on the website yep and when I said we I was kind of over over classifying as you thank you okay i I think we are I think I'm on um I would uh like to
call the uh meeting of Tuesday April 15th to order and we will start by reciting the pledge of allegiance if you choose to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all thank you everybody ask for just a bit of indulgence as I you might be able to tell I'm starting to lose my voice a little bit but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get through this we will start um here's something good
i will start with uh chair would entertain a motion for an approval of our agenda with suggested motions and resolutions do I have a motion so moved second made by motion made by Stark seconded by Jones all those in favor please signify by saying I i all opposed
motion passes next up on our agenda we have our superintendent report from Dr lewis i'll turn it over to you Dr lewis thank you Chair um it's my absolute delight to showcase for you last week we uh shouted out and celebrated our assistant principles so we are
absolutely delighted you saw um profiles of them and celebrations on our social media and that trended so much so it was so exciting so we have Abby Jensen at RLS and she is described as well
balanced we have um Greg Beak at Hayes um Abby is not new to Fidley Public Schools but she's new to the role greg is new to Fidley public schools so we love having him and he's described as knowledgeable then we have Matt
Inglehart at uh Fidley Middle School relationship focused is his descriptor then we have Carrie Verichek at our ALC um described as tenacious limey Zarly at Fidley High School who is described at as hardworking and last week he was also
celebrated in DC because he is the Minnesota state assistant principal of the year so that was fantastic to have him also be celebrated and then we have Falabi Ranchway who is new to our district at Fidley Community Center as
an advocate so it's my absolute pleasure to celebrate our APS and it's been just a phenomenal experience to have the APS at the elementaryaries now our principles are able to be doing much more that instructional leadership and the relationships that our APS have with
all of our students staff and families is just um phenomenal so it's a pleasure to celebrate them with you tonight next I am going to call up Matt Hammer to share with our board about the pre-sale report for building bonds and
Matt is with our financial advisor Ellers thanks Matt good evening members of the board dr lewis um Matthew Hammer district's financial adviser and I'm here just to share an update on where we're at with the process from the voter approved
projects that were approved by voters last November um and as part of that process when we look back um those projects were not going to have a tax impact for voters and we've been managing that process along the way um right now we're in the midst of getting
ready to uh um start the sale process and we're assuming um we're going to be closing on those bonds at the beginning of June so the district's going to undertake um a process uh like we've we did last um last spring in regards to
going through a rating process doing due diligence and then authorizing the the issuance and award of those bonds um at the meeting at May 20th um overall those leveies uh were authorized by the board as part of that um part of the final
levy process last December and everything is on track um to align right where uh the plans prior to their referendum so we're in good shape um from an interest perspective the market has been fairly volatile um but I will
say in the taxexempt bond space um we're still seeing um demand for uh bonds like the district will be selling here in May and interest rates are still in line with where our assumptions were so we're in good shape so with that I can answer
any questions the board has really tonight is just the purpose of tonight is to give um folks an update we're going to be issuing part of that issuance um about 14.5 million um which is in line with the plans that we had um
prior to the election any questions for Matt yeah chair just one uh I don't even know if this question is answerable Matt but with the recent volatility in the markets that even started to affect the US markets
does the US Treasury volatility affect uh investors opinions of these kinds of bonds either making them more or less attractive yeah I think volatility as a whole impacts the markets right um when there is uncertainty that impacts um
market conditions and people's willingness to put their money to work right and not keep it on the sidelines so we've saw that specifically um last week especially right with the volatility that we're seeing the market and um interest rates were moving up and
down within the week pretty considerably um I will say that we're going to monitor that right over the next month and if for some reason we're seeing um conditions change in any way we would likely postpone the sale um going into
the sales process but right now um from week to week from day to day right there's some volatility so we've got to be kind of positioned from that perspective um as we go forward over the next month but you're 100% right um investors
are kind of trying to figure out what's going to happen dayto day right now anybody else y um can I really appreciate the um uh responsibility that our community has
given us with their tax dollars to um invest in our schools and I know that there we've been really strategic with being really responsibly managing that can you um just kind of remind us I know like why are we selling in two chunks
and kind of th those different parts of how does that help us to manage and manage responsibly our community's funds yeah so the district's debt service levy was um set to drop um in taxes payable
28 um and as part of this process uh but if we were to issue all of the bonds we'd have interest costs that would have created a tax increase right so from the standpoint of timing um we were always planning on a multi-phase approach um
partly because you can't get every project done right in one summer either so um we call it the summer slam in the school environment right that you've got a three-month window to get projects done um and really what we're looking at is there was a design phase that the district's going through after the
project was approved um the summer of 26 is going to have a smaller portion of the project or projects completed some additional projects are planned like was presented in um March right where the summer 27 will have some additional projects that'll get done and then from
a timing perspective because we were trying to manage the tax impact to the um property owners in the school district and the voters um the second phase of issuance will happen early in 27 and that happens to align with where the district's debt service levy is
scheduled to drop right um and we're replacing that levy with a new levy at that time so this um planning process it kind of actually dates back to um back to 2015 and when the district was uh doing planning for their long-term
capital plan and um that long-term capital plan is kind of in place now again based on where we're at today when we look out another 8 to 10 years um as the district manages their long-term capital and facilities plan um so really
right the process is two- stage right one we're trying to manage the levy like we communicated to voters so that we didn't create any impact in the voters and two it was to align with the construction schedule um partly because we don't need to be paying interest on bonds when we don't need the money um
but also to try to manage the the taxes for the property owners as well perfect i really appreciate that thank you and helping us I appreciate your partnership and helping us to steward those finances really well thank you yeah it's we'll see uh hopefully we get off to a good start here in May right
then we can uh breathe a little easier certainly looking forward to it any other questions for Matt oh awesome thanks as usual Matt appreciate it yes we'll see you next month sounds good thanks Matt much appreciated next it's my pleasure to uh introduce Karen
Beckstrand who is our preschool IB PYP coordinator and she's going to share with us about the IB preschool pre-authorization welcome Karen good to see you thank you all right good evening Dr turn the mic on thank you good
evening Dr lewis school board chair and school board members it's uh my honor and privilege to be here tonight speaking to you on behalf of the Furley preschool self-study journey that we have embarked on this year as many of you know as a world authorized school every five years we need to uh in um
embark on the self-study which is basically an opportunity for staff students our community to reflect on how we how we are doing implementing the IB program standards and practices during this reflection time we look at the entire core tenants of the IB as well as
our own work with our planners and our instructional methods and best practices and our impact on our student learning and achievement so as you can see before you uh the IB coordiners a few years ago created these slides to kind of help explain it so it's the what it's the whole child
learning and then we go to the why and the big focus there is of course the global citizenship the multiple perspectives and of course the second language and then the service and action and then the third is the how which is the collection of effective and engaging teaching practices and here at the
Fidley preschool the big focus of that is of course on our play-based and our inquiry based learning so um as you can see Fidley is the is an IB for all school and the only E12 continuum district in the state of Minnesota and one of 13 in the nation
which we're very proud of and just a few other little facts that you can see about um us as a whole IB continuum district so what is self-study self-study is um like I had said taking a look and there you can see the
timeline um our data submission our document submission is due June 15th uh our self-study is due September we're doing goal setting we have engaged already throughout the course of this year a lot of the self-study materials and then of course you can see the
stakeholders with the school board being one of those part of this is of course that there is a close alignment between the IB mission statement and the Fidley public schools mission statement so I just wanted to put those up there for you to again have as a
reference so in 2020 when the Fidley preschool is authorized we were authorized underneath the old program standards and practices so now we're into the new program standards and practices which you of course can see there before you with learning being at the heart of everything and then surrounded by the other tenants of
purpose environment and culture and that's what generates the self-study we take a look at all of the standards and practices in those four core areas so this is the one that is before the board to uh look at uh that the governing body and school leaders
articulate a purpose for learning that aligns with the IB's philosophy and mission and that this standard shows up for us in Fidley public schools and that uh I will be asking you to please respectfully reflect on this um when I
send some more information via Lori to you and what we're looking for is how do you feel as a board and school leaders about those about that purpose is it highly developed is it developed or are we developing it and I just wanted to share with you
some things that have come to light from our self study that we have engaged in already so some of the key components and accomplishments we actually were authorized during the middle of the global pandemic in 2020 um we had of course the federal grant at the time
which allowed us to really focus on equitability or equitable things in our classrooms for all of our students um and then really focusing on those four core uh components of the early years which is the play the relationships the learning environment and that symbolic
exploration and expression um challenges that have come up from some of our staff and from our leadership have been um of course COVID but then when we had to pivot through all of the distance learning models or having to close classrooms um and then this actually came out of the letters i
kind of wanted to highlight this because I found it interesting through our letters training that we're doing with the read act is that we're seeing students that were affected by the fact that they were born into and those early speech skills were maybe affected due to
having to wear masks and isolation so that was a really interesting fact that we discussed as a group in one of our uh letters trainings and then where are we going uh really starting to dig into data literacy using our data to drive
best practices and also the past summer the IB launched the new transdisciplinary themes which are a little bit more broad a little bit more open so we're looking to implement those we of course are working on our pyramid model which is our earlier childhood PBIS to bring us in line with the rest
of the district and then just our continued uh work and refinement of bridging our preschool to our kindergarten as we um as our students move up into there and then of course just the continued alignment to the mission and vision of Fidley public schools as led by Dr lewis and the school
board so our next steps as you can see are to continue to de develop our planners deepen our data literacy knowledge and just like I had said to um continue all of the system alignment uh invitations will also be sent to you as a board through the proper channels for
our October visit which is on the 27th and 28th for you to meet with our evaluators as well and then of course moving forward if there are any matters to be addressed that we would that becomes our next five-year action plan and that's all I have for you thank you
so I just really like that you pointed out the mask thing i was just holding my friend's premature baby and wearing a mask and you do all the things you make the faces and you coo and you smile and you make the eye contact and instead you know my face is covered and he just stared at me with those big beautiful
blue eyes and so it's really important I think to remember that and and address that so thank you for mentioning that you're welcome thank you thanks so much Karen thank you very much oh I'm sorry can I just thank you so much i got to be
one of your parents in your last study so that's so exciting in your initial authorization and seeing all the work that's happened and continuing to happen in that i do continue to agree that IB allows us to have great framework for teaching for our students um to ensure
that our teachers are using best practices and I just really appreciate that and I see that our teachers are working so hard to make sure that our students have the very best start so thank you thank you yes awesome thank you very much for your time thanks Karen
next it's my absolute delight to introduce Alta Sims our equity and inclusion coordinator who will be presenting on our equity framework alignment alta has been working very hard on this and I have been every month
are you ready are you ready because I'm so excited for our board to see it so um Alota I'm so proud of you and the work that you're doing um seriously you're really moving uh the work forward here in Fidley Public Schools and I thank you as superintendent and as a mom um I'm
also delighted to have Relle there alongside Alota so go ahead thank you well I'm gonna take this this opportunity to uh to frame up Alta's amazing work with our strategic plan and I think that's really important as we
start to talk about things and as we start to implement our strategic plan over the next three years so this is really focused on engagement which is one of the big focus areas of our strategic plan and our direction number four of inclusiveness and engagement so
tonight I get the honor of sitting with Alto while she talks about the equity and inclusion framework the practices that we talk about and our data focus ala I'll turn over to you yes thank you superintendent board chair and board members thank you so much today what I'm
going to do is share with you guys our inclusive excellence framework this will also be part of our core elements of purpose shared collective responsibility and pathways this framework will be our map our guide to inclusive and equity
growth within our district as you can see here um I don't want to read it all out but this framework also includes every stakeholder within our district it includes board members superintendent it includes our students and it also includes our staff and administration the reason why this was very important
to me that I include our stakeholders is because this is all all of our collective contribution to this equity framework right this is just not one department it is not one person we all have to share in this collective vision together and so as you can see here we
have six pillars the six pillars are our vision we want to make sure that we have a vision so that our students can be successful attached to our six vision our six pillars will be a core initiative plan here these initiative plans are are part of our shared
collective responsibility and when we say share collective responsibilities as you can see here we have stability right we have our IB coordinators we have our our active listening our belonging our inclusive our culture this is all of our work and we are inviting everyone to
join and partake in our framework right now when we think about shared collective in our pillars it's our guided plan our focus our direction it ensures consistency and our equity and inclusion which is very very important to us along the way we also want to make
sure that the work is also our students um our collective goal right we want to make sure our students and their trajectory is very successful and so a framework also guides us it gives us vision and it anchors us it anchors us to make sure that our inclusive data
focus can also show improvement in our reading and our math it also makes sure that our equity is anchored in inclusiveness where all cultures are being valued within our district but it also grounds us on our foundation of IB AVID right it also grounds us in our
literacy so this is what our framework is attached to our vision our growth and making sure that the tax money of our community is going in the right place in the right in the right places so that we can all be successful as a
community the next the next pillar is also accessible opportunities what do our students need where are our resources going how are we making sure that every student has access within our framework inclusive culture we've all been to Hayes just had
a wonderful culture fashion show we already are hitting on this pillar how can we continue to build on this inclusive culture um um pillar equity practices equity practices are things that we are already doing now when we do our le when I when we do our leadership
trainings when we're coming here talking when our superintendent is on 11 highly promoting our equity and inclusion this is what our framework is about this is our anchor equity is not just a name is what we are doing is what we are
actively doing with your help board members and you're moving a pathway forward our superintendent our leaders in our district We are equity and we are intentional and we're going to do this with fidelity and with this framework as we continue to dive deeper in the
strategic plan that Rochelle just talked about we're going to see equity come alive in our district we're doing it and it's here and we have the pillars we have the core purpose shared collective pathway to moving forward we are moving the work and we are here to continue to
make sure that our students trajectory will be successful that's all I have any questions for me we have you yes you do have me and I love this work so I thank you guys all so much for allowing me to be here today and just sharing this collective work
any questions for Laura i just find it really inspiring and really motivating and every time you know we're able to work together whether we're handing out backpacks or just you know interacting like this it's always so wonderful i hate to think about my three-year-old growing up any faster
than he already is but knowing that he's going to be coming into a community that is rooted in this foundation is really powerful thank you so much Avon i appreciate it anybody else anybody else thank you L all right thank you Lola i appreciate it thank you guys appreciate you you need
to sit there for a little longer yeah type of the band man okay i met Ala during my interview process and uh she kept thinking I was talking about her
when I would say Loda so Lana is my daughter but I call her Loda and Ala sometimes your family calls you Loda looda so um I just want to say Ala that
I knew from the moment I met you during that um interview process team i just want to um let you know Ala was in that room when the consultant fell off the chair um and so uh that was really
dynamic interview um time and uh she also helped to get the consultant up which was great but Ala I've always felt that your value in this district is finally realized and I'm so proud of you
and I remember last year when I said to you my first year I said "I want you to come up and um talk at our kickoff and you were like "Okay." And you did amazing and the
work that you're doing is literally changing the trajectories of students lives here including my own children and I'm so proud of the work that you do i do also want to say that I'm a little bit frustrated with you and I'm going to call you out publicly because we had
this whole thing about I'm nervous to present i don't know how to present well you've lied to me and I can tell so it depends on who I've been well clearly this is the right audience right jokes aside I'm so proud of you thanks for
your amazing work thanks Ala next I'm so excited to have Michelle talk to us about several items including um transportation construction restrooms play features uh
athletic projects flooring projects i think I got them all go ahead you did so first of all wow going after Ala not great on the agenda for me but thanks for staying up here with me um it's great partying her and we're also um
doormates we also uh sit next to each other so um that's really a fun thing for me also um so first of all I want to introduce you to our newest transportation uh team member this is Betty that you see her in the picture betty is our new nine passenger van um
that we have purchased uh Betty is going to really help us um lower costs on some of our busing for our smaller athletic teams for when our teams of our staff might go to a professional development or need a ride to the airport um it will also help us transport students who
might need some extra care after school um after athletic practice or even during the day we can also transport parents so a multifunctional use um we're really excited to welcome her to our fleet yes and another welcome to Johnny
Robertson who you see in the picture here johnny is our new uh transportation coordinator i love the graphics of this thank you Lori that is amazing uh Johnny joined us um very recently um as you
know um board that our um that CISO right now does all of our transportation um across the board um starting on July 1st um CISO will manage the Northwest Suburban District transportation but
Fidley will take over transportation of our students in our school district um so Johnny is leading the way on that way i will say the transition is going really well um and we're we're just excited to have this opportunity to serve our community in a different way
um right now before you tonight will be three three-year contracts with three um different companies um we have been negotiating over the last probably month um first student transportation and those are rates of increases 5% 4% 4%
um I will say that um while I was told that um the rates that we were originally given were good in market value our superintendent hives a much harder deal so I have been um honing my negotiation skills and happy to say that
we got a much better deal than we started with with all three uh companies well Halo Transportation here says we're still negotiating at three o'clock today we sealed this one at five four and 4% also um and then collaborative student transportation they will be really our
flexible because we're still figuring out with um how many vans we'll need we know that they'll fluctuate um we have some plans for some transportation options in the future so we're really flexible with them and they'll have a 4% increase every year um our focus areas
for our collaborations with these companies is having a really stable GPS system in place and that parent communication remains robust um and improves in some areas also we want to reduce our late buses um we've been tracking those um but we really need to
reduce that so our students are arriving to school on time and then also having reliable video so when there is an incident on our buses we're able to get that video in um a an appropriate amount of time and have good quality so those are our areas and the transportation uh
contracts you'll see you talk about where the contracts started um yes I sure can so the contracts started um in the 9% um 966 range um so you can see we
yeah we we came down quite considerably so um and that was of course our superintendent's leadership um Johnny did a lot of the negotiating and I was the middle person just holding the line so um it was uh it was um we appreciate
our partnership with them we appreciate them negotiating a fair and good deal for us um construction project updates you'll see some contracts before you tonight i just want to review those um we have a restroom remodel that's happening right or that's going to be
starting once we sign the contract um this is for a bathroom location in our high school it's a location that services our gymnasium our auditorium and is a just a hallway access for our
students who also um can utilize these bathrooms so we're upgrading this to a single user restroom so there'll be six single-use straw stalls and then also uh shared um place to wash hands in kind of
an open environment um this restroom remodel will really be kind of the model for the future that we'll use at other sites as we begin to remodel our other restrooms so we'll be starting on this project summer of 2025 summer of 2025 we'll also be updating
our FCC or Fidley Community Center play structures our current playground there was built in the 20 to 2000s and our playgrounds typically have a a life of uh 20 years so it's time to upgrade we're going to be looking at the ground services we're going to be looking to
make sure that the equipment is developmentally and age appropriate for um the students who utilize it we want to make sure that there's a lot of inclusive uh features so that both our community as well as our students can utilize it and then make sure that we're upgrading some safety features also for
our students our next projects start to go into summer of 2026 that you're looking at contracts for tonight and you might be saying "Wow that's early why are we doing that so early?" Uh but really what this do does by signing the contract it
allows us to work with the architects and do the planning purposes so that we're not rushed we'll want to start ordering things and getting um bids out um probably in the February timeline so this gives us a nice amount chunk of time to do um all the the beginning work
um and of the interior design and outside too so our first project is a Fidley Middle School so summer of 2026 Fridle Middle School is going to be invaded with construction so we probably won't have um any programming happening there we'll probably move it all to the
high school we'll be looking at tuck pointing which is the exterior and fixing our brick and mortar we'll be looking at partial roof replacement we'll be doing a targeted window replacement targeted classroom renovations including asbesus removal
finishes electrical upgrades and then we'll be doing a large locker room remodel um this will include um creating extra storage and classroom space creating a family locker room space creating single-user bathrooms so again we'll be taking that model that we're
doing here and incorporating it there and then remodeling the current students use um locker facilities this will also include on here not you where you'll see on the project but this will also be finishing the pool which we're really excited about too we've done a lot of
mechanicals uh the pool actually got drained a couple weeks ago it's filled back up and this week we've been working on getting the chemical balances um and the training for our staff on that um the FFMS projects will um like I said we'll begin we're really looking at this
as an opportunity to involve our community so we'll be doing a lot of engagement with our middle school parents students and staff to look at um things that they can help us make decisions on for this project as you see it's not a total replacement let's
remember that the referendum is only paying for partially of a lot of projects that we need to do so we're going to be really targeted and focused on what we're doing we'll also be doing some athletic projects summer of 2026 our sports field scoreboard um we we're
upgrading to an LED and um also hoping to have uh revenue potential for that and being able to do adver advertisements i don't know if you've ever driven board but by sometimes I'll drive by and suddenly the board will just light up it's a little eerie isn't
it yeah so we need to get that fixed um we'll also be doing a total demolition of our sports field track and make it competition ready um which I'm really excited about for us to be able to host um some uh some true meets and and
finals um at Fidley Public Schools where it should be um and then also we'll be looking at the field turf and right now we're we'll be starting the process of researching options for what that looks like we want to make sure that we're in compliance with Amara's law so we want to make sure we have plenty of time to
do that research as we're moving through and then we'll also be doing a flooring project this will be at Hayes um elementary school if you've been to Stevenson lately last summer we did a big flooring project there we're going to be doing a mirror project at Hayes um
we'll be removing all the old floor materials we'll be doing a speestous removal new floor installation and some painting touchup so we're really excited to start this project this summer um they'll have a a lot um going on there plus also both of the elementary schools
not in the contracts you're seeing tonight but will also have major furniture fixtures and equipment upgrades um and that schools any questions for me I do have one if you could comment that
we talked about Michelle when we're doing some of the the roof replacement and and can you briefly describe the solar panel aspect of that what we might see as far as uh savings there Right so I um I did a lot of learning about solar
panels when I came to Fidley um I actually made the company come out and explain to me um what the project was and what it looked like and how it would show up on our energy bills i then asked once I started to understand um I asked them to do an audit of our energy bills
and we found out that at two of our sites we weren't actually even get getting any of the reimbursement so we immediately got a check for 50,000 and then another one for 40,000 so solar panels does make a difference in our school this project when we replace
roofing what we'll do is we'll take down the solar panels they'll be cleaned there'll be any repairs that need to be taken and then we'll reinstall them um so that will come at a cost but we've budgeted for that and I think that will help us um recoup even more energy um
savings through our our bills awesome thank you y any other questions for Michelle thank you oh awesome thanks as always Relle great work nice job Rashelle thank you all right same story different day here i'm going to go through our
legislative agenda again just so that we can continue having that out so thanks board members as we uh air this each month it's getting interesting um with the forecast and so forth um you've been seeing those numbers come across we're
still going to talk about why we need the funds um I go back to what uh board member Meisner said to me a long time ago he said "Dr lewis is there anything in here that's special or great or
things like that?" And I said "No we're just advocating for what we would lose rather than any gains." And that continues to be even more of a reality I think as the sessions continue to go on here the first one of course that we talk about is compensatory revenue as
you've heard in all of our lobbying and our work this continues to be a source of uh great concern for our district as well as other districts uh this is about really two issues number one is fixing
the um formula uh right now as superintendents and as a board we're actually asking for the hold harmless to just be put into place for them to do a
workg group to get the formula fixed because there's not enough time to get the formula fixed by the end of the session the second and frankly just as pressing issue around compensatory revenue is uh the eliminations of the elimination of
forms counting so as a reminder there's two different ways that our district uh generates compensatory revenue and this is for students that are economically disadvantaged by legal definition uh the first one is through
direct certification so our families that are on SNAP um Medicare Medicaid and other assistance programs that's an autoqualifier direct certification we're at nearly 60% and uh rising on direct
certification the tricky part why we're slated for a million dollar reduction is actually not about the formula it's about the forms no longer being allowed to count we have a 10% of our population that does fill out those forms so
doesn't direct certify but does qualify um under the economically disadvantaged guidelines we're asking for forms to be allowed this is not taking additional dollars um from different places for the
fund this is just to fund us for what we deserve under the current uh practices around compensatory revenue and where this whole direct certification piece came from was that back during COVID uh
families didn't have to fill out the forms right and so there was this rally cry which was necessary about oof compensatory revenue is based off of students uh that are economically disadvantaged if they don't have to fill out the forms then how are we going to
do that counts so inlaid direct certification great then there was a decision made by Minnesota Department of Education to say we'll do direct great but we won't do forms we need both we need both because not everybody that
qualifies qualifies under direct certification so we're going to keep doing this compensatory revenue as we continue uh down the session and things look more dire this is a lightning rod right now um in Minnesota i just want to
remind our board compensatory revenue is for the complexities that we have in our school system around economic disadvantage this is not the general fund pot and I am not
an advocate of spacing this out evenly among all districts in Minnesota it was designed for economically disadvantaged and it needs to stay there the next piece I wanted to talk about is equalization we've talked about our
depressed tax base we need to continue talking about that depressed tax base there's uh two really good bills that have bipartisan support whether it'll make the final cut I'm not sure but we still need to talk
about that qmp I advocate for that $700,000 annually revenue that would sunset after um next year there's been some [Music]
um further lobbying by representatives that represent mostly districts that are not in Q comp saying let's take the UC comp funding and use it to fully fund UI unemployment insurance we want unemployment insurance
funded fully but you can't keep moving the coconuts and expect us to do well you can't take from one spot and move it to another and say we fully funded unemployment i am not in favor of
reducing a ready strap school system literacy aid there's no more money being allocated to literacy aid however there is a poverty index that comes into play fidley deserves our fair share of
the pot when it comes to poverty index that was this was a lightning rod at last Friday's staff meeting schools advocating for fair funding and I promise you the way out of this scarcity mindset in Minnesota public schools is not to pit one against the other and we
deserve this poverty index because of the complexities of our learners and I am unapologetically advocating about that publicly and privately unemployment needs to be fully funded 215,000 there's also a rally cry out
there now about just do away with it well this is how we keep paras systems not like ours so I'm going to advocate for others when we have um bus drivers we don't employ bus drivers
this keeps districts healthy with a healthy workforce to have people that don't really make a livable wage at least get unemployment insurance during the summer months we need to keep it it's a good mandate but it needs to be
fully funded this expires after this year our funding on this and currently we cannot levy for it and to make it even worse I don't want us to levy for it because we're already a depressed tax base uh formula allowance I don't know
team we were supposed to be at 2.74% under that inflationary index there's chatter about even taking that away would I love a 3% am I still asking us to advocate for that us i say we put
our energy elsewhere and I did just say that on camera i think that one's dead in the water but let's keep trying special education transportation there's now this rally cry about yes we'll reduce you 5% but then put it over in your cross subsidy because then you'll
get 80% reimbursement on the 5% that we're taking back why are we doing this and let's just tell the truth that you're reducing our special ed reimbursement and you're adding to our already problematic cross subsidy just leave that alone the rally car cry
around that is that districts are irresponsible when we negotiate transportation contracts because we say "Hey it's all specialed reimburseable so we don't need to negotiate a good deal." Would you say that's the case in Fidley Michelle no no we are working the
best we can special ed cross subsidy $2.5 million is what we pay in rising we need support in this the federal government is supposed to pay 44% by law they pay 12% then we get and this is the state
uh amount here the 2.5 million i'm not even talking about federal then we get hit that it's not fully funded do we want the mandate of course we do but please fully fund us i believe I have some good news that I'm peeling off this
schoolboard elections one because I think that's dead in the water right yeah sounds like it thank you for understanding that I'm real angry and I'm happy to be angry because students lives are at stake
um the Willie Jet letter I was very proud very proud of our commiss commissioner um Willie Jet he basically said to the federal government "We're not doing this every student in every district in every zip code in Minnesota
matters to us." You saw we were featured on the Care 11 story we got some uh passion around that good passion from people that live in our district interesting passion from those that don't um were we going to do
this in May or or say goodbye to her today but this is the search for the next yes I was incorrect so I accidentally previewed that we are excited to
celebrate in May saying goodbye um Sarah Jones I've asked her uh Treasurer Jones if she would lead the student school board member um search again like she did last year and she's so excited so I'm um going to ask her to uh do that
piece and then she and I will work together on communication out to the board you did an amazing job last year thank you for doing that um I want to pause here for um school board
updates um so I'll open it up here um board treasurer Jones did you want to update on Northeast Metro i would love to yes thank you um so a couple things have happened in 916 Northeast Metro School District in this uh last month
since we met last um one was that I got to go on school tours of Mameidi Academy and their career and tech program both of which are housed at um Century College so Mamemidi Academy is one of their four ALC's that they have in their program and um it was really fun to get
to see what that looks like they have newly moved that program it basically is across the street but um now it is in Century College they have their own space in that location and um their students are able to work there the model looks very different than a
traditional classroom the students are not there um in the same way that they would be here but it looks so much more like a like a cafe the students walked in there's tall tables short tables booths like study like different cubicles and the students have all of
their work that they're doing and the teachers walk around and kind of work with each student coach each student as they get to points and then the students continue working and so the teachers are jumping around to all of the students um as they are there so the schedule looks really different uh than it would for a
traditional classroom but one fantastic feature of having it located at Century College is the opportunity for the students to access the career and technical programming um that they have as well as the college classes that are there so so many students are dual
enrolled or opting into their different career and tech programming choices that they're able to much easier have a much easier time in making that transition to their higher education whatever that is going to be um for them so that has been a huge benefit of having them located in
the same place and is so exciting after I got to see Bameidi Academy then we had a tour of the career and tech programming and we were there in between their sessions of students so they have like a morning session of students and an afternoon so we were there kind of during the lunchtime um so I didn't get
to see a lot of students in action but I got to meet a lot of the instructors and teachers and see a lot of the equipment that they're using so we walked through the cosmetology program they have a hair program and a nail program students can do two years in that program and their hours all count towards their
cosmetology license um they have a really they have a fantastic dental program where the students uh work on their dental assisting certificate and then they move into uh Century Colle's um dental hygienist program and they have some specific spots reserved for
916 students and that is one of the top programs in the state they have an EMS program that we got to see and they have like an ambulance simulator that we got to check out and so the students are working in the ambulance and they have like a bathroom set up so the students are practicing like in a bathroom cuz
that is where a lot of the calls are too um they're only they were saying like we're sad that our new ambulance simulator doesn't move like a nor like like that was the one feature that it didn't have so it was really exciting to see the students spaces that they get to work there they had a law enforcement
simulator that a lot of um law enforcement agencies even use to train and then they also we got to see their welding program and um the upgrade between different welding features to make sure that the students are prepared with the current technology that's being
used and the new technology that is coming into the market so that students were really well prepared in both of those features so I had a great morning touring um Mamemida Academy and Career and Tech so that was one of the things that happened this past month but then also we had a board meeting and um in
our board meeting we had the opportunity to see their maker space which um multiple stu no most students in their district have the opportunity to use uh they said on average about four times a year and they gave the board the
opportunity to try these little robots that are called Ozobots and these do a lot of different things they you can program them to do a lot of things um but we got to program ours to move we were trying to do a beach cleanup so you can see this is my team here we had a
beach it had all of this trash all over it and we had to code a path for the robot to go on you like put give the robot a little start and there's different directions that you code in there and hope that it will collect all of your litter for you so we got to try that out um but they had a lot of different opportunities for students 3d
printing kits robots different breakout boxes Legos and they do use steam skills as they are um working in their maker space which is a very logical fit but they also were really focusing on their social emotional learning skills in this
as well letting the students practice risk-taking um building intrinsic motivation imagination self-direction so lots of different um skills that they're utilizing within this maker space opportunity and most of the students in
the district use it multiple times a year um at the board meeting we then celebrated the staff and retirements we had two teachers who had been um serving in the district for 25 one of them and 30 years and we got to celebrate them and hear what had kept them at 916 for
so long we were celebrating years of service and then um the board approved their LTFM for the year and I wanted to share just a little bit about that with our district that 916 does not have physical property to um levy their taxes
on so that that is part our responsibility um so their LTFM that was approved was for a total of um $597,600 this is the responsibility of the 13 member districts um for Fidley
our share of that total amount is 2.6% 6% which will be $15,415.74 and the rate that we have our 2.6% is based off of two factors it's divided up between the 13 districts the formula that they use is based on our um
Fidley's net tax capacity or the net tax capacity of each of the districts and that makes 25% of the formula and then the adjusted pupil unit the APU makes up the other 75% of that formula so those two factors go into play in waiting how
much each district's each district contributes to that percentage um we approved policies uh the drug-free workplace policy the title 9 sex non-discrimination policy and grievance procedures the curriculum
development policy and the crisis management policy we reviewed insurance policies and um approved workers comp liability insurance cyber liability insurance and property insurance and one thing that I really appreciate about having the opportunity to serve on 916
is seeing the great questions and the conversation that happens um within the board members and just building that board network and learning from each of those different board members how this work is really done awesome thanks Sarah of course Northwest
Suburban and AMSD um if either of you want to update on that Clerk Stark and board chair Karnop it was my first meeting so I was getting my feet wet um and the big thing that we went over was um looking at the 2025
2026 budget and confirming the meeting schedule so learning I'm learning the ropes that's all I've got much more than I have because I was unable to attend the AMSD board meeting that information did go out in the soups update good yeah
um next up we have fun upcoming events i just want to point out that Lori made this one pager so I think it's really cute um so mark your calendars may 14th our FHS Scholastic Awards 6 PM dinner 7 p.m awards may 21st you've been getting
invites on this this is the AVID AVID superintendent visit um 4pm presentation 5:30 meet and greet so uh I was invited I had shared I think at an earlier board meeting I was invited to be part of this
very tiny group of um experienced superintendents within AVID and so it's a very small group and the superintendent and residents which I believe is a new position for AVID um he leads this work so at uh Napaccon
right yeah at Naccon National Conference um we were chatting and I said I need you to come to my district so he's coming and he's coming for two days so we're absolutely excited about that as you know we've had some really good opportunities with AVID where they're personalizing to Fidley so I invite all
of you to come and I think you'll really enjoy the time um with him may 27th is our ALC graduation and that's in our district auditorium at 5:30 then we have our FHS commencement on May 29th at Roy Wilkins Auditorium at 6 PM and I know
our team including Lori was part of a walkthrough and provisioning today so really exciting it's right around the corner next up I wanted to share with you some thinking that I have around
what is been going on and this is actually grounded in an incident that happened last Tuesday not in our district um so a week ago on Tuesday April 8th 2025 at the 2025 Border Security Expo held in Phoenix Arizona
acting ICE director Todd Lions stated "We need to get better at treating this like a business." He continued by saying he wanted deportations to be like Amazon Prime but with human beings his quote dehumanizes children families and human
beings it erases the lived experience of many of our students our staff and frankly my husband and my own children it reminds us in the stark starkkest of terms of the moment we are in at this moment we must stand up for our students we must be unflinching in our resolve
because what we are witnessing is not just an attack on individual rights it is a coordinated fight to dismantle public education as we all know it even here in Minnesota we see the partisan politics increasingly influencing budget decisions that once centered on our
children's needs this partisanship is not abstract i'm going to read that again this partisansship is not abstract it affects whether a child gets reading support it affects whether a teacher has classroom resources it affects whether
schools like ours nearly 70% of our students live in povert poverty as reported we know this is much higher and nearly 80% of our students are students of color it affects whether we are fully funded supported and respected i'm going
to center on that word respected fidley Public Schools sits at the intersection of some of the most pressing and complex issues facing education today and we choose to lead we do so knowing that this work is not popular it comes with resistance it comes with scrutiny but we do it because
the literal trajectory of our students lives are at stake at the hands of decisions made in this very room let me be clear the federal government is sending a loud message that it does not see or value our students but we do and we always will
public education is not for some it is for all and in Minnesota we are fortunate to have one of the most robust school choice environments in this country fidley is proud to be part of the Northwest Suburban Integration District where families choose us because of our commitment to equity excellence and belonging we are living
proof the district like ours can and must thrive even in the face of this chaos and deliberate hatred we are making extraordinary gains we are seeing measurable improvements in academic achievement we are seeing unprecedented reductions in behaviors our staff are doing remarkable trajectory changing
work and it is our responsibility to shield them from the publica political hatred being directed at our profession and public education i truly wish to thank all of you for continuing to stay committed to this work this board has demonstrated unwavering support of our students i
know the road ahead will get uglier there will be louder voices trying to distract and divide but we must remain centered in the brilliance and potential of our students while also empowering our staff to continue serving our students in phenomenal ways we must
continue to fight not because it is easy but because it is just as a public school district we are both honored and entrusted with the profound responsibility to unapologetically serve every single student who walks through our doors education is a civil right and in Fidley public schools we will not
forget who we're fighting for in my 25 years in education I have never witnessed this level of hostility to directed at public ed yet even in the face of it I consider it a profound honor to serve alongside each and every one of you we will be known as the district that remains steadfast in doing
the right work especially when it was not easy or popular chair I'm gonna turn it over to you at some point here i also have vice chair Anna's statement um to read but I'll let other board members weigh in at your
discretion sure thank you Dr lewis anyone want to weigh in sure go ahead M jones thank you Dr lewis i thank you greatly for standing for the individuals in Fidley public schools and for public education for all students i
greatly appreciate the attention that you are bringing to these realities that our Fidley public schools community faces in my role as a board member I am here to value every individual in Fidley Schools community our wonderfully diverse students families staff and
taxpayers my work will look like seeing each and every individual is safe within our schools because every one of our people is valuable and valued and second my work will look like ensuring that Fidley students have the highest quality
education from well-trained and caring staff the skills knowledge belonging and opportunities that are afforded to our students determine their future life trajectories this work is our collective responsibility it is our responsibility
to our community and to the future as the public as the political landscape changes around us our school system will continue to serve every one of our students no matter how they came to us or who they are i do not take this responsibility lightly as a board member
I will work alongside you for thriving schools that are funded supported and respected so that our students can learn and so that our staff can teach and care thank you Miss Chs miss Dark thank you
Dr lewis for your strong statement and as I near the end of my second term I had previously decided that I wasn't going to run again not because I don't love to serve my community but because I wanted to be more present for my kids but with the election of an
anti-education and frankly anti-democratic administration I realized that continuing on the school board is the best way that I can show my kids how much I love them and how dedicated I am to giving them a strong and supportive community we are strong
and Fidley because of our diversity and differences we are strong and Fidley because of our commitment to our students our staff and our teachers and now the call is coming from inside the house this current administration has
inspired Moms for Liberty and anti-public school individuals to run for the trusted office of school board they don't believe in public schools they want to run and infiltrate the school board so they can dismantle our
schools they don't know what we know we know that this community cares we know that our neighbors will fight to protect each other we will protect libraries books and the ability to teach factual history we will protect our neighbors
and our friends who worship differently than we do we value those who were born in different countries and have different lived experiences we embrace those who are learning to endure Minnesota winters and we will not leave them out in the cold this is a pivotal
moment not just for Fidley not just for Minnesota but for the entire country and the entire world if we are going to go down by God I will go down swinging i'm here to say not on my watch and I know
my colleagues feel the same i and we will not allow teachers and staff to be targeted for accepting students for who they are and using their chosen pronouns i will not allow students to be otherred and targeted for being their authentic selves i will not allow my neighbors to
be afraid for themselves or their kids when they send them off to school each morning this is the moment that defines who we are we will stand up to bullies we will be brave and we will do the hard scary things i and I think we won't be
remembered as someone who stood by when our freedoms and our children's futures were threatened this board has overseen an improvement in test scores the implementation of muchneeded facilities improvement an increase in Fidley pride
an increase in lobbying at the legislature for needed funds which is no easy thing to do trust me and of course the hiring of Dr lewis who made this all possible we show up and we do what needs to be done and I am honored to be a part of this wonderful group of people so
thank you Dr lewis and the entire team for leading this charge and setting an example that I hope the entire state is inspired by well said Miss Dark thank you um Dr lewis I know I think you're going to
read uh Miss Anna's statement i don't have a prepared statement but I would obviously echo my colleagues sentiments and yours as well Dr lewis and from from my perspective as as the chair of this board I am uh simply honored and humbled
to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all of you with this this is pretty simple right this this shouldn't be an overly complex issue we all got into this for one particular reason and it was to educate and support our children and it's as simple as that and I think we will continue to do that and we have a
great team to do it and with that I'll turn over to Dr lewis or Ross mr meiser would you have a comment yeah just just briefly um because I think it's important for everyone to recognize that we are here in solidarity
with you fidley has long been a diverse community fidley schools have long been committed to teaching every child and giving every child what they need to be as successful as they can be my colleagues said it very eloquently you
said it very eloquently Dr lewis um we are all here proud to be with you as we serve all of our children i appreciate that very very much i am going to read um Vice Chair Anna's uh
statement here um and then I will make one final closing comment that's my own voice as many of you know I'm a proud parent to three wonderful kids who attend Fidley Public Schools and I also have the joy of working as a PAR educator at Stevenson Elementary being a
PAR educator gives me a front row seat to how schools operate day-to-day i'm seeing what works what doesn't and what students and teachers actually need in real time that kind of insight is incredibly valuable especially if you're thinking about influencing policy becoming a teacher or just advocating
for a better system public schools are the cornerstone of democracy and community schoolboard members should be advocates for strengthening public education not dismantling it we need leaders who are committed to equitable funding support for teachers and policies that put students first not
political agendas this community is strong and growing stronger every day thanks to our amazing administration and the outstanding leadership of Dr lewis as you saw in the Care 11 piece I stated and it was clipped to be at the end which is phenomenal placement
of that but it wasn't what I actually said last um it said um that despite what's going on I'm very thankful to be in Minnesota that was the day that Governor the next day that um Commissioner Jet's letter was released
and I shared because of the work that he brings uh to education and I also stated that unlike some superintendents I am given the absolute privilege and responsibility to lead the way that I can lead because of what just happened
here we're all united we all have this it's a tough road ahead for all of us here but we can do it since our divisions around education funding and dismantling and our students every one of you sees
our students every single day and values our students so we're not infighting as board members or a superintendent board team and that's what is the marked point here is that we can all say not here in Fidley public schools and I can also
have projected up a graphic that while true can be offensive to some but we need to lean in to what this graphic is actually saying i will close by saying Relle has been working very hard to get
Wilson Law Group who uh works directly with families uh in an anonymous way to have information sessions for our families so they can join virtually anonymously into these sessions uh as a
source to getting um some help some really good guidance and trustworthy guidance by licensed immigration attorneys in the state of Minnesota also um you saw yesterday that I reelevated our ICE protocols and then you saw um
that very deep partnership that I will elevate again with uh Fidley Police Department so you saw their um statement on immigration and um how they also uh partner with us and um pieces
surrounding ICE i will state there has not been any ICE enforcement ICE agents in any Fidley public schools also I do not know of any school districts in Minnesota where that has happened however I can understand
uh as we're seeing these things statements are made you know uh the background uh with my husband this is terrifying times for our families yet our families are trusting the schools and they're bringing our kids to school
so with that I think amidst all of this hatred and chaos we are still uh a safe learning establishment that our families trust that's the end of my report Chair thank
you so much thank you Dr lewis as always all right we've got several business action items that we can I think get through pretty quickly here uh I would entertain a motion uh first to um approve the transportation contract for first student transportation for 2025
through 2028 do I have a motion so moved motion by Meisner do I have a second second second by Stark all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes next up again uh transportation contract for
collaborative student transportation from 2025 through 2028 um I would entertain a motion to approve the contract so moved motion made by Meisner do I have a second second second by Jones all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion
passes another transportation uh contract for Halo Transportation again years 2025 through 2028 i would entertain a motion to approve this contract so moved motion by Meisner do I have a second second second by Stark all
those in favor signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes next up we have a um service agreement from Inbuilt Professionals for the Hayes Flooring Project i would entertain a motion to approve this
contract so moved i'm sensing a pattern here motion made by Meisner do I have a second second the pattern is there second by Jones all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes we have another
professional services agreement for inbuilt for the referendum 2025 through 2026 construction do I have a motion so moved motion made by Meiser do I have a second second second by Stark all those in now it's just a game now it's just a game right who's going to break the
streak uh all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes we also have a motion or I would entertain a motion for the award and to accept the bid from
Epidonna LLC for the Fidley High School Restroom Remodel chair to entertain a motion do I have a motion so moved motion by Meisner do I have a second second second by Jones all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion
passes last up on the business agenda portion of this uh the chair would entertain a motion to accept some gifts and send our gratitude we have two gifts uh both uh given to Hayes Elementary one from the Tapanaki Grill in the amount of
$100 and Gardens of Rice Creek also in the amount of $100 do I have a motion to accept and extend our gratitude for these gifts so move oh we broke the streak motion made by Jones do I have a second second second by Meisner this is a roll call
vote miss Jones i mr carnop i mr meisner i miss Stark i motion passes last up we have uh the chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda the consent agenda includes minutes from the last business meeting new contracts
amendments lane changes leave of absence resignations and terminations also the monthly financial reports including the adult basic education lease and the schoolboard meeting calendar for 2025 through 2026 chair would entertain a motion to
approve motion made by Stark do I have a second second second by Jones all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes we have some important dates quite a few thanks Lori
okay we have no school coming up here on April 18th this Friday I believe right we have our PTO meeting at uh Stevenson on April 23rd at 3:00 at Stevenson Elementary we have uh Stevenson Festival of Nations which is a great event april
24th from 5:30 to 7:15 at obviously Stevenson Elementary the Fidley High School spring play is a murder is announced on April 24th 25th 26th 7 o'clock at the district auditorium we have our high school conferences on
April 30th from 4:00 to 7:30 at the Freley High School and we have our future kindergarten social and May 1st from 4:30 to 5:00 at Lock County Park hayes second grade glee club concert will be at the district auditorium on May 1st at 6 o'clock we
have our family free family movie night where we'll be showing Wallace and Grommit the Vengeance Most Foul on May 2nd 7:00 at the district auditorium our Fidley High School junior and senior prom grand march will be at the district auditorium on May 3rd at 4:00 we have
our next schoolboard work section work session here at the community center on May 6th at 5:30 our sixth grade knowledge fair at the Frley Middle School will be on May 7th from 4:30 to 6:00 we have another PTO meeting at Stevenson on May 7th at
5:00 we also have uh on the same night it looks like both Hayes and Stevenson will have their carnival nights on May 8th at 5:00 these are both great events i would encourage you to volunteer and show up and check out the festivities on May 13th we have the
Fidley Middle School band concert night sixth grade band and choir will perform at 6:00 the seventh grade band and the seventh and eighth grade choir at seven an eighth grade band and jazz band at 8 o'clock i'm assuming that would be at the district auditorium our Fley High School
Scholastic banquet will be at the Frley High School cafeteria and district auditorium on May 14th at 6:00 next up we have our incoming fifth grade orientation on May 15th at 4:30 at the Frley Middle School and last but not least I believe no yep last but not
least uh we have uh Fidley Public Schools board meeting here at the community center 5:30 uh work session 7:00 public comment and 7:30 at the business we have the business meeting here at for the community center with that I
would entertain Oh do we have one other We do that the Halo contract extension we did that okay yep that was in there thanks VA any other dates that we may have missed i can't see how we could have possibly missed any um but with that uh I would
entertain a motion to adjurnn motion to adjurnn a motion by my do I have a second second second by Stark all those in favor please signify by saying I i all those opposed motion passes thank you everyone and we are adjourned at 8:48
board members I'm working on