Hello everyone. I'm David Law, superintendent of Minnetonka Public Schools. >> And I'm Tanya Coinger, a director on the Minnitonka School Board. >> We're glad you're able to join us for our schoolboard recognitions program. >> We begin most of our regular board meetings with the recognitions to highlight the positive impact that so
many people make in our district. This month is our last schoolboard recognitions program for the 202526 school year. We are celebrating student achievements in athletics, activities, academics, and the arts, as well as some staff achievements and districtwide
honors. Tonight we are recognizing adapted bowling state qualifiers archery state and national qualifiers robotics state and national qualifiers stock market game state honores an
honore from the Minnesota department of health's escape the vape video contest Minnesota aspirations and computing award honores a borlo ruan intern a scripts national spelling be qualifier
LRAN Concur French exam medal winners, art award honores from Minnitonka High School, all state orchestra participants, all state choir participants from the elementary and middle levels, and the national association of music merchants best
communities for music education award. >> We will begin by recognizing our adapted bowling team. Many members qualified for the state competition this year where they had a lot of fun and competed well. The team is led by coaches Mary Schaeer and Jesse Nelson.
>> Before we recognize each player by name, let's learn more about their season. >> Hi, I'm Mary Schaer. I'm one of the adapted bowling coaches, and I just want to say congratulations to our team. We had 20 athletes come out for bowling this year. We had three amazing senior
captains who showed great leadership um for our team. We had six matches throughout the year and the kids did amazing. And then we had our state qualifiers. Um, and we had 13 of our athletes made it to state this year,
which is pretty amazing. Um, and in state, we did not place, but we were close in a lot of areas. So, we had a wonderful season. We enjoyed having each one of our athletes, and we can't wait till next year. >> Congratulations to the following adapted
bowling state qualifiers. Donovan Burns, Brady De Jang, Cody Jackson, Cooper Jordan, Violet Lees, Owen Marinovich,
>> Ava Munch, Carson Penn, Alina Pollson, Rachel Rather, and Lucas Strut. Great work all. >> Minnetonka students can participate in archery through Minnetonka Community Education. This year, several students
qualified for both state and national level archery competitions. >> The archery team is coached by Alli Sigan, Christopher Wilson, and Chad Herman. >> Let's hear more about the program. >> Hi, I'm coach Ali Mahachek, and I am the
varsity head coach for the Minnotonka Archery Team. And there are just not enough words out there to express how incredibly proud I am of this team. The dedication, the hard work, everything that has gone into this season. I am so incredibly impressed with them. And it's not just our state participants or our
nationals participants. It's everybody that's on our team. Everybody shows up to practice. Everybody is there to have a good time. Everybody's there to learn. And everybody is there to just exist in a space together. And that's just something incredibly beautiful. And I am so grateful to have been a part of it this season. I am so so proud of them
and I cannot wait to see what they accomplish next. >> Hi, my name is Timmy Smith and I am a freshman. I am part of the Minnotonka archery team. This past season, I have improved a lot as an archer and have just loved the experience of being part of the team. I was so proud when we made
it to the national tournament together after working so hard this whole season. This season was my first and I loved every moment of it. It was truly a wonderful experience. >> Congratulations to the following archery, state, and national qualifiers. From the elementary and middle school
team, we recognize Halima Ahmed, Annabelle Alanan, Oliver Briles, Desa Brown, Lucas Codell, Eric Herman, Leonardo Nazich,
>> Leo Cupka, Headley Marshall, Elia Sachi, Danandon, Euan Saliards, Rose Salmon, Brock Stratton, Bohow Vandenboom,
and Elijah Vega. From the high school team, we recognize Harley Albert, Jacob Blé, Quinn Bourne, Ruby Brass, Alexis Bernett, Edwin Caldi, Asher
Campbell, Bailey Carney, Maxwell Duran, Lana Herpst, Carter Johnson, >> Vivian Jorzac, Eden Libach,
Greta Park, Molly Price, Drew Quering, Timmy Roelly Smith, Greta Shoenberg, Skyler Smith, Hannah Lyall,
Isa Smi, Anna Schuster, and Madison Swenson. Robotics provides students with an opportunity to work collaboratively and solve challenges using science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills.
>> The Minnotonka High School robotics team, Chickenbot Pie, had a historic year. Students qualified for the Minnesota State Tournament and also went on to the World's Competition in Houston, Texas, where they won a sustainability award for the first time in school history. The team is advised
by Depac Bala, Chelsea Mona, and Adrien Brown. >> Let's learn more about the season. Hey, this is Coach Deepo with Minnotonka Robotics Team 3082 Chicken Bot Pie. On behalf of Coach Chelsea, myself, and our advising team, we want to congratulate
students on an incredible season. Throughout the year, students designed, built, and programmed a robot capable of competing at the very highest level while also growing as leaders, problem solvers, and teammates. Their hard work and their strong performances at our regional competitions in Duth and
Minneapolis won us sustainability and judges awards which bought us a ticket to the world championships in Houston where we got to play on the fourth ranked alliance on our field. But what makes our team really special isn't just a high performance robot. It's the culture our students build around
collaboration, mentorship, and continuously improving. Even if that means we have to rebuild our intake mechanism four times. Congratulations team 382 on an incredible season. >> Hi, I am Arnov and I'm a freshman on the robotics team. Competing in robotics
this season was an incredible experience and I'm proud of everything our team has accomplished together. The most impactful part was seeing how teamwork, problem solving, STEM skills, and perseverance helped us succeed at every competition. I'm most proud of learning many new skills, including technical
skills in my role, as well as on the spot and logical thinking, which were very important during the season. Specifically, I was most proud of how our robot improved across the season. Group-wise, I'm most proud of how our group endured setbacks and were able to recover from them, helping us succeed at
important times. Thank you. Hello, my name is Mila Moreno. I am a junior and the programming captain of the robotics team. Making it to world required hundreds of hours from each and every team member, and it paid off. I got to meet teams from all over and look at robot designs I had never even thought of. Coming back from WS, I came with a
new mindset of wanting to be an engineer and a lot of robotics mulch and memories out cherish forever. I want to give a special thank you to coaches who without all the hard work and support none of this would have been made possible. Congratulations to the following robotics team members. Aisha Adam, Arnav
Ball, Gabriella Balosi, Ryan Blackman, Aaron Burroughs, Owen Kai, Lara Colon, Ortiz, Kyle Drew, Caleb Flores, Evan Gintner,
>> Lucas Granucci, Sashvant, Ga Karan, Kaden Holm, Rohan Ayer, Keegan Johansson, Oliver Jones, Curtis Lindall,
Kelly McFarland, Huxton Marcus, Mingchi Mathur, >> Samuel Mchugh, Blair McKenzie, John Paul, Mary, Camden, Mona, Amelio Morino,
Caitlyn Mulla, Oscar Post, Emanuel Romero, Aspi, Rainey, Ryan, Blake Sarcia, >> Alexis Smokowski, Paxton Smokski,
Connor Smith, Prescott Tan, Eander Tan, Sophia Theinger, Emlio Torano, Kenrich Tren, Jri Belugan,
Isaac Yong, and Torsten Zebarth. This year, several students from our middle schools have received state level recognition for their success and experiential learning tool called the stock market game. >> This game is an online simulation of the
global capital markets that engages students in the world of economics, investing, and personal finance. >> Our students have engaged with the tool as part of the middle school financial literacy elective. >> Let's hear more about it. >> Hey, I'm Doug Warner. I teach the new
financial literacy elective here at MME. Um I'm speaking on behalf of myself and Demi Berg at West to say congratulations to our students who excelled in the stock market competition this year. Our students uh studied different stocks, made some investments um and learned a lot about those uh the function of the
stock market all throughout the competition. And uh we want to give a shout out to our students that did well in the competition through the stock market game. >> Yeah. And I'm JB Olsen. and I'm an adviser for the before school morning stock market club that meets year long and yeah the students got a chance to
dattle in the market and uh make trades in real time and some of them got as high as a 51% return in three months so they did outstanding >> shout out to them congratulations kids >> congratulations to the following stock market game state level honores the
following Minnotonka Middle School E students finished in the top five in the state in their division Emma Marquez as Samuel Bon Krusoff and Ellie Ziggmund >> from the Minnotonka Middle School West. The following team of students finished
in second place out of 282 teams in their division. Congratulations to Parker Anderson, Wesley Jensen, Charles Kyper, and Graham Raymond. >> Congratulations as well to the middle school social studies teachers who
advised the students in their projects. Demi Berg, Jared Olsen, and Douglas Wernern. >> Earlier this year, Minnetonka High School junior Anthony Dose created a public service announcement video for the statewide Escape the Vape video
contest. The contest was sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health, the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center, and other health organizations. Anony's video, One Choice, Real Consequences, shares powerful information about the impact of vaping.
His entries place second out of 260 entries. Congratulations on this honor, Anthony, and thank you for your work to inform your classmates and peers statewide about this important issue. The Minnesota Technology Association offers an annual awards program to recognize students for their technology
interests, skills, and accomplishments. This year, three Minnitankka High School students were honored at the state level with the Minnesota Aspirations and Computing Award. Samita Krishna Murthy, Kiona Lawrence, and Mingchi Mathther.
>> These awards recognize each student's academic excellence, leadership, and future goals with regard to computing and technology. Minnotonka High School senior Kiona Lawrence has been selected as a Borlo Rouan International for the World Food Prize Foundation.
>> Kiona is one of only 13 students from around the world to be chosen for this opportunity this year. As part of this initiative, students are engaging in projects with experts at top agricultural institutions in eight different countries. This summer, Kona
will will be researching and learning at the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center in Changa, China. Wade Selby, a sixth grader from Minnitonka Middle School East, has qualified to represent the state of Minnesota at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this spring for the second
year in a row. >> WDE's path to nationals started when he won the school level spelling bee at MME. From there, he competed at semi-reionals and regionals, which he won in March. This led him to the national event in Washington, DC, which
has been taking place this week. Wade is only one of nine students from Minnesota at the event. This year, 26 Minnotonka High School students have earned high marks in the national French contest called Lrand Concursors. They earned a bronze, silver, gold, and platinum
medals for their French levels. The contest is an exam administered each year to French language students to measure their language knowledge. >> Let's hear more about this opportunity. >> Atus. My name is Beth Elto. I am one of the French teachers at Minnitanka High
School. Today we are congratulating students who participated in the National French Contest Concur. It's an annual contest that is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Students in French uh grades 1 through 12 uh in all 50 states and
abroad uh spend one hour to 75 minutes in the higher levels answering multiple choice questions based on audio recordings and readings. Um our students compete for state and national rankings against other students with similar language backgrounds and levels. The
students recognized today are our bronze, silver, and gold medal recipients. Hi, my name is Lily Rubenchic and I'm a senior at Minnitonka High School. During each time in the past where I took the
Grand Concour as just a little extra part of my French class, I would always get a piece of paper afterwards that said honorable, you know, honorable mention. And I still thought about that contest as a way to sharpen to
strengthen my comprehension skills. And so I'm very grateful this year to have finally gotten the qualification and as well as the personal affirmation that I'm able to take my language skills to a level that I would have initially
never thought possible. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Olivia and I'm a sophomore in high school. Winning the second place in the Kong competition was truly impactful for me. I think the most important part was seeing how all my
dedication, my hard work, my patience, and just love for the French language came together and pushed me to be the best I can be. Um, ultimately, I want to thank the school and all my teachers for really giving us the opportunities to
participate in things like this. It's truly impactful and it shows me that when I challenge myself, I can do incredible things. So, thank you. >> Congratulations to the following students for their French language
achievements. Our platinum level honore is Lana Cole. Our gold level honores are Avery Baos, Kira Arazzo, Kaia Maize, Francesca Raldi,
Greta Shoenberg, and Lion Sorar. >> Our silver level honores are L. Amu Gotfrieded, Maxwell Bodell, Whitney Colden, Liam
Cooney, Sarah Duffy, Olivia Duhart, Bavia Gautam, Ellen Ingam, Maximleian Kenny, Lily Rubchic, Adeline Ryan, Paisley Ryan, Shiovani
Shimugum, and Molly Wkelman. Our bronze level honores are Lyanna Kirthy, Ruby Kirk, Payton Percy, Oracle Renin, and Casey Schllo. >> Congratulations as well to French
language instructors Beth Anne Alto, and Susan Campbell for supporting students in this achievement. >> Next, we'll recognize a group of high school artists who have received state, regional, and national awards for their work during the 202526 school year. The
art teachers at Minnitonka High School have curated images of students award-winning creations for display at the district service center, which will be on display this summer, beginning in June. Our students have been recognized through the Scholastic Art Competition,
the City of Chanhassen Art Contest, the Henipin County Art Awards, Boundary Waters Conservation Art Awards, the George Massa Foundation National Photo Contest, and through the inaugural Tonka Creative Arts Awards. >> Let's hear more about these art honors.
>> Hi, my name is Meg Kitzer, and I am a teacher in the art department at MHS. This year in the art department, we have worked all year at building skills in a variety of media to express ourselves. Every year, the art teachers are so impressed by the quality and craftsmanship of these young artists.
And we'd like to recognize a few exceptional works that have received recognition this year. This year, we had 15 students win a Scholastic Art Award with two gold keys, four silver keys, and nine honorable mentions. We also hosted our first annual Tonka Creatives
art contest in which the art department juried over 200 entries and chose the top three winners in each category. This was so competitive and so impressive and we will definitely be doing it next year. The MHS art department was also represented in a few local community
competitions. We had a photograph win the city of Chanhassen art contest and five students were recognized through the George Mesa National Photography Contest. Two of our students created work selected to be on display at the Minnesota State Capital for the Henipin
County Boundary Waters Controver Conservation Awards and two students had their work exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art for winning the Henipin County Art Awards. Much of this work can be found on Tonka Creatives on Instagram. It was a full and busy year
of art making at MHS and we are enormously proud of our students and their achievements in the arts. Hi, my name is Eza Falconer and I am a senior and this is the art piece that I am being honored for. It is for the save the for the Boundary Waters conservation
project. Um, and I I love the Boundary Waters. I go every year and it's like very important to me that this place does not get irrevocably damaged by the saltwater copper mines. And I illustrated it using a fox looking at its reflection in the water where a
stream of pollution is going through and it can see its skeleton because the pollution stream would kill all wildlife. Hi, my name is Kate or Caroline Oggov and I'm a freshman. Uh, I made this ring in my first semester jewelry class with
Mr. Nent. Um, it's supposed to be like a row of teeth. I'm really proud of myself that I got a award because I spent a lot of time working on it and I think it's one of the favorite my most favorite things that I've ever made and I wear every day with all my other rings. Um,
and I'm very grateful that I won this award. >> Hello, my name is Zoe Bush. I'm a sophomore at Minnotonka High School. The most impactful part of this project was being able to attend our school's coffee house concert. It was really fun to hear all the music and take some great
photos. Something I'm proud of on this project was the quadruple exposure I got of four different bands all overlapping. It made a really cool photo in the end where you can see many different instruments and people. Thank you for hosting the Tonka Creatives Awards.
Congratulations to the following art award honores. Students who achieve scholastic art honors include Isabelle Chen, Cecilia Cho, Matthew Fry, Gabriel Mean, Naomi Newton,
Caroline Ogulvie, Anukica Peters, Raina Rayan, and Lola R. >> The following students earned top awards in the inaugural Tonka Creative Arts Awards through the Minnotonka High School Art Department. Griffin Bailey,
Willibell, Zoe Bush, Zayn Gray, Lydia Hedland, Cheng Xi Jiang, Helena Kolichek, Grayson Marlo, Miranda McDonald,
Ryan Mohammed, Naomi New Patton, Anie Oakman, Lola R, Leo Thul, and Abby Vancus. off. >> Congratulations to the following students for their success in other
regional, state, and national art contests this school year. Nora Ashan Kenas, Isabelle Chen as Falconer, Lily Grahams, Mason Himerman, Finn Johnson,
August Kraker, Aiza Mojit, Raina Rayan, and Naomi Newton. We would also like to recognize our high school art department for their work to empower and inspire students. They are Meg Kaner,
Jonathan Mackey, Rebecca Marx, Daniel Murphy, Steve Nent, Paul Olsen, and Sarah Young. Last month, we recognized high school students who qualified to participate in all state music opportunities.
>> This month, we have two more Allstate orchestra members to recognize. as well as the elementary and middle school students who are selected to represent Minnotonka. As part of the statewide American Coral Directors Association honors choir.
>> As part of these allstate and extracurricular groups, students have opportunities to connect with peers from across Minnesota as they deepen their musical practice. >> Let's learn more about this experience. >> My name is Marcus Han and I am a sophomore. The most impactful part of my experience at the All-State Orchestra
program was being around a group of like-minded people who enjoy music as much as I do. Going to a camp where everyone has a shared interest in music was an especially uplifting experience for me. I am proud of the fact that Minnetonka had seven representatives from the orchestra program that attended
the camp and played at the concert in February. >> Hi, I'm Mikey Tho and I am a seventh grader at MMW. Uh, I was recently chosen this spring to attend the ACDA at Minnesota State Honor
Choir, of which I am very happy and feel very privileged to sing among such prestigious and awesome singers. I feel so happy to have the opportunities that MMW and the Mitanka district in general gives and the people, the teachers that
sang with me that taught me how to sing. >> From the high school level all state orchestra, we recognize Marcus Han and Olivia Rue. From the grades four, five, six choir, we recognize Alif Ain,
Alina Alexia, Gilan Armstrong, Elen Connley, Meline Codle, Eloise Dennis, Luciana Garzan Salgado, Ratia Goponath,
Sha Gray, >> Jacob Hartwell, Elellanar Hyman, Mia Holder, Lexi Nethermire, Mave Revard, Lisette Cyple,
Isabelle Valley, Anna Wang, Claire Whitney. From the grade seven eight choir, we recognize Ryan Doseek, Llaya Kerr, Ariadne Midwinter, Fenton Peterson,
Jameson Sigfrids, Aurora Stali, and Michael Tholey. >> We also recognize and congratulate the following Minnitonka teachers who are advisers to our choir students. Sarah Abson, Seth Boyd, Carol Carlson, Gina
Meni, and Melanie Macyver. Our final recognition for this evening celebrates an award given out by the National Association of Music Merchants. Each year, this organization recognizes the best communities for music education.
>> This spring, Minnotonka Public Schools received the designation for the 13th year in a row. We make music education a priority at Minnitonka schools. Students in our district are able to explore the gift of music and performance through band, orchestra, coral, and classroom
music. They achieve great success with the support of their families, teachers, and the community. >> We'd now like to recognize our K12 music teachers who each play a role in making Minnetonka a top community for music education.
Sarah Abson, Mike Anderson, Mona Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson, Becky Ash, Katherine Bennett, Jackie Boyd, Seth Boyd, Heidi Bundy, Carol Carlson,
>> Dan Ericson, Sarah Finn Somerfeld, Jace Ginkl, Sarah Gorski, Karen Goats, Jen Hazen, Mary Beth Hutland, Michael
Janning, Jenny Kimble, Kevin Kleindel, >> Aaron Kors, Wade Letterbine, Melanie Macyver, Gina Menke, Miles Mortonson, Nicholas Ramandi, Paul Rosen, Melanie
Schwarz, Lissa Thomas, Rachel Tisdale, and Jason Jiang. >> Thank you to each of you for your work to inspire and support our students. That concludes our last recognition program for the 202526 school year. Thank you so much for celebrating with
us each month all year long. We look forward to another year of recognitions to begin in September. >> The school board meeting will begin shortly. Good evening everyone. Good evening everybody. Good evening.
Welcome. Welcome to the Minnotonka Public Schools May 28th, 2026 schoolboard meeting. I would like to call this meeting to order. >> May we please all stand for the pledge 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. Thank you. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. >> Megan, may I have a second?
>> Second, >> Dan. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. We have an agenda. >> First, oh, and I would like to say welcome to Delila Walter again, our student board representative, and thank you for being here two weeks in a row.
We appreciate you. First up, one of my favorites. We have the opportunity to have two school reports this evening from Minowasha and Scenic Heights Superintendent Law. >> Madam Chair, members of the board at every one of our regular board meetings,
we have our schools come up and do a report usually involving students and I see that's the case again tonight that are connecting what's happening at the school with with what the school board has for goals. We'll start tonight with Principal Cindy Andress in Mininoashta Elementary. Principal Andress,
>> thank you. If I'm here, that means June is almost here and so that is very exciting. I know. So, we would like to start by talking with you tonight just about a reflection over the course of the year and it centers deeply on an
important belief. Uh, belonging changes outcomes and that's certainly been true for us this year. Our students, staff, and families intentionally worked to ensure that every child felt seen, valued, connected, and welcomed within
our school community. I'd say that our community worked to be sure that our staff felt the same. And they'll share that with you tonight. We often say uh Minowasha uh belonging builds growth, connect, inspire, and empower. And that's how we started our year. It's not
simply our theme. it became very visible in our classrooms, hallways, partnerships, celebrations, relationships across our community. So that's what we hope to share with you tonight. So John and Sammy, would you join me?
We'll begin tonight with a powerful example. John is an employee in our building, but he's here to introduce his son to you, and then his son's going to talk to you as well. So thank you. Welcome.
Okay. Hello. Uh, along with being a Mininoashta Elementary cook helper, I have been a videographer and a video producer for Minnesota United FC for the last 12 years. Uh, last year, Sammy got the opportunity to be the first kid videographer in club history. An
opportunity that went so well that when the kids game came around this year, Minnesota United reached out and asked him to come back and take on the role again. In an attempt to take it a little bit further this year, I floated the idea of Sammy putting his immersion
knowledge to work and interviewing a player in Spanish. And the club loved it. And that's when Sammi's work got started. The first thing I worked on was coming up with a list of questions to ask Tomas and then sending them to the team. Once
we got Minnesota United's approval for them, I translate the questions into Spanish and started practicing. We decided to send the questions to my Spanish teacher, Senor Pank, hoping that he could make sure I was using the right words and asking them correctly. The
next day, Senor Pank sent an email encouraging me for what I had done so far and a few small changes. Knowing that he had checked them helped me feel more confident that I was going to do a good job at the interview. I spent a few more few more nights
practicing and then the day came and we headed to MN UFC training. >> So Andy, we're ready for you to show the video. >> Hey guys, Sammy here, Minnesota United kid videographer. I'm here at MMUFC
training grounds to film practice and to get to know our new player Tomas Chalai. in Victoria. Wonder Mass Mua. Yeah.
This moment reflects far more than language acquisition. It reflects student confidence, belonging, identity development, and the power of immersion education to help students see themselves as capable contributors in a global community. Sammi's experience
demonstrates what is possible when students are encouraged to take risks, use their voices, and apply learning authentically beyond the classroom walls. The pride he felt when the interview was shared publicly by Minnesota United and celebrated by his classmates reflects the power of schools
to nurture both competence and confidence. Our reflection now shifts to another deeply meaningful example of belonging and action through the work of our Atlas program teachers and general education teachers. Tonight we have Claire Forbes
and Carly Brown here. We have two other leaders in the program as well. Together they've helped lead Minawashta's new Best Buddies Club, creating intentional opportunities for students with and without disabilities to build authentic friendships, shared experiences, and
community connections. We have another special guest with us, student speaker Ivan, and his buddy Liam. Ivan will share with you what he likes about Best Buddies and being a student at Minowashta and Liam will follow. This highlights how students themselves are
becoming leaders of belonging and inclusion within our building. >> Ivan, what do you like about Best Buddies and being at Minowashta? >> I like to learn about empathy or about autism.
at Best Buddies. I like to play with the kids at Best Buddies and meet new people in my school. Being with Liam is fun and I like when he takes me to the bus. It
makes me feel feel happy when I get mail in the Best Buddies Sandbox. I like being on the TV and I like when everybody likes me. When I am in the TV
that made me feel joyful when everybody likes me. >> Ivan wrote that speech. Say right here, buddy. >> My favorite thing about Best Buddies is getting to play with the kids in the Atlas room. I look forward to each Best
Buddy session. I sometimes look I sometimes get to come and help at the end of the school day and walk some of my new friends to their buses. This makes me feel included in being part of their lives at school. I am really going
to miss all of my buddies next year when I head to the middle school. Thanks for the memories. >> And thank you. You got to pass out pass out the way. >> There we go. We started Best Buddies at Minowashta
this school year. We were hoping for about 50 kids and we currently have 140 members enrolled. We have loved watching this program thrive right from the beginning. One of the best examples of how eager the students are to connect
with the Atlas program kids is through a friendship mailbox that you can see in the picture um that is right outside of the program room. Through Best Buddies, we encourage students to connect with each other on paper through the use of the mailbox. And I'm not sure if you
know, but in special education, writing on paper is highly least preferred. Um each day we receive mail from the pro for the program students with messages of kindness, friendship, and inclusion. We have brought with us the binder of
cards to show a few samples of the kind words. Recently, we were named outstanding elementary school chapter of the year and we are in the process of being considered to be named the region 5 outstanding chapter of the year. This
is our award we got um for that. Our Best Buddies leadership team recently participated in the friendship walk on May 17th and we received the award for top school team. We raised a total of $3,900. We are so proud of our school's
commitment to inclusion. So at Menowasha, belonging means more than proximity. It means creating spaces where students know they matter and where differences are not simply accepted but valued. Uh through Best
Buddies, students have learned empathy, as Ivan shared, leadership, advocacy, and joy through shared experiences. Friendships have developed naturally across grade levels and learning needs because adults intentionally created
opportunities for connection and inclusion have occurred. This work also reflects the belief that inclusive environments benefit all students. General education students, they gain compassion, perspective, and leadership
skills, while Atlas students experience increased confidence, peer connection, and visibility within the school community. The result is a stronger, more connected school culture for everyone. And I have to say, I started
my career as a program teacher. And when I became a principal, my goal was that special education students wouldn't have to go someplace else. And I feel like, you know, I'm at the end of my career at some point and that we're we're getting there finally. And that really makes me
happy. I don't know that they introduced themselves, but Claire Forbes is one of our program teachers and Carly Brown is a kindergarten English teachers teacher. There's a Spanish kindergarten teacher that also supports them and then the
other Atlas teacher. So there are four adults that support those 140 students every month when they meet. Finally, we'll conclude with Kayla and Ashley, two Minawashta parents, sharing how Minawashta families and community
members demonstrated extraordinary care for one another during the winter months. Through intentional outreach, volunteerism, practical support, and welcoming efforts, parents worked to ensure our students, staff, and families
felt connected and supported during a season in Minnesota when isolation and stress increased for many. And there was a le there was a less of a sense of belonging at Minowashta at that time. And they responded. >> Kayla.
Hi, I'm Kayla Leandandy. >> I'm Ashley Garski. >> So, in January of this year, uh, a group of parents in our community began looking for ways to support our teachers and communities that were being affected by the ice deployment in the Twin Cities.
What we built together uh became known as our Minowash to melt. Uh, moments of levity and uh, in the face of adversity, right? So, we created a variety of support systems including parking lot patrols, emergency response
coordination, transportation support, advocacy efforts, and even a little free pantry. >> All of this was built truly out of empathy for a community of teachers and sport staff that have affected our children's lives as children that are in the um Spanish immersion program and
therefore have affected our lives so deeply. Um, there was this desire to help and I feel like such a need for so many of us to feel like we were doing something in such a time where you didn't know what to do. It felt so helpless. And I put blind faith because I cannot speak enough to how much blind
faith that people just had in all of us that were running this and that we would be there and use the money properly and use the time in the best ways. And it it's been kind of crazy actually to see just how many people showed up without fully even understanding and without even us fully understanding always what
we were trying to accomplish as we were going. >> I think even more incredible the numbers of people that came out Yes. >> to support without any true >> Yep. >> Yeah. No, nobody knew who anyone was, which uh so >> so yeah um financially so again by the
numbers we had over $6,000 donated and I say mainly we threw out a Venmo. I created a Venmo account and a separate bank account. And people just every morning I'd wake up with money from people I had never met before. Um, again, that blind faith of just hoping that we were going to do the right thing. That's also not including anyone that shopped and did not ask for
reimbursement. People could show up to shop and again they could get reimbured if they wanted to through that fund, but they didn't have to. Again, we started shopping in at the end of January, five days a week, 13 weeks. People showing up in the morning, understanding what we need, people showing up during the day to stock. Over 60 shopping shifts were
filled. We also had again our parking lot patrol AM and PM shifts. It ran for 10 weeks. Over a hundred hours of busy parent volunteer time, you know, taking meetings from the car so that they could be there to help the teachers and students and staff feel supported as they went in and out of the building. And again, communication, we utilize
signal. This is where I say the blind faith. I just last week was chaperoning at MIA for our third graders and a mom came up and she goes, "Are you?" And said my code name. And I was like, "Wait, are you?" But it's like we've had no idea who each other were for the last, you know, five months, but we were all working together and figuring it
out. We had our admins, our centralized support, and just a Google Drive. So, again, it was kind of all of us figuring it out as we go. We got better as we went, but the amount of support that we had from our community and people that wanted to show up was just absolutely incredible. And we were lucky to be part of the team that let it. So, we couldn't
be more thankful. That community supporting community uh really allowed not only our staff and students to feel supported but allowed them the opportunity to support their communities as well and to take whatever resources we were providing with those
funds with uh those efforts and be able to spread it further and wider than just our own you know 150 staff members if you will. Uh so here on this slide as you can see photos of our ever evolving pantry uh took many shapes and sizes. It
uh we had not only shelf stable but we also had fridge space. Uh it even evolved into a whole another space within the school to help better serve those who were utilizing it. Um and it really and truly uh took on a life of its own as it met the needs of those who
needed it most. >> That's all. Thank this year. Min Minowasha's story is not simply about programs or events. It's about people. And we wanted you to see that. It's about students finding their
voices, friendships crossing perceived boundaries, staff creating intentional spaces for inclusion, and families coming together to support one another. So belonging doesn't just happen accidentally. It's built through our
relationships, intentionally listening, using empathy, and daily actions of a community con um to ensure that all are welcome. And that's what we've strived to be. will continue to to strive to create a space where every child can say
that I belong here. So, thank you for your time. If you have any questions for any of them, they'd be happy to answer them. >> Thank you so much, Cindy, Principal Andress. I there is a special place in my heart for menasha, as you know, um
and and best buddies. What a wonderful presentation for from everybody. Thank you so much for being here. >> Thank you for allowing us. >> Yes. um questions or comments from the board. And I love a good pin. Thank you. That's wonderful, you guys. And sticker.
>> If you want it bedazzled, just drop it by and we have a bedazzler in the Atlas room that will take care of that for you. >> Thank you again, Cindy, so much. >> All right, questions or comments? Okay, moving forward. Uh next up, we have
community comments. >> Oh, no. Let's do the other school. Oh gosh, Nicole, I'm so sorry. >> We have Scenic Heights. >> Next up, we have from Scenic Heights Elementary, Principal Nicole Snettton.
>> Good evening, Madame Chair, Superintendent Law, members of the board. Um, it's my pleasure to be here tonight along with our team at Scenic Heights. So, I have joining me, and maybe they can just wave a hand, Mr. Venolsberg, if you could join me, our assistant principal, Jared Venolsburg. um as well as a team that I'll introduce
in just a moment. And we're very excited our report tonight. And I suppose I should probably pull up our slides. Noticing. Um, our report tonight anchors directly in the district theme of connectedness and our commitment at Scenic Heights on how we're operationalizing that
schoolboard goal of excellence and innovation and student- centered support. So, tonight we've brought some of our crew and maybe if you could just kind of wave your hand, they're going to come up in just a moment, but we have Wang Lousher who is one of our immersion teachers here. We have Meyn Nelson, one
of our also immersion teachers. We have Alexander Halavo Halavez who is one of our students. If you want to wave Alexander and we have Eleanor Perilo who is also one of our students and we have a guest um surprise speaker at the very end. And tonight our team is going to
show you just how our mature Chinese immersion program which is 19 years in. Hard to believe 19 years in um isn't just about teaching a language. It's about actively driving high level literacy, fostering real world
confidence, and mapping long-term pathways for global citizenship. So, I want to thank you as a board for always investing in our students and your leadership in this area and making Chinese immersion a priority for our families. So, with that, I'm going to turn over to Wong Louser.
>> Good evening, everyone. So, I'm going to talk more about academic parts. So as we implement the mandates of the new read act, a fundamental questions often surfaces is how does the structure literacy translate into the non-alphabetical language like Chinese.
So the answer lies in how we explicitly teach language structure in English. Structured literacy in English the structure literacy emphasis on phen uh graphimmes and more and more themes. But in in manner in Chinese we apply the
same scientific principles of the pattern of recognization morphology and also athographic awareness. So we teach students systematically decode uh decodes characters looking for structural uh structural rad radicals
and build language blocks. So rather than replying uh relying on simply memorizations our student approach mandaring with the same deep linguistic schema defined by the science of the reading. So by saying that you know a lot of the words you probably don't know. So we brought our
two students here and one is Alex and Elanor. They're going to show you a quick lesson to uh to explain how we teach part of the in Chinese. Let's welcome Alex. >> Uh good evening. My name is Alexander
and today I will teach you a little about Chinese characters and ask you some questions. Um does somebody know what this word might mean? Um, I think it's mountain because I took Japanese.
>> Correct. >> As you can see, um, the word mountain just looks like the pictures of a real mountain. Um, do you notice a pattern here? Like each character starts out like a picture
and then slowly evolves into the character in Chinese. Uh for example, you can repeat after me. Aan >> these all mean mountain, water, fire, and dirt.
And now please welcome Elanor. She's going to teach you about sentencing. >> Hi. Hi, please mirror my phrasing. >> See how hard that is?
>> Now, let's break it down. >> One more time, please. Please guess what means >> correct. Now guess what means? >> Yeah. Uh please guess what
means. >> Yeah. And means Chinese. So when you put it all together, it means I like to learn Chinese. So I guess you all see how when you say the full sentences is a little bit hard
but when we break down into the different parts and also with what we learned from the science of the reading with all the different actions and different parts of it and that's how we do Chinese but this is only part of it there are small u from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade it's always
different different teacher features use different styles and then we have the we are also doing the same thing with the English to implementing the redact into our thing and uh except those we also want to share with you how our communities not only just in the
classroom but how to apply into the real life so now let's welcome the mesh and she's gonna take over >> thank you um good evening I'm one of the most exciting aspects of our program is
seeing how the strong language foundation built in the classroom translate into real world experience for our students. This year we have more than 50 cineis students participating in
the prestigious Chinese bridge competition that is an international language and culture competition gives students opportunities to showcase their Chinese speaking printation and the
performance skills. We are incredibly proud. 20 of our students uh advanced to the semifinals. Three students made to the finals and our fourth grade team was invited to
perform at the event. Beyond the competitions, students also immersed in meaningful culture and literacy experience throughout the school year. Our second
grader took a China China day field trip where they enjoyed a professional Chinese performance and gained a deeper understanding of Chinese culture. We expanded classroom books to support
literacy dep development in our class. Each year we also host six visits with high school emerging students. Their interactions with our younger learners highlights the long-term
benefits of the language learning. In addition, this year our students and families also showed their creation skills and school pride through a t-shirt design project.
This accomplishment reflects the hard work of our students, the dedication of our teachers, and the strong community support. More importantly, experience like this helps students to
see language is not just a classroom subject, but is a tool for connection, confidence, and future opportunities. And here are some pictures and to show
our activities throughout the year. And this is one quote from one of our parents regarding Chinese bridge competitions. Thank you. Well done. Thank you.
Thank you. And just before we wrap up tonight, I want to um close with kind of a full circle moment. So, as you've heard our amazing students and our very amazing teachers share about our program. Um it wouldn't be possible again without our directive from the board and without these experiences. And
tonight we have a guest speaker, a surprise speaker, senior Sylvia Wong, former Scenic Heights student. Um she's a high school student and she's joining us on her 18th birthday. So, I think we need to say happy birthday tonight. So, thank you for being here. And she's
going to show us just full circle what an impact this program has on our students lives. So, I'm going to let her close and then we'll take questions. Thank you. >> Silia, please come up. >> Hello. Thank you for that amazing welcome speech. I appreciate it. But as
you guys know, my name is Sylvia Wong and it's a pleasure for me to be here today to share my experiences and those of my peers in the scenic elementary Chinese immersion program which began for a lot of me and my peers 12 years ago. Um, so yeah, as a child of two
Chinese immigrant parents, a lot of people may assume that I would have the benefit and opportunity to diverse to indulge myself in the diverse and versatile culture of China right within my own home. And while this may be true in the terms of the food we ate and the holidays we celebrated, the language
itself wasn't relatively available to me without the immersion Chinese program. Now, what does this mean? It means that although my parents grew up or were born and raised in China, they grew up in regions where Cantonese was the primary language. Meaning that in many ways, Mandarin was just as foreign to them as
it was to me. Now, the Tonka immersion program has helped bridge this gap within my own family by helping me and my peers learn to speak, understand, listen, and read Chinese. And this has been very helpful as I know a lot of my friends and peers have gone off to China
in their high school experience just to visit Asia and it's been super fun for them. But I'm so sorry I don't I don't know your name. But as it's okay, as she mentioned before, the program isn't just about the language. And this is true for me as because it's allowed me
specifically to create long-term friendships that are who are here supporting me today. And I just will always cherish those moments. And there's so many memories that I have within the Chinese community at Cena Kites that I will forever remember. But
moving on from me, my peers and myself has also chosen to continue ch uh continuing their studies in the Chinese culture and language in their colleges with many of them choosing to minor in the language. And this just shows how profound of an impact that the Tonka immersion program has had on its
graduates. And that being said, I'm just truly grateful to have been part of the Minnotonka community. And I know that its immersion programs, whether it be Chinese or Spanish, will continue to have an influence and impact on its future generations. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well said. I promise we won't
sing to you yet. Maybe after. So, um, with that, I'd like to open it up. Any questions or comments? So, thank you. >> Thank you, Principal Ste and on all the presenters. That was wonderful. Happy birthday. >> Do we have comments or questions from the board?
>> That was You see why this is our favorite part of the board meetings. Just amazed by these students. And thank you to the younger students for for teaching us the Chinese. That was wonderful. Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> One more round. All right. Okay. Now we move on to community comments. Sorry, I jumped the gun there, everybody. Okay. So, first I will read aloud the guidelines for community comments. I recognize a few familiar faces out
there. So, we have a we have a full room. Um, welcome to the Minnitanka School Board Meeting. In the interest of open communications, the Minnitankka School District wishes to provide an opportunity for the public to address the school board. That opportunity is provided at every regular schoolboard
meeting during community comments. Number one, anyone indicating a desire to speak to an item included in the meeting agenda except for the consent agenda and/or 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, connection to the district 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. Number two, if there are a number of individuals present to speak on the same topic, please designate a spokesperson who can summarize the issue. Number three, please limit your comments to two
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 better understand, investigate, and respond to your concern. Number four, 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 followup to your comment or suggestion, you will be
contacted via email or phone by a member of the board or administration in a timely manner. Number five, 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 department, then to the executive director of human resources, then to the superintendent, and finally in writing to the board. Okay, first up, Evan Romangh
on technology usage. Welcome. Good afternoon or evening, Madame Chair, Superintendent Law, members of the board. Um, I don't have much to say, but I did jot some notes to make sure I wouldn't forget. My name is Evan Romangh. I'm a father of two at Clear Springs, two students, a second grader
and a kindergartenner. I am here, as you referenced, to speak uh briefly about technology use in the district. Um, I see the impact that specifically iPad use has on my children. It's quite concerning on their developing brains. It's frankly alarming how much they
speak about onetoone iPad use. Uh, I was not aware that there was that much use of iPad um in the district before before opening enrolling here and I am concerned about it. Um, I'm also here um as I I am an assistant attorney general at the Minnesota Attorney General's
Office. I work in the consumer protection division of the office. Disclaimer, I'm here personally in my personal capacity. I'm not here on behalf of the office of the Minnesota Attorney General, but I have been involved in some work our office has done in this space. So, I did want to address that briefly. Uh, specifically
working alongside a technologist and a psychologist who was a former uh formerly worked at Meta, we've issued two comprehensive reports on emerging technology and its effects on youth mental health and well-being. These reports included significant data as
well as anecdotes from motans across the state showing among many other harms that excessive use of tech displaces beneficial activities like sleep and in-person socialization leading to reduced well-being. Uh we've made many policy recommendations. I'll speed up. I
see my time is running out. I would encourage you to read these reports to see our policy recommendations in full. I think some of them can be implemented by the board. Um, alongside other states, we also did sue Meta in 2023, alleging, among other things, that the company has designed its products to
deliberately addict kids at the expense of their mental health and well-being. This case is part of a bellweather of state attorney general cases that's set to go to trial this summer in August. We also sued Tik Tok last summer uh for its harmful design features alleging similar
claims. This isn't part of any allegations we've made in these cases, but I think inundating kids with tablets and really force-feeding them the amount of technology they're getting at such a young age, I think it it it really is only going to lead to increased use of social media and all the deleterious
effects that that has. So, I would urge the board to consider really rectifying some of their actions and and rethinking iPad use in the district. >> Thank you, Mr. Romanov. And if you would leave >> Oh, sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry if you could.
>> Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, we have so many. If you wouldn't mind holding your applause. We have a clarifying question. >> Just just curious if you could email us or let us know where we could access those reports. That'd be helpful. >> Yeah, happy to. You could also for members of the public could just Google Minnesota Attorney General Emerging Technology or social media and find the
reports. >> And if you could if you would leave a copy actually right behind you with Dr. Getty. >> It's just chicken scratch bullet point. >> Okay. If you want to email us too, that's fine. Yeah, great. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have my
>> Paul Reedner on goals. Welcome. >> Hello everybody. Um, so I'm a father of I have one in Clear Springs and then a son and daughter in MMW. And so I'm going to talk about from my son's perspective. Uh he's a he's a
great student, triilingual. Uh he went to the National Spelling Bee as a sixth grader from Mantona schools and we found that he was not managing his iPad very well and over a long period of time he was up late at night um on websites he
shouldn't have been. We watched his mental health go from curious, happy, outgoing to reserved, tired, orary, kind of antisocial. And this has happened when he got to middle school. And so
we've been looking at his screen time. It's like it's over eight hours a day. And we're concerned for him. And the more that I talk with other parents about the harmful effects of, you know, this amount of screen time and these
devices, uh, it's really alarming the things that other parents are going through, things that we're going through. We didn't want technology in our house, but at during COVID, we all got these devices and now it's fracturing some of our family values.
Um, they are acting like they're addicted to it. they hide it and they just don't have the, you know, the executive, uh, functioning to manage it and they need our help. And so, um, I'm urging the board to really seriously
consider what we are handing over to the children. There's there doesn't seem to be good safeguards. The kids seem to get around everything that's placed in front of them. They're really creative. Um, and so I have, you know, I have three kids in the district, and we chose
Minnetonka, moved out of Minneapolis, uh, and I'm seriously considering, uh, maybe pulling them out because, um, um, every day that they go to school with these devices, I have no idea what they're going to be, you know, what's going to happen, what they can see. Um,
so I'll just leave it at that. I I really hope that you um do something about this technology uh policy here. >> Thank you, Mr. Reedner. All right. Um next up, Shining Jong on goals.
Welcome. >> Hi everyone, my name is Shining Jang. I My family has lived in the Minanga school district for 13 years. My daughter graduated from high school last year and I my second child is uh currently at navigator program senior
heights is going to in the fall. I'm here today to advocate for recalibrating our tech policy not eliminating technology but using them more intentionally and thoughtfully. I want to share one very specific observations from our family's
experience doing math on iPad. We think we have some credibility to speak on this topic. My husband is a trained mathematician and educator with a PhD in mathematics from Stanford University. And math has always been a big part of
our family culture. Throughout middle school and high school, my daughter did nearly all her math work on iPad. um even when the problems get harder, difficult, requires deeper thinking, she stayed on device because that was the
standard practice at school. We often encourage her to switch to the paper to work throughout ideas more freely, but she rarely did. Honestly, watching our processes was painful. Instead of focusing on the mathematical reasoning,
much of a ma mental energy was spent on navigating the device, switching between pages, zooming and zoom out, finding where information was, clearing tiny writing places, spaces, and trying to keep track of numbers and steps on the
screen. Think about for a moment. In complex problem solving, human beings, we rely heavily on short-term working memory. But instead of using that precious cognitive capacity to
analyze and reason much of it was it was consumed by managing the limitation of the devices itself. So I would argue that especially in subjects for math the iPad seems to be more distracting than helpful.
Oh sorry. >> Oh time you you can finish your thought. You want to finish your thought? >> Yeah I have. Can I speak one more minute or >> um well you not one more minute but if you just want to finish your your thought. >> Yes >> because we're we have to limit to two
minutes because of all of our >> comments. I think I can give this one too. >> Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next up we have Debbie Clark uh schoolboard globals. Welcome. Hello. I am here as a parent. Uh we open
enroll in Minnotonka and um we came to Minnotonka for um the gifted and twice exceptional opportunities that you have uh for the overall values of the school district and the high academic
standards. Uh I'm here as a concerned parent um for many of the same reasons that have been shared, but specifically I wanted to share um from our family's perspective something that we've noticed a quite a contrast between our son who
is in the navigator program at Scenic Heights Elementary and our daughter who is in sixth grade in at MME. Um our son and the navigator program they have made a very concerted effort this year to reduce and almost eliminate screen.
Almost everything that he has comes home on paper is done in class on paper. Math is in textbook. It's a workbook on paper that they use in school and it's a homelinks book that they use at home which is paper. Um his assessments, his
vocab, his alphabetizing, his writing, everything is done on paper. the um accommodations that he is allowed through his IEP and that other students are allowed for technology use especially with writing um provide a keyboard for them versus our daughter
who has become very proficient in the hunt and peck method on her iPad um that is not helpful. Our daughter on the other hand as was just mentioned um does almost everything on her iPad. There have been very few I can count on one hand the time that we have seen paper
come home. Um and none of it has been for homework. It has been specifically um maybe like an outline or something like that that she's brought home. Everything else has been on um the iPad and we have started tracking and and it is six plus hours per day um that she is
on her iPad. uh she is in many of the honors and accelerated classes and has become very difficult for her to do the work that she has to do. Um she spends at least half of the amount of time she's doing homework just navigating apps,
formatting, um trying to find where different things are versus having the paper in front of them. So I am here to ask that the board one would consider looking into what the navigator teachers and program have um
seen with their reduction in screen use and consider eliminating the use of um specifically iPads but screen in general in the middle school level. >> Thank you Miss Clark. Okay, next up we have Rebecca Cohen Israel.
Welcome. >> Good evening, member, members of the board, superintendent law. For those of you who don't know me yet, my name is Rebecca Cohen Israel. I have a sixth grader at MMW and two toddlers yet to enter the public
school system. Our family lives in Chanhasson, is in the Eastern Carver County School District, and has chosen to open Enroll Minnotonka since my son was in second grade because of Minnetonka's historical excellent reputation. I'm the great-g grandanddaughter of an
of immigrants who came here looking for a better life and most importantly a better education. I'm a third generation attorney and quality education is a foundational bedrock of our family. My son is what we all affectionately refer
to as a COVID kindergartener. He was a kindergartener in March of 2020 and has utilized an iPad for school almost exclusively since then. It has caused year after year heartache, arguments, frustrations, and distractions.
I have watched him struggle to stay on task, struggle to learn new concepts, and struggle to stay organized. He through no no fault of his own has failed to develop his curiosity for knowledge, his critical thinking skills,
his problemolving skills, his writing, and a myriad of other absolutely essential life skills due to the modality of his education. I am not convinced he will be prepared to enter the working world when the time comes under this model.
Those of us in this room represent more than 300 plus parents coming to you not to be combative but to be united. You have undoubtedly seen the edtech reform movement sweeping the nation and
Minnotonka is not immune to these requests. As a society, we now have ample data and research and correlating test results to show the detriment, not the improvement the onetoone program has on our children.
We are asking no begging you to stand here and hear us and stand by the values that got you all elected. We are asking to work alongside you to create a better education for our our children. and we are asking hard reset on technology use
in Minnotonka's classrooms. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Paul Paul Anderson on goals. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Paul Anderson. I'm a Minnotonka parent. Um, my daughter started kindergarten this
past fall and as I think to her future in Minnetonka schools, I'm increasingly concerned about what I see. Um, I've been able to talk to many of the parents in this room and hear their stories, different grades, different schools, and one theme has has emerged loud and
clear. That's we've gone much too far on iPads and it's at the detriment of the well-being and the academics of the kids of this district. At the heart of school is learning. And in hearing the stories from across the district, it makes me wonder if anyone has stopped to truly
ask, "How does this help with learning?" Consider our youngest learners like my 5-year-old daughter. She has her own iPad at school where she's playing games that are quite similar to Candy Crush. How does that help with learning? iPads have seeped into the elementary school experience. gamified apps, video games
on the bus, using Google Docs to chat and share memes during class, iPads and specials, iPads for early finishers, writing a presentation by selecting a word that Google suggests. How does this help students learn? And we look at our middle middle schoolers with the hours
and hours that they're spending on iPads and we know there's a better way. These stories are sounding an alarm that something isn't right. It's much bigger than one kindergartener, one school, one grade. The system itself has drifted away from what is best for our children. I don't have time tonight to cite the
research on child development or learning science or the data on our declining test scores. But even more than that, our own intuition and common sense tell us the current approach is not what's best for our children. I see two paths that we could take. the easy
path, which was changing, eliminating a couple apps, sending some nice emails to parents, doing a couple things for our youngest learners, or truly doing a full recalibration and thinking about the 11,000 students of this district because there's they only have one kindergarten
year, one middle school experience, one graduation day, one childhood. So, I'd ask that this board thinks deeply about tech and recalibrates it for the best interest of all the kids of this district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Colleen Lockovich is next.
>> Welcome. >> We're here as the Lakovich family. My name's Colleen Lakovich. This is Savannah Lovich. I have a brief statement. Savannah has a very brief statement. My name is Savannah. I'm in third grade. I I don't like iPads because they're
distraction and they make my head hurt. >> Good evening everyone. First, I want to commend you on so many of the amazing, creative, and supportive initiatives and programs within the district. I don't want this to all be negative. Thank you. My son is in
theater. That is a gift and you've allowed that to happen. I have a third grader and I have a fifth grader at Minowashta. I've been working on this edtech topic since my son was in kindergarten for six years. I've had numerous meetings with top administration, the principal, and
teachers. But the fact is, my son can barely write a clear paragraph. I have proof here. In school, he reads books on an iPad, not a paper book. That's troublesome. My daughter needs constant affirmation doing homework because she's
used to gamified apps and constant celebrations. Learning is hard work, but these devices have shortened their attention spans, harmed their cognitive thinking and personal relationships. I'm not here to speak about the research and the numerous science-based evidence. We have
it. It's in the news. It's been documented. It's a national problem. I'm here to tell you that I've tried everything to work with the school and the board. My son and daughter tell me numerous stories that make me want to levitate
with the school district issued devices. I'm a parent. You are the educators and are supposed to act on their well-being. Your job is to educate, support, encourage, and grow their learning. You're supposed to be aware of the research. you should be leading this
massive campaign for change. And so I feel that you've left it in the parents hands to truly protect our children's well-being, to protect their mental health, to protect their developing brains.
We are smart parents. We are kind. We want to help. We are willing to do the work. I really hope you take our thoughts and our availability ser seriously because I have to protect my children. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Lakovich. Next up, Anna Maurice. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. I'm going to read. I'm not native speaker so I have to write everything. Good evening board members attending
law. My name is Anna Maurice and my son is a fifth grader at Minut Tonka schools. I also have a second grader attending an out of district charter school where the use of a screens is very restricted and there is no one-on-one device. We decided this due to her ADHD. I'm also a special
education teacher with 20 plus years of experience. I work in the public schools back in my country and here in Minnesota. I also serve as a reserved teacher for militant schools before pandemic as well especially in the Spanish immersion schools and what I saw at that time along with being a leader
in education opportunities was one of the heaviest reasons why we chose to open enroll then the pandemic hit the district and the community understood and accepted that oneonone iPad was a response to an extreme situation the district and the whole
country acted accordingly today we're confronting a different reality. A different pandemic. Mental health and addiction due to exposure to screens. Gamifying apps that expose our children to high dopamine levels. Access to inappropriate content on the internet. Constant distraction while doing
homework. Just to name a few shared by Minatonka parents. I personally have experienced my son. my son telling me all the way back home about all the new video games that he played that day at school and shedding many tears when I excel punishing him
for making mistakes mistakes in math. I told him I tell him Sam is just an app. You are smart in math is all about making mistakes. Um back today we're confronting a different oh sorry my brain uh assuming
that our children will show adult levels of self-control is unrealistic and staying my circle is irresponsible. Their brains are not ready neither fully developed. Back then we look at the leadership. Now it is time to look at the parent testimonials and the
overwhelming amount of research backing up the detrimental impact of a screen time. Back then we had no control over COVID pandemic. Today we have the decision-making power. We see the evidence, the weight of the new circumstances and it is time to pivot a
more high education and best practices. Our children mental health weights more than anything else. The parent community wants a meaningful meaningful change in our children's learning quality, family dynamics and mental health overall. The parent community is asking for
partnership in this not just important but necessary change. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Maurice. Next up, we have Risa Anderson. Hello, I'm a mom of two children at Excelsure Elementary in the Chinese and Navigator programs. We have been
incredibly fortunate to experience the care, talent, and dedication of the teachers in those programs. We love our school. We love our principal, and I truly believe the staff across the building are doing the very best to support the care for our children every day. Now, I'm asking you, our district
leaders, to do the same on this topic. I am deeply concerned about how how technology and screens are being used throughout our schools. and the recently shared board goals did not give me confidence that the district fully understands the seriousness of this issue or the responsibility that you have to address it. I had hoped to see
specific, measurable, and timebound goals that would meaningfully reset how children across how children access and use technology in Minnotonka schools. Instead, what was pres presented felt vague in insufficient for the scale of the concern that so many pe families in
this district are experiencing. As you know, this conversation is happening across the country. But what is especially important is the extraordinary level of engagement from families right here in our district. The volume and consistency of parent concern should be telling us something important. Minnotonka has drifted too
far in its dependence on screens and families are asking for a meaningful for a meaningful change. Every technology enabled device or activity should have to earn its place in the classroom. We should be carefully considering whether it is truly enhancing learning development and well-being before
placing it in front of the children for hours a day. Once I started paying attention to how deeply embedded screens are in the in our schools, beginning as early as RSK, I could not stop seeing it. At its core, this conversation is not really about devices. It's about childhood. Our children deserve
classrooms filled with conversation, hands-on learning, books, creativity, movement, focus, and human connection. They deserve the chance to develop the skills that matter most. The ability to think deeply, collaborate meaningfully, and be fully present. Technology has its
place in education, but many families feel the balance has been lost. Minnotonka has long been a district willing to lead. I believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to lead again. Our children get one childhood. They deserve an education system that protects it with the seriousness and care that it deserves.
>> Thank you, Adam Johnson. Next up, >> Madam Chair, Superintendent Law, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I didn't prepare any remarks. I did want to speak briefly because I did create a petition online
and I have a copy of that petition. My purpose in being here is really to enter in that into the record. I do want to read three comments um which are also included. There's 42 comments from I think mostly parents which provide relevant testimony consistent with some of the statements that have been made
tonight. So I'm going to read those now. First parent said, "So I talked to some teachers at MME about kids playing on their iPads during class instead of studying. My son had been called out by several teachers for this. Two teachers were more techoriented, set up Apple education software. They could see every
iPad screen in the room on their computer. If a kid started playing games or whatever, the teacher could call them out instantly, but the school wasn't interested in having this set up for all the teachers. So, my son was playing games in all of his classes. He happens to be a very quick learner, so his grades were still all fine, but he got
addicted to playing games and doing whatever he wanted while at school. He came home and would get upset that we wouldn't let him do the same at home. Most of the teachers I spoke with said they just gave up policing the kids and their iPads because it was too difficult. and half of the class were
non-stop playing in class. Second parent comment. iPads have already ruined many kids. They bring addiction, anxiety, and ADHD symptoms. Poor security and iPad monitoring from the school were a cause of children watching age inappropriate content. Also, they can watch YouTube all day at
school. They use Google chat and send messages every minute during the school day. They have group chats with people outside of school. They use Google Docs to chat and the teacher thinks that they are working on tasks. Teachers let students use AirPods at school. Children are listening to music all day, not
studying. And finally, third parent comment. My son is in fifth grade at Groveland. He shares with me how he and his friends are gaming and watching YouTube videos at school. The teachers and tech uh team are not able to keep up and block the sites. the kids, especially
neurodyiverse kiddos, are not able to resist the temptation to play games or do book reports. We need undistracted learning. Um, and if I didn't mention it before, my name is Adam Johnson. My kids go to Scenic Heights and MME. Um, and just to talk about one final item, I do
support a second driveway at Scenic Heights. I saw that on the So, >> good. Thank you for being here. Next up, Andrew Twito. I want to one up the 18-year-old, but it's my 40th birthday and I can't think of a better thing to
do than swim upstream as I've been doing a lot. I just looked into the eyes of the woman that spoke before me who had her daughter up here and I wasn't going to cry at all. And then I looked at her before I came up. So, fortunately, I'm just going to read um an anonymous
letter that a um that a teacher in the Minnitanka school district wrote. She has kids in the system. I have a daughter at Clear Springs and I really appreciate you guys continuing to let us go here, but it's just nothing is more important right now. Um, so thank you.
She says, "In the classroom, I regularly see students accessing inappropriate or non-instructional content during the school day. Having to constantly monitor tools like Apple Classroom takes away from attention." I'm going to paraphrase. Students become quick to swipe out of inappropriate content. It's a gamma cat and mouse. I'm just forced
to focus on the students who want to engage with the lesson. And that leaves students spending hours a day without their parents knowledge engaged in non-school-based activities. Often these same students end up having missing assignments, reduced assessment scores, or even academic integrity concerns that they may not have without distraction of
a device. Significant concern is YouTube, where students are able to watch sexualized content, violent first-person shooter gameplay videos, and more. The sidebar video suggestions are often inappropriate even when the student has a direct link provided by the teacher. Beyond violent content,
students are sharing links to VPNs. Okay, you heard a lot of this stuff. Going to keep going. Families want to partner with schools in teaching responsible digital citizenship. But that partnership becomes strained when Mary many parents have little control or visibility into how devices are used outside school hours. Many parents
assume that safety restrictions are stronger than they actually are to discover the inappropriate content. If the districts truly valid valued digital citizenship, greater creating greater community education and support for a device laden society would be helpful. I was shocked to hear from a class of
middle schoolers that she knows very well that all but one boy in the class has a porn hub account and that all but two slept with their phones in the room at night, often without restrictions or downtime. And she said they were quite comfortable sharing that with her. students see the devices as theirs
versus family purchased devices that often come with agreements and contracts for use. Thank you so much for letting me speak today. I really appreciate it. I know Mitaka schools are amazing and we're going to figure it out. I'm sure you know some of what's going on now. You're hearing a lot more about it and it's it's undeniable and I know we'll
find a way to remain one of the best districts in the state and in the country. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Andrea Goulswick. Good evening. My name is Andrea Goswick and I'm a mom of three, a soontobe second grader, a soon to be
kindergartener, and a 2-year-old. And I'm here tonight like every parent in this room. I care really deeply about the childhood my kids get to have. Up until now, my husband and I have been able to create a home environment that we believe in for our kids. A big part
of that has been limiting screens. We don't have iPads in our home, and we keep screen time really minimal. And we've honestly watched our kids flourish so far because of it. Their imaginations are alive. They play, they move, they talk to us. We get to enjoy our time together without the constant battles
over devices. And what scares me, so many comments that are going on in this room is how quickly this balance can shift as soon as they become required as part of school. Um, friends who are further along in the Minnotonka system are always sharing stories that break my heart. Nightly fights over whether their
child is doing homework or if they're playing games. The younger siblings begging to use the schoolisssued iPad. Kids who are already sat for hours coming home and then sitting for more hours on their iPad because their homework's on a screen. Um, these aren't isolated stories, they're patterns, and
they're really changing the tone of family lives in the way that many of us parents never wanted. I'm here because I don't want the school system to undo the environment we've worked so hard to build at home. I don't want the only way to protect my kids' childhood to be
pulling them out of a school district that we love. We adore Minnetonka. We've had nothing but positive experiences so far at Clear Springs, and we want to stay. We want to be a part of this community. But my ask is simple and comes from a place of love for my kids
and respect for this district. Please include um in the 26 27 board goals that I have hads in school and screen use reduced significantly and drastically and return to physical homework. I would say at least through 8th grade when kids
have more maturity, more self-control, and a better understanding of how to manage technology. I'm advocating for a balance that supports learning without undermining the values and boundaries that us families are working really hard to build at home. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Arthur Barnum. Welcome. >> Hello board members. I'm Arthur and I'm an eighth grader at MME. I'm here to talk about something that I noticed when I first moved here in about November December 2023.
When I started school here, I found it really different from my old school district. And almost nothing was on paper here, and nearly every assignment was digital. But back in Idaho, where I used to live, at least 70% of the work was physical
work on paper like this. The only times that we used devices there were for stuff that couldn't easily be done on paper, like coding and stuff like that. Here though, most work is done on an iPad and paper assignments aren't really common. I would really like to propose
to shift kind of away from digital work and towards more paper assignments. This will be a lot better for learning because you're putting down your own writing instead of just pressing buttons on a keyboard. There are more benefits to physical work as well, like hand eye
coordination, which will improve handwriting. I do understand the reasons why technology is prominent in the schools right now because access to information around the world is great but that's almost all that they should be used for. Writing down what you learn
on paper kind of helps you to understand the information that you learn. This is why I think that devices devices should be used for assistance not work. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. Right.
Do I ask if we have comments for the Do I ask if the board has comments? All right. That concludes our community comments. We will move forward. We've got a lot to do on our agenda this evening. So, next up is approval of waiverss of physical education requirements. Superintendent Law. Madame
Chair, in December of 2007, the school board approved a physical education waiver provided students met certain requirements. Principal Jeffrey Ericson at Minnitankka High School certifies that the students listed on the attached document have met the requirements in order to be granted
a waiver. It is my recommendation that the school board approve the physical education waiver for the attached list of students. >> May I have a motion for the approval of waivers for the physical education requirement, please? So move >> Tanya. May I have a second?
>> Second. >> Karen, all those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Moving forward, we have very exciting the acceptance of the Minnitanka High School class of 2026 graduates. Superintendent Law.
>> Madame Chair, members of the board, I think if you dug deep enough in this document, you would see a student who celebrated a birthday tonight and spoke at the board meeting tonight. I'm just giving her another shout out. The school board gives final authorization to all students who have completed the district
requirement for graduation. The list accurate as the date of this meeting tonight is attached. It is my recommendation that you would approve all names submitted by Minnitanka High School principal Jeffrey Ericson for graduation. >> Exciting. May I have a motion for
approval of the Minnitanka High School class of 2026 graduates? >> So moved. >> Mike, may I have a second, please? Second, >> Sally. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Yay. Minnitanka High School class of
graduates. All right. Moving forward. Approval of the 2026 27 school board goals. Superintendent Law. Madame Chair, members of the board, this school board has a practice of meeting in November and previewing the upcoming school year for the purpose of
setting goals and setting them far enough in advance that the district can begin processing them and acting on them. Those goals are set based on a a plethora of input including student data,
uh, student survey data, community comments, parent survey data, and input that the board receives in through committees, through informal feedback. Those board goals are formalized and
presented to the public for a preview in January on an annual basis from January until June. This is our June meeting actually in May because June's graduation next week. The board gathers input. That input feeds the changes in the
board goals. Tonight, you're going to hear the board goals, including significant input that we just heard tonight. Uh detailed uh changes are going to be processed and shared in August before we
start the school year. And part of the reason that we can't share those tonight is we need to meet with all of our teachers and specifically talk about, you know, related to technology. What are the things that we absolutely have to have and what are all the areas that we can elaminate technology and go back to paper and pencil? So that's a goal of
the school board as much as it is the parents. So these board goals reflect several pieces. The I note that the board specifically related to technology saw an increase in concern about technology last November and had a a goal about monitoring technology and its
impact on student mental health. At that point in time we continued to refine those goals. Once something becomes a board goal, it's reported at a board meeting at least once a year, sometimes twice. I would note that we reported on technology already in the screen time re
uh report way back in November and how we keep our students data safe again in March. So you should expect updates again next year on that goal. Tonight executive director of finance and operations Dr. Jackie Getty will share
I just gave Jackie Paul's job. >> Oh my goodness. I've never been so good. >> Both of them are thankful they don't have each other's job. Tonight executive director of communications Dr. Jackie Getty will share a preview of the board or u share the current status of the board goals for your approval. Dr. Yeti, >> I appreciate the vote of confidence.
Yep, math was not my best subject, but I I'll I'll focus in on this. So, you reiterated superintendent law uh the process. Um and so I will just recap that really briefly that um you look at your current goals. Uh you look at all the feedback and input that you've gotten throughout the year, whether it's
through board presentations or from staff, family, and student uh surveys. um you review outcomes that you hear at board meetings, assessments, activities, survey data, and then you hold your planning meetings. Uh and then you do revisions and then with more input, you've done more revisions. So the draft
was publicly shared in January. There are some additional changes and edits in particular to the technology um that we'll see in um the goal on student learning and support. Uh and so the three board goals that are proposed for the 202627 school year are excellence
and well-being, connection and belonging, excellence and innovation in student learning and support and excellence in leadership and organizational support. The three goals that we currently have, but the action items under them have adjusted based on all of the input that you've gotten. So for the goal on excellence and
well-being, connection and belonging, one of the action items that you have identified is to foster and maintain a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment for all students and employees. And that this will be done through candid reports on efforts, outcomes, and challenges, providing a report on measures of success and
trends, and providing an update on related professional development. Another action item under this goal is to cultivate social and emotional well-being and to implement best practices in school-based mental health support. This will be done by continuing
the implementation of the multi-tered systems of support framework to advance student awareness and support diverse needs to screen students to monitor the impact of technology on mental well-being and to implement recommendations from our involvement in
the Jed initiative. A third action step to consistently implement and communicate bullying prevention efforts. This has been an ongoing goal or to action step and and likely will be uh to maintain high level of student and family awareness of bullying prevention efforts to monitor
the impact of bullying prevention efforts through student discipline data, student parent and staff reports and survey data and to update the schoolboard annually on this trend data including efforts across schools and programs for consistency in reporting.
In the goal on excellence and innovation in student learning and support, the first action step is to ensure all students receive outstanding education. To do so by focusing on highquality universal instruction in all courses, to leverage teacher collaboration, to ensure appropriate use of benchmark and
formative assessments, responsive instruction, and progress monitoring to provide staff development throughout the year to address priority areas, and to provide consistent administrative guidance and teacher support. Continuing with this one under this action item to
monitor effectiveness of programming at all levels to ensure students needs are met including participation and proportional representation in coursework to take steps to provide a continuous improvement process that considers unique needs of programs that serve students receiving special
education students learning English and students in Tonka online and to report on academic progress of students using available data that includes student performance on standardized assessments participation in rigorous courses work and student parent and staff survey data. Another action step under this
goal is to prioritize student literacy improvement efforts and continue to implement the district's literacy plan, which includes providing teacher training on effective practices in foundational and disciplinary reading and writing instruction to implement board approved core and supplemental literacy materials aligned to
research-based best practices and to ensure all students are screened for barriers to literacy early on. Continuing under this action step um to monitor student growth through the school year and year-over-year to determine if core instruction including
interventions and assessments positively impact student outcomes and to report annual results of standardized assessments including MCA and NWA and student growth and gaps. A second action step is to implement the second year of the new middle school
programming. Doing this by continuing to implement the middle school program, including adjustments made based on teacher, student, and parent feedback that you've received. Continue to monitor implementation to ensure the program meets district goals and that it's also financially sustainable and to
update the board evaluating changes and recommendations. Another action step to explore options to increase participation in experiential learning programs to pursue efforts to ensure all students graduate with tangible real skills for real life
and that they are future ready and to provide an annual update on efforts to expand experiential learning and the measurements of real skills. Another action step, continue to ensure that instructional use of technology tools and resources are intentional and
enhance instruction and student learning. To continue to implement best practices around intentionality of technology use to examine, assess and determine whether any adjustments may be considered regarding the uses of screen time for students, particularly for our youngest learners. And to provide
teachers with any guidance and or tools that are needed to adapt to adjustments made in this area. Continuing to monitor evidence-based practices in the incorporation of AI technology and student cell phone access at school, making adjustments and communicating with all stakeholders as appropriate to
continue to educate students and families on essential skills for responsible digital citizenship, including technology related measures required by the state of Minnesota and to provide updates to the board regarding this work. Another action step to ensure long-term
Oh, this is another goal. excellence in leadership and organizational support and the first action step under that to ensure long-term financial stability and sustainability for the district. Doing so by monitoring the financial forecast for future school years and recommended adjustments that will improve short and
long-term financial stability. That could include adjustments to enrollment, reductions to expenditures, advocacy for legislative changes that address funding shortfalls, exploring the implementation of a perpetual endowment fund, and examining other solutions that will have a positive impact on the district's financial
picture to ensure the unassigned fund balance remains stable to provide periodic updates on the district's finances and to actively involve the community members in legislative advocacy. Another action step to ensure facilities meet the current and future needs of
students by implementing the bonding, planning, and construction of the projects that were approved by the public with the passage of the 2025 building bond referendum. Providing regular updates on the status of bond related construction. Recruit and retain the highest quality staff is another action step under this
goal. Continuing to focus on recruitment and retention of exceptional teachers and staff. identifying strategies to create a representative workforce of exceptional teachers and staff capable of meeting the cultural and academic needs of our diverse student body and who will create a learning environment for all students to be successful. And
we'll provide an annual update on staffing, recruitment, and retention. Another action step, build strong relationships with stakeholders. To inform and engage all district constituents through outreach and engagement efforts to create and support a variety of engagement opportunities for all to connect with district leaders
in the board. To consider piloting new engagement opportunities and share findings and to survey all stakeholders regarding their experiences and sentiments about the district, developing strategies to address any challenges that that data reveals. Continuing on this one to present annual
communications and community engagement reports including community perception data related to the trust the community has with the board and district leaders to assess and adapt the model for providing student voice to the board. Uh district-wide advisory committees will present a report or update to the board
annually and annually the board will reflect on the progress of schoolboard goals considering all input feedback and student outcomes to determine priority areas for the next year's schoolboard goals. And the final action step under this goal is to monitor the delivery of highquality meals. monitoring that
delivery of high quality meals at every site within the parameters of the federal nutrition guidance and to provide an update on nutrition services, meal delivery, and student feedback. And that is as you've crafted the goals and discuss them many times. Um, and so I
open it up for you to discuss with each other or ask superintendent law any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Dr. Getty, for all of your work on this. I just wanted to for the public and the community clarify a little bit about the board goals. The board goals are a year's worth of work
that superintendent law is really responsible for. This guides his work. Um they are not intended to be more so um tactical sort of like um when here's an example of monitoring delivery of
highquality meals. They're not supposed to be you know what I'm trying to say and and will you help me out Megan a little bit with what I'm trying to say? We talked about this earlier. They're they're intended to guide superintendent law's work moreover than >> Yeah, I think um the conversation we had
briefly was more around that the the goals are more comprehensive versus something that's going to happen in the immediiacy. So they don't reflect necessarily a change that would happen next week or next month, but they're for
the whole year. And so sometimes I think before I was on the board I sometimes would say like they're not specific enough. How do we know if we've met them? And then coming into and recognizing that they're a working document and they're used on an active
basis and then that's what's used to evaluate the superintendent attendant and to get um reports at all these board meetings. And so I think um looking at them holistically is kind of different. Um I mean I was a teacher. I taught students to set smart goals, but those
were usually like finite goals and these are not that they're kind of constantly evolving and morphing. And so I think there's some differences. >> Y we're just going to go to discussion. >> Uh yeah, we should >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> You take a motion to board and then
we'll have a discussion. So may I have a motion to approve the goals? >> So moved. >> Mike, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Second. Megan. All those in favor say I. Oh, I'm sorry. discussion discussion Sally. >> Yeah. So, the way I think about the
goals and I had the same reaction as as somebody precoming on to the board and even new on the board that I'm like, yeah, you know, you should be able to tick them off, right? Um and in fact, we can do that and we do do that throughout the year. That's the that happens every every board meeting. Uh, but I think
about the vision statement as our why, the goals as our what, and the how is what superintendent law and and all the staff in the district uh define that much more specific and granular level stuff that is not reflected in this document.
Great, good one. Oh yeah, Delila, >> I would just like to speak in relation to all of the students on the student school board advisory committee. Uh I think it's been a really interesting opportunity to be able to supply the student input on the board and it's just
I've realized that that is stated as a goal and it's really taught me a lot in the other students about what goes into school administration specifically on the school board. And it's just been really cool to meet up when we do in school to learn about specifically
what's going on and what's kind of on the outside scale that you don't really see as a student immediately in the school. And it's just offered me a lot of appreciation for all the effort that you guys put into running the amazing district that we have. And I just like
to thank well as say thank you for the opportunity. And I'm sure that everyone else on the board on the student committee feels the same way. Well, thank you. Thank you for being here. It's been invaluable for having all of you all here. Thank you. Anybody else
from the board? Oh, Dan. >> Um, yeah, I was thinking we did a um recorded a podcast to wrap up the year earlier today talking about our board goals, David and and Jackie and Key and I, and we talked about how these are sort of an evolving living document. And
indeed like they've like the the all of the the work about experiential learning and the goals around the intentionality of technology. Those are new since we first pulled these together back in November and they have changed a
lot. And um you know as a parent like I share a lot of the same concerns of the parents that were speaking in the room tonight. Not all of them but a lot of them. And I can see in our board goals where we have the room to address those
and where we can prioritize them and how we can do that. And I think um if not everyone in the community can see that then it's our job to just work and harder to communicate that better so you understand the process that we're going through and how we are going to approach
this because we we do all take it seriously. And we know that we're not going to be able to craft a solution that satisfies every single person and student and family in the district, but we're going to do our best to create a really intentional, thoughtful approach.
And um you know, it's our job to to communicate that to you folks better. So, we'll we'll work on trying to do that for you. Megan. >> Um, I also had some thoughts related to kind of the technology portion of the
goals and just some of tonight's comments and the emails that re we've received. Um, and first of all, I just want to say I hear you. Like I'm also a parent in the district. I have kids like fully invested into doing what's right. Um, I have been listening and sharing
concerns with appropriate folks on the board and at the district on a variety of topics during my tenure on the board. Um, like I think that is an integral part of your normal practice as a board member is taking that community feedback and sharing it with people who can do
something about it. Um, so I think like Dan said, the feedback we've received has directly impacted the goals and um, and I also agree that there is space in there to do what we need to do. Um, I did write down a couple notes. Um, it's
been shared with me that there's a perception that the district and board are attached to keeping technology usage as it is currently um, due to either some sort of financial investment or just resistance to admitting fault. Um, and I'm I I mean I can only speak for
myself, but I think I speak for most of the board members that we're committed to doing what is best for students, whatever that looks like. What I can't commit to is a promise of hasty change. Um, whatever changes we do make, and I've not heard a single district
employee or board member say that there shouldn't be any changes. Um, but I think those changes should be intentional, systematic, based on best practice and ex expert guidance. And in the interest of all almost 12,000ish of our students, um there will not be a
technology plan in which every stakeholder is 100% satisfied. Like Dan said, um any change we make has repercussions. An example, I could think if we were to just suddenly remove onetoone iPads for K through five students entirely, it would significantly impact programming. We
just heard last week about an immersion um assessment that is only available digitally. And so making that change hastily would have ramifications in the immediate. So we have to be thoughtful about it. We have to vet any changes thoroughly, get input for as many
stakeholders as possible so that we are making intentional and informed choices. While some families would prefer no technology at all. Um other families have also expressed that they highly value it and they don't want to see a reduction. And I've spoken to educators on both sides. some that think that
there's too much and some who are really consume concerned that they're going to lose um tools that they consider essential to their classroom and that they're not going to be accessible anymore. So, I I just want to acknowledge all of those positions. They're all valid and we have to consider all of them as the district
moves forward with this. And then finally, I just wanted to remind people the school board is responsible for governance, not for executing day-to-day functions. So our responsibility lies in creating the structure for our superintendent and all of his staff across the district to be successful in
creating the best learning environment for our kids. I'm confident that our staff um including teaching and learning team and committee, our educators, they have the expertise and the professionalism to navigate the ever evolving world of te educational
technology. And I have faith that they're going to recommend a plan that does just that. best serves our students. >> Thank you, Megan. Anyone else? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I.
>> I. >> Any opposed? We have a mo we have a goals approved. Thank you, Dr. Getty. All right. Next up, we have the approval of the 2027 28 calendar. Superintendent Law. Madam chair, members of the board,
on an annual basis, two years in advance, our district creates a calendar to communicate to families because many families are planning 18 months in advance. This process involves a calendar committee that is made up of staff members, students, parents that
have volunteered to serve on the committee. They work within the parameters provided by the state within the various bargaining group contracts to come up with a calendar that's previewed for the board typically in the March time frame. Based on feedback from the board, that calendar committee goes
back. Sometimes they meet again, sometimes they do additional work u independently and bring a final proposed calendar. One example was for the upcoming school year with a very late Labor Day start. The board sent the committee back to consider starting
before Labor Day like many other districts are doing so that the end of the school year next year wouldn't be the third week in June. This year, one of the changes proposed was the addition of a Chinese New Year. The board asked for uh significant additional information before this was brought back
to the board for review last week. Tonight, you're hearing a recommendation to approve that calendar as presented. tonight uh summarizing the work and answering anything I didn't already preview is executive director of human resources and general counsel Angie Flowers. >> Thank you, Superintendent Law. Good
evening, Madame Chair, members of the board. I first want to again express thanks to the calendar committee for all their hard work on bringing this recommendation to the board. As you know, the calendar committee consists of students, parents, teachers,
paraprofessionals, administrators, um, building leaders, and we come together each year, as Superintendent Law said, to bring a calendar recommendation to the board. I've previously shared how the calendar committee works, updated the board on
the committee's discussion, presented you with our recommendation, and shared more data about the Chinese Lunar New Year. You have all the detailed dates in a copy of the calendar in front of you, but I'd still like to give a high brief
a brief highle overview of the 2728 school calendar before the board takes its vote for the 2027 2028 school year. August will continue to be our workshop and planning week beginning on August 23rd with the first day of school
scheduled before Labor Day on August 30th. Kindergarten will begin on September 1st, 2027. There will not be school on that Friday, which will still allow for a 3-day Labor Day weekend. In October, we'll have conferences and
professional development for pair of professionals. Yam Kapor will be observed on October 11th, and then we'll have MEA at the end of the month. November, we'll continue professional learning. That'll be for teachers November 1st. And Thanksgiving break
will be from November 24th through November 26th. That brings us around to winter break from December 23rd through January 3rd with our teachers returning on January 4th for professional learning. Our pair of professionals will have more
professional learning on January 21st. The first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, if approved, will be observed on January 26th. Eid will be observed on February 28th, although that is just a placeholder at this point. Spring conferences will take
place the first week of March and spring break will run from March 27th through March 31st. The last day of school for students will be June 8th and the last day for teachers will be June 9th. I also just want to mention again that we'll be updating the assessment
calendar that we post online um to avoid any huge projects, testing, assessments on those days. And we also provide a comprehensive list of observances just so that our educators in our communities are aware.
And with that, I can take any questions. Uh, may I have a motion to approve the 2720 2027 2028 calendar? >> So moved. >> Mike, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Megan, any discussion? Karen,
>> Miss Flowers, um, thank you for all your work on the calendar and um, I greatly appreciate the time and the effort that the calendar committee dedicated to preparing the 2728 calendar. It should not be surprising that the vote tonight may not be unanimous as the calendar
committee itself was which had historically been a unanimous vote um was divided this year. The committee consists of 27 members, 20 district employees, four high school students and three parents. This the final vote was
16 in favor of adding Chinese Lunar New Year and 11 opposed. Just for some backstory, currently the district accommodates Chinese Lunar New Year and other such holidays by allowing students to take an excused absence. Teachers are asked to avoid major
assignments and testing during that time. Um, as we were looking through the calendar, um, we've had three or four meetings about this. Uh we asked the board the board asked the for administration to review teacher and
staff absences during the Chinese lunar new year for the last few years when it fell during a weekday and and and the report was that there was no significant uptick in teacher staff or student absences. Um I've talked to community members who
feel that they're concerned about taking a cultural holiday which would be something new that we've done in the past. We have stuck to federal holidays, religious holidays, and holidays that are in our contracts with the teachers. Um, some of the concerns that they raise
are these days off in the middle of the week when there's not child care or their challenges. I know we are hoping that community education can provide some of those um programming options, but will the demand be able to be met is one of the questions. teachers have
noted that extending into June makes it more complicated because you know student it's hard to keep students engaged. Um, and another concern that um, we haven't talked about yet is that the high schoolers, 85% of our high
schoolers take AP and IB classes and that testing begins in May, which means the instructional time in January and February is particularly important. When we lose an instructional day in those that time frame and add it to June, it doesn't help the students. and AP and IB
classes are a big part of the currency that our students earn when they're leaving Minnetonka. I I personally understand and respect that many families recognize Chinese New Year as an important reflection of belonging within our school community.
Historically, our calendar has included federal religious holidays and and days that were in the contracts with our employees. My broader question right now is how the district will respond consistently if add additional cultural
holidays are brought forward in the future as requests for non-instructional days. What transparent and equitable process will we use to guide these decisions and how will we communicate them clearly?
This is not about any community deserving recognition. It is about ensuring that we have a clear, consistent, sustainable framework moving forward. I believe they're important. These are important questions for us to consider both tonight and in future
decisions. >> Thank you, Karen. I think that those are good questions for the calendar to committee to continue to reflect on as they look at future calendars. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else from the board with comments or questions?
Dan, >> I mean, I think I think I shared my opinion the past couple study sessions and meetings we had, but I mean to sort of to sort of answer Karen's question directly, like I think um you know, our
our calendar committee is comprised of parents and teachers and administrators and people who are capable of thoughtfully evaluating new suggestions should they come up in the future. And if we've got so many new suggestions
that the committee deems are meritorious and they all deserve a day off, then I think that's going to be something that the committee has to wrestle with then. But um I don't think uh uh for for me a hypothetical about how we might evaluate
something in the future doesn't diminish the cultural value of this holiday in the present. and I don't doubt that our calendar committee is capable of crossing those other bridges if we ever cross them.
>> Thank you, Dan. Tanya, >> um I just wanted to thank you, Miss Flowers, and the calendar committee because I know you have del deliberated extensively all year on the plan and I support the efforts that you guys have put into this and trust the process. So,
thank you. Thank you, >> Megan. >> Um I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. Um the Labor Day weekend is actually a 4-day weekend, correct? Because it's Friday and Monday. So, just wanted to correct that. Um and then we talked about it at the study session,
but just for the public, um we talked about that with community ed offerings on that day off of school because it's a Wednesday, which is really hard for working families. And that was my biggest concern was around adding another day off that there um is financial aid available for families
that may not be able to um pay the full fee for that community programming. So I think that was one of the things that I was I wanted to be sure we addressed. Um and then I also just wanted to touch base a little bit on the the staff absences. I don't think we can really count on that data because I think the
community and the staff value their contract and being at school and teaching and so um I feel like a lot of them have been forced to choose and the whole purpose of them is to this choice is to not make them choose and to allow
them both to put all they want into teaching and also have that time to celebrate with their family. So I don't I don't know like but while we haven't seen a variation in in absence rates I'm not sure that that really reflects importance.
>> Okay. I want to um not put our student board members on the spot, but we had a wonderful conversation about this before coming into the board meeting and and we talked about this topic and our student board members said this is really challenging because of course we want to
acknowledge all the different students in our school system, but we also hear for we hear the parent perspective about not wanting a midweek day off and not wanting to go late in June. And so it doesn't seem like anyone will be happy with or everyone will be happy with the outcome. And if there's been any value
in having student schoolboard members acknowledging the complexity of decisions and the wonderful conversations we had and I again I don't want to put any of them on the spot but I think that this topic in particular the fact that a student school board member spoke at the board meeting shows that student involvement can be
educating our students about real life difficult challenges. So thank you guys so much for participating. >> Any other comments or questions from the board? Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Respectfully, no. >> Karen, the motion still carries. Okay. Thank you, Miss Flowers, for all your work and to the committee as well. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Next up, we have the
update on Citizens Academy. Superintendent Law. Madame chair, members of the board, our schoolboard agendas are set primarily by board goals. Tonight, we have related to the board goal about increasing community engagement an exciting update on how
we're going to get more community members involved in the school district. I will invite up executive director of communications, not finance, Dr. Jackie Getty, to provide an update on the Citizens Academy. Dr. Getty. Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Law,
Madam Chair, members of the board. Um, super excited to talk about this initiative. Um, brand new. So, Minnotonka Schools is launching a nine-month in-depth behind thescenes citizens academy, and it will be for residential and community members to
experience firsthand what makes our school district so wonderful. The 2026-27 inaugural cohort of participants will spend a day a month from September through May getting a front seat view of everything from school finance and
budget management to I won't be presenting that that'll be Paul to human resources, transportation, nutrition services, communications, curriculum, student support services, experiential learning, technology and much more.
Why are we offering this? So, um, back in April, executive director of community education, Kim Carlson and I presented on community engagement, and I used this slide about community input plays a critical role in shaping the direction of our schools and district-wide initiatives, and that we
actively seek to inform and provide opportunities for feedback and engagement, building those connections, and really giving people a way to share their questions and concerns, to learn more about our district, and to really become involved in our programming. and that building those strong relationships as we talked about in the board goals
that you just approved remains an action item in the schoolboard goal of excellence in leadership and organizational support. So why apply? The citizens academy will be designed for people who want to better understand Minnotonka public schools, play a more informed role in the district. They will
get to go behind the scenes of our programs, schools and operations, meet district leaders, including yourselves, staff members, teachers, other engaged community members, learn about how decisions are made, how resources are used, and explore the programs and services that make this district so
unique. They will also gain a clearer understanding of the opportunities and challenges that face public school districts and build connections and learn about ways to get involved. uh stu um participants will learn um well each session will focus on a different part of the district providing
them with a broad view of how we support students from early learning all the way through graduation and participants as I mentioned will meet one day a month in September all the way through May first half of the program is going to really focus on district operations and the systems that support students families
and staff from finance and operations to HR communications community ed tech curriculum instruction MTSS well-being belonging And then the second half of the program will be a chance to really get inside the academic programs to be learning alongside the students. The cohort will be broken up if we have we're hoping up
to 25 people. I think that's where we can cap it for that first year to accommodate a good experience for them. We're hoping to get at least 10 people interested. I think we're going to get a lot more and I really hope so. Um but that last half of the of the program they will get to go inside some of our
programs and learn alongside the students and spend a morning inside Momentum and you know maybe flying in the simulator or learning drone flying. Um Minnetonka research and our STEM programs, our literacy and our Chinese and Spanish immersion programs and
learning how our kindergarteners are learning Chinese. um middle school offerings as we look at the new middle school programming and some of the really popular electives that the students have engaged in, including those STEM um courses like forensic science. I heard we had like 450 students excited about it. Let's get
inside that. And then uh excellence in co-curriculars advantage, which um has gotten so popular at the high school and so many different strands. Um really exciting for people who really don't know that much about the school district yet to have that inside look. And this is who it's open to. Um, we're hoping
that those interested just in learning more about our school district and becoming more connected will be excited to try this. Parents and caregivers, absolutely welcome to apply. Residents who don't have children in the district definitely welcome to apply. Alumni, grandparents, um, community partners or
local business leaders, a volunteer or a prospective volunteer. And there is no experience with our district required to apply. And participants should just really bring curiosity and interest in learning and a willingness to engage in good conversation.
And then there are some requirements. So we're asking participants, please apply if you're at least 18 years of age. You can't be a current Minnotonka student. You're already getting this exceptional opportunity to get inside the program. So this is for people who really don't have that lens. um must currently live
in the Minnotonka public school district or be a parent or guardian of a current Minnotonka public school district student. We know we have a lot of open enrolled families as well. This is open to parents that are open enrolled families and then also open to alumni or alumnest of the district who may not
live in the district um but who are interested in coming back and seeing what is this all about. We do want people to commit to attending nearly all of the nine sessions that will happen throughout the year because otherwise it isn't really a robust experience and that's harder on the cohort if people
are kind of in and out. Um the application is on the website. We will move it to the homepage of the website um probably tomorrow morning, but for now if you search Citizens Academy when you go to our website it'll pop up and there's an application right on there. Um the finalist will um pass a criminal
background check. We want to make sure this is safe for all of our students when we bring people into our schools. And then you must have no undisclosed conflicts of interest with the district, which is pretty standard as I looked across other school districts that are doing something similar to this.
The application dates open right now um will stay open till the end of July. Uh applicants will be evaluated and selected by mid August and then informed by the end of August. And the program starts in late September. and we'll be giving more of those details obviously
out to those who are selected for it. Again, we're hoping to get at least 25 people who want to be a part of this and I think the whole district is really excited to help put this together and spearhead it. So, thank you for we presented this to you at your goal planning meeting and you were very enthusiastic. I remember two thumbs up
on this one. So, um so thank you for that and we're happy to answer any questions about it. >> Thank you, Dr. Getty. This is I like your creativity. It's really exciting and I think it's really a good idea to bridge the district to the community and help us get connected even better. So,
questions and comments from the board. Anybody? Thanks for all your work and creativity. Um, Delila kind of repeating what I said earlier just like the opportunity to see the inner workings of the school is really interesting. So this does seem like a really really cool
opportunity to offer to community members who might not be directly a student in the school and seeing all of that and even just from this opportunity I've learned so much. So if I was an outside community member I would be
really excited to explore this opportunity. >> Thank you for sharing that. >> Thank you Karen. Oh, I just want to echo that I think it's a great opportunity. Um, and I appreciate all the work that you've put into it and all the future
work that is going to put into it. Just saying. >> There will be some. Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Next up, we have the approval of the perpetual endowment trust fund. Superintendent Law. >> Madam Chair, members of the board, one of the scoreboard goals that we have been talking about a lot is long-term
financial stability. And as we have um looked at all the different facets of the 4 engine plane that you'll probably get a chance to see again um enrollment is one driver, state funding is another, local funding is another. Uh you we're really looking for we've got a
legislative group looking for legislative change that allows us to raise funds. One of the other areas to explore is the concept of using public donations and the interest earned from those donations to make long-term solutions for the district. This is not
a um and and create a trust today and invest next fall. But you're going to hear tonight a proposal using existing legislative and legal processes for the district to be really looking out for your future schoolboard members 10 and 20 years from now. So tonight, executive
director of finance and operations, Mr. Paul Bourgeois is going to give a a summary of this and we're recommending your approval to formally start this process. Mr. Bourgeois, >> thank you, Superintendent Law, Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh in in a lot of ways, uh Minnetonka has been
successful over the years for our students because we are one of one in the state of Minnesota. And this is another situation like that. uh because we've done a lot of things out of out of necessity uh because we are uh are are a little bit on the short end of the stick
from in terms of state aid per pupil and we've had to do things creatively to to build the district that we have. So, we've got a a long history of community support via donations. We we get over $ 1.5 million annually for basic uh basic
uh donations for classroom initiatives, scholarships, booster clubs, immediate use types of things. And the Minnitanka Public Schools Foundation is is is amazing. Uh they have grants for teachers, grants for startups of the writing lab over the years, maker stage uh maker bay stations
and all that type of thing. And so we have um we've had a lot of public support over the years for for immediate needs. We've got a lot of alumni pride and community pride. Uh how often I have I have often had it offered in conversation. Oh, you're from Minnotaka.
I graduated from there. So, um people that's not common to every school district. So, uh we are very unique in that our graduates talk about our public schools in in in a manner that most talk about their college alma mater. A lot of community pride and support with
referendum uh support over the years. So, we also have a reputation for educational excellence in the state. Uh we have been able to create a thriving district by within the rules thinking outside the box. We did unique referendum design uh tax neutral
referendum 2007, the first ever two-step referendum in Minnesota in 2015 to try to make it less of a tax impact in both situations so that the public would be able to vote yes to support classroom operations with additional dollars. And we needed to be able to do that because
again we're always uh one of the least u funded in terms of state aid in the state of all school districts. and that turned around declining enrollment at near annual budget reductions. Uh and and we've been able to do uh educational programs that many districts do not
have. And it's all been to the benefit of resident students as well as the open enrolled students. So we've provided you know revenue for those programs by leveraging uh our operating capital lease levy revenue to provide space for students because without the space we never would have uh been able to attract
the students. So, these are just a couple of graphs that you've seen before, but I'm presenting them again for the public because this is a really unique situation and hopefully people in the public are are watching the board meeting. And uh uh but but what we've done by thinking outside the box have
has grown the district and in fact uh open enrolled students in in fiscal year 25 to last year. We have full results for brought in enough revenue for uh uh for their own cost to be covered, but also to have enough revenue left over
that every resident student in the district had 30% more uh uh funds available for regular instruction to be able to create uh to cover have programs that they never would have had if we'd just been a standalone district. And we had an 18-year run of no budget reductions because of that.
This is uh a metaphor that I've used um and it's it's just it just works so I keep using it. Um but uh every district has state aid revenue and local levy revenue formulas but we also had operating referendum dollar increases uh uh awarded to us by our residents and
open enrollment growth uh during that time period. So we were able to do all kinds of out of the ordinary programs uh you know language immersion. There's a lot of districts that have a school that's language immersion. We have language immersion at every elementary school in our middle schools. Uh
elementary band orchestra and chorus. Back in 2007 it was music on a cart. You know, uh I have a list there below. Navigators, Vantage, Momentum, Mitankka Research, uh the Arts Center, the drama program. Uh just a wide array of activities and clubs. And if we actually listed them all out, this would be a
multi multi-page list. And a lot of places don't have that. we've been able to do um uh uh bad mitten girls badmitten volleyball and there's a lot of districts that are not able to do that because they can't afford to actually have the additional program uh
you know added to their to their budgets. So uh in the last couple years though we have had a little bit of a slowing of enrollment growth. We're we're flat for a while. Now we're up to we're we're increasing a little bit, but we're at our operating referendum cap. So, we can continue to keep collecting
the dollars at the level that we have per pupil, but we're not able to ask uh to to uh have some additional dollars in that way. And in fact, the state has done a couple things to actually reduce the amount that we used to be able to ask for by by basically lowering the cap
in in 2015 and in 2019. So, one of the things about our about school district finance, you really build the best sand castle you possibly can, but then you have to fight as hard as you can to keep it as long as you can to keep the tie from washing it away.
And so, one of the things that we are allowed to do in in Minnesota is have trust funds. And in fact, every school district does have a trust fund, but most of them are used for immediate needs types of things. Again, a gift for dollars into a classroom or for a scholarship fund or those types of
things. This is actually just a a screen snip out of the uh chapter one uh uh fund dimension for our accounting manual. And uh so we actually have trusts that are established every every day. Uh it's a common law trust. Somebody says, "Hey, I'm going to give
you money to, you know, put a new slide on the playground or or to uh you know, fund this particular activity or help pay for field trips." Well, we have to use that money for if we accept it, we have to use that money for what they've given it for. So they said, "We'll give
you this money for this." We say yes. And and a trust is created that we hold that money and trust that until it's expended on on what it was uh donated for. So we we do that routinely hundreds of times every year. This is taking things a little bit h
higher. the characteristics of our district and the culture and the community in terms of how highly valued our our our educational system is and and enthusiastically supported uh really create the conditions uniquely probably to our district where we have the ability to set up a perpetual endowment
trust fund. If there's any place in the world that a school system could do that uh have a university level uh endowment trust, it's here in Minnotonka. The concept is to provide fundings for the programs that make Minnotonka unique and special and also to try to protect
them from future budget reductions because we've we've been limited on on revenues that we can use. We're limited in revenues from the state and and uh so we've had we've had a couple years where we had $8 million worth of budget reductions. We haven't had to do those types of program reductions. But if
things don't change, we could get to the point where that is something that happens. And it would be it'd really be a travesty if if future students can't continue to experience all the great programs that we have. So in in in this situation is uh the donations would be perpetual. So the corpus the body of the
trust would never be touched. Uh basically they would just be used to invest and get earnings and then the earnings would be plowed back into uh uh protecting you know uh programs of significance that the school board determines. We would do annual dividend
withdrawals from investment earnings only and and maybe a percentage trying to build it especially initially only a percentage of investment earnings would be withdrawn so that you keep building it to compound. Uh but that would be a dollar amount that would be or percentage that would be determined as
we as we kind of put things together. But the focus is on legacy giving, giving a different focus than funding immediate needs or grants. So that a person who donates to this trust, perpetual endowment trust, knows that their dollars 50 years from now, 75 years from now, 100 years from now is
still going to be working on behalf of the students in the district at that time. Uh we have a lot of investments that are already allowed in Minnesota statutes. Uh 118A.04 04. And then our policy 705 has uh a subset of these uh
for for short-term investments. And we do a lot of these investments uh in terms of short-term investments right now to just h aid to our cash uh and make interest on the cash that we get before we use it to pay salaries and benefits and the electric bills and
things like that. But uh with a with a perpetual endowment trust, we could have a longer time horizon. So, you could look at doing things like investing in uh 30-year Treasury bills and just basically collect four to five to six percent every every year and uh and just keep on doing that into perpetuity. So,
you'd really build a portfolio. Uh all kinds of investments again, United States securities uh very safe and uh you there's this goofy thing called marktomarket with bonds if you have them in your portfolio. uh if you if the the secondary market moves them
up and down, you'd actually have the value move up and down on your books. But you never lose on these if you hold them to maturity. You always get get your principle paid back by the United States or by state and local governments such as uh Minnotonka bonds. Our bonds are rated AAA and people buy them and we
pay them interest every year on the bonds for the buildings that we build. So those types of things, there's a wide array of investments that are allowed. So, um, we'd be able to to to form form this with several main steps. Um, we'd, uh,
develop a trust fund founding document similar to the existing OPED revocable trust. There's an a a first cut draft at it. Uh, if you do, uh, if you do actually establish the trust today, uh, then we will be working with, uh, Dorsy and Whitney to actually put it into, you
know, just a really build it out, make it a solid trust fund document. Uh and then uh we basically would look at doing a trust fund advisory committee similar to the OPED revocable trust that we have for other post-employment benefits and select a professional wealth management firm to assist with the investments. Uh
we do some have to put together some policies related to how we would want to do things with the trust in terms of uh long-terms invest long-term investments a perpetual we have one for short-term investments. we need one for long-term investments. Then, uh the uh acceptance
of gifts and donations for assets other than cash. Uh I I was a treasure for the AA and we would get uh stock and other types of of of non-cash uh assets. And so what we had there was a policy that we would sell them, turn them into cash
and then put the cash into other investments that were really, you know, safe and and um and then uh have that, you know, continue to have the the money work that way. Uh and then uh just have a policy for the annual dispersement and uh so and if they're policies, the board
sets the policies and you also have the ability to modify the policies as we work our way through this and and situations change. So um finance and operations and communications uh we worked hard to together to develop a plan for informing
alumni and others that legacy giving to the trust funds available. The schoolboard trust um will be updated on progress of the formation of this over the next several months and I think we can round it out really hopefully no later than by September. Um but uh if if
we actually uh form the trust, if you actually approve the formation of the trust, people could start donating right now. Uh if they are if they are so moved. So I just use this these couple pictures. The mightiest redwood comes from the smallest of seeds. The the cone is the bigger thing in the picture on
the left and those little tiny things between the crevices of the fingers. Those are those are each individual redwood seeds that could each individually become a tree. So, um, it, you know, it's pretty incredible all the DNA packed into that thing. So, this is a a U Minnotonka schools perpetual
endowment trust fund logo, the eternal flame, try to keep keep things alive, keep keep the excellence moving ahead, keep the fire burning. Uh, Minnotonka schools, we've kind of got in block letters just to kind of show permanent and stability. And that's based on it's it sits on the foundation of the
perpetual endowment trust fund. So, uh, with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions you might have. And >> thank you, Mr. Po. May I have a motion to approve the perpetual endowment trust fund, please? >> So moved. >> Karen, may I have a second? >> Second.
>> Dan, any discussion or questions? Karen. >> First of all, Mr. Baja, thank you for bringing this to us. very exciting and I think it's very important for the community to know that we really are trying to do everything possible to keep Minnetonka the amazing place that it is
and I think this will be a great step and looking forward to working with you Sally. >> I'll just reiterate what you say. Thank you also uh for what you've done on this so far and what is yet to come if this gets approved. Um, so just to remind the
public that we have limited levers to use right now to increase financing year-over-year. Um, we're heavily reliant on the leg state legislature um, on the federal government for the funding that's provided from there and we have been working and will continue
to work diligently to try to make movement in that direction uh, through those channels. Um but meanwhile we need to be prudent and to look for other avenues and this is one um that we believe uh could be supported and I know Karen and I have been at the finance
advisory committee meetings and the committee asked questions about this um and we're enthusiastic that this be pursued. >> Thank you. Any other com Mike? Um I think it may
have been discussed and I was uh attending to 287 duties at one of the study sessions where this was discussed. Uh but just to clarify for the public um is there any impact if we create this is there any impact on the state funding formulas like would there be a
subsequent decrease in the amount of funding we would get from the state or is there potential for um if lawmakers decide that uh Mitaka you know the long-standing rumor that we have so much money in this community that we can
finance things on our own even though they won't let actually ask our voters for any more than we already are getting. Um, is there a potential for them in the future to create a law that would actually pull back on funding because of
uh because of a trust fund like this? >> Well, you u that's kind of the unanswerable question and what I mean by that is a there's no the answerable portion is no. There's no impact on our current funding. We have uh funding according to the way the state has set
things up. In categorical funding, we've already been lessened in many ways compared I mean we we already get uh $2,333 less per student in state aid. Uh so the thing is is um we have utilized open
enrollment to to grow the district and provide all these things. Could the state all of a sudden say hey open enrollment's going to be shut down? Yeah. Um but the board in 2006 said we are not going to go quietly into the night and be a declining district. We are going to do what we can within the
rules. And so right the the laws and the statutes uh we are a public uh we are actually a public corporation established by the state of Minnesota. So we are an an entity of the state of Minnesota in that regard. So could they could they do that? Uh yes. But if we
have trust fund dollars, um they would have to figure out how to break the legal promise that we've made to people by having this trust. So the other thing is is the you know, are we ever going to have our our general operating fund is $185
million. We're we're never going to have dividends of $185 million, but could we have a few million dollars that might save some of the programs that are really special that make Minnetonka unique? I think over time that would be would be possible. it's going to build slowly like kind of like a steam
locomotive I think you know leaving the station but um yeah so there's never there's never any guarantee there's there's never any guarantee that the state or uh could could look at it but right now I mean basically the laws say we we can do this this is in the
statutes it's in the UAR's accounting manual and we don't have any other levers we've been trying since 2017 to get the operating referendum cap increased and we've gotten basically no zero support for that, you know. So, we have no other levers and uh if if if
nothing changes, we would probably run into a situation where we're going to have to have continued years like we had in the early part of that graph where they're cutting year after year after year. And so hopefully that's not the case and maybe this is a way that it's a way we can do something. And in Minnotonka, we've always taken action to
do something. Um you know, and and again, not just go quietly into the night and accept our fate. We've tried to steer our fate. Megan >> gonna fight over the microphone. Um I think you just said something that I wanted to reiterate that we talked about at the study session. The law allows
this now, but that's not to say that in the future it could be disallowed. And so I think that was a compelling thing to me that when we talked about at the board meet or at the study session that we can jump on this now and take advantage of the law allowing us to do
that because we don't know how long that will be true. Um and then I think the other thing is we talked a little bit about like we're not trying to add new things via this fund. We're trying to maintain what we have because right now we're okay for right now, but we're
going to come to a point where we have to do do cuts again if we can't make any changes. And this is one way to try to make a change to close that. Now, Dan, >> yeah, I mean I the the way I kind of look at this is, you know, this board
and this generation of students now are the beneficiaries of decisions made by the administration and the boards of decades ago when we were worried about closing buildings. You know, at that point, we took advantage of of what the
law allowed and we increased open enrollment and that allowed our district to raise a lot of revenue and we started innovative programs like Chinese and Spanish immersion that so many of our families rely on. And
do I have the answer to every single question that I have about setting up this trust or how it's going to shake out in the future? No. But I think it's a swing that we're allowed to take and I think we should take the swing that we can take to try to do what we can to set
up future generations for success. >> Tanya, >> and I'll just um remind the public, Dan mentioned at the last study session the importance of the communication around this to the public. And so I know Dr. Getty and her team will do a really
great job to make sure um that comes to fruition. Great. All right. Well, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? >> We have approval. >> One other thing is I just want to let
you know that this is really a donation in this envelope. It'll be the first donation to this fund. So, you will be able to say not only did you establish the fund, but you have a fund tomorrow morning. >> Hooray. >> Woo. Mr. >> You do.
>> Thanks, Mr. Baja. All right. Next up, we have the approval of the fiscal year 27 adopted budget. Superintendent of Law. >> Madam Chair, members of the board in a pictorial demonstration of why the endowment fund is critical. Next up, Mr. Paul Bhwa will be sharing a preview of
our budget. Um, this is you have all seen this budget. It covers the next five years, but what the state requires the board to do is approve next year's budget. Mr. Bourgeois. Thank you, Superintendent Law. Uh, Madam Chair, members of the board, uh, this is, uh, will be going through the general
operating fund, which is about it's about $185 million of our financial activity out of our 330 million total, including all their funds and construction funds that are higher than normal because of the $85 million bond issue, etc. But you went through all those in detail over the last couple of
board meetings. Uh so we won't go through every one of those funds, but we also will have this online and available for people to see and uh we're always available to answer questions. So just a quick run through of the general operating fund. Um I always put in here uh related to this is um it's been so
important to us our operating referendum funds. The last time we were able to have the ask the public for an increase was November 3rd of 2015 and uh we got $340 per pupil plus inflation in FY17 and then an additional $340 per pupil
plus inflation for FY20 and we've been able to renew that same level but not increase it. It was approved by 72%. We have been asking actually since shortly after 2015 to try to have some additional ability to raise additional funds but we are have not had success at
that. We have not had any interest uh with our legislators to actually look at at assisting us in that matter. So under the current statutes we are at the cap. So they they won't take it away, but we can't get we can't ask for additional dollars even though we get 200 $2,333
less per pupil than the average school district in the state from state aid. Uh this is a slide that you just saw in the other presentation. Um we're looking at 2027 being a balanced budget and so hopefully that zero dollar amount will start another string of no budget
reductions after $8 million of reductions the last two years. uh these are the main revenues that we get. So in addition to uh not being able to ask for additional referendum revenue and not getting a lot of state aid, um
we don't we we have a special programs down at the bottom of this list. Uh most other districts have many more items on that list and actually you know that are state aid generated. uh we have very few but uh of these actually the local
optional revenue the Q comp revenue the uh transition revenue gifted and talented revenue safe schools revenue revenue and then library and student support aid they've all been frozen for in some cases 15 years or longer. So we've lost against inflation uh since
then. So really the purchasing power of those dollars is really probably about 60% of what it was when some of these formulas were initially started. And that's the same for actually every school district in the state in terms of of having frozen formulas. So, um we really hope the state starts
rededicating itself to its original mission of uh of education. Uh that was the first thing that the original uh um constitutional congress for not congress but the the constitutional convention setting up the state of Minnesota uh
founding documents and constitution made uh public education the first thing that they did after setting up the governor governor's office the legislative office and the judicial branch. So hopefully we'll maybe get get that kind of focus back again someday. Uh we're looking at $185 million of revenue and uh $182
million in in expenditures, a net surplus to revenues budgeted of about 2.4 million. Uh that would leave us uh with an unassigned fund balance of about $24 million at June 30th of 2027, which would be about 13.3% of expenditures.
That's about 6 weeks of operating uh of revenues or operating cash. So, you know, we need some cash in the bank uh to pay bills and our cash does come in in terms of our revenue comes in. It's not even through the whole year. It actually has uh some es and flows and
some spikes. So, you need to have enough cash available to be able to have those uh cover the the time between the when we get the larger lump sum uh property tax distributions. So, uh it helps us avoid not having to um also borrow cash flow money, which lot a lot of districts
have to do. Um so uh we are basically looking at approximately 11,57 E12 enrollment and um uh a 2.69% increase in basic revenue. Our operating referendum at $7445
going up um a little bit over 2%. also 825.7 teachers. Uh and that's based on actual teacher assignments and uh we have all the actual uh bargaining unit packages who for people have settled plugged in here for uh for uh groups
that have not settled. We have done um we have put in a 3% uh estimate because we have to make sure we were going to have some settlements, right? Um so but we we don't want to say hey here you know the moon is up here and we have to kind of stay in the stratosphere. Uh
anyway $136,000 average teacher salary and um uh new higher salary of 110,000 salary and benefits I should say. So just quickly kind of gives you an idea the general education revenue is a little over 50% of our revenue. Uh and that's the money that we get to spend on
anything. operating referendum is collected locally, but that that is also money we get to spend on anything in the general operating fund. And the local optional revenue of $724 is similar to those two categorical programs of 40 million of which uh about
25 million of that uh is so about 63% of that is actually special education. And there there's a percentages there that you can see of the various areas. Our teacher salaries and benefits are $121.9 million. Uh and the vast majority of
what we spend in the general operating fund, which we should, is for putting students in front of classrooms, but also in in the teacher barting unit, we have counselors and psychiatrists and um or psychologists, I should say, um and and um the associated personnel, but all the people who work directly with students, pair professionals are another
uh 13.5 million. So, we spend about 135 million out of the 185 million on the people who are working the most directly with students. Uh and then budget-wise, uh teacher salaries and benefits are just under 67%
one out or two out of every $3 and then paras uh 7.4%. So about about three out of every four dollars is spent again on the on the people who are working the most with students. So this is a a chart that uh we have a a much more detailed
chart uh and then behind the detailed charts about a 25page spreadsheet. But uh this is a summary of of like where our bottom line is. Revenues minus expenditures. What what does our annual bottom line look like? And so we you see that we're balanced for uh fiscal year uh 27 with that $2.4 million fund
balance. Fiscal year 28 right now. Uh there's a $1.6 million budget cut uh already in the budget for fiscal 28 and fiscal 29 special ed that was adopted by the 2025 legislature. So that's in here.
And so that already pre-programmed budget cut uh is would takes us from having instead of having about a $1.2 million surplus in fiscal 28, we have about a $500,000 deficit that we're showing. Uh and instead of having a approximately $800,000 deficit showing
for FY29, we're showing a a $2.4 million deficit. Uh but uh long term uh you know we have to just continue to manage our resources and um you know we will hopefully we'll continue to get small increases on the on basic revenue small
increases on the operating referendum but those are really the only sources where we get significant uh dollars of any of any type in terms of increase. So those typically go up at 2% a year. So if you get 2% a year on only a portion of your revenues and everything else is frozen on a per pupil basis. But then
you know salaries and benefits typically go up in the four four percent range or more. There's not not a balance there. I guess hence the reason why absent any other options let's give a um a um perpetual endowment fund a try. Right.
So this is just just a few more slides here. This is just kind of a history of uh when we started our open enrollment um uh drive with immersion and and um and then other programs as we added. So we we as we grew uh we basically had a
it's always been around 13 to 14 to 15%. So it's a big dollar amount. You know $24 million is a big dollar amount to all of us individually on a district our size. Again it's about six weeks of operations in a bank. Um so it's it's it's not not an exorbitant amount uh
when you consider the scale. And so we pretty much have been able to be fairly steady uh and it's been a cornerstone of our AAA bond rating. So when if we borrow bonds to uh build buildings, we get the lowest interest rates out there. In fact, our AAA bond rating is actually
um higher than what the United States of America has. They're double A1. Um just double A1. No. So but anyway um so uh we had you know COVID years we had some spend down and then after the inflation the heavy inflation years took an imp
toll a couple more years. So, uh, but we've been able to, you know, the last, uh, for this year, fiscal 26, we're projected to end with a surplus and and and for, uh, fiscal 27 again. So, we're kind of back on track in that regard. And then just kind of an idea of where
dollars come from, about 60 million in resident pupils for the general ed revenue and open r about 36 million there. Just a few uh, you know, special ed is actually 28 million. I undersold it a few slides back. Uh, Q comp is about 3 million. uh we get this thing
called a TRA pension adjustment which is 2.3 million. That dollars dollar amount is actually uh we're given special revenue for that. It's counted against education's pie at the state but at least there's dollars to cover that but uh just a handful of other categorical
revenues and then uh transportation fees are miscellaneous revenue and in in the biggest chunk of that is investment income of our cash and then uh our bot approved referendum and local optional revenue. So, uh, at the bottom of this slide, it's just really important to
reiterate out of 329 school districts, uh, in the state in terms of general fund state aid per pupil, uh, we rank 319th with one being the district that gets the most per pupil in state aid and 329 being at the bottom. We're at 319
and we're always down at the bottom. We've been that way for decades in the bottom 10%. Uh, in our last year that we have comparative data for, we had $10,725 per pupil in state aid, which is 2,333% less than the state average. If we
actually got just the state average, so not just being shot up to the top, but just being shot to the to the state average, um, that dollar difference is 29,35,000. So, we'd be having a lot of different conversations about our school district and what we could offer. So the thing is
is it just shows how important though that our operating referendum revenue and our support from our community is because with that at least then we have enough revenue to rank in expenditures at 159th. Um so we you know we're we're the least in revenue but in expenditures
we're we're basically right about the median because of the operating referendum. So uh that helps us and um just a couple quick expenditures 160 million revenues. You can see utilities, transportation 4.6%, we actually are
very low cost transportation push money to the classroom and um and our art center transfer for the great art center program. So with that, just would be glad to answer any questions if you have any. >> May I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 27 adopted budget?
>> So moved. >> Karen, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Mike, any discussion or questions? Okay, we have a motion. Oh, I'm sorry, Dan. Sorry. >> I'll say something that it's uh I feel like I say this every time, but it's an
election year in Minnesota. Every single one of our House uh representatives and state senate seats are up for election. So, as we head toward the fall, um it never hurts for voters to remind their
uh prospective representatives uh how important publica public education is to them. And that, you know, it's it's my belief anyway that that an investment today in public education is going to pay dividends and solve a lot of
problems generations down the road. So, just get in touch with your representatives and your people running for office and let them know that you support public education. >> Thanks for that, Dan. Anyone else? Thanks for all your work on this, Mr. Bisa. We have a motion and a second. All
those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries. Thank you. Next up, we have the authorization of sale of 2026G COOP bonds for Minnitankka High School East Side Parking Edition. Superintendent Law.
>> Madame Chair, members of the board, earlier this year, another long-term financial stability action the board made was slight increases in enrollment over the next 5 years as a way to offset some of our cuts. At that time, board members made it very clear that we
should be responding to community concerns and making the changes necessary in our facilities to address those concerns. specifically a shortage of parking at the high school and ease of drop off and pickup at our school sites. Tonight, you're going to hear two different proposals. I'll announce them
once and Mr. Bwa can go through both of them. Uh the sale of bonds to expand parking at the high school and the sale of bonds to ease drop off at Scenic Heights Elementary School. Mr. Bourgeois. >> Thank you, Superintendent Law. Madam chair, members of the board, um we are asking you to uh authorize a sale of the
bonds for a parking lot addition that would total uh the current the first draft of this is 111 cars, which would increase parking capacity at the high school by about 9.25%. Uh it would be constructed on the east side parcels that we purchased, one in
2016 and one recently in 2025. Um we'd make sure that we'd have plenty of buffering between the rest of the neighborhood. uh and uh you know be very cognizant of of of that. And uh so if you approve this, we would be uh um issuing the bonds this fall or this uh
summer and then working on design this fall and then having construction in summer of 2027. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to authorize the sale of the 2026 G bonds for MHS East Side Parking Edition? >> So moved. >> Sally, may I have a second?
>> Second. >> Second. Karen, any questions or discussion? Uh oh, Sally. >> Well, just an observation. I think just you said it and I want people to just be aware that we're talking on that side, which is in a residential neighborhood
with sufficient buffering, but that will be um intended for staff parking, which I think makes a difference as well. >> So, thank you. >> One very clear comment, we are not creating access on that side of the building. This is parking, but there won't be an access off any residential
street into the school. >> Good point, Megan. >> Um, I would also just add for the public that last week at the study session, we saw much more detailed and we had a lot of questions and got them answered there. So, um, we did have that
discussion for both of these, um, bond sales. >> Good point. Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Next item, Mr. Bis.
>> Thank you, Superintendent, Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh, this would be for, as we had discussed at study session, um, this proposed bond issue would uh provide funding to construct a second driveway and uh that would ex at
Scenic Heights Elementary School that would extend the ability of the site to handle more cars off of Scenic Heights Drive. Currently, the uh drop off pickup queue uh extends up Scenic Hikes Drive and actually gets onto Excelsier Boulevard on many days. Uh the city also
approached us with um uh information that they were going to be uh trying to that not trying to they will be installing a roundabout at Excelsia Boulevard and Scenic Heights at that intersection, Scenic Heights Drive. Uh and of course the roundabout would not
work if Q's continued to back up. Uh but uh we they had several options that we looked at along with them. Uh but uh this is one that we actually looked at over the years, but there's always been other priorities. But um this is, you know, because of that whole situation, it's risen to the upper uh up to the
level of of having to do something, but also we've actually handled a lot of other areas uh in in the past besides that. So um this driveway would loop around the south side of the building and the west side of the building. Uh, so we would still have cars unloading on the northeast corner and loading on the
norththeast corner and in the evening and dropping in the north in the southeast corner and loading in the southeast corner in the afternoon. We have several school sites uh that actually have multiple drop off and pickup sites. Uh both Excelsier and uh
Groveland have multiple pickup sites at the elementary level. So uh we wouldn't be any doing anything that's like unique to Scenic Heights. Um, but this would allow us to basically um, and actually with the distance of of that additional stacking area with the car counts that
we have, this would actually take all the congestion off of Scenic Heights. So, you'd still have a long car queue, but you wouldn't be out on the road or if you weren't on Excelsia Boulevard worried about getting rear ended by a car going 40 miles an hour and stuff, too. So, um, it's a it's an improvement that I guess whose time has probably
come in that regard. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to authorize the sale of 2026H bonds for Scenic Heights second driveway, please? >> So moved. >> Karen, thank you. May I have a second? >> Second, >> Megan. Any discussion or questions?
>> Nope. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Bwash. >> All right. Next up, we have the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Megan, may I have a second? Second.
>> Second, Tanya. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? All right. Motion carries for the consent agenda. >> We are now on to board reports. Anyone for board report? Okay. Superintendent report.
Superintendent Law. >> I I'm just going to give a comment that there isn't a day that goes by that there'sn't some celebration across the district from presidential awards to capstone events. Um really special next Thursday, a a newer tradition is a
senior clapouts at all of our elementary buildings. For those of you uh parents of seniors, they're going to get to go back to their schools and be welcomed and be clapped out of our system. Something that is for our parents of seniors and for our parents of elementary students alike. Very special. Um just to let people know that that's
happening because if you don't have a student in either one of those grades, you might not know it. Uh and next Thursday night is graduation at the MHS. Next Wednesday night is graduation for our sales students, our 19 to 21 year old program. 4:30 on Wednesday, another very special night culminating their K22
educational career. Um, so lots of things to celebrate coming up. >> Okay, any announcements, Tanya? >> Um, the preschool springfare which is sponsored by the PTO will be tomorrow, May 29th from 5 to 7.
So come and join the fun. Is that at the ECF building? >> It is. >> Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. May I have a motion to adjourn, please? >> To close session. >> Oh, I'm sorry. To a close session. >> So, move. >> So,
Dr. Mike, may I have a second? >> Second. >> You want to read this line? >> Yes. Um, yes. So we are adjourning to a close session to discuss negotiations with various bargaining groups as provided by Emmen statute 13D.03.
We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We are adjourned. Remember five or 10 minutes.