you good evening and welcome to the regular meeting of the ISD 728 School Board today is Monday August 12th it is 6: PM and I would like to invite everyone to join me with a pledge of allegiance I pledge alance to the flag
of the United States of America to the rep for stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for good evening welcome everyone it's nice to see so many friendly faces this
evening on a nice sunny Monday evening um reminder to everyone the protocol reminders we do have one copy of printed materials relating to the agenda that should be on the back table uh to board members we are asked to
agree to the follow to follow the agreed upon protocols that are stated here in the agenda um and again please review the statement of core values and with that I will entertain uh an approval of the agenda so moved second I have a
motion and a second to approve the agenda all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion pass at this time we will move into the public comment portion of e
e e e and just to let our constituents know that we do have um that those that are interested in addressing the school board at a future meeting can sign up through the district's website and that they must do
so prior to noon on the day of the board meeting to be considered with that we will move to our general reports this evening and item a is the superintendent's report and I will turn it over to Dr Pitman great Madam chair members of the board you might remember that the board had asked
me to come up with some ideas and options for the board to consider for listening sessions for the upcoming school year the board then uh indicated that they'll talk about those various things at the work session at the end of August so you have in front of you a
memo that you've all seen before but it's also available to the public and also available online I won't go through all of the information um for you verbatim but I will just provide a couple highlights for you in the end all board members myself and the executive
cabinet think it's a great idea to to have listening sessions and to increase opportunities to hear from stakeholders throughout the community so there's you unanimous support to do that um so you'll see that in the memo the recommendation to absolutely do that one
of the things that I would ask that you pay particular attention to and you've seen this ahead of time is the information in the memo that says suggested next steps and prior to starting those listening sessions and making commitments it would be really important that the board have some
common understandings and consensus commitments to each other on what that looks like so I'll just list I'll list a few of the things that we would respectfully ask the board to think about before they make any decisions thinking about and identifying commitments related to the purpose of
the listening session would be the first thing that we noted thinking about the frequency and duration of the listening sessions that board members are interested in having attendance requirements some of the board members all of the board
members different board members Etc the board will want to consider who they would like to serve and on those different uh listening sessions who the board would like to facilitate is that an individual board member is that the group of board
members is it an administrator etc those are done differently in all districts uh that take this on also what parameters will be set to ensure that everyone that shows up to a listening session has the opportunity to share their feedback so
again it's so it can be difficult just to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to voice that and so the board will want to talk about that ahead of time uh in terms of the listening session how will the board want to share the information how will they want to share it when will they want to share it
who will share it Etc and you see all of those different things that the board's encouraged to think about also utilization management and addressing the received information often times uh the feedback is amazing but it may just
be one person instead of 30,000 people so again the board will want to have conversations ahead of time about their expectations on the amount of time that the board and or the staff or Administration are to spend when things may or may not align
to the Strategic plan plan or may or may not be reflective of everyone and so again the board will want to just have conversations about that they'll also want to have conversations about the role of individual board members versus Administration and staff so is there an
expectation that individual board members are going to uh follow up or to ask questions is there is there expectations that a certain administrator or certain administrators come are there expectations in the listening sessions for administration to provide answers or feedback or is it
truly a listening session so that people are just aware again want to make sure that all the expectations or commitments on the board are set upfront before they get into a situation where they're not sure or people aren't sure um in addition to that just meeting
expectations for individual board members about talking with people ahead of time talking with people during the listening sessions and talking to people after so who's representing the board who's going out into the community who's following up with individuals is there a
board expectation one way or another and how board members want to do that but again important for the board to decide that before committing um the time expected which I alluded to earlier just expected of the superintendent or others Administration staff so if someone brings up a topic is
it the expectation of the board that well let's just say this what is the expectation of the board in terms of who follows up how much time is spent Etc the next one talks about success metrics for the listening sessions how will the board determine that those listening
sessions have been effective so again something to think about how people will measure it if one person comes if a hundred people come if you know again just want to be thinking about what that looks like um participant signup
requirements are you interested in having individuals sign up for those listening sessions ahead of time to let them know what you want they want to provide feedback on or are you interested in just having an open event for people to come and talk about whatever they would like again no right
or wrong but you'll want to make sure as a board that you have made those decisions and commitments together and then obviously there are lots of other considerations the other thing that um you may want to think about and again there's four options for you to consider but you can consider any options those
are just a couple varieties of things that the board has talked about before that different groups have suggested to the board um but the board gets to decide if and how they decide to do this I would suggest um again as it says in the recommendation we really do want to
provide opportunities to ensure that all people uh across the district are represented at those listening sessions so the board can get that feedback firsthand and then again we'll want to make sure the board is encouraged to really have some level of consensus or commitment on the thing
the questions that I brought up before the board may also want to consider just based on the history in the district you know we used to have listening sessions um and they were not very well attended at certain times um and so the board will want to think about the structure
of that as well as do they want to have them every month or do they want to have them quarterly if they want to have them quarterly do they want to revisit that 6 months from now to see what worked and what didn't work so that they can make adjustments Etc so again the board will just want to be thinking about those
things but again uh my team and I strongly recommend the board consider some additional listening sessions and we know that board members would like to do that as well so the time is for the work session on the 26th that will be one of of the
many topics the board will talk about and the hope is that you've had an opportunity up to now or between now and that meeting to have some conversation or to think about those various questions so you're ready to talk as a group and then make some commitments for the year you happy to take any questions any
questions or comments for Dr bitman yeah Dr bitman um I think I've seen those those suggestions from you do we have that in an email because I would want to write some notes down specifically on those you know recommendations from you so yes so I listed it in the board I provided it in the last board update but
it's also in the agenda tonight okay so uh the public can have that as well and just an opportunity to review and you may have more or different things that you want in there too yeah know I it's good it's good discussion I just want to write some of my thoughts down for that discussion so thanks
y any other questions or comments thank you wonder thank you okay we will move on then to Schoolboard member reports and uh the public comment report director Anderson so one individual requested to speak to the school board tonight was
given the opportunity to do so the topic identified was related to substitute teaching rates on behalf of the school board I'd like to thank them for signing up or her in that case so uh appreciate you sharing your thoughts and the feedback and I think the appropriate
staff are here so thank you wonderful thank you director Anderson um second report this evening is the work session report from August July 12th July 12th or July 17th July I'm sorry it's
for today's meeting from July 17th director Nelson it's July 17th we had a work session and Miss Barb Dorne was here from msba director of leadership development and executive searches and uh she facilitated a conversation with
us about our superintendent Sear sech very informative was great great discussion included opportunities for the school board members to provide feedback and ask questions and discuss upcoming meetings and phases of the search and we are now
underway wonderful thank you any questions or comments from board members we'll move on to item three then which was the uh superintendent search update and I will turn it over to Vice chair Weiss since July 17th uh lot has
happened we've received a lot of feedback from the community so I just want to thank everyone um to date um as as the last update we've received to date we've had uh 609 responses to the survey that went out um 384 of those
came from parents and Guardians um 161 from staff members 41 um as community members 12 other five students um and then uh a few uh business owners as well so really a good mix across the district
and across our um ac across our constituents uh community members Etc the board will meet with msba as part of the work session on August 26th Miss Dorne will share the server results with us at that time and we will have time to ask questions discuss the
next steps we went through that process in July um so really excited to see those results and then move move forward to the next steps of the uh the process um with that we are looking to be prepared for for uh the interview process which is scheduled to start uh
mid to late September um I don't have a firm count on applicants but we were at four at one point in time um so we'll we'll get an update on that and we're continuing to see applicants come in so that's great news as well um last Thursday there was also a question and answer session that
msba held uh for anyone in the community that was interested in just understanding more of the process they could ask questions and understand that it was suggested that board and administr Administration not attend that so that it was a very uh open uh process
um for community members to ask questions of msba and again that was focused on the process um the link to to view that um is now available just received it this afternoon so I'll get it out to the board members so you can review in advance of the 26th but that was just shared uh this afternoon um and
again that will give us a lot of information and feedback and insight um for our August 26th work session um and meeting so wonderful any questions or comments for vice chair Weiss all right thank you for the update
uh with that we will move over move over to governance and item A's policies first up is our annual policies first reading the school board will be asked to review as a first reading the following policies as part of the annual review cycle policy 722 public data and
data subject request and policy 806 crisis management um board has asked to review these two policies if you have any questions or comments please make sure that you get them to Dr bitman and myself with that we'll move on to item
two which is policies legislative updates it's been recommended the school board approve the following policies that have been updated to reflect the 2024 legislative revisions I'm going to list them this
time once policy 102 equal educ ation opportunity 104 School District mission statement 204 school board meetings 207 public hearings 413 harassment and violence 416 drug alcohol and Cannabis
Testing 418 drug free workplace drug free school 419 tobacco free environment 425 staff development and mentoring 503 attendance 506 student discipline 507 7
corporal punishment and prone restraint 509 enrollment of non-resident students 512 School sponsored student Publications and activities 513 student promotions retention and program design
515 protection and privacy of pupil records 516 student medication 521 student disability non-discrimination 524 internet technology and cell phone acceptable use
and safety 532 use of peace officers and Crisis crisis teams to remove students with IEPs from school grounds 601 School District curriculum and instructional goals 63 curriculum development 604
instructional curriculum 608 instructional Services special education 609 religion and religious and cultural observations 613 graduation requirements 614 school
district testing plan and procedures 616 School District system accountability 619 staff development for standards 620 credit for learning 624 online learning options 707
transportation of public school students 708 transportation of non-public school students 709 student Transportation safety 802 disposition of obsolete equipment and material could I get a
motion in a second so move second a motion on a in a second any questions comments from board members yes I'd like to uh chair Thompson I'd like to make a motion to amend policy
516 and that would be um paragraph four uh D and I have thank you I have some written what it reads currently is a school may
require a student requesting access let me let me back up second this is the new tella Health um part of the law where a student may get mental health or therapy services at school instead of the parent having to go to the school pick the student up and
bringing to a clinic or a therapy whatever which is a good idea because many times you can do that over Zoom versus a a live meeting however um in the current statute it says a school may require student
requesting access to space under the section to submit to the school a signed and dated consent form from the student's parent or guardian or from the student if the student is age 16 or older and
uh what I'd suggest to change that to is isd728 will require a student requesting access to space under the section to submit to the school a signed and dated consent form from the student's parent or guardian and the intent there is and then in from the student if the student
is age 16 or older authorizing the students licensed mental health provider release information of the student's health record that is requested by the school so the idea is there for Parental notification that their student is going to get access to health or mental health or
therapy at school so the parent would know what's going on so that would be the intent to that and the law does provide a provision that we may require that so it's it's just for transparency for the
parents so the provision as you just stated um allows for a school says that a school may require it and that is actually what the current states right this this is in sorry this is an insertion in statute
that it says School may require so that's directly right out of the statute correct and the current does state that a school may require right and so that follows the statute correct correct and so we have the option as a board to say will the school will us as a district
require parental consent for mental health services and therapy services or do we keep that quiet May versus requiring it as an absolute um what are the what would the
point of clarification yeah do we get a second on his motion I'll second it if we haven't I mean I'm sorry you're Rachel so we can well procedurally I would ask that if it's better and I guess procedurally I don't know if it's better to approve all
of them and put the one aside do you have any thoughts or I don't yeah whatever probably to maybe just pull this one out have a separate conversation and yeah let's deal with this one and then if there's any others we'll deal with that next would you be amenable to just
approving the rest of them and pulling this I'll first make a motion to pull out 516 from the stack and work on that before we proceed so you'd be willing to approve the to make this is the only one you're making a motion to remove I had a couple
of questions on other ones but uh minor okay this one I I have a motion and but the motion would be then to pull out 516 discuss that now and then proceed with the others after I I second that that's why me okay
that's just that's okay do that so then the board will take either either approve it or deny it discussion on the motion and then we have a motion in a second so now we can discuss yep
Z so so again the the uh the policy as stated by Statute um suggests that a school may require a student and your suggestion as noted here would be to uh change that to a more strict verbage that it would be an absolute requirement
that we will require that correct okay what will parental notification yes that it will require the student to to submit to the school the signed yes yes versus May it's just making it absolute is your suggestion
that is correct director uh Dr Bittman what do you feel the implications to that would be um as it relates to the staff the enforcement of that um the paperwork related to that what would be the impact to staff and student both both on the positive and negatives on
that yeah Madam Vice chair the it's a good question certainly interesting we always uh want to make sure that we are engaging parents this I did have the opportunity to work with the Administration staff on this particular motion the statute really is
only for providing space schools can't set up Mental Health Services for other people's kids so the parents are actually the ones requesting it and so there would no there would in our humble opinion there would be no need to notify the parent because the parent is making
arrangements and asking for them to be at the the site now the district when this policy is adopted now that the statute's there the the district would be interested in having conversations with families to get consent from the
families to share the information so we can support the students who are getting that information because the schools don't have legal authority to make again doctor's appointments for other people's kids and they don't have legal authority to get the information once they do so
again the opportunity would be for we probably will do some level of cons asking the parent for consent so we can have the information but the statute is not reflective of that so we would believe that that would be an unnecessary Amendment to the model
policy any other any other questions questions on that that there's a guard rail a guard rail up so if things change as time changes parental rights they'll just be notified but I do feel comfortable how it's being served now with your expl a Dr bitman but I think
things change quick so I would like that just the will not may we will require that so you are actually so I just want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly because you said you you stated that you would support the way it's currently stated with the explanation but then
stated you wanted to say well so I think I would like to go with the amendment because times change it sounds like there isn't a concern because parents are setting up the appointment appointments for their children um so I wasn't aware of how that all worked so I
don't think it's urgent but I why not put will in there just to have a guard rail up for just parental but will is not a guard rail will is an absolute the May is actually the guard rail so Madam Vice chair director fryberg when a parent calls to ask if
their child can be seen at such in such a school the administration felt like that would be repetitive to say okay you're requesting we can make that happen we're going to send you a letter asking you if we can have consent to do that that's what we're when the parent is really asking for it yes so and I
think I think understanding the process as a policy then is enforced and executed or you know put into action is is is critical too so that we can feel comfortable that the processes in place support the policy um and as I understand it from your explanation Dr
bitman um there are significant processes in place already with the staff to ensure that the the requests are either coming from the parent or would be asked for in terms of process so requiring it would create an extra
step to parents that could would be redundant like to your point so they're requesting it and they have to provide this form question is there a way for a 7 1y old to do this without their parents at
16 at 16 yeah so I'm saying there is a way for a kid to do this without their parents' knowledge that is correct what this would do is not allow them to do that it would yeah if we were to accept the
amendment as written it would be for all students so for example a a six go ahead legally 16-year-olds can you can't suede that that's their medical right so we as a school district can't supersede their medical right to have access to mental health care they can make that decision
for themselves at 16 so even if we were to change the verbiage as suggested to will legally we can't actually require it my understanding anyways you'd have to tease out you'd have to rewrite this to have 16-year- olds and older be a different
situation and the legal guidance uh when the board's Council for example came last summer to talk with the board of some of the legalities around things when they spoke about for example transgender students and notification of parents Etc legal councel had encouraged
the board not to do some of the things that uh certain board members had asked to do because of liability in federal statutes and guidance around those things so it would be difficult for the board to notify a parent of a 17 or
18-year-old adult or 18-year-old adult student or a 17-year-old um from a legal standpoint and I would suggest if the board was interested in thinking about that that the board submit that for to their legal councel for comment before making a change to what the state has recommended
the board adopt just a point of order yeah we never voted on the motion to pull 516 out we we discuss we should be discussing the motion that director Nelson made second that I made
yeah the motion on the floor was to pull 516 out of the stack and work on that first and then come back and discuss the motion I think we decided we were just going forward to discuss right but I'm just saying procedurally we didn't
follow the process of Robert's rules in in U vote on the motion that was at hand to pull 516 out just clarification on so that's the motion not to make the change just to P out you made a motion you made the motion yeah I made the motion you s
it to pull 516 out of the stack so we could talk about it we never voted on that motion so just to go back to that and director Anderson's right from a procedural standpoint the board would then vote collaboratively on whether they're willing or interested in pulling it they could then the majority of the
board say we're not interested in it and then the motion as written goes forward or they could say we are interested interested in it at which point they would then discuss we're pretty deep into it now yeah we discussed the motion before we voted on that's
okay I mean you're the you're in charge Madam chair I might I might recommend just for the sake of clarity in the the Parliamentary rules that we have a motion in a second to pull 516 if the board wants to vote that they
want to pull 516 or not pull 516 now the now would be the time to do that so A yes would mean that you want to pull 516 from the rest a no means that you are not willing to pull it and the motion stands as
written okay call the question perfect so we have a motion and second to pull it we'll do the vote yep we have a motion in a second to pull policy 516 from our stack of policies to be revie viwed this evening all in favor of pulling policy 516 for further
discussion say I uh oos say nay nay motion passes and we will pull 516 for further discussion so now you can finish the discussion so there we go we can finish the
discussion is there a way that we can make the request of the board of this motion or this change known to the administration without changing the verbiage that would say you know why we
strongly recommend that parents are involved like you've already said that's what we want and that's what we do that's our policy but you know where where it solidifies that the board is behind that Parental Guidance in
that yes so without changing the so director Nelson I think I hear your question is um if the board were to adopt this policy as written would it be possible to work with the administration to let them know that what certain members of
the board would like to have in there is that is that the question yeah what what the the belief of the entire board is that we want to make sure that parental involvement is included as much as possible which I think everybody here agrees to yeah but without going around
the law or circumventing the law or trying to do something that's not really within our rights I think it I mean this is a really good discussion and I appreciate that I think the challenge is is uh when we use words you know like like as much as possible or whatever
that that just is means something different to every person and so from the administrative Point as I said staff are not feeling like that's necessary because it it again the parents are the ones making the appointments it to the staff's perspective it would be like the
Boy Scouts coming and renting a room and then us notifying every parent that their child attended a or is attending a Cub Scout meeting or a boy scout Scout meeting you know again there it's this the parent is requesting that particular room but the board has the opportunity
to do that and certainly I could if it's the board's will and that's what I would be looking for from the majority of the board if the board's will is for to consider that and or to do that without changing the policy I can certainly have those conversations with
people and let them know can can you clarify this is for mental health services that right now we contract in from other entities correct versus like social Ser like a social worker Poli this yeah it's a really good question uh director Hamlin this has
nothing to do with the school district these are outs these are the parent wanting to have their own mental health provider allow their student to take time during their school day to meet instead of coming and picking them up and bringing them they're asking the
school to make time and space for them to be able to do that during are not school district has nothing to do with nothing to do y thank you the legislation is specific to making space and time if it's available for a student to do that so
parents don't have to come in and bring them and and all those other things what was happening across the state is some schools and districts were allowing that to happen others were not happening or were not allowing it saying that that was kind of a parents role that wasn't the school district role there were all
sorts of feelings about that at the legislature so the legislature made a statute they didn't say shell because again it depends on safety and who's going to supervise the student and what does that mean in terms of needed support if someone is having a mental health crisis Etc so they simply put
into statute that we may allow the space and time for their student to see their provider it has nothing to do with the school district provider so I can say my agency does this very same thing with a different school district and we only work with the parents the school provides the space and we would never provide services without
consent from parents or a 16-year-old and older on their own so I think the intent is to ensure that parents are working with the facilities since chances are their foot in the bill exactly yep and we as mental health
professionals have a lot of documentation that needs to be signed in order for us to see kids um whether they're paying for it or not so yeah legally mental health professionals are going to seek out what they need from parents yeah and I think I think the intent of
the law I'm sure it's an unfunded mandate that they made school districts require space for this well actually um it's not a mandate you know that the law says that school districts May provide and again
there's no shall there's no must because again who who's going to supervise a kindergarten students getting their mental health who's going to supervise a p a student in crisis with significant suicide or crisis uh things happening in second hour like and the school district
has zero responsibility for that that's why the statute indicated that they may provide space and that if they do they can set the parameters to what that looks like that might also mean that some of our schools don't have space and some of our schools do have
space sure because again the the age of the student the level of the student the amount of students needing support the Privacy you know it's we we wouldn't be able to for example have a student use the cafeteria to do their own mental health support with their provider so
again the size of our buildings and things will also play a factor it just a point of information there it says in the statute the school district must provide an enrolled Secondary School student with access
during regular school hours and to the extent staff is available before or after the school day on days when students reive instruction at the school so it's a it's a must in the statute or
secondary for secondary yes it really does though depend on the the hours right with the school districts have the flexibility and where and when to do that at Rogers High School with 1900 students if 1700 need a mental health provider during the day
there's not enough space and time to do that so the legislature wrote it so that yeah we can we can say Rogers High School student a we can make space available for you at Elk River High School at 10:00 that might be our only space available there might be no space
available at that site so again the districts across the state have extreme amounts of flexibility to how and what that looks like because again the space available the number of kids available the age of the student the type of Crisis all those
things I mean that's why we have data and prevention team uh SEC safe and Security Department team um to go through all of those things with our providers again just to make sure process processes are in place so again I think I think it's a good idea to have
tella Health you know there's instances for speech therapy possibly would be a good example where you could do that possibly on Zoom not all of it but sometimes you could have selected appointments in some types of therapy but um I think the the idea is to ensure
that parents will always know because the parents would have to submit a form to the district my student needs to receive services and I need to schedule times for them during the school day um to receive these services and that's that's the goal of this is to
make parents aware so there's nothing being done behind the scenes so we have full transparency that's the intent and I I think the the intent is from my perspective the intent is is is good and positive I think way it's currently
written and then the proceeding procedure and process to which it's occurring and and suggested it uh be handled does that without I would say adding additional redundancy and or additional administrative paperwork on
top of um an already probably heavy heavy process within within the realm of of this um policy but Madam Vice chair if I could I just pulled up the statute it just says beginning October 1st 2024 to the extent space is available a
school district must provide so again districts have complete flexibility to do that and again the intent would be whatever the board decides parents will be involved to some extent because of that um but again the
the board gets to decide what that is but again if the board were to make a change I would encourage the board to talk with legal counsel so they're not superseding any type of state or federal health laws well then I'll make a motion to pull this 516 my motion and table it
until the next meeting upon legal review I'll second that so now we would take a vote to see if the majority of the board was interested Ed init so I have a motion in a second to table policy 516 until the next meeting
pending legal review all in favor say I I oppos say Nay Nay Nay we'll do a roll call vote Anderson
yes nson I pban name name wise may I and Thompson is a n so the motion
fails four to three so we will proceed with policy 516 as it is stated and it will be included with the rest of our policies this evening so we currently have a Motion in
a second on the floor for um policies with legislative updates are there any other policies that anyone else would like to discuss this evening um I would please excuse me um I would please um Madam
chair uh 503 attendance okay uh I was just wondering Dr bitman or whoever could answer um it says that family vacation are not an excused absence and I and if
that's the way the law is fine but I think it's fine if people want to take their kids on vacation and I think it should be excused but I don't know if we legally you know what that looks like so maybe something to add to the
attorney Madam chair director fryberg this policy is compliant with the law and this is the model policy from msba but there are there are unique things school districts have the opportunity to to have various
items so the board gets to decide I just wasn't sure if it was a local conversation or if this or if it's not if this is yes State Statute does not identify that specificity in law okay any other board members have any
comments questions regarding that I've always heard that um our school encourages parents to take their kids out of school for a vacation and do those kinds of things and parent rights a slip that says that what they were
doing I think you know there's always the the extreme right where somebody could continue to to abuse it two vacations or take a month and take their kid out that that might might be the wisest thing if a kid is struggling in school or whatever but I've I've always
heard that it's not a somehow the parent is in trouble by taking their kid on vacation yeah that's I agree that's what I think it's like I just I don't know if that's changing then unexcused or not it's just the standard in the
policy I don't know but that's that's my feeling what I've heard and seen in common practice Yeah I think our families and our administrators would say that we work with families well in this District we do yeah there's never been any issues yeah
I agree with that I mean in the sense that uh I remember when my kids were in high school we' pull them off to go to Europe you know for 10 days or something during the school year and they got quite an education there however it just you know we
just you know I I just I was looking at this right before I came to the meeting and noticed I I missed that vacations with family with pre-approval will one of the exceptions was lined out and maybe what I'll do is I'll seek U more
clarification from msba on that what exactly that means because we want to have the ability to I I know the district currently does it but maybe the law is moving someplace else I don't know I don't know what the intent of of
striking that is well but I think we would also say that that children learn best when they're in school and missing school is not ideal and I'm not taking away that learning also happens when you're on vacation with your family and doing the other things as well and we also have
opportunities when kids are not in school and they have breaks so I mean yeah I mean okay so that you're putting that out there yeah I guess I'd like to to make a motion then to to table this till
we have more clarification please there a second I'll second uh we have a motion in a second to are we tabling it indefinite how long are we just say to the next
meeting would be my suggestion um All In in favor of tbling it to the next meeting say I I I opposed say nay
nay we'll do a roll call vote Anderson I Nelson Nay tban Nay wece Nay Nay it's not listed as
I Thompson nay um so the vote is is five to two five is nay two is I so the motion fails so we will proceed with policy 503 being included with the rest of the policies for this evening we have any a point of clarification on that it
was struck it's one of many things struck through in part of the excuse but it's not actually listed as an unexcused just for it's not listed in the unexcused and it's not listed in the excused either so correct
correct um the changes would imply a more probably general definition of what is legitimate excuse there's several things that have been crossed out as I read it again uh read it earlier last week um including illness
and illness of immediate families things like that that are not listed as unexcused of course um they're just not listed in like multitude of every possible excused so just for point of clarification like family ifications are
not listed as unexcused absences they are just struck through as a change in how the policy is written in the excused that's a good point your yeah just to make sure we're clear on that that it's not now listed as an unexcused
accent absence um it is just a strike through in terms of how it is written so it's not defined as an excused correct it's not yeah one of many things that are no longer listed many of which would certainly be reviewed and and excused
including illnesses and whatnot right okay any other questions comments and again as a reminder these are policies that have legislative changes only correct I just have one suggestion yes
there's a ton of them yep took a lot of time to read through all of them and you know think through them and you know is there a way in the future that we can get like half of them at a time or something I mean I don't know the state threw them all at us right so we had to do this but it just seems like it was
like but that I think that's something certainly worth Merit some conversation in our work session that we have coming up in two weeks y on how we handle that with legislative changes that if we could do them in a different way you know maybe we limit it to a certain amount so that everybody feels like they're totally prepared when they're
you don't want to give up two hours every night well I mean it's I'm fine but it's just you know if I'm doing my due diligence I got to read through all these and look at the changes and make sure that I'm in agreement with them or I've got some suggestions it's just a lot to throw all into one meeting Y and
just because we're making these changes doesn't mean they won't still come up in the three threee review cycle that is correct these are just legislative changes that are going into effect correct I get it it's what we have to do but yes yep they will yeah they will still find their way in the regular
review cycle some may find their way back through again this year or in the next couple years depending on when those policies are on schedule for that thank you but yes the legislative changes do come once a year last year was I think more than this year um so it
was less this year thankfully but yes okay any other questions comments I don't want to complain [Laughter] okay hearing n I'm going to call a question it's been recommended the school board approve the following
policies that have been updated to reflect the 2024 legislative revisions as previously stated all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion passes thank you all for doing your work I know that it is a lot
of policies to go through with the legislative changes so I appreciate that and we will move on to Item B which is a resolution relating to the election of school board members and calling the school district general election it's been recommended the school board approve the resolution relating to the
election of Schoolboard members and calling the school district general election as attached and approve the noce the notice of general election as attached can I get a motion in a second so move second a motion in a second uh
the filing period ends on August 13th at 5:00 pm the school board is asked to approve this resolu resolution now because August 13th is the last day to notify County Auditors with a written notice of general election additional
filings received will be included in the resolution and notice prior to it being sent to the counties any questions or comments from board members no all righty hearing none I will call the question it's been recommended the school board approve the resolution relating to the election of
school board members and calling the school district general election as a Tas and approve the notice of general election as attached all in favor say I I I opposed say nay motion passes we'll
move on to item five faculty and staff item a substitute rate increase for consideration attached is a memo recommending the school board approved the changes to the rate of pay for substitute assistant par professionals clerical Food Service custodial Child
Care assigned teacher building substitutes Community Education site leaders and regularly scheduled kitchen helpers and avors effective August 21st 2024 and executive director casy will is here to present information and respond
to school board questions welcome Mr casy thank you madam chair uh Madam chair members of the board Dr bman um a little bit of background as to how we get to this point at this time of the year um in late June as a regular process we
meet with teachers on call to kind of review the past year and how things were going as part of that meeting though we talk about the upcoming year and teachers on call is really good at providing us with salary data and surveys that they have done through
their organization in addition around that time um the HR Director School HR directors in the state um produce a a survey around um salaries and substitute
wages and so on from there we take that information and we work with executive um director OS and his Finance team on recommendations related to substitute rates and some rates for other staff that are not part of a collective
bargain agreement that are that are kind of these one-offs and that's what we have in front of you today I do want to make one clarification because because the question has been brought up as part of our conversation with teachers on call in late June we did have a
conversation about our three tier system and we agreed and we informed them of this in about mid July that we would accept the time a substitute took in the last year towards the tier system so they don't start over um they will
continue if someone had 25 days of substitute service last year that they'll be in the second tier as they head into this year so um in working with Finance we look at the budget and some other things around making this recommendation and so this
is how we got to this point so our recommendation um with regard to substitute rate is to raise our daily or our building substitute rate from 210 a day to 220 these are our substitutes that are
assigned to each building for the entire year um and they are paid a higher rate for taking on that assignment um with regard to substitutes around assistance in Paris clerical Food Service custodial and child care um
their rates previously were $16 to $15 an hour the salary surveys show that the average is summer around $16.98 so we decided to you know go up to 17 um with those and round up the
community ed um site leader um is has not been raised in several years and we're making a recommendation to make that $18 and there's a reason for that most of our site leader substitutes come
from the Child Care Group they pick up and the site leader is kind of a supervisor in that area and so the child care rates are just below $18 so we do want to entice them to take the substitute so we're recommending
$18 and then the kitchen helpers the kitchen helpers are a non-bargaining group that work in Food Service they work very limited hours most of them are two and a half hours a day they work during the Lunch Period and supplement our current Food Service um these rates
have not moved with the market for a while so that's why you're seeing a fairly significant increase here it puts them just below the rates of what we call our cook helpers which are the first step of our bargaining unit
Food Service folks um and so we're recommending their rates start at 1725 and they can go up to 1895 with that group and then our final ones are our Avid tutors these are our folks that are in helping with kids with
Avid um and they were previously paid ,650 and we're recommending we bring them to 17 Mr casy is there an opportunity could you get the put the memo up on the screen just so the board can visually Tim I can do
that should have it right oh okay you want it might just help also to visually see there you go perfect thank you any questions questions or comments director Anderson yes uh director casy
some of the comments made in the public comments and some of the emails we received about tier three experienced retired teachers why you know what's the policy right now or what's the guidance on them
being started at the lowest tier instead of coming at a higher tier um there is no policy the guidance is the budget and working through that and looking at the budget for an overall
um uh substitute rate for all our substitutes so as part of that we in making that change to not start them over we considered that as part of the budget to do it and made that decision to do it that way so what's the
difference Delta between a tier one and tier three um it starts at 165 for tier one 175 for tier 2 and 185 for tier three do you know how many Subs we have that are retired teachers um I do not
know the exact amount um and it varies because we have a number of our retired teachers that are actually in teaching positions back with us so they may sub for a little bit and we hire them into long-term substitute positions to
cover certain types of leaves or when we have a vacancy okay I'm just I'm just uh you know some of the comments that we've gotten as you know several emails you know on this uh 20 bucks a day differential
isn't you know isn't a lot but I know I know it's a it's a budget thing and I would think that a retired staff member from this district is gold you know in the sense that they
they can walk into a classroom and know what to do versus me who got my sub license and I was an engineering role and sales roll and it's like I don't know what I'm doing kind of learn on the Fly I I would say that all our substitutes are gold they help us out I
I get that I I I I get that I didn't mean to to depreciate any other substitute I'm just saying that somebody with that type of experience you know should be cherished you know all subs are cherished I mean I I get that but I mean
there's and we have we have many retired substitutes from other districts I mean sure the the advantage of teachers on call is their one their labor market is much bigger yep um in terms of Hiring Our Own substitutes and the substitutes
have the the choice if you would to choose whatever District they want to go to work um you know they can choose choose to go to St Cloud one day and come to us the next if they choose to do it but it it became a in looking at the
overall budget and trying to fit it in it was a it was a choice we had to make yeah I I I see the teachers on call I have the app you know and so it's it's really sweet how it works you know and picking up positions if you
want and um I'm just I I know we have a sub shortage that's that's been plaguing us for years probably and um I just want to make sure we have the right incentive incentives there
to and based on the salary surveys the teachers on called that our our substitute rates are we're right in the market as you've heard me say before we don't lead the market we don't lag the market we are competitive that any other questions or
comments from board members so just a point of clarification if you're a full-time sub or whatever you want to call it they're the ones that are at 220 a day if you are a building sub meaning
you have taken an assignment that you are at Parker Elementary for the whole school year you've said I will be there every day as a substitute so we put one building Sub in every building
oh okay is what we do so so there is one whether they're needed or not they're there every day or they're paid every day um let's just say they're always needed like an RN that floats in a hospital they just kind of run to wherever needed yep okay okay and that's
a valueable so if somebody wants to you know up their valuation or whatever their paid that they could sign up for that they could we also have our building Subs participate in our um professional development and we have aain for them at the very beginning of
the school year and everything thanks for your work on this Jim I know it's you know HR you've always got lots of people on all sides of the fence and you've got to somehow do what we've directed you to do and come up with a plan that works and a budget that works so thanks for your
welcome effort and time any other questions or comments from Mr casy this evening I know how much you value sub so I appreciate it yeah they do good work for us they do
for sure very much okay well Mr casy thank you for bringing that to us tonight and then we will see this on our agenda on the 26th correct yes okay wonderful thank you very much uh next item up tonight is Item B is the authorization to make Staffing
decisions for the start of the school year it's been recommended the school board authorized the superintendent to make Staffing decisions based on changing enrollment and student needs for the 2024 25 school year can I get a motion in a second oh move second a
motion in a second any questions or comments from the board how good are Joe's numbers almost spot on yeah we we are pretty good so pending
any type of emergency unexpected uh folks bringing buses of kids in isd728 I think we're going to be good questions com other questions or comments I appreciate that we do this every year just because I think it's so
important that we when we recognize there's something that needs to be addressed right away we're not waiting for the next board meeting for the board to address it so that it gets handled right away because we know how anxious families get and students get when those things are happening and it's imperative
that they get handled right away so thank you for bringing that that when you came with us when you joined us that this was something that you implemented and also for the flexibility of the board to trust that Dr bitman Dr bitman will make a good decision and keep us within budget and make sure that we
address that for students and families because it's really important that we start off the school year it's also important for staff because it's when those things kind of happen and they erupt and they have happened from time to time over the years it's important to handle them right away so this is just such a it's a small thing but it's an
important thing for everyone so and Madam chair just a point of clarification those always come back to the board yes so the board will always see those it's just a matter of when there's as you indicated when there's no meeting in between we want to get someone in place for the start of the
school year absolutely right all right I will call the question it's been recommended the school board authorize a superintendent to make Staffing decisions based on changing enrollment and student needs for the 2425 school year all in favor say I I oos say nay motion
passes all righty we're moving on to the consent agenda is there anything anyone would like pulled from the consent agenda hearing nothing I will entertain a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda so moved second I have a motion in a second all in favor say I
point Madam chair uh discussion consent agenda does not require a discussion because those are regular and customary items that's why we pull I ask at the beginning if there's anything anyone would like pulled noted was would you like me to go back is there something you wanted
pulled I was just my point was in the check register I noticed there's checks made out for 45 cents and a150 and and there's one for a nickel which costs a lot of money and I was just maybe we can
talk about that offline offline but meeting um so yes typically that's why I will ask at the beginning if we can my my mistake that's okay but that's why I try to ask at the beginning um all in favor of approving the consent agenda
please say say I I opposed say nay motion passes um board members please look at the upcoming dates of importance we do boy we're getting close to the start of school again board members we do have a work session on the 26th and
we are back to the first day of school on September 3rd and with that I will entertain a motion in a second to adjourn so moved a motion and a second to adjourn all in favor say I I opposed say nay
motion passes thank you everyone for joining us this evening and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening go enjoy some sunshine it's beautiful out there