So I don't >> understand whatever She's good here. Yeah, somewhere in Minnesota. So I think you should try mailing those legs tall. We're ready. Just a reminder to turn on
microphones, please. >> Excellent. >> We're going to call the open forum to order. >> Uh, looks like we have one person signed up to provide public input. Angela Boyd. >> Angela, before you start, I'm going to read a statement here. Okay,
>> go ahead. The ISC 318 school board shall provide a specific period of time where persons may address the school board on any topic subject to the limitations of policy 206. All individual comments shall be less than 5 minutes. Any group of five or more persons must appoint one
person to present the group's views to the board. Depending on the number of persons present, the school board chair reserves the right to set further time limits to allow participation within the allotted time. The board shall not allow negative comments in public session about individual employees or students.
Specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries, but the board shall not deliberate or decide regarding any issue that is not included on the agenda posted with the notice of the meeting. If there are more requests
than time available, priority will be given to persons that reside within the Grand Rapids Big Fork School District. All right. Thank you. All right. Good evening board members. I'm Angela Boyd again, president of the local 1314 teacher union. I'm here tonight to talk
about the contract that will be presented to you tonight for your approval. I wanted to talk about the results of the vote that we had had. The membership voted on January 20th to approve the contract with a final tally
of 94 to 81. This was a very close vote, but as negotiators, we weren't surprised. And I have a fellow negotiator here, Nie Scher. >> As negotiators, we anticipated that this would be a very difficult cell,
particularly regarding the stipen structure. However, we are pleased that we reached an agreement that the majority could support. I just want to highlight a few pivotal moments that made this possible. We originally had the vote scheduled for
January 9th, but we had to postpone due to a need for clarification regarding spec specific contract language. I want to personally thank Matt for his incredible work during that time. It was
a little stressful for a while, but his collaboration with us and ensuring the language within the contract helped all of the teachers within the district. I believe that this directly helped us pass this contract. Theou
on teacher time. One of our biggest priorities during the whole process was protecting our fellow teachers time. The district truly listened to those concerns and the resulting is something I am personally very excited about. A
seat at the table more than just the numbers. This process gave our staff a genuine voice. With the establishment of the collaborative time committee, we know we will now have a seat at the table concerning the calendar, workshop
days, prep time, and just to name a few. This means a lot to myself and many other members. This was my first experience as a negotiator. To say it was a learning curve would be an understatement. It was hard at times and the stakes felt very
high. But I am proud of the fact that everyone stayed professional. Both sides truly tried common ground and that mutual respect is something I hope to continue to build on. >> During the last year and a half as president, I have come to truly value
the collaboration with the district, Matt in particular. I really want this collaboration to continue to strengthen. I feel there is respect on both sides and when we work together instead of against. I look forward to continuing to work together to make this district the
best place for both students to learn and educators to work. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Angela. >> All right. The next uh item on the agenda for the open forum or for the work session is a building and grounds
facilities health and safety update from Darren Turner. >> Good evening. Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to come up here and speak again. Um before I get started, I wanted to tell you about a pretty awesome uh opportunity I got last two
weeks ago or maybe it was last week. I was approached by um Mr. Scott Patra and he'd asked me if I would partake in a career pathways class rate um program that was here at this building and it was on plumbing. And for those of you
who don't know, I've been um in the plumbing trade since 1997. Um Matt gave me the um permission to bring in a company rig, bunch of tools, some fittings. We had a local contractor give us some fittings that were like 20
in in size, things that most people wouldn't see. I brought in a blueprint. It was a lot of fun. I think the kids had a good time and it was a great opportunity for me to stand up in front of the the youth and talk to them about their options and, you know, what it looks like to do. And if I get an opportunity to do something like that, I
definitely would do it again. So, thank you, Mr. Gross, for allowing me to bring the van over here. I took them through the boiler room. I took them through a mechanical room. And I think the kids really liked it because that's stuff that you typically don't see when you're in a building. So, just want to say thank you for that.
So the uh facilities department that's the maintenance buildings and grounds that's us um basically last year February till this year uh completing the report typically it's done by myself with a lot of help from the admin assistant
maintenance and facility and then here's the time frame again February to February the connection to the district mission you know we provide a clean this thing's loose we need a maintenance Hi bears. >> Uh we monitor the air, the water both by
being in the buildings also uh remotely through the medicine program. Uh we keep the parking lots clear of snow and ice for safety. We check the buildings over breaks. This includes holidays, weekends, things like that. And we have our own mission statement and it's together through diligent cleaning and
maintenance. We're protecting the health and well-being of the of the district. And that's something that I came up with. I believe in that. We have it hanging in all the custodian um break rooms, offices, things like that. And it's just something that I really firmly believe in because if we weren't in
there cleaning and maintaining, we'd have leaky pipes and, you know, viruses running rampant through our buildings. >> You know, we cover 970,000 square feet of be buildings from cleaning to maintenance, mowing. We are one of the few departments that impacts everyone.
You know, not everybody eats school lunch. Not everybody plays sports. Not everybody rides the bus. But if you're in this building, you're in a parking lot, you're a community member or student, our building or our department will affect you in one way, shape, or form. >> Like I said, basically we're one of the
few departments that um affects everyone both, you know, in the classrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, corridors. We ensure that the air is filtered, it's heated, the water's safe to drink by testing for lead and water. We test our RPZs. We make sure the lights are working, GFIs are working, playgrounds,
we get them inspected monthly. We also do a yearly inspection to keep the kiddos safe. And we make sure that the green spaces are mowed and fields are ready to play. And when I talk about some of the things as far as the mechanical, those of you who are here earlier probably remember how noisy this
was. You'd have to go in there and uh shut the air handler off. Well, we were able to get that taken care of for you. um number of staff in our department. We have 30 custodians, five maintenance people, one admin assistant, and one director. So, we're calling this year
the year of of four. >> And that's because I've only been here for 10 years, but Mr. Gross is our fourth superintendent in his terms 88 superintendent years old. >> Alex is our fourth business manager. We've had fourth four technology
directors and I'm on my fourth admin assistant. I don't know if it's me or what it is, but we'll move on. um budget and staffing implications. You know, our equipment is old. I've said this in the past. We need to find ways to increase that equipment budget. Um we have um we
have gone to the capital last year when I was up here talking uh during this board report. I went to the capital on I believe it was February 13th, spoke with some legislators about being able to increase the funding for the maintenance department. We can get money to uh
reseal coat or redo parking lots, but we don't get money to buy trucks and plows. But yeah, we can hire contractors to do it, right? So, I did some time talking to uh the legislators down there about that. And then also, there was a group of us that pushed the uh the new um
funding source for roofs. So we are able to access another uh avenue for revenue for roofing projects because smaller districts and outstate we don't have the same revenues that the larger dis districts have. So it's a lot harder for us to maintain our our buildings the
same way that the larger schools in the metro or even duth are able to do. Um my recommendation is we got to keep an eye on that middle school. It's old. Uh was it 23 years old now? I'll get to that in my report. We had something that just come up. The water wasn't getting
softened properly and we did some water testing and now we're looking at having to put in new water softeners in that building. Well, you look at the amount of water that goes through that building every day. Um, you'll see that nothing lasts forever. You know, if we could get rid of the pool, I mean, there's an
option, right, Ashley? >> Listen, no, not today. >> The wrong tree. So, our department uh has been working with ICS with and with with Seth on a couple projects. We finished up the indoor air quality project at the high
school. We did the um uh drop off pickup project last summer at the RJ EMS middle school. Uh I've heard nothing but positive feedback on the ways that we drop people in and off and and how that traffic flows. It appears that we don't
have cars backed up all the way to our building anymore. So it it seems like we finally after 20ome years have got this problem figured out. Um from January 1st to December 31st of last year, we've
completed almost 2,800 work orders and recommendations and changes. U you know, we got to start planning some roofing projects. >> I gave you a uh some other documents in your folder to kind of go over. I kind
of want to run through some of them real quick while we still have time. >> Um, if you look at these work orders, >> obviously when we ran the report, it was 2679 and I think we're at like 28 by the time the end of the year actually rolled around. But you you can look down I keep
track of the last two years and then you can see that some of our schools that those numbers are creeping up. You know, if you look at the new elementary schools, those numbers are creeping up. If you look at uh Grand Rapids Senior High, you look at the middle school, you can see how those numbers are also
starting to increase. Even like Big Fork school, all these all these numbers are starting to increase. Is some of it it's vandalism, but a lot of it's just flat out wear and tear. Whether it's doors and hardware, carpeting, uh plumbing, you name it. Uh light fixtures. We can't
replace uh light bulbs anymore after January 1st of this year. Everything has to be done with LED. So, we're changing out ballasts and converting things to LED. We just don't have the capital to go into a building and pull every light out and replace everything with LED. As much as we would love to do that, we
just can't. >> Uh I gave you a list of some projects. You know, some of these are pretty basic things that we do on a regular basis. The one under the Grand Rapids High School, we replaced the uh generator there. The backup generator was
purchased partially by IAST and it was installed in 1998. That uh generator is the lifeline for the server up at the Grand Rapids High School. We just can't be in a in a situation where we're relying on something that was installed back from when I was in high school.
Right. So, we made that that change last summer. pulled that thing out, got a new one in, got it inspected, and it's, you know, we do, uh, monthly inspections on our generators, and that thing seems to be working out pretty well. >> Uh, proposed up at the Grand Rapids High
School. Realistically, it's just, you know, routine maintenance stuff like that. Now, down at the, uh, sports complex, the bathrooms down there definitely need some paint, some plumbing partitions. Could use a little clean up the floor, things like that. just, you know, you get these bigger sporting events and there's not a lot of
fixture units in those two bathrooms. A lot of people go through them and they tend to get abused pretty hard throughout the year. So, that's something that's on our list for this year. >> Over at uh Robert J. Elkington, I talked about the uh new drop off and pickup, but one of the other things that we
installed was the Care Hawk system. We had one building that did not have the CareHawk system at, and that was the middle school. So, we worked with ESC, who does our alarms and and um fire alarms and our speakers and things like that, panic buttons, and we completed
that project over Christmas break. So, now all of our buildings have an up-to-date Carehawk system as far as the uh middle school goes. >> Yeah. So, basically, it's part of the announcement. So if there's announcements that need to go over, but then also we have panic buttons in a
couple of different areas. So in the event that we did have a intruder that came in, we could put the building on lockdown. Not only just locking all the doors to the corridors to the different wings, but it would also put out a message basically telling everybody to shelter in place
>> at the middle school. Um for next year, I you know, continuing roof leaks. Seems like we have a roofing contractor out here once or twice a month trying to relax that roof, trying to keep everything uh dry. >> Big school, same thing. Um, one of the
things that we had to do that was per the fire marshall is we did not have a roof ladder that went from the lowest part of the building up to the uh seating above the edge center and then a ladder that went all the way up to above the stage. And we per per fire marshall
code, we had to have ladders installed so someone could get up there, access that roof, as well as test and maintain the fire damber. Well, we didn't we didn't have that. So, he flagged us on it. I I believe it was like $17,400 and we had them installed. They're
they're there now. So, we're back in into compliance with the fire marshall proposed for this year. We've got an old boiler there. All of our boilers are old, but we have one particular one that's from the late 90s. It's a PVI. PVI only made boilers for maybe three or
four years in the late 90s. The problem with that boiler kind of a piece of junk and we can't get parts for it. And believe it or not, when we get parts for that burner, we're getting them off of eBay. So, we are looking at installing a new dual fuel burner on that particular
boiler for two reasons. one because the one there is faulty and two I would like to get off of that fuel oil u heating source and rely more on propane. We've run the numbers. I don't have it off the top of my head. I have it somewhere in
the office, but the buyback in like 10 years will pay off this burner. You know, we run about a tanker a month of fuel oil through that school every single month. >> Actually, we just got a tanker delivered this afternoon.
Southwest, you know, Cara, bless her heart, made us put this uh new light pole in for everybody and then up and quit. So, job well done on the way out the door for her. I do have the basketball hoops that we took from Nashwalk before they um are starting
their demolition of their old high school. We took all their winches, safety equipment, and things like that out of their gym. Everything has been delivered to my building and is there. And when we get some time, we will then take that equipment and replace the backboards and the hoops that are here
in this building with the nicer glass breakaway backlogs that Ashwok had at their high school as well as the winches and safety equipment that we can utilize in other buildings in the event that we need something. >> Um, Cohasset, one of the things that we
ended up doing is we had a burn or um a board go out, electrical board go out on the burner or on the boiler. And these boilers are pretty new and it wasn't under warranty no longer. So, we weren't able to see what that boiler was doing. And we had to replace that that um
board. That board was six grand. So, that you're talking about a boiler that's six years old. It's kind of unfortunate you got to put that kind of money into something. But unfortunately, with the number of boilers that we have, this is the only one that we've actually had to do something with.
>> East and West, you know, we did typical maintenance like we do every year. We did some painting, things like that. >> On the uh next page, this is a health and safety uh um >> list that we work with IA on, we work
with Northeast Service Co-op. And all these bulleted points are things that we have uh annual inspections on. Whether it's monthly, could be quarterly, could be yearly. These are all the things that we get inspected. We logged all these things for different entities whether
it's like for an example gas hoods or I think I saw kitchen hoods in here or something but all these things are things that we have to keep >> uh a three-year um uh binder for so that way when we do have our inspections people want to come up and look at them
we're able to give them to them and then also with like anything some of the stuff we've never thrown away like abatement um aera things like that uh those are all three ring binders in my office. If anybody ever wants to look up lead and water, any of that kind of thing, you can let me know. I've either got it digitally or we have it in a
three- ring binder for people to um come and look at. And I have no problem scanning stuff out of there or sending it to anyone. And then the last page is just this is a list. >> This is a list of all the people that we have working in our department, where they're at. And as you can kind of tell,
it's we're one of the only departments that I know of where we have staff that comes in at 6:00 a.m. We have staff that leaves at 11 p.m. And we're here on, you know, nights, weekends, holidays, checking buildings, checking boilers. Um, anything to do with that. We've had
situations where we've come in at night or on weekends because we've had broken water lines or boilers that were down and we've had to just drop what we were doing and come in and and fix those problems. And that's why we're in these buildings every as much as we are. >> So that's all I had. Thank you again.
>> Any questions? >> Very thorough. Thank you. >> Thank you, Darren. >> Thanks, Darren. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. We will adjourn the uh work session and we'll come back at uh
6:30 for the regular meeting. Mics off. And then you want to just say if you just want to read your script in the background. Okay, I got like remember Yeah, of course.
like musically better. Thank you. Bicles at the same So Anna and Tommy and the trip. >> Yeah. Yeah. All right. >> I'll call this 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.
Agenda tonight is approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Move. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second. >> Second by Mark. Any discussion? >> The agenda is approved. The next item is to approve an
international field trip request to Costa Rica from the Big Fork school in June of 2027. I believe Michelle Hill is attending remotely. Michelle, >> hi. So, yes, my name is Michelle Hill and I'm an ESP from Big Fork. I work in
the high school and I'm also president of Big Fork Student Travels nonprofit organization and I would like to plan an educational trip with EF Tours, which our school has worked with before to Costa Rica in June of 2027.
>> Good deal. Thank you, Michelle. Do I have a motion to approve the field trip to Costa Rica from the Big Fork school in June of 2027? >> So moved. David. >> Moved by David. >> Second. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion?
>> Mr. Chair. M. Hi Michelle. Um, do you want to go through some of the details of of the trip? you know, the itinerary if you have that and uh students a number of students maybe that you'd be looking to bring and chaperones and
things like that. >> I have not announced it yet because we are working with our trip to Greece and the final date to sign up for that is February 22nd. So, I'm not going to announce this till February 23rd.
And it this is a seven night, eight day trip. And we actually have an excursion for each one of those days. I mean, we're going whitewater rafting, we're going ziplining, we're going to a coffee farm. I mean, every day is something new
to try. And then one afternoon, we're actually just going to relax on a beach. But um our school has been there before. So this is something I just want to bring back. It is all three meals are paid for. So they only have to bring
spending money. I do like this company that it has permission slips that parents and students both have to sign of. There's no drinking, there's no use of tobacco or tobacco products. They actually sign a paper. If the student
gets caught, they it is up to the parents to send them back. It's at the cost of the parents. And like I said, I'm president of the nonprofit organization. So I have been head of fundraising for the Greece trip. And for
the Greece trip, it was three years in planning and we raised almost $30,000. So this year is one year. I'm hoping to raise $10,000 by next June of 27. Michelle, I have a question. Um, this is
Ashley asking, uh, you just mentioned that you raised $30,000. Does that cover the cost of your students being able to, uh, participate in this trip. That money is for the Greece trip. So,
I'm going to start fundraising now. But for that Greece trip, we had two students get their whole trip completely paid for. And we keep very detailed notes. My organization, my board does that. We will,
how do I say this? We um Sorry, it got noisy. Um we take the volunteer hours and whoever volunteered the most, we just kind of catalog it and go from there. So the
ones who volunteered say 80 some hours and the money we took because it's nonprofit it goes all back to the students. It doesn't go anywhere else. So So it came out to like almost $30 per hour they worked. That's how we got two
students that were fully funded their whole trip. >> Okay. >> And everyone gets little bits of it. So I mean we just go by how many kids volunteer their hours. >> Yep. Okay. Perfect. Thank you for that information. >> Yes.
>> Any other discussion? >> All right. All those in favor of approving the trip say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> The trip is approved. Congratulations. Thank you, Michelle. >> Thank you.
The next item on the agenda is to approve an international field trip request to Switzerland and to the Mediterranean for the Grand Rapids High School in June of 2028. Bel Carlson and Jessica Felce. >> Hi board. Hi. Hi Mr. Gross. Um we are
here to um request um our next trip. But before we do that, we wanted just to bring back a few pictures from our latest one. So this was the trip we traveled to this past summer to Thailand. There were 38 of us. Thank
you. There were 38 of us. Um or 39. Yes. Um we spent 14 days in Thailand. It was a long trip there. Long trip back, but the students were amazing. Um, we had 550 m traveled by bus and we got to do so many amazing things. Um, from the
busy streets of Bangkok to the quiet Buddhist temples to um this incredible waterfall we got to spend some time in. Um, it was it was a really really incredible experience. It's nice. We try to diversify our trip offerings. Um,
we've taken students to India and Morocco and all over the world and um, Thailand was was a great addition to that. We love traveling to Europe as well, too. But it's nice to put some different itineraries in there for students to see the diverse world. Um, with us is one of our travelers, Anna,
who is going to talk a little bit about some of the trip highlights. >> Hi, my name is >> Hi, my name is Anna Gber. I'm a junior at Grand High School, and I had the amazing privilege of going on this trip last summer. Um, some of the things I loved most was ultimately the
perspective I gained that I couldn't have gained without like seeing these things. Like there's life beyond what I lived in. Um, I absolutely loved that I got the group that I got to travel with. I made connections with people I may never would have crossed paths with. So
that was super amazing. And ultimately, I felt super safe the whole time and our tour guide was extremely educational and I learned so much the whole time and it was so great. And um I also had the privilege of my mom getting to come with me. So that was super sweet to have
those special memories. Um I'm very grateful that I got to go on this trip and I thought the itinerary was perfect and I hope that students don't look past this opportunity. >> Thank you. So, >> so where to next? Um, the next one on board is uh to look at Switzerland,
Italy, and France is what we're looking at for the summer of 2028. Um, the itinerary. Uh, this is just kind of a rough sketch of where we'll be going. So, Switzerland, um, flying into Lucern, we're going to Lucern first. Um, and then, uh, Lucern's kind of, you
know, walking the city, um, experiencing some of the highlights, and then doing two kind of alpine village tours in a day. So doing kind of a day trip out to those um and doing like cable cars up into the mountains and um really getting the mountain feel of Switzerland. Um from Switzerland we'll go down to
Florence. Um Florence there'll be an inner uh little stop uh at Lake Ko or kind of Milan like where the Olympics are right now. We'll be stopping in that area before we make it to Florence. We'll spend a couple days there um through Luca and then to Chinqutera which is those kind of uh cliffside
villages. Um both Florence and Chinqutera were two places that we went a couple of years ago on our Italy vacation and were some of the ones we absolutely loved back in 2024. Um and then we'll do a stop in Monaco and then into Nice and the French Riviera and
we'll take a train up to Paris kind of ending there. Um the logistics of it, we're looking at June of 2028. Uh the dates again just kind of uh depending on what works best as far as the end of the school year and we kind of adjust those dates as we get a little bit closer into
planning. It's open to all Grand Rapids High School students and their families. So we really like when um when parents come along with us too. Um and so uh both students and families join us. Um the cost for students uh is uh $49.97.
We worked really hard to get it below 5,000. This includes an early enrollment discount. Um we are using a different tour company this year. So traditionally we have used EF. Um we're trying a new company which is called Blue Dot Tours. Um and uh partly there was some
competition in the market now. So we actually Braille um knows uh the new director of this company and um they were able to offer us some some better prices and also some just better customization and um we're hoping some
better hotels and meals to go along with it. So, we thought we really kind of trust them as leaders and we think that they offer the similar guarantees when it comes to um protections for students and safety and all of those kinds of things. So, we've probably spent the last four months researching and um
working with uh multiple tour companies trying to get the best quote and the best itinerary and we think that this is the this is the best one to go with. So, um we're excited to try them this year. We're really excited about what they can offer. Um and again it includes airfare hotels, tour guide, most of the meals and excursions. There are a lot of times
for us lunches are not included um that we get some free time in some of these European cities and it gives kids a chance to really explore on their own and um kind of choose some meals for themselves and then we do group meals together for breakfast and dinner. Um we will have a 6 to1 student chaperone ratio. Um we uh take ISC 318 employees
as our chaperones. Um, and we do have all adult travelers that are age 20 and older have a background check. Um, so that includes both chaperones and adult travelers. And, uh, if approved, we will host a parent and student meeting um, also on Monday, February 23rd. Um, this
is, you know, two years in advance, well over two years in advance. We hope that, again, we know that there's a cost to this and, um, we like giving families a chance to make payments over, you know, monthly payments if that works in their uh, schedule. and um also time to fund
raise. Give them ample time to fundraise. In addition to that, we do offer multiple fundraising opportunities throughout the year. Students can choose how much they want or don't want to do. We have some students who fund raise a lot. We have others who, you know, get jobs in the summer or, you know, have their Christmas presents be um for the
next couple of years go towards the trip. Uh my own child is going on uh our next one next summer in Japan and he's done a mixture of both where he's worked and he's also done fundraising here. Um, we see students do a variety of things, but we try to offer as many as we can. And again, we try to get the cost as
reasonable as we can for a 12-day trip. >> All right. Thank you. >> I have a motion to approve the international field trip to Switzerland, Italy, and France in June of 2028. >> So moved. >> Move Ashley, second by David. Any discussion? >> Are you guys looking for uh Chevron?
>> You're coming next year. >> I am. >> Don't be greedy. You're late. And we try to we have we have a shop owner process as you know. Um so we do we do have uh you know a lot of times if if your own child is going and you're a a district employee we try to prioritize
going with your children. We try to prioritize people who haven't gone before. We have uh chaperrons. We want them to be committed to global education. And so we do try to incorporate all of those things when deciding on chaperones. Serious question. Um uh that family meeting on
the 23rd is that when you guys not only are discussing but is that when you are offering that early sign up as well correct >> for that particular time? >> Yes. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Have a question uh for Bel. Um thank you for uh looking at Switzerland. I have
family there and it's it's very personal for me. I'm glad to see you taking that on. I am curious. I personally have great confidence in EF because we've worked with them for so many years on so many projects. Uh and I understand we're
looking at a different vendor now and I I'd like to hear your perspective on that. Uh >> yeah. Um I think Jess really explained it pretty well, but um there's competition and um part of we've worked
with both EF and Explora in the past. We Explora and EF are the two major tour companies um student tour companies and we took students to Greece and Egypt with Explora in 2022.
Yeah, both of those ended up in 2022 because of CO um and so a couple of the um one of the CEOs and one of the um customer service people anyways broke off and split off to create Blue Dot.
And so they're taking a lot of uh experience from the travel world and creating this new company and trying to kind of take the best of the best. EF is incredible. We love EF. We've we've never not loved our experience with them. However, they are a um huge
company and when it's a really big company, there's a lot of overheads when it comes to costs when it comes to hotels and blocks, you know, booking on airplanes, different with different airlines and restaurants and things like that. So, the flexibility is a little limited, a little more limited. And so
we felt with um the back and forth conversation that we had with Blue Dot and the conversations that I've had with the um connections through Explorica that have gone over with Blue Dot that we feel really confident in um giving
them a shot. Um they yeah they're bringing a wealth of travel experience into the student travel industry and and we feel like it's a really good time. We've given them a lot of perspective as tour leaders. um that they've been really good about listening about and
infusing into I think sort of how they're building the company as well too. So yeah, and the cost I mean when we got the feed or our cost quote let's see what was it like 5800 this exact trip through EF and at the end of the
day we know that um cost of course is a really important factor when we consider these trips and so there's been a lot of sleepless nights over this decision. This certainly has not been an easy decision. Um but we do feel confident um giving them a shot
this time around and we know um EF is there if we need to go back but thoroughly research >> really excited. Yeah. Thank you. We really appreciate your continued support of our travel and and getting students out. >> Thank you.
>> One question I had for you is can you talk a little bit about what the pre-trip experience looks like for the kids? Um, I know, you know, as a global traveler myself, I think it's important to know where you're going and talking about these places before you get there. >> Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like for this trip?
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, typically we um have multiple meetings before we go where students are and parents and all what all the travelers are informed on every place we're going. They're really well
prepared. I mean, we I think overprepare them most likely. We also uh the last few years have been giving students and parents, all travelers, a really nice um like booklet of all the places we're going with the itinerary, a bunch of
historical information, background information on all of our destinations. Um yeah, we really make sure students are well versed. We truly believe that they're representative of our schools, of our state, of our country. And so we want them to be well received by all the
places we go to. And we always get that feedback from tour guides that your students are so great. They're so respectful. They're they're really nice. They're, you know, well behaved. So, um, we certainly prep them for that. One of the things that we'll be doing, um, this
spring in preparation for our Ireland and Scotland trip is we're having a little hug trivia. not without beer of course um but to get get students excited and ready to go for that part of the world since we know um that is you know special part of that.
>> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? >> All right. All those in favor of approving the trip say I >> I opposed. >> All right. The trip is approved. Congratulations. >> All right. The next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the January
20th regular. Have a motion. >> So move David. >> Moved by David. >> Second. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Minutes are approved. >> Mr. >> Mr. Chair,
>> can we go Can we go back to principal report? >> Oh, >> thank you. >> I'm sorry. Let's uh back up with all my apologies. >> Uh Mr. Hoffstead, principal report. >> Thank you, Chair Cohen, board
superintendent Gross. Um I'm uh honored to do this on behalf of uh the Grand Rapids High School. Um our board reports are definitely takes us in some different directions in terms of what um is presented. Um tonight, I
figured it would be a prudent to um present on our um state of the building. We have uh state of the building reports that we do internally to our staff with our staff three times a year. Julie, if you get a chance to throw that up.
>> Um just a quick tidbit before I get started on that. Um we're right in the midst of our registration um season. So those of you that have children in the district um know that we are um going through the process of our incoming ninth graders along with the rest of our
classes. Um pretty in-depth process in terms of making sure that course selection um students families get all the information needed. Um those numbers are really important for us with regards to sectioning um course offerings for next year. Um it's a really exciting
time um for for students and families um but is definitely intense. So we're looking forward to uh wrapping that up this week. >> Um so our state of the building is a report that we put out three times a year fall, winter, and spring and really
looks at our systems academically, behaviorally, um attendance data and our social and emotional learning data. And we really look at this to celebrate successes but also identify needs, any inequalities that we have in our
systems, um areas to celebrate and areas of growth as well. Um so this is aligned with our strategic directions. Um each building has a state of the building. Um I don't know if any of my colleagues have presented on this um in the past.
This is very closely related to um our school action plan as well. We have a school action plan aligned to our uh strategic directions along with our strategy team. Um and that really filters in everything that we do. Um I was able to present at Khacker um last
week um I don't know if I could rattle off the acronym just off the top of my head. Carol >> yep fire away >> comprehensive achievement and civic readiness. Um and this is also related to that as well. So, three times a year. Um, like I said, these are these are um
items that as a building uh keeps our focus and keeps that information out to all our staff. So, just quickly about our building def de demographics. If you'll notice um in our enrollment, we have a slight dip in our upper grades. We went down uh approximately about 35
students since the fall. Um our 9th grades was steady. Um but other grades, like I said, 35 students can be attributed to a lot of different things. Students enrolling in our district and choosing to go someplace else. PSO numbers. Um Graa was something new this
year. Um so our Grand Rapids Area Virtual Academy, if you notice, semester 1, we were at 45 students. Now in semester 2, we are up to 63. So we only see that component growing. Um but it also fits a need for um not only some of our students, but our homeschool
students as well. Um you can take a look at our um ethnicity, meal status, disability. Um these are all numbers that factor when we are considering um inequities um >> and strengths >> and strengths and weaknesses. >> So
>> So as I said earlier, our building goals um are are aligned with our school action plan. Um, our three goals, our main goals this year was to increase the percentage of freshmen successfully earning credit in all of their courses. Um, our goal was
shooting from 77% currently to 83%. Um, creating a collective expectations for staff from a level of awareness to comprehensive fidelity around data collection and practices and our goal to support our curricular teams in phase completion of the curriculum review
cycle. Um these goals are not only um aligned to as I said earlier our strategy goals but my personal goals as a principal and our teaching um our teachers goals um for their year yearly goal setting um process as well. So
really the alignment um was something that was emphasized when I spoke at uh our khak event um and that alignment really has shown through in um our our schoolwide data this year. Um so first up our our star reading. Um so our star
is our our um screener. Um as you see on this page we had 40 students receiving reading interventions based on our star data semester 1. This is new for the Grand Rapids High School. We were able to secure a interventionist this year. Um working with 40 students 9 through 12
per semester. We've identified 51 students um targeted for reading interventions semester 2. Um something that I just want to touch base on with our um >> with our reading data um is our 65% of
our students um scored at or above typical growth from fall to winter this year and this is up 13% from last year. So if you look at this data and again some of this data is certainly you know intended for internal purposes but you
can see that 51% of our 9th grade students met or exceeded um benchmark. It was down just a bit from our our fall screening window but these these um screeners they do change throughout the year. Um 52% of our students in 10th
grade this is up 6% from fall. 11th grade >> um 11th grade stayed pretty steady >> and our 12th grade >> and our 12th grade um was down just a bit 45% meet or exceed benchmark and again what the emphasis that we look at
is is certainly the ability for growth um and the things that this slides these slides don't show um like I said 65% of our students showed um at or above typical growth >> with our >> with our star math um screener as you
can As you can see, we had 21 students receiving math interventions semester 1. We have 17 students targeted to receive math interventions semester 2. Um, our growth rate in our math like our our reading was 65%, our uh growth rate with
our math students was up to 68%. Um, for from fall to winter screening. Um, with our 9th grade, you can see we had 52% meet or exceed benchmark in our winter screening. This was up 6% from
our fall window. Um, 10th grade was also up 6%. >> Our 11th grade was down >> and our 12th grade >> and our 12th grade, which is a little bit more misleading, um, is is less complete because our 12th grade um, our advanced students are not tested in our
STAR screener. And this is mainly reflected of students that have to take a remedial math class or they're in our special ed math classes. >> So overall very encouraged um by the data certainly in terms of um our growth
and where we're at comparatively speaking to last year. So both numbers up um >> our math our math data was up 6% from last year. Okay. Um, so my Sabers is a screener um that all of our students 9
through 12 um take a screener twice a year. Um really what we talk about with our students, it's a quick survey, but it also gets us a check on how they're doing. Um and it gives us really vital data. We have a uh student care team
that meets once a week. Um counselors, administration staff, um social workers that really reviews that data to um identify students that are in need. >> I know there's a lot >> I know there's a lot on this page. Um as you can see, um we are are screening
about 64% of our students um in our winter screener. Um the thing to note is if you look up in the top right um only 1.9% of our students u marked in high risk category um 16.3% in the moderate
and 81.8 is is some so really the identified area with regards to our high in moderate gives us um really valuable information. And it also identifies um students that we um
>> we provide interventions to and that can take place in with our counselors. Um our interventionist also um incorporates check and connect um from our first >> semester 11 students received that intervention. Eight targeted to receive
interventions semester 2 and that's specifically um check and connect. That doesn't include all of the counseling sessions that we we meet with our students. So really important data um that we can share with staff. It's when we look at from fall to winter, we do
see a slight uptick in percentage wise and that is not uncommon looking at the holidays um the end of first semester. These are things that we certainly expect >> to see >> to see. >> Darren, can I ask a quick question about that? Um do you notice numbers
>> in the spring? Do you notice those numbers taking a shift like in the opposite direction that there's more positive outcomes happening in the spring getting closer to the summer? >> I think overall it's really steady. The one the one point that I want to make is is um the screening numbers is always
really difficult. This is something that we do over recharge. So trying to capture all students is always been a real big challenge for not only our school but our schools across the district. So really I think a point of emphasis is getting all of our students
um in that screener. Um some kids don't really you know when they they see that for they got to spend 5 minutes on an iPad answering a couple of questions. It really provides us some valuable data. So getting everybody screened. Um attendance is also a factor in the winter and in the spring as well. So um
we we definitely roll with the punches when it comes to that data. >> J can I ask a follow up on that? >> Yeah. Building upon her question, >> there's not a lot of incentive, it doesn't appear, for students to do well on this. Correct me if I'm wrong in that
statement, but we take this data, we make decisions based on the data, but how important do we set the stage for the outcome of what they share in these screeners? Do you know what I'm saying? >> Absolutely. And there's there's uh I think we do a really good job. Obviously, we we talk to our our
counselors and um but we have each teacher reads through a slide of like what is the purpose of this? You know, this is really just a check-in to see how you're doing. Um and I think our teachers do a great job. Obviously, we have um some information that's, you
know, more so canned, but um systemwide it's it's really important. Um and I think students for the most part um you know, they they see it as we've been doing this for a couple years. they they know it's coming. Um but you know it it
it also gives us some really valuable stuff. So in terms of like just kind of clicking through it, we can certainly see that as well. Um even if it's just click through and it's not taken very seriously, we still do check-ins um with each and one of those every one of those students that that come in as a high
risk category. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Um um the next part of this is uh the office discipline referrals. This will probably be a little bit eye opening for some of you to kind of know what happens at a at a a high school level. Um, if you take a look at this this bar graph,
you'll see that 78% of our students have zero behavior referrals. Um, at this point in the year, um, only 10% of our our students have one incident, >> two to 5% or two to five incidents. um 8 8 9%
>> 9% >> close to 9% um and six plus incidents about 2.7% of our students and our incidents can be anything from um attendance um truency
to um behaviors in the classroom bus incidents things like that so it really is a wide variety and I'll show that on the next couple slides here um one of the things that this is really encouraging this here. So the blue line
is our 2526 school year. >> Um the black line on top is our 2425 school year. Um so if you see that 708 that's the total number of incidents or referrals that um myself and my
assistant principal are are working with since the beginning of the year. Um seems like a big number. It is. Um, however, we're down 462 incidents from last year at this time. Um, so that is incredibly encouraging
and I can attribute it to a lot of different things. Obviously, um, our incoming class of, you know, ninth graders, absolutely great job down at the middle school. We sent us some good crop for sure. Um, but it's also, um, the emphasis of our our teaching staff.
Um we have a very um experienced teaching staff but make it a point of emphasis um not only in their classrooms to connect with students on a personal level um but also doing a lot of classroom managed um behaviors. So
classroom managed way more than office managed. >> Darren, one more question. Yep. I could talk about this stuff. >> Absolutely. >> How many school days have there been so far this year? Do we know about this so far this school year
>> semester was about 15 school days 15 school days ago >> that would have been halfway so that 85 so about 90 >> so 90 so it's >> so I'm just trying to think of how many you're dealing with a day >> yeah trying to
>> yeah trying to wrap your head around that absolutely like it's not you know if you look at that is how many that we we have a day certainly Um there's >> there's more >> there's more emphasis on days especially when we have our truency um deal with
our attendance um writeups. Those are those are probably the bulk of this. Um so it's not all on one day but certainly you know um a dozen a day is is >> certainly normal. >> Certainly normal. >> Okay. I just I I say that because I
think it's important for us as the public to understand how much of this you're dealing with today in addition to the rest of the responsibilities that principles have in our district. >> No, absolutely. It's a really good point >> and that there's only two of you. >> Yes, >> there is there is two of us. There was
three at one point and Mark remembers the days when there was three and he remembers the day was when there were two. So, um take a look at some of this. This gives you a little bit better breakdown. Um top 10 incident types. Um as you can see 260 are the disruptive,
disorderly insubordination. Um coming up close and second, uh attendance, technology, cell phone, um tobacco, um >> threaten intimidation, cannabis, verbal abuse is >> uptick just a bit. Um again, we're
talking about 10. Um assaults down since um the fall in terms of moving down in the list of the top 10. um academic dishonesty. We certainly see that more now um with the advent of AI and and those are things that we're constantly combating. Um with regards to responses,
lunch detention is still kind of the principles go to. Um we we certainly practice non-exclusionary discipline um as much as we possibly can. conferences um are very effective in most cases. As you saw in that first slide, when we
only have you know um most of the students having zero incidents or one um it means you know that that that time is um been well spent. Um action plans, suspension, um losses of privileges, bus
suspensions, warnings, um all of these things. If you look at um in school suspensions um dismissals, those are also um they're considered exclusionary disciplines. So again, not our go-to. Um with any suspension at the Grand Rapids
High School, we do um have a mandatory re-entry meeting um with parents, with students, with counselors, um and make sure that we, you know, corral those students with supports as they re-enter and hopefully aren't repeats. So,
>> so again, when I share this, you know, I'm certainly encouraged to be able to share this with staff because this is represents um a big change in terms of it's been a lot, you know, a lot further down comparatively speaking to last year. However, I know it's probably eye
opening for a lot that see this for the first time and just go, "Wow, that's the magnitude um is does seem enormous." So, >> so some building celebrations after all of that data. Um, so when I said earlier
we were we're shooting from 77% to 83% of all of our freshmen um passing their their courses. At the end of first semester, 89% of our 9th grade students um passed their first semester courses. Um that is is something to celebrate.
Obviously, we want students to have a great entrance to the school um and to have success and to find their their footing. Um our interventions is also something that we've been able to take this screening data and take it back to our classrooms. But now having an
interventionist where we can do some pull out lessons and interventions with our students has been very beneficial. Um our academic screening like I said our growth in reading is up 13% and our growth in math is up 5%. Um if you look
at our SCCL data at the back at number four there 81.8% of students scored in the sum risk or lower category um most students are doing very well. Um and that's that's certainly encouraging. the the 20% or so
um we know that you know they they need some connections and need some other things that um we hope to help help provide during the school year. >> So again >> so again that that 462 incident decrease from last year we feel that we
absolutely do and it's been a great year. It really has um >> our action steps moving forward um continue to to maintain um our communications home with our our grade checks. Um also we're looking at uh academic recovery program to start soon
for um that remaining 11%. Um we want to maintain that screening participation. Like I said, that's a really important step in all of this is to make sure that we are screening um at maximum capacity. Our curriculum cycle has been a big lift. A lot of our work
done in our early outs and even um some all day staff meetings or department meetings with our English um math and science departments. There's been some really good work done. So, school action plan at the forefront of all of our team meetings. um monthly check-ins, updates,
these are all really important to um >> running a school. >> Running a school. So, like I said, we've had a great year. Anybody that asks um had a very successful start of the year. Um >> it's always hard. >> It's always hard hard work. Um but it's very rewarding work as well. Um when you
see kids achieving um having that connection with staff and staff really feeling it as well. Um that connection with the students really what makes everybody come back to work the next day. So >> any questions? >> Any questions? >> Question. >> Yeah. Fire away. You
>> So I'm in the I take advanced math. So obviously I understand that the scores would be lower because I don't have to take the STAR test. >> Yeah. >> But so my 10th grade year you could test out of English star testing. >> And then 11th grade I I think we also
could this year at 12th grade I'm at a college level English. >> Why do I still continue up to take the same test? and why can't I test out of it anymore? I guess is my question. >> That's a great question. Um and I can point you right to the read act. Um Minnesota Department of Education has
read Act where all students um are screened including our PSO students, even ones that are not on campus. So um it's a great question. We know that you know um with our math screener we have throttled back because typically those
students um you know meet or exceed on the MCAs at a very very high percentage as we would know our advanced English classes would as well. So it is part of being part of the read that >> yeah it's necessary question.
>> Anything else? All right. All right. I appreciate you guys asking questions as we went. >> If I can just I think it's you know context I think is really important and >> there are if you look at students and staff there are about,00
people in that building every single day. Uh when you think about 1,100 people in that building every single day or probably closer to a 100 days. Uh, and then you look at that incident number in the context of 105,000
people days or whoever you want. I mean, it's a lot. Um, and it's a lot to deal with because each one of those incidents, it's not a one minute thing for Darren or Andy to deal with. It can be five minutes and it can be three hours. Um, but I think you know
sometimes there's a narrative about what happens in schools and this and that and the reality is for as many people are in that building every single day. Uh, like Darren said, >> most of the students have never had a
write up or even an attendance thing. >> That's amazing. Um, and if you talk to Ryan and Dan from the middle school, their numbers are not that different either. despite a narrative that exists, most of the kids are doing exactly what
they're supposed to do every day. And it's just amazing. Um, and we have some that are popping off a lot more and that, you know, u folks deal with those, but our schools are orderly places and there's a lot of great things going on and it's it's busy in that office, but
um I think it's important that that narrative is straight, too. >> That's a very good point. >> Great point. Thank you. Thank you, Darren. >> Great presentation. Thank you. >> All right. The next item on our agenda is to approve a resolution to accept
donations and gifts for October, November, and December of 2025. The monthly totals um for October or the monthly total for October is 28,35841. November is $15,145 and December is $20,60
I believe. Do you read the resolution or just do the vote, Julie? >> Uh, just the totals is fine. >> Just the totals. >> The resolution. >> We don't have to read the resolution. All right. Move to approve. >> Uh, move to approve by David. >> Second by Mark.
>> Second by Mark. Any discussion? >> Thanks to the supportive community that we have. Agreed. >> Agreed. And it looks like it was a substantial increase over this time last year. So again, thank you to the community. >> Any further discussion?
All those in favor of approval? >> I opposed. >> All right. Resolution is approved. >> The next item on the agenda is to approve retirements. Casey. >> Good evening board. Tonight we have Anne Bilus, physical education teacher
retirement and has served the district for 37 years and Angie Beckage, special education teacher retirement. Angie has served for 27 years. I'm recommending approval with thanks for those two ladies and their years of service.
>> A motion motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Mark. >> Mark second. >> Second David with deep appreciation. >> Second by David. Any discussion? Thank you to both of those uh staff members for the time and effort that they have put throughout the years. They both
are wonderful humans at what they do. So, thank you for that. >> I agree and concur. Thank you very much and congratulations and good luck in retirement. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Retirements are approved. Thank you, Casey.
>> The next item on the agenda is to approve the consent agenda. I have a motion to approve. So moved. >> Moved by Ashley. Second by Mark. Second by Mark. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I >> I >> opposed. Consent agenda is approved.
>> The next item on the agenda is to approve a teacher request for unpaid leave of absence from Rachel Newman. Casey, >> before you, you have a request um for a leave of absence that is unpaid. This is both a contractual leave and under
Minnesota statute 122A46. It's a statutory extended leave for a period of five up to 5 years. Could be anywhere between 3 and 5 years beginning at some point in the 2627 school year and going through the 2030 to 2031
school year. The guidelines are attached to the leave, but just to point out there is no cost to the district. There would be no pay or benefits during the leave. It would retain Rachel's right to her seniority and to purchase her TRA
years of service credits. Um I'm recommending approval of the leave. >> Do I have a motion to approve? >> So uh so moved. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second David. >> Second by David. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? I
>> I >> opposed. >> The unpaid leave of absence for Rachel Newman is approved. >> The next item on the agenda is to approve the 2025 to 2027 Edmond Local 1315 teachers unit
contract. Casey, >> thank you. As President Angie spoke earlier, we had really great discussions, professional, respectful, and a lot of hard conversations as part of this settlement. Um, I'm recommending
approval of the settlement settlement for 2527 contract year for our teachers. Some of the highlights include no base salary increase for 2526, but there will be a stipen um between $1,200 and $1,410
depending on how that employee elects it. A 2.25% 25% salary increase in year two, $200 increase in longevity each year, and then adding a small stipen for hybrid and overload teaching and some
minor revisions to the activity schedule. Recommending approval of the 2527 admin teaching contract. >> Thank you, Casey. I have a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Mark. >> Motion by Mark. Second. Second,
>> second by Ashley. Any discussion. >> All those in favor? >> I >> I opposed. >> The 2025 2027 Edmond local 1315 contract is approved. Thank you, Casey. >> Thank you. >> The next item is to approve the permission to post teacher and special
assignment math curriculum integration specialist. Mr. Chair or Mr. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh in your packet I included some rationale for this position. Um we have worked hard to get
in alignment in our district on uh with uh Minnesota standards review and we're in a position where we need to be and are working on looking at curriculum for math. uh this
we are in uh the series of our implementation cycle for English language arts and so you've heard Errol Cop and others talk about wind wisdom that was selected for K8 and this represents this next implementation for
math represents a K12 implementation which um I think would be the largest curriculum implementation in decades in the district so it's very very charge. I think we've learned through the work of implementing ELA that it's really
important to uh support staff uh have clarity about expectations and pace and make sure people have what they need. And so I think having a position like um the curriculum integration specialist position we've had for ELA has been very
valuable. And um what I'm proposing is that we have a similar position for math to ensure that the math uh selection goes well, implementation goes well and our staff uh get the support they need
and we have the fidelity we need in that implementation. It's a huge investment and so I think having someone that is uh involved in that every day is really important. Uh the position would be placed on the teachers contract. There's some work that we need to do with the
teachers union when we have a teacher on special assignment. Um and it is built into the fiscal 27 budget that you've seen. I would recommend approval. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Moved by Ashley. Second.
>> Second by Mark. >> Second by Mark. Any discussion? >> Thank you for the great work that's gone into planning in this Great. >> Yeah. I would also uh just reiterate that I believe this is an enormous investment in our district and our kids
and I think it's very wise to make sure that we have somebody that's leading the charge to >> make sure that we um invest appropriately and really have a lot of fidelity with the implementation. >> All those in favor? >> I I
>> I opposed. All right, the commission to post the teacher on special assignment is approved. >> The next item on the agenda is to approve a resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and position and reasons therefore Mr. Superintendent.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to do my best. I think I have a limited number of words uh in my throat today and so to do my best to conserve those which is uh I'm really glad that Alex is here and he's going to
uh we're going to tag team this and so we'll uh some of this is will be review for you but I think also important to be talking about uh for the public >> um so uh the district like um any organization has um the goal of being
financially healthy and stable. And in school finance, we use uh two key indicators. The first one being the unreserved fund balance. This is general fund dollars that are not restricted for any one purpose. And it's the accumulation of um money over year over
year after each um >> audited year ends. You could simplify it and think of it as your checking account. what's left after you pay all your bills. That is our best indicator of the financial health. The board has a policy
of 10% of expenditures and as of June 30th, 2025, it was at about 9.2%. So, the district's work really hard to uh get back above that policy level. And then as far as the stability, uh
it's a balanced budget. it's revenues are equal to expenses or exceed expenses. And I know the district's put a lot of effort into making that happen as well. This graph shows um revenue versus
expenses over the last several fiscal years. Um you could see 24 23 24 25 uh the revenues exceeded expenses which has helped the district build back some of those reserves.
Fiscal year 26 is not closed out yet. We're anticipating a de a slight deficit because of the transition from the OPED trust to the pay as you go and the lag time with that money being levied for >> Oops.
months. >> This shows the last uh several years of where cuts have been made or reductions have been made. You can see uh the bulk of it is through personnel, which makes sense because 80 something% of the
budget is um salary and benefits for school districts. Um, and as you cut out things like supplies and capital, there's only so much you can cut in those areas. But that's just a a snapshot of um the reductions that have been made in the
last several years. >> A year ago when we were doing budget workshops and and communicating with the board, we were talking when I did workshops with staff and district leaders. Um we said that these were the
five things we needed to do to avoid budget cuts this year. And uh number one is finish the year with a balanced budget for fiscal 25 that's been audited and that happened. Um maintain a fund balance within the school board policy target. Like Alex said, uh we're right
there and if we account for the OPED uh uniquenesses there, we're right there. Three, make the reductions necessary to balance the budget for fiscal 26. again with without accounting for OPED. We did that last spring. Made additional cuts
>> for and this was really painful um but um >> as Casey indicated uh with our teacher agreement tonight. Um >> to negotiate contracts that were limited to step in experience and lane increases. Uh the board identified that
a year ago as a really important strategy in order to not have to make reductions this spring. And at this point, we have um signed agreements with over 80% of our employees that represent that. And number five, increased local revenue or levy authority. Uh while we
don't have an operating referendum in place, uh we do we did have a we did have a levy increase and we've seen some increases from uh compensatory revenue that have helped with five. So, um, as difficult as it's been,
I think it's important to, uh, just acknowledge that we set out a plan and we followed that plan. And, um, if we look at the next slide, um, kind of to look at where we are for fiscal 27, Alex is going to walk through that.
>> Sure. So you can see um this is all of our expenses and revenues um staff, buildings, everything, transportation, um revenues of just over 69 million and estimated expenditures of 71.3 million.
Uh so that is leaving us with a FY27 deficit of 2.294 million. However, with the transition from the OPED >> trust to uh what we call pay as you go, so the levy authority to uh to cover the
um >> post-employment benefit liability, um that will be on the levy for next fall to be collected in >> 2728. And so there's a lag time for
those expenses, but the district will recover the 3.4 million for fiscal year 27, if that makes sense, >> leaving um a positive >> operating margin of the 1.1 million
>> or 1.55% of expenditures. So, it's kind of >> challenging to wrap your head around that OPED piece, but basically accounting for uh >> future revenue for those costs. >> And that number 1.1 million sounds like
a lot when we think about it in our own budget. Um, in the context of $71 million, it's not a lot of money. Um, but it is u it is a positive operating margin and um that's a really really good thing. Uh, so if we think about
what does that mean? >> I've been asked like you've probably been asked a lot over the last few years, how long are we going to have to cut? And the answer that I believe we've been pretty consistent with was uh we're going to need to cut until our revenues and expenditures can balance themselves
without cutting. And um so the recommendation is that we uh we don't set a rec reduction target for the fall um >> this spring. So, we don't we don't set a a budget reduction target. We'll
continue to make uh budget adjustments as necessary and watch for opportunities to cut expenses, which is why the item on the agenda tonight is to approve the resolution directing us to make reductions um as we need to. But in
previous years, we would have talked about, you know, an amount to close a deficit. Um, and so we'd be talking about, you know, large numbers or cutting an amount of 1.5 million or something. And tonight, all we're saying is, you know, we don't need to set a target because our revenues and our
expenditures are balanced uh or we have a operating margin for the fall for next fiscal year. And um and we just look for opportunities to be smart uh and watch our expenses and and make uh opportunistic uh reductions. So, it's a
really good really good thing. my my voice and probably can't capture the positivity that I'm feeling because this has been six years of really tough decisions for people and tough years of impact on people. Um, and even, you know, the people that are still here.
Uh, it's been a lot for the people that haven't lost their jobs. It's been hard for people that have lost their jobs. It's been hard for people that have had to do different jobs. Um, and so it's been hard kind of for everyone. Uh, also I think this third thing, this
isn't, you know, doesn't mean we're out of the woods. Uh, we know that the state budget is uh is a concern. We know that enrollment trends in our state and our district are not positive. We know our expenses are always going to continue to
grow. Uh we also know that our budget's based on assumptions and some of those we you know we take a very poss um but if some of those assumptions go haywire um that will be a challenge and at the end of the day even though we may
not be making you know big reductions this spring we know that we're not staffed like we want. Uh we know that we have some programs missing that we really wish we had back and that will still be something that we have to >> kind of have to work through.
>> So what's next? Um the board uh has a resolution tonight again directing to uh administration to make recommendations for reductions. This is a resolution that's passed just about every spring by just about every single school district.
So, um, even in years past where there may have been a large budget u surplus for years in a row, this resolution might have been passed by this board or another one. Um, but it just gives administration the authority to do uh
what it needs to do and and to bring opportunities to you. Um, >> I think this is news that people need to know as soon as possible because there are people right now that are worried about their jobs. And so, um, if, uh, if
we move forward with this, uh, I have an email drafted to go out tonight to let staff know that this is, uh, what the plan is for the spring. And, uh, in there, I'll include uh, information about a virtual staff meeting on February 18th where I'll go
in more a deeper dive. But again, I didn't want to wait till the 18th to communicate, but I think is really really good news and a real big relief to a lot of people. And then um the the postings um and hirings, we talked about the math one tonight. Uh you approved
the posting for the uh alternative ed principal at a previous meeting. Any other staffing things, we'll try to get those going as soon as we can so that any dominoes that need to fall into place can fall into place as soon as possible. But um I want to thank the board for really hard decisions in the
past. U my administrative team for doing really really hard work, staff for pitching in. Um again, back to the agreement that Angie Boyd talked about and Casey talked about, we we wouldn't be here today if we didn't have
agreements like that in place. We would we'd be talking about cutting. That was the whole reason why we we uh went down that road. We wouldn't be here talking about not cutting if um we hadn't made healthc care changes both to our active plans and our retirees. We wouldn't be
there. Uh so everybody in the district has had to pitch in to get us into a spot that we're in right now where we're not talking about um planned reductions for the fall. So I would recommend approval of that resolution. >> Thank you. I'll direct clerk Marty to read the resolution aloud.
This is the resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions. And the reasons therefore whereas the financial condition of the school district dictates that the school board must reduce expenditures
immediately. And whereas this reduction in expenditures must include discontinuence or curtailment of positions and programs. And whereas a determination must be made as to which employees must be terminated
and contracts not renewed and which teachers must be placed on unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits in effecting discontin discontinuence or curtailment of positions. Be it resolved by the school board of
independent school districts 318 as follows. that the school board hereby directs the superintendent of schools and the administration to consider the discontinuence or curtailment of programs or positions to effectuate
economies in the school district and reduce expenditures and make recommendations to the school board for discontinuence of programs, curtailment of programs, discontinuence of positions or curtailment of positions.
Thank you, Clerk Marty. Do I have a motion to approve the resolution? >> So moved. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second by Mark. >> Second by Mark. Any discussion? >> Mr. Chair, I just want to re reiterate that as scary as that resolution sounds,
it's very um it's very uh standard procedure for districts to do that and we don't anticipate any ULAS this spring. Um again, looking for just opportunities that present themselves, but no targeted reductions. Thank you, Matt. I just want to um
recognize you, Matt, for the work that's been done over these past six years. Um you've led the charge in getting us to this place um through um effective leadership and I just want to thank you for that and recognize you for that. Um as well as the entire district staff.
Um, it's been really tough and sitting in this chair. It's incredibly tough to see reductions in the impact they have on our staff, our community, and our kids. And I'm so thrilled that we're in this position and hope that we can continue this positive momentum.
>> Any other discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I >> I opposed. The resolution is approved. The next item on the agenda is to approve the 2026 2027 Grand Rapids Area
Schools calendar. Mr. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh in your packet, you'll see a a calendar for your consideration uh similar to years past. Uh conversations start in the fall with our
neighbors uh neighboring districts to see where things uh land for them. We've worked hard to try to have our calendars be in alignment as much as possible. We also had a uh a law passed recently
that permitted school districts to start school before Labor Day in the fall of 26 and the fall of 27 due to when Labor Day started. So, that was something to consider that we hadn't really had the opportunity to consider before unless we had a uh large construction pro actually
not even that large but a construction project going. Um the calendar that you have in your packet uh was also reviewed by a uh our meet confer committee and also a uh
a team of teachers that again back to what Angie said earlier in this committee um took a look at that got feedback from teachers in in a whole I would say that the structure of the calendar is similar to
this year's It does represent a pre-Laboray start. Um, we would start school on September 1st and we have started school on September 2nd many days and I know that because that's my birthday and it's been the
first day of school a lot. Um, so it isn't a giant shift when it comes to, you know, the day of the week necessarily. Um, it just happens when Labor Day happens to fall. We did include that Friday off so people would still have a long weekend for Labor Day.
We received a lot of feedback about a long break for the holidays. So that is also represented in this calendar. Uh as well as uh a break in March. It represents uh getting out the end of the first week of June. Uh so again, similar
to what this year's calendar looks like, the biggest difference for um staff, for community, for families is that this also represents moving away from early outs on Wednesday
and making a shift. We've we believe that professional development is really important. Um, and so we took a look at how many minutes that students were missing due to early outs, converted that into entire days, and those days
have become full professional development days, and you'll see those represented in yellow or orange on the calendar. There are four of them. So, four days were added as PD days instead of early outs. This is a change
that all the other IAS districts are making as well. Uh I think Dear River is looking at an alternative calendar, so not really counting them yet because I think they're voting on a 4 day week um at some point soon. Um
let's see. I think that uh that's the summary. The I guess maybe the other thing I'll mention and this really isn't about this calendar in particular, but um the topic of conferences has come up a number of times and this calendar represents doing conferences the way
that we've done them previously. But it seems like there's a great deal of interest and energy around the idea of digging into the notion of conferences, what families want out of conferences, what staff want out of conferences, how
they best benefit our students. And so I'm looking forward to that conversation happening this upcoming year. Um because I think there's a better way to do conferences. So, I'm hoping that in a year when I'm presenting a calendar for the following year that uh we have
something cool that we're trying. I'd recommend approval. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So, moved. Ashley. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second by Mark. >> Second by Mark. Any discussion? Thanks to uh superintendent and staff
and others who have spent a lot of time uh digging into this uh calendar and looking at various options. It's it's been thoroughly vetted and I appreciate that. >> I agree. And I wanted to also add that I've gotten some feedback from the community and the public that the spring
break inclusion has been uh a welcome addition. um including some students at the Grand Rapids High School that wrote to the school board asking for a spring break. So, recognition to that that student that wrote that uh paper.
>> Any other discussion? >> I would just add, Mr. Chair, if I can quickly um we did have a a discussion recently at our at a work session about um getting feedback from the community this fall about the calendar, too. Um looking ahead to the following year. I
think that's a really great idea um to do um after school starts in the fall. I'd hate to confuse people and make them think that we were asking about the next school year, but I think it's uh be a really good opportunity to get some feedback from our community. >> Agreed.
Any other discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. The 2026 2027 Grand Rapids Area Schools calendar is approved. The next item on the agenda is to approve school board representatives for the
2026 graduations. We need to approve or appoint two board members and we'll alternate to each graduation. So we'll start with the Grand Rapids High School graduation which will take place on Friday, May 29th of 2026. Uh I believe last year was myself and Mark. Is that
>> or I'm sorry, myself and Ashley. >> Thanks. >> Uh are there any volunteers that would uh like to appoint themselves? >> I would do it again. Ashley Grand Rapids. Okay. >> Anyone else? >> I do it.
>> Mark. Okay. And I can be alternate. >> And then for the Big Fork High School graduation, that will be on Saturday, May 30th. Uh I can um do that one. >> I'll go there. >> And David. So >> Tom be the
>> by his non um attendance. He can be the alternate. You're welcome, Tom, when you're listening to this. >> Uh, all right. Good. So, Julie, did you get that? >> I did. >> I did. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Do we need a vote on that? >> No. No vote. >> All right. The next item on the ever um never- ending agenda tonight is uh to accept the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee annual compliance
report. So, we'd like to welcome Megan, Anna, and Benji. >> Uh, hello everyone. Thanks for having us tonight. Uh, my name is Benji Sam. Uh, I'm going to kind of give a little speech representing the American Indian Advisory Committee. Uh, this year for
the the school year 2025 and the 2026 year, uh, we are going to vote with concurrence with the school district. Uh, we're pleased with the consistent progress being made. uh we recognize that we still have a little bit of work in front of us uh to work on goals that work for our students, parents,
families, and teachers to help continue uh and build upon a lot of the successes that this school district has seen. Uh that also includes uh faculty members and and some of the goals that we outlay um in the the goal rubric for 2026 to
2027. Uh we'll outline a few of those. Uh we'll continue to do this by creating those goals that will foster new growth and expand the capacity and hold ISD 318 accountable uh to continue building a sense of belonging and equitable education for our Native American students through a cultural lens. Um one
of the other reasons that we decided to vote for this concurrence this year uh is that we feel that the school district has been uh responsible and respectful in making progress towards uh some of the areas and concerns that have been brought up in the past. uh the school district has been uh willing to work
with the committee to enhance areas that we've found concerns with uh and that's been a real consistency in the time that we've been together here. Um some of the goals that we're going to outline specifically have been shared. I don't know if those have been presented to you
all just yet. >> Perfect. Um, a few of those goals reflect a few things like uh potentially looking forward into some of the staffing for our uh sta staff advocates. Currently the funding that we are using
towards um housing that faculty member are through a couple of different avenues and one of the requests that we're going to have is to continue uh looking at ways to continue help funding those staffs uh staff members in each school uh program within our district that have continued making uh this such
a great success for our students. Um things that uh really also stand to shine out and one of the things that we had a discussion with Mr. gross in a meeting. Is it last week already? >> Days just fly. Uh but one of the things that we looked at in in talking about
the concurrence vote this year was that the the Grand Rapids school district and area schools here um has an astonishingly high graduation rate for American Indian education students. Uh when outsiders look into the things that have been done in this school district,
this is a shining star in representations uh of finding ways to help things work for our students. And I think that's a reflection of everyone in this room, our faculty and the schools, uh, and as well as our students and families that have bought into some of the great successes that we've seen. And
we want to continue building forward on that in order to meet concurrence for for next year. >> Thank you. >> Beautiful. >> Do I have a motion to accept the compliance report? >> So moved, David.
>> Moved by David. Second. >> Second, Ashley. Second by Ashley. Any discussion? >> Thanks to the uh uh American uh Indian ed uh parent program. Uh I was pleased
uh at how highly respected our program is throughout the state really and uh parent committee is uh an essential part of that. Uh and thank you for your hard work on that and thank you for this uh resolution.
I just want to echo that. Um, you know, I think having that good relationship, having good engagement, uh, is so important and so, uh, thank you for being here and thank you for partnering to make things better. >> I would pile on to that same
recognition. I think it it makes me really proud to have a strong relationship, be a great place for our Native American children to get a great education. And that partnership is or that result is the partnership that we have with you. So thank you.
>> All those in favor? >> I >> I opposed. >> All right. The compliance report is accepted with our thanks. >> The next item on the agenda is an update on the forward community advisory committee meeting number two.
>> Sir, superintendent. >> All right. Uh, one of the things I I think it's important that that uh, you know, we're doing this community engagement. It's really important. I think it's important that uh, as a board you're in the loop on what we've been talking about, where we've been. And so
we held our second uh our second >> forward meeting recently, the uh >> we had to reschedule it because it was scheduled on the uh >> the frigid frigid Thursday uh night before we called school or you know
Julie called school. >> Uh no um >> so um yeah so what was the 26th I think is the date that it was. Anyway, this is the charge that was given to the
community advisory committee uh that we call forward and uh this is the work they've been doing. Again, we established >> four meetings and um they uh the committee members have been charged to look at the current situation
here, provide feedback and then talk about options and priorities. Like I said, a series of four meetings and the first two have been really heavy on information sharing and the the last two will be more focused on
discussion and consensus building around um advice to you as a school board. In the first meeting, we spent some time just getting acquainted with each other
and identifying logistics and then took a deep dive into the community survey that we had completed this fall. Over 800 people responded to that in some way which is really amazing. Um and um we're engaged with that survey in some way or
form. Then we also took a look at our organization, how we operate, um the kind of key demographics and uh programs we have. Then we looked at some student academic data as well and student
opportunities. We had some opportunities in between each of those uh parts of the meeting for table discussion. That was really fun to watch. A couple pictures there of discussion happening. And then we gave the group some homework in between first
meeting and second meeting. And the homework was to answer this question. What is the most important priority for our schools a school district to tell three people about the meeting and then to ask um some people around you that same question? And I heard some chatter in
the community that people were hearing about this that this meeting happened which I think was really great. Um we had over 50 people at our first meeting. So, uh I think that was a really good turnout as well. >> Some of the information that came back
and we won't read through this, but uh some of the feedback that came through during the meeting, our first meeting centered around the idea of uh how important trust and transparency is. Uh we talked about where people get information and that was I think people
were surprised about based on our survey results where people get information. Um I I've seen numerous studies done uh and they continue to come back in our area that people get information from each
other more than they read it or they hear you know on the news. They are talking to the next door neighbor or somebody in their family or somebody on staff here. >> People were surprised to learn more about our students and who they are, where they come from, the demographics.
I think people were surprised by the scale of our district and how complicated it is. You know, we serve more meals than any restaurant. We move more buses than any transportation company. Um, you know, we have more square footage than any, you know,
industry around >> and then um there were some questions about other uh things related to that survey. >> We had a long discussion about MCAs and so that was really interesting. uh including the idea that MCAs might not
be the best measurement of student learning uh since they only measure results one time a year. Uh you saw in Darren's report um screening data that shows how kids are doing over the course of a whole year and we heard from a
number of the members that attended, well that seems to make more sense. Why don't we talk about that more? So we're talking about looking into ways that we could do that. some some uh challenges relating to our data and some concerns there around
proficiency rates and you know we've seen some improvements there and we need to continue to see improvements. That's our expectation. It's our community's expectation. Um and then uh some discussion about the constraints that we're dealing with uh
in terms of funding. Um awareness about our class sizes being higher than people are used to and higher than they've been in a long time. uh and the demands on teachers and staff. >> In meeting two, we harvested that uh the data from that question. So, we did a
thought exchange in real time. That was cool. And then um we did a sort of a school finance 101, an overview, and did some feedback again. uh took a look at how school finance plays out in our school district and then had another
feedback activity and some homework uh as well quickly that thought exchange uh and other feedback. This was a paragraph that was synthesized from a great deal of uh the feedback we uh
received from the the committee members as well as the people that they gathered >> input from. And >> I won't read this whole paragraph. Um, but I think that it really captures a lot of what we're trying to do. And I
think there is um a lot of promise to how we could use this paragraph or another version of it to help shape our work moving forward. We also made a word cloud out of the feedback and um
>> not surprising and also very reassuring. Children were right in the middle where they should be. So I appreciated that and also excellent uh that uh that's right in our kind of our uh our new branding. So that's that's good to see
as well. >> Meeting number three is scheduled for February 26th. Um, this was the last slide in the slide deck I shared with them. And so they had an email in their inbox right after the meeting with a two
question survey that they'll uh they're filling out and we'll be gathering that information. We'll be sharing it with them right away on February 26. Again, that meeting will start to shift the focus away from information sharing uh
from the district to information uh harvesting or getting from the district. That's uh that's my summary of where we are so far. Eva, you've been there. What did you think? >> That was good. >> It was good. It was cool to see I saw
another student there, too. Aside from Aaron and I, which was like Aaron and I's feedback on the first one. Like it'd be nice to see more students because like we're we're at these. So like some of the stuff we went over at the beginning of the meeting went over at the forward meeting. So we kind of get to see like what happens at both. But it
was nice to see other students there and kind of hear what they felt cuz some of the questions are like beyond our brains right now and it doesn't really apply to us, but some do. And so I think it's important to have more students there. So that was really nice to see. >> I would just add that I think it was a
great meeting again. Um the engagement from the community continues to be strong there. The only question I would have uh Matt is we had a slight dip in attendance from meeting one to meeting two, right? Is it possible maybe before we get up to, you know, get closer to meeting three that maybe we can make
some phone calls out people that, you know, are signed up and are not signed up to encourage them to come back because it was so impactful. Just I think a personal invitation of those people that did come to one that didn't come to two might be >> Yeah. Yeah. That's something we could look into. Even if we, you know, if we
did it personally or we uploaded that contact information into our uh our system to be able to make phone calls out, we could do that too, right? >> There's quite a few people on that list. But >> um but I do think that would be another good way to >> mind. We have the technology, right? >> We do.
>> Yep. >> That would be great. >> Any other discussion on the forward committee meeting? I would I would just want to say that uh it was real interesting at my table when we were talking about school finance and how
complex it is and how uh how difficult it is for the public to kind of look inside a district and look at the finances. So I thought it was very very good there. I would add to Mark that I was at your
table and there was a um CPA at our table that also I think learned a lot about school finances. So even with somebody that has as much experience as this person does, um everybody is still learning about how this works and it's a
complicated um situation and it's just great to to see people the light bulb kind of turn on for people. So, any other comments? >> All right. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is board reports. We'll start
with Eva. >> So, um this um past week and the week before or this last week, um girls hockeyy's been doing pretty good. So, they started section playoffs and they won their quarterfinal game on Thursday against Blaine. And then on Saturday,
they beat Force Lakes. So, they'll be playing Andover on Thursday, which is usually the rival. It's going to be a fun game. Um, boys hockey plays Hermantown tomorrow at home. And then girls basketball plays Superior tomorrow as well. This is home and this is their senior night. So,
that'll be an important night for girls basketball. Boys basketball is away playing Biji on Thursday. And then my friend Aaron right now is gone, but this kind of applies to him. he they had their last uh swimming had their last regular season meet and then they're
getting ready for the championship meets at the end of the month. >> Wrestling has section finals on Saturday and Nordic skiing has state at Giants Ridge this Wednesday and Thursday. Um for student council, we have a meeting this Wednesday and we'll start planning
for our annual prom with a purpose. It might look a little different this year. I'm not quite sure what we want to I know there's two new district employees. So, we might um just have the prom with the purpose just be Grand Rapids this year so that we can kind of figure out test the waters with the new um hires
and just kind of so they can understand it and get into the groove a little quicker. But this is the dance like a sensory friendly dance for our uh students with disabilities or special needs. And I believe middle school it'll be like the high school and middle school age students. Um for Key Club,
we've definitely had a slowdown in volunteer events. It's just like what the community needs and that definitely slows down in the winter. But um last Wednesday, this Wednesday and then whenever students have time in class, they've been making Valentine's Day cards and those are going to be delivered to nursing homes. Math team
has their last meet before state and that is tomorrow. And then symphonic band has a bridge concert with eighth grade band tonight. That's where Aaron is. And then I just want to put out a little special mention to the Grand Rapids Football Association. um they were the only sport and like community
or person that recognized um women in sports day on February 4th. And as a female athlete myself, that was kind of important and special for me to see because even just like sports I played and didn't do anything but reposted the footballs of us. So, I thought that was
really special and I just wanted to give them a shout out. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you guys. >> Nice recording. Thank you. uh busy busy time uh with lots of meetings uh negotiations and things like that. The only thing that I would add to
the mix is that the endowment committee uh has identified February 13th as teacher appreciation day and the endowment committee will be uh uh bringing gifts to uh teachers throughout
the 318 school district on uh Monday the 13th. Thank you, David. Ashley, >> it has been a uh a slow start for me with um committees um and I I apologize. I do not have any additional reports at
the moment. >> Uh I I attended the forward community advisory. I thought that was very good and I'd like to thank the public that uh did come out and participate. Um a lot of really good information, a lot of good conversation.
I also attended a a finance committee meeting on the 29th and u we've been kind of looking real closely at what the budget looks like and a lot of what you saw tonight, you know, it was part of the discussion there. That's all I have.
>> Thank you, Mark. Uh my report is uh I participated in the schoolboard officer training uh session last Wednesday evening by the Minnesota School Board Association. Um it's incredibly informative. um a lot of information. Um it shows I think how well organized our
district h has established itself in terms of some of our um uh routines and processes. Um based on the questions that were asked by other districts, I think it showed that we have uh really good policies and procedures in place uh
which was great to to see. I also just wanted to call out that I connected uh offline after engaging in the session with a member of the Columbia Heights school board. Um they are going through an incredible amount of pain right now
and uh uh I just recognized her and thanked her for what she does for her community. Um I also participated in negotiations with administrative professionals. Uh the forward um advisory committee meeting um and uh and
a few other of our meetings, our committee meetings were postponed due to a couple of uh um absences. So that's all I have. Next up is superintendent report. Mr. Superintendent, >> thank you. Um I think uh Eva mentioned uh the football association. I don't
think we've met. Um, but just want to acknowledge uh coach Greg Spawn uh for being selected the coach or the war coach of the year uh for the state. That's a award that's usually given to the state champion coach or maybe the
runner-up coach. So, it's a it's a significant honor in general and it says a lot that um they identified or he was identified uh even though he wasn't our team wasn't in that championship game. So >> he's done a lot to to build a program,
invest in young men, and u welld deserved. >> I can uh speak as a parent of one of his players uh and a former coach, so I appreciate it even more. I think um something to bring to your attention,
the uh MSBA MASA day at the capital is Monday, March 9th, and uh a number of you went last year. I believe that is on the day of a work session that we have on the calendar currently. We don't have
a uh anything significant or at all on that agenda necessarily and so it wouldn't be hard for us to uh cancel that work session if there were board members that wanted to go down for that day. Um for those that didn't go down,
what generally happens is there's a morning session where members of House and Senate leadership generally come to address the room full of schoolboard association members and
then uh around noon or the afternoon uh board members head over to the capitol to meet with legislators from their area to talk about issues or bills that are specifically relevant to them. So, I
guess I'm putting that out there to the group to see if there's interest in uh considering cancelling that work session in uh instead uh if there's interest heading down to that day at the capital.
>> I'd be interested in going that day. >> I think so. >> All right. I mean, if we I think if we had a full workshop agenda on the 9th, uh I might be having a hard time uh making that work from a board schedule
standpoint. And I think if we were again, if we were having a complex list of reductions to talk about, uh but we don't. And so I think there's an opportunity there. So, I think Julie, it sounds like uh we'll cancel that work session and then uh work with individual
board members about lining up arrangements for that day. >> I think I'm going to call that good for tonight. >> Sounds good. Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. >> All right. Uh meeting announcements. Um up upcoming schoolboard committee and
meeting dates are posted on each agenda. Meeting agendas can be found on the district website and on designated posting site here at the ISTD 318 educational services center. >> Is there any other business department for the board?
>> Julie, has anyone signed up for public input? >> No. >> No, no one has signed up. >> All right, we stand a journ. >> Thank you. Bet you throw some stuff out there. >> I do actually. Yes.
>> Thank you. Just get this shut down here.