parents they always use Gino's first name where's Gino today tell Gino I'm not rioting or going to be lateer that sort of thing um and his one one thing I remember when he interviewed a number of years ago he talked about how much he loved kids and loved the community and that sort of thing and went on and on
about it and I was like Gino you're hired okay you don't have to keep going on it was almost like but it was so true you know it was almost wondering you know if that how how true all that was but it it truly was and he shows it every single day how much he cares for the the kids and um was up at the
transfer site one day and happened to peer around the corner and he was um kneeling down wiping a little girl's you know nose and then a a student walked by and dropped their backpack and he you know ran down and picked up the backpack and gave it to the student and said hey come back here cuz he tried to walk away and said I need to give you a hug first
and hugged him as he walked away and it was just kind of that you know 30 seconds that he didn't even know I was sitting there was kind of um you know summarizes Gino as a as a bus driver and we're blessed to have him on our team and um very happy to have him uh be recognized this year because it's very
well deserved and glad to have him here so thank you to Gan Owen you have anything to say first I say um very glad to be working for fable Transportation be my what seventh year
coming coming up here and I'll say it's a wonderful place to work for and the the award was uh absolutely complete surprise to me um I wasn't bucking for it in any in any way I just doing what I
felt the job required um kid comes on the on the bus and wants a hug they get a hug and um goes along way that way with the kids
and and got one short story I got to I tell you this like what 3 years ago three girls sitting about halfway back on the bus on the driver's side and one of them started a commotion back there
and it happened to be the girl that sat on the aisle side of the seat so I looked up and oh got to put a stop to this so I pulled over put the emergency uh fourways on I started walking back
toward the bus and I knew who I was looking for and I knew where the individual was sitting I got back there and I said hey got to use your snitches one of my snitches sitting in the seat behind and
says Gino right there so what happened was the girl that I was looking for that was sitting on the outside on the aisle side switch seats with one of the girls in the middle then they covered her up with her
coat so and then after one of my snitches said Gino right there I lifted the coat up and I says hello you got a front seat right now and and um again it was a this whole
thing was a complete surprise to me and I'm still absorbing it believe me I am um anything else Garett keep up the great work thank you very this is a the this was the Award presented to me
up at was it big lake was it up it's uh just north of Garrison there b b there we go uh ruter um very nice treat for me there too so
yeah well thank you and board members comments or Mr chair I just want to thank Gino I see you on Sundays I see you on Sundays you know what I'm talking about thank you for the service you provide to our
children thankk you you're you're welcome yeah Dr Roo J thank you Gino you know that one of the first smiley faces that students see as the bus driver in the morning and thank you for that smile and that uh dedication the students
because you make their day start out very positively and it carries through for the whole day so thank you Mr Mr chair um yeah thank you Gino for what you're doing and uh many many
years ago both my children rode the fairbow public school buses and they love the driver and you're probably you know just carrying in their footsteps and I really appreciate that because as a parent I knew that when they got on the bus the bus driver was going to take care of
them I had full confidence in that and I think I have full confidence in fairw transportation and certainly in people like you so thank you so much for from a parent long time ago and for now so thank you thank you thank you else I
would just Echo what H Dr robosa said and I appreciate that you get all of our students to school safely so keep up the great work Gino I'll Echo everything that these four have said um thank you I'm kind of wondering where you got that t-shirt I
once drove a bus at an open house and I didn't get one of those t-shirts so I'm wondering how you get one of those you have to competition you go on the internet go on the interet got schoolbox.com I think is gotta all kinds
of I got two more but but truly a big thank you and also a thank you to to fow Transportation um Garett I know what what' you say Mr benty 30 years I'm guessing there's no other uh bus transportation company in
Minnesota that's gotten that so I think um year after year is a reflection on your leadership in the company and as as Gino said it's a great place to work but thank you to both you and all all the people that work at your company so I I just want to Echo what most of them said but especially Dr robish show
uh as a former educator I know that when the kids are the bus the first face they see is the bus driver for a very productive day to have the best day possible and the last thing that last person they see connected with schools is also the bus driver on the ride home
so thank you for what you do and those hugs the kids mean everything I I I know that and Garrett to you and feral Transportation I can't tell you how I believe how blessed and fortunate fwal Public Schools is to have you as our transportation specialist and your
company 30 says it all and but just the quality of service you provide and the people you employ is just astronomical so thank you thank you thank you so much let's give him a round of [Applause]
applause thank you very much as always for the support and recognizing our wonderful people that we have we greatly appreciate it great thank you we'll move on on to agenda uh four 4 a uh items of information or uh things you
want to share uh Schoolboard members anyone Mr chair I'd like to ask Jamie two items um what's the status of the cell phone policy and the status of the um
the books I don't if it's proper form but there's two [Music] questions is that something that we want to answer now or talk about now or later on in the meeting or Mr benty you wish to address those or that's up to you Mr
chair if you have if you have an answer or can give him some information I think it'd be so the the cell phone policy update is that a policy has been written um it has been uh gone through by the attorneys and it will be one of 42
policies that is looked at um on August 6th by the policy committee now we're going to be approving some handbooks here that won't be in it right yes it it it alludes to
it alludes to the the policy with that follows the away for the day piece that is uh the Pol the P we're prove that with a cell phone policy in it yes which hasn't been been voted on yet remember
handbooks are practice for policies they're not policy so okay okay and the book books update I believe Mr olon asked about that so the the library books so I think that needs to
come back from the board um to there's there's some complications around this um if the board still chooses to adopt the ban pieces but there have been some limits that have been put on that by the
state legislature um but there are still pieces that the board can take up if they choose to so that uh that policy from msba is still out there uh around that if the board would like to take another look at that I believe we'll place that on a
work session that good anything else board members Mr yes just some comments in general you know this is our summer it's in the summer time so uh I just want to mention that that we as a board are responsible for the education of our
students in our district we know that um but when our students graduate if they are or are not meeting the standards for Reading Writing and math Etc the school is ultimately the school board is ultimately responsible the buck stops
with us and so also I'd like to say too as a school board we are responsible for the budget um the school budget you know I was told I think by somebody at the Minnesota School Board Association the msba that school district budgets are the most
complicated budget that that maybe only one person in the state of Minnesota truly understands um and along with this um many times we are tasked with approving curriculum grants programs that we have only a handful of days to
review oftentimes with having to read hundreds of pages and um and that's really what we are supposed to do but I think as a school board we need to think about we need to start taking the time to thoroughly review and question and understand what
we are putting our Mark of approval on whether it be budget curriculum or whatever um and that does take time and I think if we don't take the time to really look at some of these things or maybe start the process earlier we're really not being responsible to students
that teachers or the voters or the taxpayers so that's just general some general comments that I have thank you okay Dr Rell here thank you um there are about four of us plus uh superintendent benty attended a joint boards meeting uh
last Friday or Monday whatever did Sunday Friday Friday Friday and I want to thank the chamber for putting it together it is really interesting and and dynamic to hear all of those voices is talk about common needs that we have
in this community um so it's they've had that a couple three times and every time we meet with joint Powers County City hospital um Economic Development uh it's really great to hear what's happening in
this community uh and in the fwell specifically so thank you Cassie for setting that up as a chamber employee Mr chair I would like to dovetail on that it it's fun to hear the different perspectives from the on the county City
you know the committee side uh the chamber side and I think um it was a great opportunity to hear others views on what they think are the most important things in our community and I think one of the bigger ones appeared to
be housing obviously and um housing is kind of a common denominator because if you want to bring more business to town and you don't have places for those people to live whoever works there or whoever runs
the business then it's not a A plus for a business coming here and that that goes with as well as expanding our Workforce helping our kids our students here and our school to to broaden their
career opportunities it it seems like it all fell on housing and Cassie I want to thank you for organizing that along with nort I think it was a very good opportunity to hear those those needs anyone else uh Mr chair Mr Wolf
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate spot or not um uh maybe I'll just start and you can interrupt me if I'm in the wrong here or not but uh Miss Moore I'd like to just ask you a couple questions um uh and I
mean this in a non-confrontational way you wrote a letter to the editor in the past week or so um and I fully applaud you for State you started out by I'm a fow Public School Board member however I writing this as my opinion not the entire of the not not of the opinion of the entire board so thank you for that
um if if you're okay I'm just going to read a couple more lines here um you go on and I'm not trying to cherry pick or anything like that but you go on to say also when the grant money runs out and if the program from the grant Remains the expenses and salaries are convoluted or conflated into our already
overburdened budget cutting instructional Personnel including kindergarten per uh Paris this is not being fiscally conservative or responsible and so my just question to you would be do you have any specifics where the expenses and salaries are
convoluted and conflated and that you can share well when I use those those words convoluted that was actually from the one school board meeting it was a actually from when we were I think it was January February 24th I think so
that's was that was from that meeting much of that what I got was from that meeting and this is exactly goes back to what I am saying here uh we are tasked with many things with the budget and with uh curriculum and grants and
programs and many times we don't really we only have a handful of of days to review this uh oftentimes we have to you know we uh that that one meeting I think we had 300 pages to read there was three contracts and I like to read everything
that I can so what I'm saying is I think it's very important that when we put our Mark of approval on something we better understand it thoroughly and uh if we don't because our you know from the our scores reading math they've been going
down before Co and so what are we doing wrong what what we what I'm seeing is a board the buck stops here and actually in a way I was kind of referring to all of I was referring to uh I guess the the letter to the editor because I think as
a board we really need to to take note what programs are working and you know the uh grants have been coming in and programs you know they've been here for over 5 years and I've been only here for a year and a half I think it's very important that as a board we sit back
and we say okay because many times you know we get it uh what is it with only a few days to look at it like if it's a curriculum or whatever we get a presentation and then we get to ask questions but one of the things is what I'd like to do is start the process a little bit earlier so we can thoroughly
understand what we're putting our Mark of approval on and that's what kind of um I don't know if that answered your question or not but I think it's very it does to a degree and if if you know you you and the other board members want the information sooner I would encourage you to work with superintendent benty and
and Mr but I think we also have to really understand what we're where they putting our signature to or whatever and so I think it's very important and I think budget is one school budgets are one of the most complicated and that was I think it was at the msba conference
somebody said this is very and I Mr benty you probably agree that school budgets are the most complicated and I think we really need to understand what we what we are like I said put I'm going to say it again putting our Mark of approval on because
we owe it to the kids and right now it looks like you always say insanity is is keep doing the same thing over again we've had uh marks or the with the mpa it's been going down before covid and so I think we need to step back and say
okay what are we doing wrong let's look at some of these things and that that's what my intention was too with that letter so yeah no I and I appreciate thank you and and um you know and it was it was too uh it was you know with I said I think we need to make a new start
now with a new school year and so let's let's start a fresh and let's if something across come as across start that we have to approve of I think we really have to take some time and look at it ask questions and you know we need a few more days to look at and that's
why I'd like to see it it uh uh you know uh that we were and in fact I had uh with with grants and things like that I had asked I there was a resolution I put forward and it was defeated that before a grant is written all that time and
effort we'd like to I'd like to you know I think as a board we need to look at it what are the stipulations what does what is the grant supposed to do what is the program you know if there's any stipulations you know strings attached we need to look at that too so and and and I want to be as respectful as
possible you know you go on to say that this is not being fiscally conservative or responsible and and I just want to publicly state that we did cut $2.9 Million last year for this upcoming year very very difficult conversations I fully agree with you School Finance is
really tough I've been on the board for 10 years and I can assure you I learned something new every single year um but I I just really felt that there's a whole lot of lacking specifics in here and I just don't want the public to be um to read this and think that we don't know
what we're doing up here and that we don't work with our finance director and our leadership team and I will tell you all 10 years that I've been on this board we have had different Auditors and every year our Auditors give us flying colors and they tell us they are in the
top 10% or so of districts um we're not in statutory operating deficit we haven't been I hope we never do or at least in my 10 years I can't speak to something before that and I don't know what the future will hold but I I just want to say for the public public um that I do believe this board does ACT
fiscally responsible and we do make the difficult decisions when we have to so thank you and I appreciate your conversation if I may um well I think we should move on with this not we don't want to get into a debate here we can do that at a work session you've had your
not after Linda please thank you you've had your time here are any other items of information from board members I just want to reiterate a couple things here um first of all it's amazing what goes on uh people are off
in the summer but really not there's a lot of things happening behind the scenes here curriculum wise and training wise Etc June July and August we really probably crank up more the first part of of August as well here so it's uh great to see I also appreciate the uh
conversation at the Joint boards meeting last Friday morning uh very informative and people understand the importance of Education in in this town and public education in this town and and uh how it impacts housing and employment Etc there
so and uh lastly again I've been on the board uh I think this is my seventh eth year uh I think I've been on the finance committee since day one almost and I do believe we we are do have a budget that is reasonable we do have uh we are
fiscally responsible with the taxpayer money we are we do have programs that are essential for kids and and are gone through and examined and uh where we put our money is important for our students so anyone else have a item
information 4B Mr benty items information from you yes thank you Mr chair um I was able to check in on our summer steam program we're running out of two sites this year uh Jefferson and the high school um and being able to go in there and see the wonderful work that
those students are doing in there the Hands-On activities um it was just really great to be able to see what these students are able to do and what they're willing to do uh during the uh the summer months so everything from uh arts and crafts to learning about careers uh to swimming so it it's it's
everything that's all kind of wrapped in to that that summer activity and our summer steam program uh the other piece too is to say that um although we did have a little bit of a technical difficulty tonight we survived the crowd strike ordeal um over the week weekend
fairly well um we weren't unscathed by it we had uh you know a few different devices that we needed to take care of um but one of the pieces that I'm very proud of is that our it Department was ready for something like this um they knew the steps and by uh Friday morning
they were working on everything to figure out what they needed to do to make sure that it was going to be uh o okay for us and we we've done quite well with it so um it still has hamstrung us because the internet is ties everyone together so it it doesn't allow us to
necessarily do what we want to do but um we we survived pretty well for that so um that's all Mr chair thank you thank you Mr mty move on to agenda item number five public comment uh one public comment here miss jeie
yeter and the topic is lucky fairbow welcome Miss yeter thank you I need to get this this is that right that's right very good there you go all right it was brought to the attention of our
community by Miss Moore how lucky fairbow public schools are but I think some including myself may have missed the luck she pointed out let me highlight our great luck first we have
one of the most gifted Grand grant writers around Zach puit he is he doesn't get nearly the props he deserves he's not here tonight but thank you Zach he's here he is is
he thank you Zach I didn't see you sorry um as Miss Moore um pointed out fairbow public schools has been gifted some $7 million in grant money as my 16-year-old boy said how would we survive without
that 16-year-old boy said that because of the grant money thank you Zach we have been able to teach our kids in new and personal ways our staff has been able to connect with students individually not just brush over them
with the basics what did you say Reading Writing math no our staff has been able to connect with students to help them grow socially emotionally and Beyond the basics with before during and after school programs providing Kids Safe
places to grow and learn give them nutritional meals and snacks how lucky are our kids secondly we are also very lucky to have a great team that worked through and found ways to make as Miss Moore
pointed out almost $3 million in cuts that way the board then could approve a budget where the district would not be overspending and if I recall Mr Bentley B Bentley that these Cuts were even maybe a little bit under budget how
responsible to our taxpayers to be keeping in line with the budget living within our means and thirdly we are well aware of our community's lack of interest to increase taxes to support education and
fairo the last Levy was over 7 years ago and the 2022 Bond Levy failed and you may recall at that time we were told very specifically if this doesn't pass we are going to be having to make major
Cuts in the next coming years we knew that at that time and we had to do it this year so now how lucky is farbo public schools to have a team that gathers which includes community members um staff that have been directly
affected by the cuts to draw up a plan to reorganize our district to work with our superintendent so that we can continue to be financially responsible and dare I say conservative
with our funds so we look forward as we look forward to the future that shows a worldwide low birth rate and lower enrollments so thank you Miss Moore for showing us that we are so lucky to have a great community because of our many
grants and our fiscally responsible teams we are able to go above and beyond for our students not just the basics thank you thank you misser thank you move on to agenda item number six
the consent agenda uh the consent agenda consists of minutes from the June 24th 2024 and July 8th 2024 work session business meeting work session employment and additional assignments other I entertain a motion
for approval of the consent agenda no move thank you Miss Steves do I have a second second thank you Miss budro there's no discussion on the consent agenda all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I opposed motion
passes uh continuing with our agenda item number seven district advisory committee no report uh agenda item number eight policy committee report uh Miss Steves and Ms Moore Miss Steves I'll turn it over to you first sure as
uh Mr buy alluded to at our next policy meeting in August we'll be reviewing um 40 policies um I haven't gotten all the way through the listing um but I've noticed the majority of the changes have been uh grammar uh legislative changes
statute changes um I just like to put a shout out to miss Kenny um for her time and diligence and posting these and posting um where the changes are um that helps um us remain transparent um and then the two new
policies um one of them being the uh cell phone and electronic device policy Miss Mor uh you did a very good job thank you Cassie um as you as she had mentioned it was mostly revisions
and all Al the two new ones like you said uh cell phone and the school resource very good so we have our work cut out for us okay questions for the policy committee no thank you to those that serve on the policy committee yes
you can have a good August meeting for us big August meeting agenda item number nine other committees financers no report tonight on finance um agenda item 10 a other matters update
on the superintendent evaluation I did review this at the work session but uh for the benefit of the public here again and online uh in a business meeting I will restate it um on July 8th noted
July 8 2024 the fairbow school board met in a closed session on June 24th 2024 to discuss the results of the 2023 2024 superintendent evaluation a rating score was used on the following three goals
set by the school board continue to expand the 2022 2023 goal that was set for you regarding continuous Improvement in all schools regarding excellence and education developed goal number two develop and articulate a Clear Vision and action steps for continuous
Improvement in all schools student behavior and goal number three develop and Implement a plan to continue to support mentorship evaluation professional growth and eff of District leadership after review and discussion of the evaluation scores and comments
the board has concluded that superintendent benty has met expectations all three goals established for him for the 2023 2024 school year the board looks forward to working in partnership with superintendent benty for a successful 2024 2025 school year
respectfully submitted John Bellingham chair next we have gifts and donations item number uh agenda item 10B gifts and donations uh resolution 25-01 uh do we have a motion for the
gifts and donations for approval of gifts and donation resolution 25-01 thank you Miss budo do have a second second thank you Dr robish show uh before we have discussion the gifts and donations are as follows uh gifts
from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council donated $55,000 for supplies and art workshops for summer steam our savior's Lutheran Church donated $500 to the nest fairwell booster club donated
$1,000 for school supplies for all the fairwell booster club donated $100 to the athletic department for track pits discussion again a big thank you to our donators
um for supplies for art work for art and workshop and supplies for to the nest and for school supplies all all of it uh we definitely have a great Community to donate to our schools so thank you for that any other comments
here hearing none Miss Steves would you do a roll call please Linda bu hi Linda Moore hi Richard Olsen hi Jerry roasa hi Cassie Steves I Chad wolf hi John Bellingham hi 70 thank you Miss
Steves agenda item 10 C consider approval of the 2024 2025 student handbooks for Early Childhood programs Jefferson Lincoln and Roosevelt Elementary Schools fairbell Middle School fabell area Learning Center
fairbell Online Academy and fairbell High School uh motion for approval of the handbooks as I have read moved thank you Miss Steves do have a second second thank you Dr robish show
discussion Dr Ro chair I just have a question um follow up on what Mr Olson was asking um in reviewing the handbooks um there's real consisten on cell phone between the high school and middle school uh there is a little
inconsistency in some of the elementaries but if the policy that is going to be approved hopefully by the board will the principles come back and incorporate whatever is missing in their handbook uh with so it'll be aligned
with the um policy that is approved yeah so like I've said before the handbooks are a practice to enforce the policies of the district so if if the policy that's that's approved by the board is a is a little bit interpreted a little bit differently
than what some of these handbook say they'll need to change the practice to conform to the policy thank you great question Mr chairman Miss bu you go ahead well I I was just wanted to mention that I do like the fa fact that the fwell high school handbook was
Rewritten to align with the Fable Middle School handbook from what I could see I think that's a little easier for the parents I I'd just like to ask a question what is the P purpose of the student handbook is it for the the parents and the students
to so student handbooks are the practice that we follow in the buildings so they're for parents they're for students they're for staff they're for everyone to be on the same page on what it is are the expectations for that building that specific building do the parents and
students especially in the upper grades have to sign off on them yes parents do and students uh students do students do yes at all levels at the high school level at the high school level okay cuz I noticed that we have eight student handbooks and that's counting the online
one correct say that one more time we have eight handbooks counting the online one yes yeah and I I noticed the number of pages range from six and that was I think that the alc and I think as I said they are model for the school district
to 68 pages uh with the average being about 30 pages um you know I I guess my concern is for parents you know and students they're really busy do you think they really have time to read 68 pages uh that's kind of a rhetorical
question right now uh I I'm not sure that the parents have the time and or the energy to read all all of this so I I have a concern about that I I think these handbooks should be really broken down into some manageable less timec
consuming uh documents you know me maybe it's diagrams flowcharts whatever but uh if parents have to sign off and students I I don't think they're going to be reading 68 pages or 30 pages and it's not I mean it's not like double spaced it's single spaced so I I think
we're kind of being a disservice to our parents and teachers or and parents and uh students because I think we have to make something manageable for them and I I'm having a little bit of a problem with that so just I I will say um
while I I I do agree with you a lot of the stuff that's in there is required by state law to be in there yes so can they can they get it down to a manageable manageable size well you have to you have to by law have the bullying policy in there I think the bulling policy is
what 8 10 12 pages long so right there is you know some now the middle school has chosen to put it fully in there the high school has chosen to put a link in there because all of our handbooks are electronic now so there you know there's there's a way that the high school is
able to minimize that but the links are still there that that are part of the handbook and and I know the alc got it down to six pages um also one of the things too I I know this is government with Government funding but I have a problem with the government telling uh
the schools and the parents what foods they can bring and I think this is a government overreach that's in some that's in the handbook and that goes back to the Sor I didn't hear what what with with the food you know they're they're talking about that and that goes back to the we so yes um I you know I
also looked over the handbooks and noticed from 68 pages to six pages but some provide links to pages instead of including them they just provide a link so I'm not really I I really don't care
how the schools each want to present their handbooks but I did look um at msba for guidance because they have a sample handbook that you can use and I'm sure a lot of our principles use those
they have kind of the minimum of what is needed by the state required and then I noticed some added like their staff a list of their staff which might be handy for parents um others listed um just
some of the policies instead of a link um so I I think it is a lot to read but I thought they all were pretty much similar and it's just catering to the students that they serve and their
parents so um I don't know what my point here is but I guess my point was that I noticed there very a lot of variables in the handbooks and we have to leave since they're all online we have to let those schools make those
decisions and that's my thought just a just a comment um about uh condensing the handbooks uh and my fear would be that when you start condensing you start leaving things out that are critically
important whether it's by law or whether it's necessary for our students to know um and so I think that our principles in all good faith include everything that needs to be in there and to start condensing I think puts us in a very
vable position um and yes I understand that parents are busy but we cannot fault um them and say well you don't have to read it they have an obligation as a parent to make sure they're informed of the conditions in which
their school their students are going to be attending school and because of the variances we have different sizes you take a look at the alc the number of students attending there versus the number of students attending high school so obviously
there's logic that there's going to be more in the high school handbook than there is in the alc Mr chair I know what I forgot to say um I also copied off our policy on the wellness which relates to the food
because we take we have free lunches they also have requirements and whether we like them or not um they have to be put in the handbooks so so parents know they can't bring snacks they can't do
certain things so that's that's another addition to the handbook right so it is what it is but parents do need to know some of these important things and this seems to be the only way to get it to
them the comments here I'd like to say I was really impressed and read through every one of them and I was really impressed with how I believe the elementaries seem to have mainstream they used to have different with the three elementaries there used to be different handbooks they seem to be
mainstream the message is the same which is great uh Middle School and High School kind of combining there as well uh a lot of work goes into these and uh it gives the foundation a handbook gives the foundation of uh guidelines and regulations for students parents and
staff so goes from field trips to attendance to whatever you you want it's in the handbook and to be referred to if they don't refer to it out of our control but as a quality organization we provide necessary information of our our institution by law and what we feel
parents need and should know those situations there any further discussion just one question Mr benty um at the high school is the handbook reviewed by the students in a particular class so that they're aware of what's in there
yes the handbook has gone over at the beginning of the school year at at um the high school level and the Middle School level for sure and I and they also go over more rule they they get it down more to rules and expectations uh during uh Elementary time I will say uh
just to comment on uh you Mr chair and Mrs Bud the the this is the first year that we have used the msba model policy or the model handbook so we purchased that this year for uh Elementary and secondary level so that we would have
consistency across all of our grade levels and Mr chair I agree with you it is great to see that all three of our elementaries have almost identical handbooks this year so wonderful any further discussion okay we do have a motion and
a second for approval of the 2024 2025 student handbooks all in favor of the motion signified by saying I I I opposed no motion passes 61 item 10d agenda item 10d
reorganization update a report Mr benty yes thank you Mr chair um so we are at the point where we are going to take a little bit of time so uh speaking with uh Mr chair and uh Mr Wolf uh last week
the the idea is to present the reorganization ideas or I should say presentation to this group in September so the reorganization committee will have one final meeting in August uh to go through uh what are their final
recommendations for this uh after I put some of them together um so that that's where we'll be the the the real push is to have a decision from the board by October um I've spoken with our director
of buildings and grounds and if he has a decision by October we should have no problems with Supply chains we should have no problems with bids we shouldn't have issues around that if we do wait until November which the board can absolutely wait till November if it chooses to um we lose we lose our
competitive Advantage when it comes to bids uh we may not get the bids in or get the competition in the bids that we're looking for uh which may drive up the cost sum um but it's it's um it's still doable uh we're we will be
pushing the line on what we would be able to get accomplished at McKinley uh before the following school year so right I have any questions or anything I know where we're at so great timeline because at one point
we were talking when we first organize this we were talking maybe November December you know that to get this going to finalize if any if whatever changes if anything so we we will go from there so thank you Mr
benty uh item 10e 2024 2025 superintendent goals I'll first entertain a motion for approval of superintendent vent's goals for 2024 through 2025 school year so move thank you Mr Wolf second and we have second by
Miss Steves uh as far as discussion I wish to go over them there are three first of all thank thank you to the to all board members we got them I got them on time I got them uh all written down in prioritized and sent them to uh Dr
robish show and Miss budro as part of the superintendent evaluation committee there were three uh very strong items that came through with the by consensus with the majority uh with the board here um and they are goal one would be
standard one governance team uh element 1B goal Andor strategic plan in which superintendent benty would facilitate the development of a strategic plan and mission statement that aligns with the district's short and long-term measurable
goals goal two was from standard three communication and community and staff relationships um visibil element 3F of visibility and approachability uh is approachable and is visible and approachable to students
student staff and community and then goal three uh student support element 7D student discipline defines expectations for student behavior and conduct through policies that identify behaviors subject to discipline en forces violations of
student discipline policy and communicates expectations for student Behavior to parents and students the descriptions I we were not able to get on board book with that but they will be added uh at the after the Mee conclusion of the meeting
Etc here so with that again thanks to the uh to all of you and uh I'll open it up for discussion um Mr chair were going to mention that strategic planning was one of the
goals and is not stated in the description strategic the description I read it says strategic plan we put on there but it it does mention so we'll insert that maybe in there because it is
I think you were going to do that I see goals and or strategic plan but in the we were talking the elements where the the rubric 4321 element doesn't state line on board book it does on board book
I'm I'm reading it right now too so doesn't it says goals Andor strategic plan yeah rubri budget here element with the element there
but we can add in I I believe the description that was provided you know we provided here does say of a strategic plan and that will be embedded in each one of those okay rubric there let's right agree with that so Mr you have anything you no okay I'm
we looked at it good yeah Mr chair um uh I put in two goals it was actually because uh I know we don't always agree with budget items but uh I think School District Finance uh I put actually you could put two or three goals in and I put two and
they both talked about the school district Finance I noticed they're not in here I think there that is a very important one I don't know if we can add a fourth goal or not but uh I think that should be considered I know we disagree on the budget sometimes
but but well what we what we did was when we established the process said you would submit the goals and we would go with the goals that were submitted the most right there were consensus among the board here and
okay I would believe all of us sitting here I can say all of us sitting here uh some of the most of the goals some of the goals that we had I had were not are not included either so yes so the these are the goals we have Miss buer do you wish to yes I do
because um I do think finances is important as well and that's why under the element it does state that aligns available resources with School District's budget to accomplish goals so
it kind of includes that component in there as um as one of the focuses so that's a good thing and I would like just a minute please I would like to add that I have
uh discuss these goals with Mr benty he is in agreement with with these goals I don't know if you wish to say anything about them Mr benty or whatever but uh I I know you you started working on something already a month ago so um it's a little awkward I mean the the goals
are here you know from the school board for my performance for a year um I I understand the the budget piece um I I have no problem with you know I I tend to stick myself with three goals um I don't have a problem going with more if
that's what the board wishes uh the finance piece is always one of those pieces that um I felt in this District even when I was principal there's always a lot of kind of back and forth between the board and the superintendent and the
cabinet around what what the budget looks like anyway um and you know my my plan moving forward is to continue to bring as balanced a budget as possible um so that that is always kind of my
plan Mr chair uh go ahead M Mar yeah would you uh because I only got just the three basic summary and I I didn't bring that sheet those sheets along that packet would you mind just reading that again was it for goal one with the budget included was it goal two it's on
the board it's on board well I didn't I didn't bring it with me so okay it's online it's online right it's on the agenda all right so that's part of a part of the budget is included in that okay thank you I just wanted to clarify as far as the number of goals I
feel if if it were me I I would like to just have two goals I think sometimes you get so spread out with goals here uh you know but we went with three here I think it's um you hone down on those three goals and just say this is what I
and we do so many other things as well but this this is a priority which most Bo the most majority of the board members felt they were so uh I think goals are important but uh if you have too many of them you don't do a good job at whatever you're doing Dr robish show
chair thank you um I don't think we need to get caught up on the number of goals I think it's the substance of those goals that is more important um one thing I've learned over the last few days is it's okay for people my age to change their mind
um and so um after reading the goals um uh and and and I'm not minimizing the goals that are written and and uh submitted I think they're very good goals and I think they give Mr benty a good eye on what the board expects of
his performance over the next year however um after reviewing the the um the goals in more detail and taking a look at them um I'm very concerned that it is absent
any real significant leadership commitments uh that need to be done any goal that uh this board approves and we impose on Mr benty is that they are aligned with our mission they're aligned with our core
values and to me that the goals are reflective of management and not leadership at this point and I uh am really concerned the the goals that are listed I see as subsets of leadership that it is uh you know
somebody who creates a vision and a mission for the district and where a district going to be five years from now and working toward those goals and developing that whole culture of of uh excellence and leadersh in uh in
education um I personally feel that that's missing in these goals that we are not looking at creating a culture of Excellence uh in learning and the fact that we want our students to grow and also if you take a
look at the strategies that are listed on the front page of the um the agenda you know student centered learning Equity mental health and safety School climate family and Community engagement as I take a look at those I see the one about Community involvement fitting into
strategy e but I think the goals are absent of those others and I think that as we take a look at what we want this District to be all of us Mr benty and uh the board and the staff and Community it
is a culture of excellence and learning that we're looking for and unfortunately I don't see those in these goals I'm not being critical of the goals because I think those are subsets of leadership but I think we need an over overarching
goal that talks about um that whole culture of excellence and things like you know accountability not only of the superintendent but of everybody in this District including ourselves as board
members the accountability that we have to have the issue of taking a look at learning as a number one priority in this District it's not you know looking at the budget and scrutinizing izing it and looking at it how are those
resources being allocated appropriately to the Dynamics of learning and where is that coming from so I think it's a subset but I'm sorry that I don't see that that goal of creating a culture of
excellence in learning in this District um as the goals are BR being presented again I'm not being critical of the goals because I think they're they're important but I think there's one step missing uh as we set goals for our leader in this
District thank you Dr robish we do have a motion in a second is there any further discussion Mr chair how prevalent was goal three in your analysis was that quite
common yes very strong okay very I really put that really top okay and I just numbered them you know there was no yeah like that it wasn't it wasn't the last one or whatever just do
it apart there y any further discussion hearing none all in favor of the motion to approve the 2024 25 superintendent goals signified by saying I I I opposed no motion passes 61 item uh number 11 dates to remember
August 5th 2024 5:30 p.m. work session here August 6th 2024 3:45 p.m. policy committee August 12th 2024 is finance committee at 7:30 a.m. that's virtual
August 19th 2024 5:30 p.m. regular board meeting and the reminder of our school board candidate seminars August 8th I am offering two of those at one at 9:00 a. and one at 5:30 p.m. August 12th at
10:00 a.m and 5:30 pm. here and they have rooms reserved somewhere here Anderson room this room as they all being used there so um again our Schoolboard filing is July 30th through August 13th the time
frame with that uh I'll entertain a motion for adjournment so move thank you Mr Wolf do we have a second okay thank you miss budo all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I I oppos motion passes