all right all right good evening 602 in the secondary school media center we'll call Mee to order I Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation
indivisible all we call Christenson here order here symbolic here stand here I am here and Josh is not with us tonight um I believe everyone does anybody have
public comment for the board this evening perfect then we will move to uh look at our agenda um you have a couple of modifications um if you look under the Personnel items we have
two um additional items under the resignations and then also a leave request uh for Cathy BR are there any other additions or corrections to the agenda move to approval a motion is
there a second second can have it all those in favor say I hi motion carries our first item will be uh to appoint a new school board member um we looks like we have all five candidates
with us tonight um just a couple of preliminary items um we'll do it similar to what we did in the past um we'll give each candidate a minute or two to introduce themselves tell us why they want to be on the board U board if you
have any questions for candidates just remember if you have a question for one candidate you have to ask all five candidates the same question um and then when we're done with that we take nominations if we have multiple nominations we would vote in favor of
which nomination if there's three we'll work our way down to two and then most votes would get the appointment are there any questions about that
portion all right then I've just randomly selected all of your names and and uh we'll start with uh Mr Bruns if you'd like to come to the board table um introduce yourself sorry introduce yourself and let us know why you'd like
to be on the school board all right all right so Michael or Mike I go by Mike so Mike Bruns um initially ran for school board here in the election cycle and just wanted to express my my interest for this position for me it's
it's just about Community right so I moved here in 2017 um my wife recently took a position with the Chamber of Commerce here in El Lake she's involved in the PTO and we just really are trying to imerse ourselves in this District Community I think you know for me for a
long time I might have been unsure of where I wanted to settle but we've really enjoyed our time in the West Central District and Elbow Lake specifically so with that I I feel good about making a long-term commitment to just the district the community and just being a member and you know being
a a positive role model for my kids in terms of showing them what Community Support means and just kind of living out values that I I see in my personal life around just being supportive being a leader uh through I I'm firm believer
in servant leadership so just leading by example and just being a good good role model like I said for all parties know if I have anything else to add there all right any questions well yeah I have a question
for you m how would you describe an effective School Board member uh I think listening is likely the biggest strength or skill I think it's really easy to want to respond um to any
feedback commentary positive negative anything in your life for me it's about trying to understand a little bit where someone's coming from especially in a Schoolboard situation you know we're in a unique position having five communities and um you know frankly I
probably live 40 minutes away from other people that live in this District so it's there's a big gap in just where we are on a daily basis and understanding what you know someone from the south side of the district needs versus you know being a member of the community in
El Lake I think there's there's a lot to take in and there's a lot of opinions and I think it's important that at least understand without bringing too much personal bias you know listening is is the key part for me thank you I would ask uh what skills uh
talents or abilities would you have in bringing um a group to a mutual agreement sure so in my career I I work in it so I deal with problems pretty much that's my job to deal with
problems and find Solutions and try to stay positive with both the people that report to me and just the people I work with um I think those skills I'm I'm able to find Common Ground easier U with
people and understanding you know problems can be difficult to kind of just work through but finding common ground with people that understand that we're all in it trying to to solve the problem you know we're not trying to one up somebody or There's No Agenda
um I think I can see and understand and and communicate people in a way that they understand what my objective is in the process trying to solve the problem as far as bringing everybody together I I think people have been trying to solve that problem for a long time uh I don't
know if there's a right way or a wrong way to do it per se but I think going back to what I said about listening I think a lot of times as long as people know they've been heard I think you can then move into a compromise versus just
trying to you know stand on your own pillar and think that you have the right answer thank you any other questions all right thank you Mike thank you Mike um that brings us to
the next mik and selected by your first name my name my name is Mike haen I'm from Kensington grew up there m to the cities at to college for about 15 years
moved back in 2005 started a company up there and then we in that same company since 2005 I guess the reason for the school board is I mean to me we're going through some troubling times I'm a real Community guy in the area I know
most people it's getting to be less and less now with the other people moving in but I guess my thought is that we need to kind of join together and get our projects done and just get everything in the past and move forward because we
five years have been tough just from Community to community and we we gota get we got to be able to move forward just get this in the past and go from there so no I don't remember the
question I'll it for you Mike how would you describe an effective Schoolboard member well he said the basic thing you got to be able to listen to the people in the area same concept with work I seem to be the guy who has to come in at the end and kind of go between the
customer and the crews and stuff like that and it's just you have to listen to their side but you have to listen the other side because when one side will complain about something a lot of times there is a reason and you you can't just go and say oh you know this is a piece
of crap but you know you go to the other side well why is it you got to have answers to the questions I mean one person's personal opinion about something sometimes isn't the correct one so and my question was what skills
talents are abilities do you have in moving a group to a mutual agreement well same thing I mean I go in and do it all the time where we deal with customers and you know other people and um for the community I mean I've been in the
community activities forever way back before even left for the cities and I know same concept I know people you know we we know what we got to push or try to make it work I mean
nobody's ever going to be happy you know if you get both sides mad at you usually that's the correct answer so but nobody's completely happy from either side so all right thank you yeah
Jerry right yes only one Jerry all my name is Jerry stavic um not really from around here so about nine years so and heard a lot of negative stuff about in the school board and stuff and what I've seen and
everything and like to see if I can just get some help and turn that around you know I see a lot of more positive things said around here so hopefully I can bring something to the table I can turn that around okay how would you describe
an effective School Board member we can listen to everything that's going on look at the big picture and you know make good decisions based on community and all the facts that I
presented to you hope they have a positive effect on everything all right my question was what skills talents or abilities would you have in moving this group to a mutual agree M kind of good looking at everybody's point of view looking at the full
picture and taking your point of view and everything is kind of by having medians and present an idea with everybody best interest involved including the schools and you know all the kids so a lot of the positive impacts the
kids and it's pretty much a good thing it's not about what we're here for so all right thank you jar hi there um first I just want to say thank you Gary and Terry for serving on
the board all these years I know it's not a easy job or it's pretty thankless job so thank you for your guys' service um my name is Jared I served with a lot of you on the board before um and they're the reason I I applied is I you know we're we're dealing with some
complicated and tough issues and I just wanted to offer my insight and um opinioned on some of those things and just have my voice heard um you know serving the district's very important to me and it's where I grew up and where I call home and where
my daughters go to school so I want to do whatever I can to make sure we're still around here another few years oh would describe an effective Schoolboard member um like the previous people have said listening taking in but's very important um but at the end
of the day the board you got to make there has to be conversations and you have to bot your conscience and I know having serious conversations tough with that thing standing in the corner sometimes you want to just kind of censor yourself and not say anything but I don't I don't think the district can
survive if we have another 12 years of the board just looking at each other shoving our shoulder saying I don't know I don't know what we do I don't know where we go from here we need to have conversations we need to lay it out on the table and my question was what skills talents or abilities Jared do you have
that would help the board move to a more consensual mutual agreement um well I'd say compromise is the biggest thing I have toddler and two teenagers in my house so compromise is a big part of my day um you're never going to get everything you want out of that
situation um I think the biggest thing everyone knows I was a pretty strong proponent of the last Pond referendum that went through and you know we that that didn't win so that's out the door and now we're
doing with this task force and they seem to be getting good information we have a good mix of people so hopefully out of that we can figure out some compromise and like um I think Mike said you know let's get over this facility hump and
move forward as a district thank you all right I'll tell thank youan good evening I've uh lived down in the hofton area here since 1990s so I've been around a while my name is Ryan sour um I actually got my education from
West Central area and and very proud of that there was definitely some opportunities here that you don't see elsewhere that's a very unique School District um and that's that's why I would like to be on the board I've got two kids in school right now one uh down at the South Elementary
and then one here at the secondary school and I would like to see them get the same opportunities that I had and and future kids um I just want to make sure that the school remains a strong district and and that we can keep that quality education going into the future
um I also think it's quite important that we have even though the the board members have to take into account what's best for the school district as a whole I think it's good to have some representation from the south end of the district um and again I'm not saying I'm
out for the south end of the district but it's good to have the point of view of people from different areas of the district and that you know have kids in different schools in the district so that's uh that's why I'd like to be on the board right how would you describe an effective
Schoolboard M well I think listening is very important um it's important to take into account everybody's viewpoints but again you're not going to make everybody happy but I think it's also equally important to explain your point and and
why things are the way they are you know I think I think you need to make your decisions based on fact and not emotion and not that hey I'm going to do what's best for Hoffman because I from Hof I need to make that decision based on the district as a whole and explain
the position of the board or of myself and why I think this way so I think it's I think communication is is very very important both both ways listening and explaining yourself and I would ask what skills
talents or abilities would you have in helping this group get to m UT cons agreement well I've been in the construction business for many many years I'm actually uh um I have a construction management degree from Morehead State and one of the big things
that was taught there was that construction is basically an adversarial relationship you you always you got the relationship with your suppliers you've got the relationship with your customers you need to make sure that you're that everybody's keeping each other happy um
and so there's that listening piece um where you you need to to get everybody's input on everything but again you need to make your decisions based on fact um so I think the all the experience that I've had dealing with I'll admit it difficult
customers and uh difficult people um in business would would help a lot with that all right thank you thank you um so just i' just like to say to all of you thank you for coming thank
you for your interest in the board um please know that tonight is a is one vote um from five members and so whatever comes out of this I hope that you'll all you know take the interest to run we're going to have an election in November um we're going to have an
election the following November so um please don't take whatever whatever happens this evening I I don't know what the outcome is but please know that this is one one vote and by no means is this anything derogatory against any one of you or or whatever the outcome is um we
we still need people to run for the school board so if it's not your night tonight please please know that there's going to be other nights and we need we need all of you to run again so um I just want to be upfront and straightforward with all of you so um I
guess with that I would um there's no can I make a comment I mean I I would I would Echo strong group of candidates I would say this is really nice to see really appreciate you guys working on I know some of you on the task force and engaging in the
community and uh you know serving and we heard that several times uh throughout the the uh presentation piece of this and that's exactly what we need old John F Kennedy ask not what you can do but what or what your school can do for you but what you can do for for your school
district for your community Etc I would Echo it's it's going to be difficult decision for us but it's uh yeah 10 month 11 month in statement so just jump out and run again so yeah thanks any other
comments then I guess at this time I would look for uh a nomination for the vacant board seat I'll nominate Ryan s all right nomination for Ryan are there any other nomin I would
nominate uh Mike Browns we have a nomination for Mike Bruns are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations all right we have two nominations um at this time we will take
a roll call vote and you will vote with the name of your um selected person does that make sense to everyone am I clear on that so you will vote with a name not a yes or
no right so Christenson Ryan sour Porter mik Sabal Ryan sour sandstead Ryan sour and alri we'll vote for Ryan
s again I want to thank every one of you for coming in um I appreciate your time um and we do we do need each one of you to run um just a side note Brian you will have to wait 30 days now to be
seated on the board um and so uh we do have another meeting what's the date 17th December 18th December 18th so you're welcome to come and and sit um with clar and Darren um you can't sit at the table yet but um please feel free to
come um you're all welcome to come to every board meeting so just make make that clear um and then the we have to set we're going to set the date for our first meeting in January tonight actually and so then you'll know um
that'll be the first date you'll be seated at the board okay all right we'll move forward to our truth and Taxation the resolution sorry that resolution let's go to item number two
that's my mistake so the resolution to fill the school board vacancy um pursuant to Minnesota statute section 123b 09 subsection 5D Ryan s is hereby
appointed to fill the vacancy and serve until it's a successor is elected and qualified the appointment shall be effective 30 days after the adoption of this resolution unless a valid petition to reject the appointment is filed with
the school district clert pursuant to Minnesota statute 123b 09 subsection 5bb within that 30-day time period this will be a roll call
vote move to approve motion to approve in the second second we have a motion to Second roll call Christensen yes order yes syic yes s yes and all work is a yes perect all
right now we'll move forward to our truth and Taxation hearing that you've all been waiting for good evening um I just want to apologize in advance I am reading off of all of these slides
I know you can all read this but a lot of this is just legal Jaron that we have to talk about and um so I'll try not to read everything word for word so this is the truth and Taxation public meeting for West Central Area
Public Schools Eric you hold hold for this one second presentation got on the agenda I thought sharing her screen do you have a screen to share Eric can you share your screen I
can hold on one second [Music] here now I just have to put it on present not great sorry guys is it down at the the present
button is is it is it right where that little hand is at in the how do I get it to just the one are you seeing everything are you seeing two slides we're seeing everything are the all of your slides she needs to
go present so from beginning or from can you hit from beginning eron see that from beginning on the far left side way up on the top there you're to the left yeah right there down a little B see it says from beginning just a little bit below your
cursor down no because I have it on the display screen on mine here we can present from this one you'll just have to flip around along with her if you don't mind okay yeah go on the first page
okay we're ready sorry guys okay so this first slide is just talking about the truth and Taxation law um Minnesota's truth and Taxation law requires that cities counties and school
districts follow certain steps before adopting a tax suby for the following year one important part of that law requires a maale notice to each property owner in the county which describes the tax levies proposed by the city county and school district and what percent
increase such a levy would mean in dollars the second part of the law pertains to a truth and Taxation public meeting that's what you are here tonight for the requirements of the truth and Taxation public meeting is to discuss the proposed property tax levy for taxes
payable in 2025 and provide and discuss the information on the current budget for fiscal year 25 and public must be given a reasonable amount of time to comment on the proposed property tax levy and budget and to ask
questions and then just some points to remember that all of the revenue formulas are set by the state legislature except for the voter approved referendums local Levy and state aid mix Equalization are set by the state legislature and an increase in
local taxes does not necessarily mean an increase in revenues for the school district now I'm just going to give you um the current school year for 2425 we're going to talk about the School District budget first just a little overview on what the general what the different
funds mean the general fund is revenue based on student enrollment the local referendum Levy is part of the general fund in the general fund it provides classroom instruction instructional Supply equipment other educational
activities special education state and federal mandated programs extracurricular activities people Transportation facilities operation and maintenance Capital expenditures and improvements health and safety Code Compliance the Food Service fund is for
school breakfast and lunch program the community service fund is the uh regular Levy the community service Levy is based on adult in the district The Early Childhood Levy is based on the number of children under 5
years of age it provides for enrichment programs for any age level that are not part of the K12 education program Early Childhood family education uh School Readiness other also known as preschool and adult basic
education The Debt Service fund which is fund seven is based on annual debt retirement schedules for the district's outstanding bonded bonded in indebtedness and the annual Levy is for the payment of principal and interest on bonds as due this next slide is just our budget
overview of our revenues for fiscal year 25 you just want to take a look that we're going to go over that also again we talk about this Revenue budget every month the next slide is just showing where our school Revenue come
from so if you look at the big circle 75% of our revenue is received from state from state aid 1% is federal funded 19% are
property taxes and 5% are local um local Revenue which is fees interest and miscellaneous Revenue to the district the next slide is just a slide on our expend for 25 budget the next slide tells how our
general fund dollars are spent so if we break all of the different funding down it's 4.3% is related to the district and school ad Administration 5.5% is District Support Services
45.7% is regular instruction vocational instruction is 2.5% that would be um like our Career Tech education special education instruction is 14.7% instructional Support Services is
5.5% pupil Support Services 10.7% sites buildings equipment maintenance things like that is 10.2% and any other um item that the school may need is about .9% giving us 100% total
there here is our general fund expenditure budget broken out um so if you can see there 53.6% of our budget is spent on salaries and wages whereas 14.82% are employee
benefits such as health insurance 403 fees any elected benefits that an employee may take 20 4.26% is purchased services so those are contracted services that we may have such as our
busing um the SMS contract that we hold for business management um any of those other things that we have a contract with a different company to use 6.15% are related to supplies and less
than 1% both for equipment and other expens ures in District the school district levy that we're speaking about tonight is for the 2024 payable in 2025 for the 20242 school year F schal year
2025 Authority for school levies is a school district tax levy must either be set by the state formula voter approved or board approve and we get we receive up to $724 per um pupil unit adjusted pupil
unit some of the factors that impact the tax change are inflationary pressure on real estate markets abatements property improvements not previously taxed changed in individual assessed market value and possible change in property
classification for example you go from a home stent to a rent and how will your 2025 school taxes be spent 87% will be spent in the general fund 3% will be spent in Community Education and 10% will go to Debt
Service this is an overview of what the levy looks like for this year that we're presenting general fund compared to last year I apologize actual for last year was 2,346
2285 this year uh it's 2,410 682 th970xt 65 with an increase of $472 70 or a percent increase of
6.69% the debt Redemption um amount was $ 177,178 and proposed for 2425 is $267,800 64 an increase of
9,732 58 or increase of 51.2 3% um for a total of $2,519 40 over last year a 7.9% increase and I will explain these numbers to you
on the next slide so here are the changes so our referendum um or L last year the change from this year to last year went up $92,900 31 and that was mainly due to the
referendum market value in uh last year's Levy it was these our District's referendum market value was roughly $43 million and for this year it's
$468 million so we had a big increase in our referendum market value which would cause our referendum um amounts to go up so that explains that increase equity and transitional went up about
13,000 our Capital project referendum went up $ 53,55 that again is due to the referendum market value increase building and landle increased $262 safe schools went down a little bit
$ 2879 that's based on student enrollment so our enrollment is down a little bit so that's why we're seeing a decrease there career in Tech same thing went down about $42 and this is where it gets a little
bit tricky kind of um uh in 2024 our long-term facilities maintenance Levy was $85,900 this year it's $1,777 78 so it was a decrease of
$75,100 so if you look at that that number I'm going to jump ahead a little bit if you look at that number and then you look down at the debt service line you can see that last year our debt service amount was was $177,100
and then this year it's $267,800 so what happened was last year we are able to Levy at 105% for our debt service and that's to make sure that we can make all of our bond payments so
that we never have an issue making payments and we can maintain a good credit ring so after so many years that de excess builds up and we had a large fund balance in our debt service fund way more than we needed to make our
payments so last year they took uh roughly $80,000 out of our debt service fund and in return they added it to our long-term facilities mainten in the general fund
so that if there was ever a chance we could make we could pull from our long-term facilities maintenance funds to make those Bond payments so now because they made that adjustment last year they put it back into the general fund but this year they
put money back what it should be at the 105% Into The Debt Service fund so now we're at $267,800 in debt service and that's why we're down to only 10,778 in the ltfm fund um ltfm funds
because we don't need to draw from the we shouldn't need to draw from the general fund to make those payments does that make sense okay and then as is all going down the prior year it makes sense to me sorry you know kind of crazy jar all
this stuff but prior your adjustments went up this year $1,000 $950 and other general fund um Levy categories went down $2,000 then the community service fund again went up 4,726 and Debt Service went up
9,732 58 with a total change of [Music] 21,5 940 of an increase and here we are in the last slide thanks for sticking with me um I'm going to read this because after
this um you'll get to talk about but this is what the um school board will certify for the the levy so it says whereas pursuant to Minnesota statutes the school board of West Central Area School District Barrett Minnesota is authorized to make the following
proposed tax levies for general purposes maintenance general fund 2,410 82.9 community service 75,4 $ 12665 Debt Service
$267,800 4426 now therefore be it resolved by the school board of West Central Area School District Barrett Minnesota that the levy to be levied in 2024 to be collected in 2025 is set at 27539 4426 the clerk of the West Central Area
School Board is authorized to certify certify the propa levy to the count the a so you will take care of that at the December 18th meeting just in case there was a followup conversation remember back in the day there used to be the continuation hearing so this just allows
us that opportunity ra questions concern ctif thank you Aon okay well that brings us to the world's best Workforce comprehensive achievement and Civic presentation is that you
Mr that is me nice I know I get to present some more numbers but they're not as big as the ones we just heard so we're in trouble if your numbers are as big as the ones she did all right I'll be your slide okay perfect so
I'm reporting on our world's best Workforce and every year we um we set goals the year before and then report on how we did throughout the year here on our goals and we included our um West Central Area mission statement and it was interesting because as I was going through our world's best Workforce
report it was really evident that a lot of the elements in our mission statement are really played out in the world's best Workforce so it was just really good to see that that correlation throughout the the presentation and this is um a slide just saying that Minnesota State Statute says
that we have a world's best Workforce annual report and then um report every year on um on the the goals that were set that were established the year prior the initiatives the district has engaged in and then the progress made on those
goals and this just explains more what um the world's best Workforce is so this is directly from MD's website that was developed in 2013 it really ensures that we are on track to um enhance student achievement through teaching and learning support
and then there are four areas or four goals that we have in our world's best workfor Force plan which is on the next slide so those are that all children are ready for school that we are working to um close the racial and E economic achievement gaps between students that
students are College and Career ready and they graduate from high school in the um this last legislative session they actually renamed the world's best Workforce so moving forward starting in this year and and subsequent years it will be called the
comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness um reporting goals I'm really glad they did that so um the the the new terminology will be that comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness and the reason for that is that it has the the dual purpose
of the the goal setting as we've done in the past so supporting that student academic achievement in their prek through 12 experiences as well as just the emphasis on that we're preparing students to be active members in our community after graduation and so starting this school
year um the the effect this Chang is in effect that we have the new um the new title for the program and our strategic plans this year and then next year in our summary report you'll see the new um the new name for the program and they
also as when they renamed it um the plan added a new goal so we have the same four goals that that we're in the world's best Workforce in addition to one more which is preparing the lifelong Learners so going along with that engaging them um to be successful in the community after their 12th grade
experience so then we'll have the five goals the four from previous and then this new one so the first goal is um that all students are ready for school or all children are ready for school and our West Central Area goal for that um topic
is that we are trying to reach academic and social benchmarks by measure um as measured by various kindergarten Readiness rubrics and the next slide um our specific goal that we set was at for 80%
so we're um our goal is at 80% of students are having a preschool experience prior to kindergarten whether it's here at West Central or if they come from a different District um we take into account that as well and then that they have um met the criteria that
F require requirement and our result from last year was that 90% had that pre had participated in the preschool experience so that was a good a good piece to see um that we're on track for that one the next goal is working towards
closing the achievement gaps and this one um in looking at reading and math MCA data and we looked at um West Central Area last year looked at our special education program and measured um looking at students that were
proficient on our MCA assessment and that was um from third grade on up so they take it third grade through e8th grade and then um also in 10th grade in reading and 11th grade in math so all that result is on
um some of the subsequent slides and our results were um that our achievement Gap increased in Reading from the year prior to last year by 133% and then in math it increased so I um
this one our goal we did not meet it so we are are um have more work to do to to close that achievement Gap so when we're reporting out we would like I said we're not on track or haven't met that yet and then um but it's a multiple year goal so
then we'll continue to work towards meeting that goal and this slide has the data over the last few years so the numbers that you see first under like 2022 the 65% um and 2024 56% for the non-sp
special education students that is our West Central Area percentage of students that were proficient on the MCA parentheses shows the Statewide proficiency so our non-sp special education students 56% of um our
population last year was proficient on the MCA the state average was 55% our special education population was 11 and so our achievement Gap was a 45% achievement gap which and therefore the the difference is the year prior we had
only we had an achievement gap of 32% so we went up 133% which was the data that I just showed the previous slide um just a question on these num this is a overall all students that are involved in this
that took the just a certain not just a certain grade level y so every student who um from third grade through e8th grade all students take it and then again for reading and so it's all all the students together combined all that data is compiled to get that 56 11 and
then the 45% good question and then the next slide has our math data so our in 2024 last school year our non-sp special education students 52% of our students were proficient on the MCA
23% of our special education population was proficient on the MCA and then our achievement Gap was 29% so we had the 9% increase from the year prior the next goal for world's best Workforce is and um all students are
ready for college career in college and these are the criteria that West Central sets so they are enrolled in a senior seminar course they've completed two or more college courses um or score at or
above the ACT Benchmark in English math reading and science so that was our criteria and then our goal is that 100% of our seniors demonstrate College and Career Readiness and we were so close just one um we were short by just one
student so 98% which is really great as well but 98% of our students um were college or career ready last year so had met one of the criteria in the previous slides or slide and then our last goal under
world's best work Workforce was all students graduate from high school and last year the goal set was that 95% of the students would graduate and then the result was that um 97% so 57 out of the 59 so we met that goal gradu
last year from wcaa are there any questions I question that's all right that the MCA scores student Ops out I've heard it multiple ways how does that affect that overall score the school score count as a does not meets
correct like yeah Bas Z yes so that all that data is factored into our percentages good question is there any I mean is there any talk of I mean I suppose you still want to get a a group whole group involved but
is there any talk of is there any way to get that out of the kids that took it where we sit versus you know 10 kids don't take it that's obviously a big number of zeros so right I we could probably get the
data I mean not that I don't care about the ones that didn't take it but see what I'm saying it's not really very reflective of what we actually how we actually did students that took it yeah um if we you know obviously there's a reason why somebody didn't take
it I'm sure we could yeah file it down more and and be able to determine to say this yeah this was our overall percentage because we have to take into consideration the ones who also did in but then of the students who did take it this was like and did that CH didn't
that change recently or you could opt out was that this last iow CLA or whatever and did we I mean did we have I guess one question did we have more kids that did it this l i mean did that number go up is that why our
numbers yes so it it it does typically increase each year with the number of kids that are opting out um and a big issue that we face with standardizing testing is the value of the testing the
MCAS used to mean a lot because it was a graduation standard um it isn't anymore so the the ability to get students and parents to buy into the importance of taking the test seriously is a major
challenge for us um we get quite a few kids who would pass that opt out um not because their parents are upset with us just because they the parents are opposed to the concept of State standardized testing um we also get uh
quite a few kids especially in the high school that will go through and take a 60 question test and be done in less than five minutes so they are clearly going through and just clicking and there's not really anything that we can
do about it um we we there's because it's it's not a grade it's not something that can be counted um towards their academic success here it is simply a representation of where they're at um
according to the state so while it doesn't look good for us it doesn't really harm them in any way shape or form I feel like we had this exact same conversation a few months I feel like we're just going to chase our tail in a
direction we can't catch it that there has to be in the I'm sure there's going to be changes coming but we've been waiting for some pretty major shifts in uh State Testing it hasn't come yet um
I'm hoping with the changes of standards that have taken place before too long that'll force them to make changes to the testing which will allow us to make it more applicable to what we're actually doing in class um I I still
remember back when I was in school and teachers would reward us for doing well on the test um and kind of teach to the to the test well our teachers don't do that because our teachers care so much more about the kids actual learning and
success and real life application versus can they do really well on a multiple choice test um way more value but it doesn't always show up in the the data you know one thing we had talked about when I presented the MCA data was
looking at our local data so at our February school board meeting I'll be able to present our fast data from K4 which would um maybe be because all the students take it too um so it's representative of how they perform it's
not an opt out and as year like doesn't have that type of data within it so I can bring that to we test the middle of January so I can bring that data to our February board meeting and that could be a good um good piece and discussion point to just say here's where we're at right now
and sometimes that data aligns well sometimes um you know there might be some discrepancies too but it's good to see are we on track so so why I think I maybe know the answer to this a little bit but but you showing uh
58% uh Readiness I believe it was and then the math thing but we're saying you you feel we're 98% College and Career ready what is the gap in that uh differential of how we're measuring right because those that's that's a
dichotomy in my in my mind right right and I think it goes back to the criteria too because in the college in career Readiness is but it's that they're enrolled in a course um it's not necessarily how they performed on the course that they're that they're enrolled um that they've completed at
least two or more college courses so the the criteria is different with the College and Career goal versus the achievement Gap goal I guess my only other question would be is is there a way in when you present is there a way to just even give the number
the kids that opted out that number I think so you know what I mean so can we can we go back and say in 2022 this many you know so at least there's a reference point to say you know obviously when you go backwards nobody wants to go backwards but you
know that that's probably a huge Factor if if another dozen kids said I don't want to take it today you know that's obviously not going to help the percentage Yeah and it certainly would be at least a disclaimer that you know our number of opt outs went up by 10
this year which doesn't help well and it from what Kevin said maybe for February you know is it is it is it the wrong test do do you believe I mean does our admin believe this is just the wrong test you know maybe we yeah I don't know it be it'd be neat to know you know what
how you feel about to assess is to release say how are we doing on our curriculum and so that's so then we can look to see what's going well with our curriculum what are areas or standards that we need to maybe
supplement or add to um so it really gives us as administrators and teachers a way to look at you know it's a dipstick measure to say how how are we doing it's just such a bad metric though when you you know when when you get 20% that don't take it one you're 28 the
next year 18 right right so that's a really yeah the dichotomy between the standardise testing and then the College and Career ready is really that's measuring some of the other soft skills that we want kids to have whereas this is one day in time on a on a
standardized test whereas the college in prer Readiness is are students ready to enter the workforce or enter college and be prepared to be successful so if you're interviewing someone at work you're probably not going to care so much how they did on their MCAS but you're going to Care are they able to be
a a you know valuable employee and show up in time and do all these other things that are kind of shown with the metrics on the other category it's just how we measure our performance right as a district we've been talking a lot about that setting goals right and it's really a hard I
mean if you get 20% that don't take it to me it seems like junk you know but that's just you know are really bad yeah it looks just you know from The public's perspective ours or anybody's right it's just it's seems like there could be a better way I guess if it's you know if it's measuring our and it says we have
58% of kids that are meeting the standard but at the end of the year 95% of our kids go on to the next grade you know culum working or we not are we not judging you know correctly so
how does that work so you yeah it'll be interesting to see too with a new curriculum I mean there's usually implement year so we might not see the results at the end of this year but will we see different results too moving forward as we have our letters training through the redapt as we have a new curriculum like will we start to see some of that data
trending I mean hopefully trending upwards with with changes and more professional development we have and also be interesting to see I guess as these groups move through where where were you at when Co you know what where was this grade at when Co you know when
you were not in school for six months well I mean and this is really philosophical issue in education and has been for 25 years right of what what we do you put on standardized tests and how you measure success in other ways Center
assessing is an easy way to measure it but is it the right way that's that's open for debate right it is not if the kids aren't taking it it's not the right right it's not yeah so it's not consistent yeah any
other questions comments all right well then we will move on to our administrative reports and that brings us so we finished conferences and at the elementary level we had 96% of families
attend conferences and one of the teachers or a couple of teachers today in their leadership meeting just said they really value that time that families come in appreciate um connecting with them individually and with students and it just is very purposeful so um and we had just great
attendance 96% is awesome for our families to to come in for conferences during conferences we had Book Fairs at both of our elementary buildings and had over $1,000 doll that were um of profits that were able to be put back into purchasing books for the school which is
a huge a huge amount of um dollars being put back into the building so that that was really great and we have a couple pair professionals that spend time um organizing that so thanks to them for running the book fair and then PTO donates some money for for teachers to purchase books so we're really thankful
always to the pto's who are very supportive in each of our buildings and um get those books in in classrooms into students hands today we had for our K4 um classroom teachers we had letters training and our special education and I
should say K5 classroom teachers sorry um special education and reading interventionist and then we did some curriculum work with our other our other areas such as vied music counselors and our prek teachers and then I'm really excited upcoming PD on our January early
out we are doing some fast Bridge training for all of our teachers we had training from the company that was kind of a use it or lose it and our teachers said that'd be really good as I shared I can bring that data to our February meeting but all of our students have fast um go through our fast assessment
so the teachers and the reading interventionists do those assessments but we're going to give teachers the training on what the assessments are and how to interpret the results and then use the results to inform instruction so we're really excited to have that training from the company and then
wonders our curric our literacy new literacy curriculum is coming on um January 24th in person to do a training with our teachers on assessments and then we have letters training the rest of the year and we have a data day coming up at both buildings where we
really have the opportunity to look at our students in depth and how are our interventions going what are celebrations for students and then discuss changes that we need to make to um make sure all students are making grow so we're excited about those in the
next couple weeks any questions for me on the elementary level curious what what kind of response you getting with the letters training really good feedback it's a lot of information um and I know our big thing and myself I've gone through letters training a couple
times now is I always wanted to think about well how does this like how can I put it right into my classroom and the first couple trainings are a lot on um philosophy and Method just what is what is the knowledge that I need to know as a teacher in order to best instruct my
students so as we get through or more into letters training a lot of it will then be the application piece like what are the activities I can do how does this um but we also have to have the knowledge as teachers to say okay well why does this make the hard G versus the soft G like we need to have that
information in order to instruct our students of that and sometimes we didn't get that in in um you know our courses in college so a lot of is also new learning for um teachers and and Educators and it's really good I know that they're very um excited about it
and just it's a lot of information but it's good was what's fast Bridge training can you explain that a little bit Yeah so fast is our assessment that we use in we assess all students in reading and math and depending upon the grade level
there's different assessments so in um in Reading they like in kindergarten first grade they have letter name and letter ID um tests there's fluency assessments and so all students are given the assessment and then we as
teachers look at our students on track how many students are making growth throughout the year so we do it three times a year fall winter spring and then in the winter and the spring we can look at um student achievement and then student growth and that helps us make instructional decisions as to students
who might need intervention or enrichment hey they they got this they they're doing really well what do we need to do to enrich them or who's on track and then math all students again are are assessed in math and depending upon the grade level there's um could be number ID it could be
um like multiples or um trying to think of what all the other sub tests are but it assess different areas of of reading and math and that's given to all students three times a year good question other
questions thank you all righty um Lots going on um wanted to start the um School Musical had their performances few weeks ago very very successful um performance and
really showcase some of the amazing talent that we have at our school here if you had a chance to go it got really really positive reviews from everyone that I've talked to that attended um other things going on are eighth graders attended a retreat which
was put on by the youth Frontiers organization um this was a c Retreat where they it was led by upper classmen several up upper classmen um Herman Ashby and West Central participated in this and it was kind of the design or
focus of this is to um build self-confidence empathy and kind of the courage to do what's right even if it's difficult um got positive feedback on that as well students had a good time that same day we also had the state patol visit along with um the toward
zero deaths Coalition and they gave a driving safety presentation to our ninth and 10th grade students just on the importance of making good decisions and not driving distracted and kind of did a very good job of connecting with students and bringing in kind of a
personal touch on why driving State Fe is important last week we had our parent teacher conferences this um was a productive time we're always at the high school kind of working and trying to find ways to enhance the conference
experience just because it's a little bit different than at the elementary where um pretty much every parent comes to their conference with their teacher just by the nature of the setup of the secondary school is a little bit different so we're always brainstorming
some ideas to try and um improve that we did have parents sign up prior to conference days and that was helpful for spring conferences we're going to work on finding a way to have parents sign up in Synergy um I know that Alec does this
and it's pretty successful I think um so we're going to explore that as an option we are tops day completion where staff successfully completed their tops requirements due to missing school for football and volleyball really well received with
staff they're very appreciative of the um opportunity to attend games and make up that time other random fun things going on Mr swanski had the honor of being a guest at the presidential turkey Parton name last week which is pretty impressive um
opportunity and looks like he had a great time there um we talked about this at the last board meeting but um positive feedback continues to come in on our veteran say program and um several Nice Notes and cards that have come in Dem that are appreciative of
wca's respect for those who serve and then just a big shout out to our staff we have lots of awesome things going on and lots of people working really really hard making a positive impact in um our students lives any questions for me
thank you MRK Mr all right well the winter season is upon us as we can all tell outside council meeting lately not yet not yet uh girls basketball has three games in the boys would have had a game
in but uh their first game was scheduled with staples Motley so we with them being in the prep bow we did move that back a couple days and their first game will be tomorrow against Staples mle so uh wrestling is their first event tomorrow as well one act play has or
play practice has started and WCA will once again host the subsection event and we're we're honored this year to also host a 6A event so that that's kind of a big deal in the one act community and that will be February 1st is the 6A
event there will be eight schools here uh representing the four subsections so um our subsection event will be on Friday the 24th in the afternoon speech is looking to get going however we need a couple coaches for speech so
that's kind of handcuffing that a little bit uh Junior High boys basketball starts after the Christmas break and we're still looking for one coach for that as well uh some upcoming events in the activities world we do have a 712 band concert coming up on Monday the 9th the
40th annual Grant County wrestling tournament will be next Friday uh we currently have 11 schools uh that that are coming with Varsity JB and girls brackets as well so we do anticipate a large amount of wrestlers and a large large amount of fans as well Friday or
Saturday oh did I say Friday Saturday Saturday excuse me thank you thanks I'm set up for Saturday yeah yeah we have the 712 Fire concert coming up on December 16th we have our winter region 6A meeting on December 18th our senior high
knowledge Bowl uh teams travel to Concordia on December 9th 18 our boys and girls basketball teams will participate once again in the Pelican Rapids tournament on December 27th and 28th they do have their first round games posted on our school so we know
those times and then the second day that will just be dictated to how they do on the first day and I'll fill those in accordingly uh wrestling they will go to the rumble on the red and you will notice that is the first two days we come back from school on January 2nd and
3rd so so yeah we we will get pretty crazy with winter things and hopefully the weather can somewhat cooperate with us so sounds good any questions comments from Mr
fing all right thank you that brings uh do you have anything for report we got um yeah so Co volleyball seems to be kind of a nemesis with weather because Meg said anytime she schedules that we
always have some weather so that was suppos that start tonight 13 teams playing this year she got a lot of other SS going on Elementary wrestling um have 75 wrestlers in the prek six through sixth grade sign up and yeah Mr Gro I
think that's kind of why that program is as strong as it is with all his involvement and and everybody knows Mr Gro so steam is running both North and South this month change Mak par activity this month will be held in Wendell on December 10 we ask that all families pre-register
because we need to plan meals and prizes and Andy's Thursday night skiing starts tomorrow reg registration already closed Monday and in conjunction with Andy and Palmer we were able to offer Ski and snow bar rentals as well as Transportation this will run from December 5th through March weather
dependent and the fourth graders of both North and South will be heading on their annuals Andy's trip on December 18th 13 13 keep me on my I see how it is all right
um that will bring us to technology Mr M hello um first off I did grab just a really quick overview of some of the testing pieces you guys were curious about um first off I just want to
also backtrack just a little bit I don't believe that the test is a waste of time I think that there's an opportunity to make it successful I just the its current state is not easy for us as a school district to make great use of the data and
information one we don't get the information until you know official scores don't come out until the summer time well that leaves us no time to plan for the upcoming year because ultimately we want to know if they're in seventh grade and they're
behind and they're scoring below grade level we need to know that when we're scheduling for the next year so it's really hard with timing of the tests also just like we we all know it's that one snapshot of an entire year and that
kid might just be off that day so it it those pieces are difficult um I'm a huge advocate for the the fast testing that we do the a maath a reading um I feel like those are give us better data points to help understand along with the
classroom teachers they're the the ones who know the most those are the pieces of information that are actually helpful and supportive all right so of last year's Juniors taking the math test so that'd be this year's seniors there were
54 kids eligible to take the MCA because some students take the M Taz which is an alternative assessment um 13 of the 54 opted out or refused to take the test um
so there were 36% % does not meet 24% of that was opt outs that's a big swing yes now now I'm not saying that those are wrapped into those numbers though right I mean cor that's and I'm not saying that all those
13 would pass right but that's a guarantee on most 13 um throughout the other six grades that do the their testing we had 11 opt outs so each grade had at least 5% that
showed up in that does not meet that would have been possibly someplace else um so it it adds up all right beyond that so actual technology
stuff now um as as far as Tech goes it's a wild and crazy world but it's going well um overall the major pieces that we have in place are working in supporting the instruction which is ultimately what our goal is um we have a lot of work to
do to get make sure that we get ready for the inclement weather that is now upon us I was really hoping it would just not come so um but I believe that our teachers are super well well prepared our students have a ton of skills and knowledge to be able to jump
into these uh much quicker than we used to um which I believe is also a great skill for them moving forward into business world because so much work is becoming either uh hybrid remote or remote entirely um opens up a ton of opportunities one of the pieces I am
starting to dig deep into is the acquisition of computers for next year um all of our devices come from overseas so we are trying to determine if the prices are going to actually increase significantly and the no one
has an answer um so it's too early to pre-order um so I'm looking into refurb options all the different options we have on the table so when we get to the spring if all of a sudden it is an astronomical
number we can potentially have a backup plan great new oh I have to make sure that I mention how wonderful and amazing Stacy is she is absolutely incredible she is what makes this District continue to move so
smoothly and when she's not here I pull my hair out because I'm running in circles so she is the glue that holds our our technology department together any questions for all right that brings us to Mr
Norberg buildings and grounds hey gang um I got my report sent in uh I don't have a whole lot to add on to that just uh we had another blood drive today um I think it went very well for the weather the way it was anyways um it's always
nice to have those people in I think that's that's great for community and and a great option um I was very impressed I went in and gave blood um a lot of kids a lot of our kids were in there today that I noticed more so than
the last couple of years so um kudos to the community and their parents and stuff for allowing that because I know some of them were actually going over to their parents that were there giving blood at the same time to get their paperwork signed because they were too young but um I think that's a great opportunity
and I'm I'm glad that we do that here uh the only other thing I have to add is uh we got a note a couple days ago from uh Wayne from Lakes Country and Mr Brown low has also gotten some information through the grap Vine um on his little
handy dandy thing uh OSHA seems to be in our area and has been showing up schools here and there so um that's my big push here the next couple days is just to kind of make sure we've got that end of things taken care
of in case they decide to knock on the door and say hi then that that's one all I got unless you have questions on anything or the reports I gave her any questions from Mr what about the uh ban m in Auditorium
what's going on with that it had to be rebuilt well what ises it can you explain what it it's it's it's the motor on the heat pump that actually draws the air across the coils okay so um we have two units that were in the auditorium uh one unit I had actually
turned up and left on in the evenings in the the system here um at 10 o'clock kind of shuts down or goes to a lower level and then at 6:00 a. they kick back up um so the day before the
Auditorium was pretty cold so I turned the one unit up and then we opened up a bunch of the doors um and that motor did get fixed but it was 45 minutes before the the concert so it it yeah it was a rebuild that had to be done it was
the draw motor or the fan motor that that pulls your your air across the coils and and pushes it out through the system imagine it was a little work to get it out of there oh yeah um yeah about that far between the unit and
and the brick wall that we had to work with on that one of course it couldn't be one of the other ones but yeah where do you send it off to um GN G&R controls uh we have a contract with them um for
our computer aspect that they come in four times a year do updates and the guy looks through things and looks at anomalies with stuff stuff on our computers if we need to change some fan speeds or things like that um and then three times a year they come in and do a
a physical eyes on guys will come in and get up in the ceiling at random units um a lot of it is is I keep track of things where we've been having issues and then we also correlate with what shows up on the on the computer and so they'll check those areas out um so this was something
that was was out when they were here um when he went through the computer stuff um so they just come in um they have a guy in Fargo that that rebuilds motors um so that one actually was the
bearings and then there was a um heat resistor that had tripped out or or was bad that he had to replace in it all right thank thanks any other questions thank you
that moves us to our business manager are you muted she probably left sorry um okay there's uh just a few things that I want to point out on the budget presentation today just as a
refresher um when you look at the revenue at the very top for the general fund where it shows the local revenues year to date this year we had $173,400 I just wanted to point out that that's just because of the timing issue
with how um back this time last year how they had reported our Levy they recorded it right away in July last year whereas typically we don't record it till closer to the end of the year so that's what that large amount is there we are not
missing out on any funds it's just a timing difference so um there's that and then also just to note that in the federal revenues we're showing a negative 60 almost
65,000 that again is due to um it's not that we're actually negative it's just that we still receed money in fiscal year 25 but it's actually recorded in fiscal year 24 so it comes on to the report showing as a negative and as we
continue to earn our Revenue that number will no longer be negative so it's just adjusting for the money that's coming in in fiscal year 2045 that's actually meant for last year so I just wanted to point that out to you guys so you weren't wondering what that the heck
what's going on there but if you scroll down to the look down to the expenditures we are very much in line with where we haveen the last couple of years um same with if you scroll down even further the revenues for Food
Service FIA debt Redemption same thing with the revenues and expenditures there I'm not 100% sure the difference in revenues for food
service at this point why we're a little bit lower this year that again probably just a timing issue with when we've received our revenue from the state but otherwise our expenditures are exactly in line with the last couple of years and um I think overall we're looking
pretty good all right any questions or comments or Aon okay thank you and that brings us to is this first time you've really
gotten me really quiet yeah here we go so today we did actually have um representatives from Zan and assoc our xan Associates come in the meet with the administration to see what opportunities there would be for pedestrian and bicycle safety that's a new statute
that's out there uh it's going to be required and so they were just kind of getting some feedback from our administrator to see what pieces do they feel would be best that would be able to have some sustainability some implementation success and things like that so I think we were the first group that they met
with um out of the entire stat so I thought that was pretty neat that we'll be able to to have some influence on that they'll follow up I think again later the spring just to say here's what we kind of came up with in all of our surveys and is this what you guys were thinking so hopefully that'll go well
there elections I've got many things after the meeting tonight that we need to take care of Lakes Country service Cooperative election m board of directors election and region one election so they have a lot of spots that are open um and so there's candidates not that you're running for
any of those spots but we'll get that taken care of there as well Community task force that group met on um the 20th in the evening after our last meeting there and so I did include in the paper packets kind of the
minutes and remember you can find all that stuff on the website as well the minutes and the upcoming agendas and so I think they' went through all the evaluations there um started to review some things with existing facilities and now we're going to start working towards
priorities so we're going to come up with some cost Testament to say here's what it would cost to to um take care of our current needs with HVAC and things like that and then we'll start to look at alternative solutions to see if there's another solution as well out
there so um the real work I would say is going to start here December 18th and that it'll be really I mean I think really digging in probably in January and February as theyve got those meetings scheduled we did get a hold of a demographer and so we're sending her information so we can get that 10 year
projection so she actually looks 10 years back and then she'll go 10 years forward actually the last two points there on her pieces that she needs um are in regards to housing they want to know what housing and will be has been built over the last 5 years and that's
projected to be built so we've had to reach out to the county to see what information they can get there and I do know um talking to somebody they said some of those pieces would be maybe just what housing is available for new families to move in doesn't only include your new families but sometimes your
folks who are nearing retirement or retired you know do they need to find a different location where they don't need as much room then so those new families can move in so we'll be getting all that put together her hope is to have that back to us by early January so the task force can look at that information to
have as much information and make a a really nice recommendation for the board to review student enrollment uh those numbers are still um still changing unfortunately those numbers are still declining and so that's going to be a huge that we really need to look at uh
currently right now if I got the information from our secretary at three buildings were just um above 700 students so that is a significant drop and you take that at $10,000 per pupil last year we were 740 the year before I think we were 775 so that decline is
significant and so we need to address some of those pieces there uh the nice pieces are kindergarten connection this year is 50 so that does create a nice size kindergarten for for next year but that is some pieces that we do really need to look at as we look at our
elementaries compared to the students that are graduating there's some real discrepancy there that we'll need to be prepared for on that because that is the biggest driver as it comes to enrollment for the district or not excuse me revenue for the district school
Management Services um so Aeron is nearing the end uh with WCA here she's been very busy trying to support three school districts and so we'll have a new person coming on board here I think they'll be doing some transitioning with Aaron over the month of December and
then the gentleman's name is raw chof and so we will meet to start getting things put together there he comes with some experience from Minneapolis School District the adid school district and he'll be also helping some other districts while he's working with SMS
but that'll allow us to get the budget revision taken care of because as we talk about declining enrollment we will need to adjust our budget to account for that and some of those other expenses maybe that were initially included for Staffing that we haven't necessarily been able to fill so we'll get all those
pieces taken care of so you can have that first budget revision I would say either at the end of the January meeting or that first meeting in December that way there and then msba leadership conference I know I kind of keep harping but um if you know if you're going or
not I really should get that uh rooming Arrangement take care of some of you have already responded uh so we know that way but I do need to get that in just to make sure that we have that ready to go uh Mr fine has been working on some vehicle um Replacements remember
we've kind of held off on that vehicle I'll be bringing that to the December 18th meeting with a couple different options one of those pieces is how we Finance it we do have money in those CDs over at Kensington Bank we found out that those were renewed a few years ago
at 0.55% so it's unfortunate that um that wasn't collecting a high interest rate over the last few years but I have reached out to Kensington to see and I believe when they renew and two of them will renew in January we're going to be at about three to three and a half%
there's another one that renews in in um April and that one they'll renew sooner that's always kind of looking at that penalty what you're going to gain an interest but at 0.55% compared to 3% or 2% it's going to be a much bigger deal and so I think at that point we look too
to see is it the district's best interest to remember we did look at that lease purchase option or we could do that over a term of three years five years whatever that interest rate is or do we want to maybe not um maybe one of those CDs we don't want to keep the dollar amount as High there and we use
some of those dollarss to cover that so we'll bring those options for the board to review we'll make sure you have plenty of time to look at that piece there on that next school board meeting December 18th remember it's 7 o'clock in the morning meeting Brian so it's an early start on that meeting um and then
Community task force meeting will be that evening at 6 o'clock and then the holiday break starts December 23rd we do go through January 1 but we do have school on that Thursday and Friday the second of any questions
comments is there anybody that knows they can make the task force meeting on the 18th okay I don't believe I can but we know we have I'll be gone for sure that
be do can you speak a little bit to what we're teaching or required to teacher on bicycle pedestrian safety so actually we found out a little bit that our um fire teachers I think in some of our our buildings are doing that I think
down at South my understanding was our school resource officer was doing some pieces there too so about crossing the street to um I think wearing a helmet riding at the right side of the road so I think it's all those different pieces so some of it's already happening so
that was I think one of our suggestions let's not recreate everything that's already there you're going to see in the one policy that they're adding electrical bicycle safety um so the electrical assisted bikes that we have to instruct kids that can't have one until age 15 you're not technically
supposed to use one I guess that's the law but I think I know where you're going with that Gary because I I did say I'm not sure that it's fair that our teachers take on one additional piece right we do a lot of stuff in schools and I think they realize that's where to get the greatest audience I think the hardest part is going to be how does that Cur
curriculum at WCA in bar differ than what happens in downtown minap and so local governance right correct exactly and so I think they're trying to figure out those probably should have tract class y absolutely so I think that's
what they were trying to get Fe back across the state to say how does that look how do we do that differently I think our our key words to that word in please jump in because you may say those are key wordss that wasn't the only keywords but I think relevance yeah and so I think one of the things making sure that we don't have adults doing that
maybe they need to have some students there you know how they want to know how do you sustain it how do you ensure there engag so it's coming through men do so it's legislation you know and and I think again thinking kind of where maybe you're thinking on this is yeah if our
teachers are already doing it which I think some of our teachers are why are we now we're going to come back this is going to be the way that you need to do it now seems to be what happens and so I think they need to tread lightly to say okay here's some other opportunities I also believe that the missing piece
would be parents too I think there should may be some stuff online that I guess my dad taught me how to write mik it wasn't necessarily anything or maybe you offer it through Community Ed right like we're offer gun safety snowmobile safety ATV safety there's you know you could you know there could be other ways
where you to have a choice right rather than a mandate so the legislation is KS to happen so yeah so we're so right now so I told him it goes really well we want wca's name on there people don't really appreciate
it but I think there's some some pieces there at least we get some influence on that but it'll be interesting they come out with and again I think the key was finding out that our our folks already oh yeah I mean I think it was Mr R today and swim safety sunburns bicycle Allie I
mean it's already there it's happening you know and stuff like that so please don't come with a whole new thing that says now you got three we some bicycle safety we already got figed out for our for our area now this will maybe align a little bit with the safe RS to school um PL that's happening in Elbow Lake you know they're working through that piece
there because each Community is going to be different too as well when it comes to who's going to ride a bike and you know crossing streets and double late compared to Bar things like that so and this was a really positive like presentation from the representatives that came and they they really are
listening for feedback and trying to make this something that's relevant and there's a ton of effort going in from this um organization to try and make this something positive hypothetically if I drive my bike to work work or to school can I
just plug it in is it no I don't answer that we have just as many plugins for bikes as we do for trucks okay looking for quotes Nissan all right any other questions
comments it's going to bring us to page two of our agenda um consent items we have the following Personnel items we have three resignations um two pair professionals and head track coach um
and we also have a lead request for Kathy Bronco um um questions comments look for a motion to approve the consent agenda second all in favor
say I I I motion carries uh new business um authorized superintendent to file claims for District's unclaimed property with the state of Minnesota yeah so Maggie actually was I think she was notified by BSN or something like that
and and maybe you go on there to check as well to see for yourself um but they we can claim we you saw the packet there it's roughly $425 that will be able to or $426 16 that we can claim we just got to do the corporate authorizations so that's going
to be at the very bottom so just need the board to approve that the superintendent can file that claim I'll draft a letter on letterhead and have my assign that then we can submit that to get our money back from the state so we have to do that as well on that unclaimed property so example would be
let's say we have a basketball official who officiates Mike officiates for us he gets the check he doesn't C check we just can't put that out the books to say he get I guess he didn't need to pay get paid for that one so we have to track that and then the state requires you and
so I know Magie just did that I think this past spring I think we had to go through and do a self audit and check all those things and we had to submit uh unclaimed property with the names and dollar amounts to them so that's kind of how that works and we're in that same boat with a little the money from
Coca-Cola as well as then I think J is that sign home service is that the no no there there is a piece outstanding from BSN I know that that if it's not on here it will be coming as well okay and maybe they're going to send us that trck directly but these are the two places
that we have some dollars so this would be just for any any of this you're going to you just need to be authorized correct yeah all right any other questions on that now look for motion to approve the superintendent to be to file claims for districts unclaimed property with state
of Minnesota F motion and a second second all in favor say I I motion carries um we have to approve the world's best Workforce summary report is that the right
name right now yeah until this one from last year so uh look for a motion to approve that report some and a second second all in favor say I I motion carries we have
the first reading of the following policies with the statutory and recommended revisions from msba policy 704 development and maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets and fixed assets accounting system policy 707 transportation of
public school students policy 708 transportation of non-public school students policy 709 student Transportation safety policy policy 710 extracurricular transportation and policy 906 Community notification of
predatory offenders just some highlights on those policies the development maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets that was actually recommended by the Auditors mba's model policy doesn't really have a dollar amount but they conducted all their testing we Work 5,000 they went up
to 7500 and so they policy so that's at the very top par paragraph just saying that we're $7,500 for any of our fixed assets so it's going to be our larger Capital items because they said inflation is C things that they could be testing all kinds of things so their recommendation was $7,500 for that as
they said that's what most schools that they audit have there and then to Gary's point there about the yeah the student Transportation safety policy the one addition is of the electric assisted bicycle safety to include that a person under the age of 15 is not allowed to operate an electric assisted bicycle
otherwise all the other ones are minor grammatical changes in there um the new person who reviews these policies he likes to spell out statute rather than um anything that's abbreviated and made those changes all right that's just the first
reading so there'll be no action on those um need you adopt the resolution establishing combined polling places this is an annual piece that we do but this will be important as we look to do uh that special election next
November and the one thing that's different on this resolution is we did move I did reach out to the Elk Lake Township Clerk because we did receive some concerns when we did our election a couple years ago um from some folks who we did the operating Levy and the
capital project Levy some people asked why if we live in Elway can they live on this side um Township so they're just north of Barrett why do we have to travel all the way to Kensington I said well we don't will check with the Township Clerk to see if that would be appropriate so I did reach out to them
the County Auditors and msba to see and yet the district can assign that and so she had just said uh yeah our seniors in the community have asked that it be closer that more of our seniors that live on elake Township it's closer for them the part that I did remind her is that they can still come in and do the
absentee balloting that's what some did they said I'm going to come to Bar instead of drive that far so they came to bear it but so we're moving elake Township from the Kensington Community Center up to the IL Lake Community Center a community building for um that
combined poing place all right so I'll just read a couple of those the combined polling place for Elbow Lake Community Building would um include uh this combined polling place Services all territories and Independent School
District No number 2342 located in the city of Barrett Delaware Township city of Elbow Lake El Lake Township ER Township Lawrence Township lean Township North Ottawa Township Pelican Lake Township palair Township Sanford
Township Stony Brook Township the city of Wendell Grant County Minnesota and AED Township Tuli Township Western Township and Otter Tail Western Township is otter
K so um and then kensing community center this combined polling place serves all territories in the school district 2342 uh located in home City Township city of Kensington Mo Township Solem
Township and Urus Township Douglas County and also Hoffman the city of Hoffman land Township Roseville Township in Grant County Benway Benway Township and Nora Township in Pope
County and Swan Lake Township in Stevens County so I would look for a motion to approve the combined poing places for the 25 uh calendar year so moved and a
second second and this is a roll call vote Christensen yes Porter yes syic yes sandstead yes and all is a yes that moves us to set organizational um and January 2025
committee meetings the I guess the statute reads the first Monday of the month um I think that's the
6th yes sir y y Monday's the 6th and I want to say was there something our normal meeting would have been on the first is that we can't hold it on the first we can't hold it on the first because it's a holiday so then I guess
the next available date would be the Monday the 6th so if there's no concern for Monday the 6 we would hold our organizational meeting on Monday the
6 I don't think there is a time required we can do our ke the organizational meeting regular 530 yeah Mr any conflict with Athletics that night okay
so part A would be that then the the committee meeting to be together so you can the organization meeting is schedule so that's the that would be the first meeting of our January and then obviously we will set the business
meetings and the rest of that at the organizational meeting does that make sense to everyone um so I'm looking for nods out there you guys are okay was six at 5:30 I'll probably meetings that week
training okay you'll be got okay looks well Nathan will get several committee assignments and all appreciate it okay so we will set then the organizational and the committee meeting for January 2025 will be set then for
January 6th Monday at 5:30 p.m. I look for a motion to approve that so Mo a second second all fav say I I motion carries uh that brings us to our discussion topic uh Community task force
updates up yeah know if there was anything there from the last meeting that folks who were there if they wanted to share anything that way like I said everything is on on the school district website there the far uh right tab or menu bar has Community task force so the group is
going to really a nice job keeping that our W has been doing that I will get an article in next to the be's newspaper and we'll probably start doing some video clips a little bit too just to get it on our website to find out which ways are best to keep people informed there so that'll be the first two options that
Facebook all our website and newspaper there's any other maybe even Public Access Channel I guess through if there's other ideas as you think or people would appreciate that information that just to make sure that they're posted onov through the process you know
that way yeah I thought they seem to be ping good there seems to be good input there was great discussion and yeah I invite everybody to read the go on our website and look at the information that we'
discussed it's great to see everybody get together and talk about it kind of use a kind of I mean obviously it's technology but they use a an active polling so they can give their feedback without having to say this is what I'm
saying you know they get to vote kind of anonymously and they you know so they can ask questions and and get real feedback you know where people are at without having to stand up in front of the group and say I like yellow you know it's uh you know they had some
general you know so um it seemed to be pretty well received I thought and and uh the meetings seem to be moved pretty well so and they stayed on time and you know very efficient so um it's good to see so a lot of positive I had had
somebody come to me afterwards and say you know they were fairly pessimistic to start and they they felt came away positive you know like like I I'm tipping towards the positive side of things instead of you know being
pessimist promoted so that's good any other comments questions tojn second