001I thought it was good. All right, >> we have called the November 24th Aberdine public school board to order. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. >> Schultz. >> Mr. Bradson >> present. >> Mr. Ryan Sharp >> present. >> Mr. Darren Buckus >> presort here. >> Mr. Mark >> here. >> All right, we have the agenda in front of us. I'd ask for a motion for approval. Second by Olsson, second by Burkard. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Same sign. First motion to address the board. >> Board remarks. Um, I just I got to be the
002delegate to Pier and I found out a lot of things and so I'm just going to give real general found out there's 147 public schools in South Dakota and we had 114 delegates there that were certified already and there were 77 members present. So there was a quorum and then they talk about the standing positions which are the policies So, you know, this is all new for me. So, it's like, okay. And it's kind of like their core beliefs and there were 11 areas. They recommended action for only three of those that would get amended in the future. And then there were resolutions which are more specific issues on the state and federal levels and they were a little more targeted. And there were 10 areas that had amendments that they are looking at or
003deletions even because of state law has changed. And there was only one area that I noticed there was dissension. Most everybody was eyes and you know not too many nays and a lot of eyes going on except there was one area that um there were a lot of people that were kind of against it. It still passed, but I'll talk about it more next month. Um, but it it lasted about an hour. So, >> got to go to Pier and it was nice weather for a three-hour drive and then an hour meeting and then another three-hour drive. So, it was Yeah. And yet, I met people from other school boards and we were all kind of talking about things and how things are going for them. So, I appreciated that part, you know, just to,
004you know, hear and it's, you know, once you start talking to people in South Dakota, I always say if we talk very long, we're going to be related. I just know it because I knew somebody from everybody. So, it was a lot of fun. I not a lot of fun, but it was I'm glad I got to go. So, >> well, thank you for representing us for the associated school boards and updating us on the the resolutions and and amendments coming up. I know there's more to come. uh in the budget to be we had but any uh questions for Dr. You're Mr. alms replacement, you know. >> I know. I know. And you know, I'll never come up to >> Got a question. Are the I went there a couple years ago, several years
005ago. Are there any private schools as part of the social school boards? >> It's public. >> It's all public >> that I know. Yeah. But there were quite a few that asked how Dwayne was doing and they kind of missed him not being there >> because the athletic association has private schools and there's about 172 or something like that schools across the state >> but I understood it was public >> public remember that >> I think they have the option. >> They do have the option. I'm sure >> they do. >> Yes. They pay the the dues and the fees and stuff. >> Sure. >> But >> probably choose not to because the issues are >> controversial for them. I'm sure some of them. >> Well, and it's an expense, you know, but not do.
006I don't know. >> Good question, though. >> Thank you. Any further remarks? Thank you, Dr. Bort. >> Seeing none, I will move to the consent agenda. We have one item on the consent agenda and ask for a motion for approval. >> Motion by Sharp second. >> Second by Beckis. Any further discussion related to the bills? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Post same sign. Report to the superintendent Dr. Guffin. >> Thank you. Uh the first item on the agenda tonight is our OM Tiffany Elementary School report and Principal Alberg is here to share all things about OM Tiffany. >> All right. Well, good evening. Thank you for having evening today. uh update on Tiffany here through the first three months of school. Um I know you always like to hear about
007our safety drills. We've been doing our safety drills to get them done before the snow comes tomorrow. Um the uh the climate and community involvement that we had. We had um it was our second year of doing a title one activity day in the afternoon with parents outside. It's a great day. We've had over 100 parents join us for that. Um, we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. Um, today was a very controversial day. Today was the 67th day of school >> and our PTA bought cookies and we had 67 day. We're trying to keep the power back in that. Um, so that was that was quite a day. We have our junior achievement program rolling once again. And again, this year we have Northern State University in our school twice a week and then their STEM
008outreach programs are coming in working with our fourth and fifth graders and that's really awesome. Um, last last week we had the opportunity last year when I was here I had uh two of my teachers Michaela Waflin and uh Katie Blocker here talking about number ninjas. We were just starting that program and uh last week we hosted the very first ever elementary number ninjas competition. We had 135 math leads at our school in the afternoon. Um and when they come together um the the leader of it says number ninjas and 135 kids scream hia and it was a great afternoon of math. I know Dr. Guffin was there and Mrs. Dicki was there. Um it's really neat and the kids really love it. That program is going really well. Uh tonight I brought with me
009our title teacher Jamie Tiff. I'm going to have her come up now at Owen Tiffany. This year uh we started a sore uh intervention program for reading where all of our students in grades K through five have reading intervention based upon the level they're at for 30 minutes a day. So come on up, Miss Tiff, and share all the hard work you've done. >> Hello. >> Good evening. >> I can also speak for the math ninja. My son is one of them. And uh last week was awesome. Uh he came home very excited and I love seeing the pictures. Um okay, so to get us started um Thor stands for the Soore to Success and so we we had heard about it. Um other schools are also starting it. They have um kindergarten through first
010or kindergarten through 2. Mr. Alberg and I decided to to kind of jump in and do K through five. And so we do all of it. are all of our students are in. So, all right. So, as you can see, um they meet every single day for 30 minutes. Um every student gets to go to sore. Okay. All students receive skill-based support during this time. So, every student again gets to do this. Um in the past, we've had reading club where certain students got pulled out and it was intervention. So, only those students got pulled out. Every student gets to go this way. Um this kind of separates. You can see this only has three groups, but they're separated into more. So, depending on what grade, um, like fifth grade, we have six different groups.
011Okay, so these are separated. Um, I'm actually going to start with the low groups. Um, which would be something that I I work with. Okay, so grades K through two um receive our UFI, which is one of our curriculums that we use. um they get this in the classroom at um the classroom level, but then when they come to me, they get it at their own level. Okay? So, they're receiving it at the level that they're going to have success plus they get it in the classroom. Grades three through five, they receive it um at their level. Okay? Um this is done with explicit systematic instruction, which is what they absolutely need. Then we have middle groups and there's going to be a low middle, there's going to be a high middle and they're going
012to move within these groups and they all get to have differentiated skill-based support and they're used um with UFly, some are used with our SAVS curriculum. So we've got the two different curriculums that we're using. Um sometimes we use fluency activities, sometimes we use vocabulary activities, different activities that the teachers choose to use. And then our higher groups um receive groups this way too. And so they're getting the enriched the centered activities. They might have the sav as well. Um but I brought one with to kind of show you because some of our groups are using novel studies. Um and so one of them has, you know, like the old Dear Mr. Henshaw. This is an older book. Um but the kids absolutely love it. And the kids actually had to write um a diary
013entry to go along with the book. And it's Dear Mr. Henshaw, I don't think you know that I play hockey. A lot of boys think that girls should not play hockey. And hockey um have to play have to wear pads, elbow pads, knee pads, and others. It takes a long line to get dressed. You're correct. And it um another high group had to rewrite a whole chapter after they read it. Okay. So our our children are are getting extra different times that just work with their students like with their level. Um so every day this is kind of our schedule. Um our third grade what we did is we mixed the children together. We were able to separate them by their skills and then pull them out. Uh they might go to me, they might
014go to the sped classroom. Uh the classroom teachers have them mixed then too. So they're not they may not be with our classroom teacher. They might get to go with other third graders at that time. There's uh then the second grade. We do have another third grade and that just happened to be how our schedule worked out this year. Kindergarten. And then we were actually able to there's twice in our schedule where we are able to pull and work with children that maybe come up during our time our students assistance meetings that we have. there are children that we we're discussing needing extra assistance and then we can work and so one of those time slots I actually go into the classroom and I assist with the you classroom teacher and then another one of
015those times um the children are pulled out with me and we're able to work so then the first grade and fourth grade and fifth grade is all during that time every six weeks we meet so today we actually met with the teachers uh principal sped classroom and reading teachers we all meet together and we discuss to see where are the students at and do they need to move um and we did have some movement again today and what we look at is we look at their their progress monitoring and so we are able to do that all the time the UPLY has weekly assessments uh SAV has assessments and then our NWA that we use we're able to look at and see which students do need to move from group to group so they're never
016stuck in that group and then we're able to see you know, if maybe a child was doing well or maybe they're not motivated, we need to move them and then we need to get them motivated again. So hopefully so far we're seeing success and we continue to see success with this. So that's the report from home Tiffany. We're excited about the store. It's working really well. We have data weekly data on every single kid and uh we feel real good about that. So if I might entertain any questions otherwise that's OMT >> questions asked this but you >> we we have a history do you hear anything from parents on a regular basis about what the school board can do better >> help your school or other schools in the district because I mean honestly
017I don't I don't get a Uh people say you must get all these phone calls. I don't get many phone calls. So you're here. I'm just asking is there something we as a school board should be doing better? I think school board is a wonderful school board. I think the support you give us is incredible. You know, I I think to go back to your parents, parents want to know that their kids are safe. Parents want to know that their kids are looked after. And uh we do a good job of that. >> Well, there's something I think we need to know that. That's why I asked. >> Oh, I was wondering um do the children in special ed programs, they're not part of soore too, are they? >> They are. >> Well, they are.
018>> It's great. >> Yeah. So, they're going to the sped classrooms or they're going to whichever classroom as well based on >> So, all the kids feel included. This is awesome. >> Yeah. Everybody gets up and they go to Soar and they get excited about going to Soar. They know it's their time. Well, it'll be fun to see what the scores are. >> I mean, I already feel like your math scores are going to go up because of the ninjas, but but now with Soar, I mean, >> we're excited about the UFly and what that has brought. >> Yeah. >> Um, and it'll take a few years for the UFly for us to see it when these kids start to read in second and third grade a lot. But we're really excited about UFly and
019what that's done. >> Y awesome. Is six weeks often enough or too often to to re-evaluate the students? I mean, I'm just if you've looked at that, >> we think it's a good amount of time to do. Like I said, this is our first year of doing it. We don't want to have kids in a group if they shouldn't be in that group >> and there have been a few times where we've moved kids in groups midway through, but uh 6 weeks seems to be a good amount of time. you know it's about half of a quarter and uh we can move them and it's excellent discussions we have when we get together we meet during the teacher PE and music time to get along the props and we have really good discussion like get
020down to individual students and it's great >> Jamie how about the schedule just rolls then I mean when it's 9:30 kids just know to go back to their regular classroom or >> I guess I have I set a timer in my room. So, I have a timer that goes off 2 minutes before and we just know that's time to pick up and clean up for the next group to come in. I don't know how everyone else does it, but >> yeah, and they really have a system. I know >> I think I've seen it just about every school and you're everyone is doing it a little bit differently, but the same so that it's >> whatever works. >> Yeah. I I think that's been the biggest thing I guess is even talking to Bailey and
021and the different schools is the different dynamics of our school compared to other schools too is just how how it's going to work. But so far it's worked really well for the kids. And >> how does it work with the ESL program? How does that >> totally separate? >> Okay. >> Our ESL kids go to sore just like everybody else. ESL special that every kid can move groups and uh >> everybody gets it. >> What was great to hear too is or to see is longevity of and the consistency that we see across the board. We talk about the introduction of number ninjas last year and then the success this year and then next year we'll hear about Soore and other people duplicating that across the district. And um I I I just commend you
022good for always being on kind of the cutting edge and trying new programs and uh seeing the successes that come about because of it. >> And those programs won't work if teachers would not buy in and the teachers all buy in and and they love it. >> Any other questions? I was at the number ninja competition and um I can attest to the fact that the children cheered as loudly uh when they gather correct math answers as they did for when they got to have a cookie and a juice box. >> That much pretty high bar that much excitement about. >> If you haven't seen the pictures, you need to see the pictures of them. I mean when they pose with our ninja band. >> Uhhuh. OM Tiffy took home some hard work, too, right?
023>> We we we did very well. Yes. >> Your head start out. That's all right. >> Well, thank you. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Thank you. >> The next item on the agenda is the approval of the board of equalization resolution. Michaela has that for you. >> Yes. So each year we have to have a resolution to approve the consolidated board of equalization. So there's three members from the county, one from the city and one from our district. And that group just ensures that properties are assessed at uniform and fair value. So this is a resolution to approve that. Mr. Becca says our rep as well. I always mention that we have the majority of the dollars that come from that. We only have one representative. just seems long but it's the way
024it is everywhere. So I would move approval. >> Okay, we have a motion on the floor for approval. We have second by Dr. Bortonham. Any further discussion related to the board of equalization resolution? See none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I same sign. >> Keep up the good work, Mr. Beckus. >> Okay. The next item on the agenda is the approval of the second reading of the capital outlet revenue and budget. If there were any additional questions or comments about >> there there was a couple of questions from the board last uh >> and sorry. Now, I just wanted to uh update you on there was a couple of questions last meeting on one was the switching the chiller uh project for the central high school boiler project. I did meet
025with element consultants and um they have agreed to shove a few projects that they're working on now so that they can really focus on the central high school boiler. We ran through the dates kind of working it backwards and it seems like it's it's doable to have that online um before the start of school next August, August of 286. Um >> because we only have one working, right? >> Correct. And uh as we spoke last week, uh JCI uh tomorrow, no, excuse me, Wednesday, they have uh a project team coming up to take a look at our boiler boiler that's currently down to see if they can retrofit that for a temporary. So, that's still in progress. They have to come up through Sou Falls. So, and I hear winter is on its way. >>
026Yes. So, um, the other one, there was some questions about bleachers and, uh, that's also at Central High School. Uh this Christmas, excuse me, over the Christmas break, Mark and Luke and I are going to go through and take a look specifically at Central's bleachers um to see what we can do as as a possible option to total replacement. But then also during the Christmas break, the custodians will pull out all the bleachers. They will go underneath. They'll do another inspection, do some maintenance, cleaning, possible greasing, that kind of thing. So, you know, those those I think were the two items that we had talked about. Just want to give you an update on those. Okay. Any questions? >> Just a question on the boilers. I mean, you talked about maybe going with smaller ones,
027more of them. Is has that been decided yet or wait till they get up here? that that's kind of the way um JCI is just coming out to look at what we can do about the one that's currently down. Um Luke Malsome uh who was until currently with Sik Miller Engineering is now on his own. Um he and I spoke that instead of the larger boilers like it used to be, we'll probably split it down to a three or four. Um, and he's getting some dollars put together for that. The timeline on that was was looking good. So, yeah. >> I'm assuming the the boiler that's working has been thoroughly inspected to make sure that that's not going to between now and next August. That's a long time to go >> with only one that,
028>> you know, it it's been taken apart uh and put back together. Um the one that went down uh it was just kind of a fluke. A rivet let go. Uh it just kind of burned a hole in itself basically. So you like Mr. Olsson said currently it's working but that's with anything. Currently it's working. We will do our best. And then one question with the bleachers too. Is it the replacement will that match what's there existing or is it >> the the repairs will just you know we will do another inspection and repairs until we can get some better options from our combined builders >> the the Brunell field the visitor section >> oh those bleachers sorry >> are those replacing to match what's there >> we are replacing to match what's on the
029west side. It'll all be aluminum clad. Uh they will remove currently it's it's uh wood floor and seats. Uh that gets removed and then the aluminum uh seating and flooring gets replaced with that. >> And capacity wise that'll be the same. >> Same. Yes. Correct. Yep. I think uh actually as a as a bonus uh the ramps will be tweaked a little bit so that they are ADA compliant. >> I think they were brought from Swisser Fields. So they're probably 45 years old. >> Yeah, >> something like that. >> Correct me if I'm wrong. We can't go any higher on that side because of the proximity to the airport. Correct. >> Well, airport and then also the the high high uh power lines there. We don't want more visitors there anyway. So, >> that was
030my thoughts. Like, can we just cut them in half then we don't have to >> We'd love to see them full. Let's put it that way. >> But is there a cost savings to making them a little smaller or anything? It's I've been to it hasn't been packed on that side. I mean, if we >> We We talked about that. And once you start opening that Andor's box, um you you start to dig into structural. Okay, we make it smaller, but how do you keep the structural integrity? Um so they felt that without redesigning or completely replacing >> just kind of leave it as is. >> And those those bleachers do get inspected every year uh along with the field lights as well. I move approval of the second reading of the capital. >> So
031move or second, sorry. >> We have a motion on the floor and second motion by Olson, second by Sharp. Any further discussion related to the revenue andor budget? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Same sign. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay, the next item on the agenda is the approval of the first reading of the 2026 27 school calendar and then the draft of the 2728 school calendar. Um, as we've discussed in the past, putting together the perfect calendar is an impossibility. Um, but we do the very best that we can based on when different holidays and things fall a little bit. Uh, we really do try very diligently to try and keep our first and second semesters as balanced as possible. It's not exactly um identical, but we do try
032and keep those as balanced as possible. It is very advantageous for us to start a new semester in January and then wrap things up in December. Um the other thing that we do try to do, we know that days off are difficult for families. We try to put those as many days off as possible. There are certainly tasks that need to be completed within the school district and teachers need some time to do some work as well. So, just a couple of highlights from the 2627 calendar. There was great discussion about when the school year should start. Uh, we started on a Monday this year. Um, families felt that that was a difficult week, a long week. Um, needed a little extra time. Teachers also appreciated having that Monday to kind of regroup as well.
033So, we will return to the Tuesday starting. That is a full day of school that's starting. Um unfortunately what happened then is that does um you can't just start picking one day and then it has an impact on everything else on the calendar. But uh we that would put the last day of school on a Monday for now. U historically as you know we do add our snow days at the end. It has been very rare that we have not had at least one snow day. So I would anticipate that that date will move but for now that's what we're going to propose. Um really the only other change on the calendar that is different from other days or other calendars that we've put forth is the March calendar. Um as you know in the
034past March has been a bit of a a mess. There's been a lot of very partial weeks and it's also really close to testing time. So we wanted to maximize as many full weeks as possible once we get to that springtime. So for the first time we are going to try doing a week long break. That week will be March 15th through the 19th. Two of those are staff development days, which are what we call flex days for our staff. So, some staff will be working, some may not be. And then three days in a row, which would be um simply days off, which would be a spring break. So, there will be a week off. Unfortunately, the the week after that is where Easter falls. So, that we are going to have two weeks
035in a row where there is a little bit different schedule. That is the week that we do have parent teacher conferences and those will be held on Tuesday night. There will be school on Wednesday and then Thursday will be off for students. We'll finish up our parent teacher conferences that day. We'll transition into Good Friday on Friday and then of course Easter Monday on that following Monday. So as much as we tried to clean up March, that just happens to be where Easter lands. Um I checked it could not be moved. Tried. Um so that's what that looks like in 2627. If you notice April, we have a very clean month in April. there'll be no breaks because there's no concert. So that's a very clean and then of course ending or we will in
036May. So questions about 26 27. >> Our schedule actually um allows for more hours of attendance for students than are required by law. Correct. >> That is correct. So when you talk about having to come back for that Monday the way the schedule is now, >> what educational opportunities actually occur on that day? Because I'm sure nothing happens. >> Well, >> I'm just being serious. >> There's some wrap up activities that schools do. I mean, if it if it gets to the end of next year and we don't have any snow days, maybe we could have a conversation about doing something different. But because a lot of times we've had requests to just do away at those days, >> put them at the at the end or or uh I mean just make that off.
037Make it snow days for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever. I'm I'm just being serious because I doubt there's very little education that goes on that day. >> Whatever the last day is, I would say is the last day. Whatever happens on the last day will happen on whenever the last day is. There's always going to be a last day and there's always going to be >> Friday might work better than >> crazy. Well, we'll just have to see. I mean, if we have four snow days, then it's not Monday, then it's going to I mean, that if we have >> I'm just saying that it's it's awkward to just come back for a month. >> I would if that's the case, I'll come back to you and say, would you mind if we stop on Friday?
038So, we'll see how it goes. >> I'm sure you will. Um, and then on 2728, you'll see the calendar is very similar. Again, we'll we'll see how we always, this is just a draft, so we'll have another conversation about 2728. There's a lot of things there that could change. We'll see how this week in March if people appreciate that or if they don't, but um, we put it in there for now. Um, you'll see that Easter is not in March in in 28. So, that makes a difference. We also have leap year in 28. So, we have an extra February day that made a little bit of difference on the calendar as the days moved around on the calendar, but um this one ends on a Friday. So, we'll see if that's the last day
039or not. But, um yes. Any other questions about the calendar? >> Assuming in 2728 that the 1718 that's when the tournaments are. Is that >> Oh, yes. Yes. That aligns with Beans. Yes. Are we posting any tournaments that year? >> Maybe >> but nothing at central like gymnastics. >> Uh gymnastics is >> this year, right? >> Next year. >> Gymnastics is next year. >> Yeah. >> Which is always falls toward that February time frame. >> I move that we approve the first reading of the few calendars. >> All right. We have a motion on the floor by Dr. Bortnham. >> Second. Second, >> Mr. M. Question to be had by the board regarding the school calendars. >> I want to thank the calendar committee. This is made up of uh faculty and staff as well
040that uh have their input on this as well. So um this is not something that is just dreamt up by administration. Um a lot of input does take place on this. So with that, I'd ask for approval of the first reading of the 2627 and 2728 school calendar. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. >> Okay. This next item, it actually um also came out of the faculty forum group. Um we just happened to be meeting when the staff directory came out. We do have a schoolboard policy on GBJ that says we will annually put together a a directory of all of our staff and then distribute that to staff. So it's a quite an expense to print the the telephone book every year. And the staff very politely
041said to me, we never look at them. We don't open them. We don't use them. So um we talked about it as a faculty forum group. We talked about it as an admin team. We'll continue to do the directory. So, we obviously have a compilation of staff, but we'll significantly reduce the number of copies, maybe just one or two per school as well as the district office. Um, but we don't feel the policy is no longer any longer needed. So, I'm proposing that we simply delete the staff directory policy based on feedback. >> I would move first reading of elation policy GBJ. >> I have a motion on the floor. Is there a second? >> Second. Second by further discussion, Mr. Wilson, >> I actually do use the directory, but I'm I totally approve of
042the recommendation to delete it. As long as I have a number I need, I can get it. >> Any further discussion to be had? >> I presume since this was started, a lot more communication goes on by email now than than phone. So, All right. All those in favor of the first reading of policy GBJ signify by saying I. >> I. Same sign. >> Thank you. >> Final item on the agenda is the second reading of policy JFCE and JFCE-R. It's our bullying policy that Mrs. Camille explained last meeting. I move approval second reading. >> Second. Motion council by Sharp. Second by Olsson. Any further discussion to be had? Seeing none, all those in favor of the second reading of JFCE-R signify by saying I. I. >> Same sign. Seeing no other business in front
043of this board, I'd ask for a motion for adjournment. Olson, second by Durkard. How those in Pharisees