001We got junior wrestling here tonight. >> Yep. The toolk that's about recognition of excellence. after that >> 45. >> I'm sorry. 5:45. >> Okay. Well, it's 5:30. >> That's why I was like, well, it's 5:39. >> 5:45. [laughter] >> Yeah. If that works. If if we get ahead, I don't we will, but if we get ahead, we can jump to something. >> Yeah. Or >> worst case scenario, I can read it and he can >> cover a different week if he wants. That's cool. >> There's junior high wrestling. >> Oh, it's 5:30. Do you want to get started? >> Give me one second. >> This is streaming, but I'm going to double check. Never mind. It's working. Okay. So, we'll just do the calendar one first. All right. All right. It's 5:30, so I'll call
002the first public hearing on the proposed 2627 district calendar meeting to order. [clears throat] Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> I'll make a motion to obtain the agenda as is. >> All right. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> Motion passed. >> I don't believe anyone signed up. Is anyone here to do public comment on the uh proposed calendar for next year? Nope. And these I told Jamie this at the beginning [music] of three public hearings. It's the opportunity for the public to comment on it and then during the actual board meeting we vote and you guys can ask questions. But this would be if the public wanted to comment. Now is
003their time. So [snorts] >> all right. So hearing none. We have a motion to adjourn. [snorts] Second. All right. So there's a second to adjourn the public hearing. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion passes. >> Okay, it is 531. So we could go to the next one. Can do the amended budget. [snorts] >> Okay. Okay. So, we'll call the public hearing on the fiscal year 2026 amended budget to order. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> A second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to open the public hearing on the fiscal year 2026 amended budget. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> All right. Motion passes. >> And I'm assuming no
004one's here to comment on the amended budget either. >> All right. All right. Hearing none. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> Make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded to adjurnn. [snorts] All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. All right, we are adjourned. We have one more left. And I'll call the meeting of the public hearing proposed plant specifications on the ERV replacement. Have a motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> All right. So, it's moved and seconded to call the public hearing of the plan specifications of the ERV replacement hearing. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. [snorts] >> Motion passes. >> Can I ask you guys to speak up a lot with all that noise? It's
005really hard to hear anything that you're saying. >> You want to come up here and sit in the corner? >> Yeah. >> Maybe we'll have to have to move. >> Yeah. Why don't you guys move up here? >> That's okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> They can. Can you open that one? >> Yeah, we can. >> Yeah. >> But is the hallway door open? >> It's okay. [laughter] Stop. >> Yeah, >> dur. >> I know you're 3 minutes late. You miss a lot. [laughter] >> Three of these public hearings. >> I had to park at the elementary school. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> And I had to stop hot chocolate on the way, you know, to warm up after. >> Okay. So, it has passed 533. So, we can call the regular board meeting
006to to order. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Make >> a motion to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> The motion passes. All right. So >> guess we approved the agenda, right? All right. So now, uh, the five school board 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. >> All right, I'll read the Cibio cheating mission statement. And at Cibio cheating schools, we build partnerships to challenge minds, to invest in community, and to embrace life. All right. Next is visitors public
007forum. I don't know if anybody's going to pay out. >> No. >> Okay. Moving on to the consent items. >> Kendra, did you have any? >> No, there was a sheet of bills. It was just pretty normal bills, additional bills for the bills and then the retirement. >> The thing that I wanted to draw attention to, we don't, but if you go to the where I have it up on the screen, the resignations, early retirements, we did have three staff members, a little bittersweet here, that turned in paperwork, excuse me, for early retirements. So Daryl Tuji with middle school science, Brenda Tuji that um in the elementary because by them filling out the paperwork in the office that is what the requirement is and some of that's confidential, right? But Daryl and Brenda did turn
008in a letter um that I just wanted to read. It says, "Darl School Board, this document is to inform you of our decision to take the early retirement package offered by the school board in November. This letter serves as our resignation from teaching at Civil Union Community School District effective at the end of the 2526 school year. Our retirement comes with mixed emotions. Although we're looking forward to our retirement, it is still a difficult decision to end our employment as educators in the district. We're extremely thankful for the opportunities and memories that our years at Cibiochin have provided us. It has been a privilege to serve our community and the students, parents, and administrators within it. Our plan is to continue to stay in Sibli and support the generals and our community in any way
009that we can. We wish the best in the future. Sincerely. And then signed by Brendan Daryl. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that and thank all three for their years of service to our district. [snorts] >> Other than that, I didn't have anything to add unless you guys had any questions on the consent, [clears throat] excuse me, on the consent agenda. >> Any other questions? All right. If not, I'll take a motion to approve. >> Make a move motion to approve the consent agendas. >> I'll second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda items. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes or unanimously. All right. Moving to administrative reports. Um, I won't read verbatim. Mr. Deo, Kent Dale,
010is running the junior high wrestling meet that we're doing tonight. Kind of taking the role that I used to do. It's been snowed out the last two years. So, I told him to stay there and put what was on here. Um, and you can kind of read through that. The one thing that he did want to say, I thought he had it written in here, but he said they are taking steps to move forward with the math curriculum. He said they're down to two main ones with their staff and then they've been making some trips to other schools [clears throat] that have these curriculums in place. So, he just wanted me to add that. That's kind of where they're at with things right now. Um I know of a couple trips with different members of
011the people on the math team that have gone just to see that in place in action. So, that was the one thing he wanted me to add. Well, I didn't know that, but I do need >> Oh, and he says it right at the end of [snorts] PD. My bad. Right there. We have narrowed our choice down to one of two options and are making visits to schools that have successfully imple implemented them to help um our staff make an informed decision. So, that's all we [clears throat] got. >> Okay. Any questions on that? >> All right, Mr. Herz. >> Yeah, quite a bit in there. Just lots going on at the start of a semester, but I think things are off to a good start. Um, we're two weeks into our implementation of Minga
012and that's going well. Students seem kind of unfased by it and staff have picked it up quickly and so I think today when I checked something uh just under 200 passes, you know, issued or I'm sorry that was just one category like,00 passes for the whole day 5 through 12. So, it's used pretty regularly now and staff seem to be in the groove of using it. So far, so good. Uh, a lot of time and Mr. Zo's been in in some of some of these meetings. So, we're uh ESSA targeted. So, we have some things that we're doing there with the middle school team and our MTSS processes. Um, and then we're also have IDA uh level two, which is a more related to special education. So, there's some things we're working on there and
013just reports um and then different plans to implement. And so, we're in the planning process of both of those. And so far, that's going well. Got some meetings with some AEA representatives coming up this week and next week to work on that. Um next board meeting, I'll present our district career and academic plan. Every year I have to present just updates to the board on that. So that's how we are preparing students for life after um school. So that's that'll be next month. I'll present that. Um I Ready and Fastbridge testing in the middle school is going well. They're just finishing up our midyear testing there and so far uh things look pretty good but we'll have a better idea of our our growth our performance once all the students have completed and then that
014determines who gets intervention going forward for next semester for math and reading. So we use that data to identify those kids. [clears throat] Um, I did meet with all of our boys 9 through 12 in small groups just to address uh behaviors and go over expectations. Uh, you know, 110 kids in three days in small groups took some time, but I think good conversations and, um, was worth that. And then sent a follow-up letter to parents just concerning the locker room issues and yep, feel like behavior's been addressed and we're moving forward. for professional development. I'm meeting with each staff member individually to go over their goals for the school year. Really enjoy that time just to get to check in with staff and then this time around I'm also asking just feedback on Minga
015as I get to sit down with each staff member and so far it's been positive feedback there. Activities definitely a busy time of year. Lots of home events this week and uh yeah, it's just how January is. Large group speech contests are coming up. Jazz band and jazz choir practices are underway. Uh so just kids that are involved in a lot of things are very busy right now and that's great to see. Conferences are coming up for high school middle school. We have that early date on February 9th and then March 10th is our second date. Mrs. Ruggles does plan to do some FASA and college finance, college planning um meetings on for sure February 9th and potentially March 10th if there's interest those nights as well. So um staff attendance and professional development attendance
016is at the bottom there. So any questions [cough] [clears throat] on the locker room? Um, >> yep. >> I know we opened back up for gym this week, right? >> Yep. For PE, >> but outside of like weight room stuff and other extras, they need a coach or whatever in there. Correct. >> Yep. >> Is there I know a lot of parents voice concerns just walking about. Is there >> do we look at changing that or are we going to keep that that way through the end of the year? And then >> Yeah, my good question. And I've had a couple reach out similar concerns. So we're I would say unique as a district that we allowed so much locker room access unsupervised and that was a product of our weight room is a public
017wait room and it didn't have its own bathroom. So then card swipes were put in and then public or anybody with a wait room card could get access to the lock locker rooms and that you know we just operated with that public and and students having access and that's how we move forward. We do have a bathroom in the wait room now so we no longer have that access to the public. Um, so I I think it makes sense for us to transition to not having students in there outside of supervised events, team lifting, practices, games, those kinds of things. That is a change for us, but for the most part, that is pretty typical operation schoolwise. Um, >> yeah. Does that answer question? But we don't they don't have a shower or anything. So
018they go home like it only has a bathroom, >> right? It's just a bathroom in the room. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> I just know it's just I just wanted to talk. >> Yeah. It's definitely a change from what we've done and kids have had that uh I would say, you know, luxury of just they can go into the wait room, swipe in any sorry, locker room, swipe in anytime. Um but you know on the school side of things we've also then taken on that liability of people can be in there at any time and [clears throat] now we have an opportunity to [snorts] change that and I think that's probably the right choice. >> So locker room boys and girls. >> Yeah. For now we've made that change for boys. The locker room
019for the girls the new locker room is not utilized often. So the key the key swipes there are changed. They can't swipe in there. Um supervision is more difficult there for high school especially with the morning weights cuz we have male staff running morning weights. We don't have any female staff. So if it's it's opened and students female students can go into the locker room but there's no supervision in there. So just so those are some of the dynamics we'll have to figure out as we go through you know this change. There may be less supervision in the girls just cuz we have less female staff. [clears throat] >> What time does school start? >> 8:10 is the bell to be in class. Yep. What time is staff required to be here? >> 8:00. [clears
020throat and cough] >> Is this just high school locker room or middle school too? Cuz I know the one email had middle school/h high school in it. >> Yeah. So in the morning, >> I just think some consistency for all locker rooms, boys and girls should be implemented. >> Right. So middle school is similar to what is happening with the boys locked unless there's somebody in there to supervise. >> [clears throat] >> for sports after school and they do practice once a week typically in the morning. So, same thing there. Coaches got to be last one out, lock the door behind him and then our PE teacher unlocks doors when he has his first PE class. [snorts] Um, same issue there though, male PE teacher, so just less supervision in the girls locker room. But
021yep, middle school is consistent with the boys side of things. >> Did I get to what you were asking about right there? >> Um, well, I think what a lot of So, you got kids coming to school to lift weights, right? And just >> Yeah. Is there I don't think it needs to be open at 6:00, but would there be an opportunity that they could shower at 7:45, you know, get ready, get to class? >> You know, it just was a thought if like if staff is required to be here at 7:30, could somebody go staff >> open the locker room for them that they wouldn't have to get back on the road or, you know, not all of our students live in Sibly, right? So just thinking big picture, is there an opportunity that
022we could at least give them some window? I'm not saying it's got to be open all the time, but is there when you're working on the future? Is there an opportunity we can have it open? Yep. So it is staffed um three days a week for our strength and conditioning. >> Okay. >> So Jaden Klein Hustling does that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. So he's here and and does open the locker rooms and then kids have if they come to work out they have access to it during those times. Then I know football and other sports when they have team activities then coaches are here. >> Yep. >> Um so it would be the cases where students come in either like on their own or maybe with a friend to work out and there isn't staff
023here to supervise then they wouldn't have access. Yeah. Okay. questions. >> Anything else for Casey? >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. The superintendent report from Mr. Dao. [cough and clears throat] Um I just kind of put a highlight like we've discussed on some of the things that I've been going through with the district. I won't read it verbatim. some of the things um Casey mentioned because some of the things we've had to been working on together a lot of times with the IDA DA designations and other things and like um planning for programs and curriculum for next year. Some of the stuff we'll cover next year, but just trying to highlight um starting talking about finances and negotiations and costing for next year. It's taking up a lot of time.
024um starting on the budget, we did that our initial workshop on that this past week and we'll be hitting that hard here again as we move forward and then discussions with different groups and planning on the voted ple vote on March 3rd and what that will look like and plans for that. So, um I'll just leave it at that for now. [snorts] Okay, any questions for Mr. Deno? All right. Board committees, policy, finance, facilities, >> um finance. We met on the 29th. Um really just to kind of front the where we're at financially and some of the things that we've already talked about in our board meetings and getting ready as we um start on contracts and negotiations for next year. So, that's really what we met about there. I don't know if there's anything
025else you guys wanted to add. is really what we talked about, right? [snorts] Facilities we have not met. Um I'm still working on that to meet trying to come up with a guideline and maybe on some priorities and look at things that we have and talk with the facilities committee on maybe getting some of their input on some of our on projects and priorities of some of the potential things we could work on. And some of that's in flux depending on um what happens on March 3rd with a voted ple vote, but um we'll just move forward with a positive attitude there. policy. We did not meet, although I did add what was approved in the consent items. I emailed them at the end of last week, but it was really some clerical and updating
026things for my ISP. So, there hasn't been anything new with them. >> That's all I got. >> All right. Recognition of excellence. >> Tate Marco, one of our student uh council members for the senior class, is here to read the recognition of excellence. >> Do you know everyone here? Yeah, mostly. [laughter] >> I don't a few. >> All right. Middle school band. Sixth grade band students have been selected for the Northwest Iowa Strong Foundation sixth grade honor band concert at 600 p.m. at Bishop Nean High School in Sous City, Iowa. Leo Herrera, clarinet, Matthew Clawson flute. Juan Monzo trombone and Landon Herrera tuba. High school band, high school honor bands. Lindy Tracy, sophomore, auditioned for and was accepted to the Northwest Iowa band Masters Association Junior High Honor Band. She performed in Sous City at
027at Bowen Auditorium at on Saturday, January 10th. private child Genesis Hernandez and Lindy Tracy. Sophomores were selected to perform in the 50th anniversary Iowa State University Honor Band. They will perform in Ames on Saturday, February 7th. Seniors Elizabeth Palmer, Tristan Voss, and Junior Presley Henning were selected to perform in the Morningside University Honor Band. They will perform on February 14th in Sous City at Epilene Auditorium. Sophomores Roland Rushi, Genesis, Hernandez, Cara Schaefer, um Shila Stafford Shu, and Maria Martinez were selected to be part of the Dort University Honor Band. They'll perform at Sous City at JB Han Auditorium on February 14th, December genitals of the week. Um on the fifth elementary Ramirez Niz um elementary and then middle school my Krueger high school as Peter and staff uh Miss Destine Martin uh 12th elementary Nora
028High Trader middle school Grace uh high and then high school tower Marco staff Sano um 19th elementary norly Nicholas Middle School Gavin Block High School Draven Phillip staff Janelle Jensen >> and that's it. >> Thank you. >> See you. >> All right. It's moving on to discussion items, literacy goals, presentations, social sciences. >> So, Mr. Whisma is the curriculum team leader there. So, Mr. Weisma, come on up front. >> I'm going to stand up over here. >> Ryan, I think >> Okay, go ahead and go to the next one. Okay, I'll introduce myself. We have some new board members this year. Um, I am Ryan Weisma. I teach seventh and eighth grade social studies and a section of pre-alggebra to the seventh graders. You can see right there the seventh grade is contemporary global studies.
029Eighth grade is the first half of US history. Um, one good thing about doing this every year is it keeps track of how many years I've been teaching because I never know. I've been asked a lot this year for some reason. So 18th year, 17th year at ESO, ninth year being the social studies curriculum leader. I also do some coaching, mentor, teacher, and I have a student teacher this semester as well. And I graduated here in 2003. >> Okay. Our agenda or our objectives for the presentation today, I'll go through their social studies teachers and members of our curriculum team. I'll go through a couple changes for social studies with the state, including the gra civics graduation test and updated detailed social studies standards and some courses that we're moving around for, you know, setting
030us up for the future. And then I'll talk just about a few things that we focus on in social studies if I have time and then I'd love to take questions at the end. So that's what we're going to go for today. Okay. So, our social studies curriculum team, um, Scott Ruckles and Rebecca Fininker are high school teachers. And then in this is a new change in fifth and sixth grade. We do not have a dedicated just social studies teacher, so they're not actually on our team. Um, but um, Miss Fernandez and Gene NG teach social studies to fifth and sixth grade respectively, but they are on the uh, the language arts team, I believe, >> at science for Rose. >> Okay. Yep. So they just kind of they've picked up social studies when we
031kind of did some changing and reducing. And then we have a couple elementary teachers who are also on the social studies curriculum team, but I don't meet with them super often. Just kind of there to support them and and anything that they might need. So that is our social curriculum team. Okay. So a couple new things this year. Um and Mr. Herz might know a little bit more than I do, but I know a little bit about this is coming up soon, students must pass what I call a civics test. civics is government and society and things like [clears throat] that in order to graduate. And so last time I had a conversation with Mr. Herz about this and and Mr. Ruggles because he's kind of the upper social studies teacher is it will you
032have to pass it. It will be similar to the civics test that's taken when you're applying for citizenship. All right? And that is something that you can find online and go through. Um it's my understanding that it can be taken many times over various points in high school and a few schools are piloting sample tests and I don't know we received that email about it [clears throat] but they we were not chosen. So but just based on what I've heard and then the the civics test that they use to become a citizen I'm feel very confident that the we cover those topics and objectives in our curriculum. I feel very good about that. Um we I I we work very hard on in eighth grade what I teach the basics of the constitution and civics
033and things like that knowing that then they will have that again when they are seniors for their government class. So I feel very good about it and then once we get more information we can make changes and adjustments but I feel like that that should not be a huge problem I don't think and we'll address it as it as we need to. So any questions about that or anything I left out Mr. Z for that >> that will probably result in a change to our graduation requirement okay policy just to be in compliance with what the state requires you know >> and there are a few other states that do that and so that's I've kind of learned a little bit from that Mr. Rugles has talked about that. So, but feel good about that.
034So, >> thanks. >> I'll ask it at the end. >> Okay. >> Um, so this I found out yesterday. Uh, it just came across uh that the state has updated our social studies standards and so the date of that published was Thursday and it just came across I saw it through my email yesterday as I was prep preparing for this. So they are not I would not call them like new as in they threw out the old ones and rewrote new ones. I would classify them as more detailed specific. So that was a huge concern that I had when the I believe the new ones came out in 2017. So um and then we that did require some changes especially for what I taught but they were very broad. So here's one that I grabbed
035from seventh grade from the old ones and it said analyze connections among historical events and developments in contemporary global issues. That was the standard. Well, that could be a hundred different things I could teach about to meet that standard. So the goal of it was to give, you know, local control, give teachers choices, and but that can be kind of overwhelming and intimidating. But actually as I got through and created the seventh grade cuz there especially for seventh grade um we had no textbook like that. It once I got through it and taught it I actually really enjoyed having that freedom and that. So that wasn't so bad cuz I mean there's all kinds of different things. I mean literally right now in seventh grade we're talking about the Arab um Israeli Palestine whole thing
036going on and those past historical events have a huge development in contemporary global issues and stuff. So that's just one way, but these new ones now are much more detailed and specific. So there's a link if you want to check them out. It's 220 pages long, so I haven't gone through the whole thing yet. I've basically just read the seventh grade ones cuz those are the ones I was most interested and concerned about, but I'll go through all of them. And then they've got different pathways for high school and how to handle all that and stuff. So I plan on working on that. That again, that will be a focus for our team and our associates teachers the rest of this year. We do have a little bit of time to make sure that we're
037aligned and it's not like they just put them out and we have to have it already for next year. We do have some time. So, I'm hopeful. I haven't looked too much at the elementary ones, but I'm hopeful that that will give some more guidance, especially the elementary teachers who have not like my focus was history and social studies and college, but in elementary, you know, they kind of cover all that. So, I'm hopeful that will help them out a little bit more, give them more specific, detailed. But as far as like I think eighth grade on up, very little will change. And I I will have to make a few adjustments I think with my seventh grade curriculum, but that was kind of already I was thinking about anyway. It's a little more geog
038uh geography based, those kind of things, but we kind of do some of that anyways. So, seventh grade is much more unit based. we cover topics and units and then 8th grade is your standard chronological we go with the timeline. Um so but that will be something that we will be working on the rest of this year in preparation to make sure that we're hitting all of them. But again the big thing I want to stress is just they're being more detailed and specific to kind of give some teachers some guidance. So any questions on those those things? Okay. So, we are in year two of this switching US history from 11th grade to 9th grade and there was some, you know, it took a two-year cycle cuz we had that 10th grade class in
039there. So, after this year, next year, this will kind of be the order of so 7th grade is contemporary global studies, but then the big thing is now that we have US history in order. So they'll have the first half in eighth grade, the second half in ninth grade, 10th grade world history, and then they can eth 11th grade they can get their electives or if they have time in any other and then of course US government and 12th grade. And so this was just to make it kind of more seamless align. I know in other curriculum areas we we've reduced some teachers and eighth grade or high school and middle school or Sharon. And so if that would happen, we're kind of more aligned and that transition should be a little more seamless. If
040you know, somebody like me has to teach higher up or somebody has to teach lower, this would just make it make more sense, a little bit more smooth. So we can we can cover all of those things. All right. Um and then again, we started this last year, fifth and sixth grade is covered by different teachers. So, and again, if that would change, then we just this just seemed to make more sense and it was a two-year transition. And so, if changes happen, if we lose teachers, this should work. So, and then some I know we're getting more into that. Then some of your upper level electives could then maybe be taken as college classes, dual credit, that kind of stuff. Maybe your sociology, psychology, um, and we can kind of cover the basics of
041what we need to hear. So that's kind of and I think that's going good and should be good to go for next year. So next slide. Okay. So again this slide is pretty similar to last year. Just overall some challenges that we have as social studies teachers is it's it's not a tested subject on ISAPs and it's not like yearly progress monitoring like the I Ready tests, right? So sometimes, you know, that's the common joke among all the other teachers about social studies teachers is, you know, we just we don't have tests. It's not tested. Nobody cares. Just watch the movies and we'll be good to go. Um so um this one again I we don't nec hopefully won't have to worry about this anymore that the Kate centers were broad or vague. So these
042updated ones should help with that. So, I'm that will present a challenge and that we have to go through and make sure we're hitting everything, but at least we don't have the uncertainty if we're doing what we're supposed to. And then this one is something that I'm really trying to work hard and that is accuracy. And when it comes to current events or what we find on the internet or now that we're using AI, um you know, because some AI will just take information from the internet to build their answer. Well, if they're not taking correct information, then they're not building correct answers. So, and you know, current events, obviously, we talk a lot about things can be interpreted differently. And so, that is something that I think I want to really work on and
043you know, as we get into the high school and things like that when this age group, it's they're starting to form their own opinions that they have accurate information and then form their opinion. I talk about that all the time. um this is this is what it is. This is the truth. This is what it says in the constitution. This is how our government works. This is the goal. You decide. Right? For example, >> if you one thing we talk about all the time, if you want the government to do more, it's going to need more money, so it's going to tax more. You want the government to do less, it will need less money and it can tax less. All right? You need to decide what you want the government to do. Make your
044own opinion and and then go from that. So it's just that kind of things that we talk about and then [snorts] I mean current events there is just so much going on. We just it's in one sense it's really fun as a teacher to tie this stuff in things that we talk about come up in the news all the time. I mean, you know, when you first seventh grade, we're in our world religion and conflict unit and we're learning about like, you know, Arab and the Arab-Israeli conflict in Palestine and Israel and Gaza and all that kind of stuff. Um, and then I just read a new story of a linebacker for the Texans who got fined because he had a message about that written on his eye black, right? And so, and I can
045bring that in and say, "Well, yeah, this is what he's talking about and do you guys know about this?" And, "Yep, I know what you and all that kind of stuff." And it was he was claiming it was a genocide and then we I also teach genocide. So we could talk about is this a genocide? Is it war? What is it? So it provides a lot of opportunities. Um but it's it it's a lot to go through sometimes and and if it's accurate and things like that, but they especially my seventh eighth graders, they're all super interested in that kind of stuff. and if we're gonna be pirates and take over Greenland and all kinds of stuff [laughter] and then just it's it's provides a lot of fun and um good discussions. So, >> okay,
046next one. Uh so again, as social studies teachers and as the leader and this is what I tried to do in my room and then get other other teachers to do that is, you know, just kind of how we go about social studies. Um we want to make sure we're teaching our curriculum and standards effectively, right? That's our number one thing. That's how we decide what to teach. Um, but then because we're not a tested subject and especially I feel very strongly about this is I want to supplement other core areas, right? I really really believe that. So, we spend a lot of time working on our writing skills in social studies to try to supplement that area. Seventh grade, I've incorporated a novel unit. So to kind of, you know, and we're always reading
047and stuff like that, but I've just I really try to um supplement the other core areas. And then we're also doing a lot of creating. We're reading graphs. We're interpreting political cartoons and propaganda. Um I feel very confident if you ask any seventh or eighth grader who I've taught, they'll know what propaganda is. I try really hard to get them to understand that and what's happening to them and how I use it to get what I want, too. So um just we want to learn social studies and and our topics and things like that, but I try really hard to supplement the other core areas, you know, problem solving and creating and and interpreting those kind of things. And then I can I think I already talked about current events there, but that has provided
048a great opportunity. I want I want them to be productive, knowledgeable citizens. You know, I always make the joke that if you're going to be posting stuff on Facebook, try to make it accurate, right? Don't I don't want you I don't want people to think back and say no who is that guy's social studies teacher they know so I said don't embarrass me as your teacher. All right but again it it's a challenge but it it's it provides for so many discussions and and things like that. So okay that was my kind of little spiel there. Hope I didn't talk too fast but trying to keep it till the moment. You guys have any questions for me about anything this or anything else? So, I've never talked to you about the civics test, but >>
049Yep. >> So, I've heard it could be 10 questions and I've heard a hundred, which tells me it's probably going to be neither. [laughter] But, um, have you heard anything like I mean I You said I've heard, but I just haven't heard on length. >> Yeah. So, I I've heard that. So, what I think what they do for like for citizenship is there's a bank of a hundred questions and you get 10 and I think you have to get like six out of 10 right or something like that. [snorts] But I mean you can find those questions online. They're pretty easy to find and we will seventh grade we have an immigration unit. So then we learn about pathways to citizenship. And so I will bring that up and we'll go through a couple of
050them. You know some of them are as easy as like when is independence when is the United States's independence day or what day is Christmas on? Like that kind of stuff. But then other ones are, you know, three branches of government and those kind of things and who's, you know, who's in charge of making laws and what who what's the supreme law of the land, which is the constitution. Um, so I I've I'm guessing it'll be similar to that. But yeah, I've heard those kind of things. So, and I think you can I don't know if there's going to be a limit on how many times you can take it or you might just keep on taking it till you pass it. I don't know. But so any other questions? Well, um, so again, any
051of you are welcome in my classroom or to attend a practice at any time, you're welcome to come in or if you have any additional questions. I love I love teaching. I love coaching. So, I love talking about teaching. I love talking about coaching and things like that. Um, I was surprised with a student teacher like two days before Christmas, but that's been really fun just the conversations we've had been able to have and and the questions he's asked and it helps re-evaluate what I do as a teacher. And so I think that's always really good. I think you definitely need to have a purpose on everything that you do. And so when you have somebody who's watching you and asking you why are you doing this and why are you doing this and why
052are you doing this to be able to have an answer for that and so I think that that's really good. So that's been awesome. So, any other questions? >> Yes, sir. >> Is there a I Ready system for social studies that you just don't use? There's not one out there at all. >> I don't I don't even think there is one because it's not tested or anything like that. So, >> yeah, the [clears throat] state doesn't require that um you know, three times a year testing like they do for math and and uh English. There are um like online applications like EXL that offer semi- ready type you know questions and and systems that you know some schools use but nothing you know required to report to the >> and you could you could I
053could find like geography quizzes on the internet. >> Yep. Things like that available. >> Uh what are the the kids always playing? Geogesser. >> Yeah. um some with geography and stuff like that, but it's not even on ISAPS, you know, like when we took Iowa tested basic skills, there was a social studies section. They don't even have that anymore either. >> So, and I don't even know if >> like maps are on the other section because science isn't even an every year one now. So, like graphs and stuff like that are only tested a couple times. It's mainly >> Has it changed since you've been here? >> Like when you pulled it out of the testing? >> I [clears throat] don't know. since I've been teaching if they ever did test social studies. I can't
054honestly cannot remember. >> I remember doing it as a student myself doing the social [snorts] studies section >> on I would test a basic skills. >> I'd say when you first started my guess would be I did but probably not long after. >> Sure. >> Well, thank you very much for all your your work and effort. Um, I love So, hopefully people who hear me talk about it or come or watch me teach or whatever, um, I think this is a great place. I know that no place in the world is perfect. Um, but we just try to do our best and I think this is a great place. So, thank you for your work in making something that I love great. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Yep.
055Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right. twominut board policy and finance moment. >> So, um kind of going over this real quickly here. I'll start with uh uh trivia. Do we have to have an initial public hearing like we did tonight on the school calendar and why are some of the things on it so restrictive in terms of the school calendar? So, is that just because we have a history of doing it that at Siblio Sheetan or is that because it's required? Does anyone know? >> It's required. >> Yeah, it is. >> And most probably calendar policies are pretty similar, but it just says on here and it goes through without reading it verbatim talking about the minimum of days versus hours, 180 hours each year. The minimum calendar could include up to five days
056or 30 hours of instructor over the internet. Okay. The next paragraphs, start no sooner than August 23. That's state law. So that's why we do that. It's not just siblio cheating. We could change that and then we would get a notice and be told not to do that. Um the board, here's the one. The board in its discretion may excuse graduating seniors for up to 5 days or 30 hours of instruction. So that's why typically our calendar, right, the seniors are done 5 days early. Then it and then it talks about they can also excuse them from makeup days due to inclement weather. So you can't put on your calendar to excuse them from 23 days to start. I'm just making up right just five. But you could excuse them if the board so chooses
057if like we had inclement weather. Um I'm not trying to jinx us. Just trying to point that out. Um and so forth. So that is policy. That's why we had the hearing and then we'll talk about that later tonight. The calendar. And then true or false since we're talking about plea and other things. Local boards have control. And if schools want to spend more money than they budgeted, the board can approve raising the rate just to generate more funds. >> That Yeah. >> No. False. Yeah. There's there's only certain parts and we'll be talking about that over the next two months with our budget hearings and things that a school board has control over. Um the core mission, the general fund really it's formula driven and there's not a lot of choice we have in
058that. We're we're given the revenue part. It's through a formula and then we design the expense part from there which we'll talk about in our budget hearings. I'm not going through that tonight, but just as we think that there's only certain parts of actually the the funds that we receive and that are budgeted that we have control over. All righty. All right. Iowa County health rankings on poverty and children eligible for free or reduced lunch. So, I put this on here. Um, last year we had some different metrics and they didn't have the same ones on here, but I thought it was good information and I put a link to the website where it came from and you can pick your year. So, I Yes, we're in 2026, so the data is from 2025 if
059that makes sense, right? But I just made a kind of a little presentation graphic and it links to that. And this shows a bunch of metrics. So I did our four county area talks about according to the data they've collected through the um public health um whether the percent of residents with some college high school completion the unemployment rate the income equality that's a formula the easiest way to explain that is the difference the multiplied difference in the average income of your top earners how many times greater it is than your lowest level earners children in poverty what percent of children identified in poverty according to their metrics, deaths, and so forth. And and there's other things that you can see from here. And I did this for the four counties. So, Oyola, Lion, Sue,
060and O'Brien. So, what I wanted to point you to, and I can answer other questions, but really what I wanted to get at is just the the poverty rate in the four counties and then those eligible for free and reduced. So you can see the children in poverty and it's how they define that on um the federal tax re tax forms and for those type of purposes but we have 16% of our children in our county that are identified as living in poverty. Line has nine, Sue has six, O'Brien's at 11%. And then if you look at those that are eligible for free or reduced lunch, we have 50% that are eligible in our county versus 29 in Lion County, 40% in Sue, and 43% in O'Brien. and not stating anything more than what the
061facts though show, but just stating um just something that obviously dealing with our population and the economic factors that are in our county are just different than others are seeing and some of the ways that that affects what we do here at school on a daily basis. This one interesting if it correlates back to the high school completion, right? I mean, we're highest kids in poverty and we're also the lowest in high school completion >> there. I can't stop directly for us, but there is totally a link between the two if you look at the research. >> When I was looking through it, it's like what >> now? Is our graduation rate 86%. No, that's not what it's saying. It's saying the percentage of adults in the county that have graduated. So some could have
062moved from true >> somewhere else, right? Yeah. >> Right. All right. Any other questions? All right. Midyear financial update. So, one of the task or duties I have is to guys keep you updated on where we're at. So, I'm going to just give a little now that we're past December 31, kind of the halfway point of the fiscal year, um, and so forth. So, so I've seen this done in a couple different ways. I've kept it the same. Not that it couldn't be improved, but if you go back historically, what's been presented to the board, there's this the same documents presented. And I think there's there's some value and some knowledge when you look at the same thing year after year if you go back. And so I've kept it at that. This DCPP, that's
063the district cost per pupil. Um sometimes you can call it state cost. We had at one point where our district cost is higher. We do not anymore, but that's what that is. So that's for that year. How much we were getting for general fund per pupil just kind of as a point of reference. So you can see what that is as that goes across here and so forth. Why it says estimated FY25 this should be final now but even through the end end of the last calendar year November December it's not uncommon for sometimes to make the state to make some adjustments on what's called our certified annual report. So what I want to first do is if you go in FY25 and if you go down here and I I put it in blue
064our unspent our unspent budget at the end of the year. If you remember, you're like, "That doesn't look familiar." Cuz Stan said something about us being in the whole 8,000 bucks. And I did in November. Shortly after that meeting, there was an adjustment. We'll just say an adjustment from the state is the e easiest way to um do that. That affected multiple schools. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong. The state just did an adjustment with some funds. So, we actually ended up last year um our unspent balance went up 11,451, which is good, right? Slightly to the positive. So, I just wanted to point that out. I didn't say that at the November meeting. So, if you look where we're at right now, we're saying at the end of this fiscal year because we're
065in FY26 when you end mid year, that's always confusing, June 30, but we're predicting our unspent budget to go down 59,000. Okay? And there's other numbers in there. I won't go through that specifically, but if you kind of remember that, well, to give you some context with that, this is going back seven, eight fiscal years. And what I want to point you out is just if you look at what our estimate was and then what we actually finished the year at. So I'm saying in FY 26, let me blow this up a little bit. There's that 59,000. So at the midpoint of this year in FY26, we're going to say we're our UAB is going to go down 59,000. Right? Okay. To give some context, last year at this point our prediction on this same
066thing was about going to be 380,000 down. And you can look and see this. And then I compared that to where we finished at the end of the year. So go two years ago, we were going to be our midyear prediction was going to be down 670,000 on our UAB. We ended up down 270,000. 3 years ago, we were going to be down 420,000. We ended up down just 7,000. Basically broke even. So my point with all this is enough data going back the last three or four years about you can say pretty consistently that three 350,000 or so we've we've finished better than what we predicted midy year. Not a guarantee but we finished better. So my hope is and and we don't have any reason to believe this not to be true that
067really by the end of this fiscal year we'll actually be in the positive for our UAB for this fiscal year as well and not more than just breaking even like we have in two of the last three years could be higher than that. I don't want to make any prediction but it could be one to 200 grand in the positive. So that's good for our current fiscal year and for us moving forward. So really that's what I wanted to point it out. Remember it's a projection. things can change, but where we're sitting at right now is looking actually overall pretty good. There's a lot of other information and data on there and I don't not trying to confuse everyone just present it. So any questions with any of that that I can answer [snorts] >>
068like in any of these years Stan would the biggest driver be just this changes that the state made from what your estimate was to what it >> so going back some of these years if you look at FY181 1920 one of the factors that's coming in there that isn't in play anymore when you look at the change >> is federal ederal dollars COVID money. >> Gotcha. >> Makes sense. >> You can kind of see that >> drop off. >> Dropping off, right? >> Yep. >> And so, I mean, we're still doing better, but that's some of I mean, looking through, we think that's the biggest change. FY, not that it started then, but some of the times we get money and then it's posted back to a prior fiscal year, right? So, when you're looking
069through some of these things, you can definitely see the impact of the federal CO dollars without a doubt. >> Makes sense. I think that's that's what was driving some of the change in those years. >> Isn't one always the special ed too that seems to get tred up at correct and you don't know f you don't know how you finish special ed for sure usually until the like our year will end June 30 but we don't have the usually the final numbers until August or September somewhere. Is that what you said? >> September report is due >> then. Yeah. when the the certified annual report, the car report is due. And then what that does is when you overspend in in special ed, you can get that authority back. And so that has an impact
070on your dollars, too. Because if you it doesn't come with dollars, but you get the authority back. So you can go from looking like you're overspend a lot. And if a lot of it special dollars, that authority comes back to you. >> All right. Any other questions on that? All right, moving on to new business. All right, the middle school ERV bids you want to get. Yeah, there is two sheets of person. [clears throat] So, we've been talking, and this should sound familiar whether you know what an ERV is or not, but we've been talking about replacing those. We're using um EDA to do that. So, the actual bids were due this past Friday at 11:00 a.m. And in talking with John from EDA, he was very pleased. We had, excuse me, eight vendors overall
071companies that provided a bid, which was probably higher than um expected. He said it's probably a sign of just kind of what's going on in the economy right now. Maybe two, three years ago, we'd have been lucky to get one or two because they're all busy. So, it means they're looking for work, and that's good for us locally right now. So, it's listed in the letter right there, who who came, the different uh vendors, and what their bid was for that portion of the project. And then the next page is really showing the same information, but just a little bit better um tabulation of it. The bid tab sheet is what it's called. We just put it together like this, just more consumable. So, the short answer of this um the recommendation from EDA, what
072we we would recommend tonight is the is the low bid that that they've worked with before and they're familiar is from Visser Brothers Plumbing and Heating. That was the low bid at $262,600. You can kind of see the range of the bids right in there. this EDA just runs the bidding process or they were >> so they're an engineer design firm. One of their one of their uh core business focuses is working with schools. So they were part of the design team. Um site logic ran it, but they did some of the engineering work for like the fire alarm project and the and the hback parts of our building. So that's what they that's what they do and then they can >> run through the do this for us, right? Which we approved last fall.
073Run through the beds. um put them into the system, get it out to the different vendors. They have all the contacts and things to do that other excuse me questions that I can answer on this. Does this EDA has worked with this Visser brothers? >> They have. Where are they from? >> Where are they? >> Orange City, I believe. Right. >> Orange City name. Yep. I was Yeah, it's Orange City. I say Sue Center, but >> it's Orange City. And he had mentioned a project or two, right? Did he tell you that that he had worked with him on or he's aware they worked on >> something in Spencer? Yep. Correct. >> This past year, >> is that the closest local one is probably them out of Orange City? [clears throat] >> They were all
074most of them are in the area >> in the northwest Iowa area. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Did you mean that? Just I want to make sure looking somebody in Oyola County or >> yeah it went out on their bid plans anyone who could bid there were more interested parties uh and then at the end it's coming back who wants to put a number together. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? And we need to vote on this then. >> Yes. So what what what we would do then is we would approve the someone would make a recommendation. I didn't put on here because when we put this and published it, we didn't have all the information obviously. So the recommendation would be to accept the bid from Visser Brothers um plumbing and heating for $262,600.
075We'd approve that tonight and then I'll let John know tomorrow and then they move forward. So then the vendor can officially order the equipment and move forward on their things and line things up and then that would the work would start after we complete school this spring. I'll make a motion to approve the contract for middle school ERV bids with the Visser brothers at $262,600 as provided by the EDA. >> Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the bid of the middle school ERV by Ver Brothers. Uh any discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Motion passes. Consider approval of the 20 26 27 district calendar. So kind of funny that we're thinking about this already, but it's around the corner, right? So,
076um this is the calendar. Typically, for those that are new how this works with the um association, we have a calendar committee. We try to get at least one rep from the elementary, middle school, and high school buildings. And then we go over and talk about a few things. There's a few different options we go through. They get some feedback and come back. And then some of the times we're able to accommodate the feedback and sometimes we can't because of what I just pointed out with board policy and different things of that sometimes people just aren't aware of. Right? So this is pretty typical to the calendar we've done in the past. We would start in the 24th because this year August 23 is on a Sunday. Um really the thing that I I would
077point out that's different um based on some feedback between the different buildings trying to break up the spring a little bit more so you don't have all those long weeks together in an extended week. So we haven't done this in the past but typically one of our paid holidays for um teaching staff is President's Day which this next year not this year this next year would be the 15th. So, also having school off on the 16th and then um where Easter falls, you can kind of see if the quarter ends on the 12th, parent teacher conferences, you know, early and late for the middle school and high school, but we do that comp day on the 19th. So, that'd be a 4 day a week. And then next year, not this year, next year, Easter
078falls early. And so, that's when Easter would be right in there. Other than that, pretty similar to what we've done in the past. There's only so many levers you can pull. Um, but with our contracted days and when we're starting and and no changes to really the overall PD schedule, still getting out at 2 p.m., it says one and a half early, but we do our 2 p.m. 150 at the elementary dismissal. That would not change. So, How many years they've been doing the personal development? >> Early out on Wednesdays. >> Yeah. >> I don't know. [clears throat] >> Has it been 10? >> Well, it was before I got here. >> Okay. >> That's so I'm not quite sure when they >> they've adjusted the times over the years. like it used to be
079a 2:30 and just with the number of things getting done, we just need more PD time. So that's >> third year maybe we're at 2:00. >> Mhm. >> But when did that start? >> I don't know. >> Kind of maybe 10 years. >> 145. It was just once. >> Yeah. >> Like once a month. >> Yeah. I'd have to put >> So I think it Let me look. So, is there a way to do like PE like the those days like instead of breaking it up on four early out Wednesdays doing one whole day a month and doing you're Yeah, you're getting at the philosophical debate. We've talked through that as well as with some other schools. Are you better doing one day versus early outs? I think some of it's in the eye of
080the beholder in terms of what some people prefer. You know what I mean? Personal preference because I've talked to people that do full days out and I've had them tell me they like it and they don't like it. People on one day a week like it and don't, you know, you know what I mean? I can't say there's a consistent >> Okay. >> Um >> I didn't know if we could do it or not. Like >> you Yes, we could. I would say majority do either if either maybe if they get out twice a month but like earlier than we do. There's some schools that'll do that. So maybe getting out at 11:30, you know what I mean? So you're getting out that much earlier. Twice um a month. I would say you don't see
081as much of the just once a month anymore. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying you don't see it as much anymore. I think maybe just for the cons the consistency and being able to do things more often I think is a little bit you know we meet this week and then we got a chance to meet next week versus waiting a whole month timing >> I just didn't know >> that's just me speaking >> I just didn't know like cuz I know you guys pick certain topics and everything and you give yourselves you know two hours would it be more beneficial given eight hours for that professional development versus limiting it two hours and then you have to recap it do it maybe hit it again the next week. Would it be easier
082to hit professional development, have a full eight hours assigned to it so you could get through? Like I I'm not a teacher. I'm just ask >> Well, financially too also like say you have one day a month that you do professional development. You wouldn't have say cooks here, bus drivers. You'd be saving on expenses that way. I don't know. You know, that was >> you could we but we'd also with that you'd have to look into how we word we'd have to change some of our wording with contracts with teaching staff, right? Because they're here 190 days and you can see >> this is here. So if we would do you know what I mean? There's other >> Yeah, you're not wrong. I agree. >> I was thinking, you know, saving money since that's always
083an issue in every school like one whole day then you at least don't have to pay those people that day that they're here. But you still have to have the number of days for students too, >> right? And and contact hours. >> But I'm just saying every Wednesday you're out so many hours. That would add up to one day a month, wouldn't it? >> Yeah, >> that's what counts as a contact. >> That's what I meant. >> Yep. >> Right. But if we met all day with staff, it doesn't count as a student contact day is what it Yeah. I didn't explain that very well. >> Okay. Nope. I get it now. [clears throat] It >> started in 1516. >> Some are moving. I'm not suggesting this. I'm just saying some are moving. they are
084doing more full days but then they have less student contact days that is becoming a thing some districts not all over but so maybe they'll do so we have f as an example we have five full days right okay they maybe have I'll just throw out a number they'll meet 10 full days or 15 full days but we're meeting with students for 180 they'll only meet with students like 170 days I'm not saying right or wrong. There's not a lot, but that is kind of to answer what you're getting at that you got to give something back. >> Different places have done that. That's why I threw that out there. Some other >> friends, family, students have said that. I'm like, I don't know. Maybe it's a thing. I don't know. >> We're on the
085higher end for >> contact days and for hours, right? all questions we've debated a lot. I mean I >> Yeah. I mean the >> same conversations have happened every year in the calendar committee meeting. It's it's always discussed. >> Yeah. Brought up, right? >> And staff is part of that. >> Yeah. Obviously, if they were want to see something different, they'd bring it up in that meeting. >> Yeah, most of the time they don't have they'll have some strong opinions on PD maybe, but most of the time it's just kind of when we start when you're finishing before. That's probably the >> the bigger pieces you get back from staff. I'm not >> saying it's the most important, but that's probably what you get back. And some of the times they'll want to get out
086earlier for Christmas, but when they talk to their building reps and you explain, we did it this, you know, they don't always know the back end of, okay, we get out early for Christmas, but we got to make that day up. And the way the calendar fits after Christmas now, we got to go one day after, oh, I didn't realize that. Then I don't want it, right? You know what I mean? Because you have to go one day after um Memorial Day. I was about to say Labor Day, but Memorial Day now, right? you know, >> is there a reason why we're at the higher end for contact days and hours? If other schools are going to less >> contact days, it if they're not doing extra PD days, then I would say it's pretty
087similar hours. It would just be uh kind of depends on how you count your start and ending day. You have to go by your shortest building. So, that's where some of that comes in. Um I don't know that we're the highest, but we are we are on the higher side. That's just something we've done. That's why sometimes you have to know what other schools do when we moved. So we used to even have more contact hours, right? This is I think our third year that we're doing the 2:00 dismissal um before we were at 2:30 and we had some staff that thought we were taking too many contact hours. Probably some of you were contacted by them, but staff thought we had too many contact hours taken away, but when you look at the other
088schools, that's not necessarily true. We're still having we still have just as many student contact hours as majority of them. Would that be a fair way to say that? >> Yeah, [snorts] I think we've gotten feedback on both sides of that that we don't have enough contact hours or that, you know, we're on the higher end. I think >> yeah, the philosophy just being, you know, the more time you have kids in class, the more growth you see academically and opportunities for them. But yeah, we've we have had input on both sides of that really since I've been here. >> And what did [clears throat] what did you say the reason that the day after President's Day they wanted or why was that a >> to break up the spring more? Yes. >> Oh, okay.
089give them more time. >> Yes. Like when you Well, we we come back on the >> 4th and then it's a a 4 day week that first >> week in January, but that's kind of the the ongoing comment always is by the end of February. Once you return, it seems like you kids are inside more often because of cold weather, right? And you have so many full weeks in a row. Just talking about breaking that up a little more or chance. So that was I did not put that on there initially, but that was based on some feedback as a suggestion cuz we were able to do it with how the days fell this year on the calendar. >> More of a spring break type, >> right? >> Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> And the
090President's Day is typically when the first round of boys district basketball is. Um, and we know that. I mean, you get to the spring and any day you take off there, there could be something technically scheduled there. There's just not. It's just a busy time of year. just is okay. [clears throat] Any other questions on the calendar at all? in motion. >> Yeah. If we want to, I guess, move forward with as is. >> Make a motion to approve the 2627 school calendar as presented. >> One second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the 26 27 district calendar as presented. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed? Motion passed. computer froze up. Uh, consider approval of FY26 amended budget documents and authorization
091to file with Department of Management. >> So, I brought up No, that's not coming up. I brought up the attachment here for the um the amended budget. Um and then we we would have to approve that to tonight and then we would file that with the department of management there at sunk. So it's in the other ex overall the big broad categories that we have the other expenditures to have increasing the the budget by that amount from 3.8 I'm rounding here million to 5.3 million. The main reason was like we discussed before the bond debt repayment and the project expenditures on our budget last year doesn't change um our tax rate. It doesn't change what we're paying but pulling from the debt schedule for the bond repayment. We didn't put that on the initial budget
092just by that be the easiest way to explain that Kendra. [snorts] >> So >> that was only part of it and then the other was just there. >> Oh yeah the project expenditures but yeah that was a portion of it. So, that's what we're approving tonight or we're asking you to approve. [snorts] >> All right. Any questions on on that? Make a motion to amend the budget for the fiscal year 26 as presented. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the fiscal year 26 amended budget as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion passes. Consider continuation of board approved couple. Annually, [snorts] as we start this budget process, the board needs to approve the board approved portion of the physical plant and
093equipment levy. That's the 33 cent. Since we've been having a lot of discussions on that, we have to approve that annually. And then we have to upload the minutes to the Department of Management and that allows us to pull that into the budget. So, we for long as I've been here at least, we've typically done that in January. That's all I really have to unless you got any questions. >> Any questions on that? [snorts] >> Would there be a motion to move forward with the board approved Pebble? >> I'll make a motion to uh continue having the board approved Pebble. >> I'll second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to continue the board approved Pebble. All those in favor say I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. >> Consider approval of HVAC service
094plan renewal. So, climate system does um services our HVAC um they'll come to service things if we have issues or breakdowns, but they also replace our filters um and other maintenance type issues like that. I've presented the last few years, but it was already on the three-year rotation here. So actually this is the first year. So we do need to approve the new plan. It's recommended to approve this for the 2627 school year as described in the agreement for 16,615 for the year. And it does lay that out for over the over the three years the proposal right there on that page. So it' be a three-year proposal. >> Do they do the ERB ones then too? Is that part they they will moving forward. We've had the discussions on them. There's some new features
095they were telling us last week EDA did with the with the new ERVs that he said the technologies improved. They have some screen lint screens on them and some areas to um vacuum out. So he goes, "Yeah, I wouldn't know why you wouldn't want to bring this up with them once they're in place to have them do that." So that's we would have them do that. >> So that's part of this this bid as well. Then >> maintaining it should be Yes. Oh yeah. >> And then just so the rest of the board knows, this gets paid out of uh >> this one's just general fund. >> It is general fund. Okay. >> And I think they've done a pretty good job, haven't they? Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't have a lot of >> I
096guess it's been on the the >> complaints and ever since I >> there's only so many that do this and yeah they're the the ones that worked with some of the controls like when we did the high school HVAC and they'll come and they come they're fairly responsive if we have an issue to come from Sou Falls to service things. So in addition to their normal maintenance but that's part of it covering some of the service calls. >> [clears throat] >> All right. Any other questions? >> Make a motion to approve the HVAC service renewal plan. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the HVAC service from climate systems as presented. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed? >> Motion passes. approve uh consider approval of
097new contracts. >> There's only one Elena and you can read her resignation from being junior high softball coach, but then she would also like to be able to moving forward depending on her schedule volunteer to help with the high school and the middle school. So that's the only thing to approve right now. Volunteer coach, correct? Yeah. >> I'll make a motion to approve all new contract or work agreement. I'll second. >> All right. It's been moved in a second to approve the new contract moving from a paid to a volunteer softball coach. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion passes. Consider approval of purchase of van. So, I think I've been updating you guys about this with some of the changes under it is
098under my spending threshold, but we thought it'd be good to put on here. Um, the 2025 Chrysler Pacifica from Papic Motors. So, this will go and be one of the two we use for the preschool routes now primarily. There'll be other uses, but that's the primary use. And then the um the older Chrysler that we have on that route will it can be a backup for the preschool routes if needed. and then um replace the vehicle that was damaged for the kitchen staff. >> Ask your question again. >> Where does the funding come from? >> Yeah. Where does the funding came from? Where? >> Yes. Good question, Jamie. [laughter] >> Where did you think? >> Oops, I just closed that. We would pay for the We will pay for the vehicle out of PBLE with
099this one. >> Did we get any insurance money to go towards this? I know it was an old van. >> Yes. Yeah. That's the problem with that. >> Yeah. >> What I was going to say 1300 or what did you say? What was it? >> It was under 1500 out there. So >> yeah, it >> I don't even remember the year. It was an older vehicle, so there's a lot >> of value left in it. >> Yeah. Unfortunately, you can never replace those for what they >> No. I mean, >> yeah. Just like in your life when you have older vehicles. We we weren't going to replace it till we had to. There wasn't a reason to, but >> that's the way it goes. >> All right. There be a motion to >> a motion
100to approve the purchase of the van. >> Second. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve the purchase of the van from Papic Motors. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed? Motion passes. Consider approval of LNL builder pay application number six for the middle school high school project 2025. >> Yep. You can see the amount needed just paying for some outstanding work that they had finished up. >> A motion for the approval of uh LNO builders pay application number six for the middle school high school project for 2025. >> Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded to approve the LNL builder pay application number six. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion
101passes. Consider approval of Elan Builder's pay application number eight, elementary project 2025. Same thing except this is on the elementary project because they code it twice over. So that's why there's two separate ones and it's just for $633 and change. >> Is this our last payment for the elementary or >> for them for this? Yes. >> No, there's still the retaining retainer. >> But is that with them? >> Ll. Okay, never mind. I stand corrected. [laughter] >> So it's just what they're trying to get finished up. They're like the retained funds that we held back for. >> Correct. Yeah. >> Another vendor. Correct. >> Yep. >> All right. >> Make a motion to approve the LNL builder pay application number eight for the elementary project 2025. >> I'll second. >> Okay. It's been moved and
102seconded to approve the LNL builder pay application number eight, elementary project 2025. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed? Motion passes. Additional items. So, our next board meeting, February 17. Just a reminder of the date change on that that we had set last month. I believe March 16 and April 20 are the normal dates that they're scheduled on, for lack of a better word. Um, I don't know yet, but we'll communicate with you when we have to set the date for the first budget hearing. You have to have for those that are new, two budget hearings. Um, and have to have the appropriate notice in the papers ahead of time and so forth. They can't be before March 20th. That's the earliest, the first one. March 20th
103this year is a Friday, so I'm pretty sure we're not going to do it on March 20th. Maybe that following week. And then we have typically in the past on the second one, the last when they went to this process at our normal board meeting in April, which allows us to complete the process and you have to turn it in by April 30. So I don't know the date for the first one. We'll have to work through some things to figure that out. Kendra and I will and then we'll let you know. And then the work session on February 25th right here at 5:30. Hey Stan, have you thought about having some open meetings for Pebble? Um, one in Ocheen and one in Sibly. Have you >> We have We have talked through that. Yes.
104So, um, don't know the full dates and times yet, but Okay. >> Yes, absolutely. I have [cough] >> great question. >> If you need any help getting a town hall or whatever, let me know. I was thinking Harland, but it's not Harland. >> It's not Arland anymore. >> Jewels. >> Any other talking points from the meeting? >> Yeah. Talking points. >> Yeah, great question. >> I always like hearing our staff present. I think we have a great staff overall. Um, and some of the time people overlook that, but I think Ryan is just an example of that and the passion that so many of our staff that we get to see every day that the public doesn't get to see. I think behind the scenes and so I appreciated Mr. Weisma's presentation. >> I think
105we all should go into his classroom. He [laughter] >> puts in the back same day. >> The discussions in there are great and this year has been Yeah. just a lot of social studies and things in the news that apply very closely to what they learn about. So, it's been fun to pop in there. >> Is it typical that somebody presents at every meeting? >> Some staff member. >> For the most part during the school year, we try to get um all the ones that the curriculum That's a good question. You guys probably don't know this. The curriculum leads. So, someone from math, social studies, we have two ELA ones. Sometimes they've gone together, sometimes not. Um, Matt Verir did last month. So, for the the CTE and you know, he explained that fine art
106um fine arts. >> Um, and then typically at some point during the year, the instructional coaches present as well, kind of in their ball field, and that usually takes us through the school year months. Doesn't happen. Oh, yeah. Special ed. I knew I was forgetting some areas there. Yep. Perfect. >> So, we try to have one of them go each month. >> Yep. >> For the school year months. >> Yeah. No, >> that's good. >> I guess one other thing is just that Iowa County health rankings, you know, just what our dynamics are and in our school district and I guess I know they shared that last year for the first time I seen it and you know, kind of >> Joe Hydrator had shared it with me. Yeah, he did again it looked like.
107So, yeah, appreciate that. And then I guess just our our early uh early retirements, I guess there's a lot of years leave service leaving Silio Cheton and thank them for that. So, >> yes, very much so. >> All right. Anything else? >> I don't have anything else. >> All right. Would there be a motion to adjurnn? Make a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll second. >> All right. So, move a second to to adjurnn. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. >> We're adjourned. >> I know. >> We got to walk all the way back to the elementary school. >> [laughter] >> about as packed as it gets. What you