Good evening everyone. As I call to order the regular school board meeting of Independent School District number 882, it is Monday, November 17th at 6 p.m. We have everybody here today, which is exciting. Please stand to say the
Pledge of Allegiance with me. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
>> All right. Now we're looking for approval of this evening's tenative agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Please say no. Motion passes 6.
All right. Now we will move on. Have no citizen comments this evening. So we'll move on to item number five, fiscal stability and looking for approval of our consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please
say I. >> I. >> Please say no. Motion passes. 6. Moving right along to item number six, collaborative connections. Like to welcome up our Monaceel High School
agriculture teacher, Mr. Jacob Wilts, to give us an FFA update. >> That was fast. Good thing I was here at six o'clock. Um, hi. For those who don't know me, I'm Jacob Wilts. I'm the egg teacher here at the high school and also along with that our FFA adviser. My
purpose of tonight, I'll try to keep it short. Um, but just to update you guys on the the trips that you guys have approved through last spring that we went on. Um, then just kind of let you know because I I came here at this time approximately last year. Updated you at the first couple months of our FFA. I
came back I think once in the spring. Um, and it's now just showing you, okay, here's what 12 months in a in an egg world looks like. So then I'll have questions at the end. uh kind of threw in something here at the beginning uh just to show you guys my mindset and what I'm looking at. Um the the three
pillars of an egg education. I I shown this before. We got the classroom instruction, which is what I do from 7:15 to 3:15 every day. We've got the FFA leadership piece, which is the the co-curricular that is mostly what I'm presenting to you guys about today. And then we've also got the SAPE or
supervised egg experience. Um that's like a work-based learning. Um, and so I'm no longer doing work-based learning. Uh, Mr. Dyel has taken that over. That being said, I still have a lot of our kids that are in our egg program that come to me and say, "Hey, I want to get a job on a farm or I want to get a job
in agriculture. Can you help me?" Um, and so I I still do a lot of work-based learning, brokering, um, trying to get these kids into those jobs. So, it's kind of the all three parts of those are what make a true holistic egg education. It's not just one of those three. Um,
and then as as I think about me being a teacher, this is our FFA motto. Um, and really those first two lines are what I try to keep my main thing every single day. Learning to do, doing to learn. Um, and we'll we'll get to that in the end when I talk a little bit about my classroom experience. But, uh, the first
trip you guys approved, our state convention. This was back in April. We had a total of six teams that competed. Um, one of the things I'm most proud about, uh, is we have there that all teams that competed as a varsity at regions qualified. Um, and actually this year we're already we are two for two.
So we are eight for eight as a chapter on getting teams to state. Uh, total of 18 kids that competed on those six teams. They're up in the picture. Um, we also we got recognized on stage as one of four new chapters last year. So we got to bring the kids up there. Um it it
was kind of a brief moment, but um let everybody know, hey, Monosel's back. Um and then the thing we're really proud of too is we had two gold ranking teams. So as all the teams compete, they take uh standard top third, middle third, bottom third. Um and our our horse team and our fish and wildlife team, I want to say
they were both around the 15th place uh team wise, but they were considered a gold team. So uh horse has already qualified for state again. and our fish and wildlife team. We actually picked up two new individuals that I think might make the team even stronger. So, um then some of our summer things we did because
we do almost as much throughout the summer as we do during the actual school year. Uh first one we had the the week after school got out, we went on this thing called the summer egg tours and this is something a lot of programs do uh to try to get their kids to see, okay, what is agriculture like um
outside of just Monaceel? Let's go to somewhere else in the state. And so the spot we had picked this past year was Owatana. Um the highlight for me at least was the Spam Museum. I've never been there before. Um on a side note, don't plan three hours at the Spam Museum. You can get it done in about 1
hour, but the kids had fun there learning about it. We got to see a John Deere dealership. Um got to look at some of the pieces of equipment they were working on. They had a the top-of-the-line John Deere sprayer there. And so we got to get up close with that and learn kind of all the the new things that they're working on from
a technology standpoint. With that, we got to tour the Owatana High School. That's the lefthand picture you see up there. Um very jealous. And for those who don't know, they just built a new high school like one year ago. Um they they have a very nice thing. So we got to see their facilities. Um talk to
their egg teacher and learn how they run their program. We were hoping to also have some of the Owatana High School kids there kind of do like a little exchange. um it didn't work out. They had something already planned that day, but we still got to see their school. Um Aurori, which is a egg research facility, and then Farm America, which
is an outdoor uh tourism event down in that area. So, we had 10 kids that went. It was just a two-day. We left one morning, came back the next night, but got to expose them to a variety of agricultural things somewhere else in the state. Uh about a month later, then
we had our officer retreat. So, we had six officers that were selected by our alumni that interviewed them. Um, and they told me, "These are who we think your officer team should be." Um, they I let them pick and that's why when I presented to you guys, I said, "I don't know who we're going to have going and I
don't know where we're going. I'll know more after our banquet." Uh, they voted for the Lake Itasca area. So, we went up there. Uh, the main purpose of an officer retreat, all chapters will do this. Uh, it allows you to plan the year's activities. Um, which was very nice because last year I kind of was
planning things on the fly. Kind of knew some things and here we got to sit down and we said, "All right, here's our calendar. Here's all the events we want to do. Who's taking turns as far as like at our chapter meetings? Who's doing the activity? Who's taking care of the snack? Who's planning the agenda?" Makes
my life a lot easier. Um, the one thing kids will probably tell you most important is they got to the design the apparel. Um, so our t-shirts, they designed our officer polos, any hats or other sweatshirts that we have. Um, they apparently my designs our first year sucked. So they were very happy to have
their own ones. If you see any kids wearing the blue shirts this year, that's what that is. And then most importantly from my standpoint is we just get them to bond as a team. So, uh, they they do a lot. Um, I I rely on my officer team a lot to help with things, to take some leadership roles throughout
our chapter. Um, and so to get them to work cohesively as one unit of six, uh, is really key. And, um, bringing them up, having them go mini golfing, going to the Boundary Waters, Headways, uh, that that really or not the Boundary Waters, um, Mississippi River Headways,
uh, that really allows them to to bond together. So, um, then some of the things I didn't have to ask permission for you guys for this, but this is a big part of an egg program is our our county fair and our state fair. Um, one of the biggest things that our chapter will be doing, and it's mostly just because of my role. Uh, for those you heard Erica
talking to me about my my personal life before the meeting, um, my family raises sheep, and so I'm in a position where I can lease animals to our kids, meaning that they will come to my house. They will help me with it. They'll do all the work. I don't pay them for it because I'm not making any money. Uh, but they
don't have to go out and spend thousands of dollars to get started in this livestock thing. They just have to show up and be willing to learn. So, we have a couple kids that lease. We do have a few kids that own animals or lease from others. Um, this year we had kids competing with both sheep and dairy
cattle at the county fair. There's also, um, at the right county fair, we have a a petting zoo barnyard and each FFA chapter in the county takes one day. Conveniently, there's now five chapters, five days of the fair. So, there's one day that we have to man petting zoo, um, take care of the animals, answer
questions for people. This past year, we got the day uh that we had three inches of rain in Howard Lake. So, didn't have to do a whole lot with that because there was nobody at the fair, but next year we'll we'll be doing a little bit more. Um at the state fair, there's a couple other additional opportunities we have for kids, which I've got some
pictures of. We've got vegetable exhibits, which you can see on the left there. Jordan Scribner brought down a couple of her vegetables. Um she won each of her classes. The vegetable program is new. It's only about four or five years old at the state. they're really trying to grow it. Um I I know
the egg teacher who is in charge of it and he and I have been kind of working to say, "Hey, how can we start to get more chapters to do this because it's a lot more fun to compete in something like that." Um when there's more than just one or two exhibitors. Um obviously then we've got our show and our livestock which Elliot Solo who was a
graduate last year is in the middle picture. Um and then on the far right what that is is another recent graduate Ella Bartle working at the Miracola Birth Center. So that's where all the the newborn animals are at the fair and that's actually run and staffed by FFA members and so they divide up and they
take shifts and they are down there. Um as an advisor I'm not down there watching her. She she's doing her own thing. Um I was down there just so that when she gets her break cuz they they literally live in those barns and then they get like a 3 to four hour break
once or twice a day and they're like what do I do now? So give her somewhere to come to to help get some food. Um, she really enjoyed it. I know. Um, I think I sent a message to Eric. We got on Fox 9. They interview the the kids working there and so we got Monosol Schools got a nice shout out from her on
that. Um, and then backtracking a bit, just some more pictures of our involvement with the livestock. Um, we see some of our FFA members on both the left and the right working. Um, and then the middle one, it's a really blurry picture, but if you guys don't recognize the the fellow there in the orange shirt
on the far left, that's Mayor Hilgurt. um he came out to to see what we're doing. I invited him as a fair board member um to come and see what his town's doing and so he came talked to some of our members from our FFA chapter, see their exhibits and all of
that. So um then the the most recent one was our national convention which we just got back from a couple weeks ago. We had 10 students attend which is the largest number I've ever had. Um most years in the past when I've gone we've had I think six or seven. Uh it it's a
huge event in the national convention. They announced 64,000 members and advisers from all 50 states plus the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico that were there and then another about 10,000 guests and vendors there. So um put take 75,000 people, cram them into downtown
Indianapolis. All the kids have to wear their official dress which you see in the blue jacket which um if you're behind them makes it easy to find. You just find the jacket say Monaceel, Minnesota. When you're looking at them from the front, every kid there looks the same. They're all in the same blue jacket, but um it's a lot of fun to go
and really for our kids, it was an eye opening experience. And we we had this last year when we went to our region banquet in April and they got to wear their official dress. They're like, "Wow, there's a hundred other kids from nearby chapters here. Like, we're we're part of this." And then when we went to our state convention the next month,
they're like, "Wow, there's 3,000 kids here. This is a big deal." And for these 10 to go there and be like, "Holy crap, there's 60,000 other members here." um to get them to realize what their role and what their scope is in agriculture. So, we got to observe some of these leadership development event contests um
which for our kids was a chance to see something they've never seen before. We're still brand new. They don't have the tradition of knowing what some of these contests are. We already have a couple of them that are planning to be in these events next year. They wanted to start planning. They got really excited. There's a huge college and
career fair there as well with all egg focused colleges, all your land grant universities, two-year schools, and then a lot of egg um career or career opportunities out there. They're out there job hunting. Um so there is our our group of kids getting to go there.
They had a blast. We had two juniors that went that have already asked to go back next year. Um, we did bring a couple kids that graduated this past um, spring of 2025 because technically this was the uh, national convention from what would have been their senior year.
In the future, we're going to mostly limit it to just our our high school kids with the exception being there is an award you can receive called an American degree um, which you need to have two years of post high school education for. Members usually receive it at their 20th or 21st year of age.
And so if if we have students and we do have four students on track to get their American degree in three years, um then obviously we we would invite them to come back and be part of our chapter since they would be representing Monaceel FFA. So and then I suppose you guys would like to know about a little bit about my classroom stuff. We did
have a a school garden this past year. We got a bunch of produce. Um you may have noticed uh Mr. Lungquist had a great video of me working with some of the kids out in there. Most of that produce was donated to our fax classes for their cooking lab. So, we had some eggplants, tomatoes, sweet corn,
carrots, probably missing a few other things. We had a couple options for them. Um, and then we also used the garden for some demonstrations. Get a lot of the stuff you saw in the video. I got to take my classes out and show them these cool things. One of the exciting things we have coming up, uh, we are going to get
a beehive out there in the spring of 2026. We've been working with a couple different partners in the community to teach me how to take care of bees and make sure we get the necessary supplies. And um part one of our animal science class was learning about beekeeping. And so you see the kids there getting to try
on the bee suits. They're pretty excited to get to put them on and actually go outside next year um and see real bees. So there's a little bit of an update of what we've been doing past couple months there. We got a lot more potential, a lot more things that could come. So um at this point I'll I'll stop talking
unless you guys have questions for me. >> Word. What questions? This is a lot of great information. and thank you for the update and it's really cool to see. I know I was telling my son about it who's 20 now, been out of school for two years. He's like, "Where were those classes when I was there?" So, um it's
cool to see that interest and that kids are just really, really, really enjoying these classes that you're putting together. And I guess my question is for you is, uh, have you looked at any grants for getting a greenhouse? >> Uh, yes. Um, there are grants out there.
The big challenge is for a a full-size greenhouse, um they're they're not super cheap. Um and a lot of the grants, they don't want to give you money unless you have proven that you've already done some of it. So, we're kind of in a little bit of a a tug and war uh
tug-of-war game here of I there there's grants out there. We could get grants for 40 $50,000 if we can prove that we already have some of that upfront. And um you're it's tough to get people to give that money up front and say, "Well, if you give us to this, then we'll we'll have this
grant coming." Um so there there are grants out there. We just I don't know if we're in a position right now to uh at least with the information I've been given to seriously pursue them. >> You got you got my brain going. So Okay, >> that's good. It's my job as a teacher.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> What other questions do we have? Comments? I just say it's good to see all the classes and opportunities that we're offering now with this program that weren't here previously. So great to have it back. Wonderful job running it.
So excited for the future. >> Thank you. How many students did you have, excuse me, enrolled last year and how many have enrolled this year? >> Uh so actually I just Glad you asked that. Just submitted our membership last week. Um last year at our our peak we had I think it was 28 members. This year
we I submitted 31 plus four postgraduates. So, we're at 35 technically on our roster. Um the the state the new director sent sent out like everybody's membership number. So, I did a little bit of snooping. Um Buffalo is at 37. Uh Rockford was at 20.
Uh Foley has not submitted theirs. Princeton has not submitted theirs. So, those were kind of the two I was looking for, but um I we're we're right up with there. We're actually one of the bigger schools in our region region four right now. So, I should probably add with that too. Um
the nice thing uh is we do have a really good mix. Um it's not like I've got 20 seniors and and 10 kids amongst the other three classes or 20 freshmen and they're all going to slow out. We've I've got like eight to nine kids um for
pretty much every single grade. So hopefully we can keep that number the same and and grow it, not have one big class inflate our numbers and then wash it out. Awesome. Well, thank you for all you do. >> Thank you guys for letting me come in and talk again. I'm sure I'll be back.
>> Thank you for coming. We enjoy your your updates and we'll look forward to the next one. All right. Next on to item number seven, teaching and learning. Help me welcome to the podium director of teaching and learning Laura Stener to go over our comprehensive achievement
readiness achievement and integration summary of 2024. Good evening, Superintendent Olsen, Chair Seban, members of the board. I'm here tonight to um give a summary report for last school year. And we're actually going to do a pretty broad summary of
three different buckets of overarching goals and plans that the district has. And I'll be reporting on where did our data um land or end up at the end of last school year. Just to kind of preface or get us started, a couple things to keep in mind is um you're
getting this end of the year report from last year after you had that opportunity to see our school goals reports this fall. So, I kicked the year off with you sharing a bit about how our board retreat was spent on digging deeply into
data, looking at um leading and lagging indicators and how we're able to really pay attention to the strategies we use with adults to then um impact student achievement. From there, you had an opportunity to see each of the schools goals u for the year and the strategies
that they're using. So some of the questions you have around what are we doing in response to this data you actually saw before seeing this data and then keep in mind at our next work session we are going to be doing our first deep dive into data where um tonight you're going to get much more of
a summary very surface overview as we go through where we landed with each of our goals. Um and at our next work session we'll be digging much more deeply into more robust and um data that's going to tell us a little bit of a deeper story. So just wanted to give you those bookends before we dig in. As we go
through tonight, we're going to be looking at goals that fall into four broad areas. And so, Monaceel Public Schools has several goals related to literacy and reading proficiency. We also have goals related to graduation and post-secondary readiness, attendance and engagement, and teacher
representation. So, those are our four categories of goals that we'll go through tonight. Um, in order to keep the categories of goals together to have the presentation maybe feel a little less disjointed and a little bit more cohesive, um, what I did is colorcoded each goal to the plan that it
represents. And so, as we go through the literacy goals tonight, you're going to see some goals in red. Those are Monaceel's district goals from last school year. Some goals will be in black. Those are going to be our comprehensive achievement and civic readiness goals. That's a statewide plan we submit every year. And then uh in
gray you'll note our achievement and integration goals which are coming up um at will be done at the end of this year. But again those are three-year goals and those will be represented in gray and I'll try to remind you of those as we go through. So let's dig in with our literacy and reading proficiency to give
an update on our summary of last year. So the first goal we'll talk about is the district goal to improve K12 literacy raising literacy rates to 70% by the year 2026. So, the first goal that we're going to see here is um part A of this goal. This
is a goal related to the MCA and MTAST assessments. And our goal when we set out for this three-year goal was to increase from 54.2% proficiency in 2023 to 70% in 2026. And what we'll see is that we did have a slight dip last year,
but at the spring MCA results, um, sorry, a slight increase two years ago in 2024, but in the spring of 2025, we did see a dip in the MCA performance. And we're seeing that dip is below where we began when we started this goal. Um,
if we look at this data, this is a little bit of a different way to look at the data. And I'm going to explain this graph to you because it's not the easiest one to interpret, but this graph shows us what is um performance and achievement look like for students of the graduating class. So I'm going to ask you to look at that furthest graph
to the right, which is the class which is our current eighth graders. So our current current eighth graders have not yet taken the MCA test. So the farthest bar to the right, the orange bar represents their achievement as seventh graders. The green represents sixth, the
yellow represents fifth, the red fourth, and the blue third when they took their first MCA. What you are able to see from this data is that we see some of our cohorts of students, particularly our current sixth graders, have been on um quite an upward trajectory with their
MCAs. We also note that with our fifth graders, we're seeing an upward trend. You all are familiar that we've done quite a bit of significant work at the elementary. So it is good to see that component of our data. Of course, we see some variability as we look to middle school where we saw some students on
more of an upward trend and then noticing that that upward trend was not continuing as we got into middle school yet. If we move into part B, this is where we're able to really hone in on our >> real quick on that graph. >> Yes. >> So that says our current eighth graders.
Yep. >> They've seen a dip in proficiency. Is that what I'm reading? >> Yeah. So if you look at that orange bar farthest to the right >> today they're testing today the orange one. >> Tell me what you mean by today >> MCA
>> current eighth graders. Yes. >> This is the current eighth graders right now and this is them starting testing in third. >> Yes. >> So this is their current test that we have up to date from last year. >> Correct. Yes. >> So it shows that they've gone up and then dropped. >> Yes. >> Want to make sure I was reading it
right. >> That's correct. Okay. As we go into our K1 data, we had a metric where we were looking at our students on the FastBridge early reading assessment. Um, this is a particular assessment that measures early foundational skills with a goal of
increasing from 45% proficiency in 2023 to 70% in 2026. And we can see some really um exciting data when we talk about our K1. So, we're at that 62% proficiency, not yet at our 70% goal, but we still have another year. and just
a really um excellent growth to celebrate here where we're noticing that we've had just this very significant jump in performance of our kindergarten and first grade students. Part C of this goal talks about the students in grades two through eight and
their FastBridge reading score. So the goal here was to be again hitting that 70% mark for our students in grades 2 through eight on FastBridge A reading which is a measure of broad reading skills. Um, when this goal began in 2023, we can see that 67 profic% percent
proficiency rate. And at the end of last school year in the spring, we noted a 62.4% proficiency rate. An additional reading goal that we have falls under our comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plan. Um, we are required to have a goal about
all children being ready for school. And so we chose a literacy goal for this as well. 70% of prek four-year-old students will be at or above grade level reading benchmarks according to Fastbridge Early Reading in the spring. And we were able to see last year that those students
were at 66%. So we had that goal of 70%. This was our first year that we did um use the FastBridge data. This last year was the first year with preK students and so we don't have a comparable data point, but we can see that we're quite co close to our goal um at 66%.
We also have a literacy goal related to achievement um with racial and economic gaps. And so this goal was that 50% of students in grades three through eight and in grade 10 who are eligible for free or reduced price lunch or students of color will meet or exceed reading
proficiency as measured by the 2025 MCAs. Just as a reminder, nth grade is not there because 9th grade does not take the reading MCAs. Um here we're able to see that our goal was 50%. Um we were noting 38.4% proficiency for our
free and reduced lunch status students and students of color at 37.4%. I included the statewide data here as well just as a way to compare. So although we did not meet our goal um we are per outperforming the state when we look at these two student groups by a
pretty significant margin. >> I have a question on the previous slide. Why why is this 50% of students? Why is it not 100%. >> I would venture so remember these goals were set before I came. Um typically
you're looking at where you're at and then looking at a realistic goal within one year to be able to close. So if you're starting Oh, go this way. If you're starting at about that 38% um science would tell us that it's unrealistic to be able to close a 60%
gap in one year. So typically you're looking at what's a reasonable goal to um address the gap, >> right? So this this percent is this the percent of that 50%. >> So our goal was 50% of the students in those grade levels were proficient and
this was the actual result. So we did not hit 50%, we hit 38.4% for free and reduced lunch >> of the 50 of the 50%. So it's only 19% of the students. >> No, of 100% of the students. >> Okay. That's what I'm trying to >> y >> straighten out is on one we have 50%.
But on this one we're looking at all the students. So that's what I was trying to line up on. >> The goal is 50% of all students are proficient. And so then the current status is 38.4% of all students are proficient at being reduced
>> 37.4 proficient with students of color. >> Y >> but all based on 100% of our students. That's what I was trying to get straightened out on on this these two when I was reading it. So, >> is that clear?
>> Do you have the what the top 50% are at all to match with what you got on this? >> So, you want to read this goal as you're going to take 100% of the students who are at free and reduced lunch. And our goal is for if was to have 50% of those
students be proficient. So there there really isn't another 50% per se. >> But in your next graph, this is 100% of the students. I was wondering if% of the students did some of that.
I realiz [Music] that Did you eat that for 50% of the students or not? >> So this data would show that a if we take a 100% of our students at free who are on free and reduced lunch 38.4 of
them were proficient with our goal being 50%. If we take a 100% of our students of color 37.4% were proficient. >> This is not the proficiency rate. This is the number of students. >> Yes. >> No worries. No worries. Okay. As we go
into our achievement and integration goals, we do have an achievement and integration goal that falls under literacy as well. Here we are looking for in that three-year goal by spring of 2026, 63% of grade three students who qualify for free and reduced price lunch and/or identify as students of color
will meet or exceed grade level benchmarks on the FastBridge reading assessment in the spring. And here we're able to see that in 2024 we had 50.3% of students achieving the proficiency rate. We did see a slight increase in 2025 to
51.7% and then a slight increase for students of color um by a 7%. And we continue on the literacy theme. So, this achievement and integration goal touches on students eligible for free or reduced price lunch and students
of color in grades 3 through 8 and 10 will increase their reading proficiency as measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments by 1% each year from June 2023 to June 2026. And here we're able to see that in 2024 we
saw um 43.1% and then we noted that we did not see the 1% increase in 2025. And for students of color, we noted that we also did not see that 1% increase. As we move on from literacy and jump
over Yes, Mark. >> Do you want to bucket? >> Can you say more about lumping them together? What do you mean by that? % of students in grades through
color. We should be May I repeat the question? >> Gavin, do you agree that it makes sense to lump the free and reduced lunch students into the same bucket as the students of color
when we are making reading goals? So, in general, it is a good practice to examine the data for students who inherently haven't been performing at the same levels as your district overall. For our students of color and our free and reduced lunch students,
there likely are some students who fall into both of those groups. They are students of color and they are also students on free and reduced lunch. as a district whenever we have an achievement gap it is important to pay attention to how are those achievement gaps moving or
changing over time. So if we just look at one of those um we may have a false sense of achievement for students without really digging in and looking deeply at each of our student groups. It's um it's quite easy to overlook gaps
that you wouldn't see without looking at the data lots of different ways. So my personal um training has taught me that whenever possible to look at student groups really in detail to identify where are the gaps and then what are
specific strategies. Um sometimes they are the same strategies across groups but without looking deeply we may not know. Another um piece of data that's not represented here is that there may be more or a higher percentage of students of color who are also English
learners. So the strategies that could benefit that group um may look the same as the free and reduced lunch may look different, but by taking those um student groups and even looking further at what percentage of those students are other types of students, it does allow
us to be more precise with our interventions and instructional strategies. Did that answer your question? >> I think so, but it prompts a a follow-up question. So in the previous slide,
that's where that goal of 63% was stated. So is the goal for free and reduced students and for students of color both to be at 63%. >> Yes, that's how I understand this goal. >> So then when we go to the next slide and
we show where the stats are at, I agree with your previous statement about realistic goals. This is where I would question if it's realistic for us to have the same percentage goal for these two groups when they are pretty far apart right now
to start with. >> That is a good question. The other piece that comes along with the achievement and integration plan is you are setting the a three-year plan. And so I know um Cindy who is here before me would be taking a look at this goal and sort of adjusting as time went on because as you
set that three-year goal, you want to be then looking what gains did we make, how do we maybe um adjust that to a more realistic piece. This year we will um reset our achievement and integration plan. Um, so it gives us a new opportunity to look at all of our goals
and really think as a a district team about what those goal what do we want those goals to look like going forward >> during data sessions um during our professional development really making sure that we're um not only assessing the goals but the strategies at the
building level um and doing that throughout the school year so that if things aren't progressing in a way instead of waiting for the endgame we're um making adjustments as the year goes. So hopefully by bringing the attention that we have um even at this level and
then um at um all levels throughout the system, we should be paying more attention um more quickly. So I I love that dialogue right there though. That was was good stuff. >> Okay, I'm going to just skip us through these because we looked at those. Um and
we'll move into graduation and post-secary readiness. So we do have a couple of goals from different plans that fall into this category. Um, so we had a district goal last year to increase the four-year graduation rates from um 295% by the year 2026. Um, and we have some
exciting uh data to report here. We're able to see that in 2023 we reported 91.5%. We see an increase to 92.8%. Um, data is not available for graduation rates until January. So, we're not able to see our 2025 data yet, but we are
able to see that we had a nice gain. We're quite close to our 95% goal, and once again, we're outperforming the state by a pretty significant margin when it comes to graduation rates. In addition, we also had an increase the four-year graduation rate for students
who qualify for free and reduced lunch and also students of color to 85% in 2026. going back to looking at where that group was and what is that realistic goal. Um, and here we're able to see in 2023 we were at 81% for free
and reduced price lunch and quite close to that 85% goal in 2024, just a hair underneath with 84.3. Um, and we saw a nice gain with our students of color as well. So, slightly under that 85%. Once again, we don't have the um data from
last year's graduating class for these student groups either. We'll move to attendance and engagement next. So we have a couple of goals that fall in this category. One was a district goal to improve K12 attendance. So the state has a metric called consistent attendance rate. The state
calculates this rate for us and our goal was to be at 90%. So unfortunately this um the statewide attendance rate is consistent attendance rate is also not out yet. Um but Superintendent Olsen really uh did a beautiful job last year
um helping to keep this at the forefront with our sites and to continuously um be tracking the data. So what you're going to see here is not the state reported consistent attendance data because that's not out yet, but you are going to see the internal tracking data that was
collected by our buildings and reflected on during administrator PD. And we can see that our sites were above that 90% consistent based on our internal tracking. We also had a career. Can >> I just ask you a question real quick? What is the percentage of students that
are considered free and reduced lunch? >> I do not have that off the top of my head, but I can get that for you. >> So, we also have a goal when it comes to our um comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plan that all students are ready for career in college. So the
district sets a goal around that theme. Our goal was to increase enrollment of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch and students of color in educational enrichment opportunities. And this would be defined as um career and college opportunities within the high school. So whether that is a
opportunity to get college credit, whether that's an opportunity to be working in a career while still in high school. um we're really trying to look broadly at who are the students who are participating in opportunities that get them either college credit or um
certification or some sort of um opportunity within a career field. So when we began this goal, we saw that we were at about 13% 13.9 for free and reduced lunch of participation. Um, last year we noted our free and reduced lunch price population um, did have a nice
increase, but unfortunately we saw a dip in that and our students of color participation in these programs has remained fairly steady over the course of this these last three years. And then finally, our final area of goals is teacher representation. Um, and
part of our achievement in integration is to have a teacher equity goal. This is um, an opportunity for us to be thinking about our staff. And so the goal that we set was to increase access to racially diverse staff in Monaceel to match student demographics more closely.
Our baseline in 2023 was 18.8% students of color versus 1.8 u% of certified staff of color. So as we take a look at our data um we actually last school year had exceeded our goal. Um we were looking if you want to just pop back
here to increase 1% per year. So had we been on track for this year, we would have been at 3.8%. Um although we do see that we are at the 2.9% and we're higher than we started. Um that dip from 2425
does not have us completely on track even though we are making gains in this goal. That brings us to the end of the summary data from 2425 for those three plans. And I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
I think I don't know if it was a point um board member Hegley was trying to make too, but I do think it does matter with how many students fall into some of these categories for the percentages. So, if it's something that would alarm you and
encourage a deeper dive, which brings me to my next question, the one graph that I was asking about at first when we were looking at that dip and it looks like that was evaluating grades 3 through eight >> and some of the dip there that's
happening, which was significant. And so I mean I know this is your first year and this was previous to you, same with the goals, but um is that a trend that's being seen around the United States in Minnesota? Is it unique to us? Does it
tie to our curriculum with adopting a new reading curriculum? I kind of would really like to hear your feedback on that. >> So those are big questions. So, I would say in general there is typically a drop in reading performance when students get to middle school. Is the drop typically
this significant? I would say no. Um the middle school, as you know, has been working really hard on their new reading curriculum. Um I've been working side by side with them to set goals within those goals to set um tangible
action strategies for those goals. So to give you an example, one of the pieces that the the middle school is really mindful of is that um students really need to be speaking a lot to help develop their literacy proficiency. So
there's a a saying, you know, if you can't speak about it, you can't write about it. And so that was some great learning that they've been doing with um principal sherbet around the science of reading and have then worked with me to identify very specific goals. Each of
those goals then the three grade levels work together to come up with common rubrics for how they would assess those goals, common calendars for when they would build in different tools that they have created. And so um I come from a
background in implementation planning and then it's it's very often in curriculum where you spend a lot of time researching the curriculum, you spend a lot of time piloting and trying things out and then you get it and you're really excited because you picked a great resource, but the implementation
is critical. And so being able to work with the middle school team multiple times already this year, even starting back in August, um to to have some very concrete action steps that they've identified meet the needs of their students. That's maybe a longer answer
than you were looking for. I think it can be a lot of pieces of information. I think the best we can do is we can lean into what are the high impact instructional strategies. What are the cohesive pieces the team will all do together that identify with student needs? And then continuing to monitor
that. How is it going? Are we doing what we said we would do as adults? What does that mean for students? Um so I can't say enough about the team. They've been very committed to setting goals to um creating specific lessons that students
would participate in specific tools for students desks to keep track of how they're doing um related to the goal. So, lots of engagement there around implementing this new curriculum really well. So, I'm excited to see what happens. >> Are we in year two of this new curriculum
>> in the middle school? This is year one >> with all I mean when did we start the elementary reading curriculum? So that believe it's year two of >> this is year two >> elementary. >> Yes, kindergarten has a pilot year on top. >> They've done all this training. Uh
they're learning all these new skills. When do we see the results of this like when >> Yes. Right. That is the that's the big question. So you any implementation does take time and what has been great is the
state really has um ensured that our teachers will have that training. The next piece is then also having a researchbased evidence-based curriculum. So we have trained teachers, we have an evidence-based curriculum, we have reading coaches, we have data cycles. We are really looking deeply at how we're
using that time. We're talking to other districts who have similar reading programs um that we do. What are you seeing? What are the strategies that you're using? Um there's a lot of key ingredients. I have confidence that we have the right pieces. Um sometimes it
is there's an implementation dip which no one likes to hear about. Um but we do want to continue to see that. I think I get um I get some hope when I look at that the first two graphs that you see here because those two cohorts of students are students who had trained
teachers um access to the curriculum over multiple years and I think when we look at that sixth grade class in particular we're able to see a nice upward trajectory for students who were in classrooms with trained teachers with the high quality instructional
materials. As we look further down the road, we also see that current seventh grade class that um farthest bar to the right is their sixth grade year. So we see fifth grade, we saw that upward trajectory. Not only will our middle school teachers have new curriculum, but
they also start the science of reading training as well. Um they are required to be trained by the year June of 2027. The trainings were just released by the state last week. And so now um working directly with Kristen Holler, our literacy lead, we have four options to
review those options and to start planning with our middle school and high school teachers about how do we get that um very impactful science of reading training to our middle school teachers as well. And that's that's really not a choice for us. That is a state legislated mandate, but it is also what our kids need. And so it's an exciting
opportunity for us right now to continue to build on that as we um watch our kids grow through. Yeah, I know even looking at the state averages that it's not unique to us. So I go I guess my next question is is there a part of the implementation of
all of this where we involve home? Yeah. And that's actually part of the the Minnesota Read Act as well. Like there is specific legislation about um informing parents of students who are reading below grade level. In the past that wasn't anything that was required.
Of course you think of course a school district would tell parents that um but there's very specific legislation now. We know that once parents have a clear and specific understanding there are um there's tends to be more engagement from parents. Our state has also developed
family reading toolkits um that we just looked at with our rallytoread team. Um so we do have some great partnership. We also can do that good work locally as well. I think the the rally to read, even though that's early childhood, has been very admirable and I've been part of that since before I came um as an
employee. But again, we're also taking a look at how do we engage parents um at those upper levels. I spent conferences at the middle school engage with parents talking about reading diagnostic assessments their students are going to take to improve those skills. And those
conversations were were wonderful. so much engagement from parents, so much excitement around I'm so excited to hear that my student is going to be taking an assessment that can help um that upward trajectory of reading as well. >> And I think it's wise to arm the staff
and the teachers with these tool kits that they can give parents to go home so they can feel like they're part of this with them too in order for them to grow and get better. One thing I'll also add about middle school, not to go on too long, but um the other gap for schools
right now when it comes to literacy is that there are not a whole host of assessment tools that are designed to intervene for adolescent readers. So all of our students take FastBridge. Um that is a screener that tells us who's at
risk. It doesn't necessarily tell us what to do with those students who are at risk. Tells us we need to find out more to know what to do. The MCAs tells tell us if students are proficient in grade level standards. This January, like all districts across the state, we
will be doing the CAPD read basics assessment, which is a diagnostic test for students in grades 4 through 12 who are reading below grade level. We've never had an assessment like this before. It's very exciting. This is what I was talking with parents with about at conferences. So for our students who are
identified as not reading at grade level in grades 4 through 12 this January we'll have an opportunity for them to take a diagnostic assessment think about diagnosing when you go to the doctor helping us to pinpoint what exactly is that reading deficit when students are in grades K12 letter sounds letter names
it's very clear what it is we need to work on when students get to seventh eighth grade it could be vocabulary it could still be phonics it could be word roots it could be comprehension And so the new assessment that we'll bring in will also allow us to work with our secondary principles around then
intervening with very specific diagnostic data. So some good things on the horizon that my personal belief is will help us tremendously in changing this trajectory we see at middle school. >> Thank you. I know that's tough to do and to brief on when you weren't here when
all of that was happening. What other questions do we have for Director Stener? And I just shared um last year's data as far as attendance goes. So not only like free and reduced lunch category, but um truly breaking down um
every classification of race that we um take um data for. So um you'll have that at your fingertips. So you can see that because we are employing a lot of the um best practice strategies like um our attendance for a lot of our groups
overall is is really good. um there may be a month or two that you can see you know you see some dips but then we we were able to always bring those back. So I think it's it's you know putting data in front of people like we are and it's making sure that we use it to um keep
dialing up um the strategies that are best practice for our kids. So I think we have all those things in and practice and now it's just making sure that you have the right amount of time um given and and remembering that um every child can't make two and three years grow
worth of growth in one year. Um so um trying to get a year's worth of growth and possibly a little bit more um still is going to be um a realistic goal per child. So, >> this might not be a question for you,
but who's responsible for our teacher equity? the goal that we have >> um just overall um you know strategies that that we've um had at different meetings talking about um you know recruitment um the effort of HR of the
places that we do find ourselves now instead of just um traditionally posting on ad post we're going to different fairs uh Rob has um been um both in virtual and inerson fairs to try attract
new high quality can strategies that we've employed. >> Do you see that our improved teacher equity will that improve our literacy?
I think there's some pretty compelling evidence to show that students um are often more engaged. Students of color are more engaged when they see themselves represented in the teaching field. Um engagement often leads to
achievement. It probably isn't going to be as direct as I know exactly what your reading deficit is. I'm going to bring you in an a room and we're going to give you an intervention 60 minutes a day, five days a week. Um, but when students feel um connected, and there are lots of
ways that students can feel connected, but there is some pretty um nationwide and pretty compelling evidence that shows students really um become more engaged, become more connected to teachers when they have that opportunity, even if it's one teacher throughout the day or one teacher
throughout their elementary. And so, will that alone change things? I don't know. But I think it can only help especially for students who are looking for connection and engagement. Um we can have the best curriculum in the world. We can have the best strategies in the world. And if students aren't here, if
they're not coming to school, if students aren't um when they're at school, if they're not engaging, then all of those things aren't as effective as they can be when we have those engaged connected partners. >> Well, thank you for your presentation. and we appreciate it and thank you for
answering all of our questions. >> No problem. Thank you. >> On to item number eight, innovation and leadership. Help me welcome up to the podium director of business services Tina Burke Holder and Mary Ready from Clifton Laren and Allen to go over our
2024 2025 audit. Good evening board members. I'm not going to say too much, just introduce Mary Rey for to uh present our audit results. We had a lot of financial information for you in the board packet. We had our financial statements, our
communication letter and schedule of uh federal awards amongst, you know, things in there. So, I'm going to pass it over to Mary. >> Thank you for having me tonight. got a lot of information overall at this one, but granted December is worse, so I like
this one better. Um, so we'll go through the presentation. Um, obviously presenting drafts kind of like we do every time. Um, different about this year is we'll be able to release the audit, but we'll hold on to the single audit until um, the government decides to release the
compliance supplement. So, that will come later. um we'll be in communication with Tina and get that issued as soon as we can once we get our guidance um out to be able to release that. Everything in this PowerPoint ties back to the financial statements. So, if you ever
wanted to look, you definitely could tick and tie. Um but we'll get started with some numbers and then feel free to stop me at any time if you have any questions at all as we go through here. Um so, this is your general fund. It does include the special education
cooperative. So far right is 2021, far left is 2025. At the top is your actual in comparisons. Down at the bottom, I did give you your budget to actual as well. So your actual revenues were about 72.3
million budgeted for 70.3. Um so difference of about 2 million um over budget expenditures at 73.3 uh budgeted for 72.6. So did go over budget 683,000.
Um other financing sources and uses 6.1 million um significantly higher than in the past. That is your um insurance proceeds. Uh so those did not get spent in the current year. Um budgeted for 6.2
so under budget by about 5,000. So overall your net change in fund balance um was a positive 5.2 million there. budgeted for 3.9 so came in better at 1.3. Um but now let's look um towards the middle of that page you can see
unassigned fund balance at 4.7 million down a little bit from last year at 4.2. So when you look at your fund balance policy you want a minimum of 6% and then your goal is to be between eight and 16%. Right now you're at 7.7. So just
shy of um your, you know, overall goal of that 8% there. Um and then as you go down, you can see your restricted fund balances there. Um nothing real um highlight there, but LTFM is gradually going down. You're
kind of spending that on the projects as they come up. And then again, your assigned fund balance, 6.3 million, that is your insurance proceeds, right? that has to be spent on um what you're going to do for repairs. So the next slide is your food service
fund here. Um revenues at about 3.4 million budgeted for about 2.9 so positive 545,000 expenditures at 3.8 budgeted for 3.5. Um so did come in over budget there 336,000.
So actual you had a loss of 401,000 budgeted for a loss of 608. Um so positive 207,000 there better than budget. Again food service fund is restricted. You can only spend it on food service. And then the state does
want you to be within a certain um fund balance there. So you know you have a few swings here but overall a loss this year was just spending down some of that fun balance. Okay, next slide is your community service fund.
Here revenues at 5.6 million budgeted for 5.5. So better um by 84,000. Expenditures at 5.3 budgeted for 5.4. So actually came in under budget about 74,000. Um so budgeted for a gain of 107 came in
at a positive 265,000. So again, you go up into the categories there of your restricted fund balance. Um there just one coming in at negative8,000. Um and we'll show what category that is in a few slides. We'll actually break it
out by the programs that you offer. Um and right now you're trending only one of those categories to be negative. Okay. So debt service fund um district levies 105% of your principal and interest payments here um and then the state adjusts as needed based on your
fund balance. So debt service coming in is a positive 67,000 restricted fund balance there about a million. So really collecting um the revenue that you need to pay the principal and interest payments.
general funds. Just like to show you your unassigned and non-spendable fund balance there. Again, did take a little bit of a um dip from last year, but still above um the past three years there. So, prior year is about 5.3. This
year at 4.7. The next one is your restricted, committed, and assigned. Again, large increase there is going to be your 6.2 2 million of insurance proceeds. So use it a little bit. Um otherwise fairly
consistent from prior year. Okay. Community service fund balances here. Um so did it make good um ground overall in your community service fund balance? Um about 314,000 up to about 579,000.
Um and then we'll note school readiness is negative about 142,000 there. Food service fund balance again we did show that you had a slight decrease um from the prior year. Again the state wants you to maintain um a set fund
balance there of no more than um so fluctuation in food service um will be pretty common um year-over-year. And then just trying to figure out too um the funding, right? So you're getting fully funded from state and federal and just kind of grabbing all those pieces
together. Debt service fund balance here you can see 2025 just increase a little bit from prior year. Again the state monitors that pretty closely. The next one, um, as I talked about,
community service fund, shows each of your programs and then it gives you your revenues and expenditures tied to each of those programs. Um, and you can see your school readiness actually gained quite a bit of ground this year. Um, increasing about 65,000 there. Um, so
then decreasing that deficit to about 142,000. Again, you know, we just like to monitor those negatives. Once you transfer money into community service, it it has to stay there. So, we always like to just kind of monitor it, see how you're
doing, um monitor the programs you're offering and such um before you start funding any of that. And again, you have um quite a bit of other positive balances in here. So, we're just continue to monitor that as you go.
>> Okay. >> Can I ask a question? just as you do audits across the state um is that a trend um because of the state not fully funding um or funding I should say differently um is that a trend that you see in the um in the school readiness um
account is that or that fund is that similar >> y so a lot of um districts actually will track that too and because there's such a gap there they'll actually do an annual transfer from general fund into school readiness is to help pay for that.
Yeah, it is um widespread. Quite a few of our districts do. So, the next one just gives you um a highlight of the sources of revenues coming in. Again, um majority is coming
in with state at 58%. Federal has really decreased. Remember, you're spending down all of the additional money that you got. So you're at 5%, local um taxes at 17% and then anything else coming in at 20%. So going to be like your food
service um type items um student activities that type. So then this next graph goes handinhand with that. So then you can see each of these categories year-over-year and how they're doing. Um, state, you'll notice, did increase even though you decreased in student
counts just in general an increase overall of um, state funding. And then federal again up as high as about almost 8 million. That comes back down after spending all of those additional COVID monies.
So where does that revenue go out? These are the categories um of expenditures. Then um regular instruction obviously being the biggest piece there of 32% um special education at 26%
um and then your pupil support at 13%. Okay, so again we do the bar chart. We like to take a look at each of those categories over the past couple of years. um with um main increase here special education and then your pupil
support services. Okay. Then your adjusted ADMs and weighted average daily memberships here. Um so you can see 2025 you had adjusted ADMs of about 4,000 down from 40 4,100
last year. adjusted um weighted average daily membership was at 4,300 this year. Last year is at 4500. Um so did decrease there. And then you can see by the category here um of non-residents versus
residents, you did actually decrease in both of those categories. Um again, kind of talking about this, I do quite a few school districts. Um I would say probably only two of mine actually showed increase in ADMs this
year as well. So overall just a continue um decrease in the the districts that I audited as well. So then we just like to grab some of the expenditures and compare them to average daily membership um and then compare
those to similar districts of size which would be the light blue and then the state average which is going to be your yellow. So this is your district and school administration and support services. So when we looked at that pie chart both of those were at 2% so right
at about 4%. Um what I've seen um from other audits is usually you're somewhere in between the 5 to 10%. So here you can see you're fairly low compared to um even the state and other school districts of similar size. And remember
they're going to be a year behind you um because the newest information isn't out yet. Okay. So then we total all of your instruction per average daily membership and we say, okay, what what's the amount going back into the each of these
categories as well? So vocational instruction, special ed, and instructional support. And you can see um you're right in line with the state average and just slightly under um school districts of similar size. Okay. So, that was a brief overview um
of the audit. Know if there are any follow-up questions. Any questions? Board members, you always do such a thorough job. So, I appreciate that. and >> especially like hearing, you know, some of the other district comparisons on uh
how we're looking and some of the the things that we're seeing if it's common or not. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. >> Thank you for the pen. >> This is a this is an action item. >> This is an action item. >> Second. >> Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Casey
Root. All those in favor, please say I. >> Opposed, please say no. Motion passes 6. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> All right, we'll move on to item number B. Go over actuary study with director of business services Tina Burke Holder
as well as Jill Berdall from USA Consulting Group. Again, good evening board. So, every two years, school districts are required to do an actuarial study on their uh other post-employment benefits. And so our
last actuarial was done as of July 1, 2024. And so we have Jill Earld here from USI to go over those results. >> Okay. Thank you. Thanks for having me this evening. So you're lucky that you get the CPA and
the actuary all in one night. So I'm but I'm happy to report I don't think I put um as many numbers in my report as uh Mary put in hers. So you'll you'll get a little break now, but yeah, as Tina noted, every other year we um gather
your school data and then we calculate the liabilities that you have for your other post-employment benefits. So I'm only talking to you tonight about nonstate pension benefits. So mainly your postretirement medical, dental, and life benefits that you offer in your
contracts to your employees when they retire. So no state pension benefits are will be discussed tonight. Um so no pay or TRA just again the postretirement medical dental and life benefits that show up in your contracts.
So those liabilities need to be calculated then then put in your financial statements. So all the public entities really across the nation have to do this in a similar manner so that one public entity can be compared to another because every school
district, city, county does have different post-employment or postretirement medical dental life benefits. So they're not uh homogeneous. So that way you calculate your liabilities and report them to the public um in that manner. The statements
that you'll see uh numbered that include these disclosures are called Gazsby 75 and then we'll go over Gazsby 73 tonight. So you can just think of Gatsby 75 as your main liability that you have here at Monaceel Schools and that represents your postretirement medical,
dental, and life benefits. So again, we have the full reports. Tina has those in her office and I have them with me if you have any of details, but I did just put some highlights together for you tonight. So here I've just summarized in words kind of what we're talking about this evening in your
liabilities again for your post-retirement medical dental life benefits. So in this category we talk about two different styles of postretirement medical benefits. There's the direct subsidized benefits that you offer that you can read right out of your contract. So when a an employee
retires from your district, if they're meet the eligibility requirements, they may get, for example, their medical premiums paid for for a certain number of years. So that's part of your liability and it varies by the different contract groups, what those eligibility requirements are are and the higher date
restrictions that go along with that to be able to grow into that benefit. But also, there's a state statute on insurance continuation that we have to value for your district and really every every public entity in Minnesota that carries a health plan. And that's 471.61.
And it just says when a public entity a public employee retires from a public entity in the state, if they meet certain minimum eligibility requirements, you have to offer them access to your medical and dental plans indefinitely. But the kicker is you have to offer them the same group rate as an
active employee. So that's really a deal for an early retiree to be able to stay on your plan and continue to pay the same rate as actively working employees. So we we calculate what is your implicit rate subsidy benefit that your employees
receive by being able to stay on your plans even if they have to pay the full premium themselves. But then we add to that how much are they getting in direct subsidized premium from you from your benefits. So again there's those two kinds of opeds we say for short that you
have here at the district. I'll show you a picture of so you can wrap your arms around a little bit as as to what that access or that implicit rate subsidy benefit is worth. So, if you if I was an age 60-year-old early retiree at your district and it was on
your plan, I'd be running about $1,543 monthly in claims, medical claims. And if I didn't qualify for any direct subsidized benefit from you toward that premium, I'd have to pay myself then that $880 a month in. So, I'm really getting that implicit or hidden benefit
every month of about $660 to be able to continue to pay the group rate instead of being charged more to really have to pay what my claims are running. And as we age, our medical claims tend to increase. So, again, this is due to the statute we have in
Minnesota. So, there's this kind of hidden benefit that right as an employee, you don't directly see or might not feel that you're getting, but that you really are receiving that. and then you may be paying a part of that uh premium directly to them too in those direct subsidized benefits um in each of
your contracts. If we were sitting in Wisconsin, you could charge your early retirey group if they wanted to stay on your plan more. So Wisconsin, for example, has the ability to do that, but because of our state statute in Minnesota, you can't charge that early
retiree more. Um that access is mandated by that statute. So again, we're valuing that implicit or hidden subsidy and then your direct subsidized benefits that are in your contracts for post-retirement medical benefits. So again, here's a picture just so you can kind of see again where that implicit or
hidden cost is coming from. And it's the blue early retiree box. So again, your actual costs or claims, you know, tend to increase as people age. It's the angled line, but again, you have to offer the premium cost in that flat or blended cost line. So again, there's the
liabilities created in that blue box area. You don't really have any of that implicit or access benefit post 65 for retirees. Um retirees then tend to drop off your plan once they become Medicare eligible because there's so much more available in the market. So you really
only have that hidden subsidy benefit up to age 65. So once we gather all the data from Tina and her group here at your district, uh we gather your actual census information. We gather information on your you have a an irrevocable OPED
trust with some amount of assets in it. We gather your actual claims information. Then we do all of our calculations and then of course we just come out with your results for your disclosures in your financial statements on these benefits. So to give you a summary of what your
updated liability amounts are based on the most recent valuation, I stated here we do our val valuations at the beginning of the year. So it's got a July 1, 2024 valuation date, but you use these numbers then kind of year end at your 63025
financial statements. And then again, we get to use these numbers as our base to get to your June 30th, 2026 results also. So you can think of each phase set of results you get to use for two disclosure cycles. So we gather actual new census data from
TINA every other year for your district. So the numbers to hone in here are that actual acred liability. That's what shows up in your financial statement. So 14.9 million is the liability for those postretirement medical dental life benefits that you have. Again, not only
do we have to value those for your current retirees that you have at your district, but we have to look at all of your employees that are actively working and say what they've kind of acred to date for their service to date. Earlier, I forgot to note for you how many
employees we looked at. So, I believe we have um we looked at about 446 participants um active 466 active participants and 62 retirees that go into that $14.9 million aced liability
number. We show you your present value benefits. Uh we factor in some future service projections there, but uh Gazsby, the government accounting standards board says just show us what's been acred based on service that's put into date by your employees. So that's
what the acred liability represents. It's what's been put in based on everybody's service to date. So that 14.9 million number is probably the most important to you along with what are your current benefit payments for these benefits this year. So in 2425
your actual payments for OPBS was about 1.8 million. So again the 1.8 8 million is what you actually paid in benefits this year, but you have had that acred liability of about 14.9. So then to think about what funding
sources do you have to pay for those annual OPED benefits, there's really three sources that um school districts in Minnesota can look to. You can pay for those benefits from your general fund. You can look to what you have in any irrevocable OPUB trust
that's been established. And then you can also apply to the um MDE has an annual OPEB levy. So again, general fund, anything in an irrevocable OPED trust or a possible annual OPED levy. Those are the three sources of funding
for these OPED benefits. So on this slide, I just highlight that you do have about well a little less than a million now at year end in your irrevocable OPED trust. So again, um, a little less than a million to the compared to that 14.9
million in acred liability. So where will most of your funding come from? Currently, it is coming from that possible annual OPED levy. If you're a school district that has an irrevocable oped trust, MDE says,
uh, we won't let you apply for a levy for your OPED benefits for the year, but for anything that's like funded, possibly from that OPED trust. So, they refer to you as a blended district. So, you have most of your liabilities are unfunded, meaning not backed up by a
liability or sorry, assets. So they will let you levy for the unfunded portion of your OPED benefits every year. So this year in 2425 you get to levy for about the 1.7 million. If you remember your
total OPED benefits were about 1.8. So because you're about 92% unfunded or so you can apply for that levy for most of your OPED pay payments annually. Some things to think about here. I noted there's some rules around, you know,
what will they allow a levy for? You really have the sunset clauses in each of your contract groups for OPEDs that are required. A sunset clause is those higher date restrictions. So, you meet that and then of course um we look at your funded percentage, but mostly because you have unfunded a smaller
amount in that OPB trust, most of then your annual benefit payments can be applied for in that annual OB levy. We're not guaranteed that that annual OPED levy will always be there. We haven't heard any any talks about them taking it away. There are overall state
limits on what they'll pay out in that OPED levy limit annually, but we haven't hit those in a while. If those would be hit, right, you may be prrated as to what then you're granted in the levy, but we haven't hit those limits in quite a while since the early years because they do add to that total amount each
year of what they'll levy um provide for levy from the state. any questions at all on uh any of those postretirement medical liabilities or benefits at all? >> So, is the state anticipating like a big
group of people to just decide to leave at one time and then they would hit that >> that overall state I mean amount that they'll that they'll um give out in the levy. Um the um
really what would cause them to hit the limit is um if if more uh districts would actually apply for the levy. Um there's some that don't because they maybe have more in an irrevocable oped trust too. So they're not allowed to or they're or they're withdrawing from
their OPUB trust. uh some right just won't apply for a levy um because of their other levy situations or they may be at a cap so they they can't do that either. But so the hitting the um MDE
won't let's say hand out um a levy for let's say a new early retirement incentive oped. So it's really for those OPEDs that are have a sunset clause in them. So, it's really kind of for, you know, grandfathered groups where those post-retirement medical benefits are
kind of phasing out. Uh, so MD's position right now is if you'd apply for um, you know, let's say an additional levy for like an early retirement incentive OPED for teachers, for example, they probably would not grant
it. But since I'm not MDE, we I always say if you're thinking about doing that as a district, make sure you get approval from MD in writing. So, so that won't cause kind of a increase in the levy. You know, any early retirement incentive packages won't, but we we could hit the limit, I suppose, if every
district that could levy would apply for it, but we haven't seen that in years. Yeah. Any other questions at all on the OPB front? Okay. So the next category, just you can keep all your Gazsby numbers straight,
is just called Gazsby 73, but you can think of it as other pension benefits that again aren't PAR or TRA, but they're not postretirement medical or dental life style of benefits, but there are some post-employment benefits that are in your contract that fall into this
category. your your liability for this category. So kind of nonoped category is very small compared to your u main postretirement medical dental life benefits. So you can see here your total acred liability in this category is the 320,000.
So adding that to the you know you're over 15 million then in total for post-employment benefits added to the OPED benefits and here then you can see your benefit payments for this category of postemployment pension like benefit was 83,000 this year. So 1.8 plus the 83
you're at about roughly 1.9 of benefit payments for postemployment benefits between the two categories for the year. And you cannot establish a a trust or assets for this type of benefit only just because there's not a state statute
that allows you to do that. But there is a state statute that allows you to have that irrevocable OPEC trust for OPB or postretirement medical liabilities. And then the last couple slides are just a note that how you fund for these
benefits, you know, is left up to you. So there's, you know, accounting requirements that you have to follow in disclosing the liabilities, but again, how you want to fund and strategize and pay for the benefits as they come to is left up to you as a district. So it's just most important to have that funding
policy uh in place uh as that is your choice as a district. So that those are my highlights. Any other questions on the post-employment benefits at all? Any
other questions? >> Thanks for joining us today. >> Yeah, thank you very much. >> And any other questions that you have at later too, um you can always call or um if you have any questions on any of the details, Tina can let me know, too. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes.
>> All right. All right. Now, we'll move on to item number C. I will pass the microphone over to Superintendent Eric Olsen to make an announcement. >> Right. Uh dear uh school board, students, staff, and community. Um as we
continue uh in the 2526 uh school year, my commitment uh to the district remains steadfast uh to dedicate focus on improving the strategic plan and ultimately the safety, well-being, and achievements of our students and staff. I'm very blessed
to be surrounded by a staff and families who love their students very much. Um, while this fall was the most grueling time period of my career, by passing an operating levy, we're able to advance a revenue plan that should sustain the very programs that are making us a
valuable asset to our community. I'll be forever grateful and proud of our community for supporting Monsole Schools and ultimately our students, our future. Passion has always been at the heart of my work. Um the 25 26 school year marks my 21st uh year in the Monosell School
District. Over these years, I've had the privilege of working alongside incredible board member, you guys, my bosses, um administration, educators, staff, community members, and most importantly, our awesome students. The relationship that I've built um will
remain with me always and I will cherish the countless moments of collaboration, growth, and success that we all have shared together. Serving as the middle school assistant principal, being principal at both Pinewood Elementary and East View Education Center along
with Nature Base and opening the ladder from its exception and ultimately serving now as our district's superintendent have been some of the greatest honors of my life. Um, every day I've arrived at work with pride in my role and deep sense of responsibility to this district. Um, through navigating
the complexities of leadership, u, they have not, it's not always been easy, but every challenge has always been worth it. Monaceel has become part of who I am, and I will always bleed red and black. With uh, deep gratitude for this journey, I announced my intent to retire
last spring. I wanted our staff to know that I would take care of them all the way through um this school year and no matter what happened during our election campaign. The school board was also made aware of that um of today's upcoming announcement and has been working behind
the scenes on a transition plan. Without further ado, the time has come for me to publicly announce my upcoming um retirement. As I prepare to step away from my role as superintendent, I plan to embrace a new chapter in my life as a husband, a father, and hopefully a
grandfather in years to come. I have given my heart and soul to the district, and I will continue to do so in the months ahead. Please accept this letter as my official retirement announcement. I plan to retire in the highest of spirits and tremendous gratitude of all the beautiful relationships I have with
the people in this district and community. My official retirement date will be on July 21st, 2026. Uh, thank you for your support, your partnership, and the trust you have placed in me over these 21 incredible years. It's been my honor to serve Mono Public Schools, and
I look forward to making every moment count for the remainder of the school year. >> We don't accept No. No. In on all honesty though, uh, Superintendent Olsen uh, gave us a letter this last spring uh, telling us
of his intention to retire. No, we did not want to accept it, but we know he needs to do what's best for himself and his family as well. Um, and we'll honor that. U, but we will miss you greatly. He's done some amazing things and a true
testament to his leadership. um was really how he took on our operating levy and continued working night and day into all hours engaging with our community, making sure everyone was educated and making an educated vote. And for
somebody that knew they were retiring, it wasn't something that he had to do. It was something he wanted to do. And it just shows how much he cares about our community and this district. And so we're forever grateful for that and the time you've given us and the amazing things you've completed within our
school district and the direction that it's going. But uh you will be missed greatly. >> Any board members have anything else? >> Got a lot of time. So >> this is just work time. It's a work day. >> Moving on. Item number nine, safe and
healthy culture. Item A. Superintendent Olsen will be going over our 2026 2027 school year calendar. >> Yeah, I'm excited to continue bringing redundancies um forward in our school calendar for our families and then for
our staff and for our kids. Um this calendar is very similar to our last two years calendars. Um the one difference and why we're getting this calendar um to you is that we would like to bring this one forward as it we are starting um proposed starting date um of uh
before Labor Day. Um but then having that staggered start to still honor families um weekends um over um both the weekend prior and the traditional Labor Day weekend. Um we feel that this calendar um is a very student focused calendar. Um and like I said, it um
offers um families the redundancies that they've come to know in our district. Um upon approval tonight, uh assuming that that's what's going to happen, we like to begin um working on the following year's calendar so that we have two years in place. We've done this before
and families always appreciate the um having um a calendar set forth to uh conduct their family plan planning as best they can. So tonight I bring uh the 26 27 uh calendar for final approval. We
had a good chance to discuss um this at um prior board meeting. So tonight I'm here to answer any questions um and then ask for your approval. If no questions, this is an action item. This isn't the first time we've seen
this calendar. >> It's all moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Please say no. Motion passes. 6. On to item B, second reading of our policy.
Help me welcome up Director of Human Resources Rob Daner. Chair Steven, members of the board, Superintendent Olsen. Uh we have four four proposed policies for action tonight. Uh just as a reminder, our policy committee meets monthly. Uh the
policy committee is composed of two um excuse me, three representatives from the school board, superintendent, uh myself and other directors and uh leaders and other members of the community as need be. Um the first uh policy coming forward tonight uh is
brought forward by board member interest. That's uh policy 203.2, order of the regular school board meeting. And the proposal um for amendment has to do with item four on this document, moments of silence proclamations. And the policy committee
has uh reviewed this language two months in a row um and is bringing it forward for approval tonight. I'll pause for any questions on 203.2. Okay. Forward. uh 601 school district curriculum and instructional goals. The purpose of this
policy is to establish broad curriculum parameters for the school district that encompasses the Minnesota academic standards and federal law and are aligned with comprehensive achievement and civic readiness. And that phrase comprehensive achievement and civic readiness is the totality of the uh proposed change in policy 601 brought
forward by legislative um action this past spring. um just um replacing the former uh world's best workforce language with uh comprehensive achievement and civic readiness. Pausing for questions on 601. Okay, moving forward to 606 textbooks
and instructional materials. Uh the purpose of this policy is to provide direction for selection of textbooks and instructional materials. Once again, this uh amendment is brought forward uh due to legislative change. Specifically um section five item D uh
that all instructional materials including teachers manuals, films, tapes or other supplementary material which will be used in connection with any survey analysis or evaluation as part of any applicable program shall be available for inspection by the parents or guardians of the students. Any
questions on 606? And finally, uh, policy 610, field trips. Um, this one is brought forward, uh, through our, um, triannual review process. This, uh, policy had not seen the light of day in quite some time. So, uh, policy committee reviewed it, uh,
this month. The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for student trips and to identify the general process to be followed for review and approval of trip requests. No significant substantial changes. Just again uh dusting this one off after about 12 years of inattention. So any
questions on 610. All right. These are for action this evening. Chair Steven. >> Great. These are action items. Board >> second by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Mary Bartell. Those f in favor please say I.
>> I. Oppos please say no. Motion passes 6. Thank you, Director Daner. >> Thank you. >> Great. That brings us to adjournment of this evening's meeting at 7:33 p.m. This meeting will be followed by a work session. We will meet here back here.
We'll take a quick 5m minute break and we'll get started promptly at 7:40. Our next regular school board meeting will be December 1st, 2025 at 6 PM, which will be our truth and taxation hearing. Have a great night.