Next item on the agenda, Nicole Edwards, Health Services Indicator Report. Welcome. Thank you. You guys hear me? Okay. All right. Give her time to share the
presentation here. So, yeah, I'm Nicole Edwards. I am the new district nurse for ISD 318. So, this is my first year with the school district. So I'm here to give the health services indicator
report. So I'm going to start with our connection to our strategic directions. So how does health services connect to our strategic directions? Uh school health services play an integral role in the health of students by addressing social determinants of health, provides
essential care and helps to maintain the health and well-being of children which assists in facilitating optimal development and in increasing support for academic success. So you may ask what are health services? So what do the school nurses
do and provide? So, school nurses help to manage daily health office visits, educate students on managing their own health and wellness, manage students with chronic health conditions, for example, diabetes, seizures, uh administer specialized services such
as tube feedings, tracheosttomy cares, help manage insulin pumps, and medications as prescribed. They also provide first aid cares and emergency cares to students and staff. Continuing on here, nurses also conduct
health screenings and make referrals for vision and hearing. Uh maintain and manage student health records, verify school required immunizations, ensuring compliance with state laws and regulations, create individualized health plans by collaborating with parents, teachers,
and providers. And monitor and prevent the spread of communicable diseases. So, we do currently have 10 full-time positions, including six registered nurses, three licensed practical nurses,
and then uh myself as the LSN. And then I did list the nurses individually on the side there. Uh so, students impacted by the health department. Um total number of students enrolled. This this may change
from month to month, but when I last asked it was 3,936. Um, this number encompasses also the homeschool population, the ALC, itaskin education center, early childhood programs, St. Joe's and
Lighthouse Christian Academy along with our Quest transition program. So with that in mind, um managing the daily health needs of students. Um I did compile a little pie chart here of the amount of health office visit history as
of 4925 for each school. Um so you can see there um middle school and high school are probably our highest schools with health office needs and visits. And I think I attribute that
just to the age, especially the middle school, the teenage age, hormones, um, etc. So, and then managing chronic health conditions. Um, I also broke these up into a pie chart for your review there.
Um the most chronically managed health conditions are asthma, food allergies, insect sting bites, epipens, diabetes, and seizure disorders. Um we also do the health screenings and referrals as mentioned.
Um please note that we only screen at the elementary levels and then seventh graders, 9th graders, and students on an IEP. So with vision screenings, we completed 3,525 vision screenings this year. Um
397 of those were referred to their eye care provider. Um and then I I have to mention uh that the Lions Club assists us with completing vision screenings, which we are very thankful for. Um, and as far as hearing screenings, we
completed 2427 hearing screenings this year and 134 students were referred for further evaluation. Uh, providing first aid and emergency emergency care. So, school nurses responsibilities extend beyond
just the management of health office visits. Uh they also act as first responders providing urgent care when needed in coordination with emergency services as needed. Uh medical emergencies that may be seen in the health offices include asthma attacks,
allergic reactions, seizures, injuries ranging from fractures to concussions, cardiac events, and diabetic emergencies. Uh and then to mention all school nurses are BLS trained and certified. Nurses administer daily prescribed
medications to students to assist in managing student health conditions. And as of 429 this year, the schools have administered 9,978 prescribed meds. Um we can also administer over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol, ibuprofen, Tums, cough
drops with parental consent. Um, school nurses nurses monitor and prevent the spread of communicable diseases. And some of the key ways of doing that include practicing good hand hygiene, disinfecting health offices, promoting vaccinations, providing
education on disease prevention, immunizations, and hand hygiene. Uh, monitor and report outbreaks in a timely fashion along with observing and having awareness of disease symptoms. School nurses also act as teachers in
the sense that they do provide health education um in promoting student well-being which in turn helps to promote classroom attendance and advance student academic success. Uh, health education ranges from individualized one-on-one teaching,
from educating students about managing their chronic conditions, infection control measures such as hand hygiene, covering your cough, um, to creating healthy habits. And also, education extends beyond just the student, but nurses also provide education to staff
as well as families. Mental health support. Nurses play an important role in supporting students mental health needs as they oftentimes serve as the primary frontline resource in identifying mental health needs and assist to bridge the gap to early interventions and
referrals. Uh the rate of mental health needs in schools has grown significantly over the course of the years with the most commonly seen conditions being anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and behavioral issues. Um nurses work closely and collaboratively with the
school counselors to assist students with managing their mental health needs. So you may ask how is health services funded? So nursing expenses are coded to general fund and special education fund depending on their task.
Um the complete monthly time and effort of their duties and their costs are allocated based on their activity. So, it could vary from day to day for each school nurse depending on what walks through the door and what sorts of um
tasks they complete that day. So, program successes um interdisciplinary collaboration. The nurses come together in times of need to assist one another in getting duties covered as well as working closely with our counselors, teachers, and paris to
assist in ensuring the health and safety of our students. um breakthroughs, seeing students come in on a regular basis and getting to the root of the problem of why and decreasing their visits to help keep students in class are a success. Community collaboration,
working with other entities in the community helps enforce our strategic directions and building partnership. For example, as earlier mentioned, the Lions Club coming in to help assist us in completing our vision screenings. Um we work also with Itasa County Public
Health. They come in and provide influenza immunization clinics every fall. Um Campus North, the students there, nursing students help us in completing hearing and vision screenings. Um along with they do come
in and job shadow nurses. Um and we have a partner contract non-monetary with Grand Itasa for standing orders for medication and consultation as needed. Uh in trainings, we have implemented consistent procedures for
nursing tasks across the district and provide annual and ongoing training to ensure staff have the information they need to be successful in their role. Program challenges. We have seen an increase in students
requiring support for chronic disease management throughout the district. Um lack of substitute school nurses um is another and we have seen turnover with nurses. Um seeing an increase in mental health needs and students significant
responsibilities. Uh it's more than just putting a band-aid on a scrape knee. Uh school nursing requires triage. Prioritizing time efficiently to get other duties completed. Uh assessing situations to see if further care is needed. Acting as a liaison between
teachers and parents in collaboration with others to help bridge gaps to other services that may be needed. Uh the emotional toll, the broad range of issues that you may see with students can be emotionally taxing. Oftentimes nurses are the first
set of eyes and ears of a student's concerns. whether that be neglect or abuse and it can be emotionally and mentally challenging. So in summary, many consider school nurses the hidden health care system for vulnerable youth. They
are the eyes and ears of the school community serving as an integral part of the school system. They serve a multiaceted role wearing many hats as not only being a school nurse but also a counselor, educated, educator and caregiver. Uh they respond
to daily challenges with dedication, compassion and care and it shines through in what they do. Um and I just have to say that I find this meeting is comes at good time as it is National Nurses Week.
So, I I feel honored to work with um such wonderful nurses here in the district. So, do you guys have any questions? David. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh Nicole, thank you for a very thorough
report, very interesting, very engaging, and uh congratulations to you and the nurses you work with. Uh it's it's a great honor for us to have uh this level of competence in our community. Uh I note that the Lions Club is working with
the vision. Uh is there a need for someone to work with the auditory? We do have school aiologists. Um but we all of us nurses complete the first level of hearing screenings. Okay. Um,
and if a student fails the first time, we do do a rescreen. And if that student fails a second time, then we do contact the parents parent guardian. Okay. Um, and ask if we could refer to the school. So, basically, you're covered in that
regard. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. My question. Uh, and congratulations to uh to you and your staff. Thank you. I guess I have questions. Um I noticed on the one graph that you had up there, uh you commented that the middle schools
and the high schools tend to have the higher frequency of visits. Um Big Fork was a pretty good chunk of that pie and it was I I think that was probably shown as a conglomerate of the whole Big Fork school. Correct. Correct. Yes. Does that
ratio kind of stay true in Big Fork if if you were to look at that versus Have you ever broken it down further to high school versus middle school versus elementary there? In Big Fork? Yeah, it's kind of curious. Yep. It's pretty
pretty much same kind of ratio that you're seeing there even though it's summed on that chart. Yes. As a sum. Yep. Um also in regards to we provide this now through to outsource this to
other well to homeschool I think was mentioned and also the the other schools in town. I'm assuming we're able to bill on a basis for that or how how is that handled? Yeah. Um so like I said a lot of billing
comes from um general ed nursing fund and then um special services. So, and it really varies from nurse to nurse, school to school. Um, but we are encompasses we are able to code that and keep track of that and
bill for those services to whomever that Yep. it's appropriate. Yep. Home school. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Lighthouse. A big part of what we do for home school and private schools are it's special education evaluation that they're the
largest part of um and we're obligated to incur those expenses but they get coded with special state aid. Yeah. So they come through special ed most often rather than the general fund. Sounds like we have some proportionate share responsibilities and that's we have we
pay for some for that. Okay. Yeah. And that's another federal requirement. Okay. Yep. Um and and then sorry I you mentioned chronic chronic
problems increasing right as one of the bullet points. Is there is that um do we see that being mental health type things or mental things or or physical also I guess and I'm not sure I'm not excuse my
terminology you know correct me if I using an incorrect terminology but I'm trying to understand are we seeing it kind of across the board the chronic things or are they skewed one towards maybe a more
problematic symptom or yeah, mental health is more across the board. I mean, from elementary to high school, across the board there and then chronic health conditions, it just just depends. Okay. Yeah. No, thank you.
Well, Tom took a whole bunch of questions. No. Um, actually, I do have a little bit of a question in that what happens then with our online schools? I know. Would we cover those costs as well? Yep. If
they're an old uh an old student of ours, we would take care of that. Would that be like a Zoom call or something like Okay. I was just curious about that. Um, and then I did note on the one slide, uh, similar to Tom's question
where there was like elementary and middle school and high school, but it looked like if I actually consolidated all the elementarymentaries together, they were pretty close like, you know, because East and West, like if I look at the K the smaller grades, if I Yeah.
crush them, they look pretty similar to the middle school and high school. Is that true? Yes. Okay. And then just one more question I have and only because I've seen it uh come across in the legislature is the AED requirements that
are coming down. Do we have an AED in all of our schools? Yeah, we have an ad each of our schools. Some some have multiple. So I'm just wonder because there is some funding that will be coming. So if there's any that need to be replaced, just a thought on that. I
I'll just add a little bit about as I've been asked about that legislation and I think the spirit of the legislation is again is is good. Um being able to respond to cardiac incidents well is
good. Having AEDs in buildings is good. Uh and we have that now. The problem with the legislation as I see it is that it would require a cardiac response team in every school. it would require a car that training for all those people to
happen within 30 days of the start of the school year. So, and there's one more requirement too that it's like requirement requirement requirement requirement and it's one more thing for Nicole to keep track of um when we
already have AEDs sitting there and they're they're meant to be and built to be um pretty self explanatory as far as how they are used. Uh so I guess that's the part of that legislation that I get
concerned about and it's difficult to talk about because it sounds like or it can be construed that for some reason we'd be against you know being able to respond well to cardiac incidents. Of course that's not it. Um, it's just requirement, requirement, requirement, requirement. Again, is that where that
funding that Melissa is talking about essentially would go to? Is okay. The way the legislation is written, it's strictly for the AEDs because a lot of schools, yeah, they don't have them. as someone who
uh experienced the loss of a young man in middle school who died on a basketball court whose family is pretty close and uh was a Grand Rapids student. Yep. Um it's hard not to support that, right? And uh if people need to be
trained because a lot of people freeze when they get into situations like that, I'm okay with that. Yeah. I think too the the the ongoing ongoing costs of it, they're not onetime costs. Batteries, pads have to be replaced. Like I just those are the things that I don't get think get
thought through when good ideas are kind of uh like this are brought forward. Um so I think that's really important. Just curious, but thank you. Thank you for all the really good work. I know that it does feel like you're invisible sometimes.
I mean, you look at what you do and feeding tubes and people don't have any really, you know, it's not a sniffle and you get or a headache and that might be a lot, but that's not all of it. So, thank you for that. Thank you.
Yeah. And I should add too about AED, you know, um all the nurses are CPR certified, BLS certified, but we do have first responders at each of our schools, too. So, we do have the team at each school. So, I think that's good to note
as well. Thank you for coming tonight. Yeah, no problem. It was great. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I did think of one more. I one more question that I had forgotten about and I apologize. Um you had mentioned the referrals and if I
remember right the hearing was around 10% um or vision was around 10% if I remember right and hearing was a little lower. Do we have any statistics? Do we ever get feedback as far as if there was actual action taken after the referrals
on that or any percentages of corrective action was taken later? Um, yeah. I sorry I don't have any percentages. Okay. But the nurses do try to follow up on that so kids don't, you know, fall through the cracks with
that health need. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? So, thank you. Thank you very much for coming tonight. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Have a good night. Ryan, would you be okay if we moved you
up on the agenda? Sure. Great. You bet. Thanks. Well, hi everybody. Thanks for having me. My name is Ryan Sigley and I am the proud principal of Cohasset Elementary. Uh, last time I was here was um earlier
in the in the year. It was in the fall and I talked a little bit about um the changes that have happened at Cohasset from last year to this year. And just as a refresher, um I obviously a new principal with me coming in. Uh we have
brand new office staff with a new student support specialist, a new secretary. Um we have had half of our grade level teams were new teams. So new staff coming in as teams. Uh we had new ESPs, some new kitchen staff. And so we
have had a lot of change uh in in our school. And uh and I'm very proud um to say that our our school has done well with that change and adapted and been flexible and worked extremely hard to um
to see outcomes that uh that we're seeing both academically and um within our our students uh social lives and emotional lives. And so anyways, I'm I'm very proud of our our staff. Um, one of the things that we have talked about all
year is trying to do common things uncommonly well. And, uh, we've kind of been hanging our hat on that. And, uh, and I'm really proud of our team for, um, you know, just just answering the call. So, when there is an expectation
that is set, uh, they live to that expectation and a lot of times they exceed the expectation. Um, I think that the the culture, if you spent some time in that building, you would you would feel it. It's uh the people in there, and I'm not just talking about our teachers. I'm talking about our whole
staff, have this belief in team. Uh, this belief that, um, it's about the kids. So, kids first. Um, and there's really a pride, a pride in the school. And so, um, when you talk to people that that work there, um, you you'll hear that from them and their enthusiasm and
the things that they have going on in the school. Um, it is teacher appreciation week, so I don't want to forget to add uh my thanks to our teachers. Um, having taught at the middle school and been a principal at East and taught at West, uh, I've had an
opportunity to work with some incredible incredible teachers and um, I just I can't say enough of uh the great work that that people are doing. Um, and I know that I know it's noticed and I know it's recognized. Uh, and I'm just so
proud uh to be a part of of that, a part of that group. Um, in terms of equitable education, one of our goals at Cohasset this year was to try to reduce variability among classrooms. Um, and one of the the ways that we did that was increasing fidelity
of implementation in two areas. One was witten wisdom and the other was Orton Gillingham. And in both of those areas, uh, myself as the principal would set a goal for our staff and, uh, they would know what the expectation was in terms of instruction and then I would do a
walk through and collect data on their, um, on their work and then, uh, present that data to our leadership team and we would talk about instruction and the kinds of adaptations that we need to make, the strengths that I'm seeing. uh and I've seen a lot of growth and I've
also seen a lot of var variability among our classrooms reduce which is something that we want we want uh kids no matter what teacher they have to have a great experience and uh and I I'm seeing that in those two areas uh I'm excited about
the growth that's happened and I look forward to to next year particularly in witten wisdom um I know we've we've put a lot of hard work into um into implementing that uh curriculum and and implementing it well. Uh and so I'm I'm
really excited to see where we go with this and particularly the academic outcomes that that will come with it. Uh very excited with that. Uh we have we just are kind of finishing up our MCA season. Uh we've had our third through
fifth graders testing. uh third and fourth grade they tested in reading and in math and uh they just finished with that. This last week our fifth grade finished with testing in science. So fifth grade is a little bit different. They do reading, math, and science. And
so we're we're all done with that. Um our kids did great. They set goals and worked to try to achieve those goals. Uh and so I'm I'm very excited to to see uh what th those results are. We do have some ondemand reports that come in. So
we have a kind of idea kind of more at the the school level of how things are going but um publicly that data is going to come out uh later in the year and and it'll be uh really really interesting to see where where we go with it. Uh right now we have universal screening
happening. So, every grade in our school, kindergarten through 5ifth, will participate in universal screening. We're essentially have uh students being assessed to see where they're at, and we measure their growth from fall to winter to spring. And uh so we had our
kindergarteners were just working on some uh early reading screening today to see where they're at. And uh we use that data to help make adjustments and inform what we have going on in our school. Uh, so I I'm, you know, very optimistic
about the outcomes there, too. And, uh, I was just telling Mrs. Adams, who's part of our our ADS team, uh, I was telling her today that this afternoon I was I kept hitting refresh to see how our students were coming in uh, as she
was assessing them in real time. And so, uh, we have one classroom that I know is done that I've been just, you know, really excited about, uh, with more to come over the course of the next couple of weeks. Uh, our hope is that we have 100% of our students screened. So then
we can provide the appropriate tier one and tier 2 uh, support that our students need and also help move them into a tier three um, position if those students need that extra support.
uh in terms of evidence-based practices, we are getting so close to finishing carry all and I cannot wait to celebrate with our teachers when we finish this thing. Um the amount of hard work and effort that has been put in is uh it's
second to none. It's something that I haven't been a part of in my professional career. uh aside from the work that happens, one of the things that I have been really uh impressed with is the amount of uh collaboration and and team effort. And
it's been u even though it's been a challenge, that challenge I I really believe has been a good thing. It's helped us develop our our understanding and the science of reading. Um but it's also it's also brought our staff together to have having one common challenge that we're working through
together. And it's been a a really interesting way for us to develop our collective efficacy. Uh partnerships. Uh one of the highlights this year uh was our school of excellence celebration and that didn't happen too long ago and if
you had an opportunity to see any pictures from that event, it was incredibly special. Uh it's something that I feel very blessed to to be a part of this. The whole thing was student led and so we had kids up in the front. They
MCEd the thing. They ran the music. They did it all. Uh and I I just couldn't be more uh proud of the kids. There was a a moment where we had our fifth graders standing up in the front playing the ukulele and then the 315 other students
stood in the audience and they all sang this song called Count on Me. in the in the gym. It was just the song was echoing. It was a goosebumps moment. Uh and one that I will never forget. It's in the top five memories for me in my
career. Uh I I'm very proud of of the school having achieved something like the school of excellence. It's a lot of work that's put into to apply for a an award like that. Um, but it's not just the application. It's all the work that
comes before it. It's the building blocks that uh teachers and support staff have put in place over the course of years to to receive an honor like that. Uh, so being a fly on the wall and just kind of sitting in the back and enjoying it was uh was a really proud
moment for me. Um, outside of that, uh, we don't have a whole lot of school left, but we're keeping the foot on the gas pedal. That was our conversation in our staff meeting today. We don't we're not done. Um we're done when when uh that last bell rings and we that's when
we can take a breath and that's when we want our students to to relax for a little bit too. But until then uh we've got a mission and we are going to continue working towards that mission. So any questions? I thank you Mr. Chair. I don't have any
questions, but I just wanted to uh thank you very much, Principal Seagly, for all the work that you've done this year as your first year here in Cohasset. Um, and to continue on um with making sure that that school keeps its amazing title as it as it has. Um I didn't get to see
the ceremony, but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about it. And um I just want to thank you and your staff for putting in the effort that you do. We appreciate everything that happens there in Cohassid and just to keep up the good work. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Anybody else? I've got questions. I always do, I guess, but apologize. Um, obviously the witten wisdom I've heard plenty about, but the you mentioned the Ordin Gillingham. I guess I'm not real familiar with what
exactly is that program or could you explain it a little bit to me what it encompasses I guess? Yep. Um Courtney Gillingham is something that our teachers have been trained to do and um our over the last few years that's kind been a goal for our kindergarten through
second grade teachers. Um and it's really about the foundations of reading and helping our students learn how to become readers. So really at the at the primary ages of elementary school, um they're learning how to read and then when they get kind of get a little bit
older, they're really our goal is that they're reading to learn. Um and so if you ever want to tag along during a walkthrough, I can talk through kind of the things that our teachers are doing, but it's very explicit instruction in terms of how to how to read. Okay. No, I
Well, that helps a little bit. At least I know it's about reading, right? Yeah. And you'll you'll hear a lot about that. That's a best practice strategy, evidence-based that uh is is really done in all of our classrooms uh across um Grand Rapids area schools. And so I uh
it has been a focus particularly this year has been a focus in for our principal group um to get into classrooms to make sure that that's done with fidelity um to help help our student outcomes. Okay. Thank you. That's all I have.
Thanks a lot, Ryan. Doing a great job there. Thank you. Thanks, Ryan. At this time, we're going to uh join the workshop and we'll come back into session for the regular board meeting in just a couple minutes. [Music] Have you heard them say
OG first grade? Maybe I don't know. So that's what we're talking about. It's the OG training, but it's still, you know, now that you said it there, I know I appreciate all the questions that you asked because people don't know these things. You're asking really good
questions for the community to also hear. So, it's really I always appreciate you asking those questions. So, let me know when you're ready. Yeah, we're ready. We'll call the school board meeting.
Not us. Please stand for the pledgece 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.
Uh just an acknowledgement that Dave Cohen is attending remotely and so all votes will be roll call votes tonight. Um first item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the 41425 work
session. Do I have a motion? So moved David. Moved by David. Second. Second. Second by Ashley. Discussion hearing none. Julie, can we have a roll call? Yes. Uh, Melissa Bar, yes. David Marty,
yes. Dave Cowen, yes. Ashley Goodman, yes. Tom Gustoson, yes. And Mark Schroeder, yes. And Mr. Chair, could we also go back and just approve the agenda? Sure. Thank you.
Uh looking for a motion to approve the agenda. So move David. Moved by David. Second. Melissa. Second. Melissa. Discussion. Do we have a roll call vote? Julie? Yep.
Thank you. David Marty. Yes. Dave Cowen. Yes. Ashley Goodman. Yes. Tom Gustoson. Yes. Mark Schroeder. Yes. And Melissa Bar. Yes. Uh the agenda's
approved. Um next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the 4225 regular meeting. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. A second. Second. David. Second. David.
Discussion. Hearing none. Julie, can we have a roll call? Melissa Bar. Yes, David Marty. Yes, Dave Cowen. Yes, Ashley Goodman. Yes, Tom Gustiffson. Yes, Mark Schroeder. Yes.
Minutes of the 4225 regular meeting are approved. Next item on the agenda is to approve a resolution to accept donation and gifts for January, February, March in the amounts of January 10,8747, February
$200, March $19,858.92. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a second? Second with appreciation to the community. Second by David. Uh discussion.
Yeah, Mr. Chair, I just have one question or actually a request. Um would it be possible um just for knowledge sake when we are approving these to look at the comparison from the prior year just to see what that looks like as we move forward? Is that something that
Cara can put together and bring to these meetings? Yeah, I I think we should be able to do that. We'll talk to Cara and have her do that for us. Okay. Thanks. Any other uh discussion, questions? Hearing none, can we have a
roll call vote? Julie? Sure. Ashley Goodman, yes. Tom Gustiffson, yes. Mark Schroeder, yes. Melissa Bar, yes. David Marty, yes. And Dave Cowen, yes. Uh resolution to accept donations is
approved. Next item on the agenda is to approve the consent agenda. Reminder that uh consent agenda consists of routine matters and uh they do not require discussion. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a
second? Second. Second by Dave. Julie, can we have a roll call? Tom Gustiffson, yes. Mark Schroeder, yes. Melissa Bar, yes. David Marty, yes. Dave Cowen, yes. And Ashley Goodman, yes.
Consent agenda is approved. Next item on the agenda, approve a one-year lease agreement with the city of Grand Rapids for the Bob Streeter baseball field and Grand Rapids Sports Complex. Superintendent Gross, do you want to
handle that? Yes. Uh, this is a lease agreement consistent with one that we've had with the city previously. Uh, I think Cara listed in the administrative report the historic history of the lease amount. Uh, reflects a 3% increase over
last year, which is consistent with what we've seen with the city for the arena, which is another um facility that we lease from the city. We have the ability to levy and we do levy for the portion
of leases that are um aside from operational costs. So we can levy for about 87% of the cost of the lease. The rest is paid out of uh the general fund. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the
one-year lease? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Second. Second, David. Second, David. Discussion. Mr. Chair, I'd like to ask a couple of questions. Yeah. Uh, so I had sent an
email and asked Cara to share a little bit more as I look through the lease agreement. Um, just to understand a little bit more about what our total engagement looks like from a lease standpoint with the city of Grand Rapids, knowing that we also lease a few other facilities as well as with
Cohasset. So, I don't know if Cara if you have that information that you can share if I assume Cara is there. I can't see. She's not. She's ill. Oh, sorry. Okay. Matt, do you have that? Yeah. What particularly are you asking about? Um, just what does our total uh spend look
like with the city of Grand Rapids for leasing the facilities with the city? The lease for the arena is 178 or 188,000 approximately and then the lease that you see here. Those are the two um
leases we have with the city for facilities. And with that, so we can levy for both the arena and the fields. Correct. That's correct. Yep. So, I just want to just ask the question just to get this out in the ether here is so the
city of Grand Rapids um a public entity leases a facility like this to us um a taxpayer funded entity being the city of Grand Rapids leases a facility to us. We then um pay
for that lease, but in order to pay for that lease, 87% of those funds are then put onto the taxpayers through a levy. Correct. That's correct. Okay. It I just want to make sure everybody understands how that works. Um so that it's not uh all coming out of our general fund, but
it's also put um to the taxpayers through a levy. Um which just um being new to this world again just wanted to ask these questions to make sure we all understand how this is how the funds are
um going through the different um institutions or or agencies uh to pay for these facilities. So that's all I had. Okay. Any other discussion? Melissa. Mr. Chair. Um, so when I first came on, I
had I had very similar questions to what Dave asked. And when I dug into it, it was more about maintenance of facilities than it was about paying for. So it was more about like the ice, you know, the Zambonies and the staffing. And the same
with uh like the soccer fields and baseball fields, they require a lot of maintenance. um and some of them daily and some of them uh when we first got into it were pretty messy when we built east. There was some stuff that happened with the soccer field. I mean it was so
I mean just so folks also know like it's not really about paying necessarily for the building but actually covering the maintenance and usage costs of us using that facility. So that's that would be the only thing I would add.
Any other discussion or questions? We have a motion and a second. Julie, can we have a roll call? Mark Schroeder, yes. Melissa Bar, yes. David Marty, yes. Dave Cowen, yes. Ashley Goodman, yes. And Tom
Gustoson, yes. The one-year lease agreement with the city of Grand Rapids is approved. Next item on the agenda is board reports. Uh Owen, why don't we start with you? Okay. Um, I don't have a
whole lot. It's kind of been slow at the high school. IB testing started, so everything's kind of calming down for a couple weeks. Um, they have the spring band concert that's going on right now, actually. Starts at about 15 minutes. Um, prom was this Saturday.
It actually went pretty well. And I just wanted to shout out Zenzen, Phily, and Kessanin and all the students who help put that on. We spent eight hours on Friday setting up grand march. So that was a big team effort. And then a couple
weeks ago, Kayla Jenkins put on the second annual prom with purpose. That was ran by student council as well. So that was a huge success at co-house for a sensory friendly prom for special needs students in our district. Well, I
ask in general. And then last thing, the Ronald McDonald poptap fundraiser has been going on for the past three months. The last total was two weeks ago and it was6,000 pop tabs and I think it ended
last week, so the final count should be coming out soon. And then student council members are going to duth in a couple weeks to just help with the Ronald McDonald House Foundation. So, just kind of cap off the whole fundraiser. But yeah, that's all I got.
Thanks, Owen. Dave, do you want to go next? Sure. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. On April 24th, um we attended our first community engagement subcommittee meeting that I think went really well and had some good in uh information
shared and some direction. And uh I'm sure we'll hear more from Matt as we um get into his report. Um later that day was a kindergarten roundup. And while I thought I was going to just kind of wander around and shake hands and kiss babies, I was running the uh future
Thunderhawk um booth for kids with that were excited to be a future Thunderhawk and it was endearing to see the parents realize uh the year that their kids would be graduating uh which was kind of fun. Uh on 425, I I was able to stop by Prom with a Purpose, which what an
incredible event put on by incredible kids and staff. Uh just I can't say enough about what that means to to our community. Uh on 426 volunteered at the children's fair and just a shout out to the whole team Melanie Debay and the entire team has been running that for
these years. Um very well attended. It was packed which was great to see all the kids and handled lunches. Um and then just this last Friday um uh attended student of the month again which is also a great uh event. So, thank you for those.
Thank you. Uh, Superintendent Gross, do you want to go next? I'd love to. That'd be great. Um, while Julie's pulling up the strategy team update, I just got a couple slides on that. Uh just wanted to let the board know in the community through the online uh internet sphere
that um we've had we've got some information going out to our retirees this week on the rates and also to talk about the OPED piece and uh reassure them that there's no talk about eliminating benefits at all. That's never been part of our conversation.
This is just about how do we in the most economical way continue to provide benefits for people. So that letter is going to go out this week and then on the 29th at 6 p.m. we're going to host a meeting here for retirees. So that information will go out in the letter too. Quickly on the strategy team and
then I'm going to get to this band concert. Um so this is the flow of how we work through our strategic directions and our operational plan. Our strategy team uh which is to improve outcomes for students through action steps aligned to those strategic directions. That's why
our team exists. This is who sits around that table. We have some people in the teachers unit as well as the principal's unit. Also at the director level, Anna, what you saw her here earlier, one of her many roles, uh she facilitates that group, those meetings. She does an
excellent job of uh uh setting up uh effective agendas. And so we have a pretty a real well-balanced team that uh thinks about our operational plan, our strategic directions. We start with stakeholder feedback. We just actually got feedback uh last week at most
buildings about early outs and we're going to be using that in a reflection as we plan for this next year. But we go from uh that feedback all the way around to goals and planning and then uh monitoring. Those early outs are kind of our key lever right now for development.
It's not perfect. The time is short, but uh they become more and more effective over time. these goals. Uh I shared these in December, but it it's fun to listen to Ryan talk about uh and I'll send this out to you, but to talk about things uh wit and wisdom, fidelity, OG
fidelity walkthroughs, all those came out of the strategic uh the strategy team's plan. Those were all goals in here. So you can see the fourth one down there or fifth one down. It's about um wit and wisdom. Um there's one on there
about OG. That's the bottom one. So, uh, the testing, the MCA testing that we're doing right now around fidelity, making sure that our procedures are tight, that came right out of our strategy teamwork. So, uh, this is where plans are made, things get done, and we make progress on
our goals. So, these were our goals last year. Again, I'll send this out. Um, for this next year, we're narrowing down or or reducing the number. Each one of these has many objectives in it. Um, one of them has to do with curriculum, ELA, math, science. making sure we're on
target there. The second one is about uh reducing failures, improving our uh safety nets. Um goal three is about uh increasing cultural fluency, being responsive in our district. The fourth one is about our online program and how
we're ramping that up. And the last one is a continuation of the work we leaned into this year in Archer's explicit instruction book. What are those practices that we're going to lean into as a district? So, that was that's kind of the quick uh the quick and dirty uh update there on
progress. We're coming up with our new plan now, finalizing those goals. We'll have another update be with you or for you before the school year starts where we can see those fleshed out, but we're in that goal setting. And then the next step after that is how do we design our
entire early out cycle for next year based on the um attainment of those objectives. So, uh it feels good. We're planning, you know, eight, nine months out now with uh our early outs and our professional development instead of, you know, what's happening next week. So,
we're in a really good place that way. That's it. Julie, any question? Thank you. Okay, we'll see this check. Um, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So,
um, this week is teacher appreciation week, and I just wanted to, uh, take just a brief second to recognize not just our, uh, educators, but all of our support staff as well, and everybody in between that helps keep all of these children going on a day-to-day basis.
Um, and also, um, you know, admin as well. Um, thank you to all of them. And um a shout out to um our our gems. They are getting a um El Potro catered lunch um this week as
well. So bring your Tuppware and make sure that you get your leftovers. And the board is also invited as well to go and uh get yourself something to eat. Um uh also again a shout out to our staff on Earth Day. We had a handful of uh
teachers and then even through that week that took some time out to just go around our high school um and middle school and elementary schools and took some students out and took the time to just uh educate our students on why it's
important to uh clean up after ourselves, get our kids accountable on their on their garbage and pick up after themselves and you know it's nice to keep things clean. Um so that was that was a nice thing to see. Um, we had our
uh postp prom. So, shout out to Mr. Jim Kaggel and crew. Uh, that was on Saturday from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Uh, Jim and crew set up an awesome event after prom for all of the kids to just go hang out, have a good time. They had
raffles and prizes and uh it always seems to just be such an awesome and fun event for these kids to just go hang out afterwards and just have a really good time. Uh so I appreciate Mr. Kaggel for all of the effort that he put into that. Um and uh prom with a purpose. Uh thank
you. Um special shout out to our I ask staff as well as our student council. Uh that was such an amazing experience to be a part of and see those children go and have an amazing time at their prom. They got to do their grand march. They uh three month sun photography came out
and uh took pictures for our students and that was those pictures came out so amazing. They were just it was such a good time to see all those kids having just a blast and dancing and just it was a really awesome thing to see. So thank you very much staff that put that on. That was wonderful. And the student
council, thank you very much. uh children's fair uh participated in that as well. Um if I'm not mistaken, Melanie Debbay had mentioned that there were over 800 bagged lunches that our um food service staff had put together. So,
thank you very very much for our food service staff um for uh bagging all of those up. Um and we actually gave every single one of those away. So, that was really nice to be able to give to our community members. Um, and then one
final thing real quick here. Our Grand Rapids FFA is having their annual plant sale. It is the 15th annual plant sale. It is going on um May 12th through the 14th. It starts at 3:30 to 5:00. Uh it's $2 per plant, $20 per hanging basket,
and all proceeds go towards the FFA. Um that will be in our tech wing in the agricultural class, and they have all sorts of plants. I mean from vegetables to flowers to fruits to all sorts of things and you can bring cash or check and I highly encourage you all to go because otherwise I will buy
everything. Thank you. David, excuse me. Uh well Dave and uh Ashley covered just about everything that that I did. The kindergarten roundup prom with a purpose, the student of the month club. Uh they were great great events.
Uh and an additional uh visit with the uh endowment committee and with the boys and girls club. Um busy busy this time of year. Yes. Isn't it Tom? What do you have? Well um last
week went with Ashley, Matt, and Julie. We attended some training uh which was very helpful there in Brainer area there. And then this week we've got a lot of stuff going on right with so um I'm gonna go up to Big Wednesday there plan on and we've got the steering
committee coming up at the end of the month and we also have a facility steering committee coming up here that I'll be participating in. So that's all I have. Good. Um, I talked a little bit about this at our workshop, but I ask,
we had a workshop, we had a work session for IASK, which was actually the first work session I ask has ever had. Wow. Because we now have a full board. I mean, we've we've come a really long way since I got on the board as far as kind
of putting structure to IASK. And I don't think I give Jackie enough credit. Jackie and Darla and Scott, they just have and Chris Larson have just done really really well at kind of creating a container for I ask and being able to
talk about it in a way that people could understand what it does for each individual district. And so part of that work session was really to talk about the majority of uh districts in the collaborative are going through cuts
which for a lot of them is the first time in a while. And so because it's a collaborative sometimes it's kind of the first thing to get cut right because it's not in classroom in their in uh the district. And so just having a
conversation around what possible cuts do districts are they thinking about and how does that actually impact what we deliver in I ask because at some point if enough districts pull out we won't be able to provide the services and that was the first time and I don't think a
lot of people had really thought about that um until we really could sit down and have the conversation but to flip it wasn't all bad either because for some folks who said you know maybe I need to cut music or m it it was an opportunity I think
for districts to also work offline to see if they could partner together to fill some of those gaps locally. And so I just we talked about um our online offerings uh for next year and that was an opportunity to say you know we need
to bring those kids back in and these are kids who want to be online uh for various reasons. And so it was us to say we're not going after your children. We want to bring back the children that we've lost over the last few years. And so that's really our goal with the
online school. And so it was just it was a good conversation but understanding we are all impacted by each other's decisions uh in this collaborative environment especially in rural uh we do this to survive and to be
able to offer things to our kids. Um and so just recognizing that I think was a great conversation and I think we'll have it annually whether or not it's a cutting time or a or a building time. I think it's important to have those
conversations. So just here folks um I've most of the things I uh participated in have been mentioned here. Uh children's fair which was a great uh event. Um you know shout out to Melanie Debet for the tremendous amount
of work she did for that. Um um I also participated in the community engagement subcommittee. I was at the civic center advisory committee meeting um this week uh kind
of kind of looking at uh you know how that civic center is used by the city and how it impacts us as a as a school district. Uh the one of the thing I did this week I uh participated in the meet and confer so which is one of the
important meetings we we have during the year. Um reminder that upcoming schoolboard committee meeting dates are posted on each agenda. Schoolboard meeting agendas can be found uh on the district website and at the
designated posting sites of the ISD 318 educational services center. Is there any other business to come before the board? David chair, final note. It's teacher appreciation week. uh and as a board we've all forwarded uh an acknowledgement to all
the teachers in the district. We so appreciate uh the work that's being done. Thank you. Sure. Thanks, David. And it's nursing week, too, which I didn't know either. So, thank you to all of our nurses as well because
uh in the elementary schools, nobody wants to be the person that has to help that poor tiny human with the bucket in front of their face. and we make those nurses do a lot of things. So, I really appreciate all of those nurses and the support staff there. So, thank you very much. Yes, Julia, has anyone signed up
for public input? They have not. They have not. Meetings adjourned. You force.