Good evening everyone and welcome as I call to order the regular school board meeting of Independent School District number 882. It is 6 pm on Monday, May 19th, 2025 and everyone's here present. So 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.
Thank you. And 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. I. All oppose, please say no. Motion
passes. 6. We are on to citizen comments. We have no citizen comments this evening. So we'll move right along to fiscal stability. This is an action item of the consent agenda. So moved. Second. Moved
by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. I. Oppos, please say no. Motion passes. 60. Now we're moving on to collaborative connections, and I will pass it on over
to Superintendent Eric Wilson to go over the acceptance of gifts. Uh we have three owners. Good. All right. We have uh three donors uh that came forward with uh some grand
uh donations. The first one um the Minnesota Vikings came forward with $15,000 um in order for our high school to start a girls flag football program. I did get to see them uh play in at Tech uh yesterday on Sunday. Uh Minneapolis
Foundation, $5,000 uh for the Monty Pythons robotics team. Um and then Compass Pest Control, more than 50 hardcover books valued at $1,000 going to Little Mountain, Pinewood, and
Monaceel Middle School libraries. And I bring those forward to you today. uh great absolutely um amazing donations um to our school community. Therefore, it be resolved by Monell School Board number 882 to gratefully
accept the following donations. Minnesota Vikings, $15,000 for the high school girls flag football program, the Minneapolis Foundation, $5,000 for Monty Pythons robotics team. And from Compass Pest Control, more than 50 hardcover
books valued at $1,000 for Little Mountain, Pinewood, and MHS libraries. Second moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Melissa Curtis. All those in favor, please say I. I. Please say no. Motion
passes 6. And speaking of our donors to our school district. All right. uh thanks for handing it over uh for letter B here. Uh June 16th is going to be a donor and volunteer reception um prior to the schoolboard meeting. So please mark your calendars. Devon will also um
share a calendar invite, but we'd love to have the school board members there half hour early um for the mingling session uh just to recognize um the volunteers and our donors. um our donors um to present date have donated
190,570 and there's an additional $175,425 um that went to our scholarship committee. So I think it just shows the support that our community has when you look at those two amounts, one going to our seniors and and the other one's going to all programming across the
board. We're just really fortunate and it's uh it's we're on our second year of doing this uh uh reception and I think it's really cool to um you know value the people capital that come in to volunteer but then also the um you know
the capital that's also donated um to the tune of these dollar amounts is really important. Um so like I said that um uh reception will be here in the activity room just before the June 16th meeting. Um, and it'll go from 5 to
5:45. It gives us 15 minute time to, um, get ready for the school board meeting. So, uh, yeah, I said a half hour. I'm sorry. It's a 45 minute session. 5 to 5:45. We'll send Yeah. And it was a it was a great event
last year and I got to meet some people. So, looking forward to saying thank you and shaking some hands of the people that have made a significant impact on our district. All right, let's move on to item number C. We'd like to welcome up next year's
student representatives to come sit at the table for this portion. Um, help me welcome up Dawson Bleke, Natasha Forzy, and Jordy Girtz, and Superintendent Eric Olsen is going to be going over the
student school board representative conference. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I had the opportunity earlier this month to spend um a day with these three. Um and we um we chartered a bus or a van from Hoglands and had them drive so that we
could really have a meeting all the way up just talking about more getting to know you stuff and then um enjoy a full day conference together. U we did have to cut it a little bit short at a meeting back here but uh I think we just missed the part of the last session. Um,
but then we got to just talk all the way back more on what we learned. And I just really like to turn it over to you three. U kind of gave a couple prompts, but uh go ahead and and share those things that you are going to take away from there and then the look to the
future of what you hope that uh we you could bring forward in 2526. Go ahead and pass the mic. We can't wait. Awesome. So uh this was an awesome opportunity for the three of us. Uh speaking for myself at least. Um, we had a lot of takeaways from what we
learned, uh, talking with other people from other districts. Uh, and personally, I think it was just really cool to see how, uh, students in high school are able to, uh, kind of work with like board members and teachers and just other adults in the district. Um, and that we can work together to really
improve um, what's going on within the student body. Um, also something that stood out to me was how um the school board itself is one of the most sought out governing positions just because it's the most accessible to the public. Uh, so those two things were uh really
big for me. Uh, and I'm excited to uh go into this next school year being a student representative. Uh, and I feel like this next year is really going to give me a deeper understanding of kind of what goes on within the district. Thanks. I think my two takeaways from this
were um the number one was how they talked a lot about how success is not equal to numbers. A lot of time I think even as students and as teachers and and as admin probably even the school board we often think things like test scores, ACT scores, GPA, graduation rates,
that's what means success but success is a lot more than that. And another thing that I thought was a big takeaway was we talked a lot about how how can we make a school a place where everybody belongs, a school a place where everybody wants to be and where they feel safe. And I
think one thing that I hope to do is I hope to just educate the student body on what a school board can do for them and encourage them to s out after this if they have anything that they would like um like changed in the school. My two uh biggest takeaways from that
conference were um I was talking with one uh woman who was a student representative. I can't remember where she was from Minnesota, but she had actually proposed um the idea of bringing a community Oh, sorry. She proposed the idea of bringing
a community center um to her community and I think she was a grade younger than me too. So that kind of put a big um doubt in my mind to ease. Uh I feel like a lot of my life I've kind of thought about how I can't really do a lot to my
community or for my community because of my age. But seeing that really kind of reversed my view and also kind of brought the mind that my age has influence. Um, along with that, I also learned or took away that a lot of this
opportunity is not only valuable, but it's also helping with building character. And uh, I'm just excited to work with the rest of the school board uh, and with Mr. Olsen. And then next year, uh, I hope to be able to be a better voice for the people in our
schools that don't want to talk to administration or don't have the time or don't know how to get their voices heard by administration. um just to be a good echo for that. I think just in conclusion, I think it was a day well spent and I know as a
school board uh even asking me to be able to take this to another level with our student reps and this is our first ever um opportunity to do something as far as training goes um several months before they take over their new position. So, it was a day for me that
I'll never forget because I learned so much and um both our time up there and our time back and um we just uh I think just really jelled. I think we talked and related it to like a a sports team. You never you know, you don't really know your team until you get on the road
together and we got on the road together already. So, it's pretty cool. But um you know and then the last point of emphasis that I'd like to make is that um both this year's student reps and and obviously I think as you guys are all smiling next year student reps uh we're
in good hands. We our future is looking bright because of our wonderful people that uh are coming through our system and helping us um you know navigate changes or navigate growing and navigate us listening so that we can hear what you're telling us. So, thanks for being
a leader, all of three of you. Yeah, I mean that just hearing your guys's takeaways was significant. So, and each one of yours very different and so I'm really excited to see you put some hard work in this next year and see what it can do for our schools as well. Um,
there's so much more than the numbers and making sure everybody's heard is huge. So, yeah, welcome. Anybody else have any questions? Yeah, I got a question for you. What do you love most about Monosell schools?
I got it. Thank you, Jordy. So, uh, at least, uh, within the high school, there's so many different activities. Like, I feel like there's, um, we're doing a good job at giving everyone like an outlet, uh, for interests of their own. And I feel like, uh, for school pride, we do a good job at, um,
representing our own district, uh, as we go out, uh, to other cities and towns. Um and also just um just being involved like almost everyone I talk to is involved in a sport or club or activity. Um and so just that pride of worm on a
solo is just super inspiring. I agree with that. Um, I feel like a lot of especially with like looking and touring at colleges, a lot of them pride themselves on um, being able to have a spot for everybody uh, whether whatever their interests be. And I feel like
that's something Monaceel also does an incredible job with, especially as a high school and not even a college. Um, I also think that Monaceel is one of those schools where compared to every other high school I've been at, it seems like a school where people are genuinely happy,
if that kind of makes sense. Um, I've been to a couple other ones and a lot of them feel like a lot more of your stereotypical high school where people just go there to get stuff done and then they go home and hang out. But I feel like at
Monaceel, it's a lot more uplifting to be around people who also want to be there with you. Um, I think a lot of people look at high school as kind of that social outlet, and that's something Monosel does a very good job at. I think my answer here would be like
the community. I know like statistically speaking, we might not have a very diverse school, but I think there's so many different kinds of people in our school that there's like a friend group that everyone has a place where they feel like they belong. Any other
questions? Well, great job and thank you. You're welcome to stay for the rest of the me. I know some of you have some concerts going on tonight, so you're going to have to jut out, so feel free to leave whenever you have to. Um, but we're looking forward to this next year. Thank you very much. Welcome. Well, you
got your first taste at the table. I love it. All right. Now, we're going to move on to item number seven, safe and healthy culture. I'd like to welcome up our director of nutrition services, Miss Laura Wacker Hansen, to talk about the
nutrition services year and review for having me. Um just going to give a quick year in review of how things have gone with nutrition services this first year of self- operation. It's been an exciting very busy
year. So nutrition services by the numbers. We operated meal service at seven school sites this year. Uh we have 39 staff members and so far as of last Friday we had served 168,385 breakfasts and
448,553 lunches. So lots of food going into the bellies of our students, nourishing their minds, keeping them full and focused. Um participation this year, this is the metric that I use um to measure the health of our program.
Participation reflects the uh percentage of the student body that participates in the meal. Um it's a metric that I use rather than total meals because it's uh can changes and reflects the um enrollment. So for breakfast this year
our elementary was 40% which was up 4% over last year. Middle school was at 32% up 2% um and then the high school was at 18% which was up 3% participation. Um, lunch participation was excellent this year. Elementary averaged 74%. Um,
middle school was at 83% which for a middle school is unbelievable. Um, and our high school was at 64% which is also very good for high school participation. We saw increases in participation at all levels. Um, and just a really really
great great start to the year for participation. So uh just going to talk a little bit about the program direction over the course of this year and some of the focus areas. Um so building our foundation, focusing on high quality recipes and ingredients and creating a
roadmap for the future. So building our foundation, investing in our program infrastructure. Um the first thing that I had to do when I got here was figure out literally what are we working with, right? um needed to get in there, do a lot of preventative maintenance on our
equipment, figure out, do we have enough equipment, how does it work, has it been serviced recently, what do we need to plan for the future? What do we need to do right away? So, lots of equipment review, lots of just getting in the kitchens and looking at things, even like spatulas, spoons, you know, hot
pads. That seems really silly, but those little things that if we're going to really move forward with a program, we got to build that foundation first. Um, so equipment review and upgrades. We did have several things that needed to be addressed right away this school year. You can see we got uh brand new serving lines at Pinewood, which was a huge
upgrade for um that kitchen. Uh we have a new dish machine at Pinewood. Um and then several other smaller things that were purchased for other kitchens. Things like heating and holding cabinets. Uh we had lots of maintenance and repairs done on various ovens,
coolers, and freezers. Um and then also building out um a needs assessment for what needs to be addressed over the summer and then over the coming years, things that need to be replaced and upgraded. Um a big part of that equipment review is also taking a look at our goals for what we want to serve,
what we want our meal service to look like, and figuring out, do we have the right equipment to be able to do that? Um our meal delivery program, so delivering meals out to the workforce center for the co-op and then also out to Naturebase. Um, that was definitely a
program that over the last few years was just kind of a let's get it out to them, let's do it, which was awesome. But I wanted to build out a more sustainable version of that program. Um, so that we're able to make sure the students who are serviced out at those locations are receiving the same quality meals that the students who are in our traditional
buildings are. Uh so we purchased a new delivery van um and new uh delivery carts um that are more ergonomic, safer for our staff to be using um and just mean that the food that the students are getting at that locations is higher quality, which was very exciting. Um and
then I have to say a buildout of our recipe and ingredient database. This is something that I've been working on and our staff has been really great with. We literally started with zero recipes. We started with a blank system um in July and so just building out literally every single ingredient, every recipe, the
website, just getting all of that started from scratch. So that has been that foundation that we have been building this year. Focus on high quality recipe and ingredients, student focused and nutrition forward. One of the changes I wanted to make sure we made immediately was an investment in the quality of the
food that we're serving for our students. That's something that um as they were getting ready to do selfop next year, that was something they heard over and over, right? We want higher quality food. So, right away at the beginning of the year, making sure that we were using higher quality proteins,
more fresh fruits and vegetables, and offering more student choice. Uh we also moved um more autonomy in the type of choices of fruits and vegetables happening in each school. So, the kitchens and the cooks get to choose what gets served every day based on the needs of their students and the likes of
their students. And then recipes and menus that reflect current trends and student tastes. One of the great things about being a selfop program is that we have access to all of our data, all of our sales data. And in real time, I can see what was popular, what do the students like, how many of this
breakfast did they like versus this breakfast. and I can make sure that we're really easily quickly and easily adapting to what the students are liking and it's not taking a long time to change those things. So, um I think that's something we really kicked off this year and I'm excited to continue to build on that next
year. Um and then creating a roadmap for the future. How do we get where we want to go? Um we did a lot of great training this year with our staff. I cannot say enough about the nutrition services staff. They have been so excited, so supportive, and they just love the students in our district. They would do
anything for them. They want to make sure that they're full and focused. They have been so on board with all of the changes that are happening. You know, in schools and especially nutrition, it's kind of like trying to fix a bicycle while you're riding it. It can be kind of hard. The food has to get out every
single day, whether or not it's something new or something we've done before. And the staff is amazing. Um, we focused this year on productivity and efficiency. Really looking at the systems that we had in place um, within the kitchens and making sure that um,
all of our staff felt like they had the training they needed, that we were looking at times and schedules and the way we were cooking things, making sure they knew how to use their equipment properly. Um, those types of things. Uh, we had uh, CISO come in, which is a consulting company, and do a nutrition
services operation assessment for us. Um we just finished that up uh last week which was very exciting. Um just having that outside uh view after this first year and being able to give us a little bit of a roadmap for what we want to do over the next few years while we build out the program. And then personally for
myself just doing a lot of listening and learning this year. Um trying to figure out what's working, what's not working, what do you like, what do you not like from our staff, our community, administration, and especially our students. Uh, I really love getting out just into the lunchroom and talking with
our students, hearing what they think. Um, it's the highlight of my week when I get to get out into the lunchrooms. So, uh, just a few brief highlights of some of the things that we've done this year. A lot of the, uh, work that I have been doing has been behind the scenes foundation building. Um, but we have
been able to do a fun few events. Um, two of these photos here are from our kids choice days at our elementary school. These are events where um the principles select a group of students and I get to meet with the students for a brief period of time. We talk about what goes into a school lunch,
nutrition, the requirements of what we have to serve and then the students and I actually design a menu and it gets served at both of the elementary schools on a specific date. So we had our little mountain meal a few weeks ago and then coming up next Thursday is our Pinewood
Elementary Kids Choice and I hear Eric will be serving that day. So, um, those are super fun. One of my favorite things to do. Um, I also wanted to highlight our Thanksgiving meal this year. That was just a really wonderful, um, you all district community event. Um, students
really loved it. Was fun to have the same thing served at all of the buildings. Uh, we did it the week before Thanksgiving, which is always fun for students. They can get a little Thanksgiving out that week of Thanksgiving. Um, and it was just a great event for everyone. And then I have a little picture of a food item at
our middle school last week for our uh readathon. Top earners, they had their executive dining experience. Um and I brought in a friend of mine who is a chef down in the Twin Cities to cook a four course meal for our students. Uh which was very exciting for our middle schoolers who got to participate in
that. So just a few of the fun things that we've done this year and then I can answer any questions that you guys have. What question? Mark, I know you have one. [Laughter]
Yeah, look. I just wonder when you're gonna bring samples. Yes. Look at all this. We can definitely We can definitely uh look at doing some samples. I'm kidding. Um you seem really happy. Are you Are you enjoying it as
much as you imply you are? I am. I am. It's been a great challenge. Um, but it's just it's really really fun to be here every day to get to build out the program the way that this community wants. Um, yeah, it's just been a really really great year. It's fantastic.
Challenging year, but a great year. We I think as a community, we love the the health initiatives that you're putting in place. So, thank you. Yeah. Great. This is the first year my daughter's eating lunch eating hot lunch every single day. Oh my gosh, you did something well. So, good job. Thank you.
In the last three years, we've packed for my daughter and she switched this year on her own. Like she's like, "Nope, I'm going to have hot." And then it was hot and hot and hot and hot. I'm like, "Wow, that's a significant kudos. Good job to you."
Because it the kids just don't do that. So, the numbers are there. Thank you so much. Anything else, students? Um, you got a lot of choices. Personally, uh, you know, they started doing the the chicken tender Thursdays
and there's a group of us on Thursdays. We just parade around and we're like, "Guys, it is chicken tender Thursdays." And, you know, it's just a great day. So, you know, even something as simple as that, but um, the kids love it. As a student, uh, who's all around it, uh, we
love it. but also uh the staff at the high school who are serving us. Uh they have the best attitudes and they just they bring light into all of our days. It was cool getting out um into the kitchens the last couple weeks uh trying to get and make sure that everybody felt
valued during uh school lunch hero um day which was back on the the third or first Friday of the month. First Friday of the month. Yeah. And I know Tina got in to serve here recently and sure enough when I went through Pinewood today, uh they said, "Hey, Tina got in
to serve. You better step up to the plate." So, how can you uh turn that down? So, I am excited to get in there and serve. I haven't done that since I was principal there. So, y' should be fun. Well, thank you. We appreciate your hard work and we look forward to what more
comes this next year. Thanks. All right. Now, we're going to move on to item B, which is the future school board dates for October 2025 through 2026. And I'll pass that on to Superintendent Eric Olsson.
Yes. Excuse me, I worked with Deafany Moore here recently right after the last workboard work session. Um but as a school board you guys had wanted to continue with the trend of uh first uh and third Mondays and um with the same
trend of the first Monday uh being a little bit earlier so that we could have a work session after. So we built out the calendar together and Devony has it here for you. Anytime there are not two weeks in between is because there is a nationally recognized holiday that we
had to account for. So here are the dates. Um, and as soon as you approve them, uh, Devony will get calendar invites out to you. So, if you can look through that, but, uh, we just kept the same trend going that you guys talked about at the work session. And then anytime there's not two weeks, it's
because, uh, there is a national recognized holiday that we have to work around. Any questions about the dates? I know we chatted about last work session. Okay, this is an action item. So moved. Second move by Casey Root, seconded by Melissa
Curtis. All those in favor, please say I. I. All oppose, please say no. Motion passes. 60. That will bring us to item C where we'd like to welcome up director of business services Tina Burke
Holder and Matthew Hammer and Beth DS from Ellers to go over our operating levy scenario scenarios. Just a reminder, board members, this is an action item tonight. Um, I will have some specific directions on how we go about it after we're done listening to
the presentation and then there'll be an opportunity to ask questions before we go for our vote. All right. So, we're just going to review kind of what we went over at the work session last time. Um, so you've
seen a lot of this um already, but just as a reminder, our fund balance policy 714 talks about ways we can maintain our fund balance. One to increase revenues or um if we would decrease expenditures
through budget reductions to align our budget. And so this uh presentation is mainly focusing on increasing revenues to help our budget alignment. So, we'll go over two levy scenarios that we talked about at the budget committee.
One was to renew the existing operating referendum levy and another scenario was to revoke and replace with a new operating referendum levy. And hopefully um at the end of this we can um have a consensus on a solution that ensures
fiscal sustainability, maintains quality educational programs and continues to meet the needs of our students and community. So with scenario one, um it is to the board would renew our existing operating
referendum by June 30th of 2026 and also look at approving a 2 million capital projects levy uh for 2026 that would go out to the voters. And just as a reminder, this was a little snippet of the tax impact when Ellers presented in
March what a one million tax impact would be for a capital projects levy. Um, and it's really small print, but for example, for a s uh for 350,000 uh tax home value, it would be $62 uh per year
for that tax impact. Um, with that scenario, there are some assumptions. Uh, we would still need to continue to align our budget by about 2.1 million for the 2627 school year. There are some unknowns. We still don't
have uh the legislative session doesn't have an approved budget for uh this session and um capital projects levy. Uh it would remove 1.2 2 million from our general fund starting in 2728 and that
would be part of the capital projects levy. So within this scenario, our forecast um doesn't improve too much. Uh it barely breaks 8% for a projected
unassigned fund balance for 2627. 2728 it's 6.41% and then it really drops after that. So, it's not a long-term viable solution for us. But just as an awareness, that's kind of um what our forecast would look like with those two
uh for that that first scenario with some of those assumptions. For scenario two, uh we would look to revoke and replace with a new operating referendum this fall of 2025. We would revoke the existing
operating referendum, which is about uh $725 per pupil and replace it with the operating referendum of $1,550 per pupil. And that tax impact, again, this is a snippet from
Ellers. So, for a $365,000 home, when you revoke the existing levy, there is a tax impact of $278 that would go away. But then with
the new referendum, it would be at an increase of $594 annually per year. So, the net tax impact would be $316 annually per year. So, with this scenario, again, some of
the assumptions, we still need to align our budget for the 2627 school year. Again, the unknowns with the legislative session and where we're sitting um from that. With this, we would not do a capital projects levy, but we would
increase the technology budget by 400,000 each year because that was what was needed in the 10-year tech plan to make sure we have one to one devices. We're covering our security needs. We're covering the auditorium needs. Um, so we're continuing a lot of those things
that was in that 10-year tech plan. And with this and why that number was selected, we wanted to try to hit that 8% fund balance around the 2930 school year. So with that forecast,
um, we end for the 2930 school year 7.49%. So again, a lot of these are estimates, so we'll probably hit that 8% because you never know what's going to happen with legislation or, you know, if enrollment really drops or whatever the
case may. But all things equal um that is what would have some a little bit longer term financial stability for the school district. Um so other thoughts with the scenarios. Um so in scenario two I talked about an election in 2025 as that
generates revenue for the 2627 school year. An election in 26 uh generates revenue for the 2728 school year. Um, and it's our last chance to seek additional revenue before the existing levy
expires. And also the first year or two, we should commit some of that additional revenue that's generated with the levy to help get us through the 2829 and 2930 school years. Um so now um just looking for the board
um to make a motion for action to direct district administration on a scenario to prepare for. We can have formal resolutions prepared for the June 2nd board meeting. We just wanted to wait officially until after the legislative
session is done and complete just to make sure there's no changes with election laws and make sure everything is kind of set and final. So hopefully um things will be done on time or done quickly in a special session so that we could continue doing that. And also um
to help with the discussion, we have Matt from Ellers to help with any other questions that the board members have. So, I'll invite Madam. Great. Board members, this is your opportunity to ask any additional
questions. And for the public to know, um, this has been heavily talked about by all board members that are here. This is not anything new. Um, we just did 2 million in reduction this year. We're doing 2 million in reduction next year. That's still part of whatever decision
we make here. If we choose to do nothing, we're looking at a $6 million shortfall. the following year. And so the board knows that it's decisions that have to be made. And I know the budget committee has put a significant amount of work. I know Mark was um a
significant part of helping put together the revoke um and new plan. So now's your opportunity to ask questions or I just just second what Jamie said like this is not our first time going through this. There's been ample
discussion and really just the two number one is to renew the levy ex as is but the second option would be going back to the voters this fall. So that's really the big one on the table. So I'd like to go back to this the slide that's about um uh scenario one renew
existing with all of the figures on it for a second. And I think the the bottom figure on the far right is a telling one. $11 million in debt. Um that that seems a significant shortfall. um we
either get started in now to invest in our community or we're going to have to pick up the ball much later and it's going to be much much harder is my way of looking at it. And so looking at those figures I thought those were really telling figures to me
probably before you even get there. I mean we reached statutory operating debt in 2930 with a negative 5.7% fund bounce. So the state would come in and kind of tell us what to do to get us moving in the right direction.
I think I think that's a very important point to remember that if we don't the state will come over and take over our schools. I can make a few comments based on what we've talked about over the past few months in the budget committee meetings which align
with what all of you have said here. Um, we're trying really hard to not be shortsighted in this automatic renewal decision where we see that we can get two or three years out of an automatic renewal and then we have a big problem.
And so we're going to have to go back to the voters at some point in time. And a lot of our conversation has been based around if we do the auto automatic renewal, what is the likelihood that the voters are going to come back and support an additional operating levy in
what's going to feel like pretty near term even though it's 2 3 years out. So, the long-term approach then would be to revoke or walk away from this automatic renewal, which guarantees us a
couple million dollars a year. So, there's risk with that, but we'd like to think we get some goodwill built with the community by saying, "Hey, we're not going to take advantage of this state law change and instead we'll build out a budget that we
can count on for 5 years." And like you see here, it's pretty well dialed in to to 3031 where we would be in a good spot financially. So, it's a little bit of risk, but it's got to be a long-term
play. So, I think what we've heard here tonight from the board members aligns with that thinking. Yeah, we were voted in to do what's best for our schools, our future, and our children. So, that's the decision we have to make.
Any questions for our Ellers's representative that's here tonight? Anything you'd like to say? Oh, I just think uh statutoily your deadline is August 12th to call for an election and most districts are doing that. Like Tina said, they're waiting for the
legislative session to adjourn and um moving forward with that in in June. So, I think your timeline makes sense. Um have you been hearing from the district? I think I when I went down for the um schoolboard data at the state capital, I was hearing comments from
other school districts. Are you hearing some of the other school districts around us dealing with the same sort of budget shortfalls? Uh yes, the answer is yes to that question and you won't be alone by holding an election in November across the state. And and I heard that
anecdotally as well as when we've been talking in our meetings. So thank you. I just wanted to confirm that. All right. Are we done with discussion? Anything else? Okay. Now, good. Seeing no further
discussion, I'll move now to entertain a motion to approve. We'll just go for scenario number two, revoke and replace. If anyone wants to move on that, I'll make a motion to direct district administration to prepare a formal resolutions for scenario two to be
brought forward at the June 2nd schoolboard meeting. This scenario is the revoke and replace scenario as presented by Tina Burke Holder and Matthew. I would second the motion. Right. Motion's been made by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Mark Branson. We
will now proceed with a roll call vote. I will now call for the roll call vote. Please respond with an I, nay, or abstain. Casey Root I. Melissa Curtis. I. Jeff Hegley. Hi, Mark Branson. Hi.
Mary Bartell I. Jamie Seven votes I. Thank you. Let us the record show. Motion passes 6. Thank you Tina coming all the way here tonight. Just before you go, um just to make sure
if we could get you um back with to make sure that uh both Devony, myself, the school board um get a little training on dates and and just uh overall running an election. Um especially after legislation in case there's any changes. Um I've went through them before, but um
we would love for new board members and um our board leaison to be able to be part of that. So, if you're willing, I've heard you we you might come back and maybe would do work with us at a work session. Yep.
Okay, sounds good. Okay, awesome. All right, now we're going to move on to item D and we will bring up Director of Human Resources, Mr. Rob Danaker to go over second reading of policy. All right, Chair Steven, members
of the board, Superintendent Olsen. Um, little bit of a unique uh agenda for us tonight for policies. Uh, you may have noticed that uh following the second read of policies for this evening, we do have a first read of policies for tonight as well. And I'll explain a little bit more about that when I get
there. So after I review the policies for second read, um that'll be an action uh taken by the board and I'll stand here awkwardly until the board takes their action, then I'll jump back in for first read. So all right. Uh so the first policy for uh second read this
evening is policy 515, protection and privacy of pupil records. This is a policy that uh the board reviewed relatively recently. However, um I should state the purpose of the policy. The school district recognized its responsibility in regard to the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of people records and the
protection and of the privacy rights of students as provided in federal law and state statutes. And so, in partnering with uh a new vendor uh for our uh school messenger uh service, um they have asked that we add um language um in
uh article um seven of this policy regarding uh the following. says that district shall not share parent phone mobile number information with thirdparty affiliates for marketing promotional purposes. But then there's a second line states that this prohibition excludes text messaging originate opt-in
data and consent. So if a if a a parent opts in for the text messaging data that would be appropriate under policy. So that's policy 515. Okay. Moving on to 603 uh curricula curriculum development. The purpose of this policy is to provide direction for
continuous review and improvement of school curriculum. There were some very minor changes made uh to this policy um and really are limited to the legal references uh because there were state statute uh changing um some nomenclature and terms and and philosophies from
world's best workforce to comprehensive achievement and civic readiness. Any questions on 603? Okay, moving forward. 604 instructional curriculum. The purpose of this policy is to provide for the development of course offerings and uh for students.
Um there were again some minor changes uh in this policy again due to some uh statute updates from last spring. Um the elimination of the civics uh requirement for graduation for one. Um and then some uh really some structural clean up from
MSBA on this elimination of a reference to charter school in what is a district um policy update for on track for graduation then some legal reference updates as well. Any questions on 604. Okay, moving forward to 608. Um
this is instructional services special education. The purpose of this policy is to set forth the position of the school board on the need to provide special education services to some students in the school district. And again, this was brought forward due some due to some statutory updates. Um, and really it's the
addition of uh a final paragraph of this one regarding the fact that um uh the uh a school district may conduct an assessment for developmental adapted physical education, otherwise known as DAPE, outside of a full-blown
um IEP process. Any questions on 608? Sorry, little paper clip mishap. There we go. Uh, policy 618, assessment of student achievement. The purpose of this policy is institute a process for the establishment and revision of assessments to measure achievement towards meeting the Minnesota academic
standards, track assessment progress over time, and provide Minnesota graduates information related to career and college readiness. Um, again, brought forward uh due to some statutory changes. And again the um lost my place. Oh yeah. So this one
is very limited to a minor uh insertion of one word which is Minnesota throughout the policy. So that is 618. Okay. Moving forward to 619 staff development for standards. The purpose of this policy is to establish opportunities for staff development which advance the staff's ability to
work effectively with the graduation uh assessment record uh requirements, excuse me, and with students as they progress to achievement of those graduation assessment requirements and meet the requirements of federal law. Um again minor uh changes to this policy again due to statutory update state of
Minnesota last spring and again once again um replacing world's best workforce with comprehensive achievement and civic readiness that is 619. Any questions on that one? All right moving forward number 620
credit for learning. The purpose uh the purpose of this policy is as follows. The policy recognizes student achievement that occurs in post-secary enrollment option and other advanced uh enrichment programs. This policy also recognizes student achievement that occurs in other schools in alternative learning sites and in out of school
experiences such as community organizations, workbased learning and other educational activities and opportunities. Um again this one is brought forward through our uh curriculum or excuse me our um policy review process. Um there were some
updated timelines required by the um by the legislature. Uh for instance um students now have two deadlines annually to notify a school district of intent to enroll in PSO. Those being uh May uh excuse me October 30th and May 30th of each year. And then there's also a new
clause that requires post-secary enrollment um providers to notify a school district if a student drops enrollment from uh a PSO program. So that is uh policy 620 credit for learning. Any questions
there? Okay. Policy 621. This is a brand new policy being proposed. Uh this is literacy in the read act. Uh the institution of the read act in 2023. The revisions thereof in 24. Um and then the recommendation there following of uh from MSBA to have a standalone policy
regarding the read act. So every single word of this policy uh as proposed is brand new but it largely follows the language of the statute and the intent of the statute of course as well. So that's policy 621 uh titled literacy and the read act. Any questions on that
one? All right. Uh next is policy 624. Um again brought forward through a review process because of some statutory changes in this case. um some minor changes um to the most
recent online instruction policy that MSBA has, but we have not as a district review this in quite some time. So, there's some decently significant changes. Um a lot of those just because the last time we reviewed this was almost 10 years ago, and a lot has changed in online learning. Um but the
most recent change uh from uh MSBA has to do with enrollment in additional courses with the online learning provider under a separate agreement that includes terms for paying any tuition and course fees. Uh because there are two different options for instance that districts can go to partner with online
uh institutions. Um they can contract for services or they can simply use the default funding mechanism under the state. So that is policy 624 online instruction. Any questions on that one? All right. And that is all for second read.
So I'll turn it back to you, Chair Siban. Right. This is an action item for second read. So moved. Moved by Casey Root, seconded by Jeff Hegley. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Please say no. Motion passes
60. On to first read. All right. So a little bit of unique scenario. Um, at our last board meeting, we had um our FFA adviser, Jacob Wiltz, uh, represented here tonight by our district activity director, Gary Revan. Uh, Jacob had asked for the board to consider um
widening the scope of essentially what is some language in policy 710 regarding uh student extracurricular transportation. And uh Jacob accurat excuse me accurately noted that under the language of the policy as currently written um students are not to be driven
by anyone other than um contracted transportation service or district employees. And so uh in reviewing this uh with um uh district leadership and then uh communicating last week with uh the members of the policy committee and proposing bringing this forward tonight.
The proposed resolution is as simple as adding a definition to policy 710. Uh I'll read that as uh as it is. So for the purposes that of this policy, employees shall include volunteers who prior to beginning service to the school district have satisfied the appropriate
background screening and vetting requirements. And so we do uh a background screening and vetting requirement for all volunteers regardless. In this case, any volunteer who is going to drive or transport students would be subject to um extra background and vetting um for uh
driver's license records and insurance purposes. Any questions on the first read proposal for 710 and of course this will go back to the policy committee for extended conversation at our June 2nd meeting as well.
I think the biggest concern would be the insurance, but it sounds like you've addressed that factor. Yeah. And so, uh, Tina Burkholder, director of business services, and I reviewed that and under the, um, language of our policies, we would be, um, it would be appropriate to
have that language. And then for the FFA trip, his ask from the last board meeting was then answered in the consent agenda. So he should be good to move forward with everything that planning. Yeah. So needed so long as uh the board would adopt that this
proposed amendment on June 2nd. His timeline would be in order, I believe. Gary, is that right? Yep. Okay. No action needed tonight, Chair Stevens. So we'll take it back to the policy committee on June 2nd. Sounds great. Thank you, Rob. All right. And that brings us to
adjourning our regular school board meeting Monday May 19th at 6:52 p.m. Our next school board meeting will be on June 2nd at 5:00 pm. Hope to see you all
there. Have a good night.