Stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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.
>> 3.0 is to approve the meeting agenda. >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. >> I second. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> I those opposed. Agenda is approved. Uh 4.0 is our acknowledgements and recognitions. Uh we don't have anything
specifically slated uh for that tonight except for I would just have an impromptu acknowledgement to the start of the school year. Best of luck to the team here in the building. >> Um >> all right. 5.0 is our recognition of
visitors and community comments. Uh community comments is an opportunity for the public to address the school board on an item included in the agenda in accordance with the guidelines printed at the end of the agenda. Uh we don't have anyone signed up this evening for committee comments. We'll just welcome
everybody to our August 2025 business meeting. So thanks for joining us here either in the room or online or in the future online. Um all right, 6.0 reports. 6.1 is a principal's report. Subanji.
>> All right. Good evening everybody. And um yeah, as you said, here we go. Um it's this is kind of the the really busy week um for me specifically and then next week we got things planned and it's the teachers time to get kind of the prep done and ready to go. But the the
fun thing that's happened this week is had our new teachers in the building. um brought them in yesterday and Jen's Lacy and I spent the morning with them um working on some kind of school culture building culture stuff with them and then in the afternoon they all have been
paired up with a mentor teacher that's going to be their go-to teacher partner um this school year. Um and then today we had them gave them a head start on unpacking curriculum for all their different classes. And so we had some other teachers coming in um curriculum
chairs uh people who teach in the same topic area to kind of really help them start preparing um for the curriculum piece. And the the whole goal has been to create a support team for all of our new teachers of multiple people in the building that they can lean on and go to um in this first year. And then tomorrow
we're actually going to take them on a community tour and we've got a number of sites that we're visiting with them to connect them with all the different community resources that we have here. um talk about um we're going to the art colony um North House County Higher Ed
and then taking them up to um WTIP. Um those are the areas in town that really do a lot with the school and so we would just really want to make those connections right away for our new staff. Um so they're thinking about those things as opportunities come up. And um for our middle and high school
students right now, activities have started. We've got a home volleyball game tonight um that's going on right now. And just again a recognition and thank you to all the summer work that's been done to get ready for this school year. It is a lot of work. Um we're going to be ready to go for students on
Tuesday uh September 2nd. And then a reminder to the community um our open house next week, Wednesday from 3:30 to 6:30 to come in, meet the teachers, see the classroom spaces, um get your lockers ready. Um and then also just um another kind of check-in. I plan on next
week sending a a email out to senior families and students again to ask about that graduation date. We talked about that last last board meeting. Um waiting until maybe the week before school to send it again and get some feedback. Um I've had a couple parents call in um and
yeah, we'll just try again and see if we get a better wider um breadth of response from potentially changing that graduation date. Is the community tour thing a a new thing or is that something you've done in the past? >> Nope, it's new. Um, and this whole new
teacher workshop uh week is last year we did it for the first time and then we're just kind of added into it, refining it this year and um I think it's it's going well and I think it's really appreciated um to kind of get a head start for some of those new folks who are new to the
community. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's that sounds really nice idea. Cool. Any other questions? >> Great. All right. Well, best of luck. Thank you. >> All right. 6.2 is a superintendent
report. >> Uh you can see my written report. Um we found two sewer lines that have breaks in them over the last week uh that were put in in 1970 or or even earlier. So, they're old. Um, one is, um, tied to our
school bus maintenance garage where they have a bathroom and plumbing in there. And then the other is probably right under the stairs going up above the elementary gym. We were trying to locate that break with their technology. Um, so we will be tackling those. I think
possibly the one at the bus garage this fall yet. Um, since that's not necessarily tied to our our construction project. Um, and then the one um that's over in the by the elementary gym, we'll probably have to tackle when we're doing construction over there when we're
already going to be there and doing some some work. So, uh, not surprising for a building this age to see some of that, but um, glad we found it. Uh, and then the other thing I wanted to highlight, uh, in addition to what Josh shared about new teacher training this week, next week we'll be in all four days will
be a professional development. Um we've got kind of a routine where Monday we do a welcome back and you know kind of celebrate the strategic plan where we're headed as a system culture that kind of stuff. Give teachers afternoons to do prep time uh to get ready their
classrooms ready. Uh but Tuesday uh is the roll out of a professional development focus this year. Uh, and it's a partnership between Grand Portage and UMD developing curriculum for school districts to help address the American Indian Education for All Bill that was
passed um a year or two ago. So, they've been working all summer on kind of the development of that curriculum. It's going to amount to about 16 hours of professional development through the year. Um, but Tuesday, we're going to kick it off with a full day in Portage. Really excited about that. Uh, we'll
we'll actually invite all of our staff, not just teachers. um put them in a bus, go up there. Um lots of things of learning in the morning. Uh a lot of things around, you know, sovereignty and tribal government and how those things work and how they work with public
educators and and public governments, their environmental stewardship stuff. And then in the afternoon, we're going to have a lunch and then in the afternoon, uh we have three breakout groups. Help me, Josh. One is the fisheries with boats and kind of the the study of water. And I think they're going to try to visit the spirit tree as well. Y
>> uh another group is going to visit the bison uh farm area and uh learn about that. And then the third group is going to be in this can't remember the name of the cedar swamp. Y >> uh learning about mat making and um how to do that. So um it's going to be great
and and it's just a joy that we have that resource right here in our backyard as part of our district and people from UMD and Portage and the Trust Lands and the Monument all willing to give time to help educate us. So, um, it was a first come, first serve, uh, sign up for who
wants to go out in the boats and see a spirit tree because we knew that was going to be the most popular one right out of the right out of the shoots. But it's a great treat. So, that's all I got for you. >> Great. Just a quick question about that with that legislation. Does that um have
some is this sort of satisfying that or is this sort of teeing up some sort of like curriculum that the teachers would then teach like in terms of like a class offering or is that >> Yeah, the the the spirit of the statute is that we weave
in indigenous culture, history, learning about the land we're on in all curricular areas. That's the spirit of it. The how do you do that is what everyone in Minnesota has to now wrestle with. Um and this was really just a an
effort by uh ported staff and uh UMD to help us figure that out. So uh the goal is is really for us to learn more so that we can teach more and wrestle then with how do we weave this into you know our curriculum. We have our teachers
here do I think better than most across the state of Minnesota. I watch what April, our science department does, you know, they they they budget for resources specifically so that they can weave in um pieces of indigenous culture into the science curriculum. Same in
social studies, same in language arts. So, I'm super proud of what our faculty already is doing. Um but this is a way for us to learn more to augment that. So, grateful for the partnership and yeah, it's pretty cool. Not many people have
not many districts have a have a band right in their district, you know, that are part of the culture here and it's just so wonderful for us. >> Any other questions or comments? All right, we'll move on to 6.3, which is the 2025 superintendent uh evaluation
summary. Um so um we met the board met on August 7th um in closed session for the superintendent's annual performance review. So we're required by statute to
provide a summary of that review here at the next meeting. Um so um I'll provide that that quick summary here now. So the board was very pleased with Superintendent Lind Holmes uh performance this past year. He's
excelled in managing the district's finances, keeping Cook County Schools operating in the black, one of only school districts in the state with a balanced budget. He's excelled in attracting, retaining, and developing the staff of the district and overall management of the organization. The board will continue to work with
Superintendent Lindholm on strategies and standards for effective and positive communication with school district stakeholders. School board's very satisfied with the performance of Superintendent Lindholm and the many positive impacts he's had on the district this past year and we look forward to continuing our partnership of
bringing the best possible educational experience to the youth of Cook County. >> All right. 7.0 is our consent agenda. >> Could I? >> Yes. >> So, I didn't make it to that meeting. I'm sorry, but did we change any of the things that we're evaluating for next
year? >> That's Thank you for the follow-up question. So, we have a on our to-do list probably next month is to circle up on this topic again and come up with goals for the next year. >> Yep. That we'll we'll agree upon and
kind of evaluate against next year. >> Yep. >> Good. >> Yep. This year was a little less defined in that regard um in terms of like the specific elements that we've done in the past, right? >> So, it's more of a were more of a a general overview. >> Okay.
>> So, but yeah. We'll go back to the MSBA >> y >> thing again and choose which elements we want. >> Y so that's board that's homework for us and >> and for the superintendent and we'll come back to that at probably our next September meeting.
>> Okay. >> Yep. Thank you. And then we'll start the process again from there. >> Yep. >> Um okay. So 7.0 is the consent agenda. Is there anything that needs to be pulled for further discussion? If not,
we just need a motion. >> I motion to accept the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I I Those opposed. All right. Consent agenda is adopted. Uh 8.0 are discussion
and action items. 8.1 is to expect the expend expenditure and revenue report for July of 2025. We've got it linked to the packet and got our business manager, Miss Oberg. Hello. >> Hello.
>> How are you? >> I'm I'm well. >> Sorry, few minutes late at the We're into the store. Um, okay. So, this is the season when our expenditure revenue report starts to look a little bit wonky
because I haven't closed out last year yet. And so it it runs together with current year activity. So if we're looking at the highlighted numbers right now, it appears that our revenues are well above our expenditures, but I know
that there's still expenditures coming in for last year. So it's I I'm sorry that it's kind of messy, but that's just where we're at right now. um as I finalize like I'm still getting a few trickling bills like from the NLC they
always the um our sped co-op they always send us bills late and so um it's just kind of their finalizing of their year as well. So um hopefully next month I will be able to isolate most of 2025 uh
fiscal year 25 activity and we'll have a better look at how we ended the year. Um, with that said, I think we're still probably going to end the year within within good reason. Um, you know, we were shooting for a balanced budget, maybe a slight deficit, but I think
we're going to um as it shakes out, I think we're going to look okay. And as we move into this next budgeted year, I think our budget was maybe a deficit of or overspend of less than
200,000. And I think that was mostly of restricted and assigned funds. So equally a budget, a balanced budget was our goal. So as we move into this next fiscal year and the school year starting Yay.
>> Um I we recently there's you went to a webinar regarding federal funding. >> Yes, I did. Um, so as we learn more about kind of moving forward, I think fiscal year 26 we're pretty pretty fine
as what we're getting. Um, but as we move into future fiscal years, what that looks like, we still don't really know. So, we just kind of keep on keeping on. >> Yeah. I the webinar on the federal reconciliation bill, which was just two
days ago, uh, was not good. all the cuts to um uh the WIC program and and >> Medicaid >> Medicaid and all of that. If I was in a county administrator seat right now, I'd be sweating bullets because it's going to affect uh counties all across the
country. Um but the way that'll trickle at down to us is not only will we have students who are you know already in poverty struggling struggling more um but we will likely see a drop in the number of students that qualify for free
lunch and because they're going to fall off of wick or the SNAP program >> but that doesn't necessarily mean they don't qualify but we have to re re >> we don't direct certify qualify because they're going to fall off of those rosters and so in order to get them to qualify it's going require the old paper
trail that we uh had largely steered away from in the last three years. Um so I do think we're going to see a drop in compensatory revenue um as we step into this. Uh but I I agree with Teresa. I don't think it'll be fiscal 26. I think
it'll be >> Yeah. >> 27 28 >> almost by design. >> Yeah. No comment. But uh >> I can comment. >> Yeah. So just a heads up, we'll we'll be keep watching it. We'll learn more as it rolls out. But
>> I mean the other issue is like for kids that need certain special services, right? If they if that's tied to Medicaid funding y >> reimbursing us for that billing, that's a real issue. >> Real issue like our mental health therapist, I mean her her whole revenue
stream is through NA billing and >> Exactly. I mean that I think probably as I look at it from my newly released seat the county um looking at the clinic looking at Northshore Health looking at
>> at the county Medicaid the Medicaid hits are what are going to >> be the biggest challenge in this community to figure out how we fill those gaps. I mean and like speaking to that piece, we had already kind of started I and the business office had
already kind of seen some of that that trickle after co you know when people weren't still just kind of grandfathered into some of those programs they were dropping off. So I'd already kind of started to see that um you know people not qualifying for you know X Y or Z program. So it's yeah it's just going to
kind of maybe keep now it's going to spill instead of trickle. Yeah, >> we'll see how that rolls out. But >> thanks for your report. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh any let's see any if there aren't any other questions. We just need
to get a motion for that. >> I'll make a motion to accept the expense revenue report for July 25. >> I second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I I Those opposed?
Motion carries. All right. 8.2 um is to approve the fiscal 27 proposal for uh Washington DC trip for the middle school. >> Are we approving it? >> Yeah, I just made that change quickly. >> Yep. It's a pre-approval.
>> It should be approved on not a just a discussion item. >> Yeah. And Melanie couldn't be here, so she sent you all a letter uh to kind of outline it. And um I can attest that uh I went to the presentation that the kids did I think last spring was it Josh I
think. >> Yeah. And uh and then they did they did a presentation about the trip and the kids all got up and shared little stories and it was super fun to listen to the kids. They were they were jazzed. Uh and the trip went really really well. uh they will miss the difference between
last year and this proposal is they will miss school because we've adjusted our calendar uh to not really have a full spring break. But um yeah, the proposal you see it in front of you, it's a ballpark of about 2,200 bucks per kid. Uh as they did last year, they'll fund
raise a bunch to pay for it. >> Does it still fall over that spring break time period? Honestly, I don't I don't know. I don't think so. I think in the packet there it said it >> says the 21st through the 25th.
>> It is then, isn't it? >> Is that the same week? >> I think it is. Yeah, I think the 23rd is the first day. I mean, back on the weekend, >> so I'll just miss a few days. >> Okay. Yeah. Cool. >> All right.
>> I I confess that I was a former close-up adviser when I was a teacher. I think it's a great program. >> I think it's a great program, too. I, you know, the risk of being political, I'm a little concerned about sending
kids into Washington DC um with the militarization that's going on there. But, um I guess that's a year, two years away. So, year and a half away. So, um correct. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
But um that may that may that may affect my thinking about it in the future whether I think it should be reconsidered but in theory I think it's great. >> Yeah. And I I'm I would assume you know
using this third party to kind of organize and do all the logistics. Um I don't know what kind of insurance they offer for that. If it does become a real issue that they can't operate the program um
>> then they cancel >> then they they would be yeah hopefully not on the hook for that like if the people have already paid a portion or something. So I think the way at least like the Costa Rica trip work, people are paying over these couple
years in increments, right? >> You're like paying into your account. >> I don't know if it works the same way for this one. Maybe it looks Yeah, there's a payment schedule. >> Yeah. So that you can kind of spread that pay the cost out.
So >> did they miss any school? I don't Are they Are they there to the 25th or they're eternal 25th? >> Says 21 to 25 in her letter and it just had the calendar up and
>> looks like because 20 that 25th is a Wednesday. That's the last day of seems >> spring break and that isn't it? Oh, I look at the wrong calendar. No, >> it's uh 21 to 25. Well, they might not miss any. Yeah, you're right. 21 is a
Saturday and 25 is a Wednesday. Yeah. Okay. >> So, she lined up. >> Yeah. >> Originally, she was sitting there and miss school, but >> nobody's going to think of those two days. >> Well, in any case, in any case, it's
>> learning on the trip. >> It's educational. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, it would be a fine replacement for a school day, too. I mean, assuming that like you guys don't think like, well, having a program that gets all the kids out of here when missing school is like if the
recommendation is that's not a good idea, >> this is educational experience. >> I don't have a problem with that. Yeah, that ends up being the case. Um, yeah. Well, I also think it's a great idea to provide these travel
opportunities. get out of get out of Cook County and see the bigger world a little bit and go learn about our government up and close. I think it's awesome. I will always hope and wish that these programs didn't cost as much as they they do. Unfortunately, it's so
expensive for for that. But it's, you know, having been on a trip like this myself, the level of like support that that third party provides is >> there's there's a lot there. So, >> I get it. So, you know.
>> All right. So, we're looking for an approval on this so she can start advertising and recruiting and fundraising thing. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I had motion to approve the proposal for the 2027 Washington DC trip. >> I'll second it.
>> Further discussion? All those in favor? I I Those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.3 is to approve the 20 uh school year 2526 preschool handbook
which is linked in the packet as well. >> I believe in these next three handbooks that you see there's really not very any changes. They're all just clerical dates. Was the was
I just was it supposed to be redlined or there wasn't anything to redlin? >> There wasn't anything to red line other than the dates. >> Okay. >> The preschool one I didn't touch but the faculty one. Yeah, we just adjusted the dates. >> Okay. Sure. Yep. Okay.
Okay. Sounds good. So, we'll do um we'll take these one at a time then. So, yeah. First up will be the preschool handbook. >> I'll make a motion to approve the 202526
preschool. >> I'll second. Further discussion. >> All those in favor? >> I I those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 8.4 is to approve the faculty
handbook. Uh also in the packet here. So the 2526 faculty handbook, this is an annual thing, right? We're required to approve it each year. Um just dates you mentioned we're were over
updated in here. Okay. Yeah. I'll motion to approve the faculty handbook. It's your turn. >> I'll second. >> Further discussion? All those in favor? I
>> I those opposed. Motion carries. Right. 8.5 is to approve the employee handbook 2025. >> I'll make a motion to approve the employee handbook for 2026. >> I'll second.
Further discussion? All those in favor? >> I I those opposed? Motion carries. All right. 9.0 our personnel items. Uh 9.1,
we have our slate of new hires, resignations slate here. Um see, we're excited to see Odin coaching again. >> Yeah, >> that's awesome. Nice.
>> He did that last fall. >> All right. Except our English teacher has to run down and cover the front office for him when he's coaching. It's kind of comical if you think. >> Uh yeah.
Motion to approve the new resation. Believe it. >> A second. >> Okay. Further discussion. >> I would just like to um also acknowledge Cindy and uh how how much she holds everything
together. So, we will definitely miss her. But I'm glad she's giving us a lot of notice. >> Yeah. I'm grateful for the lead time so we can hire early and do some cross trainining, some of that. So, yeah. So, thanks to Cindy. >> Yep. Second that. Many years of service.
>> I hope she's better at retirement than I am. >> I hope. All right. Um, all those in favor? >> I >> I Those opposed? Motion carries. All right, that's it. We just need a motion to
adjourn. to journ. All right, we're journ 529. End the meeting.