001Good evening everyone and welcome to the Franklin Board of Education meeting for Wednesday, April 29th, 2026. Uh we will start out with the ceremonial oaths of office, please. Uh we'll start with uh Mrs. Eart. But wait, >> is that your husband? Does he want a better video? Do you have to school board member swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin and faithfully and discharge the duties of office to the best of your ability? Congratulations. >> Mrs. Yank, please. Do you having to school me and faithfully and discharge the duties of that office to the best of your ability? So help me God. I do. >> Yeah. Katie and Mary and families, do you want pictures? >> Now's the time. >> Yeah, we'll do
002that. >> Yes, you do. >> You want to take a picture of the camera? We'll get back. >> Thank you. Perfect. We're doing our picture now. >> Yes. Four tallest. I'll let you guys fight it out. Four tallest in back. >> You're not a tall >> you guys tilt in. That's fine. >> Maybe to gentlemen where we belong. Hold on one second. >> Glasses off is fine. >> Or it's okay if they have. >> All right. One, two, three. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> I was just gonna say I don't look like myself. We can photoshop it. >> No, it started working. >> All right, the meeting has been properly posted. Do we have a roll call, please? Dr. Beer. >> Mr. Sprag, >> here. >> Mrs. >> here. >> Dr. Khan, >> here.
003>> Mrs. Everheart, Mrs. Ehart, I'm sorry, >> here. >> Mrs. Yang >> here. >> Mrs. Larson >> here. >> And I'm present. >> Thank you. Uh, can we stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation with justice for all. I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Yank, seconded by Dr. Khan. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you. We'll move on to the election of board officers. We'll start with president, move on to vice president, treasurer, and clerk. Um, everybody has uh papers um or ballots in front of them. um red for president, so on and so forth. Um we will call for
004nominations for each office. You do not need to um the nominations do not need a second. Um and then we will then we will move on to vote. If there is only if there's only one nomination for an office, we will just have a voice vote for that office. Um, and we will uh we'll start with president and um uh I will um I would like to nominate an Serski for the office of president. Uh are there any other nominations for president? Are there any other nominations for the office of president? Are there any other nominations for the office of president? All right, then I think we can move ahead with a voice vote. Back here, please. >> Dr. Khan, >> I. >> Mrs. Larson, >> I. >> Mrs. Seerski, >> I. >> Mrs. Mr.
005Sprag, >> I vote I. Mrs. Yang, >> I. >> Mrs. Ehart, >> I. >> Thank you. Um, congratulations, Ann. You are now president of the board. Um, and uh, so we will switch spots so that you can continue with the meeting. seats over. >> Right. Okay, thank you for that. Thank you everyone. >> Um, moving on. Looking for a motion or a nomination for vice president. I would like to nominate Mike as vice president of the board. Are there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations for vice president? >> That's good because I don't want to move my seat again. >> And then um Dr. We could have a >> uh Mrs. Ehart. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Yang. Hi. >> I vote I Mrs. Spurski. >> Hi. >> Mr. Sprag. >> Hi. >> Mrs.
006Larson. >> Hi. >> Dr. Khan. >> I congratulations Mike. Thank you for being vice president. Moving on. I'm looking for a motion for to nominate for treasure. >> I'll nominate Dr. Khan for treasurer. >> Are there any other nominations for treasur? Any other nominations for treasure? >> Any other nominations for treasurer? >> Hearing none. >> Mr. Sprag. >> I vote I. Mrs. Seperski. >> I. >> Dr. Khan. >> I. >> Mrs. Ehart. >> I. >> Mrs. Yank. >> I. >> Mrs. Larson. >> I. >> Congratulations Dr. Khan. as treasurer. >> Thank you. >> We're now looking for a nomination for clerk. >> Hi, I'd like to nominate uh Mrs. Ver, Dr. Ver as a clerk of the >> Are there any other nominations for clerk? Any other nominations for clerk? >> Dr. K. >> I.
007>> Mrs. I >> I vote I Mr. Sprag >> I >> Mrs. Larson >> I >> Mrs. Y >> I >> Mrs. Eard >> I do not need our >> next on the agenda is the appointment of the CISA 1 board representative. Uh Mike has been in that role. I would like to ask you to continue in that role if you would be so inclined. I would uh I'd be honored. Um I have been on the CISA border of control for several years. So I will continue on that. We are not up for election. Franklin seat is not up for election this year. >> Does anybody else have an interest in Great. That's yours, Mike. Moving on to F, the appointment of the WB delegate. Um, once again, Mike is currently serving as the policy,
008let's see, official >> policy and resolutions committee. >> The policy and resolutions committee. So, he will be at the assembly anyway. Would you like to be the delegate as well? >> I'll be the delegate. >> Would anybody else like to be the delegate? His face gets her away. >> Okay. Hearing no objection, Mike will be the delegate. >> Katie can be the backup. Yeah, anybody can go to the assembly, the delegate assembly, but Mike would be the voting member for Franklin. >> That's good. >> Um, okay. Gee, appointment of S SWSA representative. We are currently a member of S SWSA and I have been attending meetings. Does anybody else want to drop the ones? Our um contract is up in the summer. We'll be discussing continuing with that, but for right now, I will continue
009to attend those meetings. Um next up is our policy committee. We do have a vacancy with Mrs. Wakowski um having left the board. Um and I am willing to step back as well. So there are some openings or availability on the policy committee if anyone is interested in joining. >> I would like to join the committee please. >> Great. >> And I'm happy to continue on. >> Oh I wasn't in your choice but okay. >> Sorry I didn't even think about that. Um okay or Max or Mike? Anybody with interest in the policy committee? >> No thank you. >> I wouldn't be able to make daytime meetings. Okay. Okay. So then our policy committee will be Dr. Beer, Mrs. Yank, and Mrs. Ekart. Awesome. Thank you guys. Um, designate depository for school funds. We have,
010sorry, I have to pull up. Oh, here we go. Um the school funds are BIMO, LGIP, PMA, WISC and ADM for checking account and then investment funds and the investment funds for the referendum are through ERS and amperand. Any objections? Any of those? >> This is continuing with what we've had. Right. >> We will continue with those and then designating those persons authorized to sign the checks, contracts, agreements, and purchase orders. Dr. Ben, >> I would say district administrator, capital D, capital A would be appropriate as defined in our terms through policy. That would mean it could be designated or delegated from me to whomever it may fit. That >> objections or about that and then designate an administrator to assume specified responsibilities of the treasurer and of the clerk. I would recommend in the
011same fashion district administrator >> any objection or conversation about that. >> Okay. >> Do we need to take action? >> It's not listed. >> No. >> Is it an action item. We need an official vote. >> I think you could take a vote to take action on what went on in election of board officers. It's pretty straightforward by policy to do that during this meeting. >> Thank you. >> So looking for a motion for a vote then. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor of the action we've taken through this election process? >> I I >> Any opposed? All of these are good. Thank you. Community comments. I Thank you. Is there anybody who has community comment tonight? You're welcome to come up. Not hearing any. We'll move on. Looking for a motion
012to approve the consent agenda. >> So move. >> Second. >> Made by Mr. Sprag, seconded by Mrs. Yank. All in favor? >> I >> Any opposed? >> Continuing on our school board calendar. We have a regular board of education meeting on Wednesday, May 13th here at the ECC at 6 o'clock. We have the Franklin uh public schools business partner breakfast on Tuesday, May 19th. That'll be at Ascension Franklin at 7:30 in the morning. um Franklin High School honors night on Wednesday, May 20th at 6:30 at the high school in the Saber Center. And then on Thursday, May 21st, if we haven't had enough fun, we will have the district retirement dinner on Thursday the 21st at Lux Golf Base at 5:30. It's a busy week. The following week, we have a regular board of education
013meeting at Wednesday, May 27th here at the ECC at 6. And then our June meeting of the educa board of education is Wednesday, June 17th at the here at the ECC also at six o'clock. And finally, Franklin's high school graduation ceremony is June 20th at American Family Field um at 4 pm. District administer. >> Thank you. All right, so just to note for tonight, Mr. Cromi is excused because he is attending his daughter's concert at the Saber Center. Um, and that also is a good reminder that it's Saber Center performance season. So, all of our elementary schools uh will be performing some starting last week already. So, plenty of opportunities for entertainment, elementary, middle, and high school coming up at the Saber Center. Uh, last week, Thursday, Andy Crommy, um, our district owner owners rep,
014Mike Hacker, is with us tonight. Paige from VR, who's also was with us tonight. Is Paige still with us? I think she stepped out. Um and VJ, our VJS representatives were able to attend the Milwaukee Business Journal nomination lunchon. So BJS had submitted the CIRC building uh community education recreation center to be nominated for this award. So there were 80 nominees. We were one of the lucky about 15 or 20 that walked away with an award uh for educational um addition. They used a different word that was I can't remember off the top of my head right now. was kind of interesting. But, uh, great recognition anyways for the project that was done, for the community outreach within it, not only mentioning the studios, but the walking track, the exercise stations, the outdoor grounds, um,
015and the playground along with diverse grounds and the wellness clinic for staff. So, a big shout out to VJS for recommending us for that nomination and P, Mr. Hacker, and our whole team for our work on that project. Uh, this past Monday was our final professional development day of the school year. So, we've had six of those. We do not lightly that our school board and our community allows us those days without students to grow professionally. Um, we've really increased our our operations and what we offer. Dr. Mo runs a lot of the gear ups. She doesn't run them, but she organizes them to bring in uh outside vendors or outside I shouldn't say vendors, but groups to work with staff. So, sometimes that could be from ATI for physical therapy. We've talked a little
016bit about that. It could be questions on health insurance, but then there's a whole another gamut that we have our coaches and other staff that are training on different uh curriculum and teaching and learning aspects. So, just a wonderful opportunity to come together in the morning as a full district and learn and then in the afternoon we're back in buildings working on school improvement specific goals all tied to the coherence plan. Uh so, thank you to our community and a board that supports that time. Also that day 4K potential 4K families came in and got to see and meet some of our staff. Um and that was going to be outside but it moved into the surf building due to the rain. Uh but it was really fun to see the students and their or
017future sabers I should say. Um enjoying some time with the staff and learning a little bit about school and what to look forward to. Uh Monday night was culture fest which was very well attended. continues to see increased not just families that are in the district but also community members um that maybe don't even have students in the district. Um so just a great outpouring from community continues to be a wonderful event celebrating culture uh local talents stories uh various foods. Our FHSS construction project as we saw if you're in the open house tonight saw our first pre-cast walls going up. So, if you haven't driven by the high school, it's pretty neat to see. That'll continue to go on for the next couple months as we build out the boxes, as we call them,
018uh, to the bigger part of the project on the north end. We're also in appreciation season, so last week was admin assistant appreciation day. So, thank you to Darlene and all of our administrative assistants and the district for everything they do. Uh, this Friday is administr administrator appreciation day. So, our principles, assistant principles, directors, uh, thank you for everything they do and leading. We have a wonderful group of administrators that really push our thinking and our work and our development forward. Um, and then next week is all staff appreciation day. So, we could do all the days for all the separate titles. We really try to loop it all into next week. So, if you're in any of our buildings, our PTO's, uh, different parent groups in the other buildings, organizations within, really have a
019nice outpouring of food, snacks, words of appreciation. So, if you have an opportunity, thank the amazing staff that work for our all of our community. Uh, congratulations to Abby Spray. She's been recently named the class of 27 distinguished young woman for Franklin. So, now she'll go on to compete at the state level. So, thank you for representing FPS and that's the biggest updates that are going on in the district as of recent. Awesome. Thank you for that. Moving on, do we have any uh board leazison reports? I went to one of the aforementioned concerts with my school, Ben Franklin, and it was a delight. And the the Saber Center was packed with families, which is always so delightful to see. Thank you. >> Any other I'll just report from the education foundation um which we've
020talked about before but just a reminder that the golf outing is on June 12th. So anybody who hasn't signed up for that yet would be a great day. Um and also our scholarships. We had I want to say it was over 50 students respond for scholarships. So, we are um in the process of evaluating those and that'll be at honors night um which as previously mentioned is Wednesday, May 20th. Those will be announced for that. Um and then also I my leazison school is um Franklin High School. So, I had the opportunity last week to go and meet with Mr. Vololo um which was you know always fun to meet with him and hear about what he and his staff are doing. And then as an added bonus, we got to go and hear from
021the students who took the spring break trip to Germany. If you recall, we approved that trip um more than a year ago. And so um had the opportunity to go and hear from them. They put together a great slideshow. I felt like I was on the trip. Um so yeah, Mrs. Carson and Gianna, Gabe, Cece, Alexander, and Chase did a great presentation telling me all about their trip and their adventures in Amsterdam, Lucern, Munich, Salsburg, H Highleberg. I don't know. It was we ran out of time. It was it was a super >> It was a super trip. And what I really was struck with was the kids talking about how they were connecting things they learned in like history and um not just German class, but like in their history classes to what they
022were seeing there, but then also how it relates to life today um as we live it. So it just and the kids said that themselves that they didn't expect to have so much learning going on um and they really did have great connections and really bonded with each other as well. So, it was a really fun day to be at Franklin and hear about all that. So, that was that was super great. Any other school or community engagement reports? >> Uh, go ahead. >> Go ahead. Uh, Ann and I um attended the um uh interviews for um transition students. They had mock interviews yesterday at the high school. It's just great to see how um how those kids have um have learned um over the over the year over the school year over the last
023couple years and and um how they're getting out into society and and do well. So um so that was that was nice and and um also went to the um uh culture culture fest on Monday night. >> And Chad and I attended the optimist club celebration at the middle school. We celebrated the eighth grade student leaders and we had custard and um good questions and good conversation. I felt so proud of those eighth graders. They were so articulate. So that was a very fun time >> and good custard. That's right. >> A really important part. >> Yeah. >> I want to take an opportunity to shout out an interesting community engagement event that I was fortunate enough to be part of um last Friday when By virtue of my role with Forte, we were in
024the Saber Center and um thanks to the extremely organized and diligent planning by Andy and his team. Um we say we kept over 250 patrons safe, calm, and collected during the tornado. And um I can't say how proud I was. Uh I am I'm saying it. I was super proud to be part of an organization in multiple ways that had such forethought, care, and diligence go into preparing for and debriefing after that event. It's not often people compliment you on how the tornado went, but people did. >> I was a little manic, let's be honest. >> Understandable. >> Anyone else? Thank you for all those reports. Moving on to reports, presentations, and schoolboard business. We will have Franklin Forward update number seven. Dr. Ben and friends. >> Yeah. So, friends, come up to the table.
025You have to grab a few more chairs. I think we're like too short. >> Probably know almost all like our friends by name. And >> friendly. So, as I get situated, we'll have a slideshow will pull up. >> So, as we before we get started, I think it'd be great maybe starting with Mitch just go down the line and your name and your role again even though probably most of the board knows you, but uh just to help us out. >> I'm Mitch Kit uh project executive with CD Smith and oversee all the construction project here. Philowski, senior project manager with CD Smith. >> Andy Daniels, director of buildings and grounds for the Franklin Public Schools. >> Mike Hacker with Cadence Consulting. I'm the district's owner rep. >> Andy Thompson, uh, community experience coordinator, Franklin
026Public Schools. >> Nick Kent, a partner and architect with P. >> Mike Fo, high school principal. >> Excellent. Uh, and Paige was with us earlier. She had to weave at this point, but I was very thankful she could help with the open house. >> Oh, yeah. We forgot about him. >> Don't tell him. >> He's very selfconscious. >> Yeah, he's probably >> All right. So, this is an exciting I think every time I'm going to say this is the most exciting update we're going to bring to you about the referendum project, but it is to date, right? The most exciting update because >> a lot of every point to now, we've been talking about things on paper and now as you saw in the open house starting at 5:30, we were able to show you
027things coming into action. Um, but I think that's to me that's the really exciting part I'd say to this team speaking on their behalf like we've all been really excited and if you've been at the high school and you've seen the innovation hub where all of our ideas transform it looks out into the the courtyard that exists now as you're saying gloom but it's not gloom but it's going to be amazing when it's done and we always see the crane overarching the building and um it just kind of brings it all to life and I think that's a really neat thing and I think it's neat that uh our team is amazing and works well together with Mr. hacker right on like the day after the referendum passed. I was like, "Can we breathe a
028minute?" And Mike's like, "We need a hub. We need a space at the high school. >> We need some TVs in it." I was like, "This is a brilliant idea that I would not have thought about on was that November 5th. I'm trying to remember back to what voting day was that year, but um it it was definitely the right thing and at the high school because the students can walk by, see us in there talking, students and staff have been in there to give input throughout that. We'll talk about that a bit tonight, but I think that's one glimpse into the amount of detail that everybody on this team and those that aren't here with us tonight have brought to this project and it's really invigorating to to look at and talk about the
029work we've done. Um I was saying to Debbie during the open house part, you know, there's spots where we would just stop and I'm excited to get community in the building to say like look at this space that we intentionally thought about. It could be a space under a staircase that maybe would have gone out and thought about in a different building, but it isn't here. It could be a space off the walking path where we thought about how are we if we have community walking but they can't get in the weight room yet because wrestling's in there and they can't get in the gym yet because basketball's in there. Well, they can step off the walking track and they're going to have a little exercise space. Not even little. It's pretty good size. Uh
030that they can use and equipment that they can get to. So I think what we won't see a notice till we fully walk in the building is that there's so much intentionality to so many spaces and we still will talk about like we could have done a little more here and it's like no we can't anymore like the walls are up we have to let that part of the project be um and it'll be great. So tonight we'll give you the latest update everybody's going to jump in where they have things to add. So we've talked through who's going to talk about what but everybody needs to add in where where you feel it best fit. Um, so, oh, sorry, I'm looking on my screen and it's not helping your screen. All right, so our
031overview, we did the virtual experience. We're going to talk about that a little bit right now. The big part is that it's a phase one focus tonight, and that's because, and I can't repeat it enough, in the phases of this three-year project, we have to build to the north first to be able to take out in the middle and build the next part. And to the north is the athletic facilities. So, we'll focus on that tonight because that gets us through 27, kind of through the summer at 27, into fall at 27. Um and then we'll do a similar presentation as we move into the next phases probably next fall starting to lead out of that. Well, still in that project, but also start talking more CTE. We'll reit um and why that impacts calendar.
032I know we've repeated that often, but I don't think we can repeat it enough. Uh we'll talk about the student engagement summary. It'll be great for the team to talk about all of the ways we've engaged and there's things we've done beyond what we'll even talk about tonight and how that's extended even to local contractor pieces and how that's affected or determined how we went at our budgeting um to be able to create opportunities where we can be focused on how we can bring in local participation um local contractors and then of course next steps. So, this is gonna this first part is going to encapsulate kind of our 5:30 to six o'clock so that people in the room now that maybe weren't earlier or those that watch back the meeting can kind of have
033an understanding. If you walked in the room at 5:30 tonight, we were looking at a series of five different stations and five different spaces. Um, and we had the same overview map with the timeline to look at what those spaces are and then kind of outline what are the areas that come next, right? So, again, why is it athletics tonight? when does career technical education spaces come. This kind of outlines the really colorful part. That's a lot of phase one. And then we start to move into that gray part in the middle that becomes part of phase two and beyond. We're not going to sit on these screens too long because we probably start to get dizzy. But Chad did an amazing job of embedding the videos side by side. Again, thinking about we want
034our Franklin Forward website to be a place where people can really land and be informed. So, how are we bringing those renderings there? So, Natiatorum was one of the spaces uh that we looked at. I think it's really fun to look outside on that sunny day and see that it's just an open space right now, but you're starting to see that pool basin being dug. You're starting to see some of the operational pieces that need to go into that pool uh going up as we start looking at walls. Another one we did was fieldhouse. Um, so as you walked around and probably talked to any one of the people at the table, um, the wall that we're starting to see going up at the high school, right, is that north side of the fieldhouse, not
035the full north side of the building yet, um, but the north side of the fieldhouse, which on the other side then has the multi-purpose or dance studio. So, you're starting to see some of the action above ground in that space and below ground to be honest. Uh, the third one you looked at was the competition gym. So this is the other side of that wall you're kind of seeing on the screen now. So this is the more we have a basketball game going on for the night. This still seats nearly 1900 if I'm remembering right, but we can still be using the fieldhouse for the other practices and plethora of uh activities that need it. I think that when this is complete, we've talked a lot about this being a really innovative idea um that
036you don't see in other ones. We're not just a huge fieldhouse where if there's a basketball game on, everything else is shut down. We've really thought about, remember, we need those 19 gyms just to meet our current needs. We won't be there yet when this project's even done, but we've at least created spaces that can be used unilaterally uh when we're together. The walking track, uh previewed that a little bit, but that's going to be kind of elevated above looking down into the fieldhouse, down into the wrestling room, uh into the weight room, um and some of the cardio studio area. So, very open to community. I think it's there's been a lot of moments that this team's done a tremendous job also of saying how will this be accessible to community? Where does this
037space lock out or be open to community before maybe nine at night when practices aren't quite done yet or the weight room is not available yet? And then the final space is the wait room which is adjacent to the wrestling room um which is you know kind of looking down and also a walk-in spot from the walking track uh that we saw in the previous video. So timelinewise, um the exciting part is that we are right here. So we've looked at this timeline for quite a while. Um as Mary said earlier, I can't believe it was November 2024. It's like, yep, it's been 17 months of planning to get us to this point. Um but it's been tremendous experience along the way. Uh the next box that lit up up there is part of our
038first phase of work. So this will be the first area we'll actually walk in and see complete. And this is the science labs that are being renovated. uh the five labs up in the high school at the current time and how we're making renovating those labs. Remember ADA ADA accessibility was a big concern in that area when we went to referendum resolving that. We also want to create more small group room kind of looking at that piece. Uh phase the bigger phase that's lighting up now is really that this whole CTE area that we just talked about. So when does that look like it's complete, right? that's, you know, hopefully next summer complete in July so that we're moving equipment in and we're ready for students coming back um after the 1 of September. It
039really kind of gives you that idea of why we need when we just looked at all those construction videos, why we really need that three months almost of fully untouched time next summer to really tackle this work and why we will welcome staff back August 24th already this year. Short summer we keep calling it. The red part that's opening up now is kind of as we start moving into those next phases. So then we're getting into demolition of the middle part of the building and we're getting into construction and renovation of those career technical education spaces. Some of the math rooms where language rooms are part of that work too. Um so that being another big presentation. We'll probably have a similar openhouse style format to the board meeting. This is just me again pointing
040out we have a really busy summer in 2027. So if mother nature can cooperate that will help us but it's going to be busy and it's going to be exciting. Um and we're we're thankful for calendar that we were able to approve to make that happen. >> And and I'll just note if that's okay. I mean, this the complexity of a project of this size for this duration to be able to build this as a brand new building on a green field site is hard enough, let alone on an active school site with active activities going on and um a lot of logistics gone into how to make the sequence work, how to build this and and get it all done in the schedule, but also to limit the impact dayto day. And so, a
041lot of work with Mike and the team at the high school around, you know, school schedules. Uh we're heading next week into some more testing periods. So working closely with the construction crew to be very mindful and and be ready for needed pauses or shuffling of of construction activities to not impact or or less an impact on that. A lot of dialogue around temporary classrooms. So we have swing space. So as folks are displaced for periods of time, we have alternative locations for them. So a lot of foreshadowing of that planning uh as we're going along. So, uh, trying our best to make it look very easy to everybody here and in the community, but, you know, recognizing a lot of work behind the scene from the admin team to to the teachers and a
042lot of patients, uh, out on site, but um, hopefully you're seeing that and that complexity is represented there. >> That's a really good point in a really responsive team like which is a shout out to CD Smith, right? Like when Jack hammering was a little heavy and pencils were jumping off a desk for like one hour of a day, Mike's not down there. Joel's taking action who's our on-site person and um that all that all makes a difference, right? Like the team's on the same page and connected about that. It is a shout out to Mike too for bolo for all of your communication to staff about which doors to use and not use and I think we're up to I don't even want to talk about how many temporary classrooms but many temporary classrooms
043and creative thinking um and working through staff and those adjustments that are you know the short-term pain for a longterm gain. uh science renovation, this furniture selection. What this screen is really showing us is multiple months of thinking about what does furniture look like and how do we bring voice to that. Uh so we worked with our furniture vendor in this space to bring in a couple examples of furniture. Uh we'll talk about that a little bit later. Uh get students sitting in it, students giving feedback. Uh Mike Bolo got very creative and taking some of these prints, what you see in the top right with the sticker dots is what those are. um is we can't set up a small group room with all these different furniture settings to get kids in them, using
044them, giving us feedback. So, Mike went around, talked to students about what the spaces are, gave them dots to put what they would what they see themselves using in small space uh work and there were multiple of these posters around and we used that feedback to help kind of guide where the furniture was going to go just for this first smaller section of these science classrooms. Mike, you have anything to add to that? I would say kids appreciate, you know, being asked and they don't necessarily gravitate towards what you might think they would. Um, you know, they're always surprising. Um, and, you know, the things that they appreciate on furniture may or may not be that which you would as an adult. So, it's just, you know, getting their perspective as best we can and
045they really like whether they're freshman or seniors like want to be able to give that feedback. So, there wasn't a student who I asked if they wanted to talk and come out and take a take a look at all of them and give feedback. They all want to um they do. So, and even we have some of the furniture hanging out in the comments right now and you know we continue to see kids gravitate towards certain things, use them, you know, and like them and give feedback and very strong opinions sometimes of what they like and don't. >> You get some pretty entertaining comments, right? >> 100%. Yes. >> You have the comments turned on for get some comments. comment box. >> Um, I think what's unique about this is really the intentionality about getting
046students into space, getting their voice in it, thinking about what we want that learning environment to be, not just now, but like decades to come. So, these three small group rooms that will be finished with this science renovation have a variety of different furniture from student feedback, but it's also going to continue to give us feedback for the spaces that'll be developed in the CTE space where there's going to be a couple more small instruction rooms. So, we'll start to know what's holding up well, what's getting utilized the most. Um, and then also bring in newer technology or newer learning along the way. School calendar we've talked about often, but we are back August 24th. Students are back uh educators are back the 19th, sorry, students are back the 24th this year, but it gets
047us out for Memorial Day next year. Um, allowing that really long summer. So, we keep reminding people we're working the same amount of days, that students are in school the same amount of days. just slightly shifted and I know that it might feel a little different in August this year, but I think it'll feel really good in May next year when uh we're out of school in June and students are out playing and their friends in neighboring districts are still in. So, we're appreciative of of the flexibility and know it's it's takes a while to get used to change. So, student engagement, like I've said, multiple opportunities. Um Andy Thompson and Mike Bolo are really going to talk about the variety of ways they've brought student voice into this project through time. Yeah, thanks Annalie.
048So, you've seen um really great spaces and now it's like how can we utilize some of these spaces with kids and kind of continue that like intentionality of involving kids in the process is what we're going to kind of talk about. So, um Mike Hacker kind of approached me back in December. Mike Volo was there as well like how can we lean on some of our partners to kind of provide opportunities for students. So between, you know, our subcontractors, you know, kind of some of the other kind of partners that Mike has, that Andy Daniels had, how can we come up with a plan to kind of have a process to kind of engage them with students? So we kind of met and collaborated um kind of what you'll see up here is basically a
049continuum. And this is kind of based on kind of DPI and it's kind of the continuum of career based learning experiences. It kind of goes from like the really small like least amount of time up to the biggest amount of time that you would spend like with students. You know, low impact would be like coming in to speak to students. High impact would be hosting them on site for kind of a youth apprenticeship 450 hours within a school year and everything kind of in between. So, we kind of came together and kind of provided some information for our partners because they need to be informed and educated as well. Like what do these things kind of look like? What do they kind of what are they? and we uh kind of provided the information to
050them, sent out a survey to them and as you saw kind of on the previous slide, some of the partners that were kind of committed to this work um were these up here on the right. >> And just to you know reiterate the process and to you know take a step back one of the things that from a district leadership to you know like throughout this process has been you know part of why we work with partners work within CD Smith is we expected engagement of our students in this manner. So it's one of the things we expect from every one of our partners. we bring on, every partner they bring on is that they make these opportunities for students. So, it's not just something that we sat around and said, "I'll be nice." It's
051built in and it's expected. So, you know, it comes to delivering that like the kids have this experience. Some of them won't even live and work in this, right? Many of our students won't currently high school, but they still get to benefit from this project happening while they're in school in ways even the kids who get the full, you know, experience, the fifth graders or whatever it is will not get, right? Because then it's already built. Um, so we really do expect that. appreciate that partnership and the leadership that made this part of the process as we went through it. >> Yeah, didn't want to lose that. >> Oh, that's good thought. I think you know when I was reviewing notes from this something that Mike Hacker had kind of added that I thought was
052a great insight was how do we ask the partners about college internships so that way when our students are kind of graduating they can continue on to some of these places and then kind of that kind of bridges that gap and they kind of continue on um their journey post high school with us and kind of involving those partners. Yeah, it's a project of this duration, right? Seniors this year are going to be halfway done with college, right? If you think of it that way, they're going to really be thinking about their careers of which might align with a lot of the the vendors we're working with right now. So, I think an important perspective. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, um what you'll see here is these are companies that we've already kind of existed um
053done things with or things are scheduled very closely. So, on the subsequent slides, you'll see photos of kids doing a lot of really great things. Yeah. So, and you know, Andy talked about that experience and that continuum of experiences that are workbased and community based. So, you know, like CD Smith was kind enough to work with our construction students when it came to helping build those dugouts, right? And I think the expectation often times from, you know, a contractor is, "Yeah, we'll see, you know, and then we'll we'll do something, take picture, you guys go on your way and then our kids are skilled enough and their guys are great enough where like they put them to work as our kids do good work." Um, so what you see there and if you've been down
054to the baseball field and seen the things, I mean, it really is pretty neat in terms of what our kids are doing. And that continues I think next week during the construction update there'll be an additional thing of looking at some of the pre-cast panels with the construction group uh during a first block class. Um but you know when our kids can get put to work you know we'll try to do that and not just in a way where one person watches and everybody else you know doesn't get to try something. But um again like having these things be built in and that's really that you know project base that exists within a class is so much greater than just hey it'd be really nice to talk about what it is you do even though
055we have really great speakers I think coming on down the road which is the next slide Mike um so so so Mr. hackers in there. So, um, our sophomore class previously had one day of many speakers, uh, that kids would go through. And what we're trying to do with our different academic career planning things is really have students opt into different experiences over the course of a year. So, I can, you know, speak and pick on Mike. His speaking was really wellreceived in terms of talking about, you know, his pathway and what he does in his work. Um, and okay, our students then who are interested in that pathway had an opportunity to get that exploration and hear that during that sophomore year. That's so important. Um, and as we think about things, there's going
056to be an idea of like repeating those throughout next year, growing those because again, like instead of having one day with a bunch of speakers in the Saber Center, which we had previous this year, now it's having just different opportunities throughout the course time where we can get all our sophomores through and have them get captured in the moments where they want to, you know, explore things they're interested. Anything you want to add, Mike, about the students you talk to or anything else? >> No. And you know, doing this with lots of school districts who always talk about doing it, right? We always have partners that say, "We would be happy to do it." I props to the Franklin team for taking the action to put this in motion and actually connect the dots. Having
057a survey of all the vendors saying, "This is what we'd be interested in," and then going out to the staff, finding opportunities, uh, like I was able to plug into, uh, is usually the missing piece of the puzzle that here is landing. And you're seeing I think some some examples of that and whether it's a low impact. I think you considered me a low impact just for the record. >> It's it's less involved. Less involved in making sure whether it's that for you know a 45minute presentation a quick hit or it's something more hands-on. I think hopefully we're seeing opportunities for students across the board to get plugged into uh this project in some way. I will add one really kind of great story, not with Mike, but with a physical therapist we had come
058in. >> No, I'd rather be. Um, so one of my advises um didn't sign up to go somewhere and defaulted to me and I was in there with the physical therapist and I'm like, "Well, you need to stay in here because that's where you're going to be today." And um afterwards he uh set up a meeting with this counselor because he went out on his own and researched physical therapy. Decided that physical therapy was too much school but now wants to be a physical education teacher and changed all of his classes and now he's going to take some foundations of education classes and changed his entire like junior and senior year classes. So because he was kind of like you know pushed to be in there kind of we saw that and that was a
059great story I thought of somebody that was looking more towards maybe like trades or something else now I was like okay I kind of want to work with people and I like this but this is too much school but then I can be a physical education teacher and looked up all on his own scheduled the meeting did all that. So that was a real good success story from one of the speakers that we kind of had there a few weeks ago. And in this one, I can't I don't have glasses on right now. So, I see Paige and Megan. >> Yeah, Paige and Megan. So, uh we had two members of our PR team come in and meet with our design capstone students. So, Linda Krauss's students, you can see Linda on the right hand
060side of the screen there. And really, again, just being generous with time to come through and talk about things where these are the students who do take on, you know, different projects and have design spaces from beginning on um to the end. and um having the opportunity to actually talk to people and then not just meet in the classroom, but meet in the innovation hub. Um just you know that small thing of you know it's a little tight in there for the class but it's not a huge class and then they can be surrounded by all the things that go along with the project you know which again that's not why they're there but it also is a benefit of being in there. >> It's all girls. >> Our design you know pathway with Mrs.
061Krauss tends to get more girls. their engineering pathway tends to get more boys. Um when they cross-pollinate, it's really great because they often times use some of the same software. They get some of the same um you know, expertise when it comes to design process and thinking. Um and it is one of those pieces where like you're not wrong, you know, in terms of like, you know, students gravitate more one way or another. Interior design, inspired design. Uh we even change uh sewing to machine sewing to you know make it feel a bit more accessible to everybody where it doesn't feel you know for one you know side of the gender. >> I can jump in here. So uh summit fitness. So uh one of the spaces that the board took a look at during
062our open house was the fitness center. And if you remember in that image you saw a lot of different equipment within that space. Um early in the process the district um identified uh a partner in Summit Fitness um which is also Matrix that uh does a lot of K12 uh fitness center space. They you know have a high expertise also located uh right in Calonia. So kind of a a local partner. Um one of their commitments to the district was to make Franklin a feature district for them. one that when they bring in folks to tour their facility, they're able to come 10 minutes up the road to Franklin and see their equipment in in action. Um, make a commitment to the district to bring in demo pieces and demo equipment to try out. So,
063as they're want to test things, Franklin becomes a host site to do that perpetually into the future. So, looking for a long-term partnership. Um, so not only have they offered to bring on, I believe it's potentially two youth apprentice uh sessions. So, I went down um for the tour and the facility just I mean it was amazing to see the facility and how that equipment is made and the process and um the HR member I believe it's Kyle there I uh challenged him and I said hey you know sometimes what happens with students is they need to be able to read some information about the youth apprentichip and he came up with I've never seen job descriptions that are two pages each for an industrial engineer and a maintenance individual. So, um there is kind
064of um some students that are in the process of kind of working to be hired by them that'll probably start in the summer. But it was exciting that we kind of asked and they kind of stepped up and they were kind of willing to, you know, descriptions. So then kids can kind of read what's expected of them and you know see like you know that they're reporting to the director of operations was cool for one kid for this and another one's reporting to some engineer and it was just like really cool to kind of see the kids like feel like they were being taken serious and I think that's what the young people really appreciate is when adults kind of take them serious and the fact that you know they took the time to kind
065of write those shows that they're serious because you know I can ask you know a lot of time places okay you want a kid like come up with something and then it doesn't always kind of get done and the fact that they did that was really a great kind of testament to them. >> Yeah. And they have followed through with the equipment already. So, uh in the if you go to the fitness center today in the high school, you'll find a piece you see in the photo there kind of in that center photo uh that's already in the space being used by students that the uh PE teachers and coaches are being asked to gather feedback from. Um we've had an opportunity with the core team to go into that space and and Cordell and
066take a look at that and talk about what we like and don't like. Um really great piece of the story is uh that center photo. You see the gentleman with the black shirt on there, Troy. Troy is the director of operations for Matrix. Um kind of a key leader within their organization, a Franklin family, Franklin resident. That's his son that he's standing next to is a Franklin High School student right now on the swim and and dive team. And um showing up to take a look at the equipment, seeing his son in the weight room, right? going back to going to referendum, making a commitment to kind of support the local community and our families. Not a better opportunity to point that out than I think this. So, so far really good partner and and
067hopefully a long-term partner for for the district going forward. And then uh in this um Dr. Dr. Bennon had started to note this, but again, just to reiterate, um really looking to gather student voice uh in furniture selection and one of what will be multiple phases of furniture purchases as each of these portions of the building is is turned over. We're going to continue to look for for ways to bring these pieces in. These are all demonstration pieces. You see them in the classroom there. A lot of dialogue in science about high top versus low top. Um science classrooms, we want to be sure we have a high safety factor. So, we're always worried about backpacks and jackets and clutter in those spaces. So, we talked a lot about backpack hooks and can we hang
068them on chairs or on the table? What does that look like? And um uh lesson learned. Maybe students don't sit uh backwards in chairs like we thought they would. That was that was a big >> There is a fun fact that all the chairs we demoed I think except one are built to be sit, you know, forward or backward. Um the designers Deb, I see your face there. seems surprising you as well. Um, and when I said that to a kid, a kid, a senior, current senior said, uh, who's doing the announcements this week? Um, there's one or two that you can narrow it down if you come to high school. But, um, she said, "Why would anyone ever sit like that?" >> I don't I don't know. I don't know. But, but she looked
069at me like I had two heads and like just the the the lack of possible empathy and understanding of why someone would choose to do that. Um, and again, like I mean, that's how, you know, schools often times are built. you're in front of a desk or whatever. But >> I would just add to that um the two optimist ladies at the middle school could not figure out our furniture there either. like they were in and they were holding on to the tables and they were like this and I said, "I know. I have to grab on to it too when I sit down otherwise the chair shoots across the room and they were just like, "You really have this kind of thing?" >> We're we're gonna I mean, again, we're gonna have things built
070in that also like not only are, you know, safe in science classrooms, you know, buildings of different sensory features. Um, you really try to like capture different ways students want to learn within there. So even the idea of having different height tables and different chairs where stuff is somewhat interchangeable, right, and can be, you know, remixed based on the students that we have and what they need and prefer. Uh but we're going to have a couple different, you know, chair types, for example, that are in there with just again small features that, you know, do add some things to the chair that whether or not everybody utilizes it, uh will benefit all kids. and that bottom right photo, if you went to the high school right now, you'd see all these pieces sitting in the
071commons immediately outside of our innovation hub space. So, it's been really fascinating to watch our team meeting talking about these spaces. Meanwhile, look out the window and see students sitting in these chairs, moving around as they're doing their classwork. And again, in real time, passive observation, but um that doesn't happen unless we make sure it happens, right, and set up those opportunities. and then I'll just ceue it up for the team. Uh this doesn't stop, right? So the goal is for this to just continue on in and both formally and functional like targeted activities uh which And you'll note and just you know spontaneous opportunities as we see them as we're >> Yeah. So uh CD Smith um has hired a student. So um May 13th there will be a signing day in the main
072comments at 1:15. So we'll have, you know, the backdrop, we'll have, you know, the hard hats, everything there to celebrate it. And that's, you know, one of the more exciting days to to see the young person kind of, you know, embark on that journey. Um, I guess, you know, Gruno was mentioned in a photo. So there they have an event kind of pending, so we don't have photos yet. Um, I went and toured there and it was really cool because being a former business teacher, seeing how they have much so much of the process vertically integrated with like the sheet metal that's made on site and everything is like really kind of unique and really just cool to see that. And um, they're going to be hosting our engineering capstone students um, with some of
073their engineers to do a tour. But then um, I challenged them to put together a 45 minute to an hour competition. So break off into teams and I don't you know I challenged them to see what it is and they were like yeah we'll come up with something cool. So they'll do that and you know slowly along the way I think that eventually that'll lead to some opportunities of students to work in a youth apprenticeship um there um definitely with kind of sheet metal or some other things. Plumbing is kind of maybe um not fully there for high school yet. We're kind of working talks with them but definitely they'll um look at that and hopefully have some students there starting soon. And then working closely, one of the um kind of new technology tools
074that the CD Smith team is using on a weekly basis is to fly a drone around the site. And um it's not just it it gathers photos and video, which is, you know, good just update, but it also is LAR technology. So we're able to get um uh topography and elevations, and we've used it to map out storm water movement and quantify uh how much earth is there and being moved. And so it's a really fascinating piece of technology. Um trying to leverage uh the next opportunity they're out there to align with the robotics club and and uh make sure students have an opportunity to learn about that technology. Uh touch it, feel it, talk about, you know, it as a profession like that folks, you know, this is something I think is really cool
075and exciting, but folks make a living working with us every single day. Um I think a big opportunity. Want to be sure we're we're going to capitalize on that. So that's in the the process right now of planning. So then the really exciting part is did we do it and did we stay on budget or is the goal right now to stay on budget. So we've talked a few times throughout the last I mean more than six months we've we've been putting bids out probably since last summer I think it was maybe our first bid package >> fourth or fifth summer in there. Yeah. >> Yeahgo it's been a a journey and we're going to talk a little bit about what it means to be a bid package and why that was important in our
076journey. Uh but this overview sheet which is always in the treasures report in the board docs too is I think the exciting part because we're talking about what are those uh capital improvement projects that are district owned. You see those in the bottom right. That's a big shout out to Andy Daniels and his team because he's really managing uh those projects. Those are a number of the projects more specifically usually at the five elementary schools. Um, but then also some crossover with CD Smith on where are those areas that it pays to to overlap and have CD Smith own it because it maybe is cement and we're doing it at the high school and we need it at some elementary so we can work on those bids. Uh, FHS CD Smith managing that's the major
077portion that we're seeing at the high school. So again in that bottom right and then the district soft cost uh that's district managing in other areas. I think to break that down a little more and this is like the drum roll exciting we've hit guaranteed maximum price. That's a really big deal. Um, I've learned even more about what a big deal that is, right? We agreed on this price. The community said they agree on this price. Um, and here's what our investment is doing, but now we know that we've hit that and we're locked in. Um, and continuing to work through that. And I'm going to let Mike talk a little deeper and Andy even about what do those bid packages mean? Like where do we benefit from that? And they'll kick to Phil to
078talk deeper on that too and Mitch. Um and then also like the value engineering like what does that mean for us and what did that how did that help us in this process? >> Yeah. So the guaranteed maximum price essentially is the total contract value that CD Smith now is responsible to deliver. So the vast majority of the referendum right which falls almost all at the high school. Everything you've seen tonight, all the future phases, a lot of the CIP that was targeted there, uh, is now CD Smith's responsibility to deliver at this price, which uh, you saw on the last slide is on budget. Right? So that's the big, you know, headline statement is we cross this critical threshold to establish by far the most significant portion of the referendum and are in a
079position to say that everything to date is fully on budget. So that's a very big positive. Obviously, high fives all around. that doesn't just just happen. So, we wanted to kind of map out some of the things. So, as Dr. Bennon noted, we've had almost a year's worth of bidding, right? So, obviously, parts of this building are being built way before other parts. Um, there are strategies, meaning we could design the full envelope, the outside of the building, while we are still designing the inside of the building. Meaning, we're still picking paint colors and floor finishes. We can advance bidding other parts sooner. We can take advantage of pre-inflation prices. we can start construction sooner. Right? So over the course of um this past year, the CD Smith team has worked to break out five
080bid packages. Okay? And in inside of each of those five, there are 60 60 total individual bid categories. Okay? So in one bid package may be 10 or 12 individual bids, if that makes sense. Okay? And each one of those is required to have multiple biders, right? And go out to the market competitively. Um everything is done as an official bid day. So there's like a threshold, a deadline that has to be met. Um those are opened uh within CD Smith's office. The district on on a couple occasions has gone up to FondeLock to their headquarters and went to the bid room and watched those bids come in and those uh spreadsheets get populated and kind of go through that experience alongside that team. Um there are certain categories that uh CD Smith does self-perform.
081Okay. So, we want to just hit on that meaning uh CD Smith is the construction manager. So, they're overseeing and managing the budget and the timeline, but they also have categories that they as a company would bid on. Okay. And so, always very important when we identify those uh potential bid packages that there's a process to ensure that there's transparency and that we're getting multiple bids and and efforts been put in place to be sure we're encouraging others to bid so we have as much uh competition in those categories as possible. So, um had a process in place to manage that and and that I think happened in three of the five bid packages. We had uh different self-performance bids that uh the district worked closely uh both with CSmith and through myself as the
082owner's rep reaching out to other vendors to be sure we were driving up as much competition in those categories as possible. >> Okay. >> Can I ask a quick question? I seem to recall there being some conversation about areas where we simply weren't able to get I think you like to have at least three bids in each category. Um can you give me a sense of how frequently that happened during across these six bid packages? >> Yeah, go back and like the one or two of them uh we did not get additional biders in those categories despite efforts both by CD Smith by Cadence on behalf of the district reaching out. um every single bid category, not just the self-performance, but all 60 of of those categories had a list of vendors that were sought
083that do this work can they're prevetted to be able to do work at this scale, whatever, you know, size that package was. Um that list was built both by CD Smith and their experience as well as the district. So Andy uh myself P was able to voice other firms or companies they've worked with in each of those categories and and um uh so for the self-performance uh categories I reached out to every one of those other uh contractors expressed you know clear uh desire for them to strongly consider the project made sure they understood when they were bidding they were bidding to Cadence Consulting not to CD Smith. So, uh, not only did CD Smith were they required to submit their bid to Cadence, but all the other vendors as well. As as a competitor,
084you may be, uh, may have paused submitting your number to your competitor, right? So, we just eliminated that from from the process. Um, so, um, uh, so yes, to answer your question, we did have, uh, two categories, I believe, that, uh, we did not receive additional bids in. We also had categories that CD Smith was not the low bidder. Okay. So, I just want to note that as well. and uh as good partners to the district, they actually recommended going with an alternative partner there because it was in the best interest of the district. So again, that's when this goes well, that is the goal, right? Is that we have a transparent process. We try to drive as much competition as we can. Um it is a busy time. There's a lot of construction going
085on. We have a lot of data centers and mega projects that's sucking up a lot of labor. Uh folks are cautious at what they pursue if they can't get it done. So we did hear that regularly that folks have a full book of work and they're only going to go after things that they know they can do at a high level. So that was a consistent piece of feedback we got throughout the process. >> Yep. Um so with that said, uh you know, as you might imagine, for a year, we need to ensure that we're tracking on budget. And after each bid package, we reassessed where we we sat with the overall budget. Okay? Meaning uh if we bid under budget or slightly over budget, we look closely at value engineering. Uh we work closely
086with the architects and the engineers to create bid alternates. So categories where we may bid multiple flooring types to see what one would give us the best price. So on bid day we can make some decisions about what you know what the right option might be. Um the uh that value engineering exercise happened after each bid package and and is still happening to be honest. Right. So even though we've crossed this threshold, there have been a number of of voluntary alternates that folks have brought forth to say, hey, you know, if you consider this light fixture versus this light fixture, there's a savings before we just take it to take it, we're vetting what is that difference? Is it of, you know, is it worth the savings or not? And so that process will continue
087and any of that savings obviously just comes back into uh the ability to invest into other things within the project. So very successful um uh to date. Um and then uh obviously we didn't you know just open up the envelope uh two weeks ago and say okay we're on budget and felt good right this has been a thorough analysis detailed review of line items closely looking at scope um you know amount of scope are we staying on track with what we said we were going to do um I think posted in our innovation hub are the guiding principles to the project so every time we're looking at budget we're running that back through the guiding principles, right? Are we tracking on these? Are we making decisions that reinforce the goals that we uh, you know,
088set out at the outset? So, um, very successful process. I will say, and others feel free to chime in, this doesn't happen on every project, right? Especially now of this size and complexity in the bid climate we're in with how much work is out there and increases to construction inflation. Um uh so uh I think props to all everybody involved and and I know kind of a nerdy moment on our end of GMP excitement right that doesn't always translate outside of our our uh you know uh industry bubble but is I would say on behalf of the district an a very important threshold to step through and now we're managing within that and are going to continue to provide updates as we go forward. >> As a board member who supported this you know from
089the getgo it's very reassuring to hear to hear this. Um because if you were telling a different story, I'd be like uh you know what am I going to tell people who ask and and are you on budget and all that kind of stuff. So it's very reassuring for me as someone who has supported this to hear your report. >> Yep. Yeah. And I will say, you know, this is a big complex project. There are still risks out there. We have a lot of construction ahead of us, right? we have contingencies in place and the things that are highest risk we're tracking on a regular basis. So, uh, knock on wood, you know, we'll continue to to go in the right direction here. But, um, so far the team in place is working really well.
090We've problem solved. We've collaborated through uh, you know, the moments of challenge that when we've had them and and so far, um, we're in a position to come to you tonight with I think very positive news. Um I think in transition one of the things we did >> really quickly. >> So you know in one of the presentations the revenue generated from the interest and uh from the bonds which kind of 145 million is that going to go into the total price and get this down or how is that? >> Yeah. Yep. And so uh we can certainly loop Andy Chromian in further conversations around this but right now that's factored into the overall project. Okay. Okay. So when we look at the total 151 million of things both uh as broken out the CIP
091projects the projects you see on the screen here in CD Smith scope as well as the um soft costs for the project that interest that was approved to proceed into the project is factored into all projects across the the entire scope of the referendum. So quick answer is yes, right? But it's blended into the the total revenue available to complete all the work that's being planned across all those categories. >> Through that discussion we had last May when we agreed to how much interest. >> Andy, I would maybe ask really quick too before we go on. Give one example of like value engineering. I know we listed areas we looked at were flooring, mechanical, fixture like what's one good example of what that looks like to kind of correlate for everybody? So, she's going to
092put me on the spot with one only. But there it was, like like Mike said, it was very successful process because I think too often value engineering we think is kind of like we're we're not getting the quality that we plan for, but we did. Um, but just a couple that come to mind. I'm sorry. Um, there's there's things that there's things that like insulation on piping, right? Yeah. Right. You can relate, Katie. Right. Um, you know, hydronic heating needs insulation on piping and it needs a jacketing in areas that's maybe exposed to custodian clo in custodial closets where carts might bang into them, right? That jacketing costs money. However, we found that there's areas in the building that we're going to receive jacketing that is up so high nobody's ever going to bump into
093it. And it's amazing when you start thinking about all the linear feet of piping and insulation and jacketing how that dollar value will add up. We didn't reduce any quality of the project, right? Um, another one is just um, you know, grease grease um, or excuse me, waistline piping, right? There was a spec for stainless steel in some areas. Well, while our engineers are really good at designing things, right, they put it in there for a reason. They were at the table when we started value engineering or having these discussions, but people like CD Smith says, "We think that we can go to CPVC on some of those areas and reduce the amount of that type of piping or another material to save money." So those are two good examples that I just recall having
094a huge dollar value that we were able to you know reduce and you know value engineer and put money back in into the project. And there there's a plethora of opportunities that we we did take. There's also opportunities that were presented that we didn't take. So, our HVAC tech, Ed, he was involved in some of the mechanical um decisions and Ed and I vetted out a lot of the manufacturers that we want to have in this school district and um right, right or wrong, right? They pre presented to us, well, you know, we know you want a yellow boiler, but have you ever thought about a Cleaver Brooks? Yeah, we're absolutely open-minded to that. Let's take a look at it. However, we want to go with the yellows. So, we went through that process. There's
095even when you start value engineering, we even added some scope. So, there's better ways to control um some of the building or excuse me, control some of the heating systems, right? Well, there's been some new technology that wasn't really thought of. We started Ed and I started introducing that into projects through the CIP scope that we're managing and that was not caught in this part of the project. So, we added that in which did actually increase the cost of the project. But we were able to recognize savings in a lot of other areas without again reducing quality. So >> I I just I need to chime in as the architect and ve sometimes ve makes architects like twitchy a little bit. Um this process and it sounds like we're patting each other on the back.
096This this wonderful team, but this is really true. So the the VE process doesn't always go as Mike said doesn't always go like this. we're in a different position and we're we're not necessarily looking for value as much as money. That was not the case here. Uh and what is as Andy gave these great examples, this team had the time, the foresight. Some of these things were options built in, designed in even before we got to the VE process. So, we had real marketdriven data to make informed decisions on. So this is is truly a process that had the community's best interest in mind and and getting the best possible quality and best true value for the community long term. So this is truly a testament to the work of of all of these guys
097and and again a special shout out to Andy Daniels. We do not always have the um the insights uh the level of sophisticated knowledge from the owner side to really think these things through and be able to make these kind of valuebased decisions. So this this is this is truly a special process. Um so when we hear value engineering sometimes think are we getting what we should be getting? Yes. In fact you're you're getting a better value and a better product for it in this case. >> So the one other item we wanted to hit on tonight just to cue this up was local participation. So one of the things we I think all heard pre-referendum from community members was you know what are we going to do to be sure we invest as much
098of this money locally as possible? Um that was translated to all of us pre-referendum. The admin team translated it to the the core uh design and construction team. Um really saying bring forward as many paths forward so we exhaust every opportunity um uh to to invest locally uh as possible. So tonight what we've asked CD Smith to do is put a summary together. So within that GMP that we had on the the last slide there, how much of that is being invested locally and so um I think critical for us is that a project of this size also generally means there are big dollar amounts to these contracts, right? Um which sometimes precludes local contractors from being able to approach or or bid on because it's they're just too large. They don't have the workforce
099or or maybe the bonding capacity to to pursue projects this size. So CD Smith has worked uh to strategically identify who are some of those local contractors, what type of work uh let's maybe break apart that 60 different bid categories of reference. That's probably more than we would see on other in other districts in an attempt to try to break them down such that we could allow more local participation. I think the bottom line here, which I'm going to steal Phil's line here for a second, but just to recognize almost $27 million of this total referendum is committed to three contractors that are within five miles of the high school, right? I mean, what a takeaway to say, you know, three of the most important companies a part of this project. At that dollar amount,
100you as a district are committing that much of the referendum funds directly to them is uh really impressive. Okay. Okay. And so, um, we did ask Phil to put together kind of an overview and and maybe talk through a little bit of of what this looks like as as a total investment. >> Yeah. So, I guess just starting from as we were publishing these bid bid packages, I think we made a concerted effort as we were going through all of our um pre-qualified bid list to make sure we were identifying those local contractors, we were reaching out, we're bringing them the process so we knew who they were. Um we worked with Andy um just with who does work kind of in the district um and kind of who they know they're that are out
101there um just because we wanted to make sure we were capturing anyone that could look at it in this area. Um I think the second piece here, this is a lot about the companies. We did ask a lot of information on manpower and the people that are actually out there and how many employees they had in the district. It's a little harder to track it and actually put um any data up there, but all of our contractors are making a concerted effort of hey, I've got 10 guys that live in Franklin. I'm going to make sure that as many possible are on the project that once they're awarded the work as well. So, we don't really have any stats up there, but it is every contractor is making um an effort just to make sure
102that those those people and a lot of these people do have connections. They went to the school, they live here, their kids go to the high school to make sure that they have the opportunity to actually um be on site as well and help build this project. >> Yeah, local is always a tough one. I mean, what does local mean, right? I mean, we have uh certainly concrete for pre-cast that's being um pre-cast and brought from other places in Wisconsin, and that's always great to invest in Wisconsin, but we're also uniquely located here, right? It's hard to say just Milwaukee County or, you know, just put a a radius. So, uh, Phil and the team have have identified really Milwaukee, Renee, Wauaaw as kind of the what we had determined as as local for this
103analysis. Um, and, uh, in that I think our have seen great success and and these aren't just these are firms that have been vetted that either work with the district today or do a lot of work with CD Smith and and, uh, there's a high level of confidence not just being local, but they're obviously the right fit and and are going to do a great job for for the district. >> Can you just tell me what each of those three do? So Lee Mechanical is a mechanical contractor. So they're located right on Ryan Road. Um just south of the high school. Greno's the plumber. And then Edertton's Earthworks site utilities and demolition. >> Yeah. So all those trucks of dirt you're seeing coming going from the site, that's Edertton. Yep. Yep. >> All those street
104sweepers you're seeing going by, it's because of Edertton. Yep. >> They all drive so slow. >> I'm always behind them. Yeah. So with that said, we wanted to share that as a kind of a exclamation point if you will on, you know, not just do we have great news to share in terms of being on budget and crossing these key thresholds, but also an expectation that was set that we then pushed through to to to the team. Uh we I think are very proud of of the data we're able to share tonight there. >> So thanks to the team for being here and all the pieces that we've brought forward. We'll answer questions obviously too, but next steps always trying to project forward. So, we'll get all of tonight's information up on the website. Chad's
105been thinking a lot through like how do you do 360s online? So, we'll get that set up. Uh we have a branding wayfinding committee that's together to kind of look at not just like from numbering classrooms at the high school to where are we branding within it. How are we thinking differently and innovatively about that? Um other than just decals everywhere. Uh with that looking at like a sponsorship package, what do we want that to look like or not look like in Franklin? you know, like you see different businesses that sponsor fieldhouse or fields, things like that. So, we're starting conversations there to bring forward and think about. Um, and then looking at our update number eight, we thought would probably fall best in fall, uh, kind of get through the summer project, see where
106we end up, uh, to report out on that and where we're going next. Um, and that we hope can include like a tour of the science labs and whatever is a safe site within the construction site at that point in time to walk through the high school. So that's kind of exciting things to look forward to. But any questions or anything different you want to see in the next presentation? >> Um do you envision having a continuation of these mentorships into different areas like the obviously now it's construction and pouring concrete and you know the the sports area but when it gets to the CTE and the other spaces are there going to be similar opportunities for for mentorships? Yeah, I would say absolutely there'll be opportunities. I think that um from what I found,
107you know, five years, it takes time to build these relationships and by starting now hopefully then by the time the spaces get done and we get there, we'll have really great relationships that can continue on for, you know, past the project and, you know, for years to come. Yeah, we um a big part of the CTE e area is all the equipment that goes into those spaces and right now we've done a thorough effort with the staff to identify what type of equipment, quantity of them, how to lay that out in the space. Um we're also going to continue to leverage the relationships with these partners to continue to say, okay, you know, these students are leaving the high school ready to enter your workforce. What do they need to know and is this the
108right equipment? Right? So, we're we're about to cross into uh the phase of starting to identify that equipment and select which pieces and and we'll continue to lean on those vendors not just for student, you know, uh employment and involvement, but also how they can help influence, you know, the layout and equipment that we're buying to be sure it's the right investment. And to add to that, it was it was fun. About two weeks ago, Andy and I presented to the business park consortium and it was an update on where we're at with the projects of some of the images you saw in January at the key communicators. But then also we like kind of frontloaded a little like we're looking at sponsorship opportunities. We're looking at partners because it would be great, right, to
109have any partners that we have in our business park that do work similar to what we're building in the high school like let's partner now. And it was I think really rewarding to see how lit up the room got and how excited they were and tell us more. So it was a great like glimpse you kind of drop that little bit of water in the bucket, see what you get. It had a good ripple effect. So, it'll be exciting to kind of get a few of those pieces together, go back to those partners to what Andy saying, and how are we getting students there? How are we getting them in? How are they influencing what we need to think about for equipment because it's what they they need their future workforce trained in. Just so
110many op like opportunities for overlap there. >> I really appreciated this information on the amount of the work you were able to keep in the local um area. So, thanks for the time you took both to make that happen and then to present the data to us. When you're talking about how the the um all of the subcontractors are making a concerted effort to try and bring their Franklin teams on, it would be amazing at the completion of this project if any of those local people were able to be with us in some capacity >> as a you know, especially that kids. It's cool. >> Add a tab to the spreadsheet of like everybody's name and violence. >> I don't know. >> One last thing. So, I know when I go to other communities, you
111know, it's like they'll have up on the wall some pictures of the marching band from the high school or or some other shout out to the community they're in. So, I think these sponsorship packages hopefully would allow kind of a two-way thing where it'd be like, "Yeah, we're sponsoring the high school. Look at, you know, in our business that they shout out to the district because we're obviously an integral part of Franklin. a big huge part and sometimes you go into businesses and you'd never know it. So I I would love to see us working collaboratively with businesses not only to get their signs out on our campus but to get our signs into their businesses if that makes sense. >> Does Yeah. Well said. uh as an extension of the branding discussion, very naturally
112the dialogue is well um if approached by or if we decide to approach a local business or maybe a family comes along and and wants to do a memorial thing or something, are we in a position to actively take that seriously? And it's one thing just to say yes, we'll accept your money, right? Uh it's another thing to say, well, what from a business standpoint, what is the payback of that? How do we establish a long-term relationship so it's not a one-off thing? It's something that we can build in perpetually. What does the value add of that? And especially you start to look at a facility like this which the foot traffic in and out of that fieldhouse on a weekend basis and uh you know in and out of the CTE and the long-term
113relationships where you see a local business name as a partner. It means a very different thing and I think we're seeing that more and more in other districts around that relationship is not just to bring students in which is why we're here but is also to create a business level transaction and relationship to obviously formalize that in a way that maybe brings in some additional revenue or partnership or equipment or whatever that may be. Um I that's an area that I think very important for the business office to really have a structure to as it's a financial transaction and and you know everybody wants to uh encourage we have a lot of very supportive booster clubs and parents and active coaches and folks that I'm sure would spread the word but without a structure to
114do that so that it looks professional and is is such that if it's a major ask there's a there's a clear understanding what you get for that right not just a name on a thing but is there another benefit to that partnership and so u looking to create a a sponsorship guide a tool that the district could use to kind of create some formality to that as we go forward. I think two comments which I want to make is that first of all I think you know including the students the high school students in the the project is a very unique answer although our students have been building homes but this kind of magnitude of a project I think gives them a very a unique experience to see how these projects are done especially if
115they're thinking of architecture engineering any of that uh this uh trades as such you know, I think it's very good experience. So, thank you for doing that. Second, I think my with the sponsorship packages, you know, for example, again, I think the district with the business office like if you go to the library, there's the bench, you know, there there's bricks and all that stuff. And I I know usually kind of when the community project is going on like all the brick is only cost $2 but just to have your name on and all that stuff again developing with the business office some kind of a where you can have a bench for example if you want to have you know and in memory of for example a lot of people want to have their
116loved ones be remembered in a good way as such maybe that's a good way of you know raising some funds to uh help the district reinvest in the things which we need down the road. >> Uh Andy, uh where where are we on the projects at the elementary schools um in terms of completion? I know I know a lot of those were getting done last summer and worked on. >> So I'll I'll be including some of that in the next board meeting when I give my update. But um I mean the projects are going to continue through 2000 the summer of 2028. For example, um the Ben Franklin roof, right? We want to push that out as far as possible just because there's still a little bit of life in there, but we don't want
117to miss the opportunity. Um it's close enough, especially once we get to 2028. So there we're I'm holding like $1.5 million for that right now. Um that's not out to bid yet. We'll see where that comes in, but I'm managing that so I make sure that I have those funds at the end of the project. And then there's other projects like that as well, but it's going to continue there. Pleasant View is getting a new boiler plant this summer. We're doing more roofs at the high school this summer. Um, it just continues and I'll happy to be sharing that with you guys in the next one. Yeah, >> questions. >> Thank you all for being here. Thank you for sharing all of this information for all the work you're doing and managing and all the
118different all the different balls you're juggling. I really appreciate that and we are grateful to hear from it and we'll look forward to our next update. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And then treasures report is available as always in the board docs library. Future agenda items. Our next meetings we will have our tobacco poster winner presentation, our board self-evaluation discussion, the 2627 student family handbook information, buildings and grounds annual report. So Andy's coming back. Um capital improvement 10-year plan. Um also with Andy, uh the Nola board policy volumes 351, 2026 2027 preliminary budget and district administrator evaluation. That'll be close session >> and I am looking for a motion to enter into close session. >> So to pursuant to Wisconsin state statute 19.851C district administrator self-evaluation of polls. >> So move
119second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Yank, seconded by Dr. Beer. All in favor? >> Vote. >> Oh, we have a roll call vote. >> Sure. Mr. Sprag. I >> I vote I Mrs. Seperski >> I >> Dr. Khan >> I >> Mrs. Ehart >> I >> Mrs. Yang I >> Mrs. Larson >> I >> we are in close session at 7:28 >> so moved >> do I have to say that there was no action taken during close session looking for a motion to adjourn the meeting >> so moved >> second >> motion made by Mrs. Larson seconded by Mrs. Yank >> oh sorry Dr. All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? >> We are in or we are adjourned at 8:16.