001Welcome everyone. It is Thursday, December 4th and at 5:35 we're beginning this meeting and we are meeting in the boardroom on Legacy Campus. We'll begin with Ro Carl starting with Jared. >> Jared Black, business administrator. >> Brian Chambers, board member. >> Alan Grunick, board member. >> Roger Pulzer, board member. >> Kathy Christensen, board member. Todd Beckis, superintendent. >> Randall Baggley, board member. >> Terry Rhodess, board member, and board member Jeff Nelson is excused this evening. Our pledge and mission statement will be led by uh business administrator Jared Black. Please rise. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Our mission is to educate students for success in a changing world. >>
002Thank you, Jared. Uh first up on our uh learning and growth reports agenda, we have Don Adams, our facility supervisor, to give us an exciting >> presentation on new construction. >> You love the setup, don't you? >> I agree. It is exciting. Yeah, I it's been it's been good. Well, thank you board members. Hopefully, you'll find it informative. I think you'll find that we're making good progress. I will just say a general observation. I I kind of thought about how the eb and flow of the school year goes around the holidays and I have to say it is an absolute beehive of activity in this district. From the construction sites to the kids in the schools to the district office, the energy level this time of year is about as high as I've ever seen
003in any school district. It's amazing. So, be super proud of everything that's going on. It's my outsider view from another district. You guys are working hard and doing good things. So, it's just >> Thanks. >> It's been a good day. >> Okay, let's see if I can figure out which. Ooh, mood lighting. >> How about that? >> What do we have? >> That's sleep lighting. >> Do you need to plug that in? Yep. Okay. >> Just just helping out the technology director there. >> We're good. >> There we go. Okay. So, Hyde Park Middle. Uh I've tried to add some of uh some progress photos, meaning one's a little older than the next. So, uh big things happening. We were able to beat the weather. Uh we paved late into November uh here and so
004we basically have every parking lot and all of our circulation paved and we've been working on some groundwater remediation near our detention pond on the west side and uh it's a little soupy but it's going well. So we're excited uh about that type of progress. Again uh you're you're starting to see things come together on the exterior. It looks for the most part to be the building that it needs to be. So, here are some of our advancements. We have about 98% of the windows done. The fire sprinkler system 92. Starting to get a lot of ceiling grid in the classrooms. Most of our interior framing's done. Uh our drywall, our rough electric 82% plus we have some finish electric done, too. So, those are those are big things. Rough plumbing 95%. Um, and our
005mechanical plumbing, that's the backbone of the HVAC system for the hot water and chilled water systems that are running is is moving along really well. We added exterior block to the complete list. Uh, so that's that's something that that's a new addition to the complete. So, it's always good to to check some things off. >> What is that? >> What is exterior block? >> Exterior block is every everything on the outside of this building is block. So, we we we poured an ICF core. So, remember those uh styrofoam boxes that got stacked up? We poured concrete and then the fascia is it's a block instead of a break. >> And so, we were able to to get all of that uh finished uh during November. November was very kind to us uh so we could
006work efficiently in good weather and didn't have to to heat or tent, etc. So, uh, we we made some good hay while the sun was shining. Uh, if you recall, I had mentioned a couple of months ago, the big exciting thing to me is when I see the behindthescenes stuff getting in place, in this case, the chiller, which is up in this corner, and our boilers are going in, that's real progress. That's backbone things that that are meaningful. Uh, and so we're starting to see framing in the cafeteria here at Hyde Park. You'll see that we even have some uh HVAC distribution going in in that the cafeteria uh auditorium combination. Uh the faculty room looking really nice. You're starting to see all those finished cabinets come in and we have some uh some solid
007progress in the main office. Uh the main gym uh it's part a parts warehouse and part a construction zone. So we're making okay progress in the m main gym. We're starting to see raised platforms show up in the choir room. Um, our dressing rooms, uh, kind of that back of house gym area starting to progress really well. Most of our rough plumbing is done there. So, we're going to start to see those locker rooms come to life soon. And then we've completed the drywall in that in that main hallway. Um, it it from the picture, it's a little deceiving. There's a lot of sheetrock there and a lot of sanding. Uh, that's a lot of work. Um, I don't I don't know how they do it. When I watch how much physical labor goes into
008sanding all of that, those guys are are superstars. >> Will you go back to that? >> Yes, ma'am. >> For a second. >> So, that main hallway is that on the left hand side of that hallway where those big open spaces are, is that the back side of the cafeteria? >> That's the That's the entry point of the cafeteria. So, this is where you walk into the cafeteria auditorium. That's the main office. The counseling center is hidden down in this little corner. And this I'm standing on the second level that at the end of the project, it's it's big storefront glass. And so from a supervision standpoint, you could see half the school from this place. Great. >> It's very nice. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Uh so we're getting our restroom tile insulation
009or installation done. Uh you're seeing some of the some of the work in progress and then just some of the finished work. Uh so here for example is they mocked this up last month. Here it is up on the wall. Uh they were they were doing some work and now all of it is is in finished and done. So they're they're making I think reasonable progress on some some big work. So painting happens constantly. We're really starting to paint ourselves out of the classroom wing, which means we're going to start to get in those big areas. When we start to see paint finish up in the classroom wing, oh what's next? Flooring. What's next? It all of that good stuff. So, the classroom wing is is marching along as it should. Um, cabinets and mil
010work. Boy, when they come in, they just come in and they'll they'll have two semi-truckss full of of cabinets show up and last part of the week they're done. They're moving really well. So, that's good stuff. Again, that exciting stuff about the boilers and chillers, all the big heavy work and starting to get the tile and the restrooms and also the hallway walls. We'll we'll have a picture later where we can show you some of what the hallways are looking like. And that means that they then will turn their attention to uh places like the kitchen uh and the cafeteria to get their their tile in. Let's move on to the new elementary. [clears throat] Big changes here. Here we were at about 40% of the walls tilted in November. And on uh December 1,
011this is an old photo, I can proudly say that as of today, it's all stood up. All the tilt panels are in place. >> I feel like >> Yeah, >> it's a school. >> It's crazy, isn't it? Yeah. No. So, so between between December 1 and December 4, I went from laying panels on the ground to everything is stood up. So that's a that's a a good thing that they have done. And also you'll you'll want to note here we didn't have roof deck and trusses in. Area A has roof deck and truss in and we'll start to see the roofers start to put their insulation and their membrane down. So remember I said you got to give me superintendent until mid January to understand where we're at. It's starting to come together. This is
012what we need to see and um hopefully weather will will be helpful. It will snow, but we will we will work our way through it. Just some of that uh tilt wall progress so you get to understand the the scope and and size of everything happening here. They've tilted two stories tall. This would be uh a stairway for example uh back and uh east of the school here. Coming out, they they obviously brought all the panels out to this purple uh retaining wall area uh over the last couple of days. Again, just showing more of that uh that progress on the tilt. I think most of these were taken [sighs] Monday. I think these are Monday photos. And so, uh little soupy, a little cold, but uh marching right through it. Starting to see that
013interior middle. >> Those walls have lava on them as well, or is that >> This is it. This is it. And it's really kind of hard to see in these pictures. You'll notice. So this is more of a flat surface and then there's a cast in pattern where it kind of looked dark. >> So you can see it on >> Yeah. Yeah. This is a better one. That's a good Yeah. So there's texture to it. There's motion to it. Uh we'll seal it off, but pretty much it's uh it's in it's ready to go. So we don't have additional work. Once these panels are up, your building's up. starting to see all of this heavy metal go in, uh, we get to take our temporary braces out. We get to to to really start to
014go to work. Um, so again, I will tell you, uh, when we put this together earlier this week, we stuck our neck out and and I remember at 7:00 on Tuesday night, I took a picture of this slide and shared it with the construction team and I said, "You're not going to make a liar out of me, are you?" And today at at 2 o'clock, I got a text saying, "Nope, you're good to tell them." So, uh, we're good to go. So, that roof framing is is coming along. We're starting to pour first level, first level concrete floor slabs, getting our rough plumbing in. We have a electrical starting to go in. Um, and and we're really going to push hard for joist and deck and more uh roofing so we can get some semblance
015of weathered in so we can start to really get to go on the interior. Uh, Nibbi, not as much changing on the exterior. Uh, the spring for Nibbi is going to be the big site work finish. So, you won't see a lot of change on the the aerial imagery. Um, but again, just like last um uh last month, we we we have our main entry finishing up. Uh, all of our gymnasium starting to come together, starting to get weathertight. All of the parapit cap coming together. They were they were finishing up parapit in this image. So again, windows 98% fire sprinklers flying along at 90. Uh our ceiling grid is behind uh Hyde Park intentionally because we're doing other things at this building. He'll finish up at Hide Park and then he'll bounce back over
016to Nibi. It's not slowing us down at all. Again, our drywalls up there, our rough electrical and rough plumbing are we have more of that done at Nibbi than we do at Hyde Park. just a little bit, but it shows where they're focusing to keep things going. And again, we added that exterior block to the completion site over here at Nively. So, some some of the changes last month, our rooms looked like drywall. This month, we're painted. We have cabinetry in and we're dropping in our ceiling grid. And those are the electricians putting in their uh their lighting. Last month, uh, we had some of the drywall in the back of the stage. Now, you can see we're all drywalled in. We added a bunch of framing. And so, we're moving along here. Uh, the
017difference uh at Nibbi from Hyde Park. Remember, you used to see that you had that big HVAC system in at Hide Park. We're we're behind here again. We started 3 weeks later, but you can see where we're going to put those big air docks in. Um, again, here's a great picture of this large format wall tile. So, we have this big tile that stands h 4isht tall, really resistant. Kids hit it, it won't damage, protects the walls. They're coming along really nicely there. And, uh, you know, it's actually I will say that the architects when they designed Roy versus how they matured the aesthetic in this building, this is pretty. The other school was functional. Your architects took care of you and they made this really an attractive school. Lucky kids, lucky teachers. I'm excited
018for it. Uh here we finished off this hallway in drywall and they'll be mudding and taping that over the next week. Again, painting our way out of those upstairs hallways and uh even getting into some detail work where we're grinding some of our concrete floor joints. That means that they have an eye towards putting in the flooring. They're getting things smooth so it all lays down. So, these are just the nuances that when you walk along, you're starting to feel like, oh, there is light at the end of that tunnel. Uh, so last month in the main office, we were framed. Now, we're framed and we have drywall. Last month, the media center didn't have its big windows in. Uh, we're in now and weathered in. So, it's starting to come together just the way
019that the schedule wants it to. Same thing as the other school. We're starting to get our our boilers in place. Our chiller is just sitting there, but at least they're again, they're thinking about it. They're they're bringing the pipes in. And then we have our main electrical gear going in. Uh we're also pulling conductor from Rocky Mountain Powers Roadway back into our site at both schools. So, we're getting really close to being able to flip an actual switch or two in the building. So, we're going to continue the interior finishes in the large spaces such as the cafeteria and auditorium. Continue to finish out that that plumbing rough in again those electrical gear items and the main lines. Again, drywall on those large areas. That indication is, oh, our classrooms are getting closer to done.
020When we start to see it move around, we've kind of chased oursel in a circle around the classrooms and now we're chasing ourselves towards the main gym. And then the fire sprinklers, they'll be done before uh winter break most likely. So, lots of big winds, I think, in in what's happening out there. >> What kind of blinds are you putting in the media center on those big windows? >> Oh, I do not know the specifics on that. I think they're large roller shades. I believe I believe that it's one roller shade that can cover one window. >> Okay. >> Yeah. They're great windows, but there's going to be a sunshine. >> Yeah. A lot of heat gain. Yeah. Mhm. Absolutely. So, I believe I believe they're they're large roller shades. >> If if I if
021I look in my paperwork and I find differently, I'll email you and let you know. >> It's not that big of a deal. >> Sure. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Yeah. Can we [clears throat] can we do some more buildings next year so that we have Don at all of our meetings again? >> We said we can have Don back. Let's put a pause on buildings. >> Hold on. Hold on. You can tell us about >> it's only money. [laughter] >> Yes. And there is only a finite amount of it. [laughter] >> Yes. No, we I I think I think after the moves and by the way working really hard with with with John Anderson and and with Derek Beer on coming up with all the strategies and the logistics behind the moves. A
022lot of thoughts going into it. everyone is pulling hard on the moves, the furniture installation, etc. You're going to have a very worn out group of administrators, including those principles, but they are all excited and they're all moving towards it and and actually relishing the challenge. So, that's a fun thing to see. >> Yeah, if we could, [snorts] we would send all of these [clears throat] folks on a cruise in September next year, but we can't afford them to all be gone. >> So, they have to stay. >> Yeah. But they're they're doing great work. So that's that that was part of just the energy level today as they were digging into the hard things. It was really good. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Next on
023our learning and growth agenda, we have a report from Jeremy Young on 2025 graduation data. >> This one's pretty exciting, too. >> Yeah. to some more than others. Um it's a really good positive data. Um a couple of considerations as we look at this um data um high school exit codes that are included in graduation. For our data, it's just regular graduation. um if they have that exit code. We currently do not have an alternate diploma or a little further down a certificate of completion in place. We're teaching and learning department is currently working on figuring that out so that those are options. Um traditionally they uh align with some of our students with disabilities and provide uh other exit options, but that's what's included. >> Sorry to interrupt. I thought our um kids who
024are what do you call them when they're between 18 and 22? >> Post high. I thought they got a certificate of completion. Is that not the case? >> Not to my knowledge. >> And if they did, it wouldn't count to the state. >> Okay. >> It counts somewhere eventually. >> It does. And so and so we'll and we'll see um later on I'll I'll point out um with as with graduation data from the state every student in a cohort gets counted somewhere eventually. A lot of times our students with disabilities that continue to receive services. Um we'll we'll be they'll transfer cohorts until they leave us. Um but once they do leave us, we do have to report uh a high school exit code of some sort. Um uh and so having some of those
025some some processes in place uh and definitions around those things will will just make that process clear for everyone involved. >> So what's the difference between adult ed and post high? >> Uh adult ed is not students with disabilities. >> Oh, gotcha. Okay. >> Post high is those kids that you go see in at Sky View. >> Yeah. um their graduation at the every year >> and then exit codes um that are not included in the graduation percentage uh dropout any type and I'll talk about that when we get to the dropout a little bit GED um is not included transfer to adult ed and certificates of completion those those don't aren't included there so as we get to the numbers we can talk a little bit about those if you have questions but um
026here's our our graduation numbers for that cohort from last year. Um so 95.9% of of the students in that cohort were graduates considered graduates. 2.8 were considered dropouts. 48 students 15 were continuing students. So that's those students with disabilities post high or or a a fifth year senior type of situation. And there's there's a couple of different scenarios that fit into that. they just get coded as we're bumping their cohort down the road. We'll and we'll account for them later. Um and then seven other completers that are GED that do not count as graduates. >> Jenny said we already certificate. >> Oh, okay. Good to know. >> With [snorts] the dropouts, what's the demographics of those 48? So they drop out sophomores, juniors, seniors, >> it's all over. >> Yeah, it's it's all over there.
027I I don't know that there's necessarily uh a higher percentage of of one demographic that's like mis over representative of of our whole our district as a whole. Um it it really varies um it varies year to year [cough] um and [clears throat] kind of all over. So, the seven other completers who got GEDs, why would why would kids in high school given GED instead of a diploma? >> Uh, it's it's about credits. if they can't get the credits to graduate, they can um a a lot of that is um if they come in, whether it's coming into our system or coming into cash high or wherever, if they come in really credit deficient, um they might pursue a GED as an option to have something that that they can take on to employers and
028uh and give them some credibility if like, oh, it's going to be way too work, too much work for me to go through the process. proess of of adult ed and making up all of these credits to get a diploma. Um, that's for and and for a lot of these kids, those types of kids specifically, that's way too far down the road to to be enticing at all. And so the GED is is an option that gives them that sort of um hierability um in a just in a different way. But it's where it's so different in terms of credits and requirements and the state doesn't count it to our graduation rate. >> Thank you. >> So this is a curiosity question. Do those GED students can they get into college or do they have
029to go back and get credits to that they decided somewhere along the way they wanted to go? >> I'm not really sure. >> It depends on the school. Yeah, some I I would think some will some some colleges would would would let them, but for sure some wouldn't. Uh here's a graduation rates over time. Um I checked just barely actually and and my site has the state of Utah graduation rate updated. Uh it's 89. Uh and so it you can see it doesn't move a lot but has moved a little over the years but um we have a little bit more flexibility with our with our growth but um uh 95.9 is really good in terms of a graduation rate. That's really high. I was impressed with [clears throat] the ELELLL students from 2022. >>
030Yeah, >> that was awesome. >> Yeah. Since that year, [clears throat] >> students with disabilities is remarkable. >> Yeah. Yeah. That that's true as well. You you don't see those numbers traditionally throughout the state or in other districts as high as that is either. Here's that same information just in a a graph, a visual to kind of give you an idea of um of how they they relate to each other a little better. >> Thanks for that graph. Um I like how the trend is that that all three of those lines are getting closer together. >> Yeah. >> At the end. Um that's impressive. And then here here's um rates over time by school just to kind of get an idea of of trends of of schools. And then that same information in a graph
031form um most impressed with the trajectory of cash high. You know, when you look at that and you consider that group of students, that's really wonderful. >> That is, correct me if I'm wrong, but that is highly uncommon. >> Yes. >> For alternative high school. >> Yes. Matter of fact, I was just talking today in a meeting with the assessment director of Boxelder um and he was talking about the graduation rate for their alternative high um high school and it's the highest that it's been in I don't know a decade a new 80 right and so like for us to have as high as we are and trending up even is really really great >> but it seems like the average graduation rate for alternative high schools in the state is closer to 50, right?
032>> That's true. 650. >> Yep. >> So, wow, that's amazing. >> And then goals. Um and and I put this this isn't necessarily specific goals that we have written down, but more kind of general intention based upon um the the the board's data point on our data dashboard to to move towards a 100% graduation rate, but also uh conversations that I had in reviewing this data with uh our high school principles um that that we do want to increase that graduation rate each year and and we we would like 100% but understanding that for some students regard whether it's they come to us credit deficient or or whatever circumstances they have really kind of that second bullet point is is the big thing that that I think overall our our [clears throat] counselors and our
033admin really do a pretty good job of that they know where all of the kids are. So when you look at that dropout rate of those 48 kids that they can say yeah it's this kid, this kid, this kid, this kid. this is what's how we're trying to support him. This is how we're trying to support her. This is what's happening here. and they're aware of those students and they're working with them and their families to give them the best outcome possible even though it may not be something that gets reported or counted as graduation if it is a GED so that they can be hirable and and they have a plan moving forward to move into the you know a career type path or or whatever that might be that that they know where
034they're at and that they have a plan to help them be successful in the future. And that that's really kind of the main goal is that that kids when when you see dropouts or you see kids not included in that graduation rate, but that we have a plan that we know who they are and that we have a plan to support them to be successful down the road. Any questions? >> It's really good data. >> It is great data. Thank you very much. That's awesome. I generally like most data though, so that's okay. >> We appreciate your your help, Jeremy. Thanks for that report. >> Um, moving on to our uh relationships reports agenda. First up is the 2026 27 school calendar presented by our deputy superintendent Timman. Thank you. All right. So, um let
035me just give a little context to begin with. Um so, we have two calendar committees now. One is made up of uh representatives from our associations, parent associations and employee associations. Uh we also take our school calendar each year to our executive team to review who have uh directors that are responsible for different aspects of the calendar. In addition, we um run a school representatives, building representatives um group and also employee associate or employee groups that come to a meeting. We basically started with um a couple of main versions of the calendar. one starting in our traditional week of the 17th through the 21st of August on that Thursday. Um, which would be the third week of August and ending before Memorial Day. Um, the other one starting a week later and ending after Memorial
036Day in the first week of June. And um we pushed a little bit on that calendar because this is a really unique year for the school district and that we're going to be opening um three new buildings or several new buildings and moving a lot of our staff and we wanted to buy ourselves as much time to accomplish that as we could. So um I I think all that were on the different committees um agreed with that. So we then just took two versions to um our groups our to survey everybody in the school district um which were two different versions of that. This version that you can see here which is starting on a Tuesday which is unusual for us to get our 180 days in and then ending on June 4th. And then
037the other version was uh pushing that start date to the 27th, which would be a Thursday, but chopping off a couple of days off of our Christmas break. And uh I don't So those are the two versions that we sent out to all parents um staff um and um I don't know if you saw that survey. You probably did in your email and you maybe voted on that as well. But um the results of that did you see that those results in the uh basically that are in the agenda? >> Yes. >> Which were it's pretty much anywhere from 70 to 75% in support of version one. And so that is the version that we are putting before the the school board tonight um to be voted on in 2 weeks for an approved calendar
038for the 2627 school year. >> So I was surprised that the the option with a full two weeks at Christmas was supported more by the educational support professionals than the >> I was too cuz they're usually the ones that >> they usually are flawed. Yeah. Yep. I was surprised by that, too. >> Any ideas why >> I I don't Maybe we we've included more of those groups in the in the building representative meetings. Um and maybe that's helping to sway their minds on the benefits and of that schedule. So, >> okay. >> Any qu other questions about school calendar? Looks pretty clear what people want to do. >> Yeah, it's pretty apparent. Yeah. >> Yeah, it's pretty straightforward and we really are excited to buy ourselves another week for construction. So, >> do you um
039do you feel like the numbers of parents who responded are sufficient enough to be a representative group? a good um >> yeah, we had group for our parents. >> Yeah, we had probably somewhere between 2,00 and 2,300 parents respond. So, that's a large chunk of our parent population, probably 50%. >> Okay, >> awesome. >> Any questions for Tim? >> Looks good. Okay, >> thanks for that work, Tim. >> You're welcome. >> I will be back. >> Yes, you will. >> Uh, [clears throat] next on our relationships agenda is uh the board meeting prayer discussion. So, this is just a followup to uh the brief discussion that we had last meeting where I said I would return with um information about that. So what I found is um in general um co well in general Utah
040code and code across the nation treats school boards as legislative bodies differently than other legislative bodies than municipal um legislative bodies or the legislators legislators of states And um so in three out of four cases um the judges have ruled against school district school boards who have tried to continue to have prayer to open their meetings. So, um, and most recently, Park City was involved in uh, um, a dispute about that. and uh their their legal counsel um recommendation. I'll just read you part of the the legal counsel recommendation that um and so that answer from legal counsel is uh the majority of courts addressing this issue have ruled that such a practice is in violation of establishment clause of the first amendment. um and relying on the practice of legislators opening up their legislative
041session with a prayer, a practice that the Supreme Court has said is part of the nation's fabric as it has been happening since the first Continental Congress. However, most courts distinguish legislative bodies from school boards on the grounds that school boards serve students who are sometimes a captive audience at such meetings and engaging in religious observance such as prayer can have the effect of coercing students to participate in religion which such v such coercion violates the establishment clause. Um there are also several groups who um uh one in particular the Freedom from Religion Foundation that um is actively um creating or pulling school boards into litigation if they um do try to open their meetings with um uh prayer and our Utah code doesn't specifically say anything about um school boards opening their meetings with
042prayer, but it is um unlawful according to Utah code for any um instructional activity, performance or display which includes examination of or presentations about religion. So, um, after after that, any thoughts? That's that's my followup report to I mean, I think it's a great idea, but it seems that because as school boards, we are treated differently than other legislative bodies, it's probably not a good idea. >> Can I add one little point? So, as board leadership, we talked about this idea and um felt like the little uh school presentations that we have at the board meetings actually sets a really nice civil tone for the meeting and that we would like to really continue to try and have those. um the kids come and they're sweet and it just kind of calms everybody down and
043everybody's joyful and happy and excited for the kids. So that was just something we talked about. When I was on the school board before, this was a pretty big debate and the decision was made that we ought to have our individual prayers if we so include before the meeting, but not together because there's so many different things that can happen that can cause problems. So, that's what was left before. >> Probably still pretty good advice. >> Yes. And um uh there is constant litigation surrounding that issue with school boards. Um it's interesting to me that um that it would be more so with school boards than other legislative bodies, but it's seems to be the norm across the nation. >> Thanks for looking into it. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah. Any other questions or comments
044about that? >> Okay. >> Uh moving on to our next reports agenda which is systems of support. Tim is coming back our deputy superintendent and to talk about the human resources issue of transition and staffing plan for 2026 27. >> Okay. I guess no prayer for me today. Sorry. We'll pray for you in our hearts. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Keep praying. >> All right. Um I've just been asked to talk about staffing plans and I'm going to broaden this just a hair at the beginning um to point out a couple of things for our 26 27 staffing transition. Um, I've often asked um what's I don't know why I'm asked this question, but what's the biggest transition? Our 20 2016 to 2018 transition um or our 2026 27 transition. So in
0452016 2018, we opened seven schools or had seven schools, underwent major renovations, repurposed three middle schools to elementary schools. What happened up there? It's doing this. There you go. Uh, closed four, six, seven middle schools, reconstructed four middle schools to or reconstituted to 78 schools, rebuilt Lewon Elementary, shuttered three older elementary schools. That was Wellsville, Lewon, and Park Elementary in Richmond. Moved the sixth grade back to the 17 elementary schools. Moved 9th grade to the high school setting and built and opened two new high schools. Now, that was over a two-year period, but you have to understand we had to have all the planning in process and we actually moved all of the staff um not physically, but we prepared that and sent out those assignments uh in the first year of that so they
046knew where they were going the whole place. So on the 26 27 we have one school undergoing major renovations. Repurpose a middle school to an elementary school. Realign the elementary school boundaries which was major. Move the sixth grade back to the middle school environment. Reconstitute two elementary schools as DLI magnets. Build and open two new middle schools and build and open one new elementary school. Uh it's kind of like saying which NBA player or which baseball player was the greatest. I both projects have been uh big for the school district. >> Anything small? >> No district. >> No, we don't. Um I do want to point out um just the inc and this is where I want to back up a little and just talk about the foundational work that has gone into this whole
047process and you really understand and appreciate the scope of you think this all this process started three years ago with our building task force our bond election followed uh after that um Britney's office followed up with sixth trade curriculum. Uh laying that all out, the dual language immersion committee that she ran. Uh we get into school choice that Alden has been masterful at running, the boundary adjustments that the board has considered, the construction and renovation work that um Don presented tonight that takes place through this whole process. Um we we've talked in this I've talked about position control and ratios um student enrollment FTE projections uh budgeting and financial planning school safety and technology plans. So I don't think there's a department or a building in the school district that's not been doing some heavy
048lifting uh that's outside the normal day-to-day operations of keeping this school district running to to get this process running. So that's that's the purpose of that slide. This one um shows just the magnitude of the shifts and what that means for schools. I want you to look at Birch Creek in the upper left. So the top number of 45418.5. That's the number of projected enrollment for that school starting in with 18.5 teachers. Um, that's a school that is currently this year at 715 teachers and 29 staff. So, you can see the challenge that Trudy had at that school of she's obviously sending on her four sixth grade uh teachers to the middle school environment, but she's then having to cut an additional six teachers, not laid off, and they're they're going to follow the students
049somewhere, but they've got to be considered for a placement move somewhere in the school district. That's one per grade that she's moving. So, the shift is is uh has a large magnitude. Of course, Cedar Ridge and Spring Creek are blue because they're our DLI magnet schools. Uh Old E from our new elementary and then uh Sunrise, Providence, and Heritage are losing students um because of the DLI moving out of those schools um in in that case. So, and then Juniper Ridge, Maple View, North Cash, and South Cash there at the bottom. Any questions on comments? Wellsville is actually one of the one schools that actually is going up in enrollment. So they actually >> based that's based on the discussion we'll have here in a minute. >> Yep. Exactly. >> You have a question. Terry?
050>> No, I was just going to comment that there are some real significant changes coming to many of our schools. >> Some are not. I mean there are a few that are not changing a lot but the majority of them >> Yeah. >> have significant changes. >> Yeah. Exactly. I mean oldie from there um that's two teachers per grade level. So that's a significantly smaller school. So all right. Um I think I showed you a slide similar to this. This starts to get into the idea that um when we start looking at staffing of these schools, um these are the type of positions we need to staff an elementary school. Obviously, the teachers follow the students, so they're all hired, but we have lots of positions on this that um have to be hired for
051the new elementary schools that we have coming. I promise I didn't do anything special. Um and then as far as uh middle school, same way. These are the type of positions we start looking at ratios. I think I've already showed you this and for the different positions based on sometimes on square footage of the school versus number of students in a school and that type of thing. I want when we get into staffing and I did want to mention here um when we built the high schools, I was um in a different position in the school district and I I went every week out to those high schools and um walked the halls and checked on the construction and made sure the tech was going in um appropriately in those schools. And I've got to
052tell you, being in those schools every day and watching brick and mortar go up and then sheetrock and all of the things that you were shown tonight, what was really exciting is when the staff arrived and then the students arrived and you took a shell of a building that all of a sudden came alive. And it's when we put staff and students in those buildings that we really see the fruit of what we're about as a school district. That's that's what we do is we educate kids. So, um, as we start looking at layering of staff variables, um, we usually don't have staffing projections until the spring. Jared has and his office has worked very hard with transportation to get us some initial FTE projections. You're probably wondering why transportation's involved in that. They can
053GIS locate any students address for us. So they layer that above over the boundaries that you guys set so that they can see where those students lay out and which schools they'll be going to. Um those are very preliminary. Um the board also did us a huge favor in voting for uh moving our school choice window up this year which will close on December 12th. That's going to be critical next week and giving us another snapshot at numbers so we can see where students are wanting to move around in the school district. Uh we're going to have moveins. We're going to have retirements, voluntary resignations uh coming up. We're already getting some light shed on some of those individuals that are uh introducing us to their intent to to move on in life. Renewals, non-renewals,
054um dual language immersion, we got the shifts there to deal with. So all of those things are going to layer on as we go through the next few months. So, we're kind of on bullet number one right now. We have our initial enrollment numbers, FTE projections, and so we're starting to build out and staff um these schools. So, we got to look at administrative staffing, classroom teachers, special ed staffing, ELLL staffing, and I'm and these are the main groups. There's there's more uh more staffing if I get into the weeds, but and then our support staff move planning. Um really if you look at it from a support staff standpoint, Spring Creek is the only uh school that's going to be transferring their support staff over to the new Maple View School and moving in
055that. So if we have open positions for support staff, for example, uh Juniper Ridge is going to be hiring a new head custodian. They're going to be hiring a new administrative assistant for the principal. they're going to be hiring cooks and all of those positions will be posted. Um there'll be some shifting as some of these schools lose uh staffing that the cooks will move from one school to another to cover those shifts so we're not um overstaffed in some of our schools. >> Why is Spring Creek the only one? it. They're the only one where the staff's getting up and move. The whole staff is moving to a new school because they're building they're shuttering their building as a middle school and opening a new middle school, >> right? >> So, they're moving over.
056>> So, why is that not happening at Cedar Ridge? >> At Cedar Ridge. >> It that whole staff is staying because they already have a support staff in place. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. It's fine and clear. [laughter] Yeah. you know, and yeah. So, and then that new elementary school in Juniper Ridge will have to hire additional support staff to help there. And I mentioned that those will be posted and and that kind of thing. So, I wanted to go through just real quick the guiding principles that we're using for moving teachers. Um, so that you understand that we're trying to minimize any unnecessary changes. There's a lot of teachers in the school. There's about I can't remember the number I looked at today. It's just over 500 teachers that are impacted in the buildings
057that we're shifting here. A lot of those teachers that don't really aren't going to be affected. They're not going to move um because they're going to continue to teach the subjects and the grade levels that they're are currently teaching. We want to maintain staffing equity across schools, expertise, experience, leadership, etc. That's really important to us that we uh follow that really closely as we go through this process. We want to prioritize continuity and consistency of programs, curriculum, course offerings, configuration, services. That's where you go back to that groundwork that's been laid by teaching and learning and by uh John and Derek's department to look and make sure our curriculum and and everything's aligned between those schools so kids have the same opportunities. We want to honor employee preferences when possible. We want to ensure licenses
058and endorsements meet short and long-term needs. Um there's some difference between elementary teachers that are certified K8 and they can teach up with sixth grade without endorsements, but when they move into the seventh and eighth grades, they got to have endorsements. We want to stay within our FTE allocations or within budget, ensure transparent and timely communication and post any new positions or open positions so people can fairly compete for those positions as they come available. Um, I have a This doesn't capture the magnitude of the spreadsheet. This is a spreadsheet that has all of the teacher. So, we surveyed every teacher in the school district because we wanted everybody to feel seen, heard, and valued. Um, you're going to have individual situations where somebody has been commuting from Lewon to Hyum for half their career
059because that's where they got the job that it would make sense to maybe look at moving that individual closer to home or you have individual family circumstances that may make some of those moves u necessary. So big large database with a lot of preference data. This doesn't capture it all. This also is driving um all of our assignments and things and I'll show you that in a minute. Um this is a spreadsheet that has all of our licensing and endorsements. So we can look up any teacher in the school district and see what where they're at with licenses endorsements. So we know a lot of people have endorsements in areas that they're not currently teaching in. but that can help us in an area when we're dividing up schools and and and making things a
060little bit thin. This is a fun spreadsheet. It also doesn't capture it's a lot wider than this with a lot more color, but this is the uh scheduling matrix for our middle schools. So, you basically plug the numbers of how many students you have in here and it builds out and tells you how many language arts teachers and how many math teachers and how many um science teachers based on our current curriculum that you're going to need in each of those areas. So last couple of days we've been spending a lot of time in these matric matrices um projecting what we're going to need moving from three middle schools to four middle schools and how do we staff those and then it figures out the class sizes that we're going to have in in those
061areas as we go along. Um, if I showed you the um, not going to put this up publicly, but a lot of the work has been being done in that big large spreadsheet. Um, and if I clicked on these tabs down here, I can click on some. You can see the preferences of the some of the staffs that they have. And we can look at different staffs. This is the sixth grade preferences of where our sixth grade teachers wanted to go. But if you go left over here, you can click on any of our schools and it's dynamically starting to build out as we place teachers, you know, in our elementarymentaries, kindergarten through sixth grade, and it's starting to build out our um middle schools. And we'll continue that work over the next few weeks
062and try to announce those uh placement changes in January. So, that's kind of the purpose of that work. Um, just a shout out again to um our district directors, supervisors um representing our every department. I I just can't say enough good about uh those groups that are working hard and have worked hard to get us to where we are today. our school principles and school counselors. Uh, I wish you could be with me sitting through those placement meetings and um the respect they have for the teachers of the school district and trying to dig into those preference charts and those license and endorsement charts and and really we're in a human endeavor and uh we want to make sure people are placed where they're going to have a good impact on students where they're going
063to be feel like they're part of a a winning So, they've been working hard on that. And then I just like to call out our teachers and support staff, too. Um, there's a lot of anxiety when you don't know what's going to happen. Are you going to be next to the person you've been to next to for 10 years or you going to be asked to move to a new school and what's your situation going to be? and I um they have been so patient and I'm sure they're anxious, but we certainly appreciate our our staff who've who've kind of been with us through this whole process. So, >> let me add to that shout out. >> Yeah, >> we need to recognize Tim and his work to organize and structure this and bring it
064together. Uh it's been an incredible lift. I think you get a sense of the complexity of the work and uh I got to tell you coming into it with all these changes as he outlined at the very beginning I was really nervous about how this was going to come together but Tim and everyone else on the team have just done an incredible job. We're not there yet. There's still a lot of heavy lifting to do but where we're at at this point in the year we're going to hit the ground running next year. And I think that's that's a huge huge win that I don't know that everyone fully appreciates. So, thank you to Tim for everything he's done in terms of the staffing and of course for the rest of the team in their
065area as they've all been doing equally the work to get this going. >> I I have one question and and maybe it's not even time for this question yet, but if you have two teachers who want the same position like for to stay let's say stay at their school in the um math department where they both have been at the seventh grade level and one has better credentials and the other one has seniority. How how do we have a protocol for how that's going to work out? >> Yeah, the the policy basically reads that's in our in our policy manual that um we look at three areas. We look at competence uh which can include test scores and and things like that. Uh we look at licensing endorsements and we look at um uh seniority
066and those can all be considerations uh with regards to that all all other things being equal. Um so we those are all considerations. Further in the policy, it kind of gives a provision that when the school district is undergoing changes of this magnitude, we're opening new schools, changing boundaries, changing enrollments, that that is governed by volunteers who who want to move, but we really haven't where we've gathered preferences and things, we really haven't had those struggles. They may come. >> Mhm. Um, I don't remember a single one when we went through that transition in 16 and 18 where we got down to any kind of a grievance between uh individuals both wanting to stay. We do have a situation we talked about today about um one position, but it's at one of the new schools
067that um we're probably just going to open that position because we have three interested individuals that want to go there. It's a position that we need to open because we don't have a teacher there. We'll probably open that to competition between those and any one of those three individuals can apply for that position. >> Is that the principal's job then? No. That decision >> to hire >> to decide which of those two teachers would stay at that school and the other would have to move. >> In the case you first gave me or in the one I just gave you? >> The one I just the one I gave you. >> It's a group of us. >> Yeah. Weighing the strengths. It's not really made by any one individual. There's been a group of us.
068We've had Britney and Derek and John and special education and all of the principles for the buildings. And again, I I wish you could be in those meetings and see the discussions that go on and and the honesty between, hey, this is this teacher strengths. This is uh what kind of teams they work well in or teaming situation. and here's how they are in with curriculum and here's their preferences and some of their family situation. So I think there's a lot of factors that go into those moves from my opinion. >> Thanks. >> I have a question Tim. So with the preferences for Southshes [clears throat] were given before the principal was decided. How are you going about listening to the teachers who may have different a different preference from before that decision was made?
069>> So, we closed the survey uh 1st of October. Um we broadcast anybody that wanted to change their preferences were able to go back into their survey. I kept that open an extra two weeks. They were able to go in and change. Then the principal changes happened. I still kept that opportunity and I've got probably two to three four emails a day, people adjusting their preferences and um so that was open that we continued to listen to people. In fact, I got two today and we're right in the middle of placement and I still said I've made your changes. We tried to make those available to the principles. So, we've just kept that process open. Anyone else have questions for Tim? >> When are you going to be wrapped up with all this with the
070decisions on the teachers and where they're moving? >> Uh, that's a great question. So, we will probably be finished with the major lifting this month before the break. We'll have um some committees review that work, look at equity across the schools at right after the break. We're going to probably announce the dis initial placements to the teachers sometime in January so they're aware of that. Um then all that layering that I talked about is going to happen. We're going to have um some shifts in enrollment. We're going to have resignations and and those types of things, retirements. And so we're going to have to that first letter that goes out is going to be this isn't your initial placement, but it could change based on these factors. And we'll do a final placement later in
071Mar February, late February, March where we give them a final placement letter when we confirm that up a little bit. So, but we have to be a little bit agile. So, anyone else have questions for T? Thank you so much. >> Thanks to everyone who's working on this very challenging uh process. Wow. It's amazing how um complicated it is and involve involving so many different systems in the in the district. Thank you. Uh, next on our systems of support agenda, we have school improvement plans discussion. Um, and it looks like John Anderson, our executive director of secondary is going to present. >> I will start out. >> Okay. >> Um, as some of you may know, uh, few years back, uh, we did away with having a set school improvement plan, used our trust lines
072plan as our school improvement plan. um in an effort to uh to redirect or to direct I guess to direct resources aimed at school improvement. Uh we're trying to re bringing the school improvement plan back and using the trust lands and the TSSA plans really as as sources of support for the school improvement plan. And so uh could you go to the next slide please? You know, there's there's several different benefits and this is just a I mean, we could come up with more. And for example, number two, alignment of initiatives and resources. You know, that's that's what I was talking about having having our resources aligned to our school improvement makes much more sense so that we have a consistent goal set out ahead and it makes it an an aim and a an
073intentional practice moving towards that plan. Uh number three there is another example becomes the anchor for professional learning curriculum decisions etc within the school. You know there and and there's several other examples but they're great points in that having a school improvement plan helps us align our efforts within our schools and not only that align our efforts directed towards what we're doing as a district. So any questions on I guess any of those any thoughts? Okay, turn it over to Derek for a minute as we um as we've looked at this um we're looking at it from two perspectives also. We're looking at it as alignment um within the district and also alignment with within the schools. All of our schools have multiple plans. they at least have a a trust land plan and a
074TSSA. Some of our schools have title one plans and CSI, TSI, some of those kinds of things. And so our our hope with with that is just aligning all of those within the school and also within uh within the district. And John gave a great analogy and showed a video as we we talked to principles about this last month. And there's a clip from the the movie The Boys in the Boat. And uh just talking about how important, you know, not only direction and cadence and some of those kinds of things are a as we as we all look to move in in the right in the same direction as well. there will be some variability you know that has to happen within the schools but um that alignment is huge and just some just
075some key points as we've talked about it you know without alignment um we have ins inefficient uses of resources um a broad focus often gives us some shallow initiatives um initiative fatigue as well uh those equity gaps don't often get reached the way that they could if we all um have that alignment. Um schools and even within the schools uh teachers are um unsure on what to prioritize as as we have different plans with different goals and um often these goals are dependent on a leader's um initiatives and uh creates a you something that's dependent on on leaders. Uh we want that consistency to be there no matter who the leader is and with with some alignment. Uh we have crystal clear expectations for instruction, professional development and assessment. Um we have every school and
076classroom adhere to standards and instruction. Leaders can focus on aligned efforts in instructional leadership role and we build systemic uh capacity that can sustain high performance. One of the things that we've we've noticed over the years, and I think we're we've all been a little bit guilty of it, is that sometimes we've seen some of these plans as just a hoop that we jump through rather than a meaningful process. And so part of our um efforts are to make this more meaningful for principles and schools. And so it's a a process that helps lead to meaningful change and improvement in student learning. And so we're doing some work together um with all of the principles at the same time and providing some professional development around school improvement planning and providing support and giving them some
077time to work together as they prepare to write their plans. So we've done a few things already to to get them started. Um we had them a couple of weeks ago begin looking at their school data. So we're encouraging them to the next step would be take their data and hold a data review meeting with their staff and at that point in time they would start using the data to identify where where are some performance gaps where are we seeing holes or gaps where um and and the next step would then be which ones are the the most concerning or the ones where we feel like we need to address. And so they would do a needs assessment to determine where are the highest needs and then they would do a root cause analysis to
078say why do we have a gap? We've noticed we have a gap. What's causing that? And that will help them once they know the cause to identify a goal to help them fix the concern and hopefully lead to some um better outcomes for students. So just on this slide we have the school improvement template that um we've as we're asking them to use. At one point in time we tried to decide should we just have them create their own plans um or should we use a template and we decided a template will help all of them so they can kind of have something to follow um but also then when they're done we can have a nice looking plan on each website so that it's there's some consistency and alignment across all of the schools.
079Um, so the the goal setting sheet looks here's just an example. We've asked them each once they get through the process and they're not to the goal setting stage yet. They're still reviewing the data and preparing to do the needs assessment and root cause analysis, but when they're ready for goals, um, these are the things that they're going to be considering as they write their goals. So, it's not just we're going to increase the number of students, but we're we're really looking at how are we going to support this with funding, how are we going to support this with professional development, how are we going to support this um with people, and they're all of those kinds of things are going to be considered as they write their goal. So, what questions do you have
080for all of us? >> Um, so you all three have been principles. um will will the process of creating a school improvement plan. Um I I'd hope that that would allow them to then um have an easier time with their TSSA and their school land trust plans. >> Yes. >> And less time consuming. >> Yeah. Together. >> I you visited North Cash several times. as when I was a principal there and we we did essentially the same thing which allowed us the opportunity to focus on the TSI status that we were in and make significant growth even through co um that's okay and so I I think it's a a definite benefit to the schools and and I want to add as well that the schools are doing incredible stuff I mean every one of
081the principles are doing fantastic things and they have great goals this is just an effort to help align those efforts to help make sustained efforts. Um, and so that when they walk away from that school, you know, they retire, whatever it is, that that plan, there's still an active plan, an ongoing improvement plan that's more than just a one-year oneshot thing. So, and I think that's that's the case in some of our schools. Uh, I mean because one of the reasons that we stopped requiring school improvement plans was to try and lighten the load for principles because we recognize as a board that principles carry a a heavy load as the instructional leaders of each of our schools. Um, but I can see how implementing uh a school improvement plan could make the rest of
082their plans easier if it's done well. >> Yeah, it's almost a reverse order thinking of what we were doing previously when we hey, let's lighten the load. Let's make this all in one plan. We're we're simply saying let's go through this this analysis and find out where the issue is and then just aim our resources. So, you're right. It's changing the thinking and saying now for our trust lines goal, we just need to say it's this because that's the resource funnel that we need to have. Yeah, it um it makes a lot of sense to do to me to do the school improvement to return to a school improvement plan that's really solid and long-term because then like you said then TSSA and school trust plans just become resources to implement the school improvement plan.
083>> Correct. Correct. >> Which is what they should be because they're not >> Yeah. They're a resource in and of themselves. that's that's their intention is to be a resource to the schools. They're not intended to be the goal, but but to drive whatever improvements needed. So >> So one of the other reasons why we got rid of the school uh improvement plan was it was just redundant to the [clears throat] other two. Is that going to be now not an issue or >> um I think in my mind we have to write a goal regardless, right? And so the goal is for the school improvement plan. Will we have to copy and paste that to the trust lands or or make it specific towards that? Yes. Um but you may be using some of
084the resources for trust lands towards your school improvement plan goal different than what you're using your TSSA money for. and it's still towards that goal, but maybe a different direction, but still aimed at that goal. So maybe it is going to be the same, maybe it's going to be a little bit different, but it's still aimed at that one unified goal that's out in front. >> I think I think that um the way that it appears that you're going about it now is they'll create their school improvement plan first and and it will be long term. And so then the other things whatever whatever I mean like title one PSSA trust lands all the things that are resources then they know how to target those where what Kathy is saying is in the past the
085school improvement plan was kind of an afterthought to whatever the trust lands was and the TSSA and the title plans. So it became a cut and paste and was really useless >> and more work for the principal. If >> I can add a couple points. Um first just to highlight what John said is that we want to make sure that the school improvement plan is holistic that's engaged the entire school community and it becomes the master plan that the other plans are subservient to it but just as importantly that we are coordinated and articuled across the district school to the district. The board has approved a a strategic plan with strategic priorities and the intention is that these school improvement plans are aligned to our district priorities as well so that we have that consistency
086and congruency throughout the district. We're all moving in the same direction to complete the metaphor of us all in the boats pulling the oars. We're all pulling in the same direction. There is obviously need for variance at school levels because the needs are different and there there's certainly that flexibility. Um but but we need to make sure that we're all operating within the same frame. >> Anyone else have questions, comments? Brian, you're thinking really hard. >> Either that or we put him to sleep. He's trying >> I think it's great. I I think whenever we can look at how we're doing in each school and be consistent across the district, I think it's great. How much resource is the district providing each of the schools because I realize that the schools are limited in their
087people that are assessing the data that are pulling the data. So, so the district will be supporting each of the schools in that I'm guessing. >> Well, we've we provided um a session last month on pro about school improvement planning. We'll have another one this month. And is as we progress, depending on how much support they need, we will provide it. Um Jeremy and I discussed if if they need help with a needs assessment and a root cause analysis, we'll invite them to come in for a practice where we could could run through one. If they've never led a needs assessment or a root cause analysis, then they can practice with us and see how it works. Um we don't know what their needs are yet cuz they're just barely getting into it. Um, but
088as they share their needs, I think we all will be there to support them. >> I think as a principal, it's it's you have your gut feeling of what's needed within the building. So, every one of them could probably tell you this is my gut feeling of what's needed. But it's just a it's a affirmation when you go through that process that yeah, I was right and let's let's make this happen. And it's not just you guessing and it gives validity, you know, to the staff as well. So when the boundary changes occur and all of a sudden their schools are different and the needs are different, there still will be that opportunity each year to make adjustments to the school improvement plan. >> Yep. >> To meet those. >> Yeah. It should be revisited
089yearly, but they may have a three-year plan, right? And and it may be three years out, but three consecutive years of steps that they're going to take towards that. >> But what if it's a big change? They can share. Yeah, absolutely. >> Anyone else have questions? >> Thank you so much. This is exciting. We're excited to see how this works. Oh, next up is Derek here, our executive director of elementary education to talk about another elementary boundary plan. [laughter] >> Yeah. as we um as all these numbers were coming together. Um first off, I got to give Jiren Gunnell at our transportation department a huge thank you for catching uh something that could potentially be a pretty big hot spot. Um, as uh as Tim talked about those FTE numbers and as those are developed,
090one of the hardest areas to to predict that Jared does every every year is kindergarten. And that's a hard one. We we have no idea what's coming into our schools. All the other grades we have an idea of what's there um you know as that transitions. And so a couple of things uh brought this to our attention. Um it's regarding Heritage Elementary. There's a couple areas with Heritage's uh boundary new boundary changes that have some really high numbers of young kids in those boundaries. Um particularly on that east side of Hyum right there that would be going to Heritage. Um Jiren pulled up I was in his office a few weeks ago. Jiren pulled up and and just did a little quadrant in in one of those areas and showed me how within a couple
091block area there's there was 20 kindergarteners uh living there right now. Those kids right now are going to Canyon Elementary. Um so um there's there's a lot of younger students and we don't know exactly how many are below five that will be coming into Heritage next year. But as we look at that, look at predicting what um could come in next year. There's a high number already. Another factor is is Heritage has DI and that's moving out. We could kind of predict about how many of our students would be going to to the DI lottery um as they move into first grade. Well, that that factor changes next year because um kindergarten will be a lottery in DLI. We don't know how many of those kids that are inside of um Heritage's boundaries are going
092to be applying for DI on the kindergarten level. So, he ran it. Worst case scenario, we don't have we have a lot of the same number of kids in that area. We don't have a lot of them applying for the DLI lottery. And that would put us he he estimated about 140 kindergarten students at um Heritage Elementary next year. That's an alarming number and one that would would push Heritage over the edge with having 146. I I do we we won't have that many, but the problem is we don't know, but there's going to be a high impact area there either way. So, we looked at one of the one of the considerations we had talked about is is um looking at sending more students to Wellsville. Wellsville was one of our smaller populations. hasn't
093um seen a lot of the growth that some of our other areas have. Um you know, Principal Harris has talked to us a few times about some options. Um so what we looked at doing this new map shows we looked at, if you remember, one of the adjustments we made um before the the boundaries were aligned is we took this area right here and we put them to over to Wellsville already. Um there was this area from I think it's 2000 west there. This area was originally still going to Heritage Elementary. Um we had Jiren pull some numbers there. There were about 100 students in that area right there that we could possibly pull and have go to Wellsville Elementary. The distance is about the same. If you look, um, Heritage is kind of close
094to Nibbli's bound, well, really close to Nibbli's boundaries there. Um, it the distance was about the same either direction. They'd both be transported u by bus. So, we um we considered making that change. Uh, we sent out um uh some information to the families in that area. We had transportation help pull u information on those those families. sent out information on this proposed uh change, opened it up for some feedback um on that. We did not get a lot of feedback. Um we had um some really positive um comments on that. There were some people in that area that were already talking to Principal Harris about um coming over to Wellsville on a school choice because kids in their neighborhood, their church organizations, those kinds of things, they were they were there together anyways and
095that kind of split that up. So, there was some of that. There was some concerns. Um but most of the concerns that came up were about the original decision. um some of these families, especially on this east side, are are closer to Lincoln. And the so the concerns weren't weren't necessarily the majority of the concerns weren't necessarily about going to Wellsville. It was about the original decision of having these these families go to a different school when they're when they're closer to to Lincoln. Um, so it would be it would be that area right there sends about a 100 students to Wellsville, which um that was something that was brought up earlier that that increases Wellsville's uh enrollment. They're, I think, our only school that increased in enrollment, but they're still um under capacity, and
096we don't anticipate that they would go over capacity anytime soon with this change. and gives us some some good growth um opportunities for growth in um heritage where that's kind of highly impacted. There's a lot of building around it, a lot of um homes that bring in or have the potential to bring in younger families. So, any questions about that proposed change? >> That's a good move. Another concern I've heard from parents, [clears throat] this is before you made this change, is they're in Hyum and they're now going to Heritage, which again you've made a shift. Parents were disappointed because the whole idea of the new middle schools was to provide a pathway for kids to stay together. And if we send kids from Hyum to Heritage, they're then going to be pulled out of
097that cohort of kids and back into a different middle school with different kids. So, I think more parents will be happy with this to keep their kids together. I don't know if there will still be are there still going to be kids from higher there will still be kids from Hyum that go to Heritage. There will be >> they'll still shift back into the other schools, >> which we still have to balance. So, it is what it is, >> right? And you know, it would in a perfect world that would be great to be able to align our elementarymentaries with our middle schools, but we'd have to build a lot of schools to be able to to do that. Um, so it is still split. We have um quite a few of our elementary schools
098that that split between middle school boundaries. >> Most of my area, the elementary kids don't go to school in the same boundary of where they'll go to middle school and high school. Yeah. >> What's the capacity of Wellsville? >> Oh, I don't have those numbers right now. >> So, we're at the 480, I think, with this new >> Uhhuh. >> still >> I think that it put them I think the percentages it put them about 80% capacity. >> So, still space. >> Yeah, still space. And I think it bumped Heritage just a little below 70% capacity. >> Wellsville's not growing, so there's going to be space. >> Not Yeah. Not nearly as fast as we're seeing some other areas. Yeah. >> Well, it's not growing at all. [laughter] >> You live there. >> Well, so
099it would be good then with with this reasoning, it seems like it would be good to have heritage below or around 70%. with the expected growth of young families in that area absent. >> And the another piece that I think is important is we don't know the families that will be going to DI, you know, that kind of pull on that. We may have more families choosing to stay. We may we'll have those numbers some of those numbers uh tenative numbers this month, but this gives us some capacity there either way. So with the DLI numbers that you're talking about, do they when is how does the lottery and the window for school choice line up? Do does it line up? >> So we have um we had a couple of um pieces of that
100lineup. We the lottery does go until the end of this month, but that gives us some time to to adjust the beginning of January before we let families know. Um the reason we didn't want to have that lineup with the school choice was because um we just wanted to extend that a little bit. Um make sure we're we're giving the opportunity as much as we can there. Um, so we did send out a survey to our DI families just asking them to let us know um if they plan to continue or or not with DI. That deadline is the same as the school choice. So that's the 12th. >> So those are current DLI student, >> correct? Yeah. And that gives us a good idea of of anyone that might be be staying or continuing
101on with it. So >> any other questions for >> all of you are really improving your brain power for when you get older. [laughter] >> I don't know [clears throat] >> might be doing the >> like a puzzle. >> there's a lot of moving puzzles right now. refer to it as sh. [laughter and gasps] >> Just think of how powerful all your brains are becoming with the extra muscle effort [laughter] to work through all these problems. >> I know I sleep well I don't sleep great at night cuz these kinds of things the first the first as we talked about this I I had a dream that in the middle of the night I woke up I had this dream that there all of a sudden 800 kids showed up to Wellsville. on the first
102day of school and kind of panicked a little bit. So, [laughter] I'm tired, but I don't sleep great. >> Thanks, Dar. >> Wow. So many things. >> They just need to start playing a musical instrument and that will enhance the blind brain connections. Also, >> these guys need to start playing musical instruments. >> I want to enhance >> more already. You'll have to survey them after the meeting. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Last up on our systems of support uh agenda is a fairly boring topic after all of the other things that we've just seen. And we'll um have Superintendent McKe talk about this. >> Auditing our policy around board meetings. uh we realized that we were missing a section on um public input and so we've gone back and pulled um the model policy from
103USBA and made sure that was aligned to the most recent statute and provided a draft. The draft in essence captures our practice. It has been our practice. Uh this just formalizes it, puts it into policy. That's great. >> That's it. >> Oh, wow. >> Cool. We try to keep it simple. >> I like it. Yeah, it's [laughter] perfect. >> Yeah. Well, because we were supposed to have a policy on public input in 2023, but um as I tell legislators and state board members all the time, we're out of compliance with something every day. So, this is just one more. But um this will be great to have in our policy and so that um our public can refer to it and have um some solid information about what to expect. >> So with your approval
104remove the draft watermark will remove the line numbering and the underlining was there for convenience sake. >> I thought it was good. >> Yeah. So this will just come to us in the next meeting on the consent agenda unless you have any suggestions, comments, concerns. All right. Any other anything else? >> I have one item, probably the most important item. Our white elephant gifts for the board party or per person. That question has been asked. Okay, >> that's awesome. I wanted to shout out Sky View with all the um all state athletes. I mean, all of our schools did well, but Sky View had a ton. And I was just going to ask, how did they do so well at that? And can the other schools mirror that? >> The water. I think it's >>
105shift some of the waters down. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Impressive. >> Pretty exciting the things happening in our schools. Um, I appreciated Don's comments about especially coming from a different school district, the the hive, what did he call it? A hive of activity. >> Anyway, I appreciated that comment because it sure feels like it. Um, everybody in our district is working so diligently to make sure that our kids are well taken care of and our families are um can count on the district to take care of their kids really well. Seeing no other business or comments, we and we are at the end of our agenda. We will adjourn.