[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] Welcome to our first school board meeting of the new school year. And as a reminder, we acknowledge
[0:09] that the ordinance located on the traditional land of the great Salt Lake Free Mount Northern
[0:16] Shoshone and Goshu tribes. And we will now invite our new this month school board representative
[0:27] our student rep, J. Sean, to lead us in the pletiful legions.
[0:32] A pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic
[0:38] for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
[0:48] Thank you.
[0:51] We will jump right into celebration.
[1:03] I have been looking forward to this actually since last spring, when Katie received this award.
[1:10] But before we jump into it, I'll turn it over for Katie to have a few words for you.
[1:16] I just want to take you back to 2014.
[1:18] We have the clarity of hindsight, an exceptional teacher made what we now know an excellent
[1:26] decision.
[1:27] She chose Oggin.
[1:29] More specifically, she chose Oggin High.
[1:31] She came to us as she taught Latinos in action, Avid, and U.S. history.
[1:37] 2016-17, that teacher, Katie Scott, was recognized as our teacher of the year in our district.
[1:42] That point, she transitioned her exceptional skills to an instructional coach, serving
[1:50] under then-principle Rasmussen at Audien High School for two years and proved herself
[1:55] as capable as a coach, that continuous pursuit of excellence.
[2:01] Following that, I had the sagacity to hire Katie as a district specialist, and that's the
[2:07] point where she joined our team as our avid and college and career readiness specialist.
[2:11] and has served us now, you're in your eight years,
[2:14] so she's completed seven years in that position.
[2:17] And the reason I want to say that is,
[2:19] at any point in those stages,
[2:21] you could look at someone who is at the peak
[2:22] of their position, the peak of their professionalism,
[2:26] and say that she could have just put it in cruise control
[2:30] and still been wonderful.
[2:32] But that is not what Katie is about.
[2:34] And I think for that, she embodies what Ogden is all about.
[2:38] Every time she finds success, she turns her attention
[2:41] to say, what else could we be doing?
[2:43] We're not doing enough yet here.
[2:45] How else could we be successful?
[2:47] And it's not about her, it is about her commitment
[2:50] to our teachers, our administrators, and our students.
[2:54] She exemplifies a servant leadership in that regard.
[2:59] So it is not a surprise, but we don't
[3:02] want to diminish the reward here.
[3:04] It's not a surprise that she is recognized now
[3:07] by the United Way of Northern Utah
[3:09] as the education partner of the year for her work with Abbott and coordination with
[3:14] Reaper State. And so with that, I could go on and on and celebrate what Katie is and
[3:21] who she is and how integral she is to our district. But I'd like to turn it over to her
[3:25] to describe the reason behind this award and what it means to unite it way and what it
[3:32] That means for our district, so with that, Katie Scott.
[3:35] This
[3:38] is very heavy, so I'm going to hopefully not drop it.
[3:42] Okay, so thank you, Adam, and I do want to thank Luke,
[3:47] because he gave me lots of opportunities as his principal or as my principal.
[3:52] And coming to Ogden, I had taught or worked in three other school districts prior to coming to Ogden.
[4:00] And I'm going to stay here.
[4:02] It's an amazing culture, I love it here, I love all the teachers I work with, my husband
[4:07] works here now, it's great, so my son goes to Pulk, we love it here.
[4:14] So like Adam said, I'm the avid teacher specialist, college career readiness, if you're
[4:20] not super familiar with the program, it started as an elective class in the secondary schools
[4:25] for students, generally speaking, that our first generation college bound, but every student
[4:31] that wants to apply and would like to be in the class is considered and part of the course
[4:39] and I have an avid student student sitting next behind me and she might giggle a little
[4:43] is we do a small group study groups called Tutorials and they're pretty intense for kids when
[4:50] they first start to learn how to do them because we're not going to give you the answer and
[4:54] they have to work through it. Those are facilitated by tutors.
[4:58] And after the 2019-2020 school year, as you can imagine, we didn't get very many college
[5:05] age tutors coming into our schools.
[5:08] So we saw a need for that, and at the time Ogden can help us out.
[5:14] We partnered with our CTE department to provide internships for our current upper-class
[5:20] avid students to come down to our junior highs and tutor.
[5:24] and we started with seven students in that 21-22 school year and it just kind
[5:31] of took off. The kids were phenomenal with each other. They had such a great
[5:35] experience. Now with United Way's support we're partnering with Weber State
[5:42] bringing professors in to talk to those interns about becoming educators. We
[5:47] currently, and I wrote it down, we currently have six former interns working as
[5:53] parapro's in our district. One, I just got a reference check for so hopefully it will
[5:57] be seven. And then we have ten in total in the state that I know of that are working
[6:02] in schools because two years ago, Heather Gerard in the CTE department, okay, paying a small
[6:10] scholarship to the students when they finish their internship to take the parapro exam. One
[6:16] of those lovely ladies is actually in our Grow Your Own Program. So with United Ways
[6:22] help we've been able to expand this program, not just to our junior high, but now our
[6:26] avid elementaries have some of our interns working in them, as well as supporting
[6:30] third and fifth grades, which is really fun. Then we've had really great success not only with
[6:36] the students that they're working with, they have a higher attendance rate, but just our interns
[6:40] in general, if they weren't super interested in education, they just kind of wanted to volunteer
[6:45] work. A lot of them are coming back saying, actually, maybe I really do like this job. So it's
[6:52] really great right now. We're able to pay 12 of them, but we had over 40 applicants and some
[6:58] of them were more than happy to be unpaid in their positions and get the CTE credit and some
[7:06] of them have stayed with us two years and we just changed their placement every year. And it's
[7:10] been really, really fantastic. If you ever get a chance and you want to meet some of our interns,
[7:14] you should go in and watch them work with their students, so thank you.
[7:22] And I just wanted to add Katie, like you, I mean Adam said everything but you truly are an exceptional educator
[7:28] and played like having you when I first came to Oregon was a blessing, you know what I mean?
[7:33] So just it's about time we got you up here again for something because you truly do
[7:38] to make a difference in everything that you do and it's very appreciated.
[7:42] So lucky to have the Scott family, you know, in our district and Katie, you're amazing.
[7:46] So thank you.
[7:51] So this is too bad, because normally when we have celebrations, the room is full.
[7:59] We'll get the word out.
[8:02] Now I need to turn some time over to our student school board reps.
[8:11] What do I say?
[8:12] Do I just?
[8:16] I report that this, this, Dishon, just introduce yourself and where you're from, you're
[8:27] good.
[8:27] But this is too advanced for me.
[8:30] If it's red, you're on, you're good, you don't need to hold it, because you're finished
[8:34] to finish.
[8:34] Oh okay, perfect.
[8:36] I feel like I'm talking to my secretary, I have someone in the front, she's calling me, but
[8:42] Yes, my name is J. Sean D. Arty and I'm more than I can express how excited I am to
[8:48] be a part of this. I forget what I want I'm in right now. Oh my goodness. Student board,
[8:54] yes. I'm excited to be a part of this school. My apologies. It's horrible. Oh my goodness.
[9:01] I really should get my secretary. But being a part of this student board, I'm more than
[9:05] excited, especially where I did come from being in Las Vegas and that school system, it's
[9:11] not. I don't know how to put it kindly, but it's not the best. So I'm excited to be a part of a place
[9:17] that's forward for the student education. I think that's the best way I can put it. Thank you,
[9:23] guys.
[9:27] Can I just add that Jason, he has this incredible energy and he is a fashionista. So super excited
[9:36] to see your wardrobe moving forward but
[9:42] the up it's just come on up and
[9:48] it's delicious yeah okay you're stuck there okay I'm Jasmine I do have a
[9:59] report of what has been happening at Ogden High I've been going to we had our
[10:03] first football game against Bear River that went well the community in the
[10:08] students were very happy about having our first game. We also had a back to
[10:13] school night at Ogden High. A bunch we were state showed up, a bunch of resources
[10:17] showed up for people who need a little more extra help to be successful in
[10:21] life and that was very welcoming. The food was great. My family definitely had a lot
[10:25] of fun and a lot of my peers had fun. I'm just very excited to be able to give back
[10:30] to my my district and be able to be a part of it and just have more
[10:36] involvement with my peers in my school. And I thank you guys for this opportunity.
[10:44] We're really happy to have you. Thank you. Hi,
[10:50] I'm my Ericsson. I'm also from
[10:53] Ardenhaya as well as Jasmine. She kind of covered mostly what our school has been doing so I don't
[10:58] really have anything to report on that but I will be working especially with with the school board
[11:04] as well. I'm very happy this opportunity. It's been so cool and I feel like I'm learning so much and
[11:10] And it's really preparing me to go out and, you know, make a difference in the community.
[11:22] Okay, so we do have one person signed up for public participation, Lexi Cunningham.
[11:30] You can introduce yourself.
[11:32] President Wilson, Vice President Anderson, members of the board, Superintendent Rasmussen.
[11:37] Good evening, and thank you for allowing me to be here.
[11:41] I'm Lexi Cunningham, and I'm the Executive Director of the Utah School Superintendent's
[11:44] Association and I want to bring greetings from our Association and our officers and thank
[11:50] you for your leadership and your commitment to students to schools to teachers and most
[11:55] especially to the the Ogden community. There are so many wonderful things going on up here
[11:59] and in Ogden. I am here because during our summer conference we recognize our superintendents
[12:07] as an organization after every after a superintendents first year we have a USSA challenge
[12:13] that we give that superintendent, and then we recognize other superintendents for 5, 10, 15, and 20-year service to the state of Utah as a superintendent.
[12:25] And until this year, we had three superintendents with over 20 years of experience, and now we only have one.
[12:31] So we do have superintendents that serve quite a few years.
[12:35] And I'm here to recognize Superintendent Rasmussen and give him his five-year pin.
[12:42] He was not able to join us this summer and Thursday night because he had a board meeting and you were doing your budget.
[12:48] So he had to come down here.
[12:50] We are just so thankful to have Superintendent Rasmussen as part of our association.
[12:54] He serves as our UHS, UHSAA representative and has done a phenomenal job with that and keeping all of the districts informed.
[13:04] He also has helped with our literacy implementation and has shared some of the great work going on up here in Ogden.
[13:11] This year he agreed to mentor one of our new superintendents and help them have a good start to their superintendency.
[13:19] He's one of those superintendents who always says yes when we need something or we ask for help.
[13:26] We get a yes out of superintendents respison before we even finish asking what we need to do.
[13:31] So he represents you so well in your students and your teachers.
[13:37] And while we are thankful to have him as part of our association, I know that you are
[13:41] thrilled to have him as a superintendent.
[13:44] So I would just like to present him with his five-year UHSAA pen.
[13:58] And it matches what you're wearing.
[14:00] You can move along.
[14:01] Thank you.
[14:02] You're so welcome.
[14:02] Thank you.
[14:04] I want one.
[14:07] So, if you're mentoring another superintendent, does that make you a super superintendent?
[14:15] Okay,
[14:21] so now moving on to the consent calendar, I know there were a couple of questions, I believe
[14:28] those were addressed like on the travel dates.
[14:32] Okay, so we do need a motion to approve the consent.
[14:39] Am I able to make an amendment?
[14:43] So I would like to make an amendment that we remove financial reports from the consent
[14:50] calendar as I don't know many of us may not have read through it because it was recently posted.
[14:58] so I'd like to give us time.
[15:00] To be able to review it and then bring it to the next board meeting. Okay. So motion has been made by Vice President Anderson. Is there a second? I'll second that motion. Second by Board Member Bernal. All in favor. I forget to mention that Board Member Sondal is joining us online.
[15:28] Now,
[15:32] we'll turn time over to our business administrator to discuss the solar panels at
[15:41] Hillcrest.
[15:45] I cannot hear him.
[15:49] My mic is off.
[15:50] How does that help?
[15:52] Sorry, Jen.
[15:54] Much better.
[15:54] Thank you.
[15:57] So, just to give you an idea, I talked to Darwin Smith, our energy manager, about this
[16:05] a little bit before the meeting so I could have a little bit of information, but so Easter
[16:12] is elementary, for instance, where we've had solar panels for a while. We were able
[16:18] to keep that building cool through the summer for like $1,500 a month. By contrast, if you
[16:28] go to, like, New Bridge, similar size school.
[16:32] It's like $6,000 a month.
[16:36] And so we have the same experience
[16:40] with the Ben-Lomond Athletic Center and the schools on which
[16:45] we have these solar panels.
[16:47] It costs a lot of money, but it is a very energy-efficient way
[16:53] of doing business.
[16:54] And so that's what the proposal is.
[16:59] There was some confusion, I believe, in the synopsis
[17:03] because there was some mention about covering the cost
[17:09] of doing bullet proof film on the schools.
[17:17] The plan is that we will use part of that savings
[17:21] to do that, but that's not part of this request.
[17:23] this request only has to do with the solar panels. When I spoke today with Mitch about
[17:36] what Mitch was, Jared, I talked to you about it. So we're getting bids for the film.
[17:44] The film is required to understate law, but they've tweaked a lot a little bit, so we're
[17:49] We're not going to need as much as we thought we would, but at some point we'll be bringing
[17:55] to you a proposal to approve purchasing the film that we need to put on Hillcrest to
[18:06] meet the law and the requirements under the law.
[18:11] I expect it's going to cost more than $100,000, so you guys will be giving an opportunity
[18:19] and to approve that, when that time comes.
[18:22] Initially, the bid was like $400,000
[18:25] to do that school along the tweaking of the law,
[18:30] cut back on what it was required to be put on.
[18:34] And so it'll probably be around $200,000 maybe even less.
[18:40] But we'll keep you in the loop on that.
[18:45] But I wanted to clarify, you're not
[18:47] approving that film as part of this approval tonight for the solar panels. So, it's just
[18:56] the authorizations that are forward with the solar panel purchase.
[19:04] Any questions? I have a question.
[19:08] Go ahead. I do have a question. What about the maintenance for the solar panels? Does that cost
[19:14] So we haven't had to replace any of it really so
[19:19] And they're designing them now such that they're a lot more
[19:26] Effect you know, they got a longer life and
[19:30] We'll see how that goes
[19:32] That was my question. Okay, John
[19:36] Miners is that $4,500 savings approximately you think per month that we'll have that's in the summer peak time
[19:41] What's our energy bill like in the winter time and how much savings are there?
[19:46] I get to tell you off the top of my head, we can get you that information.
[19:51] Like how long of return on investment is it do you have somebody doing that?
[19:55] Seven years, ten years?
[19:56] No, it's probably close sort of 15.
[20:00] Okay.
[20:01] Before our expenditures gets made up by that.
[20:05] But they should last 25 years.
[20:08] They should.
[20:09] My understanding of that is that it's like that 25-30-year period when you have to start replacing some of the solar panels but they have a pretty good life of 25-30 years when I actually sat with Darwin on a project he was looking at one time and that's what it was.
[20:24] They should pay for itself in about 15 years then we think.
[20:32] Thank you for the clarity because I was confused regarding the differences, but I still have
[20:39] a question.
[20:40] If we are under 2.5 million, what is the cost for these sellers and then because I don't
[20:45] think it's 2.5 million, right?
[20:47] Or what do I think?
[20:49] That's part of the back.
[20:51] OK.
[20:51] But what are we doing with remaining?
[20:53] Is it going to go to the.
[20:54] Please are a capital budget.
[20:55] OK.
[20:56] Well, we'll probably be using some of that for this facility over there.
[21:01] Okay, just want to make sure I'm clear.
[21:04] Yeah.
[21:04] Thank you.
[21:06] Any other questions?
[21:09] I do have one.
[21:12] Because I have solar panels at home.
[21:15] And I'm nagged constantly from companies to buy the backup batteries.
[21:21] Does this, is this included?
[21:23] That's a great question and I just don't know anything about the technical side of that to be able to answer.
[21:34] Yeah.
[21:36] Yeah, they're not cheap.
[21:39] So we do need an approval for the purchase of the Hellcrest solar panels.
[21:45] Do I have a motion?
[21:47] I'll make a motion to approve the purchase of the solar panels for the 278,892 net amount.
[21:54] Okay, so we have a motion by Board Member Page of Send, second by Vice President Anderson
[22:01] all in favor.
[22:02] Aye.
[22:03] Any opposed?
[22:04] So just for clarification, so the bid is 464, we think we'll give a 40% credit against
[22:13] that.
[22:15] So,
[22:21] who's starting off on the contracts, Zane?
[22:26] He's about to keep talking.
[22:32] So,
[22:35] it's pretty straightforward.
[22:37] So, my, we're kind of behind the eight balls,
[22:40] as far as our cycles go.
[22:42] So, my contract technically was up,
[22:47] it's effective through March 30th of every year.
[22:50] So, with the superintendents and my contract this year, our increase is what the rest of
[22:59] the administrators got, which is basically the staff, like $1,250 or 75 whatever that was.
[23:10] So that's how it changed in the gross contract.
[23:12] With mine, and we talked about this before, my contract included a $600 a month travel allowance.
[23:28] And when I talked to you before, I'd ask to, I'd be able to just roll that in as part
[23:34] of my base salary instead of separate as a travel allowance.
[23:38] and so my contract includes that as well those were the only really the only
[23:47] changes to my contract and I think super antenna you got your shares if you
[23:52] like that mine's exactly the same just the five additional vacation days with
[23:58] flexibility when I can turn those in
[24:03] okay and are you using a fleet vehicle now
[24:06] We have one that we use it, yeah, it's not like my personal.
[24:12] Right, right, yeah.
[24:13] So we actually bought two.
[24:18] We have one, we have to check them out through Nolita.
[24:23] She's like a real man.
[24:24] I watch dog when it comes to that.
[24:26] And your price.
[24:32] So that makes it available to other district administrators if they need to travel.
[24:38] So, I think it's working out okay, isn't it?
[24:42] Yeah, and I used it today for my permit.
[24:47] So, you know, just to be transparent.
[24:52] So, you know, I'm running for the state legislature.
[24:59] And my intention is to keep working through that.
[25:03] I don't know how that's going to work.
[25:05] work. I mean, I want to do it after the first year. I mean, I may not feel like I don't
[25:12] want a short change in the Oregon school district. So I'm just going to play that by
[25:19] year and we'll see how it goes. I've got to get elected first. And then we'll see how
[25:23] the first session goes. But my plan is to keep working like that, set through this new
[25:30] contract at least. I just want to say that I appreciate your consideration with
[25:36] that being said is it okay to make a motion I would like to make a motion to
[25:41] approve the business administrator and superintendent contracts for 2026 through
[25:46] 2028. Okay so we have a motion from Board Member Nundley and they'll second
[25:52] from the board member, all read, all in favor.
[25:57] Hi.
[26:01] That I hear, yes.
[26:10] How do you vote on that, Jan?
[26:11] Did you hear?
[26:15] Oh, yes.
[26:16] I, I, I trained in.
[26:18] I said, I.
[26:19] Okay.
[26:19] Okay.
[26:20] Thank you.
[26:22] Now we'll turn the time over to the superintendent for his report.
[26:27] Yeah.
[26:27] I have some on the consent calendar.
[26:29] We had an exciting move.
[26:30] So I'm going to invite Jennifer Galtierra, so and I want to thank the board because this was kind of a unique
[26:39] Higher it kind of a crunch time and you you all allows some flexibility with getting Jen going because school is going and and she's she's done a great job already
[26:49] So Jennifer Jen's a cool story when you look at her when you look at her resume. She
[26:54] Started out as a classroom staff assistant at now
[26:57] 2014-15. She was in a community liaison at Maylon at Maylon's peak
[27:01] high school. She was then a counselor at Maryland's peak high school and she's kind of been really
[27:06] involved in leadership over there as a counselor. I mean she's very much a part of the admin team and
[27:11] got a lot of real quality experience kind of leading that facility really. I mean hand in hand with Ed
[27:17] over there and some great experience, pleasure to work with. She was the youth and care
[27:23] ETCA counselor of the year in 2324 and we were super lucky that she applied to go over to
[27:31] George Washington and she will serve under Josh Bell as a supervisor at George Washington.
[27:38] And yeah, she's great, she's an amazing human being so the kids are going to be really
[27:43] lucky to have her over there, she has a great experience working with students that need
[27:48] that extra level of support, so congratulations, Jan.
[27:52] Thank you.
[27:52] Thank you.
[27:53] You're super excited, so I just wanted to say thank you for giving me the opportunity.
[27:58] I have loved my experience here in Ogden School District.
[28:02] I wasn't in education until we moved here and I have absolutely been thrilled with working
[28:08] with everybody that I've had the opportunity to work with.
[28:12] We've chosen Ogden so much that three of our five kids have graduated from Ben Lomond.
[28:16] So I just want to thank all of you for the support that you guys give to all the educators
[28:22] and the faculties at all the schools.
[28:24] It means a lot.
[28:25] I've had the opportunity to meet and visit with so many of you board members that our graduation out of mail and speak
[28:30] So I'm looking forward to that at George Washington. So just wanted to thank you all so much
[28:41] Thanks, and then I just wanted to touch base. We had a great opening institute
[28:45] There's a live stream if you want to go watch it, but we were we were able to really I think hit the ground running with our theme the power of yet
[28:53] We had it we had a great
[28:56] everybody did such a great job. I mean, from everybody that participated in it and in the program,
[29:01] from, and our employees of the year were awesome, did a great job. And Brad Snyder, like, yeah,
[29:07] I think his, his message, I've had the privilege of watching him speak a few times down at
[29:11] courageous principals in Deloitte, so as my team, we all felt like it was, it would be a really
[29:17] good fit for, for, for our theme. We were lucky enough to get him with help from the Cook Center,
[29:21] So I really want to shout out to them until then thank you for the support and making that a reasonable
[29:27] Cost to bring him in but just a tremendous story. I think it hit real home
[29:31] I've heard a lot from a boys already a lot of a lot of messages saying hey, that was just
[29:36] Perfect. I really needed that. That was something that really
[29:39] Hit home for a lot of our our people and it went hand in hand with our thing
[29:43] So just thought that was great for those of you that have seen it those of you that are there if you if you didn't if you weren't
[29:48] you can watch the live stream, but that was one of our better opening
[29:52] institutes we've had. We always do a great job. I feel like with opening
[29:55] institute, but that was that one in particular, I think, really, really hit home.
[30:00] Excited to have kids back tomorrow. We have a whole host of people who's going to show up to Lincoln because of some construction issues around the school. We've got all kinds of road dripped up. We've got all kinds of situations out there. So I'm going to be out there in the morning with some of our district team as well. Just kind of helping support parents, getting their kids. And hopefully they get that done over the weekend, but excited to have kids back tomorrow. So I like our starts, kind of that soft start tomorrow where we get a lot of the things out of the way as far as the kid kids
[30:29] familiar with building, get them in the classroom,
[30:32] at the secondary level, get their disclosures,
[30:34] get everything figured out, teachers get that day
[30:36] to prepare for Monday, and then we really
[30:39] will hit the ground running Monday.
[30:40] And that's the best time of year to get kids back.
[30:43] So just excited to get rolling.
[30:49] Zane will turn time number two.
[30:51] Just a couple of things.
[30:55] Taylor Canyon property.
[30:58] We haven't closed on it yet.
[31:00] But
[31:07] I did get an email today, there are some things on the plate, they're still trying
[31:13] to get corrected, so anyway, I thought we'd be closed on them by the time we met today.
[31:21] We'll say maybe before next work session, but it's in the works.
[31:28] Also, you might want to check out the playground, the turf at Polk Elementary, and that new bridge is done now.
[31:42] So hopefully the kids won't be playing in the dirt anymore, and the tile was all fixed, and the playground is a new bridge.
[31:51] So that's good. That's that's my update today. It was it was well received at
[32:00] Polk last night was everyone see their teachers and then go look outside and
[32:04] run around the field. Yeah, I'm still not quite sure how we're going to deal
[32:09] with the let's put it this way. Those fields are not conducive to pets and
[32:17] people, you know the gates are open and people don't want to run their pets on it and that
[32:25] can be a problem as well.
[32:27] Be monitoring that, but maybe if everybody back to Baggy with them.
[32:33] Sign okay.
[32:33] We got some signage that says that though too out there.
[32:37] Massage of the signage.
[32:38] Yeah.
[32:39] So.
[32:40] Yeah.
[32:41] But the gates aren't locked so it's not going to be easy for so we'll just kind of have to monitor
[32:46] So
[32:49] at Polk, I was taking my granddaughters up to the playground before the new fields were being put in.
[32:59] There is a gentleman up there that taught us a dog to climb up and go down the slide.
[33:05] So we'll have to watch for him.
[33:11] Okay, thank you.
[33:12] So now we'll turn time over to Sarah W. Reader, our executive director of Education and Community Partnership.
[33:30] President of the board, Superintendent members of the board, I am very excited to be here today,
[33:37] and to be able to share with you a little bit of an update as Superintendent said,
[33:43] you know, things are rolling and Zay was talking about construction
[33:49] And I feel like everything is super connected.
[33:52] I want to make sure I give you a quick update.
[33:54] You've got the synopsis where I've tried to spell out some of the information that was provided in.
[34:00] Can you believe it?
[34:01] Our first report on the grant.
[34:03] We submitted our first report on the grant that provided the substantive funding for the construction of renovations on Friday.
[34:11] And so I wanted to make sure that you had enough awareness to be able to speak to what
[34:16] is happening as it still looks like a lot of dirt.
[34:22] And it's still hot.
[34:24] And Jason, I thought of you because of your fashion sense.
[34:28] And I had to wear flats today because I was at the construction site, so my outfit isn't
[34:33] quite working.
[34:33] I hope you will all forgive me.
[34:35] But I want to just dive in and let you know that we are really leaning in on that theme.
[34:42] Everything is starting to come together and our community is starting to have murmurings
[34:48] and ask for more information and can we come get tours?
[34:52] And I know some of you are part of that and helping spread the word about the opportunity
[34:58] that this center provides Ogden School District.
[35:01] So as we have the approved construction is underway and we've already paid out a significant
[35:10] amount of our allocation, I'm very excited to say the South Hall will be finished on
[35:16] or before September 2nd, we do our punch walk next week.
[35:20] So that is really significant progress for redoing that childcare wing, adding in those bathrooms,
[35:26] which will be child care appropriate bathrooms so that we have children safely able to take care of their needs during the school day.
[35:36] We're working on signage and things are starting to really look great.
[35:41] We walked today and I have never seen the walls look white in this building before.
[35:49] So I'm going to say the classroom walls are white and that just really jumped out at me.
[35:54] I have a lot of history with this building, it was amazing to see, but it isn't just
[36:00] the cosmetics.
[36:02] Everyone of our partners who is on site has been reaching out asking how can we support
[36:06] the vision and mission, and do we need to adjust our agreement, how is our space working,
[36:11] how can our services work together, and that has philanthropic agencies excited, I will be
[36:18] meeting with another group next week, so far we've only received a $2,000 donation for
[36:23] beautification that I promise that we will have updates on funding as we continue engaging
[36:29] community members. I'm just so excited because our purpose isn't just a place-based solution
[36:35] for community access. It is the fact that our families are community and we need a place-based
[36:41] solution that this provides for our families to be able to empower their children. Show their children
[36:47] that they're continuing their education. Show their children that they are working to become ready
[36:53] for employment. Show their children that they're stepping out of their comfort zone or seeking
[36:57] resources to support their own child. And it's been really rewarding as we've had these conversations
[37:04] and they've wanted to increase as providers those options and opportunities. I got to meet and
[37:11] speak with a number of parents the last few weeks as well. And everybody is speaking to literacy
[37:17] graduation. The Nexus 2030 is permeating and aligning and keeping us focused in all that we are
[37:24] doing including the work in health and wellness ensuring that that's a through line for student
[37:30] attendance. That's a through line for minimizing mobility and one of the things that I think is most
[37:39] important is that our providers are really agreeable to the idea that we're going to track how many of
[37:46] of our families are actually working with them.
[37:49] The last several years at Kennergarten Registration,
[37:52] we've asked families questions about what services
[37:55] they've participated in,
[37:57] what supports they've received prior to registration,
[38:00] and historically we have fewer than 10 mentioned
[38:04] anything other than Al Capin Midtown Clinic.
[38:08] Good news is Al Capin Midtown Clinic
[38:10] are at the Opportunity Center.
[38:13] So we have a really strong anchor
[38:15] and we really want to ensure our families are learning about and tapping resources
[38:20] before Ogden School District refers them. Generally speaking, families say
[38:25] that we have been their first referral to the services for community support,
[38:32] even housing assistance, even food assistance. And so we want to shift that
[38:37] and make those direct connections with our providers and make sure that this is a hub
[38:42] for all of us to work together and refer to one another.
[38:46] So we are leveraging the four pillars of a community school or rather the pillars of
[38:53] community school within our four program priorities for the Opportunity Center.
[39:00] So you can see the connection and the service providers under each pillar as they currently
[39:06] stand and the connections that we're trying to make to those elements of a full service
[39:11] community school. Each of you actually does have this slide deck in your drive but I didn't
[39:18] set the notification because that would interrupt you during your meeting but you can you can
[39:24] access it if you want to pull up your drive if you're trying to to view this a little more fully.
[39:31] The idea is that nothing is happening standalone. Everything is interconnected and this is a community
[39:36] school that will have an after school program that starts in September. This is a community
[39:41] school that will have SNACs in support for students after school and and is
[39:48] already that and it's just going to continue to grow. I shared with with Luke a
[39:53] photo. I was talking to some of the students participating in Ogden Jets
[39:57] today and you know they're already feeling because there's so many of us there
[40:02] every day working on construction and trying to figure out what doors we're
[40:06] in the heat working. They asked, hey, can we play this piano? Lots of times they asked if they
[40:12] can help us move things, but they wanted to play the piano. And to see these football players,
[40:20] these post high school football players sitting down, one of them performing his very own piece that he's
[40:25] been working on because it really helps him stay grounded when he's working hard. I'm just excited
[40:32] for what is to come as we not only develop that tremendous, again, opportunity. Right? It's
[40:40] redundant for a reason that this site is providing with your leadership and approval, but also
[40:47] using this to pilot some of our practices and procedures for working with partners and community
[40:53] and majoring impact and talking about through lines. Mike and Ali have been really supportive in this
[40:59] work, Ellie, Monica and I meet weekly and try to triangulate efforts with partnership
[41:05] family and community engagement and impact data. And we are starting to see that show up
[41:11] in our partner conversations and those MOU reviews this year. So these are some of the things
[41:17] that will be part of that for our site. Thank you to Zane and Mike Hipwell for helping us work
[41:23] through Internet access, always part of an agreement, but we were operating under e-rate
[41:30] and you can always jump in if I inarticulately convey this. We were not able to provide
[41:36] community-wide Internet at this space and we were needing to put in a ticket for every community
[41:43] event or anytime there was a visitor on site, which as you can imagine would be very frustrating
[41:52] Owners. Owners, yes. Rush, you can write that one down too. And so I'm just so thrilled
[42:00] that as Josh and I were talking a mic about the growing vision and the needs and do we
[42:06] really have to do a symposium take it every time that we will now be so excited. We get
[42:11] our first payment this week. We will be able to have community access to the Internet
[42:17] and will operate a little bit more conveniently for those partners on site during the construction.
[42:24] A provider that I will not name has actually not been able to provide service to the majority
[42:32] of our partners on site who use that provider. A line was cut more than two weeks ago and we've
[42:39] been providing backup symposium access that whole time. We just need our partners who are on site
[42:46] and our community members coming to work on their taxes to be able to have
[42:50] Internet access with protections, of course, so we will be filtering, but that's
[42:54] going to be a huge win and it will make some of our other practices more meaningful.
[43:02] And we can then share that as we started draft for our principles and our
[43:07] cabinet, what that might look like is their writing agreements with some of the
[43:10] lessons that we are learning. We've provided them resources compiled largely by
[43:16] L.A. Johnson, and we are now already able to celebrate that we are making progress towards
[43:25] these priority goals for the Opportunity Center. Again, I mentioned when we would start, but we
[43:32] are aiming to increase adult education enrollment, early childhood enrollment and expand the opportunities
[43:41] for community health. I'll be meeting with Jackie's recovery to make sure that we're including
[43:46] mental health service hours in that as well. On the 31st, we were able to have 138 families
[43:54] fully registered and participate in our soft opening and there's 138 families were able to,
[44:02] as those of you who are there know, meet providers, get additional resources, sign up for services,
[44:08] and that will be the model for the four events that we will have for the rest of this year there.
[44:15] I'm really focused on building that trust visibility and handoff to partners.
[44:19] We did have 20 partners there and our liaison, so 20 unique programs.
[44:25] I'm not counting United Way as five, even though they had all their impact teams there.
[44:32] And we integrated our arts programming into that because we want to make sure
[44:36] that this is in a place where you go exclusively when you have a problem or a need. This is a space
[44:41] where you can feel welcomed. This is a space where we can create, we can perform, and know that
[44:47] there are resources available. And so to that end, we're going to keep creating the future together.
[44:54] I can give updates as often as needed. I wanted to share with you the...
[45:00] Progress of what it is starting to look like at this site are mural for which we received a grant from the Utah Division of Fine Arts and Museums is almost complete to represent the opportunity center with the famous quote about America itself means opportunity. Our students and participants from the community helped with our hand mural that will hang across from it.
[45:29] We'll mount that and some of our anchor partners and our liaison conducting work together.
[45:37] Many people shared how valuable it was to see that this is happening, even though it's
[45:44] just an insimpancy, and I think Ali Martinez just really speaks beautifully and articulately.
[45:51] You can tell she's a chief executive officer.
[45:54] This place-based solution brings healthcare and community resources together, but it's
[45:59] beyond co-location.
[46:01] We're not just all rental and independent operators, like we are collaborating.
[46:08] And I thank you to everybody who has made that possible.
[46:12] You might see, mention of it on social media.
[46:16] I'm very excited to see, upstart posting about it, scholastic posting about it, city's strong,
[46:22] has made some posts about it and we are just going to keep going and make sure
[46:27] that we're tracking our impact and getting input as well from the broader
[46:32] community because future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their
[46:36] dreams and I think this is this is one of those dreams that some of us have had
[46:41] for a while. I've seen full service community schools start four times and I'll
[46:47] school district and I've seen the central middle school building have a family center
[46:53] five times and I'm really excited by the level of this commitment to make sure this is sustainable.
[47:00] Any questions?
[47:05] I do but so you said there's an after there will be an after school program to you have the point
[47:15] So BluePuck is working with United Way.
[47:18] They receive significant but not their full funding request for services.
[47:24] They will be doing tutoring every night and every week, and they did start inviting
[47:30] families who didn't have a spot at their local after school program.
[47:35] And they will be doing Mariachi and academic goal setting with all Mariachi students.
[47:43] Okay, and one other question, I thought you had a slide that said building capacity for
[47:50] you kind of freeze.
[47:52] I freeze there a lot of it, I told you, so we control the time.
[48:01] It's not right.
[48:05] Okay,
[48:08] so yes, this was my title slide and this is what we're working towards.
[48:13] these represent the areas of goals for the grant itself. So in the area of adult education,
[48:23] we are charged with sharing and our metrics there. We need to have an increase in enrollment.
[48:31] Our goal is an increase of 100 enrolled adult education participants. And the early childhood
[48:38] space you know our goal is not just to fill every seat in the two LCAP classrooms but we are
[48:45] working to ensure funding for that daycare space that we are ready to start it's going to look
[48:52] beautiful it's almost ready in the meantime we will have the Browning Center utilize that room and
[48:58] they'll be paying rent and utilizing it until we have that funding secured but we want to have all
[49:04] four rooms fully operational by the end of the year. That was a target. There isn't a desired
[49:12] number of preschool or early childhood students that we want to make sure first and foremost
[49:17] are adult ed students can get their children enrolled and served by a daycare there. That's
[49:23] the the major increase adult ed enrollment so we need child care. And then to make sure that we
[49:29] have that continuation of services. We've just added two additional food trucks for the
[49:35] economic mobility and we have added the after-school partners who will be starting
[49:39] September and operated their introductory course during the summer and learn with play
[49:46] groups will be operating in addition to make sure that we're hitting those targets and
[49:51] then midtown we've just signed our latest agreement with them to ensure that the facilities
[49:57] meeting our needs, and we're doing joint recruitment, not just co-location, and L.A. Fed and her
[50:02] quote. And then we are also going to continue to put in our agreements what the metric of impact is
[50:12] and how many families are served. Okay, thank you Sarah.
[50:20] Sarah, can you remind me how is our
[50:22] community learning about all the great things that are happening at this center? Is there a social
[50:28] media is there a newsletter like whoa right now we have started we have started small
[50:34] Sometimes I have to remind myself I officially started July 1
[50:40] But there is a newsletter that is provided for everybody who is on site and with information that they can share broadly
[50:47] Including if they have anyone who wants to donate I mentioned that each time
[50:51] um and where they can do that
[50:54] Then, as soon as we hire the grant provides for an administrative assistant, that administrative
[51:00] assistant will have a workstation and they will be the greeter of the facility at that front
[51:07] door after our parking is finished at the end of September, so adult ed will enter separately
[51:13] in the community, will enter through the front door for services and that individual will
[51:18] be their greeter and is going to run our website and work with Jared to make sure that that
[51:23] connected to social media right now it is just word of mouth and my request of
[51:32] everybody who steps into that building to post about it. So thank you upstart
[51:36] thank you Scholastic right but we we definitely are looking to the future there
[51:42] just not yet. I
[51:49] was just gonna say thanks Sarah it's nice to have Sarah in that role
[51:53] Right, like that's been kind of the missing piece is having somebody that can devote time
[51:59] and effort to it and passion, so just appreciate you.
[52:03] I would also like to add that I, first of all, every time you come you just share this
[52:08] amazing information about all the cool things that are going on in our district and I just
[52:12] love it.
[52:13] And I've watched since the beginning of my start here on the board and to be able to watch
[52:18] you be able to step into this role and take this and make it your baby kind of in a way
[52:24] that's so beneficial to our community, into our families, into our students and providing
[52:28] resources that are just incredible, just incredible. And so I just want to thank you for the legacy
[52:37] that you're creating for not only our students but for our community, to bring them together
[52:42] in a way that was missing, like Luke said before, it's just that little piece that was missing
[52:46] and it's going to be so beneficial and so excited. So exciting so I'm just I thank you for
[52:52] one to give to you are here. Well thank all of you because this wasn't my idea ready and so I'm
[52:57] thrilled and honored to be able to do this and I'll be adding statistical analyses to how we're
[53:02] operating which I am more excited about.
[53:07] Yeah yeah I love your vision. It's great. So I'm just
[53:14] interesting about this opportunity center update so is it an actual like place
[53:18] that's being held that's a part of the schools or can you like elaborate more on
[53:21] that. I'm calling it opportunity center at James Madison because I haven't
[53:25] yet figured out how we're going to take down some of the larger than life-sized
[53:30] signs that say James Madison. We were talking about that today and we have some
[53:34] working theories. But this is at 2563 just off of Monroe and before the end of
[53:44] September you will see a full parking lot and a new entrance for adult
[53:47] education able to provide space for every parent, every student who is going to
[53:55] that facility for learning. We have youth build operating there already to support
[54:00] adult education program. We have a clinic there. We have a therapy office there. We have
[54:07] the Ogden Jets which is the Gapier College program for academic support and continued
[54:14] conditioning. We have preschool child care. We do evening tax services and it is evolving.
[54:22] And we have board members there doing some. We do. We do and they're going to get
[54:26] like shelves. They have alarm codes now we're making programs. Yeah we do have some board members
[54:33] it's pretty cool they they do a dress for success program they do some a lot of outreach and
[54:38] get some real quality clothes clothing and we'll be doing some things out of the center to help
[54:43] provide some needed clothing. Yeah I think they need to be doing that. You said dress for success?
[54:49] Is that right? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of right if you're L.A. right but I probably don't talk enough
[54:54] about the economic mobility pieces, those financial supports, those two new food trucks, the incubation
[55:00] kitchen for those who are in startup businesses. We actually had walk-ins on the 31st. I had
[55:10] three people come and ask me, who do I talk to about an LLC, who do I talk to about getting started.
[55:16] So the fact that through the social media post we did have that three came in for that,
[55:23] But the same week that we added the number of food trucks
[55:26] and we're talking about access there just shows
[55:29] that there's a growing need that we've got to make sure
[55:32] we attend to for that economic support.
[55:34] So that's what we'll do.
[55:36] I would like to suggest a field trip in about two months.
[55:39] Yeah, yeah.
[55:40] Two months is the foundation.
[55:41] We'll be doing their field trip this week.
[55:45] Let's just cross our fingers.
[55:46] The air is working.
[55:48] Okay.
[55:51] Thank you.
[55:53] We will be holding a closed session this evening, and that will involve the board members
[56:04] superintendent and Z. But before our students leave, we would like a photo of the three of
[56:15] you.
[56:21] We do need a motion to go into close session I'll make a motion we go into close session
[56:28] I'll second that motion a motion by board member all right seconded by vice president
[56:34] Anderson we need a voice vote yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes thank you all right