001I'll now call to order the regular monthly board meeting for the Board of Education USD 453. The date is April 13th, 2026. The time is 6:00 p.m. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, and we'll go back up to the meeting roll call. >> I apologize. This is the second time I've done that. All right, we'll do roll call. Ms. Brown. >> Present. >> Ms. Wilson. >> Here. >> Mr. Darling. >> Here. >> Ms. Price. >> Here. >> Ms. Wells. >> Here. >> Ms. Murphy. >> Here. >> And Ms. Overby and Dr. Adams, we're all here. Um moving to the district
002mission statement, Dr. Adams, would you read that for us? >> President Overby, thank you. The mission of the Leavenworth Public Schools is to prepare every student for success in every classroom, every day. >> All right. We don't have any scheduled patron input, correct? Okay, we'll go to adoption of the agenda. >> Madam President, I have amendments to make. Um please add item 16, and approval of culinary classroom casework and countertops. That's an addition to the agenda. >> I'll second that. >> Oh, I second it. >> it. Okay. All in favor? >> Yes. >> 7-0. Okay. The Board of Education USD 453 closing of Richard Warren Intermediate School public hearing is now open. Is there anyone wishing to make comment or ask questions? Please come forward. The Board of Education of USD 453 closing of Richard
003Warren Intermediate School public hearing is now closed. We'll go to the reading of the resolution. >> Madam President, I move the adoption of the following resolution. Resolution 25/26-019 for closing school building or buildings. Whereas Kansas law KSA 72-1431 authorizes the Board of Education of any unified school district to close any school building by majority board vote of the board. And whereas Unified School District number 453, Leavenworth County, Kansas, timely published notice of and held a public hearing on the 13th day of April, 2026 to hear and consider testimony and evidence of the proposed building closure. And whereas the Board of Education Unified School District number 453, Leavenworth County, Kansas, has found and determined that the closing of Richard Warren Intermediate School would improve the school system of the United Unified School District. Now, therefore, be
004it resolved by the Board of Education of Unified School District number 453, Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the meeting lawfully assembled this 13th day of April, 2026, that the Richard Warren Intermediate School shall be closed at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. >> Second. >> All in favor. I 7-0. Okay. All right, moving on to the best part of the night. Our uh student and staff recognition. And tonight we'll be recognizing the Leavenworth High School Pioneer bowling team. >> Best part indeed. I would agree with that statement. Tonight we are pleased to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our boys and girls bowling program this season. This year, a combined seven student athletes from our bowling teams qualified to compete at the state tournament. An achievement that reflects the individual and team efforts of these athletes
005and their coaches throughout the season. Competing at the state level represents one of the highest levels of success in Kansas high school bowling. And we are so very proud of each student who earned that opportunity. The team is led by head coach Nathan Troyer, who could not be here this evening due to his coaching commitments at the high school baseball game. And assistant coach Jason Longberg, who is here to celebrate this recognition with the athletes and their families. Here tonight to be recognized for their success are the following student athletes. The 2025-26 girls varsity bowling team. First up is senior Shay Gray. Shay is also our girls team captain. Second is senior Addison Salazar. Third is senior Aubrey Kanzia. >> EACH STITCH IS YOUR APPROACH. >> THE FOURTH is senior Jocelyn French. Our fifth is
006senior Bianca Turner. AND THE FINAL COMPETITOR FROM OUR 25-26 girls varsity bowling team is freshman Anaya Bravo. ALL RIGHT, THEN WE'VE GOT TWO individual awards. The first is sophomore Gina Robinson. GINA QUALIFIED FOR THE 5A state competition from the boys team with a series, finishing 44th in the state out of 72 participants. >> Ready? >> And the final is sophomore GRANT SPOONER. GRANT WAS HONORED AT THE 5A STATE tournament with a ceremonial ball for his 747 series THIS YEAR. >> ONE THING THAT DIDN'T GET MENTIONED, THE WAY THAT THE girls qualified for this state tournament was they were the runner-up in our 5A STATE REGIONAL. >> ALL RIGHT, AS WE CLOSE OUT TONIGHT'S RECOGNITION, coach Troyer asked that I share a few more recognitions on his behalf. Coach Troyer's words. I want to offer a
007special note of thanks to the following individuals for their support of this program and our student athletes. First, to coach Longberg. Thank you FOR BRINGING YEP. THANK YOU FOR BRINGING A DEEPER KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE technical aspects of the sport to our program and for supporting our student athletes in all that they do. The second is to Krista Spooner and THE SPOONER FAMILY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT. For personally purchasing all new jerseys this year to everything you do to support our student athletes during both the season and in the off-season, we are so grateful. And finally, to Jessica Pettis and THE PETTIS FAMILY. THANK YOU FOR MAKING SURE THAT ALL OF our student athletes always had meals for all of our competitions and some great end of season swag with your 3D printing skills.
008His final comments. I also want to extend our appreciation to those who support our program behind the scenes. Thank you to Mr. Michael Coons and Ms. White at the high school for everything they do for our student athletes and Mr. Kessler and Mrs. Cervantes at the middle school where coach Longberg and I both teach for always being willing to cover what is needed so that we could be present for the team. Your continued support plays a vital role in our success. Additionally, I would like to thank Martha, Terry, and the entire crew at Crown Lanes here in Leavenworth for their ongoing support of not only the Pioneer program but so many local bowling programs. Their efforts to accommodate Lansing, Leavenworth, Basehor, and USM practices and competitions while still running and maintaining a successful business do
009not go unnoticed. We are incredibly grateful for their partnership. Ladies and gentlemen, one more time, if you would please at this time congratulate these student athletes AND THEIR FAMILIES. >> ALL RIGHT, CONGRATULATIONS. OKAY, moving on to item seven, consideration of the 2024-2025 CPA report. >> Hello. How are you? Good evening. Uh Kayla Williams is here to present the information to you for our CPA report. So, Miss Kayla. >> Hello, everybody. Um you should have um a couple of documents. Um one was a letter addressed to the board, and the other was your actual financial statement. So, um today we're primarily going to go through that letter that's addressed to the board. Get going. On the first page of this letter, we address our responsibility to fulfill um an audit um under certain standards. Um those
010include the government auditing standards and Kansas municipal audit and accounting guide. Um so, we ultimately issue an opinion on your financial statements, and I'll just start with the good news and say that that opinion was an unmodified opinion on the regulatory basis of accounting. So, all good news there. Um we And the next section there under accounting policies and practices, that's where we would bring to your attention if you had any changes in policies this year or any significant accounting policies or unusual items. Um there were none of these items for me to bring to your attention. The last part of that does talk about a an estimate that you have in your financials. There's more information about that attached to this letter. It's the same as you've had in prior years that relates to
011your net pension liability. It's ultimately just a footnote number in your financials, but it is based on an estimate in an actual report. So, we just like to let you know about that. Um moving on to page two, this is where we would let you know about any audit adjustments or uncorrected misstatements and there were no items for us to bring to your attention. The next section in the departures from the auditor's standard report, this is where we talk about you guys do issue under the CAMAG basis of accounting. So, you issue a waiver every year so that you are able to do that. We also issue an opinion on GAAP basis. So, that opinion is an adverse opinion because that's not how your financials are written. So, it is just kind of a difference
012in a normal audit report. So, it's just something we explain there. The next section is a new item for this year because our firm went through a merger on 1 1. You had initially engaged with BT and Co. And last year BT and Co. did your audit, but this year we're ending the audit under Swindell Janzen Hawkin Lloyd. I should have started with that. That is our firm's new name. So, it's a mouthful, but that is the new name. And so, just as a result of that, we just have to disclose that the prior year financials were audited by someone else even though it was kind of still the same people, but just something that's kind of disclosed in there. You also issue some summarized financials in there. So, it's just not a full report
013for your 2024 information that's presented. So, both items are just disclosed in another matter paragraph in your report. In the next section on page four, we would bring to your attention any disagreements we had with management, any consultations with other accountants, if there were any significant issues discussed with management, um significant difficulties encountered during the audit, or any other significant matters that required um consultation, and there were none of those to disclose. And in fact, uh uh Beth is always very prepared for the audit and easy to work with, transparent, and the whole process goes very well. So, nothing in that area. Uh shared responsibilities for independence. Um this just um explains to you that we are um a public accounting firm, and so as part of our requirements, we need to maintain our independence.
014And so, we just ask that if you are to enter into any relationships with any of the partners at our firm that might impair our independence, you let us know so that um we can work on that work on that. Something to add to that, Beth? Uh the last section just talks about how uh the there's a management's representation letter attached here. Um I won't go over that in detail, but we do encourage you to read through that. That just puts into writing certain things that management has to let us know about as part of the audit process. So, it it helps you to better understand the financials as a whole. If anybody has any questions on anything in there, I'm always happy to answer those. Um oh, I won't go into a lot of
015detail on the financials themselves unless anybody has any particular questions, but before I open it up, just a thank you to Beth. It was um fabulous working with her again this year, and things just go really smoothly. So, anybody have any questions? All right. Any questions? >> So, I make a motion to accept the uh 24 25 20 2024 2025 CPA report as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor. >> Aye. >> 7-0. No, 6 6-0. I mean 6 1 Okay. Moving on to item eight, consideration of the fleet management program. >> Good evening. Um I'll also invite Kevin Olson up if you have any questions. Uh We would like you to consider entering into a contract with Enterprise Fleet Management for fleet management services for our district. Um I know we've provided a
016lot of feedback. I got seven different uh references that I provided to you as well as some breakdown on some of the things we think it would do like saving on maintenance costs and others. Um in my opinion, all of the feedback I got really correlated with the key things that we were looking for from it. Things like safer uh more reliable vehicles for students and staff. Um greatly reduced the maintenance expenses annually. Um reduced operational downtime. That's something we can't have when we need to transport students. We can't have downtime. And uh a more flexible fleet so that we could change it out from year to year to match our needs or shrink or grow the fleet if we needed to from year to year. And then um I also think it has more
017predictable budgeting from year to year. We'll often know what the budget for the fleet will be before the end of the year is up cuz we're planning for the next year. If you have any questions, turn it over to Ken to answer any of those detailed questions you might have. >> Any >> I want to say thank you for getting the other school districts cuz it was helpful to see where there were school districts had a program for 7 and 8 years and not just starting out the first year. I thought that was helpful information. >> Yeah, I was very grateful to the time that all those references gave me. I spoke to uh six out of the seven uh over the phone. They were gracious with their time. They gave me lots of feedback
018about their fleet, about what they encounter, all the positives. I wouldn't say there were a lot of negatives from most of them. They were often um lessons learned. So, I really appreciated that everything's they were kind of preparing us for so that we could make good decisions if we moved this direction. >> And I really don't have any comments tonight. I just wanted to say thank you um to the entire team, Kyle, Beth, Dr. Adams for all their time and efforts. Thank you for having me twice um out here. So, I just really appreciate all due diligence everyone has done through this process. Um always preferred to have come before the board and um work very deeply with the staff before entering in in these partnerships to make sure that we set set them up
019properly. But, as Kyle mentioned, here to answer any questions that you all have. Um that's all I have. >> When I was uh reading through some of the documents, I noticed uh your ownership company is located in Missouri. Does that affect us anyway? Does it cost us any more as a district? >> It does not. That is the only Sometimes the attorneys want to change that to Kansas so that um if there's any travel expenses, they don't have to um go to St. Louis. They can do that here. Um which we can have that changed on the the master equity lease agreement very easily if that is a request. Some of my districts keep it as Kansas, some change to Missouri or keep it as Missouri, some change to Kansas. Uh but we can go
020either route. >> Got it. Thank you. >> If I could please um were you able to go over this lease agreement? >> Not yet. It was. It was reviewed by our lawyers. I think with the new attorney it would have been appropriate. Now the new attorney also reviewed it so that cuz they're going forward with us. Just an observation. Um and is this lease agreement that we're doing are we doing it year by year or are we doing it for longer? >> So the master equity lease agreement is indefinite. That's more of allowing us to do business. The contractual piece would be on the asset of the city vehicle itself. So there's a 36-month lease term. If you were to pay off the residual book value, that would end the financial obligation or if you
021were were to run it to term and have us sell that vehicle on your behalf, that would end that financial obligation. So the contract itself is essentially indefinite but the actual financial contract piece of it is based on that specific unit. So if we get 3 years down the road and don't like me anymore or whatever it be, um you can absolutely exit the agreement and it's just on a prorated basis. >> Thank you for clarifying that. Any other questions? Okay, thank you. >> Oh, I do have one more. How much did you Okay, you said it would save us money eventually. Please remind me about how long you said we would have to be contracted through the company for us to actually feel the savings versus what we've already been doing. >> So in
022the fleet analysis that was provided, it we broke it out over a 10-year span. So each year it looks a little bit different. Right out of the gate there's going to be an operational savings as our maintenance was going to go down as we're getting the average age of the vehicles was uh roughly 14 years. So there's an immediate operational savings or operating budget savings. And then we're also getting some that capital back from the equity from the vehicles that are sold. So there is an immediate impact. Typically the first couple years are going to be the lightest budget years. So a lot of the savings does come in those first few years. >> Thank you. I just I want I wanted everybody to be reminded of that. There was some savings. >> Yes, ma'am.
023>> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Other questions? Thank you. >> I move the district administration approve our the district approved the fleet management services provided by Enterprise as presented. >> I'll second that. All those in favor? >> Aye. >> 6-1. Okay. Moving on to item number nine, our Chartwells update. >> Good evening. Hopefully you can hear me. No? Yes? >> I don't really like this mic, so I'll just try to talk loud. My name is Amy Kerrigan with Chartwells. I'm the area director. I presented to you several months ago. In the absence of our director, I'll be reporting this evening. So thank you. Um just a quick highlight introduction. We do have a new director, so I'll be introducing her this evening. A review of our programs for the year, the results, what's
024next, and any questions. So here to my left is Reina Andrew. She comes with strong leadership with school nutrition experience here in the Kansas area. And I don't believe we've ever introduced Matt Peak, who is also our regional chef. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> All right. Just going to highlight some of the programs that were student centered that we did this year. Uh Mood Boost, which focused on how food impacts uh the mood and wellness. Discovery Kitchen, which is nutrition education and hands-on demos. Student Choice gives students a voice to vote on tasting and the food they want offered. Fun Days are national food days and celebrations as well as catering excellence. And here's just some pictures over those programs we've offered this year. And now we'll take a look at the results from this
025school year. Um this was through February. So, um total meals served is up over prior year almost 4%. Uh lunch participation is up 3.3%. Breakfast participation is up almost 1% and we had a fresh fruit and vegetable grant through the district of 118,000. In December, we surveyed many of the parents in the district just to better understand the perceptions and opportunities that we had for improvement. I know it's super hard to see, um but 39% of the students eat breakfast 5 days a week, 69% of students eat lunch 5 days a week. Obviously, there's an opportunity with the 27% that never eat. I think key takeaway is 69, almost 70% eating 5 days a week. Obviously, we can continue to strengthen that, but benchmark against our own division as well as region as well as
026the nation, it's a really strong number. Again, I know it's hard to read, um but what was important to the parents was the taste of the food, the variety, and healthy daily options. I did find this interesting from a parent perception. We are average or a little bit below average on our communication both on menuing and what programs we are offering. So, obviously that's a great opportunity for us this school year this next school year. A parent said that they felt the most effective communications were through email, school communication, or other apps the district might have. Parents would like to see alternative serving areas, additional nutrition education, and potentially online ordering. Again, this is a parent's perception. Um now, as we look at next year and what's to come and we heard what the parents
027said, um we will focus on increasing food quality and menu options, improve collaboration and communication, expand on that nutrition education, strengthen staff retention, and increase participation. And this is just kind of a road map to get there. So, this is really exciting for Timia announce that the culinary master class will be hosted here in Leavenworth. Our regional executive chef will come on site, train all of your associates as well as all of Kansas associates. We have five other districts here. They'll get trained on our culinary philosophy, our standards. Um I think it's a great opportunity to showcase Leavenworth. Um it'll be right here in your district. Additionally, we would like to launch uh sports nutrition. This is led by our registered dietitian who comes in and does uh training with the sports teams and athletic
028director. Um again, will be hosted here and then students will have the opportunity to see those healthy options that fuel them for later after-school programs in the cafeteria. Typically, they're noted with that sports nutrition logo there. And then focus groups. We asked the parents their perception and the opportunities through them, but what do the kids want? At every level, we will go into the school with our regional marketing director and she will ask the students what they would like to see and what food options they're interested in. And from there, we'll create an action plan and then reintroduce new menu items for that. All of our staff will go through a back-to-school training. It's usually 3 days. It'll encompass all of these topics: food safety, compliance, understanding what's a reimbursable meal, um hospitality training, and
029more. And then new this year, which was in our proposal, is Global Eats, which is what we say is like a trip around the world. So, students get an opportunity to taste test from different countries, different items. So, they will taste an item and then you'll see it on the menu maybe the next day or the following week. Items that they might not have uh tasted previously. Mexico, Italy, Indiana in India, China, Korea, etc. And then last but not least, um strengthening that communication piece that we heard from the parents. Making sure we're giving the principal the information through their emails, social media posting, um updating the website, Nutrislice, which is our uh nutrition menu platform, and then giving you all information through board meetings like that. I know that was super quick, but thank
030you for our partnership. Do you have any questions? >> Um, did you survey all parents throughout the district or was it geared towards like elementary? >> I believe it went through all the districts. >> Okay. Do we know the percentage of the parents that actually got back to us? >> I don't have it on hand, but I certainly could give it to you. >> That would be um, good to know cuz that's one of the things that I think in feedback from parents is communication is always not that great. Now, whether it's the parents don't open their emails or something else >> Right. >> that I don't know. Um, sometimes we might need to meet with them wherever they are. Um, or some of the uh, suggestions >> Okay. >> at the national conference that
031we usually ask people to come see us here or see us at a coffee at 8:00 when they're actually dropping kids off. So, there might be some other communication opportunities that we can look at. >> I'd be happy to help with that if, you know, you're meeting them offsite or something. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> And I'm curious about the request for online ordering. Is that something that you guys have ever thought of or does it happen at any >> We have it and um, it's hit or miss on whether it, you know, works in districts. I think a lot of people have this kind of pie in the sky idea that it's going to work and sometimes it doesn't. But that doesn't mean that there's not other opportunities. You know, could could we use
032a Google form and have students or um, staff order in that manner and have a locker for them to pick up food, which you see in a lot of local restaurants. So, there's other avenues that might satisfy the same need. I think it what's important is understanding what's the why behind that. Why do they feel like they need the online order? >> That's what I was curious, yeah. Maybe payment processing, I don't know. Maybe the lines. >> Sometimes maybe so. >> you know, you get 20 minutes for lunch, but you know, 12 of them are in line. >> That's true. >> You don't really get >> And that would probably lend itself to the alternative um, serving areas as well. >> That's right. Absolutely. Um I am excited to see that finally global cuisine is
033coming back. I know I sampled some of those >> Sure. >> um over the weekend and they were quite lovable and I think they will speak to the pallets of all our age groups so that maybe they have a little wider variety of what they do consume. >> Great. >> Um so I am excited for this for them. I Have you gotten to to Sarah's a change in the transition? Have you gotten to go into our facility and to see if everything is adequately set up that you can help prepare these meals fresh and things like that? Or >> I've been I've been in your facility. Uh Reina actually starts next week and Chef has been with us for 4 or 5 months now. >> If you see something that you think could be done
034better, would you please >> Sure. >> know or have or would help us have a partnership together, would you please let us know? >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> And um do you collaborate at all with our culinary classrooms? Yes, we did that Discovery Kitchen cook-off. I'd like to expand upon that if we could a little bit more so we'll be working on that in the new year. >> So if if uh I actually just met with uh Mr. Jones over at the high school today. We were talking about ways we could do that. >> Awesome. Thank you. I didn't know if they could get in on the master class. Oh, well, potentially. >> I mean maybe you do on a secondary level local culinary cook-offs because I'll do something else. I'll come to the
035school and do like a cook. >> We do have a junior chef program. I will make note of that right now. >> Thank you. Anything else, Reuben? Any other questions or comments? >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Okay, item 10, executive session for non-elected personnel. >> All right, Madam President, I move we go into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel pursuant to the exception under the Kansas Open Meetings Act Open Meetings Act or KOMA. In order to protect privacy interests of the individuals we discuss. And that we return to open session in this room at 6:52. Board will invite Dr. Adams and Ms. Sloan. >> 6:52. >> Okay. >> It says turn 53. And we invite your attorney and board attorney Jessica Bernardin to join you. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
036>> I. >> 11, executive session for negotiation. I'm sorry. Thank you. >> I make a motion to approve the staff report as published to us. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> 7-0. Okay, now item 11, executive session for negotiations. >> Madam President, I move we go into executive session to discuss negotiations pursuant to the exception for employer-employee negotiations under the Kansas Open Meetings Act or KOMA. And that we return into open session in this room at 7:41. Board will invite Dr. Adams and Ms. Sloan and your attorney and Beth Maddox into the meeting. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> 7-0. >> Mhm. >> Okay, moving to item 12, the consent agenda. >> I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >>
037All those in favor. >> I. >> 7-0. >> Okay. >> Sorry. >> Item 13, or no, 14. The bond refinance. Are you presenting or are we just reading the resolution? >> Okay. Before you is the resolution that needs to be approved so that we can go to market later in April here to try to refinance the bonds. Um, we did get an update today. Our savings is going to be less than what we originally estimated in March due to the economy situation going on in the world today. So, we're still estimated about $275,000 in savings for the refinance. >> Any questions? >> Questions? Okay. >> Resolution. It's an abbreviated resolution. Resolution number 25/26-020. Resolution authorizing the offering for sale of general obligation refunding bonds series 2026 of Unified School District number 453 of Leavenworth County,
038Kansas, Leavenworth, as included in the board packet and as presented. >> I'll second. >> My mouth is full of water, sorry. >> All those in favor? >> Aye. >> 7-0. Okay, item 15. The 2026-2027 budget reduction update. >> Okay, Mr. Sifford, if you would please populate. Thank you. The document's format is, I'm sure, very familiar to you. Nothing is new as far as at the top, so you'll see there the total revenue remains unchanged as well as the projections for estimated increased expenses. What is probably the most important is the bottom line. That net reduction that we have to close is just over 140K. So, updates there. I think the administrative staff remains at five, so 14% reduction. Certified is currently at 13, so just under 5% and classified now at 15 FTE. So, according
039to my math, we are looking at, I believe, 33 less good men and women working in our district next year for what I would say is the same amount of work. You'll see there a couple smaller issues uh with regard to certain subscriptions that we have decided uh we can collectively do without. And probably the biggest one is a 30% reduction to all building budgets that will be effective for fiscal year 2027. So, all building principals were notified of that. I think it was last week. They will need to make the internal adjustments within their buildings. I cannot speak tonight as to how that will it be impacted, but suffice it to say I would think everybody in those buildings would feel that as each department, grade level, etc. would have less money from which
040to expend. We do have a couple of things still left that I would say are not finalized, but are close. The first and probably the biggest one from my perspective is health insurance. So that number is nearly finalized. Followed by property and casualty insurance. That one should crystallize here, I think, in the next 30 days or less. And then as you know, we've got our final compensation packages for classified administrative. And certainly we're working our way through the negotiation process as well. So those will be those kind of larger buckets that are left to be finalized. But as of tonight, 142K. What questions can I answer? >> Um, the health care. Um Was that uh Was that way over what we were expecting or >> I'm going to look to HR. >> And we are
041in a three-year contract? Is it >> No, this is through the hard work of IMA, our insurance broker. We had budgeted 6%. It was projected to be a little bit higher. Now we're back down to 6%, which is what we budgeted. So as long as nothing moves over the next couple months, we feel pretty confident where we're had budgeted we'll be right on target. >> To that second question, though, I have shared previously that I thought we were entered into a three-year contract, right? >> Yes. For for IMA or for Blue Cross and Blue Shield? >> I thought when we entered into the self-insurance program >> Oh, we're self-funded. >> We're self-funded, right? That we entered into a three-year agreement. Is that not accurate? >> That's correct. >> Okay. >> You are in year three.
042>> Okay. So this year represents year three of that. >> Okay. Sorry, I misunderstood the question. >> Other questions? >> I have another question. Do you have any other solutions to try to close this gap? >> Any great solutions? No. I do not. >> You can reduce my salary. I'll take a cut, too. >> I think it probably goes without saying, but in between 80 and 85% of our expenses are tied up in personnel. >> Yeah. >> And so, while that while that building budget, I'm sure will be felt, that actually represents a small small portion of our overall budget. >> There's no personnel things that are paid out of the building budget, correct? >> No, we do not pay for personnel of the building budgets. That's accurate. >> Okay. >> But things like field
043trips and >> Yeah. >> Classroom supply lines, teachers are are likely to see less. Um I am able to share some good news, though. Um Ms. Price was at the foundation board meeting. So, I'll let you actually I don't want to steal the thunder. >> I don't remember the amount, but the education foundation basically has wanted to provide bonuses to the teachers. And on the regional level, we do too. >> Uh should have been $100 per teacher per classroom or per classroom, I'd say. >> For their use in the classroom. >> Yep. >> So, the foundation once again, thank you. It's great. They still have so many teachers we have in our district again? >> Uh last count I was using was 260. HR, can you please confirm? >> Thank you. Any other questions? Okay.
044Um item 16. >> Approval of co-curricular classroom. >> Yep, I'll give some context as Mr. Varvel is making his way up here. So, we did enter into the CMAR, construction manager at risk. Uh that process is going well. You do have both of the architect and a construction manager working, I would say, each day at this point to bring this project to the projected timeline and to the projected budget. It was realized, I would say, uh last week or 2 weeks ago that we have certain lead times that if those are not realized, you would have product and or supply chain issues that would not allow that project to complete on time. So, Mr. Varvel's here to talk about a carve out, if you will, from the larger project. The remainder of that project, I
045believe we're going to slate to approve at the May regular meeting. Is that accurate, Mr. Varvel? >> That's the goal. >> Okay. Take it away, please. >> And thank you for amending tonight to include this. As he explained, we needed to bring this to you because of the timelines. It's we're moving quickly every day, and we met with the construction managers Thursday last week to review the bids that came in. He followed up on it on Friday, and we provided that information to you in the Friday review. Um the casework, cabinets, and the countertops are the items that have the longest lead time because they've got to do shop drawings, and they've got to fabricate and get it ready. So, that's why we're bringing this to you tonight before the GMP. Um that way we
046can stay on timeline. So, um based on the review of the bids, our recommendation would be um to ask for approval for the casework from C&M. Um they're They were the lowest bidder, but they also guaranteed the timeline, the duration. Uh at $23,000 and $23,096 and $0. Um for the quartz countertop, um our recommendation would be uh Cannon. They were $23,000 $23,139 and $0. They were the second lowest bid, but they would guarantee the duration. They would guarantee that they could meet our timeline. The lowest one was about um $4,000 less. three >> Yeah. >> They they could not guarantee. They basically said until we have the bid approved, we can't guarantee that timeline. Um the good thing is that the combination of the casework material and the countertops came in at $46,235, which was
047about $10,000 less than what the construction managers estimates were for the combination of the two. So, we're on progress to to hopefully stay well within our budget. >> Do the products themselves have any warranty on them? >> I'll have to follow up on that. I know that one of the other considerations here was we did ask for the um quartz countertops for them to give us bids for both what they call group one and group two. They have a grading scale. Group one is the lowest. Group two is the next one up. We're just after the durability, not >> Right. >> fancy looks. Many of them either wouldn't give us one or the other. So, trying to compare apples to apples, but both of these um they they gave us for a group two. So,
048group two and group one Canon did. So, um going with group two, they were still the second lowest. The other one that was the lowest, it didn't give us a group two bid and they wouldn't commit to the timeline. >> Would it help if the rest of the project in in 29 April study session turned into a special board meeting and be able to take action at that time? >> Um it might. Um we may have more bids by then for the rest of it, but essentially I mean, we'd have to make sure we have all the GMP ready for you to be able to do that. I probably need to speak with the construction managers to see where we'd be at on that. I I know one of the considerations that they're still working
049on is the like the engineers for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc. So, they're still working that part out, too. There's a a lot of moving parts there with the architect and the engineers. >> 2 weeks or so, so I just would help. So, our options could either be 429, which is the night of the special. >> Yeah. >> Or 511, I believe, which is the May regular I'm with you. I just I can't speak and I don't think he can as far as whether or not it'll be ready, but >> I think just keep it if information's available, we just advertise the 29th as a special session, so we can actually take action instead of just study. >> Can we still do the study session as part of a special, or do we close it
050out and then do a >> Yep, so I'll walk through the mechanics. I've done this a couple of times. You would actually have two board meetings if you end up posting the first one before then. Board meeting one can be a special meeting, board meeting two can be a work session. You'll just need to commit to the start times of both once those are posted. So, for example, you could have a special meeting at 5:00, you could have the work session at 6:00. You just cannot extend that first meeting, so you would have to make sure that first meeting is over by 5:59. Does that make sense? But, it would allow you to take some action, if you will, before your work session. >> And I thought we had someone with the scheduling conflict for
051that date. >> Yes, if you recall, we had originally scheduled that for Tuesday, 28 April. We moved it to 29 April. I think we had a couple of conflicts with board members, if I recall. It is the night, currently, of the building needs assessments. So, all the principals, and I think a couple members from their site council or BLT are scheduled to be here. So, not saying it can't be done, just saying if we move that, it would impact a lot of individual schedules. >> So, there's going to be two presenters per building. >> Yep. Yep. >> In addition to everybody that's already >> The I guess um alternative would be to stay with the 29th and then have another meeting, which I know is another night of your life, right? But, it would be
052only focused on that special session for things like the GMP approval and if you want to address other action items. >> We explained that they will be if they'll be able to do that. They're still looking for trades contractors right now. I'm not sure >> I'm not sure if we can make the timeline, but we'll follow up with them for sure. >> Okay. Any other questions? Say your name, please. Um I move that we approve the culinary classroom casework and countertop proposals for 46 235 and 237. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Aye. >> 6-0. Okay. Moving on to item 17, closing of the meetings, upcoming meeting dates. Um I'm going to add this one um tomorrow, April 14th, is a community forum um presented by Dr. Adams here at the board office
053at um 8:00. >> 8:30. >> 8 8:30. Um and I would encourage anyone who is uh following our um budget situation um to attend that if you can. Um a lot of good information there. Moving along, April 15th, USD 453 and LNEA professional negotiations at 4:30 here at the board office. Uh, April 29th, special board meeting um, /work session or um, from 5:00 to 7:00 here at the board office. Also, April 29th, um, we have negotiations, um, that meeting will be taking place at 4:30 at the Leavenworth uh, High School library. Uh, May 4th is a professional development, no school for students. Um, May 6th is our Horizon Scholar Gala at uh, 5:30 at the Riverfront Community Center. May 7th, JROTC award ceremony in the um, Leavenworth High School gym at 6:00 p.m. May 11th
054is our regular board meeting starting at 6:00 p.m. May 14th is Senior Honors Night. That is a virtual event beginning at 6:00 p.m. May 15th is our graduation parade from Warren to the high school, um, at 6:00 p.m. May 16th is our graduation at 10:00 a.m. at the high school. Uh, May 22nd is the last or half la- half day last half last day for students, half work day for teachers. Did I get that right? Um, and then, um, moving ahead to uh, May the 26th or the May 26th will be our next work session and May May 11th is our regular board meeting. Okay. So, those are some upcoming dates. Um moving on to um unscheduled patron input. Do we have any this evening? None? Okay. And we'll move on to board member comments
055and we will start down at this end with um Miss Murphy. >> Um I think we got a lot of things done today. And we're seeing some good um productive things continuing to happen. I'm excited about some of the updates with Chartwells. And I appreciated talking with them at the national conference as well. Um it was refreshing to get to go. I'm thankful that I got to go. Though Kansas can offer some education and insight on things, it's all things Kansas and that can be an echo chamber sometimes. And um there was a lot of insight there on the national level and affirmation. We are not the only ones going through having uh substitute shortages or students walking with their feet for homeschooling or various other reasons. This is going on all throughout the country
056in quite substantial areas. There were also highlights and classes on where districts have had to sell their buildings. The big difference between uh theirs and ours were the ways that they communicate communicated with their community. And uh I've been able to bring back a lot of insight to share with the board on ways that we can actually do that better as well cuz we need to start meeting people where they are. We cannot keep telling them the same time they're dropping off their kids that that's the same time that you're to come to us. We need to be out there with them. So, I hope that we as a board can work on that with each of the school buildings and outside in the community at other forums as well. Um, there were great conversations,
057collaborations, and brainstorming. Um, there was a very two very I have to just say it, traumatizing classes. Uh, one was in regards to grooming and keeping your kids safe and uh, there's probably some things we may need to tighten up on our board policies. Um, to to help with that. Um, suicide was another one. And the third one was AI, which is good, bad, and ugly, but they had some things as much as we want to keep our kids from having cell phones and other things within the school district and cut down that straight screen time, there were also some other avenues where we don't always have all the psychologist on call to help these kids. There were other ways um, using AI to where there is a pool of our administrators fed right into
058it so that there is a ping that there's a problem that we can catch them and help them and get a grasp on things a little bit better. Uh, and if we can save one life doing something like that, then that's already valuable. And um, you know, I I look forward to all the great things that will be happening for the rest of this year and congratulations to our outstanding uh, girls and boys bowling teams. They did phenomenal things just like all our teams do. And thank you. >> Okay, Daniel. >> Um I just want to say we're ending up this school year. Things are winding down. Um overall, I'm hopeful that our students have had a great experience regardless I I our shortcomings with the money and the budget should never impact our students.
059It will, but we we need to make that as as less of an impact as we possibly can. Um by reducing the building budgets, I see this um greatly impacting students directly as well as morale cuz I know a lot of the building budgets are used to pay for incentives um to do the school classrooms, to do things like that. So, I can see us as a district leaning on our PTAs, our PTOs, our PIEs more to make up that difference. Um hopefully our community can come together and help with some of that as well. Um there was mention of building supplies that are paid out of um like school supplies are paid out of those building budgets. I know a lot of our church communities offer school supply drop-off and donations. Is there a
060way that we could have somebody as a point of contact for them to find out exactly what is needed to be able to make directed donations instead of just offerings to make sure that the the gifts that are being received are as necessary as they need to be if that makes sense. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Um as as the school year's winding down, couple of things um the last band concert I haven't touted band much at all this year. But April 24th at 7:00 in the high school auditorium is our final band concert for the year. The last play of the year is getting ready to happen April 16th, 17th, and 18th, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:00 and then the matinee performance at 2:00 on the 19th. If you can attend, please do. Unfortunately,
061I am gone for that, so I will not be able to But get out, support our our students. Support the efforts that our staffs are is making to to be out there. Thank you, guys. >> All right. Ms. Brown. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um I uh wanted to thank our teachers from when Dr. Adams went school to school and we did talk about the potential for a school closing. Um a lot of those meetings the teachers put forth ideas on cost savings or ideas where we could maybe get money um donated through grants, through just regular donations to our community. I would ask that we move forward with some of those ideas. Some of them also came forward with things as simple as a recycling program or using our buildings potentially um for antennas.
062Not endorsing that. Just these are the ideas that came forward. Or even solar panels, things like that. Anything that we can do to help our community um we don't want it all on the backs of our teachers or the families. We want to do what we can as a community to make make things better for our students. Um I would ask that we take those conversations seriously and move forward with them and see where we can where we can come up with some more funds for our community. Also, um, during the executive I know they're probably very interesting to sit and watch a blue screen if you're at home on YouTube. Uh, is it possible that we could uh, play a band concert, the graduation, and stream that while while we're in executive session. That
063way people stay engaged and they're very interested cuz we really we want our parents to stay in our families to stay engaged. Thank you. That's all I >> That's a neat idea. >> The staffing report that I voted in favor of was with a great regret. I think we all know why. That's all I'm going to say. >> All right. First off, I want to say I want to give a salute to all of our academic awards. This was a different two years ago. It's always amazing just to see just how awesome our kids really are. Um, I was just amazed at the number of kids that just do that well. And they're just amazing kids. And I know a number of them were not present cuz they're doing all the other great things that
064you do in spring like play practice, sports teams, and all the other things. So, yes. I was going to say, "Please go out and see the play." I know that they had been working really hard. I've heard some great things about the practices already. And also just to support our spring sports teams. They need your help. They need your support. Um, also I want to give another shout out to the Lemon Grove Education Foundation. Not only because of supporting our teachers um, with the upcoming grant, but really with the the innovative teacher grants. It was really amazing to see the impact of what those grants do for our kids. Um, Miss Anna, thank you for presenting that day. >> Thank you. >> Um, I got a lot of awesome feedback on um, yourself and and
065Mr. Messner. Just the programs that you got going because of the grants. And so, I want to say thank you to all of those folks who support the foundation. Um, just thank you. It does a lot. It means a lot to our teachers and our kids. Um, and then I know Teacher Appreciation Week, it's kind of sort of one of those things, but it's the first week of May and it will have already happened by the time we have our next board meeting. And I have done this every year I've been on the board. Um, yes, thank our current teachers for what they do, but all of us had teachers, too. Reach back to your teachers. I mean, some of them are probably still out there. I know I do. Um, I'm very thankful for
066what they did for me and that's been a long time ago. Anyway, my last thing is reminding all my peers here, please sign the resolutions. I don't want to have to chase you down. But anyway, it's always a great day to be a pilot. >> Okay, and um, one of the things about sitting in this seat is all the good stuff's been said. So, and I know everybody wants to go home, but um, I just wanted to you know, we're getting into busy season, the end of the school year, but I wanted to just offer some words of encouragement to um, all our uh, our students and our staff and our board and our district office and our community that uh, we're going um, through some turbulent times here. Um, and we are at those
067level 10 decisions where um, none of them are easy anymore, but we are strong community, we are going to get through this. We are going to um, and we are going to come out on the other side leaner and um, and and hopefully in in better shape for the long term. And um, so just just hang on. Um, I just wanted uh, just offer that this evening. You know, stay encouraged. Um, because uh, we got a great community here. And with that, I will go ahead and adjourn the meeting. Thank you for coming. >> Thank you.