001- [Kate] Good evening. This regular board meeting of April 13th, 2026 of the Dubuque Community School District Board of Education is called to order. (gavel taps) Our mission is to develop world class learners and citizens of character in a safe and inclusive learning community. Roll call please. Bradley. - Here. - Hamel. - Here. - Hingtgen. - Here. - Jacobitz-Kizzier. Here. - Parks. - Here. - Sainci. - Here. - Wittman - Here. - We are happy to welcome students from Table Mound Elementary to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. - Oh, my name's Lottie Esh and I go to Table Mound Elementary and I'm third grade. - My name is Abby. I go to Table Mound. - My name is Joanne. I am in first grade and I go to Table Mound. (everyone chattering) -
002[All] 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. - Good job. - Thank you. Thank you for coming. (board members giggling) - Oh my gosh. It's so much cuteness. - I move the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. - [Board Member] Second. It's then moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. - [Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting on March 9th, the work session on March 16th, the special meeting on March 23rd, and the special meeting on April
0037th as submitted. - Second. It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting on March 9th. The work session on March 16th, the special meeting on March 23rd and the special meeting on April 7th as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. All right, I believe there are some board salutes around the table and we're gonna start with Ms. Hingtgen. - Alright. I have one this morning or... This morning, this afternoon. (board laughs) It's been a day. This goes to our district's early childhood team members as we recognize and celebrate the week of the young child. So we know that the first years of a child's life is the period of the most
004rapid brain development. And it lays the foundation for all future learning and that participation in high quality early childhood education saves taxpayer dollars. It makes working families more economically secure and it prepares children to succeed in school, earn higher wages, and live healthier lives. We also know that our high quality early childhood educators ensure that children supported by families have the early experiences they need for a strong foundation. This year is the 100th year of celebrating the week of the young child nationwide. And we are proud in the Dubuque community school district to provide outstanding early learning to our community's youngest learners. Thank you to all of our early childhood educators and support staff for ensuring access to high quality learning for the care and support you show to our students and families. - [Lisa]
005Love it. Thank you so much. And I have a board salute and this goes to Hempstead High School Boys Swim coach, Rick Loeffelholz, who is one of eight finalists from across the country for the 2026 National Coach of the Year Award from the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. Rick will be honored on July 1st at the Association's annual convention. Congratulations for all your accomplishments, Rick, and for leading our swim teams for so many years. - Awesome. - All right. I got an exciting one. A board salute goes to the Eisenhower Elementary, which was named a National Unified Champion School by Special Olympics, Iowa. An honor awarded to just 12 schools in the state of Iowa. This designation highlights the school's effort to create a welcoming environment where students feel a strong sense of belonging.
006Across the school, students and staff come together to build connection, celebrate differences, and ensure every student has the opportunity to be included and engage each day. Congratulations, Eisenhower Elementary. - [Board Member] Awesome. That's great. - Yeah, I also have one. - This board salute goes to the Dubuque Senior School Student Support Foundation. They received the honor from the 365ink Impact Award from the 365ink Magazine. And this is in regard to the work that they do to uplift their peers and help strengthen the school community. SSF is a student group that receives about $4,000 from the Morgridge Family Foundation facilitated through the foundation for Dubuque Public Schools. Through this club, the students then invest in their own school community. With the guidance of the sponsor, they learn about the needs of their peers and school families
007they support, they collaborate to decide which needs they can then afford to support, and they also do some fundraising to help supplement the grant that they receive. Next, they set a budget, trying to figure out what they're most passionate about that year, report it back to the Morgridge Family Foundation, and then dispense the funds. So congratulations to these students for all the work that they put in to help manage these funds and support their community. - And I do have one more just top of my head. I know we did this a few days ago. But Ms. Carrie, you know, there's so much that she does behind the scenes for all of us just to keep us organized. And so I just wanna publicly, we wanna publicly just thank you for all that you do
008to keep us organized. Thank you so much. - [Board Members] Thanks, Carrie. - Wonderful. - I move the Board of Education, suspend the rules of order and go into Open Forum. Person's wishing to address the board? - Is there a second? - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education suspend the rules of order and go into Open Forum. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. At the beginning of our open forum we enjoy having principals come and tell us what's going well at their school. And today we're happy to welcome Matthew Hull, who's the principal at Table Mound Elementary. - Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to share just a little bit about
009what's going well at Table Mound. First, a little bit of data. We live in a data-driven world on a daily basis. So taking a look at some of our i-Ready results from the fall and winter, it's a little bit dated. We haven't gotten our spring data yet, but in reading, to start the year we were about 33% proficient and that's gone up to about 53%. So we're really happy with that growth. 'Cause 53% halfway through the year is where you should be. And in math, even more growth from about 20% proficient in the fall to 50%. So a 30% increase in proficiency from the fall to winter. So exciting things going on. Thinking about how we are scheduling things based on skills rather than the schedule. So if we have one kid in this class
010and two kiddos here and two here, instead of just putting them into a group because it fits into the schedule, what if we make one group, they all go to a different classroom and get that instruction based on their actual skills need. So I think that's been a big focus. And then having the schedule match that so it's making some sense and kids are getting what they really need. So we're really encouraged about how that's working. Also, if we look a little bit about our office referrals, our office referrals are down about 42% at this time from last year. It's a huge decrease. I think our team at Table Mound has done a lot of great work collaboratively, not only with district staff but other buildings to say, "What's working for you? What can we
011do?" So really expanding our behavior spectrum and what our behavior continuum and what's available for kiddos and how can we be proactive rather than reactive. 'Cause when we react, it's not always the best path. So proactively meeting kids where they're at, getting them what they need so that we don't have as many occurrences of behaviors or behavior needs. And really, again, being specific to each student and looking at what they need. Finally, just talking a little bit about some community events. We've had some really great connections with our community. Our school's really unique that we don't really have a neighborhood so to speak, that surrounds us. So our neighborhood is spread out all of Southern Dubuque County. So making our school really the center of the community and focusing on those things. We've had some
012great turnouts in the fall. We had our trunk-or-treat, we stopped counting at about 225 students that showed up for that. Plus their families and their siblings and their cousins (board member laughs) and all the other people that were coming to that. We had a winter fun night and it was our first one ever. We had over 150 students and their families and then one here early March, late February that we had about the same. So really getting that community engagement and getting our families involved in school and making school a place that they wanna come and hang out and do things together. And of course always a shout out to the Table Mound staff. Their flexibility, their willingness to jump in and help out at all the times. We had a day and a half
013with water and you wouldn't have known it, they were just fine. They're like, "Okay, we're good. What do we need to do?" The district supported us what bottled water and we just knew what we needed to do. So they took care of it. We had a steamroller on the playground the other day and we just said, "Don't use the field." Okay, 'cause they're gonna make it nice and flat down the road. (board member laughs) So I just appreciate the flexibility of our team and the support of our families and the community around us as well as your, so we appreciate all that. And many, many things going well at Table Mound. So thanks for the opportunity to just share just a little bit. Thank you very much. - Thanks, Matt. - Thank you for keeping
014the kids away from that steamroller. (board members laughing) Anyone else who would like to address the board may do so at this time. We ask that you come to the podium, state your full name, your connection to the district, and to limit your remarks to three minutes using our timer. Please be aware, state code prevents us from dialoguing with you, but we are listening. - Okay, my name is Tim Pankratz, live here in Dubuque County, 12046 Tyra Lane. I know this is not cast in stone yet 'cause I checked with the elections today, but I'm questioning why the board is considering spending money on a special election in September when we have a major election two months later. Just, you know, I follow the use of funds and that that's my concern, so. - Thank
015you. - Seeing no one else, I move the board of education, reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. That moves us to one of a handful of public hearings that we have in this meeting tonight. The first one is on the proposed budget estimate for fiscal year 2026-2027. And Ms. Demmer is gonna come up and provide a review of the certified budget proposal. - So good evening board members and Superintendent Hawkins. So tonight we are asking you to approve the budget for the fiscal year '26-'27 along with
016the proposed levy rate and that's part of the budget documents that were provided to you. Some of this information was provided at our first public hearing, but I do feel it's crucial to go through it one more time. So as we kind of look at the timeline here, we know that the governor proposed a budget back in January and then 30 days after that is the deadline to approve SSA. The governor signed the SSA bill or State Supplemental Aid. February 26th, we had to publish our proposed levy rate, which we published at $12.65 per thousand by March 5th to the Department of Management. Then the county mailed out some of the notices to property owners and then we held our first budget hearing on March 23rd. And then it brings us to tonight, we are
017going to hold our second public hearing and ask for you to approve the budget and levy rate. And then once that is approved, then we will submit all of our budget documents to the Department of Management by April 30th. So let's talk about the budget and the proposed levy rate for the upcoming year. Our team put together the certified budget proposal and is now published on our website. This document goes through a lot of facts and figures on how we determine the levy rate, what our authorized spending authority is, which is only for the general fund because of the budget you are approving tonight is for all of our funds. There are about seven different funds that make up our budget and there are several graphs and charts throughout this document and we won't go
018through all of 'em, but I am going to point out just a few of them. So if we go to the first one here, it shows our certified enrollment. On this slide you can see the 10-year history of our enrollment and you can see as it, you can see there, looks like there is a decline in our enrollment. And as you know, certified enrollment is an important piece of our funding that does help us determine what our budget is going to be for that upcoming year. So as we continue to see declining enrollment, the district does need to continue to look for some of those efficiencies. So if we go to the next slide, another key piece of our budget is state supplemental aid or SSA. This amount is what our district cost per pupil
019is increased each year. As you can see in the 15-year history back in 2007-'08, we received about 4% and it was pretty consistent back then. Then in 2011-'12, we received zero and it really has fluctuated since then. You will see that we will receive 2% for next year and over the last several years the low SSA really hasn't kept up with the inflation and the overall operational cost. So if we go to the next slide, when we look at our enrollment and our the SSA, we wanna talk about our general fund budget and how it's calculated. For school districts the authorized budget is based on a formula, it's our certified enrollment times our cost per pupil. To equal our authorized budget. For Dubuque, it would be the 9,665.7 times our $8,148 to equal about $78.7
020million. There are also additional funding sources such as special education, state categoricals, English language learners and that's a miscellaneous income and grants to make up our total general fund budget authorization of approximately $147.5 million. This does exclude any unspent balance amounts. This budget is funded by state aid and property tax based on a formula. I think it's important to note that school district budgets are based on a state formula, accommodation of the state funding and property tax, and it sets our general fund to spending authority. This is different from Cities and counties build their budgets from the ground up as what they need to operate and they have more local control over them. So then if we go to the next side and look at our historical levy rates. Back in 2011-'12, the levy rate
021was $16.50 per thousand. And as you can see, the levy rate has come down and then went back up a little bit and has fluctuated kind of ever since. With the proposed levy rate this year there would be a decrease from $13.03 to $12.48 per thousand based on the 2% SSA. The rate of $12.48 is down from our proposed rate that I presented to you in March, which was $12.65, which is due to the legislative decision for the budget guarantee to be paid outta state aid versus property taxes being levied. This change was made so close to the district submitting their budget that the Department of Management wasn't able to make that change. So when we published the rate, it was published a little bit higher. So since the Department of Management has made that
022change, we have reduced our rate to $12.48 per thousand. So that will be the rate that we'll be asking you to approve tonight. So how does this levy rate compare to other districts? So as we always put in here, it's a comparison of the levy rate to our urban educational network schools in Iowa. As you can see, we are the second lowest to all the other ones listed here. Many of these are in the same boat as us, declining enrollment and still looking for efficiencies within their districts. So on this slide you can see the actual notice that was published in the paper. It shows all our revenues and expenditures for all funds that we are asking you to approve tonight. And below at the bottom of the page there you can see the levy
023rate of $12 and, well maybe you can see it. $12.64, sorry. (board members laughing) $12.48 which support several of these funds within the budget and the amount we are asking you to approve. So how does the levy rate impact our property taxes? If you go to the next slide, this year was an equalization year. So property assessed values did go up. It's important to remember there's a difference between taxable value and assessed value. You take your assessed value times the rollback amount to determine your taxable value. As you can see, the rollback went down or went from 47% to 45, excuse me, 44.5%, which changes the taxable value in this example from just over 93,000 to almost 95,000. Then takes it take that times the proposed levy rate of $12.48 and the school tax portion
024is $1,185.23 which is a decrease of about $30.65 from last year on an average property value of 213,000. Now depending on the change in assessed value, will change obviously the taxable value for each person. And it's also important to note that the district does not have any control over the assessed values. That's something that is not determined by us. So as we look forward also in the certified budget, we do have on page 10 the impact on commercial properties and industrial properties too. I just mentioned the residential properties. So that's really all that I wanted to point out for you guys tonight. Is there any questions regarding this budget and proposed rate? - So it was originally, our levy rate was 13? - [Ms. Demmer] 13.03 last year. - 03, yep. And so this year
025it's 12- - [Ms. Demmer] 48. - [Nancy] Lisa, I'm assuming that hearing your description of the residential property decrease in taxes, has that also been case for commercial and industrial? I know they have a different formula. - [Ms. Demmer] Commercial and industrial changed a little bit. Theirs didn't increase as much because of their equalization order. Their values went up a little bit more. So that is a little bit different for them. - [Nancy But they still had a decrease? - They didn't didn't. - [Nancy] They went up. Okay. - Yeah. - [Nancy] Oh I see. - Yeah, on page 10 it kind of goes through the calculations there. - [Nancy] I see. Tax rate is down but the because their evaluations gone up. - Tax rate, it's gone down but the evaluations and taxable value
026has gone up. So that then increases their tax. The school portion. - [Kate] Any other questions? All right, thank you Ms. Demmer. - I move the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the budget estimate an authorized payment of the legal notice publication cost to the Telegraph Herald. - [Board Member] `Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the budget estimate an authorized payment of the legal notice publication cost to the Telegraph Herald. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. This public hearing is required as part of the district's annual certified budget planning. As a reminder, this
027public comment section is only for comments regarding the district certified budget proposal. The public hearing is not related to any other district business, including future planning or the potential PPEL Levy renewal recently discussed by the board as those are separate issues not on tonight's agenda. For those of you in attendance and joining us virtually, thank you for being here today. We value your input and are interested in hearing your comments. If you are planning on speaking, please come up to the podium and state your name and address. If you are joining us virtually and would like to comment, please click on the raised hand function and you'll be called on. Each speaker will have a maximum of three minutes. As a reminder, board members are present to listen and to receive these comments. Board members
028will not engage in dialogue or respond to questions during this meeting, but may address issues that arise at a future board meeting. If anyone here wishes to make a comment regarding the proposed budget estimate, you may come forward at this time to the podium and the board secretary is also hereby directed to enter any written comments into the record of this public hearing. Carrie, are there any written comments that need to be placed in the record? - Yes. - Thank you. So anyone else can come up to the podium now. - Clark Slows. 2925 Burlington Street. Just taxpayer don't have any kids in the system or grandkids in the system. I like to start out by giving a thank you to your finance people because I've had some one-on-ones with them and they're very good
029at explaining what's going on. Do I necessarily agree with everything? No, but hey, that's just the way it is. (board member laughs) They need to give a a public informational presentation. more than just the two minutes they got up up here tonight because it'd be very interesting. Because what I based my comments on when I sent the email in was based on the 1265. You know, what was in that written notice that went out to the property owners. Wasn't based on what was on page 10, which if you get that document, just skip the page 10 if you wanna cheat a little bit on that. The one thing that it didn't include, it didn't include the homestead credit. So if you put your homestead credit in there, you're gonna pay less taxes than what was
030on the screen. And if you get the homestead exemption, that's even more of a benefit. One thing to note too, with the numbers that were provided, the up to date numbers, basically if your home got an increase of 10.9% in assessed value, you're gonna pay zero extra dollars compared to the current year we're in. If you got an increase of less than 10.9, you're gonna be paying less dollars than you are in this current year. Now for us Northenders that got 17.8% raises, we're taking one for the team 'cause our taxes are gonna go up. So, you know, not everybody's the average homeowner. You know, did the levy rate go down? Yes, kudos to that compared to the $13 or three or four cents. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it went down from
0311265 to 1248. I had to go readjust all my spreadsheets. (board members laughing) Thanks for that work. But you know, it was worth it. It's just one of those that when that taxpayer's gonna get their bill, they're gonna go to the very bottom line, what's my total taxes? Then they're probably gonna look at the individuals. How much more did I pay to the city, the county, and the schools. So you know, you gotta look at more than just the levy rate. There's the levee rate, there's the taxable value and then there's the right side of the equal sign, which is the right, you know, which is the total result of all that. And with the information that's provided here tonight and I was graduated of the Dubuque Public Schools, you should be able to figure
032out what your taxes are gonna be. So just again, I'd sit there and say give your financial people a raise. (alarm ringing) It's on tape so I can't deny that I said that. (board members laughing) - [Board Member. We'll remember. Thank you Clark. (board member laughing) - Anyone else? - Seeing none, I move the Board of Education. adapt the budget estimate for fiscal year 2026-2027 as published. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education adapt the budget estimate for fiscal year 2026-2027 as published. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Thank you. That brings us next to a public hearing on the Irving Elementary roof replacement project and I believe we are gonna get an
033overview of the project from Buildings and Grounds Manager Mark Lange. So we'll welcome him to the podium. - Good evening board members, Superintendent Hawkins. This project will replace the majority of the roof at Irving. Portions of the existing roof are approximately 25 years old. While other sections are original to the building and are well beyond their designed life. As part of this project, the stone coping caps will be removed, cleaned, and reinstalled. The project is expected to start on June 8th and be completed before school begins in the fall and this project will be paid for with PPEL. Any questions? - Thank you. - I move the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public Hearing on the Irving Elementary roof replacement project. An authorized payment of the legal notice
034publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public Hearing on the Irving Elementary roof replacement project. An authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. The board will, oh sorry. Is there any discussion? Maybe we should pass that motion. (board members laughing) Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. -
035[Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Okay, now we will (laughs) receive public comments regarding the Irving Elementary roof replacement project. - Hearing none I move the Board of Education close the public hearing and return to regular session. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education close the public hearing and return to regular session. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move the Board of Education approve the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost of the Irving Elementary roof replacement project. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plan, specifications, form of contract,
036and estimated total cost of the Irving Elementary roof replacement project. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. At this time, Mr. Lange will review the bids for the project - For the Irving Elementary Roof project were received, opened and read aloud on March 11th. Shortly after 2:00 PM two bids were received, the bids appeared to be complete, competitive and well prepared. The first was Jim Giese Roofing at $675,530 and the second was Geisler Brothers at $744,868. Billings and Grounds and Origin Design are recommending that Jim Giese Roofing be awarded the contract. - [Kate] Any questions? - Yeah, were this the project where the cost was a little more than what we anticipated? - Yes. - That's correct. - Could you talk a little bit
037about that? - There were a few unexpected things on the project that came up. There was some scope added to the project. There are a small roof on the gym entrance, another one in the boiler room entrance that weren't on the original estimate. There was also a roof drain and then there were higher than expected material and labor costs as well. - [Anderson] Okay, I think that's important for the residents to hear too. Things are just getting more expensive than what we anticipated. - [Lange] That's correct. - Yeah. - Thank you, Mark. - I move that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Irving roof replacement project as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to Jim Giese Commercial Roofing of Dubuque, Iowa in the amount of $675,732. - Second.
038- It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Irving roof replacement project as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to Jim Giese Commercial Roofing of Dubuque, Iowa in the amount of $675,732. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. All right, our next public hearing is on the Irving Elementary Playground replacement project and I see that Mark Lange just stayed right up there (all laughing) to give us another overview. - Okay, this project includes complete removal of the existing structures, installation of the new playground equipment and rubber mulch on both the large playground and the smaller preschool playground at Irving. The large playground will have an ADA accessible area that will
039have a poured-in-place surface. This project is expected to start after June 8th and be completed before school begins in the fall. And this project is also paid for with PPEL. Any questions? - [Anderson] Was this another one that was a little over than what we anticipated? - No, this one was actually a little bit lower. - [Anderson] I thought there was two. - [Kate] I think there is. - There's a second one. - [Kate] Not this one. I move the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the Irving Elementary playground replacement project and authorize payment of legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice
040of public hearing on the Irving Elementary playground replacement project and authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - Move that the Board of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. - Second. It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. At this time the board will now receive public comments regarding the Irving Elementary playground replacement project. - Seeing none, the board will now receive public comments. I'm sorry, I move the Board of Education. close the public hearing and return to regular session.
041- [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education close the public hearing and return to regular session. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move the Board of Education approved the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost of the Urban Elementary Playground replacement project. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost of the Irving Elementary playground replacement project. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. Mark Lange will now review the bids for the project. -
042Okay, the bids for the Irving Elementary replacement... Irving Elementary playground replacement project were received, opened and read aloud on March 26th shortly after 2:00 PM. Three bids were received, the bids appeared to be complete, competitive and well-prepared. The first one was PlayPower LT Farmington at $301,300. We had Byrne and Jones Construction, $465,000. And Conlan Construction at $410,000. Bills and Grounds and FEH Design are recommending that PlayPower Farmington be awarded the contract in the amount of $301,300. - I move that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Irving Playground Replacement Project as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to PlayPower LT Farmington care of Play-Pro Recreation. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Irving Playground Replacement Project
043as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to PlayPower LT Farmington care of Play-Pro Recreation. Is there any discussion? Happy about the rubber mulch. (all laugh) - Mark, can you answer the question that we've used PlayPower LT Farmington before? This is a company that we're familiar with? - [Lange] We have not used them before. All of their equipment meets or exceeds the specifications and the warranty provided also meets and exceeds specifications. - [Mae] And have we talked to any districts who have used them? - We have not. - [Mae] Did they offer references? - I do not have that information. - [Mae] Okay. - The architect may have that. - [Mae] Okay. - Okay, all in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I would just like
044to comment that I'm so pleased the district is continuing its commitment to upgrading our elementary playgrounds. For many, many years schools had to provide their own funds through fundraisers and whatever and it's as we know, hugely expensive. So this seems a very appropriate shift. I wanna recognize Kevin Kelleher, our former CFO, I don't know if he was the only person or if he was a strategic part of the decision to shift that. And this I think, help me, Mark, is it Ottoman has completed, Marshall has completed, is this the third? - [Board Member] Lincoln is the- - Lincoln, that's right. Right. And that one was a partnership with the city. - [Board Member] Correct. Yep. - Wonderful. Thank you. And by the way, the newer windows at Irving look wonderful. - [Lange] They do. -
045Oh my gosh. What a difference. - [Kate] Alright, let's do one more public hearing. This one is on... Just stay up here Mark. This one's on the Sageville Elementary fuel tank. No, sorry. Fuel oil tank replacement project. Mark Lange, can you tell us more about this project? - [Lange] I can. This project will replace the underground fuel oil tanks that supply the boilers at Sageville. We'll be converting from heating oil to LP gas. The contractor will install new gas piping and new burners will be installed on the boilers. The existing underground tanks will be removed and replaced with above ground LP tanks. This project is expected to start after June 8th and be completed before school begins in the fall. This project will also be paid for with PPEL. Do you have any questions? -
046I don't think so. - This was third one. - I move that the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the Sageville Elementary fuel tank replacement project and authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. - Second. - It's been moved in seconded that the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the Sageville Elementary fuel tank replacement project and authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the Board of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board
047of Education open the public hearing to allow public comments. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. At this time, the board will now receive public comments regarding the Sageville Elementary fuel oil tank replacement project. No one's just burning to talk to us about that? (all laugh) I had to make that fun. Thank you. - I move the Board of Education close the public hearing and return to regular session. (board members giggling) - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education close the public hearing and return to regular session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the authorizing
048resolution is submitted, adopting the plans, specifications, forms of contract, and estimated total cost of the Sageville Elementary fuel oil tank replacement project. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approved the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plan, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost of the Sageville Elementary fuel oil tank replacement project. Any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Mark, welcome back. Tell us about the bids for this project. - Okay, bids for the Sageville fuel oil tank replacement project were received, opened and read aloud on March 26th shortly after 10:00 AM. Two bids were received. The bids appeared to be complete, competitive and well prepared. The first one is MMC Mechanical Contractors at $357,000 and
049the second one was Tricon Construction at $314,000. Buildings and Grounds and Modus Engineering are recommending that Tricon Construction be awarded the contract in the amount of $314,000. - I move that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Sageville Elementary fuel oil Tank replacement project as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to Tricon General Construction Inc. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Irving Playground replacement- - [Board Member] Nope. Nope. Sageville. - Sageville. - Look at the line above - Where I can't find... - F. - You're in the- - Oh, sorry. - Yeah, that's what I get- - Would you like me to read it Kate? - No I wouldn't. - It's been moved and seconded
050(laughs) that the Board of Education approve the authorizing resolution as submitted, adopting the plan, specifications, form of contract and- - [Board Member] No. - It's not that one either. - [Board Member] You're in the right one. It's a typo. - Oh, it's just a typo. - [Board Member] Yeah. - Golly. Okay, so let's just pretend like none of that happened. (board members giggling) And instead it's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve and award the bid for the Sageville Elementary fuel oil tank replacement project as recommended and further outlined in the authorizing resolution to Tricon General Construction Incorporated. Is there any discussion other than my failure to like follow the agenda? Okay. - Second. - Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion
051carries. Whew. Mark, you can go sit down. (board members laughing) We're gonna stay up here though. That's his first big one, right? Yeah, good job. Go sit down. - I move the Board of Education approve those items listed on the consent agenda. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve those items listed in the consent agenda. Is there any item a board member wishes to pull? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. That brings us to the Facilities and Support Services committee report from Mr. Hamel. - Thank you very much. So last Monday we had our facilities and support services committee meeting and we covered quite a few issues. We got an update from Synergistics and Synergistics is a
052national company and they help school districts save money on utilities. And we just renewed a contract with them. We finished our first five-year contract with them and we just signed, we're starting our second five-year contract. In those first five years, they have saved the district $3.65 million, primarily in electric costs, but also natural gas and water/sewer. The fees for those five years have been $1.25 million. So we're almost two and a half million dollars ahead on that. So we've been very happy with the work with Synergistics. We also got construction updates on the projects that are currently ongoing and that's the Eisenhower Gym Edition, the Eisenhower Keller Roof Replacement Project and the Irving Mechanical Remodel Project. All the work is on schedule. We also got a report on the bid report, bid results, recent bid
053results that we've gone over just here recently on the Sageville fuel oil, the Irving roof replacement, and the Irving playground. We also reviewed the documents for the senior Dalzell Field Retaining Wall project. There's some drainage problems. And shortly after we have the graduation ceremonies for the seniors at Dalzell, they're gonna start the work there. We looked over the contracts, bonds and insurance and that's gonna be a $125,000 project. We also got a report on our natural gas plans. And last year the district shifted to bind our natural gas through our risk pool made up of all sorts of government subdivisions. And so last year we bought all of our natural gas for the year for $540,000. And in looking that over, that was a very good deal for us. This year our contract, if you
054will, is going to be $499,000 down a little bit. And we think this is going to end up being a favorable price for the district as well. We got a report from Superintendent Hawkins on facilities efficiencies and that's primarily an update report on the district's effort to get community input on the best way forward for reorganizing the schools and the district. We also reviewed the architect contract relating to the expansion and remodeling of Roosevelt Middle School. We're going to end up today postponing contract approval for some additional review. But what we're talking about in terms of the contract Invision is the architects and they're gonna be designing both a large addition to Roosevelt Middle School, but they're also gonna be designing changes to the existing structure. I couldn't believe it, but Roosevelt's been there for
05520 years and in 20 years they like, you know, everyone likes the school but they figured out some things that it would work better with some changes. So Invision's gonna work on that as well. We also reviewed all of the projects that have been paid for in the last fiscal year, either through the PPEL money, which is the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, or the SAVE funds, which is the one-cent sales tax. And for PPEL in a year that brings the district $4.2 million. The SAVE funds brings in $13 million a year. And I'd shout out to the legislature to please not lower or restrict our use of those funds. In reviewing all the projects that those funds have paid for, it is five pages of incredibly small print. (board members laughing) And it includes
056school... Including but not limited to school, buses, playground equipment, student safety and security, new roofs, elevator repairs, internet firewalls, all types of technologies and lots and lots of computers. Those two fund sources are very, very important to the district. And finally, we looked at the certified budget proposal for the fiscal year 2026-2027, which Ms. Demmer gave us a presentation on the staff or just earlier. That was the extent of it. - Great job. - [Board Member] (indistinct) motions? - Yes, I have motions. Thank you. I move that the Board of Education approve the executed construction contract, bonds, and certificate of insurance with Tricon General Construction for the Dalzell South retaining wall repairs project in the amount of $125,505. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the
057executed construction contract, bonds and certificate of insurance with Tricon General for the Dalzell South retaining wall repairs project in the amount of $125,505. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries - And listed on the agenda is a motion to approve the agreement with Invision Architecture LLC for the Roosevelt Middle School Additions and Renovation Project. - [Kate] Is there a motion to approve the agreement? - I'm actually gonna advise the board at this point of information that the agreement is not ready for approval and the district is negotiating with Invision utilizing the Master Architect Agreement prepared several years ago by Mr. Kevin Kelleher himself with our attorneys, our counsel. And because there was some initial confusion about the form to be using
058on the project, we would suggest this matter be postponed until the next regular or special board meeting for approval. - [Kate] Can I have a motion for postponement? - I move the consideration and action on the architect agreement with Invision Architects LLC for the Roosevelt Middle School Editions and Renovation project be postponed until the next regular or special meeting of the board. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that consideration and action on the architect agreement with Invsion Architects LLC for the Roosevelt Middle School Additions and Renovation Project be postponed until the next regular or special meeting of the board. Is there any discussion? - And I would assume at one of our facilities or Ed will have some additional conversations about this if needed? - Yeah, absolutely. It's really just a
059formality thing. We wanna make sure that we're using the correct forms as we move forward as we go into projects with any of our architects. - All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - And finally, I move to approve the quarterly budget report. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the quarterly budget report. I believe Ms. Demmer is gonna come and present the quarterly budget report. - So good evening again. So on page 103 of your packet, I just wanna point out a few things. When we look at our general fund expenditures, as of March 31st, we're about 75% through our fiscal year. The report shows when we combine the year to date expenditure totals of about 92.2
060million plus the encumbrance total of almost 49.5 million. Those two added gather add to about one, excuse me, $141.7 million. This amount is a below our projections that we had kind of projected, which is good news for our unspent balance. But historically our fourth quarter spending usually does increase just a bit. So we're hopeful that we will be below that projected amount, but we'll continue to watch that at the end of the year. And kind of with that, you know, as the district has been continuing to talk about efficiencies and making some difficult changes and we can kind of see that those changes are affecting our unspent balance and our projections. So we're glad to see that. The other one I'd like to talk about is our sales tax, one-cent penny expenditures. This report shows
061a deficit of over 2.6 million in the budget balance column. The reason for this is the cost of the Eisenhower and Irving projects. Unfortunately, when we had to put this budget together almost 14 months ago, we didn't have the kind of the outline of when those expenses would be paid. So we obviously have the funds for them, but they weren't just part of the budget there. So we will continue to watch those closely. And then the other encumbrances, there are some of those encumbrances still for those projects that won't be paid out of this year. They're in the encumbrances for this year, but because the project will be concluded in August, we will be paying those out of next fiscal year. And then finally, the PPEL expenditures. The report shows a deficit of approximately 21,000
062in the budget balance column. The reason for this is because of expenses that were carried over from '24-'25, like the bus replacements and the safety grants were carried over. So some of those expenditures were accounted for last year, but not paid for until this year. So that's just kind of where we're at on those. I would also bring to your attention the safety grants. In here it has the expenditures, but we do not include the reimbursement part that we are being reimbursed for those. So they are part of our expenditures, but just not showing the reimbursement on the expense reports. So those, that dollar amount that we've been reimbursed will actually on page 100 of your packet and it does show that we've received $615,000 for those reimbursements. And we will continue to work to
063receive all of those dollars here in the future. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you. - All right. All in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Right, thank you Mr. Hamel for that report. And we'll now move to the Educational Programs and Policy Committee report from Ms. Bradley. - Thanks, Dr. Parks. The Educational Programs and Policy Committee met on April 8th. And just again, I wanna say how much we encourage you to come and be a part of listening to the presentations that are made. These are rich opportunities to learn about programming in our district. So I'll give you a brief look at what we heard, but by all means encourage. The next meeting is on May 6th at 4:30 right in this room. So come join us.
064The first program we learned about came to us in honor of Earth Week and it's talking about a program called "Branching Out Dubuque." It is, the presentation was made by Bethany Smith, who is our elementary science coordinator, and Angie Breitbach, who's our secondary science coordinator. They're both teachers on special assignment giving leadership in the district in areas of science and environmental education. So what we know about Dubuque's branching out initiative and, excuse me, and Neighborhood Forest programs, is that it's a partnership between the city of Dubuque and the Dubuque Community School District. And it's a wonderful goal. The goal of the program is that 5,000 trees will be planted in our community and I'm so pleased that our schools have the opportunity to be involved with that. Three of our elementary schools have our participants.
065They are Marshall Elementary. Marshall will plant eight trees and establish three prairie lots. Audubon Elementary will plant 12 trees and establish three prairie lots. And Kennedy Elementary will plant 16 trees and establish one prairie lot. That's a lot of opportunity for our students to learn about environmental education by being involved. So they'll actually be doing the planting. There'll be much ceremony around it in each of those three schools, and we're delighted that those three were eligible to participate and saw the worth in it. It takes time to do that, but it's a wonderful opportunity for our kids to learn about environmental education and how wonderful for our community to establish 5,000 new trees. I just think that's a wonderful program. We thank the city of Dubuque for partnering with us, for providing the funding for
066the trees. They've also made available trees to families of our students who wish to have them. So if you've not heard about that, reach out to the city or your neighborhood school and one way or another will help you get more information about that. The other opportunity we had for learning about our programming at the meeting was a program called "Learning Without Tears." And it was recommended to the board that a seven year program be purchased. A program that's been around for a very long time called "Handwriting Without Tears" has been a highly successful program. It has now morphed into not only helping us to prepare students to learn to be good writers, but also it weaves in language arts and mathematics and our students being able to roll all of that together in learning
067through activities and active engagement with the materials. So we have approved in the consent agenda, a seven-year contract for the materials called "Learning Without Tears." It will affect not only, it's for preschool. It will affect not only all of the Dubuque School district preschools and their students, but also our community partners. Dubuque is rather unique in having a 4-year-old preschool grant program that involves... It used to be 21, I don't know what it is anymore, but many community preschool partners and they benefit from that program. So also will they with this. So all of those preschoolers will have that opportunity. It's wonderful. So we appreciated hearing from Lynn Glaser who brought us the information. Lynn is the teacher on special assignment who brings district leadership in the area of early childhood. She gave us a
068marvelous report on what we're doing with our preschoolers with this new program. Then Superintendent Hawkins brought us a legislative update. We know that the Iowa legislature is advancing in its timing for this legislative session. We're expecting it'll, it's in its actually its final days. And the second funnel has taken place the time when bills either stay alive or don't. And so Superintendent Hawkins brought us information about the bills that did make it through the second funnel that have potential impact for our district, our students, our staff. And so we learned about three bills in particular that are still alive. One on violent and disruptive students and how they would be handled. Another on the save and unspent balance that Ms. Demmer has referred to earlier. And the other on a recent court update on books
069relating to gender identity and sexuality and their availability through our school libraries. So we are called to action, I believe, as board members in keeping current with what's happening in the Iowa legislature to be advocates for our district, for our students, for our staff, in the ways that help us prevent unfunded mandates. We have a long history in this state of many things coming forward that districts are required to do that require money, money that is not provided. Call those unfunded mandates. And so as board members, it's good for us to be reaching out to our legislators and opposing unfunded mandates. Likewise, to be looking at regressive or unreasonable legislation that's being considered that would be potentially very negative in its implementation. So the board appreciated Superintendent Hawkins update on all of that. Following that,
070we reviewed eight policies. You all know that we keep reviewing policies every meeting because we have a five year requirement for reviewing all school board policies and considering them for revision and update. So we had good conversation about those updates. They were reflected as approved in the consent agenda. So our last item is one I'm happy to say that we're going to have some additional information about. Superintendent Hawkins brought us an update on the new data that's come forward for the graduation rates that were just released by the Iowa Department of Education for 2025. It's wonderful news. We are so fortunate to hear such good news about our graduation rates. The pandemic took quite a toll on graduation for too many of our students to get them back in motion in in their educational process.
071And so our rate dropped. We're happy to say now. Well, I'll not steal Mark's thunder. (board member giggling) Let me welcome our associate, (laughs) our executive director of secondary education, Mark Burns who is in his remaining days. (board members laughing) - I told Mark he had to come up to the board table one more time. - Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. Mark brought us lots of data about the graduation rates. So thanks, Mark - Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to share this evening. You'll see here and it's just my pleasure to share with you the hard work that our staff and our countless members of community members who support our students are doing. And the way that that's paying off. You can see the graduation rate last year at Senior Hempstead and the
072online school. And then furthest right column, you can see the class of 2025 graduation rates. You see those increases at each one of our schools. And then that district total of 86.6%, which in 2019 prior to the pandemic we were at 86.7%. So virtually identical to that four year graduation rate from back then. So we're very excited that that happened. Couple of areas that we can show you and we really like the shape of these lines. We are the blue line. The red line is the state, and this is the four-year graduation rate for students who have low socioeconomic status. And you see that trending upwards and actually finishing ahead of the state average for low socioeconomic status students. And then as well, another great trend line, four-year graduation rate for students with disabilities. This
073would be our students that have IEPs and you see the shape of that blue line. We like where that's going. We hope to see that cross the red line, just like the low socioeconomic status line did last year. Any questions? - You know, one of the things we talked about at our ED meeting, this is an appreciation also to not only the staff who have done amazing work, but also to our community members who also play a huge role in helping our students. So we for sure appreciate every single staff, the bus drivers, the lunchroom people, the janitors, everyone is playing a role and this shows a huge kudos to our community members that partner with us and will continue to partner with us because we're only gonna go higher. And so thank you for
074your leadership over these many, many years and looking forward to the next data point. - [Mark] Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely right, Anderson. We couldn't do it without the community. We are the Dubuque Community School District. I think that's really important that you bring that up. And we also, I want to thank all of you for your leadership. You set the vision for us and that's very, very important to the work that then we do. And you saw from those charts that we're getting those results that we want, we can do better. We're gonna continue to keep doing better. Thank you. - [Board Members] Thanks Mark. Thank you Mark. - Mr. Burns has the concluding comments on my report. - [Board Members] Okay, alright. Amazing. (laughing) - [Kate] How did know? All right, well thank
075you so much Ms. Bradley. That brings us to new business. First item is related to a public hearing on the proposed issuance of school infrastructure sales, services and use tax revenue bonds. That's gonna be a mouthful. Who wants to say that motion? (board members laughing) - I can do it. I move that the board of education approve the resolution fixing the date for a public hearing on the proposed issuance of approximately $30 million school infrastructure sales, services, and use tax revenue bonds. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the resolution, fixing the date for a public hearing on the proposed issuance of approximately $30 million school infrastructure sales, services, and use tax revenue bonds. Is there any discussion? - And these funds aren't going to be used for
076a Roosevelt addition? - Correct. Yep. - All right, roll call vote please. Bradley. - Aye. - Hamel. - Aye. - Hingtgen. - Aye. - Jacobitz-Kizzier. - Aye. - Parks. - Aye. - Sainci. - Aye. - Wittman. - Aye - That motion passes. Next is consideration and action on superintendent's recommendation for termination of teaching contracts. - So Brian Cool is gonna come up to the podium and explain this new piece of the action that the board must take on. - [Brian] Good evening. - In place. - So with this new piece of information that was shared with us through legal counsel, when we terminate employees, teachers, when we terminate teachers, that we need to do a roll call vote, which is not the protocol that we've used in the past. And I think it's important for
077me to share that the three individuals that we're terminating through our reduction in faculty it is not due to their performance at all. This is just due to our reductions, budgetary concerns. And so I wanted to make sure that we're aware of the fact that this is a new procedure and it's not something that we've done in the past, but it's a roll call vote for termination. - [Nancy] Brian, would you give us an overview of this, the reductions that we're doing as cost savings? - Yes, so we have reduced about $2 million in faculty from this year to next year. And through that process, it it's largely through attrition. It it is through resignations, it's through retirements. And we're very, very fortunate that we have three positions at this point. And I say at
078this point, because we have to let teachers know by the 30th of this month, if they're not to return on contract. But as we speak, there are still resignations that come in last minute. And and we still are hopeful that these three individuals will come back with us and they get a three year recall, right? So if we hire in that field that we have to reach out to those individuals to bring them back. But it's never easy to reduce staff. It's always difficult. But we are are fortunate that we could reduce as much financially as we have with as few people that we are letting go. - Brian, what kind of support or counsel do we give to individuals that we have to terminate their contract if we're not able to bring them back
079for their resignations? Do we give them any leads or support? - Yeah, our union meets with each of them individually and they spend time talking to them about what the procedure looks like, what are the next steps as far as finances. We meet with them about end dates for insurance, we talk about COBRA policies that might come into play. So we meet with them and have conversations about what it looks like, staying hopeful with what it could be like if they do come back. And constant communication is what's really important to help ease that tension as we go through this process. 'Cause it's never comfortable for anybody. But we make sure that we stay in constant communication with them. - I think that was one of the things we were very thankful for. You and
080your team, every single teacher had a one-on-one with you and you broke everything down with them, right? - [Brian] Correct. - And so much, much appreciate, never an easy conversation. Not something that we wanna do publicly also, but clearly this is what we're being told that we have to do. And you know, hopefully down the road there are additional opportunities to bring teachers back. 'Cause we know kids do better when they have caring adults and all of these teachers are caring adults that we much appreciate. - [Brian] Absolutely. - Yeah, and Brian's done a really good job of explaining that process to them as well. So they're not gonna be surprised at what's, you know, gonna occur here at the meeting this evening. But also letting them know that, you know, there's a good chance
081that they would be recalled, you know, in the very near future so. - Will you please just clarify whether this is due to seniority or program areas? Like how did you make the decision? - Yeah, it's seniority based and we work our way bottom up when we look at who would be let go first so. - Seniority within their category? - [Brian] Within their category categories. - [Brian] Yup. - Right. So if a position, you said a position could come available, we don't know when. - [Brian] Right. - They would, we would not go to the outside to bring someone else in in that category. This person, these people would just be brought. - [Brian] We're obligated for three years to reach out to them first. - Right. - Thank you, Brian. - Thank you.
082- It's been a long time since we've faced this. - Yeah, it really has. - I mean it talks about the financial circumstances that we're facing. - [Amy] Yeah. And this is something we never wanna do to anyone. However, in our budgetary times, you know, I think, you know, when we look at the numbers, you know, there's a little bit of relief on that side too. 'cause there's been years when it's been a lot more than three people that have been terminated. So I just wanna give a big high five to Brian and the rest of his team for the work they've done to really look at staffing, look at enrollment numbers, to look at courses that our students have selected to make sure that to be able to make the cuts that we needed
083to keep us in a, you know, a healthy financial state as of now. - And to echo Clark, our finance staff as well. - Yeah, and our finance staff. Yeah. Well, yeah. They just- - Good financial management. - Good teammates. Good teammates. - Before I read a motion here, I wanna, as a board, I'm sure we all want to thank these three individuals for being with Dubuque Community Schools. And we hope if we're not able to call them back that they do find teaching jobs that they don't leave the profession and stay at it. So we feel deeply sorry that this has to happen, but we're lucky it's only three. So I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Lauren Fetzer, effective at the end of the '25-'26 school
084year. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Lauren Fetzer, effective at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Roll call vote - Bradley. - Aye. - Hamel. - Aye. - Hingtgen. - Aye. - Jacobitz-Kizzier. - Aye. - Parks. - Aye. - Sainci. - Aye. - Wittman. - Aye. - I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Laura Stanner, effective at the end of the '25-'26 school year. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Laura Stanner, effective at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Roll call vote - Hamel. - Aye. - Hingtgen. - Aye. - Jacobitz-Kizzier. - Aye. - Parks. -
085Aye. - Sainci. - Aye. - Wittman - Aye. - Bradley. - Aye. Last.... Sorry, I didn't say that motion passes but it does. Go ahead. - I move to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Adriana Fleisher, effective at the end of the '25-'26 school year. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded to accept the superintendent's recommendation to terminate the probationary teaching contract of Adriana Fleisher effective at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Roll call vote. - Hingtgen. - Aye. - Jacobitz-Kizzier. - Aye. - Parks. - Aye. - Sainci. - Aye. - Wittman. - Aye. - Bradley. - Aye. - Hamel. - Aye. - That motion passes. - I think it's safe to say those are ayes with regret? - Yeah. - Absolutely. - Oh, absolutely. This,
086you know, as you go through this process, it just feels, you know, really unhealthy. And so I just really wanna just make sure that we're saying out loud, this is not about performance. This is really around budgetary, you know, budgetary cuts. And so I'm very hopeful that we can get all three of these teachers back and working for our district. - [Kate] Agree. That brings us next to board member or administrative issues, non-agenda. - Well, just out loud, a few days ago we had an opportunity to be in this room with a variety of teachers, parents, you know, people who just care about the district or wanna know more about the district to talk about where the district will be going in the future. So it provided some history about just our student population, SSA,
087as you heard, proposals that we wanna do to Roosevelt. And it allowed just people just to have some good conversation. Sat next to an amazing young lady who's actually here today. And just being able to just talk about our perspective and where the school district is and where it can be, and making sure that a lot of residents throughout the community are getting the facts. So that way we're all making the best decision for the district. So I appreciate the opportunity. Lisa and I will be there every other Wednesday with these community members and faculty, just to bring all of our ideas together and just move the district forward. Did I miss anything that probably should be shared with the community? - You know, we still would, if somebody's wanting to be part of that
088task force, you can still reach out to my office and we can and we can add you to that list. 'Cause we'd really like to see as many community members present in those meetings as we can and community members that represent everyone in our community as well. But today, the internal task force team met and went through all the comments and the things that were collected from the... And it was great insight to, you know, what people are thinking, you know, what the perception is out there about this particular topic. And so I'm excited to work with this group as we move forward in the next few months. So yeah, it was a great meeting and I can't wait for the next one. - Fantastic. I have to plug the musical at Washington Middle School,
089Matilda this weekend. So still a chance to buy some tickets to that show. Anyone needs something to do this weekend. I might know a certain someone who's in that show. (laughs) - A certain someone in your household that's Matilda. - I do. And Jefferson's musical is also this weekend, so it's a busy weekend for our middle schoolers. - [Board Member] What is Jefferson doing? - Oh gosh, didn't know you were gonna ask me that. - [Board Member] Oops, sorry. - [Julie] It's "Frozen JR." - Oh, "Frozen JR." "Frozen JR." Thank you. - [Board Member] Good job. (board members laugh) - Thank you Julie. - Another raise. - I totally just went, I just totally- - [Kate] Just blanked. - Blanked on that. - [Kate] But lots good theater going on this weekend. So check it
090out. All right, our next meeting is May 11th, 2026 at 5:30 PM in this very room. So we hope to see you there and for tonight we are adjourned. (gavel taps) (upbeat music)