Urbandale CSD School Board Meeting 01.26.26

001Right. We'll call our our meeting for January 26 to order. >> Julie, will you help us with >> Horton >> here? Hower. >> Kent >> here. >> Santiso >> here. >> Ben Ricewife >> here. >> Williams here. Young >> here. I'll move to approve the agenda. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Those opposed say nay. >> Okay. Our district mission is teaching all reaching all. District vision is Urbanale will be a school district that brings learning to life for everyone. And our school board mission is to partner with stakeholders to teach all and reach all through governance of foreign policy and operating protocol. >> Thank you, Rachel. Right. We'll pass it off to Elizabeth Whiter to do some board recognition and celebrating digital cit citizenship. Yes, as she said,

002my name is Elizabeth Whiter and I am the preK12 digital learning facilitator for Urbanell Community Schools and this year I um was part of the the digital librarian team that hosted a digital citizenship desktop competition. So, um, we had desktops for each of the buildings that were set that had a table view that represented, um, digital citizenship characteristics in the different J-Hawkway um, characteristics at each of the different levels. And we had heard some feedback from students about ownership over what was on their desktop. So, we put together the competition and gave the students um a brief on what they needed to do to visually represent um digital citizenship um and gave them a period of time to submit that artwork and then communicated to buildings um to support them in being able to participate.

003Um, and I am very happy to announce we had so many fantastic submissions. Um, so from Karen Acres, our winners were Moses and Rosco and Hope. And our Mstead winners were Boy and David. And our Webster winners were Truit, Samantha, and Ruby. And our Valarious winners were Saraphina and Mila. And then our middle school winners were Violet, Isabelle, Kelsey. And then it took me a while to find Andrea because it was a no-name. So it says unknown submitter, but we found her. We found her. Um, and so she is getting the appropriate recognition um for her submission. And then Kelsey's submission is actually the high school backdrop. Um so it is the the desktop on the high school Chromebooks. So after the new year um the IT department has deployed all the winning submissions. So

004they will rotate because as you saw most of the schools had multiple um winning submissions. So they will rotate um between the the winning um desktop um backgrounds um on the student computers and it was very wellreceived that the digital learning teacher librarian team is looking forward to hosting the competition again next year. Um so we're super excited about that and I I brought all these people today. Um, they would like some certificates. So, >> call their names. They're all in the order. >> What was Andrea's name? >> Um, Miguel Perez. >> Do you Do you guys want to >> She's in here. >> So, I just Elizabeth, what do you say their names? And then we'll have everyone come and get your certificate from Mrs. and then come over here and we'll just line

005up and we'll do a photo of everyone at the very end. >> Hope Rosco David, Samantha, Truit, Ruby, Saraphina Mila, Violet, Andrea. Dina will put them together. >> You should be in there too. >> It's like a puzzle. >> I brought some librarians with me today, too. >> Miss Johnson is the high school digital learning liar. >> It would have been possible without And if you're behind someone, if someone's in front of you, if you can kind of find a window that you can see through that way, I can definitely see you all. Okay. I think what I'm going to need this out of the way. You kind of know the drill byting here. Here we go. Ready? >> Parents can come up here before they break if you want to get a head-on photo.

006So, don't move yet, guys. You're superstars today. >> You're superstars every day. >> Anyone want to come up? >> They didn't understand. Okay, last one. Big smile. >> Oh, one more. Thank you for taking care of that. >> Like a foot, maybe a foot and a halfwhere. See you later. We next have a school showcase featuring >> Yes, Mike was back there. >> He's just making his way. >> Oh, we have the chairs. I didn't see that. >> You can drive the presentation. >> Okay. I'm really glad that I didn't have to show any of my artwork. Thank goodness. That would not have been impressive. But boy, those those students did a great job. That's really good. And uh Miss Whiter does a fantastic job integrating technology for all the schools. And I know sometimes

007it's unheralded work, but it's really good stuff that's happening. So congratulations to all them and to her. Um for those of you that don't know me, uh my name is Mike Moran. I'm the director at Metro West Academy, which is our alternative school here in Urbanddale. We have um not only Urbanale students, uh we also have ADM students and Walke and Walke Northwest students. So, um it's quite a a blend of kids, uh blend of needs, and they are some of the most atrisisk students that we have, and we're thrilled to be able to come uh to a supportive board and show just kind of a day in the life of what we do. And if you have any questions or anything else, uh certainly feel free to stop or ask. Um I know that

008that Julie's probably tired of seeing us. She's had it for a few days, but uh there this is not an onflowing thing. So if you have a question or two, please feel free to ask me. And uh for those of you that are new to the board, um I've spoken in front of this board several times. You're always invited to our school. All of you are. And I know many of you have been out and seen us and seen the work that we're doing. but also um it's an honor when when a board member does come and we really appreciate that support. Um I have been here for this is nine years um that I've been here and I I came here as a director um from another alternative school over at Newton and it

009has been a pleasure to to work in those schools and we've had a lot of good things happen for us and we have some really great high quality people that work in the building. So, uh, if you'll indulge me, I'll kind of go through. Am I just clicking up? >> Um, just kind of run through my slides, the showcase of of 2026. Um, and this is our mission statement edition, the ones we use. We inspire all. We get a lot of different uh, students and we want to make sure everybody has that same chance at success. We want everybody at the finish line. As I said, our partner schools are listed here. Our enrollment data is going to be interesting. Some of you may or may not know this. We have 84 students right now

010at our school. Um, and that seems like a small number for sure uh when you look at how big the high schools are, the middle school, but these are some of the students who probably need the most uh help to catch up with their peers to stay on graduation status and so on. So last year when I was at the showcase talking to the school board, we had 69 students. We're up to 84 now. We can add some more students. Uh it is something we can still do and maintain our staff. We don't have a ton of room, but we still have room and we're willing to try and that's the cool part. And we uh we have right now 55 students from Riverdale High School that are enrolled. So if that tells you, you

011know, what the other schools have, we have mid20s for Walke schools. they have those together and then we have between eight and 10 always for EDM. So that's who's in the building and that's that's who we're serving each day. So even though you guys don't necessarily see the kids from Walke or EDM, you're this board is is doing good work for them as well. So this is what it looks like for those of you who haven't been there. There was also Julie had that picture of the exterior um on the first slide. That's what our interior looks like. It's a It's very There's some furniture, there's tables. Uh the classrooms are all along this is where it's called our commons. And for those of you that are familiar with this, we moved in um not

012quite two years ago uh that we moved into this building. And it was a labor of love for everyone involved. Um a lot more labor than love some days, but um it really turned out well and we're thrilled to to be in an environment like that. Um it has not changed much at all from the beginning of getting in there. kids still love it. It's very respected and we're thrilled with the school's support of it and then our partner schools supporting it as well. This is our strategic some of our strategic goals for this year. And we uh we got these goals um you know we wanted to make sure that that we were looking at data and we were looking at feedback because that's important not only feedback from our administration team here at

013the AO but from our parents, our students and of course uh indirectly our school board. So when we start setting our goals and looking at strategic planning, um Denise does a wonderful job of getting us all thinking strategically always and uh she had us start thinking about what do we need to do to make ourselves better. We've had some success. We want to know what we can do next. What's the next bit of business? And so based on data and feedback, we decided that we need to promote Metro West. We really need need people to feel strongly about sending their students there and feel good about it. Not just that we say it's a great opportunity because we know and uh those of you in the room that have been there know, but we want

014parents to feel good about it. We want students to feel good about it and we also of course want our partner schools to be feeling good about it too. So we wanted to increase student attendance by being proud of where they're at, engage families, provide the high impact professional learning for our teachers. Um Brandon has been working around the clock trying to find some good professional learning for us and we we no longer do professional development. We do professional learning and it's been really good. We have a a person on staff, Joanna uh Joe Anna Keller, who is our guidance counselor as well. She is also our uh lead in the building for our teacher leader and she does a great job with that. So, we have tried to put in some new academic innovations

015uh that was responsive to what kids were saying, what schools need. And then, uh Dena has been working with us on Parent Square and getting our social media um up to speed with where we want it to be and all of our compliance things as well. Um the good news is is we've hit some of those goals and we're certainly trending the right way. uh we do a review every 30 days um which uh we'll be doing here again this month and we have to track where we are in some of these goals and so for example our recent uh our recent views on Facebook for example I think we have 400 and some since the last time I checked and that's really good for us you know we have 84 students that's a lot

016of engagement for us and so it isn't like you're we're not going viral by any stretch the imagination but uh but we certainly have people checking us out and I want that to be the case. We want parents and and everyone to feel great about having their kids here. So, um last year we kind of went on a quest. Um I don't know that anybody does a great better job than Dena does in getting the word out um on our schools. And uh she was I called her, we had a great conversation, talked to Dr. Dhaka and Stephanie Davis. They said, "We need a promotional video." and everybody jumped on board with both feet. Um Dena took the lead on that and we decided that if we could promote our school and we just did

017this last spring. If we could promote our school, we could accomplish a lot of these strategic goals just by people seeing uh what we're all about and how we do things. So, if you'll indulge me, we do want to watch this video. Takes four minutes. I I apologize if you've already seen it, but it's really worth it and it does give you an idea of what we do. And it's also really a huge uh thing that we did to try to promote exactly what we were trying to do. Um, and this has been something pretty powerful. Is this going to play? >> It should. And how we do. >> I'm not sure. It's verifying it's me. However, >> it's verifying it's me. Go ahead and click next. >> Next. Okay. >> I'm sorry. >> Sorry

018about that. security. >> She can handle it. I guarantee whatever happens. >> Thank you for not saying your password out loud. >> I know better. >> Luckily, Josh. >> Oh, they're really putting you through it. >> Yeah, they really are. >> I am so sorry. Okay, how about we watch the video? Metro West is a very unique place. Um it's an alternative school that we provide a very safe environment, a very high academic standard environment and it's a place where everybody can be successful. >> Kids love it here. People love to work here and our parents love sending their kids here. I think the thing about alternative, it just means that we're going to offer more support for your student and we have students from a variety of backgrounds. So, there are students coming to

019us for all kinds of reasons and really it's about us helping them navigate this next path. It's it's a second chance. It's a new beginning. >> You know, the students are the most important and that's what we're focused on. This is a student centered building. Each student can get their own differentiated education. Whatever they need, we make it happen. What makes also really unique is that our students not only get a completion of our program, but they also can uh achieve their own diploma, their own school district. They're they're able to be a full-time uh participating student in all activities, sports, uh music, drama, whatever they're interested in. They still maintain that relationship with our partner schools. We hear from students all the time, this is the this is the place. I would have never

020made it without being at Metro West. Parents tell us this is the place for my my student feel successful. They uh wanted to go to school. They were excited about going to school and they were proud of the work they were doing. If we can make those kind of connections for students and families, we really feel like that that's a good day's work for us and we're pretty proud of that. Coming from a traditional school of of having 25 to 30 kids in a class compared to here at Metro, you have anywhere from, you know, five to 12 kids in a classroom, it really allows you to build those strong connections and relationships with with your students. And once those students kind of trust you and you build that great relationship connection with them, they're

021more apt to be engaged in whatever they're doing, whatever class they may be in. There's no really slipping through the cracks here because it's such a small class size. As an alternative high school, we have really been honored uh to have been selected as a spotlight school by the National Alternative Education Association. As a matter of fact, our entire team was invited to Tampa, Florida to present and actually present the successes of Metro West and we're able to collaborate with schools from all over the country. In addition to that, we actually have every year we have schools that collaborate with us um all the time. As a matter of fact, just this year we had 12 different schools uh reach out, come visit and just kind of learn some of the successes we're having and

022then also we are able to glean some information from them as well. We've really been fortunate to have great partnerships with local businesses uh not only just in Urbanddale but throughout the metro. Um we have had our students uh on site doing job shadowing. We've had them do internships. We really feel like that those partnerships are really important for our students to have, you know, future ready stuff that they can go out and be employed or if they're going into training or if they're going to go to technical school. Whatever their whatever their choice is, we want to make sure that they're ready for what comes next in the next chapter of their lives. Our students are also eligible for scholarships um not only from um local businesses and groups, but they're also at their

023own schools. Our students apply for scholarships and receive them from our partner school districts as well as the very, you know, very well-known dollar for scholar program. Uh, Metro students also get a Prairie Meadow scholarship. Every year, one student is selected for that as well. And we have the the organization will come in and actually present the scholarship to our students. It's a way for them to be recognized not only uh for the great academics they've been doing or the experiences they've had, but also financially to help them in their next step. Over the last decade, um I've been here eight years. Um we have had a graduation rate of about 95%. We're super proud of that number. The national average is about 65%. So we're about 30 points ahead of the national average in

024graduation. If the student puts in the work and puts in the time, our teachers here are phenomenal. This staff is is is trying and working hard to make every student successful always. And every every student that walks through the door has that opportunity. And that's really the most important thing is every student feels like they can get it done here and they realize, you know, somewhere along their journey academically, this is their place and when they do, good things happen. Metro is that place for a lot of students. I click this for save Julie. >> I think so. >> Okay. >> Um, thank you for indulging me. That is uh Dena did such a wonderful job. There she is right there. Thank you so much for that. And I happen to be friends with the

025guys from the Natas uh just kind of distantly. So they they provided the free music for us too. It was pretty cool. Um so we really um you know have some things that we wanted to uh take a look at to promote us. This was our first big adventure uh to do. So it which really seems to have paid off because people say, "Hey, I saw the video." Which is cool. Um and we shared it with our partner schools. They shared in their counseling to their students and families while they're talking about going here. And then of course it's on YouTube um as well that has archived for us. Um I'm trying to hit this and have it move, but maybe it doesn't want to. There we go. Um, so as we uh start to

026look at our future planning, we have some students now who are um we're trying to coales this with the rest of the district as you guys will hear later on. Um Stephanie Davis and Dr. Carile have sort of spearheaded a movement of checking our uh entire districts um at risk program and I'm sure you guys are going to hear about that. It was really great experience for us and we realized that some of the things that we were trying to get into sync were were working and other things that we need to improve upon and it's awesome because these are three places where our students are are finding some successes. You have several students who are joining the military. That is central campus on top where we have kids who are doing trades and technical

027stuff. And then of course DMAC. We have kids who then go on to DMAC or some that are taking courses when they're still uh students. For example, they may be finishing our programming but then heading off to central campus where they do um while they're still high school students. And so it's a wonderful opportunity for for everyone. We also wanted to bulk up our employment opportunity things for our students. So this year, this is just in the last three months, we've been to the um or four months ASAB for October. Um we went to the uh Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Expo with several students. Um the Iowa Pipe Fitters of Central Iowa, I guess it's central Iowa Pipe Fitters Union um puts on a couple of apprentice things that we've gone to. the Baker Group up

028in Ankenany um hosted a group of our students and ABC Iowa um is uh sort of the promoter of of several different things that we have for apprenticeships and training as well. And so our students have been participating in those just this fall and we wanted to make sure that we listened to feedback and we took a look at the data and the opportunities for our students and we're keeping that going. We also uh tried some new things. This is Jonah Keller's work. Again, this is uh something that I just wanted to share with you. Sometimes it isn't the technology, which we have great technology. We've been really blessed that way. But sometimes it's simple things like bulletin board. Uh the thing that I was not very good at I was in when I was

029taking my educational courses. Um but we have a a 10 and under uh board. It's now twice that size because we have kids who get to 10 and under credits. Uh they want their name up there. And it's really surprising that at risk students who are mostly in the 11th and 12th grade really care about that, but they do. In Thanksgiving, she designed a great big turkey. They got a credit. They got to put a feather on the turkey. I'm not joking. I thought, "This is not going to work. This is going to be awful. There's going to be feathers all over the place." You cannot believe the amount of kids who said, "Hey, where's my feather?" >> Right when they got down there, where's the feather? So, she was having to get all these

030feathers ready all the time. And they would say, you know, Sally, uh, social studies or whatever. and then that's how they then they put their name up. So we started doing student engagement things like that that are very simplistic and cost very little money. It's a big return for not much of an investment. And uh we really you know this is a teamwide thing. Our teachers and and our counselor are doing this um as is our our building assistant Leah. They are constantly trying to think of ways to engage kids in a positive manner and it's really really paid off dividends. Um and it's really fun to see. And anyway, I just wanted to show some of these things that don't seem like they're going to be a big deal, but they really are. And

031it's really worked and it's from Janna's brain and then, you know, our staff and our teachers hard work. So, some of our community engagement things, we have two things coming out of the future. We're going to the botanical center here next month. Um, we have um tours that we're going to be going on and it's going to be um they have an whole educational thing they're going to do for our students and our teachers and it is um really exciting. we've never been to it before. Um, but they also want to host some opportunities for our students to volunteer there and we really would like to get that going too because that's another one of our big pillars. The Iowa STEM is in the fall. We hope to take some students there next fall. We

032kind of tried to figure out how that how we could model that and met with the people from Cedar Rapids who took their students this year. And what we're hoping for, of course, you build that uh into the future for your math and science teacher and your math and science students is that we can find a way to um to start getting into some of those grants and some those outside school opportunities during the summer. So, that's some community things we're going to try to do soon. Our volunteerism is every year it's the same group that we work with, a group in Urbanale called UK. Um they are uh they've been just really really fantastic uh for us for all the years that I've been here. And we do one day of volunteer work with

033them at Homemstead House in the fall. We rake up all the leaves. We may have missed a few but but there there seem to be plenty. Um and we have our teachers and our students uh come and it's really just a community day where we go out and help. And we talk about volunteerism all the time. you can provide uh food for our students. It's free. Um they bring stuff to us all the time. They're trying to always help. At the end of that, not only do we get to go out and rake some leaves, but they bring pizza over to a metro and kids get to have some pizza and just enjoy being together. And so it's really fantastic. This is just a group of right when we're getting done. Um we have teacher

034working extremely hard there carrying a huge barrel. I think he wanted me to say it weighs 500 pounds, but I'm pretty sure it was empty and I think it was plastic. Um, but uh the students and teachers, it's just really a good day for us to bond as a group. Um, we have very strong strategic partnerships. UK, as I was mentioning, um, the Iowa National Guard and DMAC. Voke Rehab is a service that helps students with IEPs and 504s look for future plans and things that they can do once they're once they're finished with their degree. And then just recently, St. Steven's Church here in town um has been doing like a a uh somewhat of a backpack buddies program with us. It's not an official backpack buddies, but it's really the same thing. So,

035groceries can go home with families. Uh doesn't matter what's what school they're from, and they've been uh tremendous to work with as well. These are great partnerships. The Iowa National Guard comes and teaches a CPR certification uh course uh for us. Um they do that once a year and there's uh their trainers come and do the certification. And then we also were able to go to Camp Dodge this year, did their challenge course and 35 students got to participate this year. Um, and the teachers went, we did a morning session out there. They worked on problem solving, communication, and teamwork. And this is some of the some of the pictures of the kids out there having fun on the course. So, um, the National Guard has been a great partnership for us. uh Bike World,

036who you saw the bikes in the video, they donated all his bikes to us. They reconditioned bikes from last year. Um their their hope is the one in Clive now is is sort of taking over the project. Um they are going to be donating three to four bikes every year in reconditioning or taking out the ones that we they think are lesser. Um these uh the folks at Bike World, no matter which bike world you go to throughout the metro, they're phenomenal to work with and they've been nothing but great. if we need a valve for the pump, if we do whatever, uh they're just right on the spot helping us whenever we need anything. So, it's been a great partnership and we really do want to continue working with them, too. That's uh just

037a nice sunny day. I'd like to see one of those uh where the wind isn't chilled like that. Uh Interstate Battery is another place that we've continued to partner with uh two times a year for two units. They do they let us come to their private Frisbee golf course. Um and we're the only people out there. It's really, really nice and the kids can be out there doing whatever they want. The buildings are huge, so we don't lose any discs up on top of them. So, that's awesome. So, we get to keep our equipment. There have been a few stuck in trees, but other than that, we've been great. Um, they want to continue to invite us out. Um, several weeks each fall they open that course up for us and it's really been really

038great. They're uh people come out and just say hi and visit and talk and the kids have enjoyed it a great deal. So, they've been a great partner for us as well and that'll continue on. Uh they've invited us back again. Uh that's just some kids playing this year. And then uh that was my last slide. I just wanted to thank everybody for allowing me to come. Thank Dr. Dhaka for inviting me and Stephanie Davis for inviting me. Um I always look forward to hearing any feedback or thoughts that you may have and I certainly entertain any questions you might have as well. Um but thank you for your support for our school and thank you for um allowing me to come and talk about it. I really have a great staff. I have wonderful

039teachers. I have good people to work with here at the AO. And we're all pulling pulling hard for these kids, both Urbandale, of course, but also Walke students and ADM students as well. So, thank you. Does anybody have any questions or any thoughts? >> I have a question. Sure. >> Thank you for that presentation. That was a lot of information. I appreciated learning all about that. Um, you mentioned you have room for more kids. Yep. How many is there like a range? >> So logistics is really um as we've talked with Stephanie Davis who's my supervisor and Dr. Dhaka, we think 100 is the magic number we could never go past without adding people. Um and I think that would be that'd be kind of one of those times you just have to kind of

040see how it boils as we get closer to that 100 number. I don't think it can go higher than that to be honest. And not to lose what what sort of um I don't know if magic's the right word, but the the way we do things would have to change if it went higher than that. >> But we we do have room for another staff member if we needed to with classrooms, but we would that would be a course of decision. That's not made by me. But uh right now this is uh we've pushed it up to to 84. It's going well. So, that made me feel confident that we could probably squeeze a few more bodies in if needed. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> What grade levels are you serving? >> Um, mostly

041it's 11th and 12th, but this year we've had a few more sophomores. Um, and right now we have uh two freshman students um from Walke and their hope is to have those students turn right back around either at the end of the year or before then depending so academically caught back up. So, ninth graders are not as common. Um, that'd be very rare, in fact. Um, I think we have right around 8 to 10 sophomores right now in the same plan. So, if uh Mr. Carver's team decides that this is a student that they want to have come to us, the hope is, of course, they're going to just be able to catch up some academics and get right back to UHS and have that full high school experience. Um, but that's predominantly it's juniors

042and seniors. And of course those that number changes. Uh we've graduated 25 kids already this year, graduated our program. And so you know that's 109 if you did that math real quick. Um how many students have actually attended us this year? So >> you replace some right? >> Oh yeah they're they're replaced >> graduate. So >> I think the numbers are bodies on campus not necessarily kids serve because you would serve kids. >> Very good point. Yeah. 109 have been through the through the door so far with with the graduates counted. >> And how many did we graduate last year? >> Um just about 80, I believe. Yeah, >> that's great. >> Yeah, that would be uh tough to replicate, but it could happen. We're hoping. We we would love to be above that 50

043to 60 mark every year. That'd be great. >> Do you have your graduation date set? So, >> um, you know what? It just got set this morning. Um, we had to go through all the calendar. It's going to be May 20th is the plan. That was actually going to be run through, uh, your office first. That's the plan. >> So, I'll put it in the week's update, but that would be a reserve the date for the board because of course, we would invite you to come to the graduation just like at the high school. No. >> Did you have um freshman and sophomores in prior years or is that >> we have um very limited again? Um and that has had some success with turning kids back to to back to their district wherever that

044may be. >> So do we have the data then or could we track the data on how many get cycled back into their school versus stick with you versus some other? be there will be some students who um particularly at the end of their sophomore year who won't want to go back to be honest with you. Um and those would probably be the percentage that would be the ones not going back. We haven't lost kids like that. Um as far as leaving school completely um even if they're past mandatory age um but I would say uh you know it's very high percentage but yes we we do have it and we could track it for sure. I'm sorry I don't know. I didn't want to ask you to know it all the time. >> It'd

045be good to compare from year to year. >> No, I think that's a very good very good valid point, too. >> Okay. Thank you guys very much. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you, Julie. >> Okay. Um, more you know, I'm going to probably repeat this a lot until the date is um done, but I wanted to remind parents that pre-registration for preschool started last Thursday online. Our kindergarten through 12th grade registration starts March 2nd and reminding families that every returning student must also register. Um, open enrollment applications are due March 1st for grades 1 through 12 and September 1st for kindergarten. So, just to make sure we are putting that out there wherever we can so that families know that it's registration time. And that's all I have for more, you know, today. So, now

046Stephanie and Christa Carile will come up and present you the um at risk program evaluation. Well, hello. Stephanie Davis, director of student services here with Christa Carile, who is our representative from H Heartland A.EA, director of service review. >> Um, so we engaged this year on a program review of our at risk program K12. Um, and I'll let Christa begin. >> Great. Well, thank you. Um, so the first thing we wanted to do is ground everybody in the definition of what constitutes a student at risk. So according to Iowa code, and this is straight up Iowa code, students who exhibit two or more of those criteria that are listed up on the screen are can qualify for atrisisk services. Um, public school districts in the state receive some supplemental funding. Steve can probably tell you

047a little bit more about the ins and outs of that to support at risk programming. So that pro the funding that they get is intended to support kids. This is grounded in the literature of um you know decades of research of what um characteristics might be common in students who don't complete high school. So it's ironic that our presentation comes on the heels of of Mike's presentation because Metro West is one of the ways um that Urbanale supports students who are at risk. So the next piece that we wanted to ground you in is what are the quality indicators of at risk programming. Again based in the literature of what programs and supports are work with different kiddos who exhibit these different characteristics of at risk. So the first one would be what goals do

048you have for your program and how are you measuring those goals? Um how are you identifying students? Of course, the criteria for being considered a student at risk you saw on the previous slide, but what are the processes not only for that initial identification, but then also for ongoing identification if circumstances change? What are the processes for students that are in grade school, middle school, high school? How do those processes differ? When it comes to programming, there's really two pieces um that are indicators of quality at risk programming. One is the fact that plans are individualized because even though there's a list of criteria um that constitute, you know, levels of risk um how we support those students should be very individualized based on their circumstances and their combination of those criteria. And then evidence-based

049supports, not all supports for students are created equal. We know that in instruction. Um we know that in supporting students at risk as well. So, we want to make sure that what we're doing is grounded in evidence. Um, datadriven decision making and review or that continuous improvement cycle goes really well with other continuous improvement efforts that Urbanale practices. Um, how are we looking at our data? How are we making decisions? How are we adjusting programming um based on the results that we're getting? We need to know that the work um that we're doing is the right work. And so, that's where that comes in. Um, of course, personnel. The atrisisk budget supports um certain personnel. General funding can support personnel that that um who work at risk. So, how is all of that put together?

050Um, and then partnerships. There are lots and lots of community organizations um that push into our schools, but also that we partner with outside of our schools. So, what does that look like? And then finally, budget. So the at risk program review um we met last summer I think it was June to talk through um the process of reviewing the program and the different steps in that. So the next this slide right here just tells you um what those processes were. The document review was um a review of I believe it was 27, don't quote me on that, but I believe it was 27 different documents from very comprehensive ones like the ACES program handbook to things like the website to the Metro West um learning academy handbook to um data disagregated by um different

051students. So the document review um purpose is really to look at the the things we have on paper and the results that we're getting and compare those to the quality indicators for at risk programming. So in the plan that Stephanie linked in there, there's a summary sheet that shows all of those um different strengths and opportunities for improvement by quality program indicator. Um we did stakeholder surveys for parents. um we surveyed staff and we surveyed uh we did focus groups with students and surveyed students. So we tried to collect a lot of feedback and we collaborated on what those questions would look like and that's also linked um into our program overview document just the different surveys that we asked. um the translation uh translators that you have here on staff helped us translate it

052into I believe it was six different languages that um are served by Urban Community School District. We had really um the highest participation among our staff. Um we had pretty good participation among uh families. We had really low participation among students which is why we also backed that up with focus groups. We plan to do those anyway, but it worked out that since they had low participation. Um I met with focus groups of students from UHS Metro West separately, three different focus groups and then um atrisisk staff that were counselors and um our facilitators of family outreach at Irvale. The district team then that Stephanie pulled together completed a self assessment. This self- assessment is very similar to um a process that we call the SAM. It's the self assessment of MTSS implementation. It's also

053very similar to something that Urbanale did a few years ago with H Heartland Aea, the gifted and talented program review. Um they have a they call it the GSAP uh program of self- assessment. Again, this is um where a team of individuals came together, talked through the um quality indicators of at risk programming. It's presented along a continuum of quality. So obviously from lower implementation to more um higher implementation, sustained implementation and had a about a day to go through that process and discuss. We really pushed for evidence when people had a um rating. We wanted them to provide evidence for that rating. So it wasn't just a I think or we think, but a I think because here's the evidence. Um based on all of that work, um we then set in November some

054long range goals and that again involves the larger group of folks um from the representing um the spectrum of our of our atrisisk programming staff created some long r long range goals, excuse me, crowded in the mission, vision and values of the district but also in the data and what we had learned in doing all of those other components. Um, from there we could come up with annual improvement goals and then strategic priorities and a strategic action plan which Stephanie linked in for you. >> One of the things that was so impactful with this process was getting the team together. Um, many of the teachers had not been in a group with the K12 team the entire time that they had worked here in the district. And so that was good information to know and

055also really wonderful to have all those different um participants at the table to share what they know and what they experience with our program goals. Looking forward, we were able to prioritize the 10 most important items to us and taking those top three or four as far as our long range goals. Um for us of course and for all of our students, we want to prioritize um all of our students graduating um receiving that diploma and also identifying that one trusted adult or positive connection to school. So thinking about those at risk um qualifications. We know that that is one of the things we want to make sure that we're um looking at as students are finding success. Um we our long range goals all students have planned for post-secary readiness. Um and then the

056identification of all of our students through the at risk identification process. That was one of the things that continued to come up um with our K12 team making sure that we're um properly identifying and sharing that information. >> Before you go to annual can I I'm sorry I missed this on my previous slide when I talked about goals but we have two types of outcomes. We have impact outcomes and we have implementation outcomes. And we talked a lot about that as a team. So our impact outcomes are the improvements we want to make to students, the student results. So when you think about things like um graduation and earning that diploma, having that positive connection with an adult, that's an impact on a student. Implementation outcomes are more um what we're going to do to

057get them there. So having that that plan that individualized plan that they will use to be prepared for graduation and post-secondary readiness is something that we as adults will facilitate and and sort of control right the implementation of that that that implementing that will get us to an outcome where 100% of students graduate um the 100% of potentially at risk students have been identified through the at risk identification process I mentioned earlier quality program indicator is very individualized works. So that's how we're going to get to identifying that one trusted adult and positive connection. Sorry. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um and then looking at our annual goals again um 100% of students identified at risk will have the updated post-secary plan which will lead to 10% of our students um identified will exit or

058not meet the at risk criteria. um taking a look at our um over our attendance or chronic absenteeism data over the last several years in order to set that attendance goal as an indicator of connection to to school and um to the students academics. Um our prioritized strategic actions, if you look at the plan that's attached, we have a timeline for each of these items. um some of the things that we're working on as a team yet this year creating and implementing um an identification process regarding comprehensive at risk identification criteria. We do have identification processes but sometimes in each building they look a little bit different. So making sure that we have that understanding K12 that consistent and objective identification. Um, additionally, this year we're working on creating those processes for um, sharing and

059tracking data for all of our at risk students, making sure there's that continuity between the elementary to the middle to the high school. We saw today the Metro West program and looking at all of those different pieces together, making sure that it has that same um, continuity and understanding between all our different partners. Um over the next couple years we'll be working on more of a seamless K12 program. Um looking at our personnel resources and making sure that everything K12 speaks to each other that we have an understanding of how each part fits in the system. Um and additionally creating the plans for each student's unique needs with a focus on the future. So um much of this process was so valuable for us to take a look at what our pro processes, our procedures

060are and making sure moving forward that we're being proactive, unified and data informed in our work with the um with the at risk program this point. If you have any questions, we'd love to >> I want to thank the A.E.A. because there was not a a book. There was not a template. I think Christa and I'm sure part of your team helped to create this based on a lot of really good information we found when we did the GT. But this was a big undertaking. So I know it was very time intensive. >> How close are we to reading some of these the outcomes like the 100%. So if you look at the disagregated data for kind of like Mike was saying um when we looked at the data disagregated on graduation rates. So one

061of you'll see in number four the tracking and sharing data for atrisisk students. Part of the the gap that we found is we weren't necessarily tracking data by the label of at risk. We track data for other things. We track data by students who are chronically absent. We track data for students who are underredited but we didn't necessarily have an at risk label for tracking. But Urbanale has always enjoyed a really high graduation rate. So 95% graduation rate overall would be I mean that would be inclusive of all of those students that are at this. >> Does that answer your question? So So it's I mean it's pretty close to 100%. >> Right. Okay. >> And when will we revisit this? Because this is the first time we've done this, correct? >> So would this

062something like every year before >> it's like a fiveyear >> type thing. We need to revisit this or >> uh 10 year or three year four year I mean >> before 2031. >> Yeah. Before 2030. Yeah. >> I I I haven't we haven't talked about that. So I don't know. I mean I would look at it kind of like some of the curriculum cycles. You could do a five a seven. I've seen nine. I'm not a fan of nine, but um I think that's something that once we get finished, because we still have work to do, I think we could talk about what that would look like because you have certain amount of time you want to give it to work and to go through >> to have a chance to be successful. I think

063this is this is great, but we, you know, we just need to make sure that this isn't a one and done thing that, you know, we've built this program, but let's keep the maintenance up on it so that we can see where the gaps are and we're going to fill those gaps. >> Thank you for your very detailed and incredibly hard work to do this. It'll really pay off for our students. We're very fortunate to partner with Heartland on this. We're very thankful. >> Thank you. >> Great. Pass it over to you. >> All right. Some updates I have about our school is we just ended the first semester on the 14th and last week was the start of the second semester. Students will have until Tuesday the 27th to change their second semester schedules.

064This week from the 26th to the 30th, Key Club will be selling roses during lunch to help fund their future project such as their adopt a family project. And pretty soon, Urban will have the band solo in ensemble contest Tuesday, February 10th at UHS. And then we'll have and after Perry will host the Perry band Olympics Saturday, February 21st. >> And this winter like activities are ramping up extracurricular like show choir. Um, we just had a competition. Johnston Showam. Um, Pizzazz got second place. Um, Ambition got first, Affinity got second. Vitality and Studio both got first in their respective divisions. >> And didn't Kate win an award as well or one other student? >> Yeah, Kate won um a star performer award. Yeah. >> Got goosebumps. All right, we have a public comment tonight. So,

065go ahead and come forward. And I'm required to read this to you. Thank you for coming tonight. The board policy limits comments to three minutes per speaker. For confidentiality reasons, the board cannot discuss specific personnel matters and we appreciate your comments. The board has a significant interest in maintaining the decorum of its meetings and expects that members of the public and the board will dress each other with civility. The orderly process of the board meeting will not be interfered with or disrupted by public comment. Only individuals recognized by the board president will be allowed to speak. Comments by others are out of order. If disruptive, the individual causing disruption may be asked to leave the board meeting. Defamatory comments may be subject to legal action. I think this was three minutes and I feel like

066a flight attendant. >> Well, good evening. My name is >> Kathy. I'll give you a 10 second. >> Oh, sorry. >> Right before your your three minutes are up. Okay, go. >> Uh, good evening. My name is Kathy Hayani and I speak tonight on behalf of the Urban Education Association. We understand the difficult financial decisions the district must make and we owe it to our community to examine how those decisions will affect student learning and teachers. The proposal tonight outlines budget efficiency recommendations by the district. I want to highlight four practical concerns. First one, reducing substitutes sacrifices planning and collaboration with fewer substitutes and reduce classified staffing. teachers will cover more and collaborate less directly impacting the quality of learning for our students. Number two, it could be a reoccurring issue. This may not be

067a one-year problem. Unless state funding consistently prioritizes public schools, we could face similar shortfalls next year. Planning for potential future shortfalls is imperative. It also creates difficult decisions. This is my number three for staff. Contract and staffing changes will put teachers in hard positions as they weigh professional choices against personal obligations. That stress risks higher turnover and makes it harder to retain quality educators. And four, we need to prioritize students who need supports in place. Students with IEPs, 504s, English learners at risk, and those receiving interventions need staff who implement individualized support. We cannot afford to lose those positions without harming student outcomes. In recent years, negotiations have been smooth and transparent. Working together, the board and UEA have focused on maximizing limited state funding and developed creative solutions to attract and retain outstanding teachers

068for Urban Health students. That work reflects a core belief. The district's greatest resource before facilities, before school choice, before supplies is our teachers. A teacher can make all the difference in a child's life. Given the significance of this proposal and its potential impact on our students and community, I recommend that we proceed cautiously and defer a vote this evening. If the board moves forward, please proceed cautiously and consider options teachers have proposed to delay or avoid layoffs where possible. Offer early retirement incentives. Re-evaluate contracts agreements with third parties and weigh the benefits before moving forward. It could mean one less teacher in the classroom in the future. Postpone projects that do not directly support student learning. Commit to working collaboratively with the UEA to revisit plans if SSA funds fall below projections and to communicate

069promptly about staffing and contract implications. Our first job is to provide quality education to our students and community. Short-term savings that erode instructional time or force unjustified choices will cost our students and community far more in the long run. Thank you. and I appreciate you guys serving on our board. >> Thank you, Kathy. >> Yes. Do I have a motion to bring forward the consent agenda? >> So move. Do I have a second? A second. >> Thank you. It's a roll call for I guess any open for conversation. Um I'd like some clarification. When I was president and vice president, I was reviewing the bills and was questioned by um the auditing firm. So, I just want to verify that that's still happening by our officers. >> Yes, have the folder right here. Review. Those

070aren't the bills though. >> Yes, they're also right here. >> Can we talk after the meeting? Of course. >> Right. I mean, I just I don't want the liability on me if it's not happening. So I just want verification that it is happening. That's all >> believe so. Yes. Thank you. >> Horton. >> Yes. >> Kent. >> Yes. >> Santisa. >> Yes. >> And I >> Yes. >> Williams. Yes. >> Young. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. Right. Up next, we have action items from our meeting two weeks ago. >> Yeah. The first one is on the this is the second reading for policy 105, the anti-bullying. And based on what I understood the board to want the changes, if you look in the details section, I um copied the paragraph and put in red

071what I wrote down as what the board intended to change. And that's uh toward the bottom of it. No student shall be subjected to bullying slash slashh harassment. and then ending that uh paragraph with um socioeconomic background or any other actual or perceived characteristic and uh I couldn't change the color in the actual uh policy because they're going to all be green or red and you wouldn't have been able to tell. So that was what was in um and I believe the bullying and harassment I somewhere I wrote that said discrimination and that was a part that they wanted to be um that I assumed you wanted to be more clear and specific. So if I interpreted that correctly then I would ask to have this approved as the second reading. >> Any conversation? So

072this one is a iron >> a yay nay. >> Yeah. >> All in favor mot. >> So I will move to approve um policy 105 antib. >> So I have a second. >> All right. All in favor of passing policy 105. I all oppose say nay. Hearing none, the motion passes. >> And the next policy is also a second reading. This was policy 535B on the student directory information. I believe um Miss Davis uh spoke to that at the last meeting, but if there's any questions, we have not made changes to this one as I didn't sense that there were changes to make as submitted for the first reading. I move to approve five or there more disc any discussion. >> Okay. I move to approve policy 503 or 0535B student directorying information policy. >>

073I'll second. Okay. >> All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. >> Next up is our capital improvement plan. >> Yeah. Excuse me. Administration recommends the board approve capital projects plan that we brought to you last board meeting. And a reminder, the capital project funds can be used for purchases of of improvements to grounds, construction, opening roads, buildings, leases, interest on bonds, procuring acquisitions of library facilities, repairs, mo remodeling, and expenditures for energy conservation. Can I make just one comment? Um, I want to the presentation you're going to see from Steve is going to talk about funding sources and I just want to uh remind you that these projects do not come from the general fund source. So any of these you couldn't forego a project to pay staff or to buy curriculum or

074anything like that. These cannot be used very separate. These cannot be used for salary benefits and that kind of information >> as per Iowa code. >> Thank you for that clarification. Do I have a motion? Kent will move to approve capital plant projects planned. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> oppose. Nay. motion approved. >> And this next one is the affirmative action approve the equal opportunity and affir affirmative action plan. Um again as presented at the last meeting there is a policy but that policy we haven't received all of the information to update the policy. This plan was updated with the assistance of our legal team at Dickinson Bradshaw. So, we're on the um requesting that this be approved at this meeting. >> Any comments or conversation will move to approve the equal

075opportunity and affirmative action plan. >> Williams second. >> All in favor? I >> oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Um the next one is um we presented a plan to provide our educational support personnel additional um salary stipens. Um this is a year-to-year thing that is uh set by the legislature and we are getting this money again this year. So as we presented last time, we would like the board to approve us providing um $251 well 255. we asked to round it to $255. So all of our um positions that are listed in here, which are uh classified staff with letters of assignment, will receive the payout depending on when they were hired, if they repeated from last year or they were hired and started before December 1st and then hired after that. So there's a schedule

076in here for each of those. I have a motion. Morton will move to approve the educational support personnel salary supplement. Do >> a second. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> oppose. Nay. >> All right. Motion passes. >> Um the next one is we are piggybacking off of what Dr. Carile and Stephanie presented earlier in the meeting. We're asking the board to approve an extension of the existing at risk handbook. feeling like the work that we need to do wouldn't make sense to go in and change that handbook without having that work well thought out and well um written. So, we're asking for a year's extension on that so that we can do that work. >> Any questions or conversation? makes a motion to approve. >> Morton will second. All right. All in favor

077say I. >> I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. One more in the section. Um we ask the board to approve the dropout and prevention and at risk plan budget cost um for the supplemental amount of 1 million 333860 or 836. Uh this is just to get us to SBC for the spending authority for the at risk program. >> Any questions? >> May I have a motion? We'll move to approve the Atlas drop out MSA application. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> oppose. Nay. All right. School funings are kind of like silos. They're all separated. um funding from each source. Um and the best thing to do is you cannot mix them. They have Iowa codes connected to each one of them. Um here next uh as you can see the allocation of

078our general funds, salary and benefits um add up to 61.08% of of our budget. Purchase services are 13.48. 48 and supplies are 4.76, other is 2.5 and property and equipment is 07 because most of the that comes out of the the save accounts or out of the Pebble levy. Um if you count the students um as you can see we've been fairly um level through most of uh the last 10 years or so. Um this year though our drop is 117.7 students. Um this count happens in October. You want to click to the next slide? >> Sorry. Oops. >> One too many. Did I go too much? No, it's right. >> No, you're fine this time. So, our certified enrollment count this October was uh 117.7 less students uh from the count. Um projections from

079the Department of Education when they go by birth rates and things like that. We we're actually at about 146 different than what we were. So 117 is a better number than the 146 for us. And then if we stay the course, as you can see, um the items highlighted in yellow are our board goals to keep our UAB at. Um in FY2029, if we make no efficiencies, uh we are below below uh board goals on that. And then FY30, we're down to 2.1. And at that point in time, we'll have to probably go before the SBRC with a plan um on what we need to do financially to make changes. And of course, in FY31, you'll see a negative 5.2. And at that point in time, the state can take you over and you're basically

080breaking state law at that point. >> And SBRC is the school budget review committee. So they serve a lot of functions for school districts. and the uh request for the at risk. That is one example where we um have more kids to serve than we anticipated. They let you go back and ask for more spending authority. They don't give us any cash for it, but they allow you to go back and say why you need the spending authority. This is another piece that they do. And I would want to go back to them and do this. And as you can see, our solveny ratio, sorry, >> creeps a little bit up as we go along and then drops back down in FY31. Okay, click to the next one. Um, the Iowa Association of School Boards

081has a ratio range they recommend between 5 and 15% with a maximum not to exceed 25%. Uh the ratio, the UAB ratio is a key indicator um how we use our spending authority and how we ended a fiscal year and a negative value for this ratio is a violation of state law. Um board has set the goals for the district to be a 10% UAB. Okay. We've used forecast five as our forecast scenarios. And if we um get a 2% SSA and we provide a 3% raise for all staff, um we still need to cut 1.5 million in reduction in our expenses because we're losing the dollars from each kid that we're generating. So we're our our expenses will need to be lowered to do that. If you think about your ex, if you think

082about like you have a savings account and if you continue to spend overspend what you get in, you're going to keep using your savings account and that's where we drop down into the situation where our um UAB would be below what we would want it to be. Um, >> I'm sorry. Just to clarify, we're we assumed 3% raises and obviously that's a negotiated um thing that we would do with our union and staff. So, those are not saying that's that's like we decided it already. That's just saying we had to start somewhere and we didn't want to lose sight of the fact that that's an important piece to us. So, just want to clarify that. >> Gotcha. Um, and then the the next set of assumptions that we ran was a 1% SSA with still

083keeping the 3% raises for all staff. That means we would need to reduce an additional um 250,000. So it would be 1.75 million in reductions. And at zero with 3% raises means we would need to find efficiencies of 2.2 million on that. And as we have kind of forecasted and looked um enrollment projections show a decline for next year and then the next several years of roughly we're hoping about 25 um down each year. >> I think this next one's kind of a repeat of >> Yeah. And by by making that 1.5 um million reductions, as you can see, our UAB stays fairly good um for about three years and then in FY31 um it dips back to the 6.4%. So more than likely in a year or so, we would probably need to make

084some other cuts unless the counts come higher than anticipated. And as you can see, our solveny ratio stays fairly well going across the board there. Um, >> if a summary, >> yeah, this is um just kind of a summary um of everything. Our UAB projected at 1% um will drop to 8.9 in FY30, 4% FY31. And if it's a we have a zero SSA, we drop in FY30 to 7.1 and FY31 to 1.4. And that's where we would go to the SBRC and we would have to have a plan to fix that. And as you can see through most of those projections we showed you, our solveny rat ratio stays greater than 10 for at 1% and zero% SSA. Um, >> Oops. Sorry, I can't be trusted to drive this. >> So, um, proficiencies, uh,

085for efficiencies that we're going to continue work, look at, uh, look at different ways where we can ma make ways to affect our budget. Um, we'll continue to, um, find other avenues if there's items that we can take to different uh, levies or different funds, like we can do that with some repairs. anything over $500, we can make sure it comes out of Pebble or out of SAVE. Um we'll kind of do those kinds of things and look at other ways to kind of affect the budget. Um next steps are um Dr. Dhaka and the cabinet's work on some of these efficiencies. >> Yeah. So the package that we um have shared with you again is um fairly generic, but it it is we want to make sure that you're making objective decisions. It's not

086that I would imply you wouldn't, but when this is something that every district in the state practically is working on, we want to make sure that we are considering. Um, we've got a couple different things in here. reducing building budgets um from the actual principles budget to the library allocation technology um band and vocal there's some uh additional funds that went above and beyond the buildings budget for both the library and the uh band vocal we have classroom FTE that's simply because we don't have the students that that that's just driven by the fact that the sections don't exist exist. They won't exist because of the number of students enrolled. And then we have some non-classroombased, some classified and administrative. There's a 1,551,16 uh6 in total expenditure reductions. And again, we repeated the assumptions that

087we used to make this package. Um, we did consider what if we did different raises for each employee group. and I personally um feel strong that they should be the same across the board. That's something that will have to come out when we do our um negotiations and the board's uh decisions. These efficiencies only take into consideration the reduced expenditures, the formulas that were run where we came up with the 1.5 million. That's only what this talks about. We know that there's schedule work doing happening at the middle school and the high school. So, we don't know what that staffing if there's going to be changes there. We're not sure. Um, we don't know who's going to retire and who's going to move. Some people have started to tell us, but we don't know those

088answers. Um, special education is almost impossible to predict because you don't know who's going to move in, who's going to move out, and how that balances and the fact that we don't have a negotiation. We have to serve those kids. And if you do know the number of kids, you don't know what the needs are. So that has to be um determined once we get enrollment more finalized. Um there is a position where administrative position that we're not going to fill, but the person who's going to take that over needs to be moved to an administrator because of the duties of evaluation. So that amount um will reduce the overall by I think another I'd have to look back here. >> Just around 13 I think it was >> 19. And then the previous just

089as a reminder the board in April of this year or of 25 approved a district level position that we did not fill and we are not going to fill and that can't count in the savings because we didn't fill it. So it's not like we're actually reducing the savings. Um but I just wanted that to be uh out there. And then we did previously cut the coordinator of equity and inclusion by um making no turning combining two jobs. So there are some things that we did at the district level that um turn out to be a good decision at this point because we didn't we weren't looking at that. We weren't looking at the UAB when we were looking at those positions. We were trying to say it's a net zero gain. So if I

090have a position that we weren't going to fill and we switched them into other positions, but looking at the UAB is the unspent authorized budget is what we have to look at for long term. And that's the ratio of the money you didn't spend divided by the money that you're allowed to spend because the state of Iowa tells you that you have an authorized expenditure because that's how they can keep districts from being a have and a have not district and you can't spend over that amount of money. And when you're a UAB falls like that, that's where you where Steve was talking about SBRC and going and having a plan. That's what that's why we have to look at this because when COVID came we were spending a lot of money. There was a

091lot of money that came in through different sources from the ESSER funding and then I remember the first year I was here we had a really high UAB and we had to spend that down and I think some of that just never got moved forward and if we don't do this now then we're going to be in a really those are not enviable positions to be in. So that's the reason that we're here. questions you guys have. So from our discussion earlier a lot hope we're hoping that a lot of these reductions in staff will h will happen through natural attrition right >> what happens when >> will happen through natural attrition >> natural attrition >> there's going to be some natural attrition I mean of course we hope it's all natural attrition um but

092our work session at the last meeting that was one of the things that we it's very hard to predict I mean we we know people who have informally said that they are going to retire but until it's a formal notice we can't count that in there and the whole process uh April 30th is the deadline so we need to do this now because a anybody who will be affected that wants to make a different decision it's not fair to make them wait and then if we have positions that open that nobody who would be moved around is certified for we need to also be able to adver advertise for the position so that we can get high quality candidates as well. So all of that right now I think kind of feels like there's this

093ball in the air that we don't know but it I think in years past it's shaken out. So it's just that this is more direct than it was in years past. Does that answer your question? Mhm. >> Um, last week we talked about kind of the uncertainty of the objective consistent process of deciding which positions are affected and how they're absorbed in, you know, those people into the rest of the district. Has progress been made on that front? >> Yeah. I don't know. Lauren, do you want to come up and maybe speak to that? I kind of told him I'd call him if I need him. >> Did you ask? >> Yeah. Like what kind of progress has been made on deciding which positions and how the people in those positions will be affected? like

094so like tenure, seniority and obviously certification plays a role but like >> what's kind of the pecking order with that? >> Yeah. So we we will use seniority again uh in making determinations. Um the best example I guess I have I would have would be last year when we had four classroom cuts at the elementary level and um that's what we did last year as well. Um the there's communication that's going to happen over the next few weeks with uh individuals specifically. We have had discussions with some of the groups that are impacted without going into the individual details at this point. Um, but some of that language is going to be tentative because of exactly what Rosalie just shared, which is that, um, we'll share what could happen. Uh, and then depending on retirements

095and resignations, um, that could change what takes place. Uh, one example that happened last year is that we have positions at a different building and we made plans for a few teachers to move to the different building to go into those open spots. Ultimately later we had a few resignations which allowed us or allowed them to go back to the building that they were originally hired in. So um one thing can be the case right now and something else might be the case a month from now depending on the movement that we have. Um the last two years, if we just look at the biggest category we have, which is elementary teacher, we had um enough resignations and retirements that there was no reductions in force made in that category. Um so that that could

096happen again this year. Um but it's we're a little we're a little earlier now, too, which is good. Um because then we have a little bit more time for some of these things to happen. Um, but it's um it's also good because of the the April 30th, even though it's a few months off, it gets here pretty quickly, too. >> Um, so elementary has a lot more wiggle room because we have more elementary teachers. It's it's not as specific certification. So, like high school, it's going to be a lot trickier that way. So, are you using seniority like this employee has been here for 20 years but not necessarily in this position or >> Yeah, it'll be seniority at the district. Um, but yes, it it's a little bit more particular uh especially at the

097secondary level. We'll be looking at just secondary as a whole and the certifications that they have as a secondary person um uh in terms of what that seniority is and certainly we'll utilize open positions that we have first um and where we don't um then the reductions would come with our least senior people that have been in the district. We recognize too the anxiety that this is going to potentially bring. I mean, we were all teachers at one time, the administrators, and we all went through something similar, and we remember it's not pleasant, but it's there's no other way to do it except give the worst case scenario and hope that everything shakes out the way we want with no nothing but attrition. But that's that's a time thing, and we do recognize that. I'm

098not I'm not thrilled with that part of it. So, >> um, one other question. So, if SSA comes quite delayed, as it has to last several years and it's at 0%. We're like at the deadline for our school year, then by that point, um, how is like how is that going to affect us? Because there's quite a big difference between 2% SSA needing 5 million and 0% needing 2.2. So, how are we going to juggle that? If that should become the case, there's we're going to have to go back and identify additional areas to reduce. And there's if we didn't get all of the 2.2 million this year, we can continue to work throughout the year because you're looking at that long-term projection. Um but the longer you wait that's going to accumulate and then

099you're going to potentially be looking at even more >> because the forecast model everything you do in one year moves forward to the following year. >> So you compound those expenditures you're compounded across the >> So it's really important for all of us to be knocking on our representatives doors and letting them know how important this is to be done timely. Um >> if if they meet the parameters that the law lays out >> February, >> which then midFebruary >> you will know what that answer is, which would give us time to do the process that we would need to yet barely >> but last year it was April. >> Yeah, it was April. Right. So >> that would be much more difficult >> and they have to well I guess they don't have to

100do anything but it needs to be decided before Steve hits the button on the >> the budget because if if he submits it at 2% and they only give us 0%. >> Then we're in trouble. if he does it. I mean, act >> our number needs to be final because you can't go up, but you can go down. But in this situation, we'd be having to find the $700,000. >> I'll be taking the max amount of taxes I can >> to stay within the 179. >> Stay within the 1799. And then we can adjust if it SSA goes down, I can adjust other numbers to get back to those. But I will not be able to go over whatever my final push of the button will be. >> But that >> I can go down,

101but I can't go back up. >> And that's going to take funds out of a different program that either way we don't end up >> a good solution. >> Might have to lower management levy or something like that. >> So if people are watching, please call your legislators. Dr. Duck, I know this is something that's weighed on your mind and your staff's mind for many months. >> Can you walk us through your process because this didn't happen just within the last two weeks. It's been a very deliberate and painstaking evaluation. >> Yeah, when I I returned to work in December, the 1 of December, um we had a lot of conversations about what is that 1.5 million look like? First of all, verify that that's the right number. Once we verified that was the right

102number, then we all had to go to our collective departments and figure out where nobody wants to cut. Nobody is expendable. But where could you make some kind of a cut that would contribute to that $1.5 million? We don't own our buses, so we can't do anything about transportation. We have to pay transportation. Um I think we have enough buses to begin with. So even if we did, I don't know that there would be anywhere there that we could make any kind of cuts as an example. And we spent a number since since the probably the second Monday that I was back, we've spent every Monday talking about what what does this look like? What's the potential impact? Where's the least amount of stress on the system? It's all going to be stressful, but it's

103not been an easy decision. And I I commend the cabinet for having the conversation because this is not a decision that Steve came and said, "You have to make these cuts." This was a collective conversation and a collective decision. So, I appreciate that because I I could have sat here and said, "Here's where I think it should be, but I'm not the one that is doing that work." So I think it was a good conversation that continued for six, eight weeks almost. So this is where we are. >> I do have a question. Um right now the 1.5 was the was the target. >> Um depending on these other two assumptions, have there been discussions of if it has to be one and 3/4 2.2 to where that's going to come from. >> We h

104we have to identify that. We have to go back and maybe talk about something that wasn't that didn't end up in in here because we felt like it was too impactful. But when it comes to the reality and if we get that far, there's going to have to be some real lean cuts made. And I don't know that we're not going to have a lot of time because the April 30th is the date that the deadline is. So that's why it's important for the legislators to make that February 13th deadline. Schools all over the state are trying to get this work done. And we're in a better position than most. I mean, you're looking at 13 million some places, 3 million some places. You've got one district that we've seen on the news that if

105if that's accurate information, they're looking at closing multiple schools. We're not in that position. And doing this now, we don't we hope to never end up in that position >> for the public's benefit. Steve, can you go over the enterprise funds that we have so that that can be separated out in people's minds from the general fund? >> The enterprise funds um you're talking That would be Adventure Time. That would be uh nutrition services and community ed. They're three separate um funds that basically have Iowa codes still things that they can come out of like adventure time salary and benefits come out of there. Same with nutrition services. Um community ed um comes out of the general fund for the director for that position. Um, so most of those are already in the correct places

106and those places have the budget set for those salary and benefits. >> So that's a separate be a separate >> the same money as these other positions. >> Correct. And that's the hard part for the community because I I remember before I became superintendent or even a district employee, a district level employee, I always said the same thing. You're going to you're going to redo the grass on the football field, but you're going to cut staff or things like that. But those are all coming out of something totally different. And I know it's hard to grasp sometimes. >> That's the same for student activities. There's gate admission that go into that and so >> y >> it's also a separate fund but it's not a lever we can pull. >> Yes. >> I think sorry

107go ahead. Yeah. I think it would be so helpful if we could somehow get that chart out to the public because like you just said, >> I think it's on our website before I was on the school board. I And still I reference that all the time because school funding is >> crazy. >> So complicated. It's so complicated. And like the general fund is what we're talking about, but you don't realize, and I still have to reference that when we're talking about funding other things, they come from all different sources. And >> I can put a link in the board notes. Looking to see if I have that my website. >> Yeah, I think that would be helpful. And I was wondering if you could also just touch a little bit more on um something

108else that I didn't realize until I started on the board, which is what you briefly touched on uh the allowable expenditure per student and how you can't spend more than that even if you because I somebody was talking to me at work about well why don't you just have a fundraiser or have somebody donate money to the school and I'm like well it doesn't work like that. You still can't >> Yeah. I think the example was if somebody came and gave us what a million dollars could we >> million and a half could we fund these positions it's not about the cash because that's your solveny if we were going to close our doors tomorrow could we pay our bills yes we could pay our bills but the authorized expenditures however they put it in

109the formula and come out we have a limit of what we're allowed to spend and if we didn't then you would have districts that are really well off because they have a bunch of people that want to give them a million dollars. We you'd have districts that are not very well off because they're not big enough. They're maybe they're rural. Maybe there's a reason. That's why they try to keep it in a they do the same thing with transportation. There's an allowance. I couldn't begin to explain it completely, but so that there's transportation equity. So the state, I think, in in the right way, wants to try to keep districts proportionately the same. And I think, you know, you do have the funds that come in for title. You have a lot of your state

110funds that are under there, the professional learning, the teacher salary supplement. All of those monies are coming in. What we have to do is to make sure that our expenditures are touching the classroom instruction as close as possible because that is why we're all here. So, I would rather tell a school in your budget being cut, you you can't buy food or you can't um do some thing for your staff that might be like a I don't know, trying to not thinking on my feet. Well, but I don't want to tell them what they can and can't buy for their building. I've asked them to go back to their um leadership teams when they do their budgets and have them decide what they want to what what can we live without that's not going to

111affect our kids. So it's the authorized expenditures you have authorized revenue too. So all of that gets put together to come up with um those >> and the enrollment is basically the base of the whole formula. So >> you have about $8,000 per student. And if you take 8,000 times 117, that's a lot of money that will not be coming in, >> right? And these rules apply to public schools. >> Public schools, which is what is different. So your ESA money is going to a private school and they can spend it however they want. Um whereas that money comes to us and it's earmarked for only specific things. So it's very different. >> Yes, a private school can raise money >> a million dollars and spend it however they want. >> And we can take

112donations. I mean, they come in as a miscellaneous revenue. So we can take donations, but they don't you you can't take a million and a half dollars as a donation and call it a day and say, "Okay, well, we're we're good. We don't need to do this." Because again, that's the expenditure piece. Now, if somebody donated a million dollars to the athletic department, if that's coming under, and I don't know, am I even right on that? >> Yeah. If it's donated, if it's designated for the activities, then yes, it be it would go to the student activities >> because that's not the silo we're talking about. >> And you mentioned a 3% raise and I do want to give everyone 100% raise if I could. I would prefer to do like five or 6%. >>

113What conversations have you had with the UA to start that process? >> We have not yet. Um I think you guys have a timeline where you start and I think it's usually closer to knowing how much money we're going to get. >> Yeah. And just as we typically do once we get to the new year, um Kathy and I just recently met and talked about I mean the timeliness of all of this uh a little bit. Um but it's you know coming fairly quickly. It's it's nice though when we know from their perspective as well as the districts what the funding levels are. So that's why another reason among many that when they meet their the correct deadlines that we can in a timely manner engage with uh both of our unions. Um, but we've

114started initial discussions >> and we've always been since I've been here transparent with the union on what that new money looks like and I there's a a sheet that you can do some calculation adjustments to see and I I think that it's been a really good relationship with the union. They are understanding of what the situations are. I know not like the situations, but we've always managed to have really good conversations and I appreciate that as a superintendent, not having to to, you know, hash out things that um we can't do anything about. But that is key that the legislators have got to that that deadline is going to help us or hurt us. And the closer we get to April 30th, it's it's not it's going to hurt us. So February 13th is the

115date that we really need that to be finalized. And I know the from what I understand, I know the governor proposed 2%, but the House and the Senate are each on different spots with what they have um proposed. And so I think there's a lot of conversations they need to have and hopefully they'll reach out to different districts and ask them board members and ask them what what is it going to do for you if we did 01 or two? And we just did two because two has been kind of the average over the last few years and then the 3% raise was pulled out of the sky but it's been around that. So, we just wanted to start with a whole number and see what that would look like. >> That's what you do

116in forecasting. >> And there's also a question about early retirement. >> Got my fancy chart. Early retirement comes out of the management fund. Can you talk to us about if that's a possibility? >> Management fund. We don't have a large balance on our management fund. Our insurance, liability insurance and all that, property insurance, it all went up in the last several years about $300,000. So, there's not a lot in the management fund to process and do it in early retirement for us. >> And I think Lauren and I talked about it a couple of different times. And it's there's a lot of things that go around that. It's not as easy to just say, "Hey, let's take everybody who's retiring this year and give them this amount of money." A couple of years ago, the

117legislators said that there was a restriction. You can either use it to retain employees or you could use it uh as a an incentive to bring a retra uh recruitment. So, if you did that, there were a couple of years you had to use that method and then to switch it again. We talked about it la I think when I came back and our determination was yes we would like to do it but it has to be planned out well to be fair and equitable amongst all staff. It it needs to be a a good plan and I didn't think that at that point we could come up with what would be a good plan and I don't like putting things out there that have not been well thought out. So that I believe our

118last conversation is we're going to look for a July one. >> Yeah. And what we're talking about there isn't ne isn't necessarily a full early retirement plan. It's more of incentives that would um possibly get us retirements and and resignations a little earlier by small uh I don't know what you would call them, but bonuses or whatever for meeting certain deadlines around this time of year. Um some surrounding districts have done that for a few years and I've seen some success in learning sooner about what their situation looks like. Um, but as Rosalie said, if we were able to do that financially, we would want to um come to something where everybody would be able to see it for, you know, prior months prior to when it would be fully implemented. >> And the management

119fund, for those people who are listening and and don't know, that's that's the fund that is part of our taxes of the 1799, but that is the fund that pays our insurance. And if you have a catastrophe, you have a fire, you have a flood, you have we don't know when those things are going to happen. So, we have to make sure that we're able like you would in your house when your air conditioning goes out in July. You want to be able to fix that. And so, our insurance payments come out of there, our legal fees come out of there. There's a lot of things that are not something you can say we should budget x amount of dollars because they go all over the place. And I think it would be a disservice

120if we didn't have that plan established to know matching the money that comes in every year because I don't want to do something and then have a lose a building and not have the ability to handle what we need to handle. >> And I think you'd want to like what Lauren was describing too is you want to have a process. Do you want how many do you want to take? So, you kind of need to know, do you want to go with 10 payments for the that kind of a um they turn in the early notice that they want that they're going to retire like at end of December? Do you set it at 10? Do you set it at 15? You just kind of got to have an idea what numbers you would want

121to use for that. >> And then what happens at 20? >> Yeah. If you if you just had it opened up and you had 50 people, you know, then you're you're dealing with a number. You want to have an idea of what your number is going to be. Have we gotten any more clarity on um the schedule changes at the middle school and high school and potential any potential staffing implications? >> We anticipated that we would get some today, but unfortunately we weren't able to. So that is on our definitive Monday cabinet meeting next week. How many questions do you want us to ask or wish we'd asked? >> Um, no. I think I'm processing from our work session and I think you guys are covering the questions that you had there and helping the

122community understand more. And I think we've discussed a lot of the suggestions that that the UA UEA um brought brought forth in in the public comment. You know, those have been considerations that we have that you guys have been making in coming up with this plan. And nobody and again nobody wants to do this and nobody enjoys this. This is the worst part of this position is when these things happen. And unfortunately, this is part of what's going on in our world. You know, the birth rates are lower and they're projected lower across the world for the next 15 to 20 years. And I think our recruitment and our all of our public I know the work that Dena's doing if we get 117 kids more next year then it because you remember your your

123budget is based on the October enrollment. So this past October is what number is used to figure out next year's money. So next October, although it'll be a year later, if there is an increase in enrollment, that'll be seen in the school year. So that that's an area that we do need to focus on as well. And I I don't know what it'll be. We know what the state says they think. we know what our projections think, but until it actually comes in, and another thing to remember for the community is that if there are students that came to us after that October count, we don't get any money for them until the following year. So, anybody who moved in to the district this year after that October count, we are still educating them, but

124we're not getting any funding for them until the next year's budget. And that's always how it works. You don't It's always a lagging indicator for your budget. >> Can you walk us through um again more for the public's benefit? We've talked about this, but what happens after this? We've had some requests to table or seek additional information, things like that. So, if we approve tonight, what what are the next steps look like? What will staff experience? uh what what will they experience >> in terms of timeline like what can they expect to happen next and then how does that look big picture and when you'll be able I know some of it's dependent on the legislature and deciding SSA rates but what could they expect in terms of when they'll be notified if their position

125would be impacted when they would expect to have a final budget where we might have an idea and what I know there's a lot of variables but >> the Lauren has already blocked the time to have these individual conversations So they'll start if this was approved, they'll start tomorrow. Like you said, we've had some kind of generic group conversations, but the targeted conversation with the infected employee in affected employee will start tomorrow. So he's blocked those days off so that he can have whatever questions they want answered so that he has that dedicated time. the our cabinet. This is an agenda item that stays on our cabinet every week and we will continue to find places that we can make more efficiencies that may not be staff reductions, but that we hopefully next year we're

126not sitting in this same position with this high in number. So that like Steve said, when we do um repairs or we buy equipment there, a lot of that can come out of our Pebble and our save funds and not be part of this conversation. Some of those right now come out of general fund. Like there's been a lot of HVAC. You you guys have approved a lot of HVAC work. some of that has the repairs have come out of general fund or so we would keep looking at those things so that we can make sure we're trying to find those efficiencies I think everybody really by the end of the week is that accurate >> or next week >> I would say by middle of next week um but the in terms of the

127individual conversations they will be with both those that are um directly impacted but also also those that are in groups so that they know whether or either way whether they're impacted or not. Ultimately everybody in those groups is going to be impacted just on the change of what the works work looks like. Um, and certainly we want to, as Rosie said, be able to answer any questions that individuals might have because each individual that's impacted the situation just looks a little different based on whether it's their certification or what it means or whether there's uh for the non teaching positions, what that looks like in terms of what position they're potentially going into. Um, that sort of thing. So, over the course of the next two weeks, it will be to have all of those

128individual conversations. so that everybody who's directly impacted will have a get the information um with their direct supervisor as well um within that meeting is what I mean all of the direct supervisors know who is impacted at this point in terms of the especially specifically the individual teachers um so uh yeah by by middle to end of next week um the communication portion of it should be completed minus all of the having to go back like we talked about earlier and as things change to get back to folks as quickly as we can to get them the most pertinent information to their particular situation. So, if we were to decide to table this tonight, then it just it leaves people people in limbo wondering is it is it me or giving them the ability to

129look forward and and do what's right for them, right? >> And it push >> because is there any way that we're not going to have to make a significant budget cut? No, the budget cuts only going to get bigger depending on what the legislators do. And if it was tabled tonight, which is certainly the board's discretion, it's pushing us closer to that April 30th. So, it is making it very difficult and we haven't had those individual conversations again because if we did go to a situation where we had to riff any employees, we want to make sure that there's a solid objective to the board's decision to pass it because if it starts to become about individual people, that's that's not a good state to be in when you're making these kind of decisions. And

130we did not when we discussed this, we worked really hard not to talk about people. We talked about positions. So I think that's the most fair way to do it. Another question. I guess one more just another to clarify for everyone. We're not at a position that we're talking about cutting any programs like some other neighborhoods and schools are. So we're not looking at a loss of a program or a type of >> No, if we were looking at programs, we would be doing like what Stephanie just did with the at risk and doing a full assessment and carefully and methodically thinking about and looking at data. Right now, we're not going to slash a program just to slash a program. No, I have one more just another for the benefit of everyone listening. Um

131can you talk a little bit about the decision um to include the library and band and vocal um pieces and what some of the reasons why those other funds that are available and how that was decided to those were supplementary funds so they were additional funds they were not the sole funding that those departments received. There's still money in the school budgets for libraries and band and vocal and abandoned vocal additionally have activities funds that they have access to. Um we don't give the math department or the science department or an elementary building supplemental funds like that. So we felt like that was an area that they could still have access to funds. It just would be a little bit less in the future. should things change, we can go back to the amount that

132we had, but um they're still getting funds. And I think this year we had some library funds, am I right, where Brandon worked with the librarians on trying to find materials for their library that we had already had set aside that they could more closely match the new curriculum. So, they are in the process of each school figuring out what they want to add. So, they're getting an opportunity to add some books now. That's specific to elementary. >> It is specific to elementary. Sorry. Are you ready for a motion? >> I know everyone's looking at me because I always have more questions. But you're thinking just to kind of cl just to kind of wrap things all these efficiencies that we're having to find are because of declining enrollment. Correct. >> I'm sorry. >> All

133the efficiencies that we're having to use are due to declining enrollment to to decline in our enrollment this year. Correct. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> I think you could also piggyback on a lower than we would want SSA to because if we were getting an SSA level that we thought it would offset some of this. >> Yeah. And not just this year on that SSA years. >> And then like we said too, if what if the what if they came in and said you can have 20%. >> There has to be some ability to sustain that. >> I think you know the question I got today was what what could it be? Could be a 10% and then you could move to 2% depending on how things went. It could be 5% 5% and then

134possibly. But that's sustainability is what I worry about when you historically have not provided SSA. There were two years on the chart where they gave 0%. So if it's kind of like when you have a job and you get paid a certain amount, is that always going to be your job? Is that always what you're going to get paid? Do you have to plan for possibly not? And those are the same kind of decisions we make at home. Is there a way to know the financial impact on our district specifically of SS of ESAs? >> Yeah, I can I can tell you the I have all the even the names of the kids, so I can tell you what schools they're at. And when I looked at that information when I came back, that was

135one of the things that we did. Um 63% of the kids that were on an ESA were never our students to begin with. They've never stepped foot in the district. They've always been in a non-public school. 37% that's left over. You have to consider over the last three years that there were three kindergarten classes of kids that I wouldn't know cuz that's their starting point in a non-public. I can I can guess, but a small percentage of them. Now, the ones that were you're it's a lot of money. I mean, you are foregoing money. kids that were here that ended up leaving and going on an SSA. So, I'm not going to say that the or an ESA. I'm not going to say that didn't impact us because it did. It's my guess from if

136I remember my notes, I can look them back up, but it was like $1.8 million from the ones that I felt like were that I could identify as our students that are no longer >> that more than covers this >> and I don't know what it's going to be this year. That's another I believe it was going to expand. >> Yeah. >> They removed the income cap. >> Yeah. >> So you >> Well, Sarah, I already talked about getting more money to the ESAs. >> And to the people at home, this is the reason you need to be in contact with your legislators, your representatives, the governor. these things do you you may not be getting any have any impact but it's affecting your children and your in your the school community so it is

137important if this is something that's important to you to speak up about it and also something easy like all the hard work that D's been putting in for the marketing if you just click share on your on any on a Facebook post you see that's something easy it doesn't cost anything but that will help get the word out about, you know, our great schools that we have here at Urbandale. So people do know that, you know, we are we aren't the biggest, but you know, we're one of the best. >> And I just want to reiterate that in case nobody heard what Dr. Dhaka said, we've lost $1.8 million from ESAs and we are reducing our budget. We have to reduce our budget and cut staff by $1.5 million. The thing I'd add to what

138you kind of just said, we're a landlock district, too. >> I mean, it's for moving of people selling and buying houses and cycling children in is what we're really dependent upon >> besides open enrollment. Talk to your city planners about affordable housing. Bring more families into be a brand ambassador for the district and talk about your child's experience and share that with your neighbor so that they choose to send their their student here. This is a village. Can we move to approve district budget forecast and recommendations like second? >> So we'll start with Kent. >> Yes. Santisa, >> yes. >> And >> unfortunately, yes. >> Williams, >> yes. >> Young, >> yes. >> Wharton, >> yes. What's the right motion passes? 6. >> So, in the spirit of what can we do about this? All

139right. Next agenda item is >> can I recommend maybe since it's 8 o'clock, it's been a couple of hours, maybe take a a short recess before we move on to or we have one more item and then after that we would >> would that be okay with everybody? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> And then a break >> development session. So, we have a a resolution here and this was written by the Iowa Association of School Boards and it urges our legislature to fully fund our public schools and to phase out educational savings accounts. This has been passed by several other districts in the state and it just says that we believe in our public schools. Kent will move to approve the public strong public strong public school strong resolution. >> Stel second. >> Do we

140want to read it? So the people at home can >> All right. A schoolboard resolution urging the Iowa governor and state legislature to fully fund our public schools and phase out the education savings accounts. Whereas 91% of Iowa students are enrolled in public schools. And whereas public schools are univers universally accessible and do not discriminate. And whereas public schools are accountable to local communities through nonpartisan democratically elected school boards. And whereas the state of Iowa has underfunded public schools for decades, averaging just a 2% annual increase of state supplemental aid since 2012. And whereas Iowa is experiencing one of the worst teacher shortages in the country. And whereas private schools receiving ESAs are not held to the same accountability, transparency, and legal standards as public schools. And whereas Iowa's ESAs defund our public schools and

141have cost Iowa taxpayers $129 million in 2023 and 24, $218 million in 2024 25 and is estimated to cost $315 million in 2526 with all income eligibility caps removed. And whereas the vast majority of private schools in Iowa are religious and publicly funding them blurs the line between separation of church and state. And whereas independent studies in Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and Washington DC show that students performance and achievement go down as private school voucher programs expand. And whereas all of us, including future generations, benefit from strong public schools because they've helped make our country far more equal, educated, and democratic. Now, therefore, it be resolved by the Urbanddale Community School District School Board of Education. The Urbanddale Community School District Board of Education do hereby urge the governor of Iowa and the state legislature to

142fully fund public schools by an annual 5% increase of state supplemental aid rate adjusted for inflation. And we do hereby petition the governor of Iowa and the state legislature to keep the income cap in place for ESAs, phase out the program over the next five years, and use public funds for public schools only. So, I have a a motion and a second. >> Can I just add something? Um, I don't want anybody to think that I or I I'll speak for myself that I am against people sending their kids to public to private schools. Um, I think it's great that people have that opportunity, but we were elected to be good stewards of public tax dollars and protect public school kids. And I don't think we can in good conscience um ignore the fact that

143we are having to make really hard, terrible decisions that affect our kids, our teachers, um and the future of our school district. Um because money is going to schools that do not have the same oversight and do are not required to teach all and reach all which is our um mission and um so I I feel very strongly about this. >> Thank you. >> All right. All in favor? I >> I >> oppose. Nay. >> All right, we will take a five 10 minute break and use the lecture and then we have development session. It's only about like >> try it on my >> every-should we go? Even though they were here, >> I won't lie. My teacher voice was not super loud. >> I can help you on that. >> Use your teacher. >>

144Okay, Josh, we're ready to start. Sir, >> thanks. >> My teacher voice is a little scratchy. >> Oh, no. I'm sorry. You guys Yeah. Thank you, Rachel, for getting me back in line. >> Being rude. >> No, no, I need to get put back in line. >> But we we're going to work together. I'm I've planned about a half hour. Um so I hope that's okay. I know it's feeling a little late, but I I also think um some of like the gravity of some of the conversations that you all have had to have over these last couple of weeks um maybe brings to light even more the importance of your ability to work together, to tease through problems together, to disagree with each other in a really productive way that helps move your board,

145but also the system forward productively. Um, so I I do feel like it is really timely that we're having these conversations tonight because that's really what the actions of excellence are about. How do we work together as a system? So hopefully you all um did a little bit of reflecting about what each of those actions of excellence mean um for a board member based on on your experience thus far. And you're going to want this out as we work tonight. You'll notice that I have the actions of excellence pulled out um on poster paper for us. I'm going to put you into partners and then you're going to work with your partner and I have a series of rotations or a carousel that we're going to do to um have some convers you'll have conversation

146with your partner and you'll make some decisions together to put on your chart paper and then you'll also be doing some sharing with the whole group and then at the end we'll have a little bit of a a prioritization um process as well. So for partners, I was thinking we could do because I'm super creative this way. If we numbered off one, two, three, one, two, three, then we would have Hannah and Rachel be partners. Margaret, Rodrigo, and Josh and Carissa be partners. >> I hope that's live streaming. I hope everyone saw it. >> Exactly. Because because we'll talk about that at the end. >> I don't know. Are we live streaming? >> Are we technically he's still there? >> That's awkward. >> Okay. So, >> we have an adjourn. >> Here's what we're gonna

147do. Hannah and Rachel, I'm gonna have you hop up and go to culture of collaboration. Take your paper with you. Margaret Rodrigo, you're gonna go to character and action. And then Josh and Carissa and have you start a committed workforce? And I'll bring you a marker. You're going to have conversation and then write on your your postit your poster paper. Um, like Margaret, your guidance says character and action. That's your first action of excellence. So, where it says is, you're going to fill that in. What is character and action for a board member? What is culture of collaboration for a board member? What is committed workforce for a board member? What does that mean from your just set a timer for about three minutes and we'll see what things look like. If you're done earlier,

148I'll keep us moving. Um, but really have some conversation, dig in and just write what that is for. Does that make sense? >> The second column for more of the same and not something >> something different. Yeah, something different. >> Stay in your space. >> You're right. You can have more than one color too if you'd like. >> The one of the dark blue. >> Well, the neon typed out. >> Yeah, the neon ones might. >> Yes, that should be a good one. >> He doesn't want to do it. >> I write like a third grader. I don't want that to be live streamed. I watched this a few years ago. >> So, this was a great exercise. >> Well, I started and then I was like >> I was an arrow down there. started

149writing it up here and there. looking at my number. >> It's concerned about what this is for. >> I need to know the whole plan. >> Now that you say a couple years ago. >> It was right after >> Yes, I remember. >> Right there. >> What have we done to >> um do not need to agree This is >> No, if we're done though, >> I'll move us quicker. >> Well, we're just we're just over >> then no one would have room. We took up the whole space. And I took phone calls from students that were still on natural consequences. >> Well, no, it's all mine. >> Mine's pretty bad. All right, let's go ahead and rotate. >> I'm going to cut this down to about two and a half minutes on this one.

150So on your next next one, you're going to do the same thing just on that side. resources. using materials responsibly. I wrote This one's a little bit hard. I mean, especially when you've done this for two months. Um, >> I think like a job to do better. Yeah, >> I know. I wrote this down. What is that? >> I I said we did the work. We might as well share it with everyone. >> I know. What are we going to shift? >> Keep going. There's more. >> You can you can write ditto. >> Ditto. >> If you ask nicely, you can rotate. >> Okay. So, now you're going to move. You're going to go ahead and make your move. You're going to go to the other side of the T >> and put an is

151not. >> You are welcome to add to the is of the group before you. Well, you you can add to the is of the group before you, but your responsibility is to start completing >> that isn't me. >> I know. >> Okay. Just want just want to be clear. I'm not taking credit for that. I don't know how to put this >> to put I feel very promised from you know how well I spell >> how do you spell >> G R I E. >> So the first try was right and then when I started I was like is it E? This one represents usually pretty stress. >> I tried to Try to write. >> No, everything is like >> All right. So, we're going to rotate again. >> The same assignment on the next

152poster. Add to the is start. >> We're making up more words. What dashes are >> that say silo? like siloed work like just no. >> Is that a word? >> We use it. >> Yes. >> Education uses a lot of acronyms and words. >> I'll just start putting initials up here and be like Rosalie knows what that >> tell us about it. >> No lesson. Even though I looked it up, >> kind of this So that's kind of what I mentioned earlier. >> I'm helping >> write that too. Yeah, >> you can put that on the bottom. >> What is >> What happens if we don't? >> Sometimes it's hard to make a positive into a negative. You don't have to it doesn't you know what I mean? So yeah we did that over there

153>> to translate what you wrote down into the opposite >> your brain at the end of a long >> not just I don't know I don't know I know I don't know All right. As a little starting a timer on this one. Are we good? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, next rotation. You can add to the is you can add to the is not. But the key is to answer this question at the bottom. What happens if we don't If we don't demonstrate this action of excellence as a goal consequences of not doing that chime in is notice I think Can I shorten that? >> Sure. >> You can use acronyms. because that was on her team. But her um uniforms because we don't have any uniforms. >> They used to be the >> So

154yes, >> okay, same thing. Next poster. That's the is and the is not if there are things you would like to and then you're going to complet the happens if we don't. >> I smell the whole time. >> I can tell you've been here all the >> smells really good. That's essentially what happens. anomaly that all my Christmas checked out library. >> You can just like Let's go back to Angel. You're gonna head back to the posters that you started with. So, you had two that you were the first ones to write on. So, like committed workforce and joy and learning. We are going to spend a couple of minutes >> reading over your These are going to be the posters that you and your partner are responsible for now. So, you're going to read

155those over, add anything that you think is missing to the is, is not, or what happens if we don't, and then we're going to share them with each other. Okay. So, you've got about two minutes here to go through both of your posters, see what needs to be added. >> You guys can put them together probably. >> Yeah. If you want to grab that one and bring it over here, >> you can put it on the wall, too. >> I was waiting to see if anyone else was going along with it. >> Oh jeez. >> I don't think anybody else is going to volunteer to do that. >> I mean, I did say you own it now. Only >> the only in the world. to the office. >> I think I finally turned that over.

156>> Oh, now I'm peeping it. >> I was You guys should definitely contact. >> See, I saw down 9 in nails, >> right? >> Fix anything you want to add to >> And then we're just summarizing. >> You're going to summarize. >> That was too easy. or how to perform. >> You look like a high school. >> Oh my gosh. And you look >> when we were in high school, you know, >> I'd come back to visit you. I think you're my age. >> But you look so much like her. She did not have red hair though. >> Funny. >> She had like I was darker but like face shape. There's just so even some of your nurses >> so much like Karen. >> People say my daughter and I look alike and she has

157like completely different hair and skin. They say it's like our smile and our man the same thing like our smile and our mannerisms. It's like if you just see a picture of us they say the same pick up on you. And then one time she makes fun of me how I cheer at games because I always be like and then she was sitting down from me one time and I heard her do the same thing. I was like you do the same thing. Don't make fun of me. >> Don't cheer shame me. >> They're in kindergarten >> and then during summer time you realize like what you really sound like to those kids. >> Oh gosh. I do say that a lot. Tone of boys, all of it. My first year in preschool I had

158a 2-year-old and he would say, "Excuse me. >> Do you want to say that again?" And like by two like, "Excuse me." Okay. But I didn't teach you to say the things you're saying to me purposely. So you go home and say that to your parents. It's fine. >> Until she goes, "Do you have a hearing problem?" >> Afraid. His mom's like, "Why is he saying >> I don't even respond? I made three different. >> It's okay. >> We were We were doing a check to make sure you were still working on this. >> We're good. No, we're not. >> I was making a I was making a chime for you. >> I heard the uh >> Okay. Are we ready to ch >> kick us off, Rachel? culture of collaboration. >> Culture of collaboration

159um is governance and staying in our lane, acknowledging that we're not the experts and our directors and teachers are. Um being open-minded and assuming good intentions um which means that it's not erring our grievances in a public forum. It's um not unclear communication and it is not standoffish. And if we don't if we don't do these and we do these, if we do the not things, um we're going to have a divisive culture amongst our board and we're not going to get the full benefit of learning from other perspectives and um we're not going to great outcomes for our students because we're not doing what we need to be doing. >> Thank you, Rachel. >> Optimization of resources we said is utilizing all the resources available to us um as a board like Iowa Association

160of School Boards and other things that we have. Um building trust with admin and staff so we can bring out the best in them and know how to support them. seeing our staff as our most important resource. It is not siloed work and not being willing to work with others. And if we do not follow this column, um we don't maximize um I I don't know if this means our >> their staff. Okay. We don't maximize staff skills and outputs to support our students. >> Thank you, Hannah. Does anybody Are you questions about either of those questions about either of these? >> It's our students that are missing out if we're not functioning and doing our job. It's not really us, it's them. >> But it is a whole lot more fun to be part

161of the team. is collaborative to break. >> All right, Margaret, do you have character and action? >> Okay, we have character and action and we said that character and action is being open and honest, assuming positive intent, remembering who and what you represent and being the leader that we are all elected to be. Making sure that our actions align with words our words and speaking with kindness and clarity. But it's not acting with malice or being selfish. It's not giving up when things are hard or putting the district or our students down. And if we don't, we erode trust, which Rio pointed out that trust is built by drips, but it can be lost in a in one pore, a lack of transparency, which kind of >> goes back to the trust. And then although

162this is paraphrased, the full one is a downward spiral into the fiery depths of hell. >> Did I get that right? >> Yep. >> That was from Josh. >> I think what what that means though is like once you start to lose the trust, it's just very hard to come back from that. >> With all of these things, they just keep multiplying if you don't use good habits. Continue improvement. >> All right. Uh continue improvement is working together to to have a positive impact. Um having new ideas and innovative thinking. Uh basically keeping an open mind to other ideas. Uh holding ourselves to the same standard we hold our teachers and staff. Um and using data we have to guide our decisions and uh being responsive uh having responsive communication. What it is not is

163having poor attendance, being not prepared for meetings, uh being close-minded. Um and obviously being disrespectful towards others as well. And what happens if we don't do those things? Well, if we don't do these things, we end up doing some of these. Uh really, it affects the district as a whole and we start kind of falling behind other districts. And that leads to other issues within our district that we want to avoid. That could also lead to possible enrollment issues and people looking elsewhere >> in the downward spiral >> and in the downward spiral. >> Any questions or I promise this is like a week old. The doctor I'm good. It just sounds it sounds so much worse than you feel. I'll go with committed workforce. Okay. The committed workforce is prepared and knowledgeable, listening to

164our UEA, our staff, supportive of our staff. Um it's not not being a team player or isolating yourself. Um it is not not being aligned with mission is not public shaming. Um and if we are not being supportive and committed to our workforce, then we are not supporting our students. we lose sight of our end goal and we're not an effective team. >> And then joy and learning what it is is means support for the schools. Actively participate and celebrate. Uh listen to student groups. Support unique clubs, activities, classes, and ideas. Improve accessibility and communication. Wanting to learn, knowing you don't know it all. And it's not being close-minded, not being dismissive. is not not being curious I think is where that one was going >> and not knowing at all and what happens if

165we don't it'll lead to dysfunction and lack of knowledge education or education and a downward spiral >> into the depths of hell >> yes fiery depths >> we have any questions for Josh or Okay, are you ready for your next part? >> One more little part. >> We're getting close. When you look around at those actions of excellence, I want you to think about which ones, one or two, like they're all super important, right? We just saw that. But which one or two really rises to the top for you as like we got to get this right? This has to be the thing that we get it right. So just do that silent reflection for yourself. often you feel like you kind of know what's most important for you. >> I can't choose one. >>

166You can choose two. >> Two. >> Are you there? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'm going to bring you two hot dots. And you can use your two hot dots however you'd like. If you have one that really really stands out and you'd like to spend both of your dots and not one, do that. If you have two, you can put one on each. We're going to group them up there by the name. And then we'll pick the top one or two. This is where I'll kind of hand over to um Margaret to say, okay, here's here's what seems to be most important to the board right now because that feels like then that's your priority for some goal setting. Where is it that you're going to work? Does that make sense? >> All right, bring

167it each. You just have two on there. Grab two of the dots. Stick them on. >> You guys can get in my thing. >> It's right there behind the computer if you want. >> You're talking about the category or the specific point? >> The category. >> Oh, oops. So committed or joy in learning or continual improvement. Okay. So, if we do a gut check, it looks like continual improvement and character and action are kind of a cookies. Um, and we will take these, type them up, get it all put together for you so you can that you're able to reference back. But also, I'm happy to meet I don't know to work with on be part of that conversation as well. Just thinking about what that might look like and then you bring that back

168to the team and >> see the the uh impact of their efforts. >> That's all I have. >> Thank you so much. >> I can tell you love doing this. Your face is lighting up. >> Yes. Even at 9:00 p.m. >> Yeah. Yeah, I do. >> Denise, was your husband the superintendent at Martinsdale? >> Yeah. >> Okay. My old my college roommate said that said that he really loved working with them. A >> it was Josh. Josh Moer. >> Are you kidding? >> No, he was my college roommate. Yeah. >> Life lessons about Josh. Josh knows someone everywhere. >> He lives here in Urbandale. >> Yeah, he does. >> Yeah, except Except he's in Johnson district. Yeah, >> he and Tom just had lunch the other day, actually. He's such a great guy. >> You

169put a lot a lot of my shenanigans in college. >> I can imagine. >> That's really cute. >> I'll move to a journ. Second. >> All in favor say I. I.