001- [Announcer] Good evening. This regular meeting of March 10th, 2025 of the Dubuque Community School District Board of Education is called to order. Our mission is to develop world class learners and citizens of character in the state and inclusive learning. - Role call, please. - Bradley? - Here. - Hamel? - Here. - Jacobitz-Kizzier? - Here. - Jones. - Parks. - Here. - Sainci. - Here. - Whitman. - Here. - We are happy to welcome students from Irving Elementary who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Come on in. Go ahead and say your name. - Grace Berk. First grade. - Cora (indistinguishable) - Noell Hoffmann, fifth. - Cooper Cameron, fourth grade. - [Gathering] I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one
002nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. - Thank you. - [Attendee] Good job. - I move the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. - [Anderson] 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 "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move- - Go ahead. - I move that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 10th, the special meeting of February 24th, and the special meeting of March 3rd, 2025 as submitted. - [Anderson] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the minutes of the regular meeting of February 10th, the special meeting
003of February 24th, and the special meeting of March 3rd, 2025 as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. So we have several board salutes around the table. Let's start with Dr. - A board Salute goes out to the Hempstead Boys wrestling team for an outstanding showing at the state meet recently. Congratulations to the following place winners, especially. Abe Heysinger who finished third in the 106 pound class. Mitchell Pins who finished fifth place in the 120 pound class. Mitchell Murphy who finished eighth place in the 132 pound class. And Camden Smith who finished seventh place in the 215 pound class. We are very proud of these wrestlers for their determination and their excellent showing at state. -
004Next up a board salute to the inaugural Dubuque Community Schools eSports team on their first state tournament showing The team was made up from students from each of the high schools in its first year through a partnership with the Dubuque eSports League. Our district team was one of eight teams from across the state in Division II who qualified for competition. This year the team played the game Valorant and finish sixth in the state of the tournament. Congratulations to the team on an outstanding first season. They're already moving into their next season competing in Mario Kart. (laughing) - [Amy] I could do that one, I think. - [Kate] Me too. - [Lisa] I'm excited for this next board salute to our Hempstead High School boys swimming team bringing home the state championship. First time ever. (attendees
005clapping) And with us in the meeting we have Coach Loeffelholz and many of the team. So thank you for coming. I'll read your accomplishments here. So in addition to the outstanding team honor, the swimmers also won individual state championships in the 400 freestyle relay and the 200 freestyle relay. This, in addition to a host of place honors for both Hempstead and Dubuque Senior High School in a variety of other events, including Logan Westhoff from Hempstead finishing fourth in the 200 freestyle. Abd Ul-Haq from Hempstead finishing seventh in the 200 individual medley. Owen Leitzen finishing third and Kyle Powers finishing fourth for Hempstead in the 50 freestyle. Zach Heiar from Senior finishing fourth and Logan Westhoff from Hempstead finishing eighth in the 100 butterfly. Kyle Powers finishing third and Owen Leitzen finishing fourth for Hempstead in
006the 100 freestyle, and Abd Ul-Haq from Hempstead finishing sixth in the 100 breast stroke. Dubuque senior finishing six in the 200 medley relay, Zach Heiar from Dubuque Senior finishing fourth in the 100 backstroke. Congratulations to our swimmers on an amazing representation of our district at state. Coach Rick Loeffelholz who has been the coach for the team for 23 years. - Wow. - That's an accomplishment. Hopefully you stay around for many more years. (attendees laughing) And some of the swim team members are here with us. Well, I said you're here with us tonight. And we already gave a round of applause, but let's give 'em another one. This is quite an accomplishment. (audience clapping) Can you guys come up so we can get a picture for the website? - [Amy] So this is our board president,
007Kate Parks. - [Lisa] Some of you can get back here. Stand behind. (attendees faintly speaking) (attendees laughing) - [Photographer] All right. 1, 2, 3. Got it. Thank you. - Congratulations. - That's awesome. (attendees clapping) - I am very pleased to offer this board salute to our Alt Vista campus, we call it the AVC, for their honor and the hard work they're doing to host the state conference. It's called the 2025 Iowa Association of Alternative Education Conference. It's the whole statewide conference for those involved with providing alternative education programming. It's this Thursday and Friday, March 13th and 14th at the Grand River Center. And just a little bit about the conference, you might be interested. The theme of the conference is community-driven education inspiring learning through collaboration. It's anticipated that at least, and probably more, than
008200 people will be participating from across the state. Conference will showcase the outstanding work of the AVC staff in providing high quality and innovative alternative education programming for to be community school district students who attend there, and it will include a tour of that beautiful facility at the Alta Vista campus. The conference program includes a community connection event. That's a big focus of what the conference is circling around. Participants will learn about the existing ways that various community partners partner with the Dubuque Community Schools and the AVC in particular. There'll be 28 breakout sessions delivered by conference participants. And the keynote speaker is Dubuque's very own Dr. David Markwood, who was educated in Dubuque, graduated from Dubuque Senior High School. And Dave went on to provide incredible educational leadership throughout the Midwest, and he retired
009as superintendent in the Cedar Rapids Community School District. David is an acclaimed author as well as a highly regarded educational leader. It will be wonderful to have the opportunity to welcome Dave back to Dubuque and to learn from his experiences and his expertise. So participants will also hear from four former Central Alternative high school students who have gone on in their lives, some of them as much as 20 years ago, to talk about how did alternative education catapult them and provide for them a good base for their life later on. I think that'll be an exciting session. And then there'll be a historic tour of Dubuque. So Dubuque Schools hasn't hosted this event, this statewide alternative education conference, for over 30 years. And it's such an honor to be chosen to host. It's a lot
010of work, and I wanna give special compliments and thanks to Tim Hitzler for his work and the entire AVC team, Eddie Santiago and that whole group of folks, for bringing this conference Dubuque so that we can show them our beautiful city and celebrate the great things that are happening at the AVC. - Absolutely. - Thank you. - [Amy] Thanks Nancy. - On a somber note, we take a moment to recognize Dr. Joel Morris, former superintendent of the Dubuque Community School District from 1996 to 1999. Dr. Morris dedicated his life to education, served as superintendent in three districts outside of Dubuque in West Chicago School District 94, Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205, and Maine Township High School District 207. Our deep condolences go out to Dr. Morris's family and friends. We are thankful for his
011impact on the Dubuque Community School District. - [Lisa] I move the Board of Education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. - [Sarah] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education suspend the rules of order and go into open forum. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. So we'll be starting our visitors an open forum welcoming Renee Wagner, who's the principal of Irving Elementary School to share with the board what's going well at Irving. - Good evening. Thank you. I'm very excited to be here. This is my first presentation to a board as a new principal at Irving Elementary. So I'm super excited to be here and to meet all
012of you and share some of the things that are going well. As the new principal at Irving it's been really important to me to develop relationships and earn trust with the staff. We've had a theme this year of building the team with a focus on the team. So we've done lots of things to build collaboration and conversations. I think one of the things the staff is learning quickly about me is my dedication to conversations and collaboration. So we've implemented a lot of collaborative meetings around special education around our, we call them our CLCs, so working on standards and how are students meeting those. We've also worked really hard this year at creating a BLT that has lots of focus and looks at data to determine where it is we go. That's one thing that's really
013important to me is that staff and students have voice in our school. So that's been a really big accomplishment. The other thing that's been great this year, and I can't take any credit for this 'cause I'm brand new, but Irving School is no longer targeted for special education, which is great, and really just shows that when we focus on something and have a goal for it, that the staff and students can really achieve that. So that's really encouraging. So like I said, this year's focus has really been on the team part of things. Next year's focus is gonna be on the building of things. As you know, we're gonna have a big construction project, and so that is starting to take hold and start the planning for what that's all gonna bring, along with some
014new students. And so the staff and I are really excited about a lot of the changes that are coming. Another big accomplishment that we have had at Irving that we celebrated just the last week is we take our i-Ready assessments three times a year. And this winter over 50% of all of our classes met their springtime growth goals, which is impressive. And so we're hoping to continue that into the spring assessments as well. So one of the things that's my favorite thing about Irving Elementary is the diversity that we have of kids and their needs, and how well the team works together to support all the different needs that we have of kids. And I'm very fortunate to get to be a part of that team and lead that team. So looking forward to growing
015those student experiences. And also the voice of students within our school as years to come for me. So, thank you very much. - Thank you. - [Kate] At this time anyone else who would wish to address the board can do so. Just know, state code prevents us from responding to things that are said, but we are happy to hear from you. If you're interested in addressing the board, please come to the podium and state your full name, your connection to the district, and limit your remarks to three minutes using our handy timer. - [Sarah] Seeing none, I move the Board of Education reinstate the rules of order and return to regular session. - [Lisa] Second. - [Kate] It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education reinstate the rules of order and return to
016regular session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - [Nancy] I move the Board of Education approve those items listed in the consent agenda. - [Anderson] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve those items listed in the consent agenda. Any item a board member wishes to have pulled? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. So that brings us to our Facilities and Support Services committee report from Mr. Hamel. - Thank you. We had our monthly Facilities and Support committee meeting last Monday. It's always the first Monday of every month at four o'clock up here at the forum.
017Everybody's invited. I'm gonna hit the highlights for this. Concerning the senior high school renovation, the renovation is 100% completed. The final action was a change order for some electrical revisions totaling a little over $26,000. We got credits for a couple other areas. So the net increase to the contract was just under $4,700. Next up, the Sageville Elementary School solar project is working well and we are entitled some reimbursement from the federal government, and apparently the $130,000 is approved and is coming. Did it happen to come in the last week? Okay. (Amy laughing) On the Eisenhower Gym Addition project, there was... We're we're gonna have an increase in the architect engineer cost in the amount of $10,940. That related to a change in the design. The city waived a requirement having to do with storm shelters,
018and so the design needs some change as well. And on another part, at Eisenhower, the Building and Grounds Department in looking at it, they saw the roof on the existing portion of the building, it's 10 years past it's predicted lifespan. And with all the construction, it's possible you can get a new roof put in for a better price. So there's gonna be some additional design costs there to replace the existing roof. That'll be about $16,800. In the Marshall Playground Replacement project there was another change there. We knew we had some drainage problems and the drainage problems were even bigger than we thought. So there could be some additional architect fees relating to that for $9,800. On the facilities efficiencies, we got an update from Superintendent Hawkins. There's been a family night for all the Hoover
019families at their school. There's gonna be additional nights at the schools that they'll be going to next year helping the parents and the students learn about the new schools. And on another issue, we have a community task force which has been informed, includes representatives from each of the schools, and they're evaluating the entire infrastructure of the district, and they're gonna make recommendations on efficiencies, and the recommendations are probably coming in May or June. And then the last thing that I have relates to rental fees. We discussed all the rental fees, made some adjustments, and for people that don't know it, you can rent all sorts of things from the district. You can rent the aquatic center up at Hempstead. You can rent wrestling rooms, fitness centers, tennis courts. A lot of outdoor fields, you can
020rent Dalzell. And as Amy has said, the prices are the best in town for anything like this. (board members laughing) So if you need any of that, give us a call. Is it time for the motions? - [Kate] It's time for the motions. If you're ready. I'm ready. - Okay. - I'll second. - Thank you. - No problem. First up, I move that the Board of Education approve change order number 17 to Tricon Construction Group on the senior high school phase two project in the increased amount of $4,673.96. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve change order number 17 to Tricon Construction Group on the senior high school phase two project in the increased amount of $4,673.96. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify
021by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the amendment to the professional services agreement with Origin Design Company for the Eisenhower Elementary School gymnasium addition in the increased amount of $10,940. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the amendment to the professional services agreement with Origin Design Company for the Eisenhower Elementary School gymnasium addition in the increased amount of $10,940. Is there any discussion? - I would just really like to thank the city for working with us and waiving some of the criteria that goes into new buildings, and so that we were able to save a significant amount of dollars on that project as a whole. So I just wanna thank them for
022their partnership with that. - [Kate] All right, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the agreement with Origin Design Company for professional services for the Eisenhower Elementary School roof replacement project in the amount of $16,800. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the agreement with Origin Design for professional services for the Eisenhower Elementary School roof replacement project in the amount of $16,800. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the executed construction contract bonds and certificate of insurance with Matt Construction, Inc. for
023the Marshall Elementary School playground replacement project in the amount of $393,000. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the executed construction contract bonds and certificate of insurance with Matt Construction Incorporated for the Marshall Elementary School playground replacement project in the amount of $393,000. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the amendment to the professional services agreement with Origin Design Company for the Marshall Elementary School playground site improvements in the increased amount of $9,800. - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the amendment to the professional services agreement with Origin Design Company for the Marshall Elementary School
024playground site improvements in the increased amount of $9,800. Is there any discussion? - I would just like to add on this project there's been some water issues at the current playground at Marshall, and so having this contract with Origin will help us clear that up and as we go to put new playground equipment and rubber mulch, it'll make it so we won't have as many water issues moving forward. So Rob and his team, I thank you for looking into that. - [Kate] Thanks. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve a donated vehicle that is no longer of use to the district be sold for scrap - Second. - It's been moved and seconded that
025the Board of Education approve a donated vehicle that is no longer of use to the district be sold for scrap. Any discussion? - [Amy] This will help our CTE classes, thank you. - [Kate] Yes, they get to do some stuff with this vehicle. - [Lisa] They're gonna take it apart piece by piece for us. - And learn. - [Kate] Awesome. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the student fee schedule for the 2025-2026 school year. - [Sarah] Second. - [Kate] It's been moved and seconded the Board of Education approve the student fee schedule for the 2025-2026 school year. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board
026Members] Aye. - [Kate] Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move that the Board of Education approve the facility rental fee schedule for the 2025-2026 school year. - [Sarah] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the facility rental fee schedule for the 2025-2026 school year. Any discussion on this one? - Just a comment that as I recall it, there were very few changes from last year to this year. - Yeah, I think just helping cover any costs to damages or things like that that happened. Dirk did a fantastic advertisement for this. So what more can we say, except all those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? - I like that. - [Kate] That motion carries. That was smooth transition, wasn't it. I
027didn't even plan that. All right, thank you Mr. Hamel for that report. And now we're gonna move to Ms. Bradley for the Education Programs and Policy Committee report. - I'm happy to stand in for the committee chairperson, Katie Jones, who had to stay at work and help some more patients. So in her absence, I would just share that the committee met on March 5th. Typically our committee meetings are broken into three sections. The first are informational pieces that come to the board that link to the strategic plan so that we continue to grow in our knowledge and awareness of what things are happening through the strategic plan, and in contribution to the strategic plan. The first, we were delighted to welcome Chelsea Cox, who is the executive director of the Foundation for Dubuque Public Schools.
028Every time we hear from Chelsea, I personally am more impressed with the work that's going on by the foundation and through the foundation. Chelsea shared with us that over $300,000 was contributed to things in our schools. The foundation invests in projects that support the whole district, and that includes funds for programming in the schools, opportunities for experiences inside classrooms that are not currently supported by tax payers, but enrich the programming for our kids. And that includes field trips, robotics, musical instruments, school grants for principals and their staffs to use to make the programming richer and stronger. Chelsea shared that the foundation, shared the foundation's annual report and invited board members to attend the March 20th, their annual fundraiser, which is being held at the Diamond Joe Harbor Room on Thursday, March 20th. So for those
029who are in support of the foundation, that's one more way to support the great work that they do. Then also linked to the strategic plan, we heard from Kelli Buchenau, who is our new enrollment specialist for the district. It was a position that was added to try to centralize and make smoother for students and parents coming to the district, and those wanting to get connected in a way that they could have an immediate person there to help them tend to things that might be helpful. Kelli's role was the focus of that item. Her position was created to centralize the enrollment process, and she serves as the point of contact for parents providing information and support related to enrollment and student records. She assists with online registration for all schools K-12, as well as district preschools
030and community partner preschools. Kelli's doing some phenomenal work and we're delighted to have that position and the things that it's accomplishing to help our kids and our families get started. Then lastly, the section that we call educational programs, which is where we also talked about the student fees that we've just approved, just so that all board members had awareness of the fee changes and very few changes. So happily that we can not see lots of escalation in the cost of some of the activities that parents and community like to be involved with. Then we ended our meeting by reviewing, as we always do, board policies. Every five years the board reviews each and every policy that we have to review for updating revisions, anything that can make that policy fit our circumstances better. So we
031saw four policies, and our next meeting if you would like to attend, we'd love to have you. They happen in this room, the boardroom, and the next meeting is April 9th at four o'clock. Come join us. Lots of good learning takes place. - Thank you. Also, thanks to the staff that made it possible for us to join via Teams because that was a very, very weird weather day, right? So it was very helpful to be able to get into the meeting when it was kind of just a strange day to do anything else. So thanks for that. All right, that brings us to new business. - [Anderson] Conference. You have any updates? - We have one more thing. - One more thing. I'll read this first. I move the Board of Education take no further
032disciplinary action related to student number 1624010777 at this time. - [Anderson] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education take no further disciplinary action related to student number 1624010777 at this time. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye." - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. All right, now we're to any board member or administrative issues? - I got one. - Conferences? - [Kate] Do you have one? - I wrote this down before you said that, just so you know. - [Anderson] We're on the same page. - [Kate] Conferences? - I just wanna really encourage families and their students to attend parent-teacher conferences. This is a really important conversation, just to see where progress is, to go walk around your school, see maybe some work that your student's
033done, but really have some deep conversations with their teachers about what their growth has been, and then also are they on track for graduation. So I really encourage you to take the time to attend parent-teacher conferences. Some of them happened last week, the rest of 'em happened at this week, and then our students will be off Thursday and Friday, so I'm sure they're gonna enjoy this nice spring weather that's out there this week as well. - Engagement in conferences is part of our strategic plan. So I learned a lot about it this year, and so for anybody that's wondering if it's worth their time, please consider it as an investment in your child getting to understand what they're doing well, room for improvement, opening that line of communication with their teachers. 'Cause I think it's
034really an important extension of what happens during the learning day. If there's a reason that you can't attend conferences, or you're not sure what they might look like, just reach out to your child's teacher and they're working really hard to accommodate families. - [Lisa] Agreed. Thank you. - All right, anything else? We had a quick meeting to go enjoy this beautiful day, so we are adjourned. Thank you. - Thank you. (upbeat music)