Welcome to the let's see July 21st, 2025 Morehead Independent School District 152 schoolboard meeting. It is 6 PM. I'm calling this meeting to order and I'll start on my left, please. Vin present.
Bergen present. Markwart present. Steph present. Bard present. Vote present. Thank you. Would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? 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. Item C, preview of agenda. Dr. Lunik, there are no additions or corrections. I recommend approval. Thank you, Melissa. I move to approve
the presented. Dave second. I have a motion by Melissa, seconded by Dave. Move to approve the agenda as presented. Any further? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I.
Those opposed, same sign. The motion carries. Item E, we are proud. This is the time during the meeting we get to recognize outstanding achievements from of students, staff, and community members. After your name has been called, please come forward and accept
your certificate from Dr. Lunik and myself, and a photo will be taken afterwards. We'll also wait for moms and dads to take photos if they wish. And Laura Lee will read off the we are prouds. We are proud of the MHS track and field athletes who competed at the Minnesota
State Tournament. The state competitors include Zack Walker, Rain Battle, Madison Swah, Aspen Bement, Eric Zalinski, Aric Zalinski, Nick uh
Sonert, Wyatt Mikkelbust, Owen Theggas, Isaiah Carfier, Olivia Carlson, Dylan Rie, Uh, Eli
Schillington, uh, Connor Copelan, Sabrina Jones, Quinn Ericson, Audrey Johnlick, Caitlyn Wall, Walders,
uh, Ara Warren, Ava Dunigan, uh, Lillian Humlik, Audrey Homik, Jackie Johnson, Lauren Heinman, Avery Marquort,
Emnel Woto, and uh Danica Feland. [Applause] Let's do a couple of Miami. The Maybe what they want. The following track athletes placed in
the state meet. Zack Walker, third long jump, fifth 100 meter, ninth 200 meter. Rain Battle ninth long jump. Sabrina Jones first 400.
Six 420 by 4 by 200. Uh Quinn Ericson, first 4 by 100, sixth 4 by 200.
Audrey Jonnish, uh first 4x 100, 6th by 4x 200. Caitlyn Wallers, first 4x100, sixth 4x 200, Ara
Warren, ninth triple jump. Ava Dunigan fifth 4 by 800 7th 4x400 Lillian Holik fifth 4x 800 7th 4x400
Audrey Holnik uh 7th 4x400 Jackie Johnson fifth 4x 800 Lauren Heinman fifth 4x 800 Avery Marart seventh 4x by 400. The team is coached by Ron Davies.
Assistant coaches are Isaac Lundberg, Eric Hansen, uh Lisa Dunigan, Brody Clark, Brian Huber, Ryan Beadorf, uh Justin G, Kevin D, Adam Hansen,
Muhammad Ununas, uh Max So, Kevin Finley, and Corey Asfield. We are proud of the MHS boys lacrosse team for competing in the Minnesota state tournament. The teams won the
consolidation bracket and Carson Coun was named to the all tournament team. Team members include Bentley Miller, Finn Pollson, Carter Abbottson, Ryland Overball,
Evan Warner, Joe Hapka, Griffin Kudson, Carson Coun, uh, Jet Marcel, Jud Monroe Jud, uh, Drew Bearing King, Nolan Cook, Ethan
Wellicanin, Jameson Patcho, Brandon Laauo, Colin Pink, Christian Story, Carter Mid Thun, uh, Cohen Well, Isaac Lysath,
Aiden Struck, Zack Debbing, Johnny Elnas, and Maddox Georgie Greger. Team managers include Landon Hasbar, and Liv Delra. The lacrosse team is coached by Logan
Wickman and Del and John Delra, uh, Alex Kelly and Christopher Vorhees. [Applause] We are proud of the MHS baseball team for competing in the class quadruple
Minnesota state tournament. Team members include Jonas Schuman, Connor Zimmerman, Owen Tjon, Riley Dickas, Brady Stefen, Bradenwami,
Taye Reich, Carson Hench, Jonah Haron, uh Austin Schwarz, Drake Kza, Carter Hoitari, Sam Craig, Eastston Joyce Grace
uh Carter Olsen, Nolan Holmes, Bren Ben Frederickson, and Nolan Worth. The team managers are Haley Melquist, Ty Meyer, David Soka, Gavin
Olic, Ashlin Henkah, and Ree Lamers. The team is coached by Greg Saljivald, Alex Sandell, Riley Casease, Alec, Alex Ericson, and Andrew Woodard.
Everybody take two big steps this way. Excellent. You just [Music] Thanks for coming tonight everyone. [Music] Now let's moving on. We'll be going to item F, public form. There are nobody
here. Nobody here for the public form. De, that is correct. Thank you. Uh item two, consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and have been made available to the school board at least two days prior to the meeting. The items will be
acted by one resolution. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a school board member so requests in which event that item will will be removed from this agenda and considered under separate resolution to the extent possible schoolboard member inquiries on consent agenda items are to be made
directly to the district administration prior to the time of the meeting. Item A, under superintendent, we have number one, the June 23rd, 2025 regular schoolboard meeting minutes and close session minutes. Item B, business and administration administrative services.
We have item one, July claims. Item two, medical leave. Item three, return and leave of absence. Return from leave of absence. Item four, change of contract. Item five, resignations. Item six, continuing contract. Item seven, new
employees. Item eight, part-time and substitute pay schedule. Item nine, comparable worth/pay equity review. And item 10, affiliation agreement with the University of North Dakota. Keith,
move to approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. Laura Lee. Second. Have a motion by Keith, second by Laura Lee. Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any further discussion from the board? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I.
I. Those opposed, same sign. The motion carries. Item three, new business. Uh, under A, we have comprehensive activities report. Dr. Damer. Thank you. Um, we will welcome Dean Hog,
activities director up to provide the comprehensive activities report for 2425. Okay. Thanks for having me. It's always fun to come and have this conversation. Um, I was told that you guys have a rather long meeting tonight, so I'll do my best to be brief, but I'll be very
honest with everybody here. It was a really good year. Really good year. As you well know with the we are prouds, we have had a lot of them. It is a year that uh as we look back and especially with a with a month in the rearview mirror, u it'll be difficult to replicate, but we're certainly going to try. But uh from a
lot of standpoints, obviously there's some that are very public uh but but we had many performances, many teams, many groups, many activities that just had really incredible years and maybe sometimes even a little bit off the radar. Uh I'm going to move on and just discuss a little bit of a recap at 24-2
truly is probably the most change the activities department at Morhead High has had in however many years there's been Morehead activities department. uh two longtime employees, Deianne Smith retired a year ago. Brian Jernberg, the two people who I would consider to be my right-hand people for 13 years in Morehead, who both had worked many years
for Don Hullberg. Um Deian retired and Brian moved on to a head custodial role and has now moved on to another headcustodial role, which is wonderful to see. Um and in the in the meantime, uh we brought on two new faces with all kinds of different ideas and different skill sets. And I believe we have uh you
know, we've really found our legs to to a degree. Uh Molina went is our administrative assistant who replaced Deian. Molina's got an extremely high aptitude in the world that I'm in. Uh in the world that we are in in activities uh she has been able to take a lot of things off my plate. She we we have
evolved our department. I I simply don't believe in in static. I believe in things being fluid and we adapt to the people that come on board that work with us. Um and a lot of times it's little things that the public or even the people uh aren't going to see outside of probably our coaching staffs and maybe the families that are interacting with
us. Uh, but Molina's taken on a lot of tax tasks. I I list those and about a year ago, I think maybe Steve, you and Sean asked if we could take on some of the transportation duties within our department, maybe get rid of one step in the process. Uh, that has been quite seamless. I would I would say right now
given all that we're going through. Um, the the the the change and the challenges that we're having budgetarily obviously that we're all aware of. Many of our many of our savings in in our world are going to come from the transportation side. And truly, it's been an absolute blessing to have that under our umbrella, but also to have
somebody like Molina who's incredibly gifted with her work on spreadsheets, etc. So that we've been able to really, really break down where we travel, how much, where can we find, where can we get lean, and where can we find some savings. Uh, and that's been again maybe a little bit of a blessing in disguise taking it on. We thought it would be a
really big undertaking, but in in actuality, it's been a wonderful wonderful change for us. uh event staffing, logistics. Those are just a few of the things that that she works on every day. Um I I the next person on the list is a gentleman by the name of Mattie Oliver. I'm not really sure how
we ended up with Maddie uh on our team, but we are incredibly thankful every day. Um you could not have two equipment managers in a high school setting different more different than Mr. Jernburgg and Mr. Mattie. Um you know, Brian uh Brian was a master of fixing and building and uh you know, just a
tremendous worker. Uh Mattie is an equipment specialist and I say that and you're probably going well that's seems pretty simple. Uh his background is he is a laundry specialist to be very frank. So uh we have went from from being extremely oriented in in in just
you know care facilities things like that where Brian's strengths were to we have tried to become as lean in certain areas as we can so that Matty can spend his time taking care of and managing our uniforms and our equipment. Um he has got multiple different certifications. his his true passion in life is
laundering uniforms which might sound utterly ridiculous but one of the you got to look at everything from the context that I do which is how can we support our student athletes and how can we support our coaches uh the the laundry thing actually we are investing a little bit of money um just on the on the front end with some special soaps
and things like that basically we're taking our laundry system that was that was installed into the high school which is a very very high functioning laundry system and we're utilizing it pretty much all day every day one of the things that's doing is it takes in in in a year ago and some of you have had kids and you know Dave obviously you got kids and
some others have kids going through right now your uniforms were home moms and dad dads wash them I would say that we will gain a lifespan on every uniform at more at high of at least one maybe two years that's pretty significant when you look at the dollars that uniforms cost at this juncture uh we will gain
that simply in the fact that our our uniforms will be laundered the same way and laundered professionally each and every time they're used they will stay at the school so for example when we finish a we had our test run through the spring with our two lacrosse teams. When the lacrosse teams would finish a game, they put their stuff in a basket, the
basket goes, it everything comes back clean, hung, dried properly, done exactly per the specifications. And and why I think that matters more now than it did ever in Morehead. Why something like that, which might seem minute to everybody else in the in the room, but extremely valuable to me, is let's be
realistic about the the laundry setups in a lot of the homes that our kids are going home to. Not exactly easy. Probably not getting washed. Mom and dad are working their tails off just trying to get things done. Washing somebody's uniform at the end of the day isn't a priority. Our lifespan on our uniforms has not been great and it's it's it's
been taxing a lot of our our teams and and just financially it gets expensive. So, we feel like just with that shift with what Mattie does, we're going to have a really really big shift in in in kind of how we operate dayto-day. So, he's been an incredible asset. Um, one of the challenges though is we are going kind of from 0 to 60 with trying to make
sure he has everything he needs. It's all little stuff, but um we're getting him up to speed. Uh the next support I'm going to list is Dr. Kelly Gast. Uh Dr. Gast has been working with our teams. Uh she's comprehensively worked for worked for our teams for I think two years. Uh her focuses are on performance but also
normalizing mental health and she's been an incredible asset. U we we are probably one of let's say 10 schools in Minnesota that that work with a uh sports I I call a sports performance specialist. Some people refer to a sports psychologist. Kelly's background is also in in uh clinical
work, trauma specialists, stuff like that or trauma work, stuff like that. So, she's a resource not only for our teams to improve, but also for our student athletes and our students in general. And and more importantly, I mean, let's one of the objectives and one of the goals of having Dr. Gast involved and
what she does, she comes in and she spends she has two sessions with each of our teams and Dr. Gast work is entirely funded outside of general budget dollars. It's grant money and it's concessions. We work very very hard in our concession stand because that that the work we do, the revenues we bring in, it provides the extra things like Dr. Gast. And so what we try to do and
one of the things she does, she works with each of our teams twice per season. If they want more than that, then they contract with her separately for her to come in. Additionally, our department provides the two sessions. in those sessions, the thing the types of things that she works on. Um, she really really
works hard with our athletes on on anxiety and match or game or meet preparation and how to handle failure, how to handle success, lots of different things like that. Uh, mental health is also a part of the component, but I think that the the and this is maybe a little bit of a personal belief, but I think maybe the most important thing she
does is she normalizes the work that we do with the brain. She normalizes the fact that we need to focus on the mental side of our existence whether it be performance related or just sheer mental health. So Kelly's been a a tremendous asset for our programs for the last few years and we look forward to that that continuing going into next year and we
just keep continuing kind of to evolve it. But I I should also mention and again I want to make sure I get through my stuff quickly here. Another key function for Dr. Gast and one thing that shifted almost immediately was her first bit of work. We had her focused on student athletes. We realized without her working with our coaches and helping
them navigate Gen Z athletes and Gen Z performers and Gen Z kids in general that any work she did with the kids was was was a waste. It honestly was because the the reality is is the the Gen Z mind is so different than what we as adults
are used to. And when you start to listen and you you hear her sessions, it makes sense just with the way that kids operate. Our adults all had to make a big shift. So, she actually spends and we have sessions with our coaches so that they better understand how to teach and coach and work with our with our
young people. Uh, athletic development, I've talked about this at length in previous years. It's a tremendous partnership. Our partnership with Sanford is something I will never take for granted. And I will tell you right now and after this year that we have had, I can assure you that every school in Minnesota, I can promise you, is
absolutely envious over our situation that we have. the fact that we have somebody of coach Muscleman's background, his his depth of knowledge that is able to support uh every student athlete in Morehead. Uh you know, the beauty of our situation and this is what we are starting to see. If you want to know why the success has happened this
year, there's a lot of reasons, but I will flat out tell you that that man has a ton to do with it and there is no way around it. And everybody who competes against us and watches us, they know, they see it and look at our track and field performances. It is not complicated. We move really well. But
I'm going to share another stat with you folks just because sometimes you probably think that the end result is all about wins and losses. It's not. It's process. It is it is developing and and and in in our successes this year. I'm going to use a stat that one of our coaches brought to me. You go three
really high impact, high intensity uh sports of which our teams were either ranked at the top, finished as a champion, finished as a constellation champion, boys hockey, boys basketball, and football. just it one of our coaches just said, "Okay, these were three pretty successful teams." A really
fascinating number in the whole thing was between the three teams, 100 football players, 20 hockey players at the end, ballpark of 18 basketball players. We did not have a single lower leg soft tissue injury at the end of three incredibly grueling seasons. Not a
single one. I guarantee you we were the only team in the state, only school in the state that did not have a soft tissue lower as hamstrings, ankles, knees, all that kind of stuff. So, as much as I talk about how how impactful Coach Muscleman is across the board to our performance, one of the most
important parts of performance is being available, our kids, if you look at our female incident of ACL's, we don't even like to talk about it because you're you're afraid it's going to jinx it. our ACL ruptures have went absolutely through the floor since the work he
since he started applying his methods to what we do and it's we're really thankful success is great but healthy kids and healthy athletes and balance kids and balance athletes is really great so that's my crew that's the crew that supports our student athletes and our coaches um they do an unbelievable
job I I I can't thank everybody in this room enough for supporting uh kind of the vision that we've had with what it what it needs to look like within our department and we're going they continue to try to grow and evolve each and every year. Yeah, Keith, just a quick uh couple other hidden benefits I think to the laundry is of
course um know where is my equipment or where is my laundry and then of course parents and students and as well as bringing the right jersey or for getting a jersey at home and going to practice. So I think there are a couple of key hidden benefits to that as well and would love to hear uh you know how the
first year goes this time next year. So, you know, our biggest challenge right now, Keith, is just trying to figure out with the volume of athletes that we have, how how are we going to do it every day? But we'll get there. He's a he's a talented guy. He's going to be a great benefit. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Uh fees, activities, the activity list.
I think this is the first time in many years. I don't think we have a new activity to add this year and probably obviously for many reasons a good year not to add a new activity. But, uh I I will say that our our participation numbers are extremely solid. um are really across the board. Um
again, you know, it's interesting the the new activities that we've added. Obviously, our Nordic ski team had a lot of success this year. You see the lacrosse team in here today. You know, they're in year number eight, I think, seven. Just an incredibly incredibly successful year. Um are there any questions on the activity list, the the
numbers? We didn't change any of our fees this year. U any questions on that in general? Yeah, Keith, more of a a comment. I appreciate you attaching the activity list because uh it was really eye opening to see football of course being the highest
activity uh boys and girls track and field and then third I believe was student council and then fourth was speech in numbers of participants. So thought that was quite interesting to to read about. So you know every school kind of has their niches. Yeah. One of my more enjoyable
things to do like when when ads get around and we sit down and we start sharing stories when I talk about speech, most of them can't wrap their head around how many kids we have that participate and and just the way that we approach it. So, it's pretty fun to have some programs that maybe are approached a little bit differently and and uh
yeah, we're lucky. Okay, I'll keep moving. Um objectives. I I I think this is fitting for the meeting and just the time we're in right now. Um, you know, our real objective this next year is to be as lean as we humanly possibly can, but at the same time, we want to make sure that our
students, our our athletes, our participants, um, we want to make sure that they have opportunities to be successful. I mean, I I I think it's part of what we we learn in the world of activities is how to do that and how to push and we don't want to short change our kids. They're putting a lot of time and effort into these experiences. But
we we have we have poured over Yeah. Um every schedule we have from varsity to JV to 9th grade to 9A to 9B, JB2, JB3, JB4. Um we are an incredibly unique I don't know if everybody understands how unique Morehead is. Uh we are an
outstate independent. And what that means is we have no conference affiliation which let me tell you what that means. That means that in a year like this where we needed to change some things, you know, that one sport where it was the hardest to change anything, it was almost impossible. But I am incredibly thankful that in that sport,
which was football, I am working with the colleagues that understand us best and care the most about us. And I say that in all truthfulness, you all may look at it and go, you're playing Tonka, you're playing Wisetta, you're playing, if you look at who we play in a lot of other sports, that's who we play. And and the other thing about those schools
is they need us. It sounds crazy, but a lot of those schools have a hard time finding competition sometimes because their teams are really good, but they always know we're looking. What I mean is football is really hard to navigate from a from a trying to find some some savings in terms of travel because I can't say we're not going to go play
Minnetonka. The state dictates that schedule. But what we were able to do with those colleagues is say, "Hey guys, uh, Minnetonka, Buffalo plays Baiji week three. We play you guys. How about we play their ninth grade and JV and your two nth grade and JBs play each other?" That'll save probably double the travel
cost for each of us over a two-year span. Um, we did that with Tonka. We did it with we we with Edina. We traded out Edina's JV and nth grade for Alexandria's ninth grade. We're not playing a JV that week. We were able to do that with Woodbury. So, we we everywhere we could, including football, we found as many savings as possible.
Now, we our our teams are still going to travel some. Just to give you an example of where we tried to find the lean, right? Um, if you look at a lot of our schedules where our teams do do have some Twin Cities competition and sometimes we simply can't avoid it for a lot of different reasons. One, we would not be able to fill our schedules.
There's just certain sports where we don't have enough teams around here to play. But also, we want to make sure that our teams still have a chance to be successful. If you look at our teams when they travel, it is a rare, rare, rare day this coming year that they will take a trip to the Twin Cities or anywhere that's over two hours away and not have a hotel stay in an overnight.
Now, keep in mind the teams take on the hotel costs. So, there's going to be in increased costs to our teams, fundraising, all that's going to come into play, but our bus costs are going to go down significantly because we absolutely worked for all we were worth to save as much money on transportation as possible because obviously in the
world that I'm in, that is where we could find the best savings possible. Um, again, we are, you'll see some of our schedules that have more Fargo Morehead competition. No, I shouldn't say more Fargo West Fargo competition than than we maybe have in the past. And there's reasons for that. Some of those teams have more games available.
Thankfully for us, we're really, really lucky that things have changed in North Dakota where their teams have more ability to play us, they have more flexibility in their schedule. Two, three years ago, if we would have had to cut this much in travel or try to adjust, it would have been brutally difficult because we wouldn't have had nearly the success with with going
across the river. So, we're really working hard at that, adding local competition for each of our teams. Um, our supply conversations have been it's it's needs versus wants. We still have to make sure our kids are safe. And we also want to make sure historically when I when I got to Morhead, it was not long after our last round of budget cuts. And
one of the things that had happened is we had really pushed back on some expensive equipment like football helmets and then all of a sudden you end up with some huge numbers down the road because there's certain years you have to buy you you have to keep things within date or else you're out of compliance. Um again our our laundry setup I know it sounds corny but that
that will actually really end up being a really beneficial thing for us. and uh other other goals, not necessarily on the lean side, but it's just coaching staff development. I think our coaches are work in progress. I talked about the work that Dr. Gas does with them. Um we feel like we've got a lot of things in place now. We really really need to
continue to focus on the the connectedness of all of our coaches collectively, but also the development of each of our coaches. Anything on the objectives for the coming year? Okay. Academic eligibility. Um, just this is
this is a work in progress, folks. I'll be very honest. We didn't do it very well last year and we haven't done it very well probably since we got into CO. Um, we I wish I had a great reason or a great answer or or a um really clear-cut here's what went what's gone well, here's what's gone poorly. Um, in my
research that I will tell you flat out the thing that I learned at schools of our size, I our previous policy, our previous approach came from I brought it with me from Breenriidge. um slight difference in managing something in Breenidge with you know 45 to 55 kids in the grade than Morehead. And really what
we ran into and I'll be very very open and very honest is the sheer management of it. The the the communication the the tracking down of kids it it was incredibly difficult and we'd get bogged down in that and we just we struggled to do a really great job of it. Uh that led to frustration with teachers with
student athletes at times and participants in our office the principles. I think everybody has been genuinely frustrated over the last few years with with with our approach to um the eligibility side. U you can see we've we've revised it. Uh we looked at schools that are like schools. We've
looked at schools our size. We've looked at schools with similar uh demographic makeups. And I think uh we feel pretty comfortable with where we're heading with a with a revised policy. And um this is certainly uh in partnership. Um, I really really lean into our our principal staff with with what they
think best practices in this area and we'll do our best to support what's going on. Any questions? Okay. Um, how will you know if a student is not maintaining their GPA? Like who will be responsible for
checking to make sure that a student is maintaining? That will be that will be our office. Yeah. At this point, uh we still probably, you know, there's been some change in the principal side of things with uh Spencer leaving and Josh and I have talked, Kristen's been involved. Uh yeah, that will that will
fall on our office for the most part. Yep. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. Activities Council talk about this every year. This is our support group that uh uh helps guide our decisions. Uh and the makeup of the
group is is kind of a wide wide swath. We still have some spots to fill. Uh we meet approximately four times a year just to discuss what's happening in the world of activities, state high school league, and if there's any uh you know, new activities or changes to things that we're trying to do. This is the first group that we go to to discuss
facilities. I talk about this every year. I'll tell you right now, if you want to come over to Morhead Eye and take a look around right now, it's the best best of place best our facilities have looked in years. Got to give Steve some credit on the uh on the grass. It might sound ridiculous, but when you're in my world as an AD, uh some really nicely moan and and taking care of
fields is a is a real exciting thing to be honest with you. Um and and our fields and our facilities are in really tremendous condition. So, right now it's it's you know, we've got the the softball soccer complex. It's I shouldn't even call it soft. It's soccer, softball, uh whatever else we
decide to play on it. Um hopefully everybody got to see the piece of the paper last week. I think Andrew did a good job with that. Uh but really that is a really exciting part of our facility. Uh something that with the amount of activities we have fed, physical education and athletics, all that we have going on. It'll be a really
great asset. We're going to keep that thing busy all all year when there's not snow on it. So we're really excited about that. And I mentioned, it might sound dumb, but the storage, the organization, the putting our our rooms together and making sure that our equipment is cared for properly, that's a huge focus of what we're doing. And Mattie's been working really really hard
to uh to to get out a lot of that. Um, if if any of you ever want to just come through and like see what we're doing and for example, uh, last week, if you go if you go behind the sports center right now and Steve got us a dumpster, the dumpster is full. There's two storage rooms at the top of the sports
center. We have really really put a focus on trying to use every possible inch of that building that we can. Uh and we've we we Maddie did a a good bit of work last week of cleaning out some storage areas so that we have room for equipment and uniforms and things of that nature. So it's been a ongoing
process of just trying to make sure that we're as efficient as possible the facilities. We have the fine arts auditorium. There's certainly be some branding there. Uh each of our tracks we're having them just evaluated. That's a pretty normal thing to do just to see uh the condition and we had a group in last week and just to make sure that that they're in good shape and in good
functioning shape. Any facility related questions? Okay, I won't go through the highlights. Um it was an incredible year. Uh that's what I will say. And um it's we we had a
great fall. We had a great winter. Uh lots of state champions. Um, I'd have to guess I think it's a hard thing to quantify what the best year in Morhead has been. Um, I have a hard time believing that they've had we've had a better year in terms of individual state champions, team state champions, section champions, section runners up. It's just
been that good and it's been across the board. It's not just one thing or another. It's activities, it's fine arts, it's athletics. It's been an incredible year and one we certainly uh certainly enjoy. So truly appreciate all the support from this group to to allow us to do these things. I think I'll stop there because I know
that you guys are on a have a busy schedule. Is there any further questions for me? Just a comment. It might be that uh you know, some of the success also goes back to the the folks we have on staff on roster. Um you know, you mentioned the soft tissue and the the lower leg
injuries and and things. So maybe it's all coming together at the right time here. So hopefully it's a continued success going forward. But it was it was a very exciting season from many many different sports and activities. So it was a great job all all around. Thanks Kas.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks for coming tonight, Dean. Item B, resolution accepting donations. Dr. Damer. Thank you. Um tonight we have donations to be recognized from Morhead Legacy Education Foundation. A monetary
donation of 15,000 for food for thought. Morehead Legacy Foundation also gave $1,000 cash donation to Morhead football summer camp and SA Ryberg a monetary donation to Robert Aspar Department. Thank you. Keith move to accept the donations presented
and direct administration to send a thank you letter. Thank you Dave. I'll second. Have a motion by Keith. Second by Dave. Move to accept the donations presented and direct admin administration to send a thank you letter. Any further discussion from the board?
Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Item C, additional staffing. Dr. Damer. Um, we have two additional staffing requests tonight. One is a special education, a DCD teacher, a 1.0 FT8
elementary. Um, and this is specifically for SG Reinardson Elementary School due to increased enrollment and uh support needs for that program. And um an Indian education teacher and that is specifically at Horizon. Um so this is a 0.5 teacher but it's an existing FTE um
one of our liaison positions and we've uh fulfilled this this year by doing um overloads and so we'll look at creating a um kind of combined position to take over those teaching duties but also to have support in the liaison role. Thank you Lissa.
I move to approve the additional staffing of 1.0 0 special education teacher position and.5 FTE Indian education teacher position for the 202526 school year. Thank you. Matt, did you have a second? Yeah, Dr. Demer, just for folks that may
be out there wondering, could you um explain to us again uh the the fact that we have to call that Indian education? Um yeah, the department actually has looked at um changing that um to match states. So that would be uh Native
American education. Um but this the the department right now as it's been noted has been Indian education. So there will be a shift in that. Thank you. Thank you Matt. I have a second. Laura Lee. I'll second. I have a motion by Melissa, seconded by
Laura Lee. Move to approve additional staffing of 1.0 0 FTE special education teacher position and.5 FTEE Indian education teacher position for the 202526 school year. Any further discussion from
the board? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Those opposed, same sign. The motion carries. Item D, 2025 2026 employee handbook update and it's again.
Thank you. Um the majority of the updates in here will be um if there are changes to policy numbers which we've had a lot of in the last year. Um and also any changes to staffing. Um the one change noted um today that we just want to draw your attention to is um a change
on page 8 to me and break periods and this is due to a change in legislation. Um and so really it's an adjustment just to say um normally a 15 minute break is a paid break but um was identified you know if depending on if it's allowed and
the law has been changed just to say that um you may take a 15-minute break or enough time to utilize the nearest uh convenient restroom or whichever is longer. Um so that is a statutory change. Otherwise generally meal breaks um are are contractual. Um but we kind
of we have a we have an identified um time period that we have to allow that in no matter whether you're under a contract or not. So um that is on page eight and that's the only significant change in this year's handbook. Thank you Lauri.
I move to approve the handbook uh the 202526 handbook. Yes, the 202526. Thank you. Keith, I will second. I have a motion by Laura Lee, seconded by Keith. Move to approve the 202526 employee handbook as presented. Any
further discussion from the board? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. And that motion carries. Item E. Capital projects levy and operating referendum presentation review and comment
resolution relating to increasing the general education revenue of the school district. Approve. approving a capital project levy authorization and calling an election thereon. Dr. Lunick, thank you. Um, we'll wait for There we
go. So, tonight we'll be taking you through the presentation and a recommendation on a uh the potential for a uh two um question ballot here uh in November. And
if you have a question, uh, feel free to ask it at any time. If I'm not looking up and you have a question, don't hesitate to stop me in some way, shape, or form. So, appreciate uh appreciate that. So, tonight uh like we said, uh
we'll be starting uh that process. Uh you heard from uh Dean uh a little bit earlier talking about the success of um some of the programs that he oversees. I just want to um as we start this presentation just want to talk about uh
where where we are at as a district uh highlighting some of our successes here academically. Uh before we get uh into uh this presentation um over the last couple years uh our our
district has been uh really focused uh on um the PLC process. um student improvement uh and those kinds of things. And and as a result of that um you know, we were asked to be a part of
uh the student attendance uh pilot program uh which was a legislative uh program uh that consisted of uh a few districts to pilot uh what um attendance looks like in each of these districts. and we were one of uh only a few
districts selected that really uh were outside of uh what we would consider the metro area. But I also think it's worth pointing out that as uh we have grown uh that attendance uh pilot program was important to us because it forced us to reflect on the things that uh that we
currently do. And I think it's worth noting that um over the last decade uh we have grown nearly 30%. So as we um look at that growth, we also need to look at how we um continually do things
in terms of our practice. Uh K2 literacy proficiency scores uh they were the highest uh that they've been since the coid9 pandemic and that was as early as last year. Um, so a lot of good work is
happening uh in the district and I think it's worth uh noting and uh calling that work out. As we look ahead, I think it's critically important that when we look at this presentation tonight, we continue to plan for the future and that
we remain focused on preserving and uh enhancing opportunities. And that way we'll present uh what we're going to present tonight. And I I hope at the end uh you support uh what what we would uh recommend uh to the board. Uh overall
though we do have a financial reality uh that is facing us and I would argue any district in the state of Minnesota. Uh we know that uh and you've seen this slide uh before where you see uh the two
lines. The dotted orange line is where we are currently at uh in terms of funding and uh the top line is where we would be at if uh the state uh would have kept up with uh the inflationary
pressures um since the year uh 2003. And you'll see for us uh that represents about a $9.5 million gap uh in the funding. And I would think that um although that represents Morehead, I
think every school district across the state has this same challenge. So this uh finance this this is a financial reality not just for Morehead but in uh throughout the state. As a result of that, uh, school
districts are very limited in terms of how we can continue to close, uh, the revenue gap. We have two options available to us. And that's, uh, uh, either a, uh, an operating referendum or
a capital projects levy. And, uh, these are the two uh, options that are available. Uh but as school districts have become more and more reliant on referendums, um school districts have gone through
either a combination of revenue enhancements or revenue or expense reductions. And uh we are no different in that regard where the last uh few years we have gone through and this past year we reduced about $4 million and
prior to that we were uh reducing uh even um two years prior. So as we've moved forward uh we've come to the realization that as we've practiced both uh the need for a revenue enhancement is
um is extremely important to us as we move in uh to the future. So it goes to the same line that you look at the bottom or that last bullet point there. The only option for district to bridge a funding gap is to either cut budgets or
request operating referendum or a capital project levy uh referendum authority from its voters. And uh that's what uh we'll be talking through uh tonight. So here just uh this describes uh the
operating referendum. Uh it talks about um that there is a actual cap uh for uh 2025 payable taxes and that tax or that cap is around 2200. And you'll notice
when we get into um later into this presentation, you'll see a lot of districts that are at that cap. And uh unless you're a sparity district, then there is no cap. But there are um there are very few districts that are considered sparity. Uh the operating
referendum does allow districts to generate additional general education revenue, and that revenue um is through a combination of local property tax levies and state aid. Here in Morehead, um we are equalized at a very little
rate uh because of our property wealth. Uh there are districts out there that uh that get more equalization than perhaps uh Morehead does. Uh but there are there is a small portion that is equalized on the operating levy. um we unfortunately
um don't qualify for a lot of that um equalization like the capital projects levy. This uh this is a 10-year uh levy uh change legislatively. The last not this last
session but the previous allows now school districts to extend that at the schoolboard level for another 10 years if there is no addition to the per pupil amount. Uh the taxes on an operating levy are spread on the referendum market
value. uh most property types pay the same taxes uh per dollar of the property value and uh the revenue that comes from an operating levy uh can be used for any operating or capital expense. So the flexibility in terms of what these
dollars would do for the district is um is pretty important because it allows for um it allows for us to use those dollars in a very flexible way. Any questions on the operating levy?
Okay. Uh this slide describes the capital project levy and you'll see here um it's a ballot question but it's a stated tax rate and this allows the district to generate additional revenue for
technology or any capital type project. So, some examples that we use, uh, you could use these dollars to pay for school buses. You could use these dollars to pay for um onetoone devices.
You can use these dollars to um purchase anything that would be capital related that could go into the classroom like textbooks. Um, and with for instance, uh, this will come in handy, uh, or would have come in
handy, let's say, a couple years ago, had we known that, uh, we were going to go through a major overhaul in our curriculum with the implementation of the READ Act. Uh, that was one we didn't see coming. That was an additional 1.3
million on top of uh, the revenue that they gave us to help implement the new curriculum. I am not saying that the curriculum wasn't important. It was just one of those things where that pushed us to even greater depths in terms of going into the negative on the
capital side which state will not allow us to go into a negative. So we have to pull those dollars from the general fund which then ultimately take away from some of the program that we have in other places. So this will allow us to
preserve the general fund and protect it from having to cover negative uh balances. Uh the revenue here though is provided through uh local property tax levies. Again uh this is a 10-year levy similar to the um um operating uh but
this uh the taxes are spread on the net tax capacity and not the referendum market value. and the revenue may be used for items consistent with how the ballot language is shaped. And so we'll talk about uh the ballot language a
little later here in the presentation. I think it's important that we put as many things into that ballot language. So that would allow this revenue to be flexible as well. It won't be as flexible as the operating levy, but depending on the ballot language, you
can get some flexibility out of it. And we'll talk about that when we get to it. After after the 10 years, Dr. Lynn, for either one of the votes, if they get would get passed and 10 years, it's done. Then you have to go back for a vote again in order to get that back. Is that correct?
The operating levy, you can extend it at board level. Uh there was talk. I got to look this up, but there was an effort to try to make this capital projects the same as operating. I want to say in my
mind they accomplish that, but I'm not 100% certain. But the statute will read it's 10 years unless it's extended by the board. And I I'm not sure if that's been extended to capital yet or not. Thank you.
So here's a little bit uh uh more specific on the difference. You'll see uh here uh just to draw your attention that uh on an operating referendum everything is based on a per pupil basis and on a uh capital projects levy it's
based on the tax rate and uh if I could take you down to election dates if you're doing an operating referendum you can only do that vote in November or if you do a capital project vote you can do it February April May August and November. So there's a little bit of
difference there. Uh ultimately their missions are are different, but they do help support districts through uh enhanced revenue uh if a vote is successful. Any questions on the two?
Here is just the the makeup. You know, we talked about um early uh that the referendum market value and the net tax capacity. We talked about the operating referendum. Uh that is what the property wealth looks like in our district or the
property makeup. So you can see on the referendum market value on an operating levy uh 60% essentially uh would pay for an operating um referendum and 43.5% uh would pay for the net tax capacity.
You'll notice that the net tax capacity has a little bit lower numbers and it looks like it's a little more spread out uh than the operating uh levy. on the operating side, uh, basically your egg land is excluded and on the capital
project side, your egg land is included. Now, that doesn't mean that they're necessarily off the hook completely. If you are a uh if you are an owner of a um some eggland and you have a house garage in one acre, you would get taxed on that
similar to we as homeowners. And uh that would be on the referendum market value. Uh but generally we'll get to the we'll get to those tax impact statements and you'll see a zero on the operating levy. Uh when it comes to eggland for the most
part and on the capital projects levy you'll see eggland included. Any questions on the makeup of our district versus referendum versus net tax capacity. It's riveting, isn't it?
here. The uh the big thing here is is a comparison. And I wanted to show a comparison of where we sit from a voter approved perspective. Every school district in the state school board has the ability to levy $724 a pupil. That
goes across the board. No matter if you're in uh if you're in Morehead, if you're in uh Wabin, if you're in Detroit Lakes, you get $724. the voter approved is what makes you a little bit uh unique uh to folks in your
region and to folks across the state. So, as you look in our region, uh we included schools that were a lot smaller than us cuz it's that's pretty easy comparison to do and we're one of the largest ones in the in the uh region, but you'll see Baiji DGF all the way
down to Norman County East and you'll see the amount uh that they have on a per pupil basis. and um you'll see Morehead in there uh at uh 224 per pupil. Now, on a voter approved side going out this uh fall for elections, I
can tell you that in our region, uh DGF has called for their election. They're going to be going out for $500 per pupil, a one question ballot. uh Alexandria, who currently has a $595 per pupil on the operating side, is
going out for around a $600 uh capital project levy this fall. So, uh and I know there's there are other districts in the um in the region that are going out. I I don't have that official number yet, but I do know that those two
districts for sure are going out uh in the fall. And then you can see where all the other districts lie regionally. When you look at the from a state perspective, uh you look at here is a comparison to where we sit with
districts that are not only from the metro area but also uh are pretty similar to us uh in size. And some are smaller, some are bigger, but we wanted to show you uh the sample size here. And
again, uh you'll notice that uh the addition of orange combined with the blue um shows there are school districts out there that have a capital project levy. None yet in our region. Uh but across
the state uh more towards the metro, you have districts that are both operating and capital project levy districts. You'll notice when compared to peers of similar size from the metro area, our voter approved levy is um pretty low at
224. Um one district I like to compare us to because I think we're very similar in demographic and and student population uh is the Burnsville school district. You'll see that uh they are near the cap on the operating and that they have a
525 uh capital projects levy for a total of 2700 voter approved um per student. Um and when you compare that by the number of pupils they have uh by the number of pupils we have I think they out uh they
outrevenue us by about $20 million. So that's just an example. um moving forward. Any questions on the last two slides in terms of the regional and the state comparisons. Okay. So, some statewide data just to
show you that uh districts have become more and more reliant on both an operating and capital project levy. Uh there are 236 districts that have an operating referendum in play currently and there are 91 uh that do not and that
average per pupil across the state is just under 1150 at 1147. On the capital project side, uh there are 62 districts uh with authority and uh 265 without and those 62 that have a
capital project levy in play have an average of about uh $267 a pupil. The 1147 is a comparison to our 224. Correct. Yes. Yep. So we're a fifth of what would be the average.
Correct. Yep. But we are one of the 236 that have an operating limit. Any questions on that slide? I thought it was just interesting to to share uh where we're at across the state.
So here uh we talk about the estimated uh tax impact on a $600 per pupil operating referendum. And we uh also have a comparison of a
$575 operating referendum. Uh on the next slide, I think it's worth noting that uh um can I move off the 600 and go to the 575 one for a minute just so we're there.
um when we talk about one of the two uh I think it's important when we have a two question um proposal uh at you um someone that knows a lot more than I do uh regarding this uh said to me that
it's critically important that you try to keep the tax impact on a median home in your district which for us is a $250,000 home. We want to keep that monthly impact to under $20 a month for that first question. And when you look
at your $600 proposal, uh you'll see that that um on the $600 proposal on a $250,000 house, you are at that $20 mark. Now, keep in mind this is rounded up, so it's
$198, but they're going to round it up. And I when you look at the $575 on the $250,000 home, you're looking at $19 a month. And I think that's uh worth mentioning. If you want to be exact,
it's $1891. But the further we can get away from uh $20 and stay under that mark, the more uh the more we have a chance for success, at least based on statistics.
And so as we look and we compare um you'll see the 575 gets us about $19 away from that $20 uh impact. So I think it's it's worth noting that. Um and if
the um if the board does support a two question ballot tonight, uh the tax increase on that $250 uh,000 home on the capital project site is $4.83 a month. So when you combine the two, we're at a
$23.74 impact. And I think anything we can do there to keep it away from a $25 impact total becomes pretty important. and we're under 24 uh by about a buck 26 or so. So, I think it it's it's worth
mentioning. Now, the difference between the two overall between the $25 per pupil is about $83, but that first question is the most important in terms of getting it passed. and that uh that $600 mark
gets us closer to 20, which for homeowners is is somewhat of a challenge. So, um are there any questions on that? We understand that the impacts of the
two for 25. Okay. So, for considerations tonight, if we're going to run a November 4th, 2025 referendum, um we have to call the election by August 12th. If we miss that date, we
miss our window uh to call an election. Uh so we're here tonight um to uh present to you um what that plan might look like uh long before uh the August 12th deadline.
Uh the it also bears mentioning that if we are running a two question uh ballot which is what uh we as administration would recommend um we also have to approve a review and comment for the capital project levy and that has to be
to the state before August 6th. So we want to make sure that uh that is out there as well for uh for you to know. And um you'll see the third bullet there. We're allowed one operating referendum per
calendar year. That's why it's the only option is November. And uh we think um uh that is u an okay option for us as well as the uh running the capital project levy question as well. So any
questions on this slide as we review it? Keith, not necessarily this slide and if you're getting to it, just stop me, but um what kind of um plans do we have to kind of get the word out? And if you're getting into that, just tell me that.
Yeah, we'll get to that in in a minute here. So, other considerations um number of questions. Um tonight uh we'll recommend uh or I would it's ultimately your
choice as a board but administration would recommend that we go for the two questions. One being capital projects and the other one being an operating question. um the amount for each question. We talked about the um 1.5
million for capital projects levy and the um 575 or 600 for uh the operating uh referendum. And then um uh would recommend that uh we do inflation on that because if the
board does choose to extend out the um operating at year 10, then um it essentially becomes a 20-year operating referendum. And uh we know how
difficult it's been at the 22366 on the current voter approved. And it's been that way since 2014 with no um with no increases whatsoever. And to to really put that in perspective as a
school board in 2014, you were given the $724 option to levy per student. and that has not increased either since 2014. So I think it becomes uh a pretty viable
option especially if uh let's say enrollment were to flatten or even go um the in in a decline type situation. Then if it's on a per student basis, at least the um the inflation helps cover some of
those deficiencies if the district were to um enter into those because we know that even if you might lose, let's say you lose a 100 kids, that doesn't necessarily mean you can essentially reduce staff to balance those numbers because they may not fall in the same
grade, they may not fall in the same class. So it just gets pretty difficult to do that. And this this that inflation portion just helps continue to build stability in your overall operating budget.
Um and then if you have multiple questions um do you want to make them contingent on the previous question? Meaning uh if you have a second question um question two can't pass unless question one
passes. Now, I think there's too great a risk there to run because if question two doesn't pass and you have them linked, then you walk away with nothing. Mhm. And so you could have in that scenario,
you could have question one pass at let's say 80% and question two fail at 49% and question one is no longer valid because you've linked them. So I think there's a there's a large risk
um when you when you link them. And so I I would uh as administration would recommend that we keep them independent of one another. We still do the two questions, but we're not I wouldn't
recommend that we link them. Does that make sense? Yes. So these are the considerations you have um as we move forward. And one uh one I'll just uh take you through what administration would recommend to you.
Ultimately, it's your choice as a board uh that uh we run a two question ballot here in November. One is the uh operating question for question one. The second question would be the capital project levy question at the 1.5
million. Um the terms obviously are are 10 years that's that's set in in statute. We uh we take the max and and run it that way. Um, and then I would uh recommend to the board that our questions remain independent of one
another. Um, I I I to if if anybody has the question on how we came up with the 1.5 million for the capital projects, I had uh Steve,
um I should say Mr. Moore, Dr. Larson, uh Mr. Mr. Wingenbach all fill out a capital um projection for 10 years, the same amount that we would have uh this in play. And uh over those 10 years, we
averaged about a $1.5 million uh deficit in capital. So that was where we ended up um setting it for one and a half. I I will honestly tell you that our capital needs are greater than one and a half.
But this is where I'm going to ask for your continued support. Last year uh we didn't have any success uh with some funding flexibility. I think uh in September uh I am going to bring back an
option for you uh to um look at some funding flexibility, but it's going to look a little different. Perhaps we combine LTFM and operating capital. I think some legislators had some some concerns with moving it to
fund one and and doing some of those things. So, if we keep it a little bit um tighter in terms of only those two funds, I'm hoping that we can gain uh that support and then we can use those funds for either capital purchases or uh
some LTFM repairs. Another law that came into place that would potentially help support and uh free up some LTFM dollars is we have the ability under health and safety now to levy for roofs as long as those are over $100,000. So all those
things combined uh allow us to I would argue better use LTFM because based on CAM's projections within about the next five to six years were projected to be back at about $8 million.
And I really don't think we want to have $8 million sitting in a restricted account that we can't use to our benefit that would help us from a capital perspective. And everybody's aware for instance the difference between an LTFM repair and a
capital repair. A capital repair is if we replace that door and I do it like for like I can use LTFM. But if that door didn't have a fob on it previously and we wanted to put a fob on it then it becomes a capital repair. And
so all we want to do is get more flexibility because there are staff for instance in special ed that come to us and say, "Hey, it sure be nice if we could have these doors fobed." And already our capital budget is so tight that we
it's very difficult sometimes to say yes to a very simple request. And I don't I don't think it would be it's not in our best interest not to use those dollars to help support those folks in the classroom. and the the allowable uses sometimes are so tight that we can't get
at them. So when I when I come back in September, I hope that the board would support that request to be submitted to the school boards association to get on their uh platform with some flexibility and make sense.
Okay. So, if we wanted to use if this would pass and we'd want to use it to upgrade a security system in one of our schools, are you talking about the capital project levy? We Yeah, I'll get to that. I'll get to that because I'll show you the ballot
language here coming up. So, next uh slide for instance is uh what the ballot language would look like here on question one. So, the question one ballot language is pretty um pretty self-explanatory where you see that
bullet. Obviously, you wouldn't have either one listed there. You would select uh 600 or 575. Um and you'll see the language as it would be presented. Um is that uh inflationary increase is
that if inflation goes up $5 then it would be 580 or 605. Yeah, it would be based on the the current dollar per pupil. So if you if you as a board chose 575 tonight and inflation was x a
percent and that equaled out to be $5, then that per pupil amount would move to 580. Okay, for instance. And then it would be multiplied by your number of pupils. Good question.
Any questions on question one as it would be presented? Yeah, I worry that the voter is going to think that we are asking them to pay
um like $600 per pupil. Like I I worry that it's going to be read wrong and it's not going to be like the community is all getting together to pay this amount. Does that make sense? Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm
trying. Can you give me one more shot? Yep. So, I go to vote and I think you're going to ask me to pay $600 more in taxes without the consideration of my property being worth $100,000 or my
property being worth a million dollar. Yeah. So, we would have to explain that in our um presentation in our presentations or or whatever. So, I I see what you're asking now. Yes, I can I can absolutely see how that could
be um the understanding per per se. So, I will uh I will make a note of that and um go from there. Now, I know you have your tax impacts, but I don't think that's what she's I don't think that's what Laura Lee is saying. I think if
you're if you're a voter that might not be educated, you're going to think that you're paying 600 when in fact you're nowhere near that. So, I I I get what you're saying and that's a good point and we will um we will brainstorm on that one. So, that's a good that's a
good catch, but we have to put that number on the ballot. We do because people have to know that it's per pupil. Y, not necessarily per homeowner. So, we'll have to we'll have to draw that out. So, that's a good that's a good point. We'll
we'll take that. And I can honestly I can I can see where they would where they would think if you weren't reading it clearly and and that could happen. So we'll we'll do what we can on that one. But other than that, now that I understand where you're coming from, um
this is what the ballot language has to look like, per se. Um so any any questions on question one as it would be presented? Okay, I'm going to move to question two and uh Scott, I think this will address
your question to uh the capital project levy. And this is what it looks like. Now, this language is specifically written to give you the
flexibility to use it as you see fit. So if you start looking at the the after the 15 million, it says the additional revenue from the proposed authorization will be used to provide funds for the betterment of school sites and
facilities. So Scott, there's your school safety um um language uh included including deferred maintenance and uh renovation projects, the acquisition and maintenance of technology hardware. So,
we cover uh some technology in there, software and technical systems. I will point out that we have a huge uh phone system that has to be replaced because we are at the end of life and that's going to run us around $900,000
or so uh based on current um pricing. I don't see that changing much in the next couple years because we are uh quickly approaching that end of life. Uh based on the way this ballot is written, you could use the revenue for that. Um and
then you can read uh the purchase and replacement of school related transportation vehicles and the acquisition of curriculum materials. So we do cover uh quite a bit of leeway
there when it comes to the use of uh the CPL or the capital project levy. So this would be the language that we would include uh for question two. Yes. I think when uh the information is
shared or goes out, I think a I wouldn't put it in here, but I think having um like an average annual betterment of school sites and facilities, what are we spending annually on that deferred maintenance and renovation projects, what are we spending? So people can kind
of get an idea of where this 15 million uh 1.5 million per year um is kind of coming from because annually we're spending X here and X here. Um, again, I I don't think I would put another number in here, but I think it would be good to
talk about that as part of the word of mouth or the that would be something we'd have to address through the presentations again. Yes. But but but right now uh the only thing that we can put in the language per se for the ballot is what we would use it for.
Yeah. And I think that's I think that's okay. But I was just kind of thinking in my head Yep. Thank you. Yep. Good good call. So, this would be the language for question two. Are there any questions that um that the
board might have? I have a random question. What's who's the commissioner of education? Willie Jet. What's through the state or what's through? Yep. So we we would have to send. So right now in your in your packet is the
uh the review and comment that would uh ultimately be approved tonight through your resolution and then that will get sent as early as tomorrow uh to the commissioner. So we're well ahead of that uh deadline of August 6th
if the board is ready to move on that resolution. The other thing that you would have to decide is what dollar amount per pupil would you like to see uh in the ballot. I feel comfortable
based on projections that 575 over the 600 is still a sound decision. But ultimately that's your your call. There is about an 83 cent difference on
a $250,000 home on the operating side of things. Obviously, the 1.5 million does not change in terms of impact uh no matter what you choose for 575 or 600.
What do your colleagues tell you about the relevance of that number? The psychology of that number 600 as opposed to well 600 as opposed to 575 becomes more about the tax impact based on our property. Right. Right.
So what they say from a it's a lot like when you go shopping and something is something 97 cents. Uh there's a psyche there that uh people say, "Well, I I can I can buy that, but the minute it might be$ 1997,
but the minute it goes to $20, I'm not I'm not buying that." Right? So, that's where we talked earlier about the on a on a median home in Morhead, which is the $250,000. We want to do our best to keep that
impact under that $20 mark. So the further we can get away from the 20 that's the y that's the psyche not necessarily the amount per pupil. Got it. It's the amount of the impact per question and and
so it' be the supporting uh evidence that we would do that would be important. Yeah. Are there any other any other questions? I want to make sure that we get them all out. Uh I guess the first question I would ask is
uh are are you uh ready to make the resolution or to make the motion of the amount per pupil? Are you ready to tell me if you want it to be one questions or two? Um your resolution states two questions.
If you're not comfortable with that, we'd have to change the resolution, but we can do that. But you have a question. Yes. Uh so it's important for the public to know
the the option is significant cuts in Yes. And I many areas and I apologize that I didn't mention that. So, um, yes, if if it's the board's intent to get us to that, uh, fund balance amount, um, by I think it's
two years or three years from now, uh, we are not going to make that goal without any revenue enhancements, whether that's we, and I say I say that wrong. So, uh, we're not going to get there without revenue enhancements or,
um, uh, some drastic reductions, uh, to get us there. And you, you heard from, uh, Mr. Hoggo tonight that, uh, you've, you know, we've, we've had some pretty good successes there, but I'd also say things are starting to look um, things
are starting to look promising in the classroom through the work of our staff and everything else. So when we talk about the need for this um we we have to have our eye on the future and with things starting to look
um positive in terms of some of the results that our staff are getting from our students. Uh this revenue would help protect those invest and these investments would help protect the work uh that the staff is doing. And I I
can't emphasize that enough. things are uh because of staff and because of the work that some of these folks have put in here. Um I'm I'm very proud of the way uh things are going and if we're looking to preserve some of those
things. These are the thing. This is what we need uh to continue to move in that direction. And I'm afraid if we had to do uh the 4 million in reductions, there isn't any way in the next round that we
could keep them out of the classroom. And I just going to be honest with you. Do I have a plan? I don't as of yet. Uh but at the end of the day, this is the revenue um we need to provide stability.
uh to our to our operating uh budget and to continue having us move forward. So hopefully I answered your question, Matt, in a in a way that's appropriate. Melissa, and we work collectively to talk about
the fund balance and how important it was and adjusted u based on information that you collected and presented to us of other districts and and it's important to have a fund balance. Yep. um and and a certain percentage because if something catastrophic
happens and you have nothing, it's you you can't protect right your employees, you can't protect your assets, you can't protect your buildings. So, correct, ma'am. So, the resolution doesn't call
for the number. How do we get to that? Uh the resolution uh the way I understand it would uh would call for a number, wouldn't it? Not the suggested resolution. It is not on the suggested resolution. It's not on the suggested resolution,
but I think it's in the the actual document that came from the attorney. You just have to tell us what you want that to be. So before we make the resolution or after? I'd say before. Okay. Yep. And that would be by motion or a
suggestion. I think uh the motion would be a good idea even though we don't have it listed. Um I think we can get it added uh to the agenda because it's still under this agenda item. Um and then and it would also be in the minutes.
Lorley, I motion. Let's uh let's hold off on the motion for right now. Do we have anybody else that wants to speak in regards to the dollar amount or either question? Keith,
I just, you know, with um seeing some of the the data which I think is is well put together with comparing us putting where we're at with other like region districts as well as other like school districts and kind of seeing that. I think that's important. Um, a question I
know that will will come up and that will be need to be addressed or need to be asked is, you know, with the new school, would we would we still be here if we didn't have the new school? Would we still be at a position where you think we would be requesting people are going to tie them together?
That's what they're saying. Yeah. And unfortunately, that's what they'll do. But at the end of the day, what what was voted on in 2019 was to construct the building. What we're asking for you today to approve is the
ability for us to raise operating dollars to support the budget. So what we asked for the public support in 2019 was to give us the revenue to build the new building. It didn't give us money or dollars to operate. uh those dollars to
operate have not uh there has not been an increase on our operating levy per se uh since I've been here uh in two since 2014 and that stayed at $22366 and you can see how low that is uh
compared to both regional districts and uh larger districts that reside uh in the metro areas. So um and I understand that too. Uh and we tried to address that uh last year as well by saying bonds are for
building, levies are for learning, those kind of uh jingles. And um but at the end of the day uh the question uh and the answer that we would give would be the same ones we gave last year that in
2019 uh we uh got permission to build uh the new high school and the career academy. We did not ask for permission for more dollars to operate the district. Now
looking back there's some lessons we've we've learned. So if in the future uh we are uh in need to build let's say an additional elementary school, one of the things I've learned is that um we may
need to also attach an operating question to that same ballot so people can start to see that as we add buildings, we do add operating expenses. And we didn't do that over the last uh two bond elections cuz let's not forget
we've also added Horizon West and we've added Dorothy Dods and we've built a high school that's just a little bit larger than the previous one. And we're doing that all on the same $223
per pupil. And don't forget the career academy also. I Yeah, you're correct. Yeah. So just to put that in perspective. Yeah, I just kind of wanted it. No, that's a good that's a good point. And I I the B for buildings and levies
for learning or L's for levy for learning. I think that was I don't know if that was you Brand or whatever, but that was much appreciated and it'll come up and I just wanted it. So thanks for addressing it again and yeah, nothing further from from me on that. Steve, I just think it's important for the
public to vote on this. And so I'm highly in favor of it going to a vote in November. Um because I think when they realize the potential cuts, not only the classroom, but the bus routes and getting kids to school and all those things are going to be vital for for
this to go through. Um I'm also in favor of the 575. I think if we get to where we need to be with less money, I think it's better for the public and for our stakeholders. So, I'd be in favor of of that as well. So, for a motion going forward,
go ahead, Keith. I just was going to reiterate that um I do agree with the 575 and I think you had also asked about um two separate independent questions and I would also be in favor of having two independent separate questions not linked together.
Anything else? Melissa, agree with that. Thank you. Okay. So, anything else, Dr. Lynn? Not unless uh you folks have a question. I I just have a couple comments. You
know, you look at the 2003 inflation rate that has gone on in the state of Minnesota, and the state of Minnesota is basically almost $1,400 behind the inflation rate. And if you think about what that has caused districts to go
after these operating referendums, that is part of the problem within our our state. And we we can't we can't sit in back and just wait for them to give us money. We're going to have to do something on our own as a community. Um, the other thing I I wanted to bring up is,
you know, we've also added onto Probesfield, which added a a school area. And everybody knows since CO all of our prices have gone up, whether it's feeding the kids or it's um
putting the electricity up in the in the school districts, paying for the heat, paying for the air conditioning in our schools. Um everything is costs have gone up and we we just haven't kept up as a society in regards to that. It
isn't just a school district. it's the cities and the counties and the and the state itself. So, it's something that none of us want to do. We don't want to put more tax on our community, but it's something we have to unfortunately look
at. So, and I would also be in favor with the 575 and um two separate questions and the one point what is it 1.5 million for the second question.
So, thank you. Anything else from the board? Okay. So, um I guess we're going to go for a motion here. Could whoever makes the motion if we could add the 575 and the 1.5 and the two separate questions.
Lorley, I'll try to do it. I move to approve the resolution relating to increasing the general education revenue of the school district by
575 per pupil and having two separate resolutions on the ballot. Two separate questions. two separate questions on the ballot.
Um, approving a capital project levy authorization and calling for an election as presented. Yeah, I just throw it in there. Did I need to say anything about the other one? You did good. Okay.
Thank you. Yeah. Oops. Yes. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. I have a motion by Laura Lee, seconded by Matt. Move to approve the resolution relating to an increase in the general
education revenue for the Morhead school district operating of $575 per pupil per pupil and approving a capital levy levy authorization in a 1.5 million
of 1.5 million and calling an election there on two or two separate votes. Questions? Questions? Thank you. I'd like a roll call vote too, please. And uh seeing is there any other discussion on this from the board?
So we'll have a roll call vote starting with Keith I. Bard I. Steph I Mark I. Bergen. I Matt Vin I.
And that motion or resolution passes. Thank you everyone. Item F, 2025, legislative session policy updates. Dr. You. The following uh policies are recommended uh by MSBA
for um approval tonight uh with one motion uh due to uh recent legislative changes. And with that, um, I recommend, uh, that, uh, we support that resolution in one reading to get these policies
approved as we head into the 2526 school year. So, with your support, uh, I would recommend approval. So, we are saying that these are state statute changes and that's why we're just going for one vote and we can do that. Y,
thank you, Keith. Move to approve the policy res revisions presented uh which were a result of the 2025 Minnesota legislative law changes in one reading by the school board on July 21st, 2025 pursuant to policy 208
section five. Nope. Four. Thank you Keith Laurely. Second. Thank you. We have a motion from Keith second by Laur Lur Lee. Move to approve the policy revisions presented a result of the 2025 Minnesota legislative law
changes in one reading by the school board on July 21st, 2025 pursuant to policy 208 section 4. Discussion. Dave has a question. I have a couple discussion. Can you bring the the policies up? There's two questions I had. Um on
policy 534, I think it was a school lunch one. 240. So B and C, I was wondering why C needs to take like separate because B says all students at no cost, but then C says
even kids who are eligible for free and reduced get it? Like aren't all kids all students already covered under if you're free and reduced? So I was like, is there a way to combine those two? I was wondering, but it seemed odd to to take out when it says all students and B to then take out the free reduced and
fee. I would I would think that if um the MSBA lawyers uh put it in this way, so I would I would recommend we keep it that way. But one of the things that come to my mind with your question is I
believe that it's important to know who's still free and reduced because that helps the state get their reimbursement. Maybe not necessarily us locally, okay? But we still have to identify who's free and reduced so the state can get their
reimbursement from the USDA would be my speculation to that. So it's important that we still continue to go out and do the work to try to get those kids and students identified so we can get that turned into the state. So I think it's important if I'm if I'm a if
I'm guessing right, that's why they still have that listed here. Okay. All right. And go ahead. I was just going to say it may also be that it's calling out if the student has outstanding debt which the other one doesn't call out. So it could be a two-part. Go ahead. It just seemed separate but that's
right. Okay. And then my last one is page 267 and it's just a grammar thing I thought. Should it be under disabilities resident students with a disability or student
with within remove the letter A? Take A out. A is out. No, we should take Oh, it's okay. Just clarifying that one. So, okay. You got that answered? Yep. Yep. Okay, perfect. That's why
that'll get corrected then. Yep. Yep. Thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Superintendent updates. Dr. Lunick.
Uh, I have no updates at this time. Um, when we get into uh August and we have that meeting, we'll have more we'll have more um we'll have some updates for you due to uh uh new teacher lunchon and those kind of things. So, we'll we'll get that out to you when it's time, but
otherwise, nothing at the moment. Thank you. Item five, close the meeting. Keith, you like to close meetings. That's right. Haven't done that in a little while. Uh, move to close the public meeting at 7:40 p.m. pursuant to
Minnesota statute section 13D.03 for the purpose of discussing negotiations. Thank you, Laura Lee. Second. I have a motion by Key, second by Laura Lee. Move to close the public meeting at 7:40 p.m. pursuit statutes section 13D.
03 for the purpose of discussing negotiations. Any further hearing or seeing none, this meeting will be closed. I'll give everybody like three minutes to get out and we'll get started again. [Music]
Sure. Thank you. Item six, open meeting. Keith move to open the meeting at 7:56. Thank you, Laura Lee. Second. I have a motion by Keith, second by Laura Lee. Move to open the public
meeting at 7:56 p.m. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. And can I move on to item seven?
Ready. Item seven, adjournment. Dave, I'll move to approve adjournment of the July 21st, 2025. I should have that on probably. I'll move to approve the adjournment of the July 21st, 2025 or meeting at 7:57 p.m.
Thank you, Melissa. I second. Motion by Dave, second by Melissa. Move to approve the adjournment of the July 21st, 2025 schoolboard meeting at 7:57 p.m. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign.
And this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.