001[Music] we will now call this meeting to order please stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with me I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all our next item on the agenda is our approval of the consent agenda do we have a motion Madam president vice president Schwarz move to approve the consent agenda as presented thank you do we have a second I'll second second by Mr St any discussion none all those in favor please say I I all those oppos say n motion carries our next item is the approval of tonight's agenda do we have a motion Madam president Mr seats I move to approve the agenda as presented thank you
002Mr seek so we have second I'll second that any discussion hear none all those in favor please say I I all those who oppos say nay motion carries our next item is our superintendent report Dr Luton the floor is yours thank you madam president uh just a reminder to look at staff recognitions they don't I think it was too many to have a PowerPoint this time so congratulations to the gymnastics team also on their their Victory but also uh all the music uh items in there and then staff items too some really nice stuff including U Mr Smith and the state uh counselor Association being the elected president uh staff teacher recognition is uh retirement program is May 7th at 6:00 p.m. at DMS we usually have a a supper followed by that recognition so
003be a lot of individuals there are excited about that uh we have Kindergarten Roundup this Thursday uh to date we have 215 pre-registered we're at uh 226 last year at this time so just slightly behind last year but way ahead of the year before where we only had 127 so the intent of that is to get families in the door and get to know them and get them registered so excited about that the other item I just uh kind of give a little update just in the last 10 years where we've come from from um we're up over 692 students from 10 years ago uh in K5 it's 246 and 68 it's 233 and then at the 912 it's 134 you're going to start to see that tick up now that those smaller classes are
004graduating and the classes coming in are all over 300 now uh at the rough right of Virtual Academy uh 912 we have uh uh 44 uh and or yeah 44 we have uh uh up 102 with Southwest Community High School and the Rough Rider combined they were at 23 10 years ago they have 58 kids now and our K8 which we never had either urula Academy 10 years ago have 44 in there so just uh growth in general at Dickens and public schools over the last 10 years so that concludes my report Madam president any questions for Dr [Music] luden okay hearing none we will go on to the next item our business topics informational topics today we will have a presentation by Brady marks and Miss fat is joining [Music] us okay good evening
005can you hear me okay okay well good evening everybody I'm MPS I'm have a shareholder like Fred BS and we performed the audit of the school district this year for the f year ended June 30th 2024 and so tonight I'll just go over the reports that we issue as part of our audit as well as the opinions we issued and then go over just some Financial some high level financial highlights financial statement highlights and then some items that were required to communicate with those charge with governance upon completion of the audit so first off going through the audit opinions that we did issue so overall the objective of the audit is to express an opinion on the financial statements on whether the financial statements are fairly presented in accordance with gap or generally accepted accounting
006principles which is the full cruel basis of accounting um our audit is designed to obtain reasonable but not absolute Assurance about whether the financial statements are free of mature in the statement um and as part of the audit we do have um guidelines that we are required to follow as part as part of our professional obligations those are listed here I would also uh point out that the financial statement on it is not designed to detect fraud um however if we do become aware of fraud we are required to report that to the board so moving on to the audit opinion so the first report that we issue is over the financial statements and we are expressing an unmodified opinion an unmodified opinion is the highest level um of assurance that we can provide over
007the financials meaning that the financial statements are properly in accordance with gap for that full and appr basis of accounting additionally I would I would note that in our audit report we did have an emphasis of matter paragraph and so that is for the district implementing um a new accounting standard this year gby 100 and that's in the presentation of how you show prior period adjustments um we did have a prior period adjustment also noted um which is now referred to as a correction of air and this was for the amount of construction in progress through CIP that was recorded for the Southwest um Career Technical education Academy the next report um that we issue is on internal controls and compliance so we're required um underneath government auditing standards to review internal controls for the
008school district um we don't give an opinion on internal controls but if we become aware of any kind of deficiencies we are required to report that as a finding in the report and so you'll see that we do have one finding reported um and that is for us preparing the financial statements as well as assisting the district with recording the the government wide journal entries um this finding is a repeat from last year and I believe the district has had this finding for a while um even with this finding we still are issuing an unmodified opinion um for this report and then the last report that we um give an opinion on is for the single audit or the compliance piece um of the of the audit so this is a totally separate audit from
009the financial statements and so we are testing the district's compliance with the fedal grants um we perform uh this portion of the audit in accordance with government auditing St standards as well as uniform guidance and again we're issuing an un mod ified opinion um which is the best opinion that you can receive which means that based upon our testing the district was in compliance with the fedu requirements for those programs tested and the three programs that we tested this year um are listed on your screen was the special education cluster the comprehensive literacy development Grant and then the eser funds um I would also note that last year there was a finding um for missing some time sheets and approval and documentation of ours and so as part of our audit this year even though
010those programs were not tested we do have to follow up on those um findings and ensure that those were properly implemented this year and based upon that testing we found that the district live in compliance there were no issues and so that finding is not repeated um in the 2024 audit okay moving on to some financial statement highlights for the district again just keep in mind all this information is as of June 30th 2024 um so overall you can see the cash and investment balances for each fund um really the major change um would be in the general fund um that's up about that's up from prior year that's mostly due to positive change um meing revenues over expenses were more in the current year and we'll go over the general fund details in a
011little bit and then in the building fund um that the decrease in The Debt Service fund and the increase in the building fund is for transferring um funds received from the bond proceeds over the building fund as part of the um the new construction that's going on additionally in the building fund um there was uh the building and land sold for the district and that was about $1.8 million during this fiscal year as far as revenues and expenses by fund um the blue is the revenues the green is the expenses overall you can see from the general fund um there was a slight increase of about $200,000 year-over-year um for revenues over expenses in the building fund um again that's due to that transfer from The Debt Service fund coming over into the building fund
012um and then that money just sitting there until it's going be used for the construction projects coming out next looking at general fund expenditures for the year so total general fund expenditures were approximately 65.2 million um that represents about 133% of your yearend fund balance in the general fund which is good um the district does not have a form of policy for what that general fund fund balance should be or that fral should be obviously that's something that you want to look at when you're doing budgeting purposes um as far as not having enough but not having too much so that you're using taxx dollars um fairely and not over taxing uh constituents um also the top three expenditures um or the top three line items were obviously regular instruction that accounts for 33.5 million
013or 51% and then special education is 10.3 million or 16% and then District wide Services is 8.1 million or 12% looking at the composition of um the fund balance or the residual Equity that the district has even though there is fund balance available in each fund um there are restricted uses as to how those funds can be spent so for the general fund you'll see that the vast majority is green and that's classified as unassign and so that money is available to be spent on current year operations the aqua represent um restricted items and so in the general fund the restricted item relates to uh Student Activities because that information is combined with the general fund for reporting purposes and then in the building and The Debt Service fund obviously those those funds are limited
014and can only be used for those purposes and then the Food Service um that's considered a sign so that is the intent of the board of management um is to use the money earned in Food Services or the residual balance to cover food service operations um and assigned balance is something that you could technically in theory change your mind on and move um but the restricted balances which would be the aqua ones um with that those funds of the building and the Deb Authority for that service fund those cannot be spent or reclassified to a different purpose they have to be spent for how they were given looking at debt for the school district so as of June 30th um the school district had total General obligation bonds and total approximately 45 million there's also
015a least liability recorded for another $20,000 and so you can see what the future payments are going to be um on average they're approximately $4.5 million each year um going out until 2039 for the school district um that is for debt in place as of 30th I know a new Bond was issued subsequent to year end so that will change um what's owed um going forward as this is just presented as what was own as of jun 30th looking at the general fund um and the budget versus actual so as you can see um total revenues of about 64 billion those were over budget actual revenues came in over budget by about 2.7 million and then on the flip side the expenditures also came in over budget by about 2.5 million so there was additional
016money received and spent um that wasn't budgeted for last item to go over is just some required Communications by our Professional Standards um just letting you know that as part of the audit we do look at estimates um the big estimates for the school district include uh the net pension liability the opab liability the methods and lines used for depreciation leases and how those are recorded and then the acral for the incurred but not acred but not incurred but not paid um premium not premiums but the uh ured but not expected losses for the self-funded health insurance program and so all of those items um are considered estimat to the financials uh for the the incurred but not reported for the self-funded health insurance we do do some look back analysis is that's the one
017that is subject to could be subject to um manipulation by management so we looked at that one but the other estimates are fairly straightforward um for the pens and liability and the op liability all of those come from NV Pur and nvfr and so we're relying on those audit reports there's really no uh management subjectivity that can be applied to those estimates but we do look at estimates as part of our AUD I'm just making sure that assumptions used by management are correct during our audit we didn't become aware of any kind of unusual transactions um we had no difficulties or disagreements with management um I would note there were some uncorrected misstatements or past Journal entri so these are just differences that we came across during our audit that we track cumulatively but are
018not posted and reflected in the audited financial statements a lot of times they're not posted because they're projections of errors and so um we generally don't like to record a true journal entry unless we know exactly where that amount is coming for but when we're doing sampling we have to project those differences out and so we track those cumulatively to make sure that the financial statements aren't materially misstated if they aren't posted um and they weren't but just letting you know that there were some of these items and then as part of our audit we do request representations for management um basically stating that they've given us full access to all the information we've requested and that everything's recorded in accordance with gap that they are aware of and management did s that and then
019we're also not aware that management consulted with other Auditors regarding any kind of accting principles um on the screen is my contact information and it's also included in the the handout for the board um so if you do have any followup questions feel free to reach out to me I do want to thank uh Naomi and the finance staff for the comption of the audit uh Naomi took on a a significant role for this year making and uring it it got done and we certainly appreciate her help and that's all I have um unless anybody has any questions I'm happy to answer those now any questions on the board doesn't sound like we have any but thank you for the report I don't hear me apologize can you hear me I can hear you again
020okay we do not have any questions fore this time all right thank you all pleas connect and let me carry on with your meeting okay thank you for the [Music] report moving on to the next topic is our board goals and we have principal Frances principal freeder and principal muley joining us today [Music] welcome okay so what you're looking at are sorry um we start off with the eighth grade that's up there um I can tell you that overall uh DMS is extremely excited to show uh the scores if you look at those categories there is growth um in all of those uh grade levels between um e8th grade there seventh grade sixth grade and what in my opinion would be just not just a little bit of growth some good decent amount of growth
021between our students um keeping in mind that we are taking at NDA plus which is a little bit different than the rest of the district on their NWA anything for that fifth grade no we just held steady that's kind of where we're at with that fifth grade piece and we are taking that nwaa math scor okay if you're looking at these next ones this is that breakdown in the students um so disability category the E population the free reduced lunch um again this would be within the eighth grade students so you see uh that growth within all of the categories some of those categories some really big jump a really big celebration is uh the students with disability we went from that 16% to [Music] 39% 7th grade uh same thing you see growth in
022each of those uh the elll population within this one huge growth 22 to 46 um disability category again over 10% growth let just kind of GRA of see where we're at sixth grade another celebration for DMS um growth within all those categories some of those a huge huge lead that yel population uh keeping in mind that you know we did have a large increase in limited English proficient students some coming in at that Baseline level one um so that really shows that within a short amount of time uh students can show massive amounts of grow uh in reviewing kind of some things within DMS that are new this year is is we implemented the tier 2 time um so that tier two is that retach of tier one and I think you would find that
023as the year has gone on that teachers have really valued that time and really figured out how we pull kids in for that retach uh whether it's a testament as to what we're seeing up here definitely feel like it's a factor that we have started it there it is built in every single day um so it's really it's really being used uh to its Max Capacity within the building that every day students are being pulled whether it's to retach or to extend for that time period and uh lots of growth like I said uh we as staff we actually broke that down today in our professional development and it was really heartwarming to be a part of that we're actually celebrating student test scores and we're seeing that growth in all categories in in math
024and Ela that we have gained uh grounds in all of those areas that graph to go with it so getting closer to that uh goal that we set and then there's our Elementary fifth graders so um the data doesn't look at quite as well as where it was with our um Middle School groups but we do see that we're holding steady as the um in end of again that part in order to get proficient has grown um and so we're holding steady we're at that 1% which is kind of in that plus or minus area um of being able to kind of within the threshold I guess that you would say to see if they're continuing to grow at a rate um we did have um some pieces of some girls with our limited English
025proficiency again just a few points and with our free and reduced students um so it may not be in all parts necessarily but we're just kind of holding I would say that's a big piece for us when we started to look at not just fifth grade numbers but we look at our fourth grade and our third grade and our second grade and our first grade and our kindergarten numbers um we started the year and we were looking and we've got pretty good numbers coming up behind us um that are in really good pieces our fourth grade group is another group that we're still um kind of struggling with but everybody else is kind of above where we are wanting um with some different pieces um or we're close um and so that gives us a
026little bit of Hope when we're looking at those numbers and the decisions that we're making moving [Music] forward so I'll let Mr muley kind of talk about the parts and the pieces of what we're doing and so um Miss Francis kind of we all working together in different pieces to try and get them through these parts and um Miss Francis talked about that tier 2 time we're doing that as well at the elementary level and making sure that we're doing those parts and pieces to be able to get catch kids um on the standards that we're teaching at tier one that they're maybe struggling with and back filling for some kids that maybe missed some things especially our fourth and fifth grade kids those are our um there are kindergarten and first grade kids during
027Co um and so that's kind of that building block piece and so we're trying to make sure that we're back filling in some of those um prerequisite skills that maybe were a little bit um loose for them I would say um that's one piece that we're really working on yeah then I think uh you want do anything ongoing or do the next steps that think so I think next steps last year when we presented we talked about the expectation for our teachers to use that your resource so we had continuity across the district we're continuing to do that that and I think in those lower L grades we're seeing results of that um in addition to that uh like Mr trer said we want to continue our work with tier 2 providing our teachers with
028that support in tier two so what types of things can they do because a lot of times in our tier two time not only are they servicing those map tier two students but they're working on that Ela so you know their their role is a little different um in terms of what they're doing and continuing to work with our El students and sharing um strategies for our staff kind work with those students and then we just met last week as a principal group and we're going to be um I believe this spring working with t mat to come in and uh take us into a classroom to have some look for so that we can come back and have that dialogue so for our own learning and growth As Leaders help lead our teachers so
029that's an area that we're going to be moving towards to here shortly questions for us any questions from the board um this Francis I thank you for this data it's always kind of a lot to try to absorb and take in and try to figure out what how it correlates so that success is really great I mean obviously that 7th grade or eighth grade we have that goal and eth grade math is important for moving on we get that so that's good success you you mentioned some of the the tier stuff that was going on what do you a I mean do we know what um is there specific things that you say this is probably why it's happening is it too early to kind of tell do we is well I'm going to say
030it's probably too early to tell right like we' we got some things that we're doing this year but to really put all the weight into one we want to see that we stay consistent you know that's even the state assessment um the one that we're taking that's the comparison gives you uh five different levels and the state assessment is four and so when we think about that too everyone that's three and above right now is technically marking as where they should be but we know that there's a percentage of them that are still going to fall towards the bottom part of that and not score proficient on our state assessment so trying to wait and now we don't get our result results until October that could be a really long stressful wait to see like
031did this project us to where we were at or will we see you know that 10% even if we had a 10% the less uh proficiency rate that would still be better than what we have scored before um we definitely have been implementing that tier two and have gotten much better at it throughout the year this is the first year that all courses have had access to it uh we also have implemented some literacy standards in all content areas and have professional development to go along doesn't necessarily hit math but that's that what are we all doing together um trying to really have it be that team effort it isn't just Ela and math that's responsible for these scores it's our whole building and so how do we get everybody on board to support the
032movement our tier three classes those have been something we've done for a really long time but we've really taken a deep dive over the last 3 years asking ourselves is is what we're doing in here purposeful you know that's where we have kind of a level Ela system our uh math department is working on that too we just had uh a gal from RTI at work that came in and did professional development with our Math teachers and even today our math interventionists uh they broke down nine more standards to add onto their standards reference grading because we found that when we track them these ones all aligned and fit in to what students need to know they were hitting most of our standards and going all the way back to that third grade so I
033think a lot of it too is attributed to the data that we're keeping we are having lots of discussion around those standards reference grading data and then making those adjustments along the way I go on to those next steps because I think a lot of times we sit up here and we want to have like a this is what we're going to do next when it's really about right now we have the full RTI process going on within the building and we need to get better at it we don't need to make massive changes it's finding those little pieces like within math intervention and saying what can boost us to the next level where we're not compiling more fixes when we don't truly know is this data reflective on what we're doing right now or
034you know is where's the longevity within that process so Francis as you say that is the newcomer program something we have been doing or is that something new Casey Evans has been working really hard this year on that newcomer program so we actually have program students who are coming in at a a non-english level at all different than we have in the past so that is new this year uh we don't we do more of a high-intensive six weeks with them where they're not necessarily going to you know all their core classes where we're really trying to level the base of the English proficiency within a short amount of time and then as they work through those pieces then we send them you know out to other classes thank you yeah any other questions from
035the board we don't have any others thank you so much for your report thank you and your hard work our next item is our update on the Dickson High School rebuild Dr reporting on that yeah just be quick uh you saw we move bid package uh two opening from last week on the 6th to this week on the 13th so we'll open that last bid package which is a majority of the building if you're at DHS today on the South Side you saw a temporary sidewalk being installed that's to get students uh from the main campus to the banana build or the yellow building uh during construction time next week you'll start to see fence being put up uh and then by the end of the month beginning of next month you'll start to see
036demolition there's some pictures in there for you kind of shows the outline of uh different phases and fencing so the first phase initially uh Mr Brant's going to have some fun uh and then the the second phase of when they take down those the old pods so that's available for the public to see so any questions from very none thank you for the report we'll move on to our action items first item is our 2023 24 DPS audit report M president Mr SE I move to approve the district's annual audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2024 thank you Mr se you have a second I'll second second by President Schwarz any discussion hearing none this one calls for a roll call vote so we will start with Mr wiy hi Mr owski
037I vice president Schwarz hi Mr SS hi and the chair votes I motion carries our next item is considering approving the water main agreement with the city of Dickinson do we have a motion Madam president vice president schs I move the Dickinson Public School District to approve the development agreement with the city of Dickinson for the water main extension for the Dickinson High School rebuild as presented thank you do we have a second I have a second second by Mr any discussion Madam president this is just uh uh for the water grade fire safety U uh in Improvement of the new building uh connects kind of a loop between Fairway and Empire uh makes it so we can have hydrants in the right places and uh Josh is here from the city if we had
038any questions but have to go into agreement with the city they're the ones that can write the grant uh Josh has done a lot of work with his group uh just uh writing that helping to write that Grant and hopefully make it a possibility to save taxpayers some money thank you Dr any other discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I allos say name motion carries our next item is awarding of heart River Elementary exteror improvements bid package do we have a motion Madam president vice president Schwarz I move to approve the recommendation of GT architecture and award the Hart River Elementary exterior improvements based bid package and alternate number one to choose construction as presented thank you do we have a second I will second second by Mr wilky any discussion
039hearing none we will start a roll call vote Mr wowski I Mr SS I Mr Wilkey hi vice president Schwarz hi the chair votes act motion carries our next item is consider approving one additional family and consumer science certified position for the 2025 2026 school year mam president Mr SS I moveed to approve the hiring of one additional family consumer science certified position at Southwest Area Career and Technical education Academy for the 2025 2026 school year thank you Mr SS do we have a second second second by vice president Schwarz do we have any discussion president just to meet the needs of uh of registration uh primar in the area of facts and then culinary arts uh this position is needed uh next year we're going to see a need in the area of math
040science and language arts uh unless we don't see the increase in the population that we've been with so thank you Dr L roll call vote we will start with vice president Schwarz hi Mr Kowski hi Mr wilky hi Mr SS I and the chair votes I motion carries our next item is continue closing open enrollment for grades K through 12 do we have a motion Madam president vice president Schwarz I move to approve the recommendation of superintendent Dr Lon to to close open enrollment to students in grades K through 12 implemented in Fall 2024 with the exception of the k25 Ruff riter virtualy thank you do we have a second I will second second by Mr wiy any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I I all those opposed say a
041motion carries our next item is open enrollment applications do we have a motion Madam president vice president schz I move to approve the Open Enrollment applications for child of Holly Kash from kilder public to Dickinson public a child of William harpole from bfield public to Dickinson public a child of Britney Hendricks from killer Republic to Dickinson public a child of Angela Macky from richardon Taylor School District to Dickinson public and a child of Lindsay wagle from richardton Taylor School District to Dickinson public as per the Open Enrollment policy thank you do we have a second I'll second with a correction that William Hart's ch from buin bfield that's true thank you Mr will any discussion Madam president just for clarity those are ones that meet underneath our guidelines either they're a sibling of somebody already
042going to our school uh they've moved away from our school district but still want to go to school here or they're a family me or a a faculty's child or their Court ordered and placed so thank you Dr we vote on that no yet you have a second this is a voice vote second we did have a second y okay all those in favor please say I I all those opposing me motion carries our next item is dissolve open enrollments do we have a motion Adam president Mr SE I move to dissolve the open enrollments for three children of Caitlyn macen from Dickinson public to New England public schools and to dissolve the open enrollments for two children of Ashley Duncan from Dickinson public to New England Public Schools thank you Mr SS do we
043have a second I'll second second place president Schwarz any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I all those oppos say n motion carries our next item is our superintendent Summit evaluation do we have a motion Adam president vice president Schwarz upon review of the individual summative evaluations I move that all board members have rated the superintendent as satisfactory for each of the six performance areas goal and vision setting board relations Human Resource Management curriculum and student Support Services community relations and operations and resources management thank you do we have a second no second second by Mr seeks any discussion I would like to add to that that the board does feel that with all the changes everything we have happening right now the direction we're headed is due to your leadership
044Dr Luton so we do appreciate everything that you are doing for DPS thank you this calls for a roll call vote we will start with Mr SS hi Mr rowski hi Mr Wilkey hi vice president Schwarz I the chair votes up motion carries our next item is the early res resignation and stives do we have a motion Madam president vice president Schwarz I move to approve the early resignation benefit for Madison M grade one instructor at fur Rose Elementary shaa Kip special education strategist at Dickinson Middle School Chelsea Hansen grade four instructor at Hart River Elementary Alec Lindsay special education strategist at Prairie Rose Elementary Sarah Chapman grade three through five instructor for the ref rer Virtual Academy meline olon social studies instructor at Dickinson middle school and Rachel sisen special education strategist at Dickinson
045High School with an effective date of May 23rd 2025 I also moved to approve the early res resignation incentive for Gail Berger par professional at Roosevelt Elementary Amy Lucas PA professional at Lincoln Elementary and Connie Keller par professional at Dickinson High School with an effective date of May 22nd 2025 thank you do we have a second I will second second by Mr wilky any discussion hearing none all in favor please say I I I all those opposed say nay motion carries our next item is the board's decision and notice of recognition Dickinson Education Association we have a motion Madam president pres pres I move that the Dickinson public school board has investigated the petition filed by the Dickinson Education Association requesting that the association be recognized as a representative Organization for the negotiating unit and
046has Det determined that the Education Association does represent a majority of the teachers within that unit I further move the board recognizes that Dickinson Education Association as a representative Organization for a minimum of one year beginning March 10th 2025 thank you do we have a second I'll second second by Mr Ry any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I all those opposed say n motion carries our next item is the board's decision and notice of recognition Dickinson administrative council do we have a motion Moor president Mr SS I move that the Dickinson public school board has investigated the petition filed by the Dickinson administrative Council requesting that the council be recognized as a representative Organization for the negotiating unit and has determined that the administrative Council does represent a majority of
047the administrators within that unit I further move that the board recognizes the Dickinson administrative Council as the representative organization for a minimum of one year beginning March 10th 2025 thank you Mr SE do we have a second I'll second that second by vice president Schwarz any discussion hearing none all those in favor please say I I all those opposing a motion carries our last item is the school board policy revisions second reading and final adoption do we have a motion Madam president Mr wel I move to approve the revision of policy AC violence and threatening behavior for second reading and final adoption is presented thank you do we have a second I'll second that second by vice president Schwarz any discussion very none we will start with Mr Bowski hi vice president Schwarz hi Mr
048wilky hi Mr SE I and the chair votes I motion carries our last item is public participation Mrs pet Peterson do we have any request for public participation today Madam president there have been no requests thank you and with that meeting is adjourned