001a [Music] oh [Music] w oh [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] he [Music] w n [Music] oh [Music] w oh [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] oh a [Music] oh [Music] oh oh [Music] okay we'll get started thank you for coming we'll start with calling the meeting to order we'll start with roll call Morgan Brown here Dave walberer here Becky Engel here Brian Jones here Jeremy Weller here and Christina shark is here Jan wri is absent tonight next is adoption of agenda and Declaration of a quorum motion to adopt second we have a motion a second is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes next is a public hearing the following notices of a public hearing were published in The atmo Courier
002on February 6th and February 13th of 2025 this is a time and place for a public hearing and a meeting where interested individuals can express their views both orally and in writing regarding the following the 2025 26 atama Community School District calendar and or the atmo high school fire alarm and Inter intercom replacement project I'm guessing that's not why you're here but if anybody wants to address the board on those issues now's your time okay we will close the public hearing next on the agenda agenda is the citizen speak I do not have any green cards tonight so on to the fun stuff next is Gateway student recognition thanks a lot Christina at this time I would ask if all uh superintendent Award winners students if you would please go to the back and start
003so we can start lining you up so if you if you would go to the back [Music] there thanks everyone this evening we are going to recognize some deserving students from Gateway High School these three students were recently recognized nationally on CBS This Morning for their compassion their heroism and their alism we are immensely proud of these Stellar students I'll now turn it over to princip principal Ruff to introduce these outstanding students all right tonight I have the honor of recognizing a group of exceptional students students whose kindness bravery and selflessness have not only made an impact in our school but resonated across the country their Good Deed which was recently featured on CBS Morning News captured the hearts of the people from coast to coast California to Florida because of their actions we have
004received an overwhelming response of donations pouring in across the country in total more than $155,000 has been contributed along with equipment and resources that will directly benefit our students this incredible support is a Testament of the power of kindness and the belief in doing good to our students your kindness has made a difference you have shown what it takes to be leaders role models and representatives of the values we hold dear Gateway we are incredibly proud of you to to our community your generosity proves that when we come together to support students amazing things can happen on behalf of our school I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your support these donations will go a long way in enhancing opportunities for our students and we are truly thankful tonight we celebrate not just a
005good deed but the impact of kindness and the strength of our community I would like to introduce Paul claner Clinton ring and David davidon [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hartman come over here we'll take a picture or if you'd like to come to the back here [Applause] so now for those that hadn't seen the clip we are going to play the clip from CBS News it's Monday and you know means it's time for beg NOS America where we find the heart in every story this week CBS News contributor David begno finds that the heart in the Heartland in Iowa to be exact is where three teenage boys at a special High School saw someone struggling and they knew exactly what to do welcome to auma Iowa population a little more than 25,000 the Deo river runs right
006through it so does the constant Rumble of the BNSF railroad that later the town is well known as the birthplace of actor Tom Arnold and this being Iowa it's collected its share of presidential visits over the years from Benjamin Harrison in the 19th century to Barack Obama in the 21st still AA seems like an unlikely place to find a super hero where was he show me where he was not alone three of them did he fall here in the back yes sir Clinton ring Paul claner and Davidson Hartman are three seniors at Gateway High School friends who may have just saved a life that second window right there the first the three were in their classroom in late October of last year when Paul saw something outside so you were looking out the window and
007you saw him fall yes and what did you think in that moment to be honest I feel like he needed help so I just told these guys to come and help me out real quick a school security camera recorded what happened Paul saw a man in danger he' fallen on the train tracks that ran directly behind the school he was struggling to get back up and remember this is a very active railroad all we hear is Paul calling our name hey I see an old man falling and we I what we went check it out we didn't think twice we just went out and you know helped them out the three boys ran out of the school and down to those tracks to help the man who was in trouble next thing I know is
008they came running out of that room past my room hey Mr E there's a guy on the roil Trap we're to go save him science teacher Matt Linson followed the three boys outside to see if he could also help that's him with two service dogs kind of by the time I was out there they were kind of getting to him and helping him up off his feet and then they started walking him to the bus stop and that's about two blocks away and I decid to pull out my phone and take a picture it was these two young men on each side of this older gentleman with you know his arms around them and it was just you know a selfless act they didn't wait and ask for permission they just said we're doing this
009and here's the thing about those kids and this school G me high school is an alternative high school a lot of them are attendance issues at the high school or deficient in grades Aaron Ruff is the school's principal some have some behavior issues and some choose to come here just to be a smaller setting we really pride ourselves on not defining kids at their worst moment but at their best so sometimes young people who come to a school like this are thought to be trouble yeah yeah and then you do something like this and what do you think that proves to those people prove the Lord D see proves that we better proves that you're better yeah better than people thought yeah as for that man who they saved that day they never saw him
010again he thanked them for their help and disappeared from their lives just as suddenly as he had entered have you wondered how he's doing since then have you thought about him since then yeah most definitely what do you think the takeaway should be for people across the country who may see this story and see three boys friends classmates who helped the stranger be righteous for the people around you love that can we J the big Bo's C don't charge a boat by its cover you know what's funny what shared heroism can do to bring three friends even closer Davon what do you think about your two friends Lon and Paul I think they're great people they help me a lot they help others too and I'm thankful for that we're BR different [Music] friend these
011are the kinds of stories we need to see the kinds of stories that bring us together as Americans highlighting ordinary people doing extra extraordinary things you know people often ask me David where do you get your stories from and I tell them you'd be surprised but so many of them come to us from viewers like you so a big shout out to Joan in Iowa who tipped us off on this story oh thank you Joan it was so great be righteous for the people around you like Paul said that was so wonderful David thanks so much thank David and if you at home have a story for David you can reach him and his team at dear David at cbsnews.com or contact [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] gentlemen congratulations again and and thanks for inspiring our
012H Community uh and doing it in such a humble way too thanks guys next we have it's my honored the superintendent award and the superintendent award is great is granted to students who invi outstanding qualities and achievements within their educational Community this award is in its second year and is among one of the most prestigious District Awards a student can earn to give you a sense of how difficult it is to get selected for this award only 24 students out of over 5,000 students are chosen for this recognition the W celebrates positive behavior or cooperation it recognizes perseverance and rewards academic Excellence at this time I want to commend all our award recipients for being such outstanding leaders and role models for others and I want to congratulate them and their families on this incredible
013accomplishment I will now turn it over to Kate to start our student award SE celebration um as superintendent mcgrey um mentioned that we are so thankful for you all to be able to be here tonight um I'm just going to go through some Logistics the principal will introduce themselves and then their selected students um as that Student's name is called they will come down the center aisle and shake hands with superintendent mcgory take a picture if their family would like to come up and take a picture with them and the um and Mr mcgory as well as the board there welcome to do that and then they will come uh this way and grab their certificate from their principal um and then they are invited to sit back down or if you need to leave
014you're welcome to leave at that time um that's how we'll run that so uh without further Ado we'll start with pck Early Childhood Center come [Music] hello I'm Stephanie Welch associate principal at pck Early Childhood Center and I have Miss Caroline kff here with me Caroline is a kind and hardworking kindergartener at pck she embodies the Bulldog beliefs with her eagerness to learn and helps others she takes pride in her work she supports her classmates with a cheerful spirit and arrives each day ready to learn and play with a smile as she is wearing today you can see [Applause] give certificate hi my name is Kim Ledger I am the building principal at pck and this is Leo Rodriguez Leo is a preschooler at pck he is kind respectful and compassionate friend to everyone his
015big smile his positive attitude and his eagerness to learn make him a shining example of resilience and courage congratulations Leo [Applause] hello I'm Jim feran building principal at Dalma Elementary my first recipient second grade c 2 uh he is not unable to be here tonight but Ka is a a great second grader at dhama he's always on time ready to learn he works hard in class he's kind friendly and enjoys helping others with a great sense of humor but yeah my first grade recipient is Taj white come on up Taj Taj is a first grader at Dalma he's hardworking and compassionate he's a leader who encourages his peers and celebrates his achievements his love for learning positive attitude and support for his classmates make him a great role model as he prepares for second grade
016congratulations Taj [Applause] [Music] my name is Don Severson and it's my privilege to recognize two students from Eisenhower Elementary School where I serve as building principle first is Samy Maldonado Samuel is a third grader at Eisenhower he's a strong student and a quiet leader who leads with kindness his classmates look up to to him and he is always ready to help others in a way that naturally draws them in congratulations [Applause] second is Gavin Stout Gavin is a fifth grader at Eisenhower he has maintained perfect attendance since kindergarten and because of that yeah he has some siblings that are nipping right at his heels too so um and um because of that he excels academically he is a natural leader with a strong moral compass he steps up to help help others he captures the
017morning announcements for me as my photographer and he's actively involved in sports he has a promising and bright future in high school [Applause] I am Steve Zimmerman principal of Farney Elementary I have the pleasure of having two fifth grade Representatives today our first first one is Olivia Jordan Olivia is a fifth grader at Farney she is quite yet impactful leader who considerately makes the right choices and encourages others to do the same she is a true friend to everyone making all classmates feel included and going out of her way to support those who struggle to make connections [Applause] our second Farney recipient is Kingston kuster Kingston a fifth grader at Farney is a lead who consistently follows the Bulldog expectations and sets an example for others his hard work has led to tremendous academic and
018social social social growth and his respect for others he makes him someone people naturally gravitate towards [Applause] have to take a deep breath it's this kind of stuff that makes me teary eyed okay um for Horseman Elementary uh my first recipient is ilio asabo Elio is a second grader in our structure Learning Center at Horseman and he has made great progress in communication and is developing strong social skills he is compassionate towards others enjoys playing with his peers and has a love for googly eyes Disney movies and building forkies congratulations Elio [Applause] [Music] our next recipient is Jeremy liati Jeremy is a faith a fifth grader at Horseman and he is dedicated leader who helps and inspires kindergarten students with kindness and responsibility he consistently models the Bulldog values of being respectful responsible compassionate and
019safe making a positive impact on everyone around him congratulations [Applause] Jeremy you go buddy good evening I'm Julie shook from James I'm filling in for principal Jay green tonight and our first recipient from James Elementary is Devonte frier he is a fifth grader Devante is a hardworking and respectful fifth grader at James excels academically and demonstrates class and character daily as a quiet leader he consistently follows the Bulldog beliefs setting a positive example for everyone thank [Applause] you that one okay okay conat and our second recipient is a third grader Abigail Tallow menos Abigail is a third grader at James she is kind respectful and works hard to excel in all her school activities she sets a great example for her peers by consistently following the Bulldog beliefs congratul ations [Applause] Abigail okay I'm Carmel
020Vandenberg building principal at Wilson Elementary our first recipient is Gracie Newton Gracie is a third grader at Wilson she works hard to stay focused in class and is always willing to help those around her she's confident yet humble offering kindness and support to everyone she meets [Applause] our second recipient from Wilson is irana Rosier she's a fifth grader at Wilson is a hardworking and focused student who always strives to learn and help others she supports her classmates particularly a student with limited English and uh the same home language as herself and makes everyone feel included and comfortable in the classroom okay [Applause] good evening I'm Heather platen principal at Liberty Intermediate and I have both a sixth grader and a seventh grader that we'd like to recognize tonight first off zarya long zarya is a
021sixth grader at Liberty shows kindness and interest in others by greeting and engaging with both students and adults she is responsible and respectful throughout her school day making meaningful connections with all of those around her sorry Al l [Applause] next up is Emma wri Emma is a seventh grader at Liberty she's responsible organized and always willing to help with tasks around her the building she treats both adults and peers with kindness and respect in all of her relationships thank you to Emma wri [Applause] hi I'm Michael Davis principal Evans Jor jior High I have two uh recipients tonight first one being meline Serta meline is the ninth grader at Evan excels academically and demonstrates exceptional leadership in our school and Community a true role model she consistently brings a positive attitude and strives to be
022her best in everything she does mateline Serta [Applause] we have one that's not here tonight but I'm going to bring little sister down to receive his award is Mr Ty wrick he is playing basketball tonight in Fort Madison Ty is an eighth grader at Evans is an outstanding student and leader who consistently excels academically and demonstrates excellence in his community and Leadership his actions speak louder than words and his positive attitude and Outlook make a significant impact on everything he is involved in Ty rri [Applause] I'm Aaron Ruff principal at Gateway High School we have two recipients here tonight our first recipient is Joselyn Hernandez Joselyn is a senior at Gateway exemplifies dedication resilience and Leadership excelling academically with a strong worth ethic her ability to overcome challenges and commitment to personal growth make her
023an outstanding recipient for the superintendent student recognition award our second recipient is Eric Ria Eric is a senior at Gateway is a dedicated student and a true leader consistently excelling academically and serving as a role model first Pier his positive attitude perseverance and commitment to helping others make him an inspiring example of excellence in our district [Applause] good evening I'm Shelley Bram shriber and the principal at atml high school and I have the honor this evening of recognizing two of our soon Tobe OS graduates they are seniors this year and are amazing leaders for us the first is McKenzie Club McKenzie is a senior as I said she's earned 570 22 hours towards silver cord keep in mind 200 hours is the threshold so almost three times the number that she needs she has done
024all of that while maintaining a 3.6 GPA she's been active in bowling and FFA she is a state qualifier this year in bowling we'll do a sendoff tomorrow morning for her and her team [Applause] she she was a part of last year's state championship team she's always is polite has a smile and has a respectful attitude in class congratulations [Applause] McKenzie our second student is Mr Landon wit Landon also uh in his fourth year at atml High School has earned 476 and a half volunteer hours and will wear a silver cord at graduation he has done all of this while maintaining a 3.7 GPA Landon has been active in activities such as swimming and FFA he has served as the FFA chapter president and has really assisted in getting that program running and running smoothly
025this year he has received his FFA his Iowa FFA degree one of the first for the ATA chapter congratulations Landon [Applause] [Music] again we want to congratulate the superintendent Award winners and also their parents and thanks so much for coming and you're more than welcome uh if you'd like to leave you certainly can or you can stay so whichever you'd like to do have a good evening everyone yeah I'm only about two pictures gu were you behind me yeah you know when you when you do something for the first time you figure out what you change and so you know it's a really good turn that would a great turn yeah to regular regular attendance now hey I'm not going to lie did feel a little that's [Laughter] oh thanks thanks okaya okay next on
026the agenda is the consent agenda make a motion to approve second we have a first and a second is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes next board priority we will promote and monitor growth in student achievement and all students will be challenged with high expectations that meet or exceed measurable targets our first action item here is a national service learning conference trip girls if you want you can come right up here that yeah we're excited to hear about the trip yep and then you can just y if you turn your mic on okay this yes we do okay um hello we are the members of the otoma youth City Council I'm Isabella Hoffman I'm Haley Miller I'm L the ATA youth city council empowers youth voice to
027make changes within our community our mission is to empower the Youth of our city by providing a platform for their voices to be heard fostering collaboration and positive change through through inclusive leadership and Innovative initiatives we aim to address the diverse needs and aspirations of young people creating a vibrant inclusive community we have been invited to attend the National Youth Service Learning conference in Minnesota we would love for you to approve our quest to to attend this conference volunteer Iowa has generously covered our registration fees for the conference in the amount of 4,360 um and we are applying for another Grant in help of covering the cost of lodging and meals attending this conference will allow us to gain skills knowledge and confidence we need to become more effective leaders and advocates for our community
028we plan to take six youth city council members and two advisers to this conference each will have assigned permission slip with emergency contacts prior to our departure this conference will allow us to develop new skills and expand our ability to serve at the conference we participate in Workshop that PR most leadership critical thinking Community involvement communication skills and most importantly collaboration with peers from other regions through this experience we will learn firsthand about the power of service learning and how it can drive positive change in our community we hope by attending this conference we will come back empowered and ready to take on new challenges in our community we hope that we can leverage the skills and knowledge we gain to Launch further projects and initiatives that directly benefit ATA we plan to bring these
029transformative ideas back to AA and share them with others especially youth in our community what will about the prospect of attending the conference which will Empower us to return to a Toma and make an even greater impact on our community we appreciate your consideration of our requests thank you for supporting and helping us bring our vision to life any questions I just want to say congratulations go have fun and thank you Colby and Cara for putting this together for the girls thank you thank you thank you um this is an action item motion to approve second we have a motion in a second is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes have a good trip okay next board priority to be the best we will create a positive
030learning and working culture for our stakeholders and embrace our Community Partners through communication and transparency we have three action items here the first one is the 2526 school year calendar yes thank you uh our calendar committee met earlier in January uh we asked invited all classifications of employees that attend this committee to have input towards our 2526 uh calendar and after a couple meetings uh the major changes for our calendar are not much for the following year um we do have our two floating uh days for teachers at the beginning of the year to get into their classrooms uh to prepare for the prepare for the school year um and the other major change was uh recommendation from the committee was we moved our day off in January to uh to February 20th which is
031President's Day that normally that's mid January near the end of the semester that Friday before of semester ending or the Friday semester ending is dedicated for a teacher work day so they can get caught up on grade so the committee felt that uh it better to have that day in February to give it a little more break uh from the grind form uh versus uh in early January because I would have been going about six weeks without a day off there uh no other changes we have our students getting out before Memorial Day uh which is always a plus for us I think the only thing I'd mention Dave too for the board is that uh to help with the secondary teachers uh we will have a a teacher uh professional development day on that
032on that uh Jan it's January 20th this year it won't be exactly that so they'll have time to work on their grades uh that afternoon as well so um Dave I have a question is Elementary still going to do trimesters because they're not marked on here or are they going to go to quarters and do for there were no changes on that I will have to check on that for the trimester piece but okay we are planning on no changes to our schedule so okay make a motion to approve the calendar second we have a motion a second is is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes next an action item is for the Hazel Health tail therapy agreement with Mike uh we're excited to show you theou
033with hazel Health which is a um they're a nationwide um tella Health uh brain health provider um the thing that's really appealing to me is that this would come at no cost to the school but it would be also no cost to parents so we know we want to do everything we can to break down barriers for families to be able to access whatever kind of mental health supports that they need this would be another Avenue uh in addition to our local Partners um to provide services to students so how does it work do you just like post a phone number and like if you need counseling give this number a call so we'll get we'll get things rolling in um July on the tech side where we'll get everything set up for all of
034the equipment they'll actually provide the equipment that we'll be using for tella Health but we'll get uh a room set up a private room so that kids can oh so it's an at school thing you go you go into a room and it's like a video it's it's at school but they'll also be opportunities for families to do this outside of school hours and over the summer so um if they build a relationship with a particular counselor they could continue to see that counselor over the summer okay and then in um August when we come come back we'll have professional development for uh nurses counselors anybody that works closely with children um around um how Hazel Health Works and then we'll have the communication that we can share out with parents that want to access
035and tap into this service okay H how are parents notified if their their student wants counseling or seeks counseling um well there'll be we'll we'll have uh information that will share out with parents first of all about our relationship with hazel Health but we'll also be able to do referrals internally um but parents will be intimately part of that communication and get them that set up for their students okay and that'll be at every school Mike every building in atwa y okay and then that I'm assuming that they have where they can do the different languages that we have so one of the things that was really appealing about hazel is how many bilingual counselors that they have now we have a lot of different languages spoken it but uh Spanish is our most prevalent
036uh second language in the district and they have uh bilingual counselors that are available good thank you so how it feels like it's too good to be true how if we don't pay the parents don't pay somebody gets paid so uh Hazel does have an arrangement in the state where they've gotten some grant money but they will if they can bill either private insurance or Medicaid for those Services also so I think Morgan maybe a little more information is we were selected uh by the state to do this two-year trial okay and so parents that uh don't have insurance or can't afford it we actually won't as a district pay anything it comes from the state grant grant but if they do have insurance then they would their insurance would cover it okay so my
037question is kind of like Morgan's what's the process for parents signing a consent to treat giving Hazel their insurance information billing that kind of thing and we we're going to learn all about the process to make sure that we can make that as seamless as possible for parents uh this summer but yeah parents will have there'll be consent from parents um and then that'll be part of the relationship that the parents have with hazel then in terms of if there is insurance that they could be billing for those services and in the event that there's no Avenue for paying for the services then it will come out of the the state fund okay is it a crisis Service as available like on demand or is it more for ongoing regular therapy more for ongoing okay
038any other questions for Mike okay if not this is an action item make a motion to approve the Hazel Health tele theapy agreement second we have a motion and second is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand thanks Mike um next board policy update first reading um we have an update to the purchasing and bidding policy Y and I there's three here so the first two um one is policy one 103 it's a long range needs assessment we're not proposing any changes but through a Grant application we found that uh this one's required to be looked at by the board annually so we're putting it forward for the first uh reading no proposed changes uh the second one 401.165 background checks for those staff and fingerprints we have to put
039this policy in effect that dictates the proper security access and dissemination procedures for that information so that's what this policy governs and then the last one is the purchasing and bidding one um this one is there for your review we didn't change too much but we wanted to clarify to make sure that there was something in there that dealt with our preference for local businesses so it's the second uh the end of the first sentence and the second sentence in its entirety uh just highlights that the board supports economic development in Iowa particularly in the district Community if applicable statutory purchasing preferences shall be considered in accordance with law so just means we have to follow the law but um such preferences would include consideration of purchasing goods and services from locally owned businesses located
040within the district if the cost and other considerations are relatively equal and then it spells out some other things but that's the main part of it and we just wanted to clarify that that that uh consideration exists for the board to take uh uh to take into consideration when reviewing uh bids and quotes and that there is preference given for locally owned businesses uh if cost and other considerations are relatively equal so happy to answer any questions on that but that uh that's the main section that we added just to clarify that a little bit make a motion to we got to approve that right yeah make a motion to approve the uh first reading of the board Poli updates second we have a motion a second is there any other discussion all those in
041favor raise your right hand motion passes thanks John um next board priority through the board's Financial stewardship we will provide operations technical curricular resources to staff teachers and administrators so that all students have consistent and sustained achievement there's several action items here um the first one is the Dalma carpet replacement all right we'll go through our uh summer list of projects for the summer Mr D will cover you want to do these individually or all do the first two together for now so the first one is um the Dalma carpet replacement uh recommendation would be to approve the bid for Dalma Elementary carpet from floorida ceiling at the cost of $77,200 189 with that uh we received three bids on that project so uh obviously for SE being the lowest the second one is the
042James bathroom flooring uh recommendation to approve the bid for James Elementary floor epoxy from bertini at the cost of $1,970 and with that project we received two bids for that um and both projects being done this summer it's okay with the board will approve those two together make a motion then I make a motion to approve uh items A and B second is there any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand okay Dave will do item C by itself okay item C is the OS fire alarm bid award uh recommendation to approve the bid from Van monen for the replacement of the OS fire alarm and intercom system at the cost of $368,500 th000 with vanm being the winner of the bid we had their specs reviewed by the engineer to ensure
043that everything was being met and we had the blessing from them that work will be accomplished aspect hey Dave um and that I guess that was kind of one of because that's kind of pretty big discrepancy on mids and I know they've looked at it and all that but it's you know we've had some you know bad luck I guess in the past not necessarily recent past but going back some years I just want to make sure we watch you know any change order type stuff when we see this big of a discrepancy sometimes it feels like they change order it up and it ends up getting closer to what everyone else bid and that's hey if they can do it for that price that's great we save a lot of money I just want
044to be just make sure that we kind of keep an eye that they don't try to do it that way 20% about that's a big savings yes yeah I had the same concern as Dave did I think I just thought that from the I mean the you know the second third bid were you know 40 some thousand but then when you look at you know your first and second bid I just for that amount of money that just seemed like a lot of difference so I spent some time talking with Mike about it and I think I still got some worries but um like Dave said if we can get done for that and no change orders I guess I'm I'm pretty happy but and what um I mentioned to Dave uh Brian is that
045uh the expectation is we won't have any change orders because what they bid is the is what they need to bring it in on uh price-wise I will say we also checked on just past history recently because I know some of the more longer back and I recently we've had good luck with them as far as uh doing quality works so does this interfere when if this is going on why school's going on how does this um I guess so if there is a fire or anything does that affect anything our system will remain operational at all times when the kids are in the building so there's some back room stuff that they can uh reconfigure that will not impact the safety okay of the building okay we'll vote on this one separate as a
046standalone motion to approve second any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes and then um Dave if we could do all of those OS ones together all right so the next one is the osct hallway asbest abatement contract uh recommendation to approve the contract with Rew services for the removal of of asbestos at the cost of $2,933 and a contract with EOC to conduct air monitoring EOC is the company that uh handles all of our ASB bestus abatement and they they actually uh bid that out themselves and we had four companies bid on that on that project for us uh next item uh ohos lock locker room coach's office and hallways flooring recommendation to approve the bid for OHS locker room area floor epoxy from bertini at the cost of
047$48,750 is that Mark bertini me is that Mark pertini out of De Moine yes okay I know I know him he's a good guy yep uh ohs wrestling room windows recommendation to approve the bid for installation of windows in the OS wrestling room from Bridge City at the cost of $144,000 that one we had uh five bids or sent five out and got three back um ohos Media Center carpet the district requests approval of the bid for the OS Media Center carpet from Florida ceiling at the cost of $ 35,5 43.77 cents um OS Media Center lighting and rooms 206 and 208 the district requests approval of the bid for the media center from R Ridgeway electric at the cost of $13,250 os uh lighting proposal recommendation to approve the OS exterior lighting project bid
048to Winger companies for 203,000 dollar or and $500 with installation tentatively set for May 2025 and I can just I'll just add a little bit to that too Don is um we have some pictures for the board and and for our audience what that will look like the lighting Landon if you can put those up so this this aspect of the project we will finish off the the downlighting on the building itself uh for a total of 36,500 uh the next one is the the walkway that's gives you a little bit of an idea of how that will be lit up and the colors will be lit up um that is at $52,000 and then the last one would be the lighting around the competition gym this isn't a great it because it will actually
049go all the way around the competition gym uh at 15,000 we did talk uh at our work session about potentially uh if it if saving money we could do maybe not do the back of the competition gym and when we checked on that basically the feedback was is that it probably wouldn't look visually aesthetically very good if we did that but also um you would we were assuming it might be half the cost or something and it really wasn't it was about 35% of the cost reduction so the recommendation uh on that from the lighting company was to go that it would make a more sense to go ahead with that um this is kind of another bid that there was you know quite a wide range of of bid uh prices on it uh
050but it's at 23,500 uh again the expectation would be that it would be done for that amount we wouldn't have a lot of change order so any questions from the board on any of those I just got a question on the hallway abatement um so we have nothing going on on them floors is that correct when right now do we have classes they're on that so when they do this abatement how will they do we we surely can't have kids there right spring break we're going to start uh they're going to set up the Thursday we get out at 2 o'clock after the kids are out at 1: they're going to start setting up and we'll start a batement Friday and we're expected to expecting them to be done and out of there by Friday
051the next week okay thank you any other questions for dve R Don otherwise we'd be looking for a motion to approve these six OS items motion to approve second we have a motion a second any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand okay next one is Demolition and controlled burn agreement recommendation to approve the demolation and control burn agreement with the city of atuma with this we're looking probably uh sometime in March when the fire department will come over and uh start their training exercises on those houses spring break is is the idea time when the kids aren't there they doing all four of them I think we're going to do uh we can only do three of them because the lion has a pole right in the corner on Larry's house
052and it feeds those two houses back on hackberry and in talking with Brad zon from Alliant he's it would be very costly to move that power so if our plan is to take the first three and uh try to stop it before it gets too far into the fourth and then we'll have to demo it at that point so you're so you're saying we won't be able to do the fourth one at all not on not on a burn oh okay I got you yeah we'll get it demo we'll just have to demo yeah gotcha okay uh Sanitation Services agreement recommendation to approve the sanitation service agreement with Bridge City Sanitation LLC frk agreement uh recommen recommendation to approve the agreement with frk for architectural support for Eisenhower secure entrance and the James classroom walls
053and doors and then the last one is the construction house sale agreement the construction house sale agreement uh is in the board packet uh it would be sold at $270,000 right now the closing date is March 12th for that uh it has been inspected as well and there was just some minor things that that we need to do as far as uh on the inspection so any other questions about these four items otherwise we could approve these together I make a motion to approve JK l and m second we have a motion in a second any other discussion all those in favor raise your right hand motion passes thank you next is superintendent report thanks Christina um really the one thing I have for the board tonight is John's going to give a kind of
054an overview of our property tax what what par what parents what community members will be getting uh as far as notice for property tax and we kind of wanted to go over that with the board give you a chance to ask questions but really also for our audience tonight is really kind of an opportunity to clarify and how how to read this uh the property tax bill as well so turn it over to John yep thank you so this is um part of the the budget process to set the 2526 budget and we uh it was new last year and what happens is uh last year the date was around the middle of March um they moved it up to March 5th this year is our deadline where we have to submit what we anticipate
055our maximum property tax levy would look like so um there's two issues that we're running into first is March 5th is almost here in the legislature is not done yet um so we don't know what that SSA percentage is and that's fairly important so um what they recommend is that when we publish that on March 5th if we don't know the number for sure we use the number that would generate the highest uh possible tax rate that we would need because um if the legislature doesn't uh give us two 2% or 2.25 or or doesn't end on something uh we can always come down we can't go up based on that number we publish so we publish a number that's already possibly a little higher than what would actually be the other issue is that
056they changed the requirements of this statement so what I've got here is a worksheet that uh one of our um agencies put together to kind of show some issues that are that we have with it uh but it's too late to make any legislative changes so they uh the first line there where it shows residential assessed value and the First Column shows 100,000 and next shows 110 that's what the statement will show uh so they're building in a 10% Assumption of assessed value um there the a little bit of an issue with that is that not everybody's property goes up 10% uh in fact this year I know the notices have gone out it's it's fairly unlikely um they did this after last year and they just uh built it in there the other thing
057that happens is if properties did go up by that much they adjust the roll back percentage to roll it down a little bit so so there's couple flaws with this um the other the second line in there is the roll back um the First Column is what it was last year the second column is what it'll be this year and that is the number that they assign uh basically that's how much of your property is going to be subject to property taxes so that went up this year so that went up to 2.3% um so with those two things in mind the the fourth column there is tax rate so if we leave the tax rate alone with no change 14.67% 6% increase because of the way they've changed it h it has to be
058printed it shows a 10% assumption and assessed value and it includes a 2.3% % roll back increase so even if we don't do anything that statement's going to go and everybody's going to see it and assume that there's a 12.6% increase when we haven't done anything so be ready for this and and we just wanted to share that uh in the meeting to kind of show that that uh that number does not reflect what we believe reality would be um like I said first off not everybody's property went up turn 10% uh and if your property did go up a good amount the roll back percentage scales that back so um there's some flaws with this statement we have discussed it with the legislature and a lot of our organizational groups have uh but it's
059there so this is what we are are looking at uh the other thing to highlight is that um we are the first on the statement so the school district is first the statement will go it shows the county and the city as well uh so as taxpayers look at it please understand there are three different entities on that statement uh the city's at the top but we don't control all the rates we just control the schools um so yes so Landon scroll down a little bit further on that one shows that 2.3% that's that is uh a more realistic portrayal where we take out that automatic assessed value increase uh the roll back that P that that we can't change that gets set by the the state every year so that went up 2.3% so
060what it means is that uh the formula they use to figure out how much of your property is subject to property taxes that went up 2.3% and that is something that's handled totally out of our hands um so for the school district we just wanted to point out those two things that are kind of working against us uh those statements are going to show some big numbers they don't reflect uh how it's actually going to play out it's kind of due to the way they built this legislatively so uh the same thing would apply to commercial so if you scroll down to the next page there um it's the same thing except there shows uh a 14% increase because they're doing the same thing uh they use a $300,000 start uh they assume that your
061res your commercial property went went up 10% so um it it has the same effect here but in reality that bottom section shows with all things being equal and only taking into consideration that roll back change the increase could be just 8% so we're we're just looking at some challenges with that statement as it goes out uh we are set to submit that information to the uh Treasures or the counties on March 5th and then they will mail it out sometime after that date uh but we we will have our budget presentation later in March like I said it's pretty early uh but they they bumped back uh the date for these statements to go out so we have to send it and hopefully we'll know SSA by then but it's anybody's guess at this
062point so are there any questions about that I guess the easy way to explain it would be to say look at the tax rate because it's the same yeah that the the statement is um I don't want to say it's intentionally complex but it's it's intentionally confusing uh they don't highlight the tax rate they focus more on dollars and the formula they use is not something that could ever be done they they apply the current or last year's tax rate to uh this year's valuations and then try to back it so it's just a sloppy statement so we do what we can to try to show this and when we do our budget presentation we'll have a more accurate representation that kind of shows um that that year-over-year look the way we've always looked at
063it uh these statements U are a little different from that and the same thing uh one other point to highlight is just as those statements come out like I said the schools on there so will be the city and the county um in a t in a lot of districts um the school is actually the the second highest recipient of property taxes and in a tuno it's a little different the city's actually at the top of that list um but they're not listed on the top of the statement so we we just ask everybody to look at it and and get a representation of these are the entities that tax the citizens of atuma uh the school district is responsible for our little portion and we don't expect big changes with that I have no
064idea what the county or city has planned but they'll have the same issue with us where where that statement's going to going to look bad uh but it's it we're we're not looking to raise everybody's taxes 12 to 14% um and we'll be able to share that information at our budget presentation later in March so John they make it go off so because the House and Senate one one's a two and one's a 225 they make you go off the 225 since one higher right is that what you're saying what we actually do Brian and and it varies with every district is we'll plug in the two the 2.25 we'll put zero in there and we'll see which one generates the highest tax rate because that's what we want to put on a statement just
065in case okay um so we can because we can always come down so if if zero generates the highest tax rate we would assume that um the tax rate publication would go out and then if they gave us 2.25 we're allowed to lower it back down okay but not vice versa so if we used one and then they they didn't make a decision or change their mind at the last minute and who knows what we wouldn't be able to to go up to where we needed to to be funded at the level uh to support programs we'll just go ahead and take that two and a quarter though I yeah it's it's still low but it's it's the best we got right now so that's what we're hoping for I I think it's important to
066emphasize to our community that uh our our tax rate has been very stagnant uh we have not raised it much and we don't Envision doing that this year um so we try to be very good stewards of the tax rate but there are challenges this year because of the way you have to report it and and we're certainly uh if you have questions as a community members uh please reach out to us we'd be glad to answer those but uh it's just going to be a little more difficult this year to kind of explain it yeah that's all I have Christina sorry yeah next is board member topics nobody has anything to share next is adjourn make a motion to adjourn second we have first and a second all those in favor raise your right
067hand we adjourn for