30 It's always so quiet. All right. Good evening everyone. As I call to order the regular school board meeting of Independent School District number 882. It is 5:00 p.m. on February 2nd, 2026.
Uh please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> All right. And we'll move right along to item number three, approval of our agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. >> I.
>> Opposed, please say no. Motion passes. 6. On to item number four, citizen comments. We do not have any this evening. So, move right along to item number five, fiscal stability. For our consent agenda, before we take action on
this item, um I just want to mention that it includes changes to the board pay. So, I want to say this is not something I brought up myself. This is something that's reviewed by the budget committee. Um, and for the record, because the item pertains to myself and board chair compensation, I'll abstain
from voting this evening. >> Then, uh, I'm going to say something about this in the budget committee. Before we move forward with consent agenda, I'd like to briefly provide context for the recommendation regarding board chair compensation. Beginning in February 2026, we're aware
that there's been concern from staff families about this item. It's important to be very clear about what this recommendation is and what it is not. This is not a new or expanded pay increase for the board chair role. In fact, our current board chair took a pay cut two years ago and she assumed the position. At that time, the board
intentionally reduced the compensation to observe whether the workload and responsibilities would be comparable to those of her predecessor. Over the past two years, the budget subcommittee has closely reviewed her performance and time commitment. Based on that review, the committee determined that the current board chair is performing work
equivalent to the prior chair and that the reduced compensation no longer accur accurately reflects the scope of the role. The board chair position requires significant time responsibility including extensive preparation, facilitation availability, participate in a high volume of meetings, many of
which occur outside regular board meetings. After careful review, the budget subcommittees recommend the board chair compensation be returned to that level that existed two years ago prior to the reduction. The committee is not recommending any changes in compensation for all of the board members which would remain at the current rate. This
recommendation is about restoring compensation to a previously established level and aligning it with the actual responsibilities of the board chair role not increasing board pay beyond what has existed in the past. We wanted to ensure this context was shared transparently before this item is approved as part of
the consent agenda. uh as part of the budget committee. Also, I would uh I would encourage anybody to spend a week with Chair Seven and see the time that she puts in and the amount of meetings and everything she's done for
the district has she's brought forth to make it a better place and the fact that we're even have discussion personally I think is embarrassing but uh I guess anonymously we feel that we have to do this which
I don't even know why we're discussing that. But uh I think if you look at where Seven is comparable to neighboring districts, she's not even close to the top. Uh I think a lot of things would not have taken place with the help the
help of her passing a referendum and continued support throughout the community. Uh she brings a lot of special things. the fact that she's a business owner in this community, has many connections outside of the the educational realm of what we deal with is is very positive for our board. And
so I fully support what we are doing for her moving forward. I would say that um I've done some research and it looks like we are going to out of the nine school districts that touch our our uh community um our school district um it looks like we will end up
um somewhere around fourth from the ones that uh um I have been able to receive um data from. So um I would say that if everything we did we would always end up fourth with those touch districts. I don't think we'd ever have um any budget challenges. Um so we are right in line
with where we should be with the size of our district. And so I just think that it's important to know that um you know the school district always uh budget committee whether it's policy um whether it's the school district staff um we always take our time to make sure that
we're doing things that align with uh um like um contracts and do the best that we can for people um given um our financial situation. That's what it's about. It's about doing good things for kids, great things for kids um with the
with the means that you have >> and and uh as the newest board member knowing the amount of work that I do um understanding that um board chair Sepen is the first contact point for most of the community if there's a question or
between the superintendent and the chair um it's it's very important that uh she be compensated for what she's worth. But in in addition to that um she is an extremely infect effective individual in the position that she's at which is why some of our board meetings only take 20
minutes. I'll add a couple of thoughts as well. For the last uh four years now uh the board has voted to not increase the rate of pay for all the other board members. So, I think anybody that has the
audacity to complain about this should take that into consideration as well. If we were to increase the pay for the other five board members, I think we could quickly exceed the total increase in board pay that we're seeing by
increasing the chair position. And I also don't have any respect for people that post anonymous on social media. I don't think they even deserve a response. That's all I have to say. >> All right. Again, I'll be abstaining from this vote. So, we'll now proceed
with the vote for the consent agenda. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Make a motion approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> By Jeff Hegley, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I.
>> I. >> Opposed, please say no. Motion passes. 5. On to item number six, collaborative connections. Item A, resolution of acceptance to gifts. I will pass uh it over to Superintendent Olsen.
>> Awesome. Thank you. Uh first donor um is uh Central Minnesota Manufacturing Association, CMMA, $500 for the Monosel High School Welding Class manufacturing tour field trip uh transportation costs. Um that's the only one, but uh it's a
great one. Um anytime you provide additional opportunities for our students uh so that they can uh connect uh to a career that they have interest or passion in um is just a a great thing for for our kids. So, thank you for our community and their great support and
and as we continue to find ways uh to support kids and all the many amazing things that they take part of in our community. >> Therefore, be resolved by Monsville School Board number 882 to Grayfield accept the following donations. Central Minnesota Manufacturers Association $500
for the MHS welding class manufacturing field trip. >> Second. Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Mary Bartell. Those in favor, please say I. I. >> Oppos, please say no. Motion passes 6.
And I just want to say how awesome this is. The partnerships that we have with businesses and their investment in students futures as well. Being able to have them out and see if this is a career field that's of interest to them is just second to none. It's an
incredible experience that we're able to give our students. So, thank you. All right, on to item number B. The best part of this evening is our student representatives report. So, help me welcome to the the podium to give us an update Mr. Dawson Bleak, Natasha Forzy,
and Jordy Girtz. First of all, thanks for having us again. Um, I'd like to start off right now for the student side of things. We have about five weeks left for our second trimester, which means we're over halfway through the year. So, we're in
the home stretch now. Uh, right now, a lot of it, especially for us seniors, is tests. Um, work a little more. I guess the juniors kind of have a little bit of work floating around, but the whole school right now has a lot of winter activities, too. Um, right now it's just
kind of finding that good balance, that kind of rhythm of the juggle of getting work, school, activities all to fit in line for us. Um, we're kind of just in that work, that grind mindset. >> One thing that we did just finish at our school that is not relevant to us
seniors, but is of course to the rest of them, is we just wrapped up our registration process for next school year. And of course a part of that is thank you to you guys for approving the new courses for the school year as it gives students many more offerings. Another big part of this registration
process is our wonderful our wonderful counselors that we have at the high school. They do so much. They um hold they have meetings. They meet in classrooms in people's home rooms and they even are out at lunch helping
people with this registration process. And so we just wanted to give a shout out to them in their help with this process. >> Last week at the high school uh we had this opportunity to have Josh Pritikin uh from California come and speak to us.
There is a morning assembly as well as a evening youth rally for local churches. That was an amazing opportunity uh for our student body to just hear a message of looking out for others and picking each other up. along with our school day. Uh right now
we're in our fun snow week. That's just some dress up opportunities kind of for the student body. Uh we've got like a white out day. We've got uh cozy was today. Plaid versus denim. Uh school spirit on Friday, stuff like that. Uh
along with that, we have our regular Saturday snowball dance. Um, I think a lot of the student body is looking forward to that for prom. Along with that, we still have all of our activities that I mentioned going. Uh, right now the one that I'm speaking for is knowledge bowl because that's what I
participate in. Uh, we're doing pretty good. We had a meet on Saturday out of Buffalo. We place eighth out of about 25 teams. And then Jordy, as you probably know, I'm involved in the robotics team. And so we're amidst our build season that is well underway
and we're excited to uh continue our progress and hopefully share with you soon with how our season is taking us. >> Okay. To wrap up the activities part of it, we just over this past weekend our gymnastics team won the True State meet
and we also have many other sports. We have dance, basketball, boys swim and dive and they're all in their home stretch and they have been having much success. Um, and then the last thing is what I've just put on these tables is we know that last month, January, was schoolboard
appreciation month, which we were not here, but we wanted to take this time to recognize you guys and all the work that you do in this district. We know all the time you put in and it matters so much to the students, the staff and we can just clearly see that success throughout
our schools. So, thank you for all that you do. >> Thanks for the awesome presentation. I like the back and forth. >> I like the new flow. That's awesome. It It worked really well. Board members, do you have any questions for our student
reps? You can sit and just use the microphone if they do. It's okay. Or are you got to head out? Go ahead. Go on. >> Yeah, >> we'll just give all the questions to Natasha. >> Perfect. She's got them.
>> Any questions for our student rep? >> No. I just want to thank you. Appreciate the recognition. That's awfully nice of you and you guys do such a great job. So, thank you. All right. Okay, we'll move on to item number seven, teaching and learning. We I will pass it on over
to Superintendent Eric Olsen to go over our superintendent update. >> Yeah, we just uh I just want to um be able to share with families. It's kind of that uh online uh invitation, I guess you could call it, but um our communications coordinator, Devonyie
Moore, and myself continue to reach out uh to make sure that uh families know that uh their voice matters. Um, and one of the things that we did throughout the operating levy campaign is we um promised that no matter what happened is if the levy failed or if it passed that
we would make sure that we carved out time for listening sessions prior to um during the budget uh cycle season. So, we're making sure that we carve out that time. We have uh two nights coming up next week. Um we have a night evening where we'll have elementary um
administration there um to be able to share um some highlights of of the school year, but then also um carve out that listening for families to be able to um share some of their ideas and and what they think um are priorities in in
the elementary level. And then the same thing um for secondary families uh Thursday, February 12th um at 6:15. Both of these sessions are at 6:15 on their respective dates and the same thing will happen there. Um, high school and middle school administration will be there to
talk through um the uh awesome celebrations that they have in their buildings and then we will dive into um also recording and listening to families through conversation of what's important to them. Uh we have a QR code that uh
provides opportunity for anybody who wants to just uh snap that picture right now. Maybe they haven't taken that opportunity to uh provide um some survey information. Uh but it's never too late. We want to know who's coming, what you
want to um talk about so that we can make sure we have the right people at the table. um going to work with um Natasha before she leaves, see if we can get her there and Dawson and Jordy for um either one or both of them and then work with uh high school and middle
school, elementary principles. But um we want kids there, too. There's nothing better than um having students be part of these and and make sure that they know their voice matters as well. So, I'll be working with uh um to try make sure that we have kids there as well. So,
um yeah. So, thanks. Uh, just a quick little update on what those sessions are and make sure that everybody who's watching online today um has a um virtual invitation. >> Awesome. Thank you for sharing that and putting it out to our community. We'll
move on now to item number eight, innovation and leadership. And we have the another fun part of the evening, our staff shoutouts. So, help help me welcome to the podium East View Education Center principal Kristen Green, Little Mountain Principal Nicole Cortto, and Pinewood Elementary
Principal Shelley Gilmore. Good evening. Tonight, I'm proud to offer a big East View shout out to our beloved English language learner, teacher, Amy Hanik. Amy joined Monaceel Schools in 2022, spending her first year
here supporting Little Mountain and Pinewood. And in 2023, we were fortunate enough at East View to have her join our community full-time for our preschool and kindergarten building. We've been better because of her. Amy's a true
leader on our staff and wears many hats each day. First and foremost, she's a dedicated advocate and trusted partner to families, ensuring that every child feels seen, welcomed, and valued as part of the East View family. She prioritizes
accessible communication and builds strong, meaningful relationships with our families. Amy teaches small group EL classes and has intentionally built a strong community for our dual language learners as they begin each day together. She
co-ees alongside classroom teachers in phonics, comprehension, and math. and she's also led professional development for our full staff on effective co-eing, showing what's possible when two strong educators partner for student success.
In addition, Amy consults with our preschool teachers to ensure students, families, and staff are connected and supported within the school day. She leads a family class through our early childhood family education and adult basic education programs. Truly bridging
our schools with the broader Monaceel community. Amy leads with her whole heart. She's a tireless advocate for children and families and a powerful force for belonging in our schools. East View and Monaceel Schools as a whole are
better because of incredible educators like Amy Hanik. Good evening. Um, I am also shouting out my ELEL teacher. Um, and I have the absolute pleasure of recognizing her as an educator who truly embodies what it means to serve students, families, and
colleagues with heart and excellence. Anna Dominguez again is one of our e teachers at Little Mountain. She has been a part of the Little Mountain community for 18 years and during that time she has consistently gone above and beyond for our students and their families. She also works tirelessly to
ensure that our multilingual learners feel seen, supported, and capable of great success. Because of her expertise, dedication, and care, students make incredible growth in their language skills. And just as importantly, they gain confidence and a sense of
belonging. Anna cares deeply about the success of every student she serves. She builds strong relationships with their families, often serving as a bridge between home and school, and she does so with compassion, patience, and respect. During challenging and unpredictable times, Anna is instrumental in
supporting families and colleagues, stepping up wherever help is needed, and doing so with grace and calm leadership. Within our school and across the district, Anna is known as a wonderful and trustworthy teammate. She collaborates, problem solves, and lifts others up, making our entire school
community stronger. We're incredibly fortunate to have Anna Dominguez at Little Mountain. Her impact reaches way beyond the classroom. And tonight, I am proud to recognize her dedication, leadership, and unwavering commitment to our students and their families. Thank you.
I would also like to take a moment to recognize our fantastic English language teachers, Anna Morphw and Meredith Enan, and the incredible impact that they have on our school community. They support our multilingual learners in reaching their fullest potential and work side by
side with classroom teachers to model best practice instruction that benefits all students. They build strong relationships with students and families, offer ongoing support as needs change, and help families navigate school with care, clarity, and
compassion. Anna and Meredith are true leaders in our building and powerful advocates for kids. When learning and belonging feel especially complex, they are steady, student centered, and deeply caring. They lead with both expertise and heart. And our school is stronger
because of their commitment to students, families, and staff. That was awesome. And I just want to echo um our our EL teachers in general throughout the district um have really been servant leaders especially with the given environment
um in our state in the last month or so. Um they've gone above and beyond helping our students and making sure that um we provide them with the education that they need. And so I also want to give a shout out. So, thank you. Appreciate
that. All right. Moving on to item number nine, safe and healthy culture. First item A is National School Week Counselors Week. And I don't believe we have Director of Student Services here. So, I'm going to
pass it right over to Superintendent Olsen. >> Right. Um just like to take a moment here to uh make sure that um we we our uh counselors are recognized. As you can
see today um they were already recognized by our students. Um and that was something that um I think means even more than my words, but our counselors uh across the district do amazing work to make sure that students needs um are being met. So, just like we just heard
about our EAL teachers, um they do amazing work for um kids, whether it's with scheduling or whether it's with um challenging situations going on in their life. They're there to um support, guide, and offer uh great reassurances.
So, um students feel um seen, valued, and heard. I'd also like to uh recognize um our school bus drivers. Um we have an upcoming appreciation day as well. Um and that one is on February 18th. Um but school bus drivers and um the whole um
support uh that Hogan Transportation provides us um is truly amazing. If when you think about the inner workings of the uh company of transportation and what they do to u move around 4,000 students um every day um and then
continue their work throughout the night for activities. Um it's truly amazing and we couldn't ha ask for better partners in our Hogan transportation folks. So we'll make sure that we continue to u provide these shout outs through social media and through um
different things that we can do within each building. Um but we're very proud of our um our counselors across the district and we're very proud of um school bus drivers and tonight is they're getting a couple shout outs from me as well. >> Yeah. And I'd like to just echo that for
um the National Counseling Week. You know, often um our school counselors, their work is done behind the scenes and isn't always people don't always see it forthright and upfront. You know, obviously with registration and classes, it's a little they're a little bit more seen, but again, a lot of the work's
behind the scenes and but the impacts felt deeply throughout the the staff, the students and families. So, I want to say thank you. And then our bus drivers, you know, I say this every year, but it for most students, they are the first and the last people that our students
see every single day and they just have the ability to to really make a student's day just by smiling and saying hi or greeting them by their name. And so their work is um very important to our district. And I also echo the thank you.
Anything else from the board? No. All right. Well, that brings us to item number 10. We are adjourning the meeting this evening at 5. >> Oh, please. >> I'm just kidding. We are This is not an
updated agenda. We are moving on to policy. I'll bring up to the to the board director of human resources Rob Daneker. Chair Steven, members of the board, Superintendent Olsen, uh the policy committee uh met for their monthly
meeting this afternoon and uh had several things on the agenda. Um three of which were memoranda of agreement which were covered under the consent agenda earlier. Uh we also reviewed uh four policies uh tonight as well. one of
which was tabled for future consideration uh ideally at the the March meeting and then also um policy 905 was reviewed. There was no proposed changes to 905. So we will note that in the um historical documentation attached
to that policy that it was reviewed by the policy committee this evening. Um we do we are bringing forward two policies for first read this evening. The first is policy 709 student transportation safety. The purpose of this policy is to provide safe transportation for students
and to educate students on safety issues and the responsibility of school bus ridership. Um this policy was uh relatively recently reviewed by the board. However, in light of uh recent situations and circumstances, uh we felt
it um uh necessary and and prudent to review this policy this evening and to amend the uh section regarding parent uh guardian responsibilities for transportation safety by including uh some verbiage that um reminds parents
guardians of their obligations under uh not only our policy but under uh state law and also u county uh procedure as well. with re with respect to um child supervision, welfare and neglect. And so uh we add we did add us a line on that.
Um and again it does tie back to Wright County procedure and also um state department of children youth and families um uh guidance on that on the same and I don't know Superintendent Olsson if you want to chime in a little bit. I just appreciate the work that our elementary principles and our um
transportation company did to come together and to uh look at this through a lens of um a recent story about a girl in a community um being abducted and what and it was um from um you know
after the school day. So, the student had gotten off at a bus stop and so we just looked at it through that lens and we had a um staff member from East View just share what can we do to make sure that uh we're doing everything we can to make our school district um you know the
safest possible and through the work of um our elementary principles holding the transportation uh communication uh coordinator Devany able to look at it uh put the onus where it needs to be um you know after the school day what what is that those bus stops look like? What do those bus stops look like in the
morning? And then how do we make sure that uh uh we can help train our our families and and our neighborhoods to make sure that they're really looking out for each other and taking care and remind them of the of of um both county and and and state laws across the
nation. But no child should be left alone uh seven years old or younger. And so we looked at through that lens. And if if if a bus stop is empty of adults and there are seven-year-olds, what can we do as a school district? And these are the things that we feel we can do, we can partner with families. We can
teach them during parent awareness nights. We can have things in our uh newsletters and and all of the communication that we provide as a school district. But we also can set forth policy as a reminder that um we're all safer when we're doing those things that provide that layer of protection
for kids. Any other questions on 709 at all? All right. Our second policy for first read tonight is policy 9006. This is the community notification of predator predatory offenders. The purpose of this policy is to assist school administrators and school and excuse me
and staff members in responding to a notification by a law enforcement agency that a convicted predatory offender is moving into the school district so that they may better protect individuals in the school's care while they are on or near the school district premises or under the control of the school
district. Uh there were no substantive changes um to this policy. Uh however, MSBA uh did do a reddraft in terms of organization of the policy for um purposes of clarity and and efficient reading. Um and so this is coming to uh
first read tonight as well. Policy 9006. Any questions on 906 at all? >> Right. And Cher Steven, again, these are for first read only. No action necessary tonight. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Wasn't trying to skip over you. It's updated now on my computer, so I
just had to refresh. So, all right, that brings us to item number 10, adjournment of this evening's meeting at 5:30 p.m. Um, our regular school board meeting this evening will be followed by work session. Um, we'll take a five minute
break and then we will meet back for our work session to begin. Our next regular school board meeting will be February 23rd, 2026 at 6 PM. Have a great evening.