##VIDEO ID:JxVKbsXeZpM## hello everyone I'm David L superintendent of motanka public schools and I'm Mike rol a director on the motanka school board we are glad you're able to join us for our Schoolboard recognitions program it's important to take time to acknowledge and celebrate the outstanding the accomplishments of our students staff and community members We Begin most of our regular board meetings with recognitions to highlight the positive impact that so many different people make in our district tonight we are recognizing National Merit semifinalists from the class of 2025 act top score earners from the class of 2025 2024 25 student honored teachers National Merit commended students from the class of 2025 National College Board recognition honores and newly named AP Scholars with distinction from the 20232 24 school year we will begin with our National Merit semi-finalists act top score earners and honored teachers these groups were celebrated last week at our third annual Scholars breakfast minetonka High School seniors were named 20125 National Merit semi-finalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship program the students scored among the nation's best on the PSAT which serves as the National Merit Scholarship qualifying test it is taken during junior year as semi-finalist these students are eligible for incredible scholarships to support their postsecondary education they represent the top 1% of all PSAT test takers our National Merit semi-finalist from the class of 2025 include razine Abdu field Madison Ambrose Joe's Buffington Daniel Crocker aen Duan Porter Sarah Ericson Paisley hoppy Gabriella Hudson Neil cashap Maxwell Kong silver Oakman Chandler Olen Jack petran Anthony Pooh Nathan reamer adika Sachi Dan andan Amelia sansaar Benjamin schmidtz Eric sutow Alexander weer Owen warry congratulations to each of you during the scholar breakfast we also recognize students from the class of 2025 who have earned a top score of 36 on the ACT those students include Daniel Crocker beer Curry Leah grund Nicholas Joseph Maxwell Kong and Owen wary congratulations students during the scholars breakfast program each of these students had the opportunity to recognize a minetonka teacher who has made a profound impact on their education students shared remarks about their teachers at the event and we are pleased to present those remarks now hi so I'm Ren Abdul field uh and I'm going to be nominating Mr bar uh Mr bar has been a game changer for me in school he's gone out of his way to give me great opportunities like working on the scheduling app of course uh which not only taught me a lot about computer science but showed me that I can actually make a difference he creates a safe place for students to experiment and fail and has pushed me to T take on tough projects Mr bar really gets to know each of his students and celebrates his uh our wins with us more importantly he makes learning fun I couldn't have asked for a better teach and I appreciate all of his support and [Applause] guidance hi there everyone my name is Madison Ambrose so Mrs litkey was my seventh grade science teacher and out of all the classes I took in middle school I think hers was my favorite she encouraged me to pursue my passion in science and win the extra mile to educate me even going as fars to let me stay in her classroom after school to watch documentary Clips with her or ask her questions and halfway through sabath th grade we went to online learning and she still kept up that commitment through Google meets oneon-one after class um the time and effort that she put into teaching me ignited my love for Learning and I'm so grateful that she worked so hard to foster a connection with me thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you um my name is Joe Buffington and I'm here this morning to recognize Miss Peterson my um I moved here right before entering her class with not even enough time to do the summer reading and she always went out of her way to make sure there was a place for me my very first essay in her class I got the worst grade I've ever received on a piece of writing and I went into her class very insecure about my ability to meet the stand English standards of like a new school district I felt like I was really behind and then I came out of her class ready to grow as a writer throughout High School she nominated me as a writing coach and that really meant a lot to me and I just want to thank her for having a class that pushed me and my friends out of a comfort zone and we still talk about the class all the time so thank you so [Applause] much all right my name is Dan Crocker I'm here for Mr L he couldn't be here today but I think one thing that I just want to tell uh everybody here is that Mr L he's not just a great teacher right I think everybody here knows how to be a great teacher but he's just a great person I think Cal is kind of not a really amicable subject right it's not exactly what people look forward to every day but Mr lot I had him for two years and he made me want to come to class so I think when I think of Mr L I'm thinking not of the teacher and not of the way he taught me but of the person that he is and of the person I remember uh during class he told stories War Story Wednesdays uh if he was here he'd get that reference but um that just made it made his class really special and made me remember him not as a teacher but as a person and as a person that I actually want to be around so thank you Mr [Applause] L my name is aen D Porter and I'm honoring Miss Holt Miss Holt has been one of my favorite teachers of all time she made a subject that has never been fun for me writing enjoyable my absolute favorite thing about being one of her students was her feedback she was never overly harsh but she point out the flaws of my writing and how to improve them at the time that was something I didn't know I needed but I absolutely did she set the foundation for the rest of the high school and I can never thank her enough for that so thank [Applause] you hi my name is Sarah Erikson and I'm honoring Miss Hitchcock me and Miss Hitchcock met my freshman year when I was meeting with her about some creative writing during my communications class I was not particular particularly confident in my writing especially the creative part and I definitely did not want to meet with the teacher to discuss it during this short 10 to 15 minutes that we met she told me that my idea was creative and instilled confidence in me and my writing that otherwise would have taken years to build with that confidence I became a writing coach as you know and I am excited to write whenever I get the chance thank you Miss [Applause] Hitchcock my name is Leah grund and I'm honoring Pro Aon even though learning a new language is hard and can be nerve-wracking Pro Aon made it as approachable and enjoyable as possible while still challenging me to keep improving my skills she helped me improve my Spanish immensely and suddenly conjugations and grammar became an enjoyable part of my day I wasn't in the immersion program and I only started taking Spanish classes in high school but Pro Aon and her class are a big reason why I want to continue to learn Spanish after I graduate so thank you [Applause] I am Paisley Hoy and I am honoring Bo Leo I'm excited to nominate Leo ler for being one of the best teachers I've had during High School in the three years that I've had her as a teacher she has been kind and always ready with a great sense of humor she has challenged me to use critical thinking and step out of my comfort zone when I'm in her class and can make even the most mundane tasks fun and interesting if I have any question questions I always feel comfortable coming to her for answers C [Applause] Le my name is Gabriela Hudson and I'm honoring sarapin sufel so to Finn from me you always read concert grams out in class after the orchestra concert so although I don't think this award comes with candy I thought I would format it like a concert gam so I guess it kind of counts since you got to invited to a breakfast because of it I can't say although I can't say as much as I'd like your your presence has always made Orchestra something I look forward to every day you always have such entertaining things to say and fun stories to share and you're a big part of the reason that I've been in Orchestra all four years of my high school also you had us play Fantasia one year which we should totally do again so sorry not sorry for asking in a speech [Applause] hi my name is Nicholas Joseph and I'd like to nominate Mr bind um I'd like to thank Mr burine for inspiring me to pursue Engineering in college and I'm grateful for his support and flexibility as a teacher over three years um I'd also really like to thank him for being uh a club adviser for four years now um we've gone to Texas twice we've been really successful um and he's just a really great person [Applause] hi my name is Max Kong and I'd like to um honor Dr Amanda say so I had Amanda say in both chemistry and forensics and I can tell in both those classes she really tries to connect with the students and she really enjoys teaching in forensic she would create full mock crime scenes and in chemistry even the little Graphics she put in her um slides would make class all the more enjoyable she once told me that before uh while she was getting her PhD she taught students um during that time and then afterwards she enjoyed it so much that she quit her research just to keep teaching high school students and I think it really shows in how much teach tries to connect with all the students in class [Applause] my name is Chandler Olen and I'm nominating Mr Bolen in my sophomore year I walked into my fourth hour class with a smile on my face every day it was AP Language and Composition with Mr Bolen Mr Bolen was not only an excellent teacher but an excellent role model he Not only was ready to talk about AP Lang and comp but also to talk before class about the Minnesota Vikings or Pink Floyd or the best items on the Wendy's menu his passion and love for teaching is unmistakable in and out of the classroom and I'll never forget the impact his class had on me thank you Mr [Applause] Bolen hi I'm Jack petran and I would like to nominate Mr Finch Mr Finch was my AP Bio teacher junior year while I don't like picking favorites Mr Finch was definitely one of my favorite teachers I've ever had AP Bio with him was a fun experience and I learned a lot over the course of the year that helped be successful not only in the class and on the AP exam but also on the ACT and Pat everything from the nature walks to in-class Labs was an amazing experience and so I'd like to sincerely thank you Mr Finch for being an amazing teacher Min Tonka would not be the same without [Music] [Applause] [Music] you good morning Min tanka my name is Nathan reer and the teacher that I would like to present this morning is Mr Steven Rista when I think of a teacher's role in the classroom I don't think of somebody who tells me how to pass a test or memorize a formula or answer a question I admire Mr ristow because he not only gave me the knowledge and resources to succeed but he also pushed me to that success I for me apus history was more than just textbook readings or lectures Mr provided stories and anecdotes and fun projects that went above the expect expectations and made the classroom feel genuinely alive I'm very honored and humbled to be up here and to present this award to him for his part in My Success today thank you very [Applause] much good morning I'm advika sadanandan and I'm honoring Miss Gibbs Miss Gibbs was my IB language and literature teacher in my junior year I'm honoring her today because her class was one of the ones I look forward to the most Miss Gibbs always brought endless positivity and thoughtfulness to the classroom and was obvious she cared about each and every one of her students not only did she make CL the class more interesting and engaging she went out of her to way her way to make conversation and connect with me about anything and everything she's an inspiration to me and all of her students thank you Miss [Applause] Gibbs hi my name is IIA sassin far and I'm not honoring Miss nandakumar um I had Miss nandakumar for AP Physics freshman year and she made my transition into High School an amazing one miss nandakumar was able to take the difficult topic of physics and explain explain things in a way that made sense I walked into class every day looking forward to learning something new and appreciate how easy she made it to ask questions both in and outside of class with extra help hours and Google meets Miss Dak Kumar's passion for teaching in physics was apparent and learning was made fun with videos and labs my love of science that I still have today began in her class and I'll always be grateful for it hi my name is Eric Salto and I'm nominating Miss bman who unfortunately couldn't make it today um my first conversation with MES bman though subtle at the time kind of shifted my perspective on life I was a freshman at Deca and I was trying to fill out my schedule and she convinced me to take accounting and and while I didn't end up taking accounting after me and my mom discussed that it might be a better idea to take a different class that small conversation H helped me explore business and last year I had Miss bamman in Advantage Global business where sure the class was good but what truly stood out was Miss Batman's passion for helping every student grow every class whether cash flows or company projects was filled with her dedication and love for teaching so thank you Miss bman for your mentorship and just being some that I look up [Applause] to hi my name is Alexander weer and I'm nominating uh Miss Al wanley who was my teacher in the fourth and fifth grade and she was the teacher that welcomed me into a life in the US from where I used to live in Sweden um which obviously that was really special to me that you were there for me at that time really special point in my life um beyond that though you're the first teacher that earnestly put me in situations where I could grow not just academically but as a person and for me you just set a really high bar for what a teacher could mean um and yeah you changed what school could be for me completely changed what school was so I'll always be incredibly thankful for your guidance and that you were there for me at that point in my life and yeah I'm really grateful to have been your student [Applause] hello my name is onwy today I would like to nominate Mark St my fourth and fifth grade Navigators teacher Mr St helped me understand that being labeled gifted wasn't an advantage if I didn't make it one rather than relentlessly praising my accomplishments like many had done before Mr St taught me humility the value of hard work and how to lead not manage team projects now instead of basing my identity around intelligence I base my identity around being a hard worker and a helpful peer friend and family member thank you Mr [Music] Stark I'm going to go back for a student who wasn't here and read about a a teacher who is um these are the remarks from student Ben schmidtz who was unable to join us today who is honoring Joy Curran Joy are you here today Ben reports Miss curan I look back Finly on my time in the wings program she was very kind and encouraged us to be creative and think critically about the world around us her teaching played an important role in my journey towards finding joy and learning and knowledge the environment that she created made me feel comfortable and like I belonged the thing I learned in her class helped me to Value knowledge and inspired me to take advanced classes which led me towards academic success thank you Miss curan teachers thank you for the difference you make each day for our students we are truly grateful for your dedication and impact congratulations again to our students and thank you to the families teachers and friends who have supported them in their efforts throughout their time in minetonka next we'll recognize three more groups of students who have achieved outstanding academic honors the class of 2025 National Merit commended students class of 2025 and 2026 students receiving National recognitions from the college board and new AP Scholars with distinction from the 2023 24 school year earning these Awards requires an incredible amount of hard work and dedication we ask these honores to share about a class at MHS that has inspired them and has had an impact on their academic Journey here's what they shared with us hi my name is beran and I'm a junior I would like to say that the AP classes that I've taken specifically physics and seminar have been some of my most beneficial and worthwhile classes their content was challenging and my teachers were some of the most dedicated people I know I'm incredibly grateful to have a school that gives me so much great opportunity my name is Aiden brand Larson I am a junior at MHS and by the time I'm done with junior year I will have taken 13 AP or IB courses my favorite AP course has been AP Human Geography because I found it to be the most impactful and enlightening and perspective changing as well as the most applicable to the real world Shout Out Mr rer thank you hi I'm melan Dary I'm a junior this year and I'm being recognized as an AP scholar of Distinction I've had the opportunity to take many interest AP classes so far and I'm really grateful that minona high school has made it possible for us to challenge ourselves with ap IB and honors classes because of this I've been able to stretch my thinking and feel prepared for whatever comes ahead in particular I want to thank my AP teachers because I know that it's a lot of extra work and preparation for them to teach an AP class my name is Emily Campion I am a 2025 senior and some of the AP classes that have been most significant for me have been the class classes to the Vantage program this has allowed me to learn the content through real world experiences for example I use seminar in my final company project presentation and microeconomics in my Shark Tank competition also pre-cal and Cal have allowed me to find my interest in finance which is what I plan on majoring in for college taking AP courses has significantly impacted my academic Journey chemistry with Dr S taught me how to think more scientifically in AP World History with Mr Estelle I discovered World patterns which was an eye opening EXP experience that brought in my worldview Calculus BC with Mr Johnson challenged my problem solving skills and solidified my interest in engineering Mr Douglas and Mr bolin's classes helped me refine my communication skills these experiences have influenced both my academic goals and career Ambitions thank you my name is Sammy Waxman and I am a current Junior um through the class of 2026 and I really enjoyed taking AP classes I think they really have pushed me to become a better learner a better listener and a better studier and classes like AP Cam and other stuff like that really have pushed me in that aspect to stay persistent through tough classes tough grades tough anything and I've really also discovered my love for math through Cal calculus just pre-cal and all that sort of thing and I've really enjoyed my math teachers especially um and it's a passion that I've come to find through taking AP classes hello hello my name is Isabella Dirks and I am a senior within the class of 2025 um I was awarded the national Hispanic award and this award was especially significant for me because it not only recognizes the hard work and dedication that I put into my studies but also celebrates my Hispanic heritage and receiving this honor U motivates me to continue to to strive for such excellence and also to empower others um to do the exact same so thank you hi my name is Lux and I'm a junior at MHS I'm an AP scholar with distinction that's a nice title but the title should never be the goal the title should be a nice thing on the and the real fun is the learning and The Innovation and the progress that we all make towards a better future on ours National Merit commanded students are recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for showing outstanding academic promise they have all scored within the top 4% of PSAT test takers Nationwide this year 30 motanka High School seniors have been named National Merit commended Scholars our National Merit commended Scholars from the class of 2025 include Justin Abraham Hudson bonitz Molly Burr Jaden Kai Tyler CLA Lauren Clancy Sarah clear Becker Curry John donu L Kon felona Grace gablehouse jie Gotti Elizabeth goodier Leah grund Kate hookstra Caleb hoard Adeline Keenan Amelia Clemy saurin Lee Grayson Lewis John melbour Carmen Pap Michael Sander Marcus silver Lucy snow William steinis Ellison stro AAR sucan James Thomas and Nicholas waloff the College Board National recognition program also honors outstanding academic promise based on PSAT scores for students from underrepresented groups 16 motanka students have earned the national African-American recognition award National Hispanic recognition award Nation indigenous recognition award and the national first generation recognition award the eligibility criteria for these Awards include earning High marks on the PSAT or AP exams as well as having a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or higher many colleges sponsor scholarship awards for students who achieved these designations congratulations to the minetonka high school seniors who have achieved the following honors John Albright National Hispanic recognition award Tyler CLA National African-American Hispanic and Indigenous recognition award Lauren Clancy National Hispanic recognition award Francesca Kuno National Hispanic recognition award Samuel Daniels National Hispanic recognition award Isabella Dirks National Hispanic recognition award Sarah Ericson National first generation recognition award Sophie Erikson first generation recognition award Savino Fales National Hispanic recognition award Zoey Gara National Hispanic recognition award Karima Hassan National African-American and first generation recognition award Abigail Hudson National African-American recognition award Gabriella Hudson National African-American recognition award Olivia LaFontaine National indigenous recognition award and Tessa travetti National Hispanic recognition award the AP Scholars with distinction designation is granted by the College Board to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all of their AP exams and who receive a score of three or higher on five or more of these exams the students we were recognized tonight achieved the AP scholar with distinction award for the first time based on their AP exam scores from the 2023 24 school years student honores from the class of 202 24 include Emily affalter Rita Ballard Robert balls Samir batia Maxwell borchart Aaron bergoin balea boua Devin Campbell Hillary Carter Julia Constantino cydney Cummings Oliver dagel Kira Davies Thomas man Paige Dylan Allison Elrod Adam farage offia Faron Charles Frank Allison Fu Annabelle Fung jce George Brianna gel Henry good Garrett Haw Jason Hoffman Abigail Hoy Jacob Johnson brenn Camp Kira Keegan Meredith King Martin Krueger Kaylee Li Kira LeBlanc Mitchell Lage Megan man Kira Martin Anna McKinny Victoria McKinny Caleb milstein Jonathan mindek Scarlet M tyer Nai Maya nirenstein Jackson Omen Vivien Omar Ian Owens Maran Park Noah Parker Elena Paul Wyatt pelzel Riley pudwill Juliet Sakara Avery Stanwood meline Thomas anuka Al Shan Underwood Ryland vogstrom Alexander Voss zadii Wallace Jocelyn Weber John wiin Wyatt Waba Wy Wright Aiden wolf and piona zel AP Scholars with distinction from the class of 2025 include razine Abdul field aralo Chavez Alexander Augustine Owen Barbo Clara Barnes Meera Barton Benjamin Berg folk mlan bogie Eda bortle Fielder Lucas Brahma Joe's Buffington Emily Campion Griffin Carver Wesley Chen Lauren Clancy Chase Conrad Jackson Deutsch Julia Dirks rean Donnelly Caitlyn Duffy Wyatt elfstrom reys Fanning May fritzky jie Gotti Lucy Gil Daniel Gonzalez Villa Jaden Han Eleanor hman Liam helerin Elijah hemple Rachel Herbst Dominic Herman Cecilia Hitchcock Connor H Evan jaffy broer jagodinski Nicholas Joseph Nathan Kaufman Sophia kig Claire kler Nicholas labadi Parker Lacy Olivia lafon Emerson lar Ro Grace Larson Savannah Larson Parker Lind Leaf Grace Lucy John Melvin Avery morasco Johnson Colin mcolo Noah mcau Harper McMahon aelia medida Avery merfeld Lillian Miller Francisco Moreno Ariana nelski Megan ok' Conor Chandler Olen Carmen Pap Sophia parmel Natasha parar finegan pelto Wyatt Proctor Cade rabby Meritt Ravine vetto ready Connor Reagan Rowan rice Nathan reamer Ella Roberts Dylan Romero Audrey sadura Michael Sander Amelia sassanfar Benjamin schmidtz Lily shup Sophia Schatz Marcus silver Jay Smith pra sikara Brody senson Violet St Martin Jonathan Stevenson Spencer L VES Nicholas VES Eliana wanas Caroline wasli Harley walk Doris juu AP Scholars with distinction from the class of 20126 include Olivia babe Lux bodell Aiden brandle Larson Allison britzius J buler Elliot Burrows Michael Kai William Christensen Sun Hong Chua Charles Cummings Samuel Daniels Milan Dari Tyler Dodge Tatum anger britson Savino ferales Shan freeze Matthew fry Jacob gendro Isabelle gensmer Anastasia Gilbert spana ganman Henry gustofson Adam hail Michelle heck Macy herwig Thomas Holland Haley Holm Micah Hunter Sarah Hurley avelyn Irwin beran Johnson Michaela Kangas Maximillian Kenny miir kurana Alexander coralv Eric Kowalski Benjamin Krauss Ella Kurth Kiona Lawrence Grayson Lee Braden linski Curtis lindall Drew mul huxton Marcus Alexander Matson Samuel McHugh eneros melanitis Nikita natre Oliver Nelson Katherine neelson christena neelsen Henry Olsen Ella passie John prisilla hude pulivarthi Jacob roach Manuel Romero mpoi Salon catam Jada silver Liam Sullivan Evan solal Annie tan Tessa travetti Mark turot Zachary anger Samuel Waxman Michael White Sylvia Wong cuu woo isada Zar Isaac Yong Xiao and AP Scholars with distinction from the class of 2027 include Anjali Janti Jacob Lee and Michael luo congratulations again to each of our AP Scholars with distinction that concludes our recognition program for this evening thank you again for celebrating with us the school board meeting will be begin shortly e good evening I'd like to welcome you to the November 7th 2024 school board meeting for minetonka schools I'm going to call the meeting to order good evening I'd like to welcome you to the November 7th 2024 school board meeting for minetonka schools glitch in The Matrix okay let's rise and say the Pledge I pled allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all can I have a motion to adopt the agenda for tonight so moved second Dan second Chris uh all any additions comments discussion okay all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries we have an agenda um first up tonight is a school report from Groveland superintendent law Madam chair members of the board as you're all aware each month during the school year a different School comes to the board meeting to do a presentation about what's happening at their school this calendar year um during these presentations we get updates on unique things about each building sometimes tied to our Schoolboard goals tonight I think we have a special presentation that it involves some students I had a chance to meet earlier welcome principal Gilbertson thank you Madame chair superintendent law members of the board I'm excited to be here tonight to share about some of the Fantastic things that are happening at Groveland and in particular we get a chance we'll get a chance a little bit later to hear from our students um but in order to set up tonight I want to go back several months when as a school we realized we really wanted to become very clear about the type of school that we felt we were and that we wanted to be um and so as part of that process we really looked at of course the district Mission Vision and values the school board goals and um did some work around learning about that and then added um the voice of our staff and our students and asked them what kind of a school do you want grovelin to be um and from that we developed uh what I think is a very strong picture of of that school so we call it our grovin our grovin pledge I'll just read it for you the grovin elementary Community learns together and respects each other every day to create a school of belonging and excellence and this has really resonated with our community we have it of course in Spanish as well being uh uh an immersion building um once we came up with that Vision we realized we're going to have to do some work in order to make this happen just putting something on a poster doesn't doesn't cut the mustard we have to do more so the first thing we thought about is how do we have to behave what are the conditions the expectations that lay the groundwork for a great school and along the right hand side you see our three Groveland anchors that uh students and staff came up with be kind be safe and be responsible and this guides everything that we do um in the building in terms of how we behave whether we're on the playground or in the classroom um this is uh how we expect students and staff to behave and then as a staff we did a lot of conversation around what do we need to do as a staff what are the intentional ways we need to act in order to make sure that um we become the school we want to be so you can see our Collective commitments I won't read through all of them but um they really guide the behaviors and help us check each other and ourselves um so that we are continually focused on and and moving toward um the school that strong picture of a of a great School of course along the way we want to make sure we're measuring our progress so um our district has done a great job giving us tools to do that you can see on the left hand side we have the many measures that we have for academics to make sure that we're a school of excellence academically and then on the rightand side um uh a lot of measures on how we're doing in the area of belonging and behavior so our developmental relationships that's great data for us that's really helped to drive a lot of what we do um of course our Sabers um assessments that we do three times a year to really check on students themselves to make sure that they're getting what they need and they're doing well and then we have our parents and staff and student surveys and then this year we did a little bit of this last year but this year we are adding um student interviews so the fifth graders the leaders are going to go out into the building and as they did last year but probably more extensively this year they're going to find out from from the students what do you think about how our school is doing around belonging specific questions what can we do to make sure that each of you know and feel that you belong so it's exciting work um and we're really looking forward to it of course even all that uh is a lot of planning and it's great work but we really have to get down to strategically what are we planning what are we doing and what are we planning to do so that tonight we're going to talk about the actions that we're currently taking and continuing to do as a building both students and staff um around two main areas board goals one and two so excellence in student learning and support and excellence and well-being connection and belonging what are we doing to make this happen I'll start with um just uh one highlight from excellence in student learning and support no surprise that um it's around literacy that's been of course a big emphasis both at the state and District level and certainly at Groveland as well uh and we think that the formula is simple but hard to implement quality training which we've gotten through core and will continue to do that um the teachers have really receiv received that well articulating clear goals which we'll talk about in just a minute for our PLC so that they have clear Direction on where we expect and and want um each PLC uh to be and then of course consistent support both at the district level at the administrative level uh and of course at the team level we want uh teachers to support each other and then the most important thing and the thing that we feel um the best about at grovelin is we have fantastic committed teachers that make all of this work uh if you put all that together we really look for for to strong results so to give some direction to that process um we developed just essential learnings these are all based on the work that we're doing as a district and and just really making it um completely relevant to to Groveland so I won't read through all of them but they really uh deal with continuing to improve our ability to access and analyze data we've gotten some great Boost from The District in terms of training and the tools that they've uh given us especially recently um then taking that data and saying what do students need and what interventions are actually going to help them get there and close those gaps or if they need extra challenge what what things are we going to be able to apply so that they're challenged whatever level they're at um one of the other um points of emphasis is really making sure that at the tier one or the classroom level and the tier two level students are getting that support so it's not only when they get pulled out of the classroom these are things that teachers already are doing and and are continuing to strengthen how they support all students and then of course how we monitor that how are we going to know if the students are are making the progress that we that we hope and expect so that's the academic side um I'm pleased to introduce uh Mrs Sarah klitz our um assistant principal and she's going she and the students are going to take uh the next part which I'm excited to hear excellence and well-being connection and belonging what is grovin doing now and what are going to we going to continue to do to make make sure we are that um the school that we hope and dream to be good evening thank you for having us here tonight um as Mr Gilbertson said we um are really focusing tonight just on sharing our excellence and student learning as well as now our excellence and well-being connection and belonging um and really our focus at Groveland is how are we creating that welcoming inclusive environment um for each and every student that walks in in our doors so similarly to we had a um academic action plan we also have a social emotional um learning action plan and so it is again focused a lot on that tier one of making it systematic and schoolwide so it's not dependent on which teacher you have it's not dependent on what adults you interact with or what students you interact with but really it's a systemwide approach um to our social emotional learning and so our students ident and staff identifying um the essential learnings for our our social emotional well-being um do they have the structure to implement that in the classroom and a and a similar structure so it's implemented with Fidelity uh and then as well as measuring that how are we going to measure that it's a little bit more difficult to measure than the AC academic tools and that's where our student leadership team is really coming in to um not only be part of the delivery and the structure of that to all to our classrooms um but also help with the monitoring they're going to be holding some focus groups um interviews as Mr Gilbertson said to really gather that um that firsthand impact that we're making in the classrooms to make sure that um it is reaching each and every student so here I'm going to welcome we have three members of our student leadership team here with us tonight so I am going to welcome them up and they are going to share a little bit about uh what our student leadership team is all about and how it does contribute to um the supporting our belonging efforts at Groveland good evening my name is W I'm here with my classmates Eloise and moris so we are members of the groen's fifth grade student leadership team the leadership team has 55 fifth grade students on it the purpose of student leadership is to help create a school of belonging and Excellence we have three different subcommittees a bully preven and belonging team a Green Team and a school safety team hello my name is M Soul I'm part of I'm part of the bully prevention bully prevention and belonging team the reason I chose to be part of this team is because I want Groveland to be a place where everyone can be themselves feel safe and be valued our bully prevention and belonging team is working to give all of our students strategies to to prevent bullying and support everyone and to be kind safe and responsible in October we visited each classroom to teach about navigating student interactions these explain bullying and other types of conflicts students have with their classmates we taught students strategies of how to problem solve with their friends and also how to be an upstander that stands up to stop bullying behavior and not a bystander that let bullying Behavior continue we also had a lot of fun by wearing orange schoolwide on Unity day and having each classroom take time to write messages of kindness and belonging and chalk all around our playground this was just in October our team will have a theme each month where student leaders will continue to give messages to our classmates that promote kindness and belonging toward others and also how to show kindness and care for ourselves hi my name is Eloise I am on the Green Team committee of our student leadership team the reason I chose being a part of the green team is because I wanted to be a part of the group that works together to make our school a better place and also the world a better place this team was created after our leadership team interviewing students in every grade asking them specific questions about what they need to belong and have a welcoming School many students said they needed a school that would was clean and orderly and we found that students were passionate about doing their part for our school and community's environment our green team is partnering with members of our PTO to teach our students how to be responsible members of our school Community last spring our Green Team began a sorting station in a cafeteria at our first meeting this year we brainstormed other ways to keep our school clean and also make the earth a better place in the future I'm excited to plan our next Green Team projects our Gro and anchors are kind safe and responsible so we had decided to have a school safety team grovin students report feeling kind and safe in their classroom but the bus and playground can sometimes cause problems our school safety team came up with the idea to have bus captains I've decided to be a bus Captain because I want to do people to do the right thing and make good choices I help students On The Bus by being a role model and show others how to make kind safe and responsible choices on the bus if students can start and end their day feeling safe and valued they will have a better experience at school our leadership team will keep meeting with students in classrooms all year to make sure we have a school where each student feels like they belong thank you for letting us share our experience experiences as members of grovin student leadership [Applause] team great job kids hard to follow that that was fantastic but it's wonderful to hear from them uh the the efforts not only that they're doing they're they're falling through on but also um the results that we're already seeing and they and they've already uh um changed our school in so many ways um already change there uh just wanted to touch on a few other highlights of of actions that we're taking and as um Sarah had mentioned um we're really looking to do things systematically and proactively so uh based on some of the feedback that we got when we met um as a as a leadership team and with her building Sarah and I have stepped up just daily administrative presence in specific areas Wyatt had mentioned the bus uh in the playground in the lunchroom um some of those are areas where there's less um less structure and the kids are needing to learn those behaviors how to how to act and behave so um we'll we're in those spaces on a daily or almost daily basis really modeling for the students um and supporting them and it's also a great opportunity just to connect with students too it's one of my favorite parts of the day going out uh seeing what's happening on the playground getting pulled into a football a few football games here and there uh and just hearing what's happening on a daily basis then uh Donna D and Christine Edon are um school counselor and uh Excuse excuse me school show social worker and counselor respectively are also putting a lot of effort into making sure that as a building we're moving together on themes so they have uh a monthly communication they do with parents just to give some feedback and some um opportunities for parents to be engaged in in building skills with students and then at our building level we have monthly building-wide lessons and activities so this month it's self-control how do you build self-control the importance of self-control um so building wide really supporting all of those um all those those pieces for students and then there's other ways that we build um belonging and one of the big ways is through our amazing PTO um building Community we know that belonging part of um building belonging is building a really strong community so a just a few of the things that they do um Fall Festival they do uh like a GI block party behind our school um it's a very well attended and it's just a great opportunity to connect as families um we do of course Book Fairs uh I still get a chance to do snack break with all the kindergarteners at the beginning of the year which is very fun one of the highlights of of my beginning of the year and we do a kind kindergarten welcome night this this year we're adding a family game night so if you're free uh in in a week or two here uh stop stop on by for a great Friday night at at Groveland um and then we just aim to have fun each day so whether it's dressing up um as a office staff and and seeing the kids' joy as they come in and realize that the characters from inside out to are now in our office and how did they get there um or having volunteers come in or um just spending time with the students and learning about their lives uh it it's it's a place of belonging it's a place of fun a lot of joy and it's the best place in the world to work I think so that concludes your Whirlwind tour of of grovelin Elementary the things that we're doing to make our school uh the best school it can possibly be and we think we're taking some great steps there and we have time for questions for either myself miss klitz or for the students I don't know if they know that they were open for questions but they may have questions for you kids thank you Mr Gilberts and miss kitzy and especially to the students thank you I know it's intimidating to come and speak in front of a room full of adults with a microphone but you all did a really great great job so thank you any um questions discussion comments for Groveland Patrick just a great report uh really appreciate the way you brought you know a good uh proactive approach to the uh belonging and uh and Innovation Excellence goals that we you talked about um and I also appreciate you student leaders and how much you came at us with not just the positive things you're going to do but the strategy for the the The Bullying that you're working on and and bus safety so keep it up kids we need you any other comments I would just Echo I appreciate the leadership and I think it's exciting to hear about some of those things like the um the food sorting in the in the cafeteria and stuff and it's really great that it's a student L effort because that's going to be really important to your futures and that's um just impressive so thank you all right thank you um next up we have Community comments um I know we have one so I will go ahead and read the guidelines but if there was anybody else wishing to speak if you can turn a card into Dr Getty so guidelines for Community comments welcome to the minona school board's meeting in the interest of open Communications the minetonka school district wishes to provide an opportunity for the public to address the school board that opportunity is provided at every regular school board meeting during Community comments anyone indicating a desire to speak to an item included in the meeting agenda except for the consent agenda Andor information that personally identifies or violates the Privacy rights of an individual during Community comments will be acknowledged by the board chair when called upon to speak please state your name address and topic uh just name and topic all remarks shall be addressed to the board as a whole not to any specific members or to any person who is not a member of the board if there are a number of individuals Pres to speak on the same topic please designate a spokesperson who can summarize the issue please limit your comments to 3 minutes longer time may be granted at the discretion of the board chair if you have written comments the board would like to have a copy which will help them better understand investigate and respond to your concern during Community comments the board and administration listen to comments board members or the superintendent may ask clarifying questions of you in order to gain a thorough understanding of your concern suggestion or request if there is any response or follow-up to your com comment or suggestion you will be contacted via email or phone by a member of the board or Administration in a timely manner Please be aware that disrespectful comments or comments of a personal nature directed at an individual either by name or inference will not be allowed Personnel concerns should be directed first to a principal or executive director of the board of the department then to the Executive Director of Human Resources then to the superintendent and finally in writing to the board um so Dr Getty will have a little timer that she'll put up there that will go off at three minutes um so I would like to welcome Nicole n CLA to speak about the budget welcome thank you I feel it's kind of unfair I'm following the students but that's okay I'll deal with it um good evening uh members of the board Madame chair uh I would like to talk about the budget today we all know that there's a budgetary crisis in inat tanka we are struggling with our finances for the first time in 17 years and it's serious we fired 35 Staff and teachers and we're slated to fire 75 next year um and what I'm concerned about is the disconnect of the board action related to this problem so there's three things the board did on their own initiative this year three new policies the first one was the weighted grade policy to change that the second one is to live stream the stud sessions and the third one is to put a student on the board those are great policies but they do nothing to solve the glaring problem that everyone here is impacted by um I find it interesting that the Vantage students were slated with the project of writing the policy for the student on the board um they weren't given a choice or they weren't given a project where they could talk about whether they felt it was a good idea or not ironic it's called student voice they were given the task to write the to put a student on the board not whether it's a good idea or whether it's needed I talked to a student in the Vantage program who told me that they don't think it's a good idea but they don't think they can say anything because it's clear that the board wants the student on the board and the policy needs to be written I would like the board to refocus its attention on the financial crisis that all these students are impacted by I wish that the Vantage students in the public policy Department would have been tasked with dealing with the financial crisis by going to the case committee many districts send their students to committee hearings at A legislature this would have been a good use of their time they would have learned how the process worked they could have advocated for their school district and they could have solved a problem that is currently occurring not one that's just nice to have and maybe sounds good sometimes change for the sake of change isn't good I welcome the students I'm looking forward to their presentation there brilliant um but I wish we would give them more voice in the projects that they do and allow them to explore a pro and a con approach rather than just a conclusionary statement that they have to support thank you so much thank you all right um next up on the agenda tonight is a student presentation on student voice on the school board superintendent law Madam chair members of the board for the last few years this school district has been steuding ways to incorporate student voice into the work of the board and the leadership of the district um after hearing about districts across the state and across the country who have included student voice as you're aware we made the decision to uh have our public policy students study the pros and cons of whether or not students should uh have an ex more of a voice on the board or not so uh early in this school year I went and met with the entire class of students in public policy and explained the rational for why some districts have students on the board and that other boards don't and I tried very hard not to form an opinion for them about the recommendation they as they asked questions they they leaned into what do you recommend and I said really recommending that we have students or not have students could be whatever your research comes up with if there's benefits or not so six different public policy groups conducted research about districts across the state serving districts that both didn't have boards and did uh gathered information from our staff and gathered information from uh the email list of Vantage public policy those six teams broke out and gave six different recommendations not to write a policy but what process could be used potentially for the board to consider adding students tonight we won't hear a recommendation for a policy and approve it you'll hear the winning group group's recommendation about how the board one mod for how the board could include student voice I can tell you that all six groups did a wonderful job uh chair singer and I and Associate superintendent Leo and kimry uh Voss board member kimry Voss Jackie Getty all were judging and it was a very difficult job to determine which group made it here tonight but we're honored to have our students from Vantage tonight zo we Rory Ben and Naomi I welcome you to the podium to share with the board your recommendation thanks all right good evening we are absolutely honored to be here my name is Rory Shon um I'm Zoe Garcia my name is Ben barniskis and my name's Naomi new Patton we are all students of the public policy Vantage strand at minona high school at the beginning of our school year superintendent law came to us and asked us to do research surrounding the idea of implementing more student voice into school board decision making to begin our presentation we would like to share why we believe student voice is such an such a vital tool to both students and the school board as you can see here we have the minnesot uh the Minnetonka School District mission statement as you reread this statement we ask that you please imagine how much more we how much more accessible this goal would be if we include more student voice into the conversation all too often the only voices you hear are those of parents and administrators but we truly believe that it would be beneficial to both the students and the school board to include the perspective of what's truly going on at the high school and how it truly affects students this would be a tool to the school board as as you make decisions on policy students would be here to tell you what their true experience would has been certain topics include mental health initiatives physical space use and student engagement this leads us to our official research question right so the question that we sought to answer was what model should the minona school district use to incorporate uh more student voice and how could this best be implemented we informed our response through both primary and secondary research our primary research consisted of a survey that we created that was um sent out to me uh stakeholders in the community with students parents Educators and school board members 46 60 people responded and for our secondary research we reviewed a large number of peer-reviewed Articles and journals in our independent research processes now Ben will introduce our solution okay so for our solution we found best fit was a student only advisory committee that will consist of all grades at the high school level and then from there we will have two of these uh committee members be representatives and then communicate with school board members and the way these will be chosen is that they will be elected by their students but then first they will be nominated by their teachers to for the to be on the board position we will dive down um or analyze each different aspect of this solution and Zoe will start us with the why we chose an Advisory Board um according to research that we have found from parents students and Schoolboard members from other districts um we believe that an advisory committee would be the best option to incorporate student voice in schools um parents in particular were concerned that one student might not have be able to adequately represent the diverse perspectives of the entire student body and having an advisory committee would help address this issue next let's hear some opinions on Experts about this advisory committee as you can see here we have two quotes from our secondary research as Journal uh journalist Caroline Henry states that students truly are better off with more than one voice having more than one voice in this Advisory Board sort of set up would provide students with a very diverse perspective and it would also give students to partici the opportunity to participate in a democratic environment before we send them out into the real world and our real democracy we imagine these advisory meetings would take the form of a Socratic seminar we would have the AG agenda listed and then students could take the time to give their input on what they believe is important to them and what they believe they have to offer to the conversation this leads us to who will be the members of this Advisory Board according to tough's University Circle program youth who did not have student voice experiences in school scored below average in Civic actions taken this is why we believe that a junior and a senior high school students would be the best to serve on the board with an unofficial vote we believe this because of they're currently taking on increasing responsibilities in their lives such as driving getting jobs even voting and it's important that they have these student voice experiences so that they can give back to their communities through their civic actions so our recommendations for these lens to the board would be a Junior and senior representative we believe that they have the most experience at the high school and then will be able to best represent The Advisory Board voice and therefore their student uh the all of the students at minona high school alongside this comes our recommendation to implement a sort of cycle method so the following year the junior representative would then become the senior representative and they really have that year of experience under their belt in engaging with the school board then they now have a new Junior member to speak with them who brings that fresh perspective we truly believe that this will then represent all the students at minona well alongside this comes our recommendation of giving these students an unofficial vote that way you as board members have the tools to see where the student body officially stands on policies this leads us to how we will elect these members so from our primary research survey you can see here that 56% of parents 80% of teachers and then 38% of school board members all favored the idea of having these students be nominated by their teachers and then elected by their fellow students and then that way we can avoid a popularity contest which is kind of how other organizations such as student government have kind of shift in that direction and that we get students who really want to be there and are passionate about this topic which will then lead me into our first limitation which is finding students who want to participate in this so we recognize that not every student might not be interested in doing something doing work with the school board however from our survey we got 270 student responses and then we had 40 of those students say they'd be interested in a position similar to that of an Advisory board or be being on an Advisory board that reports to the school board now it should also be noted that of these 270 students it probably reached the survey probably reached the eyes of over a thousand so that just something to take into consideration and then also another limitation that is that should be considered is the diversity piece because minona as a district and the minona high school is so big we have many different groups and perspectives with across the school and we want all to be represented here in this board but we just know that that is also not feasible because again the interest element and they just they're might just not be enough space so we are hoping that we can get most of these diverse groups and perspectives within this Advisory Board talking and then shifting over to the implications the key one is just time for all this um we want to have time for these Advisory board meeting and we want them ideally to be uh during the school day that way it's not extracurricular activity so then then students who may be deferred if it was an extracurricular activity could still participate in this and then we also want time for the representatives to speak to you board members we would like for them to be at a board meeting speaking but we know these are very long means and we don't want to elongate them any further so we also considered having board members come and sit in on these Advisory Board means that way they can also here feel have a true sense of how the the room feels and the board feels and then if that doesn't work because of time conflicts we also have considered possibly doing something similar to our advantage Mentor program where we have like a meeting once a month with a representative and a board member and then they communicate what they learned from this Advisory board meeting and then from there the board member can relay that information to the rest of these board members next Naomi will continue with our alternate Solutions so one uh popular alternative solution was having just the representatives one or two Representatives um however since this is a very limited group having only two people represent a student body of 11,000 um seems you know we could do better you know so not to mention they could uh this role might only appeal to some people who are into specific things like very into student government or great public speaking or they want to have the responsibility of presenting to the school board and while introducing an Advisory Board would not only gather more perspectives um it could also appeal to more people that aren't as interested in the representative role they can still advise the representation they can still participate in that without having the um Spotlight role I guess um another alternative was having removing the student representation part and having just the advisory committee part um where a committee reports to the principal who reports to the school board however since I believe the principal wouldn't really be involved in the discussions per se like they wouldn't have input because they're not exactly students and so because of their lack of input and lack of participation in the discussion some things could be lost in the communication from the students to the principal to the school board so and then the final alternative solution was having no representation at all considering the uh concerns the limitations but since minetonka is a district dedicated to Excellence um we believe that having student representation is something that we should dedicate our time and hard work to although we acknowledge these limitations implications and other Solutions we still believe that the best option for student voice in the minetonka district is a student Advisory Board um with two Representatives that are nominated by teachers and elected by students um that sit on the Schoolboard with an unofficial vote we believe that this is the best option because of research we have found from peer-reviewed articles and feedback we have received from members of the community and because in the end student voice initiatives like these are essential for student well-being future and future success thank you this leads us to our references and then we would love to open the conversation to any questions or comments you may have for us thank you so much for your time thank you so much for being [Applause] here before we jump into comments questions I would just reinforce what superintendent law said that when we went and watched all the groups present it was incredibly impressive and clearly well researched and thank you to the teachers who guided them on this um Journey because I it was clearly evident that um the the students had a lot of Buy in to this project and had really been thoughtful about their process and about their recommendations so thank you in advance for that um questions comments discuss discussion Sally thank you very much for your work on this issue as well as to all of your um peers and also to the staff thank you so much so I am aware of students bringing this request to the board many years ago actually like how can we be better heard and so I'm so grateful to hear it come to this place and to have such fine work uh for us to consider um one question I have is I know I heard mention of what's going on at the high school was there um consideration for how you might incorporate voids of students at all levels through the district yeah so we believe that this might be accessible through um having a diverse group within our Advisory Board and including included in that diversity would be students who have grown up in the minona system and then students who have not so for example if I was on this uh committee I have the experience of being a navigator at exceler elementary where my fellow member may have the experience of joining minetonka high school as a junior and will be able to express their opinions and their experience through that transitional period so we believe that having a diverse group would really do that Justice thank you Patrick um thanks uh I'm curious um whether any aspects of your model were things that you saw being put into practice in other districts in Minnesota and if so what was the experience in those districts yeah so um there's school school districts Across America that have implemented student voice at the district level and also as well as um just a district in Minnesota we've got Hopkins Hopkins has student voice uh they have student school board members I believe um and we surveyed them in our survey so yeah this has been implemented in other districts in Minnesota and in the United States and if I may add um part of my secondary research I was working um with finding the student perspective I looked into Bloomington Public Schools and they do not have an Advisory board but they do have that dual representative um sort of cycle in place and they really said that this works the best for them and it has for many years because it takes that added pressure off of a sing singular student imagine like you know we're all kind of nervous speaking to all of you but thankfully we have each other to bring extra perspective and back each other up so certain school districts have really implemented the multiple student perspective we found that that was the really popular method thank you Dan um yeah thank you for all this information this is fantastic I'm I'm just curious like when you surveyed um your fellow students and the community like is there any is is there any one thing that struck you as really popular across all of the groups and any one thing like any one result or response that really surprised you um so I actually I surveyed the parent group I was in charge of that and I found it very interesting because in our survey we had um I believe it was four different options to choose from um and one of those options was having a school board that had a school board member like a student School Board member that had a vote which in Minnesota that's not possible that's there's a law preventing that but that was the most popular option by a large margin and I think if you look at your um reference sheets it should say in one of the one pagers show that pie chart it's very interesting question C thank you everyone and um just personally Rory were you more nervous this morning or today presenting to the board um for those of you who don't know I'm on the varsity volleyball team and we had a state match today and honestly um I'm I was more nervous for this I think um I think um we do have a really great support system though in Vantage so even for the past couple days where I've actually been absent from school due to sports my teachers and my peers and my group especially have been doing so much great work and then have also connected me to it so I we all do feel confident but I was a little nervous this is my first time speaking in front of well fantastic job I have to say I'm behalf I'm sure my fellow colleagues but and thank you to the Vantage teachers and all of our teachers obviously um we're so happy to have you here one question that I do have is what were the other um so you were you surveyed the parents can you all speak to the other areas that you surveyed please so my group was in charge of surveying the staff and I think our large finding was that they really did prefer that they had a say in how the board members were selected but then regarding everything else um I from what I remember they weren't too concerned some was some were very concerned about um students having a vote or a vote when they can not like get like a tattoo I remember there was a really good quote there that was that wasn't included but I remember there was like some stuff that were very concerned but then they mainly just wanted to say in how those students got to that board level or to like a position at where they're communicating with this uh School Board yeah so I researched the perspectives of Schoolboard members and yeah we gathered opinions of Schoolboard members from not not just men tanka but I re we we reached out to I at least 40 other school board members we didn't get a whole lot of responses because of course they're very busy but actually something surprising to me reing researching the school board was that I think the most popular um mode of student representation that they preferred was the committee that reported to the principal that reported to the school board and yeah we talked about it a little bit but that was just something surprising Chris uh no questions just want to say thank you uh thank you for such a great report all the work that you did and all the teams it's not hard to come up and present all of this and uh uh we just really appreciate it so thank you great job thank thank you all again we're not voting on this tonight but we'll definitely keep that recommendation in mind as conversations move forward and we think about this more as a district so thank [Applause] you next we're going to talk about inclement weather planning and the school safety update superintendent law Madam chair members of the board nothing is more popular in the community than a snow day for students sometimes for parents and staff um within the next week or so we're going to send a letter out to all of our community members about a reminder of of how we're going to approach inclement weather uh just some highlevel information as a reminder to the community weather related closures in the winter are related to our ability to safely transport to students to and from school from 6:00 to 9:00 in the morning and from about 2: to 5: at night we do everything we can to gather information from the National Weather Service and communicate to our families as far in advance as possible uh our options are really a late start a early release or a full day closure with an understanding that early releases are the most challenging because we're sending our youngest Learners home potentially before their parents are ready to meet them and so that's one of the the more challenging pieces we um communicate these uh to parents in our letter that's going out parents look for a way to sign up for communications if you're not signed up already always check our District web page sometimes creative students create fake posts about weather check the district website to make sure that it's legitimate um and again in the event of a the first weather closure would be a true snow day starting with the second one because of the number of hours we need to have on our secondary sites our secondary schools would start with asynchronous on the second day and then potentially move to synchronous instruction moving forward our elementary students would have two snow days and then starting with the third one and that's mostly because our elementary students are have a much harder time learning asynchron synchronously without an adult who help can help them navigate or our technology or our information at home one other note about the letter that it's coming out we're including some school safety updates for parents parents have commented that they've heard things beyond the word lockdown when we have school safety they've heard things like a secure or a hold and they've asked would you clarify what those words mean because we even had a parent recently referenced that their school wasn't in a lockdown they were just no hold uh those are clearly detailed both in that letter that goes out what a lockdown is a threat inside the building a hold something that is less than a threat inside the building but we're trying to keep students in their classes and a secure a concern outside the building where we're getting everyone inside the building and both in a hold and a secure we can have normal operations but we are communicating that to parents so that when they hear those messages from school they'll know what they mean both of those are in letters that are in a single letter coming out um within about the next week and so we're sharing that both now so people know what's the plan for weather related closures it's been the same for about the past two years uh and why is there some safety items in there we're using those practices and parents have asked about it it was a good time to bring that up I'd open it up for board questions questions comments discussion I think it's great to define those terms because I think sometimes that is where uh some of the the panic in the community arises from just a misunderstanding of what is going on based on that so I think I appreciate that transparency for our community so that they can know what's going on a little bit more thank you um next up tonight we have an approval of the 2025 legislative position State statements superintendent law Madam chair members of the board not surprisingly Executive Director of Finance and operations Paul bis had some ideas as early as July of this year about how we might approach the next legislative session uh these legislative position statements reflect sometimes almost a decade of priority for the monaka public schools at the capital we um have used our case committee to further these agendas in the past and we will continue to do so the position statements you see today have been vetted by the board for several months have been shared with other state organizations School business officials Association of metropolitan school districts the Minnesota Association of school administrators these are directly related to the concerns Rel shared with the board at public column and what we should be working on is budgetary concerns and and I can assure you Mr bis and I along with going to every building and asking teachers for ideas we actually invited our public policy students to join the case committee we might be bringing some of them to the capital they were interested in that but uh by approving these this moves us forward to meet with the case committee that meeting is set for just two weeks from now and then inviting all of our elected officials in again to talk about our priorities for the session with that Mr bis thank you superintendent law mam chair members of the board I'll just quickly run through our proposed uh legislative position statements the planks of the platform um one of the things that we're dealing with right now is is our first several years of budget reductions uh after an 18-year run and directly related to that is our inability to get the legislature so far after trying from 2017 to today to increase the operating referendum cap so that we at least have a chance to ask our voters if they would be willing to provide some additional Revenue there's just a couple things in our platform that if if are approved would basically allow us to start another string of I don't know how many years but we'd be able to start another string of of no budget reductions like the 18-year string that we just had um over the past couple of decades we've been trying since 2017 uh uh to uh ask the legislature to try to get some operating referend capacity in the early 2020s to offet projected deficits um so since the first legislative platform that we had operating referendum capacity was in 2018 on the 2018 legislative platform which was adopted in 2017 uh We've also had additional uh Revenue sharing planks in the platform and uh but we have not gotten any help from the legislature yet but we just need to keep trying uh we're ref facing repeated annual deficits through fiscal year 2030 without the legislature giving us the right to try to basically see if we could uh get additional help from our local populace so our first plank uh proposal is to increase the operating referendum cap for fiscal year 2025 and thereafter uh to reduce the impact of dispar in state aid uh we're we are asking for $1,000 per pupil uh the basic revenue is the main source of funding for school districts at 55% of total revenue uh the purchasing power of the basic formula has fallen behind inflation by approximately $1400 per pupil since 2020 or 2003 uh for minona it's a loss of 16.8 million per year in purchasing power uh as a result a lot of districts including USS have been using lizing operating referendums to try to make ends meet and we did so successfully with two additions in 2007 and in 2015 uh we are also at the bottom Desy of state aid our school district receives $1,492 less per the average State School District uh per pupil uh that's with the latest available uh dollars or comparison data that's available uh which is produced every year by the state of Minnesota uh but that's $17.9 million less in state aid than the average school district so we're swimming with a couple of cement blocks around our our our necks so uh the last thing I'd like to say is approval of this of the initiative um of to of $1,000 per pupil would basically result uh in the voters of the district having the increased ability to raise approximately $12 million for the school district which would which would be able to help us run that string out for quite a number of years so that's the first plank uh the second plank is something called third tier local optional Revenue uh to give school boards added local control uh this would be uh the ability to actually have a separate $360 per pupil in local optional Revenue that again School boards would have the ability to decide whether or not they want to to use it um over the past long term it's reasonable to expect There Will Be Few future Shing funding shortfalls uh you know we recently had a $5 billion Surplus and very little of it went to school district operational budgets and school districts are actually 40% of the state budget so it's reasonable to expect that there'll be future Shing funding shortfalls because of the state not being able to uh provide the necessary funds to keep up programs not only for our district but districts across the state uh I mentioned again the disparity of $1,492 less uh so we'd ask them to approve $362 which would allow us to have the option to raise $4.5 million annually those are our two primary planks another important aspect is in special education and there's something called a special education cross subsidy which is a dollar amount that is not covered by state revenue or federal revenue and so it has to come out of regular Revenue that otherwise would be going for other programs so we would like to have uh the state has recognized that and they actually currently fund um 44% of that Gap and this is a request to take it up another 10% uh if the budget allows at the state level to raise it to 54% keep chipping away at that uh so it would basically provide an additional $800,000 a year of additional Revenue so success in the 25 legislature is critical to us being able to sustain Excell in education for the remainder of this decade uh and in some respects some of those planks are it's like Groundhog Day um uh but we have to keep trying and one of these days maybe to borrow a phrase from another movie maybe the odds will be in our favor thank you thank you Mr BR can I have a motion to approve the 2025 legislative position statements so moved Patrick is there a second second Mike um comments questions discussion Sally just a quick comment more for us than for you probably is that um during some Community listening sessions interactions with PTO PTA leaders and others um I've certainly seen a growth in interest from our broader community in participating in the case committee which we have seen grow uh there's members here tonight who have participated in the past as well and uh that is growing and I really think we can tap into that and and help keep moving moving moving get something to happen thank you Dan and I I don't know how many people out on the internet are actually watching these things or tuning in but if there's anyone in any other school districts uh in the Metro or outstate who is having the same budgetary struggles that we are and realizes that these solutions would help their districts as well we would love to speak with you and meet you and partner and try to help uh District finances across the state I would add the same to our own community members if you're interested we would love to have you because I think we have heard repeatedly from our legislators that the more they hear from the community members and the um residents in their areas the better so if you're interested please do come and participate and take part in the case committee and the day at the capital and all those things um also just reaching out to to legislators goes a long way also so thank you we have a motion and a second all inove all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries thank you uh next up we have approval of the collective bargaining agreement with nutrition services employees superintendent law Madam chair members of the board each uh by anym cycle that the legislation goes into a session we open up negotiations with all of our Collective bargaining groups and that runs um as long as it takes to settle those contracts tonight we have our final contract from our last round of negotiations that would be our nutrition services employees not that it took that long to settle but we just started after all the other groups it uh executive director of HR and legal council Andie flowers is going to tell you about that process and the recommendations Miss flowers thank you superintendent law good evening Madam chair and board members I'd like to start off by thanking the district and the nutrition services Union member team for all the discussion the hard work and collaboration to reach this agreement the nutrition services employees will receive a $1 per hour increase to wages in year one under this tenative agreement and a 75 cent per hour increase to wages in year two we were also able to make increases to their longevity pay we were able to make increases to certifications which require additional work and time on the part of those employees so we wanted to reward that and we were also able to become more competitive with uniform allowances which is something that is also important to this group in addition the employees will also receive increases to Insurance in both years for a total package of 10% I am asking for your approval of this tenative agreement thank you Miss Flowers uh can I have a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement with nutrition services employees so moved Patrick is there a second second second let me give it to Dan um any questions comments discussion okay we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries thank you for your work on this Miss Flowers thank you um next up we have approval of the fiscal year 25 amended budget superintendent law Madam chair members of the board at our October study session Mr berso presented our amending budget and the first proposal for potential budget reductions tonight we will only be discussing about the amended budget for the current school year the budget reduction process is ongoing we're still Gathering input from our teachers and community members but tonight you'll be asked to approve what we typically approve in November our amended budget for the current school year Mr bruaw will talk about changes since the proposed budget in June and then a little bit about forecasting Mr bis thank you superintendent law Madam chair members of the board uh we're just going to quickly review for the public uh the um general fund uh in in a little bit of detail and then um our other funds are actually all very uh financially s stable balanced uh so the resolution also is to adopt the funds the amended budget for all the fs so uh fiscal year 25 is the ninth year of our operating referendum that was authorized on November 3rd 2015 uh we actually will get that uh through 2026 and then uh we have no further capacity as we mentioned in um uh prior uh no to increase the operating referendum other than receiving an annual inflation increase and so you on May 30th actually were able to ex extend past fiscal 26 through all the way through fiscal 36 at the same level plus inflation so at least that is uh operating referendum dollar value is is locked in um if we do have success at the legislature we would come back and be able to increase that uh if we ever again if we get a success at the legislature uh this is a slide again showing where we're at um it we're in the process of of doing budget reductions for fiscal year 25 for the first time in 18 years in it um our general operating fund uh Revenue per pupil for fy2 totals uh per each for each k6 student is $1,575 the biggest chunk of that being our general education Revenue which is $ 7,281 per pupil which is about 55% of the total revenue local optional revenue is $724 um operating operating referendum revenue of $2,298 uh the interesting amounts of the dollar amounts beneath that is in terms of qm equity level transition Revenue gifted and talented revenue and safe schools revenue is that they have not increased for a number of years so all those other Revenue dollar amounts are losing out to inflation every year as is the $724 of local optional Revenue uh we also pick up about $229 per pupil for k6 for something called operating capital and $275 for 712 uh and then our lease Levy is $2 $212 uh per pupil for k6 and then that's multiplied by 1.2 waiting for $255 for 72 so we are our our revenue is driven by the number of students in the district more than anything else the number of students in the district and then how much the legislature gives us per pupil for these various funding formulas our general operating fund uh amended budget the revenues are uh proposed at 166,00 5 7,684 uh for enrollment this year uh expenditures are budgeted at 169,170 and 888 and that's an increase of 485,000 over FY 24 our net deficit of revenues to expenses for the year then are 3 m274 180 that will be covered out of the unassigned fund balance and our projection is that we will leave the unassigned fund balance at 16, 780,000 the school board adopted a minimum uh fund balance to maintain of 6% which is about 3 weeks worth of operating cash uh and so we'd be about 3.9% above that minimum uh going through the revenues again you can see from the pie chart the dollar values for General uh um general education revenue of about 89 million our operating referendum revenue of 28.9 million local optional revenue of of 6.9 8.9 million and miscellaneous of five federal revenue of 2.8 and categoric which is primarily special education of about $30 million our our uh federal revenue and our categorical Revenue other than special education is very small compared to most other districts in the state on a percentage basis again you see general education Revenue that's the big 18wheeler of cash that we get every year operating referendum is local and local optional revenue is local and that the combine those two make up almost 23% of our Revenue uh with local sources and federal again only 1.7 miscellaneous Revenue includes interest earnings uh fees uh donations and those types of things and you see categorical at about 18.4% our our general operating fund expenditures um our U um teacher salaries and benefits make up um $12 million pair professionals uh of 12 million 12.6 million and then all other salaries and benefits of 23.5 million uh the um uh those are laid out in the number of of of employees teachers are largest number of employees followed by PA professionals purchasing Services uh $7.2 million that's everything from electrical service to um uh legal services to the audit to uh uh any Consultants that we might need or Specialists that we might might need to bring in that we don't have on staff full-time for students supplies are just are exactly those transportation is 7.6 million and uh we have a small thing called a transfer it goes to the art center it covers the art center salaries and benefits and then they actually cover all the cost of their place through the revenue they bring in from ticket sales so uh the uh teacher salaries and benefits 67% uh and impair professional salaries and benefits of about 7.5% so between those two we are at about 75% of our Personnel are the ones from a headcount basis uh but then also from an expenditure basis are the ones who are directly involved with students uh and then all other salaries and benefits are about 13.4% you see the percentages transportation of 4 .5 supplies A 2.6 and uh purchase Services a 4.3 so our our long range projection uh we're looking again AT3 3,274 180 uh and uh uh for fy2 we have a projection out for the uh the future years uh assuming that we don't have any other uh adjustments or or any other Revenue coming in versus current funding formulas so uh we're working on of course fiscal year 26 uh but we're focusing on fiscal year 25 but we always are have the look down down the line and and the look down the line is is something that highlights the need to help have some assistance from the legislature you know now more than ever uh so again this is our general operating fund amended budget uh show highlighted is a $3.3 million 3.32 I'm sorry approximately uh uh deficit spending and then again you see at the way at the bottom 9.9% is our unassign fund B uh some of our our um our Personnel have asked you know why why don't we use some of the fund balance I'd like try to balance the budget it's like well we're actually doing that this year uh we've done it for several years now uh 3.2 million this year so we will be uh utilizing the fund balance but at some point in time it's you can continue to pay for instance your heating bill at home or your utility bill or your on grocery bill out of your savings account you need to have ongoing Revenue coming in to cover those longterm and that's the same for us so we we have to U use we're utilizing onetime money to basically tide us through this year but we have to look at at balancing ongoing Revenue to ongoing expenditures just some examples of how things break out resident pupils generate about 57 million dollars of our general education revenue and open enroll pupils about 32.7 million uh you can see some of the breakdowns of categorical Revenue there uh $20 million uh for special ed Q compa 2.9 uh we have the called a TR pension adjustment it's a significant dollar number that comes in but then it goes right back out uh to help pay for increased um TR pension costs because their pension um percentages that were contributing are going up in the state is funding them for as long as they can uh we'll see if that handles in or or finishes out in perpetuity but right now at least they're funding those increases literacy incentive a of 757,50 we do very well in getting that Aid that Aid is actually determined on how well your pupils perform in terms of their advancement and reading and math uh in in at grades three and four and so the thing about that is is it's the sole uh pay for performance Revenue that we get everything else is just based on headcount uh again miscellaneous revenue of $5 million 2.8 million for for federal revenue and then our voter approv referendum um our our fy0 5 increases larger than uh than normal due to this um uh the state cap we have 91 uh 9192 per pupil is about two times or due to the state I should putting in there in inflation that's actually a typeall my partner story apologize for that but 91.9 to is about two times normal the rate of increase normally we're picking up about 40 between 4050 per pupil so we're pick we're benefiting from the higher inflation from the prior year going forward that will probably start modering back down into the $45 to $50 per pupil and then local optional Revenue uh the initial amount of $424 has been frozen since July 1st of 2014 um if you just that for inflation to today be about $920 if you adjust it to inflation if we got additional numbers or our revenue for fiscal year 206 which would be I'm sorry 27 which would be the first year we could get it if the legislature approved it it would be actually about 900 $50 so um we are we'd be picking up another you know $225 to $250 but right now as of today it's $196 which would be 2.5 million in Revenue if we had been able to have that keep up with inflation since it was instituted one other interesting note is that uh minona ranks 329 out of 329 school districts uh in terms of general fund state aid per pupil we're at 299 it's the first time actually we've been below 300 in a long time but 299 we continue decades long streak in the bottom desile bottom 10% um what happens is of course our community has given us operating referendum Revenue to the up to the cap and most of our other colleagues and other places think well you you're getting the maximum number of operating ref referendum Revenue which we are so you're one of the most the highest uh Revenue districts in the state the answer to that is no it just makes us uh puts us at the medium of1 15 five out of out of 329 it just puts us into the middle of the pack so that happens year after year after year and so I I just do say it's with the performance of our students and how well our teachers do and with our programs and how well our students do we're literally getting more uh doing more with less we are doing more with less than almost every District in the State uh salaries and benefits are 88.2% $150 million approximately you see purchase Services about $1.8 million in utilities we do everything as efficient as possible we're an energy star District um but you know it's save 10% on that it's always good and we're saving actually lots of money from when I first started but the thing is is you know you can't balance a you know the budget uh for for a large $170 million budget just by you know every little bit helps but utilities are are just a small amount um but we do I walk around turn the lights off at night and before I leave and so do everything we can uh maintenance repairs 520,000 that just fixes everything in our our our district and we have you know schools that are um we do a lot of long-term facility meets but we have schools that are 70 years old 60 years old and there's things that always need repairs so that's actually a modest amount for the size of our district a property liability in liability insurance has been going up a little bit uh but you have to ensure uh you have to ensure um against something terrible happening uh special education care and treatment tuition is 654 th000 that's another example of purchase services for and students that we need to uh maybe send outside the district for additional Services supplies examples of that most of them are instructional supplies 2.3 million almost 2.4 million in the general fund 392,000 in testing uh maintenance supplies that's your paper supplies uh and your cleaning supplies and all it's only $171,000 um and and for some reason electricity is up in purchase services but natural gas is in supplies so supplies is 540,000 and then Transportation we're at 7.6 million uh we had an 8% increase this year which is the second year of a four-year contract uh and we've been we're running 50 K12 bus routes and 23 specialed bus routes those have stayed fairly consistent over the years even as we've grown uh but we we have increased our number of pupils riding uh we also get a lot of our Riders who are residents or open roll coming to uh bus stops and then we transport them in from there so that's a rundown on the uh General operating fund again all of our other funds nutrition services Community ad um our construction funds our uh Dome our Pagel Center every everything else is is is in shape and and balance where it should be um our debt service fund uh so uh when people hear that we may be cutting the budget it's not in those other funds it's it's just in this one the operating fund which is the one that it's concentrated on so again um we're requesting that you would approve the amended budget and then um it'll be on to fiscal year 26 going forward thank you Mr bis can I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 25 amended budget so move Chris is there a second second Sally uh questions comments [Music] discussion Dan um yeah thank thank you Paul for the work you and David and your entire department have been putting in to try to wrestle this into the best shape you can possibly do I just I just want to emphasize again as I've probably done nearly every board meeting like a lot of these other funds nutritional Services uh Community ad they're in very good shape they might even be running surpluses and have a very healthy fund balance we are not able to move money from those funds over to the general operating fund to solve the deficit in this operating fund uh we we I'm sure we would if we could or that recommendation would have come before us but we're just prohibited by Statute from doing that so um this is what it is okay we have a motion we have a second uh all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries we have an abended budget thank you Mr bis uh next up we have acceptance of multiple bids superintendent law Madam chair members of the board in the fall and Min tanka we get out early to uh put our bids out for work that's going to happen next summer through our long-term facilities maintenance and as those bids come through Mr bah brings them to the board for approval we we have great success at getting low bids early in the year tonight we'll be I'll let Mr brw go through each of these we have uh work at Scenic Heights at Excel here and the parking lot Excel here Mr bis thank you superintendent lot Madam chair members of the board um the first item here is uh replacement of cabinets and R22 HVAC equipment that we actually installed back in 2009 um under the old R22 regime of uh refrigerant that needs replacement uh the estimated Budget on these is $810,000 uh we actually received 13 bids which is pretty incredible um when something must be happening out there in a construction World um but anyway the low bidder is CM construction at 537,500 and we'd ask that you approve the little bit thank you Mr brois can I have a motion to approve the cabinet and R22 hbac replacement at Scenic Heights low bid so moved Mike is there a second second Dan any comments questions discussion all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries thank you next up we have cabinet and R22 hbac replacement and wall resurfacing and exceler uh thank you mam chair the um uh this bid was opened at 2 pm on Tuesday October 22nd um which was my anniversary uh 14 bids were received and um uh we had the low bid of construction results is $688,000 and um I'd like to request that you would approve the little bitter for this project thank you thank you can I have a motion to approve the cabinet and R22 hbac replacement and wall resurfacing at exceler soov Patrick is there a second second kemry any comments discussion Patrick happy anniversary your gift was a bid lower than the estimated amount 36 years uh we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries and on to paving at exceler uh thank you madam chair this uh item is to repave the front area of excelsia and the driveway that kind of goes up toward the um towards Highway 19 on the front of the building uh the budget estimate is 265,000 and Northwest asphalt has the uh low bit of $235,800 so we'd ask that you to accept that so we can do that work this summer thank you thank you Mr brois can I have a motion to approve the Lo bid for paving at excels year so moved Chris is there a second second Patrick any comments discussion I just wanted to point out um I added up these three bids and just in these three bids they came in $455,000 under the estimated budget so again not money that we can shift shift over to the operational fund but still useful because it means we can do more projects down the road or pay down deficit or whatever in the loans so really appreciate that savings and getting these out early to get so many beds to get them in low so thank you for your work on that you're welcome we have some and we have some in process utilizing the savings and so hopefully in December here we'll have a couple coming forward but we also have some that are under the bid limit but they're they're quotes um so we're also doing those so we're getting more done with the dollars you know stretching the dollars as far as we can we appreciate it thank you we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries thank you Mr bis uh can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda move Chris is there a second second Mike all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries um any reports from the board to go into the board reports Sally I do have several things that are going on so the seek committee which is the special education advisory committee has formed for the year um and there are representatives from across the learning sites in our district and they are now actually on available on our website as um the site contacts so if if folks in those buildings are interested to talk to somebody about their experience in the district or have questions they can help direct you to those answers um another thing is that there is going to be what was known as a seek forall event which is open to anyone in the district um and it's going to be on November 19th parenting children and teens with anxiety and these this flyer is available in Peach jar so want to point that out um and so I'm finished with mine then thank you the family night is on November 22nd I believe and what time is oh 15th what time is that I don't have it with me sorry 6:30 6:30 thanks Sally forgot to bring my any other board reports um the teaching and learning committee met for the first time this school year earlier this week and it's been um expanded to a little bit of a larger group um again this year and uh there's going to be I think some really interesting discussions and conversations did have a student present after um having gone to the similar conversation at the high school and um so we're going to be looking at different course proposals um implementing new standards in social studies beginning that process so I think it'll be a a lot of work this year from that committee any uh others okay superintendence report superintendent law it's Veterans Day this weekend and men talk has a strong long tradition of Honor honoring our members who have served and at the high school on Monday morning Veterans Day the ceremony will happen there's there's always a very um touching message from someone who has served as well as messages from our students uh there's also a Veterans Day event on Tuesday at excels here in the middle of the day just uh I'm proud of the way our schools recognize people have served going back through all the generations of service the Armed Forces that's next week today is the last day of the quarter I started at Scenic Heights and a young man greeted me as I walked and he said it's the last day of the Court he was in first grade I don't know how that's important in first grade but he was pretty excited about it uh good luck to all of our students who finish finals we are also wrapping up our fall activities and kicking off theater so lots of chances to see our students Thrive I just got an update that our football team that played tonight one and it's moving on to the uh US Bank congratulations to them and girls swimming tomorrow and volleyball and the theater that's opening up soon just a lot to be proud of in the district thank you thank you superintendent law um any other announcements Patrick yes um I wanted to put in like the sixth plug that has happened this meeting uh for our case committee um if you're like me uh one of the main reasons you have or had kids in this district is because you believe this is the best place to get a public education for your children anywhere I firmly believe that but as we have seen if we want to preserve and protect the quality of public education here in motanka we are going to need some help we are making budget cuts we'll do what we have to on that front but we would really like some useful revenue from this state and one way you can have uh a role in that as a member of our community is to join the case committee or participate by following along and as many have said said contacting your legislators we have some new legislators that were just elected this week we have some others who are returning and uh we will be in touch with them coming up we have the kickoff meeting for case on November 19th it's going to be here in this room I believe and uh if you've expressed interest before you should already have an email in your inbox telling you to be here at 700 p.m. on the 19th if you want to express interest you should reach out to me or reach out to uh the the district and we will get you connected because we need your help this is a little bit past crunch time so anything you can do we would greatly appreciate thank you thank you any other announcements can I have a motion to adjourn so moved Chris is there a second second K all in favor please say I I I any opposed we are adjourned