001Okay, we'll go ahead and call the June 9th, 2025 school board meeting to order. We'll 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 and justice for all. Roll call, please. Mr. Aron Schultz here. Mr. Brad Olsen present. Mr. Brian Sh. Mr. Dwayne here. Dr. Gail Forel here. Mr. Kevin Burkard. Mr. Mark Murphy here. All right. Good news items. I think we have a hallway full of champions out there. We do. We do. That's good. Uh we have our uh state track champions here with us tonight. We've got a couple of girls and a boy state track champion. We'll let them make their way in. And congratulate you. Am I supposed to introduce
002them? You are. Well, I'm here to introduce uh our 300 meter state champion for the boy side. Um, obviously we have a couple hurlers up here and and uh uh it was a pretty exciting track meet for the hurlers. They really had a outstanding um I always watching Have you ever get opportunity to come out to the track and watch coach Apple coach? It's like the energizer bunny on mountain doing Skittles. Um but Kais had a great meet. He's he was part of a very good 4x4 team the last two years. Um, and uh, I wish Olivia Braonn were here because um, tonight because when she was in eighth grade, she came over um, started at Holgate. And someone asked her how you become good at golf and she said you just work really hard
003at it. And I think these three are great examples of how you become good at something. You just work really, really hard at. So, um, Kyson, do you have anything to say? You got to think of something here. Okay. Um, you know, I work pretty hard for this. Um, you know, I've been doing track since like elementary school and I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far. So, but I have one more year, so I'm not finished yet. So, see where this goes. Did you uh lean at the tape to win this one? It must been close. I see by the time it had I didn't see the race. I did. It was closed. I saw the race. And did you know you had it at the end there? Uh, it was it was
004close. I didn't know like I couldn't really see him, but like he wasn't right next to you. He was kind of close to me, but you know, I kind of at that last hurdle I cleared it pretty good and the other two kind of tripped, so I knew I was going to get it. So, what do you do to make yourself better even next year? you know, uh, you know, I try to do things like offseason and, you know, cross country also really helped me out, you know, uh, basketball also, but you know, I just like I try to do more than I usually do. Coaches go easy on you now. No, [Laughter] congratulations. Congratulations. I think Kaiser knew he got it because if you watch the Dave Vauer put a thing up when he
005crosses the finish line, he goes like that. Yeah. He knew he had it, right? Yeah, he knew he had it. So, that was awesome. I just saw the video last week. So, that was pretty cool. Well, then also we have here uh Karen Hermanson won the shot put and uh Maya Aaron Patis won the high hurdles and uh Whoa. Jeez. The cool thing about these two is they're both state or they're both our uh record holders this year. They both at Howard Wood, broke the school record. Both of them broke the school record at Howard Wood. And again, uh both of them, you know, carried that on at they were both Howard Wood champs and carried it on through the state meet. So again, hats off to the two of them and I'll let you
006ask them any questions you'd like to ask them. Oh, one thing. Taran's got uh her There's no pressure today cuz mom's not walking in the hallway going like this. Taran's throwing. I swear to God, her mom wears a hole in the grass over wherever she's at. So, dad's a little more calmer, but not really. So, you can ask him any questions you'd like. And if she throws well, you get punched in the arm by Jill. Yeah. So, Taran, I have a question for you. Uh, I was a discus coach and I coached my daughter and your dad coaches you. How does how's that situation? How does that work out? Um, he'll never see the tape. Go ahead. I mean, yeah, you just have to kind of when you're at practice, he's not dad, he's coach.
007But also with that, he knows he knows you better than anyone else. So, I mean, you can use both sides of it. And you when you go home, if you have questions about it, he's always there to help you, but he's also just dad then, too. So, I mean, I've been doing it my whole life as my parents as my coaches. So, not too different now. Kind of normal now. So, it'd be kind of weird if they weren't my coaches. And the Aaron Patus name, is that is that just hurtling just running that family? Uh, no. All my siblings were very good palters, like three placesers and record holders, but I'm the first nonpalter. Are you both seniors? We're juniors. I'm a junior. She's a sophomore. Oh gosh. Wow. Good. What about your experience? Did
008you know you had won when you finished? Um, it was pretty tight at the end, but I heard her hit a like the second to last hurdle and I knew that that kind of messed her up and I just was like, well, just run hard at the end. And what were you seated going in? First. You were seated first. Okay. I've heard your coaches say before you in in this particular track and field or cross country or whatever it might be, uh, you get what you deserve. And I know that each one of you have worked very hard and have been dedicated and it wasn't a fluke type of thing that you guys were leaders as coach Apple talked about. You know, setting records at Howard Wood and then carry that through as pressure and
009you guys delivered. So congratulations on that and congratulations on the state championship. Well done. Well done. The last thing I'd like to say, I'm more more excited than these guys. It's for the golf team. I taught with coach Zimmerman for 18 years here. It's right next to him. And we text, he always texts me at conference meet, at the state meet, see how our team's doing. And we've been texting back and forth for years. And oh my god, he kept telling me we're close. We're going to get it. We're going to get it. And it's just so I'm more excited for those guys than them. Thank you. Okay, our next um good news is something a little bit different. Um yep, come on in. We have a a group of students who every year get
010to go to girl state and go to boy state. And uh this year we had a student who did very well at girl state and she was elected the lieutenant governor of the girl state. I'm going to introduce Adrien White. Do you want to tell us a little bit about you and your experience at Girls State? So, my name is Adrien White. Um, I never really thought of going to Girls State just cuz politics is just kind of something that I'm not super interested in, but thanks to Carly Cooper, um, she actually encouraged me to go and I'm glad I did because it's definitely something that you will never forget. It's definitely an experience that I'm grateful for and yeah, I learned a lot about leadership and making connections and yeah, I think that it's
011just something that isn't talked about enough, especially in I guess high school cuz it's for juniors. But yeah, so how does the process work? Like kind of walk us through how you ended up with this in this position. So, first you have to be selected because you have to be involved in school. You have to show um leadership skills. You also have to like pretty much advocate for yourself to be selected to be an a delegate to Girl State. And once you're selected, um, you go to Vermillion for, I think it was like four or five days, and you stay in the dorms, you stay on campus, and every hall, it's it's kind of hard to explain like the process, but every hall is its own city. So there's like city level positions, there's county
012level positions, and there's city and there's state level positions. Um, and every floor to the dorms would be like a county. And so the people in my county are really people that I probably were was most connected with um just because I spent the most time with them. But to become lieutenant governor, you have to be selected by everyone. So making those connections with people outside of just your floor of your dorm room is really important. So throughout the week, um I would make connections, uh reach out to people, get to know more people. Um, and then I would campaign uh because I was selected by the elect the governor- elect. Um, and so the governor- elect and I campaigned for I think it was like two days. Um, and yeah, the there was a
013vote and somehow I became lieutenant governor. I mean, yeah, I don't know. When I mean, when I went to Girls Day, I wasn't really I wasn't really tr trying or I wasn't expecting to take state level positions, but I mean, campaigning and doing that kind of stuff. It was It was really fun. So, yeah. You you speak so well. Have you done debate in the past or something? I do debate. Okay. I was going to say you speak really well. I can see how that would help. I did do debate um freshman year. I didn't stick out with it, but I mean I'm sure I got my speaking skills from that from something. But yeah. I'm just wondering um do you kind of have a plan that you might like to go into work in
014state government affairs? Yeah, I think that that experience definitely opened my eyes a little bit more to how government works and some of those state and county level positions. Um I'm not opposed to it. I think that Girls State has definitely opened up those possibilities and I think I've learned a lot from that. So, it's not impossible, but I'm definitely looking into it. But, yeah, great to hear that. Thank you. Yeah, back in the day I bored your mother. I had her in her room back way back in. She was a little jealous that he didn't get invited to any board meeting that I was champion twice and I never really congratulate you next. Are there any duties throughout the year as lieutenant governor now? Lieutenant Governor. Um, I will have to go back next
015year um because I will have to swear in the next Lieutenant Governor. Um, I'm also probably going to be like a junior counselor for the next group of delegates. Um, but I would say that the governor definitely has more responsibilities. The governor would have to speak during the summer for several different um, events. Um, the governor also has to run the pretty much girls state next year. I was pretty much I pretty much just support the the governor, but I think that I definitely helped campaign and I think I definitely earned this position. So, yeah. I'm assuming you ran as a ticket with the governor. Did you just meet this? You never had met this person before? No, the the governor that that chose me as her lieutenant. Um she is from Rapid City. We
016had never met prior. Um, I don't even think I really saw her face before she interviewed me to become Lieutenant Governor. Um, but she she chose me because of my I guess my social skills and my trying to make connections with several other delegates and we definitely have become pretty close friends and yeah, I think she made the right decision. That's cute. Yeah, that's great. What other events are you involved in at Central? Um, I have done I did volleyball for during my freshman year. Uh, I also said that I was in debate. Um, I don't do a ton of school activities just because I'm involved in so much out of school. Um, I do a lot of volunteering. Um, I do things through the church. I do thing do things through nonprofits. Um, there
017are several things that I do outside of school, but I definitely try to stay involved when I can. That's great. That's great. Well, congratulations. I know you as well. And um Okay. And our last bit of good news, uh are our Central High School girls golf team and our medalist. I'm not sure if she's here tonight or not, but here they come. Hello. Hello. Hello. Coach Zimmerman, the last time I saw you were getting water dumped over your head. Oh yeah. I always tell people it' been better the day before when it was 90°, but the cloudy, but we'll take it whenever we can get it. So, um, first of all, thanks for having us here. It's it's it's nice to be recognized by you guys and the community. Um, I guess I'll start by
018just quickly introducing the players. I was able to round up half the team tonight. um once school gets out, they kind of all go their own separate ways and it's kind of difficult to to gather them uh all back again. But we had two seventh graders uh on our team this year, which is kind of unusual uh in golf to have seven two seventh graders play in the state tournament, but um one of them is not here tonight, Genevie Goals. She's on vacation and the other is Carly Withers. And they did not embarrass themselves by any means in the state tournament. And I know they were intimidated on day one, but uh they they bounced back really nicely on day two and they they felt like they should be there based on their scores and
019everything. So it's a compliment to them and how they played and just uh kind of changing um from day to day as to making adjustments um on the golf course and getting used to having people around you when you're teeing off and like the tournaments throughout the course of the year where there's not many people there, but then the state tournament all of a sudden you have a lot of people there. So, um, congratulations to those two. Uh, next is Kylie Wirebball, our sophomore. And Kylie was able to be all state this year, all conference. She made all tournament team, which is the top six at the state. So, a lot of achievements and accolades go to Kylie. And then we had three juniors. Khloe Vikander is not here today. She's on vacation as well.
020She was also all state and all conference. And Emma Door. Uh Emma made all state and all conference this year as well and all tournament team. So uh congratulations to her. She's a junior. And Olivia Brawn is she's actually there's no rest for the weary. She's playing in a tournament in Sous City right now. So she was unable to make it but obviously all state, all conference, all tournament. She was the medalist for our ESD this year and she was the state tournament champion. So it was a very successful year. We set out some goals at the beginning of the year and we we revisited them about a week or two ago and I looked at them just after the tournament and just about everything that they wrote down they accomplished and they achieved. So
021a lot of credit goes to them and and what they accomplished this year. It's not easy because I know the expectations were very high and the pressure even though it wasn't talked about amongst us was very high. I mean, it was it was known that, you know, hey, you have all your returns back from last year and they did pretty well, but that doesn't always equal state championships and conference championships. So, a lot of credit goes to the girls and what they accomplished this year. Quick thank you to you guys as a school board. Um, I know these are the guy these girls go out and they get the job done, but there's a lot of behind the scenes people and and things that, you know, we need to say thank you to, and the
022school board is one. Uh the athletic department obviously Dawn and and Mark um help us out a lot and without them uh being there and encouraging us and just being able to do the things that they do is very important. Obviously the parents uh they they support me, they support the program, they they buy into what we believe in as far as a program and what we want to get done. Strength and conditioning. Jake does a great job. We only do it twice a week, but hopefully they carry that over into the the summertime and what they do because strength and conditioning is very important in golf. It never used to be, but it is now. So, we really feel like that's a big part of it. Thank you to the golf courses in town.
023They wouldn't have to, but they allow us to be there practically whenever we want to. Rolling Hills, Lee Park, and Moxin and the pros that are out there. They help us as well. And then just the athletes, the time, the effort, the dedication, the patience, the perseverance that they put in to accomplish these things. It's it's just not during the season, it's in the off season. It's like these things don't happen overnight. These are this is a culmination of years gone by of building the program and just, you know, trusting and and staying with the vision of trying to accomplish what we did. So, a a lot of things go into that. So, thank you to all those groups and people. It's very important. Um, I just have a short story. I was standing out
024in my driveway the other day and all of a sudden this car pulls up in the street and they stop like right in the middle of the street and this guy comes out and he starts talking to me. He goes, "You remember me?" And I go, "Yeah, I do. I believe I do." And he goes, "Well, congratulations on your state tournament and everything." And that's a commonality that I'm seeing right now. people are just I wanted to say you better you might want to move your car off the middle of the street but for the most part that happens a lot in the community right now um and I love to talk to people about the golf team even before they won this championship people are always asking me and talking about they want to
025talk about the golf team and I love doing that but um those that's just one story of many that you know uh kind of out of the blue that somebody just like pulls over and starts wanting to talk about um how we did and congratulating us and and things like like that. So, um it it's it's fun and I said it before and I'll say it again. The most rewarding part of the state tournament and the conference championship for me was seeing these guys' reaction afterwards, letting them enjoy the moment. That's what it was all about because uh they worked for it and they earned it. So, that was that was really u rewarding in that instance. So, um I guess in conclusion um thank you again. uh success doesn't happen overnight and we really
026appreciate everything that everybody has done and I know it's kind of a minor sport to some people but to myself and to these girls it's a major sport and we we put the time and effort into it just like any other sport but u and it's it's been a long time coming and and we're going to sit back and we're going to enjoy it and reflect and and just u kind of take it all in. So with that said, any questions for them? They're all yours. You know, probably Mr. Zimmerman, we would be remiss if we didn't mention about your years of service with the golf program and your guidance. And I think that's noteworthy. And uh so we say thank you to you. Appreciate it. I'm an old school. Back in the day, you
027couldn't coach years ago. You you had to just stand and it just happened. They've changed rules. Can you go out and coach on the course? We can. And it used to be kind of glorified bus drivers back home. But yes, um I want to say like five or six years ago, you know, that that changed and we're able to coach from basically tea to green. Once they're on the green, we can't coach anymore. Just time consuming. So, but um they changed it and which we should. I mean, we're coaches so we'd like to help them with rules. Uh just kind of the mental approach. You know, they kind of maybe have a bad hole or bad shot out there. So, we're there to kind of build them up a little bit and help them along.
028So that's been beneficial. I think it's helped speed up the game too a little bit and when they get when they have some problems out there even though they sometimes they know the rules and things like that, but in golf it seems like something bad happens and you just kind of lose your train your focus and stuff. So we try to get them back on track again and you know kind of get them down the right path. Girls, do you know where your team is at during the course of the around? Are you just kind of oblivious? You're just playing your own game and then you just get to the end and you find out how the team did. Yeah. But the coach knows where everybody but he just doesn't pass that information on to
029you. Well, I will say the second day at state, so we don't know how we're doing, how the team's doing. The second day at state, I did not have a good hole. And Zim just comes up and he's like, you know, I'm like, you're fine. Like our team is fine. You're doing fine. Everything's fine. So that was just that's what he does. nose rubb each of you just give maybe a two minutes of what you learned over the course of the season. Um, yeah. So, I would say so last season didn't really go how I wanted it to and so I worked really hard over the summer and fall to hopefully get some better results this year and um it happened and this season has just it was so much fun. We had um a
030lot of fun with Zim and he's taught us so much. Our mental approach to the game has changed a lot, you know. So, we were sitting in our hotel room the first night of state and we were just like, so how do we go into day two? We knew we were up by 10 strokes, but we were like, we can't settle. We have to keep going. We're just like right now it's 00. we got to go in like at 00 and just, you know, finish what we're here to do. And so I think this year I've learned a lot um with our mental approach, just taking it one shot at a time and just really relying on ourselves and teammates and just really trusting ourselves. She covered a lot. Uh I agree with a lot
031what she said. Um, you know, we've really been working hard this whole year and not that the um, meets during the season don't matter, but you know, your focus is like doing good at ESD and doing our best at state and state is a two-day tournament. You can not win it. This is Zim's quote. You cannot win it the first day, but you can easily lose it. So, you just got to like mentally stay intact. You know, we had our little meeting in the hotel room the first day of state and he told us he's like mindset is at 00 like it's a different me. It's a whole different day. Um you're kind of unlucky with the weather. The weather was completely different the second day. But I think that's one of the best things
032about golf is like with inside sports like you don't have to deal with weather. it's always, you know, 72 degrees in a gym, but outside it could be blowing 30 miles an hour and it could be 50 out. So, I think that's why golf is very enjoying is like it's a new day every day. And just playing with the team like personally, we've all like Emma, Chloe, and I, we've all played together for a few years now. And just to finally win, like I think it's just really rewarding. But we know that next year we want to come out and definitely do good again cuz we have a really good team. Like we're losing no seniors. So I feel like we have a good chance next year. Um they said a lot of it again.
033But I had the I was how do I know what to say? Um he taught me a lot on the mental approach to golf like Emma said and it does help a lot cuz you can have one bad hole and it can turn into a lot of bad holes. So you just got to like learn how to keep that in the past and like look forward to your next shot. And then also being young and playing with the older girls, you got to learn that they have been playing golf more than you have. And so letting them beating you or like when they beat you, you can't be like mad at yourself and you just got to accept it. Coach, how many varsity and junior varsity total numbers do you carry on a varsity squad
034and your JV squad? This year we had seven on varsity. We can take six to a meet and count four. And JV/ middle school, I want to say that was around the 15 number, give or take. Um, so we're usually in the neighborhood of 20 to 25. Varsity and middle school/JV. They kind of interchange once in a while. the JV in the middle school. Simple question. Last year you were good. This year you're great. What What happened during the year do you think yourselves that made the difference? Better skills, better mental attitude, just better camaraderie. Do you have anything that jumped you from last year to this year? Um, so last year we were pretty young. Um, so golf comes with a lot of experience and playing a lot and like obviously we played a
035lot and a lot of us had play for had played for a lot of years but I think just um the confidence coming into this year knowing that like we're still we don't have any seniors. We're still young but like we can do this and we know what we are capable of. I think it just changed our whole mental approach and then we just had a lot of confidence in ourselves and in each other and we just knew that we could do it. I had one thing I am going to date myself here but I I was in high school in the 70s so I'm really old but there was a tennis team back then and you guys remind me of the tennis team back then a lot of young tennis players really good really
036deep those types of things. They won the state championship three years in a row. um from sophomores, juniors, whatever. Um the one thing they did and I'd encourage you to do, don't rest in your laurels. Keep practicing, keep going forward. Just because you won it once doesn't mean you can't win it three times or four times. I think you guys have the opportunity to do that. I really do. They did. They they won last three champion. The only three championships we won were those those guys. And stay at prayer ring. Yeah, a challenging course to and it, you know, you probably heard this before, but in double A it's really hard to win with underassman, meaning anything under the junior grade level. Um, typically juniors and seniors predominantly that make up those teams win state
037and win individuals. I mean, it can happen where a sophomore freshman maybe wins and they're part of the nucleus of a team, but generally it's juniors and seniors. As good as these guys were as eighth graders and freshman and sophomores, once they become juniors, that's when, you know, they've really kind of settled in, I think, too. But like I said, the past experiences that they've had the last well, Emma and you know, since they've been seventh and eighth graders and Kylie, I think that's finally paying dividends right now. They played in state tournaments. They've experienced the aura of the whole environment of a state tournament and just the people around, like I said, and just everything about it. Um, I can tell them a lot about a state tournament, but they have to kind of
038experience that. Um, what it's going to be like, but until they go out and experience that, they don't know. So, that's one thing I can't teach them, they have to experience that themselves. I believe in Where's the date at next year? Do you know? Uh, next year it's in Watertown. Okay. Okay. Municipal, of course, in Watertown. and uh ESD is here in Aberdine, so that'll be nice. Which golf course? Moxin. So, we're looking forward to that. I know it's a long ways away, but uh we don't get to host conference very often, so that's something that we're looking forward to. And just being in our backyard and sleeping in our own beds and things like that are it's huge. So, and uh these girls practice and they play moccasin a lot. So, um I know
039they're looking forward to it already. What's great about the team aspect here is your fourth score is just as important as your number one score, right? Because I mean it's all they all count the same. And you're exactly right. There was a lot of people I've heard talking over the last week. Boy, you see the scores, you see what they did over here. Uh you help bring our community together. And is this the first state championship for Central? So, one thing uh this gentleman over here, Mr. Chanel is going to have to do is hang a banner in the uh and that's because of what you guys did for us. I know it's going to cost a little extra, but it's worth we don't want to be left out of those. We want to be
040part of that. So, and a great group of girls too to be part of that, too. It's the personalities. They come to work every day and practice every day and that's that's what's important. And uh there's some people there's some kids I've had in the past and as a coach you have those athletes that are good but they just don't put in the time and effort. But these these girls came every day. Wind, rain, sle, snow, smoke, you name it. I mean we're out there we're out there practicing. So um if we're going to play in it, we have to practice in it. So that's kind of my philosophy and they did that without complaining about it. So credit to them again. Congratulations. Congratulations. We'll see you next year. All right. Good stuff. All right.
041We do have the agenda in front of us. I'd ask for approval of tonight's agenda. Approve. Second. Got Mr. Alm and Mr. Sharp for the second, please. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Same sign. Persons wishing to address the board. Board remarks, Mr. Al. Yeah, thank you. Um, well, first of all, some very good news from ASBSD uh concerning our all program which hands out the awards uh at the end of the school year and uh provides professional development for school boards across the state. Um, we will again receive the goal level award. Uh, we earned 660 points. By the way, that was the same amount as we earned last year. And we're pretty well into the goal level. And I think uh you know, this is uh something we achieved through
042webinar serving on the board of directors with ASPSD, convention attendance, uh region meetings, attendance, and a special committee that a school board member might uh come as a result. Um and that has happened a couple times before across the state. Uh the all program has been operated in force for nine years. We've been in the gold level six out of the nine years. Uh two years we attained a bronze and u one year of bronze and two years a silver award. And uh by the way, we were one of the first five schools to sign up nine years ago uh for the all program. And uh right now out of 148 school districts in our state and school board of course um we had an increase of probably uh uh 30 from over what it
043was last year. So we're probably up around 90. And uh I do remember in fact I think as I think back all of a sudden um we were probably the first four to sign up for it and that's been a while ago of course and I just think it's something our board can be uh really proud of. Uh, I think our community looks at this as a board that's trying to grow professionally at all times and I just think it really puts a lot of confidence in this school board and for school boards that achieved the various levels uh to do this and so u I guess u we say congratulations uh to us. Um so I don't know if you have any questions concerning the all award. The only thing I would say board
044members is uh please don't forget to do it again next year. That's a that's a promise. I guess I took that as so you have to work hard that Thank you so so much. I it's it really I think has more impact than we realize because I hear comments you know after the goal level for uh six seven eight years that uh what does your board do? One one person said to me uh last year, remember what do you do with that all program? Uh don't you uh have to work pretty hard? Well, anyway, he said that's that's nice that uh you folks would would learn that. I've never heard about it before, he said. So anyway, it's more than meets the eye. Um, the other thing I'd like to mention is the legislative property
045tax force that was assembled by the last legislators in their session. And uh it was u they they started their meetings uh last week. They held one meeting and uh there was a there's 14 members I believe on the committee and maybe two non-legislative persons on there. Um they want to you know discuss the current school funding uh formula and how proper taxes are used in relationship to funding education. Um overall I think they're really looking for ways to fund education differently. Uh there was one comment in there that I thought was kind of concerning. At least it was uh to me uh and that was the fact that uh you know our group really needs to watch so that school boards just don't have an open checkbook to do what they want without overseeing
046by the public. And one could interpret that. Who made that comment? When who made that comment? uh one of the comment one of the persons on the task force what who was it so um I guess and uh I guess that's really pardon me that's really a sad comment on the part of that person whoever made that comment and uh some of you know I think another comment was in a couple different ways we have to look ways to cut schoolboard budgets whatever that kind of means you could interpret that in a lot of different ways, but uh the thing is there. Okay. So, you know, it's election year next year and uh you know, people want to be reelected again likely. So, you know, along with that, I think despite all the fanfare that
047we've gone through that u there is public education support in this state. It really is, you know, and at times it may not look like it, but there is. And then there's the the new governor. I wonder if they do come to some fruition, the legislators this year. And I think that's the goal. I don't know how the governor, the current governor will feel about this situation that they might come up with. Again, it's an election year and uh one could interpret that a lot of ways. So, I guess uh that's uh kind of something we should keep an eye on. And I do think that school boards and school administrators are going to have to be extra alert this year during the legislative session. I really believe that. Can we find out who made
048that comment? I found it. That was Senator Sue Peterson from Sou Falls. Can we get her address and stuff? She said that it's um Sue Peterson added the group needs to make sure there's not just an open checkbook for school boards to spend whatever they want without the consent of the people because opt outs and bonds don't have any sort of approve approval required for the people. They do too. It requires a vote when you opt out. I'd like to maybe educate her on school funding and checkbooks and those types of things. So I will uh I'll be glad to send her a nice little letter. and check our last newsletter and there'll be others coming up too. Uh you go back to the ASBSD newsletter and uh I know uh that our executive director
049has spoken the past week with two of the task force members and really are monitoring this and I know that ASBSD is going to be very alerted to it and uh so I know we keep you posted. So Wayne, who appointed the task force? The governor or me? Who appointed the task force? Speaker. Speaker. Yeah. Based on what qualifications? I think they were able to identify if they were interested in them, they were simply selected. You know what her background is? Yes. Yes. Sue Peterson. No. Oh, Sue. I do. He's probably served in the school boards across the state. Yes. She was a teacher like to talk to her. Well, at any rate, be alert. It's going to be interesting and uh to see if something comes to fruition in the final vote. Uh there's
050a lot at stake here and um we'll see once uh uh the only other thing I'd just like to remind you of that the joint convention held in Sou Falls on August 7th and 8th is in preparation. And uh I think the one thing I'm aware of at this time is that uh the general session the speaker person will be back again this year. He spoke on revenues last year. I don't know what the topic will be but I would imagine there'd be some updating about the revenue u situation in our state uh that kind of thing along with the vouchers of course. So that's what I have. Thank you. Thank you. Any further comments from the board? Congratulations to the board on the the gold award and we are just following your leadership, Mr.
051Alm. So, thank you very much for everything you do for us and keeping us uh up to date and uh well informed of ASBSD happenings. Yeah, always going for the gold. Y there we go. All right. Next on the agenda is approval of minutes from May 12th and May 27th, 2025 and ask for a motion for approval. Mr. Sharp. Mr. Murphy. All those in favor of May 12th and May 27th minutes signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Same sign. We have the consent agenda in front of us. Anybody wish to have anything pulled from the consent agenda? Seeing none, I ask for a motion for approval. I'll make the motion. Motion by all. Second. Second by Dr. Bour. All those in favor of tonight's consent agenda signify by saying I. Post. Same sign. Thank you
052very much. Reports of superintendent Dr. Guffin. Thank you. The first item on the agenda this evening is the operations department update and Ben projects. Good evening everybody. Good evening. You know I I have to tell you with all the the student uh that were up earlier computer is goofing up here. Okay. with the uh all the student athletes and the girl state uh members that received the awards were always eager to put up more banners, more more flags. I was a little concerned though. The one golf uh young lady said that somebody's gym was 72° look into that down, you know. Um, tonight you're going to see a lot of drawings um because this PowerPoint pro uh presentation was made last week and that was kind of early on in the summer, but we've hit
053the ground running. Um, and so I'll give you a few updates as we go through it. you know, the the every summer I put together a spreadsheet and we've done this for quite a few years and we put every every project that we have over the summer and I thought, well, there's really not much going on for projects this year, but as I counted them, we had 140 entries as of last week, and I believe there was three or four that were added since then. So, you know, as the summer goes through, some will drop off, some will be added. Um, I just wanted to kind of give you a few little, you know, fun facts about the the operations department. You know, over the course of the summer, uh, we'll clean about 822,000 square
054ft. That's in 11 of our sites when you count in the warehouse and the operations department, the tech department. Um it'll take about 21,600 hours to complete that. That's just manh hours. Over the summer, our operations department kind of grows uh because we we have some food service personnel. We have some uh EAS, uh some teaching staff at times that come and help. We we'll usually run about 50 to 60 people dependent on projects that are planned. um hard first hard surface floor team which they are the ones that will scrub and wax the the vinyl tile that you see throughout the the district. Um that is an enormous feat. Um over the summer they'll use probably about 780 gallons of sealer and wax and that's after spending many hours getting it ready for that.
055Um, you know, during the summer we also change out carpet as it wears out as it needs to be rotated. And the rule is is if the room gets carpet, then it also gets paint. And we've just recently added window shades if needed be. But during the summer then that paint um will go through about 450 gallons of paint just for the interior school uh rooms. Um we will go that that kind of is the the inside people. The operations department. They're the ones that you see mowing grass, planting trees, etc., etc. They mow about 2500 acres a summer. And Mr. Sharp, I'm going to have you check my math here. Um, a section of land which is 1 mile by one mile by one mile by one mile has 640 acres in it. I
056think an acre is 43,560 square feet [Music] is which is about uh that's about 40 20 average size American homes about 20 2500 square f feet. This way to do an acre is half mile by 16 1/2 ft. Well, and see I always wonder my dad had a stick that he would rotate. I'm not really sure how our land was shrinking every year or growing. Yeah. A rod one rod by by uh half a mile rod is 16 and 1/2 ft. Don't know why. Yeah. I'm sure somebody it made sense to somebody sometime, but you know during the summer our grounds crew will mow four of those sections of land. That's a bunch of grass. Um that's just the mowing. Then there's also the weed eating, the Roundup spraying, etc., etc. Um, doing that, they'll
057go through about 875 gallons of fuel. Um, they are anxiously awaiting the robotic mowers, but no one's invented those for the commercial level at this point. I my wife and I were going on a bike ride and we drove by a house that there was a Husqavarna electric robotic mower going and I said, "You know, I want one of those." She said, "You know, you're not going to get one of those." So, you know, they're coming. They're coming, but not quite yet. Um, we also football fields and I I lump everything in football fields and that's practice, that's game fields, that's soccer fields and such. We do have an autonomous robotic uh painter that does our football our football fields. And over the course of the season, we've got the nine football fields and we'll
058do those for 18 weeks. we'll go. So that's about 162 fields. Uh that'll take about 243 gallons of the undiluted paint, but at about 972 gallons when you add the water, you know, those are, you know, those are just kind of fun facts that that we run through. Um but it all boils down to it's a bunch of work. It's a bunch bunch of um uh coordination, planning, and so on and so forth. And our team does a wonderful job with that. Um you know, the next one we'll kind of get into some of the projects that we'll be doing. The next one is the second phase of the roof at Central that will start July 1st and be finished prior to the start of school. Um, you know, there was much more budgeted for
059it than it the bids have been coming in. Uh, I think you remember me talking about it last year. Um, we were able to to do a lot of labor savings because the roofing material manufacturers said that we could do this and that and it saves a whole bunch of labor. Um, that is a company out of Sou Falls that will be doing that. uh very competitive bids with that. Um, another project that'll be taking place is the new digital sign out at Central. I don't know if you've noticed, but over the past couple of years it has not been perfect and I think before that it was kind of giving you some issues, Josh. Um, this will be a digital sign. Dacttronics. Um, we've looked into it. So if or when the digital portion
060of it goes bad, it can be just simply changed out. The one that we have now, it's kind of bricked in place. So um another kind of neat thing that's going to be uh with this is the base of the sign won't be brick. It'll be high density. I believe it's called just highdensity foam. Um, it's cheaper, it's quicker, it's just as durable. And I was a little apprehensive when they they uh pitched the ideas like, "What do you mean foam? We we can't do that." He said, "Well, go take a look at the uh parks and wreck signs." And and if you're in that area, take a look at the parks and wreck. The ark, old central has two signs, one on the south side and one on the north side. you tell me
061which one's the real one, which one's not. They they both look like signs. Both look like brick signs. So, you know, it's it's a very good it's a very good alternate. Um, next one, Central High School Fact Room. Um, we've been working on this over the course of a couple of years, but it's it's it's time to just kind of hit it hard. Um, everything has been stripped. Um, we are fixing the walls. The appliances have been pulled. Uh, cabinets are made. Now it's just a matter of putting it back together. What what I think is impressive is this slide. The fax room on the the picture on the left is what the fax room was. The picture on the right is after school got out eight hours later done. It's stripped. That is the
062the same perspective. There's no cabinetry. There's the there's no sophets. And you can kind of see one of the main things that uh we are remodeling that for other than, you know, it's 21 plus years old. Um there was line of sight supervision that was a problem with those overhead cabinets. Those will be gone now. Um so that one is going very well. Uh Simmons Middle School, uh the faxer innovation there as well. That's also a a project that we've doubled up two budget years put together. Um total amount there was $320,000. The reason that was so expensive is because uh with central we were able to replace same for same. The ovens didn't change, the plumbing didn't change. We were able to just put new stuff into that place. with this because it was
063a sewing room fax room. We've expanded that out. So now all the plumbing had to be changed. Um this one was probably even more impressive. The picture on the left is what it was. Picture on the right. 2 hours and 42 minutes later it was ready. Um, we had a one-day time frame before the contractor, uh, Kyberts Carlson would come in and start their work and so just had to hurry up and do it. Uh, again, the team amazing. Um, Carlson, they moved in, they did the rest of the demolition, and they started saw cutting and jackhammering floors. Um, you can kind of see the dates on these are pretty rapid fire. Um, they don't have a lot of time. Uh, because as long as I think the summer is, it really isn't. Um, you
064know, it's summer now and within a blink of an eye it'll be fall. Kids will be here and they'll be ready to go. Um, they have jackhammered those uh floors out and today they were pouring the cement back in. So, floors have been cut, concrete removed, new plumbing put in where it needs to be. They filled everything back in, and the concrete is there. I talked with the uh the people today, and they're thinking that they're going to be setting walls uh by probably end of this week, and by next week, they'll be ready. Then the electricians and the the other plumbers will come in and do the other roughins for that. Um, real quick, Simmons Elementary library renovation. Again, it's a 2-year backto back. We did a little bit of that project last year.
065We have cabinetry. It's ready. Um, at this point, we've uh filled in a few doorways that we'll no longer have. Uh, we've repainted, we've changed out lighting. It's ready for flooring now. [Music] Um, so again, that's going very well. Summer surplus sale. I don't know where all this stuff comes from, but it still keeps coming. I think we uh we had six pages of uh surplus this year. Um, a lot of it was cabinetry, appliances, and so on and so forth from the old fax rooms. the the appliances that were salvageable uh we kept. Um we've we always try to move things from the surplus to other places that may be able to use it, but some of them are just plain wore out. You know, 21 years in those fax rooms, it's a tough
066life for stove, that's for sure. um that the surplus sale should be done about a week before July 4th. So, all that will be taken care of. Brownell Activities Complex. I don't know whether you've been out that way, but um there is a new landscaping feature as you walk in. We've got the the brick retaining wall. Uh it'll be kind of a nice little seating area for people that are waiting for others to go to Brownell Complex or waiting for them to be done. Um we've planted 31 aspen trees in there. And when I say we, I say I mean I I helped them plant one. I showed them, okay guys, this is how I I would like you to do it. And then they they ran with it. Uh you see a couple of
067the grounds keepers there. Uh today they put in about 40 uh decorative grasses uh and we'll continue with that. So um that's kind of being pulled together. Asphalt concrete, that's another one that will start after July 1st. Um you know, the dollar just doesn't stretch as far as you'd hope with some of this stuff, especially the asphalt. It's all oilbased, so you know, it's not as bad or as it's not as high price as it has been before. I I would hesitate to call it reasonable at this point. Um, you know, CC Lee's South Playground is in dire need, so that's going to be ground up and redone. As long as we're in there, there's going to be some concrete uh uh frost um frost stoops that'll be replaced for heaving and stuff in there.
068And then we've got um some uh brick work that'll be removed at the front of Simmons Middle School and replaced with colored concrete. Um the other one, the other big one, and I I've just hit the the real high high points with this one, annual flooring. Um, our flooring contractor has gone through, they've removed all the flooring. I do not believe that they've started to reinstall yet. Uh, they're waiting for a little bit for our team to finish up painting. Um, which should be coming probably within this week. I I know that they, uh, Raymond Flooring is the successful, uh, vendor this year. they're doing the prep work. Um, we've we've always had very very good good luck with with them. Um, the last slide is people that do all this. Um, you know, like
069I said, we have some that are permanent part-time custodians. We have some food service people. uh you know I I was making up this list and then that night I went home I was in bed in the middle of the night it's like oh I forgot these two people. So you know there's there's so many people that help us out do the things that we do every summer. So that's right there is where the real heroes are. any any questions that you would have? I have since these projects were bid out a while ago, none of the contractors have come back with the supply chain, foreign supply chain, you know, in doubt as far as what's coming, what isn't. They haven't asked for anything bumping any of this. No, no, we we haven't. Um, you
070know, a lot of the if they're done in a the two-year budget cycle, uh, like cabinetry, for example, I've spoke with that vendor and it's okay. Here's the PO, the money is there. The cabinets were built in this example and they've stored them. Okay. Um, and so with that, the only, and that is really the real reason why we started doing it this way, is because the lead time on some of these materials was so long, um, that you couldn't make it in one year. Um, HVAC equipment still seems to be that way. Um but we'll be able to get the equipment this year and then install it so we have the entire summer. Yeah, we did it last year, but it was it was touch and go. You know, people like heat and air
071conditioning when they come back, and I do not blame it. So, yeah, technolog is getting hit with some tariff stuff. I was I was wondering when something was going to pop up or earlier. Yeah, so far we we have been able to avoid it because it's it's local. It's if I I'm sure it's there. No, wait. I I take that back. Furniture. We did have an increase in furniture just a little bit ago and it was identified on the invoice as tariff related. Okay. Yeah. My my world isn't as volatile as Josh's, that's for sure. Josh, are you seeing tariff charge listed as a on the invoices 11 and 15%. I think that's Mine was at 11 is what they listed. Take the money out of the checkbook that we have unlimited. Yeah, the extra
072one. Other questions or comments? Busy summer. Yeah, I think so. Great. Thank you so much for your work. It'll be over. Okay, the next item on the agenda is the approval of the special education comprehensive plan. Uh Nicole has got that for us this evening as well. The comprehensive plan is basically just how we interpret special for Aberdine. Uh there weren't any changes to it this year at all. I move approval of the special education comprehensive plan. I second that on the floor by Olsson, second by Sharp. Any further discussion to be had? M. Um, I was just wondering, I know when students are expelled or suspended, are we still able to continue their services under certain circumstances at the sites? Yeah, we we haven't ever expelled anyone since I mean in the last three
073years for sure. Um, and but we always provide services after um students have been suspended. We typically try not to leave them for very many days where they wouldn't receive services and we have to have a plan after 10 days. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the first reading of the special education comprehensive plan signify by saying I. Oppos. Thank you very much. The next items on the agenda, there's a series of policy updates and these are a reflection of uh laws that did pass during the last legislative session. Um we'll start with policy DE which is about schoolboard meetings. Um I am adding a section number six is the sixth reason that the board can go into executive section. I will tell you that is not a new thing that's
074was simply a miss on the policy that should have been added several years ago. But what is new on be is the last section uh that talks about once a year the board needs to review um the purpose for executive session which we will do at the annual meeting. Uh there is a a brochure entitled conducting the public's business in public and we I have copies of that prepared for you which we will do in July. But that is the change in the law is that we're required to do that once a year. I'd move first approval of policy be motion on the floor. Second sharp. Second by all. Any further discussion? Question n changed by the legislature to require us to do this on an annual basis. Has there been violations that have have
075surfaced that um have required that they pass legislation to require us to do all these things? Not that I'm aware of. Reminder, I guess. Yes. Any further discussions related to policy be? All those in favor of the first reading signify by saying I. I. Same sign. Thank you. Okay. The next one is the approval of this is a new policy. This is ECABB and this policy specifies uh who is able to use rooms that are identified identified as multi occupancy rooms. First approval president on the floor by sharp second second by M. Any further discussion to be had on ECABB and Dr. Guffin I would think our our current policy relating to multi rooms has been in force actually and so I think we're covered pretty well um with everything. Is that not true? Yes,
076that's this has been our practice. Any discussion or comments? Seeing none, all those in favor of the first reading of policy ECABB signify by saying I. I. Same sign. And the next one is the first uh approval of the first reading of JA. Uh this is compulsory attendance age. I did add the specific state law in there. And then uh students are now able to withdraw from school at the age of 17 with written permission from parent. As for a motion for approval, I'll make that motion. Motion by Murphy, second by all. Any further discussion related to policy AC or can I ask where this came from only because we for years went up to 18 and all a sudden we're backing away. Where where where was the move? And I'd like to know if
077Dr. Griffin thinks it's a good idea. Um it was not my idea, but there were superintendent in other parts of the state that asked for this. Okay. Why? There are certain students that get to a point where graduating from high school isn't probably going to be a goal that's attainable for them. And sometimes by the time you're age 17, they're able to determine that. But I don't think it's going to have a great impact on the students that we work with. I think either finished or they will take a different path sooner than that. Well, any can any parent take their child out at any time? Correct. Correct. I mean, school you can do that, right? I mean, there really isn't compulsory age because you could do it at age five. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't
078weigh in too heavily. It was what what are the consequences if we don't approve these changes? Well, it's a state law, so we have to do it. We violate state law all the time. They do. But school boards can't. Yeah, they may. You said they mean the state can't we? We can't. The funding law is one example. Yeah. Is that correct? Any further comments? See none. All those in favor of the first reading of policy AC and AC-E signify by saying I. I sign. Oh, I'm sorry. Was that JA? I apologize. J Y apologize. Okay. The next one is the approval of the first reading of ACCE and ACE- uh this is our section 504. We had this titled a little awkwardly. So, um Nicole and I cleaned that up. And also just some formatting
079things. You don't typically format policies the way this one is was done. So, that some of that's just some clean up. The section that is new, uh, there was a law that was passed that requires us to implement either an IEP or a 504 plan of an a child of an armed service active duty member within 30 calendar days of enrollment. Again, this has always been our practice for all children. Um, this won't be necessarily a change in practice, but it is now part of state law. for a motion for approval. I'll make that motion by all. I'll second. Second by Dr. Borton. Any further comments or questions related to policy ACE or AC-E. All those in favor of the first reading of ACE and AC-E signify by saying I. Got a little out of
080order here of policy. Sorry, we added a couple at the last minute. So, the next item on the agenda is actually approval of the Southakota High School Activity Association, East River at large. You'll recall we had a vote on this. I think it was three schoolboard meetings ago. There were several individuals. No, and got a majority vote. So, they narrowed it down to two candidates and um in consultation with athletic director Siler, uh we would recommend a vote for um Ryan Rowlinger. He is the principal at Harrisburg High School and is currently serving on the board and has done a very nice job. and we cast a vote for Mr. Rollinger. I'll second it. Motion on the floor and second. Any further discussion? All those in favor of Mr. Rollinger as the East River at
081large representative by saying I same. The next one is first reading of policy KB and this has to do with public uh complaints about materials. Uh what is new with this the bill that passed is now um individuals who are dissatisfied with decisions can now appeal that to the courts. Um there's a process outlined for that. And then also the the timeline for reconsideration is also clarified in law. So move motion on the floor by sharp. Second by Dr. Borham. Any further discussion to be had on policy KB question? Yes. had any school board decision be court any thank you. Any further comments or questions? See none. All those in favor of the first reading of policy u signified by saying I same sign. Okay. And the last one is the first reading of uh
082facilities funding. There were some changes there. Then Michaela will go through. Yes. So, House Bill 1093 requires school districts to hold Bobby elections at the primary or general election. So, we added those dates to the policy. And then I also just rearranged some wording. Um, and that's it. I move first reading on the floor by Sharp. Second. Second by M. Any further discussion related to policy FD? Just a quick question. Um, it's this isn't changing any how we can how we can do bonds or anything. It's just just just how we're how we can Yeah. The dates. Yeah. I notice in one place during the bill they call it the election school bond election and then in some of the writeups they refer to as uh working with capital outlay certificates. Basically I think it
083boils down to capital outlay certificates. I don't know if anybody else taught that but it's okay but I just refer to it as two different terminologies. Any further comments? See? None. All those in favor of the first reading of policy FD signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Same sign. Seeing no further business in front of this board, I'd ask for a motion for adjournment. Move. Motion by sharp. Second. Second by board. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. We are adjourned. Thank you very much.