001We will call to order the April 27th Aberdine School Board meeting to order. We begin with 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. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Schultz here. >> Mr. Brad Olsson, >> I'm present. >> Mr. Brian, >> present. >> Mr. Darren Beckus, >> present. >> Gil Borton >> here. >> Mr. Kevin Ber >> here. >> Mr. Mark Murphy. >> All right. Thank you. I think we have a lot of good news to talk about tonight. >> We have a lot of good news. Yes. The first item on the agenda tonight is the Southakota High School Activis activity association state art competition. We have
002two students who were state champions the state art competition. I think Mrs. Dolman will introduce them and their projects. >> Hello. >> Hi. >> I'm Mrs. Dolman at CHS. Uh thank you for having us tonight. Uh this year we had 12 students compete in the state art competition and we managed to take first place in both the cultural arts and the functional pottery categories. Um Alta Three Legs took first place with Chunglasheska Wakan with the cultural arts with a um drum hoop and um Talia Bowman with uh Flossy in functional ceramics. So we'll start with Alta. Hello. >> Hi. I'm >> Hi. How are you? >> I placed first in the culture arts with my drum hoop chungles. I have plans to stretch it with an elder in the future, but this is it for
003right now. I originally was asked to paint this and give it a my idea of my culture and stuff. I gave it two sides. This one to represent the story is from where I came from on Standing Rock and another side to represent how I feel about my people and where I came from. >> Would you mind if we could see it through? >> No problem. >> It's really cool. I can't see it from >> It's amazing actually. I was hoping to do the same. >> Was it hard? Was it hard to do that inside? >> Yes. I had to kind of tilt it and put it around my head to be able to paint it was the same. I painted it with only acrylic paint and had to later put a gloss all over
004it. >> Okay. >> That is so neat. >> And how long did you have to do this project? >> I didn't really have a set time, but I did want to get it done in a relatively I wanted to get it done in a short amount of time because I wanted to be able to put it in the competition. So, it took me about less than three weeks, but a little more than seven days. >> Okay. >> It was an on andoff project because of other things that was going on. >> What are your future plans? >> My future plans, I'm going to go to USD down in Vermillion for art and education. And afterwards, I'll spend some more time in South Dakota either doing internships or getting some other jobs in the arts field.
005And I plan to go back to Standing Rock where I originally came from and become an art teacher down there. >> Good for you. >> Oh, awesome. >> Way more talented than I am. Thank you. >> Very proud of this work. It's one of my favorites I've made in the past uh few months. I'm still I've been working on more culture related art pieces lately. Some that represent how I feel about my identity as a Native American on the Stadium Rock Sue tribe and how I just see my culture through my eyes. >> So, you did this and then painted it. >> Like this. >> I just tried to figure it out. >> It was very difficult. And >> I mean, it was >> anyone that knows me in my school. I love to paint
006on objects that are not normally painted on. I painted on a welding helmet recently. >> I've done a lot of things where I've painted on odd objects and this was a very interesting challenge for me. >> Amazing. >> Congratulations. >> What art classes do you think you are taking in with the school district here? I've taken almost every single class that Miss Dolman herself has offered at uh Aberdine Central. And for each year I was at high school, I've had a art class. So that's four terms. So a little over 16. >> Okay. >> She does a lot of independent study with with me as well. And she comes in in art club, so she's very productive. >> Yeah. Art is my passion and I plan to do it for as long as I can.
007>> Congratulations. >> And then next we have Talia B. >> Oh, so steep. I got first place in functional ceramics. I >> in pottery class. >> It took me about two weeks from start to finish. It's a teapot, right? >> Yes, it's a teapot. >> I almost hate to ask, but can we pass it around? >> Does the water really come out? >> Oh, it does. >> Is there a special competition they're going to go to? >> Um, no. This is the staple. >> Yeah. Have you taken a lot of ceramic glasses? >> No, this was the first one. >> That's fantastic. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> It's so clever. >> I just make a bowl once. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, both of you are artists. How do you feel about doing art for
008competition? Is is that kind of a different mindset or >> this? I didn't make this specifically for competition. So, I guess I don't really know the other point of view. That's very beautiful. >> It's fun. >> Very good job. >> Be very congratulations. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> This is what she got coming next here. >> She looked at the one that >> last year. Yeah. >> Mr. kind of going tonight >> again. >> It's like a bad dream sometimes. >> Mr. K, not the students. >> Thankfully, they change out every four years. >> Yes. >> All right. We've got some FBA state champions with us. I'll let you introduce them and maybe what what they There's lots of categories with FBLA. So, >> there is a ton of categories. There is actually over 80 different categories
009um that that we have. We have kids in over 60 different categories um for it. Uh these are some of the representative the state champions that we brought home. Um and I'll let some of them speak about what they did along that way, but a lot of them is it's it the cool thing about FLA is is the fact that if you are interested in anything, I can find you a type of event that is going to float your boat um and set your sails. Uh like for example we have intro to public speaking and public speaking one. Uh Lia and Braden were our representatives for public speaking one and they went one two um in it one three in it. There was some kid from a different school that dailed us a little bit
010but I know wrestling went straight across the board perfect score. So that was awesome. Um one of the cool highlights was uh the number ninjas back here. I know Lia was involved and uh Bon Clatt and Mitchell go was involved. Uh they were then the head up of our number ninjas program where we went into May overbe and helped them um provide extra hands on deck to help them with their number ninjas program. So that was really sweet and awesome and I'll let them talk about it. So who would like to speak? >> I'll I'll give it a go. Um I was in here not too long ago speaking about a number of this but uh yeah so we me Mitchell here and Laia we presented on it at the state competition as I said
011I would previously and yeah so what we did we just went in gave a 7-minute presentation and they seemed to like it really well and we talked about how we helped and what changes we would make and >> wore matching shirt >> we wore our matching number ninjas t-shirts they didn't seem to get the memo today. No, I got it on. >> That's That's Anyone else would like to speak? You sure can. >> President. >> Uh the event that I placed first at was uh business management and that was like a roleplay event where they give you 20 minutes to like prep out a situation and then you go and speak for seven minutes and then after that the judges will ask you questions and yeah. Well, we're >> all in a group. >> Now,
012I think I know we got two seniors for sure, right? >> So, we were pretty heavy senior dominated this year dominated. >> You want to just introduce the kids who were here. So, then just maybe tell exactly what category they were in. >> They can introduce their categories. I'm like, uh, everyone was in at least eight categories. I was like, uh, >> we have we have on the George. She is here. Um, what events did you win? >> Uh, I did for the one I won was business management and then I did like future business leader. That's when I had to talk for like 10 minutes straight just about myself and the things I've done. Um, and then I was in Who's Who. That's like a scholarship one. And then I got 250 for that
013one, I'm pretty sure. Um, and then I was also in public speaking and the rest of them were like tests that we had to take. >> Then we have Lokia Gandar. She's going to be going to nationals along with Locus back here. They're going to head out to nationals. Uh, make a quick trip of it. >> Um, so the events that I got first in, I got first in intro to business communications and the community service project. And then I also did intro to supply chain management which I got second in. And then intro to public speaking which I got third in. And then journalism which I got fifth in >> which is a varsity level one. So it's everybody for journalism. And then Claire Hulcom she is here and like Ben actually helped us
014out on this one. I believe she came over and did an interview with you on um what was it? >> Um my business ethics report. So like our prompt was um how we can help the environment. So I interviewed them and he helped me do that one and then my presentation I won in was with Umna and Eve which was business management. Um so I'm Locus Gondawir. The event I got first in was intro to retail and merchandising which is basically just a test. And some of the other events I did was entrepreneurship which we got fifth at state and um and international business which we got second. >> All right. Well, when I went, I don't know how they're able to remember the spec. Oh, Mitchell goes I don't know how they're able to
015remember all the specifics, but I'll give you the highlights that I remember. I took first an impromptu speaking, which is essentially they give you a prompt, 20 minutes to prepare a speech, and then you go and give it. I believe it's around 7 minutes, I believe, is where you can max out. I took first in that event. I took first in the community service project, which was number ninjas with Malchia. And then I took set second on the test which was over I believe it was business management. And then other than that I honestly forgot but very successful. Um so my name's Ben Clatt. I got first in number ninjas of course. And then I also got second in international business with Loith here and second in financial statement analysis which we had a prepared
016presentation which was about Chipotle because that's the business they chose this year and we just talked about how like their financials are doing essentially and I got second in that. And then I also got a what was it? $700 scholarship >> I think. So yeah, >> for being tying with somebody who's not here, Eve Borchard, uh uh for a test. What was the test? >> Business communications test and for being the best from Central to do on that test. >> I'm Braden Russelland. Uh the event that I won was intro to public speaking. The topic this year, it was chosen for me. I didn't get to choose it, but it was essentially just how like teens like myself can establish and maintain a positive presence online and like condescend I went straight across the board
017100% or 110 out of 100 I think it was. >> So that was kind of the highlight of my trip. And then I also placed I think it was fourth in the business ethics presentation with Clara and then another person who is not here. And then out of the five tests I took I believe I placed on three of them. >> Great. And I think you should give that speech to 4,000 other children in the school district. I got to go back to memorize it. Never know. Great topic though. It's a great topic. >> So, no, we did really well and did appreciate the school district for supporting us uh making sure that we have the finances available to go to the state convention which is in Pier again next year but back in Aberdine
018for the next two after that. So, very excited for it to be back home. >> Congratulations. CONGRATULATIONS. >> Thanks for coming. >> Thank you guys. >> Have a nice day. >> Mr. Hower. >> Yes. Well, I'm here with a good good group of successful students here tonight. And I was actually thinking about what to say when I came here and it just kind of hit me that this was this year's uh award winners were kind of the ultimate example of uh students not only uh doing the work, which obviously they would have to do to win the award, but really driving the content that they created. And uh just starting with Delaney here representing the Eagles Own Mobile that won. It was never my idea or I never thought it was a good idea to
019record video up and down instead of side to side. I'm a traditional TV guy, but uh Delaney was the driving force behind that and she was adamant. She said, "No, people are going to watch it more if they're scrolling through their phones and watching." So anyway, the Eagles on mobile was her was her thing and uh despite me thinking, "No." And then uh you know, and she's right, they did do very well. Um the uh in media production I have this whole process and it is a rigid one because they need to learn every detail right so you need to do this then once I approve that then you can move on to this and once I approve that you can move on to this anyway so they all make uh videos through that model
020and uh that is not one that is here as a winner tonight. In fact, the one that is here as a winner tonight was, if I remember right, Gray Heg and Owen Dich, who is now at um Lake Area studying, but uh they like were out doing something and then they walked back into the room walking like an inch apart like in unison doing this number. And then they're like, "Huh, we should do a video about this." And they didn't go through the whole process I told them they had to do. And then about probably 30 minutes later, they come back with all this these great ideas and they threw this thing together and uh that's what won. And then uh and then Mason I remember so he uh was doing a blood donation story
021and we were all talking about uh different people you could contact and I was like, "Oh, I know you know we could, you know, you could go this route." And someone else had an idea and then Mason was like, "Well, or we could talk to um Zoe Stoie who uh was perfectly fine one day and needing blood like the next week. I was like, "Oh, that is a good idea." And then he contacted her and then um that's the story that won. So, I just thought this is kind of cool that it's the ultimate this is an ultimate example of kids not only doing the work but really um birthing the ideas and pushing pushing them through and sometimes doing something other than what I think they should do and then look what can come
022of it. So, uh all that said, we have well Delaney, Mason, Gray, and Jackson here tonight. if you guys wanted to step forward, maybe tell them what your project was and then uh yeah, that's about all you need to say. >> All right. So, um if you ever been on like Instagram reels like in uh 2020 or something, there's like videos where there's like a guy and then another guy walking right behind each other like in unison. It's probably the funniest thing I've ever SEEN IN MY LIFE. SO, I thought it would be funny like just walk in the classroom like that. And then uh Ghoster also thought it was funny. else who wouldn't >> I like how you added people though as you went. >> Yes. >> That was also a funny factor and
023then uh just basically put together a thing in like 30 minutes and then apparently it won >> and it promoted the school like the school values >> and it promoted the uh school store values which was pretty cool. I didn't think it'd be possible to do that in like a funny video format that people would actually find funny, >> but we did it. So, that's unless you have anything you want. >> No, I'm good. They made up kind of there was this four of them that made up what I called the dream team and they all had their their area and Jackson was the organization guy and as you can see he liked to be a little more behind the scenes and uh he was there with his spreadsheets and they were all colorcoded and
024uh because he uh could also do those in about 5 minutes to get it done for a something they got done in 30 minutes. A >> lot of OCD. >> I wonder where that comes from. his dad. >> Okay. So, uh, does anyone have any questions? >> I guess. >> Okay. I believe Mr. Shawhauser summed it up pretty well about the process of the stories. So, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have done funding our uh media segment at our school. It has led uh a lot of us to have great opportunities not only just in school but in our for future careers that we want to explore. So yes, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I definitely agree with Mason like the media kind of being or the mobile
025being like a new side of it is definitely something that I want to do. So it's nice that the school has all these um resources for us to use. But for our story on mobile was like new this year. So that was fun to like venture into that and kind of build it um like turn it into whatever we want it to be. But I think the video we submitted was homecoming week and that was like a really good one cuz there's so much energy that week obviously. But with making these short videos it's easy to just put in pictures. So there's so much that happens homecoming week. It was much easier to just bop around the school and get pictures of everything that was going on. And then yeah, we just put some fun
026music behind it and it turned into a great video and I guess I won too. So, but yeah, thank you for just all the resources that we have at school. Even touring colleges these past few weeks, it's cool to see how high our high school already is compared to even like what some colleges have. But yeah, thank you. >> And thank you both. Sorry. >> I know you mentioned future plans maybe in this in this realm. Is that what people are looking at or what are you looking at going into it? I'm looking into going into like sports marketing or just social media marketing anywhere within there but mainly sports is what the end goal would be for me. So yeah. >> Uh personally I'm not wanting to go into media per se but I
027am wanting to go into engineering and this hasn't really played a part. Um it has I've looked into it >> but >> that's the best learning. Yes, it's opened the door to me wanting to go into this, but ultimately I have my mind set on other things. Good answer. Yeah. >> Uh I'm going into mathematics education so it doesn't directly help but I think it helps with like communication uh presenting like being in front of a classroom like putting myself in front of people being okay with that. Uh has also really helped my like social anxiety I guess the little that I had of it. and um like making slides for classes and stuff will probably be much easier because I've taken these classes and again like just the human interaction in classrooms and stuff.
028I'm going into nursing, so it doesn't directly help, but making these videos can help me in the future if I would like to make a um kind of like a public service announcement to the people who are needing help in hospitals and in nursing. And if the fact that we need more nurses in hospitals in the future, it could play a big role in knowing how to do that. >> I'm a nurse. We will help you do that. Are you uh what branch? >> 1974 or worse? I went ICU and CC and I went management. So, >> good for you. We need more male nurses. We really do. >> I think the four of you are such a prime example of what an education and public education should all be about. If you have a
029direct path and that you know that's where you want to go, go for it. But if you just want a little bit of exposure and see what that's like and maybe it is something I'm interested in, but I know I love this. Uh just exposing yourself to so many different things. I I commend all of you for taking that leap and saying I'm not just going to go this way. I'm going to check out everything that's out there. So uh good on you for that and congratulations on all the awards. >> Congrats. >> I think we would be remiss if we did not also acknowledge I know Mr. Mr. Schoffer um likes to give credit where credit is due, which is obviously the students, and they have done a tremendous job. Uh Mr. Schoffer is
030the only one that I know that could knock out power for 8,000 people, and we have a surprise planned for him last week. >> Where are we going? >> Oh, yes. Yes. Uh but it was announced last Friday that Mr. Shaer is the region 4 teacher of the year and he'd be a finalist for the South Dakota teacher of the year. And I think we've got a great shot at that, too. So, congratulations to YOU AS WELL. THANK YOU MUCH. >> KAYLA, this is Michael Kayla Torbert and she has some very exciting news as well. Uh uh Michaela was recently selected for the Macy's I'm going to get this wrong great American marching band which will be um on Thanksgiving Day. Uh do you want to just kind of talk us through what how you
031got selected for that and what that process looked like? >> So I I mean I saw it on like watching the parade and through social media. So I looked it up and online they have a form you can just fill out. So I brought that to our band directors and I asked if it's possible if I could try out and they had no clue what this was. So they looked at into it and they said that like I I had the solo and I can march so I could try out. So like I practiced for a while and then in February I decided I recorded my marching and my solo and we just had to fill out some forms and just send it in and it it was just a waiting game from there and
032it took like a month and a half to get an email back. So, I looked ahead at the schedule. It looks very intense. You're there for about a week. Is that right? You go from Monday and of course you're going to march on Thursday. But what does that look like? >> So, we I we fly in on Saturday and that's like that's the day where you just kind of get settled in and then it by looking at the schedule on my side, I've seen that it's a lot a lot of the days the first half or the last half of the day is rehearsals and the other half is like you get to be a tourist in New York, which I'm really excited about. I'm super interested how they fit you all for uniforms. I
033noticed that was on the schedule, too. Like, wow. >> So, when we after I got the email that I was accepted, they had a lot of forms to fill out and part of one of the forms, we had to take measurements already of my body. And then once we took the measurements, they're going to have like a uniform there. And then they're just going to do little extra fittings to make sure it fits perfectly. >> Remind us saxophone. Is that right? >> Yeah. Tener sacks. their sex. Okay. >> Wow. >> Congratulations. Awesome. >> Yeah. >> You must be the first one from >> to do this. >> I think I am. Yeah. >> Any from South Dakota that are coming as well. >> I know last year there was at least one girl from South
034Dakota, but I don't this year is I have to wait till I get there to find out if there's any others, but so far I don't know of any. Have you had any other bandmates express interest after hearing about what you're going to do and all of that or >> I mean they've like t there's been a lot of talk in the band after I tried out and got accepted but it's more of I think kids are too scared to think about it but I mean I think a lot of our band could definitely make it in. >> There can only be one first. So, congratulations on that and uh we'll be watching for you. >> Yeah, >> for sure. Well, congratulations. Way to take a risk. >> Great job. >> Thank you very much.
035>> All right. Well, that concludes all the good news items. Uh we do have the agenda in front of us. I'd ask for a motion for approval. Move >> by Sharp. Second. >> Second by Beckus. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Persons wishing to address the board. >> I have none. >> Board remarks. Seeing none, we will move on to the consent agenda. We have a number of items on the consent agenda. Does any board member wish to pull anything off? Have further discussion? >> I move approval of the consent agenda. Have a >> motion on the floor by Olsson. >> Second by Dr. Bortonham. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. opposed. Same sign. >> Thank you very much. Reports of the
036superintendent, Dr. Guffin. >> Thank you. The first item on the agenda is our um audit report. Tara Enquist is here from I Bailey and she will share the audit with you. >> Yes, we will get this going and I won't take too much of your time up today. Um as far as the audit goes, I'm Terry Quist. I'm the audit partner here in Aberdine that works on the school district audit. We'll go ahead and cover the audit results and then any questions that you guys might have related to the audit. So for the financial statement audit, we gave a clean or unmodified opinion related to those financial statements. As part of the audit, we do audit the schoolwide audit plus the foundation, the general fund, capital outlay fund, special education fund, arena fund, bond fund,
037which closed in 2025, the internal service fund, which relates to the self-funded health insurance, food service, and other enterprises. So, each individual entities that I just listed get an opinion and then we give the opinion overall related to the financial statements. As far as our communication to the you guys related to internal controls, we have one finding to report to you guys this year and that's going to be a material weakness related to the controls over a reconciliation between the food service software program and the general ledger software program. So if this is not in place that could result in errors. So that's why we do have to report that this year. As far as compliance goes, we had no non-compliance that was required to be reported to the board. And then on to the
038next slide related to our audit over the f or the federal awards or uniform guidance. Um we tested two programs this year. Um child nutrition cluster which is made up of the national school lunch program and the school breakfast program and then special education. Both of those programs had an unmodified opinion which is a clean opinion. We do not have any findings to report over those two programs for internal controls and no compliance errors were noted in testing of those programs. So overall in the financial statements a pretty good year. We do have the one finding on the financial statements this year. Last year we did not have any findings but normally we go from zero to two findings each year. So nothing that's uncommon. And then for the communication to those charged with governance
039for our audit um our responsibilities as auditors is is to express an opinion about whether the financial statements have prep been prepared by management are fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. We obtain a reasonable but not absolute assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements. So by that I would note that we do set a materiality for each of the opinion units that we're going to issue an opinion on. We do test details, we sample things, but we do not test 100% of all transactions. So we do not give uh absolute assurance related to our audit. Um as far as um Ielas, we are independent with respects to the school district. As far as significant risks, we have four risks that we have identified as part of our audit
040process and planning procedures. The first risk is management override of controls which where someone could override the controls the school district has in place to misstate the financial statements. This risk is a risk on all audits that we complete. Um our second risk is revenue recognition. This relates to revenue transactions for exchange and non-exchange transactions. So an exch ex exchange transaction would be something like the food service program where you charge them um a price for a meal. So you exchange receive money in exchange for a meal or such as driver's ed where you provide a service to those students. Non-exchange are going to be your standard tax revenues, grant revenues, and then your state aid. Um so that's basically making sure that those revenues are recorded correctly. The third and fourth risk relate to
041significant estimates. For the third risk, it's going to be valuation of your pension asset. And then the OPED liability and the deferred inflows and outflows related to those two items or um that risk that's a risk based on the fact that the estimates used in those valuations are subject to judgment each year. So there's estimated so your life expectancy is in there estimated discount rates are in there estimated rate of return on investments have to factor into those calculations. So that's why those are significant significant risk and then the last risk is self insurance estimate for incurred but not yet reported claims as of year end. This is also an estimate based on an unknown number of claims that could come in after year end. So this is going to be based on what actually
042comes in plus an estimate of probably what the the um plan estimates would come in in the future related to 2025. Um so those are the risks. We plan our audit procedures around these risks to make sure we can still get an opinion and that's and we did not have any issues related to these items. As far as significant new accounting policies this year, there was one that was adopted and that related to compensated absences, but that did not have a significant impact on the financial statements for the school. And then as I noted before, there are the significant risks. And then on the last slide, um we did not encounter any significant difficulties related to the audit. We did not have any corrected misstatements. We have two past or uncorrected misstatements. And these are
043misstatements that could be posted to the financial statement, but we have determined not to be material and management has determined not to post these adjustments that relates to the present value of future retirement payments. Right now, you guys have them at the gross value, not at the present value of future payments expected with a discount rate. This is a past adjustment we've had since I've started working on the audit. And the second past adjustment relates to the timing of insurance payment between 24 and 25. This is a one-time issue and will not be have to be reported going forward. Um, we did not have any disagreements with management. Um, we did not have any circumstances that impacted how our audit report was worded. So, you guys have a standard audit report. And then we did
044obtain representation from management before we issued the financial statements and we're not aware of any consultations with any outside accountants. So, any questions that you guys have for me? >> Yes, Mr. Wilson. I have a question not related to the audit, but looking at basically education in general. There's been a big push in Washington about privatization of education and vouchers and those types of things. And many legislators talk about we need to privatize education because the public schools are failing, which I don't think is true in South Dakota at least. If indeed there's been there's been uh legislation in South Dakota that's talked about introducing vouchers and things like that which would provide funding for private education for students that go to private school. My question is they have a different standard. They don't have
045to follow any of the rules testing and those types of things. If indeed they do get funding from the state or the feds, are they then going to be required to have the same audit requirements that we have to to justify that they're doing everything correctly, too? >> Um, as of today, most of the nonprofit schools that I'm aware of, probably some have an audit, some don't have an audit. I do not know what would be expected in the future if that voucher were to pass and what they would the state would require as part of that. >> So you've not talked at your level about that and again I just proponent of if they get the funding and they want to do everything privatization privately then they need to follow the same standards that
046we have to do and uh if it's an audit then I think they should have to do the audit too. Um, it's an expense for us. Obviously, you know that, but um, I'm I'm just kind of tired of them skating on their own morals and not having to follow the rules that we have to follow. And I think if they get the money, then they need to do the same thing. So, I just thought I'd ask. >> Well, it would seem that it's state funding from our taxpayers money. >> Yep. And if they're not accountable to whether they're spending the money appropriately, I think that would be a problem. >> I I agree with you. I >> point questions. >> And move approval of the audit report, Mr. President. >> On the floor by Sharp,
047second by Olsson. Any further discussion related to the audit report as presented uh by Tara and I Bailey? being none. All those being this is public information, right? >> Yes. >> So if you did it for private schools and they had to do it be public information >> if they were a public entity. Yes. We would have >> they receive public funding. >> Yes. Potentially. Yes. It depends on how a lot of times if those schools were to receive state aid or a grant through this state, those reports right now normally are required to be published. So yes, but no, if it's required by the state, I think the state would then make them a public. >> Perfect. >> Any further comments? >> See none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.
048>> Oppose. Same sign. >> Thank you very much for your time tonight. >> Thank you, Terra. >> See you next year. >> Next item on the agenda. Dr. Merley is here from Simmons Middle School to give us an update >> about things happening at Simmons Middle School. says just one second. >> In one second. >> Good evening. >> Evening. >> I've had a busy night. >> Yeah. >> Always time for you, though. >> Very good. Do I need to do anything, Josh? >> What was that? >> Right and left with the arrows. >> Perfect. >> Up and down or right and left. >> All right. Um I will be addressing the four goals of the school district and what Simmons is doing to try to help with those goals. And our first one is student
049achievement. And we know that um getting kids to school attendance is one of the the key things to boost student achievement. And so we've been doing some monthly activities to try to boost student achievement and recognize student achievement. And they have been very cheesy at times. Um, one month students, home room students got to or home room students got to vote on the cheesiest joke and then um the winning attendants for a lunch table got to cheese the principles. This was um, of course, uh, Mrs. Scarboro's idea and I just went along with it. But they threw cheese at us and it was very entertaining. They weren't very good at throwing cheese at us. Um, pictures here. Here I have a picture of our um most recent attendance uh monthly attendance activity and this was
050um a bracket for the best pizza toppings. And then the winning group got a pizza party um at lunch uh sponsored by Godfathers. And I'd have to thank Mariah Wilkinson for all her crazy ideas for this home room um and attendance challenge because she's put a lot of work into it. Um, one of the other things we're trying to get a handle on, um, missing work and just making sure students do their assignments so that they can get better academically. And so we've reintroduced our ICU program where, um, we hold students accountable for making sure they get all of their work done um, and have them stay after school or work in the morning just to give them that extra time and that extra assistance to make sure those assignments are getting completed so they
051can perform better. And then we celebrate other types of student achievement as I have a picture of our all state band, middle school all-state band students there, but we recognize those students. Um, our junior honor choir uh students are students that were able to participate in the Dakota Prairie Art Show. Um, we recognize all those other types of achievement as well because those certainly enhance our school. For health and wellness, um, our Project Lead the Way and health classes study both study the body systems. actually so does our seventh grade science class. And so, um, they're always working on ways to become more physically healthy. Uh, one of the pictures here is the fire rescue, um, group coming in to demonstrate CPR and other life-saving technology to our Project Lead the Way students. They actually
052have like a machine that does CPR, and it's it's really cool, and the kids think it's absolutely fascinating. Um, we also have home room activities that emphasize all types of wellness from social wellness, mental wellness, organizational wellness, physical wellness. The picture there is our home room free throw contest champions. The students beat the teachers this year. Um, I think that kid was like 10 for 10 three times in a row. It was amazing. Um, and then our family engagement committee too gets families um, moving and working together with our family fitness night, which was very successful. and you'll see a picture of that later as well. For safety, we actually have our Alice drill this week, so anybody wants to come by and check that out. Um, we have our fire drills each semester and
053tornado drills. Um, couple of those coming up as well. We do re-evaluate after every drill and just make sure that we're doing things in the most efficient way possible and checking to make sure that our exits make sense and if there are any changes, what do we need to do differently? Um, and then the picture I included here is that students even get in on the act when their home rooms go out and help pick up the rocks that are on the sidewalks and in the parking lot and get those back into the rock piles so that they're not a tripping hazard for our students either. So, we love to get the students going on that as well. And as far as student and community or school and community relations, um, again, I'm going to
054talk about our project lead the way uh courses and our health courses. They bring that fire rescue department in a couple of times a year. They bring the APD in with the drug dogs and do some presentations on um how the drug dogs work and operate and the dangers of drugs and alcohol and those types of things. The other thing too that I have pictured here is our Project Lead the Way classes used their 3D printing skills to design and print um Christmas tree ornaments and they had a Christmas tree at the Dakota Prairie Museum this winter. Uh, family engagement tries to bring families together, bring bring families in. We had a STEM night this year, a fitness night, movie night. We have popsicle night coming up next week where we invite the fifth graders
055and their families over to just come and visit the school one time before the school year starts. We held our Veterans Day assembly in the fall and our America 250 celebration will be on May 15th. We have an entire day of activities. We'll cover the era's tour of the Americas and we're gonna have a really good time. We'll celebrate with cupcakes at the end of the day for America's birthday. And then our youth power group is still going strong. Um they are still making blankets and delivering them to the cancer center every year. They um help set up the second paw sale for the humane society. They make donations to the humane society. They attend high school events. The biggest thing is trying to get our students connected to the community and the high school.
056So get them reaching out beyond the walls of our building and finding out how they can do other things in the community. So >> what questions do you have? >> Questions fortunate cuz I'm just ignorant about it, but there was a issue at central last week or whatever about the lockdown and things like that. Did you lock down too at the same Do all all our schools lock down? >> No. Um, it kind of depends on what the situation is, you know, like if they felt that there was a threat to multiple buildings, they would let us know to lock down as well. What? >> Okay. >> With the project lead the way classes, um, have you you've been doing this for a number of years now and so have you noticed those kids kind
057of continuing that momentum into high school and seeing what they do in the community? >> They do. Yeah, they do seek out some of those same types of activities at the high school. Keep up the good work. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. The next item on the agenda, this is an annual uh agreement that we do approve. We have the 2627 agreement with the juvenile detention center. Um for your approval, there were no changes to the agreement. Was that Mr. Olson? >> Y Mr. Olson and second by Dr. report. Any further discussion related to the 2627 JDC agreement? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Thank you. >> All right. The final item on the agenda this evening is the approval of a food service
058management company proposal. Uh as you recall at the March 23rd board meeting we had uh the entire RFP was on the agenda and again as you recall that was a very extensive process. Uh but that was issued the next day. Then on March or excuse me March 24th uh we we released the RFP to interested food service providers. Uh we obviously put provided notice of that this proposal was available. We did host a mandatory tour if you were interested in submitting a proposal. There were tours of uh several of our facilities which took place on April 8th. We did have three um interested um companies come attend those mandatory tours. Uh then there's a question and answer period and you can the deadlines for that were uh the week of April 13th. Uh there were
059some questions that went back and forth some information that we were able to provide but we do provide those questions and answers into all the groups. Uh the proposals then were due on uh April 21st. We did open those proposals on April 21st. Again, this is not a bid process. So this is not like a low bid. Uh on that particular day, all that we were required to do was validate that the information that was required was actually in the proposal. So we simply just looked through the proposals, made sure those required elements were there, and then the reading began. Uh they were hundreds of pages long. uh very very interesting but there were three uh separate companies that did submit a proposal so we had lots of information to digest there's financial information and
060just all kinds of things all about food service um we took a couple of days to look through that and then um Mrs. Michaela Soullum, Brian Sharp and I got together and evaluated those proposals. Uh just to give you an idea, there's a common rubric that is used to evaluate those. We looked at the price. Uh there's a per meal price that is offered and then there's some requirements around that that's the state sets. Uh we also looked at service uh capability plans. So it's the proposed food service team such as the director that they describe. Will they be able to provide the services according to the RFP? We do take a look at the employee training and the development that the groups are planning to offer. We evaluate their experiences and the references and
061their past performance. Uh we also take a look at the integrity and reliability of projected operating budget and their forecast for the school district um food service program. They provide information about their accounting, invoicing and reporting systems, personnel management and district support, their marketing plan and promotion I of the school food service program. how they plan to involve students, staff and patrons and also their plan to increase participation. So there is a very lengthy process that we go through a lot of things to consider. Um Michaela or Brian you want to any comments on your moment? >> It was very ex extensive. um three qualified biders and uh our current um provider we're very happy with. Um and uh we're we're going to continue that that relationship. They've been with us for f five years
062and uh I think that relationship will continue very well into the future. >> That's your recommendation? >> That's our recommendation. Yes. I have a question of the other two. Um, do they provide any services in the state of South Dakota? >> One does and one did not. >> Okay. >> Lunchtime Solutions is by far the most prevalent of >> the three that submitted >> proposals in the area. >> Yep. >> I I think we've been very happy with them. At least I have been from what I know there's very little but um I would fully support. >> So just as far as next steps in the process um again our recommendation tonight is to continue is for you to accept the proposal that was offered by lunchtime solutions. Again as u Mr. Sharp and Mr.
063those have identified that is the company that we've been working with for the last 5 years is our recommendation that we do continue that um our next step then is to get this approved by the department of education. So we can't enter into a contract with them until that step is completed. So there's still a few more steps in the process here but um there is proprietary information that's included in the proposals which makes them confidential but I certainly have them available if anyone would like to look at them at any time. So I do have them if anyone wishes to see them on the board. This is a question and I it's I mean this is not relevant because if we go with lunchtime solutions it's not but how many employees do you have
064now >> versus what are still our employees in the transition. So >> you have a majority of our employees. >> We got 19 um district staff and uh 29 lunchtime solution staff. So if somebody else got the proposal, they'd have to figure out employment of those people, which to me is like >> all of our management has non-competes attached. So it would Melanie and then um the kitchen manager at Wholegate, kitchen manager at um Central, and then the assistant food service director would um be dissolved. The >> twothird Thursday employees right now are with you guys. >> Yes. Yep. Makes sense. >> I would move approval of the proposal from lunchtime solutions and enter into whatever finalization we need to do with the state of South Dakota to make that happen. >> I would second
065that. We have a motion on the floor by a second by Sharp. Any further discussions or comments related to uh the approval of the food service management company? just to reiterate, uh we've enjoyed hearing from from you as well. All the ancillary things beyond just the food, but just the uh days of celebration and the fun things that you do with the kids, uh the holidays that come around, the special treats, things like that. Uh it certainly adds to the experience that the the students get. So, we do appreciate that as well. See no other comments. I'd ask uh all those in favor of lunchtime solutions uh for the food service management company signify by saying I >> oppose. Same sign. >> It's five years, right? >> Correct. >> All right. Thank you very much.
066Congratulations. >> Done. >> Uh we do have need for executive session under SDCL1-25-2-1. Move. Motion by Sharp. >> Second by >> Beckus. All those in favor? I. >> They're in executive session.