001States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you to Mr. Steel for finding the flag and those in this room. And welcome everyone to the Monday, May 18th, 2026 Brown County School Board meeting. Sorry, thank you you guys because of the funding. Um modifications to the agenda. We have consent agenda item Hillsburg Elementary School teacher Amanda Middleton uh transfer uh to Van Buren Elementary School effective at conclusion of the 2025-2026 school year. We also have the transfer direct Van Buren Elementary School principal Bernard resign to dual role within Brown County Schools serving as assistant athletic director and maintenance effective July 1, 2026. And we are also going to pull out item S, the approval of the 2026-2027 mowing bids, and
002that will be moved to an action needed item. Is there a motion to approve the modifications as read? I approve the modification as presented. I'll second. Any discussion? All those signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Abstentions? Motion carried. Any visitors that would like to speak? Debbie? Megan? Mr. Steel? Seeing none, we'll move on. There are no presentations this evening. The weather wants to disagree with you. Uh no discussion items. Um consent agenda items, starting with separations. Uh oh, yes. Did we approve the modifications to the agenda? Do you want to go ahead and do the approval of the the entire agenda? Yes, that would be great. Thank you. Is there any approval to um accept the agenda as modified? >> [snorts] >> I approve to I move to approve the agenda as modified.
003Is there a second? I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor of approving the agenda as modified, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Abstentions? Motion carried. Thank you. Uh now, consent agenda items, starting with the separations, um Spruce Elementary special education paraprofessional and before school supervisory trainees and assistants, through the transfer of Dan Gearin, principal. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda? I move to approve the consent agenda. I'll second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of accepting the consent or approving this consent agenda, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Abstentions? Motion carried. Action items. The mowing bids. Do you discuss them first and then motion or how does that Uh you can do a a motion to um bring them into
004discussion. Yeah. I thought we were going Yep. Is there a motion to approve the 2026-2027 mowing mowing bids Van Buren Elementary, Watkins Glen Career, the Brown County Schools main campus, G Wagler Landscaping LLC, as well as Holmes Boyd and Sprunica Elementary uh by G Wagler Landscaping LLC. Is there a motion to approve those mowing bids? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Discussion. Yeah, Mr. Steels with us tonight. Do you want to walk us through [snorts] um the process to arrive at at those? Yeah, sure. I think it's important to know um one of our main campuses that we have contracted out in the past is Eagle Park. Um that uh we did put that up to bid. Those bids came in higher than what I would like to spend on mowing that and so
005maintenance is taking that on. Um so we've kind of traded a little bit of ground. Maintenance was doing our football field and our practice football field. Uh that fell under the contract for Brown County Schools main campus. So just to keep things very simple, if it's on this main campus, it falls under one person. So it's not us mowing part and then mowing part and trying to work those details out. Um so we will take over all of Eagle Park and campus is uh awarded to Gino Wagler. So put those out to bid. Uh we looked at the bids and looked at what was in the best interest of the district. I have a quick question. Does that include mowing on the 46 side of the wall? It would be all of campus. Anything that
006we own on campus. Do we own on the other side of the wall? We don't. It's highway. It's state. Yeah, that's what I thought it was the highway. That's why I just double checked. Yeah. Eagle Park is the cross country course as well? Everything. Cross country, baseball, softball, soccer, practice soccer. Parking lot. Yes. Anything So, anything in that complex out there, we are taking over ourselves. Any questions? Seeing none, is there a motion to We're going to All those in favor of approving the motion, say "Aye." Seeing none, I. I. Opposed, say "Nay." Abstentions? Motion carried. Next, superintendent update. Hi, I just wanted to take a a minute before we look at the financials for the month of April. I just want to be able to go recognize the kids and everybody that put together
007for TEDx this past Saturday. Um, it was our third event. It was a really incredible day. A little scary in the morning with the storms that that went through, but um we did it on time and people still came and it was really really great to see those kids up on that stage. I think the the common thing that that I have heard is that those kids each year just blows the previous year out of the water. Um which is a testament to those teacher leaders, TED and leaders that are that are helping prepare those kids. So, um it was a really really great day of a community that came together. So, um just really really proud um that we put that on and and to the calendar that that we do. So, um just
008want to thank everybody for that. And then obviously, right where we are down to the last 2 weeks of school in the 2025-2026 school year. Our last student day is May 29th. Graduation um will be that Saturday, May 30th. It starts at 11:00 a.m. Um held at the Brown County Music Center. Um another really cool celebration um for our kids. So, we have a lot of staff members that are joining us this year um that will be up on stage and and be able to walk in with the kids. So, it's it's really cool to have staff members across the entire district be able to do that because they're part of those kids' journey as well. So, just really really excited for the end of the year celebratory events. Um I would sit here and
009list them all, but there are so many. Um it would do a disservice, right? So, I just encourage everybody to go on that [clears throat] link and and follow the schools and and talk to the teachers and the principals um to make sure that they don't miss any of those um events for our kiddos. Any questions? I I only got to go to a little bit of it on Saturday, but it was awesome and I was just glad to see so many people there. It was really great. Yeah, it was a good day. We had a lot of press on it, too, um across the whole state. So, um already >> [cough and clears throat] >> thinking about next year's theme and and getting excited about that. Um I think about Team Chloe and Piper
010as the interns for TED and um you know now is it's kind of this like reflective look back at the entire year and the event. Um it's also an opportunity to look at finances, right? Herm public schools does not fund any part of this event. Um and so it's it's neat to get to see that that how they interpret those finances. And we took some risks this year um on a few different things and so it's it's fun to hear their opinions um and reflections about it. So that's that's the next project with um the girls and I have fun with that. How do you feel about the theme? The theme? Yeah. Well, gosh, I think I just dig deep, right? >> [clears throat] >> I think the first year we had the whole TED
011Ed team brainstorm the list of like a whole list of different ideas for themes and decided on one and then there was uh the Mavericks, Icons, and Geniuses um was a part of that first list that sounded really really cool. And then um this year I just really wanted to choose something that I thought epitomizes our journey throughout this whole thing and so I don't know, you get a vision board out, you start writing a bunch of ideas down and and you land on something. So that's where I'm at. Yeah. Looking at financials, um you are you have the fund report in front of you um so you can see the different funds and where we're at month-to-date. Um I think the biggest one to highlight on the fund report is the self-insurance fund. Um
012that's at 761 307,000. Um that's up significantly since the last month. Don't really have details um specific details to tell you why that went up or what was the main factor of that, but it is just another, uh, lesson or case to realize that that's that's not a constant or a static fund. It it has an ebb and flow to it, so, um, that's one that we want to watch every single month to see where we're at. Looking at operations, and you can see, um, up on the screen, and I also have a printout for you, um, where we are like just as a reminder, this is, uh, April expenses out of operations fund. So, I know we're at May 18th, but these are bills that were paid from April. Some bills that came in
013April that were really March bills, so, um, it's it's not in real time up to May 18th, um, so, you can take a look. I mean, you can see the bus contractors are up 44, um, last month they were lower, we had spring break. Same thing with transportation salary, it was up because of spring break. Um, last month, uh, transportation expenses are up 14,000, gas and diesel costs. Um, janitorial's down. I think that's another one that is an ebb and flow every time we look at this. Um, we did not receive an invoice from Poojar Cleaning, so, when you have several weeks when they decide to bill you at a different time, it it just makes that go up or down. Um, and that is the same thing with the electricity bill. So, if you
014notice, um, so, with next month, right, it's going to be up by a bunch, I guess, is what I'm trying to tell you. Um, and you can see comparing March to April, just last month to this month, um, those were the expenses. So, March was 569 and then April 530. And then you always want to take a look at what we were spending last April compared to April of this year. And so, it's about 20,000 less this year than than we spent. So, it's really right on. Again, it's never going to be um an exact rate. It's different needs and different circumstances month to month and then year to year, but it's pretty pretty spot-on, pretty close. Any questions? Thank you. Director of Safety and Operations update. Let's start uh with our outdoor construction project.
015Um We were doing really well up until Friday, Saturday, yeah. Um So, at the end of Friday, we were down to only needing uh 1,300 more loads of dirt. Um we did squeeze some in this morning before the rain started. We We got some Friday. Um So, we're probably hovering right around 1,000 more loads that we need to get in um to finish our lift that we're in right now. Uh so, if you've noticed we are getting really close to being up to grade. So, it's kind of hard, perspective-wise, but when you look at the berm that kind of walks around the high school and you realize that we are within a couple feet of that and that's um where we need to be across that entire plane. Um so, that's moving along. Uh the
016rain's definitely going to put a damper on some things. Uh so, hopefully we get a couple dry days. That's our That's our big push right now is getting our elevation up. Um And then our next big project that you will see out there will be the pouring of the track, the concrete for the track will be kind of the next big phase that happens cuz then we kind of build in from that and out from that. Um because the cure time on the right if we remember the track that we're doing is a post-tension track, so that's all concrete with a surface on top of it. They call it post-tension because once it's poured it'll have cables in it that suck it tight uh to keep it from cracking, which comes with a really long
017um warranty more so than just a traditional asphalt track. So that's that's the next big project out there. A lot of progress inside um over at the EEC, uh starting to see that kind of take shape. Our restrooms are getting uh the floors are done in there, so if you want to take a look at those before you leave tonight. Um I know we took a look a walk through those before construction started. Um it's a neat spot to go and look at where we're at right now. So these are the 100 hall 100 hall restrooms, correct. Uh we just Friday turned over three classrooms back over to the high school. That's two science rooms and room 525. And again, these are all classrooms that were not supposed to do that we were not supposed
018to be able to get into until this summer, so huge thank you to the high school for the flexibility and Mr. Roberts for kind of making some shifts and moving around. Um anything we can get done now leading into summer is is phenomenal. I you know, time saver. Uh And this is to do heating and air conditioning. Yeah, so those rooms are completely done. They're ready to turn back over. Uh we will take over another science room on Tuesday. Um and then that will be kind of it until school's out. Uh if you've not been in the auxiliary gym or outside if you've not noticed outside of the auxiliary main gym when you're driving by, we have new concrete pad out there with our new chiller has been installed. Um in the auxiliary gym, all
019HVAC is complete. Now we've switched over to mechanics mechanicals. So kind of getting everything wired and hooked up. And then we just started demo out in the the main gym. So the big blue HVAC units that were up in each corner of the gym, two of them have been removed. Um we will we are ready to go the second students walk out on Friday. So Debbie, anything over at EEC that Oh gosh. I mean it's coming along. Finishing work is cabinets are going in and drywall's all up and floors are done and Yeah, we have a punch list walk through. I think it's scheduled for the middle of May, but we'll see. So That was last Friday. So next Oh, I'm sorry. Tuesday. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. So They're on schedule Yeah. Oh, good.
020Yeah. And when does that When do you think you'll be using that just at at the beginning of next school year or will you be able to use it this summer? >> just a lot to do before then. Um we have to get licensed and hire people and Okay. get me all set up. So you know, we'll keep moving forward. Yeah. So And we should also mention Van Buren construct uh contractors had meetings had a meeting last Friday I believe it was with the teachers at Van Buren to just walk through kind of what they need from them as far as getting their rooms ready for summer. That will be you know, ceilings got to be the entire building. So, they shared with them, they will take over that first day that nobody's in the
021building and the projected return date for that is the Friday before teachers come back on that Monday. So, they it'll be it's a it's a big lift like to get everything done in that building over summer. So, it's going to be tight. Just throwing that out there. Good news is is we've done some work over winter break and spring break and kind of put some pipes up in the ceilings to try to gain some time, but hold on. It always works out. >> It does. No doubt in my mind it'll work out. Any questions for Catherine? Thank you, Catherine. Claims. We have claims to announce. Is there a motion to approve the claims? I will approve the claims as I make a motion to approve the claims as presented. Second. I'll second. Uh any discussion?
022All those in favor of approving the claims signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Those same sign? Abstentions or Abstention Abstention, that's the word. Um hearing none, motion carried. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second. I'll second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.