001Let's call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Or no, let's pledge. >> No, roll call. >> Oh, >> no. Wait a minute. I'm sorry. I apologize. It's been months. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Been a while. >> All right. Now, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> here. >> Mrs. Ctderman, >> here. >> Mr. Moer, >> here. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> here. >> Mr. Wigton, >> here. and entertain a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> So moved. I'll second. >> Any discussion? None. >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Four. >> Mrs. Cartman. >> Four. >> Mr. Wigton. >> Four. >>
002Mr. Moer. >> Four. >> And entertain a motion to approve previous board minutes September 17th. Order. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Discussion. >> None. >> Mr. Watton. >> Four. >> Mrs. Codman. >> Four. >> Miss Amy Walker. >> Four. Mrs. Melissa Walker >> four. >> Mr. Moer >> four. And recognition of visitors. >> Anybody? >> All right. Presentation of certificates. >> Do have a couple of uh presentations to make this evening. Um we'll start. Uh Mr. Dylan and Mr. Conway, would you please come forward? Um Mr. Dylan is our teacher Ram Pride Award winner for the month of October. And I'd like to read um a few paragraphs uh describing Mr. Dylan and his uh what he means to Madison. Mr. Dylan is the embodiment of what it means to bleed green. Jim
003is first and foremost a Madison alum. He and his wife Michelle both teach at the high school and all of their children have attended Madison. Currently, Jim teaches everything from freshman physical science to college credit plus physics. He is the long-term chairperson of the science department and a mentor to his colleagues. In the classroom, Mr. Mr. Dylan is innovative and engaging, continuously adjusting his lessons to appeal to his students various learning styles. His lab activities are not only fun and exciting, but they also challenge students to engage in problem solving and expanded thought. He is regularly recognized by students at the academic achievement student teacher recognition program as the teacher who has had the most significant positive impact on one of our highest achieving seniors. Outside of the classroom, Mr. Dylan has taken on a
004number of responsibilities. He is often regarded as the voice of the Rams, as the announcer of the home football and soccer games. He is also the master of ceremonies for school assemblies and for the Madison Athletic Hall of Fame banquet. Mr. Dylan is also the longtime coach of our very successful academic challenge team. Although he recently stepped down from the position, Mr. Dylan was also the assistant band director for many years. And even when Mr. Mr. Dylan isn't on the clock in one of his many roles, he can be seen at numerous Madison events supporting his students. Sadly, Mr. Dylan plans to retire at the end of the school year. While his many contributions as a teacher in the Madison local school district will be missed, the lasting impact that he's made on Madison schools
005will not be forgotten. Mr. Jim Dylan first. >> So, uh, on behalf of the administration at the high school, I just want to say, um, very excited to present this award to Mr. Dylan. Um, Jim and I have worked together for 16 years. And in that time, he's not only been a mentor, teacher, um, a wonderful employee, but he's become one of my best friends. And uh I just want to say there is nobody uh that deserves this any more than him. Um so thank you for everything you did for Madison High School, have done for Madison High School, are continuing to do for Madison High School, but also thank you uh what you've done for me and my family. We appreciate it. Go ahead. Um, thank you, Mr. Peterson. Thank you, Mr. Conway. Uh,
006I know as the voice of the Rams, um, I should have something to say, but I really I really don't. Um, I just appreciate the recognition and I know we're not in this for the recognition. Um, but when it does come, it it is nice to to to receive it. So again, thank you very much. >> Thank you. And our Ram Pride Award winner from the staff side um is uh Miss Carol Moore and she is the administrative assistant at Mifflin and uh accompanied by school principal Mr. Nathan Stump. Uh, Miss Moore keeping Mr. Stump in line is a full-time job in and of itself. >> Yep. >> Um, read a couple paragraphs about uh, Miss Moore. Every school has that one person who people see as the brains behind the operation, but rarely does
007this person also capture the hearts of others as well. Carol Moore is that person at Mifflin Elementary. Being an administrative assistant, she is the first point of contact and there is no better person to initiate this conversation than, as the students call her, Miss Carol. She is loved by all due to her unwavering dedication to ensuring that Mifflin students and staff are set up for success through the front office. Administrative Assistant Day is more of a full office celebration as class after class visits to express their gratitude for the woman that brightens each student's day. Carol not only knows students by name, but invests in the families of Mifflin to ensure that the needs of each one are known so that she can make their Mifflin experience a positive one. Carol is also someone who
008is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and dive in deeply when help is needed. She does not see challenges as insurmountable. Rather, she would would rather attack rather tackle the issue by lending her effort to ensuring that a student is able to thrive at Mifflin. Her creative approaches to these challenges paired with a sense of humor after you get to know her create a working environment that is enshrined in positivity and joy. At the end of the day, you can't help leaving Mifflin feeling a little lighter knowing that Carol has impacted your day and hearing her quiet chuckle come over the PA system as she navigates afternoon announcements. Congratulations, Miss Carol Moore. Um, you can imagine Carol was very excited to stand up here today. Um, but um, everything that Mr. Pearson read is
009absolutely true. You want to see a Madison woman with a golden heart? This is it. Um, she is one of the kindest people I've ever had the chance to know. Um, she really does love her job and she loves her students. there's nothing more we could ask for uh from Miss Carol. And so I know I'm a better man for knowing her and I think Mifflin is just over the moon to have her as their administrative assistant. So thank you. >> Well, I did have a big speech prepared, but I thought you didn't have time for that. So um I am very humbled to get this. I am very grateful for the words that my boss man said about me. Got me a little teareyed there. Um, thank you, Mr. Peterson, for choosing me for
010this. And I do love my job. As Mr. Sump said, I've got 14 years at Mifflin and looking forward to a few more before I decide to retire. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Congratulations. Uh committee reports. Legislative. >> No report. Athletic board. >> We haven't met. >> Haven't met. We're meeting >> next month. No, December, I think. Not until mid December. >> Okay. Uh student representative comments. >> We don't have a student rep tonight. Um the appears the whole executive committee um is involved in um an athletic event or different events through the high school. So they didn't have anybody available tonight. >> All right. Uh facilities. >> Just a quick update in regards to high school boiler systems. We're about twothirds of the way done with the project. Um it's actually coming
011ahead of schedule. Our heat exchangers will be in in the next 3 weeks and then once that's done, get the systems set up, tested, flushed, reset up again, and then we'll be ready to go for everything. So that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Board policy, >> nothing new from last meeting. >> All right. Student achievement. >> Okay. So from the high school, Key Club has a mission to help clean up and maintain Liberty Park. They met at the pavilion at Liberty Park on Wednesday, October 15th at 3 p.m. and got to work. Key Club's October crochet party will be Tuesday, October 21st, and is designed to create simple projects of cold weather items to donate to the homeless shelter. And on Wednesday, September 17th, 30 plus students from Madison High School visited Ashlin High
012School for the most recent OC leadership conference. It was a great day meeting new people and discussing ways to make our district a better place. OC leadership looks forward to continuing to spread Ray and Pride. At Mifflin, third grade students are preparing for the fall Ohio State test and ELA that will be administered next week. Initial results showing students going from offtrack to ontrack and reading as determined from the fall I Ready Diagnostics indicate a positive increase of 26% as compared to the previous school year. Kindergarten students were able to visit the Mifflin Township Fire Station, learning about fire safety both at home and at school. All students are looking forward to their first leadership celebration of a directed paint later this month for earning their daily PBIS behavior points. Um at the middle school,
013uh they have six newly identified gifted students with I Ready Diagnostics. They have about 60 students across the building that are working with the MTSS teachers to work on getting closer to grade level in both math and ELA. This year they have worked on their schedule to build in a reading comprehension class to help teach students learning strategies to understand complex texts. They have fifth grade Kogat testing coming up and they're excited to see how many more of the students could qualify in the area of gifted. The first quarter ends next week and we have been working hard with our students to catch up on missing assignments through afterchool work sessions and we'll as well as lunches. Uh we are seeing a significant improvement with kids grades. And then at Eastview they are gearing up
014for state testing for third grade next week. The PBIS celebration for quarter 1 is coming up along with quarter 1 gray cards. This past week, they had a group of volunteers led by the student council group that helped clean up litter at Liberty Park. And that's it. >> All right. Thank you. Superintendent update. >> Yeah, just a a brief update, a few things. Um, our senior citizen lunchons uh will take place tomorrow uh in the Ramble in at the high school. And um as Miss Mrs. Walker indicated uh in one of the reports from one of the uh buildings um it's hard to believe but next Friday will be the end of the first grading period of the year. So we'll be a quarter away uh through the year already. And uh with with that
015um our first round of parent teacher conferences will take place um early in November. Um I believe the 6th and the 11th are the dates for those. Um and uh our performance audit um we had our second meeting um with the uh folks from the Ohio auditors um office this uh this morning and uh I think we're still um pretty much on schedule to receive um some recommendations from them um probably in March or April. Um, and then last, we'll conclude my update uh with one of our um 100-year videos that um I don't think the board has seen um this one yet. So, uh Mr. Stum, if you would roll that. The school district here at Madison, we are the hub of the community. our community rallies around our schools and uh this is
016where the action is in the Madison community. >> The role of the elementary uh within the the child's education, you know, we're we're putting the the building blocks in. We see that very beginning where it's letter recognition, you know, this is an A, this is the sound that it makes to learning literally how to read and how to write numbers and all that. So we are setting the foundation and the building blocks and helping them um you know set off their their career paths for success with the very basics. East View is different from other schools because we're a smaller building. So it's kind of a more tight-knit small family feel to our building. For East View, I feel like it was the foundation of my educational journey with Madison. Not only educationally but also
017like social emotionally. feel like I had a lot of leadership opportunities at East View. >> Madison South is a little bit different. We we're the largest elementary that we have. So, we have just an incredibly diverse amount of students coming in and out. It It's pretty awesome to see the the amount of different backgrounds that students bring each and every day. I think the amount of energy and compassion and love and care that uh that we provide for every single kid is unmatched. It's a bummer that we only get to see them for that four or five year window, but it it's it's pretty awesome that we then get the ability to track their progress and see them and check in on them um throughout their educational careers. As the middle school, we're dealing with
018a lot of teenagers. For the first time, kids are actually representing their school in sports and in band competitions and singing competitions. We have academic challenge. A lot of the kids come from the feeder schools and they start ending up in one building. The kids are now starting to learn to build that Ram pride and not Mifflin pride or East View pride or South pride. We're all coming together and it's starting to build that community and loyalty to Madison. It's real encouraging to see how much effort and care and love that our our staff gives our students every single day. They're not just sitting there because they want you to do well on the test. They want you to do well in life. >> It's not always the academics that you push. You know, a
019lot of these kids, they need to know how to treat people and how to deal with failure and that it's a, you know, it's an opportunity to learn and teach them how to grow up and be men and women. I actually enjoy teaching that stuff as much as anything else. My hope for the future for Madison is that we we continue to grow and just continue to offer the support and the love and the care and the education that uh that our students need. Our goal and hope is to continue to provide endless opportunities for our students to be, you know, great citizens for our country and community to just help them find the confidence to, you know, go on to the next chapter and seize each new day to its fullest potential. And that
020concludes my update. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Stump, presentation, Mifflin Elementary. You good? Good evening. My name is Caleb King and I am excited or wait no I said that wrong. Good evening. My name is Caleb King and I am the president of MI of the Mifflin Student Council. Tonight we are excited to share with you all of the exciting things that have happened at Mifflin over the past year. We hope you enjoy learning more about our amazing school. Now I would like to introduce our principal, Mr. Stump. >> All right. Thank you, Caleb. Um, just to get started tonight, um, want to just review very quickly our report card. Mifflin once again exceeded state standards by earning four stars last year. If you look at those tables, um, that top table are
021our percentage of, uh, passage rate um, on our four state tests that we have, the two in third grade and the two in fourth grade. Um, I'd like to draw special attention to that fourth grade math score of 95.2%. That was um, the highest we've ever seen um, in that area. So we are definitely making some positive gains there. Um but then drawing your attention to the green table you will see that is our scores based upon um against the state averages. So you can see in all four uh tested areas we were well above the state average um especially uh 9.8% in in ELA and third grade and 22.3% in math and then fourth grade 16.7 in ELA and 26.1% in math. So we are definitely making some great strides at Mifflin. Always trying
022to improve ourselves from the previous year and making sure that our kids are being successful. If you look at our achievement breakdown, um this kind of goes by the testing categories of how well the students did on the state test. If you notice, we do have that advanced plus and what that is from. We had a student that was accelerated and she was able to score advanced on both her ELA and math test. So we got bonus points. So that's where you see that advanced plus category of 1.1%. Um but you can see overall um we had 83% of our students um pass the the state tests last year and that is um at least a record since I've been there. Mifflin is doing a great job I think really preparing kids for those tests
023but really making those connections to real life every day so the kids see the importance of what they are learning. Um these are our I Ready diagnostic results. The top you will see is from the beginning of last year in the fall and the bottom you will see is from May. Um you can see we had a lot of room to grow um from the fall diagnostic. Um and then you can see where we fell back in May. Um this is for math and you can see that the green sections went from 17% to 78%. Um so there was so much growth there. And I also want to draw your attention to that dark red. It's the red with like the stripes or just the red that doesn't have the stripes in it. We went
024from 17% of kids being two or three years below grade level to 1%. And actually, if you look, there's actually nobody, there was 0% of children that um fell three or more grade levels behind. So, we completely eliminated that one in math. And that's something we always like to see. Um that is a testament to both the students behind me, to the families behind them as well as our staff. They are working super hard. Similar results uh for reading and ELA. Um you can see we started the year in the green. We had 27% of kids basically on track was what we consider to be on track. But at the end we ended up with 85% of our students um scoring um early grade level or above mid or above at the end of the
025year. So very proud of that. And once again that dark red, the red with the stripes through it went from 2% to 0%. So we are making those gains in both math and reading. and we never want to favor one or the other, but we're still very proud of the effort that they all put into that. Grants and scholarships. This is always important. Um I want to make a special shout out to my second grade team of Mrs. Stephanie Biseline and Mrs. Janelle Kersner. They're the ones like to spearhead a lot of our um efforts here. And you can see that between the two of them, they actually came up with um three grants and scholarships. Um, our readathon was sponsored once again by Richland County Foundation, which helps us with our literacy night and
026gives every student a book in hand to read with their family. And then, u, Mrs. Kersner was able to, um, procure a scholarship for classroom manipulatives in amount of about $1,400. Just recently, u, Mrs. Bstein was able to get a scholarship to the Columbus Zoo. Um, there was really no way we could afford that. It's very expensive for transportation. Um, but she's actually a teacher board member of the Columbus Zoo and she won a scholarship that provides us with transportation and very deeply discounted tickets to the zoo. So, we're very excited that she works so hard on that. Um, it's a passion of hers and you can see it really pays off all the effort she does. And then finally, just to give you guys a PBIS um update, we are silver status hoping to
027get it again this year. What I want to point out are our tier 2 initiatives and that's S AIG, social academic instructional groups and check-in checkout. Um we find that these two tier 2 interventions bring us much success at Mifflin. SIG is really good for our younger students because they get to meet with the counselor and basically they role play and learn what the expectations are and they practice again and again and again until they can exit out of SEIG and really be successful within the classroom. Our older students respond better to check-in checkout where they choose an adult mentor in the building. It's completely their choice. It can be classified, it can be certified, it doesn't matter. Where they check in every morning and they check out every afternoon and they do that as
028a way to hold them accountable and they respond well to that. And as soon as we see a pattern of success, they exit from that. Those two interventions are what helps propel us to get that silver status over bronze. and we're very proud of the work that both these kids and the teachers put into that. So, at this time, that's the boring part of the presentation. I will turn it over to the kids and we'll start with Johnny. Last year, if we earned enough behavior points each quarter, we got to participate in a special reward. The first quarter, we got to go to Skydome in the gym. It was really cool. We got to see the planets projected inside the giant dome. The second quarter reward was a directed painting activity with Mrs. Porter. We
029painted a winter scene that had a tree and birds. For the third hunt quarter, we got to have a down on the farm day where we hunted for eggs filled with prices. Some eggs earned us extra recess, a pizza party, and a glow party. The last quarter was watching the kickball game between the teachers and the fourth grade students. I always try hard to earn my points so that I can participate in these fun activities. Next, fourth grader Isaiah will tell you all about his experience in student council over the past four years. This is this is my fourth year in student council council. I started in student council in first grade, was picked again by my teacher in second grade and campaigned campaign for a position in third third and fourth grade. Last year
030and this year, I am a class representative for my grade level. It is always fun to be in student council because we always have fun ideas. We get to be leaders in our school and come up with spirit week ideas and make posters and we always celebrate with fun field trips at the end of the year. I love coming up with new ideas to help our school and our community. Now, some of our third and fourth grade members will be talking about their experiences with field trips. Last year when I was in second grade, we took some fun field trips. We got to go to Malibar Farm where we slid down slides into pools of corn. We also played a duck game where we had where we had to make the ducks swim. We also
031went to Ram Sire Farm, which had a corn maze and giant slides to slide down. It also had a fun tire swing. Now, fourth grader Maddie will tell you about field trips that she took last year. Last year in third grade, we we took a field trip to environmental classroom. We did a lot of fun activities that taught us about recycling and throwing away trash properly. We also went to Gman Nature Center where we got to see some cool birds like hawks. It was a lot of fun. I love getting out of the classroom and getting to learn about other fun things in our world. Now, our president, Caleb, we'll be talking about I Ready. Last year, we had to work hard on our Ready math and reading lessons all year. We had to take
032our time and concentrate to show what we know. If we did well on the end of the year diagnostic and met our growth goals, we could earn some prizes. If we met one of our goals, we earned the choice between getting sprayed by the fire truck or going to a movie in the gym. If we reach both of our goals for math and reading, we got the we got both rewards. These prizes helped us to try our best and let us celebrate when we did well. Now, fourth grader Liliana will talk about the Wizard of Oz. >> Right now, we are doing a one school, one book, and we are reading all about the Wizard of Oz. Each week, we read two chapters and play a book game about what we read that week. We
033are split into two houses this year, North and West. Our teachers wear pink and green as well. It is fun to be reading the same book together so that we can talk about the story with anyone else in the school and we all have something in common. Next, our student council secretary Asher will be talking about last year's literacy night. Last year, we read the adventures of a South Pole pig together as a whole school. In spring, we celebrated the story with a fun literacy night. The school was actually transformed into the South Pole. We even had a real pig. We had pizza and did a lot of fun activities to celebrate the story we read. It was a lot of fun. Next, second grade, Ellie will tell you all about her experiences as a
034purple star student. I am a purple star student because my dad is in the military. We meet with Mrs. McKini once a month to discuss how we can support the military in our community. Last year, we got to take a field trip to a military place where we saw a lot of their equipment and machines that they used. In the spring, we had a breakfast for military families in our school. It is important to me to be able to honor and celebrate members of the military and military families in our school. Now, fourth grader Emmy will talk about last year's support for Braxton Cole. Last year, we tried hard as a school to support Braxton Cole and his family during his battle against cancer. We did a lot of fun things to help raise money
035such as spirit weeks, hat days, and bake sales. We also sold candy cane stories money for Brax. And at the end of the year, Braxton got to pie Mr. Stump in the face, which was a lot of fun to watch. Now, third grader Cooper will tell you about last year's readathon. Last year in second grade, we participated in the readathon. We would read 15 to 30 minutes a day in class and logged our reading. We also asked our family members to support us so that we can could earn could earn prizes. We spent a lot of time reading at home too. We used the money from the readathon to pay for all of our fun field trips last year. And now third grade Reo will tell you all um about our music programs last year.
036Last year in second grade we did a Veterans Day music program with Miss Walker. We sang a lot of patriotic songs and got to dress up in red, white, and blue. We performed for the school during the day and that night we got to perform our families and special military guests. Now second grader will will talk about being gifted in reading. Last year in first grade I was identified as gifted in reading. Miss Moody reading and writing. Miss Moody worked with me to help keep me challenged. She did a lot of fun activities with me and helped me make sure that I didn't get bored while we were doing reading. and I got to read a lot of fun things that were really interesting to me. Now, here's our vice president, Maddie. >> Thank you
037for taking the time to listen to all the exciting things that have been happening at Mifflin. We love our school and are thankful for the opportunity to share all the things that we love. >> Lead, learn, love Mifflin. >> Any questions? Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Entertain a motion to approve donations. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> I'd just like to publicly say thank you to the VFW Post for their support um for our schools and the uh donation. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Mr. Wigton, >> four. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Conterman, >> four. >> Mr. Motion >> four. Entertain a motion to accept treasures report business. >> So moved. I'll second >> discussion. >> All right. Yeah, we'll have some
038discussion. >> That doesn't sound good. >> Um actually the the revenues if we look at those uh you know it's uh the increase for September is just due to timing. It's not um I know it's hard I get Oh god, you can make it bigger on your screen. Yeah, there's there's an increase over September, but that's just due to timing. It had to do when the state sent the reimbursement for the Homestead and roll back, but um actually in the revenues, what I kind of want to draw your attention to is the flatline of the state foundation. um we actually received less this September than we did last September and we're only about 3/10en above um for the fiscal year. So I had mentioned that flatlining of the state foundation when I did the forecast
039and this is just a a glaring example of unfortunately what I forecasted, predicted and explained is happening. um when the state flatlines or reduces their revenues, what it does is it just shifts the burden to the local taxpayers. And when you have a flat revenue and you have increased expenditures, that is, you know, a recipe for going bankrupt. I mean, you you're spending more than you're bringing in, not because you want to, just because your revenues aren't going up. They're staying flat and your expenditures are going up. So, um that's the revenues. I'm actually going to talk a little bit on a positive note about the expenditures. Um because you know last month when I presented the forecast and I presented the budget, they called it appropriations. You know, they match. That is what we
040budget is what I forecast. And at the end of September, we were 25% of the way through the fiscal year. Well, as far as our expenses go with regards to salaries, we were at 24.84, which is right at 25%. As far as our expenses or benefits, 24.26, which is right at about the 25% level. purchase services were a little bit higher, but that's understandable because some of the purchase services you have to pay for like upfront in beginning and also some of the purchase services um had to do with uh some maintenance costs that we knew were being built in. So even though that's slightly above 25%, it's still right there. So the vast majority of all our expenditures are exactly where I had forecasted where we budgeted. So we are on track. You know
041the bad news is what I forecast and what I budgeted was high. I mean it, you know, it would be nice to be much lower, but at least on a positive note, we are doing exactly what we said we were going to do as far as how we were going to spend the money and where we're at. So, that's um with that. And it also these are the same things I've had before. I might switch them the next time, but that shows what I talked about in this this uh last slide right here with the red and the green. You know, 25% last year, 25% this year. We're right at the 30% part for uh revenues. The reason we're 33% this year compared to last year because of the homestead and roll back coming a
042month early. So, that makes sense with that. Uh, next thing we'll talk about is um, we're good with this. Okay. Oh, next thing we'll talk about is the grant that's received from the Richmond County Retired Teachers Association. Um, we need to make sure that we thank that organization and thank Troy Schultz, Troy Schultz for going out and seeking that grant and that organization for giving us that grant. So the board needs to accept it so Troy can use that money for classroom supplies. Uh three and four tied together. Three is the appropriations modification and estimated resources. That's fancy words for saying it's what we expect to receive in revenue and what we expect to spend. And number four says approval student activity budgets. the expected revenue, anticipated revenue and the anticipated expenditures had to do
043with student activity budgets that got changed. So since they got changed, we have to update the appropriations modifications. It's not just general fund. So I just want you to know that these modifications are not general fund or what's in the forecast. They're student activity funds. Um, and the last thing I want to talk about, and I'd like to have it I I've sent all you uh some highlights of a discussion. It's a resolution about switching to a consortium for our healthcare. We as a district are completely self-funded. Um, and I would like to I'd like to describe the self-funding in as in there's two different tiers. There's like us right now completely and totally self-funded which means medical mutual bills us for our claims. We pay our own claims every month. The cash for our
044024 fund is in our own bank account. It it's it's completely controlled by us. There's another level of this that you could get into that what I'm proposing is what's called a consortium. We're still going to be self-funded. However, we are not going to be stand alone. What we would do is if we join, if you agree to join this consortium, we would be a part of Jefferson Health Plan, which up there it says, you know, there's 250 governments over looks like about seven or eight states, um 30,000 other public employees. When you are in a consortium, instead of us paying our claims, what we would do is we would pay the same amount to Jefferson Health Plan every month and they pay our claims. Um, instead of us having the cash in our own
045bank account, it's still our own cash, but it's going to be labeled cash on hand with a fiscal agent. So it would be in a US bank that we can still have access to, but the way we get access to it is through premium moratoriums and things such as that. There are I'll just tell you what led up to it. Um, every year we go out for bid to try to get the best price on our stop-loss and on our fixed cost. A fixed cost is what the third party administrator charges us to process the claims to take get the bills from the hospital and determine whether or not it's you know what it goes into whether or not it's been you know met the deductible and then send us the invoice and then we
046pay. They also um the third party administrator also deals with things called drug reimbursements which to make a long story short basically what it is is if we pay full price for the drug and the manufacturer discounts it they send the discount to medical mutual then medical mutual determines the percentage that they send back to us. So we go out for bid every year and for the past several years it's been Medical Mutual and two or three other companies and Medical Mutual's always come in relatively close enough that it really has not been beneficial at all to to do anything. This year they came in over a million dollars difference. And when I say that, I want you to let you know they had a 28% increase to tell the school. They told the school
047basically, "It's going to cost you 12.8 million for your health insurance next year." Jefferson Health Plan came in with their bid and they were 11.7. The thing that upsets me about this whole thing is when Medical Mutual found out, they came back less than a week later with a revised quote of just slightly over 11.8. Well, I'm I personally that puts a bad taste in my mouth. Why did they h how how did this is the kind of stuff they pull every year. In my personal opinion, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insanity. That's just my personal feeling on this. Um, and I also I'm afraid if we don't do some kind of a change, eventually we're not even going to get any other bids. Two, there
048were two different companies we tried to get bids on this year that just completely flat out refused and declined to put a bid in. >> Why was that? >> Well, one reason is is because the past couple years they they did bid and we didn't go with them. And the second reason is we don't have currently as we speak a thing called prescription coverage management which I have talked with the board about we've talked with the insurance committee about and we are going to implement that um but like for example one of the consortiums um OSBC all their members have it so since we didn't have it they wouldn't even look at us. So, my fear is if we don't do something now, we're even going to be more limited next year and we're going
049to be stuck. But that being said, I I I do want I did hear from from um Mr. Moer and I appreciate your comment. I would like to hear if anybody has any questions or concerns or if you if you're against this. I'd like to know, but I haven't said I I've been very transparent to the to the district and everybody in our insurance committee meetings. I've talked about it. I have not sent a mass email out yet because I wanted the board to have the opportunity to say, you know what, I like the idea. No, I don't like the idea. Give me a discussion. If you have the blessing tonight, then I don't know if it'll be tomorrow, but sometime very shortly, I'm going to email the rest of the members and say, "Hey,
050we're joining Jefferson Health Plan as a consortium, and it'll be starting January 1st." Their their bid was 11.7 million, 17.8% increase. So, it was substantially less than I mean, it it's a hard pill to swallow. I I I see your I see you're disgusted when I mean that's a lot of money but I I've I've been on record saying insurance is bankrupting the district and I have other than doing things like this I don't know what else to do. I mean this is this is about the with this Jefferson health plan we we it is a governmentmaintained so we will have meetings twice a year we do get a vote on things we do control our plan so every teacher keeps and not teacher every employee will keep the same plan we'll still keep medical
051mutual nothing is changing with respect to that the only thing that they're going to see there might be a few hiccups here and there but the main thing everybody's going to see is a new card with a new group number and a new account number. That is what probably 90% of the people will see as a change there. There might be something here and there that I can't anticipate, but for the most part, this Jefferson Health Plan switch will be the smoothest that we could do. Now, the other thing too with we still will have the ability to prove to approve our stop loss. Like right now, it's first $150,000 of every claim we pay. So, we can we're going to maintain that, you know, a year or two, three into it. We can look
052in that and see if that's still appropriate. But, we get to choose that. We get to choose if we're in Jefferson Health Plan, we still have the opportunity to choose who our provider is. will maintain Medical Mutual right now. If something happens and it turns out that we're better off going with somebody like United Healthcare or Anthem or whatever, we could make that change. But at this point in time, joining a consortium would not change any benefit, would not change our plan, would not change co-pays, deductibles. It wouldn't It would be our plan. Exactly. I mean they're even agreeing to take our like we have a smart shopper thing where people can would shop for they're agreeing for that. So it is the best that we could possibly do for disruption. It's it's the going
053to cause the least disruption but it is a big change. We we are we would not be completely stand alone. We would be a member of a group. So that that being said does any do you want to discuss this? Do you just you want to ask any questions? Are you okay with it? I don't want to put you on the spot, but Mr. Peterson and I have had multiple meetings with Jefferson Health Plan. I've met with them um for two years now. I've have experience with them from other districts. I've have teachers that are here that have said they've had experiences with other districts. We have not had bad things to say. But >> so >> anybody want you >> just services will be the same similar to what they currently have >> and
054it saves the districts over a million dollars >> on this renewal. Yes. >> And when would it go into effect? Is it January? >> January 1st >> which is per contract. Correct. >> Correct. >> And these bids are every year. >> Um >> yearly thing. >> Well this bid has been every year but that's once we join the consortium. It it shouldn't be a one year and done thing. We we need to stick with it for a while to make sure to give it time to help us out of the hole we're in. I mean, we are definitely in a hole and we need something to help us out of that hole. So, >> like a no-brainer. >> I mean, would you like to add something or I I the only thing I was going
055to add and you just alluded to it was that um you know, anytime you're making a change, there's some anxiety that goes with it. But um I can appreciate the fact that in your previous districts that you worked in, you have had experience with Jefferson Health Plan and that experience has been positive. Um but so based on our conversations and conversations with Jefferson Health Plan, I think it's the right thing to do and completely endorse it. I also want to let you know I've had an insurance committee meeting for the third quarter this year. I'm going to have one in the fourth quarter, first part of December. We're going to have one in January, and that's January is when that uh prescription management, coverage management would be implemented. That wouldn't even though it' be implemented
056then, it really wouldn't take total effect till like 90 days. So, I'm want to make sure everybody has like 6 months of time to to absorb this. So, that's why I started it in September. Um this however would be take effect January 1. So >> the prescription part is choice of the district. It's not a negotiated in the contract. >> That is correct. That's correct. Um we've we've had discussions with uh MLEA. They've been at our meeting and they have confirmed that that's at our at our insurance committee meetings that there's that's at the district's discretion. Um what those are are things like prescription limits and when I say prescription limits like right now a person can go to the doctor their very first prescription and get a 90-day fill on the very first time
057they took it and they could take it home take it for 5 days and discover I'm kind of allergic to it and the doctor goes and prescribes them a new one and now they have 85 days worth of pills at the home that they paid for and we paid for that are no this prescription management wouldn't allow that. It would put a cap on the first, you know, like the first fill. So, you can only get like 15 days and then it could go to 30. Um, the other thing the prescription limits do are um pre-authorization. And I know that sounds scary, but it's just like when you go to have uh surgery, all that's done behind the scenes before you ever even, you know, you don't have to do anything. the doctor does it.
058And we've had discussions with Medical Mutual and and um some with Jefferson Health Plan and a lot with Fideli Group and the numbers have been anywhere between 95 and 98% of the rest of the world has this sort of thing in place. We're like an oddball, a white elephant that doesn't. So all the doctors are used to doing this pre-authorization for drugs. And the third thing has to do with what's called step therapy. And it's really what it was driven by is when you see a drug advertised on TV, a designer drug, they're outrageously expensive. Okay? And a lot of times people go to the doctor and say, "Hey, I want that Skyrizzy or Menaro or whatever it is." The step therapy requires the doctor before they just put them on that ultra expensive new
059designer drug to say, "Okay, if this is your symptom, we need to try this first before we just give you the, you know, exactly what you're asking for." I think the uh the GLP1s is probably what is really driving this because a lot of there have been instances where physicians have prescribed GLP1s to people just for weight loss and it was meant for diabetes and by the end of June we'd spent the district had spent over $300,000 on just GLP1's medications. So, but it's it's it's it's necessary to make sure we have a control and maintain our costs. I mean, we we've got to do something. That's all there is to it. So, I mean, $12.8 million is real money. It's a lot of money. And when somebody says, you know, where are your where's
060all your money going and you're mismanaging it? That's 12.8's a lot of money. That's where it's going. I mean, I'm not. >> So, >> all right. I think we >> we're good. >> Everybody good on that section one? All right. >> All right. I'm going to take a vote if you don't mind. >> Overall, your report, did you cover section two and three on it? >> Yeah. >> I apologize. >> Okay. Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Conterman, >> four. >> Mr. Wton, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. All right. Item K, strategic plan presentation. >> Good evening. Um Sonia and I are here as co-chairs presenting for the uh strategic planning. Our committee is the communication and engagement. Um so this is going into year five
061now um that we've been working on this committee together. Um, just kind of give you a little background, just a refresher here. We've been working on um how to better ensure that we are are meeting the the needs of the community, the parents, the students, the staff the best we can and seeing what we can do to improve it. Uh, so a few years ago, we sent out surveys to the the community. Um, and one of the big takeaways was they wanted uh kind of one place to get their information from for whatever is going on. um they felt like it was kind of all over the place with different kids at different buildings. So, we heard that. We started working on that a couple years ago, what we could do to to maybe bridge
062that gap and and find some solutions. And um this past year, we really worked on updating our website. Um and then the the company we got into agreement with um they also had the app as well as a communicate communication piece. Um and that's what we really focused on this past year. And this is uh this is where we're at right now. So um step one the strategy was the implementation of a one district wide 2-way communication system uh for continuous updates. Uh so if you take a look at our action action steps there um and our timeline at the beginning of the summer or at the end of the summer August um we we implemented the the rooms um that's our two two-way communication piece for the whole district. Uh we started implementing that
063the the parent download for that the teacher use of that uh started off the beginning of the school year. um we started monitoring how it was going. Um taking a look at at how to better get a feel of that. So in September we developed a survey for the staff to see their feel of it and how it was going. Took that feedback um presented that uh questions they had comments, concerns, whatever they had. We took that to the the company as well. Talked about, hey, this is what the staff is saying. You know, here's their feelings of it. What can we do to better help out with that? And that was our next step there. Um they reviewed it. our last PD day on Monday. Yeah. On Monday, um we had time for staff
064to to have a Q&A with a live rep there to help answer some questions or um help solve any problems that they were having as best they could. Um so they started implementing those as well. Our next steps here coming up um are we are going to be continuing to update our um our website as well as kind of fine-tuning the rooms section of it. Um, but also trying to keep up to date with the website, making sure that the families are able to access it and have up-to-date information on there. And then also making sure that our um social media section of that those are well uh those as well are updated and getting information out for events or upcoming um celebrations or things like that for the community as well. >> Okay. So,
065I'm going to cover um our strategy number two and three. Um so obviously we implemented the the rooms and we're going to continue monitoring that throughout the school year. This is the first year um of that. But in addition um Kyle mentioned that um we're working on all the buildings getting their websites updated and that's going to be continuous work in progress. It's just you're continuously updating. The main thing is to make sure it is updated. Um we u met with the family engagement team um trying to remember when that was now. >> Over the summer. And um that's at the high school and there um was a parent um on that team that had a lot of experience with websites. And so she um voluntarily went through every single page of our website and
066fine tooth combed everything and made a list for every administrator um to go and and update. And you know, you just don't you get busy with the every day and just trying to keep up and all that. And it was really really helpful. I mean, it just gave us a list and we could just go right down and check it off as we updated it. So, that will that will keep going. Um, it's important to have updated information out there if we're sending folks to it. So, our second strategy um something we want to focus on um this year in addition to all of that is develop guidelines and procedures u to improve our social media communication. So, we want to keep our social media pages up to date, but um also just putting some
067guidelines and um procedures together on how to monitor it, how to respond to comments, things like that that show up on social media, and make sure we have some consistency across the district as far as what we're posting, how we're posting, and those kinds of things. So, we are going to um we have our first meeting scheduled November 4th, our team, and so we're going to start working on developing those procedures. And part of that is once we get those guidelines developed, we need to identify who's responsible for the different social media pages um and then pull those folks together and go through the guidelines and procedures and make sure we're all doing the same thing. And then um finally, I mean, our overall goal um of this team five years ago was to um
068have just full implementation of a comprehensive district-wide communication system. And I truly believe that we're we're there. We're going to we're going to meet that. Um but one thing we want to do in addition to um the guidelines for social media is to develop an um internal and external um stakeholder survey just to get some feedback. And we want to send that out, I don't know, probably around February. Um send that out and just get some feedback on everything that's been implemented. You know, how how are the parents responding to the two-way communication, you know, the the website? Um are they updated? just to see how things um are going and then um we'll pull those results back, compile them, and then hopefully be able to present those results to you in May um for
069the end of the school year. So, that's what we're >> working on this year. >> Yeah. You guys have any questions? All right. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on. Uh item L, matters related to personnel. Entertain a motion to accept the matter. >> So move. I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Uh just briefly comment on um a couple of retirements. Um I think one of those individuals might even be here this evening. Um uh Leanne Hall and Kimberly Miller, two longtime um teachers of the school district, will be retiring at the end of this school year. Um and in May at our May meeting, I will invite them back again to uh recognize them in a more formal manner, but um like to congratulate them
070on their pending retirements. >> Any other discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Wton, >> four. >> Mr. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Conman, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. >> Uh entertain a motion. Superintendent business. >> So moved. Second discussion >> nothing. These are all pretty standard items. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mr. Wton, >> four. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> four. >> Mrs. Conman, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. >> Any visitors comments? Seeing none, we'll go to president business. Next regular board meeting of education will be right here 6 p.m. on November 19th. Uh item B, motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Second discussion. >> Mrs. uh Mrs. Whoops, that was Mrs. Melissa Walker. >> Okay. >> Mrs. Melissa Walker, >> same.
071Four. >> Mr. Won, >> four. >> Mrs. Cartman, >> four. >> Miss Amy Walker, >> four. >> Mr. Moer, >> four. Thank you very much for their attending.