April 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Regular School Board Meeting

Discussion:  Vice-Chair Dustin Shourds will be attending the board meeting remotely at:
Hampton Inn & Suites, 200 7th St. W., St. Paul, MN 55102.

Member Jarrod Miller will be attending the board meeting remotely in the commons at Staybridge Suites, 3009 South Broadway, Minot, ND 58701.

Discussion:  Nancy Runia, Student Success Coordinator, High School
Emily Olson, Head Cook, Sanford Elementary

Discussion:  Chelsea Melvin resigned as Assistant Head Cook at Sanford
Becky Holzheimer resigned as a Special Ed Assistant at High School
Hanna Maloney is resigning as a High School English Teacher, effective at the end of the 24-25 school year.
 

Discussion:  Holly Spicer will be moving to the Elementary Special Ed Teacher position beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
 

Discussion:  Watson Lions Club donated $100 to the Individuals with Disabilities program.

Discussion:  The winter activities season provided our community with incredible entertainment and the School Board would like to congratulate our students on their hard work, dedication, and results.  We had many individual successes and accomplishments that are listed in the attachment; congratulations!  We would also like to acknowledge the Dance Team (Jazz and Kick), Boys Basketball, and Knowledge Bowl for their teams qualitying for state tournaments/competitions!

You have all represented our district well!

Discussion:  We have received letters of desire to negotiate from the Principals Association, Montevideo Education Association,  as well as the Custodial/Maintenance Association.  The negotiations committee will convene to discuss timelines.  This is simply an informational item at this time.

Discussion:  Adam Spray, Chief Businness Official, will be presenting the preliminary FY26 budget.

Discussion:  Mr. Spray will be on hand to discuss the FY26 health insurance renewal rates.

Discussion:  Matt Hammer of Ehlers Financial will be on hand to to provide an executive summary of the proposed financing, a schedule of the timing/process, and estimated financial schedules for our bond issuance for the tax abatement and IAQ projects. Matt will answer any questions board members may have at this time.

No Action is needed at this time.

Discussion:  Bids have been completed for the school district parking lot improvements as outlined in the attachment.  Bids came in positively and will allow for all alternates to be included within budget.

Acceptance of this bid is recommended by RA Morton and Superintendent McKittrick

Discussion:  Dear Mr. McKittrick and School Board Members,

Bids for the Montevideo High School Gymnasium HVAC Improvements were opened on Tuesday March 18, 2025 at 2:00 pm. This was a virtual public opening.

The results of this Bid Package process include the following highlights:
• 7 bid divisions were established for re-bidding.
• Local and regional contractors were directly contacted to inform them of the project and request bids for the project.
• Regional Building Exchanges were provided with bid documents.
• 15 separate bids were collected and opened at bid opening.
• 1 Alternates were bid to identify specific costs for additional work.

(Please see the attached bid tabulation.)
By utilizing a Construction Management bid process, exact costs by bid section have been obtained to verify the true cost of work as specified. We are pleased with the level of local contractor interest and with the quality of the contractors who submitted bids.

The next step in the process is to approve the base bids and alternate contingent upon a successful pre-award interview with the apparent low bid contractors to confirm their bid amount and construction schedule.

Sincerely,

Preston Euerle
President, RA Morton

Discussion:  It is recommended that the board approve the individual whose name was communicated to the board prior to the board meeting.  This honor is revealed at the Staff Recognition Dinner in May, hence not putting the name in the board documents.  Please keep the name of the recipient confidential until the Staff Recognition Dinner..

Discussion: 

As we discern the most effective way to provide high quality food service operations in our district, Mr. McKittrick sought out Taher, Inc to provide a presentation on how 3rd party food service operations works for an advisory committee. The presentation was impressive and the overall opinion was to proceed in presenting the concept to our food service staff.  This was completed on April 7 and the consensus was to recommend the school board seek RFP's for food service management services.  The process involves an application for permission to MDE, which Mr. Spray has completed and submitted, approval by the board to seek bids, posting in accordance to RFP guideline, acceptance of RFP's on the set submission deadline, assessment of RFP's based upon an approved rubric, and action on the RFP's.  By beginning this process tonight we will meet all timelines and allowing a decision to be made at the regular June board meeting.

It is recommended that the School Board take action to seek bids for 3rd party food service services.  This action will allow for bid documents to be completed and a bid timeline established.  

This action is recommended by Superintendent McKittrick.

Discussion:  As discussed in December, we put district auditing services out for bid. We received 2 proposals: Abdo Solutions and Hoffman and Brobst. The financial bids were equal, so evaluation-based service desires were evaluated.

It is being recommended to accept the bid of Abdo Solutions for FY25 and FY26 audit services.

Mr. Spray will be on hand to answer questions.

Discussion:  To repair the ceiling grid and replace up to 250 of the approximately 1,600 ceiling tiles of the pool, FM Acoustics has submitted the low bid as follows:

Tile work - $23,784.00
Scaffolding $6,800.00
Total - $30,584.00

It is the recommendation of RA Morton and Superintendent McKittrick to accept this bid.