[0:08] Okay, today's
[0:10] work session. Uh, we'll
[0:11] start with
[0:13] discussion topics and
[0:13] possible actions,
[0:14] starting with the
[0:15] district's goals.
[0:17] So, uh, we have
[0:18] district goals, so I'll go into a little bit of
[0:20] what the
[1:00] goals are, how we got to
[1:01] where we are now, and that
[1:03] won't be an action item
[1:04] for tonight
[1:05] . This will be an
[1:06] action item at the October
[1:07] meeting, but I just
[1:08] want to be able to
[1:09] put it out there and
[1:10] get feedback.
[1:11] Good. Okay,
[1:13] I can start. I have the
[1:14] first two. These are the goals
[1:16] you see every year
[1:17] for our
[1:18] English and
[1:20] math proficiency levels. So, with a
[1:22] baseline of 69% of
[1:24] our students in
[1:25] grades 3-3-11 demonstrating
[1:28] proficiency, uh, we're
[1:30] looking at a target of 71%.
[1:32] And for math, our
[1:34] baseline score
[1:35] was 72.
[1:36] This year's goal
[1:36] will be for
[1:37] 74% of students in
[1:38] grades 3-11 to demonstrate
[1:40] proficiency in
[1:41] math. And that's
[1:42] measured by a
[1:44] pre-exam
[1:45] and, uh,
[1:46] ACT and ACT pre-test. And those
[1:48] in both of those
[1:49] districts, 71 and 74,
[1:50] comparing ourselves to
[1:51] other districts, if
[1:52] we set that goal,
[1:54] it would put us
[1:55] at about the 94th
[1:56] percentile
[1:57] compared to other
[1:58] districts.
[2:01] I can take the following
[2:03] . Also, the goals
[2:05] you are very familiar with are
[2:06] 1,3 and 1,4. Based on what
[2:08] Shannon said, then we
[2:09] break it down into
[2:10] different subgroups. So, the
[2:11] first subgroup
[2:12] you'll see is ELA (
[2:12] English Language and
[2:13] Literature). We have
[2:14] students with disabilities,
[2:15] students of color, and
[2:16] economically
[2:17] disadvantaged students,
[2:18] those students who
[2:18] receive
[2:19] free and
[2:20] reduced lunches,
[2:20] whose numbers are
[2:21] growing by two
[2:22] percentage points. This
[2:23] baseline data is there, these are
[2:24] our goals from last
[2:26] year. And then the second
[2:27] part is just a
[2:29] transition from ELA to
[2:30] math, the same
[2:31] subgroups, and again by
[2:32] two percentage
[2:33] points.
[2:37] Good. Continuing
[2:38] the trend, the
[2:38] focus
[2:40] on well-being and
[2:41] mental health.
[2:42] I think this is an
[2:43] area that we
[2:44] continue to hear about, not
[2:45] just in the school
[2:46] district but in general,
[2:48] that we can't
[2:49] focus on enough. So,
[2:51] we want to, first, in
[2:52] point 2.1,
[2:53] focus on
[2:54] our partnership with
[2:56] Hudson Physicians. And we
[2:57] think that's a
[2:58] good start, and that's what
[2:59] we're doing
[3:00] together to make
[3:01] operations
[3:02] and
[3:03] HR work together
[3:04] . We see this as an
[3:07] opportunity for the
[3:08] entire district, as well as
[3:09] for the unification of
[3:11] operations and the
[3:11] human resources department. And as for
[3:13] us, we're
[3:14] working with Hudson Physicians
[3:15] to increase the
[3:16] overall, uh,
[3:17] percentage increase in the
[3:18] number of
[3:19] medical exams performed.
[3:20] First, we think it's
[3:21] consistent with what
[3:23] we share with
[3:24] our
[3:24] employees, but
[3:25] we think it's
[3:26] just good. And
[3:27] secondly, in point 2.2, we have
[3:30] been monitoring the situation for some time now
[3:31] through Family Means, our
[3:33] employee assistance program, and
[3:34] our usage
[3:38] has been decreasing over the last few years, and we
[3:39] believe that this is an
[3:40] area that we want to
[3:41] definitely
[3:42] bring back to the attention of
[3:43] our employees
[3:44] . I can only tell you
[3:46] from my previous
[3:47] working life, and
[3:48] in general,
[3:49] employee assistance programs are not
[3:51] widely used. And, uh, we
[3:53] want to make sure
[3:54] that we
[3:55] communicate this
[3:56] to our
[3:56] employees often and early so that
[3:58] they can
[3:58] utilize the
[3:59] many
[4:00] tools and
[4:01] resources available to them. And so we're
[4:02] looking at a relative
[4:04] increase, and we're
[4:04] looking at that as
[4:05] part of a
[4:06] multi-year focus
[4:07] , not just this year.
[4:11] And next year is mine.
[4:13] Partnership with the
[4:13] public and
[4:14] industry relations.
[4:16] So we aim to
[4:16] increase the percentage of
[4:17] school classes that
[4:19] offer real-world
[4:20] learning experiences with
[4:21] industry
[4:21] experts. We
[4:23] aim to increase
[4:24] the percentage of
[4:25] high school classes that
[4:26] offer this
[4:27] experience from approximately 54%
[4:29] to 75%, and then we
[4:30] seek active
[4:31] representation of
[4:32] industry experts
[4:34] across all six
[4:34] DPI career paths.
[4:38] And I can take the
[4:39] last one–connections with the
[4:40] operating
[4:41] community and the
[4:42] industry. Will will lead
[4:43] this direction. This is a
[4:45] great opportunity to
[4:46] work with our
[4:47] student storytellers
[4:48] to publish
[4:49] at least 12
[4:51] operational reviews to
[4:52] showcase the great things the
[4:54] district is doing both
[4:55] operationally and
[4:56] educationally. And
[4:59] our goal would be to
[5:00] increase
[5:01] social media engagement
[5:03] by 10%.
[5:08] Mr. President,
[5:09] Megan.
[5:10] Hmm, I really
[5:11] like all of this,
[5:12] thank you. Hmm, question
[5:15] number three, that's a big
[5:16] increase in one
[5:18] year. So I'm just
[5:21] curious about the idea behind
[5:22] it, and I'd
[5:23] love it if
[5:24] it was something fast-paced,
[5:25] but I just want to
[5:26] hear a little bit more
[5:28] about how that
[5:29] percentage came about.
[5:30] Yes, that's one of the things
[5:32] that also came up in
[5:33] our conversations in the
[5:34] community. This was
[5:35] really important for
[5:36] our community and I
[5:37] think we're doing a
[5:38] good job. But I
[5:40] think, you know,
[5:41] an increase of another 25%,
[5:43] or 20%, would be, well,
[5:44] good for our kids
[5:46] and good for our
[5:47] classrooms as well. We
[5:48] just...we just
[5:49] dug in and
[5:50] got the
[5:51] baseline, and it was
[5:52] really helpful for us to know
[5:53] when we find out that
[5:55] a lot of this is
[5:55] invested in business,
[5:57] you know, just in
[5:57] business classes. So, we
[5:59] , you know, six different
[6:00] areas, uh, we
[6:01] feel like we can
[6:03] expand on that.
[6:05] Mr. President.
[6:06] Marianne.
[6:07] Uh, just to
[6:08] name six
[6:09] areas for those
[6:10] listening, do
[6:11] you mind? Do you have
[6:13] them? Good.
[6:14] I didn't learn them
[6:15] by heart, so I
[6:16] wrote them down because they're very
[6:17] ... Each one of them sounds like there are
[6:18] several of them.
[6:20] Um, marketing,
[6:21] management,
[6:21] entrepreneurship–it’s
[6:23] one thing. This is business and
[6:24] information
[6:25] technology. Family
[6:27] and Consumer Sciences.
[6:29] Health sciences.
[6:31] Agriculture,
[6:32] food, and
[6:33] natural resources are
[6:34] one. And technology and
[6:36] engineering. So, I
[6:38] think we have something to
[6:39] learn from.
[6:43] Mr. President.
[6:44] Yes, Melanie.
[6:45] This is great. Um, I
[6:47] just didn't know about the
[6:48] six
[6:48] continuing or,
[6:50] um, career and
[6:51] technical
[6:52] education paths. The only
[6:54] concern, and
[6:55] maybe it's just a
[6:56] higher level than
[6:58] we have, is just
[6:59] making sure that in
[7:00] our classes that we do
[7:01] , we always
[7:03] make sure that the
[7:04] kids have the
[7:05] visual
[7:05] arts and, you know,
[7:07] all of these things, because that's, I
[7:08] mean, that's what
[7:10] I know, that's the work where
[7:11] it's, or the areas where
[7:13] we think there's going to be
[7:14] work. But it's not that
[7:16] kids can't
[7:17] study
[7:18] history, pop government,
[7:19] English, or
[7:20] art and still
[7:21] get by on it
[7:23] ...That's right. Or there are
[7:24] other jobs.
[7:25] Yes, and these six...It's
[7:26] just six paths,
[7:27] and then each of them
[7:28] branches into
[7:30] several. So, education,
[7:31] art,
[7:32] they're all there.
[7:33] They all
[7:34] branch out. It's like a
[7:35] path that leads to
[7:36] multiple clusters.
[7:38] And I think that's...I
[7:39] mean, I think that
[7:40] often...in high
[7:41] school, the kids are so young.
[7:42] How do you know? But
[7:44] children don't always know
[7:45] how to get interested in
[7:46] a hobby or career. And
[7:47] to have such...
[7:48] And I hope that's
[7:49] true, right?
[7:50] Yes. Cool. Thank you.
[7:53] Erin.
[7:54] Mr. President, I
[7:55] just wanted to
[7:56] ask if
[7:57] this fits into the
[7:58] budget that we have. I
[8:00] mean, is this going to be the
[8:01] additional
[8:02] costs that you
[8:03] expect with such a
[8:04] large increase,
[8:05] or is it going to remain the
[8:06] same because we're
[8:07] going to
[8:08] use what we
[8:09] already have? And that's
[8:10] more
[8:11] community partners.
[8:12] We mostly
[8:13] consider
[8:13] community partners.
[8:14] And we, since we
[8:15] just did the
[8:16] baseline, we're
[8:17] going to do, well, you know,
[8:18] brainstorm to
[8:19] see how we
[8:20] can do this. This
[8:21] brings experts into
[8:22] the audience. We already
[8:25] partner with, well, the
[8:26] chamber, and we have
[8:27] a few
[8:28] job fairs, and we have a
[8:29] few tours, but
[8:31] that can be expanded
[8:32] as we
[8:33] learn more. So that
[8:37] was our
[8:38] baseline, and then we'll
[8:40] brainstorm with, well, these
[8:41] paths to see
[8:42] where we can have
[8:43] additional, well,
[8:44] additional...
[8:45] I really
[8:46] like that idea.
[8:47] I just want to, you know,
[8:48] ask if it's
[8:49] within our capabilities
[8:50] to do this. Perfectly.
[8:51] Thank you.
[8:52] Good question.
[8:53] Good. No more questions
[8:55] . Thank you. Thanks for
[8:56] the information. Uh,
[8:58] moving on to the
[8:58] monthly
[8:59] budget update.
[9:02] Yes,
[9:02] on your screen, well,
[9:04] not much has really
[9:05] changed. Many
[9:06] disagreements are simply
[9:07] related to terminology
[9:07] . You know, things
[9:08] paid for in different
[9:09] months or paid for
[9:10] earlier. So we're pretty
[9:11] early. So, I would like to
[9:13] inform you about
[9:14] some important dates for us
[9:15] .
[9:18] The relocation of all
[9:19] certified
[9:20] employees has just been completed, so
[9:21] we will transfer all of
[9:22] those people and get a
[9:24] budget figure.
[9:26] We are now finalizing
[9:27] the calculation of the
[9:28] income limit for the third
[9:29] Friday. It was
[9:31] served on Friday.
[9:33] We are currently
[9:34] in the process of
[9:35] confirming all of
[9:36] our open
[9:37] registrations and releases,
[9:38] and as of now we
[9:39] have about
[9:40] $600,000, which is great
[9:41] news. On October 15, we
[9:44] received
[9:44] certification of
[9:45] assistance. So we will
[9:47] get it. It looks like
[9:49] we will be
[9:49] getting more
[9:50] state aid this year
[9:51] because
[9:52] our property values ​​haven't been
[9:53] growing as well as the
[9:54] rest of the
[9:55] state. It wasn't
[9:56] great news, but, um
[9:57] , good news for
[9:58] our
[9:59] funding formula. And then
[10:00] , at the end of, um,
[10:01] October, we will finally
[10:02] determine the value of
[10:03] our property.
[10:04] So,
[10:05] important dates are approaching for the
[10:06] final
[10:07] approval of our
[10:08] budget. And then the
[10:09] next page is
[10:10] just...hmm, I think
[10:11] we talked about that.
[10:13] This sounded
[10:14] familiar to me, but this was
[10:15] our first month of, um,
[10:16] our
[10:17] health
[10:18] insurance experience, and
[10:19] we're currently operating at
[10:20] 87%. So we will get
[10:22] our next report on
[10:25] October 8th. Then we
[10:26] will have data for
[10:27] another month. Hmm,
[10:31] everything
[10:31] looks good at first.
[10:35] Ryan? Thank you, Mr.
[10:36] President. Bonnie, you
[10:38] mentioned, um, government
[10:39] assistance. You said it looked like
[10:41] we would
[10:41] get more, but
[10:42] I just wanted to
[10:43] clarify. More
[10:44] compared to
[10:45] previous estimates
[10:46] ?
[10:46] More compared to
[10:47] our estimate on
[10:48] July 1.
[10:48] Good, but still
[10:49] significantly less than
[10:50] last year.
[10:51] Right.
[10:52] Okay, thank you.
[10:53] Yes.
[10:56] Megan?
[10:57] Yes, you know, I have
[10:59] something. Sorry. Thank you
[11:00] , Mr. President. Hmm,
[11:02] Bonnie, it's, um, great
[11:04] to see that, um,
[11:05] healthcare costs
[11:06] aren't going
[11:08] over 100%. Hooray!
[11:10] Thank you. Hmm, do you have any
[11:12] idea if
[11:16] this is partly due to
[11:16] reduced
[11:17] usage or if it's
[11:18] just
[11:19] cost containment? I know it's
[11:20] hard to say
[11:21] based on one
[11:22] data point, but
[11:23] yeah, I think it's
[11:24] pretty early. We
[11:25] saw a lot of
[11:26] people, when we were
[11:26] looking at our data
[11:28] with the Hudson doctor,
[11:29] take this step, and
[11:30] since we have a
[11:31] fixed cost of
[11:32] about 70,000...Um,
[11:33] I think
[11:34] our claims came in at
[11:35] about 300?
[11:38] Yes, they were significantly
[11:39] exceeded. So these are
[11:40] statements that
[11:41] healthcare partners would have
[11:42] that are simply an
[11:44] advantage for us.
[11:45] So, I think that was
[11:46] very important. But
[11:47] we had a lot of people
[11:48] who switched to
[11:50] Hudson doctors. And this is
[11:52] our goal.
[11:53] Thank you.
[11:55] So, in your
[11:56] experience, are there any
[11:58] particular times of the year when
[11:59] we expect
[12:00] usage to increase or not? Is
[12:03] it
[12:04] stable enough? This is just a
[12:05] non-standard question
[12:07] .
[12:07] Yes, I mean,
[12:08] we have a lot
[12:09] more medical
[12:10] checkups in the summer simply because
[12:11] people have the day off.
[12:12] Um, if you
[12:12] look at our
[12:14] dental claims
[12:15] , July is
[12:15] always crazy. I
[12:17] think we are way
[12:18] over budget,
[12:19] but it always
[12:20] evens out. Um, if
[12:22] you look back on the
[12:23] last 3 years,
[12:24] I guess people are just
[12:25] trying to get
[12:27] things taken care of before
[12:28] school starts, but yeah.
[12:29] I think last
[12:31] year in July we had
[12:33] 147%.
[12:34] Well, yeah, we had two
[12:35] really...
[12:36] Yeah, we had two
[12:37] really big statements,
[12:38] and you know, obviously
[12:40] 1 month doesn't make a
[12:41] trend. But if
[12:44] you look at the
[12:45] history of the last 2
[12:46] years, July has always
[12:47] been well above 100%
[12:48] because in July you
[12:50] pay for services
[12:51] that were provided in
[12:52] June. And also some
[12:56] services that were
[12:57] provided in July. So it
[12:59] will be interesting
[12:59] to see what
[13:00] impact the changes
[13:02] to our plan will have,
[13:03] primarily on
[13:03] August. Yes, it's
[13:05] reflected in
[13:06] August, but I
[13:07] mean it's very, very positive.
[13:12] Thank you, Bonnie. Thanks,
[13:13] Nick. No further
[13:15] questions, we'll move on
[13:16] to the third Friday,
[13:17] Nick.
[13:18] Yes. Uh, if you
[13:19] go to the
[13:21] Third
[13:22] Friday count documents...Excuse me,
[13:23] if you go to the
[13:25] Third
[13:26] Friday count documents, there's some
[13:31] good news, and there's some
[13:32] not so good news. Uh, the way you
[13:34] look at it, you know,
[13:38] our enrollment is
[13:39] down
[13:41] about 150 students, I
[13:42] think it's about 148.
[13:44] But I have to
[13:45] point out a couple of
[13:46] things to you: The number of
[13:47] kids in 4K is down
[13:49] because there's a
[13:50] new 4K program, "Get Kids
[13:52] Ahead." We talked about
[13:53] this when several of our
[13:54] educational institutions
[13:55] chose this program
[13:56] instead of the school one. So
[13:59] , you know, in itself,
[14:00] I don't know exactly
[14:01] how many children, because we
[14:02] don't track them, because
[14:04] they're in a
[14:05] different state
[14:06] program. So that
[14:08] explains why some of
[14:09] the numbers have decreased,
[14:11] especially in 4K,
[14:12] because, you know, the number of
[14:14] kids in 4K has decreased by
[14:15] about 17 in
[14:16] that direction. Uh,
[14:18] but overall, you know,
[14:19] high school is
[14:20] down about
[14:21] 20. Uh, high
[14:22] school is supposedly
[14:22] holding up, and
[14:23] elementary schools are really
[14:24] hard to compare because
[14:25] we redistributed
[14:26] districts from last
[14:27] year to
[14:29] elementary school attendance districts,
[14:30] so it's hard to look
[14:31] at cohort groups.
[14:32] You need to look in more detail
[14:34] below. Uh,
[14:35] and if you look at
[14:36] this diagonally across the
[14:37] cohort groups, you can
[14:39] see where everything
[14:40] is. Uh, but
[14:41] overall, you know,
[14:42] at the bottom of the table, we
[14:43] also track
[14:44] Trinity and
[14:45] St. Patrick's, as well
[14:47] as
[14:48] home school performance.
[14:48] Remember that
[14:49] homeschool rates
[14:50] will never be
[14:52] accurate until October,
[14:53] when
[14:54] homeschool registration is mandatory. Therefore
[14:56] , when we talk about the
[14:57] coverage level in
[14:58] the district, we tend to
[14:59] wait until the
[15:00] January count, because then
[15:01] we have all the official
[15:02] data. Uh, but
[15:03] St. Patrick's is
[15:05] up about
[15:06] 19. Uh, uh,
[15:07] Trinity is
[15:08] down about
[15:10] nine, and as you
[15:11] said, homeschooling
[15:13] is a moot
[15:14] point right now until we
[15:15] get, uh,
[15:16] all the
[15:17] homeschooling data,
[15:18] and a lot of it doesn't
[15:19] come in until October.
[15:21] So, uh, once we
[15:22] get all this
[15:23] information, then we
[15:25] can calculate
[15:26] the reach rate
[15:27] and other things to
[15:29] know exactly how we're
[15:30] doing and what it
[15:31] looks like. So, just
[15:32] a few things to
[15:33] look out for,
[15:34] which Bonnie talked a little bit about
[15:35] . Uh,
[15:36] last year we
[15:37] had 178 open
[15:38] registration applications. We are
[15:40] currently trending
[15:41] towards 172 open
[15:42] registration applications.
[15:44] We had 257 applications
[15:45] for registration, but
[15:46] this year we
[15:48] only had 234 applications. So, uh
[15:49] , and part of that is
[15:50] because we're
[15:51] not the only county in
[15:52] this area that's
[15:53] seeing a
[15:54] decline in
[15:55] registration applications.
[15:56] I would say that
[15:56] most, if not
[15:57] all, districts in
[15:58] St. Croix County
[15:59] are showing some
[16:00] decline in
[16:01] enrollment, even some of
[16:02] those districts that are
[16:03] building a lot
[16:04] more housing than
[16:05] we have. So, are there any
[16:06] questions about
[16:07] student numbers or
[16:08] the count for Third
[16:09] Friday? This is solely
[16:11] the number of students on
[16:12] site. This is not the weighted
[16:14] number of students
[16:15] we are looking at and for
[16:17] budget purposes
[16:19] because, for example, 4K students are
[16:20] not counted as a
[16:21] full 1.0, they are
[16:22] counted as 0.6,
[16:25] etc., but are there any
[16:27] questions about the
[16:27] Third
[16:29] Friday count?
[16:31] No questions? So
[16:32] I'll stay with Nick
[16:33] on the security and staffing plan
[16:35] .
[16:36] So, this was a
[16:37] belated report
[16:38] card. This is not something
[16:39] you need to
[16:40] vote on
[16:40] tonight or anything
[16:41] like that, but one of
[16:42] the questions the board
[16:43] asked last
[16:43] time when we
[16:44] raised the issue
[16:45] of the potential for a
[16:45] third SRO was
[16:46] can you outline
[16:47] some of the costs
[16:47] associated with that? And
[16:48] so, uh, we just
[16:49] wrapped up some of these
[16:51] things today. And
[16:52] so, you know, we had
[16:53] some
[16:54] conversations with, uh, the city of
[16:56] Hudson. And uh, are
[16:58] they interested in
[16:59] this? What would it
[17:00] look like if we
[17:01] went down this path? Hmm,
[17:03] because usually with SRO
[17:04] it works like this: we
[17:05] pay 75% of the cost,
[17:07] they pay 25% of
[17:08] the cost, because they have
[17:10] us for 9 months a year,
[17:11] then 3 months a year,
[17:13] that's how it is. And so
[17:16] what happened was, we
[17:17] sorted it out, and Bonnie
[17:19] helped put it together.
[17:20] Hmm, how much are we currently
[17:21] paying the two
[17:24] part-
[17:25] time campus security officers? Not the
[17:26] current SRO. We have an
[17:28] SRO at the high school.
[17:29] Plus we have two
[17:31] campus security officers. And
[17:33] then we have our
[17:34] regular, um,
[17:35] campus observers
[17:37] , and these are the others. But these are two
[17:39] campus security officers who
[17:40] work part-
[17:41] time at the
[17:42] high school. Hmm, we're
[17:43] spending about
[17:44] $61,000 a year out of what
[17:45] we've
[17:46] budgeted for these
[17:47] two people. For us to
[17:49] pay 3/4 of the SRO, that's
[17:50] about $116,000
[17:52] per year. So, the difference is
[17:55] about
[17:56] $55,000. As
[17:57] for, uh,
[17:58] cost. But the difference is
[18:00] that
[18:01] our self-assessment
[18:02] organizations were able to
[18:03] pay our
[18:04] self-assessment
[18:05] organizations from the
[18:06] 80 fund. This is, uh, our
[18:07] public works fund. Uh
[18:08] , and although the costs will be added to the
[18:09] public works fund,
[18:11] we
[18:12] have a fund balance that
[18:13] can cover it this
[18:14] year. And then we will
[18:15] be able to make
[18:16] adjustments to
[18:17] next year's budget. Uh,
[18:18] there will be savings to
[18:19] fund 10. And
[18:20] so when we
[18:21] talk primarily
[18:22] about budget
[18:24] issues, fund 10 is the
[18:25] budget that we are
[18:26] always most
[18:27] concerned about. Uh, and that would be a
[18:29] budget cut of
[18:30] about
[18:32] $61,000 to
[18:32] fund 10. Now
[18:34] , we talked about
[18:35] how these positions would be, uh
[18:37] , regulated,
[18:38] the position would be
[18:40] primarily for elementary
[18:41] school students. Uh, and
[18:43] serving
[18:44] elementary school students.
[18:47] However, whenever the
[18:49] high school or middle
[18:50] school SRO was gone, this SRO
[18:51] would fill in so that
[18:53] we always had someone
[18:54] at the high school while
[18:55] we were working. That's
[19:00] why the district initially
[19:01] added two
[19:03] campus safety officers back in
[19:05] 2015. Hmm, the SRO
[19:08] was called out of the building for
[19:09] various issues, and
[19:10] then the building
[19:11] was left without
[19:12] anyone there, and that's how
[19:14] they added it. This
[19:17] position would also not
[19:18] only provide
[19:19] support and work
[19:21] with our elementary
[19:22] school, etc.,
[19:23] substituting for the high school and
[19:24] middle school when
[19:25] needed, but would also
[19:26] work with Josh
[19:27] Galverson, our
[19:28] assistant
[19:29] principal who
[19:30] handles
[19:31] safety issues. This person would
[19:34] also have been, and I know,
[19:35] discussing this with the
[19:36] city. We could
[19:38] send that person
[19:39] for training and not
[19:40] replace them,
[19:42] because that's one of the things
[19:43] that happens with SROs
[19:44] about every 3
[19:45] years, they get replaced.
[19:46] So, we can
[19:47] invest in this
[19:48] person, send them
[19:49] to training, they
[19:50] will still work with
[19:51] the Department of
[19:52] Homeland Security
[19:53] and the U.S. Secret Service
[19:54] , which is who we
[19:55] work with on
[19:56] security and protection issues
[19:58] related to schools. They
[19:59] are experts in
[20:00] school safety. And so it was
[20:03] they,
[20:03] the Department of
[20:04] Homeland Security, that
[20:05] did the
[20:06] school security assessments, and you
[20:08] know, this
[20:09] position would be working with
[20:10] school personnel to
[20:11] review; well, what have
[20:12] they identified as
[20:13] problems or challenges
[20:15] or something like that
[20:16] within that, and what are the
[20:17] things we need to
[20:18] do? They
[20:21] will also work with
[20:22] district staff
[20:23] on what training
[20:24] we need to
[20:25] do and what we
[20:26] need to do with
[20:27] staff, and they
[20:28] will provide
[20:29] recommendations on
[20:30] school safety issues
[20:31] for the future, and this is what
[20:32] it looks like. This
[20:35] position can
[20:36] start as early as
[20:38] January 1st, because the city
[20:39] remembers that their
[20:41] fiscal year is from
[20:42] January 1st to December 31st, and
[20:44] ours is from July 1st to
[20:45] June 30th. Hmm, that's exactly what you
[20:48] can
[20:49] start with then. And
[20:52] then we could go in
[20:53] that direction if the
[20:54] council wanted to go in
[20:55] that direction. There
[20:56] simply wasn't any interest among
[20:57] school districts in
[20:58] other counties
[20:59] in
[21:00] taking a stand at the
[21:01] district level. Um, the way
[21:03] we look at it,
[21:04] being able to have someone in
[21:06] our buildings
[21:06] who
[21:09] has police
[21:10] powers and
[21:11] authority in the event of a disturbance is
[21:11] an advantage over
[21:12] our armed
[21:14] guards and
[21:14] private
[21:15] contractors who don't
[21:16] necessarily have
[21:17] those police
[21:18] powers. So, um,
[21:22] that's our recommendation
[21:24] if you want to
[21:25] step it up and
[21:26] move forward. If
[21:28] you say, "No, um, that's
[21:29] not the direction
[21:31] we're thinking of," that's
[21:32] fine too. I'm completely
[21:33] open to that. I
[21:34] just want to
[21:35] make sure we
[21:36] discussed this
[21:37] issue again. Well, that's an
[21:40] advantage. We'll
[21:41] continue, Molly.
[21:43] Thank you. Let's.
[21:44] I just wanted to
[21:45] say that this is an
[21:46] advantage for both us and the
[21:47] city. Um, it's
[21:49] cost savings for
[21:50] them and flexibility,
[21:51] right?
[21:52] Yes, I think it
[21:53] helps the city because
[21:55] they probably have
[21:59] some budget
[22:00] issues right now that
[22:02] they're working through, and
[22:03] it essentially allows them to
[22:04] set aside a position,
[22:05] probably as a cutback
[22:06] for them. Otherwise, it would be
[22:10] very difficult for them to
[22:11] take on
[22:12] additional expenses at
[22:13] this time because of the way
[22:14] their
[22:15] budget is structured. Molly.
[22:19] Um, so I
[22:20] understand correctly, we have an SRO,
[22:22] it would be an additional SRO
[22:23] that is located at the
[22:25] high school and the
[22:26] middle school, right?
[22:27] Or will they be one
[22:28] in high school and
[22:29] then a floater?
[22:30] We currently have one in
[22:32] high school. We have
[22:33] one in high school
[22:34] .
[22:35] Good.
[22:35] This one will mainly
[22:36] support
[22:37] elementary schoolers and,
[22:38] well,
[22:39] replace the high
[22:40] school in high
[22:41] school when their
[22:41] parents leave. And
[22:42] also they will have
[22:43] some time and
[22:44] opportunity to be
[22:45] more proactive in
[22:46] our
[22:47] security and defense planning, and
[22:48] that's also in that vein. I
[22:49] think I
[22:50] understood correctly, and thank you for the
[22:52] explanation. I think that
[22:53] sounds great. I
[22:54] think that, um, I would
[22:55] probably also support
[22:57] keeping our two
[23:00] part-
[23:01] time campus safety officers. Hmm,
[23:03] just because sometimes
[23:05] more people is better. And
[23:07] this is just my opinion, but
[23:08] if I wanted to bring
[23:09] it up for discussion, what do
[23:10] other people think about
[23:12] this? Because
[23:14] it worries me a little,
[23:15] we would go from three
[23:16] people in high school
[23:17] to two. Do they
[23:18] change days,
[23:19] part-
[23:20] time?
[23:20] Yes, they are part-
[23:21] time, they are
[23:22] part-
[23:23] time.
[23:24] So I find this
[23:26] a little disturbing, but
[23:27] can we
[23:27] talk about it
[23:28] more?
[23:29] Yes, definitely.
[23:31] Mr. President,
[23:32] I guess on that
[23:34] line of thought,
[23:35] given that this
[23:37] new SRO is primarily
[23:38] dedicated to
[23:39] the elementary school, but
[23:40] then it would
[23:41] support the high
[23:42] school, if this SRO
[23:44] is called, how often do
[23:45] we know if the high
[23:46] school is doing this SRO in the
[23:48] high school or the middle
[23:49] school, if it can't
[23:50] be there, that we
[23:52] drag the
[23:53] elementary school SRO there? Do
[23:55] we have an estimate?
[23:56] Or we could, like... I
[23:58] understand that you may
[23:59] not have...
[24:00] It may not be as
[24:01] common as it seems,
[24:02] but it seems that
[24:03] sometimes we... we use them a lot
[24:04] ,
[24:05] right? And often we are without
[24:06] them, and then we either
[24:07] drag
[24:08] high school along to
[24:09] cover it up, and then there is a
[24:11] problem in high school. So
[24:12] , I...quite often. I
[24:13] mean, I think
[24:15] they do
[24:15] a lot of training, and
[24:17] it definitely put
[24:18] us in a difficult
[24:18] position.
[24:19] I think it would be
[24:20] helpful to have this
[24:21] assessment as part of
[24:21] continuing
[24:22] to refine this
[24:23] plan. Overall, I
[24:24] really like it.
[24:26] I think it's worth
[24:27] further
[24:28] discussion, and it
[24:29] kind of
[24:30] builds on Molly's idea that
[24:32] maybe it's not a replacement,
[24:34] it's a complement, but
[24:35] getting more
[24:36] data to
[24:37] understand how often
[24:38] they're being pulled would be
[24:40] helpful in
[24:41] guiding that. I don't
[24:42] know what others are thinking
[24:43] or where they
[24:44] fall. I would like to
[24:47] see
[24:48] job descriptions for all of them
[24:49] so that we in the community
[24:50] have an idea of
[24:51] what their role is, and
[24:52] I would also like to have one
[24:54] for the part-
[24:58] time security officers. Um, because
[25:00] I'm curious how it's
[25:02] different.
[25:03] Hmm.
[25:05] And I mean,
[25:06] safety is
[25:07] extremely important to me,
[25:09] so I understand what you mean
[25:12] , Molly.
[25:14] So, this is information
[25:15] I would like to have.
[25:17] Good. Megan.
[25:19] Yes, I just want to
[25:20] thank you for this
[25:21] work. I find this
[25:24] really fascinating.
[25:26] I like the
[25:27] idea of
[25:28] law enforcement getting
[25:29] more and more
[25:33] emergency and crisis preparedness training, and
[25:35] working
[25:36] with DHS and the Secret
[25:37] Service. And
[25:39] I also like what a
[25:40] net benefit it is for
[25:41] our community as
[25:42] a whole to have someone
[25:43] who goes through this
[25:44] training. Um, this is
[25:45] just fascinating. This would be
[25:47] someone who would be there for the
[25:49] long term
[25:49] . I mean
[25:51] , of course, you can't
[25:52] force people
[25:53] not to change jobs,
[25:54] but we can
[25:55] invest in someone,
[25:56] um, and it will be the same
[25:57] person. And I
[25:58] like the idea of
[26:00] having someone
[26:01] working in our
[26:01] elementary schools, and
[26:03] then I personally
[26:08] prefer,
[26:09] which is to have
[26:09] law enforcement officers and
[26:10] additional training
[26:12] when someone is
[26:12] being removed, because I
[26:14] just think that, um,
[26:15] it's just a net
[26:16] benefit for our
[26:17] students and our
[26:18] staff.
[26:22] Yeah, nothing against,
[26:23] you know, security guards
[26:24] versus, you know,
[26:25] private security, I
[26:26] just think it's
[26:28] better for the community. It's
[26:31] better for kids
[26:32] to see police officers,
[26:33] you know, um, and I think
[26:34] it's a good
[26:35] opportunity
[26:36] to partner with the
[26:37] city and work
[26:38] together on this. So,
[26:41] Brian...
[26:43] Yes, I agree. This is a
[26:45] net benefit for
[26:46] our district, and Bob,
[26:47] emphasizing your
[26:48] point about
[26:49] having students around
[26:51] real
[26:51] police officers, I
[26:52] think it's a real
[26:54] net benefit. Um, I would...
[26:56] I liked
[26:57] Molly's idea of
[26:57] considering
[26:59] keeping two
[27:01] part-
[27:02] time positions. I think that
[27:03] might make sense. So I
[27:04] would also like to
[27:05] see more
[27:06] information on this
[27:07] . I have one
[27:08] question. Um, fund 80,
[27:10] I understand that we
[27:11] will pay in the
[27:13] first year from the balance of the
[27:14] fund, but in general, how do
[27:16] we finance fund
[27:18] 80? Um, could you
[27:21] just talk
[27:22] about this in general, Bonnie
[27:23] or Nick?
[27:24] Yes. I mean, and
[27:25] you know, the 80 fund–it's a
[27:26] fund that's charged
[27:28] on charges, you know,
[27:29] so some of the things that
[27:30] happen in the
[27:32] 80 fund generate
[27:33] enough revenue to
[27:34] cover its own
[27:35] expenses.
[27:36] How much do we charge? 425? 450?
[27:40] $450,000 per year to the
[27:41] 80 fund to cover
[27:43] community education costs. Um, just
[27:45] to give you, you know,
[27:46] a little rough
[27:47] estimate. I mean, it
[27:48] probably takes
[27:50] about 13 cents off the
[27:51] tax rate to
[27:52] make a million
[27:53] dollars. So that's
[27:54] probably about 6 cents,
[27:55] uh, of the
[27:56] housing tax rate for a
[27:57] fund of 80. So when you
[27:59] start looking at it
[27:59] , uh, if
[28:00] you need another 1/5 of
[28:02] that, that's
[28:02] about a penny
[28:03] of the housing tax rate
[28:05] to cover
[28:06] the costs associated with
[28:07] that. And you know, so
[28:09] for a house you, I
[28:10] mean, you're
[28:11] basically, uh,
[28:12] talking about a dollar per
[28:14] 100,000. That's how
[28:16] it works out. Uh, not a
[28:19] huge, not a
[28:19] huge leap
[28:21] for people.
[28:21] I agree. Uh, one
[28:23] additional question
[28:24] I wanted to ask
[28:26] earlier. Why does the transition
[28:28] to SRO make it
[28:29] suitable for fund 80
[28:31] ?
[28:33] Because it is considered
[28:34] community service.
[28:36] Yes, due to security, it
[28:37] doesn't meet their
[28:38] criteria, but
[28:39] community service with a
[28:41] police liaison officer does.
[28:43] Another advantage of the 80 fund
[28:44] over the 10 fund
[28:45] is that
[28:46] there is no 80 fund that is not
[28:47] subject to the
[28:48] income limit, so it is not
[28:49] tied to
[28:50] enrollment. This is whatever
[28:51] you, as a council,
[28:52] consider appropriate to
[28:53] charge. So that's
[28:55] the advantage of the 80 fund
[28:56] over the 10 fund.
[28:58] Thank you. I, uh, also
[28:59] think, I always like to
[29:00] ask, you know,
[29:01] how do we compare ourselves
[29:03] to other counties
[29:04] our size? And
[29:05] different, you know, every
[29:06] region is different
[29:08] , um, across the state,
[29:09] but, uh, you know, we're not.
[29:11] And thank you, Tyra, for
[29:12] voicing your opinion
[29:13] about the difficulties or the
[29:15] amount of time
[29:16] you don't have, um, because we
[29:18] don't know.
[29:19] You know, we don't, you know,
[29:20] we, uh, I guess,
[29:21] you know, the guy in
[29:22] high school sits
[29:23] in that little
[29:24] lobby in the center and,
[29:25] you know, claps the kids
[29:26] when they come in.
[29:27] I, I, you know, and, and, but,
[29:29] we don't have this
[29:30] daily, you know, what, they do and
[29:33] how
[29:34] busy they are; and, uh, but
[29:35] obviously I
[29:35] agree with everyone
[29:37] here that, you know, we, we
[29:38] want to err on the
[29:39] side of, uh, safety,
[29:41] you know, and coverage.
[29:43] So, uh...Does
[29:44] anyone have any more questions?
[29:47] Yes, sir.
[29:48] Uh...I have a few
[29:49] questions. So, during
[29:50] training, like in
[29:52] school, these SROs,
[29:52] whether
[29:54] they work
[29:55] full-time or part-time
[29:56] , are
[29:57] they located
[29:58] inside the school, or
[29:59] mostly outside of it?
[30:01] Uh, they're inside...
[30:03] the school.
[30:04] So, SROs are
[30:05] police officers.
[30:08] School safety officers are
[30:09] not police officers. Yes.
[30:11] Uh, sometimes they can be
[30:12] outside, sometimes they
[30:13] can be
[30:14] inside. Uh, but
[30:15] our SROs have offices in
[30:16] our offices, you know,
[30:17] in every
[30:18] high school and middle
[30:20] school office, so they
[30:21] work inside the
[30:22] building. They may
[30:23] go outside if there
[30:24] is something outside, but yes,
[30:25] they are mostly
[30:26] inside.
[30:26] Okay, that's good to know.
[30:28] I...there are a lot of schools in
[30:29] cities that
[30:30] place them outside of the
[30:31] schools, so I thought it was a
[30:33] pertinent question
[30:34] . Um, and is there any
[30:37] reason why we
[30:38] would want to consider
[30:39] whether there is a cost saving
[30:40] in performing
[30:41] partial SROs through a
[30:42] private security
[30:44] company, which could
[30:45] save a lot of
[30:46] money. Hmm,
[30:49] believe it or not,
[30:50] many of these
[30:51] private security
[30:52] companies actually
[30:53] train
[30:53] police officers and
[30:54] provide them with additional
[30:56] training. And I think it would be
[30:58] very valuable to
[31:00] at least consider this, to
[31:01] entertain this, um,
[31:02] part. And they
[31:03] work with
[31:04] law
[31:05] enforcement,
[31:06] Homeland Security,
[31:07] and all that other
[31:08] stuff. Hmm, are these...
[31:10] Another question
[31:11] I have is, are these
[31:12] people wearing... Yeah...
[31:16] Uh, I mean these... These... These are
[31:18] police officers. So, this is
[31:20] ...These Hudson full-time
[31:21] police officers
[31:23] are SROs. So,
[31:25] security guards, private
[31:26] security guards, are not
[31:27] considered SROs because
[31:28] they are not police officers.
[31:30] They are private
[31:31] security guards.
[31:32] Good.
[31:33] So, school
[31:33] resource officers are
[31:35] when you bring in
[31:36] outside
[31:36] law enforcement, whether
[31:38] it's a sheriff's deputy
[31:39] or a police officer, they
[31:40] 're an SRO. The guards that
[31:43] some
[31:44] counties use, it seems
[31:45] Madison, uh,
[31:46] turned to
[31:47] the guards and pulled
[31:48] all their
[31:49] police officers out of the
[31:50] buildings. Even our
[31:52] private security guards,
[31:52] our two
[31:53] employees who
[31:54] work in the county, uh
[31:55] , both work
[31:56] part-
[31:57] time. They seem to be
[31:58] dividing time. So
[31:59] they are not there at the same time
[32:00] . Uh, they're also
[32:02] armed officers. Uh,
[32:03] so, uh, we use them too
[32:04] , but,
[32:06] uh, you know, I said
[32:07] one of the benefits that
[32:08] we see with
[32:09] the police is that
[32:10] they start to
[32:11] build this relationship
[32:12] with the Hudson Police
[32:13] Department
[32:14] or the
[32:16] North Hudson Police Department
[32:18] or, you know, whatever it is
[32:19] . And that, you know, the
[32:20] main focus of the
[32:21] school
[32:22] resource officer program is
[32:23] not necessarily
[32:24] reactive,
[32:26] uh, policing
[32:27] . It's more
[32:28] about building
[32:29] relationships with
[32:29] law enforcement
[32:30] and being more
[32:31] proactive.
[32:33] And so we see this as an
[32:34] opportunity for
[32:35] law enforcement
[32:36] versus the
[32:36] private sector, uh
[32:38] , just
[32:38] providing security for the
[32:39] building.
[32:41] Okay, thank you.
[32:43] And as far as I know,
[32:45] we don't need to
[32:45] vote to
[32:46] proceed if we
[32:47] want to see
[32:48] more information on
[32:49] this. Are there any
[32:50] deadlines, as you
[32:51] said with our
[32:51] budget, the city
[32:52] budget, when you would
[32:53] ideally like to
[32:54] see a solution?
[32:55] Well, I mean,
[32:56] we can
[32:57] prepare job
[32:58] descriptions for the
[32:59] October
[33:00] board meeting. Um, and we
[33:01] can announce
[33:02] it in October, so
[33:03] if you
[33:04] feel
[33:05] comfortable at that time,
[33:06] you can move
[33:07] on. And if you want to
[33:08] , you know, bring it up
[33:09] at that time,
[33:10] you can definitely
[33:11] do that. But I
[33:12] can definitely assure you
[33:13] that I have written down job
[33:14] descriptions for both SROs
[33:16] and
[33:17] security officers. And
[33:18] then, if we
[33:19] can get
[33:20] some information about
[33:21] how often people
[33:22] are absent, um,
[33:23] we'll try to
[33:24] get that for you too;
[33:25] but then it will be
[33:26] set up that if
[33:27] you decide
[33:28] to continue this in
[33:29] October, we can
[33:30] do it and then we
[33:31] can notify
[33:32] the city. If you want to
[33:33] bring it up
[33:34] at that time, we
[33:35] can do that too.
[33:36] Aaron, do you have
[33:37] any more?
[33:38] Um, Nick, could
[33:39] you also provide the full
[33:41] cost so we
[33:42] can see the full
[33:43] figure with all the SROs
[33:44] proposed by the SROs
[33:49] for the budget?
[33:51] So what is there now?
[33:54] Yes, what we have now,
[33:55] but it's two part-
[33:56] time, and you
[33:57] listed that
[33:57] we have one full-
[33:58] time in
[33:59] high school, one
[34:00] full-time in
[34:01] middle school now,
[34:02] right? And we have two
[34:03] part-time
[34:04] jobs.
[34:06] No, so our current
[34:07] staffing model
[34:08] is to
[34:09] replace two
[34:11] part-
[34:12] time security guards. So,
[34:14] each SRO, to give you
[34:16] an idea, costs
[34:17] about $116,000.
[34:20] So, we have a $116,000 SRO
[34:21] at the high
[34:23] school, about
[34:24] $116,000 at the middle
[34:26] school, but in addition to those
[34:27] two SROs, we have two
[34:29] part-
[34:31] time security guards at the
[34:32] high school. That's what that
[34:35] $61,000 is.
[34:36] And is this generally for
[34:37] both of them, or is it for
[34:38] everyone?
[34:38] This is generally for
[34:39] both of them.
[34:40] Good.
[34:41] So, we are proposing
[34:42] to add another SRO for
[34:44] $116,000.
[34:46] Yes. So, in this
[34:47] document that you
[34:48] have, it shows that if
[34:50] two part-time security officers were
[34:52] to
[34:53] ultimately,
[34:55] you know, we were to
[34:56] terminate that
[34:56] program and just
[34:58] continue the
[34:59] SRO program, that would be a
[35:00] savings of about
[35:01] $61,000 from the
[35:02] general fund.
[35:04] However, a fund of 80, uh, would have
[35:05] raised about
[35:07] $116,000 in expenses. So
[35:09] the difference, uh, if you
[35:10] replace them, the difference
[35:12] is about
[35:13] $54,000, adding
[35:14] that extra
[35:15] police officer. If
[35:17] the board decides to
[35:18] keep the two
[35:22] part-time security officers and
[35:23] keep the SRO, the
[35:24] additional SRO, it's
[35:25] just an
[35:26] additional cost of
[35:27] $116,000
[35:28] for the additional SRO,
[35:30] but that can be
[35:31] covered under Fund 80. It
[35:32] won't impact Fund 10.
[35:35] Okay, so we'll
[35:36] look at the bottom line of
[35:37] about
[35:38] $400,000 per year
[35:39] for those positions.
[35:43] Um, in, in, well, in. Do you mean as a
[35:45] whole?
[35:47] You know, it's not
[35:48] $400,000 right now.
[35:50] No, I'm using
[35:51] the numbers you just
[35:52] gave me. I
[35:53] mean, doesn't that
[35:54] add up?
[35:56] Yes. Yeah, I
[35:58] mean, we're
[35:59] spending almost
[36:01] $240,000, probably
[36:02] right now, on our two
[36:03] self-defenses, plus another
[36:05] $61,000 on
[36:06] security guards, so that's
[36:08] $300,000, and if you
[36:09] add 116, it's
[36:10] a little over
[36:12] $400,000 total.
[36:13] Good. But the top
[36:15] priority is the
[36:16] safety of our children.
[36:18] I don't object to that.
[36:19] I just want to know
[36:21] what the numbers are.
[36:21] But, Mr. President,
[36:23] can I...
[36:23] Yes... I
[36:24] just want to clarify
[36:25] for those watching. The
[36:26] first part you
[36:28] said is 284,000, Nick, right
[36:31] ? It's in the budget. We already
[36:32] have it...
[36:33] about 240,000.
[36:35] We're already talking
[36:38] about additional
[36:39] costs.
[36:40] Yes. So,
[36:41] I just want to
[36:42] make it very clear in this
[36:43] discussion that we are not
[36:44] adding $400,000
[36:45] to the budget.
[36:47] No, if we keep what
[36:48] we have now and
[36:50] add SROs, it would be
[36:52] 116,000. If we replace
[36:53] two
[36:55] security officers with SROs...