantity matters, but so does quality, and we want to make sure that we have both. So, you'll see on this chart, first column there, elementary, middle, high. The next column, minimum required. So the state has minimum required minutes that our students have to have this number of instructional minutes for the year in order to meet state minimum

117requirements. And what I've done is so this is starting in 23 up through 27 based on our proposed schedule. I'm going to put an asterisk on this because the state has a habit of kind of changing how they define instructional minutes. So the minutes that you see reflected here um relate to the minutes that we submitted to the state, but yeartoyear their definitions sometimes change a little bit. So it's not totally an applesto apples comparison across the board. Um you can see that our proposal in 2627 is fewer instructional minutes that we had than we have this year. Although however it is still well above the minimum required instructional minutes from the state. I wanted to break this down a little before I'm sorry I have a question. >> Why the reduction in the U

118>> uh minutes instructional minutes? >> Great question. I think my next slide is going to help to answer that a little bit. Trusty Varner. So, um, instead of looking at the whole year, what I did was, okay, what what would be in a four-week span in our current model, in a four-week span in the elementary school, we would have four weeks of instruction, we would have within those four weeks, two of those would be early release days. So, we would have 18 regular days and two early release days. And remember, our early release days this year are shorter than what we're proposing for next year. So in that rotation you we would have a total of 7,490 instructional minutes during that four-week span. What we're proposing we in that four-week span we have 16 regular

119days, four early release days, but those early release days are longer. So our instructional minutes are essentially the same, 10 minutes longer um in that four-week span. So then the question, well the last form that you showed me, you said that our minutes are going down significantly. So in our current schedule, we have one uh day during the school year that is a non-school day and and that's our one professional learning day. Um what we're proposing we we would increase that to three professional learning days, but we are also proposing at the elementary level there would be four days of no school when they do the parent teacher conferences. And we're also adding in that teacher workday um at the end of the first semester. So that accounts for a lot of the difference that

120we see in the total number of minutes. Additionally, when I did this for a week uh as if it's an ideal month where you have no holidays and we go to school 20 full days, we realize that doesn't happen very often. Um on the proposed calendar, you'll note that we have an early release day on every Tuesday. The thinking there is for consistency for families and everyone to understand this happens every single Tuesday, including like the second day of school. Now, on the second day of school, would we be engaging in the discussion that I talked with you about? No, clearly not. Um but again, it's it's it's around that consistency. So we have a lot more early release days um because we are including it every week um regardless of how that week looks

121just so we have the consistency of it happening anytime there is a Tuesday. So I would say to answer your question we have more non-instructional days and uh and we have more we haven't just doubled the number of early release days we've more than doubled the number of early release days. Um another question that we get is um how will this impact child care? Um child care as we know looks different for every single family and a a schedule that works great for one family may not work as well for another family. So impossible for us to say how this impacts every individual family. There are a couple of things here to consider. uh one it is closer to their regular dismissal time. It's not as big of a shift from uh they're not out

122as they're not out as early as they are this year. So there's not as much of a gap there. The other piece is as I mentioned it's consistent. So it happens every Tuesday. It is very common for us on Wednesdays for families to say, "Oh, today was an early release day." even though it we try and be consistent with it um it it still catches folks by surprise uh at times. Um I have also as I mentioned been in contact with community members like I mentioned with uh Capitol Kids and the um non-school days for conferences they wouldn't really be able to provide the same services on that. When it comes to the early release days and talking with them as well as talking with the Boys and Girls Club they said it would have

123zero impact. They would be able to continue to offer what they're offering now um on these early release days. um even some thought that it might be better for them than what the current schedule is. Um why not just monthly uh is a question that I've received as well and I tried to answer that earlier in in how I described what we're trying to accomplish with this time. It's not just professional learning. It's that ongoing on-time collaboration. Um I think this is my final FAQ. Um why not um adding some additional breaks like fall break or other holidays. We've received pretty consistent feedback from our associations over the years not to shorten the summer. Obviously, any breaks that we add in, we need to still meet contract days and instructional days. And so then you

124have to if you take away some days, you've got to add some days elsewhere. Um so we really um essentially rolled over most of the holidays. There's some changes here that I noted. So for instance, this year Veterans Day was on a Tuesday and so we also took Monday off. This coming year, Veterans Day is on a Wednesday, so we won't have another day off with that. Kids will have school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Instead, um President's Day, we'll pair a um an additional day off there. In President's Day, as I mentioned, that third quarter or second semester is longer, so giving a an additional break there helps to even that out a little bit. We do the same around Memorial Day and make that a 4-day weekend. The last week of school would just

125be a three-day week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday because of Memorial Day. And then both Wednesday and Thursday would be minimum days for all levels. And this is a little bit tricky, but difference between minimum days and what we would be calling early release days. Early release days would be the times that I showed earlier. Minimum days would be releasing like we do this year. So those last two days would be quite short. that allows for some of the celebrations and things that are happening. It also gives some time for teachers to wrap things up, grade, check, you know, check in all of their materials and get checked out for the year. So quick summary uh changes that we're proposing that really uh relate to our staff parent experience non-school days for conferences adjustments to the new

126teacher schedule semester 1 ending before winter break and a teacher workday things that we are proposing directly related to student outcomes um uh from one full day of professional learning during the school year to three longer early release days and weekly early release days. >> All right. Well, thank you so much for the comprehensive um presentation. I know you spent a lot of time on that and I appreciate you addressing um a lot of our questions that we had previously and you put it in your presentation. So, I appreciate that. However, I do notice that um every school board member up here was um writing down a whole lot of notes as you were going. So, I'm sure we'll have a lot of questions. And at this time, also, Brandon, feel free. Um, I would

127like to recognize that most of um every school is represented by their principal or vice principal. So, if you feel as though they would need to um their comments or uh help you address any questions, please feel free to invite them up to speak as well. And I would like to thank all of you for coming um in representing the schools in which you uh lead. >> Agreed. So, we're going to go ahead and start with questions. >> If I could uh before we start discussions, I was wondering I see Dr. Ward's in the audience and I know that being president of the administrative association, she had input into this. So, maybe we could hear from her before we do discussions. >> Would you like to come up >> or >> Okay. >> Yeah. Let's

128go ahead and do that. So, we'll go ahead and um start at that end and work up. So, Trusty Ramirez, do you have any questions? >> I appreciate the intense work that you must have done to put all this information together and I appreciate that you seek for feedback from the unions and from the, you know, from all all the um stakeholders involved. >> Thank you. Um I am still trying to process all of these. Um one thing that I do appreciate is a consistent schedule so that it will um make it easier on the families. I'm thinking that would um help the families have a plan, you know, when they're going to need to have um a a a babysitter, you know, for their children. Um again, it's a it's a lot to take.

129So, I'm going to pause on that and then let my my colleagues >> provide input. >> Trusty Roberts. >> Yeah. Um, just echoing everyone's thank you. I know this took a lot of time, a lot of effort. I appreciate um you reaching out to the various um departments and things that this could affect um and just gathering that information and making sure that Capitol Kids and Boys and Girls Club is also um going to be available or what that looks like. Um and then also thank you for the evening graduation time. I know that was a big a big thing. Um I really appreciate also the ending the semester before winter break. I know that was huge, especially on those kids with finals and things. Um, and then I wrote a note here that that's

130nice. I don't know why, but thank you for that. >> It was something about how you explained the teacher workday. Oh, I think just to wrap up the semester is what you said. And so that's that I think that's great for them to be able to have that. Um just some questions that I have or that have come up because um you know last year it was not a lot of changes made like you said just kind of move of holidays here and there and so it was easy to um approve that and this year it just exploded with emails, social media whisperings um and so I just felt it really important to dive deeper into this this year. Um, and so I talked to lots of parents. I talked to lots of teachers, admin.

131Um, I even reached out to other districts that follow a similar schedule and kind of what that looks like for them. And um, so some of the questions that came up with that um, well, and before I say any questions too, I just want to say that as a a parent as well, um, I understand the frustrations that some have addressed. Um, and even though I'm a stay-at-home parent, it still has a big impact on my schedule and my um, appointments and my family and um, so I can only imagine what it looks like for parents who are working families. Um, so I appreciate all of the input that they have shared. Um, and so couple questions that came up as I talked to people. Um, oh, and thank you for outlining what the PLC

132meetings look like with those four main questions. That was very helpful. >> Um, are the parent teacher conference days also a PL day or a teacher full work day or what does that look like? >> So, those days are are dedicated solely to uh teachers doing the conferencing with their families. So, there wouldn't be professional learning scheduled on those times. It is a contract day for teachers. Uh so teachers are to work those days but their work is to do the conferencing. Um we envision there being some flexibility there perhaps uh if some parents need to uh conference more in the late afternoon early evening that a teacher could flex their workday and come in later in order to facilitate that type of thing. But their work on those days is conferencing. >> Great. Thank

133you. Um, and then just also to add to why the Tuesday, um, as I asked around on that part as well, because like I'm a parent, Friday would be awesome. I get the three-day temptation. Um, so when I talked to some admin about that, um, they were saying, you know, by Friday also the staff is really tired and done and, um, so it's not going to be maybe as meaningful as it could. And Mondays are just kind of funky coming off of a weekend. And so Tuesday would be a good day to be able to maybe have your collaboration on Monday, go in with your um, prep on Tuesday and be able to implement that the rest of the week. Um, so there's just some insight to that. And then, um, a big question was

134theseUS because of the way that the contracts are written right now. Um, they're written that no PLC's can happen on those early release weeks is what I understood. And so if every week is an early release week, how are they able to get that collaboration? Um, and so there was concern for that moving forward with this without an insurance that they could really come together and make those meetings meaningful. >> Yeah. And I I that's a great question and a great point and certainly something we've had a lot of discussions about. Um, and we want to be able to preserve that opportunity for the collaboration uh as it is happening in the elementary, but we recognize we need to work with our associations. Um, and it's, you know, the order of operations, if you will,

135is a little bit tricky where, you know, we don't want to draft anou for something that hasn't been yet. Um, we don't have any feedback from the board as to whether or not we might be going that direction, but then the board's like, well, I don't know if we want to go that direction. if there's not an MOU. So, um we have a little bit of a chicken or the egg um scenario, but we've had um some great conversations and we have, as you know, uh great relationships with our associations. And so, um we will continue those conversations um depending on the outcome, uh of what what decisions or what direction we we receive here tonight. >> Okay, great. And I guess I should mention that they were concerned for um both of their teachers

136and their specialty teachers at that elementary level because they want all staff to be treated equally and still allow those specialty teachers to have that prep hour. >> Um um another concern was do they need to travel? Are they going to be um you know collaborating with other sites because the time is so short? Plus, if you're helping with pickup, right, >> um, and bus duty, then it's even shorter, >> right? So, that's a great question. And the intent really with this time is for it to be campus-based time. There are some times where it might uh where travel might be necessary. For instance, you mentioned uh special teachers, you know, the ones that teach our all of our teachers are special. Uh, it's not those that teach. they're the only uh elementary music teacher

137on the campus. Um depending on the collaboration they need to do with other music teachers that may uh most likely most of the time would be done virtually if they decide it needs to be done in person. Obviously some travel would be necessary. There may be every now and then some uh something that we need to that teachers need to travel for but really the intent is that this would be uh focused on campus level uh collaboration and training. Okay. And then another concern was just the time because of that bus and pickup time. It's already pretty short. How are they going to make that time meaningful? Um and just that concern of it's pretty short. >> Yeah. And for sure we want that's uh you know for keeping avoiding any travel. Um part of

138the reason that that is important um and there is uh work that needs to be done at dismissal with D dismissal duty that takes some time but we still will have about an hour uh of collaborative time which um I with a collaborative session that is wellrun with a clean agenda where everybody knows what they need to do and we have expectations and norms in place we think that that hour of time would be adequate. However, it is certainly something uh that we would monitor as with all of these changes that we would monitor and say, did it work better? Were there some additional changes that need to be made? And that length uh would certainly be something for us to monitor. And it's something that we can engage in more discussions with even now

139and say maybe we need to maybe we've extended it too long and we need to cut it back a little bit more. Um and we have some flexibility still in meeting the minimum state minutes in order to do that. So um again depending on where we go from this meeting if we continue to uh discuss and revise that is certainly something that we can look at. >> Okay. Um and then at the upper levels um there was concern on the parents part with um after school curriculars with it just not being a lot of time to do anything. they feel like they pick up their kids, they get home, they got to come right back um for like sports and things like that. Is there still going to be a library study hall they can

140sit in or what does that has that been? >> Yeah, that's a question. Um so the way the way that is handled in some areas is instead of having an early dismissal, they have a late start instead. So students just come to school later. Um we discussed that a little bit. We've thought that that would be even more impactful on families than early dismissal. Um it is cleaner on the school side to do a late start because of the things that happen after school, but um we thought it would be too impactful uh on the family side. So there each campus and it's really particularly particularly at the secondary level and really I think most impactful at the middle school the high school a lot of those high schoolers can uh transport themselves or their

141friends can transport them. It's that middle school level that's a little bit of a tricky spot. And so that'll be some work that we need to do with uh the middle school campuses on what options are there available for students if they're have a practice after school for them to still um be able to stay in a safe place during that brief window there. >> Okay, great. Um, and then just a couple suggestions that if this um, if we were to go this route, then maybe next year we can have some feedback on how it went from families, from staff. Um, and I don't know that there will be much data to show in just one year how that impacted the students and their success. Um, but just an idea. And then also maybe having

142a couple of options to look at with a calendar instead of just the one. >> Okay. >> And again, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh thank you, uh Trusty Clappa. >> Um excuse me. So um clearly you put a a ton of time and effort into that uh super comprehensive presentation. I appreciate that. Um, so I I've spoken to a few um individuals, shouldn't say a few, multiple individuals. Um, some are for, some are against, um, or have concerns. Mostly the concerns are with the every Tuesday early release. Um, however, um, I understand and like what you've done. Um, I would say with that, um, I need to digest everything that you put in there. That was, >> uh, a lot to think about for me. Um, and so I do not think I'm

143ready to make a vote on that for myself tonight. Um, I what I would like to talk to is some of the individuals that I talked with to be able to rewatch this and um, and then get their feedback on >> Sure. >> on what you've proposed. Um, but what I want to communicate to you is how thankful I am just hearing the last 30 minutes of you speaking on this. how uh detailed that you get into making the experience of education a good experience. Um I mean you got down to like minutes and I appreciate that and and um I'll be honest I sent a text to Mr. Feling that said this guy is a genius. Um, with that, I I just I need some time to digest. >> That's totally understandable. And I'll

144and I will send this um presentation to to um Renee and to all of the board members so that you guys can have that to look back at things as well. >> And so, but again, I whether you know I'm for or against it, I just want to communicate. I appreciate how much effort you have put in to this and um gosh makes me just all the more um confident in the role that you're filling. So thank you. Yeah. So um I'm not I'm not prepared if if if you guys are um >> well we'll wait. We're going to wait and do discussion. We have public comment yet. I I would like to digest this >> and then we can come back to the board after the public comment and decide on um our course

145of action. Um so, Trusty Peterson, do you have questions? >> Um I would also like to um express appreciation um for the collaborative mindset that I feel like you're coming into this with. Um as it's been expressed, this was a lot of work. Um, and at its surface, um, you know, the thing that's easy to grab is there's a whole bunch of red numbers and black circles. And that's the early release every Tuesday was was the big talking point that a lot of people were catching up um or catching on to. Um, I hadn't even realized like I I like how much you presented um about um the semester ending before winter break and the teachers having that day to button it up and and put it to bed, so to speak. Um and then

146the new teacher training days. Um had not seen that the um um oh the three days of um professional learning that we're only using one of right now, which is um surprising. So those are those are good things to catch and I'm glad that um we got to listen to you dig through all of that. Um and then again just the collaborative mindset that um this isn't being presented as this is it, this is the best way and this is the only way. So please like it. Um but I do feel like you're coming to us with like okay now give me feedback like where can we polish this? Where where do we have concerns? So thank you for that openness. Um, I also really appreciated you um giving us minutes um like Matt said

147um not just minutes on the day but minutes on the year that the requirements for example in elementary school the minimum requirement is 54,000 minutes and currently we're at over 70,000 minutes reduced to the 26 27 calendar we're at 65,000 minutes. So even even dropping that 5,000 minutes, we are still 190 hours over at the elementary school level. And so that's the concern that I kept seeing expressed was was um we're taking away classroom time. We're taking away classroom time. This is valuable learning time. But that realization right there that our elementary school is 190 hours over required. I I'm I appreciate you including that in there. Even at a minimum, the high school is 38 hours over on this adjusted schedule. Um, so our kids are really getting um some good exposure and that

148includes having the hour every Tuesday and the three full days and the teacher conference days removed from them. So um that's good to see. Um I I spoke to a handful of parents as well. Um um most at the high school level um because that's where most of my exposures come. But um it was a a pretty good split. Um typically most of the parents I spoke to were didn't didn't see it as a big deal. But again, it was just mostly as Tuesday early release day. We're going to do an hour every week instead of two and a half hours every other week. And okay, cool. Not a big deal. that they also are have high schoolers so child care portion of that is less impactful. And so then that's where I had a

149lot of the negative feedback was um parents concerned about well I I work full-time and it's already hard enough on the early release days to say hey boss I got to run out and grab my kid to get them to the daycare to bridge that gap. Um and it's hard for them to say they have to do that every other week and and the thought that now they were going to have to do that every week um has a lot of people concerned. And so that was some feedback that I had received as well. Uh and then the only other feedback um Rebecca already u mentioned um was the athletes at the high school um when they know they're going straight from school into their athletic practice, they come prepared. Um when the early release

150is two and a half hours early, they know they have time to go home, relax, eat lunch, collect their gear, and then come back. And so the concern was, well, if it's only one hour, then I'm just kind of a school hostage. Like that's not enough time to go and have that that filler time. So to them it feels like a dead hour that um they're just going to have to hang out at the school. Um so that's all. >> Thank you. I I did want to mention one thing that I didn't include in my presentation that I should have. Um and that is uh anything that we do and eventually at some point approve obviously needs to be submitted to NDE and NDE needs to approve it and we Mr. Fueling and I and

151other we've gone through this and gone through the state regulations and we believe everything is as you've seen we far exceed the minutes and everything else is the way it needs to be. But uh I want to make sure that I add that asterisk that um it is all subject to um NDE approving it at the end of the day. >> Thank you Jessie Varnner. uh same uh thank you for the presentation and a lot of my comments um that I was going to make or questions I was going to ask have been asked and answered. So thank you. Uh but I do have one uh major concern. If the calendar was approved as is and the union or the association did not agree to do anou to clarify, you know, the point that was

152brought up earlier, >> what happens then? Well, what h I mean what happens then is we have the calendar that's approved and we we don't have the uhou to continue some of the elementary um collaboration that's been happening. So then it requires us to get more creative in in how we um address things. um exactly how we would uh address that and have that collaboration would be something that we would need to get together with the elementary principles and see what we could what we could do. Um I said I've I have been nothing but impressed in the time that I've been in Carson City School District with the relationship that we have with our associations and our ability to uh you know be thoughtful and collaborative in the process. And uh I think that

153we can continue to be thoughtful and collaborative and I know that the association will also come to us with great ideas about well let's maybe look at it this way or that way and that we can work together um to find what's going to work best. >> I'm still concerned about that. >> I I think that's valid. >> Yeah. Um then the other thing is uh one of the reasons for this you say um that it's to guarantee improve I mean to improve outcomes. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So how long are we going to have to wait to see I think that was kind of brought up to see if this is working to improve outcomes. Is it going to be somehow gauged along the way or I mean how's that going to work? Yeah,

154it definitely needs to be gauged along the way and I think that there's a variety of ways that we gauge that. Um, when it comes to student outcomes, we look at things like our MAP testing results. We look at things um like our ESPback results. Um but I think the outcomes that we would see from this simply looking at those particular indicators might be a little bit longer longer term in coming than we want. So we need to also uh have some indicators that we can look at in the more uh short and intermediate term. Uh and to me some of that is feedback from our teachers in how they are viewing the uh process, how they are viewing what they're able to accomplish, what they're able to do with their students. Are we developing

155I go back to one of those quotes that I had there? What what are their attitudes towards this time? Are they seeing it as productive? our teachers. We need those objective third-party gauges like the MAP test and the ESPback, but our teachers are also very good gauges of things that are and aren't working. And so, the ability to kind of that that is one of our barometers that we would need to check along the way and see their thoughts on how it is or is not impacting students in a positive way. >> Does that answer your question, Trusty? >> I think so. >> There's a lot to take in. >> It's a lot. Agreed. >> And uh you know it is difficult trying to balance the needs of or the wants of the district with

156what the public and the parents may need. I am concerned that um how much input did the parents have into this calendar? >> So we did not engage in a formal um survey and and that sort of a process uh up to this point. that is something that is not something that uh we've engaged in like I said up to this point certainly something that we could engage in if that's something that uh the board would like us to do as we move forward to gather more of that input. Well, I think that you know all of us here probably have received feedback from parents, teachers in opposition to this change. And I'm not naive to think that everybody's opposed to it. I know there's a lot of people that are probably in favor of

157it. I know we have a lot of people sitting in this room here tonight that's that's um in favor of this. So, uh we got to take that into consideration too. But also um I am concerned too that somebody brought it up you have an hour and 30 minutes that they get out early and we all know that you're not going to go directly there. you have, like you said, you have to uh dismiss classrooms, maybe have to go to the restroom. Um how much and if you're down to an hour, right? Maybe if you're lucky, >> give or take. Yeah, >> give or take. Um I mean, what are you going to accomplish in that hour? >> So, I can tell you my experience. Uh before coming to Carson City School District, I worked

158at a different district a little bit to our north. Um they in that district there is an early release day every Wednesday. It is school is released 45 minutes earlier than the typical release. So at the school that I was at we typically released at 2:00 on Wednesday's release was at 1:15. Took us from about 1:15 until about 1:30 to get done with the dismissal and get into our meetings to start those meetings at about 1:35. teacher contract time in that district ended at 2:45. So we had from 1:35 to 2:45 to engage in the collaborative uh work that I discussed and I found that that uh amount of time worked very well. U there certainly are times where it was like oh we wish we had more time. Uh and you know that that's

159a balance. Uh more time in this after school time means less school time. we shrink down the school time too much and like I said then it then the school time becomes less productive in some ways. So I don't know if the number that we've landed on is the exact right balance if we need to and we could look at and seek some more input on that. We could look at backing that up or pushing it out. One of the things that also drove where we put it is where we put it still allows for that same length of a prep period for our elementary teachers to still have their 45minut prep period. If we back it up so that we have a longer uh collaborative time then that's going to shrink shrink the prep

160time that the teachers have during that day. uh that might be a trade-off that is approate trade-off, but that's that was the reasoning that put the that put it where it is. The other thing that impacts the dismissal times is transportation. So, we've got to have enough stagger between all the dismissal times that we can do the transportation appropriately. Um so, those two main factors that we look at, but my experience has been that about an hour is a a good amount of time. Again, as I said, with the appropriate structure to that where you've got a clear agenda, you have a clear purpose, and you you have clear expectations. You come in, you get to business on doing the work that you need to do. Um, but longer may definitely be longer is definitely

161a consideration we can look at. >> Uh, there's a lot of this I'm in favor of, but some I'm not. Uh, one of the things that I would say is with the reduced minutes, the feedback that I've received from the teachers or a lot of the teachers at least that have contacted me is they'd prefer to have more time in the classroom, uh, more t instructional minutes. And if we're losing 5,000 instructional minutes, I think they would argue that that time may be better spent uh, instructing students. And that's basically the feedback that I'm receiving is uh they're not really in favor of all these early release days that they'd prefer to have more time with the students. Uh it kind of disrupts their day, they think, you know, etc., etc. So, I just wanted

162to bring that up is I think there may be some argument we need more time or not less time, you know. >> Yeah, I certainly hear that. Um and that is a a valid perspective. I think that uh my response to that is a a few things. One, like I said, uh it is both quantity and quality that matters. We are significantly over the state minimums. We are also have school our number of instructional minutes are significantly more than many of our neighboring school districts and their elementaryaries. And um and yet while we have significantly more instructional minutes, many of our neighboring districts have better outcomes for their students than we currently have. So I I that to me says it may not be simply more instructional minutes. It may be that we need to

163work on the quality of those instructional minutes and having some additional time for the collaboration that needs to happen may be what helps to improve the quality of those instructional minutes. I think I'm almost finished here. Sorry for taking so long. >> That's all right. >> Uh just let me check my notes here. >> Oh, you talked about maybe the reason to have these on Tuesday is that you could maybe reach out to the RPDR >> RPDP. >> Yeah. What? I'm sorry. >> Close. Good job. Lots of acronyms. See, you're you got a new AC new education acronym tonight. But anyway, I'm wondering how often in the past have we reached out to them where it was a conflict where they couldn't provide the training or on Wednesdays? >> Yeah, we we certainly use them

164uh even we used uh some of the resources from RT RPDP last Wednesday on our early release day and we're using some again this Wednesday. So even with it on a Wednesday, we have been able to access some of those resources. Um I uh so I also know that potentially and we'll discuss this in the next agenda item that there's some changes in the um budget which might reduce some of the resources that we have in house which might mean that we need to access more of those resources. So uh there could be an increased need for that depending on what resources we we have in house. And like I said, to me, the the day is uh not nearly as important as the frequency. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um I'll

165just wrap it up by saying that I think I need more time also. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Um just a few questions before we go on to public comment. Um and so this is uh you know what I've heard that has not been addressed just yet. Um the non-school days. um if there's ever an appetite for the school district to take those non-school days and use them in June so school is out on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Meaning that would be the because you're you have a 4-day weekend. You bring the students back for one full day and then two minimum days rather than just using them those non-school days that are randomly um like yeah randomly. I I can't find one right now. February 12th. Um yeah.

166>> And so instead of randomly have those nonwork um school days, move them and end school on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Have that be the last day of school. You also mentioned that um staff members were um asked about this as well and I just wanted to um ask whether or not those staff members that were asked to participate and get their feedback were equal amongst all levels. So you asked elementary, middle and high school. Mhm. So, uh again, we did not with the staff members, we did not have a formal uh survey or a formal uh work group that had representation from all of the groups. Um so, the the information that we collected was from a variety of conversations in a variety of settings, not necessarily a formal uh work group

167specifically for this. So it didn't uh necessarily include that equal representation. Um there has been a lot of discussion at the with the administrators which certainly has had all of the administrators involved at all of the levels on the teacher level. We haven't had that that formal structure. >> Okay. So I would encourage because it doesn't sound like this is uh we'll be voting on it this evening but encouraged to you know get an equal representation for all levels. You also uh mentioned that the reason for this is for the early release days were for um outcomes. What specific outcomes are you referring to? We just heard outcomes. We didn't hear like >> Okay. Yeah, great great question. Uh it's increased student achievement really in proficiency and in growth. So the proficiency levels that we

168see in our uh different standardized measures and the growth that we see towards proficiency or if they're already proficient the growth beyond um their current levels. So we want to see improvement in their growth rates and we want to see improvement in level of prof rates of proficiency. >> All right. Thank you. Um so at this time we'll go ahead and open it up to public comment. um when you >> President President um well can I please um have a moment to um add a couple of comments. So one of one of the things that I want to um get clarification on is if um on those um with this proposed schedule uh will the teachers be allowed to flex their time to meet with parents in the evenings? Did I hear that correctly? on

169the parent teacher conference times. Yes. >> Yes. And that would be something too that we need to have discussions with our administrator administrative association and our teacher association uh with that flexed time to make sure that there's still administrative support there for that whole time and that the the right um support and accountability measures are in place. But that is something that uh that would be the intent. Yes. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. And the other question is were the the leadership um groups the student leadership groups um able to provide input about this proposed schedule? >> That is a group that we did not um solicit input from directly was the student groups. >> I yeah I would encourage that students are also able to provide their input. >> Thank you. >> All right.

170Thank you. So, at this time, we'll go ahead and open it up to um public comment. If you could please come up, take a seat, uh press and make sure that it is green. Um you will have three minutes. Um if you could be watchful of the time that our uh trustee um Peterson sets for you. Each of you will have three minutes. Please note that um one, we appreciate you you coming and we appreciate your public comment and God bless those two children uh for sitting through this. So, God bless them. But they are actually very well behaved. So, um and then if you have additional that you were not able to, then please make sure that you can always email it to Renee and then, um she will make sure that all of

171us board members receive it. So, if you could please um come up and um we'll it is now open for public comment. Hi, my name is Lisa Parti. I wasn't sure if you were people signed in or not, so I was waiting to see. Sorry. Um, so regarding the early release days on Tuesdays, I think that's hard enough for people to scramble to make the special arrangements every other Wednesdays and now to make it weekly is asking way too much of the kids and parents and guardians to uh keep the um is just asking too much of them to we want them to keep the kids in the classroom to learn. And I'm not sure if how having more early release days is really going to maxivi maximize the effectiveness of instructional minutes. I get

172everything he said. It sounds great, but you're doubling the time that they'll be out of the classroom. And starting and stopping school midweek is disruptive. Obviously, the schools are still not seeing the outcomes and improvements anticipated. So, more time out of school is likely not the answer in my opinion. If your staff needs more time off for professional development time, may I suggest the school staff needing this additional training do so during the summer breaks. And if that's not a time during Christmas or spring breaks, I um please stop disrupting the school week for the kids. Let them learn without multiple early releases. As he said, Mr. Ringhurst, short time in class results in lack of focus. and collaborative professional learning can be done outside of school hours on the breaks. I believe salaries do

173cover the breaks and the kids will benefit without having to scramble for the child care. Maybe um during the summer breaks a successful teacher with good outcomes in the classroom can share their methods with others. But please don't prove this. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Darby Beckwith. I am the theater arts and film studies teacher at Carson High School. I am a multi-generational native Nevadaan who graduated from Story County School District in 2015. I became a teacher largely because I was raised to value education. Both of my parents have worked in education in various Nevada school districts their entire adult lives. I'm actually a second generation Carson High School teacher. As both an employee of Carson High School and a product of Nevada Public Education, I want to voice my support for the

174proposed Carson City School District academic calendar for the 2026 2027 school year. The current early release schedule lacks consistency. As a teacher, I dislike having to keep track of whether there is an early release day on a given week. I can only imagine what it's like for families who have to juggle schedules, car pools, and routines to make things work. A regular schedule that remains unchanged from week to week would allow families to establish and maintain routines without disruption. So, if it causes a disruption to families, why do we do it? We advertise that these days are for teacher professional development, but what does that really mean? What does it look like? What seems to be commonly misunderstood is why we make this investment of time. Early releases create dedicated space for our teachers to

175learn, refine, and grow together so instruction stays sharp, and students stay at the center of every decision. During these afternoons, teachers meet in professional learning communities, PLC's, small groups organized by subject or grade level. PLC's follow a continuous cycle that mirrors what we ask of our students, identify clear learning goals, design ways to measure growth, study real student work, and adjust instruction based on what the data reveals. This is not check the box planning. It's professional problem solving. Teachers dig into pedagogical strategies, compare approaches, explore emerging research, and talk honestly about what's working and where challenges remain. They bring forward the needs of actual students by name, by strength, by confusion, and collectively design ways to support them. It increases educational equity for all students and provides teachers with valuable collaboration and support. If we

176want our students to succeed, we need to provide teachers with meaningful time to create unified educational practices. And that's what early release time provides. It's not time away from students. It's time invested in them. I believe in the work our educators do every day. I trust them and I respect them. Approving the proposed calendar would protect this valuable time for teachers while providing more consistency, especially for families. So, thank you so much for your time. Do we have additional public? Okay, members of the board, thank you so much Jennifer Ward for the record. Thank you, Mr. Varner for your invitation. Um, as the president of the administrators association, I also believe that Mr. Brian Wallace could be at the table with me. Um, because I think part of it is that collaborative effort. Um, as

177Mr. Wallace and I have enjoyed many an hour of good conversation. Um, first off, I'd like to thank our board for looking at this calendar very um through very many lenses, right? Um, I think this is probably my, well, it's my 12th ending my 13th year in administration. And for the past 15 years since I was at Eagle Valley, I have craved the early release day every week. That opportunity to meet with teachers and do professional learning. I think the one of the most important things is the quality of minutes and my ability as an administrator as well as my colleagues to be able to address the needs of my teachers. Um, having well-versed educators in front of our students is the most important aspect of highquality student outcomes. And this calendar, although needs probably

178a little bit more refinement and um time to marinate, um I do believe that this is the best professional development that can be offered um to our staff. It is consistent. Um although I appreciate Miss uh President Walt's comments on the professional development days, these are designed for not non-school days. They're designed for professional learning opportunities for staff and so having those consistently through spread out throughout the year provides that ongoing professional development. Um I cannot imagine doing science of reading training on the first couple days of June. um and you know the relevancy all of the components that are important to professional learning I think um are included in those that are spread out throughout the school year. Um but I am absolutely thrilled that it is the first time we are entertaining this

179type of calendar in our school district in the history of my time in Carson City School District. so that it's consistent professional development and collaboration time that's built into the contract. I have my teachers from 8 to 3:30 183 days of the year. That's it. I do not have them on weekends. I don't have them on any of the breaks. I don't have access to them contractually. And so I think it's very important that we look at the contractual day and be able to create the magic for our students within that time. Thank you. >> My turn. >> Brian Wallace, president OCA representing the surge by staff in Carson City. Uh thank you everyone, board members, President uh Superintendent Fueling, and Mr. Bringingh because he gets to be on the hot seat this evening in

180the calendar is never an easy item. uh OCA years ago negotiated holidays per se back to the district um because they became problematic in trying to work around ESPback testing. You're beholden to the state and it just became such a pain that we decide spring break and then it would interfere with ESPback testing to one point ESPback testing wound up bookending spring break unfortunately because of the way the testing period worked. So this is nothing new in trying to develop the calendar and um this is probably one of the most thorough presentations I have sat through in my almost 18 years of um being in this position. Um especially the breakdown of the minutes for you as board members to be able to clearly see and for the public to be able to see and

181for our own teachers from time to time. We we forget what our school day and what our school year might actually look like. Um the consistency is always important. it it's not just about those Tuesdays but just consistency in general for all our stakeholders in our conversations with the district that is something of course OCA has echoed that ensuring what you have asked when it comes to our community partners our parents our teachers even our classified staff has been present um in at least one of the meetings to provide this input when we take a look at this we know we have achievement gap situations we need to close we have competition ition from charter schools we need to actually address. We need to remain the public school district in this area period. Um when

182it comes to PLC's we've been kind of hit and miss and Mr. Bringers has said that this evening that in the past not to not to beat the past or anything but just to acknowledge that perhaps all of us from time to time from the top down excluding the board since you're not in charge of those PLC's maybe we haven't utilized them as well as we have and you're going to have some of that through public comment tonight that will be will have been submitted online. So there is a little bit of a bad taste out there perhaps from some of our certified members, but I don't think it's something we can't overcome. I I think with new leadership in place for the chief academic officer is going to help tremendously. Um the the district

183leadership is very willing to listen to OCA and and of course all our members in that it needs to be very clearly defined. It needs to be used well. We know this is going to interrupt our own members day when it comes to child care as some of you have already pointed out and the district has been sensitive to that thus far. Um I do sincerely appreciate you maybe giving this a little extra time to allow yourselves to marinate on this versus what we've seen in the past around us. Thank you very much. Hi nice people. My name is Cara Torado. It's lovely to see you and I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much board. Thank you Mr. Karsten's. Thank you everyone for even considering having PLC's on a weekly basis.

184This is kind of the conversation truly. It's like the chicken or the egg right now. And you can't have highly effective PLC's if you don't have the time for highly effective PLC's. And right now we have PLC's. They are not highly effective and they can't be without the investment of the time. I come from a school district just like Dr. Ward was saying that she has wanted highly effective PLC's growing up in the school district I came from professionally. I've wanted them since the minute I got here. And I actually made I'm not joking you. I made Carson High School Bell schedules. They are in my Google Drive when I was a science coordinator. I gave them to the principal at that time and there was big backlash because you don't know what it is

185until you know what it is. And now our staff is trained. And so, please, if any of you do not understand like the difference between a PLC and a highly effective PLC, check out Stevenson High in Illinois. It's Adlife E Stevenson High. It is a fantastic school. It's where the PLC movement was started. I spent an entire three days there with my old school district. We were all trained and it is one of the best learning experiences. It is 100% free to turn into a highly effective PLC. I would like to mirror everything. Um, I want to get your name right. I think it's Ringhurst or Oh, I'm sorry. I meant um Beck with Miss Beckwith. I would like to second everything that Miss Beck with said. Um, I would also like to submit that

186I am currently a Carson Middle School teacher and that my middle school kids deserve highly effective PLC's at the high school. I look at those kids every single day. I am not in a highly effective PLC. I meet with my teacher teams every single day. I am not exaggerating that. We meet at lunch. We meet on the ERD days. We meet on Fridays. And we are still not yet highly effective because we do not have that repetitive and constant time that we can count on. I just want to say that it'll be worth it. You're asking for evidence. The evidence will show up. It might take a year. It might take three. It might take five. You are going to see immediate results in different areas that you do not expect. When I was at

187my old school about four years in, the science department decided to collaborate. And you can't do this if I'd never have time to collaborate with language arts right now, but we collaborated with language arts and math and health. We did a ninth grade unit on Romeo and Juliet. So, my students studied the hormones of Romeo and Juliet. I can end but please please reach out to me >> if you could. Yeah, if you have additional comments, please feel free to put them in writing and submit them. >> Okay, I'll send an email. >> For the record, Dan Carson, I'm principal at Carson High School. Um, we talk a lot about student impact and uh what that does. I can I can show you a lot of products that my teachers have come up with this

188year. not come up with but uh have made uh spreadsheets that show student growth within their classrooms uh based on common assessments that they've developed through their PLC times that we've been given them through our early release days. I welcome each and every one of you to come on in. I'll pull up those data sheets. I'll show you where their first assessment was and then after they collaborate on it, they intervene. They teach our kids a little bit more. They drill down student by standard by learning target and then when they take that assessment again, not the exact same one, but another form of it assessing the same standard, grades improve. And I can show you that. I can show you math. I can show you science. I can show you social studies. And th

189those are the things that we're doing right now. Um we have um issues with athletes sometimes that has been brought up. Um we do have campus monitors that have days that are longer. They have hours that they can monitor our students. Uh give them extra time to work on homework, whatever they need. If we get out at 12:50, um we still probably wouldn't start practices until about 2:30. So we have about an hour and 40 minutes from dismissal until practice starts. It's not it's quite a bit more than an hour. So there is there is that um our agenda is very specific. It is uh product driven. I can show you the products. Every uh once a month I have my teacher leadership team. Uh we have uh our discussion focuses in on a product

190from our PLC processes and uh I can show you all of those products as well. the essential standards that they've done, the essential unit plans that they've completed together as a collaborative team. Um, and this is all done during early release days. I wish they were more timely, and that's what we're asking for here. Um, also, we have uh questions about when when are they going to get there? We get out at 12:50. We ask our students to pass between 7 and 10 minutes. We'll start it at 1:00. We'll end it at 2:30. I I'm saying an hour and a half for our PLC times every week. I can say that we will get a lot done, especially if it's timely like this. Um, we answer the four questions. What do we want our students

191to know and be able to do? How do we know if they know it? What do we do if they don't? What do we do if they already do? Those are the questions we ask. We collaborate based on our instructional strategies and our data that we get from teachers or from students. So thank you. >> Uh please make sure the button is green and then state your name. >> Uh good evening. My name is Emily Deint and I am the parent of two students in the district. Um, I came with a a long statement and instead of reading my long statement, I actually want to express thanks for the careful consideration that it's very clear you guys have been taking um, you know, not not deciding to vote this time and delaying it to really

192think about all of the information that was presented which was so impressive and I really appreciate that too because there's much more to this than just what I understood which was the every Tuesday and from my interactions with other parents is really the foundational problem with this proposed plan. Um, you know, it the feedback that I've heard and that I've also felt personally is that a lot of times this type of change where it's weekly, it it impacts most the people who are least flexible. Um, which isn't what we want our families to do because family stress affects children and has an impact on how they treat and think about education. Um, but really it seems like this is going to be taken under careful consideration and I actually just really appreciate being part of

193the process and witnessing you guys go through it. So, thank you very much. Uh, Mr. President, did you read any of the names of the virtual >> Sorry, Renee. Did we have public comment um submitted virtually? >> Yes, President Walt. on this one because it's agenda item specific. You really just have to read their names. That's that's all that has to be put on the record. >> Okay. So, the first um emailed public comment was from Andrew Tescarino and the second was from Christian Maloney and I'll be sure that the board members receive a copy and it will be included in the permanent record. >> All right. Great. Thank you. So, at this time we'll close public comment. I do have one clarification that was mentioned by Dr. Ward. Um the two days that I

194was referring to are actually non-school days. I'm not against the PL PL days. Been there, done that, know how important they are. Um but it's the actual two non-school days that are um one is they're kind of randomly in there. So those are the ones that I was referring to just to make sure that you have that clarification on that as well. Um so at this time we'll bring it back to the board. Um and just you know you can uh make comment after this but what I am um getting from the board is the fact that we are asking that the um that Mr. Brer uh bring brings this back to us at a later date. We are not prepared to take action on that. Is that the sense that I am getting? That

195would be my preference. And also um I think somebody mentioned maybe an alternate to this calendar for us to u review and >> yeah so at this time um so it does it does it does look like that we will not be taking action but I'm going to ask the board that if they do have additional comments um to please make sure that if if you would um either mention them to them now or um send it to in an email additional comments or concerns or edits that you would like to see and when doing so make sure super sorry >> no you're okay you can finish >> and superintendent fueling gets it as well >> but I I will recommend a motion to continue the item so that the record is clear uh you

196could take that action motion to continue this item to a future date with direction to bring back >> you know more information as discussed >> um >> so with that future date though we do not need to specify it correct because we would like to Sorry, we would like to see that future date be at a meeting that Mr. Fueling is here. >> Yeah. >> And so >> just a future date is fine. You don't have to specify it. Uh but that does make a clean record and it as far as like the minutes and the and the record go shows the public that it's an ongoing and and continuing item. >> Okay. So before we ask for that motion, does anybody have any more comments or go ahead uh Trusty Verer? One one thing

197was brought up during the discussion is that right now we do not have effective PLC's. So I guess one of the concerns that I would like to see addressed is how do we make sure going forward that the early release days and PLC's are effective because that kind of bothered me when I heard that that what we're doing now is not really working or effective. Trusty Ramirez, did you have something? >> I was going to ask um is this going to create an issue with your timeline to post your um calendar? >> That's a great question. Uh and we do have some time. Um it's part of the reason for bringing it this early in January is because that gives us um a buffer of time. So, we do want to get a calendar approved

198as soon as possible because it impacts a lot of things in our community. Uh, whatever we approve, we want to do it as soon as possible so families have enough time to plan and prepare and so that we as a school district have enough time to plan and prepare. For instance, the things that Trusty Varnner was mentioning that we've got the right structures in place so that we have effective PLC's. So, it is fine to to move it out uh a bit and I'll work together with Mr. fueling on a date. Um, and if I could, uh, President Walter, I want to make sure that I'm moving forward as I move forward that I do it, um, with the what I've got here. So, if I could kind of summarize my plan moving forward, uh,

199it is that we want to have solicit some more input from some more parties, uh, students, uh, parents as well as staff members. We want to engage in some more discussions with our associations and based on that input and those discussions, we want to come back here with at least two different options of calendars to look at. Is that that that's what I'm but I don't have I'm not correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not getting from you. We want a different calendar that specifically has X. You're not telling me that. You're just telling me gather some more input and based on that input gather uh put together a couple of different calendars. >> Yes. Okay, that is correct. >> President or Trusty Varna. >> Yes. Uh if I could just to clarify, wouldn't

200you come back or would we uh continue this would be helpful for the board is if we knew that that problem at theouou >> is taken care of. So that would make it easier for us to vote on because I hate to vote on something that we don't know what's going to really occur in the future. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I was just going to second that with um Trusty Barner. And then also could you explain to me again the minutes like what that looked like? You had the slide. Maybe go back to that what they looked like. It was less time, but it wasn't actually less time. >> I didn't quite understand >> how. >> Sure. Yeah, I'd be happy to kind of address that. Um, the number of minutes on the application.

201This what this slide represents are the number of minutes on the application that we submit to the state. These are the total instructional minutes in the school year. And so, you've got three years of history as well as what we're proposing for next year. Like I said, there's definitely an asterisk with this because the state uh at times kind of changes how they define instructional minutes, but this is a pretty good representation of what our instructional minutes have been over the last years and what we are proposing they move to. Um, what this slide does is show that because our in early release day would be longer. In a 4-week window, it really would be the same amount of instruction. Assuming that in that four-week window, you had in the old model two short erds.

202In the new model, four longer erds. Where the real difference is coming from in the reduction of instructional minutes is we have more non-school days for teacher workday and for the parent teacher conferences. The professional learning days actually count as instructional minutes. So, so that doesn't impact it one way or another. The other thing is in my hypothetical up here where you know not every month is a perfect month. And so for instance this year in November we had one erd in the entire month because of the holiday versus in the calendar proposal there would be three right so in the month of November we're going from one erd to three. My example here is if we go from two to four, so we have significantly more erds and that does impact our instructional minutes

203um to an extent as well. Does that clarify? Okay, >> I do have another question. We were told at our last um at our workshop last Saturday that if you don't ask, you'll never find out if you get the answer. Right. >> I learned that too. Good. So, I've um I've asked this before, but to for to another administrator, so I'm going to ask you, this is the first time I'm asking you. >> Okay. >> So, I have advocated for um us to be able to offer middle school students um a second um parent conference. Um, I noticed that for the elementary school kids, we offer them two different conferences, one in October and one in March. And for the middle school um students, we only offer that offer it once in October. I have

204advocated to offer the middle school students also a second um parent conference simply because I know that um our students in the middle school are definitely in need of um their parents to be informed of where they are, you know, academically and and I feel that it would be beneficial for for for our students and and our parents to be on the same page. >> Thank you, uh Trusty Mirez. I don't have a great answer for you. I haven't looked into. >> Okay. Sorry. Um, it is something that we can look into and get get you some more information on that. You're welcome. >> I forgot to mention that I'm also in agreeance with Molly in moving those random days off to June so that they got out before Memorial. >> Okay. Yes. >> Just

205one more thing. Just one more thing. You guys are funny. Trusty Peterson. Um I wanted us to just float back to one of the very first things you said paraphrased was basically if nothing changes nothing changes. Uh and there's lots of concern expressed about um like raising performance and and creating stronger learners. Um and so this is a great um possibility to visit that that if if we want growth, what can we change? And this is something that we can change. And so, um, I applaud you for, um, digging in and looking at at opportunities. Um, and there's so many teachers in the room that came for public comment. Thank you. We did have a couple community members as well, but they've already left. Um, I really appreciate, um, your passion um, teachers and, um,

206your point of view. Um, clearly you are in a career of investing in kids and having positive outcomes. you're not in this job to to laugh while they fail. Like you want success and I think that's what we all want. And so it's obvious in your words that that's um you view this as a very good thing that can um direct us towards that. Um I do wish we had more parent input. Um of course their point of view is going to be much different and um their maybe different focus on on where their comments are coming from, but I do think there is value in um hearing that. Um, I thought we might have more tonight, but um did not have the show that that we I don't know that was hinted at. Um,

207so um I would love to hear a little more parent input. I don't know how we collect that if that's like a survey we can do of some sort to because you know you you the loudest voices are the upset ones. Happy people don't get loud. And so I know that for every um disappointed or outraged voice that we may hear, um there are multiples of that that are perfectly content with what's happening and and eager for the change even. And so um if there would be a way to collect some parent input on this, informed input, um that understand that this is more than just um more time off because it's clearly not. Um I would love an opportunity to have that input. >> I will work on a strategy to do that and

208I hear you. Uh it is important that it is informed input. It's important that it's as uh uh broad as possible you know representative of different parent groups as possible and I also it is hard to always get that input. Um but we will strategize and see what we can do to to get that. I I agree with you that it is very valuable. >> All right. And then lastly, uh one comment is since you have this slide up, um the reduction of you know going from the minutes is quite it is a lot. And so like in you know the high school it's 51 hours 64 hours middle school and 80 hours for elementary which is actually quite a bit which um you're asking us to change you know from the previous year to

209this and so that's something that I would ask that you put into consideration as well in your alternative plan. Yes, Mr. Roberts, can I comment on that as a parent of elementary kids who um are in school a lot and it requires a lot which is good. They're learning. They're growing. They're doing amazing and I fully support the teachers and all they're doing. Um but it does take a toll. So, I was actually kind of excited to see what this would look like at a little less um on those their little brains and bodies. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> As well as other parents. >> Sorry, Richard told me I don't talk enough. So now you're getting what you're asking for. The not that doesn't only come from me. This comes from um many many many

210other parents who have felt that same um burden on those on their elementary kids. So not just my opinion. >> Great. Thanks. I'm glad you're taking my place over there. Just one more thing. and you do but you don't have uh Mr. Walker to sit there and punch you going just one more thing. So, no, thank you. I appreciate it. Um and that's one thing I appreciate with this board as well. We are open to listen to everything that we that everyone has to say. So, thank you so much. And at this time then, um do we have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. And uh Russell, please uh help me through this if I don't get it right. I move that Do I have to? We're good, right? To make >> Do you

211want me to make it really easy on you? >> Sure. So, it would just be a motion to continue and direct staff to proceed as outlined by Mr. Brinhers. >> There you go. >> Well, you do. You have to say so. Doesn't he have to say so moved? >> So, so moved. >> So moved. >> And do I have a second? >> I'll second that. >> All right. And seconded by Trustee Clapton. All in favor, please say. I >> I >> opposed. Hearing none. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you all for your time. We appreciate you all being here. And at this time, we are going to go ahead and take a fivem minute recess. Oh, hey. la. I'm home. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Amen. Oh. Hey. Hey. Oh, la. Heat. Heat. Oh, heat, heat. give us

212the opportunity to um use the restroom. Greatly appreciate that. So we are now on agenda item number 10. This isformational update and discussion on fiscal year 2027 budget for the Carson City School District. This is for discussion only. Presented by our superintendent, Andrew Fueling. Okay. Thank you, President Walt. Thank you, trustees. Um, so for the budget for next year, as as you are aware and we have talked about several times now, um there there are some concerns with the budget for next year and what that looks like. And so I'm gonna um air I think air on the side side of well we're going to try to go through and and explain a little bit of where we are um and air on the side of transparency with uh some of the discussions that we

213have had in terms of how to um at least scenarios for how to deal with this. I I'll say this again later. Um but no decisions have been made. Um but clearly there's um significant enough concern that we really have had to dig into this early um to try to um figure out how to um make adjustments to deal with some of those concerns. So first um kind of the the big factors that will um come up here um per pupil funding. We've talked about that and I've said this before, say it again. We have a revenue problem. Um, and I'll I'll show you a little bit of what what that means. Um, student enrollment, as we have talked about, student enrollment has been declining in the district and so that there are implications um

214in terms of funding related to that. uh state and federal requirements. I guess um that's really there just to express I guess some frustration sometimes because there are things that um we have to do that um also can can impact decisions on um how we have to allocate resources funding volatility um I'll show that on this graph. one of the one of the frustrating um things and there there's uh there's moments when you you feel like there's kind of a blessing um with changes in funding and then uh moments you realize that um it actually causes quite a bit of chaos in terms of the the best way to be able to budget is on relatively stable predictable funding sources. Um, and that is it's really hard when you don't have that to try to

215put together long-term plans for um, sustainability. And then with wrapped in with all that, we we continue to hold to the strategic plan values we have as a district and the future state we would like to see. This is going to be hard to read and I'm struggling right now, but this is a graph I Mr. Barner, thank you for getting your glasses out. Um, yeah, so this is something I I share um usually around legislative time. Um, but I I think it just it's a good time to to bring this back. Um, this is the the history of per pupil funding increases that we've had over the last 50 years. And and the the point to this, the point I always try to make with it is if you look at the green line

216and the gold line, um there was a point in time where the average increases were near 9% every year on average. And then you end up going into the next 30 years and it's um declined quite a bit and then the 2010s were horrendous. Um you do see a bit of a bump in FY22, but that was it wasn't real. Um because there were a lot of state grants that just got put into the larger pot larger pot of money. So it looks like there was an increase, but really it was just that a lot of state grants went away. But there's one very noticeable bump in in FY24 um that we all celebrated immensely um when it happened and and a reasonable bump in FY25. Now, I this is an old graph I've taken

217here. Um, and I did not I I don't have um the current school year and next school year built in yet, but it it would not um look like a continuation of 24 or 25 for that matter. Um it has dropped back down significantly. And so, um, it it's frustrating again when when you see that it it appears like there is a real move to change what has been happening that you, um, kind of you make some adjustments in how you think about things and how we plan for things and then for that to immediately fall off again, uh, it it is really a very frustrating place to be. And it's it's really unfortunate because it ends up being very impactful. um not only on um our district and all districts in Nevada um and

218our staff, but our our students in the end are the ones that get impacted the most. This is another graph I share often. Um so this one, it's kind of a strange one. The first year across the bottom is 1970 and then it jumps to 2020. There's so many years I I just I don't know. This is the way that I create it and this is how I share it. That red line is what percentage of the state's budget uh state's general fund budget is going to K12 education. So you can see back in 1970 that was 46% and it has been it it there's been some volatility in there but in general the trend of more recent years has been down and down and down. Uh and again I don't have this updated for

219the new year. I I always use this because the only part of the state's budget that has increased in terms of general fund expenditures has been basically health and human services and that actually has now um eclipsed um funding for K12 education. So, um, it it's it's hard to understand that when you're looking at an enormous jump in 2024, yet you see a dip there. And and the reason is that that jump in 2024 was really almost entirely due to sales tax increases across the state. Inflation was going up like crazy. Prices were going up. Sales tax revenues were flooding in. And those have to go 2.6% 6% of them have to go to education. That the state doesn't have a choice. Where the state has a choice, the only thing they have a choice

220on is their general fund contribution. And so that that clearly has not um kept pace. And again, that ends up impacting um some of the things we're talking about tonight. >> Yeah. one question because I hear this a lot and um where people you know I mean public they're not understanding and they're not being when it comes to the budget they don't feel sorry for the school the schools in the school districts is because they always say the schools are getting the cannabis money what are they complaining about could you address that >> I would love to thank you for asking that question So, um, uh, and there's a similar situation to the marijuana tax money as it came in back in, I think it was 2009, there was a specific room tax that the

221state created that was all going to education. And gosh, you got to support this because the money is going to go to education. And if you if you go I have some other graphs where I've kind of looked at this stuff and and what you see when that happens is that when the state has taken those revenues in and put them into education the same thing here the general fund the contribution from the state's general fund falls. So it ends up kind of being a shell game where there's new revenue coming in but other revenue is taken out. Um so there there is a history and that is not that's not even unique to Nevada that happens in other states. It's just um it's certainly uh to to get something passed on on the the

222backs of kids and smiling faces is a lot easier than saying maybe where some of the other things this money is is flowing to. So, um thank you. This is um historical enrollment um and you've seen this before in the past, but um just kind of again expressing the the impact of what has been happening over time. And um declining enrollment is not necessarily something new for us. As you can see, you go back to 2003 2004, there was already some decline in enrollment um and the impact of the Great Recession getting into '08. Um we did have some return um for a number of years um but then now we are seeing again that decrease and so our our enrollment is effectively where it was back in the 1993 1994 school year. Uh some

223of you may have been attending Carson High School at that time. So, when you're talking about what matters in terms of determining revenue, um the the fancy term for the per pupil amount is the adjusted base per pupil. We just call it per pupil funding. Um you may hear the term average daily enrollment. The easy way to think about that is just it's the number of students. And so what we have for this year, our per pupil was $10,119. The prior year it was $10,114. So we had a $5 increase. Um and the number of students that um Mr. Winward budgeted with, that's the kind of the the base amount of general funding. There's a little bit more I'll show on the next slide, but you can see the impact looking at next year now

224that we've run um our enrollment projections. Um the we we're expecting enrollment to decrease. Uh and again it it it's we we saw this even back in the mid at least the mid2010s, the early 2010s, we started seeing a decrease in the number of elementary age students coming into the schools. And so as you're having these larger um secondary classes falling off, graduating classes, you're they're getting replaced by smaller um kindergarten classes. And so that's not unique to us, that's not unique to Nevada, that's not unique to America, that that is happening all over. Um, we we just know that there are, you know, fewer kids in families, I think, in general. There's other variables that play into it, but that clearly is is a factor. But so even with the per pupil rate increasing

225next year um by a larger amount than it did from the prior year uh it's still not substantial I would argue um but the impact then of having the declining enrollment that number falls more and and I should say you know we have been working on those enrollment projections and trying to fine-tune them um and they seemingly as as we have been doing it over the last months they just have been going in the wrong direction. Um and they are uh certainly lower than we were thinking even three months ago or four months ago. So uh on the left you have current year on the right you have next year the when you add up all the items that flow into the general fund current year um you're expecting about $80.8 8 million. Next year,

226that's about $80.1 million. So, it's less revenue. The bottom in the red are expected expenditures uh if if nothing change if everything from this year carried to the next year. And so, the the dollar amount for total expenditures was about 84.77 million this year. Um the budget that was approved had a a a structural deficit. Um and and again we we have general fund reserves. We have fund balance. We are in a very good financial position overall. And so that in approving that um and I'll I'll talk a little bit more about that, but we we know we clearly have reserves to help us cover that. looking into next year that expenditure number has increased which we expected. Um it's as as that has increased and the revenue uh but the revenue number has decreased

227over time we we are seeing a much larger difference between expected revenues um and expenditures for next year. >> Yep. Um, so I thought at the last when we proposed the budget, when we voted on the budget, um, that we actually voted and it was a I thought it was a 5.1 >> 4 million deficit spending. This is only showing 3.9 deficit. >> And I can clarify. So this um, two things that this is not including on in on either side of this is there's always 1 million in contingency that we budget for. Um and and I I have taken this out of there because in my mind it's not it's not real. Like we aren't really going to spend that. There's also um some hundreds of thousands of dollars in carry forward money. So

228we we always have um if our schools or departments don't spend their entire budget, we allow them to carry some forward to the next year. Um and generally that isn't necessarily spent. It's sort of a reserve for them. Um, and so that that to me while it could be sent spent, it not is not necessarily going to be. Sometimes they save up for a a special project or something um, you know, maybe a larger expense, but it it just it is not utilized um, year after year after year if if it is available. So to me, this is kind of taking those two things out of the equation. And this is really the getting down to the brass tax of what what are the actual operating costs that we are expecting and budgeting for during

229the year. Yep. So the again with a a strong financial position um and and Mr. Winward talked about this when presenting the budget initially. um with the the budget that the board approved, it's effectively what we call a planned spendown. We we know we have the reserves to help cover the difference um in between the revenues and expenditures for the current year. And so that's what was approved and and part the reasoning behind that um and and where we asked you to consider that is there was still uncertainty with the outcome of the legislative session in June. Um, I I think we knew it likely wasn't going to be great, but you never really know till it's over. And unfortunately, you have to approve a budget 3 weeks before um that is finalized. So, um

230there was some uncertainty there, but we wanted to be able to give also and I think you also wanted to be able to give our schools um some stability in terms of understanding what staffing levels look like, what services would be available. There was also clearly um from the board an understanding that while that would be um uh considered for the current year, there would need to be adjustments coming into the next year because that is not a sustainable path forward. So looking at next year then we're trying to proactively assure that there is a sustainable path. Um, we have our enrollment projections complete. Those there there likely will be small adjustments as we go down the road. We are looking at every school, literally every grade level. Um, and and you know, if say

231a few large families moved into Fremont Elementary School, we would try to take that into account in in the month of April, right? Or May or March. we would try to take that into account in how we're projecting class sizes for the next year. Um it's unlikely they would shift dramatically, but there there could be adjustments. Um we have put together those numbers for a projected um uh budget for next year if there were no changes. So we have that as our baseline. Um, and then we're looking at kind of required and desired class size ratios, staffing ratios. At the elementary level, there there are more requirements around class sizes. However, you can ask for exceptions with the state. Um, at the secondary level, it's more about what we would like to see class sizes

232um be. Uh, considering district-wide needs and wants that we do have, things that we do have to take care of. um considering current school district or district programs and activities we have. And then um so lots of considerations of a lot of things um all that have financial impact. And then we have been we have engaged in conversations with school and district leadership um about what what it looks like to um move those dollar amounts into a better direction for the long term for the district. Um and so that has been um kind of the process that we have have been going through. Um and it's you know there there's clearly going to be some difficult conversations ahead I would say given the the numbers some of the numbers that we are looking at. Um

233so again airing on the side of transparency um I am very aware that um the rumor mill is running rampant. I I don't think it's any um any surprise. I mean we we've been talking about this for quite some time about um the concerns about next year's budget and that some changes would have would have to be made. So trying to give um here some more um looking at different scenarios and and giving what I want is really to give um a feel for what we are looking at and in in some level of detail where um conversations can start to happen at at least early conversations of here here's what is being talked about um but I want to be really clear that it's what's being talked talked about no decisions have been made.

234There have been no decisions from the board. There have been no decisions from district staff. There's nothing is official. But th this is giving a sense of um the kind of things that we are talking about for sure. Um and just want to reiterate that none of this is taken lightly and I feel the full weight of of all of this. Um, and it's certainly not what um not what I would like to be having to talk about um with you tonight. Um, we want to make again getting this information out. Um, again, just for some awareness what some of the conversations are. Um, wanting schools and departments to be able to start thinking about their plans and schedules. um and being able to at least um talk a little bit more about what's happening.

235Again, the the rumor mill I know is is not helpful um in any of that. Um wanting to minimize the impact on staff and students to the greatest extent possible. Um, you know, I I I think in the end we our goal is to try to make this um something we know that there are and I'll talk about this kind of towards the end. We know that there are going to be vacancies in the district. It is very possible that there um might be some maneuvering around with um filling some of those vacancies, but we we certainly want to um minimize significant impact on on everyone if possible. Um and I just I want you all to understand the impact. So the way I'm going to present this um these scenarios is on on the

236left you're going to see tight and on the right you're going to see tighter and tight is um well when when we did our early projection of what the budget was um what we thought the budget would be for next year we we thought we'd have to reduce by around three I think 3 million ion dollar uh maybe a little bit over that. Um and given some of the the new numbers that we're looking at, there is a tighter scenario. I want to be really clear again that no decisions have been made that um and and that what you are seeing here is not mutually exclusive. I I am not asking you for a choice. I I am not saying that it is one or the other. I am saying that there are some significant

237impacts on either side and to see what it costs um to get to some of these places. Uh there there there is an impact. Um but I I think it'll be good for you to see some of this and again just to um get some of this thinking out there um for for everyone. So, first um looking at at the district um kind of are I guess the non non-school positions. Um some of this on the on the left again tight and tighter. Um some of the things we have been looking at and um some of these actually now are are vacated positions that we likely just would not fill. Um, we have an admin assistant position in grants, a junior engineer in IT, a benefits analyst and HR operations coordinator in our operations department.

238That's about $370,000. on the right the tighter um it adds an additional um admin assistant position that's at um PDC and we have um in ed services we have 4.12 TOSA teacher on special assignment positions um the reason for the decimal in that is some of those positions are partially grant funded and so what we're really looking at here is general general fund, what's happening within the general fund costs. That's the all these numbers I've shown you so far are all about the general fund. Um so, um some of these positions we're talking about are partially u are partially funded out of grants. that does um it it it offers maybe some opportunities um in terms of how those grant funds um on the other side could be reutilized. Um but this is something that

239has come up over the years and um you know just the split funding of positions and it just makes it a little maybe a little hard to understand. Um, but just I guess if if it was clean that this 0.12 if if one of our TOSAs was general funded 0.12 that means 0.88 they're funded out of some grant is is kind of how that works out and if if that was um on that tighter side that's a total cost of about $880,000. >> Mr. Fueling before you go on. >> Yep. on the side where it says tight and you have those positions uh identified. Are those open positions now? >> Um those are at this point all position they are all positions that are open but not being advertised because we are expecting just to

240take them as as savings. >> Okay. So no person's filling those. >> Correct. Um looking at then elementary um and again there's a a lot of emphasis on class size ratios when we are looking at this um at least looking at teachers and so um potentially across all of the elementary schools there are um five teaching positions if we held to class sizes around that 18 It's so I need to clarify this too. So um that 18.9 to 21.5 that is looking at what we are projecting for enrollments in the elementary schools next year divided by the number of teachers that would be um uh classroom teachers K through five that would be in those in that building. And so if if there were a reduction of five positions across the district, um we would

241still have class size ratios of 18.9 at least of any of the schools overall and on the high side 21.5. Um, and I I want to note that um that historic so part of the reason I wanted to show the the the the spike in funding from a few years ago is I I think one of the things and and I maybe got lulled into this is thinking that, you know, the state really looks like they're trying to do something and if that at least continues to some level, we really have the opportunity to keep our class sizes down at a pretty nice level across all of our schools. And that um again wi with the the changes dramatic changes that have happened um that probably isn't where we can land anymore, but still even

242in this scenario you have um what I think are reasonable um class sizes and and within range we want. Um back when some of this funding came in, we also um added these um what we call inter intervention pair of professionals or intervention paras. There was two um uh given to each elementary school um and and really with the idea that it allowed um there was no designated place for them. it was something that our principles a position our principles could use um to support kids in in whatever way they thought was best giving them some discretion with that. Um and so that that is something that has been has been talked about in these conversations. When you look at the tighter side, there are some more potential reductions of teaching staff and you can

243see what the impact is to class sizes. um they they go up slightly again that that range between the elementary schools, but again um you can see from $1.1 million to $1.7 million in in costs there. um at the middle school level. Um looking if there were three teachers um reduce across all of the the middle schools or our teaching positions reduce um across the middle schools, what we would see for we'd expect to see for average core class sizes. Now, I I can imagine that there may be a middle school um teacher watching this and thinking those class sizes don't seem quite right. Um, and I I think so, so one of the things that's really important as you get into the secondary level, it gets a little more complicated with trying to gauge

244where class sizes are going to be because sometimes um um teachers will be used in different ways than just teaching maybe a traditional class in a classroom. And for example, um I know some are teaching intervention periods now instead of maybe teaching some other core area classes. Um and and so it just it can play with that a little bit. But I think I I put that up there because then based on how we try to calculate this, if you have um if you increase the number of teachers to 11 at the middle school level, which is a significant impact, you can see what that does to that average core class size. Again, it's not a perfect number. Um there are other variables that can impact that but um it it gives you a sense

245at least to some extent of what the impact would be. Um the the dollar amounts um on the left 360,000 on the right 1.2 million. Um at the high school level um trying to judge where core class sizes or any class sizes will be is not it it it is it is so complicated because of the way scheduling happens at the high school level. We don't really have a way to judge that um right like just in an easy like formulaic way. Um, we do know we do know that if there are fewer teaching staff that class sizes on average by definition have to go up because of the size of um at the high school level, the impact of that maybe isn't quite as large. if you had a very small school and you

246reduce that number of teaching positions, it would have a much larger impact on on class sizes. Um, so I I I can't tell you exactly what would happen. Um, but other than to say that I know that they at least slightly would go up. If you look to the right then under the tighter, which increases the number of teaching positions, um, we do know that there is a counselor vacancy. Um and so that has been added in here and consideration for an admin assistant position. Um that total then goes up to 1.3 million. And so again, just try trying to give you this sense of what the you know the again where the conversations what we're talking about what the impacts would be and again just emphasizing you know no decisions have been made but

247where those dollar amounts land in some of these different scenarios um special programs. So we have kind of three here that we are looking at. Um first are social workers across the district. So we we have 12 that is currently about a $1.3 million um uh cost to the district. Um the grant funding that is paying for those positions does end at the end of this year. And and this is a a really um frustrating one that I I take kind of personally because um initially back in I think it was 2017, we got a state grant. Um the state was um wanting to expand what social workers available in schools. Um the way the grant worked out, we were actually able to fund at least one in every school. Um when the new funding

248model happened, um that grant went away and it was kind of carved up and there were some dollars that um were put greatly a reduced amount was put into the larger pot of funding for the state um to and and then with the impact of COVID and then trying to continue all of that support for our students. Um, these positions have moved around from grant to grant as as creatively as we um we could to continue um kind of that same level of support that we had. Um we're now at a point where there doesn't appear to be another grant in waiting that um can clearly pick up all of that cost. And so for us at this point, I I don't I don't see how exactly that that the program can continue exactly the

249way it looks, but we don't have an answer exactly as to what that would be. So the the the problem that creates is I just in simple terms if I wanted to take this entire program and move this into next year it goes from being a grant-f funded item to a general funded item. And so as we're we are trying to reduce that um that deficit cost it pushes it back in the other direction. So that that's where um we we have started conversations at least about what what else this this potentially could look like. Um and that's um we we had I think really high hopes that uh the state had been for years um encouraging a focus on trying to find reimbursement through um Medicaid um to to offset the cost of these

250services. Um I think the the reality we have have found is that it is the the way the reimbursements rates happen and the the way that whole process happens there there's not nearly the level of funding that I think maybe five years ago four years ago that we really expected that we would get out of that um special education. So that is an ongoing review. That one is much more complicated because of all of the requirements we have to meet for our students. And so trying to see if there are options between um some some positions but then also contractors uh that we utilize across the district. um but trying to fine-tune what are the actual needs that we have to meet um the case loads that are out there and to see if there

251are um potential opportunities to find some cost savings um in the nutrition fund after COVID um after kind of the everyone eats for free days when we were getting federal reimbursements or state funding to help cover the costs of um letting every kid eat for free. Uh that is now all gone and what we are seeing is our um participation rates have just dropped significantly and that that is not unique to us either. um in talking with other districts um across the state, they they are seeing the same thing that students I I think there was there's a mental um kind of a psychological impact of um you know from kids eating free for for a number of years that you know if if that if a meal cost 5 cents it seems like well

252that's too much because it should be free. And so we're just not seeing the level of participation. And so on the revenue side, we are really taking a hit. Um, and where where that becomes important is if if if your revenues and expenditures are not balanced in the nutrition fund, if your expenditures exceed your revenues, whatever that difference, you have to make up for it with a transfer from the general fund to cover that cost. Um and so that that's where um we are just taking a look at the nutrition program to see what what we can do to try to get that back in line at least at least to a a point where we were prior to co we generally would have to make transfers in the range of 100,000 I think there

253was about a 5-year period where we were making transfers between 100,000 and 250,000 and and at that time that was mostly a different board. Um that was considered an an acceptable um place to be. Um and so we're trying to get that number ideally we would like to get that number back down um in that range moving forward. >> Mr. Field, what is it now generally? >> So I believe um the difference this last year was close to $900,000. Now what what's important about that is there are um reserves in the nutrition fund itself and the only thing those reserves can be used for is on your nutrition program. So we can we can offset the so so like in the budget you approved um this year there's no transfer that we are showing from

254the general fund to the nutrition fund because there's reserves to cover that difference. I would expect that difference to be fairly similar this year. There were some some changes um that we made going into this year. Um but there we really need to take a a bigger look at the program overall again and what we are doing, what we are expecting. Um and again in light of of of the participation drop that we are seeing, it just poses some some real problems. Um we we we have reserves to cover this at least for one more year, potentially two, but after that um it's there's it's not there's really not going to be much left. So >> quick question. >> Yeah. >> Um when you refer to participation or participants, what do you mean? Is that

255like people reimbursing or putting back into the >> program? Uh it it's uh students getting a meal. Are they part sorry are they participating in the um in the program? uh back in Wisconsin um we also called it eatership which was kind of a a strange strange term um but part yeah um and so the the other thing talking about just again get a sense because one one of the easy things to do is just take an axe to certain budgets and so we're talking about operating budgets we're talking about nonstaffing costs And so if if we said look across the district, every department, every um every school, your operating budget, your non non-staffing cost budget, what you're using to purchase paper, what you're using to purchase um you know, printer, ink, things like that,

256or services, if there's services that that we are purchasing, if you reduce that by about 10 10%, that would save about $750,000. um that is in being cognizant of there there are certain things you can't just reduce. So like utility costs, I can't just cut 10% from the utilities budget because we have utilities costs. Um so there there's um things like that that we just have to take in consideration. But estimate we think that would be about 750,000. 20% is just double that. So 1.5 million. I I don't a 20% reduction, we could probably make it through a year like that. I don't believe that would be sustainable in the long run. I I think we're just going to as costs go up, it just we're going to run into issues. Um but it certainly

257would be something we could potentially consider um for a year. So with that again trying trying to get a sense of where where does that land and so on the left side the tight is 3.3 million on the right side tighter is 6.6 million that we're sitting at about a $7 million difference right now that we're trying to eat away at. Um and and it's it's always important to remember I think you know it w with it being around 7 million it doesn't mean you have to exactly get to that number because there there always always is some realized savings from uh there there are going to be some vacancies. Not every department and every school is going to spend down its budget 100% for their non-staffing costs. Um but I but I think this

258maybe makes it real as to what we are looking at. Um one important part to this is that we we are continuing to track retirements and resignations across the district that is not being included in any of these numbers. So there there is always going to be savings from people who are retiring and resigning. And and I think it's important to know not not every district takes that into account when they are projecting budgets for the next year. They just take what they have, what's the cost next year, we're running with that and then they start making decisions based on that. And so we try to be more surgical about it when we know we have staff leaving. what was their cost? What is a a reasonable average cost of someone who's going to be

259coming in and trying to account for that difference? So, that is not being included in these numbers. And that will only help us as we go through this and those discussions, but it's something that we're keeping an eye on. Um the board back in November, I believe maybe December, approved um this early notification incentive and I want to thank you immensely for that because that has been really helpful for us trying to gauge where um we we know that some people are deciding to leave the district um and where they're um you know we we can think about that in terms of some of these um positions that we are are looking for and um ultimately potential places that maybe people could slide to if um if there were movements in the district. So we

260we will continue conversations amongst leadership. Um we're actively actively looking at this and and even since these going back to the turnover piece even since these numbers came out um because that I think the hard stop Mr. Sadler could correct me. I think was January 9th. Um even since then we have had some more positions come in. So um that that is something that we will continue to take in account and modify. We will continue to look at enrollments um and and what is happening there um and try to get through this in the least impactful way to our staff and students that we can. Um but I I think there is a reality to the size of some of the numbers that we are looking at that there potentially is going to be some

261impacts. So with that I'm happy to take any questions. Um we certainly will be bringing back more information and actually it might be helpful for you to think about timeline. So um the the final budget the board approves is um at the second meeting in May. So we are about four months away from that point. The month before that in April there is a tenative budget that we have to bring to you that is actually not for approval. That is just for discussion. And so we're still more than three months away from that or about three months away from that. Um so there there is still quite a bit of time for there's lots of there are a lot of variables here. There's lots of things that can still change. Um but again just um

262some of the discussions we have the types of things we're talking about and the the dollar amounts um that are created. So happy to take any any questions. >> Um just some clarifying questions here. So with um the deficit spending that we are going to do this year, >> it looks like then we are looking at maybe 8 million, right? Because we we came in at 12, we're going to spend about four >> uh at deficit. So that's going to leave us with eight. Is that correct? um >> without the one million contingency. >> Yeah. Well, let me I'll I'll just step through it a little bit. Maybe this will help because I I don't I'm not sure if I'm totally following. But so with the the budget um this year being around 3 point

263uh $3.9 million, um we'd have to cover from reserve. Um, again, I just want to emphasize I don't expect that it will come in at 3.9 million because that would be every single dollar we budgeted being spent. And I I just know that's not going to be the case. Um, but then adding in there's like another seven a little over $7 million here that we're talking about looking at next year. So, if I wouldn't expect, you know, if we budgeted that, we we would not actually come in that high. But if if just for I think ease of understanding for everyone if you're looking at basically almost four and a little over seven you're talking about 11 right if the between the two years um and that's something >> yeah so that's what I was

264looking at so say that if it does come in you know worst case scenario and it comes in at 3.9 we're looking then at our reserves being about eight the tighter if you went tight >> right we're looking at then our reserves going down to um 3.9 million is what would that would bring our reserves down to if you go to the tighter and you did tighter it would bring our reserves down to 7.2 2 million. So then that's where I'm looking at saying we have the opportunity to find a happy medium in between the tight and the tighter is what I'm saying because I believe it was back in October you would ask the board if you had a number what would that number be and we said we would be comfortable with a

265deficit spending of 2.9 million. >> And so right now you're looking at the tight is going to be close to our numbers are a little different. I um I got a little bit more than the 3.3 million and then the tighter would be that. So I think that gives us the opportunity to be looking at um you know that happy medium in in between. And so I just want the board to to realize if that's the direction that we gave, you know, the superintendent is which is the 2.9 million >> be looking in in between that, right? >> Um because it is. But I do want the public to know and everybody in the audience to know as well is there is um without cuts we are just going deeper and deeper into our reserves.

266And at that point I mean it's inevitable. We have to make cuts. >> Um we cannot continue to spend what we don't have. Um and it is unfortunate. It is extremely unfortunate. Um but that is where we are unless we get a huge growth of students. I'm looking at this last page here where um with the notification incentive looks like um a total of about 29 people has submitted or said they're going to be leaving. What would be the impact if we just didn't fill any of those positions where we could keep more people employed? >> Sure. >> And just don't fill those positions. Um well it it it's never um it well I I guess um just in in broad terms that's probably about 2.5 to 2.7 million. Um but there there's it doesn't

267always perfectly work out. And so um the example I'll use is if um you know one of them is a uh say a special education teacher. >> Yeah. >> Right there we are required to provide services at a school. So that would be a position we would have to fill. >> Um so you're going to have examples um like that the the admin positions we we have to have a principal at a school. >> Yeah. No, I understand that that there's certain positions that are going to have to be filled. I was just kind of curious if if we didn't have to what that amount to >> and and again I think even since that cut off I I think there's been another six notifications since so that and those will continue to roll in

268and then we know they'll happen in summer. That doesn't help us as much. There will be a few, but as as those are rolling in here over these next months, we're we're just we're tracking tracking all. >> Well, in my mind, the best case scenario is to be able to do it through attrition. And uh I know that already people are getting nervous. We're starting to get phone calls and and emails and and stuff saying, "Hey, the board's not moving fast enough to let us know what's happening." And I try to you say, "No, we're moving pretty fast and we're being and I've committed to being very transparent and you have been very transparent tonight." So, uh, you know, we're just going to continue that. I know. But people are getting nervous and frustrated by

269not knowing what's going to happen to their position. I know you know that. So, >> are there any other questions, comments? The only thing I would say is um I hate to see cuts on um staff um because they directly impact our students and the student achievement as well. As we go through these budgets, you know, um, budget by budget, you know, for for for this there we always look and say there's opportunities to possibly, you know, cut vendors or to cut um the different outside contracts that we have. And I think one one example was um you know that you said like within special education if it isn't something that we're obligated to provide why are we providing it at this time you know and so I would like us to look at those

270type of um situations as well rather than looking at um doing something that's going to directly impact all of our students which is might be you know cutting staff or increasing um classroom sizes as And so um if you could look at that. Okay. Well, thank you very much for your presentation. If that concludes, we will close um agenda item number 10. And then at this time, I would ask that um we combine if uh the board doesn't disagree. I see that because agenda item number 11, 12, 13, and 14 are all second readings. I believe the motion would be able to combine all four of those items. Um, if read correctly, um, as I see it, you would be able to say, I move to approve policy number 715, school programs, use of facilities,

271policy 428, the list, the title, policy 408 and 403. Um, if everybody agrees, do I have a motion to do so? >> I'll make the motion. If you'll read it out then for to combine those. >> To combine them. Yeah. >> I move that we Oh, sorry. What? >> Do Do you guys want help on this one? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Having combined the items, if nobody has any questions on the second readings, it would be to approve the second readings of the policies and items 12, 13, 14 as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Public comment. Hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Hearing none. Uh, items 11, 12, 13, and 14 pass unanimously. Thank you so much. That was quick, Mr. Sadler. You done well, >> Dan

272Sadler, for the record. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for staying for this whole >> I'm so sorry. All right, we're going to go ahead and move on to um item number 15, and this is for um discussion on proposed changes to the following bylaws of the Carson City School District Board of Trustees. This is the first reading. I had asked for this to be on the agenda, but Mr. Fueling, go ahead and if you'd like. >> Yeah. And I I was just trying to be helpful and I don't know how helpful I'll be, but I know at the the last board meeting um it was brought up in in the uh in in considering to approve the bylaws to actually have them um uh President Wallet asked to bring them back um for

273consideration so that uh trustees would have real opportunity to look at all of them and and consider them. And um so there have been a number of adjustments made much of it um change really is changing the kind of the naming conventions that we have consistently added in new policy and regulation or in more recently revised policy and reg regulations. So, in terms of, you know, the the, for example, on bylaw 041, um, says the members of the Carson City School Board of Trustees, um, and having board in quotation marks next to it. Um, that's something that we we commonly do. So, that's what you you see a lot, some typo, cleanup, some just changing of wording. Um and and so um you know happy to take any feedback or thoughts on that or um

274Trusty Wall, I don't know if there's anything else that you wanted to specifically talk about with that. >> No, it was just at the meeting I um observed on bylaw number 010 um changing kindergartener kindergarten to prek. And then I just wanted to address um the fact with um those who are are on the naming um committee, we did not take that out. We proposed to, but then we did not take it out due to the fact that um there are some not just ne necessarily a school, but maybe a gymnasium or a library of some sort that would be um in the future being proposed to be named. And so we uh we kept that in. Other than that, it was just primarily cleanup. And you can see that with all the red. All

275right. Do we have any questions at this time? Yes. Go ahead. >> Yeah. I just had one question. The bylaws you printed out for us to kind of look over last week. I Let me skip through here. So on regulation 0060.1 um under number three, it talked about um procedures for addressing the board. No person person should speak for more than five minutes unless the time is waved by the majority of the board members present. We do a three minute but then in the bylaws in our packet I could not find that written out anywhere. So I just wanted to make sure everything was the same which so it was in the the stack that you gave us last meeting. It's in that one. >> Yeah. So, it's in article six >> section which which

276section. Yeah. Let's see. This one's just saying section number 000. >> Meetings of the board of schools. >> Procedure for addressing the board says regulation number 0060.1. Which page are you on? I'm sorry. Trusty Roberts. It was four from the back. Doesn't have a page number one. One. Not seeing it. >> Yeah. And I have those. I thought I had those. >> Okay. >> I think that that one may just have been left out of >> the one that we got in our packet. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. So what you're saying though is to make sure it's consistent with three minutes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. We can do that. Can we not? >> We'll find it. >> Okay. So we will find that and make sure that it is consistent with three

277minutes. Okay. Thank you. All right. Was that all I had? Anything else? >> Thank you, >> President Walt. When this comes back for a second reading um as an action item, it should be combined with the item that was taken off the calendar last month for the the ratification of the bylaws um that you guys do annually. So, it'll be a second reading and ratification. >> Okay. Thank you so much, Renee. Did you get that? >> Okay. All right. Any other comments? All right. Thank you, Mr. Fueling. Uh, this was for discussion only. So, we will move on to agenda item number 16. This is, uh, discussion and possible action to change the superintendent's annual evaluation form. Um, this was brought to you by me. Um at this time um yes there we we need

278to discuss um I do have proposed changes however I would like to be able to um have a committee because I think doing it like one by one that would be an evening of itself. So um you know to do that but I do think that it's important that the reason that I wanted to bring it back is I felt that if there was um items in which the superintendent um scored above 25 consistently year after year let's take it off right and so then I think there's other opportunity and I don't want to be the only voice so at this time I had asked our council if we can um get a committee to do this and bring it back sooner than later. So, um I myself will be on the committee and do

279I have two other members that would like to be on the committee to um not necessarily make a whole lot of changes, but just kind of take a look take a look at it and see if there isn't some stuff that we can take off and maybe some stuff that we would add. But do I have two other members that would like to join this committee with me? Don't all raise your hands at once. I would love to help you, Molly. I would be interested in helping to. >> So appointing a committee is up to you. You don't have to have a motion on that. Um if anything, you can just continue the item, but you can appoint the committee and and they can bring back options uh for you guys. As long as the

280options aren't limited, um in other words, as long as the committee's not taking any options off the table, um then it doesn't the committee doesn't have to comply with the open meeting law. um if you're going to trim and and bring only certain options back to the board, uh you'd have to comply, but it doesn't sound like that's what's going to happen. So, I think you guys are fine and I'm available to help however you need me. >> Oh, great. Great. Thank you. I appreciate that. And then we would also um uh discuss it with with you as well to make sure that we're all on the same direction. I I just want to say I'm I'm if we go to the old Roman police Verso and just have you all I I'd be okay

281with that. But >> All right. Appreciate that. All right. So, thank you very much. The committee has been established. Moving on to agenda. >> You do still need to take public comment though because it was listed for possible >> Oh, sorry. Is there any public comment? >> All right. Seeing none, uh agenda item number 16 is closed. Moving on to agenda item number 17. This is pre approval of consent agenda. Um if everybody has taken a look at consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Trustee Peterson, second by Trusty Ramirez. Uh public comment. Seeing none. Um all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion approves unanimously. Thank you very much. Moving on to item number six

28218,formational items. This is for discussion only. No action will be taken. Did you all have a a moment to read theformational items? Any questions, clarifications? Seeing none, moving on to agenda item number 19, request for future agenda topics. We did have um and you were gone, but we did have trustee Peterson want wanted to see if we can get a presentation on the silver campus. Okay. So, if we can get that at some some point and then um Spencer, we talked about the last meeting in February to do another budget workshop. Beyond that, do we have any other future agenda items? All right, great. Well, thank you guys for sticking around. We really appreciate it. I think this was very um con it was very constructive. So, thank you everybody. Have a great evening and

283we are adjourned.