##VIDEO ID:LZbQtGteLj4## fund allowances preview the budget that we approved back in June and I've already started a revised budget now that we've got kind of things settled in but this is on the first budget and then the levies and any questions so this is uh the per pupil basic allowance um this is just an estimate this is what mde has on their website as far as what they're estimating because they did a formula adjustment for inflation and things like that so and there's just a picture of it you can see it's it is going up not quite as fast as we would like but it is going up um District budget you can see the revenue expenditure and the differences between them remember this is the rough one from June still but um should be fine uh the fund balances on July 1st 2024 okay our restricted is 72,000 unrestricted is 2.3 million for a total of about 3.1 million and you can see the graph there the picture we spent down on purpose we're getting a little little big now we're coming up just a little bit there this year we'll talk about that later in the audit report um this is just a refresher on the different um funds we have the general fund with the description that's used for all the everyday stuff the education Parts the well books can be Capital but mostly they're General now um just general everyday stuff food service that money can only be used in food service so any money that's brought uh is that one of the projects done the second one stone bridge so food service is just what it sounds like food service food brought in um or money brought in for the food expenditures for that and we cannot move money in between the funds so food service has to stay in Food Service Etc um then there's community service that's the community ed and W basically Denise's stuff um we have done fund balance transfers between general fund and community service help cover preschool and summer and different things like that and then we have also The Debt Service that's the principal and interest payments um Bond here are the for 2025 you can see some have gone up some have gone down overall down slightly that's what we're looking at for taxes payable this year but it's the money that we get for next school year there's a community service amount you can see it's gone up Debt Service down a little bit we had a bubble at the beginning because some payments have shifted so down a little bit so there you can see all the different uh Levy amounts for each fund so little over 200,000 less for next year than this year so there it is it's a 4.45% decrease okay any questions on any of this um part of The Debt Service one was um they always force people Force us to Levy at I think it's 1.5% so that if some people yeah so that if some people don't pay their taxes we've got enough money coming in that we can still pay the bill Well everybody's been good at paying taxes or the counties are good at collecting the taxes and so now we've build up kind of a fund balance so now they reduce that down so that we don't have so much money sitting in our bond fund balance so that's that's what a lot of it is yes so wondering about food service with the free meals now is that uh balance just revenues in expenses out is that neutral balanced or no that's growing going to run into a little issue with that so we're what do you mean growing like um expenses over revenues revenues are much higher and so our fund balance is growing and I think this is the last year that we can have a six six Monon Surplus we can usually only have three months but with all the co and everything they gave us six months of expenses in our fund balance we're at six months so Julie and I are looking at some um yeah we've already purchased some things but she's looking at a really specialized oven that would be really awesome so which will help with that um and then asy I work on that too I'll speak a little bit okay yeah then just wondering about the operating Capital do you have any insights as to well first of all what does that all include and why it increased operating capital is based on number of students the number of students went up a little bit this year plus 2% that's general fund operating else all right thank you good job yes now we can start United States of America the repu for which it stands one nation indivisible withy andice for okay 3.0 I need a motion to approve of the agenda any questions ORS additions say I me public come we have to meet consent agenda need a motion for that make that Vos would you like to something there you're on the agenda number 5.5 so I've made the difficult uh decision um to not renew my contract in the 25 26 school year um was due for Family Matters I will be completing my my service to toim McCrae this school year and will be helping to requ my replacement and I will be sharing much more as we go through the winter and spring thank you thank you any other coms or questions thank you for the service that we've given to um communities and to our district to our KS our staff and whatnot um you would weired you were the right person for the job it's going to be hard to see you go so thank you for what you've done all right those in the consent agenda say I I was told there will be no big ticket items as I come into the curve ball know that all right got a bone to pick with Scott got week has a I have to kick Scott off the board for that I was told that 12 years ago too and four referendums and six all right uh 6.0 communication report um start with thank you y hold on I'm get I'll be going through this uh report which is in front of you all um it summarizes our audit results um and then summarizes the financial results for the district for fisal year 24 um so and summarizes our big Financial reports which [Music] um okay so I will start off with if you want to go to just the next page in the audit process and openion so I think I think most of you have heard this before but I'll kind of walk through um this just describes what we do with an audit so we get the district's records and we do a number of inquiries testing and procedures and really we're looking to issue an opinion so for the district for fiscal year 24 we're issuing an unmodified or clean opinion that's really the opinion you you want to be issued it's the best opinion you can get um it means no significant issues or errors or no statements roles during their procedure so it's really all good news next page here a few things were requir to tell you all overall the audo went smoothly positive working relationship with management and we need um we didn't have any issues getting documentation for any of the transactions or items that we requested um there wasn't anything unusual when we looked at jer's transactions of the district for year 24 and also no unusual accting policies or treatments um the last box there significant estimates this is the same as in the past um and also the same as reported by most District school districts in the state of Minnesota so net pension liability and ability net pensions your p and TR net Pion liability and then oped net oped is other post employment benefits so those are some liabilities that we report on your government wi financials there are Actuarial estimates that uh go into calculating analysis so the school works are with an actuary for the open and then the net pension is determined by the state so they have that determines and balances so we're just re report that in our report just to let you all know that there are actal amounts that go into calculating those balances um and then the amounts doe from mde um of course the mde uh state aid and receivables are constantly fluctuating so we have to cut it off at a certain point we have to say Okay this is the point where we're going to cut it off we're say this is your reable otherwise we could probably pull it out the final numbers from the state often we don't get those sometimes until a sometimes have a with this um I'm talking April May 25 for year 24 so we have to cut it off at some point and say we're done so that's why we say that there's an estimate there because we do that cut off Bas is where that comes from so those are like I said nothing different than in the past and the same that's reported by most schools in the state ofn and then internal controls here this is going to look uh actually exactly the same as in the past we do some audit adjustments for the distri just property tax property tax receivable State receivable um that we do on behalf of the district district C did let you all know that we do adjust those balances on behalf of the district um segregation duties because you just have a few people involved in your accounting process um we do have to report that maybe things aren't segregated as much as you'd like um you know you don't have as many checks and balances as um a perfect world would like it to be um but you do uh segregate where possible you have a few people doing your your accounting your books um I do have some districts who don't clear have one person they just have a business manager and that's it you have a payroll individual and a c um so there are some checks and balances there um and then that last column there the financial statement preparation so we actually prepare the financial statements on behalf of the district so the big this 85 page B Financial we actually PR on District I'm s Reed to tell you all of that um I will say these internal control findings I was at a a training this past spring and an auditor there said these are the the big three findings that you'll see on most governmental entities the most common um the ones that you'll see reported um most often so and I will say that are reported by most of the governmental enti as well so it's nothing different than any other District if you were going to go the road to another District those are like I said nothing are there anything that other districts have done to do some like CR functional training like accountable accounts payable things like that um we'll see that um I think it's always good to like you said have some some cross training so if one you know one person's not seeing the same thing all the time the thing is um the highest risk areas are those where another person never touches um or another person like never looks at at all um so if you're having or let's say you have somebody who um who is in a position like their accounts avable work and they're never sick nobody ever does their job that's where you might you're that's a great employee like they're there all the time but that's maybe where you want to raise a little bit of concern like nobody else is ever looking at their work or nobody else is um kind of doing a check over what's happening um or you know nobody else is taking their place at any point in time kind of going in and doing what they do um so I think the cross training is great um I think just literally just having somebody a second um can make a big difference honestly see that a lot in District just try to segregate as much as possible um you may never get rid of that finding completely but just adding loal checks and balances to um obviously you have an annual audit so that that will catch some things but it's not guaranteed a check off we do not look at every single transaction um take us um so yes I would say recommend as much check and you can get there um Minnesota leg compliance so each year as part of our audit we're required to look at various areas of compliance with Minnesota statutes so these are essentially laws that the district must follow we look at all the areas that are not in there and through our review we had no finding so we looked at your um contracts your clal dis all the as well uh we throw this uh page in here um this is showing your student counts for the past five years and the reason we throw it in here is because it's kind of like Kim had mentioned it does make a difference on your state aid that comes through um because your general education Aid is based on people units so you'll see from fisical year 23 to 24 just a slight increase um from 739 74 as a whole um a little fluctuation there you'll see kind of a Rise um since Bally year 21 um so you and you'll see that does definitely even just a few pupil units will make a difference on your and kind of diving into the numbers we'll start off with the general fund which had an increase in fund balance of about 183,000 of just over uh 3.1 million um we'll talk a little bit more detail over the next few pages about some of these numbers specifically the revenues and expenditures one thing I wanted to mention is that other sources line um for fiscal year 24 you'll see that that is sitting at 14113 there's a few a few things Ned there that I wanted to because this is not mentioned in later slides so there is um insurance proceeds so you had um the flood that occurred um the so there's $290,000 in insurance proceeds there um there's also a little bit of sale of assets or equipment I think we just had a couple pieces of equipment for Capital assets that were sold during the year that was only about 35,000 and then netted against that there was a transfer out of 310,000 to the commun this you all are aware of but I kind of wanted to mention that because it looks like there's not a lot there in that 14,000 what a few things netted together so I think that's important to kind of know especially because later on I'll mention that community service transfer when when we at that um okay Revenue we'll start off with that maybe look at that in just a little bit more detail here um you'll see here from fisc year 23 not a ton of fluctuation in most of the categories um a little bit here and there but I would say the biggest one you'll see is your state sources so uh that increased quite significantly um overall couple areas to maybe mentioned um special education Aid increased about 573 th000 and then general education Aid increased about 441,000 so we had some pretty um significant increases in those specific um other than that you'll see most of our other cies pretty similar year 23 to 24 so expenditures on the flip side um overall here a few few categories maybe to mention um Regular instruction increased quite a bit a lot of a lot of that not all of it salaries and benefits um you had a decent increase overall I think percentage wise um in salary salaries overall from uh FAL year 23 to 24 um exceptional instruction which is your special education that increase which you'll see most most often when your special education revenues increase of course fin your expenditures will increase as well um so maybe not quite not increasing quite as much as the revenues there but increasing um a decent amount there that I thought I'd mention that too um sites and buildings um overall that increased um quite a bit uh that's your so your insurance Pro that I mentioned Pages ago um that's the the repairs are know in that sit in building all there um and then Capal outlay overall you'll see that decrease quite a bit uh Replacements ORS so that's going to make a bation the two and then just cash for the general fund overall increase and that's about 3.25 and then we'll take a quick look at your fun balances um so here we present uh your so that is your spendable portion of your fund um so we present that as a percent of your budgeted expend kind of as a measure to see how the district's uh spendable fund balance is um sitting so for fiscal year 24 that at at about 21.3% so just a slight decrease there um really like6 so really similar to fisal year 23 um your uh the next page will show a little bit more details in unassign but I just um kind of want to mention as well that of course when your budgeted expenditures increase that's going to make difference on this too because that's the other part of the creation so to speak um but other than that you'll see um your unassigned B balance decreased just slly um and actually we'll probably just go to the next page just to take a look at that so there's there's a lot of information here but the one thing I as I mentioned on the previous page is that un um just a slight decrease I5 so nothing nothing too crazy there but you'll see a lot of your restrictions um increased quite a bit um a number of them did um so overall increase in the restrictions as a whole was 154,000 um some of that money is just going to spent in school year 25 I think that um some that money kind of sat there a little bit when you had that through trying to spend that making sure that get got spent timely because you had a timeline on that you want to make sure that got spent so some of those restrictions got a little bit built up it's nothing abnormal or anything I would say but I would I'm guessing like the plan spend restri on suit what is the dollar um so the so we have looking at the the 20% of that yeah so that's your unassigned so it's a very bottom line on that um nextx page um so like the 2.38 million um be 20% of that amount so yeah so we're looking what we're wanting 20% of your budgeted expenditures so your budgeted expenditures are your budget expenditures foral year 24 11 million 96,000 so you're looking at wanting to sit above 20% of that is what the district school is so kind of I would say just kind of keeping that in mind as you're kind of looking at if you are spending down any of that un assign um the district as a whole had a pretty healthy increase in its general fund balance um it's it's at 183,000 but of course as we talked about B transfer out to your community service fund um so even so before that transfer out to the community service fund your increasing your fund BS was I think close to 500,000 which is a pretty subst increase um so the fact that you were able to do that transfer out to the community service fund is I think something to as far as and then the districts other few month we'll just speak a little bit to those um so Debt Service overall increase of 115,000 and ending of 600,000 um activities similar to PRI years like Kim mentioned um you're always levying just slightly above your debt service payments so that's why we're usually seeing an increase in your fund balancing Debt Service um because that's those are supposed to be 5% yeah above and beyond what your princip are and that's just a little question and like him saids to and then building construction um of course Bigg thing to know other sources there $5 million that is your uh Bond proceeds for 2024 a and uh debt coming into the building construction fund and then just those funds being beginning to be spent inal year 24 um so the expend are 3 million your ending fund balance in that fund about just overon and then community service um so Food Service increase in fund balance about 2,000 and ending just under 6,000 um expenditure similar to F year 23 maybe just it was a very slight increase in expenditures overall um revenues increase um as Kim mentioned and as we were kind of talking about earlier the free meals for all students made quite a difference the state sources as a whole so so state in the AC basically so your state aid in your food service fund incre about 2,000 so that's a pretty substantial increase there and then of course students are now no longer being charged for meals the student uh meals decrease for 80,000 you still have some coming in students are getting like that total stop to the student sources um there but you'll see there there's the state a increased substantially 2,000 compared to student so what we're seeing with a lot of schools as Kim mentioned is that now they're having this fund out being built up in their service and in a SP on service you trans it's a little bit of a tricky situation just making sure you do you see the state correcting that like they're overpaying and you have to buy new equipment just to get rid of it I I don't know because not everybody is in our boat Julie is really good at using up all the free food we can possibly get and things like that so it's not a Statewide issue necessarily I think they're going to have to of adjust looking at the state budget forecast but I don't know what the well and I I think I from what I'm getting so far at least from some of the schools that I've presented to and Mar with is that I don't know that the state realized how much they would be kicking in um is what I'm kind of gathering th far we'll kind of see what happens down the road um but I think a lot of schools from the ones that I work with anyways were collecting less fre reduced meal applications because parents that well meals are free you know we don't why would we want to submit an application but there's other that gets used for other um different types of a and things like that um so applications AR being submitted um so the stat I don't I don't know but that's my guess a lot more kids eating too when their parents don't have to pay they don't bring their own sandwich or whatever now they're eating at school said that over all there's way more meals being served yeah so it will be interesting kind of see what that happens yeah we're to the we have have some Pur some some new counters and things we had almost all new stuff already but we um there were a few serving things and that we've added we added another milk dispenser because it was getting kids were getting bogged down in the line so we have two at each end um yeah she's looking at a comi oven whatever that very expensive so I'm like yep it be used for food SES all no it yeah and they have expended some things like new lunchroom tables you know so it's like this G hope a little too late for us so most school districts are probably happy to have extra money yeah because they are buying lunch tables and different things like that now yeah all right and then the community service fund U overall increase about 229,000 um other sources as I mentioned general fund that's the transfer from that 3,000 was transferred in from the general um overall you'll see here your um expenditures only exceeded revenues just slightly in your community service fund um we were able to utilize um I think it basic skills Aid and community service fund this year that's State a that helped um kind of um cushion that a little bit so you're not having um quite as big of a loss as we've seen in the past in your community service fund um so the transfer in there um most of that was for kind of aild that happen from previous year so um and we we're trying to look at this more often um you know maybe on an annual basis as as final members come in and we kind of see what we're sitting I kind of just like kind of on WE the is where we sitting to and you look at yours to kind of see where things are at so um it used to be to the point where um I think you looking at it lten years so make that anasis then for those few funds that I just mentioned so Debt Service overall um s increase actually all three These funds overall ining cash um all three of those funds combin sat out about 1.6 million what we don't here and we know that at the bottom is the building construction fund which had million in cash remaining at 6:30 um that's a little bit deceiving because you had some payables at your end and then a lot of that money and then here we just present um actually the next few slides here we present the for the District of the whole where assets liabilities so assets as a whole for the district um you'll see here a couple fluctuations um so current assets as a whole um so cat receivables um shortterm things like that um overall that increase quite a it a lot of that's cash um so your bond funds like we had just talked about on the previous slide um both have come in in the first and the second half of the year so a lot of that was sitting there so it's just over to that the time that um and then other than that not a ton of fluctuation in other categories for current assets um Capital there uh overall increase as expected we have had a construction project going on um at the very end of the year so that um that is just that and then government wide liability to so this is all the liabilities for the district as a whole um couple things we need to note here your current liabilities overall increase most incre just construction construction project at that point in time what was du to your construction so that that overall is most of increase there um and then of course your debt there increase of the next kind of depict exactly how the fluctuation there um so you'll um for the district for June 304 43.3 million um and then we list your various Deb issuances there um there are aties that will be paid off in the next I would say like five years um so the 2021 a will be paid off in 2026 and then the 2022 a will be paid off in 2029 um there's a financing Arrangement there that 208 so the next five years a few of these will be paid off um of course your larger de ISS is your 2028 um and your 2024 that was just issue um those will not return until 2039 you'll have some of those other that you'll mostly down your 2020 and then we always a side in here um for any upcoming accounting standards and there is just one that will be affected for next fiscal year and that is gby 101 so that's compensated absences um when you think of compensated absences that's your PTO um balances thatyes would have um so previously under the old standards we were only required to report liability for those if they were to be paid all the retirement or if the individual left the district um which on most schools maybe isn't a lot um there's some contracts where you have that where they get a pay of their sick leave or their or whatever it may at um with the new standard we are required to uh report liability for all balances um ter in the um in the gby standard is if they're more likely than not to be used well you think people are going to use their PTO and their SI balances probably um you would think so within the next year so un most schools were ending up having to report a liability for this the one thing I want to mention is that you do not need to report this on the fund so this won't hit your general fund or your service service f um which is thank goodness because that would be an absolute headache it's already going to be a little bit of headache to get implemented um but if the fact that it's not going to hit your F level is is substantial um because we of course we not want yeah it it would it's honestly on a lot of our districts it's a pretty substantial balance just kind of what we're gathering on information so far um I sent kind of details started thinking about what what the spreadsheets going to look like that's kind of GNA kind of lay out these details but we do like to mention this to you because you'll probably see um maybe additional line items on that that page a couple Pages back um going for so you'll you'll likely see that either that or we're going to WRA just just so you are all aware but that is the only other than that um that's all I got for you but questions answer them questions all right well thank you yeah thank you all okay we on me everyone um just some highlights um the fall was extremely busy with um so many different ways our EF program was strong most of our classes were full um our youth some of our classes had weight list and then some of them we had to add additional classes because the demand was there it didn't include pictures in your packet um sometimes they speak ler Than Words As far as the activities um just a real highlight with party was our largest ever we had 166 kids with probably over 300 people here that morning um and but um what we see more and more is just it's so intergenerational you've got the grandparents with their children and their grandchildren and I think that's just really something that we've seen increase over the years and it's really fun to see and then of course we offered a lot of different adult classes in your packet was the winter booklet that covers the months of December January and February you basketball is going on right now we've got eight teams grades three through six we have 96 players um on them um they're going to be playing at halftime on Varsity gam so that's always fun for parents to see and the community to see I included our volunteer coaches in your packet takes a lot of volunteers to step up to do it each team pretty much has two coaches if not even three um we're going to be hosting either games or tournaments on December 14th January February 8 and then we also Saturdays and that's the end of January going into February um we also do youth wrestling um we partner with quad but we try to do something on the site for those familyies that can drive to wami um and then we'll do that on Wednesday starting in January and'll go through the end of February and Mike rley and Jeremy shaper will be coaching that um us scholarship fund um close to about $3,000 but it didn't include does really take so um just the summer is always a high high use for a scholarship that itself is over $1,000 and during the school year it's about to $500 so um to try to build that we do um concessions and then I write someand and then we do get donations from the community too um the adult basic education program is going strong Jennifer van has been on leave but she comes back after January want to thank an H for stepping in and teaching that Jen was done and then as you know we're providing daycare this year in Amber De and J janish cover that what's nice about that is m is covering those expenses even though we they M employes so that's not something as a cost to the school um I did the annual community report I submitted that November 1st to the state um as far as facility use um the Girl Scouts use their fac and their recruitment um lutherans I think I mentioned the last time that we were going to be having it but we were able to raise almost $6,000 was really a great show um Bri mle had their huge craft sale in November 2nd and then the day after Thanksgiving the lions were here excuse me for the pancake and french toast fundraiser and also the um just want to end my report and thanking Scott he's always been very supportive of community questions uh 6.13 Jim isn't here but we do have his report we've got coaches in there when practice is starting basketball there's 15 students participating in wrestling highest so far years so um and the musical was done so that's all got for now let's see what I will be brief I know there's a lot going on tonight so I've got to be mindful of your time um for the most part we've been busy just checking out the boxes on the read um letters bringing um we started to look at schedules for next year just trying to be mindful where to put things to make sure that we can maximize uh the help that we can push in the classrooms both math and uh and leading of course and then be mindful of what kinds of needs we might have as far as just begun that process uh it's been a busy but really fun time for us Thanksgiving and now Christmas so had a variety of all parade of balloons our version of the Macy's day parade that toured our our school lots of gratitude notes just a great chance to reflect on things that they're most thankful for um we had a book tasting where they head down and get to try um different types of books so they have stations set up at the local library and then they have so many minutes at each station to kind of get an idea of what they want um and then we'll also be uh passing out books uh at Christmas break so part of the the eser money went to buy books for our students so a really nice collection arranging from four to five books the higher level grades will have more chapter books and then primary grades will have more kind of picture based but something really nice to sent home with them over break and hopefully keep them reading and then exciting stuff we have the music concert on Thursday a one and a two o'clock and then again six and seven so during the daytime and then even and tomorrow or maybe Wednesday our roller skating Extravaganza begin so we'll have roller skating in fed for the next eight days so that should be a lot of fun so kids are super excited for that opportunity that was a collection of donations that helped us bring them in and Aaron and Caitlyn did a great job of getting that set up for us getting permission forms sent home gy do you have any questions for me just a comment is there also a varsity game here on Friday Night of the concert how we going to handle parking especially for elderly grandma and grandpa that is that has been discussed um and communication will be sent out with the encouragement of where people should Park you know U we've had a couple events now this school year where we've been able to have all of our students parked in that most North block that really has opened up you know some some Avenues here I know Mr trulock has also you know had conversation too with you know the possibility of having almost all of the parking spaces that are facing the West all be handicap parking for some of those types of events but that certainly is on activities and administrations radar so yes especially at night time it's really difficult when got older Grand and Grand have to walk all the way from the pool I would say come and drop them off and thenk okay but I think Jim did say he was G to have the basketball kids move their cars here open there is an okay not thank you very much as uh as stated at the November board meeting my my presentation for you today is going to be the annual world's best workfor and achievement integration data presentation so Merry Christmas to all of you um kind of the standard format that uh that we've been following since I started so I'm just going to kind of reach through these real quick um all students ready for school is our first goal that we have in elizth course taking uh in essence you can think of as like a kindergarten preparedness type session uh or goal and so I uh I really rely heavily on Christine cler board to pres present the information or provide the information so that uh we can see how they're doing reading and Mathematics I'm sorry ESL language and Mathematics and you can see our our percentages are extremely high uh we exceeded last year's percentages a little bit which in my years they've been high across the board typically 95% or higher three years so that's wonderful to see um it's something that's new uh MBE removed the read well goal by third grade um and so that was the decision they made that was an MCA score and that was something that they decided to take off so I do not have that for you I see some eyebrows raised again MD you made that decision like us um another goal we have and moving into the high school kids all students are College and Career ready or by graduation and um what we have transition to is to have try to have 100% of our kids complete a job shadow or a uh career exploration event which is something that i' as I've come to the high school the career exploration and college fairs and those kinds of things was something that I've really encouraged Miss brisley to to jump on and and have our kids participate as much as possible our results for 23 24 4% that's a total of eight students and so I have that second highlighted bullet point there for you I feel like 90 to 95% is more practical not every student finds value in attending these events um and then you throw in absences for illness and those kinds of things where we're just with our class eyes one absence makes a difference and so I really feel like that 99 90 to 95% is is much more effective getting a really good number of kids all students graduate um never a bad thing to try and have 100% of your your class graduated as possible this year we had sorry last year we had 98% of the class graduate we did have one student who went through a transition program a 21 transition program so they do not count as graduating so that's why that we did have Happ 100% of our uh new for 2425 and this is something that's pretty hot off the press for us we we spent some time last week talking about it and uh what we've got going on it's called the cacr is I believe and Kim you you know that acronym so much when I do you have the es I believe it's Esa which includes is it esda esdaa esdaa it includes world's best Workforce a and I and title well then they said hey you need to have an additional goal and so Kim found that on the uh the reporting sheet and so we put our heads together in the end it comes down to kids needing to be like one words understanding that we need toare them to be lifelong Learners and so we sat down uh there was a group of five of us who sat down and we came up with a survey and we're going to do fall and spring surveys so this this year will be our Benchmark it's going to be 10 questions and we're going to have a rating scale with stars because we have 5 through2 we're trying to make it as user friendly as possible so that we can get all all of those students and then not use too much too many adult words that will confuse them and so our Baseline measurement will be taken within next weeks we're going to have that done before a Ani uh this one's one that you may be a little bit more interested in when it comes to reading and math uh this these are our reading and math results as um taken with local assessment so that would be in the past we may have heard G web and star and now we have fast bridge that we're using and so we have a goal the Baseline the new Baseline because we're in a new three-year cycle for AI was 37 % for reading all the way up to 52% by the end of 26 and so with our Baseline of 37 we did have a result of 38% and again this is measuring students only in our free reduced category okay so we have to take the free reduced kits take the scores that they have correlate those numbers and then find number and then same thing for the same group of students for math we had a baseline of 50 and hopefully going towards sorry 65% and we had another 1% increase so we did go up slightly in both of I just ask question that I think comment was made before that there's less like free reduced applications will that directly affect like these sorts of numbers um yes and no they may not have free and reduced based we actually have more free and reduced now because direct certification qualifies them for fre redu so if they uh not sure I know all the right terms but snap right um yeah but so um DHS Department of Health and Human Services sends a report to mde which they send to us that these kids automatically qualify because they're in this state program so they automatically qualify for fre reduced um our form kids would be probably be our form kids are down but overall we're up a little bit but if they take the form kids out then it's going to hurt us which is what they're talking about doing because it applies to other things not just free and rebed so okay U and then we have our integration goal and so this is one uh McCrae is part of an a Andi collaborative with uh Wimer RCW I think yme so the schools that are around Wimer because we're the racially isolated District um we pull together with them come up with a goal this goal for them uh is an integration so that's part of our our stem and Gamma camps that we send kids to and so what they do is the Ani crew actually takes care of the school and it's all about um surveying and their ability to make relationships with students who are different different from themselves so the pre- survey came in5 and then the post survey same and then I just want to do a little bit of an appreciation page here for to Christine uh for her preschool information Beth G assistant uh does a fantastic job of getting me the information particularly when it comes to the local assessments and then to also support school school that would be what I have for you can you go back to that third grade testing at the department of not yes requiring anymore reading is such a core component for kids learn can't read it's hard to work yep so first of all do you have any rationals to why they did that secondly does it matter if the state says yes or no is that something that we should consider as a district to have a goal set something to work for so that we don't go backwards because that just really seems like one of the areas we always continue to need to to work at grow and get better question number one absolutely no idea why I was shocked myself when and and interestingly enough they uh I had a conversation with the gentleman from mve when it was come when it came time to submit this and he admitted that their communication this last year was atrocious um and so I'm I'm not surprised with them not communicating it out because I don't get the information unless says hey now things open go ahead and submit your information uh could we have that information as a standalone absolutely absolutely it's just not part of the in my title close out they told me what the the new goals are so they replaced the read well by third grade with every student will be reading at grade level so it's yeah how do they Define level not a reading teacher I don't level is going to be uh 40% or involved on standardized yep so they got I was going to say the same thing they didn't they removed it from what Jud has to put in they're going to move it someplace else so there's things that we have to collect and then um calculate the atris students but so I think it'll just be another way to submit the information instead of just looking at third grade now we're going to look at every grade and they I'll say they like to tweet overall and in my eight years of participating in in some fashion um we've gone from from just world's best Workforce to then there's a separate Ani then there's world best Workforce and Ani and then now the cacr so it comes and goes and I I wish I could give you a rationale as to why with their decision-making process I I like that I mean back when I had to do the the fre well by third grade plan um it didn't really make sense other the fact that they typically say that if you don't read well by third grade every year after that the chances in So reading well at grade level maybe it's just a more inclusive way of doing it to try and get any of those members especially post third grade but it should be something that you'll be able to look back year and see and we have that that data now we can go back and look at that grade grade strand of students it'll be interesting to see if they require the local number for pre up to third grade and thenc they also yeah there's a lot of moving Parts going on so we have the MCA test we also have the option between bass bridge that that's what we're using ands and there's scores out that that we have to submit at M as well so there's kind of a combination ways us that thank you all right so the very first bullet that I'm going to speak about is a DNR Grant um brought to our attention and I love the name of it it's called No Child Left inside uh it's a grant by the DNR that you can apply to get things to for Outdoor Classroom outdoor usage and so Kim and I have been working with uh our stem teacher a couple of B teachers and a couple science teachers on the possibility of reaching out to a grant um there are some grants that are called mini grants that are up to $5,000 and there's some that go in exceed of $25,000 um we also met to not only with that group of people but we have two fairly new hires to the district that in their past um careers or their past schools they actually worked in some grant writing and so we're able to kind of share just some of their Insight on you know how how to maybe find the best best success um when working with grants um and this last week um Kim had the opportunity to a grant writing workshop and learn from a guru across the country on how how to bring more resources into into your public schools and I think anytime you can do that and and save the the the public tax burden um is is a Wonder wonderful thing so that's the first item um Tom sled is from the chipot County Soil and conservation group and uh he came and met with with Kim and myself and a couple of the EG teachers about how can we put in some additional trees that we lost after the a put in not only for Windbreak purposes and and soil erosion but also too for our FFA kids um what some of their FFA competitions require them to do leaf identification and wouldn't that be cool if some of the very same you know species we are using for soil conservation are things that the kids can go out and identify and then also with that too how cool it would be to partner with classes and groups of kids to go plant them um and so the possibility once once that's all put through the possibility early as the second second April we can be planting some additional trees um to the North and then Ali Al by the Prairie um M Rea in education we have a ton of of acronyms but this stands for the Minnesota rural Education Association and they had a great Summit um this fall that I was able to attend and I was able to sit on a four-day school week panel and answer questions from other superintendents and other business officers and other school board members and that took place up up in Briner um I also attended a building authentic connections Workshop um where I was able to also sit on a panel and help with facilitate some conversation I attended the ABC of school finance and that ABC is not just simple things but it's allocation budgeting and also compliance across the state and uh any of those opportunities just to learn more about finance and budgeting is is a good thing um also attended a workshop called equipping Educators and looking at the mental health support strategies just providing resources for not only your students your staff and the people you work with to battle um the mental health that is out there and then also too during one of the breakout sessions I got to listen to Melissa berber and she's the national rural teacher of the year and she's from Minnesota and she gave a presentation called green lights and um there there's a book and now the author escapes me right now but maybe it'll come to me by the time I'm done presenting on my notes but the the fact is that if you envision yourself going to school or going to work you're going to red lights just on on the highways and byways that you might go on but also we come across those red lights and those yellow lights in our day-to-day challenges too and just I looking for the green lights um because that green light is universal we can go forward so looking at yes there are hurdles and there are times we have to go into things with caution but just to celebrate the green lights that we have um in our in our in our life Matthew MCC is the author of that book green I think there might also be podc about it too um we're looking right now at the 4day school week application um looking at these next steps I think Jesse just shared actually like the last 48 hours or so but now the application is public and so we can begin that process of doing the public meetings or doing the surveys or doing all the things we need to do to be approved for that and there is an anticipation anticipation that now it will be a six-year ter so when is often that that rural school districts or any school district would have to reapply um and rural school districts are looking at the four day um school week um for for their for their schools and for their districts um Ashley um was here tonight along with Kim from schlener and wner uh the CPA firm we met last week to prepare this this presentation that was shared tonight um she's such a valuable resource to explain you know the nuts and Bulls and things um because Kim could have done it but I could not have sat down and gone through all of this with with the great detail because sh we're halfway through the school year but believe it or not we're already working on a 2025 2026 school year prep even even so far as looking at back to school workshops and what can those look like for staff back to school for moms and dads what does that look like how how can we get you know forms to them or get the materials to them earlier in way um Staffing Staffing and scheduling conversations of course um as we look to prepare for for next school year and then we are contract negotiation uh year with our with our largest group our teachers union but there's all other staff too so I'm in the process right now of beginning a preliminary survey of what their desires are what our desires are um so that the next superintendent has that documentation in front of them um also to looking at budget projections you know we don't know exactly what the legislature is going to to do in one year's time which having having an idea and putting that down on paper and then some changes kind to um what Ashley has shared but earn safe and sick time you know that's been in conversation out for the last 18 months last January it changed and now it's changing again and so now any business that has any sick time you have to use the same language for sick time as you do for earn safe and sick time so when there used to be these two pools you could or these two pots if you want to call them that that's true you can still have that but you have to do the same language in the earn safe safe and sick time now there are things that that you can do differently if you have paid time off but paid time off is different than sick time which is different than earn safe and sick time and then flip ahead another into January 1st of 2026 is the Minnesota paid fa Family Leave Act as BL to will have to follow those rules and that that's going to impact schools not only McCrae but others where especially teachers groups um Can accumulate large catastrophic Le Banks and some to 160 or 170 or 180 days in them what is going to happen with all of those days when the state is changing their law with this and that has that has people you know um repercussions and it certainly has Financial repercussions too so that needs to be in our mind as we prepare for not just this January 1 but next January 1 and then also to the employment costs continue to to climb you know as a district we're spending tens each month in that and that again is is is legislative you know things that that we have to abide by um some of those unemployment costs the state does have money available but how long that's going to be I don't I don't know then finally and most importantly Scott thank you um very much for your service to to McCrae school board and just being uh using good common sense as as as you sit on this on this Comm so thank you very questions forh right thank youh 6.2 committee reports I don't believe 6.3 board discussion I have two items one of them again is to thanks for what you've done and for your good advice we going to miss you and continue all right and then I think we're going to need to do a special meeting um superintendent search and figure out what we're going to do we've got options I've already spoken to nsba about some options that they have but there are other ways to get a search done as well so I think we just need to sit down and figure out what that is the sooner we do it the better because we're already it's going to be January soon so and I know we did a fast track last time looked great but I think we already started have any thoughts about know and I can I mean once we come up with the date I can talk to SBA and whatever and see what I can throw together here for that but is anybody got dates in mind here what do you think yes are think like next week I mean I'm thinking we maybe should try something for the first of you and I would ask then that if you could attend those because you're going to be part of it anyway do that so what what what I mean I my schedule's very flexible so it's kind of whatever works for people and I think within that within that meeting both Barb or Amy they've got some really good stuff from NDA to to show to show you what has been done at McCrae before I don't know if you need to write an entire new brochure because it was it was done very well in the first place right I question I said to schools when it's only been two years time do they do the whole process over again sometimes yes sometimes no I said does msba still have all those documents we um looked on she goes oh yeah I'm sure Amy has them all so that's good so we won't have to recreate some of those um so that would help but there you know we've got options so we should we should work through that are you thinking during the day or in the evening whatever works whatevers next that's M an yeah yeah yeah talking no no I'm just thinking but I will get some information to to have to present so we have something to discuss a bit you can pay us on the you have all you have booked or you that's the only day if that works for you that's the only thing I have booked other than Friday I fig Friday no no so Monday before that would work for me you know later Tuesday Wednesday for me Thursday Thursday is the best for you any week or just this next week I mean just next week okay yeah in the evening I mean I am pretty flexible during the day if I have to skip work yeah mday is really challenging for yes yes evening is better for you yes I'm going to be G Wednesday through Friday but I'm not sure what about you what Thursday was the only day I was just to say Thursday good Thursday the even not really 630 630 would work 630 for me I yeah I typically see patients till six but I can leave little well 630 is fine for me okay should we do 6:30 like an probably and then that'll give us we'll be on the same page for the next step that okay the 19th and 6 at 6:30 and that's right okay then we'll go on to 7.0 business items we've got the 7.1 we got to certify the 2024 payable 2025 property tax of 5 m58 7397 well I guess we need a motion for that motion to 71 second just basic paper that the maximum yeah yeah this one since it's the final one we have to have with the dollar amount in most but it matches what maximum don't need a resolu on this one this okay if there's no more questions those in favor say I I those oppos mayries we do have a resolution approve combin yeah resolution establishing combin polling places for multiple precincts and designation hours during which the polling places will remain open for voting for school district elections not held on the day of a Statewide election be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District 2180 state of Minnesota as follows number one pursuant Tob Minnesota statute section 205 A1 the precincts and ping places for school district collections are those precincts or parts of precincts located within the boundaries of the school district which have been established by the cities or towns located in or within the school district the board hereby confirms these precincts in places to establish so established by these municipalities number two pursuant to Minnesota statute section 205a D1 the board May establish a combined poing place for several precincts for school district elections not held on the day of a Statewide election each combined polling place must be aing has been designated by a county or municipality the following combined poing places are established to serve the precincts specified for all School District special and general elections not held the same day as a Statewide election combin Place mayard Community Center 321 Street mayard Minnesota 5626 this combined ping place serves all territory of Independent School District number 2180 located in the city of mayard great Township tlock Township L Township Grace Township Bon Township Gran Falls Township stonem Township and Lang Township in chiua or rville County Minnesota the combined B Place Raymond Community Center 314 sper avening Minnesota 56282 combined ping place serves all territory of Independent School District number 2180 located in the city of Raymond St John's Township Edwards Township Holland Township Wilmer Township Whitefield Township city of Wilmer in chip or count combin polling place CLA City Community Center 25 Northwest First Street City Minnesota 56222 this combined polling place serves all territory in Independent School District number 2180 located in the city ofair city Woods Township L tree Township and Ryder Township of Chip County Minnesota number three pursuant to Minnesota statutes 25 a09 the poing places will remain open for voting for school district elections not held on the same day wide election weing hours to be determined note see section 3-6 of the election manual regarding certain restrictions on voting hours number four the clerk is directed to file a certified copy of this resolution with the County Auditors of each of the counties in which a school district is located in or in park within 30 days that adoption number five as required by Minnesota State Statute section 2046 subdivision 1A the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to give written notice of new polling place locations to each effective household with at least one registered voter in the school district whose School District polling place location has been changed the notice be a nonble notice nailed at least 25 days before the date of the first election to which it will apply the notice that is returned as undeliverable must be forwarded immediately to the appropriate County auditor who shall change the registr status to be challenged in the State registration system if a combined going place is changed the change must be adapted at least 90 days prior to the first selection will be used unless that point place has become unavailable for use not a resolution similar to this model resolution must be adopted by December 31st of each year and the combined ping places specified shall be combined ping places for the following calendar right anybody have any question com standed we need individual VES on these so um those in favor of approving the combined polling place of resolution Scott yes Mark yes yes John carel yes yes that is right 723 approve the 2023 2024 audited Financial stat those in favor say I me all right we have our upcoming meetings listed below plus we've got this new one on the Thursday the 19th at 6:30 we need a motion to second say I