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. Roll call will show all members present here this evening as
we have an agenda in front of us. Are there any additions or corrections, Mr. Maya? No. Everything is good as presented. would entertain a motion to approve that agenda. So move second. Motion made by Miss Engle, seconded by Miss Urky to approve the agenda as
presented. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. I don't know that we have any public comments this evening. Is that correct? Correct. Then we will move right into the superintendent's report. Mr. in my heart. And then our three administrators
are absent tonight, which turned out to be pretty nice that we have our new Richland Area Foundation presentation tonight, too. But uh um all three have left some information on the slideshow, so you can update yourself with that.
And I would encourage you to reach out to them. And if there's questions or comments based on their uh presentation or information they shared, please feel free to do so. Um I'll give my presentation or a couple
uh bits of information to you uh at the conclusion of the u foundation and their presentation. So I'll introduce Carla as one of the members and she can do a better job of introducing things from there. All right. Yes. Thanks. Um yeah I
am up here right now as a member of the Daria Foundation. I'm joined by Felicia and Kermit today to give out some money. It's always kind of weird for me in my position as that to be giving out money to us, but um we're excited to be here
to hand out close to $15,000. I think I showed you guys all the different grants. Um the school district alone is getting 60% of the over 25,000 that are granted this year. Um we're fortunate enough to team with the Curtis Swenson
family fund. It's a donor advised fund that operates under the same umbrella that we do. were both under the Wasika Area Foundation and between the two of us, we were able to give out over 70% of the total dollars that were requested. So, we feel really good about that.
Um, some of you might recall me explaining that Curt Swenson grew up in my Vista neighborhood, graduated from the Richland, and his family has an interest in supporting early learning and reading, and we couldn't be more appreciative of their generosity because
it makes our dollars go further. Um, as for the Richland Foundation, since we visited you a year ago, we've been busy maintaining our section of the ditches, which start at the intersection of 13 and 30 in the Richland and go east. Um, we're fortunate, we were also
fortunate enough to benefit from the third annual Home for the Holidays concert featuring Gavin, Adam, Eva, and our new special guest this year was Ellen Johnson. Uh, I know a lot of you that are here tonight were at those concerts, so thank you for that support. They were
fantastic. Uh, you can also continue to show your support by purchasing a paper flag. Uh, Gail and Betsy have been busy on that. Um, trying to bring awareness to the foundation, get you to spend a little money, and then just get these
flags all up over the different businesses. So, if you see those, spend some money. Um, for Felicia. Look for her out at the golf course this summer. She's going to be promoting our group, selling some chances to win some money.
So, find her out at the golf course. But anyway, now to get the most reward rewarding part of this board. Um, it's giving away the money. So, Felicia is going to start. Hi, everybody. We have
$2,250 to Angie. We're interacting with Angie. [Applause] Angie, please tell us a little bit about the family. I sure will. Thank you,
Carla. And Foundation, as always, thank you guys so much. It um is always great to to um get an email saying that we got the award. So, that's that's awesome. Um this money will go towards um
interactive displays um in our schools in um in the secondary building this year because that's where our oldest ones are. They're probably close to I was going to say close to 15, but they are 15 probably closer to 16 years old
right now. So, we've been throughout the past couple years putting the new line interactive displays into our um special ed classrooms and I love them. I think the teachers love them. Um the reason I love them is because they are so
seamless. I mean, you plug in or you go to the internet on them and it's it's just so interactive and there's not all these different pieces that you have to make work and and you know, get it to go together. It's it's so nice. Um, so you go from working on those to our
Smartboards with the projectors and everything and it's it's kind of a pain, but so um that's that's what's really really nice about these and the teachers do love them. Um, so we are going to be putting them in. Um, actually the the 2250 and happy to say that the uh the
cost of those boards have come down and so that's kind of nice. Um, but hopefully I'll be able to uh get a few more boards along with this um money here to put into some of our classrooms in the secondary building. And um it's
kind of funny because Mr. Gilmire every year says to me, "So, you think I can get a new Smartboard this year?" And uh I'm like, "Well, it still works, doesn't it?" And so those things just keep on going. And so that's kind of nice, but we're going to get to a point where we're going to have to start replacing all of them. And so it's kind of nice
throughout the years to just be able to replace a few of them at a time. So, so thank you so much. We appreciate it. It helps our budget tremendously. So, excellent speech. [Applause]
The next one is $1,500. So, Laura for life classroom materials. Thank you. Hey, I don't have a great speech plan. I was here last last month um talking about the life skills program. So, this is just going to really help
out for all of the um different furniture and manipulatives and just just all the accessories needed for a life skills program. So, appreciate it. Thank you very much. [Applause]
Uh, next we have $600 that the Curtis Swenson family. They designated that they'd like to have the money go for books and stuff for young youth. And so that's what this Sear grant is from. And I don't know your name, so I can't say
it. Susan Nelson. Sue Nelson. [Applause] And I didn't have a speech plan either, but I wanted to be here to thank everybody for giving us the money
for the library. We're going to use it for new farming books, I hope, and new um I guess sporting books or not sport sporting hunting and hunting. I thought these
guys would appreciate something like that. They're they're very hard to find and we you know buy most of our books through Scholastic and they do not run to
special books for this area for farming and others other other books. So thank you very [Applause] much. Uh the next thing we got $5,000 for the playground equipment that you're
adding on to, I guess, and and some supposed to be handicapped equipment stuff. So, [Applause] um I am just accepting this. Uh there's a lot of people on our committee that have been working pretty hard to uh get
inclusive playground equipment. um you know, you want you want everybody that's out there to be able to play on um on some equipment. So, we really appreciate the $5,000 um that you have provided for us, just a little information on it. Uh it started
a couple years ago where we were just like, you know what? Um we need to do something to try to get some equipment that everybody's able to play on. So, it kind of started with um coins for change is what we called it. And we just uh had a challenge at school and had kids bring
um we wanted to have it be coins so that kids didn't have to think, oh, I have to bring 20 bucks or a whole bunch because um you know, we tell the kids every little bit counts, whatever it is. So, uh we started with that and some of the other things that we've done. Um, we did the color run uh this past fall and
that's something um that we'd like to continue to do uh year after year and hopefully we get enough money to buy the equipment that we would like. Um, and we'll continue with that and we know there's other things that uh the money can go towards. Uh, we had a holiday hangout vendor that was pretty cool. Um,
we've had a lot of donations from local businesses. Um, we've had the the grain donation. I know you had done that. Um, so there's really been a lot of things. It is not cheap. Uh, this equipment as we probably all know. Um, right now
we've raised about $70,000. Uh, including this obviously that's 75,000. Uh, we also have about 2500 that'll come from the Richland Lions Club when they did the pancake breakfast. Um, it was kind of cool. We had a lot of the kids that were helping
at that. Um, so $2,500 there. Uh with the equipment that we bought so far, uh installation of it is actually about 20,000. So it's not cheap to do, but you want it done right. Um the equipment so far has been about probably 37 38,000
I'd say. Um fortunately, we have Ulan Brothers. They are donating all of their work, all of their time to do dirt work. Um, one thing we are looking for, um, for a little bug in there is we just need some of the equipment that's out out there now, like the slide and
there's some other pieces. Um, we we did ask for help for that at the um pancake breakfast, but we didn't get um too many offers for that. And basically what we need is it sounds like like a skid loader to just help get the equipment out. most of it we're we're just gonna
hopefully we can get money um from pool leads or somewhere. Um but after that then Ulin Brothers will come in. They're going to do all of the dirt work for free and then at the end of June then um the landscape structures will come in and install what they have. So we have
about 20,000 right now in our account. And the next item that we want to get is the Sway fund. Um it's kind of cool. It's it's expensive. is $35,000. Installation is 6,000. Um, but there's a a ramp that if you're in a wheelchair, you can independently go up
on there. Um, and you get in um this piece of equipment and you can hook yourself in there with a wheelchair and then there's other um able body kids that can be in there with you. So, just everybody's together. So, we thank you very much for your 5,000 and that helps
a lot. So, thank you. [Applause] All right. Uh, next we have a $500 grant for Missy Dunn. And while she wasn't able to be here, she did send me something to read. Uh, thank you to the
Richland Area Foundation for its financial support for the high school specialed English classroom. Because of your assistance, my students get to explore new worlds, meet unforgettable characters, and perhaps even realize that reading a book isn't just something
they need to do right before a pop quiz. When students are exposed to quality literature, their imaginations grow, their empathy deepens, their critical thinking skills develop, and they might even realize it's possible to read after high school and enjoy it. Thank you
again. You've given us more than books. You've given us possibilities. Nice job, Missy. All right. Thank you. Next, $3,000 grant for Macy Weisside. And she, too, wasn't able to
be here tonight, but she did send uh Thank you for your generous grant in support of our Panther preschool students and their families. Your contribution will provide qualifying families with partial or full tuition scholarships, allowing their children to attend preschool two, three, or four
days a week. Because of your continued support, cost will no longer be a barrier to accessing quality early childhood education. We are truly grateful for your commitment to making preschool more accessible and equitable for
all. Okay, good job, Macy. And then lastly, $600 scholarship for prek large motor equipment. Thank you so much for awarding Panther Preschool this grant to help us support our students physical development. With this funding, we plan
to purchase equipment like balance beams, scooters, cones, and stepping stones to promote coordination, balance, and teamwork through active play. This equipment will be used both indoors and outdoors during structured lessons and
free play to help our children grow physically and socially year round. We are excited to integrate these tools into our curriculum and ensure their long-term impact for future preschoolers. And lastly, Kermit's got
one more to give out. This is the $1,500 for Rich NRG camp Panthers field trips and after school programs. [Applause] I this isn't really a long speech. I
just get nervous talking in front of you. So I have to write down what I'm going to say. U I'm Katie Pearson, just in case you don't know who I am. I teach first grade and I lead the targeted services after school program. We call it Camp Panther throughout the school year. We meet every Wednesday. Um we
generally have 50 kids at that on Wednesdays after school. Um and I also lead the summer school targeted services program and that runs the month of July. So um due to co the after school program had a break and we brought it back last
school year 23 24 school year um and we decided to do cooking classes with kids um also with some math and writing and SEAL also has to be a part of um after school program social emotional
cooperation and learning games. And then this year what we did was a rotation, one week, a rotation each month, one week of science, one week of art, um one week of cooking, and then we would try to find a field trip to go on once a month. So um we found a pumpkin patch to
go to this school year. We went to two theaters, one in Albert, sorry, Austin and one in Otana, the little theater of Otana. Two green houses and um a tree lot. Um and so it was was kind of a
challenge to find a destination we could go to that um we could afford and it was cheap enough um to attend. And so receiving this donation will open more doors for us to be able to go and um you know have more hands-on and real world
experiences. Um so thank you from myself and the kids and all the staff that help me Okay, so that's it for us. You know, like putting my business manager hat back on. This group appreciates like
with everything you get as a gift. Thank you. But with your email that you got notifying you came in report and it says, you know, try to get that back within 30 days of completing your project. We know yours won't be done for
a while, but they love pictures and they love just hearing feedback that, you know, even if it gets to be six months in next year, like once your room is really going, they like that, right? Before we meet again, they're like, "Whatever happened to those interactive
displays? Do they still use them?" You know? So, anyway, um we're going to just slide out and take a picture. You can continue. Sarah, thank you for helping with that. Before we lose you though, I guess on behalf of the NRHG district to the foundation, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. It is amazing year after year that you step up to the plate and 70% of requests is wonderful. I realize and I think we all do that these things don't happen without good community volunteers and uh it takes some work. So, thank you
from the bottom of our heart that you continue to support NREG and we hope that you uh realize the value you're contributing to us. So, thanks and we'll see you next year. Keep giving money to the foundation. We give you more back.
Fair enough. Good. All right. That was fun. Good news. Yeah. Right. if they heard about our budget deficit. You got a right turn. I think they're doing much. All right. Uh any board member comments
that we would or I sorry, Mr. May, did you have anything? Yes, I do. I don't mind. Um jumped right around you. Um a couple things. Uh first and foremost, if you remember a couple months ago, I asked for your um approval or uh um
support as Lauren had willing to uh put his name on the board of directors for South Central Service Co-op. And I'm proud to announce that Lauren was notified this last week that he was nominated for that position. So, he'll
start his four-year term as a South Central Board of Directors member starting it looks like this summer or early fall. So, congratulations. Did you get did we get something from them yet or does this Lauren? Okay.
Uh I also have two items on our consent agenda. I don't want to pull them off the agenda, but I want to give you a little bit more uh information. Um the first one is a staff development budget and again what we we have a staff development fund districtwide and from
there we take that and we divy up with our staff development committee and determine how much is needed for um certified staff to attend conferences and worksheets for non-certified staff for um curric summer curriculum writing
and the mentor program and basically about six or seven different categories that the money goes to and again this uh state funded 2% of our budget is required for staff development. Uh in the past uh it's been handled in a
different way. Last year I asked the committee to make a reduction to their aotted amount for those categories based on the amount that we've spent in the past really after co that the certified staff and non-certified staff attending
conferences is quite a bit lower than it was prior to co um last year they approved that budget and what what that it does it's not more money for the district it's that same amount let's say $120,000 from the date and if we earmark
into the staff development committee uh columns. Um if we know what that money is ahead of time, that frees up the other money, the remaining balance to be used for again all the staff development days, the district-wide staff development, so on and so forth.
So, it's still going towards staff development, but uh not in those categories that the staff development committee oversees. Uh I brought to them the same um budget this year as last year which
again was reduced uh based on previous years and again based on the amount of money that has been requested that it remains low. So I kept that budget low which again frees up money so Carla can
put that into the ear market and and put it into the coding to the right categories for other staff development. So, um the the committee did approve that proposed budget and that's on the consent agenda um for your
approval. The second consent agenda item again some background information. that's the Iowa the authorization for me to u oversee the different access points and the different uh programs and forms
and authorization from the state yearly that has to be uh updated and it's always been the superintendent it's always been me up to this point. So again that's just a formality for you to approve that. We'll sign the paperwork we'll get it off and we're set for
another year. So, um, back to my non-consent agenda items. There there's been some questions. I just want to touch briefly on fundraising that takes place in the district and there's been some con some u conversations that took
place this year more so in the past and and one fundraising event in particular has caught the attention of um community members and board members and and uh staff members that um it's It's the um
leading edge fundraiser that really focused on soliciting donations via text or phone calls. Um, and what I've learned I after hearing how this is operating and and some of the the the questionable
practices that were in and not by our staff but by um leading edge that um just as example the the the first um wave of uh solicitation that took place
was mid December and I got a text that was asking for a donation to the and this happens to be the basketball association. Football has used this fundraiser. Uh basketball is using it. Baseball has used it. It's a a widely used format or program. But the first
one that I received was mid December asking for donations. And my first thought was like uh not the best timing to seek donations. you right before Christmas and the holiday season and uh a pretty tough time for
donations. Learned a little bit more too that the the information wasn't presented to the families. There was some question about why are we doing all these fundraisers? Aren't we funding our programs appropriately? And um and then it turned out there was some continued
questions on um again now your our students grades 7 through 12 are um again reaching out via text or being phone calls and asking for donations or asking for sales and they're typically
using their parents' phone, you know, cell phones which is under their name and the contacts and everything else. So, there's some some questions that way. We did have a request to have that fundraiser again in the spring. Uh, actually, we had two we had one request
and one non request that took place without the request being made and that fundraiser took place. Uh, but we did have one request. Um, it happened to be from Wendy Schultz in the softball and Mr. historic explained like h we're we
have some questions on this particular fundraiser. Um so you know the the announcement was made um to um the principles and Mr. Stok our activities director that let's stay away from that one. There's just questions on that and
it it just doesn't feel good right now. And in my mind, I'm thinking this leading edge fundraiser was just that, soliciting donations only. As it turns out, that's one of the compartments or one of the fundraisers
that this company performs. the the uh baseball one that took place was actually sales, but instead of only going door todoor, they would initiate the conversation of selling um meat sticks or cheese sticks or
cookie door, whatever the case is, through a text message. And then um a phone call is supposed to follow it up from the the student saying, "Grandpa, did you get that text? I sent you some tech a text with an address where you
can go on and and make a purchase. Uh that felt a little bit better than just kind of this cold uh um maybe unknown person reaching out and saying, "Hey, can we get some money for our program?" Uh what I also learned today in the
conversation is most fundraisers or many fundraisers according to this coach are are transitioning to a kind of this text messaging phone message format that there are still doortodoor sales
but they're becoming less and less and which is probably a good thing too if we look at safety and just sending our kids out to knock on sometimes um doors of people that we don't know or don't know who they are. Um so, uh my my
conversation I had with Mr. Krueger who was asking to do this again in the fall and he kind of really started this with football is um you know if we continue on with this I I don't want to see that cold text phone call to every everyone
in your contacts you know blasting this information out um just requesting money that if if it's done via if it's part of a sales that again let's continue the conversation It's not a hard no. Um, but
let's also get some rain and some control over who um the contacts are that the text or the phone messages go out to. Let's make sure that if I don't send that text, the program is going to
send the text for me if I like it or not, if I'm wishing to participate or not. That was a discovery this spring that Can I can I just But so the students actually put the phone numbers in to the system. So what happens is,
hey, we're starting a fundraiser. Students, here's your access point. You put in phone numbers for the people that you have in your contact list. That was without parent knowledge. Well, the parents kind of know it, but this one did it. Not everybody did. It depends on
the students if they're conversing with their parents about these fundraisers and really most of them don't anyways. But then the text messages go out and it does say this is Jace Irky. I have a fundraiser for baseball. Um I can pick on him. It's mine. But um and then
there's a link to it and then you donate it. So, so when you go to that link, it looks a little bit like um like a GoFundMe type of thing where it says your top contributor and it says Amy gave Jayce $500 or 100 whatever whatever it was I gave or whatever I didn't give.
So there is a little the students do have that but then I think there was some discrepancy that the that that inner system that sent out those basic test tests went back into history from last year and sent out texts saying hey
we see that you've helped out in the past will you help us out again there was just maybe some hiccups that well wasn't there wasn't any permission to do that if you if you got a hold of if you tried get a hold of somebody, you
know, Grandpa Joe, and he didn't answer, they would leave like a a message or even if he did answer and he didn't give you anything, then they automatically call them back after a time and ask again. I never received any phone calls,
just received text messages and emails. well, retext them and ask why they haven't is what and some some groups uh communicated and advertised this much better than other groups did. And so that was part of the the the concerns or the comments that were heard. Um I in
addition to that again especially administrative wise we're having conversations on why do we have so many fundraisers? You know sign me up. I'm just as guilty I was you know seek as DECA. we were seeking funds and and uh sending letters to businesses uh that
would support DECA. So we we all do it and the more we do the more we do. The question comes up like again my goodness what what do you need these funds for? Um a and you know don't just try to build a savings account for what if but
again have a purpose have a a direct goal in mind and a stated goal with stated funds and then again you're required to to use those funds. Carla's in charge of our student activity accounts which differ from booster clubs. And we have a lot of great areas
with booster clubs um that are overseen by coaches and using our players and our athletes and our students are our fine arts people as the booster club salespeople for this product or whatever. And in my mind, if it's our
coaches using our students to do this, this is more of a student activity than it is a booster club. And I think in some essence, it's better to have booster clubs in charge, not the head coach booster club, but that booster
club with a board and a checking account and all that and in keeping that money out of the district um and not having one more thing that we oversee. So, we're working on on that sort of thing as well, just to kind of
clean up and and on that request form a without the request form, there is no fundraiser and if you do it in the wrong order, there'll be conversations about future uh uh fundraising events. But, so that's being looked at and we're
collecting more information again. How can again the communication improve if if we continue on with this leading edge that we won't do the cold sale, the cold text seeking donations that there will be um a a text but followed up with a
phone conversation after all the parents are aware. There won't be any automatic push outs. It won't be a list of everyone in your contacts. It might be a select few, you know, if it's family members, whatever the case, but cleaning
that up and trying to have some more um get bringing that in so it's not so sloppy. And then we can also explain to our community and to our board members that the conversation I had this morning was with Mark Krueger, the head football
coach, and and he raises quite a bit of money and he it's for a football camp that they go to. It's for the um meals, the sandwiches and juice and stuff after the game, after the players had their football game. Um he donated or
purchased some equipment that the school had purchased. If it was a sled machine, he wanted a shoot or if it was a chute and he we needed a uh a sled. So, it you know, benefited the district that way, too. But so it's it's not buying helmets
and it's not buying footballs and it's not buying uniforms. It's for some extra things that that go above and beyond the budget that we have for different activities if it's athletic or or fine arts or co-curricular that there there
is good reason. But again, let's not get out of control on that either. that um again some some closer attention and some uh reigning in as needed on those fundraisers and we're working on
that questions or comments on that. Appreciate you addressing it though because you're exactly right. The community has been talking about that. Yeah, I can imagine that you're kind of tongue is kind of hanging out on We've made some progress over the last couple
years, but there's sure more and more progress that's needed as more and more is taking being done quickly. Uh we have Amy signed up right now to be part of our commencement ceremony and handing
out diplomas. Um and Amy will sit with her family during that ceremony and come up at the right time. So, if we had a second board member, we'd welcome that if anyone's interested and available, Kelly. Very
good. So, um can you Sue notify I think Anukica is the one that sued up the program and listing the board members and communicate with her. Kelly will help with that. And you have a a place on stage if you want that
from the start or you can get your picture in a hundred backgrounds of different pictures or you can come up you can come up and sit with your family and come up at that time too. So and then lastly on my report um a
month or two ago um Dr. uh Jeff Horton from Southwest Metro came in and met with us or talked with us. It must have been two months ago. I believe we were in this, but I'm remembering we were here in Ellenale. Just giving us some background and some
changes that are taking place with Southwest Metro who we use as part of our sped services, our special education services. Um, some more things are happening and there's some more developments as far as the physical location that we'll have our Southwest
Metro um students house at. Currently, they're in the Wasika U district at the central office on old 14 there. And that's not an ideal placement for the students. It's their ALC and they have some
preschool or younger uh uh student programs there. They have the level four southwest metro and we have they have students that uh um damage some rooms and take off and then they have to set the alarm off that they have a student
moving and it interferes with the other programs taking place and more spaces needed by the district for this and that. So, in conjunction with WM's potential closure of their Morristown building, Southwest Metro is looking at
purchasing that building to uh house different programs that they have, including our programs um and moving some of the programs that we might be or we have in the past sent kids to Jordan
that um which is obviously a pretty good travel a distance and that could be housed down to Morristown, which would cut down the travel depending on the the location of the family and whatnot. But, um, as part of this co-op or as part of
this intermediate district, this special education district, we we kind of go along with what they give us. We're not full-fledged members yet. they might require us to be which would have a a
higher price tag to receive their services and more services available. But with this purchase as well, uh there would come a cost to that for our district to chip in kind of based on our enrollment the the cost of the purchase.
And um a lot of that conversation was pretty in-depth and they're looking at setting up have you gotten an invite for a meeting with Southwest and and to kind of go through how that looks which would include some uh uh levy oper or
opportunities or levying for additional funds that we do have available that so it wouldn't come out of our general fund um but it would come out of you unvoted on property tax increase. The
numbers, the initial numbers that they're looking at right now are about um $20 per year for a $200,000 home in our district. So, it it's rather small that way. I think the egg land was
looking at maybe a $200 a year increase with this levy. So obviously that's something that you as a board will be presented all the details on and we'll have to make that determination. And part of me says h you know if we're going to be part of this
service this this district we we kind of are stuck that we can't provide those services on our own. If we did, it would be much greater than what we're paying to the the service and it might be um you know we are the southernmost
district that's part of this a and it's not the most convenient for us. Jordan is not convenient. Morristown is less convenient than Jordan, but um you mean more convenient, but more convenient
than Jordan, but less convenient than Masika. And so, you know, again, part of it is we kind of have to accept that as part of this and the services we're required to provide or we start looking elsewhere at, you know, potentially joining a
different bed district or organization. You know, there's some in the Cassid Manville area. Um, there's one in Farbo. There's the the one that we're part of. We're looking in Jeffrey is uh Wagner. There are sped directors more involved
in kind of poking around at that too. that is Albert Lee or um you know any place to the south or even to the the the uh west more convenient and and more logical than the the co-op that we
have right now with JWP and WM. So, so put that on your radar and again that's just kind of a a uh in a nutshell quickly what you should be putting on your radar and be thinking we have to have that
when do they want to know or when does that start or there'll be a meeting in early June that will include the superintendent and business managers that understand that levy part and and and then Jeffy's willing to or Dr.
Horton Jeff is really willing to come down and have more discussions with you to explain some things and that'd be looking at probably June and July board meetings and then some final determination u maybe se August or
September and in the meantime kind of poking around to see what other options are out there for us. That's really going to affect Dan's situation too, right? Yeah. Morristown isn't brutal though actually. I mean, I don't think Morristown isn't a ridiculous brand
really for our No, I don't think but I don't think it's a bad idea to figure out where what are other options. Ken isn't any more ideal than Elbert Le is probably more ideal if that's a situation. That's a thing
where they're not far from us either. I don't know. It'd be interesting to see. Are we satisfied with their No. No. That's the other factor too that this is contingent on this WM's board deciding
to um sell well transition their existing students from that building to the high school which there's more than enough room and and their enrollment projections uh allow for it. And so um obviously the community connection with the building
and the school that this is you know maybe a compromise for their district that a school remains in their community. It might not be the school as they've known it in the past but there are students coming in and using the facility for a
school and would be looking at start this in September timeline anyways probably. That sounds super fast. Right. Right. Yeah. Um, I don't believe there's anticipation
that would be for the 26 27 or 25 26 school year. So, how many students do we have participating in the Southwest Metro program? If you look at Dan's transportation, there's one van with six students are going to the Wasika fac. That's a good question that I was
asking too. Wow. Um maybe the fourth the fifth page. The driver is Pam Koer the Y. Those students are you can see are going
to CIS transition 501 East Elm Street in Wasika and that's part of the southwest metro. I don't believe we have anyone going to Jordan right now do we that that student had graduated. So you know for sure that both pro so
there's passages is different than transitions. So transitions is 18 to 21 year olds and we believe everybody's going I believe so and last year maybe a year and a half ago again as Wasika is considering
what's best for their district and giving up the space and leasing the space out and whatnot again which we pay for as part of our collaboration with this Southwest Metro. Um there was a consideration for um different areas or
empty building spaces in Wasika. One was the um the little strip mall there by is it the pizza wagon or pizza? Pizza ranch as a wagon as a local
maybe um dollar store dollar tree. there was a a empty space in there that could be converted that obviously had a price tag and um probably you know the biggest question I have again and maybe Carla can answer this on the spot is if we are
contributing to the purchase of this facility I think we would have x amount of ownership of that and if it's sold in the future or you know how is that right value buildings or land is typically an investment and there's But we have to do
repairs which is still the case. We've been build several times for remodeling and repairs to the Wasika facility that we use. But I I think if we're able to levy it is a lease for us. So I don't know
who's going to hold the title if Metro Yes. it from them. And so what about if we lease? I don't know. What about if they have to do some um major major? So, for example, we're seeing schools take
us few years back for $6,000 to remodel. So, you know, right, wait no more. And sent that check and they're like, "Yeah, we might be moving." I'm like, "Well, we want that six grand back." And that business manager left and now he's in New and you know, I mean, 6,000 now is,
right? But I mean, they could make it, but it was the point. We just paid for that remodel and now you're But I suppose that's our opportunity to go shop if we're disappointed. That was my next question. How satisfied are we
with the service of South Metro? Yeah, I I don't think there's been concern about that. Convenience-wise, again, being as far south as we are compared to JWP and and at least Jainsville and Wasik and Waterville, Elleion and Morristown that
um again that could change every year that the number of special ed students that we have and where they live within the district that some of that convenience or lack of convenience can change. And um so service-wise, I don't
think there's really been issue. The probably the biggest concern and and that would be across the board for all specialed co-ops or special ed service centers like this is just of it open spaces and staffing that are they
staffed fully? Do we have students on a waiting list and so on and so forth? Now with this facility in at in the Morristown building there's a lot of available space and that question I asked that question too that if we have
students now you have the space do you are you able to you know without a a money back guarantee you know feel comfortable that you can staff the facilities appropriate and there will be no more waiting lists and and again the
answer was like well you can't guarantee it But we're very comfortable with that that anyone that works in the Wasika facility building right now through Southwest Metro is under a Southwest Metro contract. Southwest Metro is
a a metro district paying Metro wages. And so those wages are quite a bit different than the local districts as far as what they pay their teachers and their parents. and and so that's attractive
for u in that aspect that typically the advertisement goes out and most of their facilities are in the metro area. they have a facility or a building that they lease from Tri City United and I think it's in the center of the obviously
Jordan is more metroish than Tri City United or WM but they they do in Wasika that they do branch out but they have the ability to pay a higher wage and attract metro educators that would
travel to those not too far I'm sorry if you said this, but will any of those programs come down to Morristown? Um, potentially. Yes. Okay. Like because I what I think of with them is I think
of EBD and I think of 18 to 21. So when we had a level four autistic student, it really didn't fit that. So I just didn't know if any more of those will be housed there. And that's kind of always the
case. If we have a student that needs or requires level level four setting, but our our cooperative does not have room for it, we can look out and potentially send that student to um the um Cassid is
it MVED or whatever the case is. if if they have an opening and our district is willing to transport and that family is willing to have their student transported that extra distance that that's always the case. Um there are
other districts again I forget the u title that is housed in or stationed in farbo with farbo and medford and northfield and Kenyon oneo I believe again same type of a thing that um there's often a waiting list there
that'd be pretty convenient to jump over to Morristown but uh for far it would be maybe not for Kenyono or for Northfield but so those, you know, those factors would be
considered. So again, just kind of some tip of the iceberg information, the things that are are coming down the pike and and more conversation and more information will be shared and we'll look at joining along or
looking elsewhere and doing what's best for our district. All right, with that then that concludes u the superintendent report. This is like nobody was even gone.
We weren't missing any right ate up their time. Thank you. Um any board member comments this evening? Some of you made the Wizard of Oz play. I understand it was a great performance.
Brush on that a little bit. Yeah. Good. No, it was really fun to see. It was really fun to see the kids enjoy doing it and the audience really interacting and laughing. Yeah, it was really good. Wonderful. I also enjoyed seeing Sue get her award at the FFA banquet. That was
pretty nice. FFA banquet. Oh, you're honorary. Well deserved. Yes. Good. All right. Next regular meeting will be Monday, June 16th over in Richmond at
the secondary school media center. Takes us to the consent agenda items. Uh Mr. Mayock, please. Our uh regular disclaimer for our consent agenda is that all school board members have been provided with background information for
the items listed on the consent agenda. These items will be acted upon with one vote without discussion. If a board member wants to discuss any item, we'll pull it out of the consent agenda and vote on it separately. Before I ask for your approval though, we'll go through
our list of donations this month. And many of them uh were discussed here as part of the New Richland Area Foundation again with the total of uh $14,950. So much appreciation for them.
Uh some other donations that were received this year, we had Maryanne Schlake uh with a $30 donation for our playground fund. We had two anonymous donations for our playground fund, one in the amount of $50 and one in the amount of
$20. Keen Bank had a $153 donation for our kindergarten smokefree t-shirts. Uh Steel County made a $3,000 donation for a swing. if that's part of the inclusive playground. I would believe uh we had a $500 donation again
from Keen Bank for our playground fund. The city of uh Geneva had a $500 donation for community ed youth wreck and preschool programs and I guess that was the last of them in addition to the area
foundation. So a grand total of $34,153 was donated this month. and our yeartoate total is $93,58912. So with the recognition of our donations and our generous donators, I'd ask for your approval of the consent
agenda as it is presented. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented. Second. Motion made by Miss Tyer, seconded by Mr. Sonrock to approve the consent agenda. All in favor say I. I opposed.
Motion carries. Uh, moving on to the workforce, we have the prob probationary nonrenewal pair professional. Mr. Mayock, please. Yeah, I'd ask for your approval on the non-renewal and the uh accompanying
paperwork that has to go along with this sort of thing. um without too many details that uh as a probationary staff member, we just have to have board approval and um the the contract outlines the different
requirements for a probationary non approval which we meet those. So again, I would ask for your approval and the non-renewal of our probationary pair professional Is there a motion please for that? I'll
move the the resolution related to the nonrenewal renewal of our par profofessional contract of par probationary par professionals twist and a second please I'll second motion
made by Mr. Shrock seconded by Miss Tyer to approve the nonrenewal of the par profofessional that is probationary. Is there any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. It says roll call vote. Oops.
Excuse me. Maybe probably have both of them. I'm sorry to catch that too, but roll call required on both of course. Okay. Um, Kelly, this would be for the current one and then we'll go back and
revisit the the vote for the probationary. This is the probationary. I'm sorry. I'm reading ahead to the next one. No, we're on the probationary not of I got to have Yep. No problem. It was my mistake. There is a roll call vote
and Miss Engle, would you lead that, please? Kelly de la Cruz, yes. Terry Engel, yes. Amy, yes. Aaron Phillips. Yes. Lauren Shainrock. Hi. Pat Tyer. Hi. Rick Schultz. Hi.
Moving on now to the employee assignment change in FTE. Mr. May, please. Okay. Getting myself back on track. And again with this next one, it's a roll call wouldn't be needed because it's a uh it's a reduction based on enrollment and it's a non-union at will employee. But
due to enrollment again our our reduction in our EL specialist services, we're looking at uh reducing that position from a full-time position to a.3 position. And so I need your approval on making that reduction. As a
side note, and it was just clarified in an email that came in late that um keeping a a full-time e specialist is important in our district. Uh for the last two years or two plus years, it's been a full-time position, but again,
based on our enrollment and the uh the needs of the students that it doesn't need to be a full-time student next year, it could easily switch to a full-time position um at any point. And so our our goal is to keep this uh
Cynthia as a as a full-time employee. And so she'll be assigned uh her her e will be reduced from a 1.0 to a.3 and then she'll be assigned to a.7 par a special ed parah. Um, and the
question that we had at first was, is that a position that we have to post and interview for, or do we have the managerial rights under the contract just to make that assignment even with a non-union member being assigned to that position for the for the reasons I
explained and and uh Brian Triplet, the union rep, responded back that yes, that's within our managerial rights. So, uh, as a side note, Cynthia will be reduced if you make this approval and then she'll be assigned some special ed
duties to keep her as a full-time staff member uh, especially in the case that we need her for more EL services. So, this motion is for uh, your approval to reduce the the uh, at will employee from a 1.0 to
a.3 E specialist. I'll make a motion to approve of employee um of the English language professional 2.3 for the 202526 school year. Second motion made by Miss Ari, seconded
by Miss Tyer to approve the employee assignment change in FTP as presented. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? No. Roll call. Sorry. Jumping. No, I don't. I think this has a non, but it's a Okay, got it. It's a not
a non just a reduction. Joy. No, I made that mistake before. It made it confusing. So, all in favor say I. I. opposed. Motion carries. We'll get it right here. Maybe we'll clean it up on the superintendent evaluation here. Mr.
Nicked on that one, huh? Right. And no action is required on this. I just again for public record that it is that time of year again to start uh planning and and scheduling for my yearly evaluation. Typically, that's taking place uh
through Terry and her form that would be passed out. and then uh sometime late in the summer or early in the fall that we would have that added to our board agenda. So again, no action, just as a
reminder and making note that that needs to be coordinated. Appreciate that. We will work together, right, Terry? Oh, yeah. Thank you for your encouragement.
Uh, moving on to the bus garage roof. Uh, we seem to have a plan put together here and we're excited about that plan and thank you to the people involved in making that happen. So, Mr. May, not much. In addition that we did table this
quote due to some lastm minute insurance questions that came up last month and uh Tyler Ferm our insurance rep and and has done his due diligence and secured a insurance policy and which enables us to
uh use Timberland Construction or Timberland builders uh with the lowest quote for the uh bus garage fixes to the roof. And so it ask for your approval to um hire Timberland Builders for that roof
bus garage roof project. And cost of the bid or the insurance that's 38. Yeah. And the insurance was about No, no, that's that's perfectly fine. But you should know what you're
approving here. So if there's any questions that it came in at 386 from them and I understand about Yes. Y and about $1,000 premium for 30. So happy to
move forward. Perfect. Yes. Yeah. It was good news. Yes. A motion to approve the bid for the bus garage repairs from Timberland Construction to exceed $38,600. 40. I didn't read that. I was
reading my motion. I'm sorry. I wasn't reading that. I was reading invoice. Second. Motion made by Miss Herky, seconded by Mr. Phillips to approve the bus garage um go moving forward with Timberland
quote. Is there any further discussion? All in favor say I. Opposed. Motion carries. And it is the time of year where we need to approve the graduation class of 2025. So Mr. Maya, yeah, it is exciting that we've
come to that time of year and this list of students, this group of students has uh worked very hard to get where they are as far as their education goes. And so you were provided a list of I believe 55 students. On that list it's students that are slated for or working towards
the completion of the requirements and with the hope of completing them within the next eight school days. So I would recommend to the board to accept the list of students on track to graduate at our upcoming commencement ceremony. I'd like to make this motion since I've
got to work with many of these kiddos. Um, I will move to accept the list for the graduating class of 2025. Second. Motion made by Miss Dru, seconded by Miss Engel to approve the graduation
class of 2025 as presented. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Concludes the business portion of the meeting this evening. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move to
second. Motion made by Mr. Sher, executed by Miss to adjurnn. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. We are. Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone for your