I would like to call the June regular meeting of the West School Board to order. Please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The chair moves for the approval of the agenda. Is there a second? Second. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Motion carries. Announcements. Uh July 14th will be the next regular board meeting right here at 6 o'clock. Right now, I'd like to invite activities director Jeff Peterson to the front for a share the success presentation. No mic needed. Awesome. Uh, thanks for having me here today. I'm excited to share uh several things that have occurred over the course of the the school year um and recognize um several several student athletes. Uh in in May, we had our senior athletic recognition breakfast. Um at that breakfast, we recognized 15 seniors that are moving on to compete in their prospective sport at the collegiate level. We recognized 14 three sport senior athletes and one four sport senior athlete. Uh we had 19 seniors who were recognized as academic all state in their respective sport. And uh last year uh shortly after our our June board meeting, our tennis our boys tennis team took third in the state tournament. Uh this year, our jazz and kick teams both placed fifth at state. Our gymnastics team placed fifth. Uh girls swim and dive team place fifth. Um and on Wednesday we have a handful of athletes competing at the straight state track meet. Uh JT Kimbro, Sammy Christensen, Carter Klein Saucer, Avery Olsen, Morgan Johnson, Lexi Raymond, and Eva Castellon Williams. U at this time I'd like to invite uh Cole Drill. Uh parents are Steve and Mara. Cole, come on up. Uh Cole was uh was one of we had a tie this year in our Yoast Hador Leopold award which recognizes our top male athlete and uh Cole's got quite a resume up here. Uh football, basketball, baseball, boys volleyball, a GPA of 4.0. Uh he was an all-American in strength and conditioning. Uh this year that award is given annually to a high school athlete who has demonstrated outstanding achievement on and off the field, court, ice regarding strength and conditioning, athletic performance, academics and leadership, academic allstate in football, basketball, and volleyball. And I'm going to assume in baseball, but we won't know until about June 15th. Uh that stuff hasn't come out yet. 2023 football all district selection. 2023 football all district most valuable quarterback. 2024 football district selection. Um 2024 baseball conference honorable mention. What about when was the banquet yesterday? Uh all conference honorable mention again this year. Okay. 2024 2025. Uh all conference honorable mention. uh 2024 2025 basketball all conference um which is uh which is hard to do in our conference. Uh it's done a little bit differently than it is in other sports but with only uh six schools on the east side of the Wright County Conference. Um you get 10 allconerence uh players. And so this year we were fortunate to have two, Max Cry and Cole, both welld deserving um captain in football, basketball, and baseball. And uh again, he was our was a tie. Um 2025 male athlete of the year. So Cole's just had an incredible um incredible run here. We're going to miss him. His leadership has been outstanding um and everything he's done. uh for us has just helped us be super competitive. So, is there anything you want to share about your experience as a student athlete here? I'm putting him on the spot. I didn't even tell him this. Oh, it was fun. Good experience. Great. Are we looking at W River Falls? Yep. Next year. Yep. That's next year. Awesome. They look like white. What's the What's the team name? Falcons. Falcons. Falcons. Yep. Awesome. Congratulations. Thanks for coming. Plan to play some of the sports there. Uh yeah, I played football and then we'll see maybe start there and go. He's got something for you there. Officially I like to refer to Cole as farm strong. There's there's there's weight room strong and there's farm strong. I always say Cole is fart strong. He's he's way room strong, too, but he's strong. Thanks for coming. Uh Cole Monster Tiger who uh was also a recipient of our Yo Hadorf Leopold uh award. Uh Cole wasn't able to be here tonight. Um Cole's going to wrestle at Southwest Minnesota State University. Uh played football, wrestling, and baseball. 3.993 GPA. Four time allconerence in wrestling. That's uh that's super impressive. Not easy to do. Um you have to wrestle a certain number of matches in the conference. You have to wrestle well in those matches. Um and um you got to stay healthy over uh the course of the season. So really impressive uh all district football honorable mention in 2024 academic all state in wrestling 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 uh state wrestling participant placed uh fifth and sixth in 23 and 24 and was a three sport captain. Um congratulations Cole. All right. And uh late addition to tonight, Audrey Kersh made it. This is uh this is awesome. Audrey said, "Mr. Peterson, I don't think I can be there. I have a job and I have training." So, thank you for being here. Of course. Uh in May, early May, uh we went to one of my favorite days of of the year. Uh we went to the Athena um lunchon. And the Athena is where we recognize our top female athlete here at Mount West Tanka High School. So, we've been we've been recognizing the top male athletes since 1953 and uh female athletes since 1973. So, we have a long tradition of uh recognizing our females and um right when Title N um began. So, Audrey, um 2021 cross country state participant, uh 2023 track and field true team state participant. uh this past fall, state participant in cross country, academic all state, um academic all-state in both cross country and track, three-year captain in cross country, two-year track and field captain, 3.95 GPA, if I recall correctly, going to the University of Minnesota in uh Carlson School of Management and um represented us extremely well at the lunchon and um really fun day. So congratulations. Thank you so much for being here. Audrey, thank you. Remind me what academic state is. It's a certain GPA. Yeah. Yeah. So um in in some sports um so it's it's typically run through the coaches association and so we provide coaches with um GPA and then coaches submit that and so um it's it's um it's all academics in in those sports and so if you reach a certain threshold then um you're you're eligible to receive those awards. So, as I mentioned, we had 19 seniors this year that were academic all state, which means um their GPA were that or higher most likely to be recognized within their sport for that um criteria. Um and so really, really awesome. And it's it's awesome because we like to focus on the student athlete side of things and so not just on the athlete side of things. So, um, I've got my cross country crew. So, why don't you all come up here? Um, and so we're missing our track athletes. That's my fault. I didn't get those to Emily in time to get them up there, but as I as I recognized and mentioned them, we've had a nice run with um with athletes in the state tournament here tonight with us. Um, everybody was invited and it's tough in June to to get folks to get here. So, I appreciate you guys coming. But our cross country team, uh, Lydia and Guesser, um, Lydia, Mari and Guesser, Sophie and Guesser, Brook Garlock's not here, Elise Hayes, Hadley is not here, Audrey, Claire Rashagger, and Anna Reginald. So, uh, this past year, this the state cross country meet was held at, um, University of Minnesota and, um, it's been there before, but, this was the first year I've been there to, uh, experience that. What a great venue. Um, really a lot of excitement. Um, we I I told him I wasn't going to share where we finished, but I'm going to share where we finished. We finished 14th. We were down one runner at the event, which certainly doesn't doesn't help. We had an injury right before uh that happened. But uh these these young ladies represented us extremely well and it was a lot of fun. It was a gorgeous day in October and uh really fun venue and uh super proud and congratulations and thanks for being here. Audrey, you know where to go. Congratulations. Congratulations. Great job. Are they related? The the endesters are all related. Yes. All of them. Yeah. What game? Thanks. It was really impressive that the whole team came. Thanks. I know it's summer and for you to come. Thanks coach out there and thanks to the rest of you. Thanks for having Thank you. All over you. Thank you. Let's see. Swim and dive. As I mentioned, our swim and dive team placed fifth. Uh followed up uh a third place finish from the year before. Uh we had Erica Johnson who is a diver. um Camille Ness um who was a state champion in a relay a few years ago I think before we started bringing kids in here. Adriana Sullivan and Grace Warden and unfortunately all of those girls are seniors except for Erica. Eric is coming back next year and we're excited to have her back um as a state diver. uh wrestling, Cole Monster Tiger, uh Phil Pasarichuk, Deacon Rantham, and Cooper Row, who was here earlier. We recognized Cooper for winning his uh third uh second um and then put the pressure on him to win his third at that at that night. So, uh those guys, Erica Johnson once again in um gymnastics. Where is gymnastics on there? Yep. Erica, Norah Kelly, and Maddie Sanders. And that team placed fifth at the state tournament. Um, High Kick, um, and Jazz. Mia Abernathy, uh, Olivia Carlin, uh, Maddie Carlson, Sienna Demer, Emily Howlet, Hadley Hogue, um, Edie Hollenstein, Paige Johnson, Allison Kryser, Alexa Leonard, Ally Ogle, Avery Olsen was our manager, but she's going to be running in the state track meet here on Wednesday at a couple of different events. Uh, Gia Patel, Ellie Schaefer, and Maline Witty. Um, Aubrey Buckner, Jessica Hernimman, Amelia Homeberg, Gabriella Kaganowski, Caitlyn Lola, Evelyn Lundy, Bin Mock, Ellis Selvati, Ruby Smith, Alexa Soul, Parker Swanson, and Lily Titler. So, really nice um really nice group of kids. represented us extremely well when they compete at the state tournament and uh and just continue to do an awesome job. Unfortunately, we got a pretty good group of seniors in there. So, uh we'll be we'll be looking for some younger kids to step up and provide uh that same that same kind of consistency and competitiveness. Uh as always, we really appreciate your support at the schoolboard level. uh we couldn't do it with without that and um we just continue to make strides and and try to improve things uh season after season. So really excited about the future. Awesome. Are there any members of the public that wish to address the board? Okay, we'll move on to reports. Uh, first up is Krauss Anderson. Hey everyone. Hey. Okay, show of hands. Who wants to start with the tennis court and work their way up? Or do you want everybody? Dealer's choice. You get to do that. Let's start tennis court while we're waiting. So, here's some progress photos of where we're currently sitting with the tennis court. And this was, I think, as of Friday. Excuse me. Let me try to make it bigger here. So, you can see that they have the surfacing down. This is actually the last step that they're doing. And so I know this has been a really long process for everybody and I appreciate everybody's patience on this. So we'll just scroll down here. The last thing that they have left to do right now is the final layer of the surfacing. I think they had a couple spots that you had pointed out, Kevin, where they had some puddling happening on the tasks, but they were correcting that before they put the finished layer of paint down. And that should be happening here shortly. And they are currently on track to finish on the 20th. That's including with the rain days. We just got that update today. So, as been a lot of those, right? Yeah, it has been. There's been a few. Yeah, so they had that built into their schedule, which we're thankful for. So, there's it's it's really exciting. You go out there and you look at the first of all, both of our tennis coaches, they just they just are so complimentary. They're so thankful. And those that they connect with are so excited about uh these courts. And it's not just going from what our courts were, but how great these courts are going to be. And so I just want to share with the board there's a lot of appreciation, excitement. Obviously, everybody wants to get on them, but also they've been phenomenal working with wanting to make sure we do it the right way and uh that they last. And so we're um we're going to be anxious to be on them. And yet there's it's um they're getting their shed organized with their different things and uh community ed has some pickle ball nets that they're getting set up and they've been working with the pickle ball community on selecting the nets and kind of going over protocol of how things can work and so I think there's some good synergy that's starting out there as well and excited to see some of the pickle ball nets be set up more permanently and then removed like for tennis matches. No, it'll be you have to use and put back. Uh because if that doesn't happen, they'll be staying out. And so they're working with that community what that process looks like. They really tried to select ones that both are solid and yet easy to move. And those storage sheds are going to make it convenient for those to go into. Is that going to be I thought there was some talk of a grand opening for the community for pickle ball. Uh there's going to be a community uh there's going to be a pickle ball community kind of like orientation and then there's a ribbon cutting that we're going to do this fall and so that orientation once we for sure know the date then we'll set that date but I think uh they were they're in the loop of what our progress is looking like and where we're at and um I thought you were going to get out of the financial report there for a minute. [Laughter] Everybody was watching me fumble around. We're very We're disciplined. We pay attention. Can I ask you what can I ask you what these um these black frames are? Are these going to be shelters? Yeah. So, there's actually cany that goes over. They got taken down before the winter and they'll be get put back up here after the construction activities are done. Got it. We're looking at ordering bleachers sets that are going to face both ways that'll go under uh the canopy set. Oh, okay. All right. So, right roll right into the middle school. So, a lot of our precon or middle school, right? stock middle school. Yeah. First time I've seen that picture. Yeah. So, this is this is actually an updated rendering that we just got updated today and this is the new Spark page update that'll be shared with everybody. Um, so last week we actually just had our first project kickoff meeting and we did a site walkthrough last week. So, a lot of pre-construction activities are already done, installing all the floor protection, and they've done a lot of demolition activities up to this point. I don't know that they're all reflected truly in the photos that we have here because actually one of the photos that I took as of last week, actually, the state was gone as of last Thursday. So, that's this is all interior work, right? So, weather's not going to be too much of a factor here. There's some exterior work I think with the canopy and some of the wheelchair access up to the building. So, there's a ramp that needs to be built a minimal amount. Yes. Okay. That's nice. When you when the stage went out, that was one of the points that I had questions about because you're not quite sure what are when you take that out, how did they construct it back in 1957? There wasn't any more so. So it that fortunately didn't throw some significant surprise there's a lot to be said about that there are things that do happen under a stage or there could be like a big slab of concrete that's built up from the floor that you need to rip out. Yep. We bumped into a few of those. Um but things that they have coming up here throughout the month. Um what to expect for things to come is they are going to finish up the demo here this week and then they're going to start doing framework on all the walls and mechanical electrical plumbing roughins and that'll be a big portion of the month. Then hopefully through the start of next month and we're starting to actually enclose everything and starting to put drywall up and then ceiling grid. So maybe a month and a half look up ahead, but that's the way it should be going. Any questions on tennis court? Canopy demolition will also start this month comments, questions, concerns on that. All right, high school. So, I'm going to actually walk through this one a little bit slower because there's a lot more activities that have happened on this. So, one thing that we talked about last month was updating the construction phasing based on where the permit was at. Bumped into some soil corrections that needed to happen in the northwest corner of the site where the addition goes and there was a couple other small delays, some including weather. So, over a lot of updates, I think this was shared with the board here last month. One thing that was not shared that we did update with some of the recent delays was probably a November opening for some of this area right here versus I think last month we were trying to shoot for an MEA finish. We're still going to try to push for the earliest possible finish, but conservatively that's what we're thinking right now. just like to point out that to you that our groundbreaking was on schedule before we were we were on schedule. I was on I had to think about it for a second. I wasn't going to commit your Yeah, we did that part of the deal. We did. We did. Uh so some of the things that we have coming up for work in June, obviously we talked about it already, but soil corrections, it's a big piece right now. Um but then pouring and footing foundations. Let me stop actually back up on this. So there was a lot of thought actually put into the soil corrections and pouring the footing foundations. So, one thing that we're working with the contractors on right now is doing a rock bed underneath some of the footings and foundations so we can continue with construction and pouring those putting the foundations even if it does start raining. Um, that way it doesn't slurry out the bottom of the footing and foundation pit. So, that's one thing that we have implemented proactively just to try and help us schedule. So, so what does this soil correction mean? just poor material to build on. Yep. So, there's poor poor soil conditions and I think there was a couple unforeseen things that were in the soils that we couldn't account for. So, I guess I won't get into detail on it, but let's So, there's a utility pipe that was actually going through the center of the additions that weren't known. And back in the day when they do a back fill for these trenches, they didn't necessarily back fill it with what we consider the good standard soils today. So when we come across a trench like that that that utility pipe needed to be placed in, we need to get rid of all that soil in there and place it with soil that can be built on. Hope I explain that well enough. Um but then we're going to have structural steel installation here on the addition here starting this month. pre-cast installation that'll be happening more towards the end of the month and then we'll be getting all of our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing underground in the addition here at the end of month two. Um, phase two, which is the interior renovation, I'm actually pretty excited to share because I just got a picture from um site today. I'll let everybody take a look at it here. But that's as of this morning, that's what the classroom areas look like right now. Wow. It's like one big room. Completely got it out. Yeah. I always like to share this one. It's pretty fun. That's wild. Start from scratch. Yeah, it is. So, they're doing a really good job there. Rob Scheler shared that with me today. Um, so next we're going to start getting the concrete saw cutting anywhere we have underground piping going. um any abatement that needs to happen. And then we'll be doing our framing and any of our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough ends throughout that space. And that's going to be for the upper and lower level. So I'll spare everybody from walking through phase three and phase four. That that phase right now is looking right now we're running on schedule for phase two. Phase two. Yes. Yep. It's looking really good right now. And here are some of the progress photos that we had from last month. Are all the lockers coming out? I saw some coming out. Yeah. So, this update was made here last week, was made today. It'd be like you saw completely different environment in there. That's crazy. Um, but any comments, questions on the high school? Is therevious obviously The latest news as far as tariffs is like 50% on steel. Is that are we impacted by that or do we already have our orders in or as far as we're concerned orders are in? Okay. So, anything that if tax impacts happened after contract or material should have been ordered, then that's on the contractor to account for on their end. So, the contract that was written on your behalf um protects you from claims like that. There could be some if there's like the only place it could come into effect is if there's any change work. So let's say we need to add steel. Okay. Since it's something that would have been accounted for, they can technically charge for that tax after the fact, but base contract work. I was hoping that was what you were going to say. That's good. So then how often are you updating providing updates? Once a month. Once a month. We have a facilities committee meeting at 7 a.m. Monday Monday 16 16th and so we will continue to go through updates of how we're doing on design. We'll talk about uh other parts of the project that we're working through. But I think I think u a couple couple shout outs. First of all, uh appreciated the K's team of how they worked with contractors. Uh they were into Graan View before school was out bringing product in uh getting set up, doing some investigation beforehand, which really helped with some of that demo. Also, at the high school, we freed up a couple social studies classrooms. So it was great effort by our staff to open that up. So that really speed it allowed for the pictures that you saw and also just thanks for the board support and parents support of how we reworked those last two days of our schedule. It's hard to believe but we we had graduation right now. That was a week ago. And where where we are from moving everything out of those classrooms, finding the right spot and to see it where it is now. Uh we really try to capture every minute. And I think that was that was a huge effort by our staff to I mean there's there's decades in those rooms to get that stuff packaged, find a spot, and there's a lot of thought given to how do we find the best value. So, we posted things trying to resell where we thought that could be down to the lockers asking is there anybody interested in purchasing lockers. Uh we tried to figure out in our own district, do people want these pieces of equipment and hauling it from place to place. And so, it wasn't just a matter of packing or throwing. We really tried to find the greatest value we could out of these things. And to see that high school picture this morning made it kind of validated that effort and some of the decisions made of uh everyone working together to get it to that point. Now, now we just have to work the plan and get the plan set. So fall, we're welcoming students in some of those new classroom spaces and obviously we're going to be working through some temporary classroom spaces as well uh for the first months and gradually each month or each phase opening up some new segments of the building. So it's going to be fun to have the progress and take another step and make take another step. But appreciate everyone's cooperation as we go through the project. I I do appreciate everybody's patience with this con because construction is not fun. It's not easy. Um but it will look beautiful whenever it's done. We're confident in you guys other great appreciate that. Definitely pass it on to the guys out there. Yeah. One one thing that I like about this team in addition to being carrying professionals, uh several of them live here, they work here. They want to bring the best value to the community and they don't just say that they they really own it. Uh they they take a lot of pride that this is in their community, want to do the best and so it's a nice added uh connection and I think it really leads to um you treat it like your own because it is so good.