001This is true. Okay, we'll go ahead and get started with the public hearing for the certified budget fiscal year 2026. Does anybody have anything they want to ask or chat about? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and get started with the regular meeting with roll call. Hower Ken here. Ny here here. Williams here. Young here. Thank you. We move to approve the agenda. Second with all excuse me. All those in favor I I opposed. Motion passes. And you're up. District mission is teach all reach all. Our vision is that Urbanddale will be a school district that brings learning to life for everyone and the UCSC school board mission is to partner with stakeholders to teach all and reach all through governance of board policy and operating protocol. Thank you. And right into the preschool showcase. All
002right, we're here today to do the preschool showcase. I'm Ashley Myers, the preschool director. I'm Britney Winship, preschool instruction coach. And I'm Roxanna Smith, um, preschool teacher at Homestead. All right, we're gonna start out just by kind of going through an overview and highlighting what we have to offer. I think one of the celebrations in Urbandale for our preschool program is that we offer a lot of the full day options with the child care options which is not that's pretty unique in the in the metro. Um so we have currently we have preschool programs at Mstead Webster and Valerius. Um for our four-year-old classrooms we have um the majority of classrooms are full day. We have two sections of half day, but we base it on our family's needs. And so we offer quite a
003bit of the full day programming across the district. Um, and we have full day programming at both um Mstead and Valerius as well, but we also offer three-year-old programming um at Mstead and Valerius with the wraparound care. So that's pretty unique, too. Um, a lot of people don't know we have for the statewide voluntary preschool four-year-old program funding. We are also partners with St. Pas um and Cadence Academy. So, they run um classrooms there that receive the funding that we oversee to make sure they're following um the statewide voluntary preschool um standards and requirements. Um we also for our full day programs we um we provide ch child care assistance or we we give parents the options to also um if they qualify for HHS child care assistance they can um raid together some of
004that funding to attend the full day with the wraparound care. Um and then we just put this statistics down for where right now we're serving 48 students that have IEPs in preschool. uh 35 ELELLL students and um 21 of those students that received that we help with the childcare assistance so they can attend full day. Couple more highlights. Um I just put some information. We follow the creative curric curriculum. Um during our full day programming, uh we have licensed teachers running that time and we have um different types of instructional frameworks um such as we have handwriting without tears. We just started doing ALS Pals this year as our new social emotional curriculum and Mr. Ben came and presented on that earlier this year. Two years ago, we um started implementing Oregono math and we
005also do some work with seeds as an instructional framework for our literacy programming. And um for our strategic uh plan goals, we have our goals in literacy, math, and social emotional learning. And we assess students through the teaching strategies gold assessment. So this just highlights that right now um for our winter checkpoints that were done in February for literacy 90% of our students were meeting or exceeding in literacy 87% in math and um 87% in social emotional. So that was we're working towards the end of the year checkpoints um still to get more kids above that level there. And then one other thing that we wanted to highlight was that our kindergarten and fall fast assessment data um this last fall 801% of students that attended preschool in Urbanddale in one of our classrooms um
006was at benchmark for the fall fast assessment and that was in comparison to 59% of those students that didn't attend one of our preschool programs here in Irvale. So that's um pretty exciting for literacy. And then for math, it was 82% um were scoring at BE benchmark for math and then versus 70% of those that did not did not attend our preschool programs. So that's just kind of a highlight which just a question on that is that students who haven't gone to any preschool program or just just haven't attended it or okay thanks for clarifying. All right. And then now we're going to move on to the fun stuff and all the the things that we've been implementing this year. So we're tonight we're going to highlight some of the work we've been doing for
007the last six years and um implementation of early childhood and PBS. We're gonna um talk a little bit about the what we've been doing to teach um teaching social skills and peer interactions um teaching problem solving skills and then also highlight some of the the exciting work we've been doing with the new math curriculum this year. All right. So we are finishing up our sixth year implementing PBS in preschool and we began by creating our program expectations of be safe, be responsible, be kind, which the district has also now adopted as well. And we took that in preschool and we created social stories to help um talk through the kids what does that look like during large group? What does that look like during center time, recess time? So, we have social stories that break
008down this is what it looks like to be safe when I'm at large group. This is what it looks like to be responsible on the playground, stuff like that. And we also use um red green choice language. Um it's easier for the kids to identify what's good behavior, what's not okay behavior. um when we util when we are describing what's safe and responsible and kind um and we help our students understand those expectations by utilizing our token economy system and so they earn herbes for when they are showing green choices both individually and as a whole class and then it goes onto a whole class poster and when the class earns so many tokens they get to do some celebrations. Um the visual on there is a sock. It's a stinky sock party. So they
009could have like shoes off at story time or something like that and the kids just love it. Um some other celebrations that we do uh include like a balloon party, parachute, um coloring stickers, um shaving cream. We had a class this year that wanted to do a mustache party, so they cut out mustache and eyebrows and taped them on themselves and took pictures. So um just fun things like that. just a simple entertaining um celebrations for the kids to show that they're making good choices and doing well in the classroom and it keeps them motivated to keep making those green choices. Um another focus around our PBIS is building that independence and we really focus on that with our routines. We use lots of visuals in our classroom for as much of our day as
010possible. So, you'll see there's an example of an arrival routine that has the visuals of I'm going to sign in for lunch. Then I have to wash my hands and then answer the question, check in how I'm feeling and do the table activity. And then there's pictures of the kids actually doing it um independently in their own classroom. And most teachers will have these up on their bin cues. Um we're really utilizing the bin cues for a lot of our visuals now, making slideshows throughout our day. And then if there are areas of our day where or in our classroom where the kids can't see it, they'll have printed copies around the classroom of like of the visual strips. Um, so that's a big thing. Uh, another thing that we really focus in on are
011positive peer interactions. So I'm going to show you a little video clip of a three-year-old classroom and um, one way that they have been working on building interaction with peers. [Music] from a friend. Way to [Music] Good job. Get your So, that was an example of a greeting song that um our three-year-old classroom uses. Prior to starting this, a lot of their kids were struggling with even um noticing their peers and like attending to them. And once they started this, they start they're smiling at each other and they're shaking hands. And so it's a great way to set that foundation for building those positive relationships with their peers. And to build off of that, we also do buddy play. So it's a time for kids to be partnered up and practice skills like getting attention
012and sharing toys, um building together, uh different just different social skills. It's a structured time that we can as teachers help work on those skills. Um, we also work on teaching them how to solve their social problems. The middle one at the bottom, the how can I make you feel better that the three-year-olds classrooms use that because it's got more simple solutions for them of giving a hug, giving a high five depending on the situation. Um, they also utilize some of the other solution cards on the side, but those can have a little more steps to them to complete. Um, so our four-year-old program actually spends a lot of time on those, and they've actually done some work this year that Mr. Roxy is going to share on um how they are working on teaching
013kids how to um utilize those solutions. So, part of our C our PLC um group, we took it upon ourselves to this has been a big um area that we've wanted to focus on to help our students um to solve those social problems. And so, we we took each one of um the solution cards and then broke it down to step by step to show how the student to do that. Um and this one is a trade. So, um and I have a short video to show you how it's um how implement it and it's in in practice. [Music] I have the [Music] Daddy. So he, if you couldn't hear, he was tapping her and asking if he could play if he could have the alligator. And she said, "I'm still playing with it." And
014then he gave her the horse and treated. So just teaching them how to have that instead of just grabbing it and and we do that. We've done that work with each one of the problem solution cards. Um, and then we did took it a little longer and took it a little further and talked about like what it would look like and an example for our teaching process. So, spent a lot of time on that. Now, we're in the process of implementing them. Um, and then for our math, um, math has come a long way. Um, this year we, um, as our team um have um taken uh this and put it in slides and shown um what the success criteria would actually look like for our students. Um we have our learning targets u we've
015made learning targets for all of our um math areas this year and then now um done the success criteria to show the students what they should actually be doing and if and know when they're done. when they when they've uh learned it. And then this is a video of this um learning target and success. Keep your feet. Yep. Keep your feet straight. Henry, follow Chris. [Music] Six. What? Six. Six. What? Six. Six. I thought I was What is this? Six. This is a straw. So Chris is six straws tall. I thought I was four. So it's it's a way for um them to actually implement um their learning and they know that they will succeed. Are there any questions? That sounds really fun. Thank you. The videos are the next best thing to kids around
016probably. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. So, on the more you know tonight, I wanted to um and Jenny, I know this is a project you've been working on. So, if there's anything you want to add, we want to invite um the community and students to come May 6th for Read Around Urbandale. This is going to be held at 6 PM and it's around the lake that's near the middle school. There's plenty of parking, the pond that's near the middle school. There's plenty of parking in the middle school lot, but um these are this is an opportunity for our high school kids to read to the little kids as they go around. It's about a 30 minute walking experience and I think this is just one of many pieces to the literacy work. I don't
017know if there's anything you want to add to that. Yeah. No, it's we're super excited about it. These are two of our wonderful high school volunteers that then recruited some friends of theirs. But it's um the night will just consist of we're going to have the high schoolers stationed throughout the pond all the way around. They'll each when you get there, they'll read one page, then you'll walk on and read the second page. So, by the time you get all the way around the pond, you would have heard a whole story. We'll have a little snack at the end. But we're hoping to have lots of families that come um to our first ever ReadAr Urbanddale event, which is at the pond. I'm already working on the next one which will hopefully be in June.
018I'll we'll bring more information to on that. But yeah, wait to see that. Yeah. Um we also want to thank our current reconsideration committee members. Um I know we had a thank you sent to them. Um it's time to see if there are additional community members that are interested. I know when we talked about this at the board earlier this year, it was something that the board wanted to see us see if we can get more volunteers and as part of it. There's going to be some information coming in the board notes and uplifting you on how to apply. So, look for that. Um, we didn't use the committee this year, which was a good thing. We didn't have any challenges. Um, that's a committee that would be the one to hear the challenges to
019any of the books or material that we um receive in the district. I want to remind everyone registration is continuing. Our kindergarten registration goes um over the summer and throughout. We um have open enrollment for kindergarten through September 1st. Our returning families, don't forget every returning family is required to register. I'd say we were about halfway right now. We had 1747 returning complete registration and there's 199 additional that have started it. So that's about half of our students. We have 99 new registrations with 124 new students that have started registration. We want to remind you that you can register at your child's school, the district office. There is also the opportunity, as Stephanie reminded me, to register from the comfort of your home. You can do it all online. Um, but we are here at
020the district and at the school should there be any assistance that's needed. Um, also want to point out everybody should have a snack in front of them. And we just send these out every month. This some type of snack. And this month we sent the Rice Krispie treat. So, we thought we let let the board enjoy those as well. So, you guys are up. Um, first thing we're going to talk about is prom is coming up at the high school. So, we're all super excited for that. We're starting to get the decorations and get that all set up. Um, just letting the high school students know who are watching this for gov hours that prom tickets are on sale right now. So, go and get those. Um, prom is on May 3rd, so we're super
021excited about that. Um, theme is Great Gatsby, by the way. Oh, yeah. What is it? Great Gatsby. Um, but yeah, so another thing that we just wanted to highlight is some awesome stuff that some of our students are doing. Um, they call it culture of integrity. Um, on Friday, we'll have some students from the high school go to the Manil Middle School just to talk to some students about the high school. and for the eighth graders on what to expect going into next year. And so it's just great to have the high schoolers form those relationships with the incoming student. I know as an eighth grader that was great to have that th that type of leadership and those friendships that I made. So um that is just one of the exciting things that will
022be happening this week. And then um last week we had our ISAS testing. Uh great late start for seniors, but um I heard great things from juniors, sophomores, and freshmen that they went pretty well. um positive thing considering it's a long test. Uh and next is senior planning just um we're planning elementary school tours towards the end of the the year. Uh elementary reunion reunions, stuff like that and spring sports are mid-season. I'd say volunteers are always needed. Um but yeah, just towards the end of the year wrapping things up. Thank you. We're up to the Aea changes. So, the cabinet team is going to come up and talk to you about the changes. This is uh I think one of our last board development um sessions for the year. I want to apologize for
023leaving Denise out of this part of the presentation. She was um not available for a little while. So, I didn't want you to think that she didn't want to present. I just neglected to give her a slide. So, but she's back there rooting us on. Right, Denise? Okay. All right. So, just to start this off, um, can somebody run the Oh, there you go. Um, we just wanted to make sure that you remember why we're giving you this board development. There was quite a bit of conversation in the last legislative session on changes to the A.E.A., and I think those conversations continue, and I think changes continue. We just put a few bullets up here on on things that um to bring back to your attention. The changes came through House File 2612. Special education
024reduced from eight regions to four service areas. And then De Moines, the Aea at H Heartland has reduced their staff by at least 45. That could have gone up over the last few weeks. And they're looking to save about $800,000 in infrastructure and support staff costs. So that means that services that we used to be able to just get are now on a fee for service. And so that's kind of changed everything. And then the professional learning courses that the AE offers has to be approved by the Department of Education right now. There is a list on the DE website that um we can look at if there's professional development that we would like. Um and I believe that'll be continued to be updated as the A.E.A. um submits additional um sessions that they want
025to offer. Um, as a result of these, uh, I think it was March, early March, my team met with, um, the A.E.A. for a district services meeting, and this is where we discussed how to move forward. They gave us some data on our current usage for things like um, books that were checked out, programs that were accessed, and we were asked to submit a plan for the services for for fee and the media services that we potentially requested. So that's kind of what you're going to hear tonight. The funding that was available, the combined uh ed services and media services that we will receive once you take out the uh non-public allocate. Is that taken out already? Yes. Um is about 458,000. That's our projected amount of money. And then for special education, the flow
026through is normally a a little over a million dollars. we will retain 10% of that next year. So that's 107,000 and the 90 90% will be spent with the A.E.A. we will have an item later in the agenda that we will bring around. So I will turn it to Melanie at this point to start talking about special education. So as Rosie just shared, 90% of the funds will still cover much of what we already are uh receiving from the AEA. Um there's just going to be less people to do it. Uh so we are going to have a reduction in the number of AA staff that will be directly servicing students in our buildings. Um so these are folks that do child find which is the process for determining whether or not the student um
027needs an IEP. So that's our school psyches, our social workers um and special education consultants. We also have direct service providers which includes our speech language pathologist, OT, PT, uh teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing um as well as vision. I don't think vision. Oh, it says, but our vision uh folks um they will attend certain IEP meetings. If they are a service provider, obviously they will attend those IEP meetings. Um if it's an evaluation or a reevaluation, they'll attend those IEP meetings. In the past, we've had support from the Child Fine folks for every IEP meeting, and that's no longer going to be the case. they will show up for the initial IP meetings, re-evaluations, and then if there's some sort of tricky case or something where their attendance is necessary, but
028otherwise that's not going to be a priority for them. Um, and then we have the 10% uh that we will retain here in the district. And as Rosie also mentioned, we are going to um share with you an idea for how we think uh we should spend that that fund, those funds. Um and then we are also part of the 10% in addition to that uh what we're going to share with you after a bit is also we're going to we've requested professional learning in the area of uh specially designed instruction which is what we call our teaching what we do in uh special education. And so there's a K6 literacy um sort of module that we would like our our teachers to go through at the elementary levels. And then there's a secondary transition
029uh module as well, really focusing on students once they've turned 14, what their plan is for beyond high school and making sure our special ed services are aligned with what they're planning to do after high school. Um as well as a preschool SEI training, which we have folks there, it's three years worth of training. We have some folks that have completed year two and are ready for year three different spots. So they would attend the training um at the A.E.A. for a fee um which it's always been a fee for the preschool one. So that is our plan for spending part of that fund. And so our support from the AA historically there's been both media and educational services. those media services. Uh there the AA has a library uh that our teachers were able
030to access for additional resources as well as professional resources um videos or books. Um and then the other part of the media was uh digital or edte. So, our students were able to access a whole variety of programs uh through the AEA and historically that was free or part of what we were contributing to the AA. Um that has now shifted to um pay what or purchase what you want um through the AEA. Uh and then the ed services or educational services that was a whole division that was supporting everything from um so for example when we did our math curriculum review uh we partnered uh with an educational consultant from the AA uh to support um some of that work science uh we've had someone from the AA support that training for the high
031school. Uh so historically we've used those services uh and those are shifting to pay for service for a fee. So for what you um need you would purchase um and there's a price for that uh by the day or half day. So on this chart up here, you can see this is what we're proposing that we continue moving forward uh with um in the media services. Uh, I think one thing that you'll see is it's a pretty lean list, but right now we're also um carefully looking at each thing that we had historically used and is there something that's maybe better um or is it already duplicating something in our system? we don't need several of the same thing, but making sure we're using those funds uh to make sure we're providing kind of a
032well-rounded uh set of supports. And then the educational services, those are the services that we're proposing that we would be using in the next year. And I believe the daily rate is $900 uh for support for ED services. And then the half day is half of that. And I think they're also offering a quarter day for next year. I think the other thing that is a shift is what teachers were paying for license renewal has greatly increased um through this change as well. Couple other areas that we have utilized support in the past uh and a few changes to that. So, in regards to crisis support, uh the two options that were available uh were a dollar per student for 48 hour team access or uh the daily per staff uh member number as well.
033That had been something that we had access to prior just as a part of the holistic way that we were paying for Aea services. Uh this time we have chosen to utilize them on a per needed basis if we did need it. So, it'll be on the per day per staff member uh side of that. And then and then regarding staff online learning uh as you had approved a while back um moving to a new vendor so vector solutions which has been approved and uh we'll be doing our uh our mandatory trainings and have access to other trainings as well uh for other groups uh that we'll be working on uh as we head into next year and then not utilizing the AEA online learning uh for staff in that regard. Finally, some things that
034stay the same, planning to continue um with networks. Some of the networks that are available through the A.E.A. um provide opportunities for collaboration and networking with job alike peers and other districts. Um it allows for professional learning, share best practice strategies and resources, as well as keeping up to date on topics important to each group, especially with lots of legislative changes. um able to find support and problem solve within these groups and um provide consistency and alignment with state initiatives and evidence-based practices. And with that, any questions? And we do participate in many of those groups. I know I when you see on the weekly update, HAA, that's the Heartland Administrator Association. So, I know the these people also participate in those and I think we find those um valuable to have that connection. Sometimes
035the information is duplicative, but I usually listen thinking I know you guys have it. So, it's just a a nice connection for that piece. So, I'm glad that's staying. Just as an estimate, what do you guys think the cost for our district, the change because of these changes, how is that affecting our bottom line? It definitely will affect the bottom line if we don't stay within the amount we're supposed to spend. Okay. Um those costs could be could rise because we're doing a private service or different service, but you know, we're going to try to stay within those limits. And that's one of the reasons you'll hear when Melanie presents a little bit later. We have the option to do this through Aea, but at $922 a day, that's that's quite expensive. I mean, you
036can calculate that out on a on an extended contract. That would be now they would give you a deal and they would lower it, but not anywhere near what we would do to pay for it out of the money that we have. So I think that's part of it is you know Brandon's done a really good job in that that area with the media services determining what is the right right thing to be using. Do we have too many of something? Is there is there duplication? Is what's connected? What's the best thing? So we're we're trying not to approach it from let's go spend all 400 something thousand dollars to being very calculated about it. But I mean, we'd have to probably sum it all up after a year of doing it this way to
037to give you the information. And I don't I don't know if they're going to change anything else, you know, next year, the year after. So I just was a lot I was asking was for everyone at home so they can understand you know what the what these changes that we see on the news how does that affect them and how does that affect the kids in our district that the way those those laws when they get passed how it trickles down to us and how it really affects us. I think the hard thing for me and I don't speak for them but when I'm at one of my networks it's it's like everything's a fee for service. So, it's like we can do this for this amount of money and we can do this for
038that amount of money and it's it's it's frustrating because we've never had to think about paying for everything that we're doing. It was nice, you know, coming from a state that had a setup called CISA. I This is what we wanted. We wanted an agency that we pay our dues. This is your This is your work. Help us out whenever you call. And we always had to This is how we did it. everything costs money, everything above your fee that you pay annually. So, at a at a point it's it's it can be frustrating. So, I think a change that's positive uh that they're making going into next year is uh it was either full day or half day, which sometimes you don't need a half a day. Um, and we ran into that a
039couple times this year where it was kind of like, okay, let's meet the rest of the morning because I want to make sure we're maximizing the funds because this year um we got some of those funds, but they kept uh or they maintained some of the funds and so we were essentially um collaborating with them or identifying ways to collaborate with them to make sure that we were using those funds as well. Um, so I think that will be a positive change because there are just times where you don't need a half a day, you need a quarter of that. I think them being spread so thin too is a concern. Um, because they're great people that do great work, but if you're telling me I have to go to all these places, keeping track
040of all of that and doing the best you can could be a challenge. Have there been opportunities or discussion around working collaboratively with other districts to pull resources outside of AEA or utilizing AEA? Because I imagine smaller districts will have to do that by necessity, but hopefully by proximity we could benefit from some of that. Yeah, we were uh in a conversation with another nearby district um around a position and then uh the landscape changed and they decided to move on their own. But going forward, that's at least another alternative. Brandon, you said the teacher payment for license renewal increased. Do you have any numbers you could share off the top of your head? Well, I just know that it used to be um like $75 for a license renewal credit um and it's significantly
041more now. I I don't know the exact to piggyback on that. Lauren, I can't remember on the program that we bought. Are any of those courses for license renewal or are they just the mandatory courses? They're mostly mandatory uh just the mandatory courses that okay allow them you know things we have to keep their license. Yeah. Uh so and they have there to Brandon's point there has been a reduction overall in the uh overall need for teachers to take classes to renew and there's other ways now that like getting a letter you know that states how long you've been employed and such. So that counteracts that a little bit, but it doesn't take that away because some do need to take those classes. Staff development and can't you get credit for staff development as well?
042And well, we have been able to do that. So we have been applying for what we do and then they're able to purchase or pay for the license renewal. I just don't know what that process will look like moving forward because uh they're implementing that state approval process and we haven't gotten further clarity around that. Okay. Is that a fee that they pay to us as a district or it goes through? So it's their rate. Yeah. On that. Okay. Y Thank you. Thank you. Comment this evening consent agenda. Make a motion to bring the consent agenda forward. Second that. Do we have any questions, comments? Ready for a roll call vote? Yes. Need? Yes. M. Yes. Ben Rice, yes. Williams, yes. Young. Yes. Motion passes six. Thank you. Up next will be the human services
043curriculum. Brandon brought the last meeting and unless there's any questions. Make a motion to approve the human services curriculum and the new learning requirements and instructional materials therein. Meable second. So all those in favor I I I opposed. Motion passes 6. And on to the update to the facility use guidelines. Yes, there was a lot of conversation around the exhibit that goes with policy 1010, I believe it is. Um, and the board asked if we would add the word outside. So anyone that's in the agenda can pull up the link and see that outside was added in blue to say any outside sports team whose activities overlap with community education sponsored sports must consist of 100% of players who are enrolled in Urbanddale schools. Um we did receive a piece of feedback today. I believe
044the board did and I don't want to put you on the spot Jessica but um is there anything you wanted to I don't know if you had a chance to read what I forwarded to you. The question was um the concern is about gym availability that we need to open up gym availability but I I don't know how we could open up if it's booked it's booked but the question that came up was UG um it was confusing about the proposed policy because it was stated that the UG would remain in category 2 regardless of student enrollment and it said that the revised PDF lists UG GR is needing 100% student participation from Urbandale. I didn't read it that way because that's a separate entity. Am I correct? Correct. So they they would stay under
045category 2 because they don't compete with us. So they they're volleyball. We don't have volleyball. So that's why they would remain category 2. They would still be a second priority after our own stuff, but they would remain um not having to pay. Did the board have any other questions on the feedback that was received? I had an extensive conversation. That was lovely. And I just want to say I really appreciate that community ed is really focused on um their goal of encouraging and wanting Urbandale students to participate. And so I anyone out there who has a team I you know know that if you have questions about it just call community ed and and and reach out to them because you know we want to keep Urbanddale kids playing in Urbandale and that's the whole
046goal of why this is happening. And so it's it's that competition if it's different than what we're offering that's that's the only issue here. So, I I appreciate your willingness and openness to work with coaches or whoever is bringing, you know, teams and things to you with questions. Um, so I I think you know, you guys are doing a great job. I thank you for what you're doing. Anyone else? So, we have a motion and a second, right? No, we don't. No, we don't. Mickey will move to approve the proposed updates uh to policy 1010 as it relates to facility use guidelines. Me will second be roll call right now. Sorry I'm skipping ahead. Okay. So all those in favor I I opposed. And would the board secretary note my abstension on this also please?
047Motion passes 41 with one abstension. Okay. The addition of the general ed associates at the middle school. Um, we had the conversation at the last board meeting about this and um, the board asked that I uh, hold off on this and I was going to meet with the principal administration of the middle school to determine if this was still going to be necessary as we were looking at some potential schedule changes. um the schedule changes only only one small piece of that will work and it will work because I can pull um some of the elective teachers out of lunch duty to be able to offer additional classes moving forward with a massive schedule change at this time is not going to be something that we do um given the lateness in the year and
048some of the problems that we found are going to be insurmountable at this time. So, we're going to spend now between now and roughly the beginning of November taking a look at a more comprehensive way um to address the schedule as well as the electives that are offered. Um it will help our goal is to reduce that class size because we know that we are going to be high in the class size. I don't I did change the verbiage to seeking up to four positions. Cheryl has since come and had a conversation with me and feels that we she doesn't believe we really need the four, but I in in lie of time thought it was best if I could get the approval up to that, but that we likely would not hire all four
049of them. She's thinking last time we had a discussion that she could get away with two. So, that's what I am requesting from the board that you approve up to that four knowing that um it likely won't be. I can update the board once the decisions made and the rest of the scheduling is mapped out for that one period. Can you elaborate on where it says there may be alternative possibilities for coverage? What are those? Yeah, she showed me a plan where there are other individuals that are currently not doing a lunch duty that could do it and it would be in line with what their role is where we could take some of the teachers out of the mix so they could go teach another class. So that period the class size would be
050lower. Okay. Um for at least two grade levels. So the other individuals there's some that won't necessarily do it every single day but there would be somebody there every single day that the kids are familiar with. So current staff that know the kids know middle schoolers. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? I would entertain a motion. Young will move to accept the recommendation from administration to approve up to four general education associates for the middle school. M will second we will do a roll call on this one. Me? Yes. Ny, yes. And Rice, yes. Williams, yes. Young. Yes. Kent, yes. Motion passes 6. Okay. To approve the certified budget for fiscal year 26. Administration recommends the board approve the certified budget as you see on the supporting documents. This has to be filed with this
051county auditor by the 30th of April. Does anybody have any questions? I'd like just to say is to thank Steve and the administration for doing a great job and watching our finances because as we all know with the loss and money from the state that there's a lot of schools districts that aren't in the same position that we are that we're lucky enough to have the the the financial oversight to make sure that we stay within our means. So, I just want to say we appreciate that for you guys' hard work to do that. I give credit to a lot of the council or the cabinet here. We all, you know, it's a a team effort. Well, seen and it's appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. And I want to call out your turnaround time because
052you got information from the state what day and you're approving it today. Yeah, that was that was a stressful day. Stressful. We appreciate you. Many will move to approve the certified budget for 2025 2026. Williams will second. Mankey, yes. And Riceweight, yes. Williams, yes. Young, yes. Kent, yes. Me, yes. Passes six, sir. Okay. and approval of the 2025 graduation list. Does anybody have any questions? Concerns? Speak now. Was your guys' name on it? No. [Music] It even has middle names. Did you check if it was? Okay. I'd entertain a motion. I will move to approve the graduation list for 2025. And we'll second. And all those in favor? I I opposed. Sounds like motion passes. 6. None of the summer technology purchases. Josh is going to come up. Josh is coming up. Can I just
053say that just because this has now board approval, this does not mean that seniors should stop going to between now and the end of the year. Yeah, that date has not come yet. I'll let them know. Feels like every year that I'm walking. [Music] Okay, so my package this year has a few items in it. Um the first one is our server stack that we have in our data center at the high school. Um so this runs all the various servers like we host Power School on site and you know all the door security cameras and the file servers all that stuff that just live on our on our network. Um so the current server stack we purchased about five years ago. We bought fiveear licensing on it and so that license is coming up
054for renewal. Um it's based on a product called VMware. uh runs it's a the whole system is called a VXR rail system. So it combines the servers and storage into kind of one monolithic thing. Um in the intervening five years Broadcom bought VMware and basically jacked licensing pricing way up um because they really only care about the very very large multi-billion dollar corporations. They don't care about little guys like us. Um, and so it's not financially responsible for us to renew the licensing on our current server stack, especially since it's already 5-year-old hardware. So, we put out an RFP um for a Nutanix solution, which is kind of the same idea as the VX Rail, but from a different company, not encumbered by the VMware licensing increases. Uh, we received three bids. Um, QCI and
055Gov Connection had nearly identical pricing, but QCI is located over in West De Mo. Um, so they're a local company and so if we had problems, questions, whatever, they could just hop on over and help us out if we ever needed to versus Gov Connection, which is a good company. I've worked with them in the past, but getting direct help from them would be more of a challenge. Um, similarly, the data center battery backups. Um, the chassis themselves we bought back in 2011. We replaced the batteries twice since then. Um, but the chassis themselves need to be replaced at this point just because the relays and the circuitries degrades over time. Um, we usually have about six hours of runtime on our battery backups. Um, so that if we lose power at the high school,
056my servers don't immediately crash. Um, the data center is hooked up to the U generator, but what we have found is sometimes the generator doesn't start immediately. um or we have staff turnover and the generator just doesn't get started in time. And so having a large battery backup has proven to be beneficial. So I just want to make sure that we maintain that going forward. Um and again we got multiple quotes on this. QCI was also the low bit on that one. Um moving on to the Chromebooks, we put out a published RFP. We received nine bids. um a variety of hardware. Um we got bids for Acers, which is what we bought the last couple years. We received multiple quotes for Dell's um Asus HP. After evaluating all the options, um we decided that
057the quote from Blue Ally for the Dell 3120 was the best bit to bring to the board. Um so that's what I'm requesting there. Your quote doesn't include there's a $5 add-on for zero touch enrollment. basically means that they trigger something on the back end so all we have to do is connect up to the Wi-Fi and it kind of sets itself up which saves my summer crew a ton of time. Um, so there an earlier revision of the quote included verbage about this. The revised one that they sent me that made it into the board packet I just noticed didn't have that. So that's why the dollar notes don't entirely match there. Um, and then moving on to the Apple purchase, we have one computer lab at the high school that still is on
058Intel processors. About 5 years ago, Apple transitioned from Intel processors to Apple silicon. Um, and so that lab is just it's reached the end of it life. It's time for it to be replaced. Um, same with we got some staff into iMac and laptops that are similarly just due for replacement. This is a substantially smaller Apple purchase than usual. Usually I'm more in the$150 $200,000 neighborhood for my Apple purchase. So this year it's kind of just getting those loose ends up to Apple Silicon. That's it. Questions? Um I don't have a question. I know that um Rosalie and Brandon, you guys have been working on um analyzing our computer use, right? As particularly with the lower grades. And so Josh, this has nothing to do with the work that you've done. You always do a
059great job of bringing us these things, but I just want to continue to share my personal feeling on um limiting our use of computers, particularly with K12. That's just really a struggle for me. how much time. And so I know that's something you guys are looking at and analyzing, but I just think now when we're talking about computer purchases, I just want to emphasize that that I want us to continue to look at that as a district and how much time our kids are spending on computers. And and I can assure you we are and one of the reasons that Josh is bringing this a little bit later than normal is because we asked him to wait until we could look at some preliminary things. So that's work that's definitely ongoing. I appreciate the continued
060work on that. It's just a it's a real struggle for me. I would entertain a motion. Mickey will move to approve the summer technology purchases for the 2526 school year. I'll second that. And another roll call. Ricewick. Yes. Williams, yes. Young, yes. Kent, yes. Me? No. Mickey, yes. Motion passes 5 to one. Thank you. And now Melanie is going to come and give some more information about the request that she alluded to in the development presentation. All right. So we um with this 10% uh of the special education dollars coming back to the school district uh gives us an opportunity to think about how um we serve special education and obviously you know Rosie and I have had lots of conversations around um you know special education just the increased need um and how how
061the job is it's just a big job. Um, so we've talked about, you know, the possibility of adding a position um to support special education. Um, this this addition would be like a special education leadership role. Uh, but it would be under a teacher contract with some uh with full release time um with some additional days. Um, and their main focus would be working on um processes um in the special education and then following up with those processes. So we might have processes in place but the followup and followth through and feedback uh given to teachers you know we just don't have enough manpower to do that. Um so that's really focused on um IEP writing um specially designed instruction which is that instruction that we provide during um during their time in special education.
062Uh we also have chapter 103 which is our seclusion and restraint paperwork um and making sure that those are done um within compliance uh with the 103 rules. Um Medicaid billing um right now we we have the 8% through Timberline which you've approved which is that extended um contract with them when uh we hope to go down to back to that 6% uh with having somebody to be able to focus a little bit more on that. Um, and then 504 plans. Um, I know this isn't special education, but it's still students with disabilities and making sure that we have good quality plans written. Um, and that we have processes in place for them to be followed. Um, obviously we have changes within the A.E.A. um, and like I said before, that idea of them coming
063to more meetings, um, or all the meetings that they've been come, you know, attending, um, that's going to decrease. And so, uh, we have some processes in place with new leadership and mentoring and things with the, uh, revision to our TLC. And so, we're hoping that that these things will help get the teachers what they need, um, for support, uh, when it comes to special education. Um, we do plan, I mean, we we know that there's going to be staffing changes with our AA, so again, we're going to bring be bringing in new folks again. Um and so just having some consistency um and somebody else to um to help support that as well. Um during the special director's meeting, which is one of those meetings that is going to continue um that network that
064will continue um the the legal council comes every other month to present to our our group of special ed directors because um believe it or not, they work pretty closely with special ed directors. Um and they're seeing that now um one of the things that was eliminated at the AEA was the family educator partnership which was um someone that filled the role to sort of mediate or or help parents understand what's going on and we don't necessarily have that and so they are seeing an increase in parents going straight to due process um which also creates a lot of you know pulling documents and working with legal counsel um which takes us away from some of that work you know boots on the ground helping helping teachers with working with students. Um we have some
065um we talked about Medicaid. Um the IDA, you may remember this from about a year ago. Um every three years they're scoring us similar to like the ESSA um designations for each building. They're also doing it for special education. Um and so three years ago, a little less than three years ago, uh we were Urbanale was was a level one, which is a great rating. Um a level three would require some intensive assistance um requirements from the state, things like that. We still created a plan um being a level one district, but we didn't have the amount of support and oversight from the AEA and the state in that. Um we will be getting a new idea DA called differentiated accountability. um we will be getting a new designation this fall um which aligns to
066those packages the SDI packages that we talked about um something that we're going to purchase from the AEA uh for next year. So we're sort of trying to be proactive. Um I think it's I've looked at the packages. They're things that our teachers need to know um and the resources that they would need to have. So, for some reason, you know, we we um miss the mark and of course they're changing things that they're scoring from the last time. Uh but if we miss the mark on that, then we're already set up and already started through those those things that we um are planning for the next year. So, what questions do you have about the special education lead position? I just have a quick clarifying question. It's a teacher position, but they won't be
067like teaching dayto day. No, it would be a full release position. Okay. With 10 additional days on their contract. Okay. Um to help us, you know, plan for the beginning of the year and help at the end of the school year. Okay. But the person that we're hiring is has has special ed teaching background or experience. So, we put in there that um uh that they've served special education students. So maybe it's it could be someone who has taught special education, but it might also be someone who has um served but they don't have a teaching license like a school social worker or psych um some other type of position that's familiar with achieve. Okay. Something like that. Um but yes, it would be on the teacher salary schedule. Okay. Thank you. Then when we
068approved the um EL leads, those required the most recent year to be in Urbandale. Is there a reason that we didn't do that for yourself? Um well because I think it limits our pool. Um and unfortunately um special education isn't something where we have an abundance and where you know not that I would I mean I would definitely entertain someone that was looking for a leadership role. Um but you know to to remove someone also creates another vacancy for us. Um again I would never want someone to be held back uh because we want them to stay in their position. But um I think it's you know we we do have another opportunity. um don't know if I should say this out loud, but there's a lot of people looking um to, you know, to
069move on from the Aea as well. So, there's also um an opportunity, you know, if if there's some good folks out there that might might be good for our system, I would hate to not be able to consider them for a position because they haven't necessarily been in Urbanale. I welcome anyone that's qualified to apply. Anything else? So, one last thing that I thought I did not mention, I know Rosley mentioned this earlier, the daily rate for asking for AA to support. Um, so something else we considered was possibly contracting with the AA to do some of this. um at $900 a day essentially like it would be way more um way more expensive to do it that way rather than hire somebody um and have them in the district. So and likely not a
070consistent every day and we write IEPs every day. We have new students transfer in from other districts and other states every day and those IEPs have to be gone through completely for all the information and there's timelines and there's things that we're we're trying to be ultimately I would want this person to work themselves out of a job right now. You I mean we do have processes in place but we're seemingly just behind. We need to get to where we're proactive and can ensure these things are happening on time. I move that we the special education lead position as recommended by or asked for by the administration. Young will second. Williams. Yes. Young. Yes. Kent. Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. Motion passes 6. Do you need me Okay, we'll entertain a motion. I would move
071to adjourn the meeting. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Being adjourned. Thank you.