Dr. Julie Trepa, Superintendent, Boone Community School District, April 14, 2026

On our program today, visiting with Dr. Julie Treppa, Boone School Superintendent. Good morning. Here we are. Another meeting out of the way. Yeah, it's already April, can you believe it? I know. You didn't have a list of graduates, but that'll be next month. Oh yeah, that's not till May. That's not till May. Oh, we have time. Yeah. Yeah. We have time. We did, though, have the budget and... Yeah. The certified budget hearing. Nobody came. No. We submitted any writing. No, but we still went through the budget anyway to try and help explain, you know, the differences in reporting, I think, can be confusing, because certain reports require different kinds of information to be sure. It depends what you're looking at. It does. And they ask for different things, and to bottom line is we have our levy rate. It's up a little, but it's, you know, it's still, it's much lower than it was a couple years ago. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, it's more than $2 lower than when I got here or so. I'm thinking people forget some of that. Well, it's easy to forget, right? Yeah. Yeah. So it's down there. It's come up a little bit. I think, though, one of the things in the discussion is that Matt Elton said it. He says, you know, for as hard as we work at this, it's still, it's a challenge every time. It is a challenge. Just because we're seeing, we'll see the carryover a little bit less this year than what it had been. And some of that you're doing intentionally and some, it's not, it's just declining enrollment. Exactly. Yeah. The challenge of the declining enrollment in addition to this day-to-date is just, it's a challenge. So we'll continue to persevere and try and make really great decisions for our kids. And you said, we'll just keep working at it this way. We'll talk about some of that too, because you did spend a lot of time at the end of the meeting talking about how to work on some of those things. That's true. Well, we have that all done, that part's taken care of, now it goes to the state and away we go. Let's talk for one part of that. You did do this debt service amendment. Yes. Pay off our debt faster, yes. And it's a way that an escrow account, do you money go in there and then when the bonds are callable? Yeah, when they're callable, then we can pay them off faster. So it actually, one of our meetings, not this last one, but one of the other meetings, we shared that we've saved over $2 million by doing this action. And so last night action, I think was around $760,000 that we're going to pay off faster and it will save our taxpayers money because then we're paying less interest and we pay them off faster. That's a big thing and people kind of, they don't really realize that that's our debt service levy. That's what it's going toward is to paying it off faster so that we can save money. So yeah. Save on that interest payment. And that debt service levy has stayed the same. That's been at 405 since I've arrived, so. And that was voter approved. It was voter approved, yes. So voters like paying off the debt fast if you can. Absolutely. Keep doing that. Yes. And again, that's just because as I'm watching through and I'm going, some people would get lost with the escrow agreement and everything else, but the bottom line is these are dollars that are going to pay that principal down. Yes. Yes. Just like anybody would do if they could do it at home. Exactly. You could do the same thing. Well, we did have a lot of different things that went on last night. First of all, I got to go back to Cole. Yes. Got to do his student oath, I guess. We have two students actually. They take turns that are going to be board representatives. He worked very hard on making this come about. Yes. And to really work to help our high school administration come up with the process that they could all follow. And he had to follow that process too, like he wasn't just given that opportunity. So He had to apply and go through the whole thing. Yes. There was an application process for both Bethany and Cole. And so application, interviews, all kind of, you know, needed letters of recommendation, the whole, the whole spiel. And then last night, I thought Cole did a really nice job of sharing what's happening at the high school and the things that were important to the students and, you know, shared about the play that had just occurred the previous weekend. And yeah, I think that it's a great addition to our board. For those that didn't know the play, 12 Angry Men, we did. But yeah, no, he gave a nice quick summary just went right through. We did this testing. Fact about ISS testing felt that our students represented the district wall, which I very much appreciate it. That was a great, great perspective. So yeah, we will see when we get those scores back, get them back. We did have, speaking of the theater and I guess the thespians, yes, we have three actually that came and asked the board if they could do some out of state travel. Yeah. We've had a couple over the last couple of years that have gone, but one is on the board, I think. On the board and then the other two qualified to participate in the competition at International Thespian Festival. So yeah, going for that. And so they do have some fundraising happening on Bound right now. So if anyone wants to donate to that, you can go on the Bound app and I'm sure you'll find it there and because they could use all the help they can get in fundraising for this trip. They said they told the board that they understood they would probably have to pay some of the cost. But bottom line is, yeah, Bound is an easy way to and of course, the easy question is some people are going, what's bound? Yes. If you're buying tickets or anything like that for any event or activity at the school, you do it through that application and it's an app that you can put on your phone. It also gives you all of our activities so you know what's happening in the district. So it really is a great way to keep track of what's going on and how you can attend plays, athletic events, different activities for anybody that's wondering, by the way, the International Thespian Festival. It's out of state. So again, but Bloomington, Indiana, but it's in June. So it's during the summer and it's always been a summer event. They have several years back. It was in Nebraska. They do sometimes change the location, but yeah, it's out of state travel. So our board policy requires approval of the board and the board gave that approval last night. We did have Principal John Johnson talking about the summer school and again, time to start thinking about that. One of the moves a year or two, a couple of years ago, I guess, was it had been opened up pretty much. You had a lot of people that were going to it, almost got too much. Right. And the bottom line is really the focus for summer school has always been to help those students that need that little bit of effort to... Some credit deficiencies and try and attain the credits they need to stay on track for graduation is really the goal. And so we'll continue with that. He did mention that we won't have the 8.5, but I also, he forgot to mention that one of the reasons that we feel that we are able to do without that is because we do now have the freshman seminar that does a lot of the things for all students that used to be open to just a few over the summer. So I'm kind of replacing the 8.5 with our freshman seminar opportunities for kids. So they'll be, again, Andy did say that a little bit of focus on math last time and that's always a challenge. Some just don't like math at all. You know what? We're going to show them what a wonderful world math is. I'm a former math teacher. We aren't going to go anywhere but positive with math. We keep working on it. Anyway, but it did show last year and again the same kind of concentration. And for those that are wondering, summer school is actually those costs covered with the drop up prevention funds that are available. Yes. And I, Jake, got to talk about that because this one, I know you guys were excited that they extended an opportunity to have somebody here. Again, part of the challenge is higher up. State level is are they going to continue to be able to do this and this is tied into a lot of our Edge programming. It really is. For us and Boone, I, Jake and Edge kind of are mixed, right? So they support one another and utilize the same structures. And so it's really a unique situation here in Boone and it's really been kind of the leader in this state on how to provide these services to students. And so we're really fortunate this year that I, Jake, when we lost funding from Boat Rehab, I, Jake stepped up and took over the funding for the section that Boat Rehab had been paying for and then they've agreed to do that again next year. So again, absolutely thrilled that they are willing to do that for us because that is a cost that we've never had to incur and certainly can't add costs at this point in time. So we will get to still serve close to 80 students as a result of that. In I, Jake, Iowa Jobs for America is, what's the G, I just lost it. But it's about, it's about being ready for the workplace. It's a workforce piece. But yeah, just the fact that they're willing to continue to provide that opportunity for us. We are eternally grateful. I think, and they did ask board members to inquire because they want to know. So did we see a decline? And part of it was with that transition with I, Jake coming in, a little hesitancy on who was going to be there and what. So our numbers this year might have been a little lower, but I mean, you've had. This year we were around 60 to 70. And it was really because we, there was a late resignation that I, Jake had that had been planning to be in Boon. And so they had to find someone else. And so when you don't have two teachers at the very beginning of the year, then yeah, there's the attendance in that is a little bit lower, but 60 to 70 versus 80. I think that's still pretty good. So when you're getting up there, the 80 plus and stuff, and we've seen that, which. We've been very fortunate and our kids are extremely engaged. It's a great leadership opportunity for students. Just a wide variety of opportunities. So the way we use it, you do have other districts. How do you handle this? How are we doing this? And how do you make it successful? Yeah, we have a lot of districts that come and visit our programming because a lot of districts have I, Jake, but we're again unique in how we incorporate them into the fabric of our work based learning programming with edge. So they like to see how, how we do that because it's been extremely successful. The number of students that have the number of opportunities is unique and part of it. The word gets out because presentations are done at different, uh, different gatherings and different conferences are our staff do a lot of press, a lot of presentations at various. Yeah. The state and national work based learning conferences. They're asked to speak. Well this year, uh, we did our early, our professional services with a, the change in AA folks. If you've been wondering what it is, you have to do your contracts with AA early so they can get the people so that they can have the staffing to be able to provide the service. So we have to tell them now what we will need in the fall. So that's what we did last night is talked about the areas of professional development that we would like to lean on them for. And so we have some things that have been occurring that we want to continue with. And so that's really what we did last night is extend the contracts that we are already doing. No change in the cost. No change in the cost. But again, as I shared the AA's are, um, tasked with, um, uh, invoicing at market value. So they really don't have the freedom to give a lot of discounts. So are you going to explain to us the photography protocol? I can. So this was an issue that came up. Not really. Yeah. It's just we need a process. Yeah. It's not really an issue. It's just a process that we need to follow because, uh, you need to have a way to know who's, um, taking photographs of, of the students and different activities and ensuring that you don't have too many, first of all, because it's possible have two or three all at the same time. And then that can make for a crowded sideline, um, but also to let any spectators or anyone who's attending the events know who has had permission to do photography who hasn't. So we just, uh, looked at what some other schools were doing and, and took some of the components that we thought would be beneficial and came up with a protocol that we want, uh, photographers to follow. So moving into next year, we would like to see we will require our anyone wishing to photograph students that if you're not, um, for example, with KCCI or WHO, like an established media or KWBG, if Ryan takes pictures, exactly. So no, those are not, uh, the people we're speaking of, but, um, if you're someone who wants to do that, then we just ask that you go through our process. And it's about, um, contacting the activities office, making an application, there'll be a short form for you to fill out and a background check so that we can, um, ensure that anyone that's participating near students is, uh, someone who should be. So that's something we need to have a month prior, so there is plenty of time for the background check. So this is, it's, I mean, it would be new for us, but not new for school districts. So it's just something that we thought having that protocol in place, um, does nothing but provide further safety and consistency for our kids in our district. We did get the bid for Chromebooks and I think, uh, goodness Levi's there to walk us through all this stuff. Man, it's not. We had a lot of bids this time, which was surprising, but yeah, a little different. Uh, anyway, about, uh, about $150,000 in, and what, uh, this is, this is a pebble money that comes, comes out of so fifth and ninth grade. Uh, yeah. So that those transition ages. So, uh, and they get new ones. Yes. They do take a lot of wear and tear. They do, but we've got a nice long, uh, they've got some longevity and, and with our changes in fifth grade, um, of not taking them home, that also is helping. So it does it. Uh, anyway, once again, uh, this is, uh, one of the things that, and we did get a pretty good bid for it. The one we did not do though, uh, bus bids, unfortunately, uh, Yeah. There are rules to follow when you do an RFP and so, um, we had two of three that submitted bids in the manner that they were supposed to. And then the two that did submit them on time and in the manner they were supposed to, um, didn't necessarily follow the wrecks, wreck the requirements that, um, Mike had set out. So, um, we rejected the bids last night and we'll start over. Start over and see if we can get bids for the bus components that we want and to see if they can follow the process. We're doing still, uh, kind of a regular rotation. We do. Yeah. So again, so you get to a certain level, time, time. We are trying to beat some new rules coming out that will help us with cost, but. Those are the new emission ones. Correct. I'm going to be in there too. Uh, the, uh, support personnel, uh, salary. This is money that comes in and, uh, you turn right around and give it out in bonuses. Yeah. It's really something that state legislature did, um, the previous year and set aside, um, we have about $57,000 that will be distributed among about 150 staff members, um, to help supplement their pay. And that is something legislature did the previous year and then they've, um, sounds like they're doing it again this year. So. We'll take it. We absolutely. We'll turn it around and give it to the teachers. It's just goes straight to the, not in teachers to our support staff, support staff, our early employees. The, um, the part that is always hard to do, you did have to do the formal action termination. We did. Uh, nothing new from what we had heard earlier. We knew, uh, who was going to be included in there. Uh, it sounds like, uh, the majority have jobs. Yeah. You doing it early, letting him know early, help them. That was really our goal was to give them every opportunity to find employment because it's something we didn't want to have to, we'd have reductions in force, but when that became apparent, that was necessary. We wanted to give our employees, um, every opportunity possible to be able to find further employment. And so we do feel that that's been pretty successful and a strategy that if that were to be, um, needed again, we'd follow a similar strata strategy. So one of the, uh, the downside is we had to do that this year. The upside is we've already are in the process of looking at moving forward. And again, it was, you were doing this even before we were before the big reductions. This is standard practice of just being efficient and fiscally responsible. And what I'm talking about is when you have opportunities to attrition staff that you may not need anymore. You do that so that you aren't spending money that you don't need to spend. And so, um, we have had some recent, um, developments occurred this spring where we are attritioning to positions because we no longer have those needs. Um, and we're able to move those individuals to positions within our district so that they wouldn't have to face a reduction in force next year. So, um, that's something that we've been able to do this spring. And that does definitely, um, help us as we look at further reductions, the more we can reduce in that manner now, the less we have to do later. So that is our goal. I also mentioned that, um, we've been doing a couple of retirements. We've had some retirements, um, we also have had, um, changes in, um, services that we changed just, um, so that we can have. So we're moving from app to G to parents square for a website because that's cheaper. Um, we will, uh, our staff have been amazing at making sure that the materials that they're requesting are, are needed materials and not just wants. Um, so we've seen a reduction in the costs of those. So just a wide variety of things that we're doing to reduce expenditures now that don't make the news. They don't bring, um, people, you know, necessarily, uh, have that attention, but just wanted people to know that those are things that we do do. And so it is, it's you got to work at it. Yes. And we will, we will have some public forums in the future to further discuss the kinds of reductions we're already making and have those conversations as we move into the next season. One that a lot of people don't know about is, uh, when the offices are open and you ask the board a little, you know, a little bit of direction on that. And I think they were surprised when you said, yeah, the office is open when we have snow days. I think people don't know that. And so, um, when we look at for efficiencies, that is something we're trying to look at. And one thing we could look at is when should we be open to the public and when shouldn't we. And so, um, we mentioned snow days, some of the breaks. We talked about non-school days, obviously. So, um, really weren't, had some good discussion. We'll probably discuss again in May. Um, but just really need to have an idea of where our board would like to see us, you know, we want to still provide that customer service, but we also want to be efficient. So just looking for some guidance and, and when the offices should be open and when they shouldn't. Some like, uh, offices are open like during spring break or during spring break, they're open all summer. They're open during, yeah, snow days. Um, so currently we're open, um, all except like Christmas day, New Year's day, um, July 4th, like the major holidays, that's those are the time's offices are closed currently. Well, uh, even though we didn't have our graduate list, which will be coming in, it will be. But we know graduation is going to be inside. It will be inside. So then we don't have to worry about whether it's raining or not. So we will be inside and, um, Mr. Johnson said that some information has already been given out. Um, but there will be more information about the ticketing coming out too, because there are tickets that are provided to every family and then they have a way of having, letting you, uh, if families don't need all the tickets, how to maybe refurbish them so that larger families might be able to still, um, have tickets. So still have all it is, it is going forward yet. No more info. It is late this year. So the graduation is late and it'll be May 31st. So that is very late for us. So just something to keep in mind. And when you look at next year's calendar, yes, it will be Memorial Day weekend, I believe is graduation day. I'm not going to flip the big calendar over to see what it'll be a week earlier. It'll be a week earlier next year because it falls. It's just the way the calendar falls. Well, and you, you aren't allowed to let seniors be gone so many days before the rest of them. And so the way the calendar fell this year, we were late. So for the snow days, things like that, we were a good position. So, um, we had two snow days and we had two built-in snow days. So we already did one in February and I think our other one is this month, maybe Monday. I'd have to look again, but yeah, so, uh, we're using the built-in snow days. What I love about that is great learning still happens. It's not at the end of the year when everyone wants to be gone. It's just a normal school day. So. Busy time. Anyway, budgets done. We got that part going forward. Me too. And all kinds of other things happen. All kinds of activities. Spring activities are up and running. So there's plenty to do. They are running out there all over the place. They absolutely are. So yeah, if you want to attend any activities, get your bound app and see where you'd like to be. Check it out. Yeah. Again, Dr. Julie Trappa, our guest on our program today. Thanks for coming in. Thank you for having me.