00:00:11,700	Good evening. I’m Josh Hager, president of the Bismarck school board. It’s 515 on Monday, April 27th. 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 Boards tab at BismarckSchools.org.

00:00:30,970	Uh, Doctor Scherr, will you call the roll, please? Mr. Hager here, Mr. Eastgate here, Mr. Lee here, Mrs. Peterson here, miss Preskey. here. All board members are here. Doctor Fastnacht would you lead us in the pledge? Yes. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.

00:00:57,630	One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item one C is the mission, vision and values. The mission is to empower every learner to thrive. The vision states together our strong relationships build inclusive, collaborative, and innovative environments that create, agency and inspire a passion for learning, excellence and discovery.

00:01:32,900	The values are inclusion, excellence, innovation, leadership. You’ll also find a link in the agenda to the Strategic Plan. Item two is to adopt the agenda. What are the wishes of the board? I’ll move that. We adopt the agenda. Second motion and a second. Any discussion? Uh, seeing none. Doctor Scherr. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Preskey. Yes.

00:01:56,030	Hager. Yes. Item three. Focus on success. Tonight is child nutrition. Doctor Fastnacht. Uh. Good afternoon, board members. And I see all of you. Um, thanks for joining tonight.

00:02:16,100	I would like to, uh, first, just say before I let Miss Wagner go at the podium is, um, child nutrition is one of those things that are crucially important for the success of our kids. A good, nutritious meal is sets them on the right path to being ready and able learners in our classrooms. And, uh, but sometimes it’s I think it’s overlooked. We just assume it’s happening. We just expect it to happen.

00:02:31,800	And that doesn’t go. It doesn’t happen without dedicated people who show up every morning bright and early to make sure they have breakfast and then serve lunch and, uh, um, so Wagner gets to lead that group, and I’m very proud of them.

00:02:47,730	I think she’s going to share some data about not only the program, but also some possibilities for the future. So yeah. Thanks, Michel. How are you? Thank you, Doctor Fastnacht. Um, thank you, President Hager and members of the board for having me here tonight. I really appreciate this opportunity to share some of our successes that we’ve had in child nutrition.

00:03:04,800	And also, as Doctor Fortunate said, um, talk about opportunities for continued success. I think in the future. Um, there we go. Is that working? Okay. Um, so I guess just to kind of dive into the the meat and potatoes of our success, um, um, 1.

00:03:25,600	7 million meals is what we have served from August 2025, the first day of school, through March of this year. Um, so we have served 470,000 breakfasts, and we have served 1.2 million lunches at Baps. So that comes out to an average of about 12,600 meals a day that our cooks are putting on the plates for our students.

00:03:48,630	Um, and so if this trend kind of continues, we should average, we should break that. We should be between 2.1 to 2.2 million meals that our students in this district will be eating. Um, I would probably be remiss if I did not, um, focus on the success at century.

00:04:10,970	Uh, they won the, uh, tray of the month through the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction every month. Uh, DPI kind of does a fun little contest. And century won it in February for homemade soup. Um, so this is an item that they, that they do. Um, I think it’s about once a week.

00:04:28,000	They make this homemade cheeseburger soup. Um, it’s offered in our sub hub. And so with that soup, they can also get a fresh salad made on the line for them. Or they can go through and they can get a sub or a wrap.

00:04:42,430	Um, and I just like to point out that the picture on this meal is actually a reimbursable meal. And so if you qualify for free or reduced, this is a meal that students can get at no cost. Um, this meal is available to everybody at century.

00:04:59,970	And so I just want to give a big shout out, um, to our cooks at, at Century High School for kind of pouring their love into some of their homemade soups that they do. All right. So I think we’d like to focus a little bit on our success that we’ve had with our local foods.

00:05:21,100	Um, over this year we have brought in £11,000 of local produce, um, carrots, watermelon, the zucchini, squash, different colored peppers, different pep, um, different types of tomatoes. Cucumbers are by far one of the favorites for the students. Um, and then we did 500 dozen ears of corn on the cob that were husk and blanched at Legacy High School. For this school year.

00:05:40,530	And so with that £11,000, I think it’s really important to show that we have put back into our community $35,000. Um, so every time that we can buy more local produce, it’s just giving back to our community. Um, I also like to point out that this £11,000 is not over this entire school year.

00:05:59,270	This was done in about a ten week timeframe. So it starts, um, you know, middle of August when, when school starts and it wraps up at the end of October. Um, and that’s kind of our peak growing season, right? In North Dakota.

00:06:18,270	We do have some farmers that have high tunnels that I think, um, if we had the capability to process some of this, these, uh, produce items like maybe lettuce, things like that, more cucumbers. That’s something that we could expand and do throughout the school year. But without the right infrastructure, we just really struggle. £11,000 is a lot of produce.

00:06:35,100	Um, talk to my purchasing coordinator that that that works with it day in and day out. By by the end of October. If she can’t go to sleep without thinking of cucumbers and carrots and peppers and tomatoes. Um, so she does a fabulous job with that.

00:06:54,800	Um, along the lines with local is local beef and, um, we recently put out a solicitation for local beef and no dak meats of steel. North Dakota won that bid. Um, so they will be providing roughly around £10,000 of of local ground beef for our schools next year.

00:07:10,900	Um, just to talk a little bit about our local beef, we are not able to use local beef in all of our recipes. And there’s a couple challenges that we have with that. Um, we currently just offer it at our middle schools and our high schools, and that’s because our kitchens and our elementary don’t have the capability to cook that raw beef.

00:07:26,900	We don’t have the right equipment for it. We don’t have grease traps that the health code or the health department requires for that. So unfortunately, our elementary students don’t have access to that local ground beef.

00:07:45,070	Um, the other thing with local or any raw beef is it’s very labor intensive and we have great combi ovens at our middle schools and high schools. These machines are fabulous. They’re just not necessarily meant to do raw ground beef. Um, so if you picture one school doing over £100 of ground beef, they’re putting this ground beef into these ovens. They’re letting it cook. They have to pull every one of these out.

00:08:01,900	They have to chop up the ground beef. They have to put it back in. They have to pull it back out. They have to chop it up again.

00:08:15,970	Um, they have to do that about 4 or 5 times before we can ensure that that meat is cooked to temperature and that it, um, is the consistency that the kids want, you know, that doesn’t have the big chunks in it, that it’s nice and ground. So it is very labor intensive.

00:08:30,630	So right now we have to make sure that we menu raw beef only once a week, or else we’re going to burn out our cooks the wear and tear on them. They just can’t keep up. And so those are some of the challenges that we’re seeing right now. Um with local beef and not having the infrastructure or the equipment to do more local beef.

00:08:49,530	Um, I just wanted to touch base on the, on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Um, these were released just recently this year. And the reason that I like to talk about these is because as individuals, we can decide whether or not we want to follow this inverted pyramid that they came out with.

00:09:06,630	Um, but this is actually the foundation for our meal pattern. So, um, our child nutrition program runs off of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. And so we have to assume that there is definitely going to be some changes coming down the pipeline from this administration. Um, they’re very focused on increasing protein.

00:09:27,970	Um, so does that mean more protein needs to be offered at breakfast or at lunch? Which is fine. I think we all agree protein is an essential nutrients that we need in our diet. Um, but there’s a cost associated to that too, right? Um, it’s the most expensive item on our plate.

00:09:45,400	So if we have to increase protein at breakfast and increase protein at lunch, um, where is that coming from? Is it going to get passed on to parents? Do we have to raise meal prices? Is USDA going to step up, give us more dollars for commodity goods? We just don’t know yet. But we do feel like the protein is something that we’re probably going to see in the future.

00:10:02,330	Um, this administration is also very focused on decreasing ultra processed foods. Um, it’s definitely a buzzword, right? Ultra processed. Um, and we agree with that too. I think what we struggle with is what is the definition of ultra processed foods? Um, there currently is no definition. The FDA is working on coming up with that definition.

00:10:22,630	And then we don’t know how that’s going to play into the USDA’s regulations. We fall under USDA. FDA is coming up with this ultra process definition.

00:10:42,330	Um, and, you know, right now, if you look at the nova classification system for minimally processed to ultra processed food, yogurt and hummus fall under ultra processed foods, where if my kids were eating yogurt and hummus, I’d be happy. So it’s not really cut and dry. On what an ultra processed food is, but we definitely think that, um, we’re going to see some sort of guidelines come into play. Um, with these, these new proposed regulations through USDA.

00:11:02,430	And then last is the decrease in added sugars. This was actually with the previous administration. They were very focused on cutting that added sugar in our school lunches. So in 2025 this school year we had to limit breakfast items.

00:11:22,470	There was a limit on how much sugar could be in cereal, yogurt and flavored milk. Um, so that’s why if you see like Cinnamon Toast Crunch on our breakfast menu that’s specifically made for schools, it has a reduced sugar in there, you’re not going to find that in in the grocery store.

00:11:40,600	Um, and then by 2027, no more than 10% of total calories can come from added sugar. Um, so we’re going to have to look at our menus and see where we need to make cuts. Um, so all of that just kind of leads into, um, where there’s opportunity for continued success. And that’s through that central kitchen.

00:11:56,530	Um, we want to provide the highest quality of food. We want to, um, source more local produce, more local beef, um, from our community. And we want to expand that scratch cooking. You know, if, um, middle schools and high schools are getting homemade tater tot hot dish and lasagna, so should elementary students.

00:12:14,530	And without that central kitchen, we just don’t have the capability to do that. Um, we also want to make sure that we are streamlining our labor and staffing. Um, we run short every single day.

00:12:30,170	I’m going to talk a little bit about that in the next slide, but, um, we just need to make sure that we’re efficient with the staff that we do have. And having that central kitchen is going to take some of that workload off of them. Some of that wear and tear on their bodies that they are experiencing day in and day out. And then we we just want to be consistent, safe and compliant.

00:12:45,530	We want those uniform recipes across the district, whether you’re a kindergarten or a 12th grade, you’re getting the same, um, recipe. Um, we want to make sure it’s safe and that it’s meeting all USDA guidelines and that it’s just equitable for all students, that they all should have access to these items.

00:13:03,270	Um, so that’s kind of why we really feel a central kitchen could help us be more successful. Um, last but not least, I have to say a big thank you to our child nutrition staff. Um, they operate in 24 kitchens. We serve at 27 sites, and we run between 10 to 15 people short every single day.

00:13:22,530	And yet somehow they still get it done. Um, so I just have to say thank you to them. Um, May 1st this Friday is Lunch Hero Day. Um, so if you think of it, give a school a call. Tell tell the tell the cooks thank you for, you know, serving 1.7 million meals.

00:13:39,630	Um, and it’s kind of fun. We partner every year with the Career Academy and they get shirts. And so the students actually design these shirts. Um, so the green ones were last year’s shirts with the little, uh, logo.

00:13:58,170	And then the 2020 sixth one, the low key legends of the lunch line, um, was was designed by one of our own students here at PS at the Career Academy. And so we always enjoy getting their designs for the different shirts. Um, so with that, again, thank you for giving me this opportunity to kind of talk about our successes and our challenges, future opportunities. Um, and with that, I will answer any questions.

00:14:17,870	Thank you, Mrs. Wagner. Board members, uh, questions? Comments. Miss. Thank you. Um, have you explored any partnerships or do you have partnerships right now with like the CTE and growing vegetables or any anything like that to supply to those schools? Um, we have not.

00:14:41,270	And uh, I would say right now we’re at like our capacity that we can take on, um, with the facility that we have and the amount of staff that we have. Um, we’ve looked at trying to expand different ways, but we just really can’t. Like, we are bursting at the seams.

00:15:00,270	If you ever want to come down in October and see what the the warehouse looks like when you have 4 or 5 farmers dropping off, you know, £1,000 of cucumbers and us getting it out and getting it processed. Um, it’s it’s quite the undertaking and we’re just not set up for it right now. It’s a lot of transferring back and forth.

00:15:15,630	It comes into the warehouse, it gets transferred to Moses, it’s processed at Moses, it gets transferred back to the warehouse. It gets distributed out to all of those schools. So it’s it’s a lot of moving pieces. So. Yeah.

00:15:31,730	And then on the same lines of what you’re talking about with the fresh like, especially the vegetables coming in, how do you make them last through the year or um, or do they get them all in the fall and then we get them all time of year. Yeah. And so it’s, it’s in and out. I mean, we get those cucumbers in.

00:15:47,800	Gina likes to get them in on a Tuesday and they’re processed on Wednesday and they’re out Wednesday afternoon for Thursday. So I mean, it’s a it’s a very, very quick turnaround.

00:16:05,170	Um, I think like one area, if we do have some farmers that have the high tunnels where if we could partner with them and had a facility to actually process this year round, we could, um, lettuce like our lettuce right now is terrible. Like, off the truck. I’ll be the first to admit it. It’s it’s awful. And it’s like, how do we get our local farmers to get us lettuce year round? And they have the capability of doing it.

00:16:20,900	We don’t have the capability of cleaning it to make sure it’s safe and and getting it out to all of our students, um, with the facilities that we have now. Well thank you. We have a lot of mouths to feed. So thanks for the job that you do. Thank you. Mr. Lee.

00:16:38,500	Thank you, President Hickory, I just wanted to say thanks for this presentation. It’s, uh, the the numbers are staggering, and it’s good for everybody to hear those numbers. But, you know, central to everything you do, this central kitchen is is such a huge idea. That’s part of the bond referendum.

00:16:55,970	And, and, um, it’s something that could pay dividends, um, infinitely into the future. And when you talk about those younger kids in elementary, um, getting the same types of food that, uh, middle and high school get, I mean, it just it just makes you realize that, um, we’re going in the right direction. Hopefully we can get this central kitchen done.

00:17:12,000	And I just appreciate everything you do, miss Wagner and your staff. And everybody out there in lunch lady land. Adam Sandler’s run through my head right now, but, um, it’s what you do is amazing. So thank you. Well, thank. You. Mrs. Peterson. Um, thanks. President hanger.

00:17:30,400	And I just wanted to kind of add on just I want to it was of note, you talking a little bit about kind of how federal guidelines affect your kind of day to day operations.

00:17:46,270	And I also think that it’s kind of important, I think you and your team have been there’s like enhanced scrutiny as, um, there’s been conversations kind of on ballot measures and universal free lunches. And I think it’s just important to note the, the different expectations that go into feeding these children every day. And the, the type of kind of operations that it is.

00:18:01,630	So presentations like this I think are really important, not just for us, but for the public to realize that it doesn’t just, like go from, uh, you know, the, the refrigerator to the, the student lunch table that there’s everything that goes into the processing and the cooking and all of that goes into it.

00:18:18,470	And so I just want to thank you. And, you know, I think, um, Mr. Lee kind of talked a little bit about the bond referendum and the central kitchen. But I also want to note that some of the other facilities needs in terms of just improving how our kids eat lunch and the time that it takes.

00:18:34,700	I mean, so much of what we do at this, at the during the school day is all about sort of just a logistical, um, just effort that makes it so not only your team, but also the principals and the scheduling so that we get kids in and out of the lunchroom and, and these spaces that often are meal spaces, but then

00:18:54,070	their gym spaces, then their entertainment spaces, depending on how they’re used. So, um, there wasn’t really a question there, but I just want to I think that your presentation was super timely, not only with, uh, a Lunch Hero Day, um, being on on Friday, but also just really timely with all the

00:19:12,170	things that you are being asked to answer. Um, throughout not only our questions with the bond, but then also, um, with the with the legislature and federal government. So appreciate you and your team. Please extend our thanks to them. And and thanks for today. Well, thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Mrs. Wagner.

00:19:32,530	It’s it’s always, uh, it’s always nice to hear from you. You know, I kind of think through some of the things that you had, you had mentioned and kind of the continual comment about, you know, kind of well, that’s what we have capacity for today. And I think about that centralized kitchen.

00:19:46,730	And then to Miss Peterson’s point further, kind of the bond and how that could flow out to the schools and and creating those designated lunch spaces at lunchtime, having been at Solheim to watch how they operate at at lunch is it’s incredible to watch how they have to just be precise in their timing to make sure those

00:20:05,470	kids can get in and out and eat. So I think of the importance of that centralized kitchen for for the fresh food and those kinds of things. The idea of having beef, you know, trickle all the way down and having it available more often and local and all those things, it’s it’s great to hear Doctor Fastnacht.

00:20:22,930	Well, I was going to ask you a trick question. You’re going to know this right on top of your head. You mentioned all those, uh, lunch heroes that we need to celebrate on Friday. What’s your total FTEs? How many staff do you have? We have about 125. If we are fully staffed.

00:20:36,900	Okay, that’s an amazingly low number for 1.7 meals or million meals this year already. That’s amazingly low number. So I mean, PS is the number one district in the state because we’re the largest, but I think we’re the third largest employer in town. But I got to believe you’re the largest restaurant. Yes.

00:20:59,030	Yes okay. I think that’s important. And I appreciate you guys mentioning the centralized kitchen. I think she brings to life what we’ve tried to articulate across the community is just the benefit of that, right.

00:21:15,900	For talking about I was with the the family that raises beef on my our family’s ranch back in South Dakota. And being a ranch kid all my life. Hey, if that’s locally sourced North Dakota ground beef North for locally sourced fruit and vegetables for our kids, and maybe there’s an opportunity to grow new business in our community to do that for us. I just think that’s a huge win for our kids. Um, so.

00:21:33,000	I hope next time I come back that we’ve served £55,000 of local produce, not just 11,000, that it just keeps growing. That is our goal. That’s great. Thank you, Mrs. Wagner. Okay, that brings us down to item four, which is public comment.

00:21:56,530	Um, I know there was some public comment last week that, um, potentially needed a response. I guess I would open up the board members to see if board members wanted to say anything. Mr. Lee. Uh, thank you, President Hager. And I think it’s important, when asked that we we do respond to these things.

00:22:20,530	Um, I guess a lot of what I heard, uh, Mr. Jensen say last week, it’s, uh, you know, it’s understandable, but I think it came from a source of frustration.

00:22:39,730	And, you know, he talked about us, uh, bailing, uh, the kids, I guess I would just like to address that as we’ve we’ve tried to get back to a 10%, uh, ending fund balance and run the district and do it responsibly. Um, needs have popped up and we have had to push some of these things off further than we would like. And so, you know, have we failed? Um, I would say we have failed. We have failed in raising the mill. We have failed in raising taxes.

00:23:01,100	And I’ll admit that we’ve ran a tight ship. And because of that, we have had to make tough choices along the way. But we’ve we’ve always had a plan. And I was part of those past boards.

00:23:16,000	We’ve talked about this and, you know, building two new schools, building in addition to legacy. We’ve always had a plan on how to pay for that. Um, but now that the rules have changed and we’re under a 3% cap, the plan simply has to change. And that’s what this bond is about. It’s about getting ahead of our needs so we can keep operating efficiently.

00:23:33,230	Um, and I’d like to say this. If the bond doesn’t pass, we will get the work done, but it will take more than 20 years and it will be more expensive. Um, and that to me, is is just not acceptable. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lee. Mr. Eastgate. Yeah, thanks. Present. Hager.

00:23:54,630	Um, also just had some, I guess, some feedback and response from Mr. Jensen. Um, I just was going to start, you know, we, as a board had taken a pledge a couple of years back about the dignity Index, which we all heard about at the National School Board Association.

00:24:06,730	So digging the index and it’s an eight kind of a scale. We we kind of pledge it. We’d all stay above a five, um, five, six, seven, eight out of an eight scale and five just says the other right has a right to be here and a right to be heard. They belong here, too.

00:24:19,170	Um, I do feel like, uh, through some of Mr. Jensen’s comments that we certainly are on different sides. Um, I would say that I don’t always appreciate the comments that we get. And I guess that’s just the maybe that’s how most people feel when you receive criticism.

00:24:34,630	Um, but I’d also say that I do respect that he shows up. Uh, he does have a right to be here. He’s a has he’ll be very quick to point out to us, he’s a taxpayer and he’s a parent. And and so like any other taxpayer and parent in this community, they do have a right to be heard.

00:24:46,730	And and I think that’s important. Um, I’d also say, as I was just kind of thinking about some of the comments made, though, I was reflecting on a comment, our past superintendent, Doctor Hornberger, had said, that really stuck with me, that, um, sometimes when people don’t get all the answers they want all

00:25:00,270	the time, it’s, we are listening to you. But we also have 14,000 kids, all with their own parents and an entire community of taxpayers. And we’re listening to all them too. And that is a large amount of people in our community to be listening to and caring about.

00:25:14,730	And it doesn’t mean that everybody’s individual perspective, um, shouldn’t be respected, but it doesn’t mean that our district can do every single thing that every, every individual is asking for. Um, I would like to also just defend the rest of the board.

00:25:31,800	I won’t even defend myself on this one, because I feel like I don’t I don’t want to do that, but I defend the rest of the board when it’s called into question. On servant leadership, um, I would just say that my my fellow board members is I’ve been able to be serving in this role with them and seeing them both, just not at the business

00:25:44,500	meeting of school board, but in the community at large, that they’re just very selfless. Um, I believe they serve and operate as a board member in the right way. And I want to say thank you to you for because that that that’s honestly what makes me the most angry.

00:25:57,800	And hearing some of the comment, um, addressed to us as a board is when when I know better. I know that you guys have our kids in our community, uh, at the forefront of your decision making has nothing to do, and I don’t. That’s not because you hold the title of a board member. That’s just the kind of individuals you are.

00:26:11,170	Um, I’d also like to just address something. It’s repeated about being transparent in the way we communicate. Not all transparent. And communication happens on social media.

00:26:25,630	I’m a firm believer that, um, in a leadership role, you got to come out of the clouds, you got to put your feet on the ground, and you have to be willing to have a face to face conversation with somebody, including when there’s conflict, at times when you may not agree on everything. And I think that can be when there’s respect that can that can happen and that can take place.

00:26:36,870	When you lose that respect, it’s a lot harder to have that conversation. Um, it was brought up specifically about the four schools we talked about, and I was on the board at that time. I remember very well, because we continue to talk about them quite often.

00:26:51,230	Um, and again, that might not be at every single board meeting, but I can say specifically about those four schools as well as all of our other schools, specifically with the bond coming up. Um, but those are talked about at workshops.

00:27:04,970	Those are talked about in conversations with our district leadership about what are we doing to try to get there. And again, as it’s been pointed out, Mr. Lee just commented on it. There’s a there’s a whole huge gamut of things going on that’s coming out of board member and out of district to be taken care of. It doesn’t make those for schools less important.

00:27:17,000	It just means that we’re looking at the whole picture as we go through it. Um, the last thing I would just like to touch on with this is that our time and resources of our staff are important, and I want to defend those, too.

00:27:28,530	And I would say that when our staff and our and our people at our central office are being, um, I’m going to use the word budget at times and also just tasked with continually coming up with things, because no matter what problems are solved, there seems to be another problem that pops up. And that’s just the truth.

00:27:41,170	And that’s what’s happened in the history that those time and resources of our staff are also important as a board. Those are things that we should be taking seriously.

00:27:54,270	So when we talk about how staff and resources and time and energy and money is being used, I would say, and I didn’t want to ask the staff because that would have taken up more time. Um, but that a lot has been given back to Mr.

00:28:10,000	Jensen in answering his questions as best it can be done, and at times as a board member, I look at it and I go, shucks, I feel like we’re wasting some time on some of that because some of it feels like we’re just looking for problems. And I would say again, that we are looking for folks that are looking for solutions. So I think there’s some important notes that need to be made. Again, I respect that Mr.

00:28:23,270	Jensen shows up, my respect that he uses his public comment, which is a a thing that’s offered to all community members. So with that, I’d just say, um, thank you. And, um, that’s the response that was asked. We were asked for response and that’s my response. So thank you. Thanks. Mr. Eastgate, uh, Mr.. Yeah. Good comments here tonight.

00:28:43,430	Um, I guess when I reflect back, um, especially like being told that you have failed, I don’t see that our board has failed. Um, we’ve had some difficult budget work in the prior years, and we’ve tried to tackle what we can with the funds that we have.

00:29:09,700	Um, and we give a high level of direction and expect things to be addressed with within that direction. There’s no blank check. So when we see that there’s a problem at a school or there’s things that need to be done, um, would it be nice to just write a check and have it have it fixed, have it repaired, bring it up to standards, whatever.

00:29:29,900	Yes, but we don’t have a blank check. And, um, you know, I know I personally have been very committed to holding the line on taxes. Um, I think our board has had a conservative feeling about that and wanting to keep our mill levy level, which we have done for seven years.

00:29:48,970	And I think that’s something that our community told us, that they wanted. Um, and so we respected that. Let’s live within our means, let’s do what we need to do to address, address our priorities.

00:30:14,530	Um, within the funds that we have, without raising taxes, um, I, I can honestly say, though, that since I’ve been on the board, while we have had long range plans presented to us, we have never seen one as thorough as as this one. The Doctor Fastnacht not prepared and it was the most thorough. It was categorized by the needs, the kinds of needs in our schools.

00:30:34,370	And I and I think that that’s really what got a lot of attention. Um, Doctor Fastnacht also spelled out to us, which I don’t know that we’ve ever heard, if if we don’t tackle this now through a bond, uh, it’ll take us 23 years.

00:30:59,500	And that’s like eye opening, um, to hear, um, along with telling us and spelling out that there’s really no way to solve, uh, and address all these issues without a bond. No one has ever spelled it out for us in that way.

00:31:19,170	Um, and I also think it’s really important to know when you look around town and you look at our schools and the expansions and the programs that we have done in GPS, there’s been a lot of investments that have been made, um, to our students and, and our system. So, uh, I guess I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.

00:31:41,630	And I’m, uh, I’m looking forward to the vote in June and, and hopefully the community supports us and we can get on and move forward and address these important needs. Thank you. Thank you, miss. Mr. Peterson. Thank you, President Hager, and thanks to the rest of my fellow board members.

00:32:01,530	I never need a reason to be thankful that I’m sitting at this, at this table as as a as a time tonight when we’re all kind of asked individually to address it. And I think even the way that we all wanted to kind of address Mr.

00:32:18,430	Jensen’s comments, I think shows the differences in our perspectives and the way that we we tackle issues and have been able to do so in, in places like at the meetings here tonight, but also kind of in our workshops and in other situations. And I think it’s a fair question to ask how the district can be found in compliance with something like an operational excellence policy and in facilities.

00:32:36,100	And the 12 that he referenced and still bring forward a proposed bond. And I guess the way that I think of it and the way that I think of education in general, is that these two things are not in conflict, and they actually reflect different responsibilities. And I think that the recent monitoring report confirms that the district is meeting its current obligations.

00:32:54,370	Our facilities are safe, they’re maintained, and they’re supported by this long range plan. And every every student that walks into the doors and needs accommodation, we are able to provide that accommodation.

00:33:11,800	And I think through the messages that we’ve been given in the community forums and the questions that we received, just because we want better doesn’t mean that we’re not meeting the student’s needs. And we’re always talking about some extreme examples sometimes, but, but, but let let us be clear that if a student is not able to get around, is in a wheelchair, there are accommodations made. And unfortunately, it’s not the accommodation that I think would be right now. Our top of the line expectation.

00:33:29,600	And so I think that, in fact, the report shows that full compliance across all indicators, including safety, preventative maintenance and planning for system replacement. And I think that that speaks to the strength and the systems and processes. When we hear from whether it’s Mrs.

00:33:47,630	Wagner, when she’s talking about child nutrition, it’s not she’s not coming here saying that right now the students are being fed every single day that the students are not going to get a breakfast and a hot lunch. And the things that they need.

00:34:02,730	What she’s talking about is looking towards the future and thinking about what could we do, what is the realm of the possible, what is what are some of the increasing needs that come? And so I think at the same time, when we talk about compliance, it doesn’t mean our facilities are where we ultimately want them to be. It means we’re responsibly managing them as we are right now. And so I think we can be two things.

00:34:18,800	We can be good stewards of our current buildings, and we can be forward looking. And that, I think, is what this bond shows us. And I think it reflects not only what Mrs. Preskey talked about, that long range planning, that growth and the desire to provide these updated modern learning environments.

00:34:34,630	But it also shows how education continues to evolve. I heard a comment that talked about, well, whether or not we pass this bond, students will still graduate in May and students will still get the education. And man, I hope so.

00:34:50,270	I hope that even if we don’t pass this bond, that all of a sudden school is not going to we’re not going to shut the doors tomorrow. We will continue to operate. Um, and a lot of what was was discussed in a lot of the examples will show that that life will go on.

00:35:02,530	We will be able to operate. We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll look at option number two. Option number three, we will be able to move this work forward. And even though I want to personally note that I was not on the board when the specific example that he that Mr.

00:35:19,970	Jensen was talking about, I want to say that since I’ve served since March of 23, this has been an ongoing conversation. It wasn’t whatever I missed in the in the public meeting that had occurred in January. It is these long range facility needs.

00:35:34,530	I mean, we weren’t it’s not that we were kicking the can down the road. It was we were planning for the future. Not only what Mr. Lee talked about with the ending fund balance, knowing that in order to get a, a, a healthy return on our investment, we’re going to need to be in a certain place so that we can have make all of these decisions.

00:35:50,430	So I think that, um, that these things don’t happen overnight. And even as we’re looking and seeing some of those things loom, we knew that there was probably going to be a time where we needed to go to the community. And I think that that doesn’t show an indication of failure.

00:36:04,270	It’s an invitation for the community to weigh in on the next phase. And I think that that’s really important. I hear all the time when I’m out and about in the community to Mr. Eastgate Point. Oh, I wish we had this. Oh, I wish our space looked like this.

00:36:19,800	Oh, I why can’t I have what this other school gets? Those are things that we hear all of those times. And this is the way to to address it. Because those things don’t just happen. I love how Danelle talked about the the blank check. We can’t just wave a magic wand and those things happen.

00:36:34,700	And so these are really thoughtful questions that we’re asking the community to weigh into. If they if the community speaks and it’s not what we what we hope for, then you’ll come and see us ask another question. And for future boards to have to have to decide.

00:36:49,270	So it’s not that, um, I don’t see it as a failure. I feel like it’s the next phase in the conversation. Thank you, Mrs. Peterson. Um, just to maybe kind of add on to some of some of what you had had said. I kind of think about it, um, this way.

00:37:08,070	So there’s a process, a couple things going on here. So it takes time to fully develop a plan. And as we were looking at the four schools in question, we were looking at at more than that, um, we were doing some work with those dollars at that time. We had like Mr. Lee had referenced, we we had a plan.

00:37:27,100	Uh, I looked at it kind of similar to what what we’re doing at my church. So we have a parish hall. We have a church there. Separate the church functions as a church just fine. The parish hall functions as a hall just fine. The two are not connected.

00:37:43,730	We’re looking to connect those two things. We have a church space that’s 50 years old. The bathrooms were built to a standard 50 years ago. They’re not handicapped accessible.

00:37:59,800	The folks that maybe come to church and would like to go over to the hall for an event afterwards, in the middle of winter time, um, depending on their situation, if they’re in a wheelchair or walker, they they can’t do that. They go to their vehicle. Or if transit’s picking them up, they go home. We felt like we could we could do better as a, as a as a church community by connecting those to redoing the bathrooms, reworking those spaces.

00:38:17,470	And that’s exactly what we’re looking to do here. And it all started for us, just like it did here with the school district, with with a design here. Here’s an idea. Here’s what we would like to see with these four schools.

00:38:35,900	So we asked those principles to come in and tell us how that would be a benefit to their individual spaces, since they know them best. As, as the principles. So we heard from them. And over the course of time, in addition to that doctor Scherr and I and then it really picked up in in the last year through our Operational Excellence Committee, we’ve been talking about these spaces and a lot

00:38:53,530	more, just like we did at the at the church. We started to ask other church goers, um, what do you want to see? Here’s our general idea. What what what are we missing? What are the things that you would like to see? Which is exactly how this process went. Went for us.

00:39:09,000	We came up with as a school district what we thought we needed. And it is broad and it’s kind of in depth when you see, like Mr. Peterson reference the overall plan, there is a lot to it and it takes time, a lot of time to hear all these different, distinct voices, which is why

00:39:27,430	we went out to the community like we did, to try to get input from from all stakeholders, because we don’t necessarily go to that building every day.

00:39:42,800	We ask the parents that go there, what do you what do you need in your school? What would you like to see and take all those things and put them together and then ultimately come up with a plan, which is which is what we see in the bond. Um, so again, we have these educational spaces. Absolutely. But can we do better? I absolutely think we can. And I think we should.

00:40:05,000	I think when I look at some of these remodels, in particular talking about Ada compliance stuff, and it’s it’s the stories of the students, one in particular that I remember when an A Grimsby visit that has to go to a different school than a sibling because we can’t accommodate their needs there.

00:40:23,230	I think a grandparents or parents who may need special accommodations coming to us good Kids program that were not set up for that today. So what we’re asking for the bond in addition to some other things, is just getting things up to the 2026 standard and just asking the community to, to to bring things up to where they were.

00:40:43,500	So that would be, I guess, at least my thoughts on on kind of where we’re at and where things have gone. And I’d kind of like to just add to one thing, Mister, Mister Eastgate said, since he called out the rest of us, I can say the same for for Mister Eastgate and my fellow board members, when it when it comes to folks who are accessible to the community, who are listening to the

00:41:01,100	community, who are out in public, I can say because I’ve seen it and I’ve heard from others, the four board members that I’m fortunate enough to serve with are accessible. They’re out in the community, and they are listening to parents.

00:41:16,170	They’re listening to teachers, they’re listening to staff, and they’re trying to do what we think is best with all these various input inputs. So thank you, board members. Um, with that moving forward in public comment, the board recognizes the central role parents play in the education process of their children and supports active parent involvement in the education process.

00:41:40,100	The board’s practice of public comment reflects an alliance with policy. CBA, in 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 Fastnacht, not if you do speak tonight.

00:41:58,730	We simply ask that you be responsible, be helpful, and be respectful or BS. Students deserve to have adults model the expectations we have for them. Uh groups are urged to select one spokesperson. Individuals will be limited to no more than four minutes and will be notified with 30s remaining. To conclude the remarks.

00:42:15,430	The board will not debate issues as presented, but will take such matters under advisement. With that, please stand and approach the podium. If you would like to speak tonight. Uh, seeing no one public comment is now closed. Item five monitoring district operations OE three treatment of community stakeholders. Doctor Fastnacht. Yes. Board members. We have two of them for you.

00:42:38,370	Leading off with the three treatment of community stakeholders. And I’d invite Mr.. Steve Koontz, your director of communications public relations, to present the report. Thanks, Steve. Yeah. President Hager, members of. The board, it’s a pleasure for me to present the results of OE three.

00:42:58,530	It evaluates the relationship between stakeholders and the district and areas of transparency, confidentiality, and communication practices. Um, there are a few highlights. I’d like to direct your attention to. OE three requires the superintendent’s office to protect confidential information and handle formal complaints accordingly. Uh, both those areas were satisfied. According to the expectations set forth in the governing policy.

00:43:21,170	As far as transparency is concerned, the OE asked us to make a number of resources available to stakeholders on our website that would include yearly budgets, audits, board meeting information and more. The links are included in the report for you and the public. Uh, finally, each year we do have a community survey that goes out to students, staff, parents and community members.

00:43:40,370	This year, we adopted a new platform called Panorama. It allows for some better data collection. Um, we had over 14,000 individuals take the survey. That’s between parents, staff, students, etc.. And uh, in this report, we have a target of, uh, just overall majority positive perception of the district.

00:44:01,000	And we had well over 80% indicating that positive perception, uh, based on the aggregated results of that survey. So based on those findings, we recommend that we find ourselves in compliance with OE three. And I’d gladly stand for any questions. Board members questions. Mr..

00:44:23,900	Uh, I just want to comment and just tell you thank you for what you do on your end of, uh, communicating with S and the public as well. Absolutely. Thank you. Mrs. Peterson. Uh, thanks. President Hager, I would I would echo those things. And then also with respect to OE three treatment of community stakeholders, um, I would move that we find the district in compliance. Second.

00:44:50,400	We have a motion and a second any further discussion. Seeing none, doctor Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes, yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager. Yes. Uh, item. B oh nine. Communicating with the public. Okay. So kind of continuing in the same vein, oh nine also looks at that public survey I mentioned in zero three.

00:45:13,700	Um, there’s a target here, 70%, uh, supporting the district’s direction that we try to meet. Um, and this one, based on the aggregation of all those results, over 80% would have responded positively to that question. Um, of supporting the district’s direction.

00:45:33,600	And there is a summary document in the report for your perusal for you in the public. And it has very detailed, uh, response data within there. Um, in addition to that, oh nine also requires us to hold some community events where the public can provide input on important issues. Um, we cited those three community forums we just held as an example of that.

00:45:49,430	But I would just note that those only represent a few of several engagement opportunities that we do offer regularly. Um, and finally, we have a, uh, a web based monitoring report, LinkedIn, here as well, where we provide just some samples of communications and things.

00:46:05,630	We share public service announcements and so forth that are part of the so, so based on all those findings, we would also recommend we be found in compliance. And I would stand for any questions. Board members. Doctor Fastnacht. If I may, before you consider if we’re in compliance or not, I hope you have looked at the survey results.

00:46:24,870	It is quite more comprehensive than our past reports. Just because Panorama is such a good survey platform for us, I think it will not only served us well this year, but in the future, as we can now see that longitudinally, year to year to year in future reports, which I hope you find.

00:46:39,630	But two things I, I picked out of there were um, across all the reports, which I really appreciated. Our kids responded about someone in the school cares about me. I was a climate and culture question and elementary K to 88% second through eighth grade. Sorry K one second through eighth grade 80%.

00:46:59,530	Ninth grade ninth through 12th graders. Um, they have someone has a positive relationship with them, 85%. I mean, those are really good numbers. Obviously. Not exactly where I’d love. I’d love to be. I’m 100% across the board, but those are really strong numbers. I appreciate it.

00:47:18,500	Now, maybe on the negative side, um, something we can continue to work on, um, was about communication. And in the parents survey, the question for what is really all three for us. But I feel informed about the district’s direction and believe there are meaningful ways for families and community members to give input. That on the parent side, only scored at 50%.

00:47:38,270	Now, here’s what’s surprising. Like we say, we give. We’ve had more than three. We’ve had probably 6 or 8 community forums, coffee chats, all those things. Um, I would say to your point, we have members of the community that do take advantage of those opportunities.

00:47:56,630	They come to the mic, they talk to us, wait, we could use more. We could use more people to become civically engaged in that discussion. But what I thought was interesting, even though parents were only 50% ninth graders, rated that same question like they do, they support their families, have ways to be informed about what’s happening at school.

00:48:14,100	Ninth through 12th graders say 81%. So their kids think they have ways to be informed. I don’t know, maybe that’s just their grades. I don’t know, maybe. And teachers were at 84% feel that there’s ways to be informed.

00:48:29,270	So there’s obviously something we need to do there because there’s a there’s a communication gap of what people are perceiving. Our parents are perceiving community and what maybe our kids and teachers are perceiving as opportunities for people to be engaged. So I think that’s a growth opportunity for us. But hopefully dig into it. I think Mr.

00:48:45,070	Koontz and I also talked about one of the things in the survey was an open ended response. Um, we’re just not ready yet. We’ll release that in totality, but we got to make sure that there’s no human names in it. There’s some make sure we ensure some privacy. Kind of the first report confidentiality issues. We want to make sure.

00:49:01,230	But once that’s done, we’ll put that on in their website in totality so people can see it. Thank you, Mr. Koontz. Thank you doctor. Mr. Peterson. President Hager and thanks, Doctor Fastnacht, not just one other additional comment is I like those those that breakdown and I appreciate the report.

00:49:21,000	And actually all of these surveys that we’ve been given to, whether we were talking about the bus issue in the fall or previously, I think that the transparency of the district and the ability to share these, these details, whether it’s like ready for public consumption or not, has really kind of showed just just because that we, you know, just because we offer them, you know, we just offered these three community forums we

00:49:39,630	didn’t have like a great amount of attendance, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t available. And so I think to Mr. Eastgate point earlier when we were responding to the other public comment, just because the, you know, the room isn’t filled right now doesn’t mean that there’s not the ability to so

00:49:54,970	so hopefully in the multiple mediums that I think that are available, whether it’s through website and formal means or informal means, um, we’re at least giving the, the, the opportunity to weigh in.

00:50:12,630	And we just hopefully the, the public that’s watching just takes advantage of these multiple pieces and eventually kind of finds their, their medium beyond just maybe the, the social medium, uh, media option of just commenting on a post that’s actually the least formal way to do it and maybe the least effective, these other more formal channels are a way to get your voice heard. So, um, so no questions to that.

00:50:28,630	But just thanks for the the breakdown of that. And with that, then I would also just move that, uh, with respect to communicating with the public, taken as a whole, we would find the district in compliance. Second. We have a motion and a second any further discussion seeing none, Doctor Peterson. Yes. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Hager.

00:50:51,000	Yes. Uh, down to see BSR two. Single unit of control. This this will be the public reading of single unit of control. The board will direct the superintendent only through official decisions of the board.

00:51:19,470	One, the board will make decisions by formal recorded vote in order to avoid any ambiguity about whether about whether the direction has been given to the superintendent is neither obligated nor expected to follow the directions or instructions of individual board members. Officers, or committees unless the board has specifically delegated such exercise of authority.

00:51:49,170	Three the superintendent determined that in information request received from an individual member or from a committee is unreasonable or requires a material amount of staff time. The superintendent is expected to ask the committee or the member to refer such requests to the full board of authority, with that, that concludes the public reading of policy. BSR two single unit of control. Mrs. Peterson, sorry, Miss Preskey. Yeah, I would, um, move that we retain BSR to single unit of control.

00:52:20,730	Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Uh, Doctor Scherr. Preskey. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Hager. Yes. So this is a two parter. So next is to determine as if in compliance and compliance exception or out of compliance, Ms. Preskey. I would move that we are in compliance.

00:52:44,800	I’ll second that as well. We have a motion and a second in discussion. Uh, seeing none. Doctor. Scherr. Eastgate. Yes. Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Preskey. Yes. Hager. Yes. Item six matters for reserve for board action. So tonight we just have a board member school visits. I believe Mr. Eastgate has one.

00:53:09,800	I sure do. President Hager, thanks for noticing my light. Um, I’m ready to present tonight. I, uh, I may have mentioned before, but I got in three visits. Uh, towards the end of March and in the beginning of April. So I’m kind of spreading those out.

00:53:26,800	So I’m not inundating you guys with too much information in one night. It’s a lot at once. So, um, I had the great pleasure back, uh, March 23rd to visit Pioneer Panthers Elementary. Um, greeted by by Mary and Becky there in the front door.

00:53:42,970	Pioneer is one that we’ve been mentioning, and we’ve already touched about some things that are in the bond. So I’m going to be hitting some of those today. Um, when I first sat down, Mr. Nahum, I’ve known Mr. Nahum since he was first counselor at Centennial, and then he was an assistant principal at some of our, uh, I believe, two elementaries, one elementary at Northridge.

00:53:56,800	And then anyway, now he’s principal at pioneer. Um, is at Liberty. Maybe. Um, but Mr. Nahum is just a great guy and very, um, quick to be very positive about things as I can be, too.

00:54:11,700	And so I told him, I said, I want to hear some critical thoughts on this. This is on the bond. I want to know the real stuff, you know? And so, um, I had to push him for some of that. But we had some great conversations as we went through.

00:54:21,270	I wanted to kind of see some of the things that the bond would be addressing. Um, he did say he was hopeful, you know, for some of the things that get addressed through the bond, um, for the entryway, uh, you know, a new office is going to be there, a new entry.

00:54:34,730	Some of the things we’ve talked about for safety and security, that there’s a second line of doors, um, and that when you come in, they’re like, their printer is out in the entryway. Hallway, basically. I mean, they had to move it just to make room so that there was a space for both Mr. Nahum to have an office as well as, I believe, for the counselor to have some space up there.

00:54:47,430	There’s also some special education, um, that goes on in some of the other front office space, and it is tight. Mr. Nahum gives up his office space regularly. I saw at least twice. I think he was. Oh, go ahead, use my office. Go ahead and use my office.

00:54:58,800	Um, so people had a spot where they could go have a a private conversation. Um, whether it be, you know, on a phone call or with a student or whatever it was. So, um, he did say he was hopeful for a new carpet. Uh, very similar updates to Northridge.

00:55:10,100	The carpet, of course. Something we deal with our in our building fund, not necessarily through the bond, but because he was familiar with what had gone on at Northridge. And that’s a great kudos to the to the district for the great work that happened over at the Ridge. Um, Mr.

00:55:22,700	Lee, um, that that they did a great job though for one of our older schools and giving it a serious update. And so that’s what these other schools are asking for as well, and that we can do it at a quicker, more time efficient. Um, I ran into two former students, Cade Garcia and his friend Noah.

00:55:38,030	They’re both behavioral aids behavior, um, systems with reading. And Mr. Nahum talked about how great they are. I got to announce those guys in sports back when they were at at Century High. And so it was just fun to see them.

00:55:50,700	And he just said, what a great job they’re doing with students at that moment. They were chasing after a couple of younger elementary kids that were, uh, again, behavioral Aids. So kind of chasing down some kids that were going down the hallway pretty quickly.

00:56:02,700	Um, they had fifth grade testing going on that day so that some of the classrooms were a little quieter. But I had a chance to see some different learning spaces. Um, just a few things I wanted to note. And for my time there, though, um, there was a foster grandparent, Dwayne, who was there, which I found out from talking to Mr. Barnhart. It’s a federal program.

00:56:16,170	So these are individuals that they apply. There’s an application process. It’s federally funded. And then of course, there’s background checks as we allow adults into the building through these programs. But Mr. Newman talked about what a great asset he’s been to be in the classroom.

00:56:29,070	And for some of these kids to have another adult male figure there, to be there as a positive role model. And and again, it’s a foster grandparent. It’s not a foster parent foster grandparent program. And for him to give his time and his effort there with kids was really awesome.

00:56:42,370	He was sitting in like an elementary school sized chair with a kid at the moment when I was going by, um, and I just thought that was a neat program. I actually that was new to me, so I don’t know about everybody else, but that was a new one for me.

00:56:51,230	I think it’s a neat program that that we’re taking advantage of. Um, we talked a lot about some of the separate accounts, some of the separate spaces that are needed. Um, currently there’s four portables on the pioneer grounds, one for music, three are empty, but they’re being used for storage because storage is really tight at pioneer.

00:57:09,170	Um, there’s storage spaces that are probably being used for, for private meeting rooms right now. Um, there’s one closet he was able to show me, and it looks like your front entry closet at your house for coats. Um, and other than that, they’re using the portable. So the portables are serving a purpose. I want to point that out.

00:57:21,370	Um, but they’re not ideal. And the reason is that when the portables did come in, basketball hoops were cut down. Um, they have one now. They were all taken down. Mr. Knierim had one put back in, and he would just love as I, as would I.

00:57:35,230	And I’m sure the district would, uh, parents would certainly the kids would, uh, would love to see some of that blacktop come back and have more space for, for kids for the fun and recreation, which fun and recreation is part of. Recess, man. And I sure love that. In elementary school.

00:57:49,170	Um, also just the idea of maybe the dumpsters are out on one of the front roads. We can they’re kind of behind a fence, but I think it’d be good to get those in a spot that that makes more sense for our community to have some community pride with that. Um, there’s some exterior maintenance. You know, I talked to Mr.

00:58:01,370	Milstead on my visit at facility transportation. I said, Jason, what have we got to do? Like, we need some paint on that outside wall. We just need to do some of those things like, I know, and it’s on the list, and we’re trying to get there, but we need to get there.

00:58:13,270	Um, so just some things like that that we’re aware of as a district and we want to get to them. But again, the list has gotten long to get our schools to 2026. Um, which I’m going to jump into on some of that. We’ve talked about some of the Ada, um, getting an elevator at pioneer would be amazing.

00:58:28,730	Um, again, there’s a little bit more storage under the stairs that he did show me. Actually, I kind of jokingly called it the Harry Potter Room. Uh, they just need more space. You guys, um, special education, need more space, more shared rooms.

00:58:45,800	Um, at this school, there are top foreign transient population, uh, 52% of that school as our kids that are coming from poverty, homes and poverty, 52%. Um, that’s that was a big number for me to swallow. That bill. And I just I want us to see, uh, see our building be able to do the best as we can to serve these families when we talk about special education. I’ve heard Mister or Doctor Fastnacht not talk about this.

00:59:01,800	This school’s bathroom in particular at some of these forums, you guys almost have to turn sideways to get into this bathroom. I’m not a big guy, but I have to almost turn sideways to get around where they have a bed for special education. It’s also where the nurse takes students if they need them in there.

00:59:13,370	I believe. Um, and it’s it’s just it’s a very small space. It is not ideal for what some of our students are dealing with in 2026. Some of the other things we talk about a lot with our spaces coming, not just deferred maintenance, but getting us up to speed to 2026 is we have more behavioral and

00:59:27,900	special education than we’ve ever had. And with that, they had a student that was at the time being in the special education room, um, with two aides, I believe, and some of the some of the behaviors that are going on is screaming as a behavior.

00:59:43,700	Um, even when things are good, screaming is a way that they communicate. And so we need more individual spaces because as that’s going on, that student needs that space. We have that student in our building daily.

01:00:00,370	Um, and that’s how they’re when they’re excited about something, they learn they’re screaming is a behavior that comes out when they’re frustrated because maybe communication or whatever it is screaming is what comes out. And it’s right that that school, the way it’s set up, there’s not enough space for you to not hear that down the hall in other classrooms. So that student deserves their space and also the rest of the learners in there.

01:00:13,170	I would hope to have a chance to continue to have their learning spaces as well. Um, Mrs. Pam Baker was brought. I had a chance to visit tier one phonics. Um, they run a pace setter program, which is like 38 kids. That’s like a student council for the fourth and fifth grade. Uh, they run a cocoa cafe.

01:00:28,730	They do the morning announcement, um, they fill out cards for the North Dakota honor flight to to some senior veterans. Just some neat programs going on. You guys have these kids giving back again. These are kids giving back to the community. What a cool deal.

01:00:43,800	Um, they started peer to peer at pioneer, which we’ve talked about peer to peer a lot in our district, something we should be very proud of. It’s a shining star and they’ve started it there. Um, he reached out to Miss Sarah Baugh, who helped get it all started in the district, and she’s helping get that happening. Um, at the school as well. Is was what I’ve understood.

01:00:58,600	Um, he’s been really proud of some of the staff collaborations. Special ed teachers are meeting with general education teachers to to work together for all kids. They’re having to create specific teaching methods, um, oftentimes special ed students are in the same room as general education, and that’s great. But we also need to make sure each student’s learning to something I mentioned earlier.

01:01:14,500	Um, but the leadership opportunities are growing for those kids and for those educators as they’re finding new, innovative ways to try to get these kids the best education they can. Um, Chris was real quick. Mr.

01:01:27,700	Naran was real quick to mention when I brought up how great I thought some of those leadership things are doing with kids, and he just said, um, you know, I delegated to Mr. Miss Baker and she took it and went.

01:01:38,230	He said, the only credit I get, well, the only credit I said, I’ll give you is that you knew to ask a skilled educator. And off she went. And it just took off. So pretty cool on how that all went. Um, on my way back out to my vehicle, I ran into to the custodians. Um, Tim and I didn’t. I didn’t get the other girl’s name.

01:01:49,970	I apologize for that, but just ask them how things are going. And I just told them, thanks. Um, we certainly appreciate all the great work they do.

01:02:00,600	I know the building appreciates what they’re doing to make the best use of the space, as they’re turning things over to make sure that they’re ready for all these different learning things. So there’s some other notes in here about some of the special education stuff that I think I hit.

01:02:12,500	The main points is that we just need to continue to do our best by these kids, by these families, to make sure that all of our kids, you know, we say every empowering learners to thrive, right? And we need to make sure that we’re holding up our end of the bargain on that as board members and as a community. So thanks for hearing my my school visit today to Pioneer Elementary. Thanks, Mr. Eastgate. I always enjoy your school visits, like listening to a good story. Thank you. Miss Persky.

01:02:28,800	Yeah, I recently visited bicep. Um, and that school was built in 1949, so that must be one of our older elementary schools buildings as well. Um, and, you know, their needs that they need addressed through the bond of our. Yeah. Not the, I don’t know, shiny new object things.

01:02:50,700	It’s the boiler and ventilation and ceiling, um, fixes. So, um, you know, we hear a lot of that same messaging when we go on our school visits. Um, it was a really good visit. Uh, 119 students in Head Start, 258 in early childhood special education. 86 on the waiting list.

01:03:15,730	So there’s a demand for this program in our community. Um, Head Start, in case folks don’t know, is full day. But then the early childhood special education is two and a half days or, I’m sorry, half days, two half day programs read my notes wrong. Um, anyway, what what I thought was really interesting, too. They kind of mentioned it.

01:03:36,700	I on my way out is that there’s 28 different languages spoken by those young students. Um, so that’s incredible. Um, and through the tour, uh, ran into a group of students and they sang the school song, and they recited the school motto, be safe, be kind, be helpful. And I love that.

01:04:01,700	Um, I was given a look at a new indoor inclusive playground that was built in half of the gym that, uh, funds were obtained through a grant to build, um, really cool, um, facility there.

01:04:22,530	Uh, and then in one popping in one classroom, they were doing a garden study, which kind of ties in with our, uh, focus on success today, where the students were given a look at foods and then they were, um, given a plate full of these foods chopped up, and they had a little bingo dauber, and they could mark if they liked the food or they disliked it. So, um, very colorful plates. Uh, in one of the special ed rooms.

01:04:44,600	I think this just really put things in perspective for me too. It provided a great example of the complexities that the teachers and the aides deal with. So you have 17 students in a room and one teacher, two aides, three of the students have hearing impairments. One had, um, a limb, defect.

01:05:08,000	So it just all the complexities in trying to, uh, working in the classroom with very young, uh, 3 to 5 year olds, um, Val Bacon provided a story of one child that was exhibiting significant delays, and the teacher really encouraged the parents, you know, to to get some testing done.

01:05:30,900	And then they discovered that, um, they had a hearing impairment since then. Then they got an implant, and now they’re learning. Opportunities have just blossomed. So a really good success story. But it also really just puts the light on why these, um, early interventions are good.

01:05:53,070	Uh, a great thing to have in our community. Um, some of the challenges we talked about, um, the decision to cut busing for the Head Start, kids that are unsure of how that will impact their enrollment, um, they know of six students that are not returning because of transportation challenges and ten that remove themselves from the waitlist.

01:06:17,470	Uh, in one classroom, they just said, raise your hand if you ride the bus. And all but three rode the bus. Um, and so administrators just, I guess, emphasized that for a majority of parents with students at Bicep, transportation is really an issue. Um.

01:06:42,070	What I, what I really enjoyed is a conversation on, uh, what they’re seeing as far as the impacts of screen time. And this was on the heels of our National school board’s trip, where we had a speaker that really talked about, um, the addiction to screens and the impact that this is having on our on society.

01:07:03,730	And it it was really interesting to hear how they said that they’re seeing more delays in speech and expressive communications and learning that, um, it’s all attributed to screen time. They, I mean, continually talked about an addiction to, um, to phones, how some three year olds are even walking in and have a phone, um, just not being exposed to, um, activity.

01:07:28,900	That is something other than screens when they’re not at school. Um, and just a concern for what we need to do to really turn that tide as a society.

01:07:52,100	Um, they even provide an example of a student that, uh, basically schools his detox from screens and any kind of a ping or anything that might represent a notification or something going off on a watch will set them off. And, um, so kind of get them spiraling. Um, I guess just really to wrap that visit up, um, you know, bicep plays an important role in our whole BS system.

01:08:15,270	Getting those students, those young minds ready for school, helping them find coping skills and social skills and and to get a a leap in their academics to really just help ease that transition so they’re ready for kindergarten. So enjoyed my time with the bees. Thanks. Thanks, miss. Nice school visit. Anybody else have a school visit tonight? Doesn’t look like it.

01:08:43,100	All right so on to item seven. Uh, the consent agenda. What are the wishes of the board? Mr. President Hager, I would move that. We approve the consent agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second doctor. Chair Lee. Yes. Peterson. Yes, Presque. Yes. Eastgate. Yes. Hager. Yes. Item eight is the superintendent’s report. The 2026 bond doctor. Oxnard.

01:09:09,630	All right. I kind of promised everybody I’d continue to have this on the agenda, because I know it’s a popular topic and give people some opportunity if they want to come talk or ask questions at the board, they always can reference it.

01:09:25,270	But I’m also going to go back and as I said last time, kind of just hit common questions, just kind of picking them off from our community forums or the questions I get online from people and just kind of look at that.

01:09:41,230	So tonight I want to talk about the question that really focuses on why didn’t you save up? Why didn’t you save up to deal with what we’re proposing in there? So I’ve listed three common questions. Why didn’t the district just save up like I have to do in my house? I was exactly, quote, out of quote, out of a social media post.

01:09:54,370	Um, why does the district have so much in carryover? Why don’t you just use it and we’ll I’ll share a little bit about that. And then the district needs to be more fiscally responsible. And I think you’ve actually, um, did a good segue for me tonight as I, as I broach that topic. So first, I want to go back to an old slide deck.

01:10:09,670	This, um, I stole the page from early March and we talked about what we’re presently spending on maintenance. Just for your information, for someone who’s just tuning in that the district is spending millions of dollars every year, that’s averaging just a little over 5 million a year on maintenance.

01:10:26,630	That includes, um, a lot of expenditures out of our building fund that are going to the actual contractor. The work up to, um, 23 staff members that we hire every year that our that their job is maintenance. That’s not custodial staff. That’s just maintenance staff. That’s people who are doing the work of keeping our systems running.

01:10:45,800	So it’s not something we take lightly. So if I go into the next page, then I just thought tonight I’d talk about the three buckets. And there’s probably a couple smaller ones that we have like a food service fund and stuff. But when we talk about facilities, it’s really three big buckets.

01:11:03,430	And to represent those, I actually use an ice bucket so you can see them. But we talk about the general fund and that is the fund that we think of. It’s that’s the teaching and learning. That’s where I have a slide in the future.

01:11:17,230	That’s the one that you’ve seen that the dollar bill in the past about where our money goes, that’s um, 221 million in revenue. It’s about exactly that in expenditure this year. It’s still 221 million and change, um, 65% of that comes from the state of North Dakota and foundation aid payment this year for every, um, full ATM.

01:11:36,000	Uh, that kid in attendance and Bismarck, that’s $11,349. So that’s some of that’s deducted. Um, there is a deduction that the state takes, um, from that payment based on. That’s a formula that’s taken out of your local revenue. But overall, 65% state, 27% local to fund the school for general fund.

01:12:00,500	Then we’ll also talk about I’ll share a little bit about the building fund. That’s what’s been commonly talked about. That’s uh, 6.9 million that goes into that uh from 9.86 mills this year, um, to fund things like this that we’ve talked about maintenance and school projects that that we identify each year.

01:12:17,730	And you also have one mill that’s for specials. That’s our special assessments, just like you would have on your house, that the district has to pay, and then debt service fund that is, uh, sinking interest.

01:12:33,330	You might be called or debt service, that is voter approved debt that the district has asked voters to approve in the past that has been approved, that you’re paying off previous debt. That is this year, um, generating 10.4 million or 14.82 mills to do that.

01:12:52,000	Um, and just so someone’s asked for that, about that, the last form it similarly last week, you actually can find all those bonds that we’re paying off on our district website. Now, if you go to the 2026 bond page, you will find all those, um, present bonds that we are paying for. Um, because the person who asked the question didn’t think we had any. It’s like, no, we do. You should.

01:13:06,970	Here they are. We’ve posted those on there for knowledge. So those are out there. Now, um, before I get into that, let’s talk taxation quick. This is total taxation. That’s all those funds. If you look at Bismarck, we this year taxed at 106.45 mills. Now the arrow represents I stole this out of our community presentations.

01:13:28,700	The arrow represents what taxation, at least in mills, would be next year if the bond would pass. So that would get us to 117.29 mills. The point I’d like to make there is just look at us in comparison to other two a schools, large schools.

01:13:48,430	And honestly for Williston Basin and Jamestown, those are both schools that are under 2500 kids. They’re pretty small, even for large schools. They’re pretty small. Um, definitely much smaller than Mandan at 4000 kids, us at 14,000 kids.

01:14:04,970	I mean, we’re the largest of them all as far as when you look at that list, when it comes to, um, student count. But I would also tell you, look how low we are when it comes to taxation. We’re right at the bottom when it comes to large schools, when again, we talk about schools with over 2500 kids in them, we are taxing low to board member Lee’s point tonight.

01:14:24,270	You guys have been holding the line. You’ve been very frugal conservative when it comes to taxation. Pinch in the pennies. Um, and if you take the average of Mandan up just the big schools up, right? If we take the average, that’s 136 mills and change. Okay.

01:14:42,900	If you look at ours, that would mean just board members keep this number in your head. You are in in relation to Mills, you are taxing 22% less than the average for the rest of those 22% less.

01:15:02,100	Now, I know mills generate different dollars in different communities based on valuation, but I think just by if you look at just mills, that’s a line that’s a kind of a a statement to how frugal you’ve been. You’ve been conservative and and holding the line on taxes. So when it comes to you like we are now, it’s because we are holding the line now. We’re coming to you and we need something. Okay.

01:15:17,170	So, um, I’m going to go to the general fund. The general fund. Just go back to that really big bucket. We’ve used this graphic before. This is just a quick visual of where the money goes. So $220 million in expenditures, 85, almost 86% of that is salaries and benefits.

01:15:34,700	It’s for people. It’s the it’s the Aids you mentioned in your report, board member Eastgate. It’s the special ed teachers. It’s the principals. It’s superintendent too, but it’s the custodians. It’s the cooks. All the things we talk about that make a school operate. Most of our money goes to paying for people.

01:15:50,730	And I would guess that doesn’t surprise most people. So if we go to continue talking about the, um, general fund, one of the comments talked about, well, why don’t you just use the money in your carryover, use the money that you have in your account.

01:16:07,000	And people see that at the end of the year that your carryover number, like this year, was 18 million for us. So we started from the end of last year. You just like your checkbook. You just cut it at a moment in time. You just say, we’re done and that’s the number you have left, and you roll it over. Right.

01:16:22,230	So for schools, that happens on June 30th when we rolled that number over, we started with 18.3 million. And people say, well, why don’t you just use that money. Use it. Well, I’d point out that that’s 8.3% of total expenditures. So 18 million is a lot. But when you put it in totality of what we spend every year, it’s not a lot.

01:16:43,700	And I would say I’m going to you will you’ll remind me because your your policy is to remind me that your targets 10%, you know, you would like to get us up to 10%.

01:17:02,730	And for listeners, I would say what you don’t realize and kind of to your point, tonight, um, board Member Peterson, was that that’s really the long term planning there is to get us in a position that you can do work like a bond and better standing because, um, you’re you’re beginning fund balance or ending fund balance or both the same thing. Okay. You’re ending fund balance is what borrowers are.

01:17:23,630	When we go to the market and we sell bonds, that is the number that those people look at to give us the best bond rating. So we get lower interest rates on those that debt. So you have set that target of 10% because you know, that helps with the bond rating, which drives down the cost of debt.

01:17:41,530	It’s very much like a credit score. I mean, you work really hard in your house to get a high credit score. Why? Because you can go to your banker and you can get money cheaper.

01:17:55,730	If your credit score is in the four hundreds, they’re going to charge you a little bit more on interest rate because you’re a little more dangerous of a loan, right? You’re a little more threatening loan. Get a high credit score, you get a better you get lower the ability to borrow money more cheaply. Um, that is the exact same thing when it comes to ending fund balance.

01:18:11,800	Only now it’s done on the bond market because they look at our ending fund balance. They would honestly like us not to be at our 10% target. They’d like us to be at 15%. So having those reserves in our financial statement helps drive down the cost of any debt that we incur. Um, so spending it down is actually counterintuitive.

01:18:31,500	It costs us money. When we spend it down. It will cost you in the long run as a as a school. So that’s one thing. The other one is a question that said, why don’t you just save more, just save for the rainy day, you know, kind of like you do in your house.

01:18:47,530	And I would say just viewers be aware there’s statute on this. Schools can only save 35% of their annual expenditures. Now, 35% is a lot, 35% of our annual expenditures for Bismarck is $77 million. But that would mean that over the course of time, we would have to be banking even more money and and kind of just sitting on it.

01:19:10,800	Right, just kind of holding it there. Now, if you have just like a savings account, when you have that thing happen and you spend it, you don’t get it filled the next day, right? It takes you now again, years to fill that savings account up.

01:19:28,500	So, um, for schools, we have this limit in law that we can’t we can only save so much. We can’t sit on taxpayer dollars. So, um, we are we are definitely with our ending fund balance under the target you set by policy, which I explained on the previous slide. And we have this limit.

01:19:49,870	And I would say even if we even if we had 35%, $77 million would only do a portion of what we’re talking about, right? We wouldn’t have saved enough to deal with the issues that we’re bringing forth today with the bond. Um, and, uh, again, I think there’s a philosophical question there, too.

01:20:08,430	Someone said, well, why don’t you save it up like we do at home? Well, when I save money, you know, when you save money, any person, when you save money in your savings account, you’re saving your money. I’m saving my money. So I put it in my savings account. That’s my money, I earned it.

01:20:25,000	I save it, right? I don’t know if general taxpayers would like to say, I’m going to take all your money as a school. I’m going to take your money, and now I’m going to save it on the side.

01:20:38,000	I think most people in the community would say, you let me have the money so I can use it, and then when you want it, come ask me for it. Because us sitting on a lot of money, I would think most taxpayers would say, well, why are you taxing me so much if you’re just going to sit on it? I think that’s a fair question, a fair comment, and I think philosophically that’s where I’m in as a school leader is

01:20:53,970	you don’t need to we don’t need to sit on that money because when we need it, we’ll come ask you, we’ll make our case, we’ll ask you for it so you can use your money when it’s you need it. When we need it, we’ll ask you for it.

01:21:05,100	Um, because sitting on it just seems like a very unwise practice for a public entity, like a school. Okay, so the next slide I have for you is the building fund. We share this on social media that’s purely there so people can see the revenue and expenditures for the building fund. You can see where that money goes.

01:21:22,230	And we called out the aerial graphic because that was a CT build this last year that was grant funded from North Dakota, Korean tech. Um, but I’d also point out the really blue dark blue wedge in the expenditure side because that’s what you were presently, because the district didn’t ask for voters

01:21:37,700	to approve it. They just bonded out. We bonded out of the building fund to build Elk Ridge and Silver Ranch. There is no tax increase for that. We use building fund proceeds for that, but we’re continuing to pay for that out of the building fund every year.

01:21:53,370	And then if you go to, well, why not just tax more in the building fund, you could because someone put online saying, well, for the building fund you could tax it 20 mils. In 1957, Bismarck Public School voters approved ten mils. So that’s the maximum. I can’t go over ten mils by law. Okay.

01:22:12,370	So, um, I can’t I can’t capture 20 mils of taxation in the building fund. But even this year, I would tell you, because of the 3% caps, which board member Lee kind of mentioned, that the games changed a little bit.

01:22:31,230	Um, our mil rate went from ten mils, which has been steady, steady across time for years at ten mils. Now, this year it’s 9.86 mils. And you’d say, why is it drop a drop? Because of the 3% cap. What is the impact of that? That drop from ten mils, 9.86 mils is $98,000 of revenue.

01:22:50,270	That’s $98,000 that we could have used to fix some of these maintenance issues that are now less dollars that we can generate because of that legislation. So I think when people say, again, why not just save it up? Well, we have some things that are limiting us on our ability to save. And so, um, I hope that was informational.

01:23:08,500	I guess I would stand for any questions, but I think it’s my obligation to help educate not only you, but community members. When I see common questions or try to address them. And I would encourage people to go to a referendum page, uh, go to Bismarck schools, click on the 2026 bond link.

01:23:25,100	A lot of the stuff that we’re talking about, um, you will see, and I believe later tonight, I’ll it actually should happen automatically that that link will go live. Um, so you can so people can see the slides um, later tonight. So thank you, doctor. Uh, board members questions, comments. Okay. Seeing seeing none. Uh, financial report.

01:23:50,530	I’m guessing this is going over to Doctor Scherr. It is. Thank you. President Eastgate, members of the board tonight I have for you the review of the financial report. Um, nothing really kind of stands out from the previous month.

01:24:06,100	I don’t need to point out the pain we’re having in the the maintenance budget that’s on there. But one thing I would like to point out again on page two, we’ve still not received the, um, the credit back from the state for the taxpayers, um, got off of their property tax. Um, and our system still learning based on the $500, and now it was $1,600.

01:24:26,000	So you could see that we’re unfavorable and local sources, um, talking to our director of accounting last week, we think that next month that will just correct. And then, um, that’ll be right in line of being pretty close to budget. Uh, the thing that’s a little hard, you could say.

01:24:42,270	Well, you know, it was 500 bucks last year. It’s six, 1600 bucks this year. Just do some simple math. The problem is those that pay less than 1600 got 500 off those that pay less than 1600 this year. Only get what they paid in. So you can’t use simple math. Plus the tax.

01:25:00,070	The population of tax payers changed slightly too. But that’s really the only thing that we’re kind of watching. You can see we’re tracking very positive as far as uh, we’ll be under on, um, expenditures and a little bit over on revenues again to help with that ending fund balance.

01:25:17,100	And I guess I would stand for any questions the board might have. Board members questions, comments. Okay. Thanks, doctor. Scherr. Item nine the adjournment. All items have been considered. I declare this