00:00:06,870	Good evening. I’m Josh Hager, president of the Bismarck School Board. It’s 5:15 on Monday, September 8th. I call this meeting to order. Thank you to those of us, those of you who are joining us both here and also online.

00:00:25,630	You can find our agenda and follow along under the school board tab at Bismarckschools.org I’d like to thank Boy Scout Troop 2 who’s here in person and made sure that they’re off camera by hiding over there on that side of the room, so you can tell there’s scout leaders have been here before. With that, uh, Dr Sher, which you call the role.

00:00:42,100	Mr. Hager, here, Mister Eastgate, here, Mr. Lee, here, Mrs. Peterson. Here. Miss Pressy. Miss Preskey is in the middle of some travel woes. I think she will be joining us at some point. So let it be known she’s not here yet.

00:01:00,170	Uh, with that, Dr Fassnnat, would you lead us in the pledge? My pleasure. Item 1C is 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 learning environments that create agency and inspire a passion for learning, excellency, and discovery. BPS values are inclusion, excellence, innovation, and leadership.

00:01:55,230	You’ll also find a link in the agenda to the BPS strategic plan. Um just 11 note on the agenda tonight, board members at 6 o’clock sharp will be our budget meeting, um, so when we get to 6 o’clock we will stop where we are at in. tonight’s agenda. Um take up the budget hearing portion.

00:02:18,800	and then at the conclusion of the budget hearing portion, we will resume, um, tonight’s meeting. So just, just understand that, um so with that what are the wishes of the board I move we adopt the agenda We have a motion I’ll second Motion in a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Dr Sher. Eastgate Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson? Yes.

00:02:44,600	Hager? Yes. Item 3, Superintendent comment um on transportation and belt time. Dr Fassnnatt, uh, yeah, the board of members, good afternoon. Nice to see you. Thank you visitors this evening.

00:03:01,970	Um, I did put this in the agenda so people could see it last week, but I think for the record, I would just read my statements aloud so the people in the audience haven’t heard it or people online can follow along and um, acknowledge some of the thoughts and challenges of our transportation rollout. So, um, good evening, President Hager, members of the board, members of the public.

00:03:20,700	Um, tonight I want to begin acknowledging and openly and directly stating that the rollout of the new transportation system has not gone as smoothly as it should have. In the final steps of what has been a year-long process to improve bussing in Bismarckub schools. Uh, we’ve made errors that cause frustration, confusion, and at times hardship for families. For that, I want to offer my sincere apology to parents.

00:03:41,100	The entire BPS family. The Bismarck community, and you as the board members over the past 3 weeks, we’ve heard from parents about 3 main areas of concern. Um, first being the change of belt time, which is definitely altered many families daily routines.

00:03:59,430	The adoption of rural neighborhood stops, which was meant, which is meant longer walks for some children and raise safety concerns. And lastly, the challenges with routing and a completely new system, um, and which we were kind of threw out the baby and the bathwater to start, uh, start anew, um, from top to bottom we’ve run into challenges I also want to recognize that the overwhelming

00:04:19,000	avalanche of calls, emails, and messages from families quickly outpaced our ability to respond in real time after the letters went to families. Our commitment, however, has been to respond to each and every concern, while many families experienced um delays in hearing back from us, those conversations have been happening.

00:04:39,330	Um, those conversations have been leading with an apology, with listening, and with an intent to assist families, to strengthen our response, we lifted up a call center dedicated to addressing parent concerns.

00:04:58,500	Uh, this is an operation between August 21st and 25th, allowing us to respond to families more quickly and giving parents a human voice on the other end of the line, allowing us our routing team to continue the detailed works of fixing many of our routing errors. Um, from August 26th to the day, we continue to put additional staff towards ensuring we can address calls um into our transportation department.

00:05:20,230	Uh, we also already made, uh, we have already made adjustments to some routes based on parent feedback and we’ll continue to do so where safety and efficiency can be improved. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge that the old system was no longer sustainable. Reliability issues, driver shortages, and rising costs demanded a change. Um, this was not a decision made quickly or lightly.

00:05:41,170	It was a process years in the making, guided by expert review, community input, and board direction. As part of my report this evening, uh, later in the agenda, I’ll be sharing with the board and the public a full timeline of the process that led to the change in our bell times and transportation system. This is part of the superintendent’s report.

00:05:58,270	Um, this process, uh, to address transportation challenges began before my first day at BPS in July of 23 and represents the culmination of numerous meetings and incremental decisions. The timeline, which I’ll share with you, includes, um, meeting agendas and minutes, transport ation contracts with Harlow’s financial records, and materials from our, uh, public meetings including presentations slides.

00:06:23,270	Uh, my goal in sharing it tonight is to provide a complete record of those steps, uh, to ensure full transparency, and some people have asked for that by emails and calls, so we’re providing it tonight. Um, because I think you deserve to know and how we made those changes.

00:06:41,970	I encourage everyone to review it closely, not only to understand the process, but also see the challenges and obstacles our previous trans transportation system phase and why change was necessary. Um, this transition has not been easy, and it has not been perfect, but I believe strongly that the honest dialogue, transparency, and a shared commitment to improvement.

00:07:01,730	We can move towards a transportation system that is safe, reliable, and sustainable for the long term. Uh, Transpar will be back this fall to conduct a follow-up review of the new routes, resulting in a detailed analysis of how the system is performing.

00:07:19,370	We will also continue to garner feedback from our parents and staff to ensure your voices are heard before recommending any adjustments to the system for the 2026-27 school year. Uh, before I close, I want again offer my uh personal apology to the community.

00:07:36,530	Uh, tonight is about hearing from concerned parents, not only those who have reached out over the past few weeks, um, but especially those who have chosen to attend the meeting tonight and be here in person. Um, this is an opportunity to listen, be open to criticism and to work together to address as many concerns as possible.

00:07:53,230	In the future, we will need to discuss both the continued challenges we face and any improvements we achieve. But tonight it’s about hearing your voice, offering my commitment to do better and moving forward together with BPS in our community.

00:08:10,100	Um, I do thank you for your patience, board members, um, and your honesty and your continued trust as we work together, respectfully. Thank you, Dr Fostnut Dr Sher, would you let the record note that Miss Preskey is now in attendance. Thank you. Um, item 4 is public comment. The board recognizes central role parents play in the education of their children and supports active parent involvement in the education process.

00:08:35,700	The board’s practice of public comment reflects and aligns with BC with policy BCBA in the spirit of its intent. For classroom issues, it’s best to follow the chain of command. Teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. For district issues, please reach out to Dr Fassnt. If you do speak tonight we simply ask that you be responsible, be helpful, and be respectful.

00:09:00,230	Our BPS students deserve to have adults model the expectations that we have for them Groups are urged to select one spokespersonman, individuals will be limited to no more than 4 minutes and will be notified within 30 seconds remaining to conclude their remarks. The board will not debate issues as presented, but we’ll take such matters under advisement.

00:09:19,070	With that, please stand and approach the proteium if you wish to speak tonight. Hello. Please, uh, please state your name. For the agendaments if you could write it down there too. Thank you. My name is Tina Kitzman. I am a parent, also a proud BPS employee, so I’m happy to be here.

00:09:55,230	Um, I just want to um continue the conversation about the bussing. Um, I do have concerns. I’m a rural family, um many of the concerns that were already shared, we don’t have sidewalks, we don’t have street lights. If the county plows our road, good luck. I mean, it’s it’s hit or miss. It’s incredibly icy.

00:10:16,600	Um I have two kids. I would love to have ride the bus. I have currently one signed up. The other is 8 years old. I really just don’t trust her, her in the street with other kids at this point in time.

00:10:36,900	So, um, I am just looking for what kinds of safety criteria are we searching for when we’re looking at our bus stops. I understand we’re trying to go to a faster system, um, paying attention to the bus ride last year, I think going through my entire community was maybe 5 minutes. It was very fast. All the kids are waiting at the end of their driveways and they jump on the bus.

00:10:51,900	So it was very quick. Um In addition, I was a little concerned too when I read all of the slides about whatever company we had gone through to uh look at other bussing in the state. Um, talked about my not having bussing. I was born and raised in Minot. We do not have bussing, not ever.

00:11:12,700	Um, they bus special ed and they buss kids on the base, but we’ve never had bussing, so it’s always been city bus or parents take our kids. So that was kind of a a concern too, um, but yeah, I’m just concerned.

00:11:25,700	What are we doing for safety and how are we fixing it? I did send an email right after we had our first, um, information sent to our, um, to our emails about bus stops, and I heard back that there was going to be a safety committee, but I didn’t ever hear back about what happened, so.

00:11:39,470	but that’s it. I’ll keep it short and sweet because I think we all know. what the issues are, so Thank you. Thank you President Hager, can I ask one follow-up? Can I ask when follow up really quickly? Just wondering, um, since you, we had just heard different kinds of things since um with your

00:11:59,100	rural safety safety spot. You did say that there was going to maybe be a safety committee or you hadn’t heard back yet. Um, so right now you said your, your kids are currently not riding the bus. She has not ridden yet, no. We’re waiting to hear back from the safety committee.

00:12:15,230	OK, and then, um, just so I, I just wanted to make, make it clear because I do know that Dr Fassnnatt and the whole team were looking at different rural stops. So just wanting to kind of follow up with wondering if your area was one that maybe has been in the mix or maybe it’s a new area.

00:12:28,800	At least I hadn’t been notified by email if that was. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thanks, President Hager. Good evening, President, school board members. I’m also here to talk about the rural bussing, um, well, I think it’s admirable that the superintendent, um, is admitting that there have been faults and that we can do

00:12:55,270	better. And I, I do appreciate his passion and, uh, you know, forward motion to fix issues that I think have gone on for way too long. Um, we can play the finger pointing game on why they’ve gone on long.

00:13:13,270	I’m going to refrain from that tonight, um, I’m up here to talk about safety. I’m here to talk about numbers. I did do an open records request on the numbers. They do not make sense. Um, for the information that I was provided.

00:13:32,630	they just don’t make sense from back in 2018, um, we’ve seen the district spending near as much money as the private contractor. And we have not heard about a bussing issue until now. So I’m asking you as elected officials. Well he wants to fall on the sword for this. I think that you guys have to take some credit for the routine rubber stamping that occurs at this board.

00:13:53,900	um, because as many probably don’t know how coherent governance works. He ultimately does not work for the people. He works for you as a board, um, and has given direction through EuroEs. You work for the people So while I’ve reached out to him several times on this.

00:14:10,230	I would like you guys to do something about it. You guys ultimately approved this plan So was it that you didn’t understand it? Was it that things weren’t clear. I don’t know, but I tell you what I feel deceived. I feel as a rural resident, I took time to attend to all three public input sessions.

00:14:31,370	I filled out the survey. I thought my voice was being heard. And then a week prior to school starting, I get a letter saying that my child has a new pickup and drop off point. that is basically you guys expect him to walk down a road. that has no sidewalk, has no street lights.

00:14:53,370	Are you guys also gonna take accountability when one of these kids gets run over. Is, is that something that you guys can stomach because you guys ultimately approve this. I’m angry that this would happen. You know, I keep being told it had to happen.

00:15:15,530	But currently down at Sibley Middle School, we are doing a, uh, a test run with a different cell phone policy. versus other schools at Legacy, we’ve done the FlexMmod program for how many years We’ve run um, prototypes test, uh, programs for how many years in the district? Why did it have to get rolled out throughout the entire district? Well, why couldn’t we do a feeder school, you know, a, a,

00:15:39,230	a feeder segment and see how it works versus pulling the plug all at once. It, it seems like we pulled the rip cord. and we put faith that that parachute was gonna open. But you guys are gambling with kids’ safety. I, I, I don’t know.

00:15:59,900	I went back and I watched all the meetings about it. I looked at my notes from these input sessions. I looked at the public comments on Facebook. I don’t think the public feels we were heard If you read the Facebook posts, people feel that those input sessions were a waste of time. because your mind was already made up. 30 seconds.

00:16:20,800	You guys knew which route you want to take. Is, is that really how we wanna move forward. I feel the transparency the safety, it’s all an issue. I can go on for hours here, guys, but you’re telling me you’re driving these routes and you’re checking on it.

00:16:42,070	It’s summer time I’m gonna end it with, I did find out through the Coycom Commission you guys haven’t consulted. ever our sheriff’s department or our highway department. These are the folks that are in our communities daily. They are paid to know the functionality they are paid to know these areas.

00:17:05,000	I’ve sat in the audience and I’ve listened to whole how quickly you guys take up partnerships or cooperatives with outside organizations. Why have we not reached out to those people, Bismarck Police Department, um, Burleigh County Sheriff’s Department and our highway departments and our street crews. to find out their thoughts on how these are going to work because I’m telling you right now, where you have my kid being picked up. it’s just not common sense.

00:17:24,270	You’re putting kids in danger. So like I said, who’s gonna, who’s gonna take account of Billy when a kid gets injured. And you’re gonna put the savings that we gain with this new program. on that kid. I mean, I’m sorry, but guys, we need to have some hard conversations about this. We should have had those conversations in January.

00:17:44,070	So I think while Dr Fossnotch has admitted, you know, there is room for improvement. I would ask you as elected officials. to do the same because you guys failed us just as much as he did. Thank you for your time Thank you. Hello, hell.

00:18:15,070	Can you state your name and sign in on the sheet there for us. Thank you. Um, greetings everyone. My name is Kelsey Anderson, um, and I will put that on there so I can focus on one task if that’s all right, just at the end.

00:18:39,100	Um, I’m just here to, um, present for consideration of, uh, changing the first bell time um for the elementary schools and as well as the middle schools for next, um, school term. I, I, you know, 40 minute long, um, conversation I had on the first day of school with Dr Fossnak, so I appreciate you, your call because, um, you were going over time as well as I apologize for the overlap in um my comments.

00:19:02,630	um if there’s a possibility of changing those first bells to later, um, times as opposed to um. the current times that are quite early, they’re before I clock. I have to clock in at work for the elementary schools.

00:19:24,270	um, but keeping this within the two-tier bus plan, ideally, um, I’m pretty sure I had emailed everyone prior to the announcement that, um, we would be changing, uh this to this earlier times that of the advantages, um, academically speaking with, um, students’ performance and so forth, um, for later bells, um, with the sweet spot, I’m sort of being for elementary schools, uh, though between 8 and 9 a.m., 8:30 a.m.

00:19:52,730	is that, which is what we had it at before is sort of the, um, uh, peak time for um the highest academic performance in elementary school s Um, uh, one concern that I had is that the original Transpar study and reevaluation, um, did not and from my understanding, will not take into consideration academic performance of the students.

00:20:16,870	It’s just simply bus efficiency. So, um, uh, as I mentioned before, middle and high schoolers are at an age that they can be unattended at their home until they need to meet their bus to go to school, uh, after school activities was another concern that we had, uh, or wasn’t as a part of the discussion in potentially

00:20:39,100	changing the times later for middle and high schools, um, though, uh, my argument is, is that those by definition occur after school and they are a choice made by each family, however, however, getting a child to attend school each day, it’s not a choice unless you want to be found in I don’t

00:21:02,000	know if it’s contempt or guilty of educational neglect, which I checked. It is 20 days absences or tardies, so that is like I said, something I don’t want to flirt with, um, by any means throughout the school year.

00:21:26,530	Um, I did uh, I played girls hockey in the infancy here in Bismarck when Bismarckli Blizzard included all Bismarck girls and Man Dan who wanted to play. There were two indoor rinks in Bismarck and or indoor, yeah, indoor rinks in Bismarck. One questionably heated rank in Mandan and 9:45 p.m.

00:21:49,730	or later was a probably the standard ice time that we would hit the ice, knock it off the ice, and so forth, and I, I enjoyed girls hockey and I stayed with it. But again, that was a choice and for which I experienced the consequences. Would it have helped for me for a century to start at 9 a.m. or later. Thank you.

00:22:11,430	Um during these years, that would have been ideal because my body and most teenagers’ bodies are geared to wake up later, so I would have enjoyed, uh, some extra sleep to be more awake at school. Now, um, so I guess my um to sort of wrap it up is that the powers that be here in District one, at least try an 8:30 or so elementary start time, 9 a.m.

00:22:34,000	or later for middle and high school in the 26th to 27 term and to please compare the academic performance of, um, those calendar years and the impacts of that. So. I mean, after all, it is the reason that we are going to school in the first place. and thank you so much. Thank you.

00:22:56,530	I’m gonna put my name down Hi there. Can you state your name for the record, please? Jonas Brees. Yes, because you’re, maybe when you’re done too, write your name down on that sheet, thank you.

00:23:33,700	Well, my first concern was the first letter I got that stated my children would be picked up at 6:45 a.m. I understood the ear tier system, and I agreed to it and I thought, OK, 6:45, I’ll have to live with it. Well, do you know that my children now have to meet the bus at 6:26. That was changed after this started.

00:23:52,900	6:26. I have a set of twins, 8 years old, getting on that bus. So that means 5:30 in the morning that they’re up trying to eat breakfast because there isn’t enough time when they get to school to eat breakfast. and also my children have special services speech.

00:24:12,530	and my speech person came to me and she said they’re doing nothing but crying at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. And that’s when I took him out of school early to try and get him there. She said something has to be done.

00:24:27,330	And so my daughter actually suggested to me, she said, well, Mom, she said, why don’t you try putting her in speech at 8 o’clock. So I did that. That saved me the bus for 3 days of not getting up at 5:30. That’s not fair That’s not fair at all Then the next concern is the safety of the roads. I’m out in the rural community I’ve been there for over 20 years.

00:24:45,800	A bussing system picked up all 6 of my grandchildren, those 20 years. Nothing was ever said about problems, nothing. And it was right at the end of our driveway. Now I go a half a mile east to, uh, driveway that goes into another development and I’m parking on the side of the road.

00:25:03,370	My kids are getting out on one side in the ditch or on the other side in the in the driveway and the highway. and the bus driver and please, the bus driver is excellent, but he said to me, he said, Your lights are blinding me coming down the road.

00:25:16,870	So what am I supposed to do, shut my lights off at 6 o’clock in the morning, 6:26. and sit on the side of the road to get traffic coming to get me from behind. It is a safety concern. You’re gonna have one of these children hurt.

00:25:34,900	I would never put my child out there So I’m elected to driving them and I had went to the superintendent’s office and assistant superintendent said, OK, I’ll transport my kids, but moved me to a Title One school where my children can receive the services that they’re not getting at the school they’re at. I was refused every school in Bismarck. No room.

00:25:52,100	Every school in Bismarck. So my hands are tied. You ride the bus or you suck it up. How can you put your children’s safety in this? How can you put a child 7 years old, 8 years old, out on that road. And in the wintertime, that’s sheer ice where we’re at.

00:26:09,630	And when they, when they plow the roads, they sure don’t pick up the snow out of the ditch I doubt if I’d even get my car door open on the ditch side.

00:26:27,730	How do you explain that So that’s the kind of thing that you guys want to be approved of as taking children safe and making them not safe more power to you I’m very disappointed. I’ve been for a lot of years in this community, and I’ve never seen anything so foolishly looked at. I can’t believe it Thank you Thank you Hello. Good to see you. Good evening for the public. Amanda Caterus. Thank you, Amanda.

00:27:01,370	I again have concerns over the rural transportation. I have students that are at Horizon and Century. My century isn’t a of aged driver yet, so he’s succumbed to our bus system He is a 93 minute drive after school. That to me is unacceptable. When we started it was gonna be I don’t remember 80 some. I did email They did get back to me timely.

00:27:31,800	so appreciate that, but when they got back to me, they said, well, you’ve chose to live this far out of town. Since then, the times have been adjusted, so now it’s adjusted not in our favor. Now it’s longer, 93 minutes. He has a phone. He has Li 360. I screenshotted him. I followed his route one day.

00:27:54,730	They drove past our development and went further 9 miles further south or further north. dropped off some kids, then turned around and came back. and I’m like, what is going on? Is this your route everyday? Yep, they’ve tried a couple of different paths. One day they took River Road. One day they took 83.

00:28:21,530	I think they’re trying to make improvements, but I don’t know why they’re driving past my development, 9 miles further north. and then coming back. That doesn’t make sense. So I don’t know if you guys have drove that route specifically? It doesn’t align 65. Thank you Thank you OK, anyone else Hello. Hi.

00:29:20,630	Can you state your name for the record, please, and then sign in when you get a chance to. Absolutely. Thank you. My name is Tricia Dietz. I’m going to apologize in advance. I have, um my 5 year old with me, so she comes up here, but, um, I’m just gonna reiterate the the concern with the, um, excuse me, with the rural bussing.

00:29:37,900	Um, but, excuse me, a very simple concern just simply with the change in the pickup routes. We, um, we live south of Lincoln. It is a big school. There’s a lot of kids. Uh, my kids have now, I mean, I have a, I have a 6th grader, so we’ve attended, you know, 5 years at, at Lincoln Elementary.

00:29:55,900	And there’s never been, you know, while there’s a lot of kids on the, on the bus, there’s never been a concern with how many kids get picked up in these rural, you know, developments. We’ve always been able to have them picked up, um, at our doorstep.

00:30:11,530	So with this, you know, with this change, um, we now have these kids, at least in my specific development and my kids in particular, are being picked up at a four-way stop, um. several kids are walking almost a quarter mile from their homes to get to this, to get to this bus stop.

00:30:27,970	My primary concern with this amongst many have already stated is the fact that um there’s no, you know, again, no sidewalks, no street lights. Um, the, our pickup time for my children, uh, for my youngest is, uh, 7 o’clock in the morning. The sunrise today was at 7:12.

00:30:51,630	Um, I can see my child, there’s my child and one other family that is, um, currently riding the bus. I don’t know how many were registered or, you know, elected not to ride due to these concerns. I’m not sure, but my child and one other, one other family are at this, are at this bus stop, um, so there are 3 kids sitting at this bus stop.

00:31:09,530	I have seen several people, um, blow the stop sign, which is a concern of its own. but I have seen it happen time and time again. The same happens with, you know, with the winter months and with them, you know, closely approaching, um, the fact that also several people slide through this stop sign.

00:31:27,730	I’ve actually seen the bus slide through the stop sign. So just, I mean, just several concerns that that surround this, um, and that have already been iterated by so many people. I have been in communication, uh, with the, um the Director of transportation as well sent to my concerns.

00:31:46,530	I have sent him pictures, um, and video as well with people, you know, kind of how close these kids are, you know, with with the cars that that go through this intersection. I just feel it is truly, truly unsafe, and I just am I don’t have the means to take, um, my youngest or my middle one, I guess, to, to school in the mornings.

00:32:05,630	It just doesn’t, I have one at home yet that’s still getting ready and, and that I have to take in and, and of course, the youngest one as well, and so it’s we, we have to rely on the bussing system, and I am truly terrified for the driver, you

00:32:18,900	know, for, for her safety and for all the kids’ safety that go through, you know, through the system, so. thank you. Thank you OK, anybody else wish to speak tonight? Good evening.

00:33:08,100	Good evening Uh, my name is Courtney Wood and I will sign this similarly when we finish, but um, members of the board, I just want to take some time to give you a little bit of insight from someone who does not, um, I wasn’t originally born in Bismarck. I actually grew up in Williston So I did not have bussing growing up, so moving to a town where we have bussing available. It was appealing, and I appreciated it.

00:33:27,370	My children rode the bus for a couple of years until last year. our first time for pickup was 6:12 in the morning. I’m not gonna have my kids get up at 6 before 65 o’clock to get on the bus at 6:12 in the morning.

00:33:47,800	The first day of school came, I had my children ready and then all of a sudden the I get an email that says your bus is running 20 minutes late. OK. So we work through those issues last year. Last year it ended up coming down to we were not going to be able to use the bus coming home.

00:34:03,630	cause our children would get home at 5:04 p.m. This year we chose to drive them to school. We would make that work with the resources that we had available. Then we got the email a week before school started and our children would be arriving home. Assimly middle school student.

00:34:25,070	and a high school student who’s not old enough to drive quite yet, has his permit, but isn’t quite there. But their arrival home would be 6:06 p.m. I’d like for you to take into consideration how long your day is.

00:34:45,470	What time do you get up in the morning? What time do you, do you clock in in the morning? And what time do you get home? To spend time with your families. to enjoy dinner with your families. Because arriving home at 6:06 p.m. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for family.

00:35:37,630	That’s all I have Thank you Anyone else wish to speak tonight? They see no one, public comment is now closed. That brings us down to item 5 monitoring district operations OE 4 personal administration, Personnel administration, sorry. Ms. Geiger. Good evening, President Hagar and board members. Um, before you, you will see the uh OE4 Personal Administration Report. Um, in the report, all are in compliance, um, except page 11, um, we have one compliance with exception.

00:36:11,730	and that was one of the secretarial turnover at 22%, um, was not that all are concerning to me, but that was very concerning. So we as a team hosted a meeting with our secretarial group and I also conducted some exit interviews with those that would participate just to collect some data on why um our

00:36:35,470	turnover was so high with our secretarial group, um, other than wages or having a 12 month position. So we took into some information. I visited with Cabinet. We worked together on some things, on some flexibility, possibly some additional support.

00:36:55,530	So hopefully we can turn that around so that we don’t continue that high turnover rate with our secretarial staff. Um, otherwise we met compliance with all others, um, in our employee groups. So are there any questions for me on that report before I go into some highlights with our staffing I don’t see any missger. Go ahead. OK.

00:37:21,100	Thank you Um, just to share with you, um, we had, um, onboarded about 273 employees this year, um, replacing positions that, um, were vacated by the retirements or resignations, um, 92 teachers, which is a little bit lower than we have been in the past, um, so thank you to Betty for working and getting all those teachers licensed for us and on

00:37:39,000	board. Um, and also to Carol and the HR team. We’re small but we’re mighty, um, getting all those 273 people ready to go for our school year Um, that leaves us with a total of about 2,281 employees in our district as of today.

00:38:00,100	Um, as you know, our lane changes, uh, start, um, the first date is tomorrow. Um, right now we’re currently at 166 lane changes. Um, thank you to Paulette for doing all the work to get those ready for payroll.

00:38:23,230	Um, that’s leaving us with 718 teachers with our master’s degree or above, so we’re at 63% um with our teachers And I just want to share with you some areas of focus for our continued improvement. Um, of course, we’re still working with our peer to peer mentor program, our par to teacher pathway and also our pre-service authorization teachers and counselor plan of study, um, as well. We’re promoting our personal excellence.

00:38:49,170	We’ve launched and dedicated an instructional aid learning pathway, um, Tracey and some of the LDI team have worked hard to put that together. Um, we’re offering a structured professional learning opportunities for our instructional aids to move along on the salary schedule.

00:39:11,630	Um, it’s been an ask, um to help with supporting retaining and also including our instructional aids in some professional development as well. um, the substitute teacher training. Bren has done an exceptional job keeping them, um, recognized recruiting, um, supporting them. We took on Red Rover this year and she did a great job of keeping them all moving along in our system.

00:39:32,530	We’ve actually gained 29 new subs, which is great so we’ll continue on recruiting and then our last piece is um taking on the Marzano focus teacher evaluation model, um, thank you to Amanda Meyer and Courtney and a committee which was included teachers, um, we had some BEA reps in there.

00:39:54,430	We also had administration a part of that and helping us getting that um decision made as far as moving with Marzano, and we’re in kind of an implementation phase. Um, we’re taking feedback.

00:40:11,430	The committee will then again meet again this spring and we’ll work through any bugs or anything that we need to fix, um, moving forward with their input. So are there any questions for me as far as Mr. Eastgate Uh, not a direct question, Miss Geiger. First of all, thanks for the report.

00:40:32,100	Um, I just wanted to say thanks for also doing follow up on with our secretarial staff, uh, anybody that’s spent time in our schools or calling into our schools that really are, um, and they called the school billboard, call it the greeter, the, I mean, they really manage so much of what goes on there, so I think it’s important having um friends that have served in that role before too, and I know how important that

00:40:45,100	role is, and I know for uh our administration teachers how much they appreciate those roles. So whatever we can do to step, not step it up, I know you’re doing what you can on your side, but whatever else we all can do as a district to make sure we ensure that, um, you also mentioned some of the

00:40:57,870	other things that we’re doing to get teachers in there. I, you know, Century High I know has a, I think all of our high schools have that pre-teacher class that’s available and just as a a highlight for that knowing a family, young family member of ours that took that class is pursuing education

00:41:12,800	degree and is now subs one of those substitute teachers that you guys would have trained in this year as a a young student at Mary. So it’s a, that’s a great way for us to also continue to not just backfill, but to be proactive in who we’re we’re putting into our classroom.

00:41:25,630	So thanks for your work with that. Thank you. Mrs. Peterson Thanks, President Hager. Um, Ms. Geiger, just wondering, and I know, um, you had mentioned a little bit about the high turnover rate on on secretaries, which you acknowledge right at the beginning.

00:41:44,370	Just wondering because I thought that the information that was on page 4 was interesting and kind of all categories. And the one question that I had that as I was looking through it is just wondering if that obviously you highlighted the secretary, but in the other areas are those numbers normal.

00:42:00,470	I know that they’re within our goals, which is fair, that is compliance to the report, but are you seeing any improvements with teacher retention? Any improvements in any of those other categories, or is it staying pretty level? Just wondering if there’s something that we should be aware of as we think of just implementing the different phases or as we obviously this last year was a negotiation

00:42:14,870	year, but it’s something that we’re always kind of thinking about. So just wondering if you have any insight into those different groups. Yes, um, the teachers have been steady. It’s pretty much the same as it has been in the past. Um, the employee groups vary every year.

00:42:29,370	I believe it was last year, a custodial. was really high this year as secretar instructional aids, that’s just a always a higher turnover rate, although it’s a little bit lower this year than it has been in the past, so, um, it just, just varies from year to year, but, um, the only thing that was

00:42:49,000	really outstanding to us was the secretarial. Otherwise it’s been pretty much similar. Thank you, Ms. Geiger. Thank you. Dr Fassnnott Since we have, uh, 2.5 minutes uh for me to kill until it’s 6 o’clock.

00:43:15,630	I do wanna, um, maybe address to Miss Peterson’s question, um, for the teacher time, we’re in this unique dip because we’re going from the rule of 85 to the rule of 90. So we have this unique dip in time. We’re about a 2.5 year span where teachers that would have qualified for the Rule 85 are now waiting. They have to wait this time period out till they get to 60.

00:43:31,630	So we, we kind of have this little dip because I’m part of the dip. I’m in the im, um, waiting till I can get to 60 to retire.

00:43:45,000	So there is a little bit of just statewide, a little reduction, you’re seeing teachers having to hold now a little longer than they would have if they were um able to reach Rule 85. So I think that to some degree, even though she said it’s steady, I think that’s a compounding factor. Um, the other one is I’d like to acknowledge her team, um.

00:44:02,630	when I started being a leader and way too long ago, 1996 is an educational leader in 2002 as a superintendent, there was not many ways to become a teacher. That there was just a couple pathways to become a teacher, to get a license. Um, I would tell you that HR staff, Betty, um, Mr.

00:44:23,500	Geiger, the whole team now manages multiple pathways that people have to, the hoops they have to jump through to become a teacher. Um, that is demanding more time for our people to say you’ve done this, you’ve done this training, you’ve done this class, you’re in this, you’re in this structure, the parent-teacher program, um, is one of those

00:44:40,000	examples. It just takes a lot more time and energy from HR to follow those pathways into teaching, um, but they do a really good job at it, so I applaud their work. Thank you, Dr Posner. It looks like we got a little bit of time left here. Um, I would entertain emotion.

00:44:58,700	Uh, I would, I would move that we find OE4 in compliance. Second. we have a motion in a second, any further discussion? Uh, Dr Sherry, roll, please. Peterson, yes. Pressy? Yes. Eastgateate? Yes. Lee? Yes. Hager? Yes.

00:45:22,900	That brings us to 6 o’clock, so as we talked about earlier, we will jump down to uh matters reserved for board action and the public hearing for the fiscal year 25, 26. Dr Scher. Thank you, President Hager members of the board, kick off by just talking a little bit about the, the purpose of why we’re here tonight and um the legal requirements and where our budget’s located for those of

00:45:55,800	you at home, uh, that wanna see where that’s at. So the purpose is, um, it’s for you as board members to hear concerns from citizens of our district about the budget. Um, the legal requirement is listed there.

00:46:14,500	It’s in Chapter 57, and the budget is located on our website, uh, the UL URL listed on the agenda is actually a shortened version. Um, it’s actually on the agenda also as a PDF document, um, we have all of our budgets listed for far back as I can remember, um, and we’ve done that every year, so.

00:46:32,170	So in the, the, um, guidelines that we use, um, that the board has set out, OE 5 tells us that superintendent shall not plan for expenditures more than revenues. Um, and then also we have a goal of a 10% ending fund balance.

00:46:55,630	For as far as the revenues over under expenditures this year’s budget does have expenditures 60,000 $256 less than the revenues. Um, little, just a comment on budget efficiency, we always use academic return on investment lends.

00:47:21,230	So when we’re looking at our, everything that we do, we always analyze, um, is that, uh, what we’re doing academically right investment for our kids and sometimes that can be tough decisions, um, but we, uh, use that lens all the time. As far as our revenue, I’ll just kind of go over the, our main sources of revenue. Big change this year was, uh, the legislator capped the local increase on existing dollars at 3%.

00:47:41,070	Now, what can be confusing for some homeowners, that doesn’t necessarily mean that their taxes are going to be capped at 3%. There’s other variables that go into that. So if they’re valuation is flat, they should not see from Bismarck Public Schools a tax increase. However, if their house is valued more, um, you have to do the math and they could see an increase over 3%.

00:47:58,630	Um, general fund revenues are projected to increase by a little over 3.1 million, um. and the other thing without getting into a lot of details about school funding, but we have this thing called the deduct, so we, we collect locally and then the integrated formula deducts that local contribution at the levels of

00:48:23,800	60 mLs uh from that state funding. Uh, the other thing that I’d like to report is this is the 7th straight year where Bismarck Public School Board has and is proposing this year also kept the mill uh rate flat.

00:48:44,500	Uh, as far as the state, we were um our state legislature did, um, increase our foundation aid, but only increase it at 2.5%. So that, that was a big challenge when we have a majority of our funding come from the state, uh, trying to give living raises with that amount. Um, state revenue sources are projected to increase by about 1.9 million. That’s a combination of the per student payment.

00:49:06,370	increased by 2.5%, and then, uh, additional students. Federal level we’ve talked a lot about that lately. We weren’t even, we didn’t even know if we were going to get a lot of that, but that is, uh, that is projected to decrease to the tune of $371,000 this year.

00:49:27,900	Um, so the total increase in revenue, if you do the math is about 4., almost 4.7 million for a total budget of 221 million. Um, the only thing I want to point out is remember 1.5 million of that both on the expenditure, the revenue is grant reserve. So that, um, it’s actually 1.5 million less.

00:49:47,500	I did show a comparison from FY 25 to this year FY 26, and you can see that, uh, where we’re trending as far as revenues over expenditures, and we are getting closer to 10%, and again, to reiterate why that’s important is, um, when we borrow money, the we, we want that rate is close to 10% as we can to make sure that our, our

00:50:06,700	rates are lower than they would be if it’s, if it’s less than 10%. The other thing I would like to point out on that, and I talked a little bit about this earlier, but on the, when we hear how much the state is giving us, 11,349 this year. Um, there’s a state assumed local contribution.

00:50:26,370	So actually the state per people payments actually just under $8900 for us. Next slide shows just the benefit, uh, or a, a graphic, I’m sorry, that shows really where a lot of our money goes, high, high percentages people.

00:50:51,630	We’re in the people business and you can see our salaries consume about 62% of our budget and the ben benefits and other 24%. Um, that’s a, that’s most of our budget. Next thing is just total mills explanation. They just tells you you can see that we were capped at the 3%, so we actually aren’t able to levy the 70 mLs this year. It’s 69.53.

00:51:16,730	Um, there’s a few that are exempt from that, and that’s, um, special assessments and tuition levy. You can levy what is needed. The board has chose not to do that, but just to keep Mills flat.

00:51:36,530	Uh, the last slide, the last couple slides, I want to just share how does Bismarck compare to others? Uh, so you can see there are, um similar sized districts, plus our neighbor Mandan on there, and you can see in Total Mills, we are 2nd from the bottom and if you go to the next page we are 2nd from the bottom in average per pupil expenditure also.

00:51:58,800	Uh, we just, uh, tonight you will be approving the financial report that we’ll submit to DPI and in there we I’m anticipating just based on some others seeing theirs, we may be at the bottom next year, um, as far as our average per people expenditure. That is all I have for a formal presentation. Like I said, the, the, the actual, um, budget is available on our website.

00:52:22,870	Um, you can, we did have one Patron that asked for a hard copy, so we did send that out. Um, but if you, yeah, if you’re having troubles or you would like a hard copy, feel free just to call our office, and I would answer any questions that the

00:52:35,730	board may have in relation to the FY 26 budget Mr. Lee Thank you, President Hager. Um Dr Sher, the, uh, under the North Dakota School funding formula. It says state assumed local contribution.

00:53:00,700	So it’s assuming that we’re getting 2481 locally from local sources, correct? Do we have you calculated what the, what we actually take in in Bismarck or? so that relates to um we collect roughly 97.5% of those funds. I hope I’m answering your question. Um, we actually do not budget at 100% knowing that you have a couple things that happen.

00:53:19,900	One is you get, we all get the discount if we pay early. So we, we, and a lot of people do pay early, so we take that into consideration. And then we just monitor trend data. Um, some years we collect 95%. Actually, we collect 100% of it. The county would collect 95, uh, and I, I think in the higher it’s over 98%.

00:53:46,170	um trip That’s good Don’t see any other, so thank you, Dr Sher. Thank you. So, with that, uh, we will open up again for, for public comment, specific to the budget. So at this point, I would, I would open up for public comment.

00:54:16,630	I just want to kind of point out, and it is it is in the budget where it says St student transportation services will decrease due to the new tier 2 system. Um, I want to go back to my previous public comment about transparency, um, as I mentioned, I did request numbers.

00:54:34,900	I did get numbers um, but the numbers didn’t have context So I’m going through you guys’ budget and you guys seem very selective. on what is broken down but we don’t, so we’re saying that we’re saving money with transportation. but yet we’re not breaking that down. Um, again early open records request I got um from Dr Sher. It shows a steady rise. between our private contractor and the district.

00:55:02,000	but yet there’s no context behind those numbers. So while it’s a great thing to say, hey, we’re saving money. I mean, all of us taxpayers appreciate that. We, we appreciate you guys being fiscally responsible.

00:55:19,000	But I would ask that in the future, that if we’re going to put comments like that on the budget. that we add context behind those so that the people that do want to know how we are saving money, where we are saving money.

00:55:38,800	can, can deep dive into that without doing an open records request without adding extra time into their schedule because it seems like we guys have to fish for things, and as you guys know, I’ve been up here enough. That’s one of my main irritations is the lack of tran you know, transparency, especially when it comes to the money. So we put a comment in the budget but then we don’t add any context to it.

00:55:56,000	So the way I’m reading that, this is my personal interpretation is hey, we’re saving money, but it’s at the safety and convenience of your kids. That’s not OK, because I don’t see anywhere in there where we’re cutting sports. I don’t see in there anywhere where we’re cutting non-essential services. We have to get our kids to school, guys. So if it means cutting elsewhere.

00:56:17,230	as a parent, a taxpayer, and community member. I’m willing to pay the extra. to make sure our kids are safe and getting to school so that they have an opportunity to learn.

00:56:35,900	So in the future, and I said this last year as a board member Eastgate cut me off mid, um, mi comments, so I appreciate that, Josh, that you’re not cutting me off, but uh let’s try to be more transparent, let’s add more context. We don’t have to discuss it because I know you guys’ time is valuable, but give it to us folks that actually go through the, um, through the links. um, so that we can see that.

00:56:51,530	And I would publicly request that we see at the next meeting or thereafter or it be published online, a breakdown of our transportation costs. because like I said, the numbers don’t make sense. Um, I can meet with um Dr Fossnotch and Darren on the side, if that’s what it takes. But I do want to know the numbers.

00:57:09,070	because it’s just not making sense. We’re cutting, but at what cost. Thank you Anyone else wish to speak on the budget tonight? Hi, I’m back. This time as a teacher, um, I just wanna discuss the fact that, um, my caseload is 42 students.

00:57:45,370	It’s myself and my instructional aide, um, it’s very difficult for us to meet the needs of all of our students, uh, I teach at the high school level. It’s very high stakes. Um, there’s no money left for me to have any more help. in my classroom in the other classroom, so I’m just saying perhaps there is somewhere we can squeeze some money.

00:58:02,430	I know that we are not the only ones that are having problems, and we don’t merely pay our parents enough at all. I mean, I’m blessed to have the Para that I have and that she stuck around with me as long as she has, but we just need more help.

00:58:16,800	And I’m afraid if I don’t get more help, I mean, that she will leave. It is a lot on our plates, so. that’s my comment. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak tonight on the, on the budget? OK, seeing no one will consider the budget hearing, um, closed, and we’ll move back into our agenda, so

00:58:45,100	that would bring us down to item B, or sorry, 5, item 5. B. GC 1 board purpose. So this will be our public reading of GC1board purpose. The Bismarck Public School Board represents Les and serves the community and holds itself accountable to its citizens by committing to act in their best interests and

00:59:11,700	by ensuring that all board and district actions are consistent with law and board policies. The board’s purpose is to assure that the district achieves the results described in the board’s results policy, and that it operates according to the values expressed in the board’s operational expectations policy. That concludes the reading of GC1 board Purpose. Mr.

00:59:42,230	Eastgate President Hager, I would move that we retain GC1 board purpose. Second we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Dr Schr. Eastgate? Yes. Lee? Yes. Peterson. Yes. Presky? Yes. Hager. Yes. Now determination if we’re in compliance, in compliance with the exception, we’re out of compliance.

01:00:09,000	Miss Peterson I would move that we are compliant with GC one board purpose. We have a motion in a second. Any discussion? Signon, Dr Cher. Lee? Yes. Peterson. Yes. Presky. Yes. Eastgate? Yes. Hager. Yes Brings us down to GC2 governing commit commitments.

01:00:42,500	So this is a little bit longer read, but this will be our public reading of, of GC2 The board will govern lawfully with primarily emphasis on the results for students, encouraged full exploration of diverse viewpoints, focus on governance matters rather than administrative issues, observed clear separation of board and superintendent roles.

01:01:04,600	make all official decisions by formal vote of the board and govern with long term vision. One. the board will function as a single unit. The opinions and personal strengths of individual members will be used to the board’s best advantage, but the board faithfully will make decisions as a group by formal vote.

01:01:23,100	No officer, individual, or committee of the board will be permitted to limit the board’s performance or prevent the board from fulfilling its commitments. 2. The board is responsible for its own performance and commits itself to continuous improvement. The board will assure that its members are provided with training and personal support necessary to govern effectively.

01:01:43,430	as a means to ensure continuous improvement, the board regularly and systematically will monitor all policies in this section and may assess the quality of each meeting 3, to assure the board’s business meetings are conducted with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Board members will come to meetings adequately prepared.

01:02:07,370	Speak only when recognized. See, not interrupt each other. Engage not engage in side conversations, E, not repeat what has already been said not played to the audience or monopolize the discussion. Support the President’s efforts to facilitate an orderly meeting communicate openly and actively in discussions and dialogue to avoid surprises.

01:02:40,100	Ay, encourage balanced participation of all members, J, participate, respect, respectful or excuse me, practice, respectful body language. 4. The board will use the consent agenda as a means to expedite the disposition of routine matters and dispose of other items of business, it chooses not to discuss.

01:03:06,170	All ministrative matters dedicated to the superintendent that are required to be approved by the board, will be acted on by the board via the consent agenda. 5 An item may be removed from the consent agenda upon concurrence of the majority of the board members present in voting. 6.

01:03:29,230	The board will direct the district through policy the board’s major focus will be on the results expected to achieve by students rather than the strategic choices made by the superintendents and staff to achieve those results. 7 The board by majority vote may revise or amend its policies at any time. However, as a customary practice, the proposed policy revisions will be discussed at one session of a board meeting prior to being approved at a subsequent board meeting.

01:03:54,230	That concludes the the reading of GC 2 Governing commitments. Miss Peterson Thanks, President Hager, and just one comment on this one. I think it was really timely that this is one of the um policies that we review kind of at, at a, at a meeting like this.

01:04:13,970	I think it’s hard for all of us who are very actively engaged in, in this work and then in our community to sometimes listen and not be able to comment after every single response, but I just wanna commend, I think the only way that a coherent governance policy like this works is the way that um our district works behind the

01:04:30,630	scenes so that we get the information that we need. So I think it, I just want to commend the the staff for all the things that they did to keep all of us in the loop during this process where we had a lot of individual questions that we were all, um, reaching out to either

01:04:46,530	President Hager or Dr Fastnat and receiving kind of the one on one responses as we were getting a lot of community concerns and um different conversations and then I also want to just acknowledge the fact that preemptively, um, being able to get the almost daily memo about how the call

01:05:05,730	center was going so that we didn’t have to get those individual um emails and conversations was extremely helpful during that busy time. So I wanted to acknowledge that we, although maybe quiet up here we’re getting a lot of information, um, presented to us.

01:05:24,430	The other piece in terms of the relation to this policy and the budget conversation is just the process that we have for workshops and trainings all the way throughout kind of the whole year in, in addition to some of the community input, but that has been critical for me personally as a board member because we are able to ask a lot of different questions

01:05:40,500	about Dr Cher and um Dr Fastnatt, as we really make some hard decisions, kind of like what ends up being finally presented today. So, um, just wanna say that that is um a comment that I think as I read through this as about to kind of like, you know, decide whether we’re in compliance is

01:05:58,100	it really hits home um when there’s both things are going well and then also when things are in crisis about how we’re able to handle them. So, um, I just wanted to make that comment before we kind of decide whether to retain or amend it. Thank you, Ms.

01:06:13,700	Peterson Mr. Eastgate I’m sorry, I thought you were raising your, there was a pen, uh, without President Hager, I would move that we retain GC2 governing commitments. We have a motion A second. And a second. Any further discussion Dr Scher, Roll, please. Peterson, yes. Presky. Yes. He skate? Yes.

01:06:41,900	Lee? Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh, next step is to determine is in compliance, in compliance with exception or out of compliance. Mr. Lee, Mr. President, I would move that we are in compliance with GC2 governing commitments. We have a motion Second And a second. Any, any further discussion? Seeing none, uh, Dr Scher. Presky. Yes.

01:07:09,100	Eastgate? Yes. Lee? Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager. Yes Uh, so item 6 matterserved for board Action was the budget piece. We’ve, we’ve covered that, so we’ll move on to item 7, the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? Mr.

01:07:27,430	Strezen, I would move that we approve the consent agenda. Second, we have a motion in a second. Dr Scher Eastgateate, yes, Lee, yes. Peterson. Yes. Presky? Yes. Hager. Yes. Brings us down to item 8, Superintendent’s report. Item A, an enrollment update. Dr F Fassnnat. Good, good. uh good evening, board members. Uh, we have several items tonight.

01:07:53,070	The first one I’m going to hand over to Dr Johnson and Mr. Barnhart to give you the 10 day enrollment report. Good evening there, President Hager and board members as of September 2nd, we currently have an elementary enrollment of 6,138 students, which is unfortunately down 144 students, um, from last year at this time.

01:08:17,470	This is largely due to the good size 5th grade, um, that was at 1,064 students that rolled up to the middle school, um, coming into this school year Um, last year with our September 10th data, we had a kindergarten enrollment of 918 and that grew throughout the course of the year with 940

01:08:39,730	students, um, I think it was around January, February, right in there. We do continue to get enrollments each day, and I believe that the kindergarten numbers will grow, um, throughout the course of this year as well.

01:08:55,370	Um, so try to encourage families to, to come in and, and enroll and and get your kiddo going. Um, we continue to uh renew those, um, and or review those enrollments and make decisions based on board targets and again for those sitting here in pub in the public and those listening at home are board targets for kindergarten through 3rd grade are 18 to 22.

01:09:10,270	And for grades 4 through 5, we’re looking at class sizes anywhere between 25 and 27. Um, we have also initiated 18 district-initiated transfers, and that’s pretty comparable to where we were at last year with 19.

01:09:30,530	And just a reminder, we do have um a policy where if you move into the school district before June 1st. We guarantee you a seat at your, your school, your boundary school, and then after June 1st, we do our very best to try to make those accommodations, and that’s where that district initiated transfer would come into play.

01:09:48,800	Um, overall, you will review the as you review the uh enrollment document you’ll see an average of 18 students across the elementary division. Again, an average for grades K through 3, and you can see that with that first highlighted yellow, um, category or, or column there and then of course we have an average of 22 students across the board for grades 4 through 5.

01:10:10,530	We do still have an area throughout the division where, uh, we would consider them hotspots, any current or future enrollments at one of these schools in any particular grades that have been identified as a hotspot, those definitely go through my office and I work with my assistant to review each one of those. Um, on another note, uh, I would also draw your attention to Elk Ridge.

01:10:27,630	Elkridge rolled out a large 5th grade, which was 105 students and their kindergarten right now is sitting at 62, which has helped with the uptick in enrollment for that school and area.

01:10:44,730	They also have a 4th grade cohort of 117 students, and that will eventually roll up to the middle school and create a better balance for grade levels, um, versus having these bubbles that are working through. Also, I’d like to give you a Solheim update. I’m currently, we have a total enrollment at Soho 571 with a building capacity of 580. Uh last year’s enrollment at Solheim was 584, the beginning of the school year.

01:11:08,230	So Solheim’s largest cohort is their 4th grade um currently with 110 students and their smallest is 1st grade with 84. And then just to draw you back a little bit, when you think about growth over time, going back to 21, 22 school year, and 22, 23.

01:11:27,100	We had, and we were seeing about a 4 to 5% growth during that time. uh from year to year, and just to kind of maybe draw a comparison as a division or Dr Johnson and myself when we project the enrollment for each year. We usually use a 1 to 2%.

01:11:46,100	And so that was pretty high when you think about, um, those particular school years and so at 23, 24 compared to 24, 25 school year was an increase of just 6 students, or about a 1% increase.

01:12:02,900	and then of course, um, from 24, 25 to this current, we’re down 13 students and just wanted to make a note, we have denied many transfer requests into Solheim, which is, which has helped um over the last 4 years, uh, to help support the building capacity, uh, for instance, this year we had 8 transfer requests and we, and we granted only one, and that was due to very, very unique circumstances.

01:12:21,000	Uh, finally, as you know, Solheim is utilizing 4 portables, 2 for 4th grade classrooms, and 2 for 5th grade classrooms so that they have the same grade level teachers collaborating together uh, looking ahead, 5th grade has 4 sections, um and their grades K through 4 right now have 5 sections each.

01:12:40,900	And of course, depending on the kindergarten numbers for 26, 27 school year, we do anticipate 5 sections for all grades K25. Um, if we keep the class sizes as status quo. With that being said, Solheim has 29 sections currently and we would anticipate Solheim having 30 sections for next year.

01:13:02,070	And then finally the last thing I’ll draw with Solheim is they do have that 4th grade bubble, and it’s just a little bubble that I would consider, which is going to roll up into the middle schools, um, and this bubble’s about 110 students, and that next largest is, is 5th grade with 96. Finally, at the bottom of the document, you’ll see um BSEP.

01:13:19,600	It’s a little bit higher, um as you can see, the enrollment from from last year,, 11 note I’d like to make, um, last year we had 3 elementaries that also had BEPA in their buildings. Grim you, Myyy, and Murphy.

01:13:41,500	We did make a change this for this current school year where BSEP is no longer the site at Grimsrud and um that is because of uh just for staffing and streamlining bussing definitely helped us as well as if you look at um, their fifth grade they do have one section, but as those kids roll, roll up each grade level we are anticipating Grim Jude being a two-section school.

01:14:00,730	And so that’s going to put a little pressure on um available classrooms and whatnot. And when we made that decision um, even looking at it 4 years ago, um, we were, we had, um, single sections at Grims Jude, so they did have some viable space, but as we see more and more people moving into our community.

01:14:18,800	Um, they are landing within that Grimsrode, uh, boundary. And so um, with that, I will stand for any questions that you may have. Board members questions Not seen any Dr Johnson Good evening, President Hager. Members of the board, uh, this evening we’re reporting on the current enrollment for the 25/26 for the secondary.

01:14:50,500	When we look at the beginning of last year’s enrollment and our current enrollment. We see middle school students up 58 students in high schools are only up 3 students overall at our 3 high schools, uh, with our alternative high school, South Central being down 10, so that that’s us 3 up.

01:15:05,270	So we’re up 13 technically in the three main high schools, but we’re down right now at South Central. However, South Central has already 5 kids that are scheduled to be registered here in the next few days, and that number always increases over the next, um, month or so.

01:15:20,330	We also had, as of this morning, 11 students in the hopper, what we say, so they’re in the process of registering. So again those numbers wouldn’t be tabulated here on the 10th day. Um, obviously kids move in and out. We do see some of that fluctuation.

01:15:37,470	What that means is that middle school, we’re up 58 students and uh 3 students at the high school overall for a total of up 61 as we compare uh, beginning of the year last year or the year, sorry, the 10 day, uh, process.

01:15:53,900	We also have looked at a little bit of data, and right now we’re at 96% attendance rate. in the 1st 10 days, um, that’s pretty impressive. Uh, there are a lot of districts that would be envious. I always like to kind of point out and mind that when we’re talking about 7,573 students.

01:16:14,170	That’s across our six main campuses, our career academy, multiple locations, and one career academy at BSC at the Hughes, and now at the Silver ranch, as well as then South Central. We have plus adults over 8000 some people that are. here.

01:16:32,370	That’s a pretty big community and again we have 14,000 plus all of our adults again, uh, we compare that to a lot of North Coast, so we’re serving a lot of students in there’s a lot of logistics that go with that, but also making an opportunity as we get larger, larger schools that we are still remaining, um, relationship focused and creating that sense of community. Again, that’s teacher to student and then trust that the kids belong and they find a niche.

01:16:50,170	So, how that plays out though too, would just point your attention, as you can see from the data, but I just draw your attention to see Horizon is our spot where we’re seeing the growth, and that’s a hotspot and, uh, Mr. Bernhardt alluded to that too.

01:17:03,970	You can follow through some of that feeder and see that data that we see large numbers coming through there. Currently the high schools we’re going to have a little bit of a leveling flat as the 8th grade classes that tend to be rolling up are just slightly higher than the senior classes, but not dramatically as large as what we used to see.

01:17:20,630	So again, that’s a little bit more steady enrollment to that um point. Um, I would also point out at the bottom that there are 16 students enrolled in our middle school virtual programming. in addition to that.

01:17:38,530	So when you add that, um, we, we see a few more students there that are being serviced in that manner at this time. Um, that being said, um, I’m really pleased to be seeing that we have that steady growth, but it’s a little bit more controlled, um, and we have some evenness across our three main feeders. I’d stand for any questions at this time. Board members questions seen on Dr Fossner.

01:17:59,370	Um, you heard Dr Johnson mention the virtual Academy. You know we started that up K through 8 this year, um, really had the intent that once we hired that staff for that position, we needed 12 kids to make that viable.

01:18:20,630	So the idea was to retain students that might be opting to leave the organization, Le BPS and maybe go home education or another route. Um, we have done that there and actually kept a few and brought some kids back in from home education. We’ve just offered them a really good product. I think we’ve talked about that before. I think Dr or Mrs.

01:18:34,700	Meyer and her team have kind of reached out and said, what would you like that to be if we were going to help you with a product that could reach, uh, meet your student’s needs. So, 31 kids total is much more than we expected, and so that’s, that adds to the numbers you have for both, um, Mr.

01:18:51,800	Barnhart and Dr Johnson’s report, as he said, so just so you’re aware, we kind of added that extra box at the bottom. Thank you, Dr Faussattt OK. With that, then we’ll move down to B, um, transportation slash bell time. decision-making timeline. Dr Fassnnatt, really this is just information for, sorry, that’s really hot.

01:19:15,100	Um, this is just information for the public, um, inside the packet tonight and we can, I can ask Mr. Kunons to put it on social, um, is a link to this website, um, really from some very good emails and correspondence from some patrons saying, how did we get here? How did we get to this decision, um, how did we get to

01:19:35,430	750. Um, what was the input process like, um, we just said, OK, if people are asking, obviously we missed the opportunity to help bring them along. So let’s, let’s give them back the information. Um, I won’t say this is everything and all things, um, but we really tried and, and Mr.

01:19:53,270	Koontz and his team really tried, um, to, to collect all that information we could. So this kind of addresses the problem, uh, why we got to the point of discussing transportation, um, some of the key questions that we are striving to address.

01:20:12,330	And then really what I think is most powerful is um kind of where our present status is, uh, as far as routing, and that’s in the table towards the middle, um, so you can see right now the number of morning routes we have now, that’s just one set of morning routes.

01:20:29,800	So it’s like your elementary routes, knowing that we go out twice, um, it’s not one single route like we used to do last time. Now we break those up into two separate routes, OK? It’s still the one route, it’s one person, one bus, but we end up doing it multiple times, but then just some data that I know you and others asked for, you know, what’s the average miles per

01:20:44,730	route? What’s the, um, how many kids are we picking up before 6:30 because we knew that was a time we were shooting for, and we are still picking kids up, um.

01:21:00,800	early, um, even though a 6:30 time last year was almost 2 hours before start time, now 6:30 time is only 1 hour and 15 minutes before we, um, 20 minutes before we want to get him to school.

01:21:19,100	And so we just provided some of those data points for you, um, and what we do as far as the system, and then from 2022 through this fall, we tried to give you all the big timeline elements like when was a meeting, one was a public meeting, when it was a committee meeting, uh, one was a board meeting listed the agenda and a link to the video.

01:21:34,500	Um, we tried to give you the contracts each year, the initial contract in 2022 from Harlow’s and then linked every addendum, so you can see the addendums over time, uh, since we’re in the final year of that contract, um, we’ve, we’ve tried to link in the slides, the slide decks, um, some videos that were done in 2024, 925, um, just as much

01:21:53,170	information as we could, uh, to be as transparent as possible so people who maybe didn ’ t see this move coming, you can go back and, and see, um, information. So it was just our attempt to provide transparency to decision-making timeline.

01:22:16,800	Thank you, Dr Fostner I don’t seeing any questions from, from board members. um see. School board member building visitation assignments. Uh, yeah, um, Miss Esterbrook, just, um, Amber, just provide that so you know, just that’s for your information, and I think unless you have other questions, that’s the last I have for my parts it’ll be handed off to Dr

01:22:36,430	Scher and others, but I guess so maybe I’ll come back for ribbon cutting, but if you have any questions about the first couple of items. OK, seeing them. Uh, D, Dr Sher. Sounds like you’re taking over.

01:22:54,170	Yeah, so, we, this is required by us by law, so this is just your pledge of assets, um, so this shows you where all of our money. is invested and then how it’s pledged. A lot of it is in, uh, money market sweep, um, a lot of, you know, up to the max we do FDIC insurance.

01:23:12,270	um and it’s we, we report this at this time every year, so I would just pretty straightforward, I would hope, and answer any questions the board may have on the Pledge of assets report. Board members’ questions K, see none. Uh, silver ranch, ribbon cutting.

01:23:33,230	Oh yeah, just reminding, uh, you, and then in telling the community that on September 16th? Am I going to get that date right? September 16th, uh, 4:30. We are cutting the ribbon on the new, um, uh, Career Academy at Silver ranch.

01:23:51,270	So we plan on having some guests and hopefully you and community members along with some community guests and uh I think uh for sure, Director North Dakota CT Director Wade Sick will be there, but we have heard that, um, Mr. Mayor Schmitz may join us and maybe even the governor. So hopefully have a nice event that day. I look forward to you and, um, patrons coming out as after a very short ribbon cutting and some kind words for the dedication.

01:24:08,370	We’re gonna be giving tours of that facility. So if people want to come out there, I think there’s some light refreshments and tours of the facility. OK, thank you, Dr Faust. Uh, back to Dr Sher for major projects.

01:24:23,170	All right, so to kind of continue on that theme, uh, we do have students up there, refreshing to go through there and and see the students in that new space, uh. couple things we are finishing up the, the two large labs we call them slash classrooms and uh I don’t like painting just wrapped up, I believe today or tomorrow morning, depending on

01:24:41,370	how well they did, um, and then we’ll be starting to drop electrical drops and dust collection drops, um, this week, and we are punching that area on Wednesday, uh, the 10th, um, so, yeah, exciting time. It also include the financials if the board would have any questions on those.

01:25:02,270	board members’ questions I am not seeing anything. Thank you, Dr Sher. Um all agenda items have been considered. I declare this