well good evening everyone welcome everybody in the audience to our February 24th School Board study session first on the agenda is the public for this is a 15minute period of time set aside to receive input tonight we have five speakers I will call you up one at a time first will be dou dor I get three minutes right yes and you can sit right there where's the clock where I can watch uh be right behind you okay 3 2 1 go go ahead okay I'm here to represent Brook Zan Brook Zan did absolutely nothing wrong he has freedom of speech just like everybody in this room has freedom of speech it doesn't go one way for one party in one way for the other is freedom of speech for all for all regardless that mind that she posted was common knowledge been out there for months if you're paying attention people do pay attention that care our leaders care I brought to in tonight the Gettysburg Address you can go one or two ways people you can live your life from fear or you can live your life from Faith you get to choose our country was founded on a principle on an idea it was founded with faith faith in God if we do the right thing and we follow the rules we got Equal justice for all anyone who has ever been to any of those battlefields if you've been to Fredericksburg antum Bunker Hill or gansburg you will realize the sacrifices those men made so that you and I can have the freedom of speech we need to honor their sacrifice it needs to go both ways I'm not a highly educated person but I've been around a lot of Highly Educated people there's one thing that I know how to do I know how to to tell the truth the way I see it because when you don't tell the truth you will suffer and you will repeat history again you will I don't care how much education you have I know people they've had the intellig they've had the intelligence educated out of them I'm a simple farm boy I'm a grit but you know what I'm proud of it because you know where I put my faith put my faith in God same that Abraham Lincoln let me read you this you guys you're calling for civil war everybody over we're going to do this we're going to ride in the streets you go right ahead but you remember one thing you remember the words of Abraham Lincoln it says now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that Nation or any Nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure we're met on a great Battlefield we've come to dedicate a portion of that field as the final resting place for those here who gave their lives that that Nation might live it is all together fitting and proper that we do so but in a larger sense we cannot dedicate we cannot consecrate we cannot H this ground the brave men living and dead who struggle here have consecrated far above our poor power to Adder track the world will little note little note nor long remember what we say here how prophetic was that but they will never forget what they did here it is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to The Unfinished work we've got work to do people we've got work to do this is an experiment we're only 250 years into it we got more time we got to start loving rather than fearing we've got to start having faith rather than than than turning on people that we disagree with I can go to a Walmart I can see bumper stickers I don't agree with the bumper sticker but I'm not taking an Axe and and rooting their car you trashed her reputation she has a right she has a right to her career she doesn't trash anybody I know her personally but anyway it is rather for us to be here to dedicate this great task remaining before us that these honored dead that we take increased Devotion to that C for which they have given their fullest measure of devotion that we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation under God under God not under Donald Trump not under Jo Iden not under a democrat or a republican under God under God there's still a God still in control in my book he is I've had as many trimes and tragedies as anybody in this room but you know who I turned to God let me finish the last that this nation under God shall have a new birth of Freedom that makes me stand up and share a new birth of Freedom we got a chance and that the government of the People by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth it's up to us every one of us we've all got the same opportunity start living it start treating your neighbor with respect and love don't go after them because you disagree with them I disagree with a lot of people that don't give me no right to trash them and it don't give anybody in this room right to trash him either think what Lincoln had to go through he said that he was willing to be assassinated he was willing to be assassinated if that meant freedom for the country my shirt what does it say our lives are freedom and our sacred honor let's start the thank you thank you for the opportunity and we all need to go to God for his blessings because without them we're all done we're done right next on the agenda is Tom is it Shad sh first of all thanks for having me um I haven't been political ever in my life I've never voted how Trump came in um my daughter today is 8 years old when she was 4 and a half she came home with a book from the Glendale school I decided to read it first I was immediately set on fire my daughter is the only reason I care to be living in that book it talked about dealing with your problems by committing suicide this is almost four years ago I haven't heard a single peep from any teacher or anybody in this school not one I'm set on fire for one reason it's my daughter and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect her if that means I got to read every book that she brings home I'm going to do now I went to the school the very next morning for some reason that school is open I went into the principal's office probably shouldn't have been there I sat down and the principal walks in she's scared I look like this but I'm not scared of nothing anymore cuz like he said get rid of your fear and you might be able to see what's in front of you when I read that book and I ended up talking to the principal she fought me on every bit of it told her she'll never get that book back she told me it's 20 bucks charge me I have no problem paying that $20 but that book's never coming back in school my main problem is is you know I ordered this book or you know my daughter rented this book out of the library it's all tracked I don't know who any of you are here some of you know me in the background but I can't use my real name because I get banned from everywhere freedom of speech I've lost my freedom of my speech and I'm on fire I'm pissed off so the last two years I talked to my daughter's teachers they know nothing of this they only want to praise me and my daughter on how good she is she's my golden child don't step on my daughter don't feed them this crap that's coming out of these libraries how they get there I know how they get there as I followed that rabbit now I've lost my family my friends I'm getting divorced because of what I believe I was told to stop talking I was told to stop putting my word out I'm not afraid and I'm not afraid to lose everything I have in order to protect my daughter thank you next speaker is Rick storle hi board superintendent I'll take a more of a seat here so as I understand at 4 days from now there is a deadline of whether a law will be filed against plsa s or not and I'm assuming that the people on this table these tables will have a pretty good insight as to what happens now I know you guys have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to cut budgets deal with you know unfunded mandates etc etc and staring at a lawsuit uh is is not much fun U but I I thought I would just try to get everyone to understand what's going to happen next if the board does not follow the requests of Brooks on uh number one is so you're going to Federal Court obviously whoever you're going to retain as an attorney probably does not have experience in federal court so you're going to have to get another set of attorneys probably multiple attorneys so now typical Federal Jud attorney is going to run you $350 to $500 per hour on top of that all the legal expenses that go with that now what'll happen is you're going to go into Discovery so now she is going to be presenting all of her Discovery information she's going to be requesting Discovery from everyone from the school district so what does that mean phones emails any other correspondence is going to is going to come to light and all this uh next thing happen is that you're going to get deposed so any information that's out there that from a teacher that was a political statement is going to come to light all the you all the administrators are going to be deposed as well you're going to be sitting in front of attorneys under oath telling what you know the cell phones are going to be uh U requested for information on that and uh uh and you'll be recorded typically on a zoom call after that what'll happen is is somebody's going to make a motion to dismiss so you're going to go in front of a hearing in front of a judge and what will happen at that point is the motion is going to be denied the judge is going to say you know what you guys have to go through ADR alternative dispute resolution and so the attorneys are going to come together and they're going to try to figure out how to make this thing go away because the judge is going to say this should not go to trial and so now what'll happen is is that you're probably at this point hundreds of thousand dollars into legal expenses you've taken and you have ripped apart everybody on staff here because they're they've all gone through the emotional roller coaster of this and at some point the attorney's going to say ah you know what we're going to settle we're going to give her this much and she's going to give up this you have four days to avoid doing that there is a time when you want to die on that mountain and there's a time when you don't want to even attempt climbing it I would encourage the board and anyone that's in the decision-making process here is don't go into this batt no matter what you are not going to win you're going to spend money we do not have that money could be used for the kids you're already cutting the budget you don't need to go and you don't need to do this it is the only one's going to win is going to be those attorneys that's it I plead with the board to do the right thing eat some Humble Pie whether you think you're right or wrong it doesn't matter it's a no win situation thank you for listening next speaker is Mike on [Music] [Music] ARS good evening my name is Mike Von ARS I've been a resident in Prior Lake since 1989 I'm curious do we censure everyone that makes political posts or just employees that make conservative posts I went online before I came here and there was still a man named John bezac I guess that's a high school principal that posted a picture of himself behind a Biden and heris sign is that legal because well it's clearly legal it's freedom of speech he can feel any way and every way he wants and I would stand behind his decision to say whatever he wants in spite of whether or not I disagree that's his right that's his right Miss Zan had the same right she has a right to freedom of speech period sometimes you don't like what you hear and trust me I've listened to the liberal left for 50 years they've gotten everything they wanted for 50 years I didn't agree with any of it but I didn't ban anybody and I didn't fire anybody and I didn't castigate them I didn't even name call and I didn't scratch bad words into their cars I took it because sometimes when freedom of speech happens you have to listen to things you don't like on a sidebar issue I'm told 50% of the kids in our high school at the senior high level don't operate at grade level I'm a taxpayer the largest portion of my tax bill goes to finance this high school and I see a 50% failure rate as an abject failure and anybody on this board that doesn't improve on that UT to resign right now terrible performance I was an electrician for 4 years if I came on to your house and after I got done and sent the bill and only half of your lights and half of your Outlets worked would you pay the bill I don't think so if I was a plumber and half of your toilets didn't work would you pay the bill I don't think so our society demands better than a 50% failure rate and I demand better from you is that understood I hope so thank you and our last speaker is Zach lean hey everybody I'm Zach um I'm just kind of here to close out and just say like hey there's there's probably a reasonable way to get through this thing and it already kind of looks bad like I have little interaction with the school district but uh I live very close to it I think about it often I grew up in the school district um I've got four children two of which are here uh I don't think we need to have all this conversation necessarily about well my worldview versus your worldview I think we all agree on some core issues Free Speech obviously should be one of those and I would just urge you to think retrospectively how we got here briefly and then be like okay how can we how can we resolve this and make it look okay again because it looks really bad right now and then I I think that you guys can come up with a good way to move forward uh I know Brooke personally she's a good person I would I would be honored for her to be teaching my children um I hope that I hope that you guys can find a way to evolve let's make let's make nice let's move forward with positive direction in the school district and and thanks for allowing us to speak really appreciate it thank you to all the speakers appreciate your input um moving on to the purpose and agenda Dr Thomas uh thank you chair white board of directors um tonight our study session we've got several uh key items that we'll be discussing we have a proclamation of uh uh social workers we will have a summary statement um for the Clos session for evaluation uh talk a little bit about the elect upcoming election date um for board um vacancy also uh discussing some uh protocol and process for updating uh or I should say maybe creating a handbook uh modeling after the msba handbook also um discussion about the board's process to revise 200 uh series policies um those are the policies that govern your interactions with one another and then lastly go into the conversation around um budget uh reductions as well and uh that will take us through the evening chair white all right thank you first list is the proclamation for National School social worker week director Johnson would you please read the proclamation School social workers appreciation week March 3rd through 7th 2025 Prior Lake Savage area schools recognizes March 3 through 7 2025 as school social workers appreciation week this week we celebrate our thanks and gratitude for these essential staff whereas the importance of school social work through the inclusion of school social School social work programs and services has been recognized in the elementary and secondary Education Act of 1965 and the individuals with disabilities Education Act whereas School social workers are exceptionally skilled in providing services to students who face serious challenges to school Success including disability Pro poverty discrimination abuse neglect mental illness homelessness bullying familiar familial stressors and other barriers to learning whereas School social workers are needed now more than ever than anytime in recent memory whereas School social workers maintain knowledge of school culture and school climate whereas School social workers serve as vital members of a school's Education team team playing a central role in creating Partnerships between the home school and Community to ensure the Student Success therefore the plsas board of education does hereby proclaim the week of March 3 through 7 2025 as school social workers week in recognition of the contributions School social workers make in the lives of students thank you Dr Johnson good evening chair white Dr Thomas and the board um I am here to thank you for reading that Proclamation and recognizing our social workers they really do play a vital role in um connecting Community home and school together um they support students the overall um School climate they are honestly ready to jump in wherever and whenever they're needed so we are lucky to have 12 of the best here in plsas and I am grateful every day for the support they bring and um I'm looking forward to giving them a little extra attention next week so thank you thank you next on the agenda I'll read a superintendent midyear evaluation summary on February 10th the PRI Savage Board of Education and superintendent Dr Michael Thomas conducted a closed session for the purpose of a midyear review of the superintendent's goals board feedback was received and Dr Thomas was given the opportunity to comment ask questions and gain Clarity additional feedback was received by Dr Thomas and on this on February 17th the chair and superintendent met to review feedback and signed the midyear review summary next I would like the board to discuss um the date to uh finish out the term which I am currently serving and uh give uh Martha the direction she needs we're ahead of the curve here I'm just I'd like to get this action putting motion so that um when the time comes is ready to uh to make the necessary arrangements and then we will take a fysical action at a at a later regular meeting soy Johnson happy to go with the November date that's all else I agree we're really down to two I think we're down to just two dates and November is the obvious one for mostly for cost reasons if we can share part of the number of precincts with Prior Lake or Savage if they have something in the ballot just makes the most sense so if everybody's in agreement we'll call for November and and it'll come to um the board at a regular meeting um yes would it be would it be okay to explain for members of the public why we're looking looking at this now I know this but I think you know just the way it's written in our agenda I think might be a little confusing because I had to read it four times um why we're doing this now versus when the term is up I think it just might be good well for for me personally I just wanted to there were a number of things that I we need to get through it during study sessions one of them is the board is tasked with actually setting a special election date um to fill uh last year of the term which I'm currently serving and there are certain certain dates that have to be met in order for uh the district to conduct the election prepare for it and that kind of thing and I just wanted it done now so that Administration has plenty of time to make the arrangements and like I said the uh official action to set the date will be at a meeting um probably sometime in the summer 84 days prior 84 days prior we have to be at least set the date so was just uh checking the box to make sure that we didn't get didn't get lost anyone else that's good all right we'll plan on November and it'll come back to us date for action there's just consensus all right then we'll move on to the Schoolboard hand or proposed Schoolboard handbook uh we've had several discussions regarding the the creation of a a board handbook that um could be come our standard operating handbook um Martha was kind enough to Cobble something together that is a what I believe is a good template and I'm just looking for some direction does the board want to take this um and have maybe Martha send it out electronically to everybody make your comments we want to give it to a member or two to take the ball and and and um go through this and maybe uh there's some things that she that member feels like they are missed or um want to do some tweaking we can do it that way I'm open to uh suggestions this is the process question only this looks like a a super good start I appreciate the effort Martha put into it so any comments on the it be easier just send it out to everybody and um and then schedule the time at another Schoolboard study session um after people have a chance to send in their updates so not starting from scratch okay so would it be anyone else no and sure wait just to clarify that's the msba template that Martha was working on correct yeah okay so how about uh if Martha if you wouldn't mind sending it out I'll do it right now I can bring it we can bring it back uh in March that should give us all plenty of time that's cool there right I'll make a note of that sure if I may just also with that template um there were lots of blanks for districts to kind of fill in for what it looks like for you so we've pre-filled some stuff just for conversations for you all to consider like you know uh if a a question comes up from the media how should the board handle that so we filled in some of those blanks You all take a look at it again it's just a conversation starter sure this is obviously your handbook but just want to let you know some of that was done in advance just to um get your thoughts spinning there is good we'll look forward to that and get your comments in in time for uh the the March study session moving on to uh Board of Education 200 policies uh revisions the process question again uh we did have some discussion around this at The Retreat and U just wondering there's thoughts about how we would like to tackle this uh moving forward we want to have a couple members take two and work our way through all of them do we want to all sit down at the study session in the future and cram it all out at once um again give it off to a couple of volunteers who want to take a crack at it and then BR it back I'm open to any suggestions um policy writing is not my strong suit so director friends well first of all it goes hand in hand also with the handbook since it has the operating norms and the Rules of Engagement as well as the ethics and what the roles are for the individuals um so I would suggest that we consider those when we give the feedback on the handbook also um and then also do it the same way so that you know the the 200 policies also kind of tell a story uh and I think they would be a good fit in the handbook themselves and uh uh perform concurrently white um my suggest question would be for the board to discuss a what a goal date is for both finishing the 200s and finishing the handbook I think setting that date will help us um meet need it because otherwise it can tend to so if we're if we're um wanting to discuss the handbook in March um you know if I I just think it it would beh hoop us to set a a goal date to have both the handbook and the 200s completed as a board team so better to have them both come back to the same study session and you give us an extra and both in April does policy has to be seen do we have to go through twice two two times with for policy for transparency with our community or policies so I'm wondering if that's necessary because they're they're ours any future board can change them I mean I agree with you I I think setting some sort of guidelines that let's have this done by a certain date um how we get there I'm hoping to hearing everybody's else discussions on that Johnson um I think we should um just start fresh I agree with director France that it is part of the handbook but we can work on the handbook and the 200s um to start fresh with msba um I would like uh director bullan and I since we're already on policy just to kind of start those and then msba has got 17 if I remember the number correctly 17 200 series so we can break those out and just put a deadline of June or July so that we're starting next month right we're we're knocking two or three out every single month and just move forward this way we're already working with uh director Herman and move forward so we've got a deadline and everything's done and then this way when we're done with the 200s hey by that point we're done with the handbook too can set a deadline we're done we start fresh everything that needs to be input in there and everyone's still having discussion around the same thing all we're doing is basically taking anything that right you see that immediately needs to get fit get put in it's done we send it to director Herman she clears it through legal and we bring it to the study session so are you proposing that you two tackle it with input from the rest of the board or you want the entire board somehow I'm I'm happy to you know if somebody has something that they absolutely think needs to be in there call I mean we've all got phone we can communicate there's nothing saying that we can't I like the approach of starting with the msba templates and you know pulling out maybe some of the critical things we feel because I do think they've probably morphed over many years um I'm not sure but I do like that approach um I mean if you guys are willing to take them I I won't comment on that but um I think it's uh I think we're going to have to probably take a few policies per study session to try and get through them over a series of you know a few sessions just because we have a lot of other business way um and thank you Charles for um I I would be happy to um do that work as suggested but this is the first time that I'm hearing that suggestion of you and I doing it and I I do also appreciate the fact that other board members will have um their opinions to weigh in because policy work is board work um regardless of who's on that committee or not uh so that being said I think it will help if the board um kind of shares how how they'd like to see those board policies reworked um we do have you know we're in policy committee now policy committee doesn't meet every month such as Finance so that there's a little bit difference there um would it be most helpful uh if we're doing you know sending the like the handbook sending it out to all board members would it be helpful if we set a June goal date to have both things absolutely completed and maybe approved by the board um if we work backwards from that would it be helpful um for us to uh divy out the um 200s in the months prior um similar to how we're sending out Martha is sending out the board handbook and then we'll discuss at a March study session together as a board team would it be helpful if we divy out the board policies send them to the board um somehow compile um you know I I am not opposed to uh having an msba starting point um there's a lot of history his I'm sure with our 200s um I think maybe that would be a uh we would need to have consensus is to are is the board comfortable starting with msba model policies yeah I mean I personally think it's going to actually make your job easier because um like what director Mason said these policies have evolved over year after year after year but what I like about the msba model policies is they already have all the legal language already tied into them they have all the statutes so you're not having to add all that and then you're not having to waste our legal um time and money of checking to see are do our policies currently follow the law when msba do and so I I like that a lot I actually think it's going to be faster and more efficient to use the MSA SBA model policies um and then I'm open to the pro I agree June would be I think a great we start this New Year out fresh um yeah I agree with the process that you recommended so go through it by detail so um yeah first of all I don't think we should go into next fiscal year after June 30th with us um the other thing is is that we have a lot of important work for the district um so um by going over all of these at once we're going to be taking a lot of study session time and we've got other things on our agenda so um this could be a uh more of a circuitous process that we puts made then people get an update every so often any key points can get uh can get discussed at the study session but it certainly shouldn't take up a whole study session I would agree um so doing it uh more or less recursively and circuitously through the 30th um and also keep in mind that these policies are not mutually exclusive um and so as we found out trying to go over one policy it actually hit three or four for so we have to keep that in mind so everyone on the board should be able to participate and also read through them like I said because they're more or less um kind of a story like I said they all play on each other um and just keep that in mind as we move forward okay and then my only other suggestion is obviously there's some key policies that impact our community and um and so I'm wondering if those could come forward sooner than later you know what I mean like um I don't know how to say that like you know 203 talks about how we hold our meetings you know and I actually like how msba UMES those out into the 20 3.1 and 20 3.2 you know what I mean so um you know committees that obviously lays out the committee work that we do so I think I don't know how we prioritize which comes first or whatever but I agree with director France some of them do tie together so bringing those forth at the together at the same time is important and maybe prioritizing the ones that are you prioritizing so if we go we'd have we'd have four study sessions before the end of this fiscal year to try to you know make that part of each study session I want to be sensitive to what director Fran said we do have a those those sessions tend to get um filled up quickly with other important work so um would it be reasonable then to say would would to have you guys maybe do the prioritizing um of of especially the ones that that tie together and CU I I I assume there's going to be one or two that are pretty boiler plate and aren't going to require a lot of time I think there's two or three that are probably going to be the the brunt of the work um you guys want to was the board comfortable with you you getting together and kind of making that priority list and we'll start taking input on um know Fray one two 3 and four as we move through it because what are are there nine are there 10 is it 15 18 on msba and 15 inhouse there's a few chair wait um I am open to the suggestion that director Johnson gave with us looking at that or what you know to doing the prioritizing work if the rest of the board is okay with that and so I don't feel I'm I'm open to do that um if it is the will of the board I I wouldn't understand yeah I'm good with it so any other thoughts I I'm not trying to push this off thank you anybody else but we're trying to doy the most efficient way to to take a crack at this and and um if we can be committed to having this done by June I think that'll be a major step forward so um how about we start tonight with you guys you know putting together that priority list especially with the ones that are tied together and work your way down um to the one or two or three that aren't going to require a ton of time and um lay out of we're going to in March we're going to do 203 205 207 whatever just and maybe even calendar out through June and see if we can wrap it up if we hit a snap F we do is it the will of the board to to break them down month by month so that the goal date so we can keep a a June goal date I think the fiscal year end being I think that's a a good suggestion um so is it the will of the board to to kind of Chunk them month by month and discuss discuss them in those you know that's what I'm hear okay I think there are some that can stand alone by any sure um but I think some of them are going to be like like I said uh related to each other um and as we found out trying to go over one like I said called in others so what I would ask is that you you two if if you are agreement with us that you actually first figure out what needs to go together and then do it that way um because if we try to break it down by like 20 you know the 2011 202 203 then we're going to run into a situation where we get up in the other numbers we got to go back to those so what if we make a you know an an organizational structure with them first yeah it was it was going to offer something very similar um because I agreed they all kind of weave together in their different ways and tell a story as it were so I think thank you for taking on the first step of this uh director Johnson director bullan um I would ask um let us know and give us deadlines yeah um what after you're done prioritizing through chair white say you know all right here's we're going to tackle first give us your deadline by this um because I mean these are policies we already operate under right and we came to a board retreat you know I've lost track of time last weekend um where we we we went through a lot of this already so I think providing that feedback should be pretty darn easy um I hate saying that word but you know what I mean um so a lot of it a lot of the feedback exists already so hopefully by the time we prioritize chair white say okay we're prioritizing these please get us your feed back by feed back by this date and then we can come ready and I think that would be helpful for people who love deadlines I was also going to say I think given the fact that we also have a light policy schedule like now is the time to do this because I I think that is what I've heard is that there is a pretty light policy schedule this year so I feel I feel comfortable doing that so thank you comments or again I appreciate you take that on and look forward to working with you we can this out by June anything else that all right again thank you very much all right moving on to uh 2025 26 program and Staffing reductions discussion thank you chair white board of directors um coming back for a second conversation um about the budget reduction process and um we were mindful of the fact that uh with a newer board the last time we did not seek um any kind of consensus we just really were truly working through information um but we are at a point um where we will be seeking some uh consensus this evening so that we can also begin making the shift of our kind of mental bandwidth to building out for next year Staffing processes summer school Etc so um and also I just wanted to share that uh you know we've we've had our share of emails you all have seen them I have seen them and uh as we discussed uh a month or so ago um there are a lot of priorities in our community um whether you're a parent Community member staff member Etc um everybody has unique priorities and it's very clear making the type of reductions that we're making um we will not be able to S uh save everyone's priority or everyone's favorite thing and we're very mindful of that and I want to just be clear with the board and our community making reductions is not something that we look forward to doing and I also want to just be clear that um where we make reductions doesn't mean that we prioritize that work or dislike that work any less than others we just know that we have a lot of competing priorities and we're going to have to make some tougher decisions um we also uh in in Prior years have engaged with the board around this and just to kind of bring some context when we've talked about in the past some board priorities um uh that is something that gave some parameters for us um as Administration in advance of going through a variety of you know budget scenarios um I think it'll be critically important moving forward um after after this cycle that we established some clear priorities to understand what is the value propositions of the board as a governing body so that when we as Administration are out making determinations on recommendations we know that you know these are the the parameters we might say yep we have to cut x amount of dollars from our budget um but not in this one area or not in this area everything else is fair game for conversation uh to bring forward um in lie of that uh We've utilized our Levy campaign conversations where we propose where we would have to make some reductions um as our PR as our public priority parameters so um what we have tried to reflect is things that align to that space in lie of having board priorities that were declared um on the front side so again I think moving forward we have an opportunity to to get tighter there um so that as we bring forth recommendations again going back to some of your conversations of the board kind of declaring the what the administration really leaning into the how um you know the what is the the the magnitude of the reduction that we have to make how we get there we bring forth recommendations based upon our Collective experiences uh both with admin with some of our stakeholder groups that have participated on a cross functional team um to generate recommendations and um bringing that forward to you um so what you see here tonight uh again is uh very similar to what we presented because we felt that this was some of our uh thinking collectively of where we would recommend making some reductions um and uh we have chunked these out into three different scenarios or phases so we had our initial phase which was around our um uh Staffing targets um our second scenario was uh the conversation we're in now and our last scenario will be around the structural operational reductions that we're going to have to engage in um and that would also um be forward looking for successive years um so there's this is not a oneandone um budgeting as you've heard director Frederickson um allude to is something we do year round um there are key points that we engage more deeply around the budget but know that budgeting um uh by way of setting budgets reducing budgets Etc literally happens year round because we modify and adjust as as we go through um so that's what we'll be sharing with you all tonight there's some been some revisions since we've posted this as well um where we're going to uh mitigate um some impacts and that's what we've been trying to do as well again you've seen the emails we know that there are going to be impacts um in a small district with a small budget like ours the ripple effect is pretty significant you know one drop travels quite quite uh far and quite fast um and we will continually find ways to mitigate um those impacts as best we can knowing that there's going to be some impacts um uh with regards to where we have to make um additional Cuts so with that I'm going to um turn it over to director Frederickson and then following that um I know there's been some conversation uh that we've had several times here um around um uh uh titles of staff and reports that are used with certain titles Etc things that we have things that the state uses and we're trying to bring some greater Clarity around that because that also plays into some of the conversation um around How We Do budgeting um particularly when we're looking at FTE reductions Etc so um director Herman will speak a little bit more um to that as well so with that I'll turn it over to director Frederickson who will do a recap um of of our presentation from last time um and then also highlight just a couple of of um uh revision that we've made moving forward let me finally just interject quickly I forgot to say before the meeting started it was requested that I take we take a break on the hour so Liz can get out of that room apparently gets a little hot in there so uh we can do that maybe when Tammy's done couple minutes and then come back with questions you thank you chair white Dr Thomas members of the board these first few slides are um review from uh what we you saw the last time we presented this so we were showing what some of the cuts that were made in 2425 this current school year uh we had about a million two in administrative cuts um again we've seen these several times this is currently what our our reality is this year we have again some instructional teachers on special assignment test facilitators mcaps coordinator Middle School principal we have reduction in a couple FTS for custodial staff and then we did some reorganization in the operational Services Department there was an elimination of an assistant director um and a operational Services Finance administrative assistant and we hired a operational services supervisor and then if we look at the total allocations that were made for this again this is this current school year we have about $ 104 million doll that were allocated directly to schools there's 18.8 million to departments and those departments include transportation and custodial uh who are charged to the operations department so we have total expenditure allocations of 123 million with Revenue projection of 122 and this board approved use of fund balance of just under a million dollar uh when we had the uh Levy conversations last summer um this was the list of things that we said uh if we did not get a levy approved that these are some of the things that we would have to consider as we were building the budget we're looking for next year we have um total revenue projection with state aid of about 97 million our levies is about 18 million we have other funding of about 5.7 million so our total revenue projection is about 120 million these numbers aren't final we'll keep updating those as we move along um you know you've heard me say several times our state a projection a lot of that is based on enrollment numbers uh we don't have final enrollment we just have some projection numbers um so there could be possible changes and then also we don't know what our final investment earnings some of the federal grants so we'll be updating that as we final information so for 2526 our recommendations for some budget reductions and these have already been discussed and this board has given us a go ahead on these three items so we're reducing um we're increasing the class size targets by reducing six certified and non-certified four non-certified at elementary level three FTE at middle school and eight FTE at the high school and those have already as we talked about move forward because we had to get the um enrollment um information out so that people can make some choices one of the recommendations we had around special education was to reduce three Elementary special ed Paras um a halftime high school special ed Pera and then adjust some special ed perah hour adjustments around mcaps we're moving minc caps out of our rented Lakeville location to the high school which will save us some Transportation money there's uh some microfiber reduction by not having the lease at the Lakeville facility and then reducing an administrator at the high school just real quickly because there are some questions on this um microfiber for our general public is running out Wi-Fi internet service to that location just to get some clearing couple people ask for program reductions we're going to eliminate our online program we don't have a lot of students attending uh and they're not making the academic gains that we hoped we would have um based on the feedback that this board is given us we've eliminated the 1.0 FTE for third grade Sage um we will be looking at other ways to provide that service to the program for information technology we're reducing iPads and Elementary K1 um reducing staff desktop computers and then eliminating our edgy climber and brain pop contracts we this board has agreed to two less student contact days for the calendar next year and by doing that and we did that around um professional development there was some talk that those um early release or late start days were not um as desired as if we just did a whole day day off so we are reducing the calendar by those two student days which will save us on Transportation um staff for those um student contact days and then two less days that we would have to have teachers on call for Subs some of the other Staffing we um have the Q comp adjustments we're making the re the expenses equal the revenue that we get from the state and then as we looked at um eliminating that Sage position we've had to find some other Staffing so these are where you're going to see some differences from the original we're proposing to reduce our tosa dipin by 50% which will save us about $61,900 we are looking at a 3-day Furlow for all staff that works 260 days um we have kind of reviewed that and we're going to try to make it voluntary rather than mandatory um just we have some collective bargaining units that we would have to get some agreements on um that we don't have so rather than just mandating it we're going to ask staff to voluntarily take a three-day F low U we have some positions that were reducing for the administrative assistance the's position um we would look at reducing that and then other things that we've looked at we have a fitness committee that provides actually they provide the water coolers at the schools eliminating that they um provide some other um Wellness incentives around the buildings in this office so we're eliminating the fitness committee budget which is about $15,000 um and then the close the pool at Twin Elks so all of those will get us about $4.1 million of reduction there are a couple other things that are going to Max optimize our Resources by eliminating our employee assistance program uh we have available a similar program through our new health provider uh so we are going to eliminate the contract we have with EAP and then we also have Vector software which is some of our professional development training software that we are mandated to provide for all of our staff they used to provide it for free they've now informed us that they will charge us for it we're going to have to pay for that software and then um we're also looking at one Daily building substitute per elementary site which hopefully will save some of the teachers onall charges so those are the things that we've um put together for reductions and then just the timeline that we need to have a budget approved at that June 9th meeting so we'll continue to have updates as we move forward and that is what we have chair white and board I just want to clarify one point to on here that um we didn't change what was posted here we thought we just bring to the disc discussion um so uh the furlows that we discuss will be reworking that and recouping the cost that actually more than what we've identified here through um adjusting some of our chargebacks with um um Staffing supporting of Community Education so we're looking at a target of around 125 $130,000 in Lee of the 86250 there we will net some Savings in the Furlow um uh that's to be determined based upon those who would volunteer but we actually be cooped more than what we would need um um to substitute that line speaking to the notion of setting up a an US versus them with staff and contracts um to make it all or none is what we would like to work to do but if we can't get that we just felt it's it's safer staff morale to not do that by way of mandatory so we'll do that by voluntary that would be on top of um that 125 130 range that we will receive um from the offsets of chargebacks um that qualify for the work that we do um for example like any utility cost things of that nature Staffing cost that supports Community Ed we can that's coming out of general fund we can do some charge back um so we'll see what happens with that line item um that would just be additional that we would um bring to the June uh obviously by the June 9th board meeting um that would be on top of our project savings I just want to give that point of clarity okay FR um whe the reduce the to of sens by 50% um obviously when you have teachers on special assignment or principales on special assignment they typically do their own job and somebody else's job so how is that going to be rectified uh with and and I know we have wanted to get rid of the concept of toas and postas for a while but how are we going to what jobs will be eliminated and what work won't be getting done I guess is what I'm asking so so uh those toses are or those stiens are in place for extended employment for those individuals so typically uh they are teachers on a 185 day contract but they have some responsibilities in preparation for an upcoming school year or closure of a existing school year so those responsibilities are going to fall back to um in many cases the um the administration at the building level um in preparation for the upcoming school year um in the case of pure coaches uh they to receive that stien for their uh extended employment and we will have to adjust their duties and responsibilities accordingly as well um I'm going to ask the question the elant the room question about tosas and that's planning for Wolf Ridge because a lot of those these these are not these are not included n these are peer coaches these are deans of students so it's the Q comp combined with the TOA okay yep okay and we're bringing Q comp back to only what is being um provided by the state reimbursed by the by the state correct are we going section by section or board member by board member would you like to do with I think if you have a comment go ahead um thank you for asking that question because I have the same thing with TOA um I'm just it worries me that at the state level P comp is being targeted as well um so that worries me I understand but this is those the peer coaches do a lot of really good work and so I'm just I'm worried about that I I understand it um but I at the state level it's not looking good there either um the I had microfiber question that was answered thank you um brain pop so um that looks to be about 30,000 is that am I doing the math right because MJ climber the last budget presentation we had that was at 13 so yes math Jess um so brain pop that's predominantly used in elementary correct actually both Elementary and Middle School it's K K8 we have two separate uh we've had two separate uh contracts for that in the past both middle and okay um I'm just naming it in the room it it is I think used more for elementary would you say yes most definitely um the Elementary staff already has seesaw taken away from them which they loved and used quite a bit so I just want to I understand again none of this is good right I'm naming that um but um I'm just fearful of another resource being taken away um from the elementary level um the can you help explain um you kind of touched on it a little bit Dr Thomas that um help me understand the three-day furlos so I'm I'm the the people working on a 260 day calendar so can you and you said it might even be more than this so without trying to be identifiable can you talk to who what those positions so um people who essentially work year round who don't have like those that summer month off um so our principles their um other um administrative uh supports as well that work um sometimes 12 month contracts versus like 10 or 11 month contracts um and uh our ideal uh conversation was to have that group of individuals um uh take a 3-day Furlow and we would Target it uh the initial idea was to Target it July 1st 2 3rd that really slow week of the school year anyways um and uh to have the uh mitigate the impact or whatever if if you will there still would be some impacts we have summer programming going on but that was the the Target because we can't get um all 260 employees in agreement around that um to make it mandatory and exempt only certain people that have maybe contractual Clauses that would um be their right to not have to take that it creates an US versus them within the bargaining within the broader um 260 employee pool um of um well this group is exempt because they have language that protects that while we have to pay the price for the work that you all chose not to participate in so it would really set up a lot of tension um and when we looked at that impact um as well as some of the disruption even in the slow week that would have with some of our summer programming we identified a way to actually make up that cost and more by way of some um chargebacks so that we don't have to make this mandatory so effectively that line item here um has a strike through okay um the the 3-day Furlow um there's we didn't change it because it was already uploaded we wanted to have the conversation first but if you could visually see that similar to what we had up above with with the sage FTE that is where striking that um in our recommend our initial recommend from our initial recommendation we are replacing that with um about 125 to 130 um th000 in chargebacks that we can do with with a uh Community Ed um and then we will offer a 3-day voluntary Furlow similar to the executive team that took Furlow last year um they weren't mandated to do that uh that was something they voluntarily did it's something that I chose to do as well so we may net additional savings through the voluntary process we can't account for that until we've identified who would actually um take that and then what do you mean by chargebacks so um if we do work from the fund one like if if I if if in my role I do work to support Community Education I can charge a portion of my time from fund one that we're paying for my time to the community ed fund 4 budget because my work that I'm doing directly aligns to supporting Community Education if Community Education is utilizing some of the gym spaces after schools we charge some of the those evening utility rates back to the fund four not all of it's coming out of fund one so legally we can charge back to fund 4 for the usage of fund one Services spaces Staffing Etc um and talking with Joel um who leads Community Education uh he and I have identified that range that I'm speaking of that would actually net us what we are trying to Target there because we're trying to offset you know some of the other uh reductions that we pulled back from our initial conversation um and I think that would definitely take care of that um plus add a little bit more reduction and then like I said if we get furlows um great uh that would be additional Revenue that we would save in the long run but we're not going to account for that until we know actually who would do it um and then similar to like what we did uh we tried to Target dates where we could rotate and offset one another so that we have key people at Key times all throughout the district um one more question and then a comment um the mcaps [Music] administrator have we thought any more about the impact that that's well I mean of course it's going to have impact because all of these things have impact what taking that person away will do to the existing staff I mean I I'm just having a hard time reconciling in my mind how this program is going to continue without a leader and then the staff that's already strapped to do other things are taking that part on I'm just if you can talk to that a little bit more because that's what I'm having trouble reconciling in my head so the mcaps program um moving into the high school um will have a leader um we have Administration that currently exists within the high school that as part of their assignment a portion of their assignment similar to how we bate the administrative duties in the high school currently um some super provise certain amount of departments counselors whatever we would vate some of that responsibility to a singular individual who would take the primary responsibility of supporting mcaps um and you know I don't have the ratio of of time of support but that would be you know if I'm the one of the aps I would take full supervision of of mcaps while my colleagues then would take on um you know maybe perhaps some of my administrative responsibilities that I might have maintained so I can dedicate more time to incaps we have balanced that Administration load there um and in same with the support aspect um and again the two individuals that are impacted by this are are phenomenal individuals as I st earlier we're not talking about things that we don't value or people that we don't value programs that we don't value we value everything that's on this list and wish we didn't have to do any of it quite frankly um I mean some stuff we can always you know continue to optimize but we have some we have some things in here that you know make us lose tons of um so we would have to look at that support infrastructure that exists within the high school as well to reassign some of those administrative support functions um that are tied to some of the core functional work of support in mcaps to other existing functions in the high school and again having conversations with the administration we have the bandwidth to be able to redistribute some of that um and yes in an Ideal World we would love to host it at you know that offsite campus you know my conversations I'm sure Dr Edward's conversations with the with the staff at mcaps um there are something special to leave campus um to go to a business site so to speak for the types of um Pathways um I would also say that there's unintended positive things that could happen too and such as our enrollment has skyrocketed in terms of our ability to make up nearly 100% of the enrollment from a partnering District that also had the back out so about 80% maybe slightly over 80% of that enrollment was made up by our high school enrollment because there are some families who didn't want to travel to Lakeville so we're attracting those families now so I think we I think we have a great opportunity and clearly we have space within that building to run a very robust mcaps um I fully appreciate you know the the the business offsite aspect um but I think our staff and I know the staff are committed within the program program um to make this program the best that it can be given some of the discussions that we have to um consider around uh this recommendation um I did have a question about pool but I can um I know we're going to get an update from director powers on that so I can relegate some of well if it's okay it's kind of a strange time but like to let those out of jail there for a few minutes if take break and come back at 718 that's [Music] [Music] okay all right we get uh started up again thank you for that quick Break um R done for now Dr Mason you have um yeah just a couple quick questions first there quick um the the 3day fur how many approximately 260-day calendar staff do we have that would be offered this voluntary one second I apologize Bor my computer died so I'm restarting it now but I believe it was around 217 is that what you remember what you said can you repeat the question I was just asking how many like 260 days staff St do we have that would be offered for um 215 I apologize um and then second question um that I was thinking is around the um desktop the desktop computers um if we are removing desktop computers for some of the staff um would there be offsetting costs if they're requesting like um docking stations or monitors or things like that I know I think they have laptops but I'm not sure if they have here um I don't know if that is that ultimately going to be eaten up by them requesting other referrals marus you want to speak to that at all yeah I just want to make sure I heard the the question correctly yeah I was asking if you know if we take away the desktop computers are is that just going to be offset by them requesting you know docum stations monitors on their peripherals to help them work it's hard to work on a laptop all day write it it ismer agreed so it could potentially there could be some additional Investments made um we could look at retaining the the monitors but then it would need a dongle connection right sure um we would have to review request for docking stations the issue one of the main issues with the desktop computers in the classroom is their age they're 8 n 10 years old and this hardw uh is uh Windows 10 on Windows 10 which is going to end of life and we can't it won't be supported and they do not have the hardware to upgrade the windows 11 they won't be hand it so yeah yeah we'll have to take all that into consideration if we move forward okay so we can retain monitors and potentially use yeah we and just like this station right back here um team is kind of an example of what we're talking about um and it takes about 20 minutes to boot up and and boot down and it's just really really dated um it makes sense but I would understand why they would want to monitor for what to use their laptop with or whatever you know we would bring forward Creative Solutions try to address those concerns just oh I'm sorry I was just going to say I heard the same thing when I was over at conferences the teachers you know obviously working on a little tiny laptop is super hard so having the big screen and even like the keypad I guess um the iPads that they have on don't have keypad so like entering grades is really difficult for them because they have to do the numbers and versus like typing up here with oh uh the MacBook errors don't have the the number the keypad yeah so I'm sorry I just I didn't mean to interrupt to director I just want to add that as well so thank you m you mean the iPads don't the MacBook airs have MacBook errs have not the not the number and the student iPads don't have external keyboards or a keyboard case that's the students have the iPads so um my only other question was around the pool I have few questions but I don't know if we want to go there thank you sure yeah yeah you know again we're we're here as a resource to you all to Pro provide context um you know if you have questions about you know things we can bring that additional information um that can help you make better meaning so our team team is here for context um so I mean I think the 75,000 is the annual Fe do we have more information on the repairs that are needed and the I've asked uh Dan powers to come forward tonight to give some context um on uh conversations Beyond just the fun one savings that are immediate um and just kind of the tale that comes along with the conversation of prioritizing swimming over other factors within our ltfm um so that's something that I know that uh um Dan will be prepared to speak to tonight yeah um thank you for giving me a chance to he to sit and talk and I'm sorry Dan also talk about some of the key ltfm projects that we have on the docket prioritized already and what would be shifted I'll run into all of that stuff thank you sir um we'll start off um this is just a brief background and then we'll get two more the pool stuff um as we're looking at the operations department and I'm looking at the cuts that we're looking at aside from the things um that are we're discussing right now the pool and everything else part of my job that I represent for the district for Dr Thomas for all of us here is to look Beyond this year so one of the things that I'm looking at is okay what is the next year going to look like what is the year following that going to look like um I was one of the ones that we were in the initial conversations about okay if we have to close the school what do we do and I jumped in around that conversation I've been through part of that before in Burnsville we had to close three different locations they've been sitting empty for years and it's costing the district a fortune every year because most of them have to be maintained to a certain level so as I was looking at okay all of these things we're going to have to do for reductions um one of the things that popped into my head and it's not necessarily a popular idea but my job is to make sure I bring forward those ideas whether they're popular or not one of them was okay if we're closing a school what do we do with that site do we sell it do we keep it and hope that things are going to change do we utilize it in a different way my recommendation was sell this building sell the land that's here relocate the staff that are here to that location now there are three obvious choices that we could look at for those buildings I'm going to that's part of this my spring is building up the case for all of those I will make a final recommendation with the senior leadership team but I want to make sure and represent those to the best of my ability and show you how each one of those locations can be used in a different way but that's not going to stop me for saying if we sold location a this is what I think we could get for it or if we sold location B I'm not going to stop by just doing the basics I want to make sure that you understand all the options as I see them so that when you have all those questions you can come up with more for me and then I will try and find those answers then the following year what are we going to do for the next set of things you know I'm looking at if we have to continue to make reductions in the facility site how can I make operational changes so that we can affect those types of reductions and some of the things we're looking at aren't just reducing staff it's reducing access to Fields because if I can't mow all the fields what is that going to do for programs for sporting events they can't be on those fields if we can't mow them it'll look like a jungle in a short period of time so those are the types of things I'm looking at total package when we're looking at all of these things now jumping into the swimming pool we are looking at direct actual direct physical cost to operate the pool of about $75,000 those things are broken down to our utility costs and our chemicals and other things that we directly use just for the pool that's not counting the maintenance side that's not counting the cleaning side if we add all those things in it it bumps it up a little bit more obviously I would reallocate the cleaning staff to doing something else that's not being done now I would re allocate the maintenance staff to something else that's not being done right now that's just the physical straight operating budget then we've got we jump to the other side of things a lot of people talk about the ltfm side the people in this room probably understand ltfm budget that's a completely separate pot of money that we use for things sorry Dan just for our listening public longterm facility maintenance there we go I apologize not for saying that for the people online I'm talking the people in this room I should be including all of everyone else in the conversation um and by the way the ltfm plan that the board approves every Year's a 10year rolling plan exactly so that's that's something that we are constantly evaluating to make sure we're doing the best we can for the district it's there's a limited amount of funds that the state allows us to bond for to make sure that we're doing these facility upgrades that we can um it's a it's not much it's a million and a half every year and that sounds like a lot Until you realize um when I was I part of the my job coming in the district was to look and evaluate the buildings as they are right now and to come up with a plan not just for the next 10 years but longer than that if possible but for the next 10 years I've identified already over $30 million worth of deficient maintenance and needs that each one of these buildings has $30 million I have in those 10 years I'll have a available 16 million so I know flat out I don't have even half the money I don't to do everything we need to do in these buildings I'm exceptionally fortunate that the people that were before me were able to roll a lot of those things the needs the district had into other bonding challenges when they're building a school they were able to roll in a lot of other things to those schools um we did a tremendous amount of upgrades in grainwood and we were able to update the HVAC system we were able to update the flooring and the lighting but those are things we won't be able to do anytime soon so as I'm looking at the best use for that ltfm M fund I have to look at all of those things too and that's where the pool pops into another side of things just like for this building I've been toied about a million dollars worth of things that need to happen to the district office that was one of the reasons I recommended that if we have to close the school we sell this building there's a lot of things that have to happen in this building to keep it a a comfortable place to be um from the HVAC systems I'm going to have to replace those in a period of time of probably 3 to four years I'm going to have to be looking at um the parking lot I'm going to be looking at um there's a lot I've got a list the things I can share it with everybody later on these are things that were identified that were already on the ltfm budget the rolling 10year budget that director France talked about and I am looking at that entire thing and redoing it right now um the goals I'm looking for are to capture the things that I can save the district money on in the long run like converting as many buildings as I can to LEDs because we know that's a quick and easy way to recapture money um just from the uh the money that comes from the state as well as the Savings in utility costs LEDs are more efficient that's what it is so how much money of that 1.5 million can I spend doing that type of work how much of that I will always put life safety first um we had u a challenge at Jeffers Pond this winter we lost the boiler it went down that leaves me one boiler we have two boilers that leaves me one this happened before the really cold stretch happened if I have a hiccup happen that school closes people cannot be there you cannot use that school without that boiler working so I had to take a boiler that we had scheduled to be installed at Hidden Oaks in the swimming pool area we're running one boiler in the pool at Hidden Oaks if I lose that boiler the Pooler is pull is down so we took the boiler that was scheduled to be installed to make sure we had a backup at Hidden o pool and I installed that at Jeffers pond so that we had two boilers to be able to make sure that that school was operational for the entire winter and thank goodness we had it because I lost that boiler two weeks ago the secondary boiler that was strained because of having not a backup the whole time they're back up and running great now but that's the juggling that I have to do almost every day District wide because we we are a trim district for that side of things we just there's not a lot of money I could spend $5 million a year doing upgrades and we still wouldn't get caught up on everything we just wouldn't because more things are going to come up I'm still trying to identify other things as I go through it I can't get estimates on things until I actually know that we have a challenge on things that was one of the questions that director Atkinson asked earlier is do we have all of these numbers have I gone out for rfps on all of these things I haven't because I haven't identified that they're even there yet that's part of my job um Jim delu and Marine did an excellent job of identifying $25 million worth of those projects um I just added 6 million in the last 3 weeks of identified projects and I'm going to continue to do those and that's my the rest of this spring and all of this summer and it'll be continuous I'll be constantly evaluating the buildings to see how they're doing we're looking at the pool and I have the numbers Bounce Around um it really depends on which part of it you're looking at um I am looking at uh just the tile alone the tile for the floor and the walls now it's not just the tile because there's a gutter system that goes around the entire perimeter of that pool that the water that gets on the deck drains into that gutter system is decayed to the point where it's not necessarily safe is it safe with the cover on top of it yes is it going to continue functioning the way it is for now yes but in the future it will stop functioning what is directly below that gutter system is a tunnel system that goes around the entire pool so if I have to do any work on that gutter system I very well may need to replace all of the concrete around the entire pool because of that tunnel system that's below there if I go to Chunk in to replace that gutter system I have this much space between the top and the bottom that's it I got 8 in if I take that gutter outout and it does what I think it's going to do it's going to collapse down in the pool so we have to plan that I have to take the entire thing out that's just part of that that that's that tile part right there then if we're looking at other things I've got the HVAC system in that pool it's it's old it's failing it's going to need to be replaced so all of those types of things that I've identified already were really close to oh where is the numbers I lost it it's about $695,000 just those immediate costs that's not counting a lot of other things that are i' I've got the list I can share with all of you on that type of stuff too it's I have I have it broken down by location for the ltfm needs by location um in a lot of locations we need a million 2 million3 million $5 million worth of work this is not uncommon that I need 600 700 a million dollars for the pool that no that's a little bit more than normal I mean I need a million dollar for Jeffers Pond all school so when we were looking at recommendations um is the pool something that the community loves and and wants yes we get $115,000 a year for revenue on that pool from Storm swim club and just the operating cost alone $75,000 of the money that I need to repair T outs the way it should be done um one thing I didn't include in the Twin o side but is included on the hid o side we just purchased a new filter system at twid nox for the cost of about $130,000 I need to do the same darn thing at Hidden Oaks in a year or two if we close the pool at Twin Oaks I can take that filter system and by the time we would put it in at Hidden Oaks it would save us about $160,000 on the ltfm set this is not general fund stuff just another one of those dominoes that pop into it as we're looking at the repercussions for doing any of this stuff so there are things let me I can share a little bit more there um as we're looking at locations um five Hawks um eventually I will need to replace those boilers there um um the entire HVAC system that's I'm looking at sometime between now and 10 years from now $2.5 million I am looking at um parking lots um just the bare minimum parking lot repairs this year are going to run us about $400,000 that's what I need to make sure the parking lots don't tear themselves up that's not reming them and doing a whole new parking lot that's just crack sealing them and putting on the finished that we can to get them to last in over 2 to 5 years I think it's worth it because the cost of repairing or completely replacing that parking lot is too high yeah I have a I I have a question Mr power so I I appreciate all the details that you're giving us so are you saying that when you talk about um these costs that you're mentioning these are all costs that were not included in the ltfm plan is that of them have so and that's that's important too because some of these were already identified like I mentioned with by Jim and Marine both and the original plan that you guys approved last year a good chunk of those things were there I'm just adding to them as I'm going so I'm having a hard time to do I'm having a hard time understanding what are you adding to and the reason I asked is like with the pool there was about $300,000 I think in the ltfm already and so and I thought it was that didn't the got system which right there is $250,000 well I understand that um I think it would be helpful I mean I I actually have a pool and I understand what you're saying but I also understand there's there's ways of doing things where you're not okay we're going to knock down all the concrete and all these things so there's a company I believe you're probably familiar with called aqual Logics I believe and they'll come in and they'll do an RFP I would I would I I look forward to getting that done it's I'm not at that point but part of the reason I wasn't at that point yet was because I there were other things I considered higher priorities like the the boilers at different locations along those lines so but I definitely would reach out to do that definitely no that's as as I've identified these things because of my construction background I have a guess of how much things are going to cost but as we get towards that point where it's a viable project then we yes we reach out to th those contractors and I definitely want to get not just um I mean it depends on the cost that we're looking at in RFP to get several people to come in and do those typ of and I think given the passion around this particular topic I think it's only wise for us to gather as much information as we possibly can um surrounding this topic and I know I sent in a last a list of about eight questions um yeah and I'll let you finish your presentation no no no that's actually I was the next thing I was jumping into was actually your eight questions so that works perfect um so we that was the first one you were talking about was the rfps no I haven't reached out for any rfps because like I mentioned the priority list that hadn't jumped up on my priorities for this year um especially when we started talking about closing the pool it definitely shuffled to a further joint um as we are looking at um your second question was about um pool U utilization um I do have some numbers um where I mentioned uh the storm Swim Club um paying us $155,000 just at Twin Oaks um they used about 466 hours worth of time there um they used about the same amount of time at Hidden Oaks so it's it it's almost no difference between those two pools for usage wise um we've got uh can I ask a clarifying question on that J you want to go ahead I was just you mentioned 400 and some hours at did you say 466 466 at Twin Oaks correct at Twin Oaks and similar similar at H correct would you com would it be fair to say combining those those hours is what the storm swim CL Club uses or I can answer that yes you want to it's it's high school all the way through um swim lessons which is tidy children so um adding those together they they can't overlap because they use the pools at the same time for the same each facility is used every day by the S Club okay so is there could you say if those the the hours needed would be combining those two that's it's a good question and the Challen part of the challenge with it especially in the in the person in the back of the room could probably say this the swimming pools are at different temperatures yeah um primarily because of the community ad use or the community use versus the competition use competition pools cannot be that warm now if we were going to increase the use usage of the community or the pool at Hidden Oaks there would be times where we could schedule to have the pool bumped up temperature- wise but in general it would be much colder and that would not be in favorable for especially the really young kiddos to swim in it just wouldn't can I ask Joel to come get some clarification on the cost as well on the personel side yeah um the cost what what we actually brought in as far as rental from storm in Point Oaks was um just under 13,000 when Dan mentioned the 15,000 plus it also included our Personnel charges to them so the rental itself of the pool was like 12,900 and then the hours the reason there's a so storm generally will use Twin Oaks um during the school year when there's swim seasons and stuff going on utilizing the other pool and then in the summer months Community ad also runs a swimming lessons program we have typically used Twin Oaks in the past which then pushes storm over to the other pool in the summer so there's really not a way you'd be able to combine all of those hours into one they're just the timing it overlaps so you're not going to make up all of those hours in one location um is there a uh what does the discussion look like or what does the forecast look like if the pool is closed um is it are are we talking about stopping the swimming lessons are we talking about like what does it what would be the effects if the Twin Oaks um pool was closed what could you speak to the impact the impact to I mean the greatest impact is going to be on our on the Storm Swim Club so in the summer months because Community ey would be pushed out of Twin Oaks and we would now have to move our program to Hidden Oaks that would take up the majority of the time over the summer months and hidden which storm currently uses and then during the school year because you have the swim Seasons boys and girls swim Seasons they're using time at Hidden as well which generally pushes Club swimming more to evening hours and possibly weekends outside of having a meat so there's definitely going to be a reduction in the amount of time that they have based on priority levels which is school sponsored programming first and then any kind of outside user coming in after that as a second priority is there any um way that we can under have a a better understanding on that the impact of the storm swim program itself um you know forecasting what that might look like and and I don't know maybe that's not maybe that's not board discussion but I think to to grasp to truly grasp like what it look what the impact means to the clubs and to the community ed because what I'm hearing correct me if I'm wrong what I'm hearing you say is that the community ed will receive the priority over the storm swim club and if you could just yeah District so we can't speak to third party entities and the the the total impacts of their programs um you know obviously we know 's impact but as a school entity um we exist first and foremost as a school program entity so to uh uh director Dole's Point um anything outside of our um PE classes for example and then um Community Education um which is part of our district that's number one priority anything else after that if there's availability no matter the CL no matter the sport no matter the we have priority occupancy of our educational spaces first and foremost because this is we exist for this primary program um if we can find ways to um uh open up spaces to the community for a variety of reasons whether you're renting a space using pools uh you name it we'll clearly do that through um Community Education so I wouldn't feel comfortable for our staff to weigh in um I think as a board your focus is on what we do during the day for our primary purpose outside of that um we wouldn't be speaking to that thank you I appreciate that yeah I have a question when you started this off you talked about having a $30 million budget and 16 million um actual funds coming in I assume that's from the state and um is that um is that recursive do we get more money I mean how does that formula determine that 16 million that's just ltfm money that's what we were able to bond yearly um that's just the 10 year when I add up all the each individual year is how I got to that $16 million so it's so I'm just trying to so first of all the time span the 30 million is that for the 10 year that's for the 10 well that's just identified programs right now whether I can get however I can get them done if I can okay and usually the ltf bond is based upon the age of our buildings and all that we get us there's a formula behind it yeah it's it's student based um it's about $385 per student but then we get a percentage of that based on the age of the buildings okay um which it's all based on a 25 year um age average okay and part of that goes to pay off the bonds yes right that's that's the next question that I had it not only goes off to pay off the bonds but you're making estimates so many years in advance outside of inflationary costs and all that correct cuz I've been here where the cost to do something like the building automation system at at Glendale one time went off and it uh they estimated it was going to be like 400,000 it turned out to be 550 or maybe somewhere around there it was about $100,000 different because they had estimated on the 10-year rolling by the time we got to it software costs more the everything costs more costs went up very fast in the last five years yeah and we're looking at a 3% inflation increase and that's that's the best we can do is forecast okay so when I come up with the the $30 million that's just my best guess um the $30 million is um cost today even that's not what it would cost going forward so if I break that down and add in inflation on all those things um it really depends on which project gets put pushed up the farthest and do you have those projects like you said you prioritized them and obviously what I'm doing I'm in the process of right now so the health and safety of our Student Center will always be first okay y yeah um three questions first um director Edwards you what kind of impact will the twin o pool closing have on on the Middle School um PE academic day yes yes um So currently we do have um that use of that pool embedded into our curriculum um that is a local uh decision that we have right the authority to make uh there's no State requirement for swimming um so that has been a local decision that is something that as the Middle School staff uh specifically in the fiad area cuz that's the the group that teaches that um is looking at the new uh elective uh wheel offerings through the changes in the curriculum um they will be they are currently assessing how they will uh utilize swimming as a possible unit in which courses it might reside um they certainly have brought up uh concerns about students traveling across the street obviously uh during the winter months in particular um to have swimming if they are a student that generally takes their physical education class at the other site so that those are things that they are still working through um but there will be changes in the amount uh of swimming that would be a part of the local fire curriculum that definitely will have change in activities that will be part of the fired curriculum okay so no decision on that yet correct they're still working through that sorry to add they could walk over to Hidden Oaks and take swimming still for that one to two week whatever that yeah it's just it's just part of a unit yep outside of the winter months I think is we prioritize fall and spring as where we would cluster and then maybe we'd have to identify is there a grade band that we say this is where that entry point would be um so we' have to modify that but there would be access it would just look a little different my next one might go together what impact does this have on our teams here as far as as far as that and then as well as since Community Ed and our teams will be using that you talked about changing the temperature of the pool you've talked multiple times about right boilers up and down and all of these types of things what does that look like calculating in right I'm assuming extra strain going up and down that those types of things that's it's a good question and let me do the first part and then you can answer Angel um a good chunk of the programming that Community Ed does is during this summer months um which the pool usage from our swim groups is much less during that time period um so we could I mean is there opportunities where I would have a couple of weeks where the pool would be sitting at ° yes is that going to strain the system I just changed the set point these boilers are designed to run um full on out for six months out of the year minimum the reason that the ones are going bad now is they're old and part of my job is to make sure that we get them the work that they need to continue working I'm replacing the one boiler at the Hidden Oak Pool right now so we make sure we have that backup um but there are things I mean and that's part of me working with the community ed group to schedule that type of an event to make sure if okay the the varsity and the the if the school is not using the pool for this chunk of time and Joel's team wants to schedule it and we work it out say yeah let me change the temperature for your group so it's it's definitely doable yeah and I I would just say to the high school activities side they used a total of 76 hours last year in Twin Oaks majority of theirs is in Hidden Oaks they used over 1300 hours in there so it really won't impact them much the 76 hours the majority of that was when there was maintenance or things happening on the other pool and they had to transition over so really it really wouldn't impact them all that much as far as the the pool adjustments like Dan mentioned Community ad only operates a swim program in the summer when the high school teams aren't necessarily using that and we have typically increased the temp which um is something that the old four fund will help pay to offset the cost of increasing that pool temp for the months of June July and August so it doesn't increase the cost back to the district 01 fund we cover that portion and director ol said that's kind of a good example of real life chargeback um what we were talking about earlier and then I got one more sorry sorry um did you have we traditionally hired individuals at both pools for Community Ed during the summer or was it normally only one and will that look the same just vice versa yep yeah we we only hire for the one pool and the other pool is typically used by storm in the summer for their program so we would transition our staffing over to the other um so I mean we're talking about cuts to the general fund I'm just curious why like the $775,000 the annual why that cannot be rent through the Community Education or like look at possibilities like increasing fees and I realize by the Numbers it might be like tripling them and maybe that's not feasible but um is there a reason we can't run this like or do charge back through Community ad that's yep so I I think the fee things there's uh only so much that you start to have diminishing return as you noted so we'd have be mindful of that um in terms of the community ed taking ownership so to speak of the pool we're exploring what that would entail um you know can it be done yes but we also have to be mindful of uh the community ed has to break even minimally and generate some level of profit as well to pay overhead Etc so it we don't know if we have the full capacity within Community but it it is something that we're cing out once we kind of understand what that long-term number will look like to see what would it mean cuz to do to do that and I'll let the team speak more specifically um we also have to take into account how we um manage the interior access points to the pool um also then creating separate uh external access so that it can be managed outside the pool day or pool day school day um uh and and so we you know there would be some build outs and I'm not trying to push the burden and bleed all of the fund balance from communed for one project um because Joel has hundreds of uh value ad to the to the community so we have to make sure that it's something that we feasibly could actually um make work um from a logistic standpoint on the offside but then also from a fiscal management aspect of Community IDE um to and you know Joel and his team are exploring um kind of if if we went that route how could we guarantee revenue and so we might have to change our leasing rental structures to more long-term uh residential leases residential pool leases Etc um versus just seasonal you know so that way we're guaranteed and that it it it's if there's hiccup in terms of calendaring um weather closures Etc that money doesn't EV and flow it's guaranteed so those are some of the things that we're working through right now to explore contractually um how to make that happen anything I might have missed out yeah I was just going to add so just as an example right now we only run a summer swim program through Community Ed we make in Revenue about $36,000 over the summer you add that 36 plus the 12,9 brought in in charges to the storm Swim Club we're not even coming close to what that annual operating cost is so we would have to get real creative about um and you typically we can't add much during the day because kids are in school so during the school year you're not going to be able to add much revenue so what are what would be our resources for that additional Revenue where could we save a little bit on that those are the things I've been looking at as we started that conversation I have to be able to reach that 75,000 as a minimum right in revenue and then hopefully go beyond that and that 36,000 is if we were to max out our summer swim program so you know we're we're falling well short of that so we'd have to get creative and find some ways to do that not against the idea but just knowing that we have to at least break even that's where we're at and and one of the changes that we would absolutely need to do Dr Thomas briefly mentioned this is we' have to change the AIS um so we would have to have um badge readers in certain areas so that the school itself couldn't access that but also for the public coming into the pool would not be able to access the school so I would be putting up walls and doors in a few locations is it something that can be done yes it can be is it um a it's going to have a cost yeah and at the end of the day team um and again at full uh respect for many of our Community Partners all of our Community Partners and and how they engage with the district um you can see the challenge of choosing between what's good for our kids and community and what's good for our kids and community and so at the end of the day for us if this becomes a priority um and the JP boiler goes out you know you know had it not been replaced we wouldn't have the ltfm access to then heat instructional space which from our vantage point is priority over swimming um no dises expect to swim um our F teachers Our Community Partners but at the end of the day I would choose to put in prioritize instruction versus swimming and so that's that's the rub that we're facing right now um we see value our PE teachers see value our community sees value in this pool but going back to how we started if every favorite thing becomes the priority nothing's going to give and so so we have to find these these points along this journey um and then continue to explore whether it's this conversation or whether it's future you know conversations with our community you know via levies you know all that is to be determined at some point later on down the line but our immediate components are where we need to make some adjustments so that we can you know program up for next year these are the these are the decision points that we're at so the um so theoretically if we could cover the costs for Community ad and then the repairs come out of the ltfm I mean that's really just a prioritization and I hear you about not touching like some of the things we need like boilers but there's a lot on here you know tennis courts and tracks and seal coating and things like that also it would be prioritizing those repairs for the pool it's just it's just a shifting our priorities that's exactly it yep I have a quick question um I hope it's quick every so often on our 10e list I also see more as bestos abatement do we still have asbestos in the buildings yes and that has to be prioritized is that buried in there now that's a good question and the people online need to hear this as well the buildings that we have as best as in It's contained okay so the cost that you're seeing is to look at this um I've dealt with as best is stuff my entire construction life so as long as it's not triable actually coming across in pieces if it's contained in something we don't need to do a darn thing with it we leave it alone the second that gets touched or damaged in any other way then it's like the hazmat suits come out we portion off areas we're running clean air Vacuums in those spaces so that the air isn't going into the building um currently we hav inspections for things like the asbest we've got inspections for Radon we've got inspections I mean the inspection list I've got is pretty long these aren't things that um we actively are concerned about they're things that we want to make sure we monitor so that we don't have them become a concern in the future um and ESP best this is a big one it was in everything it's in the floor tiles it's in the glue Sometimes they used to stick the floor tiles together so as long as those aren't Disturbed we're good to go and that's what the inspections are that's that yearly cost you see on that just to make sure that those things are in good shape I've got an inspection for the next three days starting on exactly that um we talked a lot about the um um Twin Oaks pool and the maintenance for that um I understand there's also an issue potentially with something like a catwalk or something like that that isn't in great shape or one of the pools but um in another area so we're talking about Tom's maintenance what have we got to do to keep the Hidden Oaks pool up to speed so that very good question and it's all stuff that should be happening this year so we've got right now we had a leak that was in the diall that was repaired but we've got something we need to do we need to put a skim cone on it honestly so that it it doesn't reopen itself um I've got a small leak in the uh search tank this search tank is the the tank that sits beside the pool that helps maintain the level so I've got a small leak in that that I need to take care of we've got um a seal which is not a water seal but it's a a cover seal that the little kiddos pulled up in my section but we have to drain the pool so that we can put that thing back down so all of those repairs will take us a week a week and a half that will be happening this summer and that's a that's also a cost what about I mean with the things you're talking about with the Twin Oaks pool um the tile the gutters all that kind of stuff is that also due to rep to be replaced or fixed or anything like that so some of it was and that's what director Aon was talking about earlier some of that was in the ltfm budget before okay and that was already done no all stuff that was identified identified it was not not if it was done at at at Hidden Oaks and is that no at Hidden Oaks no excuse me I'm mixing things up no at Hidden Oaks we don't that's not ready yet the pool's in better shape for the tile and everything else is that within though any type of Replacements like that within our current 10year plan cuz what I don't want to do is throw the baby out with the back water and say let's use the money to fix Toms and then we I did not see any needs that would be um I didn't see any needs that would be within the next 10 years for the pool deck itself just other than cleaning and a little bit of patching for the uh the grout lines so occasionally those will bust out um this just happens and then we go and fix it and we reseal it and it's good to go but I didn't see any large needs in that area no so then overall we're talking about priorities to me the priority pool is a hnos because it's not only a practice pool is also our only competition pool so long term over this 10 years what are we looking at to keep that thing because we can think of one without the other like Dr France was talking about let me see where we're at um without looking at it off the cuff I'd say about $350,000 but let me look and see so the d f filter I mentioned earlier is going to be about 160 when we get to it um pool deck recoding 75,000 so that's minimal um so then yeah that's over the next 10 years so then if we get creative and if there's a way to make the pool whole qu know just from a revenue standpoint just for the yearly cost are the repairs all Priority One could they be chunked out over time to make a little less of an impact is there something that has to be done tomorrow or shouldn't be using it so and that's one of the conversations Dr Thomas and I had I mentioned Life Safety is priority number one if I knew something in that pool was not safe we'd be shutting it down I'd drain the water if I needed to to keep people out of it none of that is at that point right now these are all things that I've identified that need to happen um but not right this second I mean the tile around that pool in Twin o is in rough shape um if we get to a point where it gets a sharp edge I'm going to do something about that one spot to make sure that it's safe or not um but the tiles are coming up over there right and I think that's the the the big the big thing is to your to your question to White um uh how much risk do we want to incur and and that's what it's going to boil down to so if we delay then these issues are the things that we're talking about the drain tray is something that we're talking about I now that you got into this bestus kiss we can Circle back around that because I'm curious about underneath in that tunnel because I I only imagine that's what's down there and should it get this dir no okay don't want to know I yeah I don't want to have that conversation tonight but that is something you and I are going to want to talk about because but again I think it comes down to that so how much risk do we want to assume to something along um just to just to keep you know water in a container and I'm not trying to sound crash but like my my standard of expectation from a a safety standpoint is that's that's key the tile work for me i' be hard pressed to say yeah we're going to continue to do this and find some way to justify this without doing some of the that we know is just a risk waiting to happen particularly the tile component I don't know anything about the mechanical structures of the the gutter systems but as you described it from a lay person's understanding I'm worried I'll just be honest I'm worried about that um particularly if it's structural and that caves that whole w i mean wherever wherever we have a weak point that that cement structure is now something that we had to talk about and I don't know where that you sits for years that that would actually happen you can kind of predict the shelf life of a boiler I don't know if we can predict the shelf life of cement liners and all that kind of stuff that comes with pools but that's the piece of conversation that we're trying to understand from a prioritization standpoint right and I think Dr Thomas I mean I think something that would maybe help ease the mind is my understanding is that that's what aqua logic does speaking with other districts is they come out they assess how much what's wrong how much will it cost and I mean they're really experts in what they do so get we got three companies having someone come out to do that would be awesome um I actually so I was in the Twin o pool last week and spent a good chunk of time just sitting in the pool feeling the space looking around seeing how it was doing the two things I know are the highest priority um that HVAC system that's above the pool the air quality is not what I would like it to be is it dangerous no but it's a challenge that should be addressed sooner rather than later and we ran into that at Hidden we did run into that at Hidden and we it took us a while to actually get solved it was it was a challenge but the one at Twin is a slightly different challenge because it's aging equipment that's just not working um even aside from you know the the cost of I agree getting aqualogic out there or any other vendor to help us look at it but that's that's kind of like a second tier thing to me um that's the Al I'm set and could I reprioritize around almost anything else yes I mean it's just it's where our priorities fall in the in the Life Safety side and then after that director white yes um if we make this decision to close the Twin Oaks pool what's the date when is it when would that right now and I have talked with um my partners in community at uh I would aim for the end of summer so before school starts up next year that would give us time to make sure that the repairs can be done to Hidden Oaks um and then we could phase out that usage on that pool now one of the things that we're looking at and this isn't a short-term decision and director Atkins was alluding to this one a little bit ago too when this pool gets closed it's not just for a couple of years right because in order to close a pool I have to empty it all of those joints that are in every one of those water pieces all of those things will dry out in a very short period of time a good chunk of that will need to either be repaired replaced or inspected every part of it every one of those little joints is going to have to be inspected and worked with if we were to recover the the filter system from there and bring it over to hid notes that's another cost that would need to be incurred to get that pool started my recommendation if the pool is closed um that it wouldn't we wouldn't look at reopening it for at least 5 years just to make it the cost the savings for having the pool closed to even have a a chance to make up for what it's going to cost to restart it I have another question yeah you had mentioned at the very beginning of your um your presentation about this building about selling this building yeah District yeah and so like my question is how do we haven't seen um any data or any information about selling this building and I know we had talked about if we close a school we have to report that to mde if we close this building do we have to report it to a school it's not a school program okay so is that something that like as far as like a recommendation or an option is that something that could be brought for it it will be as it is it is coming this summer to the board we'll have but it's part of right now versus the pool I'm just thinking of you know different solutions you know can we accelerate is what you're saying is there a reason we have to wait or can we accelerate that yeah um we we could the the challenge is um relocating a a office staff this size we'd have to split them up into buildings all over the place we couldn't go to any one location it just wouldn't be feasible and if we are looking to close a school already that would be the time we could move the things around the and the efficiency of having your team or any other contractors coming in to do this kind of like what we did when we were doing the high school you kind of dub tail on the work stream that's already in play to kind of keep your overhead down on bringing in contractors or movers Etc so yeah ideally we would be able to wrap this conversation into a closure conversation so it's one package and kind of one Move versus two separate moves which will drive our costs up higher so that's that's where our logic is in terms of trying to optimize our savings of the cost that will take to sell relocate I'm planning that if we close this building that my team will be the one that will be moving this entire building someplace else um but and that's another thing is when when we if we close the school again this is all predicated on big ifs I have to plan how that space is going to be used in whatever fashion you know it doesn't matter which location could we have extra Community Ed usage out of that building to help us if we move the district office how am I going to have to change security how am I going to have to build around having a new boardroom in there we have a tech server that's going to we don't move that more than once where it's going to go and so just that's not something you rush into so there's just a lot of factors um as we all know when mean our own personal residences how much of a headache it is times 100 so um yeah there are some big factors I think we'll have to consider before we rush into that so we can package that up for you all this summer is there anything else around the pool that any it I mean seems to me that there's no there's no magic pill out here I mean we might be able to get to break even maybe maybe not seem to me the decision is either we're going to close it or we're going to leave it open costs aren't going to magically find their way to be paid for in some magic way we have to decide is the pool at Twin Oak ofar or or is it not because the costs aren't going to go away it's just going to be a matter whether or not we want to exchange that 75,000 and then risk the the long-term maintenance fund against something else that could go wrong and so again I don't want to cost discussion but I think it's pretty clear what we're up against here either we're going to close it or we're not and so um I don't know what kind of timeline Administration is looking for for a final final yeah we're looking for we're looking for um consensus tonight on what we've shared with you all because again as as a team our psychological bandwidth right now is stretched to the max because we're in this holding pattern we've got a year to be Planning and Building for we've got summer program to be planning for we got Staffing to be doing so yeah the more we can start moving forward on some key factors um the more streamlined and efficient we become as a as a leadership team to getting some of the key work done um so so Dr Thomas with the pool though I know there's there's talk about well we're going to go back and talk to Joel to see what he can do are we prepared as a board to make this decision tonight um based on there's followup information need my opinion um I I think I think we're prep I think we're going to be as prepared as we can be this evening I think we've given you everything that we that we have in terms of where we're at the likelihood of moving this into Community Education and and finding ways to uh Break Even to be determined um if we're still talking about you know an end of August kind of date we've you know we can earmark this and and and move in this direction we're still going to be using this pool through then as we continually explore so I think we've got a little window of time to keep those conversations exploratory to come back and if we say yeah I think we might be able to do this then we can potentially revise something but if we're going to come back to the board with that we're also going to have to come back to the board with a reduction so a recommendation so at this point um director ainson I would say we would look to move forward in this direction pending any conversations that we identify that would tell us otherwise and pending that we have a solid recommendation then to offset um the 75 similar to what we've done with offsetting something else from the past recommendation I person I feel like I would like to see um if we can get this funded through Community ad and possibilities and to understand get an our Fe or inspections or whatever to understand really what that maintenance costs are I mean you know that to me is a prioritization like there's a lot on on this list of replacing Turf and Tennis Courts for 430,000 and a lot of probably tradeoffs right in the ltfm fund so that to me is separate but like the general fund savings is only $75,000 so if that is possible to fund I would like to understand if it is possible to fund through Community ad before I'm comfortable making a decision on this so how long I mean there's been a lot of obviously a lot of community know in this and I want to be respectful of that while at the same time being responsible and so how long I mean if if we if we pushed a a final pool decision to March is that enough time to figure out if this is even something that's feasible um I I don't want to I'm still stuck on the 30 million of list and $16 million so most of that stuff is already going to be de prioritized like the tennis courts and stuff like that and we've done that before in the past where we haven't been able to do a lot of the stuff that we're nice to have I know that you know you've had discussions about the turf and the football uh stadium and anything like that and pushing that off until it's absolutely at its last leg um so when I see only half of the money and that's whole list is 30 million and we only have 16 million half of that's already gone anyways at our prioritization because we're not going to be able to get it done um so that's that's my biggest concern so even if we move the decision off are we only pushing off the inevitable possible yeah that's that's kind of my and I and I'm not saying we don't need more information but I I don't want to sit there and go oh gee we're not going to fix a tennis court we don't have the money to do that anyways I mean this is some of that stuff is kind of a wish list my point there's so much on here that could be priori so but I I I have lived through several times where we had an emergency situation and we had to borrow money basically out of another fund in order to do it because we didn't have the money long-term facilities maintenance so I'm looking at the risk factor and if we prioritize these things I want to do it by health safety risk and in the best interest of the student body overall for sure and and one of the things it's it's interesting that you both mentioned the tennis courts one of the things that I've been working on really really hard was to try and find alternative ways to get these same things done um the tennis court at the high school was built on a swamp it was the land they had they used it it was It was a tough thing um the whole thing I think is built on an aquifer isn't it which is why that we're one of the things that we're looking at is the the community involvement to help us to try and do that um I was in conversations with a group just last week um they could potentially cover all but $20,000 of that type of work so that's the type of thing I'm continually looking forward to trying because I can't make up $30 million it's not going to happen happen but I can try and find those places um we got a a heating control valve donated by a company that was $155,000 they donated us so that we can try and solve a problem that we've got at Hidden not with the rooms on the addition part of that building not being able to be heated correctly those types of things I'm constantly on the lookout to try and make our bu stretch as far as I can um because I can't do it all you know whether it is um the carpet in the schools whether it is the heating and air conditioning systems whether it's the parking lots whether it's the turf on the fields um yeah I can't do it all so it in in some ways it doesn't matter whether it's $150,000 worth of ltfm money I need to spend at Twin Oaks or a million um I can find another way to spend it now would you say board you know um SE $75,000 I know in the greater scheme of $120 million budget seems like a drop in the bucket but every drop counts like we are literally at that point you know with this reduction where every drop counts like $75,000 are per us you know um and or you know other other functions throughout the district so I I I in isolation I I hear what you're saying um and in the total conversation this this is this is the reality so that 75,000 adds up fairly quickly tied to another 75 and another 100 here and another 10 there so cumulatively we we we have a $4.1 million reduction um you know that you all are discussing so um 4 point1 we have 4 to5 million this year but we also have 45 million next year right that's yeah I'm I'm only speaking for the fiscal year 25 26 and Dr Thomas I just like to add that you know with our strategic plan I mean one of the biggest things we heard back from the community is optimize resources and I don't know how money was spent in the past but like I'm looking through the ltfm and I see rebuild tennis courts and in my mind I go okay that's a half a million dollars so do we really need to rebuild the tennis courts that they could could they possi repaired like I don't know I don't know all that stuff we've repaired we've done crack my my thought is like as you go through and I understand and appreciate you're saying okay I've done this I've taken this from over here and done that and that's a great way to optimize resources but perhaps we can't do what we've done in the past and maybe you know buying new furniture or whatever the case may be maybe you just need to repor prioritize that and so I would um my statement on the pool is I don't feel like I'm prepared I mean my list of eight questions um prepared to make a decision on the pool um I would love to see learn more about moving this over to Community Ed I'm also challenged why do we operate two pools I understand it's incredibly costly um to operate two pools so I understand the challenge and that's why I asked about the utilization like if we're only using one pool 50% of the time and we're only using the other pool 50% of a time do we really need two pools well instructionally to that question we could manage our internal needs with one pool right and activities and activities with our high school all that we only need the one pool that serves dual purposes for temps for diving for all of that yeah and I appreciate your honesty on that and I would just say another part of our strategic plan is Community Partnerships and so you know if there's a way to we live in a lake Community I went to the um Early Childhood meeting last week and heard how important it is for um early childhoods um you know kids to have access to swimming lessons affordable swimming lessons because there's there's kids who don't have access to swimming lessons in our community comes through Joel's program again with the one pool we would that right so I guess I I would just like to learn more about moving it over to Community Ed and if we can move that conversation or if we need to decide tonight my vote would be I would prefer for it to be moved over to yet is what my vote is so and to go back and to find 75,000 from a different different place for I think um in listening to all of and we we've been given a ton of information tonight and I appreciate it all thank you very much um I think you know being mindful of how how much the leadership team has exhausted every um Avenue and so while um you know in listening to director dll um and director poers um to make up the $75,000 honestly didn't seem feasible um given our current programming so um you know as a board team thinking you know do we want to continue to exhaust the senior leadership and by kicking down you know kicking the can down the road that's a that's the real question and I think when it comes down to these budget cuts we can always want more information because no one wants to make any of them and um so we heard the leadership we heard it being asked that we make you know give priority tonight um and I'm just wondering if there's a way that we can do that I'm I'm I'm actually I'm I'm Blown Away by that the Gap in the funding based on just some regular ongoing maintenance needs we're not talking about anything real special it's just I I I wasn't aware that it was it was that dire as far as funding goes the only one will ever close that Gap is is a bond election it'll never happen another way it's the only way we've done it in the past we've had the same gaps in the past and eventually we had to go ask for a certain amount of money to fix all these things you can't see yeah and um that's that's to your point I I don't know how I don't know how you keep it open I mean I don't I mean to your your point director ainson two p than one school district is a luxury I I I don't know if there are many out there I'm sure there are scattered around the Twin Cities but to have a a fully dedicated practice pool and a fully dedicated competition pool is a luxury that I I just don't know based on the information that I received tonight that I wasn't aware of I don't know how you do it well and with that information are you going back and reworking the ltfm plan I'm in the middle of that right okay okay and I'll be presenting I'll be presenting my full 10-year plan I'm I'm hoping sometime in April um it really depends I know we need to have an official vote on that in July but I wanted to present it as early as I could yeah well there's nothing else in the pool are we things that people have questions on uh direct you asked for I think if Community Ed could come back in well I'm assuming that you're going to continue to you said you yeah we're going to continually explore ways to optimize resources I mean even after we go through this process between now in June 30th we're still going to be looking for ways to make adjustments and where we can continue to save and we do that like I said year round um because we're we're making those adjustments as we look at different patterns of things so so yes whether it's this specific um you know Jo and his team they they have been really bringing community back into into the fold since it shut down you know some years ago during uh Co and so you know I trust his um leadership entrepreneurial Spirit to understand how he can squeeze blood from a turn and his team um right now we're you know like he and I had conversations last week and I know I've had some one-on ones with a couple of you exploring some of these things like this didn't just happen a week ago we've been looking at this for a while um I think we just kind of came to a head last week of realizing the the ability to match the expense is so great um and and we're going to leave a lot of that to chance um we thought we might have a better opportunity to do that but it it's just not necessarily there in this space other areas within Community yes but in this space right now we just we we are just not seeing it as as the viable option given some of the factors that we discovered last week um so so I think again we're not above continually looking at ways to find Opportunities to manage our resources more efficiently optimize as our as our um plan says and shift as much as we can to our other big priority around how we continually support our primary job and that's to educate kids you know and and so if I if you're asking me tonight and again I love the ability to do what we can with our Aquatics in in our district for ourselves and for our community at the end of the day we can manage our priorities with one um we can would love to do more and maybe that's in our future at some point to chair White's point you know this community um you know we it's a bond measure right to to make up this kind of a Delta and I I think that's part of our ongoing conversation with the community is to help our community understand you know these aren't the things that people love don't come for free and I'm not saying we have to go and spend all the money in the world but there are some key aspects of maintaining what we have just the maintenance of what we have which we're already upside down on you know and that only that Delta is not a a a savings or optimizing or a cutting that's a bond there there's no way and Dan knows it um his team knows it um and we've lived this before I think we've shut this pool down before correct me if I'm wrong yeah I don't know I don't remember when but I think it was closed for a period of time no I don't recall I don't recall okay okay I thought somebody shared with me out in the community that they they had to take this measure to mothball for okay so I moth couldn't afford to put the people in there one year yeah so maybe it just wasn't so they didn't drain it or anything like that and then of course we had the year with the with the construction that both pools were down because we didn't have it was and Dr Thomas you said there's that I know there's this variance of this operating cost have we had a conversation with storm because I remember they came and spoke um a couple months ago saying that they would offer additional money I know they've been having some conversations anything can I we can I just add to that so I I was going to mention that you know essentially by us investigating how we could make it affordable for Community Ed to operate the pool essentially that's what it's going to be it would be another meeting with the storm saying okay if we're going to operate this way we're definitely going to have to change the rate that they're being charged to utilize the space so the fee the cost of that is going to go back on our our partners um it's also connecting with other groups like the city you know whether or not their parks and wreck program would have any interest in utilizing it the issue that we have is that we are limited in the amount of time that we can utilize it so we're not going to be able to add in a ton of programming it really is looking at where are we going to increase the costs and who's going to be taking those on so it would be you know like the storm like I said before we can come up with about call it $50,000 with what we currently have that additional 15,000 is going to go back on our our partners that would be renting that space from so we I'm I'm certainly open to meeting with them and discussing some of that and and bringing more information back um for me I just we I need direction on are we going to continue to move forward with this and I can continue to research that and bring numbers back I'm I'm comfortable doing that I would say yes and yes yes um um but with the clear understanding that this is the number we have to have whether it's affordable to whoever or I mean we have to get to this number minimum and there's no way we can do that we also need to do the repairs and that's the other that's the other so I was going to mention that so like so we had so you had said you know let's take this off and then find 75 if it moves to community ed you don't need to find the other 75 it's coming out of 01 now and going into 04 so you're covered there it's the long-term maintenance piece that the district is still going to have to find a way to take because I don't I don't have a fund balance to be able to cover that kind of repair cost and and if we did it would completely deplete what we've built over the last three four years since Co so that that's the piece the district really needs to consider as well so um just to re state or clarify it's even if the 75 was found or are met it's I mean we're looking the the repair cost for the Twin Oaks pool in the near future is it de prioritizes other factors that we have prioritized already okay because we haven't G okay but there was 300,000 already budgeted for this year and I understand we could use that money for something else I understand that but director Powers you estimated I mean I wrote it down so correct me if I'm wrong 600 95,000 right now that's I think it would be helpful to understand if you know if that's you know if we can get someone to really it would take more than one vendor sure because only a portion of that is is the actual swimming pool decking itself we're looking at the HVAC system we're looking at I mean there's several different pieces to that and I can get estimates for all of those things [Music] but I I still look at that as a a secondary thing um how I allocate the ltfm however we move that money around like I mentioned it could be 150,000 it could be a million the operating cost of the pool itself um isn't I mean 75,000 isn't a huge number but it's it's a number that we would have to do something else with so I I can definitely um we can definitely reallocate almost any of that money and we can find out exactly how much it is um but as I'm looking at it I mean we can we can do all of that over the next five months um and still have a decision made tonight you know if the pools you could say the pool is going to be closed and I could say okay that gives me five months to come up with an alternative plan whether it's working with Joel or any of those things along the line and then at that point we look at okay if we're keeping the pool because someone else is taking up that extra cost where we'll find them ltfm fund so that's that just is how it fits in with that you know it's I can go with either one of them my I'm I'm here to be the advocate for the buildings and you guys use me and my knowledge the best you need to and I will do that is it the will of the board to move ahead um the idea that we're probably going to have to close it and if there's a magic pill somewhere that somebody uncovers that the administration is always has the right to come back and say wait a minute but I don't I don't see it out there but I I guess it's wouldn't it would be I guess it would be a gesture of Goodwill to talk to the storm and and see what they you willing to do or not to do but it's not just again the 75,000 that we've been talking about it's the other 3/4 of million dollars that we have to account for and prioritize over and above something else if we're going to keep it open and that's that's the chunk that I don't know how we how we get to so is it redem the will I don't know what else we can do yeah I mean personally I think just doing some due diligence hopefully it's not a huge effort and it's worth some conversations Dan I think you've got to do the due diligence anyways because we're we can't cover all the maintenance costs we have we can only cover half of them so no matter you have to do that anyway every time a project is is found right I get an estimate for it and then we not only have the 75,000 this year we would have it every every single year every single year and we're not going to and that's only if raising the prices still attracts the number of users and stuff like that I mean it's it's kind of a spiral effect that's what I'm seeing it's just ever increase in costs right and that's normal we run into that for everything we do I'm comfortable assuming and I hate to do this because it's been a really a to this community to to have that space and to be able to enjoy it but I just don't see longterm how we can't how we can just keep avoiding the inevitable right now and that's that's my that's where I am so I'm I'm okay with I'm not okay with all these Cuts but I mean we have to do it so and that's our responsibility as a board to be responsible to the entire district and particularly focusing on the needs of the students so I guess well I don't know if you want to go around but if if um for me I think um understanding that our the programming for the the the district and Community Ed is able to be done at one pool and also given all of the other um information I don't feel like there's a choice I feel like we need to move forward as as presented yeah I I mean I would like to explore the idea of moving it to community ad and the reason I have many reasons why I mean we're a late Community um we don't as a community I've been challenged with this since the minute we moved here we don't have a community center so in my mind it would make a lot of sense to move it Community Ed because perhaps There's an opportunity there to partner with the city become more of a community center to I mean I don't know even what that looks like but I if if that means that um I I don't know because what are we trying to say yes move forward with the 75,000 and it moves to community ad I'm like I'm being I'm I'm confused about what the ask is um and so I would personally like to see it because I think there's $75,000 else we can find in this district and I don't want to get into that but there's things like you know administrative iPhone cuts that other districts are doing that is $37,000 if you calculate it correct like so there's other dollar and I get it's more the L the it ltfm but when we're talking programs and those type of things and we've made a lot of cuts to teachers and programs already and so in my mind I am really challenged when we are impacting programs not only just to our students but also that impact our community and so I would I would like to see it explored with um I think it makes a ton of sense to have it under Community Ed and have it be that's a community ed and this is a I don't think anybody disagrees with that director ainson that if that's an option that would be great to be able to do I I I think we have we we'll continue to explore more but we've reached a a point where our covering that expense is going to be very challenging um and to your point about iPhones that's not our cost here I I've looked into that as well we have some savings but not to the tune of $37,000 if I remove iPhones but um well my other concern is we we did redo the locker rooms in 2008 in Twin Oak so we've already invested into that building and so I I go back to is this poor planning in the on in somebody's previous role and now we're here sitting here trying to clean up a mess um I would like to see it explored with moving it to We Will We and and we will my offer board is to continue as we've to continue to explore what viable options exist within that Avenue of doing that um and I would also say the would have could have should haves will be our greatest enemy of our own learning like what what brought us here today brought us here today and you know we are looking at what we can do moving forward so we will we will make that effort and if there's anything that we learn certainly bring that back to the board and I would just say that it's almost disingenuous if if this if this line item had come to us tonight and said $750,000 which was what it really is it would have been scratched 3 months ago I mean we would have said yep that's a no-brainer cuz that's the real cost it's not 75,000 right so that's I think how we have to look at this right if we can't keep it open and they not do it right that's part of our general fund budget right so like that that's that's a little B inous to say there's a lot of other C districtwide that that we have it would immediately become Priority One to do those we couldn't kick it down couldn't Kick the Can down the road anymore and so the question is is it Priority One for the school district keep this pool open and fix it everything that's wrong because that's what it's going to take I don't disagree with that I think there's a lot of other things on likee the 26 27 ltfm that are also very optional right that we could replace prioritize this over um right correct from R there's tennis courts there's tracks everything's on here so that again it's just a matter of prioritizing the ltfm for me that's separate than the general fund discussion in our budget right I don't hear you I'm a little challenged with something I heard at the very beginning of this presentation about replacing light bulbs to LED because we won some award last year for being like the most efficient district for energy use and so to me that's like a waste of resources going in and replacing lights when we run efficiently electrically so who's prioritizing these ltfm Cuts or you know what I mean the ltfm needs you know what I mean I it's interesting you bring up the I didn't mean to interrupt you I apologize no no no I'm just that's where I'm challenged because I agree that I agree if it was $750,000 it should have been on here listed as $750,000 um because I think this 75,000 is this leading to what it really cost to operate that pool you know so You' stated your attention of yes yes and yes our director Johnson i' unless Community Ed [Music] can show it I'm good with sticking to what we have here Mason um yeah I mean again I just feel like we could do a little bit more due diligence to feel comfortable with the decision I think that's it so that's my preference um all of it stinks I'm by moving forward okay so then discussion regarding any else was presented tonight that we haven't discussed