001active school community. Over the past several weeks, I've heard from over a minimum of a dozen concerned staff members in the Loyal School District, and 14 questions rose to the top regarding a two high school campus model, which I will share with you right now. So, buckle up. It's a bit, okay? So, number one, student unity and school culture. A two-campus high school risks creating division between students from different communities instead of building one unified student body. Students may naturally separate into Loyal and Greenwood groups socially, academically, and through extracurricular involvement. School culture is built through daily interaction, shared traditions, and relationships that happen organically during the school day. So, this first question is how will a split high school realistically create one unified student body rather than deepening the divisions between communities? Question number
002two, scheduling complexities. Operating two high school campuses would create major scheduling challenges for administrators, counselors, teachers, and students. Coordinating course offerings, transportation, staffing, and student movement between buildings would likely become extremely difficult and time-consuming. How can two separate high school campuses operate efficiently without creating major scheduling conflicts and lost instructional time? Which brings me to question three, transportation and lost instructional time. Students traveling between campuses for classes or activities would lose valuable instructional time. It's already happening with the courses offered and currently shared. Staff members and coaches have expressed transportation challenges and frustrations, and expanding this model could only increase costs and inefficiencies. So, how will the districts prevent students from losing instructional time and prevent transportation frustrations from increasing? Question four. Extracurricular opportunities and student leadership. Student council, SDA, FFA, FBLA, FCCLA, and many
003other clubs rely heavily on students being together during lunch periods and get time for meetings and planning. Splitting campuses could weaken student involvement and student leadership opportunities. >> [clears throat] >> So, how will student organizations remain strong, unified, and equally accessible when students and advisors are divided between two campuses? Question five. K-12 relationships and mentorship opportunities. Programs like Greyhound mentors, teachers assistants in elementary classrooms, Veterans Day activities, and other K-12 traditions build strong relationships across grade levels and provide meaningful experiences for our students. How will these valuable K-12 connections continue if students are no longer learning in the same building? I realize this was brought up at a previous board meeting and although and although it may be done here within the Greenwood School District, there may be a barrier for students that cannot afford
004to give up more than one class period to drive from one place to another. Um so, therefore, they would miss that opportunity. Question six. Staffing concerns and future cuts. If staffing reductions are already occurring, many staff members are concerned that consolidation could eventually lead to additional cuts. A split campus model may also duplicate responsibilities instead of streamlining streamlining operations. So, the question here is what guarantees or long-term plans are in place to protect staffing levels and maintain quality educational opportunities under two campus model. Question seven, financial efficiency. A single campus would allow shared resources such as administration, maintenance, food service, and support staff. Maintaining two campuses will continue duplication of service and operating costs. How does maintaining two separate high school campuses reduce costs more effectively than one unified campus when it comes to custodial
005staff, office support, and food services? Question eight, curriculum alignment and academic planning. Both districts currently use different curriculum resources in several different subject areas including elementary reading curriculum. Teachers will need significant time and collaboration to align curriculum and ensure consistent instruction. So, how will the district manage the large financial and instructional burden of aligning curriculum across two campuses while maintaining high academic standards for all students? Will the time and money be available to go through curriculum for each subject area and grade level? Question nine, equity in academic opportunities. Students [snorts] may have to choose between classes offered at different campuses limiting opportunities depending on transportation or scheduling availability. This could create inequities in access to coursework and programs. How will all students have equal access to academic opportunities if specialized courses are split between campuses?
006What happens when classes are off-kilter or full at one campus over the other? Question 10, scholarships and community support. Consolidation raises concerns about how scholarships tied to specific communities or school identities will be handled. Students may face increased competition for opportunities previously designated by a district. For example, if we consolidate, this year's freshman class will be the first ever Loyal Greenwood graduate class. Will the core ELA, math, social studies, and science teachers collaborating this year to ensure the course rigor and content were the same in both districts? High school GPA is dependent on which students are named valedictorian and salutatorian. How will scholarships and other community-specific opportunities be distributed fairly if students are divided between two high schools and even consolidated in general? Question 11. School identity and community trust. Many community members feel the
007two-campus proposal may create more confusion and division rather than clarity and unity. Some believe the option of having a two-campus high school has been prioritized in gaining support over what is educationally best for all of our students. If the original goals of consolidation were improving opportunities for students and reducing costs, how does maintaining two high school campuses accomplish these goals effectively? Question 12. Impact on daily operations. Daily collaboration between staff members becomes significantly harder when teachers and departments are split between campuses. Communications, meetings, interventions, and teamwork all will become more complicated. How will staff effectively collaborate across campuses in a timely and efficient manner? Question 13. Athletics and school culture. Some staff members expressed concerns that current co-op athletic experiences have already shown challenges with school culture, participation, transportation, and unity. Expanding separation into into
008academics may worsen those concerns. If current cooperative programs already struggle with unity, transportation, and culture, why would expanding separation into academics improve the student experience? And last but not least, question 14. Student experience must come first. Academics, relationships, extracurriculars, mentorships, leadership opportunities, and school culture all shape the student's experience. Decisions should focus on which what creates the strongest educational environment for students long-term. So, the question here is what evidence shows that a two-campus high school model is truly the best long-term educational option for students socially, academically, and emotionally. So, with that being said, is there any clarifying questions before I sit down? All right. Could you please provide that in writing so we can distribute that? Absolutely. You can have my copy right now, and I'd be happy to share it via email. Thank you.
009Just Can I ask one question? Mhm. Um is the need for one high school more important than the location of the high school? Did you Have you gotten any feedback on that? Do you understand my question? I do understand your question. And without any personal biases, um I strongly believe that although many of us, I can't speak for all, see that the two-campus model doesn't make sense. One high school campus makes the most sense, either Loyal or Greenwood. Um many of us believe, myself included, that the decision needs to be made on the ballot, high school in Greenwood, high school in Loyal, but not both. Um Um Generally speaking, I think what I have heard the most is that it makes the most sense for the people in Loyal to keep the high school in
010Loyal. You've got a lot of teachers. Again, yes, there's bias, um but also you've got a lot of teachers that are coming from the Marshfield area. So, if you multiply that by gosh, I don't know, minimally 12, right? We're all driving an extra 10 minutes one way and back. Got a teacher coming from Wausau. Like again, that could change any year, um but again, more people the conversations I've had with many staff members, um in terms of traffic and just population and where you're getting your teachers from, uh Loyal made the most sense or makes the most sense. And I just want to follow that that up with it makes the most sense for the staff and the students. Cuz it is not I'll say that I agree with a lot of questions that you
011have. I just want to make sure that when you know, the board hears these these questions that you know, we're we're thinking about students first. Absolutely. And that's fair. That's fair. I have heard several comments that, "Hey, my kids are in Chili. They could go to They could go to Marshfield. They could go to Spencer." A lot of kids even in the Loyal that way. I don't know my directions here, but um I've said, "Yep, Spencer's even closer for me. It's a horse apiece. I got to drive to Marshfield for work. I'd rather have my kids in Spencer than driving through Loyal to get to Greenwood to work in Marshfield." Those are the comments that I've heard. Thank you. >> All right. Consolidation plan. Under consolidation plan, I think let's start with some positive and
012talk a little bit about MTC CVTC meeting that happened last week. So, I don't know what it means. Tom and Dean, if you want to share some of the meeting and and anyone else who was there can try to chime in as well. Um yeah, so we met with well, probably three representatives from North Central Technical College and three representatives roughly from uh Chippewa Valley um administrators and Tom and myself last Wednesday afternoon. Um we started while we did a tour of um the shop area, the egg the foods area and there's one other there's a business area. Um and then made our way back over and went through the same um review here at Greenwood. Um we did stop and look at a couple of opportunities of other buildings if there was any interest
013for the technical colleges to um have a building. Um and then we went back on the office and had a conversation down there with them, sit down. Um and seem like everything came out of it positive. I, you know, they had several areas that they were going to look at right away of that they could see potential. And I honestly could probably add three or four more to that list. Um, they were taking it back to their provosts um to you know, it's got to work its way up the course of the ladder. Um, they talked a lot about you know, the funding side of it and and grants, you know, putting grants together. Um, but one thing that they we we heard from both sides was really a focus on um, serving this area
014of their districts better, you know, cuz they they do struggle to serve the students in this area. So, this was a an opportunity to to look at that and do that. So, um, to me everything was encouraging coming out of that that meeting. So, Just hold it for a second. Better? I'm good now. Yeah. Yeah. Just a few other comments. Um, they both both uh CVTC and NTC um seem very willing to work together so that if there were additional programs or classes offered that they would be given credit through through whatever college uh or if they were pursuing a degree or certification in either of the the technical colleges. So, they they both wanted to make sure that that we felt that you know, whether we picked a program through one or the other,
015they both would make sure to work together on that. Um one of the things we learned that we weren't aware of was the number of mobile labs that each of them has. I I think I wrote them down correctly. Um I think CVTC has a STEM lab. Um and electrical power distribution and a culinary one, which I guess consists consists mostly of a food truck. Um whereas NTC has a diesel mechanics um mobile lab, um culinary, similar to CVTC, agronomy, uh dairy, and emerging emerging technology, and a health one, including a CNA uh lab. And what these are trailers or mobile classrooms that they bring to the schools, and then would allow students or adults to take those types of of classes. Um the diesel mechanics one is specifically said is the size of a
016a semi-trailer. Um that's set up, you know, with classroom materials, other uh things pertaining to that. Uh the agronomy one has a drone, and I believe that Loyal has actually had them come to to the um to the agriculture students there. Um So, you know, they were more than willing to see if some of those things could adapt to what we were looking at. I think the the ending was what areas did we feel have the highest priority, and what would they like them to get started on looking at. Both of them have a grant writing program or a program or that that work with um you know, writing grants. I believe that's a December deadline. So, if there was any additional costs or to to start any type of program, um you know, what
017would we be looking at? Would be some additional dual credit programs that then could uh students could get a uh a start on those earlier than if they attended the technical colleges um right out of high school. Um So, yes, they're they're very willing to I guess see what they can do to help us and I think it's up to us as to what areas we would want them to start looking at. Um So, yeah, I thought it was very very positive. I think there's a lot of potential that we could utilize both of the technical colleges and um see what additional opportunities we could have for our students. Um do we know, and this is maybe a question for you and Angie, like all of the things that we offer right now, which are
018the the most popular? Do you know like what area to focus on? Cuz I feel like I have no concept of where we should start. Do you [clears throat] know if you know? I would assume it changes. It it changes based on interests and and stuff every year. Uh I don't agree with some years. Uh the tech ed area is is the highest some years, the business is the highest. It rotates a little bit, it moves around a little bit based on student needs. Which is nice that we're able to schedule that way. And and I think both districts do a great job of taking our requests and trying to build their schedule around what the kids want and not making kids build their schedule around what the doctor So, I think both districts do
019a nice job of that. Uh Greenwood has had the STEM lab the STEM mobile lab. It's a full-size semi. It's back in uh behind our shop. Uh a few years ago, it it was there for quite a while and it offered several classes through it. It's pretty fantastic. Uh I think the again to reiterate the big message that was loud and clear is since we're working together both tech colleges for the first time ever are saying get your kids what they need and we'll honor it. And they haven't done that. They're they're they're always competing. So, that's a big breakthrough for all of us. That should that should open some open some doors. Uh we have you know, they they talked a lot about adult education as well. But, we don't you know both of
020them recognize that they struggle reaching the outer limits of their area, which we are on the outer limit of CVTC and Loyal's on the outer limit of NTC. And they struggle to reach those areas and provide the services that they could provide to closer districts and students in closer districts. Uh you know, there's there's students that live close to CVTC that just go there every day. And and some of them almost have a 2-year maybe even do have a 2-year degree before they graduate high school. Uh so, they they recognize that. They understand that. Um and and they're willing to both of them seem willing to work with us to try and remedy that for for our kids. Uh they were they were very interested in uh shop that we have potentially have access in
021town um that would open the door to a lot of transportation related industry Um also open the door to maybe some night classes or evening classes or adult classes that that people a lot of people change their career. You know, many times many more times these days than they did 20 years ago. Careers change it's it's actually a huge number of how often people change their career change their mind compared to 20 or 25 years ago. So there's there's an interest in opening the door for adult education in our area. They recognize it's the the center of the county. They have you know, CVTC has some opportunities I believe in Neillsville that I don't think are fully utilized. So they are interested in looking our way to centralize some of the programming that may catch
022a radius of of folks and and maybe do all of us a favor in providing services for kids and adults alike. So I think there's huge opportunity here. They they do want to continue meeting with us. They want us to prioritize you know, we can't bite it all off at once. It'll flop. It it won't you know, if we do too much too fast it won't it won't work. So we have to prioritize what we think our greatest needs are or our greatest capabilities are to get something off the ground and working well and then expand from there. But I think it was a extremely productive meeting that finally got two tech schools to work together and instead of competing. >> [clears throat] >> And and now they're competing with our kids not for our
023kids. Three of these guys have said it all. It was It was a great meeting to have both tech schools in the same room meeting and agreeing that they needed to just They needed to do something with the other buildings. Uh Central Park or Park 9 period. So, it was very positive and exciting to see what's where things may go with this. Yeah, okay. You guys said it great. A lot of excitement after that meeting and ready to move forward with that. So, what is the What are you guys planning on doing next? Are you guys getting together with the counselors to prioritize? What What is the next step? They want us to focus on a couple of main pathways that we think between the two districts that we can focus on and then start
024from there. Like we agreed and said, they're going back to their presidents talk to them and then we will schedule another meeting soon. Um but the four of us the four of us will sit down and take a look at that and include any other counselor or schedule administrators that we schedule so we can make them all on the same page. Anyone else? >> All right, the next thing we're going to talk about just to make sure we're communicating clearly again some of the financial pieces to consolidation or not consolidation. Um, there's questions that continue to to arise um about funding, about finances, things like that. First and foremost, I want to make sure everyone understands that all the information that I I talk about, Mr. Lindner talks about, the board talks about is all
025on our our websites under the consolidation study. Um, it's been there, it's it's out there. It was put on there from Myron and HSR and Baird. So, all financial information is there for your leisurely viewing um whenever you want. Uh, some of it can be cumbersome and hard to understand, so I would also encourage people if they have questions ask. Uh, you know, give us a call and ask. You know, we we try to have all the answers as right away, but if we don't, we can find the answers. And we can ask for the answers from the professionals, from the experts who deal with this, whether that's Baird or Myron HSR. We have those resources to ask um because we know what's you know, school finance is complicated and uh it's just hard to
026understand. So, a couple of the you know, probably the main question revolves around around the referendum and referendum planning. Uh, both of our districts rely heavily on operational referendum dollars and we're both grateful to our to our communities for being extremely supportive of our of our schools. Um, we we do rely on those dollars to operate um and we both have a an operational referendum that ends in 2020. And when those when those referendum dollars expire, Loyal will receive $1.5 million and Greenwood will receive $1.725 million. Okay, so if you add those in total, it's $3.225 million dollars between the two districts. Uh whether we're consolidated or not, we will have to go to an operational referendum. And and what that exact as a consolidated district, what that operational referendum number will be will largely
027depend on how we organize the consolidation. So that's some of the work that the that the joint board is is talking about and and working through what makes the most sense. Those are some of the questions that Ms. Arndt-Caddell brought up in in her slide. When you talk about different models of consolidation, you know, where does finances fall in those in those different models? So those are some of the conversations we're having. The hope and and it's more than hope, the reality is in a consolidated model, a consolidated district would have a lower ask for referendum needs, operational referendum needs, than we do if we're separate. If we continue to operate separately. Uh what that exact number is, we you know, we have models in our two-building study, which is very general because two building
028doesn't necessarily capture 100% of the information because how you organize two buildings and where you put people and how you structure that will have an impact on the budget needs. But in general, that's looking to be somewhere in the $2 million need. So when you talk about separately right now, we're we're going to end our current referendum cycle with $3.325 million, $3.225 million, and a consolidated model, we might be asking for 2 million dollars total. You know, that's a million to a million and a half dollars in savings. And again, general numbers still based still still relies on how the final consolidation would be organized. Right? That could be a little higher, could be a little lower. Um We We both work both districts work with Baird. We worked with Baird and we worked with
029them for a long time to do financial planning and financial forecasting. Um you know, in in a non-consolidated model, again, both districts would look for would need an operational referendum to survive. Uh as we are now. To to to sustain what sustain the staff, to sustain the programming that we have. Um you know, it was not not long ago we had this information and this will be updated on the website. Um Loyal has has done some things which Mr. Lindner can talk about. But in a in a if consolidation were not to happen, Loyal would be looking somewhere between 1.6 and 1.7 million dollars in referendum needs. That's down from what we heard just a couple months ago because of some of the changes and and some of the things that uh Mr. Lindner and
030the Loyal board and and district has been able to do to trim. Um in Greenwood, you know, we end in 2028 at 1.725. Uh our our forecast model right now is somewhere between 1.8 and 1.9. Although we have not gone back to the table after meeting with Barrett yet. That's yet to come. I would anticipate that number being very similar to the 1.725 that we have now. Uh so, both districts are again going to need an operational referendum to sustain programming. Uh but things can also change in in 2 years. And expenses, as we've all seen now, expenses are through the roof and and they continue to go up. Uh so, in 2 years, it's hard to predict what some expenses will be. So, those numbers could be up a little, they could be down
031a little bit. Uh but the main thing is the main thing to understand is either way, together or apart, an operational referendum will be needed in order to sustain what we have. If I were to put our referendum dollars, cuz I know what some have asked for this, if I were to put our referendum dollars and assign a number of staff, that's really it's hard to do, but if I'm talking about $1.7 million, I'm probably talking 20 people. And and that's a big number. If you're talking $1.6 million, $1.7 million, you're probably talking about 20 people. And that's not 20 cooks or or 20 aids. It's it's 20 people across the board that you would have to figure out. And and when you talk about 20 people in a district of either of our size,
032you're talking about programs. You're talking about eliminating things that you don't have to offer, because we all are required to offer many things and we don't have a choice in what those things are. So, those have to come first. You know, it may mean that it probably means that the class sizes get bigger, we still have to have art grades, but there aren't regulations on how many people we can squeeze in a class to have that offer. Right? So, those are just just to quantify what a referendum in either of our district means is is huge. It's huge, and that's why we're we're extremely grateful for the the support from our from our from our people from our districts from our communities. And we would not neither one of us would be able to survive
033anywhere near the capacity that we are today without that support. It's also important to understand that as a consolidated district we're going to need support as well. Because even as a consolidated district, if we're talking about not having $2 million approved for a referendum, that's a lot of people, and that's a lot of programs. Uh both districts have a fund balance. Uh the fund balance that we operate with, uh you know, it it ebbs and flows a little bit based on needs. Um both districts have tried real hard and have stayed between that 15% and 25% of our regular budget in our fund balance. Again, that ebbs and flows a little bit based on needs. The importance in having a healthy fund balance and maintaining that fund balance is it helps us avoid short-term borrowing.
034We all know tax time comes around, and tax taxes are dispersed at at at different times throughout the year. And tax disbursement doesn't always align with payroll. So, sometimes districts have to short-term borrow to meet payroll if they don't have a healthy enough fund balance to cover the gap between when payrolls are due and when tax disbursements are made to the districts. So, having a healthy and maintaining a healthy fund balance helps districts avoid having to short-term borrow to make payroll. Uh I can say that Greenwood has been fortunate not to have to short-term borrow. Um Loyal did not have to short-term borrow this last year. They have in the past. Um but they have had a healthy enough fund balance to get them through to not have to do that this year. And again,
035that's important to maintain. Some people see see the you know, relatively high numbers. You may have a couple million dollars in in a fund balance. They're like, "Why don't you spend that?" Well, someday you might have to. But if you do spend it, then you're going to find yourself paying interest on loans, which is essentially throwing money away that could be used for students. So, a fund balance is is extremely important. Uh both districts have a fund 46. It's a building fund. Uh and and fund 46 is is a fund that when you have a little bit of of a surplus at the end, you you put money in fund 46. It counts as an expense and you actually get funded on it the next year. So, it's a good place to to put money
036um in in order to do building projects. Both Loyal and Greenwood have one. Uh Loyal has had to use some of theirs and and and what is in your district? They have roughly 50,000 in their in their fund 46. Greenwood has close to 600,000. Luckily, we haven't had to use that yet. Um but there will be a day. Like district all districts have, you know, things come up and things need repaired, things need to be fixed. That happens. But those are those are important pieces to both of our budgets that help us operate. Uh Because we're we're doing more things. I think the referendum was the big thing that we were getting questions about and how that how that works. Does the board have any other Neither board have any other questions about finances? I'm
037not sure. Do you guys have any questions? So, uh Loyal did update our air model. Um So, it had us that we passed a budget of negative 340,000. I believe at the beginning of the year in October when we had our annual meeting. Uh we have playing with balance and then the books right now. It is another month left or so. I don't know more than more in June, but uh looks like we'll have a balanced budget and maybe a little surplus to go into our fund 46 capital project. Um So, uh also the next 3 years where our referendum dollars will have another $100,000 from 1.4 million to 1.5 the next 2 years will also benefit from all of us. We have we For next year we do have some reductions. Um And I
038think I just believe we're being a little more conscious of some of the the uh smaller things that we are doing that has helped us out. A lot of it, like Mr. Green said, um talk about enrollment. Talk about vouchers. We have $156,000 in vouchers that the oldest that to our kids, all right? But it comes out of our our fund or our fund 10. So, that that's a lot. You with open enrollment out and that's a that's a key factor. 3 years ago, 4 years ago, we were plus one or two, which was the first time in a long, long time. Um this this year we are down 20. >> [clears throat] >> So, that that 10,000 roughly times 200,000. So, we are working on on things that we can bring that number so
039it's a little more even. So, and then as everyone saw the last surplus for the state government, what they were going to do, uh special ed has been a major major issue in, I believe, the majority of our districts in the in the state of Wisconsin. And that did not go through. That would have helped us some. Wouldn't have cured the problem, but it would have helped some. So, and that that is looking at our district is just under 700,000 that transfers from fund 10 to that fund. I'm sorry, yes, to balance out 600 in Greenwood. So, those are things that people don't see, don't realize that are annual expenses that we need to make sure we're covered. So. Do you guys have any questions? I have a question. >> I have a question for
040you, Mr. Gray. Do you know just out of curiosity, you probably have it somewhere, but how many students you guys have open enrolled in and out? We were I don't know the exact number, but I know when Bear Creek was numbers, it was pretty identical. The net loss for Greenwood and Loyal was both about a minus 20. We're good. So, that the number in number out is kind of irrelevant. The The net The net loss was pretty equal. We were in both districts were at a net loss of 20 kids. And And Mr. Linder talked about the special ed funding on the on the bill. I'm just going to use this opportunity to plug, call your legislators. Please. They This This was a no-brainer for the state, and it got caught up in some political
041stuff that as they often do. This was This This was a way to give school school districts what was promised in the budget what was budgeted, and and get us back up to And it it it was a plan that would help every single district in the state of Wisconsin. And it's still It's not I wouldn't say it's dead in the water. There's a lot of support for it. I'm Actually, most educators were shocked that it didn't pass. It was It's supported by the Democratic governor, and it was not supported by the Dem Democrats in the in the Senate. So, like please call them and and let them know that like this is something that would help all public schools in the state. And And again, it's not a cure for the problem, um but
042it's not It's really not a big ask. You know, we're we're we're asking them to hold true on the on the promise they made in the budget, which was 42% reimbursement. Uh and that has that has a major impact on a lot of districts. It has a huge impact on small rural districts that are transferring. Think about Just think about that. $700,000 and $600,000. If we didn't have to transfer that, how low would our referendums be? How much lower could they be? And again, the way I equate that is is a way that uh John Gaier, a long long-standing superintendent who retired in in Neillsville last year, shared. When Greenwood has to transfer $600,000 and we get 10,000 roughly $10,000 per kid, that means the first 60 kids that walk through our doors, the first
04360 regular ed kids that walk through our doors, we get $0 for. But yet, we have to provide them the same quality education. It's just not a fair system, and they had a way to help make that more right than it was, and they failed at that. So, please, if you if you can, it's a good time to contact the legislator. Currently, so they talked about in this biennial budget of 0.42 and 0.45, uh we are sitting at 32% right now that is funded for special ed. So, um so it is important. So, if you can, it'd be awesome if you reach out. Any questions? >> I have one question for Mr. Miller on the work. Um obviously you guys had to make some decisions and cuts to balance your budget. Was it anything programming
044related? I know you can't go into specifics as far as people and all that and that's fine. I'm just wondering if it was anything like major. I believe it was more maneuvering staff around. So, and that's what I'll say. I just want to comment on that, too, is you know, something that I've heard a lot of is especially in the last few days is you know, cuts and all the things that Royal had to do and something that I want to make clear to not only like the boards as we're talking about, but everybody is that they're not they're not fun cuts to make and and I've you know, we've got I've gotten messages and emails like, "How could the board do this? How could administration do that? Don't you know how wonderful this person
045is?" And and what I want to say is that we we value every single staff member that we have and I'm sure Greenwood does, too, and it certainly isn't something that's fun to do. So, I guess I just wanted to kind of put that out there is that these are these are cuts that nobody is enjoying making and and we feel it, too, um but unfortunately it's necessary and it's it's hard to do. And I you know, the the less we can do with that the better our net. So, real quickly and off that very model, so 2027-2028 is our last year for our referendum at 1.5 million. So, the next year if we do not go with the third buyout sales, it was 2.3. It now will be, as of right now, tentatively over
0461.6 the first year, close to 1.8 the following year. So, just to clarify, it was 2.3 and then 2.5 was the old old model. The other thing that we were going to discuss tonight was, you know, where the joint board is at in discussion and um Patrick. >> [laughter] >> I guess I can start it this way. Um it's been a big discussion. It's a hard choice. There's pros, there's cons. We're trying to lay that out with everybody. I feel everybody's trying to get the best bang for their buck. It's down to still keep the community behind each school. Go ahead. Okay, Pat. I'll take that. Go ahead. Um so, one thing that I've been kind of wrestling with is which is more important and and Mr. Green kind of asked just when, you know,
047is it more important that it's one school, like one high school and then middle school and junior high all like staying together. And does it matter which town it's in? Because when I think about it, I I don't care which town it's in as long as we're utilizing our facilities to the best of their potential for the student experience. And I get the logistics. Like I get that the population in Loyal is higher, like the density is higher, and I I understand it's closer to Marshfield. And I really have a hard time not utilizing our shop area and and that part of our building for the high school students. Like that that's where my personal bias, I guess, is. Like I'm torn cuz I I've been kind of a I like pathway two because I
048feel like it is a compromise, and I don't think it's the right choice when it comes to what's the best for our taxpayers and the best for our students, but I don't want it to not happen. Like I don't want to have done all this work and have all these discussions and try and do what's best for the kids for it to fail because well, we don't want it in their town. Yeah. So, I I I personally like I think if I'm doing what's best for the students and the student experience, I would choose pathway three. I think it's great to keep the elementary school and the middle school in Loyal. It utilizes that building. I think the high school here makes sense because of our facility with shop. That being said, I I understand
049the the challenge of moving it over here and further, you know, 7 miles and not having the high school and elementary right by each other. I get that, but we I don't know which is right and I don't know which will pass if that's like are we trying to make something that's going to pass? Well, I hope that our communities can look at it objectively and say this is going to be the best for our students and we trust that our our boards have their you know, they're basing things about that and doing things with the the best of the student experience, give them the most opportunities, to use what we have already built in both communities to the best of our ability. And I I'm just I'm still torn and I don't know what
050the right answer is. And we were we were in this building 2 and 1/2 weeks ago. And 12 board members said Facebook live and 10 board members said task force talk. An agreement's an agreement. And you know, Eliza, you you you said you see greed and I can see greed by eight. And this is the big debate now. Are we going to do what we've done before and put it on a question and see what see if it changes or are we going to try something new? And I think that's the debate we had as boards. We had closed session 2 and 1/2 hours and I back and forth on that exact question essentially. And uh yeah. You know, to Crystal's point earlier, cuts are not easy. We do not take these things lightly and
051we would do lose sleep over these decisions and these conversations. Um and I think we just we need to dig a little bit deeper. I do think eventually whatever we move forward with sooner than later, I think it needs to get back to the administration teams and the staff to see if what we've come up with as an idea is even viable. Because I'm not in the day-to-day operations of the school. I might think this might work, but somebody who does it on a day-to-day might say you're crazy. So, I think that's our next goal. And I was just going to kind of go off what Eli said. Like kind of like how you said you don't want to underutilize or not utilize your shop, I feel the same way with our FCS. We have
052a brand new beautiful FCS room where I don't want to see that sit either. So, like both schools have their strong points. What's the best way to utilize everything that we have? FCS is like um family and consumer sciences. The like the home ec rooms. Yeah. We just redid ours a couple years ago. It's very nice, commercial layout. Very nice room. Um I I agree with you Eliza and and then I'm struggling as well because um I again I wrestled with this a long time probably trying to figure out something that's going to pass. So, we're trying to do what's best for the students and that's a very hard thing to wrestle with. Um I think in talking to like the constituents, the people that voted me here from Loyal, they they would argue that
053halfway eighth is the best. So, I think you know, and again I'm I'm from Loyal, so I'm hearing things from people from Loyal that you guys probably aren't hearing a lot from people in Greenwood. And I agree with you Derek. Like what do we do when the Royal task force said Royal, the Greenwood task force said Greenwood. The discussions we've had and we've had you know you said personally you'd like pathway three. I personally like pathway eight. How do we overcome that? And we've used the word compromise a lot. But again, when I look at the compromise, I'm not sure it's the best plan. And I Um I know there's a lot of questions about pathway two and how is that going to work? So again, at some point I think we need to hand
054it back to people that are doing it every day and come up with something. And I don't I know you can't come up with every single logistic, but something. And the other thing I think is important is that at some point at some point in the very very near future we're going to have to say this is the pathway we're going with. Like this is it and we're going to have to figure out some of the logistic stuff, educate our people, and and hope for the best in the November because we can sit here every two weeks and talk about the pros and cons of every pathway, but we have to make a decision really soon and then start figuring out some of the logistic stuff. Not all and again a lot of those won't
055be figured out till later either, but at some point very quickly we're going to have to pick one and roll with it and I know that's kind of unsettling for me anyway, but we don't have a choice. Um >> [clears throat] >> I agree pathway two. Pathway two is probably not ideal, but I don't know. I think it's a stepping stone to get the consolidated history. Um I wish the state laws change and we could just put it all on a ballot that combined or not combined. And then the board would come new combined board figured out, but state law does not allow us to do that. Um so I wish there was a change to state law. For our next >> [clears throat] >> Yes, I just want to bring up a point. Um
056where if we're wanting to try to capitalize or give the best student experience and try to help them regardless of what pathway they choose. I think we need to be thinking you know, where you know, what are strengths? What what are what would we like to see improve? How can we utilize the the technical colleges and dual credits? How can we help kids to choose pathways sooner, be exposed to things sooner um than than just in high school? Um how can we get them to a better position with um choosing that career, but also you know, having you know, being able to capitalize on the credits, the dual credits that we can offer or that can be offered through the technical colleges and and hopefully their presence would be more more um regardless where our
057school would be. Um as you and I attended our senior banquet last week and there were 28 of the 45 students that are going on to four-year or two-year program. I believe it [clears throat] was this year was just a little bit higher than the four-year program. I think it was 16 and then 12 are going into the two-year, but there were you know, there's quite a number that are going right into the workforce. And that has significantly changed over the last 10 years. So, what are we doing to help those students to prepare themselves for going into the workforce and hopefully going to jobs in our area. There are so many different positions available. I was talking to a person on the county board, Derek Maynor was saying more there they are short for
058drivers in the highway department because they don't have CDLs. If we if there's an opportunity that we could try to get a transportation program going and somehow be able to you know, provide that the the technical colleges could provide that CDL training and we could get more students or young adults into that career. That would and that would help our businesses. Um are there opportunities that businesses are looking for to that they're short? We we we've heard numbers um you know, from a number of businesses that they're short of people and they just aren't following finding the qualified people. So, do we need to you know, meet with some businesses and see what things are you looking for and and then try to expand? I I guess I see this that if we can get
059help with the technical colleges, I see that there's going to be kids that are going to be looking and parents that are going to be looking at us and saying, "I want my student to be able to get that experience and get to into the job more sooner. You know, I don't want to overlook those who want to go into go to a four-year career. If if there's dual credits that would qualify, that would help them shorten their college experience, you know, from four years to three years or three and a half years, that's that's money well spent that you know, we're helping those students and Um so, I guess I I want us to be looking big picture and and I think we also should look at our neighboring school districts to say are
060there some things that we can all jointly work together with and So, just a few extra thoughts, I guess, that we need to look at. I'm trying to I'm trying to look beyond the three years and look five to 10 years and but but what what do we start with and I don't have the answer for that. I do want to give us some credit up there on the board. There's the reason why there is no road map that they're meant to have. Right? Right? So, we're trying to create the whole campus, right? And that's that's that's the hard part, right? Looking at the facts, I understand it. But, we also get the emotion from the community and that that's the taking that out of it and just seeing what is the best idea. But,
061yeah, the reason why we don't have we can't reference anything at all. But, we're working at it, right? We're going to figure this out next year. I was just going to add anything that we've kind of already hit it for me, but for for me through this process is trying to find what best solution is that's going to maintain the support of both And I don't think you know, that's kind of where our conversations have been is how do we how do we accomplish that? It's like a needle, you know, trying to get a string through a needle, but that's in my mind, that's where we're at is best looking district that we can create that's going to maintain the the support of both communities. So, that's where our conversations have been. Um You know,
062one of the things changes are and and that's why it's so difficult to try to make our recommendation because we know it's affecting all of us. Um we know it's going to affect our students, it's going to affect our teachers, our staff, our communities. So, that's the as it's been said before, that's the line we're walking on. Um Somehow we all have to be able to no longer look at it as we're doing this for And Doc Cain is a loyal person. We're doing this for our loyal students and you're doing it for the your Green Run students. We have to look at us, our students, and and I'm afraid that there is a few that are not looking at that right yet. That they're they're concerned about the students that they have just in
063their community and and I understand why because we all have strong feelings for our our schools and our students and our staff. But somehow, and I don't know you know, how we do that, but somehow we have to to merge our cultures, merge our staff, merge our students, and be looking at as one. And that's what's going to make it successful. Because if we're not looking at as one, and if people are saying, "Well, this isn't fair for our students." race or something, it's you know, there's going to be some division. And I would hate to see that as we go forward. So, I guess we thinking on how can we unite as one? You know, do we need to um you know, try to try to organize what are we you know, what programs
064are And I know we have a lot of this on our website, but do we need to put together something on you know, a document that's showing this is what it would look like for our for one district? Um these are our you know, classes that we're offering. These are um you know, academic opportunities or those types of things. These are our extracurricular activities. These are our sports. Um these are some of the And look at what these are some of the new things we're looking at. But, I think that's what we need to do to try to try to look at as one and what's best for all of us because that's what's going to make it successful. Just my my thoughts on that. Uh before we go uh back to another public forum,
065I just I do want to address uh and I say give praise to the joint board. You're having a lot of hard conversation and difficult conversation, but I do feel like you're having good honest conversation about where we are and and where we need to be and where we need to go. Some of that conversation does move into closed session. And and we do have closed session and I do want to address a comment that was in this last week in the TRG that referenced going into closed session yet unaware of the reason for closed session because closed session can only uh be done for certain things, which is one of those personnel. Uh and and I I want to make sure that that is cleared up because that comment alone can harm the reputation
066of our joint board and the hard work that our joint board is doing. It's impossible to have open conversation about these pathways without getting into staffing. Because every single pathway that you talk about is talking about people and programs. So there are some and and there have been conversations in closed session about these pathways and they do relate to staffing and involve staffing. So I just want to make sure that that's clear that we go into closed session for the legal purposes of having conversations about consolidation planning, which includes the pathways, which also includes how we would staff those pathways. Uh and I want to make sure sure that's clear. And then just like tonight, we come back and we can we have that kind we have more of that conversation that is appropriate for
067open conversation. We allow I think we're doing a great job of allowing dialogue twice each meeting with people that show up and have questions. And and we need to continue doing that. But, I really think it's important for folks to know that the conversations in closed session are done in a way that protects our staff and our people. So, that's that's that's the reason for closed session law, and that's what we follow. Uh so, I I I just want I want to make sure that we clear that up because I I I did have some questions on that on that this week. So, I'll leave it at that. All right, we'll move to public forum. Anybody over here got any more questions? For those of you that like option eight, how would you utilize the
068school forest in Willard? The the school forest in Willard, how would you utilize it with option eight? How do you utilize it now? I'm just curious. I don't I have no idea. No, no. Yeah. I'm just My question was, how how do you guys utilize it now? Cuz I don't I don't have any idea how you utilize it now, so it's hard for me to answer that. Not enough. We do We do don't utilize the school forest enough here because it's 12 miles away. Uh We do utilize the the part of the school forest that runs along the backside of the high school down by the river. It's a valuable resource for our science and agriculture programs. Um but, the school forest that lies out on Highway W, it's tough to access for a a
069sixth, you know, even eighth and ninth grade classes. It's hard to hard to utilize that property. Um we did utilize it for timber sales last year. Which will be um purchasing some energy technology for both districts to use. So, what about us? The other Loyalton High School would be almost impossible to use it if it's hard to walk 12 miles. Anything's possible, but obviously it'd be more difficult. Where I would see that would be a double-up class, like a a block, yes. Like two periods, two 60-minute periods would be one period, and then you would have some opportunities. So. How many acres do you have here at this right here? Is it I believe it's around 18. I thought it was closer to 15, but it might be somewhere between 15 and 20. Got it.
070Thank you. All right. I have been working with the uh land task force committee, and the only report that we had gotten from Bear was a three-building site. Is there going to be a two building scenario posted? All the other ones there the only report they actually gave us was for three buildings. Otherwise everything else was just estimates on the other ones that are going to aren't the actual bear report. All of them. I uh I'll have to look on the website again but I thought they came back with the two building scenario for all of us. I'm I All of those meetings are running together for me so I don't know if that was a joint task force or a joint board meeting or a core team on It was decommissioning of the elementary
071and two two buildings. >> [clears throat] >> That was asked but it wasn't given. As far as what dollar amount sheet you have there. Did you look on the website to see if it was there? Not in the last week. But it hasn't been updated in the last week so if it wasn't there a week ago it's not there and I thought I thought it was there. It was on 4 1 of 26. Uh and then well you are right. That's the way it It was on 4 1 of 26 and I think that's what they came back to us and cuz we had requested that and this shows how they wanted 2 and 3 both of these on here showing decommissioning of the elementary school. Yes but they are feeling the impact. Yes financial
072impact. They're looking for like this >> So, I hear you all and and it really I understand. When I watched the last joint board meeting and I don't know what pathway, I can't keep them straight, but the two split high school campus model, in theory, when you hear it, okay, that that sounds really great. Like, we'll appease both communities and we'll kind of have our cake and eat it, too. But, I can't stress it enough as someone who has been in the buildings for 7 and 1/2 years, day in and day out, literally, blood, sweat, and tears, okay? Um Our our kids aren't guinea pigs. This isn't a marketing strategy that we can take lightly. This isn't a product we want to be sold. These are kids. These are human beings. And they matter. And
073we can't do a settle for a compromise or something that will appease people. I get that they're the taxpayers. Because at the end of the day, though, these are lives. These are students that I deeply care about. And if we're going to say, "Well, it's what's going to appease the the the communities and it's what might pass. Well, then that's the way we're going to go." Because I've heard many of you say, "Yeah, it's probably not the best option, but it's what's going to going to what's going to pass." And yeah, it is what's going to pass, but is it best for our students? Absolutely not. I welcome each and every one of you. Come, please come into our school. Come into my room. I never have a moment alone. Whether there's students I have
074in class or not, I my room is bustling, in and out. As gatekeepers in the mental health crisis, I I I welcome frequent students in my classroom. I don't care who they are, where they come from, they are welcome in my classroom. But they're not getting bikes, and we can't we can't treat them as such. And so, a two-split high school campus is just completely not viable, and the fact that it it even is a thought to put lives on the line, and their experience, their academics, their mental health, their well-being, their social emotional all of that at risk just so we can market it and get it passed. I get it, it's a lot of work. I get it. You guys have put blood, sweat, and tears into this, too. But selfishly, you can't
075say "Why don't want it to get pa- I don't want it I don't want it to fail because of the work I put in." That's not fair to our students. So, please, take that pathway off. If Greenwood is the high school on the ballot, then so be it. If Loyalsock is on the ballot for the high school, then so be it. But our kids are not getting bikes, and they cannot be split up. When peer groups and teacher groups and all of that takes all of those those teacher peer relationships and peer-to-peer relationships, and and you can think "We're here for academics," but man, homecoming and all of the extra fun and all of the organic relationships that happen during the school day when we have high school classes split separately, it just We're putting
076We're putting the well-being of our kids on the line. I'll split the whole pass. And And that's our breaking, cuz our kids aren't getting bikes. I I do have one quick question. Yes, please. So, with that being said, I love the passion. Are you just as passionate if your classroom's right over there next year? If that's what the community votes, I will show up to work gladly every day, because I love the kids. I love every student. I've got nephews and a niece in this district. I will go to the moon and back for any any student Greenwood, Loyal, and beyond. But you know, if that's what the community states, I will be here. Thank you, Jennifer. All right. So, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Ashley Kaiser. Um I'm from Loyal,
077graduated from Loyal, husband graduated from Loyal, and we have three young kids in the Loyal school district. Um one in kindergarten, one in 4K, and one that's 2 years old. Um so, we actually live closer to Greenwood. We are um 8 miles I think from Loyal, 6 miles from Greenwood. So, um you know, when this whole process started, I said, you know, I really don't care where the high school is. Like, it's closer to come to Greenwood. You guys have an amazing building over here. Like, great. Um and as the discussions, you know, you kind of look at the pros and cons and um you know, the three pathways sorted themselves to the top pathway um 3A and 2. And so, before the last um joint uh board meeting, I kind of made a pros
078and cons list and like, what is important to me? Um and I really think all three of the pathways hit a lot of the important things to me. Um but the one that differentiates them for me is, similar to what Justin said, is the student experience. Um but I mentioned this at the last uh I asked the question at the last um joint meeting about how do elementary kids interact with high school kids? Like, I really feel like it's not just the teachers, it's the programs, it's the day-to-day interactions. Like Justin said, the homecoming events that the elementary kids get to interact with the high school kids. Um so, that being said, I would love the high school, you know, being able to move pathway three, but that is the one pathway of the things
079we're discussing that doesn't have the elementary and the high school in the same town to be able to do those like day-to-day interactions. Pathway two would still kind of fit that mold because we would have high school students in the building with the elementary kids, but in the end, I feel like pathway eight is probably the best, but I also feel like one of my priorities is utilizing the buildings, and that's not just Loyal, it's Greenwood. So, I agree. This building is great. You have a lot of good things. I haven't seen all the areas, so I don't know, but I know the shop has been talked about a ton, the stage, and and everything. So, personally, and I know this isn't like a clear pathway that's discussed, but I would like pathway eight, but
080with some sort of spin-off that like core classes and everything be in Loyal because they're with the elementary kids, but we still are able to utilize high school classes in Greenwood if the students kind of choose that, okay, they're a kid who wants to go to shop, and so they can come still over to Greenwood to utilize that facility space. Um So, that's just kind of my two cents of, you know, things that were important to me, and um if Greenwood has the ability to have the elementary here, too, I would be all for that pathway, honestly. So, just my thoughts. >> Okay, so we received an email from one of the Greenville task force members that isn't able to be here tonight with a couple of questions. Um so Jamie and I were going
081to read those. Um that we were the task force members from the board. Um So a few of the questions were already covered, so she asked if district currently has enough funds to balance their budget. Clearly we can see that Loyal has done what is necessary to make that happen and Greenville has balanced as well. Um The next question is will either district need to borrow any additional funds during the current school year or the 2026-2027 school year to cover building or other payroll or operational expenses? And if so, how much would we would need to be borrowed and what would the repayment terms look like? And then how would those funds be repaid? Greenville is not planning on borrowing any money. So Loyal will be borrowing 500,000 uh to redo our elementary parking lot.
082Um We will take from the fund 46 whatever we have that we will utilize next year's budget budget 2026-2027 to help pay for that. We are taking a loan to make sure that we cover our um payroll and it gets tight in November. So, we are going to as well for here and I'm good that for Okay. We're taking a 3-month loan paid off by December. Um, the next question is in our last conversation our Granton neighbors were mentioned. Um, do we know if the state were to step in and dissolve the Granton district, how would that potentially impact the Loyal and Greenwood districts? And if enrollment were to increase as a result, who would determine district boundaries? And if Granton carries that obligations, how do those get handled? Would the state absorb those obligations
083or do neighboring districts become responsible for that portion of the debt? E- even if no additional students enroll in your district. Green- Greenwood wouldn't be directly impacted by what Granton does unless or what happens in Granton unless Granton chooses to reach out to us and ask for some sort of partnership. Or if students that reside in the current Granton school district decide to open enroll in Greenwood. Otherwise, we don't The Greenwood district does not border Granton, so I think it'd be a far-reach to say that the state would assign any part of their district um, to Greenwood to our district. Um, it just won't make sense. The whole last step is people have to drive through another district to get to us. So, as far as Loyal, we do border Granton. Uh, how would impact
084us? If they dissolve, I believe the state comes in and divides them. You tell me if I'm mistaken. Uh we think and I don't think there has been a that a district been dissolved as of yet. So, and then I would we're just I'm thinking that they would dissolve and then would partial to the bordering districts. How much? I have no clue. Does that include the kids coming here for sure or coming to Royal? No. Um so you could you could increase our enrollment. That doesn't mean that they're going to come to our our district. So, I do believe that that follows that portion percentage of the Yes. So, we believe And we do know that districts cannot file bankruptcy uh like like other businesses can. Uh so, the debt has to go somewhere. And
085and I think it's a safe assumption that the debt would be split based on percentages of of land value, I would assume. Um to the districts that the state splits that debt into. Um but I do I I think it's a also a good and remind people that uh you know, our doors and I know I don't like speaking for both districts, but I know it's true. Our doors are open to uh random than anybody else who wants to work with us and and share resources. So, we have to do to survive. So, our our doors have been and remain open. Like we've done some sharing with with them and and it's been great both academically and co-curricular wise. It's It's been great. So, it's not all It doesn't always have to be tied to
086a dollar. It It should be tied to student needs and and again, expand that work hour and our kids. The zip code shouldn't matter. Just one comment on anyone who's following in school funding and referendums this past spring. It's my understanding that Hustisford is going to be dissolving after the end of this year. And my understanding from what I was reading is that then the state or there there is a board that decides how things get divided that the neighboring districts would would be assigned a certain, you know, so you're correct on that. But Hustisford would be one to to follow here in the near future as to what's what's happening there. All right, the last question that Jeff Sports member is, if consolidation does not pass the districts, how long could each district realistically
087sustain current operational levels? And does either district currently have a contingency or a plan if consolidation does not pass? If so, could you state what the plan would be specifically? Um realistically sustain current operating levels, that would all depend on an operating referendum, the passage of a referendum, operating referendum. Um and you know, Hustisford I believe is what, four or five times they have not passed. So, they don't they they would go with trying to pass the next referendum operating and then go from there. I mean, they're every three to five years off of that. And yes, we'd start preparing that March 27th. Both districts on on paper could probably survive one year. That would deplete all fund balance money and without without a referendum. Um without us I mean, that sustaining or maintaining current
088programming. But I I went over that earlier. Without operational referendum dollars, both districts would look significantly bare. Um and you know, that has a trickle effect. Like if you don't have people and programs, and neighbors do, a good parent will find the find the programs and the and the resources and the supports for their kids. So, if if the district isn't able to offer that, then you you could see the effect that that would probably have on population of schools. So, um it's a it's a bad spiral. Um in Greenwood, you know, is there is there another plan? Again, it would be an operational referendum. Um through this process with Myra and NHSR, you know, we have learned some things about our district. Um through some of the pathway discussions and and what was brought
089up tonight with having the elementary in this building, um there's some significant savings to decommissioning Greenwood Elementary School. Every plan that we have, um right now decommissions the elementary school. And savings is somewhere in the three to five hundred thousand dollars a year in in operation and and potentially staff. Um you know, Greenwood has some assets that also ironically came up tonight. Um school forest. Uh we have 80 acres of school forest. We all know the price of land. Uh school forest, you know, if sold would be a significant source of income for the school district. I talked about our fund 46 approaching 600,000 dollars. The Greenwood would have the funds and and the ability to to move the elementary into this building, decommission the elementary school, and capture that savings for themselves. That's That's
090a viable plan. What that doesn't solve is declining enrollment. Enrollment still is going to decline. It's declining in both districts. Okay, but that is a that is a viable plan to help Greenwood sustain uh programming, uh but again, a an operational referendum would still be needed. But yes, there there is a viable plan that could bring uh decommission the elementary school and put our elementary kids in this building. That plan would have to include us if it does not pass. Our two districts continuing to work together um more than we already are right now. Um I I think that would be quite important and and exactly what Mr. Green said earlier, um opening our doors to other districts that want to work with us. I just want to kind of comment off of Mr. Arquine's
091comments. Um I understand that you had a public comment at the and I will promise I'll go back and watch it. But, I too, you know, like you just said, the second time you came up, struggled with the student experience and that's something that I think about a lot and and I, you know, I used the word compromise because that is what we a word we've used a lot. But, I will say that that is something I've struggled with the entire time is what does this do to the student experience? And we don't want to push something through to pass. And also, I really appreciate when you said that you love all students and you would teach in either building. And I think that's something that we really need to to focus on and I
092hope that I would hope that all teachers would come up here and say the same thing to us. Look, we know this is a really hard job for you guys. We know how much effort is being put into this and the conversations that are being had and we as educators would teach in in any building. So, I appreciate you saying that. Um Also, um you know, I I I I'm struggling with that. I don't want to just pass. One of the things I wanted to mention too is that we've talked a lot about how do we get dual credits in classes and while I think that's important, I do think those opportunities are really really important and I hope that we can offer that no matter what happens. But, I just want to make sure
093that we're also looking at big picture too because we might have freshmen and sophomores and even juniors and seniors that don't have any idea where they want to go or what they want to do. And however, I want to provide those opportunities for kids that know what they want to do or maybe have an interest, we also have to keep in mind that there are going to be kids that that really just want to be in high school and they just really want to enjoy their high school experience. And then if they decide to go on after that, enjoy that experience. But, again, I'm not saying I don't want to provide those opportunities. I think our district does a really good job at providing opportunities for dual credits and and credits before they graduate high
094school. But, at the same time, I want to make sure that we're letting them enjoy their high school careers as well and not making them grow up too fast. Anybody else? Next meeting date and time? Eliza is asking if we need to set a timeline or maybe a timeline or a goal on when we want to bring this to a public vote. Just remember the timeline is August 25th is when it has to be delivered to make the November ballot. I think two weeks is sufficient to get that to Coral and Brady to turn around and get a question put together. I think the structure of the question is probably going to be something that's going to have to be worked on and and wordsmithed and and make sure that we have that right. They
095will help us with that. But I I do There's time. Like it's it's I don't want I mean there is There there is there is time to meet and and talk this out. So two weeks from now would be June 3rd. >> 3rd and 17th. The 3rd will be in Loyal, 17th will be in Green. 6:30 holding. The agenda will stay the same. There's nothing to stay focused on consolidation planning. I need motion to go into closed. I'll make that motion.