stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Um, we need a motion to approve the agenda. >> All right.
Second, >> John. Any discussion or questions on that? Those in favor say I. >> Those oppos. All right. Looks like there's no public
comment tonight. 5.0 consent agenda. I'll need a motion. Is that you, Ben? >> Accept. Okay. A second. >> I'll second that. Okay. Is there any discussion or
questions on that consent agenda? If not, those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, nay. >> Okay. Communications report 6.1 is Mr. John Archer. Yeah, you're up. >> Perfect. Right up front. >> Yeah, you're up. >> Thank you. Uh, well, maybe I'll start by
introducing myself. So, my name is John Archer. I'm a partner at Shelon Winering Company. Um, worked on your audit in the past, took a little break from it, and then u the regular partner that you work with, Molly Thompson, is retiring. So, stepping back into working with you
again. So, happy to be working on your audit again. Um, I have some history from uh probably five, six years ago, seven years ago when I worked on it before. So, it wasn't too hard to jump back into it. Normally, you'd be talking to Ashley Mocker tonight, and you will likely continue to be talking with
Ashley Mocker at your meetings, but she had a conflict tonight. So, uh, so you're all stuck with me tonight, I guess. So, what we're going to do is we're going to walk through your audit results, and we've got a summary that you all have. We'll walk through the summary. If you have questions, you can feel free to interrupt me as I go. Um,
otherwise if you want to wait till the end, that's fine, too. And if you want to take a deeper dive, then we can do that, too. But we'll kind of keep it high level for now. Sound good? >> All right. So, we're going to start out by talking about the audit opinion itself. Because if you think about an
audit and what we do, what you're actually hiring us to do is give our opinion on whether we think your financial statements are correct or not. And so, that's what we're doing here. We're saying based on the procedure we performed, whether it's asking a lot of questions. Um doing some things
analytically. So looking at your numbers compared to what we'd expect with the budget, what we'd expect with last year. Um what we'd expect compared to other similar size schools or doing detailed testing. So things like looking at your bank statements, your invoices, your
remittances that you receive from the from the state of Minnesota. We do all that to try to prove out your numbers. And so at the end of all this, all the procedures we performed, what we're doing is we're expressing an unmodified opinion which just call similar to what you think of like a clean opinion. So that's us saying based on our
procedures, we think your numbers look good. Right? So if we jump to the next page, this next page is actually not so much about the numbers of the district. It's more about how the audit itself went. And so this page is our opportunity to report
to you all as school board if we had trouble during the audit. And if you look at this page, there's not much on here. That's because we really had no difficulties performing the audit. So things came to us quickly. Um your your staff were quick to respond to our
questions. Um things were accurate when they were sent to us. We had no red flags and there were no unusual transactions when we were going through the audit. Everything looked really good from what was presented to us. One thing I want to highlight on this page though is the very bottom. So, there's a
statement that says that we adopted a new standard, Gazsby 101 compensated absences. And that's not Gazsby 101 as in this is like the entry level college class for government accounting standards board. It's just standard number 101. So, what it does is it
changes tweaks how you account for paid time off, paid leave, sick leave, all of your compensated absences. So under the old model, what you would do for the school is you would acrew those if they were going to get paid out.
Under the new model, you might have benefits that are are acred or in someone's bank, but maybe wouldn't ever necessarily get paid out if they left. We have to include all of those liabilities in our calculation now. So
it increases the liability. The other thing that we have to do now is calculate out what the taxes would be on those if they were to be used and what the PAR and TRA contributions would be on those if they be used. So, increases your liability this year. It just changes the way your compensated
absences are accounted for. So, something I want to highlight really quick. Looking at internal control related items next. So, three things that we're reporting this year and these are the same three that we've reported for uh a number of years. And so, the first is
related to audit adjustments. So, we did propose some adjustments. Nothing that's unusual for your district and nothing that's different than what we proposed in the past. Um, segregation of duties is the next that we're reporting. So, that's saying that because you have limited staff in your accounting
function, things aren't separated out like they would be in a perfect world. And so, that's something we have to highlight. And then the last is that we prepare your financial statements for you. So, in the world of school district auditing, I've heard this referred to as the big three before um because it's so
common. So, um very common for a district your size, common for a district much larger than yours, too. One of the things that we look at when we're performing the audit is compliance with Minnesota statutes. So the state auditor actually has a hit list of
different things that they want us to check for ranging from things like whether you have enough collateral pledged on your bank account, so dollars over FDIC limit. We look at things like conflicts of interest, whether you're spending your dollars the way you should be for a public purpose. Uh we look at
contracting and bidding and a number of other things. So we're happy to say this year that we had no findings with that. So based on the procedures we performed, no Minnesota legal compliance findings. So, we're going to look at the numbers coming up here next, but before we do, I'd like to take a second to look at
your enrollment because so many of the dollars that you receive, especially general education aid, are dependent on how many students you're serving. And if you look at the last three years, you're really pretty quite quite level in your enrollment. There's been a little bit of fluctuation between 2024 2025 in the
grade levels, but in total, uh, enrollment is actually identical. 743 EDM for years. And if we look at the next page here, we're looking at the general fund and the format we're going to follow is we're going to look at things really
broadly and then we'll hone in into some detail from there. So looking at it really broadly first. You had a good year in the general fund. So your fund balance increased $514,000. You had budgeted 210,000 and your 2024
increase was 183,000. So, uh nice increase compared to those both of those years. Uh you'll see on that page that both your your revenues higher than last year and higher than the budget expenditures are maybe slightly higher than last year but lower than budget. Um
and then there's the line for other sources and uses where you have a negative $89,000. That's almost entirely a transfer from the general fund or community service fund. Looking at revenue next in a little bit more detail. Here we're looking at your
revenue broken up by broad funding source. And your school is like most where the majority of your revenues are coming in with state source funds. And so if you were to drill down on that section in particular a little bit further, what you'd find is that um
well, if you look at it really quick, you'll see state source funds came at $9.7 million. uh budget was $9.52 million. And looking at the detail further, you'd see general education aid was higher by about $127,000.
Special education was higher by about 163,000. Other areas that maybe I want to point out quick, uh property tax levy, that's increased. Um it's up from your budget and from last year uh just due to an increase in your levy dollars received.
And then federal source funds, you'll see that decrease from last year and a decrease from your budget. Most of that's related to the drop off of your ES funding. So that that's essentially over at this point. If we look at the spending in your
general fund next, you'll notice if you look at the first six or so columns um from admin all the way over to instructional support services, all of these numbers are really very close between your budget and your actual activity and your budget and last year's
activity. So, you've done a really good job of staying within your budget in these categories. People support services is next. Um, you'll see that's increased from last year um by about 112 thou or $112,000
almost entirely related to transportation costs. That's what's driving that increase. If you look at site and building the next column over, you'll see that there's less activity in 25 versus 24. Um that's because of the flood remediation costs that you had in
the prior year. And other area that I maybe want to highlight quick is capital outlay. So capital outlay you had 227 almost $228,000 of capital outlay included in that line. You had bought some iPads, some techn technology
equipment, um but also a walking path and some other outdoor improvements. Some of those are funded actually by those dollars. Looking at the cap balance in the general fund, you'll see there's been an increase over the last three years in cash. But also, you'll notice on this
page that there is a decrease in 2021 and 2022. Those are intentional spendowns that you had made. So, we're going to ignore that for a second. But your cash balances increase over the last three years. This year's increase, uh there's no numbers on this page, so I'll tell you what the numbers are. So
this year's cash balance in the general fund is $3.7 million. Last year was $3.25 million. So you're up about $450,000 in the general fund this year. And looking at your fund balance next, this this graph looks actually really
similar to your cash balance. So your fund balance this and this what we're looking at here is your unassigned fund balance. So the dollars that are available just for your discretionary spending. Um compared to your annual budget. So, as a percentage of your
budget, you have a fund balance policy on what you want that target to be or the minimum to be, which is 20%. This year, your fund balance as a percentage of your budget was 23.6%. So, you're higher than that. And um you'll see it increase from 24 to 25 as well,
went from 21.3 to 23.6 most almost entirely because of your increase in fund balance this year, but that was offset a little bit by your expenses being a little higher this year too. There's a lot going on on this page. Um, so we're not going to get too far into
the weeds here, but what we're looking at is your your total fund balance broken up into broad categories. So, what we're looking at is unassigned fund balance, which is what we just looked at on the page before, and then fund balances with a number of restrictions.
So, $2.8 million in your unassigned fund balance, 812 in total, restricted for various categories. Your restricted fund balance increased this year by about $225,000. Um, that's partly due to ESSER funding.
And so you have received ESRE funding and it's better to use those dollars while you can rather than using them for restrict restricted funds. So if you think of the hierarchy on when you want to spend your dollars, you want to use it in the funding that's going to go
away first. Then you want to use it in restricted to use that up and then unassigned is the the catchall. That's that's the last resort. So that that's really what's driven up those restricted funds. When you're talking about this fun >> Yeah,
>> the fun balance. I don't hear you pronouncing the D as much. So, it sounds like fun balance, but when you explained it, it's a lot less fun. >> I know it's important. >> I I'll emphasize the D. >> Okay. I just want to make sure >> the unassigned fund. >> Yeah, there you go.
>> Fund balance is kind of like >> because at first I was like, this sounds great. >> The unassigned fund balance kind. It is kind of like the fund balance. >> Sorry. Sorry. I dig >> I like that. >> Um remaining governmental funds. So what
we're looking at on this page is the debt service fund and the building construction fund. Um debt service. There's not a lot to say on that fund because when you issue your debt, it's all pre-prescribed. You know what your levy is going to be. You know what your your state building aid's generally
going to be. you know what your principal and interest payments will be on the debt and it just kind of takes care of itself over time. This fund had a decrease in fund balance of almost $18,000. If you were to look at this compared to last year, you'd see property taxes have
increased a little bit and your state building bond aid has increased as well. Um, and the expenditures you'll see have increased from last year as well because your 2024 A and B debt had its first principal payments last year building construction
fund. This fund is almost entirely capital for your athletic complex. Um there's some revenues coming in. These are just investment earnings on unspent proceeds that you have on the project. Food service um food service had an
increase in fund balance of $16,745. Um If we were to look at the detail on this, you'd see the biggest changes are that you had some capital purchases. So, you had bought some ovens, um some other kitchen equipment in this fund. And then community service fund had an increase
in fund balance of $27,525. This fund, if you remember back when I was talking about the general fund, had a transfer coming in of, in this case, you can see the exact number, $90,000. That's down from what was transferred in
last year. So last year 310,000 was transferred. So you've reduced how much needs to be transferred into this fund and that $27,000 fund balance at the end of the year. Making sure I'm catching my needs when I say um >> you can pass however you
go back to fund balance. >> That's all I can hear you saying. >> Yeah, it's almost entirely school readiness dollars. So it's it's set aside for specific use. cash in these funds. Um, debt service fund has a cash balance has
decreased slightly. That cash balance at the end of the year is $1.1 million. The food service fund has is relatively steady. That cash balance is $295,000. And the community service fund has a cash balance of $126,000.
And the building construction fund's not on this page just because that fund has a lot of activity and if we were to put that on it really skews the scale of the of the chart um that has a cash balance of 414,000 at the end of the year.
So if we look at the next few pages, this is looking at the school district as a whole. So, we've taken all the funds, we've combined them together, we've added in the value of your capital assets, your building, and we've added in the amounts owed on your long-term
debt. And so, looking at the assets first, you'll see assets in total have decreased slightly from 24 to 25. Um, the current assets in particular decreased. They've gone from 15 million to$10 million. That's almost entirely
from construction activity this year. So that's expected that it decreases. The long-term assets have increased um and that's almost entirely from capitalizing the work done so far on the athletic complex.
And looking at liabilities next, um you'll see liabilities have also decreased from 24 to 25. Current liabilities in particular, they've gone from $2.67 million to $1.4 4 million. That decrease is almost entirely construction payables that you
had last year that you didn't have this year. Um long-term debt, you'll see that's decreased slightly. Um primarily from your debt payments, but it's a little bit misleading because if you remember that Gazby 101 standard I mentioned at the beginning, that comp
those compensated absences are buried in that line too. So that increased it a little bit. Um and then the remaining two lines uh OPED is post-employment health benefits and then pension liability. Those numbers are actually determined by an
actuary. And so they tell us what the numbers should be. We do some test work on the census that information that's sent to the actuary. Those have both decreased. The the is relatively similar to last year but decreased slightly. Pension liabilities decreased more. Um your cont
contributions haven't fluctuated significantly. It's just a change in actuarial assumptions. And if we look at debt on the next page, you'll see um the debt landing in 2024, the new project. And then you can see the effects of your first principal
payment on that debt in 2025. So debt at the end of the year is total is $40.97 million. The next page is where you would hear me talk about new standards coming for next year. And you'll see that page is missing because
I'm happy to say that there are actually no new standards coming for next year. Everyone looks really disappointed. Well, we're all really happy with how the audit went. Um, your team's really good to work with, really good to
respond to our questions. Um, happy to be working with you all again, too. Be happy to answer any questions you might have. >> I do have a question. Um, so locally, but also statewide, you hear about um
problems with finance in school and >> um, and I'm curious how do some of those happen? Do they not do an audit like this or can things pass through, you know, get get missed or I'm just I'm curious.
>> Yeah, that's a good question. So, in Minnesota, actually, every school district is required to have an audit. So, it's it's not a matter of not having audits done. And so, when you talk about problems, there's a few things that my mind goes to. One is financial problems. So, so financial struggles and the other
is fraudulent type activity. So financial struggles, what we tend to see is people ignoring fund balance. And so if you think back to that fund balance slide where we were looking at your fund balance as a percentage of your year's expenditures, that's a actually a really
important slide because that's a one of the best barometers of your school's financial health. So what we see with schools that are and actually I'm working with one right now that's in statutory operating debt because they ignored that slide and they they kept having decreases in their fund balance.
Um and it it's a matter of maybe not watching the budget um not ignoring the fund balance and sometimes not wanting to make tough decisions when fund balance is decreasing. Fraud on the
other hand um that could be from a lot of things. So we've I've seen frauds in schools before. Probably the biggest area of risk or exposure is related to student activities because if you think about student
activities, there's a lot of cash. Um sometimes controls are maybe not quite as strong as the rest of the district operations. And so that's that's the area that we do tend to the most fraud related activity from. So I guess the the advice there and I'm I'm not saying
your school is not doing this. I'm talking more in generalities is to keep an eye on on those cash transactions, those student activities questions. All right. Well, thank you, John. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Todd morning. So before starts now this will be the first time >> so we hope to get better. >> So if there's something missing so you got your board packets earlier this week
with that data. If there's something more just send me an email or call me then then we'll include it for all of them but whatever we put in one we want them all. So, I hope that information was relevant and I'm about to put a lot of time in
what you're about to see and hear and put it all that together. So, sorry. I just wanted to make sure it was nice to get it earlier. >> Yes, it was. Yeah, >> that was a tough start. We hope to do better on the next one.
>> We don't even know how good. >> No idea. But it it is our our first time too. So if there are things that you want to see additions you want us to make, Jen and I will certainly do that and add that into it. So I think though we have some stuff from Jim first. Oh no.
>> Oh >> took them out or see after me. >> That's you. Okay. Moved it. So uh I think you got kind of a a data deck that was sent to you. So that just kind of goes through and these will look a little different with each class depending on what kinds of assessments
that they have. So in in your data deck, uh if you go to the next slide, uh it starts out with just kind of who we are. So you get a look at the number of students we have, uh the racial, the ethnicity, um anything from special
needs to EL, ML services. I did add one more on the bottom there. We just got our data back for our parent teacher conferences. Fifth grade did lead uh the elementary with 90.4% 4% uh 87% overall. So really good night for us. Always fun
to get that many families in and get a chance to talk with them about the good things that we're doing here at McCrae. Uh really proud of the attendance slide. So uh 97% for fifth grade and um that's way above what the state average is. So and that's going to be pretty similar
with most grades, but again that fifth grade class has been pretty good. No, you can go ahead and slide through them. So you're fine. Some of the other data in that deck kind of pointed out some things that we're really proud of and I won't go through all those slides because you already have them but that 100% of our kids are
proud to be uh you know a member of the McCrae elementary school high percentages that have friends at school that feel like they belong and have a connection with their teacher all those things in the high 90s which are things that we take a lot of pride in so I'll kind of walk through the slideshow with
you kind of get a look at those classes one of the things in the background found. That's that's a really neat kind of tradition of fifth grade is they do kind of a a big poster board about them. So, they'll hang those up as a way to kind of introduce themselves to the class. A lot of these kids have been together for a long time. You know,
sometimes in the same class, but definitely in the same grade, but there's always some movement. So, it's nice to have a new student that gets a chance to kind of um talk about who they are and what their kind of favorite activities are. So, you can see that in the background. Um did we already get
the next one? Go ahead. And you might have gone through all three classes. Let's see. >> Is there one more? >> I I skipped over this one. Do you Did you get a blind check? >> Yep. Go ahead. >> Click. Yep.
And we'll get it figured out. So we have chef and we have to just be a slide of this is class outside in their best and cray pride stuff that would be a common on tradition on Friday. So a class picture with a lot of blue and some
green in there. So well as we get that booted up I'll start kind of going through the script and then jump right back in. So uh what what what we're looking at is a future class of 2033. So, I want to take some time to to share
some things that make this group special and to focus on the elementary experience here at CRA. Uh, fifth grade is the final year in our elementary building as we get them ready kind of preparing them both academically, socially, and emotionally for that
transition into middle school. And we work hard to build strong connections and relationships with our students and just as important between students and and uh each other. Um, can we go back one more? Maybe that's it.
Go back one more. One more. Right there. All right. Now, now we get it going. All right. So, we we use a PBIS kind of reward system. So, um, that's a way that we can kind of recognize positive
behavior and kind of model the Wolverine way. So, we get pride tickets throughout the week. They all go to a big hopper and then each Friday we draw one of those names. So there was one of our our fifth grade winners. Uh we we take a picture, they get a little prize bag and
post that on our uh Facebook page as as well. Uh we also have teachers that use an individual incentive. If you go to the next slide, this is Blanchett uses Blanchett Bucks. So I got a picture of some of those kids that are sitting pretty good right now. They can earn
those for uh good behavior. They can earn those for just being kind. Sometimes they get a bonus for a really good assignment or test score. And then every so often the store is open and they get to go and do a little shopping. They can buy a little knickknack, sometimes candy. They can can use it for
that. So those are some of our blanch check box with us and we use those in the variety of classes as well. All right. Now we get to our character ed. So part of that social and emotional learning is uh is character education
and that is done by Mrs. Fricky or um by Drew in our fifth grade. So this takes place one day a week during that social studies time. So they've got four social studies classes each week and then classes rotate. One of those four will
be a kind of a character end time just to talk about what it means to be a good friend, how to overcome struggles. We'll go through kind of the P, the R, and the I, the D, the E. We'll see that just a a little bit as well. And then a little bit later, I think this is our 33rd
year, we'll have DARE classes that will take place. So, we'll get someone from the county that will come in and run those classes uh one day each week for 12 weeks with a final graduation that will take place in the spring. So, kids are always pretty excited about that.
And that should get us to our video clip. just focusing on what pride means to them. >> Positive is when you're l to your other peers are R stands for respectful. Respectful means that you kind of others
and treat others the way you want to be treated. >> I have the letter I. I stands for integrity. Integrity. Integrity means being Think somebody that somebody can trust and be honest.
Letter D. D means determined. D means brave and never giving up. The letter E stands for excellence. Excellence means always being good and achieving your
dreams. I'm involved baseball. My favorite activity is favorite. McCra is one of the girls and second in the state championship
friends every time my friends the new building and the staff they treat me very nicely and I support >> all right >> uh this year one of the new things that we did with um curriculum is social
studies. So, you know, we did math three years ago. We're in year three now. We did our ELA last year, and this year we got some news uh social studies curriculum that aligns with the Minnesota standards. And it's kind of a a neat format. It's in a newspaper
edition. So, each unit they get kind of the a different packet that they can kind of read through and hopefully it'll pop up there and you'll get a chance to see it. Maybe back one more. Get it forward.
Well, maybe it's buckled in there. There it is. Just kind of out of whack. But um so you can kind kind of see the the context of it. Again, it kind of helps them with um history, citizenship, a little bit of civics in there, geography as well. So right there,
they're studying some of the the regional tribes of the the United States. So each student gets their own kind of mini magazine that they can follow along on the board as well. Sorry, Greg. Now we got to go back a little bit.
And I I won't read that slide to you, but you've heard heard me talk about wind time, something that we're really proud of. We're still kind of uh working our our way through it to make sure we're getting um as much differentiation as we can. Takes a lot of work. We've
got a class 20, 25, 26 kids to make sure that each student is getting kind of what they need, but that's what wind time is. So, you want to focus on what skills they have and what skills that we need to help them specifically. And we we get a chance to do that by breaking them into some smaller groups. So if we look through the next slides, you'll see
how some of that works. So um they might go to a separate phonics lesson. See that on the left where Mrs. Deakons gets a chance to work with some some of those skills from kindergarten all the way on up through fifth grade. You can see some small group instruction kind of student led on the bottom. Then we'll
also see some student uh some teacher le instruction up on top with some pair of pushing. You also get a chance to take that outside of the classroom. So there's an example. Fifth grade did did a reading unit where they went out and read to other classes. So classes would sign up and then they had about a 15minute time where they went out and
met with those kids uh kindergarten, first grade, second grade and just read stories to them. So a great way to connect with those young readers, but also great chance to practice their own reading skills. So that was a fun activity for us that kind of pace them all on their own kind of skill level.
All right, you can go to the next one. And of of course uh school is more than just academics. We believe in creating a love for learning and a love for school. Events like our fall and winter parties, read field trips, school assemblies help
build community and pride in being a Wolverine. So uh there's one of the classes after our fall fall partyhollow party. Um we had a chance to go to the gym and kind of do a a parade. So all of our classes got to march around kind of
pull off their costumes wide range and really impressive how many kids get so excited and dress up these days and then they have a fall party that follows it. So they get snacks and then they have a variety of activities that go along with it as well. I just like that pickle eating a pickle. I'm not sure if
it or not. It's a good picture for him. And then as we saw in that video clip, uh we offer a lot of activities here, you saw that over half of our kids were involved in something just this fall. So whether that's uh that's football or a chance to be involved in other
activities, guitar lessons, community, and uh we're going to have math master starting pretty soon. So just a wide variety of things for kids to really um kind of dive into and explain to. And then of course we have, you know, our go back one more. We have our steam and
music and faded rotation. We did change that this year. Uh those that have had kids that have gone through it used to be on a week one, week two, week three cycle needed a captain crunch to quarter ring to figure out what exact class you had. And uh the downside was that you
only got to see your kids for you saw them a lot but for one week and then you had two weeks off and you saw them a lot for one week. So timewise we didn't gain any but now we see our kids every week. We see them twice each week. So we have uh music class twice a week with every grade. We have steam class or science
class every week twice twice each week. So both steam and music are twice a week. They rotate back and forth Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and then we have fed every day. So every student is active and moving every day and we take a lot of pride in in that.
when we talk about uh PBI PBIS and kind of managing behaviors, being active is a big part of that. So, we want to continue to keep those kids active because FIED and recess are the biggest deterrence to disruptive behavior. So,
um the more we can get those kids moving, um the better we're going to see them in in the classroom that academics that goes with academics. So all of these experiences work together to make McCrae Elementary a place where students feel connected, supported, and inspired
to be their best. And that is the class of 2033. What? What? Yeah. >> What a question or comments. >> Oh, thank you. >> I was just going to comment like just looking at you know one concern you have is like MCA scores and it looks like
this class from third grade to fourth grade between math and reading there was on this a shift in the language of improvement. So that's good to see. So hopefully that >> Yeah. >> continue. I mean that's good.
>> Yeah. And I I think the the biggest part to having success is just having some consistency as we move through it. So I think we've got some some good things in place and we'll start to see some growth start starting soon. I think it's wise to put physical education too as a as a
priority for day dayto day. There's tons of research that show that. But a lot of times um schools cut those programs really quickly thinking like well we can't fit in the budget or this that. But it it really is important for especially young All right. Well, thank you, Todd.
>> Yep. And you know, we don't want to put you on the spot tonight. So, as you have a chance to to reflect and think about this, if things pop up, this is a date to send a message or we can keep making it better. >> All right. Right. Adam. >> Yep. So, as you know, I was really
excited about this change because our focus is truly on those students in that grade, but also academics. So, you can all read off the reports, whatever they put, but the focus now for every class, you'll get that data deck. So, that's
important. So, if you want something for every class in there, um, we don't mind changing. We we use something from another district. Broward only because I knew that's what they did. So that
doesn't have to be the McCrae way. But there was a lot of data in there. And I was so proud of Todd because we talked about the concept on the social emotional health of our students. And that's a big part. How do they feel when they're here? How do they feel when they
leave here? And uh really showed in this class that they really love coming to school. Their attendance shows it. Uh their grades will the academic piece as you said when we get consistency but the students want to be here and that was
truly nice to see. Hopefully as we go forward the other classes um my guess is middle school will take a dip. They're middle schoolers and as they're seniors you're going to see a high graduation rate. So it was very impressive when Todd and I the whole team Kim reviewed
the data and it just was evident. So going forward another not as you know retention is big and keep in getting people to want to come to McCrae. Um we have a mentor mentee program for our new
teachers and um we were recently asked to present. So Jud and Todd put some data together and and Jud was a presenter for that group. So not only are other people wanting mentor mentee programs but they're looking at McCrae
for ideas. that's what's working and our checklists are good. Um, it was just evident what we're doing here, what was been built on that we're going to keep going, um, has been very successful. So, that was exciting that they were asked to present. Jen did a fantastic job. Uh,
we have the musical coming this week. Um, and as we go, um, Greg's going to start flicking the slides, but, um, you know, we had a great end of the fall season. the football team, you know, they won their first uh playoff game. It
was at Cami, as you can see, they were successful. And then our volleyball team made it to the subsection finals. Um, as you can see at SMSU with a nice college has that big video board. So, you can see we um that was the the semifinal
game we won over one of our rivals. That was a big fun night. Um, so that was fun there. And then we have Um, Reman Construction finished the paving this fall and you can just see um
I know the grass isn't there yet, but you can see the nice job the arches they did extra if you see the second picture that's the shot pits. Um, ideally there originally due to money we didn't go all the way over. Um, but thanks to Vman it
goes all the way. Um, they've been great to work with. It's all you know finished. people. Hopefully, we'll get that in soon. And then next year, we'll have the the winter storage facility or the storage shed up there at the far
end. But you can see the the nice job they did. So, that was thanks to agreement. We want to make sure we thank them and very good at getting back to us, especially to Jim. I didn't make any calls, so um that was nice. Okay, Greg.
Okay. Oh, we had two allstate um coaches association volleyball players. That's Belle and Emma. Um so they got that award. I believe it was last week. So I wanted to make sure you guys knew about that. Um we also had one
of the largest craft fairs I attended in our community and in our building. So they took over um almost every part of this school. There was people all over, but there was thousands of people that were brought into the three communities
um and had access to a lot of nice things going on. Palmer bus, the CEO did her yearly stop by. Um and then what's the do we have the next picture, Greg? Some excitement. Okay, we had a visitor and we have one tomorrow.
Um but I think this is the visitor. You can play it. So you can see from that that he was here over two hours and I would say in two hours I might have said 10 minutes worth of ideas. Totally student led. We
had five students um from a variety of grades. those students look like our school. Um, and he was totally impressed. His aid had already sent a nice thank you note uh to how much time and how much he valued what he learned here. Uh, the walking path was a hit.
The FFA uh, field and work with the hydroponics was a hit. U, but I think the key was we provide pizza at the end and they it was just free flow dialogue and that was very impactful. sat in the back and the
students, they just talked about life, what they liked here, how did he get to be where he was. Um, and it was just a great time. We got one tomorrow again and then next Tuesday. Um, so they'll be here. And Todd was great. He read a book
um that Joe Mau and Pat Schmidt wrote together about being kind. And that was first grade. And now we'll go to another first grade tomorrow. Mrs. post. Yeah, it's tomorrow. So, and the students can either um the tour guys can
go in and be part of it or they can sit out in the hall and they all went in and stood behind and were very active. They took a photo. So, uh very exciting so that you know the people that controlled the laws and the money at the big level
can at least show that we're maximizing everything we get and the students value. They were so good. the one student, we went into the theater and I've never learned so much about a theater in my life. She was just on fire. She was so excited about the
theater because she had lived through the gym presenting into the gym, not having a green room and the garage, the storage. And they all had their little stories and they all just all five of them. Nobody was quiet. There's a ninth grader in the group. There's three
seniors. the same groups coming back if their teachers will let them out. Um so we're hopeful that that will just continue to grow. But the nice part was it was student le. Um they even um Ryder sophomore talked all about Franny and the impact she's been having and he got
down on his knees and knew that that Franny's part of our staff. So just the little things we've added. So it was just great. Um, so we're excited about the next two and you know you can welcome to come and I'll let you know if the fourth person now that the
shutdown's over hopefully soon over um that she'll make a a date for when she'll come too. >> Who is it that's coming tomorrow? >> Tomorrow is Baker is it Baker will be here tomorrow and then the other be he'll be here in a week.
>> Oh okay. So, >> and this was a gentleman from a video. Remind me of his. That's right. >> And he just posted that Tik Tok on his website, I think over the weekend or just recently. So, our Tik Toks since
we've started this get a lot of views. So, one couple already over a thousand. So, it's just and it's all upbeat and fun. And the musicals on there, the latest one, and they almost have 2,000 and they're the newest. So, we'll keep putting we get pictures, we'll put them
together and Greg and I go through them. All right. And now the last one, Greg, this was our elementary um gym festival with principal Breny. Well, it went a little short, but you
can just see the concept. We try to find fun music and um so that's pretty much I'm open if you have any questions. The rest of it you got earlier in the week. So, >> okay, thanks for that. Um 6.2 is committee reports. We don't have
anything there. 6.3 board discussion is the first one is school start date for the 26 27 and 2728 school year and that is because Labor Day is late so we are allowed to start
early. So um do we need a resolution on this or what do we need to do here? >> You guys asked for to talk about it tonight and the resolution will be the next >> it will be okay. Okay. That way you have time to talk with people. >> Okay. >> When would you have u the opportunity to
start early? What does what are the parameters of that? >> So it would we can just however you guys set it. So ideally we >> I mean like can we start August 15th or does it have to be after September 1st or >> after September 1st?
>> Yeah. So we we had talked about going >> some people had talked about going Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday so we can get all the meetings, all the stuff done and then they could still have Friday and the long weekend and then start with classes right away
>> on that Tuesday. >> What is the date that still allow us to finish at the end of May? Right. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. That happens the next two years that the Labor Day is late. Have we done that in the past?
>> Well, we started early because of building >> I think one of those years it might have been >> it might have been really late but we were already early so it didn't matter. >> So yeah. So looking at the calendar
Labor Day Monday is the 7th. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday is first, second, third to the weekend. >> Just maybe keep in mind what where the perimeters be for the kids that have stepped off the seat there. >> Yeah,
>> that are there all the way up to Liberty. We we've them before. Okay. >> Parents can just follow >> and we have a lot of students already on campus starting to vote the second week of August already. >> Yeah.
>> Well, it it is nice to be done the end of May to >> June 10th doesn't sound so good. Okay. Whatever. >> Just to be clear, you're talking about having students here on Tuesday the second. That's great. And teachers >> Tuesday.
>> And you could go through Friday. I just heard some discussion about still giving the long weekend and you guys would have all your meetings done in those three days so we could actually hit the ground running after. >> Yeah, >> I like that. The Friday off day. >> Yeah, I do.
>> Great. Nice long weekend. last harra from summer there. So >> So we can put that on for next. >> So that'll be on the agenda next month. >> If you guys would like tell us >> just to clarify um
legally you can't start before September 1st. Is that unless there's some stipulation of >> September 1st is normally it's Labor Day. >> Sure. But yeah, now it has I those house files. >> Yeah, >> but it has to if we had construction
project we can but we don't. >> So we would just approve starting first but then the principles and would still put the actual calendar together that eventually we would vote on. >> Yeah. >> Or we would approve. >> Excuse. But at first we got to just let everybody know we're going to start. >> Yeah.
>> Maybe hear some feedback now agenda. That would be >> still all in September. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah, it's still in September. Great. >> Okay. Well, let's just put that on the next month and create the balloon.
Okay. Then, um Oh, the next thing I've got under that board discussion is a special meeting time. I' I'd like to do a special meeting to discuss what we went over with Amy at MSBA, that little training
session she put on for us. I think what we need to do is get together and nail down what we want Mr. Holm to be working on as so we can then schedule a future um evaluation, but he needs to know what
that evaluation is going to be about. So, I think we may need to do that. So, if we could pull out our calendar or our calendars, I guess, and see what's going to work. And I know it's busy time of year now. Yeah, you're past September. And I'm guessing I evenings are still
better for people, right? >> Just one of those things that we have to post for two weeks. >> We have to post. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And I mean I I can't imagine it taking too long. Um we just have to all kind of get ourselves on the same page and
what we want to use for evaluation questions or issues. I mean, do you think we can do it? >> I don't November yet getting
the 24 negotiations. >> Oh, I see that. That's a Monday, right? >> Yeah. >> Start there. >> The 24th. >> 24th. I won't be able to do the 24th, 25th,
and possibly. >> Okay. Those are all, >> but maybe we all don't need to be there either because it might be really hard this time. >> Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. Yeah. >> Wednesday nights are all open. >> So, the following Monday,
December 1st pretty open. >> What about that? December 1st. >> Dr. Gardner's doing a CPR class that night. So, I will be there. >> So, that does not work. I guess it doesn't have to be Monday.
>> Tuesdays work really well for me. I'll make whatever work. But >> yeah, I'm pretty December. Yeah. >> Okay. >> We can come watch you. >> Just wear your retirement.
or with the ninth or two days back. >> Um, it just depends. Yeah, I won't second. I won't be able to. >> Well, the ETH is uh the next regular meeting. Could we do it before that?
>> Before the meeting. >> How long do you think we need? >> Not too long. Yeah maybe >> at 5:' December 8th. >> Do we have that truth to taxation that
day? >> Well, that starts at 6, right? Okay. So, we could still do five o'clock. Okay. If that works for everybody, let's do that. We're already here. >> Okay. December. >> All right. Good. Okay. Then what have we got here? 7.0
business items. Okay. 7.1 is to approve the 2024 2025 audited financial statements. Need a motion. >> I'll make that motion. financial statement. >> Okay. Carmel. Second. >> Second.
>> That was you. Yeah. Great. Any discussion or questions on that? Right. All in favor of approving the 2425 audited financial statement say I. >> I. I. Those opposed? Nay.
Okay. 7.2. It's a resolution to accept donations and those Donations are the donation of the 2180 Foundation donor board by 2180. Is that correct? >> No. >> Donation of proceeds from the Looney
Lutheran to community ed and the donation of 11 trees um for football field memorial. So we need a motion. Look how long it is. You might have to
read that sheet. Huh. >> People are wondering why all of a sudden this is seems new. We reached out. We always want to make sure we do things the right way and we found out that all donations coming into the district is supposed to have a
resolution to it. So, thank you. And then now that we found this. So, >> thanks. I think Mark should make the motion. So going forward, we're going to make sure all people know all especially our we have the two found the two groups
that donate a lot that they know that you guys have to approve the donation first. >> Okay. >> So we can make sure it's all appropriate >> and that was given to us by him. >> Is there anything like that we would have to retroactively approve things
that >> I think we're just going to keep going go forward now that we've uncovered a rock. We're going to start doing it. the way that they asked us this >> and we'll keep researching it, >> but we do have to have a 2/3. >> Yeah, 23 >> have to say yes, >> right?
>> But if we can maybe move it somehow and consent with that letter, maybe we'll figure that out. But at first, we'll start this way and work through it. At least we're doing it the right way. >> Okay. >> I'll make >> All right.
Thank you, Mark. Great. All right. Okay. Go ahead, Mark. >> All right. Res. accepting donations. Whereas Minnesota statutes 123b.02 subdivision 6 provides the board may receive for the benefit of the district
bequests donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated in that behalf. The board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefits of the district or for the benefit of pupils thereof, including trusts created to provide
pupils of the district with advanced education after completion of high school in the advancement of education. And whereas Minnesota statutes 465.03 3 provides any city council, school district, or town may accept a grant or
device of real or personal property and maintain such property for the benefit of its citizens in accordance with the terms prescribed by the donor. Nothing herein shall authorize such acceptance or use for religious or sectarian purposes. Every such acceptance shall be by resolution of the governing body
adopted by a twothirds majority of its members expressing such terms in full. And whereas every such acceptance shall be by resolution of the governing body adopted by a twoth3 majority of its members expressing such terms in full. Okay. Uh therefore be it resolved that
the school board of mccrae uh 2180 gratefully accepts the following donations as item as identified below. Uh 2180 Foundation donate the donor board with the designated purpose of displaying donors and items purchased.
Uh the Emanuel Lutheran Church Looney Lutherans uh will donate proceeds from a production to community ed and the Highland Memorial will donate 11 trees. >> Wind
to put basically wind. Yeah. Okay, any questions? We'll go ahead and vote. And that's the voice vote. So, Deb, >> yes. >> Ben,
>> yes. >> Mark, >> yes. >> John, >> yes. >> Carmel, >> yes. And I'm yes as well. So, that resolution is passed. So 8.0 is upcoming meetings. You can see on the bottom there. We'll start with that truth and taxation on December 8th
at 6 and then we'll have that special meeting before that. Okay. Um need a motion to second that. Have a vote. Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, nay. We are at 7:04.
>> Thanks everybody.