just Julie, is anyone signed? No, no one has signed up. Um, since nobody's signed up, I think we'd like to move agenda item 7K, discussion of the MSBA legislative
resolutions, up into the open forum open session. Um, Matt, do you want to kind of kick that off? Sure. Prior to the legislative session, the schoolboard association
solicits ideas from its members and does that in the form of resolutions and MSBA collects those resolutions and then a delegate assembly works
through those resolutions and makes a determination which ones should move forward in MSBA's platform. And so, uh, we've had board members in the past, David Marty most recently that have
served on the delegate assembly and, um, but he's been involved in that. Pat was involved in that previously. Um, we've submitted resolutions. Last year, we submitted a resolution uh, regarding seasonal recreational t tax
replacement aid. we submitted um a resolution about uh the mascot and a form of the mascot one obviously ended up getting approved and or passed um not
that our resolution did specifically but it raised discussion if nothing else. the seasonal tax base replacement aid one um combined with others other boards moved that one along too did um kind of
did move through the process. So um you may have gotten a solicitation from the schoolboard association that these are due in September. Um the idea I guess was a couple things. uh have a discussion about anything we
might want to think about moving forward particularly and then um it may be useful to have David kind of spearhead a subgroup of the board to kind of work work on those
uh especially since he's been very involved in that process in the past. So um yeah that's the the background for that item. Well, I I think David's been involved in that through MEA and the SBA.
Um I think he'd be a really good person. Um do we do we want to talk about some specific ideas now? I think so. Um and maybe uh anybody that would like to could carry those forward to David and
we can ask David to kind of coordinate that network a little bit. Yeah, he's really familiar with the process. He also knows kind of what's come up again and again and again. Sometimes it takes 10 years just to see
it. I think the seasonal tax base replacement aid, that's one of those issues I think we have to just keep coming at. Like I think it was as close as it's ever been this last time. Um, I heard
uh Senator Housechild talk about it and I think it eventually became a casualty of the tax kind of committee uh when they start doing trading at the very end. Um,
and so I think he's he's definitely a supporter, definitely interested in I think seeing it again. So, I think that would be a good one for us to lean into again. Yeah. My understanding was one of the reasons it got kicked was because there
was no replacement because we're in a deficit and there was no replacement in the taxes in the general fund. So, so we'll go at it a couple more times because this year is just a policy year, but next the following year will be a
budget year, another budget cycle. I'm a I'm a little bit concerned about the committee that is supposed to come up with $250 million worth of cuts and um I I I think it would be worthwhile
for us to do some lobbying. Um I don't know if that committee can do that and that's for special ed. Yeah, I feel should be all over that for sure. I feel like that's going to come back
onto the general fund without Yeah, it will because it's legislative at this point. So unless the legislation changes, you're still responsible for doing it. Yeah. Mhm. The thing I think that people don't, you
know, there's some dots that people don't connect about the about that um particular issue. And the way that the law reads is if they don't come up with 250 million, they're going to take 250 million out of cross subsidy aid.
Well, the districts that will be harmed the most are districts that have high percentage of special ed students or have andor have a high cross subsidy and districts
in our area have that. So, it's not a cut that will hit school districts uniformly. So that I I do think it again if nothing else just to raise a flag about that problem. Uh it would be good to address
that and maybe it's not the 250 million is part of the budget now. There's no messing with that. But maybe there's at least some kind of a awareness raised to the consequences of the real
consequences of that um or the disproportionate consequences of it and maybe some alternatives. So I know we I I believe we're not part of the National School Board Association. At least we haven't been historically when it
um because we had a lot of questions about that during CO and we weren't at that time. But there is some lobbying that probably we should be part of or be close to on the federal level.
um budgets just are starting to trickle in now and are significantly less and that will also hit which then goes to local taxpayers regardless of how people want to look at it. Yep.
I don't know who we are at the f I don't know who that is at the federal level but we've kind of stayed out of that for good reason. I mean, I'm not even arguing that's not, but maybe Ma has someone that they tour. They might be
consulting with someone in DC and we get that as part of our work with them. That's also possible. I do know they do have an affiliation with the National Rural Ed Association and um
this the superintendent association works similarly with the national uh association. So that both of those venues are good. But and I don't know how the schoolboard associations shift from
working with, you know, it used to be National School Board Association and then it shifted. They dropped that affiliation and went to Cosba or whatever it is because of some philosophical differences. Yeah, Minnesota was one of them that
dropped that. I know one of the things that we talk a lot about, I I don't know how you would write a resolution uh to address it, but uh the per pupil funding in rural
Minnesota is significantly less than in the metros. And you know, that's it's supposed to be fair and equitable. And it's not. No. If I hear one more legislator say it's cheaper to live in rural, I'm gonna
seriously come up over the table because it's not. We just don't have the same competition. That's what people don't understand, right? We have one person that services our Wi-Fi one. But, you know, it's like, you know, when I tell them what I pay for Wi-Fi just for Wi-Fi and they're traveling. Yeah.
And they're traveling. You know, they don't they don't do that for free, you know. So they don't come up to Big Fork for free. They It's in their billing rights and Yeah. for all those services. So yeah. So I mean that those are kind of I like that. That's a good one to talk
about for sure. I think one of the other inequities that we see in rural is our busing distances are significantly more than the metro. And yeah,
you know, I I know that there are some adjustments made to that. Um but I'm not sure that they are um enough. Yeah. I don't know because I thought the funding got cut. Didn't some transportation funding didn't that get
cut? That was just on the block. It So they talked about it. It was in conversation. So that's probably a good one so it doesn't get back on the table. because I know that was in serious conversation onto this bill
to cut funding for transportation. That's where they were going to make the cuts. Okay. Well, you know, and again, it's because at 7ount Metro, like even in their activities, they might bus one way, but their bus doesn't sit there and wait to come back. Like, they let parents
transport the kids back. Well, it's because they're half hour, like half hour away. And so it just looks so different. I guess another concern I have is um going forward compensatory aid.
Um I know I know we got some relief this year. Uh but I I do have a long-term concern about that. Do they have a group looking at that? Yeah, they're taking applications right
now through next Monday for the committee. Um, the commissioner of Ed appoints I think it's 10 and then different legislators and other dignitaries have one, you know, they have some selections that they appoint.
So, they're in the process of uh finding that committee, but and their turnaround is actually pretty quick from what I remember and it's like a once a month commitment, but there some initial reports are due um
not far into next spring. Did we have anybody apply? We don't yet. Karen and I have been we're going to arm wrestle for it. We're not sure we're gonna we make any friends on that committee.
It's okay. You'll be a voice, right? But they often don't hear. Oh, I think unemployment kind of goes into that same piece, right? there's a permanent resolution needed to that problem and that is a policy issue some of that mandate stuff yeah that
came down well and they looked at it this year but it didn't get very far but was there any issues with um some of the mandates around the librarian or media specialists or anything like that that
I mean I'm just thinking of some of the mandates that came down and they didn't necessarily add value. You know, they weren't and I mean I don't mean that media and library is not an added value. I just mean the mandate itself isn't an added value. Yeah.
But I don't know. Well, I know one of the one of the bills that had been proposed was that if a school district was in declining enrollment, the board could could wave
a set of like mandates within a particular within a particular kind of a real. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Is there anything we want to be make sure we play defense on? So, these are kind of offensive looks. Is there anything like defensively like we want
to make sure we don't lose? You know, transportation, I think, being one of those, but is there anything like defensively like we want to make sure stays intact that we might have heard coming after maybe?
Sometimes that's just as important as I don't know. I'm just asking. Will the free school lunches will that be part of the compensatory discussion? Do you think? I don't know if the program itself will be
like directly, but it seems impossible that it's not indirectly. When does that officially kick in that the districts are responsible for paying for those? We don't pay for free meals. No. But was that wasn't that a part of the
mandate though? That am I mistaken in what that mandate was? The information on that? We don't pay for we don't pay for any free meals. Um I think the issue that
gets raised is that program costs the state how many millions and millions and millions of dollars? Yeah. And was that the best place to put those millions of millions of millions of dollars in that structure? You know, there were some proposals made this
legislation legislative session saying um people that make, you know, up to twice or 15, you know, $150,000 and over have to pay for their kids meals. Yeah. Um, so there were some proposals
like that and that would have generated some revenue, you know, uh, or saved the state some money, I guess I should say, that could have helped fund some of these things, but they just didn't get anywhere. Sad part is is a lot of times when we looked at who didn't pay the school
lunches, it wasn't the people who you think couldn't afford it. I mean, our list was typically not that group of people when we looked at it when I originally started on the school. Yeah. like the people, you know, I mean, I found that ironic because I
didn't I always assumed that the reverse would be true and that was not true. Yeah. Because at one time we thought about publishing names in the paper like they do for when people don't pay their taxes on land and things like that. We we didn't, but it was a discussion,
right? Because it was a significant amount of money that hadn't been paid. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it adds up fast. Yeah. As a parent, we all know, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. I mean, I've been asleep on nothing but milk. Send a check tomorrow. Yeah. It's like, how many lunches are you
doing? Exactly. Right. Yep. Well, and we we have lunch. Was that in this policy batch? We have Is it the next one? Yeah. We ran out of time in Yeah, we ran out of time. But there were
question, you know, there's pieces in there about collection agencies and yeah, I've been part of districts that have done that before and it's effective, but you're only collecting 40% of Yeah. Yeah. It's typically not in the end. It's the cost doesn't
Yeah. You're not getting a lot of the benefit doesn't outweigh the cost. It's not exactly a harbinger of goodwill either. No. So our concerns would be transportation,
special education, the compensatory Oh yes, sorry. Compensatory unemployment. Unemployment. Are we attempting to push again for the resolution or is that like that's not
really on the radar, but keep bringing it up just to see where it goes kind of a thing. Make seasonal that yes the rec recreational property tax I think we should I think we should I think host child to carry just to put it in the same bucket as
these other concerns right I don't know if it's it originally came forward last year you know during the policy years so I think it's it's h good to keep that keep that going yeah some of these some of these take a
long time hopefully that's not one that takes 10 years Melissa I Oh, well I mean people are always like, "Oh, that's surprise. That just came up." And I'm like, "Actually, it's been around for about five, six years. It's not new." Yeah. Yeah. That's
You just don't hear about it. You know, anything on curriculum that we need to be concerned about? there's just floatings of um like social and emotional
curriculum changes, if you will. Um if I'm being very blunt, in the elementary level, uh sexual identity is what a lot of people are in the community are concerned about is what they're hearing chatter about. But I
don't honestly if I'm again if I'm being honest I don't think that's something that we would have to worry about because I just don't see that something being passed you know but if we ask
to make sure like hey listen you know what what is the situation here with this particular curriculum what's happening what you know what where is it at where is it at I believe there are exactly So we should just at least stay a breast of what's included. Yeah. Making sure that we have all of
the information about it so that way we can, you know, the other curriculum piece that is a little concerning is the cost of training required by the Reed Act going forward. Mhm.
And I I think we, you know, I think we saw an initial investment, but I I mean that's really a longterm ongoing cost for districts. Yep. Because it's an annual thing, right? You
have to ramp new teachers up and then there's like an annual kind of sustaining training. Yeah. they we you know we just were in phase one or are kind of continuing phase one or wrapping phase one I guess I don't know it depends how you look at it um but there's a complete you know
another phase two that we have to go through and that's more looking at secondary literacy people and special ed so um and the service cooperatives are going to play a role um in a way that I think is
good to help districts with um to fill in some of those gaps, but there is an ongoing cost to it. I mean, I think just in general, if something is if the state is going to is going to
require us to do something, there should be money to pay for it. I think that's the bottom line. Whether we're talking about curriculum or unemployment or whatever, the notion that we can just take it out of
the funding we already get, that logic just doesn't work. Well, when you're not being fully funded, that's exactly why that was exactly right. Yeah. I mean, even if you were, unless it was a surplus, it doesn't either,
you know. So in that sense I there could just be that that's kind of more of a you know if it's worth passing in legislation, it's worth passing in the budget. Some of these I think there's some language we could borrow. I know that
rural versus urban funding. There was a a bill didn't get too far. Uh, I think it was from a legislator in uh, Albertville or that that area because St. Michael Albertville is a school
district that doesn't have a referendum either. Oh, and they're landlocked. Yep. Some really expensive places. Yeah. So, he had he had moved a bill along to create an aid called disparity aid.
Oh. Uh, that would get at that notion conversation was started. Yeah, because they do have they do have some um metrics and formulas that they track um at the state level comparing
districts that way. They have one that they've I don't know if they do anything with it anymore, but it was you compared the the district in the 95th percentile for funding and the fifth percentile for funding. I remember seeing that data point as something that they would track. I'm not sure that they do
anything with that anymore, but they used to. I mean, oh, sorry. Part of the argument is the structure that the state made going to independent school districts and and the formation of the way the
schools are built in the state is to provide equity, right? and with the mandates that they're pushing in and and when you look at where the referendums are happening and where they aren't, it's just it
doesn't occur in the state right now. It's very clear. So, they've really got to step back and we've got to make an argument for that, right? right to your point when they originally set it up and it was equitable. It was years and years and years ago and all
the all the movement and where the manufacturing has relocated and the stuff that's gone away now no longer those tax. Our last meeting in Big Fork, I thought we had a very good discussion. I don't know Mark how you felt, but we we talked
about how critical it is that they get all their students in there. Right. Right. And and you know, and and Big Fork's a good example. You know, they they had a small manufacturing place that was there 15 years ago. And with that gone, it's a big difference there, right? And and
it's and it's happening. That's a story throughout all of rural Minnesota. Um, and we just got to keep hammering them on it and reminding them um, that our kids are always this is not just a vacation destination.
Right. People live here. I mean, Right. Right. It's not going to be the vacation destination if they can't if we don't have people worthwhile working at places to come here and do things.
Uh, another one maybe. Um, any uh family family leave, sick leave, anything like that? I know they were trying to there was a whole bunch of movement on that and it didn't really go anywhere, but there's still a lot of conversation happening
because the state isn't yet, my understanding is the state is not yet ready to even begin to launch that program. And so there was some like just like slow down to move fast kind of conversation like let's slow down, let's really think this through, but I haven't
heard anything more. And that's that's a big deal especially when you start looking at rural areas where we don't have, you know, you don't have the sublist or the like like you do in other places. And we're probably kind of coming up on the
end of our time here. Do we want to kind of summarize some of those ideas and uh maybe pass it on to David and Yep. anybody that would be interested in working with David. Um certainly I think it's important for
us to be active legislatively. For sure. I bet David if Cohen would want to. He's he was really active and he did some of the legis he Yeah. He has really a keen sense on that. He's not here. He's not here so I can volunt him.
That's what happens when you don't show up. Volunte. I think we're going to adjourn the workshop and we'll come back into session with the regular board meeting in just a minute or two.
Sure. I didn't intend to wear a hat, but I was grilling outside and it started pouring rain on my head. It rained at my house, but it wasn't raining when I came into town. Yeah, really cool.
It is. Yeah. Yeah. I was flipping chicken on the grill like so that I could eat something before I left and it was like really Oh, it's the legend. on the one that's expiring. You're
saying that 2023? Sure. Okay. No. Yeah. We're ready. Julie, we call the school board meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. Pledge allegiance 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. First item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Melissa. Second.
Second by Ashley. Discussion. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. The agenda is approved. Next item on the agenda, approve the minutes of the 61625 regular meeting. Do
I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley, second second. Second by Melissa. Discussion here. All in favor say I. I. Opposed.
Minutes of 61625 are approved. Next item on the agenda, approve the minutes of the 7725 special meeting. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a second? Second.
Second by Tom. Discussion. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Minutes at 725 special meeting are approved. Next item on the agenda. approved the June 25
claims and the amount is 7,580,1065. Do I have a motion? So moved by Melissa. Second second by Ashley. Discussion hearing none. All in favor say I. I.
I. Opposed. Claims are approved. Next item on the agenda, approve resolution to accept donations and gifts for April, May, and June 2025. The
monthly totals are April 12,41120 $12,41123. May is $53,123.30 and June $21,198.81. Do I have a motion to approve those? Some moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a second? Second.
Second by Tom. Discussion. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. The donations are accepted. Next item on the agenda, approve the following retirements. Casey.
Good evening board. We have Carrie Hopkins, ESP retirement. Carrie served for 11 years. Lisa Meyers, ESP retirement. Lisa has also served for 11 years. And Mary Woolock, food and
nutrition retirement, seven years of service. Recommending approval. Do I have a motion to approve those retirements? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a second? Second. second by Melissa. Discussion.
Um, no real discussion except to thank those ESPs as well as our food nutrition workers. Um, the ESPs on a daily basis are taking care of those children, holding, feeding, dressing, changing. It
is quite the endeavor. Um, as well as the food and nutrition staff who are feeding all of those children day in and day out as well as cleaning up. Um, so thank you for your service. I just wanted to say that. Any other discussion?
Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Those retirements are approved. Next item on the agenda is a consent agenda. Matters listed in the consent agenda are staffing related and
considered routine. Do not require discussion. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved by Melissa, second, second by Ashley. Discussion. Oh, no discussion. I'm sorry. All in favor say
I. I. I. Opposed. Consent agenda is. Next item on the agenda, approve the 20 2527 human resource director's contract.
Uh, Superintendent Gross or Melissa, you want to speak to that? Sure, I can start. Um, and if there's anything to add, please jump in. Uh, uh, Dave Cohen and I met uh with Casey last
week. Was it last week? last week before uh he was able to leave on vacation. But um Casey, I would recommend the changes to Casey's contract and she is asking for zero and zero for the next two
years. Um I want to add that Casey took zero and zero in our last contract as well. So this is four years of zero for Casey. And I just want to acknowledge that because I think a lot of people don't understand or remember what that is. But um there will be that there's
some legal changes uh that happened the addition of Junth uh to her contract. Uh sick language around ESST which was inou. So we'll just move that into the contract. And then HSA language which is also in anou
that we'll move into the contract. And then uh congratulations to Casey on her uh is newly married. So, we have a name change within the contract as well, which is probably the nicest part about the contract. So, if you get an email from Casey, it
takes me a little bit to see that new last name the second. Um, did I miss anything? I just was figuring out how to finally spell her last name perfectly. Took me five years. Um, so sorry, but it's easier.
It's easier and yet harder all at the same time. Yep. Congratulations. So for that I would recommend approval. Do we have a motion to approve that contract? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Tom. Discussion.
Um I I would have to say I appreciate the fact that um thus far our people in leadership positions have have demonstrated what they've they're asking people to do. So I you know that takes a lot. You don't ask people to do one
thing and do something different yourself. So I appreciate that. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. The human resource director contract is
approved. Next item on the agenda, approve a 10-year long uh term facility maintenance plan. Cara, good evening. Um we do this annually. Um we approve our long-term facilities
maintenance plan. Um the state we get so much money per student and then multiplied by a factor of our building age divided by 35. So just little numbers go into this calculation. our revenue um because our enrollment has been decreasing and because we have
dumped not dumped we have sold demolished our older buildings such as Forest Lake Murphy um the admin bu building recently and we added our beautiful new buildings um our average age has gone down so our revenue we don't have as much and then something
else we have done is we have had to borrow against this to um put on new roofs and now that the legislation has changed we're able to do that without borrowing growing against our LTFM revenue. Um, this year we collected about 800,000 850,000 in our general
fund, but we spent about $1.2 million. So, luckily we had a fund balance spent down now. So, going forward, we have to be very conscious of improvements we need to make throughout the district. Um so going forward it's about $800,000 ballpark that we have to spend on
projects improvements. Um you know our HVAC, our fire safety, all these things we have to do every single year comes out of this money. Um so I'm just asking you to approve this plan. So a motion to approve the plan.
So moved. Moved by Tom. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Melissa. Discussion hearing. None. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. The facility maintenance plan is approved.
Next item on the agenda. Accept the first reading and approve the following policies with statutory reference changes. 416 drug alcohol cannabis testing. 613 grad requirements.
620 credit for learning and 624 online learning options. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Melissa. Discussion. I had uh noticed uh on our 416 AR, I
believe it's our drug, alcohol, and cannabis testing. Um I believe on page 10 uh 3.E E should read cease instead of case in that bullet point. And I think with that amendment I have no issue.
Catch. Ashley, would you uh change your Oh yes. Um as amended. Amend the motion. Yes. Would you amend the motion? Yes. Okay. And would you
Absolutely. Yep. Second the amended motion. Any other discussion on that? get catched. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda. Accept the first reading. Approve the following
policies with legislative and nonsubstantive changes in one reading. Uh policy 2032, order of the regular schoolboard meeting. 414 mandated reporting of child neglect and physical
or sexual abuse. 418 drugfree school workplace. 425 staff development and mentoring. 514 bullying prohibition policy. 515 Protection of Privacy and Pupil Records. 516 Administering Medicine to Students.
516.5 Overdose Medication. 621 Literacy in the Read Act. 707 Transportation of Public School Students. 709 student transportation safety policy 802 disposition of obsolete equipment and
material. Do I have a motion to accept on the first reading those policies? So moved. Moved by Melissa. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Ashley. Discussion.
I'm I'm going to pull out 516.5 overdose medication because I know there's conversations happening outside. And what I'd like to talk about here a little bit is it's not just about the person that uh has done the drugs, but
sometimes it's a leftover matter. If a principal or teacher touches something or a student comes across something and they fel, you might need that overdose medication. And so I just want to be clear like this is not just about the kids who are using kids or adults using
the medications who are receiving an overdose. Sometimes it's just there's there's powder, there's residue, there's something and it comes through your skin. And that is a fear of many staff and students. And so I just I want to put that out there for folks so that
they understand it's it's more than just the person who's taking the drug that's at risk here, which is why I think the protection is even more so important. That's all I would say. That's a good point. Any other discussion on that?
Do we have uh this might be a little bit further from what we're trying to discuss, but just a question because I missed this policy meeting. Do we have training on how to appropriately um give administer them? Administer. Thank you for that word.
Administer question. Yeah, Dan asked that question, right? He asked that question. He asked how many were in each kit or was it Sean? Some a couple people, but there should be two in each AED. And then there is a point in time during a staff that that they do
a training on how to administer. But I think there is this fear of if you don't do it very often, you kind of look at each other like who's going to do it? And so they were actually going to have more conversations I think about that. And I think Dan kind of flagged that like we got it, but then when we get there and it's like who's who's going to
be the one to do it and uh we don't want anybody to hesitate. So is there a designated or a couple designated individuals like depending on the area location I should say? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So they're
I think too one of the things that especially in these um medical type provisions that are more um accessible, they're designed to be
simple, right? So the AED the AEDs we have in place when you open those up in many cases they speak and give directions. Um the we were one of the things we discussed in our policy
committee and it and it it's in 516 that the language that they changed in there had to do with Epipens changing to epinephrine delivery methods because now they're nasal, right? So making it so I
don't have to maybe be comfortable giving a shot, but I can do the Nasinex move and be okay with that, right? And so that's similar to Narcan. It's it's made to not be as complicated, but but people being aware so that in that
moment there's not any more delay than needs to be is is important. Further discussion. Hearing none, we have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. First uh readings of those policies
accepted is accepted. Uh next item on the agenda, approve the 202526 MA membership. Superintendent Gross. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our district's
been a member of MEA for quite some time and I think I probably mention this every year but ME MA has put itself in a position to be uh an impactful voice at the legislature especially and
that's not all they do but the lobbying efforts of MA have gotten more more impactful over time and so even if we look at some of the things that happened this spring, the LTFM bill, the the roof
bill, um I'll refer to it in that broad sense. That was really an MALE item and it's not a very uh exciting type of a change. Um but it's very impactful to school districts,
especially in rural Minnesota. So, um it's a good group for us to be a part of. They also put on a great conference in November uh and uh many other things. So uh I'd recommend approval. Have a motion.
So moved. Moved by Melissa. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Ashley. Discussion. I've just found MA to be a much I don't know if better but it seems to
be more relevant to us as as school board members than some of the bigger groups. It seems to connect with us a little bit more on some of the issues and so I found them to be further reaching. Yeah. And they've been really they they do a lot of work on the hill.
They do a lot. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Ma membership is approved.
Uh board reports. Tom, let's start with you. Well, last month we had uh the steering committee up in Big Fork their advisory committee I guess. Um that was a very good meeting. I felt uh we talked a lot about
you know how we can leverage some of the benefits of the small school of big fork right and reach out to people and try to make sure we're engaging the whole community and we need to keep those numbers up. I mean it's just so critical
when we look at look at our schools. Um we had uh we just before this meeting we had our facility meeting and we discussed our projects. um the uh solar project and and the RGM's parking lot
project which uh they're really wrapping that one up quick. Um so we had an update on that. That's all I have. Thank you, Ashley. Um well, I as you all know because you voted to allow me to do so. I have been
working these past couple of weeks at East Rapids Elementary with the extended schooly year parah program um as a special education para and um just thrown right in. There is no there is no
um you no you have no time you they just they just tell you what to do and you do it and you go and that's why I that's why I have such a great respect for the um paras that have just recently retired
because as I said before uh you essentially are a PCA and and you are PCA certified. So that means that you are um you are taking care of humans on such a greater level. There is teaching involved, feeding, clothing, bathing,
changing clothing, changing diapers, um lifting, and just an overall care and concern for these tiny little humans. And each one of them is phenomenal. And it has been such a joy to work with everybody, Harris included, and all of
the kids. And granted, it was only six days in June. We have three days left starting tomorrow through Thursday for July. But um it's been such an eye-opening experience to have that uh
to be able to take part in that. Um one more thing for me to learn and be grateful for about this district. And so I was able to do that. Um, and I just wanted also, it's in the same building, East Rapids Elementary, um, to give a shout out to Lori
Garbarkawitz, who is who has put together and is running the, uh, learning academy this year. Um, I believe she does it every year, and that is no easy task. She gets all of those students ready, all of the staff ready.
Um, the staff are there to help supplement our students and get them through the summer so they don't hit that summer slide because that is a real thing. My kids will forget everything you taught them up until they get right back into school into the swing of
things. So, that is, you know, kudos to those teachers. Thank you very much for taking the time to do that and be with those kids um during the summer and uh that is it's a big deal. So, thank you very much. But that was all. I wasn't able to participate in the policy
meetings which I missed. I'm I'm bummed about that because policies that's my favorite. But here we are. Yep. Thank you, Melissa. Um I was at the policy meeting. Yes, she was. And I do like policy. We had a lot of
policy. Thank you. We didn't even get Thank you both for being on that committee. Um yeah, we didn't even get through all of them. Uh, so stay tuned for the next one. I'll be there. The good news is is a lot of it was just
these were just updates that were made legislatively. So there's not wasn't a ton, but um and contracts, which I don't mind either. And certainly uh Casey uh who we worked with, but we have teacher contracts and other contracts coming up.
And I also have contracts and I ask, so there's a lot of just contract work going on right now. Um and then I ask we have made an interim hire uh while Jackie Skellyy uh
is is has moved literally on and uh I hope she's doing really well. I haven't had a chance to check in with her, but um so we are doing that and then there's a position posting for that job. And again, we're looking for someone with a
special ed license who can also lead um an organization and if we can't find it, we will go back and redraw that that position. Um, we may redraw the whole, you know, some of it just to see if we
can't get a fit for us. But we're gonna hope that we can find find another Jackie fit like Jackie Jackie like to say it. Um, because she herself was was so wonderful. But, uh, there will be everybody is
replaceable, right? That's that's the one thing life has taught me. So, lots of stuff, lots of work like that kind of on the ground. um contractiations. So, which I seem to be one of the only
people that I uh I attended the big fork advisory with Tom and the the committee up there. It was very good discussion. Um I also attended the I ask uh technology meeting.
Um a lot of that discussion was uh what direction should I ask you going looking at going forward with technology and it's probably a pretty critical question. Um
the uh other meeting that I attended uh we started negotiations with the service employees. So got a good start there. Uh, superintendent support. Superintendent Gross.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, you mentioned the service negotiations last week. We have teachers coming up this week. Uh, and, uh, our ESPs on this on the calendar as well. So, those are all starting to fall into place. Um, you know, it was at the technology meeting
we had last week. It I was reminiscing a little bit about where we've been as an organization. This is why sometimes when we're kind of slogging and struggling, it's challenging. As someone that was very very involved in the past, um, most
people don't know that I ask received a international award in 2013. Um, I got to stand in the fanciest place I've ever been with pillars as, you know, eight feet across in the Andrew
Melon um, hall in Washington DC and accept an award on behalf of I ask for its work in technology and sharing education. It was so and two a million dollars in rural utility service grant
federal money and $800,000 from land foundation around that same time. So I ask has been in a position to do amazing things in the past for kids and our districts and so um it's you know I get called the historian
and probably for good reason. Um, but it's interesting to reflect, too. And it's important probably for people to remember. And that's part of what Tuesday was about, just reflecting back on the the the groundwork that went into putting us in
a position where we are now. And it was interesting talking to or listening to Paul, who we've worked with for a long time now, talk about how those decisions we made back then are still paying dividends now, just like the decision that leaders made in 1987
to buy two strands of fiber to connect our schools is still paying dividends now. I mean, just foresight. So anyway, uh the day before that on Tuesday, we hosted a workshop here to talk about technology and it was a great day. We
had Apple here in the morning and they just talked about how to use digital tools, ones we already have, how to think about how we're using tools in the classroom. And then we spent some time doing some nuts and bolts work as a school district. Then we spent the afternoon on
um talking about how we're going to handle AI this fall. And I think a lot of districts including ours are in a spot where we have, you know, we came through last year with AI being out there and kids using it but not addressing it really formally.
And in the course of that afternoon and we had uh some people from some staff from Deer River there too working with us uh together. And so we came up with some student guidelines for AI, some staff guidelines for AI and then also a model uh kind of a cognitive framework
to think about and we know that all of those will change because AI is changing every second. Um but it at least gives us a framework to start from and communicate and be transparent about. So um I was grateful for all the people
that came in and gave of their summer to contribute to that. I attended the RAMS meeting. Uh we they hosted a dinner with uh legislators and a number of them were there. They gave an overview of the session. Uh things we've talked about
quite a bit actually. uh they all took time to talk about uh their peers that they lost uh and the the the murders that took place and how that affected the legislative body. And
um it was somber for sure to think about that. And so I think it was worth I'm I'm glad they did um because it's a reality of their life and a reality of our situation in Minnesota. Um, we've had uh some training. I've been
fortunate to get to some training and then we have some training coming up for principles at the beginning of August, which is really right around the corner. Um, our strategy team, same thing. We have a meeting coming up shortly uh with them. So, we'll be working through that.
And uh you know, the the summer is really picking up momentum. This is the time where we've really transitioned from wrapping up last year to full tilt thinking about the fall. Um, we're in a really good place as far as staffing. I
think our last open teaching position closed last night. Um, so I think those interviews will be happening soon. Um, Tom mentioned the RGEMS RJ's project. If you haven't been over there, they are
weeks ahead of schedule. It's basically done. They have signage to put in. Um and so Schwarz did a really good job of, you know, working through that. They had rain days built into their schedule, but still, um to be done, uh where they are
is great. So, uh there'll be communication that we need to do on that because that will represent change not only for our parents, and I think Tom brought this up in our meeting today. It's going to bring up a change for a community that's gotten in the habit of you that using I think it's ETH as a
street because they won't be able to use ETH as a street in the same way that they've used it trying to cut across from you know one part of town to the next. So that'll be a learning a learning for our community.
Lastly, um I continue to read stories about uh and hear about large numbers of districts going out this fall for an operating referendum and I continue to believe that a referendum is necessary to avoid future reductions. Um I don't believe the conditions are right this
fall and time's running out to to really build the momentum we need uh for the board to make a decision. when we look at timelines, the board would need to make a decision to run a referendum at our next regularly scheduled meeting. So, time is really um I think uh run
out. Um and I think the failure of that seasonal wreck taxbased replacement aid bill was just another another thing that would have made this just that much more challenging. And so, um the board's made it clear that our focus needs to be on community
engagement. We know that needs to happen regardless of whether an a referendum was on the docket or not. We've been making progress in that area and I believe that's where our focus needs to continue to be building understanding and advocacy and trust. Um and at some
point though we need our voice our community to voice their concern because we still haven't heard loudly from our community, you know, when are you going to or how can we make this be different? Uh, and I think that has to change at
some point. We haven't come out as a school district to say we are running one or we're not. But I just want the board to know that by, you know, in the process of not coming and landing in a place, we're essentially making that decision and not, you know, asking for a
change. But I just want to be clear publicly kind of where we're at because I was recently asked about that at a uh one of the sessions that I've been doing. I heard you're running a referendum and really it's we're getting to that place where the decisions been made for us. So, I just want to be clear
that that's kind of where we're at. I did meet with Jeff Daylor last week um and after considering different options uh again and and I appreciate the opportunity to to do that work and reach
out to someone like that. Um, I think their experience both in the PR space, the school advocacy space, the communications design and planning space, and and referendum space make them a good fit. Um, uh, in addition to
that community engagement work part, but um, he's going to be bringing back a plan of what that could look like in the next 6 to 12 months. I'm going to be looking for that subcommittee to get back together that we had before. uh unless there's an objection to that just
to get a first look at what he's proposing and then bring that back to the full board in a workshop coming up. So, I just wanted to give you kind of an update and some thoughts on that that we're kind of at that point where we needed to have a lot more momentum I
feel like from our community to to provide you the direction you need in order to make a significant decision like that. And so I think that time has sort of come and gone. Superintendent Gross, I have a question
about the parking lot at our gems. You had mentioned that there will be some communication going out. Um, all jokes aside, but kind of joking. Is there going to be a video tutorial? Ryan and I, Mr. Deay and I have talked about that. Um, uh, I think if we could
get a drone, that would be amazing. And so that's something we've talked about because it will be it'll be a you know it'll be a shift and yeah we you know Tom has uh agreed to help us with some of the CAD stuff that we may need to
make a picture look better. So I'm glad we have someone like that that has that. I know Darren Hoffstead has a Mark had mentioned that um Principal Hopstead has a drone. Oh okay. So, so that that that I think is part of the idea that we would get a drone and kind
of map that out for people because it will be different. Uh it'll be very different and some people pictures are good, some people need to see an experience. So, uh I think video is is
will be important. Yep. Um, and then just one other mentioning of the community in general giving us their input. I mean, we know the input is is that they don't want a referendum
because it raises taxes, but beyond that, what is the information that they can give us that can help us make a better decision on what that looks like in the future? And then Tom has also mentioned it a handful of times that it is important to start at a grassroots
level. So making sure that the community feels like they're also being involved in those conversations. And even if, and I don't know if this is something that would even be possible, but even if there's somehow a space or availability for community members to join in on
those subcommittee meetings if they're interested or if there's somebody who has uh experience, you know, uh in that in that realm to come in and give us a perspective of
what, you know, the community is looking for. Um, so I just I think it's still very important like Tom says that we keep we keep this community based. We make sure that we do hear what the community is saying because we know I mean and it
connects to everything that we've been talking about as far as, you know, job creating here in the community. It's a ripple effect, right? And if you don't have if you don't have the jobs, then you don't have the people. But if you also don't have the schools, you also don't have the jobs,
and then you don't have the people. So, you know, it's just important. I feel like we keep our community um in the know at all times. Not even just full transparency, but crystal clear when it comes to what we're asking
or even not what we're asking, but what we would like them to ask of us. We don't know what that is yet, but we want to make sure that we hear them completely in that in that regard. Agreed.
That's all I have, Mr. Chair. Solar project. Um, we talked a little bit about that today, too. uh they just got the survey results back and so the next step is to get their geotechnical and ground stuff
done and get racking ordered. Um the estimate that he the our project manager said was we're about six weeks out from construction starting. I'm not as optimistic as him, but that's
that's what he said. six weeks. Are we tied to any of the tax credits? Um, not federal ones. Oh, that's good. That's good. Reminder, upcoming schoolboard committee
meeting dates are posted on each agenda. Schoolboard meeting agendas can be found on the district website and on the designated posting site at the ISD3 Ed Services Center. Is there any other business to come before the board?
Hearing none. Julie, is anyone put in for public input? No, they haven't. Meaning, [Music] Ryan, today offered to go up on the roof today to take that video. That's what
Martinson did.