001Welcome everyone. It is 5:32. We are just a little bit late starting and we are meeting today on the 16th of October, Thursday in the boardroom on Legacy Campus. And we will begin with roll call beginning with Jared. Jared Black, business administrator. Jeff Nielsson, board member. Alan Grunig, board member. >> Kathy Christensen, board member. Terry Rhodess, board member. >> Roger Pulsifer, board member. >> Todd McKe, superintendent. >> Brian Chambers, board member. >> Randall Baggley, board member. >> Thank you all for being here. We appreciate that you are. And thank you to all of our audience who are here. We're glad to see you. Uh our pledge and mission statement uh will be a little bit different than usual this evening. We have a special guest here from uh Summit Elementary and uh Lily Davis, a
002fifth grade student there will lead us in the pledge. Please stand. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lily. Our mission is to educate students for success in a changing world. And now we have our Summit Elementary School report which will be presented by Principal Amy McNeel. And if all of your students are as cute as Lily, I bet every day at school is awesome. We do have a pretty great school. All right. So, um, happy to be here tonight to brag a little bit about Summit. I've been at Summit for seven years and, um, it's been a privilege to be there. So, I'm
003going to present some information. We will go ahead and start with our demographics. Um, as of October 1st, we were counted at 683 students. That includes our K kinder through 6th grade and our essential elements. and adding our preschool section that takes us us up to 709 students. If we look at the graph of the breakdown of our demographics, I wanted to point out a couple of items. We have our limited English proficient. We do have 65 students and we also have our free and reduced lunch eligible students. We have 277 students that are eligible which um continues our title one status as a school. As far as data, so if we look at our rise data for the 2425 school year for math, we were at 62% proficiency and for science at 61.2%. And
004the language arts one is a little that was the graph I had to use. We were still in the middle of the state finalizing ELA scores. So that won't be our final score. Those scores should come out on Monday. And so as I was going through and looking at other schools, some had 100%, some had zero%, some had 50. And so those will be finalized soon. So hopefully that will not be our final proficiency on language arts. for our cadence reading data. This is again for last year 2425 school year. This is broken down into grade levels for endofear composite. And you notice this graph is divided into our red which is uh well below proficient and yellow which is below green approaching and green and blue if I can get my colors right. Blue
005is above. And so overall we were at a 78% uh excuse me 76% proficiency with our end ofear cadence reading. If we look at our cadence math again this was last year's data end of year composite by grade and again we have our red yellow green and blue by grade level. And um I will note later in the presentation of some of our challenges and uh one is our kindergarten that that is a focus of ours right now of we are we have quite a few below benchmark with our math and so that's one of our focuses. So overall we had a 70% um overall uh proficiency with Arcadians math. Um some of the opportunities that we have at some elementary for students we have a few um we have our before school tutoring I
006marked in progress because that started just this week. So we have now today have had a full week of our before after our before school program which is our math retach. Then we are also participating in our afterchool Lego robotics that's twice a week and then we also have STEM activities the other two days. This program is available through our CAPS program through the district and the the work that is happening to align um teaching opportunities through our high school programs. And so we are one of the elementary schools that are working in that program. Um some of the opportunities for fifth and sixth graders for leadership, we have uh what we call our morning recess mentors. This is where we have students volunteer their time to come up with a game. They find a
007partner and they sign up and they have their game approved and then they get a yellow vest and they head out to the playground before school starts and they teach games to students. we were finding we had a lot of um behavior, elevated behavior at recess and we came to the conclusion is because a lot of them don't know what to do and so our fifth and sixth graders have been very generous in donating their time to do that. We also have them help with our PBIS. They help with our tickets that are um given out to our students for our hero program. Our summit service squad is a program that students apply to be a part of for fifth and sixth grade. So they uh participate in service projects. Our hero is our PBIS
008uh program at Summit. And so we have weekly quotes and those students uh find and share those. They help with assemblies and uh develop and run school activities. An example of that is the last two years they decided they wanted more activities at the end of the year schoolwide. So they developed a a kickball game, teachers versus students, and we've done that for the last two years now. And that was all through our summit service squad. Our PBIS program is hero, helpful, exceptional, responsible, and optimistic. And so how students participate in these opportunities is when they earn tickets for demonstrating these characteristics, uh they um put their ticket into a a raffle. We have up to five or six items in a raffle every month and they choose which item they would try like to
009try and win. And that happens every month. And then if they earn so many tickets, they get to sign letters that are in our hallway in our main hallway by the lunchroom uh gym. And so when they earn four tickets, they get to sign the H. Um when they earn eight, the E, and so on. Uh something new we added this year, it's called the golden ticket. And uh yes, you think of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. This is kind of where it came from. But these tickets are given out anonymously to staff at the school, not just teachers, but all staff. And all month they're looking for a student that's gone above and beyond even the expectations of hero. And so they are given uh the yellow ticket. They go to the office, get
010their picture taken, and that's displayed in the hallway. Another opportunity for uh students to participate in is our attendance uh popcorn attendance. This is something we've done the last couple of years and students enjoy participating in this. So they have the opportunity to earn a popcorn party for their whole grade level. And how they do that is they um have they try to have 90% attendance and uh tardies not 90% tardies but less than 10% tardies and they can earn two kernels which are paper kernels and when the whole grade level and they earn that per class. When the whole grade level's gotten to 40 then they earn a popcorn party for their class um for their grade level. The other um item that is new this year is the perfect attendance recognition and we
011felt like those students who really put in the effort to be there, we wanted to recognize them. But this is a monthly um something that happens monthly and so all students have that opportunity to earn the perfect attendance recognition. Some of our challenges at summit um this is probably not a surprise on this first one. are seeing some high need behaviors. Uh the behaviors that we are seeing is some more defiance um attention-seeking behaviors for from needing uh attention for adults or uh other peers and then self-regulation. So those are um some of the challenges that we're seeing across the board. Uh some challenges we're seeing with our incoming kindergarteners is when I mentioned earlier about our Aadian math reading, that is a concern for excuse me, Aadian math. Uh that is a concern for
012us and so we are looking at that. Uh but we're seeing deficits in social skills and functional communication skills and so being able to play cooperatively and being able to express their basic needs. Uh you notice I have attendance popcorn attendance on the slide before I have it here. I also have it on the next slide because I feel like it hits different areas um because we are working on it. But our attendance um it is a higher rate than what we would like to see. Um but it has been decreasing over the last couple of years and so we um we are still working on it. Some points of pride at summit. We really work hard to have a welcome and friendly environment. Um, students are amazing. You walk into Summit, you walk down
013the hallways, they say, "Hi." They say, "How was your day? Hope you have a great day." And they stop and talk to their peers in the hallway, we have positive conversations. Um, I've more than one occasion have had visitors that present in our assemblies say that Summit is a great place to come and present and they would come back again. And so I feel like that is a great compliment. We have great staff collaboration. We've worked hard over the last few years to increase um best practices in the classroom. We have our what we call wrap strategy. It's um rephrase answer and prove or restate answer and prove and that is uh schoolwide um kindergarten through sixth grade. We use that strategy. We've seen a lot of success with that. We also have done our
014seven steps to a languagerich interactive classroom which is a book with seven strategies to help students and we focus on the first two steps of um what do I say when I don't know what to say and then con what speaking in complete sentences and I we saw a huge turnaround in discussions in the classroom by focusing on those two strategies and then we are also working on being certified for the big five of classroom management Another point of pride for summit is our parent collaboration. We have amazing parents and very supportive um Terry is in our community as well. And so it has been great to um have that support um from them and going above and beyond to support our teachers and our um students. We also have a watchdog program uh that
015parents can participate in. It's for dads or dad-like figures that can come in and volunteer for a day and help in the lunchroom, out at recess, and in classrooms that need assistance. Our PBIS program, we are very proud of that. We've worked really hard to get it to where it's at. We have a weekly and monthly focus um as an instructional plan for the year. We've created videos and slideshows for all staff members in the school to view and of support with students. And we've seen a lot of success with our check-in and checkout program. We piloted this um a couple of years ago and we've just continued to add to it and and build it up and it's been a highly successful program and we've seen a lot of um impact on students that
016need that additional relationship building with other adults in the school and again attendance like I said before uh it we still have some work to go on that but we are seeing progress and the kids are loving the program and having that parent communication through consistently sending attendance letters has been um very successful as well. So that is Summit Elementary. Do you have any questions? >> Anyone have questions for Principal McNair? >> Yeah, tell me a little bit. So the robotics and the STEM after school, how many kids are participating in that? um we have to limit it because we do have a lot of students that want to participate. So we have about 25 students and we what they are doing is rotating it through the year. So working with the trimester program with
017the high school so we have three different rotations that will happen and so other students will have the opportunity if they didn't get into the first session. >> That's great. >> Yes. Yeah, it is great. >> I was going to ask about your watchdog program. So, these are dads that come in and help through the day, recess. >> Yes, it's a trademark program. Um, Mrs. Nitsell, she's a second grade teacher at Summit and she has been over this program. I don't know if we're going on maybe 13 years. And so, at the time, the school bought the the rights to participate in that program and to use the logo. And it's continued ever since. So, at the beginning of the year, we send out information for dads to come to a Dads and Donuts night
018and that is where they can sign up for a date and they can work in their child's classroom and then they stay for the whole day if they can or if it's just half a day or a couple hours. And we we've had great success. We actually have dads that have done the program all through the seven years that their kids have been in the school. >> That's awesome. How many dads do you get come and help? Um it it r it ranges from I don't know probably between 15 and 20 throughout the year. Um this year we have more and so we're about you know 25 up there. Yeah. Great. >> Yeah. And they come and they put on the watchd dogs t-shirt over their shirt and the student gets to wear um a
019watchdog shirt as well and so it's a good day for them. Would you say that helps at all with the behavioral issues? >> Lentum is great when there's a watchdog there. Yep. >> Thank you. >> So, uh, watchd dogs, the dog part, dogs part of watchd dogs is dads of great students. >> So, that's what watchd dogs are. >> For clarifying that >> and it's a national program. >> Can you explain the wrap strategy? What what is that? >> Um so it stands for restate, answer, improve. And when we started studying the seven steps book um way back, we were actually classified as being in TSI when I first got to Summit. And so we were looking for different strategies. So, as we were looking at those first two steps of what to say when
020I don't know what to say and speak in complete sentences, as as staff, we got together and decided, okay, how can we help students speak in those complete sentences without just saying, "Okay, speak in a complete sentence." And the teachers came up with it. They put their tools together, what they've done in their classrooms, and then we came up with that. And teachers use that strategy to restate the question, then answer it and then go back and prove it. And they do it for language arts, for comprehension, they do it for math when they u math problem solving. They restate the question, they answer it, and then they prove it. And so it's been really successful. >> And does the teacher do it or do the students do it or both? >> They do it
021together. So the teachers um they teach the strategy and then they slowly pull back. So they scaffold and go through it and then by the end I've been in some third grade classrooms observing and I just sit back and they have the system down. I mean in math and they read the question and then within a minute of partner talk they all have the statement and ready to answer the problem. So it's pretty good. >> That's a great program. >> It is. Yeah. >> Awesome. Anyone else have questions? >> I just want to say Amy, you are a lot less scary than my elementary principal, Mr. Krauss. >> Okay. Well, that's really good to hear. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Um, so as you showed us the first I think it was on the
022first slide. know it was on the your Acadian slides and um you were sort of apologetic about kindergarten but what I noticed on those slides is that um >> the the longer stu your students are in Summit Elementary >> the more proficient they become. >> Yes they do >> and that is awesome. So the more student I mean those anyway that was impressive to me. No. >> Well, thank you >> that they um because uh I was in um I was in a meeting recently where uh principles were talking about um some of the hard things that they deal with. and the elementary principles all mentioned kindergarteners >> uh and the challenges that kindergarteners bring with them from home to school and um so it's great what you're doing with kindergarteners as they progress through
023the grades in your school. >> Oh well thank you. I I am proud of what they are able to do and you know I don't want to be apologetic because they are great. Uh we just want to be able to we want to make sure that we zero in and focus on maybe where the need is, but no, they do work really hard and we have fabulous teachers. >> Yes, agreed. >> And I love all of your positive reinforcement programs. That's great. Really awesome. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions for Amy? >> Well done. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Uh next on the agenda, we have our public input section. Thank you. And we have one person signed up to speak during public input and we have seen
024her before several times. And we welcome back Kendall Welker to the podium. Good evening. As she said, my name is Kendall Welker. I do live in Nibbi. Um my children attend Heritage, South Cash, and Richline. Um so my comments are going to be directed towards DLI tonight. Um I want to start with the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Um, as I was thinking about DLI and the the changes that have been presented, I thought of perception and it made me think of Incredibles 2 because the superheroes get banned because the perception is that they are bad and um it takes a rich tycoon to bring them back and change the perception
025of the world that they aren't bad, that they are there for good. And so part of my comments are maybe to help you um the see the perception of DLI from my standpoint. Um most of the current Spanish DLI participants live in Nibi and Milville and the Ridgeline boundaries. Um and where secondary boundaries aren't going to change that means those communities will go to the new middle school. Um, keeping Spanish at South Cash is telling parents, well, you're going to have to drive to Spring Creek, you're going to have to drive to South Cash and eventually Mountain Crest if you want to keep your kids in that program. And I I feel like that's very disingenuous to me and those that have that circumstance, which is most most of us live in those communities. Um,
026when you start the DLA program, you start in first grade, maybe second grade, but not past that. This first grade class this year is the first year they've said maybe you might go to Mountain Crest. It's the first time the program has been filled without boundaries. The 12 years previous, it's filled based on kindergarten registration, based on the school that it's at. So, Heritage boundaries are Nibbi. Most of your kids live in Nibbi. Um, yeah, I I I've written a lot of things. I have gone over them many many times. Um, if you move it next year, leave it south south cash and move it to Mountain Coast, you are taking access away from current participants. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kendall. We appreciate your passion for this program and for the students in it.
027And moving on in our agenda, we have the consent agenda and I will take a motion to amend or approve the consent agenda as printed. >> I move that we approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda. Any discussion to that motion? All right, we will vote electronically. Voting is closed and the motion to approve the consent agenda passes unanimously. Thank you, Jared. Uh, next up is our action agenda. Uh, the first thing item on our action agenda is a request for approval of the naming of facilities. And, uh, Blair Powell and Randy Ben presented this a couple weeks ago, no, a couple months ago. And um we have they have gone and done some more work on this and uh new names were presented.
028Is somebody who's presenting those? Okay, John. John is going to present the the newest names for the two middle schools. [Music] Okay. So, is there anyone on the board who has questions about the new names >> that have been presented to >> I I I like the new names. I think they when they went back >> I support what the community has recommended. >> Awesome. So, I will take a motion to approve the the names that have been most recently presented to us. >> I make a motion to approve the names that have been presented for the new schools. >> I second it. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the middle school names as um prop as most recently appro proposed. And we will vote on this electronically. Uh, next. Whoops. Sorry,
029I was in another place. want to announce the names. >> I will. >> Voting is closed and the motion to approve the uh most recent recommended names for the new middle schools passes unanimously. >> Thank you, Jared. And just for uh the record, the Nibbi school, the Nibi Middle School name that has been recommended is Maple View Middle School and the Hyde Park Middle School name that has been recommended is Juniper Ridge Middle School. So, um those are the names that will be put on those schools. Thank you all for voting. Next up, we have uh request for approval of the student sponsored school clubs that we saw two weeks ago presented by Britney Foster. And so I will take a motion to approve or um reject. >> I move that we approve the student
030sponsored school clubs. >> Is there a second? >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the student club applications as they were presented to us. Any discussion to this motion? >> I think we had some questions, but I think over the past while they've all been answered, so I think we're good there. >> Okay. Uh, any other discussion? Seeing none, we will vote electronically. Voting is closed and the motion to approve the student sponsored school clubs as presented in the prior study session passes unanimously. >> Thank you Jared. Uh, next up we have a request for approval of the school boundaries proposal. And I will take a motion to approve or amend these boundary proposals. >> I make a motion that we approve the boundaries as they've been outlined. >> I second it.
031>> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the school boundaries as proposed. Uh, any discussion to this motion? Do you want to speak to the changes that were made since they were proposed? >> So, yes, since um I believe it was in in study session, it was discussed uh particularly the uh eastern bound boundary of Wellsville Elementary School. We've made some adjust adjustments around is it 2400 I believe it is to include those families just on the east side of 2400 to be included in the Wellsville attendance area. I believe that balances out and is much easier for families in that area. Um, we're continuing to watch growth in the Hyram and the Smithfield area, but currently we believe the boundary adjustments will allow us to equalize enrollments across all schools. So, we we
032feel comfortable at this day and time with where we're at, but it's something we can continue to watch as we anticipate growth to continue in our valley. >> Thank you. Any other discussion to this motion? All right. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the school boundary proposal as um presented. We will vote electronically. Voting is closed and the motion to approve the school boundary proposal as outlined passes unanimously. >> Thank you, Jared. Uh next up on our action agenda, we have a request for approval of the secondary DLI recommendation and um after uh several conversations with Superintendent McKe today, uh several uh board members having those conversations. Um, I'm wondering if uh we maybe should uh move to table southern um part of the district uh DLI secondary changes. Anyone want to make
033a motion or um do you want to amend, approve, table? What do you want to do with this motion? Well, first of all, I'd like to state that with all due respect to the committees that have been involved with this, I appreciate all the work that's gone into trying to come up with a very very difficult uh solution. And uh you know, the the the community's been involved. Uh the district has been very good to reach out and involve others. And I it just feels like we're not quite there yet. And that's why I would I would be in favor of uh more discussion with that. Um, I don't know if there's any other uh feelings on that, but my opin I would make a motion to um table the discuss well yeah table the
034discussion of of the assignments on the south end and uh cons continue forward with the north end uh as defined. >> Okay. Thank you for that motion. Is there a second? >> Can I just ask, do we have a do we have a time frame on >> before we have discussion? We need a second to the motion. >> I second it. >> Thank you. Okay. Any discussion to this motion? >> Yeah. So, what kind of time frame would we be looking at, do you think? What? So my recommendation to the board is to table any decision on secondary DOI in the south until we have a better understanding of how the changes with magnets uh take effect. Uh that's a big change in and of itself. And so I would recommend we we we allow
035that to settle first before we make any other abrupt change um along the line. I think we've heard very clearly from families how how disruptive this will be to them. Um we're sensitive to that. We want to see this continue to flourish and there you I believe we need to put every effort we can into that elementary program before we enter into that secondary program. >> Is there a reason we're not going to do the same table of north end too? >> That that sets up a little bit differently. The north does not is not impacted by boundary changes whereas the south will be impacted by a boundary change and to hold up any change at the secondary level um actually would be a negative to the program into families. >> Okay. It's it's quite
036the opposite situation in the north. >> Can we do that with a item on the agenda? Break it in half. >> You you can make a propos a motion and a proposal to do that. >> So that motion covers that. Okay. Any other discussion on this motion? Okay. The motion is to table the changes at in the recommended changes in the secondary DLI in the south end of the district and to approve the recommended uh DLI secondary transition in the north end. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. And it's been seconded. So we'll vote electronically unless there's further discussion. Okay, we'll vote electronically. Voting is closed. Motion to table recommended changes related to the south end secondary DLI and to approve the north end proposal as outlined passes unanimously. >> Thank you Jared. Uh
037moving on we are moving to our reports agenda. Uh and first up is our uh annual catch up on monthly financial reports. Um unfortunately our because of um government the federal government shutdown we are unable to have the annual audit presented to us at this time which would is when we normally would have this presented but um and Jared Jared and his uh department have been working hard to be able to update us with the last four months of uh monthly financial reports. So Jared, over to you. >> Sorry to give you four months of financial reports. That's that's the way it works. Um but maybe to u supplement a little bit what President RHS just shared, part of the audit for the Cash County School District includes what's called a federal single audit. that
038is a an audit component for uh any public entity that receives federal funding over a certain level. And the the federal supplement for that particular audit component has not been released for the fiscal year 2025. And so in order to publish the full audit report, we need to wait until that uh component is released. And with the current federal shutdown, it it um we're still waiting for that. So, uh as soon as we get that, the the rest of the audit report is is ready to be released and hopefully we can do that in a November uh board meeting. So, thank you for your patience with that. We have completed the the auditing process where our auditors come and and are on site at the school district for a couple of weeks and and for
039quite a larger period of time, probably a month and a half, we're working with them back and forth on on various uh audit components. So, we're glad to have that uh wrapped up and hopefully the report will be available uh next month for the school board. did want to mention just a couple of other uh things quickly. Uh first, the the school district is um participating this year. Um as we've done in the past, I just like to give updates on on other audits or reviews that the school district is participating in. So this fall there will be a uh land trust review of school websites um where the land trust office will will look at uh school websites for compliance with all of the land trust requirements. So that'll be starting in November. And
040we're also just about to jump into um audits or reviews uh through USB for our CTE program and also for the school food services program. Uh so we're we're providing information and jumping into those audits or reviews as well. Uh, one other thing to mention, uh, in in our, uh, meeting a month ago, we we mentioned that the school district is working on the second and final issuance of bond funding from the 2023 uh, general obligation uh, bond that was approved for 139 million. And so, um, that's moving forward and and likely next week those bonds will be, uh, sold on the market and then we'll close in early November and be able to receive that funding which will help us to finalize the school construction projects that we're in the middle of. Uh, the
041school district, we're really happy about this. The school district has maintained an AA3 rating through uh Moody's uh which is the the company that rates public entities on bonds. That's a really good rating for an entity of our size. And uh in addition to the state of Utah providing a aaa guarantee rating kind of in behind our own rating, we should get really good rates as we sell the bonds next week. So, uh, things are are looking good, uh, for that and and we'll have the funding to finish the projects that we're working on right now. >> Thank you, Jared. Um, just for so everyone in the room and anyone listening online knows, the double A3 rating that we receive from Moody's is in large part uh due to Jared's excellent uh work with the
042business department and everyone in our business department at keeping us um at being fiscally responsible and uh that was uh I got to participate in a meeting with um James from Moody's and um he was um I could tell he didn't want to be impressed because he doesn't really want to be impressed by uh entity organizations that he's working with because he is evaluating them. but he was very impressed with Jared's and Scott's work in our business department at and making us so uh financially sound. And so, thank you Jared and thank you Scott. Um, next on the reports agenda, board member reports. Anyone have board reports here? >> I do. Okay, great. Um I just wanted to report on the four schools commu school school community councils that I have attended at the first
043of this year. Um I feel like that that the principles have done a all four of them have done a really great job at covering the information that they need to to get their school community councils going and to get things up on the uh website that needs to be there. And um I feel like it's probably that is probably a result of some really great teaching and tutoring by our district personnel and helping them know what they needed to have done at the very beginning of the year. And I've never before um seen where all of the schools have got everything in that they were supposed to and they have. So congratulations district >> for doing such a great job. >> Yeah. >> Very good. Anyone else with board member reports? All right, moving
044on to the board president's report. I guess I I just gave my board president's report when I was talking about the meeting with Moody's. I appreciate uh the work of our business department a lot right now. Um and what they uh are providing for us through uh for this upcoming bond sale. >> Superintendent. >> Yes. Thank you. I want to follow up on that. Um, in terms of our our business department, the work of Jared Black, um, I want to report as the board is fully aware, our tax rates were not certified by the tax commission based off um, changes in the statute this past session. We made an appeal to the tax commission with 35 other entities that were also denied. Um, and all of us were were uh turned down on the on
045the appeal. So, I I need to report that to the board as you're aware. The question is then how how do we plan to move forward this year um without that that tax increase? Um, having met with Jared, um, and due to his his sound financial planning and with our budget, we we plan very conservatively with our budget. And we believe that between his um budgeting and what we have in fund reserve, we're going to be able to make it through this year without um any uh cuts. But it does also mean that we're scrutinizing every expenditure very closely. Um any cost to to the district um is is being looked over more than once to make sure that it stays within budget and that um it is essential for this year. It's going to
046be a tight year for us, but we believe we can make it through it without any additional changes. um again because we have that fund balance that we're able to to rely on. It's going to be a challenge because we're opening three new schools and we have some expenditures ahead of us and so we've fortunately been really planful over the last couple of years anticipating these costs and we believe we can we can make it this year. So I need to share that with you publicly. Uh, next I want to report that um I met with Don Adams, our director of facilities earlier this week. Um, it's exciting. I don't know if you've been by Hyde Park lately and seen the big crane. I I know board member Grunik has probably seen a lot of
047that crane in his back window. Um, walls or walls are going up now on the elementary school. I continue to get asked um whether or not it's going to be completed on time. right now. You know, Don has reported to me that uh we're still within the time frame, but it is tight. We need those walls to go up and then we then we need the the roof um uh the roof basically the roof to get in before it starts to snow really heavy. Um I was going to say girders, but uh we need that roof in place. So, anyone and all those who maybe I know it's was a drought year. It was a really dry year, but if we can hold off on the moisture, prayers, dances, rituals, and any snow stays in
048the mountains at least until the end of November, we should be okay in terms of getting that school completed on time. Uh I also want to report to the board that uh anticipating opening those three schools. Uh a key domino for us to be prepared for that is making sure we have school leadership in place. Once we have school leaders in place, then we can start to work on staffing. Uh we have posted three positions, three principal positions for those schools as of this week and we'll start that process and I'll report to you as as we go along with that. Um, two last items. I want to report that the lieutenant governor visited the district on October 1st. Uh, she was out at Mountainside Elementary School, was very interested in our early lit literacy
049efforts. She met with uh, teachers from kindergarten through through third grade, visited their classrooms. I want to report that the she walked away I got the impression she walked away very impressed with our literacy program and what we're trying to achieve. And if you look at our data, we have continued to to do very well in ear early literacy with students reading on grade level by the end of third grade. That's a board goal. That's a focus of ours. And um and again, I I felt like it was a very good uh representation of the district um to at the state level. The last item for the board is we're about to launch what we're calling the advanced learning committee. Uh it's a district-wide committee to look at how we're serving students uh maybe on
050the upper end of the learning curve, those that are ready for more challenge. Um and and looking K12, so looking at our SEM program as well as what we're doing in terms of preparing kids for advanced placement, concurrent enrollment, and other courses. Uh I am seeking two board members that may be interested in in joining that committee. it the obl the obligation would be once a month for about an hour. >> Uh we want to start that towards the end of November and run that through the end of the school year. So if you have interest um I've already seen lots of hands pop up. I love for for board members to be on that committee with us. So I'll speak with you after the meeting. Uh and that concludes my report. Thank you. >>
051Thank you. Any other comments, questions, reports? All right, seeing we have reached the end of our agenda, we will adjourn.