yes I have been taught better by my parents sorry it was a little bit late um welcome to tonight's meeting um first thing I'll look for is the approval of the agenda so move is there a second second any discussion
seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I i and oppose the same sign all right agenda is approved and uh we will move into number four our action items and uh Mr durban is going to talk
to us about the revised budget good evening Chair Clott school board thank you for the opportunity to speak again about our revised budget um does everybody have a copy and Darcy did we issue a copy of the spreadsheet okay i apologize for the
small font it's nice to have it all on one page so a reminder this uh um present this is a a summary tonight of the presentation that we had on March 3rd when we presented our revised budget
so what I have this evening is some highlights um and uh an opportunity for some discussion and the end of a hopefully short discussion we can um entertain a motion for um approval of the revised
budget so uh just a reminder as we talk about this budget this is for our fiscal year 25 uh so for this school year um we on March 3rd also had some
discussion about next year's budget and some adjustments we would make to try to maintain our fund balance this evening's discussion is regarding fiscal year 25's budget so we'll try to stay focused on
um the details there for for this year um so as we look back to that March 3rd presentation um really we focused on two funds our general fund which we refer to as fund one and our food service fund which we
refer to as fund two we did not make a recommendation for any revisions on our other funds uh community service uh construction or debt service at that time um so this evening just to re to review
those um revisions from this fiscal year our general fund revenues we project an increase of 1,711,576 which would bring our revenues to a total of 59,873,842 and a reminder this is a um majority of this increase is due to uh
our ADM projection being increased by 141 student ADM for this fiscal year so a bright spot in this year's enrollment as we look forward to future enrollment um we still project a decline due to our
um decreasing kindergarten incoming kindergarten sizes um and larger graduating senior classes also we saw an increase in federal funds that we received uh this year uh and I believe Chair Clott you may be asked uh
back in March 3rd about those federal funds um and seeing a a reduction there yes we would see a reduction in federal funds in future years as those um ESER funds or COVID funds are um now being sunseted so I think this September was
the last opportunity to um grab any of those federal dollars also in the general fund our expenditures increased or project to increase by $2,372,337 uh bringing our expenditure our projected expenditures for the year
a total of 60,869,523 and these are for our our general fund um and some of the reasoning behind those increased expenditures were a large uh furniture purchase for the district which also brought revenue in as well those were
purchased with ESSER dollars um other grant funds that we received uh to complete projects but also increased staffing and increased costs of services other highlights from the presentation on March
3 our food service fund revenues um we don't project a change in revenues but we do uh we do plan for a change in our expenditures um essentially we were on the verge of um having to enter an MDE
spendown plan and what that means is if your fund balance in your food service account um your O2 fund exceeds six months of operating costs then you would have to be monitored by MDE to ensure
that we're spending down those funds so with that um this year a new allowable expense is cafeteria furniture and so we planned and made the revision in the food service expenditures to
purchase um high school and southwest middle school cafeteria furniture um and also some equipment in the Albertly High School kitchen to spend down that fund balance where we're going to be more comfortable as a district where we're not teetering on the edge of going into
a MDE Minnesota Department of Ed spendown plan um but still leave a comfortable fund balance in food service uh moving forward so that increase was $415,000 of expenditures bringing a total um fund to
expenditures to two 2,86,582 and just to note um as we hear a lot about restricted funds food service is one of the most commonly discussed funds that is restricted uh general rule of thumb it needs to be
used for food service purposes so your kitchens um or kitchen equipment um expenditures there um you can't use it for say a classroom or um general fund use so with limited opportunities for
expend expenses there um and a healthy fund balance we saw it grow over 600,000 over the last five years um and so it seemed and it is an appropriate time to spend that down to a little bit more
comfortable value so this evening um we ask the board to approve our revised budget and just a reminder um that we are in a healthy place financially as a district and we
do carry a fund balance goal of 12% as a district and the revised budget indicates a lower fund balance um however um to make sure that we're being um clear and communicating well to our
constituents in the district here um an 11% fund balance is a strong fund balance we're not at any risk um as a district of going into statutory operating debt anything like that at this time um and I will um I don't want
to get cornered into any specific numbers um and we can maybe have some discussion on this as well um but we have made some response to um this snapshot that we see tonight and seen a little bit of reversal and our finances
since our March 3rd meeting and we can talk a little bit more about that as as uh questions arise tonight um but we're in a strong place financially so this revised budget would result in 11% fund balance should um
nothing change from the trajectory we were on at that time on March 3rd um I can confidently say we will probably end up in a better place than 11% closer um probably in the middle between 11 and
12% is where I think we would be if nothing changed as of today um I can't pinpoint a number because we didn't do a full revision after a little less than a month's time so um looking at the screen here as it sits
these uh just want to describe what you'll be approving this evening the spreadsheet that you you receive here in front of you for your revised budget outlines all of our fund classes so the top half of the sheet here I have on the screen right now represents our fund one that's your general
fund um note that we had three additions to our fund classes this year our Q comp code changed to code 437 so if you were looking at a prior year um budget you might not see that code there um that's the Q comp code for
um our performance pay and then our redact codes were added this year when we created our adopted budget back in uh July or June excuse me uh for this fiscal year they did not have those specific fund class codes for
the read act yet so 456 and 457 were created for that one-time money for the redact the first column shows our audited fund balances from June and a reminder we do an annual
audit with a third party auditor um and uh we will go through that process again this this um summer and um the the second column there says revised 2425 budgeted revenues and you notice that
59,873 at the bottom 873,842 that was noted in our summary and the third column is our revised 2425 budgeted expenditures and the bottom of that third column 60,867,523 is all those
expenditures and then the far right column I think is the other important column to look at our projected endofear fund balance be 7,395,578.13 and then also in that food service um note the ending fund balance um in
the restricted fund would be 41,506 and total fund 2 would be 492,164 all right so at this time I would ask for uh approval of our fiscal year 25 revised budget okay is there a motion to approve the
revised budget motion by Neil is there a second second a motion a second by Kim is there any discussion go ahead Neil yes um you noted that there were some the items in red were items that were added
so my question is did that increase the total expenditures and therefore have u have a an input into the the fund balance i mean if you have a larger base and you have the same amount
uh in your in your revenue uh left you know the the balance left over that would uh lower the percent would it is that is that so I I think I understand your question so um if we look to the screen uh as presented right now um the
items that I highlighted in red were those additional classes that were added this year are those what you're speaking to those three and and that increase that I would assume increases the total budget it would however we did anticipate um so one Q comp was an
existing fund before they just changed the fund class number so the only reason highlighted this evening is so if we were trying to compare it to prior year's fund for Q comp we would be able to see what that looked like the other two redact funds we did anticipate that revenue and expenditure we just didn't
have the class um specific for those codes in the spring so they might have been lumped in with say literacy aid at that point um don't quote me for sure but they were in their anticipated funds so and your your theory was correct
however we were anticipating that revenue and expenditure i guess the essence of my question is without those changes our fund balance might have been higher than 11% um
because it increased the base yes I think I think what you're saying is correct so if you looked at the line items 456 and 457 uh and we removed those from this formula okay um I just have a question because I'm
not sure how this works so you know we have the policy 714 fund or school fund balance at 12% do we change the policy then or how does that work at this at this point no because this is just projected revised
okay but if we get to that point at the end when we do the final we would either have to change it or try to get it back to there the next year from my understanding to 12 since it's still part of our policy
i will include our fund uh fund balance policy in next board update in my interpretation and as we start working towards the final budget we can discuss further i believe it says we strive to maintain um I'm not looking at it currently i don't want to be
misqued so don't quote me on that but I believe it says strive to maintain a 12% fund balance um I think where we should probably also look at that is in finance committee and look at and this would be my advice um as we look at the
challenges that schools not just Albert Lee but all schools are facing moving forward our legislative changes some federal changes that are potentially coming um we do need to start thinking about those hypotheticals and what what
does our fund balance serve us for um and at what point do we concede that uh I'm not saying this evening that that's something we should be doing but I'm thinking it's a good discussion item for the board to have it would be healthy to have that discussion
paul on on paper the general fund looks like we're deficit spending over $800,000 but some of that can be explained for example like the restricted for third-party billing is must be a factor in that number am I
reading that right yes so um third party billing is a fund that we can carry a balance in and um we
can opt to use ex use use those funds um for benefits and employee benefits um and in this case the use of third party billing will help keep our fund balance stronger when those funds are there um and again don't quote me because I don't
have the the spreadsheet in front of me but ballpark in the in the um I think the 700,000 800,000 range is what we'll typically see in a given year uh and I believe the adopted budget we had put in 900,000 for revenue this year we don't know what that number is going to be
exactly um and I don't have the documents in front of me but we chose to adjust that and revise it to 800,000 to be conservative at the time of the um the revised budget just a quick clarification too on the uh
like you said everything is restricted in food service the non-spendable again that just basically means it's money that's got to stay in food service that's our fund balance in there is that correct yes okay oh and then the other question I had Paul I don't know if you
have any recent update but I know the legislature was looking at giving more flexibility to school districts for example in the ex in in a surplus and food service to use it in other areas is there any progress um I'm aware of a
couple different bills that are being uh floated through um either the Senate or House right now i think they each have their own variations um and I believe the governor's proposal has an element in there about the use of funds um
flexibly um I can't comment on momentum i really don't know for sure i think um in the spirit of those um many school districts are sharing the challenges that we're faced when we're provided funding but it can only be used in one
pool and can't be used for other areas um not always just food service to other areas because sometimes that makes sense if we're generating revenue for meals and we should be using it on our food service um but also in areas um like
safe schools or read act um and there's many restricted funds as you can see we've got a a long uh list of uh classes for our funds and um if we're not able to have flexibility between those um a lot of times it might mean we have a
stronger um balance in one category and we must spend it so we spend it on things that others may believe isn't as impactful as a classroom teacher for example um but it's money that can't be spent on a classroom teacher so there's challenges that come with all of those
different um requirements um and restrictions and mandates um we do our best to try and make sure that we're using the money appropriately and um I think I can say confidently
that as a district um we we try not to be wasteful in any way when we do have those balances so I know one other comment on the side of that Gary is the things I read too or and everyone that uh it seems like everything we're trying to do at least
this next year is to bandaid a bunch of stuff if we need 150,000 here we'll put 150,000 there to try to move it on to the next election cycle and when everybody goes on the ballot and then try to you know weed it out after that that's unfortunately when I was up at
the capital the other day and talked to him that's kind of what it's looking like which I mean can we call it collaboration maybe it is but we make it work for now but into the future it's going to be tough I I believe in my opinion so and so just to comment further on those
um on those potential bills that are out there they they're some are specific to food service some are more blanket statements but they'll all come with their own challenges in interpretation and right now I think that's what we're most curious about um for example um we
are taking part in a federal uh meals program for our food service fund so if we obtain federal funds into fund two and there's a state law that now says we can use those funds um you know between fund one and fund two I think the
federal law is still going to present some challenges on whether we can use those flexibly so I I think as we see um as we move through the month of April we're going to see more you know where things are trending um and if we can find some agreement at the state level
on what these laws will look like so um but I I can say flexibility would really help our district for sure all right uh we do have a motion on the table and a second all those in favor of of voting for the revised bud
budget as presented tonight signify by saying I i and oppose the same sign okay revised budget passes thank you Paul thank you all right
4.2 is um discuss and approve the negotiated contract with uh our our new superintendent Dr steven Hy uh I did receive a uh text he was planning on being at the meeting tonight uh he said he was he had a couple things come up
and uh he kind of shocked us last Tuesday for anyone that doesn't know I come walking in the door at 10:00 to 9 and here he's standing there he said "Hi." And I said "Well I thought we were going to talk." He said "You didn't expect me to be here." He said "I talk face to face." So Ashley
Paul we had a nice discussion and I'm sure you'll go through that but uh been uh pleased with uh uh with that outcome and I know he'll be down here in the future to work with uh Superintendent Kren too on a transition so with that
Ashley go ahead wonderful good evening board chair directors and superintendent Kren um so tonight we are presenting the superintendent contract for Dr steven Hyle um effective July 1 2025 this is a three-year contract and
includes the salary and benefits that were uh shared with the board last week any questions on the contract um I'll just put it on the table i'll move to approve okay a motion and a second now is there any other discussion
yeah I only had one and I indicated it to Ashley and you I believe and it's it's fine i I I have no problem with the contract except that I I think we need to uh look at the duration the current recommended duration clause from
MSBA which stipulates some presents some mandates in terms of notifying the superintendent uh of our intentions relative to renewing or non-renewing the contract there's no there's no language in the in the in the
current duration clause that relates to that and I think we need to clean that up in in somehow between you know now and three years from now so that the both parties uh have a better understanding of where they stand and what the process for uh for negotiating
the contract is and none of that's included in the current duration clause but I I I just want to make a note of the fact that we need to have some understanding between now and then about that dave I have a qu just and I just an
explanation the reallocation allowance how does that work i see it's stre spread out over three contract years i just not clear about how that works um we we we basically tried to load some things in to uh encourage him to be here
for three years so there was there was a portion each year and then the biggest portion of the third year okay uh so that way and again we'd even uh talked about doing that with a couple other areas but um didn't really need to as we but so yeah it's it's kind of it' be uh
I would take it as supplemental payment then each year is that right paul is that how that works yeah for relocation patching sorry no that's just fine so that is a stipen that um Dr steven Hy would receive if he's within the Albertly boundary area okay
go ahead for the sake of communicating with the public is it possible to disclose what the dollar amounts are or is that considered confidential until we pass it oh I can definitely share that now um are you speaking on salary or just all together benefits and salary
can you can you do both yeah absolutely absolutely um so for fiscal year 26 so July 1 of 2025 um salary of 185,000 the following year so it' be school year
2627 186,850 and then uh fiscal year 28 so the 2728 school years would be $190,587 vacation days uh 25 days annually and then the opportunity to roll those over um but they would have
to be used within 6 months of that following year 12 holidays um we do have sick time in there which we um classify as disability time that is a beginning balance of 20 days and then the following um fiscal year 27 and 28 12
additional days annually uh benefits health dental and vision $500,000 life insurance um and then as um Director Schindler had mentioned a relocation allowance um so again if within the Albertly School
District boundaries um would receive that relocation stipen over the course of the contract $15,000 uh we also do have a communication stipen of $100 a month um and then a tax sheltered annuity so a
403b um that matches up to $6,500 annually total uh total package is is less than our previous superintendent any other questions good questions well I I
noticed that relocation uh clause that you referenced Gary and um I'm I'm I'm absolutely certain that we can't include in the contract the requirement that they an employee lives within this district but we can uh put into the
contract that if they they do not move into this district we will not pay re so that's the that's definitely part of it was it by 12:31 of 25 is that correct that's correct yep if they don't live within the uh district boundaries correct good then they they're not
eligible for that relocation if they don't relocate here yes correct yes all right with no other um discussion all those in favor signify by saying I i and oppose the same sign okay contract
is approved for Dr steven Hile thank you thank you all right so we will move into our um augmentative and alternative communications sounds like big words Sheila you can have at it so the two of
you thank you good evening Chair Clatt school Board Superintendent Krens i am pleased to have with me Anna Anderson anna is one of our speech and language pathologists with the district she supports our students at Sibi Elementary and
Southwest Middle School but she also serves in the role as the district's assistant technology coordinator anna and well the whole SLP team has been instrumental in implementing and supporting the use of our AAC devices with our students who do
experience communication challenges she has got some wonderful videos pictures just to share of the amazing things that are happening in our schools and the positive outcomes with our students i was at Hawthorne Elementary a
couple weeks ago and the speech and language pathologist made the comment she was just so excited because a student argued with her using his device she was just thrilled he argued we had a a disagreement and he that that was his language that he used and I am very
grateful for Anna and the team and the progress that our students are demonstrating so I'll turn it over to you Anna yes thank you for having me tonight school board like Sheila was saying my name is Anna Anderson and I'm one of the speech language pathologists here in district 241 and I also serve as our district's assistant technology
coordinator i do have two devices with me that I'll go ahead and pass out to you if you want to pass them around so you get a little bit of a better feel of what we do offer some of our students with communication needs just a quick side note uh visiting some
of the classrooms and watching the students use this it's it's really neat and uh as I introduce myself or the principles introduce me the kids that are using the students that are using it put some symbol towards me i I don't
know exactly what it means to them but hopefully it's all positive so per the American Speech and Hearing Association AAC or alternative and assisted comm communication um can describe multiple ways to communicate
that can supplement or compensate for the impairment and disability patterns of individuals with severe expressive communication disorders um so to ground you a little bit further this might be what comes to your mind when you think of what AAC may be um so Sesame Street
has recently introduced a character named Zoe um or no Julia or I can't remember her name but she has autism and she uses an AAC device um so she's represented very positively in using that um Disney recently released a movie called Out of My Mind which features an
elementary age student with non-verbal cerebral palsy tells a lot about her story um of utilizing AAC um Steve Gleason if any of you are NFL fans he used to play for the Saints i want to say don't quote me on that um but he recently was presenting um and used his
AAC device to present an award um and then I think who everybody comes to mind is Stephen Hawking was also an AAC user um so just with some of these people featured here you can see that they are using different access methods um so our little Sesame Street character is a direct selector she uses her fingers to
select um but the three others all use eye gaze which is a very um technologically advanced form of communication and we actually do have one student here in district 241 who does use eye gaze primarily to communicate so
um we do offer a variety of AAC um so it can be as low tech as sign language or using switches um moving up the scale to PEX or picture exchange communication system we also offer go talks and then we get into our dedicated AAC devices
um so your biggest question might be why these high-tech AAC devices you know why are we pushing these on children if they could use sign language to communicate with us or use a variety of different picture symbols um or things that are free and readily available right um so
when you think about communication and the basic rights of communication these are all the different communicative functions that a neurotypical person can do you can tell a story you can disagree you can complain tell jokes gossip so you can do all kinds of different things
um and what some of the other different forms of AAC limit is your ability to be an autonomous and independent communicator while also being able to perform all these different communicative functions um so those are just some of the biggest things and the right to communication is
being able to say what you want to who you want and how you want and when you want so these AAC devices that we've been supporting our students with are really promoting that and giving them the ability to do so so um the two different languages that are presented on those two iPads
that I've been passing around is language and motor planning otherwise known as LAMP and touch chat so we offer these two languages to our students because both of them do offer relatively different features um LAMP is more of a motor-based system which is really great
for students with autism or cerebal palsy because they get in the pattern of knowing exactly where things are which makes it really easy for them to communicate whereas touch chat is a lot more symbol based and has a lot of opportunities for personalization and so a lot more opportunities for family members to be inputed preferred
activities um which is kind of what some of our more elementary school population is catered towards is um being able to have more personalized icons within their device um within our district we have roughly 35 to 40 AAC users that are using devices provided by our
district um so you might be wondering a little bit of what does AAC usage look like in our district introduce yourself my name is Hana so this is one of my kiddos at Snibly she is in first grade and she does have
Down syndrome um evidence-based practice calls for high-tech AAC usage to provide students the most robust opportunity to communication um when providing AAC therapy there are kind of the four Ps that we kind of refer to it's patience persistence
personalization and um presentation so always making sure that that AAC device is readily available for your student um this next one kind of talk shows a highlight on what an emerging emerging communicator might look like
listen are you going to listen okay I'm listening mr d mouth head mr d listen mr d listens does he listen he's not here today
[Laughter] mr d go back mr d went back okay yep no i think you're thinking of his mustache no I can't you're not thinking about Mr d's mustache no no no that Okay I'm
listening to you girl okay give a mustache come on mustache mr d does have a mustache no I cannot he can't have a mustache no you don't
want him to have a mustache anymore [Music] are you thinking of Mr d or Miss Anna no d mr d okay miss Santa who's Miss Anna e yeah that's
me that's Yes yes i'm Miss Anna no no i'm not Mr d yes i am Mr d okay sounds good hannah what you think about daddy yeah you have daddy on your trucker too couch
did you have a couch at home you found some numbers oops my My name is Hannah your name is Hannah my name is Hannah yes hi Hannah nice to meet you shirt yes you do have a shirt on today
with some unicorns itself are you all done mean no [Music] so a little bit of a lengthier video for you but what it really is highlighting
is babbling essentially so that is what babbling like a neurotypical child would go through would look like on an AAC device and there's two big things that are going on between Hannah and I it's call and response and the cause and effect communication right she's doing something and she's looking at me for a response and I'm doing my best to
provide meaning to everything that she is saying whether I know what she wants or not i'm doing my best in presuming the competence that she is making intentional communication attempts um and there are some back and forth in that that look really great and she's looking like a total beautiful communicator and there are some pieces
that are a little wonky but that's all about emerging communication so this is another little video of Hannah what do you need help so she has her device stuck around her neck and I don't know if you can hear it
but she does find off on her talker and she clicks it and then she imitates the speech and says off back to me um so she does have some verbal skills but children with Down syndrome can have hypotonia which makes um precise speech movements really difficult so the AAC device not only provides her a lot of
language opportunities and symbol based language but it also makes sure that her communication partners are understanding what she's saying um with Hannah too we've seen a lot of decreases in her frustration because she is having a lot more clear communicative attempts and she's able to share with her teachers and paras exactly what she's wanting um
so we are seeing a decrease in behaviors so the better the communication the more regulated the child those can kind of go hand in hand um there are some myths surrounding AAC and a lot of people will sometimes say like you know when we introduce this to parents well I want my student to talk and I want them to use
verbal language um and the AAC device is evidence-based to go ahead and promote a lot of that verbal language which is kind of what you see happen with Hannah you know it kind of prompts her to use those words and interact with me all right this is a sixth grader over at Southwest i don't want it what color
should we take i know okay what color is it going to be next okay and what are we going to do with the pink what should we do [Music] yeah check it out hunter who did you
find who did you find who is it who is it i found a giraffe elephant yeah you found an elephant dude
so he's not excited about his success as I am he's pretty nonchalant but um what Hunter's usage is highlighting is a core word first approach which is what we typically use when teaching students AAC um so our core words are typically like your 50 most frequent words that you use
such as open more in out off on um those kinds of things which is what we use because it's how they're able to participate the most is using some of those words within their classroom setting all right this is one of my students at Sibi he is a first grader
[Applause] [Music] i know we were doing tickles but we could do squishes with it squish you want to do a squish with it okay and then where where should it go where should it go first forehead squish my forehead all
right i'm going to squish it squish that's so silly squish squish my forehead so yes you're wanting some more more you're wanting some more squishes on your forehead here it comes squish squish
squish squish on my forehead okay are you thinking Phil that you want a tickle or a squish i think Oh you do like the squishes more what if we did it somewhere else cuz I'm feeling nervous about putting it on your forehead do you have any other ideas
forehead on my forehead again oh my gosh you found it i know i feel like it was giving you a headache [Music] my forehead here comes Goofy squish forehead no somewhere else i feel
like this is going to hurt so instead of doing your forehead can we do it on your arm or your leg leg oh do it on my leg okay you can roll it let me on my leg squish it on my leg squish squish squish squish
leg do it on my leg again so if you are familiar with students with autism typically they have two main characteristics one is sensory processing disorder and the other one is social communication so the beauty of this video is that he is working on two of those deficits that he does have
where he's able to number one be in a social reciprocity with me where he's go we're going back and forth he's asking for me there's call in response um and he's recognizing his sensory needs okay right the tight pressure is feeling good on my body so those are two really good things that we are seeing is that he's interested in others and he's using his
AAC device to help regulate his body okay let's pick out a new color then this is one of our kindergarteners what color balloon should we do what color is color is blue color is blue okay
let's go back we got a blue glue let's put it on put it on are you ready are you ready i know you're excited blow it
up blow it up [Music] keep blowing it up blow it up blow it up do you want to blow it up more let it go or tie it tie tie it
tie it [Music] that video gets a little lengthy and he pops it at the end so we'll save you that scary noise but um because he is a kindergartener a lot of that intervention is very play-based he did pick out the activity that day and I'm
following his lead with his interests um and we are moving from there so he is super motivated by those balloons and we have found a different like all kinds of different ways to expose him to different language within that so um some really cool growth from him there as well and
then this is one of our students are you ready for this highlights a lot more of the direct teaching behind it where is it sorry you see it here we go guys ellie over here look look
up up down where's up stairs up good job open [Music] another ball so that video highlights a little bit more of what the direct instruction
behind AAC can look like as far as you know helping students locate their buttons um and not providing as much of a meaning to some of their intents but letting them know where some of these things are for when the opportunity presents itself all right and that opens us up for any questions if you guys have any
and one of my favorite videos hi Jenna so yeah does anybody have any questions regarding some of our devices neil I think you're clicking away on that one just a I would take it one of the
biggest benefits of this for you as the instructor is it's all recorded and so you've got it all charted and you like with the IEPs but it's just a great way for feedback then for parents family or any anyone else is that as much as
anything um tell me more what you mean what's that I'm sorry tell me more what you mean well a lot of them of course no um no I just that's what I was just wondering is as the kids were looking at it how they were able to progress and I
mean I'm sure they've the IEPs they've each got their own timelines and all that but I figured that's probably one of the bigger benefits of the old days of the flashards right yes progress is really easy to track with some of these because it is so tangible and it's so immediate like you can really see how it
impacts them in their classroom um versus having a student who is non-verbal to sometimes we do see these AAC devices promote their verbal speech and then they start to use one-word phrases into two words and four words and so forth so yes they are very beneficial in that fact and I'm just
curious your post-secary education what where did you go and what degrees yes so I graduated here from Albert Lee in 2016 um and then I went to Iowa State University where my undergraduate degree is in applied linguistics and then I attended the University of Kansas for my masters in communication sciences and
disorders and a proud Hawthorne alum a proud Hawthorne alum u curious Anna do um kids ever take these home so parents use them with students that's a great question we keep those devices um with us at school
however when students are um showing enough data or have made enough progress that is something that we can bill their insurance for and their insurance can help them purchase that medical equipment for them to have with them at all times this question is probably related to
that but when students graduate do they often get their own device to to use in Yes real life um we have had these devices provided by the district for is this year two or three year three for us yeah so we haven't quite had anybody get up to that phase just yet um we have two
students here at the transitions program who have a device provided by the district um but typically I would hope you know that as we kind of get our kids through the program that um we would complete a speech funding report for them and they would get it through their insurance them
anna did you say that there were about 40 in about 40 yes with devices provided by us there are more students that have had um their own device purchased for them as well i just I uh my family gets to have one of these in our house you know we got uh
lucky enough to get introduced to it a couple years ago and then we get to uh bring it home and it is huge help uh for him and for us and I know for the teachers too we've heard a lot from paras um how successful they get and how they progress quick with them and it does help i have a non-verbal son who
repeats what he what he hears on it and that's how he and he does argue with us too i you said that and I laugh cuz I do get know he's asking for late night snacks and when we don't give it to him then he pushes the button 100 times so we can hear it um but they are great and I'm glad that they introduce it to the district and there's a lot of kids that benefit from it um and a lot of kids
that get the ones that do get a chance to take it home it it's gives them that much more of an opportunity to use it and so they are great thank you yes thanks Dave and we've been fortunate to have professional development come into our district to have our speech and language pathologists attend their
professional learning bringing it back to not only our licensed special education staff but our general education teachers our paraprofessionals so everyone who works with our students have that you know that background and that training to support communication
thank you thank you very much yes thank you all right um it's too much for me just uh review a couple dates on here before we adjourn um Monday the 21st of April we'll have our regular meeting
here at 5:00 p.m and then uh a couple weeks later on the 5th of May we'll have a study session also at 5:00 p.m and then Monday the 19th of May will be our regular meeting and I'll bet you that's just before graduation the year is sure flowing by
so thank you everyone for uh coming tonight i'll look for a motion to adjurnn a second second meeting adjourned thank you