One of the consequences to having a system where uh we have more robust data on kids is that we're more keenly aware of how kids are doing. And when you're more keenly aware of how kids are doing, all of a
sudden these gaps are evidenced. If you don't have good data and you're not gathering good data on how kids are doing, then it it's likely that some of these qualifications wouldn't happen because
you you wouldn't have the basis for making those determinations or you wouldn't have the interventions in place that would sort of trigger some of those qualifications. So I think that's a part of it too is having you know sophisticated more sophisticated data
measuring means that you're measuring more uh and qualifying more. I I think that might be a hypothesis too. I don't know. >> Yeah. And my hope would be that when we're when we have that data and it's quality data that we're making responsive changes to the instruction
that we're providing and hopefully we're we're able to exit more students. Is it fair to say I again I'm thinking back to that piraphph. Is it fair to say 20 years ago that half of those
recognized things weren't even in a list potentially as >> so looking at >> you know the behavioral or whatever >> I didn't look at the breakdown but looking at the aggregate of all the students I think it was 2000 the year
2000 I went back to we had roughly half the number of students we're serving now. So, um I would anticipate Yeah, there would >> I would add a note of appreciation. You uh referenced that uh students
participated uh at halftime uh that was uh prominently featured in the local newspaper and congratulations uh these students uh bringing recognition and awareness uh to these students in this program. Very highly appreciated.
>> Yeah. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Melissa. >> That's okay. Um, so a little bit maybe on what Tom was kind of saying and
that's um, did I hear it right? It's almost a thousand students we have on IEPs. >> Yep. And that's roughly a quarter, 20% of our student base. Am I wrong on that?
>> That's accurate. >> That's that's like almost one in four students of ours are on an IEP. >> Yes. >> Okay, that's significant. Uh the another another question I have is what about
funding structures and what they look like going forward given that I believe we get a decent amount of money from the federal government on. Do we have any inkling on that? >> I had a some data. Uh so I would say a
vast majority of the funding we do get is from state aid. Um, but there are there is funding from from the federal aid. Uh, when I looked at the legislation and I want to say it was
oh maybe back in January, the different proposed uh legislation from the House and the Senate, all the bills that were being written or looked at, there was no cuts to special education. >> Great. That's good to hear.
>> Yeah. >> Uh sec second question I have are do you have a sense of how many parents actually refuse to test kids? Do we have any sense of that?
>> I don't know. I would say it's fairly infrequent, but it definitely does happen. Um yeah, I don't have any data on that. I could find out ask some questions. I was just curious because it's been mentioned in the past. So, I was just
>> and it might have been maybe it was just something that had happened that one particular time, but >> I was just curious about that. >> Um, that's that's all I can think of. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Melissa. >> Melissa, I would just add I know we're kind of running along here, but a couple
things that I would add on to that. Um, for context, the state average, I believe, is in the 17 18% area. So we run about 5% higher than state average. Um and it's typical for regional centers
to run higher than state average. Um because of the dynamics that exist, the programming kind of capacity and breadth. Um so that's pretty typical. Um I I saw the same thing as Justin at the federal level with cuts. Um, I would,
it's a good time to take the opportunity to remind everyone that this uh that special education was initiated by the federal government. The promise was made by the federal government that they would fund 40% of the costs of special
ed and they've never funded more than 20. Uh, that's put huge pressure on state governments to fund special ed. And uh our state a number of years ago created uh special education cross
subsidy aid which is intended to help fill the gap between what we spend and what it costs to educate students on IEPs. And that's been a huge uh a huge thing for school districts including ours. And it's one of the reasons if you
remember back or look back to the fiscal 24 audit or school year where you'd see an aid increase for us, it was largely due to that uh or or significant part of it was due to that. That said, uh during the last
legislative session, one of the budget solutions the state had was to uh create a task force to find $250 million in special education efficiencies and they counted that towards their budget resolution. And the
caveat to that is if they can't find those savings that will come out of special ed cross subsidy aid. So if they only come up with 50 million bucks, $200 million is going to come out of cross subsidy aid, which will affect all
school districts, but it will affect districts like ours more. Um because as a regional center, because our percentage is higher, um we need cross subsidy aid more. So uh that's why it's on our list that you're going to see uh
or consider later tonight in our legislative priorities to leave that cross subsidy aid alone. Thanks, Matt. >> Any other questions for Justin? >> Thanks, Justin. >> Thank you. Appreciate your questions. >> Thanks.
>> All right, we will uh take a brief pause uh end the open or end the work session and come back in a few minutes at the regular meeting. You're on hiccups. We are ready to get started. Just a reminder to board members, two things to
please turn your microphones on. And then also um all action items will be by roll call tonight. Thank you. >> Ready to go. >> All right. We'll call the >> mics. We'll call the uh schoolboard
meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you. The first item on the agenda tonight is approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> So moved >> by Ashley. >> Second David. >> Second by David. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. Julie, can you get a roll
call vote? >> Yes. Melissa Bar? >> Yes. >> David Marty. >> Yes. Dave. >> Dave Cowen. >> Yes. >> Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. and and Tom Gustoson. >> Yes. >> All right, the agenda is approved. Thank
you. The next item up is the Big Fork School Advisory Committee update. Kayla Scriber. Kayla. >> Same thing. Um, turn my camera on. Are you all in a room together? Is everyone online? I can't see everyone tonight.
>> We are having some uh camera difficulties here tonight. You'll be able to hear us. Sorry about that. >> Okay, that's fine. As long as you're there, I'm going to talk. Um, thank you so much for having me. I think that, um, things continued to go really well with the big fork advisory committee and it
has been my pleasure to serve on that committee and help lead it this school year. Um, I wanted to give you an update on we had been talking about a way to adjust or amend the facility fees policy so that um, our small youth groups that
were paying for space could um, have better access to the school spaces and I believe we found a workaround with going through community ed. So, we're pursuing that contingent on um, just making sure that insurance coverage is all good there. So that's been really exciting
and and folks are on board with that. Um and then the other piece I wanted to talk about this evening is we have been talking about our student experience priority with relation to academics and activities. Um in meeting with our
committee and parents and um staff and teachers, we're just learning um basically two major findings around our some especially our um high school classes and enrollment which is something we all have been thinking about is making sure our enrollment is
everything it can be and um wanting to make sure that families have all the information so that they can sign up for classes and um enroll in Big Fork school. And so we've found kind of two things is um one a lot of a lot of families, a lot of parents don't know
about the options that um there are for secondary classes at Big Fork school besides the inerson classes, some of the cool things that we have like internships and online courses. Um there just hasn't been effective communication and outreach about those. And so that's
when we see a lot of our student some students going to the um PSO and and other things or homeschooling because um they're just not aware of what Big Fork school is offering. And then the other thing is that we do realize that just looking at the classes that are offered
in person and our building, it's really fewer than any other school in the area, any in our school district, any in the surrounding schools. And so just kind of wrestling with um what can we really promote as strengths, as unique
opportunities, and then how do we try to um keep the school culture and experience really valuable so that um students still want to enroll in Big Fork school and be a part of our school without some of the the classes that are
offered in in other um buildings. So, that's what we have been working on and thinking about, you know, the next school year and um trying to get our enrollment up a little bit. Does anyone have questions for me? >> Thank uh Kayla, it's uh David Marty.
Thank you. Uh interesting presentation. You identified uh a situation that parents and students are not necessarily aware of the opportunities that they have and this might be a communication problem. Mhm. >> Uh I would wholeheartedly agree with
you. What's the solution? What can we do about that? >> Thank you. Uh we've talked about a few different things. I understand that um Grand Rapids School has a model where they have kind of an open house and invite folks in and talk about, you know, go through some of the classes that are off and go through the course
catalog for the next year. Right now, we've had varied success with that kind of like in person, but we are talking about doing an event. So I always think about when you like best practice for communications, you need to try three or four different kinds of outreach. So you know phone call, email, in person,
flyer, try to do a few different ways of reaching people. And I think we got a good plan together for that at our last meeting. Um but really, you know, trying to flesh out some clear communication objectives and how we want to do outreach so that that information gets
out. One of the things this committee has spent a lot of time on is communications and learning that parents and families. It's very inconsistent how they're communicated with and how they're getting their in information. Um and so uh that's kind of been um sort of
an undercurtain everything that we're tackling this year. Um so we're hoping with the the course catalog and enrollment for next year we can have a really targeted uh approach on that. >> Thank you. Any other questions for
Kayla? >> Kayla, this is Ashley Goodman. Um, you mentioned that there are just kind of a there's different methods of communication that are kind of inconsistent with your families up
there. Um are you finding that there's more inconsistency with like um possible online communications um or is there is there any particular is there one method over another that you're finding is a little bit more difficult
to reach families like just meaning that online might not be accessible or as accessible to most families in that general area. So, are you finding that those might be the families that are um not getting as as much communication as
they could be if that were the case? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we talked about that and we talked about how there's um like there's not one website that everybody goes to to get information and sometimes it's an email and sometimes it might be um a paper letter home and um sometimes it
might be um a lot of our communications are done actually through a a Facebook uh website which is where most people get most of their information um the most up-to-date announcements um and um flyers and
things and so it would be really nice to do a survey and figure out like oh you know for real where are people getting their information what's most effective we don't have any plans to do that but we know just anecdotally um from the number of parents that we have and our um relationship with the PTA that um
some people check email and like you said some people don't and some people might not have um consistent access to internet so it really need to be like a a triple method in terms of doing that outreach Kayla, this is Dave Cowen. Um I think Matt, do you recall when we were doing
the forward um one of the first forward meetings, we had the survey and they talked about the I think the largest source of information was friends and family. Is that correct? >> Uh and so I think that's interesting, Kayla, as you think about we had some big for uh folks here as well during
that session. And I think that's interesting to know is somebody knows >> and they tell somebody else. Yeah, I always I got I got my text phone tree that I always like my set of families that we always each other when we hear about things. So, absolutely. Yeah.
>> I just think that's interesting as you think about the communication strategy. It's interesting to know that still the biggest source of information is from other people. >> So, Oh, I agree. >> Any other questions for Kayla?
>> Thank you for the time this evening. >> Thanks, Kayla. Have a nice night. All right. The next item is principal report from Kohasa Elementary. Ryan Seagley. >> Good evening. Thanks for allowing me a few minutes to come and talk about Cohasset a little bit. Uh my name is
Ryan Sigley. I'm the proud principal of Cohasset. And uh really honestly um the word proud is always what comes to mind when I think about the the awesome responsibility of of uh being a part of Cohasset. Um and that's it really is
maybe not enough to talk about the the great things that I think are going on around that school. Um I got a phone call from a parent about a week and a half ago and um and they're like they just said I just wanted to just tell you thank you and okay. Yeah. what what's
what's up? And uh they said, "Well, my my kiddo came home with a reading passage I can read." This first time I've ever heard my kid read. It was our one of our little kindergarteners. And um I would say, "Isn't that what it's all about?" And uh how how pumped up
that that parent was uh to be hearing their kid read for the very first time. Um it should give you goosebumps and it seems magical. And uh really what it what it boils down to is not magic. It's actually like a lot of hard work and um
it's thoughtful. It's deliberate steps. It's the things that um our staff are doing on a weekly basis, on a daily basis, and honestly on a minute-by-minute basis. Um it's intentional, it's planned, and uh and I just I see a lot of a lot of positive
things like that happening uh every day. And that's just one story of of the 304 305 students that we have in our in our school. Um it all starts at at the tier one level and uh that's what I'm going
to talk about a little bit today. Uh at the beginning of the school year, our building leadership team uh put together a few goals. One of those goals was to execute highfidelity implementation of wit and wisdom. And I'm sure you've heard that goal from other school buildings as well. and it's important.
Uh we want to be stewards of our resources and so uh we we've we've raised the bar with our wit and wisdom instruction this year. One of the things that we've talked a lot about at our schools, trust in the process and uh our behaviors or our implementation
um outcomes come from those things and when we have outcomes they in influence our beliefs and so uh we have seen some positive outcomes from strong implementation of of wit and wisdom. Uh right now uh from our fall to our winter
screening, we had every single grade level uh grew in achie achievement in reading. Uh in fact, one of ours was as high as 16 one of our grade levels as high as 16% um increase in achievement. And so it's just really really good stuff. Um we see
we see a lot of the actions that we're doing then result into the student outcomes. One of the ways that we monitor uh teacher actions, the way that we're using our resources is through walkth through data. And so I spend a lot of time in classrooms and uh we talk
about goals that we have within our instruction. And then uh I'll collect data on that and bring that back to the staff and share both quantitative and qualitative data. Uh just recently we finished off uh a walkthrough cycle that
looked at teachers adhering to the pacing recommendations that are given through Witten Wisdom and also the way that we're using materials to maximize student learning time. And uh we had 100% of teachers were adhering to the pacing that uh we've talked about and
we've been planning and preparing for. uh and 100% of our classrooms also were using materials in ways that were organized um that used visuals and instructional aids and prepared in areas that were we're very strong to help adhere to the student learning goals.
And so a lot of those walkthroughs then we bring back we talk about as a staff what can we improve what can we be proud of and then we move on. Another goal that we've set over the course of the year is to execute highfidelity implementation of UFly across our K3
classrooms and outcomes for that. Again, student outcomes uh we have seen a reduction in the number of students that are receiving tier 2 supports from fall to winter. And in fact, it was really exciting. It allowed us to provide more tier 2 math supports, something that we
want to continue to add uh as we move forward. Another piece to this that I mentioned at the beginning is that we have readers. And when you walk into classrooms, uh you see students K through three using connected text.
They're learning how to read and read fluently. uh you go all the way down to a kindergarten room and those kindergarteners have complex difficult text in front of them and they're they're learning how how to approach those texts, how to read those texts, how to attack them if they don't understand, how to read them, how to
decode them and it's been really really a positive thing. Um we uh we've also we also at our school we believe uh wholeheartedly that having a positive and a healthy and a supportive learning environment um really
improves and helps our students well-being and their academic growth. So, we take a lot of pride in the way that our school feels and uh that that can come in ways of uh qualitative again uh experiences of what it feels like when we walk down the hallway to the
quantitative stuff like how many office discipline referrals do we have? What's our Sabers data tell us? Currently, we have 93% of our students uh in our school that have received three or less office discipline referrals. That's a big deal. Uh we we're really proud of of
that and a lot of that comes from proactive approaches, the things that are happening to help support kids to to a place where they don't end up in the office. Um a few of those proactive targeted supports. Our student support specialist right now uh has tier 2
groups going in supporting about 20% of our student population. So, not all of those students have office discipline referrals, but uh those students are ones that have been identified through sabers or teacher data that um that tell us that they could use a little extra
support. And so, we we do that. Uh our PBIS initiatives have also been really successful. We're really proud of the the way that uh that we've used PBIS in our school, following those four school rules of being respectful, responsible, safe, and kind. four words that you've
all of us have heard in our community and have become ingrained in our community. It's something that we say over our announcements every day and uh kids can can recite that. We have quarterly rec quarterly assemblies that we celebrate the great work that students are doing. Something that we
just unveiled with staff today as a PBIS team was something we're calling calling our unsung heroes. And uh we have a lot a lot of kids that are doing the right thing every single day and they're not being asked to do it and they're just doing it and we want to make sure that
we're recognizing them. So um staff are on board. We're writing note cards to kids that are that are killing it in a lot of different ways and we're going to be be recognizing them over time and we wanted to make sure that was part of our system that it was this recognition was something that that uh kids could see
and and as staff we're thinking about. Uh I mentioned last time I was here that we have a program with our our older our fifth grade students, some of our leaders and we call them our trailblazers. right now they're meeting about every other week and uh they're working with a staff member developing
their leadership skills and so uh that might look different depending on the week but it's something that we're we're really proud of as well. So overall uh I couldn't be more proud of where we're at as a school. couple of things that we're looking up or looking forward to
particularly this week. It's winter fun day this week and so we have uh two different different days set aside where uh grade levels will be heading over to the Forest History Center to enjoy some winter fun. Hopefully there's enough
snow to uh to enjoy, but we're we're heading over there anyways. On Friday, we're celebrating ReadAcross America week with some pajamas and a hat day. Uh and then lastly, the thing that probably has been maybe most enthusiastic lately
is we actually have some full weeks of school ahead of us and and uh this is prime time for student learning and uh we see a ton of growth over the course of the these next few weeks and there's not a ton of interruptions and so we're excited about that. So all in all, it's
been a great uh great uh second half or kind of part of the year and uh we can't wait for for the rest of it. Any questions? I've always got questions. I apologize. >> Um, you mentioned unsung heroes. I was really I really happy to hear about that,
right? I just recently read an article I think it was in the Hibbing Tribune or one of them about I think it was in Hibbing that they had implemented that. Sounds like a great program. I mean really we we you know we often forget about things that kids are doing that we
just don't recognize and are and is right you know and I'm glad I'm glad we're doing that. Um you mentioned the trailblazers. Um what what grades you typically have participated? >> It's been our fifth graders this year.
This is the first year we've done it and it's morphed and it's the needs have changed throughout the year. the beginning of the year, they were helping our kindergarteners get down the long hallway and and help them feel kind of safe and they were checking in with our substitute teachers in the morning to make sure they had everything they
needed. Uh, and those two needs uh have shifted a little bit and so now it's it's a little bit more about um uh bringing those kids in and teaching them some skills that they can use to help kind of influence their peers. So, it's it's been really interesting. It's been
a fun little project. How how many students do you have participating? Yeah, that's a great question. >> How do you identify students for that or how >> Yeah, so identification has been has come in a lot of different ways. Uh whether it's from teachers, it's myself,
our student support specialist. We've had some parents reach out asking if kids a kid could be a part of it. And then we've had kids reach out too and and say, you know, I I kind of want to do this. And uh it it has it's certainly not an exclusive group, but the the size
has ebbed and flowed as well. We probably have about 10 that that have been consistently a part of it. At the beginning, we maybe started with six and went up to 12 or 14. And so it's it's changed and depending on the need, it's changed as well. So another example, we
have a couple just a couple of kids that will go down and help our kindergarteners uh use their PBIS points every couple of weeks. And we don't need, you know, 14 kids to go down and help with that. So there's just a few. So it just it kind of just depends on the need.
>> So how so as it changes here, do you do you like how does that select? I'm trying to envision how that is that you do these kids get together as a group every once in a while and talk about what they should you know do they kind
of participate in a pure session of how they can help other students or how >> Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like right now. Uh earlier in the year it didn't look like that, but uh right now it's kind of this little group and they'll sit around the sit around the table and talk about a leadership skill.
And so uh you know I have a I anticipate it's going to look different again and uh and that's good. We want it to kind of eb and flow depending on the needs of the building and if needs come up we'll we'll make some changes. It's just a to me it's a really a unique way to to get
some of our kids involved. Um you know we always want to make sure we do that and back to the unsung heroes thing. I think that's you, we just have so many incredible students that, you know, they're always doing the right thing and and uh we take advantage of that and sometimes it's good to to be able to
just recognize uh that they've got these amazing talents and skills that we can tap into, make our place better. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> I had one for you, Ryan. Uh you mentioned the quarterly assembly. uh is
that something that uh we could potentially participate in or come and not participate just observe. >> Yeah, if you want to participate, you're welcome to participate as well. >> I'd love to. >> Yeah, I that would be great. We would love that. Uh so we, you know, quarter 3
is wrapping up here pretty pretty quickly and I can send you out the date and time. We haven't set it yet, but um it's usually leading right up to the end of the quarter, right at the beginning of that next quarter. It's uh it's just a great feelood way to
to celebrate uh good things happening. And this year has been uh interesting is there typically typically every assembly we've had, we put together a little skit and uh whether it's kids or staff members, they dress up and and uh share
like a a type of something that we're we're emphasizing. So whether it's being respectful or responsible, this this next next one will all be all about being safe and uh so we we'll have some some unique characters show up uh during those assemblies and the kids think it's
kind of funny. So >> yeah, please send those out. >> Yeah, I'd love to do that. >> Any other questions? Thanks. All right, thank you. report. >> All right. The next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the February 9th,
>> 2026 regular school board meeting. Do I have a motion? >> So moved, Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. Second. >> Second by David. >> Second by David. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. Julie, can I get a roll call, though? Certainly.
>> Certainly. David Marty, >> yes. >> Dave Colin, >> yes. >> Ashley Goodman, >> Tom Gustoson, >> yes. >> Melissa Bar, >> yes. >> The minutes of the February 9th, 2026 regular school board meeting are approved.
>> The next item is to approve a revised December 2026 claims. Uh the new amount is 7,652,172.97. And the reason for the revision is that the retirey health insurance trust expense was not available at that time
due to the transition to the Blue Cross Blue Shield program. >> Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second David. >> Second by David. Any discussion?
>> Hearing none. Can I get a roll call vote? Julie. >> Dave Cowen. >> Yes. Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. >> Tom Gustoson. >> Yes. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> And David Marty. >> Yes. >> All right. The revised 2020 December
2026 claims are approved. Thank you. The next item is to approve January 2026 claims in the amount of 13,100,2647. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Oh, Melissa was going to second by Melissa.
>> Second by Melissa. Any discussion? >> Um, I just appreciated the clarifications on that. And I really am looking forward to the the format that we're expanding to here on that. So,
>> okay. Julie, can you get a roll call vote? >> Ashley Goodman. Yes. Tom Gustoson, >> yes. >> Melissa Bar, >> yes. >> David Marty, >> yes. >> And Dave Cohen, >> yes. >> All right. The January 2026 claims are
approved. >> Next item is to approve the consent agenda. Do >> I have a motion to approve? >> Motion by Tom. >> Tom. Second. >> Second by Ashley. >> Second by Ashley. There's no discussion. Julie.
Tom Gustoson. >> Yes. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> David Marty. >> Yes. >> Dave Collin. >> Yes. >> And Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. >> Right. The consent agenda is approved. Thank you. The next item is to approve
the 2025 to 2027 Indian Education Coordinator Contract. Casey. >> Good evening. Board. Before you, you have a red line and a clean copy of the 2527 Indian Ed Coordinator contract. The key settlement includes a 1% increase
for 2526, 2.25% increase for 2627, an updated longevity scheduled to match the other units, an increase of one sick day,
an increase in the flex time cap, and adding some language to allow 150 hours of additional work. This was already happening, just including that in the contract. I'm recommending approval of the Indian ed coordinator contract for 257.
>> So move David. >> Moved by David. Second. >> Second by Ashley. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. Julieissa. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> David Marty. >> Yes. >> Dave Cowen. >> Yes.
>> Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. And Tom Gustoson. >> Yes. >> Right. The 2025 2027 Indian Education Coordinator contract is approved. Thank you, Casey. Next item is to approve permission to post Grand Rapids Area Virtual Academy special education
teacher. Mr. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, as you can see in the administrative report, uh, you know, we've we've exceeded our enrollment goal for Graa. Uh, as you'd expect, um, some of the students that
are enrolled in Graa are students on IEPs. In our case, at this point, there's 24. Those students are being served currently by our virtual provider as well as a contractor, uh, an individual who's being contracted
to provide those services. It will be uh, beneficial to our students in the future to have our own teacher providing those services. is it'll be more efficient. Uh the position is built into the budget
that you've been operating on uh under the assumptions of so far for fiscal 27. Uh so it's already in there and the cost really will be I think at best neutral. Uh contracting services is expensive. Um
and so I think this is going to be more efficient because we will get reimbursed for these uh for these costs. I'd recommend approval. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So move David.
>> Moved by David. Second. >> Second. Melissa. >> Second by Melissa. Any discussion. >> Matt. Matt. When can you comment on our percentage ratio? Let's say you you mentioned 24 students in that's kind of a higher
ratio. >> Yes. It's about a third >> instead of more like 22%. >> Yep. It's about a third. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. And we're currently just contracting all of that. >> Y >> um is there any concern now that now the
curriculum through Graa is really different than our in-house curriculum? Correct. Of a better term. Is that of any concern for us when we look at this or you know >> I think I think because this person will
be focused on online they'll also become very familiar with the platform and the curriculum that I imagine ingenuity has. So I think that'll help >> and and so imagine has they have packages that allow for this
IE, you know, because usually in the IEP you see there's a special need for more focus on something. So they offer like addin packages for the training then or how would that be? I guess I'm trying to
envision the an actual intervent is I don't know if intervention is the right term but how an action plan would actually implemented. Um so I think you know if you think about what a might have in it uh ideally uh and by
law actually we're required to provide the least restrictive environment and that means that if a if a student on IEP can attend a classroom like everyone else that's what they have to do. Um and
then assistance comes on maybe making some modifications. So maybe modifying the curriculum so that they can access it uh differently. So the the uh our students on IEPs that are in gravo in most cases in many cases for sure but
probably most will have regular ed teachers that they'll be working with as well. This teacher will be working alongside them just like they would at the high school or the middle school or the elementaryaries. Working alongside regular ed teachers to make sure that if the student needs
additional you know language support that that's being provided. If they need modifications on assignments that's being provided. If they need speech services that those are being arranged. Um and then a part of it is also case
managing. So managing that IEP process that Justin talked about. U that's kind of the second half of the of the work. Justin, would you add anything to that or >> No, I feel like I just think it's
important that understanding that special education teacher is really there to focus on and making sure that there's that access to those general education.
There's a there's a method that a provider gives us like what are the accommodations that request so just making sure that those genes that we're using are accessible to
students. So, so one of the things I kind of heard is the the state almost requires face to face if possible on some of this did. >> Well, not face to face. They require the least restrictive advice. >> Yeah, that's the term. Okay.
>> Yep. >> So really when we're outsourcing that how do they it's very difficult for them to achieve that wouldn't it be or >> Well, it's not necessarily I mean it's not face to face like the face to face is a requirement. It's if they're online, the least restrictive
environment would be to be interfacing with a regular ed teacher just like any other student. That would be least restrictive. >> Mo the most restrictive would be that they're never interfacing with their
online teacher or curriculum like they get everything separate. Like they're only working with their special ed teacher. that would be a very restrictive environment if they're only working with their special ed teacher. So yeah, >> thank you. I misunderstood.
>> I I you know an analogy in a in a in our face toface or our brick andmortar classrooms uh would be we have some students that are uh in their regular ed classrooms all day long. They have very little support. if they have if they
have a need, they see their special ed teacher, but it's very very little. We have some students that um might be pulled out of their regular ed classrooms from time to time when they need homework help or something like that. They might be in the regular ed
classroom some, special ed classroom, some that would be that would be more restrictive, right? And then on the other end of the continuum, same thing. Kids that might be in a program that's separate or more separate most of
the day. >> Yeah, that helps. I I was really misapplying the most least restrictive what the definition of that was. >> Okay, >> thank you. >> Any further discussion?
>> Hearing none. Julie, >> David, >> David Marty, >> yes. >> Dave Cohen, yes. >> Ashley Goodman, yes. Tom Gustiffsonar. >> Yes. >> All right. The uh permission to post the grava special education teacher is
approved. Thank you. The next item is to approve the memorandum of understanding regarding stipen and salary on the superintendent and human resources director for the 25 to 27 contracts. And that's an administrative report from
myself. Uh the 2025 2026 and the 2026 2027 contracts for the superintendent and HR director were settled prior to other district employee contracts. Their current contract language states no salary increases for either year of the
contract 25 to 26 and 26 to 27 which is not consistent with the remainder of the district contracts. to provide consistency and ensure all employees receive comparable increases. I recommend approval of thisou.
Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. Second. >> Second David. >> Second by David. Any discussion? >> Um I I have a lot of concerns with this myself and I I just I guess the first
question I ask myself. I mean, I first first of all, anything I'm saying here is not reflective on these individuals performance at all. I think they've done a great job. Um, I'm not trying to insinuate any concerns about performance
by what I'm saying. But, but my biggest concern comes in is if we had another negotiating group, would we be doing this same thing with them? And are we opening this up for discussion every time? I mean, because because there's
there's no saying that another negotiating group wouldn't have been the first ones to have. It takes away our ability to have negotiations with individual groups and it's trying to put everybody on the same par. And I think it's I think it's
really a mistake, sets a precedent for our district. I'm you know I appreciate the effort they have done. I think we have contracts coming up in another couple years and we can we can this will
be part of the discussion with those groups at that time. Um so I I can't support this myself. So and I think we really need to think about it. >> Thanks Tom. >> Any other discussion?
This is Melissa >> and we're I so I would share Tom's concern on one level if this was the only time they took zero but these two contracts have taken zero and zero
because of the situation for which they were in before and they are their own negotiating units and so I feel like when you do land management and those first ones that settle can sometimes times gets, for lack of a better word,
screwed because they settle first and then the hold outs get more money. And we try not to do that in practice. And so given that this is the second contract for which they've taken a significant cut compared to everybody
else, we can't make them whole after six years. So I just I'm going to vote with it. Although I do share concerns around do we open this up with other units, but I think for me it's because this is two contracts in a row and we and no other
unit has taken zero and zero. >> Thank you, Melissa. >> Agreed. >> Any further discussion? >> All right, hearing none. Julie, >> Dave Collin, >> yes. >> Ashley Goodman, >> yes. >> Tom Gustin,
>> no. >> Melissa Bar, >> yes. >> And David Marty, >> yes. >> Okay. The uh memorandum of understanding regarding the stipen and salary on the superintendent and human resources director for 2025 2027 contracts is
approved. Thank you. >> The next item on the agenda is to approve the 2026 legislative priorities. Mr. consumer attendant. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, in your packet, uh, it's, uh, I included a a draft, I guess,
or a proposal for some legislative priorities for our school district for you to review. It's been typical for us to do this uh to identify items that we specifically believe are important to our school district part uh
in part for our own advocacy, but also so our staff and community know how to help because I get that question often in the community. How can we help? And one of the ways that I believe that our community can help is to advocate for
school districts in general, but ours particularly. Um item number one is maintaining the hold harmless provision for compensatory revenue. Uh the complete document that you have and that will be available online on our website goes through
details how it affects our particular district. uh if this were if this hold harmless provision were to be uh were to stay uh were to not come into place uh it's set to expire or if the current law maybe a better way to say it is if the
current law continues as is um our uh estimates based on MD's latest run would be a loss of more than 1.2 2 million which obviously is significant. Um and that's not a result of less kids
with needs. It's simply the result of the state changing the formula in how kids are counted. So extending that whole harmless provision is important. There is a task force studying this working on this right now. It just makes sense to me that they at least wait till
that task force has provided recommendations. The second one we've talked about for the last three years I believe here and that's the seasonal recreational property tax base replacement aid bill. This is bipartisan. Senator Housechild
and Representative Igel have authored this in the past. Uh it sets out to remedy a tax code change from 2003 that excluded seasonal rec property from the tax base used for school operating
levies. This would increase any revenue for our district currently. It wouldn't increase taxes for seasonal rec property owners ever. It would just redirect those taxes to our school district if we
had an operating referendum in place. The third one is to maintain the inflationary increase to the per pupil formula. That was something that uh many organizations fought for a long time to put back in place. Again, this was
eliminated in 2003. And by disconnecting our formula from inflation back then, uh it's resulted in $5.2 million uh an estimate uh in revenue. And so having this
automatically index with inflation, there is boundaries around it, which there weren't previously, but there are in the current law. There are boundaries of 2% and 3%. uh having that indexed would help that formula automatically increase with inflation so that if there
weren't other increases on the formula like last year and probably this year there's at least an inflationary adjustment. My concern is that as the state deals with its budgetary problems, they'll look to do that uh by revoking that.
Four, I mentioned already opposing reductions to cross subsidy aid. If that task force uh can't come up with $250 million, current law says that that $250 million or that margin needs to come from cross subsidy and that will affect
us disproportionately here. And so that's significant. Uh we've had summer unemployment number five on our list uh since it's since it came around. And um this is a uh a
change that happened when schoolter term employees were granted unemployment benefits uh without it being funded by the state permanently. And uh what we've advocated for previously is that that's funded by the state or it's revoked
because eventually that bill will come to our school district. Finally, um increase school safety funding. There is a funding revenue source or a funding
source in uh uh in the state called safe schools revenue. It's made up of some levy, some aid, and it's been over a decade since that was increased. And unfortunately in Minnesota, the only
time this gets talked about is after a tragedy that involves children. And uh it's high time that this gets addressed. This funding is what we used to pay for our SRO from. It could also be used to
pay for counselors or nurses. It can be used to pay for cameras. It can be used to pay pay for uh window film. It can be used to pay for many many things. And those things are decided locally. So each school district gets to identify
what its biggest needs are when it comes to student safety and invest there. So uh it's long overdue. U there are some bills that are getting some traction in the legislature and I think it would make a big difference for our school district. Those are the six that um I
have our list I have in our list taking a look at what where we've been in the past. Uh and also just considering the current landscape. Uh we can add more if there are other ones that uh the board would like to consider. U this is the list preliminary list that I'm bringing
forward. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Do I have a motion to approve the 2026 legislative priorities? >> So moved. David. Moved by David. Second. >> Yep. Second, Ashley. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion? Any
items to add or remove? >> Well, I guess I guess one of my concerns when we look at this is um you know, in the time I've been involved in the district, I've heard a lot about mandates costing us a lot and being
unfunded, right? um you know and the and the all indicators I get in talking to people are it's going to be hard to get money right the state you know and we hear about fraud daily now right you know
people aren't really looking to open up purses right now and start handing out money um I I really I really would like to see our t being more what are the things that are what have been brought in that are costing us
money and should we be looking at trying to get some of that pulled back some, you know, I mean, and I don't know what those are. You know, I I'm I'm asking the staff that, right, because I don't know what's costing our district money
and what what the state's mandating us to do. And and if it if it's a very worthwhile thing, you know, I have no problem with it. But if we're doing things that are would be better spent in the classroom with kids, I think we should be pushing
back on on that stuff rather than asking for funds on it because I don't know that we're going to be successful with that. Um, and that's one thing I guess I'd like to, you know, I'd really, you know, when we look at our when we look at our
our summer unemployment, right? you know, we talk about fund it or pay it back. You know, >> that's a manding. >> I I mean, there should be no summer unemployment. I it's, you know, and that's my own personal opinion, right?
But I I mean, you know, we're giving a choice there. And and I think we need to look at some of these mandates that have done a lot of undue expense on us and say we need to ask the legislature to revisit this and let them know what what
it means for us. Uh rather than telling us, hand us more money because I just don't know that we're going to have success with that. >> Well, I think I mean just to that point, the first two aren't about giving us more money. Yeah, the, you know, number
one is just leave it alone. Uh, or go back to the way it was, you know. Yeah. So, that's not a budget increase to the state. Uh, two is is, you know, that that one would be, uh, but a small a small part in the tax bill. Um, so a lot
of these are just kind of leave things alone, maintain the inflationary that leave it alone, you know. >> Well, but even the in if we talk about inflationary, we're going to have a hard time getting that right now. I think just the with what's going on. I mean,
it only makes sense. >> It's crazy that it's not part of it. I agree. But I don't know that we're going to have any leverage to get legislation passed from that standpoint. I'm really concerned about >> Yeah. >> I mean, I you know, you know,
I I in no way am >> Yeah. >> these points. >> Yeah. I'm just saying I don't know that they're going to be effective is where my concern comes. >> I don't know how much we'll be able to have success at this and maybe we should
be looking back. I continuously hear that things have been pushed down on us and and I'll be frank honest. I don't know what those are, you know, but if there are things that we're doing, I think about the AEDs, you know, that
they got added and there's a real cost to those, right? And and I can only use that as an example because I've been here for that to to see that come through, right? Um but but that's all I've heard for a number of years and and
I would love to hear from our principles or whomever how much administrative All I hear is we have a ton more administrative effort that happens. >> Can we define something and identify
something within that that is just >> potentially lowhanging fruit >> for legislation? >> I don't know. And I'm asking >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I can look at the list. I think the most expensive ones are the hardest ones to sort of unwind, right? Like the
Reed Act was a big one, >> huge mandate. I >> think it like on principle it was good, but it was money the state decided to spend in a particular way to mandate. >> No re there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube, right? Like that
toothpaste is already out of the tube. Um so I understand what you're saying. We can revisit that mandate list. I think uh one of the ed organizations has a list um to try to quantify that. >> Yeah. And I and that's all I'm asking. I I >> you know, but that's all I can say is
continuously I've heard that, right? And I'm going, well, why aren't we talking about it? >> Yeah. I mean, I I do think I I do feel very strongly that number one on our list is very attainable. >> And it's Yes, >> I do feel that's very attainable because
that isn't that's a net neutral for the state. There's a target money that they have to spend. This is just about the formula they're using. Yeah. Yeah. It's just who who gets it. >> It doesn't change a pie. It just changes where the pie gets distributed. >> Yeah. And I think that's affected enough
districts that there's a lot of talk about it. >> Well, and not only that, but they've formed a committee to >> look at sover it subverts what they're doing to do it. Right. >> Anyways, I'm
Melissa, did you have a comment? Um yeah, I would just say it's a policy year, not a budget year. And so everything that's being carried clearly has a fiscal note to it. Um fiscal neutral like the first like
um some of the tax pieces that you've said are great, but uh the problem last year was really came down to how was the rest of the state going to fill that gap? um and they don't know and our fiscal budget looks better than we thought it
was going to look. Um although with some of what's happening with the fraud and then um federal reimbursements, there's some questions there that I think the budget office has to figure out. Um but it is a policy year, not a budget
year. Uh the budget was passed last year. So unless it's a policy that really has uh no fiscal impact or it's a bond, uh there's talk of bonding, which we haven't been able to do for a few years now. So, uh I just think
create good policy uh priorities but uh manage expectations because this year's fast and furious and there are a lot of hot topics that are members are attacking uh one of them being fraud. You know, fraud, immigration, gun
control, those I mean out of six weeks those take up a few. So, we're going to get lucky to get hearings. Thanks, Melissa. >> Mr. Chair, um I find these uh uh items are all very consistent with the uh
position of the Minnesota uh schoolboard association uh and our um our proposed legislative agenda is very consistent with that. Uh and uh I would not want to expand it beyond this. I think we need
to keep it short and brief and work on things that are attainable and these I think are uh that >> Mr. Mr. Chair, the one the one caveat I would add and this is sort of playing out in real time. Uh there is a bill
that's working its way uh it's been introduced in the Senate uh that would and it comes out of a working group that was formed to investigate or study how the permanent
school trust fund land uh the trust was administered and funds were distributed and essentially uh that group determined that the mechanism that was being used to distribute funds was
um um not as substantial as it could have been or outdated. And um they're proposing a different mechanism for spending funds or drawing down that fund, not drawing
down, accessing those funds which distributes um revenue to all schools. and to do so in a way that maintains the um endowment for lack of a better term corpus. So
that's a bill for us to watch that would require a constitutional uh amendment >> uh because it's in the constitution and so that bill essentially would propose a constitutional amendment. So that's and it's not a simple thing to explain to
people in the polls. Um but it would be a significant uh it would be a a no cost thing to the state. Um it would and it would give revenue to schools from a fund that was set aside to do that very thing. So
that's one that I think you might hear me talk about again. Any other discussion? >> All right, Julie, can we get a roll call vote? >> Certainly. >> Ashley Goodman. Yes. >> Tom Gustiffson.
>> Yeah. >> Melissa. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> David Marty. >> Yes. >> And Dave Cowen. >> Yes. >> All right. The 2026 legislative priorities as listed has been approved. The next item is to approve the first
state bank of Big Fork account authorized owners and signers. Alex, are you talking about this or do you want me to >> again? Changes. >> Okay. >> I believe >> and this is an existing account, >> correct?
>> Yeah. It's uh due to outdated signers on the accounts, necessary to update the authorized owners and signers for the accounts at First A First State Bank of Big Fork. Um this would remove Scott Patro, Colleen Schustman, and Pat Gogan and add Ken
Coer, Joanne Jorgensson, and Alex Kaser as authorized signers. And the same thing for the Big Fork High School Activity Fund at the same bank. Is that correct? >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So move David. >> Move by David.
>> Second. >> Second Ashley. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion? >> Do do we review these once? Well, it seemed like it might have got a little outdated on us on this one or something. >> Just asking. It must fell through the
crack somewhere. Huh. >> Between that. >> Okay. Any further discussion? >> All right, Julie, can I get a roll call vote? >> Tom Gustoson.
>> Yes. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> David Marty. >> Yes. >> Dave Colin. >> Yes. >> And Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. >> All right. The account authorized owner signers change is approved.
>> Next item is to approve the Grand Rapids High School and Big Fork High School 2027 graduation dates. Mr. Superintendent, >> generally these are included when we do our calendar. Uh they weren't quite ready yet and so
we moved ahead with the calendar to get that out there sooner. uh after taking a look at how Memorial Day falls in June and then to the school year, the uh respective administrations are proposing
Friday, Saturday, which is typical June 4th, June 5th. I'd recommend approval. >> All right. Do I have a motion? >> So moved, Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. Second. >> Second. >> Second by Tom. Any discussion? >> Quick question. Um there's only going to
be two board members um at the Big Fork graduation, correct? And the Grand Rapids graduation. >> Uh I think typically that's what we assigned >> officially. Yeah, they if we had two up there ones in the stands. It's not it's not a meeting. >> That's what my question was because I
would I would like to attend the big Ford graduation. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't breaking any no >> open meeting laws. So Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> Any further discussion? Julie, can you get a roll call vote? >> Melissa Bar, >> yes.
>> David Marty, >> yes. >> Dave Cowen, >> yes. >> Ashley Goodman, >> yes. And Tom Gustiffson, >> yes. >> All right, the graduation dates are approved. Thank you. The next item is board reports. We'll start with Aaron and Eva. Um, it's been a really,
um, words. Um, exciting, um, couple weeks for sports. Um, the playoff seasons. Um, girls hockey um, had a strong go, but
they, um, got knocked out in section finals. Um, boys hockey plays on Thursday in state quarterfinals against Rosemont at Grand Casino Arena. Um, girls basketball had their last game on Wednesday against Hermantown.
Um, boys basketball has the section quarterfinal game at home uh against North Branch on Wednesday. Um, boys swim and dive had state last weekend and placed eighth overall, which is the their highest finish since 2006. Um the
medley relay placed third and had several other or they had several notable individual performances um like fourth in the 100 breast, ninth and 10th in diving and then 14th in the 100 fly and 50 free. Um wrestling had boys and
girls state last weekend with Christian Jelly winning the championship and Dustin Skellyy getting fifth. Um and then Bennett Williams made an appearance at state for Nordic skiing. Um then spring sports will be starting up here
in the next month um with baseball, softball, boys and girls lacrosse, track and field, boys tennis and trap shooting. Um and then new this year um girls flag football um is being funded by the Minnesota Vikings.
>> And then um for clubs, so student council has a meeting on Wednesday. We're getting ready for spring fling. So, just like that fun week before prom and just kind of discussing some events we're going to do in March. Um, Key Club
has a meeting tomorrow and we're going to decide all of our volunteer events for March. I know there's some talk of a something new. I've been talking with my advisers, so hopefully that can go through and we'll do something with women's history. And then math team had a strong season
this year. They had their final meet last month and they won their division. And then for band, pet band will be going to the arena on Thursday and playing at the state hockey game. >> Okay. >> Um been a while.
>> So I know we had a meeting since then, but I was able to go to the RJM science fair and I was able to walk through that when we had that with end of January there, but I hadn't been around. So um that was interesting. It was entertaining. I saw
um I commented to David that I saw people in suits and the whole works there. I was pretty impressed with with some of the displays there. Um uh the last couple staff development and facility steering committee meetings had
been cancelled. So I didn't have anything to do with that. And uh and I was out of town unfortunately for the for the last board meeting and and uh the last big forget advisory committee. But back at her. Thank you. >> Special note of thanks and appreciation
to Aaron and Eva for uh really great reports. Uh Erin, I don't know how long you can go on with all these great great stories. I had a suggestion that since uh boys hockey team is playing Thursday that we should dismiss school for the day. >> Is it too late to do that?
>> It's not on the Unfortunately, it's not on the agenda, David. >> Ah, shoot. >> I'm going to be one of two in my English class. So, I'm going to say the amount of children that will actually >> I I would say that if we we did that, we would need to make up days because of our two snow days. So, let's just we got
slow the roll. >> Uh student of the month uh was recognized at the high school last Friday. What a great event uh to select students and honor them not strictly for their academic background or for their
athletic background but because of the quality of student that they are. Uh and every month the high school recognizes about 10 students u and it was really particularly uh incredible. Uh Dave and Ashley were both there uh at that
meeting as well. Uh and we've been keeping Matt busy. Matt was at the Rotary Club this past week uh to talk about uh the agenda or I'm sorry the uh uh financial situation that we find ourselves uh in which is a much improved
financial situation and also the uh legislative uh agenda. Matt was also at the government affairs uh meeting at the end of uh January uh with the same message. It's it's a very positive message that we're able uh to bring to
the community right now that uh it appears uh that we are going to be able to start next year without uh staff reductions for the first time in what six years uh which is uh pretty astounding. and the endowment committee
met uh and on the 13th of February, the endowment committee members went to every school in the district and brought uh cookies and notes of appreciation uh to every board and ch every um uh teacher and staff member.
>> Good deal. Thank you, Ashley. Um like David was saying, we I went to the student of the month um presentation or meeting at the Grand Rapids area high school and David's right that is it's really awesome to see these children
being recognized for their strengths and just being the humans that they are. um you know um it's uh it's a different experience to see these particular children um being chosen because they're not being they're not being chosen
because they're um a stellar athlete or because they have straight A's and they're, you know, they're at the top of their class. They're being chosen for the just being fantastic humans and and offering that up to their peers and the
teachers around them and doing just awesome work in general uh in their classroom. And so it's just nice to see these students being recognized just because they're fantastic. So that's always great to be a part of. Um book fair is happening at the middle school.
This is our spring book fair. And what's really awesome about this particular book fair is it coincides with um our um I apologize I'm having the same thing with Aaron. Words words are hard to um
it coincides with um Suanne Nichols who is our project recordinator. um she comes in and she uses funds um that we receive through the book fair um including funds through project read and
she purchases uh quite a bit of books for our sixth grade students and the sixth grade students also do a book drive every year um and within a sixth grade unit you know it just depends on what uh they decide is going to be their
grand prize but if I'm not mistaken as of right now that uh books had to be turned in by the end of the day today. And I believe Mr. Carlson's sixth grade class, his home room class brought in over a thousand books. And that can be
anywhere between like kindergarten up to I believe it's 8th grade reading level books. And um and those then get uh those are then given to uh Suanne and she she she holds on to them and she then will make sure that all of them are in
great condition and then she passes them on for free to other children in the community. Um she will be purchasing with the book fair's um scholastic dollars 277 books for the sixth graders this year and we donate um at least $500
if it ever hits that amount. That's the amount of money that we commit to donating um to Project Reed. So, that's pretty awesome. And then the community this year um there is a program within the Scholastic Book Fairs that is um
share the fair and that is when the community is able to come in and donate money um which then turns into books for students and the community donated $125. So that way if there are students that
are not available to purchase a book um that money goes to those students they are able to have at least one book. So it just if there is a child at the middle school who wants a book this particular book fair session we probably could get one
book per kid in the entire school because of how much everything is being donated. So it's pretty awesome actually. I spring book fair is my favorite. So, um there is that. And then, um this Sunday, uh a couple of us,
school board members, will be heading down to the state capital for lobby day to speak to our legislators, um which we will be discussing, um the items that we actually the legislative priorities. So, that's going to be something that um I'm going to be
participating in and look forward to. >> Thanks, Ashley. Uh for myself uh I participated in a few negotiation sessions with administrative professionals and the principal units. Uh I attended a IASK business pathways
advisory meeting on 224 which was great um both from the is team but also from the community and the business folks that were on that meeting. Some great plans and it's a really a well um it's an organization that's really moving uh and doing some really cool things.
uh attended a fringe benefits meeting on 225. Um I wore two hats and participated in the business pathways student tours of L&M supply headquarters the other day when they came and toured all of our company which was really cool to see
from a business standpoint. They saw all aspects of business here in Grand Rapids. A lot of great questions. Um that was actually a group from Greenway and from Grand Rapids. Nashwa hadn't uh something come up where they had a pull out. Uh congratulations to swimming,
wrestling, BPA, girls and boys hockey, girls and boys basketball. It's always great to see Aaron McMullen with dyed hair because you know something good has recently happened. Yes. So congratulations Aaron. >> Uh also, you know, I will triple down on the student of the month last Friday.
The teacher comments as they describe their students make me proud to be part of this school district. Also, Principal Hostad and his comments about sharing the positive things happening at our at our high school here in Grand Rapids is just a wonderful message for people to
hear and I encourage anybody any time to please come to that. It's inspiring and uplifting. >> Yes. Uh, and then also with Ashley and I believe Matt will be spending time at the Capitol on Monday. Um, advancing our legislative priorities. That's all I
have. >> Uh, next up is the superintendent. Oh, sorry Melissa. I apologize. I completely I'm sorry. >> Out of sight of mind, right? I tried I tried to see. No. Um, the couple
meetings I had had got cancelled or moved. So, um I have uh just I love the student of the month. That is the best place to be. And maybe somehow we can broadcast that with ICTV or something because I think that those students deserve some time.
>> Um because we do the sign day for I ask for the kids and so maybe that's something we can do. But just as I I was thinking trying to figure out how to share that broader um than what it is because that's a really cool thing. And congratulations to all of the student uh
athletes and all of those participating in activities because man, they are rock stars. Uh we have more kids per capita that show up at things like that I think than anyone else. Um and I would go on record saying that. So congratulations.
>> One more Thank you, Melissa. One more thing I would also call out is that not only will the Grand Rapids hockey team be playing Rosemount, I think there will be a battle of the bands happening as well. Oh yeah, that said meeting. So, uh, looking forward to this. >> Um, I would also just like to point out
that yet again our swim team went to state, Mr. Gross. >> I love it. >> And they had You should have seen them on their send off. >> Yes. >> Dudes and ties. They look so good. >> I did. >> I loved it. >> They did great. >> They did great. >> Sure. Sure is good that we're taking
good care of that pool, right? >> Yes, it is. See, it's very important. >> Yeah. Did you hear this, Alex? We'll talk later, >> Mr. Superintendent. >> All right. Thank you. I'm going to keep this short. Uh, I think you could tell I'm running out of words in my throat.
Uh, we did have to reschedule our forward meeting until March 24th because of all the awesome things that are happening. So, that was a good reason to move that. We had some notable recognition in the last month. Uh the night of our Big Fork school
advisory committee meeting, Greg Powell uh was recognized for his retirement for 41 years of coaching in Big Fork, which is just an incredible number when you consider bus rides and things like that.
So amazing. Uh people that have checked out the paper probably saw that Jana Zenz has been announced as a semi finalist for Minnesota teacher of the year which is really really neat. And so congratulations to her. And then uh also
uh we had in the last month bus driver appreciation day. It was actually the day that we called school off was bus driver appreciation day. Um, but there was a cool article in the paper recently also about Lord Yoast who's been driving for 54 years. Uh, so pretty cool
anniversary and also coming in the same month is bus driver appreciation day. I'm going to I'll call it right there. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Matt. >> All right. Just a reminder that um upcoming schoolboard committee and meeting dates are posted on each agenda
and they can be found on the district website and on the designated posting site here at the ISC 318 educational services center. Is there any other business to come before the board? >> Julie, has anyone signed up to speak at public input? >> No. No one has signed up.
>> Thanks, Julie. And now as a change, I'd like to get a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Moved by Ashley. Second. >> Second. >> Second by David. Uh, I think we need a roll call vote. >> Yep.
>> Melissa. >> Melissa Bar. >> Yes. >> David. >> David Martin. >> Dave. >> Dave Cohen. >> Yes. >> Ashley Goodman. >> Yes. Tom Gustoson. >> Yes. Thank you. We're adjourned. >> Great. Thank you.
Um, is that right? Uh, we're having a motion to adjourn. >> Yeah. So, I went to the training for the >> I want to say hello. >> Oh, I thought it >> Thank you.
Okay. Well, we made it work. I'm s looking my >> hopefully uh have it fixed before next time. >> Yeah. >> All right. There you go.
Yes. >> Okay. Yeah, the legal as long as you're following up on it. >> Yes. She's going to be in the old sex. Okay,
thanks. I don't know why >> February 30th today. >> February 30th. Okay, thank you. No, we don't actually. your uncle. >> Yeah.
>> Thank you.