good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order this is Independent School District 8:32 this is a regular school board meeting of the mamei school district Monday March 24th 2025 7 o'm pleas rise and join me for the
Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for liberty and justice for
all thank you roll call of attendance director Dolan here director Peterson here Madam chair stout here director Donna director Regan here director witson approval of the agenda I'd like
to ask for a motion to approve the agenda with flexibility thank you um just because we might switch something around agenda by director Regan second second by director doen any discussion all those in favor say I I
roll call roll call please um director Dolan yes director Peterson I mam chair Stout hi um director Regan i director witson
I thank you and now for approval of the consent agenda do have a motion by director do second by director Peterson any discussion okay roll call Dr Doan I
director Peterson hi madam chair Stout hi director rean hi director witson hi now for the cousin start with recognition discussion
on the Zer learning showcase so we had five groups with us this evening before our meeting started showcasing what they're working on at their in their classes and at this at their build in their buildings um so we'll just go around
and share what stood out to us highlight it okay I'll go quick um it's always fun to see the students kind of come out and not only show us what they're doing but also be excited and passionate and have big smiles on their faces to tell us
what they're working on um goes without saying the cooking club is always a highlight flowless chocolate cake was pretty incredible um but two other quick things um it was really great to talk to the representatives from the AVID program and understand how they're putting their learning learning into
real life action and and kind of see them think through what their career aspirations are and how they're you know kind of logically going to get to those aspirations so that was super cool and then just from the Community Education perspective seeing um or talking with
the Early Childhood folks and understanding how they're implementing the letters training that that we're going through right now and um like Hands-On functionally what that means for our our early Learners and what they're going through I thought was fantastic and it reinforces kind of the
decisions we've made as a leadership staff and how we're prioritizing literacy as a district so pretty cool um I'll just add on second to everything that's been said it was fun to see all of that in action I also really liked seeing the students with the science experiment that real world
learning of getting their hands in the mud and um uh we have some water spills to prove it over here and uh it was just really fun to see where they're talking about erosion um and really making those Concepts come to life um Mr ban I loved the the students who were coding on the
Chromebooks um I was asking them more details it sounds like you have some interest in some kids learning how to actually write the code for that so there I think there's some coders out there in mamei that want to maybe think about that in their future so so those were my highlights so thank
you yeah I sorted to was it the math program or the math what was the name of the group that did the coding math M tutoring program one of the things I really loved about the math tutoring program was how they were able to develop some um flexible tools to help both them and other people in the
district uh work on their math skills so they could make the the it was built in a way that they could make it easier or harder or uh sort of whatever the case may be so not only did they get to learn it but they've actually provided a real world tool that is flexible to meet the needs of various people at different
math levels across the district so I thought that was a an inspiring way not for them to learn but also to provide a wonderful uh solution to help their help their peers I'll just add I I everything has really been covered but it's the engaged
learning I think that um we could see through all of the different um presentations and really how it's it's so much more than just what's being taught from a book or from a lecture but really um the the experiences that
they're getting in our building so it was really great to see that and I um just I wish we could showcase it to everyone in the whole District so okay thank you did you want to add anything oh I think you I mean I I think you definitely covered it although I will
and so I had seen a number of these uh students in action before but I hadn't had an opportunity to talk about the letters training also with our um Early Childhood staff and just um what they're seeing as a result they've just you know they're just learning this year next year is implementation and they've
already they're already able to talk about some of the things they're doing differently so um so that was really that was really fun just the results they're seeing as well so that was that was fun for me but otherwise I'll just say ditto to everything else because the
engage the engagement and the um energy is always fun too so recognition heri Middle School recognition our principal from the middle school and then we will have thank you everyone um I just want to take a moment I don't know if you saw
that first slide or not but this is Paul's 55th year here in um M at the middle school and I just want to take a moment to recognize the multitude of ways there that Paul has um been involved throughout his tenure and all of the lives that he has touched we were
doing some math today I probably could have used some of the tutoring that was going on there but in just like rough calculation we feel like it's probably accurate to say that there's been over 12,000 students that he has been in contact with in his 55 years here so um
there's one thing that I just want to um point out and say that during his time here there's always been the one constant and that constant is that he is student centered and student focused all of these roles that um he has been in um is a result of him being here for the
kids and his dedication to give kids what they need um partially what you saw in the Zephyr showcase um recognizing that he has some um very gifted Learners in his math tutors and then helping them to provide for other students so I'm
just kind of a twofold giving kids what they need um in addition to what you witnessed in the Showcase tonight I've also seen Paul give kids a pat on the back an office a place to cry in when needed he is an AC MC Advocate um he also offers some tough love when
necessary um he pushes kids to um challenge themselves and he's not afraid to offer a dad joke here or there um Paul does all of this because he believes in kids um he notices strengths and interests and guides students to pursue them such as what you saw tonight
with the programming and the coding um Paul has always been very involved with the ski club and skiing um he's also been um part of um travels with students and um he and his lunch group is another
area where you notice that he has strengths and interests and in fact in his lunch or in his lunch group that he meets with on a weekly basis he has also um made connections between kids where one of those students is now kind of tutoring and and helping another
classmate with some math in there as well so the kids come together because they kind of have weaknesses and needs in one area and out of those weaknesses there was um a strength that was found and a bond between a couple boys um the other thing that I appreciate about Paul
is his expectations are high and he gets the kids to meet those expectations um he has a way of um making sure that through their academics he is supporting them and advocating for them and he'll go so far as to say this cafeteria is a little bit out of control and I'm going to go into all of the classrooms and
we're going to talk about how to behave in the cafeteria so kind of um meeting all of those needs um Paul does a great job of helping to create systems that support kids and help them to prove themselves to prove to themselves that they are capable um in addition to
working with students Paul is a valuable colleague and has um seen Trends has seen Trends come and go and come and go again and maybe again he continually moves forward um using research and data um in best
practice for what we know at that moment and in that that Trend that's coming or going and Paul consistently um shows his growth mindset um I've witnessed him support the adults in the building in much the
same way that he supports um the students adult um and adults when I'm saying adults I mean um staff as well as parents um he is more than willing to celebrate with um adults has great empathy um advise uh having those
conversations with parents where they just really kind of want some parental advice or what should I do um he offers encouragement and always has an Open Door um it is really fitting to acknowledge Paul tonight on the night that it is the zeper Showcase and while
he has great pride in um watching his students and listening to the conversations that they're having it was also very fun for me to see you shy PA and recognize you clap [Applause]
okay I I just can't we're gonna take a picture with you in a minute but um I don't you know let's reemphasize 55 years I mean honestly Paul we you know that's just outstanding but I also want to um just comment on um your student
centeredness I mean like everything about you is just it you really are about the kids and we hear it I hear it when you're scheduling I hear it when you're talking with kids I hear it when you're talking to teachers um I hear it when you're grabbing data because you're excited about data you know that speaks
to me so I mean like in all ways you are creating systems that are really going to support kids and you're doing it with middle school kids um and you've been with middle school kids forever and um just how special that is and how much you really enjoy and U being there is is
really important to us as well so thank you for all all of that yes can I just make a quick comment um so Mr beggan your uh Ski Club back when I was in Middle School um it's something that a lot of my friends and I
still talk about so I imagine that it's had a countless art had an effect and an impact on countless mod graduates over the years and it's come full circle with my sixth grader now having the exact same experience and creating the same memories and friends that we all did and
dear to your point Jackie over 55 years of doing that it's it's amazing and that's what um I think really differentiates our district is people like you investing in the kids and and being student centered and it means a lot so thank you very
much I just want to Echo I um you are one of those people who make our district so amazing and I just my kids didn't really have any interaction with you because of you know just the way things worked out and I know from so
many other people that's just who you are and I it's just one of those things when we think about our district and the the staff who make it so great and you are one of those so thank you so much for for caring so much for all that I just um not only did you survive
55 years but you thrived 55 years I mean I think I'm coming up in my year 30 and I just like it's amazing to think about what you've seen in the change in education in 55 years and um so thank you for all that you've done and and I
hope that um um you know seems like you'll always be about the students no matter what you do in life like whether that's younger kids or grandkids or whatever that might be but um thanks so much for what you've done for this entire Community for so many decades so thank
you now we're GNA get a picture while you come up I will clarify I've only done SK club for 50 years he was little thank you so much okay just keep moving on now we move on
to our report from our student R next welcome well we're coming to the end of these meetings here it's getting real close on student council biggest thing we're planning right now is prom which will be on the boat again in Still Water that's always super fun we're also
planning for spring parents night out which is on the day of the May Gale on April 11th from 5: to 9: so dump your kids off they do have to be fifth grade and under don't try that again people uh at Wildwood the first graders had a
concert Into the Wild Woods there's some really cute pictures on the E newss if you want to take a look at those also at Wildwood the Spring Fling is coming up on May 16th which is just a big carnival with food trucks and a lot more it's a ton of fun at o Anderson this whole month has been I love to read month
there have been book weekly book club meetings there have been book brackets just like March Madness which just started and ended no more perfect brackets sadly and there have been dress up days all month and a fifth grader k Evans placed top 50 in the Twin Cities
spelling be which have let her move on to the Regionals in St Paul and also in Middle School Jonathan Palmquist who won R spelling B also played top 50 and moved on to Regionals in the high school we had a lot of sports events happen
Evan Maguire won State pretty easily didn't give him any points that uh he didn't want to Aiden Carlson also plays fourth in state for wrestling and idam and Audrey Carlson my bad are advancing to the international Career Development
conference for Deca which is the business Club at the high school and boys hockey made it to state but sadly we eliminated on the first round better luck next year and we actually have a team moving on to Nationals for NASA hunch in Texas which is really really
exciting and we still have our two real world teams flying into Nationals this may and biggest thing coming up is the ACT test for juniors is on a April 8th so get him signed up and studied up because I I know one of my friends
forgot to sign up and he just doesn't have the score now so it's big deal otherwise not too many big events coming up and that's all for now have to say Max I'm gonna miss the student updates um you always make it
fun thank you thank you yeah we do only have a more meetings with Max okay now once again Max covered a few of these things but I will um I'll still go through um just again some things that are happening around the
district that and awards and noteworthy news again Max get some of those um uh director Don and I did go to the capital today for amsd day at the capital so we'll just share a couple things that we learned and then we have some upcoming
events um so I think you know for I love to read month we had a number of guest readers from the high school visit OHA um Elementary and um and I'm sorry I'm just GNA slide well here you know what I'm gonna do hard for me to
see there we go thank you I'm sorry okay so it's part of their um I love to read month they had um our high school students came to to help with the they had 20 special guest readers um sure that would be great
thanks um so this is uh coming up on April 11th we have uh a career internship and volunteer fair you've seen the call for volunteers come out and I don't know how we're still looking in particular we have quite a few people who have signed up to read resumés and
give feedback on resumés we are looking for some more um just businesses who want to talk about their their business maybe recruit some volunteers or interns so if you know of anyone please spread the word that'll be at the high school
this is the first time we've done this and it's um through Community Ed and well and our communications director together are working on putting something together for high school students our Middle School I believe on
the 28th is doing the career fair again so that's coming up as well bar was was this because of our portrait of a graduate work is this one of the outcomes from that I I don't know that it's NE I mean it's certainly consistent with our portrait of a graduate um work and I think we got some interest and
names because of all the advertisement advertising we did around the portrait of graduate so it is is um it's goes alongside that work for sure so Community Ed I hope you all got that catalog in the mail um maybe more
than one um there are a couple people that did so anyway sorry to joke about that but uh Community Ed catalog is out and things are open um so uh get in there and sign up look at we had thousand enrollments on the first day a new
record um annual report is also out um I don't and it's uh something that we annually mail to District resident staff and families and so you can look in there and it has current District data and showcas is all
the copies if you haven't got so you've heard we've talked about it Mr Collins we've recognized him a couple of times he's our teacher of the year and he has made moved on to become a teacher of the year semifinalist so we're looking forward to hearing how he
does as he moves forward we're very proud of him so max mentioned we have a couple of students going to the international competition so that's excited this is our second year participating in Deca so um to have to have somebody going each
year the first of uh our first two years with de that's pretty exciting here it is again Max Max also highlighted our NASA hunt team that uh is moving on um and we also had our Varsity Esports team brought home three
championships at the varsity League state finals and so this is we've had an orts team I don't know if we've had it consistently every year for the past few years or if it's been on and off but um we have had an orts team before but
not this okay thank you and so um to to win uh three championships uh is pretty impressive so congratulations to all of those students and once again more State um State winners uh Evan McGuire
winning easily is what we talked about um winning the state championship so congratulations um you might not know that also the mam Stillwater adapted floor hockey team um came in second in state High School tournament so
congratulations to them we also had our hockey team which Max highlighted for me um the middle school science Bowl I believe these students came and presented at a Zer learning showcase another time I remember being quizzed by
one of them in fact so I'm sure they did um so they had um they participated in the state science bowl and uh took a couple impressive wins during the competition so congratul that's again a newer um a newer team for
us the high school math team won uh the conference Championship and we had one student um finished first in the conference and comp at the state meeting on March 10th um keep on going Middle School
mathematicians um participated in the math Masters Regional competition um and so you can see all of the accomplishments there um Jackson and Parker placed in the top 15 for their high scores on the math
background and then um direct as I mentioned before director Donna and I did participate in amsd day at the capital today um and we had an opportunity to hear from Senate and House Education finance committee leaders um and also um Senator Housley
met us as well we got a chance to talk a little bit about our district facilities needs that we continue to talk about so that she understands what it is what our challenges are and how we can um just advocate for some assistance
from at the state level too um I don't know do we want to talk about the theme of of the day which was frustrated yeah a lot of frustrated legislators because of there's lots to do and not a lot to
do it with no time no money no money yeah so three strike okay well so I guess that's it I guess that's it yeah yeah I I wish I could we could be more positive but it's really tough Dynamic to do any
business so I don't think we can hang our hat on they share why there's no money I mean do they get into that at all or people just walking around depends on who you ask okay f a
point got you we don't need to go into I was just curious if they there used to be a huge Surplus and now it's all gone not quite not quite but it's coming coming yeah so all the surpluses yeah and everyone's in the
same boat yes lots of lots of districts talking about going up for levies referendums deficits you know all of that it's a common AIC Cuts it's a common theme um everywhere so um there I I feel like I
heard that there's some interest in rolling back some of the unfunded mandates that were handed to us but um depends on who you ask which of those should be rolled back so I don't I don't know where that'll I don't know where that'll
go so we've stayed consistent with talking about facility needs ltfm um there is a bill I did look it up after P Cent Housley about um kind of some more flexibility with the ltfm dollars but not necessar more money but more
flexibility which would be helpful to us and included Safety and Security um as being an allowable LM even if you know expenditure so so that might be one that we want to to advocate
for already a it there is um it has I don't know if it's been introduced yet I did find it when I went looking to see if anyone had proposed I imagine it's been introduced but I'd have to go back but it has a bu number okay I think I saw it
yeah I don't recall any updates but I remember seeing it in fact I thought you might have you been shared maybe I did share it with you and with a long list of all my other bills okay that we shared yeah so um so that might be one that we'd want to look at again no money but flexibility so that would be
worth anything else you wanted to highlight from our day and just some upcoming events um not let's not forget the Zephyr Gala coming up on the 11th and that's also the day of the career um and volunteer fair at the high school so um thinking about
those things would be my hope to see you at the zephra gala and also um if you're able to spread the spread the word about the um High School career internship and volunteer care where you could really use your help on that food truck Friday May night you
know we love Food Truck Friday so that's my update what you know off the top your head that's Sor I was just curious I I don't know I'd have to look it up that two weeks
10 all right that's all you need to know the important dates all right okay well thank you for that very good update okay discussion items uh we'll just look at our board member calendar does anyone have anything they want to
point out on the calendar um I do want to this isn't on our calendar but we do have tours through for the 916 buildings and there's multiple ones and Leslie on an Emil so um the first one is this
Wednesday there's several it is so enlightening when you go on these tours the 9916 which of course we are a part of they offer everything from early Ed to career in Tech to all
there's so many different things so anyway it's just an really impressive um program but when you get to see it firsthand it really kind of cements in your mind what what they're doing and and how they are Partners to us so anyway that's not on our calendar but I
uh wanted to call out um those those um upcoming chores I would yes stand that piece because I've been on a few of those and it's been really great and the other thing is I felt like I understood what 916 was but not really until I saw it so
I thought that was really great so if you haven't had a chance um get over to some of those because everything from ambulatory care to diesel mechanics to all sorts of things it's there's a wide variety of things that you'll see and okay anything
else okay then we'll move on to action items so we'll start with our approval of donations and grants for February 2025 totaling $644 45 and donations and grants for January 2025 totaling
46122 69 so I have a motion by director doen second second by director rean any discussion all donations and grants are greatly appreciated the use of these
funds will be to further the mission of the school district and are used towards wishes of the donor director dolman yes I sorry director Peterson I uh director Donna I Regan i director
witson I hi okay um we're going to switch and go to item C here so approval of budget revisions 2024 2025 and we'll have our finance director the care
good evening so we are uh in our budget revision cycle at this point so for 2425 and um I'll jump into it we have very very little change but the change
is good it's positive U we'll be revenues and expend revenues going up expenditures going down um so as we we'll just jump into it um you know when we look at these reasons for this is first of all we went back and in March
and June you approved a budget in March and June uh there's a lot of things that are unknown we had at that point one of our seven groups uh contract groups was settled and the others were still left to go through so so that's one of the
things uh enrollment changes we've made some projections you know we're always looking at enrollment and so we made some different enrollment projections uh based on uh based on some of the numbers we were seeing um you know and then we've got changes to assumptions and some of our estimates so there's a lot
of different things that go into this between the time you approve that budget in June and up until now so uh as I said revisions in this year we're looking at an increase of 106,000 or a. 21% increase in revenue and then a decrease
of expenses of 109 ,000 or a 2.1% decrease in expenditures from that original budget so we're to the good about $25 million so that's good 215,000 or 215,000 whoa yeah where' that come from
I guess this is what I was wishing for as you're listening to the legislative update that's what I was wishing for yeah you got to watch me uh so we look at the what are the key drivers of of this so as I mentioned before student enrollment estimates so that's uh
changing Aid and property tax so that's a reduction of about 19 193,000 uh special education Aid that's always a very difficult one to hit uh the state comes out with some estimates throughout the year so that's kind of based on what what their estimates are
saying but still um pretty conservative because we always don't know until we get after sometime very close or after the end of the year what exactly that's going to wind up to be but uh pretty confident on that one um with with 572
as the increase but I I would it could it could go higher than that but again that's one of those where we just don't have enough information that from the state so uh various Le levies and AIDS those get adjusted there are adjustments
that happen after you pass the budget and so uh those those different several different AIDS and L get adjusted so those are just adjustments there so we added a 174,000 and then federal aid uh again
for our district that's a relatively small piece of Revenue because it's based on free and reduced meal counts and so we looked at federal aid um we needed to push that down by about 65,000 and then a a bigger one is the long-term facility maintenance Revenue
so that one is a result of we we we've had increased Debt Service pay payments so those really have to shift and they go they wind up we we wind up accounting for those in our debt service fund and it's a dollar Ford dooll reduction almost in the aid that goes into the
general funds so that's a so that one was 382,000 so those are the those are the revenue changes any questions okay I'll keep going uh on the expenditure side of things like I mentioned uh for salaries wages and
benefits uh those are all a result of of settling contracts um and being able to know where where we are with those expenses purchase Services uh we look at some Trend history there and we look at Tech in the areas of Technology utilities legal and insurance uh so we
feel comfortable pushing those down a little bit more uh then supplies various across the board uh increases projecting out where we think we'll be so about 42,000 and then some Capital expenditures down about 235,000 and
that's just things like if we're purchasing a vehicle did we need to purchase one well no we didn't so we pushed that down for this year so any questions on the expenditures okay and then when we look at where where we think we're going to
wind up with this our unassigned fund balance would be 3,616 and because we have now we have this assigned fund balance for budget deficit we need to look at those two together so this is this is kind of new here uh so when we have a deficit budget
um we're required to put an assigned fund balance in if it's available some districts don't even have enough available to do that but we're required to put in uh an assigned part of that or assign that uh budget deficit into the assigned fund balance so when we look at that we've got a total of about
5,918 and as a percentage of expenditures it's about 11.5% any questions there how did that change from because I thought we were already at 11 and a half un assigned so how did this required
assign fund balance affect that um well we we're always looking at it I didn't add that in tonight but we're always when we're calculating that fund balance that assigned fund balance is I always take both of those together oh gotcha
okay any other questions and then board actions required yes so let's go ahead we'll take action but if you want to yep you bet quickly and then move next all right do I have a motion to approve the budget revisions for 2024
2025 so by director Woodson second second by director dooll call director doen I director Peterson hi hi Donna hi rean
I director witson I Stout I motion uh okay thank you now we'll move to approval of the budget reduction updates 2025 2026 so this is something you've seen
several times um so this one has changed again we've revised this one and I'll just run through mainly focus on the areas that have changed so uh propose use of fund balance um we're proposing in this this revision here to use about
$760,000 of fund balance and that would keep us out our projected fund balance would be about just over 8% and that's uh a slight change from where we were previously last month in the projection I think it was about
8.28% um again when we look at that 8% represents 29 days of cash on hand to pay pay expenses so um the bo policy isn't extremely high or overly High you know it's just it's U you know
8% um a lot of districts have an 8% policy and so some have a higher policy than that and some have lower it just depends on the district but U so we go to the next page so some of the some of the
differences here in this uh in the revenues and adjustments modification is um we do we do have a 5% increase in activity fees for this one um so that would generate approximately 14,000 and that was we had we had that 20% in um we
gave us some feedback and we said hey okay uh we we reduced it down so we had a that it's a $56,000 uh increase before so we knocked it down to 14 in addition um we have heard um a request to look at uh
allowing senior citizens to get into gate without a charge yeah we're gonna talk about that because there's another request that we talk about so um why don't you go through this whole revenue and then let's go back to that okay sure
sounds good so then uh we had you know returning the class sizes of those prepandemic levels um for K5 we had an adjustment for e8th grade we look at the cor class size based on the resident and open enrollments there so that one we're
we're pushing uh we're adding a section at the eth grade level um so Revenue estimate to account for that is up uh to 561,000 for that open for those additional open enrollment and additional resident kids uh Community
Education cost sharing um that one uh increased uh about $8,000 uh that's the that service some service costs of an educator that will be doing some coaching and letters training with the with the staff and
Community ad fund so the next one on the expense adjustments uh again reducing the number of sections in elementary based on that current enrollment so that's 160,000 um the high school that one uh
reduced since you've last seen this that one there's another reduction a 6 FTE so a little little bit more than a halftime FTE and that's due to the enrollment numbers at ninth grade and uh so we look at both the Middle School uh that
addition there that section that's being added there and the additional reduction at the high school it's 112 um some of the other the other Staffing so again the facilities and ground staff that's still in there as a special education there's a there's an
ad of about 24 ,000 uh for special education um that's a 0.25% increase in the FTE and then uh we restructure Technology support that's been there before and red reduction of extra
service contracts so that's $100,000 so any questions so far um a question is on the point six is that the this year's current nth grade or next school year nth grade so it's
based on based on estimates for next year that's what I thought okay that's what I thought good question okay when we look at purchase Services uh the estimate is 9,500 slight a slight slight change it was 91,000 before so again it's remained
relatively unchanged uh under the reduction for transportation cost and Athletics and activities that still stands and that's that running reducing the number of buses that were going to each uh each event so that's 20,000 now
what was removed off of here is um again based on the feedback that you gave us uh there was a a small reduction of about $4500 for low you know low enrollment in certain activities so that one we just took that out so uh Supply reductions
again that's the same and then other reductions in in uh teaching and learning including resour sources and planning then that one is is about the same as well so okay so then you can kind of see how
all of these Revenue adjustments and expense adjustments come together and we've got um we get down to that the budget projected budget deficit at the bottom $2 million and so we'd be looking at
$759,000 roughly 760 to to dip into fund balance which would leave us at of a little over 8% so there is some flexibility here and it's U if you remember if you recall when uh I've talked about getting the
state approval for a three-year run a three-year deficit in our operating Capital restricted fund balance uh that gives us some flexibility uh like I said that's kind of like a loan we have to pay it back over three years and so those are things that I can kind of play
with to help us Bridge gaps in in our fund balance that work so um that that helps so is it there's not where is it the 215,000 that we're going to have as a
surplus this year is that reflected in this that one that one is not so what when that's going to be reflected is in the projections that I'll bring on the 14th we have a study session and so I'm going to bring another you know three-year projection to look at so
we'll have all of that updated um in there so yeah if it were were reflected here would our fund balance be a little higher it would be yeah okay yeah because this is all based on the current the current approved budget yep okay
thank you other questions want to go back to the fees yeah let's go back to um the fees so um you'll Rec that when we talked about the increase in activity Fe return when we had the 20% and uh we were going to
remove it all together but we also had a couple other things come up that we thought we should talk about together and the have the full context for this so um we received some feedback about um we do have so to come to a State High
School leag game um that we are at our school we do charge um an entry fee and for uh senior citizens that are um within our community they are able to get a pass
that's called the Golden is the golden something golden zepher pass um to allow them to enter for free so anyone who is a resident is able to get that golden zepher pass however it was brought up that um the idea of allowing any senior
C um so grandparents who don't live in the um we went back and we um looked at sales from this year and just kind of gave an estimate of that would be about um $10,000 of Revenue approximately um based on so far this
year and projecting um so we thought you know that's that's a budget impact as well um um director Dr witson also asked about students and um did you want to speak to that a little bit you asked me
about students as well uh yeah sure the same idea applies to having the opportunity for students to attend their peers games for free as well um that was something actually I think I shared that before I was even on the board that last fall um provided some suggestions um
that Pro I think about my students my my kids who want to see their peers but they don't want to play six or seven bucks every time they want to run into the watch volleyball for a few minutes right um so the idea of having providing an encouragement right reducing the barriers for our students to encourage
and uh watch their other students um compete uh I thought would be a great way for um just to build some Community um an opportunity for um kids to sort of see things and be more involved without having to worry about the cost so that was one of the suggestions I had I guess
last fall as I was talking with um ARP about some ideas we didn't have a dollar amount around that I I have one now so um and looking again uh re so this is revenue to date student ticket sales are
$199,000 um so that would be another um possibility um we also sell an all sports pass for $50 so students could just use that all sports pass and all sports passes um that's 20 we've sold um
$200 those go can you use those at a school le the home they would have to be home nonsection games right nonsection okay so um one of the things I did ask the question um about do you know do
other schools do this um and the conversation is that um when students purchase a ticket or a pass there's an additional level of accountability you have some skin and when you're going to that whereas if you don't then it you can drop in you can leave you know like
there's just not the same level of um level of accountability to coming to so it become in some schools um that had found that it became uh more of a supervision issue by not having a small fee to come in um our neighboring
schools do charge for home games um except for uh White Bear Lake that the only that does not charge for students for home games others or other neighbors do um uh I was also recommended that if we
did do something like this there would be an need to be an increase in supervision so we might need to hire someone else to help with supervision students as well just because that has been the experience um of having more students come to games um when they're
not just something where they can kind of hang out and then the last thing that we needed to um just highlight this and I know I'm I'm giving you all the why Nots and I'm sorry about that but I just want us to be really clear it sounds the idea of having more kids cheer on our
students is would be awesome and we do want that we want more kids to access our games and we're also it's it's our nature as administrators to to kind of think about security and student safety and and all of that and if you've ever
had to work at a at um be in charge of students at homecoming game you'd understand um especially the zeper Zone anyway um there I mean there have been some some incidents at at high school games um that are student student
conduct incidents um that have been concerning at various times and so that's that's our nature is to think about about that um that aspect and so I want us to be be mindful of that if that's the direction we go so it's it's not just
Revenue situation that's also um a student supervision issue for us as well at any rate um all of these are part of the conversation I think when we talk about activities whether it's the increase in fees if we do want to change
because we do count on the revenue um from ticket sales as well so um I have a couple questions on that so with the senior well here's my first question question my first question is what is the age for the seniors I mean I don't remember if it's
um director Anderson do you know the age of the what age is the gold what 55 can get a gold no I don't is it 55 well all right yeah I think it's a little older than that I think it's a little old okay
well and I guess one of the things that I I feel like I think I've heard is that many of our neighboring districts do offer that as that free admittance for seniors correct because there's kind of two topics we're talking about seniors and the some do I wouldn't say many Resident
seniors or all seniors I think all I could be wrong it's all there are some that do all y that is true um it might cause trouble too though it's hard to know I don't feel like we need to do the same kind of
supervision so wored about that a little Rowdy so I I do really like the idea of um you know expanding the offering for seniors besides just in District because we have a large percentage of families that open and roll to our district and
so giving them the opportunity to come to our games I think is great is that reflected here though in any of these Revenue adjustments no no we have not this is a discussion okay that's what I thought yeah um sorry the second can I ask the
second part of the question the second part of the question on the student side the student the student piece that is right now the pass is the only option for like does that include discount a discount okay so otherwise it's just the
Gan rate or whatever we use that Gan $5 okay all sports pass is $50 and we do have oh do you have a number 60 60 about yeah um and we do have um
for we do have students who receive that all sports pass um AS Scholarship under a scholarship as well so um there are students that the counselors Bas you have some need based all sports tests y does the above 60 if you have if the
the seniors in for free would they still have to go through the app to acquire it ticket even if there was no cost I Logistics I do not know sorry under the new policy if it was any senior from out to would show an ID show
an ID okay oh it's similar to like staff who can show an ID I mean they would just show an ID I think that's I think that's a great idea even just practically I have seen grandparents standing outside of the fences uh trying to get their phones to work on some of these things so I think
that would also be a great alternative them um I know we haven't made any other Revenue adjustments here same I wanted to ask you I know and I texted Barb about this earlier our assumptions for next year's projections was
2.55% and it sounds like the number came in at no yeah yeah most current the recent ones in this one yeah it's 2.74 this reflect yes yeah the money that get how much was that difference dollar uh about roughly a little below $60,000
60,000 and what is 18 bit because we're I think the fund balance was 8.18% right what's that what is sorry what's 18 basis points worth of the remaining fund to the minimum um
my phone on yeah maybe you can do that if you have your phone I don't my phone's I could grab my phone um you're so I just want to clarify your question is how much room correct how
much cush is there but I don't know if that's accur yeah I would I would say million close yeah that would be close yeah it's not a lot of room yeah director
Donna um regarding the fees um so help me understand again so we right now we charge students six bucks right five written down I don't know um So currently we charge students and currently we Char and how
much does that represent in total revenue 19,000 bucks at at this Point Revenue to date I have 19,1 156 that's for this Academic Year um yes for this year this school year that it will go higher than 20,000
because we're not even and then for seniors we currently charge seniors about $10,000 in Revenue approximately is was his estimate for the year
and these Revenue adjustments do not account for any of that if those were to be adjusted would we need to find that 30,000 somewhere else do we have to make a cut or do we have just enough well um
couple things so is that mean you're on so I'd like I'd really like us to talk about about the student one I'll just tell you that's not our recommendation at all like I the senior one um senior citizens I understand that one and um
the the student I'd want to have more conversation if that's really the way you want to go because we I'd also want to put in there that we would want to look at our supervision as well so I just need you to know that one and what do seniors currently pay do I
don't remember anyone know what do seniors currently pay anyone know right now do you know okay I I do oh there you go okay um student students and students and seniors are the same at five because I buy my data ticket for
everything too and what was do we what's the origin of the the wanting to adjust seniors I've never heard an issue with that before we got that feedback a couple board members
got that feedback via email and then it was also on our um via social media as well something they and I said that we would consider it in the large picture thank you I don't necessarily have to decide
that today but um because this is the first time we're discussing it but I wanted to as we thought about the other um adjustments I thought we should talk about these as well because of big picture with activity Revenue excuse
me excuse me did I miss did you say how many golden passes were requested or handed out this school year I'm I'm seeing not very many is the number I have
that were request maybe 20 okay thanks we could potentially do better at um putting it out there um so this student piece just at the first
glance obviously the first time we've heard of this um I would say it seems to be there's some concerns over that and and I would say that seems like a supervision issue and that ultimately seems like a cost issue in a time when we're going through budget revisions my first opinion on that would be maybe
this isn't the correct time um because if this isn't reflected in what we're already seeing in in the proposed budget and then secondly even though I think I think the senior piece is also valid I think that that's a valid piece I guess without it
being reflected here I would hate to see additional Cuts made at this point when we're talking about classroom cuts and all sorts of cuts across the board across the district that one I mean I I would suggest that we this is the first time
we typically don't vote on something the first time it's shown up um so that I needed to give it to you because we were talking about increase we're talking about activity fees and it's related um I'm not recommending that you vote on this on this tonight um but I
wanted you to have that as a thought as we talk about this that was really my intention of bringing it up tonight I think we do need to point out there's a 5% increase in activity fees which is lower than the 20% you had last time but we need to talk about that because I
think a lot of us expressed concerns about it so that was the other thing that we we still have it sitting in there but um and and that was again one um because it hadn't been increased in a long time um there was the recommendation to just increase it
slightly so that um we don't have a situation we down the road we have to make a significant jump um so that was that was it and again if you feel like that needs to come off altoe that's okay too um we can work with that but I just
wanted to put it out there one more time for a conversation a question for you uh just reflecting on the fact that our budget moved by $200,000 between now and the end of the year is it important that we solve 100% dollar for dooll for next year or is
there a level of cushion that we could solve for 95% of it or 97% and assume that there's enough volatility and movement in the assumptions yeah so first is is budget and you're you're going to see this thing you're going to see this thing change as we get closer to June you're going to see reports on a
monthly basis and you're going to you're going to see those numbers change so I right I I don't you know you don't have and I think like Barb says it's good to maybe mull it over before you take action but on $10,000 I mean right you
know it's it's something we can we can work with but again it's it's more so um just looking at making sure we're we're all understanding the impact uh of any of those decisions kind of longer term but I want to be clear we are taking a vote tonight so if people don't
want to do any increases then this needs to be amended so I just want to make sure we're all understanding what Wei at hand if you'd like us to pull that 5% increase we could pull that you could vote again and then the next time you
would be voting truthfully is going to be on the preliminary budget which you you know at this point we're far enough along that we're working with what we have and you'll vote on the budget again
Don um speak that's a good point that director witson made um but with respect to you know I understand respect to the fees again you know it's it's $14,000 but to me it's more the
principle the fact that we haven't increased activity fees for several years and I've seen too many times we're not talking a lot of money but five years from now if we continue not to increase them we might be in a position where
something like this is a lot of money um I mean I would even consider we need to consider pegging our costs to inflation certain areas of certain areas of our budget so on
principle I I'm I support an increase in the activity fees simply on principle that we have to we have to really look at the cost of inflation that have we haven't done this for several years and I don't want to get in a spot five years from now where you
know 14,000 is now 50,000 so that's just my two sents um I'm I'm supportive of all the adjustments that have been made here tonight yeah I mean I I was going to say something similar in the fact that I
wasn't in favor of the 20% I felt like that was going to hit families pretty steep um especially you think of kids who are involved in multiple activities but I think that at the 5% it seems like keeping Pace with inflation and Rising costs of things um it makes sense for us
to be realistic versus all of a sudden we're 3 to 5 years from now and then we're in a bad place so 5% seems very livable um and so thank you for saying that director Donna Director
D okay and director Peters director Peterson oh thank you I also can live with the five I could not stomach anything higher thank you uh director wison when we looked at our
sort of the comp set of our activity fees in the area we're we're already pretty high correct is that right um I was probably my position was I felt like if we were fundamentally higher on a per student
basis I would I'd be happy waiting for a long time until we felt like our fees were in the same range as our neighbors right to let them catch up to us and then sort of feel like we have more justification um so I would be I would be in favor of holding off until we felt
like our fees were on parity with our neighbor fees if if we feel like that's the appropriate way to measure the cost of those activities for our district compared to those districts I'd like to make a motion to
move forward with the vote as is second by director Peters Peterson for approval of the budget reduction updates for 2025 2026 any dis further discussion may I just make one comment um you'll see that
second bullet I was going to just point out we heard a lot of feedback about our current seventh grade class sizes this year based on um you know surprised by we got surprised over the summer by how many um new residents moved in and so
that pushed our seventh grade class sizes up um we saw that we had um enough additional residents um and open enrollment to be able to add that eighth grade class that eighth grade section when we add that eighth grade section
that's bring that's actually even though we have open enrollment and Resident enrollment it's actually bringing those class sizes down because it's not so many new new um new students that um it would increase so I just want to make
that clear that um we are up in terms of number of students in eth grade for next year but by adding that section our class sizes are coming down and I know that was a concern for people this school year so I wanted to just highlight that as part of the
adjustment okay we have a motion on the table uh is there any further discussion are we and we're voting on 100% of the revenue and expense as it's as that's listed doen hi director Peterson
I director Donna hior Regan hi director witson I Madam chair Stout I motion carries okay thank you all good discussion thank you Tim now we'll go to our final
reading of policies okay and so for this this is our final reading I haven't once again I haven't heard anything um we haven't had any comments since the original um since we started this conversation back however many meetings
ago that was so I am just recommending that we approve the policies final reading yes and I'll just Echo that this is the third reading meaning this is the third meeting that we have had these before us
so I think we've discussed all the issues um so can I get a motion so moved second second Byna Dr dolman hi director Peterson
ior Donna I Regan i director witson I so I motion carries okay School Board committee reports we'll start with amsd director Donna I believe superintendent duffan
gave my report so thank you okay okay thank you and now for the m um I do not have a um meeting since we met last however I just wanted to remind everybody to make sure on your calendars
for April 11th this is zephra Gala um you also got communication from Leslie about um the school board contributing a basket to the gala as well um we have
possibly landed on a theme of pickle ball basket pickle ball themed basket and so um looking for your contribution to that if you are willing um we hope that there'll be a lot of interest in our pickle ball basket um since it's
a I mean we could throw in that I nominate Ryan we could throw in a coupon of such that maybe we could use Kate the facilities or something to do a game over there with the basket winner or something that's a great idea um but
anyway the supplies Drive the price down yeah or way up it could drive it way up you never know um I would volunteer for that I think that sounds like fun and Ryan as our athletes um so yeah so I'm need to
start working on that basket rather quickly since um the gal is coming soon so if you're willing to help contribute to the school board basket around pickle ball I think that's where we'll land and um that's all I have for an update around ma um looking forward to seeing you all at the
gallon msba up yes my notes for that are what Barb had in our Sunday notes or just go to the msba website it is perfectly laid out explained bullet points links better than I could go through it right now and
the next if you'd like to join the Statewide Zoom the next one's Tuesday April 1st first at 8:00 a.m. and uh like I said Barb has it all laid out in our notes from Sunday okay oh Northeast Metro 916 board
that's me I have already shared to look for the upcoming dates of Tours and highly encourage you to do that I've also shared the summary which Leslie sends out um but I do want to point out I met with the superintendent
and I did a tour of one of the buildings and um I just want to um give a shout out to Tony Pierce because we've done a lot of work with um the he's done a lot of work with 916 and they work really well together
and he's really done a great job for us really we want to keep our our students in our district 916 supports us to do that and then also if there's students that to that go to one of their buildings you know that we we we make that happen but but the ultimate goal is
to have the supports here in our own district and he's done a great job doing that okay other board reports excuse me Stacy what time is the tour on Wednesday there's three different tours so um I
will I'll uh have Leslie send them out again thank you and since I'm on here I'll do my gifted in talented the advanced academics uh it was just a meeting for anyone whose child was just identified this spring so it was a get to know you
and see what the program is all about they met last week okay thank you uh director wison did I see y yeah um so this past uh week I went to the PTO meeting at Wildwood and I'd just like to say what a bunch of
fun and enthusiastic moms and one dad that that group was so I I really enjoyed being there that was great um a couple highlights um their financials look strong and they're looking like they're to end the year on budget um couple neat events I should call out that they mentioned there is a uh a
volunteer breakfast that happening this year on May 12th at the district education center I think this is the first year they're doing a recognition just for the volunteers um there is a staff appreciation breakfast on May 8th um and of course as as Max has already
said as many of us you need a little section called as Max has already mentioned uh Spring Fling is on May 16th from 5: to 8 at Wildwood there will be food trucks and activities and it serves to be a wonderful fundraiser for the
PTO great and I would like to point out that this was Drew's first board report yes did a great job so okay thank you anything else okay can I I get a motion to aour
no move by director Regan second I can invite director Donna all those in favor say uh D roll call votor do director Peterson I think said I saw say I sorry I I director Donna I director
Regan i director witson I mam chair Stout I we are ajed thank you