001and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for session discipline. I would entertain a motion on student discipline, please. Mr. President, I move that we approve the findings of the board in student discipline case number 2520 2521 165 52 2522 1753 and 2522 1854 have a second roll call yes yes yes yes pass zero. Thank you very much. This will bring us to the approval of the consent agenda and agenda at the same time. Um I see no are there any additions or corrections to the agenda? Seeing none. Uh the agenda stands as presented. Um do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Thank you. Second. I have a motion a second. Any questions or comments? See none. Roll call vote, please. Yes, Mrs. Shider.
002Yes, Mrs. Tyler. Yes, Dr. Ash. Yes. Motion passes. 4 Z. Thank you very much. Um, doesn't anyone want to say about the Billy Michael Student Leadership Award? Isn't that cool? It is from World War II. Mrs. wouldn't hear, but uh we have an Illinois winner uh that will be going to the World War II Museum in New Orleans um I guess later this summer or later this spring with how whatever but um it's one winner from each state and they are from here. So, I think that's very very cool. Uh, and uh, congratulations to them and we wish them the best of luck as they go down there and have a wonderful time. So, congratulations to them for that. Um, public comments. Mrs. McDermad will be joining us as well from Northridge. Come on, get
003some pictures. Let's go. Come on. So, I'm so excited tonight to um have these lovely individuals with with you. Um I'm hoping they're after this experience they will be um talking about becoming teachers because um I was very um lucky to witness them doing a was it an hourong professional development for the teachers. They led the professional development at Northridge a couple weeks ago and I was a participant which was so nice to get to be a participant. So they are going to do a brief version of that professional development, a less than five minute version of it with you tonight because I was so impressed by what they did and they did all the things that we ask um when we work with teachers or administrators on doing professional development. There's certain things that
004we want them to do and they did every one of those things. They did an exceptional job and they are um middle school students and I'm going to introduce them really quick. And they were led by their teacher who is also one of our avid site coordinators and National Junior Honor Society um leader um and that is Lori McDermott. And we we have Lydia Perez and they're gonna like wave so you know. Okay. Um, Briana Perez, um, Nola Straoud, and, um, Maddie Ramble. You're going to be surprised that they're in middle school when you hear them do their thing. So, I'm going to let them take over so we don't take too much time. Okay. Do you guys want to run the or do you want me to do this part? Okay, they can get
005there. Sit down. Go ahead. They've got this. That's great. You're gonna have to participate, too. Oh, good. Hi, today we'll be talking about successful study environment and study habits. Um, okay. Focus notes. My friends and I all really prefer notes that have fill in the blanks because, let's be real, it's a lot less writing. But that's not the only reason to have to complete these notes while watching a video will require active listening skills to pay attention for the sentence that will contain the word or information needed to fill in the blank. It can also be done with a slideshow, maybe with the keywords bolded or something of the sort. I guarantee you that your students will like this a lot more than Cornell does. study habits. Though it may not work for every test,
006letting students use a note card can be a good motivator for getting them to write information down. Recently, I had one of my teachers promise an index card to students that completed their study guides. They can write down whatever they think will be useful for the test, and it's a great incentive to get them to work. This way, students get to recall what they know by answering questions on their study guides, and they get to drill it in their heads by writing on their note cards. Every student and a lot of teachers love games and activities, especially when made competitive. I personally study most efficiently when I'm required to use a quick recall, but some teachers don't always provide time in class to study or like the chaos the games bring. A solution for that
007is to assign a blit or cahoot on Google Classroom. I prefer blot because it can be played as many times as you want. You add a question minimum, which should just be approximately how many questions you think it should take them to be prepared for the upcoming quiz or test. If you are someone that likes to put kids together to compete, a fun way to study is to play Jeopardy with teams. kids. The kids really get into kind of similar to an interactive notebook, creating assignments that require students to refer back to their notes. A way to do this would be to create a bell ringer where students have to form an opinion with evidence on something they have previously taken notes on. Then you share as a class or randomly call on students to
008answer. Activities such as these make it so students have to study less because the information is regularly reviewed, making it fresh in their brains. Environment for successful studying. One of my favorite things is to walk into a classroom with relaxing lighting. Definitely chills me out and I prefer over the harsh bright lights. I definitely recommend getting lamps for your classrooms because it'll make you feel better, too. Students get time to relax like during lunch, but it's very helpful to have a few minutes during class to chill and talk. We all need breaks sometimes, especially getting time to regroup and push through whatever you're working on or starting something new. As it as it is getting warmer, taking kids outside is good for distressing and proven to increase. I know this next one doesn't work for
009every situation, but flexible seating is loved by all students, especially for teachers that like to have students work with the kids around them. We're definitely more likely to work with people we work well with and are more comfortable talking to. I honestly think it can decrease distractions in many scenarios. This way, nobody is yelling across the room to see how your friend is doing. If kids get out of hand, you can always make adjustments, but as I said before, it's not um it's not it might not work for every classroom. This is not something everyone will agree with, but my friends and I think it will be it's harder to work when the classroom is silent. Of course, we don't want other kids screaming or anything, but a little noise helps me focus. I encourage
010playing music in the background, whether that's the radio, jazz, classical, or whatever best fits the vibe of your classroom. To sum this all up, remember that your your individual styles of teaching are what make you great teachers. You won't have the con the same connection with every student, but making the effort to meet each kid where they are at is what we need. [Applause] So, basically what they did, as you can tell, is they talked to the teachers about what they preferred, like the best ways that they learned, but then they followed up with um a four corners activity where they asked them lots of questions um and they had a debate about um what the teachers thought were great ways to help the students learn. and they had a good back and forth about
011um like was there were some questions about the type of music like um was it was white noise better for studying or um like a little bit of like actual music and then there were other questions. I'm trying to think of what all the questions of electronics yeah like when you're studying should you have no electronics involved or is it okay to have some electronics? The questions were amazing. The teachers were great. um in the in the feedback and you could tell that um they were all learning a lot from each other and I you did where miss there. Okay, there you are. Um and I think did you follow up last weekend when or last week when we were out of town with more I know you did more PD with and they followed
012up with more PD but it just the conversations were incredible. So these four ladies st and there was like what a hundred people there at the so they stood up in front of a hundred teachers and led this PD. So they started out that's how they began but they modeled like an essential question which is what we ask the teachers to do and their objectives and then started out with the preference preferences. They had done research and then they did a whole group activity where they walked through it and then followed up with more PD. So which was was pretty incredible. I just didn't think that we needed that. I I thought it was important that we brought them to you so you could see the types of things that first of all, Northridge did.
013And then also that our students can lead these types of things. They were incredible. So, and that's hard to do. That's really hard to do. So, they did a wonderful job. I was very impressed with them. So, congratulations. Yes. Wow. [Applause] I see us saving a lot of money on professional development now in house. Yeah, that this would be great. Homegrown. Raise this up. I'm a little bit taller. Mr. Hart, thank you for having me today. Uh, so my name is Hunter Lefave. I'm the founder of It's in Your Head, a program designed to help children, adults regulate their emotions so that they can show up their best selves, focused, calm, and ready to learn. But today, I'm here as a concerned godfather to a student at Northridge. So, for the last three years, I've
014had the privilege of working in District 118 schools. I've supported students and staff across nearly every campus, and in doing so, I built connections with hundreds, if not thousands of individuals. I've been to almost every school and in a majority of the classrooms. I didn't come here today to to blame or shame or or point any fingers. I came to speak about something I truly believe could transform the school system. So, I grew up here in Danville and after many years away, I returned with a fresh perspective and a deep desire to help. And what I've seen time and time again is this. Students can thrive. Staff can feel supported, but only when the environment allows it. So, we talk uh we often talk about student behavior, mental health, violence, poor academic performance, and teacher
015burnout as isolated problems, but they're not. They're symptoms of the environment we've created, one that unintentionally is setting our students and staff up to struggle. So, let me be blunt. If I wanted to create a school environment where children were disregulated and emotionally unstable as possible, I would do the following. I put them on screens all day and send them home to do even more screenbased work. I would feed them highly processed foods loaded with sugars, dyes, and chemicals that have been scientifically linked to behavioral issues and emotional distress. I would keep them indoors, limit their movement, and remove breaks or rest periods. And I would punish them for natural responses to overwhelming environments without realistic tools to cope. Does that sound familiar? One thing that I've noticed is that the kids who I work
016with who respond aggressively consistently have candy sodas and other brightly colored snacks. The kids who deal with depression anxiety rarely have a movement practice and say they avoid going outside as much as possible. Now I understand we can't control what happens in a child's home, but we are responsible for what happens inside the schools. I recently walked into one school building and saw boxes stacked taller than me with Laffy Taffy, Laffy Taffy, and other brightly colored candies. And that's not just poor nutrition. That's actively fueling the very behaviors that we're trying to correct. Northre was the only school that put limitations on added sugars, and it's a school that I could tell a significant difference between it and every other school that I've been in. So, for three years, I've invited in to help calm
017kids down. And I've done that often with just 15 minutes a week. And the results, I've got thousands of student testimonials. They're walking away from fights. They're choosing healthier habits. They're sleeping better. They're focusing better. They're less anxious. They're feeling more in control. But here is what hasn't happened in three years. Not once has it been asked by administration, how are we getting these results? What can we do to sustain this? and what's causing this dysregulation in the first place? This tells me that while we want better outcomes, we're not asking the right questions. We're not looking at the system as a whole. If we want better outcomes, we need better environments. And that means rethinking food policies. That means embedding emotional and mental health into the core of our education strategy. That means supporting
018our teachers as human beings, not just as professionals. This means giving the kids time to decompress, especially outside. So, we allocate multiple millions of dollars to athletic fields, but I can't help but wonder what if we match that investment in student and staff mental health. These issues are complex. They're generational, but we don't need a miracle. We need to build momentum. Small changes can make a big difference. And I'm here willing and able and experienced to help guide that shift. I believe in this town and I believe in this school system and I believe in the teachers who pour their hearts in these classrooms every day and we owe it to them and to our students to create a space where everyone can thrive. So, let's start a real conversation about what's next. Let's build
019something that works. To the board members that are leaving, thank you for your service. I appreciate you. And I'm sure for the board members that are watching, uh I hope you'll have that conversation with me and I appreciate you guys for your time. Thank you. Tony M. Good evening board. Mr. Hart, I'm Tony McGomery, sixth grade teacher at Southview, DA vice president. Thanks to Alan Rivers talked me into it. 95 days till retirement and I thought I'd go out smooth sailing, but he roped me in. Um, last board meeting I heard about buses and so I wanted to bring a perspective from what I see every day and the problems that students, staff and admin suffer from. Uh, bids don't show what goes on on a daily basis. Bids only are concerned with money and
020things like that. And so I'd like to address that tonight. Um, our kids need consistency in their lives. School's always a place of consistency for them. That's one place they can count on. But our bus system is not consistent for our students. That's the first thing our kids, that's how they start their day. So when their bus forgets them, which happens quite often, when there's a different bus number every day, when there's subdrivers, that's inconsistent and that starts their day uh in chaos. And so um they already live in chaos, many of them. And so we we're creating even more problems for staff that now so for instance at South View I start 12 minutes late every day. We're supposed to start school at 9:00. My last student generally appears at 911. So 12 minutes
021a day times 5 days a week that's an hour of instruction in language arts that I'm missing. Northridge I believe starts with uh seal which is statemate mandated. So those kids a bus yesterday came at 9:22. I I don't think that's acceptable. Um I I love Miss Payne sitting right here. I was fortunate enough to start with her 21 years ago and I learned so much from her. Compassion for kids. do what's best for kids. I'm gonna get choked up here. Um, and so I've always remembered that. And I think our bus bids should be based on what's best for our students. And I remember Miss Payne about the first week I worked, a parent brought a kid in late. She's like, "Do you know what time we start school?" Parent said, "Yeah." And Miss
022Payne offered her a an alarm clock so that that's How many alarm clocks did you go through? Um, so maybe you need to buy first students some alarm clocks. Um, because we can't seem to get our kids picked up on time. That's elementary, that's in our building, that's morning, that's evening. Um, we have students I have students to get their siblings ready and get them to the bus stop. And so when that bus comes 15 minutes early and that kid's condition, I got to get my baby brother and sister to the bus stop and it shows up early or it shows up late, I don't want five, six year olds standing on street corners in Danville waiting on a bus because it can't get there on time. Um, imagine being a six-year-old and you know
023that I'm on bus 20 and now today, oh, I'm on bus 53. Oh, tomorrow I'm on bus seven. That That's highly uh upsetting to our elementary students. Uh just at Southview last week, we had seven changes in one afternoon. So like we have I don't know 13 buses maybe. Seven of the 13 buses were different numbers. So I got it up on my screen. Bus seven is 12. 12 and 17 go on 50. Like it's chaotic. And this is not a one-year uh problem. This has gone on for the last two, three years. Uh I'm not even gonna get to what I need to get to, but uh there's just numerous problems that I've heard from various school district or from different schools. One in particular, two buses drop off and pick up on the
024same street in North Danville. And if I'm correct, our buses are routed out of Montana, if that's correct. they used to be. How are our buses routed out of state? Why is somebody not in Danville routing our buses? So, I would urge you to look at the bids, talk to these other two companies, see what they can offer us because I just don't think we're getting the bang for our buck. And I would urge, let's make Miss Payne the bus zar and put her in charge and I guarantee we wouldn't have bus problems because Miss Payne doesn't play. Thank you. That's her name. So, I'm very excited tonight to um I've got some pretty incredible people that um work in my office and this is one of them and so I made her come tonight
025so you could see her and she organizes for us the first grade math challenge and this is Angela Wilson and she also until this year um was the our sole um person that worked on math for the entire district. And so the growth that you've seen um along with the teachers um she she really worked with the teachers K through 12 on math for the last what four five years four or five years by herself and so until this year when Bob came on and so they've been working together. So I'm going to let her tell you about the first grade math challenge um that is next week and this I will be holding the shirt that Mr. Herart got us and the students. We have these for our students and for the staff this
026year. And if you come, maybe we can get some more. So, I'm going to hold that while she talks about the first grade math challenge that's next week. Yeah. Hi. Um, I am Angela Wilson. I work with math here in the district and I just wanted to make sure to tell you how excited we are for a growing thing that's awesome in our district, our first grade math challenge next Wednesday, um, April 30th at 10:00 a.m. And last year was our first year. We invited county schools and we're so excited this year because we are actually growing even more. So, we'll be having um South um well, we're inviting sorry all the county schools, but we have Salt Fork North and South joining us again in Bismar, but this year we're growing and we are
027excited to host Georgetown and Hopston as well. So, we are looking at 33 teams of first graders this year, which is huge. That's a a amazing number. and we are going to have them. Um, we're following in the steps of Arena Pay getting this started and we're getting right back on growing even more and we're so excited to see what happens. We have of course our high school Rachel Sbert um and our AP students who will join us and help each team. Um, so it's a definitely a team effort. Um, everybody in the district working together to make this such an awesome event. Um, we use our drum line when kids arrive. We have uh different groups always excited to see them. Our admin staff and buildings are there greeting and bathroom helpers. And so
028it is literally an awesome thing to see everybody there and working hard. Pretty much the whole Jackson building pitches in all the offices over there. It's on all of their calendars. We look forward to it. Yeah. So what's the date? Um next Wednesday at 10 o'clock and it'll be in the gym at the high school. Mr. Bretts, Mr. Wagers, Mr. Anderson. They're all huge help. Yeah, we take everybody and literally make it an awesome event. And like I said, we're up to it'll be 99 first graders, which is doubling numbers than we've ever had. So, we are growing here and we're super excited to see it continue to grow and get them invited. And the press release is coming out tomorrow. Oh, yes. So, we'll be sharing with everybody and we invite everybody who's able.
029But thank you very much and we'll see you. Good luck. Uh good evening, Mr. Hart Board of Education. Um Mark Bases, facilitator of district athletics. Uh here tonight just to briefly uh talk about um the athletic sponsorship or partnership with Watchfire um community or a local uh business here. Um, since I took over as athletic director at the high school and then moved on to to the new role, um, one of the best things that we have going is our partnership with Watchfire. Um, they of course have the video board at the in the gym, the new one at the football field, and just recently partially why I'm here tonight is because they donated a scores table to DHS for the gym. Um, and so I wanted to thank them publicly. Uh, Kyle Dyn who
030I work with, uh, in the sports part of the of Watchfire, uh, was incredibly generous. Uh, he called when he when we he knew we were looking for a new scores table. He said, "Let me make this a little bit easier for you. Um, because of what you guys do for us at the high school, we want to give back to you guys." And so this partnership works where, you know, we're half a mile from their headquarters. They have clients come in. Um, they take them around the facility and then they bring them to DHS to see how the things work, to talk to Mr. Gritten, to talk to myself, uh, to ask real questions and and we're pretty honest with we love the products, but uh, they ask great questions. Um, so we help
031showcase their products that that we firmly believe in. Uh, we have kids that get scholarships that get internships at Watchfire. Um they sponsor our shootout in for basketball in February. They've been incredibly generous. It seemed uh they use them high school for research and development some of their products. They test with us. They get feedback from us. Uh we hope that they listen to our feedback and they improve their products. I don't know. But um we definitely share this great partnership and this great working relationship. Um and we never expected them to donate anything, but they were kind enough to. And so I wanted to publicly thank them today. So that's what I'm here for. That's awesome. So Thank you. Watch Dice High Tower. Good evening board. Mr. Hart Durice High Tower, Dean of Students
032at Southview. Um, today, um, I thought I'd come and speak to you about a post that I made today. So, if you're my Facebook fan, you may have seen it. And it said that nothing changed but the name on the letterhead. And it amazes me how fast people react to that little blue app. I put something on there and everybody runs to it and runs around. My brother calls me, "What did you say? What do you mean?" So such a vague statement that everyone has inferred to be about them. So I'll give my direct answer so that no one has to infer it was about this district because the more things change, the more they stay the same. It was reported that morale was at an all-time high after the decision to sever ties with
033Dr. Gettis. Well, as the song says, the thrill is gone. So many of you have focused on everything she did wrong. You don't see what's right in front of you. The district problems are still here, and I don't see them going away. Our buildings are underst staffed. At least Southw is. Student discipline is rising. Teachers are fed up and tired. Administrators are fed up and tired. But no one speaks up about it. Why is that? Everyone outside of our building seem to know what's needed yet haven't stepped a foot into our building since when? Haven't seen you. The only board members that have been seen in my building this school year, Kim Corly, Miss Payne, Miss Town, incoming board member, came during December to help students wrap items that they bought at our PBIS store.
034Where the rest of y'all been? It's real easy to sit here and read about what is going on in a school, how many children are in a school, how many teachers are in the school, etc., etc. What is not easy is actually walking into the school and seeing for yourself how that school is functioning. And I don't mean just going to the classrooms where you feel comfortable because you know the teacher personally or chatting it up in the office. Go read with the student. Go do some math problems. Have a conversation. Find out about our kids. It's real easy to sit here and say that you know what our teachers are going through. You don't. You really don't. Board members and upper admin alike have no clue what is actually happening in these classrooms these
035days. We just had fabulous, fabulous speakers. That's part of what's going on in our classrooms. That's just a little piece of what's going on in our classrooms. You don't know the good or the bad unless we come here. So, what has changed except the name on the letter head? Decisions are still being made without staff input. We're still told what is going to happen and not asked how it should happen. Sounds like more of the same to me. I've still only seen those same two board members this school year. And since all of the drama, I haven't seen any. So, again, what has changed? Get it. Thank you. Brings us to item number six, recommendation to accept audit results. Good evening board. Mr. heart D118 family. I am in our assistance, director of business um
036and finance. Um and this evening I have a recommendation that the board accept FY2024 audit as presented by Miss Lindsay Fish with Sikage LLP. Um Sikage LLP has completed the FY24 audit and Miss Lindsay is here to provide a brief presentation of the district's financials and the final audit to the board of education. push. Sure. Thank you. Thank you to the president and board of education for inviting me to your meeting this evening to present to you the results of your audit as of and for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2024. Um, you should have copies of the audit drafts included in your board packet this evening. So, they are currently in draft status. Am I good? Keep going. Okay. Sorry. They're currently in draft status. Uh Miss Rankin and I are finalizing a
037few small pieces of the audit. Anticipate that the audit will be finalized within the next week or so. Don't anticipate that there'd be any changes to the drafts that you're reviewing this evening. Um so the first report I will cover is your audit report or your annual financial report. This is the largest of the reports that are issued as a result of the audit. About five pages into that report is the independent auditor's report. So five pages in, but it is page number one. It's on Sikitch letterhead. Um, and this is our opinion. So second paragraph down, you'll see the opinion that was issued that we're anticipating to issue. Um, I'm pleased to report that we have issued an unmodified opinion. This is commonly referred to maybe as a clean opinion. Um, this is the
038highest level of assurance that we can provide and the the outcome that you want from your audit. So congratulations to the district on receiving that unmodified opinion on your audit. Turning ahead a few more pages, there is a second opinion that's also on sick letterhead. This is our report on internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. This opinion is required due to the significant amount of state and federal funding that the district receives and spends annually. I'm pleased to report that we have issued an unmodified opinion on compliance as well. We found no instances of non-compliance with laws or regulations and no internal control, material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. So, another clean opinion received there. Um, your financial statements themselves begin on page number seven. Um, the first that page is
039your statement of net position. The statement of net position, I always kind of say, is like your 10,000 foot view of the district's financial statements. Um, reason being is that that statement of net position consolidates all your funds together, but it also pulls in long-term capital assets of the district as well as long-term debt and also pulls in um pension obligations as well. So again, kind of a high level view there. Um, this format, that statement of net position, you only see it annually during the audit um because of the sources of information that need to be pulled in there. So not really something you use in your operations um but is required to be presented to receive that unmodified opinion. So the focus on that statement of net position would be your total net
040position which is on um page eight. So the district's total net position was 58 million. Of that 67.4 million was invested in capital assets. 7 million was restricted for various purposes um generally because of tax levy restrictions and various funds. And then the remaining balance was a deficit 16 million um unrestricted net position. So again, the reason that you have that deficit unrestricted is due to the the pension obligations being pulled in as well as the long-term debt being pulled in there. Page number nine is your statement of activities. So still that highlevel view of your financial statements. Um focus here would be your change in net position. So the district's net position increased 20.9 million from fiscal year 23 to 24. So but I one thing to note is important to note that this
041figure is going to be different from your changes within your actual funds themselves. Again because of the long-term nature of this statement of pulling in capital assets and pension liabilities. Um so page 10 is the balance sheet for the district's governmental funds. Um, so this kicks out any of those long-term liabilities, pension obligations, long-term assets, and has a current focus. So this is more in the format that you're used to reviewing. Um, focus here on the balance sheet would be fund balance. Um, generally speaking, I look at the general fund. So the general fund has multiple funds kind of pulled into that column. Your general fund includes your education, operations and maintenance, working cash, and tort fund. um that general fund reported an ending fund balance of 19.3 million um while the non- major funds
042had a combined fund balance of about six million. Um notably the fund balance in the general fund represents about two months worth of operating reserves. So kind of on the lower end of where we'd generally like to see your reserves. I'd say anywhere from like three three to nine months is kind of the range we'd like to see. So close to that range, a little bit lower. So just wanted to point that out. Page 12, you'll find your changes in fund balances. General fund did see a decrease of 13.8 million over the prior year. Um, mostly due to some planned capital spending during the year. The non- major funds did have an increase of 250,000. So overall decrease in fund balance of 13.6 million. So on the governmentwide statements, we saw that increase of 20
043million while in the funds we saw that decrease of 13.5 million. Um biggest reason for this is really due to the large amount of capital spending this year. So in your funds themselves when you have capital spending that's a decrease in your fund balance. Whereas on that governmentwide statements when you have capital spending it gets capitalized and depreciated. So that's why there's kind of a a variance there between those two. Just wanted to make sure I pointed that out. That is my comments on the annual financial report. Um a couple other reports were issued as a result of the audit. I'll give some brief comments on those reports as well. Um the first being the single audit report. Um and the single audit report page 12 outlines the results of the audit. Um again the
044single audit is required due to the amount of federal spending that the district has. So if you spend greater than $750,000 in federal awards, you're required to undergo the single audit annually. And what that means is we just do some additional compliance testing in accordance with those grants. So we look at expenses to make sure they're for the proper purpose of those grants. um and review other compliance requirements as well. Um we have issued an unmodified opinion on compliance for major federal programs. So another clean opinion issued there. Um no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies noted. The district spent 23.6 million in federal awards this year with the spe special education IDEA program and ESSER funding considered to be the major program. So those two programs were where we did that additional testing this year.
045Um and those two programs accounted for approximately 70% of the district's total federal spending. Um next report I will cover is your board communication report. So this report is our required communication to the board of education. Uh it includes a summary of audit adjustments made as a result of the audit as well as our management letter which highlights any internal control deficiencies for the district's consideration. So that that list of deficiencies begins on page 25. So there were two new deficiencies reported this year in fiscal year 24. Um so these are not significant enough to be considered material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. Um these are more considerations as you know ways that district could improve their internal control structure. Um so the first deficiency relates to district credit cards. We noted one purchase was a
046personal purchase that was charged to the district's credit card. That purchase was later reimbured to the district. So our recommendation there is just you know reinforce credit card policy and restriction of use for personal purchase purchases. And then the second deficiency pertains to the year-end close process. So during our audit, we did post some journal entries to properly record the year-end balances on the acrruel basis of accounting. We just recommend the district continue to identify and record transactions in the proper period to ensure that all transactions are properly accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Any deficiencies that were identified in the prior year audit are located on page 59 along with a status update for each comment as well. Uh lastly, I'm just going to touch on your ISBY AFR form um
047and the district's financial profile summary as well. So the ISBFR is a standardized form that's required to be completed for each district in the state and really it's just we just plug in all the numbers from the audit report itself and turn that into ISBY. Um but the financial profile score is included on there and I think that's always an interesting topic um to talk about that score. Um so the district did have a score of 3.45 last year and was in the review designation. This year the score did lower and was at 2.65 which put the district in a warning designation. What this means is that is we will be monitoring the district and offering technical assistance to the district such as financial pro projections and cash flow analysis and just kind of wanted
048to talk about why the score lowered from prior year. Um so you scored lower in the first three categories there largely due to that draw down of funds in your general and operations because of that capital spending this year. Um because the ratios that they look at for example are fund balance to revenue ratio. So your fund balance decreased, therefore you scored lower in that category. Um expenditure to revenue ratio is another category that they look at. So again, because you had higher expenditures this year, you scored lower in that category. And then your days cash on hand also lowered because of the capital spending, you had lower cash balances. So um you went from 130 days cash on hand to 77 days cash on hand this year. So just kind of want to point
049that out to make sure that's monitored going forward. Um, so in closing, just want to express my thanks to Miss Rankin and her team. Audit process always goes very smoothly. Um, her responsiveness and willingness to provide the necessary information makes our work very easy. Um, and just want to make sure the board also recognizes her for all of her efforts during the audit process as well. Um, I'd be happy to answer any questions. I know it's a lot to digest, so if you have any questions right now, um, Miss Ranken has my contact information. I'd be happy to answer any questions later on as well. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I would love to have a motion for approval to accept this and then we'll ask some questions. Okay. I move to approve it. Second.
050I have a motion in a second. Okay. Any questions or comments? Just to be clear, it sounds like the that the on the is ISB AFR form that the three areas that we went um that we declined had to do with those planned capital expenditures. I just want to make sure that that's what what caused that decline. Um yeah, I would say generally for the most part that would cause your decline. So, you know, maybe next year you might not score as low in some maybe you know the revenues to expense ratio for example, right? That would increase next year. Days cash on hand wouldn't necessarily increase next year un you know because that cash is already lower at future expenses unless you had more revenue than expenses then that would go back up. So
051I think it lowered because of the capital spending. Some of those categories will likely increase but I think some of them might stay the same as well. Okay. Thanks. My question is just philosophical. Okay. and um and not in particular to us or or you know any back to the uh the auditors but I've always wondered on the deficiencies is it on when you evaluate deficiencies um is it cut and dry it pretty well that you know like everybody would agree or is it is there some leeway or play in in that I mean that the two people would see see what that's why I say this is a more of a philosophical I mean for like the credit card one for example I think that one's pretty cut and dry. That's, you know, what
052we noted during our testing. Yeah, it it could be something that we just talk to Miss Rankin about next year and don't include in the board communication, but we generally like to put any recommendations out there just so everyone is aware of what's out there. Um same with the audit adjustments because of the amount of audit adjustments we had. We just thought that it was appropriate to um report that. Now, as far as determining if something's a deficiency versus like the material weakness or significant deficiency, um, how that's determined is if we think that there would be a material impact on your financial statements, like they'd be materially misstated due to these issues. And so, those didn't raise to that severity, we just consider those to be more operating items to be considered going forward.
053Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay. Any other questions? If not, uh, we're voting on accepting the audit results. Um, roll call vote, please. Mrs. Shider, yes. Mr. Tyler, yes. Miss, yes. Dr. Ash, yes. I want to thank everybody involved. Okay, that's a lot of work. Uh, we do appreciate it. And, uh, that's a lot. There's a You gave us a lot here. You gave us just a snap. You just glazed over the top. We we understand that but and we appreciate that because if you've ever seen these audit reports, there's just a lot of pages. There's a lot of pages. I just try to hit the high notes for you. Yes. And we and we appreciate that. So, you did a really good job with that. So, thank you very much. Okay. Uh and thank
054you staff for uh cooperating because without uh cooperation by our business department and there's a lot of questions for other staffs that that get asked in these also. It's not just I get a questionnaire on it also. We're here for, you know, two weeks straight. We work on the audit. So, and she still has her normal job duties to do as well. Exactly. So, there's a lot of things there. So, we appreciate it, but it's it's it's a necessary thing that that had to happen. Um Okay. Uh 6B, transportation. Okay. At the April 9th meeting, the board of education voted to table the transportation bid recommendation. Um, I made sure that you guys received all of the bid documents for your review. Um, so that you could get an idea of what um, we received
055and what we reviewed. Um, myself, Mr. Hart, and legal counsel. Um, based on the bid submissions, we determined that the bids submitted by Robinson Transport and Yellow Bus Group are not responsible bids. And it is our recommendation that the board of education award the student transportation bid for the 2025 to 2030 school years to first student as presented. Move to approve. Any second? I'll second it. Now discussion, question, comment. I have one. Um I understand the bid and everything. The first time uh you gave uh a very short window uh once you posted the bid and then when everything was due. Um I think it was it was very short considering the amount of money. Um where I live. I see the buses every day and uh see them in the morning, see in the
056afternoon. And Mr. Montgomery had a point. The timing is way off. Uh kids are left waiting. Um we've had a number of issues with the uh with first student all year long is not in the past. I'm just talking about this year. And uh whereas they may have number of that we need for student transportation. It's the internal problems uh that we need to work on because the recommendation says that the bus uh for student is perfect darn near perfect and great but that's not what I've been seeing nor have parents and certainly not the students. I noticed at North Bridge there are a lot of parents that pick up their children. I'd also noticed that there are more cars than normal picking up the students. I wonder if that is because of the issues
057of the buses uh being on time or what? So, I mean, have you taken those kind of things in consideration? So, myself and Mr. Hart had I believe that we have and Nick is also here with first student um and maybe he can address some of that. I'm not sure. Um, but I know that we work with first student to try to alleviate as many um obstacles as possible. We still have to work that out. Some of that is is personnel. Um, you know, not having enough drivers or drivers being off. Um the states also um mandated that bus drivers get is it 14 days I believe 40 hours 40 hours of um not that they they're not required to work. So you know how many hours 40 okay so out of 180 days 40
058of those days you know drivers can take off. So per driver um all those things yes per driver. So all those things do affect transportation. I do have communication with first student multiple times a day. Um we meet on on Wednesdays which has been beneficial. And is it perfect? No. I would I'd be lying to everybody here. Um it is much better than where we were. And honestly a lot of it is um finding licensed drivers. It is not getting easier. It is not getting easier. And anyone out here works go to if you you have a job at a place and every employer goes through the same thing. They go we are looking for skilled people. Okay. Which what we're trying the business to give them skilled people. Okay. But the employers are are
059working with that now. So everybody's fighting for the same people uh or or different people. It it it is across business lines um that that they're going through this. We have a sheet here um for those at home because you're gonna go so why are there that list the criteria of what between the three groups what who meets what group who meets what criteria which which of the bids fits what we need to have as our district the best. And this is the information that we're giving that we have to uh uh judge when we make this decision. So uh the other two guys I'm sorry that I'm take if I'll let you guys speak but since you said something I just started I thought I would chime in. Um since the other uh bus
060companies spoke before um we've taken that into consideration obviously tableabling it till this evening so that we could you know are you sure about a recommendation are you sure about this recommendation and then the recommendation comes back the same. Okay. But giving this criteria and further criteria of why the the the the um to support that recommendation. So a thought has gone into is this because everybody goes, "Oh, the fix is in and you're just going to make this decision anyway you look at it." No, that we the fixes wasn't in because we tabled it. Okay? And uh ask the questions and ask for this information. Um, another thing that I want to say about bus service, okay, that that sometimes is out of their control and and I'm not here I'm not defending bus
061and I'm not defending first student here. He said, but there's a lot of parameters when you're watching buses go down the street because I watch them too, okay? And they're right outside my office and every if I don't get down that street, I'm stuck for 10 minutes. and I'm stuck for 10 minutes because there's a bus that stops and waits for the kids to come out. Okay? They don't just open the door, put the thing up, and go. This bus every time this family's not ready. And they stop and they wait for this family to send the kid out. And you do that three or four times on your route. I'm late at Northridge. I'm late somewhere else. So even though I'm and again I'm not defending them, okay, but there's other it's easy to
062take pot shots at a system that has a lot of problems with it that that that we there's there are things that happen on this route. If I didn't see it every day, I would go, okay, big deal. You know, I'm almost to the point just keep go on. But I see, you know, like 60% of the time that student comes out and if they if they went on 100% of the time that ch that child is not going to get to class. So again, I'm it's just when you have with these situations, there's sometimes more to the story. Okay. I'm sorry you guys. Well, several years ago when we were looking at this last time, um, we there were a lot of community there was community outrage about some things that were happening and
063I just want to say I it has improved. It has improved and I know it's been the work of um you all at for student and I'm grateful for that and I I'm thankful to um Miss Rankin, Mr. Hart um for for what they've what they've done to put this together. Um, I'm also really concerned that in one classroom we're losing an hour a week of instruction. And I I'm I'm really concerned how many kids are missing out of of school time. I'm very concerned about it. And you Thank you for coming and talking about that, Mr. Montgomery. Um, I'm I'm inclined to vote against this because we need to change and um I don't know what my colleagues are going to do. And it's not that you haven't improved. You have and I respect
064you and I'm grateful for you. Um, but it is it is not okay to just be to make mediocre changes and and and we still are having problems in our classrooms and and I sympathize with the fact that we don't have enough bus drivers and I I don't I don't know the answer but it is not okay that at the end of the day our children are face are the ones that are bearing the burden of it and our teachers are bearing the burden of it and um I I know I'm I'm very frustrated with it for um because we've been doing this now for a long time and um thank you for bringing that to our attention, Mr. McGomery, and for um bringing it down to what's happening in one classroom. Um so we
065could, you know, picture the faces of those kids that are missing out on an hour of instruction. Think of how many hours that is over the course of a year. And yes, and we're and we are we're um you know, we can't we can't on one hand be upset about test scores and then say, "Oh, well, they're missing an hour of language arts every week and then and it's um we can't we can't say both things. We can't say both things." And so I'm voting no. I would like to say that in my time on the board um first student has been very responsive to the things that we've asked. I would also like to say and point out that with the other two bids, they don't have the um the right number of buses
066or drivers or staff to accommodate what we need in our district. So the things we're talking about will not get better. It's a problem that everybody's going to face. And to me, the relationship we have with First Student and your responsiveness to what we need to do and what needs to change far outweighs some of the other concern. I would like to say hear what's being said. Um, it's important. It's important our kids are in school on time and I understand the parameters that you're working with and how difficult it can be. But I would like some reassurance that you'll continue to work on those. Um I'm curious, Mr. Sor, how often do you get a call from a principal saying this number of buses were late? Do you do they do they talk to
067you? Not as much to me as I do want to inform you guys. I get So my goal is to be on top and as of right now we're 88 between 88 and 92%. We try to rotate if you know we're gonna be late which students like to lose a driver who train and ready to rock and roll. And the only reason that is is lately some of us were at today the fact that training came into effect is why your kids are safe and sound and that we don't just started I started my tail end. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. So the motion is recommendation is sorry that the board of education award the student transportation bid for the 2025 2030 school years to first student as presented. Okay. Thank you. So
068the recommendation is first student. Any other questions or comments? Roll call vote please. Mr. Shider. No. M. No. Yes. Dr. Yes. Two. Two. Bring it back. I don't know. One of them wins. Yes. I was going to say one of them wins. Okay. Okay. Done. All right. Thank you. Does this mean we bring it back again? Well, it has to be. You have to do something. We have to have transportation. You got to do something. So, you you can't have no transportation. So, you can't have no can't have any cannot can't have no a double negative, which I would shoot myself. Okay, that brings us to moving right along. That was good. This is fruitful. How about 6E? How about credit card? Okay. See what we do with this. Um the departmental credit cards are
069used for emergency purposes for vendor vendors that do not accept purchase orders, which like right now it's it's growing. It's ever growing. Nobody wants a purchase order. They want us to pay up front, send a wire, like they So anyway, um, and the credit cards that we currently have are authorized by the board and the superintendent in accordance with our current district policy. We currently have seven departmental credit cards. Um, and in April of 2023, the board approved additional Visa credit cards. Um at the time the applications were not completed due to uncertainty around the process because the credit cards are through the educational personnel credit union. Um since that time um I have worked with a rep directly at the credit union. So um the I am at this time I'm recommending four additional
070Visa credit cards through the educational personnel credit union which is the financial institution that the district uses for the Visa credit cards. Um I am requesting recommending uh curriculum food service technology with a limit of $1,000 which is the limit for the other departmental credit cards. um the business office. I am requesting a credit limit of $25,000 and I feel that this is needed to replace the American Express that used to be in the business office in addition to um I don't want us to miss out on um the credit limits that we had when we had so we the administration has changed and so those cards that those administrators have are no longer in our batch of credit cards. So, um I am asking that the board approve the resolution to issue um the
071following credit cards from Education Personnel Credit Union for curriculum food service technology and the business office. Okay, you have a recommendation. Do you have a motion? I move to approve. A second. Second. Thank you. Questions, comments? In light of the audit where we were cited for misappropriation of abuse of a person, do we have policies in place now? We do have policies in place. We have policies in place. Um, that was one credit card in particular and it it it has been taken care of. I'm not sure why it was happening, but I was aware of it and then I I it's not happening any longer. So, I have been trying to have conversations. I look at all of the uh Visa credit card bills when they come because I'm checking for um taxes and
072um checking reimbursements. So, yeah, this is common practice. Okay, credit cards are it's kind of a necessary thing and for a district to have this available. So, um I'm for this. I'm sure that you will monitor this and and keep it um well monitored. Any other questions, comments? Roll call vote, please. Mrs. Shider, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss P? Yes. Dr. Ash, yes. Motion passes 40. Thank you very much. Informational items. Thank you. Oh, thank you. I have none. None. None. Okay. Um, left to right. Okay. Just kind of quick one. I'd like to thank the u I enjoy the presentation of the uh Northridge students. Um, it was very enlightening. Um, and I hope we can work on the bus situation. Um, I think I'm going to try to attend the first grade math challenge
073next week. It sounds quite interesting. and we're winding up. It's almost at the end of the school year. Um it's important everyone try to do their best. This is really probably the most important time uh between now and the end of the school year. So that's it. Thank you. We have a lot of our students um and our teachers doing great things. Uh we read about it in the paper. We see it on social media. our athletes um are just excelling in a lot of the sports and uh academically we also are having great success and I don't want to forget those kids um because I'm really proud of them. Again, I'm going to pitch the theater department's Hades Town which is happening tomorrow night, Friday night at 7 and Saturday afternoon at 2:30. I
074think it promises to be really, really a good production. I know how hard the kids have worked. So coming out and support the kids. Thank you Shannon. Um wanted to thank Mrs. D Mrs. McDermott from Northridge and her NJHS students. That was a great presentation. Um and thank you Mrs. Button for getting them here and encouraging them. Um they're I think you've got a crop of teachers there. Um Mrs. Ranken on the audit. Um well done. um being um unmodified and clean on all of those big areas. And I know that we had a difficult time, finding an auditor this year because we had so much federal money that's that a lot of people just didn't do it. It was very hard to find an auditor this year and to have um have your have
075you be so wellreceived and and thank you for all the all your hard work you do. It's a lot and for everyone I know Mrs. Um, Trux, you and you had a lot going on with that as well. Thank you for helping get that done. Um, Mr. Een, um, before you were elected and every meeting after you've been elected, you've been sitting here. Thank you for being at these meetings. Um, and welcome, uh, next week or next session. Um, and also welcome to, um, Dr. Howerin and Mrs. Tony Town who will also be coming on at the next session. Um and everyone study hard. You're in the home stretch. Couple more weeks. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for that. Um yes, next meeting is the um the board um reorganization meeting where and they will
076reorganize. Uh we will leave uh and then turn it over to the new board. We look forward to that. So, this will be my last time saying anything to you all. So, I want to say thank you to all the staff for all the things that you guys have done. Um, good or bad though. Uh, truly, uh, you've been extremely helpful. Administration has been helpful. Uh, people work really, really, really hard. And I, you know, I'm I'm sorry that we you don't see how hard we see how hard you work, okay? You just can't tell you all the time, okay? Otherwise, I'd be just talking to people all the time. You guys work really hard. You do a great job. This is an unbelievably dedicated group of people in education. And people don't understand education.
077If you're from an outside group, you don't understand how education works. It's a different ballgame here. And um after doing after watching it for 20 years, I appreciate it. It's uh it's something I couldn't do and uh you guys do a very good job of it in with very uh difficult situations at times. So uh just want to say that I appreciate it, have appreciated it and will continue to do so. So thank you for that and thank for all the help that you've given and I certainly do appreciate that. And with that we are ajourned. I'm going to go see my daughter her birthday party. I'm not waiting for you.