001[laughter] All right. Good evening. Um, I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order here on December 8th, uh, my daughter's seventh birthday, by the way. So, I'll give a shout out to O and Dr. El's birthday today as well. That's informal before we open up the meeting. So, happy birthday, Dr. Elby. Um, so we'll go ahead and call this meeting here to order. Uh, Mr. Kosher, would you please take attendance? >> Johnson >> here. >> Olsson >> here. >> Skelton >> here. >> Boss Ward >> here. >> Wigger >> 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,
002indivisible, 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 you sign in when you enter the room and please list the topic. Um, if you have not done so, please approach the podium and do. I ask that you refrain from listing any students 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. Seeing none, uh, we'll go ahead and move on to item A, which is tanner happenings. Mr. Mr. Huska. >> Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> Hope all is well. >> Okay. So what I handed you is the 25 26 numbers that we have uh collected thus far uh with
003our fall numbers and uh so far in the winter uh participation numbers in the various activities that we have um all the way from the athletics to the fine arts and and some of the clubs uh that we have uh offerings at at BHS. Um very happy with with the numbers. Uh they're very very steady again this year. Uh even our enrollment's down a little bit at the high school overall, but um you know numbers as far as activities go are are pretty solid. Very happy with that. It just tells us kids are are still uh getting involved in things and that's that's the most important part. I will entertain any questions you might have. >> So the question marks I see those are for like spring sports things that aren't yet. So those those
004are just zeros then as far as the sum goes. >> Yep. >> Okay. I'm just curious. I see there are some question marks in the 2425. Is that >> um >> like track is still question marks? >> Yep. That's just an oversight on my part. We do have those numbers. [laughter] >> No worries. Uh >> oh. Overall, is participation up, down, stable? >> I think it's very stable. Um, probably, you know, we're probably in that anywhere from 78 to 81% of of the kids at at the high school are involved in some activity. That's >> um and and we're going to be in that same range. >> Good deal. By the way, Joel says not. >> All right. >> We've been having a lot of talk to around kind of club sports. Yep. Um, have
005you done any surveys just to see in addition to what they're doing within the school district, what they're doing outside such as like club volleyball or going up to, you know, soup balls and playing basketball? >> As as far as numbers go, >> just like surveying the kids just to get an idea of what maybe you're not reporting, but they're also doing on >> Oh, yeah. There's there's um the club volleyball, then there's all the AAU basketball, and you name it, they have it. Uh, and we do have kids participating in that um, pretty much year round. So, those that that want to do that extra um, offseason stuff. Yeah, we do have several kids that want to do that. >> Yep. >> I think it was last month we had a group from the
006Science Olympiad. >> Yep. >> And I see that their numbers have increased. Is I just Is that the same group that we >> They're all under the same umbrella uh with the the um quiz bowl science group. Yeah, they're all kind of all in the same group. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> A big increase there from past years. So, Yep. Thank you. >> I think we had the elementary teachers or the teacher group come as well, right? Get created. >> Uh educators, right? >> Educators. Yeah, >> I think they were. Yeah. Each of the last two I think maybe one was at each of the last meetings maybe. >> So, that one's not on here yet either, right? Mr. Huska, just a question on I know we're working with families trying to improve the communication
007home to uh you know let kids know what's happening in their schedule and also moms and dads. What's what are we doing with parent square to maybe use that differently? >> Yeah, our our plan is to kind of I I've been using the winter sports because there's only four of them in the in the fall. It's a little bigger group and it it was a little harder to roll that out with that large of a group. But the winter sports here, we're we're going to uh try to get each group each team. So Jay Drake would be in charge of a team for the boys basketball. Uh John Brooks would be a group. Uh so on and so forth. And then we would develop just that ability to communicate through parent square. Um it takes
008away uh most of them. I mean there's there's cla uh Google classroom, there's regular text and emails and all that stuff. Um the attempt is to try to streamline all that through parent square now that we have that and have the ability to use that. So that's the that's the objective there. That way it's a kind of all onetop shop there. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any questions for Mr. Eas? >> No. I'm just happy that we offer so many things for students to explore. So, >> yeah, thank you. >> I think that's the key and I I appreciate >> you all knowing and and accepting that and and really um >> giving us the the tools to be able to do that because it does it does impact kids way more than we
009think. um and their ability to do well in school and be a part of something. And and our our fall sports again were very successful. Um we we uh second with the boys golf and fourth with tennis. In fact, the only three teams above us were St. Thomas Moore, Rapid City Christian, and um Sou Falls Christian. So, uh of the public schools, we did really good. [laughter] I don't know if that's a t-shirt or not, but >> I see the I love public school shirt right there. So, >> yeah, exactly. So, um but region, uh cross country, every uh all of the activities that we were in this fall was another very successful um which just um you know points to the good people we have in charge of those things and the and the
010great kids we get to you to to help. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm moving on here. We'll move to our approving our agenda and conflict disclosures. Um item A. Are there any agenda changes? Dr. Elvie. >> There are not. >> Wonderful. I would take a motion to approve the agenda. First by Mark, >> a second. >> Second by Ryan. All those in favor say I. >> Both same sign. Motion passes. Next up here we have indication of conflict of interest per South Dakota codified law 3-23. This is Rachel and I have none. >> Carol, I have none. >> This is Jake and I have none. Mark and I have none. >> Ryan and I have none. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Uh we'll be moving on here to our consent agenda. We
011have approval of our minutes, resignations, new hires, open enrollments, and bills. Um first up, we have our meeting minutes from November 10th. Um resignations uh from Tom Heisinger, high school, middle school football, Haley Carson, PT, um custodian, Mercedes Hoffman's bed aid, and new hire Renee Kimell for the middle school secretary. Look at that. We're getting it up on our screens today. Wonderful. Um, would anything like to be pulled from the consent agenda this evening? Uh, seeing none, I would take a motion to approve. >> First by Mark, >> second by Carol. All in favor say I. >> I. Say tonight. Motion passes. And while we have Mr. Heisinger here, thank you for your years of service to the football. >> Um, we are in need of no unfinished businesses, so we'll be moving on to
012um, new business. Um, we have items A through D, and I believe we should be able to make a motion. um for those four items in one um we need to set our schoolboard election date for June uh 2nd 2026. Mr. Kosher, you can maybe talk about same thing which is item B which is approval of a combined election agreement with Klay County and the city of Vermillion for 26 election. >> Yeah. Uh A and B really do go together there. Um there were some law changes with elections for this coming year. Uh doesn't impact us too much except for a few timelines. Um, one of them being that the notice of vacancies uh that we norm normally would publish uh once it's into the actual calendar year will come out in the paper here
013at the end of December, which is why we have to declare our election date a little bit earlier than we normally would have. Um, but then it also has the uh combined election agreement in there that we have with Klay County and City of Vermillion, which are really great partners uh for us uh running the elections on the even years that we uh so great to be able to take advantage of those partnerships that we have with them. >> Wonderful. I agree. Thank you. Um next up here is item C then, which is approval of the FY26 budget supplement. Mr. Kosher. >> Yes. Um if you recall the last several years we have had a budget supplement around this time and it's been much larger than this. Uh most of the time that was uh
014due to either onetime dollars that we had from uh ESSER related funds or spending down certain funds. Um we're now hopefully this is our normal course of business right now that these uh budget supplements are pretty slim. Um, but there are a few items on here. Um, in our general fund, uh, increasing the elementary teacher salary. The reason for that is because halfime of one of our preschool teachers will now have to be shifted to the general fund there because of the preschool enrollment numbers. Um, we also have some supplements there for instructional software. Those were items that we had previously been paying out of um some of our federal programs that we had. Um with some of the uncertainty around those federal programs, we decided that this would be a good year to to
015pull those back as just a local expense so that we can focus that on personnel for u those uh expenses. And then we had um a supplement there for the electricity a rate change that we had uh for our building electricity in capital outlay. We have an increase there for middle school curriculum. Um this was just an uh we had some additional funds budgeted for high school curriculum above and beyond what was necessary but not quite enough in the middle school. So a supplement there for the middle school curriculum. And then we had some equipment needs for our buildings um that that we needed to take care of during the school year here rather than wait. So that is what the school nurse uh increase there is out of capital outlay. But uh pretty minor
016budget supplement uh comparing to previous years. >> Any questions? >> Okay. So, is the electricity like a one of our utility bills or is that for some infrastructure or >> it's one of our on it's one of our ongoing uh utility bills and uh unfortunately this is closer to what the budget should be going forward uh for uh planning for that elementary. >> Thank you. Moving on here then to item D, which is acknowledgement of the state minimum wage effective January 1st, uh, which will be $11.85. Um, any questions or concerns on items A through D. If not, I would take a motion to approve. >> First by Jacob, >> Second by Carol. All those in favor say I. >> Post same sign. Motion passes. Um, next up here, um, we have reports. Dr. Yes.
017Uh we'll just I think Daniel's got a few pictures for us up there as I talk. First of all, I just like to Oh, there there's some uh pictures here of our middle school and our elementary staff. They thought they'd have some fun with our kids on the 67th day of school. So, you imagine with 67 came out a lot. But our uh teachers were good sports and they played along and they had our caged creations class, entrepreneur class at school, make matching staff shirts for the staff uh at the high school, middle school, and elementary school. So that's a picture of them having some fun with the kids. Um anyway, uh so we'd like to thank uh some people tonight again, uh Gina Marzola and Tiffany Jones at the elementary school over the last
018month, you know, this prior right after the government shutdown happened, you know, a month or so ago, uh and went into its full uh 30 days or so that it was going on. Um there was a lot of insecurity about food and things for kids and things. So these two counselors uh along with others in our our buildings took uh the initiative to start a tanager takeout type event where kids and families could um come and get things from the school from our food pantry. They uh asked for donations and they received hygiene products and laundry detergent even clothes and things. So, uh, they were able to enhance our rack program that, you know, is alive and well at our middle school and do some things for that special time during that government shutdown when
019there were some extra needs in the community. So, I want to thank them for that. I'd like to thank too this evening our Representative Chris Cassen and Representative Bill Sharma and of course, Senator Sydney Davis uh for uh spending some time at our school today. They spent some time with our administrative team after school talking about the things that are going well in our district as well as things that might be concerns. Uh upcoming uh budget from the governor um was was discussed. Uh a 0% increase is being um promoted at this point at the at the uh from the governor's budget, but we have a lot of friends in uh the legislature who are going to try to do better for us. Uh but there's there's a a lot of challenges that the legislators
020will face this session. So, uh, they came and visited with, uh, our administrative team and then spent time with our school board as well, talking about things from homeschooling to truency to, um, you know, reporting of kids that we have, uh, for assessments and some of the accountability measures we go through a school. Um, property tax relief will be a big topic at the legislative session, which has implications potentially for school districts because that's our major funding source for funding K12 education in South Dakota. So, it was just nice to have them together with us for a few hours to talk about that and I appreciate their time this evening. Um, uh, the picture, I think Daniel's going to put that up there, talks a little bit about, uh, last month I gave a report
021to the Vermillion Public Schools Foundation about our outdoor learning spaces and some of the things that we were able to do with the Offstead grant that we earned from the Vermillion Public Schools Foundation. And that included some equipment purchases, uh large outdoor games, art supplies, tables, benches, shade structures, uh a small stage uh for the elementary, lots of cool sandbox items and totes and things. Um but basically just a space that was created with the our Finland transform ed project from last year. If you remember, kids throughout the district were paired together to talk about outdoor learning spaces and what that could look like. And it could be from leisure to music to arts to reading or anything in between. And so we took the top 12 designs of that and took elements from each
022one of those and we were able to uh by the generosity of the offstead grant from the Vermillion Public School Foundation be able to buy uh materials and things to make those spaces come alive at the elementary school, middle school, and the high school. So, we wanted to thank the U foundation for their support with that. Um, we already shared a little bit that Governor Rhoden has his budget address or gave his budget address last week. Uh the 0% increased education that's being projected um is obviously a concern at this point, but there's a long legislative session left and um we'll be working together with our local folks to um really come up with some very um targeted points of interest and bullet points that our legislators can take to peer as well as our
023lobbyists to talk about why it's important to see that number go up. Uh a few things for coming up. Of course, our winter formal coming up uh at the end of the week. Uh winter break, our Christmas break will be coming up on December 22nd through January 5th. Um and our staff will be coming back on January 5th for our um full day inservice day. And the bulk of that day this year will be uh designed around um AI and its use, ethical use and uh practical uses for from kids and staff members. that is was a result of our um survey to our staff about what kind of PD would be valuable and AI was our number one um uh I guess selection by the staff that they wanted some some extra help with.
024So we company are partnering with a a group called Compass the formerly the TAI office out of Rapid City and so they'll be sending some representatives down to work with our staff uh when we come back from Christmas break. Just a reminder that uh bus passes for second semester will go on sale for our our patrons here at the uh Christmas break and they're $50 during break. Uh but when we return to school, they move up to $75. So take advantage of the the break in price there. Uh just a reminder, too, we've had a couple of snow uh incidences here in the last few weeks. Thankfully, they've all both landed on a weekend, so we haven't had to exercise our school inclement weather plan. uh which I always appreciate. But just a reminder to
025folks at home, uh we always announce that first and foremost through Parent Square, right directly to your phone and to your emails. So make sure that those are up to date, please. Uh but secondly, if you miss that or something is uh not working there, make sure you check the local TV stations, Dakota First News or Kell or some of those locals as well as W NAX and KVHT uh because we'll put those on as soon as we can possibly know um the weather forecast. And also just a reminder that our our plan is is that if we happen to have an inclement snow day where we miss school the entirety of the day. The first one is a freebie for the students which they love. They won't make that day up. Staff will have
026that MAC staff makeup day at the end of the year which they love uh because they need that time at the end of the year. Uh but if we happen to miss a second or a third day, we go into the calendar a bit and we would take away um the early dismissal PLT dates on March 11th and April uh 2nd. Uh we would have full days of school there and make up some of those hours at that time. And if we happen to have a third or a fourth day, uh we would consider making that up at the end of the year, but the board would certainly have an opportunity to uh have input on that calendar there. Uh last couple things. Uh last week I was uh attended a conference on the education
027commission of the states. Uh it was a representatives from 37 states were at this event. Um and basically um their secretary of education um people from each state, some superintendent and state legislators and uh ba the really the discussion talked uh really about attendance in K12 in our nation has become really kind of chronic. We have students in schools throughout our country that are missing 20, 30, 40 days of school and of course the negative and severe impacts that that has on their their education now but their future lives as well. So um all across the country schools are talking about that. So when I get to these meetings I'll be able to bring hopefully some ideas that other states and other schools are trying and we can share them with our friends here in
028South Dakota. funding formulas, school choice, uh, and community school partnerships were the other big topics, trying to to make schools more welcoming and getting community partnerships to help make schools look more like real life for kids uh, so that they see the relevance in in K12 education and then they can make a decision about their futures, whether it's collegebound, military work, uh, tech school, whatever, whatever is right for their future. So, we're excited to be a part of that. Um and finally, we've been there've been a few questions about inclement weather, but also how do we handle the cold at school? What is our threshold for kids going outside for recess and things like that? By uh our general practice is like many schools that if it's zero or above, we will be going outside.
029If it's below zero, we tend to stay inside and have indoor recesses. Uh what we would like to ask from our community though is we do have students that aren't really prepared for even zero. That can be pretty cold for 20 minutes outside. So we're asking that if you happen to have snow pants or boots or gloves or some of those things that sitting around your house that no longer fit someone, uh consider donating those to the school and we would find a student that would be in need of those those types of items because uh some of our kiddos come and and have either forgotten them or just really aren't prepared. So, we've had several great donations so far from um groups and individuals that we uh will we'll announce some of those at
030the next meeting, but we want to thank people for thinking about our kiddos that are out for recess. Outdoor recess is important. Uh like we learned from our Finland experiment. Um those kids go out to recess whether it's below zero or not in Finland. And uh so we've talked about how does that look about getting kids breaks, fresh air, just time out of the building is important. So that's an ongoing discussion we're having in the district. So that's all I have. >> Are there any committee reports as well to share? >> Uh yes. Uh I attended the Vermillion Public School Foundation meeting on November, excuse me, November 19th. And as Dr. Albby mentioned, he made the presentation on those outdoor learning spaces. And yeah, it was really well done. I think very well received. So
031uh I think they were happy to see all those updates. Um there was some discussion about some possible external auditing requirements that they may have now going forward. So kind of talking about what would be needed, what sort of cadence that would have to be on uh and so forth. Um and the the mobile planetarium for the high school actually arrived the day of that meeting. So that was a fun topic of discussion. Uh so uh talked about some possible partnerships maybe with USD's astronomy club and other and ways to get the word out about that resource. uh like maybe a plain talk article, things like that. Um also discussed supporting a possible guest speaker opportunity for the high school and um also looking at uh some new scholarship opportunities in the community. >> Okay.
032So on November 20th, the associated school board directors met to finalize what changes would be made or proposed for the standing positions and also what resolutions would be presented to the delegates. The delegates met the next day on the 21st. And there were only three changes to standing positions. Now those are positions that we don't normally change. They carry over from year to year. And the three changes were uh first one involved in investment in education. We're requesting the state to explore new funding sources. The second one was in non-public school funding and we're asking the legislature to consider prohibiting any federal funding going to non public schools. And the third one was student achievement which calls for student retention until graduation GED or age 18. And all of those were passed. For the resolutions,
033we have a resolution for the compulsory school attendance to be moved to the standing positions and that passed almost unanimously. decision-making authority regarding transgender legislation was amended to recognize the fact that it was it's currently illegal. But when that law changes, it goes back into effect. Uh legal and financial protection for compliance with state law passed. Bond board and bond elections were amended. Board member recall process was amended. The financial accountability waiverss was amended. In other words, these all passed. protecting school district valuations. There was a bill to fund CTE, which is your career technical education. It went down. There were there a lot of people fought for that, spoke up for that, but by and large everyone thought that that was included in our standing positions already. So, it wasn't needed. Unfortunately, I was
034one of them contesting it. Suspension of teacher pay accountabilities was adopted. Property tax reduction or repeal was amended. a tax collection administration fee was deleted that went down. Federal mandates for funding was amended and the school nutrition flexibility was also amended or passed. So that gives a summary of everything that was talked about. Any questions? Too bad on that CTE that [snorts] yes, we weren't real happy with that. >> Well, thanks again too, Mark, for driving up to Pier and back. >> No problem. >> Appreciate it. >> It's a lovely drive. >> Lovely [laughter] drive. >> Jacob, do you have any notes from our personnel meeting by chance with you? >> Uh, no one. uh is mainly just kind of thinking ahead to what uh the upcoming year will look like and a lot of
035unknowns when we had the meeting prior to the the budget address. So was kind of talking what is the number going to be and how are we going to move forward. Additionally just kind of looking at some negotiation dates and what that'll look like in March already. So since that's around the corner really. >> Carol, anything to share? Perfect. Um looking ahead to the Boys and Girls Club, they did their youth of the year competition. So, I know there were several in the community that helped volunteer for that. And if you haven't taken a look at their Facebook page, there was a transformation gift made by Larry Brady and just want to thank him for his efforts and continuing um to support our youth in the community. Otherwise, here um we can move on then
036to our financial reports for our funds. Um anything doc or Mr. Kosher funds? >> Yeah, financial report in the packet. Again, I guess I don't have a whole lot to highlight there. Um, we did receive um, as we do twice a year, we get uh, larger property tax uh, payments that are made to us and we did receive those last month. So, the balances look significantly higher than they did uh, last month. >> Great. Any questions for Mr. Kosher? Seeing none, I would take a motion to approve the funds. >> First by Mark, >> second. Second by Carol. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Post same sign. Motion passes. Are there any future agenda items anybody has? I think let's keep talking about the weather. I've I've been looking uh at some
037um schools up north and kind of what they do for kind of the thresholds and I know having a combined elementary school does make it tricky with our littlest. Um but I do think that uh the right snow gear will go a long ways in kind of getting our kids outside. Um and ultimately teachers need a break too. So to be able to get them sent outside even if it's for 10 minutes of putting mark actually Hannah said she can get dressed in 3 minutes Mrs. Beach has been working on them to get their snow gear on. So 3 minutes even if 3 minutes in 5 minutes out 3 minutes back um that fresh air is necessary and everybody really needs a break. So um let's maybe keep talking about what that looks like. Um
038we have um a couple meetings coming up January 12th and that's not around MLK week, right? That's the week before that. It's not a Tuesday, right? It's our normal Monday. Perfect. Um, followed then by February 9th. We are in need of executive session tonight uh for South Dakota Catify Law 1-25-2 uh for personnel. So, I will go ahead and make a motion and enter us into executive session here at 7:30. Do I need a motion to approve that? First by Jake, second by Carol. We are now in executive session here at 7:30.