November 11, 2024 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas introduced Mrs. Kylee Malcom. Mrs. Malcom went over the newly developed STARS program (Student Therapies and Resource Services) and how they implemented this program after observing it in other districts. Mrs. Malcom stated they purchased the JR High and High School band for this program currently and have jumped into the first part of the curriculum called News 2 You. She advised that the program pulls topics that are tailored to the JR High/High School students, which saves a huge amount of time by not having to create visuals for everything they want to cover. Mrs. Malcom stated the program is able to break down the topics based on the skill level of each student, which was determined by the benchmark assessments taken at the beginning of the program. She explained the program goes over other key topics like phonics skills, comprehension, English components, and many foundational skills that can be difficult for our higher-needs students. Another key piece to this program is the ability to keep the data digitally as well as have the ability to print. They have discussed the Olympics topic, are currently finishing up Government Officials and will be moving to Native American History.  The abilities of this program have saved so much time in prepping and modifying, which has been huge. Mrs. McKenna stated the really cool thing about this program is that Mrs. Malcom serves kids from Kindergarden up through their senior year, which is a huge variety of students with unique needs. This program allows her to dive into those needs and be able to develop an entire day around each student's unique requirements, which is very cool. Mrs. Mckenna encouraged the board if they have time to come observe the program and see how it works. She stated this was a passion project for Mrs. Malcom for a few years and it's been exciting that we could put this into effect and that she has done a really nice job. Mrs. Jobman asked how many students are in the program. Mrs. Malcom confirmed there are currently 5 students, 2 in basic English and 3 that do Math. Mrs. Jobman asked if she had seen a significant difference and Mrs. Malcom stated yes, the students hadn't had that foundational base work and this has provided that. She stated she has seen lots of growth and has received good feedback from parents. Dr. Jonas stated there are 5 students currently, but asked how many students Mrs. Malcom has, on any given day, are in and out of her classroom. Mrs. Malcom stated she has 16 students, K-12. Mrs. Terrell asked for an example of what kind of working out in public is being done. Mrs. Malcom stated they are just starting that and that they did community helpers, which is a survey to get a baseline of what jobs the students are interested in. She stated there is a wide variety of what the students are interested in, and it will be good for not only the students but the employers as well once they get out into the community. 

Discussion:  No public participation. 

Discussion:  Excused absent board member Nate Wyatt.

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas stated that this comes with a heavy heart, Mrs. Richeson has submitted her resignation effective at the end of this school year. She stated it is really hard to see one of our team members go, that we are going to miss her a lot and asked Mrs. Richeson if she had anything she would like to share. Mrs. Richeson gave a heartfelt thank you to the team, and stated 18 years in this district is pretty crazy, but had received lots of support from the board. She stated it was an honor to be part of this team and confirmed at the heart of her resignation that there was a need to find a better balance between both personal and professional.  On behalf of the board, Mr. Fornoff thanked Mrs. Richeson for the time and balance she had given the district for 18 years and wished her success in the next chapter of her life. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas confirmed none yet, but it will be that time of the year soon. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read the rationale. Mr. Fornoff asked the transportation committee if anyone had any insight or anything they wanted to add. Mr. Dalrymple stated they have put a lot of time into this in the last 6 months and that he feels like our local dealer treated us fair on the price of the suburbans and, as far as the bus, he feels it is a really good value for what we are getting. Mrs. Brass stated they had spent a lot of time on this, even ever since she got onto the board. Looking at bus options, what's the most cost-efficient, and it really came to the matter of student safety. She advised no one wants to see those kids on the side of the road and felt this was pushed as far as it could be and that it was time to make that decision. Mr. Fornoff gave a big thank you to Mr. Dalrymple, Mrs. Brass, Mr. Wyatt, and Dr. Jonas for all the time they put in. Mrs. Terrell asked if the legislator gave us a timeline on when we needed to replace those passenger vans. Dr. Jonas stated what had changed was the interpretation of the law. They would argue that they have never been legal and so really the timeline has passed if that makes sense, but she did visit with our insurance company, and they assured her the vans themselves are insured, but it becomes a liability concern if something were to happen to the passengers of the vans. So the timeline that our insurance company gave was as soon as possible. Dr. Jonas confirmed we had just received clarification around this in the fall and that there had always been this conversation happening regarding being ready and thinking about phasing these out. That we had been looking for vans and had not been able to find them, so lucky for us that the timing worked. Mr. Dalrymple added that these vans were ready to be traded in as they were the two highest mileage vans. Dr. Jonas stated they had been up for replacement a year ago but hadn't had any luck finding anything and so once they came out with that hard line, it just made sense to make that transition. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas went over the rationale. Dr. Jonas asked Mr. Mroczek if he had an idea on how many people come in for that. Mr. Mroczek stated he didn't know but that there are 7 or 8 other schools and that we have a good relationship with the NSAA and that they know we do a good job here. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read the rationale. Mr. Fornoff asked if we have a timeline. Dr. Jonas stated we do not have a timeline for the new bus yet, but we are hoping in the next couple of months that it will become available, and then we will start working on the sale after that. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas advised that each year we undergo a district audit of all of our funds and that KSO does a wonderful job as they are very thorough and answer a lot of our questions. She stated we just had an opportunity to sit down with them and talk about their findings and that she has attached the full report so that it is visible to the public. Dr. Jonas went over the highlights, including enrollment numbers and our adjusted taxable value, and advised this is for the 2023–2024 year as we are a year behind. She advised our budget authority was just over $14 million dollars, our General & Special Building levy was $0.98, and the total levy was $1.08 once we included in the Bond fund. She went over the financial overview slide and pointed out the big changes like the QCPUF dollars that came in and also the ESSER funds that were paid out towards the end, as well as having more coming in this winter. Overall, things looked healthy and that the auditor was pleased at how things were trending. Dr. Jonas stated that last year the auditor had indicated that we really needed to focus on getting 3 years of reserves into the General Fund, so it feels like things are trending in the right direction. Dr. Jonas went over the General Fund Receipts slide showing where all the dollars came from and the General Fund Disbursement slide showing where those dollars went. She discussed the Fixed vs. Discretionary and Debt Administration slides, as well as the KSO audit findings. KSO welcomes questions and has provided their contact information on the contact Information slide. Dr. Jonas asked the board if there were any questions. Mrs. Brass stated congratulations on the audit, especially since we had multiple audits going on at the same time that week, so to get a successful audit like this is pretty cool. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read the rationale. Mrs. Floyd read over the attached slide, Impact Center Update. Dr. Jonas thanked Mrs. Floyd for the time commitment that she has put in. Mrs. Terrell stated she was at the Giving Closet recently and that it looked really good and that it's set up like a department store. Mrs. Floyd commented, yes, it looks very nice in there and that the event center currently has 22 confirmed events scheduled. Mr. Dalrymple asked when we would be receiving that reimbursement. Dr. Jonas stated she confirmed it should be fairly quickly as it was written so we do not have to have a formal facility agencies meeting for that to take place, so she anticipates it within the next 30 days to have that back in the Cooperative Fund. No action was taken. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read the rationale. Mr. Fornoff expressed a huge thank you to all the donors and sponsors. No action was taken. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read over the rationale and confirmed there are 11 trees now. Mr. Fornoff asked what kind of trees they are and Dr. Jonas advised yes we do, but she personally didn't know. Mr. Fornoff advised a huge shout-out to the City of Gothenburg. 

Discussion:  Dr. Jonas read over the rationale. Mr. Fornoff stated thank you and everyone else for all the hard work on that audit. No action was taken. 

Discussion:  Personnel Committee - Mr. Fornoff stated they met for the first time right before the November 1 deadline, advised they will meet again this Thursday to discuss the first proposal and will keep us updated at that time. 
Transportation and Facilities - Mrs. Brass stated they looked at the long term plan for the next facility improvements needed and where they fall financially within the budget. 
Finance - Mrs. Jobman advised they hit on a couple of topics. ESSER and how they had to make an amendment to their last admission, but that was approved, so they are just waiting for that $130,000 to come in. They also successfully achieved a mental health grant for $30,000. They also discussed enrollment and are still seeing a downturn in enrollment, which has always been a background discussion. Mrs. Jobman confirmed they talked about fund balance and how things are on track as we are a couple of months into the fiscal year, so this is always good to see.  They also talked a little about personnel and that the insurance numbers came in at a little lower than what they had anticipated and how much negotiation room that leaves. 
Committee on American Civics - Mrs. Terrell stated they had not met since their last board meeting. 
Policy Review - Mrs. Terrell confirmed they haven't met either, but they have been reviewing the reclassification of schools and with the election passed she is assuming they will probably see more legislation. 

Discussion:  See attached admin reports. 

Discussion:  Reminder the next meeting is scheduled for the third Monday instead of the second Monday. The meeting will be held on December 16th at 5:00 pm. 

Discussion:  The meeting was adjourned at 8:14 pm.