001Good evening, everyone. I'm Amy Ingram here for middle school student council. Um first is that we finally finished the dance. It was um everyone really enjoyed it. I saw kids from all the schools that we invited. Just to refresh, the schools we invited were Bridger, Fromberg, Columbus, Roberts, and Bridger. We definitely definitely the highest contenders besides Joliet was Bridger. Um we had over 100 kids there. >> [snorts] >> As far as I saw, the kids followed the rules that Miss Goral gave them before they entered the dance, which was good. Um the setup went really well, pretty organized for the most part, as well as cleaning up. We had the volleyball net set up with pretty lights and balloons hanging from the sides of it. Uh lots of beach balls and fun games. We had
002like a limbo game that was blown up, and we also had like coconut bowling with foam balls and these little cute Yeah, it was really fun. There was also a flamingo hat that you could like strap to your head and like throw little rings onto it. It was really fun. Also, we had a lot of food. We called our boys in the We had our boys put all the snacks together in concession stand, and we called them the um lunch ladies, and they did a pretty good job making the pretty fruit trays. Um we also had some amazing chaperones that helped make it all happen, and we couldn't have done it without Miss Goral, so thanks to her. Our main goal was um with a $5 interest fee was to break even, but we actually
003made a profit profit with it, too. Um it was definitely a lot, but I'm excited that we get to move forward, too. Uh moving forward to our next student council meeting, which will be on Thursday cuz middle school student council has a track meet tomorrow or they all have a track meet tomorrow. Uh figuring that it's the end of year, we don't do anything crazy, but we kind of want to see what's on the next chapter for the middle school student council. Um and then we sold Krispy Kreme today this morning in the lobby, and we donated um what we made to honor band. So, thank you so much, and are there any questions? I would like to thank student council and any of the other junior high kids that came and helped the last
0042 weeks at our dinner theater community center. They all showed up very well dressed, um very professional, and worked hard. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is high school ready, or do we want to >> is ready. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Hi, sorry. I got stuck in construction. Um I'm Chloe Everts for those of you that don't know me. Um last month through student council, we had our second of the high school fun days, which was in Red Lodge on the mountain, and we also had a different one for people that didn't want to go skiing, so we did a fun day here at the school, and there were board games, people played in the gym, watched movies, and it was just like relaxing because no school is probably going
005to get done anyways. >> [laughter] >> Half the people are up at the ski hill. Um coming up, we have the senior versus staff softball game, which should be fun. Planning on getting some popsicles, so should be a good time. And we're getting our invitations out to this um upcoming senior class to apply for student council next year, so that should be good. Um and there should be a few more student council videos before the end of the year, so stay tuned for those. And this is our last school board meeting cuz we'll all be leaving, so at the next meeting, you'll be introduced to the new student council for the 2026 through 2027 school year. We just want to say thank you for all of your encouragement throughout the year. Does anybody have any
006questions? I would like to thank the high school kids for coming. One and a half nights? Did you guys come two nights? I just came one night. >> one night. The high school kids worked hard, too. Um they had more fun playing spoons, >> [laughter] >> which was a lot of fun. No, they worked good. Thank you. Tell them all thank you for coming and Thank you, Chloe. >> Thank you, Chloe. All right, FFA. Um I'm Robert Alexander. And I'm Carson Wright. Um we're representing the FFA. Um first, we're going to start out with the day of service for the dog tags and crosses. Um we did this April 21st. Um FFA members are continuing the tradition of the Salute to Freedom project, uh placing dog tags and crosses along the 212 highway through Joliet.
007Um these markers honor those who are serving us right now and who have served in our military. Um this spring, Mr. Duel um had researched and expanded uh the list of our veterans um in our community. In addition, we have requests for other new crosses and repairs to the existing markers that we have. Um on April 16th, our chapter held a day of service event. Um members constructed over 90 crosses and seven dog tags. Um we have additional work before they will be displayed. Um the National FFA awarded our chapter a $500 day of service grant. Um Pacific Steel donated the metals metal for the crosses and dog tags, and additional storage racks, and Jimmy John's lunch was donated. Um we appreciate the support to of our teachers, administration, and community. Um do you guys
008have any questions? I would just like to say as a member of the VFW Auxiliary that you kids are really appreciated um for doing all that for and um I know that a lot of times for the Memorial Day, you have to go out and put out the crosses and dog tags when you're not even in school and taking down, so that's that's very much appreciated by all of the VFW Auxiliary and the veterans. Okay, I'm going to do a report on the um state FFA convention. Um state was a super fun and great learning experience for our chapter. 21 Joliet FFA members participated. Um FFA is an amazing opportunity for developing real-world skills. You don't have to be interested in farming to be in FFA cuz there are so many different competitions for everyone
009and their interests. There were many opportunities for members to participate in so in and outside of competitions. Some members participated in a day of service where they prepared meal kits for communities in need. Other members took part in success or leadership workshops, toured the trade show, tried their heart hand at the welding simulator by MSU, toured different attractions in Great Falls, and watched a hypnotist show where our very own Justice Pickle made it on stage. Our chapter especially especially exceeded in the areas range, agronomy, communication skills, and livestock judging. The top individual in the statewide events of range and agronomy was our chapter president, Katie Harris. Our range team, including Katie Harris, Ella Walter Beckman, Lindsey Horn, and Chloe Everts received fourth place. The egg comms team also placed second, including Justice Pickle, Danny DeOrio,
010Chloe Everts, and Maddie McMahon. In livestock judging, Carson Wright received ninth place overall individually. In a duel in a duel, and Katie Harris for earning the state FFA degree, which is the highest degree you can receive from the state of Montana. Overall, our Joliet FFA chapter should be very proud of their skills shown at state. Any questions? I think we had some FFA kids come and help, also. Tell them thank you, too. And Miss Milton, the Honor Society, I think a lot of those groups are all Those kids are all in all the same groups, but we appreciated all their help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, girls. All right, on to elementary principal. All righty, I'll start off with our store assemblies. We had the March store assembly on Friday, March 27th. Our next
011one, April's assembly is going to be next Friday, May 1st. Expedition Yellowstone, we had our fifth grade students went to um Yellowstone for the annual expedition trip, April 10th through the 13th. Want to say thank you Mr. Oren, Miss Nelson, Mrs. Wearheim, Mrs. Lowemar, Mrs. Blaine, and all of our parent chaperones for all the time and effort they put in fundraising and coordinating that event for the fifth grade. This Friday, we have our kindergarten round up taking place, so we won't have any school for our current kinder one and kindergarteners Friday. Right now, we have 15 scheduled appointments for new kinder oneers, and we have three new um students scheduled for kindergarten, which would put next year's class currently at 20 students for kindergarten. Um during the raininess day or during the round up, they
012will all participate in our readiness screener to get some early data on all the new students. And want to say thank you Miss Miss Fainas, Miss Ally, Miss Shoemaker for all their efforts game that I'll coordinate for us. And speaking with Miss Fainas, um Miss Fainas received Color It's Golden Star Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching. Um they came into her classroom this morning, surprised her with the award, and did a quick segment with her and her students. So, congratulations. >> Thank you. Congratulations. Um elementary egg day, Joliet FFA will be hosting the elementary students for egg days on the afternoon of Wednesday the 29th. We have the spring music concerts taking place in the next few weeks. Fourth grade will participate with the middle school high school event. Um so, fourth through 12th grade is
013scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th. And then our kinder one through third grade spring program is scheduled for Thursday, May 7th. And on to testing. The entire junior class took the ACT last week on the 14th. Uh student scores should be reported in 4 to 7 weeks onto their My ACT accounts. Want to say thank you Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Nardinger, and Mr. Beggar for proctoring those exams. We had our fifth and eighth grade students um all completed the Montana Science Success Assessment over the past few weeks. Want to say thank you Mrs. Nardinger and Mr. Oren for working through those exams with their students. And then we have end-of-the-year testing starting starting soon. AP tests, we will have six testing sessions for a total of five different AP courses. The first one is going to be
014on May 4th, and then the last session will be on May 20th. And for our end-of-the-year data, the i-Ready spring diagnostic window opens next week, and so all of our K through fifth grade students will be working through the math and reading i-Ready diagnostic. And our sixth through 10th grade students, they will be working through their math their math math and ELA exams over the next few weeks before the end of school. All right, it's busy. Any questions? Mr. Richard? All right, thank you. Moving [snorts] on to uh high school middle school high school principal. Um all right. Mrs. Peters took our students to the WCTM in Powell um math competition. I didn't put the date on, but it was a couple weeks ago. Um 11th and our 11th and 12th graders placed first with
015Austin Shell in placing first overall. Um Payton Pattison placed second overall. Mason McClone was fourth. Um Austin and Trey Hackmeth won the team test. And then our ninth and 10th grade team placed third overall with Aiden Nelson, Kena Tobol, and Sam Lewis. Um middle school I think had track meet that day, so they didn't go. Um I think they talked about FFA with the three. Um Miss Hereford and Mrs. Nardinger took 38 kids to Biomechanics Day at MSU Bozeman on April 8th. Um Mrs. Cook and I went with the freshman to the distracted driving presentation in the lodge that same day on the 8th. Uh Mr. Ronna and his students had district music festival on the 13th. So, band and choir and um some solos and duets, everyone receiving ones and going to state, which
016is on May 1st. Um Mr. Ronna also had the Tri-County Honor Band here in Joliet and played for fourth through 12th graders um on the 15th last week. And not to [clears throat] call out any other schools in the area, but >> [laughter] >> the the director said like the student body and um just the I guess the respect and the way that they behaved during that performance was much appreciated cuz that was not experienced um in other schools. Um they talked about the dog tags. It was like an assembly line in there. They were working hard all day on those. >> [cough] >> Um and Envirothon, [clears throat] Mrs. Nardinger and Miss Hereford uh just got back tonight from Envirothon with two two vehicles of kids. Um Mr. Ronna leaves tomorrow morning for the
017Honor Band tour to Salt Lake, and they get back on the 26th. Um and then kind of up and coming and and these are on the calendar, but National Honor Society inductions are April 27th at 6:00 in the gym lobby. Um scholarship interviews, and Mr. Price has all of those set up for April 29th. Um FFA banquet is May 4th. Fourth through 12th grade concert is May 5th. Um Mr. Richard heads to the national BPA national conference um May 6th through the 10th. Uh the activities banquet this year is combined with the Lions Club academic banquet on May 14th. So, we're doing um a dinner and then a whole year-long activities, and then juniors and seniors with a 3.5 or greater GPA will be recognized that evening. Um and then high school graduation is the
01817th at 2:00, and eighth grade graduation the 18th at 5:00. >> [snorts] >> It's a busy month. It's good to have something It's good to have There's something on every single day. Yeah, lots of things. >> Multiple things every single day. Yeah. Any questions for Mr. Fernandez? All right, thank you. Uh Joliet Teachers Association. Hi, I'm Emily Farris, GTA president. Um most of our conversations over this past month have revolved around co-curricular stipends. Um since we've passed the new CBA for the upcoming two school years, we've had some conversations over um processes as well as current stipends that are in place. We had a negotiations meetings about um insurance and then also adding the Joliet advisor a month or so ago. And during that um the board and even GTA members were having open conversations
019about stipends and how we come up with amounts and trying to make sure it's fair. And so, the GTA made a subcommittee, and we collected um data using a Google form. So, we sent it out, and we got I think 15 responses out of the stipends that are currently on our CBA. Just trying to collect data on um contracts, maybe roughly how much time's used. Um and so, we would like to bring that information to our next negotiation meeting, just so moving forward um everything can be transparent and and fair. Um and that way when we're sitting down, we kind of have the information we need when we're trying to make these decisions. Um that also led into questions about the process, so how we want to how we go about um maybe adding a
020stipend to our CBA. And during my meeting with Miss Dinstel and Mr. Beggar this past month, we talked about [clears throat] maybe just having a form that teachers are able to fill out, and they would hand back to the GTA president as well as administration then would receive it, and then that would be presented to negotiations as more of a consistent process. Uh we also thought it'd be important to have a description of responsibilities and time spent. Cuz when we sat down this past time, it was kind of hard to fill in some of that information um without having it clear and presented to us. Um and then also this we're going to be having a meeting this month. We'd like to we're going to be voting on potentially adding an MOU for the newspaper
021advisor to our current CBA. That's it. Any questions? Thank you. Uh financial reports. Um everything's in the board packet. Any questions? We're getting down to the end of the year, so those numbers are going to May is a very heavy month for expenditures, so there's going to be a lot of change between this month and next month. >> [snorts] >> Any questions about the financial reports? All right. >> [snorts] >> Moving on to the consent agenda. We'll entertain a motion. I'll move. I'll second. It's been moved by Craig and seconded by Jenny to approve the consent agenda. Any public comment? Or discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? >> [clears throat] >> Motion passed 5 to 0. All right. So, on to new business. Now it's BPA's turn. All right, I'll
022I'll set them up. Um BPA's here to present on the upcoming trip to nationals. Um BPA requests $400 per student for financial support. Total request um with four students traveling would be $1,600. A little bit of backstory here, in 2025, eight students attended and the board offered [clears throat] $2,400 in support. So, that was $300 per student. In 2024, six students traveled at the same rate for $1,800. And then in 2023, we have three girls for eight students, so that would be $2,400. This year, I believe there's four students attending. Miss Richard and the BPA members are here to present. Okay. So, this is some of my talented people here. >> [laughter] >> As you know, they're all in everything. So, for those of you that don't know what BPA is, it's the leading career
023and technical organization in the entire nation. There's even some international groups. We have China that attend nationals as well. So, it's really large. Um right now, I have 14 high school students. Last year, I had 15 and I would say half of them are seniors. So, even though they moved on, our numbers stayed pretty consistent and then I'm the one advisor. So, what the students get to compete in, there's six major categories and there's about 20 different branches within each of these categories. So, students can compete in business administration, digital communication design, finance, health administration, management information systems, and then virtual events. Um how we run our BPA's, we have weekly meetings to discuss, plan, and prepare. We do a lot of fundraising. We do a service project. And then they compete at regionals. If
024they qualify after regionals, they go to state. And then if they qualify at state, they go to nationals. It's really expensive. So, right now, regionals this year costed us about $850. State was $2,200 approximately and nationals is going to cost us close to $9,000. So, it's really costly to do all of this. Um so, to help offset our costs, we created the Creator Club, which is a one once-a-month activity after school for the elementary and middle school students to come participate in an activity. We've done a lot of concessions. We sold snow cones. We did a World Series square board. We do bake sales every month and then we also had the rock, paper, scissors challenge this year. So, we've been trying to bring in lots of money. Um on top of that, we also
025have our service project. I make [clears throat] the students either choose between Thanksgiving or the community center play to help our communities. And then these are our national qualifiers this year. So, I have Anna, Liz, Leo, and Zade. Anna and Liz are on on our band right now, so they weren't able to attend. They're also my president and vice president. So, um I'll let Zade and Leo tell you a little bit about their competitions and how they operate. So, I qualified and I'll be going to nationals for computer programming fundamentals, where I just take a test and it determines my acuity in computer programming fundamentals across and compares me to people across the world for nationals. So, I get to go into nationals for two different competitions, which are SQL and C++. They are both
026programming languages. The first one just allows you to manage big database, which are list of a lot of datas. And the second one is one of the most, I say, used programming languages in the world. And yeah. That's That's why I got that. >> [laughter] >> So, we're here to humbly ask for a donation to help support us. Thank you. You know, I would just follow up on that. And some some discussion that was had this morning at coffee, just for [clears throat] board consideration is So, this is an increase in a per student contribution. I think it's something for the board to keep an eye on that, you know, there are years when you have eight, you know, 10, perhaps even more students attending. And we might be opening that door. You know, I
027think that BPA would be happy with any amount that the board wants to support. You know, I kind of looked at it and said because the numbers are down, we haven't it's not a huge financial obligation in comparison to previous years, but we may see them here next year. And Miss Richard will probably argue, "Well, you gave us $400 last year." So, we might be opening that door and FFA, you know, will be here, you know, perhaps next year or the year after requesting the same support. We have traditionally done 300, but in light of the the reduced numbers and rising costs, that's my recommendation, but I respect your opinion on that as well. Where is nationals this year? >> It's in Nashville, Tennessee. I've went on the BPA trip. There's a lot of requirements
028that are not in Miss Richard's control of choosing a cheaper hotel or a cheaper biz or a cheaper that. It's You go where they tell you. I will make a motion to um approve the $400 per student. I'll second that. >> [clears throat] >> It's been moved by Dawn and seconded by Kathy to approve the BPA's request of $1,600. Thank you. Um any >> It hasn't been voted on. >> [laughter] >> Any public comments? Or discussion? Leo, do they have BPA where you're from? No. No. So, on top of getting to come to Montana, now you get to go to a whole 'nother state, too. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Experiences just keep coming. Um Kathy, do you Maybe for future, can we like have some sort of budget set up for what, you know, that
029we've got a set amount of money in our budget that's going to go to kids to go different places. I don't know if that would work or not. And then draw out of the pot as we need it. Maybe that would not be a good thing. I don't know. Yeah, we can definitely do that. You know, the nationals, I'm trying to think about groups specifically that go to nationals. I'll probably miss one, but I know that the traditional presentation always happens from BPA. We traditionally hear it It seems like every other year from FFA. Um who else is going to be the two? Um Sorry, I just think that might depend on if students qualify in competitions. There could be consecutive years. >> In FFA, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, would that go towards
030like honor band requesting assistance? >> Yeah, that that came up and we thought like that one. The discussion that's kind of been had on that is that that honor band is, you know, the Tri-County honor band. There's multiple schools that that are going in on that. They kind of have their own fundraising mechanism to to spread the costs equally amongst the students because Yeah, we do. in there. But yet, we shouldn't be bearing unreasonably the the cost of that just because of that. It's a first thing. So, I think they I think they have their mechanisms in place. You know, they did run into the issue this year where the charter bus was a little bit more expensive and kind of turned into a cost prohibitive and that's a similar, I think, Mhm. ask that
031we ultimately, you know, grant them. Um But we can definitely set aside the money. I think we you know, I make sure we're we're probably being equitable with with FFA and BPA. Yeah. Well, I was just thinking that On that. prevent from saying, "Oh, you know, well, you gave this these kids this much money, but you know, depends on what we've got in the in the pot." Yeah. I think that's a good suggestion, something to think about. Um all right. All those in favor of um our motion of supporting BPA with $1,600, say I. I. All opposed? Motion passed five to zero. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I forgot to ask, what are what activities are you guys doing this year? So, they're going to go backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Ooh. >> Um
032they're doing the Hatch Print Show. They're going to go on a showboat tour. And then they're going to make candy. This year, though, they were less expensive activities that were only a day. >> [laughter] >> We'll have a lunch. Thank you. Thank you. We went on a boat tour. It was such a whirlwind and it was just go go go go go go. I can't remember any of those. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Okay, moving on to personnel. Personnel action report is included. April is big month for classified staff. So they are included into a personnel action report. We have one resignation from Jordan Growl as a teacher that is included. The first group is our paraeducators and aides. Employment has been extended and offered to all of them and as far as we know everybody
033will be returning for another school year in a similar position. Specific assignments cannot be confirmed at the end of the year at the beginning of the school year based on classroom size. Kitchen is recommended for rehire our facilities team. Same story there. The daycare there were a couple of kind of clarifications here. So Amber is recommended as you know full time director. Bailey and Monica have been hired and have been working in the daycare. We have a couple of new hires there. Julie Ivory and Carrie. But this also a lot of them are not working all of the time every single day. So we don't have one two three we don't have six staff members in there all of the time. They're now available to sub step in in in those situations. Um So they'll
034be um Their their background checks have have come through as well. So for the remainder of the school year they've been working in um obviously through the next school year. Um we have some summer grounds hires. We'll have a couple more at the May board meeting as we have finalized that team. Richard is one of our student workers. He's currently on staff already. He works from about 3:30 to 5:00 doing garbage and cleaning up and he's been in that role for quite some time. Um new guidance out of the business office trainings is that we best practices to offer summer contracts to people and hire those in kind of distinct positions. So we're taking that recommendation. Um Mr. Wayne has moved into a for the remainder of the school year he's being hired as a
035significant needs aide and then at the end of the school year he'll move back into his facilities position. So there's kind of shuffling back and forth with those positions. Um We are rehiring three of our four um regular route drivers. Sam, Bob and Scott will be rehired. Jackie is keeps attempting to retire. >> [laughter] >> So we we appreciate her um service. More on kind of transportation discussion I think we can have that a little bit later in discussion. And then we have two co-curricular positions down there. When Julie was working through all of our stipends in conversation with the union making sure those are all clean we have we did not hire Mr. Mr. Price for the play. So we're going to be hiring them to do that and I did have a question
036on that and I'll ask Mr. Nunez to back me up a little bit but they're they're not staging a traditional play. It's a it's a voiceover digital presentation in in kind of a new age approach. What are your thoughts? Well yeah with their play that they had purchased and intended on and then when they got through or started auditions and um I think with the nature of everything that we've heard tonight track BPA honor band FFA um the logistics of making auditions and practices and rehearsals actually work. So they kind of improvised and are doing it I think just as they can with you know groups of kids to still complete the play but in an audio version. With some recording and filming and with Mr. Price and Mr. Ron I'm sure it'll be pretty
037great. Um and then the the money piece is there obviously 25 26 pay rates are included for everybody and then the three and a half percent raise is a mirror of what the teachers bargained for. So what I asked Felicia to do is look at that kind of average teacher raise with pay raise that we gave them in in the matrix but then also their step. On average teachers saw about a three and a half percent raise. So that is a raise across the board for for all of our staff. So recommendation is to approve the April 21st personnel action report. I'll make that motion. Second. It's been moved by Don and seconded by Craig to approve the personnel action report. Any public comment? Or discussion? One very quick question. So for that play it
038lists them as being hired through the play for 2026 to 2027. That they're getting they're just being compensated this year. That should be this year. >> Okay, just making sure that I I understood. Yeah, that's all I have. So I'll make that motion. I'll make that motion. Motion Yeah. You got that Felicia? You got that Felicia to correct that? All right, all those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed? Motion passed five to zero. All right, we have two hires elementary hires. Hiring committee convened on March 13th to interview candidates for elementary teaching assignments. Recommendation is the board of trustees hire Haley Barner for the 26-27 school year. I move that we hire Haley Barner for the 26-27 school year. I'll second it. It's been moved by Kathy and seconded by Jenny to
039hire Haley Barner. Any board discussion? There any Any public comment? Public comment. I can do that first. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? Motion passed five to zero. Next recommendation is for Emma Jacly and Emma is here. Emma has been working She started as a sub didn't last long as a sub and we moved her very quickly into a para role for a long term sub assignment that was a result of a paternity maternity leave. Um interviewed Emma for an elementary position for next year. Recommendation is the board of trustees hire Emma Jacly for the 26-27 school year. I'll make that motion. I'll second. It's been moved by Don and seconded by Craig to hire Emma Jacly. Any public comment? I just thought I'd introduce myself just came to your meeting
040so that I'd kind of be a familiar face and appreciate you guys hiring me. Thank you. Any board discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. All opposed? Motion passed five to zero. All right, annual leave payout for Ms. Myers who is the administrative assistant. Um there's some background included in there. Classified staff can accrue vacation leave up to you know a certain amount of days two years and then they have until March 31st to attempt to use that vacation time lose it or request a payout. As I think many of the board knows that this is a job that is incredibly difficult to actually use your vacation time with just because the critical nature of sub assignments. Um that even I think when Ms. Myers is off she's really still on and is
041on many nights even if she's not off many nights taking text messages from teachers throughout the night early morning and all of the times um that attempt to do that. There's a lot of you know work actually to get subs up and rolling in in the morning. Last minute assignments that she's really good at. Um and this would be in line last year and previous similar dollar amount but the recommendation is the board of trustees approve an annual leave payout for Marlene Myers in the amount of $1,973.40. I move that we approve an annual leave payout for Marlene Myers in the amount of $1,973.40. I will second that. It's It's moved by Kathy and by Don to approve the annual payout for Marlena Myers. Any public comments? Or discussion? All those in favor, say I.
042I. All opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. Classified staff insurance compensation. Again, there's some background here. District insurance company contributions for our classified staff have not increased for at least 10 years. That's as far back as Felicia could track it without actually going out to the pole barn to look through some of those other payroll records. Contributions to certified staff for insurance are regularly a bargained item. And I think that if you probably look at the average, you're looking at a bargained rate of 5, 6, 7%. to those annually. In order to stay in compliance with federal requirements for offering affordable insurance, an increase in at least the part-time classified staff contributions is necessary. Do you want to add any more on on that, Felicia, of the requirement here that we've uncovered? Um so, there's
043all kinds of requirements with the Affordable Care Act. And one of them is um if your plan qualifies as affordable coverage. Um obviously for our full-time classified staff and our teachers, we meet that threshold because of the district contribution. But because that part-time classified staff is so low, um it becomes unaffordable according to the Affordable Care Act standards. So, we need to raise that a little bit. And the the reason behind that is if we don't offer affordable care or affordable insurance, um and they have to go on to the exchange and get um subsidized, we can face a penalty from the federal government. So, what we're looking at is um an increase um and I think we worked with the insurance We worked with the broker on this amount to get it up to
044an affordable uh level. An increase of $50 per month uh for the 2026-2027 school year will provide uh the necessary funding to ensure that the district offers affordable coverage for our part-time classified staff. How many do we have? >> We have currently three part-time staff members that participate in the insurance. >> [cough] >> Uh so, the recommendation is the trustees increase the monthly contribution classified staff $50 per month to $403 per month for all 12 months. I'll move. Okay. I'll second it. >> [laughter] >> It's been moved by Craig and seconded by Jenny to increase the monthly contribution of classified staff by $50 per month. Any public comment? Or discussion? So, part-time and classified staff aren't required. Is that why there's only three? Correct. Any other questions, comments? All those in favor, say I. I.
045I. I. All those opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. All right. Football field lighting. Trustees need to consider taking action regarding ongoing issues related to football field lights. Uh for the past 2 years, football lights have failed during games. Um 2 years ago, we had a failure in the very first game of the season. Um Mr. Counter was able to uh remove the fuses out of it, uh put the fuse back in. Uh it worked for the remainder of the game, and it worked for the remainder of that season. Um this uh football season, as most of us are probably aware of, we had a failure in uh you know, midway through one of the games. Was it the first game? I think we had a failure in the first game. We did the same
046thing. We had actually purchased, to our knowledge, every fuse in Carbon and Yellowstone County um in preparation for that um particular event, cuz there were just not many of those fuses around. So, we had quite a a store of backups. Replaced it. Um that game, I think it was able to continue working. Uh we ran into an issue in uh then it was the subsequent game in which did the same thing. Lights failed. Put the fuses in. And ultimately, they wouldn't come on. Um we had to, you know, delay the game. There was a little bit of on-field controversy um that that played out because it was getting dark and but ultimately, it was a safety issue. Um as you guys know, a fire truck was on the scene. He lit the whole thing up.
047Um Now, we >> Turned out to be pretty cool. It it was a nice event. The community came together. I don't think it's a habit or a practice we want to get into. [laughter] But it was it was nice. Um the fuse was then, you know, we we we got to a number of electricians, had them come up and look at it. Um Steve actually went into each of the the bottom of the poles. He changed out all those lugs. All the connections were changed. There was water. There was mud. As far as we know, there's 50 years' worth of sitting in those in those connections. Um ultimately, we were able to limp it through um for for the rest of the season, and it was not an issue. Mr. Counter did have, you know,
048light plants available, and you would have saw them up there as backup lighting in the event that they they were needed. Ultimately, they weren't. Um needed. Um so, at the end of the season, it was ultimately working, which prevents you from really diagnosing the problem. Uh you want it to be broken so you can start to kind of um eliminate potential problems there. Um we've had Now, um Mr. Counter is leading the effort on this. So, I included his notes um that I think are pretty informative of of the process that has led us um to >> [clears throat] >> the moment we are now. But I can pull up his notes now. Do you want me to read Yeah, just sign here. Perfect. Um but you see, you know, the the work that he's
049done. It goes all the way back to November. He's engaged um from a donor standpoint, he's engaged Uh we had a really good meeting with their people and their community grant people, as well as some of their lead field people. Um they they came out. I think they do this at a number of schools. They were ready to go with a donation of poles uh that if we needed poles to put new lights up on, they would have given us We would already have that. They looked at our poles. They're like, "You got great poles." We don't need to be taking your poles down and, you know, putting in anything different. Um so, what they wanted us to do, they gave us some ideas on how to proceed forward. They said, "Contact, you know, a
050couple of outfits and get a bid. See what it looks like um on that front." So, we kind of took their direction uh a little bit on it. They did ask us to maybe circle back that there might be a little bit of community grant support that they could have once they see kind of what the number um would would potentially be. Um so, we were able to get that process moving. We reached out to Ace. We reached out to um High Altitude um to look at a um potential proposal. Um and I can't see it right now, but I'm just going to speak kind of in in rough terms cuz whatever, my computer's not working. Uh but the Ace bid came in, and um the the Ace bid was at $73,200. That involved um
051the physical lights, LED um up there uh themselves. Um they were going to re- Their proposal is to rewire from the light through the pole in the ground all the way to the shutoff. Um and that's the price that we get for that. Um The and then they came up, they metered the field, and both outfits did that and with how many lumens, you know, you you would need and all those all those spaces. Um High Altitude did essentially the same work. Uh High Altitude, however, I think um what uh the committee and I'll allow anybody on the committee to speak um on it and kind of like add in some information. What I think the committee liked uh from the High Altitude was um they um allowed kind of a menu of options. The
052first thing was to do a little bit of a diagnostic test to see if the in-ground uh wiring uh was actually still fine and working. Um that work has been done, and it is our belief right now that that wire is fine. Um and so, you will not need on that particular quote, you will not need to engage in step two or step three. So, those ones that money goes away. Um so, ultimately, the ask or the the quote is going to come in at $48,000 plus the $1,760 for the diagnostic test, um you know, which puts it at 49 49,760. Um Ace did not allow for that in uh in their proposal. So, um that is the recommendation from the committee. Um is there anybody on the committee that has anything to add? Is
053it ground? The building grounds. Yeah. Anything you want to add, do you think, from that, Jenny? Um the only thing that I would add in looking at this again is one of the questions that I fielded was why don't we just have base do it because they'll do everything, right? At least they'll do everything, we know it's good, you know, we know the ground to ground wire is good. You are we just going to be doing this again in 5 years? But I want to clarify that looking at this um quote from Ace again, they say that they're only replacing the underground wire where needed. And so they would have come in and done the exact same thing and still charged us the 72,000 um and probably not replace all of that wire because they
054they said in here if it's good we're not going to replace it. So just to just to throw that out there of yeah, I think that was a general concern um but looking at the fine print of of the bids, I think that they would have done the exact same thing as what we're choosing to do. So that's all I would add. Are the lights bad? I mean, what why are we I know it's I know if we go upgrade with the newer lighting, but I mean, is that a must where they have to go forward with upgrading the lights if the lights are good? I think that the thinking here is that the draw the power draw is is one of the leading contributors to failure and that the LED will be a much
055reduced draw. I think several years, I don't know how many years ago it was brought up about replacing them and retrofitting them to LED. And it was almost like well, let's wait until they fade out or anything. I I would say that so they they came in and I don't have the actual answer to this. When they meter it, there are kind of like some athletic field standards of how light it should be from a you know, a safety standpoint. I don't know. I've I've seen our field you know, at night. I bet it's not meeting those expectations. It's pretty dark. You know, and in that far in that far corner the you know, the north the north end zone, it it it's pretty dark over there. But it's a lot of money. You know,
056I I get it. Okay, so the recommendation is to approve the bid from High Altitude to upgrade the football field lights. I would entertain a motion. I'll make a motion. That we approve the bid from High Altitude to upgrade the football field I'll second it. It's been moved by Jenny and seconded by Craig to approve the bid from High Altitude to upgrade the football field lights. Any board or any public comments? Board discussion. So at the end of this on the very last page it says "Ensure there's no neutral running to the football lights and we may have to run a neutral." Yeah, this is so that was a new um that was a new issue that was uncovered at the end of the day on this. That was a new issue that was uncovered
057when he came up to do the installation and that was a wiring complication that apparently this is High Altitude's thinking that when the new gym went in that the neutral wire was not put somewhere where it needed to be. Don, you will remember with the Didn't they just have to do something with the kitchen? This is like 5 6 7 years ago. I think it was the same issue. I think you're right. >> of connected to that. Um however, it was determined because of the reduced um amperage on there with the LED draw that they can run on a single leg I'm well over my head here. A single leg without the neutral was going to be viable in their advertising. >> [laughter] >> Now everybody's on the same page now. >> I know there
058was a I know there was a C-clamp. They found a C-clamp in the box acting as a neutral. That was like rusting over and they were like that's got to be fixed. Yeah, so they're going to take those things. I can't imagine that it's going to cost $18,500 to put in a neutral on one leg and that would be you know, ramping it right back up to >> No, that's it wasn't it wasn't. That's not what that 18 5 was for. >> Right. Yeah. That was the new issue that they uncovered when they opened the box. Okay, so we have a motion on the table. Any other discussion? So the 68 260 is not what the amount's going to be. It's going to be that less the 18 500. >> Yeah. Correct. >> Yeah. So
059it'll be it'll be 49. Right? 49 760. 49 760. And if we don't do this, then we possibly cannot light the wall. at eat in the night. >> At night at night. No night games. But we have a football field, we have the lights, they should be working. Correct. My point. Mhm. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, why should they just sit there? Well, this has been an issue for I don't know how long. I mean, for quite a long season too. Well, like you said, there's been past discussion about replacing the lights and the consensus at that time was wait until something goes wrong. Something's gone wrong. Yeah. Well, my thought is >> [clears throat] >> if we would like you said, we probably wouldn't pass the safety inspection. And I'm sorry, I just get a
060little nervous about sue-happy people. If we had a kid get hurt down there in that dark zone, what's to stop their parents from saying, "Hey, you guys didn't pass this." I just kind of look at it as an insurance policy. Yeah. All right, are we ready to vote? >> [laughter] >> All right. All those in favor of approving the bid from High Altitude to upgrade the football field lights. Um All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. Motion passed 5 to 0. Our first handbooks are coming up for the 26-27 school year. A draft of the classified employee handbook is attached for board review and approval. Policy Committee is working this year to transition all of our district handbooks to a format consistent with the Montana School Board Association model handbooks. The transition
061supports stronger alignment with what we're seeing already is Montana Code Annotated. It's going to be updated in reference as well as our district policy manual which is largely rooted in NPSBA's model policies which I think will help to ensure consistency, clarity, legal compliance across all of those district documents. It it is something that we hear from the community that they're you know, in one handbook it's kind of saying this and it didn't get moved over to the teacher handbook, it didn't get moved over to the classified handbook. So I think it will really help to um streamline our handbook. So my hat's off to the Policy Committee for undertaking the work on this. The recommendation is the Board of Trustees approve the draft 26-27 classified staff handbook. Policy Chair is Dale if you want to
062add anything. No, I just I think just to echo what you said, I think this is a move in the right direction. It was really maddening trying to review the handbooks because it was really like a compilation of decades of like, oh, we need to put this in there. Oh, we need to put this in there. So there was a lot of repetition, there was a lot of contradicting statements, there wasn't continuity between handbooks. So I think um this is a move in the right direction. Yeah, this one actually ended up being a touch longer, but I think what we'll find is that what they will ultimately make it shorter. We talked at copy this morning that it appears that our handbooks have been kind of the result of like something happening in a school
063year and then the next year the board put a you know a clause in there don't do that into the handbook and it kind of just kept building as opposed to kind of saying it's like a a larger overarching you know document at your guys' level. Cuz you'll never get every single thing in the handbook. All right, they're writing that in generalities. So. How do you recommend? I didn't think of that, but I think probably part of the length can be attributed to um referencing Montana code and whatnot, too. That just adds more space. I really like how it referred to policy and then you refer refer to policy this is where you're going to find that information. Are you waiting for a motion? Could I get a motion? Yes. >> [laughter] >> You can.
064Um I move that we accept the first reading of this classified handbook. For the 2026-2027 school year. Did I get it all in there? You got it. Yeah. Okay. I'll second. All right, so moved by Kathy and seconded by Don to approve the draft 2026-2027 classified staff handbook. Any public comments? Or discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I. All opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. All right, our next handbook this is a new handbook for the at the trustee level. We're moving into our third year of the onsite daycare you know just trying to improve our processes communicate out effectively try to do a little bit better communicating with the community on you know what is the the daycare and try to bring the the trustees involved in that process a little bit
065more. So Amber has had this handbook it's been in place but we thought that it would be a good idea just to bring this forward for approval for the 2026-2027 school year. Outlines all policies procedures expectations and safety protocols that Amber is undertaking to to provide this experience for for our staff members and then if space allows for the community as a whole so do want to clarify that I think she has a little bit in there that >> [clears throat] >> I think when we first got this thing going going all the way back to those initial discussions that we're having right here you know I think the reference was teacher daycare and you just use use those words to refer to that. It's actually a staff daycare and it's actually much more so
066I I just want to clarify those statements that yes teachers do and are filing some of those first spaces but we also know that our classified staff are also pretty big users you know from our custodians to to our aides to you know certain subs if they meet threshold in there as well. So it very much is an onsite staff daycare even administration is you know inside of the to those spaces as well. From a cost effective standpoint then if there's you know six or seven you know slots taken up by staff members' children I think it makes a lot of sense to run it up to the capacity that the state will allow Amber from her license standpoint to run it up until and then it reduces the cost for everybody in in that
067standpoint. And remember that this is purely driven by tuition that the the users are paying. The staff does are the the district does have a has given them the space right? So they are we're not tracking specifically utilities or anything like that in space. Amber does all of her own cleaning you know in in that space so it's not using any of the the custodial resources in that front. They are tracking all of their meals that that are being being served in that space. And then in addition to that the daycare fund actually pays the school $250 a month for rent for that space. So the district is ahead $250 every month for that. Happy to take any more questions on you know how that's running but the recommendation is the board of trustees approve
068the 2026-2027 Little Huskies handbook for the 2026-2027 school year. So you said she's tracking the meals? Mhm. So like the cost for the daycare for the meals? Yeah. Yeah. And then you had said that we're not tracking like utilities and that kind of stuff. We would have to like meter that room separately correct? If we did something like that. Yeah. Well, first of all I really appreciated this because it opened my eyes. I didn't know what was all going on in there. Um so I just have a couple of questions. One is what is the total amount of people that we can have youngsters we can have in that room? I mean I know that she has to have so many people to work with them but I'm just thinking space wise how many? Yeah.
069I don't want to speak to Amber would be much better at answering this. I So we are classified as a center. Um this is almost like the electrician. >> [laughter] >> I should have had him present. Yeah. I didn't even think of that until now. Yeah, me neither. I think it's 12 and then you can have what they call some overlap care so kids that are coming in like after kindergarten. So we do offer some coverage at 2:30 up until 4:00. And that's called like overlap care. Yes, there are set ratios which I'm not totally fluent in so I'm not going to pretend that I am. 0 to 2 is like the infant area those are set ratios required different staffing positions as well. Then the toddler range and then there's overlap care as well.
070I think it's 12 up until 15. And then are they are they taking in people who are associated with with the school? We have a handful. Okay, now well and that is also the once it opens up to the general community it feels to me like they're still like connected to a teacher it might be like a teacher's cousin a teacher's sibling there's like a a secondary grandchild Yeah, a grandchild there's like a secondary connection. Okay, and then just one more did I read this right? So that if they are if they they have more people like you said that can cut down on the cost does everybody all pay the same price or do the the staff Our staff is even reduced. Yeah. But the community wouldn't. No. Okay. No. Thank you. Yeah. so
071is the price that's in here like the public price? >> That's the public price. Yeah. Um so I think that the current I think that the current rate for our staff is $25 a day. That's correct. Well, that's pretty good. I think so. It's very nice. I think it was 50 when you first started cuz my granddaughter was in Oh yeah. I got it. Yeah, it was before we had some grant funding so it was 50 bucks. >> and then you you had two kids like I had two kids in daycare I think I got a $5 off one kid. Right? So yeah. It's like it's was cut in half basically so. Yeah, it's it's been a really big deal. And I think a lot of this stuff in here is required by the state
072to be licensed. >> Yes. policy Yeah, and she has she has onsite visits the state licensing agency will come in and you know take care of all that for the people licensed. So and the what she pays back to the school in rent that was determined based on like what they had coming in and their costs and whatnot and then what they could right? Like that was kind of budgeted on her end what they could afford to pay. Yeah, we got together Felicia myself and you know just to kind of answer to community concerns about that like yeah you say that it's you know 100% but the utility costs >> utility costs the space in consideration that you know we run into. Obviously we wanted to and Felicia and I had this discussion you know
073we want to try to balance that based upon kind of like a rough prediction I don't think there's a perfect way to come up with that. We also know that it's far cheaper than it would be it's not it's not prevailing market rate to rent a space like that in town either but if you were charging $12.50 or $1,500 for a space our teachers going to end up eating it, you know, on on the back end. Yeah. You know, we've talked about having other people like teachers come and just do kind of general reports and that kind of thing. Maybe Amber can come in sometime and that would have been give us a you know, I wish we would have thought of that, but maybe at a future meeting or next month or something she
074could come and give just a general report. Maybe next year or June would be a good time just to like a year overview or something. And then we can forward to the next year. >> Okay. Maybe some pictures and a video cuz I don't want to go in there and look at it. >> [laughter] >> We were just in there this afternoon. It was really nice. Yeah. Well, I'm sure it looks nice, but you know, I'm past the baby stage. >> [laughter] >> All right, so the recommendation is that we approve the 2026-2027 Little Hawks Nest Parent Handbook. For the 2026-2027 school year. Second. It's been moved by Dawn and seconded by Craig to approve the 2026-2027 Little Hawks Nest Parent Handbook for the 2026-2027 school for the 2026-2027 school year. Uh any public comment?
075I'd like to make a comment. >> wanted to thank the board and the district. Um a couple years ago before this conversation had started, I think I took all my sick days because I didn't have child care, reliable child care that was consistent. And so this situation has eliminated that and I know a lot of our younger teachers having babies and want to have more babies has taken a big burden off of them as well because there isn't a lot of child care opportunities here in Joliet or in the surrounding towns. So, I think it's also nice if we have spots that um kids are welcome to even come even though they're not employees of the district as well. So, and Amber has done a really nice job communicating and um the kids have a
076great time. She gets every child in there to sleep at the same time. And I'm just I don't know how she does it, but they do it and they have a really good routine and it's been a great experience. So, thank you. Well, and it's those teachers who [snorts] want to stay because we have it and it encourages them to have more babies and that'll increase our AIB. >> [laughter] >> So, you have a win-win. I don't know. Uh any additional comments from public or board? I appreciate you speaking up and and letting us know. I would think that if things were not going well, we would hear about it and so it is good to hear some positive. Thank you. All right. Um all those in favor of the motion on the table say
077I. I. All opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. Uh we have a couple of first readings for policy. Uh in preparation for next month's reorganization of the board, board chair and superintendent review our current committees. Um the recommendation is to add a curriculum committee with the purpose of reviewing and recommending instructional programs and materials to ensure support of student achievement and reflection of the district's educational goals. Trustee needs to add if there's anything to add, but the recommendation is to approve first reading of 1130 P1. Everything else stays the same. Yep. Yep, so just adding that curriculum committee. Um I don't really have anything to add. I think it'll be a good addition. And we I heard the main board members that want more committees. Really? I would love to see more more >> [laughter]
078>> I don't think you get to vote on that one. I would like to see, let me think here. >> [laughter] >> All right, I'll entertain a motion. I'll make that motion. It's been moved by Dawn and seconded by Jenny to approve the first reading of policy 1130 P1. Any public comment? Or discussion? I think our committees have really enhanced our board and our board interaction. Yeah, I agree. We have very active um very active committees. And it keeps everybody engaged. All right. All those in favor of approving policy 1130 P1 say I. I. All opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. First reading of 5331, um which is an update to insurance benefit for employees. It continues to to speak in this goes to the Affordable Care discussion from earlier, but speaks to um Ms.
079Smith and the work she's doing in the business office just to make sure that everything's updated. Like 5331 is being um recommended with language coming out. Yes. Um and you'll see that in the draft. I'll move. I'll second. It's been moved by Craig and seconded by Dawn to approve the first reading of policy 5331. Any public comment? Or discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed? Motion passed 5 to 0. Old business, second reading. Recommendation Board of Trustees approve the second reading of policy 5012 and 5012F. I'll move. Yeah, so 5012F isn't on the agenda. Does that matter? Uh I think that it was a part of 5012. Do you agree? Yeah. It encompasses yeah, I think it's encompassed with under like it's an umbrella. I'll second. It's been moved. Yeah. Okay.
080>> [laughter] >> Got to keep up with me. I know. Um Okay. It's been moved by Kathy and seconded by Craig to approve the second reading of policy 5012 and 5012F. Any public comment? Or discussion? All those in favor say I. I. All those Motion passed 5 to 0. All right, informational items. Informational and discussion. Um so, we've included all of the minutes. You know, just speaking to that committee work, uh 1 2 3 4 5 6 committee meetings happened in the month of March. I would echo what um Dawn said about you know, the state committee work, staying engaged, not staying up with, you know, um a lot of the day-to-day decisions, but then a lot of the uh the the bigger picture aspect as well. It really allows people to come together and
081have those in-person discussions um so we can ensure that we're making the best decision for kids. So, I I'm you know, a big fan of committee work. Um but know that it can be taxing, you know, on everybody. So, I appreciate everybody's work on that. Um Milligan survey. Um so, we have closed the um the staff and parent survey. That closed on April 20th. So, uh those results are coming in. Um the students are completing a similar survey. That will be completed by the end of the week. Um I think our seniors and our sophomores have taken it and then we have a plan for our freshmen and our juniors um to get that done before uh the week in um here in the building. Um trustees were asked in March to consider community members
082to serve on a committee to review the survey data while also reviewing and recommending updates to the district's strategic plan. So, I think that would really work as kind of two-fold. Um you know, create a couple of goals uh based upon the survey results uh and then data that comes in, um but then kind of couple it with that strategic plan and uh bring bring those uh to a full board. I would anticipate that happening in the maybe some action on it in June and May. Um give me a committee, give me some direction. I think we can probably get it done in May or maybe right after the school year's over. Um but happy to write down some names um if you guys have anybody. And I think some of us have emailed you
083and talked to you about some names. If anybody else wants to speak up or email him. >> I emailed him. But I can also speak up if you want to. Yeah, sure. Give me the Give me the list. All right. What What do we want to put on there? What I suggested was Betty Gerell. Do you think we have to vote individually for the all at once? >> No, no. I think so I think we have like I think a few of us anyways have suggested some names and I think then the next step is reaching out to those people and checking their availability and their willingness to serve on that. Um, we had talked about not getting the committee too big. Um, once it gets too big then nothing gets done. Um, so maybe,
084you know, having some names there and having some alternates um, if those, you know, some of those people [snorts] say no. Okay. All right, so do you guys want me to reach out based upon the emails that I've gotten? Do you want me to just to reach out to those people individually and let them know that they they've been appointed? And we're shooting for teachers as well, teachers and then community members and then board members and so we're kind of going to kind of go across that, right? I think so. Yeah, and I think what we've tried to do in the past is try to, you know, grab a broad swath where you get some elementary and, you know, the the the work the outlook from a a kindergarten parent, you know, first year in
085the district is oftentimes pretty different, you know, than a senior parent who's, you know, got three out the door and he's got one left. Um, you know, or whatever position people are in um, it looks a lot different. So, I think that capturing that broad swath is really important. I think it's important to get somebody who doesn't necessarily have kids in the school either ever or now because they're also taxpayers, too. To get their opinion. Okay. Sure, I did. Email me that. >> I was the first one. So yeah, if you guys have any other names or you have it um, reached out or you have people that you would like to suggest going to do that in the next day or two so we can get moving on that. Yeah, you know, it'd be
086nice to have it. It's just going to be so busy um, from now till the end of the the school year. >> think it's reasonable that that that we're going to do it before the end of the school year. >> Yeah, but I I definitely don't want to make sure it falls off um, our, you know, kind of primary primary agenda because I think it does impact you know, it's important to get that feedback and then also let it drive that strategic plan which really drives all the decision-making here. So, okay, I'm on it. So the year that I served on it before I was on the board, um, it was like in June or July or something and it was really nice because I just feel like everybody had some breathing room and to
087really like review the survey results and to think about things um, more openly. >> at the school year, too. It's All right. Um, building reserve voted levy spending anything? So just wanted to give an update. This is largely where it was done to building and grounds um, a level on April 2nd. Uh, we had a good discussion. We went through kind of the general building and grounds uh, kind of verbally and we went through the interior and the exterior some of those kind of critical needs that we're kind of facing right now. Um, you know, there's been as recently as today um, uh, we had the interior grounds walk um, which Don and and Jenny um, went on that. We had Steve um, our facilities director kind of going through that tour. Uh, we got
088a pretty good little list going. Uh, we talked about some of the general processes we do um, procedures that we have for um, attending to the building. Um, so overall I think the building's in a a really good um, state. I think Steve and his team are doing a fantastic job of um, taking care of kind of those um, more advanced needs. I think our teachers do um, a really good job of taking care of their classrooms uh, which is just the fun and stuff um, on their world. But we also went through, I think more specifically we reviewed the voted building reserve levy expenditures. We went through and looked at the permissive building reserve um, expenditures as well. Um, kind of looked at the the kind of position of the budget um, and then
089uh, went through some of the '26-'27 uh, projects that we have. Um, I think it's important to continue to engage the community in this discussion because this is a five-year voted levy. Um, two years as now passed and we'll be moving into year three um, of that levy. Um, happy to take an update from anybody um, but I can also work through if you look at attachment number three down there. Um, that was the um, 2024 building reserve election levy pamphlet uh, that the district put out. This was um, visually the work of uh, Ms. Myers uh, in her role. Um, we recapped for our voters what we had done, you know, from from '19 to '24 and if you look at what we had allocated um, in May of 2024 through 2029 some of
090those projects I'm happy to report that a lot of those have been tackled, accomplished in the first two years of um, of this voted levy. We upgraded the security entry door locks. That work has been done. Um, uh, we do have and are continuing to lease uh, the modular class rooms to alleviate to alleviate um, initial and immediate overcrowding. Uh, the site work and the prep was all completed. Um, that also I think that the I continue to get really positive um, emotion from the parking lot down there and uh, this is the first year in which Little League now uh, because we did that after the Little League season uh, last year where they're not fighting those ruts and, you know, having to go through all all of that stuff. So, um, I know
091that it's pretty welcome uh, for for that crew that's down there. Exterior lighting upgrades, those have been accomplished and done. Um, the middle school shingle replacement we had had on there. We had the roofing people come out. It does not appear to be an an a right now issue. Um, the state of the shingles was was pretty solid. Um, we we did our asphalt repair top finish and striping. That all got done last summer. Um, in addition to that for that price we were also able to add it in the resurfacing or sorry, the blue the playground. That needed to be redone. Um, so that is looking pretty good. Um, the ceiling replacement in the high school classrooms I think it ended up being a little bit cost prohibitive and maybe not, you know, worth
092worth what that price was looking at but for purely, you know, an an aesthetic uh, upgrade. So, that's something we'll continue to look at. We did replace the windows on the east side elementary classroom. Uh, the oven in the kitchen has been replaced. The um, uh, steam table uh, has been replaced as well as they have a new warmer uh, in there. So, some of those major, you know, commercial kitchen appliances um, have have all been taken care of. Uh, we've allocated $10,000 a year for carpet replacement. That gets us $10,000 which is two and a half classrooms. Uh, so we probably wouldn't do that. We did three last year but we did two and 12 grand. Um, storage solution we had that also because we were kind of feeling a little bit of a
093pinch. That container um, is on site and in place and is proving to be useful for as kind of just an immediate overflow. I'll be honest, it's not the most organized of spaces but it's better than having a really unorganized space above the kitchen or somewhere in the building. Sometimes you just need that overflow space. Um, and then continue purchase of our cleaning chemical and paper products were ongoing. So, some of those bigger projects um, where I'm proud to say that the team under the board's direction has done a really good job of getting all those done. Um, if you click on attachment number four um, you'll see a little bit more kind of in detail of the tracking uh, and I did put a little statement on the bottom that these financial figures um,
094that are presented here on the page they're very much preliminary estimates and subject to change based upon um, accounting that that goes on in the business office. Um, this is not the trusty financial statement um, at the end. So, these numbers very well could change uh, from the time that they're presented in that kind of year-end budget document but I think for our purposes um, they serve a pretty good picture of where we're at. Um, this year we have expended 100% of our voted levy. So, this is year two uh, which we're we're looking at um, the asphalt repair and some of those things that we talked about um, are included in then we were able this year to kind of incorporate some of those other, you know, kind of smaller expenses. Um, and then
095what the committee did as well in year three um, is to look at some projected expenditures interior grounds walk. We talked about upgrades to the library furniture um, if if that's something that that we wanted to do we could spend, you know, our voted levy on the gym floor wax. Our HVAC and boiler controls continue to cost us $4,000 quarterly um, to make sure that those are updated. Um, our major boiler concern right now is one of the boilers above the elementary in uh, the kitchen. We had recently put um, you know, $10,000 into a control board and it and it still continued to kind of give us fits. I think that would be the the target, high school boilers. We had a light winter. From a boiler standpoint, I think we're appreciative of that
096because we're probably getting another year out of our sectional boilers now. The big ticket item is the one that we have with the football lights. So now that can be allocated. Steve thinks one carpet classroom in in from a replacement standpoint this year. He'd also like to make a little bit of just kind of top finish in between the middle school and the elementary in that area that's kind of weeds. It's actually right here. It is really difficult to mow and actually when you mow it, there have we have broken windows because of the tight turning radius. So we have landscape cloth left over from when we put the asphalt down on the playground. Big thick landscape cloth. Throw some gravel down on it. I think it would actually clean that area up and look
097really nice. Now we don't have to mow it, take care of the weeds, and weird growth. Kids are kind of looking at that. I think it would be a really nice um solution for that space. And that still leaves us about $23,000 in our voted levy. And then in in addition to that on the right hand side in the yellow boxes you see the permissive levy. I put put the fixed in. Permissive levy is another $38,000 and then anticipating about $90,000 in signature events that can be all allocated to continue to take care of the building that we have. The big tree removal. We >> [clears throat] >> building and grounds. Is this building and grounds I'm getting all my committees mixed up. The tree was the yeah. Okay. Building and grounds look at the
098tree in the front by Anna. Um take a look at it. It looks to me like it's leaning. We'll see. It looks to me like it's leaning. And then we had that big windy day. It was concerning having our bus kind [snorts] of parked there. Granted, it was extreme wind. We had the arborist come out and took a look at it. Arborist said it's a good tree. Healthy. Can't guarantee that it's not going to fall down because you never guarantee that fully, but low risk. Mhm. I I think that we should probably consider that. It was 42 42 And then an additional 400 if you want the stump removed, right? About $4,500 to get that tree done. Stump included. Which I didn't think was crazy. I when you look at the tree I thought it
099was going to be a lot more than that, but I think it might be I think it I think what I would would recommend is building and grounds crew take a look at that quote, make a recommendation to the board and then discuss and make a determination on it. He said if you know our wind is usually coming out of the west and kind of out of the north, you know. He said if you continue to get wind that way, it's going to be fine. He said what you if you get a south wind kind of out of nowhere and that tree is not used to the wind coming out of that direction, that's when you see those things go down. So again, I'm well above my level. He looked at the tree. He thinks
100it's fine. And then we had him look at the one I'm also sitting around. The one kind of in between greenhouse and the new gym. But no no issues with that one. Like that tree is perfectly straight and fine. So Happy to take any questions on the building and expenditures or Anything on this chain? I have a question. I'm assuming all the numbers are included. Our eighth grade keeps growing. Such a weird class. Yeah. Eighth grade and kindergarten. So to your to your point, Cathy, about A and B, like this will have a budgetary impact, right? So our 42 eighth graders are considered elementary students, right? When they leave our elementary district, it will be you know, 42 kids going out and I don't know what the current kindergarten projection is, but they'll probably be
10120. So we're going to lose 20 kids out of our elementary budget. However, and our high school, however, will gain, you know, nine or 10, you know, off of that. So we're going to have some weird uh fluctuations that go on with the budget. It's largely rounded out by taking a three-year average into those loads, but there will be implications, you know, on on on that front. Employment opportunities are located on the district website. And that's all I got. There's no correspondence. All right. Well, this time um I believe we will break. We don't fully adjourn, right? Break and we will go into executive session. >> [snorts] >> So we can take a quick break. >> [clears throat] >> Anybody would like break. >> [laughter] >> Anything else? Take a 5-minute break and then we'll
102reconvene for executive session. >> [clears throat]