All right. Good evening everybody. Welcome to our regular school board meeting for Monday, January 12th. Uh we're going to call tonight's meeting to order and start with with our roll call. Dubet >> here. Hartman >> here. >> Croc here. >> Leathers >> here. Matalister
>> here. >> Young >> here. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Our agenda for the night. Can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Motion by Carol, second by CC. Any discussion? All those in favor?
>> I. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Our first agenda item is a recap of the 2025 2026 elementary walkathon. We have guest speakers tonight, our PTC representatives Lana Kenyon and Lana.
Thank you for inviting us to report on the all elementary school walkound. This fundraiser is for Southgate Banfield and summer elementary schools. I'm the PTC treasurer for Southgate and we just wrapped up our third year of the elementary school
walkathon and we're happy to report it was another huge success. Uh we raised a total of $52,483. So this number includes student donations at each school along with 37 businesses donated um which totaled up
to around $8,700 of business donations. In addition, we received an additional $9,000 from the Ornal Charitable Trust totaling that 52,000. So, it was amazing. In 2003, just again to give you some
background, two in 2023 was our first year and we raised over 54,000 that year. In 2024, last year we raised 53,000 and in this year was 52,000. So, the number is going down, but we're still super excited and amazed that
we're bringing in over $50,000 every year. Um, and just to give you some background, these this number is broken down. Um, it's basically how we figure out how much money goes to each school
is based on the number of pupils. And so every year there's been a minimum of $8,000 that's been able to been provided per school per per year because of this all elementary school walkthon. And so now I'm going to turn over to
Noel Day. She's going to talk about where these funds go and how you can help in the future. So when it comes to how the funds are used, the money raised through our walk-athon is spent in two main ways. So, first, all four elementary schools have identified
shared priority areas um this year, including support for PBIS and its celebrations as well as family engagement nights. Second, each school is able to use a portion of the funds to address its own unique needs. So, for example, Banfield last year was able to
purchase some flexible seating for their library. So, when we met with the principles and Dr. Paige back in November to discuss the results of the walkathon, Dr. page very generously asked what kind of support would help keep this work successful moving forward. There are two areas um where we
would really appreciate additional support. First, we would love to help spreading the word when the fundraiser returns this fall. Um sharing information with students, families, staff, community members, and those local business owners makes a huge difference and helps us continue
reaching our goals. Second, we would welcome more involvement from parents and caregivers um both in planning the walkspot itself and more importantly helping decide how those funds raised can be best used in their school. So any parents or caregivers who are interested are encouraged to reach out to either
one of us or their building principal. Thank you so much for having us. Do you have any questions for us? >> I do. So, do do you meet as a collective at some point every year or just the chairs
to talk through some of these issues? I love this idea. I think it's was long overdue and um and I love that some of those funds are at uh just at the discretion of the buildings, but this is
such a good way to make sure that we're we're equitable amongst the elementaryaries. So, do you meet then as as leads in the building? >> Yeah, we uh usually before school in the summer, we come together, all the
principles come together and there's usually one point contact per the building in addition to the principles that help facilitate the whole walkathon. Um, and this year just with the business pushes of going to businesses and asking again for the third year in a row, we really wanted
all the principles to be in line with what collectively as a principal of all the schools are you looking to put this money towards and so that's where we had decided um collectively together that PBIS incentives and family engagement
rights and different things. And so yeah, we take in the input of everyone. Um even when it comes down to prizes, we have subcommittees that we have for prizes and different aspects. Anything you want to add to that? >> No, it is it we have that main meeting right away in the summer for the
building principles like she said and then anyone else who's interested in helping out throughout the year and then there's a giant email chain that we just keep everybody updated as the whole thing um progresses and then we have another meeting to follow up afterwards in the fall.
That's just great. Thank you so much for volunteering your time. >> I did have a question. She basically answered it. I was going to ask about the businesses if there was like a subgroup that contacted the businesses
or if they just actually came to you. So we in the first year I went door to door to a lot of businesses. I created a a brochure, you know, kind of spelling out really what the all school walkathon does and why it's important and and
provides equal opportunities amongst all the students throughout the district. And so we went to a lot of the businesses door to door for that. Um then this, you know, this next couple years really we just reached back out to them. We have a Google doc where anyone can reach out to a business and they
upload that. So, it's really a collective effort. Um, some other PTC members of different schools, they're like the lead um in the donation committee and so they kind of take it on themselves to reach out to businesses
and but if anyone wants to call us, that's also very welcome. >> Thank you. This is just awesome. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, thinking about how to, you know, exploring ways to more parents and
caregivers involved. Um what what kind of strategies have you done so far and um where could where do you think might best benefit from some extra support? >> That might be a ask of the principal kind of question, but
>> yeah. No, we're trying each year we've tried um different things. We've tried being at the back to school nights. We've tried using it um as kind of a kickoff to our PTC's in the summer and before the school year starts. Um and I think it's just continuing to get the word out there that these are the
opportunity is available to come and help out. And then also if you don't have the time to help out um even just doing it with your student, you know, just the family um kind of going out and looking for donations and fundraising that way and trying to get kids excited about the prizes that they'll earn and
they can get involved that way too. >> Great. Yeah, I wanted to just add, I mean, when we do our the fundraiser, you know, the smallest donation makes a difference because it all adds up and we have, I think, close to 1,700 students in the elementary schools buildings
alone. So, even just a $10 donation, if every student did a simple $10 donation, um, that it all adds up. So, just getting involved is awesome. >> Well, thank you for coming. Uh sounds like Don's got something.
>> Yeah, having uh along with my wife uh spearheaded two fundraisers in the past and done what we're talking about, the footwork, the talking to businesses, the amount of work that you've done to benefit students and staff in the elementaryaries is is really astounding.
It's it's you know, you look at you and you look at you're in pretty good shape, but I think maybe in the middle of all that stuff >> it's over. But uh it's a it's an aruous task and it's well worth it and you've done a great job. So congratulations.
>> Appreciate it. >> Thank you for coming. Please uh share our gratitude with the rest of the team. I know that there it's not just the two of you. Thank goodness. Um but uh let let the rest of the PTC team know that
we are very supportive of the work that you do. We're very excited to see what next year comes out. Thank you. Thank you for coming. >> All right. Next, we're going to invite um State Representative Patricia Mueller
and State Senator Joric forward to um come have a conversation. I'm going to turn the table over to Dr. Page to >> Thank you, Chair Bay. And I'll let Representative Senator get situated.
So, and then uh for board members, you should have a copy and then to be able to our our guest too, which is our copy of the 2026 uh MSBA legislative priorities. Um first of all, I just want to say we're really glad that you're here tonight. Uh our board represents
families, staff, and taxpayers across the community. Uh and we really appreciate the time that you take uh to listen and work with us. So, thank you very much for accepting our invitation. Uh, I think really just keeping this practical and and focused on what helps
kids succeed uh while being good stewards of our local dollars uh is really kind of the spirit uh for tonight. And we just love to hear your thinking as uh the legislative session is getting started and I think perhaps some of our board members might just have questions as well. So it's really
kind of free flowing uh at all uh as we go through this. Like I said, you do have a copy of uh our legislative priorities as I said, but I was handing that out to both of you. There's no quiz tonight on it. I'm just sharing information uh with this and I'll just turn it over to you if you just want to
do an introduction and then board members anything or >> I think it's on. Yeah. >> All right. Uh well, thank you so much for the work that you guys do. Representative Wheeler, my third term as state representative and former teacher
here at Austin High School. uh plenty of fond memories of teaching here at Austin and I know the hard work that you guys do and um how you go above and beyond to provide for your students. So, and and for yourself. So, thank you so much for that. Um as a person who has had over 20
years in in in education, I uh this is my number one priority as a legislator and um was honored to be co-ike chair of education uh policy committee this year, but also a member of education uh science committee and then also I was uh
newly appointed to the labor workforce development committee um during this term. I normally try to make it to school boards at least twice a calendar year and uh so I probably was at least made an appearance during your last school year but um for this school year
I was a long-term sub at the school across the street and so I was unable to make it to some of the meetings. So, thank you for your forbearance as I have not been here uh yet in 20 for my second visit in 2025. Um, you know, looking
over our legislative priorities from our friends at MSBA, it's um I think I really want to point out a couple of really important things. The first one is the special education prospects um and that blue ribbon education commission. Um I know the work that has
been in the lobby that has been done to make sure to increase the subsidy and I actually have no idea of any person who is against decreasing that cost subsidy. The thing that is going to be the most difficult especially the blue ribbon
commission is what that's going to look like because we do they're going to find the the goal is to find $250 million in reduction and what does that look like? it. In my opinion, it can't be that amount of money that goes to schools to
help you to help you um fulfill all the regulations that you're required to do that from the federal government. Um I think I've been in front of you before when I said that the federal government's job when they passed uh this act, the idea act was to have a a
commitment to the states that they would be able to fund it at 40% and that the state would have 60% and the highest they've ever ever done it is probably closer to 12 and maybe not even that. And so the federal government has not
upheld their part of the bargain. And so that makes it incredibly more difficult for our state uh budgets to be able to get a grip on this. Something that they will do most likely is to um look at some of the regulations and paperwork
that has been kind of hoisted onto our special education teachers. Um that is also an incredibly difficult decision as I know many advocacy groups have worked really hard to get those um uh provisions into special education
statutes. So there's going to be some really difficult and honest conversations about that. The other one that I think that I would like to um talk about is the timely implement of mandates and also looking at um the instructional assessments. Um
instruction and assessments where we are looking at the broadening definition of instructional hours is something that I'm actually a co-author on and I'm really excited to be able to talk about what that could mean for our schools. um especially as you look at access to nontraditional courses which you guys
are already doing through CEO and I'm really excited about those things. Um, just today I was uh had a organization called Stride come and talk to me about updating online learning statutes to look at revoked testing and I would really I really encourage any feedback
that you have about that because as a person who has had to factor the NCA tests I do have some questions about what that would look like. open to the idea but have some questions about it. Then of course looking at the the mandates and looking at um with paid family leave and some of the
other uh new employee law I'd love to hear some how you guys are adjusting to the new law that came in the middle of a school year for you. So um thank you for the work that you do and I'm looking forward to our conversation. Sorry for a lot of talking
Yeah, it's a great to be here. Jean Darning, state senator. Uh I serve in agriculture and labor industry and veterans committees. And so the school is represent Mueller and Representative Ben have been really helped me as advocating crews. When you're on the
committee, it's hard to keep up with all the stuff that's going on. Uh it's disappointing with some of the mandates and things that you guys have gone through and and we tried to to actually a moratorium to stop those for a little bit and on some floor we were unsuccessful. Uh, I guess the one that I
would address the most because I I know the best is a paid family leave and we uh that came through our committee and tried very hard to change and soften that and have some exemptions and uh carve box for
you know options you know uh and I was just we didn't and so even just uh before uh Christmas I was capital at my office I'm not going up there very often One of my colleagues across the aisle talked about the energy and asking,
"Hey, are you open to some changes and helping our small businesses and some of the schools and some things that need to be tweaked?" And uh I'm hopeful again, hey, let's get together and discuss
this. So, no promises there, but we're seeing uh that 18,000 have already signed up for it and I'm already hearing. Oh, we had a meeting just uh before actually was near >> with businesses is very concerned about
that. So, that's a big thing that I'm hoping things is a policy year and a bonding year. The budget's pretty much done. Well, it is done unless we do a supplemental budget of some sort. So, that's done. So, that's what we're going to work on. Uh again,
I'll do my best to to try to get some change or we will some tweaks on that. Um and then as far as to with the bonding that's so important I know that we we need the infrastructure and also
got their waste water treatment plant there. So again hopefully we'll get a bonding bill this year. being it is an election year. It's going to be a lot of talks and theater, I guess, which is not the way I work. I appreciate just the
behind the scenes conversations and getting the work done. That's so I've always went to vocational school right here when I went so early school. So appreciate what you guys do
with every look forward to more conversation and learning from you. So thank you. >> We're going to open it up to board members if you have questions that you are representing our senator.
I'm Don Leathers. I'm a board member and I'm also a member of the delegate assembly MSBA and this year there were 103 delegates assembly was held in December. Um, I think we had 47 resolutions that school
boards and administrators write and forward to the delegate assembly and we have a robust debate and we vote on those resolutions. I believe of the 45 maybe 35 of them passed and uh MSBA
does an outstanding job of going through statutes and putting together uh a really good uh pamphlet that we can navigate. Two of the issues that were really important in terms of school districts is the PSO
um and the current enrollment and then the unemployment insurance uh funding and uh as you said this year is not a budget year so I don't know about the um the unemployment insurance
but that it was either funded fully And I know you funded it and then it was used up and then you refunded it and the funds are dwindling. The legislative
uh delegate assembly decided to have the resolution either fully fund the program or repeal it. uh Austin public schools, if I'm not mistaken, uh if if it's not
fully funded, would cost $325,000. And that's a that's a huge and and and we're just emblematic of school districts across the state, it really becomes if it's not funded an unfunded mandate. And you know as well as I do
that there are a lot of unfunded mandates in public education. You highlighted uh the cross is named one of them and then uh the other one PSO there were four resolutions on that so it was a very hot topic >> and it had to do both with concurrent
enrollment and PSO and I believe that uh and I been a month ago so some of the things that we talked about uh I've kind of vaporized in my mind but it sounds to me like the the PSU legislation is somewhat
antiquated and needs to be relooked at and updated to meet the needs of because our online curtain learning academy has proliferated over the last couple of years and uh whether for the for
what the consensus was that we need to reook at PSO. Um and the another one was the concurrent enrollment. The the the belief is that if if a high school is offering a concurrent class that has as
rigorous as a community college that uh maybe the student should be required to take the concurrent class. Uh, I believe Rochester in one of the resolutions it was highlighted they lost four not lost
but they spent $4 million in in PSO money. Um, and that that's a that's a large amount of money. So, um, the feeling was that we look at the PSO
legislation and it it becomes kind of an us versus them game between the college setting and the high school setting and it's a tugof-war for dollars. >> Uh, yeah, member letters, I appreciate you
bringing those up because um, you know, it is definitely a concern. First of UI concern. Uh this is something that in the original agreement that um was brought to the house in the in the
session was that this would actually expire in 202. Um and as you know, this is something that has been um this is something that was fought for by um
after co kind of accelerated the need for um helping those who do not have that income during the during the summer. It's been a delicate issue to talk about because um my pair of professionals that I worked with are
invaluable and I want them to get as much compensation as possible and I want them to also understand that when they sign this nine-month contract that that's what they signed. So, how do we how how do we do that? How do we make that happen? We've we've offered um
alternative proposals of could we allow it to be a 12-month contract where they, you know, they readjust the pay and they get paid over those those 12 months and allow that. Um, I don't I don't know what the complete answer is, but I do
know that um it's been really difficult for our school districts to not only have this, but also um not have a lot of control over it. And what I mean by that is after after you don't really know
who's going to be taking the unemployment insurance. It's just at the very end of the of the fall, you all of a sudden get this bill and you're just like, "What the heck? What happened back then, too?" And so we've tried to talk about what do we do to kind of put some
more uh concrete regulations on this. I hate that word, but more concrete um qualifications on this. So, and also more communication so that you guys aren't like totally surprised at the very end. Um I don't know if this is something that's going to go away to be
honest, but if you could be able to make it more manageable for school districts, I think that might be more helpful. Um as for for funding it. Um we would have to kind of readjust and rep prioritize where some of that fun goes. Um you know
there was millions of education funding is 40% of our of our state budget and so our state budget you know last term was $72 billion. So 40% of 72 billion is close to$26 billion. So, um, being able
to being able to fund this would be a matter of rep prioritizing that if that's something that you as a school has decided that is something that you're prioritizing. So, um, that's kind of where that is, the lowish where that
is and how can we how can we make this more manageable for you. As for PSO, it's definitely um something that I felt as a teacher as well where the struggle of I feel like I have to do this. I'm not is so expensive or I have to do this because I heard it's much easier over at
blah blah blah and so but yet you as a school are being left held with a bag because you offer the class and people sign up for it and then all of a sudden in the last week of school everyone drops and goes over to you know the community college and now you're like I hired a teacher for this like what do I
do and so we've been trying to again not to discourage PSO but again put some more um parameters around what that looks like. Um, how do we talk to the school uh to the higher ed education
institutes to say, hey, within this certain amount of time, okay, we're done. Like, you can't continue moving people around like this. So, we can talk about what that looks like. Um, I have been a huge supporter of doing of doing
college in the schools to that you have the kids here and that you have the teachers here and that they work with the local community school, but they're here. Um, and so I have I've been a huge supporter of that because the fact that you get all the benefit of getting a college credit, you also don't have to
worry about like this tugging of who is the student. So those are some >> I think I think the key word is rigger. We want to have rigor both on the high school and a college level. >> And I'm not saying one entity is not
rigorous. I'm just saying we need to make sure that there's rigor on both end high school and on the college. So thank you very much. >> I just wanted to follow up just a little bit with that on the unemployment. You know we as represent talked about it was
a it was a thing that we wanted to work through and balance a little more and uh with what they actually did on the Senate well they decided to take money from some money they had put away for light rail and so this was such a important issue to some of the some of the Democrats that they were willing to
give up light rail to uh get this and so they had a real tussle in the in the house were in the minority so yeah it It was a it was a hard I would say negotiated to get it and it was out like she had said but then it got back in but
that's how they funded it. Part of it was with that taking that money from light rail. The other thing I wanted to ask I guess is um you know the resolutions you got for PS what what are some of those areas? I don't know if you can share one
or two of those just real quick. I >> I think one of them was to uh reevaluate the program. It's been in existence for a while and like represent Mueller said um it's proliferated and maybe some students are taking advantage of for reasons that
were not originally intended. >> And then the second one was uh the idea of concurrent class at the high school if if the high school class is as rigorous as the one in say I'll just use for our purposes a community college
that perhaps student should be um required to take the high school class >> which would be financially uh um advantageous to the school system. And I said, I believe, if I recollect Rochester and they're just
representative of a district with some numbers, it cost $4 million that that paid uh community colleges last year for student tuition. Those are the two things that stick out my mind.
>> We don't want I've never seen this here, but what we don't want is what I'm hearing reported around and other places around the state where some of the higher institutions are it almost feels like predatory, you know, trying to get them to this like you don't want to be at the high school, come over here. It's
you look at all these benefits and you're just like uh there there's a time and a place for each of those spaces and each of those students, you know, we have been with these students for a long time and we know which ones would be successful and be a which ones would
struggle. I remember having those conversations with my students like you're going to take four PSO classes at the same time online like let's talk about this you know but but the the the the allure
of I can sleep in or I don't have someone breathing down my neck or I can have my college paid for. You know, these are things where those benefits are good, but not always reality. And so, we're trying to make sure that
everyone's informed of all of the things that it entails to be successful in a higher institution and that it's just not college is paid for and I don't have to show up at school at 7:30 in the morning or whatever it is. Like, or I go to school in my pajamas and it's online,
you know, like come on. There's there's more to it than that. This is a that stays on your transcript forever. Forever. And I try to be very honest with my students when they talk about it. And I think that we need to make sure that those conversations are
happen. And um I just I have to ask um we spend a huge amount of time and energy on the social and emotional um health of our students,
knowing that in order for them to achieve academically, we have to make make sure that their needs are being met and that they're in a safe environment. And um I would love to hear have some
reassurance from both of you because there are huge conversations going on in Minnesota about the safety of our students last week, this week, the coming weeks.
I know attendance in Rochester and Austin has suffered greatly in the last few days. I know we have had high-speed chases by our schools. We have students
that don't want to be in school. This is no longer a safe haven for them. That is unacceptable. It's unacceptable. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on. And I would love for you to reassure this board
that our legislators are working toward figuring out how we can send our students and families to school safely. Thanks. Um I will start by saying there are and
it's the reality of it that there are things that I am allowed to do and things I'm not allowed to do. And so there are um you know in the realm of the federal government I can make statements but I
can't always change policy because that's not where I work. I cannot change the federal. Um I will tell you that as um a body as a legislative body um I have um supported and have um
and have done uh and have authored bills that would allow for more money to be brought to you for the security of your building. And um I know that's not exactly what you're addressing, but I just wanted just to say here like as we look at other things that people are
concerned at when it comes to safety that um I had supported uh increasing um it was called the safe schools act that you would have had more money towards um a various other things such as counselors and and looking at security
cameras and all those things. So, I mean, when we're looking at threats that way, I have been in support of that and have and wanted to see that happen uh to re-evaluate some of where we're prioritizing some of our funding. I wanted to make sure because that was something we did hear from our families.
We wanted our families did talk to us about how they wanted the building to be safe. They wanted the building to be safe. That was before all of this was happening. So, that's where most of the the focus was. As for what's happening now, your superintendent has done a
really good job at reassuring the families of the rights that you as a school have and the rights that the families have and um and so I would encourage you to continue doing that job
and thank you for that. Um I have also um been in contact with plenty of people who have contacted me and u we've had good conversations about um what is
what is um fear that makes sense and fear that is fear. And so like I understand what your reality is is your reality and I and we honor that. Um, I will tell you, and I will not speak for the senator, but I will tell you for myself that we have done both my husband
and I have been very um adamant that those who are um here in our community and have put roots down, who have not broken the law and have intentionally decided to be a part of our community,
those people need to say and we have been very vocal about that. Um, and if I would if I I I have not, you know, I've been in the school been in the
school since Friday, so I haven't been out in the streets watching and I all those things, but um, what I can what I can do is limited to this and limited to these policies that
you're seeing here. Um, and so that's it it's at this point is words and I'm sorry that it's just words but it is just words right now. I will say that your school board and your superintendent has done a marvelous job at making sure to inform families of the
rights and why they don't have to be afraid to be here. Um and so I would encourage I hope I know it's not the answer maybe that you wanted. She did a really good job answering the question. Not much left. But I I guess
what I think needs to happen too is us politicians need to tone down our language to some of it's on us. When I say us, I mean the federal, it's more of a federal issue. Um, you know what is the ICE is federal and we don't have uh
jurisdiction there and they they can come into our state and they do and they're trying to work with but uh there's just this um
animosity and it's just it's really hard to watch right when people can't talk respectfully and you lose language language that shouldn't be used. Um, and it's frustrating, very frustrating to me or both of us. So, both of us uh work
really well across the aisle uh on many issues and uh work where we can and then some some things just agree, disagree. Uh so again, I I guess I'll just uh ditto thank you for what you guys do and going through this hard hard time where
uh we got to figure it out soon. And uh I don't have the silver bullet or the answer. Hey, it's going to be solved with this. But we do need to be able to talk to each other, respect each other. Uh and those are here, yes, that have been here. Um yeah, they need to say
this this uh can has been kicked out the road way too long with immigration and making it so difficult for them to come here legally. So this is a problem that's frustrating that they haven't done more long time ago. So thank you
for the question. Can I just spin off on something said that is the fear that families have not only in Muslim but in many places in America. Um, and then Senator Dornick,
you mentioned the idea of rhetoric and language, and I would just ask because when a Republican does something, the Democratic caucus will come out and excavate him in the media and then vice
versa. What I what I it saddens me because you know you are just like we are just like teachers are and just like the superintendent is we're role models and uh it just seemed like if you if you watch TV or read the headlines that it's
so contentious and people have such bad feel we're tribalist and I would just ask that you go back to St. home and try and maybe you have and I'm sure you have but encourage your colleagues to be a little
bit more civil uh and work uh you mentioned you work across the aisle more of that uh bipartisanship would really go a long way in healing some of the wounds in this in this country that we live in and and I believe state government is the incubator of
legislation in in America it's not Washington DC you know it's Nashville, it's St. Paul, it's the building of Montana, it's it's the state legislators and so you have a lot of power and I I just hope that you can encourage your colleagues to join on
the rhetoric and work together and join hands and we have a job to do and let's let's be gracious human beings. And I'm not saying you're not, but I'm saying what you're reading in the paper it's it's it's
contentious at times. And let's try to social media. Thank you. Appreciate that. >> And I think that to your point and also to yours as well, you know, one of the reasons maybe you haven't heard any of our statements is because of what
you're saying. We're trying to look at this holistically because our district is not the same as other people's district. And we know the benefit that we have from our immigrant refugee population. We know that our community is better for it. And we know that that
that you know, I didn't I didn't sleep for two nights, right? And if you read the emails that were sent to me, you would have a hard time not saying some of the things that you're hearing online. And so I'm doing we're doing
what we can because we know exactly what you're saying by reacting. We see a lot of that by reacting nothing gets solved and nothing gets healed. And so we're trying our best to listen to all sides
and come to a solution together instead of trying to point fingers and use it as a political punching bag because that's never been how And I would say that last year, from my observation, the bipartisanship that you
exhibited on pension reform was outstanding. So that really helped educators in the state of Minnesota and public employees and uh you need to retire in with integrity and you made a a large stride in that and that was a
bipartisan effort. So thank you very much for that. >> I'm done. I I'm going to get off my soap box, too. But I we are in a world full of people who want nothing more and for our
students to be successful adults. And when I look at these um future leaders, and they will be future leaders, I don't want them to think that this is normal, that this is the country, the
state, the city they live in right now. So whatever it takes in your capacity as a representative for us, please, please keep these children in mind.
It's um it's imperative that that these kids know what's right and wrong and what this country and state should look like. And thank you. I appreciate the work you do.
It can't be easy. >> Absolutely. >> Are you worn out? Um >> you know if you look at the last five or six years precoid co 19 um inflation you
know the events over the last se several years right name it whatever plan on a more difficult time to be in education uh in one of these buildings whether you're uh you know a teacher a janitor a clerical administrator it doesn't matter these are difficult times to be in these
buildings um challenges every day student behaviors, um, student backgrounds, cultural, uh, differences, language barriers. I mean, that's that's the reality. Um, and the concern I have, and I don't expect you to answer this, but I just hope there's
discussion being held about how do we retain and attract qualified teachers, professionals, people that can do the job well, who care, um, but they can have a wage to go home and pay the
bills and live a quality of life that meets their needs, whatever that is. Um it's concerning to me that it's so tight today and what is it going to look like five years from now? If it's tough today, what is 5 years from now going to look like? And um you know, if you look
at turnover rates, somewhere between uh 6 and 7% pre-COVID, anywhere from 8 n 10% depending on what kind of reports we're looking at today. That's concerning from a from a teacher standpoint. Um, and I just I hope that
there's work being done, legislation being discussed about how do we how do we solve this problem because I don't see this going away. Um, people are the the truth is people are leaving the profession because they can't afford it. And that's that's problem. This is the
future of you. You guys know, I know I'm speaking to the choir on this, but it's it's to me, this is why we exist here is to um do what we can, not only for the students, but the people who are delivering the daily needs for those
people again in the lunchroom, uh in the front office, in the classroom, picking up the puke in the in the cafeteria. I mean, it's that's the reality and um it's hard. So again, I don't know the answer to that, but I just hope there's
some more be on that scope of education. >> Thank you. Is it Silky? Is it >> Dan? Yes. Did I misspelled your name? I'm sorry. Um but um
I don't think as a as a person who was I I've done nothing else but be an educator after I after I got elected to this position. It was weird because I've literally done nothing else but be an educator. I've been in front of students
my entire adult life. Um hundreds of thousands just like you see in the audience here today who who people who who invest in these children. you said something very poignant that says that's why we exist to support our students and
our teachers and we want to ensure that's how we continue to exist. The the frustration that we're seeing right now in St. Paul is that Minnesota Department of Education is trying to co-op your job
and give you less power even though you're the one closest to the students and the teachers. And so I want to make sure that you have fairness and flexibility in funding so that you can do and and give your teachers more
money. I want and do the things that fit this community, this unique and beautiful community that I am so proud to represent and you are proud to represent because you run for election every four years. Like you would you wouldn't run for election if you didn't care about this community. I know that.
And so we want to ensure that your job still exists as an independent school and an independent school board that is uniquely qualified to incentivize um it transformational thinking that
that works in your community. We want to release those mandates. We want to make sure that you have funding and flexibility to do that. And ultimately, we want to make sure that we are attracting high quality people here to Austin. And we know that Austin City Council has done a really good job to
try to attract businesses here. And I know that Austin um district has done a really good job to play off the benefits that we have here. But you're right, it's hard. It's difficult. And I don't know of another more exhausting job than other than teaching. And um and so for
me, I want nothing more than to attract more teachers. But what we're finding is that in our traditional pathways is that we're not finding enough people. I was hired at one point in time to be a university supervisor for St. Thomas for student teachers. I never once got asked
to be a university supervisor because the semester that they hired me, they didn't have any teachers to supervise. And that's a giant school. They had no people to supervise. And that's a problem. people are not coming through
it in a traditional way. So, here's what I'm focused on. I'm focused on how do we find people that are already in our community that already care about our students that already want to be invested in education. How do we get them license and how do we get them the skills that they need to get into our
classrooms? because not only they come from different backgrounds and therefore they're going to attract different and be able to connect with students differently, but we have the distinct possibility and and privilege to get people with way different skill sets than what you just get through a normal
traditional pathway. That's why I was the chief author of the teacher apprenticeship program. Um, we have found that we have put millions of dollars to attract more and more teachers from all sort backgrounds and it's not working because the barrier isn't no isn't necessarily money even
though it is. But it's because it takes someone forever to say, "Hey, I'm an accountant here, but I'd love to go back and teach math." In order to do that, I have to go all the way back to the beginning and have to go through four years of school and do this. And that student teaching cost me an arm and a leg because not only do I have to teach
for 8, 12, whatever weeks, but I pay someone to do a job that I should be paid for. And when we tried to pay someone, we tried to give a payment to student teachers, the colleges said, "Oh, you got more money. Okay, we'll give you less scholarship money." Okay, that's not what that was for. Let's try
this again. And so that's why I've been the chief author of trying and chief inciator of what does student teaching look like? How do we pay a person to a student to teach? How do we look connecting with mentor teachers that also get paid? So, those are the things that I'm working on because I am there.
I die on this hill. Like there's very few hills that I die on. Education is one of them. I die on this hill. And so, you have a direct advocate with me anytime. Sorry. First, I want to thank you both for being here,
being so raw and honest with us. That's nice. Um, thank you Cece for bringing up the question that was on my list and thank you for your answers. Um, I had a unemployment question that Don covered.
So, I'm going to take the Minnesota paid leave. Um, Senator Dornick, unless I wrote this down, we would said that 18,000
applicants had already applied. Um, do you feel that the program is sustainable as as it is? >> Thank you for the question.
Uh, at this rate, no, they figured I think per year they funded it with 675 or 80 million. what they and the the $19 billion surplus where part of that goal that was they
>> yeah they seated the program uh with that money and it's as it went through the process we were trying to get some you know exemptions for especially small businesses and those that are already doing it so at this rate though I I
don't think it will be sustainable we'll have to wait and see is it going to slow down I don't know yet I think nobody knows And that's why Republicans didn't vote for it because not because we don't support paying even for those that need
need it, right? Wasn't that it was just it was so generous. We want to make sure that it works. And some of the small businesses are so frustrated that they might not be around. And so that's not the intent. I don't believe that's what they wanted. I think they and as they
were going through they their intents were good. But I'm not going to say their attention, but you can't just have this uh it's it's very generous. It's too generous. So, uh we're going to have to make some fixes, but it's going to have to be from uh we're going to have
to work together. And that's interesting seeing again as I mentioned earlier, gentleman Democrat I work with in the labor industry. I'm hopeful, but I don't know. Uh it's um
I guess that's we'll have to wait and see but businesses, schools, they're just keep on pressing. That's how it changes is out people to take this concern and there is a big concern.
That's probably number one on my email is kind of if I go out somebody's business they want to know what what's going on. A lot of them have blind too. So
>> I I don't think you know what Senator said look it was originally the accurate actuarily was estimated to be about 130,000 a year and that's why they set the 5050
pay the payroll tax at 80 the8 divided by two um so44.44 before um and uh but when if the rate continue that would be about about 10,000
each month to make it be solvent at that point. Um if if it continues at 17,000 which we saw in 1817 within what the first seven days it was 17,000 if that continues at that rate it will not
remain solvent. Now there is some leverage that has where Department of Labor sorry has um to uh which is the the payroll tax can be increased um up to 1.1 without any legislative approval.
And so that was negotiated in the original language. And so um if if it continues to have seen this rate, they are going to have to increase that which will then of course increase your payable tax at that point in time. Um
we're hearing about how difficult that businesses are trying to manage this. Not again to kind of echo what the senator said, not not that they don't want to offer, but that it's this this type of the the
breadth of it is so unmanageable at this point. They wanted to know how how how come we just couldn't start phase in with just maternity leave at like 12 weeks or so? How how how how how are we going to do zero to all of it right now?
And so that was a huge concern. Um and so we have um some ideas about how we can make sure that there's more safeguards around the definition of family. Um also looking at how can we um if you are a part of a union that also
negotiates contracts um to ensure that you guys are very um transparent about what this means. Um, I've talked to people who are part of contracts and just saying, "Hey, whatever you guys negotiate, like just understand that pay
literally leaves you with a percent to a percent and a half less." So, sure, you negotiated that, but after payroll tax, you're going to be at least a percentage less of that. So, just be aware of that. Um, and so we are trying hard to make sure that there's a lot of transparency
as well and more in more communication between the job and the employees. >> Well, I was just going to say that, you know, people are getting requests in these businesses and are concerned what you guys will do. It's like, how do we
replace those works and they're gone for six, eight weeks and then all of a sudden, well, we need to fill in for we only need you for six, eight weeks. We train you and >> and then they're also set for I believe. >> Yeah. So, and then a dispatch or some of these specialty things that people are
so they're running into things. And then I was just talking to uh a banker, they're station or they're in Iowa, they have Minnesota just how they didn't get direction. So, this was rushed through and just not thought out. So, I actually
tried to pause it last year. We tried to say, "Okay, let's let's pause it. Let's let's get the bugs worked out. Had to work uh there was no to go for it and so >> yes it was and it was very it was very clear that there was no willingness to
to negotiate on this at all. Um the only response that we had when we kept bringing in businesses and and counties and school boards and stuff was you are taking away a benefit that these people rightly deserve. And we kept saying well number one they don't have it yet so
wait but number two when they don't have a job they also won't have it. And so we're trying for them to understand that the we don't disagree with the idea of doing this. We're trying to make it manageable so that people can still be in business and be the job creator that
they want to be. Um you mentioned that raise the 88 to 1.1%. Would that continue to split then or is that not decided >> currently unless you know more it is not
in statute to be 5050. It's understood to be 5050 but that was something that we and the house we wanted it to be spelled out very clearly. This is your 5050 share but as of right now unless I miss it is not statutoily
um required to be >> so that increase that would be >> all right I'm gonna wrap up our session with one request share with us one positive thing that you are excited to work on this year for
Austin Austin. >> Well, well, I'm just going to be real quick because it's the horses had requests for quite some time that probably is something I'm most excited about. We've been there many years, you know, we just got turned out, but I'm
I'm hopeful this year. So I'm excited that we have a opportunity to have bonding and that would be exciting that >> yeah that because of the of the nature of the of the legislative
policy um I'm really hopeful for um the bio center as well and with that education component that's the part that I'm like uber excited about because I see how it already knows works in our community and how exciting that is. Um I
do know that um probably not something that can be done this year which is so frustrating but farm is something that could be a really amazing added benefit to our community as well as you look at the partnerships that um we have with
Institute you guys and you know um M I think that it could be a really amazing training ground that we could see still kind of getting people on board with all of that but that could be Great. Well,
do you have anything else to say? >> Just want to say thank you very much for accepting our invitation to be with us tonight. >> Yeah. Thank you both for the times. This is time very well spent for us. We're thankful for your candidates and your
willingness to answer some hard questions and maybe some lighter questions. Um, we, you know, we we know that it's hard work and, um, we're thankful for the time and effort that you put into it. So, we appreciate it.
>> Thank you for your for your work. We see your passion. Please get better. >> I can't wait. Great. Sorry. Our next agenda item, can you turn my house
up on the podium anyway? Thank you. We're going to keep going with our superintend who is our achievement and integration coordinator. And I just want to frame up uh this a little bit her update really matters. Uh the Minnesota Achievement
and Integration where it gives them about reports that sit on the shelf. It's how we make sure our students race and income and background never limits what they can achieve in the Austin public schools. And it's about stronger instruction, broader opportunity, and closing gaps that have held students
back. And Chrissy's going to walk us through how that work is happening right here across APS. uh how our teams are aligning, how supports are are tightening, and how more students are seeing doors open to them. So, this is just a short version. Uh but the work is
real. It's focused and it's moving our district in the right direction. So, I'm excited for her report tonight. And again, I just want to thank uh Senator Dornick and Representative Mueller for them uh being here tonight uh connecting with us and seeing how the work that is happening here impacts our students and
our families and caregivers. Uh a few things around the school district. Uh Ellis Middle School Math League team earned its first place in their division and the entire team placed in the top 10 for individual scores and that takes real preparation, teamwork, and some
serious problem solving. So congratul I want to congratulate them. Uh congratulations to Cole Hebrink for reaching his thousand point uh last week in in Northfield. It's a career milestone that reflects consistency and effort over time. Um I want to
acknowledge uh also Miriam Daniel Lopez and Bella Rosenthal as our Rotary students of the month. That honor reflects both leadership and character and we're very proud of them. You may have seen as we were coming out of the break. Uh Ethan Wikin was the ABC News
excellent educator of the month. Uh and if you saw in the clip the video that if uh Ellis were a song, Ethan's band room uh would be the chorus. Uh in nine years he has taught a large number of new musicians now filling our high school orchestra and band. And what stands out
most isn't just the music, it's the way uh he makes sure every student belongs. So if you haven't had a chance yet to see that interview with them, it is excellent. Um we also have two teachers in Austin public schools that are nominees uh for our career path for
excuse me for this uh STEM uh outstanding educator award uh from 2526 and that's Jane Carlson and Andrea Kein. uh this honor uh that they're up for educ uh is driven by student achievement and uh leading improvement and promoting
STEM careers uh and building strong partnerships with businesses like uh the male clinic, IBM, the hormone institute and so forth. So we will have uh their uh ceremony for this will take place in February. So stay tuned. We'll have some
more information about that. I also want want to recognize an event happening later this week. Uh the Minnesota School Board's Association Leadership Conference is underway this week. We will have uh APS staff and students presenting in multiple sessions. That means what's happening in Austin is
strong enough that others want to learn from it. And I'm really excited about that. And we're, as I said, we're going to have some of our students telling part of our story out there. So that's really exciting. Uh, next week, January 19th through 25th, is PAR professional recognition week in Minnesota. I just
want to acknowledge them and highlight their important work in our schools, supporting students, strengthening learning, and helping every day smoothly. We're grateful for what they do each and every day. And I just want to end with this um and thanking all of
our staff. Uh the steady and the student centered work uh our staff does every day is what matters. It's very important. Uh they make it all possible and a lot of it happens behind the scenes and planning and checking in
on kids and building relationships and solving problems before they grow. uh it matters deeply and our students and families and caregivers are well served. So, I just want to thank you uh to our staff and our community for their trust and partnership. Thanks.
>> And we're in semester number two. Can you believe it? >> Yes, I can. Uh >> might be a good question for our student board members if they can believe it. >> Is the uh is the stage you came of the year? Is that hosted by Southeastern
>> Southeastern? Yes. >> And Emily Hland earned that that honor a couple years ago this year. >> Correct. >> So let's hope >> Yeah. Very great nominee and other educators from surrounding districts.
>> Okay. Thanks. >> School board reports a lot of talking already. Anybody's got something to share? I would just like to quickly um thank Mr. Shara and Dr. G at Ellis. Uh CC and I had the opportunity to visit Ellis
last week, weeks ago. Um ask questions. Great visit. See the school. Just want to thank them for their hospitality. >> Awesome. I have a semiofficial board report for the Austin Public Edition.
um just saying, "Hey teachers, the application window is open. Get your grant requests in um to the foundation by March 3rd." Um well, newish now, I suppose, a few
months in. Uh Tim Rek recently took on the uh role of being um the executive director for the foundation and he is ready to talk to all of our teachers about what kind of cool things they can get for their class classrooms as long
as they run them by Amy Duc first. Right. >> If they plug into a wall. Yep. >> And uh put your um put on your calendar. The Packer Classic is going to be on
Monday, July 13th. We have a board meeting that has been moved to the 14th specifically to accommodate that. So, get your teams together information is coming out.
>> Caroline, when you say teachers, get your teachers, administrators. So yes, teach teachers and coaches are are the primary
audience that we're looking for, but we also have grants available to administrators that can um benefit their entire building. So teachers um are the are the number one we we want we want to make sure that they're getting um cool
things for their classrooms across across the district. We want to make sure that they're thinking outside the box. Um, not not what you would you would typically get. Don't go don't shoot for the basics. Shoot for
that podcast studio or um gosh, there's some really cool things out there right now. 3D printers out there and there's just some really neat things that have been purchased over the years that um
it's just one more one reason Austin public schools has um is a great place for kids to learn because our teachers think about creative ways to reach them. So yeah, >> I can speak to a teacher I know over at
South Gate to put for some >> Yes, she did. >> um kitchen things for her students to play with >> and it just it's it's awesome. So as a matter of fact, she's so proactive she's planning for next year already. So,
she's probably going to sing to you. >> Yeah, it's it's a good program and those kids are learning how to cook. >> That's great for cooking. >> That That's a really nice way to emphasize learning, too. >> All right. Anybody else have a report,
Bob? >> All right. I just wanted to uh call out um I've talked to a couple other parents around my son's age. Um at IG and uh we also toured IG
elementary school I want to say um and the offerings that we have at the elementary level for the arts for plays music halls choir band or I if Charlotte was here you know he might try to take credit for for instilling that message
uh because I've heard it a number of times for him but it is amazing what this district offers um at such a young uh young young level. And so I just want to, you know, call that out. Um that it's just it's just an awesome offering.
Um I also wanted to uh thank Dr. Paige and our admin staff. Um with all the trying times we have right now and and everything that's going on. I'd like to thank you guys for keeping us updated. Uh and then also for um the guidance and support that you provide to all of our
schools and our staff um with everything going on. for a steady, you know, steady hand. Um, gives you a really good job of keeping um keeping all of our staff in your thoughts and letting them know that
they have support in this district. So, >> I would like to thank Dr. Page done out to closer. And I just wanted to welcome back all the students and staff. I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday break. Um,
and to kick off my holiday season, I attended the holiday concert at Austin High School on December 15th. And I just wanted to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes to um, make that
concert a success because it was it was phenomenal. As always, um, special thank you to our talented directors, Mr. Scott, Mr. Dundus, Mr. Acriman, and all the students for a phenomenal performance.
For saying nice things about people tonight. I just like Is that the Packer Spotlight where somebody does a an audio? I listen to the last Packer Spotlight. I'm not going to say it was about, but it was it was indicative of all the other ones. And I just want to say that Ryan does such a
great job of asking open-ended questions and just letting the person just talk and talk and and and then he uh he uh um takes something that the individual said and then loops around and ask another question. So they're really uh
interesting um spotlights and uh and a big portion of that is credit to you, Ryan. I know you don't like to have your name brought up. That's what I'm doing. But you do you do a real nice job. I was a victim of one of your interrogations
and anybody else. We're going to move into our student representative reports with Michael Giri and Lydia. Looks like we got Lydia up first. Dear chairperson Dubet and members of
the board, I would like to begin this report by congratulating Jane Carlson on her nomination for the 2025 2026 outstanding educator award. As a student in Austin High School, I can confidently say that I've been impacted personally by the amount of hard work and dedication dedication that she puts into
our district. Miss Carlson is always available and ready to help, especially when I have questions about future career choices or life outside of high school. She's always there and she's always ready to help me. I would also like to congratulate Jacqueline Hernandez for winning the Voice of
Democracy essay contest. Additionally, I'd like to extend my congratulations to Miriam and Bella for their achievements of being AHS student Rotary AHS Rotary students of the month. Last Friday, the DECA club at our school traveled to
Oasana to compete at the district level competition. Around 13 students have advanced in the state level competition where they will continue to compete. The speech season is also about to begin. Our first competition will take place on January 24th at Orville High School in the Twin Cities. This competition is the
nighttime bid, meaning that students place students who place first or third bid to compete at the national level. And because of this, the competition is expected to be very intense. I would also like to encourage the board and community members to attend burger on the express the community theater at
Riverland. Students are fe students receive free admissions while adult tickets are $15. This production supports community theater and showcases actually two HS students and national champion. Right before winter break, student council hosted winter week which
included dress up days and hot dress up days, games during lunch and hot cocoa for students to enjoy before break. That concludes my report. Thank you for your time and any questions. >> How many students submitted voice democracy essay? Do you know?
>> Um I don't think I know but I think a good amount. It's I think it's a national a national um a national contest. So she did really good by >> Yeah. Yeah. That's really a a good one
you should do. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Thanks. >> And Miss Carlson actually is like one of the spirits who like sends out like these information to students. So, she sent out like a like a email push letting people know about scholarships and like essay contests they can do to
help with their college or like life outside of high school. And that's just another example of like all the hard work that she puts into our district. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thanks. Thank you so much.
Dear superintendent chair, superintendent page, member of the school board, Albert be presenting the second half of the student report to begin. I'd like to recognize Cole Ging for reaching a thousand point milestone in his high school basketball career. This is a significant achievement that reflects years of dedication and hard
work. I played basketball with Col until seventh grade. And when I tell you I thought it was crazy purses in the fourth grade, that's what I was told. But now this telling you paid off and I'm excited to see what the future holds for them. The boys basketball team continues to play well and represent
Austin High School with strong effort, teamwork, and sportsmanship. In fine arts, the choir program wrapped up the Christmas season as as well as the other arts with its final performance. The holiday concert showcased the talent, commitment, and preparation of our students and directors as they continue to be a point of pride for our school
community in the holiday season. As the semester comes to a close, I would like to take a moment to thank our teachers and staff for a strong and successful semester. Their support, patience, and dedication plays a major role in student success and it's appreciated across all
grade levels. I would also like to recognize the excellence within the district um Ellis Middle School director Ethan Wen who was recently named the KAL excellent educator. Mr. Wen I had as I had I and he's also recently impacted us
as he helps the high school programs and he played in the holiday concert is always willing to help out give extra lessons and put in that extra step. In addition, the National Honor Society has actively been involved with community service this holiday season. NHS students created and delivered
Christmas cards to local nursing home residents, helping spread kindness and connection during the holiday. This project reflects our students commitment to serve and making a positive impact. The other thing I would like to highlight and say thank you to is your guys's commitment to spreading information about what's going on
recently. It's hard. A personal thing that impacted me and my team is on Friday when all those videos and social media posts were going on. 20 of our 24 wrestlers showed up to the event that day and one of them had to beg his mom to let him come and bring identification
with him. This has a real impact on our community and I thank you guys for doing what you can to support these students and letting them feel safe in our district. That's all. Any questions? It's your last semester.
>> How are you feeling about that? >> It's exciting and scary. Um, that's how I would say how about how I feel about it. >> And you survived you survived Christmas season. >> I did >> with with Austin
>> was very busy, but it's it's I mean it's a bittersweet feeling to be done with that as well for for now. >> Yeah. We got the show coming up, right? >> Yes. Yeah. And >> Yep. NA is I think it's midFebruary.
>> Great. Do either of you know anything about the CEO class business coming up? >> I know it's a game show night at the Parammont. Far the details on that I do not know.
>> Just start spreading the word, right? >> Yeah. >> All right. Anybody else have questions for me? >> All right. Thank you so much. >> All right. The next agenda item is our consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve?
>> So move. >> Motion by P. Second by Peggy. Discussion. All those in favor. >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Our next agenda item is our overview and the
request for approval of our three-year achievement and integration plan with our equity coordinator Christ. Welcome to Steve. Thank you. I do have a couple slides. I'm going to try to
Thank you. Thank you, chair person, superintendent board. Um, I do have a couple slides, so I'm going to try to um connect and share these. Um, I think the slides will help
me be more concise and quicker, not longer. So, um, but I might need to I just have flashing white. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um so, uh we're currently wrapping up our
three-year integration plan. We're in the in the final year. Um, and I provided a progress report about that. And I want to share a little bit with you about um, the outcomes of our current three-year plan because we've had a lot of great success and I'm really proud of the work that our team has done to help make that happen. Um,
and that is not without the support of everyone present in this room. Um, I really appreciate your dedication to equity efforts in Austin. I'm really touched you um, discussing earlier. It's it really means a lot to have the support of district leadership and the
board of of our programs and thank you Dr. Pa for your commitment to this plan too. So um this is a really critical part of our strategic plan. Um I think that integration and equity touches on all of our strategic priorities but I think especially this week um creating a
safe and welcoming learning environment is absolutely one of the things that our integration strategies um help make possible in Austin. So the um the efforts that you're going to hear about are really aligned to what we're doing in all of our strategic priorities and it's part of the work that everyone
does, not just the people whose um salaries are funded by by this revenue. Um we have we have four goals in in our integration and achievement progress report and in our upcoming plan. Uh we're required to have an integration
goal that helps to connect students from our neighboring districts with Austin public schools um in order to help achieve racial integration. Uh we also have an achievement goal, a teacher equity goal, and we have a goal focused on supporting our Native American parent advisory committee. Um and so we'll be
changing those goals a little bit, but we're not recommending any any big changes to our strategies for the upcoming year. And I'll talk about that a little bit. Um, our integration goal is really to use this um the STEM integration strategies that we have
developed with our partnering schools to help give diverse and integrated students an opportunity to explore career pathways and pursue life uh beyond our our public schools whether they choose to pursue college or careers. Um and so we have been working
to help those students feel connected to each other through projects like um project ecub which is a summer uh science and environmental science and engineering program for students in fourth and fifth grades. Uh discover drones which is a camp that is hosted in
Albert Lee for students who want to learn more about how to fly drones and all the career applications for that. And then our robotics program that we've been working with Southland on. uh we are on track to meet our goal of
having 90% of our students uh uh tell us that they can identify career pathways related to those programs. And so I'm I'm very confident that we can achieve that by the final year of our our program this year. Our achievement goal was to increase the graduation rate for
African-American students. Uh in 2021 the baseline for that population was 75% and we wanted to increase it to 80%. Um we've exceeded that and have u met 84.9% um graduation rate for black and
African-American students which is incredibly exciting and we're really proud of um of their success. Uh that is really thanks to the work of everyone in our district. Um but our programs like our success coaches who provide uh
language support, mentorship, uh family engagement connections, uh community resource connections to our families are a really key component of um what makes that work. Our young scholars program starts helping students from kindergarten through fourth grade to
develop critical thinking skills and push themselves to achieve at more uh intensive levels of critical thinking. And then our be your best program helps students transitioning to college to build some some skills to help them be more successful
when they get to college and start to uh earn some college credits. So those are all programs that have helped us to achieve those achievement goals. Our teacher equity goal, our our data metric that we used for our teacher equity goal was uh student responses to
the Minnesota student survey. We really want to build a diverse teaching force here in our in our community that reflects the student body that we have in our schools and our future teacher club and some of the things that we're doing are really helping to uh increase
in engagement with our students who are interested in pursuing education as a profession. Um but that's not the only way that we help students feel safe and and engaged at school. And so the student survey responses really help us um help to inform us about whether our
students feel safe with all the adults who care about them in the building regardless of their racial and ethnic background. And so we use the student survey uh responses uh to questions like do adults at my school treat students fairly listen to the students? Are they
interested in me as a person? Um and we gathered their responses to those. Um unfortunately we haven't seen a lot of movement. the responses have been fairly similar. And this is a a survey instrument that's only given every three years. So, it's difficult to use this as
a metric because it's not local. Some of the questions are worded a little bit awkwardly. Like, if I was a high school student, I'm not sure I would say that most teachers at Austin High School are interested in me as a person because most of them might not know me if they don't have me in their classes. And that might not be an indictment of the
teachers caring about them, but they just might not know them as a person. So student interpretation of those questions might impact those responses, too. So, as we transition to our new plan, we're going to uh use our bar survey, which asks some similar questions, but we have a little bit more
local control over it. And we'll have data for that on a yearly basis. So, it'll help us keep track of our progress on a more um more frequent way. Um, our final goal in our achievement integration plan is our American Indian
parent advisory committee. Um, the the state has called this an an APAC, AI PAC. Um, our local committee uh voted to be called a NAPAC, Native American parent advisory committee. Um, so we'll use that acronym for them. Um, but our
goal was just to create a NAPAC. We didn't have an APAC when we started our prior three-year integration plan. And now we have an incredibly robust thriving committee that meets monthly as a business meeting. They meet monthly to
uh create regelia to help teach students how to do things like beading and leather working and um smudging and all of the elements that are part of their cultural learning that they weren't able to practice for many years. Um, so we have an incredibly robust and dynamic
group that has a space in the district to host cultural events. Um, they just had their third plan and budget approved by the state. Uh, they had two high school students attend a national conference in Minneapolis that they were able to partner with Mayo Clinic and receive grant funds for because of the
the connections that they've already built in the community and with neighboring districts. So, it's a really incredible group that's doing a lot to revitalize the Native American experience for students in our schools, and we're going to continue supporting that with our new plan. So, the new plan
uh will continue to uh focus on those same strategies. We have uh we will continue with the same goal for integration, focusing on college and career readiness. through our integrated strategies. We are going to shift our achievement focus since we met our
graduation goal for our black and African-American students to focusing on one of the data points that uh I think uh we need to pay attention to which is the uh consistent attendance for our Hawaiian Pacific Islander students. It's one of our data points that is a lower
number and we really want to focus on helping uh reduce barriers so that those students can achieve at high levels in our schools. So that is one of the strate that we're going to continue using u many of the same strategies that we have been using. We're also adding a
family engagement specialist to help with that. uh we were able to uh convince Lauren Van Booked to join our team and she's an incredible asset to the community with incredible resources and networking connections in the community to help support uh families as
they're onboarded into the district to learn more about our processes. Uh what they need to do to be successful um how many credits do you need to graduate? What what is the system like? It's very different from other places that people might be coming from. So, helping with
some purposeful onboarding. We'll continue to support 16 full-time success coaches. Um, but we're going to shift how they function just a tiny bit. So, in addition to providing communication and connections, we're starting to build more communication tools to help people
connect with families directly. And that tool is called Talking Points. Talking Points is a two-way text messaging tool that has a builtin translation feature. So, it's a great tool for all families, especially people who just prefer a quick text. Um, it it overcomes a lot of
barriers, not just language support. Um, but that really helps increase the success coach's ability to connect with families. It increases our staff's ability to connect with people directly and not have to wait for an intermediary to help them with that language support. And I've seen a lot of success in
teachers being able to help um reach out to parents and say, "Hey, your your child's not passing my class, but if they stay over th after Thursday to take this assessment they're missing, they could get a passing grade for the semester." And just making those little connections has been really positive.
It's been a really positive way for people to give positive feedback very quickly. So, I'm really excited about talking points as a tool to help support our success coaches so they can do more mentorship of students and more of the deeper cultural liaison work um and and
maybe a little bit less of the kind of tier one communication things like attendance and those things. Uh we'll continue to support young scholars and be your best. Our teacher equity goal will stay the same, but we will identify questions from the bar student survey
that still get at the idea of do teachers care about me? Am I heard? Does my voice matter in the schools? Um, and then we do also have a goal focused on our NAPAC and supporting our American Indian efforts. uh they really want to help uh reach out more to the community
and share more information and engagement with the community so that people can learn about Native American issues and culture and they can do that through integration. Uh since the American Indian funding must be spent exclusively on American Indian identified students. So we have a a
pretty robust partnership to help expand the impact of their work. Um, and that is all I have prepared to share with you, but I would be happy to answer any questions. I do have to ask you to vote to approve
the plan if that is what you wish. Um, but I would be happy to enter. >> So, questions before or after the >> Let's take a motion. Let's do a motion to approve and then we can have questions. So is there a motion
to approve the 2627 through 2829 Austin achievement and integration plan? >> So motion down second by Carol conversation questions. >> Chris, can I ask you the reference to the black African-American student 75%
was that attendance or graduation? >> That was graduation, right? >> That was graduation. Uh c can you talk about that um statistic of a Hawaiian Pacific Islander consistently attending school will grow from 39.6%.
>> Yeah. The the current uh rate of consistent attendance so 90% um attendance or more uh is 39.6% for Pacific Islander students. It's a very big cultural difference in the
United States for our Pacific Islander population. Um, without making too many generalizations, um, it's it's a very big cultural difference. Family and is the most important thing
uh, in Pacific Islander culture. And so if there is a funeral, if someone is sick, people really come together and support each other. And sometimes I think that impacts student attendance. And so we're trying to find ways to help engage our students but also understand those cultural differences and make sure
that they have everything they need to be successful at school. Um so we're going to we're going to focus on on that as our metric and and hope to improve that with some targeted interventions uh support from our success coach team support in terms of mentorship and check
and connect and all those pieces that we can offer. This might seem a naive question, but can you graduate high school with a 39% attendance rate? >> I'm sure in theory you could. >> Okay. >> If you were here on assessment,
I I'm sure it's possible, but I think that um students absolutely do benefit from the fantastic instruction that they get from teachers in classes, and they're much more likely to be successful if they're here. So that has been a district priority this year and that's why we've been shifting from
graduation to attendance is attendance has been one of the major focuses of the of the district this year and the attendance task force is something that I've joined to help try to uh to engage in that work too because our students do better when when they're here.
I ask you about um the student sat satisfaction questions number three specifically about most teachers and you would express the problem with that verbiage. I mean could you just say my teacher parenthesy s parenthesis and
personalize it? >> It it I think it would have been a better question. We're going to choose questions that are less ambiguous when we choose our questions for the upcoming time. Then if you're teaching um social at the high school and you have 35 students in one of your classes, it's
really difficult to connect with every student, but it's it's really sometimes hard to 38 or 35 or it's just difficult. You just it's not something you're going to stop trying to do. I think it's really important that we
continue to work as hard as we can to build those relationships. And I think that our teachers and our staff do an incredible job of that. And I I hope that our success coaches are a resource that helps teachers connect with students across cultural barriers and help promote that mutual understanding
and help create those connections so that everyone feels welcome and safe and heard. >> Thank you. >> Thank you questions. Okay. Does anybody else have questions or comments? All right.
All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Carry on with the good work. >> Thank you for your support. Thank you. >> All right. Our next agenda item is to request for the approval of a contract for topear purchases with executive
director of finance and operations Lucky and director of technology. Good evening chair Dr. school board. We're in front of you tonight to go through our copier plan here. So, um, in the past, we had a lease with Metro
sales. Um, that lease came up roughly February, um, of 2024 as I'm looking at the dates or going through the dates in my head, and that was roughly right around when I had started. So, we had post we had extended that for two years. a week to take a
look at our copers on site, look at where we had them located, looked at, wanted to take a look at uh we had paper cut was in its first phase. So, I'm going to have Amy walk through the phases of paper cut and then I will come back and go through the financial um walk through the contract that we had
worked through with our lawyers and then come back on the financials. >> So, good evening chair today Dr. page and members of the board. I would like to share with you uh the process of our paper cut initiative and how the copier
purchase proposal is coached in that. Um we are moving from phase two to phase three in our paper cut initiative as we move through the change in our uh lease with metro sales. So as we have approached this project, we obviously
have taken close consideration of our core values and strategic priorities. By and large, this is uh a project that falls under the responsible use of district resources. However, as many of you know, uh people use copy machines
for a variety of things. And teachers, even though are probably the most likely to be using copy machines and printers in the district, um these tools and these technologies really support um the work that's done by all staff in the
district. Um, and ultimately we want to make sure that as we move towards the new plan, whether it's purchase or lease, we're responsible to the district as a whole. So, in terms of students, um, students are obviously impacted by this. Um, we
want to make sure that they get to learn in a variety of ways. And I know that might sound surprising to you coming from the tech director, but technology isn't always the best way to learn. Um, so we need to make sure that we have access to paper materials at many times
where that is actually the best way to learn. In terms of our families, they want to know that they're challenge uh their students are challenged with a variety of um methods of learning which falls under using technology and non-technology resources. Um, and a lot
of times paper resources are where it gets fun and interactive. And then lastly, um we want to make sure our teachers have good and equitable access to the resources that they need to do their job. And some of those resources involve prints and copers.
So part of our district operational plan is the paper cut initiative. And I wanted to talk to you about the phases so you know where this proposal lands. Um, in phase one, uh, starting in about 2023, we instituted or implemented a
tool called follow me printing. This allows a teacher or a staff member to send a print job from their device and pick that print job up at any copy machine in the district. Um, all they have to do is tap their ID card, log
into the copy machine, and regardless of whether they show up in the teachers lounge or in the media center, um, their print and copy is waiting for them. Um, that has been pretty instrumental in just kind of helping us to streamline how teachers access printed materials.
And um it also has really reflected um it's helped us reflect on I should say where these devices are and how much they're being used. Um we've seen a a pretty interesting change in volume and placement of devices. And then we
through this same tool have been able to gather really granular data on copier and print usage, volume and costs. Um which those all of that data has been used then to help us move into phase two. And three, um, phase two is where we started at the beginning of this
year, this fall. Uh, we did and conducted an inventory of all printers and copiers in the district. And by that I mean we went to every single building and every single room to make sure that we knew exactly where all of our equipment was. Um, and that was a pretty
arduous task. We connected a lot of it over in the A break because people weren't in the in the buildings and we didn't want to disrupt um, classroom work. And then um phase two, second part would be to upon our current lease expiration uh transition to the state
contract which is not something we've utilized in the past and standardize equipment across our districts. And then finally, phase three would phase three would start this spring um where we transition from monitoring to manage print budgets and support responsible
and intentional printing. So phase two, like I said, we are in the midst of that right now. In October of 25, we did site walkthroughs. We made note of every location of every device, how much printing it does, the volume,
um, and the location. In November and December, we established the state copier contract under our current lease partner, Metro Sales. Um the state copier contract allows schools to get really consistent pricing on um their
print costs which is going to really help us a lot. And then we also conducted an evaluation of current equipment locations, user ratios and features, making sure everything was where it should be and we were getting the right devices. So when I say that, I mean we're not getting a a printer that
can print, you know, hundreds of thousands of copies in a location where we can see that it's not being used as much. We want to make sure we're buying the right copier for the right usage. um December and January we developed site plans and selected replacement equipment
and we are here requesting the approval for purchase and then in February 26 if that approval goes through we will begin our equipment transition which is a large project we have a variety of printers and copers in the district and there so Todd is going to talk now about
um the four different options we face two options under a lease proposal and two options under a purchase proposal. >> Thank you, Amy. I want to go back to the one thing Amy said about the state contract. With Metro Sales being under the state contract, they've already gone out and
did the bidding for us. So, normally in a project this size, we would be required to do a RFP, a request for proposal or request for quote, and submit it out to three vendors, go through an interviewing process, have them come back, and that would extend this process. We had to start this
process back in November, bringing the technology department, the finance department, and extend this out by Metro Sales already being on the state contract. They've done all that work and they've got the best bid, the best contract, the best price for this equipment for us already. So, we went
through that. They submitted the paperwork to us. We submitted that to the lawyers. The lawyers reviewed it. We went back and forth for a little bit just to ensure we had everything in in place before we brought this to you. So, the first thing we always look at is lease. That's what Austin has done in the past where we would lease this
equipment. Um, when we say new equipment, that means we take everything we currently have in place, we take it out at the end of January and we bring brand new equipment back in. Um, that's what that's what the equipment number is. That would be $320,
$340. So, that'll be for 60 months. So, all these numbers you're seeing here for 60 months because that's what a lease contract is. the management is the print, the co the toner, maintenance, and all that. So, we would have a 60-month uh maintenance contract on those. So, us for us to lease brand new
equipment um would be about $480,000. That'd be an increase of about $9,000 over I forgot camera's in front of me. I should be on that side. That would be an increase of about $9,000 over what we're paying right now over 60 months. Mips equipment. What that means is what we
did was we took a look at the equipment we currently have in place and looked at what um how was the best way >> what we can still use. I'm looking for the technology the the how many copies we the um the count on it and ones that we haven't used very much we move it to
other areas and we we use that equipment in different places. That's what mix equip equipment rental means by us doing the lease that would cost us about 287,595. The management does not change on any of these options. So the 60-mon total cost
would be about 448,000 via a savings of about 23,625. Now we move over to the right. The purchase option is we purchase these outright. Um with copers, the copier company has to maintain these for seven
years after they stop production of the machines. So that was a question we asked Metro sales in the meeting and they informed us that the machines we would be purchasing have about another two years shelf life. So we'd be looking at about 9 years that these machines
would have to be maintained by them. So again we look at new equipment be the same thing. Take all equipment out purch, uh for a total of about 439. you have a savings about 32,000
mix equipment um where we keep some of the stuff we haven't got a lot of usage out of buy some new ones we looking at about a total package of 398 total savings of $72,884. So um when we looked at this we thought
about it long and hard. You look at over 60 months you look at our budget. you look at where we're we're not sure where the future holds with um funding and enrollment and looking at all of our things. It was hard for us not to put
the proposal in front of you today requesting us purchasing some new equipment, moving some of our current equipment around and having a proposal of 398 thou um purchasing $238,336. The maintenance management contract
would come each year in the budget. So that's why the proposal in front of you is not to exceed 250,000. That's just in case as we get this equipment in purchase if there's just a little bit things change a little bit. We didn't want to go exactly 238,336.
So the proposal in front of you today is not to exceed 250,000. Also part of that proposal is that $72,884 savings. We'd like to take that savings each year and um allocate that over five years and reassign that to an assigned
funds because this equipment is going to have an end of life cycle down the road and allow us to already have a head start on replacing this equipment because some of this equipment is got some life already used on it. So it's not going to be 9 years from now. It
could be three years from now. It could be four years from now. So again, trying to be um excellence in resource management ready, get ahead of the curve and get money that um that we have already planned in the budget. We're saving this. Let's get that assigned and
assigned fund and set oursel up in the future. So I went through a lot of numbers here. Um and then the other thing uh on here is anything above that 60 months would be even bigger savings because again we're not releasing these.
So year 6 they estimate about 135,000. Year 797,000. Year 8 about 259,000. We want to set those savings up um into assigned funds and continually allow the district to have this money set aside so
that when these copers come up in the future, we've got that money set aside in a savings account so that the um ongoing budgets do not have to pay for this. I went through numbers. Um I'm going to pause here for a second and ask see if
there's any questions out there. >> Can you explain the term mixed equipment? >> Yep. So what we did was we took a look at like a I'm going to use odometer on the copier. So we looked at how many copies have been run through the machine
and some of them have a long useful life left in them. So, we're going to take those in from an area that didn't get used a lot and move them to a area that could be have more copers put on it or vice versa. So, we're going to take equipment we currently are using today and just move it to another location and
not replace it because to us it still has a a long useful life left and it would not be excellence in resource management to use one of our priorities to just buy all brand new equipment because we still can use that machine in another location. Now let Amy add the
technology. >> Turn back to the previous slide please. >> Yep. So just to also clarify. So we currently lease this equipment through Metro Sales. Metro Sales is allowing us to then buy out the lease and basically um kind of like when you choose at the
end of a car lease, do you want to buy it out or do you want to release? We're choosing to buy the devices from them at a used cost which they were used by us. So we can feel confident that we're getting machines that have already been in our district
>> right here. Y >> is rental another word for lease? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yep. Rental and lease are same thing >> in this case. >> So the equipment now that's we're leasing that's older then. So we're
gonna the suggestion is or the proposal is to buy that and so say how old is this equipment? >> Um I would say the vast majority of the equipment that we will be keeping is no
more than two to three years old. >> Okay. So their current models, they've been purchased um I would say mostly at the secondary levels are the newer equipment and then the second or the elementary levels seem to have a higher
concentration of the older equipment that is no longer um you know a current model that we would be replacing with an updated model. So you had said that the new for the new
equipment we have like 9 years for the maintenance >> potentially up to nine years. So, um, like Todd said earlier, when you buy, um, new equipment, you have a certain window of time that it'll be maintained by Metro Sales. And Metro Sales or any
copier company for that matter must continue to support that equipment for 7 years after the equipment goes what we call in the tech world end of life. So, end of production, and then it is still supported. So we can't be caught off
guard by oh this company you know made this device a brand new model and so sorry we can't help you um they you know guarantee that we will still get seven years of support out of metro sales if it breaks down if it needs a part etc.
>> Okay. >> So we wouldn't have any concern that part would be obsolete. >> No correct. >> Yep. Correct. Yep. whether they need to keep producing the part for that seven years after the model goes under.
>> Perfect. Thank you. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> Yep. >> Yeah. Um I don't think I'm digressing here, but I'm not. I don't think I recently read for about the fifth time Mary Shel's novel Frankenstein.
And I'm not going to use the word monster, but I'm going to use the word It's called an entity. >> He wasn't. >> Why? >> He wasn't. >> Well, anyway, I'm going to use the word. And Dr. Frankenstein created an entity
that he lost control of. And so I let me just kind of say that technology became a really, really important thing. And maybe seven, eight years ago, we thought technology was the end all for
everything. And I'm glad you say that there are times where technology is important and there's tech times where paper is important. Um can I can I suggest that seven or when when technology maybe was at the end all
period that maybe the copying machine was used less than it is now? Is it being used more now than it was five or six years ago? Your your data does it suggest any kind of trend? Um, it's interesting. Yes, because the data
suggests that there really has not been a change in the amount of machine use in the last five to seven years. Um, and that could be from a variety of reasons. I know I kind of made the assumption too that we'd use copies a lot less. Um, I
think we overestimate sometimes how much technology is needed, like I said earlier. Um, and I think we also have old habits that die hard, right? we have materials that we want to keep using and those materials don't necessarily transition to online versions and so we
continue um you know reproducing those materials with the older technology such as machines. I do want to also um share with you that as we have built this plan we're not replacing everything one we are reducing the number of coffee
machines in the district and equipment in the district. So, I think that's important to note too is that um because we're able to optimize where things are and how much copy copying is done, we can actually reduce the number of big copy machines. And so, I do want to share that um we will be having a color
copy machine at every site from this point forward. And although that seems like it wouldn't have much impact, one thing it will impact is that many dis or many buildings purchase these standalone printers that can print color for things that are needed in the office,
newsletters, for things that are needed by special services like manipulatives. And that toner is incredibly expensive when it is compared to the color and black and white toner that is used in a a large copy machine. Um, so we're hoping that by putting a color copy
machine in every building, we can actually reduce the um, number of smaller devices that we have throughout the district, which are higher in management costs, higher in toner costs. We're also eliminating eliminating some copers. uh the district office itself is
going down from five to two copy machines in the district and at sites four copers are being eliminated while one is being added in order to um maintain site equity or quality. Um and then with our small equipment standalone
printers we're going to have far fewer of those. We're standardizing to a specific model and um Metro Sales is also going to manage that. So that is going to save us some cost as well. I haven't owned a new car in over 30
years. So, uh I'm not a great believer in the new equipment, but I understand that the the mixed equipment will say $72,000 over 60 months. The new equipment 32,000. Is it just about
saving money or are there positives on the mixed equipment proposal? Because I believe that's the one you're advocating for. >> It's not just about saving money. I mean, that's a side benefit, but to me, it's about being good stewards of equipment in general, right? We don't want to throw away something that has
perfectly good use in it. Um, just like you buy used cars. Those cars have a lot of life in them. And um people buy and use or buy and sell used equipment all the time and this is just being a good steward of our resources in the world. >> But you're not really swinging what
you're just exchanging, aren't you? >> Exchanging but we don't know what Metro sales would do. Sometimes they can't find a buyer for used equipment and it does become just a recycled piece of equipment. And I would also say is this funding of this is coming out of our operating capital which is looking at our building
equipment. It's looking at our curriculum and some of that. So even having an extra I think in this proposal even though the new equipment going up $40,000 doesn't seem like a lot. But when we know we've got math curriculum
and English curriculum coming on the horizon, being able to save just that $40,000 out of our operating capital is a big deal with what we have coming up in the near future. So that's why we looked at just not only the savings, but just the equipment. Being able to reduce that
equipment by using some of the current equipment we have in here felt like it was a great thing for us to move forward with. is all we have. >> Are you ready? Make sure everybody had a chance to ask questions.
Uh, is there a motion to approve the contract or your purchases? >> Motion by Peggy, Senator Dan. conversation, discussion. All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you, Amy and Todd, for all the work that you did on that to make a make a sound decision. Um, our next agenda item is a request
for approval of our donations. >> Thank you, Superintendent Page, and Mr. Board. It is my honor to you tonight to go through our donations. We have reviewed these and they are in accordance with school board policy 706. So, I will review
these. You're going to ask for approval again. Nick Schultz, $600. Third grade day on the farm field trip. On time sports, $33,3325. Ah, athletics. American Legion Post 91,
$500. AHS Gymnastics. Fraternal Order of Eagles, $1,35.76. Ellis Middle School 12 various community groups holiday performance $1,700
AHS choir Austin Airs girls hockey booster club $277.77 AHS girls varsity hockey orthoped orthodontics $200 AHS robotics formal
foods plant $1,250 all schools. Again, we'd like to thank all these organizations for their donations. >> Is there a motion to approve the donation? >> Motion by John, second by Carol. Discussion.
>> Todd, do you know what that means? Halloween performances four. >> That would be Austin performances at a bunch of different places. >> I just made a donation, >> right? >> It's just a donation. >> Yeah.
Thank you. >> All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Is there any deleation sharing? Okay. Uh reminder of our schoolboard study session scheduled for Monday,
January 26th at 4 p.m. in the district office conference room. Um, can I get a motion to enter close session for the purpose of negotiations update? >> So move. >> Motion by Bob, second by Carol. All those in favor? >> I.
>> Anybody opposed?