##VIDEO ID:22FQSeSXmAA## [Music] good evening we'll call tonight's meeting to order if you guys would join me in saying Al 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 John would you assistant taking roll call please fire up here is this [Applause] working Jamie present Clark is absent John present Jason here Alicia here Donna here okay thank you John um I will move excuse me sorry I'll ask for a motion to approve tonight's agenda do I have a motion so motion I have a motion by Jamie do I have a second I'll second and I'll second by Donna to approve tonight's agenda all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed same sign tonight's agenda is approved um announcements the next school board meeting the next regular school board meeting will be on Monday October 14th 2024 at 6: PM in the GSL High School community room 443 444 um acknowledgements and acknowledgements yes we do have some acknowledgements and I will first start off by just saying thank you to Michelle sander and her work with all the planters that she put together for us right they look wonderful outside of each door so I want to say thank you to her I also want to say thank you for to Matt munchow and his work um if you haven't seen our early childhood um Outdoor Classroom please go take a look at that uh Matt and and I'm sure he's got a little bit of help but a lot of it had to deal with Matt and his work it's really amazing out there and I want to say thank you and and uh acknowledge Him uh I also would like to acknowledge and thank the gleno fire department um last Wednesday we had a little bit of what we would call a smoldering activity um that that happened thankfully there was no flames but we did have a you know a fire issue or a fire um concern that happened and um they came and and acted exactly how our system worked EX exactly like it should um and there was no damage on Wednesday uh I also want to have a special thank you to John templin and his work that he did um it it was it was a busy night uh I'll say that but in the end everything worked out we are unfortunately going to need to get a new dryer um but uh we're thankful that everything worked the way it was supposed to and the fact that the damage was was basically really minimal um so and and also thanks to the custodial staff um when you came up here on on that night you could smell what happened it was out there and then by the time we left after a couple hours and then even more so uh by the time the custodians left um the smell was basically gone because of the work that they did and then the next morning I don't think you could even have tell that there was an issue so um thanks to everybody that was involved in that incident that that happened here last Wednesday night um and I also want to say thank you to the class of 1949 they invited me to their reunion which was basically kind of an early dinner over at Unhinged Pizza uh but also want to say thank you to them because uh I walked out of there with $2,500 worth of scholarships that they're going to be providing for the class of 2025 um and so very generous to that to that group um and I I let the paper know that they were doing that and so hopefully they will um acknowledge that in in the paper uh but it was it was a lot of fun it was a lot of fun uh um hanging out with them and then finally uh whether you are aware of this or not but msba changed our date uh from February to September and September Is Now official uh Minnesota school board recognition month and so I have your certificates that I know each and every year you wait and I'm sure that each of you in your homes have them framed in all of the years that uh that we've given you your certificate of appreciation so with that with that said um I do want to say thank you to our board for their work on behalf of all the students the staff the community and and everybody involved to say thank you for your work as Schoolboard members it is appreciated so John [Applause] thank you you're back thank you Alicia there you [Applause] go thank you Donna and thank you Jason wall cover right there you go right do you have any additional acknowledgements that's it for me at this point in time I would just like to give an acknowledgement to all of our teachers our staff our Administration for um a great welcoming week and back to school um last week so thank you for everything that you guys do to get ready for the school year um and making it a a great start to the year um from what I have heard for our students and our family so thank you guys I agree I was here on the first day of school CU I had to register my newest foreign exchange student and everything was great I mean I walked through the building and I didn't see any chaos or yelling or Screaming or anything I thought it was great I thought it went smoothly any additional acknowledgements okay hearing none we'll move on to public input relating to um the agenda so first call for public input and second call for public input relating to the agenda and a third call for public input okay so hearing none we'll move on to reports and presentations and tonight we have the activities department for those that do not know my name is Dean Schwarz I'm the activities director here and the first thing I want to say is I'm thankful I'm thankful for the job I have and the people that I get to work with I consider myself very lucky and and I wake up and truly enjoy the place where I go every day so with that being said a couple things that I want to go over first before I get to what's on the board uh tomorrow I'm taking 10 sophomores to Hutchinson for a studing leadership program where they're working with everybody within the conference and they're learning how to problem solve on their teams and go through different situations and handle it in the right ways we have a presenter that comes in and presents to them and it's a really good program we took 10 sophomores last year and they raved about it and we're going to be doing it each year now as long as we continue the program another thing that we're going to be doing and we started this last year is meetings with our GSL captains we meet with them and do this similar to what they do at the leadership but we break it down here to a lower level and they get a chance to talk with other teams the problems that they have and the successes that they have and they share that within them on September 19th we had the Katie delwit run here if you have not ever been to that you want to come to that we have 19 teams this year that are attending fewer and fewer teams want to host a cross country event and we're fortunate enough that our coaches are willing to set it up with our grounds crew and it's it's quite an event if you haven't been at one it's a home one here and you'll really get to see the grounds of how they're used here and if you stand up at the top part of the bleachers you can see quite a bit of the course it's a really a good spot um also this year we are hosting the JV tennis competition it is the 23rd of September we're also hosting the WCC Conference Championship on September 26 the reason we're able to do this is we have 12 courts where most other teams in the conference do not have that and it just works better to finish in a timely manner this year we handed out the I don't know if you saw the calendars I don't have any with me right now because we've handed them all out but we had our football team go around and hand out calendars within the community in the jerseys and thank the businesses that help support that and do sponsorships on those if you look up here on the board what I'm going to do is just go over what we have out at our new baseball and softball complex uh here is a sign at the entrance of it these are the new dugouts um they're very very nice very well constructed they're tin um the inside I didn't know this at the beginning but after working with showers they ended up painting them so everything is similar from field to field and it really works well within the complex and here's just another view of them this is the entrance when you're walking on the entrance way in underneath there the booster club has purchased there's eight tables underneath it there's four on each side that's the entrance to the concession stand out there uh that that has been really Heaven Sent because this summer in the past you know if it rained it was automatic cancellation of a game this summer there were four games going on Matt Mel's uh community at programs were using it and because it was a light mist we had how many parents underneath there raving about wow we finally have a place that we can get out of the rain and then the kids you know usually when you don't have a Dugout you're soaking wet at the end of it the kids each had a Dugout so in the Innings that they were the out not out in the field they had a place to go where they weren't being rained on so really nice this is just an example of the entrance where you come in and this entrance is looking at the fields of the varsity field and then our eighth grade will we call our baseball field it is up about 2 ft so people when they sit in the con in the uh stands the people in the concessions are able to stay over look over the top of them and be able to see the field so it's worked out really well for us we used it um a few times in the spring and then into the summer they did we're going to be setting up a program with uh Community Ed and then using it more going forward and here's the inside of it we have one countertop there we got a big sink done right when you have those crock pots and you have people bring food in gives us enough storage out there it's not too much the other thing here that we did and we hadn't had water um running water out there we have a turnoff valve on the inside that if the coaches want to water down the boxes and get rid of a little bit of the Dust they have that option and the inside valve is to turn it on and off so we can get a few more sales and the water sales at the concessions here is the batting cage this is top of the line we're able to have two stations where they're live hitting we have eight stations on on the on the side where they can do soft toss and then we'll have another four more on this side it is outstanding we can get I think it was 18 kids can hit at a single time in there and get many reps through as far as uh practice drills here is the shed that was out there is has been put out there this is on the back side of the batting cage we never had storage for any of our Nets we now have a place right there that the Nets and Equipment can be placed in and you can see in inside the storage uh very well organized and it'll only get better we have more things that obviously we put in there because everything is out right now we do allow the community to come out and use it we've had people come out they've been hitting softballs during um football practice when I've been out here right now and we've had other people using the fields so it's nice to see them being used at this time of the year yet the reason this picture is on here this is the fence that was added to field 81 I believe it is uh what I wanted to show you is a lot of the new Fields have a 4ot fence now so that people can go up and lean on it and they don't have to look through a fence and it's far enough down that it's not in a dangerous area of them being hit so it's really worked out well we are not at this time looking to do the additional things things that need to be done yet is we do not have um uh pitching down the bullpen down for baseball yet and we do not have pitching for the softball they are additions that we're looking to do we're also looking to look put trees in the Outfield of the softball complex and I'm working with coni on that and then also with Dean Engelman I've been SP speaking to them about the different possibilities of what we could put out there for trees so that's what I have for a presentation for you guys if you have any questions please let me know Dean you mentioned the group of 10 that you're taking to Hutchinson for the leadership how are those individuals selected talking to the other coaches looking for people that are influential and influencing others that aren't afraid to speak up when they need to so that's how the group was chosen you said that the field are the fields able to be used by the public or is it just the fields or can people use the batting cages too we've had people using all of them we have many people that have come out and use the uh batting cages like you're talking about we don't allow them to use our equipment besides the Nets and that but everything is out there Mr mun has provided Tes that are able to stay out there that people can use them on the sides and so far people have been great and respectful in the stuff that we have out there so they don't have to like sign up for them or anything they can just go out there and use them they have yes y thank you have we increased security and and cameras and stuff to those complexes yet and and I mean I don't know if we ever have enough on our campuses in general but do we have enough for now and is there a plan to add more Michelle and I have talked about that for the future right now we don't have anything additional planned in we do have a camera right over our Varsity Softball field that also goes to the cage and then you can also see into our equipment area so it's in a good spot that it's at right now of the main area that gets the most usage but in the future we will have to add cameras y so the answer is yes there's there is cameras no there's not enough but yes there's enough kind of sort of that's exactly how I said it right um but yeah and that's something that we do look at every year um you know that's with the safe schools dollars um we now are using a vast majority of that for the SRO where like this last year we got to put in some more cameras because of that and so we are still balancing but it is something that is continuously um upgraded and and added um when you look at our camera system how many do we have now Michelle 300 I mean it's it's significant um and and it really does deter and and help um but obviously when you look at our campus it's it's pretty large um so it is something that we always continue to talk about Dean I'd like to thank you for all your hard work out there I know you spearhead a lot of the fundraising and stuff out there and thanks to our generous you know the name sponsor that's out there but I know there was others too but thanks to all the sponsors that's made that facility possible so yes thank you um Security Bank they donated 180,000 we had stepen Seminary with another 25,000 that helped contribute to that and then the booster club has continued to fund those costs that are out there and then like I said there are a few more coming up but what we would like to do is give it a year or two live in it before we make any more decisions you know as far as the additions that are there it's a great facility right now and very usable but we want to give it time because with time just like when you build a new house there's always things you'd want to change well we're going to give it some time right now and then talk with the coaches and the people that use it the most and then make the decisions going forward I would like to Echo what Jason just said also thank you every much for your work and thank you to all the organizations individuals help make it possible yeah we're very lucky that we live in the community that we do I agree thank you thank you deu yes this will be my last one okay we'll move on to the business manager's report thank you Alicia I do have quite a few things to hopefully quickly go over for you just it's been busy um audit time and after to school time and just a lot of different things going on uh the first thing I wanted to talk about was our review and comment as you remember we had to do that for our building Bond that'll be coming up on for election in November we did receive back our letter from the Department of Education from the commissioner and that was uh approved we didn't have to make any changes it was approved good to go so that now will get published in the paper it's already on our school website so uh Trisha and Jacqueline were working on that um to get ready to get going in the paper so we have that and then along with that um Chris will be sharing information about the public meetings and what we have set up so I'll let him cover that as we get going couple of different things regarding tiling project and John feel free to jump in here John and I both attended a w Buffalo Creek Watershed district meeting uh that happened the end of August and this is regarding the north of the Glen Co North Central drainage system and we had gotten a letter to attend that because it could have um Financial impact to the school after going to the meeting um talking through some things meeting with a couple of the people at this point we don't see any um impact that it's going to have on the school um so we'll they'll keep us informed with that but um nothing that's going to affect us the other thing that we are working on that um affects drainage is if you remember all the rain back in June um and Dean left here but we had a lot of standing water north of our track shed North of the uh complex out there and it was caused by it wasn't draining over to the east ditch so we kind of just left it sit it got real close to going into the track shed but we we avoided that so trying to problem solve what was going on realizing um it's not our tile the problem it's tile farther down the road so we have met with um Larry Phillips from buffle Creek Watershed and another gentleman and John templin's been involved trying trying to uh solve this John's kind of been in on some of those discussions as well so we're kind of letting them work on some ideas and some quotes um of how we can go from the north um right behind the north complex there to get the water draining through on our property and not having to go across um 15 to the next uh property owner's property so they've um kind of sketched out a map for us we have another idea that we're going to take a look at so something we're working on we don't know um what the cost is going to be we think we can probably get this tiling taken care of relatively cheap when it comes to tiling we might be able to connect into our own 15in line that comes into the Wetland and goes out of the Wetland on the east side there so something we're working on to hopefully take care of all the drainage on the North side going into the future so we don't have any additional issues with that like did I cover all that John anything else very good job um just an update on all of our projects that took place over the summer our long-term facility maintenance projects and anything else that was covered by um Capital outlay the greenhouse has been completed um we were given occupancy didn't have any issues with the building inspector we had training the week of workshops so we had um a number of our staff that's going to be using and involved in that training um it it's pretty high-tech when you go in there the weather station that's in there the um science department and the egg department they were both very excited when they saw the controls and how they worked and how they can graph weather and monitor all those different different things so even if they're not using it for plants they can still use it in their Science World so um they're all pretty excited uh they got the table set up in there so the sign has been ordered for the greenhouse that'll probably not be here for another 3 weeks or so and then we have to finish the Landscaping so they're going to do some more um spreading of dirt back there we kind of want to get the sign and the footing done for that and then they can kind of finish that off and we can go on to the next phase of of what we want to do we got additional cement on the east or the west side of the greenhouse so if you haven't taken a look or if you haven't seen inside and want to look at it just let me know or um Chris or John um we can get you in there so you can see it um Additionally the pool cover was finished on the swimming pool the lower locker room was finished with all the work that went on down there the um all the the new lockers the new epoxy floor we did some four classrooms at Lakeside got new counters along their uh where their univent goes we're doing one more um vanity new vanity in the visitors locker room here at the high school the hot water lines got done the univ events at Lincoln got done and there's two more univ events getting done at Lakeside and they started that work uh this afternoon so lot of projects happening um so it's nice to see them all getting completed and so we can start working on the next list of projects and we have that list ready to go um another thing that uh Chris and I have been working on with Ellers Ellers as you know is our financial advisers that we work with on all our bonding type issues uh every year we get a letter from them that they review our bonds and they review when they're callable and when would be a right time to refinance those bonds so real similar to like if you're going to refinance your mortgage at home they watch the interest rates watch when you can take the best advantage of the dollar or the savings that you would have on that original Bond we've reached that point they think um as of right now when they ran their numbers in August we have a potential Savings of pretty close to 300,000 that we can put towards the 2015 Bond so what they're doing right now is they're going to continue watching what those rates are and what's happening in the bond World um with the election and the fed's reducing those rates coming up now in September we're not quite sure and they don't want you don't want to refinance it when it's not going to be the most Advantage um advantageous for the school district so right now they would like to move ahead with it if everything looks good so the next date they're going to run those numbers are October 8th and then they will plan to be at the October board meeting if everything goes through they will go through the refunding estimate um the resolutions and everything that you need to do as a board if you decide to go through with the refinancing and then that would go out for bids and then we'd accept the bids at the November board meeting so um it's pretty good news that a potential of saving almost 300,000 I mean it's a lot of money it's over the course of the length of the bond so it's it doesn't have a large tax impact each year to an individual property owner but it's enough of a savings that it's it'd be a good time to jump on that if we can so we'll have more for you at the October board meeting um if we go ahead with that um just a little update on the audit and where things are coming out um just about have thought we had just about every number entered that we could and then a couple things came up today we had a couple payables that came through that we wanted to run through um a couple other adjusting entries but right now things are looking really good financially wise um no big surprises uh the only thing that kind of um threw a wrench in for me is when I just got done talking about all the projects that were completed about 200 to $225,000 worth of those projects were supposed to be completed in June May June the greenhouse was supposed to be done and not paid off in August it was supposed to be paid off in May the um couple of the UN events were supposed to be done the seal coating was supposed to be done in June that got rained out that just got completed so a lot of things like that affect your fund balance of course and we always know that with summer projects what fiscal year they're going to get paid in so my last projection on fund balance we were looking at about a 24% fund balance right now with all those things that didn't happen and a couple additional revenues that came in and we'll go through this a lot more detail in October and November but I just kind of wanted to give you a heads up uh cuz we talk audit so much um right now we're close a 26 uh% fund balance so healthy you know 24% was going to be healthy on the downside the flip side of that um if you looked at Chris's email regarding enrollment right now our enrollment compared to our June end of school year enrollment we're down 55 students doesn't take long to do the math 55 times about 10 grand and you can see where we're at so you can see how quickly that fund balance disappears just when you say oh we're at 26 thou or 26% well now we've paid out 270 so th000 in projects that brings it back down to that 24% now you take off what you've lost in enrollment that we didn't budget that much for um so we'll be reworking all those numbers still financially strong yep we'll have to watch enrollment and we'll have to see what that does going forward into the next year so all positive right now as far as the audit um as far as I know no findings that they have found so again they'll be here to present at the October board meeting so that's just a quick update on that and then I'll have Levy information for you when we get to the levy agenda item so that was a lot real quickly any questions that you might have will we need a new dryer or is it just going to be repaired we're just GNA get a cloth line it's a lot cheaper amen we just got a quote Oh about 5:00 John sent it to me it came through um about 8,000 for the dryer to replace that um yeah it was seven just about $8,000 and then we can for another $750 there's a new feature that you can add on and John was quickly explaining it to me that it's um got a sensor so if you have like wet towels sitting in there every so many minutes It'll the tumbler will go so it's not sitting so there's a couple new features compared to when we bought this last dryer John was saying when he talked to Mike witus you know who is as old as Methuselah right um and I say that in a nice way because Mike has been here since the new building project he can only remember replacing that dryer twice right so um I think we've got our years out of it and been very fortunate so about 8,000 okay is what we're looking at so ironically the reason that they were using that dryer was because the kitchen dryer was was not working so yeah they were drying kitchen towels so the custodian is blame it's the kitchen's fault cuz but the one thing that um so do we need two dryers at 8,000 for a total of $6,000 kchen dryer is only about 450 to replace or to repair so we're repairing that but we did learn that we want our kitchen staff to do towels on Wednesday night though yeah it's a lot quieter of a night than any of the other says learning isn't happening at GS right cuz you know the night before there was a home volleyball game and you know just by chance that's the night that they did the towels um you know if this would have happened the night before it would have been a really interesting night so and the kitchen was worried now they're short towels cuz they're all Mel these went away the other learning does continue to go on the thing we learned is uh talking of the rep from the dryer company he said what were you drying my first question I hope there wasn't jerseys in there cuz now we're talking a lot more than 8,000 nope they're drying towels kitchen towels and we told that to the agent he said you wouldn't believe how many um fires or smoldering like that they have because if kitchen towels especially aren't washed properly they have grease in them and grease will set off now we don't have a a the grill or a fryer so we don't have as much grease but he said between restaurants and you know those type of places if towels aren't washed good hot water whatever to get that grease out they're more apt to start a fire so so we did learn something good learning y y and thankfully it wasn't worse corre so it's been busy but if you have any questions let me know John or um Michelle do you on north end where the cross country track runs is that water gone down the yeah the water's gone down yeah and there is a um plan in place if it does rain okay to um Ricker will come in and U we will mediate it in a hurry okay U we will take care of it and we got all those Runners coming in in about 10 days so yep and that was one of the reasons why we were kind of working on this is because um when I was out there uh with the track program trying to put all the p away back in end of July with my equipment um it was very W wet we were find with there at the track shed but 5 ft on the other side of the fence it wasn't and that's right where they run so I know yep so okay so we we've got a plan good okay we'll move on to principal's reports bill would you like to start us act yes I will thank you Alicia and good evening I'll um highlight some of the items on our Elementary report um starting near the top you know last last month we talked a little bit about two of our new teams um science of reading team which was formed to support um excuse me to support teachers with ongoing professional development um and support as we work as we work through the units and um our tier one team you can see below there which um we are going to meet monthly at at um each building and then every other month prek through six so just backing up a little bit science of reading you can see elementary teachers all special education teachers in the district El teachers completed unit 2 part one on August 29th during Workshop week and um we will continue that through um throughout this year with with new calendar um I'll go down toward uh toward the Middle look at our solution Focus teams um one element I I added there for our behavioral interventions with with the new position our social emotional learning coordinator um it's going to be a huge benefit at the elementary level we've not been able to really do a good job for um for those interventions for kids who need a social emotional intervention um a tier three intervention and this now we've got the capacity to do that so um I'm grateful we have that position and um we're already seeing benefit of that position working with with um those kids in need of that support under um curriculum and assessment we've um we've had discussions the last few years since we came back to school um after after the shutdown ended whether to go back to the National Norms that were um presented that were published by um assessments so we use the fastbridge assessments at the elementary level and you know um those those um Norms really were not good during the pandemic you know those were pre-pandemic Norms so those local Norms that we have shared throughout the years with you the last four or five years um were what we based it on comparing our kids within the GSL system so this year um looking looking at data working with our two School sites Kelly and Jen we are going back to using those National Norms because we've um we've closed the Gap in in the in the four years since we came back to school so looking forward to that I know teachers have been wanting that so I'm grateful that it's it's the right time um I want to talk a little bit about Title One toward the bottom Trisha thank you for all the help behind the scenes um after after many revisions we worked on mde has accepted our four plans and um the funds are are ready to be to be used so we um we appreciate that I'm going to go to the back if you look at um School Community Partnership um Lincoln we have our first all School celebration on Friday um giving the giving the kids an intro to our theme this year superheroes um and we're going to have a great time with that on uh Friday afternoon you can look at uh at some of the other um School Community Partnership um I wanted to thank the board for giving us those two check-in days on August 28th and September 3rd it gives us a way to meet families in more deta detailed way and to begin um to collect data finally I do want to recognize um our elementary PTO and I do want to read the names um they just do outstanding work um supporting kids supporting teachers um they provided a great lunch during Workshop week on the 28th so our reps are for our staff um bertina straw and Jen Cross parents Chelsea bleber Mandy Conlin Jill graic Hannah Jer Amanda Marsh Karen schme Jenny Voit and Kelly weed andorf what what questions do you have on that report okay thank you thanks Bill Matt good evening so the V Matt wow let me restart the vast majority of my uh presentation here is going to be about MCA scores uh they were released I think we got the box from Pearson last week I brought them up uh they're not in Bargo so we can talk about them now and I want to take time to kind of reflect to a year ago when we talked about MCA scores and historically they have not been great at the junior high senior high level and I remember talking specifically um about potentially why that might be and and talked about you know how I don't think it's an ability thing I think it's an effort thing um we talked about what it means when individuals opt out of a test and and the impact that it has on a school district and and what it means when somebody opts out of a test if they're flagged with as an ESL learner or as a special education learner as well that many times it affects a district a number of times so what I've got in front of you here is uh just the Junior High Senior High data as well as the district data as far as MCA testing uh both in 23 and in 24 so it can show you uh um where we've been at as a district and where we've been at as a Junior High Senior High over the last two years I played with these these numbers quite a bit because there's so many different ways you could present it and talk about it I I tried to bring it in a way that would maybe answer some questions or show some things that you as a board would want to see um but the highlight of this is for the junior high senior high is we've increased scores in everything every category at the 712 level from math reading and science um and think that was due to a couple of different things first and foremost I think it was due to a different setup and how we tested our students um Sarah Beckman did a really good job of kind of looking at this went to leadership talked to some of our staff who are sitting here in front of you tonight about how can we do this better than we've done it in the past and uh we had students test with their specific content teachers so if they were going to test in science they tested with their science teacher or if they're going to test in English they tested with their English teacher that they've had more of a comfortability level thing for those students um and also an expectation level of those students as well that if I have you every single day in math and I know that you take this math test and you're done in five minutes I know that that's not to the ability that I see you every single day um the other thing that we did is we told students that they were in that class period for uh I think it was two or three full days regardless of whether it took them 5 minutes or three full days to take that test um obviously you know cell phones which we talked about last weekend but cell phones when it comes to standardized test they're not they're not allowed to be out at all so students were told you can either take the test or you can read a book for those three days whichever you'd like and it turns out they'd rather take a test than read a book which was kind of surprising to me um but what I'm getting at here is the change and the approach that we've had um has led to increased test scores um the light green that you see on the far right is the percent Improvement uh from the Junior High Senior High or a district and then the brighter green that you see in the more of the middle middle column there are the um the areas that were above State average in so in math we're above State average as a district um in Reading we're above State average at the senior high level and then in science we're above State average again at the senior high level um another thing that we did to kind of talk to students about these test scores I talk to students all the time at the 712 level of there's got to be a why behind you do something and I think that's been a struggle too with standardized tests because when I was in high school uh you had to pass a test to graduate and then that changed and it changed and it changed to a point where um now you just have to take the test doesn't matter what the score is or if you opt out you're still able to graduate so I met with the students uh each class individually last year Sarah Beckman and I did we talked about effort uh we talked about um ability level um but I also talked to him about what we use those scores for um I went in-depth about the work that I'm doing and I've talked to the board about this in the past and I will in the coming months too um with adsys funding and getting a full-time interventionist at the Junior High Senior High uh starting next school year and how we use our aast data we use our MCA data we also use teacher input and grades and based on what those things tell us they could be put into interventions because it would tell us that this is what they need if you struggle in Reading we're going to get you an reading intervention if we struggle in math we're going to get you a math intervention something that we haven't had in the past um but again something that I think with when the adsis Grants open it's not a grant actually it's a it's just process through MD but um when that opens in January uh I have a plan in place right now to fund at our level at the Junior High Senior High Level an interventionist full-time starting next year um I would like to to mention with the test scores that Sarah and I have talked quite in depth about potentially taking our testing uh calendar or testing schedule even a step further um I don't want to get into what that looks like today because we are a long ways away from testing season right now but uh I do think a lot of the The increased test scores that we've had is the change in how we we had students tests so um by and large I'm very very happy with our test scores these are the best test scores that we've had in the seven years that I've been at GSL um I do expect our test scores to to make another jump again next year um which is which is a a great thing so uh I'm going to pause there before I move on to the next because that was the very largest part of my my presentation for any questions that you might have on MCA testing I want to thank you Matt we've had conversations over the last year I believe about this interventionist and you're working to try to pursue it I know we have two of them um at the elementary level sitting in front of me here and I've heard um very positive things um with the work that they do so um I'm excited to see where this comes and where it goes and I just want to say thank you and keep moving forward I'm I'm beyond fortunate to have a great staff um that thinks outside the box and doesn't think I'm too crazy when I think outside the box too um because it allows for ideas and change and and and opportunities for growth so I appreciate you guys as a board that kind of put up with me sometimes when I come to you with crazier ideas um sometimes they work like this this is this is like the best report I've ever gotten to give um and sometimes they don't work those reports are a little bit harder to give so um I appreciate your guys' understanding to you had said that the kids that are opting out of it would rather take the test than read a book so does that mean there's more kids taking the test then than normal correct so if we have higher scores and more kids are taking the test that also is a positive the other thing too that I think plays a part too and and I won't name the student but Emily canura is is is I think solely responsible for having probably one of the highest MCA test scores we have take a math test last year because this individual is almost full-time PSO um she she knew this individual very well and I think her and Mike ha sat the person down and said hey please come take this test because it's a test that um when they took it uh very much so came back as an exceeds and had they opted out like many of our PSO students do and I don't necessarily blame them because they're PSO and they're out of the building most of those those scores because those are our higher achieving students looking for that college credit most of those scores that we would be getting exceeding as a district are coming back as does not meet and and that I just don't think is reflective as our district it's not reflective of our of our students and it's not reflective of our staff so I I think the personal connections and the personal conversations that people and I'm using Emily as an example here but many of our staff have had of this is important and even if it's maybe not important to you it's important to a bigger picture in this District please come take that test so in other words there are a lot of variables that are going to change these numbers and but um I think having more of the kids taking the test is definitely a good um indication on how much better they are doing because if you have more kids taking the test and the scores are going up and there that average is you know when you're doing their averages then that I would think would be sounds like a positive for JSL I mean this is it is and and this is these I mean I'm very happy to see these scores but they didn't surprise me either I mean one one of the things even a year ago when we sat here and we talked about you know why are our test scores the way that they are one of the the measuring sticks that I've used since I've been here is our our ACT score and act when a student takes the ACT it's because they want to take the ACT not because they have to not because they opt out and it negatively affects our ACT score and our ACT score in the seven years that well I can't claim this year yet because we haven't done it yet but in the six years I've been here has been at or above the state average which tells me if our ACT scores that are above the state average why would our MCA scores be lower then and again you can make numbers say anything that you want and um I've been told in the past that I should be a Salesman if this ever doesn't work out for me so I'm probably doing a pretty good job at that here too I think but um I I just I firmly believe in our staff at GSL I firmly believe in our students and our community and I think the green that you see on this page is much more of a representation of what we have here than what we have looked at in the past well I'm just think I'm just saying that it it's a good thing and um to look at and I think it's a very positive thing that you you guys can take as a whole that you guys are doing the right right thing and positively impacting the students yep it's it's it's been fantastic I I tell the Junior High Senior staff that are sitting here can can attest to this every single staff meeting we have every single month I start out with saying or I end with saying probably both I talk to much um I wouldn't trade this staff or this community for anybody and and I've worked in other districts on route to get into the position that I'm in here and um GSL is a special community and this is a special staff and um I just I'm so happy and proud for our staffs and for our students that this is what it is because this is more representative than what we have talked about in the past years and just so that you we're all clear and on the same page there is plenty of room for improvement here like I'm not going to sit on my Laurels and say hey we've done great things let's go back to you know just being good I I I do see that we're going to continue to improve and and there's going to be more green on these pages in years to come too we've had conversations like at at our superintendent level of well can't the state just not count those kits right to be able to well of course their answer back is there's going to be so many more kids that won't take the test then and and and maybe school is encouraging kids to not take the test or doing those types of things and so that's part of the the the balance so um no I get it we encourage them to take it y and the other thing you and that's the best thing you can do with kids is to be positive as positive as possible with kids because they just they do better when you're more positive than when you're negative yep I agree so I'm going to move on to the second half then um which is much shorter um we have homecoming week coming up next week uh as a district um so one of the big things and I I mentioned it very briefly in August but I have had a chance to talk to my student council um and I have had a chance to talk to the the coordination candidates because we do have our five king and queen candidates um um recognized already we're changing coronation this year so instead of doing coronation um at 8:00 on Monday night we're going to do coronation at 2:30 um and we're going to do it uh in the black gym in front of all of our student body kindergarten through 12th grade and um shockingly I have not heard anything from anybody that's been negative about that which in the seven years I've been here it's very rare that that happens um but I think again it goes back to the why are you doing that and the why for this is when I think of homecoming I think of student engagement I think of school pride and I think it's really hard to do that when one of the biggest things of of homecoming week is coronation where you recognize your king and your queen and over the first six years that I've been here coronation at night and it's it's fantastic because there's a couple seniors and juniors that are there which are friends of the people who are on the court um and then there's the parents and maybe grandparents that come but by and large there's there's less than a 100 people that have been at coronation every night and um my thought was it let's put it in front of the student body we're going to have 1,200 plus kids there that get to witness what this is so when they get older hey this is what homecoming is this is one of the things we can do uh Bill and and Kim just uh selected the junior attendants so they now get to go out in front of their peers as as first or second graders as well whereas in the past I don't think any there's been never ever been an elementary presence there besides the parents of those individuals so I just I think it makes more sense to kind of build that um sense of school involvement and school excitement and um I've been working with Dan wanis at the bus garage with busing I've been working with Bill and and Joy about kind of logistics of getting kids here but the plan is it's going to start uh Monday the 16th at 2:30 or 2:35 and it's going to be done by 3:05 so it's going to be a 30 minute thing um um that kicks off homecoming week for for everybody K through 12 and hopefully we have a good rest of the week um after that just to point out for anybody that may be interested at home or that's that's just hearing this it is going to be live streamed um so it'll be on our on our website uh they can go to our YouTube channel watch um and then parents and Guardians are welcomed to attend as well so we have a section that I just talked to to Chris and um Beth rumal our high school secretary about where we're going to put them that's going to be best for parents to view um because I'm usually not very good at that stuff my wife has to help me all the time about positioning so I feel pretty good about that school photos are going to be this Friday September 13th at the Junior High Senior High Level School reach information will be going out to parents and students tomorrow um about what that is they'll be setting up in the Commons that'll be John grman again through Creek View images and then lastly our blood drive is scheduled for Friday October 6th which right now is scheduled for the purple gym um but I do know if it gets too hot um we have some of those days that are like this week it's going to be quite warm um the temperature gets too warm to have the blood drive there I may visit with Bill about getting in the black gym where it's more temperature controlled so any questions for me one quick clarification for the um coronation with regard to the uh families or the public is there a fee for entry unlike the activities and the games that there will be that's a good question there is no fee so if they come they're they're there to watch and like I said we'll have a place for them and um it's going to be different th this goes to one of the outof thebox ideas that I don't know how it's going to go um I'm very excited about trying it but um I'll tell you in October how I thought coronation during the school day went thanks Matt thank you super superintendent report thank you and good evening I also would like to Echo um every to say thank you to everybody on a great start to the school year um also want to say thanks to our staff for a great Workshop week I thought things went really well and I'm sure the staff sitting out there enjoyed my speech um and the length of it this year um one of the best ever I would assume the uh the the other thing that I want to talk about is is the roof hbac project obviously we have November 5th coming up um we have kind of finalized our our our meeting schedule time where we're going to get out uh primarily Michelle and I but all of you are welcome to show up at any point in time but um we're going to start having uh meetings with our with our public and our communities at every one of our communities and so that'll start in a couple of weeks um September 23rd we're looking at going to New Auburn and brownon on October 7th is going to be at Plato and I still have to finalize the time and the place for for Plato um and that'll happen tomorrow uh October 4th we'll have this in gleno October 15th October 14th will be in gleno right here in the community room October 15th will be in bisy and Silver Lake um we were also there's still a couple of letters to the editor that I'm going to have uh we're still talking about some individual meetings that are out there um the the public or the the notice that we're going to send on top of the the what was was also in the newsletter that came to everybody uh you know the real goal is to obviously make sure that everybody knows about the election understands the information that's coming about in the election um and and so far it's been really positive in terms of the the conversations that I've been having and and uh um you know getting that word out about the importance of this when you talk about the blood drive and having that HVAC opportunity there's an example of why some of those places that we have um for the HVAC opportunities or or or uh improvements to happen because that allows uh some of those types of things to happen and and get more temperature controlled with some of those facilities um Chris I just want to add on the the October 14th meeting here in Glen Cole that's the night of the board meeting yep so we're having the meeting following the board meeting we're going to have Ellers here and the roof guys from tremco will be here one or two or which whatever they come with but we kind of lined it all up for that night so we can go um plan to stay right in here after our board meeting so that'll be a busy night once this schedule gets finalized I'll get it on the website we do have h a quick link that is on the top of our website that does have all the information on uh the election information it has the truth and tax or the uh uh review and comment that's on there uh the tax impact sheet that uh that you know obviously people have and I have that around here somewhere um the tax impact sheet that talks a little bit about what the the cost is going to be and that kind of stuff so that's on there and uh we'll just continue to to to do what we can to get the word out for for that so um obviously something that's very important that's coming up here on November 5th and we encourage everybody to get out there and vote that's basically what I have uh there's really no new news on lctn things are moving um with that uh we're we're still uh monitoring the situation and and and even that that line that we have with uh um Sentry Link uh so far we haven't heard back from from them to see where things are at but we're not uh we're not using that because we don't need it the transition with Southwest West Central has been really good and uh we'll continue to to monitor that situation um the rest of the stuff is on the on the agenda and we'll go from there when night did you say the meting wasn't play Plato will be on October 7th and we just got to kind of finalize the time it looks like it's going to be a six o'clock right before their fire meeting and then hopefully we can get those people to come a little early I'll send this stuff out to all you guys as well okay thank you any additional questions for Chris okay any committee reports okay hearing n we'll move on to approving tonight's consent agenda and there's also um an addendum to the consent agenda do I have a motion I have a motion by Jamie do I have a second a second and a second by Jason to approve the Cent agenda along with the addendum all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign um consent agenda and the addendum are approved um old business there's none at this time so we'll move on to new business action item a are the donations received this is just um information only the following donations were accepted for or accepted with appreciation um we have donations from the GSL Elementary PTO the GSL um Boosters club the GSL booster concessions and the uh Taylor Leal Memorial so thank you um to all those organizations for their um generous donation we'll move on to action item B the preliminary Levy certification uh school districts are required to certify prop proposed levies for School District Operations for the 2025 2026 school year by September 30th the proposed Levy allows the various County Auditors to prepare tax statements for the school district Property Owners business manager sander will provide information about the preliminary Levy certification superintendent Sanju and business manager sander recommend um that the board certify the maximum levies permitted the school board May lower the levies in December when they are required to CER certify the final levies however the school board cannot increase the amount of any Levy beyond the amount identified in the in the preliminary Levy authorization so I'll move I'll ask for a motion in a second and then I'll have um Michelle provide the additional information I have a motion by Donna do I have a second and a second by Jamie and then Michelle you have additional information for us yep just a a little bit of information briefly here the levy sheets came out on um Friday late Friday afternoon so I haven't had a lot of time to start dissecting them and then this morning was the mde levy Workshop it was a virtual Workshop that was all morning uh so we kind of walked through all the people say of Levy so now I'll take those numbers and start going through all them to make sure everything looks like it should for our district including all those enrollment estimates that we had in place um prior to now what we know what we have so I'll be working on all that so currently as I dropped in all the numbers um from what mde has and they always have some uh glitches that they find that they have to tweak but based on their numbers right now uh the percent increase is right about 3% 3.3% um but that does include the levy Authority for achievement and integration if you remember last year we implemented the achievement and integration program but we under levied that amount and we only took the state aid so that is included in there and we'll have further discussions on that um you know at this point we've said we were just going to use state aid to fund that program if you remove that if the board would decide to under Levy that amount again that drops the levy increase to about 2 and a half% so it does does make a little bit a difference so once we have time to kind of work everything out um I think we get through our election in November if the election passes of course that change changes this amount as well um so we have to work through all those details so again um we want to approve the maximum because if you set a certain dollar amount you can't go back in December and say oh let's add this back in so you just approve the maximum that was a change made many years ago and then uh we do the final Levy in December any questions for Michelle okay so we have a motion by Donna and a second by Jamie to certify the maximum amount permitted by law for the preliminary Levy for the 2025 2026 school year all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries um action item C trip abroad for 202 seven um this was enclosure number two and three uh Bria wiblemo the social studies teacher requests approval for a 10-day trip to Scotland and Ireland in June 2027 students who will be upper classmen in the 2026 2027 school year would be eligible and would have the option of earning a025 elective credit um the trip would be educational and align with the world history and World Geography courses the Scotland and irand trip would be approximately $493 exact amount would will depend upon time of enrollment um by booking our tour now students will have um 30 months to make their payments uh donations will be sought from charitable organizations such as the Lions Clubs uh snow pros and the booster club I'll request a motion in a second and then we have Bria here tonight um with some information so do I have a motion I have a motion by John do I have a second I'll make that second and then we'll let Bria present do you have stuff to present or just questions from us I'm just here to answer questions if you have them does anybody have questions for Bria my question was if you could play um the uh old course at St Andrews that would be amazing not that I know of she didn't have the answer for me so I'm not sure I'll look into it sounds fun you want a chap room seem to be kind of like a bucket list of of my world sounds like a wonderful trip yeah thank you for putting these opportunities together for our students so this would be attemp through 10th 11th and 12th graders or 10th and 11th I'm aiming to recruit 9th and 10th and then um by the time they travel they'll be upper classman okay that way okay okay well no questions we'll move on to vote so I have a motion by John and a second by myself to approve the request by Bria wiblemo to go to Scotland and Ireland on a 10-day trip abroad in June 2027 all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries your trip is approved thank you appreciate that okay action item D Education Minnesota glanco Silver Lake um memorandum of understanding superintendent Sanju recommends approving the memorandum of understanding read act from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2025 um do I have a motion I'll make that motion do I have a second a second and a second by John um any questions or comments before we move forward with a vote it basically outlines what we've discussed and uh we've had several meetings with this I believe a couple of board members have also met um it just basically discusses the compensation and then the plan and then ultimately um you know kind of that whole procedure on on how we're going to go through with the react so uh thanks to the staff for working with us I think it was a really good process and um ready to keep moving forward so far I think this training has been really good um it it's been something that um we're doing I think things a little bit different compared to some different districts um we've got our whole entire k6 going through that training um that's not what the law is quote unquote requiring but when when we looked at our staff and we looked at the opportunity for those teams to all go forward we felt that it was a a great opportunity to do that um and uh so far so good uh thanks to the board again for back in February or March whenever it was for for us adjusting those calendars uh for some of that training that we've had coming up and so that's been outlined and and we'll make sure that we keep our families informed of those um early dismissals that are going to be coming for this purpose uh and so got to say thank you to them for th that flexibility because that does um I know that that those changes sometimes are are hard to deal with so uh we'll keep moving forward with the react and and uh benefiting our students I I think one more opportunity to to just acknowledge the the work that our teaching staff and administration um did not only to put together this mou but also just the work that the teaching staff is doing in the professional development that they're being presented with um as an educator I'm going through um the same types of professional development in the district where I teach and um so I know exactly what our teaching staff here at GSL is doing and um as Matt said in his report I think that this is just another example of the professional development that our staff is doing that will absolutely not only benefit our staff across the board in the science of reading but ultimately our students here at GSL and their families too so thank you for the work that you've done up to this point with the training and the continued work that you will do with the training as it moves forward um it's substantial as far as the amount of professional development that is part of this read act um I don't know that the general public realizes the lift that um we're asking school districts um financially which the legislature has provided dollars for this um the substantial lift not only of dollars and cents but also time commitment and I think that this shows really the commitment of all districts and our staff within the district um how much we care about kids and we care about their education so thank you to everyone involved here at GSL um with the work done well done so far keep up the good work okay I have a motion by myself and a second by John to approve the memorandum of understanding breed act with Education Minnesota GSL from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2025 all those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed abstain oh yeah opposed same sign action item carries action item e PSO um agreement with Minnesota State University Mano superintendent Sanju recommends approving The Joint Powers agreement with Minnesota State University Mano for the 2024 2025 Academic Year this agreement allows eligible students to enroll in the postsecondary enrollment options PSO courses um do I have a motion so I have a motion by Jason do I have a second I'll second and a second by Donna any questions comments just pretty standard this is just with Mano State um or Minnesota state man one last yep month so okay motion by Jason a second by Donna to approve the joint Powers agreement with the Minnesota State University Mano in order to allow eligible students to enroll in postsecondary enrollment options PSO courses for the 2024 2025 Academic Year all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries action item F par professional hours principal Butler principles Butler and F request approving the following changes of hours for pair of Professionals in their buildings for the 2024 2025 school year um Natalie AO um an increase in a 0.5 uh per day effective 93 2024 and Tiana huser an increase in 0.25 weekly um effective 9920 um 2024 uh do I have a motion I so move I have a motion by Donna do I have a second second and a second by John to approve the following changes of hours for pair of professionals as requested all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries sorry I didn't ask well I was just going to add add you see these and there're fairly small changes they're they're primarily due to when students arrive on buses and things like that and then per audit the the people that work x amount of hours they need to have their contracts match yeah so that's why these tweaks sometimes um are in front of you where you could look at like it's just a little bit of time but that's the purpose for for having that so okay thank you um action item G Southwest Minnesota state um university college and school contract superintendent Sanju recommends approval of the CIS College in school college in school um contract with South Southwest Minnesota State University for the 2024 202 um academic uh year do I have a motion I have a motion by John do I have a second second and a second by Jason to approve the CIS contract with Southwest South West Minnesota State University for the 2024 2025 um Academic Year all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries action item H first readings um reading of policies it is the recommendation of the policy committee to bring back the following policies for adoption at the next school board meeting um policy 102 equal Educational Opportunity 413 harassment and violence 416 drug alcohol and Canabis testing 418 drug-free workplace drug-free School 419 tobacco free environment 425 staff development and mentoring four 503 student attendance 506 student discipline 509 enrollment of non-resident students 512 School sponsored student Publications and 513 student promotion retention and program design do I have a motion I have a motion by Jamie do I have a second I'll or Jason yep okay so I have a motion by Jamie and a second by Jason to bring back the policies listed above for adoption at the next school board meeting all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries action item I second reading of um policies the following policies received their first reading at the August 12th school board meeting it is the recommendation of the the policy committee directors lumy and luckart and the superintendent of schools to adopt um the policies listed below um do I have a motion right so move I have a motion by Donna do I have a second I'll make that second motion by Donna second by myself to adopt the policies as listed above all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed same sign action item carries action item J miscellaneous none at this time Alicia can I just mention one yeah I just want to uh recognize and acknowledge Jacqueline um our new office um employee uh working as HR administrative assistant is joining us tonight so if you haven't met her stop and say hi but we've been busy kind of slowly training her in some in some things and um she's doing a great job so we invited her to join the board meeting tonight to see uh see how a board meeting goes so thanks to Jacqueline and Trisha and Pam have been doing a lot of training with her the last couple weeks so thank you Jacqueline welcome yes welcome thank you okay we'll move to adjourn um do I have a motion to adjourn I have a motion by Donna do I have a second and a second by Jamie to adjourn at 7:16 all those in favor please signify by saying I I I we