001Um, I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order here on February 9th at 7 PM. Mr. Kosher, could you please take roll call? >> Johnson here. >> Olsson >> here. >> Skelton >> here. >> Boss Ward >> here. >> Wiggler >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. If you could please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. >> Thank you. At this time, any visitors who wish to address the board may do so. We ask that when you sign in, you enter the room and list the topic. If you have not done so, please approach the podium and do.
002I ask that you refrain from listing any student by name or any personnel by name. Is there anyone who would like to address the board? As a reminder, no action will be taken this evening. >> Any visitors? >> We do have uh Megan Taylor who is on her way, I believe, with some students possibly. So, it's my understanding that she will be here soon. >> Okay. >> So, I don't know if we want to go ahead and approve the agenda if that's possible. >> Come back. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other visitors? Great. Uh so, we'll move on and we'll jump back over there. Um this evening we have approved our agenda and conflict disclosures. Are there any agenda changes? Dr. Elvie, >> there are not. >> Great. I would take
003a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> First by Carol. >> Second by Jake. All those [clears throat] in favor say I. >> I. Same sign. Motion passes. Uh next up here we have indication of our conflict of interest. First, South Dakota codified law 3-23. This is Rachel and I have none. This is Carol and our visitor to be heard works with the program of which I am affiliated. I don't know if that since it's not an official agenda item, I don't know if that's um necessary or not, but I'll share that. Well, thanks for inviting them. >> This is Jake and I have none. >> Mark and I have none. >> This is Ryan and I have none. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Uh moving on here, we'll move on to our consent
004agenda. Um this evening we have approval of our minutes, resignations, new hires, open enrollment, and bills. We have minutes from our January 12th meeting. Resignation Kevin Millig, uh, new hires, Isabella Krevenson, lunch aid. I do want to make a note, um, that the dollar amount was incorrect. It should be 11.85. I believe it says 1120 on that. Um, Jonifer Jonathan Walker, custodian, Trevor Hessie, lunch aid, Zenna Argon, dance assistant, and Lucas Edwards, bed driver. Would anybody like anything pulled from the consent agenda this evening? Seeing none, I would take a motion to approve. >> So move. First by Mark, >> second by Carol. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. Motion passes. Uh, next up here is unfinished business and we are need of no unfinished business. So we will continue
005on for new business. Um, first up here we have approval of our facilities agreement with Camp Invention. Uh, Mrs. Whistler. [clears throat] >> I'm Mindy Whistler. I'm the stream coordinator, tech integrationist. Now at the elementary, um I'd like to bring camp back for a second year to the elementary students. Um we had 27 campers last year. We're hoping for 40. Um we used one wing, four classrooms. Um worked out well. So I'm just asking that the fee get waved again like it did last year. Questions? I remember you coming here last year and then seeing the participation of 27 [clears throat] which is awesome. So, thank you for bringing it to um as an opportunity for the students. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful timing because I was at youth uh basketball this weekend and we
006were just talking about it when the dates were and I could pull it right up. So, people are getting anxious um and excited about that. So, uh thank you Miss Whistler. [laughter] All right, we will stop here. our um new business agenda and go ahead. Um we're going to jump back to visitors to be heard for tanninger happenings. Uh we have me Megan Taylor with USD Trio and it looks like a group of students. So go ahead. >> Thanks for coming. >> I'm going to keep um apologize. We're gathering students. Okay. and I have a couple other guests. So, I will introduce myself first. I think I recognize pretty much everyone here. Um, my name is Megan Taylor and I'm the director at of the USD Upwardbound Program, which is a federal grant program that
007helps college helps students get to college. So, I put together this little one-pager and I will talk a little bit about this, but I wanted to introduce a couple guests who are here at the program as well. Um, actually I'll start right here with Dale if you wanted to. >> I'll have you introduce yourself. >> I'm Dale Jason. I'm Lisa's husband. I'm just here for her. >> Well, [laughter] you have some connection to the >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. My mom worked for for about 22 years, I think. 21. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Uh, Tracy Tracy Hack. I've taught the summer component for going on my 24th year this summer. >> Wow. [laughter] Do you want to go? >> Yeah. My name's Elizabeth Leroy. >> Vincer, Caleb, and I've been for three years. >> So,
008these are a couple of our students. Can everyone hear me? Okay. I don't want to. Okay. Um, these are a couple of our students who are at USD right now. And I had a big group of Vermilion kids um lined up. And then I had a little spill which was fun. [laughter] Um, Vincent was actually at VHS. recruited him from VHS and he graduated from Wagner High School and then um Elizabeth and Taye both go to Todd County. So I will just go through a couple of items here. You can follow along, highlight what you'd like. Um so TRIO is a trio of programs and it used to be three and that's where the name TRIO came from. Otherwise it doesn't stand for anything else. Um but now it has become eight. So really it's
009just a complete misnomer of it anymore. Uh it's a fedally funded programs that help students overcome economic, social, and academic barriers to higher ed. So it's a college access program or post-secary, not just four-year college. Um so Congress mandates that twothirds of our students come from families that are um 150% of the poverty level. And then uh neither parent has a four-year degree. So twothirds of our participants have to be both. So it's definitely geared toward a certain demographic that just needs some help getting o overcoming the barriers to higher ed. Um so there across the country 3500 TRIO program serve about 875,000 lowincome students uh sixth grade all the way through adult higher ed. So there's veterans upper de upperbound there's educational opportunity centers. USD has four programs four of the eight. Um we
010are one of them. This is a lot of information. So if you just want to review the paper that's fine too. Um I could give a 30 minute spiel or three minute spiel. Keep it toward the three. Okay. Can do. Got it. So what we do highlighted in red here, Upwardbound is an intensive intervention program that prepares students for higher ed in a way that works for them. I don't know if I'd say this to anybody at USD, but I don't recruit for USD. I want to help them get to the college that's best for them. So in the bottom right hand corner here I have a little list of since we've been at VHS the last nine years. These are where our graduates have gone and some have numerous people some have one person
011there but that's just a look at where our students go. So it's a wide variety. People go to two years people go to four years. The whole point of our program is to help them access what maybe they're unfamiliar with it, right? They don't have a parent that's gone to college. So that's what we're here to do. Um the objectives are what we are mandated to meet try to meet every year. So we do an annual report to the federal government every year that reviews each one of these points for the 286 students that we're tracking for six years. So there's a lot of accountability in it. Um when I go to VHS, the box on your left that says Upperbound at VHS provides um academic support, course selection. So, if you're wanting to go
012to college, for example, you're only required to take three math classes to graduate from high school. I think it's three. And usually colleges want to see you have four or you know, co graduation, high school graduation is a little bit lower than the expectations for going to a college, a four-year college. So, that's something that maybe you wouldn't be aware of unless somebody were helping you along in that process. Um, we talk about a lot of things. ACT registration, ACT prep, FAFSA, how to do the FAFSA, and it's really intimidating, but if someone's sitting there with you and helping you, it becomes less so. And then we have a summer program, which is kind of the big selling point, I think, [laughter] where students come live on campus, and it's meant to simulate going to
013college. So they live there at no cost to themselves and they go to classes and go to the wellness center and have their meals and figure out what to do with their time. So it's a good way to I can do this. I can live out of my house. I can manage my time. [clears throat] And then the last piece is we have a bridge program. Once you graduate from high school, our program can pay to for up to six credits of college. So you go there, we pay for six credits and it's easy for you. We try to support you through that. Yeah, that was a lot of information. Feel free to peruse, but I also wanted to give my students or staff an opportunity to talk about their experience if you'd like to.
014You should. [clears throat] Um, obviously being with Upperbound for 20 plus years, I've seen it grow and um, me being at the university. I'm a instructor at the university. I think uh, it helps students that are in upper band that come to the university now, they know someone there. Even if uh, they're not taking my class, they know, oh, I recognize her. I this place is not as scary as I thought it was going to be. >> And so I feel like that's a good bridge for them for students that are especially first time away from home. Even if they're coming to the summer component, 16 weeks is a long time to be away from home. So >> it is. >> Anyway, so did you did any of you want to say anything about your
015experience? >> Not [laughter] sure. >> You can say it from there. >> You can say from there. You don't have to stand up if you don't want to. >> Yes. >> Pros, cons, memories. >> One of the pros is that you definitely get to meet a lot of new people and have like a lot of friends to like talk to. Um, I wouldn't say there's like many cons. Part of the cons is like being farther away from your family for the first time. Other than that, it's really like nice. Yeah, >> it was the first time I did. It was my first time leaving home for that long. And I went with a friend, but she left in the middle of it. >> And it was hard at first, but coming to college now made
016it going to upward made college a lot easier. And I even took I had two math classes with Teresa and I have her math now. So, she's always a familiar face. and some of the mentors at Uprebound I see on campus. So, it's a lot easier. >> Yeah. >> And [clears throat] I did want to say thank you to Vermillion Schools because it is a partnership. I I come in to the school once a week or more, you know, depending on what students need. Um, usually I'm there on Thursdays because it's a nice time to come in during block. Um, yeah, and I just I just appreciate that I could be in there. I know there are a lot I being in the school there are a lot of things happening. There are a lot
017of things competing for students time and attention. So I appreciate the partnership and that we can work together in that way. Um it's been two grant cycles I think that we've been a target school and I hope to continue that. I think it's been a good partnership and I did want to emphasize too that we you know we serve all students. I think historically it's been the program has been at USD since ' 66 and historically it was started as kind of serve native schools on reservations but it's for everybody and I think we're getting to the point where everybody sees that it's a program for everybody who can qualify income or firstgen. So are there any questions? Thank you, Megan, for coming and talking about the program and thank you students and thank you
018um uh Teresa and Dale as well. Um I guess I'll just also share that you know what those of you in the audience can't see is that since um this program started serving Vermillion High School um it has sent uh VHS students on to schools including Western Iowa Tech Dakota Wesley and USD Louisiana State Haskell Indian Nations University of Minnesota Morris Bunav Vista SCSU University of Minnesota Twin Cities Northeast Indian Community College Mallister Black State, St. Cathine's, Kent State, NDSU, Little Priest, Tribal College. So, thank you. And thanks to the district for NVHS for partnering. >> Yeah, appreciate that. Thank you. >> Thanks, Megan and crew. Feel free to stay if you'd like. [laughter] >> Yeah, >> We're not offended. No. [laughter] >> Thank you. So, for those following along, we'll move back here to
019our new uh business. We'll start up with item B. Um, if it's okay, I think we can seek maybe a motion for a couple of these here together. Um, we have a facilities agreement here for youth wrestling. Uh, Tanner Mart. >> Hi, my name is Tanner Mart. Um, I'm the youth wrestling coach at Vermillion and we have our tournament coming up February 15th that we would like to get the fees waved for the facilities. We work with the high school program and it's a big fundraiser for both the high school and the youth program >> and I believe uh Dr. Elvie slipped me to a March 7th [clears throat] event too, I think. Are you going to do both of those? >> Additionally, March 7th. So, we're hosting we're hoping we're hosting districts this year,
020March 7th. That's um we usually would host that every 5 to 8 years depending on when we would get it. And that too is a great fundraiser for the program. So, we would like to both those weekends >> and and uh Mr. Culver and Tanner and the other youth wrestling coaches have checked these out with Mr. Huska and it works into the calendar and uh so that's available and they've worked out the arrangements with the custodial crew. So uh to wave the fees but the the custodial fees uh would remain uh and they worked that out uh with how many hours are required for the events. So it's good on on uh the side of the administration. >> Wonderful. We look forward to another big event in Vermillion. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank
021you, Tanner. >> Uh next up here we have item C, which is approval of request to fund the Vermillion Public School executive director position. Uh, Melissa. >> Hi, thanks. Hi, I'm Melissa Berninger. I'm the new president of the Vermillion Public Schools Foundation. Uh, the Vermillion Public Schools Foundation provides really vital uh, services to the school district, including support for professional development of teachers, support for experiential learning of students, and support for student well-being, including uh, meals, hygiene products, and clothing. Um, we could not do what we do without the help of our executive director. Uh last year the district funded her position at $28,252 and we respectfully request that you continue that support and we thank you for your support of the foundation. >> Um and then I guess it goes without saying we have
022members of our board that have served on that committee and that board. Um, and for those that are listening in or those in the audience, our our public schools foundation does a lot of amazing work with our kids and our staff, offering experiential learning. They offer field trip um opportunities. Um, they pay for some of the things that the district is uh unable to to do for some of the groups in our school district. So, we certainly appreciate part appreciate the partnership at this time. uh in talking with the finance committee, we feel like the district can um manage that um executive director's position as well again this year. However, what we've done in the past is any raises or change of employment that the executive director requires that go above and beyond the agreement
023then the foundation has paid the difference in that. So each year that there might be a increase in the salary of that uh that that has been at the expense of the foundation. So um we would be happy to to allow the board to discuss that or but our recommendation is that we move forward with that. I remember the early conversations of um considering supporting the executive director role and um [snorts] you know kind of uh easing easing the support in and seeing how it goes. And I think that it has really exceeded our expectations and um I mean the work of the board has benefited our district and our students um greatly. So I'm certainly in support of continuing it. I just want to say thank you, you know, to Mary and also just
024to the volunteer board. It's been a board that's been around for quite some time and um we know it takes work too to be on that board. So, thank you to uh Melissa as well. Any other questions, comments? Wonderful. Uh thank you. Uh we'll move on here then to item D, which is approval of the driver's ed um employment for summer 26 um and the fees um by Mr. Settles. Uh Mr. Mr. Kosher. >> Uh, Mr. Settles has put out a proposal here basically to keep the program the same in terms of u wages and the fee which would be $300 per student. >> And since I've had people asking, I'm guessing after today they can probably call the office and start to get on the list. >> I know he will be sending something
025out shortly. So >> wonderful. Which I know Mr. Subtles has been doing this for many years too and we don't see a lineup of volunteers wanting to teach our community. So, want to thank uh Mr. Settles as well for teaching many of our youth in Vermillion. Does he need a new car this year? No, he's okay with what he's got. >> We're still working. Oh, sorry. We're still working on which one it'll be because we end up moving to a different vehicle midseason last year. So, >> well, keep him happy. >> We'll keep him. >> Okay. Wonderful. Um, next up here then we have item E, which is approval of adult volunteer. here. Um we have looks like three um Andy Meredith for middle school basketball. Um Dylan Deetsz with um Vermillain High School track
026and field along with um a big group here of USD students. Um looks like they're helping um what class is this one, Mr. >> They do uh this is this is actually the um uh PE class, a class of Kelly Kenson's classes. uh and they help with lunch or recess or pretty much anything that there allows into their schedule. So, we appreciate all of our volunteers because they can really help enhance things for us at the all levels. We have great volunteers at at every building in the district >> and that looks like another group of 20 or so and I think we did about 30 some last month. So, appreciate uh that support. Um next up here then we have item F which is approval of an update to the 2526 school calendar. Uh
027we did uh uh miss a school day uh a week or so ago for inclement weather on Friday. So we uh according to our our uh snow plan or inclement weather plan, students won't have to return to school for a snow makeup day, which I'm sure they'll be excited for. Uh however, our staff will. So [laughter] we will have a a a staff makeup day at the end of the year on Friday, May 22nd, which is after our last day of school. Our last day of school actually is in service this year for staff. Um PD day and data day. So having a day for staff to work will be greatly appreciated to finish up the year and get some odds and ends done in the classroom. So uh that would be the change that
028we would seek tonight. Perfect. Okay. Would anything like to be pulled for discussion? If not, I'd be looking probably for a motion here to accept items A through F. >> Second. >> Perfect. That was Mark if I think. Right. >> Okay. First by Mark, second by Ryan. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. Motion passes. Uh next up, um we have discussion of House Bill um 1082. Uh Ryan, >> you okay leading that? >> Yes. Uh so House Bill 11082 would effectively make school meals free for any student who currently qualifies for reduced but not free meals. Uh and then the state department of education would in turn reimburse school districts for the cost of those meals. Uh the bill passed the House Education Committee by a vote of 13
029to1 back in January. And if I'm reading sdle legislature.gov correctly, and I may not be, it's now pending a hearing before the House Committee on Appropriations. So, why am I talking about this? Uh, so a number of school districts throughout the state have provided letters in support of this bill, and I would like to propose that we as a district and a board follow suit. And I've put together a first draft of a letter that the rest of the board uh should have in their packets tonight and can review and edit. Um, and I would also like to just acknowledge a couple of the concerns that I've heard about this bill. Uh, first I'm aware that the reduced price is already fairly low, but a difference of around it would be around $10 per student
030per month would still make a meaningful difference for a family that's struggling to get by um and that's already forced to make tough budgeting decisions. Uh I also understand understand and to agree to a degree share um concerns about a corresponding reduction in education funding um from the legislature but because these funds are by definition ultimately going into the hands of our district's families um I will choose to believe that that the legislature would not effectively punish K12 for allocating these funds to feed students. Uh, and finally, I want to point out that the Vermilion Public Schools Foundation is already doing a great job of stepping in to help out when individual families are struggling to pay for school lunch. Uh, but their work and HB1082 are not mutually exclusive. And any dollar that BPSF
031doesn't spend supporting student meals is a dollar that they can put toward another impactful program. Uh so frankly as a taxpayer and as a parent I can't think of many better uses of my tax dollars than to help ensure that more of our students are able to focus on learning rather than hunger. So that is my pitch and I will welcome any discussion on the topic. >> Have you seen anything Ryan yet this year on paying for all school lunches this year yet? Has there anything been out? I don't think I've seen any >> not that I've seen. No >> kind of the past that's kind of been a a trend. I know I I try to keep up on all the bills, but [laughter] >> there's a lot of them, >> but no, I
032haven't I haven't heard any other um about that. >> Um please refresh my memory. We as a district have made the choice to um cover the cost of students who who qualify for the reduced amount the past couple of years. Correct. >> We aren't this current year, but we had the prior two years. >> The prior two years, but not this year. >> Correct. We ended up spending down our excess fund balance in our food service fund enough that um we chose not to and it wasn't necessarily because um that wasn't worthwhile of the funds. It was that we knew we had a partner there that was um ready and willing to to take on that responsibility as well. The partner being the public school foundation. >> Yep. Okay. >> Kevin, uh, do you know
033roughly how many would be under the reduced program currently as far as our current numbers of >> for our district? We we always float around 50 to 60 that qualify for reduced. I'm looking at the language of the bill and it's um and I know that you're not speaking on behalf of the bill specifically, more so the letter that might support it, but so it says that the board of a school district may impose a charge for any meal provided through the school district's food services to any student other than the student or an employee or any other individual. UAL >> what I don't get that >> I guess I'm I'm reading that as kind of a exception that proves the rule where um uh where was it basically yeah that let me read let
034me read that >> they can still charge for or other staff or [clears throat] >> that they may not impose a charge on schools who qualify for this but that they may impose a charge for >> which is what we do already. >> Yeah for all other right >> say it again. So we we're allowed to basically still charge those that we charge for a full price. >> Is that how you read it, too? >> Yeah, that's how you do agree though. >> It's Yeah, [laughter] >> it sounds like we can charge another student, but it sounds like you can >> I guess the language would be cleaned up before it >> Yeah, for those of you not looking at the bill text, yeah, we're striking it striking three lines and adding about 20. Yeah,
035[laughter] typical. >> Yeah. >> So, this evening, Ryan, you're looking for us to um to send a letter basically in support. >> Yeah, that's that's my ask. So, many many school districts have basically sent a letter signed by uh I think it's typically all members of the board and administration. So, it might be like a a superintendent, a finance officer, and a full board, but I don't know if it would necessarily need to include all of those, but that's what the the other examples looked like. Do we have guidance on the associate associated school board of South Dakota? Have they addressed uh >> this issue? >> Yeah. Um I think uh it's an important thing and uh I am in support of signing the letter. I do agree with you Ryan too. I hope they
036don't would punish one for another area. So we'll I hope in this case because it is yeah this isn't just you know general funding for the school that we can choose to use you know it is it's specifically for that so again I'm choosing to believe that when you say well it's kind of sort of going in the direction of school >> yeah in general I' I'd probably be against I' I'd rather our current model mainly just because of the the forcing of a school board not like I like the way to that we currently do it where we can come in and do it if we choose to, but then if districts are are tight on funds, um the requirement to do it, um I don't think would be good for some districts. Um
037looking at like the correct correct me if I'm wrong, uh Kevin, is it about 40 cents per meal? >> Mhm. >> Is what it is. >> Uh 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch. >> Right. So that that'd be like a family would be if I have one kiddo, it'd be $80 a year. Um, so it's not a huge amount. Obviously, it it affects the total budget, but um I'd rather us have them come to us and then we be able to help in other means would be my recommendation. >> So now my understanding when you mentioned a bunch mentioned some um maybe not being right for some districts, my understanding is that the state would be fully covering the cost of this. No districts would actually incur any costs at least no
038new net costs as a result of this [clears throat] >> even though they're increasing our state aid by zero. Correct. >> Right. And and that'd be like if you're taken away from there then you're >> taken away from something else. >> Yep. Yep. Somebody's got to pay for it kind of thing. Yep. >> Right. >> I personally would love to see a bill that would go back to free lunches back like the co days. I think that actually probably helps more than those especially we know those uh >> don't fill out the paperwork that need it as well and >> but it's a step in the right direction. >> I'm also fine with anybody on your own behalf too sending a letter as well and taking Ryan's draft too if we don't want to do
039full board. But would Mr. Elvie or Dr. or Kevin have any more say on this that you'd >> well ultimately it just has to be a decision that either the board agrees to do it in in the form of the entire board or just do it individually where each as a private constituent you would have that ability to do it as well. So, it's just really what your comfort level is is if you're not in total agreement. Sometimes the individual letters are maybe better than a a board that's not in complete agreement on these types of issues. So, >> and I don't know what the practice would be, but I mean I don't know if we would necessarily need every board member to sign a letter that we would a prospective letter that we would
040send, but I'm in favor of anything we would do. But I do feel that something something on district letterhead that is official carries a lot more weight than you know three or four private citizens. >> How about I encourage each individual board member to go ahead and uh sign a letter and send it and you're welcome to write Vermillion School Board underneath your name and support yourself if Jake's not because we'll have a split board. How does that sound? >> I guess as the new guy, I'm not really familiar with what [laughter] this this would be literally our first vote that hasn't been unanimous since I've been since I've been on the board. >> So, we're saying we we could if we go to motion here, Ryan, we are not going to be from what
041we've heard for discussion, we won't be unanimous. And it probably pulls more weight than to just have individual board members >> on behalf of your position on the school board, but not on behalf of the Vermillion School Board as entirety. So, but we can make a motion and we can still do it. It's just probably not >> that's where we're going with that. >> All right. Well, I will I will move to to go ahead and and send a letter. >> All right. We have a first and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All the post same sign. >> I me. >> Yep. >> So, motion passes. >> All right. Can I ask that follow up on that, too? >> Mhm. So Kevin, are my concerns accurate, off base? Um
042think just as far as from what I remember on the the finance committee as far as like the different groups of the different budget is that would that be put some districts in a pinch if funding comes down or is that since everything because it's kind of confusing how like there's the general fund but then there's not crossover between like your food food service and such. >> Correct. Um, we can, you know, the the school board could choose to subsidize the food service fund, but we're not taking money out of the food service fund and putting it into the the general fund. Um, I I think as as Ryan was saying, there would be a mechanism for the state. Right now, essentially what we get for any meals that we serve, even paid meals, we
043get a small amount, but we do get a federal reimbursement on on all of those meals. It's it's higher for for the free meals and then it's a little bit lower for the reduced price and then we get a little bit for paid meals. So my if this legislation were to pass there would be a mechanism there that we would file with the state monthly would be my guess to get reimbursed for any of those that qualify on that reduced price. So the state would then pay and then we would put that into our food service fund. Um, now [snorts] Ryan did mention as far as, you know, some of the concerns that have been thrown out there and and um, you know, some of those probably somewhat valid as well. Um, but but that's
044how I would see it working is that the state would then provide that funding to us for those reduced price meals. >> Excellent. Thanks. >> And I just want to acknowledge too that I I understand that this is largely symbolic. I mean, this is this is a letter that carries no actual weight, but I feel that this is the right thing to do. Um, Dr. Matthew, superintendent report. >> You bet. Um, some thank yous tonight. Um, just to first of all, thanking our our fleet management for our bus and our bus drivers for providing us safe travel to and from school with kids. Um sometimes the road conditions uh can be a little bit tricky whether it's a late night coming home from halfway across the state or early mornings before school and they do
045a great job of keeping us safe and helping us uh get to school u in a timely manner. Also want to thank the city folks and the county folks and the and the state workers that help keep those roads clean as well. um if you're out on those roads really early in the morning or late at night, sometimes they're not um really great for for road conditions and then they get out there and they do their jobs and they make it more manageable for us to get to and from school with buses and that we really appreciate that. Uh also want to thank the Vermillion Public School Foundations for funding um our performances uh two weeks ago with a Native American um rapper and dancer Superman. Superman was here for those that got a chance
046to see that uh in uh early or mid January. And now it's again another example of um Offstead grant dollars that are doing things in our community to bring unique um and meaningful um programming to our kids. So that's another good example. Um Daniel, you could go and put up our our recognition for school board. Um you know, the recognition um from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota for their dedicated leadership for public education and improving achievement results for kids in all public schools. And so next week, February 16th through the 20th, we wanted to thank our particular school board and really boards across the entire state for the work that they do to help ensure public ed uh are working in the right direction and and providing the services they do. Uh just
047every board member got a certificate of appreciation, which is just a small token for the amount of effort that goes in for the folks that are maybe here in the audience or at home. Um, you see these these folks come together for a couple hours on a Monday night, one time a month. But what you sometimes don't know is that there's hours behind the scenes that u Mr. Kocher and I and teachers and activities folks are asking committees to come in. Each of these board members serves on an average of three or more committees for the district, whether it's finance or food service or building or uh relations or uh negotiations, whatever the committee is. um these folks have to to also work on those things behind the scenes each month before uh they come
048before you. So um we wanted to thank our board for the things that they do and for providing leadership and giving us the resources here in our Vermillion School District to uh help make our school um unique as well as giving kids a great opportunity to to go on and do next things in their life. So thank you board for that. Uh along those lines, we've been talked a little bit about um some of the statistics about our communication um platforms we're using at school. This is a snapshot of of one of the dashboards that is on our parent square um uh application at school. This is the the the the messaging device that we use when we're trying to get messages out to parents. And as you could see from this um you know
049this platform had 1328 students, 217 staff, 1,400 parents and 26 guest groups that we we send our um communications out in. We send our communications out in the form of phone, text, um phone apps, uh website and email. So whether it's a late start for school or we want to talk about uh you know the basketball game um the coaches will use that or maybe it's to remind everybody that the concert was uh changed to a different date uh or this weekend's wrestling tournament. Our parent square platform there reaches a lot of folks instantaneously and you could see it has a 99.5% um uh contactable rate which is really really good. Uh the really the only flaws that we have in this is when parents or people change their cell phones and we you know
050and they don't update the information with us or they change to a new email server and we don't have that. So uh every month we get reports that tell us this and sometimes we'll drop down to 98% but rarely are we below 98%. Uh because folks are really usually keeping us uh engaged with what they're doing. Uh I guess the next one Daniel if you want to talk a little bit. This is uh shows a little bit about our Facebook account. This was a u in in kind of in conjunction with our strategic plan that the school board laid out two years ago about improving communication with home trying to find um services that meet the needs of our our district patrons. And so we we got our Facebook uh presence a little more uh
051engaged. And you can see here in the last 90 days uh you could see the growth there. Um not really sure why there was growth so such a high growth from November through January other than we have a lot of activities and so we are constantly putting things out. Nicole in our office is constantly trying to show what's happened at the one act play regions or talking about the concerts or talking about uh thousand points for one of our basketball players or whatever the thing that was going on in the district those days of the week. They they would put that out there. Uh this particular graph shows a little bit about um the the way that we get our uh messages out there and who's seeing them. As you can see um largely it
052it women are our favorite customers it seems like uh with about 30% of the audience uh but there's men are in in mixed into that group as well largely in the United States but we're proud to say we get seen in five different countries um which is pretty unique and obviously why do we have that? Well, obviously we have some uh foreign students that are here uh to go to school or they have associations through the university in some kinds and so they have uh people in other places that are keeping track of what's happening with them. And then of course on the right it talks a little bit about the cities that um largely see us. Um a few other things that are kind of related to that. um our our parent squared has
053um 20 or 2,291 member audience that 99% contact uh contactable rate. Um most of those are direct messages through phones but uh the email is is widely popular and of course any other apps that the parents sign up for we try to get that and it it's a preference on how they prefer to get that. Some parents don't want to have a phone call at 5:00 a.m. for late start. they only want the text or just the email because they're an early riser. They'll check their email or they'll check their text, but it is very uh inclusive to what the parents and the patrons want and it's it's really served us pretty well. Our Facebook has about 1,500 followers. Um in the last 90 days, we've had over 7,000 interactions and almost 400 shares. But
054we this year so far this school year, we've had over 411,000 views on the things that we're posting, which is really incredible for uh our small district and our our size community that we're getting that kind of traction out there. So, um those are just two of the pieces we're using. Our teachers use other methods, too. They have Seessaw and some personalized devices from their rooms directly to moms and dads that are a little bit more intimate to what the kids are doing in the classroom. This is the kind of the broad approach, but we feel like we've really u met the needs of the the student body and the district by choosing two platforms that seem to be pretty popular and hit target with making sure that we get information out. So, um that's
055just a little bit of um heads up on what we're doing there. Any questions on that? Okay. Uh [snorts] a couple other things and I'll wrap up here. you know, with the recent activities in the country about um what's happening with law enforcement and and immigration enforcement throughout the the country, we've been asked questions about what what does Vermillion School District do if if we were ever to encounter um immigration agents in our community. our our practice in our community has been worked out with our our school attorneys that if we were to ever have law enforcement come to our school, we have the practice where we we we hold law enforcement uh in our offices and we seek to make sure that there's a valid lawful order, a warrant to accompany the request for
056information or students or access to a staff member. Once that is verified through our school attorney, then the the practices that we would comply with any lawful orders that that would be coming our way. Um we also employed the the um Vermillion Public uh police department as kind of assets with us. As you know, we have two resource officers in our building um and as as assets of our community. we would re rely on those folks as well to come and assist if there was any questions about authenticity or lawful orders or things of that nature. So, I know that people around um around the the states are concerned about that, but that's that's sort of how schools in South Dakota are handling it, but particularly how we're handling it here in Vermillion. We've had
057no requests. We've had no um incidences and we've had nothing there that that would indicate that we'd have anything there to to deal with there. But in case you were ever wondering, that's what we would do. And finally, the last couple minutes here, I'll spend on some some legislative updates. Um House Bill 1008 was a PE credit for extracurriculars and then there was an A science credits available uh for kids that were taking those coursework. Uh both of those bills failed. um and are now out of the loop. They could be resurrected, but uh those two bills are out. Uh House Bill 10:17 is a Department of Education bill to permit alternative instruction to kids or students with extreme behaviors. That bill is still alive. Uh but it largely uh doesn't change what public schools
058can do now, which is provide alternative settings for students who are disruptive to public school setting. So whether that gets amended or how that looks in the future, we'll see. uh but it is still out there. House Bill uh 1168 was a voucher bill that is still out there. Clearly, we have some concerns with any uh bills that are pulling money away from public education. And so voucher bills or homeschool bills or private um school bills that are taking uh tax dollars away from public school dollars. Uh we would we would have a concern with that, but that bill is still out there and alive. Senate Bill 85 requires an election for optouts, certain optouts. That bill has been uh failed on the House floor. Senate Bill 198, cell phone ban in school, is still
059alive. It will be heard next week. Um and so we'll we'll find out a little more. It's a very vague bill. It just says students will not be permitted to use cell phones in school. Now, how that looks in practice or in reality uh is not spelled out in the bill, but um it is still out there. So, we'll be listening carefully to that. A bill that uh we listened into carefully last week was uh I don't remember the bill's number, but it was a cardiac plan, AED plan for schools. Uh that is uh still alive and has moved out of of committee. That bill is uh uh really a good bill about making sure that schools are prepared to have a cardiac emergency plan as well as a AEDS in each building. Uh I'm
060proud to say that we are well above that and well ahead of that because the Vermillion Schools for years and years has had staff trainings on handsonly CPR, AED training, AEDs in every building and having a cardiac response plan. Um in fact, we've had to use it. Um our school district unfortunately used it with um a gentleman that was in our school about seven years ago who had experienced a cardiac arrest and our staff saved this man's life and used an AED and pre uh prepared or performed CPR on him and about a month later he came back to to thank our staff for the work they did. So we are believers in that and that bill is continuing to move forward. House Bill 1082, we talked about that a little bit. [laughter] uh uh
061is still is still coming out and like Ryan said that is coming will be heard next week uh in in the legislature. House Bill 11:30 uh permissible use for capital outlay for more flexible spending specifically insurance is still alive. That's a good one for offering capital outlay flexibility. right now that is a general fund expense for the district and that um uh districts throughout the country, districts in South Dakota are experiencing extreme volatile increases in their property liability insurance. And so this if it would to make it through would offer some flexibility for school districts. And finally, the last thing is is most of you maybe saw that Dave Lias uh reporter here in in town and um uh who covers all of our schoolboard meetings had a 70th birthday and actually retired last week
062as well. And so we did present him with uh a card from the district as well as a uh a plaque that just said thank you for all the years of service and for all the years of covering our kids in our district. And we wanted to wish Dave a a great and happy retirement. rumor is he might still do some work around uh doing some part-time stuff and we might still see him at our schoolboard meetings. So, uh but for the other things that Dave's done, he's been a great advocate for public education and the city of Vermillion all his years here and uh so we'll we'll be glad that he'll still be covering the school boards here in the future. So, I stand by for any questions if you have any. >> Um
063I do have one question about the uh ICE item. So, I recently spoke to a good friend of mine who lives in Minnesota, not the Twin Cities, but another relatively large city in the state. Um, and his he has children who are biracial. They're all all of his family, they're they're all United States citizens. His wife was born in the United States. Um, but they've had issues with ICE essentially being around the schools. So, not necessarily trying to enter and and you know, serve a warrant. Uh, but he told me just what a traumatic and difficult situation that's been. So I am certainly more concerned with the thought of of a presence around the school, not necessarily trying to to you know uh arrest an individual. Do we have and I don't know what sort
064of school policy could even impact that? I guess what would be our approach if we have a presence in the parking lot or or how would that be addressed? I would assume that if it's anything on our property, we would handle it the same way as as uh law enforcement has some latitude to go where they want to go. Uh but that's where we would employ our SRO's and our Vermillion Police Department to help us intercede. We'd certainly question who's on our property at what time, for what reasons. Uh I don't know what our lawful authority would be to uh keep people from being on there. Uh I know a private citizen we can uh we we can bar folks from being on public our public school property uh based on um if there's a
065disturbance or some sort of uh threat or an assessment that this might not be um um something that the school district would support how it would work with law enforcement. I'll have to do a little work with our school attorney to find out if there's anything there that can be done. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for addressing that in your um superintendent report because I also had fielded a concern about the same issue and it it prompted me to look at our policy. So I looked at um number 5022 um which is our policy for investigations, arrests and other student contact by law enforcement and department of human services. And overall, I thought we have a good policy in place because just like you said, it it indicates that um you know, we would
066hold a student, we would ensure through our attorney that there was a warrant or um in place. Um the there is a line in there that gave me pause and uh it wouldn't have given me pause a year ago, but it does now. Um, law enforcement officers are encouraged whenever possible to talk to a student away from the school before or after school hours. So, I certainly um appreciate what I think is probably the um the reasoning behind that is, you know, we don't want a interruption of educational space. Um but now um considering you know the concerns that Ryan just um brought up, it makes me wonder, you know, would it be better to even just take that language out um since we're not sure if things have occurred that we didn't anticipate. So
067anyway, I just wanted to I guess put that on record that I think overall we do have a good policy, but there's is that piece that maybe reads differently than it did a year ago because of the events that we've seen. >> Thank you. >> Also, regarding Dave Was, any idea how long he's been reporting in Vermillion? >> I heard, but I I don't know. I his pictures look a lot different than when when I was at his thing when he had a full head of hair and very So I can't say how long ago that was. We were joking about that at his retirement party. Uh but no, I don't know for sure how long he's been here, but he was in Redfield. >> Redfield some too. So he's he's got a history throughout
068the state, but >> well, we appreciate everything that he has done and continues to do. And >> local legend. >> Yes. Telling the stories um is very important. So thank you Dave. Um, moving on here then to uh school board. >> One thing, Damon, the House bill that you were referring to, the AED one is uh 1073. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Anything else? You're fine. Good fact finding there quickly. Uh, moving on then to schoolboard reports. Got anything? We did have an IAP meeting. um might have been last Friday already, two Fridays ago. Last Friday. Um but just lots of good work um going on housing in Vermillion. Um obviously wanting to support all of our new housing developments that we have. Great um complexes that are coming up. A lot of discussion to
069on some of the annexes going on um which I think is what the city had um before this. Also just working on our Klay County Fairgrounds. Just a lot of um work surrounding the growth of Vermillion. Um and then I think we had a personnel or finance. I can't remember which one it was. >> Uh yeah, we did have finance. So yeah, I had a couple notes there. Uh really just continue the discussion on how to address the budget situation, you know, driven by the sort of the double whammy of both enrollment numbers and legislative funding. Uh reviewed extra duty pay for coaches and adviserss and and that sort. And then also discussed preschool enrollments and its its effects on what we would need to do as far as uh staffing and and sizing there.
070And then also, I guess while I'm while I'm talking, the Vermiladian Public Schools Foundation did meet since our last meeting. They elected their new officers. We had their new president here tonight. Uh discuss some productive new prospective new members. They do have some openings still. Um and reviewed their news pending newsletter that should be going out, I think, any time here. And also Dr. Albby expressed his appreciation for their support in bringing in Nick Tokman and uh the uh Superman. We also had our annual meeting for the Boys and Girls Club meeting here in late um late January. I want to thank Alyssa and John Walker. They won what was the title? Community I couldn't quite kick in my Facebook fast enough, but [laughter] um community representative winner basically for um for Vermillion. So it
071was great for them to see that reward and their support that they do obviously for our schools but also for the boys and girls club >> associated school boards met uh last month decided to stood on a number of issues. Um you meeting again board of directors next week next Tuesday night. >> Yep. negotiations. We're having that this month. So, we'll not met yet, but we're coming. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, next up here then, um, we'll be moving on to our financial reports, item A, which is funds. Mr. Kosher, >> uh, finance report in the packet. Again, this month, I really don't have much to highlight, but if you have any questions, I can sure answer them. Looks pretty routine. Any comments, questions? Not I would take a motion to approve um the
072funds. >> So move. [laughter] >> I'll give that first to Ryan. Um second by Mark. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Same sign. Motion passes. Uh next up here, any future agenda items here? Seeing none. Um, we are uh not in need of an executive session. We have a couple upcoming board meetings uh March 9th, which is the week of spring break, I believe. Um, and then followed by April 13th. So, again, not in need of an executive session tonight. Um, so I will go ahead and take a motion to adjurnn here at 8:55. 7:55. >> So moved. >> First by Ryan, >> Jake. Oh, Jake. >> Jake. >> Second by Mark. All in favor say I. >> All same sign. Motion passes. Have a great evening.