001Good evening. This regular meeting of September 8th, 2025 of the Debute Community School District Board of Education is called to order. Our mission is to develop worldclass learners and citizens of character in a safe and inclusive learning community. Roll call, please. Bradley, >> here. >> Hamill, >> here. >> Jacobitzkazire, >> here. >> Jones, >> here. Parks >> here. Sansancy >> here. Whitman here. We're pleased to welcome students from Washington Middle School to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. >> My name is Nolan Anderson and I'm a proud Wah Hawk. I'm in eighth grade and some things that are going well for me in middle school are even if I'm not in the same house as my friends, I can still hang out with them. And VPA is a great opportunity. My name is Bailey
002Jansen. I'm in eighth grade and some things that are going well are classes, my teachers, and of course the best part of the school, the school therapy dog, Millie. >> My name is Payton Heinden. I'm in seventh grade and something good going um for middle school is I have amazing classes and great teachers. My name is Stella Sheney and I'm in seventh grade and the school year is going well for me because I have amazing teachers and great practice. >> Hi, my name is Sophia Smethers. Um something well for me that is going great is my grades and everyone is doing great in school and big shout out to our principal, Miss Rubber Hopper. Woo! My name is Addison Rosson. I'm an eighth grader at Washington Middle School. And one thing that goes well at
003our school is our students are great at respecting our wash values and showing community. You guys got a little 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. >> Nice job. >> Thank you. >> All right. I move that 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 I. >> I. Any opposed? >> I. >> Oh, sorry, Dirk. That motion carries. >> I move that the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of August 11th and the special meeting of September 2nd,
0042025 as submitted. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of August 11th and the special meeting of September 2nd, 2025 as submitted. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> All right, that brings us to a few board salutes. Who would like to start? >> I can go first. Congratulations to the district's high school robotics team, which recently received a $3,000 grant from the Gene Haw Foundation to support the team's annual uh participation in competitions. This grant is going to help the team, which is called Servos Strikes Back, in purchasing u materials, travel, the entry fees they need to pay, and more. This is another great example of community support for our
005outstanding and world recognized robotics team. So, thank you very much to the Gene Hos Foundation for supporting the efforts of these remarkable students. >> Awesome. I'm happy to offer a board salute on our behalf to Jeff and Janet Mosina for their work in recovering and now redising portions of the historical murals from Deuke Senior High School's Lamb Headman Auditorium. We know that when the renovation work was happening there, the murals were very carefully taken down and stored so that they could be put back together so and and redised. So it's with the support of the Mazina family as well as the support of other districts of district staff that these historical murals by artist Sirill P. Fairing I didn't know that who graduated from Debuke Senior High School in 1919 were able to be removed
006when the auditorium was remodeled. They've now been remounted into custom frames by Mercedes Fab. She is a debuke based painter with experience working with largecale murals. Aren't we fortunate to have that right in our gallery? >> And now the selected portions of the murals have been replaced on display. They're in the cafeteria. If any of you want to see them, I know Senior would love to have you stop by and take a peek at the murals in the cafeteria. So, we we offer that invitation. So my thanks goes and on our behalf to the Mosina family for their continued commitment to Debuke Senior High School and for their wonderful work in preserving these historically significant murals. >> Wonderful. Any other salutes around the table? >> Thank you everyone. >> I move that the board of
007education 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 I. I. >> I. Any opposed? >> I. >> Let's wait for Durk. I keep forgetting. Sorry. Uh, that motion carries. >> Um, so I'm not sure, but I wonder if Mr. Principal Oberhoffer is going to come up still to tell us anything that's going well. No pressure. we heard from his wonderful students, but we'd love to hear from you, too. >> So, I was very thankful to have our students here tonight and be able to share their story with the board um from their perspective. And I would just uh second all
008the things that they said and add on that uh we've just been off to a great school school year so far. um welcomed our sixth graders in and we have them going on their routines. We have new wash values this year that we've rolled out. Uh and the students are taking well to that system and so we're excited for the great things to come this school year. >> Has the weather helped at all? >> The weather has been very helpful. Um I have to be on a diet because I didn't lose the normal 10 pounds I usually didn't lose in those first couple of weeks of the school year, but we're thankful that we had full school days that were uninterrupted. that was very helpful in getting those routines in place. I just came from
009our first cross country meet and they had a full set of practices leading up to cross country. Um so they were not uh behind the eightball um with the early outs and not being able to get out there. Um so that was that was wonderful to see as well. >> And who do you have with you? Can you talk a little bit? >> I have Millie. So she had a shout out. This is Washington's therapy dog. Uh so she comes to school with me each day. She's our family pet. Uh, and she's been a therapy dog for three years now. And, uh, is something that brings a smile to everyone's face. >> Thanks for bringing her. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Uh, anyone else who wishes to address the board can
010do so at this time. We ask that you state your full name, your connection to the district, and that you limit your remarks to three minutes using our handy timer. And please be aware that state code does not allow us to engage with you or to respond, but we are listening. >> Uh good evening, uh Clark slows and just a taxpayer. Um I'm here tonight to talk about I sent a a letter to the school board that I'm sending to the Telegraph Herald letter to the editor. I just wanted to let you know I sent that to you in advance in case give you a fair chance to you know if you want to dispute any of the the claims I made in the letter. I I did notice on your website you have a
011tax calculator there that u is for the assumptions that are made you know is fairly accurate. The one thing that concerns me is is, you know, it shows what the effect of a dollar would be on a $300,000 assessed home for next year, next tax year. However, it doesn't show you what the total effect is of going from a 1304 levy to a 1404. And with the increase in values from this current tax year, that same $300,000 assessed home next year pays a total of $290 more than what they did in the current year. And my neighbor's home, uh, kind of just to check because he was one of the more, I'd say, elaborate homes in our neighborhood, uh, he's going to be paying $455 more overall, you know, school taxes in the next coming
012year. Um, so it's it's more than just that dollar that affects it. It's also the increase in assessed value from this current year to next year and it's also that increases the taxable value. So I just want the people to realize >> it's there's more than just that dollar that affects because at 1304 I bet you it's I bet you it doesn't go down. It's probably going to go up because just to check uh you got $25,000 more budgeted for health insurance than you spent in the past year. And that's just one line item in the budget. And I realize you're kind of behind the eightball with the legislature and when they decide their aid that they're going to give to schools. I wish they would follow the law once in a while. Um but
013that's all I got. >> Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Clark. >> Anyone else? >> All right, seeing nobody, 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 I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> All right. That moves us to a public hearing on the sale of district property um relating to a couple of school buses. So, I believe Miss Lisa Demer is going to get us started. So, good evening board members and Superintendent Hawkins. The transportation department placed two uh 2017 for 47 passenger Thomas buses for sale on gov deals.
014The bids for each bus came in over $25,000 threshold. So, we are recommending that you approve the sale of one bus for $28,237.50 and the other bus for $31,950 or That's $950. Is there any questions regarding that? Thank you. Thank you. I move that the board of education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the sale of two 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school buses and authorized payment of the legal notice publication cost to the Telegraph Herald. >> 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 sale of two 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school buses and authorized payment of the legal notice publication cost to the Telegraph Herald. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those
015in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. At this time, if there are any public comments specifically related to this school bus sale, you're welcome to come up to the podium using the same protocol as the last time. >> All right. Don't see any. >> Don't see any. I move that the board of education approve the sale of one 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school bus for $28,237.50 to Knox Williams of Knoxville, Tennessee. and one 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school bus for $31,950 to Lasiah I'm going to ruin that >> uh ward of essential transportation located in Kerry North Carolina second. >> It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the sale of one 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school bus for $28,237.50 50 cents to Knox Williams of Knoxville,
016Tennessee and 127, sorry, 2017 Thomas 47 passenger school bus for $31,950 to Leisia Ward of Essential Transportation located in Kerry, North Carolina. Any discussion? Looks like these buses are going on a little adventure from Iowa. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Fantastic. That brings us to the consent agenda. >> I move that the board of 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 anything a board member wishes to have pulled? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? >> I. Oh, darn. I'm getting so good and I missed it that time. All right, that motion carries.
017That brings us to the facilities and support services report brought to us by Miss Whitman. Okay, I will give some highlight. We had our meeting on September 2nd at 4:00 here at the forum and we had discussion on all of these topics. I'm just going to give you a highlight on all of these and um here we go. We got an update on first of all, we had a financial presentation from Tim Alswald from Piper Sandler and he talked about um the the financial part of the bond referendum which we're going to talk a little more. Amy Hawkins, our superintendent, is going to go in a little more detail on that. So, I'll skip to the next thing. Um update on district projects. the Eisenhower Elementary School gymnasium. The Rob Powers gave us an update.
018The new front entrance should be completed by the end of this month. Footings are poured for the gym edition. And there was um a change, which there's not a money associated with that, but the retainage that we hold from contractors went from 5% to 3%. So that's going forward at any district projects we have. And there was one change order for the removal of some unknown storm sewer piping, storm sewer sinkhole repairs, and work on the storm collection area for an additional $42,1663. Um we got an update in Eisenhower, the Keller um roof replacement. So, this project is almost complete and most likely we'll have the final papers to our next facilities meeting in October. Irving Elementary mechanical remodel project. It's moving along and the students in the building, the students are all in the
019building except for our third and fourth graders and they have gone to Hoover Elementary School. So, it's a great way to move some kids out of the school, not disrupt their education, and gives the workers a chance to work through the building, and not have to um prolong the project. So, and since Hoover um doesn't have any students in there now, it was a great fit to the students do get bust over to Hoover and it's close by, so it's working well for the third and fourth graders. and the same change order um not a monetary effect where the contractors the retainage goes from 5 to 3%. Marshall Elementary playground replacement project this is complete and we'll have the final papers coming at our October meeting. So we understand that the playground equipment is wonderful
020and everyone's enjoying it. MSID High School shed replacement project. Um the bid opening took place on August 25th and I do have a motion for that. Um Sageville Elementary fuel tank replacement um architect study proposal um contract engineering. The study is for evaluating the fueling system. So I do have another motion for that. We did talk extensively update on facility efficiencies. So um superintendent Amy Hawkins will give some update on that. Um Lisa Demer already talked about the uh equipment sale for buses with gov deals. Um there was an invest whenever we have investments we do that we want to get a CD. We do um get quote or get bids from other investment from our local financials and that one went to Capra Bank with an interest rate for a six-month CD for $12
021million at the rate of 4.27. Um, let's see. Lisa Demer, our CFO, presented the committee the certificate of excellence in financial reporting for the fiscal year ending in 2024. We're used to getting these certificates and there's no reason to believe it's not going to continue. So, thank you, Lisa, and congratulations to the financial department. Um, one on a sad note, Rob Powers, who is our building grounds manager, he's been with us since May of 2017. His last day with the district will be September 19th. So, we wish him well with his new endeavors, and we enjoyed working with you, Rob. Um, I do have some motions that I'll read now. So, I move the board of education approve change over number three to Tricon Construction Group on Eisenhower Elementary School remodel and addition project to
022the upgrade retainage language. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve change order number three to Tricon Construction Group on the Eisenhower Elementary School remodel and addition project to update retainage language. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve changeover order number four to Tricon Construction Group to the Eisenhower Elementary School remodel and addition project in the increased amount of $42,1663. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve change order number four to Tricon Construction Group on the Eisenhower Elementary School remodel and addition project in the increased amount of $42,1663. Is there any discussion? >> Yeah, I just want to add to that. Um, we want to
023thank Tricon and Rob and his team. you know, when we're going through a renovation and school starting, it can be a little hectic. And honestly, we've got, you know, everybody knows where they're moving to now. Um there's a lot of activity going on, but I just want to thank them for remembering that, you know, we're we're still functioning as a school. We got a lot of littles around and um making that that area safe for all of our kids as well. So, thanks for Trion for that. >> All those in favor say I. I. I. I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve change over number one to Conland Construction on the Irving Elementary School mechanical upgrades project to update the retainage language. >> Second. >> It's been moved
024and seconded that the board of education approved change order number one to Conland Construction Company on the Irving Elementary School mechanical upgrades project to update retainage language. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. >> I move the board of education approve the executed construction contract bonds and cert certificate of insurance with ports and construction incorporated for the Hemstead High School football field storage building project in the amount of 278,000. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the executed construction contract, bonds, and certificate of insurance with Portzson Construction Incorporated for the Hemstead High School football field storage building project in the amount of $278,000. Is there any discussion? >> Yeah, I just would like to add that
025um it says football storage shed. Um, but just so everyone in the community knows, this is a track shed, a soccer shed, a football. I mean, it's a combination of wellness class things. So, it's going to be much larger so we can fit everything. And hopefully that helps us with our equipment to make it last a little bit longer instead of it sitting outside. So, I just wanted to add that piece >> and we appreciate that not all of those words are in the title of this project because it is already a very long title name. >> Great. >> Yeah. Thank you for updating the details on that. >> Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. My last motion. I move the board
026of education approve the fee proposal from Modis Engineering for construction document and admission administrative services for the Sageville Elementary School fueling system study in the amount of $4,800. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the fee proposal for Modis Engineering for construction document and administration services for the Sageville Elementary School fueling system study in the amount of $4,800. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That motion carries. Great. Thank um just wanted to announce that our next meeting it's the first Monday of every month. So, it'll be Monday, October 6 here at the forum at 4 PM if anyone ever wants to attend and listen. Thank you. So, as a wrap up um to our facility agenda, I just want to
027make sure that we keep this in old business, right, as we as we go forward. Um but a couple things that happened at that meeting that I just think is important for us to talk about. Um, number one, um, Lisa mentioned that Tim Oswald came and gave a presentation to the board regarding the sale of bonds. And if anybody wants to come to a really exciting meeting, that's the one to attend. Um, I will say that, um, Tim does a does a good job of explaining things. He does a really good job of making sure everybody's with him and then um if he needs to go back and reexplain thing, you know, he does a good job with that. And Tim and Lisa have worked really um hard together to design the plan for the
028bond referendum if that moves forward tonight. >> Um and so really he talked a lot with the board about board goals. you know, what does this look like financially um for us moving forward if this is to pass? Um he talked a lot about the sale of bonds and Lisa, you can correct me if I if I speak um that I don't say it correctly, but um really in the way that we're looking at moving forward with the bond referendum, we would actually do sale of bonds three different times or maybe more than that. So, um, the project's going to be done in a little different way so that we can hopefully have that project completed by the fall of 2029. And so, we really talked to the board about what that looks like, how
029we go about selling those bonds, when we would sell those bonds, and then approximately the amount of those bonds that we sell. Not only did he talk about the geo bonds because again tonight we're going to be talking about $70 million that we're going to ask for the taxpayers for the geo bond, but we're also going to be using save dollars towards the project um if it passes. And so save dollars again are 1 cent sales tax dollars that we would again be bonding for and we'd be bonding for funds that are coming to us in the future. Okay. So, people have asked me, if you don't spend your save bonds, save dollars, do they go away? And the answer really is we've already spent them um because we're working ahead um to utilize that
030and and borrow ahead um and then we can get those things paid off. So, um Tim did a really good job of that and hopefully got the board um all the information that they needed so that they can make a vote tonight about putting that bond referendum onto onto the ballot. The second piece that we talked about um at about facility efficiencies is really around the conversation around Jefferson. And as you know um last spring uh we did a really hor really sad thing and we closed Hoover Elementary. Um years prior to that um we had the closure of Fulton Elementary School. And as we look ahead and look at enrollment numbers and where we are with Jefferson Middle School right now, you can see that if you look at our enrollment um by middle
031schools, Jefferson has really dropped a little over 26% in the last 5 years. We also know that I mean we we don't have our certified enrollment for this school year, but currently our enrollment is around 375 students um there currently. So we know there's going to be another decline already in this school year. >> So it's really our job as a district to look at those um numbers and say where can we find efficiencies? And the efficiency that we see is to take um our three middle school concept and move it to two. However, just moving students to Washington and Roosevelt, there's not enough capacity. So that's why we're looking at going for the the bond referendum so that we would have capacity in two middle schools that would be equal of about a thousand
032students. Okay? And so this is not something that the board is excited about. It's very sad when anybody talks about the fact that we may be closing a school that's a hundred years old. I mean, we have many people in our community that have have been um Jefferson Hillhawks, right? And they're passionate about that. And it's hard to see something that that closed. But again, when we have two buildings that are 100 years old, they're actually over 100 years old. We have to look at ways that we can have efficiencies and that we can move forward in a district for the next hundred years because those buildings just will not u meet the needs of the students today. And the next thing I'd just like to share with you is when we look at making
033efficiencies, the efficiencies we're talking about are from the general fund. The general fund is where we need to find our efficiencies because the general fund is where we we pay for our um staff salaries and benefits. That's where we pay for many of our um you know supplies, our natural gas, our water, all those things. And as we know those costs continue to go up, but the number the amount of state supplemental aid that we're getting from the state is not keeping up with inflation. So if you look at this chart here, it shows you approximately how much money we're spending per pupil at Roosevelt, Washington, and Jefferson. And you can see where that Jefferson amount is more because we have less students there. And so we know that if we can even out into
034two middle schools, we will find the efficiencies of about 1.9 to $2.5 million a year, which will then go back into our general fund, which should help with those costs that were that are rising, you know, continually. So, this really is a is a is a great way to demonstrate why we're looking at the closure of Jefferson. There's again no timeline to when we would close Jefferson. Ideally, Jefferson would close when we pass the bond and we build the new middle school and then we reset our boundaries. Again, the boundaries would not be Washington and Jefferson in a school and Roosevelt stay as is. The boundaries would be the exact same boundaries as our high schools. So, if you were scheduled to go to senior high school, you would go to the new middle school.
035If you're scheduled to go to Hemstead High School, you would go to Roosevelt. So then those boundaries would be e would be laid out and demographically we know that our high schools align just about perfectly um when we look at all the things um with demographics. So we can't saying today that we're closing Jefferson at the end of the school year. That is not what we're saying here. We're just saying that Jefferson Middle School, regardless if the bond is, you know, if they if they put that on the ballot and it's passed, um, regardless, that building is really going to be it's not going to be able to stay open just because of the declining enrollment and the way that the district has to find efficiencies. How will we find those efficiencies if the bond
036doesn't pass? That'll be interesting. That'll be a lot of conversations with the community and you know we've put some surveys out there to show some of the ideas that we see in other communities that are happening and none of those are ideal but um the district will be moving forward with some kind of plan um if the bond would not pass. So I just wanted to make sure that we talked about that tonight. We showed those few slides so we could really talk about that declining enrollment. Um, you know, Greg Layman sitting in the back of the room, the president or the you're the president, the the principal Ederson and um, you know, Greg would say that they agree that they really want to have the best, you know, um, learning space for their students
037and moving from three to two middle schools will be something that he would agree upon as well. So, I appreciate you being here tonight and like I said, it's never an easy conversation. Nobody wants to talk about this out loud, but the reality is it's time that we have those conversations. So, I just wanted to fill in the community if you weren't at our facility meeting about the two things that we that we talked about. >> Uh Amy, there's a lot of things flowing through my mind um about this topic specifically, but could you tell the residents of our community who may are curious about, well, $70 million, why don't you just use that money to pay teachers? you know, why are you building another building? Um, can you remind um the residents what Tim
038mentioned about just that legally what we can and can't do with funding? >> Right. So, if we go out for a general obligation bond, which will be an extra dollar as as Clark spoke about as well, that money can only be spent on that project. So, that money that we get from the property taxes cannot be spent on salaries and benefits. it can't be spent on um you know the bills that we have in the district so we can maintain and keep functioning. So that $70 million is only for the project that um we're going to talk about here shortly >> by law too. >> By law. Yes. Right. We can't use one set of like one bucket of money to pay bills and another bucket of money. It's always bucket analogies with this, but
039if you go to enough uh finance sessions at the schoolboard association, you hear a lot about buckets. And legally, we can't, you know, swap them around. We have to spend them for what they're designated for. And I think it's important to say that the same goes with save dollars, one sales tax. So those dollars can be used for facilities or or structures and then um capital projects and then it can be used for technology. So those are the only two things that we can use one cent sales tax dollars for because some people will say hey you know we'll you know we'd like to do the bond once you start paying your teachers more and the reality is that to pay for teachers that comes out of that general obligation or out of our um
040>> general fund and that's where we need to find efficiencies so that we have annually you know two to$2.5 million that we're putting back into that to help pay for those costs >> and I and I Another important thing just to remind residents just kind of big picture is when you look at just population Debuke is let's just say stagnant but in our schools we're not seeing as many kids coming in as they're leaving and at the state level you're getting less funding per kid and so less kid less money expenses are going up. as a board, we have to make tough decisions to make sure as a district it's lasting beyond all of us that are up here. And so it's not like we're waking up saying we want to close a school building,
041but we recognize that we're all not going to be here 3, four years plus, right? And so we have to build something that's going to last beyond us. And so that's why we're having these tough conversations and have had these conversations for the past I believe two two two and a half years now that this is coming down the pipeline. And so that new conversation very difficult and I'm thankful that we have great leaders to to have these conversations right now and we're constantly trying to find ways to include our communities to be a part of the conversation with us. So it's not us doing it without them. So, I appreciate all of the people and the conversations that we're having. >> Absolutely. >> And Debuke's not alone to this. There's other school districts in
042the state that are going through the same pains that we are and have to make these tough decisions. So, the kids come first and that's where we focus. What is the best building situation, facilities that we can do for our kids? I was asked by a person in the community over the weekend, but what will you do if the bond referendum does not pass and I said that we had conducted a community survey and that that survey had a variety of options listed and asked the voters to rank how they felt about each of them. What would you say in terms of first of all we I'll say assume we shouldn't assume we hope that the community does support the bond referendum. There's a good plan here. It's a wellressearched plan. It's a plan that's
043had great deal of community input and yet what will we do should the bond not be passed in November at the election? Well, I think when you look at the survey results, um the thing that was the most appealing um to our to the to the individuals that took the survey was the concept of moving from three to two middle schools. >> The things that were the most unappealing were um number one, closing additional elementary schools. That was not appealing. Um moving from two high schools to one, that was really not appealing. um and then looking at moving our eighth graders to the high school and having our middle school just serve as a six seven six seven buildings. So those were things that were put out there into our community and we know that
044other communities around us are doing some of those models. Um and so those are things that you know we would be looking into um if the bond doesn't pass. >> I think it's safe to say it could there could be an effect on class sizes. >> Yeah. >> As well. But thank you for naming those. I think it's important for the community to know it isn't that we'll figure out from scratch what will happen should it not pass. There is there are plans community's given feedback on them and something will happen. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Any other comments? Thank you for that update, Superintendent Hawkins. Okay, that brings us to the educational programs committee report from Miss Jones. >> Thank you. Um, let's see. This last Wednesday, we heard from Lisa Feltz and Mark Burns.
045Uh, they presented the testing data from the ISASP or which stands for Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress Test. Um, and I believe is that conducted two, three times a year. >> Just once. What am I thinking of? >> I ready? Maybe. Get ready. That's tomorrow. >> All right. Um, Belz shared proficiency percentiles for ELA, um, math and science and compared them to other urban districts in the state of the eight urban districts that closely align with Debuke. uh Debuke Community Schools ranked second overall and we are very uh proud of that and also uh are using those tests to look at areas that we can continue to improve. Um we also had a lot of discussion around that and how it's important to compare um apples to apples. So, uh, when we're talking about
046the other urban districts, it's more about comparing the same demographics of, uh, students, uh, versus, uh, the smaller districts and different populations that they serve. So, um, otherwise, we, uh, went through several policies and, um, we had a nice quick meeting that night. So, uh, our next meeting will be right here on Wednesday, October 8th, and we welcome anyone who wishes to join us. >> Great. Thank you, Miss Jones. Right. That brings us to new business. And the first item, uh, the item there is a resolution ordering an election on the issuance of a $70 million general obligation school bond. And I'm going to read the following statement in relationship to that. So, a petition has been filed purporting to be si purporting to be signed by eligible voters, eligible electors, sorry, of the school
047district numbering at least 25% of those voting at the last election of school officials. The petition requests that an election be called on the issuance of bonds in an amount not to exceed $70 million to provide funds to be used together with the sales tax revenue bonds to provide funds to build, furnish, and equip a middle school facility to replace the existing George Washington Middle School facility, including related demolition and site improvements. I submit the petition to the board. This is it. 12,416 qualified electors voted at the last election of school officials. The number of eligible electors who have signed the petition is 3,417. So, we have the petitions. So, I move the board of education adopt the resolution ordering an election on the issuance of 70 million general obligation school bonds. >> Second. It's
048been moved and seconded that the board of education adopt the resolution ordering an election on the issuance of $70 million general obligation school bonds. Is there any discussion? >> I think it's just important to note um we went for a a GEO bond back in 2023 and at that time we had many projects on the on the bond referendum um and the amount was $150 million. And so we went back out and that failed narrowly. I mean, because we have to get 60% of the community to support the geo bond. And we went back out to our community and said, "Give us some feedback. What are some things that that you know, if you didn't vote yet, why? Yes. Why was that? What have you heard from other people? Talk to us about that." And
049so some of the things we heard was it was too much money. We heard that it was too many projects. We heard that some people didn't just didn't vote, you know, and so when we went back out to the community, we went back out to our schools, we formed a task force with some a representative from each and every one of our buildings and we talked about all those things. We did the survey that we just talked about and said, what do we need in order for us to have our efficiencies? And what we found was we need to go from three to two middle schools. That's our biggest savings, our biggest efficiency. We've done so much cutting around the edges that it's time that we have to look big picture and say, what can
050we do to have the savings that we need? And so this time we're going out for a $70 million geo bond. We are putting $52 million of our save dollars because some community people said, "Hey, you didn't have any skin in the game." We have skin in the game this time. And this time it is one project, one project only. So those other projects we talked about earlier tonight, the Eisenhower gym, the air conditioning at Irving, we know that we still need to air condition Marshall Lincoln and Bryant. And those things are going to be done using our onecent sales tax dollars. There is not enough money in our one- sales tax dollars to build a new middle school. Otherwise, we would have just done it. Um, so just know that. Um, we're looking at
051all of our different buckets of money and really trying to make this work, not only for the district from but from the feedback that we heard from the community. So, I feel like we have a really good plan moving forward. I think it's a better plan than we had the last time. We've done traffic studies, so we know that the traffic flow is going to be better at that site where Washington Middle School sits right now. There's going to be bus lanes. There's going to be drop off lanes, all those things to get traffic off of um Grand View. You know, we've heard some things that, hey, you're still going to buy the Y and you're going to build a football field at the Y. We did talk about that years and years ago, but
052the reality is we are not we do not have a partnership with our Y. Everything will be done at the site that Washington currently sits on. The other thing that we've talked about is, you know, the archway is very passionate to many people on Grand View. So, when we pick an architect, we're going to be looking at how can you put take that archway and do something with that at the new building because once you walk in the new in in the old Washington, it's a hundred years old. And many people that are taking tours have noticed that it hasn't changed since when they went to school. And so it's time to update the the update that facility but also use some of the, you know, historical features in the new school as we move
053forward. Um, it will be $1 on the levy rate. Um, an additional dollar on the levy rate and all that can be paid for, like I said before, is the project that we just spoke about. Um, there is a tax calculator on our website. So, you can go in, you can put whatever your assessed value is into that calculator. You can click on what credits you apply that you um qualify for, whether it's homestead, you know, whatever those might be. And then it'll tell you what your monthly tax rate in addition will be, and then your yearly tax rate will be in addition. So, I encourage you to go on our website and make sure you're using that so you know what your own personal um tax rates will be. Um the other piece is
054um after the board takes a vote tonight um if it passes the district will be updating our website. So we have all the updated information. There's lots of FAQs. You can go there and see, hey, this is a question I that we've heard. Here's an answer to that. And we will be continually updating that as the next few months go along. So um I appreciate the community support. I appreciate the board and everything that you've done up to this point to get us where we're at. I appreciate the community that went and got the signatures um from our community members and I'm really excited about this new plan that we have moving forward that'll be on the ballot in 2025. We also want to encourage people if there's a question you have or a concern
055or what if that you haven't asked us yet, please come forward before it's time to vote because we want to make it clear. We want you all to understand what's going on, what the money is being spent on, how it's going to affect the students. So, um, and we also have people out in the community that want to tell you how this is and all the detail and where the money is going, what it's costing, the plans. So, we're not holding any information back. Please ask us if you have questions. >> How should the community go about asking questions that they have? >> Well, the first way is there's a submit a question on our website. Um, so that's probably the easiest way and we'll be able to respond to you rather quickly. The other
056thing that we can always do is we can contact Carrie Moss, our board secretary, and Carrie's been getting some emails or she's been getting phone calls. She relays those to myself and Lisa and Mike size. And then we've actually been um having conversations with community members. We invite them to come in and have those conversations. We talk on the phone. We respond to emails. So, whatever method works best for you, we will meet you where you're at and have the conversation that we need to have. That's great. Thank you. >> One other thing, I know our new assessed value came out because I got mine. So, you could have you can plug in your new assessment because you're not using old information. It's new information because our taxes are due by September. >> Well, thank
057you um to Superintendent Hawkins and her team and the members of the EES committee for all of the work um and the community for all of the work and input that has gone into this up to this point. Um, we've talked so much about the financial considerations which are so important, but also that we're creating equitable learning spaces for our kids. Our staff is amazing and they make the spaces work uh for students from a, you know, built for students from 100 years ago. And it's my belief that this puts us in the best position possible to make sure our kids are going to be learning uh in quality spaces for the next hundred years. So, thank you for all of that. So, we're at a roll call vote. >> Bradley, >> I. >> Hamill
058>> I. >> Jacobitzkazire >> I. >> Jones >> I. >> Parks >> I. >> Sansancy >> I. >> Whitman >> I. >> That motion passes. The the language will be on the ballot in November. And like we've said, please reach out if there are further questions that any of us or people in the community can help answer around that. Uh, are there any other board member or administrative issues? All right, Derek, you have any? >> No. >> Okay, just checking on you. Uh, with with that, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone. [Music]