00:00:11,200	Good evening. I’m Josh Hager, president of the Bismarck school board. It’s 515 on Monday, February 23rd. I call this meeting to order. Welcome to those of you who are joining us both here and also online. You can find our agenda and and follow along online under the school board tabs at Bismarck schools. Dot org.

00:00:32,100	Doctor Shaer, would you call the roll please. Mr. Hager here. Mr. Eastgate here. Mr. Lee here. Mrs. Peterson here. Miss. Miss. Out on work assignment so she was unable to join us tonight. Um, with that Doctor Foss.

00:01:01,530	Now, would you lead us in the pledge? Pledge? Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands? One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item one CBS mission, vision and Values. The mission is to empower every learner to thrive.

00:01:36,700	The vision states, together, our strong relationships build inclusive, collaborative, and innovative environments that create, agency and inspire a passion for learning, excellence and discovery. Our values are inclusion, excellence, innovation and leadership. You’ll also find a link in the agenda to the Strategic Plan. Item two is to adopt the agenda. What are the wishes of the board? Move that. We adopt the agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing. None.

00:01:59,070	Doctor Shah, would you call the roll? Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh. Item three. Focus on success. Steps to address deferred maintenance and facility’s five year history. Doctor share. Thank you. President Hager. Members of the board. Tonight, we’re going to be talking about e 12.

00:02:28,700	So with that in mind, I wanted to talk a little bit about our facilities and what it takes to keep, um, what I think are the best facilities in the state. Um, clean running and in top shape. So just a little bit about, uh, who we are and and what our buildings are. Our oldest building is Bismarck High. That’s 92 years old.

00:02:50,000	Um, our newest building is the Silver Ranch Career Academy. And that’s less than a year old. Um, it’s interesting because our average age is 47 years in our district. Um, you know, and most architects will say they design a building to 50 years. Um, but we get much, much more life out of our buildings.

00:03:07,900	And I think that’s because, uh, we invest in keeping them maintained. Uh, on to kind of other stuff. Our onda, who we are. We have 3,000,000ft of floor space. We have over 2,000,000ft of roofs. Um, we over we have over 900,000ft of sidewalks and over 3,000,000ft of parking lots. And just a few fun facts.

00:03:31,130	We have over 2000 sinks and 1500 toilets. Um, and we own over 400 acres of land. So, um, what do we spend a year on? Maintenance? So a couple of things is a couple of years ago, the board we had proposed to do our roofs a little bit different. Um, and they agreed.

00:03:52,300	You agreed. So you can see that we pay for all these except for the roofs. Come out of the building fund. Um, this is a four year average. And so you can see, along with our 23 staff that are dedicated just to facilities. Um, we spend over $5 million annually to maintain those facilities.

00:04:11,500	Now, I do have 124 building custodians on there. You know, they don’t necessarily, um, do the maintenance on the boilers and fix toilets, but they help and they change filters and they are really the boots on the ground to keep our facilities looking good.

00:04:30,800	Uh, so again, a little bit more about staff. We have 23 staff that that’s our electricians, plumbers, carpenters. Um, we do gear up a little bit in the summer. We had six summer staff to help with painting and carpentry.

00:04:48,470	And then for ground staff, we have three full time and we do gear up in the summer with four additional staff to help keep our our lawns mowed and field striped. And then you can see again the building staff. We have 124 building custodians. I just I feel like, um, this would be a good time just to talk about we have as fortunate we have some incredible staff.

00:05:09,330	I, um, I think we should be very blessed at some of the staff that we have. Um, and how they respond to events. We had a water leak, for example, just recently that, um, you know, people just all responded all the way from the assistant superintendent was there, um, down to the fire department and the building custodian.

00:05:27,570	So, um, we take a lot of pride in our buildings, and I think, um, our staff are definitely part of that. A couple of things that we’ve been working on and for into the future, and what we call our continuous improvement cycle is we piloted autonomous scrubbers, a scrubber and a sweeper at VHS. Um, we’re having problems finding people.

00:05:48,700	Um, so we thought, well, let’s try this to see if we could get them to do enough floor space. Um, and the pilot went very well. We now have those autonomous pieces of equipment at all three high schools. Um, and that results in $180,000 of staff savings every year.

00:06:05,830	Now, I think it’s important to say we didn’t eliminate somebody. We just replace somebody we couldn’t find with equipment. Um, and we’ve we’ve done this for a while. Uh, for example, we do riding floor scrubbers and riding vacuums.

00:06:26,170	You know, if you look at the efficiency of way back when, probably when it was our grandfathers were cleaning schools, they were using mop buckets and brooms. Um, you know, these new machines are 1,400% more efficient than that. And then even the writing ones, just because of the speed, the size, are 500% more efficient.

00:06:45,770	So I think that’s important that we try to continually put tools in our folks hands to make their jobs easier and more efficient. So future ideas that we’re looking into autonomous lawnmowers and what’s called a Kiva cleaning system, which is kind of an automated bathroom cleaning system that’s pretty, pretty slick. And a lot of time saving. So that’s really, um, what it takes every year to keep our buildings operating.

00:07:08,770	Um, and I would stand for any questions. Uh, board members questions, comments. Not seeing any. Thanks, doctor. Item four is public comment. The board recognizes the central role parents play in the education of their children, and supports active parent involvement in the education process.

00:07:40,830	The board’s practice of public comment reflects aligns with policy 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 Doctor Foster. If you do speak tonight, we simply ask that you be responsible. Be helpful and be respectful.

00:08:02,170	Our BP BS students deserve to have adults model the expectations that we have for them. Groups urge to select one spokesperson. Individuals will be limited to no more than four minutes and will be notified, with 30s remaining. To conclude the remarks. The board will not debate issues as presented, but will take such matters under advisement.

00:08:22,970	Uh, Doctor Frost, we had one individual last week. Any response to that one? Um. I guess I’d like to just comment on that and just give you some feedback for the board. Maybe the people listening. Yeah, we did only have the one comment last time for miss McDonald.

00:08:38,200	Um, we did go back and just make sure there was no specific questions that she was asking me to address, either publicly with her or privately. Didn’t find those. But I do want to let you know that I do have a meeting schedule with her, which is actually taking place tomorrow, so I’ll be meeting with her privately. Okay.

00:08:51,730	Thank you. Doctor. Uh, with that, please stand and approach the podium if you wish to speak tonight. Seeing no one. Public comment is now closed. Uh, monitor item five is monitoring district operations. Item A, e 12 facilities. Doctor Shah again. He’s getting getting a workout tonight. Thank you.

00:09:23,370	So, to continue on the theme from earlier, we’re going to talk about facilities tonight. You know, um, we talked a lot about this when we we first went to the governs models like, you know, should this be something that’s included or should this be something that the board just expects happens? And I think it’s both of those.

00:09:38,770	I do think it’s good to look at what we call maybe evergreen. Um, but we shouldn’t just write it off. We should talk about it. So, you know, a lot of the stuff that we do, um, we always have a safety focus on everything that we do. Um, talk a little bit about facility planning.

00:09:55,930	We just update our long range facility plan just recently presented to the board in January. Um, talked a little bit earlier about all the maintenance that happens and the cleaning. And I think another thing that’s really important is we really, really try to be community friendly.

00:10:11,830	We have so many of our spaces that are used all the time by our community, whether it’s a travel basketball team, it’s, uh, somebody putting on a, a concert, um, or a play. We really want to open their public facilities and they they are our community’s facilities. So we’ve been we have a real community friendly approach.

00:10:32,230	I don’t really have anything specific to look at. I’d say that, you know, we are in compliance on all of the the indicators. Um, and I don’t I also we don’t have any recommendations for any changes at this time. So I guess I’d answer any questions related to oh, 12. Board members questions, comments. Miss Peterson.

00:10:58,230	Thank you president. And I don’t have any questions, but just a comment. I you know, I like how you kind of said, you know, is this should this be evergreen? You know, it talks about having certain things in place. And of course, you’d always want to make sure that we we do that one thing.

00:11:11,270	Obviously, like you said today, tonight’s a theme of kind of facilities updates and so on. Um, but I think one of the things that you marked in compliance, and I think that it absolutely is, is the long range facilities plan, but we’ve acknowledged in a couple of the workshops, and we’re going to hear more of it

00:11:25,970	tonight that we’ve sort of we’ve had the long range facility plan and we’ve been chipping away at different pieces that we can do with maintenance. But I think eventually you do start to notice when those kind of build up.

00:11:40,500	And so in connection with your earlier comment about having buildings that are, you know, upwards of, you know, two years old and then all the way through, you know, almost 100 years old, we have different needs that come at different times. And so I always appreciate this. This oe.

00:11:57,630	Um, and I do think it seems like, okay, there’s a lot of like checks that we, that we do, but I also think it’s probably still important for us to keep it as, um, as an indicator because at any time, um, one of the buildings not being up to code or something like that, and things that we’ve talked about in meetings that can go wrong or an emergency, all of a

00:12:16,930	sudden the best place, best laid budget can, can go awry. So, um, but I appreciate this, this piece. And with respect to OE 12, I would accept the report as being fully compliant. Second, we have a motion a second further discussion. Mr. Lee. Thank you. President Hager.

00:12:38,270	I just I just had one more comment. You know, when I looked at the last report and you think of a 3,000,000ft of, of floor space, 2,000,000ft of, of roof space, uh, when you look at those numbers, it’s it’s really daunting.

00:12:56,900	And I would say just from my last eight and a half years on the board, um, we’ve always been very conservative. And in our approach, uh, to, uh, to finances, um, and certainly have tried our best to be, uh, um, in tandem with the business manager. I’m trying to use our dollars in the, in the most effective possible way.

00:13:19,870	But I think at some point, um, you know, you start to get a little worried about, uh, can you continue to, to do this? And there are so many needs, and we’ve all seen the Bismark High boiler, and that’s been on the docket, uh, ever since I’ve been on the board. I mean, it’s it’s a time bomb. Not not literally.

00:13:37,530	Um, but it’s a it’s going to go out. Right? And, uh, and it’s going to need to be replaced. But we have so many needs. So I think that’s what tonight is about, just identifying those needs and really, um, just finding out where we’re at. So I do appreciate, um, facilities.

00:13:53,430	And Jason, that down there does just a phenomenal job. But everybody that’s down there, um, it’s just it’s just awesome. And and they’re, they’re part of that heartbeat that keeps our schools moving. And, uh, Doctor Shah has done a phenomenal job working with them to to be, uh, to be good stewards, I would say.

00:14:11,130	Um, so I do appreciate it. I agree we’re fully compliant and, uh, you know, that’s all I had. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Well said. Uh, we have a motion and a second doctor chair. Would you call the roll, please? Lee? Yes, Peterson. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh, item B GC8. Board member. Conflict of interest.

00:14:38,300	So this will be the public reading of GC eight. Board members are expected to avoid conflicts of interest involving all matters considered by the board. A conflict of interest exists when a member is confronted with an issue in which the member has a personal or financial interest, or an issue or circumstance that could render the member unable

00:15:05,500	to devote complete loyalty and singular ness of purpose to the public interest. One if a board member has a personal or financial interest in any matter being considered by the board, the member shall disclose such interest to the board. If any such conflict is disclosed, the remaining board member shall determine whether the conflict conflicted.

00:15:29,500	Member should recuse themselves from deliberation and vote. Two A member of the board shall not receive any compensation for services rendered to the district other than legally defined and authorized. Authorized compensation for services as a member of the board. This provision shall not prohibit members from receiving reimbursement for authorized expenses incurred during the performance of board duties.

00:15:55,170	Three The board shall not enter into any contract without any of its members, or with a firm in which a member has a financial interest for a member of the board. Shall recuse themselves from participation in any employment, discipline or termination decision involving an employee who is a member of the school board’s immediate family, including a

00:16:19,700	spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or other person who lives in the board members household. Five A board member is expected to avoid conflict of interest in exercise of the member’s fiduciary responsibilities, according accordingly, a board member may not a disclose or use confidential information acquired during the performance of official duties as a means to further the board member’s

00:16:46,430	own personal, financial interests or interests of a member of the board’s immediate family. Be except a gift of substantial value or economic benefit, which would tend to improperly influence a reasonable person, or which the board member knows or should know, is primarily for the purpose of a reward for official action.

00:17:11,070	See engage in substantial financial transaction for private business purposes with a person whom the board member directly supervises. De perform an official act which directly confers an economic benefit on a business in which the board member has a substantial financial interest or is engaged as a count, as a council consultant, representative, or agent.

00:17:39,970	This concludes the reading of eight board member conflict of interest. Mr. Lee. President Hager, I would move that we retain GCA eight board member conflict of interest. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Doctor. Peterson. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Hager. Yes.

00:18:11,830	So part two, determine whether we’re in compliance and compliance with exception or out of compliance. Mr. Lee. President Hager I’ll move that. Uh, we determine ourselves in compliance with GC eight. Board member, conflict of interest. And I would second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion seeing none. Doctor. Share. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager.

00:18:34,200	Yes. Okay. Item C, uh, we’ve got another reading here. This will be for GC nine. Uh, process for addressing board member violation. So this will be the public reading of GC nine. The board and each of its members are committed to faithful compliance with the provisions of the board’s policies.

00:19:02,000	The board recognizes that failure to deal with deliberate or continuing violations of its policies risks the loss of confidence and the board’s ability to govern effectively. Therefore, in the event of a board members mistaken, willful, and or continuing violation of a policy, the board ordinarily will address the issues by the following process one.

00:19:25,370	Conversation in a private setting between the member considered to be in violation, and the president of the board or other individual member. Two. Possible removal by the board from any leadership or committee positions to which the offending member has been appointed or elected.

00:19:46,300	Three censure of the offending member of the board as a means of separating the board’s focus and intent from those of the offending member. That concludes the reading of GC nine. Mr. Eastgate. Thank you, President Hager. I would motion that we retain GC nine process for addressing board member violations. And I would. Second. We have a motion. A second, any discussion seeing none. Doctor share. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager.

00:20:16,270	Yes. Part two. To determine whether we’re in compliance and compliance with exception or out of compliance. Miss Peterson. I would move that we are in compliance with GC nine process for addressing board member violations. Second. We have a motion. A second, any discussion seeing none. Doctor share. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager.

00:20:42,330	Yes. Uh. Item six. Matters reserved for board action. A R2 one. Academic achievement. Literacy revision. Doctor Brosnan. Um, board members, we’re just giving this one to you as a slight revision to what you previously fixed or amended last year.

00:21:03,170	This is stemming from the work you did with math last time when we added the indicator to, um, focusing on the novice category. And we had that explanation before. So we’re just recommending the addition into your literacy indicators if you were so willing. So if you do, um, my recommendation just be accepted for first reading. Mr. Eastgate.

00:21:23,970	Thank you. President Hager. I would move that. We approve the revised coherent governance results indicator R 2.1 Academic Achievement Literacy as presented for the first reading. I would. Second. We have a motion or a second and a discussion. Seeing none. Doctor. Peterson. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Hager.

00:21:44,230	Yes. Uh, board members, school visits. I think we have a couple tonight. Anybody want to go first? I can. Go first. Can you go first? All right, Mrs. Peterson. Thanks. President Hager, I had to arm wrestle Mr. Eastgate for it for a little bit. No, I was able.

00:22:05,100	It’s been a it’s been a little bit, uh, between the time that I’ve been on a school visit. For those of you who don’t know, I broke my foot, so it’s made, uh, made traveling around for the last six weeks a little bit difficult. But on my last day, I was able to.

00:22:17,430	And I didn’t want to miss it because sunrise, um, led by Marsha Durham, was having the best week ever and had invited several of us. And so I hobbled my way on the last Friday, um, or two Fridays ago. Right.

00:22:31,400	Uh, the day before Valentine’s Day to be a part of that. And I was able to be on the on the green team, and we were just talking before, I think several of the leadership team, we all got on the green team, so it was probably stacked.

00:22:43,700	I haven’t heard the results of which team won, but um, just really appreciate for those of you who don’t know, I mean, different schools and elementary schools do different things. I think just to get through the the spring and the winter months.

00:23:01,400	But, um, the best week ever was an opportunity for them to do all sorts of school, school wide events in embrace the community, embrace some of the academic and different achievement indicators. And I think that it was really cool. I came kind of at the at the tail end.

00:23:17,300	So I know, um, Principal Durham was, was was definitely tired from a long week, but it was a really good week and she really led that led that team. Um, when I got there, Avery was at the front desk. I think they were going to be doing some some bingo. And I actually was given a bingo card. But of course, I didn’t get to sit and actually participate in in the bingo.

00:23:32,800	But, um, she had kind of everybody wrapped up and and getting all of the, all of the folks on, on board. Um, and but Principal Durham and I were able to go and kind of visit and we, we had lots of different conversations and some of it was really timely.

00:23:48,300	And then some of it was just as a reflection of kind of where we are in the school year. But the first thing that she really wanted to tell me was that their tagline was was you matter.

00:24:03,630	And I think that that was evident from everything that I had felt the second that I walked in and was participating in, in some of the the workbook events, but then also just in, in the things that she chose to focus on in our conversation. And so I really, um, that kind of resonated with me throughout everything that she was highlighting. Um, one of the first things that she kind of alluded to was the strength of the Avid ambassadors.

00:24:18,830	And we’ve heard those, um, you know, just the different avid elementary components, actually elementary and secondary components. But the what she kind of shouted out was just that service to the community and support of new students and some of the things that they were doing.

00:24:36,230	Um, and then that led right to a shout out to her assistant principal job with the leading some community outreach to a local, like Healing Hearts Lodge, um, which has kind of her team and herself and just different, um, staff members really supporting and volunteering at least once, once a month to, um, offering themed supports and really emphasize that community outreach and then also that

00:24:58,770	school, community and parent partnerships, um, if you don’t know, kind of Healing Hearts Lodge, there’s just different, um, addiction services and other services to the community. And many of those students, because of just the location, go to go to sunrise.

00:25:15,730	And so I really just appreciated, um, the way that they are volunteering their time, but also really opening up their doors to, to the community in a couple of different ways, which segue right into and which is really timely because we’re right in the thick of things with, with our kind of gearing up for kindergarten.

00:25:32,300	And I think that this was something that came up at the, um, the Learning Excellence Committee, but has just been something that a lot of the elementary principals and teams have really talked about, wanting to really think through how we offer supports to our families of four year olds who are about to, um, come to our schools as kindergarteners.

00:25:54,900	And there’s been different events kind of throughout the years that you guys have all put on together. Um, but this year there really was um, there seems to be even more of a need for there to be kind of a readiness, um, factor, you know, for when we have we, we, we tell our kids,

00:26:11,230	okay, they’re, they’re four year olds one day and then they’re five year olds the next day. And now we’re expecting them to come and and be prepared to learn and ready for, um, really some high academic standards in kind of, you know, reading and writing and, and math and, and just

00:26:25,630	behaviors and all of those kinds of things. And we know that there’s a learning curve. And so I know that the principals and the staff members really were wanting to talk a little bit about how can we talk with families a little bit more about what those expectations are.

00:26:40,630	Now, those of us that have had multiple kids go through the school systems, you know, by the time you get to your third or fourth kid, you know, you might have some of those some of those things in your in your toolkit. But for a lot of our families, this is their first their first child.

00:26:55,030	And so, um, Principal Durham and several others volunteered to even though this was something that we were going to that the that the, the school district was going to put into place next year, they were like, we don’t we don’t want to wait and really help spearhead that.

00:27:08,500	And so I know there’s been I’m probably going to get even though I just tried to get it right with, um, Mr. Barnhart but I, we we’ve got it at, um, sunrise, we’ve got it at Grimes Road and Roosevelt. Um, but with all three of those locations, they are actually, um, anybody in the district are open.

00:27:24,630	So it’s just not just that. If you have kids that are showing up in one of those three buildings, but parents and families can go to any one of those locations and for those different nights.

00:27:37,900	So if you are a family that has a four year old, um, we would encourage you to go to the website and you can learn more about, uh, a night that makes sense for your, um, for your family. And I really liked what, what they were kind of just talking about is just talking about routines, talking about expectations and just, you know, obviously, we know that we’ve talked about screen time and different expectations

00:27:54,830	that that we have for all of our kids. But it’s also just about what what sorts of skills do those kindergartners need to have when they walk in the door? Um, you know, and what the schools expect them to have.

00:28:11,900	So the more that we can kind of set those expectations and have families, um, working with their kiddos over the, over the summer and in the spring, um, the better that they’re going to be prepared. Ready, ready on, you know, day one or, um, early on in, in those, those elementary, um, elementary schools. So I really liked, um, they were talking about bedtime routines. Parent, um, activities, calming strategies.

00:28:33,870	Um, talking about, you know, melted my heart because we’re a board game family at our house. But just more and more, um, some of those things that just seem like fun are actually really going to prepare our young learners for what it’s going to look like to be in school every day.

00:28:48,700	And so I really liked, um, kind of what, what those are. And I think just, just more and more and we’ve talked about this a lot here and this in this room, but really about we’re asking our, our teachers to do it all, um, and, and sometimes the more that we can do that parent and community

00:29:01,500	outreach and for what those expectations are, the better that we’re going to all be on the same page. So appreciated that conversation and really appreciated, um, Miss Durham’s like, ability to just sort of not not be willing to wait when the whole district could do it as, as a whole.

00:29:18,570	But really spearhead, along with some of her other principal leaders to say, no, we want this now and we can get it done. And so, um, just thank you to, um, Miss Durham, but also just her entire team for kind of that volunteerism and just treating, you know, educators like professionals knowing that

00:29:33,730	we’ve got time that is is consistently happening kind of outside of school hours, but that the more that we do kind of in that preparation, the better that we’re going to be expected to. Um, all be ready during the during the school year.

00:29:51,400	Um, the last thing that I think that we talked a little bit about and, um, you know, obviously I couldn’t be in a, in a school without talking a little bit about, um, you know, how how either facilities was, was in preparation and that’s one of our relatively new buildings. But I think it’s already ten years old.

00:30:08,770	I mean, you know, sometimes you blink and all of a sudden a decade passes. Um, but she just really wanted to give a shout out to, um, both doctor share, but also facilities for any time that they’ve had requests and, and whether it’s been safety needs about kind of cameras and high traffic areas or when they’ve had conversations about Bell

00:30:25,370	time. And I think she was excited that even even just the the small change of the elementary starting at eight was I think she she really had noted that a lot of their parties are are short parties, like parties that are happening between that 750 and eight.

00:30:42,470	So she’s excited to see what that what some of the the problems that might be solved next year by that just again seems like a small change. But she was just really thankful for that and and really looking forward to what that looks like.

00:30:58,970	And then just, you know, talking about just the real need to have clubs and other things, um, just with it is darker. Um, so she was talking about that those would be dropping off here coming up soon now that we’re in, um, uh, kind of daylight savings time, but it just is really nice to put some of the, the real life things that we deal with, like when it just seems like a paper on

00:31:15,000	paper and the things that these principals have to deal with logistically to make sure that everything is running like kind of a smoothly oiled machine. And I know we’re going to talk about that a little bit when we talk about facilities and some of those things.

00:31:27,300	But but every minute matters. Um, you know, I just want to thank, you know, a shout out to all the principals. We’ve got a couple in the, in the, in the, in the group right here as they’re getting some of their own leadership. Ours.

00:31:42,730	Um, but just there’s, there’s so much that goes into the planning, the decisions that we make here have that ripple effect. And I just want to thank not only Principal Draheim, but all our principals for all the work they do in leading, leading their staff and students. And with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Eastgate. I think he’s got a school that is as well. Thanks.

00:31:58,170	Thanks for that visit, president Hager, you okay if I jump in? Thank you. Sir. Um, so I had the career Academy as my school visit, and, uh, Mr.

00:32:10,430	Pat Phillips and I had exchanged a couple of emails, uh, this last fall, and I wasn’t able to get over there at that time. And he said, as it got as we reached out to each other again, that there was a robotics event happening here in Bismarck, the state robotics event at the, uh, Career Academy. So, uh, Mr.

00:32:22,900	Pat Phillips, people that don’t know he’s in charge of our career academy and CTE, of course, for BS. And so I really appreciate all the work that that him and the staff to at are at our many different locations that we have for CTE. Some exciting stuff.

00:32:35,100	And this is really exciting for me because I got to see some of the hands on things that these kids are doing and learning. Um, and I’m excited to share it with with all of you guys and all of you guys, uh, tonight. So, um, as you walk in to the Advanced Technology Center, it was just took place last Saturday.

00:32:48,670	I got my eighth grader talked to me to coming along with me to check this out because I heard it was going to be pretty cool. Um, earlier in the day, I believe, uh, either Governor Armstrong or somebody from his office was there to kind of kick off the opening ceremonies. Very fitting with the Olympics going on. Right. Go USA. Um, and that’s what it felt like going in there.

00:33:01,870	So you go into this place and you think robotics, you’re just gonna walk around and like, see, like a walking building or something? That’s not the case. You need to think about if you remember the old school program, Junkyard Wars, anybody remember this? Anybody? Okay.

00:33:17,770	So you get these items, right, and you turn them and they kind of battled. Well, this is similar except for these high school students have created these robots that can, uh, you know, either pick up or suck up and kind of eat up a pickle ball, and then they launch it into a basket. So there’s two, two different baskets they’re shooting at.

00:33:32,930	I’m going to try to lay this out a little bit. I don’t have diagrams for everybody. So you got to let me just kind of motion with my hands. But luckily for me I ran into friends and parents, Nicole and Jeff Duckworth’s and their daughter Brynn was competing with the Century and Bismarck High, uh, co-op team

00:33:46,230	that was going on. So they were there cheering them on, and I could tell they knew a lot more than I did about what was going on with everything. So they they did they tour guided me and they’re like, well, we’re going to go back by the other teams here in just a minute.

00:33:56,230	I’m like, can we follow? So we just followed them down the steps ended up back, um, by kind of a robot fair going on where all the different teams were hanging out and practicing and getting things ready.

00:34:09,770	They had, um, it was kind of like a career fair, you could say, but a robot fair, because all the teams had up. All they all they designed it. They might have videos, they might have up a big, uh, folder tent set up, kind of showing you the different steps that it took to get to where they’re at. Um, for the competition. Um, when I said it’s like the Olympics.

00:34:21,300	Not kidding. So when these when these teams go out, when it’s their turn and like, uh, Mike Jacobson, I should add Mike Jacobson, assistant principal at Oak Ridge, is emceeing this thing. So he’s up on the stage. The lights are dimmed. There’s spotlights into this arena, and Jacobson’s up there with music pumping.

00:34:38,430	And and these are they’re just hyping these teams, man. So they call the teams out when they come up. For instance, robotics Maximus was one of the teams, um, and they get this, you know, pretty good sized robot that’s on wheels or tracks and whatever it might be.

00:34:52,470	And they put it on one of those old, like, filmstrip carts. Right? The old filmstrip cart from elementary school from back in the 80s. And, and they get them on there and they wheel it down through this. Basically the tunnel.

00:35:07,170	And what is great is that, again, like the Olympics, the parents and the coaches, I mean, there’s people dressed up for robots. There was a team called the, uh, I gotta find my note here that, um, one moment, just one moment. The robot’s name was Athena, the Croco bots. So, of course, the Crocco bots, they had a mascot and a crocodile costume.

00:35:27,730	Um, there was a coach wearing hard hats and hubcaps for another team. Um, I mean, they just. They just went for it. It was awesome. And they wheeled them out there and they get paired with a there was towns from all over the state. So we had small towns, we had other big schools.

00:35:39,030	And you get paired with another team and they head out. And what’s really cool is for the first 30s in the arena, the robots are autonomous, so they’ve had to do computer programming to get this thing. So it it knows where to go.

00:35:52,170	The, the, the pickle balls are kind of they know where they’re going to be placed, but they have to have an autonomous programming for this thing to go out there. And I’m I’m blown away by this because, you know, I’m still working on my TI 86 calculator. Um, but these kids have got this figured out, and it’s.

00:36:04,970	And not only do they know how to make this robot move, but it’s shooting these balls accurately into where it needs to go. After that, they basically have like a PlayStation controller and the students take over. And these are teams of freshmen to senior. Um, and it was just super fun watching them put their they’re learning their education in such a fun way.

00:36:20,870	Um, and so as I had a chance, like I said, to go back in between some of the rounds and I just had, I found him and kind of ambushed him and asked him, can I ask you guys a bunch of questions about your team and what this is all about? So

00:36:30,570	for for them, it’s an extracurricular that, uh, some towns have it as an elective, some schools do some it’s an extracurricular. And for the Century Bismarck team, they meet once a week at the Career Academy. Um, they’ve played against Fargo and Minot. They’ve been out there. I believe it was three times.

00:36:44,430	Um, Mr. Horner’s their advisor, their coach, and some of the kids that are now on that co-op high school team actually got to go to Texas last year as part of the Horizon Middle School Robots team, because they won the state competition and got to go to nationals.

00:36:58,300	So we’ve got some really great robotic kids. Um, just lastly, I’ll just say that like the highlight to for at least the school board members, I think, is educators that we should take away from this is how much education they’re able to apply to this.

00:37:13,400	So I asked these kids and again, freshman through senior year, I said, what is it that you’re putting into this to to get here? What is it you’re needing to learn or apply? And they just kind of were popcorn answering for me.

00:37:30,000	And so practicing graphic design, problem solving, teamwork, engineering, math and science, uh, computer programming and English, because they had to write up a brochure that talked about what they all did. And I was just blown away. I just thought, like, here we are in this Saturday at BSU, at the Career Academy, or at some of our joint space. And, um, it’s just really cool watching these kids and you can just tell how excited they are about it.

00:37:43,330	And what a fun way. I mean, again, to to take those learning that that education of some of that math and science stuff, which some kids, it’s like it’s just in a textbook, but to see them be able to apply it and I just think about their their future careers wherever they end up working, like those people are

00:37:56,500	lucky to get them because they’re already seeing how it can. Maybe not in a robot, but I bet they can go on to program and see how things work. Um, in engineering, world, architecture, world, all those different places. So super great.

00:38:10,500	Thank you to the duck, which is again for for tours guiding me, um, to the team. It was just it was a very fun event. Mr. Jacobson. Again, my hat is off. Um. Fun stuff. If you get a chance to go out and check some of these other extracurriculars that go on, you know, activities are so important in our buildings.

00:38:25,830	We talk about it all the time, and it goes beyond the basketball court to the football field. Um, there’s so many other things that that our kids are getting a chance to be a part of, and some of them do have a lot to do with that.

00:38:36,500	You know, kind of a student athlete, if you will. Um, where they’re getting to put that to work. So thanks for listening to my, my school visit, the Career Academy. Appreciate it. Thanks, Mr. Eastgate. Thanks, Mrs. Peterson, for those school visits, great visits. Um, moving along on the agenda, item seven is the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? Mr.

00:38:55,130	Lee? President Hager, I move that we approve the consent agenda. I’ll second. We have a motion and a second doctor. Share. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager. Yes. Item eight is the superintendent’s report starting with a long, long range facility plan. Yeah. Tonight. Thank you. Board members. Um, one. Both.

00:39:18,100	Those are good school reports. Thank you. That made my day. Those are awesome. Um, good. Good ending to a wonderful Monday. Um, would like to present really, part two to what we shared with you last, um, last meeting, which was kind of what we refined as the priorities coming out of the long range

00:39:34,700	facility plan. Um, that was pretty big in scope. So we laid out a more constricted approach. Pay me. What were the most highest priorities. And then what I promised you at that time is to come back, which is today, to talk to you about.

00:39:50,270	Okay, so what’s the plan? How can we pay for it? How can we make it happen? Realistically, not only in money but in time. So that’s what I’d like to share with you this evening. So our goal tonight is to, um, just talk about what we’ve already done to ensure our facilities needs are met.

00:40:05,630	That’s kind of you heard a little bit that from, um, Doctor Share earlier and I’m going to talk about that, but then we’re specifically going to go over, um, the how as it relates to the general fund, the building fund, and then what’s left over and how maybe our recommendation you can address that.

00:40:23,230	So, um, I want to begin by addressing what has already done, um, been doing to maintain and keep our facilities in top working order and efficiency. Um, BP has continually prioritized the upkeep and operational performance of our buildings. Um, we ensure that facility facilities remain functional, safe and optimal for students, staff and our community.

00:40:45,170	Um, these efforts demonstrate the expectations and pride Bismarck has for its schools while supporting the goals laid out in our facility plan. So on the next page, we’d like to talk about, um, over the last ten years, BHS is dedicated, significant resources to enhancing and maintaining its facilities.

00:41:05,530	These investments were carefully targeted to support the increasing student population within the community during that time period, uh broadened opportunities, particularly through CTE programming, as you just heard and meet essential facility requirements. Importantly, all these improvements were accomplished without requesting additional funding beyond what was already readily available to the district.

00:41:26,770	Um, we’ve strategically utilized several funding sources to achieve these goals. Uh, building fund proceeds provide the backbone of many of these projects. While grant funds and contributions from community partners such as Sanford played a crucial role in supporting the work at our Hughes facility. Additionally, leverage Covid relief funds.

00:41:47,630	Those are formally known as Esser funds to help defer long term costs for taxpayers. These funds are allocated according to their designated purpose, ensuring responsible fiscal management and maximizing their impact. On the next slide, we’d like to just talk about what kind of Doctor Scher alluded to is the, um, unplanned events.

00:42:12,270	While we can consistently invest in strategic and planned improvements throughout the district, it’s important to recognize that unexpected, um, unexpected facility needs can and do arise. The district has faced several major unplanned projects that require immediate attention and funding to manage these situations.

00:42:34,630	We’ve relied on resources from the building fund and the general fund, and you can see several listed that have happened in the last just several years for your, um, awareness. And as Doctor Scher said, just Valentine’s weekend, we had a significant water leak at LHS that caused his team to respond. And right now, we are still recovering from that.

00:42:55,030	And the the cost of that repair, um, we’re still trying to ascertain, um, so the unexpected things, just like they happen in our house happen in our schools. Um, so the next thing is using the general fund, I think that’s the first question is, could you use your general fund to address the needs that we laid out last meeting? Uh, while it’s permissible and feasible to use a general fund to address, um,

00:43:12,430	the requirements outlined outlined in the plan last time, there are practical limitations. This approach, um, as pointed out in Mister shares or doctor Shares presentation, the district’s already allocating nearly $4 million annually towards maintenance.

00:43:34,430	These funds come from both the General Fund and the building fund already, and reflect a substantial, ongoing commitment to keeping facilities and working order. The General Fund, which covers nearly all expenses related to teaching and learning, has little additional capacity to take on significant facility needs identified in the plan.

00:43:52,730	It’s important to remember that approximately the 85% you guys have seen the dollar graphic before of general fund expenditures is dedicated to salaries and benefits of and staff who serve our students every day. This leaves little flexibility, limited flexibility within the general fund to address the large scale facility projects. We’ve talked about.

00:44:13,500	So, um, how about the building fund? So I have several slides kind of dedicated to that because that fund is dedicated to buildings and construction. Um, so first, the building fund is dedicated to address a district facility needs. As we’ve talked about, this fund has been established many years ago and is utilized exclusively for building related projects. In the current fiscal year.

00:44:32,730	Um, just so everybody is aware, the building fund is projected to collect 6.92 million. That’s generated from a levy of 9.86 mills. I will, um, for the sake of discussion, I’ll say that up until this year has been ten mills that’s been holding at ten mills, because that’s what the levy was authorized for.

00:44:52,370	That’s less than ten mills due to the 3% caps that were instituted last legislative session. Um, historically, the building fund has played a role in supporting initiatives through the district. Um, recently, it has been used to pay for bonds related to the construction. Construction of Elkridge Elementary and Silver Ranch Elementary.

00:45:12,230	The debt incurred for these projects is being repaid over a 20 year period, with this year 1.89 million allocated from the building fund to pay off those obligations. Additionally, the district utilizes a portion of the annual building fund, um, to conduct necessary maintenance.

00:45:33,500	As you heard from Doctor Sher, um, 600,000 of that is used each year to just address roof repair, and that we take from the building fund after accounting for debt payment and addressing the annual roofing replacement needs in the district, the remaining balance for the district fund this year amounts to 4.43 million. And I’ll be referring to that in the next couple slides.

00:45:53,830	So let’s let’s say we use the building fund to address the facility needs that we’ve shared with you in the community. One approach to address these needs, um, would be to rely on exclusively on the annual proceeds collected in the building fund with 4.43 million in unreserved funds available each year.

00:46:16,170	After taking out the bond payments and the the roofing repair, as we’ve talked about, projects would need to be prioritized based on strategic importance and completed sequentially as funding becomes available. This method ensures a consistent allocation of resources, but progress would be slow. For example, just if we took the value of $100 million using the $4.43 million, that’s over a 23 million or 23 year time span.

00:46:39,700	This estimate does not account for inflation and rising costs over that same time period, and could further extended extend the time period projecting for you. It is important to consider the long term implications of an approach like this.

00:46:57,300	If the district proceeds with annual allocations from the building fund, many current and future students may not experience the benefits of these facility improvements. In fact, students who are not yet born could potentially graduate from high school before all the needs outlined in the present facility plan are addressed.

00:47:16,630	So what would that look like if we did the if we did the process of just using the annual proceeds, I would make a recommendation to use it. If we would do that, then we need to first focus on the Ada and safety concerns identified in the long range plan. First, and particularly the improvements should be made at Grimes Road. Mary Pioneer, Wilmore and Prairie Rose Elementary Schools.

00:47:37,370	These projects are essential to ensuring accessibility and a safe environment for students and staff in these buildings. And some of those projects you have seen previously, even before my time with you as your superintendent, the estimated cost of these projects is approximately 20 million as of today.

00:47:57,230	Even if inflation was not taken into account, you can easily tell that would require over five years for us to complete those projects with the available funds. Um, during that period, the district would not have any reserve funds to address unforeseen facility needs like LHS, water leak, and realistically unexpected maintenance and emergencies are going to occur. It’s just nature.

00:48:19,500	It’s just the nature of mechanical operational, uh, part of the business which would further delay us getting these really important Ada and safety improvements made to these schools. So there is another approach you can use with the building fund, and one you’ve already used before. Um, the other alternative for the district is to borrow against the building fund, a strategy that, again, you’ve used before for Silver Ranch and Elkridge.

00:48:37,630	By utilizing this approach to the district, could would be able to secure the total funds necessary to address the prioritize facility needs and a more immediate manner, rather than waiting for annual collections to accumulate sufficient resources.

00:49:00,130	However, similar to the pay as you go method, this borrowing option would significantly restrict the district’s financial flexibility for an extended period, specifically for the next 20 years. Um. During that time, funds would be largely committed to repaying the borrowed amount, leaving little to no capacity to support ongoing facility maintenance or to respond to the unforeseen needs that we know are going to happen.

00:49:22,970	So we strongly recommend that the needs outline the facility plan would not be postponed for up to 23 years. Um, the ongoing impact on students and staff will persist, and delaying these improvements will only increase the costs over time.

00:49:39,670	Um, it’s important to recognize that the building fund is intended to address less urgent facility needs are already identified in the plan. Um, as as the green items are listed in our plan, you might say by maintaining financial flexibility, the district can effectively respond to future needs and hopefully avoid repeating what we’re kind of faced with today.

00:50:02,170	So I guess it boils down to what is our proposal for you? Or what’s my recommendation for you? And I’m not asking for you to act tonight. Just so you know, I’m just asking you to listen, and I’m just presenting my ideas. And we can further refine this in the future. So the first thing I want to remind everybody about is the deferred maintenance list.

00:50:16,500	Remember, we’ve already identified the priority needs in this area and deferred maintenance. This spans 18 sites. And by our our short term estimate was 38.5 million, up to 42.5 million. And that’s an inflation factor added over the next five years.

00:50:37,370	We also have programmatic needs that we’ve talked about last time, and I just want to hit on a couple specifically for awareness of the public. And you is, um, alongside the deferred maintenance projects already identified, it’s important to recognize that within the programmatic needs, um, notably for schools have um, have plans that simultaneously address programmatic needs and deferred maintenance.

00:51:01,900	And these these four are included on the slide today. These four schools are highlighted because they currently face significant accessibility challenges, as they kind of referenced earlier.

00:51:21,070	Uh, for example, at Pioneer Elementary, one of our East Side elementary schools, staff members or students who use a wheelchair bound to a wheelchair, um, permanently or temporarily in order to reach the lunchroom. And if you’re familiar with pioneer, you go from the main floor, first floor down the second floor, actually down to first floor.

00:51:38,100	They must exit the front door of pioneer, go down the sidewalk around the building and enter a side door, um, where they can gain entry to the lunchroom. And even there they have to take a ramp down a small flight of stairs to get to the lunch line. Um, accessibility concerns are present in other schools, too. As I noted.

00:51:59,000	Um, aside, pioneer, um were efforts made to accommodate students and staff with mobility issues, but the solution remains inadequate in all those schools, including pioneer. Um, these accessibility issues must be addressed to ensure equitable access and a safe environment for all students and staff.

00:52:17,200	When we speak about in our and our plan, safety, security and student well-being, this is a perfect example of what I’m trying to refer to. Another one that I want to point out is equity. Within our learning spaces, and particularly fine arts, um, parents and community members have raised concerns regarding equity of this learning space, uh, particularly during our parent visit this last fall, uh, to century, um, the existing auditorium, which serves as the

00:52:39,170	primary fine arts, learning and performance area for the school, and Century High School students, as well as really all the schools in the feeder, um, is inadequate in terms of capacity.

00:52:57,100	And I believe I shared it with you with that slide last, uh, last meeting, the shortcoming affects the ability to accommodate the growing number of students participating in their fine arts programs. Um, when compared to similar auditoriums at VHS, LHS, or even the new Mandan High School, uh, century High School’s fine arts auditorium is noticeably smaller. As a result, it offers fewer accommodations for individuals to accommodate programs, and it also has limited accessibility for people with mobility or audio.

00:53:20,030	Um, auditory disabilities. This limitation not only affects our students learning, but the performance for our community members that wish to attend. And lastly, well, I should say. Thirdly, I want to address South side growth.

00:53:39,500	And um, this is mostly because in the fall, this was a very well attended meeting for us. We had a lot of parents join us at Solheim to talk about the facility, um, where parents and community members voiced concerns regarding ongoing growth on South Side Bismarck.

00:53:59,400	Uh, to provide context enrollment projections for Solem Elementary, um, that were part of the recent RFP report we shared indicate that over the next five years, the school’s enrollment area is expected to grow by 6.6% and peak out at 615 kids in the year 2030, 31. The sustained growth, excuse me, in this region has already led both Moses Elementary and Solheim to utilize portable classrooms to accommodate rising student numbers.

00:54:24,770	In response to these challenges, the recommendation is to address Southside enrollment growth with permanent additions to both schools. These additions would include enhancements to pick up drop off areas, which we heard concerns about, expand multi-purpose room spaces to alleviate constraints related to physical education, and lunch, which we also heard about and expand student support service spaces.

00:54:46,200	Accommodate our most new students, and that growing population. I would also say some of the discussion we had in the fall was about building a 19th elementary school to accommodate Southside growth, and our recommendation for that that we presented to you last time and within this plan is not to construct a 19th elementary school, as we see elementary enrollments, um, kind of stabilizing for the

00:55:09,630	next foreseeable future. Um, so we think we can accommodate the existing kids we’re planning within those two schools. And the last one I want to share with you is the concept of a centralized kitchen.

00:55:27,870	Um, one of the significant programmatic needs identified for the district as a construction of a centralized kitchen. Uh, this hits squarely upon one of our themes again, which is student well-being and capacity. Uh, this initiative has previously been presented to you as the board emphasizing two primary areas of impact for our schools.

00:55:47,030	A centralized kitchen would enable the district to further expand the use of locally sourced products such as beef and vegetables. The Farm to School program is recognized for providing healthier, whole food options for students, but it demands additional local processing. Um. Currently, the district uses locally sourced beef at our secondary schools. Actually comes from just east of town.

00:56:07,170	Um, um, the primary limitation preventing the same offering at the elementary level is just insufficient capacity to process and and, uh, produce the beef and put it in a packaging for we can use it. Our elementary schools. Um, you may have also heard I think I have it referenced on the slide.

00:56:27,500	Remember the 500? Um, 500 dozen ears of corn that our staff processed this year? Um, so equally beneficial, the second major benefit of a centralized kitchen is the potential to reduce production costs by streamlining kitchen staff.

00:56:49,370	Um, pre previous board discussions and so on, that the centralized kitchen could save the district approximately $530,000 annually in labor and operational costs, giving ongoing workforce shortages that you’re heard about even to some degree in the maintenance staff today from doctor. Share. Um, this approach offers a sustainable solution to protect our child’s excuse me, our food service program, and ensure our kids have nutritious meals.

00:57:10,800	So if we take a look at the programmatic total, um, needs needs for the district are anticipated to range in cost from 76.7 to nearly 85 million. Again, that’s just been adjusted for inflation over a five year period.

00:57:32,630	When you add that to the previously shared deferred maintenance, uh, results in upwards of 127 million to address the needs, prioritizing the long range facility plan, our proposal would, uh, first be to continue to use the general fund and the building fund to annually maintain the district’s facilities. As you’ve heard earlier, um, while using funds to ensure the low priority needs are addressed.

00:57:48,330	This will help ensure we have capacity to be able to respond to many any unexpected needs that may arise, and we can put our focus in the green categories to ensure that we don’t. Hopefully don’t get in a predicament like this again in the future. What we need to consider is, um, after careful consideration of the district’s current and future needs, is clear that a 23 year timeline for addressing facility improvements is unrealistic and insufficient.

00:58:11,030	Such an extended approach fails to adequately prioritize critical issues, including student safety and security, as well as the equitable quality of learning environments across our schools. I believe it’s unreasonable for students who have not yet been born to wait until their high school graduation for these improvements to be completed.

00:58:33,970	To address these concerns promptly and effectively, um, we’re recommending that the board seek voter approval for a bond of up to 127 million. Um, this would allow district to accomplish the required facility upgrades and programmatic enhancements within a 3 to 5 year time frame.

00:58:53,170	And so important to note that in compliance with recent changes in North Dakota Century Code, um, any referendum related to this bond must be scheduled on either a primary or general election date. This ensures proper adherence to state election requirements and provides the community with a clear opportunity to participate in the decision making process. But putting that number out in front of everybody may make some people uncomfortable.

00:59:14,770	Um, so it’s important to recognize that this approach represents the one practical solution the district address facility, facility and programmatic needs within a reasonable time frame. Um, based on the current district valuation, a proposed bond of 127 million, um would result in an estimated annual tax or cost of $56.09 on a residential property assessed at $100,000. True and full.

00:59:40,170	This equates to approximately $4.67 per month for residents with homes valued at $400,000 per se, or as an example, that projected cost, you’d simply multiply it by four. Should the board wish to proceed, the next step would involve preparing formal resolution documents and organizing public meetings.

01:00:02,570	These meetings will serve to inform and engage parents and the broader community about the proposed bond and its implications. An immediate decision by the from the board is not required. If the board indicates a desire to move forward, efforts will continue to refine both, prioritizing both the plans and the financial options available.

01:00:23,900	As, um, you do have access to, um, school construction loans within the state of North Dakota and some other low cost financial options that we would want to consider. So with that, I would stand for any questions you have. Board members questions. Comments. Mr. Lee. Thank you. President Hager, trying to let my mind catch up to everything here.

01:00:50,100	Um, there’s just there’s there’s so many worthy projects in here, some of them that we absolutely need with the Ada compliant comes to mind right away. But then things like Centralized Kitchen, which would be such a game changer using locally sourced food, you know, I mean, I think a lot of us are, are clued in to how important it is

01:01:08,230	to support local business. But then you think of, um, the food supply and being able to use, um, locally sourced food for our kids is is an amazing concept and it comes at a pretty significant saving. So, um, there’s always an upfront investment. There’s a lot of things to that.

01:01:25,300	So I’m just kind of going through all this. I mean, I know it’s a lot for people to digest. Um, but I think it’s important to point out that previous board members I’ve served with, the they could not have had the foresight to see that we would be under a 3% cap.

01:01:43,200	And being on those boards myself, um, I think had we had a crystal ball, um, just being truthful, the truth is we may not have been so conservative in our approach. Um, we’ve really ran things on, uh, rantings tightly, and we knew we were. And we knew we would be able to handle it.

01:02:03,230	And that landscape has changed it. It has. And it’s, uh, um, through no fault of our own, uh, and it’s just the way things are now.

01:02:19,230	So there are all these projects that I feel like we we, you know, it would be nice to get ahead of in the 23 years is, uh, what really sticks in my mind. You know, kids not even being born wouldn’t see these things done. Um, 23 years. I just had a birthday. I’d be 81 if I.

01:02:35,300	If I make it, which I think we all know I won’t, but, uh, you know, I mean, 81, I’m like, that’s when we would finish all these projects that we’ve we’ve identified. And when I go through them, it’s like, man, how can we not do this? You know, um. So I know, I know, it’s going to be a, um, a heavy lift.

01:02:54,970	Uh, but but the things I see, you know, if we wait 23 years, some of these improvements won’t be experienced by children who aren’t even born yet. Uh, meanwhile, the cost of construction will continue to rise. We have inflationary pressures. And if we act sooner, today’s elementary students and many of our middle schoolers, um, can benefit.

01:03:17,430	And we can complete the projects at a lower overall cost. So those are the things that kind of resonate with me. The alternative is to stretch them out over decades and pay significantly more and limit the benefit, primarily limiting the benefit primarily to to future generations.

01:03:39,500	Um, we’ve been conservative, holding steady on the mills, uh, that we levy for years. And and I agree with that. But given the landscape that’s changed, uh, this is the way to get ahead and hopefully stay ahead of not only facilities, but deferred maintenance as well. Um, so at the end of the day, I like that we’re not making a decision necessarily.

01:03:58,100	We’re asking the voters, what do you want for your kids now and in the future, and what would you like to see? And I think there’s a I think it’s, you know, a white board, um, we can give this to the community and see where we’re at, but I can’t see any projects that aren’t worthy of finishing sooner rather than

01:04:17,770	later. So I’ll leave it at that. Mr. Petersen. Thanks, President Hager, and I think one of the things that, um, that I always think about is, is too is like not only should we not make it just in our hands in terms of like, you know, some of these decisions and, and allowing this to go

01:04:41,930	in. I think that it’s been really notable. We a lot of those things that are in those, whether it’s the programmatic or the maintenance, have come as a result of those. Community forums have come as a result of some of the excellence committees that you’ve set up.

01:04:56,700	And and they’ve been a part of it. And, and I think that if you were to ask and go to any individual, um, person or, or community member, if you have your kids in one school, it’s really challenging to then go and pick and choose.

01:05:11,170	As I know your team has done over and over again is like, which ones would we do and which ones would we not do and which ones? I mean, I think it’s there are some things that I think we’ve, we’ve determined in various workshops or even in this room where we’re like, okay, we we can’t keep saying no to the

01:05:25,670	Ada. And so I do know there’s been some of those conversations about, okay, if if we do some of those pieces and we’re not able to get that vote across the finish line or, or there wouldn’t be able to be some of those, like items that you talked about in your recommendation that we would

01:05:42,430	continue to to, um, plug away at would have to move over to those kind of emergency items, and then some of those other pieces move down the line. And I think just it continues to build. Right.

01:05:55,530	You’re not going to be able to do it kind of all at once. And so, um, obviously I know when the public sees some of these things, you see some really big numbers. We’ve been seeing kind of some big numbers over and over and over again. And I appreciate it. You laying all of this out, I appreciate I hope that the public would go out.

01:06:12,900	You know, we’ve been talking about this for the last couple of, um, meetings and, and in workshops with that long range facility plan I’ve dug into it. I know my fellow board members have, because you really you you can’t see a project of this scope without looking at at the entire district.

01:06:30,230	And I think that’s what makes it really, really hard, but also maybe easier because there are there’s really a lot of impact in a lot of different places. And I feel like we continue to ask this group and, and with like, you know, some of the what Doctor Sherrod talked about before is continuing to then still make decisions that

01:06:50,500	are going to lead to efficiencies. And whether you’re talking about the central kitchen, which is in here that you noted, um, Mr. Lee, but also we’ve talked about ways that we’ve been building efficiencies in, in a lot of different things. That’s not going to go away.

01:07:05,030	We’re not going to ask you to not make some of those decisions, um, along the way. But I do think that we’re never going to catch up. You know, if we don’t do something like this.

01:07:17,800	I think we’ve been trying to, um, for, for a while now, but this kind of needs to get us back on, on, on track a little bit, so I appreciate it laid out. I appreciate the, the plan. Um, I encourage the public to look through and see what, um, what you would say no to. Um, because yes, there’s things that I might say, okay, that seems a little bit, you know, more than we need over here.

01:07:33,770	But then, gosh, like this school and this, this student gets this, this available. I just don’t think that we should make decisions that are like, well, if you get to go to this shiny new building, you get to have all of these accommodations and all of these opportunities.

01:07:47,100	But if you are in one of our older buildings, oh, you don’t get to until you get to middle school or to the high school, maybe. I just think that when when you’re talking about equitable learning opportunities and your environment and your facility needs, needs to be a part of that.

01:08:02,570	And, and I think that this, this approach kind of showcases how we can do that in an opportunity here. So, um, so anyway, I just appreciate all of the work. I don’t have any questions at this time. I’ve appreciated the opportunity and many of our workshops to to lay those questions out.

01:08:18,100	I, I feel really good about it, but I would encourage, um, the public to keep going through and looking at all of those individual plans. Thank you, Mr. Peterson. Mr. Eastgate. Thank you. President Hager, fellow board members. Um, yeah. Doctor Frost, not to you and your team. Thank you. Um, this has not been a this has not been a sprint.

01:08:37,230	This has been a marathon for you and your team this whole year. Um, it started with conversations internally, I believe. And then, you know, I want to say thanks for getting the community the invitation to the community and to our parents and the families to be so involved.

01:08:52,170	Um, and every feeder, multiple schools and asking people to come and share what is most important to you. What do you see from your kids as a parent? Um, and they’ve been able to go from things that even schools don’t always have, say over, such as traffic flow sometimes that we don’t have say over some of that.

01:09:08,170	Um, so it’s really gotten into the detail, um, really into the nitty gritty of what goes on in our schools. And I just appreciate that our district has continually asked our stakeholders to have that voice in it. Um, as board members. And it’s always a little bit risky to to speak for all of us.

01:09:23,100	But I think these are safe to say that we all want to have the best school district for our kids, for our families and our educators. You know, the very best that we possibly can. We also want to be responsible stewards of our tax dollars that are coming into our district.

01:09:36,770	And I believe asking the community as a whole, you know, do you support this? I think we do. Do you, um, and I just believe schools and so many of the items that are being talked about and being considered, they reach way beyond the classroom and way beyond even a diploma.

01:09:52,070	I mean, I see people in our schools on a weekly basis from I’ve said it before, you know, my 90 year old grandmother gets to come and watch her great grandkids play ball and and be at their activities. And I think having good access is important for things like that. Schools really are a heart of a community.

01:10:08,170	Um, so I, you know, some of my comments, just community members spend a lot of time in our schools. Um, and so for our kids, our community as a whole, I believe that we as a board and as a district, we do need to do something. So I appreciate that the district’s willing to bring this recommendation to us.

01:10:22,370	Although the number can appear daunting or large. But when you look at how big of a school we are, our school district as we are, and how many buildings and and community members will be directly impacted by this, um, that number has to be to do a

01:10:37,000	good job for all of them. Um, and it it’s been said and it should be repeated, that the timetable of the alternative to me just isn’t acceptable for our families. And so I look at this as a, as a viable option.

01:10:51,230	I know we’re not looking for a recommendation tonight, but really, I just want to say thanks for bringing it to us because I think it’s, it’s due. And, um, and as a board, at least speaking for myself, I feel like we owe it to our, our, our students. So thank you. Thank you, Mister Eastgate. Um, just to echo what Mr.

01:11:07,230	Scott said, thanks to you and your team for the work that has gone into this, because it has been a long process. I know Mr. Scheer and I started looking at some of this stuff when I first came onto the board.

01:11:18,430	So it’s it’s been going on for, for some time. Um, the one thing that sticks out to me really is, is I kind of look through the report and listen to you talk is the the 23 years.

01:11:32,900	Um, I go back and I look at some of these things that we’ve already done and I go, gosh, in 23 years, what what other things would come up that would change how we look at things, if, in fact, we decided that the building fund was the path and we were going to try to do these things in 23 years, it doesn’t become 23 years, it becomes something much longer because we know things are

01:11:52,730	going to come up. Um, and as I kind of sat here and thought about it, you know, what was going on through your presentation and thinking about the word safety came up a number of times.

01:12:10,230	And one thing that came up to me thinking about, um, my nephew down at Solheim is just kind of an example. It’s near and dear to my heart. So, um, thinking about him recently having a foot surgery. Well, he happens to be in one of the portables. That’s all. I’m.

01:12:25,970	So he’s got a, you know, traverse up and down a ramp in and out, you know, in the middle of wintertime, which can be icy if there’s snow in different things. So there’s, you know, safety concerns there as well from, from a portable perspective. Just student movements. And then you mentioned here, you know, like, um, I think of lunchtime gymnastics, if you will.

01:12:45,100	They’re trying to, you know, move kids around in that, that facility that. Yeah, when it comes to that area, there’s definitely, definitely a need. Um, across the district in all these different spaces and I, I just get really concerned with what happens if we relied on the building fund and we just tapped that out.

01:13:12,230	Given the financial constraints that that we have have as a district, that to me, like I know others have kind of expressed it, it feels it feels like to me that this is something that we we really do need to, to consider as, as a district to, to address these things that we’ve been talking about for, for a long time.

01:13:31,970	So those are, I guess, my thoughts and comments initially on that. I know you’re not asking for us to to take action just to kind of see your presentation, hear about it, think about it. So Doctor Frost, not. I would thank you and thank you for the comments.

01:13:49,130	And I, I would say what I’d offer you is I think come back in March, um, because of statutory timelines for elections, if we’re going to, if that is what the board wishes to do, which one you need to affirm that that you like my idea, which you can think about.

01:14:06,100	You don’t have to answer today, but then we probably need to say, what’s that number you want us to look for? You know, to achieve? Because all the resolutions will have to be, um, formatted for a value.

01:14:23,170	And so we’ll want to have a conversation early in March about if this is where you want to go and what that value is, so we can prepare those if that’s what the district wants to do or you want to do. So. Okay. So we’ll we’ll continue to think about that. Board members like to give me a chance to kind of weigh in on this next, next go round as well. So that brings us down to item B in the superintendent’s report. So transportation.

01:14:42,400	This is probably a um, a disappointing report. But um, this is exclusively um, um, probably a, uh, an operational cost. It’s not something extra. I can go out and ask people for, like, we’re talking about facilities, but, um, we’ve made the decision to, um, constrict busing or pull back busing from our Head Start program, and I’m

01:15:05,500	just letting you know that we’re going to put a press release out, um, tomorrow about that. But, um, Head Start presently serves about 131 kids and and Burley, Kidder and Edmunds County. Um, we have provided that in our bicep location for years.

01:15:23,670	But at the present time, um, we’re having a hard time all year staffing that not only with our drivers because we use bus drivers for that. And buses, um, to keep that operational.

01:15:42,770	Um, in concert with our early childhood special ed and regular special ed services, those are all in the same buses, all the same fleet, all the same, um, manpower, you might say. And we’ve had a significant struggle, struggle staffing that all year. Um, you may have seen our want ads with bonuses to try to entice people to be drivers, to help us staff that. But we have been, um, still a challenge.

01:16:02,970	I won’t say unsuccessful because our people have been working hard, but it’s still been a challenge. So, um, what I have directed, um, my team and Mister Barnhardt and Doctor Share is that effective? Next fall, we will pull that service because it’s not required. It’s not. It’s not something we have to do as a district.

01:16:22,230	It’s purely a service that we can do. We’re going to put our efforts into the required. The required is by law. I have to provide transportation for early childhood special ed and and regular ed kids who need it based on their IEP teams recommendations.

01:16:37,470	We got to put our services where we have to put it and at the expense of service that has been standing for many years in the district. So, um, I’m sure that comes with, um, it’s a difficult decision. And we we didn’t make it lightly. We’ve debated it for for months.

01:16:55,370	Um, but we just really don’t have the capacity to do that. So it’s with regret. I inform the community of that. So. Thank you. Doctor Carson. Uh, financial report, doctor. Chair. Thank you. President Hager, members of the board. Um, financial report in front of you. I’d say we’re tracking, um, as planned.

01:17:17,230	And, uh, currently, we’re a little over $2 million of revenues over expenditures. So we’re we are tracking. Well, the one thing I’d like to point the board to just kind of bring this full circle a little bit is if you go to page six in the financial report, um, line two, it talks about billing and site repairs.

01:17:32,170	Um, I’ve brought this up many times. And you can see that we are currently $230,000 over in that line. So we we’ve pulled back as much as we can, which actually makes the deferred maintenance list grow. Um, a little bit.

01:17:50,470	But I will say that’s the one of the things that would be a positive if it’s just like if you have that old boiler in your house that you keep throwing money at, and now you are able to replace that boiler, now that that that money can be used potentially to make sure that we’re on budget or even another use if we can get our maintenance costs down where they’re under,

01:18:09,530	we can reallocate that money for other student use. So, um, that’s all I wanted to really say in the finance report. And then ask answer any questions that the board might have related to the financial report. Board members, any questions? Okay. Thank you. Doctor. Chair. Um, with that, all agenda items have been considered. I declare