001uh carbon monoxide detection and there's some fire alarms that are also needing to be done. We're including Brock Bank uh this summer in the Brock Bank remodel while we're there. We're going to grab that. Beny and Churchill Juniors are uh fire alarm replacement um and ready to bid those here shortly. So, a lot of work um on those uh detection systems. And then just quickly on upcoming projects, Taylor'sville High Auditorium House Lighting Replacement is um to you as a board to look at. Um we were excited about that. It came in a little bit less than we were anticipating. So that's exciting on the bid. Kennedy Junior Auditorium sound upgrade. I've been told by Dave Vincent and Dale Pickin that that project is complete and the final tuning owner training are scheduled for late April,
002which I believe has happened. So that's a a nice one to check off the list. Karn's Junior Auditorium upgrade is scheduled to start uh the end of last month, April, and completion this month. Uh so they're moving well there. And then Brockbank Junior Auditorium sound upgrade is planned for June kind of along with the and the materials have been ordered along with the other work we're doing at Brockbank this summer. Questions. Oh, go ahead. Yep. Um, so I noticed that Benyan the curtains are down as well, the the side curtains. And I wondered if the rest of them I I don't know it's Karns Jr. if there's if they have the same problem with the the rod pulling out of the ceiling all down and are when is that going to be scheduled to be
003finished? That is a good question and I do not know the answer to that. Um, we will check with uh maintenance department tomorrow and find out. Okay, thank you. I was unaware of that, but yes, we will check on that. Brock Banging Junior high grenasium upgrade is 90% complete um and completed by late April. So, good progress on all of those. Public safety radio boost antenna systems Hunter High is in under in progress. Skyland Cypress will open this year with that system in place. Granger and Olympus are already completed and the following schools are waiting to determine how we and where we land with the budget and figuring those out. Uh, Valley Crest security upgrade is ongoing. I've got a couple of slides here to show you, but the anticipated handover, it does say midmay.
004Um, we have a lighting delay on a couple of lights that we're waiting on and the principal actually prefer to wait until school is out before they make the move over. So, we've consented and we'll wait until May. School is out. We'll move them over and then finish the last phase this summer, which is the itinerary spaces. And we have a couple of slides here. The one on the left is looking into the office. The far door with the yellow ladder behind there is the new principal's office with the window into the front office you can see. And then the window to the outside of course immediately to the left is uh the entryway that that we will um funnel all the uh outside traffic through the front office and and then can be buzzed
005into the school. Uh this the slide on the right is showing the shower. There's a as we build these offices, there's a a sick room component to it and a little stackable washerdryer shower space for any needs and a restroom for any of those uh needs for those kiddos. And that's all that I have on those projects. Our dear friend is going to take the mic. Okay. Uh board members, superintendent, and staff, uh grateful for the opportunity to be here. Um as you well know, Cyprus, we are heading into the endg game, I believe, is one way to put this. So there is a lot of work going on out there. Um, a lot of the work on the exterior at the tennis court, the baseball and softball fields are really coming together. Um, and
006we have been paving the second the asphalt plants open back up, we've been paving non-stop out there. Um, I would say the paving is probably 90% at this point. Uh, quite a bit done. And then, um, every single area in the building there is a lot of work going on. Um, a lot of it is the flooring. Uh, basketball graphics are in as you'll see in some of the p uh pictures. Um, some of the rest of the grid is finishing off in the athletics in the pool building. And then quite a bit of work is being done in terms of finishes in the administration um commons. The kitchen equipment is all being put in right now. And uh we can go ahead and advance. Um, you can see the uh top coat at the
007tennis courts. We've got the striping and stuff we need to do. The infield mix on the baseball field. The grass is coming back in nice and green. Um, and the batting cages are being installed. So, things are progressing very well. Uh, the snow melt system that goes out in front of the building was installed. We walked all over it. So, a lot of these pictures, just always remember, these are about three or four weeks behind just because of the the nature of our reports and stuff. So, the dance room floor is in um that asphalt picture, quite a bit of is actually all complete at this point. Um the uh friendly skull and crossbones in the middle of the floor, it looks pretty amazing. The floor is pretty incredible. And the what you can't see
008in this photo is the bleachers are all being installed right now. Um this last little bit of the athletics fieldhouse that they're talking about, that's really the front entryway. If you're familiar with the entryway at Skyline that we completed after the fact that the rest of the drywall in um athletics has been completed for months, probably even longer than that, but this is just the last little part of the front entryway. and our famous uh wood paneling tiles and stuff that are going all through the whole commons. The kitchen equipment is all installed now and the rest of the flooring is being uh throughout the building. We've we've got several hundred,000 square feet of flooring that's going down in all the hallways. Uh you can see the picture on the right and then the classrooms.
009quite a few of the classroom wings. Right now, we're just finishing off the last bit of the electronics and stuff in preparation for the furniture to come. Uh for those, um we did have the tour with the uh teachers last Friday, which was very nice to have them come through the building to see their excitement at seeing the spaces. And um this is the system that's uh unique at Cyprus with the retractable seating. So you actually have quite a bit of large multi-use space that you can use when you're not having a performance in there for drill team or you know other other uses within the building. And then you can see the drone photo on the right. Um it is very much looking like a school and very much getting ready to move into
010the school and that Justin called it a move on site. We're calling it a migration. Um, and uh, they really got a good feel for what their classrooms are going to be like and and everything. And this Don and the other staff have been working incredibly hard to get all of this uh, planned and this move planned and getting the furniture on site. So, we don't have any changes to bring before the board on Cypress. Any questions on Cypress before I proceed to Skyline? Looks great. Okay. Skyline. Um, punch list. It's really not punch list at this point. It's like 99% warranty items. And, you know, we take off a dozen and you know, the nature being a warranty, we produce more than a few more. So, many of them are just related to items
011that are being used every day. The teacher um and communication devices and stuff like that are an ongoing thing. There has been a lot of inspections going on. Uh Ashton has been on site daily working with the contractor. Uh fortunately because of our relatively mild winter, all of our progress on the on the uh performing arts wing is is moving very very well. Uh the concrete, you'll see some of the photos and stuff like that. three of the four remaining air handlers in place and and we all know where the last one is. It's sitting outside feeding feeding building G right now that will have to be dismantled next summer. Uh but the other three air handler boxes are in. They're all uh and the equipment's being installed. Uh quite a bit of the insulation,
012sheetrock and stuff. Uh, building H, which is that last wing. Um, if you recall at Cyprus, it sits next to the auditorium and at Skyline, it sits behind it perpendicular. So, quite a bit of that. Uh, building H is actually uh doing very well. We're actually prepping for painting now that we've got nice warm weather predicted for a while. Although Justin and I got pretty wet out in the cold yesterday afternoon. that might not may or may not be contributing to my nasely sound today. Uh when we're working with the city of Mil Creek on some of the replacement of the sidewalk out front and uh windows or windows are going in. We're going to get weathertight on that. We've got the roof on. We're finishing the roof on the large roof on the auditorium.
013We can go ahead and proceed to some of the photos. Um this was from April. Uh quite a bit more progress has been done on this and the the bigger piece that wasn't on our report is the preparation for um some abatement of the uh interior of the existing auditorium this summer. Uh the rest of those lovely exterior panels will wait until January after they've had their final performances at the at the end of the fall semester. And then we will rapidly take down that auditorium because that is where the the new main driveway for the school comes all the way to the front door. So So will it be in October the last performances or will it be December? Year end. It'll be December. Yeah, we've worked they'll get the full through till we
014break for Christmas. They they get that space and then we're going to work over Christmas and in January. Okay. Yes. So we can go ahead and proceed. Um, a lot of site work is going on right now for the for the parking lot that is both on the east and on the west sides of the auditorium. And we're trying to get in as much of the underground infrastructure as we can. So the last piece of it is actually goes right through where the auditorium is. The old existing auditorium that has to be tore down, but over break uh the hydrants and stuff and the tie-ins for the existing lines into the auditorium were completed and the floor is being poured um non-stop. We are pouring I think Clint had uh the site superintendent had indicated
015we were nearly 2,000 yards of concrete over the last averaging almost a month which is 500 yards of concrete a week is a lot a lot of concrete. So uh all the wing walls are being poured interior now the footings and floors. This shows uh this is all actually all decked and enclosed now. So that's been moving very very well. And I don't think you can see it from here. I think you can see it from the aerial. The big S on on the side of that last panel has been done. And so there's air handler 14. And a lot of the duck work is actually already in progress. We have the boxes. Quite a few of the fans need to be done. Uh the the everybody's favorite fuzzy insulation on the ceiling has has
016been completed actually um in most of the areas. The bad insulation and the drywall are being done. And you can see in like I said in area H it's really start all the classrooms are really starting to to look alike classrooms were getting them taped and then the precinium uh major precenium wall in the auditorium is taking shape quite a bit. You can stand on what will be the stage area and look out and getting ready to paint the whole thing. The panels uh have turned out extremely well. It's always a little concerning when you're doing panels over the winter, but I think the quality has been very very good with Ashton and and Rob keeping close tabs on things. So, and the window frames are going in and glazing will be later on this
017summer. So, we're very pleased with the progress right now on the auditorium and uh remaining academically. We, as stated before, the only constraints we have is just getting that last air handler put back in the building the second school gets out. So, and we don't have any uh changes to bring before the board on Skyline. If there's any questions on that or if that triggered anything from Cypress that I can help the board understand where we're at. Any questions? Okay, great. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Thank you. We're gonna have Ben haters come up as soon as he's back. In the meantime, Michelle, how many days are left at the school? Just kidding. 18 days. Sorry, my wife just called. Our daughter had our one-year-old had a slip and fall. Well, board members and superintendent,
018thank you for letting me. Do you want to pull that microphone right in front of you? I know. Yes, I can do that. board members and superintendent, thank you for letting me be here. Uh Ben Peters, I'm going to talk about a little bit of the rebranding work that we're doing at Magna Elementary. So, we'll just kind of go over a couple of surveys that we've done um as a school and then with the district as well through the communications office and then talk about what our community council has for some naming recommendations. Okay? And please stop me if you have any questions along the way. Um, basically what the whole point is is to provide some recommendations for our school as we're working through this rebranding process and working through our reconstitution that we
019we're doing in in hiring a complete new staff and changing our school focus from a you know normal elementary school in our district to a steam school in our district to give kids in Magna a unique opportunity. So, um, in the original school survey that we did, uh, at the end of the fall going into winter, we kind of had some some bigger choices, um, and just said, "Hey, community, current staff, students, um, what do you guys think of should be the name for our school as we're shifting this focus and we're doing this?" Um, the biggest ones that came out were Magnus Steam Elementary, Cypress Steam Elementary, Magnus STEM Academy, Cypress STEM Academy. Um, we also asked what their input would be for mascot. Bulldogs was the overwhelming mascot. People love Bulldogs, which is
020great. Um, I have a bulldog, so we can we can bring Hank to school and he can be the mascot. We got some great shots um with all of our kindergarten students this year that they got to have their photo with a real live bulldog. That was kind of fun. Um the top two choices in looking over the results from the district survey were and these were also the same from our community council. Um Magnus Steam Elementary and Cypress Steam uh elementary were the top re recommendations from the survey and from our community council. Um it was important to our community council during our community council meetings to keep the elementary part of the name um because they some of our community council felt that uh academy was like changing it into something that community
021maybe wasn't um and they worried for lack of a better word they were worried about it being snoody or something that like wasn't wasn't quite the fit that they were were wanting. Um, I talked with Stephen Powell uh to give us a couple of logo mockups and uh these are going to look pretty similar to the current logos. Um, if you look on here, you'll see that red bulldog with the M logo. Um, he also did the C for Cyprus on there. Uh in looking at the district survey, we asked them in that to the community to give some input on the colors for the school because the school has years and years of hard water stains along the outside of it which kind of makes the the brick graying and have that that water
022stained look to it. Um so there were some choices between some gray or blue motifs for that. The blue was the number one choice. The the gray was was second on those. Um, which is nice because it does fit in with the with the network scheme of of Cypress being that blue and yellow. Um, my kind my eyes were and a lot of our community eyes were drawn to these bottom logos to to change those colorings to blue and yellow. Questions about that? My only comment is blue is so hard to see at night. And I don't know if that would be on your um ad, you know, advertising thing, but yeah, I just don't like I mean I'm just saying I think they need to re talk about how well it's seen at night.
023Okay, thanks Connie. I would point out the reason why we're um looking at some blue options is because the the redesign in the exterior on the the new facade that's been kind of brought to the community and provided feedback on and we worked with Chris as well for some additional feedback. Um is a gray exterior with some blue highlights um and some STEM themes. So, it's I think we wanted it would be weird to have a really red sign next to that new building um with the redesigned exterior. So, that's why we were looking at some blue options. Well, and I think there was a lot of white accents, too, Connie. I think we they kept white. There was some trim that was white still. And I want to say there was a graphic that
024was had a lot of white in the front. So, I think there's still some brightness to it. I don't think it's totally a drab blue. Yeah. So, are they wanting the blue and yellow, not the blue and the gray? Um, on that they were the bottom one. Yeah, the bottom ones were the ones that that stood out. Okay. The blue and gray again was to match one of the exterior options that we provided to the community. So, the next steps on this um only the board can change the name of a school. So while we our board policy allows for the school to make uh to make suggestions to the mascot change and the superintendent can authorize that in order to change the name of the school officially that requires board approval. So we wanted
025to present those options to you um have some discussion here very briefly um then then we can bring this back on a future consent item once you guys um have determined what you'd like to do. So with that in mind, I I know that the term academy has been frowned upon by some members of that community, but the intent of this rebrand is to rebrand the school and to make it more attractive to um some of our families that have left um the school. And we actually have some data that shows that we have lost some families because they are going tomies, charter schools. And uh the idea is to bring in some programming and some uh pedagogical strategies that will help attract some of those families back to their neighborhood school and potentially peel
026those back from our competition which is charter school. So with that in mind, I think we'd be remiss if we were not considering the word academy. Given the context, I can appreciate the community members concerns, but I don't think uh anybody expects this to be a hoidy toy type of approach, but this is to really establish what type of educational opportunities we're doing here as opposed to what the school was and what we hope it to be. Can So, I have a few comments. Um, thanks Ben for being here and I appreciate you taking care of the surveys and getting the feedback from your community council. Um, I I have talked to other people who maybe aren't actually in the school right now, but maybe have left our area schools and um I I don't
027see academy as being a negative thing. I see it as a positive. So, I'm a little surprised that they see that as a a negative. Um, but again, I'm okay with if we go with elementary also, but I'm really leaning towards the Magna name, keeping the Magna name. And the reason why is I think um we don't have any other schools in our area with that say Magna on them. And so I I lean towards the Magna Steam Elementary or Academy. I think sounds really nice. Um which Cypress is great, but we have a Cypress High and that's you know we don't need a Cypress Junior or a Cypress. I think I like the distinction between the three names. Um, and also I just I hope our community is recognizing that just changing the name
028doesn't doesn't make or break the school. So if it's elementary or academy, it's going to be what the parents really put into it and what their efforts are and what they encourage their kids to learn while they're at the school. So why the name is is important and very important to the community um and we don't want to lose that. I also hope that they realize that their their attitude and what happens in the school is what really what's more important. So thanks Ben with their say Armstrong Academy like it's it's amazing what how people view that just because it has academy on the end of it. And would the community be upset if we did consider putting that doing Magnus Steam Academy? Is it like something they feel super strong about or was it
029something like nah, we'd like we'd prefer that? Yeah. So, I can say I I've talked to a bunch of folks on my community council like even in the last week and a half of just saying, "Hey, what do you think about this?" And it's I would say it's split in the sense of I'm okay with academy or I'm not. So, I'm not sensing like a huge like we're really upset about this if it if it went that way. Okay. Just wondering. I was amazed when we said Armstrong Academy. um whenever we did that because of the positiveness and even I live far from Magna or even from Armstrong, but the positiveness that came with that drew people from my area to Armstrong. So, I think I like Academy, too. I think it's good. I just
030had maybe a slightly different viewpoint. I think um when Armstrong Academy was named, it was unique. We now have Gerald Wright Academy, Magna Academy. At some point, academy no longer becomes valuable when everybody is named academy. To me, it's not as big a deal for that reason. And I I would I support what the community if the community wants it to be named elementary, I support what the community wants on that front. So that's just my perspective. Did you like Magna or Cypress better for the name on that one? I'm I'm indifferent. I'll go either way. Yeah. If we named it Magna Steam Academy Elementary, I think we always talk about telling our story and how we need to tell our story better. And part of that comes in marketing and how we are putting
031what opportunities we are providing those kiddos um out to our community and hearing that the community is quite divided um on academy or elementary. I feel like they're going to be okay either way. So for me, I'm over here going, "Yeah, we might have a fewmmies." And I hear that concern, Kim. Like I think the more and more you get, it dilutes it a little bit. However, I think that Neil Armstrong is in the Granger network and the other one is in Hunter. Is that correct? Gerald writes in Cypress. It is in Cypress. So to have two inside that that's not a big deal to me because we don't have thesemies east to west mountains. So my personal opinion I would support Magnesteem Academy. Um but thank you for answering the question on you know
032a divided community because I was paying attention to that as well. you know, I don't want them up in arms if we vote for academy, but I do think it's a great marketing opportunity to try and get, you know, some of our some of our kids back who have gone tomies or gone to charters. At the same time, we need to focus if we're going to call it a Steam Academy or Steam Elementary, regardless, we need to set up that school for success and make sure we're putting all the supports in to be a true Steam school. So, I think that's also important. We can market all we want, uh, but we also need to make sure it it's going to deliver what we promise. Yeah, I agree. That's the bigger the bigger thing is
033how well we actually perform. That's what's going to draw people back. So, well, and I think I agree. It's about marketing it and and saying this is different. This is a different school. It's not just just an elementary school or even I I mean I the steam or stem there's a lot of elementaryaries or a lot of schools out there without the official certification that just call themselves STEM or STEM elementary they're STEM school and setting this up as we are we have this specialty and we are especially steam I think is a very unique thing and so I I guess for that reason I do lean more towards academy to really set it as this is something different. This is a different school and it's it's something to, you know, look at, set up
034and look at and and pay attention to. So, and can you kind of just maybe speak to that what you're doing to set them up for success in that? Yeah, I'd be happy because I know you're doing a lot of work and it's it's a Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Chris. Um, so some of the things that we're we're talking about and with this reconstitution, right, is I I spent a lot of the month of February outside of my school um doing interviews. Uh, one week in February, I think we interviewed 54 people in three days to to start filling these this these new staffing positions. And we asked everyone that's currently on my staff if they would like to remain that they reapply for their positions and interview for those positions as well. So, we're just
035about done. I had a couple of positions uh that were up for postings closed this last week. We'll be entering interviewing for those in the next week so that way we can fill those last five positions. But that's that's what we're doing there. been working closely with um curriculum to make sure that we have the BTS support to do the steam part of of the the program and also working with curriculum to to bring in some extra um tools that will be unique to our school like teach FX and other things. Yeah, very excited. We've got some additional PD and resources uh being brought in to kind of help to get the staff off on the right foot and build unity and build a a quality culture here to to address some of these challenges
036and concerns and make sure that we're actually backing up that uh academy name with uh some some relevant quality educational opportunities. So, we're very excited and we feel like Ben is doing a great job in in working through this. So what I'm hearing from the board is that the preference overall so that we can put this on a consent future is Magnus Steam Academy. We're not technically voting. I'm just looking for nods of heads and if there's disagreement, we can discuss that offline. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ben. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, board. Appreciate it. Thanks, Ben. Um All right. We have need of an executive session for the purpose of character and competence and negotiations. And as such, I will entertain a motion. And we will enter executive session for the purpose of
037character and competence and negotiations. I'll second. We have a motion and a second to move into executive session for the purpose of character and competence and negotiation. So, roll call vote. Please state your name and your vote. Kim, go ahead. Kim Chandler, yes. Connie Burgess, yes. Chris W. Yes. Karen Winder. Yes. Nicole McDermott. Yes. Do we have anybody online? Right now. No. Okay. Just want to make sure. All right. Um, we will go ahead