FARGO BOARD OF EDUCATION MINUTES REGULAR

FARGO BOARD OF EDUCATION MINUTES REGULAR MEETING February 28, 2023 The Board of Education of the City of Fargo met in regular session on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 5:30 p.m., at the District Office in the Board Room, located at 700 7th Street South in Fargo. Members present: Melissa Burkland Nyamal Dei Jim Johnson Katie Christensen Seth Holden Robin Nelson Greg Clark Tracie Newman Absent: Nikkie Gullickson President Newman called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Jim Johnson moved approval of the agenda with the addition of the HR addendum to be added to item 6.B. that was located at Board members’ work stations. Nyamal Dei seconded the motion. The motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). Two citizens addressed the Board. Deven Styczynski spoke on Memos #87 and 88. Matt Kosak spoke on Memo #88. Robin Nelson provided an update on the 2023 legislative session and the bills that are being tracked, including bills impacting school meals, funding, and North Dakota PERS. FEA President Kim Reger shared the Board and FEA teams have begun negotiating the next contract for teachers. She shared an appreciation for the tone of the sessions and collaboration occurring. President Reger shared that elementary school parent-teacher conferences are beginning, while the secondary schools completed theirs the week prior. Associate Superintendent Missy Eidsness shared a report in the absence of Dr. Gandhi, who joined the meeting via phone. She shared they are monitoring on the weather due to a projected winter storm. If the weather impacts holding school in person, the District will move to remote learning. The schedule for the remote learning day has been provided to staff and families and posted online. Jim Johnson moved adoption of the Consent Agenda with the addition of the HR Addendum. Seth Holden seconded the motion, which passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson) thereby causing the following actions to be taken: A. The minutes of the regular meeting of February 14 were approved as written. B. The following Human Resources actions were approved: 1. New Hires 2022-23: Samantha Squires, ECSE – Agassiz, MSUM, BA– 0 (Step 3) – at 100% - $15,108 (66 days) 2. Resignations 2022-23: Lisa Metzger, CTE/Career Advisor – North, Dates of Employment: 2020-2023, Effective Date: 6/2/2023; Amanda Walker, SPED/SLP – Ed Clapp, Dates of Employment: 2013-2023, Effective Date: 6/2/2023 C. The monitoring report for B/SR 1-5 was accepted. (Memo #87) President Newman presented Memo #88. State law requires that school boards evaluate their superintendent by March 15 of each year. Board Policy B/SR-5 outlines the process for monitoring the superintendent’s job performance. Board Policy B/SR-5 requires the evaluation document for the superintendent to be comprised of summaries and conclusions of the Board as a whole. Summaries and conclusions regarding the superintendent’s job performance were created using the individual assessments of the responding Board members. The summaries, conclusions, and satisfactory performance rating included in Memo #88 reflected the unanimous opinion of the individual Board members. President Newman shared that she created the summary document utilizing the exact phrasing by each Board member, and was careful not to alter their words. Robin Nelson moved the Board approve the annual evaluation of the Superintendent indicating satisfactory performance and to place a copy of the report in the Superintendent’s personnel file. Jim Johnson seconded the motion. Discussion occurred. Nyamal Dei moved to amend page 3 of the superintendent evaluation to insert the word ‘speaking’ between Spanish and students. Seth Holden seconded the motion. Upon call of the roll, the amendment passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). Upon call of the roll, the motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). (Memo #88) Director of Maintenance and Operations James Hand presented Memo #89. FPS plans to build a school that would first open as a campus serving grades 5, 8 and 9 that feed Davies High School. The campus would eventually transition to a middle school. Architect Services proposals were received on Thursday, January 26, 2023 for the 5-8-9 Campus Project. Five responses to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) were received. Administration interviewed the top three firms on Tuesday, February 7. Based on the final rankings, Administration negotiated a 5.45%-5.85% fee (pending project value, see fee schedule below) with YHR Partners for Architect Services for design of the 5-8-9 Campus project. Jim Johnson moved to authorize administration to enter into a contractual agreement for Architect Services with YHR Partners for a 5.45%-5.85% fee for design of the 5-8-9 Campus project which will ultimately be a middle school. Seth Holden seconded the motion. Robin Nelson shared a conflict of interest; an immediate family member works for BWBR. She doesn’t believe it meets the NDCC definition of conflict of interest, but wanted to state the family connection. Discussion occurred. Mr. Hand shared that due to inflation and the identification of proper square footage of the school, the cost of the school may be higher that originally projected; it could be up to $70-80 million instead of the $50 million originally projected. A higher budget of the project could lower the fee to the architect. He shared in the next couple of months there should be more known on cost as the schematic designs are finalized. Robin Nelson moved to amend the motion to strike “a 5.45%” and insert “up to a.” Seth Holden seconded the motion. Upon call of the roll, the amendment passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). Discussion occurred on the amended motion. Mr. Hand noted that in the chart on Memo #89, the labeling in the chart is flipped in the rubric for Location and Currrnt and Projected Workloads. However, the final scores in the table are correct. The table should read: Criteria Icon YHR EAPC JLG Zerr Berg Past Performance 58 65 39 59 66 The Ability of Professional Personnel 61 67 48 61 54 Time and Budget Requirements 45 57 26 52 46 Current and Projected Workloads 22 25 22 23 18 Location 15 7.5 15 15 15 Related Experience on Similar Projects 57 53 32 53 51 Totals 258 274.5 182 263 250 Upon call of the roll, the motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). (Memo #89) Mr. Hand presented Memo #90. Construction Manager at Risk proposals were received on Thursday, February 9, 2023 for the 5-8-9 Campus project. Five responses to the Request for Qualifications were received. The selection committee interviewed the top three firms on Tuesday, February 16. Based on the final rankings, Administration negotiated a $74,500 lump sum fee with Construction Engineers for Construction Management at Risk Design Phase Services on the 5-8-9 Campus project. Robin Nelson moved to authorize Administration to enter into a contractual agreement for Construction Manager at Risk Services with Construction Engineers for a $74,500 lump sum fee for Design Phase Services on the 5-8-9 Campus project. Greg Clark seconded the motion. Discussion occurred. Upon call of the roll, the motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). (Memo #90) Tara Brandner presented Memo #91. She shared that in the original approval of the agreement we were optimistic on the closing timeline. However, the land needs to be surveyed, platted and annexed in to the City of Fargo. The final closing date has yet to be determined. At this time, a second amendment needs to be approved by the Board. Robin Nelson moved to authorize the execution of the Second Amendment to Exchange Agreement with A&T. Seth Holden seconded the motion. Discussion occurred. Upon call of the roll, the motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). (Memo #91) Seth Holden shared an update on the negotiations process with the FEA. The groups have set ground rules, exchanged of topics for negotiations, and exchanged editorials. The Board needs to discuss strategy for their topics of negotiations. Seth Holden moved that the Board enter into executive session for the purpose of negotiations strategy as permitted under NDCC §44-04-19.1 and 15.1-16-22. Melissa Burkland seconded the motion. Upon call of the roll, the motion passed (Yes: Burkland, Christensen, Clark, Dei, Holden, Johnson, Nelson, Newman; Absent: Gullickson). President Newman entered into executive session at 6:21 p.m. The executive session was held in the Executive Conference Room on the second floor of the District Office. Eight Board members were present in the room, along with Dr. Grosz, Missy Eidsness, Tara Brandner and AnnMarie Campbell, recorder. During the session, discussion was held on negotiations strategy related to contract negotiations with the Fargo Education Association. The executive session ended at 6:32 p.m. Board members returned to the Board Room and open session resumed. Committee & Liaison Reports  The Governmental Affairs Committee will meet next on Tuesday, March 7 at 7:30 a.m. The committee will debrief the first part of the legislative session and discuss the timing of an information session during the legislative session. (Nelson)  Negotiations Committee is now negotiating with the FEA. Meetings with the FEA and committee meetings are scheduled weekly. (Holden)  A Planning Committee meeting was held. (Johnson)  Board member meetings/liaison visits: Nelson to Discovery for staff event; Dei to Horace Mann PTA meeting; Johnson to SEEC Board meeting; Christensen to C3TEC Board meeting; Newman to South High basketball games and Council on School Health meeting. President Newman reminded Board members of the importance of completing monitoring homework assignments. The next regular meeting was confirmed for Tuesday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the District Office. There being no further business to come before the Board, President Newman declared the meeting adjourned at 6:41 p.m. (April 5, 2023) 209614