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minutes meeting date 2025-10-16 · fetched 2026-09-17 · 11142 characters · official file · plain text
Ririe Joint School District #252 Thursday October 16, 2025 6:00 pm School Board Work Meeting Minutes 6:00 pm – The Ririe Joint School District #252 Board of Trustees met on Thursday October 16, 2025 at 6:00 pm for their scheduled monthly School Board Work Meeting. Board Chair Cook welcomed all those in attendance and asked everyone to please rise and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. All did so. 6:00 pm – Board Chair Cook asked that roll call be taken. Roll call was taken and those in attendance were as follows: Board Chair Brigham Cook, Vice Chair Angela Reed, Assistant Treasurer Megan Coles, Trustee Dallin Howell, Superintendent Gee, Business Manager Trapper McCallister and Board Clerk/Treasurer Kristi Hamilton. Trustee Mike Hansen was not present and was excused from the meeting tonight. 6:01 pm – Action Item – Board Chair Cook entertained a motion to amend the Board Work Meeting Agenda. Angela made a motion to amend the Agenda by correcting Item 5f to Policy “5350”, rather than 5330, due to an incorrect policy number given. Megan seconded; passed unanimously. Board Chair Cook then entertained a motion to approve the amended agenda. Megan made a motion to approve the amended agenda. Angela seconded; passed unanimously. 6:01 pm – Item 5/New Business a. Discussion Item - Elementary School BOND Discussion. Superintendent Gee commented that he would like to talk about the timeline first. He commented that he and Trapper both feel like this needs to be moved to the May 2027 election. He commented that will give them 18 months to make sure everything is done correctly and on time. Trapper commented that trying to run it in November 2026 will be hard because we will already be running a Supplemental Levy on that day and he doesn’t feel like running both a Supplemental and BOND in the same election is the best choice for the district. He explained further. Board Chair Cook asked what the enrollment of in-district students is this year. Superintendent Gee brought up the enrollment spreadsheet and explained. He informed that we have the same number of students overall as we had last year, which is 709. He then broke it down by grade. Discussion occurred. Board Chair Cook asked if they could move the 6th grade up to the JrSr High School to free up some space at the current elementary if necessary before a new Elementary School is built. Superintendent Gee commented that there are things that could be done, if necessary. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee then brought up the spreadsheet of growth that Pat Bragassa put together for the district. He read over the information and explained. Megan asked if this spreadsheet includes the Brown’s development that some homes have already been built on. She commented that she believes there are 8 lots. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented on the old sports park development and the Foster development. He went back to the spreadsheet and commented that we have to factor in the growth that is coming. Question was asked if we have less out-of-district students this year. Superintendent Gee informed that yes, those numbers are lower. He commented that he still feels like they need 18 months to properly prepare to run a BOND. He commented that there is a lot of work to complete before running it. Angela commented that there is also a lot of groundwork that needs to be done by the Board and District to get the community to buy into and support building a new elementary school. Trapper commented that we want as much community input as possible before we come up with any plans. He explained further. He commented that he and Superintendent Gee would like ideas and suggestions from the Board of how to get the community involved. Angela commented that part of what made the Supplemental Levy election successful was the Board stepping up and doing the work needed to get the word out to the community. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented that he would like to start by asking the community what they would like to see happen, as in; do they want a Gym added, etc… Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented that if the election is held in May 2027, the resolution language will be due in March 2027. He explained further. Board Chair Cook asked if the Supplemental Levy election could be moved up to May 2026 and hold the BOND election in November 2026. Trapper commented that is a possibility, but will create more issues, along with tightening up the length of time to prepare. He explained. Superintendent Gee commented that he and Trapper can put some information together to bring to the Board next month regarding the Supplemental Levy. Trapper commented that in his opinion, the more time between the two elections, the better. Superintendent Gee informed that he has been in contact with the banker from Zions Bank who will at some point come before the board with some good ideas and suggestions. He commented that the big decision tonight is if the board is okay with Trapper and him setting a timeline to run a BOND election in May 2027. Discussion occurred. Angela asked some questions about modulars. Superintendent Gee commented that he will check into that. Board Chair Cook asked Superintendent Gee if he would like the Board to form a committee yet, and if so, how many people would he like on the committee. Superintendent Gee asked if the Board wants a committee who makes decisions and then brings those back to the Board. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented that he would like to start talking to people as soon as next week. Discussion occurred. Angela suggested asking the community “why do we need a new elementary school”. She commented that everyone needs to do all of the steps that need to be done in preparation to run a BOND. She commented that she doesn’t want this done wrong. Superintendent Gee brought up a list of bullet points that he and Trapper put together. He asked the Board if there is anything else they would like added to this list. Discussion occurred. Board Chair Cook suggested getting Matt Harris’ classes involved in putting together some infomercials or other similar things for the BOND. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented that he will seek advice from the attorney about that. Superintendent Gee then asked if the Board is okay with he and Trapper putting together an RFQ. Discussion occurred. b. Discussion Item – School Board Policy; 3330 – Bullying Definition. Superintendent Gee brought up the verbiage, read over it, and explained. He informed that this information, minus the portion directly from Idaho Code, comes from our insurance company, via the Safe Schools training videos. Discussion occurred. He informed that the Idaho Code portion is already in our policy. Megan commented that she had a discussion with our SRO who said we are ahead of the game as far as our cell phone policy. She commented that he really didn’t like the way the “unfair match” is written, because he feels like that verbiage defines the individual, not the behavior. Superintendent Gee commented that “unfair match” could mean intellectual, verbal, physical, etc… he explained further. Discussion occurred. Superintendent Gee commented that he likes the way this is written because it falls directly in line with how the teachers are being trained. Megan asked if the videos are up to date and relevant or if they are outdated. Comment was made that they are updated every year to current issues. Discussion occurred. Board Chair Cook commented that he thinks that the Student Handbook is a better place to expound on the specifics of this. He explained further. Megan asked if there is verbiage regarding bullying on school devices and/or property, such as their Chromebooks. Discussion occurred. Board Chair Cook commented that he would like Superintendent Gee to ask the SRO for some input on this. c. Discussion Item – Project Updates Bleachers – Trapper informed that the Elementary bleachers have been delivered and are set to be installed on Tuesday, October 21st. He explained further. He also informed that he does not have a definite number of shipping costs due to tariffs but he has been told it will be around $4,000, which is less than he initially anticipated. Discussion occurred. Auditorium – Trapper informed that the Auditorium is complete, with the exception of a few minor touch ups. He explained. Boiler – Trapper informed that the boiler at the elementary is functional and running. He commented that we still do not have control of it however. He commented that it is frustrating and exciting, but is nearing completion. He explained further. He then informed that the parking lot light poles will be installed in the next week or two. d. Discussion Item – Board/Staff Listening Session Dates. Superintendent Gee informed that the first listening session has typically been done at this time of year. He displayed the calendar for Board discussion of possible dates. Angela commented that this is usually done on a Friday. Discussion occurred holding this on December 12th at noon. e. Discussion Item – Family Game Nights. Superintendent Gee informed of what nights Matt Harris has suggested for these. Discussion occurred. Angela commented that she thinks that the Board should be in charge of Wrestling this year. Board Chair Cook commented that he feels like these need to be done on game nights that are going to draw bigger crowds. Discussion occurred on holding Family Game Nights on December 19th, December 20th, and January 28th. f. Discussion Item – School Board Policy; 5350 – Retention Bonuses. Superintendent Gee brought up the policy. Megan read over the policy and commented that we haven’t been following or recognizing it. She commented that there has been a lot of teachers who have resigned over the last several years who received a retention bonus and probably shouldn’t have. She continued to read over the policy. Angela commented that Board Policy; Section 5000 was just reviewed last month. Megan read over the sentence regarding the timeline of staff members resigning. Superintendent Gee commented that the decision to hold an employee to this is ultimately up to the Board. Discussion occurred. Megan commented that she would like to have this added to the November Board Agenda for further discussion. Discussion occurred regarding when retention bonuses are or should be given out. Angela commented that in her opinion they should be given out at the end of the year, after they have worked the entire year. Discussion occurred. 6:58 pm – There being no further discussion in the School Board Work Meeting tonight, Board Chair Cook entertained a motion to adjourn. Megan so moved. Dallin seconded; passed unanimously. Reviewed & Approved: November 20, 2025 Board Chair: Brigham Cook Board Clerk: Kristi Hamilton
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