001We'll call to order the regular meeting of the school board for Tuesday, May 26th, 2026. First item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. Invite you to stand as you are able. Uh 1 a the reading of our schoolboard meeting norms. Mr. Clever, >> thank you. Uh first, be prepared. Uh second, be on time. Third, value and respect each other. Fourth, exercise thoughtful deliberation and conversation. Fifth, be professional at the board table and when visiting with the general public. Six, speak up when the norms are not being followed. And seven, on advocate on behalf of students and keep the community in mind. >> Thank you. Before we move on to two, uh just one note, Dr. Lonnie is absent this evening. Uh item two is the approval of tonight's agenda. Uh before I seek
002a motion for approval, um just one amendment that I'd like to offer. um due to the schedule of our student uh board member, we'd like to move the 7 A1 the or these recognitions um to we'll call it three A and then move the others to to B and C in that celebrating success piece. Uh we're anticipating a lengthy board meeting this evening and uh certain you have other things this last week of school. So uh with that, I would entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda. with that change. Just moving those items up into item three. >> Been moved as amended by Mr. Cleven. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Manley. Any further discussion? >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Cleven? >> Yes. >> Larson? >> Yes. >> Lenn is
003absent. Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Manley, >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Palomino, >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. one absent. >> Motion passes. That means 3A will be the former uh 7A. We'll still have time for announcements at the end. Uh recognition of outgoing student board members. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our first one is to student board member Michaela Michaela Sagini. Michaela has been with us for excuse [clears throat] me, two years as a student board member. Started as a junior and has worked through her senior year. And Michaela, you've been a wonderful advocate for students on not only on behalf of Red River High School, but all students across the school district. You've been articulate and thoughtful and when called upon uh sometimes even when it was
004unexpected, you've been prepared with a response and you are the reason why we're here and you've given us any re every reason uh to be prepared as board members and administrators. So, I want to thank you on behalf of the school district, on behalf of the school board for your two years uh of service, and when you need that letter of recommendation, you know you have one coming from me. So, congratulations to you. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> And our second school board member is not here this evening, so we'll see if we can catch her on June 8th. Um, and the final recognition we have tonight is for President Dave Berger. Uh, this would be Dave's last meeting in person with us. Um, and I I would just like to share that shortly after
005President Burgerer was elected to the board, it would have been very easy for him to walk away uh because of his very uh his very public information. He's talked about his own health uh and his health journey. Um but he's he's been a steward of the school district. He's been a servant leader. And when I think of the quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes, uh, what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. And Dave Burgerer represents all of the above. It's been a privilege working with you. Uh, I have said to many people, my life is better for having crossed paths with you. Um, and you've been a wonderful servant on this school board and you're a wonderful asset to the community. So, thank you for
006being a pillar of Grand Forks and Grand Forks Public Schools and for the school board. And with that, I say thank you and congratulations. [applause] >> [applause] >> Thank you all. Let's move on to celebrating uh successes among our employees. Uh this is now our 3B classified and certified employees of the fourth quarter. Uh so we'll start with Dr. Brener and I'm sure we'll have some uh some advocates in the in the room to speak on behalf of these employees as well. >> Yes. Tonight we're recognizing our classified employee of the quarter, Jason Severson, custodian at Red River High School. And I believe Dr. Walters is here to uh provide a few remarks on behalf of Jason. And knowing Jason the way we do, I think you might have something to say about why he's
007not here with us tonight. >> Yes. Uh my name is Darren Walters, associate principal at Red River High School. Um I'm here tonight to accept the award on behalf of Jason. and I caught him before I left the building and I said, "You going to go to the board meeting?" He said, "No." So, um, Jason Jason's a guy who loves to work behind the scenes and really puts a lot of time and effort in and he's a smiling face around the entire building. Some of the things that we just had or that some of our staff shared in the nomination were um he always he is always checking in on our classrooms even if he is not our custodian. He follows through on everything he says he is going to get, fix, or look into.
008Red River is lucky to have Jason. If he doesn't know how to fix something, he finds someone who does. He also is friendly to all students and staff he encounters. He will even pop by classrooms just to say hi and see how everyone is doing. Jason knows where everything is and has an idea of how to fix anything. So, Jason truly is a great asset to our building at night. And again, he doesn't like the limelight. We actually had to surprise him and I had to kind of trick him last week when when he received the presentation by telling I needed some help and we had people hiding around the wall. uh the corner because otherwise he wouldn't have came over there. So, um truly humble guy and I'm I'm glad that he was recognized
009for the work that he does. Next up, we have our certified employee of the fourth quarter and that is uh physical education teacher at South Middle School, Randy Viva. and Randy is here tonight and principal Travis Neil is here to provide a few remarks on behalf of Mr. Bava. Thank you gentlemen for being here. Greetings everybody. Um my name is Travis Neil uh principal at South Middle School and it's always an awesome uh opportunity to shine a spotlight on South especially when it's an incredible employee. So I would like uh to introduce and it's my pleasure to introduce Randy Vadiva um is the certified employee of the quarter. Let's give him a hand. Uh [applause] some things that come to mind when we think about Mr. Viva. Um number one, his just deep commitment to
010South. Um when you think of South, he's kind of on that Mount Rushmore. He's been there a long time. Um lots of families, lots of kids, lots of staff in almost every single role that he's been in. Which this leads me to the second point, his versatility. this person can do it all. And what I what I mean do it all, the teaching of course is there. Um but we have inner murals, we have vex, we have custodian, we have coaching, um strength training. Um he's offering a new VEX class next year at South as an eighth grade option. Um [snorts] he does everything. When you look around the building, I'm sure he had something to do with it. If it's on the weekends, he's there doing custodial work. Um, late at night. Can we
011call Randy? Yes. Um, [snorts] maybe shouldn't share this, but we couldn't get a door in the main office to shut and lock. Lots of confidential information. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Talked to Randy about it. The next day, there's a new door. Um, [snorts] on the office, he finagled things and switched things around and and it worked. Um, very solutionsoriented relationships. Uh, Randy has a relationship with everybody in the building. again, whether it's custodial staff, um, in the kitchen when they're short in the kitchen, he's back there washing dishes, he's at the till. Um, he's doing everything. So, he's touched many people lives with the relationships that he has with our kids and staff and families. Um, very creative. Every time you're in his classroom, the kids are
012actively engaged. They're collaborating. Um, they're talking about other things other than PE. Um so [snorts] that component with his classroom is really really remarkable. Uh so when you think of South one of the people that you think of is Mr. Botan. So again congratulations and welld deserved. [applause] Congratulations. >> They said I get 15 minutes. >> So um they did put a trophy of me in the trophy case outside the main office. So, if you go there, check out that trophy case. It's kind of cool. >> It is true. >> That'll teach him for getting me keys for the custodian stuff. [applause] Next up, we have our classified employee of the year. Employee of the year, Amanda Coupeman from Century Elementary School. And she's going to be introduced by Mr. Mr. Mattbach. Mr. Matt Baky,
013assistant superintendent of elementary education. Amanda, you can come to the microphone. And Mr. Baky, you're going to speak from right there. >> Yes. All right. So, >> and uh Mr. Anderson, uh vice president of the board will come forward to present the award. Um as uh Dr. Brener alluded, um I have the distinct honor to introduce Amanda Coupeman as the Grand Forks Public Schools classified employee of the year. For those individuals that were here previously, you may recognize Amanda because she was previously recognized as a classified staff member of the quarter. Um, Dr. Larson is not able to be here this evening. So, um, I get the honor to recognize her as the classified employee of the year. Amanda continues to demonstrate an exceptional level of dedication, professionalism, and care for students and staff alike.
014She brings strong expertise, patience, and consistency in her work, especially in supporting students with significant academic and behavioral needs. Through her calm demeanor and proven strategies, she helps students feel safe, respected, and capable of success each and every day. Amanda brings meaning bu oh, excuse me. Amanda builds meaningful relationships with students of all backgrounds and abilities, creating a positive classroom environment rooted in trust, empathy, and mutual respect. She is an incredible, dependable presence who collaborates closely with teachers and support staff to ensure students receive consistent, thoughtful support while continuously adapting strategies to best meet students needs. Uh uh just an example of that is when we came over to recognize her as the uh classified staff member of the year, we entered into the classroom and said surprise and uh Amanda was actually out of
015the classroom working individually with a student. And so we didn't ruin the good surprise on the the others in the room. We instead went and found her and asked her to come in and then we got an even bigger surprise with the students included. >> Yeah. So, so it was uh again just shows the dedication and commitment she brings forward to her work every day. Her impact on students, colleagues, and the overall school community is immeasurable, and this recognition is welld deserved. We celebrated Amanda at Sentry in her classroom with students she worked closely with. Students were excited to present her with signs, flowers, and treats, sing our school song, and give lots of hugs as they celebrated someone who means so much to their daily success and school experience. I can't think of a
016more deserving person than you, Amanda, in this recognition. Uh, it is distinct honor that I recognize you as Grand Forks Public Schools classified staff member of the year. Congratulations. [applause] I also want to add that she has also maybe had to take some uh turning of the arm to get her here tonight as well too because she doesn't like the limelight as well. So, thank you for being here, Amanda. >> Next up, we have Katie Hat Rocky, who's not able to be here uh this evening. She is a medical careers uh teacher at the Career Impact Academy. She's a Grand Forks Public Schools teacher of the year and Eric Ripley, CTE executive director, is here to provide some comments on behalf of Katie. Uh thank you very much, Dr. Brener, President Burgerer, members of the
017board. Certainly uh privileged to be here to um to help recognize a very deserving instructor as the Grant Forks Public Schools teacher of the year. Uh and Kitty Hat Rocky. We're fortunate to be able to do an in-person celebration. Uh kind of a surprise celebration. we, you know, indicated it was a surprise until about 40 of her family members decided to also join us. And it's kind of hard to figure out how to hide them in the building. Uh, but it was a tremendous uh in-person celebration back at the end of April where she was surrounded by her family and her colleagues, but most importantly her students and uh very deserving uh recognition for her achievements. As Dr. Dr. Brener indicated Katie has been with us for 13 14 years. Um and previous to this
018year has been teaching uh in a variety of of different online methods or hybrid models where um she would go to the students wherever they happen to be located at and and makeshift with whatever uh resources and space that she had um to deliver that education. And it just it underscores the importance and the critical role that a teacher can have for a student. But you take that instructor and you put her in the right location with the right lab and the right equipment. Um it's phenomenal. It it just really is. And so to watch her this year at the Crew Impact Academy has been uh inspirational for for all of us uh that are fortunate to work with her. She's delivering courses this year in a completely face-to-face environment, an online environment, and in
019a hybrid model where students are getting coursework online and then coming for extended skills day labs uh like six hours at a time. and she is highly effective regardless of the instructional delivery method. And to me, that just speaks to uh the qualities of of her instructional efforts. Um this isn't um surprisingly the not the first time that Katie has been recognized. She's been recognized for teaching excellence in the past. She was the 2017 uh North Dakota New Teacher of the Year Award winner, the 2018 Region 5 New Teacher of the Year Award winner, and the 2019 National CT New Teacher of the Year. And so, um, we're certainly very, very proud to have her as part of our, uh, district, part of our team at the Kernact Academy. I know she really appreciates, uh,
020the recognition, um, because she just knows how many quality staff members we have in this district. So, on behalf of Katie, thank you very much for the opportunity to recognize her. I don't I see Mr. Bombach's not on the microphone. So, thank you to the talented Mr. Ripley for those comments. That concludes uh section three of our agenda. Moving on to four. This is our public comment period. Do we have public comment forms that are turned in? They're they haven't made their way to the All right. Thank you, Dailyy. All right. Give us just a moment to get those up here. Before we call these names, uh just just a few reminder, state law requires that an individual providing a comment at a meeting uh provide to the governing body in writing their name and
021address. Of course, the purpose of the open meetings law is to provide members of the public with access to the meetings of a governing body of a public entity, allowing them to observe and monitor. By state law, every regular meeting of the board must include an opportunity for an individual to provide public comment. Public comments must be pertinent to the district, may not interfere with the orderly conduct of the regular meeting, may not be defamatory, abusive, harassing, or unlawful, and may be prohibited if an alternative procedure exists to bring that type of comment before the public entity. The public comment includes confidential or exempt information or the public comment is otherwise prohibited by law. Each person may speak for up to three minutes. Schoolboard members shall not engage in a response or enter into a
022debate about any issues brought before the board during this portion of the meeting. Public comments and concerns will be directed to the superintendent of schools who will address them in accordance with policies adopted by the board. At this time, I have three. Are there any others before I call these names who wish to speak during the public comment period? Okay. So, first I have Josh Goldade. >> Thank you. Um, [clears throat] ladies and gentlemen of the board, um, thank you for your time tonight. My name is Josh Goldaddy. I'm the uh president and CEO of Lucen HD. I'd like to uh just had a couple talking points I wanted to walk through regarding the scoreboard um scoring matrix that was presented to you last week. Um there were a couple things that I wanted you
023to take under consideration. Um item number one is the years in business. We were given a score of zero. Um we were actually uh current or formerly known as Icon HD formed in uh 2009. Um my business partner and I were [clears throat] with the company for over 10 years before purchasing out the assets and taking over the company. We also have the exact same team uh as well as clients facilities. So, you know, I'd say in comparison, it's kind of similar to, you know, when Elon Musk came in and bought out Twitter, rebranded it to X. That didn't mean that that company was formed that day. It still had the nexus with the former company given it um past experience. [snorts] [clears throat] Also, one of the comments was um that our technology was
024somewhat uh inferior because it wasn't all produced by the same manufacturer. I would like to question that um all of the components by our competitor are actually made by them. I know for for sure that there's an audio component to Kushman and I don't believe that all the components within that audio system, speakers, amplifiers, mixers would be produced um by our competitor inhouse. I also know that our competitor uses Novastar control systems in some of their applications. Not sure if this is one of them or not, but this is also the same control equipment that we use for our equipment. Um, uh, references. Um, I did want to mention that we were scored zero on our references. Um, you know, I I know some of our references were above the the um high school level.
025they were collegiate and pro, but I don't feel that giving us a zero out of 20 for having references that are reliable is fair. Um, [clears throat] also service and support. Uh, it was mentioned that, you know, there might be the the possibility that somebody would have to chase down multiple manufacturers if we were selected. That's untrue. Our service and support is based right here in Grand Forks, North Dakota. You have our phone number. We support all the equipment within our bid and we offer that support for 10 years as well. Um same as our competitor. Uh the other point I wanted to mention was there was [clears throat] conversation of DAC potentially financing. I know it's been brought up that you know our sponsorship that we had included wasn't um something that was part
026of the RFP so that it shouldn't be mentioned as part of the conversation. But I'd also like to say that financing wasn't part of the RFP either. Uh so these are just the items I would like the board to consider um in full before moving forward with your vote on the scoreboard project. >> Thank you. Next I have Tom Raric. Good evening everyone. Thank you for the time to speak tonight. I'm the chief financial officer of Luc HD. My name is Tom Raric from Town Air. One thing I want to consider is we are local company. We've got people that are invested in the schools. I've been to Kushman many times. Both the gyms at Central River many times. I fought the scoreboard over at Craft Field many times but didn't want to work. We
027are local people. We've had local kids in the schools. Our whole plan program wasn't to sit here and make a lot of money on Grand Forks Park School District. Actually is more of a gift back to the city. Be able to give back. We're not as well known. [clears throat] We operate mainly out of the state. We're primary sector business. If you watch the Super Bowl this year, looked at the scoreboard, that was ours. You watch a Dodgers baseball game, that new ribbon that's up, that's ours. You watch an Orlando Magic basketball game, that equipment's ours. Vancouver Conucks, that equipment's ours. We're quiet, [clears throat] but we're well verssed and we're widely situated. Our whole program, including the donation part, was included as a grand total in each one of those bits. It was on
028the bid. We also gave the alternative for Kushman Field. We prefer to see numbers up on the board, not trying to find the scores and things that are microscopic. We solved your problem of dumping the original large scoreboard of Kushman with our plan. Now again, that's an alternative. Wasn't in the original bid. Why' we do that? We wanted to give back. This isn't a money-making deal for us. It is our gift, our support for the community because again, we're invested. Our kids have gone to school here, are in school here, played sports here. We know what it's like. So, I just wanted to thank you for your time and consideration tonight, and we'll see where it goes from there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Jared Anderson. Hello, my name is Jared Anderson and thank you
029for uh letting me speak today. Like I said, my name is Jared Anderson. I'm here to speak on the scoreboard replacement at Kush at Central Red River and Kushman Field. I'm one of the owners at Lucen HD and Josh Gold Daddy is my partner. I want to start out saying with that I'm a parent of two children have gone through the school system and graduated from Grand Fork Central. I have my last one graduating this Sunday from Grand Fork Central. My wife is also a longtime employee of the Grand Porks public school system and will continue to do that for many years to come. Now to what Lucen HD is here for I have been a part of over 200 sports sports and architectural LED installs in the past 10 years. I've done everything from
030small and large deep micro pile foundations to seal erection to LED installs, system troubleshooting and detailed custom finishes. The product that we are proposing today I have installed personally numerous times a major pro stadiums and D1 colleges such as project we have completed in the past year, Levi Stadium, Atlanta Magic, Arizona Razerbacks and our latest Dodger Stadium. We are local and are fabricating here in Grand Forks and with multiple employees with children in our school system. We are here to support the community and our schools and students from for many futures to come. So, thank you for your time and thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to item five. These are recommendations for discussion. 5A, a presentation by Safe Kids Grand Forks. I believe I saw Karma Hansen here. Welcome, Karma. Dr. Brener, President
031Ber, and members of the school board. My name is Karma Hansen, and I am the coordinator for Safe Kids Grand Forks. Uh I've served in this role for 31 years, and uh I have the best job in all of town. Uh but it's especially fun on a day like today when you get to celebrate with people who make a difference. Uh we both have like type um work that we do in that we're taking care of the kids of our community just in a little bit different ways. Uh over the years uh the complexity of transportation of children uh whether it's in a private vehicle or on a school bus has changed and it's grown in increasingly complex um as we've seen uh special needs uh that need to be fulfilled in getting kids to
032and um from school safely. And what we were finding was the school district was reaching out to our team at Safe Kids uh for some help and consultation and we appreciated that and we're happy to help and serve in that way. Uh that being said um we also know that our role within the community is to help create experts within every entity. So whether it's the hospital ER or the clinics or CVIC or the county or whoever is involved with kids and so our goal was really to say what can we do and how can we help the school better uh to create some of their own internal support systems and so we proposed to Matt uh Baky having a conversation that was a strategy session of sorts to say how can we help to
033support your ongoing needs and out of that meeting. I have to say that Matt and the team Daly is a member of our coalition and lots of the special ed staff were super supportive of the things that we were proposing and asking. And shortly after that meeting, uh we had the first ever all uh Grand Forks Public School District along with Valley Bus uh school bus training. It's a child passenger safety on school bus uh curriculum. It's a national curriculum. We've hosted it many times. This particular class was filled with 27 staff from the public schools and valley bus, the people that are transporting kids. Super proud of that. The other proposal that we had was it'd be really nice if the public school system had what's called a certified child passenger safety technician. It's
034a car seat expert, if you will, for um not only helping on the buses, but in some of the motor vehicles that you're using to transport children for different reasons. Before we knew it, not only did we have one, but we held a private class for the Grand Forks Public Schools and we trained 10 certified child passenger safety technicians uh from the Grand Forks Public Schools. And so with that um those two things alone has built upon the relationship that we had had over the years in working with the schools and it really set up an internal network of what we view as kind of school district experts and we continue to be the phone of friend. Um the school continues to call us with complex issues and they'll get together the parent of the
035student, the student, the bus driver, the parah, the teacher. um and our team and we'll consult on those kids so that we know that when g those kids are getting on and off the bus that it's being done safely that work well our ultimate goal is the kids has been super impressive to us and we were just very grateful and one of the uh organizations that Safe Kids Grand Forks partners with um is the statewide vision zero program which is out of the department of transportation and it deals with uh roadway fatalities ities and every spring in May they have a vision zero partner conference and as part of that uh they solicit nominations for a particular um divisions of awards and I was super pleased our team this year um nominated the Grand Forks
036Public School District to receive a vision zero uh award and that was presented at the conference in May. It was an outreach award and uh I know there wasn't representation that was able to be there so I was able to bring back the award uh for you and wanted to present it and so this is the 2026 outreach award presented to the groundworks public schools in recognition of exceptional effort to save lives on North Dakota roadways and up on the screen here you'll see what was read uh the night um that the awards were presented and so well we've got lots of work still to I want to celebrate these successes along the ways because in the in the end it's the kids uh and the students that are the winners. So while it's a
037it's a plaque and it's presented to the schools, I just I hope my words express really the the just the pride I have in the schools for the dedication that you've given um to this topic. So thank you very much for letting me be here tonight to present it. Thank you to Matt for your leadership. Um, I know there's a lot in this school, but Daly has been on our coalition and she's just outstanding and amazing and great to work with and we look forward to this continued relationship. So, thank you and congratulations, Grand Forks Public Schools. [applause] I I believe our building and grounds director, Daley Wilkinson, is back there. If she'd come forward, is she back there? >> Yep. Would you please come forward to uh receive the recognition? [applause] >> [applause] >>
038So, congratulations to all of the team that was a part of this. >> I'm a small portion of this. >> Oh, no. >> For those online, thank you. >> Um, I'm a small portion of this. This really goes to our special education department and our transportation coordinator. Um, they made most of it happened and they continue to work with Safe Kids. So, it's fantastic partnership that we have with them. Very lucky. And with that, I do want to recognize the other individuals that weren't able to be here today because they do play a piece of it as well as uh Daily does. Uh all four of them are very uh qualified in what they do and make an extreme difference in the work that they do. And those other individuals are Brandon Vandervort, our assistant
039director of special education, Alicia Johnson, coordinator for special education, and Ally Gregoire, our transportation coordinator. They do an exceptional job of supporting our students uh to and from school. and and again I just want to thank them for all the work and and Safe Kids for their partnership and continued uh advocacy for safe uh transportation to and from school. So thank you very much. Appreciate it. [applause] >> 5B special education workload committee update. Dr. Dedrich, you're gonna get us started. >> And maybe even before Dr. Dietrich uh starts. There's a cover memo in front of her memo that comes from me. Uh just wanted to clarify the the genesis of uh a committee that was a bit of an outgrowth from uh teacher contract bargaining um uh last last spring and that was to take
040a look at at workload uh work life balance and those types of things. And after we pulled that and I chaired that committee and after we pulled that first committee together uh I think within 48 hours uh Dr. Dietrich's committee was getting together on workload analysis and they were basically the same people. So we agreed that we would just fold that into one committee. Um so I want to credit Dr. Dietrich and uh her team who's here. Uh they were part of my original team, but they're her team now, but they're all one team. So I will turn it over to Dr. Dietrich for her presentation. Thank you. >> Good evening, Dr. Brener, President Ber, members of the school board. We are here tonight to talk about our workload analysis tool. So, as Dr. Brener
041explained, this came about because of um teacher negotiations a few years ago. We rolled out our workload analysis tool for the 2425 school year, but as we rolled it out, we knew we had more work to do. And so, we have been meeting all year long as a committee. Some of the members are here tonight to talk about some of that work and what it has led us to understand and they will be here in just a few minutes to talk about it further. I did just want to give a quick history of why we shifted to the workload analysis model. So previous to this we had a weighted case load. The weighted case load basically broke our students down into um a low, medium or high weight and we used a matrix to determine
042where the student fit. what what the weighted case load did not give us was an explanation as to what other tasks and and um things that our special ed teachers needed to do throughout the day to support our students. So the workload analysis tool really captures that um just on a more full and comprehensive basis. So some of the challenges with that weighted case load um it just wasn't reflecting the support that our students needed. There were lots of things that our teachers and special ed staff were doing. Um, and that that weighted factor just didn't account for it all. It didn't um it didn't represent the student needs, the least restrictive environment. Um, that students are in. We weren't using indirect minutes at all. And that isn't um uncommon to North Dakota. Many school
043districts in North Dakota don't use indirect minutes. However, Minnesota does. When we started to meet and talk about um indirect minutes and how they fit in, we began to understand better how indirect minutes could be used and we were able to develop a model to provide some guidance for this. Um the behavior piece um the documentation piece, the planning piece, the in the behavior intervention piece really wasn't accounted for in the weighted tool, but it is with the with the um workload analysis tool. We really needed to be more responsive for our incoming students, our our kindergarten students, our students that were coming to us and needed more support. We needed a way to be more responsive to that. And we just we have some new curriculum that are coming that presented some challenges. Whiten
044wisdom has a lot of um tier one teaching that needs to happen and we needed a way to be more um flexible and responsive to those needs. So ultimately we just needed a a tool that was more um sensitive and much more specific to the work that we were doing. So I will have Katie and Laura come and introduce themselves and talk about um the next steps. This is um all right. Thank you members of the board and um President Ber. Um my name is Katie Wood. I'm a special educator at Century Elementary School. And I'm Laura Mason. I'm the school speech therapist at Shrader Middle School. Um, and we um are thankful to have been a part of this committee. It's been um many steps in many years. Um, and we are excited to
045present our work to you. So, the very first thing that we needed to do when we um got together as a committee, we needed to send out a survey to the other special educators um in the district to see really where was our need. Um we needed to have a document that would help guide our discussions and guide our tool. So, through that staff input survey, we were able to um define the core areas of the workload analysis tool. So what were the areas that we really needed to capture? Um and how can we use that information to accredit for all the additional responsibilities and services that those students need. Um and then we also needed um some guidance and um we noticed that our service delivery minutes across the district were inconsistent. um not
046only are they different um elementary to middle school to high school, but building to building. And so we noticed that there was a a need for a document that would help guide us and align our service minutes more appropriately. >> Okay. Okay. So tonight, Laura and I are really going to try and provide a clearer picture of the responsibilities that special education teachers manage on a daily basis. Um there are many aspects to special education that happen behind the scenes and extend far beyond the direct instruction. Not only do we provide direct instruction and service minutes to our students, but there's also paperwork and uh scheduling for paras and providing accommodations within the classroom that we are asked to help with. The purpose of this section is to help create a shared understanding of the
047workload demands connected to providing legally compliant and highquality special education services. This information will also help support conversations around staffing, service delivery, and the equitable allocation of responsibilities. Do you want to click? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, the next few slides actually are going to be um slides that will break down all of the responsibilities of our kind of special education workload and our responsibilities. Um, as we talked about earlier, a significant portion of special education work occurs during preparation and planning time. So we get an hour a day in elementary school. Um and during that hour we are asked to prepare lessons for students, communicate with parents, adapt materials, create visual schedules, um collaborate with classroom teachers, um and comply with uh federally um like legal paperwork to make sure that we're all following
048the guidelines. Special education teachers are also responsible for implementing accommodations for district and state assessments such as STAR and the North Dakota state assessment. [snorts] Another big portion of our job is to provide procedural compliance requirements which means IEPs, progress reports, conduct evaluations for students and provide um many notices of meetings and parent communication. That's all documentation that goes above and beyond kind of that initial planning time. These responsibilities are essential to ensuring that students receive appropriate access to their education. Um once we started talking about the diff different responsibilities and duties, we noticed that um there are a lot of special education or building related responsibilities that don't always get captured when we're talking about staffing. So um not only do we play an active role in educating our students who receive special education
049services, but we play an active role in our buildingwide systems and collaboration. Um we present and participate in MTSS meetings, data digs, leadership teams, department meetings, and then those due process meetings for um procedural compliance. Special education staff are often key problem solvers and support providers within the building. And many of these responsibilities occur outside of the students instructional day, but are critical for supporting student success and compliance. we dug a little bit deeper and started talking about role specific work. Um, one of the things that um, we spent a lot of time really trying to capture is the difference between um, maybe working as a special education strategist, helping those students in the general education classroom and then working with students who have more severe complex needs. Um so we decided to um create
050kind of some role specific work that doesn't apply to all of us but definitely does apply to a a large portion of us. These responsibilities can include personal cares such as toileting and medical care. Um curriculum planning that would account for adaptive alternative or specialized curriculum. Um in our middle school and high school classes we talk about applied topics and a lot of co-taught classes. And then another large portion of our job is um being responsible for supervising, training and scheduling par profofessionals throughout the day. Um and this can look really different um building to building um middle school to high school and elementary school. Um in my building this year, I work for Central Elementary. were one of the larger um elementary schools and at one point I was um supervising 30 paras just
051within that inclusion. So that's 30 paras that you're making sure you know have a schedule making sure their lunch is being taken care of um making sure that they have the training documentations that they need. So it can become a pretty big responsibility and added um requirement of our job. Um some other role specific work was mentoring. So not only do we mentor resident teachers through the University of North Dakota, we're also taking part in the um firstear teacher mentor program through the state. So this year um the need is is so high for those mentor teachers and supporting our new teachers um that I actually had two teachers in my building that I was helping mentor. So that's on top of what we're doing um just to support the students within our building. We
052do have um some teachers in my building who really work hard with the transportation. We have um staff members that are heavily involved in that behavior support. [snorts] When we um talk about behavior support, we talk about a couple different things. We're usually the first responders. We're on that crisis team. Um then there's added documentation, debriefing, communication with families, and then just training staff after each incident. Um these situations require immediate attention and they often interrupt planned instructional time, lunch times, um sometimes student contact times. The complexity of these responsibilities can vary greatly from classroom to classroom and building to building. So we're just trying to give kind of that snapshot. um of of those extra duties that we do. Okay. Um the last slide that Laura and I are going to share with you
053is just um kind of wrapping up some of those role specific um duties. Special education teachers um take on roles in our building um building leaders, department leaders. Um some of us need to bet bill for Medicaid. Um, some of us need to be accountable for assist of technology coordination, testing com um, accommodations, testing coordinators. Those are all different things depending on the building that we would be responsible for. Um, most of these tasks are highly specialized tasks that require training, accuracy, and ongoing oversight. Um, and as we all know, our students needs continue to grow. Um, and these responsibilities continue to expand as well. We're constantly adding kind of to that that uh role specific work. Do you have any questions for us? >> Questions from board members before we move on to another
054section? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll move on for now. Thank you. >> Oh, thanks. like everyone said for having us here. Um hopefully everybody can hear me. Um we are here to just kind of talk about the next part. Um I am I by the way I am a special education teacher strategist at Shrader Middle School in 8th grade. >> And I'm Marty Pman. I'm over at Valley Middle School and I teach the ASD program. >> All right. So um we're kind of going to talk about the indirect minute. So, as we were meeting as our committee talking about all the different jobs and things that we do, like Lisa said, there's a lot of behind the scenes that we couldn't really account for with the initial um form that we
055were using. So, as we were doing the workload analysis tool, we came along with a lot of the indirect minutes that we are doing um every day with kids, with parents, with teachers, with staff. So, um, one of the things that we discussed was indirect minutes, what the definition is, how are we going to define that, what kinds of jobs fall under that. Um, we came up with the definition, took it back to our schools, kind of had a conversation with our teams at school, brought it back, and so our final definition that we came up with was just the things that we do as special education teachers that go beyond the direct minutes to support the students. So we're in the classroom, we're working in the classroom, we're working in the school, but a
056lot of things that we are doing are behind the scenes like Lisa said. So some of those things were consultation and collaboration. Um, a lot of times we're meeting with the general education teachers about the accommodations, modifications or strategies. We meet every year at the beginning of the year, but then as we get new students, as we hold IEPs and things change, we want to meet with the staff again and just make sure they're using those correct accommodations. Some of them don't know what kinds of things to do, so they come to us and we try to help them come up with new ideas that will work for those students. Um, consulting with parents about implementing the IEPs at school and the goals at home. Um, collaborating with the occupational therapists, physical therapists, the speech
057language pathologists. Um, we meet with a lot of different people to coordinate services and then to discuss the students progress or concerns um with the administration. So if we see things that are happening in the class, you know, we're one of the people that needs to go to the administrators and come up with some ideas for what we can do to make things better for those kids. Um, also talking about planning and preparation and I know Katie and Laura kind of touched on this already a little bit, but just, you know, developing and modifying curriculum. Talked about, um, there's different levels. So, we have, you know, different like A, B, and C um settings for students that range from, you know, kind of tier one, they're in the classroom, kids that I work with mostly.
058Um, how can I modify curriculum to help them do the general ed class all the way to students that Marty would work with that she's adapting the whole curriculum just so they have something similar to what their peers are doing, but at a much lower level. So that modifying of curriculum to meet the IEP goals, creating specialized materials, assessments, and accommodations to go along with those things. Um, planning lessons specifically designed for those needs. So some of our kids can do the work, we just have to make little tweaks. Um, a lot of our kids just need a lot of extra things that are going to go along with that. Um, training and support, like Katie mentioned, too, supporting and training our parent professionals and our general education staff on interventions. You know, every student
059has different behavior plans. Every teacher needs to be familiar with those. We need to make sure they know what those mean and how to use them. Um, providing professional development to the staff that are working with the students. So, I'm sure a lot of you have heard how many times we have new paras that start weekly, daily. [laughter] You know, we have constant rotation of paras that we're hiring to kind of fill our staff. And so, as soon as we get a new parah, we need to train them. you know, we need to keep training our current pairs that we have. As things change and as students change, um they may be doing great and then all of a sudden something changes. So, we need to revamp and retrain them on what we're going to
060try next. Um and then just the case management, coordinating with multiple providers, um communicating with outside agencies and then just the scheduling of meetings and organizing the service of delivery. >> Okay. Is that me? Yep. >> Okay. um consultation direct and consultation indirect and you're thinking okay well what's the difference and >> I just have you move the microphone so that it's face thank you >> so and this was something that we had to really mle over because this was something that I thought well things that you do as a teacher come so naturally and being in a special ed teacher these things come naturally but when you break down what you do all day you're thinking wow we do a Um but cons um direct consultation includes contact with the student and and relevant
061staff in relation to that student's specific IEP goal. Um and an indirect includes relevant staff without the student present in relation to that student's specific IEP goal. Okay. Um yeah, I gave you the the clicker there. Um and here are some different areas the focus areas we have the social skills the behavior and the reading. For example in social skills um interventions uh consultation direct would be interventions accommodations, adaptations, modifications, behavior intervention plans, um functional behavior analysis. um all of those things that we have to do to make sometimes those, you know, the square peg fit in the round hole. Um we have to be creative and we have to come up with some of those different things, those accommodations and those um adaptations for our students so that we can um deliver those standards
062to our students even our um students who have the most unique abilities. Okay. Um whereas the indirect um curriculum preparation, progress monitoring and creating and maintaining a behavior intervention plan. These are living documents. These are things that change on a regular basis. Um it can change because of environmental. It can change um because it's the second Tuesday of the month. I mean, and so we have to learn how to um look at the different things that are going on and say, "Okay, how can we make this better for each of these students?" And this is an ongoing thing that we do each and every day. Um in behavior, interventions, accommodations, modifications, again, all of these things, um in behavior, again, behavior changes quite a bit. And so, again, they're living documents. um reading intervention accommodations,
063the the data collection, the data analysis, um supplemental curriculum, um all of those things, especially and I I'm speaking from the setting C's. Um we have to adapt a lot. We are different and very unique and um but we you know being able to accomplish a lot of those standards um we have to do a lot of digging sometimes with those modifications of curriculum um and and looking for that supplemental curriculum. Those are um vital importances for our students. Okay. Um, writing again, all of these things in writing in math and academics in general, all of those things, um, being able to adapt curriculum to provide for classrooms. Some of our students go into our classrooms. I have a couple of students who actually go into a couple of classrooms and I have to sit
064down with those teachers and they say, "Okay, this is what we're going to be talking about. What can we do?" And so I look at the needs of my students. I'll look at their unique abilities and I'll say okay we can take it and we can do this and we work together but it does take time and the same thing with writing and math. Um so we do have to work with those accommodations, modifications and adaptations, alternative science, um alternative social studies, all of those things, those are some of my favorites. [laughter] Um there is again science is challenging um for many of our students. They have a lot of vocabulary that is very specific. Um and there is a lot of curriculum modifications there, adaptations. Um and we do have to dig for supplemental
065that is not too low um but not too high. And that is very challenging in those areas of science and social studies because they are very domain specific vocabularies there. Um, communication AAC and assist of technology. Um, being able to learn how to use a lot of those AAC devices and assist of technology and being able to train paras to help you. And thankfully we have people like Laura Mason who is our speech language pathologist. they work very directly with us with our parents to teach us how to use those um devices um and that technology so that our kids will have a voice each and every day. Um we do work with health uh the nurses with health plans um with some of our students because some of our students are medically fragile. um
066bus intervention plans, um toileting plans, all of those things that we work on. Those some of those are very very big areas um that those students need, but those are the indirect things, the things that we don't necessarily think about on a regular basis. Anything questions? Is that it? >> Any questions for us? >> Yep. Are there any questions? >> Questions on this section from board members before we move on? Well, thank you so much for your time. >> Hello everybody. My name is Jamie Totenhoff and I am a special ed teacher over at Lewis and Clark. So I'm going to talk a little bit today about how indirect minutes relate to special education and least restrictive environment. Um so this first or this slide ex helps explain how indirect support relates to a student's
067least restrictive environment. Uh students who spend more time in general education settings often require extensive collaboration um accommodations consultation and a lot of support behind the scenes. While students may appear to lead to need less support because they are in general education more frequently the indirect workload for staff can actually increase. providing all of those accommodations within that classroom setting. Um making sure that the teachers have what they need. That is all our responsibility. Um and so this highlights the importance of recognizing both those indirect and in sorry direct and indirect services responsibilities when you're considering the workload of a special education teacher. Okay. Um so then this next slide um [clears throat] kind of helps us organize and decide how we want to align more of our services and how we want to deliver
068those services to students. So this committee um did design a service delivery matrix which um the ladies before us kind of went through with you guys. Um the service delivery matrix is intended to provide guidance and consistency across our unit regarding service minutes. One of the things that we noticed especially um in your larger buildings is that every case manager was uh kind of determining how they were going to deliver those services um based on kind of you know judgment and and what they had thought which led to a lot of um inconsistencies. This matrix helps teams consider student needs, progress, and the intensity of support while still allowing case managers to make individual decisions. Um, this is a guide. This is not, you know, black and white. This just allows for the team to
069have a more aligned conversations um and make more um common goals. Um, like I said, the goal is not to create rigid requirements, but rather to improve alignment and equity in how services are allocated. Ultimately, these supports this supports more consistent practices while still keeping student centered decisions making at the forefront. We really want to be able to say what they're getting at Lewis and Clark would be the same thing they're going to get at Sentry if they qualify for special education. So this service delivery matrix really helps us um gear the conversations towards that. >> Any questions? >> Questions from board members. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. And I'm kind of the final wrap-up here. My name is Carrie Wipert and I am a process facilitator this school year. Um I'm
070halftime. when this work started, I believe I was in the assistant director role and I resigned from that a few years ago, but I've stayed on this committee um just to help with some of the work. So, what I'm going to walk you through is what the tool that we've all been talking about tonight actually looks like. So, we as Dr. Dietrich shared in the very beginning, we pivoted from counting students. When we initially started, we were looking at student case loads and just looking at the students and now with this tool, we're really looking at the work that teachers do. So, do you want to go to teacher one tab? So, this right here is a summary where we can see all the teachers in that building at a glance. Um, but each teacher
071has their own tab. It's just a this tool is a spreadsheet. It's really all it is. Um, with lots of tabs and formulas built in. Um, we based this off of a model from Fargo, um, and then looked at standards from the NEA, National Education Association, and kind of tweaked the formulas. I think there's a few tweaks having been out in schools helping some teachers. Um we have a new evaluation tool that we're using this year that takes quite a bit more time. So I think in our initial evaluations we might have to up the hours that it act we actually are spending on initial evaluations. But you can see each teacher enters students um we have their minutes and then their indirect minutes listed there. And then the next part which is really new
072is to the tool is this instructional information. So really looking at their allocation for prep um and lunch and other things that they might have to do every day. And then we get into some of these discipline specific or sort of role specific things that teachers do. And this is all the things that my colleagues were talking about all the adaptations and the support with behaviors and support with paras. And they allocate out how many minutes a week they're doing that. Um we also are counting how many evaluations they're doing. A big part of special education is that we're federally required to do evaluations every three years. Those are those re-evaluations and then of course the initial evaluations. We're counting the time our teachers are doing that and then the number of IEPs that they're
073case managing. Um, and what that gives if you just scroll over Alyssa a little bit. There you go. Um, as you can see is this the weight for this teacher. Um, and it it's all formulas and it counts out um their weight. So this teacher I can't see is an 18. Um, that's what the weight is of this teacher. And each teacher at each building each building has a spreadsheet with each teacher having a tab. And if listen, if you just want to click through a couple different teacher tabs, you can see they're all different. They all, you know, enter in their student information, enter in the duties that are specific to them. Um because some teachers help with other things in the building that other teachers might not or one person might do more
074um a bulk of the pair training, another person might help more with behaviors. So allows them to customize it and for us to see their weight. The site summary um really gives an overview of the building as a whole um with all of our special education teachers and then their weights. Um one thing we know is that um some of our specialty teachers we call them or our setting C teachers tend to have a little bit lower weight um because they serve fewer students. But I think once we start counting it's not that they're less busy, they just do different things. They do a lot more adaptations. Um adding in the indirect minutes is sort of new to us. I think once we get better at that um and start recording that those numbers will
075start to balance out a little bit. Um the other thing is that we have our speech teachers a little bit different as well. You want to click on the speech tab. Um and the speech teachers same sort of format um where we are counting who's but they put all of their students on one and they count who's serving that student. We have SLPs and we have SLPPS and SLPAS. Um so lots of different roles for our speech. And then if you scroll on over, same sort of deal. We're counting all of the work that they do. Um, but on the speech tab over to the right, it summarizes all of our speech teachers. Um, our speech professionals as a whole, so we can see their different weights. Um, and their duties are a little bit
076different. Our SLPLA's um, don't help with evaluations, I don't think. Am I right on that still? Okay. Um, versus our SLPs do. So, you know, their weights come together a little bit differently, but we can kind of see um, what that looks like. So, that's this tool you've been hearing about. Um, it's very formulab based. Um, comes down to a lot of math. Um, my job with this is I'm kind of on the back end helping keep it going because sometimes when lots of hands are in a spreadsheet, things get deleted and I'm doing cleanup on the back end. Um, some of the next steps that we'll be going forward is just to align our usage. Like I said, this is relatively new to us this school year with all staff doing it. We piloted
077it in a couple buildings and this year we have everybody using it. Um so there's a lot of questions which was great that came through the committee. I was like well how many minutes should this be and how many minutes do we do and is everybody doing pair support? Um and so cleaning up some of that has been really good for us. Good conversation to talk about. So aligning the usage will be sort of our next steps. Um the other things is just getting us to um collect data. This is our first year using it. we know our our student population in special education is increasing. Um so now this will give us a sort of a chance to sort of keep in tabs on what the workload for our special education teachers is looking
078like. Um it also really helps Dr. Dietrich when we're looking at buildings that might need additional staff. Um because we can see their workload really goes up and we can see that we need to allocate a 0.5 FTE at a certain building something like that. Um, some of the things I would really like to build one master sheet for Alyssa so she can see the whole district on a tab. Um, so that's maybe some summer work to sort of get all of the individual school sheets to feed into one master for her so she has it all in one spot so she could quickly see, you know, where our heavy um loads are across the district and kind of see where we need to allocate resources. So that's the tool. So questions on that >>
079questions from board members. >> Mr. Cleven, thank you. Um the the weight criteria like is is that transferable from the special education teacher to the speech teachers or are they just distinctly different waiting? >> They're different. um our speech teachers will have a little bit higher weight than our special education teachers. So our speech teachers were running a average weight where they're heavy. They're like in the 30s, low 30s is pretty average where our special education teachers right now are anywhere um depends upon setting C might be lower in the early teens, 13 um and some of our special education teachers have a weighted CA work analysis weight um up into the 20s. and that when they are hitting I think the late teens, early 20s, they're starting to feel pretty taxed. Um, so that's
080the other piece is like there's no perfect number. Um, but for us to sort of be able to look at specifically Lisa, to be able to look at those numbers and kind of see, you know, for us to gather more data is like what's what's our average across the district and where do we need to fluctuate staff? That's probably a you question. >> It's perfect. >> May I ask a followup? >> Yes, please, Mr. Cleven. So like the waiting for each individual super duper professional by the way to to call them teachers doesn't do the job justice. But we're not using this as a you're an 18, you're a 19, you're not working as hard. Like it's not an absolute metric in that regard. >> No. And as you can see, you know, the hard
081part with our old case load model um was that it's hard like any child on any given day and those of you who are parents know some days are harder than others. And so it's hard when you're counting kids like some days and sometimes of the year our work has a definite eb and flow. We have times where we have to get things done and finalized. The springtime we have a lot of evaluations. So, it's really hard even even with this to find it because it measures sort of the case load over the year and there's just times where someone might just get five new kids and they're really busy where maybe their fall was not as busy. So, I think that's what the challenge is as well is that sometimes kids flow in and
082sometimes kids flow out so it's ever changing and then some days with kids some days are just harder than others. Um, you might get an influx of new paras that you need to be training. You might have a lot of behavioral needs. This week, I know is Thank you to our colleagues that are here. This week is really hard for kids who don't handle change and everybody's talking about summer. So, this week is really hard. So, the fact that they're all here um sharing tonight, I really appreciate that. Um and thank you also for recognizing when we say we're a specialed teacher um we teach, that's a part of our job, but there's like so much more that makes us a little bit different than classroom teachers. Other questions from board members? Miss Flynn, >>
083thank you for being here tonight. Um, I just want to remind this board and I know there will be some turnover in our board and there's people watching and so um I want to remind everyone kind of where all of this started. So, um, in Dr. Rener's memo, he kind of outlined it. um starting really from negotiations and um GFA brought the board sort of a concept um it wasn't wrong it just we started to go back and forth and said we probably really don't know exactly what the needs are and um Dr. Dr. Dietrich and her team stepped up and said like, "We're happy to help." And in fact, through that conversation in their initial presentation, they were the ones that said, "I think the current model that we're using is maybe not the
084best information." Um, and Dr. Dietrich has always said from the beginning like, "Please, I I want more help and I want more suggestions and like we have great expertise here." And so, we didn't use a consultant necessarily. Um certainly we've consulted me we meaning you with other colleagues throughout the state but um I think that's such a huge benefit that we have the own expertise within our system um it is far and wide uh the certainly the issues that we're dealing with that like I sometimes think we don't even understand the day-to-day ins and outs so coming from a place of um it was less about like money and how do we spend money for our special ed teaching colleagues and it was more about how do we serve the students in the best capacity
085possible and then what is the reflection on time to students. Um it was uh really good to focus on that but it was really hard to articulate from the schoolboard perspective and working with GFA where do we even start? And so, um, certainly the conversation is not around that special ed professionals are better than any other professionals. It was really this like how do we work together, but recognize there's a lot of circumstances that impact their job um, in a certain way. And so, I kind of just wanted to highlight that a little bit. Um, I think the timing is perfect. Um, we've not only had a pilot year, but we have one more year to collect data before uh a legislative session, which is special ed has been a hot topic and Dr. Dietrich
086has been a part of those conversations at the government affairs committee talking with our legislators. Um but also having two years worth of data where we can work with GFA on this topic and this presentation um to kind of really understand better um what are the needs of our district so that we can adequately hire retain you know and and what can we do as as a board to help that. Um, I think uh things are not going to get easier as a result of these conversations, but maybe it will help us highlight um really where the gaps are. Um, so uh I'm super appreciative of all the work that you um are doing. I felt the need to kind of just give that history um for a second. I do have a couple questions.
087Um, Frank, frankly, the um, spreadsheet both excites me and scares me because um, we all know that sometimes things get hosted and then someone inputs things and I have a friend that works at Manota and they're like, "We have an Excel spreadsheet that is so large now that when someone enters in one cell, it takes 12 minutes to update." And so I'm curious if if this is the model we're going to use and we have something um how is it protected in terms of tech technology wise. Um but also I think there's probably people way smarter than all of us in the room that could maybe help us put it on some sort of air table reporting thing. Josh probably knows there's probably things that um we could do. And so I wonder if our
088tech department and Darren King has some ideas of like how do we stabilize that a little bit more. Um but if you can add a filtering tool that will help get us gather data in a quick fashion. Um certainly that's important. Um and so my question would be um with the the table like who maintains it? Who has access to it? Is it a locked sheet for each individual? Just kind of curious on on the usage of that. And then um with the teachers like are they self-reporting and is that an extra duty of their job now to report all that? >> Yeah. >> So as far as the sheet, yeah, it's locked. It's locked to each school and each teacher can only adjust their component of it. Access Lisa has it. Um I believe
089Dr. or Brendan Vanderver, our assistant director, has it and then I have it. Um, and so we're, you know, I think maybe someone here might have it too. I'm not sure if, um, Matt has it as sort of the special education supervisor, but, um, they're very locked down. So, have we talked about moving it? Yes. Um, I just cannot ask one more thing of our tech department as we move from Power School to Infinite Campus. if I asked them to do one more thing like um just for fun, we plugged it into Claude um to see if Claude could develop something and it did, but of course it would be a web-based thing and I'm like we just we need to get through this next year and get into um and our special education software
090is also moving with the Infinite Campus move. So we have a lot of that that's happening as well. So it's sort of like right now we're we're good. um once we get stable with Infinite Campus and that software change then we might be able to look at it but too much too fast um our teachers are just using this now so to change it I I would just be a little hesitant of that so we need to get good at this other part that we're really working on now is getting uniform across the district so we're all entering comparable data so that we can compare it um so that's really where our efforts are right now before we sort of move on but right now yes it's all locked it's all safe um we feel
091pretty good about that um permissions are pretty tight um tightly controlled. It's not so complex that it takes a while to update um and all the formulas are hidden so people can't and they're in locked spaces so teachers can't change them. Um and then of course we have versions of versions saved. What else do you want to add? >> And Carrie is our maintenance person. So on top of everything else she does to support special education. she makes sure our spreadsheets are up and running and and they're ready to to handle the students that are coming to us, you know, as we transition from the 2526 school year to the 26 27 school year, all of those things. So, she does an incredible job of that. >> Good. >> Did you have a followup, Miss?
092>> Yeah. So my my other question would be um uh we talked a lot about um just the different services with like indirect minutes and direct minutes and you know I think one of the conversations that initiated with GFA was sort of this idea of prep time and and what goes into prep time and things like that and so as we're also talking about budgets and efficiencies and things like that I know the purpose is not to say teacher one is more efficient than teacher two or you know xyz. Um but I think it could be a good tool to help us understand um especially as we utilize building spaces how you know is there an accommodation um from a teacher who has to travel you know uh so is that figured in do we
093have teachers that travel and and so there's sort of this like burnout because I'm barely doing something here and then I have to leave and go somewhere else you know type thing and so um you know I would be interested then in just having some conversation as we get to the table next year about um efficiencies in delivering special education because I also know you know when you're talking about pullout services and things too we're also [snorts] expecting some of the teachers to take on maybe some enrichment in their classroom and some catchup services and things like that to help support and so it's sort of this like cyclical let's all work together and support the student. But um curious about if there's sort of this efficiency model that is built in without kind of
094highlighting like this teacher does more than this teacher. Like obviously that's not the case, but the conversation has been more about the least restrictive environment and the setting that we serve our students in. So, we we've I think we all came to this conversation really looking at setting A being um this the setting that we're aiming to to serve our students in. But as we really dug in, we really came to understand that some students need more support and those students really need more support through a setting B or a setting C. And once that we started to dig in and understand that, then we were able to adjust how our strategists are serving students. So, if we have strategists serving students who have extensive needs, that's where some of those burnout pieces come into
095play because they're serving students and they're doing on top of making sure that students are in the classroom and having the accommodations and the the testing um support that they need and all of those things that happen in a school day. They're also accommodating for work that a student needs if they need more of an alternate curriculum or um or those medical needs or um daily living types of needs. So once we we realized that and we started to account for that, then we started to really look at service minutes and understand that a student might be in the classroom a lot of the time, but they need more program level support just because they have additional needs that students who um are able to you be more independent don't have. So, the conversation has
096really been about getting the setting right, getting the least restrictive environment right, and having meaningful um and supportive decisions around it's not about keeping students out of the the general setting. It's never about that at all. It's more about how do we how do we have how do we structure our special ed department so that when we have students that have those different needs, those different levels of needs. We have those classrooms where students can go to get those medical cares to take that nap if they need it to go in get those sensory needs met. Um as opposed to just trying to meet everybody's need in the in the setting a general ed classroom knowing that that's not efficient or effective. >> Yeah. And as far as our itinerant teachers, we do build that
097into the tool if they have transportation time built into their day. We have actually very few itinerant teachers. Um, a few, a handful. Um, not many. Most of our schools are staffed, all of our schools are staffed with full-time special education staff. The ones who are itinerant are our school psychologists because we don't have one per every building. um our PTs, our OT's, adaptive PE because we have like two adaptive PE teachers for the district and we don't even have them do a tool because their jobs are so different. Same thing with our physical therapists, our occupational therapists, our adaptive PE teachers, our school psychologists. Again, really different job roles. So, we don't we don't have them fill out a tool yet um just because the metrics and the um formulas behind that would be
098totally different. Do you have a followup, Miss Other comments, questions? Dr. Hodc, >> first of all, I would like to um commend you for the work that I um I enjoyed reviewing this, but at the same time, it continues to um bother me because you can write everything down the best that you can. And yet, if I sat down with the committee, I would say, "What about transitioning? What about the designing of your classroom? What about the supplies that you have to um deal with? What about the equipment that comes that you have to be prepared for and using and such? And it would go on and on and on. The the analysis tool is an excellent start. Um, and I think that it's a great way to look at it. But I also then
099would encourage that there is also an analysis tool for teachers as a whole because teachers need to be respected for the jobs that they are doing and they are changing every single day with all of that you're doing. I guess I would look at it that teachers really no matter what field that they are in their responsibilities their job description is on demand every single day. We cannot predict the needs of a student that is going to come in that we have to educate as well as we cannot predict the needs of the educators that are trying to support them of the administrators that are trying to support them of the parents that don't often know what their child needs or doesn't need and you've got to lead that. So my comments are simply it
100changes daily the weights that you have. I I was thinking okay are we going to do these quarterly for each individual teacher semesterly? Is it going to be year? Is it you talked about the individual and the site summary which is excellent to do but at the same time those are going to change. It will never remain the same. It's not a stable. It's not stagnant. It changes constantly. And then the worst part is is that we are um held hostage to what the state and the federal governments will mandate for us to do. Something that is new and added on and added on. Not that it's bad because it's generally for what's best for the education of students. However, it becomes another one of your pieces of the pie that you would have to
101enter into that tool. So, I applaud you. I am very impressed with this work. I appreciate the fact that you have stepped out to Fargo. I would highly recommend that we do a presentation and do an open invite to legislators so it's not at the state when they are starting to decide about where money or what law we should change or do and everything else. I would do it now especially because what you have just presented and is ready for them to hear and to get a good look at it. But again, I encourage the fact, Joe, that we're going to need it for all because if we are truly talking about the profession of teaching, we need the public to understand what is actually happening in those classrooms. Thank you. >> Other questions from
102board members, comments? Reminder this is an item for discussion this evening so no action is required but I want to give board members one final opportunity for clarification. Any closing thoughts before we move on? >> This work is not done. Um we have come a long way in the last two years but um it will be ongoing. We'll continue the work into next year. Um I really want to thank the members of this committee. It's been one of the most productive committees I have served on and um very productive uh forward-inking conversations. Um and we know as a group that we have a lot of work to do now in in bringing the rest of our colleagues up to speed and and we have plans to roll out additional professional development as well. So, thank
103you for listening to all of our information tonight and um just thank you. >> Thank you. 5C Health Insurance Committee report. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh you have the meeting minutes from the May 14th Health Insurance Committee meeting. Uh I just want to acknowledge who the committee members are. And we have committee members and we have voting members. So uh the staff colleagues who are voting members, Kayla Christensen, Tiffany Olsen, Kelly Nice, Tad Shai, and myself. and then other committee members, Brandon Bombachuk, um Jay Cleven represents the board and Griffin Gillespie, HR, um all all the external folks provide resources for us. So, Brown and Brown is our consulting firm who we work with on a yearly basis. Um and we've met with them a few times this year and we were
104anticipating uh somewhere close to that 10% increase in health insurance. uh and I can share with you that up and down the valley uh with uh REA schools in the RV EC consortium uh they're talking about anywhere between 12 and 18 to 19% for health insurance uh increases. We were able to work uh pretty hard as a committee uh and knock that number down. You know, again, we started at about that 10% and we got it down to 4.9%. And you can see in the meeting minutes the ways we were able to do that. We increased the annual individual in network deductible from 750 to a,000. We increased the annual stop-loss limit to 225,000. It was 175 before that. Uh I might be off by a few thousand. Uh we accepted a $25,000 retention credit
105uh for by renewing by May 31st. Uh and then we could apply $60,000 from the self- insurance plan reserve to offset some of the premium costs. So, just a reminder to the board that we are a self-funded insurance group. Um, as a school district, we have 800 uh 800 people on our I shouldn't say 800, we have 800, let let me just say 800 district employees are on the plan, but that doesn't count their dependents or their spouses. So, the number is much larger than that. Um, and finally, we've been talking about the last year and a half. Uh, West Fargo has a and so does Jamestown. They have their own uh quote unquote clinic um that would be only for uh accessed by district employees. Um it's it's not owned by them, but they
106they have a lease agreement. They have an agreement with them where um where our people would simply go to that clinic. So, we took a further step and we visited uh by uh by teleare which is just down the street uh here from us. uh heard a presentation from their staff and heard a little bit more about what they might be able to offer us uh in the future. We're not even close to uh landing on a a yes or no, but it's just something that we're exploring to see if we can keep um our our insurance premiums down in the future. So, uh so with that, there's no action needed, but uh I think it's good news that we can say we're at 4.9% 4.9% increase in health insurance. I'll just give you an
107example. Uh I carry full family health. it's just about 600 a month and for for me that would be $27 a month. So that's going to differentiate between singles and and a full family. So 4.9% of health insurance is different than a staff increase of 3%. Uh the two percents aren't even close to one another if that makes sense. Um so I just wanted to share that as well and uh Brandon if you wanted to offer any other commentary from a business manager perspective feel free. >> Mr. Bach, do you have anything to add? >> Sure. Thank you. Um, President Burgerer, Dr. Brener, members of the board, I'm just thrilled at this result. Uh, again, you hear um, stories all around the region about what your health insurance premium could increase to, and we've seen
108it ourselves. Um, so just thrilled. I really wouldn't add any further detail than what you've already provided. >> Before we open it up to board member questions, Mr. Cleven, as the board rep, do you have anything to add to this discussion? >> Yeah, thank you. Uh I think whenever we do these increase of this, what do we have to give up in exchange? And for me, the pertinent observation is an extra $250 an annual uh deduct in network deductible and the stop-loss value increased. Both of which aren't the the normal standard, if you will. like we don't want someone to have to use a stop loss, but when it does happen, it's exceptional. Like it's, you know, it doesn't it's not the normal occurrence. Whereas the 4.9% premium increase is the normal. So I I
109think this is a great balance between premium increase and the deductible, which most families meet. I mean, my annually, I meet it every year. I assume I'm normal on these things. And then the stop-loss increase. So I I think this is a very good exchange in value relative to potential exposure to a slightly higher deductible and a higher stop-loss. And the committee I sat through the meetings. I missed the last one, but by that point the work had pretty much been done and the committee did really good work on this to get to this point. And the consultant was extremely knowledgeable, extremely prompt with information and their uh proposals every meeting were very good. So, very good work by the committee. >> Thank you. Questions from board members regarding this committee report. Again, this was
110our last item for discussion, so no action is required. We'll move on now to 6A. This is our consent agenda. Seek a motion to approve the consent agenda as outlined in your packet. >> It's been moved by Mr. Larson. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Cleven. We'll take a roll call vote. >> Manley. [snorts] >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Pomicino, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One, absent. >> Motion passes. 6B, Head Start carryover request. Mr. Baky, [snorts] >> thank you, uh, President Ber, members of the board. Um, I'm actually going to just hand it over to uh the Head Start director, Tracy Johnson, uh, to go through this. Uh, one
111thing I will just note is that the administrative recommendation is to approve the carryover of 99,500 for the 26 27th school fiscal year. >> Thank you, President Berger and schoolboard members for having me tonight. Um in the memorandum you will see two figures um from two different years that we are asking to carry over. Essentially a year ago I brought this amount to the school board and you approved a carryover amendment. Um the federal government just approved that carryover on April 30th of this year. um talking to um Brandon um we were not able to spend that money in such a short amount of time. So essentially we are just asking to carry over the carryover um amount. Any questions? >> Questions from board members? >> Mr. Cleven. >> Thank you. So I mean this
112is money that's dedicated to serving students, correct? >> Correct. And how much of what percentage of the Head Start budget is this carryover request? >> Um, this last year our budget was close to $3 million. Do you have that figure in front of you, Brandon, >> Mr. Bach? >> Um, yeah. I think it's actually in the financial in our um monthly financial statement. You can find it. I'm recalling like a 2.8 something million. >> Thank you. >> And the the larger point is we we have to spend the money to provide the service, but as as a percentage of the budget, this is not a it's not we're holding 30%. Which would be purposeful and and unacceptable. It's 3%. These are nominal carryovers. The request seemed in that context, the request seems like we're meeting
113our obligation to serve students and we're we're just making those nominal f financial requests as they become necessary. >> And essentially the reason to ask for the money to be carried over is because until really this fall, we were really understaffed and underenrolled. Um, and we aren't any longer. >> Other questions? Yep. Any other questions from board members? Dr. Hodc, >> I don't have a question, but I'd also like to add that the policy council, which is made up of community members, um myself, administration, as well as parents, um have been thrilled with what Tracy has been doing and this carryover and so they too approve the carryover before it came to the board. Thank you, Dr. Hodc. Other questions from board members. I would seek a motion to approve the carryover of $99,500 to
114the 2026 2027 fiscal year. Been moved by Mr. Manley and a second by Mr. Anderson. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Larson, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Pomacino. Hodak. >> Yes. >> Lun is absent. Flynn, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. 6C, appointment of Red River High School principal, Dr. Brener. >> Thank you, President Berger. Uh, in our audience tonight, you've heard from him once already tonight, is uh Darren, Dr. Darren Walters of Red River High School. Uh, I'm just going to go through the memo so we have this uh captured. Following an extensive and thoughtfully designed interview and selection process, I'm pleased to recommend the appointment of Dr. Darren
115Walters, president associate principal at Red River High School as the next principal of Red River High School effective July 1, 2026. The selection process was intentionally structured to ensure broad stakeholder engagement, multiple perspectives, and a highly rigorous evaluation of each candidate's leadership readiness for one of our school district's most important leadership positions. Uh the district received interest interest from eight total candidates including five internal applicants and three external. Following an initial screening process, four finalists were selected for interviews including three internal and one external uh to ensure a comprehensive and balanced assessment process. The interview structure included two independent interview teams, each utilizing distinct question sets centered on the following leadership domains. Red River High School vision, instructional leadership, leadership accountability, student behavior and attendance, and overall leadership and administration. Each interview team also utilized
116a structured four-point scoring rubric to provide consistency and fairness in evaluating candidate responses. Uh the interview team reflected broad representation from district leadership, school staff, parent voice, school safety, and student leadership. And you can see team B was chaired by Griffin Gillespie. And you can see the uh people who served on team B and then I chaired team A and there wasn't a pecking order of who was on A and who was uh who was the B team. We kind of joked about that a little bit. Uh so what was noteworthy about this process was the inclusion of both student voice and a parent perspective recognizing that the next principal must be able to lead not only operationally instructionally but relationally within the broader Red River High School community. Uh following the interviews, each team
117independently debriefed and discussed candidate strengths, leadership readiness, and overall fit for Red River High School. Only after each team completed its independent assessment did both teams come together for collective discussion. And through that process, a clear consensus emerged that Dr. Walters was the candidate best positioned to lead Rver High School into its next chapter. And throughout the interview process, Dr. Walters distinguished himself through his demonstrated instructional leadership, ability to articulate a compelling vision for Red River High School, commitment to accountability, understanding of student culture and attendance challenges, and overall executive leadership presence. Equally important, Dr. Walters demonstrated the relational capacity, communication skills, and strategic leadership necessary to lead a comprehensive high school environment while honoring Red River's traditions and building toward future success. It's the administrative recommendation uh with a base salary of 172,756, school
118size factor of 4,000, and an educational factor of 5,000 for a total of $181,756. uh that the administration recommends that the school board approve the appointment of Dr. Darren Walters as principal of Red River High School effective July 1, 2026. Questions from board members for Dr. Brener. Miss Lynn, >> could we hear from Mr. Walters? >> He's in the room. He's standing up and walking. All right. I I'll I promise I won't cry at this one. I know during the interview we had a few tears. So, um I'm just I'm greatly humbled and honored for this opportunity. Um and and so thankful for it and the excitement. I started getting goosebumps as I kind of read through this again here. Dr. Brener, uh just to continue some of the f the tradition stuff that we
119have at Red River with our family today. For example, we had our riders give back where our seniors went to the elementary and middle schools and then we we cooked for them. So, we cooked over 250 burgers and BRZ each for the students and fed them. And just seeing the excitement and the energy as they were leaving just continues to to to build that excitement of things that we can do moving forward with our our rider time, our MTSSB and our together we ride uh process that we're looking at as we look at those things and just looking to build and help lead our staff to and our students to provide opportunities in the success is just something that I'm I'm so excited and thrilled for and the work has already started and Dr. Harrison
120and I've had a few conversations. I know I have some big shoes to fill with him, but it's just I'm grateful to be a part and be able to help lead the the Ryder family as we move forward. >> Thank you. Questions from board members? Miss Flynn? >> I just have something to say and I might get emotional, but um I had the privilege of being taught by Mr. Walters as a very young uh base kid. Um what I remember from Dr. Walters is um I learned about student loans and how they impact a young family. Um I specifically remember that um I learned the periodic table. Um I also learned how um someone could connect with students in a variety of different ways and it means so much to me um to be able
121to say thank you. um you're one of the people that made my experience uh at Central um an amazing time and um sorry to get emotional, but I think anytime you can thank someone of the impact they made on you. Um lastly, I specifically remember us um asking Mr. for Walters, a bunch of questions about his life cuz he was a new teacher at Central and um I think I was one of the the first students in his his science class and um I specifically remember him saying, you know, I think I'll be a science teacher for a while, but I want to be a principal someday. So, full circle moment. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Other Dr. Hodc >> and I had the privilege of teaching Dr. Walters and that he was actually the student
122of mine and I was so pleased when he called and he said I'm shooting for it because it was his goal that he mentioned how many years ago to be the head at Red River High School. So, watching him go through our program, um, understanding his commitment to students, his commitment to people, his commitment to common sense and relationship building, as well as knowing what he needs to do to be a good leader. So, congratulations, Darren. Um, Beth, you're back there, too, and I think you both have weathered everything that you've set out to do. So, congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? Please. I'd like to say Amber, thank you for that. That's that's part of the reason we go into the field that we do. And as a first year teacher, you guys
123took it easy on me. Uh my first hour that that year, um somebody else at the table was actually a student in my first hour. So, I got to start my day every day with Mr. Baky as well. So, I I've got quite a few connections uh to all this. And Dr. Hodc, you can add another another person to your list of people that are now leading buildings in the district. And I want to just say thank you to everybody for that. And yes, my wife Beth did make it here tonight because it it truly is a family affair for the Walters family. Um, our oldest graduated last year, middle one is a junior, and her daughter is already planning. She's got two more years before she'll be with us at Red River as well.
124So, very excited for those opportunities. Other questions from board members? I would seek a motion to approve the appointment of Dr. Darren Walters is principal of Red River High School effective July 1, 2026 with a base salary of 172756, school size factor of 4,000, education factor of 5,000 for a total salary of 181756. >> It's been moved by Dr. Hodc. Is there a second? >> Second by Miss Flynn. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Ponino, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Larson, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. [applause] >> Item 6D, appointment of interim business manager. Dr. Brener. >> Thank you again, Mr. Chair.
125You have a memo from me. Uh, as all of you are aware, business manager Brandon Bombach will be departing our school district at the end of June. In an effort to provide a seamless and stable transition uh, in district financial leadership, I'm recommending the appointment of Mr. Ryan Gatsky as interim business manager effective July 1, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. This recommendation is presented as an actionable item for the school board consideration and approval. And Mr. Gatsky is with us tonight in the audience. U, Mr. Gatsky has served as the district's uh accounting supervisor and for the past four years has worked closely alongside Mr. Bombach in the day-to-day financial operations of the school district. In many aspect in many respects, Ryan has served as Brandon's trusted right-hand colleague, gaining firsthand experience with district budgeting,
126financial oversight, reporting expectations, and the operational complexities that accompany a school system of our size. His familiarity with the district systems uh coupled with his strong attention to detail and professional de demeanor positions him well to step into this interim leadership role with continuity and with confidence. Over the course of several conversations, uh Mr. Gatsky and I have discussed both the opportunity and expectations associated with this assignment. The proposed terms include a six-month appointment from July 1 uh through December 31st, 2026 at a PR-rated salary based on $135,000 annual for a 12-month contract, resulting in compensation at 67,500 along with the pr-rated benefits associated with full-time business manager position. Importantly, uh this interim structure allows both the district and Mr. Gatsky an opportunity to thoughtfully assess the role in the long-term fit. Ron and I
127uh would meet in mid December to evaluate how the transition is progressing from both a professional and personal perspective, recognizing that leadership roles of this magnitude impact not only the individual professionally but family life as well. Should Mr. Gatsky determine that the permanent transition into the business manager role is not in his best interest, his current accounting supervisor position would remain available to him. I'm deeply appreciative of Brandon Bombuk's willingness to support this transition uh and for Ryan's openness to stepping into this important leadership opportunity. Uh administrative continuity in the business and financial operations of the district is essential and I believe this recommendation provides the district with the strongest path forward during this transition period. So the administrative recommendation is to approve Mr. Ryan Gatsky as interim business manager for Grand Forks Public Schools
128effective July 1, 2026 through December 31st, 2026 under the terms I have previously outlined. Thank you. Questions from board members for Dr. Brener, Miss Flynn, >> just a point of clarification. Um, if this is approved, will um are we not hiring the accounting supervisor position? Mr. gets you will serve as sort of both in the interim. >> We we would still hire his his replacement. Uh the workload is just too much in the business office. Um but we'd be very upfront with that candidate that this could be an interim time for that candidate candidate as well. >> Okay. >> Other questions from board members? >> Dr. Hodc, >> I'm excited for Ryan, but at the same time, I'm just a little bit uneasy about the fact that um I think we're putting off what we
129should be getting done as soon as possible because of the fact that we've had such um trouble with the um deficit. it that we've been spending and I would rather have seen that we opened it up that Ryan applied for it and if he res was the candidate that he would start that immediately because I'm not so sure I agree with this interim time. Um also uh I question whether um Dr. Brener having a conversation in mid December even though I think that you would probably be having the conversation as so as Ryan would be having it with you as well throughout from July September you know and and on but um I asked Dr. Dr. Brener for for more information because I wanted to see um Ryan's resume and I wanted to see what
130his work experience had been um just so that would help to alleviate a little bit of my concerns and issues there because I do believe that um uh with Ryan having somebody that's going to be taking his position over and then he's supervising that person according to the job descriptions that I received and looked at. Um, if that person doesn't work out or if all of a sudden Ryan says, "No, I think I want to go back to that position," then that person is out. So, I'm just I'm not trying to micromanage. I just wanted to make sure that we um thought about all of those considerations because I think that um Ryan has a big role to fill. Um, I'm sad to see Brandon leave, but I do know that Ryan and Brandon did
131work together really well and so that that will be good. I just needed to voice those comments. >> Thank you. Other questions from board members? >> Yes, Miss Flynn. >> Um, maybe Dr. Dr. Ber, you could um talk about just a little more in depth about why the interim versus hiring. I mean, I I certainly understand the end of the year and what we're going into, but >> yeah, it it allows us uh a bit more of a seamless transition. Um because, you know, Brandon announced his his resignation a while ago, so immediately Ryan and I were having conversations when I found out he was interested in what the position entailed. Um he's been part of our executive cabinet leadership meetings and our administrative leadership meetings. Um so he's we're we're gaining momentum where somebody
132coming in from the here's what I've learned about business managers coming in from the outside. Our uh educational funding is complex. Dr. Hodc knows that. I think you all know that. now. Um, and when people come in from the private sector or some different organization, it takes them a good year, probably more than a year to really understand education finance. Ryan understands that already. So, I feel like we're gaining traction rather than losing ground um in this sort of transition. Am I sad to see Brandon go? You want to see somebody cry immediately? >> Uh, absolutely. Um but but I also think we've got a a wonderful opportunity with an internal candidate and we've got a really strong business office department right now. Um and they're they're they're aware of the transition and they're supportive
133of the transition as well. >> I I hope I answered that question. If I may, if I could just go to Dr. back to Dr. Hodak. >> Sure, please. >> Um yeah, the the December 15th is more of the uh formality, but there will be uh formative assessment pieces moving forward. Um Brandon and I have a standing meeting at two o'clock every Thursday. Ryan and I will continue to do that. Um and we we interface more than just that regular standing meeting. So there was a second piece I wanted to comment on, but I can't quite remember what it was just to try to alleviate um uh maybe some fears of this transition. But I appreciate your insight. Thank you. >> Other questions from board members? Did you have no >> Mr. Palmino? >> Yeah,
134I will make the motion to appoint Ryan as the interimm business manager. And the reason I'm doing that is that we all know our budget, our new budget comes in play July 1, you know, so we need somebody who understands it on it. We don't have time to advertise, interview, and get other people. And I think this gives Dr. Brener and Ryan the chance to work together for 6 months to see if it's a good fit. And so that's why I'm making the motion to approve. >> It's been a motion on the floor by Mr. Palmino to approve the appointment of Mr. Ryan Gatsky as interim business manager for Grand Forks Public Schools effective July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. uh with the terms uh in your packet. Chiefly among them uh a pro-rated
135uh contract which results in compensation of 67,500 along with the prrated benefits associated with the full-time business manager position. Is there a second to that motion? A second by Mr. Cleven. Any further discussion, Miss Flynn? Um, I just thought of this, but even um, in an interimm status, could he take advantage of the North Dakota School or Association business manager certification or is that required for that? >> It's not a requirement, but uh, but he can take advantage of that. As a matter of fact, he's going to be traveling with me to Bismar in August for superintendent business manager boot camp. So, he'll be a part of that training. Okay. >> Thank you, Miss Flynn. Other questions, discussion, comments from board members? >> [clears throat] >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Flynn, >>
136yes. >> Pomicino, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Burger, >> yes. >> H, yes. Zero, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. [applause] 6E general fund financial statement. Mr. Bombach. >> Thank you, Chair Burgerer. Members of the board, um, presenting to you the first 10 months of the fiscal year 26, general fund revenues at the highest level are just over 110 million and expenditures uh, just over 98 million. Um just to go through this the story that really catches my attention and the things I want to explain today are on the revenue side and just the timing of some of those revenues. So you can see here the first part or the first report here 68.6%
137of local sources have come in uh and in federal sources at 45.4. So just to address a couple of things happening there. I've teased this idea on the property taxes about a primary um housing credit and how that's been kind of delayed and coming in. And if you've watched your reports, it's kind of been bumped back a little bit. Well, we did receive it now in May and it trs things up just as expected. It just was later this year than prior years. So, I can confirm [clears throat] it's not in this report, but it's been received in May, just to let you know. And similarly, but with a little more nuance, we see that across some of the federal um items that is always a spend first and then seek reimbursement. And so, um,
138we do have a new person in our grants management this year, but she's been on top of things just the same. The state will want to negotiate the claims if you don't have, you know, oh, I need this paperwork in this way or this or that. So, there's a little bit more back and forth, but um, we're seeing those dollars come in. Um, another one that might catch attention is under D, revenue from other ser uh, excuse me, sources services provided another LEA. um that's at zero right now compared to the budget of um 576. That's the Thompson payment for a special education and and there's so many of these things that true up at the end of the year. Um student tuitions and other similar things. So, we're going to see a lot of
139um cash moving in here as as the school year wraps up and and all school districts get their invoices out to one another. So, I just wanted to highlight that on the first report. The second report is that comparison report showing where we're at at this point in the year as compared to the prior year, the same point in time. And that's where you'll see a few notes, including the $2 million coming for that primary resident credit that I just mentioned. Um, but it's important, of course, as you go down to the last um graphics here, the the general fund revenues, expenditures, and then the last chart shows the general fund balances. It's important that we we watch those cash flows and and and be very timely with those requests because as we pay out
140our um our our teachers contracts for the remainder of the year over the summer, we'll see a dip in our balances. So, it's all really important, but a couple of storylines I wanted to highlight. happy to answer any questions throughout the document or anything I've said, but the administrative recommendations to approve the general fund financial statement for the period of July 125 through April 30, 2026. >> Thank you. Questions from board members from Mr. Bombach. Seeing none, I would seek a motion to approve the general fund financial statement for the period of July 1, 2025 through April 30th, 2026. So, it's been moved by Mr. Palmino. Is there a second? >> Second by Dr. Hodc. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun is
141absent. Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. Palmino >> Larson. >> Yes. >> Burger. >> Yes. >> HS0 no one absent. >> Motion passes. 6F. Consideration of K through2 mathematics curricular resource adoption. Dr. Brener. >> I'll take this one in lie of Amy Bch. We wanted to give her the night off uh this evening. Basically, you have the same information in your packet uh as the presentation was made by Nicole and Evan at our last meeting. So, uh, I won't repeat any of that information other than the administrative recommendation would be, um, to go ahead and purchase the, uh, the math curriculum adoption K through2 at a year 1 cost of $440,46125 with a year 2 cost estimate of $258,8413. Uh, I think the primary motion should be made around the
142year 1 cost and we can certainly bring uh the year 2 cost back. Um, so we're not uh tying a future board into uh an amount that's not completely known. So the recommendations for the year one cost 440,46125. Questions from board members for Dr. Brener. Seeing none, I would seek a motion to approve the K through2 mathematics curricula and resource adoption for year 1 at a cost of $440,46125 cents as outlined in your board packet. >> A motion by Dr. Hodc. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Cleven. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. L is absent. Palmino, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no.
143One absent. >> Motion passes. 6G. Consideration of proposals for scoreboards at Grand Fork Central High School Gymnasium. Mr. Beerm. Thank you, President Burgerer, and members of the board. So, thanks for having me um back to continue this conversation regarding the scoreboards for Grand Forks Public Schools. So, there's three parts to what I'm going to talk about tonight. First part is we're going to address the material that you asked me to provide uh that we I was able to put in the packet. Secondly, I'd like to explain in greater detail the RFP process that we used in selecting dactronics and to point out how the North Dakota OM guidelines were used. And then I would like to address uh the letter that was sent to you by Lucen HD with some of my concerns in there.
144So let's uh we'll get after it. So one of the first things that uh we looked at or that we was asked of me was the contract. So I put that in your packet. You can see that contract was um vetted by our lawyer. So that has been sent out to the businesses, the investors that are looking to work with us. So in that one thing I want to first bring up is regarding getting all the money upfront. So this is a sponsorship agreement. This isn't a donation agreement. And there's a difference there. So donors give you something and isn't really expecting much in return. you have a project, they give a donation. They know that it's they know what they're what they're working with. Sponsorship is when you're getting something returned, like advertising. It's
145a contract. It protects both parties. When you when you sponsor, you don't get all your money up front. It's it's like a yearly transaction. And that's what we're doing. They are purchasing something every year, and they want to make sure that what they're purchasing is is what they're getting annually. The usual and customary process with big project like this is exactly what we're doing. So we'll get into the proforma or the balance sheet in just a minute but as we will see the proform balance sheet with this model gives us a balanced cash flow every year. We get the project paid off as soon as possible with the price point and limitations that we've suggested. The businesses want protection as well in this sense to make sure they're getting what they're paying for as I
146described. It's also economically advantageous for these businesses to be able to budget this amount. So, some of our large donors or investors, the largest one is $25,000 a year. With that, $125,000 might be hard to give up at one time. They can budget for $25,000 every year. What that does with this business model, it also gives them the opportunity to say, I like what we're doing. The investment is giving us a return and and we can look at renewing this. So it doesn't come as a large um financial burden for them. So what does the business get? That's one of the other pieces that you have in front of you. What's what's called the conceptuals. Those are the colorful things. So this is for you to get a picture and I'm going to bring out
147that just so I can go with it. So on that first page of the concepts you can see the big picture of what Kushmanfield would look like. There's video boards and uh the scoreboard that you can see on the front page for both Central and Red River. So the front page is just kind of giving you a visual. Page number two is called the Kushman exclusive sponsorship. As you can see, we have one business at this level, $25,000 for five years. What they will get, I won't go through all of it. You've you've read this or you you can read it. What they will get is they'll get that static signage that you can see in the Grand Fork Central video board, the Red River video board. They will get the static also on the
148the Kushman Field. It's exclusive on the Kushman Field scoreboard. And if you will, if you they also are going to be put on the what we call the Kushman memorial panel and that is on I believe the second to last page. I want to elaborate on that memorial panel. Kushmanfield is is named after Cliff Kushman. We all hopefully know that there is a plaque and a little monument in the northwest corner of that structure of that facility that's been put there many years ago. A lot of trees have grown around it. It's kind of by the entrance of Red River and I understand the reason why it was put there. We want to put this memorial board down underneath the bleachers next to the uh where the concession area is. We have ideas to kind
149of spruce up that area, put some new lighting in, but we felt that this was a great way to continue to honor Mr. Cliff Kushman and in this facility. So that's kind of an added one where the uh Kushman exclusive partner and many others will be on there. The digital content in the gymnasiums, the promotions that they receive in the different sports um are all listed there with that Kushman exclusive partnership. That's what they're getting. If we flip the page, we have a super anchor partnership. We have two businesses that are signed up for this $18,000 a year for five years. As you can see, we already said the scoreboard at Kushman was exclusive to the first one. These businesses, as we call them, super anchors, will be on the game clocks that are in
150the end zones. So, it's a nice way for for their kind of it's not exclusive, but it's a way for them to be out there on that field also because they have a large investment in this. So, they'll be there at Kushman. They too will be on the video boards at Central and Red River and on the Kushman Memorial Panel. The next level is Ankor Partnerships. We have four businesses there investing $8,000 a year. They will be on the non-lit panel of those scoreboards. So if you were to flip the page next on the next page, you can see the static board and you can see where we have those anchor partnerships on those. So this is where they get their investment as no matter whether we're using the board or not. You walk into
151the gym, you are going to see these because they are they're we call them they're static boards. So the the scoreboard can be turned off, but every person who walks into the gymnasium is going to be able to see these sponsors. They too will also be on the Kushman Memorial score uh board. And as you can see the different digital content promotions as they their their investment is $8,000. It's less than the top end exclusive one. So they get a few things that are less. The next one that I want to make sure we look at is the founding partners. Five total here at $5,000 a year for five years. And as you can see, the founding partners are on the Cliff Kushman Memorial and the founding partners are also on the static boards or
152the stat boards in both gymnasiums. So, a lot of businesses are getting exposure on those boards, not just when the boards are being used. And there's multiple ways to do that as you can see. The last one is our premier partnerships. What premier partnerships are going to get is we don't have a number there because we can we can kind of dictate what that is. Those are the ones that are going to be on like a scrolling advertisement when the boards are on. And right now we're we're banking as I get to the the the cash flow the proforma piece we're banking on five. We've got five sold. We're we're looking at a good number for us is in that 10 to 15. So my cash flow does not include all of them. I went
153a little bit conservative and said let's just go with the ones that we have right now. So those are those are the things that I wanted everyone to understand with the contract and as we said businesses are investing in us and they need to get something back on their return. This is what they're getting. So now we have a good idea of what they look like. Let's move to the proforma and start explaining that a little bit. So, as you can see in the proforma, right off the bat, I want to explain all of those partnerships that we just talked about. We have 17 businesses that we need. We are now up to 14. I think I was telling you last time we were at 60ome percent. I was hoping to be at 7075. By
154today, well, we're at 83 and a half% right now. So, things are going well. I need three more and we have people in line that are looking at this. So, this is this is going to be a go. So, when we get those sponsorships in there, you can see the cash flow comes out. There's a green line there. new revenue to the school, $4,470 after after we pay our lease payment, which is for the board, all the infrastructure and the interest rate. Let me talk about the interest rate. Many months ago, I was dealing with a bank and we were focusing on 6.9%. Now, the interest rates have come down. We're at 5.7%. However, like we said, bundle and save. If we if we were to put in individual boards, it would be 5.7%. We
155are very close to be able to pull the trigger on all three of these. Now, the interest rate is 5.1%. That's a major difference from many months ago. These boards will be paid off in five years. As you can see on year number six, now that $128,000 in revenue is going to go into our fund, our bank. And as I told you before, we have to be prepared for sustainability. The boards will not last forever. So that's what that money is intended for. if in case we have problems, if the boards need to be fixed, replaced in year 10, 12, 15, 18, whatever it is, we will have the money there. So to reiterate, the plan is not a single penny is going to come out of general fund 10, the taxpayer dollars. This is
156all local business investment sustainability. A question was brought up is what if a business defaults? It's a good question. So we have three points to that. One I did bring up in the past that I want to assure you. These are local businesses. Those high price point partnerships aren't made by decisions with one or two people. These are boards, multiple people, local people. The chance of a default is highly unlikely, but it's a chance. When I was reaching out to the referrals, the Dacttronics referrals, that was one of the questions I asked. Have you had anybody default on their contract? Not a single school told me that they had one. I asked Dacttronics, "Can you remember a business that has defaulted?" Take it for what it's worth, but Dacttronics said, "No, I cannot think of
157a name." I said, "Well, don't think of a name. Just think of any business that your memory that might have defaulted." "No, I cannot think of one." And in fact, Mike, with the business model that we have, like I mentioned before, the business model we have and the businesses can account for this, they can plan for this. That's where the 80% retention rate comes in. 80% of the businesses that sign up first retain that membership after year five. There's a 20% that we have to go out and find again, and that's okay, but I think 80% is a pretty high mark. Point B, the contract calls for a termination agreement. If they default, we take them off the board. All of those things in the conceptuals that you guys read, all of that's gone and
158we will find another business. as was pointed out last time that there probably is going to be a lot of traction with this as businesses realize that's a good investment with our kids as a curriculum is a big piece of this. The word I think the word was used we'll probably have a waiting list. I reached out to some schools in North Dakota and said who've recently put them up and said do you have a waiting list and they said you know we don't necessarily have a waiting list for you know one of those top ones but what we did find out is when we put in those low-level ones like I talked to you about I have five businesses in the lowest level at 2000 but we have room to grow businesses started seeing
159that they wanted to be a part of this and maybe an opening would come up for something bigger they said get my foot in the door so they didn't have a waiting But they have business on businesses that have signed up that are saying advance me up when there's time to come. So point two would be I think we can replace them. However, what if we can't replace them? Point three in school finance fund 10 is the the general fund. We also have a fund 62. Fund 62 is where I put donations, fundraising, revenue from tournaments. That fund. Um, let's go some other things. The KOX streaming contract, that money is going into fund 62. We sell ads on posters for seasonal posters. That money goes in there. So I'm what I'm getting at is
160we have a lot of revenue coming in program ads for state tournaments, east region tournaments, our own tournaments, all that money goes into fund 62. So some years we have a lot of tournaments, some years we don't have as many. So the cash flow that comes in, we may have a lot of cash flow coming in, but then we also have a lot of expenses. And then there's other years where it's not so much. What do I use that money for? Capital investment in our activities. some things like wait room expenditures. Grand Fork Central, we moved the wait room. Huge operation. It was a partnership with the district. We're able to move that with fund 62. Red River is going to ha has that same problem. We're going to be doing that in the near
161future with them. We have to get our plans together. We're waiting for some things to pan out. That's where Fund 62 goes. Wrestling mats, high jump pits, timing system for track so we don't have to outsource that to somebody else. We now bring in teams because we have fully automatic timing that we do on our own. Speaking of tournaments, about 95% of the tournaments, how no matter how big or how small that we do, we have sourced them or we have we have put them into a position where 95% of our tournaments make money. That wasn't the case four years ago. Even the Kushman Classic football game that used to come out of fun 10 and that's it was about $8,000. That is no longer a fun 10 expense. That is a fun 62 profit
162with sponsorships and advertisement. Thank you to Burlington Northern and they've been our partner for 26 years with that Kushman Classic. That's just one example of how we change things to get Fun 62 profitable. So what I'm saying is we have the chance that the possibility that if a business were to default on that, we can find another one relatively quickly, but we also have fund 62 that can handle that without an issue. So that's part one. Any questions on any of those things before I move to part two? Questions from board members for Mr. Beer? Mr. Cleven, >> the the perform lease term. Who holds the lease and how do we how does that lease get initiated? >> So, right now the we have two banks that are competing for that. Um, so they would
163hold maybe you can help me with some of these terms. Um, so again, we're we're competing with two banks on those percentages. Um, I believe we as a school district would hold that. >> Mr. Bombach, do you want to address that? >> Well, if I'm going to clarify my question for sure, Mr. Cleger, >> it's not a lease per se. It's a loan payment. Is that a more accurate statement? >> That would be correct. It's a loan payment. >> Thank you. >> And I understand how to get loans. >> Thank you. Oh, okay. We're good. >> Okay. >> Any other questions on what's been covered so far from board members? >> Okay. Mr. Bemmy, if you've got another section for us. >> I do. Section two. So, I want to describe the the RFP process
164we use in selecting Dtronics and how the North Dakota OM guidelines were also used. So, as you know, we put this advertisement out there in local newspapers and we had some interest from even around the country. There was a company in Illinois that reached out for some more information on that. So, we knew that the the information got out there. We had a three-person committee that we identified last time that was evaluating these companies and I feel that the three people that most understand scoreboards and that is with myself but our athletic director at Central and Tony Beina and Red River Tyler Nelson. I want to say as we were evaluating this the the two businesses we quickly realized that Lucen HD did not meet all the criteria and therefore according to OM guidelines could
165have been removed right away but we continued to evaluate with them in mind to make sure we weren't missing something. We also wanted to have a comparable if you could break down pieces that they did they did qualify for. we could compare to dacttronics. Part of the um OM guidelines that we use is the technical worksheet they call it. That's what you see with the point system that adds up to a 100. So that's a technical worksheet. We used a rating scale and I apologize I was asked last time if we used a rubric and I said we didn't necessarily use a rubric because it's might be a little bit different in my mind. We used a rating scale that is clearly defined in the OM specs. So we follow that again. We follow that
166what I think is as close as we possibly could. Lucen had a difference in opinion in the way we were applying some of the RFP guidelines. And I'll be specific on even one of them that they won the regional presence. We gave them a 10. They're right here according excuse me here according to get a full amount the words with the OM guidelines for regional like this for anything excellent totally applicable I felt Lucent was right here they're they're they live in our town they should get a we gave Dacttronics an eight when you think about where these scoreboards go all over the country. The definition for eight in the OMB guidelines is very good, substantial, substantially applicable. One could even say Dacttronics is more regional than Lucent. They have many boards with a 100
167to 200 mile radius of here. And as I'll explain in the referrals, that's doesn't hold true with Lucent. But that's just an example of how we use the words from OM's guidelines to what how we apply them. Cost evaluation 25 points out of 100. OM doesn't require a certain percentage for cost evaluation. The point system was included in the RFP. Every bidder saw that. We follow the OM guidelines very clear. However, it was pointed out that made I made a mathematical error. And so, let's go through that. And I admit that specifically, as one example on the scoreboards for Central, I gave Lucent a 25 out of 25 because they were the lowest bidder. I gave Dacttronics 21. Here's the mathematical part that OM suggests. You take the lowest bidder, divide that by the competitor,
168and you get a ratio. That ratio is 0.815. You take that times the 25 points to get what Dacttronics should have received. I gave him a 21. And I'm pointing this out because it was pointed out in your packets from Lucent. I should have given him a 20.38. The next piece is that I want to address with the cost evaluation is very very specific. In Lucen's bid, they include a don a donation of $30,000 per board with the boards that we asked and they put an alternate bid in for a video board also at Kushman. That total package of a donation was 300,000. That's substantial. I I agree. While we appreciate the financial gesture that they did, accepting a financial donation tied to a competitive bidding process introduces uh significant procurement risks and ethical concerns.
169Accepting an out ofspec financial incentive would violate the integrity of our fair and open bidding process that the North Dakota OM requires. No other bidder had that chance to add in a donation like that. It should not be considered. So to be clear, I appreciate the offer, but we have to ignore this quidd proquo and focus on the bid specs. Who qualifies to give us what we are asking for? And then in that pool, who qualifies? Who gives us the lowest bid? Even if we felt that we could accept the donation and still meet the minimum requirements of the specs, Lucent is not a responsible bidder. What I mean by responsible is they did not meet the specifications very clearly. According to North Dakota sentry code, lowest bidder, the school board must award the contract
170to the lowest responsible bidder. This is this is I just copy and pasted this note. Responsible means the bidder must not only have the lowest price but also the proven capability, financial backing and integrity to actually finish the job. Therefore, like I said in the beginning, as we initially started going through this, we realized some of the specifications that we had, Lucent wasn't fitting reference checks. I asked for 10 high school references in North North Dakota and Minnesota. Why? Well, one, I want to be assured that that they work with high schools that as you're working with out outside scoreboards, they can withstand the harsh winters that we have that are very different than a Cleveland or a San Francisco or places like that. But more importantly, I wanted to be assured that again, the
171company that we hired that is supplying these boards and installing them has worked with high schools, not just professional organizations. I understand professional organizations may want better products per se. We don't have the personnel like the professional sports teams do to diagnose the problems when you deal with scoreboards. There's a lot of stuff that goes on and things are going to happen. Even one of Lucen's own references asked me, "You're a high school?" And I said, "Yes." and he said quote consider getting all your components from one source is you will not have the time nor the ability to diagnose the problems. I said thank you. I was able to speak to six out of the 10 referrals from Lucent and I was able to speak to 10 of the 15 outdoor Dacttronics referrals and
17213 of the 20 indoor Dacttronics referrals. They split them up and that's not that's a minor point. Every single Dacttronics refers positive. They would go with them again 100%. Loosened the one referral that they gave me for the high school in North Dakota did not come back glowing in a positive way. They could not recommend them. The board quit working shortly after install. Quote, quote, "The company was hard to pin down. Took a while for them to get back." Another referral, not high school cuz they had the one, another referral in the country. Get all the names of customer service. And that's all he told me. He wouldn't elaborate. Another one. They were a subcontractor of a subcontractor. We didn't actually hire them. The stadium did. Another one. The software is the software they sell
173is tough. These are quotes. Again, back to the OM. And part of the thing in there, there's a section called offers responsibly susceptible for award. Quote, after initial evaluation, the evaluation committee may determine which proposals are reasonably susceptible to award and continue the evaluation process with only these offers. We we determined early on that Lucent did not meet the requirements, but we continued to include them in the evaluation process as we only had two biders and we wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything. That is part two. Questions? Questions from board members? Not at this time. part three and this has to do with the email that you received last week from Lucent. One of their points was the cash donation. Well, I think I've already explained the significant problems with accepting an out
174of spec donation and those inherent problems and challenges that would bring to the fair open bidding process. Another area was the scoring criteria. Loosen suggest that we don't use a weighted rubric which would go against the North Dakota OM process within the scoring criteria. The cost evaluation OM doesn't mandate a number as far as percentage for the cost. Lucent suggested 40%, ours was 25%. Again, it was in the guideline. They referenced a couple other RFPs that they pulled out that were 40%. I'm sure you could find RFPs that are higher. I'm sure you could find RFPs that are lower. 25% is what we felt was acceptable for our bid process. Quality. Quality of that product, the video board. In their words, they said, "We didn't evaluate things like brightness, color temp, viewing angle, and refresh
175rate." I did evaluate all those with both companies. When I presented at that time, I was presenting with what I felt was the most understandable piece of the quality of the spec instead of inundating with everything. But let me evaluate those four. Brightness measured in nits, nits. Dtronics 1500, Lucent, 1200. Dacttronics is Dtronics wins that one. Color temp measured in degrees, both 6,500. The refresh rate measured in hertz, they were the same. the viewing angle. How far how many degrees can you go to the side until you only reach 50% of the brightness and viewability? It's important. Dacttronics 160° loosen to 140. Another point was references. I've already explained the references that I did call from both companies and I don't think I need to go in further detail on that one. Years in business
176as you heard earlier tonight. They say they said they are a direct legal successor of Icon HD. Same workforce, same ownership, same operations continued without interruption. We are not hiring people's names. We are hiring a company. I wonder what happened to Icon HD. When a company sells, changes names, no longer exists, the next company has no legal obligation to serve the needs of the previous company's customers. I put this in as I want a company that can withstand time and the changing of employees. Again, we don't contract with employees. We contract with a company. The RFP requirements specifically with one manufacturer. Lucen doesn't manufacture these components. They install them. Dacttronics does, as in their letter, they said they purchase components from all over the place, or as they said, from two different companies or countries
177primarily based on a financial report that they received. And that's true. Dtronics has nailed it down to two companies that they trust in the world to give them the components. Now, let's be clear. I come from Thief River. We have a component company over there called DigiKey. They buy millions of components and they sell them to companies to build systems. Dacttronics buys components and they build systems. They build the video boards. They build the scoreboards. They build the panels that you punch in to get the the time and the score up there. And although it's not electronic, they build their curriculum, they test their systems, and it's all done in the upper Midwest. Speaking of testing, I found out an interesting fact. The industry standard for testing components like video boards is 17 steps in
178the testing. Dacttronics does 63 steps in their testing. And I've seen the video about the testing. That's why I went into it and started looking at what's usual and customary extensive testing on their own products. Let's go back to curriculum. This is a big piece that I told all of you many months ago that I told our investors. We want to be able to have a highquality product, but we want to be able to put this curriculum in our schools, teach our kids how to do these boards, use these boards, produce advertisements, everything like that, and be able to move on into college and maybe even professional ranks, go into the workforce if that's what you choose. So, I ask for a fully integrated curriculum in the region. Do you have a curriculum and are
179you using it here? They could not provide me with references in this region that are using their curriculum. In fact, this is how it came about. So, I reached out to Lucent in the early part of March when we were looking at doing this to let them know about the whole project. I reached out to them again when I said, "I need to have a curriculum in this. Do you have a curriculum?" Josh called me back on Wednesday, March 25th. I remember it because I was at home. It was a Wednesday. Didn't have any game nights. Had a good conversation with him. And Josh said, "We do not have a curriculum. We can come in and we can teach your kids and we can show them how to use the the products." I said, "That's
180no. I don't want to be I don't want them to be shown how to use the products. I want a curriculum. It's extensive, Josh. and I I explained how curriculums are and what they look like. That was on Wednesday. Two days later on a Friday and again I remember specifically I'm at a a conference for North Dakota 80s in Fargo and I get an email in a during one of the conferences and it's from Josh. We have a fully integrated curriculum but it's mostly in Texas. He sent me the one sheet that described everything that was in there and it also said that I can request samples of curriculum. So I did. He was able to produce that in 5 days. My point is on Wednesday the 25th, Mike, we don't have a curriculum and
181on Friday the 27th we have a fully integrated curriculum and it's in Texas. In his email to me later, he said, "We're new in the curriculum. We want to use Grand Forks to help us and we can help you." That's not what I'm looking for. I want a fully integrated curriculum that's already being used. The final evaluation number, I stand by the evaluation process that we had with all the different criteria, but I went through and said, what if we gave them the pricing at 40%. DCronic still wins 8749. The point is they didn't meet all the requirements we put in there. I think that's about it. This has been a long process. It's been a good process. I feel extremely confident in my recommendation with Dacttronics. I have one concluding statement. So, we recognize
182the immense value of supporting local businesses and we always welcome their participation in the bidding process. However, our primary fiduciary duty is to ensure the responsible stewardship of our organization's resources, those businesses that are investing in our kids in the product, the safety and satisfaction of our end users, and the strict adherence to the fair procurement laws. Awarding a contract to a vendor that fails to meet the critical operational quality supply chain rec requirements regardless of their location compromises our operational standards and introduces unacceptable levels of risk. We remain committed to partnering with local businesses that can successfully demonstrate the capacity to meet our minimum specifications. With that in mind, I hope you can still see the value in Dacttronics as a proven company since 1967 and the products they build and test in house
183and therefore accept their bid as stated in the memorandum. I thank you for your time and I'll take any other questions. Questions from board members for Mr. Beer. >> Mr. Cleven, >> thank you. uh of the referrals uh you you mentioned six of 10 were checked with Lucent HD. Did those referrals include other projects that are similar to the scope but not exactly matching the scope? My basis for this is similar work experience is valid referrals. So, if there were multiple other referrals that weren't checked because the work experience wasn't deemed to be appropriate, were the those referrals left on the table and not checked or were they part of the part of the six that were ref all 10 referrals that they listed, I reached out with multiple phone calls, voicemails, and emails if
184it was listed. Six of them got back to me. So, all six that they put, all the ones that I could get to, I was able to get to. And those are the conversations I had. >> Right. But of those 10, were they strictly limited to high schools or they include the other experience that Lucent has to offer? >> One was a high school where I required 10 high school in the area. The other nine were outside of the region. San Francisco, Cleveland, Texas, Connecticut. [clears throat] Thank you. >> Other questions for Mr. Bearmire? Miss Flynn? >> I can't find the right word um to describe what just happened uh other than uh it was like awkward. Um not because of what you did. Um, but we just spent 40 minutes talking about nonacademic goals
185and Mr. Beer had to stand up here and justify his decision. To me, that's a waste of the board's time. Mr. Beerm, I think you have done an exceptional job. Every time I've interacted with you, you are clear and concise. And while I appreciate the transparency 100%, I think that was completely unnecessary for us to do for another bidder that complained that we didn't accept them. We we took away time from academic conversations for Mr. Beer to be transparent, which I 100% appreciate. My only criticism is that you would have held the process more accountable and just said they're a non-responsible bidder. I am fine and your presentation last week while I think maybe the slides were a little fluffy. I I think your process was absolutely fine and not once have you given me
186a reason to not trust the process that you do in your own department. So, I want to thank you for being very thorough. And my comment about it being unnecessary was not like not to give you this space, but I don't think we owe a bitter anything. And it may come across as as harsh to this process, but you had to do that. and it took away from our academic mission of not being able to talk about that. I appreciate you answering the questions from the board from last time, the questions that we had. Um, my biggest concern is that we were going to spend dollars from the general fund. And if you're telling me that we are not spending a dime from the general fund and we can finance this project and get get
187the um sponsors, I am I trust you in saying that. Um I think the experience for our students is holistic and this creates some welcoming and belonging and highlighting of other people. I think it gets people excited about sponsoring which can then lead to different connections that can translate into donorship um in other ways and I think the packages that your department has put together are very thorough. The only other piece of feedback I would give you is that the board has not made a decision yet and having the sponsorship package that you've presented to us having Dacttronics on it on the bottom is just a little cart before the horse. Um, but I think this is a great opportunity for us um to provide an experience to the families and student athletes and hopefully
188generate some revenue. I didn't know about the fund 62 or the fund 10 and so I appreciate some of these conversations highlighting that. Um, I would also hope that if someone was interested in giving money to the school district that that would remain in place regardless of a contract being awarded. I just wish that sometimes our accountability. Uh, I think sometimes we're too nice and I think we can be more accountable and hold people accountable more to our own internal processes. And so I appreciate the time. Um, I just wanted to say that that took away from our academic mission and you didn't have to do that. I'm glad you showed an example of transparency and accountability. >> Other questions for Mr. Beer? >> Mr. Cleven, >> I'm going to offer a gentle rebuttal at
189the risk of violating a norm. Uh, but with all respect, I absolutely do not think this is a waste of time. This issue has generated a lot of discussion and if we had been silent on it, we would have been hugely or miss in our duty. And bottom line, we're being asked to spend money. So I I do think this has been very valuable. I do think the questions that have been raised have been thoughtprovoking. Uh and I will also offer this. I've worked with the gentleman who owned Lucent HD. uh they in fact were the scoreboard provider for the center that went through a public RFP process very similar to this and their service response was very good you know were there problems after install of course there were uh but literally across the
190street they took care of business my perspective and when asked was always work has been ongoing and and I offer this as they are very credible company. I'm not trying to persuade people to view the evaluation any different than Mr. Beer Meyer has recommended, but it's very important background that I think is worth sharing. Uh, and bottom line, my experience with them has been positive and and I think that's a point I want to make. >> Thank you. Other questions from board members? Mr. Palmino, >> I'd just like to make a motion. Can we do that? >> [laughter] >> You're welcome to make a motion at any time, but c can I can I just pause for once just a procedural question. I know last time it had come up about the uh the preference
191to have this combined or separate. Uh I tried to wade through this whole packet and I couldn't quite get my head around it. So if I can just find out the the the best way to make sure we're not uh violating century code or guidelines. So Mr. Bomba, can you just speak uh briefly about that and then I'll come right back to you, Mr. Palmino. >> Yeah, Chair Burgerer. Um I think the point was articulated last time about the procurement method that we've chosen and it would be important for me to continue to follow that as three separate projects, three separate motions. >> Thank you. With that context, then Mr. Palmino, it's the floor is yours. uh make a a recommendation to accept electronics proposal for the supply and installation of a scoreboard and video
192boards at Grand Fork Central High School contingent upon securing 100% extern public or project funding and financing secured by sponsored pledges. >> Thank you. So that motion by Mr. Paul Msino again is to accept the Dacttronics proposal for the supply and installation of scoreboards and video boards at Grand Fork Central High School contingent upon securing 100% external project funding or financing secured by sponsor pledges. Do we have a second? >> Second by Dr. Hodc. Any discussion? >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Cleven? >> No. >> Anderson? >> Yes. >> Hodak? >> Yes. Larson, >> no. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Pomicino, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. Two, three, four, five. >> Six, yes. Two, no, one absent. >> Motion passes. Next item on our agenda
193is consideration of proposal for scoreboards at Red River High School Gymnasium. Any questions or comments from board members? Yeah, Mr. Cleven. >> Thank you. Uh, this in essence is the same project as central, correct? >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Other questions from board members. >> Miss Flynn, >> I just had a question about the financing piece. Um, you mentioned that there were two banks that you were working with. I'm not going to ask you to name those banks, but last time you also mentioned that Dacttronics had a financing component. Are you working with those banks through potentially Dacttronics or are those separate banks? How how is that relationship work? So when I spoke of the Dacttronics financing to be should have been more clear is they have preferred banks that have worked with business
194uh schools like this. So that was one source and another source is a local bank. >> Does the North Dakota High School Association have resources for these types of considerations for financing projects like this? >> I don't think so. Um I I'm pretty certain they do not. >> Mr. Balmach, do you have anything to add related to that? >> Sure. Thanks, Chair Burger. I would just say that I mean we're going to be competitively looking at what financing available. I think with our local banks here, um that's probably the best option. There's North Dakota Century Code that does limit on how much we can borrow at any one time. and uh as as just the concept of going down the road and getting a a loan, you can only uh borrow up to a half
195a million dollars. So, I think we're still we're in compliance with the Century Code if we pursue that. >> Miss Flynn, do you have a follow-up? >> That was going to be my next question is um I'm assuming that we'll have the funds to put down a significant down payment, so to speak. Um but when would we be expected to have the year one funds in hand? >> Right now I believe the contracts that we have put out is for September one unless other arrangements need to be made. Sometimes the businesses have boards that need to go through and they would like in a different fiscal period. But right now that's what we're looking at a September one. Okay. Other questions from board members? As you can see in your packet, there is an administrative
196recommendation. Um um given uh the the former motion that passed um I don't want to put words in a board member's mouth, but uh but I would be seeking a motion to accept the Dacttronics proposal uh or to to make a a different motion, but but as you can see, we're looking for the supply and installation of scoreboards and video boards at Red River High School. Again, contingent upon securing 100% external project funding or financing secured by sponsor pledges. >> I'll make that motion, >> Mr. Mr. Palmino, uh, just to be clear, uh, a motion to accept >> Yep. >> to accept the Dacttronics proposal as outlined in your packet. Again, this is for Red River High School contingent upon securing 100% external project funding or financing secured by sponsor pledges. Is there a second
197to that motion? >> Second by Dr. Hodc. Any discussion, Mr. Cleven? >> I'm going to vote yes on this only because we need consistency across the two installations. >> Thank you. Any further discussion, comments, or questions from board members? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Lararsson, >> no. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Pomacino, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Flynn, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> 37. Yes. One, no. And one absent. >> Motion passes. Six. I consideration of proposals for a scoreboard at Kushman Field. Any questions or comments from board members? >> Mr. Cleven, >> if I am reading the information here right, Mr. Beer Meyer, Dacttronics is the lowest cost option on this project. Correct. >> Correct. >> Thank
198you. >> Other questions from board members? Again, you can see the administrative recommendation to accept the Dtactronics proposal. Do I have a motion to that effect? It's a motion by Mr. Palmino to accept the Dacttronics proposal for the supply and installation of scoreboard at Kushmanfield contingent upon securing 100% external project funding or financing secured by sponsor pledges. Is there a second? >> Second by a second by Dr. Hodc. Yes. Any further discussion, questions from board members? >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Larson, >> no. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Pomino, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Cleven, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> Seven, yes. One, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. I think >> Thank you for your time.
199Move on to 6J, consideration of student transportation services agreement amendment with Valley Bus. Mr. Bombachuk. >> Thank you, Chair Burgerer. Um, as you recall, three years ago, we had made the transition from Dietrich to Valley Bus as our our vendor of choice of helping with our student transportation services. It was a large uh effort at the time given that there really aren't additional busing companies around in our in our market to just to respond and make that switch. involved uh cooperation by both parties in uh purchasing of the bus barn that belonged to Dietrich at the time and then even purchasing of the busing assets from Valley purchasing from Dietrich at the time. So it was a lot of cooperation per century code uh student transportation services or contracts for that can go uh up
200to seven years at a maximum. The contract that was um determined at the time was for an initial period of three years and so there's a remaining four years of execution within that. It comes to expiration here June 30, 2026. So what you have in your board packet is contemplation via an amendment to the original contract to extend it for two more years. administration thought through uh in conversation with Valley about extending the full four years, but thought to break it up in two-year periods um to um stay consistent, but also be able to check in with one another. There largely weren't uh any changes within the amendment or the uh uh the document itself. Well, there weren't, excuse me, let me clarify. The amendment only clarifies really one change outside of terms extension, and
201that's around scope of service group four. So that's transportation services for out of town trips for athletic teams. Um what we have found is is valley has wanted to grow into uh more of a space in this market by providing coaches um but hasn't hasn't been able to get enough drivers to to really take those on. So in these past three years we've worked with Triangle in East Grand Forks um quite often. But this contract actually had that first right of refusal written in that belonged to Valley. So we always had to go to them for their coaches first. Um in this we've worked through a change in language that does you know articulate um a goodwill of if they can get grow to that capacity we'll go back to them but it does release
202the school district from that first right of refusal clause so we can go directly to triangle. That's the most substantial change involved with this. Um the administrative recommendation would be to approve the amendment here with Alibus that would extend these services for two more years. Any questions from board members for Mr. Bombach? Seeing none, I would seek a motion to approve the amendment to the agreement with Valley Bus as outlined for student transportation services beginning July 1, 2026, which then would extend a 2-year term ending July 30, 2028, excuse me, June 30th, 2028. So, uh, extending, uh, by two years. Do I have that motion from a board member? >> It's been moved by Dr. Hodc and a second by Mr. Manley. Any questions or discussion, Mr. Cleven, >> where are costs of service codified?
203>> Do you want to touch on that, Mr. Bomb? I >> I apologize. I didn't hear the question clearly. >> Where would one find the cost of services? Where where are they in the uh in the broader bigger Oh, >> contract services agreement. >> Sure. Uh oh. In in the actual contract itself, where would they be cited? There's a appendix A that gets updated each year that that will take a from the original term had some base numbers to it and then there's a a cost increase in inflationary element that's written out in the contract itself that brings it up 3%. We've experienced that over the past three years. So it may not be in that original con contract itself. Um, but for the coach uh services, uh, even just in town for example, it's,
204you know, there's a number of different rates, but just for the coach about $250. >> Yeah, the details of it, you know, those are somewhere. I just was wondering how how it's engaged and how we make sure what those are. But it's in appendix A of the larger agreement unaffected by this amendment. >> Correct. Thank you. >> Other questions? Again, there's a motion on the floor to uh approve [clears throat] this amendment and extend the contract for an additional two years. Any other questions or comments from board members? We'll take a roll call vote. >> L is absent. Hodak, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Larson, >> Pomino, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. Burger. >> Yes. >> HS0 no one absent. >> Motion passes. 6K.
205Consideration of bids for wearashing chemicals fiscal year 27. Mr. Bombach. >> Thank you, Chair Burgerer. Um it's exactly that bid process to get a number of different um items in front of us. One mistake I'd made, I included a third column as a third bidder. Uh I it was an adjustment I needed to make that didn't get made. Bren code did not provide a bid. So in this case, there's just two. one bid from Coaper, another from Dakota. Um the I sat down with Wendy Mankey and myself and we went through the details and conversions of the cost rates by unit. And to save you some further explanation that only Wendy could provide, um the summary here is that Coal paper had a more affordable product. there was a it was a competitive bid in
206that there was I think six different products and it was a mix of pricing but of the two that were by volume our greatest user um that carried the day here for coal paper the administrative recommendation would be to award that bid to coal paper and permit the administration to um negotiate a service contract >> questions for Mr. Bombach from board members I would seek a recommendation to award the bid to coal paper and permit administration to negotiate a service contract for fiscal year 2027. >> So moved. >> It's been moved by Mr. Larson. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Cleven. Any further discussion, questions. We'll take a roll call vote. >> Pomacino? >> Yes. >> L is absent. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Manley. Yes. >> Larson. >> Yes. >> Cleven. >> Yes.
207>> Flynn. >> Yes. >> Hodak. >> Yes. >> Burger. >> Yes. >> H. Yes. Zero. No. One. Absent. >> Motion passes. 6L. Policy and regulation review and consideration. Dr. Hodak. Do you want to lead us off from this committee? >> Sure. >> Thanks. >> In [snorts] your board packet, um, the policy committee met on May 15, 2026. um along with district administration and we recommend the following policy. I would believe that we might have that discussion about doing them at all 16 or if there's any um one of those 16 or two or whatever that you would like to pull out and have a discussion on. I can tell you that um we I still have my notes from um going through all the documents that came to us with that meeting because it's even
208though it says 16 for the first one for approval by the board and then one for the second one and one for the third one. There were a total of 27 documents and exhibits and policies that we had to read and go through. And so we were excited to be able to give you the first reading of those the following policies 1 through 16 and then there is one new policy in there which is the second one and then the third one so forth. So >> thank you Dr. L. Dr. Hodk and I met and had quite a bit of conversation about these. And so in his absence, I'll I'll just say that uh the other thing we noted uh was all of the work that Cindy puts into preparing this packet for us in
209order for us to bring a recommendation to you. It's it's quite staggering uh everything that's involved. Uh and so Dr. Hodc, to your point, uh we certainly will be looking at this list of 16. These are amendments to policies that are already in uh in our our broad spectrum of policies. So these would be first reading of 1 through 16. Um I would be looking to uh uh to entertain a motion to approve all of these unless a board member has a question about or a desire to take one out and talk about that first reading separately. Dr. Hodc. And I might add that these changes that that are in here are pretty minor. They are just basically uh one word or two words and that basically most well if not all come from directly
210from our North Dakota School Boards Association. So we are meeting their legal um points that they're trying to make sure we're up to par on. >> Yeah, that's correct. So, any initial questions or thoughts from board members before we look at proceeding? Anything that you want clarification about? Is there any board member who would like to take out any of these 16 policies to look at separately as a first reading these policy amendments? Then I would seek a motion to approve the proposed policy amendments and to complete the first reading of AACA, ABAB, ACBE, ACCA, ACB, BAA, BAB, BDAB, BDB, BGA, DE, FAA, HBA, HCAA, HCBA, and ICB. Please don't make me do that again. >> No, thank you. Uh, is there a motion to approve those 16? So move. >> It's been moved by
211Dr. Hodc. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Anderson. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. >> Pomicino, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Burger, >> yes. >> HS0, no. One absent. >> Motion passes. Now we have on its own um the first reading of a new policy. This is FAAD, tuition agreements and education of non-resident students. Any questions or comments about uh proposed new policy FAA? Seeing none, I would seek a motion to approve the first reading, approve and complete the first reading of new policy FAA, tuition agreements, education of non-resident students. >> So move. >> It's been moved by Dr. Hodc. Is there a second? >>
212Second by Mr. Larson. Any questions or further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> L is absent. Pomacino. >> Flynn. Yes. >> Anderson. >> Yes. >> Cleven. >> Yes. >> Manley. >> Yes. >> Larson. >> Yes. >> Hodak. >> Yes. >> Burger. >> Yes. >> H. Yes. Zero. No. One. Absent. >> Motion passes. Finally, we have uh proposed amendment and completing the required reading and adoption of board regulation ACCA-BR criteria for granting parent sexual offenders privileges to enter school property. Um, a note about this. I believe the reason this is separate and an all-in-one is so that this can appear in the handbook. There's a timing piece. Is that >> regulations only require one reading? >> One reading per >> Oh, thank you very much. So, uh I've been uh uh it's been a
213clarification that as a amendment to a regulation it only needs one reading, not two separate meetings. Thank you for that. Uh, do we have any questions or comments about ACCA-BR? Would seek a motion to approve the proposed regulation amendment and complete the required reading and adoption of ACCA-BR. >> So move. >> It's been moved by Dr. Hodc. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Palmino. Any further discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Anderson, >> yes. >> Pomacino, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> HS, zero, no. One, absent. >> Motion passes. Round to excuse me, Dr. Hodc. Yes. I would just like to make um mention that we heard
214a very good presentation on special education and their job duties. If you wanted to take more time, look through those policies because there's a 10page um new policy additions that we have for special education from the states and the feds. And there's an additional one that is nine or 10 pages. So, a total of 30 pages that we have to make sure that employees are trained, make sure that they know the new laws and are ready to go with it and such. So, it's it's just behooves me every time I look at what the state and fed gives us to do. >> Thank you for that note, Dr. Hodc. We're on to the final letter of six. This is 6M finance committee report. Perhaps Mr. Bombach and then Mr. Anderson, you two have an idea.
215Oh, Mr. Mr. Palmino. >> That's fine. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh we have a couple things we need. There was uh just Josh and I were at the meeting and on the 18th and we we gave approval of two things, but we didn't make any recommendations. But uh one is a uh a ramp. It's a handicap ramp to make ADA accessible in the writer room at Red River, which is the old theater down the ramp. So that total was 49,465. So I would make a recommendation that we do move ahead with that 49465 with uh construction engineers uh providing that base bid and it's coming out of the building fund. Okay. So questions from board members for Mr. Palmino regarding 6M1 the bid results related to the Red River High School ADA compliant ramp.
216So, >> is there a motion on the floor to uh accept the bid proposal for the Red River High School ramp 2026 contract to construction engineers in the amount of 49,465 base bid plus alternates numbers 1 and two to be paid from the building fund? >> Is there a second? That's moved by Dr. Hodc and a second by Mr. Cleven. Any questions from board members about this project, the bid results? I just have a curiosity question about timeline. Is that something that you covered or daily if you're here? Thank you very much. Not as tall as the last person. Sorry. Um we didn't put a specific timeline in. We just said it had to be completed by August 14th. So I'm assuming they'll start one or two weeks after the school is started. Um, we
217also want to stay away from summer school. So, just depending on how long they think it's going to take them um to avoid summer school and then completing that project by August 14th. >> Thank you. Other questions from board members. >> We'll take a roll call vote. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Hodak, >> yes. >> Anderson, >> yes. >> Manley, >> yes. >> Lenn is absent. Cleven, >> yes. >> Pomcino, >> yes. >> Larson, >> yes. Burger. >> Yes. >> HS0 no one absent. >> Motion passes. 6M2 consideration of bid results related to Central High School interior painting project. Mr. Palmino. >> Yeah, this is part of the slice program that we talked about before with Central. I believe they were given 149,000 to do their this is the their main project, but it's over
21850,000. So, we have to have approval by the board. And it's for 62,000. and it's to do some painting on the commons area in the first couple floors that principal is to do as well as there'll be some landscaping but that'll come with other money and this also coming out of the building fund. >> Questions from board members for Mr. Palmino related to the bid results for Central High School interior painting. >> Mr. Cleven, >> was there an estimated budget for the painting portion? No, it was just a total budget of 149 it could spend. >> Thank you. >> Other questions from board members? >> I would seek a motion to accept the bid proposal for the Central High School interior painting project to Kaya Painting in the amount of $62,000 to be paid from
219the building fund. >> It's been moved by Mr. Larson and a second by Mr. Cleven. Thank you. Any further questions or discussion? We'll >> take a roll call vote. >> Pomacino, >> yes. >> Lun is absent. Larson, >> yes. >> Flynn, >> yes. >> Anderson, yes. >> Bodak, >> yes. >> Manley, >> Cleven, >> yes. >> Burger, >> yes. >> H, yes. Zero, no, one absent. >> Motion passes. And 6 M3. Discussion, not consideration, but discussion on Chiller Edition at Wilder Elementary School. Mr. Palmino. >> I think I'll let Dr. Brener walk through this one cuz he presented it at the meeting. >> Dr. Brener. >> Yes, happy to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I was the principal at Wilder Elementary in 1997 when uh the whole community evacuated uh and that building
220was flooded. Uh so for one academic year, we had I'm just giving just a little bit of history here. I know people are tired. I'll make this really brief. Um for one school year, we set up relocatables on the football field at Valley the old football field at Valley Middle School. And that's where Wilder Elementary School had school for a year while we uh reconstructed Wilder from the ground up on the inside. Uh built the building so built classrooms. So it was um it it was a co-eing model that we had. Uh so it was very specific to the type of instructional delivery that we had. At the same time, uh all the HVAC was piped in for AC. Uh but the money stopped. Uh so we were not able to complete uh air conditioning
221at that school. Presently what we've had the last two school years is, you know, we can call them splitters. We can call them uh room air conditioners. Teachers have to dump and add water and do those things. They're working okay. Uh they're providing a coolness. Um but the new addition, the new uh brick and mortar edition does not have air conditioning in it. So we would be doing the same thing uh with splitters. So, with uh with a bit of with Valley Middle School coming in under budget and the Central Kitchen coming in under budget, we do have some resources we could use to finish air conditioning for the entire brickandmortar uh building of Wilder Elementary Elementary at an estimated price of 1.45 million. That price is good for Mr. Chair, I'm going to have
222to defer to Mr. Bomb for how long that that bid is good for. Mr. Bomb. >> Yeah, thank you. It's not a quote. It's not a solid number. It was an estimate given at the time about December of last year. So, it's it's aging, but we did ask um it was construction engineers who's currently working at Wilder who gave us that number, and we asked if it was still good, and they thought it's it's a reasonable estimate yet. >> Do you have more to add, Dr. Briner? >> The only thing I would add is we would not be able to get to that this summer. It would be the summer of 27 if the board would approve that. >> Sure. Thank you. So I a comment and and a question. The comment is I know
223after this meeting is adjourned, we also have facilities committee of the whole which will meet. We'll go over the full facilities plan presentation. Um I know the curiosity is going to be out there about other buildings in the district uh and air conditioning there, other folks who've been waiting patiently. Uh and so just curious if we'll hear um some of that in the the um facilities committee meeting of the whole tonight. Um and and then the other piece um I'll I'll wait on until I hear an answer to that. So will that be a because we don't have to broaden that out here if if we're going to have a bigger conversation about for lack of a better word greens, yellows, and reds in the district. So, with no action required tonight, a simple yes,
224we'll we'll get to it'll be we'll be fine. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, then I'll I'll save the other piece that I have until our facilities committee. As I understand it, even though this is under uh under six, recommendations for action, this particular agenda item is just discussion. There's uh so no explicit action is required tonight. Um we heard about, you know, possibly summer of 27. So, um, knowing that, any other questions from board members for this conversation at this time on the agenda? >> Mr. Clever, >> if if this were to proceed, must it only be procured under the current contract arrangements or could we consider seeking other designers and methods of construction procurement? >> Mr. Bomb. >> Um, thank you, Chair, board member Cleven. I would I would absolutely recommend that we go
225through a full bid process and and receive other proposals as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Other questions for this discussion on the chiller edition at Wilder Elementary School, the possible addition? Okay. Anything else from the finance committee from Mr. Palmino or Mr. Anderson, Mr. Bombach before we move on? Anything else of note? We've concluded all of six. Uh if you remember uh we also moved 7A1 and two but we'll still uh keep a moment for any announcements. 7A any announcements. Miss Flynn, I just want to say I wasn't at the finance committee meeting because it was my birthday and I want to say uh happy birthday to my fellow left-handed birthday buddy Jeff Manley as well. Um, we're known for missing meetings on our birthdays here. [laughter] Um, so >> happy birthday to half
226of the board, I guess. Uh, any other announcements? 7B board request for future consideration. >> I have one, >> Miss Flynn. >> Um, it was quite fitting that Safe Kids is here today. Um because I thought maybe at some point we can have a conversation about policy or enforcement with our SRO's on electronic scooters and mobile whatever you want to call them um with our students. Um, I have almost hit a kid on an electric scooter many times zooming out of nowhere in the Shraider parking lot. And I have yet to see any one of them wearing a helmet, which violates our city code. And I have also seen many kids who have casts and ouchies at school who have hurt themselves with electric scooters. and there I think maybe there's more we can do
227with our policy and working with our SRO's. So that's my comment on that. Thank you. Other board requests for future consideration. School board norms 7C. Mr. Cleven, how did we do? >> I thought we did well. I'll leave others to judge how I did, but I love having a great debate. Thank you. >> Thank you. And before we get to eight, just a reminder that we also uh are having the facilities committee meeting of the whole uh both in the interest of switching around live stream and tech and also for a little stretch break. Uh let's go ahead and say we will uh attempt to uh uh to call that meeting to order at 9:27 Verizon Standard Time. will give you 5 minutes to stretch and we are adjourned.