##VIDEO ID:ffPxh2XBsAE## e we'll call this meeting to order and we'll start with roll call please Michelle Bren here DJ Dinger here Stephanie edman here Randy Hyman here Sarah spear here John Ward here uh let's stand for the Pledge of [Music] Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right because this is our organizational meeting that we do once per year we are going to kick it off here um swearing in our school board members so we've got three I believe that will take the oath of office tonight so I'm going to hand that over to you okay so um I would ask directors ederman Breen and Ward please rise it is an honor that you were elected to guide the education of our community's children as you recite the oath of office you assume a tremendous responsibility as a director of our school district with the duties empowered by the Minnesota Legislature this power puts you and other members of our school board in the position of being both morally and legally responsible for Equitable quality education of every student in The District in carrying out this responsibility you will be asked to fulfill the roles of vision structure accountability and advocacy in providing Vision the board with extensive participation of the community envisions the community's educational future and then formulates the goals defines the outcomes and sets the course for the public schools to achieve the vision the board establishes a structure and creates an environment designed to ensure all students the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational frame framework because as a board we must be accountable to the community we must ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children as board members we serve as education key advocate for on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision of our schools furthermore we must strive to work together with the superintendent and staff to lead the district toward fulfilling the vision we have created fostering Excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills and knowledge citizenship and personal development at this time I ask director edman to take your oath I hereby accept the office of school board member of Independent School District 181 for attend beginning the first Monday in January 202 and expiring the end of December 2028 thank you director Breen please say your oath I hereby accept the office of school board member of Independent School District number 181 for a term beginning the first Monday in January 2025 and expiring the end of December 2028 director Ward I hear hereby accept the office of school board member of Independent School District number 181 for a term beginning the first Monday in January of 2025 and expiring the end of December 2028 thank you for your commitment to Briner Public Schools all [Applause] right excited night thanks you guys all right uh this meeting of the Public School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statute 13d .02 this meeting is being recorded access to the recording is available on the school district's YouTube channel and we'll do that as soon as possible all right moving on to the approval of the agenda as presented motion second we've got a motion and a second a motion by director dondelinger second by director Hyman Char any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote is you doneer approve Stephanie edman approve Randy heidman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Michelle Breen yes all in favor thank you uh let's see here agenda item number six is just the re review of the nominations and election procedures which is one of our board policies put in there just so uh kind of a review for us to understand how this process goes because we do it once a year and we've got lots of new folks uh to doing this so we'll start with nominations for officers and we'll start with the chairperson I nominate Sarah spear for chairperson for 2025 second we've got a nomination and a second any a nomination by Michelle brick and a second by Randy Hyman any additional conversation discussion if not all those oh roll call vote Stephanie ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Michelle Breen yes DJ Dinger yes in thank you we'll move on to Vice chairperson I'll make a motion Randy we've got a motion is there a second second thank you we've got a oops a motion by director dondelinger a second by director Ward any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Randy hman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Michelle Breen yes DJ Dinger yes Stephanie edman yes all in favor thank you let's move on to the office of clerk I make a motion to uh have DJ continue in that role I'll second it we have a motion by director heidman a second by director ederman any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ Dinger yep Stephie edman yes Randy Hyman yes all in favor thank you and our final office the office of treasure well I'm making a motion for John we've got a motion is there a second second all right we've got a motion by director dondelinger and a second by director heidman any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote John Ward yes Bill Breen yes DJ Dinger yes Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes all right we've got a number of items on here that we do once a year so bear with me as we read through these we do have to read them out loud so the next item is the approval of the designation of the official depository and author authorization of the use of faximile signatures authorization of the superintendent of schools or the Director of Business Services to invest surplus funds authorization of the superintendent of school Business Services to approve and confirm grants and authorization of the superintendent of schools they ctor of Business Services to execute contracts and work agreements under $50,000 as per Minnesota State Statute 123b 52 uh subdivision 2 approval for authorization of the Director of Business Services and accountant to be delegated to electronically transfer funds for the district and approval for the financial condition of the district resolution um and I'll read these two recommendations and the actual resolution so the recommendation for approval of the designate designation of official depository is that Bremer Bank be designated the primary depository and American National Bank Bank of America Brainard BN Credit Union crowing Power Credit Union dearwood Bank First National Bank North First Western Bank and Trust France and Bank and Trust US Bank mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union Minnesota school district liquid asset fund plus Neighborhood National Bank R Randle State Bank Riverwood bank Wells Fargo Bank Wings Financial Credit Union and financial institutions identified through the men trust and iser's Investment Partners be designated as other depositories and the recommendation for approval of authorization of the use of Faxon signatures it recommends that the official depositories of the school district of the said Banks and depositories that we just listed above uh are other and are listed as other depositories in be hereby are requested authorized and directed to honor all School District checks bearing the signature of the chair the clerk and the treasurer and the actual resolution for for the financial condition of the district uh seeks to say whereas the financial condition of the school district dictates that the school board May reduce expenditures and whereas its resolution and expenditures may include the discontinuance of positions and or discontinuance or curtailment of programs and whereas a determin determination must be made to which teachers contracts may be termin ated and not renewed and which teachers may be placed on unrequested leave of absence without pay of fringe benefits in affecting discontinuance of positions so be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District 181 as follows the school board hereby directs the superintendent of schools and administration to consider the discontinuance of programs Andor positions to effectuate economics in the school district and reduce expenditures and make recommendations to to the school board for the possible discontinuance of programs curtailment of programs discontinuance of positions or curtailment of positions I make a motion good job Sarah thank you I'll second all right we've got a motion by director doninger second by director Reen any discussion question um chair SE yes um on the recommendation for approval of authorization of the use of faim faximile signatures Brer bank is not listed is there a reason for that it is it's just out of out of order sorry it's out of order they're in alphabetical order in that case after the be credit un yeah well pay attention Okay good job though good question any other discussion on that all right I want to make a note that I am going to abstain just because I'm on the board at Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union well I'm on the board of De with so we they'll still have a quum okay all right excellent so we'll do a roll call vote Michelle Bren yes DJ dondelinger I'm abstaining Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear stain John Ward John John Ward can you hear us John must not be able to it looks like his mic is muted Ryan yeah yes okay thank you pass thank you all right yes thank you John appreciate that all right moving on to the approval of the designation of the official newspaper we are fortunate enough to have a newspaper in our community which we can cheer loudly about not all school districts get to say that um so the recommendation here is to designate the Brainard dispatch as the official newspaper for the Brainard School Board business for 2020 as per negotiated agreement and there are lots of things that we have to publicize ahead of time for open meetings I'll make a motion to accept I'll second we've got a motion by director Heyman a second by director Breen any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote DJ Dinger yes Steph ederman Yes Randy heidman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Jo Breen yes fa great the next item on the agenda is the approval of the official School District legal representation the resolution reads approval of the squires walberer and mace PA as the Primary Law Firm representing the school district and authorization for the superintendent to retain other legal councel at their discretion to the extent necessary to ensure the school district has adequate legal representation for matters requiring specific or unique expertise and this is the the group that we currently use they know us fairly well it's nice that they they have the context when we bring items to them that we don't have to describe um our district for them so I make a motion we approve official School District legal representation second we have a motion by director Breen and a second by director Ward any discussion I got a question go ahead D how much is it I hate these things we have to just vote on that we have no idea what their rates are we don't know if you shop it we don't really know anything about it or should we supposed to just assume that that all got done or pardon that do we just assume that that's all been done has that been the same for three years I've been on this so I mean they're all average about 250 an hour and there's three major law firms that public schools usually work with in fact one of them um the original members of the law firm no longer are part of it but they kept the name oh really yeah so but yeah it's it's very competitive But as Sarah mentioned staying with a firm that knows your history is pretty critical do we pay them like a retainer like we pay them whether we use them or not or we just pay them as we as needed well right now we pay them as we need use them but uh I'm assuming we have a retainer with them I don't know I'm just curious since I've devote on this you know here comes Marcy with the answer I figured might have been on my game at college today we do not have a retainer with them we just pay them as needed and the proposed rates are 2% increase from last year okay they're what Mercy 2% increase from last year okay okay thanks Mar thank you does this same Law Firm represent board members as well mhm this is the board's representation yep if this is the board's not the school dist and the district and the district and so they're combined yep I'd like to talk about that in the future I've brought it up two years in a row to deaf ears but I think it's we'll just talk about it offline I'll talk to Peter about it all right any further discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Stephanie ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes shell Breen yes DJ Dinger yes all in favor thank you all right next up is the approval of the 2025 Board of Education compensation this is the same as it's been previously the recommendation is at $4,800 per year motion second we've got a motion from director dondelinger a second from director Hyman any additional conversation if not we'll do a roll call vote Randy heidman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ ding yes Stephanie edman yes all in favor thank you uh next up the approval of board members rights to employment as outlined by msba uh new board chair Ms 123b one- or 195 board members rights to employment notwithstanding section $20,000 in the fiscal year this does not include board salaries notwithstanding section 122 a.40 or 122 a41 or other law if the officer does not receive majority approval to be initially employed or to continue to employment at a meeting at which all board members are present that employment is immediately terminated and that officer has no further rights to employment while serving as a school board member in the district we don't currently have anybody that's um an employee of the district but just in case we will be covered motion I'll second we have a motion by director joh linger a second by director Breen any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ Dinger yes Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes thank you uh number 13 the read-option of all Schoolboard policies previously adopted as a uh something we do as a continuance at each organizational meeting to make sure all of our policies remain intact motion C up second we've got a motion by director heidman and a second by director Breen any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote um John Ward yes Michelle Breen yes EJ Dinger yes Stephanie ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes thank you we have the approval of the superintendent of schools for being identified as the official local education Authority the Lea uh for the dep Minnesota Department of Education and for the federal and state purposes for recertification motion all right second we've got a motion by director Dinger second by director Hyman any discussion otherwise we'll do a roll call vote Michelle breens yes DJ Dinger yes stepy ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes all right uh the last item on the agenda is establishing date time and place of regular board meetings you'll see there's committee assignments there as well both board committees and subcommittees and um a couple things of note the the meeting times we've changed to for the committee meetings we've changed to 8:30 in the morning uh to accommodate um the students representation representation that will be part of those committees and also we'll be moving those to the high school those meetings to the high school so just wanted to note those two things make a motion and then we can do some discussion some all second second all right we've got a motion by director heidman and a second by director Breen I some discussion I I would like to um at least have consideration uh on that June 9th meeting to move it to Wednesday of that same week so it would be uh it's for a selfish reion a reason I will not be in town and uh I don't have access uh because we'll be in the wilderness kind of uh on a fishing trip so the bush yeah well not the bush Randy not not that yeah uh but you know if we don't do it it's it's at the end of the world I'm just asking for isn't June a big meeting for approval of some budgets or all budgets yeah could be depending on State Legislature oh really any concerns with thatan that would be moving that from June 9th to June 11th okay any other dates times that we should talk about right now and we can make amendments to these in the future as well um as we look at the um School District subcommittees I would like the mental health task force renamed to the wellness task force okay Improvement has that has that subcommittee met at all yet yeah I'll give an update at the end of our meeting tonight okay right and the equity advisory team is Still rocking and rolling as well okay I know uh some school district have have dropped it because it's been a while since the uh tragic uh George Floyd incident that's one of the reasons why some of the school districts started started that but uh and that one has three members yeah why does it have three members I remember John wanted to go to a meeting but do we previously had three members no it was it John wanted to go was added as the third member I believe okay I don't really understand that I think we just had it as interest from the board there was more than two people interested and we can have up to three so we can do that for other committees as well if people are interested John are you uh are you interested in the uh Minnesota State High School uh League uh as being the designated representative I yes I I'm a little bit the handcuffed here because I don't have that didn't come out on my print though I I I haven't seen uh um final product of the Committees and things as such or whatever so I don't have that in front of me um am I designated as the Minnesota State High School league uh contact for this rep for this starting this year yes I I was the last two I was just curious if you wanted it um I'd be happy to do that um or do you want to do it Randy is that what you're saying yeah well I'm just saying if John didn't want to do it I would do it but I mean he's he was a coach for many years as well so I'm sure you have a keen interest in some of that stuff as well it it uh Randy makes no difference to me it it can remain as the same or or uh we could take team it or or you could do it on your own fine can there be to well there's no reason I mean I think the state High SCH he prefers there one board rep go ahead John well here's the deal John you want to know what you're on you're on you're on the Hall of Fame committee you're on Equity advisory team you're on the Family Services collaborative of the Lakes area you're the mshsl designated representative and you're Paul bunan education Co-op Le aison so you're on six things I know you don't have a job so you're probably the guy for it but I mean Randy if you want to do that I don't think anybody cares but it doesn't matter to me it's not my deal so you know I I now that I know that uh Madam chair now that I know that uh um I I appreciate that uh DJ that um Randy if if you want to continue to take that that'd be great since I'm on all that other stuff I will sounds good I also thought there was some discussion that um in the two years that I've been on the family service collaborative of the Lakes area and John I didn't check with you on this you're also on that there has been no meetings does that exist so I don't yeah I don't know if I think we could um do away with that that one yeah I would agree with that and I think this committee was set up prior to the district taking over our own family service collaborative workers as our own employees I think so too well that takes you off one John that is wonderful Madam chair okay how does everything else look we ready to I make a motion we actually have a motion so that's discuss we'll do aoll vote with those IED those but I'm sure you did to what was the name for the mental health again the wellness task force task yeah yeah all right DJ Dinger yes Stephanie ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Michelle Breen yes all in favor thank you make a motion to adjourn perfect is there a second second we've got a motion by director Donald linger a second by director edman there's no discussion we'll do a roll call vote Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ Dinger yes all in favor perfect with a minute to spare before the next meeting starts that meeting is [Applause] adjourned and if everybody's okay with it second it's post that's true you got to follow protocol all four protocol espe it's six o'clock all right it is six o'clock folks let's roll into our official meeting we'll call the meeting to order we've already done oh we will do a roll call again I guess yeah okay Michelle Breen yes DJ ding Stephanie ederman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes all the present all right let's move to the approval of the agenda second we've got a motion by director heiderman and a second by director dondelinger any discussion otherwise we'll call roll call vote D Dinger yes Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes so everything's a roll call because John's absent correct correct or via VIA whatever however this works yeah zooming in yes online we have one recognition here to celebrate tonight congratulations to the Warrior dance team they're the Central Lakes Conference champions in both kick and Jazz great and moving into 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 superintendent will not converse with guests to address the topics discussed at the time so we do have some folks lined up for public comment starting with Helen Danielson thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight my name is Helen Danielson I'm a seventh grade language arts teacher at Forest View school and I'm here actually tonight to express my disappointment with um some decisions that it feels that our current District administration has made without communication with or consideration of some of the stakeholders affected um teachers parents students in this instance I'm speaking about the Battle of the books program last year I attended the Schoolboard meeting where Lori wig described the amazing success of the battle of the books it's a program that was overwhelmingly supported by our community who generously donated thousands of dollars meals and prizes to make the program a reality in short over two years the summer reading program provided books to over 700 District 181 students in grades 3 through N9 it celebrated reading conversations about books dialogue with authors and it culminated in a battle much like the Battle of books programs held across the country board members many of you were present that day and saw the passion when Mrs wig spoke about providing these opportunities as an English teacher in the age of tick Tok and Snapchat and online gaming I can see my students becoming addicted to sound bites YouTube Reals in instant gratification I know the struggle to get students to read independently outside of school or to spend time thinking deeply about text and I see that lack of connection being reflected in our MCA and fast bridge scores the battle of the books provided incentives to involve students with text that otherwise would not have opened a book all summer for our readers it gave them opportunities to engage with stories and share Thoughts with peers there was dialogue and debate supported by adult were invested in literature the students and their ideas I had the opportunity last summer to work with a small group of students who are currently High School freshmen these are students who did not want to age out of the battle of the books so they were offered a chance to work with Mrs WG to select their own group of books to be read and they met with two adults for a more grown-up book club style experience and it's heartbreaking that these opportunities for students were taken away without any sort of discussion with Mrs WG or others involved in the program at the conclusion of the summer reading levels at all three levels of the program brainstormed ways to cut costs knowing that District finances would be limited and revisions would be necessary to make the program sustainable unfortunately there was never an opportunity to present the plan it was simply cut with no Fanfare no communication whatsoever and it saddens and disappoints me that our District administration isn't interested in hearing the voices of staff and volunteers about the program there's a wealth of professionalism and experience of from people are passionate about providing opportunities for literacy growth who take pride in what our district and our community offers our young people and I speak to you tonight with the hope that our district does want to hear these voices again that we want to honor this expertise and work to provide students with opportunities beyond the classroom thank you next up we have Michael Ericson thank you um got pass this around please here um got if anybody wants say for the visual um thank you for this open Forum time um want to talk about um diversity equity and uh inclusion um they're kind of bad words lately especially with um the new Administration coming in um I've got newspaper articles here bear with me um John Deere Walmart and Facebook and meta are cutting all their Dei programs including hiring training and picking vendors um they're basically saying building teams they want to build teams with the most talented people instead of making hiring decisions based on protected characteristics um that's one Viewpoint I don't agree with it but um that's one Viewpoint okay another Viewpoint is Dei creates situations of Reverse Racism um I don't agree with that either but that's another Viewpoint just kind of throwing these other viewpoints out there okay another Viewpoint is it makes white people feel bad that's another Viewpoint I don't necessarily agree with that one either okay and I'll give you some reasons for that um but let me just throw a a little Public Service Announcement out here first okay if I get a little weepy it's because I have major depression and major depression is whooping my ass lately okay so if I get a little weepy this subject makes me a little weepy okay because it's a passion for me just so you know it's not okay um as much as my family as much as my brain wants me convince me that it's a character flaw my family and friends went convincing me that it's not sorry um I had a nice conversation with the superintendent beforehand and I said I was going to quote him or misquote him as as the the circumstance may be I know I only have three minutes and I apologize I believe in the beginning in one of your quotes when you know all the stuff is going around something like Dei takes too much time from what's important in education something to that flavor um was something of the quote and I can see where you know education is expected to do everything so you add something and it takes away from something but I believe very strongly that Dei does not have to add [Music] anything thank you okay sorry I had a bunch of other stuff whoa next up we have no Noel I think you forgot your newspaper doesn't matter we can get rid of it can I just add one thing and I really apologize but I think this is important I apologize you could bring it to the next meeting if you'd like me pass this one around thank you we'll take Noel next please do Kelly start the timer ran okay good evening my name is Noel bustler I am a Brainard high school graduate class of 2002 I'm a passionate educator in my 15th year of teaching special education I'm here tonight as a proud parent to Max and Avery Sixth and third grade students Max would have loved to share his thoughts with you tonight but has a band concert at Forest viw that I'll be leaving for shortly Battle of the books has been a summer highlight for my family and others in the area for the past two years please let me share just a few stories from other parents and student participants this program has introduced students to new Authors and book genres like this current fifth grade student she said battle of the books really helped her expand her reading Horizons she never would have read certain books like Pennsylvania because she didn't think she' like it she absolutely loved it and the end it has also helped students like the seventh grader with book selection during the school year she said I enjoyed reading speak up and just keep walking from last Summer's book reading list in seventh grade we choose independent reading books and I didn't know I would like different genres until Battle of the books it was also nice to have food and socialize with different teachers and peers Battle of the books has also helped students expand their libraries another sixth grader said she loved the graphic novels and seeing her friends she also said it was cool that she could keep the books to reread them parents believe this program provides students with a chance to gain confidence this parent said my daughter is a tiny fifth grader who's never found her confidence in a sport not yet anyway the battle of the books was completely totally her thing she loved it and the book so much she won the third through fifth grade competition last fall this gave her tremendous confidence having her friends cheer her on in a huge public venue was a rare and wonderful opportunity for her Battle of the books is inclusive to all students despite academic or Social Challenges one parent shared their sixth grader who attended battle both years he greatly enjoyed reading and discussing the same book with his friends he loved meeting the authors to learn each book's backstory and why they wrote it we enjoyed this activity for our son they said who has an IEP that centers on speech and reading he read each book and the battle allowed him to work on his language and comprehension skills without realizing he was doing that work another parent said my daughter is on the Spectrum and was apprehensive at first to participate because it was something new and different not surprising to us as her parents we worked through this hurdle I stayed with her during the first two sessions and she was ready to tackle attending on her own by the third session she was initially nervous in a large group setting but by the end of the program she was substantially more comfortable battle at the books encouraged her to step outside what was familiar the joy and excitement Battle of the books creates in students is unique it introduces new Authors genres and opportunities for students no other program in the state exists like this one battle help helps them expand their libraries and choose books they might otherwise not I'm proud to support this program and represent Battle of the books as a parent and an educator thank you uh and last we've got Andrew Mendes please good evening everyone um hope you're all doing well uh to go ahead and start off the first and most important duty in any level of government is to protect those that you represent and you are all categorically failing to follow the most important duty as a board member to protect our students one of the most vulnerable populations in our area on our district website we don't State who the title 9 coordinator is which is the only person in the entire District who is certified to handle claims of sexual violence in our student handbooks we don't post the title n coordinator's phone number in the staff Administration directory like every other administrator we instead tuck it into the harassment policy where we also reference a flagrantly illegal policy that gives building principles instead of Title 9 coordinators jurisdiction to handle claims of sexual violence finally our in our employee handbook there is zero literally zero mention of Title 9 or the title 9 coordinator all that I'm asking for you to do is to take five minutes to tell your superintendent that he must change the website the student and the employee handbooks and to have you all refer policy 4 413 to the policy committee to have the committee call through and get rid of the illegal sections that designate a princip principle to handle claims of sexual violence this is not a big ask and I genuinely have zero idea why you would want our students and our staff to not know the resources and the rights that are available to them there is no reason a student or staff should be raped and have no idea who to reach out to for help because of your continued inaction your laziness or frankly your evil beliefs that this isn't the district's place to deal with this has happened to too many children already from random politicians I'd expect this but from people I know personally I'm beyond disappointed I'm disgusted thank you thank you Andrew all right that's it for public input tonight let's move on to the approval of of the minutes from our previous meeting on December 10th so move I'll second all right we've got a motion from director heidman and a second from director Breen any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote please Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ D yes all in favor thank you and next up we have the consent calendar and uh a couple things to point out on this the the revised draft for the 2627 school year if you had a chance to take a look at that we did um previously take a look at that and approved it it's come back to us for a second time I think there were some additional student contact days that we hadn't accounted for on that I'll entertain a motion I'll make a motion we approve the consent calendar second all right we've got a motion from director Breen and a second from director heidman any discussion director chair spear yes question on um not necessarily well this revision plus the current C I've noticed we've got a bunch of days that are half days what what why are we doing this half day stuff I mean I I've had a lot of parents reach out and say it's it's causing them problems as far as with daycare and whatnot so I'm just I just just curious first two in January are dealing with uh end of semester grading and finals and then um staff will be prepar preparing those report cards and then getting ready for the next semester so two half days is better than one full day and one in order to try and well what happens is that specifically at the high school allu is kids are having if they take six or seven classes do you want they don't take all the finals at one time so they would do half a day of one final over their schedule for finals second day they take the other half of their class finals so as a opposed to going all day long okay and they give staff time to get the finals corrected and enter in the grade and so forth okay okay yeah do happen I think this is the first time this has happened we used to do half days of professional development um many years ago and I don't know what this early dismissals and starts yeah okay thank you yeah good question any other discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Randy Hyman yes Sarah spear yes John Ward yes sh Breen yes DJ Dinger yes Stephanie ederman yes all in favor thank you uh moving on to new business for Action tonight we have the second reading of msba policy 906 this is the community notification of the predatory offenders and you'll remember if you read through this that this was more procedural on our end what we do when we are notified as a district so that we've got procedures in place motion I'll second all right we've got a motion by director dondelinger a second by director Breen any discussion if not we'll do a roll call vote Sarah spear yes John Ward yes Breen yes DJ Dinger yes Stephanie edman yes Randy Hyman yes all in fav thank you moving on to committee meeting updates we have the long rage planning and Facilities committee that met on December 17th is that correct does that sound familiar Don so the tennis courts are getting redone they're getting old and cracked up and they're going to fix them up um and then there's some retirements on the the building engineers and Jeff thinks Jeff flatten thinks that he's going to be able to have a few floaters that'll maybe save us some uh some efforts and uh they're going to float from building to building so we're going to try that or they're going to try that and that's pretty much the the the gist of it great thank you moving on to informational updates we've got the brainer Public Schools foundation and I can do a quick update on that they met this afternoon um couple of the things that we talked about was scholarship applications are open um right now so if you got a senior in your life please encourage them to apply it's it's an awesome and kind of spectacular thing just to see all of the the money that that group um helps facilitate getting to those graduates uh there was was in total I can't remember in total but it ended up being $555 to each of the the food shelves at each of the schools in the district that came from uh work on the Bingo and also the warrior War campaign so that was fantastic and then if you haven't gotten your tickets to the February 8th big event fundraiser that will be February 8th and that will be February 8th just so that sticks in your mind have to say it six times yeah if you if you didn't hear me it's February 8 write it down hear it repeat it all right uh let's see here you've got a couple here director Breen the equity task force and the mental health task force updates yeah so the equity task force met last week um in keeping with our District's core value of belonging our group is um prepared and we be send sending out a districtwide survey to inquire from staff and students what benefits have been gained by using the interruptor posters the interruptor posters have been shared with all classrooms to remind all what to do when unkind Behavior towards others as observed the survey will inquire about what conversations have been happening in the classrooms how it is impacting the culture of the school community and what additional help may be needed to support this important work our group is also looking at what additions we can make to our District's web page regarding the equity task Force's efforts at supporting an inclusive educational Community thank you and then the mental health task force which we have renamed to the wellness task force um had our first meeting on January 6th with a small group of Community Partners we had representation from brainer Public Schools Smiles for Jake asentia Health crowing energized and lakes area restorative justice there were many thoughts and ideas shared from these very engaged passionate and knowledgeable Community stakeholders we created a mission statement that is to create supportive schools and communities where Wellness is prioritized stigma is eliminated and every student and staff member has access to resources that Foster well-being in our first meeting we discussed the possibility of partnering with project 11 to Pilot their program starting at Forest View in the health classes project 11 is a K12 curriculum that supports deepening and understanding of how to be well through supporting Wellness practices and educating students about mental wellness and brain health we also talked about how we can bring the um the community the community into the schools through enhancing our district 181 adult volunteer program and we discuss ways we can increase access to student staff in the community regarding available resources that support health and wellness we are meeting monthly at this time as our vision and Mission becomes more concrete we will expand this group to include additional people such as staff students and community members who are interested in this work thank you what's project 11 um so it's a program out of Canada and it's um in conjunction with um the Manitoba hockey team I think um there was a hockey player on there that struggled with mental health and took his life and and then there was a young um man um one of them Max Martin I think his name was who also took his life as a 19-year-old hockey player so they have coordinated resource es to really do a lot of education and Outreach in that area and they are hoping to expand um down more into Central and Southern Minnesota and it's they right now they've created a curriculum K12 that is free to all schools just need to figure out how to there it's it's based on like six 15 lessons per grade level that can be done at any time the training to do the curriculum is 2 to three hours online and then teachers or community members could be trained to go into the classrooms and and we're looking at starting small and just possibly piloting that curriculum in Forest View next year director Breen um these two task force are they competing for some of the same um I wouldn't call it necessarily Revenue but I mean is there any competition between these two I mean I guess my question is why do we have two separate uh task force why not have just one I was um tasked with starting the the wellness task force which I think at the time the intention was to really focus on Mental Health um and supporting our staff and students in being well the the equity task Force's um Vision I I think is more geared toward inclusive education okay so I didn't mean to put you on the spot just you know are we competing for are we competing for volunteers I mean no no I have a number of people reach out who want to be a part of the the wellness task force um but we just need to really get our feet on the ground before we really start to expand but and maybe at some point we will converge the two task forces but I see us doing different things at this time thank you thank you director Brien all right next up we have Business Services report director Lord so in your packet uh the first report is June's report that would be from 2324 so we are finally have some final numbers for that I wanted to note the construction fund is higher than the estimated budget the budget is based on the draw schedule from our construction manager so just point that out and then the post employment trust fund it was uh uh less than last year and it can vary from year to year depending on our retirement so that fund is the one that we have all the uh um [Music] enrollment report so we are down 57 from the beginning of the year and when we go back to 1819 take an average we've been down on average about 53 so we're right we're tracking pretty similar to Prior years on average any questions well I know I've asked this question probably every meeting I've ever been at the kindergarten through 12th the 5673 is that how many kids or is that adms how many kids and then the adms are the 6331 633 in the First Column your budget yes you got it so there's no adms in any of the other numbers right we don't get adms until the end of the year when we know how long they've been here for the whole year good all right thank you thanks Marcy all right superintendent report uh first it's great to be back back kids back in school um I'm sure Mom and Dad are happy as well that was quite a long break um couple things that um I think are important just to bring to your attention um uh Jack Freeman and I talked a week ago and um Minnesota hockey day which is an annual event that curs throughout the state of Minnesota um they have asked if brainer l area would be interested in hosting Minnesota hockey day in 2027 so it's seems like a ways out um but it does take an extreme amount of planning the impact on us is really minimal um Jack has been talking to other uh cities that have hosted it Shaka in the last one I believe and it's uh very expensive of fundraising by the community um any where from about 1.7 to 2.2 million for what to host the event but what do you have to do well you have to have multiple rinks um the last few uh hockey Monday or hockey days they I don't get it when you're outside I guess but they have artificial rinks you have Manpower of putting rinks up you got electrical you've got Studios to prepare for with TV and so on hosting of teams I don't know all the complexities to it other than um I was a little bit surprised yeah see I would I would hope the Minnesota Wild get involved kind of a you know state of hockey but anyway it's it's two two and a half years out whatever but the thing is at least um it's something for the city I think to consider and how we would help um but it it's quite I don't know if you've ever been to one I've been to a few of them yeah it's quite the extravaganza Grand Rapids they did it right in they had a rink set up right on the ice yeah in the lake um the last time I heard about the lake they said that um I can't remember where it was that um oh it can be a problem yeah they said it they wouldn't do it on a lake again because the condition of the ice the kind of weather conditions with the wind and so forth there nothing it was so cold it was terrible but anyway it's just something that they sent a letter and they said would you be interested in Jack's working with some people to find out if this is possible how does it happen um it's quite the undertaking though when you think about I don't know how many teams are had last year but there's a lot and for example this year right now the Brainard Little Falls women's hockey or girls hockey they're going to the Minnesota hockey day and you know if you listen to the kids on the radio they're pretty pumped up so it's pretty cool it's cool yeah it is it's a great opportunity but the coordination of it is immense and um I don't know how that's going to happen up here if we get all day all night yeah it's uh you got to have lights up and so forth it's a great way to show off our community but it doesn't come free so that's something that people will be talking about I'm sure and how it's going to happen if it's going to happen we're fortunate that we have um you know several Resorts that can help and of course it's a big thing for the tourist industry that time of the year for us so and if it's a normal winter it would be a bonanza but if it's like last year's winter could be a disaster because ice might be a problem well we can't can't control that but anyway um I thought that was important that you you uh figure that out and then um I just want the public to know this week uh Minnesota State uh School boards Association has their General Conference and I've encouraged the board to attend and they will be um it's an opportunity for the entire state of Minnesota their school boards to come together and do some coursework uh listen to speakers and so forth um and also to you know visit with other school districts and find out what challenges that they have that we have or what solutions they have that we've been searching for and to try and figure out where can we go and how can we get better and um it's a very important part of the process and it happens once a year and I think it's a good thing that we have members that are willing to go and spend time and um improve ourselves as a board so that'd be it great thank you well that covers the next item under our future meeting so thanks for covering up on that and um next school board meeting will be February 10th Madam chair yes I just UHD like to add here at the end uh I know that the Administration has been working on the Battle of books and I still uh encourage them to work with uh folks on that collaboration as it is a program and we've been talking about reading for the last three years and literacy and so I would encourage them to continue to work together and see what we can do for our summer reading program I wanted to add that madam there thank you all right we'll entertain a meeting to adjourn or a motion to adjourn motion second we've got a motion from director Dinger and a second from director Hyman do aoll vote John Ward yes Breen yes DJ D yes Stephanie edman Randy Hyman yes Sarah yes all right we are adjourned