00:00:13,700	President of the Bismarck School Board. It’s 515 on a Wednesday, April 15th. So a little different night for us. I call this meeting to order. Welcome to those of you who are joining us both here and also online. You can find our agenda and follow along under the School Board tab at Bismarck Schools. Dot org.

00:00:31,600	Uh, doctor Cher, would you call the roll, please? Mr. Hager here, Mr. Eastgate here, Mr. Lee here, Mrs. Peterson here. Miss Prescott. Here. All board members are accounted for. Mr. calling. And she’s out on a work assignment. Uh, with that Doctor Foss.

00:00:56,970	Now, would you lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item one C mission, Vision and values. The mission is to empower every learner to thrive.

00:01:28,700	The vision states, together our relationships build inclusive, collaborative, and innovative environments that create, agency and inspire a passion for learning, excellence and discovery. Values are inclusion, excellence, innovation. Leadership. You also find a link in the agenda to the Baps Strategic Plan. Item two is to adopt the agenda for the wishes of the board.. President Hager, I would motion that we approve the agenda. A second.

00:01:55,700	We have a motion in two seconds and any discussion, uh, seeing none. Doctor. Share. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Prescott. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh. Item three is focus on success tonight. Mathematics in the classroom, doctor foster. Yeah. Good afternoon, board members. Thanks for joining us on this wonderful Wednesday.

00:02:21,000	And I’d like to introduce to bring to the podium Miss Karen Arnold from our LDI team. And she’ll be introducing the members of Baps. I’ll be presenting on. Yes. Uh, mathematics in the classroom. Good evening, Miss Arnold. Good evening, President Hager and board members.

00:02:44,470	My name is Karen Arnold, and I’m a part of the learning, design and Innovation team for Bismarck Public Schools. And I have the honor of introducing two amazing elementary educators this evening. Um, first, I would like to introduce Chandra Henderson, who is a part of Dorothy Moses Elementary School, where she teaches six hours. Excuse me, second grade. And she’s been doing it for six years.

00:03:05,700	Um, and she’s also been in education for a total of 11 years. Um, I also have the pleasure of introducing Veronica Klepp, who has been teaching first grade at Sunrise Elementary for a total of four years.

00:03:30,270	Not only do these educators spend time in their schools supporting students and families in the opportunity to thrive in Bismarck Public Schools, but they also spend time helping other educators. Um, in the guiding coalitions. And so both of these individuals have the opportunity to speak to you tonight because of their work in the guiding coalitions.

00:03:49,600	And so, um, they have both been a part of that work on Chandra for four years and Veronica for three years. And so, um. So I could go on and on about their amazing work that they do as educators, but I’m going to let their students speak for that work here tonight. Okay.

00:04:20,570	So, um, I knew this was fine, and I knew this was nice, so I knew it would be 51, two, three, four, five, five, ten, and then nine one. And then there’s three parts of the shape. Would be a third because it was three parts. And then since there’s two parts in this place, there’s only two parts of what I’d be called halves.

00:04:39,700	And then there’s four parts in this one. So then it would be a fourth. Something we focus on in Guiding Coalition is the importance of alignment with the rollout of new standards. Um, although we teach all standards, we know it’s not feasible to formally, formally assess all standards. So that’s where prioritization comes in.

00:05:12,730	So as a guiding coalition, we go through a prioritization process with each standard. Um we pulled standards apart and we determine which our most essential to formative formally assess.

00:05:36,800	Um, this work is the foundation of what Guiding coalition does digging into standards, unpacking them to create a deeper meaning, and then helping bring that clarity back to our buildings and team members for more aligned and intentional instruction. At work.. Um, another importance of alignment piece is the assessment, creation, and the building of the assessment banks. Um, across the district.

00:06:09,470	So we started by really using our proficiency scales that you see here, um, to help build those assessment banks and guide everything that we did at the guiding coalition level. The scales helped clearly define what the students needed to know and be able to do at each level. And from there, we worked on creating those assessments to be able to assess those students and creating the banks that teachers are able to access across the district.

00:06:28,130	Um, and that just allows teachers to use the same resources rather than creating everything on their own. Um, and we also spent the time updating the old assessments as well as creating new ones that aligned to the new proficiency scales that we had selected as most important.

00:06:47,130	And that just helps ensure that we’re measuring what we’re teaching and that it’s consistent across all schools and classrooms. Overall, the work has made assessments more clear, aligned and supportive for all teachers across the district, while also helping us better meet the needs of the students. One of the most valuable pieces of our work is the ongoing feedback loops that we have.

00:07:11,230	Um, teachers are utilizing the assessments and the scales that we create as guiding coalition teams in their classrooms, and then they’re given the opportunity to provide guiding coalition with feedback. What is working, what isn’t working, and where some adjustments might need to be made.

00:07:31,200	That feedback then comes back to guiding coalition teams, and then we’re able to go revise and improve scales and assessments so that, um, they make more sense. And our, um, but more realistic in classrooms.. On our next slide, we just have a little video example of how we use the proficiency scales with our students to show that progression of learning throughout a unit.

00:08:03,000	Yesterday we took a look at this. And yesterday we worked really hard for that level to two. Okay. If you had a level two yesterday, who tracks did we see in the boxes? Two today. Our goal is to get a level three. So this is fluffy.

00:08:24,000	How to make a number using tens and ones. Okay. If you are at a level three it gets the other checkmark you are showing. This is puppy that you can break a number apart by tens and ones. Okay okay. Describe the shares using half, thirds, fourths, half, bub and a fourth of okay.

00:08:50,530	What’s the second task? We have to be able to do? Oliver. Pretty good. Partition circles and rectangles into two, 3 or 4 equal shares. Let’s break this apart.

00:09:14,770	What does this term partition mean? Can you all say that for partition one more time? If we have to partition something or look at something that is partition, what does that mean? Jenny, we’re going to break it into parts. Okay. Now how about this term back here. Equal shares. What is that telling me? Nanny. It’s telling you. Look at all the scenes. Are you how we divide our partition has to be the same for each piece.

00:09:49,230	On guiding question has helped me grow as a teacher. Overall, I feel a lot more confident in planning intentional instruction because of the understanding that I have of standards and exactly what I want students to learn. Um, it has helped me better understand what mastery looks like.

00:10:06,500	That level three, that level four, and how I can assess it in a meaningful way. I’ve become more intentional about differentiating as well, and thinking about how I can meet the needs of all my students in the classroom and using student data has also become more natural for me, and I feel much

00:10:23,470	more confident using that data to guide my next instructional steps. Guiding question has given me a lot deeper, under a lot more or a better understanding of standards overall, and has made me more a more reflective and purposeful teacher.

00:10:45,900	And as I reflect on my, um, Time and guiding coalition, overall, it has just made my work more clear, focused and data driven. I’ve created a stronger understanding of the standards through my guiding coalition work, which has also helped gain more confidence in my teaching abilities.

00:11:07,570	I’ve been using the assignments or the assessments that are aligned with where we are in a unit, as well as the proficiency scales to help assess where students are at and then be able to make my next steps for instruction based on that as well. And to wrap up, we just have a little video of a few final thoughts from our students. You are now, once you for us and we go and plot by ourself.

00:11:39,830	And that I love my teacher to is really nice and she teaches us really cool things like, um, fractions, times and she she isn’t just smart, she is kind and helpful and she makes me feel smart and, and she makes me feel really happy. Thank you for your time.

00:12:25,870	And we would just open the floor for any questions. Board members questions, comments, Mr. Eastgate. Yeah, thanks. President Hager, thanks so much for the presentation tonight. Um, just a couple of things just in general for the guiding coalitions is that’s something that’s ongoing. The teachers keep enrolling in that.

00:12:44,630	Is that something you’re always a part of? We there’s an application process each year so teachers can apply if interested. And then we do the work. Awesome. And then it’s a one year deal. Yes. Every year the application process comes out for teachers to re-enroll. So you might see some reoccurring teachers on Guiding Coalition as well as some new teachers as well. Okay, awesome. Well, thanks.

00:13:02,100	It’s, um, it’s obvious from from hearing from your students. You’re not just smart, but you’re kind and helpful. Um, which what a what a vote of confidence from first and second graders. And it’s it’s fun to watch, too, because we, you know, we look at how you’re teaching them how to learn.

00:13:14,370	And at the same time, I love seeing the kids like Miss Clippy. I think it was your class where you’re pointing at them. And before you can even get the question out, they’re answering the question.

00:13:26,600	Um, and sometimes as adults, we could learn from that because we kind of we wait and we read the room or whatever, but the kids are just excited to let you know, um, what they’ve learned from you. So thanks a lot for what you guys are doing. Glad the coalition seems to be a real good program. Appreciate it. Thank you. Mr. Lee. Thank you, President Hager.

00:13:41,530	Uh, yeah, kind of along the same lines, the guiding coalitions, are they all, uh, are there different coalitions for each grade level? And are they across the district? I can speak to that work. We have guiding coalitions in pre-K through 12, and we at the elementary, we have guiding coalitions at the grade level. And then in six through 12, we break out into content areas.

00:13:58,600	And so we have the four main content areas. And then when we look to the electives and they still have guiding coalitions as well, but they might just look a little bit different. Okay.

00:14:16,670	And then just to follow up on the priority prioritization process, the coalitions have, what does that process look like? I assume it’s not. This is the top priority, but these are the top priorities. Is that the way to think about it or. Um, I can also speak to that as well. I know both of them sat on that prioritization process for math.

00:14:31,730	We work through us like a system of how we prioritize those, um, math standards. But it’s not just based on our gut feeling. We work through a process, um, so that we get the best standards that are going to allow us to assess students, but also teach within a timely manner.

00:14:50,970	And so we have a process that we use with all our standards now, so that it’s not just based on our gut feeling, but it’s a process. And I don’t know if you want to speak to that because, uh, Chandra actually helped lead it for second grade a couple of years ago as the guiding coalition lead.

00:15:05,130	I don’t know if you want to speak any more to that. Um, for the prioritizing of the new standards that we got. It was kind of like a rating system. So, um, there were different categories that we had, and then we rated each standard based on those categories. Um, guiding coalition members. We broke out into teams as well.

00:15:21,400	So it wasn’t just one rating per standard. It was different groups of teachers with different thoughts. Um, and then from there we took total number of ratings. So the standards that earned the highest ratings are those that became our priority standards.

00:15:41,900	Um, and then throughout the year that we’ve implemented them, some of those have actually changed because although those standards got a higher rating, um, that’s not necessarily the feedback that we got or that we felt once we implemented those standards. Okay.

00:16:03,230	And does does this work? Um, play into our guaranteed and viable curriculum and pacing? I mean, does the work you do, does that have anything to do with the, uh, the curriculum between elementaries and the pacing you’re going at during the year? Um, so those standards are then aligned to our curricular resources. And so we would take our priority standards and align those to our curriculum, our math curriculum. And then we would pace those out throughout the year.

00:16:22,530	So we have curriculum maps where we’ve paced out our priority standards aligned to those um curricular resources as well. Awesome. Yeah. Uh, thank you for the presentation. It’s really interesting. That’s why I had these questions. But thanks for being here tonight. Mrs. Peterson. Thanks, ladies, for for all of this.

00:16:42,470	And I think they ask some questions that I had had as well. But, um, just wondering in terms of, you know, you talked a lot about the some of the positive outcomes of being a part of the guiding coalitions. I’ve kind of a two parter.

00:16:56,700	One just wondering if, um, you know, those of those of your colleagues who are not part of the guiding coalition. How does some of this information get shared? Are they you also using the assessment? So that’s one part of the question.

00:17:12,000	And then have you seen any increases in kind of like your student results, like since you’ve now had some of these, you know, more, you know, common assessments and access to these materials, like have you seen some increases in in math achievement.

00:17:30,070	So across the district, after every guiding coalition meeting day, whether it’s a work day or just a maybe a half day work day, um, an update goes out to that grade level so that everybody across the district is aware of what was worked on, what might be new, and then what they can access. And not only is the feedback loop that she talked about great, because then we’re receiving that feedback through that. Schools across the district are utilizing what we’re putting out there for all teachers.

00:17:46,230	So I definitely would say that we’re seeing that, um, a lot of teachers across the district are using it. And so that we’re hoping across those all schools that all students, um, are achieving the same content. Well. I don’t have a question. I’m going to make a comment about your brilliance so you you can sit if you wish.

00:18:08,100	You can take this comment standing up. But, um, I’ve been an educator a long time. I was an elementary educator, and when I started, we were fortunate enough, maybe unfortunate enough, that when I first started teaching math and many teachers of my generation, you had a book, someone gave you a text or a guide that

00:18:27,730	would guide you through, and maybe you’d have a couple objectives in it. I was supposed to teach tens place in ones place, and that was what was given to me to teach my fifth graders. I hope people that are watching this see the professionalism and the depth of understanding about learning, teaching and learning.

00:18:47,400	That new educators have. Young educators have. Because what you just talked about didn’t even exist in my world. There was no talk about it. We didn’t even have a standard at a time. So that’s come.

00:19:07,670	But to talk about taking the width of standards that our educators now in all classes, across all grades, across all subjects, now look at the importance of prioritizing them, because there are things that are the most essential things are the most important.

00:19:22,600	But then to break that down into what question are we going to ask to make sure that the kid understood what we’re asking them to do? And if you notice in the video, the kids were articulating what they were expected to learn, where my fifth graders just knew. I hope I get the test right. I just hope whatever comes out of Jeff at the end, I get it right. They couldn’t articulate every single skill that they were going to be expected to know at the end.

00:19:39,870	And then to have a scale to ensure that, okay, I don’t know, my guess. How many second grade teachers do we have, Mr. Barner, across the district, right.

00:19:55,200	Our first of them, 50 some so that they actually have a unified scale to say a kid in this class is doing it the same level as a kid in this class or in another school. In another school, that’s still guaranteed and viable. Um, uh, Mr.

00:20:15,130	Lee, I mean, that is such tremendous work, and I hope people appreciate not only the educators and BS, but just educators in general today about how brilliant they are and how much better professionals they are in the area of teaching and learning than even we were. And I’m going to say three generations ago, I just think you’re amazing. That was wonderful. Rock star teachers, thank you for what you do. Wow, that was good. So well done. Yeah. Thank you.

00:20:35,370	Thank you all for for taking the time to come here and present. That was that was fun to see. I like the videos. Like Mr. Eastgate had pointed out. And one of the comments that stood out to me because I live with a math teacher, was that I heard a kid say, math is cool, and that has never been uttered in our. House. So thank you guys.

00:20:53,400	All done. Uh, item four is public comment. The board recognize the central role parents play in the education of their children, and supports active parent involvement in the education process.

00:21:14,430	The board’s practice of public comment reflects an alliance with policy BC and the spirit of its intent for classroom issues, it’s best to follow the chain of command teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent for district issues. Please reach out to Doctor Foster if you do speak tonight, we simply ask that you be responsible, be helpful, and be respectful. Our students deserve to have adults model the expectations that we have for them. Groups are urged to select one spokesperson.

00:21:36,130	Individuals will be limited to more than four minutes and will be notified, with 30s remaining to conclude their remarks. The board will not debate issues as presented, but will take such matters under advisement. Guess before we open it, do we have anything from nothing from last minute? Okay. With that, please stand and approach the podium.

00:21:54,800	If you do wish to speak tonight. Good evening, President Hager. Board members. Um, tonight I’m here to discuss the agenda item on the bond. Um, it was bond. The both the last agenda and this agenda. I just want to start off by saying I appreciate all Doctor Foster has done.

00:22:23,800	Um, since, you know, stepping into the district, he’s had some very tough issues to address. And this is another one of those tough issues. Um, I’m not here tonight to talk about his performance, so I’m here to talk about your guys’s performance as elected officials. Um, I feel for years we have continued to kick the can.

00:22:39,130	Um, and I want to rewind back to January 2023. Uh, most of you were on this board, so I think you, uh, remember the conversation around, oh, 12 pertaining to buildings? We had four administrators that came and spoke to you that night. They voiced concerns about their buildings.

00:22:56,230	To me, it was a cry for help. We fast forward to 2026 now, and we are finally doing something about that. What worries me as a constituent and a community member, as we have done nothing, we’ve heard very little about these buildings, but yet we recite our mission before every meeting and I’m going to recite that again. Um.

00:23:21,300	It’s to empower every learner to thrive through excellence, inclusion, innovation, and leadership. I ask you guys to take a good, hard, long look. If we have done that and those four title one schools that we’re here asking for your help, have we served those students and staff members equally? President Hager, I am

00:23:43,870	not asking for a comment. The next meeting from the superintendent, um, like I said, I think he does a great job. I’m speaking to you guys as elected leaders. I want to comment from you guys.

00:24:01,870	Why have you failed those students and staff members? Why have you failed the community and not up keeping those schools? I attended the forum last night at Century High, very poorly attended, but I think the people that showed up had some great things to say. I was in Doctor Foss, not just group, very small group, but it was a very diverse group.

00:24:19,100	And I think that reflects the people that you guys represent. And I think oftentimes you guys forget that you represent Bismarck as a whole. Even the people like myself that are up here in opposition to you, you guys have no right to not hear us. You have no right at all.

00:24:36,530	And that has been something that I have contested for years. I asked myself tonight, how have you guys passed? Oh 12 how have you said that we were successful the last three years, by passing OE 12 it shouldn’t have passed because we have not met that standard and we have failed those people at those schools.

00:24:56,170	So I ask you guys to take a good, long, hard look and ask yourselves, are you really public servants? Do you serve the community as a whole? Because we have failed, and I think there needs to be more conversations at this table about that so that we can learn from those failures and that we can move forward, and

00:25:13,870	that we can get involvement and input from the community. So again, I’m going to end with I would like President Hager to comment on this at next meeting.

00:25:30,670	I think the superintendent has done a phenomenal job, but I think that a lot of the mess that he has inherited has come before his, uh, before his tenure. You guys were here. Why were you not looking out for us? Thank you for the time. Thank you. Uh, anyone else wish to speak tonight? Okay. Seeing none. Public comment is closed. Uh. Moving on. Item five, monitoring district operations. Uh, our two one academic achievement. Mathematics. Doctor. Preston.

00:26:01,430	You have the pleasure or displeasure of hearing this report from me. Is, uh, Doctor Johnson is out of the community today and away on a work assignment, so he’s left me some really good notes to go through. So I will share with you our report tonight.

00:26:19,070	Our two academic achievement math, which we are bringing to you as marking. It out as making reasonable progress, with exception. And we will review those. But I do um, I do believe we’re making strong progress. You’ll see some of the results, particularly at the state level, that are showing very strong results. We probably have mixed results and a couple other assessments.

00:26:36,730	And the area that is failing to make progress, which is 2.1.6, really deals with meeting, um, projected growth in our subgroups. And our subgroups are showing some lagging, um, some poor indicators that I’ll get into.

00:27:00,330	So, um, just going through the report, if you flip through to page seven, the first indicator deals with the percentage of students in grades three through eight and ten who are either advanced or proficient on the state assessment. Last spring, when we took it, you can see as an average across the district, we are six percentage points above the state, which is good.

00:27:17,730	And we’ve said this many times when Bismarck is really one of every nine students in the state, um, we bui the average and then we surpass the average. So I think that’s really strong. And if you look at each of the the grade subgroups, again, I see strong performance there.

00:27:34,670	Um, for further information for the state assessment, we do provide you that broken out by subgroup. That’s at the bottom of page seven. Um, those I think are strong or progressively, um, improving results. I, I did my I caught and I will pay uh, ask you to pay particular attention to the improvement that we’ve seen in our indigenous population.

00:27:52,900	We continue to see that increasing, which is a positive number for the district. And I applaud our teams for focusing on that. Um, indicator two again, we’re talking about, uh, this is the new one.

00:28:09,600	If you remember, we put in tracking novices because that was a state push to to see how what percentage of kids are responding in the Or, um, results are in the novice category. And of course, you don’t want to beat this number here. You want to be below the state average. You want to be a smaller number. So again, we are outpacing the the state in the number of kids that are still in that novice category.

00:28:28,270	And for those that maybe haven’t seen why we added this one, you can hear it from a new superintendent, Public instruction, Mr. Brockmire and his team that really progressing. Or if you’re partially proficient, there’s kids are really close. There are they can be close to proficient.

00:28:46,170	There’s just missing a few bits of their knowledge that they had before they tested. So really keeping a focus on the novice. Those are the ones that are a long ways away. Those are the ones that are far.

00:28:59,130	Um, so we want to keep our eye on getting them to even partially proficient is a is a good jump. And so keeping that novice, um, that novice portion of the results lower than state average is a achievement indicator three is the one that deals with act. Um, again, because not all the juniors are taking the act anymore. We now do a 10th grade NDA.

00:29:18,570	Plus not every kid takes it. So our response, our report now just shows you the percentage of the kids, of the kids, juniors who took. And I think some, some seniors that took the act this last year, what percentage are being identified as college ready.

00:29:36,670	And that’s meeting those minimum Act scores in math to be qualify as college ready. So that was 55% of those 228 that took the exam. Now when you get into indicator for now, we switch over to a different assessment than the NDA. Plus, um, you’re aware that this is seeing if kids are on grade level. Again that’s different between K one.

00:29:55,730	It uses Ames web two through eight that use the map or 910 that use the star assessment. And the winner. Again, you can see that in all those areas we’re showing pretty good. Um, really close to where we were last year.

00:30:13,600	Maybe slight improvement, slight decline, but we’re really close to where we are reporting last year, except for that star assessment. You can see that’s a new norm. So it changed the assessment. That’s why it really is hard to even compare last year to this year because of that new norming. Um, but then you get into uh, indicator five and that’s about that expected targeted growth.

00:30:28,930	And I remind the board and, and listeners, um, at least for the map, and that’s the test we use here. Um, targeted growth is a the target is 50% that the test is normed, that 50% of kids will meet targeted growth, and 50% of the kids will not meet targeted growth.

00:30:50,970	And millions of testing samples drive that every year. So, um, if we’re hovering in that 50%, that’s really a probably a good target, even though and that is our target, even though this year we’re trailing just a little bit behind where we were last year, we have a few less kids meeting that target of growth that we would, um,

00:31:06,930	desire to achieve. Our eighth graders hit it out of the park for some reason, but the rest of them are lagging behind. And the last indicator, indicator six, is really that same metric. Only we’re looking at subgroups.

00:31:22,930	And this is one where last year you can see we were really tracking well in all of our subgroups. And it is it is a wondering it is a it is a thought like how did we go backwards again to some of our subgroups underperforming when it comes to meeting targeted growth. So, um, that’s something we need to look at.

00:31:40,930	I would say within the report, um, our strengths, you heard about one of the strengths within the math work that we’re doing from our team tonight. I mean, that work we’re doing in our guiding coalitions, our secondary math guiding coalitions and our elementary to to really refine our standards, determine our essential standards, work on scales, work on common to formative assessments is really

00:31:59,130	important work. And I think that’s what we need to continue. In our report, we talk about the need to continue that work that that is leading, I believe, will lead to really strong outcomes. Um, so that’s that instructional alignment that I think you guys were even referring to.

00:32:15,800	Um, we also one of our strength areas, our focus areas is then taking those gaps. Or when we identify a gap in a and a student’s performance is then having really good math interventions in place and having those mapped out to help provide teachers and teams to say, okay, when there’s a gap in

00:32:31,500	this learning, what’s the intervention to be applied so we can catch a kid up as quickly as possible. So that’s that’s really important. And I think something we need to continue on.

00:32:50,730	So, um, yeah, in I guess concluding statement, the bottom line that Doctor Johnson left me was even though there’s inconsistencies across the grades and some subgroups, I think we have some strong overall data. As reported by the NDA. Plus, um, we need to do some targeted interventions, particularly in those areas with subgroups.

00:33:06,000	We need to dig into that a little more and say, is there a reason why those are underperforming as compared to last year? And that inconsistency makes it a little hard to find a theme, I’m sure, but something that we need to continue to dig into. So again, we’re making a recommendation tonight to you to say, um, provide you this report with making reasonable progress, with exception.

00:33:27,230	Board members, any discussion, comments. Seeing none, I would entertain a motion. Mr. Lee. Thank you. President Hager, with respect to our two academic achievement mathematics, I move that the board accepts the report is making reasonable progress with noted exceptions as presented. And I would. Second. We have a motion and a second.

00:33:51,070	Any further discussion. Seeing none. Doctor Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Persky. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh, next item BSR one single point of connection. So this will be our semiannual reading of of this. Um, I’ll pull it up here. The superintendent is the board’s sole point of connection to the operational organization.

00:34:25,630	The board will direct the operational organization through the superintendent, functioning as the chief executive officer, signing authority. The superintendent or their designee is authorized by the board to sign agreements, contracts, and other official documents on behalf of the board.

00:34:49,700	This delegation of signing authority does not extend to matters explicitly reserved by the board. That concludes the reading of BSR one. A single point of connection. Mr. Lee. Thank you, President Hager. So this is another, um, one of those policies that is really the heart of coherent governance, right.

00:35:15,370	And one of those things we really debated before we put this in, but it’s it’s kind of this is kind of the, um, when we hand over the, the keys to the kingdom, to the superintendent, um, and we, we govern the district by policy. It’s also, I think, incredibly important that he’s our sole point of connection and that we’re not going around him. Um, um, for any matters.

00:35:36,130	So I think this is invaluable to to the way we govern. And it’s stood the test of time at least the last six years. So I, I would definitely move, um, that we retain BSR one single point of connection.. And I would second. Uh, motion and second any any discussion. Seeing none uh, doctor. Peterson. Yes. Persky. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Hager.

00:36:05,230	Yes. Now, to determine whether we’re in compliance, in compliance with exception or out of compliance, Mr. Lee. So, you know, every year I kind of struggle with this one because I feel like the superintendent should probably say if we’re in compliance or not, um, how he feels.

00:36:22,330	But, um, given firsthand knowledge, I, I do believe we’re in compliance, and I believe I should I would move that we determine we are in compliance. Second motion and second. Any discussion seeing none. Doctor Persky. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh, moving down to matters reserved for board action.

00:36:48,570	Professional services for the 2026 bond work. Doctor foster. Um, president Hager I’m just going to make a couple opening remarks, and I’ll hand it off to Doctor Sher. I just want to be really clear with people, this is not about getting ahead of their choice.

00:37:06,130	Um, we’re doing some work here that’s really associated with the 2026 bond. It’s this work is not about saying the vote on June 9th doesn’t matter. It’s or projecting something into the future. We have a lot of people need to learn, uh, learn about what we’re we’re proposing and then make their choice.

00:37:23,800	And June 9th, this is about really, uh, construction schedule. And in North Dakota, winters are harsh. Construction seasons are short. And for us, to if if that would come to pass. And again, that’s a huge if um, this is all about leveraging.

00:37:45,170	So we’re ready to go in June, July right away versus protecting that again and wasting several months after, um, after the election, um, again, to take full advantage of a construction season. There’s nothing lost here. There’s no money involved. So we’re just positioning ourselves for, um, for a decision later.

00:38:03,470	And if it doesn’t happen, we just go back to the normal, so there’s no loss. I just want to be really clear with that. I don’t want to offend the public that we’re making decisions absent of them. I think we’re just making it so we’re prepared and we’re waiting for them to make a decision in June. So with that, I would hand it off to Doctor Sher.

00:38:17,100	Thank you. Um, I actually been practicing that same exact speech all day, but he did a much better than I could. Um, the only thing I would add to Doctor Foss comments are two things. First, related to the architect, there are multiple projects, multiple buildings. We all know that. So we need help from multiple firms.

00:38:36,570	So I just want to make sure that that’s publicly said. We hire multiple architects to move these forward. Um, and then as far as the construction project, um, we feel that there’s four projects that we would recommend construction management at risk.

00:38:53,470	And then 24 projects that we would do with multiple prime design bid build. Um, that gives a lot of smaller construction companies all sorts of opportunity in our community. Um, so I think that’s important to say publicly that, um, we’re going to be able to spread the wealth, to be able to get these projects done.

00:39:13,900	Um, and with that, I guess I totally agree with Doctor Fosun. I would answer any questions that the board would have. Mr. Peterson. Thanks. Um, President Hager and then Doctor Sharon and Doctor Foster for kind of putting together these recommendations.

00:39:37,330	I think throughout this whole process, as we’ve been not only engaging with the community, but also in board workshops and then in in hearing from the report, outs from the Operational Excellence Committee, I mean, this isn’t you know, this is sort of a a marathon, not a sprint.

00:39:50,000	When you make these, these decisions, these have been brought up in terms of kind of the long range facility planning for for quite some time as, as an option. That was maybe on the table as we looked at sort of the, the compounding efforts of, of all of these, um, these, these projects and the expense and so on.

00:40:09,730	So I just appreciate the opportunity and the forethought, because if we would wait until the vote one way or the other and then went out for bid, just just knowing how the procurement process works, we would maybe not even we would get we wouldn’t be able to get started.

00:40:24,570	So I just appreciate the the intentionality of all of these things, but yet still wanting to make it really clear that we need to hear from the voters and whether or not the the voters are on on track with this. Um, but even that being said, I think there are some, some of those projects that might have to be moved forward and other things, and it pauses.

00:40:38,230	It puts us in a position where we can be kind of poised for success. So, um, so anyway, just I just wanted to, to, to say that I don’t have any, any questions other than just to clarify, um, what can you just maybe answer the question for, for me and for the public about a little bit about the construction management at risk for just

00:40:56,200	those four projects compared to other projects? Can you clarify that a little bit? So I kind of understand the different the different scope of that and why why that would be needed for those projects and not those other projects. Sure. There was a couple of thought processes.

00:41:10,330	One is the complexity of the project. Um, so you’ll see there are larger projects where we got a lot of tie in with existing building. Um, that gives the district some, um, assurance that we are the risk is really managed by our construction manager. Um, so that that was it.

00:41:29,330	And you’ll notice that they’re all larger projects. Uh, Century Mill. Uh, Mary Moses and Solheim, um, you know, they’re kind of over $7 million, and they, they involve additions and tie ins. So that was kind of the thought. And then on the other ones, um, we could do construction management risk.

00:41:50,500	Um, but sometimes it’s I think it’s all about we need to do what’s best for our community. And I think doing it this way is probably the best bang for our buck. Um, hopefully we’ll get a lot of smaller contractors excited and be able to do some projects for the district. And so I hope I answer your question. Thank you. Mr. Lee.

00:42:10,900	Thank you, President Hager. Uh, so I’ve kind of touched on this before, but with, uh, with this referendum and giving back to the community, it’s it’s really asking the community, what do you want from your public schools? And, um, this is a big number, you know, it’s not lost on me.

00:42:30,270	So I think, uh, if if the community does, um, give us the power to do this, uh, um, they’re giving us great power. And with that comes great responsibility. So that’s not lost on me as we as we go forward.

00:42:45,670	If this passes, we have to kind of keep our eye on the ball and be responsible stewards of the resources we have. Um, when we talk about that big number, the second point is it’s, you know, I do I talk about this a lot, but there’s a macroeconomics to it.

00:43:05,570	Um, we’re hiring local contractors as much as we can for most of this, I would say, if not all of it, um, or will try to anyways through the RFQ, but so you think of this big number, this 128 million that goes gets reinvested back into the community. Local companies, local families benefiting raises the tax base, more income tax revenue.

00:43:25,200	Um, helps uh with with all of our revenues and it goes into other people’s pockets and it supports a lot of people. So it’s not just a number that is a one and done and goes away. It gets recirculated in the community.

00:43:41,870	And I think that’s an important point to think of, because when we think of these big numbers, um, it’s kind of hard to, to, to put it, you know, to get your mind around it. Um, especially for the individual. Right. It’s more money than any of us will ever see in our lifetime.

00:43:59,030	Um, but, uh, when you look at how it’s an investment in the school district, in the facilities going directly towards kids, and then it supports a lot of community members, I think there’s a lot of good things about, uh, about a project like this. It’s not something we want to do all the time. It’s not something we have done all the time. But as I’ve stated before, the rules kind of changed around subs and the the 3% cap, and that’s that’s fine.

00:44:13,200	But the rules have changed. We needed to come up with a new game plan. And this is part of that, that new game plan. So thank you. Well sir thank you Mr. Lee. Mr. Eastgate. With those comments. And thank you, Mr. Lee.

00:44:29,370	I agree very much with all that. Um, I would make a motion that we would direct administration to move forward with the request for qualifications for architects and construction managers. And I would second. Motion and a second any further discussion. Seeing none. Doctor. Share. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Prescott. Yes. Jaeger.

00:44:51,100	Yes. Moving on to be a board member. School visits. I know we’ve got a few still out there. I know Mister Eastgate has one. And I always enjoy Mr. Eastgate school visits. Thank you, President Hager, I appreciate that.

00:45:07,670	I did have a chance to finish up my school visits, but I’ll be reporting them spaced out over the next month, month and a half, so we can continue to give the proper time to all of them. I guess we’ll say. Um, but I’d like to report tonight on my visit. Actually, not necessarily a school, but certainly one of our buildings and an important one.

00:45:20,600	The facilities in transportation. So I had a chance to to schedule and meet with Mr. Jason Milstead, who’s been with our district for quite a while and does a phenomenal job. Um, Jason knows he’s right there with Mr. Scheer, and just knowing about everything going on in all of our buildings.

00:45:35,670	Um, and really, at the beginning of all this, what I, what I guess I’d like to say is that thank you to the staff, um, at facilities and transportation. So thank you. Um, I don’t think they get maybe to hear it quite enough, because when we think about Bismarck Public Schools, we think about teachers who we should certainly thank.

00:45:49,470	Um, and they’re the face of, of of education. Um, but, you know, the people that we have that also are there, whether it be driving the bus when a kid first gets on a bus, their school day starts right then and there.

00:46:04,830	Um, when they when we have somebody, a plumber, electrician and HVAC person that’s making sure our schools and facilities are ready to rock. So, um, you know, we’re talking about a lot of these things with the, the bond referendum, but there are ongoing things that these staff are doing to make sure that we we still have school going on today.

00:46:17,670	Um, we’re always hoping to improve it. And that’s the point of the bond, but that they’re doing just a great job. So I really appreciate it. Um, Mr. Misstep was excited to share with me at first. I will say that they are fat, is healthy. We are staffed healthily right now.

00:46:30,030	I’m not going to say fully staffed because he said, don’t say it too loud because we’re always we’re always looking to, um, to get people. We always have spots to fill. It seems like that that’s kind of rotates through a little bit, but it is. That is still a good thing going on right now.

00:46:42,270	And facilities and transportation that we have a good staffing that says good things about our leadership and our ability to retain some of those employees.

00:46:59,270	Um, it’s also can be a challenge because we’re in the public school sector and we’re competing with private enterprise out there that are trying to pay journeymen and HVAC professionals. And that’s not always easy. And so a lot of times we’re getting some folks who might they’re super experienced, and maybe they just want a way to give back. Um, and hopefully we can continue to find some of that.

00:47:13,400	So, um, logistically, Jason talked about how, you know, he really has to have a 40,000 foot view of our district, um, as board members do often, too. You know, we have we have principals who have a chance and their their job is to advocate for their building and what their educators need and their kids need.

00:47:26,130	Um, and we have a lot of those in our district. And so it’s Jason and his staff to make sure that we’re doing the best we can for all of those. And again, as we talk about, we’re stretching a dollar a lot and we’re doing the best we can.

00:47:38,200	Um, but it’s their job to do that. And through the bond stuff again, I talked to him about that a little bit and how that impacts the current budget and what we’re doing.

00:47:50,300	And he just said, as we’ve talked about, the building fund continues to we try to address things like paint and flooring and some of just those ongoing needs that we know we do need. Um, I would say that as a board member, as I look at the budget and look at how it applies and we’ve talked about it, Mr. Shear presented on is that our our repairs line item man alive, that that thing goes away quick.

00:48:06,700	Um, and again this comes back, we’re going to it’s going to get keep getting brought up a little bit. But that’s where this bond comes up to is that um I know I’ve already had many community members just ask about why, you know, are you guys maintaining what are you doing for some of the deferred maintenance that we talk about?

00:48:18,470	It’s like, yes, yes we are. We are addressing those things. We’re making sure that kids have a climate controlled classroom, um, the best we can in all of our buildings. But that, you know, if it’s something that we need to increase that line item.

00:48:31,730	And I know that can be hard because if you increase that line item, we’re taken from somewhere else in the district. Um, but we certainly get through it. And I know, um, having talked to Mr..

00:48:44,000	Share about that as well, that we find it when we need it, when something pops up, we, we, we do our best to find it wherever we can to make sure we’re addressing those things that pop up. But just so we can continue to get ahead of it. Um, and part of that is because, you know, if you didn’t know this, but boilers and HVAC and, you know, they’re they’re not that exciting.

00:48:57,200	Um, they’re incredibly necessary for us to educate kids and have members of our community in. But they’re not exciting. It’s not as exciting as a new learning space for kids. Um, it’s not as exciting as even a gymnasium and auditorium or any of those places where our teachers get to spend the time educating kids. So those things. But they are important.

00:49:13,230	Um, oh, I meant to mention to man for calling card for for BS, you know, any or any business in town to have somebody like Dora at the front desk. She’s just great.

00:49:27,300	Um, and had what she called her grandma’s candies up front, but allowed me to steal some from her, so I really appreciated that. Thank you. Um, so anyway, talking about some of the maintenance, some of them we talked about through some of the biggest challenges come up, you know, budget, um, how do we replace those funds when they do need to go out? And then we talked about staffing, but that is an ongoing thing.

00:49:40,970	That is an ongoing thing that we have all the time looking for staff and good staff and making sure that we have people in those positions, um, who know what they’re doing and they’re getting after it. And, and just making sure that we always have that good employability going on in our, in our feet.

00:49:54,900	Um, because as he said, you know, we get some of those folks and they’re there and they’ve been there a long time. And then if, if they’re getting close to retirement, it can be just tough to tough to get them replaced for some of that.

00:50:07,300	So, um, overall I was really impressed just with the amount of stuff they have to do. I told them, please let us know if there’s ever a chance. As board members, we you know, I’ve been a part of the I think it’s a hotdog or hamburger rate meal every year, I think.

00:50:17,470	Right, Darren, I’m looking at you because I know you’re there and help out with that. If there’s ever those little things that we can do to help out, let us know, because we can get some face time school visits. We get to see a lot of educators and principals.

00:50:28,670	Um, it’d be really great to see some of our folks who are out there making sure the doors are opening up. Um, beyond that, I think what I was proud of, what Jason was proud to share with me, is that the employees morale is really good.

00:50:41,870	Um, and that it feels good to be here is what he said at PS and I asked him that because obviously at the beginning of the year, we had some tough stuff. I hate to even bring it up again, but with some of our John, please don’t. Um, but with some of the busing and working through Bell Times and Jason, I had a I’d written down just what he said. You know, their job. Um, keep doing what they’re doing, but making it better and better.

00:50:56,070	And he said he really feels like Kim and his team have tried their best to keep making it better and better. And I certainly see that in them and what they what they put out there all the time. So, um, yeah.

00:51:07,100	And he just said the other thing with the bond with his hope is with that too, is that there’s not a new brand new building build. It’s not a brand. There’s not Oak Ridge being built. We don’t have a new CTE right this moment. Um, and so it’s going to give them a chance for them to get their staff. We talked about hiring local.

00:51:19,970	We also have our our team at Fenty that can step in and do some of this as well. Um, so just catching up on some of the maintenance in the district that’s already part of the ongoing maintenance that we’re trying to keep up.

00:51:31,300	And so they’re excited actually for that to be able to to jump in and be more involved, um, on that as well. So really appreciate it. I think Jason and his whole staff and everybody, um, behind the scenes that beeps. So thank you for hearing out my school visit today. Thanks, Mister Eastgate. I don’t think we have any others.

00:51:46,470	So that is it for tonight. Uh, item seven is the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? I moved to adopt the consent agenda. I would second that. We approve the consent agenda. We have a motion and a second doctor. Share. Lee. Yes, Peterson. Yes. Persky. Yes. There we go. Eastgate. Yes. Hager. Yes.

00:52:16,830	Uh, item eight. Uh, superintendents report the 2026, uh, bond update. Doctor foster. Yeah, this is probably going to I intend to leave this on the my reports for at least the next eight weeks. Um, try to address questions. I’d like to use this time as we continue to roll out our messages and informing the public.

00:52:37,430	And just as we, Garrett, garner questions and, um, we have added some of those questions to our FAQ, I would encourage people to go to Bismarck schools 2026 bond. It’s right at the front of the Bismarck website or Bismarck School website.

00:52:56,570	Um, and we just try to keep adding layers of information on that. I know even off the slide deck that we showed last night at our first community forum is now posted on there as of today. So people can look at that and we’re going to try to do the presentation online.

00:53:11,330	So just keep checking into that if you are interested and you’ve been looking for information, don’t don’t just discard it because we’re going to keep coming back to it and layering on more information as we we learn more. But um, tonight really is about, um, me backing up a bit.

00:53:27,670	I’m going to just begin with, um, I’d like to use tonight to address really all those questions are the same. We’ve been getting them in our forums and are when we’re meeting with groups. Um, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Kiwanis or are those groups that I’ve met with or online. A lot of people are asking.

00:53:43,400	I think the question that was raised tonight is, what’s the path forward? How are we going to not let this happen again, that we have this mounting deferred maintenance sitting in front of us? Um, so I want to first buy on the next slide, Mr. Bernhardt. Just just say I’m sorry because I tried to address this on March 9th.

00:54:01,000	Um, I think at the last meeting, um, the meeting before you moved toward the resolution. Um, my apologies is I probably didn’t call it out clear enough so people could see it and hear it and understand it, that I that’s what I was talking about.

00:54:15,470	I was talking about how we don’t let this happen again. So I’m going to back up in time. I’m going to use some slides from my slide deck then. And this is one of them and just kind of replay that with a little more information, if you will bear with me.

00:54:32,530	So, um, let’s, let’s talk about how we, our plan that we presented to our doctor, Sharon and I, about how to stay on top of this was really, if you remember, it’s a big ask. There’s a lot. So our recommendation was twofold.

00:54:47,000	We think we need to go to the voters and see if they would support kind of helping us at this time to do that. But the first part of that equation was here’s our path. The deal with the Greens.

00:55:03,270	And we were talking about dealing with the greens because there’s, um, $13 million in those two green categories and putting a focus on let’s keep on top of that, so that ten years from now we don’t have oranges and reds and stuff in our in our categories. So, um, if you go to the next page, I just want to talk about the building fund.

00:55:22,130	There’s been a lot of talk about the building fund and the building fund is a separate tax collection bucket, different than the general fund that we have been loving for some time this year, that that tax collection is 9.86 mills. It’s generating 6.92 million. This present collection. What we’re in right now. Bless you. By the way. Um, and the building fund has been around and Bismarck Public Schools since 1957.

00:55:45,170	So that was a voter approved levy in 1957. And by statute, if you look at the code, a school could levy up to 20 mills, but you’re limited to whatever the voters approve. So voters in Bismarck only approved ten mills. So that that’s our cap. Now, um, I would say if you look at that slide, you go, Jeff, you just said ten mills.

00:56:04,530	It’s only 9.86. It’s nine. It’s been ten mills consistently across the history of BS until this year. And that goes back to what, um, board member Lea was talking about, the 3% cap. So we were only allowed to increase whatever we asked for last year by 3%.

00:56:24,700	You get a new number, and then if valuations change, particular valuations increase more than 3%. That drives the mills down because it takes less mills to generate that. That request a dollar. So this year actually mills are dropped below ten again because of the 3% cap limitations that are now imposed.

00:56:45,470	Um inside of that, which are the fixed costs, I do want to point out that, um, really the first one is very fixed. Elkridge and Silver Ranch, um, this present year, um, there’s a payment of 1.89 million that’s going to come out of the building fund. So out of that 6.

00:57:01,600	92, right out of the top, it comes right off the top because, um, the board, one different board. But the board at that time when we built those two schools did not go to taxpayers ask for a tax increase. They bonded out of the building fund to pay it off over 20 years. That, um, so we are paying that off every year.

00:57:20,670	We’re in the midst of that payment schedule, and it comes out of the proceeds generated by the building fund, and that I’m going to come back to that later, because it does impact what’s remaining.

00:57:35,470	And the roof replacement, even though we could probably say, well, don’t repair roofs, we do have a rough schedule. I think we talk about 2,000,000ft of roofs that we take care of. And the district, they are on a schedule and we are paying a portion of that repair every year. I think you just approved one. And your consent agenda for roof repair tonight.

00:57:53,830	Um, and we are budgeting 600,000 out of the building fund to help cover that this year. So, um, on the next slide, I would like just for information, I know this is really busy, and for those of you who can’t see it online, um, I do have it going on social media so you

00:58:07,270	can see it better, um, here in a few minutes or I think it’s 7:00 or whatever it’s supposed to automatically happen. So what I would want to just share is, again, what I was talking about was the present collection.

00:58:24,200	But if we go back in time of year to 20, 24, 25, this is our total revenue and total expenditures for the building fund. Just to characterize how we’re using it, um, we have had a lot of questions about what that is. So last year we could levy all ten mills and that levy, along with some other special assessments you can see in the green category, you again, will not be able to read.

00:58:40,470	It was $6.1 million. Okay. The big blue chunk to the left of the left circle is grant money. 2025 is an anomaly year because the district received the CTE Esser funds from North Dakota Career and Tech Ed to help pay for the Silver Ranch Career Academy.

00:58:59,870	Those dollars were locked in to CTE, and that’s what I’m trying to represent in the box in the middle that the district got those funds and really could only spend them on one thing, and that was the CTE build at Silver Ranch.

00:59:17,370	Um, so you’ll see that corresponding blue box to the right side of the right graphic to say, this is what we spent, um, 6.4 million on the Silver Ranch construction from out of the building fund. But I would then point out to people, if you look at the remainder of that circle on the on the right, and you think about, well, that’s just normal expenditure, then it’s everything else.

00:59:34,870	It’s not the special funds. You can see Silver Ranch and Elk Ridge take a pretty good chunk of what’s left. They are they are a commitment that the district made and is impacting what we have available to do. Like we said, the maintenance.

00:59:51,900	And that’s why when we are in early March, when we said we can keep up and attack the Greens, but we the capacity to deal with a lot of the other stuff really was beyond even the full collection you could have in the, um, um, building fund.

01:00:09,870	Um, so that’s why our recommendation was using building fund, using the general fund, attack the Greens and then go to the voters for what was left. Um, so, um, that’s just FYI for patrons who want to get nerdy with numbers and see where where our money is going.

01:00:25,670	So again, on the next slide, um, our recommendation for the future and how not to get in this trouble again is let’s address within the next 3 to 5 years the the big lift. Some of these deferred maintenance and programmatic issues that we’re informing the community about. We get on top of those is kind of Mr. Eastgate said is me meeting with Mr. Milstead then, okay.

01:00:41,930	We can keep on top of the rest with about a 4 to 4 and a half to $5 million expenditure every year coming out of the building fund that we can use to stay on top of that.

01:00:55,430	And if you look at 13 million that’s in the greens, okay, that’s four years. Five years. We can attack those. We can keep on top of them. Um, I’m going to put a caveat in there because I, um well, let me back up before I give you the caveat on the next page, I want to be really clear. We’re trying to communicate this in the slides.

01:01:10,200	This slide is one that we are in our every community meeting. You’re going to go to that I’ve been doing for last month. And we’ll do for the next month. We kind of use this slide. And again that’s probably poor communication on my part.

01:01:25,200	We put that little white box in the in the green categories with the number to reflect. That’s our path forward. That’s how we’re going to keep on top of this. We probably just needed to do a better job of calling that out. And so again, you have my apologies if that’s not not the case.

01:01:38,670	But again, that’s if you see that in the future. That’s our commitment to keeping on top of it, trying to stay ahead the best we can. Um, I’d like to talk just a little bit about what the district’s done. And this is part of the same question.

01:01:51,870	Like, what is the district been doing to keep on top of all this work? Um, this is a slide deck that we’ve used previously. Again, I believe in early March. So on the next page, I just want to call people’s attention to what the district did in each of these projects. And none of these required a tax increase.

01:02:10,600	We didn’t go didn’t go to you to ask for a tax increase. We used either a building fund, um, or um, sorry, building fund or a levy against the building fund like Elk Ridge and Silver Ranch, or we use Esser funds. So those were all didn’t require any tax impact on us as taxpayers.

01:02:31,630	And that’s $77 million in the last ten years that we’ve been investing in facilities and and work. Some of these we might question like, why was that necessary? The one I would add on, the three I would talk about and one’s not reflected on here.

01:02:45,930	What I’m going to add it is in 2023 we use Esser funds for legacy. The Esser funds are about 10 million. So out of $25 million in Esser funds, ten of that went to making sure legacy got built up. And then we use three additional 3 million additional dollars out of Esser that next year to build out the addition.

01:03:04,470	And Lincoln and people have questioned, well, there was 3 million also to ice. There is that I would add that line, um, that there is 3 million. It’s not our facility. It’s kind of the parks facility. That’s why it’s not on here.

01:03:16,770	But we use $3 million of Esser funds out of that 25 to invest in a portion of the cost for the Ice. It’s a it was a small portion of to actually get it built. But the district did have a did commit to a public, private public partnership to make that work.

01:03:33,470	And, uh, again, just trying to reflect that when people say we have been doing nothing, I would contend that I think we’ve been doing something. We’ve been doing something without really asking taxpayers to to fit the bill. Um, so, um, that being said, I’m going to flip the switch and say, even with good planning, and I’m going to use a quote from Mike Tyson on the next slide.

01:03:53,070	Um, everybody has a plan till they get punched in the nose. You can all have a good plan, you know, until you get popped in the face. And then your plan has to change.

01:04:05,970	And I think this is true not only with the school, but I would say, I think at one time in my history, my wife and I said, hey, let’s, let’s redo the kitchen, let’s read in my house in Ellendale that time. Let’s, let’s redecorate the kitchen, bring it up to snuff.

01:04:23,470	That was until one of my children ran their car into a pole, and then they got hit in the mouth and plans had to change. So I think those things that happen in our homes, in our own families, happen in schools, too. So this list represents getting punched in the nose. You have a really good plan.

01:04:35,800	And then all of a sudden, oh, the century parking lot needs to be updated because I can’t even say I drove on it when it was poor, but I hear it was a really rough condition. That’s that’s over $1 million to get that fixed.

01:04:50,230	Um, you heard about one last year, um, dealing with Grim’s Road and a water main leak. You’d think, well, that’s not a big deal. It’s almost $200,000 to fix that. It’s not cheap, and it’s coming out of the building fund. It’s coming out of general fund. It’s coming out of monies that we have to help pay that off. And so, um, we have to respond.

01:05:07,070	We have to try to adapt. And those things happen. And I think I recently reported on the water leak at, Legacy High School. Right. So we’re in the midst of doing that as well, repairing that. That’s one of those little poppy in the mouth. And we got to readjust and replan.

01:05:24,870	So I think we have a, um, it’s hard to predict the future. I am in no way Nostradamus. I cannot guess what’s going to happen around the corner. Someone will probably criticize that I did the wrong thing six years from now. Um, but I do think this puts us on better footing and better path forward.

01:05:40,930	Um, again, as we seek community support for what we’re proposing. But, um, I think, uh, I just want to be clear and help people with that. Hopefully that can help address many of the questions that the community has had. As we’ve been getting around the community and talking to people. So I’d stand for any questions you might have.

01:05:56,370	Board members questions, comments. Okay. Not seeing anything. So thank you, Doctor Frost. Not, uh, with that, all agenda items have been considered. I declare this