Good evening. Tonight is Monday, July 14th, and we do have a quorum. So, I will call this meeting to order. The first order of business is agenda approval. Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. We will vote to approve our
agenda. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Tonight's agenda is approved. Uh tonight we will be holding a public hearing regarding the renewal of the district's existing operating levy approved by voters in November of 2017.
So I welcome up director of finance and operation Mer to lead us in the public hearing. And due to this being a public hearing, I will ask for a motion to recess the regular schoolboard meeting. Is there a motion?
Is there a second? All those in favor of recessing the July 14th schoolboard meeting say I. Any opposed? Is there a motion? So move. Is there a second? All those in favor of recessing the July
14th this evening. So, we will continue on with our consent agenda. Uh, is there anything anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda? All right, we'll now vote to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?
So, move with our consent agenda. I have a second. Is there anything? All those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. I. Anyone opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Uh before we move on to our discussion items, I did want to take a moment and speak to something that we just approved
in the consent agenda and that is our gifts in big bus. Uh every month, Director Woodard makes sure that that item is in our consent agenda. And um each month you can see the generosity of our parents, our PTOs, our community organizations, district partners like
Edina give and go and ed fund and large and small businesses. And um I think it really speaks to the partnerships that are alive and well in Edina and how fortunate we are to have such to be a part of such a generous community. So, I'm speaking to that tonight because we
just finished our out our fiscal year and um last year alone, we were gifted over $1.2 million by those partners and I know that that is just capturing a portion of the monetary time that people give and the talents
that they give to this district. So on behalf of the school board, I just wanted to thank all of you who have not only financially given to us but have given your times to our schools because it we are truly a better system and a better district because of your donor.
On behalf of the school board, I just wanted All right. Well, then we will move on to our discussion items and our first item uh is the state of the district update. So I will turn it over to Dr. Dan Bman, interim superintendent of Edina Public Schools. Madam chair.
All right. Well, then we will move on to our discussion items. And our first item, this is public on our online uh presence as well, but wanted to make sure we recognize some of the great things happening around public schools. First and foremost on the report is the number
of total students that are taking advanced placement uh tests. Number of exams, AP students score of three or higher which typically provides college credit and individuals are succeeding at high level and then the percentage of
total AP students with that mark. You can see that our numbers are extremely high. Our kids are performing at amazing levels and that doesn't happen without a strong strategic plan, amazing educators and support. We're really grateful for that. We're at
9.92% so 92 amongst the best in the nation. We also have some amazing things happening around world language and bilingual seals etc. Multilingual certificates. I listed a number of the students who have
recently been awarded those uh awards and we're again grateful for the continued work that our students are doing and 97 students this year get a bilingual certificate 102 get a bilingual gold se and 73 get a platinum
that was incredible considering a data point and amongst the highest really really impressive also mentioned just top tier rankings for a number of sources around the that have identified United Public Schools as one of the best
school districts in the country as well as some amazing early literacy successes. 100% of our prek3 educators completed structured literacy training data has really put a focus on with great support from some of our resources
etc. So we're excited about that. A lot of great work has happened also in inclusion and equity leadership. We talked about the commitment that we've made throughout the district. Every elementary school formally became part of a unified champion school work recently reinforcing our districtwide
culture of inclusion starting in the very early grades. Ongoing design unified engagement stu student purple college sports and wellness activities etc. Building on that momentum from the previous year. Uh last year to note um
$119,870 were raised in fundraising across Adina public schools about awareness and inclusion. That amount raised um is more than any small or medium Minnesota corporate teams than any Minnesota
school district, college or university, and any Minnesota restaurant or police department. Um, and so we're excited about that and and we're appreciative of it. The only true group that raised more money than I
public schools was Delta Airlines and and Ian Leonard's Fox 9 team. That's work. Uh, you see some amazing things around top rankings from Niche and other organizations that are there for our community. We were also listed as one of
the best communities for music. Yeah. Just recognizing the work that our teams do along our we sustain the AAA credit rating for which we're excited about. That has amazing benefits for our community, for businesses, and our districts. We were
the National Association of School Business Officers award winner for our financial transparency and fiscal stewardship. And we received a number of national recognitions both for academic and financial performances. We also had a number of schools participating in
honoring students who exemplify our core values of integrity, compassion, courage. We also had a number of award recognitions that were the district some of which were 16 juniors from Adina High School who were honored with college
sponsored book awards selling celebrating their academic achievement and their dedication to learning. You look at those universities extremely impressive. So you see a lot of amazing colleges, John Hopkins, Colombia, Dartmouth, just
a number of amazing universities across the country who are recognizing our students for their amazing success and you see the names there. Um in DECA for our international career development, we had a number of students that place not only at the state at the national level.
So again, really our our business sense and our work with our students soft skills as well as being able to demonstrate a national level um experience. Finally, uh just a couple other minor or major depending on how
you look at it, our Edina High School robotics team. They were named the green machine. They became the first ever Minnesota winners with the top off the national competition, the champions award. first ever um we had a student
identified for the United States Senate youth program which is extremely competitive and is a national honor. We acknowledge 20 29 amazing staff members celebrating 693 years of service in Edina public
schools. So really a congratulations and a thank you to the people who have served in our district. Uh, in May, we had three AVID students receive the Wallen scholarship, including mentorship and a total of $16,000 in financial
support. And then finally, just closing uh thoughts. In just a few short months that I've been with, I've had the privilege of witnessing so many amazing people, their passion, their pride, their pursuit of excellence. While this update begins to capture many
accomplishments across our district, it clearly reflects the depth and breadth of our success, our collective success and our commitments. We are well positioned to build on these strengths and chart a bold path forward grounded in our community shared values and
guided by the ambition vision of those making sure our strategic h strategic plan happens well and right. And so with deep gratitude and a strong sense of purpose, I look forward to the union. Dr. Bitman, board members, do you have any questions about the
state of the district? I don't have a question, but I would like to um acknowledge the staff of Edina public schools, administrators, um everyone from our bus drivers, everyone in the infrastructure
that makes that happen because it's not just the people that were recognized. It takes a village to make that excellence happen. I would just like to extend a thank you to everybody that works here,
volunteers here, all of your kiddos here um for the excellence. Thank you, Director Alenberg, and thank you, Dr. Bitman, for that state of the uh district report. Uh seeing no further questions, we will move on to discuss
our policies for tonight. and I will turn it over to Eric Allenberg, chair of the policy committee. Uh, thank you very much, Chair Gabler, and thank you to um, Director Man for covering last shape. Um, we have five policies for
discussion. The first one is policy 113 data requests. Um, I believe the director of marketing communications, Stephanie Edwards, who's going to join us for this while she comes here. Um the main um change to this other than
updating it for um semantics and making sure that it um matches um our our version of expectations is an update um in legislation and I'd like to give a shout out to former board member Green
who championed this legislation um which um basically says districts may suspend data requests if the person that um put in the request does not inspect the data or the district cannot get a hold of them after five days or within five days that
was added to this. Um Dr. Edwards, do you have any more commentary on this? you really did touch on what's most significant and that's that change to statute that says if someone wants to inspect data um that they have to
see to it that they are in touch with us within 5 days and if not we take that as word that they're not interested in continuing on with the request and they're no longer um required to continue to process that request. That really is the most um significant
addition. We had some good discussion in policy around uh when a person asks for clarification um and what that would do to the timeline and the advice from our attorney is absolutely nothing when someone is asking for some summary data
about themselves regardless of those questions were still required to reply within 10 days. So there really weren't any significant changes to the policy this year. We were grateful for the addition of a new statute regarding that fiveday limit on inspection.
Does anyone have any questions? I have one. Um I'm just curious as to the in the last several years have we seen an increase in data requests or the level of which the am the requested data is more
significantly time consuming for us to take on. I'm just trying to sense do we track that and do we report that out anywhere? Um I have a sort of idea of what I think that might be but I don't actually know for sure and so it would be helpful have any comments. I have anecdotal
observations that the number of the nature of the requests has changed. So I'd hear about some requests like right before I joined individual citizens of Adina seeking
specific information. What I see more now are requests from organizations who probably only respond to a bid. So they want to know how much we've spent for XYZ services um for some period of time. Um those
have taken those have increased more. I've seen a couple of instances for data regarding a specific person. Those are typically really personal in nature and don't seem to be a part of any kind of
broader movement or issue. They're just trying to resolve something personal. I can't say that I've seen an increase as much as they there's probably a a pretty consistent number of requests. So,
um I would say in a given school year, you probably get 15 to 20 requests. So, I wouldn't describe that as being inundated. Um the nature of the the time that it takes to process those requests
is going to vary. If it's typically if it's information about a single individual, we kind of have one place to go. Sometimes that can be easier. If you want to know how much we've spent on busing services over a period of time,
that may or may not be easy. um someone might request, you know, copies of all of your invoices and check registries. And what I do in those instances, especially when you kind of get a sense for when you're one
of potentially dozens of people who are being asked the same information in some of those requests, I go back to them with an estimate of how much it would take for MERT to access all that information and they're oftentimes not quite as interested.
So really taking the time to get those estimates saves some time later potentially. Great. Well, I appreciate that. I think it's grounding on where we seem to be at this particular moment. Second question and last one would be is there a delta
to that that would then concern you like is there if all of a sudden we had instead of the 15 to 20 requests we started getting 50 requests or whatever it is or it's taking a full-time employee you know half their time or whatever it might be. Is there anything that pop up and say I'm concerned?
You know, I've never really thought about what that threshold would be because data requests are something that's done on the side of everyone's job. Yeah, that is a concern. And depending on the request, if there's a request where
someone wants us to provide copies of email that goes back some period of time, that will literally tie up Nathaniel's system. And that's concerning. Um the legal cost to have those email,
let's say, or other materials reviewed. Yeah, that that can get concerning. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I'm sorry. I just had an observation and I apologize. I should have gotten this to
you earlier today because it's minor. Um I really appreciate the team's work to add to the um definitions and just make sure that our policies are always really user friendly. um in where it says old
responsible authorities and then the numbering is off. Someone can check that. Um and and um down in F3 in the body there's also a reference. It's not true. um
down on page six there's also a reference in the body. So again such a minor observation but and I should have I was going to email you about that earlier today but I ran out of time so thank you.
Thank you. Um any other comments? We're going to move on to policies 144. Thank you very much, director Edwards. Um, which is mandated reporting of child neglect or physical or sexual abuse and mandal treatment of
vulnerable adults with executive director of human resources Sonia Sailor and um changes to not explain something correctly.
Thank you, Director Alenberg, Sher Gabler, members of the board, Dr. Bitman. Um so the first policy that you will be reviewing tonight is policy 14, which is um our mandated reporting a child neglected physical or sexual abuse
policy. This policy has been reviewed on an email basis in Adina for a number of years. Um so it was just before you last year. Um the prior to that we actually made some more significant changes to the policy. Uh last year it was just
some style changes and this year really aren't any substantive changes. What we're looking at is just to align again with our style guide and um we've made the recommendation we
remove this policy from policy 208 uh requiring annual review. Minnesota statute does not require annual review of this policy nor does MSP recommend annual review of this policy. And so we believe that it can go on to another
schedule for to do. A few notes that I will make is um in many of our policies and within our style guide, we move the citations from the body of the policy to a reference list, legal references.
when it comes to mandated reporting of child neglect, um that is something that is is incredibly important in our in our system and it's really important that so having those citations embedded in
the policy in this case is is just very helpful for the worker. And so, not only do uh have we made the recommendation to continue with those, but we actually added um a section
in the reporting policy in I believe last year, was last year or the year before where we've specifically outlined the Hannipan County Child Protection Services phone number provided that within the policy as well as the Minnesota Department of Educational
um department all to make it's easier for the recruiter to catch people in those cases. Um so that is um the only change from our MSBA model policy.
Um with only other changes last year we made some modifications to ensure that we were using general language as well. With that said, do you have any questions?
Okay. Does that cover both 414 and 415? That was 414. So, should I move to 415? Absolutely. Thank you. Okay. And it it's kind of a ditto situation. I'm going to be repeating most of what I just said. Um the
difference between 44 415 is mandated reporting of multiable adults. Again we've we are um recommending that you leave citations. We again added reporting information um
around the specific reporting information to make it easier for the mandated reporter. In these particular cases, the only propose changes either in line with our style guide um or uh that those
additional reporting reporting um provisions that we added. And again, we're recommending that we remove um this policy policy 415 for the annual review because again, it's not required by Minnesota's nature form recommended
in this bill. questions. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. We are going to move on to policy 533 which is student wellness, food, nutrition, and physical activity. And
this one did have um significant changes to it. Um, and I'll let director um of units and operations order walk through it in more detail, but in general, we changed the name of the policy to the phrase student wellness to ensure that
there's clarity that this policy applies to food and physical activity as federal and state guidelines require. And then it was rearranged to be clear and chunk it into nutrition promotion, food service, um, competitive foods, and then
physical activity. So, those in general um are the changes, but I will let you walk through more detail. Thank you, Sher Allenberg. Um you kind of hit the nail on the head there with your opening remarks. Um I'll just add though that the existence of this policy is um to bring the district into
compliance with code of federal regulations that require all local education agencies student learners policy. Um I think at the May work session took the time to speak and determine that we did not want this policy to be confused with student
mental wellness. So a lot of the changes were designed to bring um clarity. Um so references that may be interpreted as mental wellness were removed hence the title. Various other references were either removed or changed. Um also I
think the second move to uh bring a greater level of organization to the policy. um some of the various paragraphs and sections did not flow necessarily in the order order order that we wanted to and so that has been as well. I think overall the district is
meeting its obligation to the federal requirements of promoting either the reduction or the prevention of childhood obesity as well as promoting physical activity for all our students. Just one other thing I wanted to um mention is um the end of the policy
talks about um the policy implementation and recordkeeping and we tried to make sure that reflected actual practice as opposed to um um mentioning things that we weren't doing in practice. And so we um really
talked about record retention and as opposed to um specific implementation that were really administrative as opposed to what should be in policy. So, we really tried to parse out um what should be in policy
versus what are administrative tasks and that's why you'll see less as far as the policy implementation piece and monitoring piece. I'll just add um the policy both at the federal level and also our local policy
does call for participation in our groups by um in the community um which we've been doing as a long-standing practice. However, the the pulse also calls for participation from students. Um in our last meeting we did some students from Southview and that's going to be a um recurring theme throughout
the next school year. Also chair Gable also telling them as well. So we have enhanced I guess the group that um regarding that policy. just from the administration anymore. So, I think we are doing a good job of monitoring our our progress.
With that, we'd love to hear questions. Thank you for your work on this. Um, I noticed in the footnotes it hasn't it hadn't been reviewed since 2020. I know there's been a lot of conversation at the board level in terms of like you indicated the mental health piece of it and and the um you helping us get into
alignment with our assessments and our reporting. He had just some questions about towards the end of the policy um number five recordeping. So the last sentence says the records to be retained
included continues. It says including requirements to make the local district wellness policy and trienal assessments available to the public. Is this policy considered the local district? Because I noticed that verbiage was struck earlier in the policy. So I didn't know.
Can you just clarify that for me? Absolutely. So, in terms of the code of federal regulations and what they refer to as the local warms policy, this would be that policy which is really um coming from the healthy homes act which is being around food in schools. Okay. I figured it was probably an umbrella
term that was used in legislation. So, thanks for that clarity. Uh this my second question um part B that same area of the policy where we struck the trienal assessment. Um, was that uh, Vice Chair Alenberg, was that kind of what you were talking about where it was
getting into the weeds of what would happen and so we just decided to say we're going to do it and ask. So we felt that if you if you read through both
um B and D the tri the triannual assessment and the recordkeeping portion that um talking about the district evaluating compliance um and the model policy and
the progress um the recordkeeping they were required to have records that um If you would look at how we monitor performance right now, it's really through our our um district data metrics
plan. And so I'm telling the public and telling the board that we will be assessing this triannually which um in to be in compliance. or once you get into the detail about um
what exactly we're going to be putting in the assessment. I don't know that we actually have enough information and I think that really is the work of the administrator to bring to us how we're going to assess that um as opposed to
defining in policy this is exactly how this is going to be evaluated. These are the records that we're going to keep. Um so we thought and again this is obviously open to feedback for but the rest but we thought simplifying it and making sure that we're explaining to the
communicate to the to the community that um we will ensure that we have document documentation to be in compliance and that we are ensuring that we are assessing this and that it's available to the public and then working with
administration to bring it to the so that makes a a lot of sense to me. The only question I had was under trienal um if we would want to include that first sentence just saying that at least once every three years we'll evaluate compliance or if that's
just part above and clear that out. That's what we were trying to say. Okay. So, I'll just put a note that we should make sure that we're that's that's what it me sort of meant is meant to say. Yeah. Right. And it that's not something
that I'm like, boy, this is something we need. But I that was just like, well, we've removed that part and I understand that and agree with the group, right? And I was like, I wonder if that needs a little what that means to the reader, but not something.
Um, and then similarly to my last question, the appendix I'm I'm assuming were struck because of all the granular detail that got Absolutely. the granular detail and um the nutrition standards um I suppose depending on who who the administration
is can change and so keeping that maintained is just a little bit tedious for the clarity. I didn't have a question but just um a wording issue in Roman numeral 3
section A number three since we changed will not be to should be avoided. If we carry that to the end of the sentence, it accidentally would say should be with we want to we want to put that negative right back in there for that last bit. Anything else?
Well, thank you to the policy team and Director Woodard for putting so much work into this. I appreciate it. Okay, should we move on to policy 806 and this assistant superintendent Nate
Spinson to talk about emergency management. I don't have a tidy summary for you either on this one. Good evening, Vice Chair Helenberg, members of the board, and Dr. Bitman. Good to see you all. Um, what you have
in front of you is our emergency management policy 806 and, uh, which kind of details the our emergency management response, many of the of the procedures associated with our response
during emergency situations. Uh there's one substantive change to the policy and we are recommending to uh that we strike uh Roman numeral 7 which is about violence prevention. And the
reason we're recommending striking that part of the policy is because we um do not perform active shooter drills in public schools. And um and so that requirement for the hour of violence
prevention is not applicable um to our school district. And and just for context, you know, an active uh shooter driller simulation um includes law enforcement being involved um some
some type of stimulation. Um and we just don't do that. Uh we follow the byst standard response pro protocol which really focuses on getting students and staff into rooms that are locked, lights are out and shades are
drawn and everyone is is quiet. And so that would is the only real substantive change to this policy. What questions might you have? Chair Gabler, sorry. Um, that makes sense how you
describe. When I read it, when I look at the verbiage that was struck struck though, I see um that we are providing students with training around
observable warning sites and signals of individual who may be at risk of itself. That sounds like something that might be helpful. Yeah. I mean, I think that that argument probably Not that you're arguing. That's
not the right word. No, I know what you mean. I think that that is um a good point. Um, and I guess the reason why we're recommending that it be struck is while I can't identify something specific that
we do to identifying those signs um, at this particular moment, this is actually not it's a requirement that we don't need to do as a result of an active shooter drill. And so, um, there could
be a way to, you know, include something around around what you're talking about. Um, if that's what you're I don't know that we need to include that, but I know as we've discussed this policy and our procedures a lot over the
last several years, we've um, and maybe I love you guys has procedures in place. We're working with students to say, "Hey, because it's oftentimes them they'll notice something. Hey, this student all of a sudden they're acting different than they were. And we want
them to know and empower them to go to an adult, go to a trusted individual. And so I I can get behind um you know striking this effect of like we're not doing those drills and we I know we talked about that on policy committee
last year that we're a district that doesn't do active shooter drills but the verbiage of what is in here now are things I would think we would want whether it's health teachers whether it's um advisories talking about how do you be a good how do you look out for
somebody that and it doesn't even have to be a school shooter. It could be deforming themselves or risk a suicide. So, some of those things and I don't know that it belongs in this policy, but it might be something that as we engage with I love you guys, that's something
that they have some resources around. Yeah, you bring up a good point. Um, again, not at this very moment do I have an example, but the things that you're talking about are definitely topics of conversation in different curriculum
that we have uh within school like in health classes at the middle school level. I know those would be types of conversations that um kids and staff members would be having. So, while it's not a focused one hour of training
that's attached to this legis legislation, I do believe that um we cover that type of thing in inside of our school system and probably have room for growth in that area, too. Yeah. And I'm I'm fine with us striking
it. I just didn't want us to lose sight of what we're trying to do um around those. Very fair. And I was just going to say that that's what I was thinking as you were asking your question about that. To me it seems like it's not appropriate for the emergency management policy. But when we
talk about our student wellness, not of course what we just renamed, which was the food part, but the actual mental health and well-being from that standpoint, there's some components of this that I think are probably more more appropriate in that area on top of just from a policy standpoint. And then on
top of the curriculum and things. I think that I'm glad you raised that because I think it's an important elemental that where are we in our policy trying to just adopt that but also promote that as far as a key and then where does the programming marry up to that?
Yeah. Yeah. It's a very good point and I totally agree. In fact, I wrote that down. Have broader conversation about social emotional learning. And I think that to me that's a conversation about that. What are the expectations
that our students learn from mental health perspective and why? And one of those reasons is exactly what's in the policy. and m making sure that we're having that conversation and looking back to policies accurately reflect
these important things that we want our students to understand. What other questions might you have? All right, thank you. Um, that is all we have for policy review. Thank you to the policy committee and the administrators that worked on those
policies as well. All right, we will move on to our action items uh port the action portion of our agenda. Uh do I have a motion to approve the resolution authorizing the renewal of an expiring referendum revenue? So moved. Is there a second?
I welcome uh Meritt Wood, director of finance and operations to the table to discuss this renewal with us. He was here earlier this evening. Um, as a reminder to the public, if you're just watching this part of the meeting, this resolution has been reviewed, vetted,
and recommended by administration as well as the finance and facilities committee. It has been discussed by the board at the June 1st and 2nd board retreat, the June 9th work session. We had a public hearing earlier this evening, and now it is up for action.
Ward, thank you, Chair Gabler. Uh perhaps we should switch spots because you're you're kind of taking stealing all my thunder here. Sorry. Um I guess I'll just add um thank you for considering the administration's recommendation to extend our operating referendum um from taxes payable in 2028
to 2037 which is going to provide the district some long-term financial stability. I think it's really important from the community. Um you mentioned our finance and facilities committee meeting. I think all four of our committee members were unanimous um in their support of us extending our um
referendum authority. Of course, they don't speak for the entire community. However, they have been on the committee for a number of years and are very wellversed and have intimate knowledge of the district's finances. So, it was good to have that support as well. Take any questions about the renewal at this time
of action is before you. I think I would just want to add from the finance committee component that there was discussion of course as to anytime you're um seeking authorization for levies and things like that that it's always the intention to want to
come to the community and ask for that reup and so on so forth. this particular situation given the nature of this levy what it's been for many years as as director talked about in his previous presentation this has become sort of a
standard across public education throughout the state of Minnesota so this is in line with pretty much every other district throughout the state is not an outlier and the legislature in its wisdom decided to say hey let's not add on the cost of another election that
we need to run in order to at a high probability that the that the community would support this. And so I think it's important that we state that we did consider that um and we're trying to be as fiscally responsible as we possibly can. And we're hopeful that um as the
board makes this decision tonight that um the community will will look at this in favor to say that yes, they would they would look forward for doing so. Um, but it's not out of a not thinking or caring about that the that the citizenry isn't getting an opportunity for this particular renewal. Take that
seriously. Just want to reemphasize that. Thank you, Dr. Bitman. Very appreciative as well of the work that the board and community has done on this. Just a couple of other points. This is similar to what all cities and
counties also do. And so the board and the community members worked hard to have conversations around those things. Also want to reiterate that school districts are not allowed add anything on to what they're already paying. And so again, that's really want to be clear
with the community to say this is not increasing in terms of adding additional, it's keeping the same thing for an additional amount of time. So we're just grateful for those continued conversations and appreciative for our community's continued Um, and just to be clear, Director
Woodard, I don't think we should change places. We wouldn't it that wouldn't be a good fit for me. Being sarcastic. All right. Uh, we will now vote to approve the resolution authorizing the renewal of an expiring referendum revenue. And we were we are going to do this vote by roll call. So, Ann, would
you mind calling the role? Hi. A hi. Barry, hi Ben. Hi Stapler. Hi Ky. Hi man. Hi. All right. The uh resolution authorizing
the renewal of an expiring referendum revenue is approved 70. Thank you, Director Ward, for your work on this. Thank you, Dr. Bitman, for your work on this. Um and motion is passed. All right. Uh moving on. Do we have a motion to approve the
long-term facilities maintenance plan fiscal years 2027 through 2036? Move. Is there a second? Second. I welcome back Director Wood to present on the long-term facility maintenance plan.
Chair Gabler. Um when I meet someone new and and they ask me what I do for a living finance for school districts and around this time of year they think that I'm on vacation for the entire summer. Um, so we're currently in fiscal year 26. Two weeks ago, we ended fiscal year 25 and we're starting an audit and now
you're going to have a recommendation to formally start our budgeting process fiscal year 27. Um, so all that to say that things in the summer get a lot of important work done. Um, in order to access long-term facilities maintenance revenue, the school board must approve
both a 10-year revenue and 10-year expenditure plan, which will allow the school district to maintain um the very important investment that community members have made in the district over the last 100 or so years and to continue to maintain the buildings in the state of good repair for the next 100 years.
So, we've been accessing long-term facilities maintenance um pretty much since its inception, but um with much more robustness over the last 5 to 10 years, spending anywhere from um 10 to $25 million per year um to keep our 1.85 million square feet um in a good state
for students. Um, the administration's proposal for taxes payable in 26, which is again for fiscal year 2027 operations is $18,842,9493, which is actually a $2 million or so decrease from fiscal year 26 is approximate $21 million. Reason for that
drop, which is illustrated in um some of the attachments you've received, is that so our our overall debt and capital plan can be as neutral from our taxpayers as possible. only do that um through the way we structure our principal interest payments and both non voter approved and voter approved debt. Within those
attachments, you'll see that um from this fiscal year to next fiscal year, there's going to be about um about a $5 million increase to our approved bond payments. And that's going to be mitigated by a a reduction in our pay as you go and long-term facilities maintenance bonded debt. And so that's
going to maintain a pretty even tax rate for our community. It's hovering around about 25% as a tax rate, which is actually down from four years ago when we're north of 26. Future years, we'll be in that 25 to 24 range. And in fact, um, four to five years from now and even
beyond that, you'll see some significant step downs, which will give future boards the flexibility to either add facilities or to better um, and improve current facilities, which are purposes that are not allowable to use maintenance. Additionally, among the
attachments, you'll see a section that calls out abatement bonds. Um those are not directly related to our um long-term facilities maintenance plan, but we thought it would be um prudent to include those so that you can see the impact of um what improvements to um the Cornelia and Highlands parking lots,
which be financed by those abatement bonds. How that kind of fits into the entire plan. As you can see, adding that additional $3 million of debt actually doesn't really move the needle. So far, we're able to structure those payments in a way that our taxpayers and our um generous
community and and keep the use as flat as possible. So, we're seeking recommendation um to approve our 10-year plans. Um if you were to approve those, we would then submit that to the Department of Education and were they to approve it, those will be allocated to our property taxes, which you'll then
take action on in September and December 27. Take any questions you may have at this time. Um the recommended action is before you. Seeing no questions, we will then vote to approve the long-term facilities maintenance plan for fiscal years 2027
through 36. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Long-term facility maintenance plan for fiscal years 20 207 36 is approved. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the 2025
to 26 school board goals? So moved. Is there is there a second? All right. Board members, you will recall that at our June 1st and 2nd board retreat, uh we discussed and identified board priorities for the 2526 school year. And at the June 9th school
board meeting, these goals were then further discussed by the board with an opportunity to make changes and seek clarity. Uh there were no further changes made at that time and so tonight the board goals are coming up for action. Um for any public that's watching similar to what we expect of
our staff and administration. The board sets annual goals for ourselves and then we work on these goals throughout the year. This year's board goals include four different goals focusing on hiring and on boarding boarding a new superintendent in the 2526 school year.
um strengthening district stability and sustainability while making measurable progress towards strategic plan goals and student success indicators, maintaining a balanced budget and fiscal integrity while upholding district quality and strategic priorities and
enhancing schoolboard governance effectiveness through our own continuous development and evaluation. Um, with that being said, um, before we vote for order, are there any questions or points that you would like to make about these goals?
Well, then we will now vote to approve the 2025 2026 schoolboard goals. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? The 202526 schoolboard goals are approved. Do I have a motion to approve the 202526
superintendent goals? Is there a second? A reminder that similar to the board goals, the superintendent goals have been reviewed by the board and available to the public at multiple points, including the June 1st and 2nd board retreat, the June 9th board meeting, and
now tonight they're up for action. Uh Dr. Dr. Bitman's goals are closely aligned with our strategic plan, board priorities, his assessment based on his initial time here in Edina and Minnesota Schoolboard Association and Minnesota Association of School Administrator
Standards. Uh Dr. Bitman, is there anything you would like to share about your goals that has not been shared? Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity. I've just appreciated the collaboration um and the continued focus on the good capital here in uh AD public
schools and I'm just grateful for the continued discussions around how I can add to the already well done work. Looking forward to it. Thank you board members. Any questions about these goals? Thank you. Not so much a question just a
comment. Um when you look at goal number four, ensuring a seamless leadership transition. And this was really important when we had our our um retreat um and as we were defining not only our goals which is this is our number one goal for the school board but um also having Dr. Whitman's expertise not only
as a superintendent but also in his um other capacities that he's had in his career of recruiting and hiring um for other districts uh superintendents. I just want to just talk about the the collaboration between those two. So, it's our number one goal even though it's number four for him. That's why he's got the daily job of taking care of
the district, but we made it really clear that we wanted to see this as a key goal for him as well because this is what we're kind of this is the most important decision we're going to be making as we look forward to the next several years. So, I just wanted to call call out attention to that specific collaboration. Looking forward to it. Thank you.
Thank you, Director Bourbon. Uh we will now vote to approve the 202526 superintendent goals. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? The 202526 superintendent goals are approved. Do I have a motion to approve policy 208?
Is there a second? Policy chair Alenberg, you take a seat as policy. Sorry. Um this is in rapid review because the only change to this is it was updated with um the future dates for
policy reviews and then it changed um as um executive director human resources mentioned earlier um it changed policy 4145 um away from having the annual review requirements. So those were the only two
changes which is why we brought up the rapid review enact as opposed to the full policy process. questions. We'll now vote to approve policy 208 based on rapid review. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Policy 208 is approved. Do I have a
motion to approve policies 522, 530, and 532? So move. Is there a second? Second. Policy. Chair Ellington. I know. Sorry. Okay, there I got it. Um um policy 522 is um title 9 sex
discrimination policy grievance procedure and process. I'll invite up executive assist um to talk them up. That's right. I'm sorry I'm out of sync with my updates. Uh I apologize. Oh, I
wrote comments on all of these. Okay. Um, so there were no changes from last month on these. So, um, unless someone has a question or comment about these, uh, seeing no further questions, we will go ahead and vote on these policies. Uh,
all those in favor of approving policies 522, 530, and 532 say I. I. Anyone opposed? Policies 522, 530, and 532 are approved. Uh, do any board members have leadership
or committee updates? I did want to take a moment and thank Director Arum for leading last month's work session and board meeting. you did a f fantastic job. So, thank you for doing that. Uh let's move on to the superintendent
update. Dr. Britman, do you have any updates you'd like to share? Madam Chair, just a few. Just grateful for the good things happening this summer and for our leadership team, many of which are whom are sitting over here. So, our programs like ESY and our opportunities for summer program through our community ed and all of the other
programs, the interventions that we provide have gone remarkably well. and that does not happen with a lot of without a lot of leg work. Um, I'm appreciating cabinet and I'm resonating with Director Woodard's remark. We are as busy if not busier in the summer than
we are any time of the year. So, just appreciating the the work happening. um had the opportunity today to uh go to our annual metro superintendent gathering with the mayors. And so all of the superintendents and the mayors are able to meet and talk about a number of
things that that uh we have in common and ways that we can partner. It's especially nice today because we also had Nate Swenson and Paul Pzel uh weigh in and and were invited and part of some presentations because of the good work and the focus areas uh here in Edina
public schools. In addition to that, Patrick was able to enjoy to participate with me as he's finishing his superintendent license and we thought that would be a great opportunity for him as well. So, it's just a really nice day, great to connect and great to talk with the mayors as well. Um, in addition
to that, I had the opportunity this last week to meet with our leadership from our parent leadership groups to plan out and talk about the next year. So, we're excited to be able to do that. I also had the opportunity to work with Cher Gabler, vice chair Ellenburgg to work on a draft for the board to consider for
the upcoming year and schedule. A lot of work happens, multiple meetings, several hours. So just grateful for the time with them to to help us develop a successful plan for this next year. And then finally had the opportunity and want to thank Director Birdman for rep
representing the school board with an opportunity to be in the parade here in Edina. I don't know that I was ready for being in the parade anytime, but there were hundreds and hundreds of children uh and grateful. I was particularly uh entertained when a high school student
grabbed a bunch of candy, took what he wanted, and threw the rest back to us. So, it was a great day. It was a hot day. It was a great time to represent Dina Public Schools. And there were tons of laughter and smiles. Thanks for letting me be part of it. The only correction I would say, Dr. Bitman, is
that it wasn't hundreds of kids, it was thousands of kids. That is true. One of our one of our partners said it was triple the amount we have had the last two years. And so we were grateful. Special thanks to Ann and others and
also Ann Lee for providing some goodies to give to our families. So thank you. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn our meeting? So move. Is there a second? Second. We will vote to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say I. I.
Any opposed? The motion is passed in the July 14th, 2025 school board meeting has adjourned. Thank you.