Good evening. I would like to call to order this Anoka Henipin School Board meeting for today, August 25th, 2025. Please join the board in pledging our allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America.
Is there a motion to approve the board agenda as presented? Thank you, Director Wangfeld. Do we have a second? Thank you, Director Adet. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, will all those in favor
say I. I. Any oppose say nay. With six in favor and zero opposed, the agenda is approved. Members, the next item on our agenda is our item four, consent agenda. As normal, members can remove items for separate consideration and discussion if
that's their desire. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Thank you, Director Simon. Is there a second? Thank you, Director Duchaine. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, will all those in favor
say I. I. Any oppose say nay. With six in favor and zero opposed, our consent agenda is approved. Our next agenda item is item five, the communications, delegations, and petition section of our meeting. This is
time for the community members to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within the school board's authority. We plan this agenda item for 15 minutes. Our policy allows for community members to speak for up to five minutes, but if there are several persons that we want to speak, the chair has the discretion to reduce
the time to comment to hear from all and also to keep the meeting on schedule. During times of large committee input, we have been flexible in allowing the meeting to run late. Tonight, we have I believe it is four. We have four cards. To keep the meeting on time, I'll ask individuals to keep their comments to
four minutes. I'll ask co-chair Duchaine to monitor a timer and if you run over your time, she will ask you to wrap up your comments quickly. We welcome written testimony. If you have more to say than time allows, please complete a yellow card and provide it to Miss Ball so that we can provide a written
follow-up. A couple of procedural reminders. Our meeting participation procedures are in place to asssure open and orderly public comments as well as to protect the due process and privacy rights of individuals under the law. Speakers use specific names of students, staff, or board members. I will need to
interrupt or stop a speaker. Please remember to direct your comments to the school board chair. Members of the audience, please listen respectfully. If the board cannot hear speakers, I may reset the timer to allow speakers to be heard. Audience members that disrupt this portion may be asked to leave for the remainder of the meeting. And with
all of that being said, our first speaker is Abby Pair. Welcome to the board. Thank you. Good evening board and superintendent McIntyre. My name is Abby Payer and I'd like to talk to you tonight about two
things. The first being direct instruction and the second supporting our teachers and staff. I have spent the last two decades in education. first as a teacher in our district and now as a professor in higher education training
our new teachers. As I listened to the board's work session earlier this month, it was clear there was some confusion around what direct instruction is, which is understandable since most people don't spend their day jobs thinking about curriculum and instruction. But since I do, I hope to provide some
clarification that might make it easier to make good decisions regarding approving the social studies and science standards that the Anoka Henipin staff members are waiting for. I'll start with what you're understanding really well. You are correct that direct instruction
is very important and that there are good reasons why we are adopting direct, systematic, explicit instruction for foundational reading. One of my jobs is I research dyslexia with a team at the University of Minnesota. And through
fMRI scans, we literally can see that during the reading acquisition period, which means during the time when you are building those neural networks, um like think emergent readers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, first, second graders.
um a child literally is changing their brain and building those neural networks that connect the speech and the print. Our brains need that repeated multiple exposures to effectively do the statistical learning that it takes to crack the code of English which is
really complex. um research from the cognitive, neuroscience, educational psychology and education fields have recently combined that knowledge into what you know as the science of reading and the board has shown a strong grasp on that. Um a focus
of that research is that the direct instruction makes the patterns more obvious for students and helps them crack that code of English really fast and efficiently. So that's important and I thank you for adopting the new curricula that are really aligned with
that research. However, just because one concept um is solid in one area doesn't mean you can extend it across other areas. And at the last work session, it was clear that some board members would like to extend those findings to secondary students. Um secondary science
and social studies in particular. It is true that we would all love to see higher achievement on standardized test scores, but we don't actually have clear evidence that mandating that teachers spend 30 of every 60 minutes in direct instruction in those grades will improve
outcomes. We don't find that. We find mixed evidence across the studies. There are amazing differences between the brains of young children who are just acquiring reading and high school and middle school students. High school and middle school students are not just
empty vessels waiting for the teacher to pour knowledge in. That's not how it works. Instead, they're learning new knowledge by connecting what they've already stored in their schema. Because of this, teachers know that when beginning a new unit, we should be be
beginning by assessing what students already know on the topic and what there's what we should build from. Uh, most importantly, what misconception does students already have? For example, if my social studies students think that
the end of slavery and the and Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights were in the same era, this tells me I need to do some teaching. They have some misconceptions. Um, that era actually arose because of continued injustices. 10 seconds.
And so we have to take this into consideration when we're determining how we speak. And our teachers know how to do this. That's really what we're training them in in higher education is how to determine what they need. I would leave you with the call to put yourself
in the perspective of teachers, the vast majority who agree that the state standards need to be adopted so that they can use their new textbooks. Our teachers are experts and we have to, especially as we're starting this new school year, treat them as such. Welcome
them in. Let them know we're excited to give them the tools that the board is supposed to so that they can do their jobs well. Thank you. Thank you for the comments. Our next speaker is Tim Jess.
Welcome to the board. Good evening board and uh superintendent McIntyre. Um my name is Tim Jess. I am here on behalf of the building service employees group for buildings and grounds. Um which represents
maintenance, custodial staff, grounds and the warehouse. Um, I have been a third I'm a third generation employee of the district. My grandfather's worked in the district. My both of my parents have both worked in the district and have retired from the district. Um, the one thing that I took
from this when I first came into this district that this is a career, you know, this was a career option for a lot of young people that they can do. Um but with the rising costs in health insurance and you know or not sustainable wage increases that we are
re that we are seeing um it has become unsustainable for people to maintain this type this work. We already have individuals that are quitting right now because of the health insurance. We had one Friday that just quit in the maintenance department and it's we don't
want to have to experience another shortage that we did after CO with 30 some employees not wanting to work and we're all struggling to try and maintain these buildings which are vital to the students and the rest of the staff and the community itself the fields the gyms
the classrooms it's all very important to everybody and it's important to our to our job. So, you know, we just want to implore the board to consider increasing the wages and health insurance contributions that the
district has to try and keep to retain these employees that are currently here and to make it feasible for them to want to stay here longer than a few years to be more of a career. Thank you. Thank you for the comments.
Our next speaker is Kelly Stalig. Welcome to the board. Thank you. Uh good evening chair and members of the board. My name is Kelly Stalik and I am a proud member or proud mother of a
senior football student athlete in the Anoka Henipin School District at Andover High School. Thank you for the work you do and for the time you give to support our schools and our kids. I'd like to share my perspective
regarding the recent decision to move high school football start times from 700 p.m. to 6:00 p p.m. on Friday nights. For decades, Friday Night Lights has been more than just a football game.
They are a tradition that brings entire communities together. students, parents, alumni, teachers, and local businesses. It's one of the few times during the week when thousands of people gather to
celebrate our schools and our kids. Starting games at 6:00 p.m. risks shrinking that tradition. Many working parents work until 5 or later, and a 6 pm kickoff makes it
harder for families and community members to attend. The result is fewer people in the stands and a weaker sense of community spirit. Here in Andover, we've seen just how
strong that community spirit is. The Andover Football Association consistently has one of the highest youth football registrations amongst an NOA Henipin, if not in the state of Minnesota with more than 400 youth
players. That's an incredibly high participation rate, especially considering the city's smaller population. Football is deeply woven into the fabric of this community and Friday night lights are where those young players
dream of one day taking the field. But most importantly, this decision impacts the students who are playing right now. These athletes have worked their whole lives for the chance to play
under the lights on a Friday night. For seniors especially, this is the culmination of years of dedication, early mornings, long practices, and countless sacrifices. Playing at 700 p.m. in front of a full
stadium is an experience they will remember forever. Moving games earlier takes away part of that moment. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider and allow Friday night
football to continue at 700 p.m. In closing, I want to emphasize that this is about more than football. It's about community. It's about honoring the tradition that inspires younger kids, unites families, and gives our students
the high school experience they deserve. Please keep the tradition of Friday night lights alive in Anoka Henipin. Thank you for listening and for your consideration. Thank you for the comments.
Our next speaker is Preston Nelson. Welcome to the board. Good evening everyone. Um, the last speaker did a great job of covering kind of what I want to cover. So, I'm going to keep it quick, just go over a brief overview again of why um as
a representative of Champion Park and their football team, why we would really like to have the game start time moved back to 700 p.m. Uh my my first reason is because many of our um players on the team come from workingass families and
their parents might have to take off work or um get to the game later uh due to the change in start time from 6:00 to 7:00. Also, um, as someone who has played varsity,
when we, uh, have to get prepared for an away game at school, we're coming off of, uh, school lunch and maybe some snacks, but that was, um, probably like a few hours before. If we have to play at 6, we won't really have that much
time to get prepared and get a good meal in before we play at 6 now. And if that was moved to seven, I feel it would be definitely a lot safer because we could get a good meal in our body and some good fluids to hydrate us.
Um my third reason is that um playing at six for the first couple weeks of games would be majority at daytime and we had uh changed schedule game due to weather and it was
during the day but we had um like a rise in cramps and heat strokes and people that just had to be tooken out due to the heat. I think um kind of to piggy back on the safety thing, a game at 7 that would not happen as much due to the
heat. Um just not being there, it would it obviously just leave because the game is at seven now. But um as well as that, we also have a huge youth team. And as a youth member myself, or I'm sorry, I'm not youth
anymore, but as a previous youth member myself, the Friday night games were just electric. and it really made me fall in love with the sport. And I do remember that my game my practices would get done at 6 PM. And I'm not sure if they would change that, but due to the vast number
of teams, I think that they would probably not be able to change it and they would be getting to the games late. So, I think that would be um very hard for some of the teams that would have to practice till then. And um I'm just going to make an assumption here that
maybe you guys changed it down to six due to like some violence maybe or some people of the community acting out. And I would just like to say that um maybe there could be some other ways that we could try and um limit that. I me personally I think that if that stuff is
going to happen um I think changing the game time um back would not do as much. I think that there could be something done inside the game that would help um to help limit the crime and violence.
But um just to end end just an ending thought, growing up, I hear playing under the lights um and Friday nights a lot. Um and the just under the lights and and um playing at night is just means something special. if you're um like I said last year I got to play
varsity and I got to play under the lights and it was definitely like just a crazy experience and for my new teammates coming up I would hate for them to have to miss out on that. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.
Our next speaker is Rod Welcome to the board. Good evening. Conservatives consistently bring up the Marxist origins of CRT as if it's unforgivably heinous. So, let's look at a few of the actions through American history. Marxists are stalwarts in the
fight for full civil rights for black Americans. Conservatives opposed integrating Little Rock schools by waving placers that read, "Race mixing is communism." Marxists are deeply associated with racial justice. The last murder by a Marxist was in 1973.
Farright groups have killed 520 since 1990. The Communist Manifesto was written during the early industrial revolution when workers were virtual slaves. Marxists supported multi-racial unions and safe working conditions.
Marxists oppose the wars against the Native Americans, the Vietnamese, the Iraqis, and the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. American Marxists have consistently opposed the atrocities that Republicans and Democrats are so fond of. And
therein lies the problem. Marxists are demonized because they adamantly oppose white supremacy and oligarchy. CRT is attacked because it decisively documents the techniques used to enforce white supremacy. It turns out that our nation's real allegiance is to profit
and power, not to justice, not to the Constitution, and certainly not to Jesus message of love your neighbor. But the serious vilification is reserved for teaching the insights of CRT in our schools. CRT exposes our nation's lethal embrace of savage racism throughout our
history. detractors know that our young people will recognize their behavior for what it is, an ongoing moral atrocity, and that is a threat to traditional values. One final note, neither the gratuitous cruelty of the conservatives
nor the cowardice of the liberals can build a society, a society runs on honesty powered by an open curiosity about other perspectives, integrity, and an aggressive concern for the welfare of all its people. This is the goal of seal deic.
It works off the principle of love your neighbor and is most clearly practiced by American Marxists. Thank you. Thank you for the comments. And our final speaker is
Brandon Fininky. Apologies if I misread that. Welcome to the board. Thank you guys for having me here as long as my teammates as well. Um, I don't really have a new dog in this fight, but I want to touch on some other
things that a couple other people have said. One of those being that a lot of us come from working-class families and it does become a lot harder for them to get to the games as you know they get off of work four five o'clock and then for them to get to those away games especially like for Champlain Park we
play north um and that's a 50-minute drive for us. So I can imagine for parents who work in further locations it becomes once again much harder for them to get to the games on time and to see their kids play. And also for me as a senior, um I wasn't fortunate enough to really play under the lights last year
for varsity. So, uh that would hurt me to have to go and change the tradition from seven to six. Um and that would really pain me. And I know for some of the upcoming juniors or sophomores who are playing up, that would really hurt them as well. And then I can also understand one of the reasons for
wanting to change the time from 7 to 6, which may be the fighting the student sections or surrounding the games in the community. um because you know it's later at night and kids are might be acting up. But I don't think it's fair to punish the the people who are playing on the field or who actually care about the sport and the environment of the
sport for a couple knuckleheads that may be in attendance. And there's definitely other ways to prevent that. Um maybe by having a stronger presence of some authority figures or what I know some schools do is make sure it's only students in attendance before the games. Um and that's really all I have to say
today. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Looks like we got one more speaker. Um, Colton Miller, welcome to the board. Hey guys. Uh, I just want to talk about
how, you know, we're moving pushing back the 6 PM games and I just wanted to just kind of wanted to make sure that you guys know like it's you guys probably know it's like always been tradition for us to play at 7 and like you know all my friends know it's at 7. So, it's kind of
just like it makes it more difficult to get to these games for everybody. Like my parents get off work at 5:00 and they got to drive an hour to get home. So, it just makes it harder for them to get to these games. and uh you know just like all that stuff like that. Um and I also
just want you guys to be aware just like even though you know that these kids cause trouble at these games like it's like the other dude said it's just tough to punish guys like us. So I didn't really have as much to say as him but it's all I just wanted to say as you
guys know. So thank you guys. Thank you for the comments. Um, and with that, um, there are no more speakers. So, our next agenda item is item six, board calendar and district update by Superintendent McIntyre. All right. Thank you, co-chair Arco, and
good evening members of the board. As people are exiting here, we'll give them just a moment. Appreciate everyone coming out. Lots of energy leading up to the start of the school year, so we thank everyone for coming. Um, as I kind of set this up, as I
usually uh share with the board, tonight I'll be presenting some items that are of the board interest and community interest regarding activities and events that we're proud of in our district. And we do this to celebrate our students, staff, and community members who are contributing to the accomplishment of our mission, which is to effectively
educate each of our students for success. So to start things off, we've been preparing here about the last month uh with staff gradually coming back. And over the past three years, our district has endorsed a theme called the power of
purpose with the um realization that creating human contact and human connection is a powerful conduit for student learning. So when staff show up at their best, we can get the best from our students. And our schools are all about our people. As we've talked often
about our budget really kind of is really about the 80% of that budget being our staff and how do we u continue to bring our best staff uh forward to our um student learning. So last week and this week uh we started last week with um about 280 new teachers that came
for their first day on the job. We met with about 350 child nutrition workers, welcome them back. We had about 400 transportation staff together and welcome them back with all staff returning this week. So, we are back in full force uh today with getting ready
for the start of um next school year. So, we're using that power of purpose theme to really uh have a shared focus on bringing our best to um do our best for our students. And that first day of school, as I move on to our um next
announcement here, next Tuesday, September 2nd, is our first day of school. it is finally here and we will start with a phased approach with students grades 1 through five uh in grades six and nine as well as grade seven at an NOA middle school for
the arts starting on Tuesday and then all other grades starting on September 3rd. Kindergarten students will also begin in this phase approach throughout the week. So we will see increased activity at all of our school sites with open house events starting tomorrow at our elementary and high schools
elementary schools and high schools. and then our middle schools along with Two Rivers transition program at Franklin on Wednesday night this week, August 27th. So, uh, one other note I want to make, you've probably seen in some of the updates, um, that I've been sharing with the board each week, our enrollment is,
um, looking to be up. We're we're at least holding and our right now our projections seem to be increasing. So, as we inch towards the beginning of next week and as we kind of move to that October 1, which is our official uh count that we use for funding, we'll continue to keep you apprised of that.
But all signs are looking like increased enrollment is happening. So, we're excited for that. Um, as you heard tonight from some of our student athletes, our high school activities are already up and running and we've already had a number of uh competitions
um that have started. And this fall we offer a full slate of options whether it's dance line, marching band, cheer. We have girls swimming and diving, girls volleyball, girls tennis, cross country, soccer, and football along with a number of other activities. And uh many more
will get started once school starts as well. Those activities and clubs that are offered once the year has begun. So, we do encourage students and parents to reach out to our activities offices at our buildings to find out more about registration as well as future opportunities that we offer our uh
students. One more reminder as well that um tickets to activity events are now digital and are available on our school websites. Um, I also wanted to just talk again, we've done this a couple times in the last couple meetings, but uh, parents and guardians should continue to look
for back- to-school information on our district website at ahschools. usbts for a listing of information and links to help navigate maybe some of those last minute things as we're preparing for the start of the school year. So open house dates, supply lists, and many
more u elements are located online to help everyone be ready to go for the start of uh next week. So it's bit short and sweet this this month, but uh director co-chair Arco, this concludes my superintendent's report this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent McIntyre. Uh
board members, are there any questions for the superintendent? Director Simon. Uh thanks, Zach. Um thank you, Superintendent McIntyre. Um, a question on the questions we received tonight about football starting earlier. I know that information has been shared with the board about that decision and why
that decision was made. Um, I I think I don't know if there's um confusion or there's certainly concern out there. I'm just curious if you could um send that back to the board, kind of refresh us on that um and then the board can have discussions. And then maybe a followup
also is is it it sounds like other schools have maybe done this also. So if away games I mean we don't control their schedules, we control our schedule, I would guess, but maybe just some background information behind that on is this something that can still be changed
if why or why not. I just think it'd be great to get really transparent and clear information out to our communities. So yeah, I can answer that right now. Um uh the games start this Thursday. So I doubt those can be moved. But um across our north division, not just our school district. So that includes Rogers,
Centennial, AIO, others in the 6A Metro North Division all move their games to 6 p.m. Uh prim primarily due to the safety concerns um and our ability to honestly cover uh those with staffing and with law enforcement availability. Um so and
that's just beyond I would also tell you just from my experience with the high school league uh that is happening in other areas of the metro as well. Um I can also share that what has been for other school districts that have made this change before there actually has been increased attendance and increased
ticket sales so increased revenue as well. So, um, historically, um, we have I mean, we have modified games with players did a great job seeing, you know, when we've had weather or other things or other game stoppages, we've had to move some, uh, unique games, kind of isolated events around. Um, NBA
breaks, another good example, we have to work around certain breaks. Um, but this has been a bit of a trend moving to 6 PM. And then I also just like to point out our other fall sports. So, if 6 p.m.'s a challenge, we do we have many other sports that start earlier. So five
o'clock or even four o'clock um of the other sports I listed with whether it's soccer or tennis or swimming and diving um even the winter time um teams do travel for events with a 5:00 start uh in different parts of the metro or across the state. So those travel times are just you know we have to manage
those um kind of challenges to make sure we can get in those JV and varsity games um regardless of the sport. But those are those are the key elements. I can, you know, I'll follow up again with our ads to give you some more um details because I I I would like to make sure I have that accurate with all the
districts in our north division, but that whole north division has made that adjustment and has scheduled the games for for six o'clock kickoffs. Uh thank you. That was off the cuff there. Very nice. Um and I know you've shared that information before. I guess
just maybe you can follow up with this. Um, so was that a like a conference decision or I'm not sure what the terminology would be or is it up to individual um districts? So, um, you know, football may be different than
those other sports that it was always Friday night lights, right? I mean, it's been that way in not just Minnesota, the United States for forever. So, I just, at least for me individually, I just I I I would like to revisit it as a board member. Yeah, the ads make those
decisions with the other school districts in the conference. Those are have not historically been schoolboard decisions. And the entire Metro North Division made that decision together as kind of that part of the high school league regional um group. Those ads meet every nearly every month or every other
month. Uh I I remember sitting as the superintendent rep when I was in a previous district and and um that would have been nearly five years ago. The neighboring district and AIO moved those game times as well a number of years ago. Um but those are some decisions that were made because um uh look at
also um official availability and and just the um travel of the visity teams and those things. So it was kind of made as a regional decision, but I'll I'll follow up to see if there's any more data beyond that just even beyond our region, right? That that probably be
helpful for the board to know as well. So I'll have more probably as early as tomorrow. Any other thoughts or comments from board members? Director Ad just just that I think it's worth a review as well.
I concur. See a lot of nods here. All right. Well, any other comments? Otherwise, we will move on to our next agenda item, which is um uh finance item 7A, the phase 3 budget reduction and reallocations
timeline. Welcome again, Superintendent McIntyre. Yeah, thank you, uh, Cocher Arco. So, tonight, board members, is is simply a review of the timeline uh for our phase three budget reductions. This is not anything more than just reviewing of that uh series of calendar dates so that
our public is familiar that um this process as we've talked about in the past um is is uh starting back up and um in your materials is a copy of the the timeline itself. Uh it's just kind of that infographic which is up on the
screen very similar to uh our phase two process that we went through last year. And just by way of brief review, we went through a phase one uh identification of about $5 million uh reductions in March
of 2024. And then we went through phase two of $9 million uh reductions that the board decided on last November. So, at the time, our target was about $26 million, and we knew we would have the remainder um to to settle up with as
this year moved forward, knowing that we would have the legislative session and and some time to um reset that target if we need to. So, um as you saw in June, at the last time we talked about the budget, that number was at that point estimated to be 15.6 million for this
phase three process. We will be having more conversations this week with board members to give you more information around that and uh some of the work that has been done to u organize the information as we begin the process. I do want to point out that uh over the
summer here as it shows on the timeline uh leading up to this point here in August, we have begun a series of meetings with our uh school leaders, our principles. We've already had a number of those meetings here to take advantage of the summer months to get prepared for
uh getting all that information gathered to eventually share recommendations with the board. So, we're still in that process. Still, um I know you've heard Michelle Vargas talk often about we're still settling up last year's budget, which will help us reset and update that
target for us. And you'll get more information soon on that as we continue to finalize last year's um finalization of of um that annual budget. So, as you look forward on the on the timeline here, we hope to bring forward some recommendations after conversations with
uh the board, bringing those to the work session on September 8th, which is right around the corner as we kick off the school year, and then um refining that as as necessary for a um review of those recommendations at the September board
meeting on the 22nd. That leaves us then time to go out to have our community meetings um between the end of September and the beginning of October. Make any adjustments from those meetings in surveys that we information we collect through surveys and bring that back to the board in
October for a a revision if necessary leaving one more month for the board uh in November to make their final decision at the uh November meeting on the 24th. Um that allows us then to make uh
planning decisions and um all the necessary uh operational changes ahead of the January staffing process that we've talked a lot about to make sure we continue to be on time with our hiring process and do our best at recruitment
and retention of of staff. So very similar timeline. uh wanted to make sure we got that out publicly so people know that that's coming and we'll I know as I'm looking at Jim and Heather on our communications table we'll be pushing that information out on our website I know they have that
queued up and ready to go as well. So tonight is simply a review of the dates. We're right now in the middle of collecting the information that we need to bring to the board and we'll again have some of those conversations this week um with with members of our team. So with that, it's just uh again a
general review of that basic uh process timeline. Thank you, Superintendent McIntyre. Board members, any questions? Director Manganfeld, thank you for that process and update and putting it out there so clearly.
Quick question as we think um collectively, I know we're going to have separate meetings. When will we have a collective meeting to really um have some shared conversation about about the reductions in which work session? I'm
just trying to calendar it in my head and timewise. Thanks for asking. Yeah, that'd be September 8th. Okay, so it is September. Okay, that sounds good. I would say that just as a kind of a side note, that'll be our primary topic that evening. will also have an
elementary and secondary literacy update as we're implement implementing our new program at the elementary level give updates but that those will be our two topics for that work session knowing that there there's a lot to cover. Thank you.
Any other comments from board members? Director Deshaine. Uh just to thank you for prioritizing the community meetings again and I just want to confirm that those will be at all five high schools. This year they will be at middle schools. At middle schools. Okay. But in all five
clusters, right? Okay. Very good. Thank you. And I know our I'm looking to kind of Jim and Heather. They're we're in the middle of getting ready to post that information as well, too. That'll be coming shortly. Any other comments from board members?
All right. hearing none. Thank you for the update, Superintendent McIntyre. Um the next item on the agenda, we have general counsel with our first item 8A um 524.0 acceptable use policy. First read, welcome Tim Palmier, general
counsel, and Jill Borman, executive director of technology. Thank you, co-chair Arco, school board members, and superintendent McIntyre. Um, I'll start with our policy 524, acceptable use policy. Uh, we will have two policies on tonight. I'll ask uh
Miss Borman to uh hang with us when we talk about the acceptable use policy and if there's any questions. Um, and then I'll move into some minor changes to the uh bullying policy. Um, so policy 524 is a district acceptable use policy. Um,
what we are proposing tonight is a rewrite of the current policy 524.2. The current policy was last revised in July of 2012. This policy is required under federal law to qualify for the federally created -ate program, which affords discounted rates for schools,
public schools, and libraries. The rewritten policy essentially maintains a number of the acceptable and prohibited uses for district technology um found in the current policy. However, we're proposing actually a rewrite um in part
because the policy was dated, also in part because the policy was really not as robust and comprehensive as the uh MSBA policy. So, the rewritten policy to just kind of highlight some of the areas where there's some um differences and nuance differences between uh the
current what we're the current policy and what we're proposing. Um the rewritten policy provides substantially greater detail on unacceptable uses. It incorporates stricter parameters around sharing of private information. It specifically includes prohibition against uh social media on school
district servers uh to post personal information about the user and others. It addresses uh staff and student responsibilities to report and guard against inadvertent access and disclosures uh of unacceptable materials or private information. It addresses
reporting obligations concerning malware and fishing schemes. It provides policy level guidance on the use of internet filtering activity that uh Miss Borman could fill you in at least in terms of some additional details. It includes uh an important disclaimer on users limited
expectations of privacy in the use of district technology. It includes a disclaimer uh notifying users that the district will not be held responsible for certain losses or damages that a user might experience when using district technology. It includes uh parent notice to parents that they are
ultimately responsibility for monitoring student use in district technologies. I think the the really uh maybe most significant changes though really come in some of the uh some of these areas. Um, in 2022, there was a change to the to the Minnesota statute um that dealt
with um the requirement for schools to provide notice to parents of technology providers that it utilizes and also um makes available contracts that we have with these technology providers. So, the con the um new policy incorporates those particular components. It also
incorporates statutory changes from 2022 that restrict the authority of school officials to access certain um access and monitor certain um uses with respect to student technology. So for example in the in the statute in 2022 um there were
restrictions placed on schools uh with respect to geot tracking of devices. Um you can do it under limited circumstances if there's a lost or stolen device or searching internet search histories. um uh you can do that in certain instances where you're maybe
investigating uh bullying or harassment um but it is narrowed down the possibility in in those respects. Finally, the policy includes a statutory provision from 2021 which expressly directs schools to limit individual use of electronic screen time for prek and K
students. So after discussion at its meeting on August 4th, 2025, the policy committee recommended moving the rewritten policy forward for first reading tonight at tonight's meeting. So, I'll take any questions with that. Any questions from board members?
Director Adat. Thanks. Um, I'm looking at section five unacceptable uses and I'm wondering about specifically the under 1A through
it's E. We we I mean at face value that stuff is um I don't know you you might think kind of obvious but um how I guess I'm looking for how we define some of these
terms or the material itself and and how will we um what's the word I want to use synchronize it with other policy in the so that we can have common language for
what these things mean. Yeah. I don't know if there's a a specific term uh that you're that you're actually looking at. Um it's always kind of a hazard of drafting policy. Sometimes the the language is not going to be as specific. Um, we ob we we've
actually implemented um an acceptable use policy that really incorporates a lot of these things such as obscene uh materials, materials which are harmful uh to minors, those types of things uh lewd, vulgar, um rude, those kind of things are have been managed um
reasonably well. Um, so I know that that sometimes at face value can seem a little bit vague, but our administrators really are used to kind of managing those types of of terms and really seeing specific scenarios and how they might violate those expectations from the board. But with
that said, I mean, this is a board policy, so if there is a a desire for a greater specificity, we can certainly do that. Um, I'm happy to attempt it. Yeah, I I I think it would be useful and then like I say to look for other instances or
policies where we where we talk about try to um pull all that language together so we don't have conflict in our policy or in our practice for um how we're enforcing standards like that. Okay. Thank you, Director Simon.
Uh thanks Zach. Uh thank you for this. I I'm not sure if I'm going to be expl be able to explain this well, but under two general statement of policy, second sentence, it talks about um I like that it it um talks about the faculty and
they'll uh blend thoughtful use of school district computer system. I like that part. But as I think about I guess the present and the future of technology in education right and the the sciences or the the studies that we're getting
that maybe limitation of that not just in lower grades but older grades may be more effective in education and then also with AI right specifically with writing um in English classes and things like that. I wonder this this just says
you're going to thoughtfully blend it uh throughout the curriculum. There may be instances that our district, the board, whatever say, you know what, we're going to start limiting this because of AI or or something like that. So, I wonder if you just want to tweak that sentence to
stay say that matching the district's strategic direction on this stuff or something along those lines. So it doesn't we don't um we don't date this policy before it even starts. I don't know if that makes sense or not but um I
foresee a trend in that in the future of maybe limiting technology and specific things for kids potentially. So thank thank you Director Simon. I I will actually point out that uh coach actually did bring up the question about um AI as well. Uh, and unfortunately, I
mean, it's really hard to even know where to find the answer and where to draw the lines. We know that when you do a simple Google search, you're you're interacting with AI. And so, um, I will tell you that I I struggled with trying to find a way to even incorporate
it. I I went back to the MSBA policy and just gravitated towards that. I I think you're right. I think we're going to we're going to know and learn a lot more in not just the coming years, but in the coming months. And if there's a um so you you think about AI and you think
about acceptable and appropriate uses for AI that we use it in our work and um we use it in research and we use it in all components of the way that we navigate the world and we want students to experience that too. On the other hand, we don't want them to use it for academic um impropriy and and that type
of thing. So I I agree with you. I I struggle to find where that might be. Um I know that um you know continue to work with our our technology people also our educators though in terms of of of how that's going to influence um pedigogy.
So yeah. So I maybe I wasn't clear. I'm not suggesting you put anything about AI in this policy. What I'm suggesting is that if everyone agrees or thinks it's um valuable that we change that sentence se
second sentence into general statement of policy just to say that it's going to be we expect it's going to be thoughtfully blended throughout curriculum in accordance with the district's direction on technology
something like that as opposed to just open-ended of right now I could read this and say as a teacher I need to blend this throughout every all the curriculum I do and that may not be the case specifically our by the way our English teachers do a wonderful job with AI right now they have means of knowing
if a student uses AI in writing um they also have util gone away from technology in some cases and do writing in class handwriting in class writing samples so they've already come up with strategies but I just want to make sure our policy reflects that okay thanks maybe AI was a trigger word
for me I don't Any other comments from board members? All right. Hearing none. Um, thank you Tim and Jill. Um, so our next item is item 8B. Um, 514.0 bullying prohibition policy. First
read Mr. Pomiter. Thank you, co-chair Arco, school board members, and superintendent McIntyre. The next policy for our consideration is the um policy 514, our bullying prohibition policy. This policy has been in effect since 2006 and was last
revised in uh 2016. Um it is a policy that is specifically required by the Minnesota Safe and Supportive Schools Act. Um, in the most recent legislative session, there was a little tweak to the Safe and Supportive Schools Act that really addressed, it was a very slight
change, and it really caused us to at least look at this policy in the first instance. So, it really addressed uh the right of parents to designate another person who could receive information if their child was involved in a bullying incident. It's an odd little change that
was made in the statute. I'm not sure what drove it. Um, but in in looking at this policy and uh bringing it forward to a change, um I will note that we we uh saw at least I saw a discrepancy between uh district policy definition of
bullying and the statutory definition. And from my vantage point, that's um problematic. If we have a statutory definition of bullying, I think it's important that we stay very closely uh to the statutory definition. So, um it specifically there were at least in the
definition of bullying, the current version that we have in our policy um talks about um things such as aggressive behaviors constituting uh potentially bullying. Putting those little provisions in there, the anti-bullying statute actually addresses all forms of
bullying. So to be aggressive um is not really required. A lot of times we have very passive bullying that could be taken place um virtually for example. So essentially the the significant change that's proposed here is just taking our policy and incorporating the statutory
definition of bullying. Um it's pretty clear. I think it removes ambiguity. So that is the central recommendation. Uh maybe a little bit of removal of some redundancy with respect to the statute in terms of consequences for violation as well. I noted that there was uh that in two different parts of the policy we
talked about the consequences for violation of the policy. So those are essential change the essential changes for the anti-bullying policy. With that I'll take any questions director. Um thanks with respect to the statutory definitions you talked about.
Yes. Are those uh are those directly here and and is there a reason? So, we've I don't know where we've landed on this, but in the past, I know myself, I've have a preference where it is a statutory definition just to reference it because it's number one, it's clear. It refers
back to the law. And I think it um it helps to just signal where we drew the language from and you know, four years from now when we look at it again, people like you will know, but the average person might not. So, would could that be added value there?
Yeah, I think it I think it could be. Um I think it does help to reference and there are times when you'll probably say in our policy we'll just reference generally back to statute. I would suggest at least in the in the definition um you know because parents come and
look at our policies too and they want to know was my child bullied? So they want to understand that bullying can can include these parts of of the statutory definition. So if the suggestion is to to actually cross reference the statute and then provide the example, I think that that's a a very good idea and we
could actually incorporate those pieces. Yeah, that's what I'm suggesting. Just reference the statute that applies and yep, you know, you could that's pretty clear then where that came from. Okay, Director Simon. Um I agree with that first of all. Uh
second of all, um under Roman numeral 2, letter F number two, it talks about um what might be considered when um deciding on you know consequences I
guess in general. Um and number two says the levels of harm. My question is does that also does that incorporate the victim's um emotions, feelings towards it? Like I
think of a specific incident if a victim does not feel safe because they've had bullying um would that be considered and what the the student who bullied them? Um you know sometimes if a student is um expelled from a school they might return
to a different school for example. So, I'm just curious about levels of harm. Could be something that the district decides. We believe that these this is the definition of harm. Um, at least I would like it to be um a partnership
with the victim also about what harm means, if that makes sense. It gets a little vague, but um I don't I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I want to make sure if if anyone else agrees that that part is included. makes sense.
Thank you. I I think impact is is always part of the calculation. Um bullying at least in in my uh involvement in these types of issues. A lot of times um they can be very complicated, right? So there's um um and
perception can drive a lot of it. Perception can really matter a lot for some students too. Some students are going to be are going to be much more sensitive to things and it might impact their educational outcomes. And so um I think that this this policy is um as
it's modified and frankly as it was previously in place at least in terms of of those factors kind of accounts for those things and I know our administrators really you know try hard to account for all those but with that said I don't know if the suggestion is director Simon to to say uh levels of
harm uh particularly um as it impacts the the victims of bullying or something to that effect. Um, but I'm trying I where I'm open to suggestions because this one thing I will say is that that particular thing on the factors that actually I just pulled forward from the
from the prior version of the policy. It seemed like it was useful um for our administrators. But um a good tweak um is something that I would uh I'd entertain. So I'm only one board member. I I would personally like that. I'm not sure if
others agree. I think that um I I agree with the sentiment of leaving um policies where where you're not handcuffing yourself for the future, but I also think that it's uh it's what's the board's intent of what we want admin
to do also. Right. So, at least I would suggest that. Director Mangfeld, I appreciate those comments knowing that children have varied how interpretation of how they're being bullied. I mean, and I for me levels of harm I've seen
everything from, you know, she's really bothering me every day to I can't come to school anymore. And so those those considerations I think need to be really serious. I mean there are some really serious impacts on children with
bullying. So the question is the level of severity you know in terms of how it's interfering with that child's ability to come to school or that child's ability to build relationships. Those are the kinds of things that um I know our
administrators are taking into account. But then the question is okay then what you know in terms of of where they respond you know is it serious enough that that student can't be um that student who is causing the
harm is given an oper you know what I mean I just really think that's important to have some a level of harm can be physical but the emotional harm often is far worse for kids in a bullying situations. Um, so I don't know
how we can um I don't know if there's a similar to when um people report harassment and those kinds of things if there's a reporting structure where they can evaluate that level. Do you see what I'm saying?
Yeah. I I think it's um I actually think that that our that our harassment um investigation process kind of provides a pretty good model because we provide different levels of Yeah. Um and so uh maybe a framework for how
our administrators look at um a particular act. uh that could be useful and maybe even something that we could I mean I could work with um our our principles in in charge of discipline who actually get engaged in these types of things and maybe even talk about this in terms of kind of a grid that we've
put together. I I think um what's interesting and and all of you all know this. I mean we we deal with very low-level bullying instances. A simple act of name calling in the lunch line that's dealt with immediately and our administrators and teachers are great at doing that. when they see something,
they do something up to what you're talking about daily uh kind of barrage of of of name calling physical acts towards a student which which change and create a different level of investigation as well. Um but putting those in tears um I think
could be a uh perhaps a a useful um process for us. I I think that might I would think that would be helpful as an administrator to have that information and to be able to just follow a process and really make
sure that the children are safe and supported. Director Hulman. Yeah, clearly uh ensuring that kids are safe and comfortable in school, that they're ready to be there to work, and that um all classmates are working
together to make that a positive environment is number one priority. when I read a bullying this bullying policy, it it's just so hard to clarify exactly how that's going to look and how we do
um work with students to make certain that the class environment is safe. As I read this, it just I'll be interested to see some of these suggestions that have been offered to ensure that the language is clear so
that there can be consistency and make certain that um that all of our kids are being protected. I guess some things that stand out are just things like um a perceived, you know, I guess I'm trying to understand how an administrator looks
at this and how they check off all the things to know if it this counts as bullying or it's maybe something else. Um things just are does there have to be an imbalance of power and it has to be mean? Like I does that make sense to you
as I'm reading through this or does it have to be you know and interferes with the educational experience? I I'm trying to see how many of these things have to be present before um an
administrator would look at a situation and say yes this is an indication that the bullying is happening here. um versus it's it's not like you said maybe it was just a comment like your shoes are ugly and it's just passing in one
day. Yeah. And I think um even that that's a good example of I mean that might be bullying then if taken in the aggregate it might be even more problematic for that for that student. So the I think the one thing that the statute does it
goes to this whole notion. So you have the you have the classic bullying situation where there is a direct power imbalance maybe between a freshman and a senior maybe between a um a disabled student and and a um another student and there's that actual power imbalance and
there's that kind of lording over the other student and and um uh that certainly and then there's a a kind of pattern or repeated um engagement and the one you're talking about too then gets towards material and substantial disruption which naturally is is kind of
like how many um we sometimes when we when we uh experience um small slights during the school day um and I think this policy actually in the statute affords administrators discretion and be able to kind of draw
those lines. Um, it's hard it's hard to flush it out in so much detail because I think, you know, you as a teacher and and administrators that you work with, they they kind of they they they know where
the lines are drawn. I don't see it begging out for greater clarity. Um, uh, Ray Broadier couldn't be here with me today, but I think when we've talked about this too, it's I mean I think there's a sense that even though there's some there's some, um, language here
that lacks a certain amount of specificity, they're able to draw lines pretty well. Um but I certainly you know the this is a board policy so the to the extent that there are suggestions to be uh to provide greater specificity certainly um I would listen to those and
Oh go ahead. I'm sorry. Do you have anything else you were going to say? I No, I was going to wait for your comment and then I was going to I was going to wrap up with my understanding of where maybe I'm going to make a couple tweaks with the with the board's kind of consensus here. I was just going to restate something I said at the policy committee meeting. Um
section three definitions and then oh no wait I lost it. Yeah. Okay. Section three number one it says there's an actual or perceived imbalance of power between the student engaging in prohibited conduct. Um I just pointed
out that anything can be perceived as something. So that that term while important, I get the idea of trying to capture it's vague and kind of opens the policy up to quite literally anything. So if there's any way to like shore that up or make that
maybe a little more specific, that would be useful in my mind, but not a deal breaker. Okay, Superintendent McIntyre or So although if if it's if that's a statutory definition,
Yeah, it just is what it is. Well, I Yeah, not not it is what it is, but it's it's what's in the law. So, it's kind of useful at least in trying to have it there.
I I think what might help the board is that the second read, we could have some of our leaders come in and talk about it because I think what might be missing here a bit is the investigative process. They are collecting information, evidence, facts in each allegation and
then you have to apply these to what are the set of facts for each incident. Some can be consistent, others so it really depends on the facts of each um incident. And yes, I I love how people said we're trying to be consistent so that that investigation process once an
allegation's made um some are verified, others are not, right? So, I think it might be helpful for you to hear from some of our leaders and how they go through that process and how we're trying to make that a consistent thing throughout the levels across the buildings and how how we do that piece
and how they apply what's in in in writing here. So, that could happen that could be helpful for a second read if if I might. Um, I think I think the observation um first of all I I agree with Director Adet uh with it as it
relates to the language of the statute. Um but I think it's also um I do understand the concern raised in the question uh by coachco and that is basically a perception is is kind of um there we we teeter between the objective
and the subjective and um blatant subjective perceptions of of things are not necessarily what this this policy is intended to address. Um, and so if if we were to I could even envision a scenario where I could I
could add language that would talk about perceptions uh are those are those that are reasonable um reasonable uh person would reasonably perceive something to that effect. I don't want to I wouldn't recommend changing the specific language, but it's always fine to
provide clarity and that's the board's providence in these areas. So, um, can I maybe make a suggest at least what I'm hearing uh today and I could come back with this for second read. Um, also um including what uh Superintendent
McIntyre said. Um, I think we'd come back uh to the policy um uh and reference the statute when we're defining bullying consistent with Minnesota statute. um referencing the statute and then provide the definition of bullying uh consistent with um what
director Odette said. Um looking at um changing um when we talk about levels of harm uh adding language something particularly as experienced by the target of the of the bullying seems to be there's maybe some interest around that. Um and then um perhaps even
putting in something that provides a little color around what it means to perceive or reasonably perceive. I could I could add some modifying language. Um I can make those changes if there's if there's some uh coalition around those ideas.
Seems reasonable to me. Director Simon, I agree. Um I had one last question. Good. I thought you were going to say I don't agree. No, I agree. All right. Um I believe that I believe that Anoka Henipin investigates
regardless of its perception or not any um any report of bullying we do an investigation I would guess. Um I'm just curious is that state statute that you have to you may not know that but could you bring that back? it. Well, um I would
say that it is it is state statute, but the the question of investigation is the nuance thing, right? So, if you if you accuse me of bullying um and um and Corey McIntyre investigates that, um it might be a
pretty quick quick uh little response. It might be talking to two people or one person really quickly and addressing it immediately. So, yes, there is investigation if bullying occurs. It's just how serious was that? And it's kind of a sliding scale in terms of how detailed that is. So, I think that's correct.
Okay. All right. Well, any other thoughts or comments from board members? If not, thank you very much, Mr. Plummeteer. Thank you. Um, the next agenda item is is a labor relations update item 9A. Welcome Dr.
Cherry, chief human resources officer. Good evening, board. Uh, co-chair Arco, members of the board, and Superintendent McIntyre. Glad to be here this evening to talk about labor relations and provide an update um for the board and
the community. Uh, we provide these labor relations updates at each one of our schoolboard meetings. Again, this is in alignment with policy 209, our negotiations code of ethics that indicates that we will do
so. Um, and a note that any uh detailed negotiation discussions, negotiation strategy sessions are um held in uh close sessions with the board. So at this time I would like to give you
an overview of our employee groups, some background information. An NOA Hannipin has 18 different employee groups. Five of those groups are unaffiliated. Uh we call them policy groups and 13 of those groups have collective bargaining
agreements. We do have uh one group, our community school coordinators that has already agreed upon a master agreement for 2527. And uh we have several groups with 24
through 2026 master agreements. And uh we have a series that have master agreements in place for the term from 2023 through June of 2025, June 30th of 2025. These are all of the open groups
and and uh the groups at the bottom there you'll see are the ones that I'm going to be talking about uh mostly this evening. So next we will go to um these groups one by one with the open contracts starting with the ones uh that
we have um uh met with already and and begun negotiations. So looking at our open contracts our building service employees are represented by SEIU local 284. This uh group of employees is made
up of our custodians, our maintenance, warehouse and grounds employees and um they um have just under 200 employees in this group. Uh we have met uh seven
times and uh at this time we uh have uh come to a place where we've needed um some additional help with uh Bureau of Mediation Services assistance. Uh we will uh meet next in mediation. That
means that our negotiation meetings at this time will be closed to just the negotiators um from the district and from the employee group and we will have two mediators that have been assigned to us by BMS or the Bureau of Mediation
Services. Um we will meet with them in September. The next group that's been very active is our teachers. Uh our teachers include our K12 teachers as well as our adult basic education, early childhood family
education. Uh and now most recently our preschool teachers are also being added to this group. They are represented by Anoga Hannipan Education Minnesota Local 7007. Uh in this group we have um just about
3,200 teachers. We have met three times so far. Um our last uh meeting was on August 18th. We are making significant progress. Um but unfortunately uh we have not come to an agreement, a tenative agreement yet. Our next meeting
is on September 4th. Uh looking forward next month uh actually in just a couple of weeks now we have um meetings scheduled first meetings scheduled with two additional groups. Uh both are represented by Minnesota school employees association.
The first one is our child nut nutrition assistants or our cafeteria employees. We have just over 200 employees in this group and we'll meet with them for the first time on September 9th. The next group is our technical specialists. This
is a small group uh about 14 employees. Uh the majority of these employees are housed at our district office and our first meeting with this group is on September 10th. Uh moving forward, we do have four
additional groups that we have yet to um schedule. Um but we we have heard from uh some of these uh they would like to get meetings scheduled, but it's just the series and how many open groups that we can um we can really process at one
time. Uh so our our other open groups, the four are our community school programmers and early childhood screeners. This is a small group of nine employees. Typically we don't meet with this group until after we have um uh uh
come to a tenative agreement with teachers because they are also represented by education Minnesota. Our principles group is represented by Anoka Henipin Elementary and Secondary Principles Association. There's just over 125 uh employees in this group. We
are actively trying to find a date for our first meeting. Our school office supervisors um are represented by the YNO Hannipan Office Professional Supervisors Association. 42 employees in this group and uh our special education
administrators. We have 15 special education administrators right now and they are uh represented by the Anoka Hannipan Special Education Program Supervisors Association. So, as you can see, we've been quite
busy um in labor relations and uh meeting in in negotiation with these employee groups. We will continue to provide updates to the school board at upcoming business meetings and um update our website as well. And at this time,
I'm open to any comments or questions from the board. Any questions from board members? All right. Well, hearing none, thank you very much for the update. Thank you, board. All right. We are nearing our last board
agenda item. Item 10, board correspondence and communications. Members, this is your opportunity to share happenings in your community, report on committee assignments, or other items of interest. Does anyone have anything to share? Director Deshaine.
Thank you. I just want to say that I had the chance to attend the marching band showcase, which features all five of our district's traditional high schools uh marching band programs. It was a wonderful opportunity to see all the hard work that students have been putting in over the summer marching season and into the field show uh
segment of their performances. So, great job to all of the schools. It was really fun to watch. Director Wangfeld, thank you. I was very happy to see when I sat down this evening that you have paperwork from the Minnesota School
Board Association regarding the delegate assembly. Um, elections will be this year. They're every two years. you served for two years on as a delegate and I know co-chair Arco uh was able to attend as a delegate last year and I
really encourage um our participation. There's a testimonial from a St. Anthony school board member who talked about the fact that they actually uh for brought forward a resolution and that resolution is a is the resolution that passed
through the legislature that affords us as board members the ability to attend meetings virtually and that was not uh just by happen stance that that occurred but it came through St. Anthony district and then uh came through the delegate
assembly and was supported by that as well. So that's one area. Um it's got the I sent an email. You should have all received it from me last Friday. I'm sure you were waiting for it. Um but at the same time at the same time the QR code for the delegate assembly
information. So you don't even have to uh search for it if you're interested. And again I highly encourage our representation. The other piece of that is the the resolutions that uh school boards put forward and it's the collective voice of
an individual school board or several school boards often have the same issues that they're lifting up. Um I know that last year one of the the probably the one of the most hotly debated issues was in fact uh regarding the suspension of
K3 students. um that particular um item did pass the delegate assembly and it is still on the books uh for the Minnesota School Board Association. So I would expect that that will be lifted up again. I don't know, Superintendent
McIntyre, where we are at with our our resolutions or platform that we'll bring forward and when that'll come because that I would assume we need to do that together as well. You know, at the same time, if we were to lift up a resolution that is not
already in the MSBA platform, right? Yeah. Your board sets your your platform in the fall and approves that in the right after the holidays. So, in January, usually December or Jan sometimes December because they're looking for resolutions now, but I think it's important that the
one that we really want some movement on is still in the books and it did pass. So, put that out there. Um, just something else I had the privilege to attend in my grandmother role this year. Um, as a former middle school principal
and someone who would welcome sixth graders uh, every year to my school, one of the things is that our students experience high anxiety um, often when they first make those transitions. I have to give a shout out to the district
and former board members. Maybe director Simon, you were even part of those decisions to have sixth graders and ninth graders come on their own day and kinders come and separately. And then um what what Jackson Middle School offers
also is uh an opportunity where kids can come in and have their pictures and their and their uh they call it passport day I believe. and and it affords all kids, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade the opportunity to do some of those
pre-thinking and and just delay some of those fears. But what I appreciated most was how well it was organized and orchestrated so that when students come now for open house this week, they'll already have their schedules in hand,
their pictures taken. And I did have a chat with the lunch lady who didn't get the usual business that we used to have in the past just to see how things were going there in terms of we used to have kids also sign up and and uh pay for
their lunch ahead of time. So anyway, it was really well done and I saw a lot of smiles and a lot of great positive energy and the staff and the administration should be complimented and I would guess the same kind of opportunities will be at all of our
middle schools as they welcome students on that first day as well with web and so forth. So thanks. Any other comments from board members? All right. The next item 11 will be conducted in closed session. The executive session will be closed to
discuss labor negotiations pursuant to Minnesota statute 13D.03 to discuss matters with all open groups. The close session will be held in the Michael Sullivan room. I will entertain a motion to move to close session. So move. Thank you, Director Simon. Is there a
second? Thank you, Director Langfeld. Is there any discussion? All right, hearing none. Will all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. With six in favor and zero opposed, we will move to executive session in the
Michael Sullivan room and we will take a 5m minute break. The meeting is recessed at 7:52 p.m.