[0:13] All right. We'll call this regular open forum public input session to order. It looks like we have one person signed up and an insult >> to come up. Andy, I have a statement I'm going to read here before you start.
[0:33] the >> grand rapids area schools board of education shall provide a specific period of time where persons may address the school board on any topic subject to the limitation of policy 2 or 6 those wishing to address the school board during open forum or public input must attend in person. All individual comments shall be less than five minutes.
[0:51] any group of five or more persons must appoint one person to present the group's views to the board depending on the number of persons present. The school board chair reserves the right to set further time limits to allow participation within the allocated time.
[1:12] the board shall not allow negative comments in public sessions about individual employees or students specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries but the board shall not deliberate or decide regarding any issue that is not included in the agenda posted within the notice of the meeting. If there are more requests in time available priority will be given to persons that reside within the grand rapids area schools school district. All right.
[1:29] go ahead. Perfect. Excuse me. >> oh, good evening, members of the board. My name is. And so I'm here tonight as lola mansell's father. Mainly my wife and I provided you by email a packet that you all should have gotten. And that's what I wanted to address tonight.
[1:45] I want to begin by saying something clearly we are not asking you to excuse my daughter's mistakes by any means. We believe in accountability. Lola was held accountable for a chemical eligibility related violation. She served that consequence. She changed her behavior, changed who she associates with has gotten a job, is taking advanced placement classes and has worked very hard to move forward.
[2:05] our concern is what happened next. The chronology is simple. In april of 2025 an earlier alcohol related incident occurred off campus in december of 2025, lola was involved in a vaping related incident violation. The school learned about that incident, disciplined her.
[2:27] lola served that suspension in the spring athletic season of 2026 and then in july of 2026 the school received an image from an earlier april 2025 incident the first incident I spoke about because that earlier incident was reported later the school district treated lola as second progressive violation and imposed the more severe consequences during this year's swim season. That is the issue.
[2:48] the incident >> that happened first is being treated as a second progressive offense simply because it was reported to the school. Second, this does not allow for the acknowledgment of growth within a student. Superintendent gross has acknowledged the unusual chronology of these events.
[3:07] he also told us that after contacting the minnesota state high school league, the league was hesitant to take a position on this because >> its bylaws do not speak to this chronology. We were later informed by dale christie that he received verbal guidance from the state high school league that supports of violations are being viewed in the order they reported than the order they occurred. This was only verbal despite repeated >> requests.
[3:28] estey 318 of the minnesota high school league have not provided us with written policy language that clearly establishes this rule. It's because there isn't one and that matters. Progressive >> discipline should have a progression to it. Students make mistakes, receive consequences, learn from those consequences and if the student later repeats that behavior, the consequences become more serious.
[3:49] here the conduct being used to impose the more serious consequence happened approximately eight months before the violation for which lol had already been punished and 20 months in chronological timeline.
[4:08] >> if the behavior was not ongoing or subsequent I believe that the board should seriously examine the more severe punishment for the early conduct that serves a corrective purpose as a progressive discipline. At some point the absence of clearly written guidance from the minnesota state high school league cannot become the justification to continue imposing significant consequences on a student and want to explain what that consequent actually meant for my family. High school is finite. High school athletics are finite.
[4:28] a misdemeanor cannot be given back six months from now. There is no make up session. Lawlor will never be a 16 year old swimming with this group of students again. It's gone. During her suspension, will it continue to go to practice? She continued supporting her team in many ways. She became an assistant coach.
[4:46] coach rossi last week publicly commented and thanked my daughter for the effort she's put in and the resilience she's shown and how she stepped up and acted as a coach this past weekend was the final meet in which lola was suspended. It's the hibbing invite. She was allowed to be on deck. She coached. She kept split times for the students.
[5:01] she encouraged her teammates and cheered for them. Grand rapids won that meet. The team celebrated and they hoisted the trophy together. Then they gathered for the team photograph. All of us told she could not be in the picture but was asked to take the photo.
[5:19] I want you to think about that for a minute what that does to a student a 16 year old girl who spent a week showing up help coaching, supporting her teammates, doing everything she could to remain part of the team, was asked to photograph everyone else celebrating a championship. She had helped them achieve if not from the water. Lola handled it publicly with remarkable composure.
[5:38] privately she broke down and these moments matter. That photograph cannot be recreated. Those moves can't be replayed. The time could not be returned to her. I'm proud of how lois handled the extraordinarily difficult situation.
[5:54] but a six year old should not have to prove her character by carrying the unnecessary weight placed on her by unclear disciplinary system. And this needs to change. There's another >> student welfare issue that I addressed in my packet that I think the board needs to consider. Principal hofstetter told my wife mandy and I that that had logan not been a student athlete we would not have been notified. This image of possible risky chemical behavior was circulating.
[6:13] I understand that it's not the school's place to discipline its students >> for things that happen outside of school. But why should that that only matter when the student is an athlete and it's only come to light for eligibility consequences.
[6:31] to me, protecting students also means giving in also means giving parents the information they need to intervene, have difficult conversations and help their child make better choices. This isn't only about lola >> or pac. It raises other questions whether this significant captaincy and letter consequences that strip students of lettering and captain ability going forward should exist at all.
[6:51] these rules stripping the students of this only exist in an annual presentation that was handed down from athletic director to athletic director and is not any clearly published policy. Whether parents should be notified when the school learns about risky behavior involving a minor even if that student >> is not an athlete and whether the rules can be weaponized, weaponized and strategically used against students when old
[7:09] information can be submitted at any time and be treated as a progressive offense. This policy is has been weaponized and will be weaponized again. It's got a gaping hole in it that allows that to happen.
[7:26] >> so conclusion I'm here fighting >> for my daughter but I asked the board to make sure that no other parent or student has to go through what we've gone through the past eight weeks. We're not asking you to choose between accountability and protecting students. I believe >> the district has a part excuse me. I believe the district has an obligation to do both.
[7:41] what I am doing is I'm respectfully asking the board to review lois second violation classification. The policy authority is supporting it. The resulting record and related athletic consequences and the broader policy gaps in her packet. Lord has been held accountable. >> she changed. She's learned. She now deserves the opportunity to move forward with a clean and corrected record. Thank you. Thank you.
[8:11] any . All right. The >> next item in the open forum is a technology indicator report from gage fisher gage. >> good evening. I'm gage fisher, director of technologies. Tonight I have the technology department's indicator report.
[8:37] there are three things I'd like to leave you with and I'll come back to them at the >> end. Sure. Thank you. >> the short version the team delivered a big year including a lot of security and stability work that nobody sees. The department is growing faster than the team is and I'm concerned about how long four people can hold it. Technology touches where we go.
[9:11] technology >> touches every one of this district's strategic directions in some way. But this report this report connects most directly to three stewardship of resources. We replace devices on a schedule that gets money back for the old ones and equipment purchased with e-rate discounts should be in use not on a shelf. Equitable access.
[9:33] every student should have a working device and a reliable connection and how fast a problem gets fixed should not depend on which building that staff or student is in. Trust and belonging staff need to trust that the technology will work and that someone will show up when it does not. Within the operational support aims this is efficiency and timeliness strategic systems and supportive mindsets.
[9:59] the department is four people one director and three technicians. My position is shared with the itasca area schools collaborative for I ask which funds about half of it. In practice that means I support technology. For the six I ask districts in the technology agreement not only grand rapids. The three technicians are grand rapids.
[10:21] each one is the only technician for a group of buildings. Our mobile technician covers east west cohasset and bigfork. Our high school technician covers the high school desk elc and transportation.
[10:42] our middle school technician covers the middle school a virtual academy iec and on top of that handles rostering for the whole district which is the system that places every student into the right classes. In almost every online tool we use. Until this past spring we also had per diem help that help absorb summer imaging device collection and distribution and overflow. It is now gone. So what used to be four people four and a half people is now four groups. Very cool.
[11:08] >> this impacts everyone 3678 students in grades k through 12. About 3850 if you count early childhood. And roughly 600 teaching teachers plus support staff. Behind those people are about 5400 computers and ipads, 500 phones and 350 classroom displays plus every account door badge, every printer and every camera. The chart shows and wrote enrollment by site.
[11:36] the high school alone is more than 1000 students each with a district device supported by one technician. Here are the three main messages. First it was a big year and the team delivered. Second, demand is growing faster than the team. Third, we are for people with no bench.
[12:06] over >> the summer the team collected and sold more than 1900 outdated apple devices. Then received prepared and distribute. 2000 new ipads close to on schedule. High school students have keyboards on their ipads for the first time. We also finished moving the district to certificate based wireless which you'll seen as I ask tells in plain terms. District devices now connect to the network. Automatically there's no password to type.
[12:31] there's no shared logging credential that can leak. This is better for users and security at the same time. We retired an old monitoring server in favor of meraki which gives us a cleaner view of the network with less upkeep. There's also a full year of work behind the scenes that most people never see.
[12:53] we added another domain controller which is the server that handles signings and accounts so those services can keep running if one server fails. We updated the core servers and everything that runs on them kept the firewalls current and set up backups for new environments. On the security side there are several things underway. Windows devices are being moved into central management.
[13:15] day to day administrator rates are coming off of devices. Password updates are being required and we are moving to single password across the district. For staff through microsoft unused accounts are being cleaned up as we go and through all of that the team resolved more than 1300 tickets.
[13:37] all of it was three tech technicians wonder sector and very little per team help . >> now the harder part in the 12 months ending september 11th the department logged 1898 tickets. That's about five per day every day of the year. Over the last two months it was closer to nine and in the first 11 days of september it was 19 per day.
[14:04] that is 207 tickets in 11 days. About 11% of the full year of requests. As of this report we have 458 open tickets. None of those include phone calls, direct emails or someone stopping a technician in the hallway which is a large share of what happens. Two of our technicians have been here for over 15 years.
[14:25] they called last year the hardest start they've seen this fall has surpassed that volume as one barrier structure is the other. When a technician is out the buildings they cover either weight or the load shifts to someone else. Rostering phones, cameras and door access each rely mainly on one person and covering for that person is difficult.
[14:46] our mobile technician covers four buildings each of which are a drive apart. And this few people there is. And with this few people there is no time to cross-train or write down how specialized work gets done which makes each of those points of failure more significant.
[15:06] on the network >> side we have about a dozen switches purchased with e-rate discounts, ten battery backups and around 20 access points sitting uninstalled because nobody has the hours to put them in. E-rate rules expect that equipment to be installed and in use and pro program audits can check for it. So equipment on shelf risks having to repay the discount.
[15:29] many of the switches in service are overdue for updates and we have no central logging. I >> will see the last one directly. I am concerned about burnout. The team is holding the district together on effort right now. I'm proud of that. I also know that effort is not a plan.
[15:54] so >> what I would change is two positions first one additional full time technician for grand rapids. A fourth technician means dedicated time more dedicated technician time in each building. Real backup for rostering phones and overflow tickets and room for the team to cross-train and document.
[16:15] it also improves on what per diem help used to cover over the summer per diem help handled basic tasks but it was never a substitute for a full technician. Second, a network administrator shared with I ask on the same model as my position with I asked covering roughly half that role would install the equipment we already own bring the switch fleet current build central logging and bring up the technicians or back up the technicians when volume
[16:38] spikes. It would also reduce delays on requests from the other. I asked district districts and trim out some of the engineering hours the outside engineering hours we buy today I am asking that these two positions be part of the conversation as the next budget cycle begins.
[17:01] cost estimates for both positions will come through the budget process to close. The team delivered a big year. The demand is outrunning the team and I feel it important to raise the staffing question now now rather than later. Thank you. I'm glad to take any questions now or after the meeting. >> thanks kate. Any questions for anyone? >> I just have a quick question.
[17:24] is that something? Is this particular proposal something that you intend to bring to the. >> I would like to. All right. Thank you. I'd add a couple of questions here.
[17:53] how how has gracia changed things for for your group there? Can you can you put a can you put a kind of a scale or reference to that amount of effort that's taken? And and also I think we've been pretty much administrating a lot of it through a third party, right? We're using someone else's content for lack of a better term.
[18:18] you know and as we you know, our plan is to shift that that's going to put more administrative effort I would think on your group if we try to shift some of that in-house. And what do you envision for that? I guess grab a step, grab is definitely a little bit of a challenge because a lot of their programs are online and they have kind of special rostering.
[18:39] so again that rostering falls on our middle school technician currently and it's a growing load to bear. Additionally it's kind of hard to keep track of the devices if we're not doing a perfect job which almost everything we have to do is near perfection otherwise we hear about it. But it is a growing load.
[19:05] I >> guess I don't have I can get you numbers on any specific requester and I know that's coming >> on. I'm just trying to get a feel for trying to wrap my arms around where we think that's going to go and what that's going to need in the future because I think there's you know, how how fast is it can grow, right? You know, it grew a lot quicker
[19:27] than we expected and and you know, are we going to be behind on that? And is part of my concern. So in terms of the in terms of the the curriculum component of it right now we are like you said, we're using a third party content provider and that's going to continue.
[19:50] when our teachers start teaching it they'll still be using that third party content provider I would say years maybe five years from now if I was going to put a pin on the wall we would start looking in a place where we might be not only teaching it but teaching content that we've created in our housing
[20:10] somewhere. We do that now and lee could speak to like his day every day life is probably spent in school ag which is a content management system and could be where that content lives in five years. So that may not change.
[20:35] it could be that instead of eliot taking you know, whatever literature class than the teacher using school ag as the backbone for the content being housed now and being face to face could really shift to the same thing just being asynchronous. But so I think that's probably the evolution.
[20:59] so did I kind of hear it sounds like the third party vendor we're working with has the ability to try to help us transition some and maybe or would it be on us? No, I think it would be on us at some point to say instead of using edgenuity as world geography we're going to use our world geography because right now those are two separate courses and you know, theoretically have the same standards behind them both but
[21:23] they don't look the same day to day. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Just couple other things quick. You mentioned you know who does the network admin right now or is that kind of fallen on you? That's almost entirely me through all of I ask. Okay. Okay.
[21:51] and and when we look at that well especially at that I mean, you know based on my background and that requires a lot of continuing to stay up right because that's about security and knowing and knowing all that stuff.
[22:14] so how about for our technicians? I mean obviously they've got to get some continuing ad going and how are we doing on that as just a kind of a gut feel? You know, when we start >> overloading that's the thing that people >> give up, right? Or you kind of I have one tech that >> would be interested in continuing ad it's hard to do continuing ed when they're already I pulled the overtime numbers and since february
[22:33] they've been pulling as a group on average 20 hours of overtime per week or per month sorry since when? In february. Okay. So it's hard to push the team to do any kind of continuing ed when they're well and that's where we're bringing the subject up right? That's the other side of the
[22:52] thing we've got to keep in mind right as a group here and then did I >> hear that right that you had around 11% of the yearly tickets in the first 11 days are the busiest time of the year is august and september get more I mean most of our load comes in these two
[23:16] months. Our summers are very busy. The quietest time is probably around december and january. Other than that I mean with the staffing that we have it is around the clock. They are they're putting in a lot of work and I'm very proud of what they've gotten done.
[23:41] but there's a there's a point where we have to look at adding more people and I think we're at that point right. Thank you. That's all I have. So david, I think no >> mary, thank you. Okay, thanks. Good. Thank you. Matt, do you know how long your district an emergency response will take? It's pretty quick. Just probably 3 or 4 maybe.
[24:06] yeah, maybe four slides so I can okay. Time sounds good. All right. So the update that I'm giving is on our district threatened emergency response team. Dieter we like acronyms and so that's the acronym for this group. Maybe I'll just julie if you want to walk through since it's not that many slides.
[24:30] so this >> we talk about our our strategic directions and really when we're talking about safety and security we talk a lot about stewardship of resources similar to what gage talked about. Obviously like he said we touch all of these which I think points to the relevance of these but we're talking about safety and security.
[24:49] we tend to spend a lot of time on that stewardship piece. Our group this >> is the group that makes up our committee. It's large. Not everybody comes to every meeting as you might expect but they're all very good about ensuring that they're there if they're especially needed. So you know, we don't always see the sheriff for instance.
[25:10] but if we need joe to respond or be engaged he's quick to do so. We have great relationship with the ground our police department and so jeremy and troy do a good job for sure and andy morgan as well when necessary.
[25:31] other than that it's a lot of directors and and administrators from the school district here last >> year just talking through some priorities we made progress on we have alice which I'll talk more in depth about that's where a lot of our training protocols and system is housed. We did a lot of work last year with reunification.
[25:51] we've been looking at how we might be able to use yanmar as a centralized reunification site instead of having six different sites or reunification happening at every building to have a unified reunification site that might be centralized so that we could train parents about if they had to come get their kid in the middle of the day it would be something we could really rehearse and be consistent whether we're
[26:10] talking about a kid from east or cohasset or our gems that they were coming to pick up so we started that last year, did a tabletop, worked with people from the city.
[26:26] we did include yanmar in the mapping and I didn't list that up here because it was really kind of an external part to our goals but we did have participate in a state grant last year that mapped all of our buildings. It was a company that does intelligence gathering for the military and so they they looked at every door, every sensor, every light, everything and labeled everything for all of our buildings and that's the same now for every task county
[26:50] school. So it's very consistent and we were able to get yanmar included in that. So that's going to be helpful for our emergency responders >> building readiness that's kind of an every year thing updating rosters and safety trainings. Visitor management is something that we started leaning into last spring. We've been doing this at west.
[27:11] I'll talk about that a little bit more in a second and we're going to be rolling that out to the rest of the district this year. Communication we've talked about parents square a number of times.
[27:27] that will be the system we use for emergency calls, snow calls, cancellations, things like that and then my ride k-12 is something that we've talked about before but when we're talking about communication related to transportation, that's really the system that they're using and then radios we added and reprogramed some radios. These are for intrust schools.
[27:52] so west has a set set to their frequency with six of their own channels so they can have internal communication between paraprofessionals and the office or people that are doing bus duty or pick up and drop off and we're not having conflict between schools some >> priorities that will be big to watch the is say something reporting system I mentioned this briefly but this is something our team is leaning into.
[28:15] I had a meeting with the representatives from their last week and so we're getting going on that this is going to pick up because of the legislative change it requires a plan next year and implementation in the fall of 2028.
[28:35] so our goal is to have this up and going this year if not by the end of first or the beginning of second quarter by the turn of the break after the holidays I mentioned visitor check in and so this is something that we've had at west for a while if you've been there you know that the first time you go you scan your id it does a national sex offender registry check you get once you're in the system
[28:51] you don't necessarily have to do that every time you get your sticker and you go in and not only do we do we know that who's in our building is safe but we also know who's in our building in case there was an event we'd know hey, john smith is here somewhere.
[29:05] we need a call for him as well. So that system has been in place at west for a number of years and is going to be rolling out to the rest of our district the school year. And then I mentioned reunification.
[29:23] we did some tabletops next will be similar in depth planning there and actually running through some scenarios. I would like to be at a place at some point if not this year next where we could actually practice one of these. So for instance we'd say hey parents, you're going to we're going to be doing this drill today.
[29:37] you're going to pick you know you're going to pick up your kid from east at grandma at the end of the day and actually run through that system so we can see what the flow is like and we're not trying it for the first time when we actually need it.
[29:55] these >> are five of our systems that are I want to say the backbone but we use heavily when we're talking about our safety and security system is the protocol we use for evaluating threats. Our staff are trained it's a it's a nationally recognized training or assessment protocol. Alyssa's that stands for alert lock down, inform counter evacuate and that's about how we're responding to threats in the moment.
[30:19] now 360 is the platform that we use for planning and documentation. Our maps, our plans flip charts, everything protocols live there. I love you guys. Is the reunification protocol that we use.
[30:40] so what do we do with people? The signs, the communication and the preparation the black I don't know if you remember but shawn came in and showed that wheeled cart at one point that had the boxes and all the file folders. That's really what was behind that and then say something's that reporting system that will be in place the school year >> our >> priorities for the year if you just want to click all the way through here our training plan we have a few people that need
[31:03] to get system trained yet to do that. I mentioned the yanmar are building plans. It's a routine one we have as a priority every year. Same with the now 360 we created some more specific implementation expectations for that system and I learned just last week on the county call that the hospital actually uses naf 362 which is
[31:23] interesting and the other stuff is just upkeep. That's let's >> quick rundown of the team's work so far we had just one meeting this school year so far in august.
[31:49] any questions for me on that you know when when you're looking at these things matt, where does I ask kind of fall in some yeah because some of that kind of talk yeah some of the some of it we have systems that are the same so other there are districts that use nat 360 as well I think the big thing is about the the role that the emergency responders play and ensuring that when they're rolling up
[32:07] to the building they're not seeing something completely different than the mapping system that we did this year. I can't imagine how helpful that's going to be. We we do participate in the task county emergency response call. So last week, for instance, schools, county agencies, us etc.
[32:30] were on a call talking about collaboration and consistency there. I do know that other districts are also using alice >> you know other questions from our all right we will >> adjourn the workshop and come back and order in a minute. All right. We'll call the regular meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge.
[33:01] I 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. That's a that's a good way to get your head records tomorrow. Sort of like that. All right. The first item on the agenda is to approve the agenda.
[33:21] do I have a motion so moved moved by ashley. Second by second by mark any discussion? All those in favor say I. I thank you, mr. Chair. We'll have to do a roll call. Sorry. Sorry about that. All right, julie, can we get a roll call vote yes. >> tom gustafson. Yes. Ashley goodman yes. David cohen yes. Mark schroeder.
[33:46] yes and david marty. Yes. >> all right. The agenda is approved. Thank you, julie. The next item is equitable education a principal report from bigfork school mr. Decoster >> good evening.
[34:11] as you said, I'm going to cost your principal and bigfork it was not that long ago that I was >> standing in front of you giving a a you know, start to >> the school report so I'll be somewhat brief but there's always something else to talk about too.
[34:31] last week actually was our homecoming week and came early this year and we had some great some great athletic events and a lot of fun with some activities within the school and dress up days and such was good to see kind of that new school or new school year energy and homecoming energy collide so early in the year so I feel like we're riding a nice wave of positivity there.
[34:51] one thing I didn't talk about last time was the the construction on the solar array that's being done right next to the bigfork school and the edge center and superintendent gross can correct me or jump in if he's got any more detail >> on this but there's a solar array being constructed right next to the school on district property.
[35:10] it's part of the legislation that was passed a few years back called solar for schools >> eventually the poles >> and right now panels are on their way and we're hoping to see those even, you know, just later this fall yet but eventually that power will go to the school to power the school any additional power being created will be sold back to the grid to first help
[35:31] pay for the project and after that would actually be a revenue generator. So we're excited about that and we'll be making that part of some of our curricular moves as well. But to have something right on site it's pretty neat. Superintendent girls, anything else there? Do I leave anything out? >> yeah we did.
[35:47] you know, we did just request an extension from the department of education on the grant program because the final report was is due in october and we're still under construction. We met with the representative from the program and she said she totally understood construction delays have happened on a number of items.
[36:12] one was permitting from >> the state and now we're waiting on panels. We're waiting a panel. So and then you only have this you know, this window of time to do this work. It's not like it's a very good winter work.
[36:33] so it's been it's been >> a long been a long it's been longer than anticipated but anticipated but still a very worthwhile project. Thank you, superintendent gross one thing I wanted to share was our internship. Our student internship program is expanding.
[36:57] the last few years we've gotten an internship service opportunity off the ground primarily in our construction and manufacturing so students become seniors are following you know that construction or manufacturing pathway and they get to do an internship somewhere for a semester as part of basically the capstone of that career pathway.
[37:18] it's been our goal to get into some other pathways as well and this semester we have our five internships going on in construction manufacturing but we also have an internship going on with a in the education field right right at our school in bigfork we also have someone doing an internship in health care at the veterinarian clinic and in bigfork so slowly but surely expanding those career internship opportunities and into other areas for more students. So we're excited about providing additional opportunities for that.
[37:43] speaking >> of opportunities, some of our our older high school students got a couple of opportunities last week. Both were here in town but we had a group of seniors attend the college fair here here in town and there were a number of colleges represented.
[38:01] so it's really nice to have our students get around and and hit some of those different places to see what kind of opportunities they have. The other was last friday. It was for the future forest stewards expo over at the fairgrounds and mr. Austin dorf takes a group every year to that.
[38:24] we had about 16 kids go I believe juniors and seniors to that event and that's always one that there's a lot of interest considering some of the industries around our area there's there's high interest in that area and they get some good interaction and with people working within those fields. So it was nice to see students go to that. And and lastly one of the things we've been working on since last spring is a communication plan.
[38:43] last spring we did a communications audit, did a I also did a survey of two parents trying to gather input on how we can improve communication. What we found out was we have a lot of communication going out but it's kind of fragmented and it's not solve the system to it.
[39:02] we got we got some great suggestions out of that audit in the form of of a plan that we could put forth the addition of parents >> where the district has actually helped with quite a bit of that we've been able to streamline that and take some of our purposes and do it through that that communication system which by the way is so far for me I've
[39:21] gotten really positive feedback from both parents and staff members in using that so that's been nice. One of the other big things we did was we wanted a central source of truth we called it and that was basically to have as much as we can a one stop shop for about information look those
[39:38] quick things that people want to know about activities, sporting events, those >> kinds of things and so new to our the front page of our of our building website is something called the husky hub with a number of links to it you can click on that and that can be even if something went
[39:55] home and you're thinking oh I lost that piece of paper when is that you jump on to the website, you take a look and there's the calendar, there are the events.
[40:11] we want those things to be as accessible as possible not only for our families but also for our public even our community members that they want to come out and support the school. They might not necessarily have students you know, children in their in the school but they're still there supporting it as part of their community and we want to make sure that they're getting the information too. So >> that's a that's an update for this evening. Any questions? Okay.
[40:28] I did have one. Yeah, sure. When we talk about some of these partnership programs are internships and >> things, how how receptive >> are the you know you mentioned the veterinary clinic there has is doing one of them how receptive are some of the area businesses to it in? Are you having trouble finding
[40:49] partners? You know it's got to have some type of partnership there right are you you know you don't have limited resources? Yeah, there are limited resources because we're a small community but we are you know, we're spread out but it's also got to be something you know, fairly close to the school for it to
[41:06] work. Right. I'm really proud of our partnership and a lot of that goes to our staff but also the staff of the people who we've a-plus partnerships with like big fork valley that that clinic a number of local businesses you know, self-employed individuals who are who are taking people on.
[41:26] that's why one of the reasons why we take >> one of >> the reasons why we're really careful with our internship process and we don't want to take a lot of chances there. We want to make sure we're selecting students who have earned that right.
[41:42] we put them through interview and interview process at times as well when we have more candidates than than places that we can fill them with is we want to make sure we keep those partnerships strong and that means that our students are being successful in those settings.
[42:02] and so we're real careful to do that and so far we've had really good luck and and I think a big portion of that is because those businesses that >> we're partnering with, they understand what we're trying to accomplish as a school, the opportunities for trying to provide and >> I understand the importance of it and if it can be a win win they're all for it. So so far I would say our partnerships have only strengthened. Okay.
[42:21] do you feel do you feel there's more of a need there or less or higher feel in your kind of out a good point. You mentioned there's kind of an interview process so there must be more of a request from students and there is maybe availability or options >> to it'll >> go year by year.
[42:37] okay. But what we have had years last year for instance we sat down one of the teachers myself and one of the business owners came in and each each student that was interested in doing an internship had to sit down and go through that interview process with us just like we would interview people for
[42:55] anything else. And I think that was a good experience for students for sure. But but there's an ebb and flow to that right now I would say you know, it's growing organically at a at a at a rate we're comfortable with without over exceeding things and we just I just want to make sure that
[43:14] we're growing solidly and we're not having to back anything up. So I feel good about where we're at. >> thank you. Anything else? Thanks. I have a quick question for you, ken.
[43:30] how's the staff doing? How many new teachers you have this year? How are they settling in? How is the staff? >> I talked about that a little bit a few weeks ago. I thanks for bringing it back up because I had it on my list and I thought I just talked about that but they're doing really well. I I've sensed just a really positive start up not only from students but also staff and we have a couple of new esps this year.
[43:51] we also have two new teachers in our elementary and one in our secondary in our high school and we have one teacher that switched from kindergarten to high school art so she's in a whole new world and it's really interesting to talk to her about her perspective but I've been really happy with the way
[44:09] they've all dug in. I mean from I think the moment I offered the positions pending board approval these three teachers were digging in. They had questions they wanted to know and they could get in and and get into their spaces and start making them their own.
[44:26] they were bouncing ideas off of me and it's just been it's been great to see that kind of energy come in to and and be part of our team. >> awesome. Thank you. I yield questions for ken. David, >> it's david. Ken, it's great to hear from you.
[44:47] twice in a row I had the opportunity to come up I believe was last week to see a stunning production by the edge of the wilderness players. And I'm very proud of the partnership that you have with that group supporting them and they supporting the school as well.
[45:12] while I was there I saw the solar the beginnings of the solar garden and I hope that you will continue to inform actively the community as that project opens up because I think it's an incredibly important contribution to our community. We'll definitely do that and thanks for the feedback. Thanks, david. All right. Thanks ken. Have a good evening. You too. The next >> item on the agenda is the big school advisory committee update.
[45:38] kayla, are you on? >> hello. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me. I apologize my camera >> doesn't work anymore. I'm getting a new one tomorrow. So sorry about that.
[46:00] it >> finally reached its end of life but just a few brief things from the bigfork school advisory committee I want to echo what can mentioned about the great work that has been done >> on strategic communications for bigfork school. This has been a priority for b sac for some time now and we've really looked at it as a foundational >> priority and thinking about how can we have more effective communications for bigfork school for parents, staff teachers and our community and
[46:27] I want to express express my gratitude for the ability to hear our requests and to have the communications consultant available to us to do that assessment survey focus groups and put together this findings report that's really driving some best practices in communications and the priorities for making those more effective at our school.
[46:56] so we're excited about parents square. We're excited about new and improved website that will be a great tool for everyone and we're very grateful for the staff. A big work school that is making this happen because they're taking it on as additional work and just realizing that really means a lot to a lot of people and it's going to make
[47:16] a difference and so just want to call that out and we'll be just sort of like monitoring and checking in on it. That's what we spent a good amount of time at our last meeting last week talking about >> it's the time of year where we're reviewing our charter and the member expectations.
[47:33] it looks like we have a full group again this year. I don't believe anyone is coming off our committee. I'll be in my second year as chair so I am excited about that and also, you know thinking about next steps and who can maybe move into the role there.
[47:53] I have spoke with julie and ken and the committee about having a section on the big brook school website that has all of our agendas and documents so that it's accessible to everyone.
[48:13] so I'll be working on that and >> then the last thing is just that we are looking at what our big project is going to be to focus on for this year we've had great success I feel like with getting a music teacher back and some of this improved communications work now so we're talking about you know, what do we want to tackle this year? What we really want to work on started those conversations last week and have some great ideas.
[48:33] we'll go back and look at our priorities that we've gone through with our strategic planning process and then really lock in on what we want to take to the next level.
[48:52] the last thing I'll mention is that we would like to invite the school board candidates to our october meeting to see if they could be able to come up and meet with the advisory committee and see some teachers and parents and community members that are that care about the school. So I'm hoping to do that and I think that is it for all. Again, thank you for having me. Does anyone have questions ? Questions? David no. All right. Thank you, kelly thank you. All right.
[49:21] the next item on the agenda is to approve the minutes of the september 8th regular school board meeting to have a motion. So move daschle move on ashley second david second by david any discussion? Hearing none. Julie can we get a roll call vote >> yes. Ashley goodman yes. Dave cohen yes. Mark schroeder yes.
[49:44] david marty yes. I'm tom gustafson. Yes. All >> right. The minutes are approved. Thank you. The next item is to approve the august 2026 claims in the amount of $7,021,252.60 to have a motion so moved by mark moved by mark ashley second by ashley any discussion? Hearing none. Julie dave cohen yes. Mark schroeder yes.
[50:13] david marty yes. Tom gustafson yes. Ashley goodman yes. >> all right. The august claims are approved. Thank you. The next item is to approve retirements. Casey >> good evening. Board tonight we have michael pollack bus driver retirement mike has served the district for 11 years. I'm recommending approval. >> thank you, casey.
[50:37] I have a motion to approve moved so move david move by ashley >> a second by david. Any discussion? >> thank you michael for your service to the district. Julie >> mark schroeder yes. David marty yes. Tom gustafson yes. Ashley goodman yes. Dave cohen yes. All right. Mr. Pollack's retirement is approved. Thank you.
[51:05] the next item is to approve the consent agenda to have a motion >> so move by mark move by mark. Second ashley second by ashley any vote? No discussion. Julie >> david marty yes. Tom gustafson yes. Ashley goodman. Dave cohen yes. Mark schroeder yes. All >> right. The consent agenda is approved. Thank you.
[51:31] the next item is to approve the preliminary 2026 payable 2027 levy >> alex thank you, mr. Chair. Before you tonight is the preliminary 2026 payable 2027 levy and what we are recommending is to approve the maximum authority.
[51:55] that number may change between now and taxation time but by doing this the board ensures that it doesn't undercut its authority by the time the final levy is completed I recommend approval. All right. I have a motion to approve motion approved by mark. Mark. Second item david second by david any discussion? Hearing none. Julie david marty yes. Tom gustafson yes. Ashley goodman yes. Dave cohen yes. Mark schroeder yes. All right. The preliminary 2026 payable 2027 levy is approved. Thanks alex.
[52:25] the next item is also alex to approve the revised resolution of intent to issue general obligation facilities maintenance bonds. Thank you. Yes. Before you has a resolution that looks very similar to what was approved in july. The only difference is the not to exceed interest rate was increased from 4.5% to 5.
[52:49] 25% due to some things that have changed in the last two months with interest rates because of conflict in the middle east inflationary pressure domestically and the fed just did a rate hike for the first time in I believe three years.
[53:13] so by doing this we have a little more room as interest rates have gone up and likely will continue to go up in the foreseeable future, this gives us more room as we market our bonds. I just want to also point out that the around 5% is still very appropriate and historically where it's been for several years. So I recommend approval . Thank you alex. Julia do you need more david? Marty oh, okay. Motion by david second.
[53:37] second by mark second by mark any discussion? Julie do we need to read this resolution? No. Okay. The discussion all >> right, julie we get a roll call vote. Tom gustafson yes. Ashley goodman yes. Dave cohen yes. Mark schroeder yes. David marty yes. >> all right.
[54:06] the revised resolution of intent to issue general obligation facilities maintenance bonds is approved. Thanks, alex. Thank you. The next item is board reports. We'll start with elliott already >> so I'm sure many of you heard but our football team is now three and on the season with 1917 exciting win on a couple of fridays it go. Just this recent friday they dominated 49 zero over the nfl.
[54:32] they now play duluth east on friday at duluth east. Girls soccer one two and all against proctor on thursday and their next game is tomorrow against hermantown boys soccer is seven one and one on the season so far with key wins over duluth ten felt who they lost to in the section final last year and
[54:54] their big win was ten zero over hibbing. They play rock ridge tomorrow at home so there's that girls tennis had senior night on friday and they won 6 to 1 over princeton which is a section team so that's a big win. And then they have they're looking stronger and stronger heading into sections.
[55:14] they have matches on thursday, friday and saturday with an overnight this friday and saturday. Volleyball is getting their footing back after a bit of a rough, rough start. They just congratulated number 11 piper sweeney on a milestone 1000 career assists so far. Congrats piper. They play pequot lakes tomorrow away and proctor at home on thursday.
[55:38] our girls swimming dive took home the win on saturday at the hibbing invitational. They're having a good start under captains learn rousing ever good men and they have a home meet tomorrow at five against hibbing.
[55:59] and then cross country has their next meeting on thursday in hibbing so there's the sports and now we have clubs marching band just competed on saturday their first production of winter spell in the competitive categories in rosemount. Their next competition is next saturday in wisconsin and they will also be playing at the football games weather permitting.
[56:23] key club has a blood drive on thursday and they have know for sure 100% completed there and they filled all their slots for the blood drive so that's the first time in a while our blood drive blood drive coordinator marian berg strand is on that and so yeah, they have a meeting tomorrow.
[56:44] student council >> is in the final stages of homecoming prep and they're planning pep fest games and night events during homecoming. They have a meeting on wednesday morning and then hosts they had their first meeting this last week on the 17th and they had record numbers with not enough chairs for the all the attendance. So there's that.
[57:07] thank you earlier tom, last week >> I sat in I had to leave a little bit early but sat in on the big fork advisory group there and you know, continue to enjoy enjoy the discussions in that and that's all I have. Thanks, tom. Actually our policy review committee meeting was canceled so I do not have any updates.
[57:34] all right, mark, big fork advisory and I think kayla did a really nice job of summarizing that. So that's all I have. >> okay, david, our meeting the first of the year reorganize housing and planning for the entire year was a good meeting and I had the opportunity ellie joined me for a an online meeting with the board workshop and that was very helpful and informative.
[58:03] he's very good at online meetings. Good. Thanks david. The other >> thing I had to report was last week I sat in on the rif arts council meeting. Mr. Superintendent? >> yeah.
[58:24] spend just not real long since our last meeting we did have a directors meeting and so just you know, as a part of part of information or point of information this is a meeting that we gather all the district directors together and coordinators we spent some time last year we worked through a book called crucial conversations together was a book that our principals read as well and some others I think that was really useful and and we're looking at a couple other options this year
[58:44] one on customer service or and one on prioritization. And so they're getting back to me on that with their votes right now and then then we also do a little bit of we share to talk about what things are coming up and important in each other's worlds.
[59:02] you know, alex might share something about the business office that might affect something that happens in h.r. And that might be the place where that comes to light and so it's a really good chance to share especially with folks that don't see each other every day and then we've been trying something to where one of the directors will share a 5 or 7
[59:22] or eight minute little mini lesson on something to help them help others in their work. So casey is going to be doing one next on leadership styles. Melanie did a brief little how to use a.I.
[59:42] in your work at our last meeting and so just trying to do some of that work together and so it's it's really, really enjoyable. Had a meeting last week to start the process and kind of initiate that follow up after our forward work again that starts with another survey and getting deeper dive into >> the particulars around problem identification.
[1:00:09] so getting those that survey set up now and we're expecting to deploy that survey after kind of in that mid to late november time frame avoiding thanksgiving but we have our a big community survey that will go out around may that replicates last year so we can have some benchmark data from last year and then this year and then after that one kind of is worn out it's welcome we'll come back with this problem
[1:00:29] definition survey so trying to not survey people to death but also get the feedback we need to do what we need to do. Last thing this friday is our first pd day of the year four day pd day again we moved away from early outs this friday is focused in large part for most
[1:00:48] staff on either math or strive our secondary teachers will all be getting training on the science of reading and or at least some of our high school staff will be others will be training in their particular content areas or in the new math curriculum so and then a variety of other places but
[1:01:06] that'll be the bulk of the bulk of the work this friday but the last full week of september I mean it's kind of hard to believe we're almost have a month of school under our belt by the end of the week. >> awesome. Thank you mr. Superintendent.
[1:01:27] just a reminder that upcoming school board committee and meeting dates are posted on each agenda school board meeting agendas can be found on the district website and on the designated posting site. It is 318 educational services center is there any other business come before the board >> and julie has anyone signed up to speak for public input? No one has signed >> up. All