##VIDEO ID:azba9kMJ4vM## to jump in and do that and um that all kind of start us out but um I'm I'm sure I'm going to miss some of the key points but uh we're g to try to do all of our mics on and see if we don't get Fe back I just just okay so the first thing we want to talk about today is at the organiz organizational Workshop is you know how are we going to select our officers and uh each year we reorganize and it's the first meeting in January that we do that and it's uh January 6th and we did not get snowed out so we're going to go ahead today uh we have three officers on our board we have a chair person a clerk and a Treasurer and act at the actual meeting today we will select those so um does everybody have a copy of the script or how we do that and typically the way that works is um the current chair and that's myself I'll start out and and we'll kind of go through this procedure and and um uh if we elect some uh when we elect the chair that person will take over whoever that is um but the kind of the procedures to call for nominations three times um if there's only one nomination we we don't actually need to vote it could be by acclamation uh otherwise it's going to be by majority vote there's five of us here tonight uh David Marty is um excuse me absent with permission uh so a vote a three would be um a majority yeah anybody have questions about those as you look through do we do we want to talk about strategy for those anybody anybody want to start jump in on that Mark just a quick question it does say here election of officers current chair meaning going through the scripts that you are the one that's going to be saying nominations are now in order office of chair clerk Treasurer and then you say you nominate and then fill in that blank there is that how that so so I would say we're accepting nominations for chair chair okay and we would go all all the way through the chair first okay and and whoever is uh elected chair then would take over after that and do and do the do the and the treasurer I just wanted to clarify because it does say that on the sheet here but I just wanted to make that's it meant when it said new chair will then go through for the clerk and the treasurer at that point okay thank you um we can talk about strategy and does anybody have comments about you know placement superintendent gross do you want to say anything we did reach out to David since he wasn't able to be here to sort of see he was interested in continuing with uh or interested in serving on as far as committees and also as far as um the positions he said he was he was willing or interested in continuing role if it was the board's will for him to do that so he was he was uh willing and interested to continue in that spot okay so Mark is it something that you would be interested in and Contin CH I I would accept a nomination if if somebody made that hello Treasurer I'm pointing my finger in this direction Dave's interested I'm interested very you interested yeah I do think it's good just to get a new set of eyes I mean those right I've played that role before and it was it was super eye open wide open but Cara's there now so that's been super helpful um yeah any other questions about that um prob probably the next the most important thing we're going to do today is designate the um Deputy clerk um sure and the the three main officers have to be members of the board the clerk the the treasurer and the chair the deputy clerk does not and um we've traditionally named Julie and Julie does just a tremendous amount of work in that role and she's she and uh the clerk work pretty closely together um so that that'll be the next thing we would do um any questions about that no I would just say there's a lot of work that goes into the deput within the and it's only Julie so if Julie's not in I'm out like at that point we're going rogue and I'm a little nervous yeah something if the clear were away I I still don't sign it I mean yeah we do wait until the but I just yes and I assume you would accept a nomination again just want to check good answer it's kind of a lifetime sentence um going down through the agenda if you have questions feel free to jump in uh next thing we're going to look at is the um Schoolboard meeting calendar um and you should have an attachment in your packet and if you notice there's regular meetings and work sessions and you can tell right off the bat January gets busy we're going to be looking at budget almost right off the bat so um any questions about those dates or times I would just say we do try and get to Big Fort three times a year um just as an option for the community to come sure and that's been well received and I think since they've started their parent group too that advisory committee we've had more people in attendance s good um what I would ask is if you're going to miss a meeting you know e a a text or an email to either Julie or superintendent gross or the chair very helpful it's it's it we we kind of need to know when we show up here if we're going to you know have a quorum and and uh there's any information that needs to be put out ahead of time anything else on the calendar Julie Eder St the audience area and if PL change at the last minute um they're also simoc cast from here so if you can't make it there there's an option to come here okay yeah I've had to do that before when I couldn't get out of the Cities sure yep and since that's posted that way it's not a it's not an issue at all for people to do that okay because any you know any member of the community could come to that that site could show up at the at this building we would still be able to participate in voting as well prob like right here couple tables uh jul Julie would you just kind of mention how you handle live streams what we live stream y it's a YouTu main page website and um and like it's through YouTube and so any they do on a me so really there's two options there people to and the and the minutes are also attached to that link is that correct so they can also see what it was that was discussed yes thank you Julie you can view right but you can't have can't come to the mic like you can't raise your hand for public input it's just viewing right so for public input you'd have to be at the physical location that's correct the live yeah I think I mean I do think it's worth acknowledging that that I mean there I you know I talk to superintendents around the state and not all districts are doing that uh so we're continuing to be transparent with our meetings uh I mean as open and transparent as we possibly could be uh you know all districts did that during covid obviously but we just kept continuing and I think it's been well received by the community and you know I'm sure more people have been engaged than um than not because of that uh Mr chair if I could one one change uh we slid up the workshop time from 5:30 to 5: for this calendar year uh as a proposal um we're not sure and Julie talked about Julie and I talked about it just uh something to mention and throw out there to the board to see if that's something that would work for you or previously it had been 5:30 right um but uh just kind of wanted to see if if that was okay uh or if if the board was amenable to that I'm I'm good with f yeah I'm open to that you know and I think that opens people up you know when the board meeting's over to to be at uh activities also sure you know so they think that's a good move along that we're not missing anything yeah the uh the other thing that I'd point out if I could you know the work or the regular meetings if you go through this list I'll show starting at 6 there are a handful that start at 6:30 and that is that is because there's no public forum part before the meeting so the you know let's just pick on um the 10th the meeting starts at six o'clock that first half hour is public forum or we'll maybe have a board report at six o'clock time our uh actual board meeting you know call it to order time would be at 6:30 so that time is consistent actually uh it's just how it's kind of designated on here the January 21st won't have a uh uh open Forum time before the board meeting it will during the meeting of course uh and that's because I believe that we will be using all that hour and a half for the work session um just because we have a lot to talk about in the next you know four weeks five weeks uh the other one if you kind of scroll down is at the end of the year uh and that has to do with the nature of that meeting and the purpose of it so the um you can see that there's a a report that's when we do our comprehensive achievement Civic Readiness public meeting at 6 so that's why it looks different even though from a practical standpoint it won't be for you and maybe just to mention we still have public input at the end of the meeting so it's not being eliminated it's just one option is being and again that's you know offering public offering two opportunities for public input goes beyond what's typical uh that I see so I think again it's boards trying to engage people next item on the agenda is the calendar of indicator reports um I I think what we've done over the years is try and bring in uh the reports that would be interesting to the board in particular um Julie or superintendent G I mean uh do you have any special comments about where we've placed any of those events or um in some cases it's just a matter of convenience um there there isn't a particular you know time component of why it makes sense to do this in a particular place so sometimes um they are so like the SRO presentation in May it's kind of like a wrapup on the year how did it go this year um so sometimes there's some method to it sometimes it's just where it conveniently fits in uh the crisis team update in August is sort of like here's what we're going to be working year so and then like I just mentioned with that comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness that's a requirement to happen in December so um but I I would also offer that if there there are things that uh you're curious about specific programs that you're curious about that if um you know if it's if it's a something that would be beneficial to pull in a presentation for that you just let us know and we can work it's a really good opportunity to take a a deep dive into something that you may not see every day you know like when I think when Darren comes and talks about buildings and grounds I mean there's a lot to that there's a million square feet that we're taking making sure you know we're planning the next 15 years of roof Replacements and how does that happen and why does it happen that way and uh how do we distribute people and how does our work order system it's just it's interesting I think uh to consider so yeah just me if there's something you're interested in just let us know when we can line something up next item on the agenda is the board payment should have a handout there um basically compensation is $2500 per year for 19 regular meetings there are some other compensations uh that are listed on that page and some of them may apply to you and some may not and I would say if you have questions about that um you know J are car are good people to talk to about that and you know there's mileage and there's you know prms and things like that but uh um we're not going to get too much into the specifics here other than it's the 19 regular meetings at the $2500 are so um you're not going to get rich knowing it but it's a good cause and I would say if I could Mark the the 19 regular meetings those that's the number stick to but it won't be uncommon or uh is reasonable to expect that I may you know be like we need to have a workshop an extra Workshop this month because of we need to dive into or you know we have negotiations coming up so we may need to schedule a special work session just for something like that uh one of the things I would like you to note is on the salary history page there um Schoolboard has not arised since 2012 they've been very committed to you know maintaining the budget and we're working hard to balance that budget and uh you know be fiscally responsible so um just be aware uh next item on the agenda is kind of a big one um we'd like to spend some time here now talking about committee assignments um basically um David Marty has given me a list of the things that you know he is still interested in committees being on and I think they're probably outlined in yellow on your handout um any of the ones where it would be bent or Pat or Mindy those are going to be places where we would need to put new people in and um I would also say that in the past we've switched some around you know um for sure um you know if if you have a particular interest or a place where you think your expertise would be helpful and um Julie could you kind of keep a few notes as we do this Mr chair if I may yeah um the ESP labor unit I really have not been in attendance in that some things changed in that space and so it's really been David and um Anna Lloyd who's been leading that work for a few years that was a committee that was added I don't know six years ago maybe something like that um it's been great but I I am going to continue to have my name removed from there so so I'm not going to be on that committee you're going to be removed off that yep I'd like to be removed off that okay then I'd also like to be removed off Wellness off wellness and they're doing great work I just don't always get time uh to get to all those meetings is it uh is it typical I mean how many people do you want per this kind of the balance the historical balance what you're seeing here is the historical balance um some of them and you know of course we can't have a quorum any place yeah um uh some of them are kind of by contract you know for example um oh like um meet and confer is the chair um you know to give you an idea um I ask is specified due to the Joint Powers so Melissa goes there as a representative this board to that board so that's why it's it's one person was an alternate some of these though there could be more like wellness is a good example if right three board members wanted to do that there's no reason why they couldn't so Melissa you still want to do policy I hear I love policy that's my favorite so do I that's a bummer okay well but I can you know I will step back and let other people do it no I'm not gonna take I'm not complet you know we could also just eliminate David he's not can't believe you're fighting over that one that's amazing I love it I think it's great it's one of my favorites I I mean I'll still go to the meetings yeah can we maybe yeah yeah everybody else wants out but a good that's a good group now can I still attend those meetings um so long as there's not more than yeah I know I don't know that there's a reason why there couldn't be three right right I mean if if we could add my name on there that would just be awwesome make your throwing it out there you know before we go any further um uh a the r has requested you are you willing to be on oh yeah okay that's good or bad we don't have to answer that question uh let's start at the topic activities Council I'm on that and and Mindy was Melissa you have been in the past I have been in the past y um it it might be a good spot um for you know somebody to you know for a new person to jump in I would take that spot considering that I have 75 children that are in activities every it would be great okay so why don't you why don't you leave me on there and Ashley Big Fork School advisory that's typically a board member and I've done that and I I've done it for the last year primarily because you know I had some I know them and uh it does require driving to Big Fork once a month you know for a 3:30 meeting so um that's something you kind of got to work around if you're going to be on that and I mean I I don't mind continuing you know unless somebody wants to I would have some interest in that so um either way I mean okay definitely would I I'd like to see what we can do to help big four call I okay is that one that there could be two as cons just consistency for a while and then one we could we could certainly have two why don't we do that uh Community head advisory Council I've done that but I'd be willing to give that up it's it's a a real good place to kind of get involved and see what happens in the district not just within the the classroom is there always being but they only need what three times I think four yeah I wouldn't mind being on that one if nobody else wants to no objections okay you take that f for that David requested to stay on endowment so I think we'll leave him there uh facility steering uh empty superintendent gross um what kind of facility work do we have coming um I the solar project yep the solar project and the r gems parking lot redo kind of the next two items and just to you know in a in a typical when we're running a typical larger scale project uh the facility steering committee would be meeting in our monthly uh construction check-in meetings with our project management team and uh making decisions about you know alternates or if there's money left in the contingency what to do with that um so and then on smaller scale things helping with decisions around you know the the Sal the our gems project if there are specific decisions or approaches that the board wants to weigh in on that's where that would happen uh it could be too that if there are questions that come up that I feel like we need to get some con this is the group that I would solicit that feedback from um and then that group you know that sometimes depending on what the issue is or the item is it could come to the board as a full recommendation if it's a if it's a big it's a big ticket item or if it's you know we're going to use yellow paint instead of blue paint you know it just happens but if it's going to be no we're gonna renovate the this place instead of that that's going to be come to the board with May so I'd have interest in serving on that some background I also would and I think with my background I could help contribute there think two would be good at this point or we yeah we don't I mean the scale of the projects we have now is a lot smaller so I think let's do to uh finance committee um two two members are leaving there's some openings there um I'd also be interested in that one yeah you know I think if you're interested in Treasure M you know I'd be interested in that one as well okay d Ashley daveid and Ashley uh fringe benefits has been real critical um they've done a tremendous amount of work uh working on our budget and uh especially having to do with our health care plan Pat is gone um I think that's a nonvoting part of that committee it is um but it's it's kind of a key liaison um just I think just to add to that if I can um you know the and that this is again new information we're self-insured for health insurance so this Fringe committee is working with a Insurance Consultant on a monthly basis to monitor utilization and projections um our fund our health insurance fund that's dedicated to pay for costs um and also that group does a lot of strategizing about um informing employees so one of the things that recently was talked about was uh developing a an education kind of I don't want to say campaign but some meetings education meetings to help our employees leverage their HSA dollars in the best way like here's how you invest it because we have some some employees that are killing it with how they're handling their HSA Investments and then there are some people that are like what are you talking about so anyway that can come out of that but ultimately that job um or that committee will make a recommendation to this board about what the insurance premium increase will be it's ultimately this board's decision but it comes you know pretty heavily weighted from this Fringe committees and so that's why the the role of this liaison is really important because they can speak uh to that maybe further to the discussion or what led to that uh that decision so I serve on that as well I do have a vote on that committee um but uh but that's what that person does who else is on that committee uh it's representatives from all of our labor groups uh teachers are represented secretaries are represented all okay I'd be interested in that space just because I've me as we've been making a lot of the significant changes to benefit said that'd be great Melissa you're you're part of I ask already right I am I'm the treasur on I ask so we can just leave those we can if somebody is interested they to do election start year so if somebody was really interested in as we look to the end of this school year that could be a transition toward the end of the school year okay because they make their their elections are in September so okay um Labor Management committee the district um I think this is one where we have one voting wrap on that what is this particular committee involve and what is our role is of that one vote that we are given I don't have a good answer there I mean what this group what this group essentially does is gets together to talk about any non-contractual issues that exist that this group could problem solve to make it you know more um you know better a better work environment uh so yeah they're pretty informal kind of a let's talk about it before it becomes a problem right y right yeah I'd like to be on that committee if that's okay okay that sound right Casey okay uh Melissa you wanted to be off the I can be an alternate on that want to be alternate on that yeah it looks like we had one voting member in an alternate and then for the ESP unit Melissa you wanted to be off yep we'll leave David on there um and that's a similar that's a similar committee and it we could go into the details of it some other time but there is an ES P or there are esps that attend the Labor Management the districtwide but then the esps have their own group um and like Mark said similarly this is a place where they're diving into issues before they you know hopefully before they become larger so this group worked on a um uh a feedback process for ES that so that made that you know exchange of feedback productive between teachers and special ed it has worked on the realignment process before so it wasn't quite as right difficult and I I think Anna loy's been working with that group too yep yep yeah you know I I think we could just leave that with David and and and analid on there I think we'd be fine mean confer I think that should stay that needs to stay the chair policy revieww I think we have three members got that out thank you three eager members uh Rams so I've been attending the Rams meetings yeah um they had so Pat was elected as the chair for Rams U I'm happy to keep going I've been attending them it's kind of my backyard I grew up over there I I think that's a good one especially with your chamber connetions I think that's a great great we need an alternate Mark should another individual step up position there I don't know Melissa what do you think yeah I mean I don't think it's bad it's it's a it's definitely a different group of people with a lot of different perspectives on funding for everything for everything from yeah from townships to do they meet monthly monthly I would be interested in that that'd be good they also usually have a zoom option so if if I couldn't go somebody I try and go in person but that's because my mom and dad are over there there we good there yeah I'm willing to do that as an alternative special ed advisory David Marty you know volunteered to stay um staff development committee I'm I'm willing to give that up up if somebody else wants that Mr chair could you give us um a little bit of information on What that particular committee goes through is it anything staff development yes yeah um you know to kind of give you an idea the staff development committee uh can of coordinates training and training funds for a significant portion of you know the the training that happens within the district I think they are meeting I think it's four times a year now yep um and it's typically an after school meeting uh 345 quite a few of the meetings have been uh Zoom which makes it easier um I I think I think probably the real value that I saw being part of the committee is you really get a chance to see all the different things that the district is do doing for professional development and it's incredibly extensive you know and um you you have a little bit of input there you know but a lot of it is you know you know educational I I would have an interest in that okay else uh Wellness yeah so I'll just give you a little background on the Wellness Group they did a staff survey that two years ago now yeah probably approaching two years maybe um to get a feel for what the needs of staff were part um staff feeling stressed right a lot of the metal stuff we hear of maybe not as valued as they have been in years past and of lift them up and provide them opportunity and so this Wellness Group has really been working on what are little ways we can lift staff up and what are some big ways and I don't know if you have anything else you want to say but that's a good um description of what the committee does Wellness um and they meet typically at about I think it's 3:30 yeah and they have some grant funding they got some Grant dollars and so so they've kind been doing some fun and nice things for for staff we a couple really really active engaged Community people too that come and they do really good work to help us so it's pretty neat I'd be interested in that okay okay anybody else I'll do it I used to be on that committee a couple years ago so okay I thought yeah uh conference of achievement and Civic Readiness uh we keep working for more and more complicated acronyms ITA us be world's best Workforce and before that school accountability or yeah District accountability report yeah systems accountability um David volunteered to stay on that you know he's he's done a lot of good work on that committee and I I would just leave somebody else wants it uh boys and girls club uh David Marty's been very very involved with that group and I think he would hate to lose that one so that is going through a lot of transition to so stability might be good yeah next item on the agenda is the ne negotiation assignments usually the chair is kind of you know graded based on how fast these meetings go you're losing and I feel like with this agenda it's kind of kind of a losing thing for me here um what you see on the handout as um is who we had previously uh negotiating these and and the one thing I would like to say is that um some of these can be become pretty complex and and I I think continuity in some of these areas is very helpful you know and I you know for example um with teachers you know Melissa and Pat have quite a while um I you know I would sure hope that Melissa would agree to stay on that one yeah I'd be happy to do that I inherited binders from previous board members all of the nego so I mean it's really interesting to see historically the negotiations I wouldn't mind doing that with Melissa if it's possible to have somebody else on there with you it's necessary well and I would like to see your reminders yeah I think just from a practical standpoint Ashley like something to keep in mind uh negotiations can be very difficult sometimes um and you're working like alongside people that you might be I know intention with and so I think it's just important to go into that with your eyes wide open if that's I mean I'm not trying to discourage super important to yeah my feelings might get hurt is that what you're saying or vice versa or might or vice versa or might just create a real tense kind of situation and hopefully things go swimmingly right um but sometimes they don't uh you know sometimes they don't and so I mean it comes with the territory I understand yeah I appreciate that thank you I I think it's helpful sometimes to have an experienced board member at least one on on these um maybe we should kind of well so which ones are you on you're on um I'm on a lot of The Independents and ones I'm I'm happy to step into some of the others that the independent ones go pretty quickly I mean really with that's you want to stay on those I'm happy to stay on if if we want continuity on those um or I'm happy to let somebody else these are not those are great places to cut um and understand uh that that's a great place so that might need less continuity than maybe some of the bigger but I could be wrong um so let say are you okay staying on the superintendence yep okay and I think I'd like to add my name to that um kind of going from the the bottom up on the IND and it's uh special services Pat won't be there is there somebody that would like to step in for Pat can you give us a little bit of a description on what that would that's analid I'm sorry I missed that analid or special services director okay I'm I'm willing to do that I think to to Mark's point you know the the individual ones usually do go quicker in terms of the number of meetings you're managing one contract or one calendar to sort of yeah align on the employee side so it's a lot a lot of times quicker you know that individual is speaking for themselves not for an entire group of people so they can kind of it goes a lot quicker the the ones on the top um the larger the group the longer it can take just because there's a lot more you know representation going on so there's voting that needs to take you know every negotiation starts out with language Chang and then it goes to salary and benefits and and they're all they all shake out a little different um and it's each unit needs something different and each individual needs something different so it's hard to kind of say but that's kind of the three buckets of work that that's sit there that makes sense uh so Indian Ed service student Advocates David and I can continue that uh Indian Ed coordinator Melissa you're willing to stay there y um somebody want to join Melissa I'll hop in that with Melissa okay HR Director um Melissa you're on there Pat's not I can jump in there okay Dave uh grip colon coordinator is it is that this year yes it is yeah we'll have to do we'll have to look into that because I believe the grant is up I think it's up the end of this year so there may not be a contract for 25 27 I know there's going to be an application for the next round of Grants but um you have the contract out to September 29 that's the Grant I mean it wouldn't hurt to put somebody in there in case in case we have it gr's approved or this next round's approved but I can do that uh business manager let's see you're on there I can join that one okay we don't need to do a Ani no uh do we have teachers covered or are we still talking about that Ashley was Ashley and Melissa I think okay service employees um I I think probably we should uh Melissa's got quite a few either either David or myself should be on there with somebody else um you're welcome to put me on there jie and then I'd be willing okay Tom uh principles I'd be interested in that one okay you want that that should be David yeah maybe David or me or you yeah either one's fine fine I can take that you want you want to be on that I'm always a little awkward on that one because I was a princi I know like just because David's not here I won't while and told him ESP David's on there is there somebody that would like to join him I volunteered I was looking to see volunteered for the that might be a good if you're on the management committee to sit on who me I was looking I think David he's on the management committee so I was just trying to look for continuity across committee the language similar so David's on there no he's well he's on the regular committee but not on the negotiations is p is yeah oh there he is yeah so David and somebody else David and somebody else think I mean I it might be useful to have Ashley on that one too it's a lot I mean it's a lot to be honest with you but but it's it's co they're connected essentially to the teachers so yeah I can do that uh directors and coordinators I'd stay on that and then we would need to add somebody i' I'd be willing okay um uh confidential administrative assistant so can I ask a question Mr chair you bet um we have one of those right why is that not a independent contract because it's technically a unit uh it it under the it actually is a unit yes yeah it's a unit under the BMS Bureau of manag services so yeah mediation Bureau of mediation really good question though it's a good question I I'd be willing to be on it that one really brutal Melissa would you be willing to do that one uh bus drivers David Marty's on there um I'd be willing okay Administrative Professionals we have Pat and Mindy I can do that and then add somebody I can do that one okay are we good there Julie uh the next item on the agenda is designating financial institution and um what what you're going to see within the administrative report is uh kind of a list of the places that we do a lot of our business with and we're not restricted to those we don't necessarily have specific contracts or or anything but uh we do list them and you see there's kind of a a variety of things that allow Cara to do her job I guess is is the way to put that any questions about that um so go ahead so some do some of these actually administer some of our um some our loans and things like that or La of a better term right and yes Cara can probably jump in on that we're on this financial institutions one maybe just talk about how we use different different banks for what yeah um prior to the they had money in a lot of places this is a small commun so I agree do that um we US Bank for the majority of Che um but we have a sweep agreement with um School investment fund so right now we're earning right around four and a half% on our um money market which is fantastic um so we sweep them for US Bank We R our payroll autog ground bank so we need to cut check we do have bu on Bank we have our certificates um that we ISS bation bonds there um otherwise most of it's just Investments held weeks thanks Cara um next item on the agenda is certification of the Chief Financial Officer and that's Cara any questions about that um next item is to designate a representative the Minnesota State High School leag um I've done that in the past Y and I'm also um I am the region 7aa School rep um but that's that's a kind of a rotate suround through the district that won't be open but certainly this is a a good place for um I don't I think when I've done it in the past there have been a couple times when uh votes came through you know you responsible for making a vote for the district and typically you know that means you know communicating with the athletic director and the superintendent you know you know how would this policy impact our students you know something like that so um is there anybody that would like to do that I I would be interested okay uh designation of the official newspaper you know and and this is this is one that uh there's been a little bit of talk about and and we probably should talk about it here at the um at the workshop uh there there are certain requirements that have to happen and we are required to name an official newspaper and it it is in a in a way it's a little bit of a it's a little bit of an archaic thing because people go electronically to look at notes and things now but we're still required to publish our school notes and legal notices and things like that if you have a HomeTown newspaper that's located within your District you have to give them priority um more and more in the state of Minnesota there are many districts that do not have that uh Hometown newspaper and so it's becoming a challenge and um we've had bids from two uh newspapers in the past to basically run our board minutes which we pay for and then some of our legal notices uh The Herald Review is the one that uh is located within the school district boundaries uh Senor crange news has uh given us a bid however they're not they actually do not have uh I think their main office in Nash walk and a have a subsidiary office or whatever in The Greenway School District so um pretty much we're obligated to go with the heral review yeah because it's not about distribution it's about the physical local physical local oh really it's not distribution not distribution no because if that were the case then you know the Pioneer Press and star tribute and all of them would have just as much priority over anybody because they too have distribution here okay the uh if I can the statute I just handed out kind of walks through this priority and that first subdivision two there talks about the known office in locality and you know what is a little bit what can be confusing is an address might appear to be in our school district and it might not be it might have a city delivery as Grand Rapids and not be in our school district and that's the case really when we're looking at some of the other Publications The Herald Review is the only paper with a known office of issue that's located within our sub political subdivision it's the only paper so the statute's very clear about priority there so so we can't even consider the bid from correct curious was it competitive it was cheaper the scenic range was cheaper yep yep and I you know we we've had a a number of exchanges with the the owner and he's looking out and trying to save us some money and presented that and uh right now the reality is we can't consider the board can't consider that option based on the location of their offices currently and you know that could change um and one of the other things that we're checking into it doesn't matter right now but can an entity have multiple offices I'm not sure either the statute talks about a known office of issue I'm not sure what that means exactly it's not defined in the statute and so we're getting Clarity on that so that a year from now if things were to change uh we would know what our options are and it could be even Big Fork as a community let's say yeah right part of our district yeah it doesn't necessarily have to be ground that's right if if Big Fork had a paper any any City within the district right for lack of yeah if Big Fork had a newspaper they could submit a bid and they'd be we would have to you know present walk through this priority list of board would have to decide right now there's not really a a legal decision to make but it could so I think we'll continue to look look into this and see what would happen if there were multiple addresses first of all but it's it's interesting it doesn't prohibit us from using Scenic range correct it's just that we designating this paper as but we can still put stuff within the scenic range but anything that needs the legal requirements for posting has to right that has to be our designated we've talked about this y yeah and that you know we've continued to you know publish things in Scenic range because they do have a circulation different in parts of our district really that they have a doe reach it they do reach into that um I don't think the Herald Review does as much so it's very valuable their circulation is valuable uh and so we we do publish things there too well and it's always concerning when you don't have that competitive bit environment right yeah I I'm not trying to say there but the issue with royal media right we are kind of running down on time so I'm going to kind of go through the last couple ones rather quickly uh official radio station uh we work with uh Rapids radio and kxe they've both been great um our official posting site is on the B board outside um this building and our notes are always on the district website and the meeting notices are has been noted earlier in the meeting agendas and minute notes so um designation of the school district's legal council and name authorized contacts you have a handout somewhere here we are so board report kind of lists um uh which legal firms we use and we use a variety and um some of the firms we use are are better at special EDS some of them uh we we tend to use uh local legal for you know land transactions and and things like that um it's nice to have somebody local often times and uh there's a a variety there um and these are the ones that we have used in the past if you look at the bottom it's kind of important to see who's authorized to actually call them uh you know Kennedy and Graven doesn't necessarily want to hear from every board member what kind of legal advice would you give me um they want to hear from the superintendent or or the chair or something like that then if you call them on your own you know they may be sending you a bill yep the other thing if I can Mr chair having you know having some designations like this um the attorneys know if they've been designated by our board uh and it happened today I called the attorney she answered her she answered the phone because she knew that it was coming from Grand Rapids and were one of her clients uh if I was calling some random attorney i' probably get put on a list and and they should you know you got to prioritize so um that's why we handle that that way questions about that um the last thing there Schoolboard operations is Code of Ethics you know take some time to read through those it's critical you don't you don't want to put yourself in a position where where you know your ethics might impact uh the district or yourself uh the last thing is the Schoolboard communication interaction protocol guide and quite a bit of work was done on that three or four years ago um there's some really good scenarios here about if you get an email you know about this what's the best way to handle that and uh you got to be really careful when you do reply alls or when you try to give answers for the district when you're an individual member on your board it's just um one of one of the things you're going to notice is an awful lot of the time the right thing to do is I'm I've referred your problem your conflict your email your phone call to the superintendent and you know or the board chair and hand be handled from there but if there's questions it never hurts to call and ask yeah and so careful the reply all y because you can find yourself in a situation where you've violated you know quum yeah CL yeah so I I did request clarification is that kind of the methodology to get some of those clarifications and both to you and Julie initially yep that was really good so that was that was great um some questions and like we did there uh if there's some questions that I look at and go there's probably other people that have these same questions so yeah I appreciate that that that's preferred map yep you bet yep I know we're headed to msba I would recomend there's a bunch of there's some legal uh ease folks that will be there and they do some really great kind of here's how to here's what not to do here's what could get you you know it that is worth that is worth the 45 minutes um because they really do and you'll get scenarios in there that you're like oh they they're great msba will have a ton so msba also provides some legal services to us right correct they're kind of independent of any listing here are there any other Party Services that we from from msba well no no or similar to that like for a lack of a better term right um that I'm just curious M doesn't have anything right they don't have any that's just a policy arm I'd say not in an official not kind of an in an official manner I might reach out to you know a superintendent Association director but that's more about a particular how to handle or get advice on something rather than something that's about a district kind of issue does that make sense but we don't yeah it's a good question not a direct maybe right like yeah yeah no I was just curious um you know if this superseded us from having that ability I guess sure put that list yeah it doesn't limit us um I guess at this time we're kind of through the organizational Workshop I'm going to adjourn the the workshop and we'll come back in session uh with an open for and work session in uh let's come back in about five minutes if anybody needs to take a break y okay pton so if you see pton at msba they're out of it's a law firm out of park rids e e e e e e e e e oh here we go new board exciting stuff um yeah Dan Adams Middle School principal and under Equitable education I'm just going to share some things some of the great things that are happening at the middle school and Equity is a word that we toss around pretty Loosely nowadays and just for clarity just going to share some of the things we do and how we make sure that we have equity and how we also try to reduce variability so that we get that equity for all students and the emphasis on all so after I Buzz through this very short presentation if you have questions or want more clarification on some specific numbers like maybe sixth grade versus seventh versus 8th please feel free to ask when I when I'm done with this so as you know one of the Strategic directions of our district is an equitable education and getting all of our students assessed in both the areas of academics and social emotional Behavior how do we achieve this that sounds kind of canned and easy however that it does come with challenges so to get our students assessed um we need to reduce variability and between classrooms and with common curriculum and to have scientifically proven educational strategies that work for all of our kids and again those are the strategies we used or we use to make sure that we have that Equity a goal of our district is to have 97% or more of our students assessed with Star Sabers and MCAS now when you think about that 97% that's a pretty lofty number we work tirelessly to get there but realize it does come with some challenges for our fall numbers of star assessment and the first star assessment that's an academic assessment we do that right away in September sixth seventh and eighth grade students in both reading and math math we hit 94.5% of assessment for sixth 7th and eighth grade combined um we are actually in the second STAR testing window right now it started last Thursday January 2nd and it goes until the 16th which is a week from this Thursday to make sure we get that second assessment window in there the fall Sabers data which we do right away in the fall as well little lower numbers there we ended up at 88% assess for grades 6th 7th and e8th the second Sabers testing window did dip a little bit because when you you can imagine when you get to December there's everything from activities to family vacations to sickness and it's really hard to get if there's 30 kids in a classroom it's really hard to see 30 kids every day and get those assessments done in addition to the other things that are taking place fact or factoring in one of the biggest is attendance a couple of the other variables in their activities such as hockey football or football in the fall hockey in the winter basketball volleyball all the different sports we do so as far as reducing the variability piece and this is another interesting one when you look at classroom a and classroom B just looking across the hall and that's how our most of our rooms are set up you have eighth grade math on one side of the hall eighth grade math on the other side how do we make sure that Equitable education is there for kids on both sides of the hallway we we talk about things like pet projects that maybe certain staff like to do or certain activities how do we make sure we minimize variability and get it similar so across the hall it's not one side of the hall is knocking it out of the park having a great experience in the other side of the hall struggling and maybe kids are whole hum about the instruction or what's taking place so as far as reducing the variability how do we do that one of the greatest strategies we have and that's thanks to a school board and a superintendent to push really hard on our early outs on Wednesdays that is critical communication is such a key piece when it comes to reducing variability staff are pushed pretty hard every day where do they get time in a busy busy day to share out successful strategies assessment results and how they're doing in their classroom so those early outs are so critical on Wednesdays and just creating opportunities for staff to share some of those strategies in addition to the early outs the cycles that the strategy team develops from the district level and then it passes down to our building leadership teams and then it gets down to staff and instruction and we can't talk enough about elbow conversations that happen between staff but also designated time to invest in our staff to say we feel that early outs are critical we feel the communication is critical and we feel that the strategies the Cycles are just Paramount in getting this established in in that communication so again directions from the district strategic directions so critical obviously the equity piece and the reducing variability piece so with that being said those are some strategies we use at the middle school we feel pretty proud of it um for the most part part we're in the 90 percentile for getting those kids assessed and we will continue to work tirelessly to make sure that we have that Equitable delivery and also reducing variability questions about any specific numbers 678 anything else um in our Equity sure sure and and here I'm the Newbie right so absolutely so what when you say assessment what ises that consists of I guess what is an assessment what's an example of an assessment okay and that's a great question and again Matt was trying to prepare us for this because there's a turnover of board and I don't want this to come across as mundane because I've said this before so thank you for asking that question um for for instance a universalized like assessment uh MCAS would be more of a Minnesota type assessment and then you have um obviously your star assessment which would be more you know of a national assessment now those are academic assessments ways for us to measure where our kids at why do we give them um some people may say test test test assess SSS why do we do so much of it well if we don't know where kids are at how can we help them I brought up the word Equity is equity does that mean it's the same for everyone sitting up here is that Equitable or is that just the same because all of you have different needs just like we all have different needs every student has different needs so when we assess academically we're trying to figure out what are their needs specifically does that help answer that question that that does it's um is it on an individual basis with the teachers and feedback or is it a formal process so obviously the MCA is a Minesota standard that's the ones that we take in the spring but the star is a nationally normed one that that we're doing more of a national but yeah it's individual and then staff are looking at those assessment results to what are the needs so there's obviously a math and a reading that's for the star the MCAS there's a science for an MCA I think there's a there's a one of the things that that is good to know we have what we would call like long cycle assessments that's like uh the MCA that's once a year right and then we have uh shorter term shorter cycle assessments that we might give once a quarter and then we have other assessments that we might give every single week uh all of those are have all those have different purposes um uh we have interventionists that are targeting specific skills and so we're monitoring those interventions like really really close because we need to see if those interventions are working uh over a short period of time to see if we continue with those or we try something different um the benchmarking ones are the ones we give sort of in that quarterly the star for instance that's like tracking progress because knowing knowing what a kid knows in April doesn't help us over the of the year with that assessment that star assessment helps us know in September throughout the course of the year are they making the progress we need so we kind of have assessments that I'd say fall into three buckets that one that we're giving once a year that those assessments that we're giving once a quarter like star or Sabers and then which is a social emotional assessment and then those really short cycle ones that we're giving maybe weekly see targeted it's kind of like is this medicine working yeah okay okay and so you know you gave us percentages there which I appreciate what is that Trend right now that you're seeing is that kind of leveling trending up trending down in your opinion and because I because I the feedback I get is that we have some room for improvement yeah yeah and always room for improvement and we know that in public education I think that we're learning um I think a couple years ago we were given the star assessment more than we are now just because maybe we're just trying to find those soft spots or Landing spots where we can get the most students assessed I I think we're learning every year and we're we're sett in on three right now but is that still the best I think we'll figure that out and then Matt brought up the other piece about the social emotional the Sabers it's not just about academics it's also about how does that kid respond in a setting with other students how do they respond to Authority how do they respond so that's the Sabers piece and that's how we're trying to figure out that social emotional piece in addition to just academics it's more whole child making sure that we're trying to get to all students but those are great questions and everyone has them I'd add I'd add to that those numbers that Dan was talking about are measures of the uh measures of how how complete we're being in our assessments so our Target is are we assessing 97% of our kids because if we're not then that the value of that assessment goes down so what we were finding years ago is that we weren't getting enough kids assessed gaps we had gaps or the data wasn't good I mean one of the things that we as we started work our strategic directions piece and setting goals around some things it was like we can't really make a decision about that data point because that data point is not is no good so that was one of the first things we had to do is say we need to get 95 plus percent of our kids assessed that way we know our date is good and that's going to make our decisions better so that's the data that Dan was sharing helps yeah and then the the star data that benchmarking data is correlated to MCAS so if star is doing its job and we're doing our job we should be able to predict then what's going to happen in April I mean if if there shouldn't really be a surprise if we if we're doing 97% 98% of our kids are being assessed any one of our windows and like Dan said some of the one and a half two and a half four five s% that we're missing 100% we don't have control of that kid might have been sick during the assessment window that those kids might have been vacation but we can still pursue that number if we're doing a good job and star is doing a good job with its standards alignment we should be able to predict PR well how that kid's going to do in April so there aren't any surprises yeah appreciate that thank you other question I'm gonna keep talking here these are good questions one of the other things we did around assessment Fidelity is sort of because it was it was back to this and and Dan has uses this word Equitable um for us that means that we're meeting the needs of all kids that all kids are getting what they need and one of the things that we learned and one of the things that we felt strongly about was our district our families our kids our teachers our board deserves to see data that accur accurately reflects what kids know and can and so one of the things we learned as we looked at this more was that we had testing protocols or procedures that were different from one side of the hall to the other and so we had to tighten up like here's what we're doing we're not going to do you know uh big events you know we're going to meet in the gym on during testing week to have a assembly because it screws up the whole testing environment right we're going to handle so we had to tighten up our procedures around testing in order to make sure that that score that that kid gets on that onetime a year assessment is the most accurate reflection of what that kid knows and can do um and we've made a lot of progress there we're still kind of tightening up some of the edges but it's one something that's been on our strategy work and we have a document now that kind of lays that out so one of the things we learned and I'll be quiet was really that the data that we had previously wasn't as clean as good as we needed it to be and so we've taken a lot of steps to get clean and better data any other questions for Dan thank you very much thanks for coming down at this time we're going to adjourn the work session we'll come back into session for the regular meeting at 6:30 e e e e e e e e we're going to call the organizational meeting School order please stand for the pledge pledge allegiance flag the United States of America to the for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for before we get started I would like to welcome our new board members Cen Ashley Goodman and Don gson thank you welcome thank you um they've already signed their acceptance and oath sheets so they can't they are official uh notice also David Marty is absent with notice today and Owen and Jaden our two student representatives are unable to attend it's homecoming week the high school and that's pretty important they need to be there so having said that I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda so moved moved by Melissa second a second second by Ashley uh any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I opposed hearing none the agenda is approved next item on the agenda is the election of officers uh we have three officers that we elected chairperson a clerk and a Treasurer at this time nominations are in order for the office of chair Mr chair I would like to nominate Mark shter Mark schroer is nominated at this time are there any other nominations for chair second call are there any other nominations for chair third call are there any other further nominations for chair hearing no further nominations the nominations for the chair are closed uh since Mark schroer is the only candidate nominated for the office of chair he's I hereby declare him elected by acclamation and direct the acting clerk to so record the minutes at this time nominations are in order for the office of clerk do I have any nominations for the office of clerk Mr chair I nominate David Marty for the office of Clerk David Marty is now nominated are there any other nominations for cl second call are there any further nominations for clerk third call for nominations are there any further nominations for cler hearing none no nominations uh for the office of clerk are now closed David Marty is the only candidate nominated for the office of clerk I hereby declare him elected by acclamation and direct the acting clerk to so record in the minutes at this time nominations are in order for the off of Treasurer Mr chair I nominate Dave Cowen for the office of treasure Dave Cowen is now nominated for treasurer second call for nominations are there any further nominations for treasurer third call are there any further nominations for the office of Treasurer hearing none nominations for Treasure are now closed Dave Cen is the only candidate nominated for the office of treasurer I hereby declare him elected by acclamation direct the acting clerk to so record in the minutes Julie do we need anything else for those two next item on the agenda is to designate the deputy Clerk um looking for a nomination to designate the superintendent's confidential assistant Julie rason as Deputy clerk under the direction of the board clerk to perform the duties of the clerk as deemed necessary so moved so moved by Melissa do I have a second second second by Dave any discussion all in favor say I I I opposed Julie Robinson is approved as the deputy clerk thank you Julie moving on the agenda the next item on the agenda is to um organizational items uh number one approve the 2025 Schoolboard meeting calendar do I have a motion to approve the calendar so move move by Ashley do I have a second second second by Melissa discussion hearing none all in favor say I I opposed school board meeting calendar is approved next item on the agenda is to Pro approve excuse me the calendar of indicator reports for 2025 I have a motion so moved moved by Ashley do I have a second second second by da uh any discussion hearing none all in favor say I I hi oos calendar indicator reports for 2025 is approved next item on the agenda is to approve the Schoolboard payment rates for 2025 do I have a motion to approve those rates so moved moved by Melissa have a second second second by Ashley discussion hearing none all in favor favor say I I I I opposed Schoolboard payment rates for 2025 are approved next item on the agenda uh during the workshop we assign board board committee assignments uh we're not going to read through all those but they'll be listed in the minutes do I have a motion to approve the board the assignments Some Mo move by Dave second second second by Ashley discussion all in favor say I I I opposed board committee assignments are approved next item on the agenda is to approve the designated financial institutions School funds have a motion to approve the designated financial institutions so moov move by Melissa second second second by Dave discussion all in favor say I I I I opposed financial institutions uh are approved uh next item on the agenda approve Carol line to act as the Chief Financial Officer and exercising power of the school board in designating depositories for the district District initiating delegating responsibility for electronic fund transfers signing releasing collateral and letting and ass signing of all contracts construction chain vs under 250,000 during calendar year 2025 I have a motion so moved move by Dave second second second by Ashley discussion all in favor say i i i i v Carolyn Dean is approved as Chief Financial Officer next item on the agenda designate representative to the Minnesota State High School league um I believe Tom volunteered for that right yes I did okay Julie uh let the notes indicate that Tom Guston is the Minnesota State High School league representative uh next item on the agenda approve the official newspaper designate The Herald Review I have a motion to designate The Herald Review so move move by Ashley second second second by Melissa discussion Mr chair I would would just uh note that we did receive an additional bid to be the official newspaper but the uh the other bidder was outside of our district boundaries and therefore wasn't one we could consider any further discussion Mr chairman I add it does not prohibit us from putting information in other newspapers thank you further disc discussion hearing none all in favor say I I opposed Harold review is uh designated official newspaper next item on the agenda designate the official radio station uh we are designating looking for a motion to designate rapid radio and kxc some moved by Dave second second second by Melissa discussion all in favor say I I opposed Rapids radio and kxc are designated official radio station next item on the agenda designate the official posting site um uh looking for a motion to designate the Bolton board inside the main doors of ist3 headed Services Center motion please so moved moved by Ashley second second second by Dave discussion all in favor say I I I opposed the official posting site is designated inside the 318 education center next item on the agenda select the district's legal council and name of authorized contacts their listed in the administrative and in the the notes I have a motion to designate those legal councils so moved moved by Melissa looking for a second second second by Ashley discussion I guess I just wanted to comment I appreciated the feedback that we we do have some third- party services at at times we use that don't need to be addressed specifically in this list but further discussion all in favor say I I opposed legal councel and named authorized contacts are approved uh next item on the agenda approve the minutes of the December 16 24 comp comprehensive achievement in Civic Readiness formally world's best Workforce an achievement in integration public meeting I have a motion to approve those minutes so moved move by Melissa second second second by Ashley discussion hearing none all in favor say I I opposed minutes are approved next next item on the agenda approve the minutes of the December 16th 24 regular school board meeting do I have a motion Some Mo mooved by Dave second second second by Melissa discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I minutes for December 16 24 regular school board meeting are approved next item on the agenda is to approve the consent agenda reminder that uh there's no discussion on the consent agenda but we do need a motion in a second do I have a motion so moved moved by Ashley do I have a second second second by Melissa all in favor say I I I opposed consent agenda is approved next item on the agenda Casey approve the ESP request for General leave good evening board welcome new board members before you you have a request for a one of our educational support professionals Cy mcnamar for a general leave of absence um her request is good for a 12-month period for the 2025 calendar year there is no pay or benefit implications in approving the leave just retains her seniority right should she um choose to return she would not be able to bump any of our current employees and would only be able to choose an open position I'm recommending approval of the leave as we have approved um a handful of these in the last couple of years any questions a Casey Casey how does this impact um unemployment benefits that uh esps can collect now through the summer her leave is starting kind of in the middle of the year and it's related to another employment so at this time we're not on the hook for any unemployment should she that position potentially not work out we we would be on the hook either way okay yeah thanks and and this does not guarantee job at all it just allows her to come back with the same seniority in Staffing correct yes do I have a motion to approve the request for General leave I moved move by Melissa second second second by Ashley any further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I I opposed request for General leave of absence for Tracy magnam approved next item on the agenda approve the 2024 25 memorandum of understanding with ask me Casey before you you have a memor memorandum of understanding with our Service Unit um we have previously used a similar system that's being proposed right now we used to have our building Engineers that were assigned to that building checking the boilers um when they needed to and doing a building check and a couple of contracts ago went away from that for a couple of reasons um mostly we did not have an engineer in all the buildings and also efficient efficiency wise we thought it would be easier to do a rotation where one person checked all of the buildings on those weekends or when they needed to the unit approached us looking to go back um and we are in a different spot now we have less buildings so cost-wise it's comparable and um they do feel like there is some consistency and comfort in checking their own buildings as they're most familiar with what needs to be reviewed um this is a good opportunity as we have six months left in the contract to try it out and see how it goes and the facilities director was in support so I'm recommending approving theou that we'll just change our building check schedule through June of 2025 looking for a moment motion to approve that memorandum of understanding so moved move by Ashley second second second by Dave any further discussion Mr superintendent do you have any idea of what kind of financial implication this will have making this change I I think it would be neutral at worst um uh yeah it'll be neutral at worst okay any further discussion are now these checks are really when there is no school in place um right cold weather it it's really a boiler check is it driven by the laws for boiler checks is that right when a building is unoccupied for a certain period of time we have to do a check so that's what's driving yeah over break um I think even on a weekend we have to so below us certain temperature they have to check them on the weekends any further discussion all in favor say I I I opposed hearing none the mou is approved next item on the agenda approv the federal micr purchase level Cara good evening um this is a formality um we have a policy a uniform Grant guidance it's one of our policies that dictates our purchases of federal um items so in it we talk about micr purchases it's the only place we talk about micro purchases so I H update what the threshold is according to the federal government you can see all the many references in there um and this just um saying this is the rules we're going to follow for this year and so we need a motion to approve the micro is that is that what you're looking for sure uh looking for a motion to approve the federal micro purchase l so moved moved by Dave second second second by Melissa discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I opposed micro purchase loow LS are approved next item on the agenda approve the recommended bid for solar for school projects at Bigfork School Cara sorry um we solicited bids for the solar project in Bigfork we had two individuals to companies that responded um Matt did a very thorough job documenting the responses that we received from ideal energy and Wolf Track energy um and all of that information is in our packet where ultimate recommending ideal energy while their bid is was higher um it matched everything we needed whereas Wolf Track um did a lower bid but then they proposed um on our own dollar we put in a new Transformer so that would have increased the price quite a bit um so we are recommending based on the the criteria we used to approve ideal energy for the solar project in big Mark looking for a motion to approve moved uh Melissa second second second by Dave discussion Mr chair it's worth mentioning uh as as kind of you know we've been through this process since last summer um this is all in conjunction with the solar for schools program uh that I think this is round six or round seven that the the state has put out we were approved in the first round which sort of opened the door to get to this point issued the RFP uh the amount that we're eligible for is $500,000 um and you know our our insistence all along has been this can't be a cost to the school district this can't be this can't there can't be anything that comes out of our pocket or negatively affects our budget so the savings from the utilities uh at Big Fork would um would more than make up for any cost of construction that's not covered by the the solar Grant uh I we've been working with ideal for some time now and um you know they kind of laid out some original ideas and that that this is the company that sort of included or proposed that we make sure to incl include the cost of replacement of some equipment throughout the life of the project so that there weren't unforeseen expenses and they also um proposed and included uh operations and maintenance in their overall cash flow um proposal so that you know ongoing maintenance isn't something that we're going to be surprised by as well they did um ideal also took a little bit more conservative approach to energy Generation Um they had a lower kilowatt hour production with a larger array than the other bidder so they were being conservative in their estimates which makes me feel better about the overall um the overall proposal uh we have a motion in a second I guess I would just like to comment I kind of came into this late and I apologized didn't didn't really realize this was on here until I saw in the agenda and I talk to Matt I do appreciate the feedback you've given me um and I and I it was a I I appreciated the bid tabulation nice process involved um I would ask that I'd like to be in the loop as much as possible on this just with my experience so right so thank you we have a motion a second any further discussion hear none all in favor say I I I opposed the bid for the solar school project is approved next item on the agenda accept the second reading and approve policy 522 Title Nine superintendent gross thank you Mr chair this policy that uh came to you for first reading in December and as being proposed uh once again it's based on the office for civil rights guidance for what districts are required to to have in our policy uh our overall procedures and the grievance procedures that were required to have also and that were changed by a guidance last year in a in a helpful way I think we kind of maybe didn't discuss that as much some of the changes that were um made last April actually are help full to school districts um in an investigation previously there had to be multiple it was required that there were multiple people involved now the same person can do the investigation and do the finding which is helpful to us uh certainly it's even more helpful to districts that are much smaller that have a lot of uh bandwidth so um so yeah are but those grievance procedures are required they're included in a separate document our procedures and the other thing that that's good about that enables us to to make changes to those procedures should we see change is at the federal level um so that gives us some some flexibility I did review the process we've gone through with our attorney and she indicated that she's been advising her clients not to get too deep in the weeds uh on this for two reasons one there will undoubtedly be change at the federal level with the administrative change everybody knows that and agrees with that um and this positions us taking sort of a more General approach to this policy positions us well for that second um Minnesota has a anti-discrimination law the Minnesota Human Rights Act that was established previous to any changes last year that really creates restrictions around discrimination or or specifies things that regardless of the federal um unless the federal would be more restrictive sort of creates the bar for discrimination in Minnesota that we have so um this won't change necessarily anything that is discrimination last summer versus what is next summer unless things change drastically at the federal level this just identifies our approach to how we handle it um and how those procedures work and we're positioned well for if the federal government does change uh its rules or rulings around Title 9 so um I think this puts us in the position that we need need to be in and want to be in and I'd recommend approval do I have a motion to approve so moved moved by Ashley second second second by Melissa any further discussion I you know I'd just like to say one of the things that the policy committee has been trying to do separate policy and procedure because we had so many documents that had procedure embedded within the which is unnecessary and so just to clean it up so I know there was a lot of questions like how do we go for something so something that was much more clean and it has more to do with that we pulled the procedure out policy itself and let the policy stand alone with the procedures that can support it and that can change at variable times so I just want to point Mr chair if I could mention one other thing there just because I know there's some narrative or confusion out there there are some states that are involved in an injunction around Title 9 due to lawsuits and and Minnesota is not a state that's involved in that but there are some school districts and schools individually involved in that based on the involvement of some advocacy groups those specific districts and schools are part of that injunction and have been enjoined from the effects of any changes that were made last year our school district's not been a part of that again those are those weren't um those districts or schools didn't choose to be a part of that or have that law applicable to them they're being affected by or involved in a lawsuit or an advocacy effort that's looped them into this group so that that will play out too over the next you know year two years what the what the courts find um but I know that's been out there those weren't this wasn't these weren't choices that districts or schools were maing making it was due to the involvement of a lawsuit or some kind of other circumstance that led to a injunction around that rule or law um I I will comment that I I did some research a little bit on myself on this cuz because there's been some questions right and I wanted to make sure I understood as best I can right I'm not going to pretend to be a lawyer or anything close to that um um but but obviously with the with the schools there's a lot of information and I went to uh probably about 20 different school districts in the state and looked at what they had um I didn't see anything that was dramatically different I guess is what I I just wanted to say um um I saw a little more information out there with them but basically it was it was about how to file for if you felt you were prejudiced or or anything and it stayed in that and didn't get into the policy to so it just felt consistent from what I saw I guess as one thank you further discussion hearing none all in favor say I I I oppose second reading for policy 522 is approved next item on the agenda is board reports and I don't know how much our new members will have to report but I will give them a chance uh Melissa do you want to go do you want to go first yeah because I'm fast I don't have anything we were we were in Holiday mode like life is good and here we are back all right it Dave uh NOP nothing to report okay nothing to report nothing um just taking it all in learning as much as I can I feel like I'm back in school so and and I do appreciate the the effort that's been given by the district to assist us in coming up to speed and I hope to do the best job that I can this I I I guess as uh for my report I would just you know welcome the new board members and we sure appreciate all the work you've done so far to bring themselves up to speed and uh the path's not over yet it's it's it's a steep Mountain but we'll get there I do have a report from the students at Big Fork and I would like to just briefly read through a couple of these items um big Fort uh girls basketball team won their holiday tournament in Deer River bringing their record eight and one uh girls are currently ranked 13th in the state for single a Schools schedule coming up uh boys team picked up a couple wins before and during break as well robotics team in Big Fork is getting ready to roll up their season uh I expect to have 20 to 24 students participating in the two tournaments this year um student high school art students just finished bringing kindergarten drawings to Life by sewing plushies based off their pictures kindergarteners then wrote a story about their drawings to give their High School partner sophomore has just completed the pre act before break also before break uh we had a successful band and choir concert as our new teacher and students are working hard to rebuild our music program uh PBS program is really taken off and the students in kindergarten K12 are recognized weekly with howl tickets we have so many tickets turned into the dogghouse we can barely keep up with the recognition fun our Travel Group is working hard to get ready for the grease they've hosted a very successful Bango night for the community before the break cheerleaders hosted a giant group of Elementary puppy cheerleaders our cooks and a few high school students serve to R floats the entire student body and our week before break and we're now gearing up to end the semester husky strong uh as we mentioned earlier uh the student board reps um Owen and Jaden are at homecoming so they won't be here next item on the agenda superintendent report superintendent gross thank you Mr chair just a couple things I'd like to re reiterate the welcome to the new board members uh this is my 30th year in education public education and so it's very important to me uh I value it and I value your willingness to step up and serve the community I think public education is what uh drives the American dream that our forefathers thought about uh so it's really important to them it's important to me and so thank you and I really appreciate the engagement that you've shown so far I I've been impressed by just how much you've dug in uh getting after learning and so thank you for that uh been doing a lot of checking in with other school districts as we you know round out calendar year 24 look into calendar year 25 get to budget planning and two things that I continue to sort of run across over and over one is um just the concern as we head into this spring um about about our state budget and how that's going to affect our school district budgets uh specifically around two things compensatory revenue and you know our projections at this point look like the change in state approach to compensatory revenue is going to be a negative effect of 7 to 800,000 to us um and that the state's change to how it handles Unemployment uh is going to cost us between $200 $300,000 that's a real money coming out of our budget that we should be spending somewhere else or should have access to those two Law changes um in you know some of the historical education changes or funding that that we received are dramatically affecting us in negative ways and not just us a lot of the districts I'm talking to so that's that's the one the second thing is just how many school districts in the state will be making reductions this spring and it is a huge number and I I don't think it's something that we we've seen for a long time and it's not just isolated to large District small District Urban District rural District it's districts everywhere finding themselves in this situation so it's a concern um and uh something that that we're going to have to continue to work through you know you you uh we've got experience unfortunately with working through this process um but it's something that a lot of districts are going to be working through this spring um yeah I think those were the those were the couple of couple of items thank you uh upcoming Schoolboard committee meeting dates are posted on agenda Schoolboard meeting agendas can be found on the district website and at the designated posting site at the 318 Educational Services Center is there any other business to come before the board Julie has anyone signed up for public input they have not mean the Jed for