Um, as I've been thinking about the last couple of months of work, I have also been reflecting on what I've been learning um, through the forward group that's happening right now in Grand Rapids. um the strategic priorities of the district. And we talked a lot about at our first forward meeting um
equitable education and what that looks like, what it looks like to create um systems and policies that provide equity for students based on their needs. And so um I feel like we're doing really good work around that with VSAC right
now. We have spent some time and energy figuring out how we can make our sports programs accessible and continue to grow numbers for future programs. Um so that we have a really positive culture around
sports and that sense of community. Um we can all remember what a important part that is for school spirit and um opportunities for kids. And so we've had some really good conversations around that. Um we're starting to talk about
our curriculum and what um opportunities are available for our students here in Big Fork and how we can make sure that families and students know about that. And um we'll be doing some more work on that in the coming months. I don't have any action items for you this evening, but um I just wanted to again thank you
for coming and let you know that the committee has been very engaged and um having some great discussion and moving some things forward. Any questions? >> Questions? >> Thank you, Kayla. >> Thanks.
>> All right, the next item on the agenda is a principal report from Big Fork School Principal Ken Doster. Good evening. Thanks for being in Big Fork tonight, both for the um advisory meeting and obviously for the the board meeting. Um I'm Ken Doster. I'm the
principal here in Big Fork. Today is the first day of our second semester, so we are officially halfway through our school year. Uh one thing to note, um last week our lead secretary, uh Sandy
Anelo retired and um wish her the best in retirement. of course with her um going out the door is just a lot of knowledge and a lot of skill and she she gave an awful lot to not only the community of Big Fork but um Big Fork school and certainly was part of making
our school a very welcoming place. So um all the best wishes to her. Uh talk a little bit about activities. Our fall activities uh were football and volleyball. Um, our numbers were a little shaky for football, but we were able to get enough to be able to run a
full season. Um, our volleyball numbers were at least solid. Um, we're into our our winter season now. Boys and girls basketball. Um, boys basketball numbers
are okay. Um, our girls uh numbers are a little light. Um, we're not able to run a JV team right now, so we're running just varsity. that we've got some middle school level things going on as well. Um, our teaching staff has been quite busy.
Um, our our building leadership team has been working hard at making sure that we're always ready for our our early outs on Wednesdays. We have building goals centered around reading, math, science, and a positive school climate. We do a number of things for each of
those in those curricular areas. Um, we'll continue to work with data from our our different screenings, fall to winter. We've just finished our winter screening or still working on a little bit of that right now. Um, but we're using that data to drive our instruction. Um, teachers are busy
implementing um, curriculums. We're in our second year of wisdom, kindergarten through 8ighth grade. That's an English language arts curriculum. We've got something called UFI in kindergarten through 2 grade uh, that you might be familiar with. that's more about fundamentals of learning to read. Um, as
well, uh, the areas of math, again, continue to be data driven. Our elementary is focusing on three particular strands that we've been low in in the past. We want to make those more robust. Um, in our in our high school, we're focusing more on um,
critical thinking skills around math. Um, we know that the new science standards um, have a lot to do with critical thinking skills as well. It's knowing how to do that problem solving, how to figure out something. It's not just knowing a piece of information anymore
with our uh our positive school climate. Um our PDIS team, positive behavior intervention uh supports has been quite busy. They're very active in this. But um we do a lot of other things too. We did a student survey this fall that gave us some great information. We also do a
social emotional learning screener three times a year. We just did that. Um even in the fall, we were pleasantly surprised at the low number of students that we had that flagged as needing any kind of additional social emotional
supports. Um that being said, we still had students that flagged. One of the things that we worked hard on in the on the in the high school was we went through the list and we assigned um you know a teacher to everybody that was showing they need a little extra booster, a little extra support just so
that we knew that they would have a connection here at school and we'll continue to monitor those numbers. We want them they were low already. We want them to continue to be low and even and even lower still making sure that kids social emotional needs are being met. if those needs needs aren't being met, then
um they're not going to be able to focus as the best learner they can be. So, those are some of the things we're working on, you know, currently with with our different teams throughout the building. Um we're also uh updating our course catalog and the format. Um one of
the reasons why is because we really want to we've had we've had a number of online courses available to students um over the years. We have even more now through um places like Minute Infiniti or even Ingenuity where students can
take um online courses as part of their educational day here at Big Fork. Um but it might not be something that we're able to offer here in Big Fork to a whole class. U if it's an elective class, maybe only three people signed up for that. We can't offer something like that. They can they can access that
through an infinity type of a resource. They can even get college credit for classes by taking those things online. We'll provide a place for them to take that class right here as part of their regular school day at Big Fork. We've got that in place. We've got the supervision worked out. Um we just want
that word to get out so that families and not only students but families know that those possibilities are there. One of the other possibilities we've got is um that we're looking at expanding, I should say opportunity that we're looking at expanding is um the career
internships. Over the last couple of years now, we've we've had a really nice program with career internships and specifically um the career pathways of construction and manufacturing. We've run those career internships in the fall and p primarily we do have one going
this spring right now. But um they've been successful. Students have reported um you know really good experiences. Our partnerships with businesses in the community um have have been happy with what has taken place and the jobs that the kids have done. So it really seems
to be a win-win. We want to expand that into other career pathways. Um, specifically ones that um tend to be more popular here in Big Fork, such as healthcare. Uh, we have Big Fork Valley next door. Um, I know they've indicated they'd be happy to be partners in other
ways if you know if we have opportunities. So, we're looking to expand that internship onto some other pathways. We're excited about being able to do that and seeing what that will look like. Any questions? questions.
>> If not, that's fine. I just felt like I rushed through that and I want to give you a chance to ask. So, >> thank you, Ken. >> Thank you, Ken. >> Thank you. >> All right, we will uh take a break and we'll come back into session for the
regular board meeting at 6:30. I haven't heard anything today. >> 6:30. Are we ready, Julie? All right, we'll call the uh 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. All right. The first item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. There any
changes? >> Move to approve. >> Second by Mark. >> Moved by Dave. David, second by Mark. Any discussion? Uh Julie, is Melissa on? >> She is not.
>> So, do we still need to do roll call votes? No, we do not. >> Okay. All in favor of approval of the agenda? >> I I >> opposed. The agenda is approved. >> The next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the January 5th,
2026 organizational school board meeting. Do I have a motion? >> So moved by Mark. >> Moved by Mark. >> Second, David. >> Second by David. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? I >> I opposed.
The minutes are approved. The next item on the agenda is to approve the December 2025 claims in the amount of 7,389,678.17. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Motion by Mark. >> Moved by Mark.
>> Second by Tom. >> Second by Tom. Any discussion? >> No. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I opposed. The December 2025 claims are approved.
>> The next item on the agenda is to approve the following retirements. Casey. Thank you. Good evening board. Tonight we have David Calingerie, teacher retirement. David has served for 34 years. >> Wow.
>> And Katherine Peac Burley, teacher retirement. Katherine has served for 18 years. I'm recommending approval. >> Thank you, Casey. Uh, do I have a motion to approve those retirements?
>> So, move David with uh great appreciation to uh long years of service. >> Moved by David. >> Second by Mark. >> Second by Mark. Any discussion? I concur with David. Thank you very much, David and Katherine, for your
years of service. All those in favor of uh the retirements, >> I >> I opposed. Retirements are approved. The next item is to approve the consent agenda. As a reminder, all matters listed under the consent agenda are
staffing related and do not require discussion. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved by Mark. >> Moved by Mark. Second. >> Second by Tom. Any discussion? Oh, sorry. There's no discussion. All those in favor? >> I
>> I opposed. Consent agenda is approved. The next item on the agenda is to approve the 2025 to 2027 ask me local 2071 service unit contract.
Casey, >> thank you. So before you you have a deadline and the final contract that was negotiated with the local 207 unit.
The key consumer settlement is base for 2526 a onetime stipen of 1.75% of base wages 2.25% 25% increase in year two.
A market adjustment for food service. Reclassifying the theater technician routing specialist. A ship differential for the early morning ship boiler tear down fee
and a few other items that have no financial impact. Board members Mark Broer and Tom Gufferson and admin members Matt Gross, myself and Tery negotiated recommending approval of the 2527
contract with the ASME Local 207- >> Thank you, Casey. Do I have a motion to approve the contract? >> Motion by Mark. >> Motion by Mark. >> Second. Second by Tom. Any discussion?
>> Appreciation to uh uh the service members and uh staff members who uh negotiated this contract. >> Thank you, David. Any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. >> I.
>> I. Opposed. The 20252027 ask me local 207-1 contract is approved. The next item on the agenda is 2025 2027 educational support professional local
4850 contract. Casey, >> thank you. So similarly for our ESP contract there is no base salary increase proposed for 2526 a one time stipen
um that fluctuates between 750 and 25 and year two uh an average of 2.25% 25% in base increase, which is 50 cents per hour, a 25% increase in longevity fee,
and the addition of the 23 to 24 and 25 categories. We're adding two hours for annual training for each employee, adding some additional personal time with those over 10 years of service
and some attendance incentives as well as a few other items outlined in your red line. Board members David Marty and Ash Quick and members Matt Gross, myself and Carol Lucky negotiated the great meeting
Congress. I'm recommending approval of the 2527 ESP contract. >> Thank you, Casey. Do I have a motion to approve? >> Move to approve, David. >> Move to approve by David. Second. >> Second by Mark.
>> Second by Mark. Any discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I would just offer that um you know, whenever you're negotiating contracts that involve no base salary increase like we uh did in year one, it's difficult. Um, and I appreciate the
group's willingness to uh work with the board and myself and uh administration on this knowing that this was an important factor in resolving and and continuing to make improvements to our
budget situation. So, um, you know, it's been a difficult road to get to a place, uh, that we are and a lot of hard decisions have had to be made and I appreciate the group's willingness to, uh, be partners in that.
>> I would echo that the uh, uh, working with the unit was a very positive experience. >> Thank you, David. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving the contract say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed.
The 20252027 educational support professional local 4850 contract is approved. The next item on the report is or on the agenda is uh board reports. Tom >> um
participated in our uh bus driver group their negotiations um and uh we're making progress on that and we've got another meeting I believe the end of this week um tomorrow. Okay. And then uh we we obviously had the uh
Big Fork advisory committee up here. Um, I really uh can't say enough. It's it's great to see the community involved and and the atmosphere is uh working towards solutions rather than just,
you know, just throwing arrows at each other, right? And and we're making progress and I appreciate that. So that's all I have. >> Thanks, Tom. David. >> Yes. uh Boys and Girls Club uh met actually earlier today. Uh at the Boys
and Girls Club, they're planning a uh Susicle fundraiser event, which is a talent show. Um it's going to be um uh we're hoping to raise uh several thousand dollars uh for the future of
the Boys and Girls Club. So, that's in the works right now. Uh the event is going to be on March 2nd. Uh and uh attendance is free. Uh funds are raised by uh uh audience members voting with a
dollar for their uh for their favorite. Uh the endowment club has met or has met and will meet again tomorrow. Uh planning right now is for the uh uh staff appreciation event uh around
Valentine's Day. Uh u all of our staff members will get a cookie from the endowment club uh and a heartfelt thank you. We attended the tribal nation education committee uh at uh Big Bear Lodge and I
think maybe Matt you might follow up on that uh a bit. It was an incredibly powerful experience. And I do want to add uh that uh our team from Grand Rapids made a presentation. Uh our
our staff was extremely uh wellspoken uh well represented and incredibly wellresected. uh they were uh referred to frequently as the model uh of the way to do things
uh and I was very impressed with that. Minnesota Minnesota Schoolboard Association conference this past weekend. Um uh there's uh I attended a session on new math
uh guidelines coming down and that's going to be surprisingly we think math is math. Uh but with the new guidelines there are some real uh adjustments going uh that people are dealing with data
rather than specifically uh geometry or or trigonometry the uh traditional things that's included. Uh but there's more uh it's going to be a lot fuller more full experience than what we've seen in the past. and uh our
own uh Matt Gross made an incredible presentation uh on uh sources uh and uses of funding uh and it was extremely well presented uh Mattis to be thanked and appreciated for doing that.
Well done. Thank you. And bus driver negotiations and ESP negotiations uh uh appreciated working with the staff on the negotiations team. They were uh very respectful uh engaged. It's it's a tough time for
everybody uh and we all get that. But everyone came to the table to say let's solve this. Uh and we did. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you, David. Mark, >> uh along with Tom and uh uh David and
Dave, uh we all attended the Big Fork advisory today. It was uh very informative and productive. Uh, in addition, I attended the Minnesota Schoolboard Association conference. A couple highlights for me. There were
some really good sessions on on AI and uh I attended one session on federal funding and where that all stands and that that was very very enlightening, I guess, is what I would say. That's all I have.
>> Thanks, Mark. All right. Um my report is uh we had an RI arts council meeting earlier today. Um you know, one of the things we're working on is um uh replacement plans for members of the board whose term limits will be expiring here in a few months. So working on
recruiting new members um to the board to the council. Um and uh just to share that there's a big event scheduled on April 1st when none other than Soul Asylum will be coming to the Refe Center um for a uh acoustic performance. So
should be uh well attended. It's already uh sold out at 60%. Um so there's some great traction there. Uh and then like everybody else said attended the Big Fork school advisory board meeting this evening. I just thought it was great. I echo what Tom said. There's a lot of community engagement and passion for
this school, which is great to see. And I I I remember that as well from the Big Fork improvement group. There's just a lot of community pride and engagement in this whole area, and it's it was palpable today. So, it's great to see that. Um, our student representatives are not
able to be here, but I do have a report for them that I'm going to read um for everybody. Uh, so in sports, girls hockey played Alexandria yesterday for hockey day. Last week they had their Sophie's Squad game, which is a game spreading mental
health awareness for athletes. They are hosting the Hockey Hall of Fame Museum Faceoff Classic game on January 31st at 4 p.m. between Baiji State University and Minnesota State University, Mano.
Boys hockey played Hillmurray on Saturday and has their next game on January 27th at Duth Marshall. Girls basketball played and beat Hibbing on Friday and then lost to Duth Marshall on Saturday. They're in Duth playing
Duth East today. Boys basketball played Hermantown last week and won 82 to 61 and is playing Moose Lake at home tonight. The boys swimming and diving team competed in true team sections on Saturday and won. So they will go down
to the U of M for true team state this weekend and compete against the top teams from across the state. Tonight they're competing against Rock Ridge and Superior at home. Wrestling has a meet on Thursday at home and Nordic skiing has a meet in Two
Harbors today. For clubs, student council is deep in preparation for the semi- formal snowball dance on Saturday. The dance kicks off our winter homecoming week. We'll have night events, dress up days, and a pep fest. Our night events are
Monday is a rock paper scissors tournament in school. Um, not sure how that's going to work. I can't wait to hear how that goes. Tuesday, uh, home sports, uh, include girls hockey, boys basketball, and boys swim and dive. Wednesday has boys
volleyball. Uh, proceeds going to Prom for a Purpose. Thursday, home sports include a girls basketball game, and Friday, a girls basketball game. Key Club uh, volunteer events have slowed down, but community efforts have not. During the winter homecoming key club,
there will be uh they'll be hosting a hygiene drive benefiting both the girls or the Grand Rapids High School closet and Second Harvest Food Bank. The math team has their next meet on January 27th.
And we can't forget the band. Uh they had a concert last week with the varsity concert and symphonic bands. With the new semester starting today, students were moved between bands and the new bands will be receated based on their playing levels.
So, thank you to Anna and Aaron for putting that together. The next uh item on the agenda is a superintendent report, Mr. Gross. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I wanted to start by just circling back to an item
under the consent agendum uh agenda. Um item B II or seven. Uh Julie Robinson, that's a a different um designation in there. Dissolusion. Julie was a uh excellent special ed teacher that started her career here. She's a
graduate of our high school actually. Um taught in Eden Prairie for a while, returned to finish her career here. Uh she passed away from cancer after a long battle. And so I just want to acknowledge that and uh offer my condolences on behalf of the board to
her family. Um just an amazing amazing person. Um tonight we after the meeting there's going to be time to head to the gym and catch the big four Huskies versus uh Floodwood tonight. If you can squeeze
that in. Um, as was mentioned by David, uh, we we had a a good contingent attend the, um, conference that was sort of put together with the Tribal Nations Education
Committee and the Minnesota Indian Education Association. Uh, were required to do consultations every year with the tribes. um near us uh when we enroll a
particular number of American Indian children. And uh this this was the first time that they had done a conference like this where they did some education and breakouts and this essentially served as um one of the consultations that we do in a year. And like David
said, our program was lifted up uh with a great deal of respect and as a model. So, it's really cool to see how far our program has come. We do have uh services here at Big Fork um as well. And uh so
that hasn't always been the case. Um but it is the case now. Uh as was mentioned uh schoolboard association conference last week, you know, it's funny because usually that conference is in Minneapolis when it's bitterly cold out.
Normally, I think it would be this week. Um so it would have been right timing with the weather. So it was fortunate that it was a little bit earlier. Um I did have the chance to uh present with director of finance from the department of ed and uh it was great to talk about
restricted funding and just um uh share our story, talk about the challenges of financing education Minnesota. be a little bit of a dart board if that made people feel better. Um, do all
those things. So, it's always enjoyable and uh great conference. Uh, I also had the chance to attend that session on the math standards and um we just talked about math today in our strategy team meeting.
we are due, I would say even a little bit overdue, but we were kind of slow playing the adoption of a math curriculum while these standards sort of were vetted. Um, there are some significant changes
especially in the data science area like David mentioned. So, um, I'm anticipating and had been working with Cara, we'll be working with Alex on budget timing. These are big expensive uh you know things that the district
does when it's buying curriculum. So it's really important that we're doing it well and that we're doing it right. Um, I believe we have a really robust process in place now for selecting curriculum that involves staff at the
beginning learning about standards, learning about the shifts in this case, reviewing options, um, trying options before we commit to any type of a selection and expense. We have options at that point. You know, I
think there are a number of ways this could go. We could we'll be looking at an adoption across our entire grade span at some point. We could do all that at once with one um provider. We could break it up if there are
strengths with elementary or strengths with secondary. Um but one of the things we talked about in our meeting today is will there need to be changes in the course sequences based on the changes in
the standards. So many or most of us went through a what I would say is a traditional math program like the one I taught in where it was algebra, geometry, algebra 2, precel, kelk, and
that may be how this plays out. It also may not be like that. And if that's the case, that would have an impact on the registration guide that Ken uses at Big Fork High School or that, you know, we use at Grand Rapids High School. But,
um, it sounds like the the emphasis on data science is significant and that is a reflection of workforce and what, uh, what those needs are out there. This Thursday evening is our second
forward uh community engagement meeting and this one will be focusing on school finance and not our particular the focus won't be on our particular situation necessarily. It's really about a, you know, school finance 101. Uh,
because, you know, as we've all learned, uh, how things work in schools is very different. And so, don't trying to create a room full of business managers, but at least raise the collective, um, knowledge in the group, uh, raise the
level of understanding of how things work in schools. We uh last week we had a district threat and emergency response team meeting. Just want to highlight that too. That work is ongoing. We have a set of priorities that we're working through.
Those involve um a an example would be last Friday there was an initial review of a reunification process using Yanmar. So, one of the things we've talked about is um
could we use that as a a centralized or unified reunification site for multiple schools? Uh which would enable us to have a really uh a process for reunifying kids with their parents that were that the
facility is conducive to and that we would use no matter what age group. Uh we would need to get connected. and having been through a couple reunifications, it's a very uh it's easy to to overlook that. But I remember my first fall here when
we needed to get 880 middle schoolers home in the middle of the day. Um it was no easy feat to to do that. And so figuring out how to make sure every kid is accounted for, they're getting in a vehicle, if they're leaving with a with an adult, that that vehicle has the
rights to bring that kid home because that's not always the case. Um, and then making sure that the kids that we send home on a bus um are going to have somebody at home if they need somebody at home and all those things. So anyway, those are the types of things that Durk
is uh working on. And then one of my favorite things that I get to do, uh, Dale Christie, um, has continued something that Ann Campbell started at the high school, and that's a captain's council. So, it's the group of captains
from all of the activities at Grand Rapids High School, and um, I get invited to talk to them once a year. And so, it's one of my favorite things to do. Um, and this last week we talked about culture and what that is and what
a captain can do about it. So, it was one of my favorite things. That's all, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. As a reminder, meeting announcements uh and um committee dates are posted on the district website and the designated
posting site at the district educational services center. Is there any other business to come before the board? Julie, has anyone signed up to speak at public input? They >> have not. >> All right, we stand a journ.
Thank you. >> Pretty good. Yeah, the old >> my goal.