[clears throat] Well, we got it on recording. Welcome to the October 27th, 2025 Morehead Area Public Schools Independent School Board Meeting. It is 6 pm. I'm calling this meeting to order. I will start on my right.
>> Vote present. >> Bjorkland present. >> Burgard present. >> Steph present. >> Merkart present. >> Bergen present. >> Valen present. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Item B will 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. [clears throat] >> Item C, preview of agenda. Dr. Lunick, >> recommend approval. >> Thank [clears throat] you.
>> Cassidy, >> move to approve the meeting agenda as presented. [clears throat] >> Orally, >> second. Have a motion by Cassidy, second by Laura Lee. Move move move to approve the agenda as presented. Any further discussion from the board. >> Go ahead, Keith.
>> I just wanted to to thank administration and whoever was part of getting or or in the process of getting girls wrestling. I know that was part of the agenda, but I just thought that was worth a shout out to um get that continue to get that ball rolling. So, appreciate that. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Anything else from the board? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Those opposed, same sign. And that motion carries. Item E, public form. The public form. Uh, do we have anybody, Deb? I guess
>> we do not. >> Thank you. We'll move on to item, consent agenda. I guess item two. 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 enacted by one resolution. There will be no separate discussion of
these items unless the school in which event that item will be removed from the this agenda and considered under separate resolution. To the extent possible, school board member inquiries on consent agenda items are to be made directly to the district administration
prior to the time of the meeting. Item A superintendent, we have number one, approval of the October 13, 2025 school board meeting minutes. Item B, business and administrative services. We have number one, October claims. Number two, medical
leave. Number three, resignations. Number four, new employees. Number five, assurance of compliance with state and federal law prohibiting discrimination. Number six, emerging status school commitment, girls wrestling. And number
seven, additional staffing request. Item C, special services. Number one, we have professional service agreement. Melissa. >> I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Thank you, Keith.
>> I second. I have a motion by Melissa, second by Keith. Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any further discussion from the board? [clears throat] >> Yes, Lori Lee. >> Um, when will um when would a a class be
triggered to then move up? because we're adding this position because Alen Hopkins is over numbers in kindergarten. So, at what point would it trigger another section to open? Um, Carla or uh last name, I cannot think of it right
now. Thank you. Miss Smith had said that uh in her thing that she is adding about two kindergarteners a week. If that were to continue, at what point would it trigger another section? Well, right now the PAR is that
solution. Uh we'll continue to monitor that. I don't have a number off the top of my head when we would pull that trigger. I think we look at a couple things. One would be the disruption to um the class that's already existing. So that's one thing that plays a factor in
that and that's why uh we choose the PAR route first. Uh if if they do continue, a couple things. as we look at the the disruption we talked about, but then also uh physically is there room in the in the building to host another section as well. So, we're in those
conversations. I think Kristen's conversations happen weekly with uh Carla on those and and monitors those on a on a very close basis. So, this is a a solution to show that we are responsive to that need uh with a with a
non-certified addition tonight. Um if if they were to continue and you could add another section and the numbers would fall within that um um general rule of thumb that we look at when you would add the section if there was the right number of kids in there
then I think that would be safe. I think right now the big thing would be to is to continue to monitor it but also then if we were to add one I would want to make sure that there was an adequate space that we would put them in. That would be one concern I would have.
>> Follow. Are all the classrooms full at Hopkins? >> I can't I don't remember how many sections they have offh hand for kindergarten, [clears throat] but >> I I would say yes and no. They utilize all the space that's available to them. So, I think they would have to um clear
out one of those spaces in order to make a classroom. The other thing I would say is since we've um made this addition, there's been minimal growth. And so I think there was an uptick in a couple of kids. Uh but I would say the growth of two kids a week is not necessarily that's what she has seen up to this
point. >> Um but we haven't seen a significant amount since we had the discussion about making the change. >> Yep. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Any other discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I.
>> Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Item three, new business. Under A, we have federal title plan. Dr. Larson. >> So, Isaac Lindberg is here to kind of go over uh where our title f our federal
title programs are kind of at at this point. Um, and just kind of how we worked with some of the unknowns of the title money being held and then we had it. Um, and just kind of how that built into our plan for this year.
>> Yeah. Thank you. >> Good. now. Okay. Um, yeah, thank you for that quick little introduction. I think um I'll be I'll be fairly brief. Part of the reason I'll be fairly brief is that um if you if you kind of think back to
over the last like six months maybe uh going maybe all the way back to March. So typically we get in March our uh preliminary allocation for the following year. And uh that's it's generally a super tight window between the time we
get our title allocation uh sort of initial preliminary award um and also our staffing plan. Uh those tend to happen right about within two weeks and then there's kind of a quick little uh make sure everything lines up. That did not happen this year. As you
probably know, we didn't get the initial uh awards um for all of them until the summer. And then for title one, it was something like uh May. Um and then even into July. Uh and if you if you recall
this, we were still uh wondering if the f federal government was going to uh deliver the awards to the states and then and then to local school districts. So, um, needless to say, if you think of that timeline, it's really, really hard
to plan, uh, along those lines. And so, there aren't maybe dramatic shifts in in anything from previous years. Um, and I'll kind of speak to what we've done, uh, over the last couple years. So, uh, just to kind of remind you of the the
title buckets, um, title one part A is the is the the largest bucket, uh, and it serves at risk students. Um, I'll kind of break that down a little bit later how we're doing that. Um, title one part D specifically, uh, serves it's
it's the neglected and delinquent pot. It serves, uh, for us, West Central and the ALC. Title two is a essentially a professional development fund. Um, title three supports English learners. Title four, um, is kind of maybe the most
interesting, uh, poperri of the of the title pots. it uh has a few categories within it. Um and then uh title six specifically supports uh Indian education and you'll probably get a we typically do a a report from that team
somewhere over the course of the year. So get a little update from them uh along the way. Um these are the sort of preliminary budget amounts. we usually get uh an updated number sometime in in
kind of the middle of the year and it can swing in either direction by maybe 5% or something. So these are the initial awards that the state gives us. Um generally you can budget with them reasonably well. They're not going to shift too much. Uh I'd say more often
than not um we get a little little extra versus a little less uh once those come in. Um so in total that's about 2.3 million. So, if you're just kind of putting that in the in the grand scheme of uh where things are at from a
budgeting perspective, uh that's a it's a pretty significant uh are we going to have it or not going to have it type of um situation for us. So, uh these are the um supplemental supports for the for
the K4 for 25 26. um a reminder that title supports are supplemental in that they're they're they're above and beyond what's what's the general fund offers to those sites. Um this is sort of where it's the most complicated. Uh I'll I'll
speak a little bit more in detail about some of kind of our our our priorities um and kind of how we've landed at this on the next slide. So um I will go to that. Um the first these are sort of [snorts] we might want to think about
these kind of over the course of the last few years. Um I want to say it was last year maybe the year before where we shifted to serving grade bands which is an allowable way to use your title funds. Um kind of the rationale there is
that um we if we were to spread our $1.7 million of title funds across all of our school district um it would really sort of for lack of a better phrasing it would really water down the impact at
the K4 level. uh because the numbers are so high at the at the secondary level that we would have to serve that um sort of first in terms of the amount and and what would be left to serve our earliest learners at the elementary level would
be pretty minimal. So that was a good uh shift for us to be able to prioritize some of the work that's happening there. um that's really really supported uh intervention and the literacy and coaching that goes alongside that and the intervention model at the
elementary. Um so we think that's that's been an aligned and and useful shift for us. Um another priority there is that we've been able to um over the last few years maintain some family engagement efforts there. um in particular some of
the ele elementary levels are doing some really cool things um in trying to get families in the door and um the way that they're surveying families and and that kind of just leads into uh all of these other positive things and the ways that um I would say in particular at the K4 they're they're really running with some
of those uh initiatives which has been really cool. Um, a big priority over the last few years uh for us and I think is reflected in where we're at currently with title is an effort to sustain existing supports. Um, and an example
that I would give uh there was um we as of a few years ago we knew we had uh the CLSD grant with some literacy coaches that that that grant funding was going to fall off. we happened to um that year
have a fairly significant increase in our title one budget. Uh and sort of between that increase and some kind of careful planning, we were able to um sustain those supports at least for another year. Um that's kind of evolved over time and we've been able to
continue to do that. So I think sort of in the in the current um financial times that we're in uh that's been a big effort and I think been some creative thinking on the on the parts of um our team and the business office and partnering with them on on how we can
best do that. Um I'll speak to that a little bit more uh in the end uh when we talk about those shifts. Um, one sort of note or caveat to the serving the great bands uh um
option is that uh the the title rules are that you serve any school you're required to serve any school that has a free and reduced rate greater than 75%. Our ALC falls in that category. Um so we have a few positions funded out of the there as well. Um supporting the middle
level ALC which has been kind of a cool uh initiative that they have going on there. they've been able to provide a ton of flexibility for middle school kids, which has been a really great option for a lot of them um to kind of scale their their supports in that building. Uh some kids need a little bit
uh some kids need sort of a full day ALC experience and some kids need just a a little bit of something different and that's been a good option for them. Um the last uh piece of this um and you'll
see on the bottom the goal there is to that that we've tried to prioritize is to create some flexibility and some sustainability. Uh and so title four and title two allow you to shift um you can you could for example shift all of your
title two to title one. You could shift all of your title four to title two or to title one. Um and so we in our initial uh budget that's um something we've kind of looked at. Um we also will
probably do a little bit more of a review of that in the fall amendment window. You you have the opportunity to to change in your amend your plan twice during the year. Um and that'll be helpful for us as we kind of figure out our our general financial future here
over the [clears throat] next few weeks. And so, uh, just to give you a sense of it, title one has a has a has a cap in terms of what you can carry over. Um, some of the other funding streams do not. So, if you transfer to one of those places where you can potentially carry
over a little bit more, you can create a little bit of flexibility that way. Um, and we think that just gives us uh especially sort of in the uncertain um times both both locally and then on the federal level in terms of what they're going to do with title funding
moving forward, it gives us the most kind of cushion to sustain the existing supports for as long as we can. Um, so that's kind of been the the work of the team there to figure that out and um we feel pretty good about prioritizing that. So happy to take any questions. Um
just one thing that that we did do. So again, uh we put everything kind of in K4. Uh but what we did with 58 is we used our achievement integration dollars for those buildings to have some family engagement dollars. Um so we we kind of
used multiple pots, so to speak, uh to try to ensure everybody had some support for family engagement. Um and and achievement integration again is different. That is a K12 plan. Um, but we just really focused K4 for title and
so knowing we could use some other funds in different pots to make sure every building has some family engagement. >> Okay. Any questions from the board? >> Oh, that's good. Thank you so much for coming tonight. >> [clears throat]
>> Item B, fall 2025 special education child count update. Dwayne, good evening. Um, going to run through our fall numbers here with a quick comparison to last year. Um, we do this in October and again in February. The
October numbers are kind of our first solid numbers of the year. You know, when we run them in September, we still have kids moving in, moving out, sort of getting settled. So, our October numbers are a little more solid. [clears throat and cough] I'm a little more confident in these. So,
go um as you can see as of October, and this is around about October 10th, um we had 1840 students receiving special ed services birth through age 22 in the district. So [clears throat] these are kids we are serving regardless
of where they were where excuse me [clears throat] kids we are serving regardless of district of residents. So and our students who are in West Central would be included in this who are on IEPs. Everybody everybody's served in some fashion by the Morehead district is
in these numbers. um [clears throat] you know started off September the August numbers I I run them but I you know wouldn't worry about those a whole lot. So we went up about five kids from um September to October. We have had students moving in still
students moving out but usually in October it starts to stabilize a bit. We ended last year at 1833 students. So we're about at the same point we were at the end of last school year. And you can see kind of the steady growth
[clears throat] through the last school year. Again, a lot of that growth comes from early intervention and then those kids work up into the K12 system as other kids fall off. And it has been the case that our early intervention numbers
coming in are bigger than our um numbers of kids leaving us. [clears throat] And then you can just see other years. Um I have it going back to 2020 2021. But for your viewing pleasure when you want to take a look at that, you can see
the graphs going back here. Um you can see a little bit lower. 2021 looks a little different and that was a COVID year. So that you know take that
one for what it was worth. So sort of up and down a little bit that year. [clears throat] Okay. So building right now again these are the same numbers. So the total would be that 1840 kids [cough] and you kind of see which which
part of the total each building is. Um obviously Probesfield has our lowest totals. Um, EIS and MHS are our biggest. MHS tends to drop some as the school year progresses. Um, while EIS will
grow, the other buildings stay pretty level. Um, alternative, we have more kids starting in alternative this year and that also includes again West Central. Um, more kids starting in the alternative programs that we run. Um
we're we're starting pretty high in that area this year. We have Yeah. West Central, well over half of the kids we serve are on IEPs that come into that facility.
And then you can just see kind of how it's run year after year here with numbers going up, EIS going up, MHS going down, and the others staying, you know, relatively flat. I'll come back in
probably the first meeting in February with the numbers broken out by disability and all that. We get that those numbers from the state in usually late mid to late January. So come back with the [snorts] breakout by disability area in in February. But just
want to give you a quick picture of where we are right now. So we're starting pretty similar to where we ended last fall. I'm sorry, last spring. Questions. Keith, >> are the uh percentages pretty similar? I
know Probesfield of course probably has lower enrollment than the other ones, but are do you find the percentages amongst elementaryaries? >> That's a good question, Keith. Um our Ellen Hopkins percentages are a little bit higher. Um they probably run between
26 28% and the other elementaryaries are closer to 20. and our overall district is close to 20%. Okay. >> So, Ellen Hopkins runs a little higher. Um, yeah, Probesfield runs a little lower. Most of the students at Probesfield who are on the list are
speech only students. >> Okay. And then Ellen Hopkins probably has maybe another head half h halfime or some sort of headcount to for that increase. >> Yes, they have. Yeah. Or have I mean our largest special ed staffing at the
elementary levels at Ellen Hopkins. Okay, thank you. >> Go ahead, Laura Lee. >> So, looking at these trends, throwing out the 2020 and or the 2021 school year, but looking at the rest, it looks
like from 2022 to 2023, uh, we went up by 99 students. And then 24 to 25, uh, we went up by about 60 students. 61. Uh and then if we're looking at just
October to October, that's another 60 student raise between this October and last October, just to compare apples to apples. >> So I am wondering if our staffing is keeping up with the pacing of the addition of all of these students.
>> We have we did add special ed staffing, excuse me, [clears throat] coming into this school year. Okay. >> Um and we have added each year going back. Um, we added one new position and we repurposed a couple other positions to get them out of non-classroom into
classroom positions. So, we had a couple of classroom ads without adding staff. >> Okay. >> So, it but it's the constant battle. I mean, it's growth consistently. So, >> yeah. I was wondering if you had any idea of I mean I I wouldn't expect that
our student population is growing at 90% times this if 10% is supposed to be you know so I'm just wondering if you have any kind of a >> you know we talk >> that a lot and that's a good question we talk about this a lot we're a regional center
>> y >> um the large medical center in Fargo there are more um social service benefits in Minnesota than in North Dakota. Um Dan just ran for me some numbers of kids who've moved in just in
two disability categories, the EBD and the DCD categories. For this school year, we had it was 23 23 or 24 Dan that had moved in to our district for this year and those are our typically our neediest students. So ones who'd be
probably receiving some social services too for the families too. So that regional center is a big part of it. You look at us, St. Cloud, um, Baiji, Duth, we all have similar circumstances because of being regional
centers. Wilmer even, um, Mano, Rochester, the bigger towns see, you know, kids with more needs moving in. And I think we're getting kind of a little bit of an extra because the difference between North Dakota and Minnesota.
>> So, and we did talk with the commissioner about that too when he was out. Is that just last week anyway? Um, so that's, you know, something to be aware of. [clears throat] Um, we do have and we've had kids from all over the country move in, not just all over the
country, all over the world. Each year we'll get kids right from another country that come into a special ed program and kids who are very significantly disabled coming from other countries right into our programs
>> Matt and I recognize that that can be a burden but I'm just proud that >> we can serve these children >> because who else would. >> No. >> And I know our county commission has that same issue as well.
>> Uh but again, [clears throat] it's something I think we can be proud of. >> You know, and one thing to watch on the horizon, too, is the um psychiatric hospital. They're looking at [clears throat] the juvenile psychiatric hospital. we're looking at doing in the
county because the Morhead district will be responsible for serving the kids in that hospital be they in special education or not. We will be responsible just like at West Central for providing an education there. >> So that'll create some unique challenges
for us as well. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And and I know we're continuing to do this, but just to continue to remind our legislators and the legislators in St. involved with just what what we do and how we do help in in these ways. >> I think Commissioner Jet was a little
surprised and [clears throat] maybe Brandon you can chime in too by what we're doing out here and some of the challenges we see and some of the opportunities if we could have
some rules adjusted so we could work with our neighbors in Fargo and West Fargo a little more easily. anything else? >> I I think you have a very difficult job at times, but a very rewarding job at times, too. So, thank you, Dwayne, for everything you do.
>> Thanks, in some ways. [cough and clears throat] >> Item C, resolution accepting donations. Dr. Damer. >> Thank you. We have a lot of donations tonight. Um so [clears throat] ask that you accept those donations and uh we
will send thank yous. The first one um in particular would be a group fundraiser. So where we have individual names and addresses, they will get individual um thank yous. But that was a large group fundraiser for school supplies at Horizon West. Um Rachel Gladoo was school supplies for Horizon Rust. Allison Anderson uh also school
supplies Lutheran Church of the Good Sheeperd school supplies and that was our uh our vacation bible school from the summer. So um they they directed funds uh towards that. Uh Lutheran Church of the Good Sheeperd monetary to shocked monetary uh for the girls swim
team. Michael and Kelly Gast monetary for boys soccer. McArthur & Company monetary for volleyball. Northwestern Bank. Probesfield Elementary Supply drive. Corwin Subaru monetary. Dorothy Dods Elementary. Uh SFM Mutual Insurance. Um, it's a monetary donation,
but also a safety grant uh that we applied for. Trinity Lutheran Church, a monetary grant, a quite large one for homeless services. The VFW Auxiliary monetary for the dance team. Caroline Gadbury monetary for the wrestling team. MNA Johnson monetary for the dance team.
Shields hardware a monetary monetary for cross country. The corporate shields corporate office monetary for girls soccer. Shields Morehead monetary for Horizon Eyes in Basketball. Chelsea Gardner monetary for Skills USA. Lucas Rolson monetary for the girls swim team
and the awesome foundation with Casclay a monetary for the Horizon Reach program. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you everyone. >> Go ahead Dave. >> I'll move to accept the as presented and direct administration to send a thank you >> Cassidy. A second.
>> I have a motion by Dave, second by Cassidy. move to accept as presented and direct administration. Thank you for the donations. Any further discussion from the board? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I.
>> I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Thank you to our public and our community for all the donations that we get every year. Item four, superintendent updates. Dr. Wood. >> Okay. Thanks. got a couple well four or
five things. So, it it's hard to imagine that uh as we end the or we get close to ending the first quarter for the school year, that also triggers the conversation of uh the fall musical. Uh if you're interested in the fall musical, tickets uh go on sale November
7th. Uh I would uh highly encourage anyone that's interested to get them early. I hear Frozen's a pretty popular musical. Um, so the tickets will go on sale to the general public November 7th. Uh,
today, ironically, also as we uh end or near the end of the first quarter starts our winter season for activities as well. I think girls hockey kicked off today. Uh, generally they are the first one of the winter season to get going.
Uh Dwayne touched on it earlier uh week ago tomorrow I believe. Uh Commissioner Jet was here. If you saw in the in the paper or on the news, we have that uh partnership with MSUM where students go in and and work with students. Um and
that is um a program that uh has is also led by Pelby. So they were here uh last week as well as they toured SGR and Dorothy Dods. And then we got to take uh Commissioner Jet through our early learning and uh Spanish immersion
program. So he uh he was pretty happy to be able to walk through that uh building and see what's going on there. And then uh his words, not mine, jetted out of here. So >> um and and then um
uh two more things. uh the MSBA registration if you're interested in going uh Deb has taken care of your reservation, but if you're not going to be able to go, uh she does ask that you let her know by November 14th so we can
release uh the room. And then the last thing Dwayne talked about uh that facility that we're working to bring to town here and the one thing that that we'll have to continue to monitor is the way uh it generally works if if it's a
part of the school district. Um that building would get lumped into our overall special ed cost which would then bring up our average. Uh but we really need to work on how we change that funding formula because that building in
our mind needs to be considered independent or separate. So then we wouldn't it wouldn't count as the average and we could get reimbursed at 100% of what the cost would be to to run uh that facility. We are we are absolutely not against running that
facility, but we need to look at how we fund that >> in terms of getting every every ounce of pennies that we put into it, we need to get out of it. So, one of the things we'll continue to do is we'll work with uh our county commissioners. I've reached out to one that said we
absolutely have to meet and we need to have these things worked out prior to the building um opening. And so, um, sometimes change is slow, but we've got to work, uh, we got to work on that. And that's one of the things that Dwayne and I will be working on as we, uh, know
that that facilities potentially coming to town, we want to be ready, uh, for the financial impact that as well. So, wanted to share that with you. Um and then um next uh next meeting uh I think it's
important that if you can meet make sure everybody's here uh insurance renewal will be on the will be on the um agenda and u we'll be moving into November obviously at that point but um those are the updates that I have. Do you have any
questions of me as um >> Laurely? >> When can we expect to see the uh breakout of expenses for all after school activities, clubs, and sports? >> Yeah. So, for that, I'm not going to do
anything with that until we understand what the outcome of the election is. Once the outcome of the election comes back, uh then I will depending on how it goes, I'll have that uh ready to go. Uh but right now I really want to see how the outcome of the election is and uh
where we where we end up with that. So it is on my mind. It hasn't left since the last uh meeting when you brought it up. Um but I will address it once we know where exactly we're going uh based on the results of November 4th which is
only a week away. Week tomorrow. We could go tomorrow. [snorts] >> Go ahead. >> Regardless of the outcome, I would like to see that report. >> Okay. I I >> Yeah, regardless of the outcome. Yep. >> Thank you. Anything else from the board? >> Go ahead, Cassie.
>> So, I want to add uh last meeting we missed um uh when we talked about the referendum um updates. I want to just add a huge thank you to our teachers union. They're sending out um flyers and they're, you know, they're running caller calling banks. And so I just
wanted to make sure that um while that got missed last week or last time at our meeting, I just wanted to make sure that that [clears throat] was known that that was some they're taking a big part in that. So >> yes, thank you so much. I did not know that the teachers union was doing all that. So thank you.
>> They've been very helpful. >> Item five, adjournment. Keith >> move to approve adjournment of the October 27th, 2025 school board meeting at 6:35 p.m. >> Thank you.
>> Melissa, >> second have a motion by Key, second by Melissa. Move to approve the adjournment of the October 27, 2025 school board meeting at 6:5 p.m. Any seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
>> Those opposed, same sign. This meeting is adjourned.