November 2024 Grapeview School District Board Meeting

001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which stands one nation indivisible. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. I'd like a motion to approve the agenda. I move the second. Okay, thank you. Discussion. So, um I didn't see anything here that was extraordinary on this one from the discussion. Anybody else see anything that was recruited from? All right. So, if not, I'd like to call uh Can we approve the agenda? All in favor? I. Okay. Recognition of visitors. We don't have anybody for public comment tonight. Okay. Good. So, here we are. Staff presentation. Item number seven, student. Molly. Hello. I'm Molly Baker. Um, I teach second grade. I have a couple of uh exciting projects I've been working on this fall that I wanted to share with you. Um

002the first one is uh my second grade class was approved through uh the Olympia Art Space Alliance for a project. Um it was a call for student work. Um this is the display. It is downtown Olympia on New Fourth and Capitol like very central area. I was very excited that we were accepted. Um, so they yeah had this call for student artwork. The theme was hibernate. Um, can we go to the next slide? I have some pictures here. I don't need yeah to read the whole thing, but the theme was hibernate. Um and it was a really cool project where we could combine social emotional learning um science engineering it just so many things came together. So the students um through mindfulness activities visualized what their cozy cabin for the winter would look like like

003where they feel safe and good. So over we started working very beginning of the year and I just installed it this last week. So they've been slowly working on this project. Um a lot of different skills were used. Uh they learned how to weave. They did clay sculpture painting. Um we collected twigs from the forest that they did the roof with. So a lot of different things came together with this. Um so this was kind of at the beginning stages. Um, those are some of the the rugs for their cabin that they wo. This is them working on it. Some of the closeup. So, they had um they put in a fireplace. We did these chimneys. Uh they did origami chairs. Um so, this is the installation. I painted um a mural for the background.

004And when we were imagining, we'd always talk about going hiking up the trail to our cabins along the stream. And so the kids have been visualizing this. And then I shared these photos with them this week. So they were like, "Oh my gosh, there's our stream. There's our trail." Um I think there's one more. So it's unfortunately it's really hard to photograph windows with the reflections. Um, but the title is Cozy Cabin Community. It will be on display through March. Um, I've told the students, you know, thousands of people are going to see this. It's right down there. Um, so if you're in Olympia, it's on Fourth and Capitol. I would love it if you went to check that out in your secondary. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They they came up with some pretty impressive ideas

005through arts walk. I'm not sure when they I think arts walk the spring arts walk I think I forget if it's April or May, but yeah, it'll be up through the holidays. Um so yeah, I think mid-Marchch is when I'll uninstall that. Well, congratulations. Yeah, thank you. It was it was really really fun. And then uh the second thing I'm going to speak on is our garden project. So as you know we've built the garden beds. Um a lot has been invested into that. I've taken on the position of garden coordinator. This year um couple weeks ago I hosted a fall garden cleanup event. We had a whopping 10 of us that showed up. Um, but we worked really hard for I think like six hours and we planted Can we go to the next

006slide? Um, we planted about 20 trees. Um, we cleaned up just about all the garden beds. So, these are some photos from the day. Um, so we have fruit trees planted in the courtyard here around the corner. And we also planted um moved some some ferns that were over here that weren't doing very good more in the parking lot area. And there's there was a big bear spot and now there's trees and plants. Um this was our student that showed up. He's my student Cooper. Um him and his mom came and they did a lot of work. They helped out a lot. Um, so for the garden project, I will host a spring garden event again. Um, we're seeking perennial plants that will be easy to take care of and, um, bring in pollinators and

007benefit the trees. Um, we're also looking for fencing to protect the newly planted trees. I think we're going to be they'll be fine during the winter, but come spring when they leaf out, we want to protect them from the animals from the garden, the yield of peas and peas, snap peas, and things like that. Yeah. So, we've done uh snap peas, squash, pumpkins, onions, potatoes. We found surprise potatoes we didn't know were in there. Um, and Carol in the cafeteria and I have been talking about this coming spring planning food that we can grow in our garden that they can serve in the kitchen as well. So, um, I'm hoping to get like snap peas and some greens in the spring and then in the fall we'll have some more stuff that's matured for the

008kids to eat at school. Think that's better than opening a can? I don't I don't know. Is there sugar in there? Um, so yeah, it's exciting. I think I've worked at a few different uh school districts and I haven't seen a garden project like this and it's very cool and I think um I hope our community can keep investing in it and maybe become a very neat food forest that we will have at this school. So wow. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to move on to item number two [Music] recognition. This is Angel. So, um I a little things about her. She's been This is your second year at Great View. So in and she came in halfway through third grade, right? Halfway through third grade. No, I think it was the beginning.

009The beginning. So in her very short amount of time here at Great View, she has made um a big impact with her third grade teacher and with me. Um she's an exceptional young learner who exemplifies kindness and dependability. She's always eager to lend a helping hand to her classmates and especially to me. uh making our classroom a better place for everyone. Her positive attitude and consistent availability set a wonderful example for her peers. They really look up to her for help and um just that consistent happiness and smile and um we're so proud of her. Happy These guys would like a picture. Said you're a star. You may not want a picture with us. I follow. And then we want to do one with your family. Yes. That's everyone's favorite part. [Music] I can be

010on the side. [Music] Uh it is my pleasure to stand here today and recognize and celebrate a student who truly embodies the spirit of hard work, kindness, and community. Our student of the month uh for the middle school is Rocky. Rocky uh you are someone who not only excels in your studies but also goes above and beyond to help those around us. Rocky's a student who shows up every day with a positive attitude and a strong work ethic. Whenever uh it's whether it's tackling his assignments with focus or lending a hand to a classmate in need, Rocky does it all with a smile. His teachers often note his dedication to doing his best, no matter the task at hand. But what truly sets Rocky apart is his genuine care for others. He is always considerate

011of his peers and teachers. He has an incredible sense of community. Rocky's willingness to help others, whether it's uh offering a kind word, tutoring a classmate, or volunteering for school events, demonstrates a deep commitment to making our school a better place for everyone. Rocky, you remind us all of the power of being a good friend, a hard worker, and a positive force in our community. We are so proud of you and grateful for the example that you set. Thank you. Perfect. [Music] on threeers. One, two, three. Good job. His mom's MIA. You know, five, you guys are more than welcome to Well, okay. So, we're announcements and recognition. Looks like the 27th has an inter Thanksgiving break. The 28th and 29th are the break winter program 531 TK. That's December 17. Next board meeting is

012the 18th of December. Okay. Winter program for 42. Now is that play when we talk about winter program. What is that? Holidays. Oh. Oh, that's August. Okay. And then December 20th is a June release and then Christmas break is the 23rd to January. All right, I'm going to move on. I'd like a motion to approve the consent agenda. So some you have a second. Thank you discussion. So the only thing that I take not audible about consenting with this is that when it comes to the financials there's a person who I believe so the good news for you [Music] is okay if there's any more discussion no more discussion about that agenda and I have a vote all in favor 100% Okay. All right. You're on item number 911. This said Siri. It don't say

013um so I'm put it in my report. It's actually I think there later on to talk about the water but I decided to go ahead and um talk about it right now. So, as you all know, we had a a contamination in our water system. Um, and um, we found out about it um, like I explained in the email to you guys um, about 4 in the afternoon, which um, in terms of um, with the health department shut down our kitchen, which meant that we um, we couldn't serve food and we didn't we weren't prepared with enough food to feed the kids. So, we canceled school that next day. And um while I was away, they scrambled around and uh did everything they could to get us all ready for the the uh the next

014day. Purps to Costco looks when you buy, you know, thousands of little snacks. Um but um they they made it all happen. Um I was at index and um we were able to start the next day and um we had water and food and got school going again. Um in the meantime we hired a different company, not the company that did the original work to come and um rework uh the well. Um they've um pulled it completely apart and took everything out, sanitized it, cleaned it, reassembled it, put new fixtures and fittings, and they um chlorinated everything and scrubbed everything. And um we um in addition we drained about half the water out of the the tank which allows them to flush all the the system and um we did a sample test today and

015we're waiting for the the results and and they'll do one more I think tomorrow and um uh Drew anticipates that we should get an all clear on Friday and at that point. Soon as we get that, Jamie and the kitchen crew will will do a full sanitizing in the kitchen according to the Department of Health standards and we should be good to go. Participating Monday, um think we should be back to a normal food service. We're back to normal school more or less. um except for we have water jugs and and sack lunches but um the hope is uh is a likely that it'll be Monday full of food service. So in the history of the school the school has this ever occurred not that I'm aware of. They had a different kind of contamination

016than the the tank at one point which was just a matter of quick treatment and it was never before on the well and it's coincidentally timed with shortly after it was there any recourse that we have on the original contractor he pulls up bumps and they anything and you know we don't have any evidence that they didn't disinfect all equipment that they would indeed do no um we don't have any evidence um of that and there was a slight gap at the time between I mean it was tested after they worked on it and then um those month again before we tested and got a negative result I um I've been focusing all of my energy on making sure we are good to go and I'm collecting information on the cost and we'll be collecting

017photographs and and if you wish to call it evidence and I'm going to examine how I can um strategy for approaching I guess the thing that me about this whole thing is that you know we just went through from a McDonald standpoint they had the contaminated onions and now I understand not in McDonald's but there's another contamination of apparently what was that carrot carrot so it is it's not like this is this is unique it's also my wife's school I think it's river they're doing work there and it broke a water part into the water system and contaminated their system so they're going through a similar situation is is the contamination due to a person or is this due to excessive water that we've had in in the past couple months of rain. It's hard

018to know exactly. Um I my untrained uh opinion if you're talking to them is that um the well head was not as tightly secured as it could be. And then the um conduit that holds the electrical systems that go down um that conduit had um leaned over and had a crack in it. So um what they said is it could have been simple as a spider crawling through the dirt that got into the conduit that introduced the bacteria that continued on down or one mouse that walked across that crevice or or something of that nature. Um that's what the um well guy explained to me. It can be very um obtuse or simple simple silly, right? Um, I guess the other item that's out there that I'm going to talk with Ford about is whether

019or not some sort of sanitation chlorination system is something we ought to be thinking in this day and age. School is the biggest that it's ever been. We fluctuated from 210 to 240 kids. I'm just curious just not that I'm trying to solve a problem. Should or should we should would we give approval to Jerry to maybe look into what it would what what would the recommendation to be from a chlorination or filtration system or or maybe it's as simple as um you know planned maintenance and include that as part of our our maintenance. as opposed to monthly testing, maybe two week testing type of thing or an on-site testing uh a continuous testing monitor. I don't know in if there's a continuous testing monitor for that kind of contamination or not. I don't think

020there is my I I talk with Nicholson about various options like that. There's a lot of pros well there's mostly cons um in terms of the management of the coronation system. Um and um and so um we would it seemed prudent to since we have a system that's worked extremely well for a long period of time. [Music] Um tighten up and make some changes to that that well to kind of protect it a little bit more and then monitor it closely to see if we end up with any problems. And if we do, then we absolutely have to reconsider rearranging that system. But it can be pretty intrusive and expensive and create different problems when you're managing coronation systems. So that we just added a brief I don't know how much it would cost. I

021just know we just had a brief conversation about that system. So with the initial with the initial um pump upgrade project and now the rework what what is our price? Um I believe the well was around the pumps were around $20,000 al together. Yeah. Um which was covered out of the money that we used from um the modernization rate. And then um then this bill that we had for um re sanitizing that is about $3,000. So um I'm strongly considering personally action on that. I have uh experience with people who work in wells and water systems and my perspective on the conversation we just had. If we sample the water, have it tested and it passes all the the regular components, we don't have anything to worry about. I my tendency is to agree with

022you. The other that one side of me is to do nothing. The options of it do nothing. We fix it. Now, write it out. Monitor. If we're if we're monitoring on a more frequent basis and it's good, then we continue to go on. Again, though, if we if we were to have a contamination, if somebody gets sick, that I can see where that could get. Okay. So that's there's two side. I think it it becomes more critical if um if there's been more of a history of this particular kind of contamination. You know, this is the first in I don't know as long as I've been here, but um and Tracy, you've been here a lot longer. We've never um the other way that we could fix it, like in the in the good old

023days on Benson Lake, a lot of people took their water directly from the lake, right? And they would just add bleach to it. So maybe we do that. We just have Carol have everybody drink a shot of bleach. Works with scurvy. Oh, no. That's We did drink by the way. Okay. in my house. But isn't that crazy for me to do some kind of shop like that every Well, and and yeah, if it's three grand, you know. Um but we could do it if we're just Tony could do it. He doesn't. Yeah. So that's what I was thinking is maybe just as an added added measure, you know, that we could show the parents that hey, you know, we also have to be careful though because then that has to be tested to make sure

024that the chlorine levels are low enough for safety. So it creates a different I'm not really sure if there's anything to do um besides what you've already done. um if it happens again that's that's where the conversation really needs to be like why is this happening and and you know take extra steps on that because at the current time it seems obvious to me we have work on the wellhead and not too long after that we have a contamination we're going to fix it and monitor and I mean the looseness of the the wellhead sounds like it was the call so But again, the wellhead is quite elevated above the surrounding ground. So it wasn't like an intrusion. It had to be something within the wellhead itself. Antonio was showing how when the original took

025me up and showed me how the original drain grading had been clogged and there could have been a buildup level, but it was clearly it was clear was clogged from the original I'm going to say less than good workmanship by the original contract. Okay. Well, I I appreciate this discussion. U in my past life, we had another problem which came out of not having hot enough water in the water called Pontiac fever, which is Salmonella Legionaire and that was the next one up there. Make sure we have good hot water hot weather. All right. So, moving on, Jerry. Thank you for few more announcements. Andrea, you kind of led to that. Andrea will be doing our business report next time around. So, be a big change. Can I ask a question about that? Yes. Uh

026I I wasn't at the last board meeting. So, what uh was Andrea in attendance and did she witness how you how you do things about your report? She actually wasn't at the last board meeting. Okay. Okay. And she's had a scheduled vacation this week or she would have been here back when. And so, um, you get to meet her. I met her. Yeah. That's right. You did. Yeah. And I just think that, um, I mean, you're going to help transition her. Yes, I will do that. talking to my last work day will be the 13th technically, but I will be I'm coming to the meeting on the 18th and I'll be working working with her up to that point and then I'll be in the audience. Oh, good. And you can ask question. That's right.

027Okay. Okay. She told me that and I told her, well, she's only going to get three minutes to talk, so I mean I I met her for that 30 30 seconds when I was dropping off my uh money for the PTA or whatever they're called now. But um uh so I you know and then I didn't see her for this board meeting and I was wondering if she was at the last one and you know because I want her to have a good successful transition. So we'll make sure that happens soon. Okay. All right. um the riskmanagement pool we're now part of and they're very proactive and we're I'm working with them. They come and meet with me um regularly, quarterly. Um and we're we're working on our risk uh management maintenance database. Um, so

028that's something that's a goal for that will be one of my goals with you guys and we just incorporated it into some of their objectives because it does um there are risk mitigation factors that come along with having a big um I met them recently. Um Apollo's back in action they move the chiller over there and they're working working hard at that. They took away the forklift today. Um I don't know why they have to come right four minutes before kids come that they see to do that. I'm like you do know who happened. He's like yeah I'll be out fast and uh he was he did pretty good. So a little anxious there for a few minutes. Um, and something you might want to be uh aware of is um we're we're working on

029developing a um sensory space for our for our students, particularly younger students that are somewhere on the spectrum. Um um often have autism, there's a lot of sensory integration problems and over stimulation and so on. And so um a lot of schools have created a sensory space where they can kind of go and decompress, right? Um and um kind of had a realization when one of our little children uh uh screaming um to kind of uh work through her issue. I'm like, you know, we might want to consider expanding our strategies for working with autistic students. So, I I downloaded information from the National Council of Special Education um advisory on sensory spaces and and Hannah is going to go view a few and we're going to create a kind of a safe space for

030our our spectrum students so we can have another strategy for assisting them. So, that's something that stage based definition is just an isolable room. Well, I think that that has gotten kind of a bad name when we think of universities who creating safe spaces for grown-ups who never grew up. Um, but what we're talking about, you see a lot of that now. Yes. But um autism um and within that spectrum a lot of it is really um over stimulation of visual or auditory or very sensory um issues that create um and then lack of expressive um ability to express or cope. Breathing can cause excessive overstimulation by students. You'll see um students with um autism a lot of times they'll have a a toy or or some sort of mechanisms for um soothing themselves, right?

031And so um that this would be a space like that that might have um cush uh balls and you can see little bean bags or other things that that will allow them to um address their sensory needs for a period of time and um calm themselves down and be able to reintegrate back into them. So we um it is um a big piece. It's easy to build one and not fairly that very expensive. This challenge is ensuring that we use proper protocols for allowing kids to be in there and how long they can be there and who can be in go in there and informing parents and permission for I have to help you sign. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're really cool. All the various toys and things. So that's is it like just a just

032like a quiet space and then do you have some of these mech mechanisms in there and is do you have windows? Do you have and you're not locking the door? Right. Okay. And so it's just place for them to decompress. Yes sir. Right. And we don't really have autism for that. No. Right. No, but we have to put some parameters as Yeah. Where where would that go? Um, we're exploring ideas. We don't really have a a distinct room. We're looking at maybe like a little popup tent, a little that can be in the corner that would have some some lights or some cushions and some uh sensory toys to kind of allow them to be able to access that, right? I mean, we have plenty of autistic students and or kids on the spectrum that

033could benefit from that. And particularly with the younger kids, they haven't developed the strategies for doing that independently or separately, right? And so, um, this would allow them to to do that. [Music] Um, Steve had a question. Yeah. Do we have staff who are professionally trained to deal onetoone with these children or these behaviors? Um, so I'm I'm a specially trained special education teacher and we have several on staff. Yeah. And so um there's a a spectrum of needs and um um sometimes they're um very involved, other times it just takes um more modest support. So yeah. well prepared for that. Um I'm not sure we have anybody who's an autism specialist. Um although I've had a fair amount of experience. I have like 35 of them and uh students on autism spectrum with an

034IEP at one of my schools. Um so have a fair amount of exposure for that. Same with some of our other staff. Do you worry about that space being so cool that that person would want to act out and be in that space and that is why right like oh I want to go there that is why this fact that it's not too we need to create um parameters around it so um it it addresses a unique need on the spectrum have um but also administratively we have to be very careful about ensuring that it's used properly. It's a it'll be a little process. It's more than just buying a bunch of fun toys and throw them in a corner. What about kids that that are not on the spectrum or whatever? Um and and

035they want access to it. What do you what do you say? Um I I actually think having allowing other children to access that um can uh take some of the stigma away from that space. Um but it would have to be controlled and that they've earned some sort of privilege to be able to do that. Okay. Looking forward to hearing more how you put it together. Yeah. It's a very worthwhile tool, but it needs to be done right otherwise it can create problems. So that's something else that we're looking at. I mean that is my most reads. Um yeah, we're going to All right. The first thing I have um is the PKSO report because um one of the members tried to come tonight but she had a situation with her little one so she

036is not here but she asked me to say that the Halloween carnival last month was a little success. Um they had so many family um families and community members come out um there was a ton of candy. It was it was a great night. Um it was really positive. So thank you so much um to the board members who donated. Um, if you haven't yet, the PTSO is still able to accept donations to help with their next big activity that they have planned, which is lunch with loved ones, and that will be in February. And I know that feels like a ways away, but um, being that they are kind of rebuilding this year, they decided their big most popular events they're really going to emphasize on this year. So, the carnival, um, the lunch

037with loved ones. Um, so that's where the kiddos have grandparents, and we would love it if board members could attend. So, that's going to be on Valentine's Day. And there's several kiddos that oftentimes don't have a grandparent um or a parent who can make it. And so we have staff members go and have lunch with those kiddos during that time. Um and we have um community volunteers oftentimes who will come in and have lunch um as a pseudo grandparent or or parent for the kiddos. And so um the more people we can that can join us on that day uh the more special it is. So we set up rounds tables and we decorate and it's it's really special for the kids that opportunity. So that's again not until February. So we've got a lot

038of time to you know kind of talk and work that out. But they want to um really decorate big fort and um and make it a big opportunity. So any donations um that people can they haven't been made yet they said will go towards um that activity. The other activity will go towards is the Thanksgiving baskets that they are working on for the families in need. So, the PTA or PTSO is working with the ASB to um get those baskets finished. Next week on um Monday, um the ASB is working to decorate the baskets. So, there's in like butcher paper and things um that they'll make them look really fun. And then they're just cardboard boxes um that are copy paper boxes. And uh we have tons of donations of food. the classes have been

039running their donation plans like different grade levels have been bringing in different things like stuffing or gravy or cans of green beans that kind of thing. And then we have um donations of turkeys that um different people have been donating and we have those some of those here frozen, some of them are coming. We're going to get those thawed out. BTSO has got to pick it up. They've got their schedule. They emailed it all to me. But they are going to be putting those baskets together on Tuesday afternoon at 3:15 in the commons with some of the ASB kiddos um and anybody else who who can volunteer to help, they're going to be dividing them up and loading them. Um and then some of the families are going to pick them up on Tuesday afternoon.

040And then the ones that can't come and pick them up, they're going to deliver them on either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. So that's the plan. Um, and I think we're going to have plenty of food. Uh, the kids are donating so much, which is really exciting to see. So, uh, they are really grateful for all of that that help with the the things we've done. Um, so that's what I have from the PTSO. Uh, family conferences were really well attended. Um, we had about 90% of families attending in person in elementary and a few phone conferences, but about 90% were in person. So, our elementary turnout's always really, really high and we are so excited for that. Our middle school turnout was better than it has been since before CO. So, before CO, we

041always had like 85% in middle school and then we dropped real low into like the 60s these past couple of years. Um, we were back up to 80%. It was like 79.8. So, we're saying about 80% of our middle school um families showed up for middle school conferences, which was really exciting to see that re-engagement um as the kids are getting older. So, that was that was great. And the PTSO provided food um soup um in crockpots for um staff that were staying late those those two nights. And that was really appreciated. It was wonderful homemade delicious food. It was just a really uh it was a good feeling. It was really nice and very appreciated. Um, we had our Veterans Day assembly and it was really special. It was completely organized by our ASB.

042They led it and run it and they do it every year. They do a great job. Miss Chilton, just everybody remembers, she is our ASB advisor. She's really taken an awesome level of student leadership. Um, even when it's hard to sit back for her, she said sometimes it's hard to sit back and let them run it, but she does. And they they run an awesome program. Um our speaker was Sheriff Ryan Sperling and he did a great job of connecting with our students and he was fantastic. So upcoming um like you saw we have the um uh holiday concerts on 17th and 19th. Um, we also have the ASB is planning on doing their 12 days of Christmas kind of spirit time during the month of December where every day is a different kind of

043activity like um sometimes it's just sharing something with a friend, sometimes it's, you know, candy cane day or different activities. And uh on Friday morning the 20th, that's a new release as you can see on there. We have Mr. Goodell um Judge Goodell and our volunteer Ron uh Grenell Heat Grenell. He is um one of our constant volunteers. He's fantastic. They are putting together this holiday sing along and they've built this fun little sled. And Ron, who the kids know well because he's been working and volunteering here in our steam program. Um he is Santa and they have a slew of um uh Dan Goodell um kind of sent me a list of fun and very appropriate, you know, jingle bells type songs for the kids to sing along to. He was he said he

044pulled grandma got run over by reindeer off the one scar the little [Laughter] ones maybe it but they have this fun little skit that they're doing with the um trumpet thank you playing this and it's going to be really cute and so we're going to do that with our traditional cookies candle for the kids and they'll get to um watch and engage as the sing along um with two of our awesome community members. So, we're excited for that. Um you know, we've we've all sorry to interrupt, but we have all been traumatized by grandma got run over any reason to stop. Society has society has survived. Well, I'm only one voice, but Yeah, that's my approval. It'll it's going to be a lot of fun. So, actually at our next at the next board meeting

045on the 18th, I'll have kind of a clear schedule. So, but that's going to be to give you guys. Um, my final thing is that Miss Chilson is um for multiple years in a row she's taking the eighth graders um to the Trident Summer base um again and it's going to be on December 4th. Um that's because of her awesome dad um Ediva who is a a veteran and worked on base um on the subs for a while. So he um has made it possible for us to go on this amazing field trip and see the submarine and so they decided to go again. Um I went on it years ago with Maddiey's group. Chris went with Marian's group and now I don't have a reason to go anymore. I'll stay here and we let

046the other side. you know you you know they um they are very complimentary of our school of our students and that says a lot. It does. Um the other the other resource you have is um Travis Couture who was a submariner and used to work used to work up there and so you know you ever need him to tag along with with a groove. I'm he might he might be willing to do that. That would be so awesome. Yeah. Um, and it's so cool because like when Chris went with Mary and Chris was working at Banger at the time um for NFAC and he said he goes, "I got to see levels that I never get to see. I never had plans to go through, you know, it was really it's it's such a cool

047experience and it's such a rarity that we um but it's because we have such a good reputation now with them that they let us keep coming back to do this." So um they won't do that with with some other schools. No, it's a really rare thing. Um and it's a it's a really good opportunity. They're going on December 4th and um we're excited for them as well. And um that's all I've got, but I did want to add on to um what was the last thing that we were talking that you were talking about? Oh, the the sensory room. Um Cindy and I are going tomorrow to Sand Hill to see their sensory room location and kind of see get some ideas. And we have um a lot of members on staff here who have

048had experience in other districts and whatnot um with these and how to really mitigate those kinds of problems. Like we want it to be an inclusive environment where where a student um you know with autism is able to work with a student who maybe just needs it and because that interaction is so vital. Um so we we want it to be that way but we also need to have some parameters in place for it. So we're going to go check that out and take some good notes. Excellent. We should put a little more enthusiasm in your report. Thank you. Thanks. Well, Tracy, we're down to operation services. Yes. All right. Start with my monthly report and um the month of October 31st. Um our balances of the county treasure treasurer in the general fund was

049735,83025 ASB5,52519 capital projects [Music] 111,47198 transportation fund at [Music] 240,735 and debt service fund 913,1710. This month we're projected revenues at 244,765 and our expenditures are 35323441. This month we get 5% of our aortionment. So our because we're we've been collecting taxes. So this is a month that we get a lower percentage of our aortionment. Um, I'm projecting an ending fund balance in the general fund of [Music] 627,3684. I did make um a notation um that we'll be recording this year. If you look at my the spreadsheet that I give you, there's a um a line item that I added called restricted carryover and it's 52,68645. That's a result of we finished up our F196 or our financial report for last year, which I'm going to report on next. But we have car what's called

050carryover funds and it's um the the TK program. We received more revenue than we actually spent last year um of $52,000. So, we have to earmark that money and use it towards um transitional kindergarten type um activities. And so, we're we have a part-time PAR. This is a small class. I think there's 12 kids. Is that 16? Oh, 16 kids. Sorry. And so, um, that was last year's number. Um, so we are we are going to beef it up to put a parah in there. Um, might not be completely necessary, but um, we will be doing that. And also some of this um, you were just talking about a portion of that we might be able to pay for with TK funds um because it would be something they would probably use also. So, we'll

051just keep it posted as we go through the year. Um um or I will um and how we're spending that money. Um our the other thing is our um enrollment. So, we reported 223.42 FT this month. And so, the monthly difference is we have 13 um.42 more kids than we budgeted for. Um our average is at 223.18. Our total budget is at 210. So we're 13.18 FTA above our budget, which is good. Um January will be our first month that we're paid off of our actual average FTE as opposed to budget. So we should see a boost in our um our revenue for that month. And the last addition that I also highlighted is our we we reported CTE um FTE. So that's the program that Jerry's been getting up and going. And so we

052um reported 0.54 FTE students that are enrolled. So we only get to count the uh seventh and eighth graders. And so that's that's what we're reporting here. And this is an enhancement to what we get in our basic ed funding. So um once we the aortionment reports get out, we'll get to know what that dollar amount looks like for us. So it gives us a little boost to help support those efforts that Jerry's funding to get that program. Yeah. This is the kind of the middle school intro experience and career technical and we and we have somebody who just got certified teacher who is K. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And so this is her class that she's teaching under that new um endorsement or certificate and the number of kids that we can count um involved

053in that. And in this particular um semester um there's more sixth graders than there would be otherwise. Most of the seventh and eighth graders are doing play but then when that finishes up we'll probably have more seventh and eighth graders that will go through that course. So, as we were in the hallway, Tracy, the meeting tonight, we were talking about early on the 2000 range when you and Jim Snider sitting with 627, which I think you told us is a the largest reserve. And when I when I present the um financial report for last year, I'll I'll talk about that as a little too. So, we ended up with a pretty strong ending fund balance, which is a good thing. Um I do also want to add that um there is a letter attached. This

054is a normal um piece of what we look at every year, but we get a letter from the um county treasurer that lets us know that we have money in our levy money that we were not able to collect last year. uh they're vacancies, but a lot of times people will um qualify elderly people that are on fixed incomes, they suddenly qualify for an exemption to pay tax. And so those become dollars that we were not able to collect under the authorized levy that we had. And so what this letter does is lets us know when the amount of it um for the general fund and the debt service fund. Those are the two levies we're running. that allows us to make a decision if we want to levy for those dollars in the end.

055And so what that means is that we as the board would decide yes, we do want to run a levy to collect those dollars. It would be a separate line item on the tax statements that people get. So you'll see the levy that we authorized that's full amount and we're collecting for another line item that says it's a levy to recover taxes that were not refunded or um not paid. And then there would be a school state let me offer. And so in the general fund it would be to collect $8,286 and in the debt service fund it was 10 10,47940. And so Jerry and I talked about this today and um we our recommendation is that we don't run the money to collect any cost. Well, wouldn't it cost more more than that to

056just run? Probably. That's a good point. I didn't even ask about and so and then who I mean if you did who who pays it that it would be levied against all the taxpayers everybody else. Wow. Yeah, that's not that's $18,000. Right. Right. And so we decided that the process and the effort and then the additional listing on their taxes would not be the negative impact of all of that would not be worth the $18,000. I see. So there were so there was lots lots of words from the front. So we weren't able to. So those $8,200 wasn't collectible during levy. What reason? Because people qualified. One of the reasons could be um somebody qualified to not pay taxes because they were their income levels were low enough. Okay. Sometimes people go to the board

057and argue that their you know their value is too high and so they are waved a certain amount. So those types of situations, not delinquencies, it's just those legal situations that um that they were allowed not to pay the tax basically. Okay. Yeah. I mean we know people that because of hardship planning that their valuation of their home property reduced because of their income levels increases. Okay. So that's that this is the outcome of something like right. So this allows because we have this dollar amount that we authorized to collect. It gives us a chance to go back out and tax everyone else to still collect those dollars. Yeah. I'm not for sure. That's kind of we thought it was best to not do I heard Steve was going to write a check. I have

058to do we'll rev up the letter and last year you all read you know especially in a year where you're running a level it's even more we're going to go out. So I think it's I'm hearing that there's a consensus that we do not want and and in something like this you I mean you guys have already actioned it. You're just bringing to our attention. Yeah, we can take action on it, but we wanted to make sure you guys agree, but we're all we're all not in approval not to really not spend the funds to go out probably spend more than $20,000 get $18,000 go bankrupt and all we need was I know nothing. So, I guess Tom we appro there's no [Music] request also that we do we certify our levy and so the

059um we send this to the treasur and they certify the levy amount that we voted for and was accepted that we want them to start collecting them. So that's it's a morality and it also shows that we don't want to run for the refund levy. Okay. So I have a question. Is this is this a learning lesson for next levy that we run is to maybe run a little bit higher up so we know what we've already I think it's a really point well made that there are hardships people right and that because of that county evaluation is in reality this evaluation right and and it's also it is a learning opportunity to to expect that to be at every and it is sadly every year that we simply um I didn't clip the last

060two because this was brought up too. We are aware of the recall on carrots and so we were immediately notified by um our vendor that we we happened to purchase bag carrots by and it was on the list of um potential recall to go and our bag lunches that we have to serve. So I hear that's like are you kidding me? Sorry, but um our vendor was prompt to let us know that the ones that we have purchased are not on the list. And then we also had our staff check on the or whatever the the site that it's on to make sure that the lot number and the dates didn't match up. And so we're good. We're serving carrots and they're fine. Okay. The last piece of my report is the financial report. So,

061this is the time of year that I report to the board on our um financial report that I just finished preparing for the 20023 and 20024 school year. And so, I have a PowerPoint and um Can you screen it, Brit? And a hand up, too. I'll just let you follow the vote. The first thing I talk about is enrollment. And um it's kind it was kind of fun this time because it is the last report that I prepared and presentation to see kind of where we came from even going back to the two and how how we have grown. Our next page you want to flip to the next is um just kind of a bar graph of where our enrollment is going or um started from. I mean, as you can see, we're pretty

062stable really. Um, back in 20145, we had 206 FTE. Um, this year year, we're at 233, but that includes um or I'm sorry, 23 24. I'm always going to be talking that, not our current year. Um, that includes our TK program, which boosted us up in the last couple years. And for this, um, fiscal year, we had budgeted 211. So we as we know we ended up with more children than we expected for which is which is what we want to do. staffing history. Um so you'll see our classified and certificated staffing numbers and we have seen kind of a bump up in 202122. We um increased by two teachers and then another teacher which that was the teacher that supported our um TK program and our classified kind of fluctuated up and down depending

063on what we can do with budget revenue. So this is how we're funded in our school. Um most of our revenues like most districts comes from the state. So 69.4% of our revenue um in this period came from the state. Uh 10.2% came um federal dollars and that also included our ESSER dollars. That was our last year of esser dollars that we had. So that will decrease a little bit in this coming year. And 20.4% came from um global dollars. the expenditures by activity. So, we're breaking it out in pretty broad categories, but teaching and learning, um 68% of our expenditures went towards teaching and learning. Our food service program was 3%. Our transportation program is 4%. And operations and support was 24%. And so, that was of some last year also. um mainly be

064a lot of things like our increase in our insurance premiums, things like that have caused that to to increase over time. And then we also take a look at it by object code. That's how we can kind of look at our salaries and benefits. So um 39.8% 8% of our um dollars go towards teacher salaries. Certificated salaries classified is 16.5. Benefits are 21%. Um supplies and materials are 5% on our budget and purchase services are 17.7%. And so purchase services, things like our non- high payments fall under that. Our special ed um service program um services that we pay for for out of district kids that are being serviced, that falls under that category, too. that non high payment I think in the past you said runs 80 90,000 a year. Yeah, it's about 80

065or 90s total for both school for both schools. Actually, it's probably up to about 100 last year, but so the local dollars, this is a breakout of our local dollars. So, our levy dollars, enrichment levy dollars in the general fund. Um, teaching and learning is the bulk of what we spend it on or one of them and that's 39%. Extracurricular at 5% operations and support 44%. Special education 3% food service 3% and financial stability 6%. And so that's really our fund balance. So the board has a resolution that it passed or actually the policy to keep 9 to 14% um in our funds balance and so that helps support that. The next page is just kind of a listing of what we spend those dollars on and what and what you know each area and

066those programs. So, a lot of our money goes for this um STEM program, non high payments. Um and then it also supports principal office um salaries that are not funded by the state. Um we've talked about before how we don't get full funding for a principal or superintendent or my position, none of those are fully funded by the state. So, of course, nobody helps support that. um employee benefits that aren't um funded by the state um operations um including our risk insurance help support our food service program um election cost audit cost and unfunded mandates and then again our fund balance. So um talking about fund balance, our beginning fund balance last at the beginning of last year was [Music] 681,216. We had revenues of 4,296,555 expenditures at 4,251,762. And so we ended the year

067with [Music] $726,9 which is about a 16% ending fund balance. 16% of our budgeted expenditures. And so this also the last item is 382659 is that 9% air mark of money we just kind of want to have there in case we need it. And so I kind of want to talk a little bit about fund balance and cash flow um for a couple of reasons. One is there's a great little article and I don't know if you guys have had a chance to look at your the policy and legal and it talks about fund balance. It talks about cash flow. Yeah. And so that is really a really important topic because as we all know there's lots of districts that are in trouble right now and they're they're under binding conditions from the state. And

068so this talks about what to look at and what to think about when you're when when your new person's talking to you. And that is the other reason because you know one of the things that happens is we we trust one another you know you see when I you know when I'm reporting to you and now you have somebody new come in and so um it's it'll take time to build up build that relationship and trust and so this kind of points out kind of what you should be looking at and what you should be watching and so fund balance and cash flow are two different things. fund balance is the total accumulation of operating surpluses and deficits since the beginning of our time basically. And um so what happens with fund balance is all

069of the money we have coming in and all the expenditures for the year. We look at it on a month by month but year basis too. Um and where we end up being after all that happens. It's a it's an indicator of the financial strength. It's probably the indicator for a public entity like um Great View of our financial strength. That's one of the biggest um indicators. So there's a little chart here that I did from 201819 to 20 um to this last year. And as you can see, we definitely have an upward trend um these last few years and our fund balance. So what um Les is talking about is um just a little piece of my history here. When I came on board here, our our little district was really struggling. We had

070a decline in enrollment for several years. We actually were at about 180 FTE, which we get this boost from the state when a small schools boost and then we dropped below that. And so, um, we lost it. And so, um, we actually what happened was we were above it. We, um, and then we dropped below the threshold of being able to receive it. So there was this period in between that really caused us to lose a lot of revenue until we could build up the kids again. And so there was a couple years of that um and we just had declining um enrollment was the biggest cause. We owed at that time about 175,000 in back payments to North School District and our budget at that time we were looking at an ending fund balance

071of $5,048. and I've told the story over and over, but it what it shows is that this board and this district, you know, was very committed to making changes to that. And so we can all sit here and look at how we've done that together. And it's not just me, it's it's you guys, too. It's your commitment over the years of making sure that, you know, we make this a financially healthy place that we can provide the program and the the opportunities for kids that we do here. So, it's it's a good thing to all for all of us to be proud of. So, that is obviously something you're going to want to watch, you know, and I've reported, you know, pretty much in a dry spreadsheet to you every month. I we certainly can

072have um we can carry this idea on to and especially when we look at cash flow, maybe a visual line graph like this, the next page is the cash flow. And so cash flow is again the money that moves in and out of the district on a month-to-month b basis. And so you want to you want to always be in the positive. That's one of the goals. Sometimes you're not. Sometimes you drop below. Our district doesn't do that, but you know, there could come a time where that could happen. And what would happen is we would lose so much enrollment that it would cause us to have a negative cash flow. And so, um, it's a good thing to look at monthtomonth and make sure that the dips and the, you know, peaks are happening

073when they normally happen. And this graph kind of shows you that. When we collect taxes, we have this bump up in revenue and then we slide down again and then we bump up again. And so, um, and then the other thing that I do, and Andrea will also have to do is in January, I mean, we're working off a budget up until January. And so she's going to have to start looking at projections moving forward. So that's what I do in about usually it's about February. I start anticipating what are we going to be spending based on budget and real numbers of what we're doing and then um what are our revenues coming in and where do I project ending up at the end of the year? And so last year, if you remember at

074budget time, I was pulling back hard because um we were looking like our enrollment was going to, you know, hit really low coming into the next year. And so there's a time, a deadline of May 15th where we have to make some hard decisions before we actually know what the reality will be. And so that's an important thing that happens every year. And I just learned the other day that that's one of the problems that happened at Pioneer when they had to cut deep into their classified because they missed that mark. Their business person missed it and didn't pull back on salaries for teachers and entered into the employment contracts all the way to and so they had to dig deep into their classified to make up for that. They had a good chunk of

075money they lost. So those are all things to watch and listen to. um you know watch your cash flow, make sure your things are ending up where they kind of need to be and you know um listen to what's happening when budget time comes around and will be all part of that. She's very capable. Well, how to be assured that you will have Jerry We'll make sure your head I'm not sure how they managed to miss it because it is very clear as a as an administrator that you have to notify their people um by that certain dates and you want to make sure you and what is that date again? May 15th. May 15th. Yeah. We we we meet it every year. We start talking about budget during that time. We send out letters

076of intent to understand what our people are doing. And then if we have to, we did we last year went to our um interventionist teacher. Something that's very common for us to do that. Um we may do it again depending on what you know what's going on. It doesn't mean that in the end we don't bring those people back. But um it does secure us in that if we can't we won't and keep us financially healthy. So yeah, she'll have lots of support, too. And I'm not, you know, I'll I'm going to consult back and forth and watch things, you know, and I'll be able to see if things are starting to decline. And she'll ask for help, too. That's the other thing. And she's not new at all. Um, and she's also will be

077part of the ASB business managers academy, so I'm I'm not too anxious. No, not at all. Yeah. Okay, the next few funds I'll just be brief about is the next one is the capital projects fund. And so our beginning fund balance was 134,527. Um this is the fund that we're running that modernization grant through. And so the um revenues come in there through the grant and then we paid the expenditures of that. Um and so our revenues were 36,131 317,000 $300,718 of that was um money that just came in for the grant and then we paid it out. Our expenditures were 310 182 and we ended with an ending balance of 134527. That's a title. I'm gonna have to go back. The beginning is the same thing. Yeah, the beginning balance 13857804. So there's the

078title [Music] and then the ending balance is 13452737. Okay. Debt service fund. Um this is the this is the fund that we use to collect taxes to pay our bond interest and principal payment. Beginning balance was $778.95. Chicken revenues which is levy and interest basically of [Music] 1,8,465. Our expenditures were 1,142,533 and we have an ending fund balance of $573,827. Our outstanding voted debt at the end of last year was $7,29,000. our transportation vehicle fund. We started um the year with 146,801. We took in revenues of 92,662. And so we had a big boost because 11 is fully depreciated last year. So we had more money as the final payment go. So that brought us to 239,465. And Jerry and I talked with Andrea the last time she was here. Um and so she's she

079has actually purchased B buses or helped purchase buses itself. So that's going to be one of the first things that they sit down and do her and Jerry is look at a bus to purchase so that we can spend that money and get another bus on depreciation um sometime and hopefully hopefully you'll take delivery of it next year. But we'll more on that as we move through the year. ASP. Um, we had we started a beginning fund balance of 10,602. We took in 12,505. We had expenditures of 66 6,493 and we have an ending fund balance in ASV of 16,614, which is I think the highest balance we've ever had. Yeah. The two fundraisers um or at least a couple of them that Deina brought forward have just really been very successful in raising money.

080So we we had $12,500 in Yeah. That was last year. So this year on in January, I can't remember the exact date, but they're doing the takeover McDonald's and Belfare. And then in February on Wednesday night, the first week of February, whatever that Wednesday is, it's going to be um the pasta night at the boat house where the middle school ISB will run that. those two events and then they're going to have the Gator which also brings food. So they go to the revenues and they just so they just hold those on to us and yeah I make a donation and I think the kids get the kids and yeah everything well any questions this is my final report and want to say to all of you, it's been an honor to work for you

081and with this district and um it's been a fun ride. I've enjoyed it. Thank you. You're welcome. I appreciate being to your credit. you know, you help me. Thank you. So um so I uh in in my in my daily life I I deal with projections a lot and some of them really make me actually laugh out loud you know because they come across my desk and it's like oh 15% growth every year for you know 20 years you know and and I I know how unrealistic that is and so Um what's refreshing about our budgets is uh they they come true, right? I mean they're very close, right? Even in years that we have to um you know do a budget extension or something, it's it's it's only off by like a minuscule percent,

082right? And so that that is uh really a talent to be able to to do that and make correct predictions and you know so that's where that trust is right and u so I really appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, that impressive period that we went through during co that was a new one for obviously me and for everybody else but that was I'm not going to say fascinating that was leg [Music] what a great what a very nice word for that it was a journey instead of you Okay. So again, thank you. Job well done. All right. We're down now to item number 13, new business interaction. And Sherry, what do you got? Yeah. So um knowing that she is retiring out there comes I I really was exploring how do you what do you

083do for somebody who's put countless days and hours and early mornings and late nights and weekend calls? Do you just give them a certificate at the board meeting and then say have a nice life? Right. Yeah. And so so that's what I'm doing. So uh no I am doing the certificates to as part of an official recognition by the board. I felt like we needed to have some sort of official statement as a superintendent as a board is that that we wanted to make a statement of appreciation for your many many years of dedication. You've been the kind of the through line of stability in the district over over the decades with principles and superintendent coming and going and staff and board members. You've been at that a true through line which um is a

084important part of the leadership and creating stability in the community. So that's been supremely valuable to the school and it and it shows and in in everything we do. Um, and so, but I needed to do more than just a certificate and a hoodie, sweatshirt. So, so I took it upon myself and I gathered some people around me and we've organized a little event at the Mason Benson Club on the 14th um to gather uh us and other community members and maybe some former superintendent who have uh been have some time free to come and travel here and come and spend some time do a little bit more robust recognition um and in honor of that massive amount of work that's been done. So we'll come up here and then we'll do the official recognition

085with the certificate but then we're there we're going to do congratulations for all your time and there'll be a picture. Oh yeah. Yeah. Board all here. Yeah. [Music] Thank you so much for that. And I'm honored that you did something like that, but I'm also overwhelmed because I don't have that much attention on myself and it's uncomfortable. So I have a group of people that are helping me. So Jerry has the distinction of being the one that got here. Thanks, Jerry. All right. I'm not retiring. [Music] invitations going out. It's will be about 3 to 6 at the Mason Club. What time? Um 3 to 6 on the 14th. If you just come for a little bit of a time. Yeah. An invitation in the mail. Yeah. The last day is the 13th and then

086we'll party on the 14th. Yes. Thank you very much. Um, one screen replacements. We were able to with a great deal of work um from Cindy obtain a grant to purchase about half of the um we needed to upgrade and update our systems. Um and um we um are we located funds from the reap funds um the rural education that um don't always get included in the budget directly because you can't always know how much it's going to be rural or alive. So um and there's some extra funds there. will be able to purchase the rest of them so that our whole school can uh be up to date with the interactive touch screens. So now this is just for one screen. There's seven of them that this this invoice is just one. No, that's

087there's seven of them. It's tricky because it's called one screen. Okay, we're getting seven one screens. 71 screens. Um, and something, um, I I got some for my other school, the same grant. Um, and one of the things I want to make really clear, so there were some families that had some anxiety about the concept of us putting kids in front of a screen and um, or we're using that as a as a tool. Um, and um, that's not how I see them being used. And frankly, that's why the grant was structured as it is because what it really does is allows us to um create an interactive tool that is a multimodal approach to reaching children. Um so we can create fonts, the students can be up there working on it, touching it, we

088can do audio and visual, we can bring in video um and animation. There's so and a lot of curriculum and materials are digitally presented now. So just this week we took our Scholastic magazine stuff and they were on the I I had I wheeled them into their rooms and within an hour I saw teachers doing three different lessons with different apps and tools that were on there that allowed the children to be doing their art project, their math projects. They we had a spinner so that they could choose, you know, who gets to do what all within the first hour of the meeting used with no training, right? they just kind of jump into it. And so they're they're more than just a TV screen. They're they're truly a an innovative and effective enhancement to

089our learning system. So um I wanted you to be aware of that and that we are bringing them on board slowly. We have a plan for installing them and um and distributing them around the school and training. We have one teacher who's already been using them extensively and we're going to try to replicate that that knowledge base across the school and and it's a great teaching tool. I'm excited because so much of what we do has to be done. Nothing's more important than water, but this is something that teachers and kids actually get and use. I mean, it's on the ground, hands-on, and so many times kids and teachers don't get that. I'm excited about it. I love that. I mean that's that's honestly quick point in my uh career of organizations the ability of

090an organization to write and get grants is really really important. So I want to give yeah doesn't just happen by typing a letter and sending it in. Very very good skill. Yeah, it is. And I have to say she also helped me get it replicated for my other side. See? Wow. Are we going to build them? Yeah, you are. They are. Felt a little bit like high school English. I like that. I'm telling them. And so, um, I just move on to the next item as well. So, there were some questions about our our, um, our systems of vehicles and parking and stuff. And so, there was a request to talk about that a little bit. And I've been at quite a few different schools and and seen it structure in different ways. And frankly,

091I've never seen any place that's perfect. um because they except for grief. Even us, we we ran into a struggle a few weeks ago which kind of raised it up. Um, we had a um there's this this um spot in our schedule when we're leaving, parents are picking up and when we have special events or sporting events, right? We all are all here at the same exact time, right? And um we ran into a significant problem because that one school on that one day did not have transportation. So every one of their children and their family members came in cars, multiple cars. And and and so we had this and and um they parked every which way, right? Everywhere because they didn't know where to go and we didn't know that was going to be

092a problem. And so we had this really ugly situation and um I got, you know, lots of irritated people talking to me about this. Um and um but I've been watching our system here and they've created a very good system for for what we have and it flows very well. It gets really tight at those optimal times, right? Um and then then there was that one anomaly and so um I walked the whole properties. I've reviewed this multiple times in my head because I'm often out here uh helping guide traffic. Um and I've done that at four or five schools where I've been out there. Um we have a probably a better system than a lot of schools given in part because we're so far from the main road, right? Um I I've one of

093my schools I had a two to three mile uh runup of parents lined up down the main road trying to get into our facility, right? Um because I had 800 kids at that school and nobody in the world lets our kids walk anymore, right? And so um that just how modern society is. So we're fortunate to be quite a ways from the main road. So we have a pretty long on-ramp. um moving the buses back here like they did was pretty wise move because that what that does is it just frees up th this traffic. So we have a long on-ramp. We manage it quite well. It does get a little bit wonky when parents haven't experienced it yet. Right. Well, they've been parking in the center area where teachers park and leaving their cars.

094Yeah. So we actually want that some we want some parents on the on the center island right right where the green is right where the top part is back that's where the parents are parking and they're leaving their vehicles so that parents are waiting and can't get around or they have to move and get around that person that's left their vehicle there in a non-p parking spot. So we so we have a lineup of parents that come around here and then we need other parents to loop around and park to to that provides a little bit of a relief as well and then we we cross them they come up here and we cross them and they pick them up. So um there are there have been occasions when we had big events where people

095just parked there and it really messed everything up. But um the majority of our parents, we struggle with some of the new parents. Um but as soon as they get the flow of things, they make a choice to either park and wait for their child or they stay in their car and follow that through it. Um almost always works very smoothly. Um there's been a few exceptions. So after that day, what I did is I walked the property with Tony. I'm like, "Well, what other options do we have? Is there any other way we could manage the those odd times when there's more people here? So, what we did is we walked down to the down to the entrance and um recognize that we already have a large area that's pretty flat. And so, um

096we're we created an overflow parking area for those with special events and when parents could um drop people off and then go down below and park. So, he cleared it out. of branches and twigs and and and and made it nice. We're going to probably get a load of gravel just to make it's pretty firm. I drove through there, but a load of gravel so somebody could drive grandma up to the top, drop them off, and then everybody and then go park down below for that. When we walked, he talked about shocking. Yeah. We might do some markings down there, too, to make it a little more downside with the area that I saw was really the lack of lighting. Yeah. Yeah, it's not optimal, but it is overflow and it's for those rare occasions

097when we have a special show or an extra large crowd for an event, we can say, "Please go down here." One of the things that we also did is that there there was a gate here, but it got knocked over. Um, so what we did is we cut that down and put a chain here so that we can um because what was happening is people did come back here and that blocked access for the buses. Um, so we put a chain there that says authorized personnel. So what we can do when we have like a a Christmas show or something we can authorize people we won't be doing transportation that day. So what we at that time so we can put uh staff park parking back there that would be under our control not just

098random anybody and everybody. So, um um we can make more room for the community out here by bringing staff back here into authorized areas. Um and in addition, what we've also learned is that we have to be very careful about transportation on sporting events and and that particular one was an anomaly. There was a school that we didn't know they had didn't have transportation that and but now we've made kind of arrangements on our scheduling for for schools, right? Yeah. To to make sure that we accommodate that. Before you leave that plot plan is an embellishment back to the the well, could you point out where the well is versus the tank on that plot line? Yeah, the well head is here. the tank tank is and then the septic system. [Music] So these are

099the learnings that I have when I cannot rock the system with with Tony just to get my head around and it and the well literally is the high point adjacent to the building the parking lot. So just just point of clarity how deep is the well 279 cm deep it is that's really deep it's and I don't know if they'll get the well the submersible well pumps if they go to the full 279 or not but that was clear I was I was shocked to hear that that's because my husband was questioning the farm that's down the road that's on a creek and if that has anything to do with the run the runoff or whatever contamination. No, I think it has just to do with the way it was the work was done and

100we're way up at the top. Yeah, we're drawing in that 200 foot class. Even if even if that elevation gain is 60 or 100 feet, we should still be over 100 ft lower than than that certain point. So I what I would say in my opinion in summary, we're we've learned Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. the we in terms of uh vehicle parking and um we're kind of optimized. We looked at some of the problems, made some adjustments. Um I think we have a pretty good system um without without a whole lot of money. I mean, if we wanted, we could add a whole lot of money and get a small uh enhancement of our parking issue, but um the time period where it's a problem. I it wouldn't be worth doing that.

101So, I think we have a pretty decent system. What about removing the trees that are right there? You have You're talking about the little turnout down below the gate. What about removing those trees so that it's even just a little square down below of the gate? Yeah, we've we've um Yeah. Yeah. Um um I know I haven't looked at it real closely since Tony and I talked about clearing it out. Um, but we'll see if there's some anything that we would Yeah, because those I just because I'm a parent, I've been here on holiday events and football events, it gets crowded. It sure does. It's frustrating, too, of like, okay, where do I park here or do I not park here and being in trouble? Jerry, would it would it help you to leave? Would

102it help to like put together a really basic infographic on on how to how to park at Great View on busy days and share that with the other schools. So, what we've actually talked about is we have our our video production class that does how to has done how-to videos. Um, we've talked recently about having them do a an introductory video for all of our new parents that would show them our system for picking up. Well, that's a good idea. I but I also think like you had mentioned this you know other schools coming here right and um might help to say hey our our parking is limited and there's a trick to it and if you follow these guidelines you should that's something we can include in our communication. I mean it doesn't have

103to be something over the top right. It just like a little infographic with some arrows and you know Yeah. I I don't know. I just thought that might we can be more explicit with our directions to our guests that are coming from this. What happened in that particular situation is they we were scheduled for a home game. The ref showed up here. They felt like it was at their place, Mason County Christian School. Oh, so last minute they were wonderful. They brought all of their kids with no pre-arranged anything. So, one one car for one kid. There's no caring. So that's I've never seen ever that many cars. So it was like truly an anomaly. Did we at least win? No. Did we? I mean for the football team alone was 26 kids and then

104for the volleyball teams bo and varsity it was at least 20. And so all of those cars, individual families go and and all the grandparents who wanted to come and watch. And so we had um I I actually had to get on the overhead speaker and pause the games. I had to have the rest full on pause the games so that we could get people to move their cars that were just parked in the middle of the road and we couldn't get our buses back up the hill. Um and and it was a fire hazard. There was there was no way they were parked in front of all the fire hydrants and they were parked in front of the bus squash. Um, and I understand they were just coming up and parking and nobody was

105using our designated crosswalk or what we built into our our middle island area with crossing and it was it was a lot of people. Everybody was awesome about moving their cars and wonderful about it and and they kind but it was we were sounds like she was still really I was very very loud. We couldn't hear you. And I'd be like, "Please pause the game." Start the press. Yeah. So now in the future you say they will come in a bus. No. But they're they got it screwed up. They thought it was their place. Yeah. Right. There were some common sense, you know, malfunctions with people. So, it will be okay. [Music] Okay, we're going to move on here. Uh, old business and action items. So, item number 14. Tom, you have a legislative update?

106I do. We uh have really good reps and a good senator in the 35th district. And Travis Coour won his re-election and Drew McN ran unopposed. No, no, no. He he ran for Excuse me. Uh so what we have is we have the same strong support for education that uh that we've had in the past which is really good very important. We submitted month before last our 10 top priorities and we submitted those to WAZDA and WAZDA counted us along with a couple hundred other districts and they came up with their top five which includes uh fully funding basic education. Okay. support for special education programs, MSOC funding, transportation funding, and amply funded staffing levels. This year when WASA gets ready to go to the legislature, they're going to join up with WBO. Help me

107out. Was standing and was an organization that St. Gary belongs to. and they are they're really uh collaborating and working together and they've come up with their big three for the legislative session and that is special education funding, transportation funding and MSOC which is materials supplies and operating costs. Uh, I think that's really fabulous and I think we stand a better chance of getting more funding in that same category or in those three categories which were all up in in the uh high end of what we were searching for wanting wanting to see the emphasis be put on. We will uh we'll have the opportunity when we meet next month to get a little bit sharper picture of what the focus will be. And uh we also have a new governor. We have the same

108superintendent of public instruction. [Music] And we can count on our legislators in our 35th district thinking the same way that we're thinking and with Jerry's organization. I think that was what does that stand for? Washington administrative. That's close enough administrative blah blah blah blah blah blah blah something like that. They have a very sharp individual that is leading their legislative efforts and as we get closer uh we'll be able to coales and make some plans about how we can work together with those organizations or individually and we'll take some guidance from Travis Coutur on that. uh they have what's called a uh a legislative what is the one that is held that all three of those groups are participating in it's in January 11th and 12th the sendout for reception or well there is a

109legislative um are getting together for a legis legislative night they used to do it at the capital and they recently and they it's a $399 price tag and it's on a Friday, excuse me, a Saturday afternoon and a Sunday morning and I don't want us to spend that kind of money for me to go. It just doesn't make sense. I think we can impact to the best of our abilities working through WADA and this this mixed group of WASA and WBO It's going to be very interesting to see what kind of I mean, if you follow what's gone on in education in the last six months with the schools, Seattle's proposing to close a number of schools, there's a real hard push back on that. There's a lot of districts that have had already made

110cuts just to get through this year. And um I don't trust the state legislature like I would like to and their willingness to obey the constitution which says they will fully fund education in the state of Washington. They seem to dance around it. And like Travis shared with us when he was here a couple of months ago, special interest groups have the ability to really impact what they're going to get spent on. So we're going to be optimistic. We're going to follow it closely. And I'm glad that the top three that they're pushing for special education funding, transportation funding, and and material supplies and operating costs, that's good. And I think with a uh instead of taking 10 things to the legislature with a lot of emphasis starting with those three and the unification of

111waso and was I think that's positive. I think the AWSP which is the principal association is is closely aligned with that as well. Okay, that's all I've got and I have to leave for another commitment. and I'll trust you guys to uh the only thing I'd like to confirm we went ahead and because of only the three of us and through unforeseen circumstances we did not do the offset and what I'd like to do is commit possible on the morning of the 14th of December. Um, so we'd be out at I come back that morning. Well, you do have a meeting that morning. Yeah. Okay. Unfortunately, I have and I have another we are we have a NBC meeting that morning at 10 o'clock. Okay. And the NBC group does an awesome job collecting money

112and buying clothes and gifts and things for families. And we have three families lined up and taking care of now. And I think it would be really important to be on that board. Could do the seventh. It could be a retreat that'll live in infamy. Yeah. Yeah. So are we thinking that seven is something that would be the only thing that we we could do. I can do the seven. I can do the seven. Well community association is doing snacks with Santa on the seventh. That might impact anything. Oh well a big deal. They they they were doing that la uh the last time they did a retreat and the the Allen Park was too. Remember we saw that was I got a picture. But didn't we have a different vision for the retreat location?

113Well, we can't do it at NBC because they're he and um the night before NBC's having a big party there, their big thing. So they'll probably be cleaning up the morning and so on the 14th. So on the seventh So, Port of Allen again, maybe if they're available, trying to get them on the seventh. On the 7th. Yeah, I'll have to call tomorrow. Yeah, we were getting out there about the time they were starting our Saturday. You know, the other thing too is that maybe the Timberland library. They have a nice meeting room. I take food though. I you know, I don't know. I can check. I can check and see. Okay. So, we're going to do the we can agree to the to the seventh. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it. I can do the

114seventh, but I've got a I've got an 11:00 appointment. Oh, man. You start early. Yeah. How early? 70ish. 8 is what we've done in the past. We've done I mean if we if we don't do it in December then it's going to be shoved in in January. At a certain point you got to wonder what's the point and then the year's half over. Seriously. I I mean I wouldn't be um upset if it was in January. I mean you know November and December. December is like my my busiest time of the year. So, but but I'll make it work if it if need be. Just can't do the 13th. Okay. 14th or 14th. I mean, the 21st is too close to Christmas. Okay. So, then I guess we'll have to come up with the next

115board meeting. Maybe we would look into the January, early January. Okay. And your point. Well, maybe, but I I still think it's valable that we at least meet once. Okay. Oh, absolutely. All right. So, then we just have push. Thanks, Tom. Okay. All right. So, we're down to the first reading of policies. If it's okay, I'm going to move on to item number 15. Um, what was really interesting and I and I'm going to kind of jump around a little bit here. It is the first reading, but when I took the time to read the policy 3420 and I looked at the administration of Knox Knox alone and we're talking about school nurses and people like that, what who who does that if you not a school nurse here? Who does it? When we train

116the school nurse, part of what they do is they train backup backups. So that would be the 3424. So then the FB10 thing that's 3420. So do we have a Oh, you're all trained. Oh, excellent. Okay. Again, again, education changed a lot since my day. Well, not every staff member is trained, but um I mean the office we have the office staff people who are working in the office and and they're we sign off on it. We go through the training practice and so then we have stuff on site that's prescribed to us for you another Okay, there's somebody train at each building in so I mean because the office staff is here there's somebody in the wherever that other building is that school building. Um, all of the Epipens are kept in our nurs's

117office locked away. Um, so even if a student is in the middle school, um, we would get them, we would go over to them with their Epipen. Okay. Um, so we know who's which student in the middle school have an epipen assigned to them and we someone from the office who is trained, which is all the staff, would head straight to the middle school to where we would head to wherever the student wants. We don't make the student come to the office. But even these classrooms that are far over here are the same distance the opposite of the middle school. They come with an up. Do you lock it up or they carry lock? And so we know who the students or step Jenny. Okay. I just I was just reading and and did they

118go on the field trip? The staff member who's going with them mostly through the training before the field trip. So like you can't see more the staff members um were were all trained in all the medication that they had before and it's all based on the child makes me wonder about our environment I asked how champ up in the future yeah it was awesome we had a blast we don't have very many students with epipens right now I've been in years where We've had far more um and I've had here as a teacher just because it was such an urgent situation as a classroom. The office train had me trained as well as a classroom teacher. So it just depends on the the year. So the 3424 with the opioid overdose reversal. That's not something

119we've ever had happen here. That's a narcans here and we've been trained on the staff members. We've never had that happen here. And um with with our current student population, I do not see that happening. But with parent population um that's always a concern. And um so for concerts, parent conferences, things like that, we've never had it happen. We've never had that issue, but we are trained to use our and we check their expression regularly. Okay. Question. Did you have any brittle diabetics? Anything? not in our current student population, but we have definitely high school districts. Okay. Well, um, like I said, as I was reading down through these and then of course the one that was the the student discipline, the the renaming of Yeah, there's a lot of um, and I we actually

120had this before and I didn't bring it to you because I wanted to make sure she and I had time to go through it thoroughly and make sure it um, uh, wasn't a tremendous didn't require a tremendous divergent from where we're where we're currently functioning. We have a marvelously well where you have children, you have discipline as part of raising children, right? Is teaching them how to become adults and um so that you will never not have discipline. But um we uh a fabulous uh school and we it's really remarkable to see, you know, our middle school is so they're so good right now. And what that comes from is years of consistent discipline and teaching and instruction and good management. And um so we went through this very thoroughly um separately and then went

121through it together and we feel that we that um it it works for us that we can continue to operate our school with the high standards that we hold our kids to um without compromise. Okay, I'm going to move on to some table more discussion about policies. Policy approval is none. So, we'll get down to item 16, future agenda items. So, the December board meeting with certainly the winter music production. Those are really cool. You're going to do ITC it security updates. Yeah, Ryan is going to come and kind of do a state of the union, so to speak, on our technology, where we're at, um, in terms of are we advanced, are we behind, kind of where are we functioning? And then within that also talk about cyber security because there's um there's a

122lot of vulnerabilities and ways that they will people will try to worm their way into your systems and finance systems etc. And so Ryan I talk to him occasionally to ensure that we're good to go. So is he going to be presenting a price tag with that? It's just what we're doing already. Okay. All right. Okay. It's no there's no ask it's just information I would see here agenda item we would set the update okay so that would be the thing and then January there's a fundraiser and take over it which is that in obviously then there's another boat sorry that's okay all right well unless uh there's any more to do there. I think we're down to the point here. Let's do some reflection. Weslection means Oh, um I really like the idea of

123the garden. That was a that was a cool idea. And I would I like the idea of u putting that through the the food system, you know. I think that's really cool. Um, I am uh I am on the board of the Olympia Symphony and I've connected um connected our music director with Hannah to try to see if our kids could get in on an opportunity that they're that they're doing. It's not it's like a free thing and and they were super excited. they've been looking at ways of introducing children in outlying counties to um to traditional music and uh so I'm excited to hear what whatever comes of that right between you and Lori. Um, there's another thing too is I'm I serve as our representative on the Mason Transit Authority Board and they

124grant uh grant buses out and they they are granting a a bus to uh Southside um school district and I'm wondering if we ever needed uh a bus for nothing. You know, that might be a um something to pursue. And I'm not sure if we've thought about that, but uh but we could obtain a pretty expensive piece of equipment for like a dollar or whatever. And uh so anyway, there probably should be a benefit to me serving on that. And uh besides that um I agree that we have a very well-run school. I don't give our board the credit though. It's the staff and and leadership, you know, we just help support uh support you guys from a community standpoint. So that's it for me. Thank you. Um I just love the student recognition and

125Mr. really did a great job of just describing hockey and and and his attributes. So, uh left me a little missy eye tonight with with how great that little man is and I hope he does great things. Um I'm also happy that the water thing is hopefully behind us and that these children can come to school. I don't like to hear that school has to be cancelled because of water. Um, so yeah, that's that's my reflections. Thank you, Joe. I love this meeting because I felt like we did bunch of different things in one meeting and I learned a lot and um that's always fun. I mean, it just felt like there was like the sport of things. It wasn't just one idea. I agree. I think that um that when people say, "How are

126things on the schoolboard?" I go, "Well, schoolboard's fine, but the school is great." You know, that's what I say. Um, they'll say, "Is it fun?" I go, "Not fun, but it's really interesting because, you know, it's just so I learn so much." Um, and then I'm always very careful to mention that the you all get work really hard to get grants and that student scores are better than everybody else's and the kids are better behaved and they should come to plays. I mean, it's just a it's a cool thing to be able to say all of that. It's a great place to be. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Jeff. I guess the thing that you said in town is when you had the attendance for the school of the student teacher conference that's 90% 80

127plus% pretty impressive and and are those in line then with years past or about with long long ago years past. So, um, you know, when this is my 15th year here at Great View and that those were the kinds of numbers that we had for for years and years. Um, you know, CO put us through the ringer with that and we've we haven't fully bounced back, but this felt really good to see that many, especially for middle school. We always have high turnouts even through, you know, the COVID rebound um, for the younger grades, but the middle school parents that that was really good. So, I was really impressed to see that and and I like the way you you got in front of this. You go like appreciate when you asked if I was

128available on the day out of school and we came out here. I appreciate that. That was that helped me get my head around the wasn't so confused by what was going on. And Tony was just awesome. He was like a kid that in the China shop had me out there in the field to show me stuff. So, it was pretty cool. Outside of that, Jerry, I'm gonna stand down and let you finish it up. Oh, everybody. Okay. Um um I think what I would have to say is that um everybody's so very supportive. Um and that's it's easy when things are smooth and going good, right? Um and and so we had a big hiccup and a big potentially a big problem and we jumped on that and um but everybody was like I got

129your back. I'm with you. I trust you. You're doing you're doing good. Your team is taking care of it. And that's things like this can get ugly, right? Um and they did it because we had a good team and a very supportive board. So I I very much appreciate the support that I I feel here and that makes us a nice place. So thank you for letting us work that through and trusting us to take care of business. Of course, we're much better than index and the regular grants form. All right, let's show Britney that it's promptly 7:05 p.m. Thank you all. [Music] Yeah, she's going