##VIDEO ID:F7AnASROTE8## all right I think we're ready to go we're going to call this meeting to order it's January 14th 2025 this is a meeting of the Lakeville area District 194 um Board of Education uh if we all want to start with the Pledge of Allegiance the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right if we want to start with a roll call to uh let everybody introduce themselves maybe starting with my on my right I'm hi Amber Cameron Brett Nicholson Paul Carbone Matt Swanson Michael Bowman Kim Baker Carly Anderson Brian Thompson our cabinet Brenda alre administrative Services Michelle Humphrey executive director of student services Emily McDonald assistant superintendent at Bill Homan Executive Director of Business Services all right we've got Kim Elon with us as well uh just want to let everybody know we do um we're going to kind of cruise through the meeting a little bit tonight we do have legal counsel coming in at 6:45 uh they charge by the uh 10th of an hour so we we'd rather not have them waiting um yeah so we'll get on with business and try to roll this along pretty quickly uh next item is just agenda agenda additions and if there are any requests for um additions to the agenda if not I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda second we get the motion first mtion app all right we have a motion to approve the agenda as drafted by uh director Nicholson do I have a second second there's a second by director Carbone um um any discussion on the agenda as there is none all in favor of approval of the agenda say I I I I'll oppose same sign all right is approved um if it's okay with you guys as I think the policy we want to make sure we do get to this first I'd like to start with the policy discussions um Brenda were you going to discuss cell phone policy sure um I'm going to um probably need a little bit of help from superintendent Bowman on this one um my understanding is that there was collaboration with some of our principles on the cell phone policy that you have before you this evening it was compared to the msba model policy um and it was reviewed by legal council as well um so what you have in front of you is a Comm of those facts okay and if I may as well uh to add to that uh much of what is what's written into this policy as our first reading recommendation is also in practice in this school system for the last uh two school years so um it's we're not departing from that either um have either of you had a chance to speak with any of the staff just to see how it's going so far if this is the policy that's been in use I have not I have uh this is this is part and partial to it's been going extremely well and um we think that uh we want to stay the course uh as as it's outlined in this policy okay director Thompson as I'm reading this I want to make sure I understand this uh the proposal came in as a ran numeral is that 14 is that it X4 X4 15 so I'm assuming is this an addition to the is this an add-on to the exist existing 524 policy is how I'm reading it so it' be continued okay and so then um all right that's my first question I'll let others ask all right director Baker do you had a question yeah um we had looked at this policy before we've been talking about it as a board and um through the policy committee and one of the things director Thompson I think that you had brought forth when you were on the policy committee was that um students would leave their cell phones in their lockers for grades 9 through 12 looks like they're allowed to keep them on their person as long as they're silent or out of sight um on this one and then another question I had um with regards to students uh filming other students during the school day um if they have them on their person they would still have the opportunity to do that and I know that that is has been a problem within the schools um some of those videos end up on social media and then you know it impacts all kinds of things social emotional health and and all of that um so I'm wondering if we're going to keep that in where they can't keep their self they have to they can keep their cell phones on them not in their locker um what is the um consequence for filming other students because I I do know that that has been a problem uh so are are you recommending that 9 through 12 be changed to putting their devices in a locker or uh for that's one question I would have uh and the second would be consequence are um are are predicated on student handbook or I'm this the terms eluding me right now but uh we we try to do calibrated based on the context of the event or the incident uh and so those could vary is is the best answer I can give you okay I'm not sure that I'm recommending it I I would just like some discussion around it knowing that that's been an issue um at the high school um I've represented or spoken with several families uh students with disabilities that have had that happen to them um and and just other students within the student body where there have been recorded and those videos have ended up on social media so I'm just opening it up for discussion with the board I guess George Anderson um yeah and I'm reading this book right now that is making me think a lot about this um the anxious generation we should all read it um and I think the concern to me is there is a lot of research coming out um looking at mental health with kids and how um this has been impacted by by smartphones especially but also use of the internet and I think my concern I mean it seems like there's a difference between the uh prek through 8 as well as 9 through 12 in terms of um what access they do have to the device during the day and so in prek through 8 it looks like it has to be kept in the locker throughout the day um and that might be because they all have lockers like at the high school level they don't all have lockers so that's part partly a problem but I'm also thinking about the evidence of how um or what we're seeing in terms of the evidence when when kids do not have their phones they're thinking about their phones what's going on on their phones and so I guess from a broader perspective when we think about how this is very similar to current current policy and what I've heard from teachers is they don't want to police this or they are struggling to police this and so for me this goes Way Beyond policy and the bigger discussion of how we as as a district manage this because the same old approach is not resulting in good things for kids mental health um so my point I guess is there is the I appreciate at a higher level kids might have more access to their phones in between classes and at lunch and things like that but there is that worry that students have about what what is someone posting or what is someone snapping or whatever about me in during the day when how do we create an environment where kids can just focus on their academics during the day Dr Thompson are you referencing uh that point of view in for for students in high school or from prek to 8 well it's can I um so it seems like prek through eight we're saying they can't have access to it at any point during the day yes and at high school level we're saying they can access it in between classes and you know so even my daughter she got some new airp what do you call them airpod headphone things air earbuds whatever they're called um and I was talking to her about you can't bring those to school and she's like I only use them between you know in my class or whatever when they're when the teacher's not talking and I said you can't have them so I understand that this is very difficult for teachers to police but I just that's the bigger concern to me is all of this can be outlined but how is it going to be implemented in a way that effective I mean I guess to that point because I think the the first section just says out of sight so not necessarily not in the classroom at all I mean are you saying you you'd rather see it be you know they can't use it at all during the day it has to be in their locker not accessible to them or for for 912 they don't have Locker so that that would present a problem uh that's why we are under the this is a this is a vast Improvement from where we were you know in 21 uh or maybe I I don't remember what year that the the uh school did this change I know when I was here it was allowed for open use and that has been uh curbed uh to this to this model here um from a logistical perspective um not having a locker presents a different problem uh out of sight is is been enforced and I think we've been successful with that maybe Dr McDonald might know differently or better um but that's my understanding from personal observation and from being in classrooms in the high schools uh and and talking to our Educators and our administrators in the buildings they're in a much better place um and that's what's articulated in here uh if we were going to and I'm not opposed I'm I'm pushing back in any way if we want to say not not available to the students in 912 um we would have to figure that out logistically um and I'm not sure I would advise that uh sitting here right now but you know going through the process the technical process of offering changes to the document on a first reading um you know we could evaluate that and I'd be you know obviously open to that dror Carbone uh yes a question about out of sight even though it's out of sight there's still an audio recording capability for a phone so are we not vulnerable for recording private conversations even though you can't see the phone uh there's no Imaging there's no video that needs to be done but you're still recording a conversation does that not create a problem particularly if it's it's a private conversation well I'm not going to push back on that you could do that under a whole variety of circumstances and scenarios that it's supposed to be in your locker but it's in your coat pocket I mean we could wh if those things um quite a bit I and I'm so I would just say that that becomes an Enforcement issue of violation of the policy and the process and procedure and and and those kinds of things um that's the best answer I could give you director carbo yeah um superintendent superintendent Balman then uh under respect for privacy rights prek through 12 should we make it a little stronger um and let me explain what I mean in in number one and number two what I'm seeing is shall not photograph video shall not transmit images etc etc should we have a little bit stronger uh verbiage in there that specifically says no no taking audio also so that at least it you know there's a line in the sand there in the policy yeah you could add that to record clarify it it's both video and audio Yeah uh director Cameron I was kind of ignoring everybody over on the right side sorry get it um I just have a couple of comments and questions uh throughout the document um one was as Tech technology constantly evolves right um it's hard to list everything that could possibly be on the list but one question I had was um smart watches how is the district currently handling that because it can perform almost all the same functions as a phone but yet students wear SmartWatches um so that's one question I have um to what extent could someone make the argument and this might be a legal question that a watch or even a phone is a medical management device like where it says you can use it accept um are we do we need to be explicit about how that what includes medical management or could someone say I'm trying to count my steps or I'm checking my heart rate um would that qualify um that's a question I have um then under on um under item D academic Integrity um it seems like we're kind of dividing that section into um classroom or curricular based um experiences that we facilitate as district and the second is um experiences that happen within our school buildings but are not necessarily um uh governed by our district um and so like the listing of act advanced placement Etc it seems almost like that I would and I had questions about should we even include information about that because each of those testing agencies have requirements um that uh the staff in our district who are administrating them have to abide by regarding cell phones in particular but other things as well and so um perhaps a policy is like we just follow the testing agency's policy and then they have repercussions if if those policies are broken um and then my last one sorry one more thing is um we say under um responsibility a personal device that the district will not be responsible for storing but then in violation we say that and and I agree with this that um we might um take a device from a student so those seem to contradict themselves to me we are then storing a device those situations and just um a point of clarification I think um taken is an awkward term I think um the district confiscates the device taken seems like we hoard it forever but um confiscation I think is a different um connotation so those are some observations I make um for consideration I just one one question C2 uh students shall not email text post to the internet or social media or otherwise electronically transmit images of other individuals taken at school without their permission um it seems like it it could be and and maybe we're allowed to do this it seems like it could be viewed as restricting activities outside of the school building um which seems to kind of tread on Free Speech grounds and I don't know that we have the right to I mean are we going to be looking at when things are are time stamped and stuff like that and and maybe they are there are rules about this already that I don't know so the first sentence of the document says the Board of Education or the school board directs the superintendent School District administration to establish rules and procedures regarding student possession and use of cell phones in schools so in my mind that's they're on our they're in our schools and these these process procedures rules apply in that environment in that environment only is that or is your question more broad than that no I well the uh it seems to suggest posting at any time essentially without the of the other person it kind of seems like one would almost do seem one would see one would kind of envelop two I mean if you don't have permission for the picture taking in the first instance but I guess somebody could allow you to take their picture but not want it posted um yeah I mean I I know this is where obviously there are there are end rounds to all of this and kids will figure out ways and so we're trying to do the best we can with what we have um so again it kind of gets to the philosophical discussion around do you write procedures and cover for all in every scenario and if you didn't have it in there it doesn't apply or do you keep it more broad give up give the authority to Administration we have a process and procedure that we're articulating and there will be exceptions that occur because humans do what humans do and you try to uh mitigate that the best that you can along the way and maybe make uh procedural adjustments uh that fit within the policy or if the policy needs to be redefined that that's brought forward either by Administration or others uh as is is uh our due process so I that's a hard one for me to answer other than to say that under legal review and looking at policies that the Minnesota School Board Association offers we're try to follow that in order to uh be as comprehensive and uh overarching as possible uh there is some prescriptive uh this is a little more prescriptive in nature than some of our other policies but because it's cell phones and I wanted to make sure that the Integrity of what has been established in the school system and has been working fairly well uh that we find a way to sustain that sure uh director Thompson yeah I think what you what you sh is probably um I'm directionally aligned with you um as I look at prek prek to 8 like no cell phones first Bell to the very spell that's pretty much what it is unless for medical medical reasons and so when I say cell phones any personal electronic device that's connected to the internet or or we can you guys can expand that but conceptually that's what I'm I'm envisioning uh for for 9th and 12th grade I was under the impression that maybe it's it happens at North but maybe it happens in some classes or not but they use these sleeves I guess and so a student comes in they put their phone in this sleeve and some from from what I've heard uh some uh teachers May count that as like attendance so if your phone is in there then you're tracked as you're there if your phone is not in there and we know then then you're not tracked but that's a separate administrative thing but I think directionally for 9th grade and 12th grade no cell phones or personal electronic devices during the class session and so students can use it during the hallways can use it during uh lunch lunch era lunchtime uh but that that's it and so that that is what I'm I believe is what we're trying to get to with this document orh right I don't know yeah are are there any concerns of the board I guess with 9th through 12th having some additional privileges like that it seems to make sense given their age and hopeful maturity director Nicholson I guess I just had more of a question at this point like what have been the major issues like have we had any and again some of us are new here so the last six months you know what's been the big issue has have there been any big like issues regarding legal regulatory whatever somebody got in a whole bunch of trouble with something um and I don't need specifics but like how many are we talking well I I could speak for before we this policy or this process and procedure was in place we we had multiple types of incidences that occurred uh in I'll say in our secondary um not in middle school I'll say high school so let me just clarify High School um and they were primarily social mediar related um types of things um in the short time I've been back I I can't think of an in an incident that has gotten to me uh that I've had to deal with with cell phones uh cell phone related uh I can't I cannot think of one uh and I don't know if Dr McDonald over the past two years could address any that uh that have occurred but I I do think this policy has been pretty effective Dron um okay we all really need to read this book I'm serious um so I'm just going to bring the concerns from the book um where really I think one of the questions or one of the challenges we've been dealing with in with in the district uh that keeps coming up when we discuss levies and things like that is mental health of students and we think oh maybe this is related to the pandemic or something like that but really the research shows that all of these things were on the rise well before the pandemic and there's good argument for um how phone-based childhoods have impacted mental health as opposed to all of us growing up in more of a play based childhood and so I don't think I disagree with the 9 through 12 having increased access to phones but I'm just thinking it would be great to hear from our High School principles about what the lunchtime looks like are they interacting are they all on their phones because this is a time when they should be interacting in a more so I just I I don't always hear the same things in terms of how this is playing out in the schools and so superintendent bman I know you have a much higher level view that I appreciate but I also don't know that people are making these connections between what we're seeing as the mental health crisis that's happening at this level and how much access they have to their phones during the school day direct Thompson um I don't disagree with you at all and if I could just say we don't need the phone period you know you're in school that would be fine by me I'm okay with that I would love it if we're focused on what we need to be there for make some friends have a social life and do all that kind of stuff although kids nowadays are growing up in a different environment so how do we balance it I I like I said I would wholeheartedly love to say no but I think you'll have a Revolt too so how do we walk that line and then enforcement during lunchtime would also be another issue like who's patrolling that right butor um I agree with director Thompson that and excuse me and superintendent Balman that if our staff principales Deans um uh teachers feel like this policy is working working that's great um and that they should bring to us any concerns where procedure is not possible because of policy um my husband in another district is a dean and I know I'd be surprised at the high school level here if there weren't cell phone issues on The Daily that aren't rising to C to administ administrative ISS uh levels but um it's a constant battle I think but if they feel like this is supportive of what they're trying to implement um then I support that is it safe to assume I mean if they want more authority to for enforcement they let us know is that safe to assume yes but I think director Anderson's suggestion of having the the principles come and and maybe talk a little bit about it from from their perspective would be very valuable and I would be very supportive of that so I was just going to agree with uh director Anderson and bringing in the principles giving that this is the first reading um and we can make more changes as we need to I would like to hear from the principles first before we make any further changes to the document and then I'm also looking at time um on how much time we spent discussing this and what we still have left on the agenda any other comments all right uh thank you Brenda and I appreciate uh you and Mr Brown putting this together for us to review uh proposed policy 208 and just just to let everyone know on the board and those that are here so under our current policy 208 um we're required to put the any revised policy or new proposed policy on the agenda for a board meeting two times um before the matter can be voted on and approved by the board so this is considered the first time I mean it can be on the agenda more than two times obviously um but it has to be on at least two times so this is the first for board both uh the cell phone policy and the proposed revisions to policy 208 um we do have a deadline on the cell phone policy that I think has to be approved by March um but yeah we do have some plenty of time before then but uh I would ask director Thompson as he was kind of the Chief Architect of the revisions here if he'd like to discuss briefly what uh what changes were made can can I make one comment first I'm sorry because I called you today about this you did yep um I do want to just point out that so 208 was um passed by the previous board in December um in terms of revisions and some some of it is um was updated just to be consistent with msba policy but I also just want to point out that historically on this the previous board what we did was have the policy committee review and make recommendations to then bring to the board and so I just want to acknowledge that process has we're not following that process and what you have outlined in the policy committee um resolution so I would actually um recommend that we bring once we decide who's on the policy committee we actually bring this to the policy committee to then come back to the board before that that would be my recommendation is there an existing resolution um appointing and governing the policy committee or is it just a committee that was established to discuss policy changes it was just a committee that was established there was no resolution that was passed okay yep and then I believe in December the uh policy that was approved was just statutory updates or uh to align it to msba uh and so then what I did was I uh shared last week again looked at the policy uh uh looked at the msba version as well uh and then other school districts that had this policy and so that's where all the red lines are coming from from what other uh places have and then also adjusted it to the 25% versus whatever uh versus uh uh certain policy numbers for the Cadence uh this but if we have uh if you want to wait and you send it to a a board policy committee it'd be two of you and then or if you guys have if you have already read it now it's kind of like well up to you if you have questions oh George Cameron um so I have quite a bit to say about this particular topic so bear with me um so last night I um reviewed the documents for for tonight and again um during my lunch break thought I just want to review these policies again to make sure I'm um AB breast of of what's going on in the changes um and I have some major concerns about what's happening right now with with this policy not not the revisions in particular um but the presented version that we have in the um board book and in front of us um is not an accurate Redline copy of either the version that was approved at the December meeting or the policy that exists um online currently there's at least like 33 times where either the copy is presented as current copy without any redlined information um or um policy is just deleted current policy with no IND indication in this in this copy that it ever existed so 14 of those times um it's just calling this group School Board instead of Board of Education and like that's something we can hash out and figure out but 19 other times it's more substantial um for example like the public comment process that currently exists in our policy is removed completely and not uh track changed um Also regarding like the emergency policy procedure our current policy says um the that if we create an emergency policy would expire in 90 days this version that we're looking at says it's one year without any mention that it's um a change in policy um so I really feel like what's presented is not ready for a discussion um it's not redlined in a acceptable appropriate way um I think it's misleading um to have to spent multiple hours today kind of looking at these and figuring out like where are the actual changes happening I think is not an effective use of board time and I don't think it's very transparent to our community um I'm pretty frustrated about that this was um presented to us in this fashion to be honest um this is not the level of work I hope from our board um and that I think we really need to figure out our process and maybe it's the policy committee um how we want to document edit so that we are clear that um what is Redline what is new copy what is old copy um and this this version does does neither of those things and so Brian I appreciate like your research into the ideas I'm not necessarily against the ideas but I I am against presenting a copy tonight that is not accurate can I ask a question um just the policy itself I and you pointed out two points that I've taken note of um regarding public comment and then also the Merc policy in in the ending time um I mean by no means you are you saying that we need to start from the existing policy because we could just scratch the whole existing policy and start with a fresh policy and have no track changes correct um correct um but I think what's implied is that um so I I I highlighted where where the changes were made and where they weren't changed I think what we're imp is did you have other issues besides just those two issues as far as the um in terms of actual form and issue not process just issues with the draft policy yes I do okay don't don't me to talk about those or yes I don't I mean to be honest I don't feel like it's worth talking about the actual policy tonight I as a board member I want a I want a clean copy where I can compare um what we're trying to propose um and how it differs from the the current policy I think to that end I don't know what our current policy is is I know the board passed a policy in December that is not on our website so I don't know what where we are in that process so I don't even know what policy version we're editing at this point um the one on the website the one that was passed or and I understand that though but I mean if you have specific issues with this draft policy in front of you um want me bring just so yes okay I mean they have to be brought up at some point in time why not now okay sounds good so some content based concerns I have um I think we cont predict ourselves in the version that was presented tonight um there is an addition um in here that says we'll review 25% of our policies over four year over the fouryear period so all of them are reviewed I think listing a specific percent um can get us in a bind um some policies require extensive review and edits um while while others might not and so um I think it's I think it's great to say we'll review all policies within a certain period of time but to to limit us in one year to a percent I think can put us um at risk for uh liability I there's also a contradiction what is left in the policy it says that the every three years we're going to review all policies so I'm not clear are we saying four or three and which one is better I would argue let's review them uh in a more efficient faster way so I kind of like the three which is the existing policy um I'm concerned about removing public com from this process I think um I appreciate having feedback from community members on how best to um to move policy um in our district and so taking away an opportunity for our community to interact with us I think is uh I I'm not really sure why we would do that um and then ultimately I think um especially around like the emergency policy information I know it's significantly expanded and I think to the extent that we are aligned with msba because they they do their homework they know the statutes um and they've done a lot of the the work for us um I know I feel like it's important for us to align with recommendations from msba and put Lakeville flare into it when it when it when it's needed but when I don't think it's I don't think we should reent the wheel um in other words so those are it's a lot but those are those are my ideas for this one but ultimately I don't feel ready to um to call us a first reading sorry that's a lot no I appreciate the comments and I might have you uh send me a list later just so I make sure I get them all down and again like I said before I mean it is a first reading whether or not it's the first of two or the first of three you know something we can discuss at a later time right I know um to that end like I know at the last me I said I'm not a super formal person but I am super thorough and so I just want to like make sure that as a district as a board we are not getting ourselves in trouble or miscommunicating with our um community and that's uh at the heart of this Dr Thompson yeah uh I appreciate that uh thank you thank you for those comments uh you are right the website is not updated with the no with the latest policies and so uh you did not have a version of that I had a version of that because of what was passed and so I use that as the initial Baseline uh in regards to the school board you are right I did not change uh I did not cross out board of education and replace it with school board but that is one that uh is what msba had as well so I uh I I did not do the track changes on on that one uh but in regards to the uh the role the roles and responsibilities of our district or of school boards there is no policy around I'm sorry let me rephrase that there is no statutes around uh what policies how policies are created or documented or or anything like that that is all determined at the local District level State Statute says we have the authority to create policies uh in regards to how we want to run our operations uh but in regard uh so that's that's one area so while msba may have a templet Baseline version which is fair uh ultimately it's our board that gets to decide how policies are created how they are reviewed how often we want to review them uh of that nature so my thought those are some comments CH Swanson can I have a um I I totally agree with you director Thompson that we should make sure that our policies reflect um our kind of local context just to add a point of clarification um today when I wanted just to understand these changes versus current policy I did look at the website version and clearly saw like okay these are not not aligned so I went to the board book from the December meeting where I know the policy was passed and I did align item with that that was pass and it's still not um Jing so I looked at both versions so I don't think it is an accurate um Red Line copy just any other comment on 208 before we move on all right uh moving on to reports and discussion on committee assignments and Council assignments um I did ask all of the directors to send me a list of which councils advisory councils they would be uh interested in serving on or attending and participating in um I do appreciate everyone sending me um what their recommendations were I do know we're a little tight on time um but yeah did anyone have any questions I I know as a new board member I'm looking at a list of 12 different items roughly 12 different items um and I I don't know probably a lot about what happens at all of these um so if anybody else had a question about something they may be volunteered to serve on and that would be a great time to ask director Baker so number 10 um AMS D typically the chair sits on that one then treasur sits on the finance and Treasurer typically sits on the finance one um I guess for me personally like I'm currently on the community ed advisory Council um that was a role that I took on um when director Shenley resigned um I would kind of like to switch things up just knowing that other councils are switching things up too um because we'll have new board members coming on so um that I think I sent that to you too that was just my opinion on that um the ones that I was interested in were the 97 borb representative um I have a son that uh attends 9917 and um I also did a lot of my practicum work um as an educator in that District uh so I'm very familiar with the buildings and the programs um and they're just their direct their operation so that was one that I was interested in um but other than that I'm I'm up for whatever other board members want to do yeah my guess is everyone's fine if you want to be the representative for 9917 and then also the special ed um I think you have to formally vote on that is that right Kim no it's just an appointment okay just checking thanks and just for clear I and superintendent Bowman maybe you can help me out with this as far as what is required um by Statute to have a board member participate in um from what I could tell it looked like Community Ed special ed teaching and learning and then Wellness advisory Council uh in my I I shared a document with uh all board members regarding what the law requires versus what uh maybe is more practice within the school system so with regards to your particular question uh Cher swansson um cak uh I I should not use those acronyms the special ed and the community ed um for sure now uh teaching and learning uh if you read the statute it it does not specify uh that however we have we have uh traditionally done that in this school district uh in in that we've considered it law because um and I don't want to misquote the statute I think it's 120b do11 but um I would say for uh the highest level of accuracy would be special ed and Community Ed okay um and just miss McDonald just to let you know everyone wants to be on Tac so uh I hope you have more room but uh yeah so I feel kind of bad we're going to have to limit that um and spread the love around uh Wellness advisory committee I know that's a newer one um y you're going to need that one what's that director Thompson yeah I'm sorry go ahead she go ahead mine's GNA be lengthy go ahead oh my question was just um on some of them I know not not some not um all but on some are we allowed to have more than one W if people are interested yeah I think we just can't have four right so yeah okay cool yeah I mean my thoughts at least from uh what people sent so far uh you know specifically addressing the required ones Community Ed I was wondering uh amber or Brian if you guys would want to serve on that one and only one of you has to um Brian had expressed some desire in Lakeville Arena board I think you did you did CU your kids in hockey well I spend all my time at the Arenas um but yeah I also think I mean I I do want to reflect like I'll say I've I've served on the I call it Gak but I agree with superintendent superintendent bman should probably said the gifted advisory Council um the multi-district collaborative advisory Council so I've Ser served on gak for two years I've served on the mdcc as both a parent as a and a board member um and I've been on the DSL which I don't see listed here but those I think I've served my term I do think it's helpful to have people in who have experience in these roles to so Wellness is right up my alley as a I'm a you know a mental health professional but I also think is it a place for people to learn about things that they don't know about in The District so I I would see good rotation with us across this next two years to just make sure it's not just people who are doing what they know it's more and I'm not I know you have the expertise and you're amazing at that but also learning something new about committee actually had you for TAC I would love to be I think that was one of your yeah top priorities um take the Arenas if nobody wants to do it because I I do spend a lot of my time there okay and I I know we're limited on time so I think these are things we probably can discuss I can discuss individually just confirming what people are willing to serve on especially if we don't have to vote on it I did want to just briefly touch on um what we want to do with existing board committees um and if we want to create some additional board committees um because I know we we had discussed at least right now there is a a policy committee which I think we we should keep um and I would state that we should have a resolution one has been passed around about what that polic how that is going to operate um especially in conjunction with uh policy 208 with policies coming to the board for review um we also have a public engagement committee right now right and who serves on that all right Terry was also on that with us what are your thoughts about continuing that think we are doing good things yes I would continue on that okay and I know I was serving on the policy committee toward the latter half of the the year but I'm happy to have I'm happy to stay in the public engagement committee and let someone else step in my role for that okay uh the other ones that we discussed was finance and Facilities was kind of another topic I know that we have the finance advisory Council but wondering if the board any interest in the board having its own committee to maybe have a a more narrowly t Focus um to maybe create requests and send them off to the the district office for further report back I would be in favor of that yeah anyone with specific interest I thought I mean obviously the treasurer um Amber knew you had also expressed interest at one point in time okay nope uh anybody else on policy I think I I would have interest in policy just from the legal side of things um I imagine Brianwood anybody else interested in policy committee very deeply raise your hand you feel free don't be ashamed of it yeah I'm happy to be invol but I don't know if doing two is a good idea so uh we've got room uh the other one was HR to three no I know but two sub two subcommittees well yeah we'll figure it out okay uh HR negotiations would be the other one um that we've discussed just Str strategy and then um possible review of any other issues that might need Board review and report back director Thompson did you have any more comments on I think that was one maybe you had thrown up thrown up for consideration for the HR negotiations one yeah content wise and yeah you know looking at other districts they had uh negotiation committees and I think in over the past two years I've I've uh I feel that the uh past environments warranted some sort of board member involved in HR related decisions uh from certain roles to certain strategies to um Staffing allocation mix uh just to provide additional uh insights around uh fiscal responsibility but also what that uh staff makeup might look like as well as negotiations uh and then also there seems to be some Union uh not Union but there are some um uh grievance uh meetings that we get called upon so having someone in that Capa having a committee in that group I think would be ideal y so would that be um a committee that would meet regularly like the policy and public engagement committee not just like as issues come up correct yep um looking at our organization's benefits and and how our benefits are operating and and because we don't have anyone on that in that committee as well or in that in those meetings all right uh and then the final one was the academics committee um what's that I want yeah obviously academics um I know I've talked to director Carbono about this a lot I mean that should take up a lot of our general discussion in every meeting um but I think I do think it would be beneficial to have uh a committee that meets to kind of yeah further you know investigate certain issues that we want more questions on even outside of TAC because Tac has their duties that they're responsible for under the statute that they handle for us which appreciative that we don't have to do cuz it's a lot of work um but there might be some other things we want to look at as well and then coordinate with that committee and then also report back for the board I'm interested in that one all right could I um make a recommendation that I feel like a lot of new ideas are being thrown out and I I appreciate that um so instead of like I may I'm interested actually in the latter ones rather than the earlier ones that I I said I would do so I think having a moment to kind of hear what all of these subcomittees are and what their function will be and then um asking board members which ones they want to be part of or yeah and so I guess my thought was to and obviously it's just time constrained was just to discuss them generally uh the goal would be to have actual resolution of the board to form the Committees and then we discuss appointments at that point in time uh so we would have further definition as far as what the the purpose um of the commities are and if we get to that point and say there's no Roi here then we don't do them so director Thompson yeah I think the best way to think about it conceptually is there's three different buckets of committees you've got board committees which is I think quite a few that you listed off from policy HR negotiations finance and Facilities the Year this academics committee and public engagement the second bucket is going to be more of your advisory committees uh that are required and not required and so the ones that are required obviously we've got to keep the ones that are not required as a board we should probably have conversations around what is the value out of us in those respective advisory councils or not uh and and uh and the administration can decide if they want to continue forward with those or not and the third bucket would be more of our the Liaisons that we need to appoint some that are required and some that are not things that are required for that would be like the representative for 917 the representative for the Minnesota High School Association League uh not required might be the Lakeville chamber do we want to send representatives there um the Lakeville city um rotary stuff of those Natures so it may be good maybe to have them all listed and then we can kind of come back and discuss a little bit further when we have additional time but there you go I I will just sorry can I say one yeah um I I do think um we are talking about a lot of new things and it might be helpful to maybe because all the new board member some of us are going to be here for two years and some of us are going to be here for four but it might be helpful also to let people get settled this first year and maybe when we introduce us new but as I don't think everybody has an appreciation for not just the time we sit at this table but also like all these various committees that like the policy committee was meeting every two weeks so that's two days a week that at the night in the night you are so I I just want to encourage us to be thoughtful about how much new we're introducing before we cover the things that we're supposed to cover yeah yeah yeah I'd also want to be cautious that we're not duplicating work that's already being done by the district office I mean fortunately they carry a large load on the advis Council so we don't have to um but at the same time some of it's fun to get into so yeah um but yeah we can continue that discussion at a later time just wanted to discuss it uh a little bit here but we do have to get rolling with some things just uh there are no registration for public comment just moving on to six recommend recommended actions for future meetings and topics uh so the January 21 2025 live meeting which is is next week we have it as board development um and the goal is to have Miss McDonald's going to be there discussing uh different aspects of teaching and learning and kind of letting us dig into that um just in review of kind of our our legal opinion that was provided well I don't even know if this is a legal opinion or a packet of information that's available on um our drive because we are let me just rephrase this my plan is to when we're Gathering And discussing matters pertaining to the school district uh I plan to call it a board meeting because that's what it is right um legally uh yeah anytime we're even receiving information that pertains to business of the district it is considered a meeting has to be an open meeting and so we'll probably have just for consistency um an agenda that will be similar to that next week I do intend on it being more limited so we can focus on teaching and learning uh and then we can move on you know after that to other topics that I know other people want to talk about so just want to give everybody heads up oh uh timing too uh I did want to talk about bringing in a consistent time for our meetings um if they're all going to be changed to regular meetings um right now we hop back and forth from 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock uh depending on what type of meeting is on the calendar um director Baker is there is it a challenge for you to get here earlier than a specific time cuz I know you're coming from 9:17 so some meetings I'm coming from 9:17 so that would be diff difficult but like tonight um I had training until uh 5:45 in my district so they were kind enough to let me call in and do that virtually that's not always an option so then it just it it is hard you know it's a drive for me but again that's my choice when where I work but um I do know other people work and have issues too so yeah I guess my suggestion would be no later than a 7 o'clock start time um the only the reason I'd go earlier than that would be for you know the staff purposes but uh can everyone make S o'clock yep I'm in favor all right um with that uh we are going to be moving into a closed session after the adjournment of our meeting but under State Statute we required to approve moving into a closed session it has been placed on the agenda for notice purposes as we're required to do um but we do need to vote on each of the items uh and get authorization of the board to enter into that closed session after we adjourn tonight's meeting um so the Minnesota open meeting law Minnesota statute section 13 d05 subdivision 3B allows the school School Board to close a meeting to engage an attorney client privilege discussions um for all three of these cases or issues that are on the agenda uh it would be detrimental to the district's interests for the board to hold a public discussion with its attorney or any adverse party or their attorney could listen to or be made aware of the attorney's advice relating to the pending or threatened litigation uh so it's in the district's it's my opinion that it's in the district's best interest for the board to obtain legal advice in a confidential setting uh to maintain that attorney client privilege um so we're going to go down these all three of them and vote on them um the first item for the Clos session uh again pursuant to 13d .05 subdivision 3B um is we're seeking to approval to close the have a closed meeting to engage in discussions with the school board's legal council related to litigation in the case of Kajun at L versus ISD 19 194 it's court file number 22- cv- 02135 um and again it's to seek legal advice on responding to the lawsuit and alleged claims against the district um and at this time I would entertain a motion to approve the board going into a closed session following the adjournment of this meeting I make a motion all right it has been motion has been made by director Baker is there a second I'll second it all right director carbona second that any discussion on the topic there being no discussion I'll call it for a vote um and vote to approve going into a closed session um on item 81 after the adjournment of this meeting all in favor say I I all oppose same sign right the motion is approved uh moving to the second item close session pursuant to 13 d05 subdivision 3B once again to engage in discussion with the school board's legal councel uh this is related to litigation that is pending or threatened by a former student um once again we are seeking legal advice on responding to the charges and the alleged claims against the district um in the district seek in the District Attorney's analysis on the same um I would entertain a motion to approve going into a closed session on this following the adjournment of this meeting so moved all right director Cam Cameron has motion to approve that is there a second I'll make the second all right director baker has second it is there any discussion there being no discussion all in favor say I I all oppose same sign the motion is approved and the third and final one uh the board seeking a closed session pursuant to 13 d05 subdivision 3B once again to engage in discussions with the school board's legal council related to litigation that is pending or threatened by a former student um the board of directors is seeking legal advice on responding to the charges and the alleged claim against the district uh and consult with the district's attorney to seek analysis of the same and the district's options for resolving the the claims um I would entertain a motion to approve going to the closed session I'll make the motion all right the motion is made by um director Baker as there a second I'll second it all right and seconded by director Carbone any discussion there being no discussion all in favor say I I I I'll oppose same sign all right the motion is passed um we will be kicking everyone out of the room after adjournment in order to have that closed session um but I don't believe there's anything else on the agenda unless I'm missing something so I would entertain them motion to adjourn the meeting so moved all right director Cameron's motion to adjourn the meeting we're notjing we're moving into we adj after right that's what say we're we have to come back in here andj have to come back in and adjourn after we're done we're still like in session but we're in close session so we can't adj we might need to seek Le Council on that issue uh you would adjourn in to close session now but the meeting is still going so you're not adjourning the meeting you're adjourning in Clos session you'll come back andj the meeting after you're done with cl s very good make a motion to what he said so let's you've already voted so you can just move right into close session okay uh so if you guys want to come back otherwise I think we're going to kick you out so we can have the closed session here m oh yeah I suppose we don't need to approve a Jour then then back in the tech we also want to cut the video e for