Heroic Efforts of Lake City Students
The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, EMS, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department and CDA School Board took a moment to recognize Preston DeMarre, Garrett Leonard, and Lucy Mendez for their heroic efforts saving the lives of 2 boys who drown near the North Idaho College dock. After rescuing the boys, the heroes performed CPR until one regained consciousness and the other was unconscious but breathing by the time the first responders got there. The heroes received a plaque from the first responders, a letter from Governor Little, and a waterproof Bluetooth speaker gift from the school board.
SPFL Levy Update and Thank You
The board thanks everyone who came out to vote for the levy, and thanks everyone who wrote into the CDA Press in favor of the levy. The board will not be putting the levy onto the November ballot; they will be looking into projects that need priority. They have a surplus of general fund balance that will be used to fund those maintenance/safety project most in need. (Maintenance funds discussed later in the meeting. Notes here.)
Public Comment
There were multiple comments about the Sources of Strength elementary curriculum and how we should NOT be using any type of social emotional learning curriculum in our children’s classrooms. Multiple comments were made about how most of the elementary-aged children do not know what the term “suicide” means and if there is a child who does have suicidal thoughts then a performance plan should be put in place for that ONE child which includes a therapist, school officials, and the parents. The teachers are not qualified to handle specialized training and handling a child who has suicidal thoughts takes a VERY qualified individual.
Conrad Woodall also spoke on the Sources of Strength elementary curriculum and how it is NOT based on evidence, everything is an experiment. I highly recommend listening to his public comment as he knows more about psychology and the research behind this curriculum than anyone who has stood up against it.
If anyone would like to look at the Sources of Strength elementary curriculum, it is still available to review online here or in the administrative offices.
There was one parent who has a child in Dalton Elementary who just learned that the school fingerprinted his daughter for lunch records. His family moved to the area in the middle of last school year and filled out an opt-out form when they registered their daughter. This year they were NOT given an opt-out form, either on paper or online, so he assumed that the form from last year carried over. His daughter came home from school last week and told him they had fingerprinted her. He spoke with a few other family members who have kids in other elementary schools and those kids went through the same process. There were no opt-out forms included in the start of the year registration paperwork. Board member Casey Morrisroe told the father that someone should be in touch with him but if anyone reading this has children in the school district, make sure that you fill out an opt-out form if you would prefer.
Consent Agenda/Additional Information - Contracted Services
This portion of agenda is for information only and did not have any conversation around the topics. I am adding a screenshot here for information; as we are asking for full transparency on expenditures here is the list of outside contracted services for special education private service providers. Because the special education contracted services equates to $554,000 for this school year, I am adding it to show the cost breakdown.
Solution Tree Contract
Professional development training specifically designed to bring “communities” into the teaching sphere. These trainings are marketed towards using ESSER funds before the funds expire.
Solution Tree will be bringing the PLC at Work training to the CDA School District in August, 2023, to be held at Lake City High School.
The CDA School District has signed a contract with Solution Tree for 700 attendees in the amount of $447,300, to be paid for with ESSER funds.
Superintendent Hocker is estimating that 350 seats will be used for CDA School District employees and he will be selling the other 350 tickets by inviting surrounding school districts for approx. $750 each ticket. The Shocker is hoping to make about $250,000 from the sale of those tickets.
Erin’s thoughts: The sale of these tickets feels like “washed” money. The federal government is (essentially) paying for this training and regional school districts will be paying CDA to attend. The CDA school district will be making money off of federal funds. Just a random thought.
FY22 Unaudited Actuals
The school district is going through an annual third-party audit; those findings should be available in October/November.
The unaudited actual balance of the district shows that there was a $1.2M variance between the budgeted and actuals “due to a savings from vacancies, right sizing personnel from the Spring of 2020, which was used for the baseline FY22 budget, and less spending on non-personnel costs (NERCS) due to C0vid restrictions on travel and professional development and disruptions in the supply chain.” The budget accuracy percentage was 98.31%.
The ending fund balance for June 30, 2022, totals roughly $12 million. The Finance Director recommended that $5 million be transferred to the Plant Facilities Fund so the district can start repairing buildings – which was the reason for the Plant Facilities levy ask on the August 30 ballot.
The transfer recommendation was accepted with the additional ask that Dr. Hocker put together a list of prioritized projects WITH budgets/estimates for each project. The school board said that a big problem for the community is the lack of transparency and there should be a list of projects and funds designated to those projects that is readily available for the board and community to peruse. The Shocker did NOT have a priority list and, after a bit of cajoling, agreed to putting one together with a “sort of” budget to bring back to the board. The board gave The Shocker 90 days to put that list together with budgets.
Upcoming Dates
Monday, September 19 – Board workshop discussing Sources of Strength curriculum
Monday, October 3 – Board regular meeting
Monday, October 17 – Board workshop