3/11/26 BOE Meeting

001We have designation of personnel 3.5 um 3.7 approved FFA fundraiser 4.2 2 employment >> additions 7.1 non-resident enrollment capacity >> 7.3 capital outlay updates >> yes that is all we have here anybody else have anything motion to approve as amended >> I'll second all in favor okay agenda you have any questions concerns there. >> Motion to approve the consent. >> I'll second. >> Motion here and a second right here. All in favor? >> Okay. Uh personnel report. Faith, do you have anything that you need to add at this time? Does anybody have any questions? >> No. If you want um we could do an executive session for 15 minutes. >> 15. Okay. >> For personel All right, Mr. President, I move we go into executive session to discuss personnel pursuant to not elected personnel exception

002under TOMA and the open meeting will resume in the boardroom at 5:16 with page 47. Motion right here second. Michelle, I have a second. All All right. Personal report. Motion to approve the personal report is present. We have a motion. >> Second. All in favor? All right. Administrators. What's that? >> Oh, yeah. He's here. Sure. >> Do you want to stroll her up here? And [laughter] >> why don't you come up with them? I'll let you do the honors. >> I'm not going to take the Cheerios. [laughter] >> I wasn't sure how old she was, so I was like, I gota >> She's one and a half. >> One and a half. >> She still got one. >> She's like, >> got her Cheerios. >> That's good. >> She's very tired. >> Okay. Go ahead.

003>> So, this is Brian Murkani. He is going to take Austin's place as our new assistant principal ad at the middle school. Ryan comes to us from Taganoxy right now, formerly of Montana. So, I'll just let you tell them a little bit about yourself. You can introduce your sidekick. >> Yeah. This is my daughter Alexandra. She is one and a half. Um, so she is ball of energy. Um, yeah. So, we moved I guess I moved back here. My wife uh she's from Shaunie, so we're from the area and um her her grandparents live here. So, free daycare main reason why I move back here. But I'm super excited uh to get back into administration after teaching for a couple of years and um I'm really excited like I said of looking for a district

004about this size and you know that's like I was super excited when you popped up and I'm really happy to be here and I'm really excited for next year. Have another one on the way July 1. So it'll be a fun summer. [laughter] two two under two. >> Welcome. Yeah. >> Thank you. Thanks for coming. >> All right. Now we can move on. Administrators. >> Mike, you want to just keep rolling here? Um, but we're just kind of gearing up for that final push to the end and state assessments coming up, but I know we're going to talk about those a little bit later, so I won't steal carries thunder over here. So, [snorts] um, over the last month, we've had we had our music concert last night if you were there. Um, it was

005an interesting time with Carol Hbert, as you may know, uh, ended up u having some a few confrontations. so ended up in the hospital and they're going to have the she's going to have her baby tomorrow or they're going to induce tomorrow. So tomorrow or Saturday she'll probably be a new mom and so we kind of threw some extra. We got Bob Ball who was long was a director here several years ago and Lance Quilling stepped up to help out with the high school and those two guys, two band directors pulled off a choir concert last [laughter] night but we got through it. It went well and really appreciate those guys stepping up to get us through it. Um, we did have a Allison Huffman was uh part of the KCDA middle level choir at

006the state music convention this year. So, it was a pretty big honor. She was selected back in October. Uh, got to sing with over 200 singers in grades 5 through seven. So, those are always kind of cool events for our kids to be part of. Um, probably saw the newsletter. We had a student selected to have their artwork displayed at the uh at the uh Great Mic. Thank you Art Month display at the Topeka Public Library. So if you happen to get to the Tika Library, you will see Rosie Craraver's um uh picture up there. You can look for it there. So um I'm let Austin Austin Austin got to do Charger of the Month with Faith today. So we'll let him talk about our Charger of the Month. >> Yeah. Um not sure what

007that says about fan directors. It takes two to do one choir costume. That's true. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to tell you she said that. >> Noted for the record. >> Uh we had two Chargers of the month at CAC. Uh sixth grader Lily Lydia Stillwell. Uh she's a great role model for other students in her class. Always works hard, always doing the right thing. Um puts forth of her best effort. So welld deserved for Lydia. And then Tiffany Berget, seventh grade math was nominated. Um I think this is her second time winning the award. I think she won it last year also. So, she took on the the role of eighth grade math for us about halfway through the year uh this year. So, that was awesome on her part. Um activities wise at

008the junior high seventh grade boys basketball uh finished second in the league a few weeks ago. They ended up with an 11 and three record in the league. Um eighth grade finished the season 3 and 11. They got better as the season went on. That's an improvement over where they were at last year. So, uh, they showed a lot of fight as as they went on throughout the season. Um, both seventh and eighth grade scholars bowl finished fourth place at League Scholars Bowl. And then coming up here, we're getting down to the end. We've just got track and golf left. Um, they'll start practices March 23rd when we come back from spring break. [snorts] >> You want to tell us about your kickoff first state assessments? >> Oh, I thought we were going to do

009that with carries. I can do that. >> Oh. Oh, you're going to do all that. Okay. I don't know if they will either way. >> Okay, I can go over that. Yeah. So, our teachers really been focusing um so they've used both the FastBridge scores, which we're seeing some good growth in our reading and math and fast bridge scores, especially in their um in in in their CVM scores, which is is hopeful for us that that's going to show up on on those state assessments. And then they're using the interim test, which are the practice state assessment test to kind of find weaknesses. I know a couple of them been using those those things to do like bell ringer activities based around those weaknesses to try to build those skills. So, we're very hopeful to

010see some really good results. Uh, we're going to do a big kickoff, kind of a pep rally type thing. We we've secured a top-notch motivational speaker. Thank you. And she's going to come in and kind of kind of give some some motivation to the kids. >> I think I might dress up. I haven't decided what my costume might be, but I was thinking rock stars because they be rock stars on it. Be rock stars. >> I'm not doing Post Malone. It's not >> I said if you dressed up like Post Malone, I would dress up as Who did I say? >> Who did I say I was going to dress up for as >> Brett Michaels from that long hair? >> The kids are just >> the kids know. They won't know who Brett Michael

011know I'll consider [laughter] >> um we've got some incentives in place. Just we're really pushing kids to do their best. Uh we know kids will work hard and try hard. They've got the foundation skills. Our teachers have done a good job. So now we want them to prove it. Um and maybe you can throw a little competition there. We'll look up our league school scores and try to push them a little bit just on a competitive side. Hey, this is where our other league school scored. Um we're better than that, you know, kind of thing. So, uh to give them some some motivation to do it. We've got a few little um motivational pieces. If they improve their score, there's some some some rewards are going to go with that. So, we're we're we're going

012to have some fun with it. Hopefully it'll give them a good good feeling getting good to state assessments. >> Who's next? >> Okay. Um our charger of the month was um Elizabeth. The kids were like, "Who's that?" Miss here. She's always here. >> I know. So Miss was our charge of the month. Um all of her writeups talked so much about relationships with kids. I know you guys all know how much that is so very true. She is present for everything. She makes relationships with them. They see her in the lunchroom. Um they love her. She goes above and beyond with her relationships and also in her professional learning. She's taken on um some dis dyslexia course work this year on her own. Um Carrie has been mentoring her um through some of those things

013and just I mean I think she's got like four master's degrees. So just an allaround top-notch educator. So she was recognized and the kids were very actually the kids were very excited but it was like Miss Faith and I came in and we interrupted their teaching and learning. So they were like >> who's here? Why are you bothering? >> Can we stop? Is it okay? And then they were and then she was like no we're going and then they were really excited. So um teaching and learning is so very evident in in their classroom. So it's just always fun to go in there. We have a good time. >> Um board goal five for us was budget and facilities. Um, as you guys know, um, one of our big things for our building is just

014I'm going to meet with preschool teachers on the 13th to start talking about their needs for our building and begin having those conversations. Then I'll meet with Faith and Janine Henry um, start our capital outlay projects and getting bids for all of those pieces. Um, so that's kind of where we're at on the board goal. And then our state assessment is a little bit different because we don't have previous state assessment scores to look at. This is our first go round. Um, we do the pilot seat assessment at second grade, but it is nowhere near as intense. We'll have like a very small little kickoff party for second grade as they do the pilot. Um, and then for third grade, we kind of do the the bigger kickoff. We will have FBLA coming in. Um,

015they're going to partner with us and they're going to play some games with the kids to get them excited and that's going to link into our test taking strategies. We had um excellent reviews from parent night last year where we brought the parents in and we did games with the kids to just get the parents, these are our test taking strategies. This is how we're preparing and just get parents to have those conversations with their kids. Um we will do our incentives with our bracelets. So we encourage them to take their time, use their test taking strategies, raise their hands so that we can see that yes, they've answered all their questions and then they earn a charm for their bracelet. if they get they can hear two charms a day, six out of eight

016charms means they get to take part of the foam party at the end of the school year. And then the new auntie is we've been partnering with Prism from KSD and they're helping us um understand our interims better and then we're helping them understand what we need as a school better and we had a really great meeting with them, Carrie and I and Miss Sabrina and Grinky and we were thinking what else can we do? So, we're going to use our interums, our report cards, um our summit of tests, and just the teachers have a really good grasp of where the kids are going to score, but it's sometimes that it's a lot, you guys. It's a long test, a lot of motivation. And so, they're going to work with their kids to set individual

017wigs of I want to get a one or I want to get a two or I want to get a three. But, we're not using that language. We're using report card language. Like, a four is exceeding standards. A three is this. Um, They're going to set goals with their kids to achieve using all of their knowledge, attainable goals. And if they score, if they meet one of their goals, like either on ELA or math, um, they can earn an extra field trip. Um, because this group is working really hard. We're trying to get them just the they're very competitive, so we're trying to bring in that competitive edge. Um, and we do a lot with interums. So we now do mystery students so they never know we're going to be who we're looking for to

018exhibit those and if they did those while practicing on the interim they earn free. So lots and lots of motivation for them. But um the biggest thing and I'll tell you that the state department is listening to us as we have talked to them so very in depth of when our third graders are answering the questions. Some of them are fill in the blank. Some of them are drag and drop. Some of them are cross the lines fill in the fill in the blank. They like seven or eight ways to answer questions on this test and we are like that is too much for our kids. and they've listened and and I think they're truly considering like at the third grade level like starting to layer it in for them so that we're not focusing

019on do you know how to take a test versus do you know the information so that's the biggest thing that's came from our prison meetings so that was a lot [clears throat] go >> it's been a good research study work >> it has it's been so great and they do listen >> so the high school start off with Chargers the month um so We have the honor of having classified staff member select discharge of the month uh Leslie Hatter parent educator. Um she is a very consistent presence that does all the extras and takes on other responsibilities. She's a great asset to the school. So a wonderful selection. Definitely happy to be able to honor her. Uh for students uh this is kind of a proud parent moment. Um Gretchen Heisinga was selected as the

020charger of the month. Um the vast majority you know who Gretchen is. So she's a great representation of what we want the school, what it is to be a Charger, what Chargers stand for. So another wonderful individual to highlight. Um >> they called her the school boss. That was L. [laughter] She's the school boss. So I don't know what Mr. Ellis is, but she's the school boss. They said that girl, she knows what we're going to do. We're going to get it done. So every time they ask her to do something, she's going to get it done. >> She'll get after it. >> That was a fun comment. I bet you >> Yeah, absolutely. Wonderful. >> Uh state assessment plan. So very very similar. Um we are going to have an assembly for our sophomores

021and juniors because those are the only grade levels that take the state assessments. Uh we are going to focus on achievement with them. uh going to provide each of them their uh assessment data from their eighth grade year and show them where they were at and where that aligns to uh kind of our goals and then provide them targets as well so they have individual targets and then we're going to incentivize those who meet those targets. Uh so if you hit the levels three and four which is college and career ready or beyond um or if you have significant growth. So we're actually going to uh cut those categories in half. So there'll be eight eight growth measures. And so if they demonstrate a movement from one growth measure to the next, uh obviously that's

022the games, the positive move that we want to see in display. So we're also going to do kind of the competition a little bit. Uh show them us versus the state and us versus the other league schools as well. Uh and county schools. Um, I did find it interesting when showing that to staff how worked up the staff got when they saw that wait a minute, Baldwin beat us in an area or wait a minute and everybody had their own select school they were comparing to. So, it was pretty entertaining to see that. So, I think that might be might be helpful with kids as well. Uh, like incentivizing that. Um, and then we will also add that as a component to uh the intervention supports we're doing. uh we are seeing a lot of

023success with the interventions or MTSS or the success strategies course that we've implemented and we've seen some major gains in the fast bridge uh and so this year we just did the ELA and we're having a lot of kids who are testing out of that now so we're seeing those gains and our groups are substantially smaller than what we started with so I think kids are taking this a lot more seriously and we can truly target their needs [snorts] and then next year we'll uh fold into math as well so we'll have the math interventions as well as ELA uh within the success strategy. So very excited to see uh the progress that the kids are making within success strategies. Hopefully that correlates to the uh the progress you'll see on the assessment scores. >>

024Um thinking along the lines of of the the future of our kids and their scores and what that represents. Uh tomorrow we actually have a pretty big ordeal going on at the high school that is our career day. Um, so we have over 30 individuals coming in to speak to our students about different careers and they'll be rotating through those career tracks and listening to those individuals uh through the morning and then having a career fair where they can actually talk to the individuals about their companies and potential job opportunities as well. So going to have a big ordeal going on career fair. Okay. >> We'll get you next time. Yeah, we'll get you next time. Yeah, we'll get you next time. In terms of events and everything, you know, in the building that doesn't

025sleep, things keep moving on, but I'm going to turn that over to Chris so he can he can roll all the activities in. >> I only got about a page of notes here, so I'll move fast. Let me get my readers on that I had to go out and get. Uh, our winter sports seasons were very successful for our coaches and our kids. Our girls wrestling, um, we qualified six for state. We had four state players. Freshman Kennedy Portlock got second as a freshman. So, she was in the finals. Uh, and the girl that beat her was last year's state champion. So, it was awesome. Our girls with us with the six girls that we took finished fourth as a team. So, that was really awesome. A league school won the state championship in Wellsville.

026So, um, our league was really represented well at state wrestling. Uh, senior Morgan Pickering was our school girls first time four state uh time qualifier and she's a two-time state placer. So, she got fourth. Our boys, they also qualified six for state. U, they had one state placer and they were also the Pioneer League champions. Girls basketball finished the season at 16-8 and two of the teams they played have played or are currently playing in the state uh basketball tournament uh this year. The boys team finished 15-9 and seven seven of the teams they played are playing or have played in the state tournament that started yesterday for some classification. So pretty good showing there for our basketball teams. Powerlifting's also doing really well. Got kids competing hard there and their state meet is coming

027up March 28th in Chapman. Our spring play was last Friday, Saturday and Sunday and that was called too much light makes the baby go blind. Uh, and the cast and crew did great there. We had Mrs. Holbert who was on bed rest that was by doctor's order. Her husband helps. So, he took over and became the director and that was uh, we appreciate him and all his hard work to get that done. >> I will say for those of you who did attend, >> um, I hope you were aware of the chaos that you walked into because I sure wasn't. >> It was a lot of fun. Yeah. So, but but him stepping into the role he did, man, we we really appreciate that. Uh Mrs. Dwise, who is our gifted teacher, she took two

028teams. They competed in the Washurn Leadership Challenge event February 26th and 27th. Uh that was a two-day deal that they spent the night there. And one team brought home the transformational award for the team that made the most significant improvement from beginning to end of that simulation. Well, that's a pretty cool deal. Um, we got the band trip heading to >> Oh, can I I'm gonna chime in on that Washington leadership thing. Go for it. >> Miss Du talked to me and said she's been doing this for a long time. This is the first team she's ever had come away from that event. So, we had a really good showing >> and the first time she's taken two teams. We have the band trip going to Nashville over spring break. [laughter] Uh, our spring sports

029are underway with baseball. softball, boys golf, track and field. We have over 120 kids competing in those activities this spring. Cheer triyouts are going on right now. Dance triyouts happen when we get back from spring break. League band and choir is the Tuesday we get back from spring break. Obviously, our games are starting up and our meets. State testing at the leadership conference. We have an art show going on at the Topeka Mall. Prom, don't forget prom April 11th in Topeka. uh band and choir, state competition, state forensics. Mrs. Burger, what's up? And that's just to name a few. [laughter] >> Good job, Chris. >> Any questions on that? >> Spring is busy. Rock and roll. >> And bless Telicia for finding subs for all of our activities. That is a difficult task. If you

030want a sub, let us know. We work. [laughter] >> Oh, I like that. >> Board member sub day. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Um, I have one more charge of the month. >> Update real quick. >> Oh, sorry, Carrie. I forgot you got some important stuff. >> I was hidden back here. >> Sorry. Go ahead. [laughter] >> Right. I know you couldn't see me. Um, just our state assessments. We do ELA and math grades 3 through 8 and 10. Science grades 5, 8, and 11. We start testing March 31st with CAC in high school. And then our testing concludes April 24th. We will get results within two weeks of the window closing on April 24th except for 11th grade science because they had to rework the test again and they have to norm this summer. So

031we'll get that probably fall of next school year. >> And I just really want to appreciate and thank our building administrators who have taken the state assessments of like I would like them to have goals and I want you to do this. I want you and they just took it and ran with it. So great job everybody. Thank you. Uh curriculum resource update. Emma Fernandez at the high school, she's our Spanish teacher. >> Um requested at the beginning of the school year to review options for replacing her very old, very outdated Spanish curriculum resource. Um so we got her several options, several samples. She piloted several of them. She ended up choosing it's a Spanish word. Read Teros levels one and two as her preferred resource. and it comes with student and teacher consumables, student

032textbooks, student and teacher digital access with a fiveyear subscription and that's going to be um $10,000 and that will be grades 9 through 12. So we'll have that for her. Um the ELA high school teachers have also requested a curriculum resource review for this year. So I got them three sample resources, McGraill study sync, SAS my perspectives and HMH into literature. The team piloted all three resources in their classrooms for several months. After the pilot, um the team unanimously selected McGraill study sync as their preferred resource. They also ran it through AI um the scope and sequence for each of those resources compared to state assessment, not state assessment, state standards for Kansas, and see which matched up the best. And the one that they chose, study sync, was the one that matched up the

033best. So that worked out really well. Um the team is also reviewing the ELA course offers off offerings at the high school that will begin next year. And so they're going to bring all of this proposal to you guys um April or May depending on our final enrollment numbers and once we've finished all of our enrollment conferences at the high school so we know kind of more where everybody's going to fall. Once we get that, we're g our final quote from the company and then they're gonna figure out their final course offerings that they want to do and then they're going to bring that to you guys in April and May. That's about all I have. Any questions? >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay, one more charger of the month. Preschooler Morland Baldwin got our

034um charger of the month for February. He's made a lot of games this year in preschool. It's been so good for him. behaviors, kindness, working and playing with peers, um following directions, getting school readiness skills. So, he's had a lot of um extra special skill sets um growing and learning this this school year. His dad brought in a ton of pumpkins over uh Halloween. Our [clears throat] whole gym was full of them and so he was so excited to share his pumpkins from his pumpkin patch with all of his friends in his class. So anyway, we wanted to give a a shout out to Morland Bald and they call him Mo. Um so Mo. [snorts] >> Okay, that's all we got. >> That brings us to 71 non resident. >> Yep. All right. Per uh

035Kansas statute 72 3123 24 and 26 the board of education needs to approve the recommendations from administration regarding out of district enrollment. So what we look at each year is what we believe we are projecting. So current enrollment is that first box it's what we are currently now headcount as of 31126 not FTE. I'm doing headc count here based on um how many kids I have in in seats at school, not just funding. I look at funding as well. That's FTE, but this this is how much space I got, how many teachers I've got, how much [clears throat] room I've got, all those things. So, um right now, that's our current uh headcount enrollment. Projected numbers are the box down below. So, we've had and we predict things about preschool and kindergarten quite differently than

036we do first through 12th grade. Right now, as I've talked to you about this for three years now, we have declining enrollment. We've had declining enrollment, steady declining enrollment since the early 2000s. We've lost almost 400 kids in our school district since the early 2000s. Um, in the last couple of years, we had a fast-paced loss because we are replacing our seniors who are exiting our larger class sizes. 75 to 85 kids are exiting and we're replacing those with around 55 to 65 kids per class size. So, we're seeing just a a a change in the numbers of kids coming in and the number of kids rolling out. So, this is a statewide thing. This is not a unique Santa Fe Trail. a birth rate. There's a lot of things we talked about during reconfiguration

037discussions on why that happens. So, based on that, however, I know that sometimes kids just show up that maybe we didn't see in preschool or we didn't capture in our birth to five screenings that we do. We host six screenings a year. So, that also helps us capture how many kids we know might come. Sometimes we don't get um three-year-olds don't always come and they show up in when they're four year olds. Uh vice versa. Sometimes they go to child care facilities or they're in home daycare type things. And so we usually get a lot of that information though because we do partner with all of our area home daycarees and city daycare. So we usually know where they're at even if they're not here. So based on those predictions, we pad kindergarten a little

038bit to come in. Last year we had a little bit bigger push than we normally do. Um but I've padded to prepare for that. So those are my projections down below there in that box. And then what we are looking at for capacity. So based on um what we know with those two former boxes, this is what we are looking at for um acceptance into each variety each grade level based on the sections number. So the red number is the capacity, the black number is the number of teachers in that section K through five. So that's why 6 through 12, you don't see the black the black number. Okay. And how many kids we believe based on the values of our class sizes that we look at and what we believe is best practice. What

039I believe we value is a rural district to not have 35 kids in a class. That is what we believe we can take right now. We can adjust that. So if we get into the school year and we lose more kids, we can come back and adjust that and say we could take five more first graders or we could take these types of things. But as of now, these are our projections. This is what I'd like to board approve. This will help me go through then the state statutes requirement for a lottery. If we get an influx of kids in a certain grade level, I have to put them through a lottery process. Uh we also review students in good standing. I also make room and pad for moveins. I would like to prioritize staff

040students and move in students to our district so that we know people move into the community. We're we're preparing for that as well because we do get a lot of moveins and move their bows and transient and things like that happen as well. So I've got 15 kids in foster care. I've got 23 kids that fall fall under McKini Vento homelessness. So I take all those into considerations of where kids end up and move and a lot of those those movements are harder to predict, but I I put those in my thoughts when we're looking at these things. These are also recommendations that I worked on with every one of the principles. We talked we talked through it and really try to make sound judgments on capacity numbers. So that's >> yeah right now >>

041the three and the five are backwards, right? There's three. >> Yep. I will change that. We'll amend that. Thank you. That's why I sent it to you guys to give me one last glance over it. [laughter] >> Thank you. This can change like >> Sure. Absolutely. >> You'll just have to reapprove it and that's not a big deal. So, we just have to by statute approve it by May 1st and then um I will start the process of I've already let um principles know that we need to start reviewing uh student records. So, we do review records to meet our students in good standing policy. So, out of district kid wants to come to our district, they haven't been expelled four times. So we look at so those things based on our policy that we've

042already adopted in the past and then we will review student records and then we will let parents know that we're going to make a recommendation to the board or we're not based on what we see in student records. >> So if people are asking and there if there's no open spots that are tell them to go ahead and >> Yes. I I tell everybody till and then I will let them know. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So we've had people reach out. they usually reach out to Amy or principal and then we we show them where the online enrollment. So, right there is a link that goes to our online enrollment page and you want to click on that and they can then read the policy, they can read our current capacity numbers, etc. Um,

043and you know guys, we're we're playing the game of declining enrollment, maximizing our class sizes to what we believe is best practice, but also taking into consideration that, you know, we want kids to come to trail. So all of that is as a as a messy algorithm that is really hard and challenging to predict um without overestimating or underestimating kids that are going to come in and out and then making space for new kids to come that may be out of district. Um of course we'd rather have kids move into the district, right? Um and and we had places for everybody um to live and they could move into the district. They were all here. But there's a reality too. I mean we take 80ome out of district kids already. So, it's not that we

044don't take out of district kids. We take a lot already. Um, so with those declining numbers, there's a lot of games here in in meeting making sure we're not over capacity with the teacher sections we have, making sure we're still bringing kids in so we're growing, and then meeting the the problems of funding with declining enrollment. So, it it's a game. It's it's a hard game to play. And it's um it's very challenging to predict all these things and then also keeping a sound budget, you know, when we're losing 300 some thousand dollars a year in revenue from FTE. We want to take kids, right? But I also can't afford to keep everybody staffed if 10 kids isn't going to make up for that revenue loss that I have here and I've got to go

045down to three teachers. So, it it's a game. Um and it's hard and then taking care of all these facilities. So, you guys know all this. We've been talking about this for three years. It's not anything new, but just know that that's all those things go into consideration for these for this recommendation and we can always change it if we need to. Any questions? Online enrollment has been open since January 1, so I already have applications in. I have a question on the number and I know that you know it's it's a prediction or it's a this is what we're willing to take but you know looking at like third grade you're saying we could take 10 >> which would put based off of current enrollment projections put that at 63 but then second grade

046you're saying we could take one and that would put that number at 61. like are you >> so the the the older we get the more kids >> we can take in each class by best practice. Kindergarten we want smaller class sizes than we do fifth grade. >> So we try to do kindergarten capped at 18, first grade capped at 19, second grade capped at 20, third grade capped at 21. And then those and you'll see that it says three teachers per grade level. That could change. If someone leaves and we naturally absorb, that's great. But if if not, that's >> that's okay. Um, but that if you look at my current second grade class, there's only there's 53. So, it mean 54 divided by >> three, >> right? That's I guess that's what I

047was actually that's exactly what I'm getting. >> Is our math wrong? >> I know that's >> Oh, so like you said second grade caps at 20 and there's already 60 in there. Why are we taking one? And then why why wouldn't we say we're taking three if we're if we're capping at 21? Why is it not divisible by three if we have three teachers? >> What grade are you looking at? >> You might have math wrong. >> I'm just I'm just looking at second grade. Second grade is just >> Yeah, that means it's 61. >> And I very much could have math. >> Do I need to put two there, Lori? >> Put zero. >> Oh, it would be zero. would be zero because if you want to keep on >> Is there a kid

048you were thinking that was maybe leaving? >> No. >> I don't remember specifically talking about second grade. >> Going back to my email. >> So that's the one that doesn't catch that. Also remember, let's say we get a ton of moveins or we get a big bus, that doesn't mean we can't hire another teacher, right? Those are things like that that that >> those are all possibilities. So, >> or instead of absorbing, you know, filling the position, right? >> Those types of things. >> Yeah. >> Because we currently have an extra section. We have a section in Overbrook right now currently that has four staff members in it. That's third grade currently. So we can move that third grade teacher to a different grade level too to meet the needs of of a bubble. And

049we get bubble. You will get a bubble. We will get a bubble. We'll have a rando class come in of 80. That may happen down the road. That's happened in our history. You can look at our trend date and it just goes like this. So it's not that that won't ever happen. So, I don't want to say that we can't ever fill positions and we're absorbing everything. That's not what we're doing either. >> And that's >> what we're trying to do is right size, I guess, is is how I'm describing this. >> That's um fourth grade you're talking about. >> Yeah. >> Are they are there four and four teachers in fifth grade as well? >> Fifth grade. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Four in third and four in fifth. >> Okay. I was thinking they're

050four and they have a big next year. >> Um it's Kylie. It's because um we have um this is what I talked about in ad. We have a few students who and we can put it as zero. We have a few students who we claim because they're homeschooled and we provide them speech services but they so we have to claim them for like >> three whatever for for the school district. >> Did you put them as FTE and not headcount? Does that mean? >> So I think that's what I was thinking about that. But if we put it as in regards to headcount, we can change that to zero because I >> okay >> I don't in my brain I count them on my numbers but we don't claim them as a whole student. So

051we can edit that and amend that to say zero but that's where my brain was working on. >> Okay. >> So we have a couple >> you did talk about that. >> I just had to remember one. >> Okay. So we need to amend or edit before we approve this with with the edit of second grade. 0 to three. >> Yes. >> And in fourth grade switch, >> that would be, right? >> Sorry. >> Five to three. >> Yeah. >> Five to three, not three to five. >> Five to three. Okay, good. All right, that's easy. We can fix that. I >> Okay. So, I just need um action to approve >> as well. I'll make a motion to approve as Amy has presented there. >> I do have one more question. I'm sorry. >>

052I was just doing the math. Are we trying to get 100 for each 10th 11 12 then? Um 9 needs to be corrected, right? >> Am I 74 + 24 is not >> right through math class [laughter] >> I wasn't the one who typed in >> I typed in what you told me to type in >> sorry not calling out >> we did this together [laughter] >> okay we got it all All right, that's why we got everybody's eyes on it. Okay. Okay, now we're good. All right, thank you. >> I'll make a new motion to now approve as Amy has presented [snorts] with >> the amendments. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, we have a motion has a second. All in favor. All right. Thank you. Uh, summer programs. >> Okay. In your book, you

053should see proposals for summer programs as well as the OPR summer camp proposal um from Minor Britain and Overbrook. Yes. Right. Okay. Good. And then um not much has changed. It's our typical our kinder camp, our fourth grade transition time, our credit recovery, summer school, and then the summer camp at the River Contendent Center. So, I don't think a whole lot has changed in those proposals from last year. >> And we're still good, right? No, you got >> my only question or I guess maybe comment would be with prek moving to OAC, is this something that we foresee that we're going to need to continue because there really isn't a transition in the majority of our preschoolers kinder camp. You mean >> for the few like after this year, >> right after Good. >> Yeah,

054probably not. >> Okay, because I think that that seems >> Yeah. Okay. This would I actually thought about that this year and I was like well they haven't been this year but then after that they they will already be there >> already seen the lunchroom all they already know the teachers so yeah this would be the last year. Okay. >> Need a motion. >> All right. I'll make a motion to move forward to approve the summer programs. >> Just has a motion. Jamie has a second. >> Uh 7.3 updates. >> Okay. Um we are working through quite a few bids, quite a few projects. Uh, what I need you to prove tonight is a window bid for Carbondale at 23,000 with Track Roofing and Construction who we've done window business with. We have a state

055contract. Um, we're a little over the 20,000. So, I need board approval on this. They have done all of our windows. U, we did bring bids to you last year with a couple of other companies because we had a much more significant window installation project last year. Uh, we did a ton of them. So, the Carbondale um one, this will finalize all the windows in Carbondale, get us exact same windows um that we've worked on before. The other companies didn't have the exact same windows. I don't want different windows. So, these are the ones I'd like to go with. They also beat everybody else out in those prices anyway. So, probably because they've got the same contract. So, I would like to recommend that we move forward finishing out the windows at Carbondale. Um we

056do have a couple windows at Overbrook we're looking at. Um uh three of them we think need replaced. And then there's a couple at the district office, but those those won't be significant costs. So, this is the one that was over the 20,000 mark to get um >> Y. Okay. >> Did this company do those for us over? >> Yep. All of them. >> I'll make the motion to approve. >> Okay. Motion. >> I'll second it. >> Second. All in favor? Perfect. >> Okay. I'd also like to ask you about a couple of other large projects. So, right now, um, based on our facilities assessment, things we've gone through with, um, HTK and looking at, um, priorities within our facilities assessment, two of our largest projects that are going to need some attention here sooner

057than later, which I know we've talked about being in a bond. Um, if a bond passes doesn't pass, some of these things are going to need some immediate attention. I've got a um an HVAC control system on top of Carbondale that is s um if it fails, we're in a lot of trouble. So that is a a urgent priority. I have gotten some estimates on it. Um we are looking at about $230,000 project to replace that entire system. It is one big project, but it is something, you know, our capital outlay is very healthy right now. It'd be one I'd like to get done if you guys want to move forward with that. If you'd rather leave that to see where a bond project could go, if you guys are um wanting to put that

058project over in that category, we could do that. I just don't know how long we have to wait on that. The other one is just to get your appetite on um a roof project on the gym at Carbondale that's got um a problem in our I'm going to read it to you just so I use the correct construction terms here. um to remove the old IMP panels and trim, install new chair flashing, install new IMP panel and related trim, and um prepare the job site for um ceiling of the paneling around the roof of the gym and the walls. Uh there's a large space um that we have temporarily filled uh that needs permanent fixing. So there was a hole probably about this big between our roof and the walls of the gym and that

059we found last year uh when our we couldn't keep our temperature regulated in the gym. So uh Midwest Coding came out and gave me a a just an estimate. I am going to call another company to come out just to see if these guys are on par with what the real cost would be. And we're looking at about 100 or $316,000 replacement for that. So, these are very large projects. I just wanted to get your appetite for these or if these are things you'd like to throw into a bond. We can do one large project a year and we can afford that and also take into consideration all the other needs that we pull out of capital outlay. Um right now, you know, our carpet rotation every year, updating all of our lights every year,

060doing our painting every year, all the maintenance things that we do each year. Um the smaller projects, we also have to take uniforms and athletic stuff out of Capital Outlay. Um we've put some we have offset and supplemented our general fund with custodial salaries out of Capital Outlay. So we play that game of making sure that we pad capital outlay enough to cover all the costs of whatifs but also maintain the needs of our facility assessment for the larger projects that we know need to be done and a few of them each year. So the window projects been a big one for us. We've been replacing windows throughout the district. That's been a large one. So when we have roof projects or we have construction projects that you know like Mr. foundation at the high

061school. That is a a massive issue that's going to have to be taken care of at some point. Capital outlay is going to be real hard to cover all those costs. So, um, but I feel confident and comfortable doing one large, you know, between $300 to $500,000 a year each year and recommending this to you if we can still maintain a healthy capital outlay budget. [snorts] However, these are things we could try for in a bond um and see what the community's pallet is for it. So, what I would like from you is your guidance. I can bring you full-on bids if you want to wait. I'm not going to waste my time doing that. if you want to go ahead and make decisions about bonds here in the next meeting or two to put

062these projects in there. They're already calculated in HTK in these now, especially the Hback. So, um >> so the gym they have they have done a temporary repair. >> Yes. >> That is working for now. >> Yep. And it's working for now. >> It's going to it's sealed up. >> It's not going to last forever, but it's working for now. >> Correct. And the HVAC [snorts] >> in my opinion is something we need to move forward because number one we have not moved forward with bonding. We don't know that we are correct. >> Sure. >> Correct. >> We do need to maintain this and if we can do one a year I think we need to at least start looking into that whether we do it or not. >> Okay. And I can take and

063then HTK can take that HVAC out of this project that's currently in here if you want to go if you want to leave it from there. >> I think so. That doesn't sound like >> it doesn't >> that would be a very good if it goes out next winter. >> Yeah. >> No, that would not be that. No, >> I think we should get that. >> Um and then um the others would [snorts] be um my principles, my athletic directors have been looking at our gym floors. Uh they haven't been refinished in many, many years. Our high schools got some issues um that are going to eventually need fixed. So, I want to see what your appetite was to get a bid on resurfacing one of our three gym floors. We could rotate them and

064get them all done. They all need work. Obviously, the high school gets utilized the most and then the junior high and then Overbrook. Um, we're just talking about usage of them in, you know, competitions, things like that. So, however, we have PE every day in Overbrook. We have PE every day in all these gyms. So, we can't afford to do all of them, but we could afford to do one this year. I've already got it budgeted. Um, it's going to range between 40 to 60,000 depending on what scope [snorts] of work we want done. So, I've asked the gentleman to look at volleyball court lines, basketball court lines, multiple volleyball court lines, so going horizontal and then going vertical. Um, the the sections of the court that need to be um mounted for nets, things

065like that. Logos that go on the floor, things like that. All of those things are add more money to to the quote. So, I can bring you an actual bid as well, but I want to see what your appetite was to even move forward with that or if you want to wait and do that down the road because our gym floors are going to be okay, but I wanted to see if you guys were okay with that. I do have it budgeted already. Um, and I do think we can afford it. So, I would recommend we do the high school first >> and then go from there with the other two gyms um the next year. I think the high school needs redone. >> Yeah. And I'm scared if we do carbon dough and then

066the something happens with the roof on our floors. [laughter] >> So good point. >> Yeah. I think we need to investigate to get >> Yes. So I'll get formal bids for you. >> Yep. I'll get some formal bids. I do have an estimate and it's >> it was literally between like 40 40 and $60,000 depending on what we do with it based on a company I talked with the other day. >> Lines are okay. And I've talked to quite a few companies. Chris has talked to a company. Uh Greg and I have talked to a couple companies. So we'll get a a formal bid if you guys have an appetite for it. Yeah. Okay. All right. Um I think that is all everything else right now. Um >> on the Hback Carill that was the

067controls and the replacement of the Hback and that was two you said 38 is the estimate I have. Yes. No, I'm going to I need to I want to get another one. I want to get >> I was looking at the ones that we had. >> Oh, >> in this one bit of discrepancy, >> but that's a good that's a good bid considering I got an estimate a couple years ago on it and it hasn't gone up a ton. So, >> okay. [snorts] Okay. >> You good? >> Yep. >> Okay. That will bring us to uh 7.4 for reconfiguration and Mr. Brainy has asked if he could join in some comments possibly or whatever. >> Yeah, >> you want to move forward. >> Okay. Well, thanks let you get started from there. >> So, tonight

068I would like the board to uh think about some commitments to our scope of work. Currently, our scope of work that HTK has put together is the same dollar amount, but it's two campuses or three campuses. Uh, with that scope of work, the election question currently is what we've reviewed in December that we did not take action on. Uh, because that timeline has surpassed, we are no longer, obviously, we didn't meet the March 3rd election date. So, we now have options for an August or a November election. So, I think what I'd like the board to really commit to is which would allow me to go get you the paperwork you need to make a resolution would be, are we doing two or three campuses? Are we good with that same dollar amount, which is

069the same essentially the same on both of them? It's just a different language that would go on the ballot. And which month would you like to run that election? and if we need to have any more discussions. I didn't bring HTK in tonight because I felt like we just needed to finalize some things. And then whatever the board decides on, I will bring paperwork. You don't have to make a resolution tonight for an election. I need to go get the paperwork from the bond council on August or November, whichever one the board would like to entertain. And then you guys can officially vote on it at another meeting with that resolution. I did send you some pros and cons on August and November elections. >> Um I think it it really just depends. Um Amy

070is still waiting back from the clerk to hear on fees, but I believe it's a primary and so and then a general. So, I don't believe either election is going to cost us anything this time because we have that August school hasn't started. So, and I think a lot of people because when it would be August, >> fourth, I believe it's fourth. >> Fourth, can you look up that election date? Third or fourth. >> I think a lot of people >> vacation, you know, is that really the best time for voter turnout? Sure. you know, and are we kind of people aren't quite in the back of the swing of things of school. So, are we thinking about getting people out to an election? I don't know. I personally I think August is a bad

071time. >> Okay. >> For for me, I'm one person, but >> I think November >> fourth. Okay. It's the fourth. >> I think November we're back in school. We're back in the swing of things. I don't know. I think we have >> Okay. >> Maybe better turnout. More stuff's on the ballot at that time, too. >> Yeah. pull up other thoughts on that on election dates. >> I don't want >> I don't Yeah, the date I don't really have preference to that. So, I think if you're wanting to we're, you know, if we are sending out information to the public so they know what the bond is about, what they would be voting on, um, uh, if a yes campaign forms through the steering committee, those types of things, um, the communication aspect, I think

072either one, we have enough time to do all those things. I think yes looking at the polls and voter turnout um >> not that >> a general election tends to bring more >> that's just >> costs will probably likely go up I'm guessing I think the more I think the longer we wait the more expensive everything is getting I think right now there's a lot of unknowns about the economy um so I think there's some questions on that regardless it's really going to be up to you guys on what you think is the most valuable for our patrons to go vote. Um, enough time to get information to the public, enough time to meet with the public again, and we can spend the whole summer. The summer's a good time to go to each town

073and talk about the election and the bond and what's in the project, what it entails, taxing, what it's going to cost people, things like that. So, I'm not worried about the time frame really. it does if you push to November and the bond fails and you guys want to run a different project for a different dollar amount in March, which would be the next time we could run another election. So, if you want to do that, that doesn't give us as much time. That's a quick turnaround because you got to change the bond project, bond total amount, all those things have to change. You can't run the same project twice. So, >> I'd rather focus on what we think is the right thing to do now and not worry about that if it fails to

074do just as secondary. I think we're >> pushing forward what we think is the best thing at this point, right? >> Sure. Absolutely. [snorts] >> If the public doesn't put the public's hands, if they don't like it, then we figure out what they want. That takes a dollar a month. It takes a dollar, whatever that is. >> Maybe I'm wrong with that, but >> No, I agree. >> I think that unfortunately I think that that's happened in the past and um there's been some regret. >> Now, I want to just run a bond just to do a bond. It's something I want to do what we feel like is the right thing to do. >> Yakes more time after that because the public wasn't happy with whatever it was. [snorts] Why think this is the

075right thing? >> So, I mean that being said, I guess I'm okay with November. >> Yeah. >> As far as what we do, what question it is, I that could be the consensus. Okay. Anybody else? Justin, >> November, August 30. >> No preference. >> Feel free to jump in. Mr. Brady, you you did ask for some time. If you have anything you'd like to say, go ahead. Also, >> well, I'd just like to thank uh you guys for the work you're doing addressing the grade reconfiguration and it's well overdue. Uh there's been a lot of work put into it and appreciate all the people that have come together and worked on it. Um, we know that the current configuration I don't believe is sustainable in kind of how we're put together. As far as transitions,

076that was a big discussion in the first round of that transitions and how we're structured. I don't think anybody was in favor of that particular structure ever. Um, but that we've been living in that for a long time. So, I I applaud the effort in changing that. Um, I'd like to say thank the superintendent for her work and facilitating the dialogue, keeping the open uh dialogue at least with uh Overbrook and myself trying to address the reconfiguration question. So, just thanks for all the work that's went into that. That's that's the first thing I'd like to say. Um there's some significant areas that may have not been considered. Um the consultants early on um admitted that they did not consider any economic impact to any given city um and the the communities around those cities.

077Now we obviously have three communities um within the district um and there's a lot of feelings over the years about how those districts have come together and the unity within them. So that was a concern for me on well as the school district goes the communities are a vital part of that and as the communities go the school district goes. So how are we partnering together to meet the needs of of the students within the communities. So, uh I that was a regretful on my part that they didn't uh at least consider that because there will be an economic impact to any given city depending upon what the decisions are made on the board that may impact the the district overall in a long-term fashion and that's something you have to consider uh over long

078periods of time. So, uh, the recent decision to close Scranton, uh, it's going to place additional strain on the community and and could lead to, uh, further erosion of student population. That's very possible. Uh, and it it's not seen as building a sense of community, you know. I mean obviously we've seen some negative feedback to that but I respect the decision that was made and and we'll move forward with that but as we move forward we need to uh express what options can can be presented are these the only option because there were the other options presented it just HDK did not really take those into consideration so we're kind of left with these kind of two two campus three campus kind of focus this is where we're at and I I question is that

079really where where we want to be? Is that the right decision uh for the communities at this time? Uh because you know our our schools are a vital part of our communities. Uh we love to see the schools in the communities. We like to see baseball games, softball games, those things uh uh come to the community and and we want to provide the best outlook for our for our children and our communities. So, like I said, we've been discussing these two and three campus models. I'm not so sure that they are going to help. they're going to help to some extent, but are we really providing a good outcome for our students long term? Uh because I think community schools are and as close as you can get your younger kids because they're vital that

080that that early childhood is vital to future growth of any any child. and that education. So, are we keeping them as close as they can and not riding buses? I mean, this LA what we've all complained about is busing. Every kid is literally bus in in the district currently. How do we solve that? How do we get these kids, you know, in Overbrook or in Carbondale or in Scranton to be [snorts] able to go to school and, you know, you would save a lot of busing time. you don't have to bus within two miles of the cities. [cough] So, [clears throat] at least you get that set of kids that are not on a bus, you know, you're gonna have to you have no choice on uh kids out in the country. There's no way

081to get into school without busing. We all we all understand that. So, I just encourage us to consider other paths, reconsider the path we're on, and partner with the the cities, the city of Goldbrook. We really like uh the the summer program, but we got to we got to partner with with the school district to provide opportunity for growth in the district. And I'm not real sure how we can do that. Um I think teachers and and staffing uh that has been a struggle in the district. So, how can the cities help provide uh better opportunities to keep teachers and uh students in the community because we've lost a lot of teachers. They're moving out to other communities. So, um, you know, >> John, do you have some ideas on um what the communities as

082well as the schools can do to I think you always talk about bringing people in? You know, we're lacking housing. We're lacking jobs. We're the largest employer. >> So, I view my role in that as our role in that as being an employer. So then for housing, entertainment, things for our young people to do. I mean, we've had staff for I mean, since I've began teaching here, people have driven into the district to work. We've had many that lived here as well, but we we've had, you know, 30ome percent staff living in surrounding communities. Um, I have a lot of new teachers I hire and it's hard for them to find places to live here, things like that. So what what do you view as um the community's role as well in in some of

083this partnership? >> You know, I don't know whether it would be there's lots of opportunities, but other districts have provided uh stipens or housing, you know, at a city level for uh teachers to move to their town and hey, come teach in this district for five years or or whatever. Some type of program like that may be helpful. Um, >> do you have some houses? I could, >> right? >> But I I think we had an interesting idea the other day about uh partnering with our our community to gather some money up, build a house, sell that house at a reasonable cost. >> Uh, you know, so you're not making money on it, but you're paying for the cost of the house. If you did two or three of those >> a year, >> you

084know, you'd have several new houses that you could provide in in that area. >> Carbonale is the they've got, I think, 40 lots up there. How many houses they built? >> Some it's in the 40s. >> How many have they um built? Do we know five? >> Eight more than five. >> 8 to 12. So, we've got some growth over there that I've seen >> possibility. >> Yeah. So that I think that will help that housing option. I don't know what the appetite for the individual communities would be for those type of things, but >> I I think you we have to consider it and we have to look at it as a partnership at least from uh the city of Overbrook's perspective, you know, because if we don't, I think we're all uh going

085to suffer the the the downfall, I would say, of of losing more and more students because there's opportunity. There's our kids in the district and we know that parents are funding other opportunities for their children to go to school either outside the district or in some other fashion could be private schools whatever u and why why is that the case why why is the public education not attractive to them so are we meeting the needs of their educational mindset >> I think some of that's also value faith. >> Yeah, we value. >> I do. And and I will say that as a mom that has three children in the district, [clears throat] I absolutely hate how our district is um configured currently because absolutely >> it's ridiculous that I have to go to three different

086schools to pick up my kids. So to me, it isn't so much is are my younger ones in Overbrook or Scranton or Carbondale, but can they be together? You know, I have no intention of my kids moving to Carbondale if a school is in Carbondale, but it is not appealing as a parent when I'm saying come move here. You're going to have kids in three different areas. >> I agree. >> And so to me, we're worried about growth and how it's going to impact the communities. I I guess I do not see it as a negative thing. Uh, I think I I I struggle with seeing it that way because if I could if you told me all my kids could be in one place, I think I think we would see growth. >> I

087I agree with you and I I when I moved to Overbrook, they were just in the phase of building rebuilding the three schools and [snorts] projects and all of them. I didn't have kids, but I moved to town specifically because I knew, well, the school's three blocks away. And my wife moved multiple times as child, I'm not doing that to my children. They're always in different schools. So, one to school and there and they went through K through eight. Now I understand the discussion about K through eight was a difficult in sports and a variety of other opportunities but from a school perspective in education that really worked well because they're in the same school it was close they could walk and it worked out well. Now, I had some heartburn about the sports programs

088in with the three different uh schools and maintaining those junior highs. There's some problems there. I get it. Well, we could have addressed that issue uh in a different fashion that was done. Then we went to this odd configuration we're in now. We've been living here for a long time. So, that's why I applaud the board's decision here to we got to fix that. >> Um circumstances. We got to fix that. >> I think the problem though is I keep hearing that we go back to that which is K whatevers in all the buildings. That does not help the financial problem we are in. >> I get it. >> That takes more staff, more people, more programs and upkeep and ma maintain of the four districts where we have massive revenue loss from declining enrollment.

089I'm not saying we won't ever go up in enrollment again, but I'm not but I also can tell you right now 400 more kids are not going to move into this district in the next 10 years. >> So that's a that's that's what I've brought to the board and the data when we started this is >> when I first started the town hall meetings when I first became superintendent, I went out to introduce myself who I was and I just kept hearing over and over and over reconfigure reconfigure. We hate how this is set up. We hate how this is set up. And then my second year, I really got a a glimpse into the declining enrollment and how that was then impacting our budget each year and the revenue loss. And so it was

090like, how do we then out of all these four buildings, all of these three towns, bring everybody together so at least our kids are in a better space learning environment. Our families aren't driving all over the place. Our operations are more efficient. Our staffing is right sized. and we get the teaching and learning where we need to be versus paying for all these buildings and operations that we could change and be more affordable and put money into the kids and the teachers, give raises and good salaries and and be competitive. Um, but right now we're paying for operations and buildings and less money for teachers and kids. So, I think that's that's kind of the the ultimate problem here that it's not that anybody wants to no one wants to be a school closer. That

091is not a decision that any school district ever wants to make, let alone a new superintendent. Um, I have eight Scranton kids in this building. I know that. Um, but I have Scranton kids in all my other buildings, too. I have some Overbrook kids here, but I also have Over Brook kids everybody everywhere else. So, I've got to make a decision for all these kids um and make recommendations to this board to make tough decisions on what's the best future outcome, even if we gained 100 new kids in 10 years. um what can we sustain and what can be more efficient? In the steering committee, I heard a overwhelming liking or pallet for middle school not being with our elementaryaries anymore and being probably closer to the high school for those opportunities, having better electives,

092CTE options, the new a stuff we're getting. So, I think that was an overwhelming I don't know if you heard that as much as I did, but I felt like it was an overwhelming like a lot of people supported the middle school going out there. um which then changes what we do with elementary. So then we can how do we get all those elementary kids together in one facility. >> So that's kind of where the two and three campuses happen is do we split the elementary and put them in two different buildings. Do we um close one building which the board has made a decision about. Um we looked at one campus option that was monstrously expensive. >> That would be love. That would be >> you're saying that would be a good idea too.

093one campus and part >> from a city perspective. No. >> Maybe from a school board perspective, yes. Uh but I think that comes with a a large price tag and I >> I think the appetite for a bond issue is going to be low. I think economic factors are are are high and you're asking folks to really pay a lot more money in these two and three campus options in what you're having for how much benefit. I I I don't know that that it has not been clearly articulated uh as to how that would what benefits that would have and then how you proceed even with closing this particular building what what's the next steps how do we see that is a it's obvious the board would like to devest itself of the the building

094but what does that do for the community or how does the community then repurpose. What do they do? What's the plan there? And that's where I think if you're going to make the those decisions, where do you partner with the the city to help uh make any type of transition like that? >> I will say I think we've all made it clear we are not just washing our hands of a building and we all feel I at least I know I do. I feel morally obligated to make this sure this building >> doesn't sit >> vacant and turns into something that can be utilized. You know, we talked about Allen County using it >> and honestly, in my opinion, that would bring a lot more foot traffic, adult foot traffic that can actually purchase things

095um through this community than than preschoolers would who are bus to most are bus to Carbondale or Spring. Yeah, my preschoolers aren't going to the Casey's car. My 14 adults have, I feel like, done a good job of eating at our local places. I cater from here. I buy local goods. Um, I supported Trace Baker's Restaurant, Scranton Tavern, go to the Casey's and get things. So, I but there's not very many adults in this building. So, we've we've tried really hard to continue to support while we're here. Um, that's not been a something that anybody's wanted to you know, but Allen County coming here not only could be good foot traffic for Scranton, but also programming for our kids, for our adults, uh, they could get certificates and learn a technical skill, get an associates

096degree. Um, and it's not going to be the same program that was in Berling game. But our negotiations with Allen County um I which we will talk about tonight in in this very agenda item um is going to be about a partnership with Allen County that also partners with the city so that the city can still use the building. We could still use it for some operations for busing. Um we talked about this. You know, I didn't share a lot at the last board meeting because I I I don't want to make promises until all those things are are set in stone because then I I said something and it looks a little different. So, but all those things the board is committed to >> and we've all thought of >> talking through and working

097with on a partnership. Allen County is a great partnership. Um, in a technical program I think would be great here because they're going to offer things that other area technical schools are not. Um, we have staff that could already be adjunct instructors for the community college. Um, we just got a welding grant. We talked about how we could have a welding space here, provide precision a and other things and use the buildings and kids would be here. I think we'd actually have more kids in here um than what we do right now. Um so, and then area other area high schools could use it as well. So, I just think it's a good boost for the county as well as the city >> and while not losing the services for our local students like where

098are you going to drop off for busing or the food services? They are so open to all of that and um so I I I feel very confident about that partnership. >> So >> they want they wanted to do something long term also. >> Absolutely they do. >> Yeah. >> Well, thank you for uh let me uh have a moment of your time. I don't want to take any more of your time up and we've talked about Overbrook, too. So keep that in mind. you know, let's say that the board decides to go with the two campus option. We want to work with you and the city on um the things for Overbrook as well. If that's something that if it goes that direction, it may not go that direction. >> And if it goes

099that direction, obviously you care enough to work with us on that. We would love to make sure that if there was a different purpose for your building school that you worked well for your community. Also, >> we worked with Laura Lee on on the summer program. We would like to expand our programs and provide more community involvement in our buildings and utilize them more. They're all paid for by taxpayer dollars. So, how do we utilize them to their fullest extent that the community will support? Because the the main thing we want is community support for both the city and for the school districts. And you know, sometimes that's a a difficult balance uh on that, but how do we partner? >> I think there's a lot of opportunities. We shared we brainstormed the other night.

100Sure. >> About it. So, um I don't know if any of those were desirable to you, but I think we talked about a few that seemed like pretty good ideas. So, those are just ideas, but >> Well, yeah, we appreciate you coming in. >> Um What else do you have? >> Well, I do want to talk about Allen County. Okay. >> Um, so Allen County has come to us with a proposal. I sent you an email today. Um they went to their board last night and um [snorts] do you guys have any of that in front of you? >> Okay. Um so essentially they are willing to um match um our initial proposal valuesbased model um except for that benchmark dollar amount of the 50% of the appraised value um based on the overhead cost

101to bring in programming here pay for personnel to come in and furnish the facility. So what they would like to propose is that um we sell the building for very low dollar amount like sell it for a dollar. They come in, take over the facility, take over the expenses of the district, we put a claw back in there um that the district gets the building back if um the facility and the programming does not sustain over the 10-year period that we have asked them to commit to. Um there's also provisions in there for scholarships for um and tuition reductions for all of our students as well as uh our you know we could put in there you know graduates of two years out whatever it may be. Um but they they agreed to all of

102those things in our proposal that we put forward to them uh except for that initial benchmark cost of the building. Um, what I talked to the board or their uh school president about was, you know, a lot of community colleges partner with the school districts that are in the cities that they work with. They share buildings. They take over buildings. They build student programs within those buildings. And they and they, you know, schools are not a there's not a big market to sell schools out there. And you got to think of it and look at it a little bit differently than your [snorts] home. I know this building is worth a lot of money, but the likelihood of someone coming in buying this building and being able to take over the expenses of it as

103well as remodel it into something other than a school is a tremendous amount of cost. I'm not saying there's not someone out there that would be willing to buy it. Um, but they're going to be willing to come into Scranton um and have something here that is if it's a private business that is lucrative to them. But you're saying we have a clawback clause. So if they take this building and take over maintenance, >> all the expenses acquired with this and then whenever they're done with it, >> it reverts back to us. >> Yes. If something happens in the program within the 10 years, 10 years. >> Well, we can put that we can we can counter with whatever you would like. This is just their initial offer that she said on the 10 years.

104She said the proposed 10ear commitment is reasonable, although our hope and our commitment is that we could do forever. um that that partnership is is long-term and a time frame that is an asset for this community for for many decades. So um they seem very confident that it will be longer than 10 years with the technical program and >> and and and what their studies have done around the area with the programs they want to offer. >> Yeah. So for me, I guess what I would like to see is if we're going to get the building back, so it would once they're done using it, it's still going to be for the use of our district or our taxpayers. But if they go in and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a parking lot

105or a new building or whatever, we're not going to pay them for that. We're getting the property back, >> right? So, >> so if they make improvements >> and they're they're able to maintain this because what if we get this dilapitated building back that we have to put hundreds of thousands of dollars in just to make it that's what I was talking to Faith about. And it would it be better for us to then lease? >> Well, I guess to me it would be Yeah. But but then our lease would have to be high enough for us to put blue roofs on and maintain. [clears throat] >> Well, with the understanding that they would still maintain. I talked to the Perry superintendent and he told me that they currently lease a building to the city

106for a dollar a year. >> But in that contract lease, they take care of the property insurance, all the capital outlay costs, maintenance costs. The only thing they had they they put in the provisions to share was the parking lot that they would share the cost of the upkeep of the parking lot. That was the only agreeance. Otherwise, they took over essentially all costs of the building and the city took it over. And so their entire city's right there by the school district. They said it's very convenient. they offset their meetings so they can attend meetings. So, but it is a lease. um basically >> just a wording basically >> it's just wording lease or or and >> if it's for a dollar it's it's a little bit different less you're not transferring hands of

107ownership and to me I guess you know you could always go about that if we see that they're being really successful but it just makes it feel like we have a little more control of how this affects our strength and students to meet that you know >> and I'm I'm interested in what benefits can our community and students is and I know they have to make some money to maintain the place. So I'm not saying everybody can have a free education for life or whatever, but >> even after high school, if a kid say goes to the military, then comes back and they're 20 years old, can you still have a chance to take some classes while they're deciding or whatever? >> A reduced rate or something. If you're a trail graduate or trail alum,

108old man Tanner Black can't just come take every class he wants for free or anything, right? But like you said, >> and they also have they also have state laws they have to follow to with their provisions for funding, >> but what benefit can we extend? >> Yes. >> To our students. >> And it does say that in her letter. I mean, >> it doesn't say exactly. And then the programs um that they want to start with and then they believe they can expand on are health occupations for CNA, CMA, EMT, CDL, precision a and then general education. And that's just to start with, she said. She goes, I believe those could expand. She talked about welding in addition to the precision a which would be um the technical piece of a and drones and

109other technologies in agriculture. And then the welding uh to help partner with us because we we may not get a CTE building that's going to be super compliant for [snorts] welding unless we redo the basement down there and get welding down there. But we're going to have to do some work to get welding in there. So they could use our welding machines in their uh here and our students could do welding and then also get college credit for it like dual credit. So that would be a bonus. >> So you'd have an ad class and a pathway that'll also offer you some credits. So I think that's also >> tie that into our FFA. >> Sure. Yeah. So it' be kind of like going to Washington Tech, right? Yeah. Kind of a similar It >>

110be right here. Couple miles down the road. >> Did they talk about >> obviously Greg would have to be highly involved in >> Yeah, we don't have to make a decision tonight other than we could say we want to make a commitment to based on also this has contingent upon the state legislature. they have to send me um the approval that they do not want to um >> they have yeah first right of a refusal of the building. So, C >> could could we investigate, I guess, a little further the benefits or the pros and cons of lease versus purchase >> um with everything being um I would want to make sure the building was properly maintained and I know like you said they have laws and things that they have to follow, but how

111do we ensure that they're doing that? I'd say the only thing with a lease is we just need to be prepared to take it back over and put those expenses back on the budget. >> So that's the only that would be the only thing I would say to consider is if we're prepared to do that then then yes, then at least be >> 20-year clawback instead of 10. I mean that to me gives you all that same right. >> Yeah. Just do a clawback with 20 and I feel like frame on it. >> Yeah. >> I mean I don't that's a good question too. >> I mean at least get the first option if you don't want it. >> Yeah. Can we do we have to put a time frame on the clawback? >> I

112can ask the attorney about that. Um I mean I think it currently wasn't stated as a as a year. It was just we recommended a commitment of 10 years. So I can ask him about that. >> Well, no, it's a good question. There might be hesitancy for for leasing versus because then what's our >> temperature on commitment? >> And what else would you like me to investigate or ask um >> if we get 400 more students? Can we kick them out? >> Okay, there you go. Yep. So, >> actually, if they're providing all those services, we're going to want to find a way to keep that too though. >> Sure. >> So, >> okay. >> So, what if we have growth in the district? Then >> I'm not just said that as a joke really.

113>> No, I know. We wouldn't want to lose, >> but we've ran out of more than 400 [snorts] more kids. >> We'll figure that out for sure. >> Bring us some new industry. >> I think I think CD would be big. >> Me, too. I like that. the tuition reductions. Do we have exact rates or anything on that? >> No, she didn't put rates in there. So, we could ask for all that data. She said she would do a further data study. This literally happened last night this meeting. So, she would put together some more data. I actually in the proposal asked for >> [clears throat] >> um data on all the data I asked for was enrollment projections that they have. I asked them for programming benefits, a summary of special bene benefits, reduced

114tuition, fee waivers, or dedicated scholarships available for USD 434 students. I asked for a program roadmap, a list of intended technical and academic programs to be housed in the Scranton campus now and a timeline for later. And then regional impact study, a comparative summary of the potential economic benefits for the city of Scranton, modeled after the documented impact of a main campus at the city of Iola, which is where their main campus is. Just to model that, use that as their model. what that did for Iola with Allen County there. Job creation, local spending, and auxiliary business growth. It can happen from I'm sure they have that kind of data. So, I've asked for that. >> Did they say I They said something like they had a pipeline of a thousand students that they could

115access. Did they say what they thought they would actually have? >> That's what I did. She said she will get me this data. Her meeting was literally last night. So yeah, those are the those are the requests for data people to this. >> Is there are there other >> are there other data points you would like from them? >> Great place to start. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So she'll get me all of that. Um we don't have to make any decisions tonight. I just wanted to converse with you about >> what they came back with. Um >> I guess if you're asking for opinions and it's my opinion that we move forward with negotiations. >> Oh, absolutely. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Because really the benefit that our district, our community will be getting from

116that is huge. >> I will say I think they're probably only willing to negotiate if they're not paying for the facility and that market value that we've placed at them. Um I can bring back a counter if you want a counter a dollar amount. Um, but I think their investment, their values based offer here is in all these other things how I'm reading this, >> which is a great thing. I feel >> it's just hard to >> see that immediate benefit right now. >> That's why this data will be important, their projections. They're going to look at all four area high schools that are in their catchment area. They'll also look at the um surrounding technical schools and what they offer, what they don't offer, and then what they believe our area um would have

117an appetite for um based on um economics, the demographics of our communities and what they believe people would what kind of program that would want. So, I think they do all those studies when they put programs in. Anyway, >> did they they mentioned to like a timeline of starting classes too? That's what I was getting asked. >> Would take a little time obviously to get their stuff approved, but they're they're wanting to start fairly soon. >> Yeah, I think next fall they would start offering a few things. So, yeah. Okay. Yeah, that was my question. >> A lot of it will depend on if they get the right people hired and >> Greg. Go ahead. >> I I think that, you know, when we're talking about partnerships, all three cities and the communities around them

118have a plethora of projects and [snorts] things that could be done. But a program like that would be very beneficial if you could have few students get real world experience of of taking this is what I'm learning in the classroom and I need you to do this over here. That would be an excellent partnership for that type of program. Yes, >> definitely >> and we've tried to develop these in our own school already but this is done at a a higher level postsecondary level with credentials attached to them with certificates attached to them in a different manner. Um so there's benefits >> and I don't think they're going to be they're not going to be a conflict for us. They're going to be a this additional opportunities. So, >> and accessibility and evenings and weekends

119broadens it beyond your what will be just your high school students. >> Yes. They said, you know, our alumni associations, all of our community groups that still use the building. I mean, we have about three or four groups that use this gym every year. Um, we have uh wreck groups come in here and practice. They were open-minded to all of that. Our transportation still using their lots or frontage roads out here of the school for pickup and drop off things like that. I talked to them about the summer meals which are non- congregate non- congregate where they just come in the front door, grab their lunches and go. Our kids pull up on their bikes every summer. I love them. They come in every summer. I get about eight or nine of them. Every summer

120they come in, give [snorts] them their lunches and go. So all that all they said none of that is a problem. We're absolutely open to all of that. Um, they even said, "We'd love to go to Scranton City Council and talk to them about any additional things uh once these negotiations start that the city would like to see." Um, so I think that's a great first step for Allen County. >> Absolutely. >> Um, to go talk to them as well. So, I like that commitment to the city as well. [snorts] >> I see. Make sure you're talking with Greg. >> Okay. >> Forward. >> Good. That's exciting. >> All right. >> Is it Is it something Sorry, just one more thing to add. Is it something maybe we could invite the Stranton mayor if they

121had any >> Of course. >> I think that would be a good idea if they had any thoughts on that. >> Yep. I'm happy to do that. >> All right. That will bring us to uh spring online enroll at 7:05. All right, we are looking to change our enrollment date to open earlier. We open in July and we got to get a thousand kids enrolled in a month and it's sometimes very challenging. So, Mr. Lomire looked into a way to open online enrollment without losing the rollover data that we've struggled with in the past. um and to make sure so we roll over things like schedules, student data, things like that. But he can separately open enrollment where we can start getting kids reregistered that are returning to school, get them in. Helps us with

122projections also on numbers if we some kids aren't returning or we got new kids coming in, whatever. We can have better data sooner, earlier. And I think we'll get more kids enrolled before we can. I think when you're in the school mode, parents are still in the school mode. you get July and parents like, "Oh, I'll do it next week or I'll do it." And then school rolls around and they're still not enrolled. So, lots of schools do this. Lots of bigger schools do this because they've got to get that data soon. Like, they they need to know their data. So, I think it would be very beneficial to us to open it. We're going to shoot for an April 13th date. I believe that April 13th date and open online enrollment. Parents can still

123pay fees whenever throughout the summer. Uh they don't have to do all that right then and there. um we will maintain um some of the same data collection, but we're going to try to minimize some of the things that we don't need parents to click yes or do I do the So, we're going to try to minimize some of that, clean that up. We've got a lot of just box checky things that aren't even necessary to be there. So, we're going to try to condense it so it's a quicker even quicker. It's gotten better every year. We're just every year we're getting better. So, I talked to Andy about some things that, you know, I don't I'm I would rather instead of having parents say, "Yes, I read this policy or this handbook or these

124things or saying, "Here's where all our policies are. Here's where all our handbooks are. Please take a look at these. Check." Got it. Versus four pages of it. Um, right. >> And even if they don't check the box, it's still a policy. It's still board approved. It's still our rules and our laws here at the school district. So some of those things are a little irrelevant. They're not needed. So I've talked to Annie about it. There are things that are like we have to show that, you know, we're Furpa compliant and we are Title N compliant and um civil rights compliant and all these things. So those things will be in there, but there's other things that are they're just not necessary. So we're going to clean some of that up. So it'll be process.

125Um, if you guys want to formally approve it, you can. Um, >> for a spring >> on, you know, you don't have to. It's just an operational thing. I wanted to have a discussion. I'd like to bring it to you. You're all parents. You guys are the ones that enroll kids. So, if you >> I do have a question. So, are we going to have I want to say maybe like a cuto off date? And I'm only asking because I know sometimes when people enroll here from out of district it's like I don't know literally last minute like oh yeah by the way you can come to our school you know and people are you know pretty >> out of district is completely different >> where am I going so that's what I'm asking. >>

126So out of district is completely different. So when they go to enroll if you're out of district and you put an out of district address in if you've never come here before you have to >> enrollment won't >> you have to by law go through my out of district enrollment process. >> Yeah. So that's that lottery piece, that capacity piece we just approved. I have to review student records and then it goes to the board. I have to keep that open until June 30th. >> That was state statute. >> We can't make you can't >> no >> until >> no till June 30th. That is state statute. >> Okay. So decision >> and the reason why is I have to give parents an opportunity to apply for out of district until June 30th. Because let's

127say I only got capacity for 10 second graders and I get 11 people apply. Then I got to put all those eligibles into a lottery and one of them's not going to get a spot. >> Okay. But here's my question though, like on that. So we have June 30th and then you know our normal enrollment is what like August 4th. So then that gives them no time to be told. Oh yes, you can come to school. So with us being able to enroll in spring. I'm just saying like so we would be able to tell out of district people hopefully earlier than >> I I can probably tell them by July that I'm going to recommend them to the board. Yeah, >> that's what that's probably all I can tell them. Yeah, >> I've review

128So, >> I've had them started reviewing. So, the hangup we've had the hangup we've had is trying to get records requests in the summer is impossible. There's no one working at some of these schools to give us records and it sometimes takes a month to get a student's record. So, I've had them I've told them I'm giving them the green light in April to start requesting records of students that have already applied because they that opened January. >> Yeah. Um, I've already got a bunch of kids in there. So, they're going to start requesting those records. We can get those done early. And then I can say, "Hey, June 30th, cutting you off." By July 1, I could probably start reaching out saying, "Hey, I'm going to recommend you to the board." >> Okay. >>

129And then at that July board meeting, we can approve those. >> Yeah, >> that makes sense. >> No, it does. Yeah, >> but I'd have to wait. >> But by statute, I have to wait till June 30th right now. Okay, >> that makes sense. That's law. >> I like that. >> That's the non-resident enrollment law the state passed. Um, it used to be different. We used to have a lot more freedom in how we did all that, >> right? >> I like it. >> Okay. >> Good. >> All right. Um, negotiations. >> Um, I would say 15 minutes >> probably. Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. Mr. Mr. President, I move we go into executive session to discuss negotiations pursuant to the exception for employer employee negotiations on Tacoma and the open meeting will resume

130in the boardroom at 712 with a present. >> Okay, we have a motion. >> I'll second it. >> Second. All in favor? >> Are you done with administrators? Jamie, you had >> um yesterday, Monday, um we have hired a new email. >> Yeah, we haven't made it publicly announced. >> Um has hired a new special director, William or Bill Clark from Mission Valley. start slide one. >> Yes. >> He's already uh been to a couple budget meetings, >> uh review things. He's he's already in it. So, asked him if he could bring some quick messages with him. >> Anybody got questions about that? No. We're Thank you all for coming.