S-O Board of Directors' Certified Budget Public Hearing #2, April 20, 2026

001And I'm power. >> I mean, someone could show up. Yes. No, it's going to be here to comment. >> Okay. I was like, I died again. >> My bad. >> Is Yep. I was just going to say, is that flipped? Tom will be here. I was telling him before he got here, he might be late. He's but he's on his way but he might be late. Jennifer is going to maybe try and join remotely but she's at the um track me which I'm glad I just said that cuz I didn't do that yet. Let's see. Do either of you have a record? >> No. Okay. >> Thought I'd ask now. All right, I got 5:30. The stream's working. I just tested. >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. I got 5:30. I'll call the board of

002director certified budget public hearing number two to order. Uh the first item is >> is there anyone here to speak for public budget hearing number two? Guessing not. And no one turned any paperwork either. So >> okay. So there being no one here for public comment, would there be a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> All right. It's been moved and second to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. >> All right. We are adjourned to that. It is 5:31. Switch over here to that meeting. All right. I'll call to order the board of directors uh April meeting to order. Would there be approval of the agenda? >> Make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right.

003It's been moved a second to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries. All right. The first item is schoolboard basics. Yeah. Uh the five schoolboard basics. Put students first. >> Follow the law and your own policy. >> Respect the chain of command. >> Base decisions on shared objective information. Operate in the public eye. >> Okay. Um I'll read the Sibliochean mission statement. At Cibiochen Schools, we build partnerships to challenge minds to invest in community and to embrace life. All right. Next item is visitors public forum. >> We didn't have anything turned in. >> All right. Moving on to the consent agenda items. >> There was just a few more bills to add. pretty normal stuff. I think >> make a motion to >> Can

004I add one thing before? Yep. Sorry. I was um I was just say thank um thanks for on the resignations some of the or all of really the people that put in whether they're sponsors or instructors for their time and dedication to the district with the resignations there. We thank them for that. And then on the policies reviewed I'd sent this to review committee but all of them were following legal guidance. There wasn't anything substantial that we chose. That's why I have it in the consent. It's all things recommended by ISB and legal council to make changes. So, there's really nothing substantive to explain. >> Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. >> You're good. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Okay. It's been moved and second to

005approve the consent agenda items as presented. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. Uh moving on to administrative reports and principles, Mr. Dazelle. >> Thanks. So yeah, we as my report states, we are in the middle of our assessment season. Currently kind of right smack dab in the middle of administering our ISASP, the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress Tests. In case you were wondering what ISASP stood for, um, uh, fourth grade, our fourth grade took it last week. Very pleased with the effort and dedication of our staff and students. And then today was the first day for third grade. And so they're working through here, hoping to have all those tests in our building completed by the end of the week. Um, as mentioned in the report here,

006there are some things that we will some data, some information that we'll get back based on the tests here by the end of the year, but um, we won't have the full report and um, progress or um, analytics for us until like August is kind of what I heard. So, that's a little bit frustrating, but uh, we work with what we're given. So um fast assessment our testing team is working and making plans for our fast our final um assessment windows. We do the fast reading and I ready math three times a year to be able to check growth and see progress or see places where uh we're missing for kids. um that'll give so the math will be given by the classroom teacher sometime in May and then the fast reading will be given

007um by our testing team and um and classroom teachers combination um kind of the first week first full week in May. So again we use that data to look at are we are we hitting everything are we making sure students are making the appropriate growth. So, um, we gave the ELPA assessment credit to Miss Reer and Miss, uh, Mrs. Honin here, um, at the secondary level, but Miss Reader in our building for given that that's a pretty, um, extensive test to measure progress for our language learners as they continue to grow. Thank you. I have done that multiple times. Mrs. Hen at the secondary building, not Mrs. Honen. She teaches transitional kindergarten. I knew what you meant. >> I I apologize. So, um yeah, and then getting ready as the next kind of couple paragraphs,

008getting ready to wrap up the year with some field trips, kind of tie in everything that was learned together through some uh experiences, celebrate our year. Um working through staffing. Um super pleased to say that I have offered and had both of our open positions accepted. So maybe kind of look for a possible special meeting as I talked to Superintendent Deo here today. Um so look for those names to come out. So super uh just really thrilled that we are a where we are. Feel like we're at a really good spot. Like to say an extra thanks to those who have given time for interview committees and some of those kind of things. Couldn't do it without our teams. So they are huge input. It's a huge time commitment but um really good and feel

009like uh we're in a good spot there. So uh wrapping up evaluations here in the next month with the summitive evaluations and conversations and um continued to focus on the academics and the the progress of our staff as well the professional learning. Um and then for our professional development, we continue to focus on um the teacher devel professional development plans. Uh wrapping up those goals, making sure we we hit those goals. Um and then we've also spent a lot of time on working through structure and timeline for PD for next year. So kind of a lot of information that I went through quickly, but um and then at the bottom of my report is staff attendance. So, I will say um I've been very pleased with the conversations I've had with potential with our candidates

010for potential teacher hires. I go through the list of five board goals and really reinforce to them how important uh our staff attendance is to the school board. So, thank you for that um that backing and that push and tell them we want to hire good people and we want good people to do their job and so um it's good for them to see that as well. So, I do appreciate this. It's not always fun to try and collect this data, but it's it's good data to have. So, thank you for making that a priority as well for our kids. >> So, so you're saying both these the early childhood special education and the ELLL teacher, those positions have been filled in. >> Correct. >> Okay. Good. >> Weren't able to finalize that before the

011end of the week when we published the meeting because >> Okay. >> You wrapped that up today. So, that's why off the process. >> It didn't. Yep. It didn't meet our 24hour >> publishing window. So >> otherwise we would have but >> we yeah >> wrapped them up end of the week last week. >> so I might say something we might have just uh we can do it remotely at some point this week over noon hour. >> Okay. >> Uh quick meeting that that would basically be to approve those hires. >> When are the teacher contracts due back? >> April 7. >> Gotcha. >> So we're past the date. >> Yes. Okay. Perfect. Yep. >> All right. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. All right. Mr. Herz. >> Yeah. Some similar information. Um I

012I must not have been very optimistic, but I did finish the the fall master schedule for high school. So, there's some fine tuning to do yet, but when I wrote this, I think I put nearly completed. So, I did actually get it done. Grateful for that. Big thank you to Mrs. struggles, Jennifer Brookxford and Twi for their work. Uh just a lot of hands and a lot of time go into that. So appreciate their support. The middle school master is done. Uh Julie Schuler did a great job with that, getting all of those pieces organized. That has to be done before I can do the master because we share staff. So appreciate her getting it getting that done early this year. Um, middle school and high school are nearly done with ISAP testing. We just

013have a few students that were sick that have to make up testing. So, we're working through that this week, but should be done with plenty of time. Potentially have everybody done this week if students are here and ready to test. So, we did a new testing format here. Everybody tested in small groups with classroom teachers. We ran two-hour late schedules, three days. So kids tested from like 8:10 to 10:10 and then we ran into our late schedule after that and that worked really well. So we have a lot fewer makeups and like did not completes to work through using that schedule and that'll save us time here on the back end. So it's a good change and overall feedback from staff has been positive with that too. Um community outreach, we do have a spring

014cleanup on Saturday, May 2nd. Uh, I believe they changed it from 1 to 4 though, 1 to 4. Um, so encourage students that need community service hours and staff and and community that are interested to volunteer. They will meet here at the school on May 2nd and then spread out to their different projects, but going to focus on um parks, trails, school property, that kind of stuff. So, yep. Excited for that to happen again. We do have the career fair and sophomore career day tomorrow. So, I think we'll have 28 local businesses at the career fair. That's how many have signed up. Sophomores had a choice of three different tours to go on. Kind of a small business tour downtown. Um kind of an egg and manufacturing related tour. Um CMBB and um CF. And

015then like a healthbased tour. So they'll go to Proactive, the hospital, and the nursing home. So they filled out a survey and we divided them up based on kind of what interests they had when they completed that. The sophomores will come back and have a career panel in the auditorium. So some people from the community will answer some questions about their careers and how they got into that. And then we end the day with a career fair in the gym. So that's we'll have about 28 tables set up for different representatives from the community and maybe a few from out of the county but mostly all county employers. So excited for that. In addition to this day uh for the first time we're going to do what's called an adulting day. Something I stole from

016Okaboji. They do a full day. We're just doing like an hour and a half, but uh have some community experts coming in to talk about things like insurance, benefits, um personal finance, banking. So, they're going to meet with seniors in small groups uh tomorrow afternoon. So, excited for that opportunity for our seniors. Staff, I'll just be getting started next week with the final individual teacher professional development plan meetings. So I'll meet with each staff member as the final check on their goal for the year. Um big focus next year professional development wise on curriculum develop curriculum development scope and sequence. I think that's needed just with new curriculum and staff turnover just given our our teachers more time to make sure they're hitting standards and that they have a a plan that helps students be

017successful for the whole year. We did our decap grading. Um it was submitted on April 1st, went down to do grading on maybe the 6th or the 8th. Um they have changed things again. And how they do that, uh if you're new, they change things every year. That's why it's a little funny. But now there's no longer a score attached to it. So if you remember my presentation, we you know, I I shared our score, our overall score. Well, they don't have a score anymore. They give you either proficient, advanced, developing, or um not applicable, meaning you didn't have it in your plan. So, everything that was graded, we were proficient or advanced on. So, we did well, but I don't have a score to share. So, my opinion would be I think we had

018a little better plan than last year, so we probably would have scored a little better, but going forward there won't be a score. Uh big thank you to our decap team. So the teachers that have committed time to help us develop that. Jordan Menning, Katie Schroeder, Katie Colling, and Teresa Rugles also are very involved with that process. So appreciate their support. And I've got staff attendance at the bottom there. Any questions? All right. Any questions? All right. Thank you. >> All right. Mr. Dale, superintendent report. >> My computer's thinking really hard right now. >> Mine also is uh not loading. >> They are doing looks like ditch work out there for fiber out there. >> Hopefully not a bad sign for later. Um, I won't go through everything. The one thing as I was going

019through this, I always kind of compare or use what I'm did the year before in this and yeah, some parts of our jobs are very cyclical. So, there's a lot of things that, you know, I'm like, "Oh, we were working on that last year and tweaked for what we're doing." So, I'm not going to read through everything. Um, some unique things, you know, we Kendra and I have spent some time talking with um Oil Regional Health Center about the behavior grant and how that's gone and continuing that in the future for our students. and um I think the the benefit that we're seeing for our students in talking with our staff on that. So looking forward to continue to provide those services in school. Um obviously you've been familiar with some of the save and

020plea work and we've been focusing a lot on the projections and UA B stuff. Um, the one thing I'll add, Grigg and I, after a meeting with facilities, which we'll talk about here in a second, trying to move forward with some of the work in the auditorium for the curtain and riggings, um, I thought maybe we'd have something to present for you guys tonight to approve for spending on that. We don't, it's probably going to be a little more expensive than I was ballparking initially, but that seems to be like anything you buy with anything nowadays. But, I'm just kind of tailoring it for what we need to have replaced. and so forth. Um, so maybe we'll have that ready by May, June, somewhere in there. Um, that's what I'm hoping. So, that will be

021coming. It just wasn't ready for tonight and they weren't ready to go and we're not really behind an eight-ball with that anyway. So, we're comfortable with where we're at. Um, and I guess one of the other unique things I've had some meetings with Andrea body just with the OILA development office, economic development, and just, you know, continuing to do things to partner with the school and economic development because it's very cyclical, right? you know, we want enrollment up, but you got to have jobs and housing and just how we can partner together. Um, and how that all factors in in being in being good players with each other there. So, that kind of sums up everything for right now on spending. Did you hear anything about the football lights or the baseball lights? >> Football

022lights. um they are going to come and look at those because No, that's a great question because we're just within the 10 years from when we got them and a warranty on them. >> So we so some of the work I think it was in October is that when that ended the 10 years if I remember right. So hopefully they will have someone come to address some of those issues this summer and okay that won't be all of our expense. >> Um but we'll be doing that hopefully this summer working through that yet. I haven't progressed on the baseball part. >> Okay. Nope. Just I know those things could come up in a real fast hurry. So, >> correct. All right. Anything else? Okay. Moving on to board committees, policy and finance >> policy. just

023we had some that I sent out virtually that some were that were um required by ISAB and legal and so we talked about that in the um consent agenda and then I'll explain the two others when we get to that finance we didn't meet and then facilities I don't know we met you can kind of give do you want to give a highlight of the meeting Tom or >> yeah we just kind of went through different um wants needs um some of the things that we're looking at some of the things that Greg might be able to accomplish versus outsourcing it. And I think Stan has a kind of a wantish list of >> I'm kind of trying to prioritize some things. >> Five to seven things and he's just kind of going through them

024like the curtains were like the stage was one of them. >> Yep. >> Um but the our list might have been it's tailored because just depending on baseball needs and football needs, they might it might change what we can and cannot do. So, I think we'll I think you said it best is we'll wait to see what they come out with a cost and then be able to assess what we can do. So, >> that's really Yeah, that's exactly it. >> Yep. >> What's wrong with the football lights? >> So, if you look in direct when they're on, I can't look directly into them, but people who can, there's there's like their I don't know how to describe it. There's strips or bars and some of the bars are going dim or out altogether. >>

025Like you there's if if they're off if you look up you can't see what's working but you'll see what I mean. They're bars that are going across angled and some of them are not fully working or not all the way on. And we had a high enough percentage that they're going to hopefully send someone out because we had to take to verify it, you had to take a picture when they're on and then Amy sent them in and then they can tell from looking at it on a camera how many the percentage that's out. So they were going to hopefully line someone up sooner rather than later to come to look at it. >> And our warranties out this October. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Good time. >> So we notified them at the right time.

026>> It's a good time to notice it. >> Yes. >> Usually it works exact opposite. So I mean there'll still be some cost but it won't be completely lost because we're within the first 10 years the guy said. >> So >> okay uh moving on to recognition of excellence. >> So our three senior uh student council members all had other obligations uh tonight so weren't available school related stuff. So I'm going to cover that for them. from the middle school. Uh Lincoln Crowit applied for the Mary Honing Braille Award that is offered through the Iowa Council of the United Blind. Uh her son Mike Honing started this award and the Iowa Council has helped uh him keep it going. It is given to a student in Iowa every year. The last few years they have

027opened it up to a few other neighboring states as well. Lincoln is a lucky recipient that won this award this year and will receive a free Perkins Brailer, which I thought that seemed like a really good prize. And they do I looked it up, they do run between $700 and $1,000. So that's a pretty that's a pretty cool deal for him. >> Good price. >> Yep. High School, Yasmin Espinosa, Daniel Rosas, Michelle Acasta Portillio, Gay Beavers, Annabelle Chavez, and Violet Lingal participated in the space settlement design competition in Houston, Texas, March 27th through the 29th. They did exceptionally well. A special recognition to Yasmin Espinosa for being a member of the winning team um presenting and being selected as an alternate for the international competition in Orlando in July. talked with the students after they

028got back. They all said it was a great experience and that's been the feedback each year when we've had kids go. So, 2026 IHSMA state solo and small ensemble contest. A huge congratulations to our so senior ensemble members, Sakira Alanis, Jordan Carpenter, Rachel Dagel, Wyatt Cry, and Gabriel Vanderhof for their outstanding achievement. This ensemble earned a perfect division one rating, 40 out of 40. and they were selected for the IHSMA by the IHSMA for an outstanding performance this year, an honor awarded to only two or three vocalists or ensembles uh for the site. As part of this honor, they have been invited to perform at the 2026 IHSMA Outstanding Performance Showcase, which will take place on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 at the Simon Etsy Music Hall, Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. is a very

029meaningful achievement for me as well as I am incredibly proud of these five seniors who uh began their high school choir journey with me as freshman when I started my teaching position at CION. Um this is coming from Mrs. Lee. I am deeply grateful for the continued support of the school and administration which makes opportunities like this possible. And our generals of the week for March on March 6th, elementary, Jason Alivera Middle School, Camden Hodap, Connor Marco Carson Peters, Jack Saringer, Riker Gay Key, and Adrien Jensen. Raven Felix, Jose Lopez Gomez, and Alex Gonzalez for high school gay beavers. For staff, Kindra Highrider. On March 20th, elementary, Maddox Grown Middle School, Kate Lushian High School, Hadley Kraton staff, Madison Nagel. On March 27th, elementary estan Lopez Santes Middle School, Kennedy Turp, Alexis Braun, Quinley Taylor,

030and Addie Perry. High School, Brianna Jacobsma, and staff, Scott Ruckles. All righty. Well, thanks for reading that. Yep. >> All right. Moving on to discussion items. We have our curriculum presentation of fine arts. >> Hello. Good evening. >> Hello. >> Sure. Thank you. Okay, >> I guess. >> All right. So, behalf of fine arts and PE. Um, I have not all the PE. Uh, we we have elementary and high school. The middle school is in a different uh grouping, so I don't have him, but you can see our group there. Great group to work with. Elsa is new this year. He's an alumni. Come back to teach uh K6 vocal music for us. doing a great job. So excited about that and not having to worry about filling any of those positions this year. So

031that's great, too. Um any questions you have throughout this presentation was feel free to ask. Um Mr. Jose wanted me to keep it within an hour and a half, I think he said. So I'll try and cut it down a little bit, but >> for two. >> So uh no, it's great great year for us. Um I think we talked about that HSMA award too that's uh called the best in center. So all the students that perform in that center that day um for whatever school they pick one to get the top rating and so they got that from the the senior ensemble. So that's pretty great. So I just listed some accomplishments we've had throughout the year um by department for overall as a department for us classroom management stuff all that we've covered

032that uh quite a bit. Um I've tried to be the contact person for our new staff to help with that as well and they're doing a great job with that. Um we have regular meetings to uh assist with all that and planning and scheduling to uh make sure that all of our calendar stuff works and our auditorium scheduling all works well and they they really work well with that. So um we were recognized as a school for our participation in music in our schools month which is March. I received a certificate for that last week actually. Um band and choir participated in the Veterans Day program. Always a nice um event there. We enjoy doing that uh to be able to honor our veterans. And the fine arts department is ready for our fine art

033show which will be Thursday night. So that's coming up. Then I just listed it by different departments here. The visual arts department. You can see they were very active. They've had a lot of um art shows, different things they've been able to go to. Um couple things that have been highlighted there is they this magnet exchange. They've done this for four years now and and it they create that and share it out and there are 47 different cities and 28 states represented in that. So, that's kind of a neat thing that they have continued to do. Um, also we have 14 high school students attend I do art day at Munav Vista. It's a neat way to learn about art um careers and different things they can explore that way. They also had 19 students

034at the Munav Vista art show and uh Samantha Morales and Besa Gomez and some honorable mentions there for their work that they've done. So, that's really neat. They've been doing a lot of good stuff there. Um, I think the art show that we have coming up this week will be a nice highlight for them, but also for our speech, drama, choir, and band students as well. Um, we also have the fax department is going to be making some snacks and that kind of thing to share with us. Um, I believe the um, FFA going to bring some of their products up that they have cut out of metal. I believe uh shop maybe also bring up some uh things that they've created to kind of share with the public at that event. So that's something

035we added a little bit this year to make it more of a all school type event. Um let's see. Yeah. And then also the creative pathways at Northwestern College there. Same type of thing as the BV but different workshops and different way to uh hear about art careers. So um very active in that department doing a good job. Local music a lot of things happening there as well. Uh we have a lot of concerts going on throughout the year. Magical dinner was is an every other year opposite of the uh musical. So this year was a magical dinner year. Very well attended despite the weather. It was really well attended and uh was one of those days that uh the weather just didn't cooperate initially but worked out well enough to get it in. So

036that was nice. Um, also Ops Honor Choir, obviously we had uh two students there, Natalie Gomez Mitchell and Maverick Beningan who made that. Very high honor for students to be able to make that. A lot of kids audition throughout the year and and not very many people make that. So it's a great testament to their work and to uh Mrs. Lee as well. So also had three students make all state uh choir. You can see that there wire cry gave Vandy Hook and then Jordan Carp Carpenter is the first to open it. Um, again, tremendous work there being done individually and with Mrs. Lee to get that done and talked about the choir ensembles. And then our local jazz group also plays fifth place in state and that's great. If you watch that online, it

037was uh I enjoyed watching the whole group of 2A's go to kind of see where I ranked them and that was they did very well. So an excellent group there. So, uh, choir boosters of course are are busy and active and we do have a choir trip next year which we will probably be talking to you about it coming up here. So, fine arts or sorry, physical education page two here. Uh, they stay very busy. They did get new cornhole sets and of course pickle ball. They enjoy that. They do tournaments once a semester for those and that seems to be very popular. Um they also do a lot of different games and they work on scoring and u learning all the different rules for that to keep them aware of what's going on that

038to help them enjoy when they watch the other games as well. Let's see in the band department here. We had a good season for marching season. Um 6th through 12 marches. Not a lot of schools do sixth or seven eighth grade marching band especially our size, but uh we still continue to do that. They've done a great job. Uh Trader Bands is really well attended, very well received. We had a good high school marching season again. Had a lot of awards and some great things. Went to a new festival in Lamar's which I hope to go to again. Um nice place to do it. Nice and flat. Didn't have to go up hills all over the place with all of our equipment. So it really was a good one. We also happened to win the

039best uh woodwinds and brass at that festival. So that was kind of neat. Um pep band. One of the things we tried to do I was trying to do this last couple years is to get the pep band a little bit more involved and more students involved in it and we were up to over 30 members this year. So that was a a nice addition and I think it made a difference at the games as well. Uh students just got done well sorry I'll go in line here. We performed at the nursing homes before Christmas with the middle school students. Um it's kind of the your third fourth year fifth year maybe now I guess doing that seems to be very popular. Kids enjoy it a lot too. always ask us when we're going and

040so the the residents of course enjoy that and it's been a nice tradition to start and keep going. So ensemble contest for middle school just got done. Um we had all the students in six through eight participate in that. All the students received ones or twos and one of the judges did comment to the tremendous amount of growth that they've seen over the past years. We tried to hire different judges, but we've had one or two that have been with us for like four or five years. And they said tremendous growth. Just seen the difference from when we had COVID time and unable to maybe do everything we wanted to do up to now. Everything is just really continues to grow. So, that was nice of me to say that. Um, Somal contest for high

041school as well. Very good. We had I I have everyone participate in that and they did very well this year again. So, it was a nice number of people and did very well. Um, our drum line and middle school color guard performed at games. We tried to play at the Christmas parade, got frozen out, so we didn't do that one, but we kept trying to we'll get that in. Um, so we did get into a game anyway. Um, we also performed the Memorial Day services last year. We'll try to do that again this year. We have stuff in line for that already as well as good old summertime days and days of old. And Melvin has asked as well. We do get requests to do those things. It's just as available. Students are not as

042available as they used to be back in the day. So, I guess it's a as much as we can. We'd like to do that stuff. It's it's uh in my thought, it's never a parade without a band. And so, it's nice to have at least something there. So, we do that as much as we can. Um lots of concerts going on. We still have another concert coming up yet. Um our music program seems to be doing well and we continue to thrive. And I was hoping to be able to tell you that we got our ninth year in a row of of best communities award, but we haven't received that yet. They're supposed to let us know in April is what they said this year. So, uh we haven't got that yet. So, hopefully it

043is. We've had it eight years in a row. We hope the ninth year will be this year will be another uh one of those for that. So, that's coming up. Hopefully, we can have that at our meeting next week, next month. So, yeah, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of things happening. uh very busy. We all work together well. So, it's been a lot of fun things going on. Upcoming events, you can kind of see what's going on. We have honor choir, fine art show, middle school, high school concerts coming up, large group contest, lots of stuff going on. We're taking the senior music members, senior students that are m in bitten music to uh production of the music man and Sou Falls pavilion on May 1st. Choir and bamb boosters working together

044with that to provide that for them to reward them for all the work that they've done. Um yeah. The rest of that there is for you to read. So that the bottom there too. Thank you everyone for your support of our programs. We we realize it takes a lot of time on your part. We appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> Any questions you have, I'm glad to answer them. >> Is Jaden Klein Hess is he also a teacher? >> He is. He's he's um in a different team because he also teaches um business type of classes as well. >> Computer he computer science >> middle school tech team. >> Yeah. So he's on a different team but yes he does he's the middle school connection there but he's not on my team. So >> yeah

045very nice. >> Yeah. Thank you for your support. We appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to two-minute board policy and finance moment. So, I don't have any trivia or finance and update you on something waiting on legislation here that Kendra and I have been talking a lot about um since I put this in last week, Senate File. I think it's in the house version as well potentially in the governor's proposal but the the short version of this is over the year we've talked about our UAB right our unspent authorized budget balance right we haven't talked about it as a percentage a lot which I'll talk about later here but in some of the housing propos or the property tax proposals excuse me there's a a proposal for schools not to carry

046a balance higher than 35% of the prior year's expenses. Okay, going back to FY25. So for us, we're at about 42% that 7% over. We're just estimating your ballpark parking at about $700,000 in authority. Okay? Doesn't mean you lose that cash, but authority. So, don't know how we're just giving you a heads up here about how we're handling it or if this will pass. But if it does, because the legislature is going to wrap up here shortly. Some schools, depending on where you're at, you might just absorb and take the hit on your UAB, but some might want to spend that down. Well, the the problem with spending that down right now is when does our fiscal year end? >> Do you know when's the fiscal year end? >> June 30th. June 30. So in

047order to do that to get yourself down the spending limit, we have 60, what is it, the 20th? So 62 months and 10 days to get your balance down. Plus the book work on your fiscal year. And typically we don't have our our year in the book work finalized till September. So a lot of schools are going to be rushed into figuring this out. So we don't have the answers to this. It wouldn't be anything drastic. But there's things like instead of paying for buses, as an example, out of saved, we pay for it out of general fund. So we spend down our UAB a little bit so that we um don't lose that builtup authority. That works. The disadvantage to doing that is you're spending down your cash. So just kind of giving you

048a heads up, we don't have the full solution. We don't know if it'll pass, but if it does, we might end up having some additional spending items in May because with that, if we spend or pay for some additional items that we weren't, we would also have to amend our budget and you have to have that done by May 30, May 31, excuse me. So, just kind of giving you a heads up. We're thinking through what are things that we can do that wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but we can do now to kind of leverage that if that would happen. And is that the right path for us? I don't know. We've been talking through that, but I I I don't want it to be an all a sudden we get to May,

049this comes through and we present it to you guys for the f the first time and you're like, I've never even heard of this. So, um if it doesn't pass, then I guess there's nothing for us to go forth for schools our size. Why this is a concern with our projections. You got to remember last fall was the fall our enrollment was down 45, right? This year, I think we're going to end up okay with our UAB air projections. we're going to be even or it's going to grow. But we're we're projecting that to go down naturally next year because of that with this legislation. That doesn't give us the opportunity to afford to allow that to happen naturally if this would come through. So then we got to kind of think through what does

050that look like? How do we best position ourselves to handle that? So kind of a vague presentation there, but just kind of giving you guys a heads up questions with that. So, like with the lights or potentially like the stage, could you utilize some of that to bring down? >> That's the type of things the things that we're already planning to do. >> Yep. >> Instead of paying for that out as an example. So maybe like the bus is out of saves or or whether the st I'll use this this stage as an example that we would um instead of paying for that if we would get that done by June 30 instead of paying for that out of ple do we pay for that out of general fund to kind of use those reserves

051and then that also leaves your balances a little bit higher in those funds that you could maybe do a bigger project a year from now right >> y >> maybe we couldn't handle I'll give you an example maybe we can't do all the roof at once but if we don't spend from that this year because we you then maybe next year we can do a bigger section of the route. I'm just throwing that as an example because that's, you know, that's what we're talking through. Or is it not worth using down our cash to get that UAB and just take the hit on UAB because I think there's some schools that have a high UAB balance, but they're not sitting as strong a cash position. So, they're probably not going to spend that down and

052then you just lose that authority. Um, because eventually if your cash gets low enough, then what happens is you it's called levying for cash. Okay? and that that raises taxes. So, I think the long-term implication of this, the idea is it was to lower and provide tax relief. I think the long-term implication over if this passes over the next four to five years, not in Cibine, but statewide, is I think taxes will actually go up as a result of this because you're going to have more districts spend money to spend your UAV down naturally instead of, you know, they've made conscious budget decisions to let that build up to, you know, for years where your enrollment goes down to absorb that. Not being able to do that anymore, they're going to spend that down with

053their cash position. Now, they're going to levy for cash, which is property tax. That's my own personal philosophy on that, but I could see that happening statewide and an unintended consequence. So, is that going to answer? Yep. >> But what you're saying is kind of the things. What are we planning to do now that maybe um we would just pay for out a general fund to spend that down? Is that something we want to do? That's kind of what we've been talking through because it's kind of hard to create a new I mean with the timeline to have it done and paid for right now that we weren't already talking about. So there's only limited because you have to do it this year >> and it has to be done. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Or

054or paid for it. But most of the time you don't want to pay for stuff till the work's done, right? >> Would agree but >> or at least build back to this year. though. >> And I guess lights might be an option just depending on if they come out soon enough and how quick they can come around. >> Correct. But >> again, >> if they don't show up to like as an example, I'll use >> June 15th >> and then they don't work on it till July. >> It's out of >> Right. Exactly. >> where the buses give you that option because we're planning on it. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yep. >> Is there quite a bit of opposition to this from >> from schools in schools? >> Yes, there is. There's concerns over that

055because what happens if you've been making a conscious effort to build up your UAB over time with the idea that the next few years you might spend that down because there's schools that have done that. We're in that boat, right? That we could spend that down, but we're comfortable with that. But now you're kind of taking away some of that planning that happened, right? And I think some of it school finance is difficult. And so it's it's hard to explain to your unspent balance is not the same as cash on hand. And I think some people think that legislature included if you're not up to date on school finance. I get that. But um it doesn't mean you're s you know unspent authority is different than cash. It just it just is. It's not the

056same thing. >> Why why are they asking to implement this? Like what are they seeing the >> So it initially came from my understanding is from a group presented to some legislators that s thought statewide schools are sitting on collectively too much unspent ballots. and so kind of forcing some school districts hands to spend that down. So, as an example, we went through and just looked at a bunch of area schools where we're sitting at, right? So, we're at about um so it's a percentage of your expenses, your un your your unspent balance your carryovers is about 42%. Okay. Um I've said this for the last year and a half that we need to which we're going to update a policy tonight on this but um knowing what range you're comfortable at, right? And trying

057to have that as a goal. Okay. And probably 42 is as high as it needs to be for us. But we also know in the next few years we're counting on that going down and that's okay. There there's schools with a lot higher balances. There's there's schools statewide that their unspent balance is over 100%. Yeah. Right now, some of them have that high one, but they don't have the cash to back that up because it's not cash and unspent authority is not the same thing. But I think some legislators see that as that they're sitting on, you know, all this pile of money, which they maybe are sitting on some money, but not necessarily all of that because there can be a disparity between the two. And so, um, but that looks different. a school

058our size, what we're sitting on, comparing it to, you know, a Mason City or a De Mo, you know what I mean? The amount of cash you're sitting on looks a lot different because us spending a million dollars is a lot different than De Moines spending a million dollars, right? That that that pays for a lot of our budget where that's just a drop in the bucket for them. So, that's also the what's acceptable as a percentage for a smaller district looks different than a larger district. Was this a percentage that the Iowa School Board Association recommended like to stay at 12 15? >> Is that something? >> So way back. No, way back when I think our policy and we're not going to propose changing it here later tonight, but going back 15 years

059ago, 16 years ago at about the 2010s, there was an economic downturn and a lot of schools budgets statewide, sibly achievement included, were lower. UABs were really low. So, a lot of schools put in place trying to get your target range of five to 15%. Because many schools were below that or struggling to get at that over time, the last few years that's been built up. And then in the last 5 years, last month at our budget presentation, we were talking about that and we were just showing our growth at that time. And one of the reasons a lot of schools in the last 5 years budgets have gone up well is the COVID money, right? And so that's dramatically increased the unspent balance in the reserves for many districts. that wasn't in place 15

060plus years ago. And there's different policies and things that have changed over time that that affect that as well. So, we could have something more to talk about in May, we might not. But just kind of a heads up. >> When legislation done, >> um the 100th day of the session is supposed to be tomorrow, I think the 21st or the 22nd of April. I haven't heard that they're proposing wrapping up yet. Um, usually that's a good guideline because after 100 days the legislators they don't get their pdeium anymore. So, a lot of times they like to wrap up by then because they don't get their daily predium, but it's not uncommon for them to have to extend a little bit. I have not heard today whether they're think they'll be able to wrap up

061or not. >> So, you haven't answered either way shortly. >> It's not going to be May 20th. And >> I hope not. I would think >> I don't have an answer yet. You can have this figured out in every budget by May 31st. >> Well, and that's Yeah. Right. Correct. I I hope that in the next week or two that whether this passes or doesn't pass, we'll know because it the the timeline just keeps getting shorter. If if you're going to make a choice as a result of the legislation to spend this year to spend your balance down, the the time's limited. >> There's not a lot of time left. There just isn't. >> Did I kind of have everything? Did you have anything to add beyond what I said, Kendra, that we've talked about?

062I think there's that we talked about this is the Senate file, but there's three versions. The House file and the governor has a suggestion and the Senate. So, I think there's all some all three of those have some version of the same thing, >> but they haven't they can't come together yet that we've heard of anyway. >> And where does the 35% come from? >> Like I I don't know any magic with that number. Most of the feedback that we've gotten says that the legislators truly don't understand unspent balance and what they're as being asked to approve. So, it's kind of disappointing. >> Yeah, very much so. >> All right. All right. Any questions on that? All right, moving on to new business. Consider approval of new contracts. >> You can see the recommended contracts

063to be approved there. Most are um supplemental or um schedule B, but we do have one Kylie Parks for fourth grade elementary >> that we're excited about. >> Is she a first year teacher? >> Yep, she is. Or she will be. >> Will be. >> She will be. >> Where'd she come from? Do you want to answer that? Sure. I do know the answer, but she's currently at you and I. She's taking online classes. We're very fortunate because she's student teaching with us as well. So, got a firsthand >> Oh, nice. >> Firstand look. So, >> nice, nice, nice. >> And Jace is a new teacher for next fall, too. >> Yes, we approved him last month. >> Yep. To be in the middle school, but um recommended for high school assistant football turnup. Yep.

064Jace Weedman. Correct. And then like I said, we had two elementary ones that I'll probably um that and one other item we'll do a fivem minute board meeting someday at noon this week that you can remote in on. >> Okay. >> I haven't done any setup work on it because this literally literally happened today this afternoon. So >> y did we just add a bus driver or did we lose or somebody >> regular route driver for next year to replace someone? Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> I think in the earlier we had a >> reation correct. >> Yep. >> From Y >> for the second time. Yes. >> Yeah. >> I was like I'm pretty sure. >> All right. >> Tired came back. So, >> any other questions on >> be a motion? Motion

065to approve the new contracts as presented. >> A second. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the new contracts as presented. Any discussion? Uh hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion carries. Consider approval of TLC and mentoring contracts for 2627. >> We approved all the contracts for next year last month. Are issuing those. Um, and then following through on that, we have to issue the and these are usually secondary contracts for our two instructional coaches are Katie Schroeder and then Barb Williamson. And then our TLC curriculum leaders, that's kind of the role that Kelly presented tonight. Um, as an example for fine arts, it lists them there. And then the mentoring contracts um listing the people and whether they're in their first year. These

066would be the mentors. Obviously, they're not in their first year, but they'll be mentoring someone, a new teacher here in either their first or second year. All right. Any questions for Stan on that? >> Is it required of a new teacher that they they are mentored for two years? Is what >> if they are on their initial contract? Yep. they have to have a mentoring um program of some type whether that's through the A or we've found more benefit doing it ourselves and following the curriculum. Um if they're beyond that and they have their full license then it's a district choice. So we've done that sometimes with some veteran teachers coming in and some veterans we have not just kind of depending on their experience and where they're coming from. >> About two years then

067they're done. >> Yep. Yep. Correct. >> Yep. >> Assuming they meet all the requirements for the program. >> Yeah. Okay. We we do have the option to add an additional year if needed necessary. >> Okay. >> Motion. >> Yeah. >> Uh make a motion to approve the TLC and mentoring contracts for 26 27th. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the TLC mentoring contracts for 2627. Any more discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Consider approval of 2026 graduates. I've attached the list of our um graduates, our expected graduates. Of course, they have to meet all of the requirements. um 51 total on that list, four are marked with an asterct. Those are our early grads. Um so they're eligible

068to return and be a part of the commencement and and all of that. Um so I mean they're included on this list as well. Definitely this group has done a good job of being on top of things compared to maybe some previous years. Um, we do have a few that need to complete community service by uh May 1st yet. So, every year there's a few that uh >> that wouldn't be on this list yet. >> No, >> they are included on this list, but it's pending that they meet graduation requirements. So, they have to have those hours done >> for the May 2nd cleanup day won't qualify that. >> No, they had it done before that. So, nope. But before this group has done, they've been on top of things. Everybody's completed CPR. Um, credits

069wise, everybody's in good shape. So, it's just a handful of kids with uh community service hours, which is I'm less concerned than I've been in previous years. >> So, what would we consider graduation rate of this class? Like, they all meet community um community service hours. Is it 100%. So, of the seniors we have, 100% of them are graduating, but the state calculates that a little differently. So, based off of who began here in 9th grade, how many of them are graduating now with their class? I'm not I don't know that number off the top of my head. So, you lose some kids to um you know to drop out um over that time span, too. So yeah, it wouldn't be 100%. >> And that just be dropout number. It wouldn't be if they went

070to a different school. >> Correct. Right. >> Yeah. So if they open enroll then >> it just comes off. >> Yep. Then it comes off of those. Um depending on the online enrollment that could come back to us. >> Depending on when they drop. So if they're still compulsory age, they come back and they have to attend. But if they're after compulsory age and they drop, they don't necessarily have to return to an attendance site. So sometimes I think that happens and we don't find out until they show up in our numbers that they went online, didn't finish, then they come back and they become our drop. >> Gotcha. >> Which is seems a little unfair to me, but >> basically any kid who comes here in high school becomes part of that. >> Yep.

071until they either one graduate or if they leave and then enroll at another place then it becomes their student right so they leave in here and go to Sheldon y now it won't affect us cuz but if someone left I'm just I'm using Sheldon because they're a neighbor started in Sheldon came here in 10th grade let's say right so we never seen them before they come here after a year and say this ain't worth it and they drop out >> their problem >> that's our dropout >> whether you agree with it or not that's our dropout and I don't mean shelters That's not what I'm saying. I was just using them as an example. They could come from Colorado, come from another country, right? >> So even if they enroll in online high school because

072they didn't come to >> a site basically, then it still becomes back on us >> even though they enrolled there. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Because if you >> if you stop if you're if you're compulsory age and you stop attending, they're required to return to their attendance site in person or, you know, declare that they're homeschooling. I mean, there's some other options, too, but yeah, if you're 17 and you stop attending your online school and don't finish, you're we're attendance site. So, my understanding is we take that that dropout, not the online school. So they could have done two years of online and it would still fall back on us. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> It was an accredited online. Yep. >> Um >> that's so crazy. >> Mhm. >> We're definitely we're aware of,

073you know, who those students are that have >> chosen to go online. Um because that's an open enrollment. It's it's tracked that way. I don't know that we're tracking who has chosen to go online and then stopped yeartoear and because we don't get uh they don't share with us like hey Johnny graduated >> you know so did they stop attending because they graduated or is it >> so you really don't know till your report >> shows up >> for those specific circumstances Mhm. >> Interesting. >> But happy with our our seniors. They've done a nice job. They're they're in good position. >> I guess uh I'll make a motion then to consider approving the 2026 graduates. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the list of 2026 graduates as presented. All those

074in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Consider approval of FY27 certified budget documents and authorization to file with county auditor. >> So we had budget both budget hearings. Tonight obviously no one showed up and I said I won't comment till the board meeting. So the final budget really not a lot's changed but if you remember I said we couldn't accurately tell you what the rate was cuz the legislation was set after we had to publish the first meeting. So I can tell you that now the numbers and adjustment right now our proposed tax rate would be $10.76 decimal wise it goes 762220 um is what the rate would which is what we said we would guesstimate it but we couldn't officially say that. So that's usually the biggest thing people want to

075know, right? Other than that, not a lot numbers wise changed since our last um budget hearing. So what's the process is is that we have answered questions. No one had them. We approve that tonight and then we have to show proof of publication and then Kendra presents that all with the county auditor and we have to have that filed here in the next few days and then we're good to move forward. that rate could be slightly in most years it is slightly adjusted after the legislature wraps up and any final things um any adjustments that they make is that doesn't put us at risk that they change and adjust that because of legislation and the um department of management will finalize that. So it's always usually a few cents different than from what we publish

076and approve the final rate always ends up that slightly different never exactly the same. So, not that anyone notices, but >> Mhm. >> make a motion to approve the FY27 certified budget. >> I'll second. >> It's been moved and second to approve the FY27 certified budget as presented. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed? Motion passes. >> All right. Consider approval for um forgiving miss time for students and staff. Last month we did that for seniors, but I said we'd have to wait because we wanted to see what would happen in the next month. We haven't had any additional days, so we really only have one missed day. Board policy says the school calendar states the follow. The board may amend the official school calendar when the board

077considers the changes to be in the best interest of the school's educational program. Really, we're not changing the calendar. will just forgive the the misay. That is my recommendation. Um I always say not every snow day/weather day is created equal. Um I think there's a difference between making one up and three because if we'd have to make it up, we're coming back on those days after Memorial Day. Um if we had two or three, my personal philosophy is then I would make different recommendation, but since we only have to one to make up, I I recommend to forgive that day for students and staff. Make a motion to approve the one miss day for students and staff. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved in a second to forgive the miss time for students

078and staff of one day. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Motion passes. >> All right. So, there two separate motions here, but I'm just pulling up the stuff as we discuss here. So if you remember November, December, I don't remember, we kind of presented some initial stuff, did a motion to move forward with work and the the bids from Thomas Bus Company and I said we weren't committing ourselves to anything and when we had that information I present it to you later. Um Amos has done a lot of work on this. Appreciate his work on this time spent with him. Kendra looking at the budget with this. So, um, we have, regardless of this, we currently have five leased buses, just to explain where we're at,

079right? Those will end come June. Okay, that's that's a given. Technically, two are in the middle of the next year, but ignore that fact for right now because the flat ones. Okay, there's so we have five lease buses. They don't the what EFX are the flat nose. So the bigger ones with the flat front, the production schedule on those are behind. So there's no new available. Okay? Even if we wanted to go that route, there's no new or least ones available right now. They're about 9 months to a year out on that. Okay? So that's not an option. The regular what we refer to um Amos talks about the um C2 buses are traditional ones with the hood on the front for lack of a better word. Right. Okay. So, what we're what we're talking

080about I got to pull up the the right quote to here. Um, we have two of these. This is for one. So, we double that. And that's what the motion reads. So, the burst the bus purchase here when this ends in June. The two flatnse the Thomas EFX. This is for one. We're doing this for two of them. I'm just trying to make sure I'm doubly stating this right. Um, we're recommending purchasing that out so that we own those two buses. Okay, those are the flatnse ones. Okay, the acquisition cost here to buy those, and we're the only ones that really have put miles on those, right? Is $69,950 a piece, okay, for the used bus. If we didn't want to do that, the only other option would be to continue the lease on those

081and it only be for one year. Okay. The ending lease price to lease that for an additional year because companies don't like to lease for a year to lease those for one year and then it's not ours after the year. If you add 45 and 20 27, I'm going to round up 28,000. So 45,000 plus 28,000 comes to about 73. So, if we're going to lease it for one year, it's going to be about 73 grand. And then it's not ours after a year. If we buy those two outright, there's the price per bus. 69,950 and we get them for beyond a year. Okay. So, does that make >> Sell them? Do it right. They're yours. >> Yeah, we could say if we don't want them, we could sell them. Correct. I don't think that'll

082happen. We'll probably keep using them, but >> Correct. We can do whatever when we buy them out. So, does that make sense? Okay. So, that's why I'm going to kind of explain both motions and we'll go back. Right. So, the purchase one we're talking about this is for one, but we have two of them. We're talk we're recommending buying two of them. That's why the motion says I think I put the Yeah. $139,91 because it's that that price times two. Okay. the lease. What we're looking at doing is we're recommending then leasing four of the C2, the traditional, the ones with the hood, the the nose on the front. Okay? If we were going to buy them outright, buying those four would be 586,000 and change. 586,500. Okay. to lease them for one to three

083years. Okay, if we did a three-year lease, okay, that's going to be for um the first three years 122,000 and then at the end you have a balloon payment that's 293. So whether we go a three or 5 year lease, that doesn't change. Leasing them for 5 years, you can see that payment drops down right from 122,000 to 83,000. We've done the last series of years, we've done a three-year lease. What we're recommending on these is to go with the five-year lease at 83,000 a year to lease those buses for 5 years. Does that make sense? Okay. So, if you're adding them up, we had five lease buses. We're recommending buying two and leasing four. You're like, that's six buses. That is correct. Um, so that would add a bus to our fleet. The other

084used ones we have, but like Amos said, we've had a few times recently where we've been really tight where we've had two buses in the shop. We need to send We really needed to send two out that night, but we couldn't because we need seven B routes for buses. Okay, we only have 10. So, you had two in the shop. We only have one left over. So, then we're kind of mix mass, you know, in the spring here. You never know when something's in the shop. And like he said, the our used ones are paid for. You might have some expense. So, yes, we would go from 10 to 11 buses right now. Um, if we need to get rid of one in the future, we have some higher mileage older ones that we would

085have, but right now, like he said, other than maintenance, they're they're free and they help us out in a pinch. So, yes, we are recommending one more than what we currently. Does that make sense? Okay. So that's what we're recommending is the flat nose those Thomas that we buy them they become ours and then we would we think that's more efficient than looking at leasing those because we couldn't lease any brand new ones this summer anyway and we think this is a more affordable option for us. We were looking at doing that anyway, but there's none available to lease. And then we would lease the other four Thomas buses. And we we're recommending kind of going from a cost-saving things over the next handful of years instead of just looking at three years doing that

086over five. There is more interest with that obviously, but that is a lower cost per year in terms of like our save dollars, especially with some potential legislation where they're looking at cutting back save dollar distribution to schools. So that's kind of my explanation of both of those. Hopefully I gave an overview of F and G. They're the um agenda items. So obviously it's two different motions we'd make, but I thought it's easier to explain that all together. >> So wonder are these C2 buses just more available then? Is that are we when would they come? I guess >> we would get them in June the lease ends and then we would acquire them in June. Yep. >> But they're more available than the EFX or flat. >> That's my understanding. Yes. They said there

087wasn't an issue with the supply of those. >> All right. And this is So you're looking at maybe purchasing these out of the general fund then if this >> So normally we would do this out of save, >> right? Okay. >> Or Pebble, right? Yeah, we've Yes, we could. We've paid for for the most part our bus leases and purchases out of save. That's And then we've used save for buses >> leases though. >> What's that? And Yep. >> We've only done leases. >> Correct. >> But leases out of save, too. Sorry. Whether we purchase or lease. Yes, I misspoke. That's But out of save and then paying back our two revenue bonds. That's primarily what we've used our save dollars for. Yes. Yeah. >> So, going back to that other agenda item is we

088would look at if that passes and we have to spend it down, we would pay for this out of general fund as a way to spend some of that unspent authority down. Going back to that topic. Yes. And then you'd have some save dollars built up for a bigger project maybe a year from now. >> Now, I would only recommend that if >> that's legislation know that you you can wait to do that until we know. >> Yeah. Yep. >> But with that amount, you'd buy those flat noses and would you look to purchase these four other ones? >> No, we would look to lease them. >> Only lease them. >> Mhm. >> Due to the We can't afford to do the 586,000 this year unless we decided we needed to spend that out of

089general fund. I guess that could potentially be an option, but um we don't I'm going to say no because this contract is execut. It's due tomorrow. We got to let them know our decision. Um I don't know if that said that on here. I I just Yeah, they sent us the quote and then we have till the 21st to reply to them because I told them our board meeting was on the 20th. What were we spending on bus leases leases before per year? >> Good question. Do you throw that off the top of your >> Okay. >> I've heard the number, but I don't remember it and I don't want to say the wrong number from memory. >> Let's see how good your memory is. What would you say? >> 134,000. >> I'd say it's

090more than what these are quoted for. But you're also leasing one less bus, >> correct? Yes. >> Yes. >> For f And for five years instead of three >> instead of three. >> I think Amos when he gave us a presentation earlier like the lease prices jumped astronomically again this year. Like >> they did. And plus someone a different district is get got a quote for a new just to point this out EFX bus that they were getting this summer. They're kind of going back and requesting it because the quote for the new bus was 190,000 >> and they were questioning like they should have leased it instead of buying it or kept the old one >> whether they wanted to spend 190,000 on a new bus cuz I think they were questioning because it

091was more than what they were anticipating. >> Yeah. So what you're saying it's a pretty good deal for two two-year-old buses and >> yeah three year old now >> three >> yeah you never they've overall run well for us >> that could change to you don't know >> say that >> right that's why I wasn't even say that but but if he had an issue with it he would have said I recommend buying these two >> how do the owned buses usually go then like when you own them do they stay till they kind of die or does trade them in Or you have to >> some schools could trade them in early while they still have some value. Some will ride until they're deaf >> or until their salvage value is way down there.

092>> But Thomas does take tradeins or take buses back or it's your responsibility to sell them. >> Your responsibility to sell them. They'll take them back if they were on lease, right? So that's what they're they're going to do with these um three remaining buses. They're they're going to take those three back. >> Okay. >> And then they'll look to sell them or lease them to someone else. Right. >> Okay. They will do that because of of the lease. >> I think that's typically what siblings done, hasn't it? For the last. >> So, why did we get into this game? >> Can't tell you the year when we were looking back. Obviously, before I was in this role, but even before Kendra was in that role. >> No, I was here. >> Were you here

093when they started that? >> Way at the beginning. Way >> at the beginning. >> 2014 is my >> Okay. I thought you said it was the year before I misspoke. Apologize. But there were there were also some usually when you make this choice at that time there's legislation or financial incentives. So there were some incentives to do the leasing at that point that have since gone away, right? But that's what I think got them as in the board at that time to make that choice. But once you're in that that role continues now, the advantage I mean there's a little more cost, but the advantage is is you're turning your buses over a little more often and then newer buses for your routes, which is ideal >> and you have a lower cost, >> right?

094I I have had two districts talk to me about this in the last few weeks just because they are purchasing buses but with their costs it's very prohibitive from buying new ones and they're looking at doing a lease because they're like we have some really old buses we use every day and right now for us to turn over our bus fleets not like the costs are astronomical so they're looking at ways to do that because they've been not buying a bus to save a few bucks. I'm not criticizing their decision. I'm just saying I've had some conversations and they're like, "Tell us about the lease problem." So, I mean, >> is the lease uh I don't know, say you're in a position next year, you want to buy a bus, can you buy a lease

095out early? >> You could, but there's usually >> usually it's more effective to do it at the end of the lease. >> Not that you can't do that. >> And technically, we are doing that with the EFXs. >> Yep. because the last go around three years ago they were delivered late >> because they weren't here at the same they were supposed to come in the summer and then they didn't come till the middle of the year. So technically these two EFX buses I've >> I didn't want to confuse this at the beginning because but technically their lease is in the middle of the year but they're allowing us to have the end of the lease for all five buses at the same time because that's that's way more convenient for a school >> to do

096that and they know that. But the plan was 3 years ago for them to come in the summer, but two of them didn't come till February maybe if I remember right. >> So is it two separate motions? >> Yes. So the first one is about pying the two EFX buses. I'll make a motion to approve the purchase of the two AFX budgets as or buses as presented. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the two EFX flat nose buses as presented. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. All right. Motion passes. We have consider approval of bus lease financing. And >> so then we're recommended for the the C2s, the five, but and we haven't done this before, but just talking through

097budgets and with Amos, and he was comfortable with this just kind of as a way to lessen in the immediate future here, the the cost doing the 5-year lease, and he did not have an issue with that. Excuse me. Make a motion to approve the four Thomas C2 buses on 5-year lease. >> I'll second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the quote the lease of four Thomas C2 buses for 5 years at a cost of $83,632.65. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed? Motion carries. >> So the short version of this is approving a letter of support for Sous Center. They are looking at starting it's called a therapeutic classroom, but re really what it is is um uh a school for really students

098with high level special ed needs. As an example, we have some a student right now potentially some more that are going each day to Lifecapes in Sou Falls. It'd be that type of um needs that they're looking at meeting >> because nothing is done reach and they have students that are going there as well and rather than sending that money out of state they're looking at starting that and just having it this letter of support would not commit us to anything financially but they need that for some of their funding and some of the other things so I put the letters that they sent to us as an explanation and then what our letter of support would look like. The only reason it would tie us down financially is if in the future we had

099a student that qualified and we felt we would want to send them there because then we would pay for that like we would >> right >> lifecapes or anything else, right? >> But we don't pay for it if we don't have someone going there. But this is a letter of support for them to continue the process to get this started. How many kids you think go to Lightscape out of Northwest Iowa today? Um, I know I'm I'm counting districts that I know for sure are going there each day and I'm just quickly counting in my head. I'm at eight already. >> I was going to say 10, but >> yeah, I'm I'm sure I'm low on that, but I just went through quick that >> kind of neighboring district cost like taking kids up there.

100Do we >> If you can share transportation with another district, schools look into doing that. some of the times the high needs of the kid that's not >> a great option, >> right? Yes. You know, or interaction, you know, because we've reached out to schools too and like the one school's like, "Yeah, we we can't share rides. That's not >> not an option for the needs of that student." >> Besides a student cost per se of, you know, it's no longer attending siblings attending. >> Um, is there another benefit besides instate? Like is there any other benefits besides I mean it's a probably a little less miles >> little less mile travel easier for um Medicaid billing purposes when you're not going across state lines >> and access to some state level funding that way.

101Um, some of that maybe doesn't directly impact but indirectly does impact us >> because some of the differences between special ed law between out of state placement like South Dakota and Iowa. Some of that we've seen in the rubber ready and just on some wordings and some reports and what we need that they normally don't do. >> That would be avoided when you're doing that in state. >> I just didn't know if they also offered like if the state is offering like hey we're trying to keep it all in state. So, is there any other talks behind the doors that are saying, "Hey, if we keep it in state, >> I've heard of that the last few years. I have not heard of much of as much talk of that this legislative session. I heard

102a lot about it a year ago." >> Y >> trying to build more support so those dollars stay in state. I have not heard as much about it this year. >> Okay. So really what you're voting on here is just to approve the letter of support. The board has to approve it and then I would give it to Sue Center or send send it to Sue Center. Where do we go? >> Make a motion to approve the letter of support to the regional therapeutic school. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the letter of support for the regional therapeutic school. uh as presented. Any more discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion passes. So to move forward with automatic payments,

103trying to explain this automatic and online payments. That's a a thing in the state that schools and auditors aren't big on happening. And so, um, they're opening some allowable uses to do some automated and online payments and specifications. One of the things we need in place to do that is to have board approval on which vendors that we're allowed to do that with. >> So, right now, here's some examples, not some examples. Here is a list of some automated payments. Vendors, they initiate the payment with them and then somewhere we would initiate it online. Um, so the automatic payments would be to Lion Energy, the city of Sibi, Premier Communications, and then the online ones where we would initiate it online, like you log into a site and you pay that would be Pittney go

104Pittney Bose Global Financial Services, that's for the um the mailing machine, the postage machine. Um, purchase power >> also the mailing. >> Okay, thank you. I just drew a blank on that one. >> Pney Bose is we we have to pay a lease for the machine. purchase power is like the ink and that kind of stuff that we have to that goes with it and postage >> and then the FNBO is who we go through for our um district credit cards. >> Anything I missed, Kendra, that you wanted to add? >> Honestly, some of the reason we're wanting to do this is because the mail service is slow. >> I don't know. Also, I know that some vendors like give you like a 1% like if you're online paying, you can save also by doing

105it online. They don't have to worry about it. >> So, we've had a few times where we got the next month's bill and then we got charged a late fee and then we were able to talk them out of it. And the reason we got charged a late fee is you guys approved it and we sent it out on time. It >> was just surface mail. >> Correct. Okay. All right. There'll be a motion to >> I'll make a motion to approve the automatic vendor payments as presented. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and second to approve the automatic vendor payments as presented. Any more discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. >> Motion passes. So, I'll try and make this simple and pain painless. We are a

106part of a a group called Iowa Star and then collectively that group purchases insurance plans for everyone as a member and I believe there's 27 districts that are a part of this. Um, we attached an updated new 28e agreement that needs to be approved by each board as a part of this because Iowa Star is moving forward in going with self-funded insurance. Okay. A self-funded insurance ban. As a result of that, they fall under some of the requirements of the Iowa Insurance Commission because basically they're be not literally but almost literally becoming their own insurance company. Now, they're not offering it on the open market, but they're providing the insurance for the Iowa Star Group. Okay? Iowa Star Group has a very high rating, and um once you're in it, you're in. But there are

107schools that have tried to get in that have not been allowed in. So it it's a good thing to be a part of. So it's an this is an updated 28 agreement that was needed to be updated since we're moving forward with fully self-funded insurance. The I say we the Iowa Star Group, not simply cheating on their own, but it's um and as part of that process, this was required updated language through the Iowa Insurance Commission that was required. I put in there. I did add one thing from when we published Friday. They just had an updated they sent an email on Friday and we were out of the office, but an updated wording on the motion. So, I added that today of what the motion should the wording of the motion needs to be.

108So, I put that in there and then we would approve it by roll call vote. That's recommended, not required. So, we'll just do a roll call vote since it's a 28e agreement. And the biggest things that changed um on that, here's the example. The one they sent us today just had an approved or updated date on that, right? Was there one other item? >> I think >> just the date, right? >> Just the date. >> The date. And so the updated agreement >> is attached. I suppose you could have read it if you were really border strike notice or something. >> What? >> I was just glad to see it wasn't you had to read it for the motion. >> No, we do not have to read the entire um resolution or agree. >> Go

109get dinner. So I did amend that just I didn't delete or change anything but I added that so that that was on there and what the on the motion needs to be to approve this. I'll make a motion to move to approve the amended 28E agreement dated effective June 1st, 2026 subject to any additional edits required by the Iowa Insurance Division in connection with the trust certificates of registration application. >> Second. >> Okay, we'll do a roll call vote. >> Jamie, >> yes. >> Denise, >> yes. Arthur. >> Yep. >> Time. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Okay. Consider approval of Viser Brothers Plumbing and Heating Pay application number two, MSRV project. >> Yep. This is required per the contract. Um the ERV units are in. They're currently being housed by Visser Brothers and

110we're actually having a meeting with them tomorrow with all parties involved and just kind of so far things have gone well. Those are in the fencing's down and just you know um Kendra's going to be there, myself's going to be there, Greg's going to be there, people from Visser Brothers, EDA who's kind of the architect or engineers, excuse me, overseeing this and just kind of a game plan all parties on board so we know what's happening. We're going to do that tomorrow. But this is the um payout number two. So with this payment like some of our other discussions could this >> Yes. >> If it gets a if the legislation happens in the next couple of days could pay from the save. >> Yep. So um from the general fund instead of save or

111ple right so and we we could do a >> we're out of save but we can transfer >> right. We can transfer if we paid out of save we could later do you know and you guys could recommend it and we could >> transfer out of the general fund to reimburse. Yes. This is another example of something we thought of cuz >> it's going to be when this is all said and done 300,000 some. >> So yeah, you're those these are the things we thought of the existing ones. The ERV buses. >> Yep. Okay. >> Per our earlier discussion. Yep. You're right on board with what we're saying. >> When will these be installed then? May >> this summer they're going to start working on tearing them out and putting these in like the day

112after. >> I always want to um Memorial Day. >> Oh, day after. >> I was about to say Labor Day and that that would be not good. No, Memorial Day. >> At least they're in. That was kind of >> Yep. Yep. They did arrive on site, right? >> Well, not our site, but this brother's site. >> Yep. >> How will I ever know if I have a pump going on in my car if I can't hear it from the middle school? >> Hopefully, the squeaking will go away. >> I'll I'll make a motion to consider the approval of Mr. Bubbler's plumbing and heating pay application number two for the middle school ERV project. Second. All right. It's been moved and second to approve Visser Brothers plumbing and heating pay application number two for the middle

113school ERV project. Any more discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. First reading of board policies with changes 209.06. So, this one I had sent out to the policy committee. What I'm recommending is in the rotation moving one of the series up a year. And here's the reason. I had a note and I left it on my desk. But in the 200 series, I think there's a total of I I don't remember what it was, 30 or 40 policies, and in the 300 series, there's 40. The 400 series was something like a hundred. And so rather than next year being a really light year and then the year after being a lot because there's a lot of policies in the um in the uh uh

114board of directors policies that really there's not a lot of content to like one of the policies is the oath of office. One of the policies is duties of the president and vice president. There's not a lot of content to them. So moving up the rotation so that um in the year when we do the board of directors the 200 series we do the two and 300 series together that year and then the 400 series which is for the employees like staff certified and non-certified staff doing that on their own because I think that'll balance out the rotation. That's really the only change. Everything would by moving it up would still be within the five years. Y Just a motion to approve the first reading. Yep. The following policies 209.06. >> Yep. >> Second. >>

115All right. It's been moved and seconded uh for the first read of board policies with changes for 209.06. Any more discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion passes. First reading of board policies with changes 701.05R1. So I've been spending fair amount of time on this. I made the recommendation and then the legislation came out on red maximizing your UAB. But we'll move forward. um spent some time looking at other districts, looking at some recommendations and things that talking with the finance committee. I'm kind of presenting this because it's kind of in the middle. It's policy, but the policy committee doesn't deal with finance. We've talked about it with the finance committee, but it's a policy. Spent some time with Tendra on this. So, what we're recommending is, and

116we've talked about this in the last year or two, we just I we just have said often times what is the right range? We don't know that. But our policy is maintain an unspent balance ratio within the five to 15%. That was probably set up in the early 2010s when everyone had a low percentage and were struggling, right? I don't know that that was the right range, but what is the right range? So, we recommended changing that to the following. Maintain an unspent authorized budget ratio within the 10 to 30% target range. I think that fits our needs better. Um, and then that allows for the inconsistent funding from the state, declining enrollment, and the uncertainty caused by any recent school legislation. I did not think of that on my own, but I got that

117from some other district's wordings. Um, but I think it encompasses what we're trying to get with. So, that's the that's the only change there, but kind of putting our target range for that at 10 to 30%. I might in two months we might have to change this because of other legislation. But when we started working on this, I didn't know that was going to happen. >> But really won't have to change, right? They're just saying it has to be below 35. >> Yeah, correct. We just got to decide is >> do we want to put it at >> do we want Yeah. or leave it 10 to 30? >> We we were comfortable with the 10 to 30% and if we're above that knowing if we spend our UAB down, we're okay with that until

118we get to that range. I wasn't anticipating them putting an arbitrary limit at 35. I didn't know that was going to happen. So, make a motion to approve the first reading of the board policy with changes to 701.05R1. I'll second. >> All right. It's been moved and second to approve the first reading of the policy 701.05R1. Any more discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. All right. Looks like we're asked to go into close session. >> Make them. >> Are we Well, does anyone Do we want to use the restroom before we go in or we get >> I'm fine. >> I'm okay. >> I'm fine, too. just asking me as long as we got to. >> Thanks, guys.