001Oh, [music] hey. Oh, [music] hey. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. [music] Board trustees meeting on Tuesday, May 26th. At this time, we will call the board meeting to order. First item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. Second. So I have a motion by Trusty Varner and a second by Trustee Ramirez. Um at this time I will call for public comment. This is public comment on the adoption of the agenda only. Is there any public comment hearing? None. We'll go ahead and move uh all in favor please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes unanimously. We'll go ahead and move on to where is the flag item number two >> which is flag salute. Do we have a flag?
002>> There's one. >> Stand for the back. There's one outside. Yeah, there's one. >> Okay, we'll just face to the back. There's one outside. And if you'll please uh stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Moving on to agenda item number three. This is the superintendence report. Uh superintendent fueling Thank you, President Walt. Not much to report this evening. There are seven days of school left, but who's [clears throat] counting? Um, just a lot of great things going on, lots of celebrations at the schools. Um, and looking forward to wrapping up a great year. That's all. >> Great. Thank
003you. And at this time, we'll move on to agenda item number four, which is board reports and board member comments. Um, our Carson High School activities representative is still at baseball. He'll be joining us in a little bit. Um, we do not, and in um, fairness of time, our board reports will not be um, shared with you this evening. We'll share them with you on June 9th because we want to get to the reason why you're all here. So, uh, we'll go ahead and close agenda item number four. Moving on to agenda item number five. Do we have any association reports? [clears throat] Seeing none. All right, we will move on to agenda item number six, which is the presentation of the 2025 26 distinguished students awards for all Carson City School District schools, including
004Carson Monasuri Charter School. And this is presented by our superintendent, AJ Feling. Good evening. Welcome everyone. We have uh two rather special recognitions going on this evening. Um for the first one, we have uh some students here. Um maybe a few weeks ago, uh parents, guardians, you you may have received a call from what you thought was um some kind of scam, some kind of um confused person uh letting you know that your child was being recognized as a distinguished student at a schoolboard meeting. There's not a whole lot more information other than that. um the history of the and I'll tell you if you're here it is legitimate. I I assure you um the history of this back I believe it was in 2016 uh one of our school school board members at the
005time um just made a comment that you know we we are regularly recognizing students that are um you know have amazing academics. Uh we are recognizing students that are participating in some of the great uh offerings that we have um the clubs, activities that are successful in competitions. Uh we're recognizing kids for athletics. But what about those kids that are just great kids? They are great citizens of their school. They are helpful. maybe they're a great leader, although not in maybe a formal way, like through a club or an organization. And and so it what it really just came down to is we want to recognize kids that are awesome that maybe just don't aren't in some of those other groups that are otherwise getting recognized. And so if that's the call you got about
006your student being a distinguished student to be recognized this evening, that's exactly why they're here. Their principal at their school um has recognized them as being awesome. And I think that's great because a lot of times there are kids who do don't always show up in some of these ways through these um activities that get recognized. But there's so many things that they are doing on a daily basis in their school and how they interact with other kids, how maybe they're helping out their teacher, maybe how they're helping out their school, just doing some great things around the school and it's a a really nice opportunity to be able to recognize them for that. So, we have two kids from each campus that we are going to ask to come up here so that we
007can recognize them. Um, and kids, if that's you, and I I hope you know if that's why you're here. [laughter] Um, when I call your name, if you could please make your way to the front here and then go through this little hallway and there's a door. I'll I'll come and meet you. so you're not scared. Um, but if you could kind of make your way up here on the stage so we can give you a little something as a recognition of how great you are and then we're going to take a little picture and then we'll send you back off that way and kind of come around and out the other side. I don't believe any children have ever been lost here. So hopefully that part will will be okay. >> Oh, okay. So,
008should I have them actually stay up here? Okay. So, little rewind. Um, after you come up here and we uh get you the recognition, we're actually going to have you stand and stay up here so that we can get a larger group photo of everyone. Forgot about that. Thanks, Dan. Students, any questions? All right. So, the first Oh, President Walt, President Walt is joining me. Sorry. You going to help me? Okay. Um, our first student is from Borderick, Mila Camper. [cheering] [applause] Excellent. >> So, Mila, Mila, before I give this to you, was walking back around and up here, was that scary in any way? >> That went okay. >> So, all the other students, they shouldn't be worried about it. It's not complicated. >> No. >> Okay, great. All right. So, Mila, we have
009this for you >> and we have this for you. >> Thank you. All right. So, why don't we have you maybe if you want just we'll just keep lining up. [applause] Okay, next from Borderick, we have Vincent Lada. [applause] I'll just give him a card. I'm sorry. >> [applause] >> Okay, next from Empire Elementary School, we have Emma Aguilar. [applause] >> [applause] >> And next from Empire, we have Julian Placencia. [applause and cheering] >> [applause] >> And we move to Fremont Elementary School. We have Angelina Ruiz. [applause] [clears throat] >> [applause] >> And also from Fremont Elementary, we have Hudson Roser. [applause] >> [applause] >> Moving on to Frri Elementary School, we have Laura Lee King. [applause] Should we just >> No, no, Laura Lee. >> Okay, we'll be sure to get that to her.
010Um, next from Fridge, we have Jackson Piso. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay, moving to Mark Twain Elementary School. Uh, we have Antonio Moreno Castro. [applause] Okay, looks like Antonio did not make it this evening. and we will get that to him. Uh and then we have loose angel finesse. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay. From Celiger Elementary School, we have Brooke Gorder. [applause] >> [applause] >> and also from Celiger, Matteo Rios. [applause] >> [applause] >> And from Carson Monasuri School, we have Angelo DeLeon. [applause] >> [applause] >> And also from Carson Monosauri, we have Indigo McDougall. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay, moving up. Uh, going to Carson Middle School, we have Karen Andrade. [applause] >> [applause] [snorts and clears throat] >> Next From Carson Middle School, we have Yamir Lugo. [applause] Okay. Okay. No, no, your
011mirror. We will move on to Eagle Valley Middle School. Uh, tonight we have Xander Montes. >> [applause] [snorts] [applause] >> Okay. Um, from Carson High School main campus, we have Ashley of >> Nope. >> Right. >> My mistake. I got ahead of myself. From Eagle Valley Middle School, we have Riley Bass. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay. Hopefully I haven't spoiled the surprise for Carson High School by announcing that first name. Um, from Carson High, we have Ashley Aila Galarza. [applause] >> [applause] >> and also from Carson High School, Kaden Coleman. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> I've I've known Kaden a long time. Um, if you've ever come to a Carson High baseball game and you've seen a pitcher that throws that really weird angle where it looks like their hands going to scrape the ground
012because they're coming so far under, that that's Kaden. Um, next from Carson High Silver Campus, we have Vanessa Tran. [applause] >> [applause] >> And from Carson High silver campus, We have Josiah Zakarius. [applause] [cheering and applause] [applause] Okay, so students um and for those of you great job like it's amazing you are getting recognized for being amazing human beings. beings. That's not a normal recognition maybe that always goes out there. So, thank you for all you do, how you act in school, how you help out in school. For those of you who are raising these kids, nice job. Thank [applause] you. So, if I could, we could take a little pause here and Mr. Davis, I'm thinking you probably want to arrange for a picture in some way and then families if you want to
013kind of gather around whatever you want to do. But Dan, I'll let you kind of guide this. >> Should we get in Not sure how long we should awkwardly make them wait up here. Kind of enjoying this. Anyone want to get last minute last minute photos here quick? We got one. Okay. It's just okay. Okay. Are we good? All right, you guys. [applause] Hello, Dr. Molden. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh, and congratulations to all the students. Do we have any board comments on this agenda item? No. All right. We're going to go ahead and move back then. To my understanding, we do have our um high school representative here. Is Cooper fueling here? >> Okay, [applause] great. Thanks. [laughter] Um all right, so for those of you following along, we're going to move
014back to agenda item number four, which is our high school um activities report. Go ahead. >> Uh good evening, members of the board and everyone in attendance. Uh thank you all for being here tonight. I apologize for my tardiness. Um but uh just a few things tonight. Not much. Uh school is finishing up. Uh just as I mentioned at the last meeting on June 2nd uh at 9:30 a.m. I believe uh the high school or I guess elementary school graduation walk uh will be happening at all the elementary schools around the district. Uh you guys are all invited to attend. all uh staff and admin and board members. Uh so that will be when the uh class of uh 2026 will be going back to their elementary schools one last time to walk around. Uh
015and then aside from that, not much else. Just finishing up the school years, pushing through finals. Uh and not much else. And this is my last uh meeting as your uh school board representative for uh the student body at Carson High School. But now I will turn it over to the 2026 2027 uh student body school board representative Ruby Bertrand. Hello, my name is Ruby Bertrand. I'm going to be the 2026 2027 school board representative and I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. And I believe uh Cooper, could you please join us on the stage? >> Yeah, actually. And Ruby, can you just stand up so everyone can see you? The TVs are okay. And yeah, uh Mr. Mr. Fueling, if you could make your way up on
016stage, please. >> And while he's making his way on stage, uh we are very fortunate to have somebody volunteer from the high school to um do the board report. So, we're excited to hear from you next year as well, and we wish you the best of the end of this year. So, thank you. And then uh Cooper >> uh Mr. Fueling. It's a it's a great name. Great last name. >> Is that German? German >> I believe. So >> German name. Yeah. It's not not very common. No. Um, so the uh the the trustees, the board of trustees uh would like to thank you for all of your work this year and spending many evenings, sometimes waiting a little bit, sometimes waiting a long time to uh inform the board what's going on up at
017Carson High School. So, as a token of their appreciation, this is for you and uh we wish you the best as you move on to other things. All right. Thank you, sir. >> And we'll go ahead and start down with Trusty Ramirez. Do you have comments? [applause] >> Cooper, you did a magnificent job keeping us updated as to what's going on in the high school. Um, so congratulations. You have um develop public speaking skills and I think that's that's going to take you far. So, congratulations and keep up the good work. Thank you. I wasn't prepared. I'm sorry. Um, but thank you. Um, and it's it's great to just see you uh mature and move on and and uh see you around the community as I do and uh I wish the best for you
018very much. Keep getting buffed, too. All right. >> Great job, Cooper. I've always been super impressed by you. you get up here, you're so calm, you're put together, you hardly even have notes with you. Just remember all of this stuff, and uh those are some skills that are going to take you far. So, good luck in the next chapter of your life. Uh next chapter of your life is just senior year, right? You're not going anywhere. So, if you're tapping out of this, are you still involved in student council for next year? What are you doing? >> Senior class president. Nice work. Thank you for volunteering to step up and lead like that. Uh, I know you'll be an asset to your peers. I appreciate everything you've been to the board. >> Yeah, I wanted
019to thank you for all the information you provided. You're always clear with what you wanted to say. Like somebody mentioned, you did without notes most of the time, which uh I don't know how you did it, but anyway. And I want to thank you for spending Tuesday nights with us twice a month and uh just really appreciate everything you've done. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cooper. Um, you are impressive. Uh, I think many have said as well, how you were able to get up there and give us all the reports off of retention was amazing to me. We're all taking notes up here and you're just uh doing what you do. So, can thank you so much the time that you've given us and good luck next year and um we'll miss you. Thanks. All
020right, we'll go ahead and close agenda item number four and move on to agenda item number seven. This is the introduction of 2025 2026 Carson City School District retirees and employees who are leaving the district after 10 or more years of service. This is a discussion um item and this will be presented by superintendent Fielding. >> Thank you, President Walt. this evening. Um, like we do each school year around this time, we recognize some people who have been in our district for quite a while. Um, and in some cases it's been over a decade, in some cases more than two, in some cases more than three. I don't think we have any more than four this year, but we have um and so it's a it's a really really nice opportunity for um the the
021board to for you to get recognized by the board um for all those years of service to the district, to this community, to our children, and supporting them as they move through in their years and on to better things. In total, for all the people being recognized this evening, we have 735 years of total experience with the district. That's a long time. I just want to to be clear on that. But um I I hope that all that time um has been filled with a lot of laughs and a lot of success and some you've met some great colleagues along the way. Um it's always hard to to maybe step away from some of those things, but uh just know that that time has been greatly appreciated all 735 of the 735 years. Um, so
022with that, we will be asking uh those of you stepping away uh to come up here and be recognized for your time with the district. When we are all done, Dan, we're not keeping everyone up here for this one, right? Okay. So, as you come up, um, we will have a little something for you and then you're welcome to make your way off the stage. Um, and I I think our our trustees likely will have a few things to say. Um, once uh we've recognized everyone, when you come up here, um, you're welcome to say a few words. Many of you have had some incredible experiences here and maybe would like to to share a little bit about that and that that is very much welcome. So we will kick things off with um Carson
023High School. So is Kathy Aian here >> number our first recognition. [applause] I just want to say it's um bittersweet. Working at Carson High School has been amazing. be wonderful friendships and um I'll take with me a lot of great memories. Thank you. [applause] Next this evening we have Mr. Brian Branch from Carson High School. [applause] Thank you so much. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. [applause] Uh, next we have Jose Gomez. I didn't see you. Okay. Also from Carson High School, we have Christy McComeber. [applause] I've worked for the Carson City School District since 1999 and um had a lot of amazing experiences and I've also worked from all grade levels from kindergarten all the way up to high school in many different capacities and Carson City is the best place to live, work and
024hopefully retire. Thanks. [clears throat] [applause] Okay, next from Carson High School, we have Andy Sonaker. >> He's running. >> You won. [laughter] >> I know you will. I spent enough time up here talking to crowds, but uh it's been a absolute pleasure working in uh for the Carson City School District, um working with uh all the amazing faculty. Uh I met some really awesome faculty at Carson Middle School when I was there. Um and uh I just want to shout out to the awesome kiddos that I've gotten to work with. That's been the absolute uh joy of my career is working with the students. So, thank you all very much. [applause] [clears throat] That'll work. He was like bending down. Next from Carson High School, uh I think my daughter's favorite science teacher ever, Mr.
025Scott Vickery. [applause and cheering] >> [laughter] >> I don't I don't have much to say. I'll keep it short. I just want to say thank you, man. It's been an absolute pleasure. I started in 99. uh the day my dad retired, they said they wouldn't let two victories teach here at the same time. So uh um he taught here for 14 years. So it's almost half century of victories come to a close right here. So thank you guys. [applause] Mr. Vicky, I do believe Mr. Sonaker had a faster time up here than you did, so maybe we can work on that in retirement. Uh, moving on to Carson Middle School. Um, first we have uh a teacher who could not uh make it here this evening um but has been with us for 18 years,
026Mr. Mark Bacon. If I could just get a round of applause for him. [applause] Um, so make sure [snorts] Heath [applause] Okay. Yes. So, [snorts] I've been with the Carson City School District for 26 years, and I've loved every minute of it, and I'm sure going to miss all the kids and all the staff that I've worked with. Thank you. [applause] Next from Carson Middle School, Mr. Rob Hustler. [applause] Oh yeah. Yeah. Wow. 29 years in one school. Woo. 34 years total. You know, you've been teaching a while when a rotation switched and you're doing attendance the first time and you say, "Hey, do you have a brother named Justin?" And the kid goes, "That's my dad." You know, you've been around a while when that happens. So, uh, my wife Jackie is here and,
027uh, she moved here with me in 1997 and we lived in a tent and today we have a beautiful home. We raised two kids, several dogs, a cat, we traveled around the world, all the states, and I was fortunate enough to coach for 25 years several sports. And I can tell you what else uh, teaching's done for me in this district. I was just out of school for six months with an illness. And uh I have to say thank you to Dan Sadler and Amy Robinson and Jeremy Lewis for allowing me to heal up and give back. And you also know you've been teaching a long time when you miss 6 months and you still have over 100 sick days. So that's pretty good. So and I our insurance is good enough everybody. I owed
028zero and I probably had a million- dollar bill. So, I want to thank everybody for that. And uh good luck to everybody continuing on. Um you know, before you know it, you'll be up here if you're not coming up tonight. So, thank you all for a great 29 years. [applause] Okay. Also from Carson Middle School is Shelby Tuttle. Perfect. And our last retiree from Carson Middle School, Principal Amy Robinson. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Oh, come on. Um 30 years in the district, Carson City School District is the best district. Um every day is is truly an adventure when you're in education. Uh, can't wait to see what my next adventure is. And, uh, working with staff, amazing. Mr. Sonaker, I agree. The joy comes from the kids. Like that every day is a joy
029with working with all of the kids that we get to work with. So, thank you for a great 30 years. [applause] >> [snorts] >> Okay, moving on to Eagle Valley Middle School, we have Helen Billheimr. [applause] >> [laughter] >> So, Lupe, they don't tell you there's a big light when Can you get up here? [laughter] It's been great working here. I moved here from Virginia and um at New Teacher Training, three different people told us, "Say Nevada." And I was happy I already knew how to say that. So, it's been a great experience. Thank you. [applause] [snorts] and from Eagle Valley Middle School, Maria Lupe Scoffield. [applause] >> [sighs and gasps] >> I started with the school district back in 1995 as an ESL uh parapro for eight years at CMS and then I moved
030on to Carson High as a math teacher for 10 years and I'm finishing up at Eagle Ali as a um school counselor. So, it's been great. Uh fun wild ride. Thank you. [applause] And from Eagle Valley Middle School, Pam Mullison. >> [applause] >> You can't see it. >> Yeah, it's really hard. Okay. Just tuck that one. from Borderick Bray Elementary School. Uh Christine Estrada [applause] I've been with the school like 22 years because I started out um just doing part-time work. Um but I worked as a um reading tutor for nine years and I've been in kindergarten I believe 12. and I wouldn't be able to do it without my partner in crime, Ann. Um, [clears throat] but I'm known as Miss Chrissy and I'll miss that. The kids always call me Miss Chrissy. Thank
031you. [applause] Are you okay? And I think we're calling up the partner in crime then, Ann. [applause] That's all right. They can't see me anyway. [laughter] Um, yes, I'm the partner in crime and my other partner in crime for the last 20 years has been or 18 has been Michelle Cassopo. We worked together all this time and it's been a great a great time. Thank you. [applause] From Empire Elementary School, we have Gail Omahro. [applause] Well, I accepted a uh substitute teaching position at Empire in the fall of 2006 and I've considered it my home away from home ever since uh intermittently for a season. Um and I'm just really grateful for the opportunity and the privilege to have been a part of this district. So thank you [applause] from Fremont Elementary School. Principal Dr.
032Jennifer Ward [applause] [applause] Yes, I've been waiting a long time for this. Uh, so for those who know me, you may know that I like data. And so I counted up some stuff. Um, in the words of the song from Rent, 525,600 minutes. How do you measure a year? Well, in the Carson City School District, I have not measured my time here in minutes because that would be completely insane. Instead, I have measured it actually in days. And that is 8,600 days. I walked into this school district as a wideeyed 5-year-old. And today, 45 48 years later, I stand before you spending all but two years of my adult life in the halls and the walls of our school district. I have been a bulldog, a Solon twice, a senator, a Mustang, an eagle, and
033now finally and forever, a Fremont Falcon that I am blessed to work with the most seriously amazing people on the planet. Tonight for me is really about appreciation and appreciation throughout all my life and the support that I've been given. I think too often we forget to say thank you. So, I want to use this opportunity to say thank you. I wouldn't be here without my first teachers, my mom and dad. Thank you for not laughing at an 8-year-old me who said, "I'm going to be a teacher." You embraced the dream wholeheartedly and let me do my thing. To my sister Shannon, who has exemplified how to live an adventure into retirement and who is my absolute biggest cheerleader. to my children Jaden and Sheay and their dad Concaid for sharing me with all the
034other children that I had the blessing to come in contact with. You don't walk this path very long without having so many models of inspiration. And to my teachers in Carson City School District who saw my potential before I could see it in myself. My kindergarten teacher Diane Toby, third grade, Jeanie Mayer. Fourth grade Marcy Richie. Bonnie Parnell for sixth grade, Roy Walter, Mary Cockworth, Jessica Daniels, Terry Johnston, Kathy Adams, Ruth Abestary, and to the district staff who allowed me at the age of 13 to serve on my first curriculum adoption team for the family life curriculum. I literally have lived this school district. Thank you for curating my spark and letting my passion grow. Thank you to all my dear friends and colleagues who challenge me to be my best and to show up
035every day. The late Terry Snelling, Amanda Cox, Susan Squires, Christy Lennox. And to my partners who have allowed me the grace to grow, Mark Bacon, Dan Sadler, Shalis Krookshanks, Carrie Prior, Cheryl Ricetta, and Jeff Herszel. I have learned so much about myself and about my leadership through our partnerships. And to my love, Ron, thank you for loving a woman whose profession you do not understand. Thank you for not blinking an eye when I dress and leave the house as a pineapple on a Tuesday, a princess on a Wednesday, and spending my entire weekend preparing for a a potato bar extravaganza. When I stepped into administration 13 years ago, I adopted a motto of find a way. In this profession, I say it daily because the alternative is to find an excuse. When you are in
036the business of nurturing souls and building futures for kids, excuses don't move the needle. Finding a way is the only option. And it warms me to my core to see this institutionalized at Fremont. And because every child deserves an educator who looks at the challenge and says, "Let me find a way for you." And I see that daily at Fremont. This has never been just a job. It is a passion, a calling, and truly my life's geography. I have been truly blessed by this path and by every person who has walked it with me. And as I sign off for the day 8,601, I leave you with the same charge. When the road is hard and the stakes are high, for not only our kids, but for yourselves, find a way. Thank you, Carson City
037School District, for a lifetime of memories. [applause] Okay. From Frri Elementary School, Jim Phillips. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Deanda Lambda for fueler. I spent about 13 years working at various kitchens, but my shout out is to my fridge co-workers. They put up with me [laughter] and which is great. And thank you Carson City School District. [applause] >> [snorts] >> She's here. Uh, also from Front School, Irene Waltz. [applause] Well, Mr. Brown asked me to run, but my students know I don't run anywhere. So, I'd like to thank everybody for coming, especially my husband Sorry. [laughter] Anybody who who knows me from church knows that I'm a crier. We truly do have a very blessed community and I thank you for sending the very best kids to us every day. Also, thank you
038to my wonderful colleagues. You're the best and you'll be missed. Take care. [applause] She's not here. Start stealing. [snorts] >> Okay. From Mark Twain Elementary School, we have Sydney Abbott. [applause] Oh yeah, you got this. Hi. Um, I started in Mark Twain 2009. Um, it's been a wonderful my had a wonderful time there. Um, seven more days and I'm off to new adventures. So, thank you so much. [applause] and also from Mark Twain Elementary School, Kim Collier. [applause] Moving on to Celiger Elementary School, we have Kim Cohen. >> [applause] >> And then from Celiger Elementary, we have Bonnie Maderos. [applause] Wow, you really can't see up here. [laughter] Um, I'm just so grateful to work for Carson City School District. Teaching was or is my second career. So um it really means a lot to
039me. But being at Celager for most of my career has been amazing. Um my daughter went through Celiger. I've worked there for 20ome years and then now my granddaughters are going to go through Celiger. So it really is a family and I'm just going to really miss my everyday there, my seeing my students who bring me joy and um it's just been a pleasure. So, thank you [applause] Next through student support services, we have Carolyn Aikens. [applause] And from our transportation department, Andrea Bear [applause] said something, we changed it. And from transportation, Sheree Fletcher. [applause] There she is. door. almost. >> I need my sunglasses. [laughter] Hi. I've been at the Carson City School District for 28 years. All of that has been with the transportation department. uh started out as a bus driver and
040worked my way up and the last 11 years has been the bus boss, the big bird bus boss. So, I'm out. Thank you. [laughter] It's been great. [applause] Thank you everybody. So, Paul is here. And uh our last person here for the evening, our chief human resources officer, otherwise known as a churro, Mr. Dan Sadler. That was not >> Thank you. Uh just a quick thank you Mr. fueling for uh putting up with my sense of humor and for believing in me uh in this role. All the people here who are retiring uh you're an inspiration. I've enjoyed working with all of you that I know over the years. Um I'm not retiring. I'm going to keep working, but my time here in Carson City School District has been tremendous. Oh, AJ, you're supposed to
041be doing interpretive miming as I speak, but no. Okay. Um, just want to say we've got a tremendous school board here. We've got great staff in this district and awesome students and want to thank you all for the opportunity to work here. So, thank you very much. [applause] [clears throat] >> So, we're going to ask everyone uh to come back up here and try to show off an impressive feat of strength like Mr. Sadler just did. and throw me around here on the stage. I'm sure he's going to regret that later. [laughter] Mr. Sadler uh is actually moving on. He's going to be the next superintendent for Story County School District. So, very excited for him um as [applause] he moves on to that role. >> All right. If you will, uh we'll go ahead
042and start with Trusty Varner for comments. this a good night. Uh, but it is bittersweet for me. I'm excited for everyone who's retiring or moving on to a new adventure, new job. Uh, but it's sad also because we're going to miss you. You spent a lot of your majority of your life with us and I want you to know that we truly appreciated all the work that you've done for the district. So, I wish you the best of luck in the future, whatever your future holds. and we'll miss you and stop by every once in a while. Thank you, >> Trusty Peterson. >> Uh AJ mentioned the 735 combined years of experience um that is retiring and leaving the district. Um and Dr. afterward. I can't math all this out, but I like I think
043if we could count the number of children that have been touched in those 735 years, it would be incredible. So, thank you all of you for giving so much of yourself to ensure that all the youth of Carson City have a solid foundation and a sturdy education and know that there's people in their lives that care about them and uh want them to feel welcome and safe and at home when they're at school. So, thank you all for what you've done. a lot of years, a lot of years between all of you and it's amazing and um just echoing what Michelle said, a lot of lives touched and you've all done amazing things and you're going on to do more amazing things and so congratulations and good luck. Enjoy your retirement. I'd [clears throat] like
044to comment too on the 735 years uh as I was I heard that um I just want to say thank you uh for all of you for like the love that you have shown kids um peers and your colleagues u mentorship that you've done for each of them to the new people coming in and just the the care that has been expressed over those 735 years. Um just know that you have absolutely touched lives and uh it will not be forgotten. I promise. >> I echo what my colleagues mentioned and I also want to just say thank you for educator educating our future leaders. um you truly gave your heart and your p your energy to them and so we are very very very grateful for all you did for our students. Thank you. [clears
045throat] [applause] >> Yes, thank you very much. Um I've known some of you for 30 plus years. Um you were there when I started and so I see you out there. I wish you the best of luck. Um, and I wish you happiness with uh I see some of you and it's you will be missed. Um, what you brought to Carson City School District. This is a is a phenomenal school district. Uh, but it is a great school district due to the fact for the staff and all the employees that we have. you make it what it is and you have brought so much joy into the to the lives of the students, the families and so I wish you the best of luck and happiness and congratulations. Um I hope to see some of
046you back or I mean all of you back. I mean at at the time whether or not because we're always in need of substitutes just just saying. So but no um congratulations. All right, we'll go ahead and close agenda item number seven. And at this time, we're going to go ahead and take a fivem minute break. Um, and so we will see you back in five minutes. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Amen. Oh, [music] Oh, [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. You know, how [music] Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Amen. Oh. >> [music] >> Oh Woo! [music] Hey! Ah! Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Come on. [music] for allowing us to get a fivem minute break. We'll go ahead and continue with the schoolboard meeting with agenda item number eight. This is for public comment.
047[snorts] Uh Renee, did we have um public comment submitted online? Yes, President Walt. A public comment uh was received from Evan Yman's, Landon Martin, and Brena Bao. Uh copies were provided to the board members and will be included in the permanent record. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. I'd also like to uh comment that we did receive um a written uh letter that was distributed to all of the board members and to our clerk, superintendent, and to our attorney. You have that um with you right now. Okay. So, that has been received and submitted. At this time, we will call for public comment. You will have three minutes. Um the board will not respond to the public comment. We'll go ahead and start with um and I am going to apologize with your names but
048I believe it's Zoe the please uh yes no applause. Thank you. Um yes and that is Madison Hagar. So, if you would, if you'll come down to the table, make sure that the microphone that you see a green light from red to green. And again, you'll have three minutes. Thank you. Ah, thank you. All right. Good evening. My name is Madison Hager. I'm a senior at Carson High School and I'm here along with my teammates who are all part of Carson High's cross country team and long-distance track team. We've come this evening to express our shared concerns with the current head cross country coach. We have taken this issue to various Carson High School administrators, including the athletic director, vice principal, and principal. We expressed our concerns about the head coach in a letter signed
049by 20 members of the cross country and long-distance track team. Tegan Borrowman submitted the letter, and we'll speak more about it this evening. But in summary, when we presented the letter and our concerns, the administrators failed to act or advocate for us to help resolve the conflict. Members of the long-distance track team have even tried speaking to our coach individually about their concerns, but he continually dismisses them and refuses to listen to his to athletes input. We realize that there are two sides to every story and that a change in leadership can often be hard, but we have experienced numerous incidents and reoccurring situations in which we feel the coach's behavior has not been appropriate or mature for someone in a leadership position. I've run on the cross country team for the past four years
050and I've been in this building multiple times along with my team to be recognized by the board for both our athletic and academic achievements. This team is absolutely abundant with some of the most hardworking, kind, and dedicated kids you will ever meet. And while I won't personally be attending or running with Carson High next year, it doesn't feel fair to leave my teammates in an unstable and generally negative team environment as a result of the head coach. Throughout my time running with Carson High, cross country has given me some of my best friends as well as once in a-lifetime experiences that I will forever hold close to me. So to see my teammates, both old and new, considering quitting due to our coaches neglect has been incredibly hard. Every kid who decides to join the
051cross country team should be entitled to all of the positive experiences that the sport provided to me. But with the new coaching direction our team has taken, many of them will miss out on those opportunities altogether. It has been very hard to see my once incredibly passionate teammates lose their love for the sport because of the hostile environment the team has become. And while I only experienced a small handful of personal incidents during the cross country season, I'm now going to pass this off to the athletes who experienced neglect firsthand throughout the duration of this past track season. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Uh Zoe, >> hello. Hello, my name is Zoe Thelen and I'm a freshman distance runner on the Carson High School cross country and track teams. I'm speaking today on behalf
052of the team regarding concerns about the cross country and track distance head coach Russ Munan, specifically his lack of coaching prior to races as well as how he speaks to athletes after their races, often criticizing and making insensitive comments. This behavior has had a significant impact on the athletes mentality and has created an overall negative environment on the team. For example, prior to races, we received little to no guidance on our pre-race warm-ups, race tactics, and event timing. As a team, we were left to figure out and plan all these things on our own. As for his behavior following races, let me share a personal experience. After my 3200 meter race at the Dublin Distance Fiesta this past track season, Coach Munan initially told me, "Good job." But then immediately criticized my racing strategy and
053questioned whether I paid attention to him yelling at me during my race. He specifically asked me if I had heard him saying, "This looks easy for you. Go faster." I told him that I had heard him and that I and I explained that my goal was to recover my racing mindset after a recent injury and that I was happy with the race and had had fun. He proceeded to ask what fun meant to me and that for him fun meant winning. I then began to tell him what my definition of fun was, and he interrupted me saying, "Well, is this fun?" and motioned to our conversation. I said it wasn't. respectfully asked him if I could be excused to go cool down from my race, but he insisted I wait and continued critiquing my performance.
054He ended by mentioning that I got a personal record even though he was unaware I had not achieved one, evidence that he is not conscious of the team's progress and impro and improvements. There have been several other instances in which the head coach congratulate athletes on PRs that they did not earn and seemed unaware of the athletes levels in current times. I am also not the only athlete who has experienced the head coach's criticism and and inconsiderate comments after their races, including how bad their pacing was and saying things such as, "I know why you're slow now." Furthermore, I experienced his dismissive behavior a second time, where he again gave me negative feedback following my race. Only when other coaches made him aware of the effect this negative words had on me did he then
055attempt to explain his comments by a private message to me late at night, which I found inappropriate. These are only a fraction of the interactions I have had with the head coach since August where I have felt uncomfortable, unsupported, and unsafe with him as my coach. Due to this past year, I am unwilling to run for Carson High School under coach Munan. This truly breaks my heart as I am very passionate about this sport, hope to run in college, and I love my teammates along with the incredible experiences that the team has given me so far. Unfortunately, I know that multiple of us feel the same way and are left with no other choice but to discontinue running under the under the current head coach. Thank you for listening and I hope you will take
056these concerns into cons into into consideration. >> Thank you, Adam Plane. >> Uh, thank you. My name is Adam Plane. I'm a parent of a Carson High School distance athlete. I'm reading a statement written by my wife Renee Plane who is unable to attend today because the 2627 cross country team meeting was scheduled at this exact same time. Uh good evening members of the school board. I want to begin by saying this is not about students resisting change or disliking a new coach. Athletics naturally evolves and coaching styles differ. What concerns many families is the growing pattern of organizational failures. athlete stress, safety concerns, and the feeling among students that their concerns were not taken seriously when they attempted to advocate for themselves appropriately. These athletes did exactly what we hope young ath young adults
057learn to do. They organized respectfully, documented concerns thoughtfully, followed the proper chain of command, and requested meetings with administration. They advocated not just for themselves but for the future of their program and the younger athletes who will follow them. From their perspective, they felt unheard. As a parent, [clears throat] that is deeply concerning. I have watched student athletes who were once excited and confident become discouraged and anxious about the future of a program they care deeply about, with some even leaving partway through the season. I have heard concerns regarding training practices, communication, supervision, organization at meets, and overall athlete support. When athletes are worried about whether they will receive proper preparation, miss events because of disorganization or face increased risk of injury, those concerns deserve serious attention. These are not isolated complaints from one upset
058student. 20 distance athletes signed a detailed letter outlining shared concerns and experiences. That alone should warrant meaningful review. I also want to acknowledge how difficult it is for students to stand here publicly tonight. Many are speaking because they genuinely care about their teammates, their sport, and their school. As parents, we are not asking for perfection. We are asking for accountability, athlete safety, proper leadership, and a thorough investigation into the concerns being raised. More importantly, we are asking that these students not be dismissed simply because they had the courage to speak up. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brianna Nunees. Hello, my name is Brianna Nunees. I'm a senior at Carson High School and have been a member of the cross country and track team for the past four years. I'm speaking today to express my concerns
059regarding the head coaching position. Writing this has been very difficult because it forc because it forced me to relive experiences that made me lose the love of for a sport that meant so much to me. Running has brought me some of my closest friends, a passion that brings me joy, and many of my best memories. For me, to quit track before regional says a lot about how deeply the situation affected my well-being. Coaching was not the only reason, but it was a major factor. The biggest issue with the head my my biggest issue with the head coach is that he does not listen to his athletes, struggles to communicate without becoming defensive or hostile, and often lacks support for his athletes. [snorts] During this past cross country season, it felt that the underclassmen were pushed
060a upper classmen were pushed aside and overlooked while the underclassmen were prioritized. As [snorts] a senior dealing with an injury, I rarely received meaningful feedback or support from the head coach. Only short and dismissive comments. Thankfully, I had coach Thelen and Coach Hagar by my side throughout the season. They were the ones who supported me and listened to me while I struggled with my ankle injury. There were countless times I went to them because this injury took a toll on both my mental and physical health. Running is a passion is my passion and something I deeply care about. Without their support, track season became unbearable because I felt I had no support from my coach. [snorts] During track season, there were multiple times I discussed concerns with the head coach regarding the training plan due
061to the lack of organization, research, and acknowledgement of the athletes abilities. After [snorts] expressing these concerns calmly, the coach chose to approach the head track coaches to complain about me questioning his coaching rather than having a direct conversation with me first. He could have simply answered my question, but instead he would respond with comments such as noted or I'll keep that in mind without ever actually addressing my concerns. I was later approached by the track head coaches regarding some of the issues that had occurred and I tried to have a calm and respectful conversation about my concerns with the training plan. However, while I was speaking, the distance coach repeatedly interrupted me and became defensive as though I was personally attacking him. Even the head track coach acknowledged that I handled the situation respectfully and
062understood where I was coming from. as my concerns were never intended as a personal attack. Unfortunately, the distance track coach took that took it that way. The conversation ultimately went nowhere because he never truly listened to my concerns or accepted feedback. He made it seem as though I didn't understand what I was talking about. Even though I had been a runner for many years and had done my own research, I was not giving feedback simply to argue. I genuinely cared about improving the situation for both myself and the team. As the season continued, the coach became increasingly hostile after our conversation and completely disregarded anything I said. Going to practice began to feel like a chore. I grew tired of constantly arguing and feeling ignored and eventually I stopped expressing my concerns because it seemed
063pointless. I am sharing my experience because future athletes deserve better. They should not feel unsupported or pushed to point to the point of quitting the sport they love. I hope you take this take my concerns into consideration moving forward and when making decisions for next year. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Via Miller. And next after via will be Nate Freed or V. Yeah, Va Miner looks like Miller. Hello, my name is Vea Miner and I'm a senior at Carson High School. I have run high school track and cross country for the past four years. Coaches can be demanding, challenging, and strict while still creating a healthy environment for athletes. Unfortunately, the current coaching situation for cross country and distance running at Carson High is not healthy, supportive, or state. I want to
064share my experiences with the head coach because what is happening to athletes on this team needs to needs to change. The biggest issue is the head coach's refusal to listen to athletes and adapt to training in ways that protect our health and help us succeed. A coach's responsibility is not just to push athletes, but to understand, communicate, and train them safely. Instead, many of us felt ignored and dismissed. One example involved a workout where athletes had to complete strength stations and run backwards in between each station. I completed every strength station and all the required mileage, but I modified one portion to protect my knees. I explained this directly to the distance coach. Rather than speaking with me or working with me on a safe alternative, he told the other coaches that I'd skipped the
065workout and encouraged other athletes to do the same. As a result, I was suspended from the meet that week despite having no disciplinary issues in the four year of high school track. Punishing an athlete for making a reasonable adjustment to avoid injury is not affecting coaching. It is harmful. There were many other situations where athletes concerns about training were ignored. We were often told what workouts were not we were often not told what workouts were coming and when athletes asked in advance so we could prepare mentally and physically. There was little structure and consistency to the training schedule making it difficult for our bodies to recover properly or adapt in healthy ways. Good training is built on planning and progression. Instead workouts often felt random and unorganized. Another example happened during the week of an
066important meet. Coach Munion wanted us to run hill workouts for the first time all season only days before competition. Competitive runners understand that introducing a new demanding workout immediately before a major race can leave athletes exhausted and sore instead of prepared. It took multiple advanced athletes several minutes to persuade him before he finally adjusted the workout. Athletes should not have to fight their co coach in order to train safely and effectively. A head coach should know better. I also need to address the personal discomfort many of the female athletes experienced around the distance coach. He often inserted himself into the girls spaces and conversations at meets in ways that felt inappropriate and uncomfortable. Athletes deserve to feel safe, respected, and comfortable around their coaches at all times. Many of us did not feel that way.
067Running has always has always been one of the most positive parts of my life, but this season made me dread a sport I once loved. I'm speaking today because future athletes deserve better. They deserve a coach who prioritizes athlete safety, listens to concerns, uses responsible training methods, and creates an environment built on trust and respect. Based on my experiences and the experience of many others on this team, I do not believe the current head coach should continue coaching the Carson High distance program. Thank you for listening to my concerns. >> Thank you, >> Mr. President. >> Yes. Uh just as a reminder for the board and all the members of the public, you guys do have policy uh or regulation rather 601 uh which provides that in addressing the board, the public shall not uh
068levy charges or allegations against an individual employee, but those charges should go through uh the superintendent in writing. Uh and under the open meeting law as well, the uh there is a prohibition against any personal attacks. So, I I don't think the the public comment needs to be stopped, but I think the board and the the public should be aware that there is a a complaint procedure that should be going through the superintendent. >> All right. Thank you. Um, yes. And if we could with a public comment refrain from uh using individual names, please just discuss um c certain issues or certain situations um would be greatly appreciated. We will continue with public comment and then um super the our superintendent is taking notes and we'll reach out um to you. So we're going to
069go with Nate Freed and then Darren Plane. Hello, my name is Nate Freed and I have been a varsity runner for all four years of my high school career. Most people see running as a punishment, a burden to any sport or workout. Yet, for me, running has given me the chance not worry about the world and find a way to break free. Knowing I could rely on running helped me not only in the physical aspects, but the mental, too. This cross country and track season was difficult to conform to a new system due to the inadequate coaching that was present throughout the year. the cross country coach for the first three years in my running career stepped down to take a new step in life. He was amazing and I certainly understand that every coach
070has a different style of leadership. This year, a new coach took over the position. Getting a new coach already comes with awkwardness, but the head coach made it especially hard to create athlete to coach bonds. Coach never took the first steps getting to know his team. He went straight to believing he owned the team and anything the team had to say was met with a comment that was interpreted as either I know best or just get it done. Coach not only didn't get to know his team, he just completely shut us out. Many athletes felt they had no voice on the team and kept quiet since they knew he wouldn't help. Many times throughout the cross country season, the assistant coaches would have to step in to talk coach down, whether it was for the
071daily run ideas or to help prevent injuries. Coach never took action for his team and always had to get it his way. Not only did these actions carry over from cross country to track, we had no assistant coaches to help shield us. He would create workouts to cause more harm than help. An example of this was a workout in the mud. Coach made us do a speed workout on the soccer field in the surrounding area. There was mud that was easily seen and of course the grass was wet and slick. The team captains voiced our concerns regarding the conditions present. He wouldn't listen. A couple of runners rolled their ankles due to this. To add more, coach started to make comments to athletes after races that brought down the morale and identity as a runner,
072including a conversation after an important race where he deliberately told me, "You can't go this slow." The feedback was consistently negative and never provided input on how to improve our performance. Lastly, coach would disappear and therefore not provide leadership for his distant runners during both practices and meets. I know you don't hold the pen to change this matter and as a senior is obvious decision about the head coach next year won't affect me, but I have grown to love each and every person on the team. I couldn't let the people I love grow through another season without raising my voice about the concerns seen by the team and myself throughout the last year. The returning athletes deserve a coach that will listen to their concerns and compromise when appropriate. A coach who knows how to
073deliver negative feedback in a way that doesn't destroy morale and provide direction on how to improve. But most importantly, see the team not as athletes, but as kids who love the sport. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you, Darren Plane. Then, uh, Ryland Milford. I'd just like to start by saying hello. Uh my name is Darren Plane. As I'm sure you can guess, I'm here for the same reason as all my fellow athletes behind me. Um I'd like to start by sharing a personal matter that took place at uh one of our meets, the Double Distance Fiesta in California. Um, I'll start about halfway through the first day of the race uh when the head coach had to leave the meet uh to go to the hotel we booked uh because he
074not he did not book the hotel rooms for the appropriate uh amount of nights. Uh by the time he had returned later in the evening after the issue was resolved and uh I was gone warming up for my next race which was less than an hour out from starting. uh he had insisted that all the athletes present on our team had to go back to the hotel to check in regardless of the fact that several athletes such as myself still had events to run uh with some approaching rather quickly. By the time I had brought I had been brought back to the hotel with uh the parent volunteer present, the head coach had become completely unreachable to everyone with calls and messages being sent without responses. Uh when we had found him uh the first
075heat of my event was already on the verge of starting. About f about 15 minutes later, we had arrived at the meet and two of my event had started and was underway. Uh mind you, I was the third heat of this event. I had time only to run to our team tent, grab my racing shoes, and do only a few stretches before runners were called up to the starting line for the heat uh for heat three. This left me vastly underprepared for my race with the risk of injury increased. I feel that this left me in a state where I could have performed much better but instead I was left at a disadvantage that could have been easily avoidable. Uh I would like to just close my statement by thanking you all and I'm sure
076more personal issues with this will come up. Thank you. Ryland Milford and then Tegan Bowererman. Good evening. My name is Ryland Hilford and I'm a freshman athlete on the cross country and track team. I'm here today to speak on behalf of the team for multiple significant concerns regarding the head coach. One major concern is the lack of transparency and consistency in moving athletes between junior varsity and varsity. The lack of explanation or individualized support when athletes are shifted between teams makes it challenging to know what's expected and to be ready for a competition, especially when made right before even the day of the meet. For instance, some have been told that strong JB performances would earn them a varsity spot the next day only to have that opportunity denied. This has happened numerous times to
077multiple people. Personal example I experienced happened at the Douglas Big George Invitational. The coach could take four athletes per event and there was space for me, but he stated that there wasn't. I won both my races at the Douglas Little George Invitational the day before, expecting to be allowed to race the following day regardless of spots. However, when I confronted the coach about it, he stated, "No, I never said that. You must have misunderstood me." Followed by, "You've had a tough day. I don't want you racing tomorrow anyways." Only about two athletes ended up racing in each event at the Big George Invitational. This left swats unfilled, expectations unclear, and athletes unhappy. The coach has stated, "My only measure is the clock in the tape, but it seems to be anything but that." as he's
078judged us with with bias, promoting athletes who are older or who he believes has more potential regardless of times. This inconsistency leaves athletes frustrated and unsure of where they stand. These experiences reinforce the lack of consistency and support that many athletes have felt from him that I believe a coach should be able to exhibit. Furthermore, I believe that the head coach often gives the females extra attention and offers that are not extended to the males, such as only watching us during workout, excessively critiquing us more than the guys, and offering to carry stuff or give massages. This unwarranted attention has made many girls uncomfortable and is not acceptable from a high school coach who athletes should always feel safe around. I also feel it's important to mention a personal experience that made me uncomfortable. On
079the first day of cross country practice, I mentioned I was sore and the head coach asked if I had a massage gun at home and I said I did not. He insisted several times that I use his. Even after I declined, he kept me after practice, went to his car, and had me use his despite my reputed refusals. This situation made me feel uneasy and crossed a personal boundary. I've heard from multiple female athletes saying that they feel uncomfortable and or unsafe around coaching and that [snorts] is a concern that should not be taken lightly. Additionally, training plans are not sufficiently individualized, which is a key part of coach's job because his solution is to use AI to structure our workouts. Athletes of different backgrounds and needs receive nearly identical workouts, increasing the risk of
080overtraining, undertraining, leading to injury. These issues have contributed to a sense of disconnect and frustration within the team. I'd like to make it clear that if meaningful changes are not made to address these concerns, I will remove myself from the sport as I'm not willing to run under this coach. That is not intended to be a threat, but a fact. I love these sports, but I can't go another year underneath the same unacceptable circumstances. We hope you will consider our perspective and help establish meaningful improvements in communication, feedback, and training practices. At the end of the day, athletes deserve a coach that is as invested in our growth as we are. We hope our concerns are considered with more care than our workouts have been designed with. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Tegan
081Bowerman. >> Good evening, president and members of the board. My name is Degan Barman. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the members of the Carson High School varsity and junior varsity cross country and distance track teams. Throughout this meeting, you've heard our concerns regarding the athlete treatment, communication, training structure, organization, and overall environment within our program. These concerns were not raised casually or emotionally. Athletes and families attempted to follow the appropriate process by bringing a detailed evidence-based grievance directly to school administration. However, many students left those discussions feeling that the core issues were minimized rather than meaning addressed. We were told that some level of dissatisfa dissatisfactation was expected because coaching transitions can be challenging and because some athletes were disappointed with hiring decisions. While we understand that change comes natured tonight to discomfort and
082change ignores the broader pattern that many athletes have experienced throughout this season. We were told that upper classmen leaving the sport following a coach transition is normal and that dissatisfied athletes are free to join outside running clubs instead. Respectfully, we do not believe student athletes should feel pushed away from the from their school program in order to find support, communication, or a healthy training environment. High school athletics should encourage student growth, retention, mentorship, and trust, not create conditions where athletes feel the need to quit entirely. Administration has also defended the current program by referencing performance statistics and reviews of training structure. While athletic performance matters, numbers alone do not fully represent the health of the program. Athlete well-being, professionalism, communication, organization, and trust between coaches and students are equally important measures of success. One incident
083that reflects this these concerns occurred when athletes strategically conserved energy during a meet all after already qualifying for later competition. Despite despite this criticism was directed towards the athletes performance without understanding the qualification situation. A parent later intervened over after overhearing negative comments being made about athletes to an athletic trainer. Moments like these contri contribute to the growing disconnect between athletes and program leadership. The concerns presented tonight are not isolated complaints from few individuals. They reflect a broader decline in moral and confidence within the distance program. Athletes have transferred events, left the program, or considered quitting entirely because they no longer feel properly supported within the current environment. At the same time, many athletes have continued participating because of the guidance and stability uh provided by assistant coach Terra Thielen, whose support and communication have
084helped many students remain involved in the sport. We are not here tonight asking for perfection, nor are we here out of personal hostility. We are here because we care deeply about the future of Carson High cross country, distance track, and the exper experience of athletes. Uh thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Do we have any additional public comment? >> One more. >> Please um state your name for the record. I did not get a slip. >> Hello, my name is Sean Thornton. For the record, I ran on Carson High School cross country for four years as a varsity athlete and on Carson High School track for three years as a varsity athlete. In the most recent cross country season, I was a captain of the team and I experienced the head coach's
085training. Um, during the time that I was there, I noticed consistently that the training that he created did not follow best practices for the sport, either following a path of being very high injury or just being suboptimal for training runners to actually be fast. As a result, I was not willing to spend an entire next season training suboptimally, and I quit the program. And it's it makes me sad to see other runners considering the same path. So, I hope that you take these concerns uh into consideration, you think about them deeply. Uh thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Next, >> my name is Hannah Bud and I'm a senior runner at Carson High School. In part because of my experiences in cross country under this year's head coach. I decided it would be
086more harmful to my physical and mental health to continue to run track than it would be to quit, even if it meant I missed my friends and spent months running and training on my own. I'd like to highlight what I experienced during cross country that affected my decision not to be coached by this coach for track. Primarily the first time I met him, he was excessively focused on his goals for our times, performances, and points, many of which were unreasonable. I was rarely, if ever, asked about my personal goals, feelings, circumstances, and even injuries. I believe coaches should help athletes achieve their goals and reach their highest potential. We do not run to fulfill a coach's expectations or make them look good. Expanding on injuries, I did not feel comfortable bringing my injuries to this
087head coach because I felt he did not know how to help me handle them and I had watched him p push other athletes to do routines or stretches or workouts that they didn't feel comfortable with when they told him about their injuries. Head coaches should be familiar with common running injuries, aware of every runner, and capable of helping them heal. But injuries on our team often went overlooked and unhealed. Furthermore, it was not this head coach who truly coached me during cross country. It was the two assistant coaches. They were the ones directing the workouts, scheduling the away meets, coordinating with parents, dealing with injuries, and supporting athletes. They often served as a buffer between the head coach and the upset athletes. He was officially the head coach, but it was the other coaches who
088were fulfilling those roles and responsibilities. [snorts] Finally, I would like to share how I saw track impact my friends from an outside perspective. I watched every day for weeks as something they love turned into something they dreaded. I watched them struggle and yell and wonder and cry. I listen to their infuriating stories of injustice and their feelings of being afraid and trapped. I watched it grow harder for them to eat, to sleep, to run, sorry, to get up in the morning. [snorts] I watched them quit with broken hearts and run without any heart left to give. This coach was not the sole cause of this decline, but he was the common factor. Something needs to change. We will not settle for another response like you know how kids get. Or it's his first year. Give
089him time to adjust or if you don't like it, you can quit. I have watched the physical and mental toll this toxic situation has taken on my friends who chose to stay and I will not quit. We have lived this. We have worked. We have struggled. We have cried. We have fought. We have run. Anyways, it is time for us to be heard. Really heard. We're asking you to stand in our shoes and tell us how many more miles you think you could run. Infuriated by unfairness and exhausted by something you used to love. This will no longer affect me, but I will not stand for it affecting these athletes that I love and those in the future who deserve a chance to love the sport, too. I believe in bringing not just a problem,
090but a solution. One possible solution I propose is to have this coach be the high jump coach for track. This way, he's still doing what he loves and coaching kids. For the head distance coach for track and cross country, I suggest hiring Tara the she has worked with these kids and she's well adjusted, experienced in sports medicine, competent, and well loved by this team. I'm not sure what will work. I only know this current situation won't. I can see that this is a good man, but I can also see that he's not a good coach for our team. Thank you for your time. Thank you. And like we've said, we cannot see up here out there. So, I cannot see if there is additional public comment. Okay. >> Hello. >> Good evening, superintendent and members
091of the school board. My name is Nick Schmer and I'm a parent in this district. I'm here tonight to voice urgent safety and equity concerns regarding the coaching practices within our cross country and long-distance track programs. First, the student safety and um is being compromised and the head coach has utilized dangerous training practices that risk physical injury to our student athletes using irrational AI generated training plans and inadequate pre-race warm-ups due to insufficient race day preparation. On several occasions, student athletes and parents had to educate the coach on neat rules. The second and u the coach exhibits deeply unfair behavior that divides the team. Athletes are treated differently based on their on personal favoritism. Certain runners are given preferential treatment and others are publicly humiliated and select few are outright ignored. This toxic environment dam
092damages the mental health of these kids and strips away the value of high school sports. I'm standing up for these students because some have experienced um retaliation when they have tried to speak up for themselves. The coach regularly exhibits aggressive behavior. Parents and students who um routine um ask routine questions or express concerns have been met with hostility and intimidation. The athletic department will tell you that these kids are the problem, that they have followed up on everything and all of their concerns. they have not. They will say that they are making changes. Um that he has good coaching uh a good coaching record at other schools that he can do a good job if given the chance. I've been a coach for over 10 years and can and I can tell you he can't.
093We have already lost several good athletes unnecessarily because of this coach. These kids deserve better. They are good kids, great athletes, and they need your help. The district has has a duty to care for the and protect the children from both physical harm and emotional abuse. I'm requesting that the board initiate an immediate independent investigation into the program's culture and safety compliance. Our children deserve to have to run an environment that builds them up, not one that puts them in danger. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is there additional public comment? Please state your name for the record. >> Good evening. I appreciate all of your time, all of your commitment to be here uh representing the school district, representing the school, representing the students, and uh we have your representation in order to provide a
094very neutral and independent voice. and uh approach to any concerns. As you can see, uh my name is John Borrowman. Um I am a parent of one of the runners and I have been involved with a lot of the athletes that are in on this team uh through many years of uh coaching through different sports and to see uh these athletes grow up to be incredible human beings. uh and the fact that they are here uh trying to represent their concerns in a very fair um and objective way. I appreciate it. Uh most of their comments are coming from personal experience. I know that my son has also tried to escalate some of his concerns and it's interesting when he whenever he engages in the conversation, it always starts with uh the administration being very
095defensive. uh specifically the administration starting with well you realize this coach came into a very hostile environment and so therefore anything goes right this coach can do anything because it's unfair he's disadvantaged he's put into a very hostile situation where the athletes are so aggressive towards him all right let's set that aside when this coach failed to make a twoight hotel reservation at Dublin. Was that because the students were being hostile? When the coach pulled athletes off the field, preventing them from warming up for their race? Was that because the students were hostile? when other athletes, including my son, uh was first in their event on the JV day and eligible to run on the varsity day, but the coach was not aware that he even got first place or that he was even eligible
096to run the next day. Was that because the students were hostile? [snorts] when the coach did not advertise for the uh the camp, the running camp over the summer, he did not advertise with each of the middle schools in each of their middle school tournaments, uh their meets and so they only have one announcement going out and so therefore there's a big lack of awareness of this running camp that they use for fundraising. Is that because the students were hostile? When [snorts] the coach treats the female athletes with the same training program as the male athletes, is that because the students are hostile? And when we go and present to the administration and they say, "Well, you guys are hostile and we need to give them deference." I would say we need to be more
097sophisticated. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> All right. Seeing no more public comment, we'll go ahead and Oops. If y'all could maybe come a little closer so we can Well, I can't see, but maybe just so we're ready. [cough and clears throat] >> Hi, Cassandra Davis. For the record, um I'm a parent of one of the athletes that's on the cross country and the track team. Um, cross country and track have been wildly different watching the sports unfold. Uh, cross country had gone without a hitch. Um, mainly because I thought that coach Zelin and coach Hagar were running it. They were head coaches. I had seen coach Munion there. Um, wasn't really sure what his role was in uh, cross country. So, fast forward to track season where it has been nothing
098short of a disaster. I have spent the entire seasoning season not knowing what my child was running as she was pulled from events last minute added to other events last minute with no explanation. She has been discouraged and compared to her other peers on her team telling her how she will that she would be lucky maybe her senior year to be as good as another athlete. That despite that she has continued to make improvements in PR race after race after race, it was never good enough. when her athletes wanted to join and do relay races, the coach would then say in front of her with the other two, "Maybe you should pick somebody else if you want to win." Coaches are supposed to build up our students and our athletes. They're supposed to provide safe
099trainings for them to hear them, to to look out for them. The coach that you have running is completely short of that. I don't know if you guys remember, but in November 17th, we were here at a board meeting with the varsity girls cross country team recognizing them for their performance over the season. During this meeting, which is recorded and can be found on the website 30 minutes in, the co head coach spoke and praised coach Hager and Coach Thielen stating that it was truly an effort that got the team to the state and placed second. He recommended he commended both coaches saying that this could not have been done without them. And I think that's probably the most accur accurate statement he has made and it holds a lot of weight. I can clearly
100see that coach Hager and Coach Thieling carried the other coach through the cross country season. Both coaches have extensive knowledge in youth and adolescent athletic development, experience in designing individual workouts and have a further understanding of progressive training principles, all of which the current head coach lacks. Without the support without their support, it is clear that he does not have the experience or the knowledge needed to be head coach. With the upcoming cross country season approaching, I truly hope the district will open its eyes and do what's best for your athletes. Just because they're students doesn't mean they should be dismissed. If something does not change, then I will be forcing to pull my daughter from the program and find alternative programs where she can be supported with a coach that has proper training and
101that understands what these kids need. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Right. Seeing no additional public comment, we'll go ahead and close agenda item number eight. Uh or before we do that, um I will ask our superintendent if he could please contact uh Carson High School to look into this matter. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. All right. Closing agenda item number eight. Moving on to agenda item number nine. This is the presentation of the board preparation timeline in introduction of the topics for the public hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2026 2027 including brief discussion. This is discussion only and this is presented by Mr. Spencer Winward. Thank you madam president members of the board. Um uh really quickly the presentation I've got up there will be for the next three board
102items. So uh this one just a quick overview of the uh budget preparation timeline and what tonight's role is in that which is number item number nine. And then after that we'll go to revised capital plan discussion and the budget presentation. So, let's I'm see if I'm in range with the clicker here. >> Does anyone have a bionic finger they could use wrapped in metal? It appears like it is. Oh, no. I thought red was on apparently when I turned it. I think we're good now. Yep, we're good. All righty. So, here's just a quick overview of of again where we're at in this budget cycle. Again, you know, more so this year than others, we there's been budget planning ongoing since uh the the get-go. All through the year, we've been looking forward, looking
103ahead to uh budget planning, making sure that we have as much data, the most accurate data as possible. and we received uh excuse [clears throat] me projections from taxation in middle of February and then after that as you recall uh our meeting in early April we went over the tenative budget which is the first iteration of the budget we'll be reviewing later tonight and that was provided at taxation uh by the the NRS deadline of April 15th and then from that time to now we just kind of fine-tune and tweak the budget if we get any updated information we we include that in and we've made those changes um per statute. We have advertised this public hearing tonight and in uh publication on the 16th and 20th of May and that brings us to this
104evening where we are in the midst of this budget hearing. All righty. And then after this uh what we discussed and approved tonight uh will be presented to taxation by June 8th. And then not really applicable this year, but in a legislative year, if there are changes, we can open up the budget for 30 days after the session. Uh, again, not applicable this year, but just a reminder that that happens every other year on a legislative year. And then as we continue by December 31st, we can amend our budget based off of uh updates to data we have. Then we know what our enrollments are. we know exactly a little bit more to what our uh salary and benefit costs are and can make adjustments as needed prior to December 31st. Um items that uh
105that may be of interest for this and and future budget cycles is our gradual decrease enrollment continues to affect our funding. um for the PCF funding, it's largely a factor of the amount per pupil that the state determines and uh the number of pupils that we have. Uh currently, state economic outlook is flat. Um which would mean that we we would not really anticipate future increases to funding. That coupled with decrease in enrollment means that in future budget cycles, we'll likely be dealing with less revenue. All right. Um, other things that are of interest for this budget is our our capital projects for FY27. We're doing a lot of preparation right now for the summer construction season that's about to start in a couple of weeks. And that's always difficult where that spans the end
106of one fiscal year and the beginning of the other and affects our budgeting somewhat because we kind of have to to uh balance that budget authority where we need to and where we kind of think the actual costs will end up and [clears throat] plan for some of those costs to be in both fiscal years for those major projects. And then CIP revisions are also of interest to this. We'll discuss those in the next budget item or board item. And then again once that's all those projects are kind of done in uh towards the end of the summer we get a good idea of where they've ended if there's anything that was found once the projects were underway and can update our CIP in conjunction with the December budget. And that's what I've got for
107item number nine. Any questions regarding this? >> Um I will let the board I do have a few but I'll go ahead and start with Trusty Ramirez. Do you have any questions on agenda item number nine? >> No. Trusty friend. Okay. Um, you know, I've said it uh before and I'll say it again. Um, is there any way we can get the budget moved up um a meeting beforehand? So, I know next year it may not be a problem because our fourth meet, our second meeting in May does not fall right after Memorial Day weekend. But, you know, last year it did and this year it did. And I just feel as though getting our final budget, you know, the questions that I sent you, I had a hard time push pressing send just because
108I know that it was a holiday yesterday and it just doesn't give us much time to um take a look at it, you know, to compare if there was any differences between the tenative budget and the final budget and then to be able to ask you the questions regarding the um capital improvement agenda. item and the final budget. Um, you know, in all honesty, I I felt really bad sending you those emails last night because I felt you had one day, you know, to to look those up and and answer them. Um, and then yet I don't have time to read your responses, you know, later on that day because it's the day of the meeting as well. I don't know. I'm not. This is just please look into it to see whether or not
109there might be a possibility that we move the budget meetings up a meeting. So we would it wouldn't be the last the second meeting in May. Maybe it would be the uh the first meeting in May on that end just to give us some chance to get you know a little bit more feedback to where if we have to bring it back we would bring it back the second meeting in May before it has to go to the department of taxation. Just a thought and >> that is something to consider. We also I mean this time of year things are kind of happening fast and you know information that we had two weeks ago wasn't the most up to date. So we do like it the second meeting of May just for that reason we
110know a little bit more if there's been uh going to be additional resignations or anything that's going to affect our salary and benefit costs. Um and again, you know, largely this has not changed a lot from the the budget that we see in April, particularly on a non-legislative year. You the the known knowns are are um greater in a non-legislative year. But that's something we can look at in the future on if it's, you know, if our meeting falls right after holiday, if it would make sense to to advance that uh given that and other factors. Is there [clears throat] a grace period um when you submit the final budget to the Department of Taxation? Is there a grace period before you can um ask for an amendment or an augmentation? >> I'm not sure.
111Am I following your question about >> what my question is is say that if we submit the final budget and because if it is a legislative session, you know, um we look at it and you say that we have 30 days after that, but after that is there like if we submit it the 8th of June and then we look relook at it and go, nope, that's not what we liked. Is there like 15 days before you can ask for an amendment or is there a No, >> I I don't I don't believe so. I I think the um I don't know. I've never I've never had that one come up before actually. We We could We could ask it. It's generally the It's not until December that we do that amended budget because that's
112where we're updating fund balance numbers and all of those sorts of things. Um, I don't know that we've ever done an augmentation to the budget between May and December. We've done them after December, like leading in like toward the end of the school year, but not at that time, but we could look into it. >> Well, then just another question is how many amendments can you I mean, you could put in another amendment before December, right? Or augment the budget and put it or we just never had the need. >> We just Yeah, we've never had the need. And it and it's really one of the the I mean truly one of the frustrating things for us is that we're even this budget we're building a budget right now. Um but until we get into
113next year there's some realities that we we just don't know. And so I think you know may it really isn't maybe until no October November when we really have a feel for what enrollment looks like. we now know our final kind of staffing for the year that that timing kind of lends itself to really doing that first update in December when we do the amended budget. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Is there any >> Sorry, one other thing as I recall I I'm trying to remember the exact deadlines. I think that the the first meeting in May might be too soon based off the statutoily guidelines of where we have to have that public hearing. It's got to be I think after the the second Monday or third Monday in May. So,
114the first meeting actually might be too early. I I can review the statutes and get back to you. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Thank you very much. Do you have anything else to add? >> Not for budget or for board meeting number nine. >> All right. We'll go ahead and close agenda item number nine. Move on to agenda item number 10. Discussion of possible action to approve the revised capital improvement plan for the Carson City School District for fiscal years 2027 to 2031. Wow. This is for possible action and this is brought to us by uh Spencer Woodward, Winward, sorry, uh AJ Fueling and Mark Johnson. All righty. Thank you, Madam President. Uh as noted, I have Mr. Johnson here with me to answer all the difficult questions um as needed. Again,
115the capital improvement plan is uh this is the the plan that guides the spending of our capital projects funds, both our bond funds, fund 400 and our capital projects, which is fund 360. Uh those are the two funds that are are used to maintain our facilities. Um inputs that go into this is the facilities master planning committee, which also by name is the bond oversight committee. Depending on where we're at in our bonding cycle right now, we call that the bond oversight committee. It meets uh generally quarterly uh at least to review projects and there's those committee members. It does include a board member. Uh several of our school principles like to attend that and members of the public to provide input. Um and and that's a great way for us to discuss and look
116at facilities and get input from lots of different stakeholders that goes into this. We also manage a facilities master plan document that uh has everything on it from gets input from um uh what you just call the roofing >> survey we did from various surveys that we have done to to assess the uh pavement uh assessments, roofing assessments, HVAC assessments where we redo over five years, 10 years on the assessment of those mechanical equipment and our asphalt and roofs. >> Yeah. So, those assessments where we get professional opinions on, hey, what would it take to get another 5 years out of a certain parking lot or roof or this is going to have to be replaced sooner or later. All of those inputs go into the Phil's master plan document as well as so those
117types of items. It is even gets wish list type items. If if a principal says, "Hey, I I would like such and such an item in my school," it's considered there and all items kind of get weighed on there and and kind of sift through to what is the most important and the most uh timely to get done and those sift through into our capital improvement plan document. Um, if you'll notice on our on our CI plan, CIP plan, there is a a projects to be decided um amount for 8 million this year. And that's kind of to get us through this summer project where we have larger doc plan or larger construction projects that are already budgeted for FY26. But as we know, those are going to go into FY27. And a lot of
118times in those larger things is as projects get going, we might discover there's some items that need to be done while the walls are opened up, if you will. So some of that TBD is kind of to see if there's anything that comes ahead that we weren't aware of through our CIP planning. And then also as we're reviewing the end of summer and and our facility master plan document to see uh what what uh projects would be slated for the FY 2728 summer projects. So um and again the CIP document is it's not set in stone. We write it on there and it's we can't change it. As needs arise, as the facilities needs arise or as the direction of the district changes, this can be amended based off of projects that may take precedence
119over others just due to the severity of something might may have happened or something we've discovered uh that the lifespan of a of a certain project isn't going to last as long as we thought it would. So, this document can be amended uh several times throughout our our budget cycle. system. >> Any questions about specific projects on there or anything about the CIP document itself? >> We'll go ahead and start with Trusty Varner. >> Yes. Uh, just so the board knows, I I do sit on this committee and u I think I missed the last meeting as out of state, but I'm wondering um I don't remember discussion in fiscal year 28 of the tech center restroom remodel for $2 million. Is that an accurate figure? >> Is that for uh Carson High School? No,
120it says u well yeah it' be cars but it's a tech center. >> Yes. Uh that we put that down there. I got an estimate like a year ago and we put that down there for the general use bathrooms in the tech center. We wanted to change those over to general use bathrooms and is going to cost $2 million. >> Yes. And then I guess the other item is in fiscal year 2030. And like I said, I apologize I missed the last meeting. Some of this may have been discussed, but we have $30 million kind of earmarked for an auditorium. >> Yeah, >> that's for the performing arts and that's a that's a placeholder for that. And like if Spencer and AJ want to jump in on that, that's a placeholder for performing arts center.
121So, we would anticipate having a >> trusty Barner. I I'm I'm sorry to interrupt you. So, um if if you recall back um I think it was about 3 years ago um one of the conversations that came up [clears throat and cough] through um the capital improvement plan. Sorry, I couldn't think of that for a second. Um there there was a lot of talk about looking at doing some kind of auditoriums coming up performing arts center. And and I'm saying this too because some of the board members weren't weren't around at that time and and and one of the the desires of the board was to start looking into what that might look like so we could start getting some costs. I would I would say that I I Carson High School is probably the
122largest high school in the country that doesn't have an auditorium. Um and so this is something that we had um really started looking into then about two years ago starting a committee. Um, and we've actually now gotten to a point with the help of um, some architects to figure out what the costs might really be. And at this point, we are planning um, a presentation to the board um, just to to have a so you can see some of that and just have an open discussion because there's some con real concerns about funding which you can see with that price tag right there. Um, and there's varying price tags, but the um this this is not um a commitment to do anything like that, but we we wanted to start representing somehow some way that
123um this is potentially out there. I don't know if that answers all your questions. >> It does. And I I support the concept. I really do. I was just wondering bonding if we'd have bonding capacity for that. and and um so when we do that presentation to the board again August, September sometime um [clears throat] what we will come to that meeting with and and potentially even invite um our our bond adviser Marty Johnson who helps us with all of our issuances over the years um to kind of give a sense of what what is possible, what is available, what might we need help with. The the concern with this is I I I believe that um we would have to max out our bonding capacity to do one project, which is a little concerning
124to me because we have many other facilities, but at least we could have a sense of um what the landscape looks like and then the board um can can really weigh in on how comfortable they feel to, you know, to what extent trying to do a project like that. Um but that that's kind of where we are. Thank you, >> Trusty Peterson. Um I apologize if I missed an explanation on this, but under all the schools they've got like I I heard on the the big expenditures the projects TBD that 8 million is like as things come up, but um under each site having their tenant improvements um in various amounts are those whose discretion is that spending at and and how are those different amounts assigned >> for tenant improvements? uh the discretion I
125have to go to Spencer or director of operations tenant improvements my definition of it we perform various tenant improvements and maintenance which includes but not limited to classroom refresh replacement of doors and hardware abatement uh for lead or asbestous painting like a classroom or an office plumbing repairs carpeting, ceiling tiles, concrete replacement repairs, lighting, electrical. Uh adding signage replacement, repair of windows, add added carpentry, small tenant improvements means like adding a wall, projects, various improvements, repairs as required and needed. Uh th those come under any type of little small project that might happen at a school site. A principal could ask for it. A superintendent could be popping me in the back saying, "Hey, we need to get this taken care of at this school site." It could be any kind of small project. Could
126be a maintenance project that comes up. I mean, we have stuff that breaks at a school. And so that comes under um you know, how are we going to pay for this tenant improvement? It's been a real blessing to be able to get something done where we have the funding to get it. A window breaks in a school. How are we going to pay for it? Tenant improvement. This door's been broken for a year. How can we replace that hardware or get a new door? Tenant improvement. You know, this office looks horrible. How are we going to fix it? Hey, good luck with that. No, tenant improvement. This carpet looks horrible. Tenant improvement. It's been a real great thing. AJ started that with us about three years ago. And AJ, if you want to add
127to that, you can. >> Yeah, thanks Mark and thank you for the question, Trusty Peterson. I I I think what's important with that is so um every about five years we go through a facilities master planning process and and have a facilities master plan document that a document that uh Mr. Johnson actually puts together getting lots of input from all of our building principles or uh whoever is kind of the the top dog at various sites we have to get feedback on the facilities within that. There's actually quite a bit of detail. And so when when those number those tenant improvement numbers come out, they come out because of there's a lot of little projects that are kind of listed within there. And I think what what Mark is describing is that often times, you
128know, we we may have money uh you know, $100,000 seti set aside for Celiger Elementary School and we know that there are, you know, maybe there's four little projects that have been identified at Celiger to just kind of major maintenance and just upkeep of the building, but then something may come up that ends up taking a bit of a priority over some of those other things and they can be pushed off a bit. So it it gives there is um intent to take care of various projects and I think Mark over the years has done a good job and especially using um third party consulting to come in and do ratings on our facilities and and where our needs are. Um, but certainly with some flexibility, if if there is something that comes up that
129just really ends up being a higher priority, then maybe um maybe we had planned on replacing carpet in uh four rooms, but then there was a situ a plumbing situation or something that we really had to take care of. For for example, in Carson High School, as we've done a lot of this work, we've um found that there is a sewer line that runs right under the middle of Senator Square because that used to be a street. And so when that was all enclosed, nobody thought, you know, if we have problems with that sewer line, that's going to be a real issue. And so we've actually had to dig up the floor of Senator Square in certain parts as we've done some of these projects because we've realized that there's there's pieces of it that
130were just failing. And so kind of unexpected, but we've taken care of those things. Um, but it was not a part of um the original tenant improvement plan for Carson High School. >> Yeah, we list all I like I'll sit down at that master plan. I go, here's what Borderick wanted and I'll list five of them. And so I come back to the master plan. I go, AJ, where are all those? He just added them all on tenant improvements for me. So, I was able to do those unless we couldn't do them and something else came up. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Roberts. >> Trusty RmIrez. >> No additional questions. I was also going to ask on the auditorium because people have been asking me how we can justify, you know, considering bringing another uh
131facility if our enrollment is going down. So, but thank you um Trusty Gardner for addressing it. >> All right. Um yes, thank you. And then um you answered my questions in my email, so I I appreciate your time. All right. This is an action item. >> So, at this time, I would look for a motion. >> I I'll make a motion. I move that the Carson City School District Board of Trustees approve the revised capital improvement plan and the opening balance fund 300 capital projects for fiscal years 2027 to 2031. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All right. So, I have a motion by Trusty Varner, a second by Trustee Peterson. Is there public comment? Seeing none, please uh all in favor please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes unanimously.
132Thank you very much. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you for your time. >> Uh closing agenda item number 10. Moving on to agenda item number 11. This is discussion and possible action on the final budget, including adjustments to the tenative budget for the Carson City School District for fiscal year 2026 2027, including adoption of the resolution approving the final budget and transmitt letter. This is for possible action. This is also presented by Spencer Winward. >> Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Um to start off with we just have a graph here that shows our expenditures by fund to just kind of give you an idea of the size of each fund and its relation into what we do. As you can see the general fund I think uh my eyes are are betraying
133me but I believe that says 61% uh of of all our spending is the general fund and that that's why we spend the bulk of what we talk about is the general fund because it is by far the largest. it's where the board has the most uh exertion over and and a lot of our other funds very much so mimic what the general fund does as well. Um others of note the bond fund you can see is 7% that one fluctuates a lot from year to year depending on the size of our of our major projects we have going on. Uh, for example, I believe last year this time that was 11%. We had a little bit uh larger summertime projects budgeted in. Uh, debt service is uh 8% or 6%. I apologize, my eyes
134are not what they used to be. >> Spencer Winward, would you like a copy of the >> Sure. If you'd be so kind. [clears throat] >> Yep. Hopefully a copy and the restaurant lighting here will be a good combination. So >> yeah, not much better, but um and again special education is about 11% of of the expenditures and again all of these funds for the most part are are the bulk of what we do is student facing. Uh any questions regarding the fund breakdown? If not, I'll go ahead and move on here to kind of the the bottom line of of the general fund uh in a nutshell. So, our total revenue is 80.1 million. Uh for reference, I believe that's 700,000 less in revenue than what we had in our budget this time last
135year. General fund expenditures is 84 million. Uh you can see that that is deficit spending. uh just [clears throat] simply as our re our budgeted expenditures are larger than revenue. That's pretty traditional for the way we budget and the conservative TAC that we have been following. Uh for reference that 84 million is 1.4 million less than our final budget last year. That leaves our our deficit our taxation deficit is what we like to call it at 3.9 million. that's found on page two of the budget um on the ending fund balance explanation. Um we subtract our contingency from that to get our structural deficit because we do have a million dollars budgeted for just in case. We haven't used that for several numbers of years, but it's there for just in case. Makes our projected
136deficit 2.9 million. About a h 100,000 less than the uh tenative budget that we presented in April. Main difference for that is we've had some more resignations. Um, typically those who who resign are on the higher end of our salary schedule. And as we adjust that down to kind of an average cost, there are some salary and benefit savings because it's not very common that we have a a 25 to 30 year employee uh retire, resign, and replace them with someone of the same age. They might have have zero experience, five years experience, 10 years experience. Uh, and so the costs are typically less and that represents that small reduction in our project deficit. Any questions regarding this? And again, I I think I feel like given the the uh direction that the board has
137given us, I feel that 2.9 million deficit is kind of in the range of where you wanted us to be. And also um sorry, look, you had a question, President Walt. >> Well, because it really wasn't two, it's not going to be 2.9. It would actually be 3 point >> 3.9 is if we spend all million of our contingency. Oh, >> so 2.9 is what it would be if we didn't spend any contingency, which we have not used that for as long as I've been here and several years before then. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> All right. Thank you for the clarification. >> This next slide actually will kind of give a little bit of insight to to where our budgets our deficits have been budgeted to our actual I just looked at the last
138three years. I didn't include this year because it's still in progress. Uh but FY23, our budgeted deficit was 4.4 4 million and our ending fund balance was actually a surplus of 2.3 million 6.7 different million difference. FY24 our budget deficit was 4.2 million. Um our addition ending fund balance was just shy of 500,000 for a 4.7 million difference. And then FY25 our budget deficit was 2.1 million. And this would be our final budgets. These numbers come right out of our audit comparing the final budget to actual spending. and our addition ending fund balance was just over a half million. So FY23 24 I clearly I think there's some COVID monies in there that have affected that to skew it out of what I would consider normal. FY25 I think is fairly normal with the exception
139of um our our vacancy savings has been dwindling as we've filled our positions more so. However, that shows you that we budget um you given that conservative tactic we use in our budgeting, we typically have that budgeted deficit, but that doesn't mean that we're going to spend all of it. Um this year, our our budgeted deficit was a little bit higher because we had that that plan spend down and it's a little bit too early to tell where exactly we'll land with that. Um this [clears throat] next slide just shows a quick graph that shows the breakdown of of where we spend our our money. And this is general fund. Again, this is pretty indicative of our other funds might be slightly different because we have some that are 100% salary and benefits. We have
140others that are no salary and benefits because it's a a very targeted fund. But this gives a good representation of our spending. And all told, salary and benefits is 88% of our spending. That's 1% higher than last year. Last year we were 87%. Um, again, our our people are our best our best asset, our best investment. And this shows we continue to take care of them. also shows we're we're not skewing we're not uh trying to shift cost to contractors or to supplies or spending money in in ways that are abnormal where that salary and benefits has actually gone up a little bit as a percentage of our expenditures. Um looking at the funds uh from the ten of budget to now uh the the all funds well all funds way that typically the general
141fund and the special education fund have had some slight updates to the satellite benefit and costs uh based off of our enrollments. General fund again we had that slight um change in our deficit reduction of our deficit by about 100,000 again that's directly from salary benefit uh reduction in cost due to resignations. No changes in our transfers from our general fund to our other funds. [clears throat] This shows our general fund expenditures by program. So if you can see regular and support services make up the bulk of that spending. Uh co-curricular extracurricular is about 1%. That's a really kind of a small percent overall. Um however sometimes we get some higher community focus on those types of items. Um, alternative ed is about 3% and that also includes English as second language education. Um, vocational
142tech and technical iss about 4%. And again, one of the larger items here is a fund transfers of general fund to cover special education costs. And that looks kind of large. Keep in mind that the state does give us some general fund money that is intended to be spent on special education. That's approximately approximately 6.7 million. we do end up transferring more than that. Um other funds are uh two funds 206 207 208 which is our our PFCP PCFP funds pupil centered funding plan and that's our English learning gifted and talented education and at risk. Those budgets are unchanged from the tenative budget and our funding for this year is the exact same as it was last year. Funding for that is typically uh calculated off an October 1 data. So October 1st of this
143year is what we'll set our funding for next year is how that's calculated by the state. Adult education funds which are adult education prison education um no changes to that and and every dollar we have a available has been budgeted which is typical. our state grant funds. Um, these are managed through e- page and they're self- augmenting. So, they change through the year based off of new data [clears throat] that we get. If there's new funding that's made available to us, we're able to augment those budgets without doing a full budget augmentation like we would in December. And so, as we get more data on those, those will change or manage through e- page through the state. No change in this budget from the ten of the budget for for our state grants. Uh, special
144education funds, nominal changes to our benefits and salaries. Um, I did keep our our uh budgeted transfer there the same even though there's a little bit of cost savings in there just because that might change as we know as we go a little bit and it's it's safer to keep that that just because we have budgeted that transfer out doesn't mean we have to transfer the whole amount. Our local grants 270 no changes. That one also can be self- augmented if there are um unforeseen revenue sources that come throughout the year and our federal grants 280 are unchanged from our our tenative to our final budget. These are also managed through eage and um can change as we get more data. A lot of what we have now is based off of the best information
145we have and as summer rolls through in the beginning of next year we have more data available to us for those our nutrition fund. Uh [clears throat] there's no changes to our budget from our tenative to uh our final budget. We've estimated our revenues are flat. We could have changed those. A couple things we do know is we have three schools that will not be C next year. And we are uh proposing a meal price increase. Uh so the schools that are going from C based off of um our Carson Middle School information this year uh our number of meals served did go down when C designation went away and we would anticipate something similar for the three schools that are are changing. [clears throat] >> Sorry Spencer, what's C? >> I'm sorry. C is
146community allergy provision and that is a method that uh that we have available to us where we can take any students that directly certify for another federal benefit like SNAP, TAMP, Medicaid. Uh there might be a couple others I'm not naming. If they if they are eligible for one of those automatically are eligible for free and for free lunch. So depending on the percentage of those, if there's enough of them at a specific school and schools can be pulled together, we can join two or three schools to whatever is most advantageous for the district, then we can say every one of those schools eats for free. So for example, if we had a school that was at 65% um C elevation eligible, then we get 65% of the funding for that, but everyone eats for
147free. So as that percentage reduces and it can go down to I believe uh the threshold now for for the federal level is 33 or 25% I can't remember what it just changed to we could still make it a C school. However it is not anywhere near fiscally responsible to operate a food service program on 33% of funding. That means that everyone could eat for free but we are making up the difference for the rest of those. So, the schools that um a lot of this data runs on a four-year cycle and some of these have have been using data that's from kind of the co era and so as that that's rotated out and we update those numbers, they've gone from kind of the high or mid60s to below 50 and it doesn't make
148sense financially to continue those C programs. An important thing to remember is um any student is still available to apply for free or reduced lunch and if they are if their income falls on the guidelines they still do receive that. It just means it's not automatically done. [clears throat] So those those three elementary schools it'll be different. We were expecting probably some reduced meals served and uh we are um proposing a meal price increase. So, we'll get a little bit more into that over the next couple of slides. Um, this here just shows kind of a a quick graph of our elementary, middle, and high school cost. The blue bar represents the average cost of one lunch and one breakfast per day. And this is kind of a to give a benchmark. We know that
149a lunch costs more than a breakfast, but on average, each meal costs $4.40 to prepare or $4.20. So, it's $8.40 40 cents to prepare two meals for a student per day. That includes our food costs, our direct labor costs, and our overhead costs. The red bar equals the the amount of reimbursement we get from federal sources for a free meal. So, you can see that's just over $7. So even on a meal that uh we're getting all the money that we can from a feds for a student who qualifies for free lunch, we're subsidizing that because it costs more for us to produce it than it does for the feds to give us. And that there could be a lot of theories behind that. We're doing the best we can to reduce our costs. Our
150food costs are phenomenal as far as food waste is pretty minimal. Our per plate costs is managed very well by Chartwell, our food services partner. um they get [clears throat] a lot of bulk pricing that's not wouldn't be available to us otherwise. It keeps that food cost down. Uh but despite all of that, it still costs about $4.20 to prepare a meal, including food, labor, the paper plate it's served on, everything. Um so, so you'll notice that blue bar is the same for elementary, middle, and high school. Um and the red bar is the same for elementary, middle, and high. The green bar, this is the amount that we would get for uh a full pay student if they were to pay our current rate of a breakfast and a lunch. And as you can
151see, our elementary cost is slightly lower and our middle school is slightly lower and our high school, which has the highest prices, brings in the most money, but that's also where we serve the least mills. So just looking at that really quickly at the m the difference from the green bar to the blue bar. That's why we we are proposing increasing prices to bring that a little bit more into balance. Uh per mandate we do have to increase our lunch prices by 10 cents because of where our numbers fall. The department of agriculture would require us to to do at least that much. We're proposing a slightly higher increase because as we look at the difference of what we're bringing in per mill on a full pay meal versus the federal reimbursements, we're just trying
152to equalize that a little bit without also making it too um [clears throat] we we want to keep in mind the cost of families as well. So if you look at this, here's u some prices of local uh northern Nevada school districts. Uh what I have in the Carson column is our proposed amount. This is what we would be changing to. I also provided each of you a handout that shows our current prices and the the uh gray squares on the right. The upper one shows our current prices. The lower one is the proposed prices. The proposed prices match this. As you see, we are aren't uh changing breakfast at all. We're keeping that the same and we're proposing to a 50cent increase for lunches for elementary and middle and a 25cent increase for lunch
153at the high school level. Uh if you look at what our proposed PI prices are compared to current year prices for Churchill, Douglas, Elco, and Wo, uh we're very much in line with what they are, especially if you look at the the districts that are very similar to us in size. I didn't include any data from counties that are able to be 100% C designated like Lion. Uh none of their schools, they all have free lunch, so they don't really have a a per meal price to compare with. And there's a handful of districts that are able to do that in the states. That's largely based off the demographics of their populations that are different than ours. Um I do know I don't have data on what uh the the proposed prices. A couple of
154the districts said they are they are weighing increasing their prices. Um Washo said they were thinking a 10 to 15 cent raise, but they didn't have anything set in stone at the time I was able to get this data. Um, so comparing this in particular with Elco, which is very similar to us in both demographics and and uh student population size, our our lunches are are right in line and slightly lower than what Elco has. Any questions up to this point? >> I do. Um, within the final budget, is the proposed price increase for lunch built into what we're going to be voting on? >> It is. Keep in mind our revenue for the tenative budget is the same as this because we anticipate a slight increase in revenue, but we also know that we
155have some schools that will be losing that CP designation and we're anticipating a loss in revenue from that. So, we've kept it flat based off of kind of those two balancing each other out. Uh, as we get a couple months in the school year, we'll have a better idea of of how those are trending on if we're if our revenues high, estimated high or low, and would be making adjustments in our December budget for that. So, the answer to that is yes, but no, because we didn't actually change our revenue based off that because we kind of have two mitigating factors that wash each other out. Moving on to the next slide here. So, this shows and the the graphic up there is exactly what's on the lower box of your handout what our proposed
156prices would be um for FY27. And this is the the data we generally present every year that we've offered an increase or not had an increase. So, this slide kind of looks the same as previous years. And again, we're we could raise all meals. We're kind of keeping breakfast the same. Um, but bring in our lunches, which again, all our data is kind of assuming each meal is $4.20 each to to generate, but we know lunch typically costs a little bit more. That's why we are focusing our our increases on lunch prices. So really quick too um just for the public as not is knowledge as well. We don't look at generating revenue from the nutrition fund right now. We just kind of look at we hope to ever break even. >> I would I
157would do [clears throat] back back flips and cartwheels if we broke even. >> Thank you. Because the more that you speak you say revenue revenue revenue. I think it could be a perception that, oh, we're making money, you know, by increasing this we're going to be making money and now it's going to be a revenue generating fund, which that isn't the case at all because like you said, you would be doing cartwheels if we ever broke even. >> Yeah. And a way to think of that is is um you know, we have to transfer money from the general fund in this next budgeted year to cover that. That's money that can also be used in the classroom. Uh, you know, both are good things, right? Making sure our kids have proper nutrition [clears throat] and
158making sure that we keep our classroom as funded as best as possible. So, why we're raising this is to to hopefully minimize the amount of money that we have to transfer from the general fund. It's, you know, in no way, shape, or form do I anticipate this would get us to a break even point. We're just trying to reduce that that transfer amount, which for this budget, that transfer from general funded nutrition is estimated $600,000. >> Thank you for the clarification. All right. Um, other funds in the budget kind of moving on. We talked a lot about fund 290. I know that's the past couple years we haven't had to have that transfer and that's why there's a little bit more information this year. Um, our our capital project funds and bond funds fund 360.
159We've kind of talked about it pretty good length with uh the CIP and our budget matches the amounts on our CIP that we discussed in the last budgeted item or last board meeting item, excuse me. And our debt service fund, which is um you know, essentially the money to pay the mortgage, if you will. That's um property taxes are collected to cover our debt servicing costs. Um it's in very good condition and there's no changes from our tenative to our final budget for that fund. Any questions up to that point about any of the funds that we've discussed? >> I think we'll wait until >> every head that I can see. I'm getting a no, but there's a couple of I can't see. So, >> yeah, we'll wait. We'll if you'll continue and then we'll
160wait. >> All righty. So, items to keep in mind for our December amended budget. And again, that's that's kind of the natural cycle. By December, we have a pretty good idea what our enrollment is. We know what our staffing is. that's a really great time to make any adjustments we need to to our budget and by statute that's the last chance that we have to do it without doing another um special budget hearing. Um so any changes to enrollment if it happens to come in higher or lower than what we've estimated and again we we generally estimate pretty conservatively in that because it we don't want to estimate too high enrollment. It makes budgeting easier but then if the students don't materialize the dollars don't materialize and it hurts late later down the road. Um
161so but any any enrollment changes uh could affect that. Um our actual staff cost and we have a pretty good idea what it's going to look like at that point in the year versus what we have estimated now. Um our nutrition fund we could see some swings one way or the other or we could have hit the nail right on the head and there might not be much change. Uh but that's something definitely to consider for our December budget and any other fund analysis as we go throughout the year and anything that would potentially change that that comes up. Those are those are items that we'll take into consideration as we move from this phase of of the budget cycle to the amendment phase which happen takes place the end of December. Any questions or
162comments regarding the budget? >> Um before we go on to questions, would you explain uh to the board you um before the meeting you gave us a revised page five? Um, can you address the changes that were made to what we received in our packet to the changes that you uh made gave us? >> Yes, my apologies. So, page five, the data that the data that's really important on page five is uh our enrollment data. And so, the way our budget document is set up, the ten of budget has one page and the final budget has another page of that's exactly the same. By mistake, as I was proofing, I looked at the ten of page and it all looked the same. There is no change in our budget from the tenative enrollment projections to
163the final. It in the uh copy that was submitted in the budget packet. It does did have some old data on the final budget. So I gave you a correction for page five that shows the same data that was on the tenative uh budget for enrollment. And that is the amount that all of our revenues are generated off of is that weighted enrollment amount that's in the bottom of section E on that page. and the um I provide that to you. The copy that will go to taxation will include that page. There are a couple other typographical and date errors that will be corrected in the copy given to taxation, but no other material changes. >> Thank you. We'll go ahead and start with Trusty Ramirez. Do you have any questions? >> I do. Thank
164you. On page number six, I noticed that um there was an entry for student activities fund. Um can you please explain that? I compared this um uh final budget with the version that you gave us in April and that's one of the differences that I noticed and again that would be for student activities fund. >> Yep. Sorry, let me get to page six here really quickly. >> Number page number six. >> So there was um in the in the April budget there was a calculation error that was pulling the beginning fund balance into that. Technically, our current year of in in this current DEF I26 budget, we have budgeted to spend all of our student fund amounts and taken the ending fund balance of that down to zero. We know in real life that really
165won't be the case, but it should match what we have based off of our current budget, which the ending budgeted fund balance, which is also used as our estimate, is zero. So, that amount was removed out of the final budget and the tenative of it did include an estimated amount for that. Um, but it's taken back to match what our this year's budget is, which the beginning the ending fund balance as budgeted for student activity funds is zero. And so now the final budget matches that making the beginning balance also zero to match this current year's ending fund balance. >> Does that make sense to you? >> Thank you, >> Trusty Garner. I I don't really have a question. Um what I wanted to say is that I appreciate uh your efforts and Superintendent Fueling's
166effort in bringing the budget into line with what it was requested by the board. I know it was not an easy process. I know it was very difficult and a lot of people were affected by the uh reductions that had to be made. So, um I think the process has been as transparent as we could make it for the public. We've had a lot of meetings um about the budget and a lot of questions have been raised and you guys were always able to answer them either before the board meeting or during the board meeting. So, I just kind of wanted to thank you guys. Again, it's not perfect, but it's um the best we could do, I think, at this time. So, Thank you. If I may mention one thing, I totally forgot to
167start out with this. One difference from the tenative to the final budget is taxation requested that we remove funds that have no activity in them. So meaning we had no balance in the in uh two fiscal years ago in this fiscal year or in next fiscal year. So, I did remove the new Nevada plan fund, um the class size reduction fund, the teacher school supply reimbursement fund, and the alternative compensation fund. Those had no activity in them. So, they are not present in the final budget. Those still do remained viable funds, and should we have a budgeting need, we they are still in existence and they could show up back in our budget if there were any budgeted u activity in there. We don't anticipate that in the in the near future, but that so
168if you notice your page numbers, you know, for example, the CIP used to be pages 60-61. Now it's pages 51 and 52 because those Z and activity funds have been omitted per taxation's request. >> All right. Um I just want to say thank you and um thank you for addressing um the questions that I had today. um within your email as well and uh the time you know that you've put into it and I appreciate um how timely you are in addressing the concerns and the questions um that the board you know gives to you. So I know you know it kind of diverts your day probably a little bit. So, I appreciate that in in the time and the thoroughess. And I do want to say thank you to AJ or Superintendent Fueling and
169yourself as well um for bringing I know it's been tough. The decisions haven't been easy, but um we did ask for 2.9 and you were able to do that. So, I appreciate that and we hope next year >> Even better. Yes. Go. So, again, thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Seeing no um additional questions, I'll go ahead and This is an action item, so I'll go ahead and take a motion to approve the budget. >> I'll make it. I move that the Carson City School District Board of Trustees adopt the final budget for fiscal year 2026 to 2027 by approving the resolution and transmitt letter and further instruct the chief financial and operations officer to file the necessary documents to comply with NRS chapter 354. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second
170that. >> All right. So, we have a motion by Trusty Roberts, a second by Trustee Clappam. Public comment. Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we'll close agenda item number 11 and go to agenda item number 12. This is approval of the consent agenda. This is for possible action. Have you all had time to review the consent agenda? Do you have any questions? All right. Do I have a motion to approve? A motion that the Carson City School District Board of Trustees approve the consent agenda as submitted. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Motion by Trusty Peterson, seconded by Trusty Varner. Public comment. >> Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed.
171Motion passes unanimously. We'll go ahead and close agenda item number 12. Move on to agenda item number 13. This is forformational items for discussion only. Did you all have a moment to look at it? Any questions, clarifications, comments? All right, seeing none, we'll close agenda item number 13. Move on to agenda item uh number 14. This is request for future agenda topics. Does anybody All right, I have a few. Sorry. All right. So, as I had mentioned um at the beginning of uh becoming president, I said I wanted to start looking at our policies and start updating them. And we see that we do have some that are are uh in need of update. So, I would like to start with then um we'll if we could we'll move start with policy section number 1011
172which are objectives. And so I ask our superintendent, how would we go about doing that? So would we like and I I guess I'll ask legal counsel as well. Do we bring what's written to a board meeting first or can we review it now knowing that it's going to be coming into and then bring the proposed changes? Uh if individually any of you guys have uh changes you'd want to see, you can email them to uh Mr. Sadler or Mr. Fueling. Um it'll have to any policy that is actually changed will have to come for two readings. But if you have something in mind beforehand as uh staff starts to look at it, you can you can reach out to them individually. >> Okay. And [clears throat] if you could then too also see see
173me on the communication just so we're all looking at it at the same. So, um, yeah. So, policy section number 01 0. I believe there's six different policies within there and it's on the objectives. The last time I think it's some of them have been looked at was 2005. Um, yeah. So, we'll be looking at that if you'll do some and uh then we can discuss those and bring those changes. Okay. The other one I had is if we could possibly get an update on the land acquisition um that we acquired. >> Oh yeah >> yeah I don't know that we all knew that. >> Okay >> number 010 0 and it's on the objectives. Yeah. So we have already done the bylaws and so we're moving on to the next one on the objectives.
174Okay. All right. Anything else? Okay, but before we adjourn, I just have to announce go Knights Go. They swept it in four. They won tonight 2-1. So, they are on to the Stanley Cup. >> Not sure that's our first. >> Sorry. And uh at this point, we will go ahead and adjourn. Thank you all. >> [music]