Okay, we're going to start tonight off with our recognition. So, we have an exciting recognition tonight and I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Funk to introduce. Want to bring them up? Okay. I didn't
know that. Well, you can since you We got Mr. Lindsy and the rock and rollers here band. Come on in here, guys. Come around. Yeah. Either way. Either way into the circle.
Yep. But what I'll do is I'll just stand in the center of you and I'll tell you a little story. Um the neat thing about this crew is that this is a unified ensemble. You're going to see quite a few people that I'll introduce here that are part of our trust club as well as
part of our special ed department and some of the wonderful parents that I get chance to work with. But people always ask why did you start this? Well, when I was in high school, that was a little while ago I a little while ago. When I was in high
school, my friend set had one of my cousins in it who happened to be a high punching autism spectrum student who always was with us. I mean, Tracy was just always with us. He call her out and the same kind of environment where you see out in the pony stand exist in my
high school where they were, everybody was just part of the club. That that was a thing. We've never really been able in our music department to unify those elements together. We I've had bands where kids were in the backing, but we said, you know, it'd be really nice if
we could include them and truly bring them into our fold. And I said, well, I'm supposedly somebody that knows something about this, but I'm really, really happy to say I get a chance to work with these incredible people. If you don't know, Lori and Aaron or some
of our par staff are just amazing with what they're able to do with these kids. So combined with that and then you'll see a whole bunch of our raise your hand if you're a trust club. Trust club is a club that is inclusive and really brings
everything from cheerleading to just being in a pony sport to being a trusting friend and I think that's really important too. So the rock and rollers have been formed and we we enjoy this is how I start my morning every first hour every morning. So we have one
thing we'd like you all to do because You saw the video, right? Yep. Okay. That's a concept of just two and one. So, we get everybody to go two and one. All right. So, what I'm going to ask you guys do, can anybody join us just for a second? Just to see if you can do it as well. Thank you. So, it's just real
simple. Ready? Go. Yeah. Get the idea. Then we'll control things everybody. Okay. you get a general idea how we do the conducting and how everything works. If you want to see
what we do with that next time, we've got one more concert. That concert's on June the second. It's always the day before the last day of school. It's our what we call Bang on a Drum. And Bang on a Drum involves all of our percussionists at the high school, including these guys. And they start the
concert and you get to hear the premiere of the rap that goes with that because we don't just let Eddie Mercury sing. It has to be amazing. Oh no, that'll kind of be interesting, but it introduces everybody and then they're doing several other things that are integrated at the other ensemble. So we What time is What time is that
concert? 7:30 concert. It's that concert's probably about 45 minutes, 50 minutes tops. It usually is because by that time they hear everybody, but we see a lot of our top soloists as well as our percussion ensemble, different ensembles doing. You'll hear the
warjac. I mean, that's a pretty pretty pretty wide mix. Do you buy tickets for that just for the community that might be watching? It's a general ticket and it's up on the website, so you can just go ahead and grab it and come one, come all and just a fun way to end the year.
That's our last class of the year. So, thanks very much. I say over the years we've seen the um the trust club come a couple times whether it's for cheerleading or now for band and we're just so proud of all the work that our students are doing and all
the growth that we see in the unified programs in the trust club. So thank you guys for your commitment and dedication. Um Pete, you had a question. Oh, when you're when you're done. Yeah, go ahead. Oh, so you know this this is great and I did not watch video because I was there. I saw it in person. So, and it was
really good and I just love the way you incorporate it into the whole big picture there without all of these people. Well, then that's what I was going to say because like Mr. Rogers would say, look for the helpers. And you have all these people giving some one-on-one help. And I'm
going to call out, sorry I said I would do this, Ava Wilmus there. Um, these people, this isn't the only thing they do. Usually, if they're doing this, they're doing a lot of things. So, for instance, I see you at softball. I see you in the National Honor Society events. I saw you at the uh courage
retreat and um and you're always with with a smile. So, um I just want to say you're one of all these people that are very very much like that. You probably get good grades, too. So, if I'm wrong, I'll make a correction at our next meeting, but uh
but otherwise, so thank you you guys for your help, too. Did did any of the students want to say anything? Like what do you like about trust club or what do you like about band or? It's so much fun. I met so many people. Yeah. And I've built strong relationships that don't just happen in
the classroom but outside of school. So that's awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much and thank you in the back to our to Aaron and to the I can't see everyone who's here. Oh, hi. There you are. Thank you for all the work you guys do to make
this happen. So, it wouldn't happen without you guys. So, thank you. Thank you. Great. [Applause] Well, some awesome shots promoters and seniors had some really
nice prom shots. Oh, nice. Nice. We'll have to look on the Facebook page. You bet. You bet. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for coming. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Thank you.
All right. Hard act to follow. We're going to move into public comment now. We'll give everyone a couple minutes to clear. We have three public speakers tonight. While everyone is uh leaving, we will read I'll read the public
comment expectations. The school board encourages community input. While comments and questions are welcome, law prohibits the board from discussing concerns about individual employees or students in a public meeting. The board will not deliberate, discuss, or engage
in conversation with speakers. However, the board may ask administration to review the concerns presented. Speakers must present their testimony in a respectful manner. Vulgarity, character attacks, malice, or specific complaints identifying staff or students by name or
implication will not be permitted. We will stop the proceedings immediately if employee or student privacy issues are raised and direct the speaker to forward comments regarding individual employees or students to the superintendent. Um, we have uh director Hawker here who's
going to keep time for the three minutes for everyone. she'll flash kind of some time cards for everyone. And our first speaker tonight is Mike McCarthy. Welcome. Media policy 606.5 intentionally hides what's being
done to our children. Give us your kids. Give us your taxes. But if parents see the progressive political agenda, some might not cooperate. Students here are taught that America is riddled with white supremacy. that bipok children are helpless victims
who must enlist in the progressive political activism or face impoverished oppressed futures. Students here are taught that unlimited sexual exploration, as we've discussed in previous meetings, is the key to self-fulfillment. Taught with picture
books to preschoolers and grade school kids so they can absorb those beliefs before the age of reason, before they can think critically. Here, students are taught that there is no one objective truth. That you must self-identify as
part of one or more victim groups to have power, voice, and opportunities, and to get that right to take those things from others accused of having privilege. This is what policy 606 hides in the classroom, and what now policy
606.5 will hide in the media center. Media policy 606.5 facilitates putting only politically progressive propaganda in the hands of our children. Everything to the contrary you hear tonight is a
lie. Pretending that highly sexualized picture books for preschool and early grade school children fosters critical thinking well before the age of reason is blatantly dishonest. It's a program for universal indoctrination. It's an insult to limit media challenges to nine
per year while adding dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of new propaganda media titles. Limiting those nine requests to only one parent with one child in one building with one book of concern tells taxpayers that what is done with our children and our money is
simply none of our business. The proposed insider review process is intentionally a charade pretending to remedy to be a remedy. Progressive media experts buy books to further progressive indoctrination and they will never find them inappropriate. Blocking donations
except for money to buy progressive propaganda or duplicates of those already purchased ensures Stillwater students of all ages will be safe from exposure to other worldview values or culture and group think is ensured.
Fixing Stillwater Schools, our local parent group, has never asked to ban or to remove a single book. We've simply asked to have you stop promoting progressive sexual materials to children whose parents don't want them to have it. This is called book banning, and
that is also a lie. Now, go ahead and pass policy 606.5 to hide what you are rightfully ashamed of to be seen doing. Otherwise, vote no to the new media policy. For those that want to see what is being taught here, I highly recommend
the book, The Religion of the Day by University of Mary, religion of the day. It will be quite the eye openener. Thank you very much for your time. All right, our next speaker is Mary Adamley. Welcome. Thank you. Good
evening. My name is Mary Adam Lee and I'm a school counselor at Oakland Middle School. I speak today on behalf of the entire social emotional learning team at Oakland, which includes my fellow counselors, our school psychologist, our special education facilitator, and our bar coordinator. We appreciate the
opportunity to address the recent elimination of school social workers at the middle school level. A decision we understand was financially driven, but one we strongly urge you to reconsider as a long-term priority. The need for social work support is not shrinking, it's expanding. And without this role, our system of student support has a
critical gap. Our school uses multi-tered systems of support to meet student needs. Tier one supports all students through classroom strategies and school counseling. Tier two addresses moderate concerns with more targeted interventions, often through collaboration between counselors,
teachers, and psychologists. Tier three is for our highest need students, those facing challenges far beyond the classroom. This is where school social workers are essential. We've heard it suggested that our contracted partner, Family Means, can fill this void. That is a dangerous misunderstanding. While
we consider the relationship with family means to be invaluable, they can only serve a limited number of students, fewer than 40 out of 962, and they often have a waiting list. They also can only work with those they are actively billing and only during scheduled appointments. They are limited in their
ability to collaborate with teachers and school counselors and do not have the capacity nor are they permitted to step into crisis intervention, which is the exact moment help from a social worker becomes crucial. Our school social workers are often the ones who facilitate enrollment with family means because families frequently face
logistical and systemic barriers to accessing outside help. Without an in-building social worker, many of those connections simply won't happen. It's also important to understand that counselors, psychologists, and social workers are not interchangeable. Counselors are first responders during
the school day. We focus on academics, college, and career readiness, and short-term social emotional concerns. We are not licensed to provide clinical treatment. School social workers focus on the whole system, home, school, and community. As licensed mental health professionals, they are uniquely equipped to address complex mental
health concerns, systemic barriers, and chronic absenteeism. They conduct risk assessments and connect families with both long-term supports and urgent crisis resources. Their expertise in linking families to housing, food, therapy, and outside agencies is unmatched, filling a critical gap no
other team member is trained or positioned to meet. Their support is not only comprehensive, but often life-changing. Our social workers recently completed a 5-day time study, which will be shared with you. Even on fully staffed days, the data shows their impact is immense and not something our
contracted outside providers or school counselors can replicate. Here's the bottom line. When school counselors and school social workers work together, students receive layered holistic support. Losing that partnership puts our most vulnerable students at risk. We ask you to reinvest in school social
workers, not just as a line item, but as a lifeline. Thank you for your time and your commitment to student well-being. Thank you. Our next speaker is Katherine Hobbs. Hello, Katherine Hobbs. I'm a Stillwater
parent and resident. Um, I've come to talk about the media policy. Um, I don't know why it seems to be controversial to bring up the fact that there's a line where that should be
drawn for objectionable material. Um even your own policy says um sorry I ended it mature it needs to consider the maturity levels of the pupils served.
Um, I don't care what people think about my politics, but I mean, this this question needs to be discussed. Um, because materials like this are getting through and the new policies that are
going to be voted on today are going to put a blockade in front of people objecting to materials like this, which shouldn't be happening. Um, I'd like to also remind you that there was a book in the high school library called
Push by Sapphire that described um, repeated pedophilic incest rape. Um, in very graphic detail. I read excerpts from it. It was disgusting. [Music]
Um, I students aren't seen by this. Um, and as people from the school like to say, what we permit, we promote. If you vote for this policy as it stands, you're voting to promote this and to keep people from asking it to be removed
from the school libraries. It's a free society. People are free to go out and buy this book or even get it at the public library for their kids. A public institution that serves minors should not be putting stuff like this in their library. And if you guys don't follow
your own policy, like what if this is in the library and pedophilic incest rape is in the high school library, like what what maturity level are you guys even considering? Have a good day. That concludes public
comment and we will now call the meeting, the business meeting to order. Joan roll call. Dr. Gman here. Dr. Hawkins here. Here let's stand for the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um, I'm going to go ahead and
make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Can I get a second? I'll second. Great. Director Theelander with the second. All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda, raise your hand and say, "I." I. Opposed. Motion passes.
Okay. And we'll have our student report. Hi. Who's first? Um, I guess I'll also be starting today. Um, this past weekend we had our junior and senior prom at the high school. It was whimsical wonderland was a theme and there was a great turnout. It was at the Inwood Oaks Event
Center. I don't know. It seems like all the students had a great time. I know we definitely had a great time this year. They had like a 360 camera. So, the students love that. They thought that was fun. And then moving on to um our music program. Our concert season is kind of coming to a close. So, our
bands, orchestras, and choirs at the high school have been having their final concerts of the year over the past few weeks. And I believe yesterday the top concert orchestra at the high school was the final concert of the season before um well, besides the choir's kind of pop concert where they sing a bunch of pop songs next week.
Um and the boys track and field team took first at True Team State last Friday. So, we're super proud of them and all their great accomplishments there. And then student council is hosting um a senior kind of sunset event um this Thursday. Um this is just for seniors to
kind of celebrate a great year with some yard games, music, and ice cream. And then on Friday is our seniors decision day where all the seniors wear their collegiate gear and they celebrate where they're going and their plans after college. And then that evening we also
have a pickle ball tournament. Our National Honor Society hosted their spring coffee house on May 9th. So students at the high school um showed off their musical talents to their peers um families and community members. And then our girls synchronized swimming
team is also headed to state. They took first place at sections and will be competing at the University of Minnesota in the state competition next week. And then AP testing is now over. So, over the past two weeks, all grade levels of the high school have been taking advanced placement um tests, and now
they can finally take a deep breath and finish off the year stress free in their AP classes. Other than that, students are just kind of wrapping up the last nine days at the high school. Seniors are definitely ready to move on. Um but everyone's count on days and yearbooks
are being distributed. So, yeah. Great. Lots of closing activities. Yeah, it sounds really busy, but the end is here. So, great. Thank you for that update. Appreciate it. Um, Superintendent Funk.
So, tonight I'm going to provide a legislative uh update as far as my report. Um, what I can tell you is that their business is not done constitutionally. They were supposed to have been finished by I think midnight last night. Did not
happen. Um, I'm going to share with you what has happened and you know, all indications are either by Friday or sometime next week they will be back in session to finish out uh what they have not completed. So, I'll give you an
update right now on where things currently sit. Um, there's a lot of financial questions. When Marie comes up to present here in a little bit, we had hoped to have some more financial answers for you. Um we'll tell you what we know at this point and then we'll have a better sight picture here um in a
couple weeks. So go ahead. Um first one is uh great news for anybody who is a member of TRA. Um they uh have removed or or changed the uh um early retirement language for teachers from 62 and 30. So
you can retire at that point. So 62 years and 30 years of experience. There is a reduction from your full retirement at 65. but it's less of a reduction um than if you were not meeting that criteria and they've shifted the criteria to now to 60 and 30 years of
experience. Um and so that is uh you know for a lot of people near my age depending on when you started um you may have missed the rule of 90 by a year and if you made the rule of 90 you'd get your full full pension at 60 and 30 um
or any combination reaching 90 90 uh the number 90. Um now they're moving it in that direction. It's still a uh reduced pension but it the penalty is not as severe. Um how are we funding that? It's through an increase to the district
contribution. Um um on employers of 31% but we will be reimbursed or um I'm not sure if it's reimbursement or we'll just get straight state aid on it for that difference. So it will be no cost to the district at
the end of the uh um at the end of the year. So that that's a positive for uh those who have uh um are members of the teachers retirement association. I didn't see any movement for the public employees um retirement association. I
think that's status quo at this point. Um unemployment for hourly insure for hourly school employees. They are going to maintain that. They're going to fund it through 2627. Um I believe one of the houses has a sunset clause in it. I don't think that's going to happen. Um so they'll
probably have that removed and uh so we will receive an extra hundred million statewide in funding to fund that um through 2627. So that should make us whole. We're hoping as a district as we fund the uh hourly
um employees summer unemployment that's through both years of the bianium. That's yes. Okay. Yep. It's through 2627. Okay. Fully for 25 26 and 26 27. Yep. And again, it's a hundred million from what I've seen. Um, I think it's just waiting for the signature of the
governor. Next, uh, this is interesting. Data request. A government entity can suspend its response to a data request after five business days. If they fail to inspect or retrieve the data prepared for them. So, we put all the data together. We invite people to come in
and they don't come in in five days, we can say, well, hold on here. Um, law says we don't have to show it to you now. Uh I don't know how the practicalities of that are going to work out because they could make another data request. Um but um so that's a change.
Um remote meetings. This should help you. Um does away with the requirement to notify three days in advance the location of remote board members. You used to have to put your address and where you're going to be. Uh won't have to do that anymore, but we will still have to do roll call votes um if somebody is virtual at the meeting. Uh
directory information. I'm still trying to find specifics on this. Um, they've changed it. They're saying parent directory information is private. So, I'm assuming that if this means that students have multiple sets of parents, then some of the parents are information
is private. But I got to get a final answer on that. Um, so those are the um changes that we know. The House has got some finance and policy bills, the Senate does, and uh I'm sure they're naming the conference committees if
they've not already been named. And that's what has to meet and iron things out over the next few days before they bring everybody back for a special session. Um which should be a one day once they get get the work completed. Um so that's pretty much what I have as far
as that tonight. Great. Any questions for the superintendent? Great. Um, I do not have anything for my board chair report. Um, so with that, we'll move on to our consent agend agenda item. I'm going to turn it over
to Director Theelander. Yes. Uh, thank you, Chair Sherman. As I had uh made mention to before the meeting. U, I would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of removing uh item J uh the human
resources personnel report. Great. Um, so, um, I will second the motion to approve all items on consent, but Jay, so just, um, so people remember because we don't usually have consent items pulled. There's no second required to pull it. We pull it and we'll address it
immediately after the vote. Um, and we'll let Director Theelander explain why he's pulling it. Um, so anyway, we have a motion and a second to approve all items on consent with the exception of Jay. All those in favor, raise your hand and say I. I. I. opposed consent
agenda minus J passes and then um Director Theander, I'll let you explain why you're pulling this. Yes. So, thank you. I'm in support of the uh approval of the report, but uh just due to a personal conflict of interest that my spouse is uh is listed. Best to abstain
from the vote. Great. Um and uh so right now we have this separate item to um to take action on. So I don't know if we need a motion. I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve. J. Is there a second? Second. Great. Director Hawker with the second. So, all those um voting in favor
of approving item J, raise your hand and say I. I. I. No. And abstain. Abstain. Great. Thank you. Okay. Tonight we're moving on to strategic direction C, which is
utilizing systems and aligning resources in an efficient manner to support learning. Um, we're going to have Chris come up and talk to us a little bit about the pair professional master contract. This is an action item this evening. Good evening board members.
Happy to be here today. Um, so um I have been meeting with the paras I think since um I want to say maybe November. Um, and so before I get too far into the specifics of what we agreed to, I just
wanted to make sure that I take a moment to acknowledge um, the professionalism, the mutual respect, and the shared commitment to our work together that was evident every step of the way throughout our negotiations process. Um, it's never easy, but we built trust in each other,
and we were able to achieve an excellent result. I think both parties will agree to that. Um and this was my first round of negotiations with this PAR group. So I think you know hopefully that bodess well for the future. Um so things that
we um that we um achieved in this agreement um we extended the work year by two days um so that pair of professionals can attend to personal or sorry professional development. um we provided one floating holiday um due to the way that the schedule is going to come out next year, the
Memorial Day holiday would be removed and so rather than just pick another one, we've offered the chance to they can choose. So um they were um very interested in that. Um we converted emergency leave which is um something that has been in their contract for a
long time but it had a lot of restrictions around how they could use it. Um and it was actually rather challenging for them to use it at all. So we converted that to um discretionary leave um which gives them the same number of total days but now they actually have a little more freedom to
use those. Um and then um we in uh added insurance language um representing the 6% of the increase. Um and then we also negotiated language um for placement on the wage schedule. Um and this new language is at
the discretion of human resources uh with notice to the SCPA if we go above um class three. So this gives us a little more freedom to um hire people and recognize their previous parah experience. Um the sick leave allocation
is aligned to um the earn sick and safe time. Um we also got agreement to split the um paid family medical leave premium. Um and then uh we had paras um they're getting steps in both years. So we switched in the old contract those were steps and in the new contract those
are called classes. That's why that's in parenthesis there. So um this settlement um as you can see above is mutually agreeable between the St. RIPERA association and the district and um it's well within the
financial parameters set forth by the school board and so we would recommend that the voters sorry that the board members vote to approve it. Great. Thank you very much. Um I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to approve if I can get a second and then we can ask Chris
any questions. I will second. Great. Director Theander with the second. Questions or comments for Chris? Seeing none, um, oh, yep. I just want to commend both uh you and Marie for and Ashley, the three of you for uh working
and getting this done. And uh and also uh appreciate the uh the comments on the professionalism on both sides. So uh that's uh great news. Thank you. And that's all I was going to say. So now I really don't have anything except to call for the vote. But thank you again
for all your hard work. Um all those in favor of approving the master contract for pair professionals raise your hand and say I. I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you Chris. Thank you. All right. We have Cararissa coming up
for a report on our phone policy implementation. Kind of an update for our phone free schools starting next year. Good evening, board chair Sherman, Superintendent Funk, and members of the board. I have had the privilege, I'm going to call it that, of um working
with our staff on the implementation of our device free schools policy. Um and I joke about that, but really this is a big not just policy change, but culture change in our schools and in our community. And so, as we've been having conversations with our staff about it, there are a lot of concerns, a lot of
questions, a lot of wonderings of what this is really going to look like in action. Um so I just wanted to give you an update of where we're at with our planning and know that there is um more to come certainly. So as you know as the board but this is more for our community. Uh
policy was approved earlier this year for a devicefree school and that really means that we are prioritizing students academic success their emotional well-being. We are getting them um to just put those phones away so that they can focus and be really engaged in their learning. And there are some really
great reasons why we're doing this. And I think as a whole staff really appreciate this and are thankful to the board for making such a priority on students um well-being and that said um they are excited about it but also just a little nervous about what this is
going to look like in action. In your policy, you say that it's bell-to-bell. So, there are no schools uh no use of phones or devices. And that includes the watches, the earbuds, all of the things um from the first bell of the school day to the last bell. That
means phones are put away and out of sight during learning time. And the policy also says that they should be kept in a designated area. So, as a committee, we had a lot of conversation about what that designated area looked like. Um we we looked at yonder pouches and the equivalent. We looked at storage
lockers. We looked at lock boxes in classrooms. Um we talked about just the lockers that are already already exist in schools. A lot of a lot of good conversation about that and the staff really ended up on kind of a locked box in classrooms as well as in offices and
so that's the direction that they want to go. Um not a lot of interest in the pouches and some of those things. What's nice about that is it's a little bit more cost-effective, but it also um is maybe a little bit some of the problems with pouches are that they can break. Um kids find out how to manipulate them.
The locking mechanisms and things like that can be challenging. And then just the logistics, especially when you think about a high school of 2,800 or a middle school of a thousand, just trying to get kids through in a matter of minutes to get those devices locked. you have to actually hit a physical lock on the way
through um the doors was just really challenging and so that's why we got away from that and focused more on like a classroom kind of locking area. So a big part of this is going to be the implementation is the accountability of people really holding
to the the policy as well as communication and making sure everybody understands what this looks like. And so what we are saying is that devices should be off and away all day so that we can focus on learning. So, what we will be telling families at the start of the year and even now is that um phones just shouldn't be in schools at all and
if you have to have them then there are some processes that will follow. The why behind it, you've had a lot of conversation about this. It really is about students mental health. It's that ability to stay focused. Um avoiding some of the the drama that comes with cell phones. We know that there's cyber bullying. We know that there's um
sending messages to to meet up during the day for maybe some nefarious activities. Um there's just the less engagement. You're distracted. We all know that our phones beep, they ding, they're they're we just have that need to know what's going on on our phones. So having them out of sight helps with some of that. And we're also hoping what
we've heard from other schools is that there's just more engagement, more face-to-face interaction between staff and students and between students um and other students. And so we're hoping that we will see that as well. Number one, as we are implementing this policy is we are encouraging
families to just leave those devices at home. This is easier maybe at an elementary level than it is at the high school and we realize that. Um, and so we will talk about that a little bit more. But whenever possible, our first message is just leave them at home. Keep them out of our schools to begin with so that kids can focus on
learning. If we need to bring a device, it's going to be locked up during the school day. Um, we've also checked with our attorneys. We've had legal advice on this in our messaging. Um, phones, people who bring devices to school are doing so at their own risk. There's no liability on the district's part if something happens to your phone during
the school day. Um we're not liable if it's lost or stolen or damaged. Students who decide to bring their device with them to school will have an opportunity to have it locked up at the start of the day. Um this is really going to be building specific as far as what the logistical process will be. There's been
conversation about maybe it's they go to their first hour class and just turn in the phone there and then there's time at the end of the day to go back to first hour or there's even conversation about at the last hour of the day. So you actually start your day at so your last hour. So those are things that schools will work through but ultimately um if
you bring your phone it's going to be locked up. If you bring your device it'll be locked up and then that students can res uh retrieve their phone at the end of the day. We talked about what non-compliance looks like. We know that there are some kids who are going to especially at the beginning kind of struggle with this and
um the biggest thing that we are hearing even from our staff is this is about consistency. It's about everybody being allin on this. Everybody's going to be responsible for making sure that if we see a phone, the phone's going to get locked up. Um that's usually the biggest challenges with something like this.
It's I've heard Dr. Funk say it's usually your weakest link that's going to decide how well this works. And so as we've been talking with staff, um that's going to be our main focus is really making sure everybody's on board, understands the why behind this, why we're doing this. and we know it's going to be much more effective if we just are
all from day one committed to making sure that this works. Um, as far as the the response, uh, the first time we're going to take that phone away and we're going to bring it down to the office and it's not coming back until a parent comes to pick it up. Um, part of the reason why we talked about this is
because this is really a culture change for families as well. Families are really used to being able to get a hold of their kid at any time. Um, and so they have to really understand to what this means and have a little bit of skin in the game. And so we will be asking families to work with us through the
implementation. By the time we get to a third offense, that's when we're going to have a mandatory conference with students, parents, guardians, and the administration just to talk again about why we're doing this, why this is important, and how we need to really work together. There'll be some sort of response plan developed with the family depending on the needs and what that
looks like. And then we've had conversations about creating an education program to really address those patterns of inappropriate device use. Um, we talked about this being maybe a module or something that a student can go through to just talk a little bit about um some of the negatives of phone use. I mean, we know
that some of the apps and things are meant to be addictive. There are there are things that are um just good to educate kids on. So, we're going to work on that. during the school day, if a student has decided not to turn in their phone, but they're using it at some point, that
phone will be taken away from them by a staff member and brought to the office to be locked up. Um, so that's something that people need to be aware of and then those violations will be documented and then eventually if it happens enough, there will be consequences. Of course, as we talked about, there are exceptions. Um, what we
do want to stress is that these these are truly going to have to be determined to working with student support services. And it's not simply, well, I really think I should not have to follow this policy, so I should have an exemption. It needs to be really documented and proven that there's a medical need or there's um some other
need through an IEP or a 504 plan. So, our student support services staff will be working with families to determine if that need is justified and then what that would look like moving forward. We do get a lot of parents asking just, well then, how do I communicate with my child if I don't
have a phone that I can reach them? I mean, number one is kids will get their phone back at the end of the day. So, if it's something where they just need to adjust schedules, they will see that before they leave school at the end of the day. But if it's a more urgent need, they can always call our main office and we'll be working with our office staff um just to make sure that they're aware
that they might be getting more calls and then what that process would look for like that for them to get messages. This already does happen. I mean, there are parents who are are working through the main office to get messages and as I know I heard Dr. Funk say before, we this is how we did it when we were in school, too. So, it's a little bit of a
shift. It's maybe not as instantaneous, but messages will get to students. And there's also a phone available in the main office. If students need to make a call um during the day, they can certainly do that as well. We have heard through our feedback the idea of safety and emergency concerns. I think that's the number one
issue that parents have brought up is what happens in a school emergency. if there's a situation um that I need to be able to get a hold of my child. And there's this is a really sensitive subject and I think there's different opinions on it, but we have heard from many safet school security experts that having a phone actually can make it
harder for school staff and emergency responders to respond to an emergency. Um if a kid has a phone and in an emergency situation like that, they're paying attention to their phone. They're sending text messages. They're trying to get a hold of their parents. Their parents are getting a hold of them. They're maybe not hearing what's happening around them. they're not
hearing the directions or instructions that they're being given from their staff. Um, we've seen this already in not even true emergency situations, but rumor control. There can be something that allegedly happened or is going on and all of a sudden it's blowing up into the whole community that something bad is going on at the school when really
it's not. So, the rumor control is really um challenging when kids have phones in their hands all throughout the day. There's public safety response, just the number of phones and calls trying to go through can block circuits. Um, and then there's also the situation where people are communicating and then
rushing to a a place where they really can't be when we're trying to evacuate or bring in emergency responders. So, there are many who would say that it's actually safer for kids not to have a phone in that emergency situation. I know that's a hard message for parents to hear. Um, and there'll be parents who will hear me say that and come and argue
with me about it. And I'm sure there are certainly um, reasons why as a parent you want to be able to reach your child in that situation. But this is really what we're basing it off of. And also from our experience, we've heard our staff just talk about there are safety concerns less less big than the ones
we're talking about here. Um kids having phones and they're they're organizing fights in school. They're taking video of an altercation in the school and those things can have really long-term um impacts as well that we're trying to avoid. So there are a lot of reasons why
those phones being out of our hands would actually again help us focus on learning and not get distracted by the other things. Next steps. We are continuing to have conversations with our staff about what this implementation really looks like at a building level. I met again with our secondary principles today and
had some conversation. They are meeting with their um staff to talk about the expectations for a staff member. What does this really look like in theory? If a kid shows up with a phone, I see it. I have to take it away. What does that look like? How do I even have that conversation with kids? As our teachers
um have said, they are work really working hard on building relationships with students. And to be the bad guy, taking away the phone is something that they're just fearful that that might hurt relationships. So, we're going to work through how that can look and what that um conversation can look like. We are making updates to our handbooks and
creating a communication campaign to really help families and students and staff understand what this means. And we'll do some staff training in the fall as people are coming back. And then finally, we will be doing ongoing feedback and evaluation. Figure out what works, what doesn't work, what we might
need to tweak along the way in our messaging or even in how we're just enforcing some of these things. It will be a learning process for everyone. And as again, one of our teachers pointed out so well today, this is not a policy change. This is a culture change. And therefore, it's going to be messy. It's
going to be difficult. But we all know that it's for the right reasons. Um, and so we just want to work together to make sure that we are getting through this and doing it well. Any questions? I'm sure there are questions. Yep. Sure.
Director Kenberg. Um, watch. No go. No go. Watch, earbuds, um, tablets, so students can have like their schoolisssued Chromebook is really what we're asking them to bring to school and all other things can just stay home.
Yes. Are we going to rebuild? I know you said uh school issues Chromebook. Are MacBooks then also going to be banned because you can access like text and phone number and other apps through MacBooks or is that like a logistic we're still working out? Um technically it's any device and that would be
included in that. Now if you work through and it's being used for another purpose maybe, but no, if you're bringing home a device from home, we're asking that you would have to lock those up if they come to school. Would that shift then probably impact like more
paperwork in classes and less online as well? Um, I don't think so. I mean, I haven't heard that concern. I think teachers are assigning things that students can do on a Chromebook. So, I wouldn't think that that would be a problem. I haven't heard that concern come up. Okay. Um, I see in the other ways to
communicate at it's mostly just looking at like the main office and like calling in. Will are students going to be able to like email their parents? Is that like that going to be allowed? I think we've talked about that. I'm looking for Eric if I remember right. Is that available? We've talked to some some school districts that have opened up an
email address, public email address that the kids could so that's something we could definitely take a look into so that they'd be some sort of That was one of my questions. So, thank you. Yes. Um just um wanted to say this seems
like a really um common sense and wellthoughtout approach and I think um sort of uh focusing on schoolbased implementation um with the backing of the administration I think is just an
approach that I think is is is really needed and good. So I'm excited to see this and yeah thanks for all the work. Good. Thank you. We talked a lot about the need to be consistent. So, there are definitely some tights, but leaving it loose because every building's different. Obviously, the high school has very, very different um logistical
challenges than an elementary school does. Yeah. But having that consistent, I think, backing from um knowing that the administration's going to step in at some point, having the parents um you know, kind of responsible, too. I think all of that's just really good. Great.
Questions? Yes, Director Parker. Um on that same sort of topic, yes, I think this is great work. I do have a question about the implementation at the different schools if they were allowed different. Um, makes sense to have different rules at the high school than it does at the elementary school.
However, we have two middle schools and making sure that we have similar experiences in those middle schools seems incredibly important. How are we addressing that? Yeah, we did talk about that as a committee. In fact, um, when we first started, I think there were different approaches that the middle schools wanted to take and as we had
more conversation, um, I think it with some emphasis from the district that it is important for us to be consistent. As I like to tell our committee, people talk and, um, they talk on the soccer fields, they talk at baseball. They know if something's different at Stillwater Middle than it is at Oakland. And also,
our teachers talk and if it's a a difference in how things are being implemented and what's expected as a teacher, that can raise a lot of challenges, too. So what we ended up in is a lot of consistency between levels. Um so the middle schools are working. Obviously we weren't as concerned if I
decide that I want to collect phones in the sixth hour class versus a first hour class. That's fine, but we're not going to have different types of storage devices and like this group's going to have this kind of thing and this is going to have that was going to be provided at the district level. So that was one of the tights.
Thank you. Mhm. Um, kid puts the phone in the backpack, turns it off, never sees it to the end of the day. Any consequence with that because you wouldn't know it. Right. Right. That's what we talked about. I mean, there were there were a lot of questions about that, like how far do we
have to dig to find out if they have a phone? I mean, do we what's that boundary? And what we discussed is the impet I mean the real point behind this is that we don't want kids to be distracted during the day that we need phones locked and away. Um and so no
we're not going to be searching students looking for phones. If a phone is an issue it will be addressed. If a phone is not an issue um then we're not going to be as concerned about it. We are going to strongly encourage again kids to not bring their devices and if they do we have a locked place for them.
Another question. Mhm. Teacher sees the phone or sees the head down. Is the teacher enforcing that or is the teacher calling security? How deep does that go? Those are some of the conversations they're still having at the school level. Really, the intent is um
especially in a school like the high school, there's a lot of kids. There's not a lot of security or principles to deal with things. So, we're really trying to empower teachers to handle this as much as they can with support from administration. Right. not only empower teachers but
support we want the social expectation to be no phones. So if peers are saying wait a minute I can't have my phone why does this person have their phone over here. So I I think it just becomes a shift in culture whether that's reality
or not we'll see. Uh but that's that's the approach is they just they need to be away. And I'm glad you said that too because the other thing I've um wanted to say is it's not just teachers either. We've talked about really anybody in the building is responsible for helping to enforce this. So if I am um a pair
professional, if I'm a custodian, if I'm in the lunchroom and I see a phone, I mean, we're really trying to encourage all staff to own this and take um responsibility for helping with this. And that's what we talked about with staff training of really helping to show them how to do that in an effective way
and providing that support was Oh, sorry. I just wanted to add ask a question. Well, I was just going to ask I know we talked a little bit about PSO students and having like a designated area because they may have different technology needs. How did you
guys talk about how that might The high school is still working through all of them? Yep. Okay. I didn't really have a question, so I was waiting for the end. Um, thank you for all this work. This has been, um, something I've been anticipating to see how this would all unfold. Um, and it really is very much a culture change, and I know that that was
part of the reason I supported this policy the way it was written is because of the culture change. That's the whole point. So, um, I'm really appreciate that staff is grasping that and, um, and embracing it and hopefully have good plans and that consistency piece is the key. and hearing from other districts
that did not do bell-to-bell. Um, and we're attempting to thread that needle, they were so frustrated that consistency was just all over the board and it was so much more work for everybody. Um, so I even though it's going to be being the bad guy, I mean, if everybody's the bad guy, then I mean hopefully short-term
pain, long-term gain, and that culture will shift. Um, and we'll be able to really get a different atmosphere of learning in our schools. So, I really appreciate all the work and it's I like the school-based kind of flexibility, too. So, thank you for this. This is
exciting. Can I Oh, did you have a question? Go ahead. I was just going to ask, was there any conversation about I mean, I understand the first and second offense that's probably going to be a little bit of a shock for parents at a first offense, they're going to have to come to the
school and pick it up. Was there conversation about how, you know, should that be for a first offense? Should there be a phone call or There was a lot of conversation about that and honestly I think from the staff perspective um they feel like this is going to have to be a partnership with families because
this is such a part of our culture and so they felt very strongly that we needed to get parents involved from the very beginning and make this you know unfortunately we need to make people realize that we're very serious about this and by having a parent have to come in and physically pick it up and have
that conversation with a staff member um it's going to hopefully reinforce that we take this very very seriously. So that came from our staff. Um okay. And just so you know for our committee we had administrators and teachers on the committee working through this with us and we met probably five different times.
Great. Did you Yeah. I was curious about uh other ways that um students can raise an issue if there is an emergency in a classroom. um what is the availability and access training for phone use or other
technology use or other ways to share and communicate emergency in a classroom? Um interesting question. We didn't talk about that too much. I mean I think our standard practice is if there's something happening to alert a staff member right away. All of our staff members um have access either to a
phone in their classroom. Most of them have a cell phone. A lot of our schools have a system in the building. Again, that's building specific of how they handle a emergency and how they communicate that to the office. Um, so those processes are kind of already in place. I'm assuming that our safety and
security policies don't rely on individual cell phones. All of the classrooms or all the classrooms and do we all is there intercom systems that alert? you know, I'm assuming we have the common language now that we have identified that gets announced or and
for better or worse, that's part of actually I think our um improvements with some of our we have some intercom systems that are still pretty old that are getting updated, but yes, they do have the capacity to do that. Um, looking at the implementation of the policy, I'm wondering for the high
school, I know, um, one of the big ideas right now is having them be like put away in their first hour or sixth hour. And I'm wondering if there are any ideas of how we ensure that students will do that and how we make sure that they will go to their first hour or sixth hour class at the beginning of the day and put their phones away there. I'm wondering if there are any ideas. Those
are things that staff are talking about. I know the high school um staff actually has a staff meeting on Thursday just on this topic. They're dedicating an hour just to talking through this. Um, I'm also hoping to tap our student leadership to help us with this as well. Um, we have talked about creating some
videos and some um, other messaging to go out in the fall. So, I'm hoping student leaders can help us with that. If you have great ideas, let me know, too. Yeah, I was actually just going to touch on that. Um, I would definitely recommend, I'm sure you guys have already talked about this, um, about
making it more educational and including the information of like the benefits from this and how it's a culture shift and where it's coming from because I know Mason and I have struggled this year with the culture and the climate of our school of like attendance, involvement in um, activities and so
we're very excited about the new phone policy, but having it come out of a place from student representation or out of like an educational helping hand instead of being the bad guy because I know that's a big fear from
being the administration and authority in the situation. Definitely. That's great. That's great feedback. One of the things we just talked about with our staff um today when we were meeting with secondary was the idea of not just making this a you can't have it take it away like a really negative thing. Trying to promote this more for the the
reasons why and give kids other things to do. Like there were some schools um that have included more of a engagement goal around this too. So we you put your phones away, you go to lunch, there's like board games on the table, there's card games, there's things for kids to do to just interact and engage with each
other a little bit and making it um just now you have time to do some fun things. You're not stuck on your phone trying to see what's happening out in the world. You can actually engage with the people around you. So they were talking about those sort of strategies too to really make it kind of fun like let's replace it with something else. Yeah. Um, I know
in lunches for like homecoming, we've done bingo and stuff. Um, we could definitely work with the student body to involve that more or do more lunch activities because there was a high level of engagement for those as well.
Awesome. Good. Thank you. Yeah. I just like to extend my gratitude as well to you and the committee for the work. I know when the board um you know went through this process and approved this policy, it's always uh challenging to not know what that might look like from an implementation standpoint, but
uh with the update today, I think it more than met my expectations and provided some really clear good framework for what this is going to look like. And I know there's still work to be done around the details and the procedures, but I think this is a a really great uh starting point um to get
implemented for this fall. So, thank you. Um, I think I just want to talk a little bit about the rollout plan because a lot of it was, you know, training in the fall, communication in the fall, but is there anything that can be rolled out sooner? I know people are disengaged in
the summer, right? I mean, everyone wants to just go and have their summer off, but even if it's just something like an FAQ or, you know, for people who have IEP needs, are we going to reach out to them so they can start processing with their physicians or whoever? I guess just to so we're not coming at the
fall and it's like okay this is how it's going to be and I don't know yeah we talked about having some sort of message just at the end of the school year which is right around the corner 10 days nine days nine days I think we're down to um so we will definitely have a little bit more information but the bulk of it will
come through in our back to school messaging so people will be getting it um in August as they're starting to think about school it's always tricky during the summer nobody's really paying attention to us after June 3rd we're just kind of forgotten for a little while as it should be and then as they start thinking in late July, early August about the new school year,
they're going to have a lot of information at that time. I just want to be able to have I I totally support the parents need to engage and come in and pick up the phone, but I can't I just want to be able to stress that so that families can be starting to have those conversations in the summer. Special
educators are aware of the change. They are. Okay. Yep. and student support services has been a great partner in this and they've been having kind of already starting that work and just so we can minimize some of that and hit the ground running because this is going to be it is a culture change. It's going to be I mean the best laid plans it's going
to be a mess. I mean I'm looking at this and I'm thinking I mean this is going to be touchandgo but I hope the I I believe in the weakest link. So, I hope that the staff is on board and I know that the board feels really strongly that this is the right direction to go in and I know
the community does too, but I also can envision a parent getting a phone call saying I have to come in. How am I going to get off work? What time do I come? Yes. And so, even if we just had some of those like, hey, these these are the time frames that you're going to have to come. There is, you know, letting people
know that so they can say to their kids, you know, this is a big deal if I'm coming in. Yes. Um, but I'm going to suggest it'll be a culture change for the staff as well. And will that be addressed over the summer? Because I imagine teacher A uh Joe, put
the phone away. Teacher B, give me that phone. I'm turning it in. There be an inconsistent uh enforcement. Is that being thought about? They're already having those conversations. So, we shared our implementation plan um with principles of maybe a month or so ago, and they've been going out to their
building now and sharing it with them and asking for feedback, working through some of the problems and challenges that they're seeing. So, our staff has been pretty engaged already, especially at the secondary level. Um this is obviously a bigger concern there than it would be at the elementary, but all of our principles have the plan and have been talking about it with their
leadership team and their teachers. And I just personally want to say I love the FAQ sections that you've been putting out lately from a communication standpoint. So, um I know they change and they get added to, but I think the more we can even put something like that on the so that you can get questions
from parents and students and get that interaction because obviously they're not going to be at these staff meetings, but they might be able to what are your questions? What are your concerns? and just giving ideas for staff to be thinking about um because this is a community effort and so I don't want to
undervalue the safety aspect and the concerns and the parent concerns and the I don't want this to feel like a top down on students either. So to be able to get that dialogue generating would be nice. We've had conversation about beyond just um the policy itself talking
to parents about social media, phone use, technology use. And so, um, we had a conversation even today with Eric Simmons about some parent trainings in the fall to go along with this of like how do I lock down certain apps on kids' phones or on my computer or things at
home or um, you know, really why why is social media a big deal or what about some of these apps that are made to be addictive and just giving parents some of those resources and um, education along the way. So, that's definitely going to be part of this. It's not just a cell phone ban. It's really helping our community understand how we can best
take care of our kids. Just as a quick update on that, we had an anxious generation book study through community ed this spring and I think there were 80 some people that participated and the feedback from it was great. They want more of this kind of thing. So, we're working on building that out. Great. Awesome. This is really good work. We
look forward to future updates. So, thank you. Any other questions? Great. Thank you. All right. We have a brief budget and legislative update for Marie. Good evening board members, superintendent, community.
So this evening um I'm presenting a brief um budget update um and then also just going to give you some highlights of um just some of the legislative um information that the superintendent um
provided and just some of the things that we included already in the budget. So again, um some of the influencing factors um that kind of play into our our budget that we're planning. Um again, the priority based budgeting
framework. Again, aligning those resources to our strategic plan. Um again, making sure that framework um is the baseline um for our budget. Um and then also our projected versus actual.
Um you did see that in April as we presented um just kind of that first blush of what uh June uh 30th or as we close the books which goes into the summer um what those revenue and
expenditure projections look like and how that impacts our fund balance and then enroll any enrollment changes can impact our revenue um and also our class size and building capacities. So, as we look at that, um, how that impacts our
budget and how we have to plan, uh, any contractual settlements, um, like Chris presented, uh, this evening, um, those we have to take in, um, to account, um, as we plan this budget. And then
legislation. Um, and then the bond ratings. So, um, our bond ratings, uh, again, even though they're part of a different fund, um, those our overall financial picture can impact our bond ratings and our interest rates. So, that
can be an additional cost to the overall budget itself. And, uh, getting good rates um, means uh, we can get, you know, additional premiums, lower our bond costs overall. So it it's important
that um we do have a strong um fiscal um budget and um financial picture. And then funding that's one time only um or expires um those are grants, those are
federal dollars, those could be just carryover dollars we're spending, keeping track of those, making sure we're planning for those and are aware of grants that may be one year only, making sure we're pulling those out and pulling out the revenue and
expenditures. So, it's it's our accounting team that is really keeping tabs on that. So, we're not um not planning for those events. So, again, there are things in the budget that we just watch.
Before you go, can I flip you back? Um, in terms of bond ratings, how often are we getting re-evaluated in our bond ratings? Annually? Usually, I mean, it seems like it's annually. Uh it's when we issue bonds. So it's it's been annually. I I believe here it's every
couple years, but we'll be um doing that again um this fall. So it's it's been I think a couple years here um year and a half. Yeah. And sometimes they'll have you just update your bond rating, too.
So um Okay. I think it's couple years, year and a half. Right. Thank you. So, uh the legislative update and just to kind of give a little bit additional
um insight here into the budget. Um so, our budget assumptions um are based on current law. Um and one also additional piece is uh we um have the inflation adjusted uh gened
revenue uh formula increase uh in our current budget. We plan for that 2.74%. Um again I think that amounts to an additional uh $200 per pupil. Um, we
also included in this budget the decrease to the compensatory uh education revenue that was about $300,000. So, whatever happens in the special session um let's hope um that
that we'll see the increase. Just to comment on that, the Senate has and the governor have districts held harmless on that. So, we would receive that 300,000. The House has a different funding mechanism where they would increase local optional revenue which would
probably equate to something very similar to that. So it looks like the conference committee is going to work out the differences. So I'm hopeful we will see something to offset the compensatory decrease we're currently facing. And then we also um within this budget
we have planned um the readact literacy curriculum implementation. It is not fully funded um by the state. Um we're utilizing our operating capital fund balance for the
purchase. Um that amount is little over a million dollars. Uh we currently I think we receive about just a little shy over about $300,000. Um so that is a significant
hint on our um operating capital fund balance at this time. So if we are to if we receive um funds for the readact um additional funds through the legislature um that's certainly we can restore that.
So again, we're we're counting for receiving nothing more than what we know. Correct. And I know there are conflicting ideas around that. So it could the situation could improve. Y and then Yes. Um so the implement is that that's beyond the purchase. This is the
actual implementation. This is the purchase and um there's uh PD included in that implementation as part of um the readac too. Okay. So, yep. And then, um, also we have the new
paid, uh, family medical leave payroll tax. Um, it's there's an employer and an employee share. Um, what I'm referring to here is the employer share that's effective January one of next year. There's a payroll tax that, um, we have
builted to this uh, budget uh, for half of the fiscal year. So that's another piece um that we have added um as part of this budget. This is still being discussed though legislatively right they've from what I've seen they've you
know when they started they talked about 7 or8% now last week it was 1.2% 2%. Um I think it's down to 1.1. Um and so again, this is what we just settled with the Paris that you know that the current law
says the districts shall pay at least 50% of that increase or that that percentage. Um and what we were trying to do is to say it should be split evenly between the employer and the employee. I don't think that has I don't think that language changed. So that'll
be a negotiated issue with our bargaining units moving forward. Okay. And as the superintendent um had in his report, the House and the Senate passed a bill to invest a h 100red million um into that unemployment insurance. So um
we should be seeing that revenue um come in um at least for that bian bianium um for the hourly worker um unemployment. So those are just some updates um as we plan accordingly and
we'll continue to update um for the budget going forward. So again just highlighting um that fund balance history and that projection um was right around the same level
um higher. I think it was around 1.2% for our uh current fiscal year. Um just to keep um just to remind everyone where we are and um our goal is to get uh at
that 5% or greater um in the future. So priority based budgeting uh framework we are um at the point uh in uh row number four arrow uh we are at the
point of the budget document or approving that uh plan uh within the next month and then um we will be um continuing some work with um
sustainability and implementing um and evaluating. I know we'll have some additional reports um coming throughout the year on some different programs. So, just to highlight where we are and again this is fluid because we
will be um continuing to work with different programs and where they're allocating funds uh with the budget. Um but again the revenue uh for the preliminary budget in the blue column um
is about 152.9 million. And again this is just general fund. We'll give you a picture of the other funds um at the next meeting. And then our expenditures right now are projected at 154 million.
And that variance there or that um um is the uh readact literacy um and that curriculum uh it was also the music uh equipment or material purchase that we were using our
operating capital. So that is um what we're putting um as our balance for uh we're utilizing the fund balance uh to balance our shortfall and this will change in a few weeks when we get final
numbers. Correct. Correct. So it's it's pretty it's pretty fluid. It it will change. Um and just to kind of highlight the revenue side. Um, and again, I'll just kind of walk through the blue area.
Um, the property tax uh, levy again is 46 uh.5 million. Again, that was what was approved by the board back in December. Um, and then the state aids and credits,
it's just shy of $100 million. Um, couple things to note there. that does include the um that additional 2.74% um on that uh gened formula and then
that comped decrease there. um the federal the grants and the title programs again highlighting that change there of about 900,000. Those were some of the grants that
um we had carryover in and also um some grants that we um currently don't have in the budget. we come with um to the board with revised numbers mid year when
we uh have other grants that um the district seeks uh throughout the year. So you're seeing that uh first picture of our main uh federal sped and the title program grants that we're bringing
forward to you. And then the other revenue um that includes some of our estimated uh donations uh building um miscellaneous revenue interest um what we're estimating those amounts to
be. Um and again some of those other uh donations that would be like your partnership plan grants that haven't been awarded yet. So um so those numbers are also those come again as a revised
budget. So we do not plan for that or the expenditure side up front. And just so I'm clear on the the grants and the federal the grants and title programs. That's the elimination of all of the one-time funding we got from kind of the pandemic era. Um that was the prior
year. this we had some additional um carryover in our federal sped um categories and so that will not be coming back we are just we're kind of we're at the tail's end of the carryover okay in our
in our federal dollars but we we do have continuing funding um in federal sped and our title programs as far as I know right And then on the expenditure side, um you can see um we're starting with the
revised budget of 152 million and then you'll see the inflation in the second column. Uh salaries uh inflation amount for the
general funds about 3.4 4 million benefits. This includes um not only insurance um but this includes um benefits. Uh TRA did go up a little bit.
Um but it also includes our paid uh family medical leave benefit that increased um any benefits that are associated um with salary inflation also. So um that is
um again 1.7 million and then purchase services on the general fund. So if you think about uh utilities um any of the services uh like our insurance, our liability insurance, we had a a slight increase that'll be
coming to the board uh next month. And then also um some assumptions for our transportation. So that those are some of our purchase services and contracts and then um supplies, materials and other those are some um areas. Director
Low has a quick question just wondering where where do um sub salaries that would be under purchase service under purchase service. So that's correct. And then the next column priority based budgeting adjustments.
So, these are areas that we've been um updating you um with our grid that we've been coming to the board. Um the original amount um was 5.4 million. Um
it was then adjusted down to about I I believe it was 4.3 million. And so you can see there that bottom line is 3.7 um of adjustments that were made. a lot in the salary and benefits um of
different positions that some being enrollmentbased, some being programbased, some being administrativebased. Um other areas like the supplies, materials, and other those relate to say long-term facility
maintenance projects. Um we spend dollars based on um the revenue that we receive. um grants expiring um some apps uh licensed apps and curriculum. We had
um some areas on our priority based budgeting document um when we did the presentation. So that is about $3.7 million of reductions. That does not take into account the million dollars from operating capital which is a
different fun. Correct. That is paid. talking closer to five. There's another million dollars in there, folks, that we're not correct. We're not covering on this slide. Okay. Correct. So, if you add another million to that, which is paid for on the 110 here on the front, you're at
about 4.7 4.8 million and our original reduction was about 5.4 is where we were. So in looking at the blue column that is
the preliminary budget for the expenditures um salaries, benefits, purchase services and then the supplies materials another for a total of 154 million and you can see the difference column
um those changes there um compared to our current year. So, um, just a little over $2 million. And, um, when you have
$900,000 and a little over a million dollar use of fund balance, that's how you get to your $2 million of expenditures. So, you have revenue and your use of fund balance to make up your expenditures.
So um on our timeline uh our early June meeting uh we'll have another just another update to to provide additional information and then we'll be be providing uh shortly after that a uh budget summary book um that will have
additional detail and narrative and lines in it uh with detail on the budget. So that's where the board will see line item because we're paying for transportation object um salary object lines um things like that enrollment
detail additional information and then the June 17th meeting will be another uh final budget update um for the board to consider approval of the budget. So, that was
uh the update for uh tonight's um we'd hope to provide you more information, but legislatively we're kind of waiting. I think the intent will be the next meeting. We'll have um clarity clarity
on what we're doing. Sorry, two questions. First question, uh what's the implication of that $2 million uh difference at the end of slide eight? We need to Does that mean there's two more million dollars that need to be found?
No, be found from reserves. The $2 million there uh we have balanced it with um just shy of a million in revenue there and then a million we're using
with fund balance. So we are currently balanced right now. Okay. Thank you. Second question. Um on slide seven there's the the 46 and a half effectively million dollars that are we that the board
approved in December. Yes. What if the board wanted that number to be 47 million? We have a you can answer that. Um, if you wanted it to be 47 million, that would be next year's levy. So, so
the state what? Well, here's kind of the process. You were So, in September, the state will come out and then we'll run all of our numbers that go into our local levy, which includes Q comp, which includes our long-term
facilities. Um there's a number of different pieces there and the state will tell us here's the maximum amount that you're allowed to levy for. And so typically in September we will ask the board to provide we will have a estimate
of where we think we're going to land in in uh December and we will ask the board to allow us to um certify the levy to the maximum. Okay. So, whatever the state tells us this is the max you can do, we'll ask
for that. And then um people will get their tax statements saying here's what your exposure is as a as a property owner. And then um we have a truth and taxation hearing in December where the community can come in and they say I don't like my taxes. They're going up too much. Can you explain what what's
going on? And then we will certify um at a later meeting in December whatever that amount that the state authorizes us to to uh um to levy for and it can only be up to a certain amount number. It can't be over. Um so they they can't put
the parameters around there for us. Miss anything that's it. Great. Any other questions? I know there's a lot of um finalization that needs to happen at the capital. So, that could change this
picture. Hopefully for the better, maybe. Hope so. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Now, we're moving on to our policy section of tonight's meeting. So, Paul, get comfortable. All right. and
we'll start with a first reading on policy 524, internet and technology acceptable use and safety policy. Yes. Good evening, Chair Sherman and members of the board. Um, so for this is the first reading of a policy that uh we do
have on the books. It's a revision uh based on updates from MSBA. um with that piece. Um the one of the things you'll see as we as we kind of kind of look at this, it's um in the revision, one of the big pieces is that
it's removed um the language that's related to 524.5 or the personal electronic communication devices since we have now adopted that as a a standalone policy. So that's one of the big changes that that's been removed the language from this policy. Uh the policy
also has been kind of reorganized a bit um from the previous uh policy but but the um content is is much the same and uh the the committee had the opportunity to have uh Eric Simmons uh join the committee um to go through this policy.
He's reviewed it. Uh he does recommend it for a first reading with that piece. But with that, I'll just highlight a few pieces um uh with the policy. So um the purpose of the policy is to set forth policies and guidelines for access to
the school district computer system and acceptable and safe use of the internet. Um so in general statement of policy and making decisions regarding student and employee access to the school district computer system and the internet. The school district considers its own stated educational mission goals
and objectives. Electronic information research skills are now fundamental to preparation of citizens and future employees. Access to the school district computer system and to the internet enable students and employees to explore thousands of libraries, databases, bulletin boards, and other resources
while exchanging messages with people around the world. The school district expects that faculty will blend thoughtful use of the school district computer system and the internet throughout the curriculum and will provide guidance and instruction to students in their use. Um so as we I'm not going to read the
whole policy. You'll be able to do this as a first reading. So uh with that piece but um it does it does go through the core component. So there is limited educational purpose uh that is focused on um the activities of the educational
classroom activities and um those things that are aligned with the mission of the school district. Um it does specify that and again this this isn't new but that the use of the system is a privilege um for staff and for students um and that
appropriate use is accepted. There is it kind of goes through the unacceptable uses um which is consistent with our procedures and policies that will be would be found in a handbook. Um and those pieces
um there is a component in the if you in section four um around the filtering systems and and if you were look if you were to look at the MSBA policy there's like three different options and it really has to do with how the district
um follows its filtering process and some of the funding actually for that and so Eric has indicated that um the alternative to which is what's indicated within this policy under the filtering system is what is included for our uh
policy. Um then the one change I will highlight from the MSBA policy would be found in section nine uh under internet use agreement. So we'll put that up there
right there. So under um section C um the MSBA policy as it's written um states that the internet use agreement form for students must be read and acknowledged well for students must be
read in short it states that the classroom teacher had to sign off every year on the agreement. Um we did have uh Joan actually checked with MSBA's legal counsel and they stated that that's not a requirement um that um the teachers
sign off on the agreement. And so um to to align it with our current practices and policies and to keep it a little bit cleaner um we added well we we changed the language a bit to what is there and it states the internet use agreement for
students must be read and acknowledged by the user and parent or guardian and that happens every year at the start of the year with the sign off based on looking at and reviewing the the requirements and policy and handbooks. Um so we aligned it there and then that change is also uh represented in section
uh 12 under parents responsibility notification of student internet use and that change is under subp part B item four in which um there's a change to that which again removed the requirement for the
supervising teacher um to sign off on agreement there. Um, let's see. I think with that said, um, I think that summarizes for the first reading. Um, I don't know if other members of the committee have anything
they would like to add. I'm just I mean thanking Eric for his time um in reviewing this and making sure it's in line with what their practices and procedures are and um yeah so just a first read. So as you
read through it to the board copy on this case I would probably CC Eric on your email as well because he'll have a lot of the content knowledge on this as well. Absolutely. Great. All right. So, we'll move on to
uh our second reading of policy 516 and this is uh student medication and teleaalth. Um there from the first reading there are no changes um regarding the language
that you'll find here um in this component. I know there had been a question and the committee discussed uh regarding the section um three um subp part C regarding the use in that in that terminology there of
um on let's see on non-escription medication uh that a secondary student may possess and use nondis nonprescription pain relief in a manner consistent with the label if the school district receives written authorization from the student's parent. Um so we did
look into that the word pain relief and um and and looked at that compared to like say a allergy medication and that was reviewed with our nursing supervisor Paula McDonald and and she felt that she was very comfortable leaving the language in this way. Um and she really
encourages that things like um allergy medications are things that um last throughout the day and that they encourage those students to take those at home before they come to school. um with that piece. And then she also kind of felt that again there she would
read this as a fairly broad um the pain relief as a fairly broad definition of things that would relieve pain that that would you know be really the intent would be ibuprofen and um the cetaminophen um is kind of the intent
there of those kind of medications. So um so at this point there isn't a recommended change to the language um on that component. Um and I think that was the only the only thing that I think as
input and we discussed that component and thank you to Paula for looking at that and kind of being on call for those questions and concerns. Yeah. Any other questions or concerns
on this? Okay. And go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say so this one is actually being moved to be voted on tonight. It's after a second read, which is pretty typical for us. So if you don't have any other questions, um I'm looking for a motion to approve.
Sorry. Point of order. Is this including the teleaalth portion or is this just the this is policy the policy 516 the student medication and tellaalth and tellahalth okay I do have a question on tellahalth we can keep going y um I
apologize I forgot the answer to this question so apologize for that and thank you for talking about the the non mei language uh not talking about benadryil um while I disagree with the outcome if the nurse is comfortable Well, then
whatever I guess um um I forgot the answer to why was this only for mental health and not for other teleaalth visits that I mean it's a it's a good question. I know that the teleaalth um
component was um passed through legislation um I think in the last legislative session that they specified regarding the mental health um for that the the requirements for the district to provide the space for students to
receive um mental health support or or or therapy through teleaalth within the within the school. So the policy adds that language that's specific from that statute requirement. Thank you. So um any other questions from
516? Okay. Um so going back to approval, is there a motion to approve? I'll move to approve. Great. Second. Great. We have a motion and a second. Any other comments or questions for Paul? All those in favor of approving
policy 516, raise your hand and say I. I. I. Opposed. Policy 516 passes. And now we're going to have our third reading for policy 606.5, library
materials. Yes. So, this is the third reading and and as a reminder, it's a new policy for the district and it is mandatory. And I should say this is we had an additional read on this just because of the um interest in the community and um
typically we would have two but we've had multiple readings on this and kind of extended that process which we're allowed to do as a board when there's um great community interest. So, yeah. Yep. Um since this is the third third reading
um as the board would recall at the second reading uh we discussed and um there was a change made to um the uh part three initial selection library materials uh part D under donations um
in which it originally stated in the first reading no donations in the second reading um the the language um was um edited to the district will not accept donated materials for inclusion in its libraries unless the materials are re
are already part of the existing library collection. Um and that was reviewed at the second reading. The the only uh language change uh for this third reading is found in section
uh four um subp part E under the appointment of review committee. Uh the second reading um stated within a reasonable period of time after receiving the request for removal, the superintendent or a design
will appoint a review committee to consider the request for removal. The superintendent or designate is encouraged but not required to include the following individuals on the review committee. That was changed uh based on input. Um two, on an annual basis, the
superintendent or designate shall designate potential members to be part of the review committee. The superintendent or designate is encouraged but not required to include the following members. So that was a change in language under that
section and that was the only change. Oh yes, Dr. Funk. So a little historical perspective on this. So typically um the committee is named at the beginning of the year and they are aware that if there's any challenges um whether it's a
media person uh a teacher um at the elementary or or the secondary level principal at either one of those levels that they kind of like jury duty okay you need to be available um for this calendar year um to be uh part of this
committee. So I I think it's important for the public to know that this committee does not just change on a whim. We we put it in place at the beginning of the year and that's the committee that moves forward with it. Um the only potential is students and we
may have um you know again I think they'd be similar to this to the teacher or the or the principal depending upon the level of of what we were doing with it. So, um that's the uh little bit of the the uh administrative nature of
that. Just a clarifying question on that committee. Um so, if you are appointed to this group, does everybody from that group have to show up? No. Or is it if it depends on the level of the challenge? Okay. Thank you. Yep. What does that mean? So it's an
elementary challenge. So then the secondary principal doesn't have to be on the committee. It'd be the elementary principal that's on it. So but there's a pool that is available. So if it's an elementary issue, the elementary team moves forward. If it's a secondary issue, the secondary is there
a minimum number? I mean, it's that's the list. So it could just be you and a guy. What's that? It could just be you and I'm not going to be on it, but but uh yeah, but it should be I they're encouraged but not required to
follow to include the following members. And so the question becomes, okay, if that's your policy and myself or my design is appointing people, why aren't you following that policy? That's the that's the check. And
you know so this is the policy I will follow or or you know again the only discretion would be this probably the students uh but this will be the and and I think
that the pol the annual basis came up in part because of a comment from director theander at the last meeting and then just just to provide clarity we don't want it to be give the impression that this isn't a planned I mean this is a purposeful planned committee that's out
there on an annual basis. So I know um well you already heard it tonight. You already heard it from one of our speakers tonight. Okay. This is going to be I don't remember what the term was but it's going to be a you know an insular committee that's going to be no we're setting up a professional
committee at the beginning of the year with professionals from the uh uh district with members of the community and um you know this is the process we will follow and of course this is the policy that there will be accompanying procedures
I'm assuming that staff will fill in the gaps here in terms of how is that community member selected how you know there maybe there needs to be a process in place that would all fall under management. Um so this is just our comfort level
with the policy. Uh can you walk through the process that this went through and um how we gathered input from various parties or various stakeholders? I don't know if you want to I mean we we had
You know, I I've been this is my third year here on the policy committee, and this is the first time we have actually had members of the teaching staff really sit down and and in this case, it was our media specialist sit down and uh um go over
the policy with them and and seek their input. Um, so we took a look at a number of different policies from different areas and we also had our legal council provide us pretty much this is the baseline document for us and um so we
had um I think and Katie you've been on this you know many years um as much input from from uh um other professionals than than I've seen here since I've been here. Yeah, I I would concur with that. And
this was um usually when we ask for input from our our staff, we email like we did for Paula um and they'll give us feedback that way. So to have people in the room with us was um a step above then and then we had them come back a second time once we actually had done
the um some of the tweaks and decided kind of what direction we were going in and we ran ideas by them again. So it was a lot of working with our media specialists um to ensure that this was um well understood that we were trying to really work through the process and then the policy goes through just the
normal process with teaching and learning and principles and and community feedback as well um where we have well we're doing a third read for this one for example. So we're always asking for email feedback um and public comment every time we are having a reading. So um in that sense it was the
normal um but it was just in committee we got some more direct input from our staff. Thank you. I know that um I feel like this is a policy that is necessary for us to have because it's I mean well one it's required but it is very different I
think as we delved in than the curriculum process that we have. Um it's heavily based on state statute. I mean, there's not a lot. Everything that we're doing here is really heavily based in state statute and case law. Um, so I
know that there are opinions on this can be a very political issue on um on the both sides. I think this does a really good job in my opinion of threading that needle. Um, and through this process, we did learn that there are there are
parent options already in place for parents that have concerns regarding what their students can and cannot check out in the libraries and the media centers. So, I think that we'll kind of put that more maybe at the forefront, but our media specialists were able to
say, "Hey, we we already put notes for people for parents who want certain um maybe want their children not to have access to certain books or certain subjects. Um, and that's already a process that's in place and available to
our families, which um would meet the state statute that's referenced in this policy. So, um I I feel satisfied having looked at this process and knowing what is in place um to respect parent rights,
but also um be an inclusive um mirror and window um is our media specialists like to say in terms of the stories that are on our shelves, but it does codify the age appropriateness. it does address I mean
most of the issues that have come up as a part of the public um process here. So um I agree I I mean in general I think um this policy is you know pretty well
balanced and I think um addresses things from a lot of different perspectives. Um I want to just talk about um the appointment of the review committee. Um, again, the purpose of adding or at least my understanding of the purpose of
adding um the on an annual basis language was to sort of preemptively address concerns that there may be too much um or at least like optics that there might be, you know, too much uh
discretion allowed in picking committee members. Um, and so, uh, when Director Lowour had the question, it it just made me think I if if you have that question about how that is actually going to look, I wonder if if members of the public are also going
to have that question, if there could be confusion about what the standards are for the review committee appointments. Wondering if that warrants um, more discussion. The standards are in front. So I guess my question we want to take
out but not required. Is that what you're Well, I I liked I mean the the the question about should there be a minimum. I think the the the potential concern is that okay so it could just be two people and it's sort of that's still
at the discretion for each particular review. So the potential members are set in an annual basis but for each particular challenge that could vary from two to five to seven. Um and you know maybe having a little bit
more um something more established in terms of a parameter might quell some of those questions. Other thoughts? Well, if the superintendent telling you that this is the list he's going to pick from isn't enough, then I don't know what is. Right. Okay. So, if you think
I'm going to pick two people, then I think that um I've got a concern there. Yes. Just trying to remember back to our conversation when we had this in policy committee because we did definitely talk about this quite a bit and we spent a while trying to figure out how to
massage the language to make sure it was a little more clear. Um, and I think one of the the challenges that we ran into is the logistics of having every single one of these people listed at every single one of the meetings at potentially what was it? Nine nine
different meetings. Um, so we were trying to thread that needle of okay, so we'll add a couple people to the committee in case it's different like leveling um, but also not be so restrictive that we have to have every single one of these members in case it's
not feasible. So, I think we were trying to leave a little bit of wiggle room for flexibility. Um, and where I'm sitting right now kind of hearing the concerns coming forward. Um, I think what we have is good to start with and this is this is a policy that we can come back to as
well. So, if this really is an issue um where we are not having enough people on these committees once it's put into practice, um, I think it it would be definitely something we could come back to and clarify that language. Um, so I'm not sure if other people on the board are comfortable with that at this point
moving forward with this. Um, and just maybe making a note for us in policy committee that becomes a a problem. Um, and also for our staff as well if this is an issue like let us know we'll revisit clarify. Um, but we were trying to keep it flexible but within
parameters at the same time. I would agree. What? Yeah. No, I appreciate your comments, uh, Director Gertovich. Uh, and that kind of that goes back to my question I had last board meeting. And, um, I do like the idea though that there is kind of the standards of what's being set, you know, uh, by Dr. Funk in or or
his design in terms of what this committee will consist of. I do like also like the idea of some flexibility because maybe six people are invited, but life events happen and only three of them can attend and, you know, they're trying to work through this process and be thoughtful. um it just gives some
um agency to the committee to still fully vet and and I do trust that these people will be very mindful because obviously it's going to be a very high-profile committee that I would imagine is going to be very diligent um in terms of what is you know the process
how is it being communicated um and make sure there's the proper checks and balances. So, um, from my end, I'm I'm comfortable with the language, uh, as it is. And to your point, uh, Director Hawker, you know, I think this is something that can obviously be revisited if it feels
like there's some inefficiencies, but I'm I'm comfortable with how it stands. Yes. And I would say I I don't have a problem with any of those people being being chosen. That's all
fine. Looking at it more from the outside, I could see where people without a minimum threshold. It's not so much you know who as even if it's just you not having
any you know we're trying to set a standard but I don't know that you that we're doing it by saying that these people are encouraged but not required to
so what happens what happens if they don't show up oh no Well, that's that's exactly my question. Should there be a a quorum of some number? I and I don't know what that number is, and I'm not I'm not trying to I'm I'm looking at this from the the
public's point of view. And so am I as your superintendent. Okay? If you think anybody on this board thinks that I'm going to create a committee with two people on it, right, when books are a hot button issue, and I've been doing this for 20 years, let's get realistic.
All right? This provides us the parameters of what we should have on our committee. And as your superintendent, I'm going to ensure that we follow these parameters. Um, this is coming from our legal counsel. If you were to go and look at 606.5s all over the state,
you're going to see similar language of this in almost every district. And Oh, go ahead. Go ahead, please. Oh, no. Go ahead. I was going to say I I find this language a little imperfect. I thought your example was uh Director Lowour's example was um highlighted a
concern. I think it's a a reasonable concern from a public point of view. Um I think it's imperfect, but I like uh Director Hawker's point of view that you know, let's we can put things out and we can revise as needed if um if it is um
if that imperfection is not great. as a policy newbie, I guess. Um I guess I'm not even I'm not on the policy committee, so I'm not even sure if I'm a policy newbie. Uh as a policy outsider, maybe um you know, my thought on policy is
that its purpose is to have process and to have an oversight. So that I guess my main concern
is policy helps ensure that we don't just have to trust people. Is that a fair representation of what policy is? Um I guess that's up for discussion because I do have some concern that if the answer is if you don't trust me, we don't need the
policy. I find that somewhat problematic. So I thought that was the point of policy was to help give a pathway and a guidance. Guidance guidance and the procedures are what we
follow. Policy provides guidance for the district administration to implement. And the way I read this, I guess, in I'm looking at this is every review I and this might be me and I know this kind of gets procedurally, but I'm
assuming that on an annual basis when the superintendent or his design is looking at these people. I mean, it's at least it's encouraged to include people. So, he's probably going to pull when it says a teacher, he's probably going to actually pull a secondary and an
elementary on an annual basis, but only pull them in. That's how I was envisioning it. Then he says, "Okay, I've got two teachers. I've got I mean, all the principles are on the, you know, are somewhat engaged and he's kind of pulling." So, the committee itself might
be larger, but as a review comes up, then he's saying you're most appropriate for this one. Well, you don't need to be here a secondary teacher because this is an elementary book. Um, you know, this is something that I I guess I just assumed it would be a
larger pool annually, but then you're picking and choosing because it would be I mean, the superintendent is right in the fact that this does no one any good if we have two people in a room because it's a public process and it's going to come back and it's going to come back to him or the future superintendent. So,
there's no It doesn't it doesn't do anything to have two people in the room. I just don't see that happening. Um but what I do see happening is no matter what we do, this is a divisive issue and people
will be complaining no matter what we do because we're not going to be making people happy when we have a review like this. Um, and the one thing that the media specialist did tell us is there's a lot that we're very focused on this. There is a lot more that goes on behind
the scenes with our media specialists who do some amazing work to avoid this process. I mean, this is not something that could that may be happening nine times a year. I mean, I think what did they say? This has never happened
um under c certain media specialists. I think they said that to us like I don't want to but the ones that talked to us said that their goal is to have conversations with parents, educate them what their um individual uh abilities to
restrict are on an for their child. Um so this isn't happening all the time in this process. What can the public see? Can they just see what the result is of the meeting or can they is it open to the public or are
the any of the discussions it's just whatever the result is is what they get. Correct. Okay. And there's the appeal processes are in there too. Yes. And I would say I I think you're right as far as process goes pulling different people for for
different things. And I think that's how it would work in process. I don't know that that says that and because it's an assumption that that's how that'll work and I I would I too would assume that that's how it's going to work. I think that the public sees this process as the
bull work and and by you know the the public people that want to well I guess would challenge books either way doesn't matter um see this as a bull work against you know just us ramrotting through whatever what whatever we want
and so that's why I think clarity is helpful. All that said, I'm I'm just fine with letting this play out and seeing because at least the outcome is a public thing. And
so, you know, there'll be push back, you know, if if we're not, you know, doing what whatever, right? You know, and even if we do everything great and somebody's going to complain, right? I mean, you're this is someone's going to
leave this process unhappy no matter what the outcome is. And it is and it is just so the board knows this is consistent language with other districts and you know approved through our legal vetted through our legal um I guess I lean more towards a
philosophy that these provide guard rails and um and intention for the board but how it gets implemented that process is definitely on the management side of the fence and I would prefer to this is
more than we have right now for the process. So, you know, we review these on a, you know, fairly consistent basis and we can mark this designate this as a yearly review. You know, we can review this next year. It's a new policy and I
guess I would lean more towards director Hawker to say this is better than what we have. let's see how it played out and um make changes as appropriate. Um but it seemed like the media specialists were also comfortable with this
language. Um so I mean I think we've checked but again if the if the board as a majority wants to be more p prescriptive here we can. Uh just a follow-up question. Um I again just I
think I said this before but I I like the concept of if move forth imperfect and and revise if we needed and I don't know if anybody has any issue with the language of imperfect but I don't mean that as a slight I just mean it's not perfect. Um my question is if
the if the information that we receive after a process happens is just the result that's the public. Do we see anything that's different than that to help us understand the process that it went through and to see if the process
was problematic or if how this was implemented? um will we have the information that we need to then revise or uh assess if there's a revision needed of an imperfect plan
or I guess comment on that of what what will we see to help us revise and make what do we have information wise coming? Can I just Yeah, I was going to go I'm sure you're going the same place I am. So go ahead. Totally.
Um, in terms of getting the information, I think that is part of something that we do in the policy committee. Like when we ask for information, that's kind of what we're trying to do is figure out what is working, what is not working. That's why we pull staff in. So, in terms of accessing that information, and I'm not sure if you mean for the whole
board to get that review um of that information or just at the policy committee level, I'm I'm totally confident policy committee would get what they needed to make the revisions necessary. Um, but in terms of if we wanted to then share that with the rest of the board in terms of what changes we
have made based on that feedback, I feel like that comes out in our readings as well. Um, so is is that kind of I feel like you're asking something different and I think it might be a little bit under K um under appeal. So the way that we have
this written and this was with intention um the super so you have the committee the superintendent is outside of the committee if it gets appealed which I could see a situation in that being appealed the superintendent decision is
final. It can be um it can come back to the board if a quorum of the board wants to take that up. Um, but this a deal this I think this might be the section that deals with perhaps with what you're asking. So the committee will make a
written report. I can certainly provide that to the to the board. You know, that's certainly here's where things are at. And uh you know, by default um unless procedures weren't followed properly, I'm going to default to the committee um as far as what the decision
is. uh but uh um they will um send that information to me and then you know if I hear that there's some dissension in in the discussion okay that's something that you know we can take a look into but you'd be aware of it as at the board because again
folks the political realm we live in right now where we've had people in the last few months talking to us about how dare you take these books from the shelves how dare you have these books on the shelves. This is
a significant issue in the lives of our community and as you are representing our community, it is my responsibility to make make sure that you are aware of what's going on with our processes so
that you are prepared um as board members. So that's my my thoughts on it and we do because there is a fine line between the policy and the procedures. We did I think we discuss this in committee and and I think we discuss
this often in committee so maybe we didn't but the procedures are good for us to know and good for the community to know. There will be procedures tied to this policy um that will be flushed out after we approve this policy. And
um do did we say that we were going to I thought we said we were going to and Chrissa might know this. We were going to treat this like other procedures and have access to the procedures kind of accompany this policy similar to how we do for other policies.
Did we say that? Okay. But we can talk about that because we have we have a history of kind of embedding some procedures that the public would want to know as a part of some of this. Not embedding it in the policy. Not in the policy as a but as a
linking it policy. Mhm. Um, so maybe this is more we need more once we approve this. Part of this is understanding what the procedures will be from staff's end and then have that be a part of our annual when we take this up in a year to see, hey, how's
this working? We can have that be a part of the process. This gets approved. The board never touches anything here until unless there's an appeal, right? A decision is made, somebody doesn't like it. Uh there's no board involvement, right,
until there's no appeal. There's board involvement if a quorum of the board requests a review of a book. That's what I mean. So the there's a challenge after that's that's the time when the board is involved. The the appeals process if the
board is not involved ends with the superintendent. Okay. Okay, I guess that answers my question because uh we are not involved unless this unless we decide to get involved. Somebody raises it and says I want to appeal this process and if three
others Exactly. go along with it. Now you got a quorum and now it's a new discussion. Yep. Okay. And that's kind of how that K works, that section on appealing. But again, I I I do want to say I mean I
don't do I don't remember a last time that we've had this extensive of a up to this point. I don't think anyone could really point to a book challenge. Yeah. I mean, I think that the the media c center's role is to partner with stakeholders with those are the parents,
families, guardians, um you know, and students 18 or older um to educate what are your what are your options before we get to this point. Um and that's how they explained it to
us. So this is the pol this is how the policy reads currently. If there's a simple change that someone wants to propose, we can do that. I otherwise I am completely comfortable with this policy as is, but
I want everyone to be comfortable. Um we can put on there that we will approve it this way. We can have that year review, connect with staff. How's it going? What's missed the mark? What do you what's missed the mark for the board?
Um thoughts? I'd make a motion to approve it. Great. Thank you, Director Lowour. Is there a second? I will second. Okay. Any other comments? Well, this will be good to
have on the books as you can see and to see how it works in action. Um, seeing no other comments, can we mark this to review in a year? Can we put that on our calendar? Joan, um, for whatever the policy committee looks like, just to touch base.
Quick question. Yeah. Um, just next year or like change it to a three. No, I thought just let's start with next year, see how it goes because it's a new policy. We've never had it. Let's keep the language on the frequency. Yeah, keep the frequency language, but but just informally, let's touch base on this in a committee. um in a year and
see or Sure. Yeah. We'll put on the agenda then we don't do anything to the policy. Yes. Yeah. Don't change that every 3 years. Good. Great. Okay. Um any other comments or questions?
All those in favor of approving 606.5 raise your hands say I. I. Opposed. Okay. We have a library materials policy. Great. Thank you. I got to revoke the old one. Yes. Now we're revoking the old old old
policy. Yeah. This is 1971. 1971 policy 625. Exactly. I was alive then. So um barely, but um yes. So this is uh media center library policy 625. Um very outdated um
completely replaced with 606.5 um as you can see. And so the recommendation for from the committee and the administration is to just revoke this um as it's redundant to 606.5. I will make a motion to revoke policy
625. Can I get a second? Oh, go ahead. I saw Pete first with Pete for the second. All those of in favor of revoking policy 625, raise your hand and say I. I opposed. Okay, that policy is
revoked. And with that, we're adjourned. Thank you.