all right good evening everybody um I like to call this special schoolboard meeting that's uh GFW Middle Elementary School uh school district 2365 um start with the pledge of
allegiance please to the flag to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right uh All right we have a few
um items to approve tonight so we'll start with a motion for approval of the agenda items i'll make a motion to approve the agenda items make a second all in favor um so Kelly the first thing we're going
to talk about or Dr is the resolution authorizing associate bank for construction fund expenses and authorizing forward here clerk and treasure as signatorries yeah um thanks this came up
um rather recently uh right now up to now we've been using the Fairbanks Bank as our depository and and our they've been paying all bills for the construction book and um um just for
some background when when we have money in the bank banks are required to have collateral to back up the funds that we have in the bank well we're starting to run a lot of money through through the local bank and
they they were struggling to keep necessary collateral so they called us and said "What are our options?" And um option one is they could reach out and try to bump up their collateral right
now they have $2 million in collateral but we're going to have payments approaching $8 million when we hit high season this summer when we we're doing outdoor work and inside and they just didn't feel they could get to that level
um so the other option um was to go to PMA who does our investment proceeds and say can we start a checking account out of those investment proceeds um and u so
essentially we're that's going to be collateral collateralized all the time um so that's what this motion is doing they are not an official bank for us so the resolution is authorizing them for
this account that will expire at the end of when a construction fund proceeds are fully expensed uh this account will close we continue to do our payroll and our normal business through our local
bank here um but uh they are just not able to meet the collateral required for the sizes we're start starting to get in fact right now this month we're we're sending out checks in in bunches so they
don't all get cash the same day and so we can we're trying to manage it that way um I forget Julie is it $3 million this month close to four close to four so and they're just going up from this
point on so So that's what the resolution is they just need um and it's through associated bank who is the bank that PMA works with they needed a resolution by the board and then a new signature document um chair Miller has
that document up here for our treasurer clerk and chair to sign and then also in the resolution it says that superintendent and fin CFO finance director would have authority to make transactions far as wires in and out of
that account um so we know that we have adequate funding in there to pay the pay the checks or pay the endorses and so assuming associated um has the collateral yes right and
where's their location at they're they're all over the Midwest so what is their what are we giving as collateral so they have to they have to have like
um CDs whatever equaling whatever we have in their account at the time so to cover it so we don't have we're not responsible to get the cover it's the bank's responsibility an associated bank is
just a larger player who has higher limits than our smaller local bank in the account to be for about a year yeah um so we have construction expected
to be nearly done January but there's going to be money at least of June of next year um as we have punch lists and we have retainage funds that we will have on hand um and to me it's always amazing
how 75,000 doesn't mean much during contractor when you're trying to get them to come back and finish the last punch list item so uh it's going to go till at least June of next year okay that's what's an ask for the retainage
and the money lingering for so the account would close when funds are all expens so how do you transfer this amount of money so quickly to associated so PMA that's a partner bank with them so they wire
sitting with PMA yeah and Lindsay picks up the phone and says we need to move 8 million tomorrow because we've got checks going out for construction And all other finances will still go through our home yes correct correct and
I just want to emphasize we've had numerous conversations with everyone who brought it to our attention that it would be more and more difficult for them to collateralize to that level so it is something they're
well aware of and support it this is something they have to prove on a monthly basis the the collateral that they have you know because we've obviously been running bigger checks through them already right right right um so they had added collateral but they I had sent them a uh kind of draw down
schedule and so they saw the size of things and that's when they got nervous that they weren't so we just you need a bigger background yep and sorry I apologize we are just adding associated pay associated B that's not our current correct okay correct sorry yes we're not
changing who we deal with and all other things just adding associated bank and only for the construction a contract through the past lawyer um I did not it was just opening a bank
account and um I guess I've done this before with PMA on another building project where we just roll the checks right out of that investment account so um no are we going to have to revise this
when Lindsay and you are down here um well you will have to do maybe a different signatory if officers change and um yeah I don't know if they'll ask us to do another resolution when we have
change in superintendent i'm not sure if they'll ask for an additional one or not we just wanted to make sure that that we had that authority to do but it should be pretty simple process to switch once we're in there yeah
because it's already been approved the council's already there it's just take out people that can um communicate with them yeah yeah i'm not sure if they're going to ask the board to do another resolution but that might might be worth change
just check it out we'll put it on our Thanks Jolene me you have any questions on it no I'm just wondering what after they've drawn it down vast majority in the last
6 months or something like that we transfer it back is there any need to do that good question so say that again so when we get to a third level when there's some left right but not spending millions a month
correct yeah then it then I would say you you could ask the bank locally here are you able to handle whatever's you know you're spending 150,000 a month they you're probably good with that so
yeah you could probably bring it back before you close what was the construction anything else question turtle okay well I'll just read the resolution and then we'll do a roll
call all right uh whereas the GFW school district seeks a financial institution to handle construction expense transactions on a regular and ongoing basis whereas the GFW school district already has a contractual relationship with Minnesota trust for the investment of school district construction proceeds
whereas the GFW school district seeks anticip seeks anticipates that monthly expense transactions will exceed collateral levels secured by its other financial institution partners therefore let it be resolved that effective Monday April 7th 2025 the GFW school district
enter a partnership with the Associated Bank through Minnesota Trust to secure construction fund checking account privileges and be it further resolved that board officers Russell Miller chair Amy AR treasurer and Emily Ster clerk be authorized as signatories for this
account and be it further resolved that CFO Lindseay Heiny and Superintendent Kelly Smith have authority to initiate transactions from this account i get a motion to approve opening of account with Associated Bank i'll make a
motion to approve that opening of account i'll second uh we got gross on the second off yes miller yes bakery yes stair yes gross yes breeze yes thank you
all right we will move on then we'll have to sign some paperwork at the end for Okay uh next we want to review the budget assumptions for
2526 mhm so five number five kind of five six and seven we're going to kind of cover same time if I can uh if I can find it and we're reviewing it not approving that is Is there a reason why we want to just
put this if we're not approving it why we want to put this on a work session versus the regular meeting because originally I thought we would maybe be approving one of these items um and then I thought it would be more better if it was just presented as
information to come back later for for final approval also I know these meetings are I guess more available for the public to review this conversation and I thought this was important stuff for
them to see as well okay so yes I want to discuss a couple things with regard to next year's budget just some budget assumptions we've talked before about you know as you start developing a budget you you've got to start with some basic assumptions
about your school district we'll cover a few of those um and then we'll take a look at projected revenue based on some of those assumptions and then we'll look at some reduction options um that are that are available to us and just a
little bit of an overview um essentially school boards are required to prior to July 1 have an approved budget in place um and no funds can be expended by a school board or any district unless that
budget has been approved and obviously that would be an unlawful expenditure i have seen some districts through the years have present a budget of $1 for revenue and $1 expense technically they've met the intent of the law uh
they haven't told their public anything about the way the school district is operating and then they've revised it later as they had more information but uh we are going to try to present a little bit better uh budget than that so when we're developing the new budget uh
things to consider what are your district policies and guidelines um you know we have a 12% fund balance policy that's probably the biggest thing um uh we have kind of general I I won't
say they're official guidelines but class size issues program offerings things like that that would be district policies and procedures what's your projected enrollment that's the biggest question
for um for a future budget is how many students are we expecting to walk through the door on day one uh what kind of cost increases what's going to happen with negotiations special ed costs and transportation costs etc and I want to
back up and say we're really talking general fund tonight so we're not going to talk community food service any of those budgets uh what are your facility and equipment needs um gear equipment might be Chromebooks uh are are we in a
position where we we need to kind of uh reestablish a a uh turnover process for those Chromebooks so we keep u keep them in good shape uh what kind of staff changes are you going
to have and then uh the budget we approve is going to be what's there to deal with negotiations we have contracts up this year with our teachers and our our local 284 and our principal group so
um a lot of negotiations going to happen this coming year and then finally legislative changes what will the impacts be in the future and I'll talk a little bit about that as we move go forward here so legislative changes that
may impact our future budget unemployment insurance aid um if people recall the legislature put a 2-year pot of money out there to help districts pay for the cost with the unemployment aid
where pair professionals and part-time staff were able to collect unemployment over the summer um there's uh that pot of money is running out there's been a proposal to add additional funds to uh to cover
estimated fiscal 26 summerterm costs if that proposal does not go through that's going to have an impact on our budget because we know we're going to have some expenses special ed transportation aid has been
proposed to reduce for to 95% in 26 and then down to 90 90% in 27 um I don't have the total dollar amount impact but we uh uh I believe we put in 125,000
miles for special ed transportation last year so we we have some costs in that area alternative teacher compensation also known as Q comp the governor's proposal has um recommended eliminating
that program in 27 so not next year but GFW is a UCOM district that will impact us if that happens literacy incentive aid um um not so much a financial change there
um compensatory hold harmless is a big one for us we're scheduled to lose 139,000 in compensatory revenue this year um there has been a proposal at the legislature to hold districts harmless
this year while they've made some adjustments to that that reduction is coming to us as a direct result of some of it is our declining enrollment but a bigger piece is we have fewer kids that are showing up on free and reduced meal
applications because we no longer do the paper applications and we're just getting what is certified through the county um and we usually know there are more families out there that would qualify than ours going through the county um can't do that piece anymore or
can't do the paper yeah they don't really recognize that they just go off of what is at the county or the direct certification they call it so that it has to be applied for different county yes you're not doing that right and so
one of the proposals is to bring back the paper options which no district's like that because you just it was like pulling teeth getting those forms back but there's real money behind um so that's a proposal that's out there and
then uh one that doesn't directly impact us uh but a little bit is non-public pupil education aid and non-public transportation aid so um this proposal is to eliminate that
um that aid and therefore our obligation to transport non-public school students so um and that's I can't remember 40 40,000 for us 30 40 40,000 roughly
question on that a bunch can you go back so at the top so um once the unemployment runs out that the state is providing right now right yes does any dollars come out of
our district to help fund that as well so it's just supplemental that the states right so our employees all have the right to file for unemployment if they're not employed in the summer we get that bill right now there's funding at the state to help cover that bill but
when that runs out that's on our dime and it's good through the summer yet what's uh they're saying that u they believe it'll last through the end of this year but um they're they're looking to add money to it to make sure we make it through
this summer okay and if we added that into our Well you're starting the budget now starting yeah so that's one of the things that's out there we have the We don't know and I'll tell you right now we're going to assume that they're not going to have that because they're
dealing with the budget debt all this is budget deficit okay so then the the special ed so you saidund and what thousand and shooting it's transportation cost so so we hadund roughly 125,000 miles i can't tell you I
I forget what the dollar amount was for special ed transportation but pretty significant amount of out of it which is about a third of our overall transportation budget so they're so they reimburse us for all
of it we Yes yeah now now they're going to cut it down first so we're 95% and then 90% 27 yep yep okay and then the alternative teacher compensation so does the state fund that
fully right now yes there there's actually a state aid component and a local levy component and I believe right now GFW's just been utilizing the state aid okay and we don't know those but we can find out those dollars for future
talks right yep okay yeah and again it's proposed for for not the coming year but 27 okay um literacy incentive aid that's just how they're um determining allocation so
how right Yeah right now they use the results of the MCA test to determine how much aid you qualify for and they're looking at changing that i instead using that poverty data which is down in compensatory don't know if that's going
to impact us positively or negatively it's just a change yeah and what's an example of a non public transportation that we currently do that the every every student who attends PLS
that we pick up on our regular routes we're getting aid that goes into our transportation fund essentially and paid for part of our transportation are there always this many red ones going
in a fiscal year or is this um I don't feel last year um I would say it's per pretty much a typical number but I think they have more significant impact on districts
because they're trying to address a budget deficit where the last number of years they've been giving districts more and more money when the proposals So it's a statewide public school issue everybody's right going to deal with
these factors yes y thank you for Yeah yep sure sure so um some assumptions and I mentioned FFLRP committee you know and u before we
approve the final budget I'll actually ask the board to approve this set of assumptions so so there's agreement and consensus around the table that okay here's the best information we have today to to develop our budget for next year because
we just went through a whole page of things that are out there that could impact us we don't know what what the state of them will be so enrollment is certainly the key right now we're estimating 535 for kindergarten through grade 12 so
that's 591 adjusted pupil units that's a drop of about 15 to 20 adjusted pupil units now the good news is I shared with FFLRP
earlier today our our enrollment went up eight this past month uh April we're at 640 641 and that's prek through grade 12 so I'm sorry I don't have that broken down right now but um but in the K
through 12 it went up eight students so uh which is good good news good news yeah yep um and so we were at 6 um what 626 to start the year and we're
at 641 so actually increased by 15 preK through grade 12 so that's good news we're we're not going the other way um capital expenditures um in the budget we set aside $100,000 for basically
miscellaneous as we move into a new facility we have pots of money for furniture and tech and other things but it seems like in my past experience there's always something that comes up that we're looking for money for so
we're planning on about 100,000 um for out of our cap operating capital for that special ed expenses will increase by 5% um that frankly is a fairly conservative number special ed
costs have been rising rather rapidly um anybody's guess right now what that's going to be we're projecting 5% one thing we think we do know is state aid per pupil unit is going to increase by
2.74% next year that was announced by the department of ed and we don't believe the legislature is going to touch that um that would be a tough call for them to take away that money that that has already been announced um and
then 2% for the next school year looking at tech expenses 50,000 salary and benefits we mentioned negotiations 3 to 5% per year total package reductions of approximately
350,000 transportation costs will increase by 5% um I should have put eight and 10 together bus purchases or not um I just sent out RFPs for transportation
services for next year that are due back May 8th um and I'm pretty sure we'll have proposals whether they make sense for us to go that direction or not um if we go that direction transportation
costs may increase by more than 5% but we wouldn't have to deal with bus purchase so there's there's a tradeoff there curriculum updates and subscriptions we would cap at $50,000 again our you we're no longer
buying many textbooks it's all subscriptions for for online curricula and then two things that are going to come into play um Minnesota Paid Family Leave Act effective January 1st so midway through next year um
school districts will need to start paying a a payroll tax of 888% and uh it would be our recommendation that that be split between the school district and the
employees so um our share would be 044% and then TRA Teachers Retirement Association there was a mandated increase of the district contribution from 8.75% up to 9 and a
half% and that for us is roughly $35,000 it's going to add to our bottom line so So anyway those are the assumptions that we have today um they they could change slightly before we ask for
approval but that's kind of where we're starting from and in particular that enrollment piece was used for re revenue projections so this document shows where we were in 2324 our audited what we have
for a revised budget for this current year um 10 million97 and then what we it should save 2526 proposed budget I'm sorry um we're projecting a total of
10,772 so about $220,000 drop in revenue venue so where did that drop come from we have some more local property tax levy and that's from um we're finally done correcting an LTFM
issue that we had first we added money to LTFM the state took it away when we didn't need it because of the new building and then now it's bumping back up to a normal level so biggest change in our levy from last year was that LTFM
aid uh miscellaneous county revenue not a big change um just dropped we're estimating 17,000 less there interest on investments just a conservative estimate
there estimate there of 85,000 or no change from this current year the state of Minnesota would drop $36,000 um the biggest two factors in that are fewer students for next year
and our general ed formula allowance and then also the compensatory aid where right now we're projected to lose 139,000 federal government we have a drop of 65,000 um
again the uh some of that change is we had some leftover federal grant dollars that ran into this current year 25 to 30,000 that is going to be gone um and then we have some other slight decreases
based on enrollment as well in that area um just other caveat people ask all the time what are what's the federal shutdown of Department of Ed or pending shutdown going to do to us we have no idea
um our hope is that the money keeps flowing uh that it comes out of some other department but um nobody knows in the education community right now whoops so um there's our projected revenue for next
year any questions well we discussed this at length for quite a while already yep um yeah it shouldn't be a surprise nothing's changed since we we last on
this right yep so just that yeah we were almost 11 million and now we're going to be 10,770 so down through 25 and that's on a conservative uh student
yeah that's that's always the big wild card yep so uh we try to be conservative there in hopes that uh we're going to see more kiddos come through that front door on on opening day all right um and then
so we're currently have a slight deficit budget and uh we have less revenue coming in so um the odds are we're we're going to have to reduce some things to try to I
don't know if this would even make it a balanced budget but minimize the level of of a deficit that we have so these are some options again nothing is nothing is certainly decided um but one
specialed teacher we had a resignation in our special ed department and actually couple of couple of resignations and one retirement um we won't be replacing one of those physicians um we'll spread the duties
around um and there's a savings for that we currently contract with CISO for HR um duties and uh services um that contract right now is about
$60,000 a year um the recommendation is to reduce that by 40,000 and we would still keep a portion of work that they do for for uh benefit management um health insurance all our other employee
benefits which are getting more and more complicated all the time so they did not totally reduce that recommend reducing that but uh recommend cutting it back so is what they do is they assist in
signing up for benefits or they research benefits uh yes kind of both there but primarily um just making sure that uh everybody goes through the enrollment process they have that set up um I know
they're meeting with our insurance consultant on the vision and dental benefit bids that are still out there um um they've also done for us [Music] um this year you know they've assisted
with posting of positions in all the sites working with uh the office of teacher licensing or pelby uh in getting out of field placement for for teachers as we have needed and couldn't fill positions so
they've done some other things this year that internally in discussions we feel we can take over ourselves but that employee benefits piece is that's not any of our expertise um and so we're
looking to hang on to somebody to do that as well so for the 20 grand that we're not paying them to do something how's that line defined so but We're still giving you $40,000 a year so we're going to save
40,000 oh yeah we're This is what we're going to reduce the contract by yeah sorry that's confusing these are It's still going to be 20,000 so we're going to still Currently contract is 60 we're recommending you reduce it by $40,000
so down to 20 down to 20 and they'll just be responsible for that employee benefit and the other $40,000 worth of work is picked up by Mr b and Jacobson and
Mson and what kind of work is that um job postings um I'm just trying to think of line that's the observation management system where we have our all of our staff are
um listed in a system so when we do evaluations all of their data over a period of time as long as they're an employee here will be in that system um and so someone there's typically one person that
manages that if it's not in the HR um and they have to make sure that everything in there is updated every year system needs to be closed out finalized and rolled over for the next year so it's Yeah so these are these
observations that you've been sitting in on and then doing action on them a couple within a week or two or whatever and just documenting it yeah so like for example a non-tenure teacher has three per year by an administrator of state
law and so those three that I would do or Jennifer would do live in there and then those who are tenure staff members they have an evaluation every three years and so those live in there over time too so any anybody who has had an
evaluation here at GFW um would be in that system you think that's the biggest uh ticket well and then also under there is our absence management oh that's right yeah and um one more thing absis management but then
also the postings yeah yeah so there's like different categories within that system also so but yes thank you is that very time consuming is that
going to take a lot of your time depends on who does it yes no matter who does it it's going to be a lot of time and correct me if I'm wrong principles but I think CISO's role has really been helping familiarize
everyone with that system more than you know they are not outdoing the observations and now you are taking them over you're already doing that yeah it's it's more managing that system that everything gives out we used to do all the postings here um you know when we
had a job and I mean it kind of fits with what you're doing and I mean you know you have an opening and you're following it through so it's just that someone has to be on top of like the postings because there's certain like two week periods of like uned post and
they disappear like if you don't repost i mean they can be in on our website but people aren't searching hey what jobs are open at GFW if they live in Wisconsin or they live you know in neighboring states or they go to Ed Post and say I'm going to type in elementary
teacher or I'm going to type in you know high school teacher and then they populate in there well that's not kept up every two weeks then it doesn't populate right so it's just kind of one of those things it's a lot of upkeep but
I mean it's not impossible those just extra little things um also the evaluation system this year is required by the state um worked at a teacher development plan and so we have school districts have to have a new evaluation
system with specific requirements put into that so our evaluation system this year is going to have to be re revamped we're going to have to look at that so that'll also basically be our rubrics that we use when we do our evaluations are going to need to be changed so
someone who um manages the frontline system has to change the rubric so they're in charge of uploading the rubrics and making sure that everything plays nice together in the system so it' be fair to say that that would fall
under a business manager's role if it wasn't through a third party like this or not some sometimes I it depends on your business sometimes uh we don't have on us is a
question a lot a lot of most times HR is quite different than the business matter now it's just so specific on insuranceances and stuff but that's typically somebody else's duties job postings or something like that yeah if
you had extra time as a businessman you could be doing that makes you feel better I've lived in the front lines system i've lived in the old school paper and a file system and I've lived in the Google Drive system and I've lived in the I observe system so
that's the experience recommendation from Dr smith um next on the list Sibly County Family Facilitator um we have time from a family facilitator who comes to our district
and meets with families that have needs of one sort or the other um we actually have another individual who does similar work out of the greater Minnesota family um so we're eliminating one essentially
um and this contract which is more most expens more expensive to us than the other contract we have right now there's two individuals that do similar work right they're from different different
entities y um subscriptions uh just trying to Wade and Ryan have done a great job going through all the various subscriptions we have and what are we actually utilizing um and
what what aren't we utilizing and what what can we do away with we expect we're going to have some savings there of $20,000 how many subscriptions do we have oh yeah a lot you know you think of
every curriculum area you know in some cases schooly subscription i mean it's a long list it's a long list but but that the point of that whole exercise yeah what are we
actually using and it's providing value to the district versus what did we pay for thinking we were going to do something with it and it just funds so and I would assume within that if there were subscriptions where it was kind of an all the cart option really looked at this is a piece
that we use we can cut this back as well yes exactly and uh principles mentioned frontline management system there is kind of an alleart system and they keep trying to throw one extra service on there for an extra six grand a year that we haven't
used and don't plan to use there was on the invoice for renewal branch so just trying to get rid of unused and underutilized subscriptions may I Dr yeah and a lot of the subscriptions that we use we did some research and things
that you would not necessarily think a subscription is tied to there's a we have subscriptions even for livestock judging um there's subscriptions that that go along with that department and part of the tech department is we we are
required to know what digital subscriptions we have across the board so we pretty much went department department and found anything that has any sort of digital subscription to it the document might find you if you looked at it
so we did an audit on our internally and we're coming up with 20,000 on Yes and some things are annual some some are on three years some are on five years some are on six sevenyear contracts so you got to take all of that into play break
it down what is it per year uh what are we signed on for i have to see through can we get out of certain ones but Dr smith analyzed all that did a good job take a look at it so are there some that could fall off when
they run out possibly very positive okay so we've got some Mr jacobson and I made some recommendations that what what we would probably
do left it to his discretion yeah and um so who who bought all these subscriptions think we're going to use them i think I know the answer um just for a long-term vision and it's just
some of them have been through just the department situation that the departments are in those people have often times filled out purchase orders and had the secretaries fill those out to fulfill something like livestock judging so things like that would fly somewhat under the radar until
we did this deep dive a lot of the other subscriptions multi multi-year subscriptions and that can go back little ways okay well so we're cleaning house on it and uh it should be a lot easier to
manage now that the house is clean some some things are just a sunk cost at this point right yeah it's and so now really just being more intentional and thoughtful about what are we purchasing and then also since you guys the board approved our curriculum that's really
what our teacher should be using that's what the board approved and so if we channel our teaching through what was approved and or approved you know by the principles um we shouldn't need to do additional subscriptions
and when we approve a curriculum are we given permission to buy subscriptions required yes so like when we presented on the subscription it's part of the cost that already provided yeah yeah and then actually um correct me if I'm wrong but
I I think both of our curriculums that um what did we do we did math and what was history yeah um so we we looked at are there um interventions built into that curriculum from the company that we
could use so we don't have to buy additional things so for example this year um I discovered and worked with Dr kelly in regards to we had a a reading and a math intervention that we had at our site that was quite expensive but
then when we purchased our math curriculum there was an intervention system that was purchased within that curriculum and so there was no need for us to pay the additional cost for the other intervention so currently right now we're using just the reading
intervention um and got rid of the math piece and then we also have a smaller intervention for our site built into the curriculum that that we purchased and I think you do too that in class as well but sometimes that intervention only is
suitable for a certain development mental stage so that's why we kept the upper one separate from that we had purchased for the reading if that makes sense so trying to make small adjustments that way if we can yep no I follow that but so is there any
penalties for say we bought a um subscription was let's just call it like a three-year subscription and we after one year said this is not for us it's not working are you able to cancel it are you able to get your money back or sometimes
sometimes we had an example of some technology that was purchased on a multi-year contract and uh um they would not allow us to totally cancel the contract but we were able to cancel
$6,000 worth of it but we had to keep I think three pieces of equipment for 3,000 for the remainder of this year and then we're going to cut the rest of it so um because we there had been a contract signed they at least let us out
part of it and that varies by vendor some are some are okay other most have some kind of hook like that where they don't let you just terminate after one year if you've got two years remain so how does something like your example
happen if a curriculum's approved you buy the software then all of a sudden it comes up you need the add-on to judge livestock and then that just gets flown under the radar how's that add-on become a thing if you already bought the curriculum they it's not part of the curriculum it's just a digital license
okay so in order to use the online platform okay you have to have let's say you have 20 kids so it's nothing to do with the curriculum that's being sold it's just digital digital licenses so there's difference between the two which means the kids couldn't learn it or go and do it without the digital license
and so for like our digital license are different at the the secondary level more specifically in the 912 because we have elected courses so um so for us like we have a six-year subscription for
some of our core courses and you know like ELA science math whatever also social studies curriculum we purchase that right so that's the curriculum that that we have been um using um but our elective courses we don't run them every
year and we don't run them like in the same semester so that's where the cost will change slightly every year depending on the courses that we're offering for students so then I have to go through and I have to make sure that we have this the the right amount and number of licenses for our students
registering for those courses so I can't also purchase them ahead of time which I wouldn't want to do because I'm not really sure how many kids are going to meet in those courses um so it's kind of like we anticipate based off of how many we had the last time and then we hope we
have around the same amount to kind of know how much we're probably going to need the next time that class like rolls around sometimes numbers are drastically different like you might have 10 in one year and you might have 22 25 the next year so it just it depends but that's
how the license runs so you have your core classes but then for us it's every year we have to look at the courses we're offering and then buy a certain number of licenses in order to run those courses getting kind of long here but specifically to those lensures um is our
syllabus so we can't ask teachers to build a syllabus using a particular curriculum and then buy another curriculum and then ask them to do that again so that we have inconsistencies with our teaching and our learning strategies so we really try to have the teachers be involved in the process of
like what curriculums do you like and want um and it's approved by the board so that's why it's important for our teachers to follow also what we do so that it's streamlined does that make sense it it does so now we're all conscious
about it so everybody knows we got to watch it it you know it's it's just a function of the changing way our curriculum is evolving i mean it used to be we had a curriculum review cycle and you'd buy
language arts textbooks one year and then math textbook the next and you just go on well now it's online stuff and so and with virtual options it's more sub right okay and we're trying to offer
more Yeah college credit classes so that's part of this yeah uh the college credit since we just well the junior classes here specifically for ELA um we'll need to look at purchasing something in the future because they
were new and they were decided after we had gone through the whole curriculum purchasing for the ELA um because we had a candidate that was able to teach that so then because we had that candidate we could offer those college courses so
yeah give you tape um other things on the list a teaching and learning coordinator this this year um we have had two teaching and learning coordinators in the district uh
primarily middle school high school uh building is where they have worked um they've done very good work and been uh done important work but
um it's it's just a financial commitment that uh I don't think we're able to make at this time um for both of us so so it's eliminating one um and then um finance director I have a
negative number here so Is there a reason why we're only limiting one um well frankly because I think there's still plenty of work to do um but also um I think there's going to be
additional work as we transition to one facility next year and um I mean it's very likely that that other position could be would be looked at again next year this time as a reduction um because
they're two-year contracts right but they are they are at will employees so they have a two-year contract but we are able to ter they be like a probationary teacher we could terminate them at any any time
but um I just um that's been part of my dilemma throughout this whole process about making recommendations we we have a I think a a great opportunity staring us in the face next year as we transition into a building
and I want to make sure there are adequate staff to make that transition successful and that includes working on curriculum and everything that goes with that but just getting into the building and making sure everything works works
together and going to talk about that on one of these later ones as well like the role of moving into one building because if you're that's an expensive one body to keep so if you're looking at adding a body couldn't you put it in a different
position such as special ed teacher or what do you mean adding the body i'm not sure these are all reductions yep so but if you were to But what you're saying is that when we move into the building you need
that position i would say Yeah and then after next year you would look at do do you are you going to hang on to that one remaining teaching and learning coordinator or should that position be yep so are you going into detail on a
later slide of when we move into one building why that particular position is necessary i don't I don't have any information it's uh on any future slide um and at at this point it's just my my
gut feeling that um well I'm going to back up balancing a budget is the easiest thing in the world to do is give me a pen a red pen and I'll balance the budget but while that's part of my job bigger
part of my job is trying to provide an adequate education system to all of our students and I I just feel that in this transition year there's just going to be enough miscellaneous things along with
the basic duties of a teaching and learning coordinator which has been um you know supporting our new teachers working with staff on curriculum um supporting our international teachers along with all of those things there's
going to be just a bunch of other things coming at people as we as we make a move um and I want that move to be successful and get everybody in there and be comfortable and then there's going to be
additional items the district could so that's why it's my recommendation to to leave one in place now make one reduction right i mean I mean and there's other things we could probably think out of the box on too to help yeah as well
people have other ideas that's fine uh Mrs jibson I think you and I talked about teaching their important but can you there's a lot that they do can you explain to everybody exactly that role um well yes there is a lot that they do
and specifically like what Dr smith said um working with our new teachers but just in general supporting teachers and then the systems that we put in place so um basically they're the two that we have now are really assigned to specific teachers and departments and um while I
do across the board I also um support other teachers as well so for example one um works more with the science and um the choir and the band um the other works in the math department and also with our CTE staff right um and so
they're in the classrooms on a daily basis um they sit down and work with the teachers and your planning your preparation they're another eye in the classroom going uh that ain't right they got to we got we got to address that so let's sit down and have a conversation
about how we might fix that right and help them problem solve um even things as simple as making the phone call to a parent um it's a it's a true real fear you think it' be something that's very simple but they really need a lot of support um just in the you know the
simple task in which we would assume the teacher would maybe just do um and then also they take part in our student services team um our attendance team so we look at attendance um we look at truency um they help then communicate on
our student academic tracker about failing students they communicate with those teachers making sure that they are communicating with parents on a regular basis so I mean it's just yeah they're they're really doing a lot um during the day to support um all of our students um
in in making sure that they're getting the best education that we can the biggest thing um is the access right i am not accessessible all the time nor is Jennifer just because of what our jobs are and so I think that like what Kelly
said um moving into one building I really need to have that kind of support um because it's the immediate feedback that prompts change right um the immediate support that helps them come back the next day and want to continue
to come back to GFW in the following year right so um right now we're trying to figure out how do we keep our teachers and build our teachers and if they don't make it there to the before the three years I mean it's not something that's probably surprising to them right it's they've been supported
and had conversations over the time in which they're there so yes they do multitude of things and one of them does is is working with Wade to transition to our district assessment coordinator which is a huge task in itself um most
uh that person is saying not it so um yeah so what was this role for known as for that yeah what was the title what was I like we didn't have them we didn't have them yeah okay so we
were so I we had conversations about how we needed um more support for our teachers but ultimately it came from the teachers themselves saying that our new teachers needed support um and that we just had a lot of new teachers and there
was a lot of turnover and so um that was why they were kind of put in place is to help support our new teachers to help build climate culture in our school district because there was a divide between new teachers and veteran teachers and so you know trying to just
make things a little bit more smooth and making sure that everyone had the most support that they could possibly have during the school day and really is the access to that support didn't GFW have coaches before they were that would have been one of them yeah yeah we did have
coaches we had coaches through the um grant um we've had them for about six years through two different literacy grants that we received um but those grants did run out this last school year so there was no more funding for those coaches yeah and theirs was a little bit
different because there was more specifically to reading ours are just now in general to teaching and good teaching strategies and just general management of the classroom um because um if a kid isn't having or kids aren't
having a good experience in that class it um you know has a trickle effect right so um whether they would take that class again or if they're in the middle grades um okay fine I'm going to a new school or whatever the case may be
so and this role to facilitate the relationship between new teachers and existing teachers and the coaching that goes along with it doesn't fall under a superintendent or it could is that
divided up it's maybe some of its principal responsibility maybe some superintendent probably not business manager if it's true business managing um I'm just asking a lot of questions just Yeah no um so for example like um I am
working with one of our teaching and learning partners and and and have been with um one particular teacher and so we have the entire um two months u well we started in March but March April and May this is this is what we need to
accomplish before the end of the school year and mapping out exactly what that teacher is going to do from March until the day that our students leave right and then every week um we're both checking in but we also have a sit down
conversation in regards to what's going to be happening in that classroom and how we're supporting that teacher and ensuring the time management and all the things that go along with making sure our kids are learning is happening right so um that's where the teaching and
learning coordinator come really is crucial to that is you know I might be doing some more of the coaching in this particular area um just because of the need level right but then she's a reinforcer of what needs to happen in the classroom
so you're both doing this for one teacher yeah sometimes yes but it's it's only in this particular case i'm just saying that that's what a teaching and learning coordinator would do is would do something like that is help them map
out the rest of the year what lessons are you teaching do you have the resources that you need ensuring that what they say is happening is happening in the classroom sometimes the principal has to be involved in those conversations so the one that you have
on there what are the two things that they oversee is it the CTE person or is it the can't remember what you said they both did uh well they help out with a lot of different things but um we've divided up the teachers so that the
teachers are trying they are getting as much equal support from the individuals as possible so like our um one is doing um the math department and the CTE and then um the other one is doing um the science and then also um the banning
choir um and then I helped do some of the other so which one that's being reduced the one that's being reduced is covering which areas I think is the question is that Oh you mean the one coach oh it's it's the is the map and
the CTE and the whole the person that's left out there would take it all on them yes or it would be divided divided yeah i mean if a school district Okay so I was an instructional a coach and for
GFW2 and so in the state of Minnesota all the instructional coaches depending on their program if you're meeting with them weekly um 12 to 16 um teachers is a pretty full load if you're doing what you're supposed to be
doing um and so the teaching and learning coordinators also help them with their their uh peer coaching so hey my peer my peer coach or one of my peers is coming in to observe me twice a year right we talked about that so they can have conversations with them about okay
like what are you doing and let's talk about like what you want to do and just really help them with their their skills and their confidence um in their classroom sounds like a lot of duplication am I correct in that uh
duplication in terms of you have a teacher learning coordinator and a peer observing one teacher are they not doing the same work no um I will say that we've gotten because the Q comp is is more so
with teachers like the teacher union um having teacher leadership roles and then part of the comp requirement um is that they have to observe their peers right but that's not part of
necessarily the support that they get they're basically being evaluated by their peers twice a year and are having a conversation about what they saw in their classroom it's not ongoing mentor support of how do we
truly like take a look at our planning and are we aligning um our instruction with our standards and how do we do that they do that maybe in their post conversation once a semester so we don't really have any
control over that part but we have the piece of the mentorship that is ongoing support on a daily basis for our instructional that's what our instructional coaches do specific training for instructional coaches and our instructional coaches
are doing that and um it's it's important what Certainly if we have to drill down everybody it's uh that's a good description thank you very much um just
to finish out the items on here uh under finance director I have a negative number uh finance director business manager is probably going to cost more next year um we currently have a contract for 50,000
um with Lindsay Lindsay to continue in that role [Music] um she's frankly able to do that on a fairly limited number of hours because of her knowledge of this district and uh I think it's going to take more uh I
will be asking three different companies to give us proposals for two days of service as a finance director so we'll see where that goes um I put on here departures versus replacements i said we had some resignations
retirements uh we have one other verbal res retirement but have not received a letter yet and typically you're hiring back at a lesser cost than the person who's leaving as they're typically toward the top of the salary schedule
they have a savings of 15,000 i think that's conservative in there um another one that would impact a staff member is to move our AI coordinator position back into the classroom and then just pay a stipen to continue to do some of that
work outside of a normal teaching day um that would kind of create a little bumping pattern throughout um throughout a department um but it's basically would be a reduction of one position
there and then last thing I have is just miscellaneous um we're looking every day for areas that we can uh make reductions um to be to be more efficient as we move forward so that total on this list is
352,100 um and if and if people have suggestions additions whatever um certainly open to those we're not acting on any of this tonight it's for informationational purposes only are there any technology
grants out there that we can get well that's a easy first answer yes that we can get that's I I don't know have we ever had one technology grant
specifically for certain for technology well we had the AI grant this year 20 $25,000 back out to ask you know I I reached back out to them to ask if um the grant would be available in the
future and they said no the grants are typically for school districts for startup purposes um with the the thought that they need something to get started but they will eventually be able to do it on their own so that's why they will do the grant again because it's was more
for a startup purpose school doesn't yeah for the for the Yeah for that position yeah specifically there there's all kinds of different grants that could pertain to all different avenues of tech
if there's something specific that you really wanted to research and go [Music] after once again it's it's going through the process of the grant to what are the stipulations of the grant
I know sometimes they put some heavy stipulations on those and just the time involved in even writing a grant is is pretty great a lot of times to even have a chance at getting it so um you know there's I'm all for grants i I uh enjoy writing
them and but it's very timeconuming process and then usually there's a lot of grant management throughout the process also that is um required if you do get the grant to answer back to them and make sure you're spending it on Exactly
um what is the one that you applied for and I can't remember the name of it the big one that's what does that cover um it covers a portion of a lot of um salaries that
we have here it covers our um coordinators that we have um our reading interventionists throughout the district our math interventionists throughout the district um our cultural liaison um let's see your technology
insurance um no it's mostly Monday who does our counseling that serves all of our students i tried that out like in May well actually
we hope to hear midappril april get some word that we might hear that a little earlier so we're hopeful we aren't assuming that we have that when we're looking at our budget correct um so if we actually this is kind of
assuming we're going to get that yeah if we if we don't get that we'll probably have to look at some additional things added to this how much is it i come to Yeah I can well and then just really the
other thing with that is that um their support staff right so those the support staff like Kelly had mentioned before is like when you make changes is the trickle effect right so then you're
someone from here and they're going there and then that person's going there and then that person's going there right um which is the interventionist because they are the classroom teachers and so
seniority takes precedence over that but yeah we we do hope to hear that in April which we feel kind of the way I Right that's all I had for now again it's for discussion and just wanted people to be
aware of kind of where we're starting and what what assumptions we're starting with here sorry for interruption she did find the total 720,000 720 yes did
you did you have what our total expenditures are i did not oh just revenue we will we will bring that forward as we get that more fully developed
will the cure all is more students that's your big piece of it yep um down to number eight yeah we're down to number eight now anybody have any more questions on it we'll obviously discuss
uh more of this down the road um so number eight approve elimination of valator and saludiatoran and replace with Latin honors um maybe you want to just spend you have in the past but I don't know if it was
in a full meeting of Yeah yep um and I was trying to just have a hard time when I get this screen here so the discussion was we've c historically GFW has had
um at validictorian and saludiatoran and um and the recommendation is to eliminate validictorian and saludiatoran try to share the screen um um and and replace it just with these
Latin honors um kumladi magna kumladi and suma kumladi um it's it's just getting more and more difficult to define where did an eight come from where did a 4.0 know come from did it come from Southwest South Central River
River Community College whatever um or did they take it internally and what class was it etc um this way if you make this move we we eliminate that competition to be the very top student
but there's still a competition to to achieve hopefully soon um so we already have this in our registration guide so this is what our students are used to seeing so this would be the recommendation that we just eliminate
validictorian and saludiatoran and recognize students based on these grade point averages so kumladi is 3.2 to 3.449 magna is 3.45 45 to
3.749 and then suma kumlady 3.75 to four and yeah we've talked this is a trend um it's everybody probably will be this fairly quickly it's too easy to manipulate your grad point average if
you've already uh you know been a good student through your junior year and you don't have much classes to take you can take some very simple classes to really boost your GPA um receive one of those two honors so
so that that's the recommendation and I I did ask Principal Jacobson after the meeting last time when we discussed this we had some of our students who are probably be impacted by this if she had any feedback negative or positive and I
guess it was pretty quiet um so I but we I wanted it done at this meeting if that's the wish of the board just so it's out there couple months before graduation instead of waiting till the last minute
[Music] um scholarships attached to validictorian spot not from us no um some schools um might ask if you are or were um one
of the two um but not any that I'm aware of um they typically ask if you're in what percentage of the class and and this is similar to what percentage
or whatever of your class and or if you've received any awards or whatever the case may be um maybe some of the top prestigious schools maybe um I I'm not aware of that they're smart enough to
know that that can be altered that GPA so quickly yeah usually they then go towards like the ACT SAT scores that students are scoring in those particular areas of those tests good question you don't want to take the scholarship away but do we think it's
fair to end it this year right with the school year almost over if there is somebody that has their sight set on it for the last 12 years yeah versus starting fresh next 2025 26 school year well that's where the that that's where
the we we the last time I checked we currently had four 14 kids that were within 100 of a percentage point um above a 4.0 0 4.1 like and in the past it's been toward an
unwritten rule that those students that take PSO um courses are not considered as a valid Victorian or um saludiatoran um because that's been the incentive to take courses at GFW sure
so So are those 14 not linked PSU they are so some of them are that's my point here is that so the system's flawed already yeah so it's Yeah so it's it is better to switch it now and give
everybody Yeah this recognition instead of Yes want to Yes is we have had lots of problems and arguments and issues within our office over the last
second grade that comes in and we're really we're now focusing on this you know hundreds of a point for the students right but then also our PSO students who have been taking college courses then aren't configured in that
and then are you know I not in the running for it right so when by rights they should Yes should be so yeah anybody got any other questions about it nope overdo let's get her done it's
important stuff so um Okay well then is there anyone that's going to be super disappointed if we vote this way well nobody's brought that to my attention and what we did bring it up at our last board meeting that was live and our students were here students were
here yeah and I've had conversations in um our building with our student services coordinator um Stacy Wood who deals with all of the you know transcripts and um colleges and she agrees um this is a good idea for us to
move to the system as well well then can I get a motion to approve elimination of valid valictorian and saludiatoran replace of Latin honors i'll make approve it a second
all in favor done deal um next up approve 20 2526 calendar yeah and uh so I have that on the screen as well and we can get this onto our website if it's approved tonight it's
it's what we talked about at our last meeting just a little bit uh more presentable um um design here so um essentially following our calendar as we have no
extended spring break next year because it's not a a band choir trip year um and then we have kind of the odd moving days that uh will allow staff some time to um
finish and move into their rooms when they are ready um so some days are before school starts and then some are in December before the transition for middle school high school and then the last thing that changes I believe we had nine early releases that this current
calendar and it's down to five so um and the last caveat is just um this is all assuming our project is on schedule and I getting reassured by Gross Anderson that we're we're in good
shape for what we're planning yeah we've looked at this a number of times too so um anybody got any questions on before we Okay can I get a motion to approve the 2025 26 calendar i'll make a motion
to approve it second second all in favor passes thank you for participating everybody um good conversation good uh clarifications um much needed so uh can
I get a motion to adjourn second all favor meeting is adjourned thank you