001This guy's he's trying to get you home so you can get some sleep after my day. So, >> okay. He likes to be >> whenever you're ready. Thank you. Please call. >> I will. All right. 7 p.m. >> All right. Nikki Austin is present. Jim Curran. >> Mike Davis >> present. >> Mike Process here. >> Nicole Joseph's >> here. Teresa Keane >> present. >> Steve Mayor. >> Terry Montgomery >> present. >> Phil, I don't see Phil, right? Nope. >> All right. All right, seeing that we have a quorum, go ahead and call the uh July 14th regular board of education meeting to order. Uh first item up is approval of our agenda for tonight. Look for a motion. >> So move second. >> Motion by Mike Davis, second by Terry. All in favor say I.
002>> All nay. Motion carries. Next we'll go on to our consent agenda. Give folks a minute to take a look if there are any board members who wish to remove an item from the consent agenda. Just let us know. I would entertain a motion to approve consent items. >> So moved. Second. >> That was Nicole. Second by Nikki. I'll go and read these before we vote. Um, item A, approval of the board of education meeting minutes from June 23rd, 2025. B, the approval of support staff resignation, Susan Langmire, North Side educational assistant. Approval of professional staff resignation, Joselyn Lindstrand, uh, Mineral Middle School family and consumer education teacher. Uh, professional staff hire, Melanie Palumbi. There you go. >> Parkside special education teacher. and acceptance of a community donation from Monroe Noon Optimus Club for $1,000
003for the Backpack Buddies program. Any discussion before we vote? >> Just one question. I noticed on the the hiring of Melanie, is that worrisome to anybody that she was the only applicant? Is that a trend we're seeing or is that because of the timing? >> Go ahead. It is. It's absolutely a trend we're seeing in special education teacher um >> pool right now. It's very very limited. >> It's really important to keep the people we have happy. >> Yes. Yeah. And I would add to that, um, even when we have positions that are posted in the spring, um, there's not there's not a a lot of candidates and we just don't have a lot of people going into special education anymore. They're tough jobs. They're really important and uh, so we're really doing our best
004to to grow our own when we can. >> Yeah. And we um we've also had several times people have been hired and then another district jumps in and hires um and hires them with a higher salary. >> Ouch. That's painful. So >> that's the game too a little bit. >> But good news is with this hire, we are fully staffed. The only the only professional staff position that I believe that we don't have filled is the uh middle school family and consumer arts uh position. And um we do have some applicants for that position. So we're feeling pretty good. Other discussion and big thank you to the noon optimist club. That's a significant donation to the backpack buddies program. Um, okay. Let's uh we've got a motion and a second to approve the consent items.
005All in favor say I. >> I. All >> oppose, nay. Carries. Next up, we've got public comment. Anybody in the house for public comment? Seeing none, I'll keep us moving. We got no old business. Moving on to new business. We've got a few items tonight. Um, another exciting uh set of announcements around our our sponsorships for the new high school. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Monroe to take us through those announcements. >> Sure. So, you know, again, as Jim has said and and we've celebrated more than a couple times now, we're really fortunate to uh live and work in an incredibly generous community. Um we have a number of sponsorships that we're looking forward to celebrate uh celebrating uh over the course of this summer and hopefully into the fall. But what
006we're going to talk about tonight is uh Figgy Insurance and Financial Services has very generously um offered to sponsor um our tennis courts at the new high school and the instrumental music room at our new high school. Um both would be 10-year agreements for naming rights. Uh the tennis courts would be paid for a total of $50,000 and the instrumental music room a total of $10,000. Um Shane Figgy could not be more enthusiastic about this partnership. Ron and I spent some time with Shane, talked about um the vision for Monroe High School and um what we're hoping to accomplish with the new facility. Uh and Shane was extremely eager to be involved and we're very thankful for uh the Figgy family and Figgy Insurance and Financial Services for their support. So, um, we would recommend
007that the board approve these two, uh, sponsorship agreements, one for the tennis courts and one for the instrumental music room. Ron, anything to add? >> No, I I would agree. They were uh Shane and and his team were very excited. I know um they were looking at not only uh programs that maybe some of Shane's uh family had been through, but some of the other people in the office who were committed to. So they kind of collectively uh selected the spaces that they wanted to support based upon things that were important to to their staff. And so I thought that was pretty nice. >> Thanks Joe and any questions for administration? >> Okay, we're going to take these individually. Uh so first I'll look for a motion to approve the sponsorship and naming rights of
008the new high school's tennis courts to Figgy Insurance and Financial Services Incorporated uh for $50,000 over the course of 10 years. >> So move >> second motion by Mike Davis, second by Terry. Any discussion? Just want to echo the immense gratitude that the administration shared here. And it is all it's getting more real, you know, to to envision what it's going to look like to walk up to a an actual home tennis meet with all the teams and all the, you know, all the courts in one place and have a have a nice beautiful sponsorship there for. Really, really appreciate this. >> Yeah. And that complex is going to look really nice. There's been a lot of work on on the design and it's going to be amazing. >> Can't wait. Okay. All in favor
009say I. >> I. >> All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Next we'll do the I will look for a motion to approve the sponsorship and naming rights of the new high school's instrumental music room to Figgy Insurance and Financial Services Incorporated for $10,000 over the course of 10 years. >> So move by Terry. >> Second by discussion. Joe, I know this is getting repetitive, but I think it's important that we every time we go through this restate the way these funds will be used. >> Sure, Ron, I'll let you do that. You do a better job than I do in just talking about how we're using the funds and investing them for the future. >> Yeah. And obviously we we will track the large uh donations for large places individually for those specific areas, but otherwise
010all the funds for the sponsorships are going to be used to help offset future maintenance uh of the building. And so um you know we have some long-term commitments for things such as the stadium and we hope to have an announcement coming up on the gym in the near future. Um and those dollars for those areas will specifically be identified for those spaces. uh the others will be collectively held uh and used uh to help support all those spaces that we will have sponsorships for as we move forward. So, it's all about not we don't need the dollars now to finish off the school for the most part with all these um what we're looking at is being able to maintain the building going forward without having to come back to the community. uh as
011as B you know if you think of like the pack we're hoping to find a sponsorship for the performing arts center um you know you get 10 15 years down the road you're looking at the lights you're looking at the sound system all those things to make sure that that space is a great space going forward not only like it is the day it opens and so that's how those dollars get will be utilized and so uh I'm excited that uh we're getting the support we're seeing because I think it's going to help our our community and our taxpayers long term and it's a great way to recogize uh some of these uh individuals and businesses that have long been supporters of the school district. >> Thanks for asking, Mike. Appreciate that. >> Discussion. >>
012All in favor say I. I. >> All oppose? Nay. Motion carries. All right. Next up, we have an action item to approve the academic standards as presented. I'll turn over to Todd to fill us in. >> This is a annual thing we do in July every year. Um, approve the standards links are there. Um, no major changes this last year. This is obviously the foundation of our work um of the knowledge and skills for each of those areas that we use to to build our courses. >> Pretty straightforward questions for administration. Okay. I would entertain a motion to approve the 2526 academic standards as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Terry. >> Second by Nikki. All in favor say I. >> All oppose? Nay. Motion carries. And next up we have an action item
013to approve the 2526 building parent and student handbooks as presented. we've been passing over to administration to >> so yeah sorry Jim um so as most of you are familiar with um annually we take a look at our handbooks and we ask the board to approve them prior to issuing those to our families in the start of the school year and we are in the middle of July and we are getting to that point where we're starting to feel like it's more like 25 26 and less like 2425 uh so our principles and and the staff have been working hard to make any necessary changes to the handbooks. Um if you had a chance to take a look at those, for the most part, they're minor adjustments. Um things that talk about um communication and
014the implementation of our parent square um communication system that's new this year. Um some talk of uh using or how AI should or should not be used with uh students assignments. Uh some minor fee adjustments when necessary. and then at the secondary level talking about some grading and assessment changes. So, um we have most of our principles here available to answer any questions that you might have and would be happy to do so at this time. >> I have a question regarding the um cell phone electronic communication devices because that covers you know can't be used in a bathroom in a locker room um only used in the classroom for educational purposes. Does this also cover smart glasses? >> Seen smart glasses? >> Um, electronic communication devices would, but we haven't encountered that yet. So,
015we have to add that specifically in there. >> Okay. >> Those becoming a thing again. >> Yeah. >> For 300 bucks, I think it is basically. >> And there's a camera on them, right? >> So, um, you know, obviously same thing, cell phones. >> Yeah. you know, but they can be used to also, you know, you could take pictures of tests and pass it along. >> Yeah. You can you can record video while you're sitting in class. >> Probably a live stream, I think, too. You know, >> are they easily? >> They're supposedly better. Um, initially there was no notification when a person was recording. There is now a red light, but I don't know if it can be tampered with and shut off, but >> electrical tape probably could cover that pretty easily. >>
016I'm sure it's not hard. Yeah, >> that in there as well. I mean, it would be under electronic mitigation devices, but >> I just remember seeing those gosh like 10 years ago maybe. I didn't know that those were >> Yeah, they they've revived that. And to your point, we haven't seen a lot of that. Well, you you I know you've talked previously about >> we had a patient ask for us to fit them with lenses and we said no because they actually are student and we said I don't know how that fits and so we're not going to do it. >> So like all technology it's it's likely to impact us at some point. So we probably need to to consider whether or not an update to the the handbook is necessary and policy for
017>> them if they can use those glasses to see. We can't see it but they can you know that's >> good question. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> One more thing to worry about. Josh >> we'll confiscate them and add them to our uh our stack of other cell phones >> collection given us >> their actual cell phones >> you had something just I was going to say for the grading assessment piece we you struck all of the traditional grading and added kind of a blur or a summary of what evidence-based grading is. I'm wondering if we should delineate which like for you know some for some overcommunication is better right should we delineate what classes will be evidence-based grading and which won't and should we still include if they're not this is what it will look
018like I'm just curious because I don't I don't know and >> yeah we can I mean that's what we did in the previous year so we can certainly add it back in I think we're at about 40% evidence based screening classes now and 60% non regardless of whether 7based grading or tradition We wanted emphasizing these prices that we said in there. So >> I'm just wondering if we keep in the weeds we wanted to get with how every point is derived and that's the reason we took that out and more about this is how your experience will happen in the classroom. Um but we can certainly add it in if that's want. >> I know I'm just throwing it out there. I think there is I think going to all those meetings I think there
019is a desire for more communication on what that's going to look like. Right. So I don't know if this is the platform the best platform to do it in. Um but I do think there's a desire for like better understanding of what that's going to look like. >> Yeah. Which one are you talking about evidence base grading or traditional? Traditional has been the same for sure. >> So that is what we're still is a work in progress right I mean you have rubric there which is one missing and refusal and then every single class will have their own proficiency scale. They can't put those all >> right related to the individual skills and then the scale of how a grade is derived is in there. >> But I'm just wondering if the courses like which
020courses are >> Yeah, I think that's >> should not be >> on the website. I would like to to have that spelled out of which courses are and like Jeremy said, we're at about 40% um evidence-based courses versus 60% not and and lay that out. A lot of them it's freshman and sophomore, some junior, not as many higher level senior courses. None of our AP stuff like that. >> Mostly core classes. >> Yeah, mostly core. We can do that. >> And I don't I don't know. I don't have a strong feeling that it needs to be in here versus on the website. I just think some place to be able to access or >> principal guiding principles and practices I think are in here. >> Um leadership committee is working through um changes now and
021still have some meetings left this summer. Obviously, there's a lot of work and thought that goes into some of this and preparation um as they work through this. Um but I think it's a good idea to identify the classes and I think communication will also be important um in August if your child is in a class and if they want more information then we'll provide that overview as well. Um, we have also talked about in the course overviews that we used to have kind of the syllabus, what information goes in there and not in the handbook because there are some specifics to classes and courses that need to be outlined there and we really can't delineate and sort through in in the handbook. So, I agree um overcommunication is key. Uh, we want to make
022sure it's in multiple spots. So, I think the website certainly the handbook and then in the course overviews that we're continuing to build. Yeah, I was conflicted on not having too much in there, but we could certainly add back in the traditional grading. Nothing has really changed that. >> And there's a lot of information in there, informative and summitative like examples and stuff like that. And then there's like how do we handle late work, homework, retakes, like some of that like Jeremy said, we are starting to move whether you're EBG or not, we're starting to apply those practices and principles to all courses. I think that's a good question, Teresa, because we still have classes that are being graded the other way still. >> And I'm I saw that grading scale was in there. Right.
023Right. I just know if there's a place for people to find that and to have access to that, wherever that is, I think that's fine. >> So, do you really like that they added the the use of AI or large language models? I'm wondering if probably not for this one, right? But we should probably put a section in in the future about appropriate use of AI uh because we're not going to get away from students learning that teachers teaching it and and I think we should set guidelines now for the future use of that. >> That is another committee that we have committee just that one more than some of the others. So you're right. It's an emerging area um in education and >> I think it's going to be critical skills especially for our
024our students that are working with businesses in the community. They're they're going to be using those those models as part of that >> educational experience, >> right? >> Going to college orientations, they talk about it. They don't really have a plan either. Just that we know that you'll be using it, but know that that isn't learning is what they say. >> Yeah. And depending how you use it, right? And if I'm hearing you correctly, Mike, there there probably is a role to use some of that technology, but let's make sure that we're coaching kids up on how to use it appropriately because I think if we won't do this, but if we did a show of hands of who's used it to help them through their work at some time or I I'll raise my
025hand, I'll help myself, right? And so I think um making sure the kids understand how to use it as an appropriate learning tool versus moving a moving them into a territory that's maybe not desired is what we need to focus on. So >> correct >> for sure. >> One other question. Um I see this is produced in I'll say in English. Do we also have a Spanish version? Other any other languages, things like that? I know at one of the hearing sessions that was one of the uh things concerns that was expressed. >> So, I believe we do, but if we don't, we'll just double check. >> Yeah, I appreciate just make sure with that and any other >> there questions from them. I do too. Go ahead. >> You go ahead. >> I I
026just had a question about on page 23. Should the like 15 days be stricken and 10 days is in which red is what's new? >> Are you looking at the high school? >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm looking at the high school and it says like 35 then 25 and 75 and 80% and it's not it's not stried out. So, I'm I'm wondering >> which page is that page 23. >> 23. >> Oh. Oh, yeah. Um, the the So, the red should be what will be what we want for 2526. The black should be >> the black should have a strip. >> I'm sorry about that. >> Okay. Okay. >> I will fix that right now. >> Josh is looking. >> I just wanted to make sure and clarify. >> Yeah. Right. Like like Jeremy said,
027I mean, we we want to increase our attendance expectations. >> And so we we had this year the senior graduation ceremony uh to participate in it. They had to students had to meet a certain threshold every single trimester. And if they didn't meet one during one trimester, then they were ineligible. Um well, I take that back. There's there's a threshold where you could u miss a number of days, but you had to make them up in the main office. And if you were below that, then you just that option wasn't available to you. >> Okay. Um, so we had an issue uh last year where a young woman made up a ton of time. She she did it, but it just didn't seem like you're still out of the building a lot. And so we
028just don't want people to come in and see just come in and just make up hours and hours and hours and hours. >> Is it beyond the regular excused attendance requirements? That's where this kicks into place. >> Correct. >> So just another way to kind of, you know, we're preparing these kids for what's what's next. You got to go to got to go to work. So, you got to come to school and if you want to participate in the commencement ceremony, which we would love you, you know, it's a great thing. You got to come to school. We don't want to keep anybody out of the comment ceremony, but also it's a privilege, right? And we do want to make sure that kids are coming to school and kids are going to the classes doing
029the work. And we felt like it was some students at the end taking advantage of that and being willing to sit in the office when their classes were done to make up time just >> on their phones or the computers and we wanted to make that a higher bar so you actually have to go your classes. >> So it's it's based upon attendance. But if they had really good grades, does that affect this? It doesn't matter. >> They still get their diploma. Yep. Just not walk. >> They just can't walk. >> Okay. Cuz I mean there's parents that take their kids out for vacation. >> Yeah. We're not talking about that percentage. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So I guess this is et page 12. the MHS handbook and one of the concerns on
030ev evidence-based grading in the listening sessions was seeing the grades are getting posted more frequently. How's the kid doing class so far? I don't know how spec specifically where we've addressed that, but I think on page 12 under communication, in other words, >> we can put it in the handbook, we typically don't, but >> for us, um, that's a talking point with our committee of at what week of the trimester should we post grades, right? Um, kids should get feedback early, right? We should be um looking at their evidence. Um, but in terms of when a grades submitted, Phil, like I think that's still the discussion point in our committee of is that week four, is that week six? Um, we feel like conferencing with kids, giving kids feedback, um, that onetoone dialogue should be
031happening all the time. So there's multiple things we're trying to address and doing a better job of communicating clearly where kids are at in the learning. >> Yeah. And I think as much as the kids, maybe the parents too, do they have access to that? When can they expect to be able to look and see how they're doing in class? >> I mean, I'm not saying it needs to be in the handbook, you know? >> Yep. >> A hot point sessions. And it seemed to me like it was maybe a three pointer, you know. get that zeroed in before school starts so it can be communicated to the parents and students. >> I was just going to say we're aware of that too and we would like to give more communication more grades earlier. We
032also don't want to give a false sense of skills when we're not quite there yet. Right. So it's this different concept in this, right? Because we're working on skills as the trimester goes along compared to the old system where maybe you turned in your syllabus signed by a parent or one worksheet and your grade populated as an A right away. We were good with that, but it didn't really indicate how good you were at the overall class. And we're trying to give an indication of how good you are proficiency wise at all the overall skills in the class. So that's the difference really primarily when we're trying to navigate through that is when is the time when we can say yep you're proficient and we're pretty solid with that. Um, week one or two is
033hard to do that, but maybe we can give indications. That's what we're stressing with, right? Give indications of so far on everything that we've done, which is what the system and I think that's what is class in that class. How you get there, I think it's in your good hands, but I think that both I guess some of these are questions about broader topics that we're using the handbook as one evidence point to gauge are we addressing or are we hearing are we turning things around and so appreciate the discussion. Any else have questions on the handbook itself before we >> uh one just trying to check here. I noticed you have one red line on the high school one under the um search and seizure policy. Is >> that on page 55? >> Page
03455. you all. >> That's why I just wanted to make sure we weren't >> making changes to the policy attachments >> unless I mean if we need to make that grammatical change in the policy, we can do that, but it needs to match. >> I'm not sure why that would Right. Red. >> It's almost like you wanted us to see it. >> Good to >> the official >> you said that shouldn't be in there, Jeremy. I don't know why >> I can actually check the actual. >> Okay. So with that I will look for a motion to approve the 2526 uh parent student handbooks as presented. Are we doing them as presented or are we making the changes >> some edits in the motion be as amended? >> I'm I'm good with that. Does that
035work? >> Right. Because you guys are going to make some changes. >> Yeah. Back to you guys at some point. >> I don't think we need to, but we don't want to approve them as this. >> Yeah. Right. So, I look for a motion to approve the 2526 building parent student handbooks as amended from our discussion today. >> Second motion by Phil, second by Nicole. Any discussion before we vote? I >> want to say thanks to all the the principles for all all the work on this. I know it's tedious work to keep up with all of it. Thanks for the thanks for being open to the questions and feedback too. All in favor say I. >> I. All >> oppose nay. Carries. Okay. We get to set date for our annual meeting. Turn over
036to Joe and Ron to give us a little background here. >> Yeah. So, the annual meeting is an important event that we hold annually for the name. Um, and there's a number of things that the uh board and and the community uh worked to determine during that meeting. Um, it's very significant for our budget. I'll turn over to Ron to just quickly talk about what what it is that he usually accomplishes with the board and the community at that meeting. >> Yes. That's the night when uh the community actually approves the the budget uh and the levy uh that are presented in the paper to them uh late September. Uh it's the framework for the the budget that we work off of the remainder of the year. We do come back uh prior to the
037end of October uh and make some final amendments to once we get our final numbers on our revenue limit and our aid. Uh and so there I won't won't say that that's the final one because we actually set the final levy uh after we get those final numbers in which we don't have in advance of when we have to put it in the paper uh in advance of the annual meeting. So we have it later uh in the year so that it's much more uh timely and the information is much more accurate. Um used to be the law said uh before revenue limits came into play uh that the last Monday in July was the annual meeting date and there's still a handful of districts that still do it then. Um as you know and
038we'll discuss here you oftenimes have no idea what your budget's looking like. Uh and so uh by having it in October allows our community to see a much better uh picture of what our what our budget will be. Uh we also do approvals of such thing as you know the ability to offer you know a food service program and and morning milk and the ability to you know offer textbooks and all those uh kind of systemic things that we do every year. But it's really about approving the budget and the uh uh setting the levy for the district. So, we have October 20th, Monday, October 20th as the recommended date. One thing for the board to consider that's written in the motion and happy to have this changed. Um, one suggestion was that we could
039potentially hold it at the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center. Uh given the conversation that's going to be happening not only later today but in future meetings um we may or may not be considering a referendum which may result in more people having an interest in attending that meeting. Um I'll just say for me I've had a sensitivity to when we have meetings where we anticipate that there could be a lot of community members here not having enough space potentially having to move. um happy to have it here, but I also think if there's a thought that we may have a good number of community members that are going to be in attendance that we plan for that ahead of time and we make it comfortable and accessible. >> Joe, do you have the pack
040schedule already to know that there's not going to be something going on that day? >> I do not. Um Jeremy, do you have access to that right now? >> That's a great question, Mike. on Monday, October 20th. >> Same problem as always. NHS induction s. >> Yes, >> that's right. >> So, >> middle school. >> I think we I think that is what we did last year, right? I think we said we were going to be here and if it was full and that's how we posted it. Everyone would walk over to the middle school. >> That is what we did. >> Yeah. >> And we made it to NHS in time. Yep. >> And last year the numbers weren't a problem >> and we ended up being able to stay. I'd recommend that we
041posted it. >> Yep. >> That we would just walk over there. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> So I would say that good call. >> Yeah. And we used to approve this date at the annual meeting. Um and a few years ago we we we we actually had switched at one time to the um and that might have been right before CO happened. We switched it to right before uh with the first meeting in October for the board meeting. And what we learned is it just becomes too problematic to actually then execute and have an actual board meeting. Sure. Uh and so we've kept it as uh the amend the the what gets approved at the annual meeting is that the board has the opportunity to set the date. Uh which is great. It gives us
042that kind of flexibility. But uh we've we've found that the traditional which it always used to be the the third Monday in October works best because otherwise it really conflicts with with a board meeting. >> You'll have all the state >> No, we won't. uh the state aid. Well, um I will have it uh but we won't be able to act on it because the I'll get it on October 15th. However, we act on what is posted in the paper and so what gets posted in the paper has to go out far enough in advance of the 15th that I don't have it by the time I put it in the paper. So, what we'll do is much like we have other years, we'll have what is in the budget. Uh, this year I'll be
043early enough I'll have the actual numbers. Last year I got them literally on the day of the annual meeting and I can tell people what we're the board will be approving the following week, but they'll actually be acting on what is in the paper. >> Feel like it was fine. It was a meeting place. >> I'm trying to look back, but >> All right. So, if I'm hearing us correctly, we're we're looking to >> Oh, we set I'm sorry. We said >> we need to set the time right now >> cuz this said seven. at the time. >> Yeah, but we never did at seven because we got to NHS. We did it at five. I'm sure we did it at five. >> Then we were able to get to NHS. >> Changed it from
044what this was. >> Yeah. So, last year we didn't do it by seven for sure. >> I would say, >> right, any other questions for administration on this? We're hitting the time. >> I think we listed a time. It was five o'clock. I know. I looked at that. >> Yeah, I knew I >> Okay. So, I'm gonna let make sure I've got this right. So we are looking at just clarifies the location >> to be held at the Bower Education Center with Monroe Middle School auditorium as an alternative site. And this is Monday, >> October 20th at 5:00 p.m. >> Okay. So, I'm going to look for a motion to approve the annual meeting date for Monday, October 20th, 5:00 pm to be held at the Bower Education Center with Monroe Middle School Auditorium as
045an alternative site if necessary. >> So, move got motion by Mike, >> second by >> Nicole. Sorry, >> Cole. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. All in favor say I. I all oppose. Nay. >> Motion carries. Okay. On to curriculum update. Toss it over to Mr. Perry. >> Yeah, I got two things. It's been a busy June, half of July. Um, summer school just wrapped up. Four weeks um of that wrapped up last week. We had 937 students take at least one class. That's really good numbers. I think when I reported maybe April, May after registration, we were in the 800 range and typically 900 to a,000 is where we've been. So, um we talked about transportation not providing that um or it being limited um families certainly and kudos to families and finding a way
046to get kids there every day. Um didn't seem to have a big impact on our overall numbers as it compared to the last few years for sure. So, um, big thank you to all the staff that commit to work. Um, it's a tough school year and and then they they sign on for four more weeks, um, which is a big deal. We provide a lot of different opportunities that are great for kids, um, including breakfast and lunch every day. So, it's a it's a great program. Um, thankful for Laura up at Dak and all the work that she does in the preparation. And then um we have a couple teachers do principal ship during the the four weeks and they do a great job of help managing the day-to-day work. So overall um really good.
047Um second on my list is we've done a lot of work in June with our 612 staff with Evansbased I'm going to say teaching and learning. U we use grading. It's a lot more than grading obviously. It's curriculum updates, it's assessments, um it's pacing, it's all of that. Um we had 75 staff um attend workshop sessions in June um up to six hours of work where they were in this this space working together as a team um again just doing the work um and preparing for next fall. And then my last thing in the list is we had Eric Larson. Some of you know Eric. He came and reported to the board last October. Um he is a data guru at the state level. He works for CISA. Um this is the second year working
048with Eric um and he does a great job of providing a breakdown of all the data um forward ACT preac and really helps us identify things that I think for us would be hard to identify because he knows a lot more about all those metrics and how everything works. Um so he met with each building leadership team and identified celebrations and then some things that we can work on um to address in our action plan for this upcoming school year. So spent two days with him. He'll be back with us in October again to meet with all of you once we get report card information to break that down and give an overview. But Eric's great. Uh well worth the time that we have with him and and helping support the work that we're doing.
049>> A lot of early indications that suggest we have a lot to be proud of and celebrate. a lot of celebrates celebrations and then he always finds a few things for us that are things that we should target and work on and some of them we are aware of and sometimes we're surprised and and that's good want to know that information. >> Glad to hear the summer school numbers were up even though we had the rural buses. That's great news. >> Yeah, really good. >> Do you have that breakdown? Do we know were they up in the city and down in the the the country? Were they up across the board? Where were they >> for summer school? >> Yeah. >> Um I don't have exactly how that breakdown plays out between in town and
050out of town. I just know the numbers are very comparable. We had 900 and some last year attend. So we're pretty close. I look back to 2021 which we were coming off of co and that did some things differently. We had only 657 students attend. So we've slowly been building that back. But I'd say the last two or three years, Mike, we're in we're in the 900 to a thousand range. So pretty comparable. And I, you know, we'd have to do a real deep dive to identify which kids didn't sign up. And that might be harder to determine what the variables were there if it was transportation or what, but I just know the overall numbers are. Good comp. Good question. Going back to the Eric Larson and and data piece, uh I think the
051board is aware that on August 4th, we have a data retreat scheduled with the board. Um the timing of this is great because it allowed us to spend a couple days with Eric, really dig into what's going on. We had a meeting this morning talking about the timing and making sure we get everything ready. Um, and it's our hope to um, have everything lined up so that we can have data that we share with the board, be prepared to answer questions from you all and make sure you feel good about the direction we're going in and and frankly, we're pretty excited and and proud of the work and looking forward to that. Um, we are planning and hopefully the two of you got an invite. Um it's our hope to sit down with Jim and
052Teresa to get some early indication of what it is that you all hope to see from us because we want to make sure that it's that we use the time wisely. Uh so we'll do that and uh certainly if there's any information that you hope to to hear from us certainly you can work through Jim um and uh Jim and Teresa will will get us that information. We'll be sure to have it. But looking forward to that conversation that's really meaningful. I just want to say on behalf of the team in the past there's been a little bit of confusion about some of that work but please know that whenever we have an opportunity to sit down with the board and talk about the work and share our results both good and there's a lot
053of good and the areas that we need to target to improve. We look forward to those conversations. So that'll be that'll be a fun day. >> What are the hours of the data retreat? Was it meant to hold the whole day? >> Uh no I think we is it five guys? What did we have on that? >> Five to nine is >> sticky. And I'm like, whoa. I put myself out at work. >> Oh, you did? >> I did cuz I'm like, okay, maybe we change something. I didn't know. I was >> Yeah, I have five to eight on my calendar, but I if you know, if we go three hours, I'd be surprised depending on how many questions you all have. >> Obviously, we'll get a we'll get an official invite and post out
054there, but tenatively plan on 5 to 8. >> Um, It says all day. I'm like, "Yeah, literally." So, I'm like, "Okay, great. We're going to learn a lot. >> We We like data as much as >> I know you like data, but I'm like >> the rest of them, but that might wear everyone out." >> So, we wouldn't do that to you. >> Oh, thank you. >> So, well, again, looking forward to that that opportunity. I think it's going to be a great evening, not day. Todd and Joe, any other questions for administration. >> Let's move on to our Monroe High School building project update. >> Yeah. So, we've got a few things that we want to talk about. And Heather's queuing up the slides, but we're not going to give that to you right
055away. We're going to treat that kind of the dessert after the dinner. Um, because that's really exciting. I saw Teresa was looking at it over here. Um, I think what we want to do is talk about a couple things before, um, we get to the branding and signage. Um, is talk a little bit about just where we're at with the general, um, construction update, things that are going on. I want to talk to you a little bit about a time-sensitive issue relative to um, synthetic turf on varsity softball and baseball fields and whether or not that's something that we'll consider doing. and then we can get to the branding and signage which is really giving you a visual of what what the building may look like based on um the early work. So Ron, do
056you want to start by just talking about where we're at with the construction at this point? >> Yeah, I'll just uh give an overview, but I did share the the two latest updates. one from uh Russ uh who is the uh with P architect who comes out and uh participates in all the on-site construction meetings and and does uh his inspections and walkthroughs of the building. Uh and so they have a whole team that works on originally on the design and then any u changes in design that are coming. They have uh two people who are just dedicated to answering questions about final clarifications for all those uh subcontractors as they come up and then Russ is really kind of that liaison person, their boots on the ground here, but also uh a communicator back
057with those folks even though in the world of online virtual meetings, most of all of them are in those meetings as well virtually, but he's it's nice to have an actual person. There's also uh an update there from Joelle with uh uh CG Schmidt uh and uh Joelle does a lot of the uh details and tracking of of of individual parts of the project uh as far as uh you know he has an engineering background but uh he's you know new to the company and so he does a lot of the the gobetween between the subs and the architects and tracking down any questions that are there and getting them answered. And so he also uh does the the minutes and and also uh uh gives updates as to uh what how the project looks.
058There's a lot of pictures there for you. In a nutshell, uh the uh kind of the main academic wing on the uh west end of the building. Uh they're inside working on drywall. In some areas, they're even working on uh uh taping the drywall. Um the roof obviously is on those sections of the building. Uh the roof is now uh covered like through the uh kind of the back of house uh food service and and working its way over. And now they're actually onto uh the fieldhouse as well. And so um they're hoping to have that done here in the next week or two. And then once that's done, they're going to move to uh the clear story for the commons. and then they'll move from that uh to the north and finish up over
059the uh pack music science library uh egg areas. And so uh making great progress and obviously as uh as they get areas buttoned up, they're flooding all the subs in there. So, I mean, whether it be, you know, uh you you think of all your mechanical subs, but you also have your door eyewallers, your windows, your your your door people, uh they're all flooding in there as as as the opportunity allows. So, we're moving really good. If you saw some of the pictures in there, uh on the landscaping side, uh the big retrain retaining wall that uh kind of separates, uh our baseball softball area from from the wetlands that were out there, uh has been completed. That's pretty impressive. Uh and then um they're actually starting in some areas with the islands uh doing
060the grass and and trees. And so uh that's pretty exciting to see as well. and uh still on on uh budget on schedule and so that's always great news. Um the weather, you know, uh has for the most part cooperated with us. A few of these last storms uh certainly give them uh some pause, but uh nothing that puts us off schedule. Uh it's just uh working around it. Uh and you know, we'd we'd like to get that roof on everywhere uh you know, as as as before these big storms keep hitting. That's that's our hope and our goal. So, >> any questions for Ron relative to that before we move on to the next topic? >> Ron, what was the digging that they're doing down in like the northeast corner? I noticed they were
061doing some excavation down. >> Oh, there's another there's another pond over on that side. >> So, much like there's the ponds to the uh uh south of the building that were done way back at the the first thing that was done and they've been there ever since. There's there is a pond up there on the northeast in TU to so it kind of our water goes into that and then settles slowly out uh into the land below us, right? Because >> it wasn't the lift station. >> No. Uh although >> you station on this side of the highway. >> I was really hoping. >> See, that's a great question though. Uh there is we uh CG Schmidt did have a meeting with both um the BNS development team as well as uh uh and actually
062it's it's more of the the carousel uh folks who are doing the work for them as well as with the city's uh contractor who's working on the street project. And so they got a better sense of how that coordination is going. um you know their bids are out for actually it's been approved for for the streets for the city and so that work is is going to be commencing soon. Uh BNS has uh some of the specs and stuff put out for some of their work and they're actually hoping uh that they may be ready to uh have a lift station in as soon as December would be is the optimistic look. Uh obviously we know there's always some DNR permitting and things that you know can can sometimes delay that. It's just a question
063of how fast those permits come through. But uh that's what they're hoping and and shooting for and they've been great as far as uh uh trying to work as fast as they can with all the you know the city approvals and then the state approvals and things that have to happen. Uh, one thing uh, not to switch subjects, but I also wanted to share um, was obviously internally uh, when I talk about them doing some drywalling and stuff uh, in the areas of the building where they're looking that NAMI has uh, fired up some of the uh, not our in some cases our air handling units uh, not the full systems but to get some of the humidity out. So we are controlling humidity in the building. Uh, we have external cooling coming in. uh
064we haven't fired up our own AC uh and so we're we're trying to keep the humidity down as we do that work. So just so you know there's we're not in the heat and humidity and dampness uh working on drywalling units they brought in. We're not using our >> not yet. We will be we're looking to hopefully have ours fired up before we get into the winter. And so right now it's uh we're we're moving some of the air, but we're not but it's mainly all temp that's coming in as far as providing the actual cooling. It's not our AC units. >> Make sure they're doing like some one point of conversation with them is to make sure they're protecting those because all the work and the dust of construction can can sometimes cause problems
065with the units long term. Then >> I lived through that. Uh this will be my third time living through that yet. So usually they double filter them. uh do some screening off and then usually there's a a commitment that the warranty doesn't start till our actual occupancy, not when they fire it up for for us to start using it for construction. And there's also um in my one project, we actually had we required duct cleaning. That was back when we were doing more uh concrete construction. I don't think we'll need that this time. Uh but yeah, there's that whole all new filters, uh duck cleaning, all those things to make sure they're in place. And so we've had some of those conversations already. So, but I appreciate that heads up because if you haven't lived
066it, it's it's a big thing. >> Yeah, it stinks. >> Um I think maybe it was the last meeting or some previous meeting we talked about they are going to incorporate an arch of some sort somewhere. Is that moving the existing one or is that creating a new >> That is creating a new arch. The current arch is staying with the building. It's technically part of the architecture and >> holding up the front entrance >> secured to the building and so we won't be moving that. But we will have something very similar uh represented um on the uh well it would be towards that northeast end um by the football soccer track stadium um going over a walkway and we think the way it's set up will look quite nice. There's also another representation of
067the arch that we'll get to at the end when we get into some of the branding and signage discussion that we'll show you. >> Right. Perfect. So that what I heard you say is that's a structural element of the existing building. So that's not something that can be moved. >> Nope. You and I won't be out there with crowbars and saw us taking that thing apart at that staying there. But we've heard from from the community loud and clear that they want the new high school to have the have an arch have it represented and we're excited to tell you that we think it's going to be beautiful and it'll be there. >> Great. Thanks. questions. >> Get on the update and then I don't know if you want to jump to turf then or
068>> Sure. >> Let me just one one quick this is probably obvious to everyone else but one quick note of of gratitude. >> I think it just kind of struck me how much >> of your time Ron is being devoted to this project and just how lucky we are to have you with all of your experience and uh skill and wisdom as kind of the lead on the project for the district. So, I just want to say a big thank you to I just I'm you're on all these meetings. You got all you're answering every very detailed question about the project and you got a whole uh another set of responsibilities for the for uh for your your core job. So, I just want to say thanks for all the work you're doing. >> I
069appreciate that. But I really do I mean I think the board did a great job of you know and I know Mike was on those interviews too. We we we obviously we had an original selection of there's there's very you know you can do a design build. Uh but it's sometimes nice to have a general and a contractor. So you kind of have two sets of professionals there already. Sometimes with that push and pull, you know, as we are working through to come up with some of the efficiencies needed to make our budget. It's nice to be able to have two companies giving you an opinion versus just one. and you're sitting there wondering what what is being said. Uh but then you know we heard from the community and and the board followed through
070with getting uh our owners rep and so we have that level of professionals too and then uh you know it's it's it's not just me. Jeremy's put countless time in in into meetings with that building. Joe since he's uh jumped on board. Uh Rich Center like the day-to-day small questions uh they're they're on his phone all the time texting or calling him. And so um there's a lot of people uh who are invested in this because obviously we want this to be, you know, a great success for our district and our community. And so I appreciate it, but I'm just one of the cogs in this. And so, uh, there's a lot of people that are, uh, committed and and I I get excited when I, uh, I hear the passion that the professionals who
071are working on this building have for it. And I get excited when I hear, you know, one group of professionals or two groups of professionals talking very complimentary about the professionals from the other entity that are working on it. So when you have, you know, your Huffman Keel team and your uh P team saying the the guys who are running this for CG Schmidz are an all-star team, that that tells me a lot. CG Schmidt can tell me that and I I somewhat, you know, believe them. But when when the other professionals say these are really great people who are in charge of your project and then at the same time when you have CG Schmidt saying we really enjoy working with these folks because some of these I mean P and CG Schmidt have
072worked together but you know Huffman Keel hasn't worked with you know these you know they they worked on a lot of projects but not directly with some of these teams and so uh when you have people telling you that and experiencing that you know that they're they're being genuine with you and so u we we have a good good team working for us. >> No. And I'll just say thank you for recognizing Ron. I think my lucky star is that we have him to facilitate this project because I do not have all the experience that that Ron does and Mike does and others. And so there there a number of times when there's some things going back and forth and I have to immediately look at Ron and say, "Ron, what's our answer?" Because frankly,
073we don't know. So, we are very fortunate to have Ron in his experience. Um, so let's talk about um turf for the softball and baseball varsity fields. This is something to be clear that was not built into the budget originally. Um this is something that has been brought forward by some individuals um from the community, people that are associated with the baseball and softball programs that are very interested in seeing synthetic turf being on the infield portion of the varsity softball and baseball fields. Uh in short, the rationale is that if you're playing softball and baseball in April and May in Wisconsin, it's really wet and drainage is an issue and there are number of games that are often uh postponed andor cancelled as a result of the weather. And so, uh, they truly believe
074that it's it's in our best interest to provide a synthetic infield to give kids, uh, the greatest opportunity to play their games and play their games in Monroe so that they don't have to be, uh, rescheduled or moved to some schools where they do have, uh, turf fields and and they can accommodate despite the weather. Um, I think as Ron and then and Jeremy and I have all been pretty consistent in our response. We hear you loud and clear. We support your desire to have the turf, but we're not going to compromise this project by promising that we're going to make a purchase that was not originally budgeted. That's just not something that we're comfortable with and certainly I've heard loud and clear from the board that we've got a budget. We need to stick
075to the budget and that's what we're honoring. Um but through the process of the SP uh naming and sponsorship work and and also working with some of those community members that are very interested in in turf, um we have had some discussions in the community about whether or not there be uh businesses that potentially would be interested in sponsoring the turf for those fields. Um at this point we have some indication that that may be the case. uh we don't have anything signed and and part of the reason we're having this conversation tonight is to get take the temperature of the board relative to this this idea that if we were able to secure the funds um from some donors would we be interested in investing in synthetic turf for the varsity softball and baseball
076fields? Um again we don't have anything nailed down yet. Um we have um strong indication that their support for the softball field and we had a very serious conversation relative to the baseball field as well. Um but this is a time-sensitive issue. Um they're actively working on our athletic fields. Um there's a lot of design and planning that goes into it. There's specific drainage work that needs to happen in order to put a synthetic turf in field on those fields. And so, you know, after trying to get a sense of where this was going and working on this for a number of months, um, we felt it was necessary to to have some discussion at the board level to to get some feedback and direction from the board. So, Ron, what did I miss relative
077to that? >> Two things I guess I'll point out. One is, you know, going back to Mike's question earlier tonight, um, this would be different than what how we're treating all the other spaces, right? So the other spaces sponsorship dollars are going to set aside to help with the long-term maintenance. In this case, turf was not planned for for those fields. So this would be looking at are we willing to use some of that upfront money to to fund the turf? And then two questions is how much sponsorship are we getting or if we have some commitments even if they have a two three-year payback are we willing you know to to do that versus we need to have it all up front and in hand. I think the other issue is uh you know
078that the people who are proponents for this would say is they know that we're looking and hoping that at some point we will have uh maybe even if we have dollars at the end of the project uh lights on those fields and so they're looking at it only being on the varsity fields. That way, um, you know, if the the infields of the JV fields are not, you know, playable and we have lights, we can do stack the games on the on the varsity fields and still get both a JV uh and a varsity game in in a night, which is what they do in some of the other districts that do have uh turf fields. So, they're not looking at going turf on all four diamonds. It would just be on the two varsity
079diamonds. >> Was lighting in the original plant? >> Lighting is not. We put in the infrastructure for the lighting. All the duct work or all the conduit is there going to all of them. Uh anywhere where the bases were going to be interfering with uh asphalt or concrete work, uh we we put the bases in place so that we're not cutting through brand new uh black top or or or concrete. And so that is there. It's one of those areas where when Ryan talks about, you know, there's our uncommitted dollars, which we now committed some of those dollars to furniture, there's our owner contingency, and then there's project contingency. That's one of those options that the board will have at the end is saying, "Okay, we have some of those contingency dollars. What do we
080want to consider to finish out this project?" And that would be one of the things that we could consider. Uh, so we have those pricings available. So, we're talking strictly about the turf though, not lighting tonight. >> Okay. Okay. >> And turf installation, not long-term upkeep. >> That's the question that we're having is are you w because if >> if if we're not willing to do that, then there's no turf in the project and then we just go move forward without turf. >> Gotcha. What is the maintenance involved with turf? like if if we use the dollars that are committed for installation, what does that look like from a maintenance standpoint 10 years from now or five years from now? I don't know anything about that. >> Yeah. So, it does have a it does
081have a replacement u much like uh the football uh field does as well. Uh typically there they're telling you it's 12 to 15 years. Many districts are getting 15 years or longer. Uh what we're hearing is because of the usage quite honestly when you're talking the football field you know like in our case you're talking PE classes football soccer all getting on them those are more likely on the baseball side they're typically getting longer out of their turf than than even the high school or even the football ones. Uh you still have to rake it and do all those things like you do with the other turf. you know, it's it's got uh it's not as high of a turf usually on the infields as it is on on the on the uh football. Uh
082but I haven't, you know, seen what turf they're looking at. And but you still have to break the little pellets and do all those things. And so there is your your your typical maintenance. Obviously, there's not as much striping of the field. There's not as much mowing or or maintaining of the infield. So there is some labor savings over the course of it uh over the life of it for you know uh having people out there on a on a wet day raking it and trying to dry it and then getting it you know striped and ready to go. So >> do you have any idea what lights would cause? >> Um yeah I believe we shared that out at one point in time and I can give me a second or two I can
083find that for you. Well, you're looking for that just a clarifying question. So, is what you're asking or why we're having this discussion, you're looking at potentially someone's interested in the naming rights for the the varsity fields, but instead of setting those funds from the naming rights aside for maintenance of those fields long term, those funds would be used upfront for turf. So, the district then would be responsible for planning that maintenance. Is that >> that's absolutely correct. I think that's step one. And step two is those people would be paying over three or five or 10 years, but we would have to come up with it up front. Is that accurate? We'd have to commit to the funds to get it done >> if they're paying over a 10-ear period. >> Yeah. Okay. So,
084and again, to be clear, this isn't listed as an action item. We're not taking a vote. This is more again just trying to >> thumbs up to >> Yep. Just getting a sense of what the board's comfortable with because as we've said a couple times, this was not part of the original plan. We're trying to be responsive to the community and the people that are very passionate about softball and baseball. And I just would say I understand why. I appreciate the amount of time and effort they put into this. They're good people. They truly care about our kids and their experiences. Um, but this is different. This is different from our original plan. This is different from how we're treating the other sponsorship agreements. And as such, we wanted to make sure that we're having
085we're providing an opportunity to speak publicly about the thinking related to this work if we're going to move forward because if if we truly do have some businesses that are interested in uh sponsoring uh this project. Um we'd hate to enter into some of those agreements and then come back to the board and have you all say >> no way. Want to get a sense of where we're at. >> Quick question, Ron. What is the price difference between turf versus grass? >> Uh, well, grass is what's specked in there right now. And so, uh, >> if we wanted to switch if we right if we wanted to switch to turf, it's it's $400,000 for the two the two varsity infields >> together. >> Yeah. >> 200 each >> together. It might not be 200 each
086because baseball would be bigger than softball, but >> I only have a combined number for that. Okay. And there's different donors for each side, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And that's infield only. >> Yep. >> But it does cover I'll say the dirt part of the infield back to the grass of the outfield. That's the way I've seen it. I know like Sun Prairie West has that. >> I think it's awesome for that part. Uh the girls softball up there has total turf. If we decide to go that way, I would vote against it. I don't think we need to turf >> if we need any. >> There are some that do it all the way to the outfield fence, right? We don't need that. >> Yeah. No, I just want to make sure
087that that was it. Okay. >> Bill also asked a question on lighting and again that would be more toward the end of the project where we would probably look at that. Um turf it's one of those where as Joe said we're we obviously have drainage that's underneath the outfield. you have drainage even if we have a a standard infield we're underneath it but there's curbing and different drainage that goes underneath a turf field. So there is a time sensitivity nature of of of the install. Uh so because there are districts where they went natural and then two years later they tore it out and put turf. So it's better to at least have the conversation up front. Uh Phil's question on the lighting. Uh basically it's 340 to 350 per uh baseball field and about
088175 per uh softball field. So about a million50 for all four. >> So the lighting's a lot more than the turf. >> Well, but you're do you're do that's for all four. You wouldn't have to do all four. >> Okay. You could do just the two. Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, when we when you were talking longevity of the turf, since the option to only do the varsity fields is there when the community uses the diamonds, are they using then the grass ones or are they using the turf ones? >> I'm sure their first request would probably be for the turf ones, >> right? I I didn't know if that was, you know, there be a rental fee. Correct. You have like a rental. >> Depends who it is and how it is. If it's
089someone we have a reciprocal agreement with, then then perhaps not. >> Sure. >> I I think the idea is with a four field complex there to potentially host more tournaments um and use all of the fields. Um I think there's people that are really excited about that. And frankly, from a community standpoint, I think, you know, many of us would agree that, you know, the community has made a major investment in this building, in that campus, and we'd like to be able to use it for that purpose and allow a lot of people to come in and not only enjoy the facilities, but also bring folks into Monroe so they can um eat at our restaurant and stay at our hotels and do all the great things that enjoy enjoy Monroe because it's a special
090community. I have one more question. If these sponsors are, you know, sponsoring to put the turf in, is it possible that once, you know, they've paid for that that a second donor can come along and be like also a secondary 10-year sponsor to cover upkeep towards the next like we're doing with the other ones. >> Not sure how that >> I think it depends on how we structure the agreements, right, Ron? Yeah, share it. Or >> if if we're looking at lifetime sponsorships or lifetime naming rights for the fields, um then we would have to be careful about that. Um >> I think and there is there is a a spot for somebody wants to do the whole complex, but I think uh Joe is right. I think if if somebody were to do the
091upfront lifetime naming of of a field um then it probably becomes problematic to now we have the the JV fields certainly and the upkeep on them isn't as much. So somebody then wanted to sponsor those then those dollars could certainly be allocated toward helping to maintain the varsity fields. Right. >> So the donors for the turf are a lifetime. >> We I we have we don't have that in place at the moment. Okay. We don't have that in place, but the numbers that are associated with that project in order to cover the costs are at the level of of a lifetime. >> You would need you would need a lifetime commitment for each at 200 each to be able to have the 400,000 to do the term. >> Could you do the lifetime and just
092it's a big ask get around the coming back later and whatever you name, you know, 10 years, 15 years. Yeah. Yeah. Then you need somebody else to come partner and you can't give them the recognition because you did a lifetime with the first one. >> Unless it's too old. >> I'll say this and Ron, you can jump in and tell me. I I would say um we've initiated conversations and we provided a number. I'd be hesitant to go back and say, "Guess what? The price tag just doubled." Um, I think the people that are involved in the conversation are very supportive and um are interested in in working with us. Um, I think regardless I say we asked 400,000 per field, there's still going to at some point there's going to be a need for
093the district to step in and maintain um that life cycle of the field. So whether it's 15, 20 years from now, 40 years from now, um there's a commitment that goes with we we will have mitigated a lot of it, but we're not going to mitigate all of it, right? >> So, and I think, you know, going back to when we first developed our our our sponsorship booklet, I mean, you know, things were tiered and priced according to, you know, some of the cache that was with them. And so, uh, that's been out there for a while now. And so I would I would have a tough time going back to whether it's these individuals or individuals who've already previously committed to something else and going okay we move the bar. I mean my struggle
094is you know if we get somebody to sponsor >> most of all the cost that's fine but you know lights are going to be a lot of money that's going to have to come out of owner contingency right so I'm move a little >> nervous about 15 years from now whatever you So, what I'm nervous about is doing lights, doing the turf if it's sponsored and covers the installation costs and then we do lights out of owner contingency. >> It's it's a lot of money wasn't and it's not necessarily that you necessarily that you do both. So, you could do one or the other. Um, we've had those conversations as well. you could do turf and not lights or lights and not turf. Um the folks that we've talked to that are close to the
095program have suggested that they feel turf is a greater priority just due to inclement weather and trying to get games in. I mean, how important is lights relative to early in the season schedule game? >> Right now, softball's rights there. I mean, >> some of it gets around to how many how many fields are playable, right? I mean, there's nights right now where we, you know, don't do the junior high game, right? we can get the varsity field ready because we've got a little better drainage and and stuff on that and you know then we just play a couple innings of JV ball or whatever, right? And so um and again I think you know uh the people are passionate will say yep I think they're their first priority is turf. I think they're also
096know that it's if you don't get it up front it's probably harder more expensive to do. I mean, like I say, I know districts who've done it, but it's tough to convince your comm community, you know, two, five, whatever years later that you're going to tear out a a new baseball field and put in a turf one, right? Where where where they I think know that you can put a place pretty much whenever, >> right? And so whether it's a different fundraising tact or whatever, you can you can do that down the road more easily. I mean, don't get me wrong. I, you know, I feel really great about, you know, community partners that are interested in how things out the turb installation. Don't get me wrong, but, you know, I'm kind of thinking 10
09715 years from now if we use owner contingency because the wish is because we'll have to make that decision at some point. You know, do we put lights in or not? >> Yeah, >> I should what just said, right? Like you have to make a decision about Now, this is timely. Lights could really come in. My view is, you know, that could come in whenever funding is available as long as it's set up. >> Kind of wanted to gauge the temperature. I'll I'll come right out and say I'd be unlikely to support it. >> I understand the sentiment. I I understand the need. I I would love it too, but given the discussion we're going to have later today and the financial situation the district is in, we need the funds set aside to maintain
098things. And if we don't have that, especially for that big a ticket item, I I worry about the long-term sustainability and affordability for the district. >> I also agree with Mike. I would love to put the turf in for sure. I don't think the structure is going to work. I I feel like we could make it work, but something's not right with this structure and not having the long-term commitment is my concern. I I am so pumped that the community wants to help with the turf and I want to put it in, but I without having that piece of how are we maintaining, how are we planning for the future, it it need that we need something else in there? >> Did the sponsors talk at all about being willing to pay for the lighting
099instead of the turf if the board decided they didn't want to go with the turf? Because having the lighting, you can play night games and longer games and have more there. I mean, and hopefully the fields drain well because this is brand new construction. It's not like it twining where it sits down low and the water sits there and pools. So, I'm just kind of wondering I'm sure they came to you and said, "Hey, we're innocent putting in the turf." Right. >> Uh it didn't exactly play out that way. We we initiated some of the conversations and and had helped through the community facilitating those conversations. We haven't had >> uh direct conversations about funding the lighting or sponsoring the lighting rather than the turf. Um for all the reasons we've talked about relative to
100it being timesensitive, that's really been our focus to this point. Um certainly depending on what we get in terms of feedback from the board, we may need to pivot and and we can have additional conversations. Ron and I are very comfortable with that. But ultimately, we just we want to get a sense of where you all are at. >> So, you would certainly circle back and say, are you just are you still interested in in sponsoring >> sponsoring the fields? Because I would love to have turf. I'm a softball person. Would love to have it, but I'm conflicted as well. >> True. >> Same argument here about the lights, too, though. I mean to me we need to set up the maintenance fund not not use those funds for a capital investment >> saying from
101the owner companies >> no I'm saying funds from a sponsorship and naming something like that unless someone's going to step up and and say yeah we're doing the naming but yeah we'll sponsor the turf also right I mean >> Ron are these two fields that are you know in conversation for artificial turf in fields. Um, are they foreign soil or is that all earth that's been moved? >> Um, it's all earth that's been moved. I mean, most of it's it's started on our site. Obviously, we we've had to move, you know, soils around depending upon what kind of soils they are and how they're used. But yeah, it's it's none of it is the soil that was originally laying right there. They excavated it down entirely and they're building it back up. And and and
102you know, Terry is right, whether it be the outfields right now have an extensive drainage underneath it. Um it's two different drainage systems, whether it's turf or or natural infield, but there's going to be drainage under the infields as well, right? And so, uh, there's systems to take the water away from those fields down to our ponds to the south. And so, that is built in. But it's, uh, and and then what you may be getting at, Steve, is and then there's also obviously if it's a becomes a natural infield, there is a specific infield mix uh, that goes on top of the on the top layers of the infield, right? that's uh usually has a specific you know >> my biggest concern is you know when you move that amount of earth and you
103put it in a spot you come back 10 years from now that earth is not going to be the same level and you know if you put a turf over the top of this if you all of a sudden next spring there's a low spot if it's dirt you can resod it and put some dirt in there but if you put the turf on there I think it's going to be a huge fix >> if it starts to sink I think somewhere in the infield. Um, I'd be a little leery for that reason. >> I mean, I would love to see the turf in there just so it would be easier to have games and, you know, you could do have games more often. You wouldn't have to deal with the weather as much. But
104putting turf in now for that reason, I wouldn't be in favor of it. Five years from now, you know, everything should be pretty well settled. And then if you were to put it in there, I don't think you'd have much problems. But I'm a little leerary what's gonna happen with that over time. >> Yeah, we have conversations about that. We have it obviously with the the football track. We have it even with tennis right now. And so yeah, you're you're right. It it it becomes a something you have to really be making sure you're engineered properly with your substrata to to make sure that that doesn't move. >> I'm sure there's some sort of one agreement with that. I mean there's not >> there's Yeah, you got to have the proper base and then the
105the company that's putting in the turf. Yes. >> How long are those typically? >> How long are those? >> Uh typically they're 10. And so >> so within 10 years at least um what's this? What's the I don't have I'm sorry. What's the sponsorship amount for a field? >> Lifetime uh is 200 for for baseball and softball >> each field. Then there was a million dollars if somebody wanted to do the whole complex, but you know that's that's a lot. >> It's for JV Fields as well. JB Fields 200,000. >> Yeah. >> So potentially >> we haven't we haven't we haven't specifically priced those JV, right? >> Okay. >> You're talking a million for the varsity boys baseball. We said a million for the complex if you wanted it to be the uh Montgomery uh
106uh baseball softball complex. >> And then if and then if and then if Phil wants to have a $200,000 field on the Montgomery >> Oh, okay. Got it. >> Has a nice ring to it. >> So in all there could be in theory $800,000 worth of sponsorships on those fields. So the 400 could be used for turf and 400 could be used for maintenance of of the fields >> if they were all sponsor. >> Okay. >> And and I think we take a risk of nobody wanting to sponsor. They're like we're not going to listen. You're not going to take my feedback and we want to do these tournaments and we want to have community outreach and we want to have people at our fields and you're not so I mean just playing devil advocate.
107You're not going to we risk >> turning away donors and people who are interested in that. >> True. when in theory if we look at that there could be a way to do some of both if you if you sponsor all four fields. >> That's what I kind of saying when like I feel like there's a piece we're missing and so the partnering is we've got the people doing the turf which equates to a lifetime. So how do we get that secondary partner to help with this, you know, the field maintenance sponsorship? So, do we say if we can do turf if we want more field sponsored, >> right? Yeah. But how are So, then how do we The problem was is how are you giving them a sponsorship? Bro, because the turf people, the
108turf sponsor, >> they would get a they would they would sponsor Well, I guess I don't know, but I would they say they'd sponsor the >> They're getting a lifetime, >> but then each other the field maintenance is not a lifetime. >> Yeah, >> could be. So you're going to have then six lifetimes. >> Four. >> So So that but then yeah, how are you paying maintenance on the >> You would still only put turf on the two fields, not all four. >> Right. But we need So we're saying that the maintenance sponsorship for the tour field is coming from the JV sponsor. >> Just because it's going right they get the naming rights. They're paying for naming rights. There's not a there's not a dollar for dollar at that point, right? Because obviously once
109you have, >> you know, you have to put some new turf spreading on it annually and, you know, there's there are costs with maintaining a natural turf field or, you know, but a natural field. Uh, but I mean, it's not as it's not like a big one-time cost, right? and and even lights. You might have to replace your your light units at some point in time, but once the poles are in, you know, they're usually there for a long period of time, 30, 40 years. >> So, I think then what you're getting at is we've got the two turf sponsors. So, it's basically like we need we need to match that is kind of what you're saying. We've got the two. So, we need two more to come in and we can get this done.
110So all four >> and then Right. So that's kind I guess kind of in my mind what I'm trying to say and also what you're saying. >> Yeah. >> So we have half of it. So if we can get >> So I I just want to be clear. We don't have commitments for those two yet. We're in we're in discussion for those things. I don't want to give folks the the sense that that's a done deal, you know. And I would say we we've done a lot of work to this point. Obviously, we've had a lot of success. Um, I would say we haven't had a significant amount of interest in the baseball softball fields to this point and there's been a lot of effort invested in trying to get to this point. So, um,
111certainly understand uh the feedback and the sentiments to this point. Um, I'm not sure how likely we would be able to achieve all four getting sponsorships, but certainly if that's the direction of the board, we will work our tails off and try and make that that happen. Um, I think part of the reason why we're at this point and to to your point, Nicole, why it's such a struggle is that there's that there's the timing of this and it's and frankly we've been pushed on this for at least a couple months if not longer, right, Ron? And we've held them off and Jeremy's been a part of these conversations as well. Um certainly everything that you all all have shared are conversations that we've had internally as well. So it's not a surprise. Um it's
112really we're at a point where we need to have some sense of whether or not this is a viable option forward or not. And what I'm hearing from the board at this point is while there's interest in potentially providing turf funding uh varsity in fields, we're not comfortable making that kind of investment even with sponsorship if we don't have long-term maintenance accounted for. Is that fair? I might share a different perspective on this. I do think to Theresa's point, there's a route here where we don't get any sponsor and then the district is responsible for that maintenance because they aren't have the >> That's very true. we're maintaining either way. there. No way guarantee that we're going to get I mean you all done a phenomenal job securing sponsorships to this point but let's >>
113you know we're down the we don't have those sponsor yet. So I might um I'm in a different space I I hear what you're saying Mike on the current state of the district but I'm also thinking 15 years that's a that's a pretty significant kind of lifespan for something like this. And I guess my suggestion would be we've got this much energy from folks in our community. I I would move to pursue this option number one and especially we're willing to do instead of a lifetime name increase field will do a 15year which is longer than any duration I believe we're doing for anything else but not quite a lifetime given the specific nature of the cost structure of the the thing they'd be curious if would be more amendable to that to that type
114of >> I feel like that allows someone to feel more comfortable stepping in to do a maintenance sponsorship at that 15 year mark because then it does become a point where they would get recognition for that >> you're saying >> I'm saying amount >> rather than lifetime >> and I'm not sure exactly how you know particular So you've gotten in conversations about it and if that I just feel like you know kind of the bait and switch I don't want to be sensitive to those conversations but no I mean certainly you had fair amount of conversation but I think reality is the board needs to give us some direction on this and there's the reality of that direction from the board and you can certainly communicate that and obviously desensitive our approach but um I
115ask that question. I guess Ron, I think you said the drainage under the infield would be different with turf than it would be with natural. >> How much more would it be dollars to >> It's tied in at 400,000. So, so because it's a and it's not like you can put in the turf infrastructure and and then have a natural field because basically what you're doing is you're setting curbs around that your your turf then anchors to and so it's a completely different system. So with that, if you wanted to do this in five, 10 years, the cost would be significantly more, >> right? >> It would be it would certainly be every bit of this and you will have you put in your other drainage system that you'll probably be tearing out as you
116put it in basically. Or it could be more because this is really the up charge now. And so there I'm sure we're getting a credit to help >> do that. So yes, it's likely going to be more down the road. >> I think I was more in your camp, Jim, of um wanting to if we have a lot of energy from our community around this trying to support that. I guess the question I have Ron to follow that up then is if it's a 10 or 15 year sponsorship whatever it is where is the money where would the money come from now to make that happen because we're going to get it over five or 10 or whatever the years are that chosen right so where is it coming from then is it coming out
117of the owner contingency or is there another pocket of money that it's coming from >> yeah that's that's becomes the conversation is how how nar narrow of a gap are they willing to fund it in? Right? And then, you know, if it's well, there's, you know, because because we're still a couple years away from using it, right? So, we have time until the end of this project. So, all those dollars get spent out, you know, kind of there's, you know, that within that framework of the project. Uh so if if they make that commitment over, you know, 2 3 years, by the time the project's done, we're probably, you know, halfway through that commitment already, right? Um, now if they're saying that, you know, they can only afford it, you know, over the course of
118like a five-year, yeah, then that becomes problematic and and we're we're basically fronting it as a district knowing that the dollars are coming on the back end, >> but it would come out of order contingency >> potentially and or or otherwise you have to would have to be funded out of fund 10 or 21 until such time as the money's come in to to replace it. So in that way maybe you give us a sense if you talk the how much potential donors want to stretch this out. The reason why I'm asking the question is, it seems like if they're willing to make a $200,000 commitment over two years, that's actually having wages for us and not have to concern that Nikki is raising and free up additional additional owner contingency dollars for whatever else.
119So, >> yeah, I honestly can't say how tight or wide of a commitment they'd want. >> That level of detail. Typically what we're hearing from most folks is they have a desire to spread that out over time >> for the obvious reason. >> I think I think I agree with you in that um we have people who are interested in listening engage their family. I think um if it's fun and it's coming out of owner contingenc I do think baseline is no fun right so the baseline there's no there's no sponsors periods and we're maintaining them anyway right it's we're paying for the maintenance either way whether we have if we don't have sponsors for them right Um, so I think who are interested, I think there's a way we can make it work. I'd
120like to see if there's a way. >> But doesn't I mean the majority of the cost here likely would have to come out of the owner contingency funds because it's you're not getting all the the funds up front, right? So >> I I think that's an unknown. We don't know. >> We we don't know that. Well, at the last meeting, we all of a sudden learned that there was $800,000 under budget so we could get all a better grade of furniture. >> Is Is that going to happen again? >> Are we are we that far under budget? No. I mean, if it is, if we're on track for that, >> I feel a lot better about this. >> I think uh I'm trying to recall, Steve. >> Right. At the end of that, I think
121there's a couple hundred thousand left. But yeah, there's not a there's not a and then obviously there are the two both from an owner perspective and as part of the construction project, there are contingencies in there for things that may happen, right? And if they don't bad things don't happen, those are our dollars, right? It's not like we give we hand that 800,000 over to CG Schmidt and say, "Great, enjoy a huge profit, right?" Nope. That's our dollars. And so if we we don't use those, that gives us the opportunity to consider things on the back end. But unfortunately, we don't we're not we're getting close to the back end, but we're not at the back end right now. >> Year of potential >> Yes. >> bad things happening >> because that's this needs to
122be decided soon for them to plan. That's why we have to >> Yeah, we keep we keep delaying them, but I would say certainly in the next two to four weeks we we that's probably going to be our push push date. >> We already have altered res I think what they had hoped to to be doing on that field and you don't want to push it out to a time when they didn't to have crews working on that field and that mean we're incurring additional cost. ground people are getting to the point where they don't have a lot of ground work left to do. So certainly wrapping up that uh drainage on those fields and getting offsite is probably you know in their best interest both for the usage of their crew as well as
123their equipment. So maybe just to summarize kind of where where we're at right now, my my suggestion to continue the conversation because what we can always do is come back and we've got to take action on all this, right? So if you have three sponsors, we're down this you can bring it to the board as a board want to vote on it. the things that are make this multipla mentioned or something else to reduce window in which the investment happens such that we don't need to risk kind of run out of fun or hitting our contingency and if they're shorten the duration of investment the sponsorship from a lifetime something that would be more time give us the chance to go after additional dollar for we need to replace the turf. All of those are
124make it more compelling for the board to to approve this uh if you to secure the Sure that helps you Joe because what you're saying or what I'm hearing you say is you got to make a decision with the contractor very soon. >> Yeah. Well, to be clear, Ron and I won't make a decision to approve this if the board hasn't given us a strong indication that this is what you all want. And I I think what I would say is what I'm hearing Jim say is we don't need a firm decision right now. Although without some indication became more challenging, I think is the reality right. I think given the parameters set, we know if we can reach that bar in two weeks. Um, then we will bring that back for conversation. If we
125aren't there, but we're partway there, then we might see if we can do it in four weeks, but I think there's a drop dead coming up. >> Yep. >> And I and I think the community partners that are considering this option deserve some clarity regarding the concerns of the board. And to be clear, these are very real and fair concerns. Um, but I think to Jim and Trace's point, um, this is an opportunity that we need to to turn down without at least additional exploration and the ground and I are both comfortable having conversations to say, here's our reality. Here's the feedback from the board. Let's see if we can do some collaborative problem solving to provide a an offer to the board that's appealing. Um, if it works, great. If it doesn't, we gave
126it our best effort and we move forward. But we can't can't keep doing the stance >> for months to come at some point. The good thing about having this conversation is it gives I think there's some people out there who've been reached out to by community folks who who have an awareness and obviously there's people who probably don't have an awareness and this conversation at least allows so that if anybody can't say geez if I would have only known it right and so uh there's a chance there if somebody out there is passionate uh about whether it just be the district in general or about these projects uh you know now would be the time to let us know. >> So, I feel like we have more information. More information is always helpful. We'll have
127those conversations. We'll revisit this in a couple weeks and we'll have a better understanding as to whether or not we're going to meet the needs of the board or not. >> I really appreciate you bringing this to us for conversation. >> Yeah. I mean, we didn't fit the 10 minutes aotted. and we still have um but to your point, Mike, I think it's really important that we have these conversations in public so that the community can hear number one that we're um that we're exploring a variety of opportunities and number two some of the the real concerns associated with them. And so I think it was time well spent. >> Good. All right. Now we're the dessert portion of the bail. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Thanks for getting us queued up, Heather. >> So, um,
128we're not gonna we won't have to spend a lot of time on this. Please understand it. We're going to show you some visuals and Heather's got them on the screen so you can see there as well. Um, these are early renderings of some discussions that we've had to this point. Um, as Ron said earlier about um, whether it be CG Schmidt, like we have great people working um, on our teams and this is through Amplify that I think is doing a lot of this work. Um and basically what they've done is they've taken the community that we've shared from or the feedback from the community um as well as some direction from administration and Ryan Huffman Keel based on his experience to say here are some things that we think would be really important for
129our school for our community. And what we want to do tonight is just give you an early idea of what it's looking like. um talk a little bit about any feedback that you have initially and then talk about opportunities to engage the community with this process going forward. Make sense? So, let's jump into it. So, Heather, if you would, I think couple next one. You don't need to see all the colors there, but um one of the things that the community was very clear about as we entered into this project is um you're always about history. Rose legacy and we want to honor that. And one of the things that we're really excited about is honoring the heritage of cheese makers in our community. And so what you see here is this is the front
130of the building right by the main entrance with the very large staircase that's going to be serving the building is a representation of one of our copper kettles that we have. Now it's not that clean and shiny right now. We're going to get it shined up. um but to represent um cheese making the craft and showing some of the history of that craft. Um you you do see a little cereal cabinet there that's actually going to be moved to the left along the column there and it'll be more potentially more of a built-in cabinet. We'll have some art cheese making artifacts. Um and then next to that will be some um signage and pictures. that one that she's making which will all be speaking and implemented by uh larger portion of the wall. you'll see
131in a little bit. Um, I'll go through if anyone has any questions, please feel free to interrupt and stab me. You you'll see underneath the stairs you see a minur. We'll take a closer look at that at the slides as well. Basically, a large 3D mineral logo. That's the deobo for inside. Okay, Heather, let's go to the next. So, what you're looking at here is if you were to enter the um main entrance of the building and you were to look up to the right, this is a large open area and this is part of the branding work that we've been working on. Um how do we represent our school? What's what do we want people to feel when they first walk into the building? And what you see here is number one, we've got
132the Monroe logo out and proud. A couple of um things to mention about that. You'll notice that the Monroe logo is large and it's also the plan is for backlit. Costing is associated with that right now, but we think that would be a really powerful image. People walk into the building. Also in the back or the background to that is the vertical striping which would be represented possibly by more corrugated steel kind of mirroring what's on the exterior of the building. So bringing that exterior inside um and giving that look. Um I think the designers like the idea of giving it some dimension and some texture uh in that entrance area. And then you see the main bridge has some signage which we'll take a closer look at as we continue on. >> Yeah. So
133likely as they get these more developed, they'll come back probably with some selections for us. you know, they'll they'll be pricing up these things. And so they may come back and say maybe the budget allows for all of this or maybe it only allows for part of it. And then we have to decide is the three-dimensional backlit More important with just a flat background versus do we like the corrugated look and and maybe then it's not a backlit M. Right. And so all those various little options, they'll play out as as they do. So this is again very early concepts. hear me by jump in here if we miss anything you get or something. Um, you will see that the color scheme is is largely informed by our school colors. We felt that was really
134important. Ron has a very strong on jewel tones and gave a harsh warning to the designers um and and they honored that and so we think it go. There you go. So there's a a direct look at the bridge and the signage there. Um, we had some conversation about what message do we want to send to people as they're entering the building, whether it be student, parents, community members, staff, um, visitors from other communities. And we felt we wanted it to be welcoming, wanted to represent this is Monro High School cheese makers. Um, so we felt good about that. Again, this is an early rendering. These are open to some changers, but we feel that welcome message is is a good way to greet people once they walk through the door. >> The red on
135the right and the left uh potentially they they thought having this white was going to be a nice contrast. >> We actually had three, four or five meetings like this. >> It's the designer working to tie all this together, right? So individually you might look at I don't want that but then when you see the whole thing together is that's as much as Joe and I try to tell and what we like we're not deciders. Okay, Heather, let's take a look at the next one. Um so this is kind of a graphic and I believe you'll get to see a larger version of this. So this is um this is what would be on the top half of that wall. to think above the stairwell above the the copper and some of the things that
136were represented there. >> Do you want to go ahead one or two and just see it might be easier to see if there's one with the stairwell. >> There you go. >> So that frames it all out. You can see that gives you that idea that we want to capture the history of Monroe. Um the specific pictures that are represented there, those are placeholders. I think know Jeremy and Ron have done a good job of talking about you know we want to make sure that whatever we choose for those pictures and the sequence of the pictures uh that we get some community input. We feel like this is going to be one of the most powerful parts of the building for the community when they come in and see this like people are going to
137be touched. Um and so uh we feel good about this direction that we're moving in. We yes we want to what she's making but we also want to honor the history of city history um what's that agriculture if you go back that last you can see one of the things that we're doing oh what did they call the woodcut illustrations um you see in the background it's it's kind of muted but you see the courthouse is represented you see there's a farm or a barn on there. Jeremy was very specific that there might be a barn quilt on that barn. >> That's my guy right there. That's why he's your high school football. Details matter. Um, and some other elements in there. And so, um, just to have the whole detail represented, I think is
138going to really rally the community around this project. I think whether it be the board and or um you know a listening session yet again where we can flesh out some of like what are the five themes right I mean right now they're just placeholders as to you know what the themes could be and what images could be but if once we know what the themes are then you can really flush out what imagery goes with it. >> Great. >> Okay. Um this is the opposite side of the bridge. Um, >> now you're exiting the building. >> Yep. So, walking towards the main entrance as if you were to exit. That it's a great day to be a cheese maker. Um, I just I love that messaging for our kids. You know, try to be
139positive, optimistic. We're proud of who we are. Um, and you can see that we're right on that side to break up some of the white that you see on on the wall exiting. Um, but we like the idea of using our bridge for messaging purposes. that's likely to be done through the decals which relative relatively efficient way to provide kind of science. So we feel pretty good that the scale as well. So before we move on any questions about what we've seen with this point I know we kind of see a lot of change but all right let's move on. So this is also look at that 3M underneath the stairs. Ron talked about the large back lit was on the wall up to the right. I'm not sure what the price tag is associated
140with this. >> This was built into the project. This was actually I think shared in the community presentations way back when. Uh this was kind of when uh there was a discussion about you know are we going to have a large outside marquee presence on the exterior of the building and I think this was even when Michael was still involved for those of you who've been part of this project for a long time the original person who designed the building. This was kind of Michael's way of saying if we put it inside and make it 3D so you can see it from both sides it can serve both as a viewing from the inside as well as from the outside. I did have been really impressed with the the use of the space. I mean,
141you might take a look at the the space under a stage and say it's kind of dead space. It's wasted and we put it to good use and I think it's going to be a really attractive feature in the building. Move on from there. So, here you're getting an idea of what the glass treatment might look like. So, there is some glass here. This is for student services area. Um there's also some classroom office spaces that have a fair amount of glass. We wanted to break that up and this was the most recent option they provided us and we I think we all were really impressed with it and like the look of it. We like again the vertical lines that are going back to the entrance area as you walk on. Um, so none
142of that's going by closer to what might be a building. Look at the next again more of that conference room that might look like. Next one. So this is a representation of the arch. So Mike you asked about the arch. Yeah, probably an arch on the exterior. Our plan is to also represent the arch in the mem room as well. This sculptural element um we actually I don't know that we payboard sign yet, but we have a sponsor that's uh very enthusiastic about um sponsoring both the exterior arch and the interior arch. Um, one thing that we talked about this at the meeting, the shape of the art doesn't necessarily look like hierarch that's kind of the to show you what it but the idea here is that this is I'm taking history of high
143school the years to talk about the sequent what are we trying to capture here. Um, and so this is another area that we might be able to get some good feedback from the community. We talked a little bit about some of those groups that are kind of full historian that this stuff and reaching out to them and getting them involved in some of the we're doing this the right way. >> We'll certainly get a better picture of like the clock tower part of the the middle school. But I mean even doing my own research I wasn't aware of and again I'm more sequential. So, I would either say either the arch has to go in the center to be the centerpiece or or you have to go left to right uh with the what's in
144the center being the first high school. So, on the east side of the middle school uh as you go up the side street uh right behind us uh by Turner Hall is actually that middle picture. That was the high school from from 1910. And then all of what we consider now uh the old front of the high school uh with the clock tower that was all added in 1935. >> So it was added to that 1910 port and then that 1910 port and the exterior kind of got modified when they changed the building in the late 90s. But those are really the three there were schools before that obviously but those are the three quote big high school uh projects over the years and with the current high school that we're constructing being the fourth
145>> Olson historian right there >> I agree with you about the sequence saying I think that should be on the far left I don't like it's first right it's the first it goes here it's a timeline in fairness to our designers. They were just trying to give us a visual, not getting into the details. >> Ron likes to make sure they correct. >> I think importantly, one of the elements that we talked about is you'll see like the three lines coming down from the top of the arch. Um that they're hanging the pictures. They won't necessarily be serving that purpose, but that's a call back to our current architecture out at the high school to have some supports coming down. If you zoom in on that right picture, yeah, you can see how the arch
146kind of supports that >> that hang the overhang. >> To me, that's that attention to detail is really cool. >> Um, and we talked a little bit have some little Easter eggs in the project where people can go around and some elements old school I think is really cool. So this is this is currently to be right next to the mouth house in the emerald in a prominent space and um this be beautiful and again this is something >> right between the mouse house and the LMC. So yeah it's pretty centralized right across from the servery. >> It's on the north side. >> Next slide Heather. Um, now you're just getting into a representation of what some of the classroom hallways the classroom spaces would look like. So we can identify, you know, are you
147in the science area, math, English, music, all those things. Um, this just give you an idea of who we're going to use in color. Again, that wood illustration provides subtle symbols that represent the work. Here we can continue to the next And this is what a double classroom say would look like conversation about do we use words and um we like the idea of using some words as long as they're timeless classes represent our values represent trying to achieve a lot of that as well. Um this gives you a visual not only the wall treatment but how ring could also be built in effect as well. Next is a room that's kind of your setback of how that could potentially again if you look closely it's got woodcut illustrations. One of the things that we
148were very sensitive to is ask a conversation about what does our mascot look like and we've moved away from some ideas. We didn't feel it was gender neutral and wanted to represent both males and females. So we were sure to make that symbolism reflected in the design as well. We feel really good about how that turned out here. Next one. Um, this one Jeremy had some questions about if you like this one. So, we're gonna Yeah, we're gonna work on this. Um, and then this gives you idea might look like again with color some of the graphics integrating floor coverings. Um, and again, I think somewhat of having professional eyes look at this. So, you know, you had kind of the rooms are kind of framed out and then there was kind of uh hall
149tile that kind of broke up the tile and and so by having somebody who does this for a living, they go, doesn't it make sense that you would have something vertical on the wall then that also brings that you know full circle and so uh and again that's you know we're still in the beginning stages of exploring that but I think that was the concept behind it and I think we we thought it made a lot of sense. And again, it'll be just deciding what words match our vision and and and some of the other messaging that we're currently and intending to do for a number of years to come. >> So again, for a holy space, different areas for the next weather. >> This is house. So this will be the new significantly improved
150version. a lot of glass like the lamp um in the front there wrapping around the corner. Um wanted to keep that pretty light because you can imagine there'll be some merchandise once be ready to um feel like this is going to be space as well for that was reached out to might be interest >> and to Jeremy's credit he's been very good about making sure we're we're consistent on our logoing and so this but because of the way we're using this space, this will be about the only area where you don't see the mineral in with the mineral written through it. Uh we just thought that that was a bit too busy for for this space. >> Uh but but I think that's a good point Jeremy's pointed out. Let's try and whether it be
151on our football field, in our uh fieldhouse, on our logos and mats that we have, you know, a consistent look And then finally, this is this has been an interesting conversation. This is really the large mat rug when you come into the building. There's a lot of people that believe that it's probably not the best idea to put a logo on that mat and have people coming and wiping down logo, whether it be superstition or just the idea of how you're treating Monell. So what we're doing is for some more abstract designs that might be used in that entryway. It probably won't do this. We have a few different options but um whether it be we don't like look of people wiping their feet on or very real is we have a lot of locks
152in space and there can be of a good thing right and so we got to break that. So I think that's the last one. Is that correct? So that's it. Um you know certainly a little bit of feedback. I know we got more time in this agenda. I originally ended but obviously there's a lot of really important work on when we're talking running conduit HVAC concrete work foundation work. This is when it really fun. the pretty stuff and see what it's going to look like. Um, but we're thrilled what progress we've made in a short amount of time with a really talented design team. >> Yeah. And as as they're getting to get to the point where we're refining some of these ideas down then Russ is kind of the the artist who who does
153all the design stuff and then, you know, Mark's the nuts and bolts business guy who gets to sit there and go, "Okay, what do these costs and are they in our budget?" andor starts to present some of those uh uh alternatives to us to to make sure that we're we're we're hitting the number that we need. >> Joe, I just had a comment. I can't imagine how much time >> has been put on this because I think in the end it's really important. >> So, thanks to the team. >> Wow. >> Jeremy doesn't look like it, but that got an eye for designs. [Music] I will I will say I' I've snuck a These meetings are usually done via virtual meeting. I've snuck Amy into the room the last couple by me because I recognize
154there's three guys sitting here and it might be good to have a female opinion. But my best >> great Jackson. >> Yes. Has been great for us has been great. >> We were more of the like we have to honor the past. The history the legacy the agriculture the cheese making that I mean that that was our stipulation and Russ >> different Russ. This is not Russ from P. This is not Russ from amplify. So that would be why reaching out to community involving you all. >> Yeah. So we're hoping that they can as they we get this somewhat formulated to bring it back for some of those final decision making processes and it might be a great reason to have yet another listening session or whatever. So Joe was great to point that out.
155So okay, >> thanks so much. >> Thanks Heather. Next up, budget update and operational referendum discussion. >> Yes, this will be somewhat briefer tonight. Uh I know Joe and I have been working on a timeline and you know sketching out some of this that we're hoping to bring back uh potentially at the next meeting and start looking at you know what are some of the hurdles over the course of the next year as we uh consider an operating referendum. I think uh uh certainly you as a board uh and as an admin team, we we've been very close to this as we made some of the reductions and as we ran our last referendum and knowing that this conversation was going to have to happen again. And so I think we sometimes assume that the
156community's really tuned in on this and and I think whoever, you know, pointed out the last meeting that, you know, we we need to make sure we're keeping this front and center and people. So, uh, a little bit about tonight, what I'll talk about is what are some of the pieces of the puzzle that, you know, we now know, uh, compared to when we first looked at our budget, uh, about a month ago. Uh, what are some of the unknowns that are still there? And then what are some of the big picture, uh, things as we start planning out this referendum? um you know that we we're going to have to be tackling over the next uh you know probably 6 months, 5 to 6 months as we decide if and for how much we're
157going to referendum for and then obviously the the 3 four months after that if we're getting ready to campaign uh and inform our community about a referendum. And so um the attachments you have I'm going to start with the SAA u summary. So, this is a summary of the state budget uh that was approved and um you know it was a mixed bag and there's you know a lot of good there's some things that we wish we were a little better uh you know but I think it's uh in general it's it's it's it's it's a good starting point. It's a lot of it is is where we we thought it might be. Um revenue limits uh they did not increase the low revenue limit ceiling uh which were down right around it. So any
158increase to that usually would help us. Uh that didn't happen uh in this bianial budget. Um but but that's okay. It would have been a help to us, but it it didn't occur. Uh the $325 per pupil uh adjustment, that's the the amount they set in the last bianium and then the governor through his veto bill extended it u potentially for the next 400 years. Um you know and and you know created a lot of angst on that. But the reality is 325 doesn't even quite reach what the current cost of inflation is. So it's a great number. I'm glad to have the number, don't get me wrong. Uh but, you know, I think there's a narrative out there that, oh, this is a huge number that, you know, is out there forever. Uh it
159it it doesn't even hit the inflation number. So, it's not like this is a a large or or crazy number that's out there, but it does give us a number that comes pretty close to what inflation right now is. And so, that's better than what we've had for a number of years as that gap between uh what inflationary costs are rising and what funding have been increasing has been widening over the years. So, it doesn't close any of that gap, but at least keeps it from from expanding. Um, one thing to be aware of is there were there was money put into um the education system and we'll talk about where that money is falling in and it's the the special education aids which is great in the sense by having it there it really
160uh does uh allow for some funding to come into schools. However, uh typically in the past budgets, there would have been money as the revenue limit increases that also gets put into the general aid formula to make sure that property taxes uh aren't going up much. The the legislature this year focused on the tax reductions being on the income tax side of the equation. So, there's still tax relief out there. However, when people see their property tax bills, you know, we have the increase in the revenue limit, which is nearly what CPI is, but there's no additional aid. So, we're going to get some additional revenue dollars. However, our aid is actually probably going to go down a little bit uh because um there's going to be districts who increase their spending a lot more
161than we did as we've been making reductions. And so we may see a couple hundred,000 reduction in our general aid, but meanwhile our revenue limit is growing. So that means our our property tax bill will go up. However, people will be getting the relief over on their income tax. That doesn't mean that they're not going to hold it against the school. Uh but I mean I think that's the big picture message that we need to make people understand is that the state has levers that they can pull for tax relief. In many years they've pulled those levers to help hold down property tax. In this bal budget they f made that focus be on on income tax. And so that's not saying you know school taxes are going crazy across the state and property tax
162is out of control. It's just saying the money got put into relief for for income taxes instead of for for property taxes. When we look at the categorical aid, uh the big uh increase and not the big increase we would have liked, uh however, an increase uh nonetheless that we're we're happy to see uh is the increase in special ed aid. Uh there was a lot of push out there hoping that this number uh could go as much as 60% or or you know, some people even asking for more. um it it settled in at 42% uh in year one and 45. And again, as I've cautioned you in the last couple meetings, that 42% is looking at the last budget and saying, if we just cast forward those dollars, what gets us to 42%.
163We all know that everybody's spending and cost is going to go up. So, by the time we get reimbursed, it's not going to be 42%. It's probably going to be closer to 40%. uh uh maybe a little less. And so when you look at how does that impact us as a district, you know, we were getting about 30% on on special ed aid. If we say it's going to go to 40%, that means we're we're seeing uh uh you know, a 25 uh% increase in there. And so when you talk about a, you know, $2 million uh aid formula, you know, probably hopefully 500,000 more. Um, you know, if if I guess it's almost a third more, but uh again, I don't think we're going to be able to capture all of that because again,
164we're still having some reductions in our uh special ed, too. So, you're talking5 to $600,000 of additional special ed aid at the best. Um, likely it'll come in a little less than that. Uh so that's new dollars that will help us when we look at our our uh deficit that we have. Uh again, doesn't address our full deficit, which we'll talk about in a little bit. Uh but but certainly helps against that number. High cost special ed aid. Uh so if you have students with very high needs and you have individualized costs for them, that reimbursement rate is going up to 50% year one and 90% year two. Um, you know, I think it's great for those situations when you have those high-cost students because, um, you know, every district has, not every district, but
165many districts have a small handful of those students and and they can help a very large portion of the budget. Uh, you know, I think the the cautionary tale in there again is it's it's a set dollar and so, you know, I think more districts either may claim things or there may be more expenditures uh that are individualized towards students and so the number of expenses may go up faster than that allocation is going up. So, uh whether we'll actually hit that uh uh 50 and 90% uh by the time those banual budgets uh years come around, we'll have to see. Uh but it's it's great that they the intent is there to raise those dollars. Uh some of the mental health funding uh did get continued. So, we were uh afraid that those uh
166and it's not big dollars, but we were afraid some of those uh uh costs that were in there associated with some of those uh grant allocations for mental health supports were going to go away. Uh they didn't make it in the budget, so at least those revenues can remain. Uh and then sparity and transportation aid won't don't affect us a lot. transportation aid uh in the sense of they didn't increase the pool of funds. However, they increased the pool for students who are transported 12 or more miles. In our case, we don't have many kids who are transported 12 or more miles. So, most of those dollars are going to districts like where I came from, Northland Pines, where they're covering, you know, 430 square miles and and not like Monroe where we're covering, you
167know, 30. So >> can you explain sparity? >> Sparity aid is you're eligible for if you have enough size and or uh it's basically density of students. And so with our size of a district, we we we were already over the threshold of even being eligible for sparity aid. Now, if we were smaller, uh, we might be eligible for, but then it comes down to how big of an area are you covering versus, you know, because I I will use Little Shoot always as an example. I just mentioned North and Pines where I used to work. North and Pines covered 430 square miles and when I was there had 1,600 pupils. Little shoot covered five square miles and had 1,600 pupils. Big difference in your your costs and transportation costs and things of that nature.
168And so that's how Sparks the 8 comes into play. We're not eligible for it. Uh that's mainly small districts andor districts covering large rural areas. And so those are the big plays. Uh the big levers of what's changing. Uh we talked about the revenue, we talked about the equalization aid and special ed aid. Uh on the uh and I think it's down there. Did they mention it? Uh on the expenditure side, it's way down at the bottom. If you scroll down, the area that comes into play is they did increase the uh cost of uh reimbursement for open enrollment. And so when when you're ne negative district like us, meaning our our out is more than our ends, which for most districts that is the case uh because so many students are going to some
169of the virtual schools across the state that most people have a deficit. It's just, you know, some are larger than than others. um that cost is going up about 12.7%. And so, you know, if we would maintain or we we run about a $900,000 deficit between our our ins and our outs, um you know, if that maintains and that cost goes up that then, you know, it's an additional $114,000 of expense uh that we need to be thinking about. So, uh that's one of the uh the cost sides of the budget that we have to have to be looking at and and keeping our eyes on. Uh as we look at I'm going to open next just our uh budget that we looked at a couple weeks ago. I guess I >> quick in looking
170at this. Am I correct in that our open enrollment out to public schools is less than what we have to pay out to private schools per pupil? That is true as well. Yes. Yeah. I didn't get into those details, but yes. Yeah. >> Uh I'll briefly touch on federal before I get into the budget. Um federal dollars. Uh at one point in time there was uh concern that they were going to reduce title one. Uh they did not reduce title one funding. It's one of the few federal dollars that was untouched. However, what they have done right now is uh for now they put a quote freeze on the other title programs that are out there. Uh and that quote freeze is as they have a chance to further evaluate those programs and then they'll
171decide how they may or may not fund them. So what it really puts in jeopardy for us is uh our title two funding uh which is where we we look at uh you know u some of our professional development uh for our staffing. it puts into jeopardy our are our some of our ELLL funding, uh some of our tech funding, and so some of those auxiliary funds that come in and and to support uh education. And in the case of Monroe School District, that's about $94,000. That that's right now quote frozen. We don't know if that means it's going away or if we'll find out that they're going to continue to fund it. Uh it's it's it's a bit of an unknown right now. Carl Perkins title two and title three. >> Uh is Carl
172Perkins is okay, right? But it's it's that little tech one, >> right? A title three title 4 A >> because the 1 C doesn't apply to us. So, yep. Um, and so then if we open up our Oh, I should have save this PDF. I apologize. So, now I got to open my cell. You have this from like the last meeting or two in I think a PDF version. As we look at our budget, looking at U 2425 as we're finalizing, um we've done some of our month- end closeouts, but we haven't done our year-end closeouts yet. And so, none of the numbers are finalized yet. Right now, it's looking on the good side, like uh expenditures. Uh our fund 27 transfer is probably going to be pretty close to what's budgeted. The rest of
173our fund 10 expenditures uh are looking like they'll be about 400,000 under budget, which is good. Um the revenues though are also looking like they'll be a couple hundred thousand under budget as well. So we're probably not going to be able to get that full uh kick of 400,000, but we should get a quarter million or so better than where we were budgeted. And so if you look toward the top uh you know we were looking at 77 uh and uh projected ending in 2425 of 51 that's probably going to come out closer to to maybe 54 uh or or a little less uh so not not great. We're using a lot of fund balance but a little better than than where we're budgeted. Moving forward to the next year, you can see, and this
174is what's going to be the precursor for all of our talk over the next few months about a potential referendum. Uh we were looking at about a $2.5 million deficit. Now, we made up some ground uh on the uh special ed funding, which should help uh offset some of our special ed transfer. Uh we lost a little ground uh on on the open enrollment costs. uh some of that which uh you know I I factored in a little as I was building this budget so it'll mitigate that a little bit. Uh but we're still probably looking at you know you know we're hoping I'm hoping that we'll get down closer to around a two which is still a very big number for us uh million dollar uh deficit and if we can get it lower
175than that that'll be great. But as you move forward, as we look to casting this forward into the next year or two, uh once we see what our September enrollment looks like and are able to start casting ahead better as to what that means to our revenue limit going forward, you know, we might have to be we that's when we're going to really be able to hone in as to what the number is. It'll also be the time at which then the administration can look and say, okay, what programs are we looking at? if this doesn't pass. Uh and so, uh we can work on starting to finalize those numbers and we'll be doing that throughout the the summer and as we get closer to knowing what some of those enrollment numbers are. Um you
176know, because that's something that we're going to have to have in place fairly early in the fall so that as we get to toward December, uh we have a good idea of what that referendum may be looking like if we are moving forward with one. And so, um, that's a little foreshadowing for, uh, as we develop that timeline, uh, that we'll be bringing back and talking about in a couple weeks. But that was kind of the highlights I wanted to let you know tonight. You know, there's, you know, it's only been a month, but already, you know, we know a little more and the numbers get a little refined and and that will keep working. Uh, the good news is we're in the first year of a bianium. So, as we're projecting forward to next
177year, we at least know the game we're playing with, right? So, as we're looking forward to 2627, we know we know what our revenue limit increase is going to be. We know there won't be any general aid. We know what the increase in in in special ed will be for that year. And again, uh you know, is it everything special or education wanted? Nope. Uh does it catch us up and and make up for some of the the losses and deficit we've had? >> Nope. Uh however, it's it's it's better than a lot of budgets have been in banial budgets and it's it's at least uh uh trying to keep pace uh so that it's not that deficit isn't growing even larger u which has been the case the last six, seven, eight years. Am
178I kind of reading this right as I look at it and think about the the bannual budget or it looks like if you extend our fund balance out all things remaining equal to the end of this budget cycle will be basically zero fund balance when the state goes into the next budget >> if you had to run all the way to the end and that's why we've said you you know beyond this this coming year, you just couldn't do that, right? Um and so, um if you look at, you know, at the end of right there, it was looking like it would be about 2.7 uh I just said we'll probably be a quarter million better than that. So, that's three. Uh the some of the ground we'll make on the re or on the
179uh special ed aid, that's going to gain you a little bit, right? So, so let's say it's between three and three and a half somewhere. um yeah, if you carried it forward another year, then you're taking another two and a half and then you're down to probably a million, right? And so that's that's unsustainable at that point in time. And so that's why I think in the conversations the board had had uh with the last round of reductions we did and as we we talked about the last referendum after it it did not pass, the conversation was we're going to have to because we we've never liked to identify all those programs and and potential cuts up front because we don't want to quote hold things hostage. However, we're at the point now where we
180either need to pass the referendum and get the funding or we need to implement those cuts. And so, I think it's fair that people need to know what that will look like for our district. And so, because you're right, if the referendum doesn't pass or we don't run a referendum and we don't make cuts, we're soon not going to have a fun balance and and and and then you're you're playing without a net. I mean, even even getting down to three million, there isn't much of a net there. And uh uh you know, prior to me being here, and that's 20 years ago, it's a long time ago, when things cost a lot less and our budget was a lot smaller, uh this district went from having a$2 to2.5 million fund balance to being 500,000
181in the hole in two years. You should never be in the hole. Uh, and so that's the importance of fund balance, but it's also why you have to have an idea of where this budget is going and in in being able to address it proactively. Um, and so yeah, you're right. And not that >> forward, we're in the position where we have to ask the community to to to step up and fund the district, which >> isn't isn't necessarily going to be a fun ask, or we have to make some very significant cuts, which is not going to be a fun process. So, >> yeah, we we've cut a million dollars each of the last couple budget years already. And so, and we've tried and even with that, we've we've lost some programming, right? German
182went away and and a Lincoln's down to a one section school and uh you know so so there's been changes that have been part of that but yeah if we have to find another 2 million on top of that uh that's that's it's it's going to make our district look very different and operate very different than it has. >> As I look at it 2 million is not enough, >> right? I think you're you're probably right because I that that number is hopefully not going to grow significantly, but it likely will grow a little bit given given the amount of what funding they they've put in place at the state for the at least the first year that banium. We don't know what the year after that's going to be. 325 is baked into the
183cake a little now. Um, but I think the other thing is is for some of those people who've asked about, you know, what uh are we bringing anything back? Are we, you know, some of those cuts that we've made? That's not factoring any of that in place. And there's been a couple of things, you know, one one that's out there is, you know, we've had an opening for a custodial position at the high school that we've been able to not fill, right? And so that saves our budget. Right now, we know that when we open the new high school, that's a position that we need to refill. Well, that comes at a cost. And so, um, so yeah, there's there's things like that that have to be factored in as well. >> With all that
184being said, though, you just said that we it looks like we are going to come in under budget this year. >> So, kudos to you and everybody else on the team who's making sure that we're not overspending. And kudos to the board for all the cuts we made to make that happen, but it still doesn't help where we are. >> Yeah. And and and I think the the other factor that comes into that is as we make more and more of these reductions and refine our budget more and more, um any of those soft places to land have long since been cut out of the budget. And so gone are the days when, you know, you could say, "Oh, if we come in 3% under, we might save 900,000." Well, unfortunately, as I build my
185budget now, I have to kind of bank on a little bit of that uh to make this work. And so those days are gone. And so, uh, we we're always going to make sure that we are responsible and try and come in under budget, but the days of coming in, you know, a million under budget are probably not realistic. And Terry, if I can add to your list of kudos, and I know you agree with this, kudos to the staff >> for taking on absolutely >> extra work in order to keep buildings running because they are absolutely doing more now with less resources. And so we're we're fortunate to have so many great people that keep it rolling, but to Ron's point, that's only going to become more challenging as we consider additional productions. what
186I had for tonight. >> Thank you. >> One clarifying question to to track down the the amount of the the burden that's being shifted to local property taxes. How do I find this independent pledge? >> It's it's not I guess what you don't look at it as necessarily is as a burden per se. There there's a there's a document that's out there at the uh that that projects based upon uh the what was passed what it means for everybody's aid and in our case it's you know we're looking to be likely will be a couple hundred thousand less. Um so in in an easy scheme of it you say okay that that that's the burden that that gets you know is being transferred over. I think what you have to look at and unfortunately there's
187not an easy answer for you Jim is that $325. Now unfortunately our enrollment's dropping so you know we have to factor that in. If we set that aside, that $325 per pupil would potentially be new revenue if we weren't having declining enrollment. And there's no offsetting increases to uh state aid this year, which typically there would be. So for every student, we're getting an an additional $325 to help cover the inflationary cost increases we have. and there's no dollars there. So really what that quote burden is to the the community on the property tax side is that $325 uh per pupil. Uh that's that's uh we're increasing on on the revenue limit side. Uh and again uh what they're seeing is they've they've they've allocated those dollars instead of putting property tax relief in the
188sense of school aid uh to reduce uh the re the uh property tax levy. It's just going into u people's uh income tax and in reduction there. some a reduction for some people based upon age that they get to offset, you know, not count some of the first revenues they have and and and a reduction across some of the uh um the ranges, I guess you would say, of the income tax. >> And that's not unique to Monroe, right? That's every single property tax or property taxpayer in in the state of Wisconsin. >> Absolutely. Yeah. So this is this will be a theme that we'll see across the state and it'll be a a conversation that you know there will be people who as with anything there's winner and losers. There's going to be people
189who are who no one's ever happy about the property tax bill, right? But uh there will be people who that hurts more than than what they save on the the income tax side. There's going to be people who save more on the income tax side are still not going to be happy though that their property tax bill is more right. And so, uh, but it's it's it's just where the state's priorities are and we and school districts don't have any control over that. >> Just to clarify that this fall when they get their property tax bills, they will go up and they're going to blame the school >> most likely. Yes. >> Great. >> Yeah. And that's that's why we just make sure that we we message, you know, what we can control and and
190and what some of the the reasoning was because again, I'm I'm glad to see there's an increase in the revenue limit. Um I think, you know, the the reduction uh as it was built with no increase in aid was somewhat deliberate to uh make it harder for people to pass referendums. Uh but I, you know, I also understand there's probably people out there and constituents out there who who think that a reduction in in in the uh income tax is a better way to to to fund. And so, you know, I I have to respect that as well. >> So, Ron, how do you then determine and bring forward like to the board like what what do we need? What do we need to ask the community for that sustains us for one year, five
191years, 10 years, right? Because obviously we, you know, had we gotten the one and a half million dollar referendum passed this this last year, we would still be talking about this, right? Because still be in a hole. >> It gets difficult long term uh not knowing what, you know, banual budgets of the future will bring. Um again that's where the $325 at least brings some certainty into play. Um but we will project out again what you know three four years looks like and most likely it'll grow. Hopefully it won't grow quite as significantly as it had in the past. Um now they could they could go back and start cutting special ed aid again and then suddenly we're going to widen again. Right. And so, um, we'll we'll build out what that projection is. Some
192of that's going to be based upon, uh, what our, uh, enrollment numbers look like come this fall. And then, uh, you know, uh, enrollment projections are, you know, difficult, right? We know they're they're our smaller classes are smaller. um every now and then you all get some boost and and to be honest you know um you know uh some of our ELLL population um comes with some added cost to us but it also comes with with students and revenues attached to it right and I don't know what some of the you know what what the future of those numbers are going to hold based upon some of the federal policies and so it's it's unfortunately there's no great crystal all it's you get it a little fuzzy and you do the best you can and
193uh we'll come up with a projection as to what those next three to five years looks like uh and then uh set the number accordingly and uh then that's what we have to shoot for or adapt off of. >> So you don't have a crystal ball. No, actually I was thinking of that going backwards, you know, years ago when uh the number was much smaller. I, you know, I don't know if any district did it. It would have been nice to have at one point in time said it was, you know, just cuz cuz, you know, you look at us right now, we're we're about a $2 billion district. We'll be over $2 billion district. And so, you know, uh 2 million is roughly uh going to be a dollar. Um and you know going
194back a number of years ago when we were at about that same cost it would have been nice at some point in time to say you know for just a dollar a year right as far as far as mill rate. Well then that would have always grown and and uh you know you'd be in a better shape u you know because again you say 2 million now that's that's a dollar that's not going to be enough four or five years from now. The reality is that's probably only going to be 70 cents of of levy rate, you know, four or five years down the road. I hate to even suggest this or ask this because if I were in your position, I it would drive me nuts, but should the board be looking to try
195to support like an efficiency audit or something to to get a third party to turn over every stone to look for every every penny and where we might be able to to save, you know, with a different perspective? >> Yeah, I think you I think you could if you would uh like to do that. I would say um you know there there's two there's two sides of that right there's there's projecting um and uh the last time I actually independently projected uh my budget uh com and met with the bar folks and they projected based upon the numbers I give them because I they got feed off of what our what our uh budget is and what our assumptions are. You know they came out exactly the same. Now does the bar model have some
196better visuals? Yep. Uh and might that be beneficial to us? Maybe. Comes at a cost, right? Uh as far as people who are going to find efficiencies, um anybody can find efficiencies. The question becomes that what's your priority? >> I said I don't even suggesting it because it's usually a culture killer, >> right? I mean, you can say, you know, get rid of X, Y, and Z programs and you're going to save money. Now, we as a board can decide to do that ourselves, but if that's not our priority, you know, that's not truly an efficiency. Um, you know, so I'm I'm not if the board would choose to go down that road, I'm not opposed. I will say, uh, you know, I've been doing this a long time. Uh I don't think anybody will
197know my budget better than me. Uh and so uh it what it will really come down to is identifying cuts and the board's appetite for implementing them. I can do that, too. I can give you a list that'll gut $8 million out of this district. Well, pretty our district won't look like much. But >> well, and because like you already said, we keep cutting and cutting and cutting and you come to a point where there's nothing left to cut without gutting the system. >> Right. Yeah. And and then and then who's going to work for you? >> Right. Right. >> I mean, you could, you know, I'm going to I'm going to go to the extreme. You could say we're not going to offer health insurance. Go out on the exchange, get your own health
198insurance. who's going to work for us? We had a conversation earlier tonight, you know, one applicant for a special ed position. What do you think that pool starts looking like even just for an elementary ed teacher? Uh suddenly you don't you don't have a pool. And so uh at some level uh you know you're we are in a competitive nature and Joe is very good at always pointing this out of we don't have a captive audience, right? If if if we're not offering a good education program and if we're not offering programming that our parents or parents that are out there are looking for, they can go anywhere else. And oh, by the way, our taxpayer dollars go with those kids. And then all we're doing is paying to educate a kid somewhere else. >>
199So I would hope that our community would would would understand that we're going to be paying to educate students Let's educate him in Monroe. >> Um, thank you Ron for us to the latest. Can we just do next steps on what I'm hearing? We got a lot to think about as a board. The the admin team is going to take a look and start to identify what we're probably talking two and a half to three million dollars. What what range of scenarios that would that would get us to that number and then maybe you could understand what the when we could. Yeah, I think next steps are at the next meeting uh be the 28th. Um we come prepared with the timeline. What are some steps that need to be taken um in order to
200help the board understand what we have to do? I think the other part of this that we've talked about a little bit is how the communications plan into this. I think there's the financial side of it, but there's also making sure that we're telling our story to the community so they have all the information they need to make an informed decision down the road. Um, there's some legal components and timelines that are part of this. Um, but I think I've heard from many board members is let's get the information uh developed, prepared, communicated sooner rather than later so that people truly understand the nature of what we're dealing with. um we can we can start to provide what that might look like and get some feedback from the board starting the next meeting. And I
201think from the admin team side, we're we're eager to do that work. Certainly, there's a side of this that doesn't feel good in terms of making people feel uncomfortable knowing that this is hanging out there, but the reality is people already have a sense that this is a big year. And I think that's true for our staff. I think it's also true of our community. And um I do believe that if we do our jobs and we communicate the information um community the decision that request based on the information we fully invested in doing a whole lot of work to make sure that this process is done the right way and that'll start any cries items. >> Thanks, Ron. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Anything from administration? >> Um, the only
202thing I was going to share shared it in the board update recently is that Senator Howard is gonna be visiting the district on Thursday morning. Um, we're trying to stay connected along the lines of this this conversation. obviously wanted to understand the impact of the state budget on on our needs and certainly the local taxpayers. Um so we'll have that conversation in public at time for us. Um certainly able to visit up recently. So we'll continue to stay connected hopefully um it'll be a benefit to that dialogue. So if there are any board members that are interested in being a part of that certainly contact me obviously we want to make sure that we didn't have a form for that meeting but individual had nothing on correspondence committee now >> EIE is meeting um July
20322nd um finalizing plans for the pickle ball tournament on August 16th and Park and Wreck will be coming out with some flyers and registration information very shortly. Teresa, >> Mike F, Steve for future discussion. have a robust 20 30 minute conversation about >> Jim. Could you tell me are the are the meetings on YouTube yet? I've had several people in the last couple weeks ask me why they're not on YouTube >> here. It's it's under a different channel because the link got deleted. So, it's the old link now. >> So, what do they need to do to >> just Google it? >> So, we can put we can put a post out on on Facebook and >> I've had two or three people ask me Yeah, for some reason the like the link that we
204had prior doesn't work no more. >> Okay. >> So, it's the old channel that we had. >> Is the new link on our uh agendas now, Heather? >> I changed that. >> So, this time if they wouldn't went to our agenda, they should have found us hopefully. >> Yeah, we we were having an issue with that. I know it was frustrating people, but uh hopefully we've got it squared away now. And >> we have recorded all those. >> They're all recorded and they're all uploaded. Yes. Thanks. Okay. for future discussion. Hearing none is of course I made a mass represented tonight five minutes press need to count it down final motion to motion Mike Feresa. All in favor say I. >> I post nay. 9:49. He's like 5 minutes fast. >> My math book starting
205about 3 months ago just shows me random times. >> Really? >> I never know what time it is. >> Oh, would you know July somewhere?