We've got to come across as open and willing to hear all opinions. Very good. Thank you, Jim, for taking time out tonight to come give us some information. Tony, we appreciate it. Thank you very much. And thanks, Brad, for giving us an opportunity. Nice to talk to you guys. You bet, Jim. Thanks for your presentation and we'll be in touch. Okay. Moving on to facilities and use of facilities. The first thing is, as far as the facilities piece, Clint is on and I've shared his powerpoint with you and I'll go through that as well when it goes through things, but he's with BG consultants and we've contacted him and Johnny that was the structural engineer piece of that. We've had an informal walkthrough to go through the buildings and then to get an idea of what we were looking for. And then as so Clint and I were talking, we got into more things that they particularly do as far as the total program from the structural piece, the pre-bond work, the campaign itself, and their marketing piece as well and what they do with other groups and have done in the past and particularly the Manhattan School District where they've built a long range facilities plan, but then that drives their bonds and what they're doing in the future with things for that school district. So I will go ahead and pull that up, Clint, and if you wanted to go ahead, I'll let you go, but Clint Hibbs with BG consultants. And thank you very much, Brett. I'm grateful for the opportunity to visit with you. I hope you can all hear me well. I love what I do. I am an architect. I did really enjoy Jim's sharing information with you. Let me try it on. Everything that we're about when we're looking at districts is about communication and that community engagement is a huge piece. So I've just got a couple of slides just to share a little bit about who we are. It's always nice. I really do enjoy the opportunity to engage with you all, even if it is via Zoom, if you will. I'm an architect. I grew up in Kansas, South Central Kansas. I actually grew up in a small rural school district. So I absolutely love just the engagement of the community. We had bond issues that we had to go through and work through as a community and it kind of really just got my interest peaked in architecture. A little bit about BG. Brad's got us on a slide. We're really focused on being a full service firm. We have architects, interior designers, civil engineers, structural, mechanical and plumbing surveyors. I think that you're already engaged with some facilities, assessments, perhaps, on the mechanical, electrical side, kind of on the energy. We think that's important. Back in 1976, an engineer, a surveyed an architect. They got together. Thanks, Brad. They had an idea of just like, well, what if we get everybody together on the same page? They had an architecture student working with them part-time and they decided to grow into this multidisciplinary firm. So here in the Midwest and Kansas, that's not as common as we might see on the East or West Coast, where you kind of have all disciplines infused together, working together as a team. It's really dynamic. It's really interesting. What that does, I believe, for you and for other districts that we've met with and dealt with is it means that you have one point of contact on that point of contact or working for you. But then I'm able to meet day to day and generally, pre-COVID times, I'm also sitting right next to my colleagues, you know, their engineers and so forth. Now, I'm zooming with a lot. You can tell on my background, I'm working remote just because I'm out more often with clients and districts and things like that, just to help keep the team safe at home, if you will, at the office. So then I'm constantly getting around different pathogen teams of that nature, I guess. So it's a little bit of a bad our background. If you go to the next slide, if you don't mind, I just want to kind of hit on a couple things. So part one, structural evaluation. Brad and I reached out to our team. We're familiar with about from the past. We're also very familiar with your school district. I was really kind of excited when we walked through the old building for the high school. I actually recall years ago, I'm a beekeeper on the sideline. I haven't been keeping bees well recently just because of some things with the health of bees. But there was a hive of bees that at least we thought were getting into the high school. And so one of the maintenance individuals had called me over and I went down and walked through the building. We saw there were indeed honeybees inside your high school, but they weren't living there. They were just temporary guests. So I think that was a good find at the time. But being able to walk through, Johnny, Klavia and I, he's our structural engineer. He wasn't present here today. He's on personal leave right now, just on vacation with his family. But he's really focused on the structural parts of buildings. We understand that you have some great buildings, old buildings, trying to figure out what are you going to do with those buildings? Are those assets that you're going to carry through with your bond improvements? Are you not? What is the cost to improve and sustain those facilities? How do you make empowered decisions? So what we understand is that you're looking at a couple of things for the high school and for the middle school, both at Alma and Paxaco. We took a look at those. And if you look at the next slide, this isn't your building by any means. But if you take a look at this graphic, what this is is an idea that kind of shows you when we do a structural evaluation, what we're doing is we're not just looking at the building and saying, well, this building looks like it's moving because it appears that the parapet is in a certain condition or there's moisture infiltration coming in. What we want to do is be able to provide you a real in-depth look and understanding of what your buildings are going through right now, today, and what's making them move or not move, what's making them change. And so what you represent here, the idea is arrows. How are your loads going through your building? What we provided you is our two basic structural fee elements. And what those look at is coming through with our engineer and our, if we're going to look on site, we're going to surgically look at just those areas that are in the high school. You have by the weight room. We also have some locations, particularly in the, I guess perhaps about I'm speaking correctly, if I say the middle school in Paxaco, looking at those two locations, we're going to look at the areas where there's some serious inquiries on to how the buildings are stabilized. The next proposal we have within that scope is to go and do a lot more detail on that structural evaluation. Now, if you stay right there, one thing I'd like to kind of bring to the table of discussion is I know that there is a little bit of discussion about your master planning efforts. Your district is really unique. It's got some unique challenges. All districts do and that needs to be tailored. One thing that's really fascinating, as I mentioned, I grew up in South Central Kansas. I grew up on a farm. We dealt a lot with weed. There was something that was around me all the time, so it was what I'm familiar with. Well, when we deal with the bond with the district, here's the issue. There are a lot of ideas out there. Everybody in the community is contributing to that bushel of idea. And so you see here, yeah, there's a lot of wheat grains, but there's a lot of contribution that comes together to create a successful crop. At the end of the day, if you want to have a successful bond, you want to have a successful campaign for improvements, you need to understand what your facility needs are, but you need to have it in a way that everybody understands kind of what's going on. If you look at the fundamental element, and this is something that Jim had mentioned, and I do absolutely agree with him, we approach the process with the bond efforts that is maybe a little bit more unique and more tailored than you might see in some of the traditional approaches. We've tailored our approaches. I'll explain a little bit why, because at the end of the day, we need to have consensus. We have all the individuals in our community. How do we get the majority of them to understand what challenges you're having as a district? You've already started working through these things. You have some experience with HDK, some work that they've done. If you go to the next slide, Brad, the question is how do we realize your vision out of all the different ideas out there, all those kernels of ideas, how do we realize your vision? Well, at the end of the day, it's about the master plan. The master plan isn't specifically about the bond. The master plan is about the pathway moving forward where you are today, knowing where you want to be tomorrow. And so there's three huge components to this. One, and of course, this pretty sounds pretty familiar, but the master planning steps, getting the community involved, doing a lot of research. And so really to kind of culminate what I think really matters, fact finding makes a difference. When you do a deep level facility evaluation, I've reviewed the information that you've had previously, and it's all good information. We go into detail, and we really look at what is the condition of your facilities today in detail? What is that going to look like in the future? Then we establish goals with you, and we want to do that with the community at the same time to say, here's the challenge, here's the problem, and give the community an opportunity to give voice to what their thoughts are. And we get a lot of ideas. Remember that pile of kernels of wheat that I had previously shown? Well, the same ideas when we get involved with the community, they're going to have ideas all over the place. They're going to want to not do anything. They're going to want to do a ton. They want to do various things that are based on their interests. We want to hear every single idea that they have, and we want to be able to share that in a platform that allows them to feel empowered, that they had a voice heard. And that was a little bit about what Jim was mentioning when they do those survey calls and reaching out. Those community forums really do matter. That way we can establish the goals, and then you've already set the stage for success for your capital improvements plan. Then we can go through and evaluate and determine the needs, revisit that with the community, and then focus on concepts for delivery. So if you scroll down there to where we have those numbers, I think they're number 11. Yeah, so the master planning process again, what we want to do is review where you've been. Then this is kind of what our service would be to you. We want to conduct site assessments and not just a high level site assessment. One of the things that I found, I've worked very closely with a lot of facilities, directors, if you will, with districts, one of the challenges they've had in boards is when they get done with master plans with architects. And I'm an architect, I'm guilty. I'm a proud species. But at the end of the day, what we find is that we need to provide a deliverable that not only helps you with your bond today or an improvement you're going to do, but it needs to be something that you're for, that you can, and your facility's team can actually approach when we're gone, when we're not at the table with you that you can move forward with. That's the kind of level that we've developed and tailored our plan to do. And just as Brad had mentioned, we've really used USD 383 most recently with their bond package process. The planning efforts that set up that phase of success with the community was all centered on being able to get down a process that really looked at the facilities so they could determine what they would use, what buildings they wouldn't, and how they would move forward. Again, visiting with the communities a part of that so we can create some vision. Now if you go down to the next part, this is the process that you'll typically see. So if you look at this top area, this is master planning process, community input, I can actually copy the community input that usually isn't early on in the process. Typically what we'll have is assessing your refinement, assessing your prioritizing your needs and developing facility options, talking with the board, coming up with an idea, then go to the community saying, okay, here's what we have as a challenge, here are some ideas that we've come together with. What we want to do is we want to make the community become a part of that process, not to change the direction of your vision for the district, but to allow that voice of the community to be heard early on so they can maintain a success. You're already close, you're right there, just a number of votes away, but if you go down there where we had that second master planning process, community input, we want them up at the beginning. That's something that I enjoy as an architect, really getting them involved with the community, not just once, but getting them in from the very beginning. That's really where the foundation of success is. That's why Jim before with ASA strategic funding, that's why they get involved is because they're trying to create that connection. You can do that from the very beginning, you can incorporate companies just like Jim's in that same process, but the architect can be a powerful vehicle for you to really make some headway. Even those who would generally be against this type of work, they understand in the master plan, hey, we have these challenges. What do you think we can do to come up with a solution? What we're trying to do is understand what the expects from the board of education from the district. What are they looking for? And there's a number of items we can look at. Some of this stuff I think has already been kind of reviewed a little bit with some HDK's work and things of that nation that we can build on, but if you go to that next slide on community engagement, this is really it. It's getting a voice. We want to give a voice to teachers, a voice to the parents, a voice to the students. And what we find and what I've been finding with a lot of the districts and not just public but even private organizations and private schools is that everybody feels that the students and the teachers and the parents and the board are getting their voice heard. What a lot of them are wanting to feel is that the community in general getting heard, even those who may not have children in the school program and the systems, how can these sites be of value to those communities even if they're having a different function or what happens if those schools need to be consolidated in a different location? Now I want to go to another thing. I'm going to have a word on DNA. I'm explaining what I mean by that. DNA is about what your building is about. If you jump on to the next slide, fact finding is really what we need to understand. There isn't anybody or any district that will find a difficult will not. There's no way that you can run forward without having a foundation of where you've been. And it needs to be done. We can do this just a third-party perspective. We don't have to be involved in any of the other virtual work. We'd love to, but we want to give you deep understanding. So the simple truth of the facilities, if you look at that next slide that you have on there, Brad, is that really your districts are working on buildings. And the simple truth is that your portfolio is ever changing. You have five buildings, five campuses, if you will. You have so many students. You have so many facility needs. What do you do? I know a lot of you may have seen a movie back in the 80s. I think it was The Money Pep. I'm not going to hit on detail. It was a great movie to watch, but it was one of those things where they get into this facility and you know what, one of the quotes from the beginning of that movie, at least it was on the covers, used to be, you know, if they've got what it takes, it's going to take everything. They've got to get the work done. Well, our facilities feel like that sometimes. You look at your facilities, you look at the re-roofs that need to be done. You look at your exterior facilities, maintaining those walls. We understand that. That's something that I have done millions of square foot of evaluations over the last six years. It's incredible what we've been doing throughout the state of Kansas, and why we've been doing it is because a lot of our entities understand that they need to know their buildings. They need to know them well enough that they can plan ahead before there's problems. One of the challenges you will probably have as a district, I've seen this with a lot of them I've dealt with, is that when you have, say you're working on like a bond or some other effort, a lot of the community says, well, look, you've had these buildings. Why haven't you taken care of them? Well, it's not so easy. There is a load-bearing component to every building. We call it the foundation. Well, what we can bring to the table is a real deep level of that foundation for you on where your facilities really are at, so that the community can have a deep understanding of the fact that you have invested in your building, and that it takes continued investment to sustain them, and then they can make a determination. Do you continue with your existing facilities? Do you expand your facilities? Do you reuse? Do you not? What are the costs implications to that? So the challenge is trying to figure out what you do with your facilities. Do they fit your program? There was a French actor, he once said this, and it's right there by that pile of rocks. The greater the obstacle, the more glory and overcoming it. That's the challenge you have is overcoming those unique needs. I'm not going to hit a lot right now on the facility issues, but there's a lot of issues with facilities. If you look at the National Center of Education Statistics, a lot of incredible information. When we're able to help you get an understanding of really where your buildings are at, not just, well, you need to re-roof because it's going to cost this much, but we can say, look, you have this much square footage of this much roof of this type. What you can understand is that your facilities have a physical function. They also have a educational function where they're actually trying to pull together a needs. You don't need to just adapt to those spaces. You need to really create adequate supporting spaces. I have found that community will rally behind you if they understand that there is a deep understanding of the value of that DNA of building that's in place with the understanding that you have a plan moving forward with it. So the assessment, well, I would recommend, and one of the things that we have in our proposal for you is to do a deep-level inventory where we look at condition and functionality. We take condition to a level beyond what you will have seen in other facility assessments. What that means is that we look at your facilities, we look at the drawings, the plans, but we don't stop there. We meet with the teachers, those who are managing the facilities. We understand what are the deep issues. You have drainage issues significant settlement. What you're seeing on the slide that's slowly coming up where it says plans, notes, history, discussion. This is all historical record document of our efforts working with one school. I think this was a Bergman Elementary School recently, just as one example. And it also identifies when they were placing products or a table under history. You can see a bunch of items and colors. Those identified for us when the school had done minor repairs. We were able to quantify that so we're not just saying, well, look, you have to do an entire re-roof. So this is how much it's going to be when you master plan. We can actually tailor it so that we can get realistic costs within a zero to five, six to 10, 11, 20-year time frame. At the end of the day, we realize that it's your vision that matters. And the community can become a partner in that, whether you're focusing on safer schools, improving your buildings and systems, whether you're going for aligning to today's curriculum, what have you. We know that all matters. And really, I think the last piece I want to share, as I think on this final slide, 29, is that realizing your vision, taking that one kernel, having everybody on the same page, really will allow you to gain that direction of yes, having agreement of not just your master plan, but anything that you might do as a culmination of that. If you're looking in November to pursue a bond effort, all of these efforts are able to be accomplished timely. And they can be shown in detail. I didn't add in here detail specifically, but we go through the process of showing plans. People want to see, they want to not know what just the issues are, but they want to be a process to understand, well, where do we add onto a building here, or where do we relocate? What's the best place to put a new building? Or to add, renovate and then allowing them to see it, not just talking in square footages and just cost values, but helping them be able to see the buildings so that they can see a floor plan that can associate with what the improvements are, helps them realize that you've taken all of these components together and really moved forward with a vision. So I want to thank you for that. I can go through more detail, but I just wanted to give you a quick preface, because really we've tailored ourselves to be able to be of service to in the proposal I submitted for your consideration. We go through a couple of different scenarios for your consideration. One is a surgical facility needs assessments, or I'm sorry, structural evaluation, where we go and we calculate the loads and the buildings and what the specific needs are. We also have a second evaluation where there you go. Thank you. Where we go into a lot more detail. So the one that says structural evaluation and there's a complete site building structural evaluation, it's the difference between looking at the areas where there's concern and then looking at the building overall and saying, well, we think overall your building complex is going to be in a good condition. The other component is to look at physical condition assessments. I think I'd given an update to this, and I apologize, this doesn't seem to have all the updates on there, but we do a physical condition assessments where we can just find the details alone. Oh, there we go. The complete site building evaluation and then there's a long-term facility master plan. And so the way this facility master plan comes into play is that we go through, we do the school assessments and the forecasted findings that go into detail. And I would highly encourage you to contact Matt Davis, I can give you several other contacts of individuals that have gone through the process and used this information, not just for their master plan, but for ongoing efforts. Even after, I'm involved with the bond right now with all of USG-383 and they're continuing to utilize efforts we prepared for them during the master planning effort, because the information we provided to them, it's incredible what's happening there. I did put a value for assisting with education, specifications and space programming, just if you want it partly because you may want to define some of those, those expectations that you'll have just on a spatial need within your educational program. How do you want to tailor your needs specific to spread programs, title one and other functions as well as looking at your long range campus master planning efforts. So these kind of all add in up to a fair value, I think about $59,700 and you can add on to that or if you don't desire to get involved with that, we can get involved with some of the pre-bond election services. Now Jim, his company really focuses on those pre-bond election services in a little bit of detail. Our firm is also able to do that. One thing I do want to emphasize is I'll be honest, we're a mid-sized firm. We're not going to be able to do services for you and you know, just do it for free if that makes sense. But what we do is when we go through the process, if you look at the long range facilities master plan, all of that cost in there is part of the traditional planning process with more detail that allows us to go towards a level of service that can allow streamlined momentum as you go into the bond process and as you go into the bond implementation. So once you've passed that bond, what we've done is we set up that there is a certain percentage of work effort that's done where we're actually going to be providing for you, not just a pretty visual for people to buy into, but we're going to provide layouts, plans, ideas that everybody can have an understanding of. Well, what really is exactly happening with your master planning effort and with your bond effort? Modifications do change and do come into place, but what I've encountered is that in this process, we don't have to reinvent the wheel continuing forward. And so one of the things to keep in mind is that our upfront cost, that ranging from that 60 to 90,000, depending on if you do the long-range facilities master plan in the pre-bond election services, one or the other. Usually, and I believe it's a little bit lower than that, the value of that, depending on what you want us to do ranges from $44,000 to $89,000 basically right off that we take off of the next phase of your project. So it's basically the first step in your actual design project, if that makes any sense is how we have it set up in our scope of services so that we don't have to charge you again to do preliminary design when it's already been prepared. The structural valuations, I do want to emphasize those are separate or in addition to any long-range facility master plan or pre-bond election services. The reason being is that that is about going through numerical calculations of loading as well as what's the recommendations of the improvements in the walkthroughs with the contractor on site. I wanted to kind of go through this pretty briefly and pretty quick, so I've really hit it really hard and fast and I know there's probably a lot of questions. I just really want to open it up to you now to answer any questions you may have on our scope of services. So just to clarify, the long, so the structural engineering part, the building assessments, those items, that's separate from the long-range master plan, those would be two separate costs. So that's a great question. So the structural evaluations are a separate cost, whether you do an entire building or a portion of the building, I've identified those, you know, worth about 8,000 per site for a surgical evaluation and then 18,000 to 20,000 per site for a full survey. Now those are structural analysis. The long-range facilities master plan, it goes into detail and that includes every facility. The one thing that does not include, it doesn't include structural analysis. We'll identify issues, replacement costs of all, we affect every system, it just doesn't address how loads are calculated to transfer through your building system. And so the items that I generally describe for the most part are all part of that long-range facility plan effort. Okay, thank you. If you describe the, sorry, go ahead. No, no, you ahead. Could you describe a little bit more detail regarding the difference between a structural evaluation and a complete site building structural evaluation? Is a structural evaluation only portions of the building? So the two items there, so the structural evaluation and the complete site building structural evaluation, they're both structural evaluations. But the first one is looking at the areas of the high school and at the middle score where we were pointed out there were issues with movements or other items are cracking in the walls. And those look at those sections, those areas of the building. So we look at the roof in that region of the school, but we don't look at the entire roof at walls that may be on the opposite side of the building, for example, in the structural evaluation, in the complete site building evaluation, structural evaluation. We're looking at every beam, every column, everywhere from roof down to foundation, just to assess the conditions. We may find in such a condition that maybe there's an existing wall that hasn't shown any settling or any failure, but maybe close to it. And we'd be able to say, look, you can't modify this roof structure by adding another layer overroofing to it. You would need to maintain, if it's asphaltic roof, you'd want to maintain an asphaltic roof and not add clay tile to it. Those kinds of things we'd be able to get from a complete structural analysis. We wanted to give you some flexibility in visiting with Brad. I thought in visiting with Johnny that we want to give you flexibility, knowing that you want to be able to invest in what you need for your facilities. And some of our clients, they only need a select area of their buildings assessed. And others, they say, well, we actually want the entire building physically, I'm sorry, structurally assessed. So to clarify, structural evaluation is about calculating loads about part of the building or all the building, whereas physical assessments which is part of the long-term facilities master plan is about looking at the material condition and useful life of all of those conditions in the replacement time periods, not associated with structural loading. Okay. Thank you, Clint. Is there anybody else had any other questions or we appreciate you giving us the information for us to digest and go through. And there's a lot there and to look at and to talk about. So, but yeah, we appreciate you coming and coming on with us tonight. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Clint. Thank you. Just to let the board know that I've contacted two other engineers so we can have a comparison in cost for the structural piece of that. So that I've sent information to one that isn't recommended, as well as another one that we're getting information to them as well in regards to a bid on the structural piece of it. And then the main difference of when we were talking with Clint was just the fact that the idea that it's a one-stop shop to go through all those things. And then I think one of the things that I had put as a goal for the district had been a long-range facilities plan so that we could have an understanding, as they mentioned, of how long those buildings are, the values of those, and what we could be looking for in the future as people moved on to what things need replaced when and some of those things. So gives you some several different options. And I'm sure we could talk more about those particulars. And once we get the other bids back as far as the structural piece, give you an idea of what those structural pieces are and then how that could fit together with a possible master long-range plan and or the possibility with the communication piece, how it all fits together in regards to that. The other part of that action or not, excuse me, not action item, but information and discussion item was the facilities use piece. We had gotten just a feeler from the Stallions use wrestling, had sent a request and just asked me what I thought about it. And we administratively had discussed it. I provided you some of the information in the Friday notes. And to this point, what we are going to continue to recommend is that we have no outside groups, whether there are students or not, to use our facilities for practices and those things. And I get both sides of it. It becomes very difficult when one side is like we are there all the time anyway, there are kids only, but we control what we can control and that's been the theme from the beginning. And yes, some groups would really follow and do what we asked them to do and disinfect and all those things. But we can't guarantee all those things. We do have numbers that are decreasing across the board. And our main purpose as far as the school is to ensure that our students with the activities that they represent the school for are able to do so. And so felt like with the board and with you all to recommend that we continue with our facilities usage as we've done in our reopening plan. And so unless I hear anything differently, that's what we'll continue to do. Thanks, Brad. Can I make a general, I guess, request and comment, I guess, request being when you get the information back from those other engineers that you've sent quotes for, could you provide those when you get those prior to the next board meetings so we can review those and potentially move along a little bit quicker in terms of making a determination of who we might go with? Sure can. And just FYI too, I've forwarded you all the information that from tonight's meetings. So yeah, I'd be glad to provide that to you. And I know too that, hey, when you get 70 some pages, it's a lot of stuff. So and I appreciate the conversation, trying to understand to how to separate out what these evaluations are versus master plan versus structural, all that stuff, which is a good thing to be able to look forward to. Yes, I sure will. And just a general comment to the rest of the board. So I know I at the end of the beginning of this year, I had sent out an email talking about or to Brad, at least, and I believe he is shared. And we discussed a little bit in the January meeting, but I was able to go and speak with patrons from each one of our communities. I talked to honestly, I don't even know in terms of the number of people over over 20 people in each one of the communities. And I've shared that those experiences that feedback that I've received. One thing that both individuals talked about tonight regarding research, I think is extremely important. I've tried to do some of that. I think it's going to be very difficult, unless we're going to be willing to go out to get that information from large numbers of people that's going to be difficult for us to do. So I think in finding a solution for the district, I think it's adamant that we either take it upon ourselves to make that commitment, or we look for other means to do that in terms of getting the communication, getting that feedback back from individuals. We've gotten good information from the survey. I think a lot of the information we've gotten, we understand. But at the same time, I think there are some board members that don't feel the same in terms of what potential solutions we should be pursuing based upon that feedback. And to fully understand that, I just wanted to add, as my opinion, that I think it would be very beneficial to have an outside group come in that's a third party that is able to say, these are what the people are saying. This is what they think would pass on a large-scale basis. Because I completely understand if an individual doesn't believe what I have to say, or maybe I wouldn't believe what another individual have to say about people they've talked to. So I think it's a good idea from a third-party perspective to get that insight. Jim, I would just counter that a bit. I think that it's important, yes, that we have a bond that will pass. But I think more important that we provide facilities that are workable within our budget going forward. Just because we think that a particular bond would pass, that it's not the right fit for us going forward. Just as he said earlier, we're the only district that has five facilities. And we all know that. We can't continue that. But is two locations correct? Or is it really better to have one? Those type of things. So I think, yes, we want to make sure people are well-informed. And we definitely value their opinion. And we want our patrons to be involved. But we also have to do what's best for our district going forward, too. Brad, is there getting back to the use? Can you remind me, did we have a threshold merit or something that was solid that we were going to go off of before we planned on reopening two outside groups? Or was that fluid? We didn't have a specific, like the gating criteria. We didn't have specific to that. We just went ahead and said as far as the reopening plan that we would look at in the future. But no specific as far as if we're this number of cases or not. We didn't have anything like that.  There's more and more, well, there's still a lot of facilities that are not open. And I understand why administration is deciding how we want to move forward. And it doesn't sound like we have anybody else that wants to, that really doesn't want to go against that. And that's fine for now. And I also understand what Jim and Kelly are saying. And I think that's what we've kind of been trying to work towards all along is a plan where we have to have support from our constituents that individually each of us may not think is the total best. And hopefully we can come up with something that merges together that we can move forward. And I would hope at some point we can get closer to unity in this district that we seem to be fighting. So can I have can I have one more thing to back to the facilities use? I'm assuming that I mean, I fully let me start off by saying I fully support the administrative administration's decision on continuing as we have been. But I'm assuming that this is consistent with other districts. We're not alone in having outside people use our facilities right now. Do we know that Brad? Yes and no. Some have and then some have not. And I know that Mission Valley and talk to them they've had some for like a blood mobile or something like that, but no outside groups for practices. Mission, excuse me, Morris County, no outside groups to use our facilities. And then others have, you know, you hear a scattering of yes for some, no for some. And so really, honestly, administrative late becomes very difficult to try to we can do it for this, but we can't for that, you know, and then I get it with the people's mind in the same sense going, Well, how can they do it? And they can't, you know, and we get into all that. And so administratively, we've discussed it back and forth a lot at a lot of admin meetings and felt like right now the consistent piece. We've already got it to this point. And we need to continue because again, the focus is if we can continue to have our extracurriculars for our students, that's what we want to try to do. But like I said, on the other side, I get what they're thinking, you know, I get it, right? I absolutely agree. So definitely want to keep our programs going and our kids actually in person classes. So thank you. You bet. Great Kelly. Okay. Anybody else have anything on this? Does anyone have any thoughts about the individuals that spoke tonight in terms of consideration? I mean, I guess to contribute to the conversation, I just, I feel like I'm echoing kind of everybody's sentiment, but I don't know if we're all saying exactly the same thing. But I mean, I do think having that neutral third party come out and help us do the research and the gathering. I completely agree with Kelly that we need to do what is in the best interest of the district as a whole and not just go off of what makes everybody feel warm and fuzzy all of the time. Because that may not be puts in the long term long term range, you know, best interest. But I do think that and I think that this my feeling of this comes from talking with some patrons, but then also just looking at all the feedback from the surveys and everything. I think having that neutral third party kind of removes some of that bias towards who people are talking to. And does maybe help elicit some genuine information from people that they can bring back and present to us to help us move towards what is the best option for our district, whether that's one campus or two campuses. But I just, I mean, I know I think we probably all know that there's a lot of bias and there's a lot of feelings, you know, this, you know, about this town or that town or this family and that family and all of these things that you hear and just, you know, I might go on talk to somebody and they don't like me. So they're going to tell me one thing and then they might tell Jim another, or they might tell Kelly another, I think we've all had that experience. And so I do think while it's costly, and Lord knows, I don't know that we have a whole lot of extra cash laying around unless Brad's buried some out back. But I do see a genuine benefit to having a third party be able to come in, do some research, do some marketing, and help it so that if the information is not coming from just us and have people have feel some kind of way about us as a board, trying to present this information. And so I do see some some genuine benefit to that. I liked the plan. I think it was Jim Strikhogan presented. I like how we how we talked about it. I like that they work with smaller some of the smaller districts around. And so I because I do think we are a unique district district, which he obviously saw in our building situation, but also he does work with the the rural communities. And I think so he comes in with an understanding of what is valuable to our rural communities and families. And so I just I think something like that if we go with him, or if we go with something like that, I do think it is is a necessary tool at this point. That's just my thoughts. So I'll add to that a little bit, Callie. I agree that the presentation that that Jim provided, I think it was it was well articulated. I think it gives us a good outlay and understanding of what exactly is going to be involved and in each level that they go through. So I really liked that myself. I I agree with the cost. And maybe we can discuss further on what specifically is included and what maybe more specific costs associated because it is a pretty big band between 30 to 55 grand. But at the same time, I think it's something that our district really needs in order for us to get the best understanding as possible as to what the individuals within within our district are saying. So I I agree with with your with the thought process of Jim with ASA. I think it could also help just unify by adding that neutral party in. You know, I'm gonna say it again, I think there's a lot of bias and a lot of feelings that people have understandably. So and I'm not knocking anybody's feelings because we are a small community and we are a deeply rooted community with a lot of history. And so, you know, bringing in a neutral party might actually be something that helps to unify the district Tony because it it's like, OK, these aren't people that have a stake in this this area or that town or anything else. Is it somebody coming in and saying and gathering all of our information and coming up with what they felt like was the best plan not this group of people from this town or this group of people from this town coming up with what they thought was the best plan. And so I think that some neutrality might actually help bring a little unity. So I don't know. That's my thoughts. Jerome, I'm interested in your thoughts. I don't think you are. I heard you say something earlier about getting through some of this quicker, and it doesn't seem like you're acting on that. I really don't have anything to say. OK, thank you guys. There's obviously there's going this is this is a discussion item, but we're going to have more discussion on this item and more sounds like Brad's going to give us a couple other engineers to to shop. And yeah, so with that, we will move on to do the spring break, Brad. Thanks, Tony. Yeah, one thing to just apply to that. What Sheryl and I have discussed and Janice, a budget, an amount in 2020 or excuse me, 21-22 budget, we are looking to see what we can do to make sure that we have a budget amount not hidden in the in the back, Cali, but or buried in the back. But we will hope to have some sense of a budget piece of that to be able to help with that when that expense comes. The other piece just is that the spring break. I don't know if it is a concern. The second Monday is March 8th during the starter spring break, and we could move it to Monday, March 15th if there is a need to do that. And I'm not not have to worry about that on the 8th. I would appreciate moving it. But that's just my vote. I don't have a preference either way is fine with me. I'm the same way. I don't have a preference. If I guess to move on, I guess Cali, if you if you want to move it, you're going to have to make the motion to move it. Otherwise, it sounds like everybody else was fine with leaving it. Well, then we'll just let the majority rule. That's fine. Unless I'm reading that wrong. That's what I thought I heard. That's fine with me. I moved to move the meeting 15. I second. Kelly seconds. It's been moved and seconded to move the meeting to the 15th. Is there any discussion? If not, we'll move on to all opposed. Say your name. Okay, motion passed. We'll move it to March 15th. And back to what you started with that, Brad, I would a budget would be appreciated. So we have an idea of what we're going off there. So that's the last thing I'll say about that item. Moving on to approve. Memorandum of understanding with Greenbush. With the situation next year, there will be, according to KSTE, no remote students as far as they must all be virtual or they must be on site. And there will be cases where you may have remotes for a period of time when someone is sick for a short period of time, that kind of thing, an opportunity to remote in. But the other thing is, is that then they must be virtual if they're going to be out. We relatively don't have a lot of students that are remote, but somewhere around 10.  Then for us, it would be difficult to have a teacher dedicated to that and do all the things that need to be done with the state to ensure that Greenbush is offering a virtual school so we can still get money for those students, rather than the students say, enroll in a Lawrence virtual school or a K-12 virtual school or some other virtual school, and we get no money. As long as we have a virtual school and they enroll in our virtual school with Greenbush, then we get $5,000 per each of those students on the budget, not on the FTE instead of the 44 base aid per pupil. We get $5,000 and then we pay Greenbush $4,000 for their services for taking care of everything, including a laptop, and then the fact that they would have the teacher and the curriculum to teach them that. Then once that's done, then the students actually, if they stay for four years with the virtual school through Greenbush, they get the laptop as an added option. But it gives us an opportunity if we don't have any virtual, then we are not out anything, but we have to let Greenbush know to approve it so that then it can be approved as a virtual school through KSTE. And so that's why we need to have it done now. And I would recommend that we do that versus trying to go virtual ourselves or lose those students altogether. I apologize if I missed this. Is there an upfront cost to Greenbush to do that, to contract to have them do that? No. Okay. It's only taken out of whatever funding? Correct. We would get for those students, okay. The $5,000 that we get for students on the Form 150, but you must have a virtual school to get that. So you just can't get money for remote kids anymore. It would just be that the virtual school piece. So if I'm hearing you correctly, Brad, just sounds like a win for a win-win situation. We're not losing all the money, but our teachers aren't having to teach virtually anymore. And so do you see any problems with this at all? I don't.  You know, when talking with Greenbush, you know, if the students don't work out, then they're going to have to come back to us. And so that could be a possible loss of some monies, but we'd still get the $1,000 for them. The other thing would be a scenario, if they don't, just like all the principals have gone through with those in remote learning now, you know, you've got to have reliable internet, all those kinds of things. And they will go through that in a pre-counseling portion of that and take a lot of those things on. But we're still the school of record. And so there will be some things that will come up, but not to the point of what we have done so far with remote with our teachers. One separate question related to the KDSE or KD, I can't say the acronym, but related to this, related to their statement. So we can't go virtual. So that means if we had a snow day, it's not an option to do anything remote just for those days. No, you still can do that. You just can't be a long-term type of a remote learning situation. They have to be enrolled in a virtual, because there's just like in the same sense, Jim, the easiest way I can start as a comparison is if you're sick a day, it'd be the similar type of thing. It doesn't go against the 1116 hours that KDSE has to have so that you can complete the year. That if you go remote, then those 1116 hours don't count if you're going fully remote type of a scenario. So you have to have a virtual school. Brad, do you need, I'm assuming we need to approve this? Yeah, this is an action item. So I move for approval. Tony seconds. It's been moved and seconded that we approve memorandum of understanding with Greenbush for offering virtual school. Is there any other discussion? If not, all those that are opposed, say your name, please. Motion carries. Okay, bus bids. We let bus bids out. We opened them Thursday at noon and we have had 70,000 in capital outlays was budgeted for the purchase of a bus. We did receive two bids, Midwest Transit and American bus for 71 passenger buses that have immediately immediate availability as well as meets all our specifications. So the low bid is from 55,925 from American bus for 2017 and has somewhere around 25 to 29,000 miles. So we feel like that that would be a recommendation to accept that bid from American bus. Brad, was there anything that that those other the other companies the one with the three buses correct? Or is this correct? Okay, was there anything about them that made them any better or more? I mean, I noticed, yeah, they were well, they were like what 55 to 68,000. If I remember right, that's right. Yeah, they were more. They were 58 to 60,000. But this is the one I mean, this seems that in the past, I know we've they've talked about bluebirds, which I assume that's if I remember right, that's what this is. And that's kind of quality wise. That's probably why you guys are for the dollar you're thinking this is the best route. Yes. And I can real quickly to just a second here if you bear with me, I'll pull that up showing you the the information of it here. So yeah, this this bus are 2017. There's the 71 passenger bluebird, 10 days after the paperwork is completed. There's the information that includes our REI can system camera system already in it. We did add the under body, which is the luggage rack that then could be used for when we take it to activities and games Cummins Motor 2017 bluebird. And then these others are similar that are from the Midwest transit. There are 17s as well, 72 71 passengers. And 2017 2018 the 2018 same international seating capacity, etc, etc, and approximate miles more miles for 58,000 and more miles for 60,000. And then the 18 is 67 so considerably more for that and those were available as well now. Is there any warranty that comes with these? Sorry. Yes, there is the warranty piece. I'm sorry. I it's in his other presentation, the information. But yes, there is a warranty piece of that. And I can't give you the specifics from that. But yes, there is a warranty piece. I moved by the bus American bus. Kelly seconds. It's been moved and seconded that we buy a bus through American bus. It is very discussion. If not, all those opposed, say your name. Motion passes. And just to be clear, that was Jerome that motions that right. Correct. Thank you. Yeah. Okay, moving on to continental Neal athletic training contract. Pat and O'Neill, we've utilized our services, at least I know the six plus years that I've been here and may have done that before, but they specifically are helped with come in and do athletic training things on site for our student athletes. It's $1,800 the same cost that they had annually. And we have that budgeted we've utilized it for the past six years. The contract difference for this one is now they would like to place an advertising sign within our gym with continental Neal training services. But I think that there was a question about some of the things and being games and some other things. And I believe Jan had answered those in Friday notes. So if I'm understanding this correctly, Brad, that they're keeping the same rate to put a banner up. That is correct. Is there is there any way to negotiate to get a little bit more out of them or is that just just what we got? I don't know. I mean, we can get more out as far as being in games and doing those kind of things, but then we'll cost you more. Right. I mean, I've seen banners in other gyms. I understand what they're trying to do. Yeah. Could it be possible, just a brief iteration of the services we get from continental Neal related to this contract? Jan, are you available to discuss that? I am, but I have some background noise going on right now that I can't exactly figure out how to shut off. So I had summarized that in an email to you. But basically, that includes Brad Perry coming out two times a week. He sees whoever is signed up and he provides training programs to get them back and continues to see them through. For example, we had an injury on Friday night at Rossville. And though he wasn't there and they didn't have a trainer available, I know that Brad saw them the next day. He made an appointment with them and saw them the next day and he doesn't really have to do that. So unless there are any specific questions about whether services are provided, no, they don't come to games. Sorry. They don't come to games, but that is available for an additional charge. Do you know approximately how often we've used them? We use them every week. So they come to the school every week and work with students? I didn't realize we had that many injuries. We also utilize them at the junior high as well. He'll schedule and come by there if on an as-need basis. I moved to approve the cutting O'Neill athletic training contract. I second it. Tony seconds. It's been moved and seconded to approve the cutting O'Neill athletic training. Is there any more discussion? If not, all those opposed, say your name. Not hearing any motion passes. Okay. Now moving back to declare surplus tax go middle school to be sold include stipulation that is be sold that another entity that competes with our mission of educating students. So I want to discuss this a little further before we had actually made that confirmed partially because I wanted to have a little discussion about the fact that this is this was funded and created using taxpayer funds. And I think that being the case, I think it would be good to have a discussion about potentially maybe turning it over to maybe the city of Paxico for use of as a community center. And I would like to get the feelings of other board members on that. Jim, do you mean turned over like just given to the community Paxico or do you mean at least offered at least offered to the community? I was thinking in terms of making that an option for them if they would so choose to utilize it as such. And if not, then if they didn't have interest, then then putting out to bed. Brad, if you as as the city reached out to you at all with any interest? No, and I haven't reached out to them either. I did ask the superintendent listserv about how others that had sold buildings and also can social school boards legal to make sure we contract wise put correct information. And so that was that piece of the stipulation about not sold to another entity that competes with our mission of educating students. Not to have that in the middle of our of our district. Then is as much what Jim said about it being a taxpayer funded, continue to have that piece of that. And then they gave several different options of they used a realtor through a bid process, etc. For a short period of time, then have it auctioned off or have sealed bids, whichever either of those. And if you want to be concerned or people have a concern about the value, we could have a local real estate person determine a point as far as a price of value. So but no, I have not reached out to the city of Paxico to this point, nor have they gotten in contact with us. Fred, I don't have the printed copy in front of me. I'm sorry of the agenda for this item, but I was just thinking that we should move to try to sell it. And then I guess if the city wanted had an interest in it, they should contact the school about that. If we move to sell it, it would have to be sold into the city. I would I would presume. Correct. I mean, we can, I think what I'm not going to speak for Kelly, but I'm assuming what we're trying to do is with the stipulation that we could try to sell if the city, the city would have first, first. Yeah, I'm saying should we should see if there's interest is there interest by any any party at this point. And the one thing that you can take action on this evening was to declare a surplus. And then we can dependent upon that just being that portion of the motion and then we can contact the city to see if there's any interest in it and then move forward with either the opportunity with the realtor and or auctioned or sealed bids. Which declaring it a surplus was all we were doing in the consent agenda. Correct. We were not, we were not making a motion to sell it yet because we were still going to do research that we have talked about prior of getting a value on it through realtor or auctioneer or some way. So we have something to go off of a hard number to move forward with is that I thought that's what we were on this. In the consent agenda, it says declare a surplus Paxco Middle School to be sold includes stipulation that it not be sold to another entity that competes with our mission. I moved to declare Paxco Middle School as a surplus. Is there a second? Kelly seconds. It's been moved and seconded to move Paxco Middle School to be categorized a surplus. Is there any other discussion? If not all opposed, say your name. Not hearing any motion passed. Okay. I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and contact the city of Paxco correct to see if they have an interest. Correct. That's what that is what it sounds like we would like. Okay. Okay. Moving on Brad, the personnel. Was there, I seen you were in your notes, you'd like an executive session here? Yeah. 15 minutes should be plenty. So and what I'll do is I'll put Cheryl and the principal is in a waiting room. Okay. And Josh, you'd also be in the waiting room. So can I read this just like it is on personnel? Would that be a motion that would work? Yes. Okay. So we're I'm going to go into executive session, non-elected personnel exemption under coma to discuss an individual employees performance for 15 is 15 what you need? Yes. 15 minutes to discuss hiring a pre K through eight grade counselor to have a second. I'll second. Kelly seconds. Okay. It's been moved and seconded to go into executive session um to the to discuss a pre K through eight counselor. Is there any other discussion? If not all opposed, say your name please. Not hearing motion passes. Okay. I got them all. Okay. So we're still we're on personnel. I would move to approve personnel with the additions from the beginning of the meeting as as stated here. I'm sorry. I didn't since I was not here at the beginning of the meeting. Can you tell me what the additions were? It was resignation of Colby Harris, correct? That is correct. And that was the only one correct? Correct. And that's at the end of the school year. Right. I just wanted to make sure I knew that one. I just wanted to make sure to see if there was any other ones prior to the meeting. Thank you. Understandable. I still need a second question. Oh drums. Go ahead. Will there be no executive session just extending the principle? You could sure move for one. I guess Well, I don't I don't have a second. So we have it's a it's a failed motion. I guess you could say so if you would like because I didn't get a second. You could sure and I will call it that. Do you think I can make a motion right now? Yeah. Yeah.  So go ahead. I moved to go to a five minute session to get your walls placed. For how long? I'm sorry. I did not catch that. He said five. Two seconds. It's been moved and seconded to go into executive session again. I'm sorry I don't have that in front of me or else I would I would re say it. All those opposed say your name. Motion pass. For how long and do you want me involved? Five minutes correct Jerome? Five minutes and yes please. Okay. Yes.  I'll put you in the waiting rooms. Okay. Yep. They're all in. Okay. We're back in regular session. So we're still on personnel. Um I'll attempt again. I I make a motion to accept personnel with with the addition of the resignation of Colby Harris. As stated or as listed here on the on the agenda. I second. This is Callie. It's been and seconded to accept the personnel as as it is on the agenda. Is there any discussion? It's not all opposed. Say your name. Hearing none. Motion passed. Okay. Superintendent board members for Brad. I'm sorry. Just the numbers of vaccines two to three weeks out. We're still in phase two. Those percentages around 78% yes of our staff. We're trying to have them on Friday afternoon. So we wouldn't have to worry about people missing work. If there's are any symptoms and have one substitute. They county's been great about willing to come to the school and help us out and go to different locations to take care of those things. So we wouldn't have to have the substitutes and being out of school and those type of things. So they've been very good about that. Other than that, I think that's about it. Sorry, I guess I gotta turn my mic on. Okay, thank you. Jim. If I have anything else at this time. Callie. I don't have anything else. Jerome. Me. Yes, sir. Good job tonight Tony. Thank you. I think for me, thank you. And I don't have anything either. So if I can get a motion to adjourn, I'd appreciate it. Kelly moves to adjourn. All second. Kelly and Tony seconds has been moved and seconded that we adjourned. All those opposed, say your name. Motion passes. Thank you very much, everyone. Be safe and we'll see what tomorrow brings, but it's not looking real good. So with the negative windshield in the morning, probably a two-hour delay. Just FYI, I'm free to talk. And Brad, Brad, I know that this morning was hard. I couldn't testify. I was on the road at 6.45 and between 6.45 and 7 o'clock it changed drastically. So I'm sorry I didn't make that call. But it did. And I appreciate that. It was quick. So I know the road was better at 6 than it was at 7. So thank you for keeping our kids safe as possible. Yeah, exactly. Unfortunate just like in other these situations. It's an inconvenience versus a safety. And so I'm sorry about the inconvenience. But if we can keep people safe, that's what we want to do. So I appreciate that. All right, you guys take care. Have a great evening. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Buddy, stay safe. Stay warm. Stay warm.


Now, time for members' statements. The Leader of Rematches is your opposition. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about my recent private members' resolution that asked the Minister of Finance to task a committee of this legislature to fully investigate the challenges facing service clubs in Ontario. I've raised this issue many, many times as you know, Mr. Speaker, and in February, this House passed my private members' resolution, and I thank all members for that. I have received all party support for the establishment of this committee, but nothing has happened. It's been three months since the government supported my resolution, yet I've heard nothing. To further my effort, today I'll be officially launching a petition to encourage immediate action. I remind this government that service clubs are the backbone of our province, providing social and economic benefits to the communities they serve. Service club members best understand their community's intrinsic values and needs and fill the fiscal holes that government and other agencies cannot. Yet service clubs continue to deal with a number of provincial issues and challenges that are hindering their everyday operations. Once again, I encourage this government to give service clubs the support they deserve. It's time to task the committee of this legislature to investigate the problems that are hindering service clubs from doing the good work they do in our communities across the province day in and day out. There is no downside to doing this. There are a number of very simple provincial issues that look simple on the surface, but they're complex. They need the input of legislators and we need to have service clubs come here to Queen's Park and give testimony. And we need to help them out. They help us out every day and we need to help them out. Thank you very much, Speaker. I had the enormous honor yesterday to take part in the unveiling of the Essex Memorial Honor Wall that is inscribed with the names of 1,405 local RAF and RCAF veterans from Essex County. The monument stands as a complimentary backdrop to the Essex Memorial Spitfire replica aircraft erected as a tribute to the late Jerry Billing, a local legend and World War II Spitfire 8 speaker. Yesterday, as we unveiled the monument, a Jerry's call sign was black hawk. And as we unveiled the monument, a magnificent black hawk soared above the thousands of people that were in attendance yesterday. It was quite spectacular and we knew that Jerry was among us. Speaker, my wife Jenny and I joined nearly a thousand people yesterday to pay tribute to our veterans. It was an amazing display of community spirit, none of which could have been or would have been possible without the amazing efforts put forward by the Essex Memorial Spitfire Committee. I want to acknowledge the efforts of Karen Billing, Monica Totten, Eric Billing, Bob Swaddling, Joe Gibson, Bill Riley, Todd Porter, Randy Vokes, Al Timmons, Jerry Schinkel, Michael Beal, Michael Kohoochin and Suzanne Allison, Speaker of the Committee, or as they are now affectionately known as a squadron, are to be commended for their efforts on preserving the memories of so many that gave so much for our country. Speaker, our duo at Ostra is the motto of the Royal Air Force, means through adversity to the stars, to my friends with the Essex Memorial Spitfire Committee. I want to say thank you for aiming for the stars. You've done our community proud. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to underline the work accomplished by Emile Eberturien, two residents of my riding of Ottawa South. Compelling work being done by Emile and Beth Terry, two longtime residents of my riding of Ottawa South. In 2006, the Terry's daughter, Sarah Beth, passed away suddenly. Despite losing their daughter at the young age of 32, they were able to turn a tragic event into something positive. Having known that Sarah Beth was a passionate supporter of organ and tissue donation, Emile and Beth were determined to see through their daughter's wishes of being an organ donor. Although she did not meet the criteria to donate, they tirelessly advocated on her behalf so that her organs could be used to help save the lives of others. Through their courageous determination, they were successful and Sarah Beth Terry became the first organ donor after cardiac death in Canada. Her kidneys gave active productive life back to two people, her corneas restored full sight to two more. Since then, Emile and Beth have continued to exhibit leadership in their community. Their advocacy on the issue of organ and tissue donation has already had an extraordinary impact and they have selflessly volunteered their time and work. For these reasons and many more, they were both recently recognized with the 2014 Trillium Gift of Life Network Champion Award. J'aimerais remercier Emile Beth et l'heure. I'd like to thank Emile and Beth and their daughter, Sarah Beth, and for their passion. For the compassion that you and your daughter, Sarah Beth, have selflessly demonstrated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Stavins, the member from Bruce Gray Owen Sound. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of talented people in my riding of Bruce Gray Owen Sound. In fact, our musical landscape is so vast that some of my constituents decided the best way to capture it all would be to build it a home. A home for all the history of local talent and artists who make their name in Bruce Gray. And so it is with great enthusiasm that I rise today to announce the grand opening of the Bruce Gray Music Hall of Fame on June 7th in my hometown of Hepworth. To mark this special occasion, a real horse mule wagon train caravan will travel to what was originally the Hepworth Country Music Auditorium found and built by John Coker. Now it's home to the Hepworth Shell Lake Royal Canadian Legion. The Hepworth Auditorium has a long and proud music history with performances from several famous artists including Canadian icon the late Stomp and Tom Connors, as well as whispering Bill Anderson, Roy Van Dyke and Bobby Bear, both of whom performed in the hall back in 1968. There are also Maltillus, Don Gibson, Hank Lachlan and Webb Puris and many more. It was there that I intended my first country and western concert featuring Billy Walker at the age of three courtesy of my older sister's Marine Marge and Bonnie. Induction in the Music Hall of Fame will be a proud honour for our riding's art and entertainment talents. The first inductees will be announced June 7th after a concert by local musical performers Rudy and Jean Couture. There will also be a silent auction hosted by Funding Farm newspaper Columbus Jim Miriam and a live auction with myself, Jerry Ruth and Dirk DeVries of Sherbet auctions, Peely Island Music Hall of Fame commemorative wine and a fish fry dinner served by Legion members. The inductees' names will be showcased on a seven-foot maple, cherry wood, epiphany replica guitar custom made by Exquisite Wood Designs of Olin Sound and sponsored by Exquisite, 560 CFOS and Country 93 Radio. I'd also like to recognize some of the gentlemen who have poured their heart and soul into this project creating something that captures our vast pool of talent in art and entertainment and most importantly all genders of local music from the symphony to the blues country and western and all entertainers. Entertainment writers, radio and TV personalities who made their mark in Bruce Gray. They are Bill Murdoch, former MPP of Bogner Jam Production and Promotions and fellow music promoter Arnie Clark who themselves left an indelible mark in our riding with shows such as Jailhouse Rock, True Country and Harper's Grand Ole Opera North Jim Merriam and Kevin Moyes. It'll be a great show, Mr. Speaker. I welcome everyone to attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member Statements, the member from Hamilton Mountain. Thank you, Speaker. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to meet with members of the ODSP Action Coalition, a province-wide coalition of advocates tirelessly fighting on behalf of people living with disabilities. Many people with disabilities depend on ODSP for their survival, but surviving on ODSP is no small feat. Poverty-level benefits have failed to keep up with the ever-increasing cost of food, electricity and rent in Ontario, where a monthly benefit for a single person tops out at $1,100 while the average bachelor apartment in Toronto is close to $900. Due to their disabilities, most ODSP recipients are not able to work full-time, but when their health allows, many try to work part-time both for the sense of satisfaction it provides because they desperately need every possible extra dollar to pay for the extra basic cost of living in Ontario. This October, the Liberal government will cut the work-related benefit for ODSP recipients. They will cut the $100 monthly benefit that supports people with disabilities to participate in the workforce. This cut will deepen poverty and will create yet another barrier for people with disabilities to participate in the workforce. As the NDP critic for Community and Social Services, I call on this Premier, Kathleen Nguyen and her Liberal government to reverse this cruel decision and reverse the cut to work-related benefit for people on ODSP. Thank you. Member Stainless, the member from the Tovaco Centre. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Strength of our communities relies to such a great extent on commitment and hard work of people and volunteers who advocate on behalf of their communities. And there are so many examples of that in my community of the Tovaco Centre. Today I rise in the House to speak of such a group of people and the important work that they do on behalf of our community. Today I would like to congratulate and thank the volunteers, the members, and the Board of the Humber Valley Village Residence Association. Mr Speaker, I am speaking not just as their member of Provincial Parliament, but as a member or as a resident, rather, and a member of Humber Valley Village. So I have witnessed firsthand the outstanding efforts of this dedicated and effective organisation and their members and witnessed their positive impact on our community. Over the course of the past several years, the Humber Valley Village Residence Association led the opposition to a proposed development in Humbertown Plaza that would have altered the character and quality of life in our community. They held countless consultations, worked with city official developers, and raised funds to ensure that they could be effective advocates on behalf of our community. Eventually they negotiated with the developer for a smaller development. More recently they successfully advocated for a site and area specific policy for development of the apartment neighbourhood adjacent to Humbertown Plaza. And that process, Mr Speaker, is underway and last month I attended a consultation hosted by the city on this very topic. Members of the association have and will be playing an active role on this as well. Humber Valley Village Residence Association is sustained by an extremely dedicated group of volunteers who are devoted to maintaining a vibrant, prosperous, and safe community. Today I rise as their MPP and as a resident to say thank you for all you do for Etobicoke Center. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you. Members famous, the member from Humber... Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's my honour and privilege to speak on the passage of Bill 3, an act to protect anaphylactic pupils commonly known as Sabrina's Law 10 years ago next month. This bill mandates that every school board create and maintain an anaphylactic policy to protect our children. Although I recognise them a few minutes ago I want to mention the parents of Sabrina Sarah and Mike Shannon who are here at Queen's Park today to help pay tribute to their daughter and the legislation enacted in her memory. Prior to Sabrina's Law children in Ontario's school system had no defence against serious allergies that made attending school dangerous for many. After the tragic passing of Sabrina members from all three parties recognised that we couldn't allow another young child to suffer anaphylactic shock because their school was ill-prepared to handle those emergency situations. Helping to pass Sabrina's Law remains one of the highlights of my time here at Queen's Park. I am certain that others, both current and former MPPs would say the same thing. We are grateful that former educator and future speaker MPP Dave LeBach from Brent introduced Bill 3 and saw to it that every member understood the importance of this bill and as a result it received unanimous support from this assembly. But the greatest accolades Sarah and Mike belong to you. Your lovely daughter Sabrina I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a child but through that tragedy you work tirelessly to make Ontario schools and schools all across North America safer for all children. It is because of your hard work that since the passing of this law no child in Ontario in Ontario school has died as a result of an allergic reaction. Although you must miss her dearly each and every day I know that this law stands as a testament to your courage and commitment and that the legacy of your wonderful daughter Sabrina will be remembered. Thank you. Member Statements the member from a public lecture. Thank you Mr. Speaker I am pleased to be able to share with the House of an event posted in my writing last week the annual Gems of Etobicoke Lakeshore Awards Evening. I held this in conjunction with my local MP Bernard Trottier. Gems of Etobicoke Lakeshore recognises, honours and celebrates local businesses, organizations and community services located within my writing that deliver outstanding services provide high quality products and make remarkable contributions to our community. Community members and residents submitted hundreds of nominations and the winners were chosen by a panel of local judges in partnership with our Etobicoke Lakeshore Business Improvement Areas. The categories were for best restaurant food service, retail business cultural recreational organization service business community service and best new business. These nominations reflect the great commitment the local residents have to supporting the services and products offered in Etobicoke that make our community a must see destination. And a characteristic that is shared by all of the exemplary nominees is their sense of community spirit demonstrated through volunteerism and involvement in local events and initiatives. Mr. Speaker, the Gems of Etobicoke Lakeshore offer me a wonderful opportunity every year to recognise outstanding businesses and organizations in my writing. These unique small businesses and groups in our neighbourhoods provide incredible service and deserve to be recognised. They are truly Gems and we want to celebrate those who work to make Etobicoke Lakeshore an even more vibrant place to live, work and play. Mr. Speaker, whether in Etobicoke Lakeshore or elsewhere let's all remember to shop locally it's good for our communities good for the economy and good for Ontario. Thank you. For their statements the member from Beaches East York. Well thank you Speaker it's my pleasure to rise today in honour of National Schizophrenia and Psychosis Awareness Day which occurred yesterday. Every year on May 24th Schizophrenia societies across the country encourage Canadians to learn more about schizophrenia and psychosis. I would like to acknowledge members of the Schizophrenia Society who are watching us today and thank you for your hard work in bringing awareness to this serious illness and by raising awareness we can reduce the stigma of schizophrenia which impacts more than 135,000 Ontarians. A stigma and discrimination have been shown to undermine access to healthcare services employment and social services and on average individual schizophrenia and other serious mental illness says die 25 years earlier than the average Canadian so schizophrenia also takes a toll on the families and the friends of people who die or are living with this mental illness and they often become primary caregivers responsible for providing crisis intervention encouraging and overseeing support and treatment. Caregivers are a critical part of the mental health support system so in the past few years we've seen a noticeable public shift on mental health it's a subject that is now being openly distussed amongst the public and policy makers and from its human toll to its economic impacts the ramifications of serious mental health issues include schizophrenia are being acknowledged. So I'm delighted that the government is addressing this issue with the second phase of Ontario's comprehensive mental health and addiction strategy and this phase of the strategy puts a focus on strengthening community healthcare services and improving access to care and finally I want to thank the knowledge and great work being carried out by the Toronto East General Hospital along with Wood Green and Neighbourhood Link and supporting individual suffering from mental illness in my writing of Beaches East York thank you for helping build a better, happier and healthy Ontario. Thank you. Thank all members for their statements it is now time


In week one we spent a little bit of time getting to grips with the basics of tennis. We talked about movement, we talked about hand-eye coordination. Hey everybody and welcome to our fourth tennis session. In this session we're going to be looking at the most important shot in the game and it's called the serve. Hopefully you can remember the other sessions we've done. So far we've worked on our basic tennis skills and movement. We've looked at the forehand, we've looked at the backhand and now this week is going to be the toughest one yet. Before we get into it, like always you're going to go on a bit of a hunt around the house to see if you can find a few things that are going to help you with your session. The first thing that you need to find is a tennis racket or something similar. Remember the trusty chocolate lid or if you've got a book at home or something you've been using in previous sessions you can use that. The second thing you're going to need is your ball. It could be a tennis ball or anything that looks like a tennis ball that bounces or a ball of socks. And finally you're going to need a cap. We use the cap in session number two. So you're going to bring along a baseball cap as well. Now if you can't find some of these things don't worry you can use your hands instead of a cap and I'm sure you could roll a ball of tissue into a ball instead of using socks or a tennis ball. But your job is to try to find as many of those things as you can in one minute. Remember to check with your parents beforehand just to make sure that you're using the right items and make sure that when you set up you've got a nice safe space not too close to any televisions or any breakable vases or windows make sure you've got a nice clear area. Okay you've got one minute to find all of those items your time starts now. Okay your time is up so gather all of the things that you found put them in a small space in the room that you're working in and make sure you've got a bit of an area where you can move around in. So before we get warmed up I'm going to quickly explain what a serve actually is. So remember we've learned the forehand which is where we use our favorite hand only we've learned a backhand where we use both of our hands and now we're going to learn the serve. Now the serve is the most important shot in tennis because when we play tennis matches every single point starts with the serve. Now you might have seen if you've seen any professional tennis players play tennis on the television a serve is where you throw the ball up above your head and you've got to hit it like so. I'm going to grab my ball. Now the serve is the most powerful shot in the game of tennis and there are some professional tennis players that hit the ball at 150 miles per hour can you imagine that? So we're going to learn how to serve properly today and the most important part of the serve is being able to hit it when it's above your head so we want a nice controlled throw and a nice hit stretching up as high as we possibly can. So before we start serving we're going to put all of our equipment down and we are going to do a very quick warm-up so find your space this game is called the memory game. Now I'm going to shout out a number each number is going to correspond to a different shot in tennis so if I shout number one you're going to show me your best forehand using your hand now one is because we use one hand for our forehand if I shout the number two you're going to hit with two hands what's that shot called that's right we did it last week it's the backhand so if I shout two you're going to show me your best two handed backhand if I shout three you're going to pretend to throw the ball up above your head and smash it into the court for number three they're the three numbers you've got to remember first of all but we will make it tougher so in between each shot I want to see you on your toes jogging on the spot because we want to get nice and warm so start jogging and remember the different numbers one forehand ready steps in between one good two two one well done three three don't forget to throw the ball up and hit it above your head good two one three two and pause well done so let's step it up a level your job is to shout the numbers now so I'm going to show you the shot and you're going to tell me what number it is okay so same thing when you're shouting the number I want you to do the shot at the same time are we ready good shout it nice and loud excellent well done three more to go don't forget to shout that number an easy way to remember is how many hands am I using yes two yes one unfortunately I don't have three hands but that was number three well done and rest okay good final round this time I'm going to shout out the name of the shot now it's so instead of shouting one two or three I'm going to shout forehand backhand or serve and you're going to show me your best technique but to make it tougher I'm not going to join in because I know your game you'll be copying my moves so I'm going to shout out the name of the shot and you're going to demonstrate it perfectly for me ready jogging on the spot first forehand good one hand for forehand isn't it backhand good jogging on the spot in between serve great serve serve throw that ball up and hit it nice backhand forehand forehand serve and backhand amazing work right grab yourselves a quick drink that is your warm-up complete after all of these home tennis sessions when you finally get the opportunity to play tennis on a real tennis court you are going to know exactly what you're doing and the nice thing about playing on a proper tennis court is you don't have to worry about breaking any windows you can hit the ball really hard into the corners of the court and you can hit all the different angles and all the different heights it's great fun but for now we're learning loads of skills at home okay so we're ready to start using some of our equipment so what I want you to pick up is your racket or your substitute racket and your ball or your substitute ball and you're going to find a space that is not underneath any lights okay so make sure if you look up at the ceiling there's nothing above you just a roof just the ceiling okay we don't want to be near any lights you're going to put your racket on the floor like so and you're going to hold your tennis ball in your weakest hand so remember from last week if you don't know which hand is your favorite hand I want you to see if you can start writing your name in the sky and that hand that you're using should be your writing hand so we're going to hold the ball in our other hand so this is going to be really tricky because this hand is usually a lot tougher what I want you to try to do is stand sideways on and hold your tennis ball or your pair of socks above your racket and just to make sure you're in the right place you're going to drop it to see if it lands on your racket so that shows that I'm in the right place so do that now for me good do it a couple of times so you're going to stand sideways on and you're going to drop the ball onto your racket and again drop we'll do three more good remember we're using our weakest hand we're not using our good hand good okay so now that we know that we're in the right place we're going to practice the first most important part of the serve which is throwing the ball up if your throw is wonky when you serve it's going to be impossible to hit so it's really important that we can throw the ball straight so I want you to see if you could throw the ball above your head and you're going to see how close to your racket you can land the ball so watch me first up oh yes I hit the racket have a go yourself good if it's really good and you do better than me it will hit right on the middle of the racket strings so throw the ball up good I hit the edge again so remember it's got to go above your head I know lots of cheeky tennis players that cheat on this one and just do a tiny throw like this but it must go above your head oh I'm good at hitting the edge keep going everybody make sure you're using your weakest hand throw the ball up and get it to bounce on the strings good okay that should be enough practice time so let's make it into a competition like we normally do 30 seconds to see how many you can get now if you're like me and it keeps hitting the edge it's going to be tricky to get a big score because you're going to be chasing the ball around everywhere so I think in 30 seconds a good score would be two or maybe three points so I want you to see if you can beat that score your time starts now off we go okay every time it hits the racket you score one point oh yes that's a good one make sure it goes above your head but not too high because you'll lose control going to tip the ceiling well done keep it up you've got five seconds to go make sure keeping count stop well done so how many times did your ball or your socks hit your racket tell me now excellent score really really good it's not easy it's really really not easy if you were using your favorite hand it would have been much easier but we don't like it being too easy we like a challenge don't we because we like a challenge we are going to take it up a level your job is to do the same throw but this time instead of letting the ball bounce on the floor or on your racket you're going to see if you can reach up with your good hand your strong hand and you're going to catch above your head when you catch you're going to see how straight your arm can be so I'm going to have a go here ready throw up and catch and you can see my arm is super straight we're going to try again up and catch if you catch it down here that's okay but it's a bit cheating isn't it so we want to see if we can catch it right above our head like so if that's too tricky you can catch with two hands above your head have a practice off you go good make sure you catch it above your head we don't want it to be too high because it makes it really difficult but we don't want it too low because we need that arm to be straight good remember we're throwing with our weak hand and catching in our strong hand last couple of practices amazing and stop there well done right 30 seconds then this is going to be a lot lot tougher than the last game in fact I'll be impressed if anybody scores any points on this one because it's so so tricky so 30 seconds on the clock how many times can you catch the ball above your head if you catch it below your head it doesn't count for a point if you drop the ball don't worry you can carry on your score afterwards your 30 seconds starts now good throw that ball up using your weaker hand and catching your stronger hand make sure you're catching above your head remember it's too tricky you can use two hands amazing don't worry if you drop it a few times that's fine just count the one that you catch two one stop there well done everybody now can you shout your score to the screen now top top work okay now for the next challenge this is the bit that gets fun but tricky you're going to pick up your baseball cap so for the next challenge you need your baseball cap and you need your ball or your sock ball I'm gonna use my sock ball just to show you that you can do it with both now before we actually do the challenge I want you to get used to swinging your serve in the right way so I'm gonna show you what it looks like using my tennis racket and then I'm gonna show you what you're going to do so I don't want you to use your racket for this because when you do this indoors it's a bit dangerous you could be breaking lights and things so don't copy me yet I want you to watch first of all now when you do a serve like we said we throw the ball up and we hit the ball above our head and you'll notice that when I hit the ball my arm is stretched up super high up here now when I get to the back of my serve technique here we have an L shape okay so we've got a nice L shape here and this is the shape that I want you all to copy in a second you're going to use your hat so pick up your hat now and I want you to hold your hat like this on the peak with your thumb on the inside of your hat so not this way round we don't want the outside of your hat we want your thumb on the inside of your hat like this and I want you to see if you can copy the big L shape that I made so you can see I've got my hat in my hitting hand and my socks in my spare hand and your job is to see if you can throw your socks up just like we practiced before but I want you to see if you can catch your socks in your hat so we're going to try here are we ready so throw catch I actually hit my socks are we ready so we're going to throw and catch and you can see I've got my socks in my hat here it's not easy we'll try again ready so we've got the L shape we've got our tennis ball or socks ideally out in front and we're going to throw up and catch and you can see I've caught it in my hat so have a go yourselves remember we're using our hat to catch the ball or the socks like so off you go so throw and catch make sure we've got a nice L shape at the back here good keep practicing don't worry if you hit a few sometimes it might knock off and go over into somewhere else in the room that's fine if you're using socks they're nice and soft so they're not going to break anything so same again up and catch make sure you've got that nice L shape like I say if you get really good at these your serve is going to be a rocket when you manage to get to the tennis course good I'm going to give you five more seconds to practice three two one and stop there well done so challenge time 30 seconds in fact in this one because it's so much tougher I'm going to give you a whole minute because I remember when I first tried this exercise I failed about 100 times I tried a hundred times and I just couldn't catch it the only reason I can catch it today is because I've had years and years of practice so today if you fail on this don't worry keep practicing and as soon as you get good at it that's the time to challenge your family members to see if you can beat them okay so we're going to start the timer we're going to see how many catches you can get in one minute your time starts now off we go catch make sure we're using that L shape good if you do a nice gentle throw up it's going to make it a bit easier to catch if you throw it too high and it goes near to the ceiling it's going to be really really tricky keep going watching the ball and watching your socks good don't worry if you drop it just pick it up and carry on your score we're nearly halfway keep it up looking good looking good and even those ones you're going to miss it you're still doing your L shape you're still getting your throw 15 seconds to go come on you've got to see if you get one more point 10 seconds throw and catch using that L shape three two one and stop there awesome stuff give yourselves a clap using your cap amazing and your score was tell me fantastic really really top work all of these exercises that we do in the sessions you might find that one of them is your favourite and you can practice these in your own time the more you practice these exercises the better you're going to be when you actually hit the tennis course so there you have it you have just smashed our serving session now before we go we're going to recap some of the things we learned so remember just like the last couple of weeks in your brain I want you to have a little think about some of the things that you've learned today I'm going to give you some examples of the things that I think you could have learned and you're going to tell me if they were what you were thinking of ok good 10 seconds to have a think some of the things that you learned today ok time up so the first thing that you could have learned and if you think this is something you learned today give me a big thumbs up is that the most important shot in tennis is the shot we practice today the serve give me a thumbs up if you remembered that the second thing is that when we serve we need to use our weaker hand to throw the ball which is why it can be such a challenging shot and it's our stronger hand that we use to hit the ball using our racket when we hit a serve do we hit the ball when it's down low or up high can you remember that's right we hit it with our straight arm really high stretching above our head that's going to give us lots and lots of power what letter of the alphabet do we get to at the back of our swing can we remember that's right it's the L position and some tennis players like to call it the Usain Bolt position if you remember Usain Bolt's pose when he won the 100m sprint that is the position you get in for the serve so well done if you remembered all of those things and I'm sure there were some other things that you learned in that session as well in our next session I'm going to be teaching you how to rally and then after that one we've got one more week where we're going to be putting everything together and having loads and loads of fun so I can't wait to see you in our next session see you there a few days ago lots of you had a go at the plank challenge so I thought I'd add a couple of variations for you to have a try at home whether you're kids whether you're parents give these a try if you wanted to make it slightly easier rather than the version we had before where you had to throw and catch we can roll the ball across the floor so we're looking to see how many rolls you can do 6, 7, 8 before you collapse if you wanted to make it slightly tougher you can see if you can do a rally by yourself 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 if you want to make it tougher still do the same thing with your feet together 1, 2, 3 give those a try and let me know how you get on