001All right. Good evening. I call this meeting to order here on Monday, April 14th, 2025 at 700 p.m. Mr. Kosher, could you please take attendance? Olsson here. Felen here. Skelton here. Boss Ward here. Wigger here. All present. Great. If you could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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 you sign in when you enter the room and please list the topic. If you have not done so, please approach the podium and do. I ask that refrain from listing any student by name or any personnel by name. Is
002there anyone who'd like to address the board? As a reminder, no action will be taken this evening. Seeing none, we'll move on to item A, which is tanner happenings. Lenny and Cammy with the Finland project. Hi, I'm Camden Dibbley, otherwise known as Cammy. It's perfectly acceptable. And I'm Lenny Bilberg. Um, and we're back again. Sorry about that for you guys, but um, we just had our culmination, as you guys were noticing, the top 10 uh, projects today, our top 12 projects actually, um, are featured here today. and we just came to kind of give you an update on how the challenge went this year, but also um some exciting things that we have happening um just in the next couple weeks and through our staff. And um the number one thing that we were going
003to talk about is the challenge this year. We moved it um back a little bit. We started in October rather than right away this as the school year went. And then we culminated with our final events on March 26th with the first round of judging and March 28th with the second round. And um today we thought it would be really fun just to kind of give you guys a a look at the number of people that volunteered to work with us. Um for the first round we had 46 judges um from all levels of Vermillion Society from retired people to retired judges to doctors to lawyers to um artisans to landscapers, you know, and you name it, we had them. Um and it was really a ton of fun for them to get to see
004our kids on that level. And um and then the second day we had an additional 45 judges that judged um at the big event at the uh Sanford Coyotes um sports center where um we had uh tables down on the floor and tables up above and uh truly we heard the best kind of quotes ever. It was said um that this is the best organized chaos we've ever seen. Um, and that is truly what it has to be when you throw in 1,600 students, 300 staff members, and then an additional 45 judges to help you out. And um, not a single judge um, actually said they'd never come back. In fact, they said, "Please ask us to come again." Um, they enjoyed the loudness, they enjoyed the kids, they enjoyed the camaraderie, and um, and
005then also just working together. So, we we were excited about that. in um but to make that happen and um that big event we really depended on our transformed team and then also though our our total staff we we do ask a lot. You're bringing 1,600 students to the um the a new venue all on top of each other and of course there's going to be some kids that are squirly, some kids that don't want to do it, but for the most part if you came the kids um it was truly a wonderful wonderful experience to see some of those kids working together of all levels. Right. We want to make make mention of the the transform team. This was the group that initially when we um had visited Olu two years ago um came
006back and we said okay we've got lots of great ideas but um do you want that this list also? Um yeah we came back and we said we we have some great ideas but we're going to need some help. And so we enlisted um anybody who had volunteered when he initially had presented. Well, there went one of the projects, I guess. Lenny, you can go get that. Um, so these people initially showed interest when we visited the uh each of the the four schools at that point and told them what um ideas we had. We said, "Please let us know if you're interested." And we have Gretchen Burbach, uh, Charlotte Krell, Jen Law, Jasmine Heisinger, Amelia Howard, Kelly Fishbach, Amanda Nihog, Trisha Fischer, Travis Fes, Audrey Job, Cole Figgan, Angie Hos, and Kim Johnson has
007overseen it um throughout as well. Um, and we really personally that is the support that we have needed. There's no way at all these things could be done without those people. And then the nice thing is at each of their levels, wherever they're at, they have their their their go-to and the other people, the support staff all throughout that we don't even know who's helping out, but we've been so so supported by people and that makes it doable. So, big thank you to all of them. And one of the great things about our theme this year, as you guys know, it's for outdoor learning spaces. Um and since that time um we did have 80 teams in the inner circle to be chosen for the top ones. But we had a number of judges actually
008on the outer circle. Um actually a builder in town and a couple of retired teachers that came directly to us after the event and said this deserves to be in the inner circle. I want to build this maybe in my backyard or build this in my next um my next um development in town. And so that is exactly what we want. We want them to be engaged with our students. Our students were proud um to make that happen and um you know maybe they didn't have themselves together the first round of judging but they definitely had a really great idea and um we have a lot of people saying what what's going to happen when is that going to happen next cuz they're excited that they have an opportunity to see themselves um producing something
009for our school. Um but then we have some really fun news I guess before that were you thinking about this? Yeah. Um so this was something uh we had kind of tossed around the idea last year and then after the project forgot totally about it and and went on and um the way we partnered our groups this year each there was a group of four teachers that came together from different grade levels and then they brought their students together and then they divvied them out and somehow divided them into the different student teams. So the four teachers that I worked with um throughout we we worked together and then we would talk about things what we were seeing. Um after the initial meetings we had been in the middle school gym then we went to
010classrooms when the the prototype building began. And so then we kind of had certain groups that we uh would see more regularly and before the end of it then um Jenny Gado and Jen Ashley uh we were talking I don't even remember um Caleb Browers in the group as well said man so and so I'm just so impressed by this student who has really come out of his shell and has just made these strides. The really cool thing is um a lot of these kids they haven't these elementary and middle school teachers haven't seen for a number of years and so suddenly they say high school students that they would not expect to be excelling in certain areas and then when they see that they think oh man this is this is an awesome thing.
011Um so there are a couple students that they had mentioned that um really stood out to them and then once we started talking everybody you know across all grade levels that there are some students that really you know whatever level they were at they really made some strides or put in a lot of extra effort. Uh so we sent out a a Google forms and we asked teachers who were interested um including the St. Agnes teachers who also partnered with our students. Um we asked them to nominate a few students that really they thought just deserved a little attention. Um so we came up with the title magnificent mentor award and it is for rising above to take on responsibility with confidence to model strong collaboration skills and to embody enthusiasm. Um want to pass
012around this just the the little certificate we're giving. Uh 46 different teachers responded and we have 99 names and this is students from St. Agnes. Um, first grade through 12th grade. Um, it's it's enough to to bring a tear to your eye. Um, it it was really really an awesome list to see and we haven't given out any of the certificates yet. We're also going to be handing out a voucher, a little coupon for a free ice cream or free pizza um to them as well. And each of the levels then we're going to ask to do something to acknowledge or to give some recognition to these students. But we're really excited about that. and they didn't have to be part of these winning or the the top 12 at all. It didn't make any
013difference. It was just students that they said these these kids really stepped it up and showed some some awesome skills. So yeah, and it was really great really cool to see the forms sent in and many teachers would write a paragraph about that student and um whether they were at their level or not. And so they they really wanted you to know what that student did and um you might be surprised by some of the names. are some of the students that might not definitely maybe be the best academic students, but they really shined as mentors for our kids or even some of the young ones became leaders um throughout this and and that's been really really fun to see. But um a really new exciting news that will be happening just in a couple
014weeks um u from May 2nd through May 9th, our um a delegation from Finland is actually coming to visit us. There are two teachers and four students from Olu um from one of the schools we visited. Um they approached us last fall and said, "We would like to apply for this grant and we'd like to come to your school." Um we're we thought Did you know where Vermillion is? It's in the middle of the country. Um and they um and they said, "No, we had a really great time meeting you. We'd like this opportunity." Um, but also one of the really cool aspects about it is they have a larger Sami population of native students and it's actually very similar to us. Um, they don't live right near the Sami settlements that are a little
015bit further north. Um, but a lot like Vermillion and so we came up with a joint idea um, on both sides actually. And this is something uh, we had talked with do Dr. Elvie about prior to any of this our next kind of race thinking ahead. Okay, what what next? What next? And so we you know attacked Dr. Elie and what do you think? And he was actually thinking something similar on this top and now twice I think with the outdoor learning spaces and and now this. Um but we had been thinking of making a connection and then in the fall when they emailed me and said would you be interested in participating in this transatlantic grant with us? we would like to focus on the native peoples, indigenous people. And we thought, "Oh my
016goodness, this is really what we've been looking for some opportunity to to do something significant with our uh native population." And um so they sent us part of the the outlines for the grant they had written focusing on Native Americans in Sami from the perspectives of ind indigenous people's cultural identity as well as um as basic life in the different cultures in the schools. Um one of the most awesome things that they do um they also as a part of this they make a transatlantic sock that they knit. So, there's going to be a special tanager sock that they're knitting for us, which I'm excited to see throughout their stay. They actually have to work on it while they're here. Um, and it's a tanager themed sock. So, we're we can't wait to see what
017they kind of register after meeting us. Right. So, they will arrive. Actually, this is entertaining as well. They already have a connection with Columbia University, which I mean, if you think Columbia University, Vermillion School District, neck and neck there. I mean, pretty high levels. Um, so they will be there first. Um, so they will visit New York, then they'll fly here and be here, and they'll arrive on the second, then we'll take them out to the Black Hills. Um, I have a a very generous friend who lets us borrow her cabin, and we'll see a lot of awesome places in the hills. Um, special tour and special visit at Crazy Horse. Um, and then, you know, your regular things that you need to see and do when you're out there. Um, but then we'll be
018back the following week on we'll be back Monday night. Um, and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday will be classroom visits. We're lining up different classrooms that volunteer that they want people right away and we'll be asking around too for specific areas that they would like to visit. Um, we'll have a social evening with the adults. Um, and then the time will go before we even know it and it'll be the 9th and they'll be flying home. So, so yeah, we're really thrilled they would come to us. Um, and uh, then we they have an opportunity. they want us to go and stay just at their school as well. So, it's a really great kind of connection that we hope to keep flourishing over the time. Um, and their school is a uh it's an upper level
019school, but it's fifth grade through seniors. So, it it's a quite a mix. Um, and uh right on the water, super it's a huge school, a huge population, but at their upper level what would be a yimnazium in the in the German school system, but the upper level schools. So the main part of the original part of the school was an old castle which is you know something with a dungeon. Yeah. With a dungeon also. That's where they you know like the old jolly tunnels that we used to have. Exactly. Very similar. Very similar. Yeah. Yeah. But do but are there any questions you guys have for us? We uh you know we have a talking issue so we could go all day um and tell you some of the exciting things that have happened.
020But tell us next steps for these 12. Well, that I thought you were going to tell us that. What we actually hope is that um with through Dr. Alvi, you guys come up with some ideas you really like and where they can go. Um we do know that AMS is on board, Mart Brothers is on board. Um the landscapers in town are on board. Several of them are on board um to help out however they can. Um but we just need to know what the best place is. We talked about we don't really want to put it right on new irrigation, you know, we want to make sure it's going to the right spot um and where it's going to go. And you know, a lot of the kids were well at my design and
021and we had talked about there might be a little bit drawn from each design. Um but there's some really cool things up here and there were some really cool designs that didn't make it. Um but it was there was a lot of excitement and then actually at the end it was well who won who won who won. So, our kids are really excited about knowing to if they had a hand in it um and in making that happen. So, Amelia Howard has uh well, a couple classes of primarily juniors and she had the list of the winning teams and she said, you know, younger students are going to be they're not going to be shy. They're going to ask who won, who won. But she said she had that and she just told the class
022she said, "Well, if you're interested, it's right up here." She said, "As class pass, it would come up and oh well, who is on that list?" you know, just everybody kind of not wanting to show too much enthusiasm but really being interested as well. So, it was it was fun to to be able to share that list and you we are hoping that um yeah, we'll be able to if not combine a little bit from different ones, you know, use ideas that students will say, okay, well, that particular one might not have been mine, but I had an idea that was was pretty similar. And so, kind of see some things represented from lots of different levels. Well, first of all, thank you and and all the committees. Um Paul Epson did uh some videography
023and steel shots for us. So, he's compiling uh uh what this really looked like over at the um sports center on our finale day. So, once he has that complete, we'll publish that. Uh and then of course now we'll be able to um let all the kids know who our 12 winners uh are and then that we're going to be deciding on components over the course of the next several weeks. The board tonight will make official action to allow us to move forward to place these on each of our campuses and then we will finalize start getting those pieces together with dollars and working with St. Agnes to find out what they would like on their campus and then we'll we'll get working in the summer to make it happen. Our goal of course would
024be to have it all ready when kids come back. Uh depending on the sca scale of what we put on each location, uh the materials, some of it will be bought and and be staged things and others will be constructed. So there'll be some work to try to make all that come to life at the same time, but uh we do have a lot of vendors that are excited and eager to be a part of it. So I'm pretty confident we'll have it ready when kids come back. And the cool part is they want to work with our students as well. That's the part they want their input and and that that's the part of this the collaborative part on the beyond just within students that we want and to to the extent that it
025makes pos you know makes sense and is possible have the students involved in planning meeting with the the people who will be building um learning from that and possibly seeing well this is an area that I might be interested in myself someday. Um, so then when it comes to the actual building, yes, there's going to be some areas, I'm sure, that won't won't be uh the safest for kids, but when it gets to be a part, okay, these kids could come and and and rake or, you know, help carry things and just so they can feel like they're a part of it, too. We would love to see that. Well, I just want to commend you guys again for putting together a great program throughout the year, for organizing this all, for flipping it from
026having everybody go to the high school last year to having all the high schoolers come. Uh, as a parent of elementary and middle school kids, I've heard throughout the year the excitement um and just the the kind of interest in the cross grade level collaboration. Um, and can't wait to see how this part of it all plays out. Well, thank you. Thank you. All right. I'm looking for Next up here on our agenda, we have our JAG program, Marie Severson. Good evening. My name is Marie Severson and I'd like to give you a brief rundown of what we've been doing in JAG. I am the JAG specialist and it stands for jobs for America's graduates. It's a new career development and leadership class that started this semester at VHS. although this is South Dakota's 16th
027year of having a middle school or a high school involved in the JAG program. So JEG's mission is empowering South Dakota's young people with the skills and support to succeed in education, employment, and life. And the first step is that I interview prospective students um that are either they come to me and ask about the program or they're referred to me by um counselors or teachers or other staff at the school and I interview them and determine if they would be a good fit for the program. And by that I mean, do they have the desire to be in the program? Maybe they don't know what direction they want to go after graduation. Maybe they want to work on their leadership skills or employability skills or need a little extra support in increasing self-confidence or
028academic or attendance. Um so currently we have 23 students on the roster and everything we do in the program falls under um a model service. So our model services are academic remediation, career association, community service, employability skills training, field trips and guest speakers, guidance and support, and work-based learning. So we spend the majority of our time in the employability skills training. This like the average hours that are spent per participant in each one of those categories just basically tells our vermilion jag story. So every school does it differently. So we won't look exactly like another program in the state or or in the nation. One of the I guess benefits of being um in the JAG program is that I follow up with the seniors for a year after they leave high school. Now, ideally,
029they would graduate or receive a GED and um I contact them for a year. I check in with them, say, "I am still here. I care what you're up to. I want to know what you're doing and I'm here if you need anything or if you just want to talk. If you have any issues or if you have good news, I want to know. So, um that hasn't begun yet because we don't have any um this is our first semester. So, we don't have anyone who has graduated just yet, but soon. Uh, as far as what we've been up to in class, uh, we participated in we were able to partner up with Sarah Roadie and, um, participate in a mock interview at the high school, which was wonderful. I really want to do that
030every year. Um, the students did great. They got some really good feedback and since then five students have filled out applications at local jobs and two of those students are currently working their first jobs. Uh let's see also we had in February we did quite a bit in February. Um I took four students to the capitol and we were able to witness the legislative process in action which was really cool. Um we attended 17 students attended the b career fair in Sou Falls and they ran into a couple of the interviewers from the week before and so we kind of had a discussion about networking and making those connections. Um, let's see. 12 students attended the career development conference in Mitchell and eight of those students actually participated in a competitive event, the knowledge bowl.
031So, they were not expected to do that, but they volunteered to. And I was so proud because that's pretty pretty scary at times, but it was really cool to see all the other JAG programs in the state. Um I have attended um professional development and I have another opportunity this summer for an professional development. I attended the leadership development conference which is meant for students. However, it occurs um the first semester and our class hadn't started yet. Um I have shadowed multiple other programs in Hiron and Sou Falls high schools and Storm Lake Iowa and I have my mentor um is a JAG specialist at uh Impresso and I have a huge network of support. I it's it's really great to meet other specialists and connect with other people. Um essentially we um just need
032to continue to establish the program and integrate it into the community and um attract more students. So any [Applause] questions? Thank you Marie for sharing the kind of initial uh activities of this program. Can you remind me um for how many years is this program funded and also is there a cap on the number of students that we serve or how is how is that determined? Um the program is funded um thanks to a 1003 grant um for four years and [Music] I after talking with Mr. Fry. Um, we kind of determined that somewhere between, um, maybe 30 and 35 students at our high school would be a good number, but I think we could go up to 50. So, I really like the followup with former seniors um, and services that way that I
033wish I had that when I was just graduated and like what do I do now? But um so what do you do in a follow-up session like that? What kind of resources or tools or encouragement? What does that kind of look like? Well, I haven't participated in that part just yet, but from what I understand, it's really just a brief check-in and to see if they need anything or if they want to talk. Um a lot of times, you know, it's just a brief response, I I guess. So, um, yeah, and just good to know that we have their back and like, well, we didn't send you off into the world and hope you swim now. We we got you type thing. So, that's really amazing. The JAG program does a great job, too, of
034a lot of of documentation about what's happening. So, part of her role, uh, Marie will find out, are those kids doing what they thought they were going to be doing? you know, they said they were going to world of work, but they end up going to college or vice versa. Or now they've changed gears completely and went to the military or something different. So, her job will be not only to support them, but to bring that data back to us so that we can use that in our programs and probably supply that back to the state of South Dakota to say, you know, our graduating seniors, 80% are doing what they said they were intending to do or whatever that number might be. So, thanks, Marie. Thank you. All right. Next up here on our
035agenda is to approve the agenda and our conflict disclosures. Um item A is agenda changes. Dr. LV. Are there any changes tonight? No changes. Hearing that I would seek a motion to approve the agenda. So move first by Mark. Second. Second by Mike. All those in favor say I. I. Post same sign. Motion passes. Next up here we have item B which is indication of conflict of interest for South Dakota codified law 3-23. This is Rachel and I have none. Carol, I have none. Jake and I have none. Mark and I have none. Mike, I have none. Great. Moving on. Uh, next is our consent agenda this evening. We have approval of our minutes, resignations, new hires, open enrollments, and bills. The first is our minutes from our March 10th resignations. Taylor Klein, SLPA. Shireen
036Algram, SLP. Casey Thirstston, nurse. Lindseay Gagan, head debate. Royce Miller, middle school title, math. And new hire, Sarah Savon, middle school counsel. Joy Nelson, assistant football coach, and Elizabeth Sykes, high school science. Hearing that, would you like anything to be pulled from the consent agenda? Seeing none, I would take a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So move first by Carol. Second by Jacob. All those in favor say I. I. I. Both same sign. Motion passes. Uh next up here we are not in need of any unfinished business. We're moving on to new business. Um item A, which is approval of the school. Was there new business? No, I'm sorry. I was just waving the M. Okay. Thank you. Trying to read the non-verbal language. So, thanks. Um, first up here then is
037item A, which is approval of our school facility lease agreement. Mr. Nmmith. Hi, Matt. Nith here for Vermillion Community Theater requesting use of the High School Theater and Commons for our summer production of Shrek. Dates of use would be May 27th through July 20th. Uh, with an extra date of two weeks from yesterday, we'll have auditions and then rehearsals start proper on the 27th. Any concerns? We appreciate the collaboration over the years and a lot of work goes in together on getting that auditorium as we need with lights and new new things. So, and we appreciate the use very much of the high school. It's very much a community event every summer there. Absolutely. Fun to have Shrek this year. Yes. you uh you'll notice on on the everything that the the VCT has filled
038out is is customary to what they've done in the past. Uh the only things that we always remind our folks is uh during that time of course uh there would be no charge assuming you would pass that. Uh but if there's custodial needs because there's lots of use of the restrooms and things like that, they would uh they would pay those bills. One thing that would be is that we're excited to have happen this summer. We haven't confirmed how it will work in between all of the work that the VCT is doing and then our own people coming back in the fall is we're working on the the house lights this summer. Last year we spent the summer working on our our theater stage lights, back lighting. This year we uh our intention is to
039do the house lights. So in between their shows and practices, we'll be having guys and uh teams come in to do work on the main lights and get those back to state-of-the-art. They were state-of-the-art 22 years ago, but uh they have shown a little wear and now we're going to get them upgraded this summer. We hope so. But we'll be working with the schedules with the folks from the theater to make that happen. Excellent. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. So, feel free to head out. All right. Next up here, we have item B, which is approval of our health rates for 2025 2026 school year. Uh Mr. Mr. Kosher, if you want to walk us through. Yeah, we uh have that included in the packet this month. Probably way more information than you need there
040from NPIP on the health rates. Uh long story short though, relatively good news, this year we have a 1% increase in our health insurance. That is awesome news after a previous year of 17 18 last year. Yeah. I was curious if I was reading that correctly. I was like, "What?" Yeah. So, yes, good news. Things are and hopefully that uh continues going forward. That should be some good things hopefully for the following year. Any questions for Mr. Kosher? All right. Uh moving on here to item C, approval of our FY25 budget supplement number two. This is also included in your packet this month. Uh some of the main highlights here. still catching up a little bit from the very beginning of the year. If you remember, we used a lot of uh general fund dollars
041to pay for things that we had originally budgeted out out of capital outlay. And the reason for that was to get under that cash balance accountability. Uh we successfully did so uh based on our low month in October. Now, we should no longer have to worry about that uh balance there anymore now that the Esser grant is is no longer. Um, a couple of the items on here that wanted to highlight. Um, that was the main driver of a lot of this, but we also had the uh TSI grant that funded the JAG program that Marie was just speaking about. We did not have that finalized by the time we passed our budget this summer. So, we need to use a supplement for that both on the revenue side and on the expenditure side since
042it is 100% grant funded through that grant. Um, we also have the uh biggest increase there is the $80,000 for property insurance. Uh, unfortunately, we just like many out there have some extreme increases in our property and liability uh insurance rates. Some of it was due to the increased valuation that we brought on with the new elementary concluding. Uh the difference in that value versus what was uh we had in value for the Austin and Jolly buildings was significant. But uh another big part of that was the rate increases that that we're looking at just just like everybody is with their homeowners it seems like right now. And um commercial property is going up considerably. We were hoping that we plateaued, but we do need to increase that by $80,000 here for this current budget
043year. Uh, and on the special education side, a lot total of $120,000 there, but a lot of it was driven by uh out of district placement that we have that we did not originally budget for um or anticipate those costs and then the additional costs for transportation and services with those. Remind me too, Mr. Kosher, the on the GenEd side, the contracted transportation, that 55,000 was that for the extra bus route that we added this past year? That uh was actually an amount that we originally had budgeted out of capital outlay. Uh it's another area there that we are paying out of general fund for this for this year to maintain under that that balance. But as we plan for budget next year, uh we will use the maximum of of the 15% out of
044capital outlay for that. All right. Any questions on the supplemental budget? All right. Moving on next to item D, which is approval of the bus contract with Harlo School Bus. Mr. Cocher, last month we brought forward the uh proposals that were provided and you had approved. we go with Harlo's bus uh service again this year for a new contract. Uh they have since gone out and put together the contract. Uh Dr. Alvi and I have had a little bit of back and forth and they were very good in working with us to revise some language here and there uh to help suit our needs. And so we bring forward a contract to uh approve for you tonight for the next several years for that uh bus services in our district. for several years. It's not
045five years, correct? Five years is what we have down there, but we do have, you know, clauses in there that, you know, if something should happen, um, we can always amend those things. Y, any questions? Uh, next up then is a, um, item E, which is approval of the outdoor learning spaces for the elementary, middle school, and high school campuses. You heard the um explanations a little bit ago from Lenny and Cammy. Um we are looking to place um one of these projects or a combination of these projects at the elementary, middle school, high school, and St. Agnes. Um if dollars extend and we can get more um vendor help, we might be able to do uh two things at one of those campuses depending on that. But our goal now will be to um
046select the the final we're working with the administrators selecting the final pieces that would make sense. We don't want to replicate playgrounds at a new elementary school necessarily. We would be looking for some of those other features, the the reading nooks, the gazeos, the shade structures, um uh maybe some exercise type things. Those are the the things the discussions that will happen now and then in the coming weeks we will be able to move forward with partnerships. So tonight we're just asking permission to actually conclude the project and have your your blessings to move forward with placing them on our campuses. We would love to any discussion. Uh next up then we have is item F which is approval of policy 1002 policy governing fingerprint based criminal history record information. This is a a requirement
047from um the the uh criminal justice folks that when we have to uh do our background check, they audit us to make sure that we have a policy in place. And so we've taken the uh desired policy from them and just implemented into our policy manual. Uh there's really no negotiating on it. You you use their service and it's required by law to have background checks. So it's required for us to have a policy in place. So we took their model policy and added to our current policy. So this is a full replacement of the previous policy or we've never added language. We didn't have a policy in the books. No. Correct. So this is fully brand new. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Thanks for the clarification. In the past, we've all uh there continues to be
048more and more rules on on background checks. For example, how we implement them, who can see them in our office, how it's stored, and those are things we just took care of ourselves in the past with guidance from the state. Well, now we've been told this is how you have to do it. You have to store them in certain places. Only certain people have access to them. And so, we just took their model template and imposed it into ours. So, it's a brand new brand new policy. I did see some language that indicated that, you know, um positions like a referee or some other things are not included. I didn't see any language and maybe I missed it about substitute teachers. Is that We require that. We require that. Um but to be honest, I'll
049have to look through the seven pages there and find it for you. But um it is a part of our practice and policy now that we we do do that. So if it's not in there, um it's something that we do do. That is something that we do. Correct. And continue to do. Absolutely. And if we need to, Carol, we could do a first reading. Sometimes with our new policies, you can just approve it in one, but we can also do a first reading and bring it back for a second reading too if we want to have it looked at. Well, if that I guess I be interested in making sure that it's covered the way we want. It's covered the way we want it and communicates the practice that we know that we want.
050So looking forward to first reading. Yeah. Looking at it though, there is language there. Um the bottom of page 36 about uh substitute teachers. So it's okay. You should still do first reading though. Yep. It includes sub It includes substitute. No, sorry. I read that wrong. It's student teacher. Okay, we'll just do first if we don't mind, we can look at a first reading. We can more thoroughly dive into it and the policy committee if needed can can review. Excellent. Um, next up is item G, which is approval of teacher of the year and classified staff of the um year for 2024 2025 school year. Um, I'm not for sure. Do we have a document that we're going to share perhaps? You know, we we actually shared the names of our folks last at the
051last meeting. Tonight is the um indication of that you guys offer them monetary. If you remember, our teacher of the year candidates um get the 200 and classified folks get $250 award along with their uh plaques and the district teacher of the year gets 750 on top of that. So, just a reminder that this year our classified employee employees of the year were Kayn Wagner at the elementary school, Teresa Stevens at the middle school, and Yeping Wang at the um high school. And our teacher of the year candidates were Laura Chandler at the elementary, Audrey Job from the middle school, Cammy Dibley from the high school, and then Cammy was also chosen our district teacher of the year. So, um last month we announced the names. this month. We wanted to make sure we had
052the awards that go with them. Excellent. Any questions on that? Perfect. Um, looking back, if there's any discussion on any of the items, I would look for a motion for items A through 8. Oh, G. G. Yep. Then you got HL for a motion there. First by Mark. Second. Second by Carol. All in favor say I. I. Same sign. Motion passes. Next up here we have item H which is approval of the VA classified bargaining representative. Yeah. In the packet you have um a letter from the Vermillion Education Association that is asking the board to recognize them formally as the um one of the bargaining agents for the paraprofessionals, secretaries and librarians. So all that's needed there is a motion and then after you've accomplished that then you would reach out to that bargaining unit
053to set up a schedule uh that we mutually agree on. Yep. Mutually agreed upon time and uh start negotiating. Any discussion on that? If not I would take a motion. A motion for for Mark. Second. Second by Mike. All those in favor say I. I. same sign. Motion passes. Next up here we have a discussion of additional teacher in grades three through five presented by the third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. Yeah. I I don't know if you would uh want to take any questions from them, but um they did present a letter to the school board um on behalf of the third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. So you have that had that letter but if you had specific questions or um topics that you'd like to ask from the teaching staff you could
054certainly ask some of them to come forward. Well they have sat here for 45 minutes and very long meeting that normally isn't so long. So would anybody like to come and discuss? We're all very capable of reading the letter but since you did make a good note to be here. Perfect, Miss Mahob. Um, so in our letter, we kind of talked about um the reason we would like to the consideration of adding a third or another position to our third, fourth, and fifth grade. Um, we kind of talked about basically how many kids we have on IEPs, um, the accommodations that we need to make with that. um the kids that we put through our SAT process, which is kids that teachers are referring to either have further sped testing, um 504s, things like that.
055Um uh again, the majority of those kids have been either tested and saw that uh IEP was needed or put on um a 504 plan. So that means that those kids that the teachers had put through or were needed um for those extra accommodations. Um, we talked about basically the increase in the behaviors that are in our classroom um that continue to take time away from our um instructional time and that by spreading them out um into smaller class size can kind of help start to alleviate that. Um and then we have added behavior specialists and aids and incentive programs and all those kinds of things. um that though those are really nice um a smaller class size is just a a huge need for our um for our third, fourth and fifth. We've got
056five sections going up till second and then you take them and put them back down to four and then in sixth grade they go back up to five. Um we have an extra classroom in every single um section for this reason for growth. Um, and we are growing, but what what's really growing is our behavioral needs, our academic needs, um, the accommodations that teachers are continuing to need to make to help, um, make sure everybody's learning, not just, uh, the kids with the higher needs. Um, and yeah, uh, we do track a lot of our data on Swiss, um, which you can all have access to, um, but we track it, um, and the majority of our stuff that's getting put in for behaviors is in the classrooms. And so spreading the uh, them out
057we think would be a huge um, asset to every child in uh, in third, fourth, and fifth grade, not just a small portion of them. So, if you guys have any other questions, I guess one question that I had was just the and you guys might know this as well, the the per grade, how many total kids there are or average class size currently and then if there is a addition what that would look like was one thing I I couldn't remember off the top of my head. Yeah, currently um for example, uh grade three has 93 students, grade four has 104 and grade five has 94. And we would look at like grade five would be moving on. So what second grade? Uh second grade. Yes. 97. Sure. So the the grades that have
058those they might have 17 or 18 kids in a grade you know for that 97 um with five sections moving into third grade then yes and there are huge some like our second grade class has some of the most behaviors out of all of them. I mean there's some significant behavior needs in there. So keeping them at their five sections spread out would be would be ideal. And then that just those third graders or those second graders turn to third graders. So third graders turn to fourth graders. Um but again just considering adding another classroom to those grades would be appreciated. Just for some context, have we for many years been four sections of of second, third, and fourth? Has that been a consistent thing that there were five sections in those lower grades and
059then we moved to four? Mhm. For for a couple years as long as we can remember or every once in a while there was a year I believe they're juniors now where we moved a fourth grade teacher up to fifth grade because even with five sections we still have like 27 26 27 kids in a class which was just I mean that would have put way more way over 30 in a classroom. Um and our classes their their classrooms are not built for that. The size-wise um 27 you are pushing you're pushing it with that many kids in a classroom just with space let alone the behaviors and things like that. So but it's been pretty consistent that we've had third fourth and fifth have just been sitting at four sections for for quite a
060few years. Um so adding that fifth section um I think has been a long time coming. We also just came off a kindergarten roundup. Remind me that was in the 90s again. Yes. 97 90. That was the prelim per prelim sounded like pretty close to where they that and that number is really kind of um hard to target right away because we get especially at the younger grades, we get a lot of this move in, right? I'm just moved to town or preschool kid. I'm going to send them to kindergarten now. So that one's a little bit more shaky at the beginning than some of our upper grades. But and we do get a lot of kids that we planned for, you know, 21 22 in a class and then this year in fourth grade
061they just every kid who seemed to move to the district was in fourth grade and they went from a small class size to 27 28 kids I mean in a class. So that's allowing for that growth um but also spreading out. There's nothing us teachers would not would greatly appreciate a very small class size like instead of the expectation just that we can handle 24 to 26 kids. Yes, we can, but there's so much more that these kids come with that the smaller class sizes really allow us to get to those individual needs of those students. So, Miss Mo, we talk on the sidelines a lot about what the difference is of having small class sizes versus having a behavior room. And I think many times we talk about how a smaller class size would
062be a priority. Is that if you were having to pick yourself not the 25 people you is that I mean when we're trying to look at budgets we're looking at 1.25% increase. I'm just trying to, you know, obviously second moving to third is a is a high priority, too, but just trying to balance what we've done for SR SR dollars and trying to keep those positions and then just is it make that that strong to just have a smaller class size and that can really handle what you guys can do in the classroom? Yeah, I mean the smaller class sizes I I say are extremely that yeah, that's beneficial, right? But those I don't want to take anything away from the behavior room or the aids because that allows those children a break. Does that
063make sense? And allows that extra support for teachers. Yes. Um, so both of these I think are I say are are just as important. Like I yeah I don't think you can I say replace like having a classroom extra classroom teacher but then take away the behavior side of it or the behavioral um teacher or aids like that's again I they go hand in hand. I mean we work together to really help these kids and as we know some kids just need a break. They just need a place to go. And if you have an extra classroom or that's great in the smaller class sizes, but those kids removing them and putting them there for a break can help reset them to come back to the classroom, right? But if they don't have a place
064to go, we don't our administration is spread thin, our teachers are spread thin. That behavior is just another thing that school districts are having to add because of the needs of the kids. It's no more than adding. That's like saying, should we get should we have less special ed teachers because you guys now have smaller class sizes. That's that's just it's you cannot compare. They are both extremely vital. Extremely vital. So yeah. So thank you guys. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Any further discussion? We're not in an hour yet, so we got time to spare, guys. We clearly we've got um uh the negotiators have had an opportunity to see the recent financials. The finance committee is constantly looking at those. We do have a finance committee meeting that we'll be trying to plan. Um
065so we can bring up data points for you guys to consider at that meeting so you can look at um additional costs, rewards or benefits of of these positions and and have discussions. If you need information from the principles, we can make sure that they're available. So whatever you think you need to make that decision, we can make sure we have it for you. That's great. Any other discussion? All right. Uh, moving on to item J. I'll just say I appreciate the show of uh interest in thinking about or talking about uh steps forward. Love to see the discussion too on having uh actual space because many times we um had that um play where Mr. Jacobs particularly didn't know where to put somebody. And you know, thank uh Mr. Lind is here. He's been
066one of those teachers that we hired early on as that flex kind of teacher. He's been through multiple grades. Um, as there was a need always from I think you've taught every grade, second through fifth year. Third. Third. Not third. Nope. All right. Well, we'll have I'm not going to say that. We might have an opening in third, Mr. Lynn. So, never say never. All right. Moving on next uh to discuss the school board election. Yes, we had two uh upcoming vacancies on the school board. That was Mark and Jacob's positions. We had two individuals fill out and file petitions. That was Mark and Jacob. And we did not have anybody uh that filled out a petition to challenge. So, congratulations. So, no need for an election this year. That just saved you about three
067grand, Mr. Kosher. Congratulations and a lot a lot of work for your admin team. So, thank you for that. All right. Next uh up here, we are moving on to our reports. Dr. Eli. Yeah. Uh some of this we've talked about, but uh just again uh thanking um the VCDC for recognizing the district with a brick award um at the recent events. uh and a brick award was given just for the expansion of the elementary school as a chamber member. They recognize growth and opportunities that the district and other businesses provide. Uh I wanted to thank the Envision Ed committee and the staff and the students for their year-long work. We've talked about that and especially thanks to all the outside supports that help make that possible. The judges, the vendors, the people that have
068shown interest or just ask really good questions about that program. Um that's been really fun to be a part of. Uh just the board has received some of their committee work. You know, the building committee's been working on um looking at some things that are in your packets there with from the gu the the garages and the carports. Um also looking at restroom additions at the ver elementary school. Um you'll see some photos there. Finance again, we continue to pour over the state aid 1.25% increase and working on suggestions for the increases uh to that as well. And um capital outlay budgeting is going on currently because in May we will be coming back with a preliminary budget for the board uh to consider to be tweaked during July and then or excuse me June
069and then of course in July we'll have our budget hearing for the the citizens to see what you will be spending money on for the 2526 school year. So, lots going on there and negotiations committee is continuing to work with um their u uh meetings and opportunities with the VA on on things for that. And the food advisory committees met. I'm sure the board committee members will report a little more on that. No school of course this week for the uh Easter holiday weekend. So, no school on Friday or Monday for kids. And our smarter balance testing is in full swing. Um some groups are getting near completion, but some are just starting that process. So kids in grades 3 through 8 and 11 um are having the opportunity to work on their Smarter Balance
070assessment. Um we hope to have those test results near the end of the year here. Um of course and then we'll be doing a report for you in the fall when we return. And then of course we wanted to congratulate uh Rachel on her award from the VCDC. She was uh basically a fire plug award, just a go-getter award from the VCDC um in recognition of being um one of the folks in our comm community that um is involved in a lot of things and leads in a lot of ways. So, some of you were at that event and got the opportunity to see Rachel receive that in person. So, well deserved. And that's it. All right, school board reports. food service. We'll start with Carol. Uh the food service uh committee met at the
071elementary school um earlier this month and uh discussed some of the participation numbers and um let's see anticipated changes going forward. Um, great little active group we had. Yes, we had um some representatives from the schools and uh very good feedback from uh our student reps which is um good to hear. Appreciate too Mr. Fry or especially Luke Hay's brought over some of those high school kids and that was great to see you over there again. Negotiations. Well, we've met and we have not come to a conclusion yet, but we will be meeting very soon. Sounds good. I will add uh Boys and Girls Club is getting ready for their summer programming. Um but do know they're they have their monthly um rates, but if you do send an email, they can help work out
072some weekly rates as well. So, I know for many you don't necessarily need a whole um whole summer, but you need some weeks when when you need it. So, reach out to the Boys and Girls Club. um separately and they can help accommodate that. Rachel, can I add to that as well that um the summer food service program is scheduled to start on May 27th through approximately August 13th. And so students that are both at St. Agnes and in the Boys and Girls Club uh will be um attending the food service program at the high school. Since we're doing some uh kitchen work at the middle school this year, uh we'll be having the summer food service program there. So, uh, it's been a very successful program for a number of years and, um, we
073feed a lot of kids during the summer, which is really neat. It's a long-term goal. Will it be to be at the elementary schoolish? Yeah. Yeah. Our goal will be next year to to move it to the elementary school. Yeah. Now that all of our schools have air conditioning, the booster club is going to be celebrating um coaches Gary Culver and Kirk Hogan at the um Hall of Fame banquet and that is going to be April 26th at the high school. So tickets are available for purchase for that. And also, it's uh my understanding they're working with the um school district in talk about supporting a new uh digital board for our um the high school gym, which is of course used at sporting events, but also other events like the veterans service and all
074different types of things. So, um they meet the first Wednesday of every month if anybody's interested in joining that. Um I'll have uh equalization board actually tomorrow. So that'll be um I'll have more to report on that. Um Mark and I were at the CTE um appreciation lunchon and heard about uh the different um internships that some of our seniors were on and eat some tacos and learned about that. So it was a that was a great time. I had a good time at the middle school science fair several of us did. So that was put on very well by the middle school. All right. Uh next up then we can move on to our financials. Um item A is the funds. Mr. Kosher. Uh financial report in your packet. Again this month don't have
075a lot to highlight there but would answer any questions that you might have. Uh as Dr. Alvie mentioned, we will have the first draft of the uh preliminary budget for the May meeting. So, we will likely need a finance committee meeting here in the next couple weeks and we can talk through some of that. Any questions on the financials? Seeing none, I would take a motion to approve. So, move. Second. First by Jacob. Second by Mark. All in favor say I. Post same sign. Motion passes. Uh, next up here, do we have any future agenda items? celebrate the winner hopefully, right? Um I believe um we could potentially look at either May and June our facility rates for uh next year that we don't seem to often impose, but any other agenda items? Perfect. Um
076our next meeting will be May 12th here at city hall followed by June 9th. We are in need of executive session for South Dakota codify law 1-25-24. Southakota codify law 1-25-2-1. I will make a motion to enter executive session. First by Mark, second by Jacob. All in favor say I. I. We are now in executive session. Thanks for guys coming out.