00:00:02,730	really Good evening. I’m Dan Eastgate, president of the Bismarck School Board. It’s 5:15 on Monday, March 24th. I call this meeting to order. Welcome and thank you to all of you in the crowd for joining us here and also online.

00:00:22,000	You can find our agenda and follow along under the school board tab at BismarckSchools.org. Mr. Scherr, will you call the roll, please, Mr. Eastgate Mr. Hager here, Mr. Lee, here, Mrs. Peterson, here, Miss Presky board members are present and accounted for. Dr Fastnacht, could you please lead us on the pledge of allegiance.

00:00:50,630	Like in America and to the Republic which Republic Republic which Republic is Republic one nation under God. liberty and justice. Item 1 on the agenda, the BPS mission vision and values, the BPS mission is to empower every learner to thrive. The BPS vision states together our strong relationships build inclusive, collaborative and innovative environments that create agency and inspire a passion for learning, excellence, and discovery.

00:01:22,900	The BPS values are inclusion, excellence, innovation, and leadership. You can also find a link in the agenda to the BPS strategic plan. Item 2 is to adopt the agenda. What are the wishes of the board? I’ll move that we adopt our agenda. I’ll second. We have a motion in a second, Mr. Sher. Hager, yes, Lee Peterson, yes. Presky, Eastgate, yes, motion passes.

00:01:42,630	Item 3, focus on success. 3 A Science in the classroom. Dr Fastnacht. Good afternoon, board members. Glad to have you, uh, with us tonight, and, uh, uh, we have a really special presentation tonight. Yeah, science in the classroom.

00:02:01,130	I’d like to introduce our, uh, Miss Courtney Crane, who’s going to lead us off at the podium and then do all the fellow or following introduction. So Ms. Crane, thanks for coming. Hello. Welcome. Hello. Um, President Eastgate and members of the board, so I get to. reduce, we’ll start with our elementary science focus on success.

00:02:18,370	We have, excuse me, Jeannette Sale, a 5th grade teacher from Prairie Rose, and she brought two of her students, Maggie and Tate with her tonight. All right. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Yeah, there we go. Perfect. OK, so I’ll start our slide here. Um, so we’ve done a few units in our science this year.

00:02:51,100	We started with Earth and Space patterns, which was something that Tate was extremely interested in, so I thought he’d be the perfect kid to tell you about it.

00:03:11,230	OK, so can you tell us a little bit about Star Trails, so Star trails is when the Earth rotates around its axis and then it makes the stars look like they’re rising and setting, yeah, which is the same thing that happens with the sun, right? Yeah, um, and we were able to make our own sun dials, uh, with the sun, um, and the shadow and we also talked a lot about shadows and how shadows change depending on the season.

00:03:28,470	Can you tell us a little bit about that? So the shadows change depending on the season, uh, like in summer it the sun rises and so it’s higher and in the winter rises and slower, making the shadows bigger in the winter and shorter in the summer.

00:03:50,900	Absolutely, and Tate was really, really interested in, um, constellations, and so I brought what we used or what we created when we learned about constellations. This is called a universe in a box, and it’s part of our mystery science.

00:04:07,770	So inside this little box there is um a bunch of the most common constellations, the ones that are most recognizable, and there’s a little dial in here that you can change the month and so you would see what, um, constellations you could see during that particular month.

00:04:27,100	And so can you tell us? How you use this yourself, so I used this by going out in a November and then I looked out and I saw um Cassiopeia and Orion, and you didn’t go out and look at the constellations just once, did you? You’ve done it a few times. Your mom’s talked to me about that.

00:04:48,470	Yeah, absolutely, and then I’m at the end of this unit we integrated this into an art project, so the kids created um. A night sky painting and they put one of the constellations in there, as well as one of the moon phases that we learned about, so, um, that was kind of a fun way to wrap up that unit.

00:05:02,470	Um, next unit was the water cycle and Earth systems, and this is what, um. Maggie will talk to us about today. So Meggie, can you tell us what we learned about water. Uh, we learned that most of our water on the Earth is salt water and all of our freshwater, most of it is in frozen glaciers and um our freshwater is in.

00:05:28,500	Aquifers underneath the ocean underneath of the earth, yeah, absolutely, and we had, um, Mr. Tom Gibson come to our school, which we really enjoyed and we’re sad that he is retiring, but he talked to us a little bit about water.

00:05:47,170	Can you tell us what he did? He had his big tub of water and he dipped his finger in it and he dropped a tiny drop of water on it and that’s our fresh drinking water that we’re able to drink. Yeah, out of that whole tub, that’s as much as um is able.

00:06:02,370	to be Drink, um, on Earth, so, um, but he made a big deal about it saying that he was going to dump the amount of drinkable fresh water on your head and then he just did a little, a little dot, so the kids got a kick out of that, um, we also made it rain, so that’s our experiment up at the top with the red and blue water

00:06:17,630	bottles. Can you tell them about that, Maggie? We had a paper cup full of either hot or cold water, and then we put a clear plastic cup over that and then we had hot or cold, uh, hot or cold.

00:06:30,530	water bottle placed on top of that, and that was our ocean and sky. And Out of all the combinations we tried, which one made the most rain? Cold atmosphere in a hot ocean. Yeah Um And then, um, you know, down below, we’re just doing some more. Work with salt water. Um, and then this is our most current unit.

00:06:53,830	This is what we’re wrapping up now ecosystems and the food web. And so, can you tell us what a food web is? So a food web is where energy transfers from one living thing to another, so like the the energy comes from the sun and it goes to the plants, then animals, and

00:07:09,000	bigger animals and so on and so forth, yeah, and they all work together, um, and at the end, obviously animals, plants die or create waste, and what happens to that waste, maybe have uh decomposers they’re usually microorganisms or worms and mushrooms, and they break down.

00:07:27,100	dead plants and animals and turn them into soil. Very nice. And we are working with decomposers in our classroom right now, aren’t we? Yeah, we have a paper plate inside of a bag with some air in it with a bunch of foods and we’re testing and putting some stuff on it to see which makes the mold grow the quickest or the

00:07:43,100	slowest. Yeah, so we’re, we have mold terrariums growing in our class right now. Um, and then our next project is one the kids are really, really excited about. Um, this is where we had our engineering design standards.

00:08:01,730	So these are pictures from last year, um, but we create these marble run super slides, the kids are given, um, card stock, tape, marbles, um, and a shoebox, and they’re told. Make a super slide and make it work, and so it’s a lot of trial and error, and eventually they get it, they get to present it to the school, um, and then I take them to the Superside amusement

00:08:20,100	park as an end of the year field trip, so, um, that’s what we’re going to start next. But um that’s essentially what we’ve been learning in science in 5th grade this year. So thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Thank you, Mel. So now we will have Mr.

00:08:44,870	Bart Bracken from Century High School, talk a little bit about what they are doing there. Welcome Mr. Bracken. Hello. That’s a hard act to follow and everything that’s exciting stuff. I mean, as a science Guy, I get jacked up about that. That’s, that’s cool, um.

00:09:07,230	If my slides work here, um, yeah, we’re just gonna focus on some of the exciting things I feel are exciting at Century and how we’re preparing our, our students to the next level, whether it’s college community or career, wherever they’re going, uh, I feel like Century, we’re, we’re doing the best job that we possibly can, and I, I, I want to make sure you

00:09:23,370	understand it’s not us, it’s our kids. We, we’ve got excellent kids at Century High School and, um, you could see how the elementary and the middle school are doing such a great job of preparing their kids so that we them, uh, up there.

00:09:37,230	They have a great foundation that we can hopefully build upon, uh, to get that success later on. Um, I, I’ve got a list of the, the teachers that, that are with the century, uh, science group, if you will, and if you’re thinking, boy, that bracken has an ego, he puts himself first.

00:09:54,470	It’s the only reason I do that is because I can’t remember names otherwise, so I have to go by room by room in my mind. So I, I am Mr. Bart Bracken. I, I teach AP physics and physical science for 9th graders. Uh, Laura Estel is our forensic teacher and biology teacher, and Mr.

00:10:10,370	Tim Fletcher, he has AP Bio and a regular bio class. uh, Mr. Emery has just switched from the, what we, I call the living sciences to the De sciences. He’s into chemistry now, so he’s, uh, teaching our chemistry classes. Mr.

00:10:30,630	Johnson has been teaching, uh, anatomy, physiology, and, um, the chemistry class for multiple years and now with the retirement of Mr. Kevin Zeigler, Scott Johnson took over the AP chemistry, uh, Classes, uh, JC Brown is new this year to us at Bismarck, uh, Century, and she teaches, uh, physical science along with the geoscience classes.

00:10:51,470	Lindsay Row came from Bismarck High, and she has our biology classes along with uh AP, um, uh, environmental science that she’ll have next year. Clancy Duvalli is a teacher who has our, um, introductory type science classes, uh, uh, some physical science and some applied physical science classes and Chelsea.

00:11:11,830	Seth, she does a little bit of science with the applied physical science classes, and she also does the, um, avid teaching, which is a great program that really helps build our kids and leads them to a lot of success, not only in science classes, but all the other classes, um, these are the classes we offer at Century High School, which I feel are a great variety of living and

00:11:32,630	non-living type science classes, um, students are encouraged to take as many possible as they can, along with our. classes, we also have AP physics, AP bio, AP chem.

00:11:50,170	We’re gonna have AP Environmental Science this coming fall, forensics and anatomy, physiology, which are all offered as dual credit through BSC at this time. And if you look at that, there’s 6 classes that a student can take roughly getting 6 or 3 credits per class. A student can walk out of Century High School with 18 college credits in their back pocket, and, uh, be set up for a quick successful.

00:12:10,000	college career after they go through, uh, century High School. I, I. Put an asterisk there for our EP classes because our AP classes, if you look over the data last 5 years, our classes, our students have exceeded or met national and North Dakota, uh. Averages or above averages for the 5 year window I was looking at.

00:12:32,630	So again, kudos to our kids. They’re, they’re putting in the time and the effort and having a lot of success, which hopefully introduces them to a successful college career.

00:12:48,470	How do we do all that? Some of the things that we do to utilize that success are multiple reading strategies for our students, um, I can go through some of these, the pre-reading content, I think that’s pretty self-explanatory.

00:13:02,370	A lot of times with our labs, we’ll try to give the the students at the lab a day or two in advance, so you can read through it, so they kind of know what they’re gonna get into the next couple days, annotating or reading case studies in biology. I know the biology, uh, teachers will pull in articles or uh news articles of current events that are occurring in biology, and students will read through that and it, it’ll relate to what we’re currently covering.

00:13:19,370	So, uh, it answers the question, why are we doing this? Well, here you go. Um, vocab identification defining, we have a ton of terms with every. chapter that we do and so we try to introduce those vocab terms to the students, talk about them so that if I’m talking about the conservation momentum and the calculations

00:13:36,630	and the derivatives of that. If you don’t know what momentum is, you’re, you’re behind the eight ball, uh, before we even get started. So we, we try to get the vocab Foundation down for the students, uh, collaboration during and after labs. Every lab that we do is, uh, a lab with somebody else.

00:13:54,630	He rarely will we put you by yourself on a lab. You got to work with others, and I think all of us know that as life goes on, you end up working with people that you’re, you’re not always comfortable with, but you got to get to know them and know

00:14:05,730	your roles and how you can help each other out. So we do a lot of collaboration with all of our lab activities, uh, the activity of Four Corners, uh, one of the activities that’s, that some teachers will utilize for, um, reading, uh, the Four Corners.

00:14:23,370	So you basically, you take your class and you may ask, you know, do you like cats or do you like dogs as your pet, so they’ll divide them up. And then within your two groups now, do you like short tail or long-tailed dogs or cats, and to buy them in other corners and so you end up with 4 groups

00:14:36,370	of students kind of divided by things they’re interested in and then they may have an article to have to read through as a group and discuss it. So, you know, you kind of get people with common interests and common, uh, ideas, and you can get something tapered to their, their needs.

00:14:51,100	their likes and desires, uh, probable passage. I know Miss Mastel uses in her biology class, uh, we go over the four stages of mitosis, and then she introduced the process of meiosis.

00:15:07,870	So there’s 8 phases of meiosis and there’s different activities that occur within each and so she’ll list them all, show them all kind of scrambled up, and the students will have to put them in order off of their previous knowledge of mitosis, even though it’s a different process, uh, bringing in that past knowledge and, and applying, she’ll eventually go. through it and lead them in the right direction on there.

00:15:22,730	The speed Vocab exchange, I did that this past summer. It’s kind of a speed dating format where each student is assigned 2 or 3 vocab terms. They then sit across from another student class.

00:15:38,800	They have about 2 minutes to exchange terms, talk about them, clarify any kind of, uh, questions you may have, and then I tell them to move to your left and then you got another person to exchange vocab with and so instead of a student going home and and having to look up 30 science terms, they only have to look up.

00:15:51,500	2 or 3 come in and they’re gonna have to repeat those 2 or 35 terms, you know, multiple times, so it gets embedded within them a little bit. Uh, the picture I got there is a picture of some of the notes that kids have taken in the class, and we do a lot of annotating and notes and going over those notes.

00:16:07,000	So you kind of know, you know, what they should be studying and what they’re expected to know for any kind of assessments we may have. Um, successful achievement. I, I, I’m a big believer in hands-on type science. I, I feel like they get more of a science experience than just the science terms flying at you or worksheets and dissections.

00:16:26,770	I know some people aren’t always excited about dissecting, but I honestly tell you, there’s no better way of appreciating the complexity and beauty of life than to cut open an organism and see what’s inside there and the com how it’s put together and um how you.

00:16:44,900	how you feel it was put together is totally up to you, but to appreciate The excitement of cutting open a a cat and seeing the innards of those organisms. It really makes you appreciate, uh, how complex and beautiful we are within our bodies, and I know a grasshopper may not, uh, Turn your crank as they say, uh, you know, excite you about it, but

00:17:05,630	for us, it does. It’s pretty neat and things. So we do a lot of dissections, hands-on type activities with the other sciences, physical science type labs, um, I like to say we do butts up science.

00:17:22,470	You’re not sitting in your chair and, and, and look at things you’re getting up and we’re, we’re experiencing the science, uh, the, the picture on the left, uh, the students are to figure out how powerful they are, so they have to run up the steps, time themselves, and then do calculations to figure out how much power. they have the middle one with chemical reactions. I know that’s in Mr.

00:17:36,730	Emery’s classroom with the chemistry. He’s having a mix of different chemicals and see the reaction. So when you introduce stoichiometry and the balancing of the equations. I know it’s hard to believe, but it can be kind of dull and boring.

00:17:51,200	And so if you actually see the reaction and see the, the results of it, it’s a little bit more exciting and a little bit more meaningful. Uh, the lab up in the top right-hand corner, I had the students do a conduction of heat lab. They take wires and stick them in the heat.

00:18:03,900	and then see when the wax melts on the wire timing it. And so you, you have to do the, the experimentation, analyze the data and figure out is a big wire or a little wire better at transferring heat energy. So you, you have two choices, a big wire, a little wire. I’ll tell you the answer later.

00:18:22,730	Ideal gas law, the ideal gas law, uh, Mr. Johnson does this law, they actually are going to figure out the mass or weight of hydrogen gas. Uh, that’s to me is something that, you know, 100.

00:18:38,370	years ago, scientists were, were not knowing how to do this, and we’re doing it at Century High School in a fifty-minute time block. And so, uh, it’s a pretty awesome hands-on experience students get there at Century. thick wires are better. Um, writing in journals then, you, you don’t just get to play with, with all the, the things you actually have to present it like scientists do.

00:18:56,470	So I have my students write their lab reports and journals. So on the left side you can see a, a typical lab report of my students that I have for expectations and I do a lot of graphing and a lot of data tables, and it drives the kids crazy.

00:19:10,500	You can ask any century kid, they’ll roll their eyes and like, yes, I had to survive through that, but the reason I do a lot of data tables and graphing is if you look at any state standardized test, you’ll see graphs and data tables.

00:19:25,730	It’s not passages or what did Einstein do? It’s, here’s a data table, what can you interpret from it? So our feeling is if we make them have them do a lot of this, they, they get used to it, they’re more comfortable with it, so you don’t just skip the question on the test, they actually, hey, I got this. I can attack this and uh interpret the data.

00:19:40,530	The middle lab is a marker board. A lot of times with my AP physics students, I have them right up their lab reports on marker boards because when they take the AP test in the spring, they’re given a piece of paper and they have to write out the whole process of doing a scientific experiment.

00:19:56,000	So my hope is that by having a certain limited amount of marker board space, they organize it and can organize their thoughts in a meaningful way such that You know, they, they get the points that they deserve on the tests come springtime. Uh, the unit on the right is from, uh, Mr.

00:20:12,100	uh, Fletcher’s classroom. Again, just highlighting the notes and going over the information that’s presented to the students throughout the, the week. We have other online resources, uh, for our note taking for students who are missing or if, you know, we, we have resources online for them to look at so that if they feel behind, they can always catch

00:20:31,230	up. Our morning review sessions. I know Mr. Fletcher does this a lot for his AP biology students, uh, he’ll get there at 7 a.m. open up his doors, and students come in and they can review online prepping themselves for the AP test that, that he’s going to give that day.

00:20:48,830	He’s there the whole time to help them and assist them clarifying. any kind of information that they may, may need help with. Um, beyond the classroom, we have, uh, some different opportunities for our students to to get involved with, uh, the first one is Envirothon.

00:21:06,630	We didn’t have Evion for a couple of years and we just started reviving it this past year, and with that, we have about 5 to 10 students that joined, uh, we’re hoping to get those numbers up to, you know, close to 15. The, uh, viathon is really neat competition.

00:21:23,000	They go up, I believe, to Washburn for a day, and they do a bunch of competitions identifying plants and animals and ecosystems and everything they could utilize the information you did with the water system, so it’s really cool to apply it to real life type situations. Our Science Olympiad team last year they won the state championship, which is pretty awesome.

00:21:40,730	Um, the, the group that you see there is, I think there’s another group of 15 to 20 other kids are also involved in that, um, Mr. Johnson, Ms. Mastel, and Mr. Fletcher do a wonderful job with that.

00:21:59,370	Um, we, we’ve got good participation, and if you come up there, I believe it’s on Tuesdays after school, you’ll see 15 to 20 young men and women throwing things down the hallway, building things, laughing, and then running out. out of a room and you’re like, I don’t know if I want to see what’s going on there, but they’re doing science and so it’s a great experience for him, a little bit of hands-on.

00:22:13,730	Uh, finally, uh, the Science Bull team, uh, that’s my group, usually we have about 10 kids that are involved in that and the science owl is a competition that we have out at University of Mary, um, it’s a statewide competition.

00:22:29,870	There’s usually about 20 to 30 teams statewide and this year, the kids were able to place 3rd and 6th place, um, pretty proud of them and their efforts to do that. And if you want a humbling experience, come out to the science bowl and just listen to the questions, and you’re like, how do you know that answer? And why do you know that? But why it’s awesome.

00:22:47,370	And, and they’ll do math computations in 7 seconds that would take me a month to, to do and stuff. So, the, the kids are amazing, um, we, we have great kids up there and they’re, they’re doing great things and, and hopefully we can uh get them ready for the next level that they need to be ready for.

00:23:05,100	Um, luckily for you, I, that’s it. Um, do you have any questions or anything? I don’t know. Do I open up to questions and answer session? All right. Thank you, Mr. Bratkin, um, board members, questions, comments about the presentation here tonight on Focus on success. I’ve got, OK, Mr. Lee.

00:23:24,730	Well, I just, I just didn’t want there to be silence. Yeah. But I just, I just had to point out that they kind of got a little bit to Hannibal Lecter there when you, when you talked about the best way to appreciate a living thing is to rip it open.

00:23:41,370	Yeah and start digging in, but very good, it’s awesome, awesome information, um, yeah, and I’m sure I’m proud of our kids. I mean, there’s, there’s so many good things going on, especially at Century High, so thank you. Yeah. I’ll just say Maggie and Tate, thank you guys so much for sharing tonight.

00:23:54,370	That’s a really big deal as board members, we say that a lot when students come up, but it is one of our favorite things to hear from students and to hear like to see your guys’ excitement and enthusiasm for what you’re learning, um, and then to also take it home because you have family members are probably nodding.

00:24:07,000	You probably had a chance to see some of the constellations and things I would bet, and I just think it’s great when learning does leave the classroom, um, Mr. Bracken, I would just, mister, you talked about Mr. Fletcher in the Morning Review’s having a student in that AP bio. I know it’s a big deal and I just wanna please pass along thank.

00:24:19,100	Us to the teachers that put in extra time, because we know that’s what they’re doing, they’re trying to help set up kids and students for success, and that’s a big deal.

00:24:31,500	That’s not always their contracted hours when they step in and and we try to help kids do the best that they can, um, and I, I just want to comment on Mr. Johnson and his team’s t-shirts going for gold with the periodic table, uh, which you fantastic. love that very much so thanks for the the presentation.

00:24:50,200	It’s, it’s cool to see so much fun science going on, and, you know, I’m nervous for this presentation, everything that I don’t mess up, but, uh, to be perfectly honest with you, the, the kids we have up there and the things that, that the, my colleagues are doing with those kids, it, it’s easy to get up here and talk about it and I could unfortunately talk to you guys for another half hour, which

00:25:05,100	the groans and moans tell enough that I won’t do that to you. So, so, but, um, it’s easy to, to, to talk about those kids. because again, they’re they’re, they’re fantastic and such, so, um. Yeah, I, I don’t know. Well, thank you. We really appreciate it. Turn my mic off. All right.

00:25:21,770	Yep, thank you. Dr Fastnacht, thanks for bringing that focus on success in for us tonight as a board. We appreciate that and again thank you to all the presenters. Um, with that move, keep moving in the agenda if that’s all right. We’re going to go to item 4, which is public comment.

00:25:42,000	Uh, the board recognizes the central role that parents play in the education of their children and support active parent involvement in the educational process, the board’s practice of public comment reflects and aligns with policy BCBA in the spirit of its intent for classroom issues, it’s best to follow the chain of command.

00:25:58,500	We would ask you to talk to the teacher, then the principal, assistant superintendent, and ultimately the superintendent for district-wide issues, please reach out to Dr Fastnacht. And with that, I do believe Dr Fastnacht that we did have a question posed at the last board meeting that you were going to. Address here tonight.

00:26:14,630	Um, yeah, we did have a question from last, uh, meeting, and I guess if it’s OK, I’ll just remind everybody what the question was, and then provide my response to you and the community. Um, so the question was, I know our time is limited tonight in a little context.

00:26:32,170	My question to you is, what comes next if we’ve cut the 4th grade program we’re here tonight because of our concerns for fifth grade, will we be back here next year for 6 and then the following for 7th and so on, um, until the program is gone entirely, what improvements will the community and the school, what Yes, what improvements will the community and the school see by cutting

00:26:48,830	fifth grade strings, and I’d be interested in answers to that question both from the budget standpoint as well as test scores and such things. So, I don’t know if I can give all those aspects, but here’s my best attempt to provide an answer to that question.

00:27:02,630	Um, the decision to reduce the grade span in which orchestra is offered is less about the finances of the district and more about our inability to find qualified applicants, uh, for the position, uh, we have had open for the past 2 years since May of 2023, we’ve had five orchestra teachers Lee BPS either for other opportunities

00:27:21,470	or for one year leaves of absence, uh, for personal reasons. I would say in all instances, the district supported the educators in that decision, um, but ultimate left, ultimately left us without an educator to perform those duties after the last meeting, um, we was held, we did open up

00:27:39,500	the orchestra position, which had been open at open two weeks at that time when we last met. We kept it open for two more weeks, which is extending in the next week, um, and at that, as of today, we have 2 applicants and, uh, it’s not my prepared testimony, but I, um, we are interviewing both those

00:27:57,000	applicants on Thursday this week, so we’re continuing to go down that road of finding a qualified replacement. Um, this, these are, this one for this year is a one year position as we’re filling a one year leave of absence that’s already been approved by my office for a teacher, um, in regard to the

00:28:11,500	budget, part of the question based on financial projections from the federal government, state and local taxation, um, I would again contend, um, it’s not just orchestra, I think there’s a lot of programs and services that we’ve got um accustomed to that are really boiling down to what’s needs versus wants, and we’re making, having to make or being

00:28:32,730	prepared to make hard decisions, so I hope that answers, I believe, her question from last time. Thanks for that, Dr Fastnacht. Uh, moving on to public comment for tonight.

00:28:47,770	Again, we would just remind you if you do speak tonight, we simply ask that you be responsible, be helpful, and be respectful. Our BPS students deserve to have model adults model the expectations that we have for them. Groups are urged to select one spokesperson, individuals will be limited to no more than 4 minutes and we’ll be notified with 30 seconds remaining to conclude the remarks.

00:29:03,870	The board does not debate issues as presented, but will take such matters under advisement. With that you can please stand and approach pull me if you’d like to speak tonight and just as a reminder you do need to cite an agenda item at tonight’s meeting for public comment. Good evening.

00:29:23,000	If you could please state your name for the minutes and the agenda item about which you will be speaking, and there’s, there should be a sign up sheet. If there’s not, we can get one up there for you too. I do not see one up here. Thanks. Uh, my name’s Bradshaw.

00:29:40,800	I’m the director of sales and marketing at Eckroth Music, and I’m, I’m standing up to, uh, to just respond to Dr F Fastnacht's statement that he just made and just to, to also thank the board and Dr Fastnacht for their engagement after last, last, uh, or early, earlier this month’s school board meeting.

00:29:58,730	Um, at, at Aroft Music were committed to helping find uh a qualified teacher for this vacancy that’s open and, and we are continuing to work with our large network of teachers from Montana all the way to Western Wisconsin to try and find a teacher to to fill this important vacancy and so I did just want to say thank you for being responsive to the, the community’s outreach last meeting and, and for engaging

00:30:13,630	us in the process. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Anyone else for public comment. Without public comment will now be closed. Item 5 is the monitor district operations. We’re looking at AR 2.

00:30:45,370	1 academic achievement science and after tonight’s presentation, we’ll, all of us board members know a little bit more about derivatives and mitosis and all kinds of things. So we’re ready for this. Well, I don’t know if I know any more about derivatives than I did in high school, and that was not, um, probably would not have passed, Mr. Bracken’s class, but, um, I would introduce tonight, uh, Dr Ben Johnson will be presenting our 0.

00:31:01,770	2 for science, so thank you, Dr Johnson. Welcome, Dr Johnson. Thank you, President Eastgate members of the board, Dr Fastnacht, um, my pleasure to stand for you and talk a little bit about our reading achievement.

00:31:16,530	Great to follow up, uh, not only kids’ voices, but also the teacher voices, those that are in the trenches on both sides of that and again, a great partnership to work with parents and hopefully can share a little bit of the good work that we’ve been doing and the results as well as where we’re headed, so we bring forward this uh.

00:31:33,900	Academic achievement for science are too with making reasonable progress and on all three measures, there is a note, I would say is we did intend for um indicator 3 to be listed as making reasonable progress, so I’d ask you to accept it as as indicator 3, making reasonable progress, not with the exception, but it’s making reasonable progress.

00:31:53,630	We apologize for that typo and didn’t get that clarified, and I’ll speak to that in a little bit. Um, we know that, uh, great work. is done with those teachers around what’s the curriculum, so in the elementary mystery science has been a fabulous curriculum, but again, it’s taking that and

00:32:08,900	unpacking the curriculum maps and looking at the units and how we can teach those lessons. um, K-12, but especially, um, you know, 612 has had an emphasis on the vocabulary and a vocabulary alignment.

00:32:25,200	We know that words matter sometimes and being clear and understanding when I say a unit, what am I referring to a unit of measurement, or if I’m talking about um, you know, diffuse. and just being clear on what is that clear essential vocabulary and just where can we get that and boil it down to about 20 vocabulary words, uh, Dr work and some others with Marzano and then internally our LDI

00:32:42,730	members such as Courtney Crane and others will work with our science teachers to talk about how can we make sure that in 4th grade he got that great. Now we all accept that up through 4th grade those are the vocab words.

00:32:58,730	Here’s 2 more that are central, and we do that in um all of our subject areas, it’s, I would say it’s a different. Spots. That being said, our guiding coalitions get to move beyond just that alignment and get to talk about here’s my student work, here’s the activities that I’m designing.

00:33:16,730	This is what helps bring it to life in my classroom, and that’s the beauty of um being professionals as well as being able to share tricks from the trade with one another. Um, as we move forward, there’s been some work done around inquiry-based learning. Again, um, as you heard from Brett, you know, got to get up and gotta move and and be able to not just do cookie.

00:33:32,830	cutter So to speak, it’s not just a recipe lab, but it’s like, let’s actually do science and graph it and understand it and see where it’s working or not. But again, that essential vocabulary, the grading practices, how we give feedback with students across all levels, um, in turn, we need to take a look and continue to dive into

00:33:48,830	our data and be able to get back from the state and from our other assessments so that we can discover where do individuals lie? Where do groups, are there holes or gaps in our curriculum, so we can do better. Um, that being said.

00:34:05,000	I may have said it before, but in my past history, like worked with some teachers and really brought in some people from the university and said, guess where we started in biology? Back at the cell.

00:34:18,830	So what we want our students to be able to do is think like scientists, do science, do the writing that’s associated, because that’s different than a 5 paragraph essay. It’s a different type of scientific readiness. My daughter worked on a report this weekend, um, you know, for her science class. Again, that’s a different type of writing and the skill, and again, the then the ability to interpret the graph.

00:34:33,270	So again, I think he was spot on with that. So that being said, um, as we go through these 3 indicators, uh, we see in our um. NDSA comparison to the state, you know, we’re outperforming, and we also grew in uh two of those areas, but again, outperform in the state there, um, in 4th and 10th and right on par in 8th grade as we

00:34:52,900	look at the ACT um average. Again, I always kind of refer to this in the past, the data that you’re still looking at was when all students were required to take the ACT. So, all of our students take the ACT. Not all of every North Dakotan student takes the ACT and we still are outperforming.

00:35:10,000	that. So again, that’s just a measure that when 1 and 9. Maybe 1 in 8. something now, students are Bismarck student when we’re comparing that and we’re still out beating the state average where we make all students take the HCT. Others have not.

00:35:27,730	So again, some of that self-selected to be able to produce those results, I think speak volumes. That being said, the last indicator, as you know, we do have some of that great out as the transition from grades, um.

00:35:47,370	Based upon a standards-based grading calculation, that’s why it’s in gray, um, to for the middle school at least, and we didn’t include it in the high school to now that’s just showing you, uh, traditional letter grades, um, so that there’s some of the percentages that you see some of the increases there across. We see that also in the K through 5 area.

00:36:03,000	We did have one area in 3rd grade where it just dipped a little bit, but again, as Dr Fastnacht has alluded to with, um, board member Peter. and the academic learning as we go to more of an averaging, I know we’re taking a couple of them each year, but in that light, we believe that this should be making reasonable progress to that end, um, I’ll stand for

00:36:21,100	any further questions that you have at this time for where we came up with our recommendation. board members, any questions for Dr Johnson? Seeing none. Uh Thank you, Dr Johnson. How does the board find R 2.1 science. Mr. Lee Thank you, Mr. President.

00:36:50,370	uh, in regards to R2 academic achievement science, I move that we accept this report making reasonable progress as presented. 2nd. We have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Cheer, Lee, yes, Peterson, yes. Presky Hager, Eastgate. Yes. Motion passes.

00:37:14,370	Thank you again, Dr Johnson, for presenting on it and for getting all of our participation tonight earlier as well, um, item 6 on the agenda matters reserved for board action. 6A is board member school visit updates. I know we have at least one tonight. Mrs. Peterson, if you want to, that lead off on school visits.

00:37:33,770	I will, um, and, you know, I, I would be remiss if I didn’t, uh, just comment a little bit on the science. I, we, I’ve been fortunate as I’ve got, you know, two high school students and a middle school student who, uh, science is there, is there jam, and so I am just in in awe about the report.

00:37:51,770	There were no questions for you, Dr Johnson, cause I think the data speaks for itself, and I think that we’ve got some really, really good, uh, science, uh, superstars and I myself have have a child who’s going to nationals and 2 out of the 3 things that are were presented tonight in some of those extra curriculars and they couldn’t, he couldn’t do

00:38:09,900	that if he hadn’t been um built up with that solid foundation all the way from elementary to to now, so super excited. Um, but for my school visit, I think um I was really excited to go to Rita Murphy and the Bulldogs and and meet with um Mr. Frey and his who’s the principal and the assistant.

00:38:30,730	Principal Julie Ward and was, was quite impressed with the entire um visit and so I was, uh, first greeted by Mrs. J and Mrs.

00:38:46,770	G, and I wouldn’t have been able to they, that was what their name plate said and their names are so close that I would butcher it if I tried to write it down and so I’m gonna call them Mrs. J and Mrs. G, but they really set the positive tone and gave a really good historical perspective, um, I was, uh, kind of spent some time reminiscing I myself.

00:39:03,830	was a Rita Murphy graduate, um, back in 4th 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. So I hadn’t been there since that time, so it was, it was really cool to be able to be there and get the tour and then um and just see how much it’s grown since the time that I had been there.

00:39:17,100	I made a joke at one point saying, Oh, it’s been 20 years and actually it’s been closer to 30+ years. So I definitely was feeling my age at that time as we were kind of like looking at the history. Um, but I, I really enjoy um meeting with, with Mr.

00:39:33,370	Free, and he shared several pieces of information with me to kind of set the stage of what I learned about Rita Murphy and such as expressing kind of the growth mindset of the staff and providing some personal context of being part of the solutions, um, I was there two weeks ago and um obviously we had just announced some of the

00:39:49,730	transportation and bell time information. um, we had been just talking about some of the budget workshop, and so it just so for the public to be aware when we go on these school visits, we report out.

00:40:05,730	On a lot of the really positive things that we’re getting to see at those buildings, but we also get some personal insight into how some of those either decisions if we’re making any of them or um just some of those pieces that are gonna go into our decision making for those workshops.

00:40:21,870	So I really, um, I, I really like to be able to pick his brain and and see how some of those decisions were affecting um the school, so that was nice. And then he was really talking about some bulldog, uh, team time, um, and some of the things that they’re doing with the kids plus adults, 18 school teams, um, building some of those trusted relationships with staff and students and then showing that

00:40:38,100	um. What I really appreciated was was showing how not only the trusted relations, relationships with the adults, but really getting in and and showing kind of the, the leadership that is, is happening from the younger kids to the older kids and really setting those positive um tones

00:40:55,370	and so we talked a lot. I really like how all of our school leaders are really playing on their school mascot. So there were Bark outs, top dogs, positive paws, and then um goal getters and kind of climbing the mountain, and in fact, literally as we were sitting here listening to some

00:41:11,130	of the other, the other pieces I got an email from Mr. Frey and sharing a video, so I’m excited. I couldn’t click play on the video, um, because my, my uh computer would have made sounds, but I’m excited to go watch that video about some of the goal getters and some of the pieces that they’re

00:41:27,000	building into there morning announcements and and just really establishing that positive culture for every kid. Um, of course he talked about, um, high reliable schools and their HRS and and they’re building goal, um. Something that I think Mrs.

00:41:45,630	Ward said later is really wanting to be the school that every kid deserves and and a quote that she had gotten at a at a training event that she had been to, so I really appreciate, you know, we, we hear a lot of things on the board side. We’re not in that operational, um, like all those details, but what is helpful is, is both her and Mr.

00:42:02,730	Fricke referenced some of the professional learning that they’ve gotten, um, some of the different things that they were incorporating into some of their school systems and so I appreciated hearing that.

00:42:17,630	Um Also now kind of moving into, you know, we, I was also able to get a tour and start seeing kind of some of the familiar pieces, um, but when I got to talk with M Ward, Miss Ward, she really talked about making those weekly contacts with staff with staff and really showing that cultural shift at that school, um, and then really got to talk about the bulldog boosters. Now, when Mr.

00:42:35,000	Fricke had first said that he was going to introduce me to Miss Ward and talk about the bulldog boosters. I thought in my head, I put that as a booster.

00:42:49,630	like, you know, that I’m a part of with a lot of my older kids, but really this is student led, and this is a bulldog booster that that are the um, the students boosting some of the things that were happening and the goal of that club is to grow students as servant leaders to boost others, and this is nominations, um, that they’re given and, and really, uh, it’s something to aspire to for the underclassmen there at Rita Murphy for the

00:43:07,370	older kids, and I thought a lot, um, President Eastgate and I both have been. a part of Sources of Strength and different things, and this was not that, but there was definitely a flavor of some of that that culture building, and I, I just really lap that up, but really, um, it’s all

00:43:24,630	volunteer that she has 8 adult leaders, and again, I just loved how Miss Ward kind of said she put out an email to the staff for volunteers, for adults to be a part of this group and just almost instantaneously was able to get uh people right away wanting to be a part of of this club.

00:43:40,900	And they do a lot of things that are community based, so that, that it’s Rita Murphy’s students and, um, and adults getting out into their community, and then, um, called out both President Eastgate and Dr Fastnacht for coming in and helping with some leadership training that they had been invited to, so, uh, really talking about kind of some

00:43:59,000	sister clubs and and talking about, uh, really boosting, uh, that community, um, outreach. So, um, I, I, there’s, there’s so much more that I could talk about that was positive about that, but just really cool because I think that she was talking about how not only is this something that the

00:44:16,730	underclassmen are aspiring to, but it’s really affected their, their culture because, because these kids get nominated and there’s no cap on how many kids can be a part of it, but they do have to meet a certain expectation for, um, For not only uh for for their behaviors, so all of those things that

00:44:34,470	that they’re doing kind of with the the positive mindset is going to lead to their ability to serve in this booster club. So I thought just what a really great thing to to grow in their school.

00:44:52,470	So, um, I, I, ah, obviously some of the other things that we talk about when we’re going on these school visits, we also ask them to talk about some challenges, and I don’t think Mr. Freaky or Miss Ward could talk about challenges without also talking about positive stuff, but one thing that I, you know, they, they definitely spoke of some of the, the challenges with subs, and we’ve heard that at

00:45:08,470	our level as well, um, you know, When we talk about kind of teachers being overwhelmed, you know, there are certain times where they need to be either at professional learning events, or they need a, a health day.

00:45:26,130	I mean, there’s just lots of different reasons why teachers have to be out of the building and she really called attention to the fact that they have bees up in their building and beep is a challenge to find subs that are qualified to be able to be with some of those younger kids and so that was something kind of new to me,

00:45:37,270	and I think she just wanted it to be aware of the public, so hopefully as the public is listening, they are going to um come to us and we need, we need substitutes all the time, so, um, hopefully that ends up being something that somebody hears that call to action, and then that we continue as a

00:45:54,370	board, um, to think through how we increase our sub pool and so on. Um, and then she just talked a little bit about just the, the, the piece about having that pre-K in their building.

00:46:13,730	I think I said B set, but really I meant their pre-K, um, and, and that’s been both a positive and a challenge, and so it’s led to um a really a lot of like setting kind of the tone for what expectation is set for those kids when they come to kindergarten and beyond, um, but also it’s overwhelming when you add that, um, that extra piece about those those IEPs and and the behaviors and all of those things.

00:46:32,370	So it was, it’s just been, um, in a growth opportunity. So that was my visit with the Rita Murphy Bulldogs. I would love to come back, love to, to go and continue to see how they are able to continue that community outreach, um, and it was just a

00:46:47,770	really good time and then, um, not to, to move on to the other, but President Eastgate and I were able to participate on a Horizon Middle School, um, Project-based learning panel, um, earlier, was that this week? No, that was last week.

00:47:07,500	My weeks are getting all all mixed up, but we were able to participate because the whole panel, and we were all invited to it and it just worked within our schedules, um, but one thing that was really cool is that it really, I thought it was actually just more about, um, just us there as kind of leaders of the community, but it was actually about um a

00:47:23,100	school board unit and how decisions are made at like the local level and so really, really intriguing hats off to uh Jennifer Cramer, the English teacher who kind of spearheaded this and her student teacher, and I hope you have her name cause thank you. Say it again, Ms.

00:47:40,730	Dannis, and she was hired on for BPS, so that was the other cool thing that I think is we have these really qualified uh student teachers that they come and come back and work for, for us in in some other capacity, but they’re school board activity was how the question they were um posed with is how Does the school

00:47:59,470	board, um, deal with growth and then improving learning conditions and I will say I plan on going there. I feel like I’ve got a good school background and I had to do my homework.

00:48:14,770	I had to go through and we’re going to talk about the enrollment report, but I had to go back way through September. I had my notes already because those kids ask some tough questions, great questions, and, um, I thought that it was a really nice way for them to showcase their their gifts there, so don’t know if President Bate, if you want to add to that, um, but it was it was a really cool

00:48:30,730	experience and hats off to the students, the staff, and then Mr. Kodo, who served with us on um at at the local administrator, but it wasn’t, it wasn’t an easy, easy gig there, so they definitely put us on the hot seat a little bit in a good way.

00:48:45,270	That’s a paraphrase and thanks for the visit, um, updates to Mrs. Peterson. Yeah, we just kicked a real hard ones to Mr. Kodel. You know, it’s an assistant principal. The kids have to a little different, um, respect level seeing him every day, just kidding. Uh, it, he did a great job.

00:48:58,100	It was super fun, like you said, the students, and the students had to come up to a microphone and ask questions of us, um, upfront in front of the entire 7th grade class. So it wasn’t, it wasn’t something for the weak of heart, and they did a great job and um like Ms. Peterson said, they hit some real, they’re throwing some fastballs out there.

00:49:10,900	We did have to do our research. I was bothering Dr Johnson for information leading right up to it. And so I mean, because they, they came ready to go and I, I also like to, I liked it because they, it felt like they were also advocating for their

00:49:22,730	teachers, um, in a good way of trying to create really good learning conditions and also good ways for kids to learn. And so we like Ms. Peterson already talked about a little bit. We had a chance to talk about what coherent governance is and what that looks like in our district.

00:49:35,370	um, and we were excited that these students are going to go home, they’re gonna have a better grasp than, than many of our, our parents actually, just because the questions they were able to ask, um, and the kind of conversations we were able to have and just how our district works through operations and

00:49:46,730	policy, um, it was, it was educational for me. I’ll put it that way. Uh, we were on the panel, but we were learning a lot from those kids. So, uh, That that opportunity leads to some future board members, um, because not only with what, uh, President Eastgate just said that we learned something, but

00:50:04,170	there’s a lot of people who get kind of confused as to what governance looks like and, and why, why would we serve in this role? What do we do? What do the school leaders do? What is the school district do? And it was, it was a really good learning experience, I think for all and um really

00:50:18,730	appreciated the opportunity to participate in that. The first question came, we just said for district-wide issues, please contact Dr Fastnacht. I kid. Um, thanks again, Mrs. Peterson for that. Any other school visits tonight.

00:50:35,170	I don’t think we had any more tonight, so with that, we’ll keep rolling on our agenda to item 7, we have the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? If you don’t mind. Please. Can I.

00:50:50,630	You have a school visit? No, I don’t have, I have school visits, yes, but, uh, if you don’t mind, I, I want to provide a little clarifying information on part F of your agenda and only because my office neglected to get you enough background information on that, so I’m just gonna to forsake for board members before you act on this, give you a little of that. Part F tonight is that reduction agreement, um, those are normal for this time of year.

00:51:07,630	We do them annually. So, surprise, I’ll be be honest, even when it came this year, I had to look back and say, did that happen? Because I didn’t recall it myself, um, but they’re, uh, because their CTE teachers.

00:51:24,230	I want to be really clear because we have talked about challenges with CT and expanding CT positions. These happen annually because there are virtual teachers for CRACTC, which is the central region area Career and tech Center that serves really from the border of Canada all the way down to South Dakota, that region with virtual CT instruction. So every year they back them up.

00:51:44,100	They willingly do that, and that they’ve signed the reductions and then based on course enrollment, we, we push them back out. So it’s just an annual process, so. Thanks for that background information, Dr Fastnacht. My apologies for not getting that pack for you. Thank you.

00:52:03,370	Without board members, um, what are your wishes with the consent agenda for tonight? I’ll adopt the consent to consent agenda, we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Sher. Peterson. Yes. Presky Hager Lee, Eastgate. Yes, motion passes. Item 8A.

00:52:23,500	We have, well, we have the superintendent’s report and 8A is the elementary and secondary enrollment update, Dr Fosne I’ll go to you and let you pass it to who’s gonna share on that. Yeah, I don’t know if we’ve done paper scissors, uh, who’s gonna go first, but we’d like to share with you projections for next year.

00:52:35,830	And before they start, I would tell you that we have, um, um, I think some lagging data, and I think Mr. Barnhart will share that as far as our early grades, but then also we have taken a little bit of caution, put a little caution in the wind as far as enrollments because of what we saw last year and even though RSP projections may be we’re,

00:52:55,100	we’re underprojecting RSP just so you know, um, well that’s because of what we saw last year and also I would say, um, some legislative items, but I’ll let my both my assistants speak to those. So go ahead, Mr. Barner. Thank you. Good evening, President Eastgate and members of the board.

00:53:10,170	Uh, tonight I’ll begin with the elementary projected enrollment and we’re having some tech uh technical difficulties so I’m not standing before you because the elementaries is more important than the secondary, so.

00:53:23,770	Um, as you may recall, we had slimmed down the enrollment document that Ho is a little bit easier on the eyes for you as well as those looking at at home and following along, you’ll notice, um, we have it broken down into the different feeders as well as each school and grade level listed with the number of students in each grade level, and then the number of sections for each, a particular grade.

00:53:39,370	Currently we have you slide over. All the way over to the right, you’ll see kindergarten enrollment. We have 591 kindergarten registrations with 32 applications started but not completed, and that’ll bring us to 623. Kindergarten registrations last year at this time, we were sitting at 548, so that’s good news.

00:54:00,270	We have more registrations, um, just over a year ago, so, um, next, I’d like to draw your attention to the first yellow line. The line represents the K3 average. Um, and this is just an average for the 18 elementary buildings, which shows 17 students per classroom, however, we’re still anticipating about 320 additional kindergartner

00:54:17,770	registrations that will hit the doors come this fall. And again, that’s just an average, and then the second yellow line is again an average for 4th and 5th grade sitting at 22. But moving into next year, we, we, we will have pockets that are far above 22 students in classrooms.

00:54:32,870	So just to be completely transparent to those teachers and administrators that are listening at home, that is just an average, um, This is more so for those at home, families that may be watching and listening, uh, new families are moving to the district will place with uh definitely care and thoughtfulness.

00:54:50,900	We’ll do our best to place them at the boundary school. We also need to take account class sizes and comparing board targets and other personnel that may need to be supporting students. Uh, we do have our boundary, um, policy, June 1st, so if you move into the district by June 1st, you’re guaranteed a seat at your boundary school.

00:55:09,230	And so, We just, um, we just want to let the parents know that we will do our best to try to make sure that your child gets, um, their boundary school, but we also have to take into consideration some other, um, different things too. So.

00:55:26,800	Our principals work really great with one another, each of them really support ensuring that the opportunity for families to attend their boundary school but also take into account the delicate balance of class sizes and resources at each building as well.

00:55:42,130	And then at the bottom of the page, if you look at the differential, If you go all the way over to the right, you’ll see that minus 448. Um That’s really partly due to the 5th graders rolling up. So you have a 5th grade cohort of a 1,065 students that would be rolling up and then we’re projecting 920 kindergartner, so there’s that differential of 145 students, and then still, we’re taking in kindergarten

00:56:01,000	registrations, like I said, about 320. That makes up that differential, um. And so if that’ll stand for any questions or I’ll turn it over to Dr, um, Johnson. Board members, Ms. Presky. Uh, did Mr. Barnhart, did you say, how many did you say you’re expecting for kindergartner entering in.

00:56:19,000	Yeah, we’re looking at about 920 right now if I looked. I think, uh I left today at the office at 923, and we fluctuated over the course of the year, high 940s, 9, you know, 950 right in there and then we’ve lost some students over the way.

00:56:36,630	So our projections are at 9:20, yeah. And then just to follow up on that, what, when you look at these numbers, um, and looking to the 2025 fall, um, what schools do you see the greatest issues in with, um, space and enrollment projections. Well, that’s a great question, um.

00:57:00,730	Solheim continues to um role, as you know, the South side, we have large. apartment complexes that are coming up there on South Washington that continues to create a little anxiety with myself personally.

00:57:17,270	Um, Elkridge does have a bubble that will come out once they’re, I believe that next year will be their 4th grade bubble once that comes out, they’ll start to be a little bit more steady, and in fact, we’ll start to see them hover around or a little less than 500, so that’s good news as well.

00:57:35,370	Miller is another one that continues to grow, but they also have a bubble, so next year their 4th grade will be averaging around 26, 27 students in their classrooms. Um, once that bubble comes out, they’ll be around 70 to 80 kids, um, Per grade level as well. Um, Those would be the, the major concerns that I have at this time. Yeah. Any other questions from the board? OK. Thanks a lot, Mr. Bernhardt.

00:58:06,000	Dr Johnson, I think we’re going to you next on secondary. Yes, good evening, President Eastgate members of the board, um, appreciate as we look forward to the 25, uh, 26 school year or secondary enrollment increases, so again, a little bit different format and just talking through a little bit of the data here.

00:58:25,100	Um, we are projecting to increase at middle school by 43 students. For next year, we’re looking to add 90 students, according to the sheet that you have, which is, again, more conservative than I normally have, um, because, uh, part of that is the South central, so with South Central’s enrollment here, you’ll see it’s at the bottom

00:58:44,370	with 101, and I usually project about 115. We also know, and many of you do, that that’s many students that count as that, but an average daily enrollment of kind of 115 to 120 is more typical. Um, it’ll go up.

00:59:03,200	To the 40, 140s and getting kids graduate, come and go, but, um, that being said, we’re being a little conservative, so I’ll just recap. + 43 at middle school plus 90 at the high school for next year 133 more students at the secondary level for a grand total of 7570 students.

00:59:23,230	This time of year it’s just a great time to say, think about how many towns that is, you know, that, I mean, we got that plus adults that are sitting there, so, um, some. Sometimes when people are asking about SROs or other items just realize, you know, we got a bunch of mini cities running around here, um, with, uh, nearly 2000 kids or 1500 there, so that being said, uh, enrollment and growth is a

00:59:39,800	good thing, we see some pockets there, um, particularly in Horizon right now, you’re seeing that being probably our most pressured point. Um, they’ve just repeatedly had some really high classes that are hovering around that high 300 numbers just under 400. We see some.

00:59:59,000	that start to dissipate uh later on, a couple of years in the feeder, um, but it’d still be solid numbers.

01:00:13,470	Um, that being said, Um, I’ve really shifted on other sheets that you’re typically looking projects not only to next year because next year, these are just noses rolled forward. That is with zero growth whatsoever at the secondary. I’m just guessing. Or not guessing, I’m just representing the noses that we have that roll forward in 6 through 12.

01:00:33,100	That being said, um, a little bit in the 144 is what I would say 14 more students maybe in South Central, but again, that’s representing some increase. We usually have more. You’ll see some reclassification, these numbers might change next fall, uh, particularly sometimes in 9th and 10th grade, we see reclassified freshmen, reclassified sophomores, so forth, um, but really my

01:00:52,900	hesitancy comes around, um, not only the trends that have leveled off a little bit, and we’ve talked about that. Dr Frost not alluded to that, but also, um, we moved away from a 3%.

01:01:13,100	growth that had been honestly conservative to, I’m representing just noses Ford in the 25, 26 in the 26, 27, and the 27, 28. I’ll roll the noses forward and then just do a 1%, um. Really, that’s done due to the uncertainty regarding our SA educational safety accounts and vouchers that are those programs that are being discussed, we just have a lot of unknown variables right now and how that money being tied

01:01:32,470	to student enrollment, I wouldn’t want us to be in a situation where we’re uh Banking on people that may choose to go, I don’t know if it’ll be a large number, but I just really want us not to make decisions based upon um Inflated numbers, and again, so we’re not seeing the trend plus

01:01:50,000	the uncertainty regarding the legislation has just been a really conservative now 1% growth. That being said, the other item that I’d add is that we sometimes don’t always know the noses that come from Apple Creek, Manning, um, uh, Baldwin, Noon, etc.

01:02:07,630	So again, Manning feeds into Wachter, uh, or actually in the BHS after eighth grade and then we have a several Minokin, etc. We have some other Apple Creek that will join Simly. Um, and then Minokan after eighth grade joins Legacy. So some of those numbers we don’t have factored into here as well.

01:02:26,000	So you’ll see some bump at simile usually jumps by 15 to 20. We’ve even had a 30 more kids than what is represented right now, but that being said, it might be a little bit confusing, but the good thing is that there’s growth right now, um, that being said, I’m just cautiously optimistic with where that is in the near future as well.

01:02:42,830	Stand for any questions at this time. Board members, any questions? Inspector F Fast. Yeah, if I can just add to a couple comments, uh, yeah, that we just have been debating it and again to say we’re just trying to be conservative on what we think the new norm is for a while until that real

01:03:01,630	estate market or whatever, and some of you know that better than I do in town, how that changes and we see that, that, but I do think Dr Johnson’s right.

01:03:16,630	We have talked about what will that impact education savings accounts be if that legislation comes through, we’re trying to be reflective of that because it could be a few kids. Um, I don’t envision many, but it could be, could be a dampening on enrollment or aware of that, um, the other thing I would, I would say, um, BSEP Head Start, you see that in the bottom corner, we are seeing growth there, um, BEP we’ve talked about, um, just.

01:03:34,200	This Last week, this week, in our office about growing enrollment and projecting some of that, um, as you mentioned, Ms. Peterson, your report, some of those BEP programs in our neighborhood schools, um, we have been experiencing a little push there, a little more kids, so that’s a positive thing.

01:03:53,370	Um, and the last thing, um, your question about where the, the stress points are in the elementary division as far as enrollment, um, you’ve heard Solheim many times. I would tell you we’re working on, um, and all that, um, Um Mr.

01:04:12,500	She share this with you next month and, and uh facilities are, are facility update our projects update, but, um, we are looking at moving an additional portable in there this summer to accommodate space because we just know it’s, it is continuing to grow. That’s a future problem for us, future, we have to find a solution, so. Thank you Dr Fastnacht.

01:04:31,900	Board members, any questions or comments regarding the secondary? Enrollment report. Seeing none on the enrollment. We move to item 8B, the financial Report. Of hand that off to Mr. Scherr. Good evening Mr. Scherr. Good evening. President Eastgate members of the board. This life? OK, I wanna make sure everybody at home can hear me.

01:05:01,730	Um, two things on the financial report that I’d like to share with you, uh, you know, by law, the, the tax credit, um, I know this is kind of becoming a broken record. They need to get that to us in June. That’s their deadline.

01:05:15,500	The hope is we get half the money, roughly here in March, we’ve not seen that yet, but hopefully that’s coming. In June, and what it’s doing is it’s throwing our analytics off.

01:05:31,730	So talk to our director of accounting and we will adjust analytics moving forward if, you know, we know next year that’s continuing and depending on this session, if it continues on in the future, we’ll adjust those analytics on the accounting side. The other thing that I wanted to do, um, to share with, with the board is go through all of our expense items that are Sometimes they’re over 100% and it’s just barely like insurance.

01:05:50,770	We’ve paid insurance for the year, it’s not gonna It might be a just barely over 100, it’s not going to go to 120, 130, because everything’s kind of been paid there, but those accounts that are over 100%, um, the director of accounting myself, we’re gonna dig into, OK, what is that? And then I

01:06:06,230	want to have discussions with those particular budget directors to say, OK, is, is, what do you anticipate moving forward because, uh, just like Dr Fastnacht said, sometimes we have to have difficult conversations to say, OK, um, we still have to do some critical things, but we maybe

01:06:23,370	need to freeze on some spending. Um So I will be bringing that back to the board, not at probably the next meeting, but before that, maybe that’ll go out in an email, um, kind of laying out where we’re at with some of that stuff.

01:06:38,630	So I’d answer any questions the board would have on the financial report. Board members, any questions for Mr. Scherr? Don’t see any this evening. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Dr Fastnacht, it’s your report, so I’d hate to end it early, however, we’ve gone through it, but if you have anything to add? I have nothing else for you. OK.

01:06:58,100	With that, all items have been considered on the agenda for tonight. I declare this meeting