[clears throat] All right, it is six o'clock. We'll call the meeting to order. All members are present. Um, we will proceed. There were two additions to the agenda, but they will be covered.
Uh, we'll be looking for a motion for the approval of the agenda. >> Second. [laughter] >> Motion by Bruce, seconded by Gerald. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing? None. Motion passes. Um, no public comment that I'm aware of. Um, moving on to the
consent agenda. Uh, Cheryl, do you want to go through bills? >> Yep. I was able to go ahead and go through the bills today. Um, I see they did some crack sealing on our tracks, so it's a constant updating, but it's keeping things workable and usable.
And um we got some more new iPads for kindergarten and first grade. >> That's an ongoing thing also, but they're keeping up in a rotation so it doesn't all hit us at once. >> Replacing iPads and Chromebooks and whatnot.
And our son summer unemployment costs came in. Correct. So, so that's our July through um it's July July, August, September, June is included on the previous payment. >> And we're not getting reimbursed with
anything from the state any >> we are getting a partial reimbursement on this [clears throat] one. Y >> because that's quite a chunk. >> So, >> how much is it? >> $50,79048, but we're getting part part of it reimbured at least. And that's for all
hourly staff um that are um that would be not working in the summer. >> And we had from our buyer built donation, >> two new leads came in or
those were notable items that I found. Okay. Um, as far as personnel and hires, there's a couple of um couple of hires and um resignations. And then you'll see our first uh retirement for uh next school year. Uh Ron Phips has given us
his notice and um he's planning for his retirement. So, um I'd stand for any questions on personnel items. Otherwise, we'll move on to donations. >> I do think it was kind of nice that run folks did that early. Yeah.
>> Give you guys plenty of time to plan for next year. Yeah. >> And and he um he respectfully asked if that was something that would be helpful and I said you it is up to you when you decide to do this but he um I think he just felt really good about it and was
ready. So congratulations to Ron. >> Um in regards to donations, you're going to see quite a few. I'm going to cast this one um so that everybody can see. Uh there are quite a few donations uh to acknowledge in October here.
Um the um you're going to see a number of um elementary school fundraiser donations. Those are really um the checks that come in. Instead of people buying um from the uh fundraiser, they've just donated money. And so there's acknowledgement. Um it still
goes into the same funding source as the revenue that comes in through the fundraiser, but um it's just acknowledged a little bit differently. um you're going to see a a um a donation from um for in the amount of $10,000
toward the um early childhood playground in addition to um some additional money from um the community foundation. Um, I do want to just again acknowledge the um really the the depth and the breadth of
of community support that has come in for our playground has just been um it's just been phenomenal. And so I'm I'm just really grateful and I want to take just an extra minute to say thank you. Um, so just again an acknowledgement of
people support in our community supporting our school district and uh it's a really nice way for us to just take a moment and pause and say thank you. Um, other than that, that's the consent agenda and I'd stand for any other
questions. >> I'll make a motion to approve this consent agenda. >> Motion by Thomas, >> second by Gerald. Yeah. [laughter] >> All in favor. >> Any opposed? He carrying none. Motion carries. Um moving on to communication
item. >> Um so administrative report. A couple of things I'm going to share with you and um first is just a quick look at our enrollment snapshot. So um you'll see this periodically throughout the school year and I'll make it big. Um so again
just kind of as a reminder uh the way that this this works is um on the 15th and the first of the month um we really take a look at what is our our enrollment and the fluctuation. Um why I think this is important for board
members and community members to see is the fluidity of our um student enrollment. And so you can see on um on September 15th uh we had 405 students and that's from early childhood special education um through our senior class
and um as of October 15th we had 402. So it just again is kind of that reminder of the fluidity and fluctuation. But I also think this document is really helpful to um help people understand a little bit of the complexity in um how we measure and calculate and count
students within our school district. And so um you kind of see off to the right and as as we progress throughout the school year, you'll see more of this information um calculating because um each student is weighted differently and
uh we get a different amount of funding. So, um I just wanted to share this as the first kind of snapshot for the school year and uh put this out and I'll bring us back a number of times throughout the school year, but again, this is just the first one um updated through the 15th of October.
Uh also, um I'm going to um so number two is just really um a a heads up and kind of an an impact with the um federal government shutdown. Um currently we have not experienced any delay in funding. Um our allocations what was
allocated has been flowing. Um but I do think it is important to just uh share that um our food service program and some of our our programs that are are grant funded um the staff that were there to manage those grants have been
furled and they're not um some of them have been a reduction in force. And so I'm I'm not sure how that's going to pan out. I'm watching it very closely. Um but at this moment in time, we've not had any impact, but I do think it's important just to share with you uh what
our federal government what our federal revenue looks like. Uh so I'm going to share this and uh and if anybody is curious, I'm going to show you where I got this from the Minnesota Department of Education website. Um because um you might want to compare how
look at how we compare to some of our neighboring districts. So it's kind of interesting. Um let's see. Okay. So um for our school district we receive about this is based on the 2324 school year. Um federal funding is a reimburseable um
uh funding structure. So we have to spend the money and then we have to seek reimbursement from the federal government. And uh so and this is based on our 2324 expenditures that are closed out. Uh so 4.3% of our total budget, 664,251
approximately um is our federal funding. So what does that look like? So, um, some of the funds that we, uh, receive are our Perkins grant money that supports our career and technical education, um,
programs, our, um, our special education federal reimbursement, which, uh, supports a lot of our our services through the West Central Education District, um, funding that comes in to support our title program. Those are some of the programs, the grant programs
that are, um, federally funded. You'll also see that um uh the uh the food program is reimbursed through the USDA and you'll see that we've had 189,389,329 preschool meals. So again, that's the
232 24 school year. Um so what they also were just kind of equating that to is that this would be an equivalent about of about six teacher salaries. Um, ours isn't, and I'll I'll be really clear, ours is not that um it's not that clean
and it's not that um easy to just say this would be our solution. We utilize our federal money um in a in a very um in my opinion, um we're very efficient with our money to make sure that we can
um fill positions and make things um partial positions whole. Um, and uh, so I just want to be clear, it's not six peer teachers. Um, we we do have a a fluctuation of how that's applied to our district. Uh, so if you want to see
where that came from, um, I'll I've got the next link in there and you'll see that the Minnesota Department of Education has put together a federal update website. I'm going to share this, too, because uh, as community members are watching, they might like to see where this is coming from.
Um, so this really did a breakdown of how uh the what the federal impact is across the state. And so each um these are just some different updates from the commissioner of education. And then at the bottom, you're going to see every school district across the state. So if
you were curious about another school district, you can go on there and take a look and you'll see the same document summary that I just showed you for painill. Okay. So, it's it's really a good um I guess awareness of of what that federal impact is. Again, like I
said, we've not experienced um a delay in funding yet. We've not experienced any uh withholding of funds because the grants that have been processed have been um held hold through October. Um, November 1st is really kind of the
timeline especially for our um, National School Lunch Program that we're keeping an eye on because that is um, part of the USDA and and there's been some um, in the last week and a half there's been some changes about um, how they can fund that or not fund that, whether it's
there's they can access emergency money, not access emergency money. [snorts] Um, so I'm just keeping it on my radar. I'm certainly watching it closely and if anything becomes really um uh prominent and important, I certainly will reach out to board members and let you know. But I just wanted also to give you a heads up the information that I'm
getting and uh kind of share that with you from a just from an administrative update. >> Um lastly, just looking back at this month, uh we had our school custodian day. I know that uh Mrs. Akerson and Mr. Rasmmanson spoke to that a little bit at the last um at their during their
updates. But again um just grateful for our custodians. Uh they do they do a lot of work around here that really goes um unnoticed and unappreciated and so we have an opportunity to say thank you. Uh National Coach and Advisor Day. Uh we added that this year. last year that
wasn't on our list, but um I certainly our coaches and adviserss um provide a lot of support and opportunities for our kids that um that really is fundamental in their school experience. So, thank you to them. Our National Fire Prevention Week, um that's always a big
deal, especially at the elementary. There's so much um I think positive sur awareness surrounding um what our firefighters do and how they support our community and and it's really a a nice way to just say thank you and um and appreciate the work of our firefighters
in addition to raise awareness on um fire prevention. Uh world bull world day of bullying is also a bullying prevention. That's not a good place to stop. >> [laughter] >> The World Day of Bullying Prevention is also in October. Um, so at the
elementary, you may have seen like the kindness chalk um at the front, you know, just about being kind and reminding uh kids how important it is to um just treat each other kindly. And then we had school bus safety week in the month of October as well. So that's what I have for the administrative
report. Um I'm not going to pull up the revenues and expenditures. There's not a s a significant amount of changes to those this month. uh but I unless somebody would like me to do so I am happy to do that but um those are there for your reference to check the revenues and expenditures through uh September
30th. >> Okay. >> U moving on to the committee organizational reports. >> We had the uh development staff development uh meeting that went very well. Again, I'm just uh
very pleased with uh how this uh group of certified staff come together, how they work out things, how they uh set things up for those uh two-hour late starts on on what's going to be taught. And I mean as far as within
certified [clears throat] staff as far as keeping that experience just a a great uh great group of of uh certified staff to come together operate with that. So, and definitely helps out the the students. So, and and they do have
that in mind, you know, as far as the end user, the student being the ones that will benefit from. And we also had the uh uh district advisory uh committee, the first one for uh for this school year. And uh I think
it worked out really great. I don't know, Bruce was there as well, but he's starting to set things up for the strategic plan, getting ready to to look at that, see where we're at, where we're going, and uh you know, it's always great to have something where you can do
the check and adjust. So, and one of the things that did come up uh that we did talk about the uh u as far as state testing and the importance of u students taking that
test to really provide uh great information. I mean, as far as what the health of of our school district is based off of that and uh Cassie and and Jess did a great job presenting u fat bridge data and that comparison though
of of those standards. So Bruce, I don't know if you had anything to add with that. Well, we have the fat bridge and I love that program from the standpoint of sitting here because I believe we do as well with our students
as anybody does. >> Yeah. >> Frustrating to me is the MCAs and the tie to the MCAs. If you take the elementary school compared to the high school, it's two different pictures. >> And then the idea of getting zeros for
everybody doesn't take it. I mean with the number of students we have we have few zeros throws everything off but my biggest issue and it will remain and it's always has been is we often hear that the MCA is a point in time and all
the various reasons that maybe that's invalid but if somebody's coming to this district from somebody else that's where they're going to look to see how you're doing. So it doesn't make any difference what we all think about it. We somehow have to either have a method to have
them understand what our f bridge is saying or we got to fix that program because um comparing ourselves around there's not much anybody around us has to offer that we don't. And when I look
at our fast bridge, our numbers should be way over the top of where it's at, which would be a great thing. Four lanes through, we can use more people. >> And I go back to what I said. I just saw the school numbers again. So, I'll look
back one of these days when I first came on the school board, how many students we had in the school, and it was quite a bit over a thousand, and now it's 900. So, my personal feel for all the years that I've tried to help on the school
board is I have failed because we lost 120 kids. You know what I mean? And I can come up with a million excuses why, but it's still reality. And how do we steer that ship and be on a gross? We
actually had it just before co >> we were adding kids in here like crazy and we actually had a higher in my mind the best thing can happen to us is we need to hire more teachers seriously that's our indicator for everything
>> right >> and I don't know it's very it's been very frustrating to me even when I've not necessarily wanted to be running for this position I've told people hey I might not be your candidate this is what's happening the school population and I'm part of it and we weren't
successful in steering the ship. >> I I think yeah I I think one last thing on on Fastbridge uh especially those uh parents that are out there if you really want to have an understanding of of our certified staff, our teachers here, our
parents that are here and what they're doing for their students, take a look at that fast bridge data and and get an understanding of of how things kind of shift. uh you know during those those three test periods and then going into the following school year because we
have just a phenomenal group of teachers, phenomenal group of parents that are taking care of the student. >> Sure. >> Both our principles are well informed of what that says. >> So if there's somebody in the public that has questions about our school
performance, >> I give them a call. I mean we have to get to where we're not a closed doors here. We should if there's issues in the public or somebody has questions, they should just give us a call because if we can talk to them, it's a whole different
picture, >> right? >> Yeah. The one piece that I think our our teams have also done a nice job with is um sending that information home and and opening the door for the communication so that parents see when when a student has an assessment, they're um they get a
report and they get kind of the here's what it said and here's how here's what you can do with that. And um I think that's been something that's been a very proactive approach to do just that to open the door of communication and invite families in. So >> yeah,
>> we also had meet and confer. And um I I have to say changing it from being just a calendar committee, which it was previously, >> has really um opened the teachers up to discussions and not so much complaints as
talking to us about tweaks that we can do or or working problems out between the high school and the elementary and middle. >> Um it's it's really got communication going. The first meeting was kind of a I don't know what are we going to do and
this last meeting was it was very open discussion and I really really think that this was the way to go. This was great. This is what I thought it should be in the first place and we first started our first discussion about the calendar of course. [laughter] >> Y
but um I'm just impressed that you got it switched around to what it should have been. Well, I think uh I think teachers are if they see it as a a valuable place to um bring concerns and we can we can have conversation um it'll continue to be uh functional.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> SAP metap meeting on >> Friday. Friday. Um, yeah, a couple good presentations, uh, early year information that they put out, uh, surveys that were completed over this, um, believe mostly over the summer or
late fall or early fall, whatever. Um, just local Minnesota surveys across the state and, um, some interesting information there. Then they talk about local operating revenue. They talked about a few things and then general tap,
you know, updates. So, >> a lot of points were interesting. A few points were interesting. [laughter] >> Yep. That's a really good way to say it. Just change the inonation. [laughter] >> Interesting.
>> Um, go ahead. >> A community I met last week, Tuesday, um, a coordination between different groups that sometimes our missions overlap. It's just ways to work together, possibly make things bigger,
just share resources. Um, another big thing, uh, Monday we got our, uh, big, uh, rural childhood, um, care, RCCIP, I forget what the whole acronym is, uh, big event for that. So, >> yep.
>> Which people still sign up for that? >> Um, it's it the registration is closed. Um but there there are 40 community members that are registered. So I'm hoping that we have some good dialogue and discussion. >> Um with regard to negotiations, each group has met at least twice now.
>> So we're progressing in that way. So >> we have been busy. >> Yes, we [laughter] have. >> Any further? >> Okay. Um next up, student representatives. Um, for NHS,
100% sure what they were doing because in all honesty, I kind of forgot the meeting was this week and not next week. But for student council, I know we're just trying to get things set up for just all our upcoming events and everything. And then for FFA, we have a fruit sale going on right now. And we're
getting practices set up so we can get ready for state. >> Um, moving on. There's no old business. Moving on to new business. um first property tax abatement resolution. >> So, uh this item is a followup to the
hearing that took place on the 14th. Um as you'll as you'll see in the notation that there's not been any further comment received through the district office. Um so really this is is um what is the will of the board in relation to
uh the tax abatement resolution. >> I'll make a motion. Uh is it written no stress away um for the resolution of for adoptions? >> Motion by Bruce second. Second by
Cheryl. It's a roll. >> Bruce I >> Cheryl I >> Rachel >> I Thomas >> Hi >> I carries. Uh moving on to the assurance of
compliance. >> So this is a document that's also going to look familiar. Um but I'm going to share this. So in years past this used to be a physical document um that the board would sign and uh we would walk through. They have now shifted and uh this is a document that I have to go in
and complete after the board meeting which seems kind of awkward to me. So, it's kind of hard to know how to put this in here because it has to be filled out, but yet I don't want to state check the box that I've we've made the assurance when we haven't really made the assurance. So, you're going to see
gaps and I and I'll explain why that is. Um, I do need to make that a little bit bigger. And so, for my benefit, we'll make it big and the rest of you can say thanks. Um, >> I was fine. [laughter] >> Um, so none of this, the top information
is diff is different. it's been what it has been year-over-year. Um, mandated reporter training is also um the same as it has been year-over-year. Uh, this is just a good spot to stop and remind everybody that works in the school district. All of us are mandated
reporters. Um, which means that if we have any reason to believe or suspect that a student is being maltreated or abused, it is our obligation to report that. Um, never our obligation to investigate. It's purely our obligation to report. Um, so and I I think it's
really important that they call that out because um anyone who works for a school district is is covered and I think that's sometimes we think well that's not my job but when we work for a school it it's everyone's job. >> Okay. >> So you're going to see just the number of employees that are are rounded there.
Um harassment and violence policy I actually have we did this in uh September of 24 I believe it is. Um, so this date will be changed because I have to put the date that it was revised and upload it, but I can't upload it until until I actually upload it. And then
this is where I'm just going to kind of pause and walk through. So when you hear um about school districts that um that receive federal funding, the reason we can receive federal funding is because we um agree to abide by all of these
federal laws. Okay? So, you're going to see um title laws, which are going to be um uh our civil rights. It's going to be our um title nine. Um it's going to be um anti-discrimination. You're going to see section 504, which
is um the adults with disabilities act, and that's pertinent to not only um our student body, but it's also pertinent to our staff. Um it's why we work through um um reasonable accommodations for adults. uh you'll see the Adults with Disabilities Act, which is what um uh
drives our um our special education funding. Um and then you'll see some of the others that are probably not quite as pertinent to and we may not see them quite as often. Um but it's an each equal educational opportunity um fair
housing act, age discrimination act, and prohibition of discrimination based on blindness. Um, so those are federal the federal laws that we as a uh as a school district agree that um that's part of my job as a superintendent and then that's
your job as a board when you um when you review policy to make sure that we are in compliance with all of those areas. Uh state laws, you're going to see some of these overlap. Um the Minnesota Human Rights Act is um it's actually a very prominent uh human rights act in the
state of Minnesota which carries some um additional um um protections for individuals then uh above and beyond federal law. Um you'll see that we have um the student student bullying uh which
is uh we have extensive policy and procedures around that. Um that's related to the state laws that you see here. um you're going to see um anti-discrimination um and harassment for um sex, race,
religion. Um again, that's a Minnesota statute in addition to federal law. Um uh you're going to see an anti- discrimination for athletic programs. Uh you're going to see um inclusive education program. So, those are all the
Minnesota rules and regulations that we agree to in addition to the federal um the federal laws. And this is how um when I check all those boxes, then I'm able to say that we have affirmed as a school district that we're going to be in compliance with those rules and
regulations. >> I'll make a motion to approve the assurance of compliance information as presented. >> By Bruce, >> second. >> Second by Gerald. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing? None. Motion carries. Moving on to the Sterns County
Family Services Collaborative Joint Powers Agreement. Okay. >> Uh so you're going to see this this agreement has been signed. It was signed in um April. Uh but this is kind of the authorization for us to be part of that Sterns County Family Services um which
is really the place that we receive funding that supports and serves our colloccated mental health providers. And uh um Rachel I believe sits on the um the collaborative uh and is on the joint powers board. And uh it really is a um
this generates funding based on um individuals who are serving uh students that might be at risk of out of home placement or they might be um uh dealing with some pretty significant mental health concerns. And so, um, the number of encounters across our state generates
a a set number of, um, I guess dollars that are distributed throughout our collaborative. And so, this this agreement is, uh, for us to be part of that collaborative. >> I'll make a motion to approve the Sterns County Family Services joint power agreement as presented.
>> Second, second by Thomas. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Moving on to the MHSL form a grant application. Uh so this is another annual document
that you are going to see. Um this allows us to access um some funding uh to support our activity programs. Uh it's an annual um an annual grant that we apply for and uh the board has to authorize that approval. I introduce a
motion to uh accept it as adopted. >> Motion by Ron. A second. >> Second by Cheryl. Roll call vote. >> Bruce. >> Hi. >> Sher. >> Hi. >> Jacob. >> Hi. >> Rachel. >> Hi. >> Thomas. >> Hi. >> Hi.
>> Hi. >> Um hearing no opposition motion carries. And then moving on to the review of the upcoming meetings. Uh the one I do want to call out if you just want to make a special note that Monday, November 10th,
again that's a midday uh board meeting, that's when our students will be from the elementary and the secondary. And then also just remember that board meeting will be a little bit longer because that will be our first session for strategic planning um facilitator to um kind of talk the board through the
process. you guys will have an opportunity to speak to um you know where you'd like to things you'd like them to consider. So again, if you have an opportunity to review our existing strategic plan kind of leading up to it,
I think that would be helpful. Um be thinking about we did some of this work at the um district advisory committee, but also be thinking about um community members that we want to make sure are at the table to uh have conversation around strategic planning. So, that's the one I
wanted to call out. And the reason it's on the 10th is because Veterans Day is the 11th. I told Jesse I had my dates all mixed up when I had to call in them. >> It's
just [laughter] for a motion to >> I make a motion to adjourn. Second. Motion by Gerald, second by Ron. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing? None. The meeting is adjourned.