It's not on. It's on. How about now? Is it on now? Is it on now? Okay. Well, I've never been accused of Oh, there we go. Um, so I will start the uh meeting. Good evening board members and all of
our visitors. It's just an absolute delight to be here. I have a statement, but first I'm just honored to be sitting next to Aaron Cutbert who is the lead negotiator for FEA and for this round of negotiations. I have served as the lead
negotiator for Fidley Public Schools. So Aaron, I'd like you to share first and then I will follow up. Sounds great. Uh I did write some stuff down because all the people that work closely with me probably know that I'll just free associate for the next 10 minutes if I
didn't do that. Uh so good evening. Firstly, I wanted to just say thank you all for giving your time to the students and staff and community of Fidley. I know that you all have a thankless gig, but the work you've chosen to do is important. Uh my name is Aaron Cuffbert. I have been employed by Fidley Public
Schools for 10 years. I teach social studies down the way at the middle school. I'm the vice president of the Fidley Education Association and the lead negotiator. And I'd also like to just give a shout out to our other negotiators, most or all of whom are in here right now. Uh Bob Lavinka, Kim
Gardner, Brit Brebach. Um so, and this wouldn't really be possible without the 275 other odd members that the FEA has in the district here. So, thank you to everybody that has come. Uh, I was invited here today to present a contract that I'm very proud of. Countless hours
went into research, writing, rewriting, and redlinining this document. It truly represents the path that our district, administration, schoolboard, community, and FBA have chosen to walk down together. One of mutual trust, respect, creative thinking, and collaboration to make this the best district in the
metro. There are so many provisions in this contract that I'm truly proud of and which will make tangible impacts. I I'm kind of a policy wonk, so I really wish I had the time to nerd out over the minutia of this. Um, ultimately, every in this room, everyone in this room
wants what is best for students. As you know, relationships are our biggest asset in FPS. So, thank you once again for choosing to invest in our community. The importance of recruit recruiting and retaining our talent talented educators is hard to overstate. Those of you who know me know I could go on, but I'll
keep it short. Word is starting to get out. Fidley punches above its weight. Look, I'm a middle school teacher. I'm not going to lie and tell you that the job is easy. It's tough and there are challenges. They're very real. But we're making progress and that's through creative thinking. When I go to conferences, I'm starting to get
questions like, "What's going on in Fidley?" And how do you get so many people to show up to your events? And I teach in whatever name this district. Do you think there are any openings next year? Like to keep it to end it here. Like we're doing big and important
things. and I really appreciate your support. Thank you. So, you know, I get eyelash extensions and they're like $80 a fill. So, FBA is going to buy my next
not using district dollars. No public funds have been expended for Dr. Lewis's eyelash extensions. Erin, can you read that part about Fidley public schools in the metro? Can you read that part? You want me to read
that again? Yeah. Uh the part like word is starting to get out part. Like we I mean it's it's true. Phil will tell you the exact same thing. Like we go to all these conferences. We talk to our FBA uh excuse me FDA Ed Minnesota reps.
Word is spreading. people are starting to notice that little district can you know that doesn't hide the real challenges that we face here but that is I mean it's because of those challenges that we've had to get creative and think
about ways to bring people in and uh keep growing our district so I think it's important we're doing good work thanks Aaron tonight I am proud to share that our teachers union has ratified the 2527 contract with how much approval
was unanimously approved. 100% approval. That level of unity and support is a powerful reflection of the deep commitment our teachers have, not just to their profession, but to our students, our community, and our shared values. Fidley is a district filled with beauty,
brilliance, and complexity. We proudly serve one of the most racially and culturally diverse student populations in the state. We lead with innovation and equity. And we do all this while also serving a community where the vast majority of our students live in poverty. That reality is not
easy. And yet you all show up every single day for our students, for one another, and for our families. Even as districts all around us offer a different experience, you have chosen to serve here. That choice speaks volumes about who you are. This is not just
work. This is hard work. It is soul work. And I believe in the deepest part of me that we must never stop showing our teachers how much they are valued. We show that through fair contracts, yes, but also through our daily actions,
our leadership decisions, and our commitment to building a district that honors your expertise and lifts your voice. And I want to say as a superintendent, but also as a mom of three children in this district, thank you. I benefit directly from the care, brilliance, and unwavering belief you
offer our students. My children are thriving because of you. Our children are thriving because of you. On behalf of the board, our leadership, and the entire Fidley Public Schools community, thank you for your trust, your partnership, and your heart. You are the heartbeat of Fidley Public Schools.
Sally got bored. wouldn't mind a little break here. So, go ahead. So, one of the things that I'd like to point out just in my my day job, this is right to have a a contract ratified at
100%. Um, the last contract Dr. Lewis and I would always go back and for some reason I cannot remember that was 98.7. I would always say 97.8. I I was I didn't give you all enough credit. This
made it easy for me. Thank you. Um but you know, often times in in the labor world, it's very divisive. It's us against them. It's who's going to win the contract, who's going to lose the contract. Clearly, in the last two negotiations, it's not about who's
winning, who's losing. It's about what the collective good is. Um I was reminded of a quote today from something unrelated to this Paul also. We all I think that's a perfect example what's going on here and really really looking
forward to just seeing what this builds and I I gave Dr. Louis a hard time HR director like she's going to be working over have a spot that opens up it's not going to be one or two applications it's going
to be dozens of the best out there. So thank all of you. We should have been out there, but that we certainly appreciate appreciate the I am so honored to have you to work in
this um role with each of you and I'm so thankful for the contributions that you make to my own kids um as Dr. Dr. Lewis says, but also to our kids um as a community. And I thank each of you so very much for all of the investment and all of the growth. And I see that in,
you know, my three little people, but in our community and in the people that are growing um because of your investment. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I know just from the board, thank you for the work that you do. Right now there's a lot of
gross in the world and a lot of sadness and a lot of turmoil and violence and arguing and hate and you know spending most of my day job at the capital. You get trained to think that these sorts of things have to be
combative. [Music] David keeps us in check. Um, and so I'm just so grateful that this is I know that there was effort put into it, but this seems so easy. And it's like there's one thing in our lives that we
can count on, and that's good communication and a good solid team. And as much as I don't want to rush my three-year-old growing up, those of you who live through the Dylan Stark years, the Huntley Stark years are coming. And I just feel so good knowing that he will
have such a wonderful place to go to school when it's when it's time. No rush, but when it's time. I'll say something, too. I I just don't want to start crying because I might. Um I have never seen such hardworking people in my life when I started working
at Stephvenson. And I can literally appreciate all of you like Yeah. from the bottom of my heart and my three kids obviously benefit from this, but you guys are all wonderful, wonderful people. So, thank you.
Well, heck, they said everything important. Um, so all I can really do is echo it and the gratitude I hope uh comes through clearly. Uh, we all feel it. I find the alignment between the parties, the
recognition that we're all on the same team, that we're all trying to teach our kids to the best of our ability with the resources that we have. I find that alignment incredible, fantastic, and I appreciate it very much. And yeah, we
hear it too. What's that little district up there called? That's what Wait, what? Fidley? What? We hear it, too. Congratulations. I will add that you should go to Earl Giles where Dylan is bartending and tell him your mom said you have to buy me a
drink for all of the hard work you put into him. So, uh, so Bren, do you have anything else? No. Okay. I I would maybe just ask for some indulgence with the agenda. I think it'd be appropriate to maybe vote on the
song, right? So I would I would entertain a motion to approve the master uh agreement for the 2025 2027 uh school years for Fidley Education Association. So moved. Uh motion made by Stark. Second. Second by the two ladies
next to me. I'll let I'll let Lori figure that one out for the for the record. Third. Uh this is not a roll call vote. So all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Motion unanimously passes. Thank you.
[Applause] So, you all are more than welcome to hang out for the entirety of this meeting. Uh, but we certainly would not take offense if you wanted to go home
and watch it uh from the comfort of your own home. But I also hear that the afterparty may have changed locations. So, thank you all again very much. I think he's working tonight. So, all right. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. So good to see you all. Have
a good night. See you again. All right. It is my absolute privilege now to talk with you about our Fidley Association of School Principles master agreement for school years 2527. To my right, I am absolutely privileged
to introduce you to Veronica Mat, co-lead negotiator for uh the principles as well as Kelly McConville, who's also the other co-lead. So, Veronica, I'll let you lead first here. Well, my staff are used to me making
some notes and then throwing them away. And it's really hard to say what I was going to say after following Aaron and what he shared and then also hearing from Dr. Lewis and from all of you. So, um, school board members, cabinet members, um, I am the proud principal at
Stevenson. Nice shirt, Avana. Um, I came to this district as a teacher and in my heart I knew the important critical work of teaching and my heart was there and I knew how powerful my colleagues were and all of the teachers and entire career
have been a huge supporter of our teachers and belief in them and wanting to support them so much that it led me into my work. But this is the first time I've sat down and have not only felt like a champion of teachers and a belief in teachers and the
incredible work that they do, but also sitting among leaders that get it and that support it and give us what we need. And that's what has happened with the principal group. Um, so our negotiation, the FBA laid the work. They laid the
work and they set the tone and we followed suit and in complete appreciation but also constantly feeling valued by Dr. Lewis, by our cabinet members, and by all of you.
Um, affirmations over and over again. Our jobs, just as the teachers are, are tireless and sometimes thankless. Um but we do it because it's inc so incredibly important and we do feel like we're game changers. Um and working in our district
um is incredibly challenging but also the most inspirational and you get back so much from our children and from our families and you can feel it at any event that we throw. And Erin spoke like yeah you we we don't any longer worry
about how we get them there. We worry about how many are going to show up and how we're going to manage that because that's what happens every time we throw an event. Um I just did interviews today, second round, not the one with you, Relle, another round of teachers
and asked them why do you want to come to Stevenson? Because we've heard we've heard this is the place to be. And I've heard that over and over and over. So when we post, building subs are still a little tricky, but when we post a job, that job brings talent and so that
speaks a lot to our district and um the contract, the recent one from the FBA does not hurt at all either. And our principal contract reflects the value that we feel and we are so appreciative. And that was also unanimously approved. So that was a little longer than
planned, but I love it. I love it. It was perfect. This evening I am proud to share that our principles have ratified their contract with how much approval? 100%. 100%. That kind of unity speaks volumes not only about the process but about the strength of the leadership team we are
privileged to have here in Fidley public schools. Our principles are the backbone of our schools. They lead in ways both visible and unseen, carrying the weight of urgent issues, school culture, instructional direction, and community connection. In a district where nearly
80% of our students are students of color and where most of our families navigate the reality of poverty, the role of the principal is not simply about management. It is about mission. It is hard work and it requires leaders who are deeply rooted in equity, instructional excellence, resilience,
and relationship. I want to thank each of our principles for the integrity and care they brought to the bargaining process and even more so for the dedication they bring every day to our students and our teams. In a region where many neighboring districts offer different experiences or
larger systems, your choice to stay and serve in Fidley matters, it is noticed and it is deeply appreciated. As both superintendent, direct supervisor, and mom in this district, I benefit directly and greatly from your leadership. I see the difference you make in classrooms,
in hallways, and in the lives of the students we are privileged to serve. Thanks for leading with your whole heart. One of the pieces I wanted to share is Veronica and Abby gave me I think you've probably seen it this gray um scarf that has beautiful red hearts
on it and Veronica said to me I think that looks like you and it just like explains I um as you've seen here I've negotiate negotiated in Rochester Montgomery County to your point chair no
one wins when we fight and we divide and While our contracts are a fiscal investment, which we need to make, we are happy to make. When districts fight with bargaining units, that damage is pretty hard to
come back from. And I think it's pretty hard to put a cost on that. And when I hear people want to come to Fredley, when I message you and say all eyes are in Fidley, our students deserve that. Our staff deserve that. And when we've
gone from a district that had so many vacancies to now where we have our pick, right? Um, and that's not just because of the international program and we're seeing our staff also reflect our students. So board, I'm so proud of the
work that you also do every day to really champion the work of our students. And Veronica, I couldn't ask for a better negotiator. So congratulations. Do you want to alter the Oh, no. comments and then you want to alter the again. Sorry about that, Chair.
Veronica, the only thing I that I would add, while the FBA may have laid the found the the groundwork and the foundation for things for you to follow, um you can't follow unless you bring something to the table, right? So, like when I saw the contract, I think I can speak for everyone here, like it was
welld deserved, like 100%. you guys. I I've noticed just a like a just a legitimate almost a physical change in the principles in our buildings when you walk in and have conversations with you all with the the leverage you guys have been given and the freedom like it's
transformational. It's I I it's tough to explain. So, yep. They did a great job. They laid the foundation, but that Dr. Lewis didn't come to you with that because of the work they did. It was because of the work that you all do. And I hope you share that with your colleagues. Anybody
else? Um, we thank you for the way that in each of the buildings I would say that you lead and you do value our students and you value our staff and so thank you for leading with that first with putting our human beings first and we really
really appreciate that and that is what our system needs for them to build to be able to build up our kids and so thank you for doing that. Thank you for caring for our staff and for all of the ways that you see them and that you um
support them in the hard work that they also are doing. So, thank you very much. All right. So, copy and paste copy and paste. So, I I would certainly entertain a motion to approve the 202527 for the association of school
administrators master agreement. So move the uh motion by Anna. Have a second. Second. Second by Jones. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. I. I. All those opposed? No. Al also another unanimous vote. So
congratulations. [Applause] It's now my absolute delight to call up our activities director Justin Ree along with a lot of our athletes who are here
to showcase all of the achievements. Welcome. So good to see you all. Justin, you can pull up a chair. Sorry. I let them know. You're good. Okay. I think athletes, your mics should be on. Can you just give it a try? Well, Maya's done this enough. Like, she's
here every month. [Laughter] Okay, take it away. Okay. Um, so the spring recap for activities. Uh, we kind of got a lot to go over. We did a lot this spring. Um, so speech, speech finished the year with three
all-conference winners and nine allconerence honorable mention winners. Um, and we also had three students participate in the state tournament. Um, Amamir Hussein in poetry, Kale host in pros, and Zach Muhammad in drama. Um, for Model UN, over spring break, 22
Fidley Middle School and High School students along with 740 others from all across the state um participated in this year's Center for Youth Voices Model United Nations Conference in downtown Minneapolis. Um these students took on roles of diplomats from nine different countries discussing and debating global
issues while practicing cooperation and diplomacy. And five students also represented freely at the conference in elected and appointed leadership positions. Um our robotics team finished the 10,000 lakes regional robotics competition ranked 17 out of 51. So
that's pretty good. Uh we were honored to receive a grant from the Gene Hos Foundation and the creativity award sponsored by Rockwell Automation for the innovation of our climbing apparatus. Um we also want to congratulate the middle school students uh for the high
school musical junior. I don't know about you guys, but I went twice. It was awesome. It was a blast. They were having so much fun. Um and they performed to a full house. There was incredible support. Um and it was it was just great. It it really made our district proud. Uh the high school salon
club hosted its annual ifar night. Uh we had roughly about 50 high school students show up to break fast together. Um at the MHSHL Visual Arts Festival, uh Remy Anderson received the spotlight on the arts award featuring her digital digital
photography work entitled Controlled Substance. Um and then for AVID, the 11 scholars participated in the Northwest Suburban Giving voice leadership. Our educational debate team took first after having to debate on AI use in schools. Um they
came well prepared to discuss both sides of the topic and won all three of their rounds. So congratulations to Nazerin Hussein and Ayana Show on bringing home some hardware. And then last but not least um the band and choir finished off the year with their annual Pops concert. Um the choir I think it was like just
dance 2016 band it was video games. Um both did a phenomenal job and Miss Olsson and Mr. Johnson received many compliments on everyone who attended. And then moving on to athletics. Um, starting off strong. As many of you know, this was our first year having an
official boys volleyball team. And god was it it was a it was a pretty good one. Um, our team was coached by all for the high school employees, teachers Mandy Burian and Brie Claus, as well as our athletic trainer Aaron Green. We finished the season six overall in the
conference with one allconerence athlete and two allconerence honorable mentions. Um, other than that, my personal experience, it was honestly an amazing um amazing experience to be a part of our first ever high school boys
volleyball season. um as a as our JV setter and professional varsity benchwarmer, I can tell you that I can tell you that the energy was always there on and off the court. Um our team came from all walks of the school. Uh from speech to football, it went it was
just we had a very diverse team and they meshed so well together to create such a such a diverse um family, I want to say. Um yeah, it was honestly a great experience. Uh, and I'm so so glad to have been part a part of our first year
uh with boys volleyball. Um, yeah, like you were saying, that family part, having this as the first year, there's a lot of people who like stood up and like decided to give it a try. Even some people on the team I never thought I would see play volleyball. And having the coaches there trying to help us
through it all and teaching us like new things, it was a really good experience. And it wasn't even just the team, too. it was other students around the school showing up to the games to come give their support as well. Um, I think for our first season being six in conference was not that bad, especially with other
schools with clubs and stuff. And so I think even next year and years going on that we could build a good program with boys volleyball. Um, to continue with athletics, um, adapted bowling. The adapted bowling team won second place in the MSHL state competition. Congratulations to first
year head coach Mattie Kron who helped the team to victory. Um, our Batman team had many people participate in the state tournament. Coach Ryan, I don't know how to say his last name, was a great addition to our coaching staff and we are looking forward to having him again
next year. Baseball, we had two new head coaches, um, two alum, Josh Growth and Matt Nlepka. They were a young team and are looking forward to see what next year brings. Golf is in a rebuilding phase. We had two females and four males participate, including three brand new
golfers and two middle school athletes. These middle school athletes improved so much that they were able to participate in sections. Um, boys tennis had fun this season. They finished fifth in conference and received one all conference and two honorable mentions. Varsity softball had a great season. We won twice as many games as last year,
which was a really big accomplishment. And we won two section games, which guys is really big. Um, we had two allconerence and two allconerence honors and we had a really, really big award. Um, Maya Karsten was
named first team all state, so I'll hand it to her to talk a little bit about that. Um, yeah, completely surprised about it. Uh, coach Kayla blew me out of my seat at the banquet. Um, but I was able to receive first team all state. Um, I am the first player since or at
Fidley uh to receive this since 2002. So, it's a pretty big deal. Um, I had a 617 batting average. Um, which is almost double that normal average, I guess. Um, and I only had two strikeouts the whole entire season. Uh, both being in sections to the best pitcher and the
worst pitcher we face. So, that was kind of fun. Um, and with 37 total hits and I scored 25% of the runs on the team this year. So, I think it was a pretty good year for me. Uh it's just it's really an honor to
receive this and to represent Fidley Strong. Um I mean obviously if you know me like I've been out um with injury and whatnot throughout high school and to end senior season off on this good note, it was really um really really uh I felt accomplished. I felt I felt good. She
missed two years and did all this. So it's really impressive. And then track and field, we had five athletes participate in the state tournament. Um, our 4x1 relay team finished 13th in sections. Trenton Jones meddled and took eighth place in high jump. And Lorenzo
Hampton is our 2025 state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. He also set a new class 2A class record with a time of 1407. And then this year I was honored to be our Fidley Athena Award winner. Um, I can say this was such an amazing award
to win. Just since I've been like playing varsity sports since like seventh grade, I've been really close with our former Athenas from Ammy, Juel, Sophia, and even like coaches. I've had coach Fred, my trainer Aaron. Being an Athena kind of was like, "Oh my god, I want to be that so bad." And it just
felt like such an accomplishment to do that. I can say playing sports at Fidley is probably like one of the funnest things that we have. Win, lose, or draw, they're fun. Like we have a good time. So that and then I had the opportunity to attend the banquet in May where I was surrounded by a bunch of other
successful young female athletes and it was just a really good experience to be a part of and I learned a lot. Is that all? Yeah. Okay, that's all we got. Awesome. Well, as usual, you guys did a fantastic job and uh it's always interesting to hear your experiences from your lenses,
right? like we can hear it from the teachers and the staff and the email updates that we get, but to actually hear it from from your mouths is is a different perspective. So, congratulations to all the accolades. I don't know. Maya, you going to come back next month? I mean, you're here all the time. Is there some kind of is there some kind of a summer award we can give
Maya? She's going to cut like the most lawns for old people or something. I don't know. Anyone else? You guys are fantastic. Have a great summer. Thank you. You too. So proud of you all. Good work. Okay,
we're just going to reorder the soup update here. So, give us a second. Okay. It's my absolute pleasure to introduce to you Jordan Halverson, who is our new principal of Fidley Middle School. So,
welcome to Jordan. Couple things I want to share about Jordan. We believe Jordan is our first principal of color for Fidley Middle School. So, we are so honored that you chose us. Also, Jordan during his interview said many fabulous
things. And I just straight up interrupted at him one time and I said, "Wait, you're not IB trained, right?" And he said, "Yes." And or no, I'm not Brenda. But I said, "But you said IB is the framework and AVID is the It's the
support and I was like you are highly trained. Um Jordan shared so many things and he said I want to come home. I want to come home. So he's going to talk to you about that in just a moment. And what I'm most proud of with Jordan is
he's coming which he'll he'll share with you. He's coming from districts that don't at all look like ours. And I really grilled him on that. I said, "We are not Weisetta. We are not Shakapi. We are not Eden Prairie." I said, "And when
you work in Fidley schools, you have to want it in your soul. You either love it here and you buy all the way in all the time and it keeps you up at night or you need to go." And he was like, "I am all in." And I could feel it. And our We put
you through, I mean, four interviews plus a writing prompt, plus a presentation. Yeah. Did you get screen? Yeah. So, we put you through and we didn't even provide you lunch. Wow. Sorry. Um, brutal. We put him through so
much and he was a unanimous decision and I am so um just honored not only as the superintendent but also as a mom to have you. Amara um got the announcement and she said, "Mom, he used to play for the
Vikings." So, I texted that to Jordan because he said in the interview, I played with them for a cup of coffee, right? For a hot cup of coffee. And I texted him, "You're all about trending with the teenagers around um Vikings." And he's like, "It's good credibility."
So, yes. But it's just my absolute honor, Jordan. We're so thankful that you chose us. So, I'll let you share anything you'd like. Well, first off, appreciate it, Dr. Lewis, for all the kind words. Um, being here strikes a lot of emotions for me. Um, hearing the students talk and
the things that the teachers have been doing so great here in the admin team. You know, I was one of those students that had I was homeless when I was going through these hallways and I was sitting through those classrooms and um, that's why it's striking so much emotion and then finding out I was I'm the first
principal of color. Um, to be part of that history and do it all at home. Uh, this was a big emotional drag for me. Um, like Dr. Lewis said, I'm coming from the west suburbs and southwest area where I was able to develop into a
leader and I knew it was time to come back to my community and be that resource for, um, our students and our staff. Um, extremely excited to be here. Um, I mean, when Dr. Lewis called me that Friday when she, you know, gave me the offer, um, she could like I couldn't
say anything. I was speechless and you know just tears running down my face. Um this community means a lot to me and uh they wrapped their arms around me when I didn't have anything. I was falling asleep in the locker room hoping the janitors would find me and now to give
back to a community that gave so much to me. Um it means the world to me and uh you know Coach Reese is back there. Coach Reese has known me since I was 14 and he was fresh out of college trying to get his stuff together still. So um
it's just it's just full circle and um you know it's more than a job to me. You know the um from the students to the staff, they're going to get everything from me and I'm going to run to I'm going to run to every fire and uh you're going to get everything from me. So thank you. Awesome. Well, welcome
aboard. Uh we'll have a series of questions to finalize this. I'm just kidding. Perfect. I'm ready. Just finish the gauntlet. the panic of like how old am I? Was I on the board when he graduated? So, I'm sorry that you're going to be teased now forever, Justin, that you have been around longer than I
have. So, but I did have a I quick calculation of how old am I? But I think this is wonderful. This is really exciting. my high school assistant principal was also with the Vikings. JT John Turner and it was such a he just
was such a powerhouse um and just so kind and ran into him at Target like 20 years later and he's like Avana how are you? So I'm just so excited to see what you're going to bring to the kiddos here. Very exciting team. I think Jordan is also our first
alum principal. I'm looking to my historian there. We're going with it. It's It's official. Yes. All right, Jordan. Thank you so much. And they'll approve you as part of consent. Perfect. Y welcome home,
Jordan. Just have one. Can I get a picture? Absolutely. Do you want to head up there and then we can have the cute background for you? Perfect. I just have one question. So, a train leaves Boston at 62 miles an hour. What?
What was the question? I'm going try and figure out. Well, I I normally expect just the waist up stuff. [Music] Thank you. I'm really glad I have this message.
The world Yeah, it's sharable now. And Jordan, we'll put we'll push out on about you, too. Perfect. Tomorrow, everybody. Yeah. So proud of you. Thanks, Jordan. Thanks, Jordan. Thank you guys.
That's awesome. First round of interviews for Fidley Middle School AP are on Friday and several people here are participating in those and Jordan as well. So, we're so excited. Um, next up
I am thrilled to have Justin uh share with you about our baseball fields and softball updates. Um, this is a long time coming. Justin and I were texting today and we were talking about how it's
just so different. Um, a few years ago we were talking about we wish we could or wouldn't it be nice if and now we're talking about this is what it's going to look like. So Justin, I'm so proud of the work you've done. I'm proud of how much you love our fields. I'm proud of
how you love our facilities. And I love when I say to you, "We are not putting that raggedy fence, no matter how much you like it, in there." And you say, "Brenda, it looks nice." And I say, "I
hate it." And you say, "Oh, it looks real nice." And then yesterday I find out we're getting a different fence. So, I love that you know that I'm very picky and I think we have the same standard. So, I'm so proud of the work you're doing. So, take it away. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Um, first I want to start off where I didn't think I have this moment right here where I get to listen to the Maya Carson's and the Aubrey Cochin stars who I had impacts on since seventh eighth grade year. And then Jordan Hersonson. Wow. you know, just to
say that as much as I love the fields and the facilities that we have here at Freley, I care that much about our student athletes. So, when Dr. Lewis talk about access, opportunity, belonging, Jordan Hersonson right there, 100%. You
know, we talk about having all of our kids feel welcome inside our district. This summer we're opening up transportation so that all of our student athletes can have a chance to go to summer weight training, summer practices, and summer camps. And so we're opening it up to where we're
saying come on board. Fly is the place for you. Fly is the place for everyone. So I say that and I'm excited to talk about the baseball and softball updates. All right, so moving on. The first field we have is our multi-purpose field. Um that field will be located right next to
our high school tennis courts. Um, as you can see, that's a older style back stop and that's the current state of our um our field and our back stop that will be removed and we'll be updating that to um a more multi-purpose for softball and baseball.
So, you can see we'll go we'll move towards that style of dugout. It will be powdercoated uh back stop fencing. Dr. Lewis, I know how much you care about that. Please take a moment. Yes. Let's please explain that and let's explain what you thought was acceptable because
I just like to talk about that. So I originally thought if you look at the bottom right corner that is a fence that goes around that is not a permanent fence. That's a portable fence. Jake, you may know the portable fence is normally like those an accordion. Yep.
Put it. And Dr. Lewis refused. And I kept saying, "Oh no, it's going to look nice." But I'm thinking like I have to fix this. So, as I'm nodding in my head, I'm already thinking about thoughts. And um huge shout out to Troy Ordall, the head
uh baseball and activities director at um where is that? St. Anthony. He's the one I went over to their field and kind of looked at that and I was like, "Okay, that's what we need and we're going to do it even better." So, we was able to upgrade that to where it could be for all levels. Anywhere from youth, softball or baseball, all
the way up to our varsity sports will be able to participate on this field. And it'll be grass. Yes. Yep. As well grass. Um going to baseball field, our varsity baseball field. So, um looking at our fields, replacing the varsity field, fence and back stop and dugouts. We'll
look at, you know, as you go through and see the pictures, you look at those uh those updates that's going to be needed right now. If you look at the top pictures, that is the current state of our fence that's going around. It's not the best thing to look at. Um you look at the back stop and I know uh some of
you have been at baseball games, we don't have the proper netting to go around and so we have foul balls, the neighbors does not like that. nor do we need kids chasing the foul balls into the street. If you look below, right below that picture, we're going to
provide the proper back stop with the proper netting to to prevent foul balls from going outside of the field of play. And then, as you can see, we're going to update the fencing with black powder coating. Then, as we move to the dugout, that
dugout was probably here, as we talked about. Um, I got great help from Dan Alpa and Matt Alpa and Josh Growth. Those dugouts was probably there before they even was playing. And so now we're going to move to a more upgraded version of what you see below. And so all their
hands have been into this and their vision are with it. We're just kind of waiting for um the correct branding to add to it. We got a grant for that too, didn't we? Yes, we we have a um it was a twins grant. Yep. for 15,000.
Um, softball fields. So, our I would say our softball field is a little bit better shape than our high school varsity field, but we still want to replace the back stop, the dugouts, and a new scoreboard. And I get to that scoreboard in a minute. The current back stop, if you look at the picture on your far left, you will
see below sometimes the pass balls or the balls that go past the catcher will seep through the fence and it can fly up towards our fans. So, we're going to update that with a new back stop as you can see in the bottom uh right corner.
And then as we go to the dugouts, um that's our current state of our dugout up top. We're going to move to more of a brick dugout. And then the fencing that we have in front of it is for since softball's a little closer to play is for protection. And then we're going to add on the additional storage wall that
you see with the doors at the end. Add that on. And then the scoreboard, as I mentioned before, now that is a building that our custodial staff use to store our grounds equipment. It is is very far from the field. You won't ever be able to see it.
So, I did a close-up picture in case you never noticed if you went to a softball game. We're going to update it with the scoreboard as you see below on the picture. That's a current um scoreboard at our baseball field. So, it'll be very similar to that. And we'll put it in right field of softball.
So, here are things we're going to update for both baseball and softball. As we look, it's going to be the fence guard, the foul poles. Wait till I show you the file poles and then the batting cages. The fence guard, if you look um the top
right, that is where that's our softball field. So, we already have the powder black coated fence around the softball field, which is nice. As you see to your bottom left, you see that's our current baseball field with the with the fence guard going around the top. We want our field to like the bottom right both
fields with it going all the way around. And so we're going to upgrade that this summer. And so our foul poles, if we go from right to left, so in the right picture, you see that's our foul pole for softball. I want you to look closely to
the picture in the middle. That's our fall uh pole for baseball. That's a 2x4 that is painted yellow. What? I did not know that. You kept that from me. I did. I'm sorry. It is.
Sorry. Never mind. I don't know what a fowl pole is, but I do feel like a 2x4 painted yellow is not a No, that's not what we want. And so we will all all of our file post will look like the one you see in the far left.
And then last is the batting cages. Um yeah, it's it is it is past due time for the batting cages. Um so that's our baseball and softball batting cages as you see up top. We will move to the more upgraded version of the batting cages down low. And so it'll be um two units
so we can get multi-purpose use all at once. So, most importantly, I want to thank Dan Alka, who's the former baseball coach, former student athlete baseball player here at Philly um Fley Public Schools, as well as our head coach, Josh
Growth, uh for helping us out, as well as Caleb Bratz Rivera, who is our head softball coach. I have all of them with me as we go through the design of this, and they're going to I'm going to walk with them each step of the way to make sure this is done the right way for us. And I have one last slide that I want to
share with everyone. So, while we're looking at all of our baseball and softball fields, I will be happy to drive Dr. Lewis around and our new golf cart that she provided for us. It's kind of like both for our golf cart. So, it's both of ours, but
other people have to check it out. I got to say something, Dr. Lewis. It's not the right color. Well, we're waiting on branding. It's going to get branded. So, we're just That's step one, upgrade. That's awesome. And we may or may not have used the max capacity. I was just
ask you, can you share how many professional adults we had on there yesterday? I would just like you to share that. It was It's set up to hold four. We might have squeezed five on there. Justin driving, Relle in the middle, me
halfway off the side, and Justin did not go down the hill. again. And then we had the two guys from the city on the back and um we drove from the front of the middle school waited um the subpar tennis courts. So
um we did that though. Yes, we it was semi. Were you comfy, Relle? Yes. Um I think you're just speaking to the testament here Justin that We are not going to compete with some of
our metro counterparts, but we can still have nice things in Fidley. And our students deserve nice things. Our staff deserves nice things. Our families deserve nice things. And I think we have been very good fiscal stewards of this. And it's
simple things like Justin repeatedly talks about the coding on the fences. That's when people understand your branding. They see your pride, right? And that stays a lot better than a rusted out fence, right? And we laugh and we have this playful dialogue about
things like fences. It's because, and I think people know this now. I will not settle for anything raggedy because that sends a message to our students. It sends a message to our staff and it sends our message to our families.
That's why I am so particular about how our facilities look. So Justin, thanks for honoring that. Thanks for your great work. Board will entertain any questions or comments you have. Isn't this exciting? Yeah, this is this is exciting. I mean, these are things that you can see. Yes. Right. We know there's a lot of behind the scenes things
happening, but I know when I talk to people in the community, like they are legitimately excited. Construction couldn't start quick enough. Kids are excited, staff are excited. I mean, it's it's going to look like a different school here in two years, I would imagine. So, it's an increase in safety,
too. 100%. And we're really excited to go to a baseball team, and Mike's not going to make us park two blocks away because he's afraid that the car is going to get hit as a reality. Mhm. Yep. Yeah. Great work, Justin. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Nice job.
I think you're done for the night, right? Yes. Okay. Thanks for doing all those. Appreciate you. See you. So, you might not know, Dr. Lewis, we did our gender reveal at a Friley baseball game, Dylan's senior year. We got those exploding baseballs with the
colors. And Coach Nlepta, I emailed him and I said, "Will you help me?" And he said, "I absolutely want to help you with this." And then I sent him the link and I said, "This is what I want to do." And he replied back and he goes, "Oh my god, Avana, do I know the gender before the father?" Because I sent him the blue link. And so we were at the baseball
game. We the whole team participated. My mom knew what it was, so she had a container of blue Gatorade hidden away. Um, but a foul ball almost hit me while I was pregnant because we didn't have that that protection. So, very special place in our hearts. And I do have the
video. I will try and find it and send it to you. Um, but yeah, it was like narrowly missed. Not just me, my actual belly. It came pretty quickly. So, this is very much needed for safety. I love that. I love that. And it shows that we
care. I mean, it's as simple as that. Like, we care about pregnant women's safety, right? I mean, we care about because it's a future student, right? Right. I mean, it's all about the enrollment count. Yeah. Exactly. All right, team. I'm going to transition us
to our SRO agreement. My apologies. That should say 2527. Sorry about that. Um anyway, I am just absolutely honored to talk about this tonight. You're going to hear two different SRO agreements talked about tonight. Um this agreement, both
agreements reflect our deep partnership with the city of Fidley and the unwavering commitment to safety, well-being, and positive development of our students. We're so fortunate to work with the public safety uh unit that we have here in Fidley. As you know, when I first
came, SRO units were pulling out of school districts and school districts were saying, "You're no longer welcome here." And we did not have a moment in Fidley public schools where FPD uh suspended service with us. And I'm really proud of that. I believe that we
still remain the only district fully in Anoka County that still has SRO and has lasted that entire time. So, I'm very excited about that. So, I'm going to talk to you first kind of what I would call our traditional SRO agreement. And this is where we have two SRO's embedded
in our secondary school. So, we have Officer Nico uh at Fidley High School and then Officer Dave at Fidley Middle School. Their on-site presence during the school day. Also, they do heavy coverage at this building and at our
elementary schools. And then when Vista first opened, heavy response at Vista as well. Um, we also have uh part of our agreement is event coverage of football games, prom, homecoming, graduation, and dances. So, it's really nice to see our
SRO's interacting with our students, having those relationships, and um while we're there for safety, it's really about the relationships that they bring to that. and our students get so excited to see our SRO unit all over our schools
at our events, etc. Um, as I talked about, they assist as needed. Um, we also have a new addition here which is in our setting for Vista program. Um, we are working with uh Fidley Police to get
two additional SRO's which we are thrilled about. This interview process will take part in July. that's both a uh Fidley Police Department interview as well as Fidley public schools. So that's really a joint effort and our I call
them our SRO number three um will start the first day of school and then our SRO number four ideally will start by January 1st. We really want to continue our good partnership and just like education has taken a bit of a hit about
um available staffing levels and qualified uh teachers and paras to be in our positions. Fidley police has also seen um not as many applicants for police officer positions as they once did. The other piece is it takes a while
from hiring of a Fidley police officer all the way until they're able to be independent. So there's a whole bunch of phases, field training, those sorts of pieces. So FPD has been in direct communication throughout this process with me about when they feel they will
be able to stand up um the fourth officer. So we're really excited about that. We also are very fortunate um to have Jason who is serving as we call him a security officer, but he uh was an SRO
with Spring Lake Park public schools as part of the City of Blaine Police Department. And we actually hired him, frankly, I think we all remember this, in a quite a position of um need. He started with us last January 2nd, I
believe. And we were just having such a strain on uh Fidley Police SRO unit plus the patrol unit. And we were having multiple calls at Vista um throughout each day. And now with Jason there, it's
been phenomenal. And Jason, I just want to give a shout out to him. He has been working so hard and is a retiree. So that also impacts his funds for retirement and he um did some work to be able to come back with us. So he's here
until SRO4 is in place and then we're going to do like a twoe overlap. So, it's just magical to see him interacting. And um Lieutenant Titus and um Chief George as well as Esro Mickelson took part in the city council
tours, which I'll talk about later on, but they were also there. Uh Chief George and Lieutenant Titus and all of our SRO's have been over at the Vista program when students are there in session. And it's just wonderful for
them to see. And I have to say FPD has been really good about thinking outside the box because this isn't a traditional SRO role and it's really um been wonderful to see them just lean in and say, "Yep, we're going to work on this. We're going to work on it together." Um
I wanted to share a little bit about uh Vista here as well. I think you recall we started with two teachers and four students and now we ended with 16 students, five teachers and six Paris. We're up to seven metro districts, which I think is incredible. Um, last year
there was a student in um, not the Vista program did not attend school at all and this year graduated. We also have stories where Dr. Thompson will share with you that families literally call and say, "Is everything okay with my
student? You're not calling me." and just having our families realize that like your student is thriving in the environment that works best for them. We had a student in one of our uh elementary programs uh elementary
schools who spent about 5 hours a day in the restroom flushing the toilet. And that environment did not serve that student well. And now at Vista, that student only uses the restroom during appropriate time to use the restroom.
So, it's just talking about how we see and we set up that environment. We've all been there. It's an environment that is beautiful. It's therapeutic. Your shoulders go down when you go in there and you can see. One of the city council members asked me, "How many fights do
you have a day at Vista?" And I said, "We don't have fights at Vista." And that's because of the environment and how we have um set that up. Um as I talked about and this was asked during the city council tour before the addition of the security officer, we had
a lot of response. We had a lot of calls and um our SRO's were feeling that and they were not ever complaining, but it's just different when they're constantly getting pulled over to um that site. And then that leaves our other sites with a
bit of vulnerability. And with our location of Vista, which is now Vista Elementary, we're in a very hightraic area. Name a place in our district that's not, right? Um and what we would have is um sometimes our students alope out of the
building and some of our drivers are not very understanding. So we would have students laying in the road and drivers literally getting out screaming, threatening our staff, things like that. Now that we have Jason there and soon to be um
expansion of our SRO program, we will mitigate so much of that. And it's just been exciting to see the difference in calls from without Jason to now with Jason. Um our let's call it traditional
SRO agreement that's half city half school system as far as salary and benefits and they fully fund all of the equipment. So that costing is 145,000 for 2025 to 2026. We have some funds
that are dedicated to this. Um we however don't have enough funds that come out of that account. So some of this is um general fund. Then the following year it's 154,000 and that's for both of what I'll call the traditional SRO's. Our setting for SRO
agreement. Um this number looks scary, right? It's 43,000 annually. However, that has zero impact to our general fund and that's because of tuition agreements and special ed dollars. Um, why is this a different price point structure? FPD
needs to stand up all of the equipment. They need to have their patrol vehicle and all of those pieces. I feel very confident in the fairness around the costing of this contract and also again this is something that we are able to um
spend through those tuition agreements and tuition agreements are different than when we talk about a student who is open enrolled into our district um that receives special education services. So the costing model and funding is
different. Um, I really feel this model on both city of Fidley and Fredley public schools is really about student safety, student focused and I think it's very fiscally responsible. Um, I think we have a really good um,
relationship. I think we can all agree um even since Lieutenant Titus took over in January, the level of times that we interact with our SRO unit is multiple times a
day. I can't imagine if we didn't have SRO's in our school district. I cannot imagine um what that would feel like. and the approach that our SRO's bring. I often have to remind myself, oh, they're not our staff. Even though they feel
like our staff, I remind myself that they're not part of Fidley Public Schools in the sense of staff, but you would never know they're not a part of our district. They also bleed Fidley. They love our school district. They care. Um, here I think you'll recall I
love these cookies. We need to do that again. Here is when we talked about threat week and I think we can all remember this and this is their cute little badge cookies that we celebrated them with. I do want to just take a moment and talk about the complexity of
um policing and our school district. And I think we can agree we've seen some tough times this year um and last year when it came to police and school district interactions and I have to tell you while sometimes it takes us a tiny moment, we always get through it. And I
think we improve. Um I know we improve each time. Law enforcement school district relationships are very complex, especially in a district that's 80% students of color. And um Fidley police understand and embrace that our school
district does not racially or poverty look at all like city of Fidley, but they just want to invest with us and they want to be a part of us. Um, I've worked with multiple agencies. Um,
Fidley Public Schools, as you know, is the smallest district I've worked in. I haven't had a better police relationship um than I've had here. And that takes such good investment from our police and from our work. We remember when we had
the traffic stop um that occurred. Lieutenant Titus just leaned right into that. He leaned into the tension that we had. he heard me and both agencies have made changes as a result of that and I'm forever thankful. I also want to acknowledge SRO's um Officer Nico and
Officer Dave. They're here, they're reliable, they're just a part of our team and all of us just embrace what they bring. And then um Officer Mickelson who's in our parking lot, he supports 916, but he his primary duty is
916 ESO, but he is here as backup. helps us all the time. You'll see him at football games, graduation, etc. And he's just a trusted and dependable source. Special thanks to Lieutenant Titus who provides his exceptional leadership to the SRO unit and to Chief
George for his responsiveness and partnership. I don't know if I've shared with you, Lieutenant Titus and I didn't even know each other and um our first test was to navigate threat week together. So um I think that speaks to the volume of our relationship. So, I'm just very
proud of the work. I'm proud of this agreement and I'm proud of the expansion um that we're going to see under this. Um and with that, I'll pause here um before we get to this exciting lead report, but I want to um entertain any
questions or comments you have about the police um SRO agreement. This will go on the consent agendas to city council next Monday. Any questions? Pretty straightforward. I was hoping this would be a lead report, a lead report. Sorry,
it's lead. I mean, as the state director of clean water action, I think lead report is really exciting. So, I knew I'd have a fan in the crowd. Thank you. Just real quickly wanted to give you an update. Um, as you know, when I entered
the district, we did a lead report and we did have some violations and um some uh need for remediation. Um, we spent a lot of time over the last year changing out different faucets, um, drinking
fountains. Um, we checked signage that was using. And I just wanted to report to the board that um two weeks ago we did a retest um and we did it early um because we wanted to be able to make sure we were in compliance for next year
um and we passed it with flying colors. So everything's great. The report has been sent into the Minnesota Department of Health and we have a clean bill of health for next year. So thanks. Thank you Relle. Much appreciated there.
Next, I'm delighted to share a recap on our graduation. So, right here in this building, I was able to be at some of these celebrations, and there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. So, our four-year-olds celebrate the completion of preschool by rocking across their
bridge to be a future kindergartener. It's so cute to watch. I was also doing classroom visits and got to see them practice walking across the bridge to kindergarten. So, it's a big deal. We're so proud of our future class of, are you
ready? 238 and welcome to kindergarten at Hazen uh and Stevenson Elementary. The fourth grade celebrated by a culmination of elementary school with their exhibition projects, games, and a walk around the circle being cheered on by the rest of
the school. This is our class of 2033. Hayes also had hot dogs there. And I I don't even eat hot dogs, but it smelled so good when I stopped there. Um but I never had one. So next year, um Fley Middle School, our eighth grade students
cheered on in their sendoff. I was not there this year, but was there last year, and it's such a touching moment, and our students and staff celebrate them, send them off for completing middle school. Um then they uh also went on a Mississippi boat cruise to finish
out the school year, and they're so cute. They're all dressed up and it was just the perfect day for that, too. This is our class of 2029. Then we had our Fidley ALC graduation ceremony. It was so touching.
It was so touching. And at that ALC, any graduate that wanted to speak and address the audience could. And it was just phenomenal to hear that and to learn from them and see their stories of resilience. So that was fantastic.
Then our graduation at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. We had hundreds of families and family and friends. And our graduation ceremony featured 22 graduates with honors, 17 with high honors, 16 with highest honors, 17 IB
scholars, four IB diploma candidates, and 17 presidential awards. We also were proud to graduate five students who had dual degrees, high school diploma and their associate degrees. So so proud. This venue worked out really well for
us. And I'll say I'm very proud of our graduation ceremony and we've seen across the metro area that some did not go as well as ours. So I'm very proud of our community. All right. Next, I'm excited to talk
about the city council tours. So this was last Tuesday. Yes. Yes. And this was just great. Um, so our city council, all city council came, the mayor, um, chief
of police, chief of fire, um, Lieutenant Titus, Eserel Mikkelson, um, and some city staff came. We rent out golf carts. Why didn't we have our new one yet? Oh well. Anyway, I wish we would have had
the new one. That came in time for the parade, though. But anyway, um we came, we started uh just across the hall and we had a little working lunch and then um did a few grounding activities around Fley Public Schools and um talking about
the demographics of our districts, our goals, etc. And then Roshelle led um a presentation all about how we're using our referendum dollars and other money to really improve our facilities. And then half the group went to Vista. We
took van a van to Vista and they got to see that in-depth tour. And then the other half went on a facilities tour and they got to see what we're actually putting into action um through the slides and the presentation Michelle gave and then the group switched. It was
just such a wonderful um time for everyone to just see the work in action. Michelle, Lori, do you want to say anything? you two were on the same tour I was with Vista, but anything you wanted to share?
I would just say um it was it was an absolutely lovely day and I would say the interest and the engagement and the questions were um just truly showed care for our district and wanting to be a
part of it. Um I I got multiple people saying to me, we can't wait to come back next year and see the progress. So looking forward to that. I sprung it on Lori um yesterday that we are going to do a similar day for the
Lions and a similar day for Rotary. So we're excited to do that. And then I found out that we are upping our game and we're actually doing before photos. Um we all remember that. I regret not doing that. And what are we using in
addition to basic photos team? Yeah, we have both Joan and um Joan photos as well as they're called scans that do just a 360 view of it. So you can see our basement at FCC in all its glory before the big uh remodel happens. So
it's going to be really fun to look back on those. So exciting. So this was just a fabulous day. Um and we look forward to doing it again so that we can see our progress and then again. All right, next up we already uh excitedly welcome
Jordan. And then um as our Vista expands uh elementary and secondary and then we will have our middle school program not this fall but next fall, we need a principal. And so we're thrilled to
welcome Matt Inglehart to be in this position. Um, fiscally, this is not a general fund investment. This is all special ed dollars and tuition agreements. So, I'm just honored to have Matt join. He brings such an
instructional lens as you've heard him talk about. Um, and he has a love of students, um, all students, especially students with disabilities, and he really prioritizes relationships. So, I'm just thrilled to welcome Matt to the
principal ship as well. This is our newly debuted org chart. Um, so you'll see on here some of the changes. I just need to flip back here. Some of these, all of these, you know
about, but um, we're just kind of presenting them differently now. As you know, assistant soup Relle, proud to have her um, serving alongside. Um, if you notice here, we have Lori in the senior officer of admin services.
Harold, we talked about, senior officer of operations. Lori is um, continuing with the amazing work she's been doing with comm's, technology, enrollment, school board um, support, supporting of the superintendent office.
One of the biggest supports even though we're in kind of the beginning of this is she has taken international talent and just run with it. International talent is as we all know I know how to do that and I know how to do it well but
I get lost in the organizational part of it. And Lor's eyes just light up when I'm like you just need to figure out how to track this and do all of this. And then like 2 hours later she's like and here's this form and I'm like that is
fantastic and I am so glad you can create something like that because I hate every minute of that. And so she has just done phenomenal work because there's the art of the international talent and then there's all of the
numerous steps there and I don't have the bandwidth to do that and she has that organization and she loves it. Um so it's just been so fun to see her expand in that. So truly I appreciate how much my workload has lightened since
you've taken that over. Um so excited to welcome Dr. Cochran to the senior officer of academics and innovation um team there. We talked about FCC with off the lobby as a reminder. He also is our first principal of color at FCC and then
welcoming Jordan and Matt. So we're excited to to continue to make budget reductions at this level but still really rep prioritize how we utilize resources to serve our buildings. Um, next I will open it up to
uh board members here for their updates. Great. From 9:16 um the a couple of exciting things happened at our last board meeting. First of all, we approved the budget um for 916 for this coming fiscal year. And
then additionally, we approved a contract between 916 and Fidley public schools for um our ALC provider being Metro Heights, which is opening in the intersection um this year or moving to the intersection of University of
Mississippi uh this school year. So, we are very excited to um continue to deepen that partnership and use this resource um in the coming years. I think the big update for Northwest Suburban is that Nikki will be taking
over while I am out on leave. Perfect. I need the Google Meets for tomorrow. Is it tomorrow? Okay, we'll get that to you. We equals, but I'll take the credit. Perfect. Thank you. I need to talk to
you before that meeting Sher Caro. I do not have an update. Okay, sounds good. Um, I am actually going to talk about the legislative update in just a moment that I pulled directly from AMSD. So, this is good timing here. All right,
legislative review. Um, so special session. Um, the omnibus bill for ed finance and policy um was passed on June 9th, so just a few days ago here. no new ongoing funding. Um, but again,
we are thankful for that 274 formula increase for the inflationary. Exceptionally thankful for the hold harmless position provision for comp ed. Um, I know I keep harping on this and I'm going to harp again. We did not get
the 200,000 that would have been allocated under the governor's formula. Um, so there's really two things that we need to address. and you know that I want to be on that task force. We need to address this whole business of only
direct certification counts. We need forms and we need direct certification. By we, I actually mean all the districts in the state. Secondly, yes, I'm thankful for the whole harmless, but that's the funding clip for next year. And just as a reminder, that's $6.9
million that's at stake in our school system that funds things like summer programming, class- size buy down, professional learning. Our district cannot afford to lose this money. This is the money that changes the trajectory
of our students, interventions, and so forth. This is by far the piece that Fidley Public Schools needs to continue just pushing on. This is extremely divisive as we know. Um but we need to keep pushing on this. Q comp didn't get
cut. So for now that 750,000 and that fluctuates, right? Um we are good on QC compet. But right now, the the non funding of QC
comp that was proposed out of the governor's budget didn't make it through. So, I'm thankful for that. Um, the state education budget for 26727 remains unchanged
and we know it's pretty grim. Um, let's see. I talked about all this reduction in special ed transportation aid. This infuriates me in principle. Um
when we talk about that districts need to provide it's the correct moral imperative to provide the supports. It's also legally required at the state and federal level. when we reduce transportation by even 5%.
That sends us all a message and we will keep advocating on that. I was disappointed to see um student support personnel aid reduced and school library aid reduced when those had just been put in. Um so
disappointing. What's even more disappointing to me is a $250 million reduction in the 2829 bianium. There's a blue ribbon commission that's being formed to uh reduce special education
costs in Minnesota by $250 million. I think this is unrealistic and I think it's morally wrong. If that doesn't happen, then um districts will pay them themselves out of general fund. um one-time targeting
funding. Again, one-time team, 100 million for school unemployment compensation. As a reminder, if we don't get a funding formula to this, which I do not want this levied because of our
already poor tax base, we kick the can again, which is fine, but this is 275 million annually or 275,000 annually for Fidley Public Schools. We want our paras and our student
nutrition services employees, bus drivers, we don't employ them. Um, but other districts do. We want them to have livable wages, but we cannot sustain on the backs of general fund dollars. Um,
$2 million per year for intermediate districts for special education apprenticeships. This is to get more um special ed staff into the workforce. And then um 3.5 million uh per year for teacher apprenticeship grant program. Um again getting more uh professionals into
the workforce. Um there was no indexing to the read act on poverty. There's also no additional funds in read act. Um we don't have immersion uh programming
here. Um, so the literacy training that was just expanded a little bit, the requirements on that. I was surprised that the September one start made it through um for calendar flexibility for 2627 and 2728.
A lot of money is poured into that by resort industry, state fair, etc. to keep that start date after Labor Day. So I was really surprised to see that make it through. highly contentious short call sublicens uh there's a permanent pathway for pair
professionals um the parah qualifications I had emailed you about that must meet the new federal standards um and then um this um remind me how we say that in the lock
zone um our students can um administer that too so I think that's good um then there's some other provisions meal and rest breaks. We already take care of that. The remote meeting law, greater flexibility with board member
participation. I'm really excited about this. I want us to also just ensure that there's nothing about addresses published out um public data law. I am tired of public data requests. We are
tired of when we legal legally comply and people don't pay for it. we've already done the work and they don't pay for it. And we don't charge absorbent expenses, but it's staff time that is utilized for things that are um not
improving student teach student achievement. So, I'm thankful that we're seeing some action around this. Now, I will say Fidley public schools does not get the same level of public data requests that you might see in Okahannapen, Rochester, etc. get.
However, it's still a drain on fiscal resources and sometimes the motivation behind those isn't about student achievement. Um, then there's this law enforcement
entry device grant as well. What does it mean for us? I've already talked about that, right? our hold harmless um long-term sustainability, our advocacy especially around that blue ribbon um
commission work uh also around third party billing dollars and then our continued collaboration with AMSD um and our other metro district counterparts. I think that worked well this year. I think that worked really well around our advocacy there.
the last piece here. Um I just want to take a moment um to just really acknowledge the horrible tragedy that happened um in the early hours of Saturday. Can you read this Michelle for me? The tragedy
back on our day will be here. The tragedy that struck our state on Saturday has left us all heartbroken. As a district that deeply values relationships and community, we extend our sincere condolences to all those
impacted. With gratitude to Speaker Melissa Hortman, we're especially thankful for the tireless advocacy of Speaker Hortman. Her steadfast commitment to Minnesota's students and public education have been evident time and time again. Her
leadership in advancing school finance reform, including her support for equitable education funding, has directly impacted districts like ours. Holding Senator John Hoffman in our hearts, our hearts are also with Senator
John Hoffman. His compassion, advocacy, and commitment to funding stream um commitment to his students with disabilities has meant so much to Fidley public schools. He has been a champion of protecting and expanding thirdparty
billing dollars, a critical funding stream for special education services. We are actively coordinating a visit for him to tour our Vista program and Superintendent Lewis had the privilege of sharing breakfast with him just this
past Thursday. His wife, a dedicated educator in a neighboring school district, reflects the same passion for serving students as he does. The safety of our school board members remains a top priority for us. We are actively working with Fidley Police
Department to enhance security protocols for our elected officials, ensuring they can continue to serve our community safely and confidently. We are a community that stands together in sorrow, in advocacy, and in hope.
Thanks, Rashelle. Yeah, chair. That's all I have. Well said. All right, let's uh move along with the agenda. I would entertain a motion to approve our budget for fiscal year 2025
through 2026. So moved. Motion by Meiser. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes. Next up, I would uh entertain a motion to accept a gift from
the Fidley United Methodist Church in the amount of $1,362 for the family resource room and outreach. Do I have a motion? So moved. Motion by Stark. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Anna. This is
a roll call vote to uh send our uh letter of gratitude. Uh Miss Anna. I. Miss Jones. Hi. Mr. Carp as I. Mr. Meisner. I, Miss Stark. I motion passes. Um, next up, I would entertain a motion for our consent agenda, which is pretty
lengthy. covers our agenda meeting minutes, monthly financial reports, new contracts, amendments, leave of absences, resignations, uh retirements terminations, our SRO agreement that we discussed, uh both regular and setting 4, basement
renovation, professional services agreement, our 20267 school year calendar, our overnight field trip for the Fley Middle School 7th grade trip to Long Lake Conservation Center, our tech refresh lease, authorization to others investment
partners to act as the district's investment manager and designate Persian LLC as an official depository of the district and then the Q comp report and an additional professional development day on September 26, 2025.
Um I would entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda. So moved. Uh motion made by Stark. Do I have a second? Second. Second made by Anna. All those in favor please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed? Motion passes. Uh future dates, we have
no school on June 19th for the district holiday of Junth. We also have no school as a district holiday uh July 4th. And then our next Fly Public Schools board meeting will be June 15th. July. July 15th here at the Fley Community Center. 5:30 work session, 7
o'clock public comment, 7:30 business meeting. With that being said, unless there are any important dates that I missed, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Move to adjurnn. Motion by miser. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Anna. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. And we are
adjourned. One minute before 9:00. Thank you.