00:00:06,430	Good evening. I’m Josh Hager, vice president of the Bismarck School Board. It’s 5:15 on Thursday, May 29th. I call this meeting to order. Welcome to those of you who are joining us both here and and online. You can find our agenda and follow along online under the school board tab at Bismarck Schools.org. Uh, Mr.

00:00:28,600	Sher, would you call the roll, please, Mr. Eastgate. He. Mr. Hager, here, Mr. Lee, here, Mrs. Peterson. Here, Miss Presky. Note that all board members are present, Mr. Eastgate is calling in so that we have him here as well. uh, Dr Faust, would you lead us in the pledge pledge of Allegiance. America stands one nation.

00:01:19,700	with Item 1C BPS BPS mission, vision and values, the BPS mission is to empower every learner to thrive. The BPS vision states together are strong relationships build inclusive, collaborative, and innovative environments that create agency, inspire a passion for learning, excellence and discovery. BPS values are inclusion, excellence, innovation, leadership.

00:01:45,430	You’ll also find a link in the agenda to sorry, within the agenda to the BPS strategic plan. Uh, item 2 is to adopt the agenda. What are the wishes of the board? A move that we adopt the agenda. I’m sure we have a motion in a second. Lee, yes, Peterson? Yes. Presky? Yes. Eastgate? Yeah. Er, yes.

00:02:12,530	Item 3, this is, and I, I know I in this case, I know I can speak for the board. This happens to be one of our, our favorite nights to see all these, these faces in the, in the audience tonight, so with that, our focus on success presentation of BPS Foundation scholarships, Dr F Fassna, um, thank you board members.

00:02:30,270	Nice to be with you this afternoon, this evening. Uh, yes, I’d like to welcome to the podium a couple of our, um, Really, behind the scenes, they’re working all the time for the betterment of our students, and I couldn’t, uh, be more proud of the work that both Talia and Nygaard are um foundation director and Mr.

00:02:47,900	Rick Jello, who is the president of the BPS Foundation at this time, uh, due to help support our kids getting on to that next step and you’re invaluable to them.

00:03:03,730	I’m sure all the people in this room realize that tonight, um, but I think all the kids in the future, that work that are foundation does to support our kids, not only as graduates, but, uh, throughout their career. and, um, their time in, uh, Bismarck Public Schools is, is tremendous. I’d also like to say before I give you the mic, Mr.

00:03:22,030	Jollof, um, uh, I want to say a special thank you to um Staran Bank, Starian Financial, which will be hosting a, a social time, kind of a, a welcome time and congratulatory time for um scholarship winners this evening across the street, really appreciate their partnership and many things, and this is a special night, so Mr. Jello. Thank you, Dr F Fasna. That was It was uh, very good.

00:03:42,470	Um, I used to speak on this side of the microphone, it’s nice. Ah, I thought I was coming up here to speak on OE 10. Do, do you guys not want me to do that? No. All right.

00:04:01,430	uh, Vice President Hager, members of the board, members of the administration, uh, thank you for allowing Talia and I up here to present and celebrate, uh, I echo the comments of, of Mr. Hager. This is one of the best nights of the school board, um.

00:04:25,470	We’re recognizing the BPS scholarship award scholarships are made possible by our generous donors who have given in honor or memory of loved ones or simply to give back to the schools that provided them and their children with a solid foundation for their future. It’s a huge honor to do this in award 32. 32 different uh awardees tonight. Um, we continue to try to, to increase that every year in our, our. Processes next year it’ll be even bigger and better. First, we want to um recognize.

00:04:53,400	This, uh, new scholarship that we have, uh. Today, we’d like to honor Britain, Miss Be Meyer, a beloved. Century high school senior whose strength, joy, and love for school left a lasting impact on everyone who knew her thanks to the generosity of the Meyer family, the Miss B Memorial scholarship was created to celebrate her legacy.

00:05:19,930	Each year it awards $1000 to a CEHS senior who embodies Britain’s spirit of perseverance, inclusion, and kindness. To the Meyer family. Thank you for turning Britain’s memory into a powerful gift for future students. Her light continues to shine through the scholarship. We’re gonna move on to the scholarship awardees.

00:05:47,130	As we call your name, please, uh, come up to the podium and receive your certificate, and then if you would please go around and uh shake the hands of the school board members. Congratulations to all the 2025 winners, um. Our first awardee. Is Maisie Addison has been awarded the Rose Stoller Scholarship. She plans to attend UND and major in psychology, forensic science, and criminal justice.

00:06:18,170	Braylon Ax. Has been awarded the jade Tassi scholarship and the David Blackstead scholarship. She plans to attend the University of Mary to major in biology with a pre-optometry concentration. Emily Bernston has been awarded. The Lincoln Community Club scholarship.

00:06:50,670	A special mention to the Lincoln Elementary PTO for awarding an extra $500 to each one of the Lincoln Community Club scholarships. Liliana Bird. Has been awarded multiple scholarships. The Ed family scholarship. The Sonora B kind scholarship, Neil Souther’s scholarship. Hendrickson scholarship and the horizon scholarship. She plans to attend UND and major in business with a minor in Spanish. Congratulations. Ben Blanchard. He was awarded the Century High School scholarship and Horizon Middle School scholarship.

00:07:29,170	Uh, Blaine, uh, Be was unable to attend here tonight as he is in Italy with the CHS choir. Ziva Burkardsmeyer. Has been awarded the Bismarck High School scholarship. She plans to attend Concordia College with with an attended major in education and a minor in theater. Emma Davis.

00:07:59,000	has been awarded the Century High School scholarship and the avid CCU scholarship. She plans to attend NDSU. Kennedy the wall has been awarded the Milo and Jan Candy scholarship. She plans to attend UND and major in elementary education with a minor in psychology. You can’t start recruiting already. Lilia Erdman has been awarded the Wald Family scholarship, she plans to attend UND and major in occupational therapy.

00:08:51,800	Gabrielle Ereth has been awarded the Century High School scholarship. She plans to attend UND for kinesiology. Cadence Glasser. Has been awarded the Lincoln Community Club scholarship. She plans to attend the University of Mary and major in communication sciences and disorders. Kyle Glot has been awarded the Bismarck High Scholarship. She plans to attend Concordia College.

00:09:39,570	Uh Benjamin Guthmiller has been awarded the Legacy High School scholarship. He plans to attend UND. Aviana Harris has been awarded the Roy Gilbert Scholarship, and she plans to attend UND. Emerson House has been awarded multiple scholarships, the Dixon. White men scholarship, Diana Schlosser scholarship and the Wolf Family scholarship. She plans to attend NDSU for biology.

00:10:27,930	Silas Jackson has been awarded the Dixon Whiteman Scholarship. He plans to attend BSE for pre-physical therapy. Mm Madison Jordan has been awarded the Legacy High School scholarship. She plans to attend GCU for elementary education. You. Mkayla Jorgensen. Has been awarded the Paul Kran Scholarship. She plans to attend the University of Jamestown for nursing.

00:11:22,400	Nora Kemp was awarded the Kepler Family music scholarship and the Was family scholarship. She plans to attend NDSU for elementary education and human development and family sciences. Elizabeth Kurzman has been awarded the Bismarck High School Scholarship. She plans to attend Montana State University. Sydney Keefer has been awarded the Eid Family scholarship and the Roy Gilbert scholarship.

00:12:10,500	She plans to attend the University of Mary for physical therapy. Bryce Lasher was awarded the the Pierre Louis entrepreneurial scholarship. He plans to attend BSE for finance. Emma Mathis. Has been awarded the Tom Hesford scholarship and the Joie Oheiser Memorial scholarship. She plans to attend NDSU for criminal justice with a minor in pre-law.

00:12:42,470	Joseph McCormick was awarded the glorious San scholarship. He plans to attend NDSU for physical education and special education. Megan Mertz. Has been awarded the Wold Family scholarship. She plans to attend R Ri University for aerospace engineering. again Hm Taylor Peterson has been awarded the Ey family scholarship.

00:13:25,200	She plans to attend the University of Mary for special education and early childhood education. A procopp was awarded the Bismarck High School scholarship and the Ede Family scholarship. She plans to attend NDSU for criminal justice with a minor in psychology. Daniel Schell was awarded the Danny. Thompson scholarship. She plans to attend UND for aviation management. J Schwabab has been awarded the Lincoln Community Club scholarship.

00:14:18,630	He plans to attend BSE for general education. Ryan Wagner has been awarded the Jan Gilbertson scholarship. He plans to attend NDSU to major in nursing and minor in Spanish. Tyce Weveen. Has been awarded multiple scholarships. The artist Munsen scholarship, avid CCU scholarship and the Rene Hoffman Walker scholarship. He plans to attend Stint Cloud University for mass communications and finance.

00:14:57,000	Lawen Zen has been awarded the following scholarships. Brandon Thompson Memorial Scholarship, Da Prouty, scholarship, Jan Gilbertson scholarship, the Miss Be Memorial Scholarship. She plans to attend Concordia College and major in elementary education. Let’s give it up for our our scholarship awardees.

00:15:31,730	Vice President Hager, members of the board, I would like to thank you again for the opportunity to present our 2025 BPS Foundation Scholarship awardees, the future looks bright to our BPS graduating students, the BPS Foundation is so grateful for the support of our donors that allows us to continue our mission to empower every learner. Through enhanced recognition and services. I would uh like to echo the comments of Dr Fausnot.

00:15:56,370	I asked that our donors, awardees, and scholarship supporters transition over to the reception at the Star Bay. Thank you all. Get a couple if they came in Yeah.

00:16:17,200	If we had any scholarship awardees that came in later that didn’t get their uh name announced and you would like to, um, please let me know and I can call your name again. It’s Mr. Mr. Krantz. That It. Mikayla J Jorgensen has been awarded the Paul Kran scholarship. She plans to attend the University of Jamestown for nursing. She’s not here tonight. No. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Jolloff. The Snygu board members. Miss Presky. Yes, thanks.

00:17:10,400	um, I, I think it’s just really good to just acknowledge again, like the, the contributions that are made by, uh, By the folks that are funding these scholarships to give our kids kind of a leg up and help them out as they take on, um, the next chapter of their lives.

00:17:29,300	So thank you to who is in the audience tonight that has probably made these scholarships, um, a poss a possibility, a reality and help these students get their start. So thank you to you and good job, um, to our students. Good luck. OK. Thank you Mr. President. Yeah, Mr. Eastgate. Sorry, I don’t have a button to tune in here, Mr. Hager, um.

00:18:03,430	Just a big congratulations to all the the scholarship winners is a very hard meeting. I’m out of out of town with a family trip, but it was important for me to call in. I just. So many names there, uh, neighbors, many names I know of students and I’m just so proud of all of them.

00:18:16,130	They know who they are and um and and to all the students, all the awardees, and thank you to the foundation for for being here to present tonight, um, it, it is truly such a big thing for the board and.

00:18:29,700	We celebrate you guys so much and uh this is a special night for all of you and just know that it means a lot BPS to have you guys as as part of our BPS family, so congratulations. Thanks, Mr. Eastgate. Yeah, just kind of echo what what has been said here. It’s, it, it’s a fun night.

00:18:47,700	Again, thank you to, to all the folks and I know there’s some in the room that have donated to these scholarships and you can see the kind of the importance it is for, for the community and And then further to the to the foundation, Mr. Jollof, I know, working behind the scenes and Talia getting her getting her feet wet, new, new to that position, but Mr.

00:19:04,670	Jolloff and the, and the things that he does behind the scenes to help lead and drive that foundation is, is, is, is exceptional. He’s a huge member of this, this community and the things that he does, so he’s very much appreciated for the hard work that he puts in that he doesn’t get a lot of recognition for. So, so thank you, Mr.

00:19:20,670	Jollof, um. With that, I’ll give folks a minute to, to if they want to make their their way out to To go over to start and you’re more than welcome to stay too if you, if you want. So There’s several state tournaments. softball, soccer, so that’s.

00:19:52,200	So some people might Maybe, yeah, maybe state that after so many, Could be here To Italy You know, you already said. Yeah And there was one, right? Your. For folks at home that may have been watching, there’s, you know, a number of Events going on, we’ve got various state tournaments as, as you heard, you’ve got folks out for, for choir and kind of end of year

00:20:38,200	things, so that’s why. The, uh, the number of kids that could participate was a, was a little lighter than normal. Um, so with that, um, item 4 is public comment. This board recognizes the central role parents play in the education of their children. And supports active parent involvement in the education process.

00:21:00,000	The board’s practice of public comment reflects and aligns with policy BCBA and the spirit of its intent. For classroom issues, it’s best to follow the chain of command. Teacher principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent. For district issues, please reach out to Dr F Fassnott. If you do wish to speak tonight, we simply ask that you be responsible, be helpful, and be respectful.

00:21:23,600	Our BPS students deserve to have adults model the expectations that we have for them. Groups are urged to select no more than one spokesperson, individuals be limited to no more than 4 minutes and we’ll be notified within 30 seconds remaining to conclude their remarks.

00:21:41,930	The board will not debate issues as presented, but we’ll take such matters under advisement. With that, please stand and approach the prodium if you wish to speak tonight. OK, seeing nobody with that public comment is now closed. Uh, moving along, item number 5, monitoring district operations. OE 10 learning environment. Dr F Fast. Uh yeah, tonight I would invite to the podium to present our report, Miss Danica Nelson.

00:22:10,470	She’s director of student support services for us, and, uh, you may know some connections. I know we’ve done a workshop and some of these components, and I’ve asked her to kind of address some of those, make sure we pinpoint those for you as we go through, but, um, I know it’s been a discussion point a lot of these

00:22:24,730	data points throughout the year for the board, so I think you’ll enjoy the report. So Ms. Nelson, thanks for joining us. You’re welcome. Thank you for having me today. Good evening, Vice President Hager and.

00:22:44,170	board members, um, tonight we are here to talk about the operational excellence of OE 10 learning environment, um, and we would recommend an in compliance. Uh, recommendation for our our outcomes, so the outcome of in compliance really reflects our BPS ongoing commitment to ensuring that we have a safe, respectful, and academically rigorous learning environment while empowering all of our learners to thrive.

00:23:08,130	So a couple of things that I just want to highlight and then we’ll get back into, um, more of the, the meat of the report, but when we start to talk about systems, and I know when we worked on the board workshop content we spent a couple hours really diving into what are our behavioral systems for students, um, one of this, the pieces of feedback we use from our

00:23:29,530	student survey, and here are 4 comments that we saw growth in, and I would say pretty significant systems grow throughout the year. People at my school care for me, that Rose, my school is safe and orderly. That was an increase of about 3%. I feel welcomed and supported.

00:23:53,100	We had an increase of about 3% there, and I feel valued and that one was also like right around 2.5. So when we look at the, when we talk about systems impact and systems being built, we hope and we want our students. to be the ones that feel that and those 4 pieces of data, I think really talk about how our systems are growing.

00:24:17,000	We do still have pockets of improvement and we’ll dive into that, but when students start to reflect that they’re learning environment is feeling safer. It is full of respect and it feels orderly. We know that there are pieces of our system working. So, as we dial down into the report, um, thinking about.

00:24:41,070	Other areas that we really saw growth in looking at our elementary schools when we talk about our positive behavior support systems, we had all of our elementary schools that were reading, reaching 80% or higher and so that that was a huge celebration and then our secondary schools we had a 6%, um, middle school grows, so we

00:25:04,230	went from 81 to 87% in our high schools grew by 1%, 83% to 84%. So those were some significant data, um, gross for us. So as you’ll see where we continue to need to refine our systems is looking at our tiered systems of support, so in the board workshop, we talked a lot about

00:25:27,000	colors, our tier two areas of support, um, and really working with Midwest PBIS and, um, leaning on their technical assistance to help support us through that process, but that. That would be a continual growth that we’re already starting, um, to tackle or talk to you guys about.

00:25:49,470	Even though we’re working with a a year ago data, um, sample we’ll still continue our mental health expansion for students and so ensuring that we have buildings with our collaborations and do we have the right collaborations that, um, buildings are experiencing and support and then continue to look at our SEL, our social emotional learning continuum.

00:26:15,000	We talked about 2 steps that are elementary and middle school resilience at the high school and. why try to help support that? So do we have the right Um, seconds, do we have the right social social emotional learning going on, um, or there are areas to help improve that information also.

00:26:38,000	So we also, um, when we reported out on OE 10 last year we had um 77% of our seclusion restraint survey or seclusion restraint data, and that was a question that you guys had like why if our indicators sat at 100%, um, why are we at 70% of our staff, and so we did address that pretty significantly this year and we’re at 99% completion.

00:27:00,630	One of the pieces that we have. Um, put into place is that new hires, especially in the support staff that they’ll engage in our module training before they start working with students, what was happening as they were starting day one with students and maybe the modules weren’t getting completed and then we didn’t have if they

00:27:21,500	left or went to a different position. We never had that completion rate. So, um, as you guys look through OE 10, um, any Questions that you may have, I definitely can try to answer. Board members, questions, comments? Mr. Lee Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

00:27:54,900	um, As, as we look through some of these, um, You can kind of uh. See that engagement as historically been lower in middle school, you know, that I, that I see 51, 3, 49 9 51 7. I am interested in what I learned in my classes.

00:28:19,400	Um, can you speak to anything we’ve done over the past few years to try to increase engagement or increase interest with our middle schoolers. Yeah, I really think it goes back to some more of those diverse learning experiences, so how are we personalizing their learning within the classrooms. How are we giving them choice. I feel like.

00:28:40,870	Through our survey data that that’s a an age level especially that wants choice and some ability to control the direction of the classes, so thinking about if you are a student that needs to have some intervention courses how do you still get your electives while you’re engaging in the intervention courses, it might not be one or the other. How do we make both happen? That’s definitely been an improvement.

00:29:02,730	We’ve also partnered with some of our collaboration. so we’ll have Sanford and West Central that have, um, been implementing what we call our sparks and so sparks groups, and so that’s working with students that are dealing with ongoing trauma and how do you persevere or move through that trauma and we’re seeing a high increase in engagement with

00:29:26,670	students that have been part of the Sparks groups. It’s a 16 week intervention. We also have Check and Connect that we’ve rolled out at a systematic secondary system-wide, so that’s where we empower our teachers, support staff, professional staff, buildings have the autonomy to decide who’s going to be a mentor to students and then they work on

00:29:49,670	mentoring. They meet once a week with that student they go through how’s your attendance? how’s your missing assignments? What can we do to help support and build those relationships. And so, um, There’s also a time, then after that conversation with the student, there’s follow up with family.

00:30:14,130	And so it’s a half family engagement half student engagement intervention style. So I would say those were our biggest initiatives when we think about that middle school engagement over the last couple years. OK, um, and then just one.

00:30:38,670	Oneno is so as I’m looking through the data and I didn’t see it any, anywhere, but this is obviously, um, When we look at positive relationships feel valued, engaging goals, that’s obviously from a student survey, correct? I we Is it, is it mandatory? Do we get a 100% compliance on students who Yes, our goal would be 100%. I, we usually, I don’t know for sure is the participation we’re probably right around 97 to 99%, but very high though.

00:31:04,530	Yeah, we insure there’s a lot of reminders that go out to ensure that we get that level of data completion. OK, because the, the other one, and this is on the good side, was under safe and orderly. My school is safe and orderly, you know, went from 70% uh a couple of years ago to 77.

00:31:26,270	That’s a pretty strong upward movement, um there’s something we did in the last couple of years to, to make things more safe and orderly. Yeah, I would say that with HRS level one, so high reliability schools, all of our buildings, I believe, are currently HRS level one.

00:31:46,100	certified and so that was really we didn’t say to buildings you had to have your certification completed by a certain point. It was as you built the systems, refined them, and then Marzano, uh, developed a process that would they would go through getting HRS level one completed certified. So if you see that certification out in buildings that really hits your safe and orderly schools. OK. Thank you. Yeah.

00:32:13,830	Miss Peterson, I have just one question. I’m not sure if it’s for Danica or Dr F Fastnut, but, um, I know just at the, I think it was the last board meeting or maybe the one before um Dr Frost met you were highlighting panorama and the and the data system and you guys are just

00:32:29,800	just getting started with it, but do you see that informing um some of this work and then maybe you can just speak to that a little bit and and whether or not, I don’t know if it’ll change the report per se, but how it might, um, add to the information that both teachers.

00:32:46,330	And US system leaders might might have now. Peterson, I appreciate the question. Actually, you can let Danica, I know she’s a real champion of our panorama product, but actually it was one of my notes.

00:33:00,730	This is one of the things I took away from the court, even though last year we talked about data and it was improving last year. We hadn’t even implemented Panorama. We’re still choosing something we’re discovering we still had an issue. I think as we move forward, I really feel like we’re going to have a much more robust data portal data hub.

00:33:19,600	To keep not only behavioral and, and the survey data that you referred to, but then let’s cross match that to schools, that’s cross match that to demographics or age groups or boys in middle school, girls in middle school, we’ll be able to do some of that data connections that were really lacking now, they’ll be more insightful to where’s the gap, where we, where we successful, or where do we need to do some

00:33:37,070	additional work? Yeah, absolutely, yeah, our team today was really diving into Panorama and it was the behavioral data just individually is amazing where you can pull like how many occurrences of major and minor do like incidents they’ve had, what were our interventions and so, um, let’s say uh.

00:34:02,800	Administrators considering a citation, they could go right to the screen and it would have all the information that they would need to make the determination, have we done our job and re-teaching and now do we need to involve other community members to help support that student, or do we need to go back to our continuum of supports and Start to put additional interventions

00:34:21,400	and supports in place for students. It also we ran, um, students that might not pop up in any of our indicators right now, but for some reason. Um, when we looked into them panorama saw something, and that was one of the areas that we’ve traditionally had a tough time of identifying when we talk about in the board

00:34:47,000	workshop our internalizers maybe our students who are experiencing depression, anxiety, and data doesn’t always show they their attendance might be OK. The classes might be OK, but this is able to get down to, yeah, there were a couple missed classes or scores fell a couple percent.

00:35:09,530	Now we’re gonna be way more proactive than we have been in the past, so. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. It’s yeah. Oh, that’s exciting and just appreciate um your guys’ willingness to continue to dig in and um I think it’ll be a really great tool for not only at your level, but also for those administrators and teachers as well as they start to learn more about what it’s

00:35:30,730	all about, so I just appreciate this, this report and the workshop in the spring, um, because that obviously we went a lot deeper and we were able to ask a lot of questions at that time. Thank you, Ms. Nelson. Yes, thank you. Yeah. Or members I would entertain emotion.

00:35:55,400	I will move that uh with respect to OE 10 learning environment that we, um, find the report in compliance. A second. Mr. Cher, we have a motion in a second. Lee, Peterson Presky. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager, yes. With that takes us to, Vitamin B. BSR4. Uh, authoration. Authority of the superintendent. Um, so this will be the public reading.

00:36:33,900	Of PSR4. The board will provide direction to the superintendent through written policies that define the organizational results to be achieved for students and to find the operational conditions and actions to be accomplished or avoided. One The board will develop a results policies instructing the superintendent to achieve defined results for students served by the district.

00:36:58,270	2. The board will develop operational expectations, policies which express the board’s values about operational conditions and actions. Certain of these values will be expressed positively to assure that the stated actions occur in the identified conditions exist and will be stated as directives.

00:37:23,670	Certain values represent actions and conditions that are to be avoided and will be stated prohibitively. 3, as long as the superintendent uses reasonable interpretation of the board’s results and operational expectations policy. The superintendent is authorized to establish additional district policies or regulations. Make any decisions, establish any practices and develop any activities the superintendent deems appropriate to achieve the board’s result policies.

00:37:53,870	The superintendent is not expected to seek board approval or authority for any such decisions falling within the superintendent’s area of delegated authority. 4 The board may change its results in operational expectations policies, and in doing so shift the boundaries between board and superintendent areas of responsibility. The board will respect and support any reasonable interpretation of its policies by the superintendent.

00:38:23,730	Even though the superintendent’s decisions may may not be the decisions the board or its members may have made. With that, that concludes the reading of BSR4. Authority of the superintendent.

00:38:53,070	Miss Peterson Things, Vice President Hanger, I just wanted to make a comment because I I think that this really outlines coherent governance, and I also appreciate that even though and especially like item number 3, it talks about a lot of different decisions and authority that a decision-making ability and authority that the superintendent has, but I also will, um, thank Dr F Fasnott for communicating a lot of those decisions because oftentimes we do get, uh, We’re in the loop, uh, uh, you know, or we’re getting asked

00:39:12,970	questions by the public, and so it’s, it is always appreciated when decisions are made that those continue to be communicated in kind of various ways and so, um, I think that that’s something that I’ve appreciated and then also the opportunity then that that he has flexibility to make decisions and operate um as he

00:39:31,000	sees fit, so, um. That’s just a comment. So with With that, I would um recommend that we retain VSR BSR4 authority of the Superintendent. We have a motion mystery. Uh, thank you, Vice President Haggard.

00:39:55,000	Just another comment, um, I really do see this as one of the backbones of, of coherent governance and the clear delineation of roles between Superintendent and board. So it’s an incredibly important uh piece of our policy. So, um, I would second that motion. We have a motion in a second, uh, Mr. Chair, would you call the role? Peterson Presky. Yes. Lee? Yes. Eastgate? Yes.

00:40:24,400	Hager Yes, um, With that How do we find ourselves in relation to this policy. Mr. Lee, uh, Mr. Vice President, I would, uh, find us in compliance. A second. Sure we have a motion and a second. Presky. Yes. Lee? Yes, Peterson. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager, yes. Uh, item 6 matters reserved for board action. School visits, and I know we have one, Miss Presky. Yeah, thanks.

00:40:54,400	So, on the last day of school, I went to Elk Ridge and I got there in time for all their celebration, um, that they had going on. It was so much fun, um, and got to see, I don’t know, every, everyone was happy, right? Um, so it was a great day to be there, um, started out the

00:41:14,000	celebration with a flag lowering ceremony that was put on by the National Guard and in the process of this. They actually provided a civic lesson about the flag, and I thought it was really interesting and um very meaningful, um, especially on the heels of Memorial Day, um.

00:41:34,500	I afterwards I had a discussion with uh one of the National Guard members that was there. And by the way, the National Guard members that are participating in this event, they all had students at Elk Ridge and then they also, um, called out other National Guard members that serve in Bismarck that had students at Elk Ridge and, uh, singled out, I guess

00:41:56,270	their their student that was um attending there and I, I just think that that education and um. Um, I guess, introduction into uh that kind of service in our country is so important, um, and so afterwards, while we’re waiting for the students to go back into the schools visiting with one of the National Guard

00:42:16,570	members about, um, how would we expand something like this into, um, other elementary schools, a program like this, and really it would just take coordination with the National Guard and identifying who’s got students where and, and really just trying to coordinate an event. like that, but I, I just think it’s a, um.

00:42:38,070	I can’t say enough positive things about it. I just think it was really stellar of them to do that. Um And then after that, um, waited around for a little bit for the things to calm down and then the fifth graders did a walk through the school and so I lined up in one hallway with, um, some of the other teachers

00:42:57,070	and they blew confe confetti in the hallway as the fifth graders walk through, so really fun event, um, and I felt sorry for the janitor that day, but I guess it’s just it’s his last day there for the for the day for the year, so, um, go out with a bang.

00:43:15,200	Um, I also just really, I didn’t jot her name down, but the music teacher, she had a great playlist outside the school and all the great songs to just get kids ready for summer, so it was just such a fun atmosphere, um.

00:43:36,600	During that day, um, so after all the fun events, then I was able to, um, sit down and visit about things that are going on in the school, what’s going right, um, what’s some of the, some of the concerns are, and I would say one of the things that stands out about what’s going, um, extremely well is just The, the great number of students that are meeting that you, um, your level of growth,

00:43:58,500	uh, standard, um, in the school and just how they’re really exceeding the average, and they have a lot of learners that they’re accelerating, um. Uh, so it just seems like the curriculum and academics in that school are just really strong, um. We also talked about behavioral issues and um and and.

00:44:24,800	There they’re even supportive of us looking at expanding the renewed program, um, into the elementary level as they also see anxiety with kids, um, and they’re working on developing more professional development to really dive into identifying, um, anxiety with students and and figuring out other opportunities to support them, um.

00:44:53,100	As we’re touring around the school, beautiful, beautiful school, um. One of our one of our newest in town, um, the 3rd graders were getting together to discuss how they could use dollars that they raised through a project called Flower Power, where they sold Mother’s Day flowers, and they raised $3000 and they wanted to use this, these funds to build a student celebration

00:45:19,670	space. So when, um, when there’s something we’re celebrating with a student or they’ve done gone. over and above, they get to be able to use this space, and there’s matching dollars that have been made available by a business, and so the 3rd graders when I was standing right there, voted to approve, um, the purchase of

00:45:38,400	a Pac-Man machine, so. Yep, that’s a, that’s a good reward. Also took me back to about 3rd grade, um. Yeah, so just really good visit, fun visit, and, uh, a good way to finish out the school year. Thank you, Ms. Pressky for that. School visit, that was a that was a good one.

00:46:00,200	Does look like anybody else has anything, so I’ll have a couple more later on. Save, save them for later. We’ll need something for over the summer. Uh So, with that, that brings us to the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? I would move approval of the consent agenda. I’ll.

00:46:21,100	We have a motion in a second, Mr. Chair. Lee Peterson? Yes. Presky? Yes. Eastgate? Lose them Hager, yes. Uh Item 8, Superintendent’s report. Start with a federal budget update if I can, uh, um, it was asked, and I’ll put it in my Friday communication, um, with you guys, uh, and maybe even shared out on socials

00:46:53,070	people know is, and I had a note to ask Miss uh Nygar too how much money the foundation gave out this year in grants. I think it’d be nice to put that out to the people cause it really is a lot.

00:47:07,500	I wanna go back and just the foundation board does a really good job of, of allocating those dollars, and it is a substantial amount of dollars they do, so I’ll share that with you on the. Community through um social media so they know, um. I guess I wanted to share tonight, um, you’re well aware as Miss Peterson said, kind of keeping you in the loop even on operational things.

00:47:24,700	This is one that we have talked about, but I think for the sake of you as the board and the community be good to talk about federal funding and some of the challenges we’re running into. I just want to focus on Title 1, Title 23, and, uh, 4 and kind of share with you some information.

00:47:41,770	Title One supports our disadvantaged students, that’d be you’d see, um, intervention programs and our primary. all of our, not all of our elementary schools, but many of our elementary schools with high poverty rates in uh reading and math, and so, um, this year we’re gonna receive about, um, or last year received a little bit over $4

00:48:01,400	million 4.4 million dollars. Uh, this A couple weeks ago,,, 2.5 weeks ago, uh, we were informed that that allocation from the federal government will be reduced by $734,000.

00:48:24,400	Um, that’s a really late announcement for us to adapt to, um, to see, uh, over 16% reduction in Title I allocation for Bismarck Public School, um, that puts us at 3.6 million, um, And I’m going to talk about some of the implications that later, but I just want maybe the people out there to know that we’re just getting informed of some of these and in regard to Title II, which is for effective instruction and professional development, Title III, which

00:48:44,070	is for EL and English language learners and immigrant support and Title IV, which is student kind of well rounded, we use that for technology, well rounded, um, student wellbeing, social emotional learning, and those things, um. Those allocations right now, you can, I shared them with you on the report. We don’t know yet.

00:49:06,030	We’re still waiting for confirmation of where those allocations will be. What I provided in this, in the report, um, for you today is just what if there was more cuts there? What if they were similar to what we saw in Title I, uh, for Title 2 that’d be, uh, uh, reduction of around $150,000 in Title 3 $10,000 that’s a much

00:49:29,000	smaller reward. And in Title F4 that’d be $94,000 so you’re adding that up and it’s getting to be 200 and $200,000 actually more than that, almost $300,000 really quickly, in addition to what we know is already, um, the 734,000 that we know is going to be a reduction in Title One.

00:49:50,870	so what I also provided, uh, you is, um, So how many people are in there? We do a lot of things in there, but how many people are paid for because this time of the year, contracts just went out to our professional or certified teaching staff on, uh, Tuesday, uh, we’re waiting the 14 days to uh receive those.

00:50:10,670	Um, so we, when we talk about reductions in funding in the title program, it does boil down to people, you know, 85, 86% of our costs as a district really go to people, um, because that’s we’re in the people business. So when you talk about Title One, overall, that’s 43.9 FTEs.

00:50:32,030	by more people than that because we put them in slices. There’s parts of people in there, but total it’s almost 44, um, FTEs, Title II is 3, much smaller, OK? And we do a lot of PD out of there. We do a lot of professional development and training and, and improving the the people we have.

00:50:51,770	Title III, which is EL doesn’t have any people in there, just priding services to our team and our children and families, so that’s actually probably a little easier, um, in Title 4, we have 1.45 FTs paid out of, of that, um, but you talk about things like Um, in Career and tech ed, work-based learning.

00:51:15,230	We talked about that connection between CTE programs and our kids and getting them on job sites, well, almost half of that position that we really find valuable is paid out of that funding bucket, um, so if, if those reductions happen, it’ll be a challenge. Now I will say for the, for the viewing public, um, I support reducing Federal spending.

00:51:36,000	I think an overall federal spending is, is a challenge. We, I personally think we spend way too much money, uh, that we don’t have at the federal level, so I appreciate the, the cost constrictions and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars at the federal level.

00:51:56,270	However, I would say, um, timing is the challenge, um, years ago when I first started being a Superintendent, we’d be notified in winter, January, February, like, here’s your projected allocations for these same federal buckets. Well, then you could make some employment choices.

00:52:16,530	You could make some hiring choices to get yourself in line with where the funding was going to be, that shifted to more March and April as of recently, um, Congress not getting their work done or not getting their work done. So we’ve had to um, make some adjustments there this year, it’s the 2nd to 3rd week in May. Um, that poses challenges as I, uh, shared with you some of the constrictions within North Dakota Century code.

00:52:34,730	I can’t reduce a teacher re reduction in force or riff. I can’t riff teachers that are guaranteed to have a um renewing contract, I have to notify them in April that we’re going to do that as a district. So now we’re well beyond that deadline date. So now really as a district, we’re beholden to maintain their contract.

00:52:54,470	We have made them a promise previously. We now have to uphold that promise, and that’s a challenge we as a district are going to have in the future because we’re past those reduction timelines.

00:53:16,330	Um, I also think if you’re going to reduce in the future, let’s say it’s next year and this financial um Our financial, um, Problems maybe or challenges are still present. We have to do that earlier. We have to make choices, um, of who should stay funded out of our federal programs, but at the same time you have to, um, meet the obligations that are set forth in the federal programs. They don’t just give you money and say do whatever you want.

00:53:33,500	There’s certain requirements in each of those programs you have to meet, so it’ll be a, a balance of how do we meet the requirements to get the funds while trying to live within the budget, you know, and er kids.

00:53:52,270	So, um, those are some statutory constrictions we have, but I think the, the biggest challenge right now, and hopefully I’ve shared that with you is just the timing. The timing is desperately poor. It is very poor timing to see those reductions for all schools in North Dakota because we’re all getting it, not just Bismarck, um, to make those changes, um, so what I think is a path forward. I think we’re going to monitor allocations.

00:54:10,770	We’re gonna see what happens for the rest of those Title 234 special ed, anything else, IDEA funding, um, as they come in, as we continue down the process. Um, we have already started to communicate with staff. I know when we were at the negotiations table. We talked openly and honestly.

00:54:30,830	with our BEA representatives about the challenges, um, but we’ll continue to do that, um, also sending some messages out having um preliminary messages out to our staff just to say, We’re not taking your position away. We’re not breaking the promise about your continuing contract.

00:54:52,500	We’re going to work forward from this, so please know as your signing contracts now, cause that’s what teachers are doing. They’re deciding if they want to work for us this next year, um, how do we keep that promise and how do we communicate that, um, and then really it’s about scenario planning. Title One’s a little bit past.

00:55:08,570	We’re, we’re probably over our skis on that one or our past the timeline, but for Title 23, and 4, which um We have a little bit more flexibility with our teams are already working on if we’d see a reduction, what’s the first things we’re going to back away from, OK, don’t purchase things.

00:55:25,670	Stop, stop some of the things we’re doing to make sure that if we see a reduction, we can, we can get our, our budget and our reality in line, you might say, so we’re already prioritizing some of that planned spending to make sure we can get it in line quickly if the number comes in here shortly. Um, and then lastly, boarding. engagement. I just appreciate you listening and talking about it.

00:55:44,230	It’s something we’re gonna have to get into the budget cycle with, I’ll be honest, um, if we’re gonna keep those contracts, which are mostly people in title, that is unfortunately, I’m gonna break it to everybody here.

00:56:07,670	That’s a $700,000 commitment that we’re taking on as local taxpayers as Inside the general fund of Bismarck Public Schools to maintain those for another year. Um, so that will put a, that’ll put a crimp on the budget and probably your expectation, you just, uh, talked about the operational expectations you put me under, it’ll be a little tougher, I’ll be honest, to meet some of those expectations you have for me, but we’ll continue to do our very best,

00:56:23,830	but I think as long as we talk about it openly, you, hopefully you understand the challenges we’re under and why we’re in those challenging times. Mr. Lee Uh, thank you, Mr. Vice President. So when I look at uh the allocation from 24, 25, it’s 4.4 million. Um, in Title I, I’m sorry. And we have 43.

00:56:48,330	97 FTEs in Title I is that, am I reading that correctly? So that’s predominantly all of those funds go towards human capital or towards The teachers, the counselors, the social workers, so as far as where we’re at in the hiring process, is there any opportunity if there’s uh open elementary positions, um, to move some of

00:57:09,370	them out of like a, a Title One position into a classroom or. Um, Mr. Lee, yes, there is, and we have some open yet, um, we are searching for those ultimately, you could, we can make that decision too.

00:57:28,870	Um, I, the challenge is, is The, the challenge that our principals have to address is, OK, how are you doing the intervention services for those kids to meet the expectation of the federal allocation with reduced staff and in some schools that is We have multiple teachers serving Title One or highest poverty schools. Others might only have a couple.

00:57:50,800	So how do we navigate the not only the shift in from the federally funded position to maybe a classroom position, but how do we still serve the child, that’s coming this next year to be honest, we’re gonna have that same question next year too, sir.

00:58:07,100	Um, it’ll be, if we see that reduction, and we’re gonna have to serve them differently because we don’t have the funds to do it in the same way we are now, but you are. accurate. We do have a positions that we’ve talked about like seeing the revenue, then how can we make a shift at this time? Yes, especially with these, with these federal uh programs that are funded, it kind of feels like that’s the message.

00:58:29,870	So, uh, yeah, and and it’s not the message we want to hear, but we have to deal with it, right? So, OK, thank you. If, if I may extend that too, then we, we’ve talked about this too and probably for the viewing audience, and we have a 2.5, 2.

00:58:50,530	5 over two years from the legislature we’re dealing with, and we have probably taxing caps that the legislatures imposed, which I totally think we need to throttle property tax, but all those are coming in one tsunami at the time. It’s all coming at the same time, we’re not staggering it, we’re all, we’re just, we’re dealing with all those challenges simultaneously, so.

00:59:09,870	So I think that’s well put, because really, it’s not just a message federally, it’s also locally statewide and it’s unfortunate, um, because I think the strength of um of North Dakota and we’ve seen a number of numbers come out recently is our students are excelling. They’re doing very well and it’s because of the long standing support we’ve had, and that’s starting to dwindle.

00:59:30,630	So I think people need to, need to know that, and it may not look the same in the coming years. So thank you for that. Thank you, Dr F Fasson. I would.

00:59:50,970	I appreciate you bringing this tonight and giving us a little bit more color about the specifics behind it and I, I couldn’t agree more from a timing perspective when you look at these numbers and we’re at the end of May here and we’ve already made all these decisions and you think about our budgeting process as it is and, you know, These kinds of decisions are made 6 months in advance as we’re working through our budgeting process to get to this point to where

01:00:05,970	you, you kind of feel. Stuck and you know you’re having to, to navigate. This shortcoming, right? I, I, and if I can add, it kind of goes back to Mr.

01:00:26,800	Lee’s comment too, is if we have 100 teachers, I’m making up a number that we’re obligated to have next year and 10% of those are paid with federal funds. We don’t have the money to, we have a reduction. We can’t cover them, but I’m obligated to hire him.

01:00:42,670	So yes, I could move some to general fund, and there’s some savings in there, right? But I’m going to have to pay for them some way somehow, either way, so if I move them in the general fund, I have to pay for them. If I kept them in title, I have to pay for them because the money’s gone, so we have to lease one year. The, the thing would be is I think to Mr.

01:00:56,070	Lee, your point is, you know, if we constrict a few teachers, if we drop some FTEs, there’s a way to reduce the pain, but either way, we’re obligated to those right now, so. Yeah, thank you, Dr Foss either way, there’s budget discussions coming, coming in our future here. Uh, with that down to the financial report. Vice President Hager, members of the board now for some good news.

01:01:23,800	Um, so just real quick on the the report, I found it interesting. We got a actually an interest uh interest check from our residents credit because it, it ended up coming so late and we were able to collect interest on that, so that was a good thing. It was very little amount, but it was something.

01:01:40,370	Um, couple things is on the, the two, the page 2 and 3. What I really like about those is look at the big boxes and we are um under revenues a little bit, but we’re much under on expenses, so you take the, do the math there, that’s, that’s a good sign, so we are

01:02:00,600	projected we should end uh better than we said that we would and um like I always say, we. We do have some line items that we’ve, we’ve shut down spending, but we always look at the bottom line.

01:02:19,930	So if you’re running the department, if you go over on one, I, you know, the expectation from uh Dr F Fasnot and Uh, the business office is that you need to be under overall and we we’ll still end up OK. So nothing really that I would want to point out, um, in a particular line item that I already have in previous meetings, um, but I, I, I feel really positive that uh will end well, so.

01:02:40,730	I’d answer any questions that the board would have. Or remembers any questions. OK. Uh, seeing none. All items have been