##VIDEO ID:_suwQ7WpWzU## e is it on I've there it is e e e e e e e good evening and welcome to this special session of the Lakeville Area Schools Board of Education board members in attendance tonight include director Carbone director Cameron Cameron sorry I'm just looking director Swanson chair Baker director Anderson uh and director Nicholson uh the board is B joined by superintendent Michael Bowman members of the executive cabinet Bill homri Dr Emily McDonald Michelle Humphrey and Brenda albrech our meeting tonight is our organizational meeting uh so our agenda is just a little bit different than we're typically used to here uh have some prep work that we need to do as a board to kind of go through the roles and responsibilities of um the different officer positions that we have we have a calendar review to take care of some policy reviews and then I have another open item just some conversation related to how the meeting will flow for the rest of the uh remaining items on the agenda so we'll go ahead and start with um the discussion of the roles and responsibilities uh we did have some meeting prep work where we met in advance uh with the new board members and talked about those different roles director Anderson and I led that uh so this should be mostly review and just for attendance purposes so that everyone's aware director Thompson has now arrived he likes to make it an entrance all right so we'll start with the role of chair uh the chair is the uh the position that presides over all the meetings so uh you meet with the superintendent regularly um with the vice chair as well um when we have um emails or any type of communication the chair is one is the one that responds to that uh usually most communication goes through the chair so that uh to help the superintendent have some um flexibility with the communication because if all seven of us are emailing him all all at once it can be a little much for someone to take care of we want him to be running our district so usually most of the emails go through the chair and then the chair would tell the superintendent um what the direction is or what uh board members are interested in learning about um Vice chair obviously meets with the chair when um they're meeting with the superintendant the vice chair also uh runs a meeting if the chair is absent um and and also like I I feel like the vice chair is um is someone that really helps bring perspective to things um I'll just give my perspective real quick I've had two different chairs uh one of them was a longtime member of the board and one of them um wasn't as much but had some legal P legal background too uh both of them brought something different to that position uh I I I saw it as a partnership not like I'm chair and I'm making the decisions but more like hey this is a question that someone brought to the board how do you think we should handle this or this is how I see it what's your perspective on it just so that I had a more open uh viewpoint on on topics so you know your Vice chair should be someone that that you can bounce ideas off of um clerk is uh our person that signs all of our our documents uh the clerk also certifies the election um the clerk a lot of the duties of the clerk are if you look down later on our agenda are taken over by Kim ellson she she does some of those duties so we do um apply some of that to her uh Treasurer is the one that looks out for all the finance the treasurer currently sits with the um Finance advisory Council um and then you know they look over things they ask you know they work with B home grimal lot if that's needed um just some some of those things and then Finance the treasur is also the one if you look further down on the agenda we do provide some of those duties to to Bill hram instead of the treasure because obviously the treasure can't be her all the time um so that's kind of an overview of those positions um at this time like it would be we'll go through each one and we'll decide and we'll talk as a board like who wants to run for those positions um just so that the board knows you know who what to expect when we get to the election part um we'll start with chair and I just want to be very clear that I've enjoyed my time as chair um it was definitely some difficult times and and some some tough learning for me but I would love a break from this role and and I open that up to someone else who's willing to run I think it's important to keep the role of chair fresh with new leadership and fresh ideas um and rotated frequently so I don't see it as a sad thing I see it as passing that torch on to someone else uh to bring some fresh ideas to the board um so I will open the floor up for discussion right now on on people who are interested in running for chair please I would humbly be willing to take over for you if you're ready to step down thank you um I'll just say um you know I think having served in a couple different roles on this on this board it was nice to come into the board with not having a high level of responsibility that you see in a chair and vice chair and it's I think anyone on this board has the qualifications um just in terms of leadership background and you know I think everybody would certainly bring a different perspective and different lens I I would throw my hat in here just because I do have experience on the board and um have established relationships with the many of the people in the in the administration and the superintendent um but just would throw my head in there all right so we have two people that are interested in running for chair um how that will go when we get to that point for election of officers in the meeting uh someone will nominate you can nominate yourself if you want it really doesn't matter um and then we will have a roll call vote on the different members that are interested in running are there any other people that have thought about running for chair I want to be very clear that um I have a script for whoever is going to take over this meeting so um I I I don't intend to leave anyone without any type of a guide um and I will offer my service to this board in any way shape form to help anybody that are that are in these officer roles um to make that transition as smooth as possible for you and and that also helps our board out making sure that we're transitioning our members so just just to clear that up anybody else interested director Thompson uh I am not interested but I do want to say thank you for the past two years of your service on the board especially uh us navigating through the various scenarios uh and getting us to where we are today so thank you for that thanks I really appreciate that thank you all right so we'll go ahead and move on to Vice chair um like I said I I talked about this role quite a bit um I look at that person as as a member as a team member with with the chair um kind of helping provide some feedback um some perspective um on on decisions helping you know meeting with a superintendent um helping remember things because sometimes you know when we're talking in meetings it's it's hard to remember all the things that we've brought up in working sessions to make sure our agenda are correct so um that's kind of the role of a vice chair uh is anybody interested in that role um yes I would be interested in the vice chair all right do have director Carbone interested in that is anybody else I would also be am I live interested I pushed it it's green okay I'd also be interested in um Vice chair but I'd also like to say I um I appreciate both of you Matt and car really um uh volunteering to run for a chair and another option perhaps could also be to think about whoever is not chair um because um of the strong leadership with those two could could serve as Vice chair to the other so I want to throw that out there as well yep I like that anybody else interested in Vice chair okay uh the the next role is clerk like I said the clerk signs all the contracts um looks through those makees sure everything's are everything is correct and then also certifies the election um I do want to say like for any of the officer positions uh this was something that I did as chair but if the vice chair wasn't present I wanted to make sure I pulled in another officer so anytime I was meeting with the superintendent I pulled in another officer If the vice chair was wasn't present um just so that we always had two people um with meeting with the superintendent to have that voice of the board um I'll say I'm interested in clerk uh just for the reason of I work in a district and I'm very familiar with school district contracts uh I look them over all the time um I'm aware of them so it's something that I've uh been working on um as chair just thinking about different districts and uh the contracts that they have and and kind of comparing and contrasting what we do so that would be a position that I'm interested in but is anybody else interested in it yes no it's so exciting all right all right we'll move on to treasure um like I said right now our treasur sits on the finance Council um and then it kind of helps us understand uh the financial part when we have those presentations um it's Brian right now director Thompson and he does a great job coming up with questions and pointing out some of the details that we miss on those reports so would be nice if there's someone with a with a thirst for finance that would love to go through all of that data um anyone interested in that unless director Thompson still wants it I I won't step on his toes with that either do you want it he said no I would be interested in that role okay so we have director Nicholson that's interested in that anybody else is it weird to say you're interested in more than one I mean I I'm interested in that too um I served on the finance advisory committee on the facilities committee for a couple of years for the district so feel like I have a good handle on that um and uh yeah would like like to continue that work perfect perfect all right so we kind of have an idea of who is wanting what roles um just make sure when we get to the election of the officers that like I said you either nominate yourself if you're interested in that or someone else can nominate you doesn't really matter um and I did uh had been discussing with the um director Tom or Swanson he brought a question to mind about um the flow for that so typically when we have a meeting there's a motion and a second discussion and then we do a vote um for the election of the officers uh Robert's Rules says we don't need a second for that so if you nominate someone we don't need to wait for a second for that it just takes one nomination um we do have to ask three times for um if there's any other NES that's part of the process it it's weird I know but you have to do it um and then we will do roll call votes on that and Kim will help with that so um just to make sure that everyone's clear on the process there uh the next thing we have on our agenda we'll just keep going is the calendar review um if you had a chance to look over what we did is we went ahead and added in those board development sessions that we had discontinued in the previous year um the first year we did the board development and then once we kind of went through all of our staff development with that uh we discontinued those meetings with new board members coming on we decided to put those back in uh so we added in the board development sessions another thing that we will be adding is in case of inclement weather um we'll have the meeting the following day at the same time and place we do live in Minnesota so sometimes the snow prevents um us from attending um honestly I worry more about our executive cabinet that has a little bit further to travel than those of us that live in Lakeville so just making sure that we have some type of a a statement for incl inclement weather um just to keep everybody safe so um that kind of helps us you know just make sure we have that in the planning were there any questions about the calendar or um any any issues with that that board members saw no okay so just know that when we come down to that item um it says set board meeting schedule for that recommended action this is what we'll be voting on so just just so that everybody's clear on that um the other item or the next item that we have for review is the policy 209 which is our code of ethics uh this is something that we put on the docket to review every single year at this time um it just kind of goes over what's expected of a board member it's really important so it's one of those things that I I hope everyone took a chance to read before you got here um being a Schoolboard member is something that um I take very seriously I think it's it's um it's a something that you're called to and we are representing not only our community and our school district but all of our student population as well so it's just really important that we try to keep a a level of decorum at our meetings um that we are trying to make decisions that are in the best interest of all of our students and staff um that we're just trying to hold to the ethical principles that are outlined in this policy director Thompson um I know that you were talking about this policy in particular did you have were there concerns that you had about this one or things that you had wanted to update just for discussion since we're talking about it yeah so i p i I had a chance to review policy 209 I did take a look at the msba model version along with 10 other districts um I made some recommended changes and I've shared that with the broader group so I'll pause here if there's any questions associated with that so just to be clear like since this is a special session um it doesn't really count as our first reading like we'll have to bring this to a working session to discuss more um but because it was already on the agenda for tonight we can still discuss that policy so that's why he's bringing some changes um I didn't have any questions about the things that you brought did anybody else or have anything that they need to discuss or add with this policy questions concerns um I I guess I'm wondering if how much formal conversation we're having about this policy at this point like I I totally understand R viiew of the policy in terms of right these are very important for our new board members and our uh returning board members to be thoughtful about but I guess I wasn't planning to dive into edits at this point probably not edits but just I I was looking for more of a discussion I I think one of the um the things that I've struggled with on this policy is that um what do you do when someone's not following it or you know is not holding to the ethical behavior that we would appreciate for an office of um of the school board um that's something that I've struggled with as chair and and what what needs to be done um I'm hoping that this board can decide you know we're all adults we're all professionals and that we're going to hold to that ethical policy without someone um needing to call us out on that um so I guess I'm looking like we're reading it we're agreeing to it in public that this is what we're we want to have our ethics stand for did you yeah I was just going to say I do like the edits that were made especially to subsection c um I believe it's more in line with you know we are board members we're going to act as one and make decisions um but we still have our own voice too and we'll have our own opinions and that it's not going to get us in violation of our own policies so I do appreciate the edits right and we can voice those opinions and you can you can disagree with me outside of a board meeting and it'll be completely fine all right all right so we'll just keep moving on um since there's no further discussion on that uh policy at this point um it'll come up at another work session because we are going to review the 200 policy series um as a board uh the next policy that um we're just going to review momentarily would be policy 208 the reason that we're reviewing this tonight is kind of because it sets the stage for what we want to do as a board it's how we are going to um move forth and review policies and Implement policy for the district um one thing that that we struggled with as a as a pass board uh was making sure that we were reviewing the policies frequently enough and making those edits uh that msba had um recommended and we hadn't been keeping up with those as a district so um this is this is our purpose as a board is policy so I think it's important that we review this policy talk about it think about it um as especially as we're moving forward because we as a board need to determine right now we have a policy committee and the district also has a policy committee is that the best path moving forward is that how we want to handle things as a board or do we want to work more in conjunction with the district and attend the policy meetings together so just some thoughts um on that policy um director Thompson did you kind of want to talk through some of the things that you were looking at with that yeah uh I think the minor no not the the minor but the changes that I made again I bumped it up against the Minnesota Schoolboard Association model policy right and did look at 10 other District policies that are associated with this one um I think some of the decisions that the board will have to decide on is that do we want to give ourselves kind of a three-year Cadence of reviewing all policies or a uh four-year Cadence uh and then we're looking at other policies across the the state there are various um listings of policies that each district would review annually and so I think there's something there we'll have to kind of investigate more of which policies are required annually and which ones do we want to review annually in even though it may not be required um and so those are the two uh two the two big ones uh the other one that I would say is is another big one was the uh the scope of the responsibility of the superintendent uh when there is and and when there isn't such policy uh that exists and so I expanded on that uh copying quite a bit of maybe what um WIA put together for their superintendent policy and so I thought this would be a good opportunity to revamp those that's it nice anybody have any questions or comments on on this policy I just want to say um Brian I appreciate um the edas that you sent one question this is this isn't for Brian and um perhaps this is for the next work session but I'd be curious to learn um who does our district compare itself to in terms of our peers so I work at the University of Minnesota we have a set standard of peer institutions when we're looking at any policies or changes as an institution those are the ones that we look to so that we're compar comping against Apples to Apples as best we can um and and so I would think wetta for sure is one of those of ours but um that'd be um good to learn uh so we're not not comparing policies to like Cloquet we will have different um policies perhaps than they would it's it's definitely interesting like we go back to msba because they are the the standard that we set our policies against um but then each district kind of does things differently depending on if they want to combine some policies from msba if they want to have some of their own if they want to change those um the danger with straying too far from the msba uh legal policy that they have in place is that it does open things up um to some legal quandaries so anytime we do change anything it has to go through legal first so there are attorney fees associated with that so um it just kind of depends on on what we want to do as a board and and I thought it was a good thing to throw on the agenda just to get you thinking in that direction um this is something that we have all shared um some passion for to make sure that we have our policies in check and it's something that we want to make sure that doesn't slide back again that we keep on that um keeping the policies up policies updated with um the law too and statute D director Swanson do you have any information you're talking about um maybe working with the district office on policy implementation or creation what do they currently do separate from the board I guess um so the the district because a lot of our policies are out of date um the district has a has a policy committee that's working through the ones just to update them to statute um so that we're legally correct um because we're kind of doing different things the board was working primarily with the 200 series which is talks about what we do as a board um so ours was focused on the board ones the district one was focused on the district ones I think I foresee um once we have a chance to work through that being able to work together with the district one um I mean they already bring their policy to a working session and we have the opportunity to put our voice in there so it's not like we don't work with the district policy committee it's just that typically they meet during the day we're working during the day so we a lot of the board members don't have the opportunity to attend those so they still always come to the board working session does that answer your question sorry sorry go ahead we did just to update all the board members we did um the policy committee did fully review all the 200 series to make sure that the new board coming in all those 200 policy series are consistent with msba in terms of legal updates um so just as an FYI for that but with regard to one thing I was um kind of thinking on is in terms of the Cadence that you suggested is sometimes I think when we get to too specific in policy it can put us in a bad position so instead of having a Cadence of you know these um reviewing 800 700 600 these for this year then this then this I think maybe it would be um I don't want to say safer but um better for the board to decide at the outset of the year what the goal is for policy review and that way we don't have to put it in policy specifically but have a plan for kind of what what we're doing that would be my recommendation just because if something significant happens that takes a lot of our time and attention um like budget cuts or boundary changes or things like that we don't have as much time to review policy so it's it should definitely be on our docket but I think we should be careful about how specific we are in policy director Thompson yeah uh I'd be okay with that so that you're we're not aligned to saying that we have to do these at this time maybe it' be onethird is done by the end of the year or 25% or something of that nature uh for additional Clarity I did look at 11 different different districts uh from what I was initially reviewing uh a couple from our neighboring districts Prior Lake Hastings Farmington a couple of them that were further outside our district that are much larger like AIO Anoka henen um and then I looked at some others that were kind of um I don't want to call them outliers but um unique ones like Princeton or in Forest Lake and Idina wetta Eden Prairie and so in so you've got a good mixture of of districts around not just in the suburbs but across the state now I didn't I didn't pick anyone from like duth or wherever in that area so right sure yep Madam chair may I just offer a couple things um super important discussion obviously uh and policy is the domain of of the board uh School Board uh to maybe elaborate a little bit more on director Swanson's question um there's an obligatory requirement that Administration has to follow through with with regards to um anything to do with policy uh the word that I have not heard used is liability yeah so we have to be uh a little more um sensitive to that uh not overly sensitive but sensitive to that and with regard to Cadence it's a it's a matter of prioritize and execute in order to stay in in uh the proper rhythm of review and we are doing that but there's another driver and that's our legislature which is about to start to seed again and when the legislature passes laws and makes changes that can interdict any particular Cadence you may have because you have to go back and refine that and that might dictate more so what that policy uh and addressing a particular policy might need to be for example cell phones we know there's a deadline on that for March um that's just a an example so uh staff here within Administration has to make sure that we are partnering with you and keeping all of those things in line and you should expect that from us so I just want to share all that perfect any further discussion on this tonight okay we'll move on to the last um item that we have before our oath of office um which just an open conversation related to remaining agenda items I'm just going to use this time to kind of explain what the rest of the agenda looks like um once we do elections and we get down to recommended actions there are a few things there that we have to vote on one of those is our board meeting schedule that we've already discussed our compensation and mileage for board members um the one where we pick our newspaper there is only one in the area so that's why that one's listed um the one where we designate our legal council um and then the other one when we get to e those items that are listed under e we're going to approve those all together so it's kind of like a consent agenda so under that one that's where we have some of the authorization things that I was discussing earlier where Kelson takes over some of our clerk roles where Bill holam takes over some of the treasurer roles where we give authority to the superintendent for specific things too um we just intend to um well and we name our bank and all of that too we just intend to um approve those in one uh consent instead of going through each of those items individually um and then we are adjourned for the night um so before we get to that oath of office were there any of those items that you had specific questions on now would be a good time to to ask those um and we can we can kind of discuss any of those before we get to that point director Swanson um I have a question regarding the Investments and what we're doing with our funds just on hand um is the district office I mean are they satisfied with where the funds are now or have any other suggestions or recommendations as to where they'd like to move them it says Wells Fargo we are happy where the funds are we have two you know we have the money that we have any excess money we have any time we M places doesn't okay is there is there a process can I ask um through which you just analyze that on an annual basis to see how it compares to other offerings we we meet once a month what kind of Investments terms com back if I if I may uh so Ellers is our financial advisor uh who does uh does that comparative analysis and uh we can share that with any board member or the board uh if if that's helpful sure yeah any other questions on director Thompson yeah I think I'm okay with with the recommendation but I think it may be prudent of us just to learn more at a following working session I think the question is more of we we we as an organization will be spending over a billion dollars in uh taxpayer funded uh for Education over the next four years and so I'm assuming that some of that compensation uh will be used uh may not be used right away and and so are we investing that in the right places how what is the rate of return uh are there things that that we can uh you know consider in regards to what to do with those funding nothing to be discussed now but I think that that is that's the open-ended question like we're bringing in all this Revenue do we spend it right away where we've got you know a couple thousand dollars in the bank or are we investing it and if so what are we doing with that investment money uh what are we doing with that with those returns and then how do we know that we've we were we're we're hitting our investment Target versus we're just investing it if that makes sense okay director Nicholson um superintendent Balman you mentioned Ellers is the financial adviser um they're just not listed on here it looks like or are they within one of these groups oh it just says Fidelity Investments Investments uh I think are listed as Fidelity the financial advisor I don't think is on here um they're they're not in they're not our investor they do our analysis and our support okay yep any other questions on those items no all right so we'll go on to what everyone is waiting for which is the Ser ceremonial oath of office superintendent Balman turn it on not on yet all right my command voice there it go oh there it is there we okay we'll start with uh obviously we we want to do a ceremonial oath um and that's for four members that are coming on new to the board um and I just want to start off by saying thank you to each each board member uh for taking on what I consider to be a tremendous responsibility and that is the responsibility of guiding the education of our community's children no small deal big deal your responsibilities are solemn and they Encompass the vision structure accountability and support for education for Lakeville area schools as we move forward and we are moving forward on behalf of the administration of Lake V area schools we welcome this new day and we are committed to working with you toward fulfilling our education Vision across this community I will now administer the oath of office and I would ask our four members if you could come up forward here in front of me on the on the ground uh Brett I don't know I don't want to be in the picture well you may move out of the picture uh if you would just stand a little bit back because we're going to do this very ceremonially how about centered on me there we go thank you all right if you will raise your right hand and repeat after me I State your full name swear or affirm swear or affirm that I will support the Constitutions of the United States and of the state of Minnesota support United States and that I will discharge Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Schoolboard member of ISD 94d to the best of my judgment and ability to the best of my judgment and ability congratulations if family members want to come forward and take I went the wrong way my own thank you so much app yep each family came up yep EXC you [Music] need step can we ask for win return good wa a yes you can please do it's a good deal everybody get the pictures thank you I love that picture with your family it was super cute so cute so cute all right as we move into our election of officers uh we will have a brief recess after the election of chair to help us transition leadership uh for our new board members if you could please share your uh pictures that you took tonight with Kim Elson so that we can get that out with Communications that would be really helpful uh we like to celebrate all of our new members so uh make sure that you do that all right so we will start with the election of chair I feel like we need a drum roll um do we have any nominations for the election of chair director Thompson I nominate Matt Swanson for chair right we have a nomination for Matt Swanson are there any other um nominations I nominate um Carly Anderson okay we have a nomination for Carly Anderson by director Cameron sorry I didn't say who nominated before Kim that was director Thompson are there any other nominations are there any other nominations for the office of chair and finally are there any other nominations for the office of chair okay hearing none we'll put it to a roll call vote Kim can you uh call out everyone's name Carly Anderson I'll vote for myself Kim thank you Brian Thompson Matt Swanson wrong [Laughter] name uh Matt Swanson Amber camon uh Carly Anderson PA car Matt Swanson mat Swanson I will vote for myself Kim Baker guess I'll vote for Matt Swanson there so the vote goes uh we have five votes for Matt Swanson and two for Carly Anderson uh so the the new chair will be Matt Swanson as I said the board will take a short recess of five minutes to give us a chance to transition leadership congratulations director [Applause] Swanson chair I think we're going to do that yeah I'm not e e e e e e e e e so Kim we actually have a we actually have a g for the chair there's a g how about a drumstick would that work all right we're going to reconvene because the camera is back on and we're Rand uh I appreciate the vote of confidence from all my fellow directors and uh yeah I will do my best to ensure that I encourage discussion on every topic and hear everyone's opinion whether or not we agree with each other that's totally fine um but definitely respect each other's voice so with that we will move on to the next election which is the election of the vice [Music] chair uh so you will have to consider that you'll probably be working quite a bit with me um so are there any nominations I'll open the board for nominations for vice chair I'd like to make a nomination um going back to um our discussion earlier I am um thankful for you for stepping in this role thank you Matt um I do think as a district it's important that um the vice and or the vice chair and the chair can bring different levels of um years of experience on the board and so for that reason I want to nominate Karly Anderson for vice chair I know you didn't mention you wanted to be a vice chair but um I think having that continuity in those meetings is incredibly helpful I think it would be um irresponsible of us not to kind of capitalize on experience um having a new board member elected in the chair role I think is incredible and then having um an experienced board member to support that person um would be incredibly helpful so I nominate Carly so if Carly Anderson nominated do we have any other nominations um Matt just a point of order what we nominated earlier still stands right uh it does not so that was just throwing your hat in to let people know you were interested so we're looking for fresh nominations okay uh director Thompson I'll nominate Paul Carbone all right are there any other nominations going a second time any other nominations one final ask any other nominations before we vote can I ask since you had um wanted to roll run for chair like are are you okay with a nomination like you accept the nomination of Vice chair I yes I accept the nomination and I just I will say I just I think um just in addition to Amber's comments which I appreciate very much I do think just different perspectives different you know I I think that benefits the district so yes I do accept that nomination thank you all right if there are no other nominations for vice chair the nominations are closed and we'll move for a roll call vote Madam clerk will you call Matt Swanson uh director Carbone Brian Thompson Paul Carbone Paul Carbone Anderson I'll vote for myself uh Paul Carbone Amber Cameron uh Carley Anderson Carly Anderson all right I believe that Paul Carbone has taken the nomin or taken the nomination in the position as Vice chair congratulations Mr Carbone congratulations I assume we don't do we not switch seats for this you stay over there no you don't have to we'll keep Paul over there about that all Paul's in the corner switch later all right we'll move on to the next position which is the election of the clerk um I will take nominations for the clerk position uh director Nicholson i' nominate Kim Baker are there any other nominations nobody wants it any other nominations the third and final time any other nominations if there no other nominations I would ask that the minutes reflect just unanimous consent that Kim Baker is now the new clerk congratulations thank you all right and the final position the election of the treasurer um I will open the floor for nominations for treasurer I will nominate Amber Cameron Amber Cameron is nominated any other nominations director Thompson I'll nominate Brett Nicholson right Brett Nicholson is nominated any other nominations any other nominations and the final time any other nominations as there are no other nominations we will close the nominations and call for a roll call vote Baker Brett Nicholson ceron I'll vote Brett Nicholson Brett Nicholson Brett Nicholson I vote for myself car Anderson Amber Cameron Brian Thompson br Nicholson uh Brett Nicholson right with that Brett Nicholson is elected as the chair congratulations Brett chair or sorry yeah as a Treasurer you can take it if you want but all right uh now that that's out of the way we'll move on to some actual business under paragraph five on the agenda the recommended actions am my understanding we going to treat these all as um a consent agenda essentially where we vote not these ones all right it's when you get down to e okay so 5A um setting the board meeting schedule uh do we have a motion to approve the schedule as currently set I'll make the motion do we have a second second seconded any discussion on the motion I just have one point to add to this um for the board members that attend the 9917 meetings uh sometimes we have to adjust that schedule um so just to be mindful that um sometimes we might have to adjust the time of the meetings or um or at least allow for a board member to be late and then also there are a few times when there's an election election day where we have to adjust time so it's important to um just for the Public's awareness and also board members awareness to check the times on those because sometimes we'll meet at 4: or 4:30 instead of the usual like six or seven just based on um townships that are having elections or other things that come in with uh to conflict with the board schedule and am I correct that we typically post any changes by Friday prior to the meeting okay so they'd be made public online s has notice okay uh any further discussion if there's no further discussion I'd call the matter for a vote um all favor and accepting the board calendar say I I I I'll oppose same sign right the motion carries uh next is to set compensation mileage for board members for 2025 uh our current annual compensation is $6,750 uh and an additional $600 annually for the board share I did not know that um we follow the federal guidelines for mileage which is 70 cents per mile for 2025 um and I would accept a motion to approve the board compensation and mileage as it's currently set so moved do we have a second I'll second second any further discussion on the topic I'm pretty sure director Thompson had something to say about this just because he had something to say about it before nope I'm good all right all right uh all in favor of approving the board compensation in my for this year I I I I all right all those oppos same sign right the motion carries all right uh 5c uh next we'll consider the designation of the official School District publication as Sun this week for 2025 um I don't believe we have any other options so I will uh accept a motion to approve Sun this week as our official publication I'll make the motion you have a second second all right uh any discussion on the topic D I've got one question um I have heard that the sun this week has moved into a prescription or subscription model or something and so does um is there a clause or some kind of rule where anything that the school district shares to them that has to be public that's not blocked by anyone or it's not blocked by their organization and so are there instances where we send stuff and they could potentially block it do we know let me rephrase that not block it but require someone have to have a paid membership to actually access it other districts run into that same thing with like the Star Tribune is the most closest one for some of the other districts and they have subscription based too um so I think it would meet the same standards for uh this newspaper being subscription based although they do have some free content yeah I'm assuming the requirement is that it just be published publicly not that people be able to access it free but uh I could be wrong Dr Nicholson does it have to always be a physical paper is there an online option or is there anything even well it is public I I do Wonder um and I don't know they you can access a lot can you still access articles I mean I think you can still access it online so that might be something we can talk with them about in terms of making sure that when we submit something that is published online and available and again so so I'm not opposed uh but it is something that I think I'd like for us to just uh research briefly just to make sure that we're aligned with what the what the community has access to when we send things out in that direction um I don't like you said there isn't another uh entity that M probably fits this needs so um but something to explore that's all yeah I mean my guess is it's it's statutorily required um but if the legislature ever comes into times and changes things that would be ideal if we didn't have to pay for it so or if the public adding to that I think um there's so many other vehicles at the district right supplies in terms of communication and so I think um director Swanson to your point um this is required by law to have a paper but it's not our only means of um communication to the public well and we have the um public engagement committee that we need to get rear in here get going on it but um something we could explore in that is what are the different avenues for advertising things related to what's going on in the school district so not just like chamber and rotary but other you know organizations where maybe we can try to better disseminate information yeah maybe we can reach out to the city of Lakeville and they may post stuff for us too so but here all right thank you can you repeat or who was the second on that I heard Kim's voice I yeah we'll go with director Nicholson on that one all right uh any other discussion on this Motion in that case we'll call it for a vote all those in favor say I I I all those oppos same sign all right the motion carries uh 5D consideration of the designation of the district legal Council um we currently have several firms Squire walls walberer and mace rat Wick RAC and Maloney and Kennedy and Graven um I would entertain a motion to approve those same firms for 2025 so oh you get it so moved all right director Cameron is there a second I will second it's been seconded by um director Anderson any discussion on the topic director Thompson can you provide additional information or some can someone explain why we there are three uh from what I recall last year I think there are some that are specific to maybe special education and others that are not but if someone might be able to explain that'd be helpful we currently have um some uh law firms that are representing the school district in open litigation um so we wouldn't want to terminate our agreements with that law firm um and then some law firms specialize in certain areas um that others don't like special education um that's why we have the three different law firms can I ask one more question just in case you know um just because we approved these law firms now doesn't mean we're not bound by using just these three at a later date correct correct all right okay thank you thank you any other discussion if there's no further discussion I would call for a vote to approve the three law firms of Squires walberer and mace ratwik rosnick and Maloney and Kennedy and Graven as Council for the district for 2025 all those in favor say I I I all those oppose same sign all right uh the motion carries now 5e uh as I said before prematurely I believe we are treating these as consent agenda items I know for us new board members uh we got into this discussion a little bit earlier we just we don't know some of the background on uh the different topics here um but in any event we are required to approve these so or vote on them so 5 E1 or subal one uh designated designation of official depositories for school district funds and Investments uh the recommendation is that the financial institutions as specified be designated as official depositories of the district for 2025 per statute 123b .14 subdivision 4 and those are Wells Fargo bank and brokerage Services fideli Investments US bank system PMA Financial Network Inc and the Minnesota school district liquid asset fund 5e subneural 2 is to authorize the Executive Director of Business to use fasim signatures for checks and use of last year's plate um 5 e subn noral 3 is authorized a superintendent or executive director of business to make short-term Investments and to perform the duties of the clerk and Treasurer 5 E4 authorizes superintendent and Executive Director of Business to lease purchase and contract for goods and services within General budget categories and 55 is to authorize a superintendent or Executive Director of Business to utilize wire transfers or of Investments and payments um are there any I would uh entertain a motion to approve all five of those items so moved all right moved by director Anderson is there a second second seconded by uh director Cameron is there any discussion on these items I would just say I just have a question is there a any sort of process in terms of the Contracting for goods and services like do we have a vendor approv process do we go through an RFP process what is the way in which we go about some of the larger contracts that the district does have and are we going to superintendent Balman junina yeah board authority there are thresholds on at Dollar figures for uh board direct approval and we actually uh do some of those below that threshold uh the there is a a obligatory and regulated process for requests for proposals and proposals that we follow um and be happy to lay all that out for you in excruciating detail um but yes we are regulated and governed and we do follow that and we are audited on that matter any other questions or discussion on the motion as I noted I mean similar with the other other issues I mean some of these things we just don't know yet as new board members um but if there's no further oh D No I um again I think the intent here is to authorize the school district and the superintendent and folks within his team to carry on the ongoing operations of the uh School uh business and so uh for additional items one through four or five uh if additional questions around the process and to learn more about that I I suggest that we should uh bring that up as an agenda Topic in a future working session uh just so that we can obtain additional Clarity but also uh if there are process changes we like to make we can entertain them then and then we can always come back and revisit this and and uh put additional parameters or guard rails where where needed all right uh if there's no further discussion on that I would bring the motion for for a vote all in favor to approve say hi hi hi all against the motion carries uh before we adjourn I did want to just discuss a little bit of uh kind of our road map moving forward on future meetings and just get some thoughts from the other uh board members to I know as a newer board member there are a lot of questions um that we still have you know for the public they don't know we've been getting a little bit a crash course leading up to today um and yeah the operation of the school district is a lot larger than I think people on the outside know it is and so there's a lot of questions that we have um or that I still have um before I think we can really make decisions um and I think for us as a school board I guess my my goal would be to you know set some goals for the the district pretty early on here especially as it relates to um student outcomes which I think is you know one of everyone's top priority it should be our board's top priority um so I anticipate you know us needing to have meetings with the uh teaching and learning directors and get some additional information from them so we fully understand what is going on what's available what assessments are being reviewed right now um so we can properly set our goals and the benchmarks moving forward for assessments um and then after that you know probably a close second is is speaking again with Mr hren a little bit bit more in depth and I know we've talked about this already uh just getting a better um picture of where all the money comes from that funds of school district what it's used for what it can't be used for um yeah once again getting a better knowledge as to that um as far as agenda items um if any of the board members have topics that they want to put on the agenda throughout the week um I would expect that you can email Paul or myself and we can discuss it and uh create an ongoing list of here our agenda topics that we want to get to at some point in time when it makes sense so any other topics for agenda that people would like to discuss director Thompson I I believe I think last year we were talking about committees and stuff of that nature and and it wasn't on the agenda for this year but that is something that that I believe in the working session for next week okay so we'll get an overview of all the various committees um which ones are required which ones are things that we have done but also uh making sure that we understand the value add of those committees and time commitment and then uh that that would be a big one U but yes thank you uh that did just remind me of something um any thoughts on treating the working session just as normal board meetings I mean I think if we're here um we're discussing things I think we conduct business if everyone's comfortable with that so one of the um one of the issues I have with uh having the working sessions a little less formal um is just accessibility for our community and for others um who may have hearing issues uh the microphones that we use when we're sitting around are hard to hear um it's hard to pick up softer voices uh to replace those microphones it's thousands of dollars uh that I don't feel like the district needs to spend when we have Micro phones at this table um that can pick up everyone's voices and then provides accessibility for um not only our board members but people that are trying to listen and follow along online um that also goes with the visual component of that um making sure that we have the um the video component when we are up here I think that just provides again accessibility which has always been one of my main concerns with that um there are ways for uh individuals that are hearing impaired uh to lip read or to plug in that to like YouTube and get uh a script for that as well um that just helps for accessibility reasons so that that's one of the reasons that um that I feel like it's important to to at least have us at this table having the discussion um and and obviously just making sure that everybody has access to the information Dr Cameron um I appreciate that um Kim a lot um I think the only thing I want to oppose is having attended a lot of work sessions I appreciate the kind of collaborative feel like this is very formal right and and I'm not a formal person so that's part of my um my persona but I also appreciate in a work session having all of the directors um from across the district sitting around the table like you've often had um Kim because often questions are to them about how does this work or how does that work and so I think this Dynamic is awkward um to be honest to have those those authentic convers ations so I appreciate I don't want to spend a lot of money on it and I'm not an IT expert that's for sure um but um I would like to I'd be interested in exploring how do we how do we facilitate deep um conversation um in an authentic way while still maintaining the accessibility um options for people wanting to tune in so that's my opinion I I had a very similar thought I but I almost wonder and I it would be very helpful for you guys to have input I think if we stayed up here we should somehow make sure that people are in front like make more of a circular pattern um because this is not yeah this is not conducive like having directors on other sides is not conducive to collaborative discussion which I agree is much more part of the work sessions and it just feels more um like being able to have conversation as opposed to the formality of this but so if we did do that I think we would want to make sure we can see everybody sure Dr Thompson yeah I'm in favor of having conversations up here on the board I mean we are uh in in a governance capacity um like Kim said I think having them recorded having them uh um the speakers are much easier to hear and then also from an accessibility point of view uh but you are right uh it if they were maybe sitting on that side if they were two tables but moving forward I think having a forum like this I get it it does feel more formal because but for me May not as much cuz I've been doing it for two years so it's kind of like I've got candy back here but that's a separate issue but it it's uh it can it doesn't have to be formal when we have these kind of conversations but it makes it easier so that uh you know we've got the microphones on we're following you know parliamentary procedures of who's going and we don't overp speak from each other and stuff of that nature so I am in favor of this director Baker just to make one more point on that too um in the in the past we've come into some issues when we've made decisions at a working session because it's less formal and we didn't have a formal vote on it then we had to turn around and do it again at um a formal meeting uh after the board had already made a decision and then there's the opportunity that we could flip the decision it just it puts things in this gray area um on how we are doing those decisions because we are anytime the board is in capacity and we're meeting it's a it's a formal meeting whether we call it a formal meeting or not so any decisions that are made around that table um that's that's the board's voice and that's the board's will and whether we're doing a formal Vote or whether we're just deciding based on the majority it it puts us in this quandry especially for the issues where we are supposed to have a formal vote because yes we had the meeting and the board was there and so technically by law it's a formal meeting um but we didn't do the vote up up here so then it doesn't it's almost like it does count but it doesn't count um I I just don't like the um the gray area of it like I I like the cleanness making sure that you know legally we're doing what needs to be done um and and so that there's no additional like liability with well you you said this this night and then the next night when you voted at this meeting you didn't do that so I I don't know just as cherot put me in some in some situations that I thought um we didn't need to be in if we were making sure that we followed the process of at least Robert's Rules when we were doing these meetings um and that we were treating them as a regular meeting just because we were still making decisions yeah yeah I can definitely appreciate that um and you are right I mean anytime we're meeting where there's a quorum of us it's a meeting right um so if there are decisions to be made which could be beneficial if we need to make a decision on a date that would typically be reserved for a working session um yeah I don't know how we could make them any more informal um yeah I maybe I just don't call on people and people just out I know this is a formal thing I mean just I mean this is very different than how work sessions have been done for the last 15 20 years so it's it's just and not to say we can't change it but um and I'm fine changing it but that's what I mean this is just a different environment than sitting out there at a table yeah that's all may I I'll just address this a little bit so to the point of of the of the microphones and the pickup yes that is an issue uh we could solve that um but I came to District in 2013 and the way when we started going down here that was a change just to be clear about the timing of all that so um and we were we were in a very different environment over at the Little Shack that we called the headquarters um that and it was appropriate for the size of our district at the time it's not a pejorative statement um and it was it was a much smaller room uh that we operated out of and then we moved to City Hall some some of you may remember that if you were uh heavy television Watchers of board meetings for Lakeville area schools at the time but we were in the in the city Chambers and we did many many meetings in there which is a little bit more like this configuration so we've probably done it all twice just to share sure yeah well I appreciate discussion so one my last my last comment is that yeah you just to restate you are right every meeting that we have when there's more than four board members it is a it's a meeting uh and if it happens to be on a Thursday or if it's not on a regular Cadence day then it's considered like a special meeting or an off Cadence meeting but generally if we meet on Tuesdays they are regular meetings we have historically called them working sessions because we talk about Topics in a kind of more of a deliberative fashion but still within the confines of a regular board meeting and so what I would suggest that if there was a an agenda template or agenda format that we could use for every meeting and then part of a section in it could be topics where we need to have more of a working session SE part in it I'm fine with that and as long as we keep consistent then you know things are going to e and flow we're not going to have as many report outs but that gives us a flexibility where if the financial components are ready to be approved earlier than expected why can't we talk about that and just get it done instead of having it you know the Third you know Tuesday of every month or so forth uh if there's a finan if a if there's an HR discussion that needs to be made we don't need to wait 30 days to approve something and so I think there will be some efficiencies in a structured agenda template uh accessibility benefits for having it at the board table uh and then I'll look to the administration on how to solve where the administration sits when we have these kind of discussions just for clarity other districts um to to combat this issue so they still have their working session where it's a a little um less formal and then they have the opportunity where they leave the bottom part of the agenda and they move into a regular meeting and then they come up to the table and they they make those formal decisions so they have that option within like a working session still format where they move into that um so then again that would leave that gray area out of it um but I do agree like I I would be curious to see what some of the um accessibility uh options would be to to make that so people can hear a little bit better um and one of the just to add in one of the things for City Hall that was also nice was that they had a microphone on the side of the um the stand for people that are in wheelchairs so that they could still speak and and not have to worry about having the microphone up high too so I mean those are just thoughts that I think of um making things more accessible for everyone in our community we could probably squeeze a bunch of people up here this is true I mean there's probably Dr McDonald you can sit by me get nice and cozy mhm thank you that's true any other discussion on that if there is none I would entertain a motion to adjourn nobody wants to leave motion I will move to adjourn that motion to ajour I'll second it all right seconded by director Carbone all those in favor say I hi and we are done thank you everyone e for