001We're going to call the meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Good evening, Deian. Will you kick us off this evening with our good news report? >> Absolutely. I'd be happy to do that this evening. Oprah Winfrey said, "A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself." And that quote, like so many others, help us summarize the deep connections that happen between people when intentional positive relationships are forged and fostered. And our schools, our teachers, and our students are richer because of the hundreds of adults in our community who answer the call each year to walk alongside our youth as positive role models
002and mentors in their lives. We're grateful to have two school-based mentor programs and many other programs in the community. And one of those teammates of Sou Falls was recently honored as South Dakota chapter of the year. And so this evening, um, Brianna Venampamp, executive director and program coordinator of Teammates Mentoring of Sou Falls is here to tell us more about the growth of that program in our community. Greetings. Get aligned here. Um, as Dian said, I'm Brianna Venicamp, director of teammates mentoring program of Sou Falls. Grateful to be here today to tell you a little bit about teammates. We have a lot to be proud of. In 1991, Tom and Nancy Osborne collaborated with their community to create the one-to-one school-based mentoring program we now know today as teammates mentoring. Over the past 34 years,
003the program has grown to serve more than 50,000 students over six states. Our teammates chapter launched in Sou Falls in 2020 through a partnership with the Sou Falls School District and the Great Life Cares Foundation. We began serving students in the spring of 2021. We shall not name what happened earlier in 2021, right? Teammates was added to work alongside LSS to tackle the ever growing weight list of kids wanting a mentor. There we go. At Team East, our mission is to positively impact the world by inspiring students to reach their full potential through mentoring. We work with students in 12th in second through 12th grade. We provide the mentee with training to help them learn about healthy boundaries and expectations for their mentoring relationship. Whenever possible, teammates mentors make a commitment to stay matched with
004their mentee and remain a caring, consistent presence in their lives until that student graduates. Because of this longer commitment, we take time in the beginning to take mentor and mentee preferences into consideration and match with intention. their senior year. Mentees who have had a mentor for at least three years are eligible to apply for scholarships to four-year, two-year, or technical colleges. Last year, teammates gave away $6.7 million in scholarships to graduating seniors across their program. Augustana University recently joined the list and now they offer full and three4s academic scholarships to graduating teammates mentees. As teammates mentoring of Sou Falls enters our fifth year in the Sou Falls School District, our program has grown from serving students at two elementary schools to serving over 200 students across all four high schools, all seven middle schools including
005Axto and 16 of the 25 elementary schools. One of the reasons we received chapter of the year is because for the past three years, our program has exceeded the 15% growth per year that Teammates recommends. As you can see, we have almost doubled the amount of students we're serving in two years. That along with strong a strong board, school district support, and collaboration with other nonprofits in our community means we are all working together to create conditions where mentoring can thrive and students benefit. As you can see by this last slide, the data we collect on students who participate in our program shows students with mentors have increased academic improvement, decreased behavior incidents, and fewer absences. And 97% of teammates mentees also graduate from high school. We hope to increase the number of mentors in
006the Sou Falls School District by continuing to work with Lutheran Social Services and the helpline with their newly created mentor recruitment and engagement specialists. This position will focus only on recruiting for the two programs, LSS and teammates, and helping engage mentors at three schools. We hope this leads to creating additional positions like this to help other schools in the future. We're always looking for mentors to work with students and hope that more people can continue to join our team. Thank you for your support. >> Do we have any questions? just yeah I well not questions really but I have a a couple of comments and I want to thank you Brianna I know that uh we've actually exchanged emails kind of recently um I have a a child who is a mentee and um loves
007the program and is so grateful to have been part of that program for several years and I think one of the things that was um was good for me to understand was that um you know I I've I've worked as as a mentor myself or volunteered as a mentor myself and been involved in a lot of mentoring organizations over over the years and probably wouldn't be sitting here today if I hadn't done that um just because that's what really kind of got me involved in um in things that benefited children and families. But what I came to understand about mentoring is it's not just the children that have, you know, maybe behavioral issues or um other, you know, challenges that need mentors or can benefit from mentors. It's every single child. Um, and as a
008parent, having another adult that you can trust, that your child can talk to dur and especially during the school day, um, that has been vetted and thoroughly background checked and, you know, the communication is limited and everything's safe, but they have another trusted adult that they can talk to about, you know, whatever's on their mind, whatever they might be struggling with. Um, we know every every kid has things that they're they're working on and and what better um than to have another uh responsible adult who who's there to support your kids. So, yeah, I definitely encourage everyone to become a mentor and to get your kids involved um in these programs. Teammates and LSS are both incredible programs. So, thank you. Uh Mark, >> I have a question. So, I'd like to know how you
009approach someone. Do you get a list of names? Maybe friends, ask other mentors that people recommended. >> You mean for recruiting? >> Yeah. Yes. Uh we one of the big things that we Yep. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> One of the most successful techniques is to have another a mentor who's currently mentoring nominate someone else. You go up, you have a conversation with them, say, "I think you'd be good at this." Because every person who's thought about it has a reason why they haven't done it yet. And when you can answer those questions and reduce those nervous fears, they don't want to let them down. Can I make it work in my schedule? Is it really what it says it is? Then they go, "Oh, okay." And once you get that moment of like, "Oh,
010okay. I can do this." Then they are more likely to sign up. >> Yeah. >> So that is where we have focus and have the most success. you go out and speak to groups and you get one on average one to three people sign up every time. Doesn't matter how large the groups are. So we really focus on that one to one. >> In fact, right now Mark, we have a recruitment tool going on. I have two um for anybody that's here and wants to learn more about teammates. I've for the last four or five years have been a mentor uh with teammates and I have two uh free coffee coupons to take you out for coffee to learn a little more about teammates. So Mark, >> you're taking me out. >> I'm taking you
011out. >> There you go. >> Got to ask my wife first. >> I got my one. >> I'll take her I'll take her [laughter] along. Right. We've got to Right. I'm going to win this award yet. Well, and second, I want to um thank Mayor Ten Hanken. He has been a great advocate for both Lutheran social service as well as teammates just mentoring in general um >> to get out and you know support a mentee. So >> want to thank the city of Sou Falls for their consistent support. >> Yep. You know, in education, we talk about the four Rs of relationships, relevance, rigor, and results. And none of that happens without the relationship piece. And that's why it's number one. So, I want to thank you and all the mentors in our district for
012doing what you do and establishing those relationships and those healthy one-on- ones with kids so that they can move forward in their learning and their growing. So my question is what's your need right now for mentors? >> Well, we've kind of been operating I have right now I have 60 applications that are submitted that are waiting and but throughout the district when we talk with both programs we're kind of sitting at that 450 time 400 because every school you go to has 10 to 12 students in mind that could benefit. And that's not even including the ones that once a student has a mentor, they say you should get a mentor to their friends and and that group grows. So >> So the need is great right now. >> Yeah. Always. >> Okay. Thank you.
013>> Congratulations on being the chapter of the year. That's a great award and the growth. Um and Gail or anybody else that's interested. It's a great way to dust off your brain to playing old maid hearts, dominoes, any of those games you haven't played for a while. It's It's a lot of fun. Just be ready to lose. >> Yeah. [laughter] There you go. That's what they want. They want to win. So, just be ready to lose. >> Yeah. And Brianna um does a great job of getting out and about as well as our our friends at LSS. Um but we also have a program that's recruiting for those three schools, Annie Sullivan, Cleveland, and Terry Redland Elementary. And the helpline center 211 is just the easiest option if you have a question about mentoring at
014all in our community. Whether it's mentoring in our schools or mentoring uh another adult or someone um who you know maybe a young mother or or whomever. Um, if if you have a passion for this, 211 really can get you connected to Brianna, to LSS, to one of these three elementary schools, or any one of the other mentoring um, programs that we have in our community. And and really um, we are richer because people step forward and and really give of themselves. And as a mentor myself for over 20 years, you get so much more than you give. And the smiles are just endless. I got to see my little guy last week and little guy. Oh my gosh. No, he's he's in seventh grade this year and he just went boom. Shot right up.
015So, >> thank you. >> Absolutely. Good job. >> Dr. Nold has one additional bit of good news that uh he's going to share at this time as well. My mentee felt so sorry for me last time or last week that he took my uh person on on shoots and ladders in Candyland Candyland and moved it up by his because I was so far behind like oh thank you buddy. Uh that's not the good news report. [laughter] This uh letter or email is from one of our attendance liaison. It was to the remaining attendance liaison or the other attendance liaison and Mr. Conrad, myself and and Dr. Zeke. Uh, so I just wanted to read this to you and the impact of the program. Just wanted to send a happy email today, one that reminds us
016why we love what we do. Back in year one of the grant, so two years ago, I worked with a sixth grader who had major school avoidance. We would he would hide in his dad's truck and beg not to go inside. I'll never forget his dad, this big burly guy, standing out in front, tears saying, "I don't know how to help my son." Uh, we worked hard to get him connected with peers and slowly started to make a difference. Fast forward to today, we're celebrating kids with perfect attendance for quarter 1. And that same sixth grader, he has perfect attendance. It's so awesome to see the changes and things he's overcome. This is why I love this job. So incredible letter from our attendance leaison and and that's why they do what they do. So
017that was good to read as a good news report. >> That is Thank you. Okay. Can I please get an approval of the minutes uh from the meeting held 10:14 2025? >> Second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Um we do not have any persons wishing to address the board on non-aggenda or agenda items. So we will move on to approval of tonight's agenda. May I please get an approval a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Um, any conflicts of interest? Seeing none, we will move on to item nine. Can I please get an approval of the consent agenda items A through G? So, >> second. All in favor? >> Opposed? That passes. Dr. Nold, we will turn it over you to for some
018reports of the superintendent. >> Thank you. And we do have three reports this evening to be able to go through. Uh the first report is our district demographics report. So we're really looking at our student demographics and Deian Conrad will provide us with that report. >> Thank you Dr. Nold. It's my pleasure to come before you each year and share with you a compilation of the work of pretty much every department and every person who is here in this room um serving as leader in the Sou Falls School District. uh we gather the information together. That is our district demographic report. And this report is often delivered uh out in the community at service clubs, at businesses that are interested in learning about um what's happening in our schools. We share this with our lawmakers
019and just really anyone who has a general interest in uh what we're doing in the Sou Falls School District. Many companies will also call and ask for details in this demographic report as they might be um you know writing something or even nonprofit organizations writing for grants and things like that. So certainly u a piece that gets a lot of eyes on it and we are very proud to share with our community as well. So we start out with our district priorities and these priorities have uh been in place for a number of years now. Academic success, community engagement, well-being, staff excellence, and the effective use of resources. And we say that every decision that we make and recommendation that we bring before you as a board uh falls underneath one of these categories. And
020these are the things that we are uh setting our sights on because we know that delivery in all of these areas will help us uh deliver a great educational product for our public school students. Our mission is to educate and prepare each student to succeed in a changing world. Dr. old has uh developed sort of a statement by which he stands and we talk about strong public schools um are essential to our freedom and to our future and that we welcome all students from every background, culture, ability and life circumstance. And we promise each one of those students the same thing that a challenging education waits for them and it's grounded in engaging coursework and real world learning experiences. We have so many offerings available to our students and again that is thanks in part
021to our wonderful community that steps forward and joins us in the efforts uh of our public schools and we cannot um go on without saying enough about our staff. They show up every day. They are the faces welcoming students into the classroom every single day. stretching students beyond what that student thought was even possible to discover their path to success. And we have so many examples of of teachers and even our as Dr. Nol said our attendance liaison coming beside students and celebrating the wonderful achievement their personal gains their their classroom gains their schoolwide gains. it. We can't do it without our teachers and they are really the backbone and they help us make a difference every single day. Our junior kindergarten to 12th grade enrollment um our numbers have gone down slightly again. Um
022over the last couple of years we've seen a dip and uh that puts us about the same as where we were in 22 23. Um we continue to watch the uh birth the birth rate in Sou Falls and then there's a difficult calculation that I don't even try to understand uh that is done to determine what five or sixyear-old students who were born in Minhaha County will be joining us in this in the schools um five or six years later after their birth. And so we continue to watch that. Obviously um our funding in public schools is based on the enrollment on the last Friday in September and that is the count 24,059. Our student diversity over time has uh changed about 1 to 2% every year. We did notice that slowing a little bit
023this year. Um we have become more diverse. uh.7% more diverse this year and as mentioned over the previous 20 years that had changed between 1 and 2% uh but a a wonderful reflection of our world that is right here in Sou Falls where our students can meet and learn about the world without ever having to travel to another country because their friends their classmates are here to share that with them. And so we believe that we are uh better because we have all of those cultures and backgrounds amongst our students. Um they teach us every single day. Our English learners sit at 3,086 students this year. We are representing 115 languages spoken in the homes of our students. Our highest uh birth countries outside of the United States include El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Mexico.
024Our highest uh languages outside of English are then Spanish, Swahili, Amharic, Kunama, and Nepali. And those five have stayed the same. Uh, I want to say probably for the last 10 years or so, we've had the same five languages that have been representative of our our largest population of non-English-speaking students. Our free and reduced meals are about holding steady to the same that we saw last year. You'll notice on the left hand side of the screen 10 years ago, which again we haven't seen much change over time, uh there was that period of time when we did have meals that were free to all students because of the pandemic. And so we did not require and were not requiring families to submit an application for free or reduced meals. So of course our data is
025null in in that particular area. Um but as we rebounded after that uh first year, we had some difficulty getting families to uh understand that they had to reapply every single year. And so we continue to work on that and uh share that messaging frequently. Um 51.5% of our elementary students qualify for free or reduced lunch. 48.1% of our middle school students and 36.9% of our high school students. We would caution and make note that the 51.5% is really probably a better reflection of each of the middle and high school levels as well. But uh there are many different options happening at the middle and high school level. uh at the high school, not the least of which is open lunch. Uh you know, for those who are able um juniors and seniors to to
026leave campus and uh they may just not be applying. Um our district as a whole is 46.5%. Oops. Boy, that jumped ahead. uh special education. We serve 4,397 students uh ages 3 to 21 who have special needs for their education, be able to access education uh with their abilities and to help them be successful. That number is up 243 over the previous year. Certainly, you probably know as uh an individual and as a family that Sou Falls is a wonderful place. um if you need medical care of any sort and we continue to see a number of families move to the Sou Falls area because of the quality medical care they can receive here and so our numbers continue to go up in the area of special education needs. Currently 17.6% of our preK through
02712 enrollment qualifies for that special education. That's up from 16.2% 2% last year and 15.5% the year prior. So you can see that those numbers um continually to go up and our special education staff meet those families and the needs of those students and uh do their best to help them access education in a successful and engaging learning environment just like every other classroom in our our school district. In addition to that, we have 2,978 students who have 504 plans and 504 plans are uh available so that again students can access their education at a way that is uh meaningful for them. It might mean they have receive additional time on a test. um if they have, you know, some difficulty processing things like that, um it might mean that their schedule starts a little
028bit later in the day or maybe gets done a little earlier for various reasons. But again, um we are providing access to education. And so whatever it is that that student needs, our staff is there to meet the needs of those students. And speaking of staff, [laughter] we employ 1,936 teachers in our schools. And of those, have their master's degree or beyond. And yes, we even have some doctors who are classroom teachers. And uh grateful for every educator who joins us along the journey of our students. Our non-eing staff um is 1,479 and that includes a total uh you know it might be our custodians, our clericals, our EAS uh or ESPs, sorry changed their uh vernacular around that and our total staff is 3668 people. We fluctuate between being the third and fourth largest
029employer in the Sou Falls School District or in the city of Sou Falls I should say. Staff excellence um really proud of the number of teachers who stay with us throughout their entire career. We had 69 first year teachers join us this year. We have 251 in the first three years of employment. Then we have uh 471 in the 4 to 10year category, 618 in the 11 to 20 year category, 408 21 to 30 years, 31 to 40 years brings us 115 brave souls. 41 to 50 years, we have three individuals and one person has 51 years plus. So amazing legacy that our staff uh brings and all of their knowledge is is able to be shared with those new teachers. Um talk about mentors and the need for mentors. Uh those those 69 coming
030in. Uh we want to make sure we're supporting our first year teachers and those in the first couple of years because it is a little isolating when you get into a classroom that door closes and you're sitting there with 25 or 32 young minds looking at you. And so certainly mentoring is a real need amongst our staff as well. And here's a greater breakdown of our staff makeup. Our teachers being that largest percentage, 1936. Education support professionals, previously known as education assistants, we have 529. We have 239 specialists in a variety of areas. Custodians, uh, and custodial managers, 235, and they do a fantastic job of keeping our buildings just, uh, spotless. Um, employment contract folks, we have 64, clerical 161, child nutrition 151, and administrators 103. This year at the start of the school
031year, uh Dr. visited every one of our employee groups and really laid out his vision uh being in his first year as superintendent and we settled on the theme of be the difference and that uh being the difference can be done in a variety of different ways. You can be the difference if you're a custodian. You can be the difference in the lunch line and with that interaction and and relationships you're building with students. you can be the difference in uh the office, answering the phone, um greeting c uh greeting visitors, parents, um everyone has a role to play and can be the difference. And so, uh we continue to ask our staff to show up every single day. They do it and they do it with a smile on their face and um we're
032very proud of of what we're able to deliver to our families in the Sou Falls Public Schools. Um, additionally, the academic uh, success portion is typically part of this report. Um, there are some finalizations happening with the numbers uh, from the state on that. And I believe in your next board meeting, you'll be getting those. Once those numbers are complete, we will add those slides to this uh, larger document. So again, it's a full picture of what our district stands for and all the people who um help us make the public schools a great place to be. So with that, I would ask you to acknowledge the 202526 district demographic report. >> Okay. I'm going to ask for a motion to acknowledge it and then open it up for questions. So stand by, please. Um,
033can I please uh get a motion to acknowledge uh the report? >> Second. >> Okay. Um, we'll open up for questions or comments or observations. Well, I just have one observation and this is I mean this we go over a lot of data here um uh this evening concerning the demographics and the enrollment but for us as a board I can't speak for anybody but for myself I know it's so critically important because it really helps to understand the patterns that we see behind the growth. So, thanks for carving out the time to do that. And why that is so um critically important is then we can see the areas of stability or the areas of shift and how we're planning for the future. And that is really essential information when we are looking at
034the making good decisions regarding our staffing. Um I mean 36 or 3,668 um people that make up our difference to district to be the difference. um our programs, the ELA that you touched on, the reduced and free uh meals, the special education, uh the 501 um uh needs um as well as our facilities. Facilities are so critically important. Uh but anyway, we just really need that information to make some sound um um sound and useful um decisions for the district. So, go ahead, Gail. >> [clears throat] >> I just want to reiterate one number. You went and gave us a lot of great numbers, but here's one that sticks out to me. 65% of our teaching staff have master's degrees or higher. That's a wow. It doesn't happen in every district that way. And when
035we wonder why we have such a strong district, it starts with that foundation and then we surround our teaching staff with all the great other staff that we have that help make their jobs so so good. And so, you know, we celebrate a lot of successes in this district, but it starts right there in the classroom. And when you've got well-trained, well-educated staff teaching our kids, we're always just going to go up. >> So, congratulations. >> What employer won't want onethird of their staff being master's degree? So, that's Yeah. What was it? 65. Was that the latest? >> Two. Two. >> Two3. >> [laughter] >> Well, >> that's a lot to say. Yeah. And I'll just, I guess, point out one other number, and that's our our special education number. Over 4,000 4,000 students in
036in special education programs, which I think at one point I was told that would that if that were a school district's a school district on its own, it would be the sixth largest in the state. Once again, it's one of those numbers that that bobles between fifth and sixth, >> but definitely in the top 10. >> Yes, >> definitely in the top 10. >> Um, so, you know, just just thinking about that and the impact and as you mentioned, the great quality healthc care that we have in Sou Falls and how key it is that we keep that special education program strong for those kids and those families um in particular. >> Absolutely. Yeah, >> I did uh Deian had had mentioned um earlier that we use this multiple times as we go out and
037present information to our community and it exactly is that uh to show the strengths of our school district. Um and it is absolutely a strength of diversity in so many different ways. uh the diversity of our district that our students can come in contact with and work with and sit alongside and share information and talk about so many different topics uh and get a world global perspective before they even leave our high schools. And that's benefited them greatly as they move off into the the secondary schools or uh you know obviously post high school. And so it's a benefit to our kids to be able to see those things, experience those things, and truly be able to interact with each other. This past week I was at the Lakota Music Project where they talked about
038uh sharing diversity and working with that and when they had interviewed me uh being there I said you know this isn't a a children's problem. It's not our kids' problem. They accept each other and they do an incredible job. It's an adult problem. >> Um and our kids do an outstanding job of of working with each other and accepting and knowing how to interact and share ideas and concepts. So it's incredible to see that and our teachers do a great job working with them on that. So thank you Okay. Any any other questions? Are we ready to vote? Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> We have acknowledged the district demographic report as well as the enrollment. >> Our next report will be on the K12 follow enrollment. So, Mr. Morrison comes
039early in the fall to give us the pre numbers. And this one here will build upon what uh Deianne has provided for us, Miss Conrad has provided for us and give us the demographic breakdown of our final fall enrollment that we use in that last Friday of September. >> Good evening. As Dr. Nold said, I was here about a month and a half ago giving you the uh preliminary numbers which are traditionally we give a day four count. It's the way we've always done it. And then we come back and give the final count, uh, which is always the last Friday in September, which was September 26th. And we just signed off on the final enrollment where we reconciled with the state on on Friday. So, we will move to the final numbers. Um, and
040I think things played out largely like we thought they would. So, uh, our final enrollment, uh, PR, uh, junior kindergarten through, uh, 12th grade was 24,059, which was 172 less than last year, and, uh, preK was down a little bit as well. So I would say one thing to note is uh between day four and the final count uh which as I said just happened on Friday there's a lot of uh enrollment changes that go on. So we processed or the the clericals and registars nearly 600 student records between day four and the final count. Uh and so those are things like instate out ofate transfers. uh there are kids that are moving to homeschool, kids that are dropping out, all of that. So there's still a lot of churn. So um if we look
041at a predictability, last year the preliminary count was at about 99.4% um or the final count of the prelim and this year was a little less predictive at 99%. But uh certainly the the preliminary account uh certainly gives us um a a good idea of where we're going to end up for the year. Uh I think Deian showed you this. So you can see uh sort of the um we were climbing uh through 20 23 24 and then we've dipped down the last two years. And again that's just been if you looked at one single cause that you can point at it's really the the kindergarten class and we've been down in the 1700 range instead of up in the 192000 range. So, uh, we'll continue to monitor, but that but that's really the, um,
042the driver of that. Um, just looking at it, uh, elementary school down about 181 students. And again, that's because of the incoming kindergarten class being much less than the fifth graders that were moving on to middle school. Uh, middle school pretty stable and then high school down slightly. And I'll give you another view of that. It's easier to look at by cohort than count here. Um here we can look at the uh elementary schools sort of by uh location. And so on the left hand box you can see we've got the westside schools. Uh and really the single biggest uh change there is the opening of Marcel Lobau and that was really uh drawing students from three different places from um from Hayward from Pedigrew and from uh Hawthorne or not Pedigrew Renburgg and so
043you can see the changes there. Um we opened Marcel Leau the final count was 281. They are also a rise program. So they also attract some of those students to uh which is part of that enrollment as well. Um I think if you looked at central Sou Falls and you took out the change in Hawthorne, it would still be down. So we still see pressure on the core on those core schools and their enrollment uh dropping. You can see the east side very stable. Uh not much change there at all. And then the specialty schools um you can see really the elementary immersion um the closing down of that uh school which you were aware of from last year. So uh all in all the major changes the Marcel Lobo and then uh I think
044just the core uh schools that are sort of we're seeing some decline there. Uh middle schools pretty stable. Uh not much change there. Uh high schools uh pretty stables there. I think we've achieved our our goal when we did the boundaries are in the 17 to 1800 range. All the schools um and then you can see in the right hand box there that's the enrollment flow. So when you look at just cohort changes right you can see um pretty stable um cohort changes except when you get into 11th and 12th grade and those are really where you start to see your students that are either graduating early or they're discontinuing their education. So, uh, if you think about it, even with our high graduation rate, um, that you'll get a, um, that you might have
045seen in the school report card being at an all-time 10-year high, if that's at 90% and we're still losing 10%, which on a a cohort of 2,000 is still 200 kids. So, um, you know, we hate to lose any, but that's just the reality that we lose kids along the way. Those usually happen in the, um, kind of the 10th, 11th grade time frame. open enrollment staying pretty uh stable. Um it was up about four uh and I think we talked about last time the the schools that we have heavy open enrollment in from Brandon Harrisburg Tri Valley uh and then the schools that they're going to um uh Lincoln Sonia Sotomar with the Spanish immersion program. So, um, pretty stable all in all, not much change from the prior year at all. And then
046we have fall funding. So, fall funding is a little bit different than the final enrollment count because we get uh paid for or reimbursed from the state for some of our auxiliary programs. So, some of the adva programs, JDC, etc., we get paid for those students. And so all in all, uh, our funding number will end up, we ended up at 194 down, um, which as Todd reminds me is at $7,500 a student. That's a million and a half dollars. So, um, that's the impact of that. Um, so what will happen in the next uh, month or two really is we'll start to get some more information from the state as they release uh, some of the uh, statewide numbers. And so we'll be able to see what's happening with some of the contiguous public
047schools, private schools, and we'll also be able to get a sense of what's going on with homeschool. Um, and then also kids that open and roll out of our district because we don't really know what the what's happening there. Uh, and the state will give us at least a count of that. So, we'll try to triangulate all of that. uh look at uh go back and work with Todd on the live bursts and see uh you know if there's anything other patterns that we should be aware of based on what's happening around our district and anything we should be aware of. So um all in all I ask you to acknowledge the fall 2025 final enrollment and report and we'll stand by for questions. Um, can I get a motion to acknowledge the final, that's
048the key, final K12 fall enrollment report? >> So moved. >> Any questions, discussion? >> Gale. >> Mr. Morrison, could you go back a slide, please? So my curiosity um with the new JDC opening and and students moving into that new facility, will we anticipate any increase in student numbers from that facility? Do you know? >> Uh yeah, I did have a conversation with Jamie Gravitz who coordinates the facility there and oversees it. um their hope would not to be uh there could be though and depending on what that would be through the year it doesn't change our funding uh from as a result of that because it's still going to be on the the final Friday in September. So this year obviously the the count that we had there 26 it's sitting at about 30
049roughly right now. So it does usually increase some over the time uh but you just accept it at what it is and that's what we get funded at is that final count date in in September on the Friday. Um there could be an anticipation their beds there will have a capacity significantly larger. Uh so if it does increase in size, we'll still be receiving uh reimbursement from the state for that final Friday. >> That payment in the rears is always the one that gets public schools. >> Yep. >> Any other questions, observations? >> Okay, we'll go ahead and take a vote. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Thank you. >> Your report is carried. >> Thank you, Mr. Morrison. The last report we do have uh is on our technology update. And
050the report on this, you really will see some of the things that we've worked on in our technology department um with its information and technology services to look at safety obvious our technology and then also the customer service. So, uh, we will go through and listen to that report at this time. Thank you, Dr. Null. Uh, good afternoon. Uh, today we're just going to, like, as Dr. Nol said, uh, just go over some of the updates of what's been going on over the last year. And just right from the get-go, uh, everyone in the IT department has heard me many times and some of you as well heard me say that this summer was everything everywhere all at once for us. So, uh, it was definitely a ve very busy year for us. a lot
051of just uh quality of life improvements like Dr. Nold said as well improvements to security and other things as well. Uh with that being said, we did start this year rolling out uh multifactor authentication. We had had a limited number of of that uh staff who had that in place before. This has now been rolled out districtwide. Uh that's going to definitely be a big step in the increasing the security of our district, keeping our student and our staff data very secure. Uh just adds one extra level of protection. Uh you guys were all part of that as well as well as every every member throughout the district. Uh this just makes sure that if people are logging in, we know there's just that secondary verification of you are who you say you are in
052case of password compromises or anything like that. One of the big pieces that we also had in place was our VoIP telephone system conversion. We actually were on an analog system up until this year. Uh at uh our vendors that had been working on that system said uh we are not going to be supporting that any longer and we definitely wanted to get something in place to make sure that communication would still be up. We didn't want uh systems failing. So that was definitely something that we needed to to take on. Uh but that does give us some increased flexibility now where even in case of uh if staff need to make calls outside they can call from their computer if they want they can use their cell phone call just as if they're right
053in the district using their numbers. Uh that's definitely been an improvement on that side that will support us long term and keep communications open. So uh still doing some refinement on that process. Uh but that opens up a lot of flexibility for us. Apart from that, we also did have a network redesign and that was actually part of some of our -ate funding. Uh as was mentioned with the uh free and reduced lunch participation rate, uh one of the big factors of our funding for reimbursement of those funds actually comes based on that free reduced lunch participation rate. Uh if we do get that uh right now that does reimburse us at 60%. If we ever jump over that 50% line that actually reimbures us at 80% now, but we're not quite there. Uh but
054that actually did go a long ways to uh modernizing our infrastructure. Uh this was part of a the last year of our rate funding cycle. So we did get that in place. Uh the main thing on that was a security focus at the district just to make sure that everything in our district is commun I'll say communicating properly and that things that shouldn't be talking to each other don't. That is one of the the key factors of that. Uh that was just a groundup rebuild from just the the actual fundamentals of the district network design all the way up. And one key piece that we had uh with our uh IT department, uh we've actually seen a fairly stable number of tickets that come in. We do ask that uh staff if they need assistance,
055they do submit those tickets to us. We still see around 24,000 tickets a year that come in on there. Uh that's not a perfect representation of everything. Sometimes we get the calls or the emails that don't go through there, but um we see that fair fairly consistent right now. Uh, one thing that we have seen over the last few years though is we have been able to successfully reduce the number of of time for response time as well as resolution time. So essentially as our staff are submitting those tickets, they're now getting a quicker response back from our staff as well as a quicker resolution time on that. It's really to just make sure that if teachers are experiencing an issue in the classroom that they're up back and running, that they're functional as quick
056as possible. And this does represent not only just those day-to-day operations but also large scale projects as well as some of those go multiple weeks or even months too for for larger projects. So this is our our average over the entire the entirety of all those tickets. So very proud of the team. Uh definitely with some of our our new leadership in there including uh John Forester our uh network infrastructure manager and Mike Odley both of those have started within the last two years uh really put a focus on their individual teams to see how we could like improve that process and that's that's gone very well for us. So I think uh that's definitely showing very well very good results there. One thing that we've been actually putting a focus on just on the
057priorities for its uh we've looked at a few different things. Uh really we want to just make sure that we're aligning our priorities with the district priorities that were previously mentioned as well. Uh but really we want to make sure that the technology that we put in place is aligned with the instructional and curricular needs. So working with with the teams to just make sure that what we're putting in place is good for now as well as the future. also able to enhance reliability and security. Uh it has been said that with ransomware attacks, K12 districts are the thing that's keeping that business going there. So uh uh we have not had any cyber security issues like that, but we continue to put up more resilient structures to prevent those from occurring. Uh we also
058do want to make sure that technology is safe, supportable and increasing efficiency on both uh students, staff. We want to make sure that everything that we put in place make sure that teachers and other staff are becoming operationally proficient as soon as possible when they step into a new position. So apart from that, I stand by for any questions or comments you may have, but just ask that otherwise acknowledge the technology update. Hold tight. We're gonna get this on the table so we can discuss it and then Okay. Can I get a motion to acknowledge the >> uh technology report? >> So, it's a discussion questions. >> It's just a lot. We We know how important it is when it goes out, so we pay attention. >> We don't want to be noticed. That's what
059it comes down. >> You know what I mean? like you don't know until something goes out that isn't in our control and we're like oh my gosh this is everywhere. So I appreciate you know all the effort that goes into it and as a parent of a sixth grader I appreciate all the the different proper things to put in there to keep her safe when she's browsing. So thank you. >> I did notice your ticket um totals are down from last year. You must be building some capacity amongst the staff. >> Yeah. And and we are we are trying to put uh additional automations in place as well to make sure that we don't even see some of some of the tickets that we get are to facilitate some tasks that are manual processes. Right
060now we are trying to get again on the efficiency side trying to automate more of those processes to save time for not only our department but for lots of other departments. Sometimes there's dozens of people involved just to get one change in place and that's by necessity. So we're we're working to automate as much of that as possible just to like I said make sure that the the time and attention for our staff can be focused on on things that are more important than switching one number over here or changing a person from one building to another. So yeah, we uh we're definitely working to improve on that. It's continuing process. So yeah. Well, and as the demographic of the staff continues to evolve and AI becomes such a important component to how they teach
061and their efficiency and effectiveness that those um measurements are important to kind of watch. How would you uh would you give me a summary like I'm sorry a little I don't know what's going on but she's not working down there but what's the rate or number of attacks or people trying to break into our system? Is that >> are you talking about attacks that would be directed towards us >> outside? We we have not seen any of those ourselves. Um we there has been nationwide fortunately a slight decrease over the last year in ransomwarebased attacks but uh that's just something that a lot of prevention will uh it's a that will go a long way rather than trying to yes cure something on the other end. >> Y >> I'm going to birdwalk a little
062bit out of the scope of your report here so forgive me for a minute here. Um, one thing I hear about, you know, with parents is I think they would like to know and I know that the district is working on what software programs can parents access that they can check on students attendance grades and those kinds of things and I know that they're different at all the levels and can you give us any kind of an update from your perspective of what might be in the future for parents to access kids grades and >> and so right now everything is accessible from the infinite campus parent portal on on there. Uh there is information that would be preliminary information in Canvas on our learning management system as well. But uh for everything that uh
063they want like the actual information, the parent portal is the place to go for that. >> Infinite campus is quite robust. >> Oh yes, I'm I'm an infinite campus fan, but I know that a lot of parents have use some other uh software as well from different classes. So >> just curious. >> Sure. I Canva and I get a notification for every single assignment created and every single grade that rain touches and I love it. [laughter] I know every missing assignment. It's fantastic. >> Thank you for that. >> You're very welcome. >> Well, I want to acknowledge the teachers and coaches who input a lot of that information out there for the benefit of all of us. That's not an easy task and it requires a lot of intentional actions to make that happen. So,
064and thank you to the technology for allowing them a platform [clears throat] to disperse the information. Um, it certainly helps to build that school home uh touch point. So, um are we ready to take a vote? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> We have acknowledged the report. Thank you. All right, we are going to move on to agenda item 11, the approval of the review revised policies and regulations. I'm going to turn it over to Brett uh to please give us a background. >> Yep. So, once again, I'm uh here on behalf of the policy review committee, and we're bringing forth 11 policies and some accompanying regulations here. Um and it's part of our continual review of the policies and regulations. We try to review each one uh every five years. Um
065so we just do a rolling review of that. Um these tonight are up for a first reading. So um I'm just going to kind of briefly go over the changes, but they'll be up for a second reading again uh later next month and they'll be, you know, available on the board's website uh for review. So uh just quick running through the policies. uh our safe and secure environment, there were no changes to that policy, our emergencies policy, there was just some minor reference changes. Um same thing to safety drills. Um and then also that that safety drills policy allows for the centralized storage of records of those drills rather than having each individual principal keep those records. So that was the change there. Uh policy eha regarding uh personally identifiable information, there's no changes there.
066Um our most significant changes here um on policy IG for curriculum development adoption and review. There's some uh language cleanup there. Pretty significant language cleanup and then removal of the curriculum review schedule because that changes every year. Um but of course we publish we publish that and keep people aware of what that schedule looks like. Um policy IKB um just some addition of clarifying language there regarding student homework. Policy Ike on the promotion, retention and acceleration of students. Uh just some clarifying language there. Addition of some some student centered language about when is it appropriate to uh move those students. Uh policy um regarding student surveys. Just some additional clarifying language there. a minor reference change to a position a staff position in the communicable infectious disease policy um on our policy for uh homeless
067students. There's some reference changes and then we have an existing dispute resolution process there that we added to the policy. So it looks like a large change but that's existing existing pol uh form that we use just added to our policy. And then finally um on KA our public concerns or complaints about policies just some minor language clean up there. So like I said in accordance with policy u BG which is our policy on policies this is up for first reading and then there'll be an intervening board meeting and then we'll take it at the second meeting um next month for final approval. So with that, I'll stand by for questions or if any other committee members want to make any comments, but I'm asking for an acknowledgement of this first reading of these 11
068policies. >> Okay, we're going to take a motion. So stand by for the discussion. Um can I get a motion to approve the review revised policies regulations items A through K? >> So move. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. I know Gail and Elizabeth both sit on our uh policy committee. I think I've mentioned before that Dr. Nold has added [clears throat] excuse me has added another layer of uh vetting these policies by bringing them to uh superintendent's cabinet. So a lot of eyes have been on these policies and when Mr. Aaron says minor things. They were maybe title changes or just, you know, updating uh people's names as as far as needed in policy. They were not overhaul big improvements or deletions from policy, but it's a good process
069to to make sure that we have a lot of people, a lot of information out there. And so I need to ask this question. Our policies are going to be available now for public input on the on the website. Correct. These after a first read. >> Um, yep. They're available in the board materials from tonight's meeting and then they'll also be available um in the next uh the second meeting next month. >> So I would >> way to find them. >> Pardon me. So, I would encourage any any staff, any parents that are interested in any of these policies that you've seen that we've brought them forth for the first read that if you have any thoughts or ideas that uh you come to the next read, you can say that or you can contact
070Mr. Erenss and uh clarifying questions about those policies as well. Thank you. >> Yeah. And all I want to add is is really that even though there's not real substantive updates to the to the policies, it's pretty um pretty standard stuff. It does give you the opportunity to just review the policies for the first time if you haven't looked at them before and to familiarize yourself and kind of think about these things. um you know, I never really thought about the fact that we have a homework policy. And so just even going through that and seeing what the what the district policy is on that I think is um is worthwhile especially if anybody has you know a certain area of either expertise or um concern. >> Jamie, >> it is fortunate in our district
071that we do go through and have a committee that reviews these continuously. Uh, I had talked to some individual superintendents that had called me in the last month here about policies and and where they're in a little bit of a limbo right now because they haven't reviewed some of them for 10 years uh or so. And and so to have that process in place that we go through to review them, it makes it so we have minor changes instead of significant changes unless something in the law changes. Uh so it's been a great benefit to continually look at those, review those, and make sure that they're updated. Good process. Well, thank you to all of you that are part of the process and those that would like to be. We now have public input after
072the first reading so we can all stay informed and a breast. Uh can I are we ready for a vote? All in favor say I. >> I opposed. Same sign. This carries. Thank you, Brett. We're done. Can I please get a motion? It always feels so abrupt and strange. Can I please get a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> We are adjourned.