[16:25] Welcome everyone to our meeting. Thanks
for being here. It is Thursday the 17th
[16:31] of September 2026 and 5:30 and we are
meeting in the boardroom on Legacy
[16:38] Campus. Uh we'll begin with roll call
starting with Scott.
[16:44] » Scott Riby, business administrator.
>> Jeff Nielsson, board member.
[16:48] » Alan Grunig, board member.
>> Kathy Christensen, board member.
[16:51] » Terry Rhodess, board member.
>> Roger Pulse for board member.
[16:54] » Todd McKe, superintendent.
>> Brian Chambers, board member. Randall
[16:58] Bagley, board member.
>> Thank you all. Thanks, Randall. Um, we
[17:04] have a two special guests this evening
that will lead us in our pledge of
[17:09] allegiance. Um, we have
uh Emory Tortell and Timothy Heaps from
[17:17] um Birch Creek
>> Birch Creek Elementary here and we
[17:21] welcome them. And you c can you come up
front and and lead us in the pledge,
[17:26] please
[17:46] to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
[17:52] stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
[17:58] for all.
[18:03] » Thank you, Emory and Timothy. We
appreciate you being here. Well done.
[18:09] And our superintendent, Dr. Todd McKe,
will give us our mission statement.
[18:14] » Our mission is to educate students for
success in a changing world.
[18:18] » Thank you, Dr. McKe. Uh uh first up our
next on our agenda we have a recognition
[18:24] section and tonight we get to recognize
teacher of the year for the district and
[18:32] our teacher of the year is Darren Lentz
who is from who teaches at South Cash
[18:39] Middle School and this award will be
presented by principal Doug Snow.
[18:56] So, uh, good evening. It's a
>> It may be easier. Can I just take this?
[19:02] » Yeah, take
right here.
[19:06] » So, it's a pleasure to do this. I've
known Darren for a long time. I worked
[19:09] with him at South Cash seven years ago.
Uh, Darren actually taught my oldest
[19:15] daughter microphone on.
>> There we go.
[19:20] Darren actually taught my oldest
daughter who is a math teacher at Green
[19:23] Canyon, uh, Kaye. She's, uh, 69 years
old. And so Darren's very And [laughter]
[19:31] so, uh, Darren is a fantastic teacher.
Let Let me tell you why I think he is
[19:37] the teacher of the year. So
Darren, you go into his classroom and
[19:43] you see someone who has built great
relationships with kids and engages
[19:50] every kid. And he's done that for years.
And I think uh that is the key to
[19:55] success is great relationships and
engagement. And those kids know they
[20:01] come away knowing that they can do math.
They might not even like math, but they
[20:06] don't mind it when the time they leave
that classroom because they've been
[20:09] cared for. And what they discover is Mr.
Lance is great at relationships. He
[20:14] really doesn't know anything about math.
It's just really great relationships and
[20:18] and uh engagement. So, uh, as I said, he
taught my daughter. So, I've had the
[20:24] chance to get to know him from two
perspective as a parent, going to parent
[20:29] teacher conference and working with him
that way. and then again as his
[20:33] principal now uh two different times.
And so it's been a pleasure and and for
[20:38] him to go down to the state and make the
top five in the state of Utah. Uh so he
[20:43] was honored um in what they refer to as
the Fab Five, the top five teachers in
[20:48] the entire state of Utah. Uh what a
great honor for him and his family and
[20:52] for our district and for South Cash. So
uh it's a pleasure to work with him
[20:57] every day. He's a sounding board for me.
When I have good ideas or what I think
[21:02] are good ideas I want to try in the
school, there's always four or five
[21:06] teachers I run them by first and he's
one of them and then they can tell me
[21:10] I'm nuts and then I the idea goes away
real fast. And so he's been a great
[21:14] sound sounding board, a professional and
he cares about kids. So again, thank you
[21:21] [applause]
[21:27] a picture
[21:31] » and he's the only guy I've worn a tie
for twice in one month.
[21:38] » Get your pictures first. Which way you
got to get your pictures first?
[21:43] Go ahead.
[laughter]
[21:54] Okay,
>> hang on one minute.
[21:55] » Oh, yeah. You're not done yet. All
>> righty.
[21:58] » So, can I borrow that for a minute?
Thank you. So, my name is Curtis Kums
[22:02] and I am from the Murdoch Auto Group and
we are so grateful for our relationship
[22:09] with the Cash County School District and
we are so grateful for teachers. I I you
[22:14] know, I was talking to my wife. We have
had teachers who have changed the
[22:18] trajectory of our kids. So, we are
grateful for teachers and the fact that
[22:22] you have been recognized. I know the Fab
Five is a big deal. And so, the fact
[22:27] that you were there is incredible. So,
in recognition of your teacher of the
[22:30] year, we're going to give you a plaque
as well. Not as cool as Cathy's, but
[22:34] we're going to give you a plaque as
well. And plus, we're going to award you
[22:37] the use of a car for a year.
>> That is awesome.
[22:40] » That is awesome. No charge to you. So,
we'll that's something that you and I
[22:44] will talk about, but congratulations and
thank you for being a teacher. We are so
[22:49] appreciative of that.
>> All righty.
[22:53] [applause]
[23:02] » Get used to
[23:09] patience. Can
>> I take a second?
[23:13] » Yes. Use the
>> I just want to shake the
[23:16] » Thank you.
>> Congratulations.
[23:19] » Thank you.
>> Congratulations again.
[23:21] » Congratulations.
[23:25] » Congratulations.
>> Great job. Thanks.
[23:30] » Congratulations, Mr. Lent. Thank you for
all the great work you do for our
[23:34] students.
Can we have all those who are here with
[23:38] Mr. Lent, please stand.
[23:43] [applause]
[23:49] We all up here know that it takes a
village to raise a teacher of the year
[23:54] and to give them the time they need to
be that. So, thank you so much for your
[24:00] sacrifices.
[24:05] All right. So, if you're here for
recognitions only and you want to
[24:10] escape, this is the time to do it. We're
moving into the business part of our
[24:16] meeting.
[24:26] And we're super excited because we get
to return to our um tradition of having
[24:34] a school report each month during our
business meeting. And tonight, our
[24:38] school report will be presented by
principal Trudy Wilson, who is principal
[24:43] at Birch Creek Elementary in Smithfield.
Take it away, Trudy.
[24:47] » All right. I told um Terry and Kathy
this privately, but I might as well just
[24:53] put it out there. when Superintendent
McKe first came to Cash County. Um,
[25:01] » Gary Thomas,
>> I wasn't going to mention names, but all
[25:04] right. Gary Thomas said, "Superintendent
would like these presentations,
[25:10] and since you're the most seasoned
principal, we'll let you go first, and
[25:13] you'll only have to do it once." Here I
am again. So, um, thank you for this
[25:20] opportunity
to share the wonderful things that are
[25:23] happening at Birch Creek Elementary.
It's kind of tricky for the fact that we
[25:28] have only been in school 17 days and so
we have a lot of plans for this year,
[25:33] but we haven't implemented a lot of them
yet.
[25:38] Um you can see with a water bottle
sticker that we have a new mascot and
[25:44] the communications department helped
with this. We started um when we opened
[25:50] the school in 2010 with a lovely clip
art bulldog that we proudly had on
[25:56] everything for x number of years. And so
this is our new u mascot that we've just
[26:03] introduced in the last couple of weeks.
our mission statement. You can read that
[26:07] as well. One thing about that, when the
school opened, we spent a full year
[26:13] establishing that mission statement. And
I know when you as a board came up with
[26:18] the mission statement for the district,
it was a long process. We are going to
[26:24] reinvent that again this year with new
uh dynamics, a smaller school, different
[26:30] teachers. We thought it was time to
revisit that as well
[26:35] with our demographics.
Last year, we ended the school year at
[26:40] nearly 800 students, including
preschoolers. And so, as you can see,
[26:45] we've dropped almost 300 students.
That's still 60 more than what they
[26:50] projected. And superintendent knows that
knows this, but most of them are
[26:55] kindergarteners. So, um, we have a small
minority population at Birch Creek. Our
[27:02] ELELLL population has grown in the last
two years. And we're fortunate that we
[27:07] do have a full-time ELELLL teacher to
help meet the needs of those students
[27:12] who are mainly native Spanish speakers.
We do have Somalia students as well.
[27:18] » Trudy.
>> Yes. Can I ask a question before you can
[27:20] move?
>> Yes. Um, do you have So you reduced by
[27:25] 300 students. Do you have any students
in portables?
[27:29] » No.
>> Okay, good. Thanks.
[27:32] » We have empty rooms even. Well, I've
I've filled them, but they're not uh
[27:38] full classrooms. Let's put it that way.
>> Thank you. Yeah. [clears throat]
[27:42] um with our rise data. If you look at
the trends, um we really last time I
[27:49] presented I talked about since CO we had
really bounced back. Um we have some
[27:55] different areas where we've dropped a
little that you can see and some other
[27:59] areas that we've gained. I've worked
with Jeremy um our assessment director.
[28:05] He's been meeting with our PLC teams to
help find specific areas that we can
[28:11] improve and we're looking forward to
that.
[28:15] With our Acadians reading, the same
thing they this just looks like DNA
[28:20] strands to me. But the one thing I like
to look at with Aadian reading is
[28:26] following the trajectory of kids. If you
look on the 23 year column with
[28:33] kindergarten, they started out at 60% at
or above benchmark. First grade they
[28:40] were at almost 64, second grade 71,
third grade 72. And so that trend is
[28:47] going up with the groups of students,
which is what we like to see.
[28:53] our math acadians. Um we did really well
with our um first through third grade
[29:00] students. Kindergarten dropped a little
bit, but if you noticed, we had a huge
[29:05] jump um between 2000 or 24 to 25 and
that's when we implemented full day
[29:11] kindergarten at Birch Creek. Um some of
the some of our scores dropping, we
[29:17] don't know if it student numbers. As you
know, we were at capacity. We had more
[29:22] FTEES than we had classrooms for. And
so, um, not an excuse, just a just a
[29:29] wonder. So, we're excited
>> to see what this new year brings.
[29:33] » I was just wondering on your 2026, is
that just the beginning of the year?
[29:38] » End of last year. This is all end of
last year data.
[29:42] » Thank you.
>> So, again, it's tricky because our
[29:44] demographics, our populations really
changed. So, we'll see what happens for
[29:50] this next year
with our I Ready math diagnostic. Um, if
[29:56] you look at the top kind of middle
section, it shows you the students that
[30:01] were moved in each of those areas from
students that were above benchmark,
[30:07] unben or on benchmark, a year below, and
so on. And it has the specific number of
[30:14] students there. I feel really good that
we moved from 73% of our students being
[30:20] below grade level to 32. And even if you
look um at it, we'll just compare the
[30:28] red and yellow bars. That just shows you
the growth with our students over the
[30:32] year last year.
Some different opportunities that I
[30:37] wanted to talk about [clears throat] are
listed there. our academics, our PBIS
[30:42] program, character strong and
professional development.
[30:47] With our academics,
we have really strong tier one instruct
[30:52] instruction happening. Our PLC's are
effective. Teachers are working together
[30:57] to develop strong teaching practices
and that was really helpful last year
[31:05] when we started the new um language arts
curriculum. And this year we've
[31:10] implemented a new math curriculum. So
the teachers are just building those
[31:16] building capacity together. Our tier 2
groups are strong both in reading and
[31:21] math. We have something unique in our
kindergarten. We do a program called
[31:26] Letterland that just is more visual for
the students than a typical direct
[31:30] instruction program. And we have a grant
from the STEM action center that
[31:35] provides three math mentors. So those
three teachers are able to get into the
[31:41] grade levels every day and do small
groupoup instruction.
[31:45] Our SSL is phenomenal. She runs data
dive meetings monthly where we look at
[31:53] reading and math groups. Are kids placed
appropriately? Do we need to switch kids
[31:57] up? Are kids being remediated and
enriched to meet their needs?
[32:04] Um it'll be interesting this year with
the new legislation where we're doing
[32:08] IRPS, individualized reading plans. Um
we haven't tackled that yet. We just had
[32:14] our Acadian day yesterday. So we'll look
at that data and figure out what we need
[32:20] to do for next steps.
This is the third year we've run the
[32:25] Bulldog way program and it gives
students a consistent set of rules,
[32:33] expectations to follow in all the
different areas of the school. So we
[32:37] have posters in classrooms, in the
hallways, going out to recess, walking
[32:42] into restrooms just to keep those
consistent expectations. Our team has
[32:47] taken it a step further for a monthly
focus to practice and students get
[32:51] bulldog tokens which are like wooden
nickels. Um if they follow like this
[32:56] month's character trait is respect
they'll get bulldog tokens. If we fill a
[33:01] jar then we have some type of
celebration for that. We do monthly
[33:06] celebration or sorry monthly assemblies
also that focus on the character traits
[33:13] and a system that we started using.
We're either on year two or three um is
[33:19] called Panorama. It's a platform that
really pulls all of the different
[33:23] components together um visually, but it
helps us identify students who need a
[33:30] little bit extra just kind of on one
screen. It pulls things from powers
[33:34] school, from the rise testing, from our
attendance records, from office visits.
[33:41] So all of those things are in one place.
The new component that the dis one of
[33:47] the new components the district has
added this year is character strong.
[33:52] If you'll just go to the Thanks, Kevin.
Um with Character Strong, the teachers
[33:57] in every grade teach a weekly lesson.
So, it's a character skill. Um, we
[34:04] started the year with a week of kindness
and then we've moved into respect. Every
[34:09] grade level follows the same
format as far as respect week one. This
[34:16] is what you're supposed to be doing.
Week 2, three, and four. But it's all um
[34:21] established.
Kindergarten is going to be different
[34:24] than fifth grade, even though it's the
same topic. We are just in the process
[34:29] of starting tier 2 groups for that. So
just like if we have students that need
[34:34] help in reading, we offer them help in
reading. If we have students that need
[34:38] behavior help, we're starting to
implement those small groups. So that's
[34:43] something we're excited about.
Um oh the teach well the teachers
[34:50] Allison will laugh because I've always
hated daily announcements just my
[34:55] personality. And so this year I said
we're going to do daily announcements
[34:59] and Kevin this is not a spam email from
me. So um that's been fun because it's
[35:05] outlined just going over the character
traits. Um there's monthly certificates
[35:09] and awards that we offer the kids as
well.
[35:13] All right. For professional development
last year, um the teachers participated
[35:19] in professional development monthly over
the big five. Um maximizing structure,
[35:26] clarifying expectations, re reinforcing
appropriate behavior, responding to
[35:31] disruptions, engaging students, and we
became a big five certified school with
[35:36] that. Teachers are still using those
strategies. Um they're just good solid
[35:43] teaching strategies. This year we're
working on I Ready Math, the new
[35:48] curriculum. And we have two training
sessions set up with the company itself.
[35:53] They'll be coming to our school and then
we've partnered with North Park and Bev
[35:58] Sanders is going to be leading some
professional development. So we'll do
[36:02] that four different times. So we have
six sessions set up.
[36:07] Some challenges. I decided to break this
up just into three different areas. Um,
[36:13] school challenges, socioeconomics has
really shifted um, just since I've been
[36:18] back at Birch Creek. We used to be a
title one school and we're we're no
[36:22] longer we don't qualify for that
anymore. However, we do have a lot of
[36:27] really young families that are working
really hard to make ends meet. Um, I did
[36:33] mention our ELLL population. Um, with
that communication can be tricky, but we
[36:39] do have great supports from the
district, our um, liaison that reach out
[36:44] to parents. All the technology we have
to let parents translate things into
[36:50] their language has been really helpful.
And I am super excited about the
[36:57] boundary changes because it has really
um made the school feel more
[37:05] um calm. That's the best word for it.
With 300 less students, it's calmer in
[37:11] there. And the teachers notice there's
room in the halls to walk. We get
[37:16] through lunch in an hour instead of two
hours. So, it's made a big difference.
[37:20] However, our kindergarten is the largest
in the district and I have a feeling we
[37:24] will be filling up grade by grade again.
Um, if you've been out to the school and
[37:30] seen all of the growth there north of
the school around the temple, um, when
[37:34] Bruce Parker was here, he always said,
"If you build it, they will come." And
[37:38] and they're coming. Um for teachers, I
feel some of the challenges that they've
[37:44] shared with me
are
[37:48] um just a lot of change at once. And we
knew this was a year of change with the
[37:53] boundaries, but we have they have new
curriculum, the math um the character
[37:58] strong curriculum to put in there. And
then we've just had a lot of system
[38:02] changes. Um the communication platform's
different, the substitute platform's
[38:08] different, how we reimburse legislative
money is different. Um new legislation
[38:14] with food dyes and less computer time,
things like that. I I know we'll figure
[38:21] it out and work it out, but just being,
you know, a couple weeks into the school
[38:25] year, the teachers plates are pretty
full right now. students. Um we have
[38:31] fantastic students at Birch Creek. My
biggest challenge I think would just be
[38:37] um for some of our students, not our two
that were here tonight, for for some of
[38:43] them just that grit. Um trying to
convince kids that they can do hard
[38:47] things and to persevere and not give up
and that productive struggle. I I feel
[38:54] like sometimes kids don't know how to do
that anymore and it's challenging for
[38:59] the teachers if they don't get things
right away or they don't understand,
[39:03] they don't know how to handle that
productive struggle. Um,
[39:08] of course, just meeting the unique needs
of students is challenging. And then in
[39:13] our lower grades, we do have some larger
class sizes that teachers are dealing
[39:18] with.
But points of pride, this is the most
[39:22] exciting thing. When I go into
classrooms, and I've already been in a
[39:26] lot already, which is just exciting.
Students are engaged and they're
[39:30] learning and they're having fun. We
talked about that in our opening faculty
[39:34] meeting that that kids want to come to
school if it's fun. We have a really
[39:39] strong culture. Um, our entire staff I
feel works well together, not only as
[39:46] grade level teams, but with our
classified parents or sorry, classified
[39:52] personnel coming in. Um, anyone's
willing to help out however is needed.
[39:58] Our parents mentioned that when they
come into the school, they feel
[40:01] appreciated and they're excited to
partner with us. I did mention our
[40:06] strong PLC's
and again our parents are the best. We
[40:11] nearly have 100% participation in parent
teacher conferences every time. And we
[40:17] like to celebrate. We have the monthly
assemblies, bulldog token rewards. Um
[40:23] Allison's going to be talking to you
about our reading quest challenge that
[40:26] we just started this year. We have a lot
of celebrations. the PTO
[40:32] um sponsors everything from a Halloween
carnival to a mother son bingo bulldog
[40:38] mile and the things that they're going
to do to help our reading program. So it
[40:44] is a great day to be a Birch Creek
Bulldog.
[40:48] Thank you for all your support. It it's
felled at the schools and I know you
[40:53] have a really hard job and we appreciate
what you do. Do you have any questions
[40:57] for me?
Thank you for your presentation.
[41:02] » Thank you
>> for all you do.
[41:03] » Thanks.
>> Thanks, Trudy.
[41:06] » That was awesome.
>> All right. Thanks, Terry.
[41:11] [applause]
[41:17] » It says Trudy Wilson, but I'm actually
Allison Fontacco. I teach third grade at
[41:21] Birch Creek. And um when we met last
year at the end of the year, we were
[41:28] struggling with some of the reading
programs that we had available to us. Um
[41:33] we had gone through and we've done the
testing like the AR that I grew up with
[41:37] and the cost just got so high we
couldn't do that anymore. And then we've
[41:41] had some great businesses that have done
great donations to help do great things
[41:46] in our classes, but we were finding that
in our younger grades, they were
[41:51] unengaged because they were unable to do
it by themselves. And then in our older
[41:56] grades, they just weren't getting
rewards as often as they needed to in
[42:01] order to stay engaged. And so we had a
big meeting about what it would look
[42:05] like and Trudy was like, "Run with it,
Allison." And I was like, "Let's do it.
[42:11] So, I came up with the Bulldog Book
Quest. And will you go forward just one
[42:18] more for me? Um, you had to change your
mind about reading. Readers are going to
[42:22] read. So, um, we didn't want to do a
minutesbased one because your kids that
[42:27] are going to read three hours a day are
still going to read three hours a day,
[42:30] but we wanted everybody reading because
you can't raise reading scores without
[42:35] practice. And so, we started with a
letter out to parents. So, if you'll
[42:40] click that and it just explained the
difference. We wanted consistency over
[42:46] quantity. And of course, we still want
quantity, but we're going to start with
[42:50] consistency. And so, we told them, we
explained to them like this is how it's
[42:54] different and this is how it works. And
a lot of our rewards uh are free or very
[43:01] cheap. You know, lollipops for 10 days
worth of reading or wear a hat day to
[43:06] school. Um, Trudy was great in with our
cute new logo. We've got water bottle
[43:11] stickers that kids get to earn. And then
the other thing that we've done is we've
[43:15] reached out to local businesses and they
have been amazing to donate gifts and
[43:21] things like that. She talked about our
awesome parents. They've also done this.
[43:25] And so we came up with an Amazon wish
list and I think it's at level fiveish
[43:31] somewhere in there. they can get a
ticket and then at the end of the year
[43:35] they can spend a ticket for a chance to
win those prizes that we've had donated.
[43:39] And so overall, it's been a cheaper way
to do this, but it's giving kids the
[43:43] ability to do it. Um I had my first
bookmarks turned in today and I've got
[43:47] kids who are like, "Oh, I'm just a day
away." And they're so excited. And the
[43:52] reason that it works is it's simple and
easy for parents and kids. For teachers,
[43:57] it's really easy because we they give us
a bookmark and sometime throughout that
[44:02] day, we just say, "Here you go. Here's
all your stuff." We organized it well
[44:06] and we made it very user friendly for
all the teachers. So, literally, they
[44:09] were given something and it was all
done. They had to cut out some
[44:12] bookmarks, but other than that, it was
pretty easy. Um, I think this is kind of
[44:17] what our bookmarks look like. So, it
just gives simple directions on the
[44:21] front. It has the prize on there and
then parents just initial. They can only
[44:26] initial one book per day. And so they do
the date and the initials. And then when
[44:31] they come back, I have just like a vase
and I'm putting all the bottom parts in
[44:36] so we can see how many we earn over the
year. I think it'll be really fun. And
[44:40] then those are just kind of some
examples of the first six of them. We
[44:44] have 13 levels overall. And then we're
also doing a school tracking system. Um,
[44:49] everybody, every teacher had to come up
with something that they put on our
[44:54] library wall and we have percentages
across that. And every month, basically
[45:00] what we want is we want every child to
earn 13 bookmarks by the end. So that's
[45:05] your classroom goal. Everybody's goal is
a little bit different depending upon
[45:08] their class size. And every month,
teachers go in and they put how many
[45:13] bookmarks they've had turned in in their
class. And then our awesome librarian,
[45:17] um, Mari Balls, is moving all of our
things across so the kids have a good
[45:21] way to be able to see it throughout the
year. And if we start falling behind, I
[45:25] can be like, "Guys, you got to get those
bookmarks in. I don't want to lose to
[45:29] whatever teacher I'm competing with that
month." [laughter]
[45:32] Um, and then we also were able to get
donations. Like I said, we went to
[45:37] businesses and we went to our PTO. We've
asked every teacher to just get one
[45:41] donation, which is lots of prizes for
us. And then we've also asked the PTO to
[45:46] help us. And then I've already reached
out to some companies and they've been
[45:50] great. Costco was great. They already
gave us $100 and so we're going to use
[45:53] that to get our drinks this year. So
that should be good. And overall I think
[45:58] it's been really awesome. And then I
think that's it. Thank you.
[46:04] » Thank you.
[applause]
[46:09] » Thanks Allison. I want to be in your
class next time I'm in third grade.
[46:12] Okay, come on over anytime.
>> You need to come in a few weeks and look
[46:17] at the library. Just all of the teachers
have created their AI racers. And so
[46:24] » Mr. Rigs is riding a mosquito and we
have some on dinosaurs, of course, some
[46:31] in fancy race cars. They're cute.
>> So, how many weeks do we need to give
[46:36] you before we show in?
pro
[46:41] I don't know
>> pro probably a month or two at least.
[46:44] » Okay. [laughter] All right. We'll show
up sometime in November.
[46:48] » We just barely started in September
because we were waiting till
[46:51] kindergarten started and then we gave
them a week to, you know, settle in and
[46:55] we started it right after uh Labor Day.
>> Great. That's super exciting. Thank you
[47:00] both for being here. We appreciate it.
>> Okay. Uh,
[47:08] next up is public input. We have no
public input this evening and so we'll
[47:14] move on to our consent agenda and I will
take a motion to either approve or amend
[47:20] our consent agenda.
>> I move that we approve the consent
[47:23] agenda.
>> Second.
[47:25] » It's been moved and seconded that we
approve the consent agenda as printed.
[47:30] Any discussion to that motion?
All right, we will vote electronically.
[47:37] » We are going to try it.
Second and
[47:42] let me know if you have that pop up.
>> Worked.
[47:49] » Amazing.
>> That is amazing.
[47:52] » Mine didn't pop up.
[47:58] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[47:59] » I approve.
>> Okay. Um, all of the votes are in and
[48:02] they are unanimous.
>> Thank you, Scott. Uh, moving on, we are
[48:06] to our action agenda and we have four
policies that we have already heard
[48:14] information about. Um, most of them two
weeks ago in our board uh study session.
[48:21] So, these are up for action
tonight. And superintendent, do you want
[48:27] to speak to any of these first or do you
want us to just
[48:30] » Yes. Yes, please. Let me just speak to
them maybe collectively.
[48:33] » Okay.
>> And then if there are questions, I'm
[48:35] happy to respond. Uh before you this
evening, uh board are are four policies
[48:40] that really try to capture what has been
in practice in the district. Um but to
[48:46] uh put it into board policy so that we
have clear parameters around um
[48:51] expenditures when it comes to um
employee cell phones when it's
[48:55] appropriate uh for for district
purposes, employee meals and recognition
[49:01] uh clothing and any u employee travel.
Uh this is intended again just to give
[49:08] good guidance and parameters to ensure
that all dollars being spent by the
[49:12] district are going directly to um
furthering the mission of the district
[49:17] and its objectives and goals.
>> All right. So first up we have the
[49:24] employee travel policy. I'll take a
motion to approve or amend this policy.
[49:32] » I move to um
Approve.
[49:35] » Approve. My gosh. Uh to approve the
employee travel policy.
[49:40] » I second.
>> Good.
[49:41] » It's been moved and seconded that we
approve the employee travel policy as
[49:45] printed. Any discussion to this motion?
>> All right. We'll vote electronically.
[49:54] » Came up this time. [clears throat]
>> It worked. The vote motion carries
[49:59] unanimously.
>> Thank you, Scott. Next we have uh meals
[50:06] in within the district, not travel
meals. Uh those are accounted for
[50:11] differently, but meals within the
district and employee recognition
[50:15] policy. Uh this is a new policy and I
will take a motion to approve or amend
[50:21] this policy.
[50:24] » I move to approve the meals other than
travel and employee recognition policy.
[50:31] I second.
>> It's been moved and seconded that we
[50:34] approve the meals and employee
recognition policy
[50:39] uh as printed. Any discussion to this
motion?
[50:43] All right, we'll vote electronically.
>> Motion carries unanimously.
[50:50] » Thank you, Scott.
Uh the next the third
[50:56] policy is clothing and uniform allowance
policy. This is also a new policy and
[51:02] I'll take a motion to approve or amend
this policy.
[51:09] » I move that we accept the what is it?
The clothing and
[51:13] » uniform
>> uniform uh policy.
[51:18] » Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded that we
[51:21] approve the clothing and uniform
allowance policy as printed. Any
[51:25] discussion to that motion?
Seeing none, we'll vote electronically.
[51:36] » All votes are in and the motion carries
unanimously.
[51:38] » Thank you, Scott.
Uh, last policy in our action agenda is
[51:44] the wireless communication policy. This
is also a new policy and includes some
[51:49] procedures. I'll take a motion to amend
or approve this policy as printed. I
[51:56] make a motion to approve the wireless
communications policy.
[52:00] » I second.
>> It's been moved and seconded that we
[52:03] approve the wireless communication
policy as printed. Any discussion to
[52:07] that motion?
>> Seeing none, we'll vote electronically.
[52:16] » All votes are in and motion carries
unanimously.
[52:19] » Great. Thank you all. That gets us
through our action agenda for this
[52:23] evening. And next up is our reports
agenda. First on that agenda is uh Scott
[52:29] Riby with our monthly financial report.
>> Thank you, President Rhodess. Um just a
[52:34] few things that uh wanted to go over
with you. I know that you have the
[52:37] appropriations and all of the reports
that uh I have sent to the board. I hope
[52:43] you've had a chance to preview and to
look at those. Just a few points that
[52:47] I'd like to make as far as ongoing
audits. uh had a chance to talk to Cindy
[52:52] Parkinson, our CTE director, and she
said that the state review is finished,
[52:57] but they are doing a federal audit, a
federal programs for CTE, and Cindy is
[53:03] waiting for the state and waiting for
audit instructions that will be coming
[53:08] uh shortly for that.
>> What What CTE programs are federally
[53:15] funded?
>> I believe it is it Perkins
[53:16] » Perkins funds.
>> Yes.
[53:18] » And what do those fund? So CTE is funded
both federally and by the state.
[53:24] » Okay.
>> And those dollars go into overall CTE.
[53:28] So it's not that they specifically fund
a a program over another. It's CT in
[53:33] general.
>> So what does Perkins mean?
[53:35] » Perkins is the name of the the federal
statute that that granted those federal
[53:40] funds and that was implemented oh
decades ago.
[53:43] » All right. I didn't realize those were
just CTE funds.
[53:47] » Yes. All right. Thank you. Carry on,
Scott.
[53:50] » Okay. Thank you. No, no, no worries.
>> Um, just also want to uh talk about our
[53:56] external uh auditors. We are finishing
up with our external auditors uh Richie
[54:01] May who are our auditors. They were on
site for two weeks and this last week we
[54:07] have been following up with them uh
trying to to finish up the requests that
[54:12] they have they have asked for. Um and so
we we we have a few items left that uh
[54:19] fixed assets and school fees that we are
continuing to to finish up for them. Um
[54:24] and and just have to give a shout out to
our business office. They have been
[54:27] absolutely fantastic. Um I wish you
could be there while we uh watch the
[54:33] audit, but it's a constant stream of our
auditors going in and out of offices and
[54:38] uh some days that can get very tedious
with all of the other uh things that we
[54:42] have to do. But it's it's it's a great
opportunity. Um when the uh auditors are
[54:48] finished up, we will report to the board
and they will have recommendations and
[54:53] we'll be able to have that report. I
believe it's in uh October, November
[54:58] time frame.
>> Um also wanted to report that we have
[55:02] been doing some middle school and high
school fraud training. Cody Leman, our
[55:07] new financial director, who has been
fantastic, and I have been working to
[55:11] train the high school and the middle
school principles and their secretaries
[55:16] in fraud prevention and training. The
last few weeks, a few weeks ago, we did
[55:20] the secondary principles, the high
school principles. Uh just this past
[55:26] week, we did the middle school
principles. Um and the training took an
[55:30] hour. We took a training that was uh
taken from the USB office on fraud
[55:36] prevention and modified that for our
school district so that we can make them
[55:40] aware and understand the things that
they need to be aware of to be aware of
[55:46] fraud and to take the necessary steps to
avoid that. This training was completed
[55:51] over the past couple weeks. We will also
be vis visiting schools onsite over the
[55:56] next several months to assist and to
address any concerns or issues that they
[56:00] may have and also follow up with the
fraud training to make sure that the
[56:05] things that we have talked about are
being implemented.
[56:08] That is the report that I've got. Does
anyone have any questions or concerns
[56:12] they would like to bring up?
>> Thank you.
[56:16] » You're welcome. Any questions?
>> Have we heard anything about our truth
[56:19] and taxation?
So yes, um I have visited the uh Utah
[56:26] state tax compliance website and it
shows that our uh truth and taxation has
[56:33] been approved uh from the the website.
We haven't received an official letter
[56:38] from the tax commission and so I'm
waiting for that to to come.
[56:42] » All right.
>> Thanks for checking on that, Scott. We
[56:45] appreciate that.
Uh, next we have uh board member
[56:50] reports. Anyone who has something they
want to report on.
[56:54] » I have one question about the new
elementary school. Derek, are we still
[56:58] on for tomorrow and getting things moved
in?
[57:01] » Yes, they've actually been working on it
um throughout the week. Um, and tomorrow
[57:08] they're just doing kind of their final
move from the host schools. Um, but it's
[57:14] looking the the rooms are looking pretty
good. Kevin's team's done amazing the
[57:19] last few days. Um, especially just the
big push to get all the technology up
[57:24] and going. So, they're following the
contractors and checking. So, it's
[57:29] looking good.
>> Okay. Is there a time when I could come
[57:32] and help?
>> Um,
[57:38] yeah. tomorrow. Um, anytime after 4,
uh, they will be done with their they're
[57:46] doing some trainings from about 2:30 to
4 and then anytime after that, um,
[57:53] they've got some district teams coming
to help. Um, so yeah, any anytime after
[57:58] that, we've been there. We've had
district teams there helping this week
[58:02] and um most of the teachers are pretty
set, but if you would like
[58:06] » any any chance before four because
that's the time I have to not be there.
[58:10] » Um yeah. Um Amy McNeill is planning on
being there most of the day just
[58:16] answering questions. So [clears throat]
like I showed up today before the
[58:20] teachers got there and she had me go um
unpack some boxes. So um I can I can let
[58:26] her know that you'll stop by.
>> Okay.
[58:28] » So she'll be there. Thank you.
>> All right. Thanks, Alan. Anyone else?
[58:34] » Yeah.
>> Awesome.
[58:35] » Uh it was a really neat opportunity to
go to Nibbi Elementary two weeks ago. Uh
[58:41] the Garf Foundation uh uh attended and
celebrated Nibbi Elementary in
[58:49] preparation for this new program that
they'll be launching across the state.
[58:53] Um we're a pilot district. I was so
impressed with the um the organization
[59:01] of it. Um cameras everywhere, drones
flying above. It was it was awesome.
[59:09] » Can you explain the program to us, the
pilot program?
[59:12] » So, the Gar Foundation I there are so
many nice people in the state of Utah
[59:18] and Superintendent McKe might
>> go ahead please. Yeah, you'll do a
[59:22] better job. So um [clears throat]
two thing is it's it's we were fortunate
[59:27] in that um
with the Olympics plan for 2034 the GH
[59:33] foundation is taken on a particular
aspect of trying to support the Olympics
[59:38] there that aspect is through education
um with the the initiative across the
[59:44] state for early literacy uh they
determined that that was the area that
[59:48] they wanted to help the most and so
they've identified seven um early
[59:53] adopters um or pilot districts. We're
one of those seven that have been
[59:58] selected. Uh their intention is to try
to support every way they can uh two
[1:00:03] aspects early literacy. So how do we
incentivize students um to read and then
[1:00:10] how do we support teachers as they're
they're instructing in literacy and then
[1:00:15] the second the second um effort of the
foundation is around improving
[1:00:19] attendance. And so they've put together
this campaign with incentives. Um they
[1:00:25] have an app for students to track their
their reading minutes. They're providing
[1:00:30] uh dollars to schools to support them.
Um all is in in terms of a leadup and as
[1:00:36] pilot districts, we're full participants
at this point. Their intention is as we
[1:00:41] get closer to the Olympics that this
will go statewide to every district in
[1:00:44] the state. So, we're we're kind of at
the table helping them work out some of
[1:00:49] the kinks and some of the unforeseen
um pitfalls with with their plan. Um but
[1:00:56] we're also benefiting and in that um in
the kickoff they they called it an
[1:01:01] opening ceremony just like the Olympics.
Uh they had some Olympic athletes there
[1:01:07] including a parolympian
uh that were there to in uh to encourage
[1:01:13] and uh motivate students really powerful
particularly the the parolympic uh
[1:01:18] athlete who is a double amputee below
the knee um and competes in skiing and
[1:01:24] he was able to talk about his story and
how he's overcome challenges in his
[1:01:30] life. Um, all that to say is, you know,
Nibi is is been kind of our uh pilot
[1:01:37] school for the program and they embraced
it and did a remarkable job. It was a
[1:01:42] busy day uh because unbeknownst to all
of us, they not only had an assembly
[1:01:47] with the Gar Foundation, but they had
later in the day had a second assembly
[1:01:51] with Utah State. And so it was a lot for
that staff. Um, but it's something that
[1:01:57] students re will remember.
>> Awesome. Are all of our schools
[1:02:01] participating, Nick?
>> Most of our schools are participating at
[1:02:04] this point. I can't couldn't say that
all of them. Um, it did require uh
[1:02:09] schools to shift um platforms. Many of
them are using an an app of some sort to
[1:02:15] track minutes. Um, and most of them have
gravitated to the the GRF um app. Uh,
[1:02:22] there are some others that are still
using a legacy app of some sort.
[1:02:26] » Okay.
Thanks. Any other board member reports?
[1:02:32] All right. My the board president for
the board president report, I need to
[1:02:37] remind you, you should have received an
email today from Tanya um asking who is
[1:02:43] planning to attend the USBA regional
meeting to discuss upcoming legislation.
[1:02:49] Um that's Tuesday, September 29th at 6
PM at Maddox.
[1:02:56] And um
so Tanya needs a count of who's going
[1:03:04] and
also you should have received an invite
[1:03:09] from uh USBA
to participate in a Canvas course.
[1:03:16] Canvas is the new platform for the
master board certification
[1:03:20] and they just barely got it up and
running but the deadline is still the
[1:03:26] same which is December 1st. So we all
need to get on the new canvas um
[1:03:32] platform and uh take care of the
professional development that's
[1:03:38] available there so that we can before
December 1st so that we can qual
[1:03:43] continue as a as a master board.
And that's the end of my report. Thank
[1:03:52] you all for your excellent work. There
was also a legislative lunch and we had
[1:03:57] an invite too. We need to That's right.
>> need to reply to that.
[1:04:02] » It's coming up October 5th.
>> October 5th.
[1:04:07] Um is the
is that October 5th? Is that the
[1:04:14] » Logan
>> RSVP date or the
[1:04:19] lunch date?
>> I thought that was the launch date,
[1:04:21] wasn't it?
>> That's what I thought, too. Yeah, I
[1:04:23] think it's mistake.
>> All right. So, as long as you're all
[1:04:26] aware, it sounds like you're all aware
of it and you can RSVP for that as well.
[1:04:32] Uh, superintendent.
>> Yes, thank you. Just one item for the
[1:04:36] board. As you're aware, um, we have
finally cleared inspections at Old
[1:04:41] Ephraim and students are are going to be
starting Monday. Um,
[1:04:46] » wow.
>> We're very excited about that. I know
[1:04:50] the community is very excited about
that. I just want to express my
[1:04:54] gratitude um to all involved. It's been
a challenge and a struggle um these last
[1:05:01] couple of weeks as we've tried to to
manage that um to allow the the
[1:05:07] contractors time to finish up their
work. So there I know there's been
[1:05:11] stress on the community on parents as
they've had to shuffle students back and
[1:05:15] forth and they've had to ride buses.
It's there've been a lot of um anxiety
[1:05:19] on the part of teachers as they've
started school and now they're packing
[1:05:23] up and going to have to restart school
next week in their new location. Um, but
[1:05:29] I I hand it to um our contractor to Don
Adams, our facilities manager, all of
[1:05:35] our departments from facilities to
technology, transportation across the
[1:05:40] board, everyone has stepped in and
really have have done their very best um
[1:05:46] to ensure that students did not miss out
on learning. And I'm just grateful to
[1:05:51] everyone for their their work. It it has
been a heavy lift. Um, but it's amazing
[1:05:57] to see how pe everyone has come together
and to pull this off. And so we're all
[1:06:02] excited. We'll all celebrate next week
when the the children entered old
[1:06:06] Ephraim. And that's my report.
>> That's an exciting report. It
[1:06:10] » is.
>> All right. Anything else? Anyone speak
[1:06:15] now or hold your peace? [laughter]
Uh we will adjourn
[1:06:21] until
Thursday, October 1st at 5:30.