Okay, at 6:30 we're going to call the meeting to order. So, please rise 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. Ken, can you read um something from the missionary? >> Yeah, I'm I chose the strategic directions. >> Okay. >> Which is a focus on our improvement efforts.
Advance academic excellence through high expectations. Promote equality and access for every student. Foster self-directed thinking and lifelong learning. build a safe, welcoming, and respectful school community.
>> Thank you very much. >> Yep. >> Um, take note that all six board members are present along with Mr. Voce. Um, and then I'll take a motion to approve the agenda. >> So move. >> Um, Dakota made the first motion. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> You'll second it. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say no. >> The agenda is approved unanimously. Um, we have open forum. Is there any cards? Okay. So, we'll have another open forum session later in the meeting. If at any
time you do want to address the board, you can come to the meeting and fill out a blue card to address us. Um, next is Mustang Spirit Recognition. >> That's me. >> Yeah.
>> I have this month. Um, so, uh, I have a couple things to share and and this month is schoolboard appreciation month. So, um, I'd like to officially, um, let the public know the appreciation
that our district and our community has to all the school board members here for their public service in supporting our students in public education. Um, I know the public doesn't get to see all the work that you do behind the scenes other
than this meeting, but I do. Um, I get to see all of the information that you have to read and and all the um statutes and all the legal things and the budget uh things that you have to be aware of.
um working with our public and our staff, always having our students at the center of our decisions. Um it is appreciated. I know that I feel blessed to be able to work alongside such a committed, dedicated group. So, thank
you very much. Um and that um leads us to I have some certificates I'd like to pass out from uh the schoolboard association. And then um I'd like to read a couple of um things from our county, Canabit
County. And there you go, Amy. >> Um can >> Would you like to get >> get a picture with everyone? We could probably do that quick. >> Um see, Jill, >> there you go. Jill, thank you. Matthew, >> thank you.
>> Thank you, Dakota and Scott. So, if you want to stand over here by the Mustang with your um >> certificate, that would be really nice. >> We all graduated, right? >> And we can get that posted on our
website. >> One, two, three. Thanks, guys. Perfect. >> Um, Kelly Fischer had a couple proclamations signed, one by the city and one by the county. They have the same verbiage, but
I'd like to read one of them um from the county. Um, and it's a a schoolboard rec uh recognition resolution, whereas the Kaba County Board and the MOA City Council uh
recognizes public education as a cornerstone of our community community strength and future prosperity. Whereas the Kennea County Board of Commissioners and the Mora City Council acknowledges the critical governance role of local
schoolboard members who establish policies to ensure effective operation, safety, and high standards of our public education school system. Whereas, school board members uphold the principle of local control, serving as an authorative
representative to safeguard community oversight of public education. And whereas our school board members are entrusted with advocating for the educational interests of Kabic County at the state and federal levels, ensuring compliance with legal mandates while
advancing local priorities and civic responsibility. Whereas schoolboard members contribute their expertise, time, and strategic leadership to to promote the educational welfare and achievement of all of our students.
Whereas local schoolboard members fulfill a vital governance function by fostering transparent communication, aligning our district objectives with community expectations, and ensuring accountability to the public. So therefore, let it be resolved that the
Kabic County Board of Commissioners and the Morris City Council formally commend the dedicated service of all schoolboard members within Kabic County and proclaims September 2025 as schoolboard recognition month. So thank you again uh
for all of your service to our um students, staff, community. Um it is it is greatly appreciated. Thank you for the recognition too and for the county commissioners and the city council as well.
>> So I appreciate the work they do personally. I'm guessing each of you do too. So >> absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Um before we move on, I want to make sure that none of the other board members had any Mustang spirit recognitions. >> I do. Yeah,
>> I was informed today, not personally, but third person that I want to go out to the student council, all the staff involved and the whole senior class. I've heard nothing but good things about homecoming week and
how fun it's been. So, I would like to recognize all of them. I don't think we have enough bells for the whole senior class, but I was told between student council, the staff that helped and all the seniors have been involved with with the younger kids and that it's been a
phenomenal week so far and that it exceeded expectations. So, I would like to thank them for all the hard work they've done and participating with the kids for homecoming week. >> Yep. >> Tomorrow's a big day. Woo. Is uh like
homecoming festivities during the whole day, right, Jackie? >> Kind of kind of disappointed. It was pajama day. >> I know. I know. I've heard that. >> I've heard that. >> Yeah, we we would have allowed it, I think. >> All right. DY noted.
>> Yep. >> That's funny. >> Yeah, >> I've got one. Um just want to recognize all the office staff um and administration uh in the elementary and the high school and in the district office for you know
all their hard work during the first few weeks of school. There's a lot of things going on um administrative wise and a lot of changes happening busy time of year getting ramped up and I know it's a lot of work. So certainly appreciate all the work that they do um to get off to a
successful start of the school year. It's wonderful. Yeah, I actually have one too or something I want to share. Um, so I was at the park visiting with somebody that I didn't know and they um just started coming to the school district and um they're from the town
and they were they chose they hadn't been coming to the school and they decided to come to the school um because they started looking around because their child needed some extra help and so they contacted a lot of different places to see what would be best for
their student or their child and they they were very like they just kept they were so excited and so happy that Moa would be able to help them with their child's uh educational needs. And so I'm just I was
just honored to she didn't know I was on the school board when she was telling me the story and I was just honored to um be able to hear that story and I was very thankful for the teachers for um being able to uh put together the programming and stuff to be able to meet
um students where they're at when they have extra needs. So, >> I thought I'd share that with you guys because it was a really fun >> uh experience at the park for me and always have >> fun experiences. It was a really great fun experience.
So, >> is there anyone else? >> I don't know. >> Okay. So, now we're gonna move on to um next we're going to move on to the preliminary levy table 2026 presentation
by Eric Bartouch. All right. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Eric Bartouch. I'm the business manager here for the district. I'm just opening up all my things. Okay. Um here to talk about proposed levy. We're at that time again here where we
start to get into our proposed levy. Um I'll just kind of preface the conversation as I usually do to just say that at this stage in the game. Um we're we're going to ask for what is one of my least favorite terms. It's called the maximum levy. Um and what that is is basically saying that whatever the
statutory calculations are that we are going to levy that amount. Um the the phrase maximum levy is what appears on the document that ultimately gets signed and sent to the state. And actually just to add insult to insult, they put the word maximum in all caps. Um so with
that said, that is going to be the ask at the end of the presentation. Um this does represent a fairly significant part of our budget. You'll see on the attachment that's in the agenda that it's actually a little bit less than it was last year. we actually felt kind of between two years ago and last year. Um
the current levy amount as set by a lot of the state law is actually sitting kind of right in between there and there's a lot of reasons for that. We'll kind of talk a little bit about that. So, uh with that in mind, uh this is the proposed levy. We're going to talk a little bit more concept at this point
because the final numbers, you know, like like I said, we'll have an opportunity to review final numbers at Truth and Taxation when the board certifies its final levy. That's when we actually take the vote to say yes, this is what we're certifying to the county to actually put on property tax statements. So, we're in the preliminary
part here right now. Um, just a quick agenda up there. Uh, like I said, we're going to be looking at more of the concept of what drives the levy uh more so than the actual numbers themselves. Again, you can pull up the document that's within the agenda that shows the actual specific line by line items.
So, I'd like to start by just pointing out that September is a really weird time to have this conversation. It's by design because if you're on a city or a county, you're typically working on a calendar fiscal year. The school district runs on a July to June fiscal year. We we follow the state fiscal year. Uh so when a county or a city are
looking at setting their levy, they're doing their budget right now. They're setting their budget. They're setting their levy. And then on January 1st, their levy takes effect and so does their budget. it all lines up really nicely for us. It doesn't. So, what we're looking at here when we talk about
pay 26, uh, which is the the the year that the property tax statements for next year, that's actually our fiscal year 2027. So, we're in school year 26. The levy that we're talking about here tonight feeds into the fiscal year 2027
budget, which would be next school year. Um, these are all based off of the property values that were certified by the county assessor last year. So, there's a a bit of a trailing effect that happens. You get your assessment and then you'll get an assessing notice and we'll look at the the property tax statement here in a minute. Um, so
you'll get a property tax statement based on that assessment. Then you'll pay the property tax and then we actually recognize the revenue a year later. So there's like a whole cascading effect. If you were to build a garage today, it actually wouldn't really show up in the school's budget, per se. The
tax dollars that that result from that wouldn't show up in the school's budget for several years. So, looking at a property tax statement, we often look more closely at the one on the left, which is the actual property tax statement. Your eyes are typically drawn to line 14, which is the property
tax due. Well, a little bit further down there is the first half, second half due. And when you don't like that number, then your eyes kind of draw back up to the top and look at your valuation and your classification and that kind of stuff. Um, when we talk about truth and taxation and we talk about property
taxes, we as a school district are really only talking about line nine, which is the school district portion of the of the levy. A property tax statement is basically a centralized billing system for counties, cities, school districts, special taxing
districts, a lot of other districts. So the county becomes kind of the seat or the billing entity for that. We send them our slice of the bill, but they send out the whole bill that makes up property taxes. So even if we were to set our levy to zero, people would still receive property tax statements because
counties and cities are still taxing on those particular uh lines. The one I always like to whenever we're talking about property taxes, I always like to talk about the one on the right, which is your valuation notice. I wish more people would pay closer attention to this document. So, when you get your
property tax statement in March, you will also get a paper behind it that is your valuation notice for the following year. If you don't agree with what your property is valued at, that's the time that you need to contact the county. There's a whole process laid out through
the county as far as challenging the value of your home. A lot of folks wait to receive their property tax statement. when they don't like their property tax statement, they try to challenge their valuation. At that point, it's too late. It's already assessed. So, always looking ahead at that valuation and saying, "Do I agree with where the
assessor says my property is going?" So, what impacts property tax? A couple of different pieces. So, uh this is my my f favorite pizza analogy that I like to do here, but um on the left side, we talk about the total amount of the levies. So if we have the when we talk
about pizzas, the bigger pizza you purchase, the larger the slices are, right? So there's a difference between a small pizza and a large pizza. And even if you slice that pizza into eight pieces, a large pizza is going to give you larger slices than a small pizza that is split into eight pieces. It's
obviously pretty simple fractional math. So similar concept, much larger scale when it comes to levies. So the more levy that is um that is certified by all the different taxing entities, the more money that must be collected against the taxpayers and so therefore tax bills
grow. Um the other thing that feeds into your property taxes is the valuation and classification. So if the if the amount of the levy is the size of the pizza, then your valuation and your classification is the big is helping your slices. So if you have a lot of
value, you get a bigger slice of the pizza. If you have smaller value, you get a smaller slice. So obviously watching that valuation statement and seeing where your value is going and making sure it's in line with what your property is actually valued at is incred incredibly important so that you don't
wind up paying for a larger slice than you ought to be. U Minnesota considers uh taxation and uh to be to correlate with property value. Uh essentially the the the state's thinking is that if you own more property value, you have more
of an economic ability to pay tax. Now, people may or may not agree with that concept. That's just the way our tax laws are written. One of the requirements when we're talking about our tax levy and ultimately truth and taxation is that we do a budget presentation. I'm not going
to go through our whole June 2025 uh 25 there's um adopted budget just because we literally just went through it for our 26th school year. uh back in June. So, nothing's changed from that. We're not asking for any changes to the budget at this point. Um but it is required that we at least touch on it. So, during
truth and taxation, because it's a public hearing, I'll touch on the budget in a little bit more detail. So, looking at our ADM history, our average daily membership, school districts are paid based off the students that they serve. So, if you serve a student from day one of school
to day last of school, you have a 1.0 08mm and so students are um are are referred to are counted as a decimal place. So like obviously you can see on the slide you know this current one is 1,651.63
63 you can't serve 63 of a student but that's because a lot of students will enroll in you know rum river if they enroll even for a day we lose part of that funding um if they come to us midyear we lose part of that funding uh PSO feeds into a lot of these things
will feed into what we're able to count as a student but ultimately the amount of uh the population that we serve drives our funding and there's another piece in there uh known as average pupil unit that that calculates a lot of our funding. Um that just takes the ADMs,
the amount of student students we serve and it considers their grade levels. So the higher grades get a higher weight when it comes to funding because it's thought that high school programs cost more to run a high school than it does at an elementary. So just looking at the chart here,
obviously CO 19 um pretty much every school has a chart that looks very similar to ours in some respects that CO 19 there was a huge drop in in average daily membership during that time. Um the one thing that makes us a bit unique is that we continue to grow even beyond
um we we've surpassed our pre-COVID 19 numbers and we've actually seen you know a comfortable amount of growth that I would say a lot of school districts can't claim as well. Um, in fact, I think recently, uh, it was just this week in the news, I was reading about Minnotonka schools, um, that are talking
about shuttering schools and and having to do a lot of things in order to rightsize their budget because of their declining enrollment. So, I consider us very fortunate for to be in the position that we're at in terms of membership. Looking at it differently, um, the the
jello salad uh chart here is just a look at it by uh, grade level. So, if you think about kindergarteners starting on the bottom, you graduate from the top. That's all of your different grade bands. We do have a couple of larger classes that kind of come through. I don't can't really explain why, but sometimes you just get a weirdly large
class or a weirdly small class. Um, so you can kind of see that sometimes they flutter a little bit, but for the most part, our grade sizes and our building sizes are fairly consistent. Um, we do look at things like birth rates. You know, there there is some correlating factor between obviously birth rates and enrollments in schools. Um, we look at
our kindergarten enrollments. We look at, um, as you move from primary school to secondary school, you'll start to pick up some of the homeschoolers that maybe homeschooled during primary, but wants want their kids to go to high school here. Um, or you'll see some a little bit less in our area, but you'll
see a lot of um, private schools will do elementary age education, but not necessarily secondary age education. So, we might pick up some kids from there, too. Um and then obviously we look at our graduating senior class to see you know obviously they'll be um you know leaving us after this year. So then
looking at that compared to the incoming kindergartener class just to make sure that we're trending in the correct direction. So it's it's a lot of trend analysis when we look at enrollment levy categories. Now I'm not going to go through each one of them but just know that um there are a lot of different
categories that we levy for. So, when we set a levy, it's not just some arbitrary number that we pick and set. It's actually made up of a lot of different components that build into our ultimate levy. Um, so if the board was ever going to enter into a discussion about wanting to levy less than what the state allows
us to, we would have to select from basically this menu to say what don't we want to make those investments. And, you know, things like safe schools is our door systems, our cameras, our SRO. Um, you've got things like long-term facilities maintenance, which pretty much speaks for itself. Your land leases
and building leases, that's things like ice time for the hockey, um, and golf courses and things of that nature. It's also our Rum River fits into that as well. Um, so every piece of the puzzle, there's something behind it. And I'll talk a little bit about equalization, but then equalization also factors into
this as well. Look at that. Equalization. Um, nice little segue here. So equalization is a concept that's u uh that the the state has developed uh over the years and and essentially what it is is that um there's a recognition that not every
school receives its tax dollar the same. What I mean by that is if you were to live in Minneapolis, you have access to a lot more tax dollars than we do here in Mora. Um so with that what they what they basically look at is that schools
that don't have as equitable of access to tax dollars ought to receive more instate funding and that's what really drives equalization. So as and and it's all tails back to that property value as well. So the aggregate property value as we serve more students in a property
I'll say poor district then our equalization goes up. the state gives us more money so we don't have to tax more on the taxpayers. Um, one thing that's very challenging I know uh Mr. Boche and I have spent time at the capital advocating for is uh those equalization
factors typically don't change. So house values continue to climb and climb and climb which makes our aid drop and drop and drop and our levy grow and grow and grow. That doesn't turn into new dollars for the district to use. What that does is it reduces the amount the state gives us at the expense of our local
taxpayers. So obviously keeping those equalization rates in a place that allows us to be fair to our taxpayers and receive that state aid because we don't have the ability to tax the way that you know your your Henipin counties, your NOA school districts, all
that. They have a they have a lot bigger of a pool to tax from. Um, one other thing I wanted to mention about equalization as well, um, just if we do ever entertain the concept of underleving or levying less than what we are allowed to, is that on the right
hand side you can see that the blue and the green um, the blue is how much state aid that we receive on our operating capital versus the green is how much we levy for. So essentially um, it's almost like a one-thirds twothirds uh, equation. Not quite. Don't fact check me
on that one, but um, it's it's pretty close. And so what that basically says is that for a dollar that we receive in operating capital money, our taxpayers pay for about 30 cents of it and the state pays for about 70 cents of it, give or take. So what I what I'm getting
at with that is that if we were to decide that we were not going to levy for operating capital, we would save our taxpayers that 30 cents, but we would cost the district a dollar because the state would no longer kick in their share either. So we have to be very cognizant about that when we do talk about tweaking with the levy. That's why
a lot of districts you'll see just vote for the the maximum levy because then it also maximizes state aid as well. So our next steps here um the school board's going to uh has the opportunity here immediately following to consider the proposed levy. It's in the board
packet there. Um it's just a document that says yes, we will go with the max levy or if you select to do something else, then obviously we would have to decide what that something else is. Um we would then submit that to the county. The county this fall will be printing up their proposed property tax statements.
Those are always a lot higher than the final ones, but they'll get that in. They'll get that out to taxpayers. We then come back and reconvene in December to hold our truth and taxation. That's where we ultimately go through and approve the final number. Um and then
when we approve that final number on the 18th, then that gets submitted to the state by December 29th so that it can go into next year's um taxes. The last thing I'm just going to kind of mention here as I switch to the question slide here is that one of the one of the
oddities about property tax is that they let you come down, they never let you go up. So if we were to approve something less than the maximum levy here tonight, that would become our ceiling. We could no longer ask for any more dollars than what we approved tonight. If we stick
with the maximum, we can always come down. So if for whatever reason we decide that we don't need to levy the full amount, we can make that decision between now and December, update our levy and then approve that reduced amount in December. But we cannot go the other way. Um so with that, that is our
proposed levy here. Um I will be available for any questions. I got one on your first slide for the pay 26 versus pay 25 in 2324 between there and 2425 there was a
pretty drastic jumps and now we have a decline. How how did that work out with the numbers when you entered? >> Let me pull that up here just so we all look at the same thing. Okay. So, you're looking at
>> m >> mainly between uh FY26 and FY27. >> Yeah. So, and you're looking at that top section up there. >> Yeah. >> Decrease. >> So, the decrease a lot of that has to do with there's a there's a series of it's
a it's essentially a two-year look back. And so, what happens is it's um you'll go through a process called AD web estimate where we estimate the amount of students we think we will serve. and a lot of our aid and calculations drive off of those estimates and then for the
next two years as data finalizes the there's a look back that essentially looks at those years and adjusts to actual um so there are some swings that occur from prior years you'll get a an FY25 prior year adjustment like on our operating capital we lost a little bit
of money on operating capital and what that is is a recognition that we overlevied what ultimately was the final result the opposite can happen as well if we end up serving more students, we can gain some money there, too. Um, so actually what it's less about us
reducing money in the current year than it was last year, there was a pretty decent jump because of a lot of those adjustments that this year they those adjustments just weren't there. Um, so if you look at I would say um, well a
lot of the adjustments are are built into the formulas up top, but you can even see it in that second section as well where it says other adjustments, abatement adjustments. >> We have bigger positive numbers and then in the current year we had smaller or even negative numbers. So we had just a year of a lot of positive adjustments
last year that kind of brought our levy up to a higher number than perhaps it normally would be. So I think this year is kind of a return to norm more than anything. So these numbers are are from you entering in the information
and they're calculated for you. >> Yes. >> That that was my main question because I had another statement but it's not relevant now. >> Fair. Yeah, there's a 39page document that's called the levy limitation certification and it's and about the
first 30 pages is just a series of calculate 1 + 2 equals line three. If line four is larger than five then you six and it's like and it goes down that for 30 pages three columns wide of just needless calculations that get all the way to the bottom number. And so as you
know, so our Mars coordinator enters final data, you know, that'll feed that system as our property taxes um and and our valuations get entered by assessors that updates the system. So there's always it's it's kind of a living document and when we levy, we levy a
snapshot in time. I was just hoping we could keep everybody's taxes the same and use that money to pick up where LTFM funds are in the future. But if it's calculated, that was my question. >> And that's and that is kind of the
kicker with some of this is that um you wish you could do more stabilizing efforts with the levy because I think even as a local taxpayer myself um stability is better than swings. And that's why we we really work hard to try to make sure that we estimate well so
that we don't have large swings of oops we were off by a hundred students and now we get massive adjustments year in and year out. >> Thank you. >> Um does anybody want to have any other discussion about this?
Okay. So then um I'll take a motion to approve the certification of preliminary levy for taxes payable. >> So moved. >> Scott is the first second. >> Second. >> Dakota. Was that you? >> Yep. >> Dakota is a second.
>> Um okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. >> Okay. It's unanimous that certifying the maximum levy. >> Thank you.
>> Um, now we're on to the consent agenda. Is there any items anybody would like to be to have removed from the consent agenda? Okay. Uh, seeing none, I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> That is the first motion. Is there a
second? >> Second. >> Um, Ken has seconded it. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. Okay. The consent agenda passes unanimously. Um this brings us to the budget calendar
review. Um it's there for you to read. Um number 10, items on which board discussion or action is requested. Um first thing on there is to consider approval of the resolution accepting
gifts and donations. We um received uh three of them. Uh the first one is from First Citizens Bank for $4,000 and that's for the Imagination Library. The second one is from RGA Mechanical for
$10,000 towards the Turf Field. Um and then the third one is Charles McGovern for $2,500 for the Debbie McGovern scholarship. So, thank you very much for all of those donations and for caring about the schools and the students.
Appreciate it very much. Um, yeah. Is there a motion about for approving the resolution? >> So, moved. >> Matt is first. Is there a second? Scott is seconded. Um, seeing that this is a resolution, we'll do a roll call vote.
Um, we'll start with Jill. I Jill is I. Uh, Scott >> I. Scott is I. Ken >> I >> Ken is I. Pota >> I >> is I. Matt >> I. >> Matt is I and Amy is I. So it's unanimous. We accept it.
Um next review fundraising requests for the 2025 2026 school year. I imagine you guys all had a chance to review those. Is there any questions regarding or anything to discuss? Yeah, we just um our activities um
director uh Mr. Whipbre um tracks these um you can see that a lot of these are for either activities or athletics um and help um support um these programs. So, um, a lot of
these like student council has a lot and a lot of them are just their, um, activities that they do. Um, they're called fundraisers. There's a lot of work behind the fundraiser, I'm assuming. And, uh, they do, uh, collect a little bit of money, but a lot of that
is just their activities. So, >> do we need to approve this or we just review it? Correct. >> It's just a review. Yep. >> Right. That brings us to um considering approval of the EMM lettersou
for the 2526 school year. >> Um >> want me to explain that a little bit? >> Yeah, sure. >> Okay. So, this will be our um last group going through the letters training which is um part of the read. Um it's a
literacy training for um elementary um staff members. Um and I think we've had three rounds of this training for the past three years. Um and at the high
school level now we'll have there's a different program. It's called ONA. I don't know exactly what that stands for the initials, but so there'll probably be more of these coming, but uh this is the second half of their
training this year. So, it's a it's an intensive training for staff, and they're allowed to either get a stipened or earn uh lane change credits. So, I'll take a motion. um in to approve the
YM letters. >> So move is first. Is there a second? Second. Second it. Um all those in favor of approving it say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Okay. It's approved unanimously.
Next is approval of the 2526 e-learning plan. And from what I could see it was um after 3 days of weather related missing school then um we would start e-learning and we can
have five days of e-learning um as long as it's weather. Correct. >> Great summary. Yeah. >> Yep. It's a good summary. >> All right. >> So this is the same model we've had for the past couple years. >> Yeah. Um
uh is there a motion to approve the 2526 e-learning plan? >> Scott is first. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Matt seconded. All those in favor Well, is there a discussion about it? Does anybody have anything there? Okay. All those in favor um of approving the 2526
e-learning plan say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Okay. It's unanimously approved. Um, next is the 2526 e-learning MO view and I believe that has to do with um teachers being
able to make up their time or staff making up their time. >> It's basically the uh you know since it's not contract language um it's in anou um it's
um something that we work with the union Kelly I'm not sure what happened to my um online thing. There's >> monkey. >> Okay, >> I'll fix I already I think somebody was goofing with it. >> Yeah,
>> it's >> hopefully not me. Um but anyways, so that that's what theou is for is is the union and the district have an agreement that we're going to have e-learning days and this is what they're going to look like. So we've we've had it for several years. Basically, it's what they're
going to look like, what time the staff is going to do what, when the teachers need to show up and things. >> Um, so I'll take a motion to approve the um 2526 e-learning.
>> So moved. >> Um, Dakota is first. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Matt seconded it. All those in favor of approving this say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. the um e-learning plan is approved unanimously.
Okay. Next um consider approval of theou between Nestrom and Associates and MOA public schools to provide on-site mental health services. Um is there any discussion regarding I'll take a motion to approve theou
between Nestrom and MOA. >> So moved. Scott is first. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dakota seconded it. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. >> The umou is approved unanimously.
Um next is to review the 2527 um ovara swim team girls swimming cooperative agreement. Says that it's a draft. So we're just reviewing it right now. Yeah, we went through this at the work session
a little bit and um it's something that um for whatever reason hasn't been in place um previously. So um you know we have those cooperative agreements in boys hockey and girls hockey. Um it makes sense to have it in girls
swimming. Oglev's school board is going through the same review. So if there's I think we kind of caught one of the things that we needed to adjust. If there's anything else that board members notice or um things like that, just let me know. Uh we'll we'll probably approve
it next month at the at the board meeting. I know it's a kind of a little retroactive um but uh I think it's something important to have in place. >> Does anybody have anything you want to
share? The only thing I watch over's meeting on Monday and they just brought up if it should be under annual review because if our insurance carrier changes, they talked about that on their meeting, you know, because this is a two-year deal. But if it's a working document, if we
they want to they'll probably do an annual review if we want to do an annual review, too, to make sure everything's up to date. It'd be that's the only thing from what I heard them discuss over there. So, >> so then we would be switching the date
to 2526 for >> No, it was just the contract, but if it needed updating, say we switch insurance carriers or something else change an annual review, we could update it >> just about Yeah. >> Yeah. Thanks for sharing. I hadn't heard
that. >> Yeah, they I just watched the meeting on Monday, so Okay. All right. Anything else anybody wants to discuss? All right. So, next is board reports.
We'll start with the student board member report. Um, hi, I'm Maya Peterson. I'm a senior and I'm co-president of student council. Um, so this summer we had three meetings to plan for the school year. And at our
August meeting, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Baky did an activity with us to talk about the ways that we could support the different kinds of students we have. I think that our council learned a lot and we're still finding new ways where we can incorporate everybody that we can
with disabilities or differences. Um, so that's something exciting. And then teacher workshop, we welcomed the high school staff back and we shared um memories and we gave stickers. So that was fun. Um and we got to share what we're looking forward to this year.
At open house we greeted new students and we have a lot of new students which is really exciting. Um and we passed out schedules and gave tours and everybody is still so amazed by the new building which they should be. It's beautiful.
Um, at the first day of school, the eighth graders helped the seventh graders with opening lockers. Um, so and all of our student council members wore our sweatshirt, their gray this year so that they knew who they could go
to if anybody needed help. And on the first day of school, a lot of student council members said that people were really excited to come back to school this year. So, that's good. Um the welcome back to school dance. We have began to include open gym. So we're
going to try it at our homecoming dance tomorrow as well. Um but last time it went really well. Um the open gym brought a lot more people. I think there was more people that came to the dance and people stayed longer which um was good for us.
And then the game show, um, it was last Friday and I think it went really well. I think people had fun. And then we had coronation which was also really fun. Uh, waking the royals was I think people were really excited that we were able to
do that again this year cuz Chip went was able to drive at night. So that was people were really excited to see that on the video and I think it went really well. And then the college fair was on Monday,
I believe, the Pine Tech College Fair and we had our student council members help set up and greet and then take down. But there were 10 schools here and I heard just a lot of positive things about it. People since I was senior that whole day were just talking about their
future plans which I is really interesting I think. Um, and then the new student activity happened last Friday and we like welcomed all the new students and we did they had riper floats and um then we
played games and like just did get to know you kind of things which I think it went really well and I think our students felt um very welcomed and it was fun to see also the foreign exchange students because they were there as well.
Um then school spirit, we have been working really hard to make our school spirit better this year. So at the last dance we made posters um for cheers to do at the different sporting events. So like football and volleyball and I think
that that's worked pretty well. I think there's been more of a student section and more cheering at the games which is really fun. Um and then our spirit week has been this week and we've had a lot of people dress up. We tried to do dress up days this week this year that are
just a little bit more accessible to everybody, like you don't have to go buy a bunch of stuff for it. And I think that went well. I know I wore my pajamas today. Um, and then tomorrow is homecoming day and we'll have a tackle cancer booth at the before the game. And
then we have a couple meetings and then October 15th we have a movie night after the football game. I think it's right before MEA. It's like a Wednesday. Um, so that'll be good for people to come watch a movie performing. >> Awesome. >> I I love that movie night on the
football field, by the way. Like LA I Last year I just thought it was super cool and like just a >> good clean like for kids. >> I know nothing about it. Yeah, I think so. We'll send it out on like the Facebook and everything, but this year we're watching I think we decided Hocus
Pocus because it's kind of Halloweeny. >> So, is it open to everybody then? >> Okay. Yeah, I think like Yeah. Okay. >> I know you weren't here, but I earlier I said that the student council and everybody that put homecoming together, I've heard very good things. Everybody's
had a blast. So, for me to hear that word spreading around town. >> Yeah. Thank you. That's >> And the open gym at the dance is genius. My kids are so excited. No interest in the dance, but once they heard open gym, they're in. So, >> yeah, dancing is not everybody's forte,
but with the open gym, it's done really well. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thanks for writing it up, too, >> man. >> Okay. There's other um board reports on
here for you guys to um look at. I'm sure you probably already have. Um did you want to share anything from your report? >> Um you know, I I went to a law conference last Friday. Um there's a lot of updates and especially with the new
uh Minnesota paid leave and some changes in data practice laws. Um things of that sort. Student discipline is always um interesting to learn how some of the court cases have uh changed
um and some of the outcomes. So that was that's always interesting. That's kind of my jam being a social studies person. So, um, I have a fall conference, the state fall conference is coming up next Monday and Tuesday for school administrators. So, that's always, uh,
good to go and learn new things and find out what others are doing. So, and, uh, the last thing is Kabic County towards zero death. We, uh, Chip Rant and I attend those meetings and we have three goals this year. One is around um, seat
belt safety. um trying to uh get people to buckle up and and buckle their kids up. The other is slow down um excessive speeds and slow down and the other is distracted driving. So, we're going to be doing
some things in the school. We probably will need the help of the student council to help spread the word. Um and we're going to try to do some announcements at some activities and things like that. I know we did them at the fair um this summer, too. So, it's a
good collaborative effort between KIC County, KBIC County Health, Mora City, um the Sher Kic County Sheriff's, the highway patrol, uh Wellia. So, we got a good group of
people that are trying to um move towards zero deaths. >> I just had one question, but Chip wasn't here. Um so, We got a new bus driver for number 10
and N for number nine. So that we're we're good on bus drivers right now. >> Yeah. Um number nine, uh Jeff Bracken, uh tomorrow is his last day. He's retiring and and we've had a driver that
has been going with him and he's um he's um so he's going to take his test on Tuesday of next week, I believe. In the meantime, Gail will be driving that route. So, we're still covered. And we've Yeah. So, we're in good shape. And
I think there's one more that has shown interest. So, so yeah, we've been fortunate to be able to fill um for some of the people that either resigned or retired. So, yeah, good question.
Um, does anybody any of the board members have any reports they want to share about anything? >> Well, I attended the ECME meeting on Wednesday, September 17th. It was a pretty quick meeting. Um, but they just went through election of officers. Um,
there weren't a whole lot of volunteers for positions, so it's kind of the same people who were um, selected for this year. Um all ECME districts joined the cloud backup initiative um which ensures better protection of critical data and
improved disaster recovery readiness. Um they also discussed some ECME events such as Lake ECME which was held at Morren and they said that attendance was up 30 from the year before and they're just expecting um um an increase next year too. also discussed there was a um
IST conference in San Antonio which Mora had staff attend that conference um and also grant funding update the implementation of the $187,000 DT grant from the USDA for upgrades to
ITV equipment has been completed and so far $35,000 of that has been spent Yeah. >> Yeah. Anybody else have any? >> We've met with the custodial group twice now and we're going to continue with
negotiations >> same the teachers group. >> Yep. Yeah. We've met it twice. Twice. Twice. >> Yeah. >> Twice with the >> Awesome. >> All right. So, this brings us to the upcoming dates to remember. They're listed here. We already talked about
homecoming. There's a couple of days off. There's the MEA weekend and we have an inservice day coming up. Um, family reading night. Um, there's a early childhood family fall fest. Some
holidays in here. So, um, can read that, I guess. And then correspondence. I didn't see any. And then other board business. Um I had two things that I wanted to talk about. Um the first one
is October 2nd. Um we're going to have a closed meeting to discuss the property. Um so I just wanted to note that um that we have that meeting coming up. And then >> is that six o'clock in >> 6:00?
>> Okay. >> And then my question that I wanted to discuss with you guys is the board governance plan we had talked about meeting in October for that. Um do you guys want to pair that with um the next
board meeting? Do you want to have another work session somewhere in there? I know Ken had mentioned October feeling very busy. Do you want to do it before the next board meeting? Do you want to I mean October 2nd seems pretty close for us to
you know we just had this meeting so um do you want us to just try to pick a day somewhere between now and the next board meeting. What are your preferences? >> It's going to be tough for me. October is I'm going to be out of town for a couple weeks. So that's going to be tough for me but >> Okay.
>> You can schedule it. >> Maybe early November then. >> Yeah. early November, second week of November, probably again. >> Okay. So, you would prefer not doing it in October and wait until >> or you guys can do it only. That's fine, too. >> I would prefer November, too. >> Things kind of settle down a little bit. I feel like
>> I agree. November, >> Scott, >> November is fine. >> Ken, >> I doesn't matter. >> I guess we'll do a work session in November. >> Yeah. We are we thinking like the first week in November?
>> Second week would work better for me. >> Yeah. >> Second week. Okay. >> Like that's 6 through the No. >> Well, it's the first the first week is 3rd through the 7th. >> Yeah. The second week would work better. >> So 10 through 14. >> Yep. one of those days >> because then that'll give us time if we
do have something to talk about the the board that board meetings on the 20th, right? >> Yes. >> Thanksgiving. >> Yep. >> It's early, right? Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, I'll I'll send Kelly and I will send out some dates, possible dates of that
week, second week in November. >> Perfect. >> Yeah. Because I we don't want to do it on Veterans Day on the 11th. So that would be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Sounds good. Um is there um any
other board business to discuss tonight? >> All right. So then that brings us to the second open form. I'm guessing there was no cards. So um I'll take a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. >> Dakota made the first motion. >> Second.
>> Can second it. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. We are adjourned at 7:25.