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The Board of Trustees of Circle Elementary and High School District No. 1, McCone County, Montana, met in regular session on November 13, 2023 at 6:00pm in the high school library.

Trustees present: Krista Beery, Doug Shennum, Sara Moline, Cary Phillips, Emily Guldborg. Absent: Charity Calderon. Also in attendance were Clerk RaChelle Kirkegard, Superintendent Tara Hubing, Principal Mauri Elness, Lindsey Williams, Susan Erlenbusch, Bryce Hove, Britany Haynie, Josh Eissinger, Cheyenne Eissinger, Alan Stempel, and Ty Taylor.

Chairman Phillips opened the meeting with the pledge of allegiance.

There was no public comment on non-agenda items.

SCHEDULED VISITORYS

Cade Taylor entered the meeting via phone at approximately 6:05pm. He addressed 8th grade participation at the high school level in wrestling. There are some 8th graders he would like to move up immediately instead of waiting for the junior high season to end. Other Eastern teams are moving 8th graders up immediately and feels it is a recruiting advantage for the students when they could potentially have 5 years at the high school level compared to 4. The 8th grade participation policy was read from the student activity handbook and it was discussed that modifying the handbook mid-year is not a good practice to get into. The coaches stated that the 8th graders are needed to make a team at the high school level. Discussion was held on how wrestling is an individual sport and can continue on with their current numbers, compared to other non-individual sports where a certain number is required to put together a team to participate. It was stated how the high school team wouldn't be able to participate in duals if they don't have a team which means the kids would be missing out on meets. It was suggested that the 8th grade participation policy could be revisited next year.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Moved by Moline, seconded by Shennum to approve the minutes of the October 9, 2023 regular board meeting as presented. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

CONSENT AGENDA

Moved by Guldborg, seconded by Shennum to approve the consent agenda of September 30 cash, revenue, and expenditure balances, November payroll, October claims, September 30 and October 31 High School and Elementary Activity Accounts, payment of ASP salaries/benefits using ESSER III funds, and payment of Title 1 salaries/benefits using Title 1 grant money. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

AD REPORT

Football and volleyball had successful endings to their seasons. Volleyball placed 3rd at Divisionals and football made it to second round of playoffs. 4 volleyball girls were on the list for post season all conference/all state honors. Post season honors for football won't be known until the playoffs are done. Junior High sports have started with 10 wrestlers, 11 girls for basketball, and 6 boys for basketball. Due to the low numbers for boys basketball, the 5th graders were asked to move up and 2 did, which moved the numbers up to 8. The Class C realignment vote will be presented to the executive board at the November 20th meeting. Lindsey isn't sure if there is a strong enough presence in favor to make anything happen. There is discussion on having another Class C AD Summer Caucus meeting potentially in Great Falls. A ballot went out to vote for a football realignment which would go from having 5 different divisions to 4 divisions which would eliminate playing cross conference games and be easier to fill out the playoff brackets. 74% of the schools voted to move forward with the 4-division format so the 8-Man Committee will take the proposal to the MHSA Board at the November meeting. There are thoughts on moving state volleyball away from Bozeman due to how expensive Bozeman is for teams and spectators. Options will be discussed at the Allstate AD meeting in January. A new wiring harness is needed to fix the possession arrow on the scorer's table. Hopefully it will be here before Varsity games start.

PRINCIPAL REPORT

The high school staff are in the process of getting some MTSS training. The school is still stressing parent and community involvement and the teacher incentives for students during P/T conferences really seemed to get a lot of parents in to visit the teachers during those two evenings. Safety day was a huge success and Donuts for Dads is coming up this Thursday. The discipline log was reported.

SUPERINTEDNET REPORT

Kyleen and RaChelle applied for an additional grant to make purchases for our school lunch program from local providers. $8500 was requested/received and will be spread out in three payments throughout the school year. Fall enrollment count was October 2, 2023. The last 3 years show a slow but steady decline in enrollment. Policy 2158 and HB 518 provides the use of a career coach. OPI has a person that covers Eastern Montana and we will work with her in the spring to set up some job shadowing. The kitchen needs waxed asap and the lunch room will probably get waxed again over Christmas break. Roger now has access to the boiler system so he can monitor it on his phone and he got one of the panels working on the boilers so we didn't have to purchase a new one. The Haynie's have removed seats from the auditorium that are beyond repair and removed the back-row seats to fill in spots that were missing seats in the middle areas.

CONSIDERATIOIN OF SAFE RETURN TO SCHOOLS AND CONTINUITY OF SERVICES PLAN

No comments

2ND READING OF POLICY 1130-COMMITTESS

Moved by Moline, seconded by Guldborg to adopt the 2nd reading of Policy 1130 as presented. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

BUS APPROACH

Two maps were presented; a geographical map of the area where the bus approach is along with the sidewalks and the other an aerial view of the bus approach and sidewalks. The 3 areas that are addressed are the Base Bid: reconstruct the bus approach grade with new ADA sidewalk, Option 1: remove/replace the sidewalk between the Bo-Peep and the High School, and Option 2: new Bo-Peep stairs. As a prior board member involved with the bus approach project, Bryce Hove explained the details of the geographical map and then read MCA 18-2-502 which lists out the three criteria ( a minimum of two must be met) to not put the project out for bids even though it exceeds the $80,000 threshold, but instead move forward with the process of an alternative project delivery contract. He noted that he feels this project meets two of the three of the criteria. Further discussion was held between the board and Bryce on the process of the alternative project delivery contract. Moved by Guldborg, seconded by Shennum to go forward with the alternative delivery method contract and advertise for the request for qualifications. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board. The Board decided that the bus approach and the Bo-Peep stairs had highest priority and the sidewalk between Bo-Peep and the High School could wait until a later time but would like to see estimates broken out by each project for all three. Further discussion was held and a question about the fiberoptic was brought up. Tara Hubing has already spoken with Chris Kwasney at Mid-Rivers and he was not concerned about it as the project shouldn't require the fiber optic to be touched. Further discussion was held. Moved by Shennum, seconded by Moline to request an updated scope of work from Interstate Engineering for the Base Bid: Reconstruct Bus Approach Grade w/ New ADA Sidewalk and include Option 2: New Concrete Stairs to Bo-Peep. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

SENIOR CLASS TRIP

Cheyenne Eissinger, Senior Class President, addressed the Board with their plans to go to Orlando, Florida on March 21-25, 2024. They will fly and she shared their budget and tentative schedule. Discussion held. Moved by Guldborg, seconded by Beery to approve the 2024 senior class trip to Florida. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

POLICY 2510-SCHOOL WELLNESS

The wellness committee presented Policy 2510-School Wellness. Moved by Shennum, seconded by Guldborg to approve the 1st reading of Policy 2510.

VISITING LOCKER ROOM/WEIGHT ROOM/WRESTLING ROOM ROOF

During the building committee meeting held November 6, two estimates from Apex Roofing were reviewed; one to fix the roof over the weight room and wrestling room and another to fix the roof over the visiting locker rooms. The committee recommended to open both projects up for bids. Moved by Moline, seconded by Guldborg to advertise for bids to repair the roof over the visiting locker room, weight room, and wrestling room. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

The building committee talked about numerous painting projects, auditorium projects, and the high school gym ceiling project. Further discussion was held on the high school gym ceiling. The Board would like to advertise for estimates to install an insulated type waferboard on the inside of the high school gym ceiling with regards to acoustics. Bids should be turned into the district office with a deadline of December 29, 2023.

The staff holiday dinner is set for January 11, 2024.

Moved by Moline, seconded by Shennum to schedule the next regular boarding meeting for Monday, December 11, 2023 at 6:00pm in the high school library. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.

Moved by Beery, seconded by Guldborg to adjourn the meeting at 8:10pm. Motion carried unanimously by the combined board.