Welcome to the April 28th, 2025 Independent School District 152 school board meeting. It is 6 p.m. I'll be calling this meeting to order. I'll start on my left, please. Volin present. Bergen present. Stephus
present. Burgard present. Bjorkland present. Vote present. Thank you. Now item B, you stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Preview item C, preview of agenda. Dr. Lunick, uh, we would like to add a major magn major magnitude trip update. So in
your agenda that would move to item A and then everything that uh would go after that would um just move down a notch. So the transportation update will be item B. Um special election update would be item C. Resolution accepting
donations would be item D. And then when you see it on the end there as item D, that would be the new item A. Thank you. Melissa, move to approve the agenda as revised. Thank you, Cassidy. I'll second.
I have a motion by Melissa, seconded by Cassidy. Move to approve the agenda as revised. Any further? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. And that motion carries. Item E, we are proud.
This is the time during the meeting we get to recognize outstanding achievements of students, staff and community members. After an honores name has been read, they will accept their come up to the front with Dr. Lunik and I and accept their certificates and a photo will be taken at that time.
Cassidy, would you please read off the we are prouds? We're proud of senior Jaden Janui for his outstanding achievements in mathematics. Jaden scored with distinction on American Mathematics Competition 12, advanced to the American
Invitational Mathematics Examination, and earned a spot in the highly prestigious USA Mathematic Olympiad. He also competed in the state math league after placing first in the division and third in the section. Math League is coached by John Labth. And in addition,
Jaden has been named semi finalist for the 25 2025 US Presidential Scholars Program, one of just nine students selected in Minnesota. He was selected from 621 students who have been selected for from a pool of over 6,000 candidates
expected to graduate from the US high schools in the year of 2025. Congratulations, Jaden. We are proud of the MHS weightlifting team which competed in the 2025 Minnesota Olympic weightlifting state tournament. The Spuds placed third as a
team and Naa Kellerman took home first place as an individual. The team is the team is coached by John Loitz, Jeremy Grunstiller, Aaron Naylor, and Ari Belelfor. Weightlifting team members are Nvea Kellerman, Ri Riley Richards, Ana
Garza, Jack Ford, Madison Sua, uh Jason Balin, Logan Watkins, and Aiden Struck. We are proud of the MHS Nordic ski team which competed at the Minnesota Nordic Ski Racing Meet. The boys team placed ninth in the tournament. Nordic ski is
coached by Eric Wickland. Assistant coaches are Kurt Schlick, Connor Grant, and Nick Tarza. Team members include Jackie Johnson, Aiden Sto or Addison Stoddardall, Wes Brewyard, Barrett
Hicks, Jackson Holston, Logan Olsen, Eli Schlicking, Ian Shik Shingman, Gig and Travon Shikin. We are proud of the MHS boys swimming
and diving team which qualified to compete at the Minnesota boys 2A state swimming and diving meet. The 200 meter and 400 meter relays each finished at 20th and Vance Croch um placed 10th at
the one meter diving boys. Um team coach is Pat Anderson, Cara Schmiden, Adam Flipsson, uh uh Danielle Hickman, Jacob Schmidt, Jeff Schneider. Team members are Matthew Brenda, Francis Casey, Gage
Ericson, Alex Heert, Vance Cro, Croach, Carter Reburn, Becket Toe, Aaron Vul, and Sahan Naga, Naga Dana. Nat. We are proud of the chamber orchestra members Kade Klene, Alicia Wilson, MHS
Corell choir members Rosie Hobby, and MHS band members Brittney um Wind Lingland for being selected into the 2425 Minnesota Music Educators Association All State Orchestra, Choir, and Band. And the MMEA, all state music
ensembles are comprised of high school students from around the state in conjunction with the MME midwinter convention. These students performed at Minnesota Orchestra Hall on February 15th. The Minnesota Orchestra is directed by Anthony Edelston. The MHS
choir is directed by Kaylee Gross. And the MHS band is directed by Pam Redinger. Thank you everyone for coming tonight. It's great to see all you students. Please feel free to stay if you wish. Yeah, but it's not required.
Okay, moving on. Item F, the public forum. I don't believe we have anybody for the public form. Deb, that is correct. Thank you. Item two, consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda I'm sorry, I was
just okay. All items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and have been made available to the school board members at least two days prior to the meeting. The items will be enacted by one resolution. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a school board member so request in which event that item will be removed
from the this agenda and considered under separate resolution. To the extent possible, schoolboard member inquiries on consent agenda items are to be made directly to the district administration prior to the time of the meeting. Item A, we have superintendent. We have number one, April approval of the April
14th, 2025 school board meeting minutes. Item B, business and administration. Under number one, we have April claims. Number two, we have family medical leave. Number three, we have a change in contract. Number four, we have retirement. Number five,
resignations. And number six, new employees. Item C, learner support services. Under number one, we have West Central Juvenile Regional Juvenile Center 2025 extended school year staffing.
Laura Lee. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented and revised. Thank you, Cassidy. A second. I have a motion by Laura Lee, seconded by Cassidy. Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Is there any further discussion from the board?
Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Item three, we have new business number or a item a we have major magnitude trip update forhead high
school band and orchestra to San Diego, California. Dr. Larson. So, uh, Pam Liger and Andrew Edston are here tonight to talk about their trip they just uh had a few months ago. Thank you for coming tonight.
Okay. The band and orchestra traveled together to San Diego March 29th through April 2nd. We had just a fantastic enjoyable trip and we'll share with you some highlights from that trip and then anyone has any questions and we'd be happy to entertain them.
So, uh, one of the exciting opportunities that we had was, uh, we got to perform on the USS Midway, which is stationed right there in San Diego. Uh we were supposed to play on the upper deck but because of weather we actually performed um inside the museum. Um and that is the at the American flag there. That's the the site that we got to
perform. It was really an amazing experience u for our students. They really enjoyed that. Um and then that the bottom picture there shows kind of where we would have performed if we were on top. Um it was a really amazing experience for the students and we had a number of students who had some family members that were out there that got to
uh perform or got to come out and watch us as well. Um, a great highlight was we got to see the San Diego Symphony perform and the stars aligned to make this happen because, um, as in our community, Masterworks concerts only happen on select weekends throughout the year. And
so, the fact that we got there on a weekend was pretty amazing. Um, the hall that we viewed the symphony in has just been refurbished and I think the students were just so taken back by the architecture and just the beauty of the
hall, the size. Um, so not only was the um, concert itself amazing, but the building that we were in for that performance was equally stunning. And we had a number of students that uh, when we asked them about highlights of the trip, many of them said that the
symphony was a major highlight. The the musicianship, the leadership, there was a female conductor that a number of our students commented on. It was just a really eye- openening and very um, very neat cultural experience, too. Um we got to have a clinic session at um a retirement home in San Diego and we got
to work with uh an esteemed band conductor out there. Um both the band and orchestra got to work with them and then we performed for the residents. Um it was a um a a bigish room but also pretty cozy at the same time for our large group. Um and uh these this just
shows that we had a full crowd. Um very appreciative audience. A number of uh them had Minnesota connections that we got to actually talk to them about. And then that picture on the right there, that is a um uh I don't know the year, but he graduated 50 years ago. I didn't work out the math. I guess 65 uh 75 of
uh Morehead uh public schools. His name is Dave Buckley. He was a member of the Apollo Strings when he was here. Uh if any of you know Jane Capistran, he was um good friends with her and so he wanted to come out and watch us. So we had a number of people um come out and watch who had heard about us. Uh, plus the the person that organized this
event, um, who works at the retirement facility is originally from from Glendon. So, there were just a number of interesting connections. Can I ask who was from Glendon? Oh, golly. You remember? Yeah, I have her card sitting on my That's okay. Do you
have it in there? I might have it. You do. Yep, there she is. Tanya Bachelor. That's probably a married name, I'm guessing. Yep. She she said um well her parents still live in Glendon and she said many of her you know friends as kids would go to Morehead High School.
So connection there. Um we also um went to the San Diego Zoo which was an amazing treat especially for those students who had never visited. We spent some time at um Mission Beach and then
um La Hoya Cove is a place where the sea lions gather. So, that was a pretty um fun opportunity for our students to see some of that wildlife in a habitat that wasn't a zoo for that. Um and then we
ended our time on a dinner boat cruise along the coast. Um we started our trip actually on Cornado Island. And so on the cruise, it was that if you're not familiar, it was a huge bridge that connects kind of downtown San Diego to Coronado Island. And so we were on that
bridge on our bus to go, but then the dinner cruise goes under the bridge. So it's kind of neat to see it from there. And this was just a picture taken on the dinner cruise to end our time. We the seniors needed to get a picture and uh that was pretty memorable for us. So that dinner cruise was um
also very much a highlight. It was a great way to kind of close out our time. So we just want to thank you for your continued support of uh music ensembles and uh the trips that we take. These are really meaningful for our students and we very much appreciate all that you do for us. So, thank you. Any questions from anybody? Any questions from the
board? We also appreciate you taking your time and going out there and being with those students and and making uh memories with them. Yeah. Making these trips possible. So, it's awesome.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. Item B, transportation update. Steve, I guess you're up. Yeah. Just an update to bring you up to speed on where we're at in terms of transportation and what it's looking like for next year in ter with the
budget. Um, I'll go over the original budget reduction targets that I briefed, uh, I don't know, couple months ago. Time's going by really fast this this spring. Uh, review the efficiencies that we
achieved. Uh, and I'll show you my third quarter budget expenditures and projections and how that, you know, kind of compared to the projections that we made nine months ago. uh and the efficiencies that we implemented and then talk about contractor reduction
which is part of the the efficiencies and trying to reduce our costs contractor route conversion that is converting contractor routes to more cost-effective in-house routes and then my the recommendation and communication
plan for the final what I assume will be the final state when we go into the next academic year. So originally our um we were looking to cut a million and a half dollars out of our transportation budget by implementing these three objectives.
Those three objectives as they were originally briefed uh got us to 1.29 million. So that's what we were established as our objective target goal. Uh objective one reducing through efficiencies. Just to recap, uh we did
some in-house summer school routes. uh and you're well aware of the contractor rate reduction and um efficiencies that we implemented on a flat rate for career academy transfers. So we estimated that we were going to save about $700,000 off of our projected end of
year budget numbers for transportation. Uh where are we? This is actual um the the blue line. Yes. Sorry, Laura Lee's got a question. Um I have a question. How many um career academy transfers are we doing this year? We're doing so we
started with eight and two but we bumped it up to 10 and two now 10 10 going we got five gened buses going one and one sped bus going one way five and one going the
other. Okay. And we're doing those transfers three times a day. Morning, noon, and three times a day. So Yep. Okay. It'll be the three midday transfers. Yep. So, we started at 8 and two, but we went to 10 and two so we could establish getting kids into class
before bell time so we could secure both buildings when the bell rang. And so, this is a budget uh analysis for this year. Blue line is budget and our budget is 7.4 million. So, um
the red line is projected based on spend rates and things like that. So that's my best guess on what the spend rate was going to be throughout the year. Those are adjusted after every quarter when we get our actual expenditures, which is the yellow line. So at the third
quarter, end of March, uh we were projected to be at 4.7 million. Actual was at 4.9 million, but we're still tracking overall to come in about 859 $860,000 under budget. So we're ahead of that
$700,000 projection. So, um, just a tremendous amount of work on my staff's part, uh, and flexibility of the contractors to help working with us on that. So, um, carrying that over into the next fiscal year, we have to add on about
$225,000 because we're going to have a 3% contract increase. Um, that's based on the contract we negotiated. And then, of course, we have district and wage salary increases. So about 225,000 of that uh takes so take 225 off that 859 and that's what we can transfer over
into saving operational savings for next fiscal year. Any questions on that? Okay. Um objective two is reduce contractor routes. So you know we have 80% of our capacity is a is uh is
contractor. So, our objective is to reduce five of those routes, resulting in 550,000 in savings. And um originally I briefed we were going to have to eliminate five routes from Horizon and the high school if you recall. And those routes
were most likely going to be areas. This is horizon 1, 6, 7, 8, and 10 impacting average ridership of 179 riders. Career Academy areas one, two, three, five, and eight impacting average
ridership of 140. Objective three are route conversion. So that is every time we convert a route from a contractor to in-house, we save $70,000. So part of that cost savings was to convert three
contractor routes in addition to the cutting five contractor routes over to in-house to save 217 or 210,000. and hiring and training is underway and we're on target to make this conversion a reality for next school year. Of course. Yes. Um so we have the buses to
do this. Yes. Okay. Yep. Yep. And um of course this all depends on retention of our existing drivers. Uh but we're talking my transportation director Sean is talking to all the staff and has sat down with them and and
knows who's most likely coming back and who's not. So we have all those numbers integrated into our in-house route projections. Uh we came up with a new objective and we're looking for cost savings all the time in transportation
and uh facilities. Uh so what we we have this level four transportation requirement Dakota Memorial and Head Start. The biggest cost is this Fergus Falls transfer of two students level four. That's done by contract and uh and we're
going to convert that to in-house. Now, we have the type three van uh to do this. We just have to hire another driver. Uh and we project savings around $100,000 for that one mission for two students.
Um and then we're going to do a additional two route conversion because we have the capacity uh to save us another 140,000. So as we're rolling in these new objectives so now the recommendation will be this
um compare. So this is the new recommendation objective one we are reducing our efficiencies is going to be about 625,000 which is an increase from the original objective. eliminate two contractor routes, 220,000 and convert
three and then the two new objectives. So, it's a lot of I tried to figure out a way to compare this easily. A table probably would have been better, but the bottom line is the result of this new plan is we're instead of reducing five routes, we're only going to have to
reduce two routes. So, we're going to go from 41 gened routes to 39 Jenn routes. Now, this is all if all the numbers, the drivers, everything stay the same. There's a lot of variables. Um, but we'll do our best to stay on top of those changes of variables. Uh, so what
that means now is that instead of five areas for Horizon, we're only going to impact area one and nine. So, we go from 170 impact average ridership to 88. Now, these are current route numbers, right? So, we don't know what's going to happen
next year. So areas one and nine might change. It might be less. It might be more depending on where those students are because you could have those. We could have half of the students in area one and nine in eighth grade right now and they move up to ninth grade and a different bus. So lots of other
variables. So the good news is instead of five areas, it's only two. A lot less impact to the riders. And then the high school is going to be even less of an impact. We're going to take away area one and two and that only impacts average ridership of
47. So yes, income levels of the families in these areas who are riding the bus. I So if you look at at where areas one and two are, that's Village Green,
Horizon, Shores, the preserves. So, and looks like Ridgewood. I don't have the numbers of average household incomes there, but they're not low. That is not low-income areas. Um, and same with the previous slide. Areas
one and area nine are not. The areas that are that are lower would have been areas two, three, and four. and part of let's see where am I and part of seven which
is seven. Yeah. Yep. Sorry D. So just so I understand for sure cuz I did look at this but now you're saying it out loud and sometimes I hear it. So this slide here for areas one and nine those are reductions. And
then if you go to the next one those are also reductions. Was that for? Yeah. So, this slide is for Horizon and this slide is for the high school and the career academy. So, back on the previous slide for Horizon, that area that is north of
Highway 10 is And what street is that? That's Highway 10. So, Highway 10 and 34th Street. Yes. So, then the area 9 that goes by Highway 10 Mhm. there's low-income housing in in that area um to
the this west side. But how I just curious for Horizon like the age group like but I think I might have asked before the um the six the 56 versus the 78 just because you know 56 is like
still really great school level age. Yeah, I would have to go back. It's it's in the data that I provided previously. Those numbers haven't changed but I don't have that here. Okay. But I can get that for you again if you need it. And then also, just to be clear, I think
there's a Dworth bus that comes into that area 9 and picks up kids for the Dworth school. Is that right? Uh yeah, but we also service Dworth kids that come to our district, too, in that area. People kids that live in in Dworth, there's an area that we pick
them up that attend Morehead schools. There's lots of door buses running in and out of Morehead. I think the question I'm getting at is that going to affect the the Horizon middle school kids that are going to Morehead versus if there's a bus coming in, will that impact our enrollment? Yeah. Enrollment.
Yeah, possibly. Yeah. Yep. How many kids can ride a bus? How many kids can go on a bus? Max capacity is 77 p 77 passengers, but we
never pack them that tight because that's three kids per seat and you get to critical mass in behavior levels. So, also it's not just capacity, it's route time and distance.
So you might have a bus that only has 33 kids on it, but that's because where we're picking them up. The time between that that's all the time we have between because we have elementary routes, high school routes, and horizon routes. So there's two two factors. It's not just
capacity, it's route time and distance. So there's, you know, so buses that pick up and save less. Yeah. Rural routes will have very low ridership or Oakport Township. Yep. area. Yeah. Yep. But right now, we're only targeting to
cut. So that yellow circle is the two-m radius that's required by statute, right? So we're only cutting between one mile and two mile. I think you know what I'm going to ask is that as the crow flies, two miles. Yeah. Two miles radial.
So two miles could be down 34th Street, cross Highway 10, take a left on whatever avenue that is. That could actually be closer to 2 and a half miles depending on the route that they'd have to take to get into that those neighborhoods back there possibly. Yeah. And a matter of like I guess a child
that's fifth or sixth grade could take them 30 minutes or 40 minutes to walk to school and back each way maybe depending on how fast they walk. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. But the bottom line is you're on those distances and it's going to be parents that are going to have to take the kids
to school and they're going to have to I mean that's that's the the bottom line is that in order to make these cuts I can't provide the routes that that we need. And do I like this? No, I don't. We worked our
tails off the last three years trying to get to 41 and N. but it cost us a ton of money. So, um but making more conversions to in-house um and reducing contractor
routes is definitely the way to go. We're just going to hit this is as far as we can go with the number of buses that we have and if we get the if we get all the drivers trained. So, this is about as cheap as we can do it and maintain this number of
routes. So, Um so u you know and it's you can't slice this and make it any better than it is when you're going to eliminate impacts. You know we we tried to minimize the impact. When we started this before our
efficiencies we were looking at 10 routes. Through efficiencies we got it to five. Through more efficiencies we got it to two. So, I wish it was zero. I truly do. So, we'll see you. So, this is kind of the communication timeline. This, of
course, is tonight is the briefing to you on our transportation plan. We're going to work up an initial communication on the on the plan to those impacted families uh in those zones. and then our but we'll have to draft it in a way where these are the
potential impact zones of our transportation reductions but we won't know until third week of July when we start crunching numbers and getting as close as we can to the final routes. So if we find routes that we can become
that are more efficient because of the way the kids move around then we can and we can load more kids and reduce that number we'll do it um if we can do it. So we'll continue this is not you know it's not done. So, our goal is to
continue to reduce the impact that will have on our families and students. Absolutely. as best we can and then we'll make a communication in the in July when we know basically for sure where we're going to be at and then follow up on September 25th uh a
month after you know 3 weeks into the school year if we can add any routes can be added back in because once we get real ridership and those numbers playing out sometimes we can work and combine routes and make more efficient routes and reduce those numbers even more like we did three years ago when we started
with 34. Um then we had that third wave at Horizon uh just because we wanted to get all the kids home uh when the winter hit. So but we are in way better spot from the amount of impacted
families than we were three years ago and we had a driver shortage. So anyway, any questions? um the activities bus that goes from Horizon after school to drop the kids off after their activities. Is that is
that a um one of our routes or is that one of the routes that we I don't know. I think it's I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's a contractor route and it's considered a route though like one of the routes when we count on number of routes. No, that this the the routes on
this are just getting kids to and from school. Okay. Okay. All added other buses are not included in these numbers. Thanks. So this is strictly that mission. Yep. Steve, you are unbelievably effective at
this comment on you. This uh $1.3 million cut should not be coming out of busing alone and should not all fall on you to find this big of a chunk of money. If we go back to the
um the district priorit prioritization funding uh that uh we sent out to the people of Morehead, the number one thing people want cut is athletic programs and extracurricular activities. We had a
work session. We had said we don't want to see the families impacted by this busing. Our weather is insane here. uh our roads, the way that some of our comm community some of our neighborhoods are cut off from like anything that's on the
other side of 210. There's no way I'd let my fifth grader cross 210 on their own. For us to expect that every family has a car or even a way to get kids to school um because of their work schedules. Uh I feel like it is our job
to educate all of the kids. Um, this we should be talking right now about how we're cutting our athletic programs. We should be talking right now about how we're cutting technology, digital tools, and investments. We should be talking right now about how
we're cutting facility and infrastructure spending. Bus roots is for transportation on that list. This is not for you. This is for the administration team. This is for Dr. Lunik. This is what the people have said that they
wanted. And here we are again after the board had said no thank you to this plan. We didn't want to see our low-income families impacted. Here we are having a very similar conversation after you did more hours of work to try
to figure it out. And I really appreciate how you tried to take our considerations um into play. But this $1.3 million should not be coming only out of the transportation budget. We should be taking the most
money out of athletics and extracurricular activities with the second most out of technology and digital tools. Why did we do this survey if we are not going to use and stand by the people of Morehead? And then you want to turn around and you want to ask them for more money after they told you
how they want this money to be spent. Well, there there's a lot of and I'll defer here, but I I feel like I do have to make comments. I mean, our whole team uh here in this room are working tirelessly to find savings and to reduce
the impact in our classroom. One, that's a large chunk of of money out of transportation. Sure. And there's things that are going on in the background. Uh and I'll talk in facilities, energy project. I'll be briefing you on that stuff next week. That's not even, you
know, in this because there's we have to do studies and we have to and we have to figure that out. But this whole team here um we're looking at cutting overtime uh for support personnel and things like that. So, we can So, there's a lot of work being done. This is this
is super tough. Um, but that's all I'll say because I don't want to be the only executive director up here, you know, being being acknowledged that I'm working hard because every one of these folks are working their asses off. So, with that,
I'll close and then I'll turn it over to Dr. Lunik. Dr. Lunick, did you have anything to do? I don't. Brenda, can you remind me out of the ones that were brought up
how they were situated? I know transportation was down the line. Yeah, I can send that out again um from the um from the survey, but you know, we we took that that information into into consideration in all of the decisions that that have been made to this point.
Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Anything else from the board? Any questions? Thank you. Moving on to item C, special election update. Dr. Lunik. Okay. Thank you. On uh our special election update, just a couple things.
Um if you choose as a board to uh run a special election, a couple things that I want to make you aware of. Um there are four times a year in which you can run a special election for a capital projects levy. And uh right now based on the time
of year we're in and the timelines that you have to run for an election. You have two opportunities uh that are in front of you now. You have an August opportunity which would be the second Tuesday in August and you have a November opportunity.
uh a couple challenges with the uh school board special election in August. Uh we've said time and time again that if there's an opportunity for that uh fund transfer to go through, we don't
necessarily believe that uh right away uh we would have to seek a election for a capital projects levy. Uh currently um the House is ready to announce their
uh bill and I think the Senate has already released theirs and as a result um there isn't anything in there at this moment that um reflects the transfer. That doesn't mean that it it is
um not could not happen. There's still a chance that if they get to conference committee that it could uh potentially be put in. Um knowing that though um and not knowing uh what could essentially
come out of uh what I'll call conference committee when the two sides, the House and the Senate meet uh on the education omnibus bill. um if you were to call for let's say a
August uh special election um and the transfers did ultimately come to fruition uh then we would have to let based on law we would have to let the auditor and the department of ed uh know
by May 30th and my concern is that I don't know if the session will be uh wrapped up um by that time. I know that statutoily they have to uh end the session. I believe it's May
19th. Um but I don't know if it would go beyond that. And if it does, then we would um miss the window to potentially say we wouldn't need that. So the
August what makes the August request difficult is that we don't know where the uh transfer would lie and we don't know where the omnibus bill will end up uh as they come out of um their conference committee. So, part of uh
what I would uh tell you tonight and what I'll take your feedback on is that would probably tell me that the August election date would not uh be what I would recommend at uh at this
time based on not knowing uh when the session would end even though statutoily it's supposed to end by May 19th. The challenge that we have with the um November election as we turn our attention to that one uh would be that I
believe we would potentially be competing with what uh the city and the county could be bringing forward at about the same time. which then leaves us with the only opportunity for the
voters to say no uh to uh a request such as ours. Uh Deb did do some research today and one of the challenges in operating an election independently is that the cost
to run that uh with all the requirements that we would have to do on our own could exceed $50,000. And I don't believe I would want to recommend to you um a $50,000 expense for what could be
less than a 50/50 chance. So those are some of the challenges that we have and my belief and my hope is that the
transfer itself is is not um done at this point that that uh if there's anything that we can continue to do is to continue to make our voices heard that and how you know let our legislators know how helpful
uh those transfers would be and allow us to um not have to go to the voters for uh the capital projects levy because we would have the transfers as our as our
fallback. That would also um impact what we do um moving forward as well. So tonight, I'm just looking for your feedback on what direction you'd like to go. If you do lean toward in August,
then we would have to approve the review and comment at the next board meeting in May. If you don't want the August election, then we would have to approve it uh sometime in um August for the November election. So, I'll take any
feedback that you have, but I just wanted to let you know what what we're up against with each uh with each date, whether that's an August election, whether that's a November election, or whether we we don't do anything at all.
So, thank you, Cassidy. Um, I personally would think that an August one would be out for us. I think that that's too short of a timeline. I think that we need to figure out what exactly what's happening with the state. Um, and then we can kind of get our
ducks in the row from there. August would be too fast. I think November would probably be that sweet spot of a timeline for us. Thank you. Anything else? I'm thinking uh the November one would be better. Also, I uh just like like
Cassidy said, the timeline's getting too short and we really don't know what the legislator Um, yeah. I don't I don't believe that if I was a betting man, I don't know if they get done on time, which then puts us which puts us behind
which puts us behind that that May deadline. And uh I I don't really want to, you know, if if we don't if the if the transfer goes through, I can't emphasize enough how important that is. if the transfer goes
through um then then we would avoid uh the $50,000 fee or greater to run an election on our own. And I can't emphasize that enough. Now, I think one of the things when you talk about the levy cycle of how difficult the levy
cycle becomes. So if if you if you don't do the election in what we would call November of 25, you would push it out to potentially November of 26, which then you could split the cost of the election with the city because I believe they
have an election at that time. But if you go November 26, you go um pay 26, levy 27, which means the revenue wouldn't be into your it wouldn't be into your re you
wouldn't collect it till the fiscal year 28, which would be the 2728 school year. So you have to you also have to weigh that because the levy cycle won't change uh based on the timeline. If you move the election out one year, you also move
the ability to collect the revenue out a year as well. So just keep that in mind as we also look to make those decisions. So, thank you Lauri. Um, you have read the entire bill that
is about the transfers. I would assume I read uh 957 which was pulled out of House File 6 and that's kind of the one that we're looking at. Um, it's a it's a fairly short bill. There's two parts to it. One is mandate
reduction which is in section two and section one just has to do with transfers. Like I stated earlier, I I don't believe uh I would want to do anything that would um um reduce what what they're referring
to as the mandates. I think that's uh something that's already been in play and unless they change something legislatively. I don't believe that uh section two would be anything that u we would do to uh reduce our expenditures because I don't believe that puts us in
a good place. I do believe the transfers though do help us which is section one of 957. And so in the House File 6 portion, which has a slew of other things in it,
um that isn't uh 957 is just basically that section three pulled out and it's a standalone bill. Um okay, they did pull that transfer. They they did they did pull it out of House File Six. So when I
mentioned 957 that only has to do with transfers and mandates. Now what ideally would have been really good in hindsight is to even pull it out one step further and have just transfers just transfers
as a standalone bill and not anything that has to do with uh mandates because mandates in my opinion is not what I'm necessarily after or what I would recommend. It's all about uh transfers. And again, some districts get excited about the transfers and the flexibility.
Others do not because it impacts everybody a little bit differently based on their historical decisions. Uh we have historically not and have not bonded against our long-term facility maintenance, which allows us to carry a
little bit more um in reserve versus a district that might have bonded against their LTFM and might have to make a half a million dollar bonding payment every year uh out of that fund. We have don't we don't have that. So, we're in a little bit better position and that's
why uh funding flexibility in 957 section 1 is something that I feel like we could get behind. I when I read the bill, there was a section in there about how school boards could override Minnesota law that that has to do with
the mandate relief and we wouldn't necessarily touch that. But there's no guarantee that that would not be touched. We I wouldn't recommend to you guys that you do that. Granted, so I would It is also That doesn't That
doesn't mean that other districts wouldn't do it. Correct. I just I wouldn't recommend that we do that. Um but is that that in the section of the mandates or is that in the section of the fund trip? No, that's in the that's in the section of mandates, but they're under there section one and section two.
I understand that. I'm just trying to say that we are saying that we would prefer that that got separated out, right? But it's not it's not and it's and it's uh right now it's um you know they're going to present both sides of their bills right
now funding flexibility isn't in there. That doesn't mean that once they get behind closed doors they something couldn't break. All I'm all I'm saying is I haven't given up on it and I continue to
um communicate to our uh legislators that uh it is uh it's still vital for us and um I'm still hopeful that uh something uh could happen and that's what kind of comp complicates the matter
of the August date versus the November date. So, um, what I'm hearing from you though is there is no real, um, support from the board for a potential for an August
election. So therefore, uh, we're not on that that timeline where something would have to be approved at the next board meeting. Keith has would in theory so let's play the other side of the coin. If it were the election were held in August and it were
to pass, would it put it put us at any advantage to and this is the passing it in if it were to pass in August. Would it be better than if it were to pass in November? Because we don't talk about No, because your levy cycle is going to be the So you'll pass it in August,
let's say fictitiously. You would still be levying in December just like you would if you did it in November. And you would still not see it until so if you were a pay 20 pay 25 levy 26 you would not see it till the
26 27 school year the revenue. Does that make sense? So it doesn't matter when you do it August or um August or November you're going to levy it in December no matter what. And then it's still a majority vote. So a 51% vote for yes. So if it's 1,0001, if
there's 2,000 people that vote and 10,0001 vote yes and 999 vote no, it would pass. Correct. Correct. And that wouldn't change whether it was August or November. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I just think about, you know, with
the other unknowns with the county and the state and um but it seems like a very tight time frame to get something together by August. So, it's kind of how do you how do you how do you put that out there, I guess? And that's Well, I think we'd be we'd be
ready to maneuver. It would just be up to you guys. The review and comments ready for approval. I just wouldn't necessarily bring it if that wasn't what uh what your wishes were. So, what's the date that you can cancel the special
election by on August? For August, correct? That would be May 20th around that time. And that's why I say I don't believe they're going to be done with their work by that time. So that's what kind of puts us in a What is it for the
November? Um if you asked, I don't August 22nd. August 22nd. Yeah. So, we would know I would I would assume um sometime in June if they had to
extend the session a little bit, I would think because I don't believe they'd want to get that into July when the government would would have to discuss a shutdown. So, I just I believe I believe in our people. I believe they'd get something done by then. I'm just not sure it would be by the end of May.
So, I think there's a consensus here with the board that we'll shoot for the November election. Am I correct on that, board members? And then if something does happen, I don't believe we'd have to make that maneuver. So, I would also
encourage board members to uh contact their elected officials and and give the support to the at least the fund transfers and see if they can work something out with the other legislators to separate those two. Um, we also have the support of the teachers union, which
I think is great for the district here. And, uh, let the board or the representatives, uh, Jim Joy and Heather Keeler and Senator Coopek, Rob Coopek, know that, uh, we have their support and, and, uh, hopefully we'll get
something worked out in the legislators with the legislation. Okay. Anything else? Okay, moving on. Item D, resolution accepting donations. Dr. Gamer. Thank you. Um, tonight I present the following
donations. Trinity Lutheran Church, a monetary donation for homeless services. AC Borggan and Elizabeth Borgan monetary donation for homeless services and the Morhead Junior's volleyball program um a monetary donation to Horizon Middle School. Thank you, Cassidy. Move to
accept the donations presented and directed to send a thank you note. Laura Lee. I'll second. Have a motion by Cassidy, second by Laura Lee. Move to accept the donations presented and direct administration to send a thank you letter. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in
favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. That motion carries. Item four, superintendent updates. Just one item. Uh, as we turn the calendar into May, we get that much closer to graduation. Just want to make sure you get it on your calendar. Graduation
night is uh May 30th at uh 700 p.m. in the high school gym. So, make sure that's on your uh make sure that's on your schedule. And that's all I've got as we head into May. Thank
you. Item five, adjournment. Keith, you didn't want me to skip it this time? Go ahead. Move to approve the adjournment of the April 8th, 2025 school board meeting at 6:58 p.m. Thank you, Laura Lee. I'll second. I got a motion by Key,
seconded by Laura Lee. Move to approve the adjournment of the April 28th, 2025 school board meeting at 6:58 p.m. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, same sign. This meeting is
adjourned. Have a good night, everyone.