--------- Stephanie Edman here. Randy Hidman here. Sheriff here. Here. Thank you. We will move next to the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. All right. This is a meeting of the Brainer School Board and it's being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statutes
13D.02. This meeting is being recorded. Access to the recording is available on the district's YouTube channel. We will move to the approval of the agenda for this special meeting as presented.
So move second. All right. We've got a motion by director Ward and a second by director Dondelinger. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. The
same. Motion passes. Public input. Due to this being a special school board meeting, we'll have the regular meeting after this one where there will be opportunity for public input. There will be no public input allowed during this meeting. We have one item for action um
or under new business at least and that is a presentation of the residential survey results presented by Peter Leatherman. Welcome Peter. Thanks for being with us tonight. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here with you. Found one of these. I
accidentally burned out too. I got one. Oh, you have one. I think it came. It's right here. Start from the There we go. All right. Just to review with everybody what we undertook for the district. We spoke with 500 randomly selected
residents across the school district. uh 500 samples projectable always to plus or minus 4 and a.5% in 95 out of 100 cases. So a 500 sample in the district in the state is always going to be plus or minus 4 and a.5%. Average interview
time was 10 minutes non-response rate was 6%. Um these interviews were conducted uh back in February and March between the 24th and March 7th. Um there is obviously April 2nd came along at the
national level with the tariff discussion and that kind of tipped everything up and down. Uh because I believe when I was up here talking to you about the survey, one of the big factors going on right now over the last two election cycles for school districts is the economic situation of the household. Um so I'm going to talk about
that a little bit in a few moments. Uh cell phoneon only households were 53% landline only. they still exist uh 12% of households and then both landline and cell phones were 35%. If we look at demographics and the purpose of the demographics are twofold.
First off, we want to look at uh to validate the sample against updated census information and whether we're in the margin of error of key factors like households with seniors, households with children, homeowners versus renters, those sorts of factors. Uh the second is I can look at differences in the data
between how do parents feel uh versus non-parents. What do homeowners feel? Um so the first set of bars looks at how long has the person lived in the school district. 29% have been in the district for 10 years or less while 27% have been
in the district for over 30 years. The typical resident has lived in the district for about 18 years. 13% are have a preschooler or an infant in their household. 26% have a child attending the Briner School District. And then 70%
are empty nesters. And now empty nest does not imply an age. It's lack of presence of a child. So there could be a 23y old in the sample. If they don't have a child, they're classified as an empty neester. So three out of there, one out of four are your primary
constituents in the district. 19% are renters. Uh, and you can see the self-assessed home value, 33% under 250, 32% over 250, and then 16% over 300,000. If we continue with the
demographics, the typical resident has some college experience, albeit short of college graduation. So, 42% are college graduates, that includes post-graduate degrees, while 24% are high school graduates or less.
the financially stressed. You were right at the norm and we continue to see it being the norm right now in Minnesota uh as we get into May uh of this year is 45%. Um we did not get a bump. I was
expecting it in the data with all the surveys I've run since April 2nd. Um, but everything that's happened, I don't know if it's, you know, looking at the stock market is different than your day-to-day purchases at the grocery store where you're going to feel the impact of inflation. Uh, but we have
about just under 50% financially stressed. It's come down from where we were. The high was back in first half of 2023 when we got to about 60% indicating they're financially stressed. Um, so it's moving in the right direction. It's still though almost 20 points higher
than where we were pre- pandemic. Really? Um yeah, we're about 26%. Uh indicating financially stressed. Um and so how that plays out in school district elections, the higher that number is, you have more people that would support something, they can't
afford to support something. It's not a question or a judgment on the schools. They simply don't have the money in their pocket. And that's how it's played out. like last year only 41% of school districts were successful. Um you can see the geographic distribution based on
registered voter counts. Uh the city of Brainard 27% 20% in Baxter, 6% in Nisa and then 47% in the remaining portions of the district. Uh last set of slides on demographics. Uh 20% are 18 to 34 year
olds while 40% are over the age of 55. uh typical resident comes in right at about 50 years old and women outnumbered men by 2%. I typically stop at this point and ask any questions on methodology, demographics before we get into survey results.
This is a pretty normal breakdown. It I mean it will vary from community to community. Uh but in looking at your census data with demographics um nothing that strikes me actually the the uh you know especially the households with children typically when you get outside
the seven county metro um it kind of reflects the second ring of the metro with about 25% households with children. All right survey says first off we're going to look at atmospherics. Um and the first question we always start with is how do they rate the
quality of education? 87% rated it favorably. Um that is a comparatively strong rating right now. Um the rating on the quality of education has dropped across Minnesota. We're now down to about 78% favorable. Um pre- pandemic it
was about 90%. So it's been a significant uh drop. It's also been a shift in the enthusiastic rating, the excellent rating. Um, as motans know, it's difficult to get us excited about anything, to say anything's excellent. Um, and so what we've seen is it got
dropped to about 11% in the excellent rating. Um, so you're better by about 10 points on the overall and about a 2.5 factor on the on the intense excellent quality of the schools. What do they value? What do
they like most about the district? What leads the list is teachers at 21%. If we combine a couple categories though, a couple other things rise up. If we look at high achievement scores, good academics, that becomes a category at
23%. And then broad curriculum, variety of programming at 16%. So your folks are prioritizing who's teaching the teachers, the quality of the teaching, and then what they're teaching just a little bit lower. But it's all basically
all three are statistical tie. Now how does this compare? Districts are very idiosyncratic on this. Some districts highly v value programming and curriculum. Some it's all about the hight touch the teachers. Some it's about academic quality. Um but you have
a statistical tie about what folks are valuing. And it's important and we'll talk about it when we talk about a potential operating levy. uh and looking it back to the programs and the curriculum and the educational quality uh that will be able to be um maintained
uh with the funding uh potentially from a operating levy. Now, if we ask what they like most, we always follow up. Yes, sir. So, um I I understand I'm sure nothing unlike most, but what's the scattered category? What what's the All sorts of
oddities uh that don't account to 2%. So, I collapse them down. Um, you know, it could be, you know, uh, the parking lot got fixed. It could be the playground at the elementary school. Um, all sorts of things. Any sort of things
that just don't account to more than 2% to break them out. Thank you. Yep. What's the most serious issue facing the district? You have the same issue that it leads the list in every district, and that is lack of funding. We've actually
seen this go up uh over the last couple months, especially keep in mind your time frame is end of February, first part of March. Well, the the legislature had just started doing their work, which they're not going to finish uh next week. Um and so it's heightened people's
concern on funding. Throw in the discussion from the federal government and the Department of Education. So, you were at the norm of about 20% uh a couple months ago. We're now seeing this up to about 26% in a lot of school districts. Um everything else is single
digits. Uh lack of discipline traditionally right around 10%. You're low as a top of the mind on high taxes at 7%. We're going to dive in depth and taxes in just a few slides. Um but that's typically around 15%. And
then we have a variety of things in single digits. The other thing I would point to is down at the bottom, the nothings. Those are boosters. It'll be news to you, but they see no problems in the school district whatsoever. Um, and they are positive throughout, whether
it's from the quality of education to the governance and administration to an operating levy. So, it's about two times the norm of what we call the boosters that a typical school district has. It's starting to come back. There was a point in 23 where the booster core across
Minnesota was about 5%. Uh we're now to about 10%. Um it's growing but it has not come back to where we were pre- pandemic. How does a district do on meeting the learning needs of all students? Most, only some, or very few.
First off, you have a majority saying you're meeting the learning needs of all students, which is a stringent standard. Uh the norm on this right now is about 45%. So that's that's a very good result. And we follow up with those that
say most only sum and very few that 47% and ask is there a type of student whose learning needs are not is not being met. That's what's a rate in the upper leftand part of the chart. And you can see it's the theme that we see everywhere in Minnesota. It's the struggling student, the average student
in special education. Um this is over my 30 years of doing this. This has ebbed and flowed in the 90s. It was not enough for gifted and talented um and that sort of thing. But this is where we've ended up uh uh 5 years post pandemic with really the concern are those students uh
average to below average and how they're managing to keep up uh post pandemic. How do they think the quality has is compared to four years ago? I talked about the overall rating on the quality of education. Yours was strong.
Um but there a lot of districts we have that drop into the mid70s. Um you still though have a sense that even if there is a concern that things are moving in the right direction in a very strong result. 50% say it's better. Only 3% say
it's worse. So it's a 17:1 ratio of saying better than worse. The norm on this right now is about four or five to one. So there is a sense of positive momentum in the school district. Are they concerned about learning loss
since the pandemic? This is a very common theme that comes up. You hear it in a lot of places. Um, and this is really consistent. It doesn't matter if I'm doing a survey in Edina or Brainer. It's about 50% of residents are concerned, 50% of residents are not
concerned. Um, and you're right at that number, 50 to 49. Uh and if you look at it intensely, um 9% are very concerned, 15% are not too concerned. A couple more big picture
questions. When they think of a highquality education, what's the most important indicator to them? Uh what leads your list is the broad curriculum serving all 30%. followed by the number of college graduates going on for
further education and then a tie between the reasonable number in classrooms and standardized test scores. Standardized test scores have come back up. Um in the '9s there was an insatiable demand and then uh President Bush came along W and
instituted no child left behind and 10 years later everybody was exhausted by test scores. Um what we have seen post pandemic though is a higher reliance on them being in an indicator. It is a touch point especially for non-parents into schools what's happening in their
school district. Um so you know eight years ago that number would have been half of what it is. So it has come back um as an important indicator on a high quality of education. Now that's what they value. How do they rate the Brainer
School District on each of those indicators? Very highly. Uh the number one was broad curriculum serving all 84 to 15. Uh going on for further education 82 to 16. Then on standardized test
scores was 83% favorable even the reasonable number in CLA of classrooms in in the classrooms because reasonable what's reasonable to you might not be reasonable to me. Um so it is of value. You still have 79% rating that
positively in the Brainer School District. And then tech um it's not an important indicator. Uh and people are the the importance of technology has craned right now in Minnesota. I think a lot of people fear that technology is a
way to keep kids out of the classroom. Um but even though that being the case, they rate the opportunities strongly here. uh concerns about curriculum. Obviously, the discussions have been going on over the past basically that was before the
pandemic. Um 76% indicate no, they do not have any concern. It's typically what we see about 3/4 of folks say they do not have a concern. About 25% indicate that they do, which is the same number as have kids in school. One out
of four. One out of four. Yes. But it's not an overlap. It's actually equally. I would say it was. I just mean it's just kind of convenient that it is the same. It it is interesting the narrative that I've heard and we do it in we test it in our statewide surveys that I share with I call them all the education acronyms.
Um and we break it out and go in depth on curriculum and I think a lot of school districts think that it's a lot of non-parents concerned about it. Um it's not the case actually. It's pretty evenly uh divided. Uh it's parents and
non-parents uh feeling strongly about it. Um but it's still about one in four that uh voice concerns. I care. Yep. Overall assessment of job performance ratings uh on the school board
7425. Norm on this right now is about 58 to 40. Uh the superintendent and administration 68 to 29. On this one, I always look at a ratio. Uh two to one is the norm. The two your two and a half to
one. Um and you can see that the the ratings of governance and administration basically line up. Uh which tells me a pretty well functioning school district. I can always tell that there's issues if the board's here and the administration's down here or vice versa. This is kind of like a hand and
glove. The community sees you all as one entity. Um and then the closer you get to the kids typically more positive. Uh your teachers are very well regarded. Uh teachers have taken a hit over the course of the pandemic on their ratings. The norm has dropped down to about 80%.
Yours were rated favor favorably by 87%. Overall assessment then of financial management 62% favorable. Norm on this right now is about 52 or 53%. So on all of these financial uh questions
uh very strong ratings uh when we uh you have financial stewardship and credibility in the minds of residents property t did I skip a chart I did I was going
to say okay boy my thumb moved too fast let's go back to this one this is really especially the bottom question is very important first off does the districts spend taxpayers money effectively and efficiently. 71% agree with that statement. Norm on that right now is about
60%. Do they see a good value for their investment in the Brainer schools? Absolutely, almost 90%. Have you spent past referendum funds responsibly? 74%. Do you ask for a tax increase only as the last resort? 65% agree with that.
Does the district do a good job of involving the community uh in decisions? The empowerment question 74% agree with that about five points higher than the norm. And then the bottom question is the schools are a good investment and I
would support a property tax increase to protect that investment. The key on this question is the no. Uh because as the question is phrased, it doesn't talk about an operating levy or a bond referendum. It doesn't talk about a dollar amount. It fleshes out the core.
No, they're against anything in the school district. We want that number to be under 33% at the outset. And you can see and that doesn't mean that everything automatically passes. It's just the lower the number that the lower the that number is uh the more
willingness there is for a discussion for additional funding. So, we did that. property taxes. Um after economic in the economic situation of the household, the next biggest issue facing school districts is
property tax hostility across the state. It has increased greatly over the past three years. You are one of the few districts though that is actually under 50% in the very high and somewhat high category. That's the threshold I use to
classify a district as property tax hostile. We're out now up to a norm uh in 2025 of about 62% in the high category. Um it it's just the last two
assessments of value of homes and then opening of property tax statements on November 15th has caused this to go up. But interestingly, it follows the same pattern everywhere. If you look at their perception of school taxes, it drops
from 49 to 40, which tells us that if they are upset about property taxes, their concern is not focused at the school district. It's focused at the city or the county. I always say back when I started doing this, we used to ask who do you blame? And then cities
and counties got upset with us. So, we don't ask it that way anymore. We ask it this way so we can kind of come in the back door on on this. Um, that's the good news is it's not focused here. But as you know, um, you're really the only show in town that has to go to voters
for an approval. Cities and counties, um, can raise the the levy without a a vote of the citizens. So, it's kind of a, you know, two double-edged sword on this. Um, but the the real good news here is though, you don't have the level
of hostility elsewhere. The highest level I have in 2025 is a school district that's at 77% in the very high and somewhat high category. That's a very I mean you just have a reflexive no. I don't want to have a discussion about this. My taxes are already too
high. Is the district adequately funded? Nobody in Minnesota knows on this. I mean this is almost like a constant of pie. 47% say yes, 49% say no, and 4% are honest and say I have no idea. Um thi this is es and flows. The
high we had is after Governor Walls did the victory lap in 2021 and talked about the largest increase of funding in the history of Minnesota. We got up to 75% saying their local school districts adequately funded. Well, the governor said so. Um, now people don't understand
because they hear they're getting money from the state, but then they see districts making cuts all over uh the the state of Minnesota. So, they really don't know where their sensibilities lie on this. If they heard the district was going to ask for a property
tax increase, are they against all, for all, or are they persuadable? You start out at a dead tie. Core support to core yes, 28% each. You also start out just like we're this is the current state that we live in uh with over half the
people have made up their minds with no information because we haven't told them what the funding's for. But 28% are against everything and 28% are for everything. Um you know this is how you know in the '9s we used to have 80%
persuadable and they would say I don't know what's the money going to be used for. Um now 44% are persuadable. That's obviously going to be the key swing in any sort of uh potential funding request from the district on our let's make a deal
question. First off, 30% said nothing. We want that under 35%. So, you were there. 20% say $6 a month, 22% say 12, and 22% say 18 or
more. So the typical resident comes in at the outset at roughly 150 bucks a year at the outset. Now that number can go up or down depending on what's being asked for. And so what we told folks and
we tested a $5.5 million operating levy and we told them that if the funds were approved they would be used to maintain class sizes, programs and avoid future budget cuts. So nothing's being added. It's basically a maintenance operating levy. They were told on a median value
$340,000 home, the monthly property tax increase would be $18 per month or $218 per year. So, it's about 50% higher than the tolerance, but because it's they value what is being asked for, 59%
support, 35% oppose. Um there's not a lot of intensity. 24% feel strongly one way or the other and they split evenly between strong support and strong opposition. Now I'm going to finish the presentation. I'll come back and have a discussion about what overall what's
this telling us on an operating levy. What's the reason for their position on the levy? Well, education's important. The cost is reasonable. 8% say children in the district and 7% say it's needed.
Now, over the course of a campaign, uh, whether you have a vote yes and probably a vote no, um, you know, this will eb and flow, but what needs to be at the top is the need reason for support. That's what drives people to the polls,
especially in an off-year election. There's something at stake here. Uh, when you talk about, you know, districts sharing logical consequences, if this fails, these things are going to happen. What are the reasons for opposition? No children, poor district spending. Every
district has between 8 and 12% that will oppose anything uh because of poor district spending. And like the Bloomington still has people opposing that because they closed uh Lincoln High School in the 70s. Um and so those
decisions can linger. Um, and then you get down 8% say my taxes are too high. 5% say the cost is too high. Need more information. Only 2% say it's not needed. Um, so really, you know, the opposition is not solely focused on
taxes and cost um where we see in many other school districts. Part of it is mitigated because you don't have the level of property tax hostility that other districts do. And finally, where are folks getting their information?
28% say mailings or newsletter, 21% the website. Uh word of mouth is not what I would expect it to be. Um and I think part of it is I'm assuming that's the local newspaper. Uh you still have a local newspaper uh at 10%. Um what we've
seen in a lot of school districts is um you know like in the southwest metro the Chanhassen Villager, the Chaza Herald, the Prior Lake American all are gone. they no longer cover the school district. And what we've seen is a real
explosion in the grapevine because the key the key members of the grapevine are typically young parents surrounding you know ECF programs, youth sports associations, those sorts of things. Uh but with the newspapers disappearing, um
it's the over 55 year olds that would typically read the newspaper. They're not going to go to the website um to get information. they're not going to go to social media. And so we've seen this growth of the grapevine, but you do not have it here. Um, and then email, district staff, social media down the
list. That's how they get it. How do they prefer to receive it? First off, it matches up pretty well with how they're getting it. Uh, but if you just look at this print versus electronic, do they want to hold something in their hand? 37% say a mail newsletter, 10% say the
local newspaper. So you have almost a majority saying print. On the flip side, 20% say the website, 10% email, 5% social media, 5% e newswsletter. So you have about 40% preferring electronic. So
you have very dependent and their demographics. It's households with children are highly reliant on electronic especially since uh the pandemic. they they came to live and die with the daily email about whether school is in session and now it's just
become that is the routine their preference of getting information but both of those sources either the push or pull communications needs to be done well so the atmospherics in the district look
really good there's nothing that I would classify as a red flag and by a red flag. It means something that people will walk into the voting booth and make a symbolic no vote.
Okay. The property tax hostility is not at levels that we see elsewhere. Um you have a willingness for this discussion. Okay. And but people will need to understand what's at stake. What are those logical consequences if this
fails? And so I would suggest though you are at 59%. On the operating levy. Now this may be really really minuscule but it's it is a difference to me. It's a
distinction that makes a difference. If you look historically uh as I mentioned earlier, this is a pristine environment. There's been no vote yes. There's been no vote no. This is typically as good as it
gets. If I have 10 clients run a campaign, two will run an outstanding vote yes. They will have an outstanding group of volunteers that does the vote yes. They will be able to maintain that number, an early survey for planning
purposes. The other eight, the typical regression is eight points, which makes it a coin flip then. And so I always use 60% as a threshold at this point in time. Um, and so it would suggest this
has a good chance of success, but if it was scaled back a bit to get closer to that $150 a month, that would be helpful, I think, on the edges with the persuadable. Um, and because also, you
know, the problem surveys are snapshots in time. Superintendent asked me long ago, when's the best time to do a survey? And I said, the Monday before the Tuesday. Um, but for planning purposes, that's not possible. You have
two factors completely out of your control. What's the economy going to be? What's the stock market going to be? Um, and then also what are your cities and counties going to do when they announce their preliminary tax uh assessment in
September? Um, that will impact it impacted last year. Um, the city of Rochester announced almost a 10% tax levy increase. At the same time, the school district had the operating levy on the ballot that if it failed, they
were going to close schools. And so the school district had to basically spar with the city and say, "Do not hold us responsible because they can do this." Um, if you want to hold
them responsible, vote them out when they run for council again. Um, but we're we have to go and it worked. Um, and so those two factors in play, um, that are completely out of your control, I think are something to be added into the mix into the decision-making
process. So, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. You had said $150 a month. I think you meant 150 a year. Oh, goodness gracious. Did I say 150 a month? I meant 150. Yes. I heard you say $218 a year. Did you say
$218 a year? That was what we tested. Yeah. So, which one of that of is $218 a year? No, the 28 18 bucks a month. Uh, it would be roughly Yeah. 240 about 19 bucks a month is what we pay. So, all everybody So, I
don't understand how you come up with your numbers because everybody on this side is below that. I'm just going to go here with all the pluses, right? So, I take the nothing, the six, the 12, the 18. I take out the nothing, okay? Because they're not going to support anything. What I'm looking for is what's
the tolerance of those willing to see their taxes increased. Oh, so you're saying 57%. Correct. Gotcha. Yeah. I think you had mentioned earlier that 150 per year was kind of a sweet spot. Yeah, it
it's typically it's a little bit on the higher side, right? Right now the typical tolerance is about $10 a month. Um, so you're a little bit higher than that at the outset, but it is it's it's completely flexible. I mean, I've tested
um in some districts um you know, two to three times the tax tolerance. Um but because things are highly supported, it will raise it up. Um, if you put on though like on a bond referendum, if you
test an indoor activity center or a hockey arena, uh, people would support 50 cents. So, it really is, it really matters what's included. Uh, can elevate people's support, potential tolerance on the property tax increase or can
definitely diminish it. Peter, do you think for going back to the Rochester scenario, if Mayo Clinic hadn't given them 10 million? Yep. Yep. Would have they gotten a no vote, do you think? Or would that that just helped support
those who are on the bubble? Um, it definitely helped especially though, but then Mayo, the message from Mayo was this is a onetime gift. we're we're not going to subsidize it through the tune to $10
million uh every year in order to keep the schools open. It it what I mean what it showed was and we didn't work with them on that on the first one that failed. They did
not. First off, they did a tech levy. And the rationale for a tech levy, yes, it it makes sense because it frees up funds in the operations when it's dedicated. But that's the step. I
mean, did it pass? The first one failed the tech the tech levy because you really couldn't tie the consequences to it. You can't say if I don't get a tech levy, I'm going to close a school. Uh residents go th this doesn't make sense.
If you go straight operating, you can say um and that's and that's where the message got mixed and the Mayo donation um put those logical consequences on the table. Um and made the community aware truly what was at stake. people have to
understand um that there's something at stake or else they're not going to raise their property taxes. Um especially in this environment and you know districts I always say you need to be some some school boards um get nervous and they
say we're threatening the community. It's not a threat. It's a logical consequence. There has to be something that happens if the funding doesn't happen. whether it's you can't provide this service or now we're not into the point of enhancements, we're in the
point of maintenance. Um, but you have to do so in a way um first off you have to be willing to do it. You can't do what Robinsdale did about 15 years ago where they went out to the community and said if we don't get this we're going to
do these things and then it failed and they didn't do those things. So then that's a threat. you didn't follow through. Um, and they didn't pass anything for I think five or six years because it eroded trust. You also can't go to the level and the example is the
AIO school district 25 years ago. They came out and said, and we didn't work with them on this one because I had to stop this. Um, if this fails, and now AIO, half of it's Brooklyn Park, half is Maple Grove. If
this fails, we're going to close a school in Brooklyn Park. Well, all the parents in Maple Grove skipped to the polls because they knew they could vote no, their taxes wouldn't go up and their kids weren't going to be impacted because the school was going to be closed in the other community. The
discussion is things on the table. We will have to look at closing the school or what whatever those things are. It's it's when you get some sometimes districts like one district, we're going to eliminate fifth grade music.
Okay, I'm a junior high parent or a high school parent. Why do I care? Fifth grade music is is there you this level of specificity, but you have to just make it broad. Class sizes would be impacted. Electives would be diminished.
Um, you know, one district I was at last week, if it fails, they're going to eliminate one period at the middle and high school. Um, and look at the the general result. you know, they'll evaluate which which electives will be,
but that's what you're talking about is the substantial schedule change uh and the opportunities offered to to uh students. So, what about uh this is really good information. Appreciate it. Um what about the mode of the election
or the um type of election? You know, what what makes a successful election? In other words, you know, phone calling, um, door knockocking, mailers, um, you know, do you have any feeling on that? Do you have any feeling that you know
here's what here's what successful elections uh contain or the activities successful elections contain strong communications that share logical consequences and focus on your most
likely supporter is your least likely voter in an offear and that's parents. Parents have underrepresented since 2013. I I mean I literally can draw a line in our data where it happened before then if you have you
have roughly 25% parents. So in a special election parents would over represent by 10%. They'd be 35% of the electorate. Since 2013 parents are lucky to represent
their actual numbers. um one district uh that called after they failed last year um and they went into their database and they ran those who voted versus their parent list. Uh
parents under reppresented by a third. Um and I've done surveys uh for districts, we call them autopsies, uh where we go in after the fact and find out why the patient died. And we talk
with parents who didn't vote and you ask them why didn't you vote. I was too busy. I forgot. Um the kids had sports that night. Um they don't prioritize.
It's I don't understand it. I really don't. And so um a lot of the vote yes efforts um that uh the volunteers have undertaken have focused on parents and a lot of digital um and a focus on early
voting. Take away the excuse of I was running late for basketball um so I went dropped the kid off instead of going to vote. um those sorts of strategies uh focused on parents.
Absolutely. Peter, you talked about the factors that you tested with this group when you were talking about what you know voting yes meant or you know what that money would be used for. Could you just remind me kind of generically what those were? Oh,
what the what the funds would be used for it. Yeah, it was it was maintenance. I can read it specifically for you. If additional funds were approved, they would be used to maintain class sizes and programs and avoid future budget cuts.
Thank you. I I think it's also um important we because your yours are kind of future discussions on cuts coming up. Um, I've tested in at least half a dozen school
districts now just over the past few weeks that have already done cuts and ask residents, are you aware of the cuts being made that have been made? There's not a majority in any school district of residents saying,
"Yeah, they're already aware of those cuts." Um, and interesting, you follow up those those are aware of the cuts. do they think it's had a negative impact on the education? Less than half say it's had an impact. Um and so I think a
discussion, you know, about the future, about the past on the budget and you have to because there who knows what's going to happen in St. Paul in Washington DC. Realistically, they're not going to do
four and four or two and two or whatever they've done the last few years. Um, people need to understand the funding that comes from the state and what it means for this school district, not the billion or or
whatever the number is. What does it mean for their local school district? um and put it in a and then especially put it up against cost of living and inflation because there'll be a gap. You're not going to get an increase in
school district funding even to maintain uh with cost of living indicators. You mean with what they're going to do this year? Yeah. Well, even with the historic funding that it's a little fuzzy math there, Peter. You better stay out of that permit. Pull it up for you if you'd like
to see. a little. We're we're we're out paced inflation. 300 school district for the last 30 years. Oh, across the state. Yeah. In this school district. In this school district. Yeah. And probably all the rest. We're not quite as bad as the rest of the state. Yeah.
You know, you said parents were critical obviously as a group. Um so is our staff. So is you know whomever. I mean there's different groups. And since parents are so critical when I look at the demographics and empty nesters are
70 is a 70% right. Yes. So that's a little concerning to me since we have parents as a main group for success but we have 70% empty nesters. How do you how do you address
that? Well, it parents a successful election coalition 80% of parents will support. So that because they come in at such a high level, what's hurt school districts over the last two years is the the group that has been impacted most
by inflation, cost of living, and property taxes are younger families. So that's why school districts have had such a hard time because they can't get to the 80% threshold because more
parents are in that category of I would support something I can't afford it. It's not a question of do I have the $100 to give you? They don't have the $100. And that's why it's become difficult to overcome
um you know to get to that 80% threshold when you're only one/4 of the population. Peter, do you have any data about empty nesters who had children in school and no longer do as
far as do they still support schools or not? they are more supportive than uh an over 55 year old person with no connection to the school district. They've still you you have what's called the grandparent effect. Um if they have
um grandchildren in the district, if you're over 65, the the difficult group is the one I'm headed into, the 55 to 64 year olds. Um they're worried about retirement. Their kids just left. They're exhausted. um that's the most
difficult group. Uh but you do after 65, they get into retirement, they've got grandkids, they'll they'll split at a 45 50% level in support where my new demographic coming up is
about a 3070 opposition. Really? Yeah. And that's been consistent over 30 years. Really? Yeah. Those are getting to the starting to worry about it. Yep. They're they're worried about it and they're exhausted. The kids are gone and
all all those factors come into play. Any additional questions for Peter? What would you do if you were sitting in my chair? I've never been asked that. Uh I would I would vote to authorize an
operating levy um at a little bit lower amount as long as it could you would be able to provide the financial stability um to maintain programs and class sizes. Thank you.
Will you chair our yes committee or? It's a It's a long commute. Even though I love the golf courses up here. Uh if I came up, I just want to golf. I can take your toll, too. Get on any
golf course you want next week. 45 and raining. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So I I have one last question and I know your company does thousands of these and you have a plethora of data and
information just maybe over the last two years or so. Is there one critical factor that can swing no or yes that you have come across that just go this is something that is new but it's critical
uh it's it's not new it has come back and that is if we go back to 2008 2009 the start of the recession and over the last two years now the greatest deter determinant on
success because it can overcome economic insecurity, property tax hostility is a clear delineation in the minds of residents of want versus need and and prioritizing it that way uh as you look at it.
Um, and that's not to say that, you know, but you don't have a conversation in the current climate, just like you didn't back then, about improvements or enhancements. Um, I just presented at a suburban city last week, property tax
hostility really high. And we just asked two simple questions. Would you support a property tax to in increase to maintain services? 75% say yes. everything. They know it costs more to maintain what you have. Would you support a property tax improve tax
increase to improve or enhance services? 21% said yes. It's just an inverse. And so I think the districts that do the best job of prioritization on needs focused at what residents value and you
know from yours it's the academic quality, it's the programming and curriculum, it's the staff. Um that's that's the where folks are prioritizing it. Um it's just more of a spotlight on that needs versus wants discussion.
I know Peter said that would be the last question, but I have one more. Um you know, looking through this, it looks very positive to us, but you've probably seen so many of these. What I mean you can't guarantee success
if we go to the polls, but what would you say other schools that have worked with you and have seen this that have gone to the polls, what kind of success have they seen? Uh, traditionally it's over 90%. Um, if they follow advice,
um, shall we say? Uh, last year was more difficult, but still we're 41% passed across the state of Minnesota. districts that worked with us were at 81%. So it and part of it is they they knew the prioritization of the needs and
the wants where a lot of districts um so I mean it helps focus it helps give you a clear picture of where people are at and what their tolerance is um instead of just guessing. So when you when you
say 90% that's using this these data points. Okay. Well, how come you said that normally people drop back 8%. And that would take us to 51% which you said would be a coin flip. That would be the that would be the typical regression from an early Well, but you said it's
down to a coin flip and now you're saying it's 90%. Which is it? No, no, no, no. Not a coin. No, two two things. First, the survey results versus the actual election results. So, the typical if they start at 60% and the typical
regresses to 52%, it's still a win. it it in that sense. But so to maintain that number or go above it is very unusual over the course of a campaign because there has been no discussion whatsoever right now. You don't have
yard signs. You don't have door knocking. Uh you don't have any of those digital ads and that just heightens everybody's um focus on the school district. It also um you know keep in mind in an off-year
election the day before election day 30% of people will have no idea there's an election. Um it's just amazing. Oh yeah that's the way it is. Yeah. That's the way it is a big election. You can get I
don't never asked the question were you aware you're voting on the presidential election. Yeah. I wish people, you know, the last few years people said, "No, I wish well they just want the ads to go away by August." So, but no, I mean it's it it it's typically you have that
regression, but that's why in districts if they plan properly, you can overcome um that regression. So, at 51% you think we can hold that? Yeah. Yeah. All things being if the stock market's at
10,000, nothing will pass. You you you said to Sarah that um if you follow ad if they follow advice, they've been successful. So, do you continue on with you know with us through this process or advice? I I I always say I'm
here from takeoff to landing and I don't charge by the hour. Okay. So, I'll have superintendent call me you know, however often they want when questions come up. It's too much work to charge by the
hour, so I don't bother. Yeah. Great. Five minutes left. Yes, we've got five minutes till our next meeting. So, any final questions for Peter? If not, we are planning to discuss this Wednesday morning at our retreat a little bit as a group. um and can talk
more then. Thank you, Peter. Appreciate your time. Super pleasure. Yes. All right. Um we'll entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting. So move. Second. Got a motion by Director Heidman
and a second by Director Dondelinger. Do we have to approve though? Oh, approve the results. Approve their Yeah. Yeah, you should. Yeah, we should do that. Okay. Thank you. No, let's do that. Yeah, sorry about that. My fault. Approve the result. We do have one
action item. So, we should approve the result. So, I'll make a motion we approve the 2025 residential survey results as presented. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Is there Thank you, Stephanie. So, we've got a motion by Director Breen and a second by Director
Edman to approve the residential survey results as presented. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Oppos the same. Right. And then we'll go back to our motion to adjourn. Um motion by Director Heidman,
second by Director Dunnelinger. Any discussion? All those in favor? I was the Part: 2
here. Here. Sorry. We're going to call the meeting to order. Thank you. All right. This meeting of the Brainer School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statutes
13D.02. This meeting is being recorded and access to the recording is available on the school district's YouTube channel. We'll look for a motion to approve the agenda. Motion. Second. We've got a motion by Director
Donninger and a second by Director Ward. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose the same. Motion passes. We've got a number of recognitions here tonight to share. Um
you are welcome to jump in team if you'd like to. I'll take a few. You're we'll just head around the table if anybody'd like to jump in. We extend our deepest gratitude to our incredible volunteers and community members who generously give their time, energy, and support to
our schools. Your dedication makes a lasting impact on our students, staff, and families. Because of you, our district is not just a place of learning, but a true community. And congratulations to Brady Davidson for earning sixth place in humorous interpretation in the Minnesota State
High School League state speech tournament. Congratulations to our Warrior Athletes of the Year, Maya Taes and Ty Nelson. And congratulations to Dan Anderson for being named the girls swimming and diving head coach of the year. And congratulations to the
following students for qualifying for the Minnesota Music Educators Association Allstate Ensembles. Maline Ball for All State Treble Choir. Michaela Kahi for All State Mixed Choir. And Paul Sandberg for All State orchestra.
I'm going to go. Congratulations to the following students on being honored as Sorwell's 2024 students of character. Emma Voss, BLC, Haley Rudolph, A Atlas and
Lac Bella Vuli, BHS, and Bridget Wells, BHS. Sourcewell recognizes high school juniors and seniors for their quiet leadership within their communities and schools. Congratulations to Baxter students of
the quarter for fourth quarter. Kindergarten, Zachary Beckett, Camden Exie, Elelliana Fiser, Everly Henning, Nora Kypers. First grade, Gavin Fiser, Lola Hildalgo, Aubrey Kramer, Alexis
Quirm, Buddy Sawyer Scott. Second grade, Wesley Bethun, Arby Bjorkvet, Gohan Lax. I'm gonna mess that one up. Lackl Griffin Sharp Nick Willen.
Third grade, Daxton Anderson, Henning Anderson, Cruz Bender, Talon Milbrandt, Esla Chan. Fourth grade, Elsa Anderson, Elsie Anderson, Gunnar Bible, Elliot
Carroll, Kaylee Hansen, My Carell, Isla Kassenberger, Sydney Kudson, Alexis Miller, Breen Peterson, Justin Massberg. I'll go. Brainer Public
School. Briner Public School is proud to be the recipient of the Minnesota's Comprehensive Arts Planning Program. CAP award from the Perpet Center for Arts Education. In the history of the program, this will be our 20th CAP
cohort. CAP is a legislatively funded program to support and assist a local school district arts planning team in creating a district-wide three-year strategic plan. The award is for 2025 through
2027. Congratulations to Brandon High School teacher Nicole Himemer for being honored with the innovator of the year award. I can go. Congratulations to the following Brainer School District staff
for being recognized as at the educators excellent program held in April. Teachers of Excellence. Erin Leage, Atlas LEC. Wendy Modus, BHS. Jolene Parks, BLC. Michelle
Feifer, Niswa, Stacy Pal, Erdle, Riverside, Anne Reed, Baxter, Brenda Sannis, Forest View, Kristen Smith, Garfield, and pillars of excellent were Twi Eric Belton, Eric Belton, BLC, Sarah
Francis, Atlas LC, Lois Gagny, Nisa, Megan Gates, Riverside, Rick Jensen, BHS, Carol Cruz, Garfield, Karen Reglowski Baxter and G. Westfall Forest View.
Thank you. All right, we'll move on to Did I say that wrong? I don't think so. Okay. Yeah, it was just a good name. It is a good name. All right, moving on to public input. A member of the public can address the board during this time. Comments will be limited to three
minutes. Complaints or allegations against students or employees may not be discussed due to data privacy. Complaints or allegations must be submitted in writing to Superintendent Grant. The board of education and the superintendent will not converse with guests to address the topics discussed
at that time. No visual props visuals or props will be allowed. All right. First up, we have Terry Frovic. Please. Thank you board for the opportunity to say hello and to encourage you as you
shepherd a culture of excellence and success within this public school. I went to high school back in the 60s, Edison High School, Northeast Minneapolis. I was one of those kids at
risk that came to school. And um thank God for my coaches, my teachers whom I remember and and uh just love. Um, our school was totally white and
um, except the school board had the brilliance of hiring one black teacher, Mel Bates, who was one of my favorite teachers. He taught us biology and anatomy, and he was also a coach. And uh
but there were janitors and uh people working in the lunchroom that were also excellent and uh they saw who I was and they nurtured me as best they could. Mr.
Willie, our counselor, called me into his office and said, "You know that girlfriend you have, don't get too close." And uh it was it was good. It was good to have that kind of support. Um, so here's what I wanted to say
is public input comes and you guys hear that and you discern it and you go about your business and you argue and you make your case. And but when you do this, recognize that
you're doing your work for the teachers as well as the students to give the teachers this sense of support and encouragement to go beyond what they do in reading, writing, arithmetic to see
the kids. I think that's extremely important and I thank you. So have fun as a school board together and pass that on to the teachers. Meet with the teachers. Have dinner with the
teachers. Create a culture of success through relationships. Thank you. Thank you, J. All right. Next up, we have Melissa Hog. Good evening. We do not hide that which we think is right. We hide that which we
know is wrong. I'm here to address many concerns many parents are experiencing, but afraid of retaliation towards their athlete if they speak up. Most disappointing and discouraging is the dismiss of attitude, indifference, and unwillingness to address the complaint presented to compromise. So, this
athlete is not prevented from participating in activities of their choosing. Administration has taken the time to hear these issues, but have lacked any notification of us on the outcomes and corrective measures taken, policy 103. We have been told that the
school has a closed door practice policy, but administration has never came forward with that policy. These doors are locked, barring entry, creating safety issues for multiple students. An athlete with a medical disability with a medical provider's
letter stating parents to observe the athlete at practice to assess them for early neurological signs and symptoms of a potentially dangerous medical situation have been denied that right because the school has quote a closed door practice policy. The excessive
amount of mandated requirements for fundraising is outrageous. Multiple fundraising events all year during and outside of the season have included raffles for firearms and alcohol. Parents in recovery have been assigned
to visit liquor establishments to obtain donations for fundraising events and to deliver that alcohol to school for the coach for multiple years. There's a lack of transparent financials. Payments made to this program have been cashed and
housed by a booster club, not the school board, as policy 713 directs on program specific association and viewed as a donation or fundraised, not as an invoiced charge. Our monthly statements are altered monthtomonth with different
charge amounts for items appearing one month and disappearing the next month. My present here tonight is to seek the assistance of the board to insist the district to have more standardized transparent occupi oppational procedures within its athletic activity to follow
the majority of other school sponsored athletics to be more consistent with its programs. to put a stop to the mistrust to the to stop the mistrust of trust, power, and authority by those who find it within the their school
administration role to tell a parent, quote, "We've consulted our attorney," unquote. All correspondence received by you, quote, will be reviewed to determine if a response is even necessary. If no response is warranted,
you will not receive a reply," unquote. It is now up to that administration to question if a question we have is worthy enough to even warrant a response. The district is lumping four separate activities and teams into one athletic
school program. This is deceitful route that has created school sponsor activity to be a 10 and a half 11month season. That's three minutes. Thank you. Thank you Melissa. All right. Next up, we have
Natasha and Contree Hamilton. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, board and community members. Um, I would like to address a couple concerns I have as a parent of a
student of ISD 181. I've reflected on why I've struggled actually to come and speak again. Um, and I realized today it was because my son's been retaliated against so much that it made me as a parent silenced. I
can't let that stop me from telling you guys how I feel about certain things and what is going on. I've watched previous board meetings and I feel that our input may help um answer some questions or share some insight.
There's been a lot of discussion regarding children transferring out of the district. Why? Well, I can say bullying is a big reason. I can say lack of being heard and feeling heard from parents is a big reason and lack of
children feeling safe and heard at school is a big reason. the well the complacency and microaggressive behaviors from the very people that we're supposed to be trusting with the safety of our kids is
appalling to me as a parent when I advise sorry excuse me there have been questions about students with truency and attendance issues Maybe addressing the many, many issues with Breker's transportation situations would be really important to
have. We've experienced many things personally that have been disheartening. I've spoken with the manager of transportation whom laughed at me when I advised that she was violating my son's right to Furpa when giving
a disciplinary action without allowing us to view the video. I made a formal complaint. I did a formal letter. I did everything I as a parent should do. Where do we go next? Right? Because nothing has been done. It's past the
time frame. So th that is why we're now here. He's spoken up for himself as well to be met with a very disturbing reaction from someone he should have been able to trust and feel safe with. I feel like you should be aware as multiple parents have I know complained
about this certain individual being more aggressive and abrasive towards children that are from different cultural backgrounds. I have made complaints and yet he is still there. My son still has to see him and face him every
day. I'm actually going to let my son now speak for himself. Every day at school I have to see him at lunch while I'm lining up. And today we took the Sabers test. If you don't know what that is, it's evaluating your
school and how it like acts towards you. One of the questions was do you feel safe at school? I had to put sometimes cuz not only did once a kid had a cornered me in the bathroom saying how's it saying how does it feel to be
black and another time a girl on the bus saying you don't get a cupcake just cuz you're black and not only and that's not all. Sorry buddy. I'm sorry we got to stop. Got three minutes. Yeah, we got to stop. Thank you for being so brave and coming up and sharing with us. We'll
come back again. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have LOL Johnson, please. Hello everyone. I'm LOL Johnson. I live down near Fort Ripley. I'm a retired educator and over the last dozen years or so I found myself being a study
a student of brain science and working in community mental health and I'm here tonight to basically encourage the work that already has begun around um student mental health because mental health is essential to academic health and to and
to success later on in life. Um so um looking at over the agenda today I noticed and you already went through it all the different student athletes and musicians who've been recognized. Recognition is very important. Please
keep doing that. The source uh recognition of students of character also leadership uh good things happening with students being recognized by the board. I really appreciated the Baxter Elementary students of character because we're talking with kindergarteners and
little kids now and again everyone needs to be recognized for their for their efforts and successes and also the Minnesota Comprehensive Arts Planning Program. Um u arts are so important uh throughout the lifespan and also to the
health of a um of a school and a and a community. Um um also there's a just the fact that you later on the agenda I see you have a safety and um welcoming schools committee kids need to feel safe in order to learn. So the fact that that
exists kudos to you and a wellness task force to uh make sure that wellness efforts are being addressed throughout the uh district. Um and then uh two things not on the agenda but I'm aware that they were at the lighthouse project at the high school. Uh Julie
Christensen's a friend of mine and she just glows with the student leadership that's happening in the lighthouse project and also early childhood family education. Um getting to parents and young children. Uh the most important years of brain development are birth to
age four and they're doing it. So um kudos to that uh program that you're supporting. Um, I'm going to end my last night with a personal sto I know of a uh this happened two years ago. Uh, young
man uh was living in another district. Uh, highly dysfunctional high aces trauma environment. Um, his father lives in the Brainard school district and was able to get custody of of him. So, as a senior, he comes to Brainard High School and he's done basically nothing. He
checked out a school because of what was going on. And I don't know what the magic of Briner High School did. I want to say caseworker, but it's a a different term. They got him to graduate. He was able to catch up on all of the requirements to graduate from high school in Minnesota. So you he's
doing great now. You saved a life. You did what's really important to do. So um thank you. Thank you, Lola. Thanks for sharing. All right. We'll move on to the approval of minutes from our regular school board. Last one.
Motion. Second. We've got a motion by director Donninger and a second by director Adam. Any discussion? If not, all those that approve say I. I. Oppose. The same. And let's move on to the minutes
from the special school board meeting in April 21st. I'll make a motion we approve those minutes. Second. We've got a motion from Director Breen and a second from Director Heidman. Any discussion? If not, all those in favor?
I I oppose the same. All right. Moving on to the consent calendar. We have um a number of things in this consent calendar this month including the staff changes and leaves, donations
and grants, bill payments, uh the Brainer easement agreement which I believe has gone through committee and a couple of field trips question on the donation. Uh I can't pull it up. I don't see it
either. I was going to ask same thing. Staff changes, leads, donations. This has to do with um uh there's a $14,000 grant or donation or ISD construction.
I think it was made by just for kids. Just for I saw it last month. Yeah. What what what are what are we constructing? I think it wasn't ever put on the donations list because people didn't realize that that would need to be on there. So, this is from before when they
donated to the space and they added that extra gym at the high school. Oh, okay. Okay, cool. No, I mean it was a large amount and it just kind of Whoa. Yeah, passed it. Really nice. Yeah. Okay, my understanding. Another madam chair,
another bigger uh as um director Heman noticed uh notified the sports boosters donate $8,500 for some weight room equipment which you know those are big donations that I mean we all like all donations and we appreciate all of them
but significant ones like call them out. So thank you sports boosters. Thank you. There we go. We'll entertain a motion. Madam Chair, just could I ask about the um staff changes and lees on that is a
the list of ulas. Mhm. So um typically if there's positions can you Mr. GR, tell us, Superintendent Gr, could you tell us um if there's openings down the road, do ULAS's do people that
were put on a ULA, they have uh five years, five years access so that they can reapply if they so choose. They have to notify the district if they're interested and then they have that opportunity. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted
to make I just wanted to bring that up. Thank you. Couldn't they apply after 5 years? Yeah, but I mean legally we Oh, we have to um Got it. Okay. Good question. Thank you.
Looking for a motion? Second. Thank you. Yes, I am. You got a second. Thank you. All right. We've got a motion by Director Donninger, a second by Director Haidderman. Any further discussion on
the consent calendar? If not, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose the same. And I have to abstain. Thank you. Did you get that, Kelly? An abstension. Yep. All right. Moving on
to new business. We have the 9 through 12 ELA curriculum presentation presented by Alan Hwitt and Carla Shepard Johnson and Melissa Cornia, please. Welcome.
Thank you for having us. Nice to see you all again. We will be presenting tonight on the Bernard High School 9 through 12 um curriculum that we have done extensive research on. My name is Carla Shepard Johnson and I've taught the high school
for 13 years. And I'm Alan Hu and I've been here for 32 years. and I'm Melissa Cornia. I'm our K12 literacy and humanities coordinator and I've been here less than a year.
We're very happy you're here. Um I can speak to this. This is our curriculum process. That first part is linked. That is just in general um the guidance of every content area. This is what the curriculum and instruction review process should look like. this year the
912 ELA they really had a rigorous journey. Um we had to do two parts of the process in one year and so kind of a a condensed process. So I applaud this group and how they dug in um and really committed to the work. So that first
step is collective understandings around the new standards. So the new standards um Minnesota ELA English and language arts 2020 standards. And so first learning about those standards and then being able to make recommendations of
what does that mean for our 912 curriculum. So you'll see there the calendar um and our process that first part um October 4th through February 26th um really was about that collective understanding. How deeply do we
understand the shifts in the new Minnesota standards? Um and then what does that mean for moving forward of what we need, what our students need? Um and so we come to you today both to talk about that collective understanding and
our recommendation for a resource. Our vision at the high school and English department is to create um critical thinkers and not only to have reading and writing strategy but also speaking skills that ideally we are hoping that they will be resilient and
have grit in their future outside of high school. Um as well as obviously during their high school career. Every five years, the NDE takes a look at the standards of all disciplines and
makes suggestions um as it relates to our change in population, our our change in our needs, what kind of things are going on. If you look at the this slide right here, these are the major shifts in standards for
the 2025 year. emphasis on student choice and self- selection, emphasis on including multiple perspectives and emphasis on indigenous experience awareness or perspective in text. It doesn't mean that those things haven't
existed in the past, but it's intentional now. If we don't have it someplace, it needs to be placed in there. As Alan said, as far as assessments, one of the huge shifts is having more student choice on different types of
assessments. So, more open-ended questions, projectbased assessments, um, and a lot of discussions. And I know the science department very much has done a lot of discussion based this year at BHS. And when we were presenting to doc,
they asked a really good question about how can you engage like an apathetic learner during a discussion and we really talked about how everyone in our department will have to be really intentional and model that and how like effective discussions go to try and
engage everyone the entire time. Um, and we'll really also rely on a lot of our science colleagues and what worked for them this year. um and pros and cons for them so that we can improve. From for those of you from the business world, if
you think about collaboration 25 or 30 years ago and what you do, what you're doing in your offices and your your businesses now, how collaboration has changed so much, how you need those different perspectives, different points of view. That's what we're starting to model in the schools. That's the
emphasis we're trying to start. And I'll add on to that of that's a shift in the Minnesota standards too. Um, typically I'm sure you've all experienced the or have the high school memories of standing and presenting in front of your peers, you know, once or twice the the big presentation, the big public
speaking event. Um, and it's not that that no longer is part of it, but it is shifting to how do you effectively communicate through conversation, collaboration, and discussion. So instead of focusing solely on something like this where it's presentation
layering in no we need to equip students with the ability to discuss to collaborate and to really think through who are we communicating with and what does that mean for our conversation. Another focus in the instruction is shifting to essential questions and we've already started
working on this like with our new novel with Hateless. we've really um worked on that this year just to um of plan for next year because that's a big shift in the standards and again including those multiple perspectives as well. Is that
that book that that's that you guys talked to us about before? Yeah, we just rolled that out in the last month or so and uh it has been a great success. It really has been wonderful. There's been a buzz. You don't get the kids to buzz about anything, by the way. But, um, if
you ask them why, if they understand why we're reading the book, they get it. They They get it. And we had a great deal. It was It was a whirlwind. There was a lot of things and we're all excited about being able to teach it for the second time next year, but very successful from our point of view.
Anyways, so we're here to talk about new resources for next year. We've been using a collection series for a number of years and for a number of reasons we're been asked to move on and we have landed on something called common
lit and common lit is an online uh resource. Uh everything is accessible online with a number of add-ons that are going to be very very helpful not only in instruction but as it relates to the
new Minnesota standards. We spend a lot of time I've spent a lot of time my career creating the uh the assessments creating a lot of that is already been done for us in the common lit um do you want to talk more about this
at this point? Yeah. Yeah. So um common lit the idea is that for this next year we would pay the $6,000 for the extra access. The extra access includes access to assessments um that are beyond what
are built into the unit, the the free assessments that are built into each unit. Um that includes kind of a data dashboard that you can see with those assessments. Those assessments are more of a a cold read like you would see on an MCA type assessment or ACT. So it's a
here's a a text you've never read before and a multiple choice assessment. Um, so we'd like to spend the $6,000 so that we can get access to that and learn from that this year. Having talked to other districts in the state, they've said that really um that one time, that one
year access is enough to kind of see what is there, what is available, and what does that mean for us with the Minnesota standards and our assessments. This cost also includes professional development opportunities that um are kind of twofold. one getting acclimated
to the resource of common lit and all that it can provide um but also then for example that data piece of how do you actually learn from your data and do better by students with that and so um that is our ask is $6,000 um I believe
the quote is actually $6,500 for one year um for common lit but then we would continue to use common lit after that um for but it's a free resource.
One of the amazing features in my opinion about common lit um there are a lot of brand high school students that are English language learners. So English is their second language and by a click of a button there are when I scrolled through it there was at least 50 different languages that they could
choose from. So students can read it online um with their native language and I think that's so important and just seeing students you know smile seeing like their language represented like on the screen I think is really important. I think that will really help our
English language learners at BHS. Is that part of the free resource? Yes. Yeah it is. That we won't lose. Okay. Great. Um I think also when I think of the common lit the things that we've talked about of how does it bring in
text across different perspectives it provides a lot of text so it builds a unit um and we can show you both that. So this is what scope and sequence would look like 9th through 12th grade. And so it builds a unit and it builds a unit
thematically. So that thematic inquiry and you might have a core text but then you also have multiple texts beyond it. So for example with Romeo and Juliet it is um and I think you've uh well no I don't think this group has heard us talk about this for Romeo and Juliet what's
the broader life question that we should be digging into and what are other texts that can help us explore this. So it's not so much here's what you should think about Romeo and Juliet and here's what you should think about life. Instead, it's here's the bigger life question.
Let's engage in texts and discussion and reading and writing to grapple with that bigger life question. I'm going to go back to this right here when you talked about or maybe forward. No, right here. You can see that there are six units per grade that have already been created. We
wouldn't probably use all six because for instance, hate hate list on our sophomore curriculum would replace one of those. But there is enough variety in each one of these units that you wouldn't you don't even have to do the whole unit. There's just a lot of things that we have access to that's already
been created. That's already been created. I just want to say one more thing about the 6000. Dr. Grant, how many how much money have you spent over your career for textbooks? I could live on an island all by myself.
Absolutely. Absolutely. It's it's it's a rough transition for some of us and but the online resource I think is really I I I I really think there's so much potential there and certainly the cost is is minimal
compared to buying those textbooks. What kind of questions do you have for us? Well, you keep mentioning the Minnesota state standards. We got the Minnesota state standards. We need to follow the the Minnesota state standards. What standards are these? What is this part
of the Read Act? Is this MDE? Great question. So, um it is not part of the Read Act. Um the Read Act is more specific legislation that I'm familiar with it. I just wondered where where's this coming from? Great question. So,
um, if you the Minnesota State Standards and now that I'm thinking of it, they're written by Alan. Well, they they start with, um, Pearson, which everything starts with Pearson, and then MDE refineses the uh, the standards they
bring. They have I've been on these committees for a number of years. they have um ad hoc committees that you come in and you'll take a look at the passages or you'll look at the questions or you look at the data from the questions the feedback and so this
started back in the 90s where we started with Governor Palente and I'm not going to get the director you remember who his first uh MD director was the commissioner at that time Ellis Seum wasn't it nope um
started with her it started with her and every 5 years they revise these. So they're based on base practices on um on common on commonly common uh a number of state and national standards. So, when
you shop for this this curriculum, um I mean, I Googled it like I know what I'm doing. But anyways, is this just a list of that MD approves the and then we just look at
the this is the five kind of like the read act was or are you just looking at what's going to be the best thing for Brainer schools and this is where you guys landed and it it happens to fall into the deal. Which is it? Good question. So, um, MDE, if you're you're spot on with your thinking that they
have approved K5 curriculum, they are not touching 612 curriculum. This is what you guys think. And so, exactly. And the idea of Minnesota being unique in their standards. So, Common Core, I don't know if you remember that there
was that era of the national standards. There's different states that have adopted them. And so majority of curriculum is going to be tailored to the common core. Um to find a resource that is specific to
Minnesota, we don't have it. Um so that idea of a Minnesota standards aligned curriculum isn't going to be created for us. But what Common Lit does is Common Lit does say, "Okay, what state are you?
here's how what we've created aligns to your stage. So when I think of um you were just talking there was a question we won't get into the weeds of it but if you do click on that document you can see kind of getting into the weeds of what does Minnesota 2020 look like
compared to 2010 compared to common core and what does that mean when we look at assessments. So, there's a question I know you were looking at on our day um a couple weeks ago where the assessment that Common Core is providing, it asked
a question, but the question was only looking at one text. And I know I remember you saying like, but our benchmark for 10th grade says you have to compare across multiple texts. So that means common lit is giving us a
really great product but how are we going to make sure then that okay it's saying it align aligns with this benchmark and then we are going to vet and make sure that okay this is what it actually means to align with it. So it does say here's where we align and then
that but here's where you need to look to make sure that things are tightly aligned. If I could just address the process, how we got to common lit. We just didn't jump to common lit. We first had to get past we're not going to be using real books anymore, the textbook.
We had to get we had to have that conversation and then we had to have the conversation of what all is out there in terms of OEER resources and um and and kind of look at them from a 10,000 point of view and then just start doing our
research and started dialing in. Okay, this resource does this for us and it'll do this and it'll do this. I don't think any resources are going to be perfect, but I think that within the last two months, Melissa's worked us for the year and um Miss Long M longren has worked. I
think that we've had more excitement about common lit and curriculum in the last two months than we have in the last two years. I mean, we're finally in the in the weeds on this thing. It's a lot of work, you know, and it takes a lot of time, but um I don't know if that helps.
Well, yeah, that's that's great. So, you guys went from books to computers basically. It's all going to be online. Yes. Are the resources online? The books online too or do you because you have hard copies of some books? We do. Some
Okay. Yeah. So, it's a combination. I'm sure obviously you guys feel very comfortable with this. Yes. Okay. And I guess I'm to the to the point and I think I'll follow what Madame Cher has said
numerous times. I'm going to trust the teachers, but I'm also going to look at accountability. I mean, we can have the greatest curriculum in the world, and we can have, you know, the greatest teachers in the world,
but we we also need to see results. And I'm not that's not I'm not throwing any any uh spheres at anybody, but hopefully hopefully we we we see the results of all the work. It sounds like you guys have put in a lot a lot of work. And I can't remember if I was at the DACK
meeting or if I was I was out of town or whatnot when you guys presented, but uh um it sounds like this is uh some pretty good stuff. What I can go ahead but again the the accountability and the achievement and
uh you know what our students are learning is is very important and uh with all the time and effort you you put in I I trust that you uh have chosen a good curriculum and and a process for for doing this. Well,
thank you. That will be part of our work next year is is being able to really look at okay kind of like you heard the example with Allan of here's the assessment. Is it actually aligned to Minnesota standards? But then the next step is how are
students doing on that? Right? and being able to look at student data and say our students are aren't performing and then looking back at ourselves and I I'm proud of this team for being so aware of their impact. Do you guys use
FastBridge? Yes. Okay. So, you're going to see results. Yes. Cool. And I just had my students actually take the FastBridge reading assessment today and I was analyzing their winter and spring scores and many of them improved which was great. Yeah. And director Heidman, I
you talk about accountability and I'm with you 100% on that. Um, but I've been through a number of these processes over every five years. Never have I, and and Dr. Grant, maybe you might be able to address this, never have I seen the state so determined, the local school
district determined, the administration determined to make sure that these standards get dis integrated in the curriculum. I've never seen the alignment like that. Great. Good sign. Great. Great. What do you guys think about these
computers? Um, I know personally I read a lot faster out of something that's not out on a computer. Um, and I seem to retain it a lot better as well. Uh, Italy's done with computers after this school year. Netherlands is done with computers. Sweden's done with computers. Um, because they don't think the kids
are learning properly. Uh, have you noticed any of that or is this going to be your first time around where you're actually going to everything online before? You've had paper books with collections. We also had an ebook and a paperback. So, you've been doing both. Do you notice a difference? Right. Well,
I'm just asking your opinion. I don't think there's not a right or wrong answer. I'm just curious what you get. It honestly depends on the student and their learning style to be honest. It's not an answer, but that's that's the answer. It does depend just like all seven of you would be different just
like ourselves when I just want to yes or no. Yeah. Right. Right. I will say that the team has been very mindful of that what role is technology playing in our classrooms and it's it's a point of learning that we're going to dig into next year. Um from AI to reading on
computer to book copy. Um, and that's that's the complexity of reading, writing, speaking, and listening is that we we live in a world that's online and yet we know the limitations of it. And so this idea of, you know, when how do
we, for example, um, and and this is, I think, the learning that we're digging into, when we have nth graders come in and we really want to hone in on what reading looks like at BHS, the best place that for that to start is often on paper, right? And so the paper version
is not out the window. Um, and I think it's very much skilling our students up to be successful in both worlds because it's no matter both. It's no longer both worlds anymore. It's and I believe that we're in this period of transition and it's it's very bumpy, you know, and as
transitions are. I can remember when my when the little handheld calculators came out and my brother and I saved up and bought one for my dad and and he said, "Well, what am I going to do this?" And he said, "Well, you can figure out your checkbook. You can do
that." And he grabbed this. He says, "I have a pen for that." We don't know what we don't know yet here moving forward about the combo platter. certainly seems like the technology is here to stay and it certainly is much cheaper than than
killing the trees, I guess. But, um, yeah, we I I just was I think it's a learning curve here. Any other questions from the group? This is great information. Thank you for putting in all this hard work. Thank you. Thank you.
I'd make a motion. I will make a motion that we approve the EL ELA 912 curriculum. I'll second it. I was in college. All right, we've got a motion by Director Breen and a second by
Director Edman. Any discussion? Does that include the $6,000? Yep. Okay. Want to just be sure. All right. All those in favor of the motion say I I
oppose the same. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have the insurance presentation presented by Marcy Lord and Laura Blazer from National Insurance Service. Thank you for joining us.
Good evening everybody. Um, you did a great introduction, Sarah. Laura Blazer from National Insur Insurance Services. I'm gonna pull up the PowerPoint. Um, this is just a real uh shortened or condensed version actually
of what was presented to the benefits committee. We don't want to bore you guys. So, I'm going to let her go through this presentation and then I will kind of summarize what the recommendation of the committee was and
if you have questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you so much. Um, as Marcy mentioned, my name is Allora Blazer. I am part of the NIS team that supports the district. I'm just going to go ahead to our our different pictures here. Um, on the left we have Aaron Casper. He is our employee benefits consultant really
leading the strategy for the district. Um, and then I am the account executive. I really support um the district and employees and Marcy and the administrative team with recommendations around the benefits packages and then we have um many other faces on our team that also support in our recommendations
and employees and questions throughout the year. Um and then I just want to mention Perry Gilfoil is our director of health plan analytics. He's really the uh math brains behind our analytics. He looks at how our plan is performing and helping us make those financial recommendations which we're bringing
forward to you today. Where are you out of? Uh we are out of the Twin Cities Metro. Our our office is in Eden Prairie. Great. Thank you. Yes. Um so to give you a little bit of an overview on our medical claims and how our plan has been performing, we do track loss
ratios. So what we're really looking at is what are our claims costs, medical claims costs coming into the plan and then how does that compare to the premium that we're bringing into the plan. So we talk we we target 85% meaning we have 85% of claims paid to
premium coming in and if we sit in that range when we look at our loss ratios we expect a trend increase medical trend is anywhere from 8 to 10% kind of depending upon the geography in the state of Minnesota a little bit higher in southern Minnesota um a little bit lower
in the Twin Cities metro and again 8 to 10% kind of across the state um over the last 12 months when we look at that loss ratio ratio of claims to premium, our plan is performing at about 107%. So, a little bit higher than where we target. Um, we also look at a second loss ratio.
So, we the the first loss ratio at the 107 is just looking at our medical claims to that premium. The second loss ratio is when we add in our administrative costs. So, the cost of administering our self-insured medical plan, the cost of our reinsurance, which
is stop-loss protection that the district purchases. There's two different types of that stop-loss that we purchase. One is um called specific stop-loss, which caps our liability at $300,000 for any one claimment on our plan. Um that makes up the majority of
those administrative costs because that protection is ensuring we don't have a really high claimment that that costs us a significant amount. And then we also purchase aggregate reinsurance, which is essentially protection for all of our entire bucket of claims across our
entire population, it caps our liability there. So when we add in those administrative costs and our claims and we look at that loss ratio, we're running at about 112%. So that's premium coming into the plan against our medical
claims and our um administrative costs. Any questions on that before I I want to just keep going before I stop for questions on how frequently do you have to go to your reinsurance? We do that at renewal. So once once a
year our re our insurance our reinsurance rates are evaluated. Okay. When you say 112% what do you mean by that? So we when we look at we took in 100 and I spent 112. Correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. Yes. Director
Dinger. Thank you. And the reassurance. I understand this this I know what's going on in this presentation. I know about the curriculum, but I know about this. So, when we look at our renewal position for our September 1st renewal, um our
team uh I mentioned Perry, uh we look at 24 months of claims data. And the reason that we do that is because that normalizes our claims a little bit. And also when we are um out to market and evaluating those insurance and reinsurance costs, that's what the underwriters look at. So when we track
that 24 months of claims experience and then we blend those two periods of time together, right? So our most recent 12 months and the prior and then we trend those forward. Um we use 7.8% trend for our la last 12 months, 7.6% trend for
the prior 12 months. And then what we do is we use that to trend those claims forward. So we say these are our claims today. When we trend those forward, where do we expect those claims to be in the future as we're setting our rates moving forward? Um so when we look at
how we're performing, when we look at the results of our medical bid this year and the competitive results that we received, um our recommendation at NIS is a 3% increase on our medical insurance premiums. Um, and part of the reason, you know, with those loss
ratios, we had the ability through the bid process to receive competitive quotes to help with containing those administrative costs and then also just evaluating how the plan's been performing and the claims um were actually a little bit lower in our most recent 12 months when we take that into account and also our fund balance.
That's where we develop that recommendation. So, is this um almost $600,000 uh increase? Is that something that the uh school district picks up? It depends on the contract. So if the contribution
is dependent on each group's contract and some of them are you mean contribution the employee employee you're talking about the premium? Yep. Yes. Yep. And Okay. So we have different plans. Yep.
That have different costs born by the district and borne by the employee. And we also have plans where it's 100% paid by the district. Correct. Got it. When you go um uh a catastrophic claim
within a group, yes, will significantly impact um your rate the rate or the loss or whatever. How do you how do you um account for that? Um you know what I'm you understand what I'm saying? Absolutely. Yes. So when our medical underwriters evaluate our risk, we
provide them with our claims recording and they are analyzing for a group of our size, how many, you know, there are there are catastrophic claims. How many claims would we expect? What are the diagnoses and conditions that we have within our population and what is the likelihood that we will hit that
$300,000 threshold? and they use that to develop a premium um essentially ensuring that the risk is appropriately insured from their side of the table and our side of the table as well. So they're evaluating that based on our claims data analytics. So basically what we really
need to be doing is raising our rates 8%. And what we're doing is we're going 3% because we're going to go into our our surplus and we're going to whack that a little bit the next year. But maybe we get lucky and our claims go down and we don't have to touch it. The other is that kind of what you're thinking because of your It is the other
component that I would mention is that we we did complete a bid process this year and our recommendation is making a transition and am I stealing your thunder Marcy? a transition to um Health Partners in Crumbdale as administrators of our plan. And the reason for that is
their offer provides us a more competitive rates from a reinsurance perspective and also the flexibility to receive more of our pharmacy rebate dollars back. And so when we take those into account, the fact that we'll be able to offset more costs using those
dollars, that's why we're kind of bringing that down if that makes sense. Perfect. Um, so that is a big component as well, not just leaning into reserve. It's it's that uh competitive bid process that we completed and that that recommendation change is being included in that. That's a better deal. Have you
taken into account the I don't remember the name of it, Mar telemed program that we just It's not a very big deal, John. You'll see it further in here. Yes. Yes. All right. Um, yes. And I was going to say we've got some of the additional data that was included in the board packet, but I'd be happy to speak. Uh, I
can jump to that. It'll be in here. Yep. Um I can run to the healthiest you. Um so this is our teleaalth provider. Um this is really a full robust offering and this will remain in place. So this would not change. This is still really a first point of contact. Um we saw over
$316,000 in claims redirection. And what this really means is instead of someone going to urgent care under our medical plan benefits, they're able to receive the care that they need and get prescriptions in um I'll jump to that
um in in within seven minutes and they're able to get a prescription um about 70% of the time. And so instead of going into urgent care and spending, you know, $400, for example, on a medical claim under our medical plan, um the district has a capitated cost. People
have unlimited access to this care and it's also 24/7. So, um, incredible savings and opportunity there. Those are other things we take into account when we're completing our analytics and recommendation. I got to think that that's saving us more money than just that just because of the whole gez
um on my break at lunch, I'm going to call in and see if this is something I need to worry about. And then they're like, oh, you're fine. You can stay and keep going. Where before you'd probably be like, I got to get out of here. Find a sub to fill in for me. Absolutely. I got to think it's saving us more than secondary
costs. I would think so. Absolutely. And the convenience factor is incredibly high. But when you think we have $18 million in claims, that did save us 316,000. But I mean, holy cow. And I'll just uh the other piece I'll point out, I'm jumping around a little bit, but if you see, so this data is capturing
people people complete a short survey after they use Healthiest You and they say, "Where would you have gone if you hadn't had the option of Healthiest You?" um you can see 67% of people would have gone to urgent care. So that's a significant time investment and cost to the plan. Um and then some people would
have gone to the emergency room or a specialist primary care provider. So from a cost perspective, this is definitely um delivering that convenience factor as well as helping redirect people's um perception um of just hey you know don't go to the
emergency room if you have pink eye. There's a much more convenient option available to you. And I think this school because in our previous provider they would give us the savings but they never asked a question. So I always was wondering how they calculated the savings like I don't know if you were
familiar with that. Oh because if they asked when they asked the question then you know if they're going to go to urgent care emergency room. So this one you actually you actually know kind of what that would cost whereas grand rounds slick they always told us what we were saving but there was no like followup question. How do you get there? And that's really where that savings is
generated from is changing utilization patterns from an urgent care in most instances. Is this the use of this increasing as time goes on? We've seen so actually we had that question recently. Um if we use
it a lot there are components built into our contract that we can see increases but um on average we've seen an increase of less than 50 cents per employee year-over-year. So even if we use it a lot and we do get an increase, it's been very nominal from that perspective and
the savings have more than weighed that. Or were you asking users like I was al Yeah, that's what I was asking users. Are there more people using it as they become more aware or familiar with? Yes, we do have um our utilization data here.
We actually are able to track that. So we can look at since we started we have 482 registrations from employees 378 registrations from dependent. We love to see that dependent category grow because this is available to the household not
just employees and those are people who are on our plan as well. Um but that's that's incredibly strong utilization and we continue to track that. um and also have conversations with the insurance committee and the administrative team about how we can continue to engage
re-engage um and remind people of this resource and as we see you know you have done an incredible job of using this and word of mouth also becomes a great way to to continue to encourage utilization. So this is something we track um usually every every insurance committee meeting
we're looking at updated numbers and evaluating. Um, we also look at kind of the the month-to-month and how we're doing and performing and if we see a dip, then we can make an adjustment in messaging or or getting in front of staff to talk about it. So, a little over a third of our uh members are
registered for the tellahalth. They haven't used it, but they registered for it, which is pretty impressive. And what we find is if people are registered, they're more likely to use it when they need that. It takes about five minutes to register, but you know, if you're sick and you're not feeling well, kind of the oh, I don't know what do I
becomes a roadblock. So, we want to see those registrations be really strong so that when people need the care, they use it and they can register prior to needing the care. So, do you guys come and do like a little sign everybody up, meet with everybody, scan the QR code,
download the app, and complete your registration? You guys do that. Um, so McKenzie Sailor, even though she didn't want to be named, our benefit specialist in the audience right here, um, she does a great job of deploying information through NIS. Like, hey, what can I say? Well, let's get some work out of NIS. I
want that pilot guy to be up here. Get him working a little bit, Erin. Yes. Yes, I will let him know that you said that. I don't have anybody working for me that does it. You want to sell us the insurance? Get over here. Yeah, you know, this is a big project, I suppose,
but that's what we do. It's like you come in and maybe two, three of people show up and they just knock it out in a day. But you're not going to knock this place out a day. It's a big couple. It's okay. We're up to the challenge. I figured. So, based on all that information, um
the recommendation is a 3% increase and then switching the providers, which is going to be a um big transition. So, pain. Yeah. Um, McKenzie's got her work cut out for her. Are there any other questions or
did you Is there anything you want? Um, just looking at your information here, Marcy. Uh, we got 818 employees with coverage, right? And retirees. How many retirees are using
our insurance? Yeah. That off the top of your head? Okay. And when does that end? When they turn 65 or if it's admin 70. So Medicare age. Okay.
And what we're going to approve tonight has nothing to do with who's paying the premium except there's a there's going to be an increase to the school district. Well, maybe an increase to both. Yeah. Goes both ways. It's just the the premium is
going to go up, Ren. the percentages of who pays what is going to stay the same, but then the total dollars is going to go up. So, let's just say that you were paying $100 a month. It's going up 3% now and you're going to pay 103. The school district is going to pay their their percentage. So, everybody's
getting the increase is going together. That's where I was negotiation. That's going with We don't have anything to do with that. We're just going on the insurance. Does uh OPED um fall into place here at all with retirees? Yes. So, we pull those
costs from our OPED funds. So, yes. Okay. Here's what blows my mind. You straighten me out if I got this screwed up. All right. Do it. All right. Good one. Marcy Lane.
Marcy. So, here's the deal, though. So, 2429 members uh had 9.9 million in claims and 55 members had 8.5 million. That's something. So, those
folks, it's a big deal. It's amazing what a couple big things can really do to spin this baby out of control. When you think about that, 2 2400 people and uh 53 is just about half our claims at 45%. But that's really typical in I'm
sure it is. It is, you know, it's kind of that 8020 rule of%. I know, but it's like people that aren't used to seeing this kind of stuff see it, it's like whoa. Like you don't realize. It is true. But it is very very common and very consistent. That's part of what we evaluate and track as we evaluate our
claims. And it's not uncommon for us to see, you know, 20% or less of the population driving the majority of our total cost. But that is why we have our reinsurance policies so that we're we're tempering um that the risk that we're taking on for those more significant
claims. Very similar to homeowners insurance. Yep. Except that's worse because it a hurricane hits Florida and we get an increase. That's how it works. What makes it catastrophic? Is there is it a dollar amount? It is. Yes. So that that
specific stop-loss protection is $300,000. So essentially Okay. The minute a claimant goes to $31,000. Now we no longer as as the district, you're no longer paying any claims above and beyond that. Okay. And
we've slowly increased that since I've been here. It was a lower. That's when it goes to the reinsurance. We've slowly increased that amount. So it was I think 200 when I first started. for that year or until the catastrophic uh
is done with in that year. So, it starts all over again next year. It does. It's it's kind of it's essentially a deductible like your homeowners insurance policy has really it really is the same concept. That's why there's actuary sciences uh
jobs. Yes. Yes. Great. Any other questions? Otherwise, we'll look for a motion to approve the revised insurance premiums. Motion. Thank you. Second.
We've got a motion by Director Doninger, a second by Director Ward. Any further discussion? Not all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. The same.
Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. fun. Here's what's crazy to me. Drake. All right, moving on to the approval of unrequested leave of absence resolution presented by Superintendent Grant.
So, this is the difficult time of the year when across the state this happens and um we're not immune. So be it resolved by the school board of independent school district 181 Brainer as follows that it is proposed
that G Ascagard Allison Bullard Maline Hastings Ned Heddlin Clare Horn Bobby Crutchen Bethany Mouse and Britney Nyberg teachers of said school district be placed on unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits
effective at the end of the 2425 school year on June 30th of 2025. 5 pursuant to the Minnesota statute section 122A.40 subdivision 10 along with applicable portions of article 7 section
two subdivision 1 through six of the current master agreement between school district and the exclusive representative based upon the following grounds financial limitations and discontinuence of position. That said, proposed placement on
unrequested leave of absence is not the result of the implementation of the educational district agreement. That written notice be sent to said teacher regarding the proposed placement and unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits
as provided by law. And and said notice shall be a substantially the following form. And there's a letter says notice of proposed placement on unrequested leave of absence and notice of hearing if requested dated May 13,
2025. You want me to read the rest? I'll make the motion. I don't think we have to, right? Okay. No. All right. We've got a motion. Is there a second? Second. We've got a motion by Director Don Dandelinger, a second by Director Heidman. Any further
discussion? I got a couple questions. Are are any of the folks that listed um tenured? No. So, it's all all probationary. Um unless we I I should be clarify that um if they're the lowest
one on the or the highest one, I should say, depending on how you want to count numbers. If they're lowest on tenure and that position was eliminated and non-tenured probationary teachers already lost their job, then the next person in line is the lowest person on the totem pole. Yeah.
Um if there's any um future retirements that we don't know about currently, will that could that impact also? It could it could also um open up where there's more shifting within the district because somebody let's say there's I'm an art teacher, I
retired and um let's say I'm in elementary art and I thought, you know, I might want to go to the high school. I could ask, can I be an applicant for that? Is that going to be an option for me? But otherwise, yes, you can recall those people. Yeah. So,
okay. Once once we approve this them, then they need to reapply for any positions, correct? Come up by the end of if anything came up at the end of the year, they if they haven't sought their own employment someplace else, right? Yeah.
Okay. These are positions that have been eliminated. Correct. Correct. Just wanted to make clear in my mind. So they're also eligible for unemployment then. Correct. If they so choose. Yep. I just want
to make note of that. Right. We've got a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Sir, I just This is a proposal for the ULA. So in June, you'll see it again. Okay. As the official Gotcha.
I guess I would like to thank these teachers for their time and expertise and involvement with Brainer Public Schools nor sorry to see you go. Thanks, Michelle. All right, we do need
to do a roll call vote because this is a resolution. DJ Dunlinger, uh, yes. Stephanie Edman, yes. Randy Heiden, yes. Spear. Yes. John Ward. Yes.
Michelle Breen. Yes. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have approval of the first reading of MSBA policy 512 school sponsored student publications and productions presented by Christina Long. Hello. Welcome. Uh so
I'm here to uh ask for the approval of the first reading that we adopt the MSBA model policy language for policy 512 and from our current uh Briner public schools policy 512 include
article 4 which is the review of publications and productions and article six which is the appeal procedure. They were both procedural and nature in nature. uh we move those to an appendices of the adopted model policy and I did include in the
schoolboard me uh memo uh comparison of the two policies the content the nature of the content is really similar uh it's really the organization of some of the components and uh updating the language
where in some spaces it was more concise in the model policy and in other spaces is they were more I think robust and descriptive in in part portions of that policy. So I'll make a motion
to accept it. All right, I'll second. Got a motion and a second. Motion by Director Doninger, second by Director Adam. Any further discussion, Madam Chair? Y this is the first reading, correct? Yes, it is. Okay, thank you.
Good clarification. Any other questions? Christina, this um was a huge undertaking just looking at your spreadsheets and the back and forth and thank you for doing the work. Thank you make this happen. All right, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. All
those opposed, the same. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have discussion and action regarding serving food and beverages in the Gazi Center for the Arts presented by Amarine.
I don't know why. Thank you. Good evening. Hi there. Um, I included a memo with the packet that would have been sent out to try to give some background on this, but we did receive a request
um to be allowed to sell uh serve beverages within the auditorium space at the Gazeba Center for the Arts. Currently, our district policy does not allow for that. Um, we rec discussed this request at the policy committee
board meeting in April and decided to bring it forward to the larger group for consideration. Um, there's several areas within policy 902 that disallows that. And I've gone through and done a red
line of both policy 902 and policy 902 appendix B. That would be the changes that would be accepted if it was decided tonight that we will start to allow the service of food and beverage. I shouldn't say a service
allow it to be taken into the auditorium. Currently, we only allow it in the lobby space. Um the request is actually for an event where alcohol would be served. So that's what the specific request is for, but the policy change would be to allow for beverages
to be served and taken into the auditorium. Um, so I guess it would be up for kind of discussion as to what you think of that space. When I think it was first built,
um, concern was it obviously adds to the mess in the space and the cleaning and all that needed. Um, I've looked at other community theaters that operate similar to ours, not necessarily as part of a school district, but for the
community, and typically food and beverages are served and allowed to take be taken into the auditoriums. School districts, it varies. I've checked with a few of them, and several do sell concessions. It's not a huge money maker, but they'll sell
concessions at some theater events and allow those things to be taken in. Um, if you decide tonight that you would allow for that, I would want to put together some staff to go through a procedural document just so we think
through um what we would specifically allow and not allow as far as or any requirements that we have. For example, litted cups, colors of beverages, that kind of thing. We did look at what some potential extra
expenses would be um to the district and one of them was um like an annual steam cleaning of the seats in the dis in the entire auditorium to keep them clean. So we did get estimates from a couple of
different companies on how much that would cost and we've talked about how we could potentially pass those costs on to the facility users. Um, so, so are they pushing for it? The people that want to rent it? Yes. So, you think you could rent it more often
if you have this? Possibly. Um, are we getting to the point where we're making money on it yet? Depends on on what you mean by making talked about it before. If we're just renting it out more and losing more money, then why rent it out? Let's keep it nice and new. You know, I mean, I I mean, it's stupid.
It sounds silly because why would we have this beautiful thing and not let people use it? But the other side of the coin, if every time we rent it out, we lose money. It's just wearing it out, wearing the seats out, wearing the floor out, wearing everything out. So, it's like if we can't make dough, then I think we should just keep it for ourselves for graduations and lakes area
music probably. You know, our direct costs with the space right now are staff costs. You know, we're not paying rent or anything, right? I get it. We aren't. Right. We are. We aren't. But, you know, there are going to be expenses coming up in the future for replacement of, you
know, equipment that's in there and then potential other repairs and maintenance, long-term maintenance. Um, do we make enough money to cover all that? Not at this point. Um, we do want to be exploring some strategic planning around that space and how we can try to make it
more self- sustaining for the long-term future and food and drink might play a pretty big role in that. So, we remember what a big deal it was. Uh, Stephanie, you weren't on the board. Yeah. But when we had to vote to allow it, remember Boils was just like just torn and and
that was just in the lobby. In the lobby. It's already in the lobby. It is in the lobby. So, so Christina, you believe that if we were to approve being able to bring food and beverage into the theater that that
would increase revenue. I don't know that it would increase revenue for us directly, but it may allow for more events that would want to come in, you know, to the space. It would just give it a different environment. Um, right now we do allow
um nonprofits can come in and have alcohol um at events if they follow our steps in the lobby. Have to quit serving when the thing starts and then they can have it at halftime. Yep. Yep. And it so you know it does limit the amount which
is is good. I mean we don't want people over consuming but it also tends to rush people and and they don't they're unable to bring it in after purchasing it. So can we do one without the other? one. Well, I think that if I'm if if I'm
carrying in the nachos with my six-year-old and my seven-year-old, I wouldn't be surprised if you get some cheese and salsa and some stuff on your chairs where if it's carrying a beer in and you dump a little beer on the floor, what's the big deal? Right. And that's where I think we supposed to put the food, there's nowhere to set it, right?
You're sitting in like a theater chair where you put your popcorn would be one thing. The important thing to remember, the owner can determine what food is going to be served. Yes. Then you're the owner. Yeah. She's the owner, right? The other thing is that Ann Marie and I talked about was maybe try it for the
summer and see how it goes and before we launch, you know, 12 months and so forth because this is plowing new ground. But um and I understand what you're saying. If you don't use it, what's the point of it being there? Yeah. And the community
paid for it and they were paying for it actually. So I think and and I'll be honest with you, I'm hesitant as all crazy. I am too. But I'm also I'm also very supportive of the idea that if we have this beautiful vehicle that can attract people into town and the next
thing you know if if we can manage it appropriately and we can create fundraising for the Gitchy, it helps with offsetting our cost out of our general fund. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's it's a have
and have not, but I think try it for the summer. See how it goes. But we're we're going to we're going to pay attention telling the vendors, hey, you know, this isn't going to be a free-for-all. These are expectations, as she was alluding to. We're going to have these criteria that you have to follow.
If you don't, there's going to be a penalty. Are we going to allow this where children are involved? No. inside the Well, I mean food and drink potentially, not not alcoholic beverages. No, just
wanted to um Well, but here you're talking about a school function. No, I'm talking about children. You take your kid to the Twins game and the guy sitting next to you might be drinking beer. Yeah. And you know, a child could go to a That's private. Yeah. And they're paying big
dollars for for the privilege of drinking that beer. definitely paying big dollars. I mean, are we going to have our rental agreements? Are they going to be a lot higher for people that want to bring in alcohol into the auditorium? Not bringing in, huh? That's what you're
thinking. Well, you're going to charge you're going to charge more for cleaning, right? Right. Right. There would definitely have to be. So, that's one of the things we've kind of been looking at, too. Um, even just with the large groups that come in for different activities, not
just in the auditorium, but other spaces in the gymnasiums and um potentially adding a fee. We have our facility fees that cover, you know, just basics, but adding like a a fee that's per number of
people in attendance to help cover some of the um you know, not just c not the custodial time because we do charge extra for that, but offsetting expenses that are incurred by our buildings and grounds team for paper products, for
soap, for all that kind of stuff. you get a crowd of 2,000 people into the gym on the weekend, it uses a lot of that up. And so then we talked about could we also help offset the cost of some annual maintenance that needs to be done in the auditorium by steam cleaning the seats
by having this kind of just a a fee that when you have, you know, it's one thing if you bring in 12 kids to practice basketball in a gym. Another thing if you bring in a thousand people to watch craft fair or something an event and it's big and there's a lot of people coming through and using the facilities.
So we talked about creating kind of a separate fee depending on number of people and I think that would come into play in the getes eBay most often. So I think we m sure I think we made big concessions when we decided to go have
add uh alcohol to the upper lobby and the lower lobby. Mhm. Um, and it's worked out okay, I think, from what I've from what I've seen and and heard and things and such. I'm not in favor of of u carrying that alcohol or food into the into the auditorium. We've got a beautiful facility. I think that is
pretty I mean it's relatively new obviously and I think that the number of activities is going to increase period no matter you know if we allow food or not or whatever. I I'm I'm not in favor of it. I'm voting I'm voting no. I'm not convinced allowing food and beverage in
the theater is going to attract more more people coming in. I'm not convinced of that. We don't know. Renters must we don't know. I think we should just try it for the summer and see how it goes. Why are we having that beautiful space just sit empty? It's not sitting empty.
There's people in there. I know. But but we should be making some money to keep it going. Do you know what I mean? More in there. Increase the rental fees. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. No. And I because I'm still I'm still not convinced I want to have food and
beverages in that theater. I think it's a beautiful space. I think the lobby is beautiful. I think the upstairs is a beautiful space to have um food and beverage. Um but bringing it into that theater, I'm just not convinced that
that is going to bring in additional revenue, significant additional revenue. It is more likely to cost us more, right? Could be. Yeah. So, that's why I'm hesitant because it's Yeah. But I go back to Peter's point. You know, the
reason we have that facility is because the community said yes to question three and they said, "We want a community space like this that the community can do things that the schools district can't necessarily do." And so
it puts us in this really unique situation that we promise this to the community and um how do we be a good partner and deliver on that and still be a school district. And so I I'd love to
give them the opportunity to try this and see how it goes for that reason because I think we do need to be a good partner for the community and community events. How long is the Lakes Area Music Festival in there with like six weeks? um about that. Yeah. With practice. So
that's pretty much half the summer. Are they the ones pushing for this? Yes. Right now. Yes. That's where the request originated from. Got like So the commu I mean after we made the we approved bringing alcohol into the lobby. I had
many community members reaching out being very disappointed that we made that decision. Really? Yeah. Yeah. So I, you know, are we being bad stewards by still saying we don't want to bring food
and beverage into the into the theater part? I don't I don't think that's giving the community a message that we are not sharing. I think it's just saying we are protecting this beautiful space. From my perspective, it's it's just like you said, we're we are working
with the community. We're protecting that place. for protecting the beauty of it and and the and the longevity of it. Um, you know, you start steam cleaning stuff and you start you're wearing stuff out. You're wearing stuff out. So, and I think that's that's the reason why it's
here. That's why it exists is to is to get used and for the community to use it, I think, is it's nice to invite them in. So, is that what you'd like? Is that what community would like? Is that you'd like us to let you have a shot at this? Um,
well, I mean, is that why you're here or are you just letting us know information? I mean, yeah, I'm bringing the request forward. So, the request is from you or from the from our users. Yeah, which is one user so far, but I know there are other users who would definitely take advantage of it if we
made that change. So, are they are they willing to pay a higher cost? Well, they'll have to. They'd have to. Mhm. And when you say higher cost, are you thinking we would increase facility fees or add that extra charge on for having food and beverage in the space? I
think there's probably going to be extra custodial fees regardless because we charge. There's a number of ways you could go. You could increase the rent. You could have a a huge huge damage deposit, uh, etc. And, uh, give it a shot. I I don't have a problem with it. The only
thing that bothers me is when's the next group going to come and they're going to want alcohol and watching basketball games. Exactly. Well, someone's going to say, "Oh, you can't do that because that's school property." Well, who the hell owns Gay? We do. The public the
school district does or at the football games. Have a little football game. NCAA did it. It's coming your way. Get ready. Well, it used to be I go to the final four every year. There's no final four. There is no, you know, let's give it a
shot, but don't be surprised if somebody doesn't come and say this game now and get a beer. Couldn't do that. Randy, just to clarify that the state high school league does not approve that. No. So, that would be a no for basketball, football, and so forth or speech. They don't approve of it. No. Or you can't be
drinking at that. There's a difference. No, they don't allow it. They don't allow it. Okay. No. No. That's why if you go to the right, you know, Viking stadium, you can figure out how much more selling anything. We'll work on that. And I think the, you know, the
conversation around building the football field or the basketball arena is probably very different than the community saying, "We want this public performing space, and this is why." I thought it was weird to bring it up.
It just seems like, you know, alcohol is always used to raise revenue. Must must do pretty well. So, I mean, it's going to have to at least be Well, we can talk about, you know, it's kind of an oxymoron. You know, we got we're trying to teach kids
something, but yet, you know, hey, you know, they're around it anyway. They're around it anyway. So that we can get going, I'm going to move that we decline the request. And I'm going to second it. Any
further discussion? All right. All those in favor of declining the proposal say I. I oppose the same. I I I'll make a motion that we try it for
the summer. Okay. Well, I'm going to make a motion. Let's do a roll call vote because I don't know. Did you How did you vote, Sarah? I didn't hear. I decline. Okay. Okay. So, it's 4 to2 then. Okay. Thank you. 3 to2. I just didn't. No, it's 4 to 42. 4 to2. 4 to2. Oh, you declined. I thought you declined
to vote. I thought John's passing. John passed. Like, I'm not sure you can do that. Not the legislature anymore. Pass. So, where are we at here? DJ make the motion by Director
Donninger. Second. Well, yeah. You doesn't There's already a motion. We already voted. You already took a 42. No. Yeah. Right. So, now we're going to do a new one and I'm going to make a motion that we try it. Yes. Leave it up to Oh, summer to run it for the summer.
Okay. And then we don't need to put it in the motion, but just so you know, we want to see a little breakdown how much more money came in. Yes. At the end of the summer. Can you do that for us? Mhm. And then we can also we need to review the alcohol policy annually anyway, which would be due this fall. So, we can
do that same time. And if we don't like it, we can get rid of it then. Yes. Can we put dates around for the summer? What that means? Like kids out of the building. Labor Day. The kids back in the building. Yeah. Yeah. Memorial to Labor. Okay. Follow me.
All right. We've got another motion um by Director Donninger, second by Director Edman to approve or adopt um a pilot for serving food and beverage this summer. All those in favor signify
by saying I. I. I oppose the same. No, I no or whatever. Question passes. All right, good discussion. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks, Anmarie. All right, moving on to committee
updates. Committee meeting updates. First one is policy and legislative committee by Chair Edman. Well, and Muie just talked about the main one that we had talked about and then Christina had talked about the other ones. So those were pretty much a couple policies we
had discussed at the last meeting. So we're good. Excellent. That worked out well. Uh long range planning and facilities committee. Yep. Director Ward. Yep. So the uh we talked about the accomplishments. Custodial team members are acquiring boiler boiler licensing
training and testing provided by IEA and MASM. Uh so far two custodians have passed the testing. That's big because we Jeff, we haven't had that in in the um in the with the custodians lately. So, there's more advancement going on
here. Um strategic planning um met with Width to clarify planning on long range and short-term plans for the lower site. Uh they're looking at what needs to be done and technology. Ryan made sure or we talked about technology making sure if we do anything with the lower site
that technology is also included as a as a uh improvement. Excuse me. Construction and project updates. Uh the Riverside roof replacement will be done. Um BHS tennis BHS and ForceU
middle school tennis courts will be resurfaced. Riverside volunt um volunteer prek program and bathroom renovations will be done this year. Uh Garfield bathroom renovations will be done. Yay, Miss Kennedy. Um and then
signings for the GI will be up um early in the summer with the lighted uh with the lighted space there. Um we talked about we the temporary easement by Mandot on the Highway 210 improvements. Is that on? It was a consent. It was on
the consent. Oh, yeah. That's right. Okay. So, we're done with So, we talked about it. Um and then our future meetings. That's it, Madam Chair. Thank you. Yep. All right. Moving on toformational updates. Brainer Public Schools Foundation with Director Edman.
Okay. So, um May 21st is the scholarship recognition night. Um if anybody wants to volunteer, they are still looking at volunteers for that night. Um 187 seniors applied for the Briner Public School Foundation
scholarships. Um this year it was up to so they awarded $226,000 this year, up from 181 last year. Jeez. Wow. And at the um recognition night, they will also be
recognizing an additional $328,000 in external or community scholarships as well as military awards at the recognation ceremony. So if you want to go uh volunteer, it is May 21st. May
21st. So at what building? It is at the views. Okay. For view. And you know what? You can call Jessica. She has a a sheet that you can just tell her this is there's like what was there? There was six or eight different areas
to volunteer at to volunteer at different jobs or whatever. Different jobs. Jessica Jessica Gangle. Okay. I can give you a number if you want it. Okay. And then did you see that 6 p.m. or does anybody know is it 6 p.m.? I I can I can
look and I'll let you know. I think it's 6 p.m. It might be in the future meeting. Yeah, I have it in my 21st p.m. 6 p.m. before CF. I can forward you the signup doc. Okay. Thank you. Would you do that for me to Stephanie? I'll do
it right now. Thank you. All right. Moving on. Thank you, Stephanie. Moving on to safe safe and welcoming schools committee. Director Breen. Okay. So Thursday on May 8th was our final safe and welcoming schools committee meeting for the school year.
We've been working on creating a plan for supporting principles in leading their sites with regard to the interrupter language, which is stopping harmful language in the moment. Um and and that's what we'll continue to do as we prepare for the return of students in
the fall. Thank you. Okay. And next up, the wellness task force update. Okay, we met with Christina Lundren and Sandy Talis to further the discussion of piloting pieces of the project 11 curriculum that
align with the MDE health standards in grades 5 through 8 health classes for the 202526 school year. Secondary health teachers and counseling staff will be given the opportunity to attend project
11 training on we think it'll be June 5th. All trained staff are then given full access to the curriculum K12. Christina will be sharing more specific information at the curriculum committee meeting next week. Um, Smiles for Jake
will be providing advocacy training and an introduction to Project 11 for all staff on June 6th from 8 to 9 at the getb center. Schoolboard members are invited to attend. And then we intend to
spend the summer months identifying ongoing wellness opportunities for staff and students and create subcommittees that will help address those needs that align with our mission statement of promoting wellness and brain health. That's that. Thank you, Madam
Chair. Before we get to Marcy and and uh Superintendent Grant, I just got two other announcements. Can I give to the can I give those these announcements that I promised to give? Sure. Are they like dates on the calendar or No, no. Um it's one of them is about uh free books
giveaway and one of one of them is about a a Senate bill. Okay. So, Tuesdays at Westgate Mall from 9 to 3. Um there's free book giveaways to schools, nursing homes, and nonprofits. Uh sponsored by the friends
of the library. Um the school the high school just started a free library or free book giveaway over in the high school. In four days they they had a 100 books taken out from taken from the K the kids took a 100 books. She has to go back tomorrow and get more books now. So
but I they wanted me to announce that that they've got thousands and thousands of books to schools any school any schools and um nursing homes and nonprofits. Then the the last announcement is the uh se the seasonal
wreck replacement aid bill has is now in the Senate bill going to conference committee. So there I wanted you all to know that that the and and and we could still use some contacts to to our local representatives, our local senator and
our local rep to um support and get on that bill because that's it's be significant for us big time for our area. Yeah. And it's mo I mean it's going moving. Thank you. Thank you. Yep.
All right. Business services report. So in your board packet is the financial report. Um it is updated with the budget revision that we or I presented in March. Um nothing new to note. um we're tracking higher in community service just like I had noted before just with
the difference in um how we're paying teachers and then building construction we're tracking a little bit higher just because we are wrapping up those projects and you had asked about the donation there was a letter of commitment from the just for kicks and that was the last payment oh okay so
just an FYI on that yeah uh and then enrollment report so from the beginning of the year we're down 79 9. When we look back at the last six years, the average is about 95. So, we're tracking actually a little bit less than the
average. Good deal. Yeah. Hopefully, we can close out the year and have our ADMs show up if not better than the revised budget. Any questions? Thank you, Madison. Thank you.
All right. Last but not least, our superintendent report. Um we are starting the um in the heart of negotiations with several employee groups. Um last week we met with EM and it was a very good
meeting. Um little humor thrown around and um I think that's a good sign. Um of course everything is going to be determined what happens in St. Paul. Um, you know, and we're not going to sit and
wait, you know, talk about nothing. We we just going to have to wait and see what the numbers look like. I would prefer we get done at ASAP, but um St. Paul's going to make the decision before we do. I also um think it's really important that over the next 15 days
basically is what school's got left. Um probably is a good time for you to go visit a school just to see what happens toward the end. It's always easy to go at the beginning when it's celebratory and it's brand new and everybody's kind of excited. Now comes the crazy part.
Everybody wants to get done. They the teachers are pressed to the wall to get through the things they intended to get through. Um the seniors for the most part, God bless them, have checked out except for those who, you know, the call
is going to come to mom and dad, don't order the cake or you can order the cake. which I have been through too many times. But it it if you go to the schools, there is just different levels level levels of energy. The elementaryaries are on fire because the
kids, first of all, they get to be outside a little bit more, but they know what's coming. And um I can't and actually I would say from K through 8, it's pretty much that way. At the high school though, it's a totally different atmosphere because some people are
leaving. Some people are moving from juniors to seniors, which is a really head thing for juniors. I just want you to know. And the sophomores are ending are heading into limbo because it's their second year through. And when you become a junior, it's kind of like I don't have anything to worry about, do
I? I got another year to go. And it is all the time I've been with uh as a principal, the juniors are an interesting group because they're just kind of floers. Everybody else is getting brand new. Now, when the ninth graders come in next year, of course, they're the ones who are going, "Oh my god, what are we going to do here?" So,
I would really encourage you to just go visit and watch. And of course, the last day is really, I think, a lot of fun. It is a celebratory time. Totally different though than the first day of school. Totally different. but in a very good way. It's still celebratory. So, if you
get a chance, take a tour, you know, one of the last couple days of school because it's pretty exciting. That's it. Great. Thank you. All right. We've got a number of future meeting dates. I wanted to pick
out one specifically, June 9th, the regular schoolboard meeting. We are moving that back to June 9th. You might remember we had changed it. um there's no longer a need for that change. So, we'll move it back to June 9th. And then you'll also see there's just a number of
graduation celebrations and as you guys know, that's kind of the best part of this whole gig. So, get them on your calendar and if you can go, that's fantastic. It's it's just awesome to watch those kids cross the stage. All right, we will entertain a
motion to adjurnn. So, move. I'll second. All right, we've got a motion by director board and a second by director Edman.