001Okay, we'll call the meeting to order. Start with roll call. Morgan Brown >> here. >> Dave Wrunner >> here. >> Becky Engel >> here. >> Brian Jones >> here. >> Dusty Wear >> here. >> Jan Week >> here. and Christina Shark is here. Next up is adoption of agenda and declaration of a quorum. >> Motion to adopt. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next is citizen speak. I do not have any green cards. Um next is consent agenda. >> Motion to adopt. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next is anformational item. Um board priority. We will
002promote and monitor growth in student achievement and all students will be challenged with high expectations that meet or exceed measurable targets. We have a student data end of the yearformational update with Maria. Hi everybody. Are we officially like in the school year now? Our teachers come back tomorrow for teacher quality days. Um, and before we go into this presentation, I just want to say like I get the honor of presenting this data to you. This is a culmination of work over several years with lots of different teams and lots of different people. I just get lucky enough to be the one to come up here and uh share it with you. So, we have a lot of data that we're going to look at um tonight ranging from academics to behavior absenteeism and graduation rates
003as well as like culture and climate data. And so, we're going to hit some really key points of the data that we've seen over time and then um just really celebrate the growth we've made and talk about our direction moving forward. Uh just we've seen this before, just a reminder for our community uh and for our audience that we have significantly reduced the building populations of every one of our secondary buildings across the school district uh over the last couple of years with our grade level reconfiguration, the opening of Gateway, and the uh new construction of Farney. And so uh moving from one of the largest middle schools in the state from Evans which would have over a thousand students or OS over uh 1,200 students to those smaller more personalized learning environments. I think
004it never hurts to remind people that that is a catalyst for a lot of the the data that you'll see tonight. So you'll see each slide that we present has some overall just overarching systemic data across the district and some specific building highlights. Um and so just academically first and foremost that's why we exist is uh to ensure academic achievement for every child. Since 2018 we've had the highest uh kindergarten first second proficiency and literacy since the data that I can pull across the district. Um when you look at specific buildings like kindergarten at Pwick, we saw over 30% growth from their fall to spring literacy data. Uh our FS at the secondary level decreased by 30% 8th through 12th grade. Uh really exciting with the grade level reconfiguration for the first time last year.
005We have kids earning um over 2,000 credits at Gateway, 400 more than the last school year. And then one of the areas that I get really excited about is the different content and grade level areas across our standardized test isp which is taken all across the state. Um so that might be like third grade math, third grade reading, fifth grade science. Um in 23 24 we had 42% of all those grade levels and contents showing increased proficiency whereas in 2425 that rose to 70%. So, grade level and content area across third through um 11th grade. And just some fun stuff. I didn't actually know this one about Horus man. It was really exciting to learn. I was on a call with our Amplify CKLA rep and he goes, "Did you know that every classroom at
006Horus man uh increased or met the national norm for growth or better?" So, every single classroom in that building hit the norm for growth, the national norm or higher, which is unheard of. He made a whole slide about it. He was that excited. Um we our ninth grade data I wanted to highlight because we knew shifting 9th grade to Evans and creating that smaller learning environment for our nth graders was um going to be very impactful for their long-term academic achievement and their literacy and math both grew in their ISAS data uh literacy by 14% and math by 7%. And so we are just seeing winds all over the place academically, whether we're looking at grades, whether we're looking at state tests, whether we're looking at our screeners, um different content areas. And so we're
007just really really proud of this academic growth that we've seen over the last several years. I think even more impressive is when you look at these percentages uh for behaviors is um what we're seeing across all of our buildings. Uh when you look at the typical classroom disruption behaviors, whether that's um kids blurting out or maybe trying to leave class when they're not supposed to, we're down 42% as a school district, so preschool through 12th grade. And then when you look at aggressive behaviors, things like fights um or um just your bigger like um drugs, weapons, things like that were down 50%. With that, we decreased out of school suspension. So kids having to be out of school as a consequence of their behavior was down 73%. And even bigger, and something we focused a
008lot on as a school district, is reducing bullying and harassment. We had zero founded cases of bullying and harassment in the 2425 school year and 50% decrease from the 23 24 school year of cases even reported. So we're down half as much with zero being founded which is I think just another example of what creating an environment where every kid is seen. um you know, you're going from over a thousand kids to 700 kids means for how kids connect and interact with one another and how that adult support and supervision can be um done better. These numbers look kind of funny on the building highlight side. Miss Mcgory asked me how I get to a percentage over 100%. But that's really when you do a percent decrease of behavior referrals. And these are just a
009couple examples at our elementarymentaries and one at Evans of when the the amount of referral decrease is so dramatic that you get to over 100%. So like if we had 200 and we're down to 20 something, that would give you over a 100% increase in a percent decrease. And so just really those numbers, as big as they look, are really to show that our behaviors across our entire school system are down. And again, that comes from our special programs like um making sure every kid has what they need going to maybe the therapeutic classroom or salt. Um we are ex we're expanding those special programs this year, but we've in added junior kindergarten. We have um created mental health spaces and brain health retreat rooms in our buildings. And again, all of those different things
010contribute to the decreases in behaviors that we see across the district. Attendance is up as well. I my favorite number there is the 94% of kids attend school every single day. So there's not a day in our district where our average isn't around that 94%. So that means that almost all of our kids are coming to school almost every single day. You see some of the different building attendance rates there. Also chronic absenteeism. So students who were missing 10 15 20 days of school has decreased nearly 5% from this school year to last school year. Um it just it's a beautiful thing meaning that our kids are in school more often more frequently so they're able to you know access their learning and then we see that again as that academic data had come in
011earlier. This is super fun. So, in the 2022 year, we had a 76.8% graduation rate um when we had combined all of our high school students together. Again, we opened Gateway and we have our projected graduation rates for this last school year, 24-25. And I couldn't I just had to do them both together, even though I was really excited to show them one by one. Um, Atma High School's graduation rate is projected to be at 96% for this last school year. You guys know from the last time we talked graduation rates a couple months ago, we don't get that formal data in until way late. But also very exciting is that Gateway's projected graduation rate is at 90% for this last school year. So to think as a combined entity of our high schools before
012Gateway was opened we were at 76.8% 8% and over the last three school years that has gone up 20% at OS and close to 20% at Gateway and for an alternative high school to be at 90% is almost unheard of and it's just things that we are so incredibly proud of and again work that we've done as a district with your leadership as a board um that we couldn't have done without our team. I love this too. So, I'm not sure if you know this, but we also measure culture and climate within our organization uh for with our staff. So, our non-certified staffs, our associates, nurses have one survey, our teachers have another survey. And we've been using these surveys since uh fall of 2023. That's when we adopted this because knowing how our staff
013feels about our culture and climate of our buildings is incredibly important to us. And when you look at every single category for both non-certified and certified staff, we've increased across the last two and a half years of doing this survey with really giant increases in school climate. um 9% for non-certified staff, 12% for certified staff. Uh teacher efficacy. I think sometimes we hear a voice or two that says, "I feel like I have no control in my classroom. I don't get to do what I want. The curriculum says I have to do this." But overwhelmingly, our teachers are saying that they feel empowered to do what they want. That's what that efficacy is. Um, so it's really cool to see in both our non-certified and certified staff that we've made gains in literally every single
014area uh that we gather feedback in. There's a lot of data um that went really fast, but really what I hope you see through all of that data is that we are really working to set the stage for what comes next in the Atoma Community Schools. we are ready to truly excel in our academic achievement. We know that has to be our next um milestone if we really truly want to be the best. We've made a lot of progress, but we know uh what we're capable of and we're excited to to make that our work for this 25 26 school year. What questions do you have? All right, have a great night, guys. Maria, >> thanks Maria. >> Um, next up is a few action items. The first one, board priority. To be the best,
015we will create a positive learning and working culture for our stakeholders and embrace our community partnerships through communication and transparency. The first action item here is a baseball and softball complex um presentation with Mike and Brandon. Good evening and uh we appreciate Phil uh the city manager uh joining us today to um uh for this presentation. Uh we're excited about uh the potential of this uh proposal. Uh Brandon's going to kind of go through with the board um an overview of the proposal uh what it potentially could look like. Um one of the things I would uh probably I don't know if it's caution the board but recommend to the board is to realize that there's so many different ways you could you could move forward with this project. So there's a lot of different
016options. uh we kind of envision a committee looking at these this and coming up with what the best option is. So what we're probably presenting tonight is maybe just a broad overview of what potentially uh the land that we would be purchasing from um uh the city. So I'll turn it over to Brandon. >> Yeah. Thank you. That All right. As Mr. Mcgroy uh said this is the uh site that we're looking at. Um and we we held back on trying to like project too much of our own thoughts and ideas into this because you know like you said we truly want this to be a group decision and we want to make sure we have the right stakeholders at the table to um you know make sure that we do this the right way.
017I think we have an incredible opportunity here. Um but this is what it looks like present day sort of. Um for the most part not a whole lot has changed. the field um directions are are kind of like they are. Um so we envisioned additional parking. Uh so the red outline is kind of what we would be uh considering asking for. Um the one thing that we would do want to make like the trails not included in in that proposal. Um but everything else that's kind of uh outlined here is is what we would be considering for this project. So, we came to you a couple weeks ago and and just gave gave a lot of this same uh data and this is just kind of the reason why we feel like this is an
018important project. Um, you know, again, Babe Ruth uh the youth youth softball league have been really outstanding partners in helping us get our middle school programs off the ground. Um, and that's that's a a big driving force to this and we think that um there's definitely going to be a way that we can um you know create great spaces for those programs as well as u you know make our high school uh atmosphere you know feel feel a lot better too. Um we think that that will kind of lead into increased participation. Um, you know, one of the things that we've kind of talked through in this is having these fields, you know, in a really central part of the community is going to catch a lot of eyes. And so that's exciting for us
019just as far as community members driving by and seeing it. But I think one of the biggest benefits is just our youth programming that happens in the park and and now they're going to, you know, look across the parking lot and see, you know, the facilities that our high school kids have and our middle school kids have. um and hopefully as they go through those youth programs really aspire to participate in in some of the high school programming uh when they get to that point. So we really think that's kind of an added positive to this. Um and I won't go through all these number you know uh one by one but um we had pretty good participation. Um we're running you know three levels of baseball, three levels of softball plus middle school programs.
020And so we definitely have a need for u you know an increased uh field options. So this just kind of goes through um a potential of what the agreement could be and this is um you know some of the the ideas we've had. A lot of this would be fully developed by our committee but um really what we're looking at is uh we would continue to maintain Houston field and um in its current site and that would just become a middle school field. Um, we think it's got uh some really uh great things there. Some things that we've upgraded the last couple years, the playing surface and batting cages. Um, it'll need a few things here and there just to kind of keep it going like any general maintenance uh you would have to do
021to any facility, but we think that's going to be um gosh, one of the nicest middle school fields around for sure. Um, and and a place that they can access all the time and they can store their equipment there and you know, all the things that you really don't think about when um, you know, people are running a program. There's there's a lot of nuances to it that just having our own home is is important. Um what we would want to do is is potentially move the high school field then to the Legion site uh to the park site and and again we kind of leave leave that open-ended as far as what exactly that's going to look like and what it means and all the other facilities uh that go into that. But really
022what we envision is an opportunity to share facilities, you know, concessions and a press box and restrooms and all those things that come with it. Um to be able to create an atmosphere that's really for high school and baseball together. Um you know, we have families that have kids that play baseball and softball and when we play at the same time, you know, a lot of our conference scheduling right now is um we we schedule home games against the same school at the same time. And so they're split up and, you know, you got to kind of pick which game you're going to and and we envision in a a setup like this, you know, people could attend both games and be able to see everything that they want to. So that's definitely a huge
023benefit. So kind of how we're going to do this, as we've kind of said, um, you know, we really want a committee that that's going to help make these decisions. And this is just kind of some people that we, you know, have have already kind of talked to um that that we think makes sense to to be a part of that. Um the Babe Ruth and Legion obviously they use this these facilities now and so we want to make sure that they, you know, feel like they have input in in what we're trying to do and um they've been in the loop. Um obviously our high school programs, um board members, um other coaches, you know, I feel like our coaches have a really good understanding of facilities and what, you know, thinking outside the
024box on what what you would need. Um and so it'd be important to have some of them on there and then obviously administrative staff. Um one one of the key pieces that we think makes a lot of sense and you know we'll go through and and you know fully vet it all but you and we really think turf makes a lot of sense um just from a maintenance standpoint, a field preparation standpoint. Um you know rain outs and all those things and it's something our community doesn't have right now. And so we really think there's a lot of value in uh being able to to make the baseball and the high school field at least uh turf. Um, and then I think one of the biggest things that's probably underrated a little bit is parking.
025Everybody loves parking. Uh, so I think uh in that area, not just for our games, but also for like youth softball and other things that are happening in the park, um, some upgraded parking is going to be really great. >> So on the on the funding side, what we're looking at is is a combination of different things. uh looking at fundraising um also using district funds. Uh we we perceive this to be a phased project where it be done over time. Um but we're excited that uh we've already had some interest in in the fundraising part component and uh we're excited about that. I I think there will be support for this type of project. So that that's kind of our vision for funding uh this complex. Um I think the one thing that uh
026when we look at this that the land that the city uh is amanable to to giving us uh would allow us to address a lot of the issues we currently have at at at the the baseball field. And one that Brandon mentioned was parking. Uh we know we would need to fix parking. Uh it's parking is a problem right now. So we're excited about this project. We really uh what we're asking the board tonight is to give us your feedback on how you would like us to move forward with this. Uh Phil presented to his council uh on the 5th and um and they were very supportive of of the concept. Um, and Phil, I don't know if you want to add anything to that or >> Yeah. Uh, I guess I'd just say that,
027um, I I came here to help support, uh, the partnership that this could present, uh, similar to the the tennis court project that, uh, was able to provide, uh, you know, state-of-the-art tennis courts for not only the the, you know, high school, uh, middle school athletes, uh, but the community in general. And it was a way that, uh, kind of to help double up our efforts. uh we share a majority of the same tax base uh and so uh rather than us building something and the school district building something, it's really a way to to join in and work together. Uh it fits within the overall park plan for that area uh and is consistent with that. Um at the same meeting, the uh tennis courts which were part of that uh drawing there uh
028were approved to be removed as a winter project. Uh, and I believe that is an area that was identified as future parking uh, under this plan. Uh, and would help out uh, not just with that field, but the I think it's softball fields that are over there as well. And I received at least one, if not two complaints uh, earlier this year about parking issues there. Uh, so it's a way to help alleviate some of that uh, and really continue to enhance the uh, the great partnership that we've had uh, working with the with the district. And fair Phil, would it be fair to say part of maybe why this became more available uh is that your plan changed a little bit going down to 12 fields. So this instead of I think 16 at
029one time. >> Yeah. Uh the the field the initial configuration was for 17 fields. Uh and whether that uh um I think there's a realization that we don't necessarily need the the 17 fields there. um that was kind of taking all the fields across the city and looking at uh what we had as a total and then trying to put them in that footprint. Uh but I think with the coordinated efforts uh the number could be reduced uh as far as what we need overall. So um so yeah I think that is part of it. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> I think with that anything else Brandon I think we'll open it up for questions or thoughts from the board. Phil, what is the timeline for the rest doing like the rest of the park
030project for like the fields that I know that's been something that's kind of been going on for a while. So, I didn't know what their timeline is if it's something that um you know somebody's going to step in and help pay for if it's just going to be funded by the city or or how that's going to work as far as getting to that number that you want to get to. >> Yeah. Uh it is uh something that is a phased approach that we're looking at. Um one of the areas where we're looking at building the ball fields is the that pond that was being filled in. That's going to take time to settle once it's all you know complete. Uh and uh so it's not something we're looking at immediately. So to that point,
031this is a project that uh we could get some of the fields completed right away or or much sooner than what would be on our timeline. Uh we uh spent time looking at uh the um uh well the tennis courts that we talked about, the soccer fields that are be across the the street there. Um baseball there hasn't been um fundraising started for that specifically. We've been focusing on getting the area prepped up. So this would be a great jump start for that and I think could help with any potential fundraising efforts. Thanks. >> I think one question for the board is uh is would anybody have reservations about moving forward with the project? And then also if not, are there individuals that maybe are interested in serving on the committee? >> Well, I guess
032I I'd be interested in serving on the committee. I also have, you know, I guess the and that would, you know, be a big part of it too is, you know, what the potential cost of, you know, doing this project and having whatever the end product it's going to look like, uh, to see what that's going to cost. I mean, I I think it would be a great idea to have everything there. I also, you know, I look at, we have a lot of buildings across the district and depending on what the dollar amount that this is going to cost, do we have everything else possibly done in all of our buildings, >> right? you know, this is a really nice to have. Um, >> but I want to make sure that, you know, obviously
033being fiscally responsible on it, too. So, but yeah, I would definitely >> Great. I'll put we'll put you down on the committee. Any Anybody else? >> Yeah, Mike, I would be willing to do something like this. Um, I'm not 100% sure the action item for tonight because we talked about this about a month ago and um I think this is a great project. Um, to Dave's point, I feel like we've touched almost all of our buildings and all of our facilities. This is an area of town that the city hasn't touched for quite some time and isn't up to par with the rest of the school district facilities. And so, by the city allowing um the district to buy this, it would give us an opportunity to bring those up to the school district standards,
034which would help the school district and all of our um sports funding in this or this sports area. I feel like it's one piece of school district stuff we haven't touched yet. So, it's baseball and softball's turn. So, I think it's a great idea. >> Okay. Thanks, Christina. And really what we're asking the board to take action on tonight is just the concept of it. Uh not so much, you know, like Dave, you're talking about the we know there's a lot of details to work out. >> I don't want to be negative. >> Okay, go for it. >> But I do. So, our middle school program is relatively new, correct? And we've been using the current Babe Ruth fields. >> Yeah, this is this is year two for baseball and softball. Uh, so baseball used
035the current Babe Ruth fields. Um, and and softball used the the youth softball fields, which are those three fields on the top that are pictured there. >> So, I guess I guess my only my biggest question is what do we not have now that we would have if we did this? I I I don't really see. >> Yeah. I think I think one of the >> stopping us from putting turf on Legion field right now. >> Yeah. And Legion will kind of stay like it is. Um it'll just become turf. There's not going to be a whole lot of changes to that field itself. Um you know, one of I think I think that there's a lot of value in having our high school complex together. You know, from the spectator standpoint, like I mentioned,
036but also in a in a shared resources and um you know, shared facility standpoint. um we're just going to be able to, you know, rather than upgrading, you know, a press box at Legion and then having to go back, I mean, the press box at both fields really needs some attention. And so rather than upgrading two different facilities with the same product, um, you know, we find this is a way that we can, you know, kind of pull our resources into one complex to to be able to do a little more with with the funds. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying don't investigate it. I think we can investigate it, but I know we've put a lot of money into Legion Field over the last two years. It's looking pretty nice. Um, I
037don't know, >> yeah, >> what these other two fields has to do with us making Legion nicer other than I understand maybe moving the softball complex. >> And I think Morgan, it's if if you don't um if you're not there watching games or having players, it does look nice when you drive down the highway. Legion Field looks beautiful, but it's not the caliber kind of field that a district our size deserves or should have. And I would say the advantage that we get from acquiring the two Babe Ruth fields is just a high quality field for our middle school program. Neither of those fields are up to par by any stretch. Um and so it would just I just feel like it would help elevate all of our programming to the same level we've elevated
038our our high school far. It just it speaks to the whole mission that the district is working for to have high quality things all the way. >> And I >> not that now. And I think one thing too, Morgan, that we looked at was um I agree. I like our baseball field a great deal. I think it's really nice, but for us to actually get it to the level it needed to be um which we would require a lot of work. We estimate probably what three to $400,000. We would have to put in the field if we didn't do a turf field. We would have to put into that field for drainage. Um we have we need to put an irrigation system in if we don't put in turf. Um it's really silly what we're
039doing now where we're watering the outfield and it's taking half a day and you know so there there would be a lot of upgrades we'd have to do and we kind of weighed that against you know turf. I think the other thing with turf is that that's the future for a lot of these sports. So, in baseball, I think there's six uh schools in the CIML that are putting in turf this year. And part of the reason is just to be competitive with other schools because that's what it's the game's going to become. It's kind of it's kind of similar in my mind to like soccer, what soccer's become now where everybody's playing on turf now with soccer. I think baseball's really close to that right now. I think softball's a little bit further off,
040but I think it's down the road. And that's why we want to kind of look at how do how do we prepare our fields to be ready for that next because I think it's coming. >> So the softball fields here, would that be turf also? >> Yeah, that's what we're looking at, Morgan. Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's definitely the trend in in softball, too. I think one of the biggest points here I I think Morgan if where we're trying to get to is most of the stuff we don't have anything that we call our own for middle school and I think that would be the point that we would kind of trying to get to is we're using for middle school softball we're using somebody else's fields right and not that not that they would
041say no but they kind of have the control over whatever we do and somewhat same way with the baseball or Babe Ruthfields that you know obviously if they said no which I don't think they would then we wouldn't have a so this is just a way to to I guess to get it to call us our own what we do from there with it is I mean obviously financial but at least it gets us our own our own stuff basically I think um I was going to say when when this was first presented to me I I kind of had a similar question is well what are you doing now you're using Houston field for softball and um but one of the things that was explained to me which made a lot of sense was
042now you're looking at two different sites that you have to maintain and you're you're talking about you know like with this if you have multiple games going on at one point you only need to manage one concession stand uh a set of restrooms if you have uh any kind of equipment to for field maintenance it's all there on one site um and so it made a lot of sense as far as trying to be able to work together to to accomplish a common goal there so I I think that was that was beneficial >> we're Keeping Houston field though. >> Yeah. >> So we still have two. >> Yeah. We'll keep that as the middle school field. >> Okay. >> And and we talked about even Morgan like on something like that when they have
043um uh their big tournament uh yearly tournament they could have it on Houston field too. I think that'd be a nice option too. So >> um one of the things with Houston Field is right now is you know has one bathroom. Uh it's pretty it's limited in some ways and this would this would address a lot of their issues too. >> Which which one of these is it? Uh page slide nine shows a future rendering and then slide 12 shows a potential layout. Are those just just different options? >> Yeah. And that I think you guys probably got the whole presentation that some of those were were hidden on just for this purpose. But those were just some options that we had uh received and some of the things that we talked about. Again, we
044didn't want to really put too much out there as far as like what our vision is because, you know, we really think it's important for the right stakeholders to to come and make that that decision. But I guess to answer your question, you know, we've just talked about the orientation of the fields. Yeah. >> Um being different than what's depicted here is essentially the way that it looks right now. Um, but we think there's a lot of options on the direction that that all of these fields could be and what makes the most sense there. Um, but we really want to get some good input on that. You know, the way the sun sets and all these other things are are a factor in that and and that's just stuff that we don't know quite
045yet. And so, um, we didn't want to put too much out there is what a future possibility could be. Yeah, that that slide nine there looks like that might be a a PA nightmare if you got multiple games going on at the same time, >> right? >> But yeah, looks cool. >> Okay, so I think the action item is to keep moving forward if I understand that right. >> Brandon, do you have any I mean any any the other districts that have done something like this that shoot from the hip number. I mean, are we talking 15 million or >> uh No, no, I don't think it's anything like that. Um, we I'd be really uh careful on saying a number just because there's so many nuances that go into a project like this. I
046mean, you have getting an architect involved and um you know, the >> uh the underworkings of you know, what's there, we have no idea. you know, there's just a lot of variables um that that go into what that number could be. Um and so I I probably wouldn't want to say a number, but it it definitely won't be anything like that. >> But I think you're asking too, Dusty, is there a lot of other districts that have done this? And there are quite a few that are doing this. Yeah, >> we talked to one one turf company that we've used before and they've done, you know, some stuff in the community as well and they're pretty reputable and just about like the scheduling and what does that even look like and it's like they're they're
047booked, you know, this this entire fall um doing like six fields in in the De Mo area and so, you know, I think yeah, there's there's a lot of schools that are doing it. So, that's one of the things that we would probably do to have for the committee. Um, I know Valley's doing baseball and softball right now. And so, you know, they're they're a school that we'd probably reach out to to say, "Hey, can you just give us an idea of, you know, what it took to do yours?" And have that for the committee to to review and just kind of get an idea. >> Well, I'd make a motion to continuing exploring the idea of this. >> Second. Sorry. >> Okay. Okay, we have a motion, a second. Is there any other discussion
048or questions? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Thank you very much. >> Just for the board's uh edification, I guess, is that uh our next step then will be to start working on a contract with the the city to to purchase the land and then we'll come back to the board. Um and that will be that'll probably coincide obviously with the plan. We wouldn't move forward with it unless the committee comes up with a plan that's viable and that's something you guys support. So, just so you know, that's next up. >> Thank you, Mike. Okay, next is the Pwick Early Childhood Center Handbook with Brad. >> Yeah, this is just an annual update that Pwick provided. Uh not a lot of changes from last year, just an annual update
049that they provide to their parents and then that'll go on the website. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. Um we have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? Brad, is why is this the only handbook that's in these other languages? >> Or is it >> what's that now? Is this the only handbook that's in these other languages like this? >> Um they all interface with um our new uh parent square with the app as well. So uh when we send out information, we can send it out over parent square as well and it has lots of language options. Um the other ones were student handbooks that we approved last month. This is really the only really robust parent handbook that we have just because there's so much new to parents sending their
050kids to school for the first time. Okay, any other questions or comments? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next is the Satan preschool partnership with John. >> And I'll just give you information about the next couple items there. So, you have it. Um the uh Satan preschool partnership. We've always done this with our PK. Uh we used to have Indian Hills also, but they ended their program. So, this is just renewing and continuing that preschool partnership. I believe there's uh anywhere between 10 and 15 uh PK students that go over to seat in there. And then the next two items are the board policies. It's the 500 series review. We did the first reading last board meeting. Uh 503.09. That is the cell phone policy. This is the second
051final reading. We didn't make any changes from last time. And then we added one more on there. Item F is board policy 102 uh E3. And this is an a policy that goes over uh some of the equal education opportunity the uh 504 disability stuff and it had listed on there uh Dave Harper and obviously since he left the district we changed it to update it to uh Maria Lance's position and that was the only change on that. We didn't change any of the policy information. So that is those four and happy to answer any questions. Okay, we'll take a motion first for item C, then we'll do Can we do the policies together? >> Make a motion for item C. >> Second. >> Is there any other discussion or questions about the seat and
052Catholic preschool partnership agreement? If not, all those in favor raise your right hand. And then um if it's a mix of second, final, and first readings, can we do DE and F together? Okay. I'll make a motion to approve items D, E, and F. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion, a second. Any other questions about policies? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Okay, next up, board priority. Through the board's financial stewardship, we will provide operations, technical, and curricular resources to staff, teachers, and administrators so all students have consistent and sustained achievement. We have two action items here. The first one is guard rails. done. >> As part of the ongoing site site appro improvements above the tennis courts and the development of additional parking along Fourth Street, the district
053recommends the installation of guardrails to enhance the safety and site definitions in these areas. I would recommend to award u the guardrail installation project to glet fence in the amount of $29,545. Motion to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any other questions about guard rails? If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next is fieldhouse concrete. As part of the district's ongoing improvements at Schaefer Stadium, the addition of a concrete viewing area at the fieldhouse has been identified as a priority enhancement to improve accessibility and spectator experience. Recommendation to approve awarding the fieldhouse viewing area project to Glosser Construction in the amount of $18,750. >> Motion to approve. Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion or questions?
054If not, all those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Next, a superintendent report. Thanks, Don. >> Thanks, Christina. Kind of along the lines of uh what Don was talking about. I'd like to plan a seed in the board's mind of if they would like to have the next board meeting up at the fieldhouse. Uh it would give you a chance to seat a new entryway there. that be lit up. Um, also some things we're doing up there. Uh, before that, we could also go on a tour where you could see uh Eisenhower, that project would be finished at our next board meeting. And then also, uh, James, which is a really exciting project for us, too. So, um, interest level in in doing something like that. >> Yeah, I'd be interested in that.
055>> Okay, >> sounds good. >> Okay, we'll just plan on that. Thank you. Um, the first thing I have is I have uh I wanted to update the board. Not that there would ever be misinformation about class sizes. I don't think that ever happens. But, um, uh, I wanted to go over class sizes um, and see if the board has any questions. I hope I gave enough there. Is there four? One more. >> Are you one short? >> Oh, sorry about that. >> So, >> oh, there is an extra. Great. Sorry. >> So, I I'll go through this fairly quickly, but um we we really really try to be very diligent about keeping class sizes at uh uh again K through 2nd uh at 20. Uh, one of the changes that we made uh with
056three and four year olds is that we're going to keep those class sizes uh 16 or lower. Um, they were this past year about 20 per class. Um, and I think that's going to be a really good change. Um, and then with uh once we get to third through fifth grade, then our our our cap goes up to 24. Um so when I go through this what when you see the red uh that would mean that would be grade levels where we're we've cap their um uh numbers. So we would not allow uh a student to enter that grade level if it's in the red because we're at CAP. Um so then the question I think a really fair question is um is how does that work? If uh what we do then is we
057then work with the parents to offer them uh other other school options and and then if there is a situation where um they need transportation we would also provide that. So if they needed transportation we provide that as well. Um we don't run into that a lot but um uh we also try to be very uh diligent about keeping everything at 24 or under at 3 through five like you can see Farney. Uh we know that that won't go higher than that because they're all capped. Um uh so as you go through this um one of the things I look forward to is uh you're looking at you're always comparing uh your kindergarten class sizes to your outgoing uh graduating class and our outgoing graduating class was really really large this past year. Um but
058I'm really pleased so far with uh the numbers we're seeing at the kindergarten level as well. Um uh they're good numbers. Um we also have with our junior kindergarten, we cap our junior kindergarten at 16. Um one thing that we looked at there to accommodate um more of our kindergarten kids at Pwick. we decided to add an additional section of kindergarten at Pwick uh so we could get more of our kids that were on the south side could stay in the southside. So we added an additional section of kindergarten and in order to have the space to do that we moved one of the junior kindergarten classes to Wilson and Wilson had an open classroom. Um and so that uh and what actually uh works out pretty well is um in that junior kindergarten class
059there's probably five to six kids of those 10 that are Wilson kids. So they'll be there the following year as well. Um, so I wanted to get this in front of the board to see, uh, I think we're sitting pretty good as far as, um, when you look at first and second grade, uh, preK through three, preK through 4, our kindergarten numbers, uh, I think all look pretty good. Um, we do have, you know, you can see there are some that, you know, definitely we're close to the cap. Um, and we we try, you know, to do whatever we can to keep it under that cap. And, uh, um, I think overall we do a really good job with that. So, I'd just open it up for any questions the board might have. >> Um,
060so what happens if a parent says, "No, I don't want to. I I'm in the Eisenhower district and it's full, but I don't want to go to another school." Does that happen? I mean some some people buy their homes >> right >> for that school you know right school. >> Yeah. >> What happens then? >> No I think it's a good question. I think um this time of year I think parents are are more understanding if you're registering this time of year you may not get the school that you want. I think that becomes a much bigger issue when you're talking about like um um March, m April where but this time of year I think people overall we find are very understanding that that that if you're full um I always give the example
061of uh when I uh was the principal uh in Ames and we had four young kids and uh Ames was really struggling with space at their elementary schools. And so they called me and they said, "Um, Mike, you know, uh, your your kids are going to be at four different elementary schools." And I said, "Okay." You know, um, you know, and, uh, and then I called my wife and she said, "Fix that." And, and I said, "Well, politically, I can't fix that." You know, so we I think overall we we do a great job trying to accommodate. Um, one thing we would offer that parent is transportation if that became an issue. Um, but we don't we don't run into a lot where they if you're asking like they go to another district, we rarely
062run into that or they'll say, "Hey, I'm going to go to another district." >> Mike, on your on your junior kindergarten, is that just one class at Pwick and one class? Are those just one classes at each school? >> At each school. Yeah. So we have two sections, Brian, and and we have a cap of 16. So one of them has 16 and then one has 10. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> You don't have to go building through building, but is it fairly safe to say there's not a lot of open classroom space at any one of these buildings. So for example, like Wilson having another fourth grade or adding another third grade level at Farnney or something like that. The rooms are all being used for the most part. Um actually we would have
063space that that is definitely a fair assessment uh with your two section buildings. So like Horus man uh Eisenhower uh but where we would have space would be Dalma and probably Farney. We do have some open classroom space if we needed to add. Um, >> so to Becky's question, if there was all of a sudden 15 third graders that moved on to Mary Street, you could have another third grade potentially. >> We would and and we really watch that like if we get if we even get a sense that that's going to be an issue, we'll add that section pretty quickly. >> Uh, the school that we have a little space. Um, but we're really I'm I'm really excited about the numbers that James has. Uh but we have a little space at James, but
064uh um they're probably some of the highest numbers James has had for a while. So, any other questions on that? Okay. If not, um I've asked Brad to kind of give the board an update on class size or not class size on on hiring. Sorry about that, Brad. >> Yeah, no problem. Um yeah, so we had a hiring event two weeks ago tomorrow. Um and I think you've seen some posts about that. We had nearly 80 people show up to that event um of all classifications looking for jobs in all of our different openings. Um and we hired nearly 40 people that day. So we are in um extremely good shape. Um Mr. McGory invited me to a a superintendent meeting last week in De Moines and I'd say we are in better shape than
065the majority of schools our size or regardless of size. Um so we're really excited to be where we're at. We still have a couple candidates that we're looking at closely for our open fourth grade position at Farney. Otherwise, we are um in outstanding shape in all of our ranks and excited for another school year. Uh we had new teachers in last week and today. Uh so we're started already uh with new teacher back to inservice schedule and um just to see the level of excitement in our new teachers. Uh some of those new teachers have been in other districts. Uh and just for them to share that they've never had the the energy and the excitement and uh the treatment that they've had from our school really reflects in our turnover rate. We didn't lose
066a lot of our no first year teachers last year, maybe one uh secondyear teacher. Uh so we just we do a great job of onboarding and making them feel welcome and make sure they have a solid mentor and have the support that we wrap around them. Uh but we are in extremely good uh shape for starting another school year. I think one thing we changed too with new teachers uh it was kind of suggested by some of our staff is is having new teachers have access to our school supply store early on the new new teacher day. And I think that did make a big difference. A lot of them were really really appreciative of of having that option. >> It was already a great day and then to to finish and surprise them. They
067didn't know that was coming to finish the high school and let them get a a bag in a box to go through and um shop for their classroom. You get to see their the whatever anxiety they were still hanging on to, they just kind of relaxed and knew that I don't have to go spend my money. Many of which, you know, many of whom they don't even have a paycheck yet because they're first year teacher. Uh so just it was it was really exciting to see that. And I know Landon and Kate did a great job setting that up and it's at the high school um library. Any questions on any anything with HR? All right. Thanks, Brad. >> And then just lastly, uh as the board knows, you're more than welcome, uh we have
068our um all teachers come back on Thursday. will be in the um uh gymnasium. Actually, we'll start in the um auditorium at the high school um at 8:30 and it will go from 8:30 to 12. Uh we'll actually go to the the gym to introduce our new teachers on the jumbled there. So, we'll we'll have everybody walk down there. Um so, you're more than welcome to join us if you'd like. Um, uh, I think we're we're excited and we're ready for a new school year. I think everything is coming together, but, uh, tomorrow, I appreciate Maria and Brad's, uh, a lot of work goes into planning the TQ, uh, options. I think our options this year, um, we really listen to staff as far as having more options. Um, also options that maybe they were
069more focused on wanting. And so I think we've got a really good lineup and we appreciate the work you've done on that. So that's all I have Christina. >> Okay, next up is board member topics. Just a reminder that uh the ATMA community players and the Atma High School are presenting Shrek this weekend at the high school. Thank you, Becky. Anything else? If not, we'll take a motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion, a second. Any other discussion? Otherwise, we're journal.