001- Good evening. This annual organizational meeting of December 8th, 2025 of the Dubuque Community School District Board of Education is called to order. (gavel banging) 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. - Jacobitz-Kizzier? - Here. - Jones? - Here. - Parks? - Here. - Sainci? - Here. - Whitman? - Here. - All right, we're happy to welcome students from Lincoln Elementary who are going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Go ahead. - My name is Easton Thomas and I'm in fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. - My name is Corbin Barbera and I'm in fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. - My name is (indistinct) and I'm at fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary.
002- My name's Alana Wilbock and I go to school at Lincoln Elementary in fifth grade. - My name is Brielle Ship and I'm in fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary. - My name is Aria Sala and I go to fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. - My name's Kamora Starks and I go to fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. - [Assembly] I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with the liberty and justice all. - Great job. - Thank you. - I move the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. - Second. - It's been 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." -
003[Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 10th, 2025 as submitted. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 10th, 2025 as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Okay, that moves us next to a public hearing about the school calendar. So we're gonna begin with an overview of the calendar from Superintendent Hawkins. - Good evening. You know, you wouldn't think that one of the hardest jobs to do as a superintendent is to balance out a calendar that makes everybody happy, and I think we got there this year. We
004got pretty close. I really wanna thank the public for their feedback. There was lots of great ideas that were shared once we put out the draft proposal, and so I think some of the most exciting things are we are not starting the school year with a full week of school. So our kindergarten and first grade parents and staff will be very happy that they can ease into the week a little bit. And then the other nice thing is that we're gonna wrap up the end of the school year before Memorial Day weekend. So we're gonna scrunch all that in. We changed some things around parent-teacher conferences to give some more flexibility and some extra time for staff to have some conferences during the school day actually, and then also made the last day of school
005a half day of school, or two hour early dismissal, which I think makes a lot of people happy as well. But otherwise, many of the dates that are on this next two year calendar cycle mirror a lot of the same things that we did this calendar year cycle. So I look forward to putting this out and getting to the next couple years and not have to worry about this for a little while. So, thanks everyone for your feedback, for sure. - I move the Board of Education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing in the proposed 2026-2027, and the 2027-2028 school calendar, an authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education receive and file
006proof of publication of notice of public Hearing on the proposed 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school calendar, and authorize payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] 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. Is there are any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Right, so at this time, if anyone in the room has comments related to the calendar, we invite you to come to the podium at this time, state your name and
007connection to the district, and limit to three minutes. - All right, seeing no one I move that 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 those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - Superintendent Hawkins, would you just remind me where the public can find these finalized calendars now? - Yeah, so I believe they'll be posted on our website as early as probably tomorrow or the following day as the real deal. And then those will also be available at your schools and your buildings. And then these will come home, like for registration and things like that. But
008they will be online within the next probably 48 hours. - Great. Thank you. - Yep. - I move the Board of Education approve the 2026-2027 and the 2027-2028 school calendars as presented. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the 2026-2027 and the 2027-2028 school calendars as presented. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - All right, well thank you for all the work to put those calendars together. It is harder than you might think to do such a thing. I believe there are several board salutes around the table. So why don't we start with you... Excellent. And we'll just go down the row. - I have a board salute to recognize the 2026 National Merit
009Scholarship semi-finalists. This honor recognizes them as the highest scoring entrants in the whole state of Iowa, representing 1% or less of US high school seniors. This year's semi-finalists include Wyatt Branscomb, Emma Chesterman, Ben Holman, Nora Nieto, all from Dubuque Senior High School, as well as Eden Thomas from Hempstead High School. Congratulations to these students on a remarkable accomplishment. - As many of you know, the district is proud to partner with the iJAG organization, the Iowa Jobs for American Graduates, which delivers career development programming, including leadership training, career education, individualized guidance, and employer engagement to a select group of students. Today a board salute goes to Dubuque Senior High student, Jolea Hubbard, who is one of four iJAG students statewide, who was elected by their peers to represent Iowa at state and national events. This allows
010elected students to strengthen their leadership skills, connect with employers and government officials, and contribute to planning statewide events and legislative days. Jolea will represent iJAG in Washington DC, at the state capitol in Des Moines, and at numerous events over the next two years. Congratulations to Jolea for achieving this notable leadership role, and we are excited to see her represent iJAG and Dubuque Senior at the state and national level. - Amazing. Thank you. - I also have a board salute. This one goes to our cross country student athletes for an outstanding showing at the recent state tournament in Fort Dodge in November. Dubuque Senior High School girls cross country team and the Hempstead High School boys and girls cross country teams all qualified to complete as a team in the class 4A. A special congratulations goes
011to Dubuque seniors Emma Chesterman, who medaled with a seventh place finish. Also, in addition to that, she has run at state all four years during her high school career, which is quite an accomplishment. - Yeah, for sure. - Also, on the athletics front, congratulations to Dubuque Senior High School's Amy Gilligan, who medaled twice at the girls state swimming and diving championships, finishing second in the state in the 200-yard freestyle and eighth and the 100-yard backstroke. Congratulations also goes to both Dubuque senior and Hempstead girls swimmers for qualifying for state in 17 combined events. - Wow. Thank goodness we have a new pool. (laughing) - It has brought along these great athletes. We're proud of how each of these student athletes represented Dubuque at State. - Amazing. - All right. And I believe I have the
012last one, I believe. So I have a board salute for students, coaches, and organizers who participated in the Eastern Iowa First League Lego qualifier event held this past Saturday at Roosevelt Middle School. Our district was well represented among the 24 teams that completed, and we were excited to share our award winners from the event. First district teacher Theresa Northhouse was honored as Coach of the Meet. The Carver Elementary School team received the Core Values award honoring outstanding teamwork, innovation, inclusion, diversity, impact, and fun. The Lincoln Elementary School team, hey, big shout out, received the Breakthrough award. The Prescott Elementary team received the Rising All-Star award, and the team from Roosevelt Middle School coached by Ms. Bryson received the Motivated award. The Carver team will move on to state for the overall performance and the Roosevelt
013team coached by Ms. Nelson will move on to state for winning Best Robot Design. Congratulate to all our competitors. - That's a great day. Very exciting stuff. - I'd just like to add to all of the board salutes what a important role our our coaches and our mentors play. Sponsors who make all of this possible. Such talented people we have working with our kids. So, well done. - All right. Thank you everyone. That brings us to the visitors and open forum. - I move that the Board of Education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. - 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]
014Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. To start us off, we're very happy to welcome Dr. Megan Richardson to tell us what's going well at Lincoln Elementary, and she made us awesome handouts. We're very excited about that. - Good evening and thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and share what's going well here at Lincoln. So I'll start you off, and you all have the handout in front of you as well, but we are very excited that we have seen an increase in enrollment this year. So we're up 36 students from last year certified enrollment, which led to a third section of kindergarten. So we're excited to have more Lions with us this school year. Also on the academic front, we had some great results going in from our last school performance
015profile into this current school performance profile, raising 24 percentage points in our ELA growth, which is a pretty tough feat, but we are super excited to see that. And that's due to the hard work of our teachers and dedicated staff, and the hard work of our students and families who support them. Family engagement is really important to us at Lincoln and getting our families into our building as much as possible. So some of the events that we've held this fall, our Lincoln Fall Carnival, which I think many of you have attended in the past, we saw 82% of our families attend that event in the evening. Lunch and learn, we do that twice a year where we invite families in to have lunch with their students and do a quick activity in the classroom that
016they can then take home. We saw 96% of our families join us this fall for Lunch and Learn, which was awesome. Fall conferences, we had 88% of our families attend, and I know that that's part of our strategic plans and something that we monitor closely at Lincoln as well. For attendance, Ms. Vermeyer is here tonight. She does a ton with attendance and doing interventions to help our students get excited about coming to school. And that really starts in elementary. And that engagement piece is really important all the way through high school. One of the things we're really proud of is that we surpassed the state average for growth among our students, and that's due to a lot of the interventions that we're currently doing with students. And we also saw satisfactory attendance improve 10% from
017two years ago. So we're seeing that increase really pay off in the data as well. On the staff development and collaboration front, Lincoln has been doing collaborative learning communities for a long time and we're excited to extend that this year with our colleagues across our title buildings to do some work around evidence-based math practices. So really focusing in on what are some evidence-based practices in math and how can we work together so that our teachers can create that efficacy across buildings as well so that we have all the minds around the table so that we can best impact students. We also just finished up letters training. We had 92% of our staff, and really that's just the new teachers that did not have an opportunity to engage in that, that joined us this year, that
018did at least the majority of that training. So that is based in the science of reading and that's shown off in our literacy growth. I think that that's been a huge component to that success as well. Socio-emotional behavior is really important. Something we've been focusing on, not only as a district but in our building as well. How do we get students not only engaged in their learning, but how do we make them feel safe at school and how do we help them want to come to school every day? We're really proud of the work that we've done around expectations, procedures, protocols, but also the civility components in instilling leadership in students. And we've seen from two years ago a 50% reduction in major office referrals. So that's been a stat that we're really proud of.
019We also have 13 behavior academies, which focus on things like social skills, regulation, and friendship, impacting 36 students. And that is held by the support team in a lunch bunch type of format and seeing a lot of student engagement with that. And then we have monthly assemblies and what we call "fancy lunch." You're all welcome to join us for fancy lunch if you would like to. Where we just try to make it fun for our Lions of the month and students who have been awarded based on their safe, respectful, and responsible behaviors. So, lots going on at Lincoln. We'd love to invite you over any time. But thanks for letting me share tonight. - Yeah, thank you. - Thank you. - If there's anyone else who wishes to address the board, you can do so
020at this time. We ask that you come to the podium, state your full name, your connection to the district, and that you limit your remarks to three minutes using our timer. Keep in mind that Iowa code prevents us from commenting on what you have to say, but we are listening. So if there's anyone out there who wants to come, now's the time. Doesn't look like it. - Seeing no one, I move that 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] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board
021of Education approve those items listed in 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 member wishes to have pulled? Seeing none, all in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. All righty, so that brings us to the Facilities and Support Services committee report from Mr. Hamill. - Thank you very much. So on the first Monday of every month we have our Facilities and Support Services meeting. It's right up here in this room. It's an open meeting. You're all welcome to attend. And on these Monday school board meetings, we don't necessarily go into a lot of detail on the committee meetings. There's a lot more detail presented. We get a
022lot of reports, we can ask questions, and you can get a lot more information on what's going on in the district. And last week we reviewed a number of things starting off, there was a donation of a maple tree in memory of our former board member, Tammy Ryan. And that was planted up at Dubuque Senior High School. We also heard about the Irving roof replacement project, and that's expanding somewhat, and there's going to be a change order relating to that project, increasing the architect fees in the amount of $15,600. We also had some reports on a couple of issues relating to spending authority, and one of them had to do with open enrolled out students. Is that the students from our district that are going to other districts? - Yep. - And relating to those
023students, we're gonna submit a request to the School Budget Review committee in the amount of about $427,000. Then, relating to the English Language Learners program, we're gonna be submitting a request to the School Budget Review committee for additional spending authority in the amount of just under $200,000. We also got a report on the Eisenhower projects, and that's moving forward well. On the Irving mechanical project, that's also doing well. And currently the students are on the first floor of the school attending school, and the workers have been doing the remodeling on the second floor, and the remodel on the second floor has gone on schedule, and over break there's gonna be a switch to get it ready so when the students come back after Christmas break, the students will be attending school up on the first
024floor and the work... Excuse me, on the second floor, and the work will start down on the first floor. The Hempstead shed replacement is moving forward well. The Sageville fuel oil tank replacement project, there's still some research going on for the fuel tank and recommendations are still gonna be coming forward. There's some water drainage problems with the senior high school Dellsville fuel retaining wall. That's the big wall that you can see from Grand View that's just behind the visitor's grandstands, and the survey work has been completed. The design work to address it is about 70% complete. And the plan is we'll be able to send out bids hopefully in January for that work. We got a report from Synergistics. They're an outside company that helps us with energy efficiency, and through their recommendations and the
025hard work of the people in the district, we have been able to consistently keep lowering our energy use. And the next big project they have is dialing everything back for the winter break. We also talked a little bit about the PPEL funding, and that's money we get through property taxes. We bring in currently about $3.3 million per year. And that money generally goes for building maintenance, buses, and playground equipment. And the PPEL funding is set to expire in June of 2027. And we're just starting to look at that on what we're going to do in terms of asking for the same amount of money, potentially asking for more money. A lot hinges on what happens with the state of Iowa legislative session that's gonna be starting coming up here and how much money they're going
026to authorize for the schools. We also got a report on the in investment quotes from a number of the area, well all of the area financial institutions that are interested. And the winning bid was a very good rate from Capra Bank of 3.96%. So I have a handful of motions. First I move that the Board of Education approve the donation of a maple tree to be placed at Dubuque Senior High School in memory of former board member Tammy Ryan in the estimated amount of $200. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the donation of a maple tree to be placed at Dubuque Senior High School in memory of former board member Tammy Ryan in the estimated amount of $200. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in
027favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve amendment number one to Origin Design Company on the Irving Elementary School roof replacement project in the increased amount of $15,600. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve amendment number one to Origin Design Company on the Irving Elementary School roof replacement project in the increased amount of $15,600. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education authorize the district's administration to submit a request to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $427,616 or as determined by the Iowa Department of Education following the DE audit review for
028modified supplemental amount for open enrolled out students not included in the district's previous year's certified enrollment count. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education authorize the district's administration to submit a request to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $427,616 or as determined by the Iowa Department of Education following DE audit review for modified supplemental amount for open enrolled out students not included in the district's previous year's certified enrollment count. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - Finally, I moved that the Board of Education authorize the district's administration to submit a request to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $199,859, or as determined by the Iowa Department of Education
029following the DE audit review for modified supplemental amount for providing an English language learner program for students who have exceeded five years of weighted funding in fall 2025. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education authorize the district's administration to submit a request to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $199,859, or as determined by the Iowa Department of Education following DE audit review for modified supplemental amount for providing an English language learner program for students who exceeded five years of weighted funding in fall 2025. Not the longest motion I've read, but a very, very long one. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion also carries. Thank you, Mr. Hamill, for that report. That brings
030us to Ms. Jones's final education programs and policy report. - Thank you, Kate. All right, well first off, we meet also here in the Forum on the first full week, Wednesdays at 4:00 PM, and we ask that everybody attend. That's kind of where the real work is done and conversation is had. Probably won't be near as exciting from now on, but... (board members laughing) I think Anderson is gonna do a pretty good job next week. (laughing) Or next month I should say. But we were first updated by Executive Director of Secondary Education, Mark Burns, who shared with the committee the Northeast Iowa Community College placement in college credit and concurrent course data for students who earned college credits for the 2025 graduation year. So a total of 343 students took advantage of the concurrent courses
031while in high school last school year. They completed 1,315 courses in earning a total of 3,639 credits. The tuition and fee savings for the families added up to an astounding $873,360, which I think all of us with student loans can appreciate by how much that can change families' lives. Our high schools are using the advisory system during conference to inform students and families what options are available to help the students prepare for career college readiness. Any student who's planning to go to post-secondary schools is highly encouraged to participate in these classes and give them the opportunity to complete these college experiences and courses while they're still at home. Next up, we heard from Superintendent Hawkins who stated that the district is talking internally about what the next steps look like for facility planning. The process
032will include looking at district finances and reviewing data. No announcements will be made until the process of vetting is completed. The board will review the district belief statements in January to be sure that we stay on track, and plans for a special election in September of 2026 or March of 2027 were discussed, with more to come after the new school board member is seated. So I look forward to hearing updates on that. We did review the school calendars that Superintendent Hawkins already reviewed. And I just wanna add that, as a parent, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that you personally take, the district takes, and taking in all the feedback from parents as well, because it does affect everybody. So thank you for that. Let's see. Then we heard from our secretary, Carrie Moss, who shared
033with the committee the new school board policy layout as we implement the assembly board management software. Instead of administrative guidelines, we will now refer to those as regulations. In addition, we will transition to Iowa Association of School Boards recommended numbering system. So those may look different on our website from now on, but most are staying the same, correct Carrie? - Yes. - All right. Next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 7th, back here at the Forum. - All right, thank you so much Ms. Jones. Well done. All right, that brings us to new business. - I move the Board of Education receive and file the abstract of votes from the school board calendars on November 4th, 2025. - Can you restate that? - It's school board election. - You said school board calendar. -
034Oh, I'm sorry. Talked a lot about calendars. I move the board of education receive and file the abstract of votes for the school board election on November 4th, 2025. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education receive and file the abstract of votes for the school board election on November 4th, 2025. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the district emergency operations plan. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the district emergency operations plan. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion also carries. That brings us now to the board
035member or administrative issues non-agenda part of the meeting. Sometimes Superintendent Hawkins has something for us at this point. Anything today? - I really don't have anything except for I think we're telling somebody goodbye tonight. - We are. That's next on the agenda. - That's on the agenda. If we don't go there- - See you later. (board members laughing) - So, yes, we are saying goodbye to one of our fellow board members. She asked us not to do the thing where everyone says the things and goes around the board table at this meeting. And we're gonna respect her wish to some extent, a little bit of a fudge because we did have an opportunity last week to share a lot of thoughts with Katie and commend her on her service for the last four years. So
036I just wanna share with you that you entered the board at a very challenging time, and you ran because you care about kids and you're so passionate about it. Your voice and your insights here at this table have been invaluable and you led with your values, and because of that, we benefited from your service and we're really gonna miss you. We thank you so much for all that you did while you were sitting here, but also all that you do for the community all of the time. So thank you, Katie, for your service. Come back and visit us. We're here once a month, every Monday, so anytime you're feeling like you missed us, please come back. But thank you for your service. - Thank you. (board members clapping) - We have a plaque to give
037you. - Can I say something? - Yes, I'll allow it. - Okay, you all know how I love public speaking, so I'm gonna do my best here. But I just wanted to say thank you to the community, obviously, for allowing me this opportunity to represent the district. And a huge thank you. I just wanted to express my gratitude to the executive cabinet especially, and Superintendent Hawkins. I still like Super Hawkins better (board members laughing) from now on. But, you know, not only are you guys doing endless, amazing work, but you also took a lot of time to help me, support me, educate me to be a stronger advocate for our kids and this district. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I will miss all of you. And, let's see, I also wanted
038to thank the board, obviously. I've appreciated working next to you as well as learning from each of you, so I just appreciate all of it. Like Kate said, we've been through a lot together. I think they call that trauma bonding. (board members laughing) We're all bonded for life now. But I respect each one of you personally too. So, this has been a really difficult decision, but I just need to put my family first and right now as we're getting busier and busier, but I couldn't be more confident in a group of people, especially with Amy leading you guys and continuing to move the district forward. So I will still be supporting you and advocating for our district, just in a different capacity now. So, thank you. - Thank you. - We're gonna give you a
039plaque now. - Okay. (camera shutter clattering) - Display it prominently. - Put that in your home office or- (board members laughing) - While Katie's coming back up, I know you don't want us to say anything, but it has been such a privilege to serve with you for these four years, Katie. You bring a perspective from having your own kids in our schools, from the health professional that was so critical in that perspective so many times over the four years. And as a very caring person and a very involved citizen, what you have brought has been immeasurably important. So, thank you. - Thank you. - Best always to you. - You too. - Yeah, I think it's only right that, you know, we embarrass her a little bit. - Just a bit. - Well, you wrote
040a little- - I wrote a small little note. You know, I think we all can learn a lot from you. Seriously, when we think about, as you mentioned, Kate running for office during a pandemic, that takes courage right there to do that. To step in when the world was literally flipped upside down, you had the courage to step up, and we're thankful for that. You had grace and courage. When you came to the board we noticed just a leadership style. You didn't come in thinking you knew everything. You were quiet, kind of like a silent killer. And you truly observe. And I think that's very important with leadership, that you don't have to always speak right away. Listen, pay attention to what others are saying. And then when you have enough information, finding the courage
041to use your voice. And I think that's truly who you are. You came with grace, courage, and you found your authentic voice to add to this board, and you will be missed for sure. And so I did ask for you to have your iPad and your phone back before you leave so that way you can stay connected to us, all right? But from, I think all of us, we're truly thankful for you and we know that you'll continue to find a way to stay connected. So, thank you for your leadership. - Thank you. - I just wanna say a couple things. Thank you for, everyone- - She said we weren't gonna do the thing. She literally said- - The courage to run for the board. You know, you have young kids in school, and you
042and your husband have busy jobs. So being on school board is an honor that all of us do not take lightly. So we all are experiencing this, whether we're in our first term, second term, third term. We wanna thank the public for electing us. And I know you will always treasure these last four years that you spent on the board. - My dream is that one day she comes back. - I was just gonna say, I think we're gonna get her to come back once her kids like get the high school, they can drive. - She'll miss us too much. - You know, Katie, we got to talk about this on Wednesday and so I won't totally embarrass you, but I just wanna say thanks. I have appreciated not only your leadership on the board,
043but also your support for me personally. And you know, we've been able to have some really good conversations, great conversations, and I hope that we can continue that as you advocate in different ways for our school district. So I just wanna say thanks. I wish you good luck. And you know, you're a Winona State grad, so I mean we're connected for life, right? So, but yeah, thanks for everything you've done. Not only for me, for the district. - Thanks Amy. - All right, now we're really gonna stop. Is that okay Katie? - Please. - Even though we could keep going, but we have some other business to attend to and maybe like your last meeting to be done at some point. Just as a thought. All right, so at this point we're going to appoint
044a temporary chairperson. Someone would like to say that motion. Katie, do you wanna do it? - Yeah, great. - Let's let Katie do it. - I move that the Board of Education appoint Carrie Moss, board secretary, as the temporary chairperson. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education appoint Carrie Moss, board secretary, as the temporary chairperson. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. We're gonna adjourn for just a bit. - Yep, so I will just say this will adjourn the 2024-2025 Board of Directors and we will have a five minute recess. (gavel banging) The organizational meeting will come to order and we'll begin with roll call. Bradley? - Here. - Hamel? - Here. - Hingtgen? -
045Here. - Jacobitz-Kizzier? - Here. - Parks? - Here. - Sainci? - Here. - Whitman? - Here. - At this time, I would like to present the certificates of election to newly elected board member Mae Hingtgen and reelected board members Anderson Sainci and Nancy Bradley. - Okay, thank you. - Thanks, Karen. - And if I could please have you stand so I can administer the oath of office. Please raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Iowa, and that you will faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of director in Dubuque Community School district of Dubuque in Jackson counties as now or hereafter required by law? - I do. - I
046will. - Congratulations. - Thanks, thank you. - Congratulations. - Thanks. - I will now accept nominations for the office of board president. A second to the nomination is not necessary. Any nominations at this time? - I would like to nominate Kate Parks as president. - Any other nominations. Seeing none. If there are no other nominations, I would entertain a motion to close the nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Kate Parks as president. - I'll make a motion to close. - I move the Board of Education close the nominations and cast the unanimous ballot of Kate Parks as president. - I have a second? - Second. - It has been moved and seconded that nominations be closed and a unanimous ballot for Kate Parks as president. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in
047favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? - That motion carries. - I just wanna say thank you to the board. It's been an honor to serve in this role for the last few years, and I'm so happy to work with this group of people, and with Superintendent Hawkins, and all of the team, and I'm just very excited for what's on the road ahead. So, thank you. - Kate, can I have you stand? Raise your right hand. Kate, do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Iowa and that you will faithfully, impartially, to the best of your ability discharge the duties of the office of president in Dubuque Community School District of Dubuque and Jackson counties Iowa as now or hereafter
048inquired by law? - I will. - Congratulations. - Okay, now it's back to me to run the meeting. Carrie's off the hook. (board members laughing) So at this time, I will accept a nomination for vice president. - I nominate Lisa Whitman for the office of Board of Education vice president. - Any other nominations? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion to close the nominations. - I move the Board of Education to close the nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Lisa as vice president. - Is there a second? - [Board Members] Second. - Lots of seconds. Any discussion? All those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I would also like to thank you all for nominating me as vice president again. I've been serving as vice president
049with Kate for several years now. I love being on this board, and we have a lot of work ahead of us, as we always have behind all the work. I'm in my third term, and the time has just flown by. So, thank you again for all your support. - I'd like to thank both of you for being willing to continue, and to acknowledge what an outstanding team you have been. I love that the two of you have functioned as a powerful team. We are all the beneficiaries of your collaborative leadership. So thank you both very much. - Thank you. It's gone well. - Yeah, we're a good team. - All right, so now I think, Carrie, do I need to do this motion, the electing of Lisa as vice president? Or did we just do
050that? - You just entertained a motion to elect her as that- - So we're on it. Let's do the- - Okay, here we go. - Raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that you'll support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Iowa, and that you will faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of vice president in the Dubuque Community School District of Dubuque and Jackson Counties Iowa as now or hereafter required by law? - I do. - Great. - Thank you. - Congratulations Lisa. - Thank you. - All right. - I move that the Board of Education appoint Carrie Moss as secretary. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education appoint Carrie Moss as secretary.
051Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. No one's gonna oppose that. Carrie is an excellent secretary. - I move that the Board of Education- - We have to do the oath first. - Oh, sorry. - It's okay. Carrie, if you would raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Iowa, and that you'll faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of secretary in the Dubuque Community School District of Dubuque and Jackson Counties as now or hereafter required by law? - I will. - Awesome. Thank you, Carrie. - Thank you. - We appreciate you. - I move that
052the Board of Education appoint Lisa Demmer as treasurer. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education appoint Lisa Demmer as treasurer. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Lisa, an oath for you as well. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Iowa, and that you will faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of treasurer in the Dubuque Community School District of Dubuque and Jackson Counties as now or hereafter required by law? - I will. - Great. Thank you Lisa. Happy to have you as well. All right, that brings us, I believe, to some new
053business. - I would move the Board of Education name the following financial institutions as depositories for the district funds in the amount of 50 million each. I'll list them. Capra Bank, Collins Community Credit Union, Dupaco Community Credit Union, DuTrac Community Credit Union, Fidelity Bank and Trust, Green State Credit Union, ISJIT, JP Morgan, MidWestOne Bank, Premier Bank, UMB Bank, and US Bank. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education named the following financial institutions as depositories for district funds in the amount of $50 million each. Capra Bank, Collins Community Credit Union, Dupaco Community Credit Union, DuTrac Community Credit Union, Fidelity Bank, Green State Credit Union, ISJIT, JP Morgan, MidWestOne Bank, Premier Bank, UMB Bank, and USB Bank. USB Bank, sorry. Not USB, just US Bank. Is there any discussion? It's a
054lot of banks. Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move the Board of Education established the regular meeting of the Board of Education for the second Monday of each month at 5:30 PM at the Forum and the strategic plan meeting as the fourth Monday in October, February, and May at 5:30 at the Forum. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education establish the regular meeting of the Board of Education for the second Monday of each month at 5:30 PM at the Forum and strategic plan meetings the fourth Monday in October, February, and May at 5:30 PM at the Forum. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That
055motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education name the Telegraph Herald as the official publication of record. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education name the Telegraph Herald as the official publication of record. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education name Ahlers & Cooney, P.C. as the official legal counsel of record. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education name Ahlers & Cooney, P.C. as the official legal counsel of record. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say "Aye." - [Board] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. Are there any other board member or administrative issues for
056this organizational meeting? - I don't see any issues, I just wanna personally welcome Mae to the board table. It's exciting to have you back involved in the district in a new way. So, welcome tonight. And then I also just wanna really congratulate and welcome Nancy and Anderson back onto our team. We're happy that you decided to join us for another four years, so I look forward to working with all of you and the whole board as we move forward in this next cycle. But congratulations and welcome to the table. - Thank you. - All right, so our next meeting will be on January 12th, 2025 here... 2026. Yeah, we're not gonna go back in time. 2026 at 5:30 right here in the Forum as we just voted on and said that that was when it
057was gonna be. So we wish you all a very happy holiday, and we are adjourned. (gavel clacking) (upbeat music)