All right, I'll call the meeting to order. Policy committee meeting uh May 6th, 2025. The time is 3:4 uh7. Uh Miss Kennedy, is there a quorum present? Yes, there is. All right,
please stand for the pledge. Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right. Thank you all for being in attendance today. Um, so the agenda is out there uh for everyone to see. Is there a motion to approve the agenda?
So move. Thank you, Tara. Nick, I'll take yours as a second. You bet. Um, any discussion? Discussion. Discussion. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I opposed. All right. Motion
passes. All right. We have then up our review of policy. Okay. So remember, uh we do not uh review means that we are looking at the entire policy. Um, so we have uh a handful of policies
here up for review. We'll take them one at a time. The following policies are being reviewed as part of the three-year rotation review cycle. The policies have been reviewed by Barbie Raceler, who is our director of uh buildings and ground or uh director of grounds and finance.
Uh and she is recommending no changes to any of these at this time. So looking at the order, is there a motion to approve sending policy 701.1 budget modification with no
changes to the school board? So moved. All right. Thank you, Nate. Is there a second? Second. All right. Thank you, Wendy. All right. So, it's uh been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on 701 701.1 budget modification?
Mr. Chair, I just uh I just want to mention on the first page there 3B uh it says that you know we can pro uh for the budget if we get to a meeting at the school board and we see something like oh we need to change this or something that we still can do it although we
should probably have looked at it a few times before so we so we uh don't have to go back over it again. So so yeah, I'm fine with that. But I just wanted to mention that if there is something that we see right at the board meeting, it doesn't prevent us from talking making
trying to make that change. But you'd probably have to go through it again or something uh for the background materials. So other than that, I'm fine. I just wanted to mention that that was clarification. I think I talked to you about that. So any further discussion? Any further
discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor of sending policy 701.1 budget modification to the school board signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion passes. Is there a motion to approve
sending policy 703 annual audit with no changes to the school board? So move. Thank you, Wendy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Durn. Uh discussion for 703 annual
audit discussion discussion. This policy was last uh was adopted on in 2022 May of 2022. So this is its first time um in review cycle for us. So all right
hearing no call for discussion. All those in favor um concerning polic 703 annual audit to the school board with no changes. Please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. Is there a motion to approve sending
policy 705 investments with no changes to the school board? So move. All right. Thank you. Uh Nick, uh is there a second? I will. Okay. Thank you. uh discussion for 705 investments.
Mr. Chair, yeah, I would just on on page um it's five. I don't know what pages pages aren't numbered, but it's five Roman fiveb when they talk about the investment process and uh and shall refrain from personal business activity
that could conflict with investment. I just I I just want to get the the um policy committees just their view on I know that we've talked about it when I met with you uh I know like you know Chad Wolf he's uh he's a president of
Reliance uh but he personally doesn't with with our activities with Reliance Bank we do not go through him we go through someone else not not the president so does anybody see a problem with that
that's what I want to ask I'm fine with it too, but I just wanted to clarify. Okay. Thank you. Uh, just as a point of reference, the original adoption of this policy was November 11th,
1974. All right. And it has been revised in 98, uh, 2014 and 2018. So, this is not by any means a new policy. So, raise your hand if you're born. Any further discussion?
No. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. All those in favor uh of sending policy 705 investments with no changes to the school board signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion passes. Is there a motion to approve
sending policy 714 fund balances with no changes to the school board? So, thank you, Tara. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Wendy. Um, all right. Uh, discussion for 714 fund
balances. Any discussion? Uh, this policy was adopted in December of 2019 and was last revised December of 2021. So um it is now up for
review in the first uh time. So any discussion? All right. Hearing none uh all those in favor of sign uh signify by saying I I opposed. All right. Motion passes.
Is there a motion to approve signing policy 730 payroll periods with no changes to the school board? So, thank you, Nate. Is there a second? Second. All right. Thank you. That was you, Linda, right? Yes. Okay. Usually I
don't second. Um discussion. So, this is one that we wrote ourselves. Yes. So this was, if you look, the date of adoption for this is April of 1975. Yes. Just about ready to graduate.
Seriously? 23. Mhm. 75. Um, so yeah, it just states when I was when our employees will be paid and it's been revised in ' 89, 2002, and 2022. Uh, was the last review. So it is
just up for it threeear review. So, any further discussion? Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor of sending policy 730 payroll periods with no changes to the school board, please signify by saying
I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion passes. That is the last of the review policies that we have. Uh we now are on to revisions of policies. Um the first one up is policy
515 which is titled uh protection and privacy of pupil records. So this one has come through this uh committee before. Um it was passed by this committee and sent on to the school board. Um and then what there was an
amendment that was made at the schoolboard level. Uh and then the school board decided two things. One that it should go to the attorneys for um conversation and then two once that had had happened it should
come back to this committee before going back uh to the school board. All right. So I'm just going to read the uh I'm going to read the amendment that
was proposed at the schoolboard level. All right. Then I will read the attorney's uh statement on that amendment and then I will leave it open for someone to say they propose that we send the original
515 or they propose that we send the amended 515. Does that make sense to everyone? Okay. So, policy 515, protection and privacy of pupil records. Um, policy 515 was referred back to the policy committee during the board
meeting on March 17th, 2025 to review proposed amendments. Page 24, section 8 B. Okay, I'm going to say that again. Page 24, section
8B, private records not accessible to parent. Right. After language of onee, insert a two. And then two would state, upon parental request, the the
responsible authority must not conceal or deliberately withhold information to a parent regarding their minor child's a request to use a different name or pronoun to be recognized as a different gender.
uh to to be recognized as a different two gender or B request to receive gender affirming care that involves medical interventions including but not limited to puberty blocking medications, hormone injections or sex altering
surgeries. Okay. So th that was the two different uh amendments that I think were put in there. Do do you need me to read those again? I thought they were all from what I understood. Are they all together?
That's what I So there's a one. It's not what it should be and probably at the end there should be because I took this as all one as all one. Okay. What did you Cassie? Did you take that as I think all all one. I think she meant
it as one. Okay. So would you like me to read it again or I think it's located on your agenda as well. It is. So, all right. Okay. So, that was the amendment that was then
sent to uh our attorneys. The response that I received on April 29th, uh, Tuesday, April 29th from our attorneys, uh, about this amendment said, "Jamie, current policy 515 is
consistent with state law. I'm concerned about including a blanket exemption for certain categories of data when that exemption is not consistent with state law. Anytime that the school district determines that information shall be withheld in the best interest of the
minor, whatever the nature of the information, the school district shall withhold the information. Minnesota state stat, excuse me, Minnesota statute 13.02 02 subdivision 8 states, and I
quote, "The responsible authority shall withhold data from parents or guardians or individuals acting as parents or guardians in the absence of parents or guardians upon request by the minor if the responsible authority determines that withholding the data would be in
the best interest of the minor. To comply with this requirement, policy 515 section 8B A1A through D includes the steps that must be taken by the minor and the school district to meet this standard.
As you know, it is the usual circumstance when a school district it is an it is the unusual circumstance when a school district would make the determination to withhold data from parents. Uh they go on to say for health records
there is a very high standard under policy 5158B1E to withhold such records. Under current policy language, this information can only be withheld if disclosure of it to the parent may lead to physical or emotional harm to the
minor. In my practice, I have never seen this standard met. This language is consistent with Minnesota statute 144.292 subdivision 7 which allows withholding of health records from a patient which includes parents if a
provider reasonably determines that information is detrimental to the physical or mental health of the patient or is likely to cause the patient to inflict self harm or to harm another. The provider may withhold the information from the patient and may
supply the information to an appropriate third party or to another provider. The other provider or third party may release the information to the patient. This was sent to me uh by Margaret Skelton who is an attorney at Ratwick
Rosac and Maloney. Um Jamie, did they did they say anything? Because I know with all this halalu here with the uh the civil rights act, did they refer to that civil rights act of 1964? Did they talk about that any anyway? Because
I know federal law supersedes. No, everything everything that was sent to me I just read. Yeah. So So it appears that the attorneys are saying to from the attorney's point of
view to not allow this amendment to go through. Okay. So, at this point, I would entertain a motion to for someone to uh So, let me ask let me let's put it this
way. Is there a motion to approve sending How am I going to read this correctly? Is there a motion to approve sending 515 with the amendment that was read previously to the school board?
I'll move. Okay. I don't like the amendment as it is, but So the motion has been Oh, we're not discussing yet. Sorry. There's uh so a mo uh it's been moved. Is there a second? Is there a
second? Is there a second? Okay. So, the motion dies due to a lack of second. So, is there a motion to approve sending policy 515 without the amendment
proposed to the school board? Some Thank you. Is there a second for that? Second. All right. Thank you, Nick. Now, discussion on 515, which is the previous
uh policy that we did. Do you remember, Miss Miss Kenny, when we went through this? It would have been the beginning of March, February, probably the beginning of March. Yeah. Um that we've already had discussion around 515.
Um, is there any further discussion around 515? Okay, I know this was a revision, but I've got a couple of concerns I have with this policy. Is this the time to say it now or do we send it back and then they'll say, "Well, why didn't you discuss it at the So, at this point,
this is still just the revision. So, we would only be looking we would only be discussing the red lines." Okay. If I Okay, if we express my concerns at the school board meeting, they're going to say, "Why didn't you do it at the policy meeting?" So what is the procedure for me to should I write something up and
then send it to the school board or what? So the the the the piece with this committee is that um when it is a revision I know that yeah we're only looking at the red pieces. So as a board member you do have the right to bring
your concerns during the discussion phase during the policy around the entire it's probably a good idea for me to address them in written form and to John and you and then give it out to the rest of Yes. Because because I do have some concerns. Yeah, we have agreed at
here that when we look at revisions, we only look at the changes that were made. When we look at review, so in three years when this comes up for review, it's just that the more I look at this policy, the more problems I have. Okay. So you had to quit reading it as
a the whole my support of bringing this back to the policy. It was because it's I wanted it to be reviewed by the attorney first and foremost, but also like I I don't know how to formulate a decision unless I have all of the
information. So, is there an avenue where she can address her concerns or I mean I know that as a school board member I set policy but I don't actually work in the schools and live with the policies and enforce the policies. So, I
want to make sure that the policies are workable and appropriate for those actually doing the job. Um, I guess I'm not I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about the attorney's letter, but from my interpretation of
just hearing you read it, it feels um like we would not deliberately withhold information. Um, if I'm hearing that correctly, um, and that makes me feel comfortable
with the policy is written. Is it a good time to discuss now or not? No. So, we're just discussing five any of the revisions to 5:15. Okay. In referring to the letter, I guess I I I don't have problem with the physical, but the emotional is, you
know, you can withhold information because of emotional and you know, a student can go to my, you know, to the administrator or whatever and say, well, I want to do this and my parents won't do this won't go along with me. So I'm, you know, it's causing me emotional
harm. I can see because it's emotional is so uh subjective. I guess physical I I I think the original the reason for this policy was probably phys physical or sexual abuse because if there's sexual abuse by parents, we wouldn't want them to see or physical abuse. We
want we wouldn't want the child, you know, the child is reporting it. We wouldn't want the parent to know that. But I think it's now gone into a different area and it's like gray area. And so that's I think uh why I'm concerned about it because of
the word emotional because kids can take that to wherever and uh I I guess I'm just concerned about parental rights and so so what should the protocol be then for? So the protocol is that that this
I'll write it up then this this committee is going to vote on whether to send 515 as written to sorry the school board. All right because we're only looking at revision. All right. So at the school board it will come up for either it would go back for a second
reading then yes is where it would fall. So at that time then any board member can bring any concern about any part of the policy that they have. Okay. All right. Um, so as much as I it sounds
counterintuitive for me to say because I always say bring it to the policy committee, in this case it would actually go to the board. Okay. Yes. Okay. And then the board I just wanted to make sure I had my And then the board would decide like are you if you're proposing another amendment or if you're
just willing to discuss it or what it is then the board would decide are you going to vote on that which is their prerogative or are they going to send it back again to this committee. Okay. Okay. Any further discussion on
515? Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Uh, all those in favor of of approving the revisions to policy 515 and sending it to the school board signify by saying I. Jamie, you mean the revision that that she just put
in? We're still voting on the revised policy. Yes. But I mean, are we voting on the amendment? No, the amendment didn't go. No, 515 as it is in We didn't have a second. Thank you. All right. All those in favor of sending 515 as it is in the packet here in front of you to
the school board signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. I'm going to say no. Okay. Just because we uh so uh uh motion passes one two three four five six to one. Okay. There's that.
All right. Is there a motion to approve sending revisions to policy 704, development and maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets and a fixed asset accounting system to the school board?
So move. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. All right. Thank you, Wendy. Um, any discussion on policy 704? You can see the red lines are on 704-1 under section
three. Um, there is a addition on 704-4 uh to uh one of the bullets. And then there is excuse me an a uh a cross reference that has been added on
704-5 and those are the only changes. So any discussion discussion discussion uh I just want to just ask a question if I may on the first page uh 25,000 um since I'm not
within the school. Well, I'm a school board member, but not within the schools. Is that seem like a reasonable amount to like 25,000? Just want to make sure that these are so I think the the So, this wouldn't necess this
wouldn't necessarily be at the building level. So, this would be at the this would be at the district district level. This would be at more at the district level. Okay. So, more of the approval of um so
if we needed I mean it could be at the building level but it's more likely going to go through a capital piece which would be than at the district level. Most of our buildings don't have our budgets are usually around $5,000 for a year anyway. So it wouldn't Yeah. Like Jamie said it wouldn't So So this
would be more at a district level the rest of them. Yeah. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none, all those in favor of sending revisions to the policy 704, development and
maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets and a fixed asset accounting system to the school board. Please signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Motion passes. All right. We move on to new policy.
Um so there if you remember back beginning of March I'm going to say as well um two technology policies were brought to us uh one was uh one was passed and moved on uh one was there
were concerns that were brought up at this forum and at the schoolboard level. So that policy has been given a number which is 599. All right. Um the concerns that were brought up and it was tabled I'm sorry it was not brought up to the
school but it was tabled during March 4th here until today um due to concerns around first amendment. So this policy was forwarded on to our attorneys yet again same attorneys Margaret Skelton at
Ratwick Rosac and Maloney. Um, and her response was, "Jamie, with respect to the social media policy, which is 599 that you have here in front of you, while I know that other districts have adopted similar similar policies, there are concerns with a number of such
policies. The attached use of social media policy would need to be revised to avoid potential First Amendment concerns. She then goes on to ask, would you like us to propose revisions to this policy? Okay.
So, I do have Mike Birding here if we have questions for him. Um, the way that I see it is the this committee has three choices. One is to uh push the the
policy through as written. two is to uh have our attorneys work with us to uh try to shore up some of the uh first amendment concerns and language that is in here. And the third
one is to say, you know what, we are not interested in this policy. Um we would not recommend it to the school board. Okay. So, at this point,
um, I guess I would open it up because there are three possibilities. I guess I would open it up for discussion around which one of those three you would be interested in, Mr. Chair. Um, the MSBA doesn't have
this policy. This is not an MSBA. So, are they working on a policy? I don't because maybe if they're working Because if they did, maybe we could save a little time and effort and just let them do it. No, I don't believe they were working on So, do do we need it? Um,
that's Mike. I I guess what I want to say and was it Mike you wrote this? I think this was adapted from Centennial School District. Um, yes, he brought it for for us. I think there's some on pages I think two and three there's some very good points uh like maintain
professionalism and everything like that. I guess my main concern for me my main concern is and I don't know what the attorneys but I I actually had another attorney look at it and she just got back to me today and she said you know for instance on page five under
6D I'm just going to tell her her concerns like she said there's I I'll just I took some time yesterday to re review the policy. At first I was a little concerned some of the factors mentioned such as harmony in the workplace were red flags to me. uh because like dis it's in the middle of
uh on page 5D in the middle of the paragraph disharmony in the workplace. Uh that could be you know maybe um uh a teacher or administrator or something had to reprimand another individual a
staff member and or something like that. And you know this I think it's so subjective and sometimes I think we do need a little um maybe if there is disharmony maybe that's because something isn't working
right. So it it's so subjective to me and and and she when she mentioned that I thought yeah she's right. Uh it's she said disharmony it was just that was a red flag for her. And so I think and I I think we need to work on it, but I'm not
sure. And and I will just follow that up with saying our attorneys did not give us anything that they would that they they want to know how much we want them to dig into it before they spend the time digging into it. So, so what
they're what they're looking for us to decide is if we want the policy, their suggestion is that we work with them to have them help us get some of the concerning pieces out of it. So, so some of this now this is some of this is protocol. So, it's not policy, right?
Some a lot of times we put protocol, we take that and put it into policy. Correct. Is there some sort of protocol for this? Some of these pieces do fall in other areas of policy or in other areas of uh professional expectations.
Um that would fall in procedures or or procedures would be uh I think protocols conduct contact or conduct uh conduct uh requirements. Yeah. Um but it doesn't necessarily always fall within policy. So
okay. I know for me, I don't think I want it as such, but I'm not sure if we need it, maybe we don't need it. I don't know if there's enough procedure in place. Uh, we do need it, but Sorry, Cassie. Where
is the social media addressed in like our employee handbook? Mike, do you want to come forward and explain some of these pieces, please? I guess my only thought is we have a cell phone policy for our students. It's
an expectation that our students aren't on Facebook or Snapchat or Tik Tok or whatever media that you want to use. It would also be my expectation that employees wouldn't be on Tik Tok and Snapchat and all of the things um during
the workday. So, I would just say our our cell phone policy is for everyone, not just students. So, it it it encompasses staff, students, um, and any visitors to our building. So, so that's policy.
So, 524. 524. Yeah. So, would that was intentionally written to encompass all people in the buildings, not just students. So, and I do like aspects of this. It's just that um I I guess to me
with the first amendment there, it just uh we got to be very careful about that. So any so um any further discussion before we kind of I throw something out there and we see kind of
what people are interested in doing. Let's take a Was Mike gonna give us some background as to how this came about? Oh, it sounds like your question got answered correct? Okay. Okay,
Mike, can I ask you? Is this fairly common among a lot of school districts in Minnesota right now? Is this newer? Where is it kind of at? So, you will see over some of the larger school districts, uh, where there are policies that are in place, the breadth of which
is kind of all over the board. Um, so a couple of the policies that I looked at, this one in particular, um, was adapted a little bit from Centennial School District, which is up in the metro. Um, I also did some comparison, uh, with Mano. And then I searched other schools
as well, uh, to see what are some elements that are useful, um, in in kind of the issues that we were coming across. I guess I I understand a lot of this in the way things are changing and evolving in technology. There's a lot of things
on here that, you know, people do need to think about. Um, but I I would like to know more information about what the lawyers say is in conflict with the First Amendment before we would do something with it because I think
there's a lot in here that could be. I don't know. And what kind of issues are coming forward to you, Mike, that is either covered by this policy or covered by other policies? Because I don't want to just add a policy because it puts a
bunch of policies together. Um, but if there is a critical need, if there's something that staff may need inservice on specifically related to social media, I seriously I don't know how anyone has time to even look at social media during
the day, right? It is just the kids are just right there and that's what we're there for. So, if this is for staff, I think we need to figure out what it is exactly that they need to know.
So, let's do a quick consensus because I I might be starting to hear what I think is possibly consensus here is uh kind of give me a thumbs up or a head nod if you're thinking that you would like our
attorneys to look at this more. I think so. Okay. So, with that kind of consensus, you know, more informal, then what I will do is I will make a motion that we table this until September. And
Jamie, do you have the date in September that we would table it to? I don't know if we've set the Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to make sure we get the correct date. second. I think it's first day of
school. September. So, I will make a motion that we table this until September 2nd uh 2025. That gives uh Mike Birding and myself time to work with the attorneys
to go through this to address their first amendment concerns and then we would bring it back at that meeting uh for discussion and possible passage here onto the school board. Does that make
sense? So that's my motion uh to uh table this until September 2nd, 2025 at our policy committee meeting. Is there a second? Thank you, Tara. All right. Discussion around tableabling
it. Any discussion? I think we'll get good information both from Mike and from the attorneys and in services to follow with me. Okay. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, all
in favor of tableabling policy 599 uh use of social media uh until September 2nd, 2025. Signify by saying I opposed. All right. So that motion or that excuse me that policy will be
tabled until uh September 2nd. Our next meeting is June 3rd, 2025. Um, we should have I should have an update I should have an update for you by then on how many policies are
potentially coming to us in August from the legislature. Um, I may not if the legislature does not pass a budget or goes into a special session. Uh, but we'll have an idea of kind of what uh how many we are looking at. Remember
that August can be a large month for us. Um, and we do everything we can to get those from MSBA as quickly as possible and get them sent out to you so that you have enough time to go through them. If there is a very large amount of them, we
may break them into August and September. Thank you. And it depend well it it we don't we do that if they don't have to be passed before the school year started but like we said yes you know our meeting in September is the first day of school so sometimes our hands are
tied and we know that MSBA spends a massive amount of time in June and July uh writing them up and revising them. So all right there are no more items to discuss. Is there a motion to adjourn the meeting?
Everyone wants to move second. Thank you, Tara. Thank you, Wendy. Uh, discussion, discussion, discussion. All in favor signify by saying