001[Music] Seven board members present and uh number 2 a adoption of the agenda. I would entertain a motion. >> I would move for approval of the agenda as presented. >> A second. It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. >> Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. Uh that brings us to 3A public comments. Casey, do we have any public comments? >> We do not. Uh, as a reminder, public comments will be allowed for a duration of three minutes per speaker to be timed by the board clerk, and speakers must sign up for in-person public comment by 1 p.m. the day of the board meeting. That brings us to item four, consent agenda items. And I don't see my wording. Got it. >> Excuse me. Uh, items listed on the consent agenda are considered by
002the board of education to be routine business items. Approval of the items may be made by a single motion second majority vote with no separate discussion of any item listed. Should a member of the board desire to discuss any item at his or her request, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. What are the wishes of the board? >> I move to approve the consent agenda as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? Hearing none, please cast your vote. >> Motion passes 70. Thank you. Uh, item 6A, extended school year, ESY update. >> Yes, Dr. Stephanie McNear is here. She is I'll still call her new, our new director of student services. Um, we we love to catch a break from time to time by being
003new. So, uh, we'll we'll still use it. She's here to, uh, summarize our extended school year program that wrapped up recently. >> All right. Thank you for the opportunity and it was so nice to see many of you at convocation. Um to let you know extended school year um that is a decision that is discussed at every single IEP meeting for all of our identified students. Um each IEP team must consider that for every student. um looking at the special education related services um whether it's academic behavioral related services as well as um a need and the student must qualify. Um this is a process that um is followed because it's law. Um so how does a student um qualify for ESY services? We know that there is the nature and severity of a disability.
004So, um, some of our students qualify because of those skills that they will lose after, um, between the end of the school year and the beginning of the school year. If a student is going to regress in skills, um, they could qualify that way. Or if we are moving towards self-sufficiency and independence and we're getting to kind of like a a you can't re um, they're going to get master it. And there we go. Sorry. Um, and you can find those all in our special ed uh process handbook at the state. Um, so as a cooperative, we work with our coordinators as well as those teams to identify um the planning. Uh, we look at um the students who qualify so we can start identifying um staff that needs to be there. We have constant
005communication within the district as well as with our parents. We work with our building principles as well as identifying the dates. They traditionally run um the month of uh July. Um and we constantly communicate. Um so this year we did one location at Riverside for all of our services. Um you see the breakdown of the staff that was um hired for that. staff are asked if they would like to participate um as a teacher of ESY. So, it's not a requirement, but we there are some teachers who would like to do that. So, they have that opportunity. And you can kind you can see the amount of staff that we had. We also had students that received related services. Okay, there we go. Looking at our numbers for this last year, um you can see
006we had elementary as well as secondary students. Um you also see the average days overall that students attended. So those are pretty good numbers and pretty consistent with what we have seen in previous years as well. Um you also see the number of students that received those related services. Um so those are duplicated numbers. So of that 46 students 11 of them would have received OT. So I think that is it. Any questions or clarifications that I can give you >> know that it's mandated of course but it's great to hear this and and to know that our students are being so well served over the summer. >> Yes. And the teachers worked very hard and there was lots of communication. Um, and I think having it at one location, we'll review that to see
007if that's what we need to continue to do. Um, we do ask for feedback from our provider, our staff to see what do we need to do better next year to make it more um, easy or fluid I should say. Yep. >> I have a question. You may have answered it, but um, of the like of the note, how many students sort of qualified for this and then like what percentage actually took advantage of it? just curious. >> I will have to get back to you on that. That wasn't a number that I was looking for. So, um >> you can count on me to always ask that one. >> But I I want to um I would say the majority of students did take advantage of the opportunity, but I can um circle back
008to that. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Thank you very much. That's going to bring us to item 7A, annual fire inspection agreement for 2025 2026. Yeah, we have uh Corey Nichollet, our director of maintenance and grounds is handling this one. >> Good evening. So, this is my third year starting here with the public schools. The first year we pretty much were running with whatever had been established because I was brand new, didn't know what we had, didn't have. At the end of that year, we found we had a lot of deficiencies in our inspections in the fire prevention world. So going into excuse 2024 2025 which would have been a year ago we had several contractors all doing pieces of the fire prevention puzzle. One was a big chunk of it for the alarm
009systems. Um that alarm system also does the sprinklers and our um like the HVAC monitoring and all that stuff for fire because if a fire happens the HVAC shuts down so you don't spread the fire. So all that's tied in. It's a really big piece of the puzzle. That part of the puzzle needs inspected four times a year. You have your annual inspection, your semi inspection, and your um quarterly inspections. So at that time we only had a contract for the semianual inspection. So twice a year. So we were missing our quarterlies and we were missing our annuals, which your annual can't be your semiannual on that. So we went to that contractor and said, "Hey, do the rest of the inspections, but on a TNM." TNM is time and materials. So no contract. It's
010just strictly what they come out, what they do, what parts they use. They bill us directly dollar for dollar for what they did. Um, you know, contracts are beneficial depending on which side you on, but it's good for budgeting because you know what you're you're paying for and what you're getting. Uh, time materials is a little more of a wild card, but we wanted to do that to try to get caught up. Um, we found that that contractor did not do what we asked on that. In fact, the obligation for the contract was even in question as to what they actually did. Um, with that said, we looked at some of the other people that were doing parts of our inspections because like it was very patchwork quilt kind of different overlaps that we had
011and didn't have and a lot of our stuff wasn't being done on time if it was getting done. So, we started kind of taking back, you know, and you know, we talked to those people throughout the year say, "Hey, you know, where we at? Where we at? Where we at?" And it never never seemed to get caught up. So about March of last year, we got written up a lot on the um inspections from the fire marshal. Now we got everything corrected in the time, you know, that we were a loted. So we're within all regulations on that front, but from the inspection side and anything they didn't inspect, we still have this issue we wanted to solve. So we reached out to some of the partners we've been using. Um, we got some quotes,
012we got some um, you know, different ideas what we needed to have, what we didn't need to have, what we need to prioritize, and we found that we were actually weren't even looking at a lot of the stuff that was required to be looked at. Um, one example of that is the fire hydrants. We have, I think, over a dozen fire hydrants on our property. We were responsible for those and they are required to have annual inspections and I can't find any records of any inspections. So, we have to assume they haven't been inspected. I know they haven't been inspecting the two years I've been here because they weren't on the list of the things that our contractors we were previously working with had been working on. So, we found a few different options. Um,
013not very many companies had the capacity to come in and really get us to we're 100% caught up, know what we need to do, and get us on the right track. Uh, Cruise Corporation started working with the district during the bond. um they got several of the big bond projects for HVAC. I was talking to him about one of our current HVAC projects at William Allen White, which they got that bond project also. And he said they had a fire division. We started talking to him. We found out that they actually have one of the more comprehensive fire divisions um in the state for all the companies that do investigations uh or excuse me, inspections. Um they've got some of the most qualified technicians. They send theirs to the higher advanced schools that some of
014the other ones don't. um you know, kind of getting your basic inspections kind of low level, fairly easy to get. They really go out of their way to send them to the advanced stuff. Um there people can actually do calibrations. Almost no companies that we've talked to can even look at it to see if it's calibrated, let alone fix the calibration when it's out of sync or where it needs to be. So crew started looking pretty good on that. We looked at a more comprehensive package for doing everything and we came with the package that I presented tonight. Um, one of the huge benefits to them beyond their expertise, beyond the fact that we worked with them in the district, we know we have a good relationship with them, um, you know, they they've been
015working with us for years, is that they actually contract through Kansas security for their alarm component of their fire monitoring service. That's who we already use. So, Kansas Security already has all of our burglary alarms, flood alarms, panic alarms, fire alarms, everything's already package deal. So, it didn't really make sense on some of these other companies that wanted to get us to go to them. They wanted the monitoring was a huge portion, right? They want us to go to their monitoring. Well, to take that out and have two monitoring services didn't align very well. Um, and then we started looking at the lack of capacity. Crews started looking better and better. So, when we're looking at crews, one of the big things that they have that's different is when they do their inspections, and I'm
016talking like their first primary, you know, they're new to the district, really get us where we need to be. They have two HVAC technicians on site and two plumbers on site. So, locally, there aren't very many plumbers that have the certification to deal with the fire sprinkler blowback valves. Cruis's plumbers are certified in that. um the local company that we've had doing our regular blowoff valves are fine, but the fire valves are separate, have to be special certification. They don't have that locally, so we had to find somebody for that. Anyway, this covers that. Them having the HVAC technicians is huge because every fire damper that doesn't open when we want it to open back up, so we have hot rooms or cold rooms. Those technicians while on site on that initial big thing when
017they go through the building, if they can fix it with what's on the truck, we don't pay extra. They're already on site. we've already paid for them to be there. If they have to bring parts in, we will be for the parts, but we won't have the labor on that. If they have to come back, we would be on it for the labor, but we're not paying the diagnostic fee at that point. Usually, when we have a problem, we have to call them out, they look at it, we get, you know, charged for the time to look at it, and then we come back and we look at the next, you know, and then they fix it. So, this takes care of at least half of all the visits we would need. And then the
018other thing is while those plumbers are there, if they're standing around doing nothing, we can have that's that's our time. We paid for that time. So if we have other plumbing problems, we can have them work on those plumbing problems while they're there. So um you know, hope we don't have to utilize that much, but it's kind of a nice perk that we've already paid for. So, with all that said, um, for the first year, and this year's much higher than it would be in future years, I'm hoping um, $112,655. It's tips bid. Um, which we've gone through the tips before. If there's questions on that, we can go through it again, but we've done it a few times here now. So, that cost again includes getting us up to speed. They're going to put
019a book in every closet that has a fire riser. Right now, ours are all out of date because we haven't been doing those the way we should. They'll have a book for every office. My office will be supplied a book that'll represent every office and then every fire riser will have its own book for that riser. So that way whenever there's any inspections that are done, none of that stuff is even hard to find. It's all right there where we're already looking at the components instead of having to go try to figure that out later. Um, so getting this up on the books, Kansas Security with in this price is also going to go through and put hands on every single unit in every building. So we're going to make sure that, you know, smoke
020detector 17 aligns a smoke detector 17 in the system. And then, you know, as we go through this year and they get all that done, that should put us at a really good position a year from now where this is much less money because we already know everything we have. We don't have any big projects planned for adding more additions. We're through with the bond as far as that goes. So, now is a really good time to just get us up to 100%. So, if there's any questions, I can take those. >> So, Corey, I know you talked very highly of them. Do they also have a lot of experience with schools specifically on that then? >> I don't have a specific number on schools. I do know they have contracts in Emporia that they've
021already been in Emporia several times. >> Okay. >> Um Michelin is one of them. So they are in town a lot which is also another benefit that if we have a problem they're not far away. >> Okay. This is just a one year. >> Yeah, this is a one year because after that one year, the next year should look very different as far as what we need to be just for compliance sake >> because I see the the Kansas Avenue on there and it's not very much in the grand scheme of things. But, you know, if we sell it, I assume we're just out the 2947 for that one probably, >> right? Because legally right now, we still have an obligation to make sure that it's it's good to go. So, as soon as that's
022off there, we can make that adjustment. >> Okay. >> And the close on Kansas Avenue isn't scheduled until like July of 26. So, >> which is the end of this contract. So, >> um going back to what you said about how like our last vendor didn't um conduct, you know, the inspections with Fidelity, like how will that be? I mean, you explained the book and everything, but >> you know, how do we just make sure that this the cruise also um does the job that we pay them to do? So part of that's obvious on me for not knowing what it all was till we were in hindsight looking back and I was looking for the things. Um the the thing with the issue at the time was even when we had caught it in
023time getting them reactive was the was the problem. Um this goes back to cruises have been doing a lot of work for us for a long time. We haven't had any problems with them reacting to us or being um upfront about problems. So, you know, I feel confident that a relationship that's historically been good is more likely to stay good than to have a problem when we we have good history. And it's been years now. They initially started in 2019. They did the walnut HVAC. So, I don't know what happened before that, but at least since 2019, this school district and Cruz's relationship has been building, not going the other way. >> Okay, this is an action item. >> Okay, me again. Um, Dr. um this is a lot of money obviously and it's really
024important, so that's good. That's fine. Um, but I'm also wondering if as we consider more capital outlay projects, if perhaps we could see like a like a budget for like three to five years. Um, so that when like not now, like maybe in the next few months as you and Josh, you know, get acclimated to our system, but I think if we could use that as a future agenda item, I think it would be helpful. >> Definitely. And, you know, and Corey's done a lot of work in in trying to lay out capital expenditures and needs over the course of time. And now it's just a matter of us um you we've got Josh on board. We're going to work with Corey to create a good long-term capital outlay plan that starts to pull the
025dollars in at the right years to get the the the actual projects accomplished to we we we just we're just playing a lot of catch-up right now with regard to uh you know deferred maintenance and infrastructure. We we could easily run another bond issue just to deal with deferred maintenance and infrastructure. So, we're we have to create a long range plan and and and address it as proactively as possible. >> I move to approve the annual service agreement for fire prevention systems with cruise corporation through TIPS purchasing cooperative for 2025 2026 is submitted. >> I second. Okay, >> it's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. >> Uh item 7B, student handbook changes for 2025 2026, second read. >> Yep. Dr. Erica Mickelson is back to uh go
026through these second reads of the handbooks with you. Okay, I'm back for student handbooks. And the reason we brought these back were um based on the changes for the AI policy that we put into place. So, you will see we didn't need to update the elementary um AI policy piece because really at the elementary level, it's introducing them to kind of, you know, what's fake, what's out there. It's really just that high level what is AI and and and what it can be used for. um at the middle and high school it is we are we are going to put steps in place to be utilizing those um those pieces for artificial intelligence. So um you can see the misuse of the AI tools is in there under minor infractions. And then we did take
027the board policy the full board policy and put it into our handbooks because we thought that was a a a way to reiterate what that is and what that looks like for our our parents and families. Erica, I have one question. Um, >> I, you know, later on we're going to be look passing board policies and one of the board policies is on hairstyles. Yes. That we might And so if we pass that, I assume you'll go ahead and put that into >> Yes. >> Absolutely. We can look at that after we approve it as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I had a question um uh about that as well because if I look at the high school policy, the dress code policy X IIX and then the EMS policy XVW,
028they're different. Like the language we added in EHS has not been put over into the same policy in EMS. Is there a reason for that? >> No. When at the end of the year, we have the middle school principal and at the time it was John Martin and working with Mr. Mr. Burns 2 uh for this year and then uh Mr. Fischer, they pull those and they look at those. So, it's whatever is specific to the buildings, but we can look at making sure they're more more similar. I mean, obviously, we we want the the gap or the bridge from middle school to high school to be as seamless as we can. So, um while we're looking at the hair policy and what needs to be updated in that, we can pull the the principles
029and look at at that piece as well. >> Okay. And I mean it kind of all effectively says the same thing and gives them the same amount of control. I just noticed that it was different wording in both manuals. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I move to approve the student handbooks for the 2025 2026 school year as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. Uh item 7C 2025 2026 USD 253 budget review. >> Yeah, we get our our new interim assistant superintendent of business operations and also our director of business. Um, we got Josh Schwarz and Kate Kate. It's Josh's first time in front of the board since he's gotten here, so be kind. You always are. >> Thank you, Dr.
030McGee, and thank you for being here for this evening and serving for sure. The budget's always a key point of the year, but it's also a lot of details to it. So, um, and Kate has been extremely helpful as I as I've transitioned as well, but I think the very first day on the job, he went to DIA with the budget and got it reviewed. So, it was jumping right in. And this was going to be one of the the the bigger jobs of the the of this year for for this position for sure. So, um first off, we do have a presentation that that we modeled from last year and just an overall picture. I think there were six or seven documents in the packet. And so, this one is really just going through
031the the different pieces that are in this, but you got an agenda. We wanted to make sure our budget tied to the mission and vision and then those priorities that were there. and then we'll go through some of the other there's some screenshots from the budget itself that we will we'll review as a as a group and then if there's questions for sure time to discuss. The main thing tonight isn't the approval of the budget but this really approving what's going to be in the newspaper that will get published and and will get communicated out to the public. Um other key thing is this is not approving how much will be spent but it's more approving what the legal max would be. And there is a slide in here that compares what we've kind of
032done as a legal max in prior years compared to what we've spent. So you kind of get a picture of the difference between the legal maximum that you have versus the actual expenditures because they are different. So as we move forward mission and vision I guess we always keep those in front of us just as we as a focal point also tied in the three strategies and the priorities of the district. the um 2425 results really tie back to the the needs assessment and making sure that um some of the things that were put in place last year kind of where we were at with those and a lot of these are the same there's I see capturing kids hearts which we since I've been here there's been training for that uh a lot of
033other pieces that are strength to strength builders to the the strategies and then also some pieces with operations Um and there is several projects in current phase to get implemented and those will kind of continue as well this year. And then also wanted to make sure we talked about the needs assessments. So there is a portion of the budget when it does get approved that we we talk about that the needs assessment was a portion of that conversation when the budget was created and principles had gone through and worked on that last spring. And I believe there was a presentation to the board in March, possibly March or April. So really took some of those key pieces from those presentations and summarized them with with this slide. So ELLL support, tier 2 and tier three
034learning. So a lot of those interventions for those students that need the support and then professional development on some of those same practices with curriculum, behavior, and letters. And then um chronic absenteeism and just the overall concept of improving attendance is was a common factor. Um and then operations which goes back to Corey's left already but really goes back to some of those capital plans and I know HVAC pieces are a part of that. Roof repairs and playground maintenance are are several that are on the high end of the radar. And then we get into some of the actual numbers that are in the budget. So, this was a slide that came from one of those bigger packets, but and it's kind of difficult to see, but you'll see columns that say budget versus actual,
035budget versus actual, and then you get to this year where it just says budget because we are proposing those legal maxes. Gives you an opportunity to see the difference between what's budgeted versus what the actuals are. And over the course of time, it looks like if you look at the total expenditures row that's in red, kind of that first row in red, it's about a $20 million difference between what the budget is on that legal max compared to what those actual expenditures are. And the um there will be an increase in expenditures because there's been some changes in salaries and some pieces like that that will cause the 25 26 year to go up. But it also somebody asked the question, it looks like you're spending $20 more million dollars this year. Well, that's the
036legal max. That's not going to be what the actual actuals will end up being based on patterns like that. Um, thought might just stop for questions. Questions so far on this slide before we keep moving. Um, yeah, I just have one question. So on um for student support services and instructional support services, it looks like we over the past few years have been pretty significantly under budget on those. Can you speak a little bit more about that? I know you were not here during those years. >> Um so it's okay if you don't know tonight. Um I'm just kind of wondering why that's happening and how we can best invest our dollars to support our students. The one thing you're looking at there too is like even when we look at the totals and and
037we say we're talking about approving legal maxes, the maximum amounts we can spend um versus actual budget that all of these lines are legal max, you know, they're a part of that legal max. So, they're going to be inflated as as we approve those legal maxes now um than what what's actually spent. >> Yeah. Yeah. I I get that. I think that my train of thought is on other lines like for example operations and maintenance. We have spent more money than what we have anticipated and I personally would like to see our dollars spent. I know that operations and maintenance affects students in a >> longer term um but in our classrooms. Mhm. So really look at the actuals when we start looking at how the budget's one thing but then as the year ends
038focusing on how those actuals end up trying to get as many in that instructional piece as possible. Is that how >> but I understand I understand what you're saying too is I mean we spend a sign significant amount of capital outlay on on projects um and I've communicated with the board previously we we got to we're not going to be able to expend that aggressively in capital in the future. We had some we had some decent balances and reserves from year to year there. Um Corey's done a great job of catching things up, but at an expense, you know, at a cost. And that's what you're seeing reflected there in the last couple of years. >> Sorry, I don't mean to step in, but >> that's okay. >> I was here two years ago doing
039that job, too. So, we were we were kind of in that mode at that point. I think the other thing to keep in mind is also when you're trying to staff and you're trying to fill the positions that are there, the positions that are in the classroom directly working with the kids are the priority when you're having trouble filling positions. >> As we pause here, I do have a there's a question that's come up earlier when we did agenda review and it's on other costs. Um you can see a like a $462 number then it jumps to 48,000. Um during the 2324 year there was a transfer from those are child care meals. So in 2324 that was transferred to ESER to use ESSER funds to pay for that which then shrunk that to a
040much smaller number than last year without the ESSER funding. That all stayed in that other cost. That's why that's where that gap was. Any other questions on this one? Okay, budget at a glance um from a picture standpoint gives you um just some bar graphs with that. I don't know if it's any questions on this one. It's very kind of the same information, but it's just in a different format. Then the next slides get into the proposed notice of hearing. The reason why we have this up here is really this is what looks this is what's going to be in the newspaper. So it gives you a visual in the paper. The um the total mills is usually a question that comes up from anyone. What's what's the mill rate which would be in the
041bottom right the bottom row I think it's hard >> 56.72. >> Yeah. And you can kind of see the other mill rates that will be there. Um I would say this is a a larger mill rate than there has been from a proposal standpoint. And a portion of that is to maintain the local option budget which is from a state. This kind of goes into the state aid portion of how the funding mechanism works. Um, Emporia receives 61% of every dollar in extra aid if money is maximized in supplemental general. So part of that is to keep that fund as large as possible. Um and there are some other adjustments made from bond and interest even using some of the leftover construction funds there to help minimize that increase. If there was not a construction
042fund that mill rate would have been higher yet even. So um but that is why that's a little bit larger to maintain some of those I would call deferred maintenance is one of the the primary focuses of of trying to keep some things moving forward. Um, any questions on on any of these? >> I have a question just to make sure I understand the numbers right in mills because it's very complicated. It's not my field. Um, it's why we pay you. Um, so if I'm reading this right, 55.48 um from 23 to 24, 54.49, 24 to 25, and next budget cycle would be 56.782. So, is it accurate to say that we're increasing the mill? >> Yes. >> Okay. 1.3 cents or 1.3 mills. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. Keep us moving here. Form
043150. Um, really this is what the funding mechanism is using from all the waitings that you'll hear about waiting. So, form 150 is really the waiting sheet. that takes the base enrollment plus at risk and all those all those other pieces that become kind of the main major budget. I would say form 150 is a a form that you need to know the name of at least. So if somebody asks what is this? It concludes all the waitings that drive the legal max for your general fund. And we could spend a lot of time in this but I think it's more just recognize what it is. If you have questions would entertain those for sure if you have questions otherwise it's more of an information piece. questions on this one. Okay. Mill rates. We somewhat
044talked about this with that with the code 999 was going to be in the newspaper. The um I think one piece and it might come up later with the revenue neutral rate. The um there is the recommendation to go above the revenue neutral rate primarily because the there's a 20 mil statutory rule that every district has to levy a 20 mil tax. I believe the revenue neutral rate for employees is like 18.5 mills somewhere in that range. So automatically the district would be above that 20. Um but again any questions on any of this just takes that mill rate piece and breaks it out a little bit more clearly. Okay. And then cash balances is a from a finance end I I have used this as a kind of a barometer check or a health
045check to see how our cash balances are looking at the end of each fiscal year. You may we monitor the budgets throughout each month of the year. However, at the very end is where you really see are we staying pretty steady? Is it going up? Is it going down? Those kind of things. The um there is a the one to note would be special ed. It says special education co-op that this is one to note and you'll see in 20 July of 20 I think goes 20 23 24 25 correct >> so there's over a million dollars in 23 then it drops to near 200,000 possibly. Yeah 200,000 and then we're zero this year. We we did find that there was a a difference in what that special ed co-op was assessing compared to what
046was being collected through the assessments. And that gap is what was eating into those balances. So that has since been corrected. The assessments that are being build to the member districts of the cooperative are now accurate and we'll start to build that balance back up. But that is why that shrunk the way that it did. Uh but overall looking at any other cash balances, what questions might you have on this one? >> I I would like to talk about the at risk education fund just a moment because we see that that continually continually increases which is beneficial but we're having a really hard time spending that because of restrictions. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Of what that can actually be spent on. >> Well, and there's also mandatory transfers. So there's so many
047dollars of the budget that have to be transferred into that fund which is based on that 61% aid that we I just mentioned for supplemental general that also drives that percent of money that needs to be transferred into at risk. Well then at risk has fairly narrow restrictions on how that could be spent which then connects you know operations and finance with the teaching and learning department to see how those worlds can work together to maximize that or really try to use that money. Uh it is a challenge. Um, and every year if I've noticed it's about it's growing by a million and a half or two million a year. So, we need to get for sure first step would be to get that two million climbed stop at least start to to get that
048part remedied and then start working on how to use those funds certainly, you know, in a way to to benefit um at risk learners. Um trying to think does a how familiar is a group with at risk definitions and how that money is used? Is that something I could should come back with or is everybody feel pretty comfortable? >> It's always worth a public discussion. >> Okay. All right. So that could be may possibly a followup that we have to do with that risk. Okay. >> A lot of districts will use those at risk funds to uh you can use them to lower class sizes and you know with our enrollment not growing it's going the other direction. um you know we don't have that option but you know as we look at our budget
049and and try to I mean we need to try to structure ourselves so that we can utilize all funds that we're receiving and so that's a part of the work we're going to be doing you know as we look at how do we cost contain within our budget in areas where we can't really afford to be spending what we're spending and utilize funds like this to uh I mean not to say that it would happen but let's say that we got on this ver this edge of do we need to put another teacher in a section in a grade level or not to create another section. Well, if we hire another teacher then that's coming, you know, out of the general revenue. You can't utilize you're not going to utilize these at risk funds for
050it because our class sizes are already to a point where they wouldn't let us utilize them that way. But maybe maybe you you hold on and hire hire a a you know a second person in the classroom, you know, a support specialist or something like that to um to aid in in making sure that we can manage the classroom, teach in the small group, so on, break the kids up into smaller group. So, we just got to we got to figure out what's the best way to approach our numbers, you know, so that we're supporting our teachers, keeping our class sizes where we want them, and then also being able to utilize these dollars in in areas that maybe it makes sense to put a second person in versus splitting kids up into another section.
051So, these are just all conversations we're going to have to have and potentially ways to begin to expend the funds that we're receiving that we haven't been, you know, we haven't been able to to spend them down up to this point. We have needs. We just have to be creative to be able to utilize all of our revenues. >> I love everything you just said, Dr. McGee. Thank you. I plan to sue that out. I think the next couple pieces talk about the revenue neutral rate which is so there are two action items on for this evening. One is to approve what would be in the paper for the revenue neutral rate and then the other is the code 99 or the the budget that would be published. So questions on the RNR piece that's
052there. All right. And then so I the final slide was the um just the date that it was going to be in the newspaper. This would be published to the website and then the hearing would be on September 10th at 5:45. I believe there's two hearings that night. There would be one for the revenue neutral rate where you take action on that and then there's a hearing for just the budget if the public is there for that. But then that budget is actually approved in the meeting. And then for 2627, we've talked about this a bit, just really trying to plan and implement, look at what we can do to maximize the dollars we have, take care of kids, those kind of things. So, overall questions or thoughts? >> I do have a question. I
053think you could see that I had a confused expression on my face when we looked at budget at a glance. So, going sort of to slide seven. So, on the other cost, you said that the 48,000 was for child care meals. And I'm curious if we are um participating in the CACFP for reimbursement for child care meals >> at the current time we are not. >> Do you do can you elaborate maybe why we're not and do we have intentions to do so because that's a pretty good reimbursement. >> We do have Samantha and I talked today on ways to to look into that so that but it's just starting now. Um, so I there would be ways to get funding back on that for sure and try to navigate that to maximize those dollars
054for sure. >> Thank you. >> Jamie, can you explain more about what that is? >> So just like when um we have our school meals and we can get reimbursed for um for like free and reduced meals, even our full price meals um we get a small reimbursement for those as well. You can also do that for child and adult care programs. Um, also funded through basically KSD and and so it's it's a it's a nice reimbursement and I think I hope we pursue it. >> I had a question when we were looking at um projected numbers of students and so forth and and then what we can do for re reimbursement and so forth. But if we have a decline in enrollment, is it that we can use the highest enrollment for the last
055two years or three years or >> the Well, the rule has changed. It used to be you would do an average of three years or the higher the last two possibly, but it's gone to where it's just last year's enrollment or the current year. >> That is correct. >> So, and based on predictions right now, our current year enrollment will drop compared to the 2425 20 Yeah, 2425 year. So whatever we have in 2425 will be the the number we would use in our budget. I would that fair to say? >> So so that's been tightened. I mean you don't have a many as many options. >> You don't have as many options. Correct. >> Okay. >> Or if you have a fluctuating enrollment, you're really it's a little more volatile than it would have
056been when there's averages. >> Okay. >> Good question. >> All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> That's going to bring us to item 7D, approval of the notice of hearing to exceed the revenue neutral rate for 2025 2026. I move to approve the notice of hearing to exceed the revenue neutral rate for the 2025 2026 school year for publication in the Emporia Gazette on August 22nd, 2025 and on the USD 253 website as submitted. >> I second. It's been new moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. That brings us to 7E. Approval of the notice of hearing for the 2025 2026 budget. >> Are you ready? I move to approve the publication of the notice of hearing for the 2025-2026 USDC 253 budget in the
057Emporia Gazette on August 22nd, 2025 and on the USD 253 website as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That brings us to item 8A, board reports. And we have Flint Hills Technical College Board of Trustees. >> We met on Monday. Um, so similar to last year for this board meeting, it was their first day of class, so I felt a little sorry for them for having to have a board meeting on the first day of class. Uh, but it was a a good meeting. We got a nice highlight on um student services and academic affairs and um approved the course catalog. Um, we also um I agreed to serve on an insurance broker committee. is similar
058to what we did here. They're looking at IMA and Boui and I think uh they'll probably end up with some good choices to help make insurance more affordable at the tech college. It was a good meeting. >> Thank you. And Emporia Recreation Commission. >> Right. So, um the rec commission had a special meeting recently where we voted to approve theou for afterare for rec extra that we're going to visit about today. Um so, I'm just going to kind of leave it at that and um expound a little bit. There were some um inquiries by some of our w commissioners about um we have certain staff that work full-time for the wreck that would be supervising and engaging in certain duties related to supervising the staff that take care of wreck extra, right? And so technically
059those overhead costs are not part of the agreement that 253 and the wreck has there. Um, so there was some discussion amongst the rec commission commissioners about, hey, this was a surprise expense. Kind of had to throw all this together at the last minute, but maybe next year it would be fair for the wreck to talk to USD253 about covering those additional administrative costs our full full-time staff have to do. Um, which seemed pretty reasonable. Um, but just wanted to put that out there. Not an issue for now, but they may uh request that. We may request that later as we move forward. >> All right. Thank you. Oh, and our next regular meeting is the 20th. It's a Wednesday, not a Monday this time, so don't show up at the wrong time. That's mostly
060a reminder for me because I've done this before. >> Okay. Item 8B, board policy update, June 2025, KSB, second reading. >> Dr. Erica Mickelson is uh back with a second read on a policy we had some conversations about last time. So the main one was visitors to the school and this had to do with the to make sure that we are in accordance with Kansas law. Um we did reach out to our lawyer district lawyer, our attorney and uh did receive feedback. So you'll see that in the the notes there as well um as a as a an added piece um making sure that we um are as I said sticking to that Kansas the Kansas state statute. Um I I think it's We have had a lot of discussion of how uncomfortable it could
061be to have that as something when visitors are coming in and they are carrying um because we are obviously a a a a gun-free zone in our school district. Um but if we have an offduty um police officer or an offduty law enforcement, they are able to come into our buildings. Um obviously we would want to ensure that we are doing everything that we need to as far as they're signing in. They're doing what everyone else in the building would do as they come and visit, but we're not having them say that they are off duty. We're not having them announce. We're not having them wear anything. Um it very much is um a if they come in, they don't have to let us know that piece. So, any questions? >> I thought the clarifying
062language was good. I felt like it just got us all on the same page. >> Okay, good. >> Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm understanding this. Um, yeah. So, the principal or designate has the authority to request that if you're coming in there, you'll be able to show that, hey, I am law enforcement. I can carry this, but we're just not making them wear a scarlet letter. Correct. Correct. Correct. And I think that was the confusion last time was is is anyone knowing that this person is coming in concealing and carrying for whatever purpose, right? And so, the way I read that is that yes, they would be required to say, "Hey, I've got this, but we're just not announcing it because it's concealed." >> Correct. And that would be for if you
063have retired law enforcement, LEOS, you have the LEOSA piece with the the um law enforcement officer safety act for retired officers. So that would include that piece as well, >> right? Or just cop picking up their kid and being in the building. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Thank you for all of your extra work on this. I really appreciate it. And I think for me the biggest thing was just um presenting identification to, you know, to the principal or the designate. That was the most important thing to me. So glad we have that clarified. >> I'll take one for the team. I move to retire policies BBC, CN, DF, IB, JBC, JG, FFGB, JH, KBC, KGB, KM, KN, JCDB, and GBO. and to approve the new and revised policies BBC, CN, DF, G, AAABC, IB, JBC,
064JBCD, JG, FGB, JH, KBC, KGB, KM, KN, JCDB, NGBOS submitted. >> Can you say that one more time? Second, >> can I say as a former kindergarten teacher, I don't know why that makes me happy, but it does. I don't know why. It just does. >> I just think it's funny that Leslie got to say KGB at an angle. Second. >> All right, it's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. >> Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. Uh item 9A, after school care agreement rec commission. Yeah, I'll take that one. Um, we really should be applauding right now because this was something that needed to get done. It needed to get done for our community. Um, and thankfully we were able to uh, you know, find our way toward even having um, a former
065partner help us to pay and subsidize so that our so that our families don't have to, you know, pay the full boat on this on this afterchool care. Um just just reiterating that um if you're you if you'll remember Boys and Girls Club was going to increase their monthly fees to $80. Working with Amanda at the rec center we were able to keep that number down to $70. And then if a student can provide them with their record that they are uh eligible for reduced lunch that drops to $50. And if they're eligible for free lunch that drops to $30. So, uh, we're just trying to make it as affordable as possible, um, in a manner in which we can afford our our portion to subsidize, too. I appreciate, um, Jeremy's, um, comments as well,
066uh, with regard to the fact they're subsidizing the program, too, through some, you know, administrative uh, oversight and costs. uh we are helping to fund um a part-time coordinator for the program, but just like we I compare it to like we do with the Flint Hill Special Education Co-op where we bill some of our um financial personnel's time and so on to the co-op. Um I feel like that's exactly what Jeremy's talking about and it's definitely, you know, worthy of a conversation as we move forward. I think those are great conversations to have and they're easier to have after we all kind of see a year under our belt and know that um we we feel like we've got a good model that we're projecting expenditures and and revenues you know as accurately as possible.
067But uh you you will notice on the back of this document I took the liberty to uh have our vice president Leslie Cely as the as the sneige on it. Um, since we have Amanda Gutierrez as a sneigy uh for the Emporia Rec Commission, hopefully hopefully no one no one cares that that that that was done. I don't I don't know that I asked anyone's permission. Just kind of kind of went that route. But, uh, we are we are strongly and wholeheartedly recommending your approval of this agreement. >> Yeah. And I really would just applaud the rec center staff because we kind of just threw ourselves at their mercy and, you know, one, they've just pulled it together and really did a lot of work on it. Um, it has been one of my greatest
068um, joys as a school board member to be able to serve on the rec commission because we truly have some incredible staff who really care about our community and families and when we've needed them to, you know, save our bacon, they have showed up maybe more than once at this point. So, with that said, if there's any questions, I move to approve the afterchool care agreement between USD 253 and the Emporia Recreation Commission for the 2025 to 26 school year as submitted. Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded and also I will be abstaining from this vote. >> Motion passes six to one. >> And could I just say thank you to Dr. McGee for all of your work on this. like you had to deal with this like even before you were hired
069on July 1. So, thank you for all of your work. >> Thanks. Well, I appreciate that. And and I I would be remiss if I didn't say that Dr. Harter worked right up till the very last day in the very last hour on this as well with me. So, we appreciate her work. >> Thank you. So, that brings us to item 9B, superintendent report. >> Yeah, a few items here. um a little report on convocation. I I shared a I'm I'm in the process of sharing a reflections document with you in your regular Friday uh communication. Uh I wanted to thank uh Mr. Glenn Ward and our band students. I think that that just adds we need to involve students, you know, when we start school every year. Um and my goal is to if
070you look through the comments and there's one of them on there that says we need to involve students more. That's my comment on the reflections. So, we'll try to look for more opportunities to involve students in convocation, but staff feedback has been very positive. I think they liked our speaker. You know, it wasn't necessarily as rahrrah as it had been in the past, but there were actually a lot of positive comments about that thoughtful message. You know, really respecting them and their role in in the lives of others and and um so we we appreciate that. And, you know, I guess we should all we should all just repeat that we we know this is going to be the best school year ever. as a part of we share we shared some some of that
071feedback with Ron today. He was real appreciative. Um middle school track and field project update. Um you know this project was approved by the board earlier this year and we've had a lot of really good progress recently uh with turf field install installation. We've got some pictures further down in this report. Um and that's been going on all this week. Should should wrap up. If it if it u doesn't wrap up this week, it will very very soon. After um our contract on the contractor on the project kept reaching out to us about delays due to a lot of permitting processes. Uh I appreciate yesterday um Mr. Schwarz went over and accompanied the the contractor to a meeting with the city of Emporia and and we were able to see some movement on on those.
072But certainly certainly we would love to um continue to work on our relationship with with the planning and development side of the city to determine, you know, what what things we can do with them to ensure that we're we're doing things that are safe and healthy and and doing them the right way, but but being able to do them, you know, as efficiently as possible as well. So, uh, we we run into a few delays with regard to permitting permitting and and, uh, you know, engineered stamp drawing requirements, things like that. Um, that do drive the cost of our project up some, but I'm not going to get in the city's lane. They they have their processes. We just need to use this use this to, uh, spark conversation about how we work together moving
073forward. Um there was a delay in the actual um asphalt portion of the track surface because that asphalt has to go down first before the actual track material goes on. The asphalt plant broke down uh at the time that the crew was on site ready to lay asphalt. So they had to pull off our site, but they're now coming back to uh get that going again. But that did delay us a little bit. Um parking lot works waiting on uh waiting on some permitting. We're still doing with we're still dealing with some conversations related to uh lighting and landscaping um associated with the whole project and and around the parking lot as well. So um continue to work with the city on those permitting issues and uh then the concessions and restroom building. Um some
074more permitting that's required there. We're waiting on some drawings there to meet the city's uh expectation, but they did. As a result of the meeting that uh Josh and Did Corey go over? Corey was over there, too. Josh and Corey went over to that meeting. Uh we were able to get them to move on letting us start pouring the footings uh while we're still waiting on the full permit for that structure. So, making some progress. >> Dr. Dr. Miki, can I ask does the middle school have a plan for the um soccer and football season that will start next week? >> I'm sure they have a plan, but I haven't haven't had an opportunity to talk with them about it, but I can I can follow up on that to to let you know that
075I I promise they're gonna they're going to be somewhere doing their thing. And then we we we included some of those pictures in there for you as well. First day of school is uh Wednesday, August 20th. And um just a reminder, we've all signed up uh to try to go out and help greet students on that first day. And if you forget where you've signed up, um Casey has a nice document she can share that tells you where everybody's going to be or she can just she can just tell you where you're supposed to be. That's kind of the way I run my life in the school district is Casey just tells me where I'm supposed to be next and I show up there and do my thing. school bus inspections. Our director of transportation,
076Michelle Charbano, reported that 100% of our buses passed the highway patrol inspection. You know, that's no small feat. So, uh, we appreciate them, all the hard work that they do. Um, I know being being fully staffed out there helps a lot too with regard to mechanical issues and, um, yeah, so we love we we love our transportation group. They they do great work. And then I just wanted to put in here as a followup um because you know you may have seen the the agenda got revised a little bit from when it was first posted last week to uh what we what we were seeing um today. And that was that job description for related to our um security guards. And this was a just a it was a result of a conversation that came
077out of transition. And so as we were transitioning, administration was sharing um with those of us coming in in that there had been communication going ongoing and that we were not going to be covered if we had some sort of incident with a firearm associated with our employees that that we employ to be armed guards. Um, and so we were moving down that re that route because the, you know, the the policy language I I had read it. I was reading it over and over and over. It was pretty ambiguous and and uh so, you know, it was almost like you got to where there was an exclusion, but then if you really read it the way it's intended, our armed security guards are excluded from the exclusion. You know, it's kind of it's kind
078of that it gets that muddy. And so as we dug into it today, we we just got our carrier on the phone this morning and got a, you know, a positive this is the way it is. You are they are covered um as long as we identify that we have them and that we employ them in our census that we we do for for our uh our coverage. And it's not a large extra expense. Um that might be a question that comes up. It's it's it's she said it's around a $600 expense to include them. And so my apologies for this ever reaching your your your agenda initially, but uh appreciate um those of those of us that were questioning it and then even those members of the public that had questions about it because
079it helps us to get the decision right at the end of the day. That's what this whole process should look like. And uh I just wanted to be sure that everyone was um just we all are aware of what happened, but not always is everybody out there aware. And so now, um, everyone kind of knows how we process that. And I did communicate with, uh, I know you were receiving some communications and I did communicate back with the individual that was sending you some and got a got a really nice positive message back from that individual, too. Appreciating, you know, the the thought that we put into it. And, of course, we landed where they wanted us to, so they were happy. But we but we did it because that's where that's where we should
080be, you know, if if we're covered. Um, it does us a lot more a lot more good to have an armed security guard that may be closer to an incident than a law enforcement officer um than it does to have an unarmed security guard that might help us keep an eye on things but can't really do any more than a teacher or or or a building principal or anyone else in the heat of the moment. And so we'll continue to to uh to work on this. Um, I did reference that we're, you know, we've had some early conversations with the city about potentially going to SRO's. Um, but we're going to keep talking about that internally, um, to decide, you know, what's the best route to go. Um, that's not a decision that's been made
081or even a path that we're we're absolutely sure we're going down. Um, but at some point could become necessary if we can't find qualified folks. As some of our folks retire, we want to be sure that the people that we do have carrying a firearm with these responsibilities, you know, are trained appropriately, um, you know, they they've passed the psychology tests and everything else to to be sure that that uh they're someone that we want carrying that carrying that gun and dealing with those issues if they arise. Um, so rambled on a little bit about that, but um, you know, something that uh needed needed to be needed to be shared so that everyone understands kind of how it was processed. >> Yeah, thank you very much. Uh, that brings us to item 9 C,
082DJFAB, administrative leeway, EMS exposed wiring repair. Yeah, this is an expenditure that was um an emergency that we had to take care of due to a lightning strike and some exposed wiring and and and damaged equipment. And uh so the repair was made immediately, but it's over that $20,000 threshold. And so we enact the administrative leeway policy and uh ask you to come come around and approve it after the fact. So, I had a question on that, but was the total cost of that low too low for filing insurance type thing? >> Um, I I don't I don't know that we've checked on whether we're going to whether we file I mean, we can or cannot file it. We We should I Yeah, I don't know if because it's a because it's a lightning strike.
083I don't not sure what our coverage is, but yeah, that's that's a that's a part of a process. We need to look we need to go down that route and just see what we can recover. >> Okay. And I have no idea, but I I think it's worth at least checking it out, pursuing it. So >> I agree, >> I have the same I have the same thought. >> If we can get insurance, heck yeah. I mean, that's what we pay for, right? >> Y >> a lot of money for >> Y. >> So with that, unless anybody has anything else, >> I move to approve the invoice from Gerald Schuman Electric, Inc. as submitted. >> I second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. >> Motion passes 70. >> Okay, thank
084you very much. Uh future board calendar dates, item 10A, uh Wednesday, August 27th will be our next board meeting. And then Wednesday, September 10th, uh we'll have our revenue neutral rate hearing at 5:45. And then our budget hearing at 5:50 p.m. And at 6 p.m. we'll have our regular board meeting. And then September 24th will be our uh Wednesday board meeting at 6 p.m. >> And I would entertain a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. So >> moved and seconded. Please cast your vote.