School Board Meeting | May 19, 2025

001Good evening. We're reconvening this regular meeting of the Debut Community School District Board of Education. So, welcome everyone. And we're very happy to start the night with the Pledge of Allegiance led by students from Hoover Elementary. Go ahead and say your name. My name is Blake. My last name is Eing and I am in kindergarten. My name is Ryan Rupai and I'm in first grade. My name is Harper Murphy and I'm in first grade. My name is Toba Msina and I'm in second grade. My name is Maline Murphy and I'm in third grade. My name is Jixie Young and I'm in fourth grade. My name is Jackson Scill and I am in fifth grade. My name is Tyler Scill and I'm in fifth grade. Ice to the flag of the United States of America and

002to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. I love the pencil headbands. 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 signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 14th and the special meeting of May 5th, 2025 as submitted. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 14th and the special meeting of May 5th, 2025 as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify

003by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Okay. So, that brings us to a public hearing on proposed budget amendment for fiscal year 2024 2025. And I believe Ms. Demer will get us started with a review. Three minutes on the clock. Good evening, school board members and Superintendent Hawkins. Every year around this time, we review our current expenditures for this fiscal year and compare it to our budget, which we estimated last year in February of 24. Looking at our current expenditures, there are a few areas that we need to amend. One is due to the bus replacements for last fiscal year not being delivered until this current fiscal year, and we did not budgeted for that. So, we will need to amend that um budget area about by about 800,000. The second area

004that we need to increase is under the non-instructional program area for increased uh food purchase costs. And then the final area that we need to amend is under our total other expenditures. We need to increase that by about 3.5 million due to some um projects that we have going on. specifically the security grants that we are receiving and also the um Irving and Eisenhower projects that we had uh we had s sold uh revenue bonds for. We did not have those budgeted. We did not know the the total cost at that time. So we we need to um bud or amend for that too. The this does not affect any of the tax levies that that will stay the same. We just need to increase our budget to stay within the regulations of the law.

005So that is what we are asking you to approve tonight. Is there any questions? Thank you. Thank you. I move the board of education receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing on the budget amendment 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 budget amendment and authorized payment of the legal notice publication costs to the Telegraph Herald. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. At this time, if there are any public comments that are specifically related to this um public hearing on the budget amendment, uh we ask that folks

006come up to the microphone, state your name, connection to the district, and to limit your comments to three minutes. Seeing no one um coming up to the podium, I move the board of education adopt the budget amendment for the fiscal 20 2024 2025 as published. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education adopt the budget amendment for the fiscal year 2024 2025 as published. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Great. That brings us to our 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.

007Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. So, we're happy to welcome Kathleen Wallik, the principal of Hoover Elementary, to start our public forum and tell us a little about what's going well at Hoover. Just move this a titch if that's okay. All right. So, thank you. I am Kathleen Wikasin, the principal at Hoover Elementary School, here to talk about what's going well at Hoover. Um, it's been a busy year for us, as you know. Um we are nearing the year of another end of another successful year and it actually turns out to be our last year. So our goal since um closure of Hoover School was finalized was to really just provide consistency routine um for our students and make sure

008that we maintain focus on um instruction for our kids and keep that as normal as possible through the end. So, as a result, we're receiving back some of our scores that have shown that our students have grown and made progress both academically and um socially, emotionally throughout the year. We've had um some students um get gain proficiency on ISASP or I Ready that haven't in the past. So, we've experienced success with that. We've had several students exit special education services this year, meeting their goals. And we are awaiting the return of our ELPA scores, but anticipate that we'll have some of our ELML students exiting those services as well. So, we're excited about all of the good things that our students have been doing with that. Um, we're also able to see changes and growth

009in students that we really can't measure on any kind of formalized test. So, you know, we are seeing kids that have a friend for the first time this year that maybe haven't in the past. Those that have gained confidence in their ability to work independently, those that can identify their feelings and self-regulate when they haven't been able to do that before. So, as always, those things show that all the work that staff and families are doing to support kids is really working, even if it doesn't show up on a test score. Um certainly we've had lots of things to celebrate this year. Our Hoover fourth and fifth graders won the sportsmanship um award at the track meet again this year. It's something that we're very proud of when our kids show really good character and

010kindness is something that we want our kids to show above anything else. So, we're really proud of all the work that they've accomplished and the respect and kindness that they've shown um while maintaining consistency and and instru. We've also been working collaboratively with all the other schools in the district to transition our students. Um getting them ready and their families ready to move forward to new buildings and new communities next year. We've had individual and group transition meetings, small groupoup transition visits, meet and greets, building tours, and everything's culminating with an all school flyup that's happening this Wednesday where all students that are currently in grades K through four will be able to go visit the school that they'll attend next year and see what it looks like kind of on an average day where

011they see kids and staff in the building and just get a feel for what that new building is like. So, we're excited for that and I know that they are too. We have lots of upcoming events to wrap up the year. We do have a community open house scheduled for this Thursday, um, the 22nd from 5:30 to 7. I did extend an invitation to each of you. If you're able to come, great. I also know that schedules are very busy at this time of year. So, um, we just want to honor the legacy of Hoover School and, um, have people share memories about Hoover School as we transition from Hoover School to Hoover campus. Um, so we're still looking forward to the fact that, um, Hoover will still be able to serve students um, in

012the district, just in a different way. So, above all, what's going well is that we are still finding joy in each day. Um we're um enjoying each other and trying to find the positive each day as we wrap up the school year um and this chapter really for our kids, our our students and our families and our staff. So, we're really trying to focus on the excitement of new beginnings um and uh taking the Hoover spirit on um with each of us as we move to other places throughout the district so that part of Hoover school stays alive. So, does anybody have any questions about Hoover School or what's going on? Thanks to you and your staff for such a wonderful job of transition. I mean, you have really gone the extra mile, I think,

013to see that that transition is smooth. Thank you. Well, I will say that um I've had lots of support. Chris Nent has been an excellent source of information and support. So, certainly not anything we could do alone, but um I do have to commend my staff. they've done a really nice job of handling everything and just keeping things as consistent as possible for the students, but also maintaining a positive focus on change. You know, that change doesn't have to be a bad thing. It can be a positive thing and we just have to find the positive in it. So, um, with that, I'll just end my time with you the way I end our announcements every day at school. So, today's a great day because all of us are here and we're here together. We

014truly are better together. Thank you. And remember, we are Hoover and you matter. So, thank you very much. Thank you. At this time, oh, that got me a little choked up. Uh, at this time, anyone else who would wish to address the board may do so at this time. Please be aware that because of Iowa code, we won't be able to respond to anything that is said in this public forum, but we are listening. So, if you would like to address the board, we ask that you come up to the microphone uh at the podium, state your full name, your connection to the district, and to limit your remarks to three minutes using our timer. I move the board of education reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. Second. It's been moved

015and 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. Now, the superintendent's going to the podium for an agenda item. First of all, I just want to publicly thank Kathleen as well um for all the the hard work you've done and um the emotion of the work that you've gone through this year. And so, thanks so much. and um everything's gone smoothly. I think students are excited about their next uh destination and I'm happy to hear they're going to do that on Wednesday. I also just wanted to give a quick shout out to the Telegraph Herald. Um the article that was in the paper on Sunday was

016excellent. Um really great stories about um Hoover and things that have have have occurred or the memories of that building which I think is great. And as I was reading them as a former Hornet, I I could relate to some of those things. So, um, thanks so much to the for the TH for doing that special, um, piece on Sunday. It was great. So, this month is a crazy month. We have lots of things going on. We've got track meets, we've got proms, we've got music concerts, we you name it. But one of my most favorite things is that it's schoolboard recognition month. So, all of you have some special notes at your seats um from students um here in our district, which is um a great way to tell you how much we appreciate

017you. Um you know, I think sometimes the the work of these seven people that are up at the table really goes unnoticed. You know, um this is a job, let me tell you, they make a lot of money. Um we don't just to clarify the record you're on paid volunteers in the morning. Yeah. Um but you know as a volunteer position number one you have to make really hard decisions um about our district. And two, you have to look at all different aspects through finances, through students lens, through staff lens, through um, you know, executive cabinet's lenses. And I just appreciate that this group of seven people always put kids first. And if we weren't a district that put kids first, I don't know um, if I'd be standing here. And so I'm really proud

018of the school board team that we have right now and I appreciate everything that you do to try to make the best decisions all the time and keeping kids first. So I appreciate you doing that and just know that um happy appreciation month and know that you're greatly appreciated. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you Amy. So I have a certificate here for each of you. Oh wow. So Kate, thank you. Thank you. Lisa, thank you. Thank you. Anderson. Okay, Jere. Thank you. Yeah. Nancy, thank you. Thank you. And Sarah, thank you. Judy Jones wasn't able to be here tonight. But one last thing I just want to add as I handed each of them a certificate is not only is this group of individuals dedicated to students, you're dedicated to public education.

019And I just want to thank you for that because um we need public education in our community. We need it in our state. We need it in our country. So, I just really appreciate your dedication to to public education and to making it best, you know, the best place to come get an education for our students in the Debuke in the Debuke area. So, thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. All right. Well, I appreciate that and all of all of you at the table um this month and every month. This is a great team and we're very lucky. We have Superintendent Hawkins at the helm because she makes it pretty easy for us, I think, to to be such a great team and to do these great things for kids. So, thank you.

020Um, we have some more salutes because there's always wonderful things happening around the district. So, I believe there's some board salutes going around. I'll start us off. So, a board salute goes to the district's esports team, which again is headed to the state competition in its first year. The team will be competing tomorrow at the Spring State Esset in Marshalltown. This collaboration between the district and the Debuke Esports League has been a great addition to our extracurricular offerings and has found great early success. Congratulations to this team as they compete tomorrow. Awesome. Hey, I have a shout out for everyone involved in the elementary school track meet, which was fantastic. Um, so this was held on May 5th at Dalzel Field and brought together about 600 fourth and fifth grade students uh for a night

021of competition and sportsmanship. This was in part due to a partnership with the city of Deuke um who helped us getting kids ready doing practices for many weeks leading up to the event. Also, the foundation uh for Debuke public schools provided a free powerup snack for each participant, which was welcome because that does get kind of late, especially relays at the end. The night concluded, as mentioned earlier, um with a signature moment when the Hoover Elementary School students were named the Dick White Sportsmanship Award, which each year goes to the school exhibiting the most outstanding sportsmanship. So, a special congratulations to the Hoover students and congrats to all. Good luck next year. I have a salute as well. With the flurry of activity that accompanies the month of May, a board salute goes to everyone

022across the district involved in taking our engagement with students and families to the new to new levels during this month. From award banquetss to proms, recognition events to music concerts, and from family fun nights to retirement celebrations, May is the month filled with joyful gatherings. But it's easy to forget that behind these gatherings is a whole host of people from staff members to volunteers who bring them to life. We are in the annual spirit to the finish. We want everyone working so hard to successfully wrap the year up to know that their hard work and dedication is noticed and appreciated. I cannot believe the end of last day of school will be the end of this month. It's gone fast for me. I don't know about anybody else, but um next week apparently. Yeah, that's

023what my kids told me. Yeah, they they've been counting down for a while. And the teachers, I'm sure. But thank you everyone who is involved in the district. It couldn't be done for the kids without all our staff. You're here. Salute. Awesome. Any others around the table? All right. Thank you so much. I move 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 any item a board member wishes to have removed? Dr. Parks. requests the removal of policy number 4101 from the consent agenda as proposed. It's listed in section E, item number seven, policy number 404101, anti-discrimination, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. I'll comment briefly on that if I might.

024Um, at the April 14th board meeting, I made a statement about my frustration and disappointment at the being required by both the federal and state legislation to remove gender identity as one of the 17 protected classes from our schoolboard policies. And that covers students, staff, and volunteers in our schools. This month we have one policy that asks uh asks us to do that. That's policy 4101 and it is once again removing gender identity as a protected class from this policy. As I said last month, I strongly oppose this required change out of principle and out of personal beliefs. So as with the five policies we we needed to take action on last month to remove gender identity. So also my feelings and my principles have not changed. Obviously I believe that all means all all

025students all staff members all volunteers in all of our schools deserve equitable protections and opportunities. Therefore Dr. parks. I will abstain from voting on the required changes to policy 401 as my only available protest to this legislativelymandated wrongdoing. Thank you. Um I I think for most of us these are difficult changes. Uh we don't get to decide as you noted which laws we follow. We have to follow the law, which is why we would still need to vote affirmative for this action, even if it's one that is not what we would like. But I also feel confident that our district, as it has done many times, will continue to meet the needs of all who enter our doors regardless. Um, but thank you. Is there any other comment about that item? All those in favor

026signify by saying I. I. I I any opposed? Abstension. One I. That motion passes. Okay. So that brings us next to the facilities and support services committee report from Mr. Hamill. Uh thank you. So we had our facilities and support services committee meeting back on May 5, 4:00. Uh it this committee meets first Monday of every month four o'clock right in this room. Uh everybody's welcome to attend. Uh at these committee meetings we have a lot of uh there's more information presented uh and there's more discussion here. There's more it's more like just voting on things. Um, so the things that we talked about back then were um the Girl Scout troop from Prescott Elementary's making a donation of uh soccer nets for the school, which is very appreciated. Uh we also got a report

027that uh uh uh contracts uh contract agreements were reached with uh a couple of our employee employee groups. Uh one was with the teachers uh which was a 2.6% increase. Uh the teachers union is the biggest group that we negotiate with. Uh we also reached uh or an agreement was reached with the uh custodial personnel. Uh they received a 2.61% uh increase. There's four other groups. Negotiations are ongoing and they're variously very clo I mean they're all very close to be to being resolved. Uh we also received a report the senior high remodeling project is 100% completed. Uh uh all the all the change orders, all the final issues were resolved. Um that's wonderful news. Uh on the Sageville solar project, uh we received a check from the federal government for $142,000. Um so that's

028of course tremendous on the Eisenhower gym edition project. That work has actually started um on the Eisenhower Keller roof replacement. Um uh there was a bid opening for that project and that's going to be awarded to Gistler Brothers uh in the amount of just under 189,000 and uh that was a much better price than the architects had uh estimated. So also good news. the Irving mechanical remodel project that will start once the the the school year has ended and the students have left. Um uh and that same same just waiting for the students to leave for the Roosevelt bus loop refer resurfacing project and the Marshall playground replacement project. All right. Um we also had a presentation from Envision um that was based on the the the the on the issue of facilities efficiencies and

029that was based on the task force that's been studying that and there had been a lot of outreach to the community uh on what the community thought. So we got a lot of uh good information there. And uh the last thing the last point that I'd note is we received a uh certified budget amendment for the 2024 2025 fiscal year and that changed from 179 million to uh increase to 184 million. The main reason for that is the original estimate uh was put together back in February and March not of this year but of 2024. Um so there obviously there there's changes that has happened. Um so that would be my report. Well do some motions. I got some motion. Let's do them. Uh, I move that the board of education approve the donation from

030Prescott Girl Scout Troop 2601 of a soccer net to Prescott Elementary School. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the donation from Prescott Girl Scout Troop 2601 of a soccer net to Prescott Elementary School. 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 donation from Britney and Cody Felton family of a basketball hoop and pole in memorial of Katie Shoenberger, an Irving staff member that that passed away to Irving Elementary School. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the donation from Britney and Cody Frammlton family of a basketball hoop and pole in memorial of Katie Shoenberger, an Irving staff member that passed away to the

031Irving Elementary School. 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 final acceptance of the senior high school edition and renovations phase 2 project and authorized payment of final project cost to Tricon General Construction in the amount of 1,434,14425 in accordance with with the requirements of Iowa law and is more fully outlined in this submitted authorizing resolution. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve final acceptance of the senior high school additions and renovations phase 2 project and authorized payment of final project cost to Tricon General Construction in the amount of 1,434,144.25 in accordance with the requirements of Iowa law and as more fully outlined in the submitted authorizing resolution. Is there

032any discussion? It's amazing to have that project complete. So, that's great. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve final acceptance of the transportation building improvements project and authorized payment of final project cost to Tricon General Construction in the amount of $18,67248. 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 final acceptance of the transportation building improvements project and authorized payment of final project cost to Triricon General Construction in the amount of $18,67248 in accordance with requirements of Iowa law and is more fully outlined in the submitted authorizing resolution. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify

033by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the food and nutrition meal charges or yeah charges for the 2025 2026 school year. Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the food and nutrition meal charges for the 2025 2026 school year. Is there any discussion? Just a comment that I believe the only increase is for adults Yeah. having lunch, which is great for families, too. Thank you, Nancy. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. And Dirk, I think we missed one. We just want to go back so that we don't forget. Um, but it's the Gesler brother. Yeah. I'm sorry. Thank you very much. No problem. Um, I move

034that the board of education approve the executed construction contract, bonds, and certificate of insurance with Gistler Brothers for the Eisenhower Keller roof replacement project in the amount of $188,900. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the executed construction contract, bonds, and certificate of insurance with Gesler Brothers for the Eisenhower Keller roof replacement project in the amount of $188,900. 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 resolution offering by seal by public bid a 2016 Ford F550 box truck with power ramp and set the date, time, and place for possible public hearing is June 9, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. at the B Community School District. Second. It's been moved

035and seconded that the board of education approve the resolution offering for sale by public bid a 2016 Ford F550 box truck with power ramp and set the time, date, and place for possible public hearing as June 9th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. at Debute Community School District. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Hamill. And that brings us to the educational programs and policy committee report um from Miss Bradley. Thanks Dr. Parks. Um I'm happy to stand in tonight for chairperson Katie Jones who's not able to be at the meeting tonight. She's at one of our for children's activities and uh so I'm reporting on the other committee or work group. Uh Mr. Hamill reported on facilities and support

036services. This is on educational p programs and policy. So the meeting was held on May 7th at four o'clock right here in the boardroom and it had basically three parts as the meeting usually does. The first is educational programs where we heard first a report from of the study group that as a part of the strategic plan priorities has been working on looking at what we're doing with our parent teacher student conferences and how can we improve them to better engage families and make conferences more meaningful. So, we heard from executive director of elementary ed Lisa Feltus and executive director of secondary education Mark Burns who brought us up to date on the uh extensive study that that group has done. And we heard in three different levels how conferences may look a bit different

037going forward starting with next spring, not in the fall but next spring. The first is at the elementary level where our attendance rate is extremely high like 95% or some 98% or something extremely um well attended. But the group identified that it's an opportunity for us to increase the engagement of the building specialist team. In other words, art, music, physical education teachers, counselors, English language learners, special education teachers who also have lots of contact with our students but don't have as much contact during the parent conference time. So that will perhaps have a new look to it in that in that regard. Secondly, at the middle school level, the format will have a 30 to 40 minute meeting of the parents with the students advisory teacher and that'll be an opportunity to discuss high school

038and future goals and parents will also have the opportunity to visit with their content teachers in their students house uh to which they're assigned. And then thirdly, at the high school level, there will be an assigned and advisory teacher who will be with the students, stay with the students all four years of their high school experience. The focus of the conference will be on college and career readiness using the new career information system tool called Zello. If you haven't yet heard about Zello, we're excited about its arrival and you'll be hearing more about it. uh parents will also have the opportunity to meet with one of their content teachers for their high school students during that conference time. Then we also and we we thank the study group for their work with that that looking

039at our parent conferences. We're excited at the prospects. Secondly, cell phones. Uh the board received the recommendation from the community task force that was formed last October to study the issue of cell phones in our schools. Chief technology officer co Kobe Colbertson reported the information on the new Iowa law which will be take effect July 1st 2025 about cell phones in our schools. It's also been a strategic plan priority to minimize cell phone distractions in the learning environment. So, Mr. Calbertson along with Mark Burns and board member Lisa Wittmann who were part of the advisory group uh gave a recommendation to the school board on how to implement the new law that's taking place this summer for next fall. I'm pleased that the advisory group was made up of parents, administrators, teachers, and students. They

040looked at the cognitive impact on brain health and learning disruptions that cell phones and other personal electronic devices can cause in the learning environment. In January, a survey of students, staff, and parents guard guardians was conducted by the school district and this advisory this task force and found interestingly we saw the results of that survey. You guessed it, the students were not in favor of restrictions while the staff were largely in favor of the restrictions and parents responses were most generally favorable. The one thing that came forward in the survey results from parents was that parents have a concern that they're able to deal with children in their children in the case of an emergency and there's a plan for that. The advisory group's recommendation was to adopt a bell-to-bell practice of not allowing personal

041devices at all during school hours. All grade levels will be prohibited from using using personal electronic devices during the instructional time. We know that cell phones are one of the personal devices, but headphones and and other things are part of that arena as well. High school students, however, will have an exception to use personal students personal electronic devices during their scheduled lunch period in the cafeteria. That will be the only exception, and that's just for high school students. There also of course will be accommodation for students who have need for that as a part of their IEPs and who have medical re reasons that uh are in accordance with the law that's been passed at the state level. So next steps are to involve the communication with students and families before the end of this

042school year. So in the next few days uh students and families will be hearing more about this and also coming up will be next steps to involve uh to develop uh set of uh structures by which followup will take place in each of our schools with consistency for any violations of the new cell phone uh practices. Uh the advi advisory group also plans to convene again in October to check bases with the implementation see how things are going. So I'll be bringing a motion forward in a moment about cell phones and that recommendation from the community task force. The second part of our meeting was to look at purchase services and professional contracts in that in that area. And we saw a contract to Keystone A.EA area education agency for education services including early childhood

043media and consulting support services. So that um has has moved forward for the purchase of those services. And lastly, we looked at board policies as we do um every five years. Each policy in the in the board's uh purview must be reviewed and if needed revised. So we looked at eight more policies this time which have already been dealt with in the consent agenda. So our next meeting will be held for the committee on June 4th at 4 o'clock in the boardroom. We strongly welcome and encourage parents and other community members who want to be part of listening to those discussions and a great deal of information comes forward to the board about our programs and our our um opportunities in our schools. It's our best learning for how to know more about what's happening

044in our schools. So we encourage you to be a part come and be a part of that. That concludes my report. So just the motion then. Just the motion. Now if I could. Sure. I move that the board of education approve the task force recommendation and begin policy development that prohibits student use of personal electronic devices in all district schools from the initial bell of the day through the dismissal bill with the exception of use in high school cafeterias only during the students assigned lunch period. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the task force recommendation and begin policy development that prohibits student use of personal electronical electronic devices in all district schools from the initial bell of the day through the dismissal bell with the exception of use in

045high school cafeterias only during the students assigned lunch period. Is there any discussion? Just a comment. When you hear the term bell to bell, it's about from arrival to dismissal. And so that's a a a term that you'll start to hear lots more about, I'm sure. Thank you. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Thank you so much, Miss Bradley, for that report. And that brings us to new business. I move the board of education approve the proclamation recognizing Marshall Lee's Constitution Day 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 Marshal's Constitution Day and authorize the president and secretary to sign on behalf of the board. Is

046there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. So, I'll read the proclamation. Whereas, the citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands celebrate their Constitution Day on May 1st each year to commemorate the day 46 years ago when a new constitution was adopted and status as an independent republic was achieved. And whereas the Debut Community School District and our greater community benefit from the from a very vibrant Marshalise community that is rich with tradition and whereas celebration of Marshall Constitution Day in the Marshall Islands would traditionally be focused on island culture with games of tugof-war, husking a coconut and canoe racing. And in the United States is celebrated with basketball, softball and volleyball tournaments. And whereas the observance of Marshall's Constitution Day in the

047United States is held on the three-day Memorial Day weekend, the Marshall community will recognize it with a celebration open to all members of the Debute community. Now, therefore, I, Kate Parks, on behalf of the Debute Community School District Board of Education, do hereby proclaim May 1st and Memorial Day weekend as a celebration of Marshall's Constitution Day signed this 19th day of May, 2025. See, do we know uh where some of the events will be happening this weekend? At a park at a park. So, keep your eyes out and join in. I move the B board of education approve the language for the general obligation bond petition. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the language for the general obligation bond petition. Um I believe Brad from Envision is going to

048come up and provide a little bit more information and then we'll um see if there's any further discussion before the vote. Hi Brad, welcome. Hi. Thank you. Thanks for coming Brad. Yeah, thanks for having me. All right, we're going to give a brief um kind of summary of I think something that many of people have seen. We've been doing this presentation around for a bit and the facilities committee heard an extended version of this uh a couple weeks ago. So, uh we're looking at the a revision to the master plan, facilities master plan. And so, we're going to go this quick. Um this process starts with listening. And we've met with really between surveys, uh between community meetings, uh meeting with the city, we met with over 3,000 people in this process. This is about

049listening uh as a start and the the uh district put together a community-ledd task force which is a diverse uh set of people that represented the community to evaluate kind of the issues that we have and make a recommendation to you which we're going to be doing tonight. Okay. Okay, so schedule uh we started back I don't know maybe six or seven months ago I guess as we started to think about um pulling some data together uh and our first workshop was in February talking about process uh kind of what the existing conditions are um kind of goals big goal development of the group as we got the task force together we met every month kind of between then uh so uh looking at options uh vetting those options a little bit, having some uh

050real real hard discussions about some of those things. Um we had a couple of task uh community meetings uh last month uh where we had I don't know maybe hundred people um in those uh groups uh and and got some Q&A and we're getting out answers out to those groups. Um and then Phil's task force was a couple weeks ago and then ultimately coming to you with a recommendation tonight. So, we wanted to back up a little bit first. Uh, in 2023, uh, we had, uh, the bond referendum related to the facilities master plan at that time. We wanted to just update everyone on reminder of kind of where that was. We had some air conditioning of schools that weren't air conditioned. We had a new middle school at the Washington site, uh, a gymnasium

051addition at Eisenhower, and then we had some baseball softball fields and some land acquisition associated with that. Um what we heard uh is that there were too many projects when we reached out to the community that there's too much money and that people just really were confused by you're doing all this stuff and it's tax neutral. How can that be? And I think there was just some confusion around that. And so um the district uh just for information has picked off a couple of those projects including the air conditioning in Eisenhower we just talked about. um that's getting started uh out of the save funding that exists which is the penny option tax people think about is that all right so we did some options and we did some surveys uh to get some feedback

052this process and so um Mike really put together a great survey for us and uh we had over 3,000 response which is really good uh for where we want to what we normally see for these things over a short period of A lot of those people were parents, staff, um but broad community as well and students. Uh we saw the ages in that kind of middle range. You know, people like all the things that you deal with, you get a lot of input from people that have kids in the system, right? Uh that middle age group. Uh and interesting enough, the largest segment was people that have lived in your community for over 20 years. Uh which is really interesting to me as well. All right. So, we had a few options. Uh and I'm

053going to start at the bottom, but uh we had an option uh we wanted to get some feedback from these broad kind of uh possibilities. And no surprise that the more change, the more resistant people were to some of that change, right? But we we wanted to throw some ideas out and and see kind of what hit. And so we had um reorganization of kind of grade levels, thinking about just doing a sixth and seventh grade building and moving eighth grade up to the high school because we have a little bit of capacity up in that in those buildings. Um we looked at an option for reorganization of existing schools and creating one high school. Obviously that's that's a big thing right some excitement about that as you look at that number with almost 89%

054not not appealing uh in that category. Uh we had consolidation um of two ele of two section elementary schools which you know you've started you got some small elementary schools and if we're going to really gain some efficiencies pulling some of those together is important but we we I think we heard largely you know those are still community schools right and at that level and then the last one was and and the most appealing of the options was really consolidating from three to two middle schools. So if we break down that information, um this is was about kind of is it a new middle school or is it renovation and additions uh to a school and we really saw almost two times uh people being on leaning towards the new middle school option uh versus

055the renovation. And we went through some scenarios of what some of those might look like, some of the ramifications of those things are, but largely we heard uh new middle school is preferred by almost twice as many people. We also heard almost twice as many people uh say that not doing nothing uh was not preferred uh that we really preferred a slight tax increase if we could make some improvements to those things. All right. So what's right in Debuke? This is one of the things we started with for the group. Uh and in Debuke we really wanted to talk about class size impact. We have some disparity in schools. we have, you know, 24 to 26, 28 uh in some classrooms and maybe as low as 14 in some. And that's really about the distribution

056of those uh students and how we can shuffle classrooms around uh with three and we get some uh efficiencies by coming to two middle schools. We wanted to evaluate the transportation impact because there really is a a good transportation impact when we start thinking about changes like this. We wanted to think about location. We did that largely that was uh completed in the last round um of kind of where this might be uh in 2023. Uh so we revisited that with the group. Uh the group was very interested in long-term versus short-term costs, not just first cost, but like what is the long-term cost of this if we're really going to solve some of the the financial issues and challenges. Um operational savings was obviously a big deal. We have, Lisa can speak to this

057more than we can, but there's some challenges ahead with declining enrollment, uh, declining funding, uh, coming from other sources, uh, things that are just on the on the edge that we need to start dealing with. And you guys are not the only district. We're working with a lot of districts and everyone's looking at operational savings. Uh, and then really providing the same experience for all students. We know that, uh, the experience at some schools is different. And it doesn't mean that it's bad or good, but we know that the the facilities are limiting the possibilities at some of those schools more than others. All right. So, this is the classic. We started to ask questions about what what what do you think about the school? And everyone's like, well, we love, you know, the history.

058And when we dug really into it, it was like, okay, we love that little entrance, right? Really great. Um, and Mike, if you go to the next one. We don't love is crowded classrooms, you know, uh, finishes that are really need to be updated. We have some liabilities at some of those existing schools in terms of financial kind of need, uh, things that need to be changed. Uh, and then some of the makeshift kind of nature of some of the spaces that just exist because we don't have spaces to you might have in a new school. So, we're making do in a lot of places. uh staffing and and really more broadly efficiencies are something that we looked at like what is what does this mean if we're going to make a move for from

059a facilities point of view. We think that there are savings anywhere from two to$2 and a half million dollars per year out of the general fund by really thinking about your facilities in a different way. And so that comes through right sizing classes. Um you know really just matching kind of some of the administrative kind of requirements of what maybe happens at Roosevelt versus Washington and Jeff. Uh and realizing some operational savings there. We understand there's some differences there like some special needs and some things. Uh so we've taken some of those things out. Um but we also know that having fewer facilities is going to save money rather than having more. So proposed funding for this uh the last boner friend really was thinking about a $2.70 kind of cost um for facilities. And

060right now we're really looking at a bond referendum that uh is around $70 million and using existing save dollars um as well for part of the project. Um it comes up to about $121 million uh total cost, but um the ask is much lower. Um although our tax rate has changed so there's relative costs there and we can talk about that if we want to but instead of the 270 paying for the last one we're really talking about a dollar. Uh so there's less cost and and the district is listening to people say it's just too much. So where does that put us? Uh you are the red bars. These these are the kind of larger kind of reference districts that are peer groups to you uh in terms of tax rate. uh you're the

061fifth lowest of I think there's 22 on this list. Uh and even with the dollar increase that we're talking about that would get you well below um just below the average of th those 22 districts. So it's good to people want to know kind of where we're going to be with this. Are we at the top? A lot of those districts are updating facilities and a lot of the ones to the right of you haven't updated some facilities and so that's the big difference there. So, it's good that you all know that even with the increase, you're really going to be coming in below the average. So, the recommendation of the task force uh is to move more move forward with consolidating from three to two middle schools. Uh and that's involves constructing a thousand

062student middle school on the Washington site. Uh this allows the district to gain some efficiencies and create equitable learning environments for students and staff. All right. All right. So, one thing we didn't do well, I would say a couple years ago was what are the implications if we don't do this? And I think the community has seen some of the implications if we don't do this already in some of the actions that have taken by the board over the last couple years. And so, some of those things are are real. We have real costs. Lisa's, you know, if she sees the numbers coming is we got to do something about it. And um that could include additional building closures. It could include larger class sizes, program cuts, uh, and really consolidating buildings and changing grade

063configurations maybe in some of those options that that you saw that weren't preferred up there. Uh, and that people are opposed. So, so there are ramifications of of doing nothing. All right. So, next steps. Uh, you guys already started it, so I won't summarize again what you summarized. Uh, but petitions on the end must be signed and filed by the county by um, September 19th. And there's quite a few signatures to get if you guys decide you move down this path, which is why we're coming on a little bit earlier. We got we got a little work to do. So, that's where we are. All right. You guys have any questions or if I could just make a couple statements. Um, one, I think it's important that um, the community understands that last time we

064went out for a bond referendum for $150 million and we were saying that we were going to say tax neutral, which was at $14.51. Since the bond referendum didn't pass and we had declining enrollment and low SSA state supplemental aid, our levy rate dropped to $12.99. Okay. So, we saw a decrease in our levy rate. Now, this time going out, we're looking at we're going to be asking for $70 million in the bond um in the geo bond. And then the district is going to put skin in the game, right? And we're going to use our 1 cent sales tax for the remaining 51 or $52 million to complete that project and some air conditioning projects in the district. Um so this year our levy rate went to $135 when we raised it. with this

065going up $1, we're talking that our levy rate would then go up to $145. So, we're still lower than that $14.51. So, I just wanted to make that that clear um as we move forward. The other piece is tonight the board is we're asking the board to take action on the the bond language that would go on the petition that we are asking the community to say yes we give you permission to put this geo bond language on the vote vote in November when you sign a petition this is not saying that you're voting yes or no it's just saying, "Yes, we agree that this should go on the ballot in November." Okay. So, I just wanted to make sure that was clarified. And how many signatures are needed? Do we know that? We believe

066we're going to need about 3,500. Okay. Because it's a percentage from the last um schoolboard election. And if community folks want to get a petition that they could circulate in support of this, how would they go about doing that? I would say would they would call up here at the district office and Val will have sheets available right at the front desk. Great. Yep. And then we're going to be asking each school to have petitions available in our buildings um for the next few weeks until um till the school year is over. Okay. And Brad, in terms of accessing, this is such a a helpful visual of where the process has come and what the recommendation is. How can people access this um slide deck? Yeah, we have this and I believe the fuller the

067the more complete presentation is is online. Is that is that right? Will be going. It will be going online. Okay. So on our website, the community school district website. Yes. Brad, I want to thank you and Envision for coming back for round two to help us with the spawn referendum. Um, we appreciate all the work. We've learned a lot from the first go round that I I really believe we're going to get this thing passed and um we hope people ask us questions because if you don't, you might misunderstand something. just call us and ask questions so you really understand what you're voting for. But thank you so much guiding us through this. Thanks thanks for having us. Um you know really broad community support you within 1.1% I think um last time in 2023.

068So there were just some questions out there and like you said we we we learn a little bit and you know sometimes it takes a little while for the community to these things to sink in that they need uh and the challenges because it's complex and we're trying to put the information in front of them. Uh and so yeah, all that information is going to be online for them. And last time the bond a year ago when it went to the community nearly passed was 57 votes that it needed to pass. We were right around like 59 something. Yeah. So was close. Yeah. And I think it's really important, you know, Brad pointed this out, but the district doesn't have the option to do nothing, right? So, we can either be part of that solution

069and pick the solution that we believe financially sets us up um to be in really good shape for the future or if it doesn't pass, then we're going to have to do things um that maybe the community won't um you know, be as positive about when we looked at some of those other options that we sent out to the community, you know, about combining into one high school, putting eighth graders at a high school, closing, you know, additional elementary schools, you know, those are the things that would come into play if this doesn't pass. So, I think it's really important that the community understands that doing nothing is not an option. Well, and I I think it's important to when we look across the landscape of the the budget and the the budget needs that

070we have based on funding. Um it really comes down to people which is class sizes or programs or buildings. So this board is again setting the priority of facilities being the reduction focus instead of the other options before us. And I I think too it's it's an exciting opportunity to create something that will actually make a more equitable middle school space for our students. So, you know, all of the things that have been said are so important in terms of like what's kind of at stake and and the money and and the budget savings, but also the student experience will be so much more improved by being able to offer facilities that really meet the needs of students today and what we can do to have make sure that they have the best education possible

071in any school they're in. That's right. I think it's important to note, I see some middle school principles in the back here, um, that if somebody would like to see a tour of our middle schools and especially Washington and Jefferson, we would invite you to come. We will give you that tour. Um, so you can see, you know, what the insides of those buildings really do look like um, as they're 100 years old. So, we would invite people to come in and and take tours with us as well. steamy in there last week. Right. The common statement from people who haven't been in there in 20 years is it looks just like it did when I was there. Right. All right. Well, all right. Thank you for going to go ahead and read the language

072and then we can vote. So, this is the language that would be on the ballot. Shall the board of directors of Debuke Community School District in the counties of Debuke and Jackson, state of Iowa, be authorized to con contract indebtedness and issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $70 million to be used together with tax, sorry, 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 included related demolition and site improvements. So that's not where vote we're voting on that language being on the ballot just so everyone is very clear. So um if you see a petition we would appreciate you to sign that. So all those in favor of approval of the general obligation bond petition

073the language um signify by saying I I. Any opposed? That motion carries. All right. Thank you. and go back a page with some agreements to vote on next. Brian's gonna come up. Oh, Brian, come up. Sorry, neglected you. Good evening. Hi, Brian. As you heard from Mr. Hamill earlier that uh we reached agreement with the teachers union and with the custodial group and that was at our facilities meeting that took place a couple of weeks ago. And since then, uh, as as Mr. Hamill alluded to, that he thinks his progress has been made. And in two weeks, we have I'm here to to tell you that we've reached an agreement with all of our bargaining groups. Awesome. So, I bring to you the the the groups that we have we have agreed with, the truckers

074and mechanics, uh, who signed it at 2.6%, our maintenance, uh, group with a 2.61% total package, our bus drivers in attendance with a 2.63%, 63% and our food service group with a 2.63% as well. And uh we also had our our non-bargaining groups as well. So we're we're happy to be wrapped up with that. And uh I believe we're still waiting on signatures maybe uh at the state office but we believe that money is coming. So it's a good feeling. We hope we believe that money is coming. We believe. Fantastic. Any questions? Thank you for all the work working with these groups and getting these packages sorted. You're welcome. Thank you. I just a comment. I I appreciate you thanking Mr. Cool. I think it's also important that we acknowledge the very positive relationships that

075we have with our uh representative employee groups and how that's not necessarily typical in school districts. A lot of people make that happen so well. So great. I move the board of education approve the agreement with food service employees as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement with food service employees as presented. 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 agreement with maintenance employees as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement with maintenance employees as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board

076of education approve the agreement with bus driver and bus attendant employees as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve the agreement with bus driver and bus attendant employees as presented. 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 with mechanic and truck driver employees as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approved the agreement with mechanic and truck driver employees as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. I move that the board of education approve the agreement with non-bargaining employees as presented. Second. It's been moved and seconded that the board of education approve

077the agreement with non-bargaining employees as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries. Right. So, thank you everyone. I believe this transitions us to a strategic plan update. Yes. So, our format normally is, you know, we sit in the square and we have um lots of our staff here from our executive cabinet and um school district staff come up and and give some um talking points. I've asked them tonight that we'll just stay in this um seating area and then they would come up to the podium to um to talk about their um particular priority. I think it's really important to note that um this is our first year of our new strategic plan and I think and this is our first year of

078our priority initiatives and one of the things that we've talked about um a lot around strategic plan is that we live this document that it's not a document that sits on a shelf and we update it every five years and we say hey did we do that did we not and so we've developed veled a system with priority initiatives so that we can really um have a checklist and and we can report out to the board to say these are the things that we said we were going to do. Um and then show you what occurred from that. Some things maybe we didn't do because once we studied it, we decided that wasn't the best route for our district. But other things talks about, you know, are we operational? Are are we continuing this? is

079it on track or maybe it's completed. And so, um, one thing that we've noticed this year as we started doing this process about priority initiatives is we've talked a lot about these things that are in the priority initiatives because a lot of it is we got feedback from the board, the community to really make sure that we could get these things completed. So, you're probably going to say, "Haven't we talked about these things before?" We have talked about a lot of them because we are at the end of the year and we'd really be I would really hate for something to be on in the priority initiatives that you're saying we don't know anything about that. Right. So we really work hard to keep you in the loop and to keep you up to date

080on what we're doing here in the district. The other thing I'd just like to say is these are just a highlight of the work that we're doing throughout the year. There's lots of other things that happen. this isn't our only um work that we see done um through the district office and the building. So with that being said, we're going to start um with priority number one. Okay. And so in my notes as we went through priority number one, strengthen and systematize how the district tracks, monitors, and shares student progress towards graduation. So with that, Mark Burns and Andy Peterson are going to come forward and talk about that priority number one, key action steps and next steps. So thank you. Thanks. Good evening. Um what's exciting about priority one is the work is completed.

081Unfortunately, that means for our schools, the work is just beginning. So we're just getting started on some things. It pulls the work together of of some committees that we have, some standing committees as well as a committee that we created this year. The standing committee is the district um career and academic planning committee or the school um career and academic planning committees. You'll hear me refer to that as DECAP. And then our new committee was the rethinking conferences. And Nancy talked a little bit about um this. I'm going to start with DECAP and the work that we're doing there. As Nancy talked about, Zello has been adopted as a new career information system. It allows students to explore their interest areas, um, related coursework, possible careers, uh, plan course requests, set their four-year plan, set

082goals, and it replaces an old system with a much more robust and updated uh, system. Um, we'll roll it out at the start of next school year. We'll see how that goes. I'll tell you that um July 16th and 21st uh we'll we'll have some training here for people that are going to help roll that out. Um and with recent legislation, this will now be grades 5 through 12 that we'll be doing this work in. Um this career and academic planning also then uh ties into the conference committees. Um the conference committees met monthly um and again has concluded their work and really the focus of conferences we want to be on that career and academic planning for our students um for them to start to see what is possible in their future and then

083I'll have Andy talk a little bit about what conferences will look like. Thanks everybody. I'm Andy from Carver. Um Nancy shared quite a bit about um the work we've been doing. Was it only monthly? I think I think we had some extra ones in there. I'm not sure. Uh this group has worked really hard. It's been fun to be a part of a group that's working K12. That doesn't happen that often. Um but to hear that high school pers perspective, middle school perspective, and the elementary perspective as well. You shared that um the data for attendance has been very good for elementary. The overarching goal that everybody came together around was we need to make that possible for all students. Um so that's been kind of the the goal of the work. Mark um and

084Lisa and all the team have really pounded their heads together to figure out how we do that at the high school level. It's it was hard to reimagine past the system that we use already. Um the high school and middle school teams did a great job of trying to figure out how we could come up with a central point of contact um to start improving communication at those levels. that that central point of contact being the home room teacher um that kids are already going to and then use that person to build a stronger relationship with families to encourage them to come in and then converse with their um subject teachers as well. At elementary, one of our biggest changes, like Mark said, is incorporating employability skills. We currently use 21st century skills on our

085um progress report. We're going to switch that to employability skills. It also gives us a good K12 alignment in that as we move forward um and think about conferences and report cards and all the things we're reporting out on. Do you have any questions for us? One addition I would just like to add is um with the conference committee really talking about how do we have a central contact person that you know you get to know over the four years. And you're probably going to find out at the beginning of the year, you're going to get contacted by that person. They're going to build that relationship as we go throughout the year. So, it's not just a oneanddone or a twoandone conversation. And then you're also going to have time with your content um sta

086teachers as well. So, that maybe your um your adviser might say, "Hey, I see that we're really struggling in algebra. let's make sure that you get a conference with that algebra teacher so they can get more specific. So I think that was a piece that they kind of struggled on but came to a good compromise on too as well. I do have a question. Um the way it looks when you go to a high school conference, will it still look like that? You know, all the teachers are in this room or is it by appointment or what's the physical difference of going forward? To start out in the fall, we're going to take a little bit of a scaffolded approach. We're going to have um advisory teachers or homebased teachers contacting families, letting them know

087about what's changing uh with conferences. And then as we learn more about Zello and get more comfortable with that in the spring, we'll look at making some more changes like that. And and so I'll have a better answer for you next year before our spring conferences with how that might change. initially in the fall. Nancy talked about that a little bit. No real changes other than the outreach and then in the in the spring we'll see some differences. Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you for all the work on this. It's a big improvement. Thanks. So Mark's going to stay right here because we're going to move to priority number two. And priority number two was around enhance instructional practices through dedicated focus on student growth and progression towards grade level standards. So Mark, I'll let

088you take it away. So 2.1 is middle school um standardsbased grading. Uh our middle school guiding coalition meets about every three or four weeks. Um during the school year, it's made up of our principles, instructional coaches, and EST members. the EST members are the district content uh curriculum leaders and then me. Um they have developed a timeline, a rationale for the change, purpose statements this year. Um, next year each middle school is going to develop or create an implementation team and together the uh guiding coalition and those implementation teams will plan professional learning and also align our our vision across the middle schools. Um, some of our schools are going to a uni grading conference in June. Uh for those of you who don't know, Matt Townsley is a professor at at University of Northern

089Iowa and he is a a national expert on um standardsbased grading. And so we're utilizing a lot of the information that that he uh has taught us as well as um things that he references in his research. 2.2 and 2.3 really kind of come together. um professional learning for teachers on how to use student growth data and inform the instructional practices. That happens a lot in our collaborative learning communities or CLC's. Um and so I'll talk a little bit about both of those things together. Um the instructional coaches and EST members, EST members meet in content areas or with content areas to review and refine assessments. That work is ongoing. Those are our summitive and formative assessments. Um, this year we've developed some tools that we'll utilize next year to help guide the CLC work

090so that when an instructional coach can't be in that meeting to help them out, they know some of the things that they need to be working on. Um, it will ensure that we collaborate throughout the learning and teaching cycle. Uh, making sure that we hit all areas. uh this includes the academic, social, emotional and behavioral as well as uh planning and assessing and reteing as needed. Um uh we're excited that these tools are going to help inform the instructional coaches and EST members as they work with the CLC's coaching the CLC's um through that through this process. I think that's everything. Any questions for me? So, Mark, when will we expect to see the actual implementation of standardsbased grading at the middle school? Standardsbased grading. Uh Matt Townsley recommends that it is a four to

091fiveyear venture. So, this was year one. And so, we've got uh two, three, and four coming up. I hope we get there in in four years. It may be a fifth. N [Laughter] And I I thought we I thought the same way and I'm following the research and and that's what they recommend. If if you if you want to do it and get it rolled out right and communicated right and make sure that everybody understands um what every standard means and how we're assessing that and we're all assessing it the same way. Um that would be their recommendation. So we're going to we're going to go with that. Okay. If that's all right with you. Stand out of the weeds. Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Thank you, Mark. Thank you. Priority number three is to enhance fundamental

092structures in place to reduce barriers to learning. So, coming up to the podium here is going to be Mimi Holinger, Becky Felinser, and Colobby Colbertson. Right. You're all going to come up with this one. Yeah. So, Mimi, you're up. Great. I'm here to give a little update on how behavior solutions is going. That's a big training that the entire district had in the fall. In addition, um the spring prior, several key administrators and building level teams were trained on that. Mark and Lisa really spearheaded bringing that training to us to more tightly align behavior MTSS with academic MTSS. So, the buildings and I'm looking at like Greg and Lisa sitting there. Um, all of the buildings have really dove into this work and have either fine-tuned um what they were doing in behavior MTSS or

093they've even expanded some things. Um, they're looking at data to kind of tell us where we want to put our energy and resources between universal tier, tier 2, tier three instruction. Um, and really what it's given us is a systematic way to respond when students have challenging behaviors rather than treating challenging behaviors as a one-off. Like what will we do right now with this student? We more have a system to say we have a system in place when students have challenging behaviors. Um, does anyone have any questions? I will say the behavior data looks good. We're continuing to decline. We're probably down um about 10% on referrals this year. And we know referrals aren't the only thing we look at. We kind of want to know what the buildings feel like in terms of what's

094going on in the buildings. Um but I think people are are feeling good about the work with behavior solutions. Thank you, baby. Thank you. Good evening. And 3.2 is on attendance. Our attendance work remains ongoing and the data is still trending in a positive direction. So you will see the blue line is last year's data, the orange line is this year. So we've had an increase in our satisfactory attendance and a decrease in our chronic absenteeism. And that data was from the beginning of this school year until May 2nd. And then our next steps, we will be collaborating with our IT department to make sure that our attendance codes are in place in Infinite Campus for the start of next school year. Becky, can you go back a slide for a second? Yep. What are

095the What are you I can't read the writing under the bar graphs. What do they say? So like this one is our satisfactory which is less than 5% absent. The second which is about even is the at risk which is below the 10% and then these last two categories are the moderate and then the chronic which is 20% or more. Moderate is 10 to 19.9. So there's lots to celebrate there. Yeah. Yes. So, the the tables that we wanted to go up went up and the other ones went down, which is a good thing to see. Cool. Thank you. Good. Thank you. Evening board members, Superintendent Hawkins. Um, I think I might have the most brief report out tonight because um, uh, Miss Bradley did a a wonderful job on reporting out through the ED

096programs uh, advisory group recommendation. But just to recap again, uh what our plan is moving forward that came that was born out of the advisory group and and the board did approve that motion tonight is that at the elementary school grade level um from grades preK through five and also at the middle school grade levels, grades 6 through 8, that we are prohibiting what I I actually don't like the word prohibiting. I think we're going to move to a devices away um language uh from using devices, personal electronic devices during the instructional time. And then that would also be true at the high school level. But then we did hear a lot of feedback uh through our committee um or through the excuse me, the advisory group task force uh recommendations that we should allow

097um personal electronic uh devices that students would have to be able to use during their lunch period. and during only in the cafeteria only and a lot of that was really at the recommendation of our two high school principles. Um they know their students, they know the culture in their buildings and I think it was very informative for the entire group to listen to them to give us some direction on how that was going to impact their their two campuses as well. Um I think that's also true at the middle school level. We had uh representation from all middle school principles um with uh Jeff Joel joining us uh at the last meeting and then even at the elementary level. We had uh uh principal Eric Johnson representing the the elementary as well too. And

098in addition in your report out we had I think a good variety of other representation sitting around the table with uh teachers, administrators, school board member uh the superintendent of schools and I think um and then I I would be remiss without saying um one of the high school students that sat on he did a phenomenal job. So um but that's what we're looking at uh going forward with is the next steps around that again was sort of alluded to during the report out. We're going to try to get some communication out to our families and students before the end of the school year here about what those practices would look like. Uh we have already uh proactively uh put together a sample policy and administrative guidelines that we're soliciting feedback from all of our

099administrators. So how that will align with their expectations at the building level and then the goal will be to bring that policy to ed programs in June uh for hopefully the school board to adopt that policy and its regular June board meeting. So, we'll then have that policy in place for the implementation of the law on July 1st. And that'll be consistent across oop, sorry, across all schools. Correct. Correct. That is a consistent policy uh K through or pre-K through 12. Great. And Kobe, I want to mention um it was they were great meetings. I wouldn't have missed them for anything. So, thank you for including me in the progress. You and Mark did a wonderful job leading the team. Um the middle schools really will not see much difference because we have a lot

100of success in our middle schools already with no cell phone. Yeah. So that should be the easy hurdle as elementary because a lot of those kids don't have a phone yet. But high school will be a challenge. But according to my kids, everyone has a phone. My kids when they were little, I didn't have cell phone. So that's how old I am. But um the challenge will be high school like you said. And when we say instructional time, you know, we're meaning hallway everywhere in the school. So um it will be a little bit of a challenge, but as long as everyone's staff, you know, is on board with this, which they will be, and consistent. You know, the two high schools will be the same, the middle schools will be the same, the elementary

101schools will be the same. um as long as you know I think the first month or two with the fall you might have a few um things happening but you know the we're going to set forth the policy what happens if you do have your phone out so um thank you so much for leading this well thank you for giving me that opportunity and I'd like to thank Mark for co-f facilitating that group as well too and uh Superintendent Hawkins yourself miss Whitman and others sitting on that committee It was sort of interesting when I heard Andy Peterson talk about, you know, that K12 perspective. This was also another area where we had feedback from preK all the way through high school and trying to come up with a consistent policy that would satisfy everyone

102or practice and then um developing into a policy. I think we got to a good spot. One of the brighter things that we haven't highlighted and I I believe this will happen is this idea of as a country we're trying to get people back to the human connection. Um and I think students may not understand it thoroughly. But the idea of just talking face to face and getting back to laughing and seeing expression versus being on your phone, I think there's just opportunity just to get back to that because it's a a valuable skill that's going to help in any sector and any interaction moving forward. So, um I'm ready for for that. Absolutely. We definitely owe this to our students. Well, and I think you know we had a group that did a book

103study on the anxious generation. So, if parents haven't read that, you should. Um, you know, we had a speaker come in, Katherine Price, Katherine Price, um, to talk about really what is the effect on phones on on kids and adults as well. And so, I think we've done, um, our due diligence this year to look at what's best for kids and how do we move forward in our district. So, I appreciate that work that you've done and um, I think our staff and our admin teams are going to need a lot of our support. um as the next school year comes about um because we are going to have to, you know, hold people accountable for those things. Um but I'm excited for um what this will mean for our classrooms. This will be in

104in many ways as strong as the partnership between parents and schools. Yeah, it's going to take a strong partnership to do a right thing for kids brain development and social interaction. Okay. Thank you all. Moving on to priority number four. This one was really focused on the updating the district's 10-year capital facility plan with a focus on the student experience and financial efficiencies. Um I think tonight uh we took that that step forward and we've talked about that a lot. Um but with the timing of the report out and we need to take action on that that has been completed and I appreciate um your support with that and I look forward to um our staff moving forward with our community to try to get not only the petition signed but then to get that

105bond passed because that's going to be critical for um our district moving forward. So I appreciate that. And then the 4.2 two was about engaging community stakeholders. I would really just like to give a shout out to Mike's eyes um and his team for putting together a survey because I think that survey was a very it really kind of woke people up to say, "Wow, these are the things that we're talking about. We've heard about these things and other communities that changes that are occurring and really is that going to happen in Debuke?" So, I appreciate your communication on that um to Mike and his team, and I really hope that people understand that we have to do something um to put our district into the a position possible moving forward. Okay, any questions on

106that? Okay. And then last one is priority number five, and this is about enhance the overhaul staff recruitment and retention systems in the district. So Brian's going to come up and share um about priority number five. Good evening again. So for for 5.1 to expand staff recruitment and onboarding to reduce barriers to application, we're saying it's operational at this point. We we tried to take uh the clunkiness a little bit out of the paperwork side of things when it came to applications for employment for us. And I believe it was the same application whether you were applying for a teacher position to a food service to you. It doesn't matter. They're all the same. And we're like, well, this is difficult for a lot of people. And so we we looked at that process and

107changed how we did that. And um we're that with the intent to take down barriers and and one of the other barriers is is travel. A lot of our our possible employees can't get to job fairs. We go to probably 20 job fairs a year, whether that be uh across the state for teachers or it's downtown in uh in the Julian where they have uh job fairs for the for the greater Debuke area. We're very fortunate to be part of those. But we also host our own job fairs here and we also take our mobile bus out places. Uh we take our bus when we do our our recruitment efforts and registration process. We tag team with that. And so we have over 20 different stops per year that we're doing to recruit people. And

108it's been definitely uh we would say that's definitely operational. Um and another barrier is the is the financial part when you're looking for certified positions and licensed positions. And we were fortunate enough this year to receive the TP 2.0 0 grant and and that has provided opportunities for 20 or more paraprofessionals whether they're going to get their par certifications or they're going to get a teaching degree. Um it's it's provided through Kirkwood and through Western Governor's University. So we're very happy to have that opportunity for some of our our staff members as well. Um 5.2 develop a leadership development pipeline that provides opportunities for and supports strong development of future leaders. Well, we hosted our own um future leaders event here and we brought in universities to talk about their leadership programs throughout the state

109the state for teacher leaders to become administrators and principles and we invited teachers to come to that. We have plans to expand that to more colleges and universities and more teachers that are that are interested in pursuing this occupation. So, it's important that we get our teachers out there not just to have those conversations, but to connect them with people that we think are going to be able to take them to that next step. So, we would say that is definitely operational as well. In the future, will people be able teachers be able to self- select into attending? They will. Great. Yep. Yep. We took that advice. I think that's a great idea. And 5.3, we have broaden staff recognition efforts to better highlight staff exemplifying the district's mission. Um, we have, you may have

110heard, we've created, for lack of a better term, the staff Olympics. So, we have all these different events that our staff members can participate in. And it gives them the opportunity to to connect outside of school and to do things together that those who play together stay together. And it's really been fun to watch that group kind of take off. And I would say that Jefferson has has been doing fantastic. I was looking to see if Greg was here. Jefferson's been doing fantastic and they're looking to take that trophy home. So, it's been fun to work with that group. We are also uh moving forward to launch the ready for you monthly staff recognition program. Uh and that would be for all areas of our school district to exceptionally serve students and families. And I've

111been working with Mike on that to to look for a nomination process of sorts, how we can get more people um to to shine for a moment and show everybody else what they're what great work they're doing. So, we're excited to unfold that. Thank you. Thank you. So again, I just want to um thank obviously our team here at the district office and then also our district leadership team for all the work that they do throughout the school year, but specifically focusing on what those priorities are and then getting those to the finish line as well. So I appreciate all of you. Um, I feel very fortunate to be working with the group that I get to work with each and every day. So, thanks to everyone. Um, but that really wraps up our priority

112initiatives for this year. As you know, we will come back in August and we will report out, we'll present you the new priority initiatives for the next school year and then we'll continue that same process as we move forward um with the report outs. So, are there any other questions about the strategic plan update? I don't think so, but thank you to you as well, Superintendent Hawkins, for your leadership on all of these initiatives. And a second, I echo your thanks to your team. Yeah, they're great. Okay, board. It means a great deal that our strategic plan continues to be a living, breathing, guiding document. It doesn't sit on a shelf. It's happening. So thank you for that leadership and it's something that we talk about on a regular basis. Sure. So okay. So we

113are to board member administrative issues that are not on the agenda and it looks like there's a few things including the last day of school which is next Thursday, May 29th. That's right. It's happening. It's next week. Get ready parents. Uh, and then also, um, we have some commencement ceremonies that are coming up. Um, it looks like the Debuke online school will have their commencement on Friday, May 30th at 6:00 pm in ro at the Roosevelt Auditorium. And then on Saturday, May 31st at Dell Field, uh, senior high school will have their commencement ceremony at 10:00 a.m. and Hemstead will be at 300 p.m. And the weather, I'm sure, is just going to be perfect. It's going to be perfect. going to have any. We're not even worried about it. We had a meeting today

114that it was perfect. No concerns. No concerns. We want rain tomorrow, though. Could use some rain, but not not those days. Yeah. Keep them nice for that. That's right. Are there any other issues or items to talk about? I don't think so. All right, then we are adjourned. Thank you everyone. Have a good night. [Music]