001Good evening. This regular meeting of June 9th, 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. Yaml, here. Jacobitzkazire, here. Jones, here. Parks, here. Sansancy, here. Whitman, here. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I move the board of education approve the agenda as submitted. Second. It's been moved [clears throat] and seconded that the board of education approve the agenda as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any
002opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of May 19th, 2025 as submitted. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the regular minutes uh sorry, the minutes of the regular meeting of May 19th, 2025 as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education suspend the rules of order and go into open form. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. If there's anyone who wishes to address the board, you may
003do so at this time. Please be aware that Iowa code prevents us from um interacting with you, but we're here to listen. If you do come to the podium um to speak with us, please state your full name, your connection to the district, and limit your remarks to three minutes using our timer. We're good. Seeing none, 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 signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. That brings us to administrator retirement recognition from Superintendent Hawkins. Yes. So tonight we are honored to um recognize two wonderful women who
004have been a big part of our district um the past how many decades? Many many right decades right Carla. Yeah. Um so to get started Lisa Demer is going to come up and she has some words. So Joanne Frank, can you come forward and come up and be honored tonight for She's been retired for a little while. [laughter] She she came back after um what when was your last day of work? January. It is August. August. Oh man. Um, so Joanne, we welcome you back tonight. So after 20 incredible years of service to the food service, food and nutrition department, it's hard to imagine a place without you. From assistant manager to manager, you have been the backbone of our program, planning menus, procuring ingredients, and building a strong team that shares your passion for
005excellence. You didn't just do a job, you poured your heart into it. Joanne has always went the extra mile and always pushing for quality products that our student and staff could count on. You impacted not only this department but the entire community, ensuring that every meal served reflected care, integrity, and your unwavering commitment to do the right thing. Your legacy will live on in systems you've built, the people you've mentored, and the high standards you've set. You've made a difference in so many lives and now it's time. It's now it's your turn to relax and enjoy all the things you work so hard for. Wishing you the happiest retirement. You've truly earned every minute of it. [laughter] Speech. Speech. [laughter] Oh, you guys all match. Thank you, Dor. I remember when when Jan took this
006job, I remember her saying, "But I don't want to be that." [laughter] And then she was so good at it. I know. Extraordinary. Yes. Yes. Workforce behind us [laughter] and but we said do you we need you to do that. Uh bless you. Thank you. Yeah. Great job. Congratulations Joanne. Next up I invite Julia Jorgensson, the principal of Hemstead High School to come up and share a few words. Carla, why don't you come on up? So, I'm going to start off with the things that you know you're supposed to say when you come to these things, which is Carla has been a Mustang for 27 years. Um, and now she is stepping into retirement. I tried to estimate right like how many kids you've probably impacted, but even as a math person, that became a
007little too difficult. So, like over three thou probably over 5,000 kids you have impacted along the way, which is amazing. Um she was a graduate from Hemstead and she spent 12 years as a social studies teacher teaching pretty much everything in social studies. Um she graded AP exams for the college board. She advised many clubs even the world travelers club and took students overseas which impressive. Um she then became the student needs facilitator where she was a strong advocate for students and their barriers to graduation. She played a key role in developing our current ALC success programs, connections program, and the connect program. She was also the GT coordinator at Hemstead that led to many nth grade respect retreats, um, which helped kids transition to high school. She concluded her career as an assistant principal
008where she focused on building relationships with students and their families even when it wasn't easy. She was not afraid to have tough conversations with families and kids and always tried to hold those students accountable while retaining their dignity and ensuring they felt welcome at Hemstead. So, on a personal note, I will deeply miss Carla. We have only worked together for three short years, but when I first came to Hemstead, Carla immediately made me feel like I had always been a Mustang. She was a person I could bounce ideas off of and know I was getting a devil's advocate side of things. [laughter] She is a friend I can count on when I need it. She is one of my biggest cheerleaders and she always wants to see Hemstead shine. So, thanks for everything you have
009done for me and Hemstead. In her next chapter, she's going to be reading lots of books, um, playing with her new puppy, spending time with Steve, and as we were just talking about, finding the best last minute travel deals because she can. She doesn't have to just travel on a school schedule. Enjoy your retirement, Carla. [applause] Speech. Speech. Speech. [laughter] Thanks for coming. All right. So, um, that brings us to a few board salutes that are around the table and I think we can start with Miss Bradley. Happy to. Thank you. Uh I I am honored to make this board salute on our behalf and it goes to the district's communication team. It was recently honored with awards at both national and state levels. And so I'll tell you a little bit about each of
010those. At the national level, uh the awards came through the National School Public Relation Association and their annual publications and digital media awards. The district's 2024 through 2029 strategic plan, the new plan, received an award of excellence, the highest level award given in the special purpose publication category. That's a big deal. Each entry in the competition is judged on the overall excellence of the entry as well as its quality compared to other entries from across the country in the category. So applause applause for these this national award. It's quite an honor for our district to to receive that. Then at the state level, the district also received not one, not five, but 10 awards this spring in the annual Iowa school public relations association communication contest. Um we were entered in a wide range of
011categories and the district received five awards of excellence. Wow. and five blue and gold awards. They are bestowed on entries receiving a perfect score in each C criteria category from judges in other states judging our Iowa entries. So for 2025, the district received the most blue and gold awards of any school district in in Iowa. That's that's incredible. Mike, I know you're here and to you and your team, good grief. Thank you. Bravo. Congratulations to all those involved in ensuring that we are staying engaged with our community in highquality effective [snorts] ways. And aren't we though? Fantastic. Well done. Yeah. Thank you. I also have one and this is a board salute going out to everyone involved in this year's graduation ceremonies and making them a success. The job of orchestrating an event of this
012magnitude for each of our schools takes support from many forms, including the administrative teams, the counselor teams, building and grounds, our communication specialist, the technology folks, and all those involved in the other activities to make graduation go smoothly. It turned out that we had absolutely beautiful weather to celebrate the class of 2025 as they became the newest graduates of the Debut Community School District. We wish them much success as they take the next step in their journey. Thank you. And one more. And I have a board salute related to our recent graduates. I had the honor of a board salute going to a recent Hemstead school graduate, Se Sophia Kazay, who was named the wter winner of a college sponsored scholarship in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. She's among 2900 winners of college sponsored
013National Merit Scholarships out of an initial pool of over 16,000 students. It's quite an accomplishment. Nationally, who were selected as semi- finalists. Sophia plans to attend the University of Iowa with studies towards an intended career in medicine. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years. And her mom is one of our board members. Very [laughter] proud mom. Um, congratulations to Sophia on this prestigious accomplishment. Thank you. Yes. and her dad is a teacher in our district at Lincoln. So, congratulations to both. Proud parents. Very exciting. [laughter] [clears throat] Any other board salutes for tonight? Okay. Thank you very much. Then I'll 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.
014Is there any item a board member wishes to pull? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. All right. So, that brings us to the facilities and support services committee report from Mr. Hamill. Thank you. Uh we had our uh uh facilities meeting committee meeting last Monday. It's it's the first Monday of every month, 4:00. Uh it's open to the public. There's always a lot of information. We get a lot of reports. There's there's a lot of discussion and uh please feel free to come. Uh the things that we went over last week uh first point was the uh out at Sageville there was we we had a solar panel project which was completed. We got our uh uh uh we we we got some re not
015refunds, but we we got some funds from what's that? Rebates. Rebates from the federal government. And uh the architects have said uh we can uh uh accept the project. And so uh at the end we the the final payment will be $16,257. Uh we also talked about uh a new uh storage building next to the Himstead football field and that's going to be a pretty good size building 40T by 50 ft and uh it's needed for uh storing a lot of football and track equipment and that's going to uh uh uh help the school up there. Um, a a a big issue that we talked about was uh natural gas. So, we have the school district coming into this year, we had a five-year contract uh that worked out very well for us. Um, the
016last year of the contract, uh, we paid about $480 to $490,000 for natural gas. the price of natural gas was probably close to double that. Um, but that that has ended and looking at new and different ways to save money. We're we're going to have we we have a recommendation that we're going to vote on tonight to uh join a risk uh Iowa local government risk pool to purchase natural gas. And the idea is going to be we're going to be be buying uh in at $540,000 that guarantees uh our natural gas for the year. Um and it'll be an annual review going forward. And part of what we're looking at here um is $540,000 is a good price in in and of itself. And it also prevents the risk uh if if prices and
017they they can fluctuate quite a bit. If prices fluctuate high and we have a cold winter, we could be looking at a very high bill, but we're going to be um limited to $540,000. Um the the another issue had to do with storm storm protection. And uh like most of us, you get you get letters uh from your insurance company relating to your residential roof. Uh the the insurance industry's been trying to uh pull back from those sorts of risk. And that has happened as well uh for the school district. And so under our under the current polic under the current policy going forward we have our insurance through employers mutual casualty company and they have changed the deductibles. So the deductible would be 1% of the value of a building and in the case
018of himstead for in instance 1% of the value of himstead is $949,000. So, if we had a big storm and Himmstead suffered significant damage, the first 949,000 uh would have to be paid for by the district. Um, and so again, a number of school districts joining together to create a storm protection fund and uh uh we're going to be paying $180,000 uh towards that. that'll cover all of our buildings and the deductible for each building is down to $75,000. Uh yes, we also talked about preschool funds for the upcoming year. There are a few small changes only there. Um we have uh on an annual basis uh the uh the general fund pays money towards athletic safety and protective gear and the recommendation this year for just just under $50,000 and that money primarily goes
019towards football helmets. And the last thing we talked about was authorizing the payment of the final 20, excuse me, the final June 2025 bills uh subject to a post audit by the board. So with that, I got a number of motions. Let's do it. First motion, I move that the board of education approve the final acceptance of the Sageville solar panel project in authorized payment of final project cost to Iowa Solar Pros in the amount of 16,257 in accordance with the requirements of Iowa law and is more fully outlined in the submitted authorizing resolution. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the final acceptance of the Sageville solar panel project and authorized payment of final project costs to Iowa Solar Pros in the amount of $16,257 in accordance with the
020requirements of Iowa law and as more fully outlined in the submitted authorizing resolution. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve amendment number three to the agreement with Origin Design Company for the Hemstead Football Field Storage Building Professional Services Agreement in the increased amount of $15,800. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve amendment number three to the agreement with Origin Design Company for the Hemstead Football Field Storage Building Professional Services Agreement in the increased amount of $15,800. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the agreement and resolution to
021participate in the Iowa local government risk pool for the purchase of natural gas and authorize the district to pay all contributions as required by the Iowa local government risk pool. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement and resolution to participate in the Iowa Local Government Risk Pool for the purchase of natural gas and authorize the district to pay all contributions as required by the Iowa Local Government Risk Pool. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the resolution to participate in the storm protection fund and authorize the district to pay all contributions as required by the storm protection fund. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board
022of education approve the resolution to participate in the storm protection fund and authorize the district to pay all contributions as required by the storm protection fund. Is there any discussion? I would just personally like to thank Lisa and her team for going out and finding [clears throat] these new solutions as prices are increasing and looking for ways that other school districts are handling these increased fees and then getting into these um into these pools that really lower our risk. So, thanks so much for looking into that and to protecting the district. I appreciate it. Thank you. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the preschool fees for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the
023board of education approve the preschool fees for the 2025 2026 school year. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the transfer of funds from the general fund to the student activity fund for athletic safety and protective gear in the amount of $49,920.95 or as determined and eligible as of June 30, 2025. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the transfer of funds from the general fund to the student activity fund for athletic safety and protective gear in the amount of $49,920.95 or as determined and eligible as of June 30th, 2025. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion
024carries. I move that the board of education authorize payment of final June 2025 bills subject to post audit by the board. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education authorized payment of final June 2025 bills subject to post audit by the board. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. So I guess we will pay the bills. [laughter] Thanks, Lisa. And thank you, Durk, for that report. Next up is the Educational Programs and Policy Committee report from Miss Jones. Thank you. We met on this past Wednesday, June 4th. Uh we do the Educational Programs Committee meeting uh usually on the first full week of each month. Um on that Wednesday at 4 PM, that's where most of our conversations
025happen. and we encourage anyone who's interested in learning more to attend. Um I'm going to try to do everybody justice from that meeting because it was a very inspiring um hearing about all the great things that are happening at the district. Uh first we heard from principal Eddie Santiago. He provided an update to the community committee on the Alta Vista campus which hosts five uh alternative educational programs. The programming is centered around reducing barriers for students by providing hands-on learning, success coaching as well as intensive social emotional behavior supports. Santiago uh told us that um since he has started, he has seen much success over the last three years with graduation rates increasing from 50% to 80%. Which is pretty remarkable. So can't wait to see where they are in three more years. Um then
026we heard from our executive director of special education, Brenda Duval, gave an overview of the district developed service delivery plan for special education. This plan is updated every 5 years and it outlines how the district implements services for students eligible for individualized educational programs or IEPs. She shared a special education continuum of services model which includes specific roles and responsibilities of the general and special educators within each model. It [snorts] also really stresses the importance of providing the least restrictive environment to help learners with disabilities receive a free and appropriate public education with the maximum opportunity to interact with peers without disabilities. So, a lot of work has been put into that and it was wonderful. Thank you, Brenda. Um, let's see. Then we uh talked about some professional contracts. Uh, the first one was
027a contract with Keystone A.EA for A.E.A. special education support services at an estimated cost of 90% of the state funds allocated to the school district for special education. And then um let's see, the executive director of elementary education, Lisa Feltzes, introduced Bethany Smith, who's an educational support leader in our district and presented us with the very thorough process they created for choosing the next K through five math and science curriculum for the district. It was recommended that the district purchase curriculum from Amplify at an estimated cost of 623,585 for the next seven years. Then um we moved on to some new policies that we already approved. Um, one of them is uh use of information resources and academic integrity which is uh definitely needed to keep up with AI programming uh these days. And then
028the second one that was new was a the student use of personal electronic devices which will prohibit the use of phones and electronic devices from morning bell to afternoon bell. Our next meeting is July 16th. Um, but I do have a couple motions to go through. Uh, the first one is I move that the board of education approve the resolution offering for sale by public bid 3 2015 IC school buses, one 2015 I IC school bus and one 2017 Thomas school bus and set the date, time, and place for possible public hearing as July 21st, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. at the Debuke Community School District. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the resolution offering for sale by public bid three 2015 IC school buses, one 2015 IC school bus
029and one 2017 Thomas school bus and set the date, time, and place for possible public hearing as July 21st, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. at the Debute Community School District. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. And I move that the board of education approve the donation of obsolete math manipulatives to the education department at Loris College. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the donation of obsolete math manipulatives to the education department at Loris College. Is there any discussion? I just really appreciate that when we have instructional support materials that we can share with others that we do that. It's easy to toss in a dumpster, but this is great. Thank you. All those in favor signify
030by saying I. I. Any [clears throat] opposed. That motion carries. Thank you, Miss Jones, for that report. That brings us to new business. I move the board of education approve the superintendent's contract and salary benefit package as submitted. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the superintendent's contract and salary benefit package as submitted. Uh, any discussion? I I do want to share um that the board was very pleased and has been extremely pleased with Amy uh as uh our leader of this district. She's done an incredible job leading us for the last few years through immense challenges and also creating such a positive culture and atmosphere for our district. Um so we're very grateful to you, Superintendent Hawkins, and pleased that we're offering you a three-year contract. um we'll still
031be evaluating um Amy every year like superintendent do. Um and just so the community is aware, there's been kind of a norm for the past several years that our superintendent have taken the same percentage increase on their salary as the bargaining groups have done and Amy um was offered that as well and accepted it. So, um, we just wanted to make that clear to the community, um, that, you know, these are really hard positions and you want people who are willing to do really hard things and make good decisions and offer such great leadership and we're just more than pleased that Amy is willing to do that and has done such a wonderful job. Well said. Thank you. [clears throat] Thank you. All right. So, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any
032opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve the proclamation recognizing Junth Junth and authorize the president and secretary to sign on behalf of the board. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the proclamation recognizing Junth and authorize the president and secretary to sign on behalf of the board. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. So I will read the proclamation. Whereas Junth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day, recognizes and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States 160 years ago. And whereas Junth acknowledges the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of black Americans and is now recognized as a federal holiday. And whereas the district seeks to
033raise awareness of Junth and other culturally important holidays and observances to foster greater understanding and to celebrate the rich ethnic diversity across our district and community. And whereas Debuke's multicultural family center will host the community's annual Junth celebration with a variety of activities from June 13th through the 15th and the community is encouraged to attend. Now therefore, I, Kate Parks, on behalf of the Debut Community School District Board of Education, do hereby proclaim June 19th as an obser observance of Junth signed this 9th day of June, 2025. believe I heard on the radio on the way over um some information about Junth that many events are happening at Jackson Park uh on Saturday and Sunday and maybe also some things on Friday. I did not remember that off the top of my head, but there
034are several. So, please take a look and join that wonderful event. All right. Are there any other board member or administrative issues that were not on the agenda? The only thing we would like the community to know is that um July is a little bit weird with our schedule. So our committee meetings will actually be happening the week of July 14th. So we'll meet on Monday for facilities and uh Monday July 14th and then July 16th for educational programs and policy. And then our board meeting will be on July 21st uh at 5:30 right here in the boardroom. So little bit different next month. Pushed it back a little bit. One other thing that I'd just like to add is um currently the school district is um has petitions out out and about about the
035bond referendum and it's just a reminder that um if you're if you live in the school district boundaries, we would gladly um encourage you to sign the petition, the petition is not saying that you're for or against the bond. It's just saying that you would like to see this go on the ballot in November. And again, if you have further questions or comments or concerns or you need to learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to talk with all of you. So, thanks. And if any groups would like to have a presentation about it about the bond issue, is that a possibility for Absolutely. Yep. We plan we're going to be going on the road here shortly. And so, um, if somebody is would like us to do that, they could easily
036reach out to Carrie and we'll get that set up. Okay. So, just call here and ask for Carrie Moss. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Anything else, board members? All right. Well, then we are adjourned. Have a great night.