001Okay, we'll have our student showcase today. Excellent. Good evening. Welcome to the schoolboard meeting. My apologies uh for being late. We don't have anybody for the community forums or so we'll go to the and also Rebecca before um Justin Kent is unable to attend this evening due to a family emergency. So he uh sends his apologies and wishes he could be here but unfortunately family circumstances. So hoping that things turn out well. Yep. Yep. Thank you. So we have the school showcase now. Yes. So Steve, do you want to introduce it or? Sure. All right. Come on. You want them to set. So, we just thought this was a really good opportunity because I'm not sure everybody knows all the cool opportunities our middle school students have. It's always nice to be able to showcase
002some of these things. And I think when you listen to this too, Um when we talk a little bit about the strategic plan when we run strategic planning how do we how do we work with the outside not only bring the outside to go to the outside this is a great example and they're going to talk about the trip but I do know having many conversations with Mr. Wagner we're hoping to build on this connection build so I'm going to turn it over to Dave Wagner and he can do all the introductions and thanks Dave. All right, my name is Dave Wagner and uh colleague here who uh brought this to my attention and really was the one that got this ball rolling is Austin Schmidt. Um obviously you know that I'm a fifth eighth
003grade teacher here and his older son and I have his middle daughter. Uh that's kind of how we got that connection. Uh but he reached out to me Austin Schmidt. I run advanced engineering at Husky Automotive. So a lot of product development and business development for Huscoll and um you know one of the things that we've seen over the past many years is that there with new hires we interview and hire a ton of engineering type people and the connection between the academic learning and the real life application has kind of become more and more and more divided for various different reasons and circumstances. So, it's kind of been a growing passion of mine to kind of do something about it. And um you know, David, my daughter, and my son had David and kind
004of saw some of the things that were going on here and different things and thought, you know, this might be a really neat opportunity. So, from like the day one when I reached out to the day the bus the minute the bus left, it's been a really amazing experience. And it wouldn't be that way for sure without David standing here. It's been absolutely been unbelievable to work for probably thanks everyone. So when we got together we kind of started talking about what is it that we really want to get out of this and I would credit Austin was that kind of came up with this full steam ahead FSA with core vision to it and then this we wanted to begin to create this connected environment and so we worked hard together to look at
005fifth six and seventh grade curriculums and they even shared with me a lot about where those curriculums were that kids learning I knew a little bit because of that they haven't seen and I said hey Dave let's write a let's write an experience let's write a lab experience at Costco around this directly but we had some like really critical vision pieces as you can see so as I mentioned closing the gap right making it a direct application of engineering mathematics um having them come in run into problems and real world problems um one of the things I've seen in a lot of curriculum based learning is that it's become a little bit more like a modern day Lego You get a set of instructions, you get a kit, you follow the instructions, you get to
006the end, you have something built. But in the real world of engineering, that's not what it's about. It's about critical thinking. It's about moving past problems. It's about, you know, kids working together in a different way and and solving things on the spot. And so we wanted to create an experience and environment where some of those things were planned in. And we even ran into some things that were planned in which made it even extra special and kids had to work through and solve together. So a lot of those different types of things. um you know color the problems and then learn the technical communication skills as well. So they did work ahead of uh of the events that David will present and did some math ahead of time. They came in, they ran a
007lab on our floor, they experienced um you know what it's like to maybe not get results that are exactly what you calculated or what you predicted and then they had to think about them and communicate back why why they think that was the case. Make some plots and David's going to take you through a lot of the different things that that we did. So the way that we started we wanted to bridge something that we had been doing here in Minne with what Pusca had and this kind of vision was. Uh so we kind of started with this with students which was the Merton values. Um we kind of talked about what we put those things in my classroom and how I kind of connected those things in the classroom. Then from there we kind
008of uh took those engineering principles and Huscoll and kind of worked in. So there's five of them uh that we kind of wanted to talk through and you had like hoax that went with each one which was like full head of steam with that positive can do attitude. We had this one which you know it's more your forte because it's racing racing world. Yeah. We just try to connect it with with you know leaders in the world that are that are inspiring. Um and some of them they knew some of them it was kind of fun to like teach a little bit about. We spent 15 minutes kind of talking through, you know, staying on track, being efficient, being urgent, using your time wisely, planning effects of both different people jobs and about the way
009you work and how you love your what we do. Um, Thomas Watson talking about treating problems as opportunities fall away from them, but to double your failure rate and learn faster. Um, and then finally, Abraham Lincoln. Um, again about kind of time, money, efficiency, working wisely, sharpening your axe, spending more your time sharpening the ax, cutting wood with a dull axe, trying to impress upon the kids some of these values of efficiency, time management, different things. And then throughout the day, we tried to reiterate a lot of these things and point out different opportunities about cost or think about time, think about different things that they were uh working. So this all started about uh November. We probably had like six or seven meetings with Austin, myself and then Connor and Brian who were two
010colleagues as Austin's who kind of did the bulk of this work. We did a lot of talking about like what kind of problem can we do? What kind of investigations? So there's a lot of curriculum talk. So then this is what the kids got. They got this problem like we want to make a car lift so that we can put cars into an elevator uh to like display them. We talked about Carvana car lifts like how do they make these things like how do you get a car up there? So then what we did is we create well what Husco did is they created a simulator in which the students had to test how fast these weights got pulled up by pulleys. So in order to make some manipulative for kids we used the laser
011to like cut out just acrylics of the pulley so that some of the pre-learning was they could see what these were going to be before they even got there. They knew what these problems were. And so our original investigation was all about using 9 volts electricity. So then we had to bring in some in my opinion higher level high school level physics equations to kind of go through and do all of the theoretical stuff that's behind gears police and stuff. So we gave them some of the variables and we were like you have to figure out what's the fastest time. So when they got there, we went through these things really quickly just what the equipment like what was pulley were fully attachment how we were going to put it on what the mask was
012how that represents the car the spring actually pull it up so cable the switches were these amazing uh limit switches that would start and stop and stopwatch I didn't see it but they actually hardwired the stopwatch because it was cheaper to do that than to get an LCP stopwatch timer which I thought was just brilliant. Um, so that's that's a closeup on the timer. This is these are things that I would love to have the students do eventually, but just, you know, I've never seen a hardware. Isn't that crazy? I think so. These are the actual actuators that they use at Husco. Um, and we were really focusing on that little motor. Uh, but these are used in things for like your car power windows and like other power things in your car. So, we
013took a real product and then we were kind of using it to simulate this other experience. Um, and they did get to see these things all taken in cars, but this is the actual thing pulling it up and down. Um, and then each of the kids made their own, well, groups of kids made their own control pans. So, we had ones at Husco that were made as well, but then in our class, we used the breadboards and did all the electronics. Um, I can talk more about next steps at the end because there are a few, but each student made them. That's that whole bucket. But then it's plugged in then these boards control the motor up and down. So those literally the driver for the Y which then just the power supply then monitors
014for collecting our data and just pictures right. Um this was like the whole point of it. So that red line represented the nine uh volts. So then we got numbers from the extremes of this to like do all the map work. But then we wanted to pose the problem. So the students thought oh we're going to use nine volts. When we got to Husco, we pretended as though the customer called was like, "No, we can only use six volts now, so we need to change it all." So then we can go through all of the math again in a different numerical experience. So that they've now done the nine volts at school. They did the six volts at Husco and we talked about real motor curves. I just have to tell the story because I'm
015doing parent teacher conferences. I was working on this a little bit in between conferences. There was a gentleman from Milwaukee Tool that walked past as he's like, "Are those boner curves?" and then he like made a comment about oh my gosh like and his daughter who's in my class like it was really for me it was like a really like oh my god like I'm on like we're on to something this is this is great stuff um so any but just some of the examples of the equations that we were doing um to stall to um we wanted to just kind of I just wanted to show you what some of the kids were grappling with and kind of the more lengthy equations that some of our math students were right on others it was
016more just plug and play the equations maybe they didn't get the deep concepts, but we were still working through these types of things. Um, and then we obviously filled out charts, but I just wanted to give you some ideas of what the student handouts had looked like as we went through. Um, then the graphs which we were really trying to look um, I have this graph because it was kind of the whole point of this just a couple things. Yeah. So, they ran into issues like uh when they calculated they're predicting what the best result will be, right? issues like negative numbers that one's going to turn backwards that's not going to work right so they had to make that realization they ran into well we get the same result out of two different size
017pulleys well which one's better right we had a whole discussion around cost what you want one solution that works for multiple things where is the most efficient for power drop so what what is the best solution well it could be more than one might be a best solution for customer A different best solution for customer So we try to continue to make it as real world as possible and sometimes that's a little bit vague and a little bit unsure and there's no perfect crystal clear answer but we talk through all those things. That was kind of the whole part of this was that we wanted ambiguous data to really push the kids to think about well how would you make those decisions without giving them that much because we didn't just want a regular field
018trip where you saw fun to push the learning back students. Um, so this is like what I said was all this is kind of like kids what they were learning and how they were growing. And then we got when you got to the field trip. So the field trip was on a Wednesday. Uh, Husk was generous to really kind of do the whole thing financially for us, which I think is huge credit to Huskville. Um, and then afterwards I wanted the kids to say their response. So I wasn't sure what was going to happen. But these are most of the data. So this year we kept it small. We just took my two elective classes. So my Nate Merton computer science electronics because I wasn't sure how it was going to go and I wanted
019to make sure that we did have an overwhelming number of students. I'll come back to those numbers towards the end. But so you can see they had seven eighth graders that went um this was the lab prep work. So they started with getting you know that six volt data we had to deal with it. So there was some teaching going on. So that's Brian right there who was uh somebody that helped a lot but the students um kind of developed a lot of us as well. Um and then this is kind of the understanding the students felt. So, I mean it is over on the right. I will be honest, the water day kind of threw some uh monkey wrench into some of my plans connecting with some of this data on the students um
020which could be done much differently next year. Um but I think overall that's not bad. And then enjoyment wise I think that's pretty good as well uh for enjoyment. So then we went into the lab. So this is the actual Huscoll lab that they do a lot of like tests on these actuators and like the real deal like this real deal floor. Um so the kids got to be there. They made three of these rigs. These are just two pictures of the rigs um that they got to use and kind of work with um an experience. Then this is their understated inside the lab. It's kind of more over to the right better than their enjoyment all over on the right. So I mean after lots of good stuff. Um this is the systems lab.
021So it's kind of harder to see there's a gentleman named Eric in the back going through other applications of breadboards. Uh they were actually talking about Arduinos which we are also using in this course. So they were making another connection to some of the other content. Uh that was super awesome to see. So that was kind of demonstration that section understanding. I mean there was some high level stuff there. So I mean it's not too bad. Uh and then enjoyment still as well. Um and then finally not finally we got to see some laser arms way more of this equipment that we didn't take pictures of. Uh but there's that and then behind it is a fiber laser which is different than our CO2 laser. And they actually laser etched pens like in seconds. like
022it's a really awesome piece of equipment. But then the other thing here, they showed how they use AI to sort machine pieces. So like there's a laser etched barcode and serial code. They showed us under the AI Cambridge kits like how they read that how they reject things, how they train the AI as well. So they kind of got their first introduction for that too, which was super cool to see. They took the same pen, but they had two different names laser edge on. They taught camera as little kids. Here's a good pen. Here's a bad pen. So they switched out links and we pick it off and say oh no that's a bad thing. So if you're doing manufacturing trying to make sure people are putting all the right parts of technology quite often
023things that section of that we did the husk for I don't have any pictures from that but still covering the material. It was loud in there so it was kind of hard to hear sometimes but overall the kids the group that I was with seem to enjoy it right there and then there's a picture of all of us uh some things that I want to add there's some next steps is we have but uh so next steps that I see Austin and I were talking could we maybe make this something for the entire eighth grade could we run it you know multiple days where we're able to then use the curriculum we already have but kind of dovetail in some of these other ideas that then we could take them to Husk as it's capstone
024piece of you've done fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade steamwork. Here's an actual real experience that you all get for all of your students. That's one idea. And then our other idea is that we have some other connects that we may want to bridge out to to maybe test another idea like injection molding or another business in which we can then get the electives getting some of those experiences to us. That's what we see as the next step. So we are still trying to pound our adults to give us their feedback. Uh magically the kids gave us way faster feedback than adults. Um but uh that's kind of what we see at the next steps. Yeah. So you know the grand vision get it working get it get a win get get a model of
025how we do this. And then um you know there's there's vision beyond vision of you know could we incorporate other aspects of a business to teach people about financing. Now you've made your product and you designed your product. How do you manufacture it? How do you inventory it? How do you finance or how do you business side of it and you know become an entrepreneur? There's some connections I have with like Bistown whether or not we connected with a little bit of the business principles. So there's a lot of big ideas you know is walk strategy here for us. Fantastic. Thank you. We talked a lot about about breaking it down, right? Breaking big complex limbs down into more fun. So, the math was set up to walk them through the different principles and we
026try to connect it to, you know, like you saw Brian with the wheel showing them was literally showing them how high it come, right? It's really it's we rolled out the circumference on a wheel and they divide it by the diameter and well sure enough we get pretty darn close to pie, right? Um but we we built it up along the way. So I don't think every single kid nailed the math 100%. But there was still areas for them to to learn it. We talked a lot more about like the prep up front and the more they would get to see it up front obviously. And then we had like probably over half of them just totally I mean they just we did it. You know, I was even surprised like you know, talking to
027GA after and stuff like how much she actually absorbed she had even been through the latest season stuff, you know, see how much then some of the questions at the end in the discussion, you hear like one or two questions and you're like, okay, they really understood what was going on. There were definitely some students that shined in what they said. I've seen them shine in my class, but they were asking really questions. few times the engineers like so those are really cool experiences to see to see that happen um and on the map I didn't show you any of the comments because I had them comment on every single one and some of the different systems but the funny ones were like I thought the math was going to be so much harder than
028it was like so I mean I think that if I was able to give it more time uh like even just like two days or three days class periods where I could leave you with a full explanation of everything we did I Most of our kids we got to do now. So it was awesome. We need to be careful how much we do because that's probably learned. He would not tell me exactly because he was too much. and a whole new way telling me I don't want to talk about but one of the things that I was talking about I maintain even they like they don't opportunity. I can't talk. This was the make computer science electronics course because I just wanted to keep it to seventh and eighth grade because I was worried about
029the math. My other hangup was the eighth graders had all gotten circuit content within the regular steam course because the seventh graders didn't. But I didn't feel that it was ready to all. That's how I chose that group. And the original vision was you know a dest class this this like how can we bridge all of that I had shared this sixth and eighth grade content with Austin to kind of develop this. So that's kind of why I see that as the next step. a nice way of saying you bet. Thank you so much. Thank you. So for the uh for the principal showcase this evening um again it was highlighted at the last board meeting again we wanted to highlight all the extra people you know that are behind the scenes that hap that
030things happen with children after school. So, um, in the board packet, you'll see a list of all of our coaches, whether they were MAA, anyone who influenced our our students here at Merton Intermediate School from the athletic standpoint, and again, a ton of, you know, about 12 to 15 individuals, I'm sure, on there. And then also, we highlighted all those activities that that happen throughout. We have National Honor Society. Um, you know, we've got extra stuff with art club, spelling bee. Again, I we're g theater. We're gonna miss a whole bunch of them, but all those individuals give of their time and their talents to really bring an experience to our kids very similar to what you saw here today, but outside of the day. So, a big thank you to all those uh volunteers,
031many of them, who uh assisted in the development of our young people here at Merin Community School District. So, a big thank you. Big thank you. And does that include those who are guiding our eighth graders through what is always they're never too excited for those eth graders are always calm and focused. Of course should have put Mr. Newcomeumber down for that too as well. U but uh no Becky Aberman and Karen Nimchek are continue to navigate our eighth graders and uh prepare for what's always a wonderful eighth grade promotion graduation ceremony here a little bit later in early June. You ready to call to order? Um, hey, do we have anybody for the community forum? Doesn't look like it. It's budget night. Everybody knows. So, I think we're good to go. All right. I
032call this meeting of the board of education of Merk Community School District to order on May 19th at 6:56 p.m. Do the pledge of allegiance. to the flag United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, this meeting has been posted in all of the appropriate places and we are ready for the approval of tonight's agenda. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? That carries. So we are on then to our consent agenda or do we need to do that? Consent agenda. Yep. That includes that approval of agenda. We have to do the approval for these. But all we need to do approval of consent
033agenda. All right. Y uh next is to see if we are we need approval to run our consent agenda this evening. Do I have a motion? Second. Uh is there we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? We'd like to say thank you to Autumn Con uh for her last two years. Um you know really working towards that face experience uh in our new lab and done a great job at kickstarting. So we'll miss her. Good. Any other discussion? Also just recognizing Joe Mama's for the $100 for the math and literacy night. Yep. Need to do that at the administrator report anyway. Oh, sorry. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you, Joe M. That's for literacy night tomorrow. Yep. That's for literacy night tomorrow. So, any other discussion? All in favor of approving the consent
034agenda, please say I. I. I. Opposed. Say nay. Motion carries. All right, we are on to delegations to be heard. We have any delegations to be heard this evening. Okay, we are on to our district administrators report. Sure. Again, for a principal report again, thank you to all of our our volunteers, our coaches, and our adviserss uh for this past year. Um open records request that just a a few of them looking for staff information. Pretty typical this time. Donation. Thank you very much for Joe Mamas for our literacy and math night coming up tomorrow night and our student showcase. Again, another big thank you to Dave Wagner and Austin Schmidt for uh coming in and showing the partnership and the experience that our kids had uh last week. So, just an amazing partnership and
035we look forward to uh that continuing to grow. So, thank you very much. The other thing I did want to highlight is is uh there was a uh kind of a school board of school boards of the Arrowhead system a couple weeks ago. Patrick was there and Justin was there too as well. Um again the point of that meeting was truly a one is to continue to ground in f school finance and that was Jeff Gross. Uh again a great hour presentation went into a lot more detail than what probably had to uh but again it's all there uh from the school finance standpoint and then ultimately after that I did do a presentation again basically the same presentation that occurred a couple years ago when this occurred at swallow school but ultimately about the
036process and the legality around a a certain type of school consolidation again when either merging two K8s in our in our case or K12 about what that process is. So, I literally went through WASB's presentation that highlighted state statutes, DPI language, and then ultimately some other feedback that was shared um whether it be for BPI, again, WASB or other school districts about things to consider when possibly joining or pursuing a consolidation. So all the way from what's their debt, what's their state aid, what's the number of students, what kind of overhead do they have, and I kind of compared it to if you were to go back and date uh a little bit later in life at times, you would ask a lot different questions than if you did when you were in your 20s
037or in high school or whatever it was, too. So just really getting to know the other school district is uh is truly the most important thing. and then ultimately you know having discussions but uh it is in an ideal world a minimum of 18 months and that was highlighted by DPI and WSB uh but sometimes it takes years again because there's many things that need to be figured out typically even before you would even consider a resolution uh and that's really the first part of it too as well so completeformational um but again just wanted to highlight that too as well so thank you to Patrick and thank you for Justin Um, and again it was truly informational and again we did share that out and I know our community has seen that too as
038well. So I asked Ron to speak to that tonight because some people saw Arrowhead's announcement of the meeting and took it as decisions are being made. And so Dean and I were at the first of the board of boards meetings where some of the questions were coming up and one of the things he and I each shared was that from going to other presentations previously it was would recruit that group to know more everybody to be on the same knowledge place because some of the questions were things that they didn't know from this type of presentation. So that was at the conclusion of that meeting, the board of boards meeting had determined that what everybody needed was more information. Yep. And so this was purelyformational. The timeline of 18 months of the Sunnis is if
039all the ducks are in a row and you've made a whole bunch of different decisions, that type of thing. So I think some people saw that and thought that within the next year and a half, we were going to be having discussions that they thought they had missed out on. And all it was was information so that everyone who is making these are reasonable questions to ask would understand what our legislative responsibilities are and financial responsibilities. Was that what you It was outstanding. Jeff and Ron both did very good jobs especially being a new board member. Just the the deep dive from both gentlemen appreciative. I think there were 23 board members there, something like that. Right around 20 board members there, too. So, did the Journal Sentinel article portray what they actually it it
040did pretty well. The Freeman did too and the Journal Sentinel did too as well. So, um yeah, I I again, they just kind of pretty much took direct quotes from, you know, the presentation and things like that. Um, a lot of people want to know a lot more about it and I'm like, "No, no, you need to just go talk to your local school district then because that ultimately is how we left it was is um, if school districts wanted to consider, they can have a conversation uh, about what possible next steps, whether that's directing superintendants or wherever it might be. So, but uh, I know it is not on our agenda this evening, but uh, you know, if it's something that people wanted to talk about, obviously we always can. I did highlight that
041the state budget typically drives a lot of this too as well because there's a lot of unknowns at this time. But uh and again it was interesting at my uh our our spring business conference last week um both uh you know people from the state and DPI said remember consolidation doesn't save you. It's not a saving method. It truly has to be a joint partnership because it's great for both communities great for kids. It is not to save you. It is truly a proactive way to continue to do great things for kids and support your local communities. Thank you. So, yep. Thank you. And it was the first it was the only night I could see Tessa's show. So, I didn't come to the meeting. I watch the video. It's there. Yep. All right. Thank
042you for that. Anything else, Ron, from you? No. That'll be good. Okay. Could we go to committee reports, please? Starting with the finance. Sure. Finance committee. We're going to hear a little bit more about the finance committee uh a little bit later, but one of the things we did to we first did was as we did look at our quarterly reports. Everything is looking good. Again, when we go back to previous years, that's kind of always our benchmark because we've always been real successful u making sure we hit our budgets and leave a little bit of surplus at the end there. We're really really right on. So, we're looking really really good there. Um the other piece is is again it's that time of year where we start to think about the 25 26 budget
043which I'll be presenting very high level. Um and again I'll talk about that in a little bit but uh we'll wait for that probably in later in the meeting. So yeah, student achievement. Sure. Um our student achievement committee talked about kind of the did did a couple things. One is took a look at our again I wasn't there either from that standpoint. Couldn't make it. But ultimately we did take a look at our GT program, our gifted and talented program. gave an update um not only about all the things that we've accomplished this year, but also a few things that we're looking at to continue to explore and and to expand next year too as well. So um that was one of the pieces. Another act 20 piece as usual uh from that standpoint too.
044Um I don't know what else was on the agenda. See professional learning plans. Oh, professional learning plans. So yes, a big big thank you to Maria and actually our principles too as well as uh every Monday we meet as an instructional team. Uh Lori Larson kicks in there too and Jim Jim participates as well. But uh ultimately we we put a year's plan together all the way from you know summer academy to our new teachers to Wednesday learning to the six professional development days that we have. um just a tremendous amount of work and again a big thank you to Maria who really leads and guides those discussions. So you'll see a really big spreadsheet and uh again greatly appreciate all the work that she does but that pretty much kind of forecasts all the
045things we're going to be doing and thinking about next year. So obviously subject to change. We do pivot when needed, but uh but again we've got a really good solid plan and that's uh the foundation about those are going that run from I presume you take feedback from each year's like say the summer academy thing and apply it to the next year. So what are some of the adjustments you're making based on feedback from faculty and staff? Sure. Well, one of the pieces that I know we're making is is on our new teacher days. So again, Marie and I were we're going to be breaking that down a little bit more. uh doing some more mandated work versus because we're like geez I thought all the way from well we we made volunteer whether to
046open up your 403b so the district will contribute you know up to $750 well we've had three staff members come to us and say what's this all about I was like oh my goodness how did we miss this well was optional I guess you know make it optional so um we also extended a day of new teacher based on their feedback uh and again bringing more of that grade level team together too as well um one of the pieces we do struggle getting feedback from our staff and again that was one of the things and we are going to uh ensure that that participation is much higher this year. Um and again giving time hey we're we're going to do the feedback and it's interesting that uh you know Dave and Austin when they were
047presenting Dave was like I got my kids feedback right away but yet we're still waiting for that adult side. We're not going to wait for the adult side. We're going to really push that forward too as well. So um so again we're little light on that feedback. The other piece is this upcoming year is pretty much going to be driven by our strategic plan. Uh again, this year is a lot of if I was a primary school teacher, for instance, it was act 23rd, right? Uh this upcoming year is going to look a little bit different. We'll still do some curricular work. We've got some math adjustments. We're going to be, you know, researching some science stuff too as well. So, one of the pieces that we're looking at is that summer academy feedback. And
048again, from the working with the board, I think last year we only had about 60%, not even 60%, I think it was really small. um with feedback of that too as well. So, something we're still looking forward to, but uh the biggest feedback was is our new teachers that they told us this year too as well. And in looking to get feedback in areas that you're lower on feedback, what are your plans for increasing feedback? Um basically mandating it. When we say mandating it to say, hey, this is done. Okay, before you leave, we want you to fill out this this survey. Thank you very much. When you're done, you're done. So instead of letting them say hey because we give them time and is in part of the agenda to say hey this last
04930 minutes of the day is what we want you to do. So we got a plan say having it done before everybody leaves in the college world is exactly what we had to do because otherwise once we went to online when you filled them out people took the test but if it's online and you can do it whenever it it gets lost. Yeah. Exactly. It really does. Everybody has good intentions. Y doesn't happen. All right. Uh how about personal anything else from student J? Nope. How about uh personnel and policy? Sure. Um we met about a week ago and uh we first previewed the what you're going to see for first draft which is a WASB required act 20 third to fourth grade promotion policy. Uh boiler plate. Basically it highlights that you will have
050a plan leading up till third grade. And if you still have a plan between third and fourth grade, there's going to be a team. Um, you're going to be on a plan and the only way to exit that plan throughout the system is if you are proficient on the test. So, we know some students, for instance, if you have an IEP in the area of reading, that may be very, very difficult. Doesn't mean we don't stop trying. But again, it's just basically what support is going to be given. And ultimately, it's it's a partnership between the district and the family on that promotion policy to respond. So, um, it is a first read. Again, we'll take a look at it a little bit later in the meeting. I'll talk about that. Okay. Yep. Um the
051other piece is is you'll see the student handbook drafts. Uh again, thank you to Mr. Blessington and Mr. Newcomer for uh giving some feedback around that. You'll see basically in the primary school. You'll see uh the behavior matrix Minway that Mr. Blessing and his team have been working to finalize. And then also you'll see the new tardy policy that Mr. Newcomer and his staff have been uh working for too as well. So, uh, Nicole, there was that one piece of feedback whether it was quarterly, semester, it is quarterly and we did add that piece to as well portion for the tardy portion. Yep. So, it would be each quarter each class. Thank you. Yep. Um, the other piece that was brought up was the uh in Mr. Kent brought it up as saying, "What about
052ebikes? These ecooters." I was like, "That's a really good question." So this past week I was at you basically it was a WBO conference with school business officials as well as facility and buildings and grounds directors said these people have to have the answers to these things. They're like we don't know we don't know. So we're going to continue to look at that. Um what we're hearing is is what's what's the rules on the street in your village? Um it's very difficult to kind of highlight a speed, you know, like for instance, if we're going to do something, ultimately we would have to say bikes of all kinds, scooters of all kinds need to be walk between the hours of 8:15 and 4:15, for instance. Um then you have the enforcement. I mean, you've got
053a lot of different things going into that, but still people are kind of wrestling with it. But it was a good comment that as they get more and more popular and as they come zooming through and again if you're up here this evening on a beautiful day like it is today um they're all over. Kids are just having a ball with them. So but what does that mean for us during the school day to keep everybody safe and particularly keep them safe but ultimately all of our pedestrians families and things like that too. So more to come on that about what that might look like. And our bike rules are already that you're supposed to walk them. Our bike rules is we ask people to walk them. Correct. scooter rules are. We don't have scooter
054rules. So, more to come on that. I guess we'll continue to take a look at it and see what how everybody else reacts to. So, um and then finally, we had our employee handbook. Uh a big thank you. We probably had Nicole a dozen people. A dozen people come on out. Turn out. Yeah, it was a really good turnout. And uh so what you what you see here is what some of the proposals were. Uh you'll see a little bit later in the first drafts um our support staff came out in opposition to the uh increased possibility of liquidated damages during the school year and things like that and the committee did pull that back. They struck that down. So that's not being moved forward this evening. Um the other piece that people that we
055heard there were two other pieces. Uh one was the proposal to possibly uh pay our teaching staff who are on 24 pays their July and August. um opportunities and their their money that they've been been earned. Um that comes from recommendations from WRS, the Wisconsin Retirement System, as well as our auditors, just to get money off your books. And again, we we do things creatively to show that it's been spent. Uh but yet we still have it. They said, "Well, it's in 75% of the other school districts around that we found um give the teachers the money ahead of time." um we heard and again I kind of did uh sprinkle that out during my uh some of my grade level and my subject level chats and it was met with 50 you know and
056so but uh there were there was extreme opposition when I say extreme there wasn't anybody there who was like yeah I want to do this um again all the way from budgeting uh tax concerns and again the tax concerns taxes are what they are we would end up just to make sure we showed people that a they got all their money and everything was the same was to pay them four more times on June 20th or any day ahead of June 30th. So um but again because of the opposition and and again we're not required to there may be a time when auditors come and say or state statutes change where hey you have to do this you have to get this money to your people because it has to be spent before June 30th
057which is the end of our fiscal year. So until then it seems like our staff really enjoys this from a business standpoint. we'll continue to do what it is we do, work with our auditors, but also Justin brought up a really nice point about uh for those people who are possibly retiring in the future to kind of plant that seed that they may want to switch from 24 pays to 20 pay. So, their last paycheck actually is June 20th. So, then their actual last day of work is proven to be the last day of school instead of possibly August 20th and us kind of, you know, going back and forth with the state about making sure people get their pensions. So when that happens, it does make it harder for people to draw their pensions
058on time. It it makes it harder. Yep. There's a whole bunch of you, Ryan, you said they get paid on the 20th. Yes, but their last day was the 6th. No, you paid them on the 20th, which means 30. So, it's a little bit more difficult. So, I'll I'll be a little bit more proactive with people who are towards that side of life and uh letting them know that just to alleviate a hiccup a little bit later down the road. And there's no requirement that we do the same thing for everyone. Some people could choose to be paid out entirely in June and everyone else. Correct. Yes. Yes. State statute actually says we're supposed to we're allowed we give them the option if they want to go through 24. So yeah. Yeah. So we pulled
059that. So you won't see that in the first draft of the recommendations part two. The other part that was discussed a lot of it was our paid time off program. So um the as we know a year ago uh the policy and personnel committee and the board spent significant time on that gathering feedback from our staff. Um some people you know came and expressed some concerns about uh ultimately not being able to access their FMLA bank without an FMLA uh you know incident or an activity or qualifying event. So um that was one of the pieces that was discussed about you know would like some opportunity to you know once you've exhausted your 10 days of sick time and your two personal days to be able to freely I would say freely access some of
060your access days that you've stored up over time. So um in particular some people who have discussed that to say hey because we do pay out people um it was highlighted and we shared with our staff um our new PTO program we paid out 21 almost $21,000 in 403b for unused sick time. So um so it it does work again like it was said before uh at the policy and personnel committee. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than what we had before? I believe so and I think it all depends on where you are at whether you're support staff full-time part-time you know it's so unique but again it's very difficult to build a everybody's happy in a system when you have almost 100 employees so um if things went a little bit long
061you know from that standpoint there was no recommendation that came or no official recommendation my recommendation would be to keep rolling with it from an administrative standpoint let's see this play through um those situations are always going to come up where they're unique and uh we we work with all of our staff the best we can but also have to be you know consistent with a lot of that uh shared out too as well. So um again we can talk more about that from if if that's something that the board would like to talk about when we uh get to there in the new business. All right. All right. Okay then we are moving on to new business. Everything we didn't have anything else from personal that's it. Moving on to new business. Our first
062book is the 2526 preliminary and proposed budget presentation. You bet. All right. Why nobody showed up? All right. We coming out here. Yeah, if you could for a little bit. Yep. So again, thank you very much. Um, again, thanks to the finance committee, Patrick and, uh, Dean, and actually Justin was there too as well to, uh, to take take a review. So, um, I'm going to be worse than a weatherman or weather person, as in what I'm showing you right now is wrong. All wrong. Uh, so since we met even on the finance committee, things have changed just because of factors and variables and things. So, um, but the district does take this opportunity. We basically present our budget three times. We have one in May uh where in a little bit we're going to
063ask the board to adopt a preliminary budget that basically authorizes us to start spending July 1st uh because we have a new fiscal cycle. Then we have our annual meeting which is September 9th uh which again we sharpen the pencil we're a little bit closer. We've got our enrollment which is a huge key variable. Also the state budget will be hopefully finalized by then but we'll see. Um, so that's another indicator about how we're doing and financially and presentation and that and then ultimately at the end of October the board will adopt a budget, a final budget, adopt a levy given all of the factors that we known like that. So, uh, tonight we've got goals, timelines, factors. There it is. We're going to talk about a little bit about everything. Um, our goals of
064the budget are always simple. Um, we are going to follow our strategic plan. uh we are going to maintain academic excellence while inspiring inspiring curiosity and personal growth. Those are the key indicators that we we really want to make sure that we're moving forward to. We are very fiscally responsible. We want to be as open as possible. Um this is actually the fourth time now or before we adopt the budget. It'll be the fourth time we talk about budget. Um we want to maintain great buildings. Um this is the largest investment in our community that our community has. So we want to make sure that our buildings and grounds maintenance is all up to shape and then ultimately we want to support that learning and teaching and operations side of the district. So we are
065in May right now. So we are preliminary budgeting. Um the goal it's highlighted um is July 20 and July 1st. We are supposed to get a state aid estimate. Okay. Last Friday I was with DPI. They said, "We don't know if that's even going to come out because it's probably going to be inaccurate unless something changes in Madison with the politics of the budget right now." Um, they're saying I think state requires us to issue something, but it's going to be asterk to say don't count on. So, uh, but when we say state aid, again, you'll see this in a little bit. State aid, there's the pot, right? the revenue limit, a portion of it is taxpayers, a portion of it is state. Whatever the state doesn't pick up, the taxpayers pick it. So, um,
066usually July 1st, it's within about 2 to 3% accuracy. 2 to 3%. This one they're saying is South, who knows? So, it's going to be very difficult for a tax levy standpoint. Again, that state aid does not control the revenue levy. It just controls the tax levy. We'll talk more about that a little bit. Like I highlighted before, September 9th, we've got our uh um our annual meeting third Friday count, which is uh one-third of variables about what we're looking at. October, we've got our equalized property value October 1st. Certification estate aid. Remember when I said July 1 is estimate? They have to certify by the 15th. Have to certify by October 15th. And then our October board meeting which is usually a little bit later in October to give us all that opportunity to
067put everything together certifies the final levy as well as the revenue limit about what it is that we are going to be able to say. Okay. 25 26 budget factors. What are we considering when we take a look at our budget? Um right now like I've highlighted we are in the beginning of a bienial budget. uh Madison right now they're you know joint finance committee has heard uh have went around the state in four different locations the vast majority of all the conversations folks around public education so that was again DPI through DPI our our advocacy through uh WASB and SAA uh threw out some statistics about everybody's talking about education um now we are assuming $325 perput. The Supreme Court did up uphold that Governor Weaver's veto pen last biial budget when he said
068325 for 400 years was legit. That was within his power as a governor. So with that, obviously there was one political party not real excited about that. Um so that is pretty much what we're expecting. It's just 325. There was conversations about raising the four. If you remember in the last bienial for those of us that were on the board, why did my taxes go up? Well, because the per people went from 10,000 to 11,000. Okay, there was discussion to go from 11,000 12,000 or 11,000 to 12,000. Okay, that has calmed temper a little bit mostly because it was all local as well. So, uh, you're going to get some friction between the governor and our joint finance committee here. You're going to hear that more and more. Special education, we're there's some discussion. At
069least there seems to be agreement there. Um, the special education piece isn't right now. It is not some sufficient. They put about 33% of what they expect. Um, this year we're going to get about 30%. So we're not even going to meet that 33% on what the state has kind of said because there's some provision and then there's allocation. So um but there seems to be some agreement around special education. We are not counting on anything. Now if any and you'll see why if we go from 30% reimbursement to 40 to 50 or to 60 that money is more money towards special education which lowers our transfer from 10 to 127 for special education expenses. So, um, more to come on that that affects all kids and that's why we're really excited about that. For
070every 10% you can think of about $100 per. So, it would be almost $100,000, just under $100,000 of new revenue limit that we'd be able to spend. Um, we are only assuming 15 students. Again, very conservative. Are we probably at 15 already? Yes, probably. before people are starting to move in. Putting in a very conservative 15 student increase to our number um increased operating costs, strategic plan. We know that we market adjusted. We talked about all this in a little bit. We're going to be uh approving our letters of appointment which require a uh market adjustment on many of our positions. Uh salary increase right around 5.1. The new teacher compensation and loyalty schedule which was adopted. Health insurance. Uh the nice part is we are through we're January 1 till December 31st for health
071insurance meaning when we budget an increase it's only for half of the year. So uh but again right now we've got about 15% in that budget which ultimately is a 30% re the other piece being self-insured. If you ever step away from being self-insured, ultimately you probably have about three months worth of claims that you need to have in reserve just in case step away and do something different that way too as well. Uh then you got transportation supplies, you know, 3% been around 3% because CPI was at 2.7. The other pieces we don't know uh open enrollment and incoming enrollment. So we'll see. The only other federal funds that we're losing this year, uh, the last of the colon dollars is effective. Um, you know, basically it's about instruction. Uh, we've helped offset our
072literacy adoption there and where it goes. So, what do we plan on doing in the budget? Um, curriculum instruction. We're going to continue to enhance K5. You've heard a lot about act 20. Bless our staff who went through all that. At the same time, going through literacy adoption. So um this year our staff actually need to catch their breath a little bit. Uh math and literacy interventions. So again another big focal point is how do you continue to move the needle on our student growth? Really taking a look at that report card taking a look at subgroups and really honing in making sure that excuse me we're getting all the things that our kids need to be able to do that. Um again, we're going to be hiring another reading teacher. Um and again, significantly
073investing in some more uh literacy math intervention materials for our intervention institute as well. Um then we got parking lots, receal patch and stripe a little bit later this summer, carpet and paint and a couple classrooms, technology switches. Thank you very much, Mr. Benny. And but this upcoming year and what else are we forecasting for? What are we working on? can't get science. When I am here a year from now or right around in April when Maria starts to talk about her science adoption, I'm going to tell you science adoptions are expensive, right? You need a lot of stuff. You need stuff. So again, as we continue to close this year's books out, we plan for next year and right around November, we'll be like, "Okay, Maria, how much you think this is going to
074cost?" And that will be a cornerstone of next year's budget. We've got a 4K review and adoption. We've got a lot of leg work on this as well. Um unfortunately the last couple years have been super busy with math and act 20 and stuff this year. We have committed. So uh again it won't be a huge adoption cost but again another focal point of our learning here and then the mer values review and adoption full adoption whatever that might look like for 26 27. All of our curricular adoptions will be started in August. Again, will be led by Charity and a team of collaborating individuals. Um Dave and I have already talked about that and that's going through his budget process. And actually, and it was interesting because I was going to comment for a
075meeting when we were talking about all the things he wanted to do. I was like, "You've lost even to have a physics degree." I'm like, "I don't know what I mean." Been out of it a little bit. That's all electronic. I said, "Dave, what do you need?" And actually, we were able to make some of those investments yet this year to be able to do that, too. So, but uh through our budget process, I sit down with basically almost every department if they want to chat and do something unique. Dave always takes me up on that and said, "Ron, here's my plans. This is what we're doing." So, yeah. Um, we also wanted a new band saw, stuff like that for some. So, yep. All right. Here's how much money we have to spend right
076now ultimately. So, our revenue limit and a review on the revenue limit is resident membership. That is a three-year rolling average. Okay. For the Merkant Community School District, a district who continues to grow. When you replace a large number with a smaller number, that moved. Okay. We're literally looking at a 31 increase on our revenue limit. Okay. This is why you don't hear us talking about a lot of cuts or any cut. I mean, we're we're we're growing. Obviously, we've got to maintain, you know, our our fiscal infrastructure and things like that, but understand we're up 31. If you're a local school district, you are you're doing good if you're solid. If you're just steady, it's predictable, but a lot of them around are starting to go down. And that's when you start to hear
077about, you know, whether K12 are closing buildings and things like that. just they can't support the same operation for the least number of students they have. So ultimately resident membership times per pupil that per pupil is increasing 325. So the number is 11,625 or 650 for next year. So we're going to take 8.90 times 11,650. We don't have any one time or reoccurring exemptions because you only get that if you're declining enrollment. They don't give us anything for increasing enrollment ongoing. We don't have any of those ongoing and our revenue limit authority. So ultimately in fund 10 again the pie of state dollars and local taxpayer dollar that combination right now we anticipate to be $10,611,000. Again that will change certainly will change. Okay we talked about the state aid. It's an estimate. Okay, we
078are again when you increase students obviously the state is going to give you a little bit more dollars from that standpoint just because of the the the formula but um Merton has a as you know our property growth continues to grow up right um in our budget I budgeted 10% property increase okay that 10% probably like last year half of it was called net new construction basically homes that weren't here a year ago Okay, why is that important? That's important because it's not 10% inflation on all of us people who have been existing here and who have lived here before. You have added a 5% increase and then a 5% increase in everybody else's houses. So it doesn't equate to a 10% property valuation. Okay. But again, once you have more property, the state looks
079at you and says, "Oh, you can afford to pay more school taxes." Okay? Last year, we were aided by what we call MPS money. Okay. a year ago they were going through some audits and collected too much money. They had to give some back. So, we gathered about $89,000 for them. Now, I will continue to monitor this year's budget because there are some things that we can do uh after sitting down and working with DPI and working with CIS 5 and making sure that all of our ducks in a row is is we need to spend more money. What that means is is we have a healthy fund balance. Uh when we say spend money, they say move money from fund 10 to fund 46. make it look like you spend it, pay your taxes,
080right? It's like a Roth IRA. And that way the state says, "Oh boy, you need more state aid because you're you have a higher per pupil cost. You want to continue to push that up." Right now we're at 86% of the state average. The 100% of state average about where the state is. We're at 86% of that. So, we have the opportunity to take a look at our cash flow and to put some money into fund 46 and we'll do that in July once we get closer to this end of the fiscal year. Continue to keep the the finance team involved. Um, but don't be surprised this year if I come to you and the finance committee to say, "Hey, we would like to make a larger investment and a shift from fund 10 to
081fund 46 this year, and this is why." It's almost a 5050 for for every dollar you put in, you get 50 cents worth of stake is what the state is telling us right now. So again, we'll do our cash flow analysis, making sure we're solid there. Uh in the past, last year, I think we set aside 200,000. Again, when we take a look at our surpluses, uh this year could be, you know, up to 500, 600, or whatever that might be. And again, just shifting from fund 10 to an assigned fund balance in fund 46 for facility only. Okay, we're talking those one-time projects. So, so yeah, so more to come on that, but again, that's the only lever we have on state aid. Other than that, it's just kind of a hope and a
082prayer thing. And this year, July 1st, we don't even have a really good. Okay, tax levy estimates. Again, complete estimate. You put everything together, early mill rate of 3.42. Very early mill rate. Okay, property values go up, that'll drop that. But if we get more kids, again, there's so many things that we don't know. less state aid, more state aid, we don't know. We'll continue and as soon as we know all these factors, uh, and particularly at the next annual meeting, and I'll keep the board up to date about what's going on, too, as well. So, last year's mill rate was right around 3.46. All right, revenue estimates. Now, you're going to say, Ron, you said that we had 10,611,000 to work with, 370 to be exact. Uh, nope. We get some other stuff. Obviously,
083we ask for, you know, school fees, some technology, regular stuff. Um, we do get other state revenues in the form of per pupil aid, categorical aids, and things like that. Um, notice on there, you won't see much federal dollar in here as well. The only federal dollars that we will receive, if we receive any, is title two, which is for professional development. Okay. Um, and this past year was $8,000 down to seven in budget. We get some, not quite sure. So um so again tax levy, state aid, open enrollment. So again estimated revenues of right around 12515 expenses. Okay, obviously you're going to see salary and benefits 127 transfer. I'm going to go back to what Rebecca said about special education. If we get an increase in special education reimbursement, that will go from 7.1%
084down to maybe 6% or 5%. Right now, we're we're scheduled to do about a $950,000 transfer. So, almost a million dollars out of $12 million. Right now, is planning on going to special education funds. The majority of that is person. Lori does an outstanding job with her staff making sure we have what we need for our kids and not overinflating or anything else like that. Going through the process and really trying to control that too as well. So, um you can see where there's not a lot of and again we got private school vouchers that are and it's an in and out. Um when we really take a look at things we're about 7 and a half% of our budget to do stuff with outside of contracted service getting the lights on like that. Um
085right now we are balanced. Okay, we are balanced until Maria walks through the door every Tuesday. Uh, basically Jim's right before so he dugs me up a little bit. But, uh, again, all of our facility projects right now are in. It's not a really heavy facility, uh, you know, budget. It isn't. Uh, the roof replacement is in this year's budget. So, again, we were able to hopefully we should be able to take that out of 24 $25. But, uh, proposed $100,000 into the funding uh, which has to have an empty meeting. Uh again if we wanted to do something more again that is another expense that is that is expensed this year and set aside. Um and then we do have contingency for staff whether we need to pop a section uh special education uh
086things like that whatever it might be from okay and then we talked about this before our fund balance again very healthy again we have we're not auditing yet so I just kind of pulled up our last year's audit. Um so we're right around 42.56 or $4.2 $2 million of fund balance. Again, fund balance is not just money we have in the bank. Uh it is there, but it's used for short term because we get two two or three tax payments a year and uh so when you operate $12 million and you only get paid, you know, three times a year, you got to have a good cash and we're really really solid there. Um then we've talked about 41 and 46. Um that I think has increased a little bit because we did put some
087things in a year ago, but uh we're right around that $ 1.5 million. So the nice part about this too is the district does earn almost $150,000 in interest million budget each interest. So um that's really positive too. Um we are doing really well a lot of variables. I apologize everything wrong but again this gives you a very brief snapshot on what it is that we're going to try to do. In your board packet, you will see again detailed budget about how much the salaries. It's all wofer codes. Uh, exciting stuff. But then you also do see the revenue limit calculations or the three-year rolling average kicks up. We've added 325. Um, you'll see the charter school payments in there too as well that are anticipated from a year ago. The YT center, the independent
088charter school, um, that is not on the revenue limit. That just needs to be accounted for, which is another 150,000. So, our charter schools now are right around $400,000. Again, doesn't take money away from us. It is levied and then it's just expens you'll see that on all of our budgets. So, any questions about preliminary budget? Okay. Yeah. right now to be honest with you. No. Yep. Even with our open enrollment numbers, if everybody comes, we're in great shape. Yeah. Yep. What we would feel is still within really, really good school or our class size. Yep. But, you know, some years all of a sudden everybody shows up, they're a second grader. You're like, "Holy cow, boom." And that's happened before in the past as we know. Uh and so we'll see what happens this
089year. So far it's been a nice little sprinkle which has been really nice. All right. So they don't go through. Yep. You got it. Yep. Yep. So if nothing happens uh by October 15th I do believe again they can legislatively move it if they want. I from what I understand, but it would just roll last year's budget forward, which is 325, which is what we're expecting. Yeah. No increase to categorical special. Um the conversation piece that I think there's some momentum for would be the special education piece, but again, we're we're planning on to occur. So we're just for instance, if there's stalemate Madison, we roll forward. We're ready to go. Correct. Last budget cycle didn't go as well, especially at the 19. So, we're still waiting to hear from, you know, any of the
090literacy money from 20 because that's still money that's budgeted for but hasn't been released yet as well in some of those areas. We'll keep everybody updated. You'll get you'll get all the information too in your email. All right. Thank you. Stay safe. Right. Right. So, we're moving on to the adoption 2526 proposed budget. Yep. So as presented um again what you see here for the proposed budget is basically uh kind of a mini budget that gets produced and that would then basically be cast forward into the annual meeting and uh so you'll see this here coming up again too. So just you best guess we have right now. So just looking for a motion to approve the preliminary 2526 budget as presented. That's a move. motion and a second for approving the 2526 preliminary in
091discussion. So to reiterate, Ron, we are approving a we're approving something that will be more information about you. Exactly. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of approving the 25-26 budget, please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Thank we are moving Thank you. We are moving on to the first review of the 2526 employee handbook. So what you have there, let me pull that up here, is uh the recommendations that came from the policy and personnel committee. Um the employee handbook is something that we then would approve next month. This is the first review. Um so what you have there basically um you know some some dates and updates and you know some cancellation there. That's about it. So and I am going to recommend us moving the uh again the policy
092team didn't move it forward but I would recommend that we not move forward the uh July and August pays being paid out in June. Let's see. Ron is discussion discussion. There's no motion here because this is not an action. This is the first read. Uh thinking about the third to fourth grade promotion. You had indicated that something that you had said that made it sound like this might be uh difficult for some I think it was I don't know if it's children. We'll talk about that in the last budget last agenda item. Yep. That's coming up. That's not employee handbook. Oh, sorry. I had uh asked that discussion about increasing employee share on health insurance and that didn't get brought up at the handbook session which would be in the handbook. It's in the handbook.
093Correct. Yep. Right now it's 13.6%. We're these increases every year it's heavily on the taxpayer 15% every year and uh I would you know ask for one or 2% increase going to uh personnel care increase they're at 12 13.4 4.6 one of the one of the two. Somebody's at somebody's 13.4 somebody's 80 13.4 80 86 and vice versa. Basically it's 13 and 86 13 and 87 but it didn't get discussed at committee level but I think we need to keep that on our radar. We need to pass a little bit of a clause for the insurance but it's not all on the backs of taxpayers. What we can do again we we can discuss it now for it to be effective July 1st. That could be something that the board as we take a look
094at insurance renewals to be brought back and again that the employee handbook can be changed at any time with the first read and the second. So as we think about that next insurance renewal last year we had an 8% increase. So, which was very good for for our first year here. Um, so as we continue to really monitor and see how we're doing, that's something that we can take up when we take a look at insurance renewals for this upcoming year. Certainly, in the real world in in business, the employees are paying a much higher percentage of the insurance here. Will we have a June policy meeting? We can't. We can't. Well, our next renewal isn't until next January 1st. It's January 1st. January 1st is our next renewal. Correct. When is our next meeting
095and grouper? Um, probably in the fall. So, since it's before the renewal, can we sure put that on as one of the topics just so we have the opportunity to hear? Certainly. what some of those numbers might I can get those numbers accurate. So for instance when we take a look at the renewal say it's 10% or whatever um I can say okay if we increase by 1% this is what the employee cost increase like that to so yeah so we can certainly tie that back nothing's pulling us into that 13.4 or 13. Have the insurance bids included? Anything that we can do to reduce our cost overall as an institution? Yes. Yep. Yep. So, we will be continuing to monitor that um as we take a look at again another year of claims data
096which has been very very helpful all the way from whether you can because we're self-insured which means that we can we we drive the program, right? Which is fairly new. Which is fairly new, right? Yeah. because we used to be in a fully insured open complete open market basically for health care when we were with United Healthcare. Um because we control the plan. Um we did this a year ago or right around in January when we said we took a look at the numbers, took a look at the number of employees who were affected by what we would call the Aurora plan. Um met individually with them. We made the difficult decision to say hey this is why we help them transition into the plan where everybody else does too. The next steps to that
097is is really honing in down even into our own network and saying, "Okay, who's offering great quality care? What's the metrics?" We work with the business healthcare group. Who's the great quality metrics? Those providers at a really great price, you know, because you don't want that continued referral of, you know, you don't want to keep going and get your knee scoped, who's getting it right the first time, you know, more than likely, too. So, um, we're going to be taking a look at everything. uh everything will be on the table for this renewal. Right now, you know, things are trending really good, but our claims data is, you know, still three months out from where we we usually are. Obviously, bills take a while to get paid, but uh we're going to be taking a
098look at and we may be recommending some changes to our to our program, to our planning, whether that's again taking a look at, you know, in a self-insured environment, do you do we pretend we're like the private sector where if you do have a spouse who has insurance, they they have to go there? I mean, there's a lot of things that I think are going to be on the table for this upcoming renewal as health insurance continues to increase and eat up more of our budget. Have we been offered anything like my healthcare? If I had to get a preventative, if I do a blood panel every year, they take so much off of my my We certainly can. Um, we can we can bring you can start at any percentage that you would like.
099Um, you'd like to be research based in that. Again, we continue to work with our, you know, the business healthcare groups and to the insurance center to say, okay, you can reduce your premium. So, for instance, say, let's just say a lot of people will start at 25, you can reduce your premium to get down to 13 or whatever it is. If you go get your preventative care, you have two dental cleanings, you have, you know, flu shot, whatever it is, you can certainly do that. You want it to be research, we used to be the your biometrics. Um, we'd have them right in here. We would give them the sheet of paper and then right out there would be all the sheets of paper. Thanks, Jeff. You know, and I got it. So, um,
100Arrowhead does that. And again, look working with Jeff Gross. I mean, we're even investigating on-site healthcare as well, too, to see if that's something. Um, but I I do want to give it to our staff. Our staff is doing a great job. They've been they've been very responsive. I mean we had an employee well we tried to have an employee engagement meeting on when we had the well issue but uh again our primary care in our urgent care and our emergency room care it's very low which is great. So when we have these conversations about on-site clinics we're looking at it like wait a second this is going to cut you're going to charge me you know $50 per belly button or whatever for this clinic I barely spend $50 right now on primary care
101per per member. So having the data is really driving it. Um another piece that we did is working with our staff on some of those um biomeds. So um you know the things you see on TV. So carving them out and saying you have to get it from here. We're working with employees to get them signed up to making sure and uh the district saves it gets basically 3/4 75% of the savings back to us. So our our staff has been wonderful. They really have. And but they've been when I say reason because we just show that you know the Aurora was an easy numbers game. We're like oh really yeah so they've been they've been really champs too but it is spending a lot of our time on that. Have we touched base with
102any of the feeder schools that are in our same situation and how it's going with them? What they're doing? Yeah. See we're we're more aggressive. I will say we're much more aggressive than other other districts. much more aggressive in looking at other options or in looking at like for instance the other feeder schools still allow Aurora I'm not saying that's right or wrong but we took the aggressive approach to say in a self-insured environment you know I'm just going to use the baby as an example 40 or 20 same care same same identical and so that's what being you should say what those numbers mean oh numbers so basically we were being charged $40,000 for Aurora and 20,000 for Pro Health or Freighert or other providers, right? So, or an uncomplicated an uncomplicated, you know,
103apples to apples. Knee surgeries, same thing. So, we take a look at all the way from primary care as well. Um, so what we found was is Aurora doctors were not giving us the discounts that ProHealth and Freight and Ascension were giving because the business healthcare group, I've mentioned them several times, they're like our negotiators for this and uh so they've just said if you you can you can go there, but what we did last year was is our employees were paying more. That decrement though was not nearly making up for the difference between a pro health doctor and an Aurora doctor. So our goal is to get Aurora back in the network. Um but when we took a look at a disruption analysis, again it's all these this data is just fascinating. When you
104take a look at a disruption analysis, it was you know less than 10% of our care. So then we have the difficult conversation with our staff and everybody's like okay if it's 10%. Same way with uh you know with a narrow network with uh our children, our dependents who are out of state and we have maybe you know five or six f or six out of you know 80 full-time employees that are affected by that. I stand up here and say I get it because it's me too but we have to make these difficult decisions. So we work with that person. and you get a primary care virtual, you know, all ER, all you know, emergency care is covered around the country certainly, but if you have to have something planned, you need to do
105it here with our doctor. So, again, our staff has been wonderful. So, we've kind of taken that more so aggressively, Nicole, than than other people. And that's how you get an 8% savings, an 8% increase compared to a double digit. All good questions. Thank you. Okay. Again, that's first review. We can continue to talk about next time in June, which is a quick turnaround. June 9th, we'll uh approve that. Thank you. Okay, we're moving on to the first review of the 202526 student handbook provisions. Yep. Again, kind of highlighted those in the policy. Just if anybody has any feedback, feel free to uh send it either Bob, Steve, or my way and or the policy and personnel committee. [Music] Can I ask about the behavior matrix putting that? Sure. Bob, could you just tell us
106a little bit about the process for that? scattered out. If I make those conversations seem less like this is focused on this person and more like curious the system in which we work on. Yeah, absolutely. talking. Yeah. Seeing that move two, approving the 2526 letters of appointment. This is Yep. So, just uh again, thank you to the school board. uh you guys met in close session, reviewed this for several hours. So really appreciate your time and and attention to this too as well in response to our strategic planning initiative for this upcoming year. So um so what you have here is the uh recommendation for the uh letters of appointment ultimately which then would be created which would then be binding for us next uh next fall as we go into that. So, one of
107the reasons why we do this too at this time of year is is to avoid any unemployment exposure because we are committing to our to our staff from that standpoint too as well. So, um just looking for a motion to approve the 2526 letters of appointments as presented. We have a motion. The second uh any discussion? I'd like to again thank our the members of the compensation committee for the task force for all of the work that they did that was well laid out and lots of great data and that helped us a lot in our discussions. We appreciate Ronnie leading that committee and that task force and all of the members of that task force. Well, I appreciate our staff too sitting down and understanding that you know the variables that go into it,
108the data and uh the emotion. I mean it is emotional uh as well too. So, but I really appreciate our staff certainly. They did a fantastic job. Any other discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving the 2526 letters of appointment, please signify by saying I. I opposed. The motion carries. We are moving on to our open enrollment, student approvals, and weight list. This will be a motion. Yep. So, back in January, we were required to It's crazy to think about next year. we think about it in January, but uh the board did approve the uh the presented open enrollment seats and again included in that was is uh any and all speech only IEPs but we have zero for crosscategorical and beyond. Um this year we didn't get any crosscategorical we do have one speech
109in this in the numbers here too as well. So um so ultimately the board was kind of forced to make this motion because we decided back in January. So there'll be two separate motions um to this because we need to approve all the students coming in and then state statute since we don't have a reason to decline any of the students uh the 16 total uh that we need to approve those two as well. So I'll be just looking for two separate motions. So the administration recommend the board to make a motion to approve all open enrollment applications and alternate open enrollment applications not incoming with an explosion order or an IEP more than speech. any discussion going to people who are enrolling into the district tell us why they're interested in us? Um we
110call I I you know reach out to them and say most of the people that we kind of know um you know are coming at times. Um this year there's been some a little bit different. I mean they've been reaching out and obviously there's been some volatility in some of our feeder schools with some programming and possibly there's a few people in there who may reflect that too as well. But, uh, again, I'll reach out to them, welcome them, uh, asking for a tour if we haven't gotten that far yet. Um, we do know there's a couple people who have applied though who are current students here who have moved out of the district. Um, who now is the time again, we keep them under alternate open enrollment and then ultimately since they did move
111out of the district, they need to reapply for open enrollment or two. So there that is reflected in as well. Those those are easy. They're like, Ron, how do I make this happen? So, and we were able to accommodate all them. All of them. Yep. everything everybody fits completely underneath all of the limits that were set back in January. So, and that's why Rebecca were able to easily uh handle all of our open enrollments and still have those scattering of our new enrolles coming in from all the building new construction and movements. Other discussion questions? All right. All in favor of approving the open enrollment applications and alternative enrollment applications not incoming with an expulsion order or an IEP more than speech only, please signify by saying I. I opposed. And the motion passes. Thank
112you. Um, next, the administration is recommending the board make a motion to approve all students who have applied out of the Merin Community School District. And you'll see a total of 16 students who have three of them currently. And again, we'll be reaching out to them in many of the cases we already know because they've had discussions with us about why they might be looking for a different opportunity. So when you see that means 13 new students basically are already on our revenue almost some of them are 15 of the conservative 15. So obviously though open enrollies out they you know obviously we pay approximately $9,000 to that district or 4500 from a 4K state we choose. Um goes both ways unfortunately. So, but yeah. Okay. So, motion to approve all students who have applied
113out of the Martin Community School District. Yep. That's it. They're second motion in the second. Any discussion? Same thing again. Do we know why people are looking? We'll be reaching out. Yep. We reach out to them. So, we know where we know why three of them are. Um the other 13 will be reaching out. A common theme sometimes is either child care reasons uh from a 4K standpoint. Some of them decide, hey, I'm going to come back, you know, just because of childcare reasons. What we really are seeing though is is people who are moving into our district who are choosing to stay at their current school. So, they love their feeder school, they love Hamilton or wherever they're coming from, they have the ability to transport them. Um, you know, so when I reach
114out to them, it's like, "Hey, Ron, we, you know, great, but we want to finish at said school." Hey, I get that. Thank you. I understand that from a parent standpoint if that's something you're able to if not just remember we're here for you too and send them tell them all the great things that we're doing too as well. So we're to the extent that you find out that information I'd appreciate if you share that with us in an aggregate fashion. So absolutely tell who now sometimes again I make phone calls and emails as we know adults need to respond. We've talked about that a few times this evening. So but yeah we can definitely share that. All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of recommending of the motion to
115approve all students who applied out of the Martin Community School District, please signify by saying I. I opposed. Nay. All right. Motion carries. When I say a closed name, it's supposed to say n I All right. And our uh next is the final draft review of the third grade to fourth grade promotion and retention policy, which is 30 345.41. You had a question. Yep. My question was so you had indicated when we dropped this up in the administrator's report that this might be I don't remember exactly which one you said but it was something to the extent that because of this policy this might be harder for some children and families. Could you Sure. It's not going to be harder for promotion. I use the example of some some students will always have a reading
116plan. Okay. So once once you leave third grade, if you still have a reading plan, the only way you can get out of that reading plan or state statute is to be proficient on the state assessment. Okay? Um I I I say that because with a student with an IEP in the area of reading, in order to qualify for an IEP in reading, you need to be at least two years behind your peers. Okay? So again, and again that our our devotion towards, you know, particularly reading, I mean, we're hiring another person for specifically specially designed reading instruction, but it's it's that the reality is is if you have an IEP, you may not be able to pass state proficiency exam on that grade level. If you do pass, we look at and say, "Oh,
117great. Now we need to maybe we can revisit the IEP or do whatever we need to do." So ultimately though, as part of the process, you'll see is if a student with an IEP win a reading plan, the team is involved, right? You got your special educator and the LEA and things like that. So um so that's just kind of the logistics of things. It doesn't mean you don't get promoted. It means there's a conversation that occurs. Um and you've seen all the parent communication, the signoffs, the authorizations. Again, big heads up and thank you to to Maria. But uh ultimately it is required by state statute that you have a plan in place to address reading deficiency basically third grade on and this policy addresses that legal report. This is for IEPs not 504s.
118No 504s. This this is for any student any student who is not proficient by the time they leave third grade for the third grade test. Yep. So, uh, just a mandate that we're doing in a process that we'll have to follow. Yep. So, again, if there's any other feedback, uh, we'll be bringing this back in June 9th for final read. Any other feedback? All right. Thank you. Flip this over. Make sure then I think that brings us to the meeting and agenda items. So, our next meeting is June 9th from that standpoint. And then we also will have to and again I haven't seen the uh we'll have to come together in June too as well to do the district administrative midyear eval as well. So, thank you very much for filling out those forms
119too. Uh again, I'm sure you know a couple people responded to the doodle polls. So, um but we'll set that date coming forward here in June. June 9th. Could you remind us of our July date that we Jer um we picked July 21st? July 21st. Correct. Yep. And we're back at six o'clock. We're back at six o'clock. And what are we recommending for August? Typically, it's we we've done it towards the end. Um the month August the last one would be August 25th. that uh would our open house that week for the district is the 27th on Wednesday. So uh 25th works I mean any any day except the 27th of August. True. Monday it's the 25th. Okay. August 25th. Okay. And when do we need to set the community meeting or is that what
120do we just Sorry. Yep. So, we set the we set the annual meeting at the annual meeting next year. Yep. You got it. I forget that every So, the only request that I have, you know, as we think about September, I mean, we can you when all five of us are here, if we wanted to have a more global conversation about a steady meeting, we certainly can. Um, the only one I recommend or ask is October's as late as possible. Typically, we do it the last Monday or Monday typically is when we've done it just to give us some time to process everything, get back together and things like that. And I do have the annual meeting already up schedule. I just feel comfortable. Yeah. Any other future meeting or agenda items? I just wanted
121to thank the board and everyone else for allowing the meeting today to move back to 6:30. Not a problem. There we go. Everybody's gone. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All in favor, please say I. I. I. We are ajourned.